The feeling never left him, knowing that he had an actual band of troopers that had looked up to him. Even if it were not real, even if it was only for a few hours, but everything in that short bit of time was real to them. A shred of guilt always ate away at him, thinking on it, so far into his journey with his friends. Thoughts of what he could have been, had he just stayed a little longer, or a different fate past that night on Nibelheim.
Of course, he did not have the time to pause now, or to reflect. A certain individual's number had shown up on his phone, (how it had gotten there, he did not really know) and he had unwillingly answered it. Luckily, it was within the privacy of this small room, at the inn that he and all the other's were staying at. A voice on the other end that he knew all-too well, giving one single sentence to him, of them needing to 'meet and talk.'
Without telling any of them the real details, he went off; making up some excuse to go off hunting for a few days, or more - 'because he wanted to take down some monsters outside the town, and clear his head' - was the terrible excuse, and no one seemed to really question it.
This would be more than a few days to get back to that mako-drenched city, but when he finally did, and stepped into the building swarmed with so many guards. One look was all he needed to give them, sending them all on edge, knowing what he's already done to them before; something he was still trying to mentally overcome, himself. Several of them escorted him right up to the presidential suite, clasping binds on his wrists as a precaution. He didn't put up any fight over it, not yet, knowing there was more to this than getting himself in their clutches.
"...You called?..." He spoke as he was led in, and his vision focused on one and only. "This better have been worth my time."