sinnatious

Title: The Fifth Act

Rating: T for violence.

Summary: FFVII Time-travel. Gen. Cloud has an accident with a Time Materia.

Author's Note: Been a busy week, but we have a new chapter at last! Honestly, this chapter could probably still use more work, but I’ve made you wait long enough. Hope you enjoy it. Nice and long to make up for the delay.

Previous Chapter

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The Fifth Act
Chapter 35

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Sephiroth eyed the spiky-haired blond across from him with some concern. The boy’s face had taken on a sickly sheen, and the General did not relish the prospect of spending the next few hours with a puddle of vomit at his feet. The hold already carried a strange smell, apparently having been used to deliver sylkis greens to the Gold Saucer on its previous run.

They weren’t using the biggest or fastest of ShinRa’s airships by any means. The engine drone was accompanied by a worrying rattle, and spots on the hull’s interior had begun to rust. The craft had been designed to ferry cargo, not people, but there was just enough room in the hold to fit them and a few crates of engine parts comfortably.

They were being flown over to the West Continent by a pilot who’d been paid a substantial sum to not mention the presence of additional cargo on his invoice. While this meant they could travel quickly and without attracting attention that might tip off anyone at their destination, it required a certain sacrifice of comfort. They were arranged in a cramped circle, substituting the packing crates for chairs. Cloud’s nephew sat hunched and miserable across from him, with Zack patting the boy’s back on one side and Angeal’s chimera curled up sleeping on the other. Genesis perched on a slightly taller crate next to him, no doubt forgoing to the comfort of his feet being able to reach the ground for the perceived height advantage. Completing their entourage was Vincent, who had chosen to haunt a shadowy corner a short distance away – close enough that he could engage in conversation if necessary, but far enough to discourage it.

They’d been forced to leave Kunsel behind in the care of Zack’s girlfriend. It had been a risk, as apparently she was under Turk surveillance, but lugging a sick SOLDIER across continents was not conducive to a speedy recovery. They would simply need to trust Tseng at his word, at this point.

The airship lurched briefly in a bout of turbulence. The boy let out a piteous groan.

“Hang in there, Spike. Is the medicine helping?” Zack leaned down to get a better look at his queasy features. “Wow, you’ve really got it bad. How did you manage to get Kunsel all the way to Midgar if you could barely take care of yourself?”

“Didn’t have a choice,” was the mumbled reply.

Zack laughed – the sound far too loud and merry for the gravity of their current situation. “I guess not! No wonder you looked so upset when we said we were going back to Nibelheim straight away! You could have stayed with Kunsel and Aeris, you know.”

He received a stubborn shake of the head in response.

Sephiroth figured there would be no better opportunity to ask, now that they were on their way and had time to kill. “I’ve been curious as to the details of how that all came about, actually. Especially him.” He inclined his head towards the sleeping chimera.

“I too have been waiting for a more thorough explanation,” Genesis added.

Zack scratched the back of his neck. “Oh yeah, we kind of didn’t get a chance to explain everything properly, did we?” The First sent a sidelong glance at the miserable blond. “Don’t worry, Spike, you just concentrate on not throwing up. I got this,” he reassured him.

“Spike?” Genesis raised an eyebrow. It was blatantly obvious he’d been dying to ask for a while now.

“Nickname! Cause of the hair! It’s confusing otherwise.”

“Get on with it, Zack,” Sephiroth interrupted.

“Right! So, I was heading into the slums to visit Aeris…”

Sephiroth listened impassively as Zack recounted the child’s story, coaxing the occasional comment or confirmation from the Cloud look-alike as he went. The tale he wove on the child’s behalf grew ever more unbelievable with each sentence. By the time the cheerful SOLDIER had finished his rather extended report, there were a great many questions they needed to address.

Considering the company, he put the first query to the boy.

“How old are you, Strife?” He found himself uncomfortable using the youth’s first name. In his mind, it had been reserved for his rival, and he was hardly going to resort to nicknames to keep things straight.

The child managed to pull himself into a sitting position. “F-fourteen, sir!”

“You don’t need to call him sir! You’re not in the military!” Zack chided.

The blond looked up to the First with wide blue eyes. “But then what do I call him? Mister?” The very idea of using his given name appeared to horrify the child.

