Disclaimer: Kit Thespian does not own Final Fantasy VII or the characters therein, and she is not making money off it either.

Chapter Fourteen

An Even Deeper Hole

Hojo had come back from roaming around outside, and he went to the kitchen to wash his face. He had moved from raging grief to a state of absolute shock. He didn't know what time it was, or even what day it was. If was as if his subconscious was trying not to remember the night's events. He looked out of the window over sink; dawn was breaking. But Hojo could find no encouragement. Sephiroth was lost to him, and he still had to tell Lucrecia. He felt ill all of a sudden, and he vomited into the sink. It wasn't the first time; this time the only stuff he could produce was bile. He hadn't eaten for hours and hours. He had managed to get in a short nap before the baby was born, at Lucrecia's insistence, but lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him. He was used to going a long time without food and sleep, but he still felt weak. He turned on the faucet, took in some of the water, swished it around in his mouth and spat it out to clear away the taste of bile.

A terrible injustice…They must pay for it; they must all pay for it.

What can I do? If I try anything, they'll kill me and Lucrecia. But there must something I can do…

"Dr. Hojo?" a voice softly whispered from the doorway. Hojo turned around to find Dr. Gast standing there. Hojo narrowed his eyes and turned back around towards the sink, making it clear that he didn't want to hear anything that his boss had to say.

"Dr. Hojo," Gast said, "please try to understand. I didn't know about the law until after the experiment was performed…"

Hojo scrapped his fingernails on the counter, "You still knew for a good while before this; you still signed the paper that took him away from us! All to save your own skin," Hojo turned around and sardonically sneered, "Oh, I do understand; we all must fight in our own ways to survive, even if it means handing over your cohorts and their only child to a living hell! I don't know how, Gast, and I don't know when, but someday I will make you pay for this. You will suffer so much, you'll squeal like a pig before I'm done with you."

The blood was drained from Dr. Gast's face, but he tried to pretend that Hojo didn't just say all of that, "Dr. Hemin…requires your presence in the laboratory. It's a minor experiment, come from Midgar…Please, Hojo, you must control yourself. If not for your and Lucrecia's sake, do it for Sephiroth. You must not give any indication that you will try to take Sephiroth away. It could be disastrous. Please, come. We need to show them that you have no objections."

Hojo gritted his teeth and glared at Gast for a moment before silently agreeing by walking towards the doorway.

In Hojo and Lucrecia's bedroom…

Lucrecia stirred awake from her sleep, thinking about what had happened. She moved around, amazed that she wasn't nearly as sore as she thought she would be after being in labor for so long and delivering a child. She looked at the clock. It was eight in the morning. Why hadn't Hojo come back yet with the baby? Surely they were done with tests by now. Maybe they were all asleep, but why hadn't Hojo returned? She then thought that perhaps he was sleeping elsewhere so not to disturb her. But there was something strange in the air. She couldn't comprehend it at first.

It seems rather odd, doesn't it? Where is dear Hojo? And Dr. Gast? What if they're in the library, performing experiments on little Sephiroth…?

"No, that's silly," Lucrecia thought, "why on earth would…?"

But Lucrecia's thoughts went back to the time when Hojo convinced her to let their child be infused with the Jenova cells. Doubt began to creep into her mind. It had been his idea, and he had seemed to relish the idea. But no, Dr. Gast had been the one to suggest the experiment in the first place. Hojo had readily agreed to it, though.

"But Hojo would never let anything happen to us. He loves me, and he loves Sephiroth."

Hojo…is ambitious.

"But he loves us…"

But does he?

"…Doesn't he?"

He doesn't.

"Doesn't?"

Does not.

"But he wouldn't lie…"

He lies.

"He wouldn't!"

He would.

"Would not!"

Go see.

For a moment, Lucrecia thought she was going insane, but then the inner struggle stopped. She supposed that it was just post-partum hormones. What else could it have been? Nothing else crossed her mind. Her only thought now was going downstairs and seeing for herself that her little baby was all right. She winced as she sat up, but it didn't hurt as bad as before. In fact, she was feeling a good deal better. She found her slippers on the floor and put them on. She couldn't find her bathrobe, but her lab coat was hanging on the door and there were some slippers on the floor. It would do just as well. She grabbed a flashlight and headed for the hallway.

Different thoughts were running through her head as she made the journey from her bedroom to the library. Hojo had seemed to grow a little more distant since the experiment. He was more irritable at some times and colder at other times. But that was just Hojo's nature, wasn't it? He wasn't a very emotional person. From the first time she had met him, he was always very quiet and logical. He did things and said things that she would never say herself, but that's what made them do so well for each other.

