Salvation for the Broken Children

by Ocena Strex

When Sephiroth is found dead in his home, Tseng and his team of investigators set out to find the murderer. But as they slowly get closer to solving the case, Tseng makes a discovery that makes him doubt his determination to do so.

5. Chapter 5

A/N: Welcome to chapter 5 of Salvation for the Broken Children!

Happy New Year everyone! May 2016 be filled with lots of love, successes and creativity.

I start off my first post of this year with a long chapter. I could have cut it, but I'm dead set on which scenes I want in every chapter so I'll end it with seven chapters. I just realised how ironic that number is… XD. Anyway, let's continue solving this case shall we?

Warnings: If you got through chapter 2 alright then you should be fine now. Don't worry about details of what happened to those children, since I don't go into them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters.

0o0o0

Chapter 5

The first thing Tseng and Reno did after the meeting had ended, was to seek out Lucrecia. They had Rude find out where they could find her, which didn't take up too much time. Tseng's earlier observation that she was very easy to find for Sephiroth's victims proved to be true. A simple query for her name on the search engine brought them right to the website of her private practice.

Tseng took a little bit of time to take a closer look at the website. Unlike what he had expected, Lucrecia didn't advertise herself as a specialist in rape victims. Instead her website portrayed her as a psychologist for teenagers. She dealt with a wide variety of teenage problems, from helping out teens with a low self esteem, to those battling with an addiction. He also took special note of the introductory text at the top of her homepage. It said:

Is your teen acting in a way that you're not sure how to handle? For example, is your teen excessively sad or withdrawn? Then doctor Lucrecia Crescent can help you and your teenage son or daughter out.

Due to the many biological changes that teens are going through during their puberty, it can cause their behaviour to change in such a way that parents don't always know what to do. It is no shame to ask for help. Lucrecia is specialised in dealing with teenage problems. She will provide your son or daughter with a safe and comfortable environment that will stimulate positive progress.

It was the first paragraph in particular that drew Tseng's attention. The fact that the emotions of being sad or withdrawn were specifically chosen is what he took note of. There could have been any number of emotions listed there, but the ones that were there were the most common ones for rape victims, or those of abuse. Considering that he knew that she treated a lot of Sephiroth's victims, he had a suspicion that those words were chosen very carefully to lead them straight to her.

After this brief analysis of the therapist, Tseng and Reno made ready to leave. There was one final thing that needed to be taken care of however. Due to being on the road so much, Tseng had never had the opportunity to start viewing those tapes. Though he internally wished he or any of his team would never have to view them, the fact that they would likely provide them with conclusive evidence to Sephiroth's activities made it necessary to do so. What purpose they would have for the remainder of the investigation was as of yet unclear, but it had to be done.

So, before Tseng and his second in command left, he grudgingly gave the task to Rude. The man was more stoic than Cissnei, and would likely be less affected by its contents. Rude in turn accepted the task with dignity, leaving Cissnei to continue working on trying to match names to the pictures, while he focussed on the tapes.

0o0o0

It was late in the morning by the time Tseng and Reno finally arrived at Lucrecia's practice. It was a quaint building at the edge of Sector 3 slums. Contrary to the other buildings in the area, which for the most part were rather rundown, the practice was in good condition. The walls were made of solid red bricks, contrary to the grey chipped concrete of its neighbours. The windows whole and the door made of sturdy, painted wood. Despite the fact that she practiced her profession in a poorer part of the city, it was clear that she was doing well for herself and served as a respected member of the community.

Upon entering the building, the two detectives found themselves in the lobby. On the left side was a mahogany desk. A man with long black hair dressed in a casual, yet not too informal, outfit sat behind it, tapping away at a laptop. He looked up when he saw the two men walk inside, and turned his attention to them.

"Can I help you?" He asked in a low, though not ungentle, voice.

"Yes." Tseng said as he took his badge from his pocket, "I'm detective Tseng of the MPD and this is my colleague Reno. We would like to speak to Lucrecia Crescent."

"What is it about if I may ask?"

Tseng carefully weighted his words before answering. He didn't know how much this man knew about what was going on, so he'd better play it safe, "Her name came up several times during the investigation of a case we're working on. We would like to find out whether she could provide some aid in our search."

