Final Fantasy VII Fan Fiction

Memory

By Kraven Ergeist

Everything was going according to plan. The fools in charge of Midgar had given him the resources of the entire city. That was all he needed to give his son the power he needed to destroy the world.

Hojo sighed. It was not likely that he would survive the hours to come. If not by Cloud and his friends then by the destructive cataclysm that Sephiroth weaved. The infusion of Jenova cells in him could only bolster him so much. He had already cheated death for more than his lifetime's worth.

It was time to go out with a bang.

Hojo practically giggled. He'd made a funny.

One by one, Hojo began to clear the system's computers of all the data he's spent his lifetime collecting. When he died, he wanted the truth, as well as his memories, to die with him.

He passed over file after file, until he halted the deletion program quite suddenly to gaze more fully at one particular file.

It was a photograph. Of his younger years. He had been studying the mako reactor in Nibelheim when he had met her.

She was brilliant – that was the first thing that attracted him to her. Both in mind and in body. Not only was she strikingly beautiful, but at the time, she nearly matched him for intelligence. Sometimes, she even outshone him. He had her to thank for many of his greatest accomplishments.

Hojo wondered, for a moment, what he had truly felt at the time. At the time, he had already planned to use his own Jenova-twisted cells to spawn someone who would carry the last wishes of the all-powerful goddess of chaos. And as the two of them had been working together, he slowly came to decision that she would be a suitable mother for his child.

But…what had he truly felt?

He remembered it clearly. The day they met. She was in the library at the Shinra mansion, scribbling some notes on a blackboard. He was just passing by when he noticed several anomalies in the work she had jotted.

"I beg your pardon," he said to her, pointing to one of her errors. "But this part here…I'm afraid this is incorrect."

She looked up from her work. "I beg your pardon?"

"This is a list of microbial life forms dating back to the Cryonic Era, correct?"

Lucretia nodded.

"But you list several species of protozoa that weren't around for another two million years."

The dark haired woman smiled. "Well, that's what all the leading specialists say…but look at this…"

She gestured to her book.

"A new study going on has just proved the existence of several new species that we never knew existed at that time."

Hojo's eyes lit up. "Really? Fascinating. But in any case, the functions you describe here can't possibly work. The amount of discharge released would have left a severe effect on the environment."

Lucretia nodded. "That's what I thought too. But the same scientist that discovered the protozoa also discovered another type of microbial life form that feeds off the discharge."

Hojo blinked. "Really? But wouldn't that-"

"Have led to an overgrowth?" Lucretia giggled. "Nope, wrong again. During the ice age at the end of the Cryonic Era, the entire species was wiped out. It's right here in this science journal…" she pointed to her book again. "This article won a Nobel prize this year. It had everyone in an uproar, because the scientist who wrote it is so young."

Hojo eyed the article. "Professor David Gast…" He made a mental note to keep tabs – one on the professor mentioned in the book, and another on the woman who had just thrice corrected him.

The conversation went on for hours. Every time Hojo pressed the woman with some particular matter that had been stumping him, she provided her own unique prospective that either solved it, or provided the necessary grounds to solve it. She held her own in every debate he brought up. He kept testing her with classic trick questions that his own teacher had given him, and she passed all of them. More and more, this woman was impressing him, and Hojo was more convinced than ever of her talent.

They were still in the midst of their discussion as they stepped outside the Shinra mansion.

"But that can't possibly work!" Lucretia laughed. "You'd need enough mako energy to fuel an entire city!"

Hojo simply adjusted his glasses. "Anything's possible my dear…"

That just led to fits of more laughter.

Talk went on long into the evening. Hojo offered to buy the young woman dinner so they would not have to cut the debate short by going off to eat separately. The talk went on long into the night, when finally the young woman glanced at her watch.

"Wow…we've been talking for nine hours straight!"

Hojo smiled at her. "You brought up some pretty insightful points, Miss…?"

The young woman smiled. "Oh, look at this, we've been talking all this time, and I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Lucretia."

"Professor Hojo."

Lucretia dropped her fork. "The Professor Hojo? Oh my gosh! I've read up on so many of your theories for my radio biology class!"

The dark haired man smiled. "Oh, so you do know who I am – good, that makes this so much simpler."

Lucretia blinked. "What?"

"I'd like to offer you a job," Hojo said.

Lucretia nearly choked on her food. "I…what?"

Hojo smiled. "I need someone with your kind of talent back in Midgar. The pay is decent, and Shinra provides unlimited resources. Once the seminar's over, do you think you could…?"

Lucretia stood up straight out of her seat. "Where do I sign?"

A contract sealed the deal, and by the time the two finally separated for the night, they had already become inextricably bound to each other.

"Thank you so much for the job offer, Professor! I won't let you down!"

Hojo shook his head. "Not at all. You actually had me stumped on a number of occasions today. You have reminded me that there is still so much I have yet to learn."

He took her hand and kissed it.

"And for that, I thank you."

Lucretia blushed. "Professor…"

Hojo smiled, leaving her at her door. "I look forward to seeing you in action, Miss Lucretia. I suspect the two of us will be working very closely…very closely indeed…"

Hojo sighed, as the memory faded to black.

He still wasn't quite sure what he had been feeling. So much of his life had been for the sole purpose of answering Jenova's call. He hadn't really had time to indulge in things like emotion.

Had he truly loved her? True, he had felt drawn to her. She was an attractive woman after all. He had admired her intelligence. He had admired her strength. He had admired her beauty.

But her purpose in his plans was to be the vessel for his progeny. As a scientist, he had to be unbiased, emotionless. There hadn't been any actual feelings involved…had there?

Clearly, she had loved him.

But himself?

How had he felt then?

What did he feel now?

Hojo deleted the file.

He finished wiping the computer of anything save for the basic programming. All processes went devoted to the Mako Cannon. He had a mission to take care of. He was too close now. He didn't have the luxury of feeling love for anyone or anything.

Old memories were useless anyway.