Sephiroth, however, was still stuck on the notion that a fourteen-year-old boy had come from the West Continent all by himself. Lugging a sick SOLDIER while avoiding ShinRa, at that. No wonder Zack had been so shocked at the child’s motion sickness.

Surprises, he decided, must run in the Strife family.

“There is a flaw in your story,” Genesis suddenly declared.

“What?!” Zack squawked. “Spike, did I forget something?”

“It’s not something you forgot,” Genesis interrupted. “But it’s about his family in Nibelheim.”

“Oh, yeah. Cloud said he grew up in Nibelheim, but Spike here never saw him until after the Wutai War,” Zack agreed. “I can’t figure it out. Maybe he lied?”

“Not that.” Genesis sounded irritated. “I was referring specifically to the part when he first arrived.”

“You mean, when Ma shot at him?” the boy asked.

Genesis nodded curtly. “Doesn’t anyone else find that unusual? They both use the name Strife, correct?”

“It’s my mother’s maiden name,” the blond agreed.

“You said your uncle told you that there must have been issues with your father’s family. But if you carry the same last name, doesn’t that mean he’s your mother’s brother, not your father’s?”

Sephiroth frowned. That was indeed a glaring contradiction. “I don’t think he lied about it, either. He reacts to the name quickly enough. That is an ingrained reflex not easily learned.”

“You’re probably right,” Zack admitted. “What do you think, Spike?”

"He... he never actually told me his name," the teen mumbled to his feet. “I only heard it from Mr Ferrey later.”

Genesis smirked. "That certainly sounds like our Cloud Strife."

Sephiroth agreed. "Precious about his name even with family members. Assuming, of course, that they truly are family." The inconsistencies were beginning to bother him immensely.

"What else could they be? They look so much alike! They’re practically identical," Zack declared.

"Not really," Genesis sniffed.

Sephiroth studied the youth, and found himself in agreement. The resemblance was unusually strong, even for relatives, but he couldn't imagine ever confusing one for the other. Never mind the lack of enhancements or the age difference - this Cloud wore his expression openly, eyes alight and soft smile at the ready, even when hunched over his knees trying not to throw up. He was eager to please, a little shy and awkward – self-esteem issues, perhaps - and as Zack had proven, show him the slightest hint of approval or friendliness and you had his immediate trust. Their Cloud couldn't be more different - even on the rare occasions he smiled, his eyes remained guarded, and his posture was always so stiff, as though the he carried a weight far heavier than a mere sword on his shoulders.

They both had a backbone made of adamantite, though, and a stubborn streak as wide as the Northern Crater. Maybe that too was a family trait.

“There is little we can do to shed light on that matter until we find Cloud himself,” Sephiroth reasoned. It felt like they were getting closer to solving the mystery of Cloud Strife, yet the final piece eluded them, the one that fit everything together. “However, there is another point of curiosity we need to discuss.”

Zack looked bewildered. “What?”

Genesis rolled his eyes. “He’s talking about the chimera.”

“You said you found it sitting with Sergeant Kunsel when you arrived, and that it followed you out of Nibelheim all the way to Midgar?” Sephiroth prompted.

The boy looked up from his knees to nod. He didn’t appear to be up to extrapolating any further at the moment.

“I am curious as to how the creature came to be,” Genesis commented.

“The slaughtered specimens we saw in the lab in Banora were similar,” Sephiroth reminded him. “Clearly a method for transformation exists. However, I never anticipated it could go so far as to influence a beast’s consciousness, to the point of domestication.” It was counter-intuitive - there would have been no need to cage the specimens in those circumstances. This chimera had been nothing but docile.

“Hollander almost certainly made those monsters, but they were all destroyed without exception. For this one to exist, it must have been made after Hollander died, which means this is Angeal’s work directly. Perhaps that is the source of the difference,” Genesis hypothesised.

It seemed logical then that Angeal had dispatched this creature to protect the boy and Sergeant Kunsel on their journey across the continents. Sephiroth folded his arms pensively. “What I don’t understand is if Angeal was there and aware of what was going on, why he didn’t help out directly? Why only work through proxies?” Genesis looked worried, he noted. “You know something.”

