Disclaimer: Kit Thespian does not own Final Fantasy VII or the characters and she is not making money off of this.

Author's note: In response to Arsenic's fabulous review, I will say this. Every author who writes fan fiction has his or her own idea of how a character should be represented, according to his or her point of view. I didn't think that I was demonizing Vincent. I thought I was showing a young Turk not handling rejection very well, pre-thirty-five humiliating years inside of a coffin. Ah well. In my stories, I don't tend to make Hojo or Vincent better than the other; I just seem to put them on the same level in certain ways. Hojo has his strengths and weaknesses, and so does Vincent, and their individual weaknesses bring about their downfalls.

As for the characters changing emotions too quickly, sorry 'bout that. I'm a rather moody person myself, and it tends to leak out into my characters. Hojo is an aggresive-moody person (meaning he gets angry easily, though not necessarily losing his temper) while Vincent is more passive-moody. That's how I characterize people in tragic stories and that will probably not change any time soon. Truth be told, this is the first real "tragedy" I've ever written.

If that part with Vincent and Lucrecia seemed rushed, it's only because of my severe dislike for the character of Vincent (especially Turk-Vincent), and that's the only time, I hope, that I have to write him without Hojo in the picture, except the after-effects of Hojo's experimentations. That conversation seemed to me to be one of the necessary evils in Human Monster and I despised every moment of writing from Vincent's point of view. Other than him writhing in the throes of madness, it won't happen again. I wanted to get it over as soon as possible. The story should resume its normal pace during this chapter and chapters to follow.

If you are a Vincent fan, then I apologize for your sufferings. I have some respect for the guy. But this is a Hojo fic, so you were kind of asking for it. I'm actually a lot nicer to Vincent after AVALANCHE finds him in the present time, after he has undergone severe humbling (even though I think it turned him into a "cuckoo clock"). Why don't I like him? I just can't seem to like the "heroes" that stand around and mope all the time, especially after thirty-five years worth of moping. But, your opinion is your own, so that's cool.

Chapter Ten

The First Injection

Hojo hid his apprehension as Dr. Gast tightened the tourniquet around his left arm. His yellow eyes wandered to the yellow-green liquid inside of the syringe. Lucrecia sat beside him, holding his right hand, more for her comfort than his. But she could tell that he was nervous; even if he showed no other exterior signs of it, his staring at the syringe filled with the serum was enough. Gast dabbed Hojo's elbow joint with a cotton ball dabbed with alcohol. He made a comment on how good Hojo's veins were. Hojo supposed that was one good advantage of being very thin.

His teeth clenched as the needle punctured the skin. For the past few months he had been wondering whether or not this was a good idea and this moment was no different. The liquid ran cold through his veins, burning a little. But it faded in a moment. There was a long silence while Gast patched up the injection point in Hojo's arm.

Lucrecia asked, "Feel any different?"

"Not really," Hojo said, though he knew that the effects would be slow in coming. The cells from the Jenova creature (for that is what Gast had named it) would have to fuse with his cells before any real results could take place. But how long that would take, they did not know.

"Well, that's that," Gast said, "all we have to do now is wait. We'll do some tests tommorrow. But if you feel any side effects before then, Hojo, you'll tell me."

"Of course," Hojo answered.

Lucrecia stood up, sighing, "I'm going to get some fresh air." Hojo got up to go with her. She was a good deal more tired recently, and he guessed it was because she was being overworked. Gast policy of working overtime had not changed with location. Lucrecia kept insisting that she was perfectly all right, and that she was sure that there was nothing wrong with her. But all the same, after her dizzy spell the day before, Hojo wanted to walk with her to make sure she didn't get woozy on the spiral staircase.

When they opened the door to the dark corridor, they found Vincent waiting in the hallway, smoking. Hojo tensed up a little at first sight of him, but Vincent just lazily moved his head towards his half-brother and sister-in-law.

"So," he asked, "how did it go?"

"Splendidly," Hojo said, not sounding very excited.

"That's good... I was just waiting to see if it were all right for me to go and get a book from the library."

"I'm sure Dr. Gast won't mind," Lucrecia spoke.

"Just don't touch the equipment," Hojo added.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Vincent kept his eyes off of Hojo's as he walked past the couple into the library. As soon as the door was shut behind him, Hojo and Lucrecia continued in their walk towards the stairwell. Lucrecia took Hojo's hand in hers.

"You could stand to be a little more nice," Lucrecia said, "Vincent has been a perfect gentleman for the past couple of months."

"Only because I threatened his life and manhood," Hojo thought. He said outloud, "Granted. But it will take a while for trust to be established."

"I think you're partly to blame for that."

"Me?"

"Yes, you! Ever since we first met him, you've been searching for excuses to find something wrong with him. I've said it once and I'll say it again: please give him another chance. He hasn't said one dishonorable word to me since that day."

"He's also been avoiding you; a true sign of guilt." Hojo grimaced inwardly. Just the thought of it made him tighten his grip on Lucrecia's hand.

That night...

Hojo woke up from a dreamless sleep, hearing a little humming noise. It was a low, soft sound, but constant and maddening. It was like an emergency radio signal, or a very good alarm clock that would give you nightmares if you were too tired to wake up when it went off. The noise was quiet, but the constancy of it pounded against his eardrums. He thought they were going to burst. It became so horrible that a thin film of sweat began to break out on his forehead.

He looked at his wife's sleeping form, wondering how she could possibly stand it. After several minutes of trying to ignore it, he tapped Lucrecia on the shoulder. He hated to wake her up like this, but he had to know if she knew what that sound could possibly be.

She opened her eyes and said wearily, "What is it, dear?"

