Chapter Text
Zack had always been reasonably sure being dead was supposed to be permanent.
At least, he’d thought so, before all the craziness associated with Project G. And Jenova cells. And then Sephiroth had kind of thrown all his knowledge about death and staying dead out the window.
Even then, he figured once he, Zack, had died, he would stay that way.
But, once again, he was proven wrong. The Lifestream, the Planet, time itself had been thrown into utter disarray. The arbiters of fate couldn’t keep up.
It was easier than ever to simply…jump.
Leaping before looking was a bad habit he never really figured out how to break. So it was all too tempting to make an experimental leap through lifestream, and timestreams, and whatever physics mumbo jumbo the bigwigs in the Science Department might use to explain what just happened.
Zack didn’t much care for the specifics.
What he did care about, was that he was suddenly very uncomfortable. No more floaty, serene feeling of his spirit traversing the Lifestream. Instead he was aware of his muscles shifting. His skin, even, and the scratchy feeling of an old blanket on his shoulders.
Zack opened his eyes, and found himself in bed, in his old apartment.
He sat upright with a jolt, looking around the room in astonishment. There was his old bedside table, with his headphones and PHS. And there was an old LOVELESS poster he’d gotten after seeing the play and, heroically, not falling asleep partway through.
In his half-open closet, he spotted his First Class uniform on its hanger.
“Hell yeah!” Zack cheered, fist-pumping the air. “It worked!” He wasn’t sure when exactly he’d ended up, but clearly he already made First. Zack grabbed his PHS off the bedside table checking the date, excitedly wondering how much time he had to change everything.
Only to find it was the day they were supposed to leave for Nibelheim.
“Shit,” Zack uttered, scrambling from his bed and rushing to get dressed. It wasn’t nearly enough time, but he could do this. He had to. He could stop Sephiroth, stop Jenova, stop all of it, if he could just stop the mission from happening in the first place.
Once dressed, and the Buster Sword secured comfortingly on his back, Zack charged out of his apartment, heading for Shin-Ra HQ.
He was in front of Sephiroth’s office door. Poised to take destiny into his own hands. And…hesitating.
Zack looked down at his hand, testing its movements for the hundredth time since he woke up this morning, alive again. Tendons stretched and contracted smoothly, just as they did so many years ago. Fingers clenched into a fist, and he readied himself to knock on the door. To confront Sephiroth as peacefully as possible.
He could do this.
At least, he told himself he could. That maybe, just maybe, he could create a timeline where Jenova never gained any ground. Where the Planet was always one step ahead of the Calamity. And now, here he was. In the past. Ready to begin his mission, starting with one silver-haired SOLDIER…
...and hesitating.
What am I so afraid of? Zack wondered. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, trying hard to organize his thoughts. He wasn’t facing the man that he had to fight in the reactor so many years ago. The one who taunted him in the Lifestream. The Sephiroth behind this door was the hero of the war with Wutai. The one who would train Zack when Angeal was busy on a mission.
The man Zack respected, once upon a time.
Zack opened his eyes, raising his fist. “Alright,” he whispered, trying to psych himself up. Keeping Sephiroth from losing his mind and destroying the world was the whole reason he was in the past to begin with. His literal raison d’etre this time around. “You can do this. You got this. All you have to do is knock on the door, then Sephiroth will open it and say—”
The door clicked open on its own.
Zack yelped in surprise, flinching back a few paces.
In the opening, stood Sephiroth. Those cyan eyes he had been so dreading to see were suddenly staring right at him, narrowed slightly in confusion. Same old black uniform, same impossibly long silver hair, just like how he looked while mocking Zack and holding Jenova’s disembodied head at his side. Except for the length of his bangs, he might as well be in the Lifestream still.
“S-Sephiroth,” Zack managed. He could have kicked himself for the stutter. “You, uh—Guess you heard me, huh?”
“You’re loud,” Sephiroth confirmed. “Why are you ranting to yourself in front of my office, Zack?”
Zack opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out, too pinned by the man’s piercing mako gaze.
Sephiroth crossed his arms over his chest, his long hair shifting as he tilted his head ever so slightly. His stance was inquiring. Curious.
But curiosity didn’t equate to patience.
