And so they started looking in Hojo's notes and experiments in the period before and during the Meteor incident. The main problem was that the period they were researching covered almost every single book.
This is hopeless! Marlene thought. There's quite a lot about Sephiroth in these books, but hardly any records of Hojo's cloning experiments. She looked up at Cloud and Nanaki. Of course, there would be very little on Cloud, as he was a failed experiment, and Nanaki was one of the latter ones. To some extent, he managed to counter the effects by infusing Cloud with Mako, which was why he was mistaken for being a member of SOLDIER. I can only assume that because of Nanaki's different anatomy, that also slowed the effects. She sighed. If Hojo had found a way to reverse the effects, he probably would have discovered it during the Meteor incident. IF he could reverse the effects...
So, she began looking through the Hojo's rough notes, notes he had taken before his death and that he hadn't had time to write up into his books. Looking through them, she understood very little, as Hojo's rough notes were very messy and convoluted with all kinds of equations and theories, most of which had been crossed out. His books had been set out like some scientific journal, so I at least could read them. This, she scrunched up another piece of paper and tossed it over her shoulder, is in an alien language!
She cast a glance over towards Reno, who was standing very close to the controls to the container. Perhaps a little too close. Grabbing a few sheets off the lab top, she took up a position where she could watch Reno, and make a move against him if he tried anything. And so, she kept one eye on Reno, and one eye on the sheets she was reading. Three sheets later, and she found something.
"Cloud!" she yelled, walking over to them, Reno temporarily forgotten. "I've found something!"
Meanwhile, Reno looked around, and made sure that their attention was focused elsewhere. Slowly drawing his nightstick, he sidestepped up to the controls. He rose it high up into the air, and brought it down onto the control panel.
At least, that was his intention, for he was stopped in mid-swing by Marlene's hand clamped firmly around his wrist. For a moment, they stared at each other, and he again to smash the panel, but Marlene twisted his wrist, and with a cry, he dropped his nightstick.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Cloud inquired, his hand resting on his sword, ready to draw it.
"Trying to destroy you're only hope on recovery!" Reno snapped. "Did you really think that I would help you to recover.
"No...but we had to get a guide otherwise we would never have been able to find this place."
"So Cloud, what are you going to do? Kill me?" He smiled. "Without you're guide, you won't be able to get back!"
"Not necessarily," Marlene chipped in. She held up her computer. "This tiny gizmo has been constantly scanning the trail we've walked, and with the information it's gathered, we should be able to find our way back no problem." As she said this, the colour slowly drained from Reno's face.
"You're lucky that Cloud wouldn't kill anyone unarmed unless he really had to." Nanaki said. "I, however..." He bared his teeth. "Would not hesitate to kill you in cold blood!"
"So," Cloud continued. "You now have a choice. You can either stay away from that machine while we operate it, or..." he tugged at his sword. "I can smash your face in and leave you here until you regain consciousness."
Reno seemed to consider this for a few seconds. "I take option no. 2." He shrugged away Marlene. "Let's settle this, one-on-one, man to man..." He leapt at Cloud, his fists flying at Cloud.
"Cloud!" Marlene yelled.
"Stay out of this!" he snapped back. Reno swung his right fist at Cloud, which Cloud countered with his right arm, but Reno was already swinging his left fist, which Cloud didn't see coming. The punch hit him full in the face, sending him off balance. Reno followed up with a kick into Cloud's gut and rammed his fist towards Cloud's stomach. Cloud made no attempt to dodge, instead performing a roundhouse kick which hit Reno on the side of the head.
This obviously got Reno rattled, and the fight moved in close, with Reno letting loose a flurry of punches which Cloud blocked, following up with a flurry of punches of his own. Then, before Cloud had finished, he grabbed Reno's left arm and twisted it at an awkward angle. Reno responded by delivering a flurry of blows from his right fist into Cloud's gut, forcing Cloud to let go.
This is going to be a tough fight for the both of them Marlene thought. The only reason they are so evenly matched is because Cloud is not fighting at his full capacity. I only managed to beat him because he was sick! She continued to watch as Cloud tried to trip Reno with a sweeper kick, which Reno leapt over and flew through the air towards Cloud feet first. They collided, the force of the collision driving them both backwards up against the wall. Reno took advantage of this and let loose a flurry of punches into Cloud's stomach, all of them connecting. Finally, he let loose his right elbow at Cloud's neck.
