Foresaken - Prologue
This unfinished story comprises of one prologue and one chapter and it can be accurately characterized as a ridiculous character-bashing story centered on Hojo. There isn't really much that I can add to this. It's typical Slave: overblown, misinformed, misinterpreted.
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A/N: Okay. . .I think I'm going to try something new today! I've decided that my new project is to convince everyone who reads my stories that Hojo is a complete asshole. ^.^ Sounds like a useful project, right?
Lian Hua: We don't need your enlightement, love. We played the game, we know Hojo's a total jerk.
This story deals directly with Sephiroth's life. And for a change, there are no OCs in this story.
Lian Hua: A fact for which I am sure you'll compensate somehow.
Iscariot: It isn't even true. She has at least two original characters in this story, the nurses Clark and Cotae. Just because they are minor characters doesn't mean they are not her creations.
Which means. . .My character can't be there to make Seph's life better! ;-;
Lian Hua: Because God forbid you make a friend or a father figure for him. No, only a romantic interest would make his life better!
That's not good. . .Oh well. Anyway, this is my interpretation of Sephiroth's life under Hojo's tyranny. Please remember to review once you finish reading. Story + Lots of reviews = Happy Julia. ^.^ Which means I'll be inclined to get up off my lazy ass and write more.
Lian Hua: Why did she ever bother asking for reviews when she completely disregarded any constructive criticism found in them? Would it not have been more honest to openly ask people to leave only positive reviews?
Shutting up now so you can read the damn story. . .
Disclaimer: Um. . .Lessee here. . .don't own Lucrecia. Nope, don't own Sephiroth either. (;-;) *wishes she did* And thank the good Lord I don't own Hojo. While I'm at it, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. I think that covers all of it.
*wanders off to go flirt with Sephiroth*
Lian Hua: ...something is off in Slave's writing style.
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Prologue
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In the dark shadows and cold sterility of the laboratories in which he resided, Professor Hojo looked up...there were footsteps, coming ever closer to him. The footsteps were angry, not walking at a serene pace. Rather they were storming, stomping nearer to where he worked.
Iscariot: If they were angry and not serene, you don't even need to elaborate.
The door slammed open, and an angry voice demanded of him, "What did you do to her? You lecherous bastard, what did you do to Lucrecia?"
The professor looked up from his clipboard. In the doorway was a young man, his short black hair mussed from the rampage that had been his path to the labs, his usually pristine navy suit wrinkled and in disarray. Clearly, he was a Turk.
Iscariot: No, it's not clear at all. The line does not make much sense if we are seeing this from Hojo's perspective, as the following dialogue establishes that Hojo already knows this man by name.
Hojo scoffed, "Why, Mr. Valentine. How nice of you to pay me a visit!" despite his words, the grimace on his face betrayed obvious distaste. "To what do I owe this honor?"
Again, the Turk shouted, "What did you do to her?"
Hojo only laughed. "I did nothing to her. Nothing, at least, that she did not sign up for. She volunteered for this job."
Lian Hua: Yes, she did. She agreed to experiment on her own unborn baby. There is a certain kind of irony here, considering how Slave seems to like her character. More on Lucrecia later.
"Job? Job?" Vincent's face was a mask of sheer rage. "Lucrecia is my girlfriend, my lover!
Iscariot: Since when? Even in the original game it was clear that while Lucrecia was fond of Vincent, she rejected him for some reason or another.
And she comes to me today, after not even seeing me for nine fucking months...I find her pregnant with your child!" By now he was hyperventilating, and wasn't sure if he was making any sort of sense. "How...how dare you!" Shaking with fury, he reached for the gun holstered at his hip. "I'll kill you!"
Iscariot: Hey guys, remember this scene? Cuz I don't. I also don't remember Vincent ever losing his cool and freaking out, even before death totally mellowed him out. Dramatic and theatrical? Sure, in the swooshy vampire sense. But this is just ridiculous.
Lian Hua: Irony ahoy! Slave thinks Vincent is a lame, whiny character, but he's actually the only one who opposed the Jenova project. The only one who did not want baby Sephiroth to be experimented upon. The only one who stood up and did something, and got killed for it.
Iscariot: Dear readers, keep in mind that Sephirothslave did not bother to get Vincent, and so she remained unaware of the love triangle plot point for many years. She didn't see Lucrecia's waterfall scene or Vincent's death scene and so she filled in the blanks however she felt like instead of doing actual research like going to a Final Fantasy VII wiki.
Ever calm, Professor Hojo laughed. "I'm sure you will." Quick as a flash, a gun appeared in Hojo's hand. Bullets leapt from the barrel before Vincent's hand had reached his gun.
Iscariot: Quickdraw McHojo!
The bullets, three of them in all, embedded themselves in Vincent's arm. The Turk cried out in pain, falling to his knees as he clutched helplessly at his now useless arm. Gritting his teeth, his vision began to fog with pain. "...bastard..." He had failed Lucrecia...no. Lucrecia had told him that she chose Hojo over himself...She wanted him to leave them alone.
Iscariot: That's kind of hard to accomplish when you're the assigned bodyguard for the project.
Now the tears came. Not from the pain in his wounded arm. Rather, from dejection, and the realization that Lucrecia loved...not him, rather, her job...and science.
Lian Hua: Time to talk about Lucrecia. The fandom seems to be pretty split when it comes to this character. They either sympathize with her and her sorrows (sometimes even absolving her from all blame and throwing it on Hojo), or they demonize her for experimenting on Sephiroth and then running off to kill herself, abandoning any chance of ever being close to her son.
