The following weeks brought little change, as the Turks continued to chase Lazard, but eventually had to give up on actively pursuing him when all trails faded, and no new leads turned up. More surprising to me was the fact that Genesis was sighted near Midgar in this time period, which perhaps confirmed that he was still alive, although it might just as well have been one of his copies. Considering how good his relationship with Lazard had been, I believe it is not unthinkable that he himself might have come to Midgar to bring the former SOLDIER director to safety. If that was so, I had no doubt that it would take some time for him to resurface again. And if that really was so, I would feel somewhat gratuitous toward Genesis for sticking with him, as two outcasts together with nowhere to go, were still better off than two outcasts on their own, for at least they still could find solace in each other's company, even if neither of them could ever return.
The information that was released within the company a few days after Lazard's disappearance said that he had not only been concealing information, but also used SOLDIER funds to finance Hollander's activities after he left Shinra. That explained how Hollander was able to create the massive army of Genesis copies that he had produced. Hollander, at this time, was still in Shinra captivity, but seeing as Genesis was active and had helped Lazard flee, I had a hunch that something was about to happen to Hollander. But of course, I could not tell anyone, and Hollander was already under heavy supervision in Junon. I thought and hoped he would remain so, although it would have been nice if all his research had actually led anywhere. If he could have reversed the cell degeneration in Genesis and myself, perhaps everything would have been different. But as it was, I was more inclined to agree with Hojo that Hollander was a quack, for neither the child that he intended to produce, nor the child that he happened to father by accident, despite all the power they possessed, were likely to outlive him. Had he been sad to see me go? Somehow, I doubted it. If he was, it was only because he lost one of his precious samples. And so, I was fine with him being where he was, and I hoped he would stay there.
Rufus Shinra, quite unsurprisingly, was almost delighted to hear all about Lazard's transgressions as they seemed only to validate his own motivations in exploiting Avalanche to try and seize power over the Shinra Company prematurely. If Rufus Shinra was to inherit it all anyway, eventually, why would he go to such lengths as to have his own father assassinated to obtain it more quickly? When confronted by Tseng in the aftermath of the Lazard debacle, Rufus leaned back on his couch, buried his hands in his pockets and asked provocatively why they were even so surprised that Lazard, too, had shady activities going on. Perhaps he had known, perhaps he had feared, that Lazard would eventually attempt to steal it all away from him as he rose through the ranks within the company. Although Rufus was the only one of President Shinra's children that were ever legally recognized as such, his position was far from secure, and something so little and insignificant as murder or severe injury could easily displace him to make way for another heir. He had acted with this anticipation and attempted to establish his own facts the way he wanted them to be. Although perhaps a personal dislike for his father was also a factor that influenced his decisions. Rufus Shinra, perhaps, was the one least surprised by what the Turks uncovered about his half-brother, and the one least displeased when he was chased out of the company.
Sephiroth somewhat managed to pull himself together, or so it seemed, although neither Zack nor Tseng managed to see him even once during this time. Tseng sent him a message once, got no reply, and asked Zack to look after him when he had time. Despite how concerned he was before, he stayed away and did not intrude on him. He knew that was what Sephiroth would have wanted, but there were times when what we want is not necessarily what is best for us, and, in my humble opinion, Sephiroth could have used some company. Zack, on the other hand, tried to message or call him almost every day, seldom receiving a response. Apparently, Sephiroth was spending most of his time in the Shinra Archives, doing research, but neither Tseng, nor Zack ever sought him out there. His messages betrayed little about his feelings, and I knew that he was withdrawing back into his shell, where he had spent most of his life growing up; this time, possibly, without the ability to ever return from it back to the normal world.
In retrospective, perhaps it was Genesis, to whom Sephiroth owed the few good years of his life. I had little to do with it, at least in the beginning. I still remember the day the Turks came to our village, looking for possible SOLDIER recruits. Genesis, who had just read on the newspaper about the heroic deeds of the Silver SOLDIER, wanted to join the division all of a sudden. I wondered what had happened to his dream of turning the Banora Apple Company into the Banora Apple Empire. But perhaps he had realized as he grew from a child into a teenager that the soil of our homeland could support only so many trees, and there simply was no way he could turn that into a company operating on a global scale.
