Title: Abomination

Author: Tiffany Park

Fandoms: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VII Original Game

Description: Instead of killing Angeal at Modeoheim, Zack talked him down "off the ledge" (so to speak) and took him back to Shin-Ra. Alive. Now Angeal has disappeared and Hojo appears to be involved. Sephiroth and Zack hunt for their friend and unearth revelations neither can bear. Inspired by Hojo's introduction to Crisis Core Mission 5-1-6.

Characters: Sephiroth, Zack Fair, Angeal Hewley, Hojo, Lazard, Cissnei

Tags: Intrigue, Horror, Body Horror, Vivisection, Dismemberment, Beheading, Abominations, Conspiracies, Alternate Universe-Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, No happy endings, At least Sephiroth doesn't think he's an Ancient LOL

Notes: I knocked most of this out quickly during October for Halloween, but naturally I missed my deadline. At least I'm posting close to Halloween. Sort of. By a couple weeks. LOL.

Here be plenty of spoilers for ancient games ranging in age from fifteen to over twenty-five years, assuming anyone cares about spoilers after so long. While there are references to Deepground and Turk activities like kidnapping, torture, and other events from Dirge of Cerberus, Dirge of Cerberus Online, and Before Crisis, they are only used to provide background regarding some of the truly horrific activities of the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company and the amorality of the Turks. No changes from the Remake are taken into account in this story. It only deals with the original Compilation revelations.

Abomination

by Tiffany Park

"You brought him back alive?" Sephiroth asked sharply as he stood, expression blank and unrevealing, as he accepted Angeal's Buster Sword from Zack.

"You brought him back alive?" Sephiroth asked sharply as he stood, expression blank and unrevealing. Without noticeable reluctance, he accepted Angeal's Buster Sword from Zack.

Angeal had surrendered it when Tseng had taken him into custody.

Zack couldn't understand why Sephiroth looked and sounded so...disquieted. Unsettled. His hands clenched around the sword's hilt, so tightly the knuckles went white and bloodless. Shouldn't he be happy Angeal was still alive? Isn't that what he had wanted?

Zack had only just returned after seeing Angeal off with the Turks. Angeal, for his part, had been compliant and passive, doing whatever Tseng directed. Tseng had curtly reminded Zack that the entire mission was classified and to speak to no one until after he was debriefed.

Instead, Zack had gone to find Sephiroth in his office. Tseng's instructions couldn't have applied to the highest ranked SOLDIER in the entire company. That would have been absurd.

Zack still didn't really understand anything going on, though. He didn't understand why Angeal seemed so...apathetic and directionless. Hopeless. It was almost like all his fight, all his will to live, had faded away to nothing. Like he still wished to die; like he expected to die.

But he was back! The Turks would question him, and Lazard would punish him, sure, but he was alive, without a mark on him. Despite his wings, he wasn't even degrading like Genesis had been. He looked healthy, strong, and yet Zack still sensed that something was terribly wrong.

Sephiroth's ambiguous reaction put Zack even more on edge. He tried to tell himself that Sephiroth was probably just anxious, understandable considering all the crazy events since Genesis had first deserted.

"Yeah," Zack said in response. "It took some doing. I had to talk fast and then I had to knock Hollander out before he could really make Angeal mad."

"What did Hollander say?"

Zack grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. "A lot of nonsense about how Angeal is 'perfection' and how the 'Project G' experiment was named after his mother. Did you know Hollander claims to be Angeal's biological father? I almost—"

Sephiroth's expression went rock hard.

Zack took a deep breath at that, remembering that horrible encounter in Modeoheim. It could have gone so badly... "There was so much going on. Honestly, I'm still surprised I was able to talk Angeal into coming home at all."

It had been a near thing, and Zack still wasn't sure what had turned the tide in his favor. For a moment, it had looked as though Angeal might have done something desperate. They had crossed blades, and Angeal had goaded him, but Zack at long last had recalled his lessons in focus and patience, on keeping calm and rational rather than just charging in half-cocked.

He'd been the cool, collected one for a change, and Angeal driven by his erratic emotions and muddled mental state. Zack had knocked out Hollander just as he was ranting about how "Jenova's power" had passed on to Angeal. Zack didn't really understand what that had meant, but he'd seen the way Angeal had flinched as though physically struck. Zack had put a stop to the scientist's venom before it could go even farther and destroy what little remained of Angeal's stability. At that moment, he saw how Angeal's resolve had wavered, and had used the opportunity to coax and encourage his mentor to choose life, to stay with Zack and Sephiroth.

"And Genesis?" Sephiroth asked, interrupting Zack's sad reverie.

"I'm sorry, but... I think he might be dead. He flung himself off a ledge and vanished. I know he could fly but...his wing—I think it was injured. It didn't seem to be working right. He fell straight down, but maybe there's a chance. I... We... Tseng and I were more concerned with securing Hollander and...and Angeal."

"He's in the Turks' custody," Sephiroth stated. It was not a question.

"Yeah, him and Hollander both. The Turks decided it would be safer to split them up. Hollander's in Junon, and Angeal's in isolation here in the Tower."

"I want to see him," Sephiroth said, though not to Zack. He seemed to be talking to the room at large. "I will see him." He stared at the door.

"What will you do?"

"I'm going to talk to Lazard."

"I'm coming with you."

"No. You need to write down everything you can remember from Modeoheim. Every trivial little event, every movement, every statement from Hollander, Genesis, and Angeal, no matter how irrelevant they might seem. Don't turn it in to official channels until I get back. I want to read everything before it gets redacted."

"You think it'll be redacted before they let you see it?"

Sephiroth didn't answer that question, instead saying, "I'll keep you informed about Angeal. That's an order, Zack."

Zack scowled, but Sephiroth only turned and headed out of the office.