Zack XI: The Research Department
Content warning: implied childhood trauma, human experimentation
Their elevator reached Floor 67 with a "ping" and the door slid open. Opposite of the elevator was a small front desk separated from the hallway by a glass pane. Zack stepped out of the elevator and walked up to the front desk, where a young man in a lab coat was typing into a computer.
He looked up as Zack approached and Sephiroth followed at some distance. Zack raised his hand and greeted the assistant. "We're here for our checkups." The assistant blinked twice as his eyes fell on the pair. Zack, not noticing his strange reaction, pointed at himself. "Zack Fair and …" he pointed at Sephiroth over his shoulder. "… Sephiroth". Behind him, Sephiroth sighed and as Zack looked over, he saw Sephiroth rolling his eyes. Obviously, the assistant knew who Sephiroth was, and Zack's identity was equally known to him. What perplexed the assistant was the fact that Sephiroth did not appear alone as had been expected, and that Zack was there although he was not scheduled for a checkup today.
The assistant regained his composure and typed something into his computer. "SOLDIER 1st class Zack Fair?", he double-checked, and Zack confirmed with "That's the one!" The assistant adjusted his glasses. "Your checkup is in two weeks." Zack started. "What? Tseng said it was rescheduled!" Behind him, Sephiroth barely audibly, causing Zack to whirl around. He had never seen or heard Sephiroth snort. "What's so funny?", he yelled. Sephiroth shrugged in response and managed the hint of a smile. "Have you looked into a mirror recently?" Zack straightened himself. "What for? I always look good!" The light smile on Sephiroth's face faded. Zack did not look like Angeal at all, but Tseng had gone to great lengths to make them as similar as possible with his pose, his hair and sword. With his hair being shorter than Angeal's and their face shapes being nothing alike, Zack simply looked goofy with his hair down, while Angeal used to be the objectively coolest guy around without even trying.
"Mr. Sephiroth?", the assistant interrupted them as he hung up the phone. "Prof. Hojo will see you now." He got up from the desk, walked to the side toward an electric door, which he opened with his key card to let them in. Zack turned back to Sephiroth, made a small bow and invited him to walk ahead with a wave of his arms.
Sephiroth hesitated, but then took a step toward the door. The assistant was waiting impatiently by the door, but as Zack tried to follow Sephiroth, the assistant raised his hand and said: "Please wait here. He'll see you later." Sephiroth walked on briskly, all but pushing the assistant aside, and snarled: "How about you try and stop him?" The receptionist hopped aside in surprise and protested: "He has no permission!" Zack followed Sephiroth and tried to appease him: "Don't worry, I'm just here to hold his hand while he gets his shots." As he walked onward steadfastly, Sephiroth looked over his shoulder and Zack could see him look amused under his bangs.
The assistant ran a few steps to get back into the lead, but Sephiroth apparently knew where he had to go already, so there was no need for him to show them the way. They followed the wide hallway past a series of doors on both sides and around a bend. They walked past the laboratory where Zack usually got his checkups until the hallway ended in a large room full of crates and a large glass cylinder. Zack, who had never been so far into the research department, looked around in awe.
In the large glass cylinder, there was a large, misshapen, fleshy entity with long outgrowths that resembled tentacles wrapping around its own body. The creature stirred slightly as they walked past and one of its tentacles crept up the glass pane as if to examine the intruders. Zack stopped and observed the creature's motions. He had to contain himself not to tap on the glass to alert the creature of his presence, but just its slow heaving as if it was breathing was fascinating enough for him to stare.
The assistant ushered him on, nagging about him not being allowed in this section in the first place. Sephiroth was waiting with his arms crossed in front of his body, leaning against the wall next to an elevator door, and was watching Zack being amazed at what he saw. "Sorry", Zack muttered toward Sephiroth, as if his curiosity was an inconvenience to the silver SOLDIER, while the assistant swiped his card over the elevator controls. "I think everyone reacts that way when they first come in here", Sephiroth returned in a neutral tone. Zack did not know, and even Sephiroth did not fully understand why Zack's interaction with the creature bothered him so much. Perhaps subconsciously, Sephiroth knew that he and the creature had more in common than eyes could tell, and maybe a part of him imagined himself sitting in the glass tank and Zack staring at him.
