Prologue
Hojo looked at the two children in front of him in surprise; Lucrecia had given birth to twins instead of the single, male child he had expected.
"Hmmm, now what?" he mused to himself, "she agreed to this experiment because she only expected a male child… if she knew that this second one was female… she may decide to stop the experiment." He thought for a little longer about the possibilities of comparing the results of the two in the experiment. Then the idea came to him "I know.. I'll tell her that the girl died" he smiled and looked at the male child "Sleep well Sephiroth, we begin tomorrow." He turned to the girl "Sleep well Angel, you have a big day ahead of you…"
The next day Lucrecia died of mako poisoning and the effect of the Jenova cells combined, as she lay dying she called out for Sephiroth, unaware that Angel still lived.
Eighteen years later
Steel crashed against steel as the swords of Sephiroth and Angel met, causing a shower of sparks to fly between the two combatants. Their faces were unreadable as they concentrated on trying to beat each other. They ignored everything around them, including the new recruits for the SOLDIER program, which they were demonstrating sword skills to. The recruits watched in mixed awe and fear as the fight became more and more violent.
"Ok you two, I think that's enough for now." Commander Omar commented as he moved towards the combatants. Sephiroth grinned at Angel as she winked. They finished the fight with a spectacular mid air leap, their swords struck and they both somersaulted, landing next to Omar.
"Show-offs" Omar muttered to the pair, then continued louder as he addressed the recruits "You have just seen a fight between our two finest SOLDIERS. With training you may achieve first class and become just as good … Sephiroth" he nodded to Sephiroth who stepped forward.
"As your training progresses both me and my sister with begin to train you. If you fail then you will join the ranks of the regular army."
Angel gave Sephiroth an amused look before continuing "However there's no need to worry if you do fail SOLDIER training, the regular army is the best trained you will find, and it's the envy of the world. You will still be accounted elite"
"Recruits dismissed till 1600 hours, " Omar shouted as Sephiroth and Angel walked back to the Shin-ra building. One of the recruits watched as they walked up the steps and he thought to himself about how similar the two looked. Apart from the obvious male-female difference the only two things that made them look different were their hair and eye colours. Sephiroth had silver hair and aqua green eyes whilst Angel had golden hair and sky blue eyes. The recruit shuddered as the two vanished into the building, and walked off.
The twins entered the elevator and waited for it to get to level 67.
"That went well" Sephiroth said as he watched the number on the elevator go up slowly "although I hate exhibition matches"
"I know, I prefer the real sparring matches, that was way too mild… I didn't even work up a sweat that time… and I hate giving speeches as well. I honestly don't think being first class is worth all this hassle, we're just used for shows"
Sephiroth grinned at his sister's comments on the easy fight "I agree about the last part, and the worst is yet to come. We get to bow and scrape to Hojo in five minutes."
Angel winced " I hate that man, he's weird, and I hate those injections he gives me"
"You're not the only one… anyway we're here" Sephiroth said as the elevator chimed the floor.
The doors opened to show Hojo waiting for them "I see that you're only just on time" he told them "Come, I must give you your weekly injections. You will be relieved to know that this is your last dose." Hojo put extra emphasis on relieved.
Sephiroth and Angel exchanged looks, they hadn't realised that Hojo knew their feelings on the subject. Hojo led them into the lad and picked up the needles.
"I really hate this" Angel muttered to herself as she watched Sephiroth being injected. He didn't show any reaction to the injections. Then her turn came, the first injection didn't have any reaction as usual, although she knew it would take effect later. The second one however was completely different; it left her with a severe headache and feeling ill.
A few minutes later, after Hojo had documented the effects down, both of them left the lab. "I'm going to my quarters to sleep this off," Angel said after fighting the urge to be sick.
"At least you only feel sick this time, I wonder why it doesn't affect me that way." Sephiroth said with a concerned look.
"Be thankful it doesn't" Angel smiled slightly. " I'll be ready to practice later, where will I find you?"
"In the gym, where else?" Sephiroth replied, "I'll be there for the rest of the afternoon. See you later" He walked off down the stairs as Angel waited for the elevator.
"Why me?" She muttered as she waited for the elevator, annoyed at the fact that Hojo had ruined a perfectly good afternoon with his injections.
*Go to Hojo's library*
"What!?!" Angel looked around for the person who had spoken; she couldn't see anyone in the area. The voice she had heard was strange, and she couldn't recall anyone with a voice like that. " Sephiroth, if you're playing tricks, you'll be sorry!" She said to an empty corridor.
*Go to Hojo's library* the voice insisted in her mind.
"Oh great.. I'm hearing voices" Angel muttered as she noticed that no one was nearby. "What does Hojo put in those injections?"