The Commander clutched his shoulder. A new nervous habit – he wondered how long he should leave it before informing his friend of his new tell. “Degradation. The pain can strike you suddenly, crippling you at the most inopportune moments. You become weak, you stop trusting your body to act the way you expect it to, and you start to fear even the smallest of injuries.”

Genesis painted a chilling image, but Sephiroth understood. Their old friend was playing it safe, then. Taking what small actions he felt sure he could complete. A copy would be, in his eyes, more reliable.

Angeal always had been the most cautious one.

“Or it could just be that he needed to stay in Nibelheim to look for Cloud,” Zack pointed out. Sephiroth sent him a flat stare, and he became defensive. “What?”

“It doesn’t sound as though Nibelheim is that large,” Genesis scoffed. “Smaller than even Banora, by all reports. Surely, in the time since he bequeathed you that Buster Sword, Angeal would have been able to inspect the place in its entirety several times over.”

For the first time since boarding the airship, Vincent’s smooth baritone split the silence. Zack and Cloud jumped – both apparently having forgotten he was there. “Nibelheim itself is small, but if you don’t know where to look for it, the way into Hojo’s laboratory is almost impossible to find. The entrance is well camouflaged, and only able to be opened by a hidden mechanism.”

Genesis raised his eyebrows. “The good Professor is certainly paranoid.”

If even half of what he suspected was true, Hojo had excellent cause to be. The case of Vincent Valentine alone was enough to get the Turks offside. Everybody knew Hojo had the President’s favour, but how much longer would that last with the Turks actively ferreting out his every lie? “It is fortunate, then, that we have a guide with us.”

His words were met with a long, grave silence. Sephiroth stared Vincent down, confused by his apparent reluctance. “Was I wrong to presume that of you?”

Eventually, Vincent murmured, “There are many secrets in that place better left buried. Secrets you may be happier not knowing.” The hold had fallen deathly quiet – even the child held in his groaning, as though scared to draw attention to himself. “However, you must choose your own path. I cannot choose it for you.”

Sephiroth arched an eyebrow. “Choose?” he echoed.

Vincent didn’t explain. “Cloud does not believe in you,” was all he would say. “However, I have faith in the son of Lucrecia.”

Cryptic words, but Sephiroth found them oddly ominous. Lucrecia again. He wanted to ask the former Turk more, but could not bring himself to do so with an audience. What did it mean? He needed to know, but a part of him was reluctant to find out.

Everything he thought he knew and could trust had been slowly collapsing around him, ever since Angeal and Cloud first disappeared. Hollander’s murder. The news of degradation and human experiments. Months of the company pretending two of its top SOLDIERs no longer existed. All that time searching, always aware that Angeal’s health could be dwindling by the day, always conscious of the Turks and Lazard looking over his shoulder. The growing certainty that the company he served was the culprit. Then he’d discovered the Second Class in a hotel in the slums. A SOLIDER who had been reported as dead. Irrefutable proof of a ShinRa cover up.

His fingers flexed. Then Vincent’s declaration that Hojo was involved had been the last piece of concrete evidence he’d needed to be sure that his dreams were more than dreams. That it hadn’t been his hand choking the Professor, as satisfying a fantasy it might have been. That all this time, Cloud – one of the few people he cared about – had been trapped by the Science Department, leaving Angeal to wither away.

An ugly feeling had begun to grow in him. A dark, potent rage, that the company he’d served for as long as he could remember would betray him so thoroughly.

No, more than mere rage. Hatred.

The foundation of his every belief in himself and the world had been shaken, giving way to sick, twisted suspicions about his own forgotten childhood. Jenova was not his mother? Instead, it was some woman named Lucrecia he’d never even heard of?

Then who was Jenova?

……………………..

The truck rumbled to a stop outside the town gates. Genesis stepped down from the back, dusted off the hem of his long red jacket, and reached back to collect First Tsurugi, grimacing under the weight. He would never understand the appeal of such a heavy weapon, even if it separated.

Sephiroth moved to stand by the gates with an odd expression of his face. Zack was busy helping the grey-faced child down from the truck, so Genesis sauntered over to join the General. It had been two and a half days of solid travelling, but they’d finally arrived at Nibelheim. According to Cloud’s nephew, that was actually an achievement.