But it still begged the question, what was going on? She passed by the other bedroom and found that the doors were open and nobody else was in there. Then she went to the bedroom where the secret passage was. Garron had been staying in that room, and he was nowhere to be seen. Lucrecia rubbed her lips together in nervousness and headed for the hidden stairwell, expecting to be caught by either Hemin or the Turk Garron at any moment.

Nobody found her while she quietly walked down the stairs. Her arms and legs were a little shaky still, but she was able to keep her balance and hold the flashlight at the same time. She could not hear anything going on in the laboratory. She supposed that Sephiroth was asleep. As she walked down the dank corridor to the library, she could hear Dr. Gast's voice. She turned off the flashlight shortly before she reached the cracked door.

"Why am I sneaking around?" she thought, "It's not like there's anything wrong."

But there was something wrong. She pushed the door open to find Dr. Gast and her husband leaning over a table in the front section of the library. Sephiroth was not there. All right, so her silly superstitions about them doing horrible experiments on her baby were wrong. So much the better. She shuffled in.

"Hojo? Dr. Gast?" she spoke, "Where's Sephiroth?"

The two scientists both turned around, startled at the sound of Lucrecia's voice. Hojo knew that she could not be in here. She could ruin everything. In order for Dr. Hemin not to take drastic measures against him and Lucrecia, they had to convince her that they would not do anything rash. Fortunately, at this present time, Dr. Hemin was in her room asleep. But Garron was still in the back room, guarding the sleeping Sephiroth. Hojo started walking towards his wife.

"He's asleep," he answered, "Lucrecia, you shouldn't be in here. You need to be in bed…"

"I'm all right, Hojo. Really, I am. I just wanted to see Sephiroth."

Hojo took Lucrecia by the shoulders, "You'll see him eventually. Lucrecia, there's something I need to explain to you."

"Why can't I see him now? What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing's wrong with him. But you can't…"

Lucrecia's brow furrowed, "What are you hiding from me, Hojo?"

Hojo swallowed, and then said, "Lucrecia, please, you need to leave here and go back to your room. I'll explain everything there…"

"Just let me see him! I just want to see our baby!"

Hojo knew he had no choice. He pushed Lucrecia out of the library into the dark corridor. She dropped her flashlight, surprised at Hojo's sudden show of force. She protested that he was hurting her, but he nearly dragged all the way to the staircase and sharply ordered her to be quiet. She held back tears, furious with his treatment of her. She would give him a piece of his mind. Why was he doing this?

He wants to keep me away from my baby…

He wants to keep me away!

"Hojo, why are you doing this?" Lucrecia asked once they were in the empty bedroom at the top of the secret stairwell.

"Lucrecia, trust me, it's for your own good."

"I refuse to take another step until you explain what's going on!"

Hojo gritted his teeth. How was he going to explain this? He words came out dumbly, "Lucrecia…something has happened. We…We can't keep Sephiroth. He…"

Lucrecia gasped, "What do you mean we can't keep him?"

"…It's the experiment. The government is taking him as a ward. We were…"

"The experiment? But…you said nothing would happen!"

"Lucrecia, please listen to me. There was nothing I could do!"

He lied…

"You lied to me!"

"Lucrecia, stop this! You're not being rational…"

"Rational? You're telling me that my child, my child, that I carried for nine months and gave birth to is no longer my own and you want me to act rational? You're not even letting me see him!"

"Lucrecia…"

"You and Dr. Gast have been planning this all along, haven't you?"

"Lucrecia!" Hojo could barely believe his wife's behavior, "Stop this at once!"

With all that he had gone through the night before, the horrible instance when he realized that Sephiroth was no longer his, the terrible hours of walking outside in the cold air with no one but misery for company, the moments of mindless self-pity in the kitchen, and the wretched cooperation with Dr. Gast in the library, something inside of Hojo was not surprised when Lucrecia slapped him across the face and stormed towards their bedroom. His body would not respond to what she did; all he could do was dumbly stand still in shock. He needed sleep. His life was running through his hands like water, and there was precious little he could do about it. Lucrecia was in no state to speak to him right now. He would wait a few moments. But he could not sleep; he must not sleep.

