A Lullaby for the Chimera

by ixieko

A tale of Shin-Ra scientists, technical progress, old grudges and new alliances in times when the war was beginning; and of a kid who was not really a human, and people who cared for him - each in his own manner. (Part 6 of The Ancient Story)

- 1980 -

Midgar area had always been the most populated place in the world, at least in the human world; a center of political, cultural and scientific life of all the Eastern continent. Eight towns that were forming it gradually grew and would in time join, becoming a huge metropolis, the capital of the East. Shin-Ra only sped the process up, setting up headquarters in the very middle of Midgar area, that now was being transformed into Midgar city - a city of metal and concrete with Company headquarters as its steel heart and Mako instead of blood.

Peeking out of the window, Ifalna observed the new sight. She last saw it three years ago, before leaving for Nibelheim with Professor Gast and his other assistants. The construction of the Plate barely began back then, pillars that would support it existed only on paper, and reactors, except for the central one, were not even visible above the city landscape. Now, all nine reactors were already functioning, and the voice of the Planet was crying for help so loudly it almost made Ifalna cringe.

The headquarters were towering over the smaller houses around; the huge building was still far from completion, but even now, surrounded by cranes and covered in scaffolding, coloured orange by setting sun, it looked impressive - a steel giant, a monument to humanity's triumphs. Around it, the first three sectors of the Plate were partially built, and their wide forms were casting deep shadows on the ground. As far as Ifalna knew, the area under the Plate was supposed to became a huge storage and transport terminal and an industrial zone; it was unlikely someone would choose to live without daylight.

The van turned left from the highway, and buildings and trees around obscured the view of the construction site. A few minutes later, the car passed through the black wrought iron gates onto the Shin-Ra University campus grounds. Following the main road, they left behind castle-like main building and turned right, past dormitories. Ifalna automatically searched third window on the left in the Natural Environment faculty's dormitory, second floor, - the room where she lived during her years at the University. She glimpsed simple dark green curtains, a stack of books, a small microscope and a brown teddy bear on the windowsill; snowflakes made of shiny aluminum foil were glued to the glass. Someone lived there, of course, young girls from somewhere over the world; more of talented kids whom Shin-Ra adopted and nursed.

She remembered herself back then, in her late teens. She entered the University at sixteen, and her parents died two years later, less than a year after her grandmother's death. She was left alone in the whole world, and the University became her home and her family, the same as it was for dozens of other lonely boys and girls - those who had no support from their families and those who didn't have family at all; Shin-Ra provided them all with shelter, and food, and education, and a prospect of a bright future - with only one condition: that they would work for the Company and be loyal to it. And why wouldn't they, really? There was no better job than in Shin-Ra anyway.

Her home, her family, her job. Ifalna sighed, turning her gaze away from dormitories. Life was so simple before she joined the Jenova Project.

The van turned left, went past learning labs, greenhouse and sports grounds, and finally, through the security post, they arrived to Shin-Ra Science Department main lab complex.

Ifalna climbed out of the vehicle and looked around. Everything seemed almost as it was three years ago - a small stone-paved square, surrounded by several buildings. Right ahead of her stood the apartment building for Shin-Ra employees, flanked by red brick three-storey building of Natural Environment Research Division (commonly abbreviated as NERD), followed by big dark glass cube of Tri-C (Computations, Communications and Cybernetics Division). To the right of the apartment building were white four-storey BioMed labs and similar to Tri-C glass cube of Mako and Materia Research Division, M&M, followed by a new, small green house.

"What is this?" She asked Gast, who just exited out of the back door.

He looked at the building in question. "BioWare. It is a new branch of BioMed, specializing in the creation of biological weapons. This is just the office, their labs are... elsewhere."

"Oh," She said. "So we are preparing for war, then."

Professor shrugged. "The war is a very likely possibility, Ifalna," He said. "Almost unavoidable at this moment, although there is still hope for peaceful negotiations. As much as I dislike the idea of turning living beings into weapons, this is what the President needs our department to do, and this is what we will do."

...

Ifalna spent the rest of the evening in Gast's office, finishing reading Hojo's research notes. According to the test results, Sephiroth's tissues consisted of perfectly fused human and Jenova Type-2 cells with great prevalence of the latter, and without the constant Mako supply he would not be able to properly develop, because the cells would become dormant. Hojo predicted that the boy will need Mako injections for the duration of his whole life.

"Why didn't you listen, Lucy," She thought, "And why didn't I stay with you."

The probability of her changing anything was fairly low, she knew, but still... If she stayed, maybe, Lucrecia would be still around. At least, the boy would have both parents with him.

"Where are you now, Lucy? What are you doing, hiding, when he needs you."

Putting the papers aside, she looked at the lane outside. The sky was dark, the low clouds, illuminated by city's lights, obscured the stars. It was already around midnight. She stood up and went out of the office.

The labs were never deserted, even at night. She met several people on her way to Sephiroth's room, but none of them were familiar, all much younger than her, probably new graduates.

"I'm getting old," She thought, "There already are scientists several years younger than me. It's so strange."

Opening the door to Sephiroth's room, she stopped short of coming inside, amazed by the scene she witnessed. Professor Gast was walking slowly around the room, rocking the small bundle in his arms and singing softly. Ifalna didn't think men knew lullabies at all, and certainly couldn't even imagine them singing to someone other's children. She herself didn't have any siblings, but among the neighbours, kids, especially in that young age, were primarily the concern of their mothers; fathers were mostly occupied with their jobs, but even without anything else to do, they preferred to leave children to women. She recalled her grandmother telling that this was wrong and both parents should take equal participation in their kids' upbringing. At the time, she dismissed it as another weird Cetra tradition, but now that she really thought about that... it seemed, actually, reasonable.

Gast turned around and noticed her. He smiled, not stopping his quiet singing, and she smiled back, leaning on the doorframe. The song was not really a lullaby, she understood suddenly; he was actually thinking aloud in a singing voice, something about Mako levels and neural responses. The realization made her chuckle silently, covering her mouth to prevent sounds from escaping.

A while later, he deposited the sleeping child back into the transparent plastic crib, turned the baby monitor on and went to the door, motioning for her to go out.

"Sephiroth has trouble going to sleep after Mako injections," He explained after closing the door behind them. "My singing seems to help him with that."

Ifalna chuckled. "Don't you know any actual lullabies?" She asked.

"I used to know them, but..." He shrugged, smiling shyly, "So many years without practice... I guess, I should refresh my memory. If you have a clue where I could get a song-book, I would be grateful."

"Okay, I will find one for you," She laughed. "But even your monologue works just fine."

The next morning, Gast went to the headquarters, to attend the meeting with Shin-Ra President, while Ifalna stayed to catch up on Natural Environment Division's new projects and to observe Sephiroth.

When she came up to the crib to check on him, the child woke up and frowned at her, and she sensed the same kind of uneasiness she felt near Jenova's body. It was not surprising, considering the boy's nature, but uncomfortable. She wondered if he, too, felt danger coming from her.

"He did nothing wrong," She reminded herself, "He is just a baby, for Gaia's sake."

But still, she could not bring herself to relax around him.

At the lunch break, she sat in the cafeteria, reading through the projects files, when someone called out to her.

"Ifalna, is that you?"

She turned to look. The small blond woman in white t-shirt, blue jeans and cute fluffy slippers, with tray in her hands, seemed unfamiliar, but then she remembered her. Two years younger, Computation Technologies faculty. They weren't very close friends, but used to socialize.

"Andronika, right?"

The woman nodded.

"Uh-huh, that's me, but call me Nika, please. May I sit down?"

"Of course."

The engineer flopped down on the opposite chair.

"How is it going in Tri-C?" Ifalna asked.

"All fine, lots of work." The other woman answered between the mouthfuls of food. "I'm a simulation engineer on the Virtual Reality now. Virtual environment that completely recreates all sensory experiences, not just the 3D image. For combat training and so on."

"Didn't we have a fight-sim already?"

"Yes, but it can simulate only enclosed spaces and functions on Materia."

"What's wrong with Materia?"

"Well, it's OK if you want to emulate only things that really exist. To create new virtual places or monsters you'll need to use something else, Materia alone can't do that."

"And that's why you are trying to use human technology," Ifalna mused, "Instead of Ancients'."

"Exactly! Although, our technology alone isn't enough, so we still use some of Materia. Actually," The engineer continued, "The new version is in beta testing now, so we are inviting just about everyone to participate. Would you?"

She agreed. "After the break, okay?"

"Good," Nika said, "I'll take you there, then."

For some time they ate in silence.