“I, uh, I just wanted to…” Zack tried in vain to come up with the right words as Sephiroth stood there, watching. Waiting. He risked a glance at Sephiroth’s face again, expecting a malicious sneer.
Instead, Sephiroth’s expression seemed to have softened.
Zack stared openly now. It had been ages since he’d seen such calm on Sephiroth’s face. There was no malice in Sephiroth’s eyes, just a quiet tolerance of Zack’s antics. Standing straighter, Zack regained some of his composure. “Y-Yeah.” He cleared his throat, voice stronger, more determined as he stated, “I need to talk to you.”
“I gathered,” Sephiroth commented, his tone surprisingly warm. A faint smirk played on his lips as he waited for Zack to elaborate.
“It’s about our next mission,” Zack said, trying not to let the other First see him struggling. Reconciling the Sephiroth he’d fought with the man before him now was going to be a lot harder than Zack anticipated. Just seeing the smirk reminded him of the reactor. Reminded him of—
“To Nibelheim, you mean,” Sephiroth concluded.
“...Yeah,” Zack answered, jaw tight.
At that, Sephiroth nodded. He stepped partially inside his office before addressing Zack again. “Come in, then. I have some time.”
Zack let Sephiroth walk fully inside before following. As Sephiroth moved to check something on his computer, Zack forced his shoulders to relax. There was no reason for him to be so tense. Not yet, anyway.
Sephiroth’s office was dim, despite the many mako-powered bulbs in the ceiling—a fact Zack was always a little grateful for, not having to strain his enhanced eyes against bright lights. Probably the same reason Sephiroth kept it dim in the first place, now that he thought about it. Everything about the room was neat and tidy. Efficient. No real decoration either, save for a large, branching fern in the back corner, its brightly colored terracotta pot clashing with the utilitarian look of the room.
Zack was pretty sure Angeal had been the one to purchase the plant, in a vain effort to liven the place up.
Everything else was dull, in comparison. Sleek, modern, and seemingly unused in its cleanliness, exactly as Zack remembered. All of it was so bone-achingly familiar, so normal, that Zack felt his heart twist.
“What did you wish to discuss?” Sephiroth interrupted Zack’s musings, sitting at his desk.
Zack had prepared for this talk in the Lifestream. Come up with points of argument he was sure would convince Sephiroth to cancel the mission as a whole. Something simple, accurate, and in no way mentioned time-travel or anything that might convince Sephiroth that Zack had bashed his head in during a training session.
Now, he was drawing a blank.
“I...” Zack started, looking at Sephiroth and then glancing away again. “I, uh. This whole mission. It...stinks,” he fumbled.
Sephiroth stared at him, though Zack was unsure if the look was of mild curiosity or unimpressed boredom. “Should I be concerned?”
“Well—It’s—You know,” Zack tried, shifting from foot to foot.
Sephiroth, for his part, clearly did not know, and waited once more for Zack to elaborate.
Zack recalled the man mentioning he had ‘some’ time. Time that was getting wasted, now, with all of Zack’s verbal flailing. “It’s—Everything about it is really weird. I mean, just hear me out, okay?”
Sephiroth nodded to him.
“Alright,” Zack sighed, thinking back. The mission had required two SOLDIER Firsts. Overkill, really. “Nibelheim is out in the middle of nowhere, yeah? In fact, I know it’s in the middle of nowhere because—” I’ve been there before “—I have a friend who’s from Nibelheim. Cloud. He’d agree.”
Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed again, but he said nothing.
Zack took the silence to mean he could keep going. “So, you and me, SOLDIER Firsts, are going to this dinky little town because there’s ‘monsters around the reactor,’” he summed up, air-quotes around what he knew couldn’t be their real reason for going. “Isn’t that a bit much? You or I could handle some extra monsters, easy. Or some Seconds could do it.”
“With the increase in attacks from anti-Shin-Ra elements, Second Class operatives are in short supply,” Sephiroth explained. “Combined with the lack of leadership, SOLDIER is...Well. Scrambling, to get a handle on things.”
Zack crossed his arms at that point’s defeat, biting his bottom lip in a fit of frustration.
Think. What else was there?
