Zack flexed his neck to relax his stiff muscles. His excitement from the morning had made way for resignation as the morning dragged on and on, and the conversation seemed to revolve around and return to the same points time and time and time again. They were seated in a large, rectangular room closer to the heart of the palace, where they had been led to by the two strongest members of the Crescent unit, Aurum and Argentum, a symbolic choice that was probably meant to represent a balance to Sephiroth's and Zack's strength, or perhaps the Wutaians actually expected some aggression to surface eventually, and took the necessary precautions. The ten Wutaian lords occupied seats along the long sides of the rectangular room, five on either side. All the way in the back of the room, sat Lord Godo, separated from the rest of the lords by a curtain, with Argentum and Aurum seated in front of the curtain, to his left and his right. Him sitting still like a statue in complete silence throughout the whole process made Zack wonder if he was actually awake or if he was possibly sleeping. The Shinra group sat the farthest away from Lord Godo, with Reeve and the Vice President sitting in front of the rest, Reeve on the left, with the Vice President at his right hand. Zack, Sephiroth and Tseng sat right behind them, Sephiroth on the left, Zack in the center, and Tseng on the right, a seating arrangement that, Zack theorized, was meant to provide the best protection their MIP, Reeve Tuesti, as the two SOLDIERS sat the closest to him.
Reeve, as expected was doing all the talking, with Rufus Shinra sitting next to him, in an inappropriately good mood that could not be in starker contrast to the severity of the situation. He was not the only one lacking sincerity, as it appeared that none of the Wutaian lords were actually listening to what Reeve was saying. He had offered Wutai two Mako reactors to be constructed on Wutaian land, for use by the local populace. Shinra would even cover the cost of construction, and provide Mako energy for free for one year. All they requested was peace, at no further cost. To Zack, this seemed like a very generous offer, a win-win situation for Wutai that would guarantee long-term prosperity to the people of the Western continent. And it would mean an end to the killing, which Zack believed that Wutai would do well to accept, even if they got no further benefits out of it.
But somehow, their opponent appeared to disagree. The Wutaian lords were barely listening to Reeve, and kept bringing up desertification, exctinction of wildlife; and more than anything, they did not even acknowledge that Shinra had the upper hand in the war. Added to that were lots of discussions bordering on fighting in between the lords, some of whom did not appear to support the very idea of making peace with Shinra in any way, while others appeared to strive for peace, but not at the conditions Shinra was dictating, and others openly accused Shinra of offering them ruin, framed as a gift. Along with that came the outrageous claims that Shinra was somehow responsible for the disappearance of one of their gods, a charge that Reeve refuted with the utmost vigor. Zack wondered where these ideas even came from, or if there was some figurative meaning attached to these words that appeared like utter nonsense. At times, it appeared as if Reeve was arguing with ten people at once, about ten different matters. Wutai was not even unified on the question whether or not they even wanted peace, and Reeve had the most ungratifying job of negotiating not only Shinra's terms, but also to get them on the same page somehow. It seemed like an impossible undertaking that made Zack wonder why they were even there, if the Wutaians had not even made up their own minds about what their goals even were.
Noon came eventually, and the parlay was put on a 45-minute break. As soon as they were dismissed, Zack jumped on his legs, stretched his arms and jumped up and down twice. His knees and back were aching from sitting on just a pillow for close to four hours. Still aware of his duty of guarding the Vice President, he looked at Tseng full of expectation, who, in turn, faced Rufus Shinra, expecting orders. The latter rubbed his back, stretched and yawned before he got up slowly. Zack looked over at Reeve, who scratched his head with a tired look on his face. To not get discouraged by the complete lack of progress in the parlay would require a lot of strength on his part. But what was even more disappointing was the fact that the vice president contributed absolutely nothing to the negotiations. Or perhaps it was better for him to keep his mouth shut to not further antagonize the Wutaian lords. His appearance and demeanor were already offense enough, without him actively disrespecting them.
"Let's go take a walk", the vice president suggested. "You, too", he said with a side glance at Reeve, who looked less than pleased at the idea of doing anything other than work during his "break". Sephiroth, who had been sitting completely still the whole time, stood up as well and walked toward the door first without waiting for his protégé. "There he goes", Rufus observed, shrugging. Reeve sighed and finally got up to follow Sephiroth out of the room. Zack waited for the rest of the party to leave and then walked out last to guard their rear.
They were able to leave the building unchallenged and, once outside, set foot into a spacious, dusty courtyard surrounded by the walls of the surrounding building on all four sides. With the other exit barred and guarded, they would most likely not be allowed to leave this area, but the Vice President apparently had no intention to do so anyway. He simply put on his shades, sighed and stretched, and started to walk around more or less at random, followed closely by Tseng.
Sephiroth folded his arms and leaned against a wall, apparently with no intention to follow Reeve around, who had started walking in a circle, quietly talking to himself. Zack positioned himself next to Sephiroth, who asked out of the blue: "Do you still like this place?" Zack groaned and scratched his head. "I don't get it. We won the war. Why is it still so hard to make peace with Wutai?" Sephiroth's face turned to him with an incredulous expression. Zack flinched as he looked straight into Sephiroth's eyes, for it appeared as if his pupils were strangely reduced to slits, much like those of a cat. Had his eyes always looked like that? "What makes you think we won the war?" It was a strange question to Zack. Was Sephiroth not keeping up with the company's memos?
"We thwarted all their attempts to infiltrate Midgar. I know that I succeeded in all of my missions. And the news said that the army drove them all the way back to their own territory. And you did you part, too." Sephiroth continued to stare at him for a moment and then sighed. "You actually believe the propaganda the company's putting out." Zack folded his arms and scratched the dusty ground with his foot. "But you're so powerful. How can we not win the war?" Sephiroth looked away. "So are you. But how does that matter?"
He leaned his back against the wall again and looked at the sky. "Imagine that. Just you and me against a whole country." After a short pause, he added in a cynical tone: "What an adventure that would be." His last sentence stung a lot more after Sephiroth had openly acknowledged Zack's strength. Was it all for nothing? His dreams of becoming a hero and fighting alongside of Sephiroth, all in vain, after he finally attained the strength to stand beside his idol? His thoughts were interrupted by Sephiroth as he continued: "This war was basically when Genesis left and took most of the SOLDIER division with him." And Angeal, too, Zack added in his mind. "All we have been doing since then was to try and fend off the Wutaian forces on our own ground." He waved a hand around dismissively. "You did that admirably, but didn't you notice that you were all alone? You can't be everywhere at once." He finally looked directly at Zack again. "And what is this war even for? So Shinra can build another mako reactor and take these peoples' way of life away from them?" he shook his head. "What are we even here for?"
Zack had no answers for Sephiroth, as Sephiroth's skepticism had taken him completely unprepared. He had never asked himself these kinds of questions. Growing up, the world had seemed so simple. After he met Angeal, all he had been doing was to watch his back as he walked, apparently without wavering, and follow his lead. As long as he had that back to watch, there was no need to ask himself tough questions. As long as Angeal was walking ahead of him, he had a goal, a road to follow. The world could have been so easy if Sephiroth had taken over that role of leading the way for him. But he was not. Instead, he questioned everything Zack had been working toward, and himself in the process, as if he had build a card house over years, only to tear it down on a whim. To learn that even the hero of the Wutai war did not believe in the purpose of that very war, but that he, too, simply did as he was told, made Zack feel insecure on a deeper level. In the end, perhaps following orders was all they were good for. But was that the stuff heroes were made of?