Author's note: This is the second time I've posted this chapter. The first time I posted it, for some reason it wouldn't come up on the site. I hope reposting it works. If you're reading this, it obviously did. Enjoy!

(Kit Thespian enters)

Kit Thespian: Well, it looks like this story is taking yet another turn as we continue in the next exciting chapter…

(enter Vincent, solemn and depressing, as usual)

Vincent: Kit Thespian, I wish to form a complaint.

Kit Thespian: About what?

Vincent: You're managing to make me look like a real goober in this fic!

Kit Thespian: Well, you are a goober; what can I say?

Vincent: What?

Kit Thespian: But look on the bright side, Vincent, your fan base is vaster. They made a whole video game just about you! So cheer up, come on!

Vincent: No, my refusal to cheer up is the entire basis of my character.

(Hojo enters)

Hojo: Actually, that's the basis of my character. The basis of your character is being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and ticking off the wrong person, namely me.

Vincent: You!

Kit Thespian (raises her hands in a diplomatic gesture): Hey, guys! You both need to lighten up. (sings)

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Others just make you swear and curse

When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble, give a whistle,
And this'll help things turn out for the best, And…

Vincent: Is she going to make us sing?

Hojo: Run!

(Both Vincent and Hojo try to flee, but Kit Thespian zaps them with her Light of Musical Doom, and they are forced to join her in song)

Kit Thespian, Vincent, and Hojo (sing):
Always look on the bright side of life (whistling)
Always look on the bright side of life (whistling)

Vincent:
If life seems pretty rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.

Hojo:
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing. And…

Kit Thespian, Vincent, and Hojo (kicking in a chorus line):
Always look on the bright side of life. (whistling)
Always look on the bright side of life. (whistling)

Kit Thespian: Okay, that's enough.

Vincent: She's crazy! I'm getting out of here!

Hojo: If you someone passes you, it's only me!

Kit Thespian: I love my work.

Disclaimer: Kit Thespian does not own Final Fantasy VII or the characters therein, and she is not making money off it either. And "Always look on the bright side of life" belongs to Pythonian Eric Idle. May he live long and prosper.

Chapter Twenty-Eight- Tea and Stuffed Animals

The living arrangements at the hotel that night were quite interesting. They rented out three rooms. Each room had three twin beds. After much careful thought, Cloud, Cid, and Sephiroth finally came up with an arrangement that would be to everyone's mutual benefit. Yuffie and Lucrecia would have a room to themselves. The true issue was that after the fracas concerning the fangirls, everyone knew that it would be unwise, at least for that night, to place Hojo and Vincent in the same room. In his, Cloud's and Cid's little huddle, Sephiroth volunteered to stay in the same room with Vincent. Cloud volunteered for that as well, saying that he and Sephiroth should be able to handle Vincent in case the red-caped man decided to try anything prankish in the middle of the night. They should also be able to fend off any snooping fangirls.

"Great," Cid moaned, "Stick me and Red with the mad scientist."

"He seems to get along just fine with you and Red," Cloud commented, "You'll be okay."

"'You'll be okay.' That's none too reassuring."

"With Red XIII in the room, you have nothing to fear. I know from personal experience that Red is perfectly capable of handling Dr. Hojo."

It was deathly silence in both of the guys' rooms that night. None of them had anything to say to the other. Cid dropped off pretty quickly, actually, and so did Cloud and Vincent. Red XIII settled down without incident. And eventually, even Sephiroth and Hojo got to sleep. Yuffie and Lucrecia stayed up for a little night, talking, like most girls tend to do after a full day.

"What's Edward Rosem like?" Yuffie asked.

"When I knew him, he was very kind and considerate. He had a wonderful sense of humor. But it's been over thirty years…"

"He seemed ready enough to invite Hojo."

"That's what worries me. He seemed too ready."

"Well, I think we can handle any hiccups. Hojo seems to trust him and he doesn't easily trust people, I don't think."

"No, he doesn't…"

"If Dr. Rosem didn't believe Hojo when he wrote about Sephiroth, boy is he in for a shock!"