"And how's your project going?" The engineer asked at last.

"Not good," Ifalna admitted, not going into details. "Basically, failed."

"Well, I guessed something was wrong. Hollander's haunting M&M's labs, looking as joyful as a storm cloud. Last summer he was all," She made a scowl, "`I'll show you who's the coolest scientist around here, har-har-har!`, well, you know how he does. And now he's just sulking all the time."

The virtual reality test site was located in Tri-C Cube basement, a big round room, all covered in some kind of machinery: pipes, wires, Materia slots and circuit boards were attached to every flat surface, including the floor, though the circuitry there was protected by thick plexiglass. Ifalna looked around skeptically, waiting for Nika, who left her there and ran away to get her notebook.

The door opened, and the engineer came in, carrying a black slim box in her hands. She shoved the box into Ifalna's hands and explained cheerfully:

"That's my notebook, a portable computer. It's pretty heavy, and the battery life is short, but Mike's team is working on optimization."

The "portable computer" was much heavier than a brick. Its screen was small, taking less than a half of the front panel, and had only two colours - dark grey and light grey; next to the screen there was a keyboard with tiny, unhandy keys.

"Um... It... could use some improvement," Ifalna commented.

"Oh, yeah," Nika agreed, "Right now, with how slow it is, it's good only for writing texts."

"I don't see how it could be useful even for that," Ifalna said, doubtful, turning the thing in her hands to look at the sides and back panel. "There's no memory slots here. Would anyone who want to read your notes need to borrow this thing from you? And what if you would want to make a copy?"

The engineer laughed, taking the device back and plugging one of the cables into it. "What, don't you know? We already have a computer network here in the Cube! This notebook could connect to it too."

"A network? Like, computers can exchange information directly, not through external memory chips?"

"Yes. And we're planning to make it worldwide."

"Wow."

"Indeed. Okay, what about our testing? Which location would you like?"

"Mmm... Costa del Sol?"

Nika nodded and pressed several keys on the "notebook". The room dissolved in fog and flashes of light, and in a few moments they were standing on a beach, with the sea to the left and familiar houses to the right. The fog did not completely dissipated; everything farther than a hundred of meters away was blurred and faded out into gray nothingness, but around them all seemed completely life-like. The sun was warm, light breeze from the sea brought strange strong smell, reminding a stench of iodine solution.

Ifalna crouched and took a handful of sand. It felt like the real thing, slipping through her fingers.

"This is amazing!" She exclaimed, turning to the engineer.

The blond smiled. "Feel free to look around," She said. "Try to do anything you'd do in real life."

The water was wet, but when she took some sand out of it, it was dry. Nika wrote that in her notebook, along with the complaint that the smell from the water was too strong.

In one area of the beach they got knee-deep in the sand that was only an image; the "real" ground was lower. Trying to write that down, the engineer suddenly cursed and hastily pushed some keys, then cursed again.

"Is something wrong?" Ifalna asked.

"The battery," Nika muttered, "Damned thing ran down too fast. Now I can't control the simulation, so we're stuck here for about forty minutes, till its end."

The scientist laughed. "At least it's only for a bit more than half an hour. Let's pretend we are on a vacation, then."

"Uh, well," The engineer began, but was interrupted by a strange grumbling sound.

From the edge of the fog, a weird creature was walking up to the beach, limping on all four legs. It resembled a wolf, but bigger and fatter. Its fur was grey, eyes red, and its movements seemed strangely mechanic, as if someone was pulling its limbs by strings. Noticing the two women, the creature raised its head and growled without opening its mouth, a sound resembling a stomach rumble.

Ifalna looked at the thing in astonishment. "What is this?" She whispered.

"This, uh, is a simulated monster. Created with human technology only. A `Hello, World`, actually, I didn't work on it much yet."

The monster slowly limped to them. They stared at it. When it was a few meters away, Nika said, "Let's go, it can attack us."

They went to the water. Hello-World went after them. Its speed was too slow to catch up.

"Will it keep to stalk after us? Can we, I don't know, hit it with something?"

"Well, theoretically, we can. If we'll find anything suitable."

The only thing that could be used as a weapon was a striped blue-white folding chair. Ifalna ran to it, folded it and hit the monster on the head from behind.

The chair broke. The creature grumbled and continued to limp forward to Nika, without paying the other woman any attention.

"Hmm, it seems I made its bones too dense," The engineer commented. "And it doesn't seem to react to attacks from behind, if someone is in front of him. Interesting."

They spent the remainder of an hour experimenting with Hello-World's reactions, subsequently finding a couple of other spots where the image of the ground was not at the same level as the real ground. The monster was slow and had an intellect of an amoeba, but Nika was excited about it.

"It's only the beginning," She said, when the simulation finally ended and they were back in the room. "Now I have a lot of ideas for the new version. Thanks!"

Ifalna chuckled. "Just don't forget to check the battery before the next testing," She said. "If that monster was a bit faster and smarter, we'd be in trouble."

When she returned to BioMed labs, Gast was already in his office, reading through a bunch of papers.

"How the meeting went?" She asked.

He looked up from the paper and smiled. "As usual," He answered, "Politics and finances."

"What about clean energy projects? Did you speak about that?"

"Yes," He said, "However, the Company has other priorities now. Most of the financing is given to military projects, ecology is on the bottom of the list."

She sighed.

"It is possible," Gast continued, raising his hand in placating gesture. "To convince Shinra of the importance of clean energy, if we could provide evidence of harmful effects of Mako extraction."

"I'll take this as my next project," Ifalna said immediately.

"The financing will be minimal," Professor warned. "And I still will need you on Jenova project."

"I understand," She answered. "I'll manage."

...

The life was returning to normal. After several months in jungle, Ifalna at first had trouble adapting to so many people around and too-fast rhythm of a big city, but after a couple of weeks in Midgar she got used to that. Much harder was to learn to tune out the voices of the Planet and Spirits again; this close to nine reactors, they were almost unbearable. Being disconnected from her Cetra side felt only a fraction better, but at least this way she could be functional.

She spent evenings in NER Department archive, collecting statistics on several environmental and agricultural parameters. The data was not from all around the world, just Eastern Continent, and only of the last fifteen years, since Shin-Ra University was founded; she would have to travel to Cosmo Canyon for additional information.

One warm March day, Ifalna went to Market District to shop, and bought a book of children's songs for Gast. Professor thanked her, and soon his repertoire expanded, though he preferred one song over all others. When she asked him about the reason, he answered, smiling: "It is the lullaby my father used to sing, and his father to him. You could call this our family's tradition."

Sephiroth was still reacting to Ifalna with wariness, and she still sensed the presence of the thing in him. He didn't cry when she took him in her arms, but frowned at her and never relaxed, never even slept if she was too close.

She supposed, it was as expected. The Calamity was an enemy of Cetra, and they were its enemies. Even if its will was long dead, some bits of memory must have survived and affected the child. She hoped that in time these remainders would fade away.

Hojo returned to Midgar in the middle of spring, and was very disappointed to know that Professor Faremis kept Sephiroth's dosage of Mako as low as possible, only enough to keep the child alive and to let him develop at normal speed.

"We are wasting his potential, Gast!" He said with fervor. "He is capable of much more than a human, why should we cut him down to our level?"

Professor straightened in his chair, folding his arms, and answered calmly, "The entity we used for experimentations has questionable origin. It would be a mistake to proceed without caution. Did we not lose one of our own already due to our carelessness?"

"If we stop now," Hojo countered, scowling, "Would that mean she died for nothing, Professor?"

Gast turned away, looked at Ifalna.

"What is your opinion?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "You are already aware of it, Professor," She said. "We should never start these projects, to begin with. And now, I think, we should study both Jenova and Sephiroth more thoroughly before we make any decision."

"So be it," He nodded.

Hojo muttered something unintelligible, turned around and went out of the office.

Faremis watched his exodus, and then told Ifalna, "I want you to supervise everything he is doing, while I will be busy setting up the labs in new headquarters. Recheck his calculations, analysis, observe all procedures... Everything."

"Why?" She asked, irritated at the additional amount of work. "If you don't trust him, why don't you just fire him?"

Professor sighed. "There is no point in punishing him for my own mistake."

The sky outside was blue and bright, with scattered white clouds, and a small black fly buzzed at the window, trying to get out. Ifalna looked at its futile struggle, thinking that Gast was not the only one to blame.

"It was primarily my fault," He continued after a moment, "That Project S went as it did. I was fully aware of Hojo's inability to contain his creative energy, I was perfectly aware of his propensity to take unreasonably high risks, and still, I left him without supervision, because my own scientific desire overcame me. You see, I am not better than him in that aspect. But I would not make the same mistake twice. You are much more cautious than either of us, and you will be able to keep him from risking his son's life as he risked his wife's."

