The Beginning is the End...

Beta’d by CaseyAnn’sPrecious!

AN: *bows* Thank you for taking the time to read! …And jump for joy as this whole chapter felt like watching a filler episode off of Naruto! Alas, it had to be done.
Hojo’s character has always been a bit deranged, but the reason for his more straightforward and uncalculated actions now is because he is under the influence of J cells.

Faoiltierna – Seph, in my story, was getting those shots prior to the game and allowed them to happen because it’s kind of like part of his job… to get better, and shots=awesome. The process is a minor inconvenience, but he doesn’t think it’s anything to start getting angry over. Plus, because it’s him, he’s used to that sort of treatment from the professor.

Ratings, Disclaimer, and iWarnings! are the same.

Uprising
(By: Muse)
Chapter 6

Scarlet finished lighting all of the candles on the dining table and turned off the lights. The evening she planned was flawless. Her dress was of a red sequined design with a thigh high slit. Her heels were of the newer style, high with braided strings, and her gold ankle bracelets matched the rest of her jewelry. She looked rich, and that’s what every man had a taste for.

Hearing footsteps approaching the door, she fiddled with her hair to make sure the bun was perfect and turned as the door opened to send a seductive smile to the owner of the residence.

"Scarlet," the President's son spoke and turned the lights back on, "what are you doing in my home?"

"I'm sorry for intruding, Rufus," Scarlet slowly walked up to him, putting an obvious sway in her hips, "I thought that maybe the both of us could eat dinner together."

She had the impression that his silence was a good thing and felt a little bubble of victory at the thought of how her appearance made him too astonished to think… until someone else could be heard coming toward them, and her little victory bubble deflated.

"Mr. Shinra," the other man paused in the doorway while taking in the sight. "My apologies, Mr. Shinra, I had no idea you had company this late."

"Nonsense," Rufus quickly responded, "Madam Scarlet was just leaving. Weren't you?" The foolish boy had the audacity to open the door wider to give the general idea that he wanted her out now. Fine, two could play that game. She gave a nod and slowly walked up to the door with a haughty air of supremacy.

"This is?" she gestured at the new man.

"The new head of Turks; Tseng," Rufus responded while the other gave a light bow.

"You look foreign," she said in feigned innocence, but her gaze was painfully critical.

"I am part Wutai, Madam."

"Oh," Scarlet’s disgust was clearly heard in her words. It was obvious that the Turk had Wutai in his blood, and Rufus knew what she was trying to do with her degrading actions. He slammed the door shut before she could say anything else and eyed his employee.

"I gave orders not to allow anyone into my home," Rufus growled.

"I was not aware of her intrusion, it will never happen again," Tseng replied apologetically. "I've come here to inform you that the SOLDIERs sent out to Nibelheim have gone missing. We've lost all communications with them two days ago. I sent out some Turks to check the area, but they found nothing."

"Has my father heard anything about this?"

"No, Sir."

"Good, keep it that way." Rufus noticed the questioning look coming from the Turk and decided to inform him. "A few months ago my father somehow got it into his head that the Wutai wanted to go to war with us. He's so paranoid now that he's blaming them for everything. If he hears about this then he'll forget logic and the situation will be repeated."

"Understood, Sir." Tseng bowed and left the room.

‘Of course, my father wouldn't think of anything logical. If Wutai did want to attack us they'd use ships and go around the Western Continent instead of through it.’ The blond looked over to where the candle lit dinner was held and was half tempted to poke at the creations to make sure they wouldn’t come to life. He should have kept Tseng here to taste test for poison as punishment for the sloppy security, but instead he quickly blew out the candles and tossed out all of the items anyways. Tomorrow, he’ll have the Turks sweep the area and check to make sure there aren’t any tracers on his phone. Better safe than sorry.

--

*Fort Condor*

Zack was getting pissed. It was totally out of his character to get this mad at people, but they were just… and he was just so… and… GAIA he was so pissed! One of their missions was to get the highest scored data and insert it into their laptops in a given amount of time. It seemed appropriate to assume that there'd be competition with and at least one other team, which they came in contact with fifteen minutes ago. So far, with the way his superiors had been acting, he didn't think that they were supposed to help at all during the test. Just make sure he didn't somehow kill himself, you know? Yet, low and behold, the other group had the full team of three firing right at him!