Now that they’d arrived, though, he found himself unimpressed. When he’d first heard the descriptions of Nibelheim, he’d pictured a more mountainous version of Banora, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Banora was quiet. Nibelheim was desolate. The doors and windows of the houses were shut tight against the cold breezes rolling off the peak, and though the curtains twitched, nobody came out to greet them. The sheer surrounding cliffs walls left half the buildings in near-permanent shadow. What little vegetation framed the village was gnarled and withered, poking out between crevasses of dark grey rock.

It felt like a ghost town, only everybody forgot to leave.

Sephiroth had yet to move. “Is something bothering you?” Genesis drawled. Could he be having second thoughts? ShinRa’s famous General had looked unusually pensive throughout the journey, after all. Vincent’s cryptic warning had only fed his growing concern.

Not that he was concerned for Sephiroth, of course – merely the side effects they would suffer should he begin behaving as unpredictably as Angeal.

“This place… it seems familiar,” he murmured. “Yet I cannot recall ever being here before.”

“Given what Vincent said about Lucrecia, and that Hojo has his lab here, there is a good chance this is your hometown,” Genesis remarked. “Though I suppose you would not remember it consciously.”

Sephiroth considered that for a moment, green eyes sweeping critically across each building in turn.

“…I feel no attachment to it whatsoever.”

With that cold pronouncement, Sephiroth began walking purposefully towards the inn. “We should move quickly. Our arrival is not likely to go unnoticed for long.”

Genesis threw a glance back to the rest of their rag-tag crew. Cloud’s nephew appeared to be pulling himself together now they were no longer moving, though Zack still hovered around him, as if expecting him to collapse at any moment. Their driver had locked up the truck and was making a beeline for one of the houses. The chimera took a running leap into the air and soared over the village, wheeling out of sight a moment later.

Vincent appeared at his elbow. “Keep an eye on Sephiroth,” he murmured.

The Commander scoffed. “I thought you ‘believed in him’.”

“I do. But caution would be prudent.”

Genesis eyed him. “And what precisely am I looking out for? Do you care to share what it is you know, Vincent Valentine?”

The former Turk breezed past without replying.

How mysterious.

By the time they’d arrived at the Inn, Sephiroth had already arranged for rooms. Genesis carefully placed Cloud’s belongings in the corner, and Zack did squats by the door. Cloud’s nephew stood awkwardly next to him.

“Okay, so we’re off to the lab now, right?” Zack asked. “Oh but… Spike, you should go tell your mother you’re back. I bet she’s worried.”

The light of challenge entered the boy’s eyes. “I want to help find my uncle too.”

“It’s probably going to be dangerous.” Zack’s diplomatic way of saying ‘you’ll get in the way’, Genesis noted.

“But-”

Zack threw him a glance, and murmured in a voice low enough for the child not to hear, “You tell him.”

Puzzled, Genesis asked, “Why?” He had no experience with children. There was a reason why ShinRa didn’t give him any training duties.

“Just do it.”

Genesis shrugged. He was impatient to get going. “We’re moving on to private ShinRa property – civilians aren’t allowed. Go home and maintain an air of normalcy,” he cut in. “That’s an order. We’ll be back with your uncle soon enough.”

All further protests died on the boy’s lips, and he nodded quickly.

That was easy. “Let’s not waste any more time. I’d rather not give any curious townspeople the chance to gather before we leave.” As an afterthought, he added to the boy, “And don’t tell anyone where we’ve gone. If we’re not back by nightfall, write a letter explaining everything that’s happened and give it to the chimera.”

The child nodded again, and scrambled out the door. As the front door to the Inn slammed shut, he raised an eyebrow at Zack. “What was so difficult about that?”

The black-haired First merely grinned as though enjoying a private joke, and ambled towards the exit. “Nothing. Just worked better than I thought.”

"I think you have a fan," Sephiroth murmured.

Genesis swept his hair out of his eyes, in a practiced move he normally reserved for publicity shoots. "Just proof the boy responds to leadership when he sees it."

“Although, are you sure it’s safe to-?” Zack began to worry as soon as they were outside.

