1~1. Seize the Day
000
"Newborn life replacing all of us, changing this fable we live in
No longer needed here so where do we go?"
-Avenged Sevenfold, Seize the Day
000
There'd only been a few other times she'd been to the upper plate before. It was early morning and the sun hadn't risen yet, though the city was already very much awake. It was officially the first day of her Shinra internship.
The Shinra Building sat at the hub of the city, the monumental structure towering over absolutely everything else. It was definitely apparent that the architect meant to give it a lasting impression. Through the four sets of double doors on the front of the building was a spacious interior that was at the very least overwhelming. The first floor was breathtaking. Two staircases stole the main focus of the lobby, turning and disappearing into the second floor. In the center, there was a big glass sign behind a desk that was part of a fountain lit up with several tinted lights, making the water look multiple shades of blue and purple. Behind that, a line of busy elevators dinged as passengers exited and entered.
Lucrecia felt dizzy walking to the front desk as the scenery around her was beginning to feel surreal. She'd recently realized that this is what she'd worked damn near half of her life for, and now that she was finally here, she'd almost felt like turning around and running the hell out the door. No, there's a reason you're here... Shinra had an asset that they no longer have because of you, and you mustn't forget about Lucille. The receptionist greeted her with a smile, but before she could ask the embarrassing question of where to go, she spotted him.
Professor Gast Faremis's grin could be seen clear across the lobby; it beamed as he trotted over to her. "Doctor Crescent! It's good to see you again! Please, right this way." The older man escorted her into an elevator before mashing some buttons on the inside panel, and holding a card underneath a red scanner. It beeped in confirmation. The elevator was tubular with glass walls, it ascended quickly and Midgar shrank underneath them.
The man at her side took a deep breath."The sixty-seventh and sixty-eighth floors are where the labs are. You'll need a keycard, as that's a restricted area reserved for the department. The tourist hoi-polloi isn't permitted beyond floor sixty. We're special." He smiled that beaming grin again and winked at her.
By the time they'd reached the near top of the building, Lucrecia was in complete awe. Midgar was allegedly the biggest industrial structure on the planet and here she was at the very top of it all. People could still be seen, commuting and walking around, running their errands and conforming to their busy schedules. They looked so trivial, like tiny little bugs. This must be what President Shinra saw every day.
The elevator dinged when it finally came to a stop and the doors separated to reveal a long white hallway. If Dr. Gast hadn't had a firm hand on her arm, she would've for sure been frozen to that spot, indefinitely fixated on the ant people.
The area had been very white, the hallways seemingly breaking off into every which way. They followed the main one until they'd reached an open area with white tables and computers, and huge versions of lab equipment with more computers and technology than she'd ever seen in one space. The ceiling was lined with metal catwalks that she guessed led up to the next floor. The 68th floor only looked a little bit different, containing even more computers and less classrooms. A control room for the huge incubator sat at the middle of the metal catwalks.
They entered a room with a circle of scientists hovering over a table. A man stood at the center of the table, clearly giving some kind of presentation. About ten other men holding clipboards stood around the first row surrounded the table, the pencils in their hands diligently scribbling each time the instructor spoke. The audience looked up before the presenter had noticed the newcomer, some faces doing a double-take.
"Gentlemen, Professor Hojo. May I introduce you to the newest student of our department, Doctor Lucrecia Crescent."
A series of greetings emerged from the group followed by low mutters, some of which she could hear. She was sure she caught "girl", "so young", "how did" and "won't last".
Gast gently escaped from a grip that she unconsciously had on his arm. She mumbled an apology. "If you would kindly excuse me, Doctor. I must finish some things." Without another word, Professor Gast left the room, closing the door behind him.
