Sephiroth followed Hojo into exam room two, forcing himself by strength of will not to recoil as he saw what lay within. Cloud was smaller than he was, and according to the growth charts and biological factors outside of Hojo's control, he always would be. He looked even slighter than he usually did, lying motionless on the exam table with his eyes half closed and blinking slowly. The wires of the EEG wreathing his head made him look fragile.

There was an IV in Cloud's arm, and Sephiroth glanced quickly up at the clear bag of fluid, noting that it was merely a saline solution rather than anything that might give him more answers as to why Cloud hadn't even seemed to notice his arrival.

Hojo motioned toward the computer screen, the wavy lines slowly scrolling across it inscrutable. Sephiroth had once asked how it worked, but no one had ever had the time to go over it in detail.

"Subject C is still within your control. You can tell here based upon the fact that once you came into the room these levels of activity became very slightly elevated." Hojo sounded delighted, the sandpaper sound of his hands rubbing together with enthusiasm loud over the soft electronic beeps of the equipment that hummed all around them.

Hojo tapped the paper readout that was slowly scrolling out of the printer. "Reduced activity in frontal and parietal regions, you see here," he explained as though Sephiroth would know what that meant, "and increased activity in motor and cingulate cortices. This is the same sort of thing you would see, not in true sleep, but from sleepwalking."

Sephiroth held himself still, knowing better than to react in any way as the professor reached down and pinched Cloud's arm between his fingers and gave it a hard squeeze. He'd already disobeyed and made trouble for himself, and for Cloud, by inserting himself into the equation when Cloud's reaction to the Mako tub had been so extreme. He didn't want to know what might happen if he continued to reveal how emotionally compromised he was from the situation.

"Fascinating isn't it? What have you tried with him in your clandestine independent study? There are a great many things I would like to know, and since you've already put in your own research I am…" Hojo's voice dropped from mere academic curiosity and into recrimination, the threat so obvious that it made Sephiroth swallow involuntarily, "certain that you can answer some of these questions."

If Sephiroth couldn't validate them, he knew that the queries would need to be tested and retested as many times as necessary. He hoped he knew the answers.

"You've shown that you can control his fight or flight response, which is at the forefront of what I had hoped for initially in these experiments," Hojo explained, switching back from threat to curiosity as though it had never been there. "A SOLDIER beneath your orders shouldn't be able to break away from an offensive merely for the sake of emotional upset, of course."

The professor pulled his small tape recorder from his pocket and thumbed the power button, muttering the date and time that the experiment was being resumed.

"Subject S has performed his own studies that have been successful enough to lead him to be entirely confident in his power over Subject C – here will be recorded said unobserved data to add to what will be learned over the next few days."

He nodded to Sephiroth, "What have you learned you can do during your own experiments, Subject S? What did you attempt, and what were the results?"

Sephiroth had thought he was resigned to this the night he had learned how much power he could have over his little brother. He had fully intended to reveal all of this the moment they were found and apprehended, to protect Cloud from the inevitable ramifications of their 'escape attempt.' But he hadn't been ready at all, and he should have known something like this would happen eventually. As he'd intended before, he was complete and thorough in his confession.

"I performed physical experiments to see if I could take physical control of Subject C's body, ordering him to move from one spot to another, and doing so while also telling him to try and resist my commands," Sephiroth was proud that his voice was without inflection, his body relaxed as he gave his report, feeling as though his body was at a remove from the nervous tension that made him nauseated. "He was unable to stay in place as he attempted to fight the compulsion, and obeyed me nearly instantly, precisely as I commanded."

"As you said in the enhancement chamber," Hojo said, still speaking into the recorder, "Subject S, you also have learned to control his emotional state and put him into a trance. This effect has remained regardless of your own physical and mental state, which means you've done far more excessive research into this method of control – a far deeper level of it than you've shown instinctively through the cells that connect you."

Hojo pulled out a notepad to reference, rattling off two dozen dates from the last six months that he'd recorded Cloud responding to Sephiroth's moods and times that he had 'dissociated' during periods matching times when Sephiroth had also done so. He didn't remember more than a handful of them, and it felt like he was snapped back into his body from where he'd floated above it as sweat broke out over his skin and a cold chill ran up his spine.