“He’ll be fine on his own. He has the chimera, after all,” Genesis dismissed. He searched the sky for a moment. Was Angeal here, in this town? It had been so very long since he’d last seen his friend. How far had the degradation progressed?

He could only pray they weren’t too late. For either Angeal, or Cloud.

Sephiroth was already heading for the northern exit. The village was still mostly clear of on-lookers, fortunately. He spied the man who had driven them there talking with who he assumed was the town’s mayor – he had that self-important look about him that reminded Genesis bitterly of his own father. They hadn’t bothered to extrapolate beyond ‘confidential ShinRa business’, hopefully that would keep the townspeople at bay for a while. They could speculate all they wanted, so long as they didn’t interfere.

They left behind the main circle of houses, heading further up the peak along a rocky slope. Sephiroth appeared completely uninterested in their surroundings, walking with focused intent and purpose. Genesis narrowed his eyes. Vincent, their supposed guide, was trailing at the back of the group, but had yet to speak up. “Do you know where you’re going?”

His gaze turned distant. “He’s here.”

It took a moment for the meaning to sink in. The sixth sense Zack had alluded to. Genesis wasn’t sure whether to feel thrilled at the confirmation of Cloud’s presence, or annoyed that Sephiroth could tell when he couldn’t.

He settled on smugness. “And you thought I was being overly optimistic in bringing the sword and materia.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “You could have just as easily left them in Midgar.”

“If I’d been held captive, my first thought would certainly be getting my sword back,” he flippantly replied.

“You have a point.” He frowned. “Something’s different, though. It seems stronger. I was never so conscious of it before.”

“Maybe because you know to look, now,” Zack pointed out. His tone was easy-going and casual, but his eyes were bright and sharp, primed for action at a moment’s notice.

“I imagine Cloud will be thrilled,” Genesis drawled. “Has it never occurred to you that this was precisely how he could avoid you even when you were looking for him?”

He never received a response, as at that moment, a gloomy mansion loomed into view, killing all further conversation. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled at the sight.

The town had been desolate. The mansion carried a far more menacing vibe. It was hidden behind wrought iron gates, with uneven grass licking at the cracked paint and towering cliffs surrounding it on three sides. Genesis found himself searching for gargoyles, though aside from the trimmings on the tresses, the building was stark and grey. The dated architecture gave it an impression of a hunched, sleeping monster, with the grimy windows its many eyes, and the heavy wooden doors its dark maw.

Sephiroth sliced cleanly through the lock, and the gates creaked open. The front doors themselves hadn’t been secured – and why would they be, if everything secret and valuable had been hidden away in the lower levels.

The interior did not paint a more inviting picture than the exterior. The corners were full of cobwebs and dust, and the entire place smelt of old paper and mothballs, with a hint of a sickly perfume layered underneath. The foyer was large and empty, leading off to a number of closed wooden doors. A wide, narrowing staircase reached for the second level, overlooked by tall, arching windows, too filthy to let in any light.

The banisters, the light fittings, and the few pieces of furniture visible were all antiques – and in bad shape, at that. It reeked of old money gone bad. A wealthy family, perhaps, driven from their ancestral home by ShinRa, which then fell into disrepair through years of disuse. Certainly the central building’s architecture predated the President’s time. Probably built upon, burrowed under and extended, ever since the Reactor was first built upon Nibel’s peak.

Sephiroth paused, gaze slightly unfocused as he took in their surroundings.

“Where to now, oh great leader?” Genesis prodded.

“Below.” He frowned. “It’s familiar, but I’m not sure where…”

Fortunately, Vincent swept forward at this point and wordlessly led the way upstairs. Zack shivered, taking up the rear. “Something really creepy about this place.”

Genesis ran a finger along the banister, and checked his glove for dust. “It has rather obviously been abandoned for some time, but it bears signs of recent use.” He eyed several rust-coloured patches on the carpet with distaste. It looked like dried blood.

They bypassed several doors to reach one of the side rooms. Vincent headed straight for the bookcase opposite, lifting one of the tomes. There was a click, and a part of the stone wall in the corner of the room rumbled and scraped open, revealing a stairwell.

“That’s… kind of cool,” Zack stage-whispered.

Genesis slapped him upside the back of his head. “Hurry along, Zack Fair. You can admire the enemy base later.”