The next day…

"Professor! Wait!" Teresha, out of breath, caught up with Hojo as the group were making their way out of the town. Fortunately, Hojo and Lucrecia had fallen back a little because Lucrecia had pointed out that one of the bouquets in a flower display was almost the same as her wedding bouquet had been. When the young lady (dressed in a t-shirt and jeans today) reached the couple, she gave a respectful nod to Lucrecia.

"Mrs. Hojo, you don't know me; my name's Teresha."

"She used to be one of my employees," Hojo explained to his wife.

"Oh," Lucrecia held out her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Teresha shook her hand; then she turned to Hojo, "Are all of you leaving?"

"Yes," Hojo replied, "I'm afraid we must be going."

"Here," Teresha reached into her purse and pulled out an object wrapped in a store bag, "I didn't have time to wrap it for you. I put everyone's numbers in it, though."

Amazed, Hojo took the package from Teresha's hands and pulled out a brand-new PHS. Hojo opened it up and turned it on. The text across the screen read, "Hello, Professor." He looked at the directory and found the PHS numbers of all of his loyal contacts.

"Th…Thank you," he finally stammered.

"Hey," Teresha started walking away, "if a guy spares your life, a little phone's not too much to ask. I have to go; my fiancée's waiting for me. Give me call if you need anything, Professor!"

Hojo nodded and Teresha waved and ran off to one of the nearby restaurants. Lucrecia asked him what it was all about, but Hojo found he couldn't say a word. This act of kindness was difficult to believe, but there it was: a new PHS in his hand. Someday, he would find a way to properly thank her.

A few hours later…

"There it is!" Cid heralded while the Highwind descended, "Cosmo Canyon; red and brown as ever with all of its little whirly-thingies spinnin' around."

Red XIII's fiery tail was shaking with excitement. He hadn't been home for several months. He would be the one at the front of the party, escorting them to Rosem's house. They had decided back on the airship that they shouldn't crowd Dr. Rosem, so Cloud, Cid, and Vincent walked ahead to Red's house. The first two were a little disgruntled at having to wait a little longer to meet Hojo's old colleague, but Vincent, surprisingly enough, had volunteered first to stay behind. That left five people going to see Rosem.

Though the world around it seemed so different with the absence of Shinra Inc., Cosmo Canyon hadn't changed a bit. It still had many botanists and star-gazers studying and doing research there. It still had the bar (though fewer regulars) and the inn with rooms that each had two beds and a big, cushy sofa. Yuffie remembered that the sofa was actually nicer than the beds; one time she, Barret, and Cloud played paper-rock-scissors to see who would get to sleep on it. She had won. Since the defeat of Meteor, the materia shop had become a souvenir shop, like the one in Costa del Sol, and like so many others around the world. The weapons shop still had some unique items to offer, though.

Sephiroth had never actually set foot in Cosmo Canyon, though the SOLDIER truck had passed it on the way to Nibelheim seven years ago. For such a red, rocky terrain, the temperature was actually quite moderate, which was a relief because the heat generated from the great bonfire in the middle of the village could be felt from quite a ways. He could tell from the way the villagers stared that the visiting group that they recognized Red XIII and the others except Sephiroth and Lucrecia. They called Red XIII, "Nanaki". A good deal of them recognized Hojo and they were puzzled. Obviously, he was different now than he had been the last time he visited. One of the residents actually dared to wave at him in a friendly fashion. Hojo did not return the wave, but he did give an acknowledging nod.

Red led them up and up many flights of stairs and through several winding pathways around the town. Yuffie was walking beside Sephiroth, with her arm softly wrapped around his. She was being strangely silent, but Sephiroth guessed it was because there were plenty of fascinating things to see for her curious mind. One of the houses they passed smelled of strong tobacco; and no wonder, an old lady smoking a thin pipe was sitting on the porch. The quaintness of this village was astounding. It was not only peaceful, it was downright lethargic. The inhabitants living in this day and age had never really been threatened by anything, except Meteor. And Sephiroth guessed that even at that traumatic time they looked upon the burning rock with more enthrallment than fear. He remembered at his time with Shinra, Cosmo Canyon had no strategic value and it posed no threat, therefore it was given very little consideration by the authorities.