When they reached the top level, they entered a room that was identical in size and shape to the room below and there even was a similar glass cylinder, but this one was empty and fitted with a large sliding door. They crossed this room as well and entered another hallway and passed even more doors. There was a pungent mako smell in the air, mixed with a variety of other, less pleasant odors that Zack could not quite identify, but he was certain that blood was among them.
As they progressed through the upper level of the research facility, Sephiroth slowed down, his eyes wandering here and there. As the assistant kept walking ahead, Zack slowed down with Sephiroth and tried to figure out what Sephiroth was looking at, but it seemed like it was random things that caught his attention. A fire extinguisher, a thick metal door labeled as "sample storage", a long scratch in a door frame, a crack in a glass pane in a door.
"You OK?", Zack asked, stepping up next to him. Sephiroth looked up and said: "I'm fine." The assistant looked over his shoulder and called out "Hurry up!", as he entered a door to the left. Sephiroth stopped for a moment and looked at the ground. His behavior was quite strange. Even if he was going to get a treatment rather than a checkup, this should have been routine for him. It was. A sad routine that Sephiroth would rather not follow, and perhaps Sephiroth dreaded that something was going to be different today.
Zack frowned and asked: "Are you afraid of needles or something?" Sephiroth looked up with a light smile, but then rubbed his forehead. "Can I ask you a favor?", he began. Zack nodded. "Please don't leave the room, even if he tells you to." Zack folded his arms and explained: "That's basically the order Tseng gave me earlier." Sephiroth walked on slowly. "Looks like you've got me covered then." Zack pumped his fist and affirmed: "Leave it to me!"
They were finally ushered into the room by the impatient assistant and told to wait for Hojo. The room was equipped with a large steel mako tank of the kind used in mako showers for SOLDIER members and several desks and chairs with analysis equipment and computers on them. Sephiroth leaned against one of the desks close to the door with his arms folded and Zack sat down on the chair by the desk. He folded his hands behind his neck and spun around on the chair, looking around the room.
"So, you and Tseng really get along, huh?", he broke the uncomfortable silence. Sephiroth looked at him, puzzled. "Excuse me?" Zack tilted his head to the side and continued: "You know, earlier today, it looked as if both of you really understood each other without saying much." Sephiroth groaned, his eyes wandering toward the ceiling. "It's just a job to him." Zack scratched his head. "I dunno. He seemed far more invested than usual today." Sephiroth put one hand behind his neck, keeping the other in front of his body. "I think you have no idea how serious he takes his job and how good he is at it." Rocking his legs back and forth a little, Zack contemplated for a moment and responded: "Well, I don't always get what he's thinking, but he seems really thoughtful at times." Sephiroth nodded: "At times when he thinks it benefits the company in some way." This was the way most people used to think about Tseng after he was promoted to Vice Chief of the Turks, and in retrospective, it seemed to be an image he had carefully curated to protect those around him the best way he could – by balancing on knife's edge between executing his orders while not harming those he would want to see harmed more than absolutely necessary. Also in retrospective, it is almost disappointing that Sephiroth of all people was unable to see through Tseng's charades.
Sephiroth looked away from Zack as he continued: "I've known Tseng since he first joined the company. You can trust him to do his job as a Turk. He's the best and the most loyal to the company, more than anyone else. Even more than Veld." Zack had never heard that name before. "Who's Veld?" Sephiroth looked at him: "You know, there's more to being a SOLDIER than fighting." Zack rolled his eyes. "Veld is the current chief of the Turks." Zack nodded. "Tseng is the Vice Chief and will succeed him after Veld retires as a Turk." After a short pause, he added: "That's if he gets to retire." Zack rested his elbows on his knees. "Why wouldn't he?"
