Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
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year 5, quarter 3
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Zack whistled as he stepped his way through the streets of Torensten. Man, how long had it been!? He certainly hadn’t meant to be away from the city as long as he had been -- it was as home as any place was for him, despite the occasional terrible memory that popped up from his time there. It was the place where he had a home. Well, hopefully he still had a home. He’d been gone so long, he certainly hoped the rent hadn’t lapsed. Or that Sephiroth hadn’t taken off.
Oh man, Sephiroth. The Soldier immediately stopped his cheerful whistling, his face falling sullen as the gravity of the situation that he’d been trying to ignore sunk into his heavy shoulders. He shoved a gloved hand into his face, smoothing his hair up as he groaned. He’d left Sephiroth, alone for such a long time. Sure, the guy seemed mostly put together when he took off to take care of a job or two, but his commander wasn’t … Well, he didn’t people so good. He was awkward at anything that wasn’t related to the military. Did Sephiroth even know how to cook anything aside from terrible ShinRa rations?
“He’s gonna tear me apart,” Zack lamented, kicking at the dust on the stone road as he made his way back toward his permanent residence at the Inn he’d spent so much time at, “And there’s not even anyone to read a nice eulogy for me. Here lies Zack Fair, died doing what he did most -- ignoring his responsibilities.”
Well, at least it amused him. He didn’t imagine Sephiroth would be very amused by that; probably assuming he’d gone off and gotten himself killed somewhere. Would the general keep him under a closer watch from now on? Did he consider Zack AWOL? Fair scratched at the back of his head as he wondered, the frown on his face etching his scar deeper. Considering all the talk, all the confusion of memories, everything … Man, it really hadn’t been such a good idea to go off and leave Sephiroth alone, right? Was he even in the city anymore?
Did Zack let another person he cared about slip away, because he took his eyes off of them for a second? Because he stupidly left them behind when he shouldn’t have?
Unfortunately for him, the time was up for lamenting his choices. Fair stared at the door that led into his humble, tiny home and sighed, patting down his semi-clean uniform. He reached into his pocket, ready to pull out his key and prepare for the worst --
Wait.
Wait, where’s my key!?
Panicked, Zack pulled both of his pockets out, staring with wide, blue eyes at his empty hands. He reached into his back pockets and … nothing. He spun in a circle, checking the ground desperately whispering, “No, no, no, come on,” before resigning himself to his fate.
Zack Fair stared at his own door, hung his head, and knocked loudly.
“Seph, I really hope you’re in there, cause I can’t find my keys and I need a shower. Pretty badly.”
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
Sephiroth stood at the shelf, eyeing them. It wasn’t an extravagant collection. With Genesis' spurious income (he still insisted it came from some kind of cult), they’d managed a small collection that they kept on a roughly hewn bookshelf that Sephiroth had purchased to keep them from piling haphazardly across the table. He’d organized them by topic and then by height. He’d flipped the binding text so that each ran in the same direction.
And now the edges were misaligned.
Genesis was sprawled across the couch where he'd stayed all morning, reading his plays and leaving almost no space to sit beside him. Every now and then, he read a line outloud perhaps to annoy Sephiroth or perhaps because that was his usual state of being. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. When he had last left, the books had been perfectly in place. Genesis had either rifled through half of them or he’d unbalanced them for no other reason than to watch him set them right.
Sephiroth refused. Instead, he slid out a history of local battle tactics and brought it to the window, choosing to stand rather than sit at Genesis’ feet. He doubted he’d have had the space for it anyway.
Footsteps approached the door.
They were light. Close. Sephiroth glanced to Genesis to see whether he’d noticed or if he'd been too distracted by his play. There was the sound of leather rustling on cloth and then three knocks that rattled the door where it stood.
“Seph, I really hope you’re in there, cause I can’t find my keys and I need a shower. Pretty badly.”
Sephiroth blinked. Was that…?
