Part 5: A Mother’s Regret

Lucrecia's Cave, Shinra under attack, The Jenova Project, Project G, Gast watches over Sephiroth, Ifalna and Aeris' escape from Shinra, truths revealed

Part 5: A Mother’s Regret

 

(“Leaving”- Brad Jacobsen) “I should have listened to my father, but how can you trust a man who wanted the same thing Hojo did. Even if I chose Angeal, Hollander would have…” She pauses and holds it in for later. She continues on with her story in the right sequence, “Anyways, when I was younger, I began hearing the voices of the dead. I ignored them at first and didn’t tell anyone about it, but my father knew I could. Well, one day I couldn’t ignore them anymore. While reading research papers I heard about this cave that seemed to be of interest to an old friend and a relative of you, Vincent.”

“Lucrecia and my father.”

“Yup. I visited that cave and guess who I met?”

“Lucrecia.”

“Correct again! I couldn’t believe a woman had frozen herself inside a crystal in a cave. I examined her resting place,”

 

Serenity circles the crystal structure. She places her hand in the water and pulls it out when she finds it to be very cold.

“How did you get here?  Are you of this planet?” (End)

(Memories with Lucrecia”) “Vincent?” She speaks. Serenity steps back to see the woman still ‘sleeping’.

“Vincent? No. Who said that?”

“I’m so sorry”. The voice says.

“For what?”

“My  sin.”

“Your…sin?”

 “Please, help them.” Another voice says.

“Help who?” The calm water surrounding the crystal structure becomes wavy. A drop of water falls off the ceiling into the water causing ripples.  A voice speaks from it.

“Help them. Help them through their foreseen torment and lead them to their salvation.”

“What…”

Serenity falls forward into the lake. Sinking to the bottom she becomes closer and closer to the surface of the Lifestream. She sees a light in the distance and as it gets closer she sees a figure at its center; a woman. She has long flowing golden hair and golden armor. She can’t help but think this is the goddess from LOVELESS. Serenity stops sinking and floats in front of her. The lady speaks, “Help them.” She touches Serenity’s forehead and visions run through her mind. She sees Lucrecia’s experiment on Vincent; making him harbor Chaos. She sees Hollander injecting DNA into a fetus. She sees Hojo infecting a fetus with Jenova cells while it’s still in the womb. She sees Hojo experimenting with Zack and Cloud; exposing them to high levels of Mako.

“Help them, Serenity. Help the Lifestream continue to flow through this planet.” The Lifestream surrounds her and send her back up to the surface. (End)

 

(“Sore Arms”- Patrick Laird) “Back then, the only persons I knew or could recognize in the visions were Hollander and Hojo. I figured I had to start my search there. But I was interrupted; Angeal and Genesis were reported to be ‘killed in action’. I went into a deep depression. For two month I stayed in his apartment and took care of our kids, but I wasn’t myself. I always gave them a fake smile. It was painful to tell them what their uncle did and what happened to their uncles and grandparents. I didn’t know how much I could bear or how much more they could take. Things did take an unexpected turn about a month after the announcement.” (End)

 

(“Time Forgotten”- Music that will make you Cry) Trying to clear her head, Serenity goes to the recreation center on floor 64. She runs on the treadmill until she feels exhausted. Dripping in sweat she wipes off her face and arms before she heads to the showers. In the locker room, she grabs her bag and feels it vibrate. She takes out her phone to see that Sephiroth has texted her. It reads:  I had a meeting with Lazard and Zack yesterday. These clones are relentless. Meet me on the Solider floor in 40 minutes? We can get lunch and eat it in the break room while I have time. Being around trees always makes you feel better, no?

She gives a faint smile and texts him back: I would like that, but aren’t we still on high alert? She showers quickly, freshens up and heads to floor 49. As she sits on one of the couches the alarm sounds. Serenity texts him: I going to get the kids, you’re going to protect the president, right?

He texts back: We really need to talk; please meet up with me.

Running up the stairs, in the opposite direction as most, she hurries to her apartment. She has to get to floor 55; a whole floor for Sephiroth’s apartment. Floor 56 is Lazard’s apartment, floor 57 is Rufus’ and floor 58 is President Shinra’s; 57 and 58 is really one big apartment. When she reached the 50^th floor, Genesis copies flood the stairway. She draws her gun from its holster that is concealed by the jacket. Fighting her way to the next floor, she receives help from Sephiroth who was headed in the other direction. He joins her and helps fight them off. They were no match for him, but he didn’t like taking down an old friend; the real one or the copies. Serenity pulled the trigger too easily, releasing her rage with ever finger pull. As they fight their way up five floors they talk,

“Serenity, Angeal and Genesis are still alive and they are here. Zack and Angeal are in Hojo’s lab right now. Genesis and Hollander are going after him.”

“And you’re not protecting him?”