“There’s also the matter of the missing SOLDIER operatives in the area,” Sephiroth helpfully reminded him. “With them gone, we’ve lost track of Lazard’s movements.”
Oh. That’s what else there was. Right. Zack rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, fairly sure Sephiroth had told him all this recently, if the bored expression on the other First’s face was any indication.
Well, bored, or indifferent. Difficult to tell, considering how stone-faced Sephiroth could be.
“…Sephiroth.” Zack met the man’s gaze, trying hard not to flinch under it. He was used to seeing those cat-pupils, once. He would have to get used to them all over again, provided his flimsy plan actually worked. “You’ve gotta believe me. Something’s just off about this mission. I can feel it—We shouldn’t go. You can refuse it, right? Cancel it?”
Sephiroth sighed and broke eye contact, to Zack’s relief. He sat there quietly for a moment, thinking. Zack clung to the desperate hope that his pleading had the slightest effect. When the man looked up again, Zack found himself almost praying that he would refuse the mission right then and there.
“Zack—”
“Yeah?” Zack asked eagerly. Sephiroth’s irritated stare was enough to shut him up.
“Zack, if you’re that concerned about the mission, then I would recommend bringing your issues to President Shin-Ra.”
Cold dread seeping through Zack’s veins. Not even an attempt to listen, just a redirection. “The President?” Zack asked in disbelief. “This mission can’t seriously be that important!”
“One of the board directors requested for this mission to be added to our lineup,” Sephiroth explained. “They received approval from the President himself. He has the authority in this case.” He pulled a small stack of papers from his inbox onto the desk and grabbed a pen. Zack began to panic. He knew that behavior.
This conversation was done.
“But, Sephiroth—!”
“I am able to listen to your concerns about the mission Zack, but...” He paused for a moment, a grim expression flashing across his face before he schooled his features into neutrality again. “...My hands are tied, in this case. Speak with the President. You are dismissed.”
Zack clenched his fists, but seeing Sephiroth with his attention so clearly on the papers, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the man’s focus on the lab reports in the mansion. Reading, reading, reading.
All that reading, followed by burning everything to the ground.
Zack stormed out of the office, torn between frustration at his failure and shaken nerves. He trudged to the elevators, only marginally gratified that he didn’t have to wait for one to arrive. Once inside, Zack jammed his thumb into the Door Close button, glowering at the doors as they slid shut.
“Well,” Zack huffed at the unassuming machinery, “That sure went well.” He ran a hand through his tousled spikes, fingers pausing as he tried to breathe easy. Calm himself.
He’d messed up.
Granted, his plan hadn’t really been much of a plan, exactly. Still, it was one conversation. One minor setback.
Zack let out a sigh, leaning his head back against the wall of the elevator. “Geez…Talk to Shin-Ra, huh?” he muttered. If he was lucky, the President might grant him an audience. He could try to make his case there. Might even be easier than talking to Sephiroth—Zack certainly didn’t have any memories of the President trying to run him through with a sword. Actually, he was pretty sure he hadn’t ever met the President one-on-one before.
But, without knowing what to argue, there wasn’t much point, was there?
It had all been so easy in his head. He would tell Sephiroth the whole thing was a bad idea, Sephiroth would at least question the validity of the mission, refuse it, and there’d be no more Nibelheim incident. No Jenova, no Meteor, no Reunion, nothing. Zack promised he would fix things.
Zack crossed his arms over his chest, aggravated. “Gotta think,” he murmured. “I won’t screw this up, I—”
The elevator jerked into motion, startling him.
Slowly, almost lazily, it descended floors. Zack frowned, standing straight again. “Guess I should’ve picked a floor sooner…” he uttered, watching the floor level descend. At level forty-nine, the elevator came to a halt. The doors opened, revealing a SOLDIER Second Class in full uniform.
Even with the regulation helmet on, however, Zack couldn’t help but grin at the sight.
“Kunsel!”
“Hey, Zack,” Kunsel acknowledged him with a smile, moving to let Zack exit onto the floor.
Zack practically bounced out to give the shorter man a bearhug, the elevator door sliding shut behind him.