"Subject S, what else have you attempted in purely mental and emotional control, aside from mitigating pain responses and preventing Subject C from forming episodic memories during pain tolerance tests on those dates?" Hojo asked, voice rising a little in excitement as he waited for Sephiroth's answer.

Sephiroth wanted to wipe his face, feeling the sweat that was running down his forehead as he glanced at Cloud again.

"Subject S is exhibiting a physical reaction," Hojo suddenly interrupted him before he could begin, "clearly exerting effort as he attempts to continue to control Subject C. Subject C continues to remain in his nonreactive state, the brain scan revealing no changes from his trance."

That was almost comforting, that Cloud was alright and just… sleeping. It was also good, he knew, that Hojo had entirely misinterpreted his fear and panic as strain, wasn't it? He knew he had to answer correctly, and what would it hurt? Hojo already said he had altered Cloud's memory even when he hadn't meant to…

"I taught Subject C a word that he had not yet learned in his vocabulary lessons," he allowed himself that lie. He would never reveal Cloud's name, never betray that he still thought of himself as Sephiroth. There was a short list of things that Sephiroth and Cloud risked keeping to themselves. Their own names. Their attachment to one another and to Joel. The fact that the three of them had private names for one another that they only used when they were utterly certain they would not be observed and recorded, which had been a total of four more times since they had taken them up as a new secret.

The name of Ballard's guard hound was the most inconsequential of their confidences, but the knowledge that the golden Wolf still prowled the mountain and had become attached to them was valuable information to obfuscate.

"And, once he understood it," he couldn't let himself hesitate, but he wished he had when Hojo's face lit up in pleasure, "I made him forget that he had ever learned it in the first place."

There was a snapping sound as professor Hojo clamped his thumb down hard to turn off the recorder, bringing his other trembling hand to his mouth as he barked out a laugh so loud that it brought Ballard and Rivers into the room at the unfamiliar noise.

There was a strange light in the professor's eyes as he motioned the two other doctors closer. Once he'd powered on the recorder again, he pointed up at the camera on the wall, the light atop it blinking red. "We need visible evidence more than merely brain scans, so what I want to see now is how you control his movements, tell him to raise his right hand – verbally, so that it will be properly recorded for posterity."

"Yes professor," Sephiroth didn't dare ask any questions, glancing up at the camera and wondering what his face looked like and whether the black and white footage could show how shaken he felt. He bit his tongue, well hidden inside of his mouth, stopping just short of drawing blood. Sephiroth went to step closer, only to have professor Hojo reach out to stop him.

"I can see that you have practiced whilst being in physical contact, your hand placement was clearly instinctual as you connected your brain to his at such a vulnerable spot. I need to know if you can do without it. If you cannot, we will alter the parameters to allow it."

He couldn't help but dart a look at the professor, finding sharp fascination there. He didn't like that his back was to Ballard and Rivers, and the back of his neck prickled as goosebumps shot down his arms when he obeyed.

"C, lift your right hand," he spoke carefully and enunciated so that the microphone could pick up his voice. It was more than words, it was a sort of connection between them that transcended speech. Nothing happened at first, but his own desperation led him to reach out his own right hand, palm up, imagining he was clasping Cloud's in his own and raising it himself.

In sync with his movement, Cloud's hand lifted as though pulled by a string, reaching out towards Sephiroth's as though straining to meet him in the middle. Professor Hojo pushed Sephiroth's hand down, eyes locked on Cloud's body as his hand moved the same to lie back down against the table.

Hojo walked over and examined the results on the screen. Ballard and Rivers joined him, the three of them muttering to one another. Sephiroth knew he should be paying attention to their words, but his ears were ringing oddly and his vision was tunneled down so that all he could see was Cloud lying far too still. The fingers of his right hand were splayed flat, and he could see the vibrating tension in his arm as he pushed down on the table hard. Sephiroth's hand twitched at his side when he might have slapped it over his own mouth. He gasped softly as he realized he hadn't told Cloud to stop when his own arm had been pushed down.

