It was dark when Lightning entered the main reactor chamber. The only source of light were a set of overhead lamps illuminating the tank in the middle as well as the workbench standing next to it with professor Hojo and the green sheen of the mako bubbling a hundred meters below her, ready to swallow her within it's depth.
The thought of it made the pink haired female swallow.
The metal grilled gangways looked old and rusty, ready to give way at any moment. Still. She had crossed them once already when she had first arrived. She remembered that now. Shortly before she had encountered Hojo.
Come...
Come to me.
There it was again. That eerie whisper, that creepy foreign voice, that had led her into the reactor, speaking within her head now.
Was it coming from the woman in the tank? Was this Jenova's voice speaking in her head? Or were it her own jenova cells, craving the reunion?
Lightning wasn't sure.
The only thing she was sure of was that Hojo deserved death, could not be left to roam the surface of Gaia freely. No. Not ever again.
It was one careful step after the other that slowly she approached, the heavy metal crowbar she had found in the control room was clutched tightly in her sweaty hands.
'Welcome back.' the mad professor greeted her once she was in hearing range.
He didn't sound surpirsed to see her at all, had somehow sensed her presence all along, didn't even look up once from whatever it was he was doing on the workbench in front of him.
'Why don´t you bring your lovely offsprings. I watched you collecting them from my replication device.' he said, pointing towards a tiny screen next to a control panel set atop his workbench.
It made Lightning pause. But only for a moment.
'I´ve come to kill you.' she announced as finally she stepped into the light, face set into a determined scowl, crowbar at the ready.
Hojo could only laugh at her.
It was an eerie crazy sound that reverberated off the steely walls end echoed endlessly in the reactor.
It made Claire Crescent shiver.
'Why don't you come over here and watch my next experiment? It is almost ready, you know.' he finally announced.
Lightning only stared.
The bespectacled man infront of her finally turning around to look at her, it was with his characteristic malicious joy that he tugged at his jenova powers, made to use his control chip, to sent the insolent sepcimen infront of him writhing at the floor. But it was to no avail.
The woman with the crowbar, she simply stood there a few meters away from him. Completely unfazed. Unaffected.
'Ah yes... I forgot...' the professor mused.
Of course.
He hadn't undertaken her those modifications yet. Had been to busy with the replication process and with the preperations for the final stage of his experiement.
Well. It didn't really matter.
'Hmmm... This is going to be interesting.'
The professor give a creepy little snicker.
It left Claire Crescent stare at him confusedly.
What was the madman planning to do next?
Build a giant world destruction machine?
Lightning didn't know, found she didn't really care.
The professor was insane, obviously. And she had come to end this. Him.
It was taking one determined step forward that she raised the crowbar up above her head.
He was going to pay for everything he'd done. For everyting he'd done to them, to her, to everyone.
And he was going to pay now.
The professor only shook his head.
'Step forward, pet.' he ordered, making Lightning arch her brow, wondering whether he was talking to her, to himself, or someone else entirely.
And it was a moment later that her heart dropped to her feet.
There was movement in the shadows cast by jenova's tank, catlike predatory movements, and it was a second later that the silver haired man from her dreams stepped into the light.
'Sephiroth!' Lightning called out for him, called out his name.
The silver haired general emerging from the shadows, he didn't give a sign that he had heard, did not make to react at all.
His face set into an impassive cold mask.
Expression blank, he approached the two of them with slow deliberate strides.
He was wearing labclothes, one of the plain white shirt pant combination people wore at hospitals and he turned towards Hojo in an eerily mechanical manner that made Lightning's blood run cold.
He simply stood there motionless, ignoring his wife all together, eyes all set on the professor, as patiently he awaited his master's orders.
A perfect obedient super soldier. A handsome controllable killer machine.
That was exactly what he was.
'Seize her.' Hojo commanded and the man in front of her obliqued.
Suddenly it all made sense. Suddenly she did remember. Sephiroth coming to her aid... It had not been a dream. He had been there in the control room for real. Had come after her, had come to her rescue. Had made to release her from Hojo's operation table.
She had tried to warn him, but she had been weak. She had blacked out again. Had been of no use.
She had stamped it all a dream, a vision, an aftermath from the narcotics, but it had all been real.
It really had.
And the scene that was developing in front of her. Sadly it was real too.
The man she had once thought her husband had turned into the man from her nightmares.
Turning away from his new crowned master he made towards her, decended the steps in slow predatory movements.
It made Lightning almost shit her pants.
'No... Sephiroth...'
The impenetrable killer mask firmer in place than she had ever seen, it were not his impassive face or his eerie slow deliberate movements that made her innards turn to ice. It was the savage pedatory glint in his eyes, the calculated killer stare, cold as steel, telling her he was about to rip her into pieces, that made her heart stop beating, made her blood run cold.