He shot Genesis a sharp look. ”Behave yourself,” he said so that Genesis had no excuse to miss the warning in his eyes. After he was certain that Genesis understood, he made for the door and clicked the locks out of place. And then he saw Zack.
That hair. That sword. It unbalanced Sephiroth like it always did, particularly now that he’d grown unused to it, and Sephiroth tensed, trying to focus on the differences between him and Angeal. The slimmer form. The softer jawline. The brighter eyes and the weaker shoulders. Zack looked worse for wear though better than Sephiroth could have expected given the circumstances. His hair was wilder than usual. His clothes were disheveled. From the look and smell of it, he did in fact need a shower.
Sephiroth’s eyes cooled. He snapped his book closed in one hand.
”It’s been weeks.” Sephiroth hadn’t worried for him. He knew that Zack wouldn’t die easily, but his negligence had been noted. Sephiroth's derision was obvious. "You gave no warning.”
Behind him, something shifted. Sephiroth glanced to the side. He had almost forgotten Genesis.
Sephiroth felt himself falter despite himself Genesis had claimed from the beginning that bringing him here would only end in catastrophe. Sephiroth had largely ignored the warnings, brushing them off as nothing more than dramatics, but he suddenly questioned their validity. At the very least, adding another guest without Zack's permission had been inconsiderate.
Sephiroth took a long breath. So long as Genesis remained pacified, there would be little chance of a fight.
”There were unpredictable circumstances.” Sephiroth glanced behind him before hesitantly stepping back. There was no point in delaying any further. ”He needed somewhere to go. We’ve decided to stay together.” Sephiroth cast one last awkward look to the couch.
“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess,” Genesis muttered to himself as he transcribed the words to paper. He had been appalled to learn that Loveless did not exist in Zephon, and he was taking it upon himself to write down the entirety of the play in a spiral-bound notebook that he had recently bought in town. Loveless itself was a gift after all, and this world was dimmer for not having seen its brilliance performed yet. Genesis was planning to change that.
While he pondered the different order of the lines in his head, Sephiroth was moping about with a sullen look on his face. He always looked like he wanted to complain about something or other, and Genesis rolled his eyes, stretching to take up more of the couch as he etched out his next line. One of his shoes was probably out of place by the door or something else minute and stupid. Either way, Genesis ignored his friend as Sephiroth buried his face in a book by the window.
He almost ignored the knock on the door too. At least until a voice he firmly recognized made his head snap up in disbelief. Ugh. He had known all along that it was Zack’s apartment that he was staying in, but the man had yet to make an appearance, so Genesis had nearly forgotten that he and Sephiroth weren’t just living alone with an unused bedroom. Resisting a snort as Zack complained that he had lost his key, Genesis made to get up and answer the door until Sephiroth ordered him to behave himself like he was a child.
Narrowing his eyes, Genesis settled back on the couch as Sephiroth went to answer the door instead. Oh, he’d show him behaving.
Sephiroth chided Zack for having been away for so long, and Genesis rolled his eyes as he waited for Sephiroth to stop mothering him. Whatever had happened, Zack was fine. From Genesis’ experience, Angeal’s puppy was as resilient as a cockroach.
Needed somewhere to go? Genesis bristled as Sephiroth awkwardly broached the topic that he was there. “I was doing just fine before you, thank you,” he said with a scowl. “You’re the one who needs friends here.”
He gave the door an incredibly half-hearted wave as Sephiroth stepped back and he finally landed eyes on Zack. “My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains.” The man looked just like he had during their final encounter, and Genesis eyed his haircut with some amount of animosity as he slapped the notebook that he’d been writing in closed and rose to a standing position. “So you actually are here in this world. I was beginning to think that Sephiroth was lying.” He eyed him a bit carefully, unsure of where they stood after the understanding they’d reached underneath Banora’s apple trees. “Where’s that blond boy you were always with?” He asked as an afterthought. “Or did you finally put him out of his misery?”