Kunsel let out a strained laugh, “You’re... kinda crushing my lungs…”
Zack gave him one more tight squeeze before letting go. “Sorry, man,” he laughed. “Just missed you. A lot.”
“You saw me this morning,” Kunsel chuckled, though not unkindly.
Zack had to keep himself from wincing. Right. He would have seen all his usual friends, really. “That’s hours of not hanging out!” Zack joked, trying not to think about the actual length of time it had been for him.
Years. Painful years. Dozens of emails sitting in his inbox, warning Zack who was after him. Begging Zack to be safe.
Emails he’d never replied to.
Zack swallowed thickly, forcing the emotions down and his grin to stay put on his face.
“So, what trouble are you up to today?” Kunsel inquired, an amused smirk on his lips.
“Just…” Zack’s mood deflated considerably, recalling his blunders earlier. “Just, y’know…talking to Sephiroth.”
“Kinda thought you’d be happy to get a hold of him again,” Kunsel noted. “You guys are working your next mission together, right?”
“Yeah...” Zack confirmed, only to hang his head. The details of the day-to-day operations leading up to the Nibelheim mission were still fuzzy, but he must have told Kunsel about the trip. “Didn’t go quite as well as I hoped.”
“Ah, I gotcha,” Kunsel frowned, extending a hand to pat Zack’s shoulder in sympathy. “Hey, at least you tried, yeah? You can talk to me, if you like,” he offered. “What’s on your mind?”
Zack debated internally, turning his head away as he thought. He could try to work out some arguments with Kunsel before approaching President Shin-Ra. It would help him gather his thoughts. Lower stakes, too. He would just have to be careful what he confided in Kunsel—The guy always had a knack for knowing things he probably shouldn’t.
Even those emails...Now that he thought about it, how did Kunsel even know Zack was alive after Nibelheim? Was it just a hopeful guess? Weren’t Hojo’s experiments on SOLDIER members classified?
“Zack?”
Looking back to his concerned friend, Zack reconsidered. Maybe it was better to keep Kunsel out of the loop, on this one. Kunsel might be good at keeping secrets, but the very real threat of Sephiroth deserting wasn’t a rumor Zack wanted to spread, let alone any indication that Nibelheim would soon be the epicenter of a worldwide crisis. “It’s our next mission,” Zack admitted, choosing his words with care. “I was trying to get Sephiroth to cancel it.”
“What for? Hoping to weasel some time off to spend with your girlfriend?” Kunsel teased.
Zack let out a half-hearted chuckle, not sure how he would explain his time jump to Aerith, either, if he tried to explain it at all. “Not exactly. Something about it just...isn’t sitting right with me.”
“Hmm,” Kunsel smiled, head canting to the side. “Specific and ominous. Guessing Sephiroth didn’t feel the same.”
“Nope,” Zack grumbled. “Told me to take it up with the President instead.”
Kunsel stiffened, surprised. “Oh. Wow. Must be a pretty high priority, then.”
“I don’t see why,” Zack griped, failing to recall just what it was that made the initial mission to Nibelheim so important. “It’s just some stronger-than-average monsters. Maybe a lead on Lazard.” He smoothed some of his hair back in frustration. “Sephiroth said a board director requested we work it, but—”
“Oh,” Kunsel laughed suddenly, knowingly. “It’s one of those, then.”
“One of those?” Zack echoed.
“C’mon, Zack,” Kunsel said, an amicable smile still on his face. “There’s no way a board director’s gonna request Sephiroth take on such a basic mission. There’s probably something there that they don’t want to get out to the general public, beyond the obvious.”
“Okay, so I’m right, then!” Zack groused. “The whole mission’s sketchy!”
“Oh, yeah,” Kunsel agreed easily. He leaned his head back as he looked down the hallway. “Of course, it depends on who requested it…” The Second trailed off with a curious hum, covering his mouth with a fist as he pondered. Kunsel’s head perked back up, a confused grimace on his lips as he looked at Zack. “Sephiroth didn’t just tell you it was need-to-know? He really said to go ask Shin-Ra, instead?”
Zack nodded. “Said his ‘hands are tied,’ and that was it. Done.”
Kunsel drew his fist to his mouth again. “...Odd.”