Perhaps, as he gave up his childish pipe dream, he latched onto the next best thing, or perhaps he felt something calling him, for as soon as the Turks, clad in their black uniforms despite the summer heat, landed their helicopter in the village square and asked around for possible recruits, he ran up to them and begged to be taken into SOLDIER. He was 13 at the time, cropped brown hair, tanned from working the apple groves under the summer sun, and the hard work had made him strong, but he had no idea how to fight. The Turks took him with them anyway, but before they left, they asked him if he knew any other boys around his age who might want to go with him. Now that I know what I know, I believe they did not happen to come to our tiny village by sheer coincidence. They probably knew what they were looking for: us, Genesis and myself. The products of the human experiments that had happened in Banora years prior. I was hiding because the Turks scared me, and I did not want to fight. But neither did I want to be without Genesis, who was my best friend. He found me in my hiding place, took my hand, smiled, and led me to the helicopter, reassuring me that he would always protect me. And I thought: "How bad can be? If I'm with Genesis, I'm sure everything will be just fine."
We were allowed to say goodbye to our parents, but when I entered our house, my mother sat in the kitchen, her back turned toward me, crying silently. I hugged her and told her that I loved her, but that I had to go with my friend and that I would come back to visit her as soon as I could. She nodded and said that, deep down, she had always known that this would happen one day. I did not know what she meant, but with her being a former Shinra scientist and subject of experimentation, she probably knew that I was special, and that they would take me away one day, even if was just to study me. Before I left, she handed me our family's heirloom that was leaning against the wall beside the door, as if it was waiting for me. It was a sword, almost as long as my own body, and probably almost as heavy. The Turk who had accompanied me looked annoyed, but helped me carry it to the helicopter, mumbling to himself why anyone would need such a big sword and how that could even be used. But this sword had belonged to my mother's father, my grandfather who passed away when I was little. I hardly remembered him, but I heard he was a strong fighter many years ago. So many years ago, in fact, that he remembered a world without the Shinra Company, and used to tell me stories about it.
Stories that were in heavy contrast with what we actually saw on the way to Midgar, the megacity made of steel sitting like a tumor in the middle of a dry, dusty, wasteland that expanded for miles and miles around it. Midgar had not existed when my grandfather was my age, although there had always been a settlement here, and the land had been fertile, with clean rivers, lush forests, and a mostly benign wildlife; although some of the native creatures were quite savage, they were nothing in comparison to the monstrosities we sometimes encountered under the plate and around the city, and no one quite knew where they even came from.
Immediately after our arrival at the Shinra Headquarters, we were ushered into a research laboratory somewhere in the top section of the building, where people with white lab coats were busily going back and forth and large glass tanks were filled with green-bluish liquid sometimes occupied by people or creatures, one stranger than the other. We waited for a few minutes until a middle-aged, bulky man with grey, streaky hair and a stained shirt walked in. He greeted us in a friendly manner, though his smile did not quite reach his eyes as he introduced himself as Dr. Hollander and asked what our names were. We bid goodbye to the two Turks who had brought us here and followed him into a dirty room with more mako tanks and equipment, whose purpose I did not understand, clutter everywhere and stains on the floor and tables. Genesis looked around curiously the whole time, and before Hollander could even begin to ask us questions, Genesis turned to him and asked if he was the one who would make us strong. Hollander looked at him dumbfoundedly and then broke into a roaring laugh. Genesis grinned, while I only managed an awkward "haha", but the ice was broken and before I knew it, Genesis and Hollander were on the way to develop a sort of friendship. The Doctor, as we called him back then, was substantially colder toward me, but I would find out only much later that this was not just because we did not share the same kind of humor the way he did with Genesis.
In his laboratory, he began to examine both of us, all the while talking to us and asking us questions why we wanted to join SOLDIER, what we liked to do in our free time and things like that. Genesis, who had always had a loose mouth, willingly shared everything the Doctor asked about and talked with excitement about a book he had recently read, about dumb apples, and our boring village life. The examination made me uncomfortable, though this was not due to the Doctor's bedside manner, which was more than appropriate. Hollander finally concluded that we were both suitable to enter SOLDIER, but before we could have our first treatments, we would have to undergo some amount of dedicated physical training to make certain that our bodies could benefit to the fullest from the mako therapy. He let us know that the future quarters of the newly established SOLDIER unit were still in the process of being constructed, and that we would stay in a high-security section of the Shinra building. When he told us that we would need permission to go out, Genesis, being used to a carefree village life of doing what he pleased, asked incredulously if we were going to be imprisoned. But Hollander, roaring with laughter again, explained that it was just for safety, just for the time being, and that life in the city was different. According to him, it was not safe for 13-year-old boys to go out by themselves in a city like Midgar. Having seen from the helicopter how vast and complex the city below was, I was inclined to believe him, although I found out not too much later that it was completely normal in most areas of Midgar for kids even younger than us to be out by themselves and they probably needed to make certain to keep their precious samples that had cost them years to produce and raise, such as not to lose us to a robbery, or, most likely, give us an opportunity to run away in case we changed our minds.