They descended the dark and dank staircase to what could only be described as a dungeon. Carved out of earth and rock, with heavy steel and wooden doors spaced irregularly along the jagged walls. Water dripped from exposed pipes in the ceiling, creating fetid puddles on the ground, their mouldy, fishy smell soaking into his senses until Genesis could almost taste it. The skitter of claws echoed in the darkness, dancing around the pockets of dim yellow light cast by weakly glowing bulbs.

“I haven’t seen any guards yet,” Zack murmured.

“Watch our backs, they might come from behind,” Genesis reminded him sharply. He gripped the hilt of his rapier, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. The lack of security was beginning to make him nervous. Was Hojo that confident nobody would find him here? Or were they simply short-handed?

Sephiroth and Vincent led the way to a door on the far end of the yawning, underground corridor. It revealed an office, with floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with books and journals, and a desk covered in scattered papers. The comparatively modern and well-kept surroundings were jarring after walking through the rest of the mansion.

“There’s a lab just beyond,” Vincent murmured, producing an impressive gun from within the folds of his crimson cloak. “On your guard.” He searched out another hidden mechanism, and one of the bookshelves shifted, revealing another concealed door.

Genesis could hear a muffled voice beyond, but had scarcely a moment to discern its owner before Sephiroth threw the door open and strode inside.

It was a lab, as Vincent had said, but it sent chills down his spine as no other laboratory did. Like Hollander’s, it proudly displayed a metal operating table, but this one was stained with fresh blood and glowing mako, and adorned with metal restraints thick enough to manacle a behemoth. Restraints that could only be designed to hold a SOLDIER.

Two ShinRa troopers stood in the corner, looking lost and terrified at the sight of General Sephiroth bursting in on them. A scientist had dropped a folder of papers in his surprise.

Hojo, on the other hand, simply frowned at them as though they’d crashed a board meeting unannounced. “This is a surprise. General Sephiroth.” His eyes flicked over Genesis briefly. “And one of Hollander’s failures, as well. Come to admire my greatest work?” He cackled to himself.

Genesis bristled at the insult, but found his attention quickly diverted by the enormous cylindrical tank sitting against the wall. Its twin was missing, with only the base and the pipes still present, but the one remaining glowed a steady green. Mako.

“What-?” Zack gasped.

Inside floated their missing SOLDIER First Class, Cloud Strife.

Realisation struck. This was what happened to Sergeant Kunsel.

Genesis lashed out without thought. The spell on his rapier let the tip cut through the container without resistance. The tank held for half a second, then the glass exploded outward, mako gushing over their shoes, drenching those closest with glowing green.

He caught Cloud before he could hit the floor. The blond hacked and coughed in his grasp, spitting out mouthfuls of mako. After a moment, his glazed blue eyes opened, tiny green crystals still clinging to his lashes. “Zack?” he slurred.

Genesis felt his eyebrow twitch. “Hardly. I’ll thank you not to mistake me for Angeal’s excitable Puppy.”

His eyes widened, but still didn’t quite focus properly. “Genesis. But-” His features settled back into confusion. He turned his head sluggishly, then nearly staggered at the sight of the General. “Sephiroth.”

The man in question frowned, as visibly displeased with the state they’d found the blond in as Genesis. “Cloud. Any injuries?”

The blond didn’t appear to register the question. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he rasped, wild-eyed.

“Don’t concern yourself over it,” Sephiroth dismissed. “I could care less what ShinRa wants at this point in time.”

Cloud just shook his head, something desperate but not quite all there in the gesture. “Zack?” he gasped again.

“Right here, Cloud,” Zack answered. He grabbed the SOLDIER’s other arm, hefting his half-limp form between them, but keeping Buster Sword raised and at the ready with his right hand. The guards still didn’t dare twitch.

“Interesting reaction,” Hojo muttered to himself. “A significant event changed on the timeline, perhaps?”

“Professor.” Sephiroth drew out the word as though he were identifying monster remains scraped from the bottom of his boots. “Do you care to explain the meaning of this?”