"Okay." The man narrowed his eyes in suspicion despite his answer, "She is with a patient right now. If you're willing to wait for about ten minutes, she'll be on her lunch break then."

"That is fine."

Not willing to dally, Tseng led the way to some chairs. He took his time to observe what he was seeing. The walls were painted in a warm, soft orange colour. They were currently seated on one of the several yellow plush chairs lined up against the wall opposite to the reception desk. Several paintings with images of beautiful sites of nature gave off a soothing effect. All in all the room felt cosy rather than clinical, making it much easier for whoever came in to relax.

Both Tseng and Reno felt it was a working strategy. Instead of waiting stiffly for the therapist to become available to them, they settled down in their comfy seats and allowed the atmosphere to sink in. Reno was slightly easier to relax than Tseng, but the latter couldn't help but feel at ease. He concluded that this woman knew what she was doing. If two adult detectives, one of which was rather stoic in his professionalism, felt relaxed, then surely apprehensive teenagers would too.

They sat in comfortable silence, though the receptionist kept stealing suspicious glances their way every now and then while he continued working, while they waited. Before the ten minutes were up, the door at the far end of the room – to the detectives' right – opened up. A middle-aged woman with her long brown hair tied up in a high ponytail appeared in the doorway. Soon afterwards a teenage boy appeared too and both shook hands.

"Keep up the good work Johnny, and make sure to schedule your next appointment with Vincent." She said with a warm and gentle smile.

"I will doctor. Thank you." The boy replied before turning to the receptionist.

Before Vincent, as his name was now revealed, turned to help the teenager, he first turned his attention to the therapist, "Lucrecia, there are some men from the MPD here who want to talk to you."

Tseng could easily see how the woman's demeanour changed as she turned to face him and Reno with wide eyes. That reaction was suspicious on its own, "We are working on a case and believe you might be able to provide some aid in our search."

For a moment it looked like she was going to refuse. Though after a brief moment of hesitation she turned towards the receptionist, "Vincent, please cancel and reschedule all of my appointments for this afternoon."

Vincent rose an eyebrow in wonder, "Lucrecia, if these men-"

"Vincent, please, this is no time to argue. Just do as I tell you to." She interrupted him.

After a brief moment of silence, in which Vincent regarded his employer, he finally conceded with a nod.

Tseng and Reno watched the exchange with interest. In particular it made them wonder how much each of these two people knew. There was a good chance that at least Lucrecia knew why they were here. Now the question was what the reason was that she did. Was she aware that they were working on the Sephiroth case and did she know more about it? Was she perhaps even guilty? Or did she merely feel uncomfortable discussing the case because she treated the victims of his crimes? All of this Tseng and Reno were interested in finding out.

"Please come in." Lucrecia said softly to the two detectives.

The two stood up from their seats and followed the psychologist back into her office. Once inside she closed the door with a soft click and remained standing there with the knob in her hand. She looked to be contemplating something and Tseng wasn't going to interrupt her. Reno simply followed his boss's lead.

After a few moments the woman let out a sigh and faced the two men, "You are working on the Sephiroth case, right?" She inquired softly.

"We are." Tseng confirmed with a nod, "Your name was brought to our attention several times during our investigation, and we were hoping you might be able to shed some light on some matters."

"Then I also assume you have found some very specific evidence that led you to me."

Tseng nodded towards Reno, who took something from the inside pocket of his jacket. It was several of the pictures they had found. They specifically showed the children of which they knew they had been or were still being treated by this woman, so she should recognise them.

Lucrecia solemnly took them from the redhead's hands, looking at them with a torn expression. After she'd viewed them all she placed her hand on her mouth as she struggled to keep herself from crying. After a brief moment in order to collect herself, she swallowed thickly and faced the detectives again.

"Though I've known for years, it's difficult to actually look at what he's actually done."

"You knew about this, yo?" Reno said incredulously.

"Yes. Not in much detail, but I did."

"And you never tried to stop him?"

"I tried…but I simply couldn't…"

Reno wanted to reply to that again, but was stopped by Tseng, who held up his hand in a silent motion for him to keep quiet. The redhead complied, and allowed his boss to take over.

"Perhaps it's better if you could tell us how you knew."

Lucrecia frowned in confusion then, "You don't know?"

"What do you mean?" Tseng asked.

She shook her head then, "I guess not a lot of people really know him by any other name than his given one. My name is Lucrecia Crescent. My son is…Sephiroth Crescent."