He had a point, but, still, Ifalna would prefer to have more time for her own new project. She sighed, looking at the sun-lit lane outside. With current state of affairs, the results on data from University would be ready only by autumn, if not later.

Hollander took some twisted pleasure in the fact that Project S did not go without trouble, and, of course, he didn't miss the chance to mock Hojo.

"Hello, my partner in misfortune!" He quipped, when first met Hojo in the cafeteria, and clapped his shoulder.

The other scientist looked at the offending appendage like it was a cockroach.

"Oh, come on!" Hollander exclaimed, rolling his eyes, but removed his hand. "Let's bury the hatchet! We both failed, so it's a draw this time."

"Failed?" Hojo asked, raising his eyebrows. "I wouldn't call my results thus."

His rival laughed. "If you count all points," He said smugly, "I'd say yours was even worse than mine. It isn't a failure, Hojo, it's a catastrophe! At least, my specimens are normal, and all my assistants are alive. What you got, let's see. A corpse and a cripple!"

Hojo listened to the tirade with a bored expression, and then gave his trademark smirk.

"Well, well," He said, "As usual, you are completely unable to distinguish success from failure."

With that, he turned and went to the counter, leaving fuming Hollander behind.

"Oh boy," Nika commented wryly, "Back to their usual interactions, aren't they?"

Ifalna quietly laughed. Yes, this definetely reminded her of the scenes from their days at University. Hollander used to brag about his superiority, attracting attention of other students, especially girls, instead of working on his project, until the deadline would be too close, and then he would begin to work hastily, not shunning from plagiary and falsification of data. In the end, he sometimes (if lucky) would get the best result, and sometimes would get nothing, except for a lot of ridicule and, maybe, a shiner or two. Hojo was usually doing better than anyone else in BioMed, so he was the one whose works were stolen the most, and, by the middle of second year, he invented a way to protect his work. Only a couple of years later Hollander finally learned to never trust Hojo's notes if they were left somewhere in the open; as a rule, they were just fakes, manufactured specifically to make fun of plagiarists. Since then, he became more serious with his projects, but did not stop bragging, disliked Hojo even more and always tried to outdo him.

With the amount of work she had to do, Ifalna had very little time to rest. The days were flowing by, unnoticed, - the spring already ended, and summer's heat and calm made Midgar a place barely suitable for life, covered in greenish smog from Mako reactors. The remaining plants were withering despite the townspeople's efforts with watering; the only green lawn in all the University was around the BioMed building, and people from other divisions wondered aloud, how it was possible. Ifalna had a theory about that, but kept it to herself.

The air outside was hot and heavy, and it was hard to breathe. Hospitals reported increase in the amount of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, severe allergic reactions and infarcts. Fortunately, Shin-Ra scientists were protected from these harsh conditions by ventilation and climate control systems of the labs.

In August, when the heat finally subsided, a group of Wutaian immigrants was arrested on charges of terrorism; two of them worked at the construction site near Reactor #3, and were caught trying to smuggle a hand-made bomb into the area. Department of Public Security apprehended not only the men, but their families as well, including small children, and everyone of Wutaian ascend who was connected to them. It caused a diplomatic conflict, Shin-Ra ambassador was deported from Wutai along with several dozens of Easterners - Shin-Ra employees and those who was suspected in sympathizing with the Company.

Later, most of the arrested people were freed, but it did not improve the situation much; anyone from Shin-Ra was still unwelcome in Wutai.

Sephiroth was developing quickly, even on the relatively small amount of Mako. By the age of six months, he already crawled around, exploring every corner, climbing on chairs and couches and tasting everything he could bite. His most favourite persons were Gast and one of the nurses, Marina, who used to take him outside and let him play on the grass or in the sandbox. His reaction to Hojo was indifference.

Observing the father-and-son interactions, Ifalna understood the reason for this. While everyone else communicated with the boy - talking to him, smiling, looking him in the eye, - Hojo did nothing of the sort. He seemed to be fascinated with the child, but in the way one would be fascinated with a new specimen of rare and precious species: researched him, not interacted as with a human being. He never even touched his son aside from examinations and procedures, though he could change diapers and didn't seem to be repulsed by it. Sometimes he would just stand beside the crib, looking down at the sleeping child in silence. Ifalna wondered what he thought about in these moments. Imagined his son's future greatness? Planned the way to persuade Professor Faremis to begin the active phase of experiment? Remembered his wife?

Once, when Sephiroth again could not sleep after an injection and was sitting, crying, in his crib, Ifalna asked Hojo, why wouldn't he rock the baby to soothe him.

"Why would I spend fifteen minutes on that when he will calm down by himself in thirty?" He asked in return. "It would be a waste of my time."

"But don't you, you know, worry about him?"

He looked at her questioningly. "Why? He is safe and healthy. He has no reason to cry, except for a small pain. Being concerned over it makes no sense." He said, returning to his work.

She shared her observations with Gast; he did not seem surprised.

"I believe, you are right," He said. "Hojo perceives Sephiroth as his project, not as a human being. It would explain their lack of normal interactions. Why would you talk to or, say, sing a lullaby to a tonberry or a chimera, even if it is your main test subject, crucial to your project's success?"

They were walking along the lane outside the labs, heading to the cafeteria. The drought ended, and the days were overcast; somewhere to the west thunder was rumbling. After a few steps, Professor added quietly, "I wonder, if this has something to do with Hojo's own family..."

"Do you know anything about them?" Ifalna asked.

"Nothing."

...

The data from the archives was processed by the beginning of October. The results were as Ifalna expected: areas around the Mako reactors showed rapid deterioration of natural environment, while in more remote locations the changes were less significant.

What she did not expect, but nevertheless checked, was a considerable growth of occurrence of natural disasters: droughts, unusually hard frosts, flash floods, and, especially, earthquakes, and simultaneous growth in monsters sightings. She was startled by the fact that only fifteen years ago monsters were so rare, most of people even considered them a stuff of legends. Now, some of the areas of the Eastern continent were too dangerous to travel in small groups and without strong weapons, and people from farms and small villages were moving closer to towns.

With the draft ready, she went to Professor. He accepted her statistics on areas around Mako reactors, but was sceptical about the other results.

"All this could be explained by natural causes." He said. "We need more data."

"That's why I need to visit Cosmo Canyon", She answered.

Gast nodded. "Yes, but only after our return to Nibelheim."

By the same time, beta testing of the new battle simulator was finished, and Nika's team received a commendation for their work. Her Hello-World evolved into a nasty beast, capable of beating a squad of normal soldiers. BioMed continued working on Mako-enhancing, but the effects on humans were too unpredictable, most of the volunteers ended up disabled in some way or another, and the elite force of super-humans was still just a dream. The progress with enhanced monsters was more substantial, but still far from ready for real battle application.

There were rumours that President Shinra was ready to give up peace negotiations and begin full-scale invasion, when Emperor Godo Kisaragi suddenly proposed a plan for a truce. This event was widely discussed in the labs; most of the employees voiced their suspicions of the plan being only a ruse. Still, Shin-Ra ambassador was again sent to Wutai, and the negotiations began anew.

In December, when Palmer sent into space Shin-Ra Type-6 rocket, carrying the first communication satellite, and announced the dawn of the era of mobile communications, when Tri-C released the first satellite phone (brick-like, heavy, with tiny monochrome screen and short battery life, but mobile nevertheless!) and the first stable version of their new ShinRaNetOS that supported Digital Networking protocols and allowed to connect all computers in Science Department into one network, Jenova Project team, consisting of Professor Faremis, Ifalna, Hojo, nurse Marina and a Turk assigned to their protection, returned to Nibelheim.

After the mild climate of Midgar, the mountains met them with intense cold; the trees were bare, the ground and the streams were frozen and covered with snow. The big old Mansion stared at them blindly with dark windows, covered on the sides in shiny frost flowers. Inside, it was cool and dark, and sounds echoed from the walls. Ifalna looked around, once again remembering the times when the Project was only beginning, and this place seemed nearly as mysterious as Jenova itself, like an old castle, in the basement of which should have been hidden treasures.

She wasn't sure she really wanted to live there, after everything that happened.

