Paper Tiger Burning

I respectfully credit all Original Creators, namely Squaresoft, which became SquareEnix,for these characters. In this way, I pay homage to my Fandom's Original Creator, and illustrate my Community's belief that Fan Fiction is "fair use". I do not claim to own these characters. I do not make money or gil from using these protected characters, nor do I wish to make money or gil from them. In other words, I am borrowing these characters to entertain the adult fanfiction community, but I am doing so with the highest degree of respect to the engineers, game designers, music makers, and voice actors.



Have a good day.

I didn’t know if that could happen.

I strode across the training grounds, my eyes taking in the various formations. The men did their exercises early, while fog and cold air still ruled the morning. I had insisted upon this. Not only did the lack of visibility give the men focus, the coolness kept them from becoming overheated. Too well I remembered the misery associated with heat and fresh injections of mako.

Many of the soldiers called out a greeting as I passed. I nodded to them or held up a hand to show I’d heard. Soldiers were eager for recognition; the commander who did not understand this had only a minimum of loyalty shown him.

I enjoyed this part of my duty, seeing the young, enthusiastic men striving to become better and better soldiers. This morning, however, I couldn’t focus much on this sort of pleasure. I wanted to ditch my duty and go home. I wanted to go home so I could bury myself deep in the purest creature I’d ever known.

Now I knew why Zack had lined up willing men to take the edge off of his lust for Aerith. If she had affected him even half as much as she affected me, he’d had little choice but to explode otherwise.

“General!” Eldon performed an unusual skip-stride-run across the grounds in my direction. I halted to let him catch up, grinding my teeth. I had to get my thoughts away from the flower girl and back to my…job…

“General,” Eldon repeated, handing me his mobile. “Just pretend you have a call,” he said. “I have to tell you some things before you come inside.”

I flipped open his phone and held it to my ear, watching my secretary with amusement even though I knew he had to be carrying me serious news. He dissembled so well.

“Sheila and Rufus had a sweeper team in your office this morning,” he said. “They did it before I arrived. By the looks on their faces they didn’t find anything of a suspicious nature.”

“Of course they didn’t,” I murmured. “I’m not a fool. How do you know they were in the office?”

“I put cameras up the day after I discovered the bugs.” Eldon put his hands behind his back, looking to any observer as if patiently awaiting the return of his phone. “My reasoning was that if we didn’t send any useful information out via the bugs, the persons responsible would come to check on them. And they did. They knew where the bugs were and made sure they were still functioning.”

“Good man, Eldon,” I said lowly. “Anything else?” I could have laughed. Both Shin-Ra and AVALANCHE were trying to listen in on me at the same time. I’d created an awful lot of stir with the liberation of a little flower girl. Well, I’d burn eternally before either took her away from me.

“I put my own bugs in as well. I caught a conversation.” Eldon smiled faintly. “If you dial my voice mail you’ll hear it.”

“I don’t know how,” I said, running my eyes over Eldon’s complicated PHS.

“Sorry.” Eldon took the phone back and punched in sequence before returning it.

I heard a crackle and a hiss. Paper shifting. The squeal of furniture moving.

“What are they looking for?” came a whisper.

“I know what Sheila’s looking for.”

“Don’t say her name so loud. She’s standing at the door. I’ll bet she can lip read anyway.”

“Fuck her.”

“I’d rather not, and neither would the General.”

Muffled laughter.

“He has good taste, you can’t deny it. I wish he was the leader of Shinra. I can’t imagine he would waste our time like this.”

“I know. I hate being in here. Bad enough we had to go to his apartment.”

“And we’re not going to find evidence of any wrong-doing. Do they think he’s stupid?”

“I think its Hojo stirring them up. When I came in for my supplemental mako injection yesterday he quizzed me on General Sephiroth’s whereabouts and habits.”

“He did me too!”

“We should ask around and keep our ears open on this one.”

The voices faded. I closed the phone. “What sweeper troop was this?”

“Company 21, sir,” Eldon said. “Interestingly, the same company who got sent to the badlands of Wutai early this morning for extended training maneuvers, minus one. It seems they had an extra soldier in their presence the last time the Shinra’s used them.”

“Cloud Strife,” I said, not minding in the least to tell Eldon what I knew. “He’s the one who bugged my apartment.” I handed him the cell. “Did your raise come through?”

“Yes, thank you sir, very generous of you.” Eldon grinned. “My daughter appreciated it; she made me take her shopping.”

“I didn’t know you were married, Eldon.”

