A Sort of Homecoming
The man guarding the entrance wasn't anyone I knew. Of course, he was only about 20, far too young for me to have known him. On reflection, he did remind me of a man I'd known years ago. Perhaps his father?
He signaled me to speak long before I bothered to answer him. By then, he'd already marked me for an intruder. To be honest, I was a bit out of breath from climbing all those stairs carved into the rock. I'd spent most of the day hiking through Cosmo Canyon, just remembering how beautiful it was.
"You just stop there and tell me if you've really got the nerve to be who I think you are."
I laughed at the boy's attempt to be witty and tough. "You Eric Windrunner's boy?" I wasn't sure how much I looked like the popular photos of myself at the moment. I'd taken the lab coat off before I left Costa (Sand is one thing, after all. Red dust never comes out of starched cotton.) and traded in my dress clothes for jeans and a t-shirt. I hadn't done anything to disguise my face, I wasn't going to bother to hide my identity.
"How do you know who my father is?"
"You act just like he did at your age. Send a messenger to Bugenhagen, please. Tell him Hojo's here to see him."
The boy's eyes went beautifully wide. "You think I'm going to disturb him with the news that a killer of the planet like yourself is --" His sililoquy was interrupted by a messenger running up, telling him that I was to pass. The guard glared at me. "Don't try anything or we'll --"
"Yes, yes." I dismissed him. "I know full well what Cosmo defense training prepares you to do." I brushed past both of them, left my walking stick at the base of the ladder, and began climbing.
He was waiting for me when I reached his chambers. "Prodigal son returns, hoo hoo! Shall we toast the fatted calf?"
"Don't tell me I've come all this way just to find you senile, old man."
Bugenhagen frowned and stepped down from his floating platform, an odd piece of Cetran technology. Like many other such pieces, it had been passed down and carefully maintained by the Cosmo community for over two thousand years. "You never did have much patience, Hojo." He looked me up and down appreciatively. "You're looking rather spry for your age. Up in your fifties by now, aren't you?"
"Fifty-seven, actually. Amazing what some substances can do for your system." I allowed myself a touch of pride.
"The precious crisis you were talking about last time you visited?" I nodded. "Do you know how old I am?" I blinked at him in surprise. Before I could answer, he went on. "A damn sight older than you, I promise you that. Do you know why? Has your genetics taught you that?"
I could see him letting his frustration with me get the better of his usually-quiet nature. I sighed. What if he was senile now? This whole trip would be a waste. "What are you getting at, old man?"
"I don't owe my age to any space virus, Hojo. I've lived this long because most of my lineage is Cetran. Or Ancients, as your hero Gast was so fond of calling them."
"Gast was a fool." I almost spat the name, annoyed at myself for letting the old man get to me.
"So are you! Your father was Cetra too, boy, or as pure as they come these days. Descended from Ayden, descended from Edwin, who welcomed the Crisis. Do you know what that makes you?" I'd never seen Bugenhagen so angry. His round little face was red, and I wondered if he'd give himself a heart attack. He waited a minute for me to reply, glaring, before going on. "That makes you king of a dead people, boy! That makes you absolutely nothing. And your son's off calling the thing that destroyed your people his "mother". Taking Nanaki was the last straw as far as I'm concerned. How dare you show your face here?"
"Oh, have he and the failure's little motley crew made it here already?" I tried to reclaim his dignity, but my arrogance probably made little show of it.
Bugenhagen didn't seem to care whether it was an act or the real thing. "Been and gone, yes. Why are you interested?"
"Just working on a theory, old man. What's it to you?"
He hopped back up onto the little platform. "Reunion, hoo hoo! You'll see your son soon enough. You contaminated your people with that specimen."
I blinked once, twice, unable to believe what he'd said. Could I finally, after more than fourty years, have one up on the old man? "In all the Cetran history you taught, you never mentioned Ayden's mother." He stopped and looked at me, trying to figure out what I was getting at. "Jenova was Ayden's mother! Jenova was Edwin's wife!"
"This is a sick joke, Hojo."
"No, this is the truth. At the site where we found her, the was a sign listing her crime -- the murder of her husband, the king. She was buried with Edwin. And Jenova confirmed the story herself when she woke up." The look on Bugenhagen's face was my greatest prize. I'd never seen him surprised or shocked in all the years I'd known him. Fourty years I spent, trying to prove to him that I could do something right. Now he was broken open in front of me, with one simple explaination.
The old man sighed. "Why did you come back here, Hojo?"
"You always told me to come back when I didn't know what to do next. So, here I am. I actually did come to ask your advice, Bugenhagen-sensei." I sat down on the stool at the foot of his bed, where I'd always taken lessons, and bowed my head in a traditional Wutaian gesture of respect.
Despite himself, the old man smiled. "You said you were working on a theory, boy?"
I nodded. "I think I'll get to see my Sephiroth again..."
"What will you do differently when you see him?"
I bit my lip. Quite honestly, I hadn't given it any thought at all. "I... I know I can't do it over again. I can't make it all better."
"But what can you do, Hojo?"
"He... I... Hmm." Approach this logically, Hojo. You can't change the past, but you can help him now. "I'll do what I can to help him. I don't know what that is yet, but... I will. Maybe... hmm... Scarlet keeps going on about that damn ray gun of hers. If he wants energy..."
"What was that, Hojo? You're mumbling again."
I jumped up and bowed hastily to him again. "Thanks. You've always made me think." Before he could ask what I'd decided, I ran out of his chamber and started down the ladder. I had a son to look out for, after all.