Reno smacked his fist into the palm of his other hand then, "I knew the name sounded familiar, yo."

"Your son…" Tseng mused, internally berating himself for not realising it sooner.

Lucrecia nodded and fell silent again. She decided to finally move from her place by the door and move towards her desk. Once there she sank down in her seat with a defeated expression, putting her head in her hands as she did so. She needed a couple breaths in order to compose herself.

Tseng and Reno observed her with interest. With the revelation out of the way it was becoming more obvious how and why the therapist knew more. Also, if she was aware of her son's activities but was unable to stop him herself, it made sense that she would try her best to repair whatever damage he had caused.

But that still begged the question of how much she knew exactly, for how long, and why she hadn't ever told anyone. Tseng doubted from her reaction that she was an accomplice to the abuse, but not reporting it was a serious offence as well. He liked to know more.

Luckily he was given it sooner rather than later, "If only I had been a better mother, perhaps then all of this could have been avoided." She let out another sigh, "But it's no use talking about the 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. It won't change what has been done."

"You saw this coming?" Tseng inquired.

"I'm not sure really. I knew he was…awkward as a child – not like other children, but I never really expected it to escalate to this."

"You're being so cryptic, yo." Reno complained, "How about clearing some of this up?"

"I'm sorry. I'll try." She fixed the glasses on her face and properly faced the detectives in front of her for the first time, "I was only twenty when I got pregnant of Sephiroth. I didn't even really know the guy. I was still a college student at the time. I didn't have the money for an abortion."

"What about your parents, yo? Didn't they pay it for you?" Reno wondered.

Lucrecia shook her head, "Me and my parents…we were…not on very good terms. My dad wanted me to become a scientist, but I didn't want to. I left my home to study in Midgar and had been fending for myself ever since. But even if I did have the money, I also couldn't bring myself to get an abortion. I wanted to keep the child."

"If you didn't even have money for an abortion, then how did you manage to take care of the both of you?" Tseng wanted to know.

"I dropped out of school and started working two jobs to make a living. I was able to rent a small apartment here in the slums. It wasn't much, but it was something. I was lucky to have a kind neighbour to watch Sephiroth whenever I had to work once he was born, but I didn't get to spend much time with him." She sighed sadly then, "I guess that's where part of the problem lies. I never got to bond with him like a real mother should."

"You said he was an awkward child, different from others. When did you first start noticing that?"

"Not until much later, when he was a few years into school already. He still spent a lot of time at my neighbour's house, but things changed when she passed away. I was forced to quit one of my jobs and thus got to spend more time with him. It was then that I actually got to know my son. I noticed he was a very quiet boy. He didn't really play like children his age should. He also never brought any of the other children with him home. I tried encouraging him, but he always responded distant and aloof to the idea."

"What about that woman you left him with, yo?" Reno asked, "Didn't she notice he was different?"

"Not really." Lucrecia frowned, "But she was an old lady. She was happy to look after him for me, but part of it was because he wasn't a fussy child. She wasn't able to provide him what a young child really needed though, and actually always told me about how good he'd been. She also kept him away from the other children in the neighbourhood. The area was rather shady with all kinds of wrong types lurking around. She didn't want him to hang out with them, for which I was grateful."

"What about his school, yo? Surely his teachers would have noticed something off about him."

"They did, and they tried inviting me for a conversation numerous times, but I didn't have the time, or the opportunity to go." Lucrecia admitted, "Besides, I was a naïve young girl trying to be a single mother. Though I knew Sephiroth wasn't like the other children, he wasn't a difficult child. He didn't act out or got into trouble or anything, so I didn't feel like there was any real problem. I wrote off his lack of social behaviour as shame for his situation – being a kid from the slums that is."

"So he wasn't social, but also wasn't out of control. Rather it sounds like he was able to provide the socially desirable behaviour that kept confrontations to a minimum." Tseng mused, making note of how it fit with the man described by his colleagues.

"He was smart." Lucrecia supplied, "Intellectually he exceeded all of his peers. He was able to extend that to social behaviour."

"And that became a very dangerous combination." Tseng concluded.

"Yes…" Lucrecia took a deep breath to steady herself, "Though he perhaps didn't realise it himself, I believe that he was actually crying out for attention – to get an emotional bond with someone, but he simply didn't know how."

