CHAPTER 6:

COSTA DEL SOL

"I don't believe this," Vert muttered, staring at the sight before him. They were at Costa del Sol, having disembarked from the cargo ship after their fight with Jenova. Who, incidentally, was standing between Vert and Shelke.

"I find this hard to believe as well," Shelke murmured.

"You're not the only one," Aerith said. "This beats out recruiting Jenova to our cause, as much as I hate to say it."

Jenova nodded, smirking, having shape-shifted part of her body to resemble clothes, namely the white suit of Rufus Shinra. "Yes. Out of all the sights to see…this is certainly a novel one."

Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, Yuffie, and Red XIII were merely staring. In front of them, a man lounged on a beach towel, tended to by a trio of women in skimpy bikinis. Said sight would have been relatively mundane for a place like Costa del Sol, had it not been for the fact that said man was dressed in a labcoat, had lank black hair framing a thin, incisive face, and small spectacles. And said man was Professor Hojo.

Eventually, Cloud said, "Aerith, Vert, Shelke, with me. I want to get answers out of him."

"Jawohl," Vert muttered.

As they approached, Hojo noticed them. "Well, well, well…" he murmured, noticing the two Tsviets accompanying Cloud and Aerith. "Vert the Emerald…and Shelke the Transparent. Along with Cloud…and the Ancient. Who appears to have had a Mako infusion, if I am not mistaken."

"My name is Aerith," Aerith said pointedly. "I'd appreciate it if you bothered to remember my name. Anyway, what are you doing?"

Hojo scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? I'm getting a tan. Vitamin D deficiency, you see. The scourge of those bound to indoor work."

"It seems that the betting pool in Shinra has lost some money," Shelke said. "You are no vampire. You haven't burst into flames in sunlight."

Aerith chuckled, despite herself, along with Vert and Cloud. Hojo sighed. "Have you any other inanities to bore me with?"

"I would've thought that surrounding yourself with bikini babes was the epitome of inanity," Vert pointed out.

"Ah, but these are some would-be interns who bearded me when I arrived in Costa del Sol," Hojo said. "Miss Suvari here is a neurobiologist. Miss Cook here is a cytogeneticist. And Miss Romano is…umm…"

"I have a degree in medical ethics," Miss Romano said pointedly(1).

"Ah." Hojo then stood up on the beach towel. "I believe we're after the same goal."

"Sephiroth," Cloud said.

"Did you see him?" Hojo asked.

"We saw a simulacrum, a puppet created from your escaped Jenova specimen," Vert said.

"I see." Hojo's eyes flickered over to Cloud. "Have you ever had the feeling of something…calling to you? Or that you had to visit some place?"

"You're talking about the Reunion, aren't you?" Cloud asked.

"And where did you hear of that?" Hojo asked mildly, though annoyance glittered in his eyes.

"I used SND to hack your personal files, Professor Hojo," Shelke said.

"Ah, yes. Shelke the Transparent. The weakest of the Tsviets…but not to be underestimated, given your ability to Synaptic Net Dive. Yes, I am speaking of the Reunion. Jenova cells working to reunite after being separated. Truly fascinating. The call has been sent out."

"You used Zack and me as guinea pigs after Nibelheim," Cloud scowled.

"Zack? Oh, Zack Fair…yes, I remember him. How is he?"

"Dead," the four of them chorused. And Vert added, "As you should know."

"A lot of people tell me what I should know," Hojo muttered dismissively. "I find it most salutary to my research to ignore them." He lay back down on the towel, and said, "I'd imagine that Sephiroth, and the 'copies' I made of him, will be heading west, over the mountains to Corel. Perhaps they will have a Reunion in Nibelheim." He chortled quietly. "Now, go away."

"Come on," Aerith said to Cloud and the others. "I don't think we're going to get anything more from him."


Hojo, despite the views of everyone who had any dealings with him, was not immune to the stirrings of lust. He could ignore them, but he did like to indulge on rare occasion. It was why he had seduced Lucrezia Crescent, viewing the exercise as an intellectual problem. It helped that she had just been involved in a rather emotional break-up with that fool Valentine. He had sometimes drugged Ifalna during her captivity, and attempted to breed with her, so he could be assured of having an Ancient to test on, though she managed to escape before he could be sure of any pregnancy(2).

Hojo had grown up in a part of what became Midgar where the intellect hadn't been prized. His father was unknown, his mother a distant drunkard. Love, he thought, was merely a version of lust distorted by the superego into something considered higher. Hojo sneered at love. Lust, however, was perfectly understandable. He kept something of a lid on it. There was a time for business (well, science), and a time for pleasure.

About half an hour after Cloud and his comrades had tried pumping him for information, Hojo, who was currently appreciating Miss Suvari's bust, barely covered by her bikini, suddenly heard, "Room for one more?"