“I’m not. I’m a widower.” Eldon’s smile vanished.

“My condolences. How old is your daughter?”

“She’s eight. Her name is Lily.” Eldon’s smile returned. “Would you like to see her picture?”

“Certainly.” I found myself curious for the first time to see a family photo.

Eldon handed me the photo and I almost dropped it in surprise. There, smiling up at me was the little girl who’d sold me the white roses. Her wide eyes were so brilliant she looked mako-enhanced. Her clothing looked shabby but clean.

Swallowing hard, I gave Eldon back the photo. “She’s lovely,’ I said.

Eldon beamed. “She’s my treasure. I hate leaving her alone.”

In a flash I saw Eldon’s life. His wife was dead and he needed his job badly enough to become a paranoid wreck. He needed his job because he had a daughter to feed, but that same job took him away from her. He probably didn’t approve of her selling flowers, if he even knew. No, he couldn’t know; he would never allow his treasure to wander the streets at night alone.

“I know a lady who would love to baby-sit Lily,” I murmured. “She has her own place now and I would not be an added danger. She’s very lonely.”

Eldon caught on immediately. “Sir,” he murmured. “I’d like that. I’m sure Lily would too.”

I wondered how far back Eldon’s information on me and Aerith went. He might have recognized her in the lab. Fixing my eyes upon him, I silently demanded the knowledge.

“Yes, I knew,” he said after a brief pause. “Will you punish me now?”

“No, Eldon, I won’t,” I said. “Come. We should report for our mind-numbing duties.”

No sooner had we entered the receiving room, Hojo came. I grimaced inwardly, though I kept my face set in stone. “The answer is ‘no’,” I said, pre-empting him. I would not go to the labs anymore; I would find out about my supposed health condition from Hojo’s lips right here.

“I have Rufus Shinra’s permission to drag you out of here if I need to,” Hojo replied.

“It might be amusing to see you attempt it,” I said, breaking into a smile.

Hojo appeared startled by my show of emotion. “Number One, I didn’t know you could smile,” he said. “Oh, I knew you could sneer and smirk and leer, but not smile.”

My smile grew. “You don’t know everything about me.”

“I know the important bits,’ Hojo deflected. “Now, come on. I have tests to run and every minute we waste sets me back.”

“What a shame.” I leaned on Eldon’s desk and folded my arms over my chest.

“Number One-.”

“It’s General Sephiroth,” Eldon said quietly. “He has a name.”

Hojo sighed dramatically. “You stay out of this, 24287.”

“I’m not in it at all,” Eldon said. “I’m required to correct anyone who doesn’t adhere to the rules of administration, which includes improper address.” He sat down and began typing on his keyboard. “I’ll hold your calls, General, until your company leaves.”

“I’m getting tired of this,” Hojo spat. “Come with me now, Number One, or there’ll be trouble. I shouldn’t have had to come here and fetch you anyway; my work is too important to leave.”

“Fuck you.”

Behind me, Eldon paused in his typing.

“You’re going to come with me,” Hojo insisted. “I have authorization to call the Turks in as enforcers. If that isn’t enough for you, and I know it won’t be, I can remind you that your position is tenuous. You have to play ball. You aren’t a hot shot with connections anymore.”

I walked toward him, watching his body relax at my seeming compliance. Leaning in, I spoke for Hojo’s ears only, putting my mouth an inch from his head. “I have the best connection in Shinra, though.” I’d finally reached the end of my patience with living as a prisoner of war. I had a card to play now, a very, very high card.

“I’m the best connection one can have,” Hojo argued.

“Who did you think I was talking about, father?”

Hojo paled. This seemed impossible for a man who never really saw sunlight, but he managed it. His mouth opened and closed uselessly for a moment. Behind his glasses, his eyes darted to and fro. “Who told you?” he demanded in a hissing whisper.

“You just did,” I said, still talking so lowly the microphones wouldn’t hear. “And unless you want all of Shin-Ra to know it, you’ll do without me as a little plaything. I’m tired of being stabbed and wired and sliced and dosed and charted and measured. So, fuck you,” I repeated, purest evil joy rising up within me. “It’s illegal to harm children, even in Midgar. I have twenty five years of child abuse charges just waiting for your wallet. Not even Shin-Ra’s paycheck will help you absorb the loss. And they’ll fire you, of course, to continue on with their improved image campaign. You won’t get a chance to answer the charges.” As I spoke I wound a piece of Hojo’s greasy hair around and around my index finger, getting closer to his head with every revolution. “In the meantime, be prepared for me to extract my pound of flesh…one centimeter at a time.” So saying, I ripped out the chunk of hair.

