It was dark when Sephiroth woke up again. Too dark. The only source of light the eerie mako glow coming from inside the main reactor chamber, it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust, for him to make out his surroundings.
Took him a few moments to realize that the throbbing in his arm was gone, that the crushing weakness he had felt had left his body.
And the good news didn't end there. He was alone. And almost more importantly... He was not bound anymore.
Stretching his arms out in front of him he made to wiggle all his fingers. They complied effortlessly.
It made the silver haired first class emit a relieved sigh.
Never had he felt so grateful for being able to control his body, for being able to move his muscles at his will.
It was carefully that he made to get up, was slowly that he put weight to his legs.
He was feeling so much better. Better than he'd felt in days, weeks, months maybe.
The mako gravings seemed to have left him entirely and so had the weekness, the crushing tiredness, the exhaustion, all those human ailments, suddenly they seemed gone for good.
He felt restored, felt refreshed, felt alive.
If only it would stay like this.
Maybe it would. Hojo had at least made it sound so.
Still. There was no way he could know for sure.
The girl...The voices in his head reminded.
Seemed they weren't gone after all.
Well. One could not expect to get everything at once. He was fine with the voices, he thought, if he could only keep his strenght, his stamina, his vitality. His freewill. It would be a fair bargain. More than fair actually.
Fetch the girl!
The voices were right of course. Strength returned or not, there was no time to waste right now.
Trying to make out his surroundings, he turned over to the other operation table.
There she was. Still lying on that table, exactly as he'd left her. Still unmoving, still unconscious.
She lay there in the exact same position. Bonds still loose. IV's still going into her body.
She looked almost dead.
Still. She was only unconscious. Sephiroth knew for sure. He could feel her through their bond. It was weak, yes, feeble, still, it was still there, buzzing in a corner of his mind.
It was slowly that he finally stepped up to her.
The bonds he had loosened the day before had not been readjusted, were still dangling from the side of the table, but the IV's in her arm, they were still in place.
His good old problems, they still had not changed.
Had Hojo been bluffing when he'd told him that they kept her alive?
He had to be...
And if he hadn't... Well... Sephiroth had managed to keep her alive before, had brought her back from the dead really. And he'd been in a far worse condition back then too. Surely he could do it again now.
'Lightning...' he whispered into the darkness.
There was silence. Just the low hum of electricity. The constant buzzing of the mako reactor.
'Claire...'
If only she would come around, if only she would wake up and open her eyes to tell him how she felt, to tell him what she knew, to tell him what had happened to their kids, to help him get them out of there.
But it seemed no use.
Connecting his Jenova cells to her to try and force her to wake up, the pink haired woman in front of him, she didn't even flinch.
Then it had to be without her.
It didn't matter really.
He'd just get those tubes out of her, then carry her outside and back to the village. With his newfound stamina it shouldn't exactly pose a problem.
He could return then. Return for Hojo and their kids.
Extending his arm to pull out one of the IV's it was very suddenly that the lights went on, flooding the whole room in a blazing white light and temporarily blinding the silver haired first class.
Suddenly professor Hojo stood behind him. He could feel it, sense it, rather than anything else. Knew it before the latter had even opened his mouth to speak.
'What are you doing?' he asked in his coldblooded high pitched voice.
It made Sephiroth waver. But only for a moment.
'I'm releasing her. You said you'd let them go.' he said matter of factly, didn't even make to turn around. Instead he reached forward pulling out one of the needles going into Lightning's arm.
'I never promised such a thing.' the professor stated, deadly calm.
It made the silver haired first clas spin around.
'Let her go!' he barked at the frail looking man in front of him and it was only a moment later that he found himself attack.
His freshly gathered strenght making him surge forwad, he found himself lunging at his enemy in what usually would have been a fatal stroke.
Professor Hojo threw him back into a wall with just one lazy blow of his suddenly inhumanly strong hand.
'You've become weak. Weaker than I would have thought. Weak and impatient. My new treatment has made you carless.' the professor observed as the silver haired man struggled back to his feet, shaking pieces of debries out of his waist lenght silver hair.