In desperation, Cloud dropped down, Reno's elbow impacting against the wall where his head had been a second later. Using a sweeper to knock Reno's legs out from over him, they both went crashing to the ground, Cloud on top of Reno, his hands around his throat.
"This is the end Reno!" Cloud yelled. Removing one hand from his throat, Cloud drew his it back, formed it into a fist, and brought his fist down hard onto Reno's face. Reno's head banged against the metal floor as Cloud punched again and again and again. Blood started spurting out of Reno's face, splashing Cloud.
"Cloud! That's enough!" He stopped has he felt Marlene restraining his fist. "That's enough. You knocked him into next Tuesday and he probably won't be able to talk by Wednesday!" Nodding grimly, he stood up, studied Reno's body (which was still breathing), and turned to Marlene. "What is it that you found?" he asked.
She produced the sheet. "According to this, formula 231 should be able to reverse the effects of DNA breakdown, by mixing itself with your own DNA strands and replacing the strands that are already broken. In essence, you will end up having a different DNA structure."
She expected him to show some sign of relief, but instead, he only nodded. "What is this formula 231 anyway?"
She studied the sheet for a few seconds. "Apparently, it's released in gas form into the capsule, because a concentrated amount could cause massive brain damage. It's already in the delivery system of the capsule, so all someone has to do is key in the formula number and execute the treatment. The substance is something called..." she frowned at the paper. "Lifestream. What the hell is that?"
"Lifestream makes up this entire planet," Cloud said. "When you die, you rejoin the planet as part of the Lifestream. In effect, it's the souls of everyone who's ever died." He took the sheet from her and studied it. "And I can see why it would be released in gas form..." A particular detail caught his eye. "It's just a theory. It hasn't even been tested yet!"
"What choice do we have?" said Nanaki.
Cloud hobbled over to the control panel, and keyed in a few commands. As he did so, he frowned, hard, and keyed in some more commands. "Well?" Nanaki asked.
"The good news is that there's some Lifestream left to use." Cloud said, The bad news..." He took a deep breath. "There's only enough for one person to use it."
The room became deathly quiet as both Marlene and Nanaki absorbed the information. One of them will die, no matter what! She looked at Nanaki, who was looking straight at Cloud. He's going to give up his own life to save Cloud?
"No!" Cloud said, realising the look Nanaki was giving him. "I am not going in there. If anyone in this room deserves to live it should be you?"
"Cloud..." Nanaki said, desperately searching for a reason to get Cloud into the capsule. "Myself and the rest of Avalanche owe a debt to you, and I'm going to repay it!"
"Don't be stupid!" Cloud snapped back. "You're possibly the last of your species, and I'm not going to be the one responsible for wiping out an entire...ugh..." His entire body went limp, and he crashed to the ground.
Marlene was first to his side. "He's still got a pulse..." She looked towards the capsule, and then looked at Nanaki. "Nanaki..."
"We'd better get him in there." Marlene helped Cloud to his feet, supporting one shoulder. Nanaki, standing up on his hind legs, supporting the other. When they reached the hatch, Marlene reached over, and pressed the button which would open the hatch. It slid open to one side with a loud hiss.
And it was then Cloud took the chance. Summing up all of his remaining strength, he threw one of his arms backwards, sending Marlene tumbling across the room. With the other, he grabbed Nanaki by the scruff of the neck, throwing him into the capsule and slamming the hatch shut.
"Cloud, NO!" He dimly heard Nanaki's shout as he made his way unsteadily to the controls.
"Cloud, don't!" Marlene screamed. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She pushed herself to her feet and ran towards Cloud, to stop him from releasing the gas. Time seemed to slow down as Cloud's finger moved towards the activation button. Nanaki banged on the porthole, shouting out in desperation.
He pressed the button. Almost immediately, a greenish gas was released into the chamber. Nanaki desperately tried to break the porthole with his paws, but soon, he was hidden in the murky substance. Cloud, his finger still pressed against the button, stood there for a second, before collapsing into Marlene's arms.
Marlene desperately tried to say something, but the words seemed to catch in her throat. Looking at Cloud, she summed up all her courage. "Don't die..." she choked. What else could she say. And despite the pain, Cloud seemed to smile up at her...
The End
Thanks to everyone who read it all the way through, and an extra special thanks to everyone who reviewed it. Bearing in mind this is my first fic, I would like all comments to be honest.