Now, let’s backtrack to the time of entering the area. He’d taken his helmet off to clean the shield of all the dust and had rubbed it on his pants to get it clean. That’s when he caught a glimpse of something shiny near the mountains from out the corner of his eye. He barely had enough time to duck when the sound of the gunfire was heard and had actually felt one of the bullets whiz passed his head… his head! He’d even heard the high-pitched psssszzzzzd as it had flown passed! That could have hurt, and he had to scramble behind one of the rocks in the area to safely reattach his helmet.

Now, he couldn't get out from his position because gunfire was heard whenever he tried to move. Zack looked over his shoulder at the two formally unnamed SOLDIERs that he liked to call ‘A’ and ‘B’, and they were still doing nothing! They were both just sitting there on the ground with their guns out and looking up at him in pure boredom.

"You think you could help me out a little here?" Zack asked the two of them.

"We are scared," B replied with voice so dull it would put a round edge to shame, and Zack openly gapped at their reasoning for being lazy. It all came together now. All the times in which they sat comfortably while he pitched up the tents and did other odds and ends, or while traveling he'd have to carry the luggage all by himself. He must've gotten two of the worst people in the SOLDIER division to watch him for his testing.

Zack gave a 'ch' as he went down to the cases and pulled one of the mirrors out. Slowly, he raised it above the rock and he took note of three bodily movements coming from an area in the distance. It was good the three of them weren't spread out. Zack memorized the spot in accordance to his shiny little mirror and took out one of the sniper scopes to attach to his gun.

"Stay here. I'm going to go around the rock face and try to get a clear shot at them," Zack gave B the mirror. "Hold that up and shine it toward them every now and then, and hold up your gun so you can keep their attention."

The two Firsts only rolled their eyes, but it seemed as if B would do as told when he took the mirror. Zack grabbed both his Shinra issued sword and gun. Slowly backing away and out of the line of sight, he climbed into a small ravine and used its path to sneak around. He was steadily getting closer to the other team's position, just a few more yards and he'd be in a perfect spot to fire from behind them.

Every so often the sound of shooting could be heard from the distance. It was comforting to know that the two SOLDIERs were at least keeping the others preoccupied… although, they weren’t really doing anything.

A scuffle of boots was heard off to the side, and Zack immediately slipped into one of the rock wall’s wider fissures to let the other pass. Coming into contact with yet another group wasn’t a part of Zack’s plan, and he couldn’t give away his position when he was so close! Luckily the other SOLDIER never looked his way and continued up the path.

“Are you sure?” the guy spoke into his radio, “I don’t see him.” Zack didn’t hear what else was said, he didn’t really care either, but he did hear the sound of more footsteps coming from up ahead. It was the targeted team, and when they ran into each other the shootout only lasted seconds before it ended. Coming out from his hidden spot, Zack looked at the three unconscious men lain the ground and gaped at his own practice gun with a little more respect. Damn, these things packed one hellova punch!

But he had to hurry; both teams, and possibly others, now knew his general location and would be on the move. Zack didn’t want to leave yet though… he knew where his targeted team would be coming in from and just wanted a little payback from the camping they tried to do. So with a little patience and a few timed shots, three more men were down.

Zack took the PHS out of his holder and contacted his team, "This is Zack. Got them! Grab the stuff and meet me out in the middle!" He holstered the device and made his way out. He was halfway surprised that A and B actually carried the equipment, but when they got to him they hastily dropped the items like the luggage carried some form of disease. Their actions clearly said 'carry this shit yourself'.

Zack sighed and picked everything up. He would have brought more of an issue to this, but the six people behind him could be getting control back to their limbs anytime now and he didn't want to be out here in the open when that happened. He made a halfway decent attempt at running considering he had four cases, three guns and swords, and other things weighing him down.