The three adults were so focused on their discussion that they somehow didn't notice, although Sephiroth knew that the camera might pick up the sound he couldn't completely muffle – they were going to watch this over and over, they would notice. They would see it later. Would it be better to interrupt now, ask permission to let Cloud relax and rest again, or to simply do it and know he'd be dragged out of bed tomorrow or the next day and reprimanded for not fully giving himself over to the experiment as it was intended to be performed at this moment.

"Excuse me, professor?" Sephiroth said, trying to sound as diffident and respectful as he'd ever been. Hojo only raised one eyebrow as he broke off from the conversation to look at him. Sephiroth nodded toward Cloud's hand. "May I let him stop?"

The three turned towards Cloud, and Sephiroth hated how rapt their attention was.

"Not yet," Hojo said, that same bright sound in his voice that had preceded the laugh.

Ballard reached down and grabbed Cloud's wrist, pulling upwards and needing to physically strain against the compulsion that kept the younger boy's hand pushing down. Sometimes, somehow, Sephiroth would forget how much stronger they were than anyone in the lab other than Joel.

"Interesting, very interesting," Hojo nodded, "go ahead and tell him to relax again."

"Relax, Subject C," Sephiroth murmured, and Cloud's hand went slack. With Ballard still pulling at it, he jerked Cloud's arm with enough force to make his upper body rise from the table. Ballard dropped Cloud's hand, and Sephiroth barely stopped himself from leaping forward to catch him as Cloud's body slumped back down.

"Careful!" Hojo snapped at Ballard, leaning down and readjusted Cloud's body into position with his head properly on the pillow to cushion the wires stuck to his scalp. He twitched his head towards the monitor, pointing sharply at a blip in the readout, "Ballard, get out and go do something useful like doing a blood draw on each of the creatures in the animal lab and test their S-Cell levels for the next experiment."

Sephiroth was familiar with hate, he felt it for Ballard in particular very often. He didn't like the look of it on Ballard's face, because the doctor wasn't angry at Hojo for taking him to task and giving him new orders. No, the hateful look was thrown at Cloud. Sephiroth never thought much about what was 'fair' or 'unfair', because truly it never mattered, but Cloud had done nothing but what he was told, precisely as he was told to.

Cloud occasionally thwarted Ballard's attempts to order him about by the simple expedient of doing as he was meant to before Ballard would have an excuse to become stern with him. The doctor had been clearly irritated with this on numerous occasions. That was something Cloud chose to do, however, and Ballard had made certain that Cloud would pay in some small ways when he could… But with Cloud dubiously conscious of anything around him, unable to do anything but be in Sephiroth's power and Sephiroth being under the professor's orders, there should be nothing that would make Ballard react that way.

As he'd done numerous times, and knew he could never actually act upon it, he wondered what might happen if he used his training on the unkempt man who spun on his heel and stalked out of the room.

Hojo and doctor Rivers turned back to the readings, and the professor passed the tape recorder to her for a moment as he made a few notes on Cloud's chart before he snapped his fingers and beckoned Sephiroth closer, "Hold him the same as you did before, palm over his brain stem and tell him to raise both hands, then to make a fist in first his right and then his left before releasing him. Do not perform the movements yourself this time."

Sephiroth circled the examination table, knowing that he couldn't entirely block Cloud's body from view no matter how badly he wanted it. He couldn't pull him into his arms to hug him, merely able to slip his hand beneath Cloud's head to cradle it in the place Hojo had instructed him. He wondered if the professor was correct in his assumption of how he had held Cloud before. Sephiroth had thought it was merely for both their comfort as they'd embraced in the cave, as well as when he had made him calm before the new Mako procedure, but it could be, as Hojo insisted, an instinctual response… he would be required to try it again, he knew. He relayed Hojo's commands to Cloud, once more raising his voice enough for the surveillance camera and the professor's tape recorder to pick up. As he knew he would, Cloud obeyed promptly and completely, and then performed the next series of gestures as the professor instructed him to continue, the orders more and more complex as he became ever more excited.