I had some VERY STRONG Zack feelings apparently. Sorry Genesis
There was clicking behind the door, and it sounded like more than just the lock on the door. Did Sephiroth install more locks while he was gone? Zack didn’t give the thought much attention, though, as the door slid open, and he was greeted with a usual, neutral stare. Seeing Sephiroth in the flesh, though, still send a curious, fleeting feeling through Fair, though. As if there was something else he should be wary about, when he looked into those green, glowing eyes.
It was quickly forgotten, though, as Sephiroth bristled at him … Well, as much as the general ever did, ”It’s been weeks.”
Zack opened his mouth, then quickly closed it, shoving his hands in his pockets and hanging his head in slight, admitted embarrassment. It was true, he’d been gone much, much longer than he was supposed to be. He definitely shouldn’t have taken on any additional tasks during his trip to Provo, and he didn’t have a way to contact Sephiroth to let him know what was going on. It was a bad habit of his; getting so wrapped up in task after task, and forgetting about those who were waiting there for him to return. How many people had he done the same thing to?
"You gave no warning.”
The younger Soldier swallowed and nodded as he raised his head back up to meet Sephiroth’s heavy gaze, “I know. I’m really sorry, Sephiroth, I didn’t expect to…”.
He trailed off. There was the sound of movement coming from behind his commander, a horribly familiar sound. The crinkling of leather. There was someone else in there.
Some emotion filled Sephiroth’s eyes as he shifted out of the doorway, something Zack couldn’t quite place, ”There were unpredictable circumstances.”
When Sephiroth stepped away, there should have been nothing there but Fair’s small, messy living space. Maybe some clothes lying on the floor, a newspaper on the table with half of the crossword half-heartedly attempted, a cup that desperately needed washing. That was all that should have been in there, unless Sephiroth had managed to decorate while he was gone.
Yet, instead, the color of red filled his vision. Zack’s jaw loosened, his blue eyes flying wide.
”He needed somewhere to go. We’ve decided to stay together.”
Genesis!
A feeling filled Zack’s gut, raw and painful and terrible. He had the urge to vomit, as much as he did to scream. His head hurt as he recalled what little memories he had of Genesis; the former Soldier doing nothing but toying with him, mocking him, attempting to kill him. He remembered that smirk, he remembered that voice. He could practically feel the sizzle in the air from the magic the man possessed when summoning beasts meant to crush Zack.
Worse even, when he glanced between Sephiroth and Genesis, something in his mind screamed danger. Like this was something to be avoided. That this would lead to disaster.
The breath in his lungs stilled as his heart pounded with frantic worry, yet he was frozen in place. Fair, the energetic puppy, stopped in his tracks of entering his own apartment.
“My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains.”
Zack bristled at the sound of Genesis’ voice. Why did that voice fill him with equal parts frustration and despair? Why couldn’t he remember what exactly happened with Genesis, before he died? It took everything in his power to resist immediately reaching for the Buster Sword on his back and furiously pointing it at the man in the red coat before him. Instead, he bit his tongue and tried to breathe as the color slowly returned to his face.
“So you actually are here in this world. I was beginning to think that Sephiroth was lying.”
Forcing his arms to cross over his chest to resist grabbing his weapon, Fair stared down Genesis as he rose from the couch casually, snapping his book closed. He took one breath in, releasing it slowly as he waited for the man to continue. He wanted to leap across the threshold and beat Rhapsodos senseless for whatever reason, and yet there was some piece of him that simply just wanted to slap the poet-Soldier and tell him to get a grip.
What the hell had happened between them, and why couldn’t he remember it?
“Sephiroth is a terrible liar,” Zack gave as a counterpoint to Genesis’ snark, keeping his arms crossed as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He couldn’t shake the nervousness, the fear that something was about to happen. It felt as though there was a thin rope underneath his boots, wavering with every passing second, threatening to snap. For only a moment he glanced between Sephiroth and Genesis, wondering what information had passed between them. What could Genesis possibly know? Was his memory better than Zack’s? More importantly, could they trust anything that came out of his mouth?
