Sephiroth buckled the straps on his boots with practiced ease. It still felt like it took forever, but he was determined to be presentable. The Silver General (the monster Hojo had made) never went into battle unkempt, after all.
(Not a battle, a slaughter.)
"Sephiroth?" Angeal asked slowly.
He didn't answer, merely going for his coat, suddenly feeling so… fragile? Like glass? No, more like a molotov cocktail… a lit molotov cocktail; or a heated beaker of something highly corrosive. He despised that feeling and just couldn't bring himself to answer anymore. He wasn't sure what would happen if he opened his mouth, but it felt as if what remained of the world (and his sanity) would shatter.
Genesis didn't say anything. That actually said more than any words he could have uttered.
"Sir?" Zack said slowly when no one spoke for several seconds as Sephiroth continued to get ready.
(Funny how he felt so disconnected, as if going through everything on autopilot).
Reunion.
He paused.
"Sir?!" Zack said again, causing Sephiroth to shake his head, and consequently the irritating voice, away.
He didn't answer as he finished buckling his coat.
He heard Angeal whisper to Genesis. "Shouldn't we stop him?"
The red-head snorted. "Stop him? From running seven feet of overcompensation through Hojo's disgustingly shriveled, black heart? Why? I've half a mind to follow him and finish off Hollander while we're at it."
Another time, Sephiroth may have reacted (favorably even) to those words, but he did not have the presence of mind to comprehend much beyond a brief surge of gratitude for their support and his goal. Angeal should probably change his slippers into actual shoes first, though.
"SIR!" Zack admonished, standing quickly from his already half-raised position (something that did catch Sephiroth's eye because one was supposed to remain aware of their surroundings in a war zone), and glaring at Genesis.
The Commander looked something between amused and annoyed. "What? We won't let him go down there alone. And if you'd like to try and stop him, be my guest."
That… did break through the emotionless shield that seemed to have fallen over his brain. For a moment, he felt inordinately warm, pleased at his friends' willingness to deploy with him.
Then Masamune was in his hand again and he turned for the exit.
He did manage to note Zack's disappointed scowl, directed at Angeal of all people, before the boy did something incredibly stupid: he moved—jumped between an advancing, armed General Sephiroth and the door. Arms folded, he fixed his hard gaze on his superior officer, mouth set defiantly. With a strangled protest, Angeal tried to lunge after, but Genesis held him back.
Sephiroth couldn't seem to comprehend much more than 'obstacle, friendly, do not eliminate'.
Finally, he managed to speak. "Zack. Move."
He expected the boy to realize what he'd done and jump aside. He didn't expect that scowl to deepen.
"No."
Angeal made another aborted noise.
Again, Sephiroth's brain seemed to malfunction. It couldn't seem to make sense of the… the defiance. He'd refused. No one refused him. No one refused General Sephiroth. Especially one of his own men. Not when he'd used that voice.
He did not grit his teeth, but it was a near thing.
"That is an order," he went on, voice lowering dangerously.
And yet, incomprehensibly, the boy didn't so much as twitch. "I refuse," he said, voice strong and sure. "You can Court-martial me."
And that also managed to break through what Sephiroth had come to realize was his battle shell—shoving his emotions and anything else that could compromise a mission behind a wall in his mind. Few things could really do much to the shell until he was positive the battle had ended. And yet, Zack had done just that.
It hurt, Sephiroth realized. His ally was defending the enemy.
This time, he did clench his teeth. Off to the side, he saw Angeal try to push Genesis away, looking between his friend and pupil worriedly. Surprisingly, the red-head managed to keep hold of his much larger friend.
"You would protect them?" Sephiroth practically hissed, feeling his anger begin to boil over his emotional shell. He figured he could count Hollander in that, because Genesis had been right.
However, Zack surprised him again when he spat back, angrily. "No! I'm protecting you and every other SOLDIER in this company!"
Sephiroth felt his anger sputter, leaving him more surprised and confused.
Angeal uttered a small 'oh' and finally managed to shake off Genesis's loosened (bewildered) grip. "Zack," he said slowly, walking forward with his hands up, placating. "We can take care of ourselves. And honestly, none of us mind because we've already discussed leaving the company."