"We're only a few houses away now," Red announced, "It's that one by the corner."

"Yes, I remember now…" Hojo murmured.

The house they were talking about was the most cheerful one in sight. It was tidy and kempt, with flowers in the open windows. There were a couple of rocking chairs on the porch, with a black cat with a white face and neck sitting on one of them. He looked at Red XIII very briefly before yawning and returning to his nap. Lucrecia smiled; if the house fitted Rosem's personality, than he hadn't changed a bit despite everything.

The group waited while Hojo (seeming almost timid) approached the front door and lightly knocked. A few moments passed, and then Hojo knocked again, this time a little louder.

A cheery voice from inside the house called, "What's the password?"

Hojo rolled his eyes, "Rosem, it's me. Open the door, you dolt!"

Before Lucrecia could reprimand her husband for such a rude response, the voice spoke again, "Good enough for me!" And the door opened.

It was an old man; not terribly old, but he needed a cane for a bad hip. His hair was snowy white and two bright blue eyes twinkled from his wrinkled face. But it looked like every line on his face came from smiling and laughing too much. Sephiroth and Yuffie stared, dumbfounded that this nice little man could have possibly been Hojo's best friend at one point. He gasped and gaped at Hojo, before a smile broke out on his face.

"It is you! When I got your letter I couldn't believe… But it is you! And you…you look all right! I mean, I hope you won't take it this the wrong way, but you look…just fine."

"You mean I look sane," Hojo said.

Rosem shrugged, "Well, I didn't want to bring 'sane' and 'insane' into the conversation…" Then his eyes (which, despite age, were perfectly good) caught sight of the other four people with his old friend, particularly the silver-haired man and his mother. He muttered, "Omigosh…" he blinked, and then looked again, "Omigosh!" He glanced at Hojo, amazed, "You are sane, or I'm senile!"

Lucrecia laughed, "Oh, Rosem, you're still you." She went up to the old scientist and gave him a hug. Rosem was still so shocked he didn't move at first. He had heard about Sephiroth and Lucrecia from Hojo's letter, but up until this time he was not so sure that Hojo was on the level. There was no denying it now.

He finally exclaimed, his voice nearly breaking, "This is incredible! Lucrecia! How did…where have you…? Have you been alive all of this time? Look at you; you haven't aged a day!"

"It is a very long story," Hojo said.

"And this young man!" Rosem laughed, pointing his cane at Sephiroth, "Oh, I heard stories about the great General Sephiroth. Last I heard he was aiming Meteor at the planet. But I knew that couldn't be true…"

"Rosem…" Hojo spoke.

"…He wouldn't hurt a fly. Well, unless he was directly ordered to. But other than that…"

"Rosem!"

"Yes?"

"We'll talk about that later."

Rosem chortled, "Of course, how rude of me! All of you come inside! Have a nice cup of tea! Nanaki, it's nice to see you again. Hmm, do I know you, young lady?" he addressed Yuffie while he escorted them into the living room, which was right next to the kitchen.

"No, you don't, Sir," Yuffie replied.

A knowing look came on Rosem's face while he walked into the kitchen and he grinned, "Why, Sephiroth, you got a girlfriend! How nice! You must have got your father's great taste in girls! What a pretty girl she is!"

Yuffie giggled; Sephiroth blushed and it looked like Hojo was about to tell Rosem to shut his mouth, but Rosem kept going, "Gracious me; the last time I saw you, you were yea tall," he held his free hand about three and half feet above the ground before reaching for some teabags, "and playing with tinker toys! Now look at you! I'm getting old…"

Yuffie smirked at Sephiroth, "Tinker toys?"

Sephiroth huffed, "I was very young."

"Oh, it's not what it sounds like," Rosem said, running water into the teapot, "he was just as rambunctious as any other boy. He would build with the tinker toys, and then he would jump on them and break them. Then he would build them again, break them, build them, break them…you get the picture. 'Course those were the days he had his stuffed animals too."