'What have you done to him, you bastard?!' Lightning heard herself cry out.
But it was no use.
The professor watching from above his platform giving one of his crazy laughs, Claire Crescent watched in horror as the supersoldier in front of her approached.
Lightning barely found the strenght to breathe.
There he was.
Sephiroth.
Her husband.
The man she loved.
Approaching her, ready to kill her.
His predatory killer eyes staring into her devastated icy blue ones as though he could kill her with his thoughts alone, for the first time in years Lightning found that she was scared of him, was scared of what he could do. Would do.
In a matter of seconds he would rip her apart, tear her insides out, rip her head off, or whatever.
And there was nothing she could do.
He was stronger than her. Much more skilled. Had always been. And now she was injured, exhausted and weak.
And there was more of course... Coldblooded killer or not. The man infront her was the man she loved. No matter what he did to her, no matter what would happen, she couldn't, wouldn't bring herself to hurt him.
No. She was done fighting. Done fighting him.
The crowbar she had brought as her only means of defense, it was with a deafening clutter that it dropped to the ground.
This was not the man she had married. No. There was nothing left of him, the Sephiroth whome she once knew. This was not her lover, her former mentor, the father of her children. This was the bloodthirsty monster, the killer, she knew slumbered within all of them.
Still. There was no way that she could hurt him, she didn't even want to try.
The man infront her might not be her husband anymore. But she still loved him. Loved him with all her heart.
She never could forgive herself.
Not that it mattered really.
Soon she was going to be dead or worse. They all were. Dead or turned into meaningless slaves, like Sephiroth.
That was what the professor had been planning for all of them.
That much she knew for sure now.
Maybe she'd rather be dead than that.
'Seize her. Now.' Hojo's voice rang out and suddenly the mako eyed death angel in front of her surged forward.
There was a short pause. A short moment of struggle in those beautiful green eyes. Torment really. Displayed on his features. Then it was gone and his face morphed back into the inpenetrable killer mask Lightning remembered from her first few weeks in SOLDIER.
The man infront of her charged forwards for real and Lightning felt herself thrown into the air and catapulted up onto the platform where she found herself brutally pinned to Jenova's glass tank, all air knocked out of her aching lungs.
Fuck, he was fast. And he was strong. Was stronger than she did remember. Was stronger than her definitely. And by a fair amount too. Was that the strenght he'd been watering down for her in all those trainings, in all the sparrings with Genesis and Angeal?
Claire Crescent didn't know.
All she knew was that she so infinitely regretted it. All her stupid actions of the past few days. All the things that she had done.
She should have stayed away from here, should have stayed back home. Should have taken her children and run at least.
Because this. This wasn't a fight that she could win.
Even if she could kill Hojo. There was still the matter of Sephiroth. Would he return to normal once the professor had been dealt with?
Somehow Claire Farron doubted it.
Professor Hojo's treatments seldom were reversible.
'Put her back into the control room. Back onto that table.' professor Hojo barked and Lightning felt herself dragged off her feet, hauled to the other end of the walkway and thrown onto the steely surface of yet another operation table.
The impact made her nerve ends scream.
Oh fuck it, she was done for. She was done.
The man infront of her, he could rip her into pieces with his two bare hands, would have done so if professor Hojo had ordered him to.
It made Lightning's remaing hope slip into nothingness.
There she was.
A tiny helpless girl. Writhing on a tabletop. Her belly bleeding from beneath the tightly wrapped adhesive tape and her back aching as though she'd been hit by a train.
Just a helpless girl. Without allies, without weapons, without hope. All she had were a gone mad husband and three newborn kids hidden in a cupboard.
What would happen to her babies once the professor had dealt with her?
The thought of it, it made her shiver, made her ready to throw up.
She couldn't help them now, couldn't protect them anymore. Couldn't even protect herself.
It was over. Game over. For her, for all of them.
All she could hope for was that they'd stay silent now, would not attract their father's attention and get themselves discovered.
Then again it would not help them either...
Not if she couldn't find a way to escape.
'Secure her!' professor Hojo's cruel voice ordered from the reactor core.
'And make sure the bonds sit tightly!'
Oh fuck she was screwed.
She so was.
They all were.
The silver haired monster approaching her again, Lightning began to cry.
'Sephiroth... Please.' she pleaded, looking up into his cold green killer eyes.
There was no tiny flicker of mercy in those deep green depths of mako, no glimmer of hope.
There was nothing at all. Not even hate.
They had gone completely blank, empty. Dead.
As if he didn't even recognize her.
It made Lightning despair.
Had Hojo erased his memories? Had he reset his mind?
Was this even possible?!
'No... Please...' she cried now, sobbing uncontrollably as the alien killer in front of her made to fasten her to the table.
