Sephiroth actually fished out some notebooks from somewhere and handed them to Genesis and Angeal with instructions to take notes as they got the game started up.

"Doesn't the great General Sephiroth have an eidetic memory?" Genesis asked haughtily. He still took the notebook. The General didn't even bother to roll his eyes in response. Instead, he fished out the snacks they had left there yesterday. The pile was rather depleted, but the fact that he'd kept them all seemed to amuse Angeal.

Again, Sephiroth ignored his friend and simply set the food on the table before sitting down and taking up the controller. Then they focused on the screen as the picture faded back into the clearing around Aerith's house.

Sephiroth walked Cloud inside, where they saw Elmyra standing with her back to them. She spoke first and the SOLDIERS read along as the group told her about Aeris' (Aerith's?) kidnapping. (Which still didn't make complete sense. If the Turks were watching her, why would they kidnap her?)

"They took her from the house?" Genesis asked, frowning.

"She got there awfully fast," Angeal commented. "The fight under the pillar didn't take that long."

"More game logic?" Sephiroth postulated.

Genesis snorted and Angeal smiled. "You're probably not wrong," the latter said.

They remained silent as Elmyra spoke of Aeris as an Ancient, the only living one, apparently, and then explained what an Ancient is through stories. How she, Aeris' adopted mother (which really made a lot of sense) met the girl and her uncanny ability to know things she probably shouldn't. That no one should…

"So…" Angeal said, his voice sounding a little thick, as if he were still processing, "Ancients can speak to the planet?"

"Do people's souls return to the planet when they die?" Sephiroth heard himself ask, because the game certainly implied that. He'd heard the theory before, but Hojo had dismissed it as nonsense… Then again, Hojo tended to dismiss a lot of things as nonsense.

Neither of the other two seemed to have an answer for him.

"Ancients will lead us to a land of happiness…" Angeal muttered, reading what was on the screen.

"'Us?' Or 'ShinRa?'" Genesis asked dryly.

Sephiroth swallowed the response that came immediately to mind. 'Is there a difference?' Apparently yes, yes there was.

"She will bring happiness to the Slums?" the red-head continued derisively. "Please. If the President somehow wants her to lead them to this 'land of happiness', he won't care about the slums."

"Genesis," Angeal said, voice warning.

"My jammer is still on."

Which worried Sephiroth about yesterday, actually… but then, he was sure he could negotiate with the Turks. Especially with this game…

"Why didn't they just take Aeris and… silence Elmyra?" Sephiroth asked. It would have been fairly easy, even if that thought did make Sephiroth uncomfortable. Especially if they were referring to a real person and not just some rendition on a projection screen.

The other two SOLDIERS turned to look at him, Angeal looking horrified, Genesis looking thoughtful.

"They must need her cooperation," the shortest of the three of them mused.

That made sense, Sephiroth supposed, although there were other ways to procure her cooperation.

Almost as if in response to his thought…

"Marlene survived!" Angeal said with a release of breath indicating his relief. So Sephiroth wasn't the only one who seemed to be getting unnaturally attached to these character (and possibly real life) representations…

Barrett went upstairs and Sephiroth guided Cloud to speak to Elmyra again, which started an entirely new conversation

"What?" Genesis asked, shocked. "They're going to try and break her out… of ShinRa? Are they crazy?"

"I think… many of them have proven desperate enough to seem so," Sephiroth pointed out.

The other two conceded the point with silence.

Eventually, the game more or less told them they needed to go to Wall Market again. With a wary glance between the three of them (and with Sephiroth trying not to remember his venture there the previous night), they set off.

The next half hour of gameplay consisted of Sephiroth trying to find a way up to the Plate while Genesis scoffed at the inaccuracies and unbelievability of the game. He seemed to be trying particularly hard…

Sephiroth didn't blame him. The idea that the game could represent real events (from the future) was an… unsettling one, and likely not the answer anyway, so he didn't have any problems with the red-head's comments.

Eventually, they (rather ridiculously – seriously, climbing and swinging on rubble?) got up to the Plate and stood in front of the Shinra building. Sephiroth walked them up to the front doors and the save point.

Genesis snorted. "They're already on the cameras."

The characters began to talk again before he could get to the save point, annoyingly.

"He doesn't know the building?" Genesis asked, frowning. "If he were a third class, or even a second I could understand that, but unless everything changed drastically…"

Sephiroth agreed. After all, they were in the ShinRa building now.

"At least Barrett seems to know what he's talking about," the red-head continued, still frowning. "Which… actually worries me a little."