"So when did him 'crying out for attention' turn to him going about raping all those children? Reno asked next.

"He was sixteen." She replied with a firmness that spoke of absolute certainty, "Imagine my surprise when he brought home a girl one day."

"A girl, yo?"

"Yes, her name was Aeris." She smiled sadly again, "At first I was so happy when I saw her. I finally saw my son interact with a peer, and thought he was finally getting over his social awkwardness. She was a beautiful girl too, very polite and soft-spoken, but with a certain vibrancy that spoke of someone who was happy."

"Someone who had everything he didn't have." Tseng mused.

"Not really." Lucrecia disagreed, "She also lived in the slums and only had her mother left, but at the same time she did have a very good relationship with her. So there were both similarities and differences." She sighed then, "Though that might have been why she was his first victim, Sephiroth didn't really differentiate much between who he picked later."

"So she was his first victim?"

"Yes she was… I wasn't home when it happened the first time, but I started noticing how she was increasingly less vibrant whenever she came over. Eventually I didn't see her at all anymore. When I asked him he simply shrugged and said they'd broken up."

"And you never noticed what was going on between the two?"

"For the most part I did not. I had taken a second job again when Sephiroth had gotten a bit older and was able to stay at home alone for a few hours, so I wasn't always home when it happened."

Tseng raised an eyebrow in question, "So you were home at some other times." He stated.

"I was."

"And you never noticed anything strange going on?"

"I-I'm not sure actually." She hesitated slightly, pausing briefly to think about it, "I guess I was just in denial. I was so blinded by the thought that he actually was with someone that I didn't want to do anything to stop it."

"That makes me wonder about something, yo." Reno intervened, "What did he actually do back then? Surely he didn't have the means he did now."

"Indeed he didn't. Back then he also didn't work as meticulously as he did later. At that moment he simply wanted something, so he took it. I guess you could see him as the domineering type who would push his partner too far too fast. A lot of the girls probably didn't even consider it rape, since they were technically his current girlfriend."

"I see." Tseng pinched his chin in thought, "So then I gather he didn't have long relationships either."

"No he didn't. For as far as I was aware the longest relationship he'd had was one month, and that was with Aeris. Those who followed usually didn't last for more than a few days before…he would take what he wanted."

"And all this because he wanted some attention?" Reno commented with a frown, "That's sick, yo."

Lucrecia scrunched her face but kept back her tears, "Very sick. If only I had seen that back when he was still a child, then maybe this would have been avoided."

"Why didn't you try to stop him?" Reno said with a bit of anger, "Surely you knew that what he was doing was wrong? You may have been struggling to provide for the both of you, but you were his mother."

"I did!" She said defensively, "And I did try to stop him, I swear!"

"Then why are you sitting here dealing with the mess that he's caused?" The redhead challenged.

"Because I couldn't stop him!"

"Reno."

The tone in Tseng's voice was enough for him to know that he had to back off. Reno crossed his arms and looked away. Though he felt for her situation in the past, he also felt angry at her. She made many mistakes is her life. He felt that she either shouldn't have kept the baby or been smarter in how to raise a child. Judging from the fact that she was a successful psychologist now, she wasn't a dumb woman. How she would have made those wrong choices was a bit difficult for him to grasp.

Part of Reno's anger originated from the fact that he had been a kid from the slums as well. In fact, he was one of those shady street kids Lucrecia's neighbour had kept little Sephiroth away from. He would have gone the wrong way if it hadn't been for his parents. When they found out they had taken immediate action, keeping him away from those bad influences, and doing whatever they could to provide him with the best future possible. Though it took him a while to realise how much they wanted him to succeed, he eventually did. Today he was an adult man with a respectable job and a solid sense of morality. The slum rat was still a part of him, and it always would be, but he had his parents to thank for that part being small.

While Reno was backing off, Tseng took over again, "What did you do to try and stop him?" He asked in a soft voice.

The psychologist recomposed herself and answered the question, "I tried talking to him, explaining to him that what he was doing was wrong. But again he simply disregarded me. He told me to mind my own business. I tried being a real mother and be firm at that point, but he simply laughed at that. Though he wasn't a difficult child on the outside, he actually had no respect for me at all. 'Don't tried to be a mother where you never have been' he told me."