Sephiroth clenched his fist. "He's dangerous because he knows all the company's secrets. And I mean all of them. I don't think they would simply –" His head whirled around when a thin, haggard Wutaian man in a dirty lab coat with long, greasy black hair streaked with silver and a soiled leather apron walked into the room. Zack had met this man once before when he visited the SOLDIER department to test some of his battle simulations, but he had looked different. His hair had been clean and neatly tied into a ponytail, his lab coat had been clean, and he had worn a suit underneath. Hojo looked as if he just ran a marathon, then butchered something and rolled around in the remains. And he smelled just like that, as well.
"Well, well. You're finally here. I've been expecting you", he snarled at Sephiroth with his shrill voice. Sephiroth kept his arms folded and stared at Hojo's soiled apron with wide eyes. He did not keep it on by mistake, for Hojo knew well enough how to manipulate Sephiroth after all. Zack, not noticing this unspoken threat, got up from the chair, stepped next to Sephiroth and said "Hello Professor!" Hojo furrowed his eyebrows as he realized that Zack was there and, with a disgruntled expression, growled at Sephiroth: "Well, what is this? Angeal's body is not even cold and you found a new dick to fuck you already?" Zack looked back and forth between the two in confusion. Sephiroth was staring at his own feet while Hojo was smirking in contempt at having caused him visible discomfort. Discomfort being a word which here is an understatement at least as big as the Shinra Building.
Although, obviously, it was not as Hojo made it out to be, for Zack and Sephiroth did not have that kind of relationship, demonstrating that he was factually incorrect would only serve to validate the notion that such a relationship was in any way shameful or inappropriate, which it was not. And if physical intimacy were to help those left behind overcome the grief over the loss of a loved one, that was valid, and those that had passed on were in no place to be jealous about that. Zack, just like his former mentor, did not feel as Hojo did, and would continue not to feel this way, even much, much later, once positions were reversed.
"Well, shall we get started then?", Hojo announced with a cheerful grin. Directed at Zack, he hissed: "You, boy, out!" and waved in the direction of the door as he hurried past Zack toward the mako tank. Zack looked at Sephiroth insecurely, who stared at Zack's feet without stirring as if he expected Zack to say or do something. Zack had his orders. Although he did not understand why he was given these orders, he had to follow them. And so he spoke up: "I was ordered to stay here while Sephiroth gets his check-up." Hojo looked over his shoulder at Sephiroth and broke into a sneer. "Is that what you're into now? I'll make sure to make a note of that." He waved at Zack dismissively. "Fine, stay over there, but don't get in the way."
Sephiroth turned away from Zack and followed Hojo hesitantly as Zack moved toward the opposite wall and leaned against it. His thoughts were racing. What had Hojo meant by what he said about Angeal? Had he and Sephiroth been an item? "Well, what are you waiting for?", Hojo screeched at Sephiroth. The latter detached his sword from his back and slowly started undoing the many clasps and buckles of his combat gear, starting with his gloves, shoulder pads and coat. Then the belt, boots and finally his pants, with only his long hair left to cover the back of his body. Zack was not surprised to learn something new about Sephiroth, seeing as he knew next to nothing about him. Angeal, on the other hand - Zack believed that he knew his late friend and mentor quite well. Though he had never inquired specifically about relationships, he thought Angeal would have told him something as important as this. To the outside, he and Sephiroth had been just best friends, along with Genesis. Not that friends were less important than lovers. Not at all. But all of a sudden, Sephiroth's emotional outbreak from the night before started to make a lot more sense.
Hojo mustered Sephiroth, who at that point had stripped down to the skin head to toe, a little bit more closely than Zack himself would be comfortable with being mustered naked by a creepy old man with a bloody arpon. "I hear your performance has been declining recently", Hojo began. Drawing closer and sniffing at him, he cried: "Did you drink alcohol?" Sephiroth folded his arms and looked away, a gesture that did not look nearly as convincing now that he was stripped bare, as it did when he wore his impressive coat and massive shoulder pads.
Zack scratched the back of his neck. Tseng's words earlier resounded in his head. "I can't tell you more than that" and "It's all up to him." Tseng must have known, and that explained all the weird things that he had made Zack do all day. Zack had pretended not to notice in hopes that Sephiroth would not pick up on his insecurity, but he was aware that Tseng had tried to make Zack look as much as Angeal as possible. The purpose was to bring Sephiroth, who really, absolutely, and completely obviously did not want to be in the same room alone with the creepy madman who was just now drooling all over his body and asking irrelevant questions about his private life. The same disgusting man who had publicly announced some of those private details only moments ago.
