I stood there trying to absorb what I was told by the man when I heard. "Intruders! Freeze!", from behind me. I slowly moved my hand towards my sword's hilt when I heard a scream and felt an intense heat behind me. I turned around to see the guard caught ablaze the older man who claimed to be my father looking as though he was just done using a spell.
"C'mon! Follow me!", he said running through the door he came through. Tifa and I looked at each other and nodded. We followed the man through the door considering we didn't have much choice, him or the guards.
"Do you really think he's my father?", I asked Tifa as we ran.
"Not sure I don't remember seeing him often.", she said.
"So he was gone a lot?", I asked. Tifa just nodded.
"In here.", the man said going into an adjacent door. We followed and the man shut the door behind us. We all froze waiting to here one pound his fist onto the door yet done did. I heaved a sigh in relief.
"What is this place?", I heard Tifa ask behind me. I turned around to truly see what type of room we were in. Beakers, cages, test tubes, microscopes. It was a laboratory. Although it was very, very clean. This place reeked of death like no other.
"What is this place?", I asked trying my best not to gag. The whole room had a strange sickening green glow to it.
"One of Hojo's little playrooms.", I head the man say. "The one I was locked in for a few years.", he continued walking over to a cage hidden by shadows. I took a look into the cell.
"What the hell?", I exclaimed seeing a body in there. I think it was human at one point. Tifa came over a looked.
"What happened to that thing?", she asked horrified at the corpse. While the legs and torso were unmistakably human the arms and head were a dark red color and appeared insect-like. The hands were three finger claws, the face had little to no eyes, large mandibles, and a long muscular tongue that looked to be for grabbing and pulling this to the mouth.
"A failed experiment.", the man said shaking his head. "Poor soul never say it coming. It was those damn Jenova cells!", he said slamming his left fist onto the wall.
Tifa gasp bring her hands to her face, "That monster.", she uttered.
"Jenova?", I asked. The name sound so familiar.
A man with long silver hair and Mako green eyes stood in the room full of pods. The room had a blood red color to it like from my last vision of this place. The word 'Jenova' were inscribed over a door.
"Jenova?", he asked. "That was my mother's name……"
"Yes Jenova the calamity of the skies. Hojo was obsessed with that thing.", the man shook his head. "He even neglected his own son. Never saw the genius he was."
"You mean Sephiroth?", Tifa asked. The man laughed.
"Even he was just another experiment to Hojo! That heartless bastard! And no Hojo had another child. Poor kid was abused by the madman."
"That's awful.", Tifa said looking down. Memories of the mad scientist came back to me. Hojo had ruin so many lives I was when we took him down.
"Yeah.", the man said. "By the way we didn't have a chance to properly introduce ourselves back there Miss…"
"Tifa. Tifa Lockhart.", Tifa said. The man's eyes eye's widen is surprise and smiled.
"The Lockhart's little girl? My how you're grown.", the man said. Tifa just smiled. "So are you and Cloud….?", he asked.
"No we're just friends.", Tifa said. The man just looked at me scratching his beard. "Are you really Cloud's father?", Tifa asked.
The man reached into his back pocket and brought out a wallet. He opened it and pulled out and I.D. on the ID is said, 'Rocky Strife'. "That answer your question?", he asked smiling.
"Yeah it does. Sorry about that Mr. Strife.", Tifa said.
"Please none of that formal crap. Just call me Rocky.", Rocky said. "So what brought you and my son here anyways?"
"I lost my memory.", I said. "Trying to regain it by visiting place I've been to before."
"How the hell you lose your memory?", my father asked. I was about to answer when.
"I found them!", a guard yelled.
"Damn it!", my father said running out the back door of the lab. "Follow me I brought a sub here.", he said. Tifa and I followed without a second thought. We went trough a maze of corridors, halls, and doors. When finally seemed like we lost the guards and entered the submarine dock. We saw a squad of SOLDIERs between third and first class inspecting my father's sub.
"Get away from that sub!", my father yelled rushing to the sub. I followed grabbing my sword hilt and heard Tifa's footsteps behind me. A band of three SOLDIER members came at us all third class. I got into my battle stance hold my sword firmly in both hands. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tifa getting into her fighting stance as well. I saw my father stand with his left shoulder with the guard on it facing outward and his hand on his sword hilt. Was he honestly going to fight like that? My answer was given when a SOLDIER ran at my father. Rocky rammed his shoulder guard into the opponent's gut stunning him. I realized at the last second how effective it was as my father's buster blade came down on the SOLDIER's left shoulder and came out his right side. I came back to reality just in time to dodge the second SOLDIER attacking me. I landed a clean hit on his back.
"Here come some more!", Tifa said as she stepped off the body she had kicked to the ground. Two second class SOLDIERs charged at us.
"I got this.", Rocky said casting a spell. It was an earth spell, how ironic. Then again me having bolt spells isn't any better. The SOLDIERs were crushed by the large stones from the spell. A final SOLDIER member came at us. A first class. He slashed his sword at me. He was too slow and I stepped to the side batting him with the flat edge of my sword. I heard the sound of cartilage snapping and a body falling down. I turned to see Tifa holding her leg up and the SOLDIER on the ground either unconscious or dead.
"Lets go.", Rocky said running up the sock to the sub. The three of us managed to get in the vehicle without much trouble. My father started the sub and we began to leave when the first sign of trouble showed up.
"I don't feel so good.", I mumbled. I was just fine until we started moving.
"Looks like you got motion sickness too.", Rocky said from the drivers seat.
"Just walk around Cloud. You'll feel better.", Tifa said and I nodded getting up. I walked around the sub for several minutes feeling better when I heard on the intercom.
"Cloud we got enemies on radar! Hurry to the bridge!"
I began running towards the bridge when we were hit by the first torpedo. The force of the explosion sent my head against a pipe then everything went black……
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