Having an Eco-terrorist know even that much about the building was… a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't as if it were a secret either. Levels above 60 required pass cards. Still, that a former SOLDIER wouldn't know that, but his terrorist friend did… maybe that was what bothered him about it. The inconsistency. It didn't seem to be an overlooked inconsistency, but a purposeful one. Like there was something to all of Cloud's contradictions.

And he had many of them.

Sephiroth vaguely wondered if the 'real' Cloud had such inconsistencies… perhaps he'd have to arrange a meeting?

"The security is light?" Genesis had gone back to scoffing. "They just dropped a plate. If they don't have security, it's a trap."

"Or game logic," Sephiroth pointed out.

"I refused to suspend my disbelief that far. If this isn't a trap, it's a flaw."

"Then take the stairs," Angeal said, agreeing with Tifa.

"I know the stairs they speak of. Surely it isn't that easy to get into the ShinRa building…" Genesis started strong but faded off at the end, glancing at Sephiroth unsurely.

"Perhaps one of us should… go and verify?" the silver-haired man suggested.

Silence met his words. Then Angeal sighed. "I'll go do it. You two keep playing, but be ready to explain everything once I get back."

With that, he turned and walked out of the apartment.

Sephiroth looked to Genesis once the door closed. The commander nodded and they turned back to the game.

Naturally, Sephiroth took the stairs.

And had to move Cloud up every. Single. Flight.

It was almost as exhausting to watch them climb like that as it would be to actually take the stairs.

"Well, this is monotonous," Genesis muttered, folding his arms in a huff.

"Indeed," Sephiroth agreed.

It took them far too long to reach the top. And when they did, the guards on that floor were nothing short of incompetent.

"That… isn't completely accurate," Genesis said, sounding uneasy.

Sephiroth agreed because while it wasn't completely accurate, it wasn't inaccurate either. More support for the leak.

He pushed further on into the building, because, of course, they just happened to find a keycard to level 60. Convenient.

"They've set this up to let us win," Sephiroth muttered.

Genesis scoffed. "Of course they did. People wouldn't play it otherwise."

The General didn't say anything, but he did frown. This felt too much like manipulation to him. People leaving certain clues instead of letting him find out for himself. He much preferred the real world.

After a moment of thinking about that, he turned to Genesis and held the controller out. "We should all take turns," he said calmly.

His friend blinked at him, then looked down at the controller, then back up at Sephiroth. Then he shrugged.

"Very well."

And they forged on.

xXx

The building was full of far more puzzles and connected air vents than the real building (this one Sephiroth knew from experience – he'd grown up on these floors, after all). Also, the man watching the cameras seemed to be conveniently falling asleep. How far the discipline of the company had fallen was nothing short of appalling.

Genesis found the timing of the guards (something that was somewhat decent at least) to be very frustrating, but they eventually got past it. No sooner had they then Angeal came back in looking a little pale.

They paused the game and looked to him expectantly.

"Yes," he said quietly. "There is a door around the back and it was easy to open… I couldn't see any cameras."

The other two SOLDIERS stared at him for several seconds.

Then Genesis said what they were all thinking. "I take it back. Our company is incompetent even now."

That would change.

Very soon.

Angeal came back to sit between them, grabbing a snack on the way and ripping it open. Sephiroth and Genesis watched him worriedly for a few moments, but just waved them on.

"What happened while I was gone?" he asked.

"We climbed stairs, found a key card and made it to level 61," Sephiroth explained. "Also, I gave the controller to Genesis."

Angeal blinked. "Oh? Why?"

Sephiroth didn't want to explain how annoying he found it currently. He was sure that feeling would fade soon anyway, so he shrugged. "No reason. We should just take turns is all."

"I'm talking to these people," Genesis cut in, "and they aren't even remotely aware that there was a fight on the floor below. This is ridiculous."

Well, they actually found one person who knew about the hubub below… but Sephiroth couldn't help but feel more and more appalled, because this was not a very secure security system.

Then they ran into more useless puzzles.

"Why would half of these requirements be necessary?" Sephiroth asked. Sorting books… really?

"I was thinking the same thing," Angeal said with a shrug.

"To keep it interesting, perhaps?" Genesis said.

Well, it wasn't succeeding. Sephiroth was just getting annoyed.

They eventually got to the next floor, ran into ShinRa propaganda (no surprise there… although why they would have propaganda in the game, Sephiroth didn't know. Also coupons and doors and…

"This is a little ridiculous," Angeal said. Then he popped the last of his snack into his mouth.