“Where’s that blond boy you were always with? Or did you finally put him out of his misery?”
That was it. Before he could even think to stop himself Zack was drawing his sword, shoving himself over the threshold as he snarled, “Don’t you dare talk about Cloud! He’s--!”
The anger turned to ice just as quickly as it came. Cloud was in Provo. Cloud was fine. Older and more burdened than the backwater kid he’d lugged around for a long time, but otherwise he was fine.
The wind was taken from Zack’s sails as quickly as it had come. He steadied his breath, mind swirling with some confusion as he lowered the Buster Sword. Knowing the likelihood that there was at least one weapon pointed at him in the tiny apartment, the Soldier slowly slid his sword back to its rightful place on his back with one hand, while the other pressed against his forehead, fingers tangling in his hair.
“Cloud is fine,” he breathed, mostly as a reassurance to himself. Zack took a moment to collect his disorderly thoughts as he glanced back up at Genesis, a suspicious frown still tugging down his lips. He really, really wanted to just punch Genesis in the face and then tell him to get out of his apartment, but he had a feeling that wasn’t at all how things were going to go down.
Don’t get all crazy, Fair. Think about what Angeal would do.
The younger Soldier cleared his throat as he stood up straight, trying to give a signal that he wasn’t about to go attacking anyone again … just yet, anyway. He gave an uneasy glance back toward Sephiroth, before looking back at Genesis. The two men he was standing between were two of the most powerful he knew, but for whatever reason, he felt like he was supposed to be looking out for them. Thing would really be a lot easier if he could remember what all had transpired between them.
“So,” he threw the word out there awkwardly into the empty space, as the tension threatened to knock him to the floor, “What … What does this mean, now?”
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
He saw it in Fair’s face -- in the shock, the fear, and then the anger. He’d gone pale, and in that moment, Sephiroth realized that he’d made a terrible mistake. ’A bold move.’ If anything, Genesis had understated the situation. Sephiroth would have never brought him back had he known just how bold he’d been.
Genesis taunted him. Zack stiffened, fingers clamped around his arms as though to restrain himself. "Sephiroth is a terrible liar." Zack wasn’t wrong (why lie when the truth was more efficient?), but he still felt a prick of irritation cross his eyes. He looked between the two and became suddenly aware of the exact position of his sword. Not that he’d ever lost it.
“Where’s that blond boy you were always with? Or did you finally put him out of his misery?”
’Blonde boy?’ Sephiroth’s head spun for reasons he couldn’t understand. There was a flash of the Buster Sword, Zack squared his stance, and-
Cloud.
Sephiroth seized his sword on instinct, sliding it from sheathe and raising it in a breath. Zack held his own steady, eyes flared with anger. Nausea built at the back of Sephiroth’s throat. For a moment, he could have sworn he’d seen-
Blue eyes desperate with rage. Ruffled blonde. Not Zack, but another. A puppet. A worthless, weak, how had this happened? Impossible. Falling, falling, falling-
Sephiroth gasped for breath. Zack had lowered his sword. Sephiroth did the same. His palms were damp with sweat. There was that name again. ’Cloud.’ What did it mean? He’d never heard it before.
Zack straightened. He’d lost his uncharacteristic hostility, but tension sparked between the two like static electricity. 'What does this mean?' Sephiroth could have asked the same.
”Genesis-” Sephiroth started, but his voice had gone tight. It tangled in his throat and he cleared it before trying again. ”We have reason to believe that Shinra has infiltrated this country. We plan to seek them out.” He glanced at Genesis. What they would do from there was better left unsaid.
Despite how out of sorts Zack looked, Genesis had to laugh when he said in a tense voice that Sephiroth was a terrible liar. “Oh, atrocious. I love when he puts his foot in his mouth.” He had too many stories to count of Sephiroth failing in his social interactions because he was just wholly interested, but somehow he didn’t think that either of them would appreciate hearing those stories right now. Well, there was always later.
