Tseng XVIII: More secrets

The next morning, Tseng got ready as quickly as he could after a night with little uneasy sleep. After he had left Zack and Sephiroth, he still needed to go to the archive and retrieve the files for Rufus and himself. By the time he arrived back at the Turks HQ to deliver the file, it was long past midnight. He had found Rufus on the couch, where he had fallen asleep, then got scolded by the vice president for not taking care of himself better. Tseng was a little touched by the fact that Rufus had apparently waited for him to get back and returned the scolding with a little irony while sending Rufus to bed. Before returning home, he had to politely turn down Rufus' offer to spend the night there. Although it could not be denied that it was more practical to stay there, the days where Tseng spent nights in his office were over, so he bid Rufus a good night and left. He was at last woken up by the helicopter pilot, who was eager to be rid of him, after they landed near his house. After he finally got to his apartment, he went straight to bed.

Despite the late night, his alarm rang mercilessly at 5:40 and Tseng got up and did his morning routine quickly, but mechanically. When he realized that he was pouring soy sauce into his coffee instead of milk, he gave up on the idea that this day was going to be like most others. After emptying his mug into the sink, he picked up his things and left through the front door. After getting on the elevator, he tried to call a helicopter, but instead returned to his apartment to pick up his phone he had left on the kitchen table. Before leaving again, he double-checked that he was carrying his gun and his key card.

Not only had his mind been preoccupied with Sephiroth and the upcoming Wutai mission, the lack of sleep and the hole in his stomach were also not helping him focus. He would have taken another nap as he rode the helicopter to the SOLDIER quarters, but could not find any rest. Zack had not tried to call him overnight, so he was not too worried, but he was also not convinced that Sephiroth would be fit to participate in the mission. However, he was convinced that he would have to go anyway because the order came straight from the president.

Finally, he reached the door to Sephiroth's apartment and entered without knocking. He found Zack dozing on the floor and the couch, where Sephiroth had rested the night before, empty. The blanket was gone, too. Zack jolted as Tseng's footsteps approached him and stood up quickly. "G-good morning", Zack stammered. Tseng folded his arms. "Where is he?" Zack pointed at the bedroom door. "He woke up some time last night and went into his room." Tseng sighed. "Were you sleeping?" Zack shook his head. "I pretended to be asleep." – "That's one way to avoid a conversation", Tseng responded, but Zack only scratched his head. The Turk could not blame Zack, because he may have done the same in his place.

"Anyway, Reno and Rude are coming to pick you up in a few minutes. The earlier you get on the plane, the earlier you can sleep." Zack nodded. "OK." Tseng stepped aside to let the SOLDIER pass. "Good luck over there." Zack did not move and scratched his neck again. "I'll let you know how he's doing", Tseng added in a quieter tone. Zack nodded and picked up his bag and sword and retrieved his other sword from the sword stand in the back of the room. Tseng was following him with his eyes as he left.

When he was gone, Tseng quietly stepped up to the door and hesitated for a moment. Before he finally knocked on the door, he made sure to have his explanation why he came to Sephiroth's room ready at the tip of his tongue. After his soft knock was not gratified with a response, he knocked again harder. No response again. Tseng sighed. Sephiroth could be fast asleep, or he was ignoring his visitor. The latter was more likely. Finally, Tseng called through the door "I'm coming in!" and slowly opened the door.

Inside, he found Sephiroth curled up under his blanket, with only a mess of silver hair sticking out at the very top. Tseng stopped at a respectful distance and, in lack of anything better to say, he dryly greeted him: "Good morning." Before he could say anything else, a pillow flew flat in his face. "Get out", Sephiroth groaned. Tseng was momentarily overcome by feelings of nostalgia and asked: "You still do that?" Instead of answering, Sephiroth pulled the blanket all the way over his head, hiding even what little had been seen of his hair. Instead, his feet were now sticking out from under the blanket.

Tseng had not had to deal with Sephiroth's antics in several years and was a little surprised that he was still behaving this way when he did not want to do something. Angeal must have had the patience of an angel to put up with this kind of behavior every single day. Or maybe he did not act this way around Angeal. Their relationship dynamic must have been quite different. While Angeal's level of maturity had far outweighed the fact that he was a little younger than Sephiroth, Tseng had already been an adult when he first met Sehiroth, and their large age difference had defined what their relationship had been like.

With a quiet voice, he finally asked: "How are you feeling?" When Sephiroth only groaned "I'm fine", Tseng sighed and shook his head. "You don't need to pretend." He meant that. "I'm glad that you're better, but I somehow don't believe that just a little bit of sleep makes you forget what happened." At least the stank of mako had disappeared, but Sephiroth did not acknowledge Tseng's words. "How are your wounds?", he tried instead, and finally, Sephiroth stirred and one of his hands appeared at the edge of the blanket, pushing it away just enough to reveal his face. "What wounds?" That was an answer at least. Memory loss after large mako exposures was not unusual, but it was worrying that he could possibly injure himself under its influence and would not even remember it later.

"So, what do you actually remember from yesterday?", Tseng wanted to know. Pushing the blanket a little further away, Sephiroth answered: "You were a pain in the back in the morning as usual." Tseng rolled his eyes. "I went to Hojo's lab with Zack." After a short moment, he added: "I had lunch with Zack", and went quiet. Tseng was debating with himself if it would help at all if he told Sephiroth exactly what had happened the day before.

Before he could say anything, however, Sephiroth sat up with a start. He pushed a hand against the side of his head as if he was trying to remember something. "Tseng", he started. The addressed looked up. "What is it?" Sephiroth brushed his messy hair out of his face. "Riddle me this", he continued. Tseng stared at him anxiously "Did anything happen?" Sephiroth shook his head.

"Zack has a girlfriend." Tseng froze for a second. Why did that matter? "He's straight", he answered directly. "Unbelievable, but it happens to the best of us", he added ironically. "He showed me a photo of her", Sephiroth explained. Where was he going with this? "She's… very pretty?", Tseng responded hesitantly. "She's being observed by the Turks." That one was harder to explain. "That's classified." Not acknowledging the response, Sephiroth finally looked straight at Tseng. "She's the spitting image of that woman who was being kept in … that lab." So he had recognized Aerith just from a photo? "She had a little daughter who would be just that age now." That sounded about right, but Tseng did not know what to say. "Zack said his girlfriend lives in the slums with her mother."

Tseng suddenly knew where he was going with this. "She's the only one who knows anything about my mother" - "Sephiroth…", he tried to appease him. "You've known all this time where she was", Sephiroth accused him. "Ifalna is dead", Tseng said clearly. "She died when they escaped from headquarters. You remember that they escaped, don't you?" Sephiroth stared at him wide-eyed. "I told you she was dead. Aerith lives with her adoptive mother." When Sephiroth continued to stare at him, he continued: "I looked into it years ago. All information about your parents have been destroyed. Whatever Ifalna knew, she took it with her." Sephiroth finally lowered his eyes. "What about the girl?" Tseng nervously raised his hands. "She doesn't know anything about your mother. Think about it. She was just a little girl at the time."

Sephiroth clenched his fists. "Does Zack know what she is?" Tseng closed his eyes slowly. "She would have told him if she wanted him to know. Please respect that. And don't go looking for her. She can't help you."