However, once they settled, the Mansion became happier place. Sephiroth was toddling around, babbling in his baby talk, his newest game being to grab someone of the grown-ups and point at different items with his tiny hand, asking to name them, and trying to repeat what he heard. He could not talk yet, except for several simple words, but he was clearly fascinated by different names of things. He liked books as well, images and symbols, and as an experiment Ifalna made him a bunch of cardboard cards with simple pictures and short words. These he liked the most and carried them around; some of the cards were chewed at corners, as if he tried to taste the words he didn't yet understand.

His eyes completely lost all traces of brown pigment, becoming aquamarine.

The sense of danger coming from Sephiroth was varying from time to time. There were days when Ifalna didn't feel anything suspicious at all, and days when she could barely stand his presence. Apparently, he felt something similar, for sometimes he gladly played with her and even let her hold him, and sometimes he saw her and tried to run and hide.

- 1981 -

By the spring of 1981, they went over all previous research of Type-2 cells, and now studied Sephiroth's tissue samples in comparision with original Jenova's, using the new equipment they brought from Midgar. The boy's cells were different; they seemed to incorporate some of his cells features in addition to what they already contained.

"What kind of organism was it," Gast mused, flipping through his notes, "Capable of inheriting not only from predecessors, but from any cell material it comes in contact with... Was it even an organism that originated on our planet?"

His assistants glanced at each other over their workstations. Hojo said, "According to the information we have, Cetra were skilled in creation and usage of Materia. Probably, this is a result of their experimentations."

"No," Ifalna disagreed, "Their race protected the nature and cared about all living things, they would not experiment with something like this."

Hojo smirked. "You talk as if you know some Cetra personally," He noted, "If I wouldn't know they are extinct, I would think you are not completely honest with us, Ifalna."

"I simply pay attention to everything I'm reading, not only to the parts about gaining power," She retorted angrily, scared for a moment that he knows, that somehow he guessed who she really was.

"Enough," Gast interrupted them, sighing in exasperation. "This bickering is for nothing. Please, return to your work."

"Wouldn't you want another Cetra to compare with this one?" Hojo asked. "To dispel all our doubts?"

Professor turned to look at the man. "I would not be averse to having another Cetra to study," He answered, "But I am fairly certain that the race is extinct, so we will have to do with what we already have."

Ifalna secretly sighed with relief, but then noticed Hojo's gaze; he looked at her with narrowed eyes, and it sent shivers along her spine. Did he really suspect her?

When the snow melted and the new soft green grass covered mountain slopes, she asked Gast for a few days leave. The road from Nibelheim to Cosmo Canyon was becoming dangerous too, but it was still possible to travel there alone.

Away from the Mako reactor and Hojo, she was finally able to relax and let herself to feel the world in Cetra way, all living things around as well as the Lifestream beneath and the Planet itself. The Spirits were near, as always, and their voices told her about what was happening to the Planet. She asked them, how much time she still had, but years were an unfamiliar, or, rather, long-forgotten concept for immortal souls dwelling in the Lifestream; the only thing they were able to explain her was that the situation would turn to catastrophic in less than one human's lifetime.

Her senses picked up monsters around, poor, disfigured things born from the Planet's increasing pain. She pitied them, but could not do much in the way of help, except for speeding up her research and persuading Shinra to stop Mako extraction.

When she asked the elders for records on productivity of land, births and deaths, natural disasters and monsters sightings, one of them commented that this data lately became popular. She asked what did he mean, and he pointed at the group of two men and one woman, standing beside the fire.

"These people are investigating the side effects of Mako extraction," He said. "And several other groups are on this as well. Probably, you should join forces."

She glanced at the people in question. At least one of them was a Wutaian, judging by his traditional clothing.

"You want to reason with Shinra?" The woman said, frowning at her. "That man doesn't care about the Planet. The only thing he cares about is money, and Mako is the most cost-efficient type of energy that could exist."

"What are you suggesting, then?" Ifalna asked.

Instead of the woman, a Wutaian man answered. "To blow all the reactors up. This is the only way to stop it."

The other man added, "Or not exactly blow up, but damage enough for them to be irreparable."

"You see," The woman said again, "We already went over every option possible, and this is the only one that would work. Besides, how do you plan to inform Shinra of your research? Send it to him by mail?"

"I'm..." Ifalna began, but thought better and refrained from telling them of her occupation. "I didn't think of it yet," She said at last.

The woman looked at her with a smirk. "Well, think, then. If you'll change your opinion, come to Midgar. You can find us at the bar called Avalanche, right beside the Market. Just tell the barman that you are looking for a study group."

After the talk with the group, she went to the library. "What if they are right," She thought on the way. "What if I'm just wasting time on a work that will make no difference in the end?"

No, it could not be true. Gast said that if they had enough evidence, they would be able to persuade Shinra.

She remembered the photo on Professor's work table, back in his office in Midgar. Three young men in business suits, age around twenty or slightly older, smiling into the camera. She knew only two of them - President Shinra and Gast himself. Behind them, a big construction site could be seen, surrounded by mountain peaks. In the corner, a date was written - the year 1960. If they knew each other for so long, certainly Professor would understand the man better than outsiders, especially Wutaian.

Riding back to Nibelheim, Ifalna sensed the reactor from far away. The Planet's wound here was so old and painful, that she just could not bear it anymore. At the outskirts of the town, she jumped off the bird, stood beside it, holding on to the reins, closed her eyes and tried to do what she until that moment only heard about.

The flow of the Lifestream beneath the Mount Nibel was very strong, very close to the surface, that was the reason for building the reactor here. If she managed to lead the stream away, the reactor would stop, and the pain lessen.

It was hard, it felt like she was trying to pull something too heavy. Her head hurt, she was dizzy, but didn't stop trying.

"What are you doing?" The voice of her grandmother asked, "A hundred of Cetra would be able to turn this flow, but not you alone."

"I have to try," She stubbornly whispered, "I can't let it suffer any longer."

She pulled harder, and for a moment, it seemed like she managed to move the current, if by a fraction. Then, it bounced back, and she blacked out.

When she came to, she was lying on the grass, and her chocobo was sitting beside, its head hidden under its wing. The sun had set, and the first stars were twinkling in the darkening sky. She sat up, wincing. Her head felt like it was a box of potatoes, rolling over from one temple to the other every time she moved. There was dried blood under her nose and all over her left cheek. She was sure some of the blood got into her hair as well.

She washed her face at the well on the central square, and tried to walk straight.

Luckily, by the time she finally reached the Mansion, Gast and Hojo were already asleep, and the Turk did not ask any questions.

...

One warm Sunday in the middle of May, when the sky was clear and the sun bright, and Gast was playing with Sephiroth in the overgrown garden, Ifalna, tired of sitting inside the Mansion busying herself with endless work, decided to plant some flowers along the path from the gates to the entrance of the Mansion. There were a couple of old flowerbeds, framed with rocks, but nothing grew on them aside of grass. She took a shovel and dug the soil up, picking up all the grass and throwing it to the side, and just began to plant the seeds, when the boy ran up to her and asked what she was doing.

She explained him about flowers and showed the seeds. He seemed excited by the plants and immediately demanded to participate. Gast also joined them.

They planted flowers together, and then watered the flowerbed. By the end of their work, Sephiroth's hands, clothes and face were smeared with dirt, and he seemed absolutely happy.

The next morning, after the breakfast, the child took her by hand and pulled her to water the flowers. From then, it happened every morning. He helped her to hold watering can, and his expression in these moments was comically serious, as if he was doing something really important. Afterwards, he crouched in front of the flowerbed and looked closely at the plants, pointing at the new sprouts and calling to Ifalna to look at them too.

In these minutes, she never felt the thing in him, as if it did not exist at all.

Her flowers grew better than anywhere in the town, and bloomed abundantly. She supposed that she inadvertently used her Cetra power to help the plants.

Hojo took unexpected interest in the flowers, he even brought several petals and leaves to the lab and analysed them, but, apparently, found nothing unusual, judging by his disappointed expression. Ifalna secretly laughed at that.

Palmer's team launched new satellites on the schedule, and by the beginning of autumn Shin-Ra introduced to the world the new type of entertainment.

The television.

The technology itself was nothing new, but before then it was available only to those who lived near Midgar, where the only TV tower was situated. For anyone farther than Kalm, TV set was just a box with circuitry inside. With satellites and a new type of antennae, the signal was able to reach practically everywhere.

By the same time, Satellite Net completely replaced radio telegraph in Shin-Ra communications. Satellite phones were not commercially available yet, though, used only by the Company employees, and only above certain positions.

In November, Gast went to Midgar to supervise final preparations in the new headquarters before the Science Department could move in. In his absence everything was suspiciously quiet. Ifalna expected Hojo to confront her or try to ignore her, but he did nothing of the sort. Sometimes, however, she caught his calculating glances, and wondered, what was he planning.