Sephiroth slowly started turning beet red. Lucrecia and Yuffie could barely believe their ears. Hojo stopped trying to get Rosem to be quiet and got a mischievous smirk on his face, "Oh, yes, I remember the stuffed animals."

Red XIII's eyes turned into saucers, "Stuffed animals?"

Sephiroth growled, "I was very young."

"Stuffed animals?" Red seemed horrified, "What kind of stuffed animals?"

"The kind that Marlene has, Red," Yuffie answered, "You know, toys."

Red sighed with relief, "Oh, I thought you meant real stuffed animals."

Rosem scoffed, "Of course they weren't real stuffed animals!"

"Well, it was Shinra, Inc. You could never tell."

"…Point taken. But it was very cute; him all snuggled inside his little toddler bed surrounded by stuffed animals..."

"May we drop the stuffed animals?" Sephiroth asked, a dangerous edge to his voice. He whispered to Yuffie, "If this gets out, we are through."

Yuffie chuckled, "I'd be more worried about Hojo and Rosem blabbing it out than me."

"I mean it, Yuffie."

"I won't say a word."

The teakettle whistled. Rosem exclaimed, "Ah ha! Water's ready. Let's have tea."

"Rosem," Hojo had returned to being serious. He was seated beside Lucrecia on a couch. Sephiroth and Yuffie were on a loveseat. Red was content with the floor.

Rosem stuck his head out of the kitchen, "Yeah, buddy ol' pal?"

"Aren't you going to ask something?"

Rosem's eyes searched around before he replied, "Like what?"

Hojo gritted his teeth, "Don't you think it's the least bit odd that three dead people have shown up at your door?"

"If you ask me, I've seen creepier. But since you're wondering, yeah, I thought it was kind of weird. But I'm sure there's a good explanation. It can't be any weirder than that time the lock on the door to the GI cave broke. It'll wait 'til we get our tea."

Red's eyes widened, "When did that happen?"

"When did what happen?"

"The lock on the door to the GI cave broke?"

"It was while you were away a few months ago. A few weird things happened, but nobody got hurt. Funnily enough, it shut again and locked by itself like nothing had happened. Say, could one of y'all give me a hand with this tea tray?"

"I'll help," Lucrecia got up.

Red groaned, "Does nothing faze you at all, Dr. Rosem?"

"I gave up being easily fazed about ten years ago. Cream or sugar, anyone?"

While they all had tea (Red gently lapped his from a bowl on the floor) Hojo, Sephiroth, and Lucrecia gave their stories of their mysterious resurrections to Rosem. Rosem was not very surprised to hear that there really was no apparent explanation for the resurrections, even though he had been hoping for one. He realized that it was up to him, the Jenova expert, to come up with a possible solution. He said to them while they were finishing their teatime, "Well, I'll have to think about this one. I could just say that it's because all of you have the pure Jenova cell solution instead of the serum that Hojo developed at Shinra, Inc."

"You mean there could be more dead people come back to life?" Yuffie asked, wide-eyed.

"Possibly," Rosem said, "And we just haven't seen them yet. But it's the why I don't understand. Why all of you have come back? …It could be that the Planet has summoned you back to complete a specific task. That isn't a remote possibility…Perhaps I should take some blood samples from each of you to examine." He said to Hojo, "I have my own little laboratory in the back of the house, you know," he turned to the others, "Would you like to see it?"

Yuffie shrugged, "Sure."

Sephiroth had a long time ago determined that he would stay away from laboratories whenever possible. He was not relishing the prospect of a getting poked with a needle for a blood test, no matter how nice Rosem was.

"I think I'll stay in here," he said.

"Me too," Red XIII said, lying his head on his front paws. He didn't want to see another laboratory either.

Rosem blinked, "But I'll need a sample from you too, Sephiroth."

"It can wait," Hojo said, "Come along, Lucrecia."