'I warned you not to do anything stupid.' Hojo clicked his tongue.
'But when did you ever listen...'
Sephiroth only furrowed his brow, didn't bother to respond.
He was busy studying Hojo's tubes and cables again, the ones that linked him up with Jenova, the ones that undoubdedly lent him his strenght.
If only he found a way to get rid of them...
'Well. It doesn´t matter.' Hojo went on obliviously. 'You wouldn´t have a chance against me either way.'
'Do you think I´ve been wasting my time when I had you bound in deepground? You think you can defy me? Think you could beat me? Trick me? I can make you heart stop beating with only a thought boy. So don´t you dare try anything funny with me or you´ll learn just how much I can do.' He said, his eye wandering over to Lightning's makeshift cot pensively, then back to Sephiroth again.
The silver haired first class found an unsettling maniac glint in them.
'Yes... Maybe it is time for you to see what you traded her life for in Deepground for real.' Hojo chuckled.
'Maybe it's time for you to find out just how much I can do.'
There was a weird kind of fluttery feeling in the silver haired man's ribcage and a moment later his heart cramped up altogether and Sephiroth found himself on his hands and knees, the cold hard floor swaying underneath him, his chest suddenly ablaze, lungs heaving.
Professor Hojo's manic laughter echoed endlessly.
The silver haired first class clutching his chest panically, he found his vision blurry, felt just pressure, tightness, pain, a squeezing aching sensation originating form beneath his shaking hand and spreading to his arm, his neck, his jaw, his back. Found his heaving lungs feel empty, felt a sickening cold sweat breaking out all over his skin, began to feel lightheaded. Dizzy.
He was dying. He was aware. Hojo was killing him, and with his bare thoughts only.
Somehow it was hard to grasp.
'Now... Will you do as I say or do you want me to end your pitiful life now and carry on with my other subjects?'
The professor's high pitched voice.
It echoed endlessly inside Sephiroth's tortured head.
There was nothing he could do.
His useless body wriggling on the floor in it's final attempts to set things straight, to survive really, the silver haired first class looked up at his torturer with hate, with spite, but with desperation too.
Yes, he was desperate.
There was no way he could save his family when he was dead.
There was only one right thing to do.
Using up his last remaining ounce of strenght he forced himself to nod his head.
It made professor Hojo chuckle.
'Say it.' the sadistic bastard ordered.
The man at his feet didn't answer, only clutched his chest in pain, face contorted into a mask of agony.
'SAY IT!' professor Hojo bellowed.
It made the shaking mass infront of him look up at him, grimace even harder.
His vision gone into a puff of blackness, his ears ringing with the emtiness that was his absent heartbeat, General Sephiroth Crescent forced his body to comply.
'I.. will... do... as you say...' the silver haired man managed to choke out with difficulty, his voice weak, raspy, barely there.
Professor Hojo looked at him sceptically.
'Please!'
It was the last thing he managed to choke out before he collapsed onto the floor entirely, body spasming, limbs flailing.
Maybe it was enough.
The cruel bespectacled man waited a few seconds longer, watched the body of his once so proud creation writhing in the throngs of death, waited for his eyes to roll into the back of his head, and for froth to bubble from his thin blue lips.
'Okay... Okay... I believe you. For now.' the professor decided finally.
Turning away from the pitiful creature on the floor, he quickly let go of the control chip connection, let all those vital organs resume their tasks again.
Heavy pants and needy gulps of air behind him telling him that he had released his victim just in time, the former head of the science department felt a shiver running down his spine.
He had to be more careful. He really had to. Had to control his temper. His pittiful little subject, he had almost killed him there. And eventhough pleasurable it was to see him writhing in the arms of panic, it would do no good to accidentlly kill him now. He needed him. He really did. But more than that he wanted him. Wanted to see him suffer. Again and again and again. Wanted to see just how much he could do to him. How far he could push him.