“I don’t care what happens to that pest.”

“What’s going on between all of you?”

“Genesis and Angeal are not, normal. Both are…” he didn’t know how to describe them.

“Project “G”, right?”

“You know?”

“Yes, considering my father was secretly in on it…he was in on a lot of things.”

“What do you want to do? Genesis won’t listen to any of us. He may listen to you.”

“Doubt it. He probably doesn’t want to see me. I knew and I never told him…I betrayed him.”

“Don’t blame yourself for your parent’s mistakes.”

Serenity goes to unlock the door to their apartment, but it is already open. She enters cautiously.

In the apartment, toys are on the living room floor but there is silence. Her children had evacuated probably with one of the employees no doubt. She finds a note on the kitchen table, it reads, “Your children are safe. Katana and Knife took them to the 3^rd basement level of the underground bunker.” It was signed-“Tseng.” A sigh of relief, she knows the Turks will take care of them, but she wants to head to the basement anyways. A helicopter hovers around outside making sure the upper most floors are evacuated. She heads out to the balcony hoping the helicopter will see her. She looks up to see that it is gradually making its way to the 70^th floor.

“Damn, it already checked here. Great, now we’ll have to battle with the elevator.” She looks down to see gunfire and swords clashing. Across the way she sees a summon attacking a Solider.

“Genesis has summoned Bahamut on Zack.”

“He can handle it, come on.”

“Where are we going? To Hojo’s lab?”

“No, to the basement. Riku and Sakuya need us right now. Zack and Angeal can deal with Genesis and Hollander for the time being. Right now, you three are my priority.”

“Let us go then.”

Soon, the alarm was turned off and they rode the elevator to the 1^st floor. The employees that evacuated to the basement reentered the building through the main entrance. Knife and Katana found Serenity and Sephiroth and returned their children. They went to the 61^st floor to eat dinner. Riku and Sakuya ate their food rather quickly, eager to talk to their parents when they finished.

“Mom, I thought our uncles were dead?” Sakuya starts.

“No, they are not…well I think Genesis is still alive, I don’t know about Angeal.”

“Are you going after him?” Riku wonders.

“No, what he does, doesn’t concern me.”

“But, he killed your parents and blew up Banora! We almost died.”

“Shinra blew up Banora, he made sure you two were safe and as for your grandparents…that’s a situation I know nothing about.” Sephiroth explains.

“It’s complicated, but all you two need to know is that he loves you and I don’t hate him.”

“And he is still a friend of mine and family. I’ll do my best to bring him home.”

“Geesh, grownups are so complicated. I wanna stay a kid forever.” Sakuya states.

“I’m counting on you, dad.” Riku hugs his right leg.

“And I’m counting on you to stay strong. This is just a rough patch and when we are out of it all of us will be together again.” He pulls Sakuya in so she can hug his left leg.

“Promise.” Riku looks up at him with a serious stare. He picks them up and holds them; one in each arm and says, “I promise.” Serenity wraps her arms around the three of them. He sets them down and they run around the room, keeping themselves entertained while the adults talked. Serenity and Sephiroth continued their conversation.

“I’ve never really asked, maybe because I don’t like talking about mine, but what happened in the past with your family and Angeal’s and Hollander?”

“Project G.” She proceeds to tell him what Hollander and Angeal’s mother, Gillian did and how Hollander is Angeal’s father. He now knows who ‘H’ is. She tells how Genesis was also a test subject, given to her father so Hollander could keep an eye on him and how he was marked as a failure. “I just don’t understand how they are different.”

“Angeal has a pure white angel’s wing, Genesis has a black one. Angeal isn’t degrading, Genesis is.”

“They are not human anymore are they?”

“They are their own existence.”

“That was Hollander’s project. Hojo and Gast had a project of their own, all under the name, The Jenova Project. I don’t know what Hojo did, but I’m sort of familiar with Gast; my research on the Ancients picks up where he left off.”

“New addition to the family, the Jenova project was the family.” Sephiroth mumbles to himself. He now knows that ‘He’ must be Hojo and he couldn’t care for his child. He thinks to himself, could he be his child, Jenova is his mother. 

“I’ve lived here all my life and I never knew what they were doing until recently. I don’t know Hollander and I despise Hojo…I don’t know why you worked for him. He has a couple screws loose.”

“Believe me, I know.”

“Well, it looks like I will be chasing after Angeal and Genesis for awhile. What will you do?”

“I’ll look into their research more. I wanna know what they are trying to accomplish. You just focus on your missions, ok?”

“Sure thing, but believe me, I will investigate on the side.”

“I’m sure you will. I love you.”

“I love you too.” (End)

 

 

(“Parabolic Cosmos”- Patrick Laid) They leave their spot on the bench surrounding the huge tree in the middle of the room and return to the table they eat their dinner at; Serenity picks up Riku while he picks up Sakuya. They headed back to their apartment and tucked their children in. Feeling much better, she falls asleep with her children safely in their beds and under the arm of her man.

