Despite the open hostility surrounding them on the way back, Zack was relieved to be able to return to the palace in relative safety after they released Yuffie in exchange for safe passage. The Wutaians posted additional guards around their building, who Zack believed were not there to keep intruders out, but rather to keep them in until Godo got what he wanted. For now, they were more or less confined to this section of the palace, but the vice president had assured them on the way that they were staying only because they had not finished the mission yet, and that he was certain they would be able to simply walk out if they just so desired. Walk out Shinra-style, that is.
Much to Zack's surprise, Rufus Shinra refused to let anyone else take his place in carrying Tseng back to the Palace, and Rude supported him from the other side. His wounds had been closed by the healing spells, but there was no telling when he would wake up after the substantial loss of blood he had sustained. On the way back, Reeve gave them the gist of what had happened, although Zack found his story of how he escaped Avalanche quite unbelievable. He thought that Reeve was more of an office worker and was even more surprised that Reeve was able to command magic of the level he claimed to have used to save Tseng's life when he found him and Rufus down in the tunnels. Despite his recent falling-out with the Turk, he was glad to find him still alive and likely to recover after the ordeal, even despite Aerith's animosity toward him. He did not even dislike Tseng, at least whenever he was not keeping important information from him. He just wished that the people close to him could get along. One could never know if the next day would be the last, and he would rather not have anyone leave in bad blood.
Once they reached their wing and were let inside by the guards, Rufus broke the silence: "He's staying in my room tonight, so…" He looked at Sephiroth. "You, pack your things." He then turned to Cloud. "And you, bring his things over." Sephiroth looked simultaneously relieved and dissatisfied by this order and the way it was delivered, but did not grace his superior with a response. To Zack, it seemed like a safety risk to leave the vice president and an unconscious Turk all by themselves after what happened, and Rude appeared to agree with him: "Is this really OK?" Reno, who was apparently in command yet again, pondered for a few seconds and then shrugged. "Technically, Tseng will be with him the whole time, so..." – "…taking orders literally?", Rude commented the decision. "Wait a minute! Who'll guard the vice president then?", Zack objected, but Reno only shrugged again. "Yo, we'll have the three guards tonight focus on just the one room."
While the argument continued to go back and forth, Sephiroth went into the room and came out with his bag, which turned the hypothetical into a fact, disregarding all objections. Rude and Rufus took Tseng inside, and Sephiroth, again ignoring everything around him, walked to the end of the hallway, entered Zack's and Reeve's room, and a short moment later, appeared again, placed Reeve's suitcase beside the door unceremoniously, and slammed the door behind him. Reeve sighed and shook his head. "Looks like I'll be staying with our young friend here", he said with a side glance to Cloud, who simply nodded. "I'm sorry. I'll talk to him", Zack offered, but Reeve declined: "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, there's no use in trying to get him to do anything when he's like this."
Rude reappeared from the room and closed the door. "Yo, we're also still here", Reno reminded them. "We completed our objective, so we'll be on guard duty until the boss comes up with some other impossible task." Rude pushed up his shades and objected: "You need to sleep." Reno gave him one of his very rare smiles. "Sleep is overrated, man." He then turned to Zack. "I think you have something to report, and you'd better have a good story to explain how that girl got her hands on the materia." Zack frowned as he folded his arms. "How would I know that?" Reno rolled his eyes. "You happen to visit any caves full of monsters lately?" Zack froze when he finally realized what Reno was getting at. "With her?", Rude pressed on. Zack scratched his head. "W-we went treasure hunting", he explained insecurely, despite realizing that, as usual, she had only used him to get something that she wanted, by baiting him with something somewhat shiny that appeared worth his time. Although he suddenly remembered that she already took back the dash materia at the very next opportunity that presented itself. Reno exclaimed "Dude…" exaggeratedly as he turned around and asked: "How do you know the princess of Wutai anyway?" While he and Rude walked off together, another realization hit Zack. "The what now?", he blurted out, prompting Reeve to stare at him from the side and explain: "She's Lord Godo's daughter. Didn't you know that?" Zack folded his arms again and simply nodded, acting as if he had known all along and simply forgotten for a moment. After a long, awkward silence, Cloud abruptly changed the topic: "Sir? Are those two dating?"
Somehow, Cloud was the only one present who was so invested in the question what exactly the relationship between Reno and Rude was to bring it up again, and so, Reeve had no answer for him either. No one had, really. Except for the two of them, I suppose. The remaining two left for their room, leaving Zack standing alone in the hallway in front of the door to his room awkwardly. Sephiroth had thrown out Reeve, but not Zack, so that had to mean that he was OK with Zack being there, or so he convinced himself in his internal debate. It had to be OK for him to enter the room, but it was very frustrating that he just never really knew with Sephiroth. After a few seconds of deliberation, he pulled himself together and slowly slid open the door. Inside stood Sephiroth with his back to the door, his sword laying on the ground next to him. He was in the process of taking off his shoulder pads, spared Zack only a curt glance when he hesitantly entered, and then proceeded to ignore him.