The silence in the room was almost tangible as Lucrecia turned to the man who was the infamous Professor Hojo. Professor Hojo was tall and meticulously dressed in a perfectly pressed white labcoat and black pants that offered a dramatic contrast. He had long black hair that was tied back in a messy ponytail with strands that strayed along either side of his face. He wore round glasses that were only about the size of his eyes. He was young, no older than thirty, which was surprising considering the way people talked about him. She'd expected him to be older.
He was glowering at her now for whatever reason. Lucrecia just offered an awkward smile and the older man scoffed, turning back to his class. He'd dismissed them, never taking his weighted gaze off of her.
It took a few minutes for the group to leave, shuffling messily out into the narrow hallway. Once the door had clicked closed, she'd turned back to find Hojo still staring at her. He folded his hands behind his back and strode toward her.
He continued to stare at her for what felt like forever before he finally spoke. "Crescent, is it?"
"Lucrecia." Doctor...
"That wouldn't be the same Lucrecia Crescent that submitted the obscure and ludicrous text to the company for review, would it?"
"It was for a grade, it wasn't meant to be a big deal," she abashedly defended.
"With all that vivid imagination, you must never expect to be taken seriously. What an interesting career choice. This will prove to be a very enlightening year for you, I trust."
The internship program was two years. This probably wasn't an oversight on Hojo's part. "It's an honor to meet you, Professor Hojo." See. I can lie, too.
The tall scientist dropped his hands to his sides and closed the distance, getting so uncomfortably close that he was practically towering over her. She resisted the urge to take a step back. When he spoke this time, his voice was low and through his teeth. "See to it that you acquaint yourself with the present studies, but I wouldn't get too comfortable here if I were you. Good day." He his hands returned to their original placement behind his back and left the room to skulk down the hall.
Lucrecia sighed. So much for making friends.
000
It didn't take too terribly long to become sort of familiar with the subject matter. From what she'd gathered, they'd been investigating in some environmental disturbances in the Northern Crater. Professor Gast was gone from the building a majority of the time for this reason, though Hojo clearly thought this was little more than a waste of time. Unfortunately for her, this meant he stayed behind, and more often than not she was stuck with him.
Their encounters were brief, usually only consisting of scowls from the hallway or the occasional chauvinistic remark. Lucrecia had even swallowed her pride on one occasion and went to the professor with a question that she'd already known the answer to, thinking it would make him feel superior and perhaps back off of her a little bit. The man had instead offered no help and the annoying encounters continued.
She was able to return home on the weekends when it was practical. She'd make sure Lucille had everything she needed and she'd give her the majority of that week's pay. It wasn't much; Shinra provided housing and essentials, so it was more of an allowance. Lucrecia worried about the amount, but her sister had not seemed to be malnourished or unkempt in the least. The rest of the gil Lucrecia had decided to hold on to so they could get a head start on savings.
Intern work, as she'd expected, was tedious. Most of her time was spent organizing file cabinets and entering or updating data into the computers. It was ironically secretarial. Keeping up with Gast kept her busy and was more than a full time job sometimes keeping up with the tornado that was his inspiration. He hated organizing himself, and wasn't very good at it even when he did make the effort. He would grow frustrated and mutter apologies, and she would forgive him and take over. He was a brilliant man, and brilliance wasn't always orderly.
Classes and research were simple to keep on top of, as they all seemed to mesh together. This allowed the weeks to turn to months until she'd lost track of the day count after a hundred.
For being a company with a two year internship program, different faces seemed to come and go rather quickly. The rumor was that Hojo held most of that influence. A popular case seemed to be a young anthropologist who'd recently disappeared for a variety of rumored reasons.
"I don't know why he didn't make it," one of the biotechnologist students deliberated to her one day. "His grades were almost as good as yours."
Lucrecia just shook her head, not bothering to look up from the book she'd been studying. "Grades don't matter. The board didn't say why?"
"No... but they said he was a good scientist."
"They used those words?"
"Yeah!"
Lucrecia winced. "Ouch."
"That's a bad thing?"