Zack felt as if he was missing something, watching Kunsel’s quiet deliberation. “Is it? I mean, I did kinda walk in and demand he listen to me—”
“And he does,” Kunsel cut him off with a knowing smirk. “Usually.”
Now Zack knew he was missing something. “He...does?”
“Drives the Turks nuts,” Kunsel laughed quietly, dropping his voice. “Some of them were complaining that he just volunteers personal info to you, even when you don’t ask. Anyone else, though?” the Second shrugged. “Like talking to a wall.”
“I...I guess,” Zack frowned, trying to think back. He could remember Sephiroth describing his friendship with Angeal and Genesis. But that was relevant to the mission they…
Well, maybe ‘playing games in the company training room’ wasn’t exactly relevant to tracking them down.
“It’s weird Sephiroth’s keeping mum. I heard he hand-picked you to go with him,” Kunsel continued. “He should know what the real deal is, if he’s taking point. And...It’s you. Pretty sure he’d tell you if he knew.”
The words hit Zack like Kunsel had punched him square in the jaw.
If he knew.
Sephiroth had been caught off-guard—No, horrified, by what he found in the reactor. By the basement in the manor. By the books in the library. All things Shin-Ra in no way wanted to get out. All things that, guaranteed, would screw with Sephiroth’s psyche so badly that it would cause irreparable damage.
All things that Sephiroth would discover with this mission’s setup, if they were supposed to be combing every nook and cranny of the area for missing operatives, and Lazard.
“Kunsel,” Zack started, breath coming in short. “I don’t think they told him.”
Sephiroth wasn’t being sent to his doom by happenstance.
Sephiroth was being sent into a trap.
“I gotta go,” Zack said in a rush, slamming his hand on the button for the elevator.
“Wait—What do you mean they didn’t—?”
Zack sped into the elevator the second there was space enough to slip inside. “You’ve been a lot of help, Kunsel, thanks!” Zack blurted out, repeatedly jamming the Door Close button.
Kunsel looked baffled, mouth ajar, and then the door slid shut.
Zack swiped his ID, and then hit the button for Sephiroth’s office floor. Zack had planned, initially, that he wouldn’t ever mention his future timeline where everything went to hell. He figured it would only make him look crazy. It wouldn’t help him convince people, like Sephiroth, to cooperate and keep Jenova from ever getting released into the world.
As the elevator rose, inch by inch, far too slowly, Zack completely abandoned his initial plan.
Now he knew he didn’t need to convince Sephiroth.
Zack needed to warn him.
Zack ran from the elevator as soon as the doors slid open, feet pounding on the carpet. He reached Sephiroth’s door in a flash, banging on the surface. “Sephiroth! Hey—!”
“He’s not in.”
Zack spun around in surprise, finding Tseng walking toward him. “He was just here!” Zack complained to the Turk. “Where’d he go?”
“Last-minute meeting with Heidegger, I believe,” Tseng provided. “Something to do with the future hierarchy of SOLDIER.”
Zack clenched his fists at his sides, willing himself to calm down. It’d be fine. He just had to find Sephiroth before they went to Nibelheim. He had time for that.
“Something wrong?” Tseng prompted.
Zack locked eyes with the Turk, an idea springing to mind. President Shin-Ra may not normally have reason to grant him an audience, but Tseng talked to the president regularly. “Yeah, actually,” Zack admitted. “You think you could get me in to talk to Shin-Ra?”
At that, Tseng looked intrigued. “What for?”
Leave it to a Turk to answer a question with a question. Zack frowned at him. “Sephiroth told me to talk to him if I wanted to get our next mission canceled.”
“I see,” Tseng commented, clearly evaluating Zack with a calculating gaze.
Zack briefly wondered if the Turks got the same training Sephiroth had, to keep their faces so neutral. Or, maybe it was the other way around. Regardless, it had him fidgeting with impatience.
“Very well.”
“Really?” Zack brightened.
Tseng nodded, gesturing for Zack to follow. “As it happens, I was on my to speak with him, myself,” he explained. “I’ll introduce you.”
Zack followed eagerly, relieved that getting an audience would be less of a fight than he thought. Step one of his revised plan was already down.
In fact, it almost felt too easy.
