Disclaimer: I do not now or before and most likely not in the future, own Final Fantasy, Square Enix or any of the characters.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I have finals next week, so I have been concentrating on studying. Hope that you like this chapter, soon enough, they will be out of the labs and the story will really take off, so stay tuned. Well, actually, before I broke the chapters up into smaller chapters, they got out in chapter 11 I think, so it will be around chapter 20 before they get out, but remember, there were 40 big chapters, now there are 80 smaller chapters. Sorry, I'm rambling.

Thanks to my super-busy beta SubZeroChimera!

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." -Oscar Wilde

Nexus

Chapter 5

About 4 days had passed since they had their first injections, and so far they had been left alone. That was fine with them. With the regular dinner that showed up and the side effects long gone, they seemed in pretty good spirits. Sitting on the floor facing each other, they were in the middle of a rousing game of I spy and Zack was losing. He was fine losing this game, because he won the game of rock, paper, scissors.

The door opened and two infantry soldiers popped their heads in hesitantly, holding EMR batons in their hands. Zack and Cloud looked at each other in confusion and then back at them. Zack leaned back on the side of the bed while resting his arm on it, "Howdy boys!"

"Uh…we are here to take you to…the lab," Barber finally got out.

"Are you sure? Because you don't sound so sure," Zack asked with a confident, yet sarcastic, look on his face.

Cloud looked at the other guy and with a hint of anger, he acknowledged him, "Lawrence…"

Zack asked hitching a thumb in the direction of the man who Cloud indicated, "You know this guy?" Thinking that the soldier looked a little familiar, he just blew it off, he had seen many soldiers during his time at Shinra.

Cloud just stared, not really knowing what to say. Lawrence dropped his gaze to the floor and fiddled with his uniform shirt.

"Well, this is awkward," Zack cleared his throat. Looking at Barber he said, "So…you were saying something about going to the lab?"

"Oh…yeah… Don't give us any trouble okay," Barber's voice broke up a little, he held out his EMR baton and Zack noticed it was like the one Reno carried. That thing was like a super Taser.

"Oh all right, since you asked so nicely…" Zack said sarcastically with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Getting up, the two puzzled men waited for the infantry soldiers to tie them up or something, but nothing happened to show that the two soldiers had that intention. Looking at each other again, Zack tilted his head a little, "Well? Whenever you're ready," Shooing them forward with his hands, Zack sighed.

Lawrence grabbed Zack's arm hesitantly, followed by Barber taking Cloud's arm. Out in the hall, Zack looked around and he noted the exit just past where the labs were situated. Turning his head, made eye contact with his blond friend and gave a quick wink, Cloud nodded his head in acknowledgment.

It was now or never. Zack hit Lawrence's baton with his elbow just above the handle. As it flew through the air Zack grabbed it and turned to Lawrence and hit him across the back of the neck with it, sending Lawrence to the floor. Cloud got Barber in the throat with the heel of his hand and he dropped his baton when he grabbed for his neck.

Cloud got all the way to the exit door before he turned around just in time to see Lawrence jump after Zack and grab his ankle. Starting to go down, he righted himself and that's when Barber picked his baton up and a shock went through Zack's back and he fell to the floor jerking from the electric current. Moving quickly before Zack could react, Lawrence was putting some ties around his wrists.

Without hesitating, he took off running back down to Zack and dove into Barber; sending both of them sliding down the hall a few feet. Cloud rolled to his back and kicked at Lawrence, but the infantryman got the baton stuck out just in time to send a shock through the blonde's body.

Lawrence tossed him over to his stomach and tied his wrists behind him, "I never really liked you Strife, but now it's on. I always wanted to kick your ass!" Lawrence spit out, "I never got a chance before, but I guess I do now," the angered soldier kicked Cloud in the ribs and the restrained blond recoiled with a yelp.

Zack was trying to get up, but Barber had his knee jammed in his upper back, however the concerned soldier yelled at Lawrence, "Stop! Lawrence!"

Unwilling or unable to listen, Lawrence kicked him twice more in the ribs and one to the head knocking him out.

Zack dropped his head and rested his forehead on the floor, sighing in exasperation, "…Shit."

Coming through the doors with Zack and an unconscious Cloud in tow, Lawrence dropped the blond to the floor on his side with a heavy thud. Barber pushed Zack farther into the room and when he released Zack's arm, the infantryman tripped himself on his other foot. Falling forward, he landed on the large muscular back belonging to the former Soldier, causing Zack to stumble forward as well. When the larger man turned and looked at Barber, he was getting himself back straight on his feet.