Sephiroth learned to talk in short phrases by the age of one and a half years, and memorized almost all letters and several written words by twenty months; he used to draw pictures and write down titles for them, his letters turned upside down or mirrored. He was getting surprisingly strong, fast and agile, capable of climbing not only on the top of furniture, but on trees as well. Since the planting of flowers, he liked Ifalna more than before, and the danger coming from him was becoming lesser. When the winter came and flowers outside withered, they planted more in the boxes in the small room on the second floor, and Sephiroth tended to the plants together with Ifalna.

Returning a month later, Gast brought a TV set, new computer equipment and sat-phones for himself and his two colleagues.

Television was amazing. They were never completely isolated from civilisation, of course, they received newspapers and could contact the headquarters using telegraph, but the TV was a literal window to the world. They could actually see the people from the other side of the planet and hear them, almost in real time.

In one of the first newscasts they watched, the announcer told about a group of terrorists caught in Midgar. The picture changed, showing a burning building. "The bar the group was gathering in was burned down after an explosion of one of the bombs made by the terrorists." The picture switched, showing two men and a woman Ifalna met in Cosmo Canyon earlier that year, escorted by men in dark Turk's suits into a black van. The woman shouted into the camera: "Avalanche is unstoppable! We will be back!"

The image switched back to the announcer. "This terrorist cell was, presumably, created and funded by Wutaian secret service, although Emperor Kisaragi's government denies all accusations. The Shin-Ra Company reminds that it was not a first attempt of Wutai citizens to commit an act of terror on our territory, and warns all citizens of Midgar to be alert and do not trust strangers. In case you notice suspicious people or abandoned bags near construction sites and buildings, do not approach them, call 901 from any public telephone. The call is free of charge."

"Were they really funded by Wutai?" Ifalna asked Gast.

He shrugged. "Unlikely. They appeared too amateur to be a part of any special forces."

"Why, then, the President claims that?"

"Manipulation of public opinion," Gast answered, "To attract more volunteers into the military and to boost morale, we need an image of our enemy to be as despicable as it is possible. What could be worse than the people who blow up reactors, or, say, apartment buildings?"

"So, whatever these people were trying to do, they actually only added to Shin-Ra's benefit," Ifalna concluded.

"Exactly."

She thought about it for a few minutes, and then asked, "How do you think, does Wutai do the same manipulation?"

The both men looked at her, Gast with an amused expression, and Hojo with a smirk.

"If they aren't idiots, then they do," Hojo answered.

- 1982 -

On Sephiroth's birthday, they went down to Nibelheim to buy him a present. Hojo, this time, went with them, though he was silent all the while. The boy was walking between Gast and Ifalna, holding their hands and asking questions about everything he saw, from small brown sparrows chattering on trees and fences around, to the old broken car in between two houses. At the store, he chose a toy katana and a big, colourful book of legends as his presents. While they were paying for purchases, a woman with a small girl came in.

"Mommy, I want this chocobo!" The girl said, pointing at one toy.

Her mother smiled. "You already have several of them, sweetie, are you sure you don't want something else?"

"This one is white!" The child pouted. "I want it!"

Sephiroth observed mother and daughter closely, holding his own new toys.

Back in the Mansion, after the dinner, he approached Ifalna and asked, "You my mommy?"

She glances at Gast and Hojo. "N-no, Sephiroth, I'm not your mother."

"Where my mommy?" He demanded, frowning at her.

Ifalna opened her mouth, but Hojo answered first. "Her name was Jenova," He said. "She died after you were born."

"Jee-no-va." The boy repeated. "Died, like flowers?"

"Yes," Hojo said.

Later, when the child was asleep, she asked Hojo, why did he lie to his son about his mother's name.

"What would you like me to say, Ifalna?" He muttered. "`Your mother was an insane woman who tried to kill you before you were even born`?"

"Oh," She said. "To tell him that his mother was a non-human organism of unclear origin is much better, sure."

The man snorted. "Well, it is the truth," He said. "On cellular level, Sephiroth is closer to Jenova than to us, humans."

"At least, you could tell him that you are his father."

"I don't see how this information would be of any importance."

"A family is important," She countered. "He needs people who love and protect him, the safe heaven, to develop psychically normal."

"He doesn't need a family," Hojo answered quietly, turning away. "Nor any other kind of attachment. He will be above any of this human weaknesses."

On Midsummer, Ifalna went to Cosmo Canyon again, this time together with Gast. The Professor seemed to trust Hojo more these days, enough to left him unsupervised for a short period of time.

The Festival, as always, gathered scientists and common people interested in the Planet's life from all over the world; however, this year the crowds were smaller than a year before. With the unrest on the borders and increasing amount of monsters, some of the usual participants were not able to make it.

Professor led her up the stairs all the way to Bugenhagen's house. Ifalna met the man only once, on her first visit in Cosmo Canyon, back when she was just a student, but despite all the years that passed since then, the man seemed the same, and she still felt herself a small girl compared to him.

The old scientist was pleased to know about her research and even provided her with a list of places where she could get local records from the local scientists who were monitoring the parameters she needed, and then they sat in his kitchen, drinking herbal tea and talking about the Planet, and ecology, and stars and other planets. Bugenhagen was an astronomer, and while it was not Ifalna's primarily focus of interest, she still was amazed by his knowledge of their solar system.

When they went out of the old scientist's house, she looked up, to the star-filled heavens, searching for the planets and imagining how, years later, someone will travel there through the ocean of space.

"What are you thinking about?" Gast asked, and she returned to present.

"Space travels and the future," She smiled.

He laughed softly. "Ah, I see. Bugenhagen has infected you with his love for space."

The night was bright around them, the full moon had already risen; below, in the ravine, fires were lit and songs were sounding. Later, she didn't even know who began the motion, but a second later they were kissing, their reasons for keeping distance forgotten for a moment. His body was warm, a contrast against the cold night air, he tasted of herbal tea and tobacco, his mustache was prickly, and his hair was softer than she expected.

Accidentally, she shifted his glasses, and it fell down, first on her face, and then down into the grass. They released each other, laughing, and crouched to search for the lost accessory.

When it was found, they stood up again, looking at each other. She stepped closer to him, placed her hands on his shoulders. He looked at her with uncertain, vulnerable expression.

"Are you sure?" He asked softly. "I am twelve years older than you."

"Thirteen, actually," She corrected, smiling. "But it doesn't matter. I'm sure."

When the dawn came, bringing sharp cold and grey fog, they were warm, cuddled against each other in one sleeping bag, hidden in their tent. Ifalna woke up first, and lay, looking at Gast, for a long time before he stirred and opened his eyes. She was quite sure that someone must have heard them last night, but it didn't even bother her.

He smiled at her, his eyes full of feelings they did not name yet, and she kissed him again.

Outside, the Midsummer festival was waking up, and they had to move too. Their short vacation already was coming to an end.

Back in Nibelheim, they returned to their previous relationship, only slightly closer than professional. Sometimes Ifalna even wondered, if the Midsummer night was just a dream, but then she caught Gast's glances and saw the same feeling in his eyes.

"Not a dream," She thought in these moments, feeling warm and happy. "Certainly not a dream."

The town of Nibelheim was as quiet and sleepy as it was years ago. However, out in the big world, the tension grew, and the television brought them echoes of the approaching storm.

"Today, a group of unidentified people attacked and murdered a family of Wutaian origin," The announcer said. "They claimed that the victims were terrorists; however, there is no evidence of this. President Shinra expresses his condolences to the people of Wutai and assures that the offenders who committed this terrible crime will be found and dealt with."

A month later, while the murderers in question were still not found, despite being seen by a dozen of people and even captured on camera, a small village off the coast to the west of Rocket Town was invaded by several armed men, all its inhabitants taken hostages, including one of Shin-Ra top engineers who worked on the Space program. For exchange of the lives of hostages, they demanded Shin-Ra to immediately arrest whoever killed the Wutaian family in Midgar and hand them off to the Empire for trial.

President refused to comply. During the rescue mission, the terrorists blew up the barn where the hostages were kept, killing all of them.

Shin-Ra accused Wutai of aggression and, as a safety measure, dispatched military forces to patrol the coast and protect villages and small towns. In every settlement, a small garrison was posted.

Some of these settlements were located on disputed territories, and Kisaragi's government issued a note of protest, demanding Shin-Ra to withdraw troops from the territories the Wutai Empire counted as theirs.

Peaceful negotiations, again, were disrupted.