Hojo took a blood sample from Sephiroth and then gave him an injection. The SOLDIER let everything happen patiently, although Zack could not understand why Sephiroth had to be naked the whole time. Seeing other men did not make Zack uncomfortable per se. When he still was a 2nd class SOLDIER, he had shared the common bath and shower rooms with the other 2nds, so he was used to it. But there was no reason he had to be naked to have a blood sample taken. And the whole time, Hojo was wearing the crusty apron was getting whatever goop was on it all over his subject. To distract himself from the unsettling scene, Zack pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts.
After being given the injection, Sephiroth clutched his arm and writhed in pain. Zack remembered these injections from the time he first became a SOLDIER, although he had never been given a second one. As a matter of fact, he had never heard of anyone getting a second one. But maybe only the best were given more injections. Finally, Hojo grabbed Sephiroth's arm, turned him around and led him to the mako tank. As Sephiroth was turned around, Zack quickly looked back down at his phone. He did not want to get caught staring.
Hojo closed the mako tank and started typing something into the terminal in front of it as Sephiroth's body was twisting in pain. Zack forced himself not to stare too much because the sight was making him queasy as memories of his own regiments resurfaced. He retrieved Tseng's contact details, typed a message: "What exactly do I have to protect him from?", and sent it. Hojo was a creep, but the treatments he was giving Sephiroth seemed pretty much the same as what every SOLDIER underwent when they first started the job. But this alone was no reason to leave Sephiroth shaken to the point where he could only go with a friend to support him. Tseng's answer came almost immediately: "I don't know what happens in the research department. Use your own judgement."
The Turk may or may not have had more than an inkling about what happened in the research department, but that inkling was what made him send Zack along with Sephiroth. No one but Hojo really knew what happened in the research department when Sephiroth was there by himself. Fortunately, it had been years since the last time Sephiroth had had to go there by himself. Eight years, to be precise. One may assume with high confidence that Hojo treated Sephiroth in similar ways as he treated many of his other samples, especially the more humanoid ones, and especially the ones who can't defend themselves, such as women, children, and those who are too scared of Hojo because they know what he is capable of. The atrocities that Sephiroth committed to this date and the horrors he would bring upon the world in the future cannot be excused. But was it not possible that much of this evil could have been prevented, had only his heart been saved? I firmly believed at the time and still do that he had a right to be happy just like everyone else, no matter what he was, and had he not been denied this right since before he was even born, none of the tragedies that followed would ever have happened.
Zack looked up from his phone and regarded the scene in front of him. The tank slowly turned first into light green and then a darker shade as mako entered and accumulated around Sephiroth. His body relaxed as he inhaled the substance, which Zack believed made the pain subside quickly. When the mako turned into the darkest shade of green, Sephiroth started to float as he was pressing his hands against the glass pane of the tank and stared at Hojo operating the equipment. The scientist walked up to the tank slowly, observing the SOLDIER closely. Smirking, he raised his hand to the glass, softly brushing against it where Sephiroth's fingertips were pressed against the glass. The SOLDIER clenched his fists and slammed against the glass from the inside, but his movements were so slowed down that it had no effect.
The strangest part of the treatment came when the mako turned into a deep blue. This was the point where most SOLDIER candidates would start seeing visions and the compression would normally be stopped just before that. Strange figures, screams, memories of the past, or distant sceneries could be witnessed in the mako-induced intoxication state. But Hojo did not stop the compressor. Instead, he snickered into his hand, his shoulders twitch, without making a sound, and then turned back to the controls. He flipped a switch and a noisy machine started humming at the back of the mako tank. Hojo started typing again. "You need more energy and I will give it to you!", he screeched as the mako in the tank turned opaque and hid Sephiroth from Zack's view.
