Beep. Beep. Beep.
A steady, monotonous beeping. A drip, drip. Rhia opened her eyes, and shut them instantly against the brilliant white overlight. The movement sent rays of pain lancing through her skull, and she reached up to touch the bruise on her head gingerly…
And found that her arm wouldn't move.
With growing alarm, Rhia snapped open her eyes, the pain taking second place to the shock of realizing her arms and legs were tied, and she was trapped inside what appeared to be a giant glass cylinder. There were a number of red and green wires sticking into her body, which were, now that she was awake, growing in pain by the second. She screamed. The pain was unbearable, topped with the horrifying realization that she couldn't move!
"Ahh, my precious specimen." A small, black haired man walked toward her and tapped at the glass. With his white lab coat, wire glasses, and slicked back hair into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, he fit Rhia's stereotype of a mad scientist perfectly.
"Forgive my haste in this. We don't have much time. My name is Hojo. How are you feeling?"
Rhia spat, and was disappointed when the saliva ran down the glass instead of his face.
"I see. Well, Rhia. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to show you something."
With that, Hojo went to a lab table and picked up a small remote. Pressing a button, a large screen came down, which flickered and sputtered to life, showing several capsules like her own, each with a wildly different being in them. Most looked human to Rhia, however. As the specimens opened their eyes, she noticed that they all glowed bright green. They each bore numbered tattoos, from two to forty-five. She gasped as she saw the wires and tubes injected into their bodies, and a bright green liquid flowed into them.
"Do you know what that is?" Hojo asked. "Pure Mako energy."
Rhia gasped. "You're creating humans. You're…you're growing them!! And putting…is this how SOLDIERS are made!? NO! Let me out, please! Please!"
"You're missing the point, my dear. You see, these are clones. They have a very special DNA code in the Mako energy. A DNA that barely qualifies as human. They are all made to clone one very special one. Someone whose strength is unreal. In hopes to…as you can see, duplicate him."
The answer hit Rhia like a brick. "Sephiroth." She whispered.
"Oh yes. These, although they may not look like it, are Sephiroth clones. We have not been able, however, to come close to the original. And of course, there have been…failures."
The screen changed abruptly, to deformed, monstrous beings, roaring in frustration.
"You've created monsters." Rhia whispered.
"But you see, Rhia." He continued. "All of the Sephiroth clones were monitored closely, and given tattoos by number that would forever brand them. But, it seems that you have this DNA. Naturally. A great deal of it." Hojo increased the flow of the liquid through her veins.
As if on que, Rhia went blank.
He held her newborn body close, this tall man, and he looked down at her through bright green eyes. The newborn girl…her!, reached out to grasp a chubby handful of hair the color of burnished silver. You have so much to learn, little one, so much that I will teach you… he spoke not in words but inside her tiny head.
I am…
I am…
"Sephiroth." Rhia croaked.
"Sephiroth is my father."
The sword. The eyes. The inexplicable link she felt with him. All of a sudden, memories blocked rushed to her mind. Sephiroth never meant to hurt me at all...did he? He knew, by the gods, he knew…
"Does Sephiroth know of this?!" she cried, referring to the monster and clones, suddenly feeling a wave of empathy and common sentiment for the mutilated cratures while her mind staggered with the impossibility of it all.
Gods. A father. A family. An answer to a question plaguing her life- who she really was. And Sephiroth! She hardly knew…she wanted to tell him so much, wanted to know this stranger whose blood and bonds she shared.
"No my dear! Of course not! And, in a while, he won't know of you either…"
A cold hand, fear, gripped her spine. Maybe it was naive, stupid even, but after finally finding the missing link to her life, she couldn't imagine letting it go.
But cold reality seeped into her. He's so cruel…a warrior. He won't accept me as a daughter. He doesn't have to. The Great Sephiroth…if he knew, then why didn't he say anything….I'm okay by myself…could I stand being with him?