A sequel is on the way, as well as a re-write of this fic.
This is hopeless! Marlene thought. There's quite a lot about Sephiroth in these books, but hardly any records of Hojo's cloning experiments. She looked up at Cloud and Nanaki. Of course, there would be very little on Cloud, as he was a failed experiment, and Nanaki was one of the latter ones. To some extent, he managed to counter the effects by infusing Cloud with Mako, which was why he was mistaken for being a member of SOLDIER. I can only assume that because of Nanaki's different anatomy, that also slowed the effects. She sighed. If Hojo had found a way to reverse the effects, he probably would have discovered it during the Meteor incident. IF he could reverse the effects...
So, she began looking through the Hojo's rough notes, notes he had taken before his death and that he hadn't had time to write up into his books. Looking through them, she understood very little, as Hojo's rough notes were very messy and convoluted with all kinds of equations and theories, most of which had been crossed out. His books had been set out like some scientific journal, so I at least could read them. This, she scrunched up another piece of paper and tossed it over her shoulder, is in an alien language!
She cast a glance over towards Reno, who was standing very close to the controls to the container. Perhaps a little too close. Grabbing a few sheets off the lab top, she took up a position where she could watch Reno, and make a move against him if he tried anything. And so, she kept one eye on Reno, and one eye on the sheets she was reading. Three sheets later, and she found something.
"Cloud!" she yelled, walking over to them, Reno temporarily forgotten. "I've found something!"
Meanwhile, Reno looked around, and made sure that their attention was focused elsewhere. Slowly drawing his nightstick, he sidestepped up to the controls. He rose it high up into the air, and brought it down onto the control panel.
At least, that was his intention, for he was stopped in mid-swing by Marlene's hand clamped firmly around his wrist. For a moment, they stared at each other, and he again to smash the panel, but Marlene twisted his wrist, and with a cry, he dropped his nightstick.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Cloud inquired, his hand resting on his sword, ready to draw it.
"Trying to destroy you're only hope on recovery!" Reno snapped. "Did you really think that I would help you to recover.
"No...but we had to get a guide otherwise we would never have been able to find this place."
"So Cloud, what are you going to do? Kill me?" He smiled. "Without you're guide, you won't be able to get back!"
"Not necessarily," Marlene chipped in. She held up her computer. "This tiny gizmo has been constantly scanning the trail we've walked, and with the information it's gathered, we should be able to find our way back no problem." As she said this, the colour slowly drained from Reno's face.
"You're lucky that Cloud wouldn't kill anyone unarmed unless he really had to." Nanaki said. "I, however..." He bared his teeth. "Would not hesitate to kill you in cold blood!"
"So," Cloud continued. "You now have a choice. You can either stay away from that machine while we operate it, or..." he tugged at his sword. "I can smash your face in and leave you here until you regain consciousness."
Reno seemed to consider this for a few seconds. "I take option no. 2." He shrugged away Marlene. "Let's settle this, one-on-one, man to man..." He leapt at Cloud, his fists flying at Cloud.
"Cloud!" Marlene yelled.
"Stay out of this!" he snapped back. Reno swung his right fist at Cloud, which Cloud countered with his right arm, but Reno was already swinging his left fist, which Cloud didn't see coming. The punch hit him full in the face, sending him off balance. Reno followed up with a kick into Cloud's gut and rammed his fist towards Cloud's stomach. Cloud made no attempt to dodge, instead performing a roundhouse kick which hit Reno on the side of the head.
This obviously got Reno rattled, and the fight moved in close, with Reno letting loose a flurry of punches which Cloud blocked, following up with a flurry of punches of his own. Then, before Cloud had finished, he grabbed Reno's left arm and twisted it at an awkward angle. Reno responded by delivering a flurry of blows from his right fist into Cloud's gut, forcing Cloud to let go.
This is going to be a tough fight for the both of them Marlene thought. The only reason they are so evenly matched is because Cloud is not fighting at his full capacity. I only managed to beat him because he was sick! She continued to watch as Cloud tried to trip Reno with a sweeper kick, which Reno leapt over and flew through the air towards Cloud feet first. They collided, the force of the collision driving them both backwards up against the wall. Reno took advantage of this and let loose a flurry of punches into Cloud's stomach, all of them connecting. Finally, he let loose his right elbow at Cloud's neck.
