The Cry of the Planet Chapter 25
Birth
By Edyn Cross
Vincent Valentine slept all evening and work up late the next morning with
Lucrecia in his arms. The Turk watched as she slept silently until she broke
out into another spasm of coughs leaving streaks of blood on her pillow.
This was when Vincent decided that he's had enough. He quietly slipped out
of bed and lovingly tucked his Lucrecia in before going to take care of much
needed business.
He left Lucrecia's room and entered his own heading straight for the end
table where he kept his gun. After putting it on and replacing his suit jacket,
the Turk habitually straightened his suit and headed to the basement. While
walking down the winding wooden boards, Vincent heard the familiar sound
of Hojo's snickering echoing up the corridor. Upon entering the first room
of the basement laboratory, he saw Hojo hunched over what appeared to be
an operating table with several restraint straps attached to it.
"Ah, the Turk," Hojo hissed. "I've been expecting you. Do come in."
Vincent stood motionlessly at the doorway, "You're a madman."
"Perhaps," Hojo grinned. "But, at least I'm a well-funded madman. Kudos to
President Shinra for finally recognizing my work. Oh, and sorry you didn't
get to say goodbye to Professor Gast, he did leave in quite a hurry."
"What are you talking about," Vincent asked trying not to let his anger
show.
"I've had him pulled from the Project," Hojo pushed a greasy strand of hair
out of his eyes. "The Airship left early this morning to take him back to
Midgar. He thinks you'll be leaving on a later flight."
Instantly making the connection, Vincent's hand moved slowly to his gun,
"But, I'm not going to, am I?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Hojo's grin grew wider. "Lucrecia and her infant aren't
the only Specimens that were approved for my research. Not that you would
care, but the infant is coming along nicely, it is already showing superior
muscle strength, I just hope the mother's womb will be able to hold it."
"Goddamnit!" Vincent snapped. "Lucrecia is NOT a SPECIMEN! She's a human
being and so is her baby! Not that you would know anything about being one
of those."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Hojo hunched slowly towards Vincent. "You'd do good to keep
comments like that to yourself considering your current situation. But, don't
you worry about your precious Lucrecia. As soon as she produces the infant,
her usefulness to me will be over."
Vincent was starting to see red, "So as soon as she gives birth, you're just
going to take her baby and toss her to the curb?"
"To put it bluntly, yes," Hojo said still hunching forward and put his hands
in his lab coat pockets. "Not that it should matter to you... you won't be
around to see all that anyway."
Hojo removed his hand from the pocked and Vincent barely caught a glimpse
of the gun in it before he was shot in the chest. He felt as if he had been
hit hard with a blunt object but felt no pain. Involuntarily, Vincent pulled
out his gun and could only get one shot off before his knees gave out and
he landed face down on the floor. The bullet from the Turks gun ricocheted
off of the floor and buried itself into the soft earthen wall behind Hojo.
Hojo kneeled to the bleeding Vincent on the floor and took the gun from his
hand. Barely awake, Vincent was pulled up by his hair and the last thing
he saw before fading into unconsciousness was Hojo's grinning face and the
operating table behind him. Then all was dark...
...and Vincent dreamed.
------
Professor Gast made his first and last trip to Shinra Inc., to hand in his
resignation papers and to clean out his office. He was never heard from again
at Shinra Inc., but rumor had it that he still searched for the beautiful
Ancient in the picture he kept with him.
Two months of uninterrupted research gave Professor Hojo, now the head of
the Science Division at Shinra Inc., exactly what he needed to finish the
first phase of his Experiment. He gave weekly updates to President Shinra
himself with the progress of the Specimen up until it's birth date. Lucrecia
had been in labor for almost forty-five hours before the child was born.
Lucrecia had been in excruciating pain the entire time, but still Hojo wouldn't
allow her painkillers worrying about how they would affect the Specimen.
When the child was born, Hojo didn't look at it as a father would look at
a son, but as a young child would look at a dress up doll. The child was
born with no crying and no sound and Hojo feared that it might have suffocated
during birth.
Hojo took the baby and cut the umbilical cord announcing not to Lucrecia,
but to himself that it was a boy. The young baby stared up at Hojo with large
mistrustful eyes that were a brilliant teal color that seemed to almost glow.
Much to Hojo's surprise, the baby boy already had thick hair growing on his
head that was silvery-grey in color. Hojo held the child and looked down
to Lucrecia like you would a bothersome fly and sighed.
"In all my planning and studying of this Specimen I never even thought of
a name," he said to her. "Since you managed to keep him alive for nine months
I'll at least give you the privilege of naming him."
Lucrecia looked up to child with its glowing eyes and silver hair and for
a second believed he truly was an angel. She thought of the most heavenly
and fitting name for such an angel and whispered...
"Sephiroth."
That was the first and last time Lucrecia ever saw her child and not once
did she ever get to hold him. The very next day Hojo ordered Lucrecia out
of the mansion as her work with him was done and he needed as few distractions
as necessary for his research. She never returned to Shinra Inc. and her
personal file there suffered the same fate as Vincent Valentine's.
------
End of Part 1