Final Fantasy 7: The Hojo Clone
By Co V Schuler
Part 3: The Lifestream's Fate
Chapter 27 (Continued a few minutes after the end of Chapter 26)
Vincent slowly woke up.
He was in a large cage, Tifa, a bleeding Red XIII, and Sharon Hatch. All were unconscious.
"So he awakens. The vampiric freak of nature." Vincent immediately recognized the voice. Hojo.
Vincent sat up and looked in Hojo's direction. Hojo said, "I hope you enjoyed Sharon. I knew she would betray you or me. Which is one reason why-," he gestured at the entrance of the room, "-I have a back-up."
Sharon Hatch walked into the room. She was same as the one in the cage, only her arms were slightly more buff and her face showed a little more discipline.
Vincent's eyes darted from the Sharon in the cage and the Sharon that had just come in…then it hit him. Clones!
"So Hojo did accomplish his mission about the clones. I take you are not the original Hojo, are you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I take it that the Sharon with me is the original Sharon and that Aeris has been dead since…since the original Sephiroth killed her."
Hojo nodded in agreement. "Very good. But of course, I will always have the pleasure of giving love to Lucrecia…"
"Son of a BITCH," Vincent yelled.
Hojo put his hand on his mouth, trying to hide a smile.
Sharon laughed; the clone Sharon. And then Aeris walked into the room. Vincent eyes widened and he realized it. You could clone a clone. The thought hadn't hit him yet, but it did make sense.
"Hello Aeris," Vincent said blandly.
She smiled a smile, then replied, "I heard you killed my dear sister."
Vincent said, with an honest voice, "I didn't enjoy it." Aeris smiled and shook her head. Then her face changed to a somber, sad face. "How could you do it to me? Why Vincent? Why did you shoot me?" Suddenly Aeris fell to the floor, crying.
Vincent felt tears come to his eyes and they fell over his masked face. "I-I-I didn't have a choice. You were going to kill me."
Aeris shoulders shook and her hands covered her face. Then she removed her hands; she had been laughing. Hojo burst with laughter and Zack entered the room.
He had bruises on his cheek and one on his left temple. "When do we kill them," he asked coldly.
Before Hojo could reply, Vincent asked, "Tell me Hojo. How could these clones hurt us? They know we are their friends?"
Hojo laughed. "Did you think I could, or would for that matter, duplicate their personalities? You stupid fool. When they are cloned, they start with whatever personalities the original have, but as time progresses, they develop their own."
"I should have been obsessed with Sephiroth and Meteor and all that shit that my original had… but as time went on, I forgot about them, and started my own maddening experiments."
Vincent nodded his head. "And why in the world did you clone Sephiroth?"
Hojo smiled. He answered: "I wanted my son back." The way he answered, Vincent realized, it sounded like he was protecting him. Hojo…liked Sephiroth?
"So why all the clones? Why bring back Jenova? Why turn the Planet into a worse hellhole then it already is?"
"Because," Hojo replied, "I want to see the stars. Meteor will soon be at my command, so I will have a…bodyguard you might say. I have a well-trained staff-," he gestured to Zack and Aeris, "-and because everyone on this f*****' planet hates me."
Vincent shook his head. "They don't hate you; I hate you. But the whole planet doesn't."
Hojo blinked and said in a shaky voice, "Ye-ye-yes they d-do. Everybody hates me."
And it was at that time that Vincent realized what was wrong with Hojo. Hojo only felt pain from his life, and wanted to give it back to the people that hurt him. Vincent almost felt sorry for Hojo. But Vincent didn't, and never would because he hurt Lucrecia.
"Hojo, you obviously don't understand people." Tifa sat up, looking at Hojo. "You just don't have any friends."
Hojo looked at the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. Then he said, "Who needs them, when you control the planet?" He was back; he had a moment of emotional stress but he conquered it, and now he would dispose of these…fools.
"Zack, ready the cloning devices. I want Tifa for…myself, and kill the others. Kill Tifa when you are done with her too."
"Yes sir," Zack replied, standing up.
Tifa winced. She was to be Hojo's sex slave?
The clone, Sharon Hatch, laughed. Then she got up and left the room.
*
Jenova moved Cloud up into the torso part of its reconstructing-self. Soon, it thought. Soon and I will be back together and the Lifestream mine. All I need is this human, the Mako in him… and the end will begin.
Cloud felt good, for the first time since he had been cloned. Hojo was great. Hojo sent Zack to find Cloud's dead body after he destroyed Proud Clod 2 and took some of Cloud's blood. Then he returned to Hojo with it, and Hojo created me, thought Cloud.
Hojo was a genius.
Cloud felt the muscles that were developing inside this creature push him upwards. Somehow, Cloud could breath inside the thing. It was gross, the flesh surrounding him. But soon, very soon, it would all be over.
*
A silent, cloned Sephiroth guarded Vincent as he marched down the white hallways. He, Tifa, and the original Sharon were bound in chains and marching to their execution. Nanaki was… dead. But Hojo said to revive him because he wanted Nanaki for 'experiments'.
Vincent shivered. Anger came every time Hojo's name came to his head…but he had to control it. Had to if he was to find any way out of this mess.
Yuffie, he thought sadly. I miss you.
Sharon walked numbly. Vincent never really loved her, just used her to get to Hojo. Sharon felt tears in her eyes. It…was like a nightmare. And now Hojo wanted her dead. An even worse nightmare.