                That night, Sephiroth dreamed of the days where Gast watched over him. Gast had left Shinra when Sephiroth was still pretty young, but even in the years after he left, he still kept in contact secretly. He was very careful about where and when he sent the letter from and what he wrote. He didn’t want Hojo to intercept one and find out his location. Sephiroth remembers reading the letter and how they made him feel. He would light up when he received mail, he would smile as he read the letters and he would cry knowing that he wasn’t coming back for him. But one day the letters stopped and never came again. A few days later, Hojo and his team had returned with a woman and her baby and imprisoned them. (End)

(“Sophia Lullaby”- Ernest Gonzales) It wasn’t until years later that Sephiroth finally met the woman and her child. It was 1992 and the baby was now seven years old. Sephiroth is fifteen years old and just became a 1^st class Solider. He had access to many parts of Shinra he never had access to before. He gained access to holding cells near Hojo’s lab. In one of them were a woman and her daughter. The woman looks weak and the girl is cheery despite her surroundings. The woman stares deep into his eyes. He loves the color of her eyes; they are a more gentle green than his.

“What is your name, Miss?”

“Ifalna, and your’s, son?”

“Sephiroth.”

“Sephiroth…I heard many things about you.”

“Yeah, that crazy man is always mumbling things about you.”

“The walking mass of complexes?”

“If that’s what you call him, then yes!” The girl smiles.

“Did he put you in here?”

“Yes, he did.” The woman replies.

“Why? For his research?”

“Yes, for his Jenova project.”

“Jenova? That’s my mother’s name.”

“Your…mother? Do you know who or what Jenova is?”

“My mother…do you know where to find her? Gast believed she was still alive!”

“Gast! He could tell you everything if he was still alive. I can tell you everything I know. Just please, get us out of here.”

“Deal. I want to know both of their fates.” Sephiroth breaks open the cell and grabs a lab coat for Ifalna to use as a cover.

“What about my daughter, how can we conceal her?” Sephiroth looks around and finds a cart and drapes a cover over it. “Stay there and don’t make a sound.” He tells the child. 

They take the elevator to his suite and tells Ifalna to change clothes and the girl to make herself look like a little boy. The girl covers her eyes with her hair while her mother put on a pair of sunglasses to conceal her eyes. Sephiroth disguises himself too by wearing a fake moustache, glasses and hides most of his hair in his hat and under his coat. They proceed through the building with caution. It was their lucky day because students were touring the Shinra Building as part of their history curriculum with their teachers and their parents. They blended in with the crowd and left the building when the tours were over.  It was sad to Ifalna, she had been here for seven years and was never able to take her daughter though this historic landmark until now. But she also resented how the company glorifies all the problems they have caused in this world that they so called, “resolved”.

                In the streets, they move quickly to the train station. They head to the slums because it is the best place to hide and the easiest place to leave Midgar from. On the train, they talk.

“So, your father named his project after your mother?”

“My, father? Hojo isn’t my father.”

“Yes, he is. And as for your mother, she is still alive. She’s immobile and has kept herself locked away for some time now, but she is still alive. She’s waiting for you. That is what she has told me.”

“Told you? You’ve met her?”

“Yes, I hear her conscious in the Lifestream. She has so much pain and longs to hold her child.” The train stops at Sector 7. Ifalna stands up but loses her footing. Sephiroth catches her.

“Where can I find her?”

“She doesn’t say. She wants you to look for the right person and then you can find her.”

“The right person?”

“I am sorry, that is all I can tell you.”

“You have told me more than enough, thank you.” Ifalna exits the train with her daughter. He waves goodbye to them and as the train pulls away he sees Ifalna collapse. As she falls, Sephiroth gets a headache and sees a glimpse of another woman collapsing before him. A ribbon falls out of her hair along with a little green light. Chills are sent down his spine. When he comes to, he runs to the back of the train and tries to jump off it but he realizes that sector seven was three stops ago and he was in the upper plate area.

 Back at Shinra Headquarters, Hojo and his scientist were scrambling to find Ifalna and her child and sent The Turks to find them. Sephiroth had to come to terms with who his father is and had to come to terms that he may know where his mother is. She is alive and he wanted to find her. (End)  

 

After that, I knew Hojo had a deeper connection to both Sephiroth and I. When I finally remembered the visions I had seen, I began snooping around in Hojo’s files and old records of Hollander’s and Gast’s experiments. I pieced everything together rather quickly. I found out Sephiroth’s true father, and what Hojo did to him, but his real mother was still a grey area at the time. I knew what Sephiroth was and I could have told him, but I never got the chance; in actuality I didn’t really know how to tell him. Things only got worse…”