27: Around the Bend and up The Alley

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"That is indeed our esteemed general," Saristis said, fairly distressed.

"With as ripped and toned a human body as ever, might I add," Aridale inserted with blatant intrigue. She watched her superior pull out a pen and tap it on the blown-up image tacked to the blackboard on the wall. The woman sported her favorite playful smirk, but eventually turned to study the image as seriously as the other when she saw it went ignored.

"That's a rather curious growth, isn't it? Maybe he's not so human after all."

"Maybe he still has Jenova with him," she offered. "You know, the body was never recovered from the Crater. The WRO may say it was wiped out but…"

"Sephiroth and Jenova, together again?" Saristis voiced in visible awe. "Things officially look grim."

"I think," Aridale began, with a finger pressed to her lips, "that we're done running tests. Let's start applying our knowledge and getting firsthand results."

The redhead scholar scowled gravely, with success making his colleague falter. He turned askance to the digital image of Sephiroth as a still-life general wandering purposely below Junon. Saristis couldn't believe how close they came to physically incurring his wrath. If he hadn't all the resources he did, hadn't been cunning enough to actually plan some steps ahead of time… Game over, of course.

Aridale's suggestion was suddenly sounding more agreeable.

"Much as I hate to jump into it so soon..." He groaned and stepped back from the image. "We're going to need some major firepower to take down Sephiroth when he comes."

"You sure he'll get us this time? I mean not even the WRO have, yet."

"Haha," Saristis chuckled thoughtfully, lifting two fingers towards the ceiling. "One of their major bases is right in Edge. Someone's going to notice activity here— case in point, the 'green marvel' outside. Though I can't say that's our doing... I hope Kit's looking into that. BUT, let's hope we're so deep underground that that will buy us some time."

"The odds are unbelievable," the woman huffed in annoyance. "Will he, won't he? Will they, won't they? Humph."

"Alright, enough idle chatter-"

"Idle?"

"-I'm going to check in on our prized specimen."

-

I never knew that lying idle for so long would feel so uneasy. It was like waiting for nothing in a wakeful coma. Except for the littlest things, my whole body was just a single, weird buzz. I yearned for sun, yearned for fresh air, wanted to run through fields. I wanted to go home. If only I knew my own… Right now, I thought, I would be home tending to my garden, suffering, enjoying, tolerating Sephiroth's presence whenever it was necessary. It was a risky kind of lifestyle, but better than this. It had to be better than this.

How could prison in a tube be so frightening? And lonely? Lucrecia was gone and Aerith was like a busy bee, going in and out, which I thought kind of strange for a ghost. But I needed the company of someone or something familiar, to soothe my fears. That redhead doctor Saristis and his lab coat brigade also came and gone, doing shady things I could barely see. Sometimes they drew in a rough looking man or two, and after that I'd never see them again. Then, I'd be knocked unconscious from the machines pulling the life out of me.

A distinct heartbreak bore in a trap like this, my being as nothing more than someone's pet science project. And then, not even that. I was just something to waste away in a tube now. I began to wonder that, if I ever got out of this, would I wind up loathing people of science as much as Sephiroth did? Would I long to see them dead? Would I even try to kill one with my own hands if I ever saw them?

I didn't want to hate them for what they'd done to me.

But emotion didn't always work the way it was supposed to.

Sephiroth himself was testament to that.

For this one instant, I let my eyes flutter against the soft green glare on the glass above me. The leaked Lifestream cried and fought to get out. But it was no use. This tube was sealed airtight, and the oxygen I probably didn't need but felt secure breathing anyways was supplied through a mask strapped to my face. Each breath tasted processed and acidic like alcohol, which made my mouth feel like it was full of drugged cotton.

I sighed sadly and rolled my eyes up again, though there wasn't much more to see than the same green glare and part of the tube's solid metal frame. I was so tired that even this inaction fell short of driving me crazy enough to struggle like the Lifestream did. Buzz, buzzing.

If this wasn't the most miserable life I could ever, ever live…

-

"Well, it's barely responsive at the moment, but it's still alive," Saristis said with a shrug. "That's good enough for me."

"She's not as feisty as she used to be," Aridale voiced, cocking her head towards the large iron door. It had once been access to an infirmary, though with frills fit more for a Mako treatment facility; but now the rusty door stood painted with red bars across it as a high level security marker. Only Saristis and his entourage had the keys and clearance to get in. The lady scholar didn't really see much need to make this room stand out from the rest, but some things could not be helped.

"Hm."

"I mean, that high-grade sensitivity she supposedly developed in the beginning seems to have vanished, completely," she continued.

"Or rather, we stopped doing whatever appeared to be aggravating that sensitivity," Saristis told her but won only a shrug in response. He turned to lean against the wall, but decided not to for fear of getting his coat dirty. Rubble still lined the halls, and dust and cobwebs drifted everywhere. A dull orange light was all the half-ruined lab could muster in the largely lifeless city of Midgar. Yet, everyone could safely admit that this rat hole was safer and more discreet than nothing at all.

The redhead scholar pulled his glasses off and vigorously rubbed down the lenses with his sleeve. Sighing, he muttered, "How's Anton doing with our volunteers to the Lifestream showers?"

"They're getting rowdy," Aridale explained, "but any changes have yet to truly present themselves."

"Hmm."

"Worried?"

"I just don't want to see a bunch of Quelins running around, that's all," Saristis grumbled, sliding his glasses back onto his nose. "This is a very dangerous treatment and we won't know the results until they manifest. And it'll be too late, or, it'll be just right. Either way… Butterflies, butterflies."

Haste made waste. The pensive scientist regretted realizing this. This was basically how SOLDIER had been born. Although, this endeavor had more chance of succeeding in the long run without the key element, Jenova, driving them all mad. Saristis never did trust the alien parasite. He never understood the fuss that Hojo, Shinra, and even Professor Gast, put up about it. The Ancient angle didn't fool him for very long, either.

He'd sat out the Jenova Project. He was more interested in the vagaries of the Lifestream. And with his current accomplishment, he found himself quite proud. But to start down the path of making super soldiers just like Shinra had done made Saristis feel a bit derailed. This should have come later, if at all.

"Ah, over-thinking," The scholar cleared his throat then spun around on Aridale staring intently at him. His hazy blue eyes lit up, throwing the woman almost physically off-balance. "As usual, our work's cut out for us."

-----

"Your son's degenerated a little, huh?"

"A little bit... I wish I could help him, even if he doesn't want my help…"

"Oh, you're helping, don't worry. Once we get Drana back, things should start to look up."

"How is she?"

"Out of it."

"It's strange to see how much they seem to need each other now…"

"Well, they're bound together."

"Because that's how you asked the Planet to make them, right?"

"Sephiroth needed somebody to take care of him, since you were essentially... out of commission. He'd finally learn some humanity, she'd learn some reality. A nice mutual experience towards becoming whole people. But right now, I can only hope there'll be something left of the two when they reunite."

"Hope? You mean you're not sure?"

"Even an optimist can worry."