They finally found their objective. Mission: completed, data: scored, Jeep: obtained, and they went off to the next task.

--

A was somehow sleeping peacefully while sprawled out on top of the items and weapons in the back of the vehicle. The bumps and jerks of the machine had put him to sleep sometime ago, but now it was stationary and the sounds of argument woke him up.

"The river isn't that deep. You saw me cross and it just came up to my waste!" their charge was yelling at 'B' and, true to his word, the guy was drenched from the waist down.

"I'm not getting my pants wet in order to cross a fuckin' river, kid. We can just go south, there's an old bridge down there."

"The jeep isn't that heavy, and the river's current isn't that bad. Even a few cadets could pick this thing up and carry it safely across!" the kid gave the mini-jeep a couple smacks on the hood for emphasis.

"Sorry, ked," A spoke and lazily stretched as he let his heavy Mideel accent slip, "but I'm wit him on dis. 'mnot crossin’ no rivah todays."

"What do you mean?!" The guy didn’t understand why they didn’t want to go with the plan. HA, if only he knew. This kid was so wishy-washy anyways. A was just going to lay back down to get more shuteye. Yeah, that sounded good, and he tuned out the loud conversation in favor of getting some more sleep. He'd almost succeeded until he was picked up and dumped out of the vehicle.

"Wha?!" He rubbed his sore back and tried to figure out what happened.

"No!" Zack had one finger pointed and a glare that dared him to speak. Just what the hell? He thought and glared over at his partner, figuring that it was the other’s fault that the kid was worked up. "A, get up. B, we're crossing the river!"

"I told you I'm not doin' it!" ‘B’ was still trying to argue.

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!" It went back and forth between the two of them until Zack grabbed the other by his collar and pulled him right down to his face.

"Yes, you are! If you want to keep acting like an impudent cadet then I'll treat you like one! The bridge you’re talking about is too far and we won't have enough gas to make it to our destination if we go that way. Now, I tested that river and it's safe to cross so we're crossing, got it?!"

"Yes, sir…"

The kid calmly let go of B and glared right at A. "Do you have any back problems?"

"No…" he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Then get up off of the ground and help us with the jeep!" the kid ordered. A rolled his eyes, but decided to help out anyways.

The three of them grabbed the base of the vehicle, carefully lifted it, and slowly crossed the river. All the while the A had a light smile. This was a nice change from the previous years.

--


*Junon*

"I didn't think you missed your puppy that much," Genesis commented as he watched his more muscular friend doing crunches. Angeal paused from his position on the mats and looked up.

"I didn't call you here to talk about Zack, but thanks for finally showing up." Angeal got up and went to the redhead. "Remember, it was about a year ago when you said that it was probably Hojo's goal to drive Sephiroth insane?"

"Actually, I believe the term I used was 'crazy as bat-fuck'," he corrected.

"Yeah," Angeal gave a look that was clearly not amused, "bat-fuck… but you still believe that, right?"

"Well, of course," Genesis looked at him patiently.

"And you still think he's doing things he shouldn't be doing while people aren't looking, right?"

"Yes," Genesis became more serious, "Angeal, I'm getting the impression that this conversation isn't leading to the decision of whether or not you should confess to the puppy."

"I'm not in love with Zack!” Angeal’s tone would have been more believable if his face wasn’t flushed to his ears. “No, this doesn't have anything to do with that so leave him out of it! This is about Sephiroth. The other day I ran into him, and if I didn't know any better I'd think that he would have fought me to the death."

"What did you do?" Genesis asked. His curiosity was peeked.

"Nothing, the President said something to him and walked off. He just…" Angeal drifted off in thought.

"So what do you suppose it is?"

Angeal drew a deep breath and let it out. Looking up at his redheaded friend, he replied, "Ok, I believe you now. What's your plan on bringing Hojo down?"

"Hojo's not going to just leave the company, and he won't be fired unless he's deemed useless," Genesis replied. "So what we need to do is fight science with science."

"And how do you suppose we manage that?" Angeal raised his brow in question and Genesis looked him dead in the eye.