* Go to the library and find out* the voice persisted.
"Alright, alright …. I'm going!" Angel muttered to the voice, wanting to stop hearing it and wondering if she was starting to crack up. She also noticed that the feeling of sickness had vanished, but she didn't have a clue why, it usually lasted a good few hours. At that moment the elevator doors opened and she walked in. Selecting the level above she waited for a short while.
"How can I get into Hojo's library" she wondered knowing that there was always someone on the second lab floor. A few seconds later the doors opened and she looked round, there was no one in the corridor which was not unusual. As she walked towards the door of the main lad she noticed that there was very little noise, which was unusual. Looking through the glass window of the door she could see that there were no lab staff there.
"Where is everyone?" she wondered as she entered the lab. The equipment was set up in a way that it looked like Hojo was starting another one of his weird experiments, but with no one around Angel wondered if they were in one of the other rooms discussing what they were about to do. She knew from experience that Hojo briefed his staff, however scantily, on what they were about to do next. She looked over to one of the doors, which housed the larger meeting room, and she noticed the 'do not disturb' sign on the door. Angel smiled, she had been right. Just before she reached the library door, the lift that directly connected the downstairs lab to this one started to move.
"Damn Hojo" she muttered as she hid behind a pile of lab equipment. Sure enough Hojo walked out of the lift and headed towards the meeting room. When she was certain he had gone, she moved to the library door and walked in. taking care to close the door silently.
Angel noticed that the library had no complex lock like she had expected, and realised that no one ever dared to cross Hojo and enter this library without his permission. When her momentary shock had worn off she began to look at the shelves that held the records of Hojo's experiments. As she browsed she noticed a word that caught her eye… Jenova.
"Strange, mother was called Jenova, or so Hojo told us. What's this about?" Angel wondered as she picked up the file titled the Jenova project. She opened the book carefully and began to read Hojo's spidery handwriting. As she read she found out what Jenova was, but the last page of the file she read in a state of shock.
…"Lucrecia gave birth to twins, this was unexpected as all indications pointed to one child. The mother died of Mako poisoning which suited my plans to use both specimens and compare the results. During pregnancy Mako energy and Jenova cells were injected into the womb, however early tests indicate that the male specimen absorbed most of the Jenova cells and the female specimen absorbed most of the Mako. The cause of this is unknown, but further infusions should correct this."…
Angel finished reading and closed the file slowly; unable to believe that both her and Sephiroth were the results of a genetic experiment. Then something occurred to her, in her wanderings through the personnel files a few weeks ago, she had come across a record of Hojo. At that time she had found the record of him having a wife amusing as she hadn't thought that Hojo would be the type of person that would get married, however his wife's name now leapt out at her, it had been Lucrecia.
"Hojo is our father?" Angel murmured after she had put two and two together from the evidence. Then in a state of fury she addressed the voice she had heard in her mind "Is this what you wanted me to see?" However there was no answer, leaving Angel to wonder if she was going slightly mad.
Not wanting to arouse Hojo's suspicion she put the file back where she had found it, when a second title caught her eye, Jenova project stage 2. "Another one?" She reached out to take it when a familiar voice behind her made her jump.
"What are you doing?" Hojo asked in a tone that indicated he was far from pleased.
Angel turned round, still holding the second file "I thought that would be obvious. I know what I am Hojo and I know about the Jenova project!" She replied, silently cursing the fact that she hadn't being paying enough attention to her surroundings.
"What gives you the right to pry into my personal business?" Hojo demanded, getting more and more furious by the second.
"I have every right, Father, and Sephiroth has a right to know!" Angel retorted, her temper beginning to fray. She slammed the file down on the nearest table and stormed towards the door, intending to go straight to her brother, Hojo however moved to block her way. Angel drew her sword intending to use the Time materia on Hojo "Don't make me use magic to get you out of my way"
Hojo's eyes narrowed "I don't think you'd be so foolish to use your magic on me, and I think you know a little too much" he replied as he drew a gun out of his lab coat pocket and pointed it at her.
Angel knew there was no way she could dodge a bullet in this small room, nor could she outrun it. The only option she had was to stop Hojo literally, so she began casting the Stop spell.
Hojo was faster as he pulled the trigger.
One day after the defeat of Sephiroth, a small meteorite, a remnant of the original Meteor struck part of the northern crater. The small meteorite had been blasted off Meteor when the Shin-ra 26 had collided with it, and it had survived being obliterated when the Lifestream aided Holy in destroying Meteor. The small piece had continued on with the original call of the Black Materia, but the resulting damage was too small to really harm the Planet. The small wound it caused soon had its own fountain of Lifestream energy healing the wound. However next to the fountain a hand moved towards the energy.