Greetings everyone! It's been a long time! (Very long, by the way, sorry about that!) I ended up moving away from this story and stopped writing completely since the end of last year and just recently I started looking again at my projects to resume them. Although I have most of The Price of Freedom's plot in my head, I had to reread the story again to take in the plot's essence and get back to where I left off. I said when I started this that I wouldn't stop writing until I finish it and I really don't intend to abandon this story, I hope I can get back to it with faster updates. :)
Thank you for reading and I hope you like the chapter.
The Price of Freedom
"Why? I'm the one... who should apologize."
Vincent Valentine - FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus
†
Affinity
Lucrecia took a deep breath, exhaling the air from her lungs slowly and shaky, as imperceptible as possible. The scientist was sitting next to her workstation completely still, she should be monitoring the results of their current experiment that were constantly updated on her computer screen, but the woman couldn't take her eyes off the scene that occurred in the next room separated only by a wall of glass.
Allen was partially conscious, tied to a chair in the center of the place with his colleagues around him, preparing to apply the second dose of the substance with Jenova cells she had made. The man didn't even resemble the scientist she knew; formerly always excited and active, now he seemed so off that couldn't take in anything that was happening around him. His eyes were cloudy and unfocused, staring ahead to nowhere, sweat was running down his face and his body was shaking slightly, a symptom that was registered three hours after the first application.
Hojo was standing a little further ahead, next to the wall glass; his black eyes watched the progress of the experiment with a circumspect and indecipherable countenance. It was impossible to say what the scientist was actually thinking.
One of the assistants inside the room looked at their direction.
"Sir, the vital signs are stable, but he isn't recognizing us or outlining any reaction to the stimulus we have been provoking for the past few hours. His body has started to absorb the applied dose, but there is still more than 70% of absorption yet to go."
Lucrecia stared Allen's face, pale and unresponsive, and in that moment that was so long as the time Hojo took to reflect to himself on the current results of the operation, the woman wondered if the man tied in the chair had really consented to participate or if in any way he had been coerced into undergoing the procedure. Her inquiries, however, went unanswered as the scientist's voice sounded ordering.
"Administer the second dose and increase the content by 35%."
"What?!" She couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief and Hojo didn't even glance at her, his attention remained fixed on the scene ahead.
The woman's brown eyes went to the monitors at her desk and she watched with concern the high rates of the substance spread by Allen's body which, although not totally rejected, wasn't being entirely accepted neither; if they continue to increase the dose beyond what was initially scheduled and carry out the applications without waiting for total absorption of what had been already administered, Allen could have serious life-threatening side effects.
Lucrecia suddenly raised her head and opened her mouth to contest, but her voice got stuck in her throat when her gaze fell on the experiment taking place and saw one of the lab assistants finishing the second application.
The reaction was immediate; Allen's body writhed violently against the bonds and a startling cry like one that Lucrecia never imagined it possible to come out of a human mouth sprang from the man's throat and the woman froze, feeling herself shiver internally. Wide-eyed and completely petrified, she watched Allen scream and twist in his chair for ten minutes that seemed so long as an entire hour, it was a sound that seemed to split his lungs in half until his voice became hoarse and disappeared fully; his mouth remained open in a silent cry of suffering, the veins leapt against his skin, his eyes rolled back and his body suddenly gave way. Allen lost consciousness.
The woman remained paralyzed in her seat, her fingers held the armbands so tightly that they became white and Lucrecia had to force herself to remember once again that what they were doing was for the greater good of science and mankind.
Hojo remained impassive all the time.
...
"You never told me... why the prophecy says that Chaos holds the key to two choices in his hands."
The eight-year-old boy spoke to the cetra master in that late afternoon after they finished training.
"...in one hand he will carry the key of hope to renew this world; in the other he shall bring the destruction of all... Why there is a possibility that I choose to destroy this world... if all that I love is here? My friends... My family?"
Guildark suddenly stopped walking and his apprentice stood beside him, watching the man's countenance whose caramel eyes were lost ahead in a faraway gaze.
"Guildark?" The silver-haired boy called again.
"There is something about the Cetra that I didn't tell you, Vincent..." The master sighed, closing his eyes. "An ancient transgression that was also one of the main causes for the circle of creation to be broken, and this has a directly influence in your ancestral past."
Vincent frowned.
"And why aren't you going to tell me now?"
"Because Chaos..." Guildark opened his eyes to look at his apprentice tenderly. "When the time comes to make one of these two choices, you will remember..."
...
In the late hours of the night, when most of the other inhabitants of Shinra Manor had already retired to their rooms, Lucrecia remained alone in the main laboratory, typing nonstop on the keys on her computer's keyboard, entering information and making projections for their current experiment. The few assistants who were still awake monitored Allen's condition in the other room and didn't come to disturb her.
The scientist was focused on the holographic screen that again started the simulation sequencing of the third dose application in experiment No. 15478, as this was the name that Professor Hojo started calling Allen from the moment the man was tied to the chair. She shook her head, her attention wandered for a brief moment and she rubbed her face; the gesture did nothing to ease the tension and discomfort the woman was feeling.
She couldn't change her colleague's name and just call him by a number as Professor Hojo seemed to do it so simply and unimportantly. For God's sake, the young scientist had been working with her less than a day! It wasn't just an experiment… he was someone, a person who was trapped in that room…
Collaboration for the advancement of science. The older scientist's words came to her, accompanied by the non-human cry that the man had given when he received the second dose, and she involuntarily shuddered.