"A-are you OK?" One of Sephiroth shoulder pads fell to the ground. "Never been better." That was an obvious lie, although Zack had no idea what it really was that triggered him to this point. "Whew, I'm glad that we found Reeve and that Tseng is alright", Zack tried to change the topic. Another shoulder pad fell to the ground, while Sephiroth gave no response. "So, uuuuh… we're roommates?" Sephiroth sighed and leaned back his head. "I'm glad to be rid of the vice president. And I can't stand that boy looking at me with puppy eyes." Was he referring to Cloud? That certainly was a fitting description "I've seen enough cat pictures for the rest of my life." Cat pictures? "And Reno and Rude are getting more unbearable with every passing day. Still finishing each other's sentences, as if they couldn't do anything by themselves." He did not continue, and Zack had no idea if it was a compliment not to be included in the list of people that got on Sephiroth's nerves by simply existing, but thought it better not to ask.
Zack put his sword on the ground and started taking off his own shoulder pads and gear. "So what's the deal with this materia?" Sephiroth folded his arms and looked at the ground. "The vice president is going to use it to bargain for a truce tomorrow. And if they don't agree…" He looked at Zack over his shoulder. "… he'll use it on the city. Lovely man, isn't he?" Zack could very well imagine it after witnessing Rufus acting the way he did toward Yuffie today. "The Wutaians believe that Leviathan is an ancient deity protecting this country. The vice president understands what kind of heresy this is, and tomorrow-" His head jerked up when a low thud came from above. With his superhuman speed, Sephiroth drew his sword and stabbed the ceiling. A shriek, followed by louder thuds that moved away from their position told Zack that Sephiroth's sword had found its target.
"Damn ninjas", Sephiroth commented as he withdrew his sword that had drawn blood from the spy listening in on them from the hollow space above the ceiling liners. Another noise came from the wall, behind one of the colorful wall hangings. Sephiroth closed in with two quick steps and pulled back the fabric. "You!", he groaned as he reached into the void behind it. "What's going on?" Zack heard a scream, but could not see what was happening. Sephiroth grabbed something and struggled to pull it out, drawing desperate pleas from the girl to let her go. Finally, Sephiroth forcefully pulled Yuffie out from the vent by her ankle and lifted her up. She struggled, flailed her arms around and tried to kick him in the face. "Let me go. I hate you!" Sephiroth's arms were longer than her legs, and so, her attempts to kick him were pretty futile. Zack was glad to see that she was alright, but it was a mystery to him why she would come here after what had happened today.
"Why would you summon something like that in a city?", he yelled at her. "Shut up!", she shrieked. "Leviathan is the protector of Wutai! Judgement to Shinra!" Sephiroth lifted her higher to bring her eyes on the same level as his, close to his face and shouted at her: "It's a fucking esper! It doesn't know the difference. Don't summon it if you can't control it!" He shook her. "Do you have any idea how many people you killed today?" Although Zack had seen Sephiroth being emotional before, he had never seen him so angry. When he hit Yuffie with the truth about what she had done today, she went still and started sniffling. She covered her eyes with her lower arm and howled: "How dare you! You killed my mother. Give back Leviathan! Down with Shinra" Sephiroth's eyes widened at this accusation, then he frowned. He walked over to the door and continued: "Talking to you is a waste of time." He opened the door and warned her: "If I catch you again, I'll give you to Rufus, so get lost." He finally dropped her to the ground from a height, and she landed nimbly on her feet and dashed off, still crying.
Sephiroth slammed the door again and turned around, undoing the fastenings of his coat as he walked back to where his shoulder pads were laying on the ground. Zack, thinking that Sephiroth must be glad for Wutaian houses having slammable doors to give a voice to his feelings, very unlike the electric doors all around the Shinra and SOLDIER headquarters, turned around, and started taking off his own clothes, facing the wall. "Is it true? That you killed her mother?", he asked as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Who knows?", Sephiroth answered dismissively, and added: "Not on purpose." Zack could hear Sephiroth's cloak falling to the ground. Even today, he had probably hurt or perhaps killed several people when he wrecked those houses. "That's because you swing your sword around so indiscriminately. Have you ever thought about holding back a little?" Zack froze in shock as Sephiroth's sword whizzed past his right ear at what seemed like the speed of lighting, and sunk several inches in the wall. Zack felt Sephiroth's hair tickle his back as he drew close and hissed into his ear: "And you. Don't you ever jump in between me and an enemy ever again" When Zack overcame his shock, he dropped his shirt to the ground and unfastened his belt. "Why? So you can kill them for no reason?", he provoked the silver SOLDIER. Sephiroth drew back, pulled his sword from the wall and turned around. He slid his sword back into its scabbard as he responded: "Because I don't want to be responsible if you get yourself killed with your recklessness." Zack looked after him as he put his sword on the ground, disappeared into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.