“This is really helpful of you,” Zack pointed out as they entered the elevator, watching the Turk’s reaction carefully. “Thanks, Tseng.”
“Think nothing of it,” Tseng responded idly. Casually. As if helping someone get an audience with the President of the Company was something he did on an average Tuesday.
“You’ve gotta talk to him too, huh?” Zack asked, head spinning with possibilities. Did the Turks know about the Nibelheim mission? Did they know what was in the reactor?
“With SOLDIER in disarray, the army and the Turks have had to pick up the slack,” Tseng explained, smirking as he met Zack’s gaze. “Lots of talk about restructuring.”
“Right,” Zack acknowledged. So, an unrelated reason. That didn’t answer his question of why Tseng was helping him so readily. At all. Maybe he should just be direct. “So...Why is it you’re helping me? Not that I don’t appreciate it, it’s just…”
“With so few SOLDIER members left, it seems prudent the President take a more active role in operations, no?”
“Uh. Sure, I guess,” Zack conceded, unsure if that was the true reason. Tseng had a point, of course, but it seemed too simple for Turk logic.
Regardless, it was getting him an easy in to see Shin-Ra.
The elevator dinged, opening to the President’s floor. Tseng led Zack past the receptionist’s desk with only a nod of acknowledgement, the woman behind the desk clearly already expecting him. From there, they ascended the staircase.
As they approached the actual office door, Tseng halted the First. “Be aware,” he gave Zack a pointed look. “The President is not interested in frivolities. Best to get straight to the point.” At Zack’s solemn nod, he opened the door and stepped inside.
Zack took a deep breath and entered. He remembered the place from watching Cloud’s adventures while he was in the Lifestream. In comparison, there was a distinct lack of blood and dead body.
The full length windows behind the president’s desk provided a stunning look over the vast domain of Midgar, with the sun just beginning to set over the city. The rays reflected off the black marble columns, Shin-Ra’s desk casting a long shadow over the carpet. The man himself was situated in that darkness, in a seat with a back so high Zack almost took it for a throne.
Everything in the room was pristine, and polished. A symbol of power and wealth. Of a man on top of the world.
Zack could see why Sephiroth was the favorite SOLDIER operative now. A human weapon encased in good leather and shimmering silver armor was just one more elegant sample of Shin-Ra’s glory. In comparison, Zack might as well be one of the standard robo-guards. He had to wonder if the President even knew his name.
The President in question looked up from a report as Zack and Tseng approached the desk. He eyed Zack with a critical stare. “And this is…?”
Well, that answers that question, Zack thought sourly. He had hoped being a First would have meant something to Shin-Ra. Apparently not.
“SOLDIER First Class, Zack Fair,” Tseng introduced, as Zack stood at attention. “He wished to speak with you.”
Shin-Ra shot Tseng a dubious look, to which the Turk responded with a short nod.
Zack glanced between the two. …Did I miss something?
“He has concerns over the mission he and Sephiroth are assigned to,” Tseng explained.
The President’s gaze moved back to Zack, an unimpressed look on his face. “Do you,” he questioned flatly, leaning back in his chair. “This isn’t just Sephiroth’s new dodge tactic?”
“Uh,” Zack faltered. Dodge tactic? “No?” Recalling he was standing in front of his boss, he snapped back to attention. “I mean, no, sir. I brought my concerns to Sephiroth, and he told me to speak with you, instead.”
Shin-Ra’s expression remained skeptical, but he waved a hand toward Zack. “Get on with it, then. I have a meeting coming up.”
Zack took a breath, steadying his nerves. Surely the President needed Sephiroth somewhere—anywhere other than Nibelheim. “I don’t think it’s necessary to send two Firsts,” he explained, “considering SOLDIER’s spread so thin.”
“A fair assessment,” Shin-Ra acknowledged easily.
Heartened, Zack continued, “Sephiroth said this mission was requested by a board member—Who requested it?”
At that, Shin-Ra huffed a laugh. “Is that relevant?”
“Probably...I mean, yes,” Zack argued. “At least, if we knew who requested it and why, we’d know why two Firsts need to go. We could have Seconds take care of it if we don’t—”
“I’m beginning to see why Sephiroth picked you to go with him,” Shin-Ra interjected with a disdainful grimace.
