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: I hope to have each chapter posted the same time every week. In this chapter we get a little surprise. Enjoy.

Thanks to my post-post beta SubZeroChimera and my pre-post beta Queen of Jokers!
*Updated* corrections made from post-post beta suggestions, thanks SZ!

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." -Albert Einstein

Nexus

Chapter 9

Opening his eyes, he blinked several times and moved his confused gaze around the room, only able to make out a few people as they stood in front of him. When he reached up for what seemed stuck in his mouth he was shocked to see his hands; tied to the bottom of... a mako testing chamber?

Anger and panic began to lead his struggle against the bindings. The lab shot into action in that instant. Sephiroth sank to the bottom of the tank with the water level and unable to grab at the tube in his throat. The loud beeping of a heart monitor began to grow more rapid with the hammering of heart in his chest, a raging panic built up as he flailed weakly. Weakness was something that he never had to deal with because he was the General of Shinra, the strongest Soldier on Gaia.

Quickly opening the tank, a man turned him on to his back, "I'm Doctor Chase, please try to relax while I remove the tube." Wildly, his eyes looked around trying to make sense of the situation. Forcing himself to relax, he wanted to flail out at the doctor in the lab coat, he hated the white lab coats, white walls and white tile floors that signified everything he hated about his childhood.

Once the tube was removed, he coughed up some thick green liquid on the floor of the tank. A lab tech came and gave the doctor a syringe that was injected in his arm muscle.

Hoarsely, the silver-haired man asked, "…Where…am I?" A quick survey of the room made a shiver run through him. Gaia, he hated the man who stood in front of him.

"Just relax please," Hojo insisted.

"Hojo, did you do this? What have you done?" Sephiroth's voice grated out. Trying to clear the irritating feeling deep in his throat, he coughed up more of the thick green liquid.

"My, my, so many questions," Hojo stated, "There will plenty of time for that later. You need rest. Get him to his cell."

Doctor Chase started untying his legs, wrists and removed the monitor leads that covered his upper body. Sapping what little strength he had, he pushed up until he could lean his head against the side of the tank. Realizing he nakedness, he tried to cover himself in a subtle attempt to regain back some control. Lab assistant Burton called Drake and Charles in from the hallway. Picking up his limp and uncooperative body, they carried him over to a gurney that stood at the ready. That was when the cold hit him and Hojo lifted a sheet over his wet body.

Rolling down a hallway, he shivered uncontrollably. The hallway was eerie and he thought that he vaguely knew this place, felt as though he should know this place.

Reaching their destination, he was carried to and placed on an old and sparse cot. The cold started to settle in his bones. Wrapping his arms around himself, he only had a damp sheet; he had no blanket, no clothes and no idea what was going on. Although he would never admit out loud that he was scared, that is what was going on his mind.

Only when he was a small child, while growing up in the labs, was he this frightened. He always knew that he was born of Shinra's manipulation; but he never knew of his birth mother or who his biological father was. He never expressed his feelings of fright to Hojo, because all it accomplished was some new experiment or painful punishment.

Now, laying on his side and lowering his forehead to his drawn up knees, he felt as he did then, afraid and vulnerable. As the sedative took effect, he closed his eyes and let a tear slip past his eye lid.

The water drained from the tank and Cloud was slowly waking. Doctor Chase began the tedious process of getting him out of the tank. The blond just lay there with his eyes closed, feeling both unable and unwilling to move. Behind his mask of sleep he fought, reliving what had brought them to this lab in the first place.

Just being so tired, he just wanted to be left alone, but Drake pulled him from the tank and put him on a gurney despite his unspoken wishes. Peeking through his half-open eyelids, Zack was in the other tank, sleeping, as he floated in his green tinted water.

Closing his eyes again, Cloud shivered against the cold and as he was wheeled back to his cell, he felt a strange feeling the closer he got to it. He shook it off as he did the nightmares and dreams he had while he was unconscious. "Thank you Drake," he said with a small, fragile smile that faded as quickly as it appeared. He remembered how Drake's kind eyes always seemed to want to help them as much as he could.

Trying to remember what happened, all he could recall was getting his mako injections and then he woke up in the tank again. Turning his head to face the wall, he stayed on his back. Squeezing his eyes shut, he battled with a rising sob only because of the repetition of this process. He rolled on to his side and curled up in a ball trying to fend off the cold. Drake came back in the room with a large pile of folded clothes and blankets. Without looking at the silent man, Cloud kept his eyes to the ground, he couldn't look in those kind eyes here; he had to hate this place, and everyone here completely.

