The Cry of the Planet Chapter 21
Timing
By Edyn Cross
Lucrecia woke up the next morning feeling better than she had in a long time.
The first thing she thought of when she woke up was the new specimens to
experiment on and the second thing was Vincent. She yawned and looked over
at the clock: 7:23am. Lucrecia always woke up early not wanting to sleep
the day away. There was work to be done.
After she showered and got herself decent, she stepped outside her door and
looked around. Vincent's was still closed and not surprisingly, Hojo's was
still opened and bed made exactly the way it was the night
before.
"Gast was right," Lucrecia giggled softly to herself. "Hojo IS on a
mission."
She made her way to the kitchen, which was empty and quiet and made herself
some tea and toast for breakfast. Then she put it on a plate and excitedly
made her way to the Shinra basement anxious to get the research started.
When she entered the lab, the first thing she saw was Professor Gast reading
the morning paper drinking his coffee and the second was the back room light
on and Hojo's quiet mumbling echoing incoherently through the
room.
Gast looked up from his paper and smiled, "Good morning."
She returned his smile, "Hello. Mind if I join you?"
"By all means," Gast said motioning to a chair next to him. "How was your
evening last night? Did you have a good time?"
"Oh, yes," Lucrecia said sitting down. "We walked around town, he took me
to dinner and we. talked. I've never really just talked with someone before
and he was the perfect person to talk to. So quiet and polite."
"Yes, yes," Gast agreed sipping his coffee. "Men like that are very hard
to come by, you should consider yourself blessed."
"What do you mean?" Lucrecia said nibbling her toast.
"Hah! Think of it this way," Gast laughed. "How many other men have you met
in your life with a stable, very well-paying job, polite, smart, and you
don't need me to tell you this: very handsome."
Lucrecia thought back to college and of all the geeky science nerds and cocky
sports jocks and shook her head.
"There you have it," Gast said looking back to his paper. "Words of advice.
Never ever pass up a good thing, those opportunities are very few and some
may be your one and only chance."
Lucrecia nodded.
"Besides," Gast said laughing and pointing with his coffee mug down the hall
to the other laboratory room. "Consider the alternative."
Lucrecia listened to Hojo's incoherent mumbling and giggled.
The three scientists spent the entire morning researching, experimenting
and documenting. Professor Gast and Lucrecia worked together on most experiments
which Hojo spent time with his own studies. It was clear to the other two
that Professor Hojo didn't want to be disturbed so they let him be alone
in the back laboratory room, which also served as a large library. Lucrecia
and Gast remained in the front room working so diligently; they didn't even
hear Hojo's mumbling anymore.
It was five in the afternoon when the basement door finally opened and a
tired, but excited looking Lucrecia stepped out to get something to eat for
her and Professor Gast. She walked downstairs, eyes squinting from being
cooped up in the dark basement laboratory for so long. She entered the kitchen
to see Vincent Valentine digging through the fridge looking for something
to eat for himself.
"Vincent," Lucrecia said with warmth.
Surprised by her voice, Vincent jerked his head up hitting the top of the
fridge and then turned and looked at her.
"Lucrecia," He smiled at her. "I haven't seen you all day. How are things
going down there?"
She went to the fridge looking for something for her and Gast, "Oh, very
well. The new samples are working out very nicely. You wouldn't believe how
much energy is in that Ancient."
Vincent raised an eyebrow, "Energy?"
"Yes, it's almost as if the Ancient has been soaked in Mako for a thousand
years, it's so powerful," Lucrecia said. "You know, like the energy found
in Materia? Gast said that he believes Ancients were able to use magic without
the aid of Materia, so who knows what kind of knowledge is stored in that
Ancient."
Vincent just listened thoughtfully.
"Well, I bet we'll find out sooner or later," Lucrecia said with a smile.
"That's why we're here."
Lucrecia prepared sandwiches for her and retreated back to the basement and
didn't come out until three in the morning.
---
Days like this went on like clockwork. The three scientists spent most of
their time in the basement laboratory while the Turk kept the mansion secured
from any outside threat: A few monsters wandering down from the mountain
path or maybe a local townsfolk who wanted a peek at Shinra's latest corporate
secret.
Hojo was one rarely seen. Gast had seen him a total of three times in two
weeks and each time he looked even thinner than he was and could use three
days of sleep. As far as Gast knew Hojo had been sleeping in the laboratory
itself coming up only when desperately needing something to eat or drink.
When Gast tried speaking with Professor Hojo, but his only response was a
shooing gesture with his gangly hands.
Gast thought that maybe he should be more concerned about Hojo's state, but
he learned long ago that there's no sense in trying to tell that man anything.
Hojo was doing his work and that was good enough for him. Gast would walk
to the back laboratory every now and read Hojo's lab reports. As usual they
were sensible and flawless, but Gast never saw Hojo's personal research log
he kept in his lab coat.