He had been waiting for this opportunity. Had been waiting for so long. Waiting to use his powers against the silver haired man he'd created, waiting to see him crumble.
Now finally his time had come.
The tall silver haired man once so proud, so strong, so boastful, compared to the professor's new aquired abilities, he was nothing.
'I could kill you on the spot. But I am gratefu.l' the bespectacled man informed.
'You see, all that time I could have pulled the trigger, could have put you out with only a single thought. But deep inside I knew you would return. Knew you would make yourself useful. I simply knew you would. Don't disappoint me now. I warn you. Don't disappoint me ever again.'
'The kids... What have you done to my kids...' the once proud warrior chocked out.
His vision had returned and so had his hearbeat.
Still, he was bleeding from his mouth where he had bitten his tongue, his lungs were still heaving, chest still burning where he continued to clutch it desperately.
Profssor Hojo shook his head.
'Pittifull. Just like your mother.' he said somewhat annoyedly.
'My mother?' Sephiroth gasped somewhat surprisedly.
'Oh yes.' professor Hojo answered in reply. 'She was protective of you too, you know. Wouldn't stop crying for her child, wouldn't stop wailing. Didn´t help her much in the end either.'
'My... My mother... cried?' Sephiroth repeated stupidly.
'But yes of course...' his torturer told him somewhat casually. 'Your human mother. You real mother. Lucrecia Crescent. God, was she brilliant... She really was. She was a scientist, you know. And a pretty good one. Made some important descoveries herself. Really important discoveries. But sadly she was weak too. Too weak.'
'My human mother... You never talked of her...'
It made Sephiorth look up in awe and in confusion. He had had a real human mother. He had been aware. A donor. But that she had cried for him... That she had wanted him... Never had the thought occured to him before.
'You never told me anything about her.'
Professor Hojo shrugged it off without further ado.
'It doesn't matter. She was worthless. She served only as your incubator. ' he announced decisively.
'But you seem to have something in common with her after all.' he added at an afterthought.
'She too was lying on the ground all the time, whimpering, begging for her baby, for you really. Ending her was more of a mercy really.'
Sephiroth could only stare.
He had had a mother. A real mother, other than Jenova. A mother who had wanted him. Who had wanted to keep him. Who had cried for him. Her name had been Lucrecia Crecent. And Hojo had killed her.
It was all too much at once, too much for his brain to take in.
Sephiroth quickly pushed the thought away again. Focused on the task at hand.
'What have you done with my kids?' he asked again, voice dripping with pain, with fear, with resignation, and it was only hesitantly that his hand came up to wipe away the blood on his cheek, his lips, his chin.
'Please. I want to see my kids.'
It was a useless attempt of course. He should have known.
He would never see his kids.
Not in this life.
He probably wouldn't live to see the surface of the world again.
'Oh my dear boy. Forget about them.' the professor simpered, looking down at the man still down on his knees in front of him.
'I don't know what you have been telling yourself but you could never be a father, you don´t even know what a father´s like, you don´t know anything about family. You are a killer, a soldier, a warrior. I have created you that way. You cannot be anything else. Not even if oyu want to.'
'I´m goign to be a better father than you.' Sephiroth snapped decisively.
Professor Hojo could only chuckle.
'Is that so?' he asked suddenly pensive.
'The only person you ever loved you submitted to terrible experiments, turned into a monster... We´re not so different you and I.'
Looking down at his creation knowingly, Hojo watched with delicious malice as his eyes went all defensive again.
'That was different. She would have died!' Sephiroth growled up at him defensively.
It was all the proof that Hojo needed.
'You didn´t do it for her, boy. You only did it for yourself. Because you couldn´t bear the thought of loosing her.'
He had touched a blank nerve, Hojo was aware.
The man in front of him slowly getting back onto his feet, it was with bated breath, with anticipation really, that the pprofessor watched his every move, watched him very closely.
Watched for any sign of disobedience, a tiny hint or clue that would give him the opportunity to punish him again, to send him back writhing at his feet.
It didn't come.
