DUALITY

CHAPTER 2

PART 2

SHINRA HEADQUARTERS

11:45 p.m.

It was hours later that night, long after Aeris had drifted asleep, that her doctor went about his standard duties of securing his patient's positions in the medical database. The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of the computer monitor, and the hallway outside was only lit by the lighting of emergency lights. It was long after hours, and most employees had retired to their homes.

But they can go to hell, thought the doctor, with a smug little grin.

He was a busy man, with a job demanding much more attention and work than that of the lazy three-piece-suits that sat around all day on the upper floors. And yet he was given half the pay, and less than half the respect. Consequently, he had no problem with putting off procedures a few hours so that he too could receive some of that lax poise.

But, in fact, if he were to be found like this, he could be fired, on account of failing to complete his job within the specified time slot. It was a stupid reason to fire someone, really, but if his discoverer wanted to, he could take the matter to the President himself. And meager doctors not worth their weight in gold were insects crawling on a flawless diamond surface in the eyes of President Shinra.

Shoving thoughts of being caught to the back of his mind, he flipped through the disks that held the samples of DNA he had gathered from each person that had checked into Shinra's hospital as a patient this morning. He examined them with the eyes of a professional that has seen the exact same case so many times he could recite the characteristics by heart. He was about to insert one into the computer, when a door closed somewhere nearby, outside the room.

He jumped up in surprise, his elbow colliding with the pile of disks and spilling them behind the desk. They clattered to the floor, the disturbance ringing loudly throughout the quiet room.

"Shit," he muttered, his eyes darting to the door, fearing that a figure would emerge.

He waited a moment, and after hearing no further commotion from the hallway, hurriedly knelt and proceeded to collect the spilled information. He piled the disks into his hand, and muttered varying curses concerning the dejected aspects of his job. He was about to rise again, when he spotted another disk, wedged between the leg of the desk and the wall. With a quirk of curiosity, his fingers closed around it, and he raised it up to his eyes.

"Gainsborough, Aeris," he read aloud, studying the label.

It was the girl that had been complaining about how long she had to stay. The girl that the General had brought in.

"Well, how did you end up down there?" he wondered audibly, personifying the sample as if it were the girl herself. "General Sephiroth wouldn't be pleased if he knew I'd been slacking on watching over his girlfriend."

The doctor had a good laugh at that, shaking his head. He had taken the sample the first time the girl had been brought in, by the blonde SOLDIER. She had remained for an hour, just sleeping. The SOLDIER had not left her side. It was so pathetic a sight, that the doctor had kicked them both out, mumbling about how the hospital was not a place for "napping". He had dismissed it as some sort of hoax; SOLDIERs often thought they had a sort of permanent upper-hand, and they had a right to mess with the doctors that treated them. But when the girl had come back (still asleep, he had noted) and this time in the arms of the General, the humble doctor had decided to take the situation seriously. Things had begun to grow dangerous. Anything that involved General Sephiroth was clearly in the big-leagues.

The sample had fallen behind the desk last night, and he had failed to process it. But it mattered little. No one kept track except for him, so no one would know, his error would pass by unseen.

Determined to fix his error, and also, secretly, curious about the girl, he entered the sample into the computer, placing the other discs aside. It took a moment for the computer to process, but at last, a photo appeared, along with the typical description and bio.

He stared at the photo. The girl was beautiful, there was no doubt of that. Even this afternoon, covered in sweat and with matted hair, she had been beautiful.

Like a flower showered in rain, he thought.

He discovered she was twenty two, un-married, just over five feet tall, and never previously employed before her registration with SOLDIER. Apart from her striking features, she was pretty average, as far as military recruits went. Women were more common in the army than the average mind would think. It was, of course, only their companions that saw them without their helmets, so it was expected that the public knew little.

"Hmm...easy to see why you have interested our General..." he told the photo.

The General, when he had brought her in, in his typical silent fashion, had said nothing, but only a blunt command. The doctor had fallen to his knees to obey, his mind full of questions but all the more willing to concur.

So this relationship, if there even was one, was completely a secret.

Congratulating himself on his chance discovery, the doctor entered the girl's new information into the record, and then closed the window, hand reaching for the next disc. But then he saw it. Words flashed across the screen.

Loading Match 2 of 2...

"What?" breathed the doctor, eyes completely intent on the monitor.

In an instant, a new window swept up into the center of the screen. This time, several photos covered the page, all of an infant. The baby had been photographed in several different positions, and from different angles. The bio was short and simple, two lines:

SPECIMEN: IF-2

SPECIES: ANCIENT

With knitted eyebrows, the doctor read it again.

Ancient? What the...?

He recalled hearing something about the Ancients, but it had been long ago. So long ago, in fact, he could swear he was a child, still in school. They were fictional characters, the Ancients, the main features in several fairytale books that had been written over the years.

So what in the hell was this bio doing in this database, and matching with the DNA of Aeris Gainsborough?

He glanced at his wristwatch. It was just after midnight. Surely Professor Hojo would be up and about. Rumor had it amongst the science wing culture that he stayed up all night doing his job, and slept during the day.

The doctor hurriedly printed both profiles, and released the disk from the computer and gathered it in his hand. He rose, almost trotting out of the room, tucking the papers and the disk into a manila folder and then securing them beneath his elbow.

It was no more than a brisk walk up a few flights of stairs to the science department. The night secretary, already drifting off at her post, glanced at the doctor dreamily over the dark rims of her glasses. "Can I help you, Sir?" she asked, not bothering to stifle a yawn.

"Yes," the doctor said. "I need to see Professor Hojo."

"I'm sorry, but the Professor is very busy..."

The doctor took his glasses off and stuffed them in his pocket, so that his gaze was all the more intense. "Tell him, there's a fairy tale he forgot to clean out of the medical database. Its something I believe he should see."

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