Hojo let out a scream that sounded like pure music. That old feeling of power and bloodlust kicked for joy, awakened after a six month sleep. My hands itched to continue. I shot out an arm to catch him as he staggered away from me, drawing him back. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you,” I said, loud enough for any attentive ears. “My desire for work and a good image isn’t nearly as strong as my need to kill. But, you already know that, don’t you?” I grabbed another piece of his hair and slowly began to twist. “You ensured that about me, after all.”

“Don’t do it again,” Hojo gasped, his eyes watering furiously.

“Or what?” I twisted harder, pulling the skin taut. The first piece I’d done too quickly. “Bring me up on disciplinary action? Call in the Turks, I believe you suggested. I’m sure Rufus would rather keep his elite team.”

“You wouldn’t-.”

His words choked on another scream as I pulled out the second chunk.

“I don’t think there’s a person alive who would doubt my ability to wipe out a whole squad of soldiers,” I said, dropping his hair to the floor so I could grab him again. I felt it more fun to keep pulling him back than to just hold him. This way he had the illusion of escape shattered over and over again.

Rufus couldn’t send a team in to rescue Hojo anyway; he’d betray the hidden bugs the moment he responded. Not that I cared. I felt ready to clean out the nest of Shin-Ra zolom, starting with the worm currently writhing under my figurative boot heel. I spun him in the opposite direction, grabbing a hank of his hair equal to the first two on the other side. “I can’t leave you lopsided,” I said. “I’m doing you a favor, since you hate hair so much. Imagine how much better it will be when I’ve removed it all.”

Hojo’s third scream reached such a high, pure note that I wanted to sing myself. I sighed in pleasure instead, letting the mass of black fall to the growing pile. “Look, professor,” I said. “I’m smiling again.”

Hojo whimpered, twisting his shoulder under my hand. “Don’t pull it all out,” he begged. “Holy Shiva, I’m bleeding all over the place!”

“It’s only about a pint,” I assured him. “The scalp and face bleed more freely than the rest of the body, though. Just the tiniest cut makes so much blood.” I pulled out my boot knife. “Would you like to see?”

He must have known answering me wouldn’t effect my actions either way, for he merely began to struggle with effort. He was strong; years of self-experimentation with mako gave him that, but I remained stronger. I clamped him into a headlock, my arm under his chin. As slowly as possible, I deeply cut my serpentine initial through his skin and into the bone. To my disgust and disappointment, he fainted nearly the moment I finished.

Even in torture, Hojo just wasn’t any fun at all.

I dropped him. Stooping, I cleaned my knife on Hojo’s lab coat.

“Sir?” Eldon’s voice sounded a little shaky. “President Shinra is on line two, and Miss Shinra is on line three.”

“I’ll take line two first,” I informed, walking to Eldon’s desk. He handed me the headset. “Sephiroth,” I said.

“Ah, Shin-Ra’s Silver General,” Rufus joked weakly. I knew he’d been listening. He didn’t know if I’d killed Hojo or not and he meant to find out. Yet, he couldn’t ask me directly.

“Rufus,” I greeted. I felt so serene at the moment I scarcely thought to find pleasure in Rufus’ discomfiture. Playing with my food agreed with me. “By any chance you wouldn’t be looking for Professor Hojo?”

“As a matter of fact I am,” Rufus said quickly. “I wanted to talk to him about some of his current projects. He mentioned visiting you this morning. Is he there?”

“Yes, he’s still here,” I told him easily. “Shall I put him on the line?”

“Please,” Rufus answered, relief evident.

“Wait a moment,” I said, handing the phone back to Eldon’s waiting hand. Crossing the room, I jerked Hojo up and slapped him. The strike echoed sharply; I pulled it at the last second, but his head still rocked hard enough to give him whiplash. At least I hoped I’d given him whiplash. Seeing him with a collar around his neck would amuse me no end. “Wake up,” I said. “You have a call.”

Disheveled and trembling, Hojo woke up enough to grab the phone and hold it to his bleeding head. “This is Hojo,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“Are you alright?” I heard Rufus ask, unaware I could hear him.

I met Hojo’s eyes. Go ahead; I silently dared him, using my mind to project the words into his. Tell him your son is roughing you up.

“I’m fine,” Hojo said. “I just came down to speak with…Sephiroth…about having tests done at the lab.” He tried to staunch the flow of blood trickling into his left eye with a handkerchief.