"So it only escalated from that point onwards?"

"Yes. He left home as soon as he left school. He got a job at Shinra early on and was able to work his way up in the company. I still visited him from time to time, and although I never witnessed any of his acts, I knew that he hadn't stopped. He still talked about his so called girlfriends and even the occasional boyfriend. I was shocked to hear how they were all teens several years younger than he was. Some even as young as thirteen."

"And you didn't seek any outside help?"

She looked away at that point and took a steadying breath, "No…I didn't have the money for professional help at first, and when he left home I decided to use the money I had to go back to school myself. I took up psychology in the hopes of trying to understand my son, and hopefully find some way to change him. But it turned out that it was too late for him. He didn't feel like he needed any help, and certainly not from me. All I could do was try and repair whatever damage he had done."

"What about after you realised you couldn't help him yourself? Why didn't you seek out help then?"

"I knew that he wasn't going to accept any psychological help, whether it was from me or anyone else, so the only place for me to go to would have been the police. By then he had already gained a very powerful position within Shinra and thus society. I felt it was useless and besides..." She turned back to Tseng and looked at him imploringly, "I'm a mother…he was my son…"

"You didn't want to accept that you'd failed."

She bowed her head in defeat, "Does that make me a bad person?"

Tseng briefly considered the question before answering, "No." He said firmly, "You've made some wrong choices, but that doesn't make you a bad person."

"Do I have to go to jail?"

"Yes." Reno answered.

"No." Tseng replied at the same time, shooting his second in command a look that told him to back off. When he did he turned his attention back to the psychologist, "You have kept this information to yourself all those years. This is considered a crime by association and could be put before a court of law. Then again, Sephiroth is already dead, so there is nothing to gain from that."

He allowed his words to sink in for a moment before continuing, "But that doesn't take away from the fact that whoever killed your son isn't guilty of murder. Just because his motives are easy to sympathise with doesn't mean we can disregard the act itself. It is my theory that one of his former victims is responsible for the crime. Since you've treated a large number of them, we were hoping that you could help us."

"It is possible I guess." Lucrecia conceded, "Though I cannot think of someone on top of my head, I do not think that the theory is unlikely."

"No leads again, yo." Reno grumbled sourly, "Or are you hiding something from us?"

"No." She said firmly, looking at the redhead with a challenging look, "I have been silent for too long, and though I too sympathise with all of his victims, the fact that he was my son remains. I grieve for his death and would like nothing more than to find out who did it."

"So he or she could go to jail where your son should have, yo?" Reno challenged back.

"No." She denied, "I don't want that to happen, but I do would like to know who was capable of doing it."

The two stared at each other for an intense moment. Reno just couldn't figure this woman out. On one hand her mother's love for her son had kept her from speaking up all these years, but now that someone else had cleaned up the mess, she also didn't want this person to pay. She was an odd combination of a grieving and a guilty mother. It was just right out confusing.

The redhead did see his boss from the corner of his eye observing them with a disapproving expression on his face. He wasn't happy with Reno's conduct and the redhead knew it. So instead of challenging the woman further he backed off again.

"I think we have all we need from here." Tseng decided to end it before things got out of hand, "We would like to request your continued help in identifying victims for our investigation. Also, if something comes to mind, we want you to contact us as soon as possible."

"Of course."

"Alright then. Let's go Reno."

With those words Tseng turned around and moved to leave the office. Reno made to follow him, though he couldn't resist shooting the woman a last disgusted look. It spoke volumes of what he thought of her.

In return Lucrecia simply took it in stride. Her silence had been despicable after all, so she couldn't blame him. As she watched the two men leave, she thought back about everything she'd told them. Guilt flooded her senses, and she was glad that she'd told Vincent to cancel all of her appointments for that afternoon.

0o0o0

After leaving the office, Tseng went straight to his car. This left Reno no opportunity to linger for any longer, just like his boss wanted. It was strange. It was uncommon for the two to walk like this - with Tseng walking in front with Reno trailing behind him like a naughty child. It was very much on purpose though, as was revealed when the two had stepped into the car and closed the doors.

"I am very disappointed in you Reno." Tseng said coldly, obviously not pleased.

Reno crossed his arms and leaned back, "Can you blame me, boss? She kept the sexual abuse of children by her son a secret for all these years, yo." He grumbled.