"Hollander."

--

"He's not coming. He's probably just sitting in his office waiting 'till we all start dying of thirst or hunger.”

All the examinees were back inside the building. The night before, Cloud and a few others checked the perimeter for any sign of wildlife. There was none. There wasn't even a fresh water source nearby. Now all they were doing was waiting for the Commander to show up.

"He probably forgot about us, you know? Or seeing how long we can last without food or water." The guy that had tried to take a swing at him last night had been complaining for almost an hour now, and most had lost their interest in what was said.

"You know, there's this rumor about him among the SOLDIER ranks." That perked people's attention again. "It's said that Commander Rhapsodos had taken on a couple juniors to mentor. You know, like what Angeal does every now and then, but they'd always quit SOLDIER and go back home."

"What are you getting at?" one of the boys spoke up in annoyance.

"What I'm getting at is that the last guy who was mentored by Rhapsodos was never seen again! Like I said, I heard it from a few SOLDIERs! I overheard them talking about how there was this guy, one of the more promising SOLDIERs, who went missing out on one of his missions! They were talking about how the guy was going to probably replace the Commander, but then he suddenly vanished!"

"What?" one of the other guys said as they sat up, "that's not true, is it? You're just joking, right?!"

"It's all true! Why do you think that Hewley is still in the mentor program, but no one's ever seen Rhapsodos with a student in years?"

"Isn't it like you said," Cloud spoke up, "that it's all just rumors?" He received a glare from most of the others who didn’t appreciate the story’s interruption.

"Yeah, but isn't there at least some truth to rumors," the other countered. Cloud turned around and ignored whatever else was said. Let them all think what they wanted. The other guy was just probably trying to get them all to fight as an act of revenge for his friend.

Cloud paused and looked around. The four others that were with him last night were the only ones trying not to pay attention. They rest soaked up the words like a sponge, and the look in their eyes reminded him of the people in early AVALANCHE. They were about to rise up, and if they started to fight against their superior then they'd have no chance in hell in continuing the test, let alone stay in Shinra. It was best to end this now before anyone else wrecked their dream of SOLDIER in the heat of the moment just because of one hot-headed guy.

"This is getting way over your heads," Cloud said as he got up. He was a little shaky from the lack of food, but so was everyone else.

The other guy was swiftly up on his feet too and stood firm. "Oh, really? So what do you plan to do? Fight for some deranged lunatic like some Shinra dog?"

"I'm not a Shinra dog!" He wasn't! He was fighting for the planet, for Zack and Aerith and Tifa, for everyone! He was using Shinra to get stronger, not the other way around!

"You look pretty tamed to me, dog!" the other yelled at him. As Cloud stepped forward to teach the brat a lesson, one of the guy’s lackeys hopped up and was soon followed by the whole room. Their eagerness to throw punches reminded him of the drunken fights at Seventh Heaven.

They were split, a three to one ratio, and from the looks that Cloud was getting he felt like he was in for a world of hurt.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something," a deep voice came from the doorway. "Should I come back later?"

Everyone in the room dropped their stances and faced forward as the Commander leaned against the doorframe. Though as amused as his expression was, Cloud didn't think he'd be too humored once he found out what this scuffle was about. The redhead looked directly at the one that started the dispute and spoke. "Report."

Cloud's jaw dropped as the other’s personality did a one eighty and stood formally. "Sir, argument over authority, Sir!"

"Whose authority?" the Commander questioned.

"Yours, Sir!"

"At ease, SOLDIER." Everyone was dumbstruck as the declared SOLDIER dropped his salute.

"Wha… what's going on?" one of the other boys tried to make a half laughed attempt to try and lighten the mood.

"A test of loyalty," the SOLDIER replied with a smile and looked over to Cloud and the others beside him, "and congratulations to you five, you’re deem worthy enough to pass."

"Wait!" someone else spoke up, "something isn't right here! If this is what you say it was then how did the Commander know when to come in at exactly the right time?!"

Commander Rhapsodos stood quietly and allowed the SOLDIER to explain. "This belt buckle has a button that I pressed to send a signal."