He made a short phone call and then led us back into the entrance area from where we had come, where two Shinra guards dressed in blue were waiting for us. He bid us goodbye until tomorrow and patted each of our heads awkwardly. But at this point, Genesis was already not listening to him anymore, for another person walking by had caught his attention: a tall boy, his silver hair tucked into a ponytail, dressed in black pants and a black turtleneck sweater, with a sword on his back that was almost as long as he was tall. I recognized him immediately, after Genesis had spent weeks fawning over his heroic deeds that were repeatedly reported in the newspaper. Seeing him in reality, I realized that his published photos did not do him justice at all, nor were they able to capture his hollow eyes and tired expression as he, with shoulders slumped forward, followed a thin, haggard, man with his long, oily, black hair tied back messily.
Before anyone could react, Genesis dashed off and yelled at Sephiroth to stop and face him in combat, shaking his fist. Sephiroth whirled around, his shining green eyes wide with surprised, or even shock. Genesis' challenge to a duel was met with a force almost unimaginable for naïve little me at the time. Genesis flew across the room and hit a table, knocking over and breaking the equipment placed on top. He sank to the floor, whimpering and clasping his left arm. Hollander called out his name and waddled toward him in a rush to pick him up and examine him, all the while Sephiroth kept staring in shock and disbelief about what had just happened until the man he was with, who I would later learn was called Hojo, the leader of the Research Department, slapped him across the face with the back of his hand with such a force that his head jerked around. "I told you not to break things around here", he snarled coldly at the boy, who had sunk to his knees and begged for forgiveness with a weak voice. Hojo turned to me, still standing by, unable to act, adjusted his glasses and studied me closely as I was shaking in my boots, half expecting him to hit me as well. "So these are your candidates, eh, Hollander?" He wrinkled his nose and then cackled nastily as his eyes fell on Hollander casting a Cura spell on Genesis. "Quality of over quantity", he murmured as he turned away and pulled Sephiroth up by his collar and dragged him out.
Hollander never hit us, not even once, and why would he? But Hojo did not need a reason to hit, insult or otherwise torment the little boy he was in charge of, and Sephiroth was in perpetual fight or flight mode, especially whenever he was inside the Research Department. It was simply not a good idea to yell at him out of the blue or startle him, but Genesis, blinded by the news reports about the young prodigy, could not have known that, and it would take us quite some to actually understand his situation. Hollander's Cura spell had mended Genesis's broken arm, but he would suffer from recurring pain for a while even after it had healed, and it could possibly delay his progress in his training for some time. Before we left, he let us know that Sephiroth had been staying in the same section of the Shinra Building we would be staying at ever since he returned from his training in Wutai a few months prior. He told us to either try and get along, or stay away from him altogether if that was not possible, because we were still weak and he could easily kill us by accident if we were careless. A spell could mend our wounds, but our bodies would need much longer to recover until they stabilized, and permanent damage had to be avoided at all cost. This was our new reality now. Two farm boys learning that something as simple as talking to another boy may very well end their lives. It was only then that it began to dawn on me that I had not actually had any idea what I was getting myself into when I boarded that helicopter.
The Doctor gratified Genesis' defiant glare by ruffling his hair and a "see you tomorrow, stay out of trouble", and disappeared as the two guards took us even further up in the Shinra building and sent us to our separate rooms. The rooms were bare, but the doors remained unlocked and we were free to explore the floor, only halted by the entrance to the section, which was fortified, equipped with cameras and guarded by several people. According to the staff, only the three of were living in this section at the moment, although a mother and her little daughter had been there until a short while ago. Our questions where they were, were answered by "we don't know either" and "stop asking so many questions". That girl, I know now, was Aerith, and I just barely missed her, although in retrospective, that was for her best, seeing as Hojo had been in charge of them and there was no reason to assume that he treated them any differently than his "candidate".
Hojo kept up this pattern of behavior all the way to the present, and he never stopped tormenting Sephiroth, although he was able to become more independent as he grew up, and Genesis and myself played a small part in that. Genesis was my best friend, and I knew he was OK; even the whole world hated him, he would be OK. Sephiroth, on the other hand, was far from that, and Hojo had seen to it and continued to see to it that he would never be OK. After Genesis and I had left, only Zack and Tseng were there for him, and neither of them were in any way suited to take our places in his life.
Meanwhile, back to the present, Zack was finally convinced to take some time off for a much-needed mental health break at Costa del Sol. It was quite sobering for me to see that the company still believed that sending people on a "mental health" break was an effective way to treat trauma from war and loss. Even back when we first joined the company, there was not a single mental health specialist among the many company's employees, and that had not changed by the time I passed away. All the people who did the hard jobs in the company could only rely on themselves and the support from their friends. And that was not enough. But Zack did enjoy watching girls in swimsuits, so I suppose it could be worse, although I wondered how Aerith would react if she knew that he paid so much attention to other girls.