In the town, people were gossiping about the events. When Ifalna went down to the store, she overheard one of the discussions.

Three middle-aged women were arguing over political situation, while choosing their vegetables from the boxes.

"Why Shin-Ra doesn't begin the war?" One of them said, picking up a cabbage. "These Wutaians are doing what they want on our land, and the President just sits in his office doing nothing!"

The other countered, sorting out potatoes and choosing non-rotten ones, "He tries to stick to peace, don't you understand? If the war begins, do you want your Jake to go there?"

"If he won't go, I'll myself go!" The first woman exclaimed. "Don't you see, they all are terrorists! They'll come and kill our children!"

The third woman supported the first. "Dora is right, Suzy. Wutai is the aggressor, and Shin-Ra should do something about that."

Most of the townsfolk did not have TV sets yet, but a couple of families did, and others gathered in their homes in time to watch evening newscasts. The innkeeper bought one too, and was happy with the gains from bar tripling after that; apparently, people were ordering more while watching television.

The newspapers published caricatures on emperor Kisaragi, his government and his army. In children's comics, almost all enemies now were wearing Wutaian traditional clothes and, as a rule, were stupid, ugly, cruel and barbaric.

Ifalna wondered, if anyone else noticed that the only name for army of Wutai in papers and on TV was "terror forces".

By the end of the year, they mostly finished with experimentations on animals. Hojo's calculations were correct. Jenova Type-2 cells, modified by human genetic information, could absorb only limited amount of Mako; give them more, and they would degrade, losing the ability to multiply and most of their traits, causing the host to age rapidly and, in the end, to die. At this stage, lowering the dosage or even stopping Mako supply at all would not remedy the situation.

The next stage Hojo proposed was testing of his hypothesis on Sephiroth, slowly increasing the dosage of Mako the boy was receiving, but Gast was reluctant to approve it.

"From this point, it is only one step to creating others like our boy," He said, while they were walking in the garden on one of these cold winter nights, when the ground again was covered in soft snow, shimmering in the moonlight. "The President demands results from us, namely soldiers with super-human strength, and Hojo would be only happy to give him that. But," He stopped, looking at the stars above, the air coming out of his mouth in small white clouds, "What, except for augmented physical abilities, will this give them? If this creature was of non-Gaia origin, and it created a perfect imitation of a Cetra, what are we bringing into our world?"

"Sephiroth seems a normal child," She said. "And Hollander's boys are developing normally, too. And animals, too, did not show any abnormal behaviour. Probably, we're just paranoid, Gast."

He chuckled. "Ah, is that so? Still, I prefer being paranoid about that to being reckless. I would not want to create something we will not be able to control."

"What are you going to do, then?"

Gast glanced back over his shoulder, at the yellow glow of Mansion's windows. "I will stand by my decision to wait until all three children are at least fifteen years old and evaluate their psychical and physical health as well as their abilities, before we begin any attempts at enhancement."

- 1983 -

"On air from the West coast of Western continent. Today, terror groups that invaded our territory from Wutai provoked a riot in the village of Sonnenblume."

The picture: burning houses, people, running and screaming. One of them, throwing a brick in the direction of the reporter, shouting: "Get out, Shin-Ra dogs!"

"As far as I know," Hojo commented musingly, "The population of that village is almost exclusively Wutaian, and they never sympathized with Shin-Ra."

Ifalna looked at him. "So, it could be a real riot, not a provocation?"

"Probably," He said, his gaze fixed on the screen.

The reporter, meanwhile, continued.

"At least five inhabitants were killed, including women and children, all of non-Wutai origin. Twenty civilians were arrested. The troops are now searching for escaped terrorists."

The image switched back to the Midgar studio. The announcer said, "In light of the recent events on Wutai border and increasing terrorist activity, Shin-Ra Company introduces the new security measures. From now on, the free passage into and out of the city of Midgar is closed. If you need to pass through the city perimeter, request a permit from city authorities in Shin-Ra main building, first floor. For additional information, call 909 from any public telephone. The call is free of charge."

The political situation continued to worsen. While the Company and the Empire still was trying to discuss a peaceful resolution, the uncoordinated attacks on both sides continued, and most citizens were already outwardly supporting the war.

The small movement for peace existed, but was not noticed by mass media, and most of the people did not even know about it.

Meanwhile, the Mansion lived its previous life, only now it was protected not only by a Turk, but by a small squad of soldiers, situated in Nibelheim, as well.

"...sure is hiding something, Professor!"

Ifalna stopped mid-step on the staircase, straining to hear the words.

"Nonsense, Hojo. Do you have any evidences?"

"No, but..."

"Then, please, stop accusing her."

The door below the stairs opened, and someone went out of the room. She began to walk down again.

At the bottom at the stair, she was met by Gast, who motioned for her to follow him. They went out of the house and stopped on the porch, covered from the drizzling, cold rain by the cornice.

"Hojo believes that you are a Cetra, or at least know one of them." He said, shaking his head and smiling. "He tried to persuade me to arrest you."

"Oh, did he, now?" She muttered.

For several minutes, they stood in silence.

"Would you really want to capture a Cetra?" She asked finally, trying to sound slightly curious, but not overly interested.

Gast sighed. "Right now," He said, "I suppose, I would prefer not to. Shin-Ra is... not a safe place now, especially for someone like an Ancient."

She looked at him questioningly.

"The President is fixed on defeating Wutai," He explained. "To achieve this goal, he needs more power. In his opinion, a Cetra is what he needs to to get the power, and if it would take to sacrifice the last remaining Ancient on our planet, it would be a price he is willing to pay."

"What about you?" She asked quietly, looking ahead, to the damp grass and dark wet stones.

"Me? I would rather help a Cetra to escape."

She glanced at him, wondering if she should tell him now. He would not give her up to Shin-Ra, she trusted him on this. But he already had enough on his shoulders, and she still had her unfinished research.

The one thing was clear. She had to get out of Nibelheim and far from Hojo, if only for some time. Living on the volcano was getting on her nerves.

...

Night plains ran under the long legs of her chocobo, and the bright lights of Shin-Ra headquarters, towering over the glowing shape of Midgar city, shined ahead like an enormous lamp, attracting everyone naive enough to believe in the warmness of this light. The skies above the city were obscured by greenish vapour of Mako pollution, and Ifalna wondered, if it was even possible to see stars from there anymore.

Out in the wilderness, the air was calm and dry, the normal air of a late spring, with no trace of Mako stench, but the land here was suffering as well, a subtle, background feeling Ifalna almost got used to, in contrast with sharp pain coming from ahead.

Finally, she had the time for her research. Gast was reluctant to let her go, but with most of the urgent current work on Project S done, there was no logical reason to keep her any longer, and so he gave the permission.

The city perimeter now was surrounded by an electrified palisade, covered in yellow warning signs. The only entrance nearby was protected by a military checkpoint, fortunately, open even in the middle of night. A young man in military uniform, but without helmet, scanned her and checked her passport, asked for a purpose of her visit to Midgar, wished her a good day and saluted.

Inside the perimeter, all the old buildings were standing in their usual places, and people still lived there, even under the parts of the Plate that were already built. To get to Upper Midgar, she had to go under the Plate, all the way up to the lower part of central pillar where once Mako reactor #0 was located, now hidden by support structures along with a fairly large piece of territory. Riding closer to the train station, she wondered what aside of reactor was inside the pillar. Gast told her once that BioWare labs were somewhere else, not on the University grounds, could they be hidden there?

At the train station, she had to pass through another checkpoint. Only Shin-Ra employees were allowed past this point, and the guards there were more alert and less friendly than at the entrance to the city.

The headquarters were full of busy people - mostly technicians, installing new equipment, and military, patrolling the halls. At the entrance, she once again was scanned and asked of the purpose of her visit. The security system in the building was still the same as the old one, based on ordinary passports and permits; the electronic one was being installed at the moment.

At the counter, she showed the permit Gast made for her, asked for a temporary quarters, and received a key from a room on the 20th floor.

Her sleep that night was hardly restful. In her dreams, she was floating in a thick green substance, absolutely helpless, and someone dangerous was lurking outside, just out of sight. At the dawn she gave up the attempts to sleep through confusing dreams and went outside at the small balcony instead. The sky was gradually getting brighter, not with pale light of normal dawn, but with sickly green of Mako.

Ifalna sighed, looking at the brightening edge of horizon. "All this has to stop somehow," She thought, "Before it's too late for us."

Going up to the archives, she stopped at the Tri-C main floor, looking for Nika. The engineer was happy to see her, and, as always, they spent some time discussing new projects and new technologies.