It happened suddenly and unexpectedly.
The moment that he reached out for her, their skin came into contact and Claire Crescent felt her husband's cells reach out for her.
Their it was. Their precious bond. Steady and firm and strong.
Lightning used it to send a tiny silent plea.
Please... It's me... You have to remember...
The silver haired first class leaning now above her, Lightning found his expression change, found the steely coldness in his eyes melt into regret, fear.
There he was. The man she loved, somewhere burried deep beneath the alien killer mask.
'Sephiroth!' she exclaimed, trying to reach out for him.
If only she could reach him, pull him back to the surface...
She felt herself pinned back against the table instantly.
For a few long moments, the man infront her only stared at her.
Concentrating hard on every little patch of skin that she could feel on top of her own, Lightning used their connection to reach out for him again, focused on finding him again, to bring him back to the surface.
But it seemed no use.
The face above her's stayed impassive, stayed closed off.
'Sephiroth?!' She kept trying tentatively.
'What is taking you so long pet? Get it done with!' Hojo's voice rang out, made the silver haired man look up.
It made Lightning fight agaist his steely hold, made her kick and wriggle as hard as she possibly could.
There was no time.
She had to think of something, think of something good. And now.
'Sephiroth, look at me! Please look at me!' she urged, trying to reach him through heir bond with all her might again and again, in the end it seemed to be no use.
The man above her had fixed her with his weight, begun to strap her down for good.
It made Claire Crescent cry out in frustration.
'Please... I know you're in there... please...!' she yelled again and again, made to fight against her fixtures.
The silver haired man didn't stop.
Pinning her arm to the table top, he retrieved the thick dark leather straps, fastened them around her wrist.
Their bodies were flush against each other's now. Lightning couldn't move.
'Sephiroth...' she cried defeatedly.
It was no use. The man on top did not release her, didn't even budge.
He whispered into her ear though, so low she almost hadn't caught it.
'Please stop moving.' he had said.
And his voice was not the feral growl Lightning would have expected.
It was broken and brittle and vulnerable and weak.
'Sephiroth what is going on?' she began to whisper back, relief washing over her at hearing the tone of his very human voice.
'You have no idea what he's been doing. We have to kill him...We-'
The man atop her only nodded his head against her neck before leaning away again he made to look into her eyes.
Suddenly the predatory killer stare was gone and there was only the pained gaze of the man she'd taken as her husband.
The man she loved.
Suddenly he looked defeated, looked helpless, vulnerable, and small.
'Sephiroth?' she called out somewhat wearily.
He made to work on her bonds again.
'Are they save? Have you found them?' he whispered from the other side of her head.
Claire Crescent gave a nod.
'They're safe. I found them. I took them... They are in one of the cabinets.' she replied in an equally almost non existent voice.
'Good. I want you to take them and leave.' Sephiroth said decisively.
It made Lightning's eyes go huge.
'Please.'
The silver haired first class looking up again with pleading mako eyes, Lightning found that this time she could not comply.
She was not a third class anymore. He was not her superior and children waiting in a cupboard or not, she was not going to leave him behind alone.
They were leaving all together. Or noone would at all.
'No... Sephiroth we have to kill him.' she contered him decisively.
The man atop her give a tortured groan.
'We can't... It is impossible.' he said through gritted teeth.
It made Lighning go rigid.
'It's not him. It's Jenova.' he quickly made to explain. 'He's drawing his strenght from her. He's planning to merge with her completely.'
Claire Crescent eyes went huge. It was not what she had expected. It was worse.
'Then we have to prevent it.'
It was all that she could say before Sephiroth gave her a tiny shake.
'Lightning listen. This isn't your fight.' he growled. 'And it should have never been. It was me who dragged you into this. Into all of this. This is my battle and I will fight it. I will end it.'
It left the pink haired female beneath him completely unimpressed.
'We'll take them on together.' she just stated bluntly.
'You cannot take him on all by yourself.'
It was the last thing that she said before Hojo's voice rang out again.
'Are you done yet or what?! Plant yourself over here, we're ready. It's about to begin.'
'Lightning...Please.' the silver haired man atop her begged her. 'Just take the kids and leave. Please.'
She felt his smooth hot lips against the skin of her neck, moving in a soft caress and then he was gone. Away from her and over by professor Hojo's side once more.
Lightning could not believe it. What exactly was his plan?
What was he going ot do?
What was he waiting for exactly?
If only he had told her that...
Giving a frustrated sigh Lightning realised he had left one of her bonds open, leaving her left arm free.
Now she understood.
It was her path to freedom. Was her ticket to safety.
It was with his impassive killer mask back in place that Sephiroth approached professor Hojo.
'And now?' he asked with odd mechanical killer voice.
'Hmmm... I think I will keep you as my lapdog.' Hojo said.
