The conflict on Cloud's face was easy to see - and Zechs was mindful of how they'd met in the rain, thank you. Enhanced, Zechs considered that word. Experimented on? Was it a painful process, itself traumatic to endure? He didn't know. And it's possible that it wasn't - the mere battles Cloud lived through were enough to cause that sort of expression.

"If you aren't comfortable speaking of it - I won't pry," Zechs told him quietly. "In my reality, there were rumors that some young soldiers might have been enhanced as well, but the men responsible who would have been able to testify and confirm that were killed before the war's end. I can imagine being given additional abilities to increase your utility as a soldier brings ... expectations, from the ones who had given such abilities to you."