It would seem that Genesis had struck a nerve by mentioning the comatose cadet. (Cloud? Genesis had never bothered to learn his name before). Zack was so upset that he went so far as to pull his sword on him, and since Sephiroth chose to intervene, Genesis was able to play innocent by raising his hands at the oversized blade pointed in his direction. “Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds. Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul,” he quoted a bit derisively. “Rage isn’t very becoming in a hero, First-class Soldier Fair.” He wasn’t able to resist that last little dig. He didn’t really care if Zack attacked him, but seeing him wield that particular sword had always grated on him. He eyed the buster sword closely as Zack took a breath and returned it to its place on his back. You don’t deserve to use that sword. No one should if he isn't here.
Genesis was so caught up in his scowl that it took him a moment to realize that Sephiroth appeared to be having some kind of episode. “Sephiroth?” He asked, all his usual banter and insults flying out of his head as the man audibly gasped for breath. Sephiroth looked even paler than he normally did, which Genesis hadn’t even thought was possible, so he stepped closer to his friend with a frown. “My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I?” It was his way of asking if the silver-haired man was alright, but Sephiroth seemed to come to his senses after a moment as he lowered his sword.
When Sephiroth made it clear that he would choose to side with Genesis over Zack, Genesis was legitimately touched. It was such a different scene from that day in the reactor when he had knocked the apple out of his hand. “You can rot.” Those words from one of his former best friends had cut him to the core, and even if Sephiroth didn’t remember saying it, it still felt like he was trying to make up for what had happened between them.
“Why Sephiroth. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” He half-heartedly tried to hug Sephiroth from behind, mostly because he expected the man to dodge out of the way. Afterward, he blinked innocently in the dark-haired soldier's direction. “What do you say, Zack?” His lips twitched upward into a half-smirk. “I’m willing to bury the past if you are. I did pay your rent last month after all. I'd say that you owe me a favor.” He somewhat expected the man to storm out the door, but he couldn’t say that he would really mind that outcome. It was one way to get rid of him.
“Rage isn’t very becoming in a hero, First-class Soldier Fair.”
You would know, Zack thought to himself bitterly, though he seemed unable to pick up a particular memory that caused such a knee-jerk thought. Listening to Genesis talk made his stomach turn, like a bad case of heartburn. He knew there were all kinds of previous memories and encounters he must have had with Genesis Rhapsodos, but as usual, he couldn’t recall them out of thin air. All of his responses felt … natural.
The sound of shifting behind him pulled the Soldier from his thoughts, already having ignored the scowl Genesis had been giving him as the poet called out, “Sephiroth?”. Zack whipped around as well, his glowing eyes wide as a strange sense of dread seeped into his very bones. Sephiroth was straightening himself up, yet he seemed shaky. His skin was pale, as if he’d seen a ghost. His sword was lowered, at least, and Fair forced himself to relax what little bit he could. Maybe his commander had simply been worried he and Genesis were about to start fighting right there in the middle of the apartment…?
No, the little voice in the back of his mind told him, There’s something you forgot.
Sephiroth managed to straighten back up, his voice tight as he explained the situation, ”Genesis--. We have reason to believe that Shinra has infiltrated this country. We plan to seek them out.”
Oh? Zack recalled the two Turks he’d run into since being in this world, and guessed it might not be such a strange idea. But it hardly seemed like the entire corporation was around. Fair had traveled around quite a bit and had barely run into anyone he knew, let alone any suspicious former Shinra employees. Or, maybe, he just couldn’t remember them even if he did see them? The younger Soldier shoved a hand into his long hair, scratching the back of his neck as he thought it through.
Until he felt a cold knife slide into his gut at Sephiroth’s next words. ”I’ll fight beside him -- with you or otherwise.”