Hojo, for his part, didn’t appear to feel threatened at all. “Care to explain the meaning? I doubt any of you could grasp the magnitude of what I’ve accomplished here. Or perhaps you could, Sephiroth.” His dark eyes glittered with fascination. “I must admit, I didn’t anticipate to see you here, but it’s an opportunity. Yes, an opportunity… a new angle to the Project, why didn’t I see it before…a reunion!”

Cloud stirred, mumbling beneath his breath. The mere act of staying conscious appeared to be consuming most of the SOLDIER’s strength – he sagged heavily in Genesis’s grip, his eyes half-lidded, mouth working as though trying to speak.

“I’m not referring to your experiments,” Sephiroth responded coolly. His words were as professional and restrained as always, but there was a raw edge, a darkness to his tone that Genesis had not heard before. “I am more curious as to how you plan to justify the incarceration of two of my SOLDIERs.”

“Two of your SOLDIERs? Nonsense.” Hojo’s faced stretched into an oily smile. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to insinuate, but everything was conducted above board. There’s only one specimen here, and he was already a deserter when I picked him up. As the head of the Science Department, it’s within my rights to incarcerate him, and I’ll think you’ll find the President is in agreement.” He adjusted his glasses, giving them a bored stare. “I order that you return him immediately. I don’t have time for any of this.” The scientist made to step towards Cloud, but the edge of Masamune held to his throat stopped him cold. He sent the General an irritated glance. “What are you doing? I gave you an order!”

Genesis bared his teeth in a grin. “But I’m afraid you’re operating under some false information, Professor. Cloud Strife was never listed as a deserter.”

“And I’m finding myself lacking the motivation to follow ShinRa’s orders lately,” Sephiroth added ominously.

For the first time, Hojo began to look nervous. “The Turks-”

“The Turks are not your allies any longer,” a fourth voice slid into the conversation.

It appeared Vincent had finally decided to reveal himself. Genesis was beginning to appreciate his gift for the dramatic. Especially the way it made Hojo pale and his features distort grotesquely.

“You,” the Professor all but snarled. “When did you- Guards!”

They jerked to attention at the order, but Genesis sent them a sharp glare and ordered, “Stand down.”

They threw away their weapons as though they were on fire. Hojo was a scientist. SOLDIER was military. As far as these troops were concerned, Genesis and Sephiroth outranked everyone but the President himself.

“I’m afraid your experiments here are at an end, Professor,” Sephiroth declared coldly.

“No,” he muttered. “At the most vital phase… My greatest work!” Hands shaking and eyes wild, he reached into his lab coat and pulled free a pistol. “You can’t interfere!”

“He’s got a gun!” Zack shouted.

Genesis swore under his breath. He’d gone mad! And with Cloud weighing him down, he couldn’t move fast enough! “Somebody stop him!”

The pistol shook as it wavered between them, Hojo’s voice rising to a feverish pitch. “To go beyond the powers of science… Let me see it! Jenova’s Reunio-”

It all happened so quickly. Cloud lurched from his grasp, arm stretched out towards the scientist. Sephiroth began to raise Masamune. Hojo, panicked, squeezed the trigger.

The air split with two bangs.

One bullet struck Cloud in the shoulder.

The other pierced Hojo between the eyes.

Vincent stood behind them, tendrils of smoke curling from the barrel of his gun. “For Lucrecia,” he murmured.

Cloud stumbled – Genesis caught him before he could collapse. The scientist’s body fell to the floor, carried backwards by the shot’s momentum. Crimson sprayed out in an ugly splatter across the walls and floor, and Hojo’s unseeing black gaze remained fixed on the ceiling. He’d died instantly.

It was too quick and merciful for Genesis’s taste.

“Cloud?” Zack asked, anxious.

Genesis fumbled for his Full Cure. The blond sagged limply in his grip – the last shock had finally driven him to unconsciousness. It was a clean wound, at least – the bullet had passed straight through without hitting any bones, and the materia staunched the bleeding swiftly. His breathing and pulse remained steady. “He’ll recover. Hojo didn’t hit anything vital.”

He would live, but the Commander had never felt so much a failure as at that moment. He hadn’t even been able to protect Cloud from a wild shot made by a mad scientist. His life could have slipped away so easily, taking Angeal’s with it, and leaving his debt forever unpaid.

“Genesis.” Sephiroth gained his attention, and flicked his gaze towards the remaining witnesses.