Gast also noticed with content that Lucrecia was growing tiresome with her
work and taking more and more trips out of the basement for whatever errands
were needed. Some afternoons, Lucrecia would retire early around four or
five and spend that time undoubtedly with Vincent Valentine. She would also
talk about the Vincent while they were doing their research and it was quite
clear to Gast that she was falling for the Turk.
Over a month had gone by since the four had returned from the Mako Reactor
on Mt. Nibel and Lucrecia found herself enjoying her nights of just spending
time with Vincent more than her studies of the Ancient down in the lab. The
two still haven't done anything more since the first night on the balcony,
but Lucrecia still loved having her talks with Vincent. She loved it more
than anything when she could actually get him to open up about what he thought
about things or something from his childhood. Side by side they would sit
on the couch in front of the large stone fireplace. Most of the time talking,
but some if it was just spent in silence, both enjoying each other's
presence.
While either researching in the lab or spending time with Vincent, there
was always a small nagging in the back of Lucrecia's mind worrying a bit
about Professor Hojo. She had seen him maybe a total of three or four times
and each time he didn't even seem to notice she was there. So obsessed with
his work, Lucrecia bet that Hojo had lost at least fifteen pounds in the
past few weeks. He had shut himself out of everything that was trivial to
him and focused on what was important: Jenova. It was clear to Lucrecia now
that there was no winning Hojo's affection. Similar scientific minds or not,
Lucrecia was learning that it takes more than just a common interest to be
able to have a relationship with someone.
She was also beginning to think that she didn't want to be a part of Professor
Hojo's Experiment anymore. If it was to jeopardize anything between her and
Vincent, she didn't want to have anything to do with it, but she had no idea
how to tell Hojo this. She feared his reaction would be harsh, maybe even
dangerous
---
Like every other night for the past few weeks, Vincent and Lucrecia said
their goodnights before each going to their own room to retire for the evening.
As they stood outside their doors Vincent leaned in and gave Lucrecia a shy,
soft kiss on the lips before offering her a faint smile and entered his bedroom
closing the door behind him.
Lucrecia entered her own room, changed into her nighty, and crawled into
her bed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. She lay
staring at the ceiling listening to the approaching storm and thinking of
what to do about her situation. Experiment or Vincent is what it all boiled
down to in her mind. She tried to imagine what life would be like living
it in a laboratory as a part of Hojo's Experiment and then she imagined her
life as it had been with Vincent the past few weeks. She thought and her
eyes sagged as sleep washed over her and just before she dozed off, she shot
her eyes open and jerked up in bed.
For the first time, Lucrecia realized something that she should have known
weeks ago. She had fallen in love with Vincent Valentine. She knew she felt
strongly for him, but right now at this moment, it hit her like a bolt of
lightning. She turned and looked at the clock, which read 2:13am. Vincent
would be asleep by now, but would that matter? She knew he would want her
to come to him, he had been so patient, but his wanting was so
obvious.
A thick blue light filled her bedroom and Lucrecia quietly slipped out of
bed as the massive crack of thunder followed rattling the windowpanes. Just
then she wondered if Vincent would be awake after all. She grabbed her nightgown
from the closet and tiptoed across the hard wood floor and out into the hallway.
Lucrecia stood outside Vincent's bedroom door staring at the doorknob. She
reached out with her hand to grasp the doorknob and just before she put her
hand on it she heard something shift behind her.
Lucrecia quickly turned around and saw nothing behind her but the house and
shadows. She narrowed her eyes trying to see in the darkness, but couldn't
make out anything. She considered asking if anyone was there, but her question
was answered a split second later. Another bright flash of blue lightning
filled the Mansion revealing a heavily breathing Hojo standing less than
five feet from her, then all was dark and Hojo was nowhere to be seen. Before
Lucrecia could even begin to yell, Hojo stepped from the shadow and grabbed
her by the arm and threw her into his bedroom shutting the door behind him.
The thunder following the lightning covered any noise that Vincent might
have heard from inside his room.
"Hojo!" Lucrecia yelled. "What are you doing?"
Hojo threw Lucrecia into his room while he stood between her and the
door.
"It's time," Hojo whispered seeming out of breath and locked the
door.
"For what...?" And then it stuck her. "No! I don't want to be in the Experiment
anymore. I don't want to!"
"It's to late, my dear," Hojo hissed advancing towards Lucrecia. "Too
late..."
"No!" Lucrecia yelled and tried to run to the door.
Hojo caught her by the arm and flung her onto the bed. He positioned himself
on top of her pinning her down. He held one hand over her mouth keeping her
quiet and with the other he fumbled with his pants. Lucrecia tried freeing
herself, but for as skinny as Hojo was he, was strong... too
strong.
As soon as Hojo was finish with his pants, he shoved them off with his free
hand revealing his erection. He then ripped open Lucrecia's nightgown and
pushed up her nighty revealing her white panties. With one try, he ripped
them off leaving Lucrecia ashamed and defenseless.
"Too late..." Hojo said chuckling to himself ignoring Lucrecia's weak struggle.
"Jenova."
Lucrecia just closed her eyes wanting it to be all over.