He knew there was an immediate flash of worry and hurt in his eyes. He couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it from coming. Zack took a breath and glanced away, a frown deeply etched onto his usually cheery face, tugging down his scar. He shouldn’t have been surprised; he’d left for so long, and Sephiroth … He didn’t remember their friendship. To his commander, Zack was nothing more than a second-class Soldier, hardly worth the time. He shouldn’t have left.
Fair ignored Genesis at first when he moved, instead opting to brush at the scar on his cheek with his gloved fingers. This all felt so familiar. Genesis, Sephiroth, fighting Shinra … ? A memory of Angeal flashed before his eyes, standing in the road in front of the Shinra building, hesitation for the fight in his eyes. Was Shinra really here? What did they intend to do? Zack had as much say in the fight against his former employers as anyone; after all, his last memory was being gunned down by the army. Zack swallowed the lump in his throat, looking back over to Genesis and Sephiroth.
“What do you say, Zack? I’m willing to bury the past if you are. I did pay your rent last month after all. I'd say that you owe me a favor.”
Oh come on, you can’t use that as a bargaining chip!
Zack sighed, ruffling his hair again, his nervous tick. There were too many emotions swelling in his heart to pinpoint just one and act on it. Confusion, shock, anger, sadness … relief? Both his head and his heart ached in tandem as he tried to choose which path to take to traverse the murky waters in front of him.
He tried to think of it like a mission. What did he need first? Information.
“It’d be a little easier to bury the past if I could remember all of it,” Zack muttered, dropping his hands to his hips as he stood tall, despite the uncertainty he felt. If things went south, it would clearly be a two-on-one fight, and there was no way he could win something like that.
“Anyway,” Zack waved that comment away, keeping his voice neutral and trying to force a compliant look to his face. He wanted the information, and he wanted to keep Sephiroth on his good side. But dealing with Genesis, when all he could recall from him was pain would be tough, “Care to fill me in on why you think Shinra is around? I’ve been all over the place, and aside from a couple of equally confused faces, I haven’t seen anyone worth worrying over…”.
Y’know, besides you two.
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
Sephiroth hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t Zack expected him to draw his line in the sand? If he refused to work with Genesis then Sephiroth had no choice but to pick one side or the other. And couldn’t Zack have guessed which side he’d choose?
’We used to be friends.’ Sephiroth had felt its stir when Zack had found him, when they'd greeted each other in the morning, when Zack had asked lightly if he needed anything before leaving him to the space he’d silently requested. Yet he’d never felt it stronger than now. Sephiroth had hurt him. It didn’t strike hard, but it struck him all the same.
They’d been friends once. Not close, but something more than a passing acquaintance. Something had bonded them together. Sephiroth had a feeling that he didn’t want to know what that was.
Whatever he’d felt, Zack brushed it off quickly. Still, he’d never been one to restrain his emotions. It had always been his weakness -- or perhaps in some small way, his strength.
Zack couldn’t remember either, and for a moment, Sephiroth’s lips twitched into a smirk. The blind leading the blind. For the first time, he and Zack were on equal footing. A strange feeling. Sephiroth had never been equal to anyone.
”I was attacked.” Sephiroth met his eyes without a hint of hesitation. ”A Shinra experiment. It had no reasonable motive.”Except to kill him. Sephiroth was no stranger to assassination attempts, but the monster that had attacked him had carried nothing but a blind, almost instinctual drive for his blood. It hadn’t been human. Or at least not entirely so.
’A crystalline form with jagged edges. A sickly glow of green and blue. Why did it feel so familiar?’
And why hadn’t he been surprised?
”There had to have been a source. It had no will of its own.” Sephiroth paused. A dry smirk crossed his lips. ”Hojo.”