Tifa rubbed her arm. Zack had jabbed a needle that was about a half-inch thick into it and sucked out some tissue, blood, and muscle. All that was needed for cloning. Tifa's shirt was still torn, her breasts swinging free as she walked down the path.
She took her eyes off the floor and saw Sephiroth staring at her breasts.
"Turn around asshole," Tifa said harshly. Sephiroth's eyes traveled up her body to her eyes and he said, "My original didn't have time to enjoy life's splendors. Perhaps I will have your clone after you are dead."
"Shit head," Tifa mumbled.
*
Barret and Yuffie's plane was going 1.2 Mach. Hopefully they would reach Mideel in half-an-hour. After leaving Junon they decided against Nanaki's plan and hijacked a Shinra fighter plane.
Barret thought it was pretty slick. Yuffie thought it was just another barf provoker.
Barret raised binoculars to his eyes and looked through them in the direction of Mideel. "Can't see shit in this damn weather," he complained.
"Like it-blah-matters," Yuffie said, vomiting in mid-sentence.
Barret winced. "Now that's some nasty crap," he said, staring at the pool surrounding his chair. He shivered. Just plain nasty.
Barret had his feet in his chair so they wouldn't get…wet.
"Just twenty-five more minutes Yuffie."
"If I don't die first."
*
Sephiroth pulled out his sword and said, "As my original brother would have done." Then, in a blur of motion, he whipped his Masanume around and sliced a 'practice-apple' in half, not touching the wooden stump that the apple was standing on.
Tifa gasped and thought: Think Tifa; how do you get out of these situations. Somehow, the name 'Corneo' popped into her head and she grimaced. Not the thought I wanted.
But then she realized why she thought about it; Sephiroth had reminded her of him. Slowly but surely, a plan formulated in her head, and she put on her seductive face.
"Hey Sephiroth, since I'm about to die, maybe you could…enjoy life's fruits before I die. So that way we could both be happy."
He slowly looked at her face. "You have emotions. You are foolish." His face was cool, his words without a single hit of default. But his head was boiling, his body suddenly growing hot. He mentally smiled at the thought of Tifa naked.
All he had to do is reach out and pull down her shorts…Sephiroth tried to fight the temptation.
But he couldn't. Slowly he reached out and unbuttoned her shorts. And pulled them down, staring at her.
Tifa smiled and then, as Sephiroth bent down, she said, "I can't help you enjoy it if I'm in chains." Sephiroth ripped the chains apart and thought the original sucked. I'm gonna enjoy this.
Sephiroth was about to touch her when her legs moved fast. He flew back from the impact of knee to skull.
"Ah," he shouted as he flew back, his black cape fluttering in the wind. Tifa jumped on him and beat the shit out of him. When his whole face was purple and he was unconscious, Tifa got up and tried to break the chains that were wrapped around Vincent's hands.
"Damn," she grunted as she tried to break them. She stopped and gasped, "They won't break."
"That's okay," Vincent replied. "Go get your clothes on and get the hell outta here."
"Right," she said. She did just that and left Vincent alone with an unconscious Sephiroth and a quiet Sharon Hatch.
Tifa ran down the hallways, her heart rushing and her adrenaline at a high. Quick question, she asked herself, what are you doing?
She didn't say anything. She ran down another hallway, made right and ran down another. Then she turned a corner and-
She was in a library. Hojo was in the corner, studying a book; Aeris was next to her. They hadn't heard her come in.
Tifa quietly moved toward them, avoiding all possible mishaps. She didn't last long; she tripped over a pile of books that were on the floor and Hojo whirled around, Aeris did the same only she had a staff in her hand. Tifa jumped up and blocked every blow Aeris threw at her.
Aeris then got lucky and hit Tifa on the head. Tifa counter-attacked, despite the pain, catching Aeris off guard. Tifa then put a fist into Aeris solar-plex, knocking the wind out of Aeris. Aeris fell back, stunned.
Then Tifa side-step-kicked Aeris in the nose, knocking Aeris out.
Hojo was cowering in a corner. Tifa walked over to him and grabbed him by the hair. "You will help me or you will die."
Hojo was shaking with fear. "Ye-ye-s-s-s Ti-ti-fa."
She pulled him to his feet by his hair, but didn't see his fingers slide under a bookshelf behind him, hitting an emergency button.
*
Meanwhile, Cloud had reached the top of the flesh mountain. The second he was up there, he realized he could control Jenova. Jenova didn't know this would happen. She quickly regained control, realized she would have to eject Cloud fast, without getting the Mako she needed. Otherwise he would have power and control over him.
She squeezed him out of herself and continued focusing on getting her other limbs to connect with her.
Cloud flew into and through a tree. He rolled a few yards and finally stopped. He was bleeding but hadn't noticed it. He was recounting the events of the past few days. Aeris, Tifa, Vincent… Hojo…
Hell, Cloud thought. Zack was even alive. But how? Were they recreated like me? Slowly Cloud got to his feet and realized that he had made a huge mistake. Aeris had never come back from the dead; it was a clone.
But how did Hojo get Aeris tissue, blood, and muscles? When Hojo captured her! Way back in Midgar, before we even knew Sephiroth was alive. Hojo had it planned all along… had wanted to ruin their lives all along…
And I am a member of Avalanche, Cloud thought triumphantly.
Then Cloud ran back toward Hojo's hideout.
He was reborn, ready to help Tifa and Avalanche… Aeris still clouded his thoughts but he would figure that out later. Cloud found the secret entrance and entered it, with one thought: Hojo.