"That doesn't matter." Tseng disagreed firmly, "It shouldn't matter whether you're interrogating a criminal, associate or completely an innocent person. You should never, ever lose your composure like you did. It only served to provoke her and it didn't provide us with any useful information."

Silence fell in the car. Reno felt properly scolded for his actions, and was wise enough to realise that his boss was right. Though the woman had been able to clear up a lot of questions they had, it was only while Tseng was asking them that she did. Reno challenging the decisions she could no longer change indeed hadn't provided them with any additional information, since she was perfectly willing to tell them her story.

"Interrogation is an art." Tseng continued at a much softer tone, "It's about asking the right questions, reading the non-verbal signs the other person gives off and figuring out which buttons to push and when to push them. Challenging a person's way of thinking or a decision they've made can be a viable tactic if you know they are keeping information from you. In this case, it only served to be counterproductive." He looked straight at Reno at that point, forcing him to make eye contact, "You know all this, and you're a fine investigator, but this time you screwed up. Don't let it happen again."

"…I won't boss." The redhead conceded after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Good."

With the conversation over, Tseng turned back and started up the car. He started making his way back to the police station, They drove in silence for a few minutes before Reno spoke up again.

"Boss…I've been wondering, yo."

"About what?" Tseng said neutrally, still valuing whatever his colleague had to say.

"What are we doing this for?"

Tseng stopped the car at a red traffic light and took the opportunity to look at Reno inquiringly, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is this case isn't like any other we've ever faced, yo. We have a dead man, need to find out who killed him, but find out that he is guilty of a terrible crime himself. I sometimes feel like I don't even want to find out who did it, because they've actually done the city a favour by killing him."

Tseng didn't answer the question immediately. He turned his attention back to the road in time to see the light turn to green. Reno…it almost felt like the redhead had read Tseng's thoughts and voiced them. He too had been struggling with the same dilemma. Committing a murder was a terrible crime, but how did it compare to systematic abuse?

"I understand what you're saying Reno." He eventually conceded, deciding to be honest, "However, it is not our jobs as investigators to judge. We are here to search for objective evidence that can be put up in a court of law. Then it's up to the judge and jury to decide what to do with it."

"But it's not fair, yo. Shinra isn't going to allow any of this to leak to the public, so he'll have whoever did this portrayed as some monster that killed the most prestigious person of the most prestigious company in the entire fucking world."

Reno couldn't have put it any better. Thanks to his words Tseng finally had a full understanding of his own feelings. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to find out who did it because he sympathised with them, but rather that Shinra would make sure that the ensuing law suit wouldn't be objective. Sephiroth being killed would be the only evidence presented, and the defendant would be portrayed as some kind of monster. Even if the judges and jury would question his motive, Shinra would make sure to bribe whoever did. In short, the person would not be given the justice they deserved.

Indeed, it just wasn't fair.

0o0o0

The remainder of their ride home was spent in silence. Both investigators had a lot to think about. Still, the investigation continued, also behind the scenes. Tseng expected there to be several reports sitting on his desk for his reviewing.

And there were, but Tseng was not able to view them right away. No, when he walked into his office he found it already occupied. Zack was sitting there. The raven-haired young man looked up when he heard the door open and see the detective walk inside.

"Tseng." He greeted with a subdued smile.

"Zack? Why are you here?" Tseng questioned, closing the door and walking to his desk and sitting down in his chair.

"I was wondering how the investigation was going." He admitted, "I was thinking maybe I can even help out. You know, since we're also working together on the AVALANCHE case."

That was true. Zack had been a great help in that case so far. If he hadn't had become a security officer, he would have made a fine detective in Tseng's opinion. Still, that didn't constitute for him getting access to just any information on the case. Not only that, but there was also the problem of Tseng having to keep certain aspects from the outside world and Zack had been Sephiroth's friend. For him to find out that his friend had been a child abuser would be a very bitter pill to swallow.

So instead of doing that, Tseng decided to take a different route and use this opportunity to rather some more information himself, "How are things going at your department by the way?"

"Well, me and the guys are still quite upset over what happened. Things have been pretty hectic. Genesis hasn't been able to get back to work yet. He's taking it very hard. Angeal was chosen to be the interim head of the department until we can figure out how to fill the vacancy. It's tough on him, because he has a lot of work alongside dealing with Seph's death. No one is willing to take the spot though. We all feel like none of us could replace Seph."