He numbly walked to the stairs that led to the main foyer and sat down. He felt a wave of dizziness go through his head. He grasped onto the railing, his fingernails digging into the wood, refusing to faint or go to sleep. He wanted to go to sleep, but he couldn't. He couldn't go to sleep with so many issues unresolved. He could still not believe that this was happening. He had wanted a good career as a scientist. He had wanted to have a happy marriage with Lucrecia. He had wanted…even now he wanted to hold his son, just once. Even that was impossible. What he wanted did not seem to matter so much anymore. Would it matter if he ever got what he wanted again? After all, he didn't really want to live right now, but there he was.

Breathing and feeling were both very difficult at this time. He knew he should feel grief, but deadness permeated his system. It was as if he were living in a surreal dream. Perhaps it was his lack of sleep. Perhaps he had cried too much the night before.

"Well, what are you doing here, Dr. Hojo?" Dr. Hemin's cruel voice spoke from behind him, "shouldn't you be downstairs helping Dr. Gast?"

Hojo then remembered another thing he wanted but probably wouldn't get at that moment: Hemin's severed head on a silver platter, with a fork and knife beside it and an apple in her mouth. Oh, yes, he was in need of a good night's sleep.

"He gave me a break," Hojo lied.

"I see."

"I have tried to tell Lucrecia about the guardianship rights; she didn't want to listen to me…"

"Is that so?"

"I will get her to see reason, make no mistake. She just…needs some time to herself."

"Hmm…"

Now Hojo thought he was seeing images of jack o' lanterns with skirts flitting about the foyer. Maybe they would kill Hemin and Garron. He quickly shook his head and the images were gone. Was he going crazy?

"Are you all right?" Hemin noted his action with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm…just tired. I'm going to go check on Lucrecia."

Hojo wearily stood up, walked past Dr. Hemin, and headed for his and Lucrecia's bedroom. The door was shut. Hojo listened for a moment, expecting to hear Lucrecia's crying. But there was nothing. He knocked on the door.

"Lucrecia?"

There was no answer. Hojo had expected to hear Lucrecia sobbing or her shouting at him to go away. Hojo turned the doorknob; it was unlocked. He slowly opened the door.

He whispered, "Lucrecia?"

He found her on the floor, sprawled out face down and unconscious. Hojo rushed to help her, and passed out himself.

For a while, Hojo was like a dead man, stone-stiff in a dreamless sleep. There were no voices and no feeling. The last word he had spoken before blacking out was the first word he said when he revived, Lucrecia. She was not there, though. He did not have the strength to open his eyes at first. It was cold where he was. Everything was silent. It was dark. And no one answered him when he moaned Lucrecia's name. Then he tried Vincent, forgetting that Vincent had gone several months ago. When Vincent didn't answer, Hojo called out for Rosem. But of course, Rosem wasn't there. Hojo would call him on the PHS; curse the expenses. Hojo assumed he was in his bed on his side, so he reached to the right, thinking that he would reach the PHS on his nightstand. But his hand hit hard floor.

He finally opened his eyes. He was lying on a blanket laid out on a dirt floor. His glasses were crooked on his face. He straightened them and could see a rocky ceiling, as if he were in the tunnel that led to the library. But this was a closed in room. He turned his head and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a pile of human skulls not too far to his right. He stumbled to his feet, lost his balance, and fell on a coffin, without a lid. Hojo was not the type to lose his head and he had not quite recovered from his long sleep, so it isn't hard to understand why he did not completely panic when he saw the decrepit skeleton staring at him with no eyes.

But he did fall back against another coffin, one that had a lid. The lid fell off and Hojo braced himself for another corpse, but there was nothing in this coffin.

"Like it?"

Hojo sharply turned towards the doorway to find Dr. Gast standing there. He growled, "What am I supposed to like about it?"

"It doesn't look much, but it's the latest in Shinra technology. It's a prison."

"A prison?"

"It keeps someone in stasis perpetually. It could replace prison cells, if it weren't for a cost of the thing. And our president prefers not to take prisoners."

"…Why is it here?"

"Since it is not likely to be used as a prison for a common criminal, only a special person would be placed in it. The President has suggested that Sephiroth be placed in it when he matures, to be called upon when he is needed."

"If Sephiroth is anything like me or Lucrecia, you will have a difficult time getting him into that…Where's Lucrecia?"

"She is very ill. Some of our people have taken her to a rehabilitation facility."

"…How long have I been in here?"

"Three days. You must be thirsty; there are some bottles of water in the…"

"Why did you put me in here?"

"You couldn't wake up and interfere with your wife's taking away. …You must have a resistance to drugs. You weren't supposed to wake up for another two days yet."