Yuffie seemed a little disappointed that Sephiroth opted to stay behind, but Lucrecia urged her to come with her and Hojo. She knew that Sephiroth and Red (from what she had heard about his stay at Shinra) would not want to go. Yuffie left the living room with the others, looking behind over her shoulder on her way out. Sephiroth took a deep breath and settled back on the loveseat. Red stood up and stretched.

"Bad memories?" he asked.

"What?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

"The laboratory. It's rather strange; I'm sure any lab run by the likes of Edward Rosem is a lot friendlier than any lab Shinra had. But still…"

"It makes your skin crawl to think about all those needles and beakers and test tubes."

"And glass cages with no privacy."

"And strange people in white coats coming in and out of your room."

"Not knowing what exactly they have written on those clipboards they carry around."

"Not knowing if they're watching you, constantly, through two-way mirrors."

"Getting poked and prodded."

"Being made to run on treadmills."

"Skin samples, hair samples, blood samples."

"…It's funny…It all stopped when…"

"When what?" Red asked.

"Never mind. Did Dr. Hojo do all that to you when you were in the laboratory?"

Red hopped up to the couch, and said while circling around to settle down, "I shouldn't complain. It wasn't painful; but I hated being cooped up. I wanted to run free in the red valleys, to breathe free air and smell the smoke coming from the chimneys and the tobacco from the old folks' pipes. Dr. Hojo actually treated me with a lot of respect. …One of these days I'm going to ask him what he really intended by keeping me there."

"Hmm…"

"It's so good to be home." Red settled his head on the sofa.

Sephiroth looked at the remainder of tea in his cup, "I…don't have a hometown."

Red XIII thought better of mentioning that technically Nibelheim was Sephiroth's hometown. Considering that town's fate under a particular SOLDIER, it would not have been a tactful thing to say. Instead, he said, "Neither does Yuffie; not anymore."

"I know…"

"…Speaking of Ultimate Weapon, its death opened up a path to a forest nearby. Very beautiful; we should go there during this trip."

"Hmm…"

Red's nose twitched but his voice was as deadpan as usual, "There are a lot of little frogs there. You should feel right at home."

Sephiroth glared, "What?"

"Nothing."

Yuffie bounced back into the living room alone, carrying a long-haired, grey-furred, chubby, languid cat. Red paid no mind to it. Sephiroth did not know what to think.

"They all needed to talk alone," Yuffie announced; then she changed the subject to the ball of fur which encompassed both of her arms, "This is Portia. Isn't she sweet? She just started rubbing against my legs and purring…"

Sephiroth was not experienced with household animals, so he just shrugged. Yuffie sat down beside him on the loveseat, still holding the cat. She stroked the cat on the head and scratched underneath its chin. She said, "Dr. Rosem really likes cats. The cat on the porch, Boudreaux, is his too. He says he has a calico around here named Wallis, but she's really skittish. She hides from visitors. I think Dr. Rosem was going to tell me more before Hojo said that they needed to do the tests and I didn't need to crowd Dr. Rosem."

In the laboratory…

"So," Rosem said, placing Lucrecia's blood sample in a beaker, "Sephiroth knows the truth?"

"Yes," Hojo replied.

"Well, that's good to know."

"It's not exactly a perfect situation, Rosem."

"I gathered that from the way you kept shushing me."

"You know all those stories about Sephiroth burning villages and calling down Meteor?"

"Yes?"

"Well, they're true."

"…Oh."

"He was insane, Rosem," Lucrecia said, "He truly did not know what he was doing."

"After the environment Dr. Gast and Dr. Hemin put him in for the first several years of his life, that wouldn't shock me, not in the least."

"Dr. Hemin," Lucrecia shuddered, "I had forgotten about her."

"Sorry to remind you," Rosem shuddered also. Dr. Hemin had been the medical doctor assigned to Sephiroth and she had a big part in his confined upbringing. A colder soul was hard to meet, except perhaps for the old President Shinra himself.

"What happened to her?" Lucrecia asked.

A silence followed before Hojo answered, "…She died, after I was made the head of Research and Development."

"How old was Sephiroth?"

"Eleven. He was taken into SOLDIER training not long after."