Cloud went through the clothes and removed his wet boxers and put the dry clothes on. The strange feeling he had in the hallway had gone away, but he wondered what it could be. Cloud put Zack's clothes on the other bed and then he curled up with both blankets and fell asleep.

Waking up to Zack being brought in, the larger man was still somewhat unconscious, but Cloud asked Drake and Davis as they lay Zack on the other bed, "How long were we in the tanks?"

Of course Drake said nothing but Davis smiled devilishly, "We are not allowed to divulge any information, sweet thing." When Davis winked, Cloud cringed, looking away quickly, not wanting to see the intent behind those empty hazel eyes, he listened as they left.

Going over to his unconscious friend, he wanted to get Zack dressed in the dry clothes and the sooner he did that, the sooner he could cuddle up to the larger man under the blankets and get warm again.

The brunette didn't stir when his legs were pushed off the bed, leaving him lying on his back on the mattress and feet on the cold tile floor. Oddly enough, Cloud almost broke a sweat pulling the wet boxers off of his friend, but trying to wrestle dry boxers on a wet body proved a bit more of a challenge. Standing over the sleeping man, Cloud straddled his outstretched legs as he slowly wiggled the plain white boxers up Zack's thighs. However, Zack didn't help when he chose that moment to move his legs, unbalancing the blond and knocking him over on to his chest. Now face to face, Zack mumbled about not wanting to go to work.

Pushing himself off of the broad chest, Cloud rolled his eyes and mumbled back, "I'm just trying…" with a grunt, he lifted the man's hips with one arm as he yanked up the boxers with the other hand, "…to get you dressed." Standing up, he crossed his arms with a pant and debated on whether or not to finish dressing him, "You're too damn heavy," Scratching his head, he sighed, "But I'm not cuddling with you if you don't have any clothes on." All the rest of the time that Cloud dressed him, Zack groaned and mumbled to leave him alone and getting weakly slapped many more times during the process made the blond smile at his oblivious friend.

When Zack was fully dressed he curled up with him under the blankets. Now that it was quiet, and warmer, he thought of something that scared him; his dream or whatever it was. It seemed so real, so he didn't know whether he should tell Zack or not, he could wait until he woke up and decide then.

Finally waking up, he startled and Cloud woke up when Zack jerked up to sitting. With a groan, he grabbed his head and lay back down. From his back, he asked the boy next to him, "Hey buddy, how ya doing?"

Cloud rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "I'm alright I guess. You?"

"I'm doing okay I suppose," Zack stretched his arms up over his head, "I barely remember coming back to this damn cell." Sitting up, he took his time getting to his feet, "I gotta go to the bathroom." Stopping in the middle of the floor he asked, "What the hell? How…? What…?!"

"What's the matter?" Cloud sat up slowly, yawned loudly and turned to see what his friend was talking about.

Zack was looking down at his shorts, "Well first off, both of my legs are in one leg hole in my shorts." Twisting at his waist, he attempted to look at his rear end, "Second, my underwear is goin' up my ass!" Cloud covered his mouth, but couldn't stifle the laugh. Zack looked up and sounding a tiny bit annoyed, "What? Why are you laughing? It's not that funny," The brunette said as he went into the bathroom.

Cloud continued to laugh and had to tell him what happened, "I did the best I could - I mean you're really not easy to dress - when you're only half conscious!"

Zack stuck his head around the corner, "You mean you did this?" Cloud nodded his head and snickered.

"Well no wonder," Zack laughed a little and then he noticed his wrist was healed. He mulled over his next question and scrunched his face up as he quietly asked, "How long were we in the tanks?" His memories rushed back when he remembered Cloud's impromptu surgery. Coming out of the bathroom, he sat down next to Cloud and without saying anything to his blond friend, he pushed him back a little and lifted the front of the blonde's shirt and looked at his belly.

Cloud got an odd look on his face, furrowed his eyebrows and twisted his lips in slight indignation as Zack looked his abdomen over and answered absentmindedly, "Don't know, they didn't tell me anything." Leaning back a bit more, he looked at Zack and with curious annoyance asked, "What are you looking for?"

Zack pointed to two dusky scars that dipped smoothly on his stomach, "Remember after the mako injections?" Cloud nodded, "Well Hojo operated on you and put a couple of things in there."

Cloud sat up straight, pulled at his skin and looked closer, "What? What things?!" His breathing increased.

Zack moved to sit with his back against the wall, looking at his friend's profile, "Some metal thing that was square and a red thing. I don't know what they were. He didn't tell me anything, I just got to watch." Zack put his hand on Cloud's back and tried to lighten the mood, if only just a little, "I wish I could tell you that he put a genie in there. Then all I would have to do is rub your belly and a genie would pop out of your ass and we could get out of here," Zack smiled and patted his back.