"You drugged me?"

"Of course."

Hojo knew that it was useless to try to argue. He had to consider Sephiroth's future; he could not alienate himself from these people or get himself killed. But he was still furious. He wanted to grab the doctor by the throat and squeeze until there was no more life left in him.

That was when it occurred to him to ask, "Where is Sephiroth?"

"He has been moved to Midgar. He will be well taken care of."

"You mean under constant surveillance."

"…Yes."

"…And what will happen to me?"

"You will remain here for the time being. You can still be of use to us, Dr. Hojo. You mustn't argue. We will need you for future research…"

"On Sephiroth?"

"…But until that time, you will have to be content with research on the Jenova creature here. We will send you the proper equipment."

Somewhere in the wilderness near Nibelheim…

"Where are you taking me?" Lucrecia drowsily moaned as she was forced out of a vehicle by strong, merciless arms. Her blindfold was yanked off and she realized she had been traveling in a submarine. She had only awakened a few minutes ago. She fell upon the grass, unable to catch herself with her hands tied behind her back. There was a waterfall nearby, flowing into a gigantic lake that continued into a river. It was a very beautiful setting, but she didn't have any time to think about it. She was surrounded by at least ten male soldiers in Shinra uniform. One of them had a needle in his hands.

"What's that?" she asked. But he didn't answer her, he merely plunged the needle into her arm and injected the liquid into her veins. Her breathing started to grow very shallow.

"How long will it take?" Another one of the soldiers asked.

"Just a few seconds," the first answered.

Lucrecia began to weep. These men were going to kill her through poison. She lay down on the ground; she could feel her life ebbing away from her by the second. She thought of Hojo; she didn't even let him explain himself. And there was her baby Sephiroth. She had never held him or even touched him. She would die for a crime she didn't know she committed.

But then something remarkable happened. Her heartbeat slowed down to normal and her breathing became easier. She wasn't feeling any weaker. All of the soldiers stared at her incredulously as she sat up, the color returning to her cheeks.

"When is she going to die?" a soldier asked the first one.

He replied, "She should already be dead." He walked to her and roughly put his fingers against her throat. He was holding a gun, so she didn't move or object. He said, "Her pulse is still normal."

"That's odd," said a third one.

"I'll take care of it," spoke the first soldier. He backed away from Lucrecia and pointed his gun at her.

"Oh, please, please," Lucrecia sobbed, tears streaming down her face, "Don't do this! Don't do this! What have I done…?"

He fired his gun, three times. Lucrecia felt the bullets hit her body, a burning agony. She thudded into the ground, convincing it was only going to be another moment before the end came. But still she did not die. She had the strangest sensation only a moment later. She could hear an oozing sound and the pain slowly left her body. But she could feel the burning bullets against her skin. She slowly sat up and realized that the bullets had come out of her body, and the flesh had healed.

The soldiers were now terrified. One of them had already run back to submarine. The first soldier was amazed, but his face hardened in resolve.

"Stop sniveling!" he growled at his associates, "Dr. Gast said that she might be difficult to kill. But she won't be able to live if I squeeze the breath out of her!"

"Come on, Jerik!" one of the others soldiers cried, "We'll just leave her here. She can't survive on her own here…"

But Jerik was approaching Lucrecia, "I'll hold her head under the water and drown her!"

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder. There was a brilliant flash of light. The soldier Jerik's mouth opened in a silent scream. He fell to the ground, dead. Lucrecia looked up and saw that the rest of them had fallen as well. Frightening still, she walked from one to another, checking their pulses. They were all dead. Lucrecia sat down for a long time in shock. She heard other people approaching. She stood up and ran as fast as she could to the waterfall.

There was a cave inside of the waterfall; a beautiful cave with glowing walls like glacier ice. There was a throne-like place in the very back of the cave. It must have been a sacred place once. Lucrecia walked to the pinnacle and sat down in it. This was going to be her home now. She couldn't let any other human beings near her now. The Jenova cells must have made her like this, invincible and dangerous. If she killed simply by touching, she deserved to be isolated like this, to die like this. It had all happened so fast, and now this was her fate.

She quietly whispered, "Hojo…I'm so sorry. I should have let you explain yourself… Why did you let them do this, Hojo? Why? You should've known that… It's not fair…I just wanted the baby. I just wanted…Sephiroth. My little child…Sephiroth…"

And she crumpled up in a ball and started to weep bitterly. It wouldn't take her very long to starve to death and die in a place like this. It shouldn't.