The man guarding the entrance wasn't anyone I knew. Of course, he was only about 20, far too young for me to have known him. On reflection, he did remind me of a man I'd known years ago. Perhaps his father?
He signaled me to speak long before I bothered to answer him. By then, he'd already marked me for an intruder. To be honest, I was a bit out of breath from climbing all those stairs carved into the rock. I'd spent most of the day hiking through Cosmo Canyon, just remembering how beautiful it was.
"You just stop there and tell me if you've really got the nerve to be who I think you are."
I laughed at the boy's attempt to be witty and tough. "You Eric Windrunner's boy?" I wasn't sure how much I looked like the popular photos of myself at the moment. I'd taken the lab coat off before I left Costa (Sand is one thing, after all. Red dust never comes out of starched cotton.) and traded in my dress clothes for jeans and a t-shirt. I hadn't done anything to disguise my face, I wasn't going to bother to hide my identity.
"How do you know who my father is?"
"You act just like he did at your age. Send a messenger to Bugenhagen, please. Tell him Hojo's here to see him."
The boy's eyes went beautifully wide. "You think I'm going to disturb him with the news that a killer of the planet like yourself is --" His sililoquy was interrupted by a messenger running up, telling him that I was to pass. The guard glared at me. "Don't try anything or we'll --"
"Yes, yes." I dismissed him. "I know full well what Cosmo defense training prepares you to do." I brushed past both of them, left my walking stick at the base of the ladder, and began climbing.
He was waiting for me when I reached his chambers. "Prodigal son returns, hoo hoo! Shall we toast the fatted calf?"
"Don't tell me I've come all this way just to find you senile, old man."
Bugenhagen frowned and stepped down from his floating platform, an odd piece of Cetran technology. Like many other such pieces, it had been passed down and carefully maintained by the Cosmo community for over two thousand years. "You never did have much patience, Hojo." He looked me up and down appreciatively. "You're looking rather spry for your age. Up in your fifties by now, aren't you?"
"Fifty-seven, actually. Amazing what some substances can do for your system." I allowed myself a touch of pride.
"The precious crisis you were talking about last time you visited?" I nodded. "Do you know how old I am?" I blinked at him in surprise. Before I could answer, he went on. "A damn sight older than you, I promise you that. Do you know why? Has your genetics taught you that?"
I could see him letting his frustration with me get the better of his usually-quiet nature. I sighed. What if he was senile now? This whole trip would be a waste. "What are you getting at, old man?"
"I don't owe my age to any space virus, Hojo. I've lived this long because most of my lineage is Cetran. Or Ancients, as your hero Gast was so fond of calling them."
"Gast was a fool." I almost spat the name, annoyed at myself for letting the old man get to me.
"So are you! Your father was Cetra too, boy, or as pure as they come these days. Descended from Ayden, descended from Edwin, who welcomed the Crisis. Do you know what that makes you?" I'd never seen Bugenhagen so angry. His round little face was red, and I wondered if he'd give himself a heart attack. He waited a minute for me to reply, glaring, before going on. "That makes you king of a dead people, boy! That makes you absolutely nothing. And your son's off calling the thing that destroyed your people his "mother". Taking Nanaki was the last straw as far as I'm concerned. How dare you show your face here?"
"Oh, have he and the failure's little motley crew made it here already?" I tried to reclaim his dignity, but my arrogance probably made little show of it.
Bugenhagen didn't seem to care whether it was an act or the real thing. "Been and gone, yes. Why are you interested?"
"Just working on a theory, old man. What's it to you?"
He hopped back up onto the little platform. "Reunion, hoo hoo! You'll see your son soon enough. You contaminated your people with that specimen."
I blinked once, twice, unable to believe what he'd said. Could I finally, after more than fourty years, have one up on the old man? "In all the Cetran history you taught, you never mentioned Ayden's mother." He stopped and looked at me, trying to figure out what I was getting at. "Jenova was Ayden's mother! Jenova was Edwin's wife!"
"This is a sick joke, Hojo."
"No, this is the truth. At the site where we found her, the was a sign listing her crime -- the murder of her husband, the king. She was buried with Edwin. And Jenova confirmed the story herself when she woke up." The look on Bugenhagen's face was my greatest prize. I'd never seen him surprised or shocked in all the years I'd known him. Fourty years I spent, trying to prove to him that I could do something right. Now he was broken open in front of me, with one simple explaination.
The old man sighed. "Why did you come back here, Hojo?"
"You always told me to come back when I didn't know what to do next. So, here I am. I actually did come to ask your advice, Bugenhagen-sensei." I sat down on the stool at the foot of his bed, where I'd always taken lessons, and bowed my head in a traditional Wutaian gesture of respect.
Despite himself, the old man smiled. "You said you were working on a theory, boy?"
I nodded. "I think I'll get to see my Sephiroth again..."
"What will you do differently when you see him?"
I bit my lip. Quite honestly, I hadn't given it any thought at all. "I... I know I can't do it over again. I can't make it all better."
"But what can you do, Hojo?"
"He... I... Hmm." Approach this logically, Hojo. You can't change the past, but you can help him now. "I'll do what I can to help him. I don't know what that is yet, but... I will. Maybe... hmm... Scarlet keeps going on about that damn ray gun of hers. If he wants energy..."
"What was that, Hojo? You're mumbling again."
I jumped up and bowed hastily to him again. "Thanks. You've always made me think." Before he could ask what I'd decided, I ran out of his chamber and started down the ladder. I had a son to look out for, after all.