He pushed himself off the wall and ran toward Hojo. "What are you doing?", he yelled over the noise of the compressor. "I am compressing the mako energy to make him more powerful!", Hojo explained with a high-pitched voice. Zack looked through the glass, but could not see his friend anymore. "Is that safe?", he asked. Hojo laughed out aloud. "Safe? He might die! Now stay out of the way, boy!" Zack took a step back again and demanded, pointing at the tank: "Then stop it! You can't let him die!" Hojo laughed again. "It's not enough yet. He can take some more."
Zack kept staring at the tank, but did not know what to do. After a while, Hojo flipped the switch again and the compressor stopped. "I wonder if he's still alive", Hojo snickered. Zack waved his fist at him. "What're you waiting for? Get him out of there!" Hojo folded his arms behind his back and slowly shuffled away as he hummed happily: "Be careful! If you decompress it too quickly, it might rip him to shreds! Wouldn't that be a sight to behold!" He moved to the side of the tank and opened a valve. With a hiss, the mako in the tank started decompressing making the intensity of the light decay until the mako turned back into a transparent green. Sephiroth was floating unconsciously in the tank, slumped forward with his face touching the glass pane in the door.
Hojo shuffled back, looking closely at Sephiroth's face though the glass pane. "As if I would purposefully destroy this unsurpassable creature." He waved at Zack again. "Get over there. You're in the way." Zack took two steps back. Hojo pressed a few more buttons and finally, the mako disappeared from the tank until Sephiroth's body was back on the ground, his face still pressed against the door.
Finally, the door slid open and the room filled with the nostalgic fragrance of mako as the contents of the contained spilled out and Sephiroth fell out of the tank, face first, with a faint glow emitting from his body. Zack clenched his fist as Hojo slowly moved towards him and looked down at him, adjusting his glasses and smirking. Turning his back to Zack, he bowed down and buried a hand in a mess of silver hair. A tremble went through his haggard body as he pulled up his head by his hair.
Zack stirred uneasily. He could not see what Hojo was doing. What he saw, however, looked as if Hojo slid his hand under his apron. Zack had seen enough. He drew his sword, walked up to the scientist and threatened him with it, blade facing Hojos arm. Hojo stopped moving, as his eyes fell on the wide buster sword. Zack moved the sword up to Hojo's neck. "Let go of him and get out!"
Hojo let go of Sephiroth's hair. "You want him to yourself, then?" He adjusted his glasses as he turned to leave. "Well, he'll come back to me sooner or later." Zack lowered his heavy sword and tucked it away on his back as Hojo left through the door.
Sephiroth still laid on the floor, facing Zack with an glassy-eyed stare. Zack knelt down and felt his shallow breath as the SOLDIER's eyes strayed aimlessly around the room. He was alive, but his symptoms were those of mako poisoning. He had never seen anyone being purposefully subjected to compressed mako, and there was no immediate treatment for mako poisoning that he knew of. The only thing that actually helped to his knowledge were rest and time.
He turned Sephiroth on his back carefully, trying to avoid looking at his unsettling empty eyes. Sephiroth was not looking at Zack at all. No one could possibly know what he was seeing with his mind being in a place far away, possibly not in even in this world anymore. His eyes stopped wandering once they came to rest upon me. I looked up in surprise and gazed upon the scene before me, which I did not understand. I would grasp only much later why I was even there, and why Sephiroth suddenly became aware of my presence. And I would be disappointed to find out that the mako poisoning made him forget that this happened immediately. Zack looked around the room again, but there was nothing to lay Sephiroth on. He grabbed Sephiroth's coat that was still hanging over a chair and covered him with it. He had to take him to some place more comfortable to rest, but Sephiroth was too heavy for Zack to carry. Besides, there was no way he could get him back to the SOLDIER quarters without drawing attention to them. And his condition would definitely raise questions.
He sat down next to Sephiroth with his legs stretched out, laid down his sword next to him and lifted Sephiroth's head onto his thigh, just to make him a little more comfortable. There was no way to get them out of there as long as he was unconscious. His only hope was that he would regain his senses soon. Not knowing what else he could do, he pulled out his phone and called Tseng.