To the Silver General's surprise, the sixteen-year-old rounded on his mentor heatedly. "You can, but what about the rest of us? If you three leave, you'll more or less take the entire SOLDIER program with you! You know that, right?"
Wait… did he think they wanted to leave their SOLDIERs behind? Confused, Sephiroth exchanged glances with Angeal before looking back at the Second.
"Yes, Zack," the larger brunet said slowly, carefully. "That would be one of the more desirable outcomes…."
Instead of placating the boy he just looked more upset. "Oh, for…" he muttered, rolling his eyes up before looking back at them, pinning Sephiroth and then Angeal with his gaze. "And then what?"
This time Sephiroth glanced at Genesis to see if he was able to understand more of this than either he or Angeal could. The red-head just seemed to be watching with an intensely interested expression. So, no help there. Sephiroth's frown deepened.
"Zack," Angeal started again, but his protege interrupted.
"It sounds like you want to take over 300 people with you when you leave ShinRa and go… where, exactly? Kalm? Junon? Mideel? Fort Condor? The wilderness? And I'm sure all SOLDIERs just picking up their belongings and marching out of the building will work great. Or were you planning on sneaking all SOLDIERs—half of which couldn't sneak if you gave them years of training by the way—out by night? Over weeks? Or even more slowly–increasing the chance of the company catching on and ruining everything for everyone left over? Or maybe all at once in a big statement would work after all! I'm sure no one would mind and that wouldn't start violence.
"I mean, seriously! Do you think ShinRa will take that lying down? How will the three of you protect everyone who follows you from the Air Force? Or the Turks? Or even the regular infantry?"
He barely paused for breath before he barreled on. "And let's just say, for argument's sake, that we're able to defeat all of that, which given who we are, fair, but how many people will die? Not just the SOLDIERS, but the infantry too? Last I checked, Cloud is in the infantry! He stayed there in the other timeline! Half their ranks are innocent children my age or younger. But I suppose it's fine that we completely slaughter them all without looking into any other way to do this because we're angry and we don't know them. It's fine, right?"
He took a breath before going on, minus the sarcasm that had sneaked in.
"You want your freedom, I get that. Believe me, I do. You deserve that. We deserve that. But there will be consequences if we rush in, and the price of freedom is too steep if it's paid with other people's lives! Especially when we have to take away their choices! I saw where that leads, and I refuse to go there! Never again. I want to be able to live with myself and not have the deaths of at least three companies on my conscience because we were just trying to survive! I just wanted my friend and I to be able to live, away from being experimented on. Trying to fulfill my dream. If you don't think this through, how many people will you be indirectly sentencing to death? With all due respect, sirs, I thought the point of leaving ShinRa was to keep from becoming Monsters!" he finished with a yell, making all three of the Firsts flinch.
Angeal often complained (fondly) that Zack was a talker. He liked to interact and seemed to dislike long silences but that… had to be the longest, most impactful thing Sephiroth had ever heard the boy say. He wasn't the only one staring in utter shock at the Second, who still stood in front of the door with his arms now down by his sides, breathing heavily. Honestly, he looked about ready to fight each and every one of the Firsts if he had to.
This boy.
For several seconds, no one spoke. Sephiroth had let his own arm fall to his side, barely keeping Masamune off the floor (because he would never disgrace her like that, no matter how taken aback he was) and no one besides Zack seemed to dare to even breathe.
Then Genesis had to smash through the ice like a tank. He snorted in amusement. "So, the Puppy has bark, bite, and a metaphorical buster sword," he muttered.
For some reason, Zack flinched at that, but he didn't say anything.
Angeal shot his friend an annoyed glare before he put his hands up again (to be fair, they'd only lowered a little in Angeal's own shock). "Okay, Zack, you've made your point. But what do you think we should do then? We can't continue like this, answering to the people who have…" he faded off, not seeming to know how to describe the ShinRa Board without using expletives—which would be far too dishonorable… or may escalate the situation, Sephiroth realized. Oh.