It took them another twenty minutes to get past the next few floors and to level 65.

"Their knowledge of supposedly secret layouts is a little… worrying," Angeal said. "The game designers, I mean."

"We were just talking about that before you came back," Genesis said as he looked around for what his next puzzle would be.

Instead, he found a bathroom.

And a vent.

That connected to the vent above one of the main board rooms…

The three SOLDIERS looked at each other.

"I'm playing," Genesis said.

"I went on the last one," Angeal pointed out.

Sephiroth sighed. It would take him maybe ten minutes to check that out. "Very well," he said.

"Why don't we see where this leads first?" Genesis asked.

Sephiroth shrugged and relaxed back against the couch again. He knew he wasn't the only one who had complained about the smell in said board room before… and that worried him.

They watched as Reeve read off a report of 10 billion gil for the drop of the sector 7 plate. Sephiroth could believe it. Actually, if anything, it sounded a little on the low side. The cost to actually rebuild it would be even more.

As if reading his thoughts, the camera switched to inside the room as Reeve began on that very subject only to be interrupted by the president.

"What?" Angeal and Genesis asked at the same time. Sephiroth too felt some shock. Why wouldn't the president want to try and sweep this all under the rug like he usually did?

He said something about the 'Neo-Midgar' plan. Angeal and Sephiroth exchanged glances. Neither one of them had heard anything about that. Of course, that didn't mean anything, but this could easily just be something made up for the game.

Then Reeve said something about the Ancients.

"Aerith?" Angeal asked, sounding a bit worried.

This time Sephiroth glanced over at his friend with a frown on his face. He was reacting to this as if it were true…. Although it would make sense for ShinRa to want to capture Aerith – Aeris, he mentally corrected himself – if they had an actual plan for her. A little too much sense for him to be comfortable with where the game seemed to be going. Although why she would be some key to everything he couldn't fathom.

"The Promised land?" Genesis asked, then turned to the other two. "Have either of you heard anything of the like?"

The two SOLDIERS shook their heads.

"Not outside of the game,"Angeal said.

Genesis frowned and continued to play.

Palmer asked for money from a rate hike. The President practically ignored him. Actually, Sephiroth was surprised Reeve would be included in any funds that came back from the rate hike. Urban Development was notoriously underfunded and he couldn't see that changing any time soon. And this had to be some time within the next couple of years for all the board members to be the same.

Although…

"Where is Lazard?" he asked. The other to paused and looked between him and the screen.

"You're right," Angeal muttered. "And Hojo isn't there either."

"Game inaccuracies, or potential prophecy?" Genesis asked dramatically. Sephiroth wished he could roll his eyes at that proclamation.

Of course, Heidegger laughed and endorsed the rate hike, simply for having a rate hike. Well, they'd gotten his character down, in any case. Sephiroth tended to find the man… mediocre at best. He was rarely at his best. Why the President kept him around Sephiroth didn't know. He wasn't incompetent, per se, but he wasn't the best for the job of running the army either. He was a creature of habit and hadn't updated more or less any of his policies regarding the military for years.

And right about then, almost as if to spite them, Hojo walked onto the screen.

Sephiroth stopped his lip from curling, but it was a near thing.

Then the President asked him how the girl was doing and the General winced in sympathy. Empathy, actually. He doubted she'd had a pleasant stay at the ShinRa building.

Then he reminded himself that she was just a representation and a grouping of pixels and nothing more.

The ability for the game to suck even him in like that was… disturbing. Once they turned it over to the Turks, he'd have to mention that. He didn't know how someone could program a game to do that, but it would be something worth looking into.

The fact that there were just too many true facts about the game had something to do with it too…

Hojo sprouted off some information about how Aeris was 'inferior' to her mother. Sephiroth thought back to the little girl crying beside a woman when Elmyra found her. He wondered if there was any way to check that story without being too invasive…

The game designers had gotten Hojo's mannerisms down too. How he spoke about everyone as if they were simply subjects of his experiments, how clinical and cold he was regarding them, and yet how passionate he could be about the results of the experiments. About how they wouldn't be able to finish research within their or 'the specimen's' lifetime…

Not many people had met Hojo. Few wanted to remember when they had. The fact that they had his character down so well was probably the most worrying of just about anything they'd come across so far.

He almost wished he'd just gone to check the vent.