"What's that noise?" he asked.

"What noise?"

"That buzzing sound; don't you hear it?"

"...No. I hear a lot of crickets and frogs outside..."

"No, that's not it. It's like an emergency broadcast sound."

"I don't hear anything."

And in a moment, neither did Hojo. The humming stopped. Hojo had never felt such relief before. He heaved a big sigh and relaxed on his pillow.

After wiping the sweat off of his brow, he spoke, "I'm sorry; it was just a nightmare. Go to sleep."

Two weeks later...

"Why, this is incredible..." Gast said, looking at a sample from Hojo's skin cells. It was only he and Dr. Gast in the laboratory. Lucrecia hadn't been feeling well that morning, and it wasn't the first time. She said she going to see Dr. Lamm, a female doctor in Nibelheim.

"What? What is it?" Hojo asked, almost ready to push Gast away from the microscope so he could get a look. He had been hearing those noises off and on throughout these entire two weeks. His ears were constantly aching and sometimes he couldn't sleep at night. He became more easily irritable.

"I'm comparing your skin sample from before the injection to the new sample. I could be wrong. I want to take another sample in a couple of weeks and compare it. But...it seems that perhaps your aging process is being slowed."

"What?"

"The amount of dead skin cells your body has sloughed off has decreased, a great deal. I want to see if this continues," there was a glimmer in the professor's eyes, "If our experiment is successful, not only will we be able to produce people with the powers of the Ancients, but also with their agelessness."

"Ageless?"

"Hojo, this is a very great secret. You will share this with no one but Lucrecia, and you tell her that it is classified."

"...All right. But what about the buzzing in my ears?"

"I can find no reason why that should continue.You said it's been getting less and less, correct?"

"Yes."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Gast brow then furrowed, "but if you have more problems with it, consult me on the matter."

"Of course."

Though he hid it from Dr. Gast, Hojo was greatly disturbed. According to the results of the tissue sample, Gast was actually suggesting that he would be able to live forever. Before it would have gone against all scientific principles, but now it was becoming a possibility. Hojo bit his tongue; he should have thought of this simply by virtue of the fact that Jenova's cells had not deteriorated after two thousand years. If this were the case...Lucrecia would grow old and die, while he remained young. What on earth had he gotten himself into? He had not bargained for this.

He shook his head. It was a ridiculous possibility. Surely these were only temporary side effects. However, if the Jenova cells had truly fused with his, they could have infiltrated his genetic system as well, and therefore there would be no reversal. The thought made his heart race with anxiety. He had been foolish to put himself into this experiment. They should have called Captain Tamrelan. After the wonderful success with the Mako injections, he would have been happy to be their guinea pig again. Unwittingly, Hojo had turned himself into more of a freak than he already was.

Of course, to the world this would seem like a wonderful thing, to be able to live forever. But unless Lucrecia had the same sort of injection and reacted the same way to it, she would not. Hojo had seen and felt loneliness too many times, and he would know nothing but loneliness if Lucrecia were not with him. To be alone made one wish for death, and it could not come if he were immortal. Then Hojo remembered. There was a line between immortality and agelessness. He would not be immortal; he could still die. But...if that were to happen, he would have to try suicidal means of going about it. If Lucrecia died, he may consider it.

But then he realized that here he was, almost at the age of twenty-six, with a wife almost the same age, worrying about dying, of all things. Once he came back to his senses, he shrugged off the trying thoughts and walked out of the laboratory. He wanted to check on Lucrecia.

She had gotten back from town and was in the upstairs hallway of the mansion, looking out one of the windows at the forests and mountains. She had quite a dreamy look on her face, though she was still a little pale. When she saw Hojo coming, she beamed a smile and rushed to him. After giving him a big hug, she asked him:

"What did the results say?"

"I'll tell you later," Hojo said, "You look very chipper."

"It's because I...well..." Lucrecia looked like she could barely contain her excitement, "I have a surprise for you!"

"What is it?" Hojo asked, glad to see her so happy but a little puzzled.

Lucrecia took his hands and bit her lip to hold back a squeal of laughter, "Guess."

"You want me to guess?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Well...it must be very good." Lucrecia nodded cheerfully, and Hojo continued, "Where did you get it from?"

"You," Lucrecia giggled.

Hojo blinked, rather confused, "Me?"

"Let's just say that it will be a big change around here. Big change."

"Um..." Hojo then spouted out something that he thought was the wildest guess in the world, "You're pregnant."

Lucrecia nodded and hugged Hojo's neck, "I am!"

Hojo eyes grew as wide as saucers, "You're...You're pregnant? You're pregnant?"

"Dr. Lamm in the village confirmed it. We're going to have a baby!" she exclaimed, almost jumping up and down with glee. Then she looked at Hojo's dumbfounded expression, "I know, I was shocked too, and we're going to have to adjust a few things, but it doesn't matter. We're going to be parents!"

Shocked was a very subtle word to describe just how Hojo felt at that moment. He didn't quite know how he was supposed to react to the happy news. He had never thought about being a father, and he wondered if he would a good job, especially with the results of the experiment. They still didn't know everything the Jenova cells would do to him.

"That is a...er...big change," Hojo stammered, finding it difficult to breathe, "...When?"

"I'm two months along; the baby will be born in seven... Why that face? Aren't you happy?"

"Of...Of course, I'm happy. Just...surprised. Lucrecia...let's keep this to ourselves for a little while, all right?"

Lucrecia grinned and answered, "All right, but I can't hide it more than a couple of months, you know." She rubbed noses with her husband and said, "Congratulations, Papa."

Hojo smiled in reply, trying to keep his upset thoughts secret from his wife.