Fortunately, Genesis had no such problem. "People who think they own us because we represent an investment to them; a sum of money and nothing more, despite being living, breathing, sapient beings."
The larger SOLDIER next to him cringed a little but nodded sadly. "I wouldn't have put it like that, but… you're not wrong."
Genesis scoffed. "Of course I'm not."
Zack threw his hands in the air, drawing attention back to him. "You guys don't get it! We can't leave without more or less starting a world war, no matter what's gone down with Wutai by then! At the very least, the Turks will come after us, and we all know they don't fight fair. They'll bioengineer a weapon that'll wipe us all out in our sleep or hit a bunch of SOLDIERS from above with machine gun fire or rockets or bombs. That's what I mean when I say war!
"Don't get me wrong, I'll do it, if that's what it comes down to. Sometimes people have to fight for their freedom. But that's just it. Right now, we don't have to! If we plan it right we may never have to fight to the death–might be able to make it so no one has to! But the only choice we have that saves lives right now, likely including our own, is to change the company from the inside."
Once again, the room fell into silence. Sephiroth could only stare and blink because did he… actually think they could hope to do that?
Had Sephiroth ever been that naive? It didn't feel like it. Yes, he knew they'd thought about changing the company from the inside before, discussed it–earlier while playing the game even, but the more they found out about ShinRa, the less plausible it seemed. Yet, Zack had seen as much as they had–arguably more–and he still believed….
Thankfully, Genesis spoke up before Sephiroth did. "As sweet as your idea is, we don't sit on the ShinRa board. We have very little power when it comes to that… or anything about our lives really. Ironic."
The truth of his words stung in a sad sort of way.
Zack just seemed frustrated. "I don't know. I mean, right now we can probably get Lazard on our side and probably Reeve too. We can get a voice on the board."
Genesis rolled his eyes, looking thoroughly done with the situation. "Oh yes, the two least influential directors. Wonderful."
Zack went to say something back, opening his mouth, but Genesis went on, beating him to it. "Besides, what does that have to do with Sephiroth not utterly obliterating his sperm donor?" Harsh but accurate and a good question.
It just made the Second angry again. "And how many other people will die when they try to get in—or even just accidentally stumble into—the way? Even if no one does, what kind of light will this put on SOLDIER, both outside and inside ShinRa?" His eyes locked with Sephiroth's. "You are the face of the company, sir, and more, the face of SOLDIER. With all of the bad publicity this could land us in, not just ShinRa as a whole, the public would demand action. ShinRa would throw us under the bus in a heartbeat and they could shut the SOLDIER program down. Or find some way to restrain us! Or both!"
Genesis scoffed. "How, exactly?"
Zack's expression cooled significantly. It was all the more shocking for being so out of place on such a normally bright, expressive face.
"Off the top of my head? Sneak something into our medical treatments—something to mess with our nerves like a spinal pinch that they have a remote to—or maybe nothing so subtle. An explosive chip inside our bodies would be pretty conclusive. Or maybe a collar that we can't remove without injecting us with poisons that can kill SOLDIER? Not every SOLDIER could stand up to a large-scale attack, so prisoners executed if we don't follow orders? And how would we come off to the public if we let that happen to our own men?! No better than ShinRa!
"Honestly, I'd bet on something biological or poisonous, though. They like sweeping everything under the rug. And I know those kinds of poisons exist." He sounded so… bitter. And that bitterness wasn't just directed at the company.
Angeal looked horrified. "Of course we know those poisons exist, but they're classified… where did you hear about them? Or even get those ideas, Zack?"
The Second's voice had calmed somewhat, but Sephiroth could still hear the angry tension in it. "Rumors. Movies." He took a deep breath. "My game."
The room fell into silence. Finally, Zack closed his eyes and breathed his tension out. "You don't know what I saw in that… game, Sirs. All of you were gone. I was basically the top SOLDIER, and they still disappeared me. For science. They requisitioned me and Cloud like… like a box of paper clips, and it happened."