"Sometimes, saying something is what it is means it is what it isn't, because if it really is, there'd be no reason to say that it is... It would just be that, and it would go without saying."
"That doesn't make any sense."
She flipped a page, turning her attention back to her textbook. "It's like... joining a beauty contest to be told that you have a wonderful personality. It's not mean per se, but if it's the only thing that can be said about you, it's not a good thing."
"Oh..." The blonde looked to the floor and shifted uncomfortably for a few seconds before he turned out the door. Lucrecia had gathered the impression that possibly the same thing had been said about him, and she then expected the familiar pang of guilt. It didn't come. She didn't see the nameless blonde again after that.
000
She was relieved to have Professor Gast back after his two-month escapade to the Northern Crater. It wasn't the same place without him, even if his enthusiasm could be a little overwhelming at times. He'd caught her in the computer lab one day and he shut the door behind him.
"What do you know about the Ancients, Doctor?" His eyes were dancing and he had a smirk on his face that he'd failed to suppress.
"That they were an extraordinary race that could access the powers of the planet... more or less... and that they're mostly extinct now." But only because they all went insane and brutally slaughtered each other, wiping out the thousands that remained after an enigmatic pandemic had broken out. No one knew the reason. She wasn't sure whether to mention that part or not.
Gast smiled wider, or had just stopped trying to hide it in the first place. "But the specimen itself is truly ancient; it had been there for quite some time before I happened along. You so often hear rumors that some blood of the Cetra blood lines still spread thin through the planet, but this being is so unadulterated... I have an inkling this is something significant inside this stratum, so much so that it could possibly expand our knowledge of these creatures and perhaps even discover secrets of their mysterious history!" The excitement in his eyes grew with every word.
She gave him a strange look. "Sorry, 'the specimen'? Did I miss something?"
"Oh! Yes! I found something. I forgot to mention that part! I found something in the Northern Crater and it is exceptional! It will unlock the secrets of the Promised Land!"
The Promised Land... She suppressed a massive internal eye roll, but maintained her vaguely professional demeanor. "Is that so?"
"You're possibly wondering why I am sharing all of this with you." Lucrecia shrugged, and Gast smiled to continue. "I've submitted these findings to the company and I've requested assistance gathering the specimen, and to necessitate a nearby Mako reactor. Of course, we'll need a competent, knowledgeable team for the investigation to accompany myself and Professor Hojo, so we were discussing it... and your name came up."
She couldn't help but laugh. "I'll bet it did. Did he tell you I'd make a fine receptionist?"
"He recommended you for the Project." Gast kept a serious expression.
Someone might have dropped a ton of boulders on her head just then, or a field of chocobos might have trampled the walls down and blasted through the other side leaving feathers everywhere. A volcano could have erupted and the Planet could have divided from right underneath her feet. All of these things would have gone unnoticed, because they wouldn't have been the strangest thing she'd heard of all day. She must have stared at him for over several seconds before finally responding. "What?"
"Of course I was considering you anyway, he just beat me to it! It would mean you're internship would end, but you would still get severance pay, and we'd just have to start the paperwork-" As he continued talking, Lucrecia's mind raced off into the thing she couldn't wrap around. She replayed his offer in her mind as if she'd missed something crucial. But, Hojo hates me... "If you'll accept, that is. We'd be privileged to have you on board with this."
"I really don't know-"
"You don't have to decide right away. Take the rest of the week off and think about it." He started to walk away, his loud voice booming as it became increasingly more distant echoed down the hall. "But I strongly urge you to day yes! I have a good feeling about this, Doctor. Groundbreaking discoveries! If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission! Seize the day, my dear!"
"Okay..." She said softly, even though he couldn't hear her anymore. She hadn't remembered standing, or backing up to where she was completely across the room until she crashed into the wall of cork bulletin boards. She felt around for the handle, realizing after an embarrassingly long second that the door had been open the entire time. She exited the room on her third try.
Thank you for reading.