"How are the things going with super-soldiers?" Nika asked, when they were returning from cafeteria. "How much longer until we get our special forces?"

She shrugged. "It's too early to make a prediction. Not for a few more years, at least."

"Too bad. We're on the brink of a war, and Wutai already has their own bio-weapons. We really need an advantage. Could you guys work a teeny bit faster?"

Ifalna looked at her friend, frowning. The engineer always was apolitical, but now, it seemed, even she was not able to stand aside.

She left Midgar three days later, with money and equipment Gast managed to get for her research.

...

The next several months Ifalna spent travelling all over the world, gathering local records, interviewing locals and making her own observations.

Professor lived mostly in Nibelheim, coming to Midgar only for important meetings. They met once in a while, much less frequently than Ifalna would like. She missed him, but they both had their work, and there was no sense in complaining. At least, they could talk, even being half a world away from each other; brick-like satellite phones made it possible.

On the rare occasions she visited Nibelheim, she saw Professor becoming more and more troubled. Hojo was demanding to allow further experimentations, and the President was growing more and more irritated with the lack of immediate results from Jenova-related projects.

Uneasiness she felt around Sephiroth grew while she was away, and he seemed to feel the same, mostly preferring to stay away from her. Hojo observed their interactions with a strange, almost amused expression, and she wondered what could he make out of their mutual distrust.

- 1984 -

By the middle of spring, she finally had the results.

It was clear that Mako extraction itself affected the condition of the Planet. The growth in the frequency of natural disasters, diminishing of crops yield, increase in occurrence of mutations (in both humans and livestock) and of monster sightings, - all began around the time the first reactor was built, and the growth rate corresponded with the increase in Mako production.

These changes were not localized in the areas around the reactors, and could not be explained by pollution alone. The Planet was slowly dying, and if the current course of events was to continue, they had thirty to sixty years left until the catastrophe, depending on the growth rate of Mako production. Just like the Spirits told her.

Midgar met Ifalna with greenish fog and the sounds of construction machinery at work; the Plate now resembled a partially eaten pizza. The Company headquarters were still under construction, but Science Department already completely settled in their new location. Gast was there, arrived to supervise the process of installation of new equipment in BioMed labs and to attend the meeting of Shin-Ra high staff. She had hoped he will be able to read her report before the meeting, but first, she had to go through the process of getting the keycard - the new access system did not allow even to enter the elevator without the proper card.

By the time she finally reached Gast's office, he was already gone.

She called Nika to invite her to a cup of coffee, - it was already past the end of work day, - but the engineer appeared to be busy.

"We have a situation here," She explained, "The literal runaway data."

"As in `ran away all by itself`?" Ifalna asked, half-joking.

Nika responded seriously, "Yes, exactly like that. We were researching a rare type of Materia that is capable of copying entire human personal memories on itself when activated, and we managed to connect it to our computers. But when we began to decipher data, the memories somehow moved themselves to WorldNet. We're not idiots, the computer was behind a firewall, but this thing managed to get through it. So now we have an empty Memory Materia, a damaged disk drive and a lot of runaway data. We don't even know whose memories it contained, but it's most likely it was someone from Science Department. That creep from BioMed, Doctor Hojo, brought it, so it might be even his."

"Oh," She said, astonished. "That's... Amazing. I mean, the Materia is amazing, the situation is horrible. How do you plan to catch the data?"

"Hell if I know. I don't think it's possible to remove it from the Net."

Someone shouted on the other side of the connection, and Nika disconnected.

"Memory Materia brought by Hojo..." Ifalna mused, "Could it be... Lucy's?"

She sighed and went to the recreational area. She didn't have access to most labs anyway.

...

"This is not enough."

Ifalna bristled. "Not enough!? What other evidence do you need, Gast!?"

"No, no, you don't understand," Professor said. "You did well, and I agree with your conclusions and estimations. But," He glanced at her, "It would not be enough to persuade Shinra to consider funding clean energy projects. The only options that could do it at this point would be either a significantly higher possible profit from them, or the proof that Mako reserves all over the planet are going to deplete in the next few years."

"What can we do, then?" She asked, clenching her fists, "Are we just going to... to sit and wait for the end of the world?"

He gathered her papers into a neat stack and looked at them. His face was tired, sad, and unusually old, and her anger dissipated.

"I don't know, Ifalna." Professor said quietly, still not raising his gaze from the table. "I don't have any leverage anymore. My position is... very shaky, I'm afraid. Shinra prefers more bold approach over mine," He made air quotes with his fingers, "`Overly cautious` one."

"Hojo," She muttered.

He smiled sadly. "Yes. He is very persistent. I was forced to approve the active phase of Project S and the creation of a facility specifically for Jenova-related human experimentations. Apparently, Hojo and Hollander joined their forces and contacted the President over my head. I suppose, after the next meeting I will not be the Head of Science Department anymore."

"Those two!?" Ifalna exclaimed. "Don't they hate each other?"

"Ah, when I won't longer be staying in their path, they will fight like two spiders in one jar. But now they are working together to remove me."

She went around the table to his chair, hugged him and kissed him on the temple.

"I'm sorry," She said.

He turned his head and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I have one last task for you," He said softly. "Would you like to visit an old friend? I have a present for him."

That night, long after Gast went to sleep, she was lying in darkness, thinking of the future.

If Hojo or Hollander would become the head of department, there would be nothing more to do here. But, what could she do outside of Shin-Ra?

That woman from the "study group" - Avalanche, she remembered, - was right, after all. Violence was the only option. Probably, she should find another group like that one and join them. As an ex-Shin-Ra scientist, she would be a valuable asset for the team.

She sighed and turned to the side, pressing her forehead to her lover's shoulder and closing her eyes. To stay beside Gast was what she wanted most, but her duty to the Planet stood above any personal wishes.

The task he gave her will be completed no sooner than in a month. She still had time to make up her plans.

They went to Nibelheim together; Gast had to finish his work there, before returning to the University - they offered him the teaching position there, and he was willing to accept it. Ifalna was, as always, assisting him, while waiting until the equipment arrived to Cosmo Canyon.

Their time was nearing the end. She knew she had to leave him, and that, probably, the next time they would meet it would be as enemies. She was enjoying their last days together, trying to remember everything, every small detail about him, things to keep in her heart when the times will be dark and lonely.

On the last day of May she received a notification that the equipment arrived.

She went to tell goodbye to Gast, and found him in his room, gazing at the computer screen. Noticing her, he raised his head and sighed, smiling sadly and with some kind of relief. "Effective tomorrow," He said, "I will not be the Head of Science Department anymore."

Ifalna gasped.

"It's fine," He smiled again, "We may have lost the battle, but not the war. I will have a chance to influence young scientists, those who will form the Department in the future. It would be slower approach, of course, but we do not have much of a choice now."

She didn't say anything. "This is it," She thought, "It happened. This is the end."

Gast looked at her, frowning. "Ifalna," He said softly, "Is something wrong?"

"I..." Her voice broke, and she stopped, trying to get it under control. "I'm leaving Shin-Ra."

He looked away. "I see. Would you... tell me the reason?"

She hesitated, unsure, as before, if she should burden him with this knowledge; but this was their last conversation, and she owed him this final bit of honesty. He looked at her, waiting for her decision.

"I'm a Cetra," She said, her voice rough, but strong. "Stopping Mako extraction is my duty to the Planet. I'm sorry, Gast, but I could not stay by your side anymore."

"You are..." Professor whispered, "A Cetra?"

Ifalna nodded.

He stared at her, unblinking, his expression frozen.

"Sorry," She said. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"I... You..." He stuttered, hurt evident in his features, and looked away.

After a few moments, filled with tense silence, she repeated softly, "I'm sorry."

"No, no," He said, turning to her, his eyes bright, "I understand. I should have seemed... not very reliable to you," He stopped, sighing and rubbing his forehead, "Thank you for confiding in me now, Ifalna. I'm honoured. I will not betray your trust."

He took his glasses off, leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and lowering his face into his hand.

"Gast," She began, but he interrupted her.

"Just a moment, my dear. Let me think." He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Think... think... Did you ever tell anyone else about your origin?"

"No," She answered.

"Good." He stood up abruptly, went to the window and stopped, bracing his hands on the windowsill. "What are you going to do," He asked a few minutes later, turning to her, "After leaving the Company?"

"I was planning to join a group of scientists who oppose Shin-Ra."

He nodded and hummed, and said, looking her in the eye, "Please, Ifalna, don't disappear yet. Return here after your task in Cosmo is done. I will think of something."

She was silent for some time, and then answered softly, "Okay."