Tseng rose an eyebrow, "Was he that loved by his colleagues?"

"I wouldn't say he was loved." Zack disagreed, "He was widely respected though. People idolise him for being the face of Shinra, but they only see the posters and hear the stories of his prowess in battle. But those who've had the privilege to work under him would have the chance to see who he really was. He wasn't stuck up like many people expect him to be. He was simply very efficient at his job and expected everyone to perform their best. Sure, he did have some high standards that weren't easy for everyone to reach, but he wasn't condescending. In the end it all resulted in Shinra having the best functioning security department in the entire world. Right now we don't have anyone that confident enough to continue the legacy he left behind."

Tseng allowed the words to sink in. There wasn't much new information to be had from Zack's story. They already knew Sephiroth had been a meticulous and efficient person who was widely respected for his skills. However, with the way he was described unanimously, including his own mother, it seemed strange for him to even have any friends. This only strengthened the reason why he turned to the level of systematic abuse that he had.

Perhaps with the young security officer being here now this would be a great opportunity for Tseng to get an even clearer idea of what kind of man Sephiroth was like to those who knew him, "You might be able to clear something up for me. All the people we've spoken about Sephiroth have told us that he was a very reserved and private individual, and didn't have many friends."

"He was." Zack said with a firm nod.

"Yet you were one of the few. What was that like?"

"Hmm, that's a good question." Zack admitted as he pinched his chin in thought, "Honestly I don't think I would have become his friend if it wasn't for Angeal. You see, Angeal has been my mentor ever since I joined the department as an intern. It was through him that I was able to get to know Seph better."

"Do you know how Angeal got to be his friend?"

"A bit. From what Angeal told me he, Gen and Seph all joined around the same time and worked their way up the ranks together. The three of them were matched fairly evenly, Gen and Seph in particular. They both vied for the position of head of the department when the old one retired, though it was Seph who got it in the end. From what I understand they weren't exactly friends back then, but grew closer because Seph respected skill. They simply stuck together ever since I guess. Gen even developed feelings for Seph, but I believe you already know about that."

"I do." Tseng confirmed, "But what was he like as a friend?"

Zack shrugged, "A bit of an oddball I guess. Like I said, he respected skill, and therefore respected Angeal, Genensis and eventually me as well. We hung out together every once in a while, but it was usually because Gen had arranged it. Those meetings were…okay I guess. It always felt like Seph tolerated them rather than actually enjoyed them."

Tseng wanted to ask another question, but was interrupted by the sound of a phone vibrating. Zack perked up, and reached for his pocket, "Sorry about that." He apologised as he took out his PHS.

Zack had intended to take a quick look to see whether it was important, and look at it in detail later if it wasn't. As soon as he saw whom it was from however, he couldn't help but smile.

Tseng noticed this, "Good news?"

"Oh, no. Not in particular at least. It's just my boyfriend asking me at what time I'll be home."

"Your boyfriend? I though you were a ladies' man." Tseng observed with interest.

Zack chuckled briefly, "That's what I thought too, until I met Cloud." He started pushing some buttons on his phone then, showing Tseng the screen when he had found what he was looking for, "This is a picture of him."

The image, which was a selfie, showed two people. One of them was Zack. The other was a blonde boy of about the same age. Both were smiling at the camera. Zack rather abundantly, showing nothing but happiness, the other in a bit more reserved fashion, but still genuinely.

As Tseng looked at the picture he had a striking sense of déjà vu. He felt that the blonde boy, Cloud, looked familiar, though the name didn't ring any bells. He racked his brain to figure it out, but couldn't find a solution. He shook the feeling off then, thinking that if it was important it would come back to him eventually.

0o0o0

A/N: And that's it for now. Oh boy, parts of this chapter were such a drag to write. I never intended the Lucrecia scene to drag out for so long, but I had to make sure everything was covered here. I hope it didn't leave any big questions answered. I also had to shift and rewrite parts of the scene with Zack around a lot to make it flow the way I wanted it too. Overall, I'm not too happy with how everything turned out, but it's decent I guess. Suggestions are welcome of course!

And yay! Cloud finally storms into battle…sort of…okay not really. But I can reveal he'll make an actual appearance in the next chapter! Until then!