Afterwards, although Sephiroth hated losing the contact with Cloud, he was ushered out of the room and into the next, settling down on the other examination table and submitting to have the secondary EEG hooked up to himself. Both Hojo and Rivers became more and more animated as they continued to instruct and record both of their responses – the areas of Sephiroth's brain that would indicate the movements he ordered Cloud to perform remotely responded as though he himself were doing them. Cloud's own brain remained steadily calm and sleep-like even as he obeyed Sephiroth's orders from the other room.

They were sent back to their room only when the adults decided that they, themselves, needed to rest. Cloud walked beside him, leaning against his side the entire way as Sephiroth led him. He hesitated inside their room, closing the door and wondering whether it would be worse to be reprimanded or praised for what he wanted to do. Either way, he chose the momentary comfort of pulling Cloud into his own bed and holding him as he began to fall asleep. He buried his face in Cloud's shoulder to muffle a sound of misery as he realized his brother was still awake, and would not sleep until he ordered him to rest. The revelation made him cold and then hot all over.

"C?" Sephiroth knew better than to even mouth Cloud's real name, hyper-aware of the camera positioned over the door. He felt balanced on a razor's edge, neither side particularly better than the other to fall towards even though one would make him happier. Could he order Cloud to wake up, to come completely out of whatever state Sephiroth had made him go into? The other question, the one he hated to contemplate the most, was whether he should at this moment. The scientists had all been elated by the results of the day's work, and had said the morning would be spent refining everything to prepare their presentation to Shinra's board of directors as soon as possible…

As soon as possible, he reminded himself. Soon could mean days, weeks even. But Cloud would… he would be alright, Sephiroth would make sure of it. When they had all the data they could possibly want, they'd allow him to wake Cloud up.

Soon. As soon as possible.

The next day found them resuming the tests from the previous one, both Cloud and Sephiroth hooked up to the EEG machines for most of the morning. It was a change in the routine, and as he and Cloud both intimately knew, changes were always a bad thing. They should have been in their physical fitness program with Joel, and the day after that should have been weapons practice, but the day wore on and on without even being able to see a glimpse of their trainer and brother except for meals. Explanations and understandings were relayed between bites and beneath his breath, Sephiroth nearly feeding Cloud by hand to help him finish before they were drawn away again. Joel had tapped his foot twice against Sephiroth's beneath the table, a hidden sign they had devised that let Sephiroth know he was there for them even if he couldn't interfere at the moment.

There were even more tests – whether Sephiroth felt pain when Cloud was subjected to pin pricks with the neuro-pinwheel, and whether the sensations of heat or cold were transferred between them. He could make Cloud stand and walk from one side of the room to the other so far as the wires on his head could reach. Each subsequent call and response made the scientists more excited. Only one experiment hadn't worked – Cloud had been unable to verbally respond when ordered to.

The next day, Sephiroth was told, would be the most important exercise they had attempted in years, to be recorded to show proof of concept. They finally found themselves back in the training room after a night where Cloud had at least slept at his command, although he himself didn't manage to do more than close his eyes and pretend. Sephiroth had to force himself through long practice and strength of will not to pull Cloud closer to his side and keep him there as doctor Rivers set up a large video camera on a tripod to one side of the room. She fussed with its positions and settings, peering through the eyepiece and adjusting the controls the way she wanted it before giving professor Hojo a short nod that she was prepared.

Sephiroth's back was to the camera, at least for the moment, but he could hear the click and whir of the electronic components as a video cassette was inserted and the camera was powered on. Joel's expression was blank, the practiced disinterest he had developed to hide what he really thought firmly in place – because, of course, he was facing that camera and they both knew that even his micro-expressions might be studied when the footage was reviewed at a later date. Sephiroth knew his own eyes were wide as he looked up at Joel. The muscles in Joel's biceps flexed and tightened as he gripped his hands where they were hidden from view. Unlike the way Sephiroth and Cloud had felt in the beginning, Sephiroth trusted that somehow, some way, Joel might be able to help – if only the SOLDIER could manage to speak to them in private.

Professor Hojo's hands were red from wringing them together, the color almost as bright and vivid as blood. He waited for Rivers to press the button and set the camera to record, and his speech was quick and staccato as he ordered Sephiroth to step to one side so that the camera could see the both of them. He had Cloud move to mirror him, and they accepted the practice swords that Joel pressed into their hands. There was a tiny hidden touch of comfort as the SOLDIER wrapped their fingers around the hilts, the only care he might dare to show where it couldn't be interpreted as such.