Cloud looked over his shoulder at him, "A genie? Really? Get serious Zack." Cloud ran his fingers over the scars and he thought he could feel something hard just under his skin. Making himself relax, he leaned back on the wall next to Zack and he wondered what was next. What else could Hojo do? Turn them into the creatures that were in those pods at the reactor. His body shuddered at the thought of what was done to him and he had no control at all, unconsciously, his fingers outlined the gentle scars. His mind went back to the dream though. A few minutes later Cloud got his friend's attention, "I want to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what's up?" Zack clapped his hands and rubbed them together to warm them.

"Well, while we were in the tanks, I had a dream. Well I guess it was a dream. I don't know what it means, but it felt so real," Cloud's eyes filled with worry and apprehension, "It scares me and I'm afraid of what it means."

"Wait…What are you scared of?" Zack tensed when he sat up and clenched his fists. Cloud dropped his eyes, and didn't say anything. Zack grabbed his shoulders and turned him, "What is it Cloud?"

Cloud averted his gaze again and then lowered his voice to a soft whisper that Zack almost couldn't hear, "Jenova."

Still on his bed when the sedatives wore off, he was still cold and shivering violently, despite the thin sheet. Slowly standing up, he looked around the cell. It was a bare room with cold white tile walls and floors, the unfortunate quintessential laboratory holding cell.

Walking around, he inspected his new prison, it was as welcoming as any other holding cell could be. Going into the bathroom, he felt light headed and weakened again. Leaning on the bathroom counter, he closed his eyes and felt like he was in the hallway that he had been in earlier.

For some reason, he felt scared and sleepy again. Squeezing his eyes shut tighter, he thought he could see a door in his mind. Raising his hands to his head, he let out a groan. There was something else, but he couldn't quite grasp what the other thing was. The door in his mind opened and then there was nothing. The vision stopped and he noticed that he had fallen to his knees.

Hanging his head, he noticed something odd, an enormous scar half way around his body. What battle did he get that, it wasn't any scar that he remembered getting. Not that he had many, but every scratch and every injury he ever got, he knew when, where and who it was that inflicted them. This one wasn't known to him, no battle, no training accident, nothing. With a quivering hand, he traced it with his fingers, as his trembling voice asked, "What is happening?"

In the morning, the door opened and Davis and Charles came in, "Alright boys, time to go."

Sarcasm came easily for Zack and he was able to wield it as well as any sword, "You mean you're letting us go?"

"Real funny Fair. It may surprise you, but off to the lab you go," Davis spoke up.

"Figures," Cloud remained straight-faced.

"And here I was gonna put you on my Christmas card mailing list," Zack retorted.

"Shut up Fair. Let's go," Davis ordered.

Zack stood and tensed his shoulders and flexed his fists and his stance inferred to Cloud that they were in for a fight. As soon as Davis was close enough, Zack planted his fist right on his nose. With Davis going down holding his nose, he went for Charles.

Seeing the attack coming, Charles braced himself, but still got a punch to the side of his face knocking him to the side away from the door he was blocking. Grabbing a handful of the guard's hair, he pulled up a bit on his head and shot an elbow down hard on the back of his neck, knocking Charles out cold. Davis was up by then and threw a punch at Zack, making contact right above his eye. Davis's punch didn't stop Zack's forward momentum though, as the former Soldier moved like a speeding train. With the boost of speed, an elbow went to his target's face sending the guard back to the floor. From behind the hand that held his bleeding nose, Davis cursed, "Motherfucker!"

Now there was nothing standing between them and the open door, Zack peeked out to the hall. Clear of anyone, he and Cloud closed and locked the door behind him, leaving Davis and Charles in the cell. One of the sweetest sights was in front of him, a sign that pointed to the exit.

Darting across the hall with Cloud close behind him, Zack froze and they flattened themselves against the wall. Two soldiers were coming around the corner to get to their post, Lawrence and another soldier he hadn't seen before. Zack glanced over his shoulder at Cloud and mouthed the question, "Ready?"

Not having to think long about his answer; a single curt nod, Cloud followed Zack as they stayed close to the wall and quietly made their way toward the clueless soldiers. Too busy talking to each other, they didn't see them approaching, fast. Zack got to them first and quickly reached out his hands to the backs of their heads. In a strange and humorous attack, he bashed their heads together and then he took the bigger guy on the left.

Cloud took Lawrence, making contact with a left, the blond followed up with a right. Sending Lawrence back into the wall, the smaller brunette infantry soldier slid to the floor.