...

Waiting for herbal tea, which was being prepared by Bugenhagen, Ifalna rubbed her eyes. In the last few days she felt unusually tired, her eyelids were dropping all by themselves. She took mid-day naps and tried to sleep more through nights, but her sleepiness did not pass.

The old man smiled at her, putting the cup on the table before her. "You are pushing yourself too hard," He said, "There is no need for such haste. I managed without this equipment for decades, I would certainly manage for several more days."

She sipped her tea and smiled back. "I'd like to return to Nibelheim sooner," She said.

"Ho-ho-ho," the old scientist laughed, winking at her, "The wonders of youth! Hoo-hoo, I remember them too."

Ifalna chuckled, trying to keep her eyes open, but hot tea and slow, relaxing music were already drawing her into sleep.

A while later, she woke up on Bugenhagen's sofa, covered with one of his plaids. The man himself was nowhere to be seen. The sky outside was getting dark; she had to complete her work today, if she wanted to leave tomorrow. The technicians already left, right after they completed the installation of equipment, and she stayed to fine-tune and test it.

She went to the observatory and picked her work where she left it. It was going slowly, she was strangely clumsy, and her brain seemed to be laced with cotton; where she usually would spend no more than an hour, now it took two. Still, by the midnight all was done.

She contemplated staying on the sofa again - surely, the old scientist wouldn't mind, - but decided to freshen up instead.

Outside, warm and gentle wind of the early June night washed over her tired face, bringing a rustle of grass, sweet fragrance of flowers and chirping of crickets. She stopped at the very top of the stairs, leaning on the railing and looking to the bright band of stars arching across the sky. The moon was raising above the far mountains. A bright red dot was moving across the ravine, flickering, as if someone was running with a torch in hand. She smiled, remembering the very first time she visited the Canyon, together with her fellow student and friend, Lucrecia. They first met fire lions then; namely, the one whose name was Nanaki and who considered Bugenhagen his grandfather. It was so long ago, almost ten years already.

The lonely dot made her think about her own future. She wasn't sure if she should go back to Nibelheim. There was nothing Gast could say or do to stop her from leaving Shin-Ra, and she would not ask him to join her; he was too dear for her to put him in that kind of danger. Maybe, she should go away now, sparing them both the pain of parting.

She was walking down the stairs, when she heard someone's quick footsteps heading up, towards her. A moment later, a figure appeared before her.

"Gast?" She gasped in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Even in the dim light of the waning moon he seemed distressed. "Give me your phone," He whispered.

Ifalna, frowning, complied. He took the device and flung it over the edge of the cliff."

"What are you doing!?" She exclaimed in whisper.

"Come," He said, "We have to go."

"What happened?" She whispered back, already hurrying down after him.

"Turks received an order to bring you in," He explained, keeping his voice low. "Apparently, someone somehow found out who you are. A friend warned me; he will delay the operation as long as it is possible, but we don't have much time. We have to move now."

At the bottom of the canyon, Gast's chocobo was waiting, with two bags attached to its back. Ifalna summoned her own bird.

"Where are we going?" She asked Gast.

He gestured forward, to the east. "As far away as we can get," He said. "First, to the shore, and then... I have several remote locations in mind, where we could be safe, at least for some time."

"But, Gast, what about Shin-Ra? If they know who I am... Aren't you risking your career, even your life by helping me?"

The man laughed, shaking his head. "Ifalna," He said, "My dear, what would my life mean without you?"

"But, I had hoped to keep you safe!" She cried. "I had hoped you will stay at the University and be safe!"

He went closer, took her hands in his own.

"I shall be as safe as you will be," He said, smiling. "We are together in this, till death do us part."

She hugged him tightly, hiding her face on his chest, and wept, torn between guilt and joy; the guilt of putting him in mortal danger and the joy of not being alone, of having him beside her. He held her, stroking her back and whispering that everything will be alright, that he will protect her.

A few minutes later, he released her, pulling away, and said softly, "We have to hurry."

They were on the road for less than an hour, when a wave of nausea caused Ifalna to stop and get off the chocobo. She breathed deeply for several seconds, trying to calm her protesting stomach and recalling all recent meals she had; there was nothing that could cause such a reaction. Drinking cold water from her flask, she tried to scan her body.

Something was clearly wrong.

No, not wrong... Different.

A faint bloom of human life inside her, small, but strong. She tried to reach for it, as she reached for the Spirits; it did not answer as they did, but reacted with a surge of warmth, and in response she felt a strong need to protect this small miracle, to wrap it in her arms and keep it safe.

Her eyes closed, she stayed still, listening to her body and a tiny spark of new life inside.

The life that did not yet have a conscience, so young it was.

"Ifalna," She heard Gast's concerned voice, "Are you alright?"

She opened her eyes, looked at him and smiled. "I think," She said, "I think, I'm pregnant."

...

The Knowlespole was bright with white snow and filled with the memories of Spirits. The village they ended up in was small - just a few houses far from civilization, to the north of a slightly bigger village named Modeoheim; still, there was a small observatory with recording equipment left by Shin-Ra science expedition of the times prior to the discovery of Jenova. The equipment was old, but functional.

They married two weeks after their arrival, on warm and cloudy day when the rain poured, melting the snow and leaving behind patches of damp soil and yellow withered grass. They walked together in the rain and laughed, ridiculously happy. The next morning, the frost was back, and everything around was covered in a thin layer of ice, shining under sun rays.

For the first time in their long story, they did not have any places to be except beside each other, and no urgent work to keep them apart. On relatively warm days they walked outside, exploring hills and forests, played snowballs and built snow forts, and when it was too cold, they stayed at home, reading or snuggling before the fire. Gast smiled often and seemed almost carefree; wrinkles on his face smoothed, and he looked ten years younger.

She told him about Cetra and the Calamity from the sky, and he made records of everything she was telling. Together, they went over everything they knew about Jenova, putting their combined knowledge on paper. Ifalna gathered her research notes on the effects of Mako extraction and added them to the package.

"In March, when navigation will open," Gast said one day, "I will send all this to Bugenhagen. Those who study the Planet always come to Cosmo Canyon, and soon this knowledge will be spread wide. If plenty of people will know what Shinra is doing to human beings and to the Planet, even the Company would not be able to silence all of them."

They discussed their next destination, planning the journey for the next summer. They debated heading to Woodlands or to southern islands, somewhere far enough from Shin-Ra.

"When I will be sure that you are safe," Gast said, "I will join that anti-Shin-Ra group. Disabling Mako reactors may be not a very elegant solution, but effective, and I am familiar enough with the machinery to be able to do it safely."

Ifalna disagreed. "I'm with you! How could you think I'd just sit in some corner and let you risk your life all by yourself!"

"My dear," He said softly, "You will have a more important task." And he touched her belly.

She laughed mirthlessly. "This girl will be born into a very different world from when we were kids, Gast. I doubt there will be any place safe enough for us, as long as Shin-Ra exists. She will have to be more of a fighter than we ever were."

He looked away, his eyes full of guilt and pain. "I was one of those who made this world into what it is now." He said. "And now my own child will have to suffer for my crimes."

"We will make it better," She said, hugging him. "We will, do you hear me?"

The wind howled in the darkness outside, and the clock ticked the last minutes of the year 1984.

...

Ifalna gave birth to their daughter on a cold, stormy February day.

Gast took the newborn in his hands, looking at her adoringly.

"How will we call her?" Ifalna asked.

He glanced at his wife, his face glowing with happiness.

"Aerith," He whispered. "Let's name her Aerith."

"A Cetra name?" She chuckled.

He smiled at his newborn child. "She is a Cetra."

The snowstorm raged, covering all the roads through mountains with thick layer of fresh snow, but it was warm in their house, and fire in the fireplace was casting orange glow on the bed where Ifalna was resting, and Gast was sitting on the edge, holding their child.

The small village was isolated from civilization for at least a couple of weeks, as if nature itself tried to protect them from all dangers lurking outside.

...

The wind blew across the mountains, through frozen forests and barren plains, all the way down to the sea, causing all wildlife to hide from its cold sting; its gusts threw handfuls of snowflakes into the face of a man standing on the deck of a ship, anchored away from the shore. The man squinted against the snow, looking up to the dark blurry shape of the land, obscured by snowfall.

"I know you are there, Gast," He muttered. "You can't hide her from me."

The ship rocked on high waves, unable to come closer to the shore. The man stood, holding on to the rail, peering into the flurry of snow, as if trying to see his destination through the snowstorm and distance.

The short day was already ending; soon, the night came, wrapping everything in darkness and frost.