Hojo rattled off the date and time, announcing to the camera that the next level of their experiment was in 'flash learning via S-Cells.' Sephiroth had come to understand early on that Cloud was being treated with cells taken from his blood, but he hadn't realized what their purpose was until much later. He was still uncertain how something so simple as a blood transfusion would lead to his being able to take over another person's mind and control their actions.

"Now, Subject S," Hojo's hands rubbed together again, "you will perform the most complicated sword form you have learned, specifically one that Subject C has not attempted. You will take control of C, causing him to perform the exercise in tandem as you do it."

Sephiroth was intensely grateful that his emotional reactions were misinterpreted as effort when he began to sweat, reaching out as he'd been taught. It had become easier and easier to do so, as though the past three days had allowed him to map out Cloud's thoughts and emotions to such an extent that they were nearly as familiar as his own. He was also grateful that, through it all, Cloud had not been in any distress. Grateful again that his own worry and regret did not bleed over to infect Cloud and make his hands shake as Sephiroth's did when he tightened his grip on the hilt and began the sword pattern. Cloud's movements matched his, not in the least bit awkward even though his dominant hand was the opposite of Sephiroth's. He performed each strike and block smoothly, as though he'd practiced the kata just as many times as Sephiroth had.

A thought occurred to him, and he looked at the camera and then shifted his gaze to the professor. "Shall I change positions, and show him how it is done with his dominant hand, professor?"

"Excellent idea," Hojo waved towards them, just out of the camera's range. "Wonderful forethought, yes, proceed."

Sephiroth knew that even a year ago he might have preened beneath the praise. But now all he felt was the cold fear and jagged hate locked in his chest as he turned back to Cloud and switched his sword to his right hand. Cloud copied each swing dutifully. Sephiroth was ordered to step back and give Cloud the command to repeat it without doing each movement himself, and Cloud did so without hesitation, performing as flawlessly as Sephiroth had a moment before.

By the time the scientists had collected all the data they wanted, both Sephiroth and Cloud were soaked with sweat. Cloud's limbs trembled from using muscle groups he hadn't quite exercised in so thorough a manner, and Sephiroth's own body ached from effort somehow even more intensely than usual. He had to wonder if Hojo had been right, that maintaining such complete control would have a cascading negative effect upon his mind and body.

Even late into that night the lab beyond their door was filled with the sound of things being moved around and excited voices as the scientists ordered the most important and valuable equipment to be prepared for shipment. Professor Hojo and doctor Rivers intended to leave first thing in the morning, heading to Midgar in a van already loaded with reports and videos. The professor remained locked in his personal office in the mansion as he prepared his presentation to be given to president Shinra upon their arrival. They were confident that the results would see them moving to the city, a coup de gras of scientific progress that would see Professor Hojo achieving the penultimate promotion over the entire department.

As the sounds from beyond the door slowly dwindled down to murmurs and then finally to merely the footsteps of the night shift trooper making his rounds, Sephiroth stared off into the darkness of their room for hours. His wet hair soaked into his pillow as he lay on his bed, Cloud tucked up against him as he'd done ever since this nightmare had begun. The last time such chaos had swamped the lab had been when Gast had left the project. Although he knew that the last thing anyone intended was to harm him or Cloud, it didn't stop the memory of weeping beneath this very bed from dragging him down to a dark place in his head. He grabbed the edge of the blanket and yanked it up over both of their heads, pulling Cloud even closer and whispering into his ear in desperation.

"C… Cloud… Skoll, please, please wake up. Please, I can't do this without you, please…" he felt tears well in his eyes and drip down the side of his face, streaming down to the already soaked pillow beneath him and mingling with the water still clinging to Cloud's hair.

"Cloud, please…"

Cloud had been vaguely aware of time passing, of his body moving and responding the way it was supposed to, the way it was meant to. At the same time, it felt as though everything that happened… didn't quite involve him. It wasn't in the least unpleasant, save the brief moments when lucidity had returned to him whilst still held beneath the weight of reinforced straps and burning green that registered as more cold than painful. It felt the same way it did when he got something right on the first try, the way he'd managed to hit all the targets in quick succession and Joel had given a whoop into his mic that had crackled in Cloud's earpiece. It had made him grin and muffle his own pleased laugh so the guard below wouldn't hear him.