"But… so… everything that you said…"

"Was to see if you would follow me and 'rise up against a Commander that might be corrupt', or follow blondie over there," he nodded his head in Cloud's direction, "and stay loyal."

"What about the others that died during the first test!" someone else piped up.

Rhapsodos gave a chuckle, "No one died during the first test."

"Like hell no one did! What about my friend? I saw him jump into the water with me, and he didn't make it to shore!"

"The tests are carefully observed," the Commander responded. "There were SOLDIERs underwater that were watching over the event. If there was any moment in time that one of the examinees stayed under too long then they were brought into one of the submarines to be revived. When test time was up, they were transported back to Junon so none of you would see."

"Why… why set all of this up like that?!"

“To see if you are worthy to make it into SOLDIER,” the redhead replied. “You may not be aware of it because this kind of thing doesn't make on the news, but every so often there are a few of you who make it into SOLDIER and either abandon their responsibility or go temporarily insane. This year I've come to personally weed out those who are weaker minded before they get their enhancements and run rampant through the cities."

"And we failed just because of a SOLDIER who tried to get us to quit from the get-go! I was sitting right behind him during the signups, he was saying things!"

"No," the Commander growled out, "you failed because you weren't loyal to me." The room was filled with pissed off and confused foot soldiers. "During wars there’s always someone trying to find a way to break a military’s strength from the inside. Rumors, either true of false, spread through an encampment like wildfire and doubts can fill a warrior’s head. It causes riots that can guarantee the opponent’s victory.

"Maybe you have forgotten what SOLDIER is about. So, let me explain. The first test wasn't the physical; it was inside the recruitment building. It was to test your courage, to see if you would take a test that, if failed, could forever cripple the chances of rising within the ranks. The second was to test your stamina, both mental and physical. I could have easily made you run laps around Junon like the previous examiners did, but pausing for breaks was too often done and in the ocean you can't just stop swimming. It exhausted you physically and mentally, always thinking 'if I don't finish this I could die'. People who couldn't handle it went under. The last test was to check your mental health, to see how long it took before you cracked and how you would crack.

"And this last one was the most important of all; loyalty. Not to Shinra, but to your superior officers."

"Permission to speak, Commander," the SOLDIER spoke up.

"Granted."

"I request that foot soldier Dwite also be promoted to SOLDIER." The boy looked surprised at the request.

"Reason?"

"Dwite had been hanging out with me since the beginning. Last night he’d spoken with me and asked me to quit my behavior. Dwite was the first one up during the argument, followed by others. I believe that he wasn't fighting to go against you, but for a friend."

Genesis eyed the blushing kid down, "Approved, congrats to you six. I have high hopes for you in SOLDIER, don't let me down."

To be continued…

AN: For Mideel’s accent I went with a Jamaican sound, cause… well, it’s a small island. Lol. I’m not racist! DON’T JUDGE ME!!

I hope you guys didn’t see that ending coming in the exams though. I tried to do a different test than what other people have done, more psychological if anything. Though the swimming part is used often, nevertheless it is such a good one to do. Seriously. But I did put my own twist on it to make it different. I do hope you see Genesis’ reasoning for doing the test the way he did. Forgive him? Also, there’s another secret in there… you’ll find out about it in later chapters. XD

For Zack’s OOCness… well, it’s not OCC to me cause I’ve never played FF7:CC (he looks kinda ditzy in the trailers) but since I haven’t I still have the idea in my head that’s he’s this remarkably nice guy, kinda silly, but can kick ass. Cause in the game he tried to make Cloud feel better with some light humor, and fought 'till the end. So, yeah, all that small stuff from the first game just made him seem like this completely awesome person in my eyes. REMEMBER: he’s only nineteen so his personality isn’t fully like an adult’s, but he IS getting there. People aren’t just born awesome…
*looks at Sephiroth*
OK… most normal people aren’t born awesome.
Seph:… -_-

Have any questions? I might have answers!

Please review! (Criticism accepted as long as it’s constructive…)