A/N: I don't own FFVII, just Ellone and a Pitbull that I like to call Big Booty Judy.
X Angeal X
I wanted to wake up from this nightmare. It felt like my whole world was thrown into a corkscrew and everything was shaken up. Ellone had now been missing for six days and I'd already filed a missing persons report. It hurt to pass her face on the MIA boards, but I was burning in rage whenever Genesis' was in sight.
The fight earlier in the week had made me suspicious, not only of my childhood best friend, but of all of the medical professionals I'd seen here at ShinRa. Hollander had also made it onto the list of MIA operatives and staff. Genesis had forewarned me of a degradation process and said that Hollander was not only the solution of the problem, but he was tied in directly with what was occurring in Genesis. Why would the degradation begin on myself?
I rubbed my exhausted eyes and tried to rest them for the night, begging for sleep to come. I had to have laid there for over an hour, nothing on my mind but Ellone. With a restless sigh, I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.
It was time for another hunt to find her.
X Hollander X
Being out and about was a regular part of my day-to-day, but not ever in the slums. This was the only location I could go buy more supplies for my subject and not be recognized as the MIA scientist I was.
My subjects were the most fascinating things on Gaia and I felt like I'd lucked out. Ellone's body was responding to the Jenova cells and the mako in ways I'd never expected. It had amazing effects on the unborn child, which it could now be called.
Ellone was receiving a low, continuous dose of mako and I'd given her four injections of cells. Her belly had grown considerably in the six days I'd had her captive. She resembled a woman in her twentieth week, not her eighth week. Her belly had a swath of angry red marks surrounding her belly button, not prepared in the slightest for such a huge stretch in such a short time.
There was a fetal monitor that doubled as a transducer, allowing me to stream a live ultrasound in my laboratory. It was amazing to see what was once a little circle become a small humanoid creature. It would only be another few days before my subject would be ready to give birth and preparing for that was now on the forefront of my mind.
I had a baby to prepare for.
X Ellone X
In the six days I'd been trapped here with Hollander, I'd come to learn several things about this man and the company he worked for. I was finally free enough to walk around a section of the lab that had a small daybed. The only condition was keeping myself connected to the fetal monitor that also watched my baby grow.
I missed Angeal so much. All I wanted was for him to take me away from here, far from Midgar and all the cities that were in ShinRa's grip. I felt tears welling up as I cradled my belly, looking down at what was supposed to be our baby. Our baby that Angeal had no clue about.
When the tears became too much, I settled down on the daybed to cry it out and try to rest. The small comfort I had was the sight of my growing baby on a large monitor. I could see the hands and head and little feet, but nothing noting the sex. Hollander had told me before he left that today we'd find out what I was having and that was going to be the only highlight of all of this.
"I hope your dad comes," I whispered, "I hope he kills Dr. Hollander and takes us home." The flutter I got in response told me that baby agreed. "I want for him to hold you, see your little face too."
I leaned into the pillows and gently rubbed circles into my aching belly, starting to hum a tune my mother used to when I was small. She'd said it was a hymn, a song they used to sing to the planet.
I wanted to cry again as my heart squeezed - my cries to the planet were ignored, overwhelmed by the planets' own wails of distress. There was no way out for the two of us and it felt hopeless to try anymore.
A shift and roll, pressing on my bladder made me want to laugh.
"Is that you telling me not to give up hope?" I asked, looking down at my stretched skin. "I'll try."
X Hollander X
Ellone was asleep on the day bed, her hands resting on her convex midsection as they'd started to do. I looked up on the monitor at the baby and couldn't suppress a chuckle.
"You wanted to know what you're having, right?" I asked, gently rousing her, "well, your son is showing you pretty clearly that he's a he."
The Cetra's lips pulled into a smile as she awoke, "it's a boy?"
"Good thing," I said, "boys are the easy ones." I clicked a button on the monitor, saving the image as another progress marker for the fetus. "And it looks like he's going to be on the larger side at birth, at this rate anyway."
"Does he look healthy?" Was the only thing she asked now.
"Extremely," I boasted, "it would seem that you were wrong about the Jenova cells, they're really making him strong now." There was no further comment from my subject.
I left her to watch the screen and began to cook lunch in the small kitchenette of my lab. I kept my subject on a very strict diet that was going to cater to the development of her young and so far didn't yield complaints.
Footsteps behind me brought me out of my thoughts, but I couldn't turn fast enough.
Darkness stormed my vision as the back of my head took the brunt of something heavy swinging hard.
X Ellone X
I felt almost satisfied when Hollander hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, the knife in his hand clattering to the floor. I quickly got down as low as I could, rummaging in every pocket he had.
With a ring of keys in hand, I hurried to the door and used a microchip sensor to open the door to freedom. When the door swung open, I was met with a stairwell that led up to another exit way. For a moment I wondered if I was going to find another laboratory with other experiments crying out for help.
My wonderings were answered when I found that the door led into Hollander's condominium basement. I only remembered what it looked like because there had been a Christmas party here one year.
The PHS I found on the kitchen counter after exploring the scientist's home was my own and I wanted to cry when I opened it. There were so many missed calls from my husband, probably frantic with worry. Even the director had called and so had my husband's student, Zack. I immediately hit the send button when the icon hovered over Angeal's name.
It only rang twice, "Ellone?!"
"Oh Gaia," I couldn't help but sob, "Angeal, I've missed you."
"Honey, where are you?" He asked, "are you hurt? What's going on?"
"I'm getting out of Hollander's house," I cried, "please come take me home, I don't think I can make it alone right now."
"I'm on my way."
"There's so much you need to know," I couldn't stop blubbering, "you're gonna be - "
A hand around my throat stopped me.
"You're going to be a widower," Genesis finished, crushing the phone. He took a hold of me and we were airborne.