Hojo rolled, to find a tall, statuesque woman, in her late twenties or early thirties, with gorgeous flawless pale skin, hair so blonde it was practically white, and green-blue eyes. Her generous bust was barely concealed by a black bikini so small, it was almost obscene, even by the standards of Costa del Sol. Her thin, regal face was a paragon of beauty. While Hojo was reluctant to use such hyperbole as describing her as a goddess, to be frank, that's what she acted like.

The next hour seemed to pass by in a blur, and soon, the other three women had been dismissed, and Hojo, in something of a daze, had been led back to his hotel room by the regal goddess. He hadn't even gotten her name. All he knew was that this woman was inflaming his lust like no woman had before.

"Now…Doctor Hojo…how about we…experiment?" the woman purred in a sultry tone as he locked the door. "I have a few hypotheses that need testing."

"Oh, but of course my dear," Hojo said, shrugging off his labcoat. "But tell me, please, what is your name?"

The woman smiled. "Jenova."

Hojo was brought back to reality with a sickening jolt. Jenova? But…it couldn't be!

Jenova clicked her fingers, and suddenly, Hojo felt the distinctive sensation of a Silence spell settle on him. Her body changed, her skin changing to blue, her hair to silver, her eyes to a glowing orange. The bikini stayed. "Remember me, Professor?" Jenova asked. "I don't always look like this, true, but I've kept enough of the features I had when you had me in that damnable tank in Nibelheim. I also remember what you did. How you took samples from me, rather painfully, I might add. And the liquid in that stasis tank…oh so very cold. I was aware in that tank. Frozen alive, and aware. When Sephiroth came, I called to him. I suggested razing Nibelheim to the ground and putting everyone to the sword, as revenge for my imprisonment. But then…he turned on me. Usurped me." She grabbed Hojo by the collar, flinging him onto the bed, and then leaping onto him, straddling him in a way that was more like a predator pinning its prey than anything sexual. "Your son. And that of Lucrezia Crescent. He has caused me much pain. For the time being, I will work with the Cetra and their merry little band. I will kill Sephiroth, I will consume him, destroy his consciousness."

Hojo stared up at Jenova, as she leaned down and sniffed him. "Hmm…the heady bouquet of fear. And my cells. I could sense them earlier. You've experimented on yourself, haven't you? All in the name of science, I'd bet. If I let you, you could mutate into a creature of my cells. But I won't. I am closer to you than Sephiroth, which means I can control you. That's how I got you away from those girls. A subtle mind control. I stoked your lust, befuddled your senses, made you want me, made you dance right into the trap like the priapic moron you were. The thing is, while I am willing to experiment with this body…I wouldn't fuck you with someone else's dick. Of course, consuming you is another matter entirely. I'm sure you'll give me indigestion, but all that knowledge…I think I will need it. And I could do with a few more of my cells." She then shoved her hand into his chest. He could feel pain in its wake, followed by an icy numbness.

Dispelling the Silence spell on him, she asked, "Any famous last words?"

"My research…my experiments…they'll be…unfinished…no…stop…"

"Those don't sound very famous to me," she said, as he felt something drain from him, something more fundamental than blood. His lifeforce was being drawn from him, through her hand impaled in his body. "Disappointing last words…from a disappointment of a scientist."

No! Hojo shrieked in the privacy of his head, even as the darkness claimed him, the last thing he felt was the eerie sensation of having his life ebb into Jenova…


In another inn, in what was going to be their bedroom for the night (two beds, thankfully), Aerith looked at Vert. "Was it really a good idea? Recruiting Jenova?"

"I don't know. We can rely on her hatred for Sephiroth for the time being," Vert said. "While I was in her mind, I erected a few mental barriers. Maybe I should do so for Cloud, make sure he can't be controlled by Sephiroth. Look, you heard her screaming in pain as much as I did, remember? And…I think there may be more to her than just a ravenous alien entity. She had some sort of Lifestream within her, like she has a good chunk of another world within her. Which shouldn't be possible. All living things have a sort of mini-Lifestream, but hers was far more dense. Jenova's a mystery."

"She's also, if what Shelke said about those tapes is true, the one who murdered so many of my people. Our people, Vert."

"Two thousand years ago, Aerith. And given what our people turned into on Earth, they're as capable of evil as Jenova is." Vert shook his head. "I shouldn't have spared her, really. I normally wouldn't. And yet…she was in pain, Aerith. The part of her loyal to Sephiroth was torturing her. Remember what I said to Cloud back in Kalm? A friend of mine told me I have a 'saving people thing'. I don't know why I keep doing it. I wiped out Deepground, why did I spare Jenova?"

After a moment, Aerith mused, "Maybe you thought she was worth a second chance."

There was a knock on the door of the room. Vert sighed, and walked over to the door, opening it. Jenova was standing there, dressed in an almost obscene bikini. "Good evening."

"What do you want?" Vert asked.

"That is what I should be asking you. I've just had a rather…fulfilling discussion with Hojo," Jenova said.

Aerith scowled. "What did you do to him?"

"I killed him and ate his soul," Jenova said bluntly with an unapologetic shrug. "I thought you of all people would be grateful, Aerith. I saw his memories of what he did to you and your mother. Especially to your mother. He's certainly an acquired taste. He's like those century eggs from Wutai. Plus, I have just regained some more of my cells. But I just know he's going to repeat on me."