"Hojo…" Rosem spoke, "What exactly did you mean by saying it's not exactly a perfect situation? If all of you are free from Jenova's hold, then why wouldn't things be all right? Surely you've explained…"

"Rosem," Hojo interrupted, "Please, not now."

"What is it?" Lucrecia asked.

"My dear," Hojo said, "Rosem and I must discuss something, alone."

Lucrecia looked uncertainly at the two men, but she agreed and told them that she would be waiting in the living room with the others. After Hojo was sure that she was out of hearing range, he turned to his old friend and said, "Rosem, Lucrecia knows very little of the things that I did after she was taken from me. And I want to keep it that way."

Rosem blinked, "But she needs to know eventually…"

"Perhaps, but when she finds out, I want it to be from me and not from you in casual conversation."

"Ohhh, I understand."

"Good."

"But since it's just the two of us, you can answer my question. I noticed that while all of you were explaining your coming back, Sephiroth called you Hojo and he called Lucrecia Mother. What makes her so special and not you?"

"He has not forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what? Saving his life umpteen times?"

"He doesn't know about that."

"Why not?"

Hojo gritted his teeth and sat in a chair, "For one, he would not believe me if I told him. And what difference would it make now? All of it is in the past; over and done with. He does not hate me, I don't think. But he…it is difficult to explain."

"You can tell me, Hojo," Rosem sat beside Hojo and supported his hands on his cane, "You can tell me everything; you know that."

Hojo looked away, "I did all of this. I let Dr. Gast put the Jenova cells into Lucrecia. Isn't that unforgivable? But I've paid for it. Oh, heaven knows I paid for it, many times. Do you know what it is like…Can you even begin to imagine what it's like for your wife to be taken from you, to put your brother into a coffin because you turned him into a monster, for your own son to stare down at you and smirk as if you were an insect, to be the one to devise the worst form of slow execution, to murder a colleague and torture his wife to death, to have all of it on your conscience, and for your only thoughts from day to day a wish to go back and not make that one simple mistake that started the whole business. And then there was wondering what your life could have been like if you hadn't made that mistake, how you could have had a good life, with a wife and child that loved you, with friends, with peers that respected you… It isn't that difficult to imagine that Sephiroth would have a hard time forgiving the likes of me. I'm amazed that Lucrecia forgives me. She acts like nothing ever happened! But Sephiroth… I don't blame him. I never did. But it…"

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Rosem softly asked, "It's all right for it to hurt, you know. You're a human being like everyone else and don't you forget that. Wallowing in your hate was enough to make you miserable for thirty years. And basking in your own," Rosem held up two of his fingers like a quotation mark, "'immortality' was enough to get you killed."

Hojo sardonically chuckled, "I think people would have paid money to know if Shinra's mad scientist ever felt pain. I'm surprised Vincent didn't sell tickets to display my corpse in public. He would have made a tidy profit."

"…And you haven't said anything to Sephiroth about what happened? You need to, you know."

"He's stubborn; he won't listen."

"Kind of like you, hmm? Just give him time, Hojo…"

"I wish I had your certainty."

"One of these days he'll warm up to you; trust me."

Hojo did not respond but got up and left the room to go to the back of the house, away from the living room. Rosem sighed and rose slowly from his chair. He had always been Hojo's friend, even when Hojo committed the most terrible acts. Rosem knew that without his friendship, Hojo's deeds would have become even more horrible. Rosem owed his life to Hojo; that alone was enough for friendship. In all of his madness, Hojo never showed malice towards Rosem, even when Rosem openly disapproved of the things Hojo was doing. And here was Sephiroth, the compendium of all of Hojo's hopes and dreams, treating his father as if he were a cockroach, refusing even to address him as his father. That was something that Rosem would not stand for. Sephiroth's treatment of Hojo was like a pot calling a kettle black, in Rosem's humble but accurate opinion.

These blood tests wouldn't take very long; just a few hours at most. And after that, if he could manage it, Rosem would get Sephiroth alone with him for a little "chat". As sure as the day was long, that silver-haired muscle-head would get a nice, big piece of his mind.