The silver ahired man in question stood infront him like a statue. Didn't dare to move.
'What will you teach your kids Sephiroth? War and destruction?' the professor teased, trying to provoke him further. But it seemed no use.
'No, it will be nothing like that.' the silver haired first class said instead.
Professor Hojo fnding hismself disappointed, he followed the silver haired first class's gaze wander over to his pink haired counterpart.
'You two are nothing but two monsters breeding. I should put you down.' he spat.
'Now get back on your table.'
General Sephiroth Crescent didn't make to move.
'Get. Back. On. That table. Now. Or i will make you.' the rofessor warned, reaching for the kill switch connection, ready to send the man infront of him into nirvana.
'What have you done to them?'
His voice was weak, brittle. It made Hojo look up into his face.
His perfect deadly super soldier, once so strong so, unrelenting, suddenly he stood infront of him with tears shining in his mako eyes.
'What have you done to my kids?' the silver ahired first class asked again, despair shining in his mako eyes, defeat.
It made professor Hojo roll his eyes.
'They are safe don't worry.' he told him somewhat compliantly.
'They are in excellent condition actually. Two perfectly bred specimen, fresh from the source.'
It made Sephiroth lash out for him. Or at least try to. For the professor stopped him instantly. Stopped him with only a tiny thought.
'Ah-Ah-Ah... Stop that. Or do you want another demonstration of my powers?' the professor asked, feeling rather tempted.
General Sephiroth Crescent only shut his mouth.
He was in Hojo´s claws for real this time. There was no escaping, was no flight. He had been hoping, praying, wishing, dreaming of a tiny single chance. But all his hopes, his prayer, wishes, dreams, had crumbled into nothingness as Hojo had demonstrated his new gained abilities.
There was nothing he could do. No loophole, no resort. There simply wasn't. And he had been deluding himself to think so.
He was screwed. Would stay in Hojos clutches until the end of his days and so were Lightning and his kids, were his family.
All those innocent people, they should have never been here, wouldn't have been here had he only had the guts to come here earlier.
It was that thought more than anything else that pained his tortured heart, his mind.
'Well. It is time. You were running wild long enough. It's time you returned to your duties.' the professor decided as he made the silver haired first class walk over to his place on the operation table again.
'What were you doing out there anyway, thinking you could defy your destiny?'
His most precious subject lying down obediently, professor Hojo made to fetch his things.
There still was lots of work to do.
'Well... The mako is not longer a weakness of yours. Now we'll make sure to get rid of the other... Malfunctions of your's. We cannot let you face your mother with all those petty imperfections can we?'
Looking over at Lightning's unconscious form, he gave one of his malicious smiles.
'Say goodbye to your beloved girlfriend.' he adviced.
'By the time you wake up you will have forgoten who she was.'
Another needle being rammed into the crook of his arm, Sephiroth almost didn't feel it.
He felt numb, felt hollow, empty. Dead.
What had he done?
What had he gotten them all into?
His wife, his kids, his family...
He had presented them to Hojo on a silver plate. Had led them to the chopping block.
Would Lightning ever open up her eyes?
Would she have a chance to escape?
What about his kids?
Would he ever get a chance to see them? Hold them? Feel them?
Would he even want to? Would he even bother, care?
Suddenly he wasn't sure.
If Hojo could remove his mako cravings, he surely could erase his feelings for them, his love, his affection, or could he?
He can't.
He can't take that away from you.
The voices in his head began.
You will always be craving the reunion.
It made him feel sick to his stomach. Almost made him throw up in fact.
The effects from Hojo's treatment starting to kick in, Sephiroth felt his conscious waning, felt his vision flicker, fade, to then vanish completely.
There was only the sound of generators, the gentle hum of electricity, the thudding of his heartbeat. And the professor's high pitched voice as he leaned down to whisper into his ear.
'Once I am done with you I´ll go over to the next room and start on your wife and kids.'
'There is nothing you can do.'
'A good father you have made indeed.'
'AHAHAHAHHHAHHAAAAAA!'