Angeal had gone from horrified to stricken, face paling significantly. Sephiroth didn't blame him. Zack had implied as much earlier, but with that context…
Zack went on. "We ended up in a lab under Nibelheim, me and Cloud–for four years. And guess who was in charge of that lab and us?" More tense silence, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to put the pieces together. None of the SOLDIERS were stupid. Reckless, perhaps (at times), but not stupid.
The Second nodded. "Yeah. Hojo," he confirmed, then licked his lips and let out another calming breath. His obvious attempts to keep himself calm were impressive, Sephiroth had to admit.
"I don't care if you kill him, Sir," Zack said, looking back at Sephiroth, who could only watch on with a blank face. "Actually, as much as I hate to say it, I'm all for it. What I care about is how and when and what's going on at the time. If we can out him for his crimes, all the better. I wouldn't put it past ShinRa to go all Junon on us like you said they did in the game and execute him on live television." His disgust was back as he shook his head. "Best case scenario."
He fixed each older SOLDIER with a glare again. "Look, Sirs, with all due respect, I don't have all the answers. I just can't see that happen again. It may have been 'just a game', but I killed like three companies of infantry just to keep myself and my friend alive. And guess what? I didn't succeed! I DIED at the end of my game. Bled out under the rain in the wastelands as Cloud watched. So excuse me if I want to stop that! And not just for us, but for a much larger group of people! Going off half-cocked, no matter how justified, will not help us. And the fact that I had to point this out to all of you 'tactical geniuses' says a lot about your states of mind right now!"
His voice had begun to rise again, so he took another deep, calming breath. "I don't care what happens next in your game. Read my report before you go any farther. Do it while I'm gone, 'cause I'm gonna go cool down. But you'd all better be here when I get back. If you, any of you, so much as twitch towards the Science Department or the Heads, I'll… I'll… make you regret it before they will."
Sephiroth found it difficult to doubt him with that kind of conviction.
None of the three of them seemed to know what to say. Apparently, Zack had reached the end of his (not inconsiderable) patience as he turned away from them to the exit. "One last thing. Keep in mind that you didn't let me join you 'til I wrote it all down, and I did. Follow through." He threw the door open, and marched out as he slammed it closed behind him. Sephiroth had the presence of mind to be grateful that the door and frame had been made to withstand his own strength.
For several seconds, the Firsts just sat there, staring after him. The apartment had never felt so… empty.
Naturally, it was Genesis who broke the heavy atmosphere. "Good points aside, he's a Second. How could he possibly make us regret anything?" It should have been lighthearted and funny, but it just sounded strained to Sephiroth.
Angeal sighed. "You'd be surprised. I took him on as a student for many reasons, one of which is that he's incredibly creative and adaptable when he needs to be."
Sephiroth had felt his own anger drain away as Zack had gone on, mainly due to shock, but the boy's arguments were sound, if emotionally charged. With one final sigh, he let Masamune disappear. "In the state he is in, he would probably call for a delivery… and I believe Future Cloud would answer."
Because he could read between the lines. Through shared trauma, if nothing else, the two had been close.
The other firsts winced and nodded in reluctant agreement.
Angeal sank back into his seat, looking utterly exhausted. "We should listen to him," he muttered. "And read that report. It's become more important than the game, I think. Sephiroth? You have the report ready, right?" He glanced up at his friend.
Sephiroth nodded. "I do."
Genesis glanced back at the television screen before wincing and turning away again. "What should we do with the game?"
"Leave it," Sephiroth said, heading to his office. "We are obviously missing too much information to handle some of the… surprises we've received. It no longer benefits us to continue as we have."
The other two exchanged glances, then nodded.
"Very well then," Genesis said. "Let us see what Angeal's puppy has to say." And they followed Sephiroth out of the room.
xXx
Omake 1:
Genesis snorted. "Stop him? From running seven feet of overcompensation through Hojo's disgusting, greasy, shriveled, rotten…" he paused, reached to grab his notebook, the one he'd been using while they'd played, and flipped it open.
"Grimy, burned, deadened, frozen, mulched, mildewed, festering (or infested, either works), stinking, scummy, scuzzy, barnacle leach-like, grossly bloated–"
Angeal blinked. "Wait, when did you start writing a list?"