Zack got hit on the side of his neck with the baton as the bigger guy fell back. Instinctively, Zack grabbed at his neck, but still rolled over and pinned down the soldier by his throat and asked for his keys. The guy reached down to his belt and pulled the keys off of the detachable loop. Zack looked at his name tag and said, "Thanks…Private Stringer. You're gonna give us a good 20 minutes before you call this in right? Cause I would hate to have to kill you right here." Stringer nodded his head yes vigorously, "Good boy," After Zack patted the top of the downed guard's head; he handcuffed him to the unconscious Lawrence.

They took off through the door into the long cavern that led to the stairs. Puzzled, Cloud spoke first, "We're underground? No wonder it's so damn cold."

Zack searched the area for a way out and said, "I just want to get out of here. We'll worry about that later." Finding some stairs, they sprinted up and into the mansion.

Cloud shook his head and asked what was on both of their minds, "We're still in Nibelheim?!"

Hearing a noise, Zack turned and saw Cloud go face down on the top of the stairs. Davis was already putting restraints around Cloud's wrists behind him. The large guard pulled out a baton and pointed at Cloud. Blood dripped from Davis' face to the front of his shirt, covering a large portion of the material.

Then from behind Zack, a fist knocked him down the first few stairs. With a knee and an arm from another guard, someone managed to pin his wrists and slapped some handcuffs on him. Looking over his shoulder, Zack saw Harper with a satisfied grin.

Back down the stairs, going back toward the labs, Davis stretched his arm out and shoved Cloud into the wall as they walked. The side of Cloud's head contacted the wall, "Oh, sorry about that," Davis wore his smirk well.

"What the hell was that?!" Zack yelled, but Davis ignored him.

He took Cloud into the lab and strapped him on to his table. In the struggle to get him on the table it caused Davis to pinch his finger in one of the restraints. Davis back-handed him across the face. Leaning over to Cloud's ear, he whispered, "I'll be seeing you later." Buckling the chest restraint, a smile crossed his face that any pervert would be proud of.

Hojo turned and eyed Davis and with a firm and rigid tone, the professor warned, "That will be quite enough of that." All Cloud could do was wiggle in his restraints as his frustration and disgust filled the air. Davis just laughed as he walked out of the room. The soldiers walked Zack past Cloud to the other table.

"Well Z, you haven't been acting up again have you?" Hojo asked with a steely smile.

Zack raised his head so he could make eye contact with Hojo. Pure hatred and loathing shot out of his eyes through his mussed black spikes.

Hojo laughed out loud and it sent chills down Cloud's spine, "Well while you two were sleeping, a most interesting result in our project occurred. Now I will be taking my project in a different direction," Hojo leaned into Cloud's face, "You displayed certain abilities and I will be studying this a little closer."

He began struggling on the table again, "Why can't you just leave us alone? I just want to go home-" Stopping short at what he had said, he lowered his eyes from Hojo's and swallowed the tears back. Zack glanced over at him and a lump filled his throat.

Hojo laughed again and nodded to the techs and they retrieved the mako syringes, "Because you both misbehaved so grievously, you will both get a double dose of your injections."

Sephiroth lay in a ball trying to conserve as much heat as possible. The door opened and a large man with dirty blond hair walked in with a pile of clothing. Seeing that he brought clothing, the man sat up and held the bed so that his spinning head didn't knock him to the floor. What he really wanted to do was jump up and kill the man, but he just didn't have the strength.

Instead of attacking, he used what weapon he still had, the hardened face of a war machine, but the deathly glare won him nothing but silence.

Not getting the resulting fear from the man that he had wanted, Sephiroth decided to recede his glare and broke the silence and questioned the man who stood in the doorway, "What do I call you?"

Drake pointed to his name badge and took a step forward.

Standing slowly, he reached out to take the clothes and coldly asked, "Drake? Well, Drake, can you tell me where-?"

Drake watched as the prisoner suddenly collapsed on the floor, harshly writhing in pain. Sitting down next to him, Drake stayed with him until he ceased screaming.

As the pain started subsiding he opened his unique eyes, again wondering where he was until he remembered waking up in front of the mad scientist while in a tank and being taken to a less than welcoming cell. A warm hand wrapped around his pale arm and he recoiled from the silent guard.

Still clutching his clothing to his chest, he scurried back, a fear he hadn't ever felt before, a fear that wasn't his own, harbored in his gut as he fought away the tears of pain and fright. His once stern voice that made men tremble in horror now shook and he questioned like a fearful, beaten child would have asked, "W-Why is this ha-happening?"

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*