I felt so proud of him, using my name.

“And what did he say?” Rufus asked. I detected the slightest hint of personal interest in that question.

“Tell Rufus I’ve decided to report to the labs regularly,” I said, folding my arms and smiling. I would go to the labs now, to torment Hojo. He could do nothing about it. “I do feel concern over my health, like any rational person.”

“Did you hear?” Hojo asked Rufus.

“I heard him allude to being a rational person,” Rufus grumbled.

Hojo swallowed hard. His eyes went to me, looking like dark marbles rolling in a ceramic dish. He knew I could hear Rufus, but he couldn’t warn Rufus to be careful. Squirming, he looked back down. “If there’s nothing else, President, I should be going.”

“Of course.” Rufus sighed. Let me know how his tests come out.”

“Certainly.”

“I’m interested in his psych evaluation, particularly. How likely is it the man will explode?”

“I really couldn’t say at this point, Mr. Shinra,” Hojo said, wiping blood from his neck.

“Alright. You sure you’re ok?”

“Fine,” Hojo answered, his voice firming a little.

“Well, I’ll call you again at the labs in twenty minutes to make sure,” Rufus informed him.

“Very well.” Hojo’s relief flooded the room. He handed the phone to Eldon.

I motioned to Eldon to get the bug closest to him. He grabbed the one over my office doorframe, handing it to me. I dropped it on the floor, smashing it under my heel.

“Just imagine,” I said, making Hojo look at me. “We can have a lot of cozy chats in the future while you play mad scientist.” I walked over to the potted plant and pulled off the other microphone, showing it to him. I crushed it between my fingers. “Lots of father to son chats,” I clarified. “Too bad you misplaced your Cetra; I’m sure her healing abilities would have come in handy for you.”

Hojo, rattled but trying hard not to show it, adjusted his glasses. “You really didn’t take her?” he pressed.

“You have a terrible habit of underestimating your lab rats,” I answered, building myself up to a good deflection. “I seem to recall several experiments that escaped.”

Hojo, anxious, distracted from pain and the way the tables turned, backed toward the door. His eyes caught the pile of his hair lying bloody on the floor. Shuddering, he increased his pace.

“See you at two-ish,” I said. “I’m too busy to come any earlier.”

“Fine,” Hojo said, his hand on the knob.

“Where is Gast, by the way?” I asked, keeping him with me that extra time just for the fun of it. I knew what had happened to my favorite scientist; Hojo had killed him over some sort of dispute with the Jenova Project. I’d lamented the loss of the only man to ever treat me with kindness and patience.

Hojo paused. “Gast is dead,” he said. “He’s been dead for nearly twenty two years.”

I heard his thoughts as a vague jumble of sound and confusion. He believed I’d lost it, asking about a man long dead. But he would think about Gast now, which fulfilled my purpose in bringing the man up. Every bit of salt at my disposal would go into Hojo’s wounds.

“So he is,” I said simply. “Good-bye.”

Hojo quickly disappeared.

Slowly, I turned to Eldon. My secretary’s eyes were as wide and incredulous as his child’s in the picture. “I’ll take line three now,” I said. “If Sheila has been patient enough to hold for fifteen minutes.”

“Sephiroth,” I said into the phone.

“Sephiroth, where have you been?” Sheila almost shrieked. “I’ve held for almost twenty minutes!”

She too had a note of panic in her voice. That meant she and her brother listened to me in separate locations. Or, rather, they used to listen. I’d broken their spy toys.

“I got busy with another obligation,” I answered. “So sorry.” Insincerely delivered, my apology. “What does this call concern?”

“How dare you give me the brush off!” Sheila snorted loudly through her nostrils, a sign of high temper for this purebred cow.

“I fail to understand how I can give you the brush off when we’re speaking on the telephone,” I replied mildly. “Why have you called me?”

“It wasn’t that important,” she admitted. “Is it a crime to call just so I can hear your voice?” She delivered this question with a sickening, playful lilt to her tone.

“If you want to hear me so badly, pay attention,” I said. “We have no relationship and we never did. I am not going to have sex with you or play the part of arm candy.” I handed the phone back to Eldon. “Any other calls?”

Eldon hung up. “No, sir,” he said softly.

“Good.” I picked up the stack of mail by the door. “I’ll go through the correspondence if you want to file my reports,” I offered, heading for my inner office. “Let’s go out to lunch today, my treat.”

“Yes, sir,” Eldon replied quickly.