'Sit.'
General Sephiroth Crescent didn't move.
'You can watch me merge with Jenova now. The show is about to begin.'
Busy fastening some of the last gauges and tubes, attaching some to his already prepared arm, professor Hojo didn't realize the man behind him was still standing on his feet.
It was moving silently and carefully that he made to the place were Lightning had dropped her crowebar.
It was a stupid idea of course, a futile attempt, doomed to fail from the beginning. Still it was everything he had.
He had to divert Hojo's plans. Had to keep him from completing his experiemnt. This wasn't about his life anymore either or Lightning's or their kids, this was about all mankind, was about the existence of the planet really.
This was his one last final chance.
His last chance to set things right.
If only he could come up with a better idea, a more successful plan. But no. This was all he could think of, everything he had.
He had almost reached the crowbar when the professor realized he had gone.
'Back to your place, pet.' he ordered 'Do as you are told.'
The silver haired first class didn't move, simply raised a brow instead.
'Ah... I see.' Hojo said as he looked up from his work somewhat disappointedly.
'Seems your malfunction is generic.'
There was a flicker of malicious joy in the professor's haughty features and Sephiroth felt him tugging at the killswitch again, made his heart give tiny desperate flutters.
'Is that all you can do, you coward?!' Sephiroth's husky voice rang out. 'In a fair fight I'd kill you.'
Professor Hojo only laughed his creepy laugh. The sound of it more horrible than ever.
'Oh my dear boy, there is no such thing as a fair fight for me anymore. I have become too strong.'
Sephiroth had to agree with him on that one. True. Hojo could stop his heart beating, could stop his legs moving, could stop his lungs breathing. He was transforming into a super alien before their very eyes. A super alien with inane power, speed and strenght, but there was one thing he still had Hojo could not take control of. He still had his body weight.
Weight and physics. Those were two things the professor hadn't managed to control yet.
Edging closer to the platform, Sephiroth raised the crowbar up above his head.
'Prove it.'
Hojo was standing with his back to the mako. Dangerously close to the edge of the platform in fact, as surely only a megalomaniac like him would do. Or a madman.
Well. This man was both. And he was sure of himself, his victory.
Hubris never had done anyone any good.
And this man. He was full of it. Thought himself so close to becoming a god that he had forgotten about the worldly dangers of gravity.
'You aren't here to kill me Sephiroth.' the profesor reasoned as he turned back to his gauges, made to adjust the last few things. 'You could have done so a hundred times before and you never had the guts to do it. You should have done it. It is out of your reach now. Completely exceeds your competences, I'm afraid.'
'You cannot hurt me.' he reminded him, tugging at the bond again making his heart skip a beat or two.
Another subtle reminder of all the things he could do. Sephiroth was aware.
It made him backpedal. Made him rethink his plan.
Hojo stood too far away. Wouldn't let him any closer now that he knew he was a threat.
It had been stupid to reveal that. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Still. He'd had no choice. He had to keep Hojo busy, had to divert him from changing into Jenova entirely.
It was too late it seemed...
The bespactcled man giving another crazy laugh, Sephiroth found Hojo's skin beging to ripple, found his body beginning to transform.
The experiment had been set into motion and there was no way it could be stopped.
'Watch this Sephiroth. It's evolution. The next big step for mankind.' the professor yelled, his arms and legs slowly elongating, growing, turning into feet long razor claws.
It made the silver haired first class swallow.
The situation was dire. There wasn't really a way he could win. He couldn't overpower Hojo in a fight. It was true. Even without the killswitch there would have been no way he could be overpowered anymore. Not even if he and Lightning had attacked together.
Sephiroth and her had a few strains of alien DNA. Hojo had the whole damn thing. Never had he found himself in a situation like that. This hopeless. With an opponent so utterly superior. With himself so utterly defenseless. Utterly inferior, cornered, useless, defenseless. Weak. That was what he was.
All his logical calculations pointed towards surrender.
And yes, he would have surrendered there, would have let himself taken captured, would have served a new master or whatever it took to stay alive. He wasn't the dying for honor kind of person like Angeal. He would have done whatever he could to stay alive. But it wasn't his life he was fighting for anymore this time. And it wasn't for Shin-Ra either.
This time he was fighting for the woman he loved. Was fighting for his newborn children, was fighting for his family. Their safety. Their future. A future in a world without terror, without fear. In a world without Hojo. In a world without him...
There simply was no way around.
This was the way to do it. And this was the moment. The golden opportunity.
He might not get another.
Hojo would not be busy with transforming forever.
And it was without waisting another thought that he surged forward, darting straight at Hojo and the metal rayling close behind him.
Physics didn't bend to the will of god's.
Well. At least not to this one.
To protect his family, his petty life, in his opinion, it was a meager price to pay.