Barber's face was beet red and Lawrence spoke up, "Damn it Barber, how the hell did you get through basic training?" Zack flicked his head to get the black spikes out of his face and threateningly lunged in the direction of the two soldiers. Both jumping back in surprise, Lawrence took a hold of Barber's sleeve and pulled him out the door. Once alone, Zack knelt to the floor, but with his hands tied behind his back, he just plopped down next to his unconscious friend.

Cloud finally roused and turned as much as he could to his back. He made eye contact with Zack and then looked down, and with a shameful sound echoing in his voice, he apologized, "Sorry." Wincing at the pain in his ribs and his face, Cloud ran his tongue out over his split lip and then spit out some blood. He raised his shoulder toward his face and wiped the blood coming from his nose on to his shirt.

"Hey don't worry about it. I would have done the same thing," Zack's positivity was not at its normally high level, but it was better than Cloud felt.

After a long pause, Cloud asked with a one-sided grin, "So…how do I look?"

Zack chuckled, "As ugly as the day I met you." When Cloud chuckled, he winced at his pain again. Looking around, Zack noticed that they were in the lab with the tables again.

The doors swung open and Hojo and a few of his lab techs were with him, "Well now Z, are you causing problems this morning?"

Zack glared at him, full of contempt, "Of course not… Well not much anyway."

"Well Z, you should behave yourself, " Hojo stated in a menacing tone.

With a snarky sneer, Zack asked, "Well Hojo, what fun would that be?"

Davis and another guy they hadn't seen before came into the room. They proceeded to untie them and pulled them to their feet. The new guy was about as tall as Cloud, he had brown hair, combed straight back. He was fairly stocky, and it was obvious that he probably never met a food he didn't like. Cloud studied him and Zack asked what his name was. The guy turned to where he could see his name on his uniform. "Charles"

"Charles huh? First or last name?" Zack asked glaring at him right in his eyes.

Charles said nothing. Hojo indicated to Davis and Charles to put them on the tables. As they were strapped down, Zack looked over and saw the menacing green syringes. The doctor came in, obviously running late, "Let me get their vitals first!"

Hojo instructed his assistants to administer the shots. As one of the assistants neared, Zack winced at the thought of the coming pain.

As the pain began to fall away, so did his grimace and groan as his head lolled and stayed there for the time being. Noticing the swirling lights in his eyes from the mako flowing, Zack's eyes rolled and his stomach threatened to expel his breakfast.

Cloud slammed his eyes shut as the lab tech got close to him. Cold hands touched his arm then the wave of pain started. Doubling his efforts to keep from screaming out like he did before, it did nothing as the screams came out unabated, seemingly as though they were a sentient being. When his screams began to die in his throat, the dizziness played against his motion sickness and he squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

The doctor checked their vitals again and Zack opened his eyes and focused on keeping his eyes on one thing, "Hojo, why are you doing this to us?"

"This a top-secret project and test subjects are not in the loop," Hojo then chuckled with delight in his voice.

"Oh, well that answers all of my questions. How about you Spiky?" Zack said weakly.

Cloud just shook his head and grunted. When Zack looked over at his friend, blood seeped out of his nose and dripped down his cheek to the table. Hojo didn't pay any attention, but Dr. Chase went to work on stopping the bleeding. Zack snapped at Hojo, "Are you actually trying to kill us?" Hojo walked out of the doors without even looking in their direction.

Hojo was in Lab 1 with the crystal. While the submerged crystal was being subjected to sound waves, trying to chip away at it. It was working very slowly but it was faster than just leaving in the mako bath alone. Doctor Chase couldn't understand how there could be a heartbeat when he was completely encased in the crystal. He did his exam as much as he could from outside the tank, which wasn't much, "Professor, I really can't do much with it in there. I need to be able to get closer to it."

"I decided to take it out tomorrow to bore down into the crystal. You can see it up close then," Hojo looked at him over the top of his glasses, "It is just taking too long this way."

Harding was finally back on his feet and ready to get back to work. He headed down to Lab 1 about an hour before anyone else would be there. Looking around, a few things had changed, but he had been out longer than anticipated due to a stupid infection that just wouldn't heal. Immediately he went over to the tank to look over the readouts. Seeing that Hojo was trying to break it open instead of dissolve it, he shook his head.

Not really knowing exactly what he would need, he grabbed some notes off of the desk. Folding them and shoving them in his pocket as quickly as he could. He headed back over to the tank to sabotage some of the settings, and then he could leave. Showing back up to work with everyone else would give him an out, but he was going to have to hurry though, because he had been down there longer than he anticipated.

Then he heard the door open.

Hojo was up bright and early; he had slept pretty well, so he was ready to get started. Walking as if there was air underneath his feet he seemed to glide back to the labs. He headed down to Lab 1 and was surprised that one of the assistants was already getting started checking the read outs.

"Well it is good to see you back on your feet Harding," Hojo actually sounded pleasant.