The argument Zack was trying to make stumbled over itself in Zack’s head at the observation. Kunsel had mentioned the same thing—Sephiroth chose Zack to go to Nibelheim. He must have known something, right? Even if Sephiroth couldn’t cancel it, this whole setup screamed ‘trap.’ He opened his mouth to ask, when Shin-Ra raised a hand to silence him.
“Listen well,” Shin-Ra began, a severe expression on his face. “All the information you need has already been given to you. Your role as a SOLDIER is to follow orders, not to question them. Even Sephiroth is no exception, much as he likes to toe the line.”
Zack’s fist clenched behind his back. Toeing the line, like intervening in the middle of an attack on Midgar so they could fail to eliminate his friends. “Sir—”
The intercom on Shin-Ra’s desk buzzed, followed by the smooth voice of his receptionist. “Sir, Professor Hojo is here for your five o’ clock.”
Zack froze.
Hojo. Hojo was here. Right now.
Flashes of a twisted grin and blood-flecked glasses crossed his vision, and Zack could feel his breaths coming in too shallow. Too fast. Hundreds of tiny knives pricked his skin, his body blazing hot and freezing all at once.
Shin-Ra pressed the intercom without breaking eye contact. “Send him in.” He rested his chin on his knuckles, observing Zack’s reaction closely.
Zack swallowed thickly, his muscles straining with the desire to run. To hide. To get the hell out of Midgar, let alone this office, despite simultaneously feeling rooted to the carpet. He focused on getting his breathing under control. And to not drop his gaze. Shin-Ra already thought so little of him; he couldn’t be seen freaking out just because a scientist was walking into the room.
A scientist he shouldn’t know very well, at that.
“Your concern was that it was wasteful to send two SOLDIER Firsts on a routine mission, yes?” Shin-Ra clarified.
“Y—” Zack began, clearing his throat when his voice came out too high. “Yes. Sir.”
“Then the answer is simple,” Shin-Ra decided, sitting straight as the door behind Zack opened. “You’ll be reassigned. Sephiroth will handle this mission alone.”
Zack was sure his heart, beating all too rapidly only moments ago, stopped.
“What?” Zack breathed, half-sure he hadn’t heard correctly. Then, fully processing the words, he broke his stance, stepping forward. “What?! No!”
“You’re dismissed,” Shin-Ra stated. He nodded to Tseng. “Remove him.”
“Sir, wait!” Zack pleaded, even as Tseng moved to lead him out by the arm. “That’s not what I—!”
“If you see Sephiroth, remind him that I won’t tolerate any more bent rules,” Shin-Ra declared. Then he looked beyond the pair leaving, resettling himself in his chair. “Professor,” he greeted.
Whirling toward the exit, Zack faced the man who had turned four years of his life into a blur of agony.
Hojo adjusted the lapel of his lab coat as he walked past, peering at Zack through his circular glasses.
Glasses, reflecting a bright mako green, as Zack pounded against glass he was too weak to break.
Zack bit his tongue, the pain just barely grounding him back in the present, as Tseng walked him out of the office. He couldn’t take his eyes off Hojo, couldn’t let the bastard pull any tricks—
“You couldn’t have saved it for the board meeting?” Shin-Ra asked Hojo, just before Zack was out of the room entirely, the door closing on the sight of Hojo’s shoulders shaking with laughter.
Board meeting, Zack registered, his mind moving like molasses despite the panic. Hojo’s a member of the board.
Hojo knew what would be waiting for Sephiroth in Nibelheim, and had the power to push the mission.
“Zack.”
It was Hojo, Zack concluded, still staring at the door. Hojo must’ve—
“Zack?”
“What?” Zack startled, turning to Tseng, only then realizing the Turk had let go of his arm.
“Feeling alright?” Tseng prompted. “That clearly didn’t go the way you hoped.”
“I…” Zack trailed off, glancing worriedly between the door, and Tseng. He couldn’t give up now. He may have screwed up in that meeting, but—Hojo. It had to be Hojo. Sephiroth was walking right into a trap, and now he’d be doing it alone. “I gotta go,” Zack said, backing away from Tseng.
And then, he ran.