Hojo's words snapped her back to herself.
"Well, might as well tell you. See those tubes? We're going to suck all the Mako energy, all of Sephiroth's original blood. That way, we can study it to make a more perfect Sephiroth clone. Afterwards, your body will be a vegetable, useless. So, terribly sorry, but I have orders to kill you."
"No!" Rhia screamed, thrashing against the bonds that held her tight. "Please, somebody help me!"
Hojo laughed cruelly. "Oh, you're too late, my dear. By the time Sephiroth arrives, it will be too late. He won't even know what happened."
"Coward! You dickless wonder get your ass back here and face me like a man! Let me go!" She screamed shrilly.
Hojo laughed, and flipped the switch. Rhia screamed once more as the wires kicked to life, and she mercifully blacked out.
Hojo chuckled again, going back to his computer and punching keys rapidly, satisfied and excited about the pathways opened by this new specimen.
The lights went out, plunging Shinra HQ in blackness.
"Warning. Warning." The speaker blared. "All personnel please ascend to the top floors. To repeat, please ascend to the AHHhgghhhhhh!"
Hojo recoiled from the speaker as though from a poisonous snake. He frantically punched buttons, locking down all the doors to the lab. We're safe here. Nothing can get to the top floors-
His thoughts were punctuated by a horrible, ear wrenching screech of twisting metal below. He dropped to the floor. What in the lowest hell was that!? Fear began to creep up on him, slowly and inexorably, until he whimpered in fear. I'm safe here. Some monster burst into HQ is all. Another dragon. The soldiers will take care of it.
He repeated this like a litany as the screeching grew closer, like the twisting of the world itself. Closer, closer, it was way too close! Too close!
Right HERE!
Hojo screamed as the three foot thick bolted steel door buckled and screeched to the floor, letting in a wake of dust like the breath of some monster and a horrifying, all-encompassing smell of blood…
Groping in the darkness, Hojo, panting attempted to crawl away, to safety, away from this. His foot caught on a wire and he collapsed, throwing a shower of sparks. Oh, the screams were so loud…
Like some horrid joke, the lights flickered on for one brief second, and Hojo finally caught a glimpse of what creature pursued…no, hunted him. Hojo screamed.
"No!" he cried, tears running down his face and he lost control of his bladder.
"NO no no noooo! Noo!"
*
Downstairs, Colbey and Ash hid in a cabinet to escape the bloody death and destruction wreaked upon their comrades. Ash panted, sweat running down his face in rivulets.
"Colbey?" he whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Daddy's very angry."
The lights, now broken and shattered on the floor gave no light, but Sephiroth was bathed in the eerie green glow of the capsule as he reached in and pulled out Rhia gingerly, lovingly, and cradled her in his arms, his blood soaked hair dripping unto her face. As he sheathed his sword, Rhia awakened, moaning in pain.
"It is our time," Sephiroth spoke quietly, but the words were like shotgun blasts to Hojo.
"You and I…it is our time, and it is our right."
I never knew the touch of a father. Of anyone who cared.
I was different. You as well. I was rejected.
I fought to be the best. My life…a struggle!
But you, you are my daughter. And for all my pain, all the hatred and suffering, You will have the best.
We will take our rightful place together as the rulers of this damned Planet.
Rhia opened one eye to look around the building, the lab, and wished she had not. Everything was smashed to pieces, blood staining the walls and floor. Hojo's mangled body lay in a corner unmoving. The destruction was unreal, and Rhia fought bile rising in her throat.
He did this. One man (My father…) did this…
And Rhia closed her eyes, and clung to Sephiroth.
"You have so much to learn, little one, so much I will teach you..."
AN: AS always, review review pretty please with cherries on top! Sorry the update took so long...I'm working on an original fic at the moment and all writers know how easily it is to get distracted. ;) Well, let me know if you like it, hate it, whatever! Love everyone who has been keeping up!