"Not really." They might have presented it as a choice, and of course he took it, to leave Hojo behind. "I wasn't aware of any other options. The difficulties of a limited perspective."

Shinra had been all-powerful in his world, then. He hadn't known its limitations, or his own power. It's easy to look back and think he might have defected, might have killed the worst of them, might have survived without them. He didn't know.

"It can be hard to imagine... more. But you can want it."