Zack couldn’t remember what had happened between them. Genesis stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was joking, but his face remained serious for a change. Genesis laughed, touching a hand to his forehead at the cosmic joke that this was. Was he really the only person here with all of their memories? It appeared so, because neither of them were treating him like they should. Sephiroth couldn’t remember how their friendship had fizzled and died during Genesis’ efforts to cure his degradation, and Zack couldn’t remember that they hadn’t ended on bad terms. That’s why Sephiroth was acting the same as he always had before Genesis had dropped the ‘Jenova’ word and why Zack was still treating him like his mortal enemy. It was all so laughable.
“I suppose a few years with Hojo will do that to a person’s brain,” Genesis said with a wave of his hand. “I’m happy to fill you in on what happened between us if you so desire.” Genesis couldn’t guarantee it would be the whole story, but it would be enough. Zack didn’t need to know that he’d won their final fight, after all. Until someone remembered otherwise, Genesis was going to do his best to forget that particular humiliation.
Sephiroth started to relay the story of how he’d been attacked near the coast, and Genesis stopped listening closely since he’d heard this part from his friend already. His attention drifted back towards the notebook on the couch where he’d been writing down the entire four act structure of Loveless from memory (along with his own interpretation of Act V of course). He had been so focused on the next line that he was startled out of a near reverie when Sephiroth dropped the same scientist’s name that Genesis had earlier. Hojo. Sephiroth hadn’t yet shared with him that particular theory that he thought that insane man was wandering around somewhere.
“My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment to find the end of the journey in my own salvation, and your eternal slumber,” Genesis mused, falling back onto the middle of the couch with one leg crossed and his arms spread over the top of the couch backing. “Don’t blame me that he’s alive. I would have killed him if not for one insufferable hero.” He gave Zack a slightly pointed look, though Angeal had technically done more to stop him when he had broken into the Shinra building. But that particular line of thought only led to pain, so it was much easier to blame Zack.
“Though I suppose if there is a scientist prowling around, it is likely to be Hojo. In case either of you forgot, I can confirm that Hollander’s dead.” This time, he gave Zack a slightly innocent smile. “I do have to congratulate you for that one. I suppose it almost makes up for stopping me against Hojo.” Hollander had already been half dead from degradation before he had fought Zack, but really, those were just details.
Genesis’s offer to explain the gaps in Zack’s memories went ignored. Even if he trusted the poetic Soldier, Fair knew well enough that Genesis could easily blend truth and fiction to merit his own need or liking. But, now wasn’t the time or place to discuss what all was or wasn’t missing from his memory. Considering Genesis wasn’t mocking him as much as he typically did, maybe their squabbles hadn’t ended on the worst of terms … Still, though, it was hard to quell the irked fire and distrust Zack felt around him.
Setting his blue eyed gaze back on Sephiroth, the man spoke, ”I was attacked. A Shinra experiment. It had no reasonable motive.”
A Shinra experiment? Here? Considering Zack’s terrible luck with running into all kinds of crazy experimental monsters on missions, he was surprised it headed straight for Sephiroth and not himself. Still though, his dark eyebrows rose in muddled surprise, a gloved finger scratching at his chin. There were monsters on this world that were similar to their own. Maybe this world had its very own horrific science department, and it’s very own Hojo?
No, no, I think there can only really be one Hojo out there … and I really hope he isn’t here. ”There had to have been a source. It had no will of its own.” A pause, before the name he expected to drop. ”Hojo.”
Zack dropped his hand back down to his waist, a frown more akin to a grimace spreading across his features. He didn’t want to consider the worst possibility right off of the bat, but … Well, what other explanations were there? He hadn’t run into any monsters that didn’t have their own will or anything before. Ghostly spirits in a haunted forest, yes, but nothing that seemed like it was a puppet being pulled by its strings. Distracted by the noise, Fair turned his eyes to glance at Genesis as the other 1st Class Soldier settled onto the couch lazily, quoting yet another endless line from Loveless.
Though, in a moment, his sharp eyes were turned to Zack.
“Don’t blame me that he’s alive. I would have killed him if not for one insufferable hero.”