Especially when Hojo went on about 'breeding' her. He didn't like the idea of breeding monsters, let alone regular animals or humans. It hit too close to home. Any child resulting from that would be raised just as he had been… and he wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well, maybe Hojo, but somehow he didn't think that would do much to change the scientist's outlook on life. Or lack thereof.

"Is Hojo really like this?" Angeal asked softly.

Sephiroth didn't look at them. He didn't want to see the pity that would undoubtedly be there.

"You've met him," was all he said.

"You're making me rather glad that my main physician and scientist is Hollander… although he's little better, I must say."

"He just has a better mask," Sephiroth muttered. He didn't think highly of scientists.

The fact that neither of the other two disputed it probably said too much in and of itself.

The President came back to the Promised Land. Hojo gave off his usual non-answer that the President tended to accept as answers…

"This… has reached an entirely new level of scarily accurate…" Genesis said softly, all of his bravado gone. Out of the corner of his eye, Sephiroth saw Angeal nod slowly in agreement.

"Just what have we stumbled onto?" the dark-haired SOLDIER asked, his tone matching his friend's.

Sephiroth just shook his head, eyes never leaving the screen as the President dismissed the board meeting. "No," he said, his voice firm and even a little angry. "What was mailed to me?" Because he'd found it in a package addressed to him. There was something very wrong with all of this, and someone wanted him, specifically, to know. They'd timed it perfectly, so he'd receive it when he could actually get around to trying it out, had taken advantage of him and likely his relationship to his friends and specifically Angeal's protege.

This was a message, meant for him.

But why?

Part of him wasn't sure he wanted to find out. He had a bad feeling about this… but nothing actually substantial enough for him to take seriously. This wasn't a battlefield and he could do very little on a 'gut feeling'. That didn't stop him from bracing for something that would expose secrets likely better left buried.

He felt as if whoever had made this game wanted to simply lay things out bare before them… and while part of him could appreciate and respect that, he didn't know what would be so terrible that even he didn't have access to the information.

And HOW did these people get it?!

As Genesis backed Cloud out of the vent, Sephiroth stood. "I will go and check on that," he said, perhaps a little tersely. Neither Angeal or Genesis stopped him, simply watching him walk away. He couldn't help but appreciate that.

Ten minutes later, he walked off the elevator and back to his room, his unease only increasing. He unlocked his door and let himself in to see the other two look up at him.

"Well?" Genesis asked, having gone back to droll and uncaring. Sephiroth could see the tension in his shoulders, though.

The silver-haired man simply nodded as he walked back to take his seat again.

"What happened?" he asked, still short but unable to really bring himself to be anything else right now.

Angeal nodded to Genesis, who continued to play as the former explained. "We followed Hojo to the 66th floor. Cloud said he'd never met the man," he continued. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at that. Unless things changed drastically, or he was somehow put under Hollander's care, Hojo would have at least looked over a potential SOLDIER once… Cloud's story was getting more and more suspicious.

His friend hadn't paused, although he had certainly noticed Sephiroth's skepticism. "We fought some battles, found a 'specimen' of Hojo's that isn't Aerith and now," he looked over at the screen, frowning, "Cloud seems to be having an issue with whatever is in that tank."

They watched as the game flashed a glimpse of whatever it held.

"Was that a body?" Angeal asked, sounding a little disturbed.

"It… looked like it…" Genesis said.

"But it didn't look… human," Sephiroth pointed out, feeling similarly uneasy.

"Headless, definitely, and female," the red-head said.

"And apparently still alive?" Angeal said, sounding incredulous. Sephiroth agreed. But, according to the game, it wasn't.

"Even Hojo couldn't keep something like that alive," Genesis scoffed. Neither of the other two pointed out how it sounded a little forced.

Agreeing to not speak of it again for now, they moved on, finding some more materia and a save point.

At which point, Genesis decided to announce to the room, as he stood, his need for the restroom. Sephiroth appreciated his way of breaking the tension at least, but neither he nor Angeal wanted to speak on it, so they just sat there in quiet while they listened to the game music and waited for Genesis to return.

Once he did, they played on.

xXx

AN: Because I've had many people ask, I'll say that we probably won't get many (if any) of Zack's reactions from this fic. I'm thinking about writing a companion fic with him on the side because I do have all of his reactions down... but we definitely are going to get the aftermath. *evil grin here* But, probably not for a while. We have too many revelations with this game to get through first. *ahem*

Even though I didn't make it in time for the contest, I'm still going to finish my webcomic, so if you'd like to head over to Webtoons and look up HACamp as an author, then 'Hope for Scars', you can see the new episode. :)