"…And the bikini?" Vert asked, trying to change the subject. Jenova was sounding frighteningly like she was a disturbingly sexy Dementor now.

"Oh, I had Miss Kisaragi appropriate it from one of the stores," Jenova said. "I think it looks good on me. Then again, considering I can shapeshift, I could have shifted my body to match it, or created the clothes myself. But…well, this appealed to me. A strange past-time, exposing one's self to ultraviolet radiation while lying on quartz granules with intermittent bathings in sodium chloride solution(3)…but the mating ritual aspects of such an activity are most amusing." Her face became serious. "Hojo knew more than he was letting on. It's more than a Reunion Sephiroth seeks." She then approached Aerith, and touched a hand to the Materia the Cetra kept in her ribbon. "You know what this is?"

After a moment, Aerith admitted, "The Ultimate White Materia. Holy. That's what my mother told me."

"It has a counterpart: the Ultimate Black Materia. Meteor. Hojo, thanks to the Jenova cells he injected into himself, knew of its existence. And so do I, as I was linked to Sephiroth. Sephiroth seeks it."

Vert frowned, having been told of the purposes of the two Materia by Minerva while he was in isolation. "Holy protects the Planet with a massive surge of holy energy, a shield and sword both. Meteor, however, brings in small planets from space, and crashes them into the Planet. A last resort for the Planet, normally meant to trigger the Omega Sanction."

"Omega Sanction?" Aerith asked.

"Something Shelke discovered during a Synaptic Net Dive, which Minerva confirmed. Sephiroth was Hojo's biological son, though I doubt Sephiroth knows that. His biological mother was Doctor Lucrezia Crescent, and she hypothesised that when the Planet is in peril of dying, the Lifestream is gathered into a single entity known as Omega, or Omega Weapon. Weapons are specialised monsters created by the Planet to protect it, usually by eliminating what the Weapons perceive to be threats. Omega is the ultimate Weapon. Once all the Lifestream has been gathered into Omega, Omega heads off for another world, while the Planet crumbles."

"Yes, but Sephiroth intends to use Meteor in another way. Create a massive wound in the surface of the Planet, rather like the one I created when I arrived here. Mako Energy will be sent there to heal it…and Sephiroth will absorb it," Jenova said. "He wants to become God by absorbing as much Mako as he can."

"Your tone suggests otherwise," Aerith said.

"Leaving aside the obvious, that I have that right alone, it is a risky scenario. I don't know how much Mako Energy my cells can contain. Sephiroth may be capable of pulling it off…or he might trigger the Omega Sanction that you mentioned…or he may just die with the rest of the Planet. Or else, he will overload on the energy. In almost all scenarios, I will die, along with the rest of you, or at least Sephiroth will try to subsume my personality. In any event, I would prefer to rule over a living world than a dead one. Life is so much more interesting than death."

"On that, if nothing else, we are agreed, Jenova," Aerith said.

CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:

Hope you like Jenova ending Hojo. I very nearly had her basically devouring him in a more conventional manner, until I decided to do something more like the Androids and Cell from Dragonball Z. I thought of Cell's tail and the way Android 20/Doctor Gero impaled Yamcha while draining his energy.

I wrote this chapter together with the previous one, but decided to hold off on posting it for a bit. I'd like to do some shameless plugging of my most recently updated fics. Firstly, Final Fantasy VI: The Abridged Series, has gotten a whacky new chapter involving nudity, improvised Moogle weaponry, and Solid Snake. Secondly, the latest chapter of Esper Child, my Final Fantasy VI/Harry Potter crossover. Thirdly, the latest chapters of Tuebor, my Final Fantasy VI/Doctor Who crossover. Fourthly, brand new chapters for Raison d'Etre, and another Final Fantasy IX fanfic, Zidane of Burmecia. Fifthly, the latest chapter of Harry Potter and the Blue-Haired Angel, a crossover with Evangelion. And finally, and at long last, the fourth chapter of my Final Fantasy X fic, Vincit Qui Patitur. Hope you enjoy.

1. I originally developed this gag of the bikini girls having science degrees and wanting to be interns of Hojo for one of my screenshots for my Steam playthrough of Final Fantasy VII (with the punchline that they're hired, but the poor medical ethics degree holder ended up in a stasis tank being experimented upon). I used this little conceit in Book 1.5 of the Cetra Heritage Saga, Birthday. Here, the interns don't get the chance (and probably a good thing). Their last names are those of the English voice actresses for Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

2. This was something I hinted at in Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage, a heavy implication that Hojo raped Ifalna while she was in their custody. Not that Hojo would view it as rape, but rather, as securing another possible specimen. He's a vile bastard.

3. I am sure I based this off a similar joke I read somewhere, either in a Doctor Who story, or else in one of Douglas Adams' books. Anyone who knows where I got this from, feel free to say so in a review. It's bugging me.