The only problem was that Sephiroth wasn't happy with him, he wasn't happy with any of it, but Cloud didn't know what to do to make him stop feeling like a coiled spring that was about to snap beneath the strain. He didn't know how to let Sephiroth know that nothing was wrong, or at least that Cloud wasn't scared, or upset with him. He didn't want Sephiroth to look so broken when Cloud did everything just the way he said to.

Sephiroth's breath was hot against his ear beneath the covers, pleading words washing into him. Sephiroth was unhappy, he wanted Cloud to wake up, but he was awake. Wasn't he? He could see the faint red light of the alarm clock from beneath the edge of the blanket, and he'd be ready to get up if it was time to, just as he'd done yesterday and the day before, but he just… knew that wasn't what Sephiroth really meant.

A noise of pain eked out of Sephiroth's throat, hot and wet and barely muffled as his chest hitched against Cloud's back and his arms tightened around him.

'I'm okay,' Cloud wanted to say, 'don't worry, it's okay.' He tried to say it, feeling the vibration in his throat that might have become words not quite making it out and into his mouth and from there into the air so Sephiroth could hear them.

"Please wake up, I can't… please, Cloud I… I love you."

They'd never said that word before. It was big and terrifying no matter that it was only a single syllable. It wasn't like Cloud didn't feel it. He felt it so strongly that sometimes it hurt. He knew Sephiroth loved him. He knew Joel loved them too. They were his brothers, and that was love.

Love was something that couldn't be taken away, but it could be used, oh yes it could be used against them, so they'd never quite dared to say it. Names between them were bad enough, and those felt like that big and frightening word in a different way. When they used their names, well… it was more than just a label that someone else had given them. Cloud's mother wasn't even a memory for him, and Sephiroth had long since begun to hate the man who had given him his. But still, they were important, names were so important.

'Hati. Sephiroth,' Cloud tried to say it harder than he'd ever done, he wanted to say the scary word back, maybe more than he'd ever wanted anything in his whole life.

"Hah," he managed, but it wasn't even a sound so much as a deep breath.

Sephiroth kept telling him to wake up, please…

"Come back," Sephiroth said, and that was like… it felt like a key in a lock, something stronger than just telling Cloud to wake up. He was awake, he couldn't wake up more than he was, but to come back… that was it, right?

"I love you," Sephiroth sobbed quietly, "please come back."

All the muscles in Cloud's body that had been loose and comfortable tensed up all at once, and he twisted in Sephiroth's hold until he could throw an arm over his brother's shoulders.

"I didn't go anywhere," he said, words feeling strange and thick in his mouth from not using them in days. Sephiroth's breath came out shaking in a stifled whine as his arms squeezed Cloud hard enough it hurt, but that was okay.

As he came back to himself, Cloud realized he wasn't as unscathed as he'd thought he was. Every single muscle hurt, his back and shoulders twinged and ached as he remembered everything that had felt like it was happening to someone else. His arms hurt, even his hands hurt from gripping the practice sword so very tightly because Sephiroth had been holding it that way. Sephiroth's body had been tense, and that had made Cloud's muscles act the same. It felt like he'd been working on that Kata for days without stopping, and he fought down a whimper at the pain spreading through his body as he truly woke up for the first time since the Mako. Cloud burrowed his head into Sephiroth's chest, fingers winding into the back of his wet scrub top as all the energy he'd just felt in one huge wave began to ebb out of him.

He wanted to say he wouldn't… blank out again, but he knew it might not be a vow he could keep. But he was sure if they just… if they just practiced more on their own, they'd figure out how to do what the scientists wanted without Cloud having to 'go away' the next time.

"Love you Seph, I'm back, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," he could at least promise that, because they would eventually figure it out if it was the last thing they did. He trusted Seph, trusted his brother, he was the smartest person he knew even over Hojo. If anyone could figure it out, his brother could do it.

"I love you."