Her computer displayed a small beep that caught her attention again and Lucrecia immediately looked at the screen to see that none of her alterations had caused any significant changes to the simulation she had designed. The woman shook her head, unable to accept it; there should be some way to control the reactions that the doses were causing Allen, some way to make his body more likely to absorb the content without experiencing drastic response or cause severe side effects, to make his body interpret the process as something natural and less forced.
The woman immersed herself entirely in her research and didn't notice the hours passing, nor did she notice the Turk's presence, leaning against the lab's entrance door and watching her for several minutes until after a silent sigh he finally decided to speak and break the silence.
"Forcing yourself to work to the point of exhaustion is not going to change whatever happened, Lucrecia."
The woman jumped in surprise; she rolled around in the chair and stared at him with wide eyes and slightly breathless.
"Vincent! I ... I didn't realize you were there."
The man shrugged, and composing herself, Lucrecia inquired about his words sounding a little uncertain and cautious.
"How... how do you know what we did...?"
"I don't; from your countenance I can only assume that your experiments haven't been going as you expected. When you are excited about something your face radiates it."
The scientist frowned at her friend's sober gaze; she had again that strange feeling that the Turk seemed to know more about what was going on in the labs than he let on, but it could also be her tired mind doing absurd tricks and assumptions. Vincent was just a bodyguard who patrolled the mansion and the entrance to the laboratories without any direct involvement in the experimentation rooms, he couldn't really know what they were doing and Lucrecia didn't know why she was so uncomfortable with the idea of Vincent knowing about Allen; in fact she couldn't say why she was feeling uncomfortable with it.
It was for the greater good of science and humanity.
Vincent asked her then.
"Want to talk?"
The woman turned back her attention to the screen where the simulation icon was still flashing without changes and shook her head.
"No, I..." Lucrecia sighed and rested her face in one hand. "I don't... think you would understand."
"My father is a scientist; it's not like I don't understand some things about it, as tedious as they seem to me."
The Turk countered and the scientist looked at him for a moment in silence, reconsidering. Grimoire's mention made her feel a great longing in her heart; she missed the days she had worked with him in those same laboratories really feeling that they were advancing together in the ways of knowledge and science. If she and Hojo were working towards the same goal, why did it sometimes seemed so different?
Shaking her head, Lucrecia decided to say.
"We are working on the development of a substance that could become a great discovery for the advancement of mankind; my project is indeed going as I planned, but we are going too fast; I wanted to run a few more tests before we started to put it in execution."
"And did you talk to your... colleague about this?" Vincent inquired and managed to hide the distaste in his tone.
"I talked, but ..." The woman frowned thoughtfully. "He's right... if we don't go accelerate now while we have the opportunity, we may not have a chance to explore more options later."
Vincent took a few steps inside the room and stopped near the workstation where the woman was; he crossed his arms on his chest and watched her.
"And what do you think of it?"
She stared at him confused
"What do you mean?"
"The project is also yours, Lucrecia. If you are working on something that is intended to be a major contribution to science, it should also make you happy and not make you lose any sleep."
That made the scientist sit up straighter, her brown eyes shone brightly.
"I'm satisfied! What we do is for the greater good. I'm not worried, I just don't feel like going to sleep yet and I'm taking the opportunity to analyze some of the procedures."
The Turk raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"You should stop creating justifications for yourself."
Lucrecia's eyes widened and she began to feel a spark of irritation rising inside her.
"I don't understand what you're getting at with this, Vincent."
"If you don't agree with all the steps in what you're doing or the methods you're using, then intervene on it."
The man went straight to the point; countless times in the past he had been sticking to the sidelines in silence while watching Lucrecia slowly languish at the miserable choices she had made, because neither he nor anyone else had said in her face what she really needed to hear at the time to make a change of attitude. He knew that he couldn't force the woman to stop making the same mistakes that the two of them had made together, but he could make her think, start to awaken in her the real desire to question it. Lucrecia would need to see for herself the path she was taking and consciously choose to change direction.
A second chance to fix the past would be worthless if people didn't change too.
The scientist felt his words strike directly and Lucrecia thought of Allen, the experiment earlier and her own inertia.
"Sometimes we have no choice..." She justified, more to herself than to her friend. "We must do what is necessary."
"We make our own choices and the result is nothing more than a reflection of them." Vincent said quietly and gently, but his tone also sounded bitter and Lucrecia shook her head.
"Why are you even giving an opinion on this?"
The Turk did not hesitate to respond sincerely.
"Because I don't think you are 100% sure that what you are working on is really what you would like to do."
The woman took a deep breath and her hands trembled on the workstation; her gaze met his and she said slowly.
"I don't have to give you an in-depth explanation of my researches, Vincent."
"And I'm not asking for them." The man agreed, adding. "It's you who have to think about whether or not they are really worth it."
Lucrecia suddenly stood up, feeling irritation boil in her veins.
"I know exactly what I'm doing!" She exclaimed loudly and her voice echoed in the laboratory. "I am one of the people leading the team and nothing happens in this manor without my knowing or authorizing!"
Vincent didn't hold the snort that escaped his lips and Lucrecia noticed the irony contained in the gesture.
"You are undermining my authority on the project."
"I'm not." Turk replied blandly. "I just advise that you should stop seeing only what you want to see, Lucrecia."
The woman then threw her arms far wide around herself.
"So please tell me, Mr. Valentine," Lucrecia said sarcastically. "Give me an example of something that is right in front of me and I can't see it!"
Vincent looked at her in silence for a full minute and Lucrecia met his gaze without retreating, arms crossed over her white coat and defiant posture. Slowly the man moved from where he was standing and approached her; the woman followed him waiting impatiently, until her friend had stopped in front of her just a step away.
"This... is one of them." He spoke before leaning down and sealing their lips in a kiss.