In desperation, Cloud dropped down, Reno's elbow impacting against the wall where his head had been a second later. Using a sweeper to knock Reno's legs out from over him, they both went crashing to the ground, Cloud on top of Reno, his hands around his throat.
"This is the end Reno!" Cloud yelled. Removing one hand from his throat, Cloud drew his it back, formed it into a fist, and brought his fist down hard onto Reno's face. Reno's head banged against the metal floor as Cloud punched again and again and again. Blood started spurting out of Reno's face, splashing Cloud.
"Cloud! That's enough!" He stopped has he felt Marlene restraining his fist. "That's enough. You knocked him into next Tuesday and he probably won't be able to talk by Wednesday!" Nodding grimly, he stood up, studied Reno's body (which was still breathing), and turned to Marlene. "What is it that you found?" he asked.
She produced the sheet. "According to this, formula 231 should be able to reverse the effects of DNA breakdown, by mixing itself with your own DNA strands and replacing the strands that are already broken. In essence, you will end up having a different DNA structure."
She expected him to show some sign of relief, but instead, he only nodded. "What is this formula 231 anyway?"
She studied the sheet for a few seconds. "Apparently, it's released in gas form into the capsule, because a concentrated amount could cause massive brain damage. It's already in the delivery system of the capsule, so all someone has to do is key in the formula number and execute the treatment. The substance is something called..." she frowned at the paper. "Lifestream. What the hell is that?"
"Lifestream makes up this entire planet," Cloud said. "When you die, you rejoin the planet as part of the Lifestream. In effect, it's the souls of everyone who's ever died." He took the sheet from her and studied it. "And I can see why it would be released in gas form..." A particular detail caught his eye. "It's just a theory. It hasn't even been tested yet!"
"What choice do we have?" said Nanaki.
Cloud hobbled over to the control panel, and keyed in a few commands. As he did so, he frowned, hard, and keyed in some more commands. "Well?" Nanaki asked.
"The good news is that there's some Lifestream left to use." Cloud said, The bad news..." He took a deep breath. "There's only enough for one person to use it."
The room became deathly quiet as both Marlene and Nanaki absorbed the information. One of them will die, no matter what! She looked at Nanaki, who was looking straight at Cloud. He's going to give up his own life to save Cloud?
"No!" Cloud said, realising the look Nanaki was giving him. "I am not going in there. If anyone in this room deserves to live it should be you?"
"Cloud..." Nanaki said, desperately searching for a reason to get Cloud into the capsule. "Myself and the rest of Avalanche owe a debt to you, and I'm going to repay it!"
"Don't be stupid!" Cloud snapped back. "You're possibly the last of your species, and I'm not going to be the one responsible for wiping out an entire...ugh..." His entire body went limp, and he crashed to the ground.
Marlene was first to his side. "He's still got a pulse..." She looked towards the capsule, and then looked at Nanaki. "Nanaki..."
"We'd better get him in there." Marlene helped Cloud to his feet, supporting one shoulder. Nanaki, standing up on his hind legs, supporting the other. When they reached the hatch, Marlene reached over, and pressed the button which would open the hatch. It slid open to one side with a loud hiss.
And it was then Cloud took the chance. Summing up all of his remaining strength, he threw one of his arms backwards, sending Marlene tumbling across the room. With the other, he grabbed Nanaki by the scruff of the neck, throwing him into the capsule and slamming the hatch shut.
"Cloud, NO!" He dimly heard Nanaki's shout as he made his way unsteadily to the controls.
"Cloud, don't!" Marlene screamed. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She pushed herself to her feet and ran towards Cloud, to stop him from releasing the gas. Time seemed to slow down as Cloud's finger moved towards the activation button. Nanaki banged on the porthole, shouting out in desperation.
He pressed the button. Almost immediately, a greenish gas was released into the chamber. Nanaki desperately tried to break the porthole with his paws, but soon, he was hidden in the murky substance. Cloud, his finger still pressed against the button, stood there for a second, before collapsing into Marlene's arms.
Marlene desperately tried to say something, but the words seemed to catch in her throat. Looking at Cloud, she summed up all her courage. "Don't die..." she choked. What else could she say. And despite the pain, Cloud seemed to smile up at her...
The End
Thanks to everyone who read it all the way through, and an extra special thanks to everyone who reviewed it. Bearing in mind this is my first fic, I would like all comments to be honest.
A sequel is on the way, as well as a re-write of this fic.