Genesis indulgently paused, "Writing it? Since the second disk. Mentally composing and documenting it? Much longer. Oozing, abominable, bacterial, nauseating, revolting, bottom feeding, scum sucking, grody, odious, sludge and oil-slicked, clogged, corroded, acidic, poisoned–"
"How long is this list?" Angeal asked, looking somewhere between horrified, impressed, and put upon.
Genesis ignored Angeal this time. "50k overdue for an oil change sludge, brackish ditchwater mud, improperly maintained compost pile, cloying, vial, vulgar, cactaur-like… no, wait, that's insulting to the cactaur, loaded with barbed thorns works though," he paused, took a breath, turned the page and continued. "Abhorrent, horrid, and hideous, offensive–"
"Were they all... crafted with Hojo in mind?" Angeal asked. Sephiroth paused at the door, probably wondering the same thing, likely amused and a little impressed.
Once again, the commander ignored his friend and went on. "Rusted out septic tank-like, gangrenous, abrasive, calloused, sandy…" the red-head paused again. "Why did I put 'sand' in here?"
"Because it's coarse and rough and gets everywhere?" Zack offered.
"Hmmm... Fair enough." He shrugged and kept going. "Stale, impoverished, haggard, skeletal, starved, puny, mummified and gaunt, diminutive—despite being bloated, he manages to pull off the dichotomy—haggard, meager, stunted, withered, rotten–wait I started with that… but it does define the type. Hmm. How about 'putrid' ichor dripping. It deserves a second emphasis. Continuing on, depraved, disgraceful, sleazy, foul, repugnant, revulsive, repulsive, arid, barren, dusty, torrid—"
"How many of those did you come up with yourself?" Angeal asked, rubbing his forehead. Zack was snickering.
Finally, Genesis paused, glanced at his friend, then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a… thesaurus. A. Thesaurus. With a bookmark in it.
What.
Sephiroth wisely chose the moment to walk out.
The red-head didn't notice and went on again. "Dehydrated, dried-up, wrinkled, weed-infested, cantankerous, cracked, calloused, waspish, corpulent—again, despite being withered—rusted, thoughtless, ungracious—"
"Genesis," Angeal interrupted.
The thespian paused, glancing at his friend in annoyance. "I have at least another half of a page to go."
"Sephiroth left."
Genesis blinked and looked around the room. "I'll skip to the end then. Molded, black heart? Why? I've half a mind to follow him and finish off Hollander while we're at it. Let us away my friend! Nothing shall forestall my return. For you are beloved by the goddess, Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds."
Behind them, Zack yelled, desperate. "Hey wait! Since when do you carry more than one book around?"
And thus, the world ends.
(Beta Note: fun fact, we came up with most of that list ourselves.)
xXx
Omake 2:
For several seconds, the Firsts just sat there, staring after Zack. The apartment had never felt so… empty.
Naturally, it was Genesis who broke the heavy atmosphere. "I'm adopting your puppy, Angeal. I've already picked out a name, too: Candied-Sunshine-Defender-Hero-of-the-Dawn. It's quite long, yes, so just Sunshine for short." The words made Angeal snort, and Sephiroth couldn't hold back a twitch of a smile, even if it didn't last long.
Genesis was right. Zack certainly came off as too bright and tooth-rottingly sweet sometimes.
xXx
Beta Note: Yes, this one's a bit shorter in length, BUT you didn't have to wait for months for it, and it resolves Obi's mean, ebil, nasty, *Obi knocks Genesis's thesaurus out of Imagination's hands* er- cliffhanger.
Author Notes: *evil laugh*
*ahem*
Credit to: #raileene on Discord for one particular seriously awesome line in this chapter! And the rest of my Discord community for their awesome input. 3 Also Imagination, as always.
Also, we hope you enjoyed the two omakes. We didn't know whether to post them in the chapter or as their own chapter or for Discord only, but seeing as there will likely not be many more Omakes, Obi didn't want to make it an expectation and the chapter was short anyway. So yay!
If you WOULD like to join my quiet little corner of the internet... (no seriously, it's pretty quiet, but pretty cool imo, but I might be biased. ;) ):
Obi's Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)