“Wh-What?” Zack sputtered, taking a small step back in surprise, his mouth floundering as he sought some sort of memory or explanation, “Wait a second, I don’t remember ever saving that snake! Being tortured by him, sure, but--.”
Running out of words for his unnecessary outburst, Fair threw up his gloved hands in innocent defense, palms open, feeling every bit as much a puppy that just got reminded of the time it ripped up all the toilet paper. He took a cautiounary glance at Sephiroth for a moment before Genesis spoke up once more, hoping that his pleading gaze at least helped the General to believe him. “Though I suppose if there is a scientist prowling around, it is likely to be Hojo. In case either of you forgot, I can confirm that Hollander’s dead.” “I do have to congratulate you for that one. I suppose it almost makes up for stopping me against Hojo.”
The smile on Genesis’s face was smug, and it caused a sick feeling to twist in Zack’s gut. God, it would be really convenient if he could remember everything that had transpired between the three of them. Hollander was dead, apparently by his own hand, but oddly, Fair couldn’t bring himself to feel much in the way of sympathy. Zack Fair wasn’t a pacifist, but he certainly didn’t go around killing anyone unless he absolutely had to. Meaning, if he killed Hollander, he was pushed to do it. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, was a vision of the plump scientist, his hair graying and skin cracked, eyes desperate.
Something wasn’t quite adding up, though.
“Him being dead doesn’t really matter though, does it?” Zack mused out loud, rubbing at his chin as the different possibilities passed through his mind, “I mean, I’m supposed to be dead too. Or, at least, that’s what I remember and what several people have told me…”.
Hollander was a hack though, that much he remembered being crowed by Hojo at some point. If there were monsters that resembled some sort of Shinra experiment running around, they likely hadn’t been created by Hollander of all people.
… But, Hojo and Hollander weren’t the only mad scientists in existence. Not anymore.
“If … If Shinra is out there, really making experiments and planning something disastrous,” Zack began, curling his right hand into a fist and bopping it on top of the open palm of his left hand, “Then there’s no way I could sit by and let them go hurting people again. I’ll help you guys take them down.”
He took in a steadying breath, brows furrowing as he tried to organize his thoughts. The last time he’d tried to bring up other worlds and people from them to Sephiroth, he’d gotten a disbelieving look. Time had passed though, and maybe Genesis as well had managed to have some hopefully friendly interactions with people from different places.
“But, Hojo and Hollander aren’t the only mad scientist types out there,” Zack finally found the words to convey what he’d remembered, from a conversation long ago, “I’ve met at least one other experimental soldier, created to fight for an Empire from another world. There’s … There could be other organizations just like Shinra out there.”
Honestly, Zack wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with that tidbit of information. Was he trying to tell them, hey, it could be someone else? Or, if they found another Shinra, they should stop that one too? What did he want to do? The Soldier took a step back, casting his gaze to the floor, as if searching for his usual fiery self there. For the first time in a while he felt unsure about what he was doing. Suddenly, the thought of something big and terrible out there had begun looming in his mind. Something he could have missed. Something he should help stop.
If there was something like that out there, he’d …
“I, uh,” Zack started, fumbling over his words as he searched for an escape to go and get his exhausted thoughts in order, “Well, this has been weird. I’m gonna go clean up. I’m assuming you guys won’t start a crusade while I’m in the shower or something.”
There was a lot going through his mind. He still wanted to kick Genesis out of his apartment. He still wanted to talk to Sephiroth without the snarky poet around. His stomach turned at the thought of heartless scientists, hurting people for their own gain. At the thought of Shinra or something similar enough to it, trying to sink its roots into an entirely different world, just to cause the same trouble it had before. He’d been a naive fool to think that anyone who mysteriously showed up on a different world would … Well, would want to work together with others to figure out why, what happened, maybe how to go home again.
Hopefully, thinking it over in the shower would help clear things up for him. Or, more likely, he’d put on a fresh set of clothes and walk out to continue to wonder how the hell Genesis was in his apartment and not threatening to attack him.
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