Jumping at the voice, Harding quickly stammered out, "It's good to be back sir."

"Today we are going to drill into the crystal. We need to get deeper readings to find out how much longer it will be before the contents can be recovered," Hojo instructed him, "We might even be able to get the contents out today!"

"Yes sir, I will finish with these readings and settings and go and gather the necessary equipment."

"I admire your initiative Mr. Harding."

"Thank you sir."

"Excellent!" Hojo walked over to the tank and peered in. The crystal just stared back, unmoving. He flipped the switch to the speakers and closed his eyes at the sound that came from it. His thin lips curled and he dipped his head to the side, just listening. After he was startled with an unknown urgency, he turned to the desk in the corner. Shuffling around the desk, he finally found his clipboard and began to furiously write.

Harding returned with a cart full of an array of items. Right behind him was Burton. Harding hated working with Burton; he was just as twisted as Hojo. Hell he even looked like him a little. A shudder went down his spine at the thought of two Hojos.

"Alright, as soon as Doctor Chase gets here we will get started," The Professor announced.

Right on cue, Doctor Chase came through the doors. Harding went to the new vat and connected a couple of hoses coming from the tank. Burton flipped the switch that drained the mako and Harding unlocked the brakes to the tank. Guiding the tank down to its side, both Harding and Burton hefted the weight as Hojo insisted that they be right there to ensure that another accident didn't happen.

Dropping the crystal and letting it shatter crossed Harding's mind, but Burton, as it just so happened, was right there. Burton just so happened was very interested in what the Professor was doing. Harding threw the straps around the crystal, one on each end and secured them to the crane. Burton went to the crane operating panel and started lifting it from the tank. Harding cautiously guided it to the operating table as the crane lowered it. Once the straps were removed, Burton went to the side table and readied the drill for the professor.

Everyone donned their masks and face shields. Doctor Chase took the drill, picked up the largest drill bit and found the best place to start. The drill came to life with a roar. Hojo stood by anxiously waiting to let Chase know a good place to stop. Crystal slivers flatly fell to the floor; dust came up in a seemingly never-ending trail of smoke and after several minutes, Hojo yelled over the noise, "Stop there Doctor!"

Stopping the drill, Chase set it aside. Both of them leaned in and studied where it stopped, "Very interesting," Hojo said to no one in particular. Turning to Chase, Hojo asked, "Well do you think you can get your readings now Doctor?"

"I believe so Professor," Chase reached over for the long probe. It was about the width of a spaghetti noodle and about 3 feet long. It had a "claw" like device at the end that Chase inserted in the hole. At the other end of the probe, Chase manipulated the handle to the wire that ran through the hollow tube. The claw found its target and Chase anchored it just under the skin. Hojo reached over to the probe control panel and it reared to life. A few beeps and it was etching out its reading across the screen, "We have a definitive heartbeat and temperature," Burton was ready and waiting to write the results down in the notes. Chase rattled off, "Heart rate a steady 45 bpm, temp 99.2. I am a little concerned; the heart rate is down by 9 from yesterday."

"Let's not worry about that right now," Hojo continued, "We will keep a close eye on it, if it falls below that though, immediate action is required."

"Agreed," Chase stated.

"Alright, Burton, Harding, Get started on the extraction, I have a few things to do. Call me immediately if anything changes," Hojo ordered while he removed his mask and face guard.

"Yes sir," They said in unison.

As the Professor left, they picked up the circular saws and scored the crystal in several sections. Doctor Chase was keeping a close eye on the monitors. When they finished scoring it in a crisscross pattern, Burton grabbed the chisel and hammer and tapped the head of the chisel gently. A large section that covered a foot fell loose with a crash. Jumping back, they all attempted to not let any of it fall on them. Almost mesmerized, Harding reached over and ran his finger down and across the bottom of a large black leather boot, it felt warm to the touch.

"This isn't going to take as long as we originally thought," Chase stated. Burton and Harding looked at each other and Burton continued to chisel away at the crystal. Harding was there hauling away the chunks of crystal as they fell. Soon the second cart was full of glimmering crystal. Chase hollered out to the two soldiers that were guarding just outside, "One of you come get this cart, and bring an empty one back."

Barber came in the room and headed over to the cart, grabbed the handle and started out the door. His eyes fell on the partly covered body on the table. Eyes as big as saucers, he gasped and went out the door in a hurry. Taking the cart around to the storage area, he stopped and took a few deep breaths. Did he really just see what he thought he saw? Was it really Sephiroth?

Grabbing an empty cart, he walked hesitantly back to the lab. Distracted by the sight on the table, he ran into the back of Doctor Chase's legs. He got a glare from the Doctor. Chase dismissed him and Harding proceeded to lift more chunks of crystal placing them in the service cart. That seemed to be all the large chunks. Just after a few hours they had finished with the crystal. Sephiroth took a deep breath on his own but remained unconscious on the table.