He’d forgotten. The lab assistant and the two guards were still standing there, living statues with their mouths hanging open in abject shock and horror.

Genesis snapped three quick spells their way. After a moment they too folded to the ground, unconscious.

“Sleep?” Sephiroth asked.

“What, would you prefer I kill them?” he grumbled. “Because I certainly wouldn’t mind.”

“I kind of think killing Hojo will have us in plenty of trouble with ShinRa already,” Zack volunteered.

Genesis thought quickly. “This is the official report: Hojo was killed when one of his experiments escaped and attacked him. The SOLDIERs on the scene gained control of the situation, but the professor died instantly and could not be revived.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. The Commander shrugged in response. “It carries a grain of truth.”

“I’ll go check the rest of the mansion for staff,” Vincent murmured, and seemed to fade from the room.

“Don’t kill anyone else if you can help it!” Zack called after him.

“The President isn’t going to care about some troopers and scientists, if he was willing to look the other way while Hojo experimented on SOLDIERs,” Sephiroth reminded him.

“Doesn’t mean we should stoop to that level.”

“You can worry about that later – we have more important thing to deal with for now,” Genesis interrupted. Somewhat reluctantly, he relinquished Cloud to Zack’s care. “For starters, Cloud needs to get back to the Inn to be treated.” Mako was stilling dripping from his hair, and though his Full Cure had taken care of the worst of the damage, the bullet wound needed to be wrapped and left undisturbed to heal properly. The blond would recover faster if he were clean, warm, and resting somewhere comfortable. The sooner they could get him out of this accursed building, the better.

Zack nodded. “Got it. I’ll leave things here to you two, then.” He hurried out of the lab, unconscious blond in tow, looking relieved to be leaving the place behind.

Genesis waited until he was out of earshot before folding his arms and regarding his fellow officer critically. “Are you alright?”

“I’m not sure what you mean. I’m not the one Hojo shot. I even managed to escape the mako shower.” Sephiroth gestured vaguely towards the poisonous green puddle beneath their boots.

“I thought perhaps it might have been shocking for you.” His eyes flickered to Hojo’s corpse, blood still pooling beneath his head.

“…You already know my feelings on Hojo. I assure you, the only part of his abrupt passing I mourn is the loss of opportunity to do it myself.”

Cold, but given his own rather complex feelings on family, Genesis could empathise. Sephiroth didn’t even have the memories of childhood to tie him to the man.

It only took a few minutes to drag the sleeping guards and scientist upstairs and lock them in one of the bedrooms. Destroying the remaining evidence didn’t take long either – judicious use of fire materia disposed of Hojo’s body far faster than the Lifestream would, and the remaining mako from the broken tank gurgled down the drainpipe through the floor quickly enough. Speaking of mako… Genesis wrinkled his nose at the state of his gloves and coat. A thin green film clung to them from the soaking he’d received when he smashed the tank. “I’m returning to the Inn to clean up.” He wanted to check on Cloud for himself, too – and search the area for Angeal now that they had a hope of acquiring the cure again. “What about you?”

"I think I shall stay here and go through some of the late Professor's files," Sephiroth said, wandering into the adjoining library. "There may be some helpful information here as to what's been going on."

“You could just wake up the scientist and interrogate him,” he pointed out.

“I know the way Hojo worked. He never trusted his assistants with the most sensitive data. Anything he can tell us will only be one small piece of the puzzle.”

Genesis paused. “Then perhaps you should return to the Inn, first.” The General claimed he hadn’t been affected by Hojo’s death, but there was certainly something off about him. There had been ever since Vincent told him his mother’s name wasn’t Jenova, in fact.

“I doubt I’ll be much use playing nursemaid with both you and Zack looking after Cloud,” Sephiroth replied, visibly distracted. “And I can keep an eye on the laboratory to catch anyone who might come by.”

It was sound logic, so Genesis reluctantly withdrew. He himself was eager to escape back to the Inn now that their mission had been accomplished. Even with Hojo dead, the mansion gave him an ill feeling, as though ghosts were whispering in his ears and the dead were running fingers along his spine. “Until later, then.”

Sephiroth didn’t respond, green eyes bright as they roamed the library shelves.

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