Chase picked up the phone and called Hojo, "Yes sir, the crystal has been successfully removed…yes…of course sir," After his conversation with Hojo he walked over to the table put his hands down and leaned in and looked down at the man.

Hojo came through doors and B-lined it to the table, "Excellent!" Sephiroth's pulse and respirations were both slow, but steady. Chase took his blood pressure and pulse and it was slightly higher but still in the safe zone. They continued to remove his armor, boots and the rest of his clothes. Harding laid them over on an empty side table, slowly and carefully, as if Sephiroth would awaken, rise from the table and chastise him for mistreating his garments.

Now free of the crystal and armor, Chase was able to access his injuries, a single stab wound that almost severed him in half from the looks of it and minor chemical burns scattered all over, but what surprised him most, was the lack of actual bleeding. Chase just shook his head, how was he still alive? Hojo covered Sephiroth with a sheet and Burton wheeled the gurney right into to the surgical suite. Doctor Chase and Hojo went and scrubbed up for the surgery while the assistants prepped him. Chase intubated him and adjusted the settings to the anesthetics.

After the surgery was finally complete, it had taken several hours to repair all the damage. Hojo took a syringe of Jenova cells and another with mako in it and injected them into his IV. Completely exhausted, they proceeded back to the previous room. While they were in surgery two other assistants had cleaned and re-sanitized Lab 1. Two of the guards were in the lab waiting to be of help.

Harding requested, "Harper, could you get his shoulders, Davis get his legs." The tank was still on its side so it was easier to transfer an unconscious man into it. Harding took the electrode leads and placed them in their proper spots on his chest, neck and temples.

Out loud, Burton wished that the other two tanks tilted like this one did. Harding and Burton tied his wrists and ankles, anchoring him to the bottom of the tank. Harding moved the intubation tube and the IV to the top of the tank and reset the settings. As they closed the tank and started filling it with warm water, Hojo giggled quietly to himself, as he pushed the button for the tank to turn back upright.

A few days after their second injection, Zack and Cloud noticed that their joints began to hurt constantly. It wasn't an unbearable amount of pain, but it was making it difficult to sleep. With the lack of sleep, joint pain, and old-fashioned cabin fever and the stress of being held against their wishes started to take a toll on their nerves. It didn't take long until they found themselves in an argument about the proper rules to thumb wrestling.

"It's one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war and then you go!" Zack argued.

Cloud argued back, "No, it's just one, two, three, then you go!"

"No, no, no. What is it you're not understanding about these simple rules?" Zack smirked a little.

"For the last time, it's one, two, three-"

Zack interrupted, "What kind of backwater town did you grow up in? I thought everyone knew the rules!"

Cloud narrowed his eyes, "Hey don't make fun of where I'm from, Mr. GON-GA-GA!"

"Yeah? Well at least I know the rules!" The brunette retorted

One corner of Cloud's mouth crept up in a smirk, ready for a retort of his own, "Where you born this stupid, or is this a learned behavior?"

"Oh, that does it!" Zack dove for Cloud and in a quick, smooth move had him in a head lock before he knew what had hit him, giving the blond an enthusiastic noogie.

"Ooowwww! That hurts!"

Cloud wrestled loose and tackled Zack. Pinning him to the floor with all his weight and strength, he started to give noogie in retaliation, but being stronger, Zack flipped over, throwing him off of his back and to the floor. The brunette pounced as he grabbed Cloud by the waist, flipped him over on his back and pinned him down to the floor. Sticking his finger in his mouth and pulling it out, Zack yelled, "Wet willy!"

"Oh GROSS!" Cloud wiggled and screamed, "No fair!"

Zack broke out in a fit of laughter that doubled him over and left him rolling on the floor.

Cloud got up and stomped to the bathroom to clean his ear, "It's not funny!"

Zack continued to laugh, Cloud stood in the doorway to the bathroom and watched him roll with his arms wrapped around his ribs in laughter. Cloud got a small grin on his face and started laughing too, wincing a little when his injured ribs protested.

Deep down, they were both terrified about what was happening. Terrified at what was going to happen. It just felt to them that it was the last real good time they were probably going to have. They needed this moment, this memory of their friendship to hold on to. Neither of them wanted to admit to it though, neither of them were ready to face it.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, subscribes and/or reviews, I appreciate your time and I dedicate all of this to you. To quote another author, "Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and squishy."

Please send me your reviews if you want. It is really easy. Just click your arrow in the little box, write what you thought or felt about the chapter and then click right down there, just below the box. A little lower… a little to the right… yeah, right there! Click it! *grinning*