I'm somewhere in the middle of this. While I hate the fact that Lucrecia chose to forfeit her ethics in favor of fueling her ambitions and desire for recognition within the scientific community (a fact which makes her eerily similar to Hojo in this respect - they were both laughed upon), I also appreciate her human side, which was definitely stronger than Hojo's. She felt terribly guilty about accidentally causing the death of Vincent's father, about Vincent's death, about experimenting on her child, and was plagued by horrific visions of his future crimes. After Sephiroth was born and she wasn't allowed to hold him, she had a breakdown (possibly amplified by post-partum depression) and couldn't live with herself anymore, so she essentially did what Vincent did: locked herself in a crystal coffin and slept for thirty years. This is as closest to death as she will ever get, and she'll have to live forever with the knowledge of what she has done. She's paying for her crimes.
Slave seems to portray Lucrecia as an innocent victim here, not realizing that she played an equal part in the Jenova experiment. She allowed her baby to be injected with Jenova cells not knowing what could happen for strictly selfish purposes. She's not a victim. She knew what she was doing and now she's paying the price.
"What shall I do with you now?" Hojo asked, hanging over the injured Turk. "That arm of yours is useless...the bones are shattered, unless I missed my mark. Which I doubt." He laughed cruelly. "Oh, I know! You will become my pet...The first thing we'll do is get you a new arm, as you probably will never use that one again."
"...no thanks..." Vincent choked weakly. "I'd rather die then than live as one of your puppets."
"...Well, that's a pity. But, I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter." Roughly Hojo shoved a cloth over Vincent's mouth and nose. "Sweet dreams!" Hojo laughed.
Then everything went black.
Click to view*
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Unfazed by the events of the day, Hojo carelessly tossed Vincent's unconscious body into a specimen holding chamber. As he turned from the cage, a technician ran up to him, breathlessly delivering the message she had been sent with; "Professor! It-it's...It's Lucrecia! S-she is...in labor! Please! Come quickly!"
Hojo sighed. "Damn bitch...of all the inconvenient times..." Angrily he turned on the technician. "Get the whore a nurse, have them deal with her. I'll be in later to...oversee...the birth of my...specimen."
Iscariot: Um, okay Captain Hojo T. Kirk...
"Yes, sir!" The technician scrambled off, hiding the look of disgust that otherwise would have found its way to the surface. He didn't even care that the woman who loved him was about to give birth to their child. No, instead, Professor Hojo thought of this as an inconvenience, and instead of the birth of their child, he considered it the birth of a mere specimen.
Iscariot: We have ALREADY ESTABLISHED THIS in Hojo's line above. You don't need to hold our damn hand, Slave. Especially when your palms are gross and sweaty and you fidget a lot. Also you need to cut your nails.
Shaking his head in annoyance, Hojo continued along the routine of his work day.
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"...It hurts!...I can't...I don't think I can do this..." Lucrecia's agonized screams filled the room in which she was to give birth. The pain was unbelievable, so much as to the extent of clouding her vision and sending her into brief periods of delirium.
"Shh...it will be alright dear." A nurse gently wiped the amber-haired woman's forehead with a cool cloth instead of offering her advice on how to breathe, for example.
Another fit of contractions hit Lucrecia hard. Again she screamed, her body thrashing in anguish. Tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks as she babbled incoherently. The only words she managed to get out between her sobs and screams were. "...Please...where is he? Where...where is Hojo? Please...I want him here with..." Her request was cut short by another spasm, and the screaming began anew.
One of the nurses fled the room, off to find the Professor.
The head nurse remained at Lucrecia's side, whispering words of comfort and reassurance. She was trying desperately to calm the other woman, to be of some meager comfort in her time of need.
Iscariot: So where in Nibelheim are all these nurses and medical staff?
Lian Hua: Slave probably thinks this is Midgar.
Others standing around the room carefully monitored her blood pressure and heart rate. Offering what little assistance they could. All were bound by the helplessness of the situation. All there knew that the only one that could really help Lucrecia through this was herself.
Iscariot: Which means that Lucrecia is obviously not in a good medical facility because there are things which REAL doctors can do to help the process.
A few brief moments passed, and then the door slammed open. Striding into the room with a look of utmost annoyance on his face was Professor Hojo. He glared around the room, clutching his clipboard with white knuckles. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked angrily, staring accusingly at the head nurse. "Can you fools not handle this situation without me hanging over you every moment?"
The head nurse stared calmly back at the professor. "Sir, Lucrecia herself requested your presence. Were I to have it my way, I would assure you never saw this poor woman again."
"That sounds like a lovely idea. I certainly do not wish to see the bitch after she gives me that damn specimen that I've put so much work into. She is merely a host vessel."
Iscariot: Scientists do not talk like this - aliens from bad 80s movies do.
Lucrecia listened to Hojo's words, her tears coming harder now as she listened to the man she loved tell everyone in the room that he didn't care a whit for her.
Iscariot: Look, if Hojo is intelligent and sociopathic enough to know how to woo and manipulate a woman into loving him and bearing him a child, then he should have the common social sense to NOT go showing his true colors at such a crucial time, when the health of the "specimen" could be endangered, considering the condition of the mother.
Then it hit her: Hojo had never loved her. He had just wanted someone willing to carry to term a child that would supposedly be mutated into the "perfect" human being. He really didn't care about her. She began to sob, her heart broken by this realization.
Iscariot: Whoaa, hey Lucrecia, that's just not true! You see, Hojo may not be very good at expressing himself, but you should realize the truth is that he wanted a child who would inherit the powers of the Ancients for Gast's Jenova project. I guess you never did pay too much attention to what was going on.
On top of this, Slave does not appear to be aware that for Hojo and Lucrecia to subject themselves and their progeny to this experiment, they would have needed Gast's approval, which they obviously received. So once again, Gast is just as much to blame for this.
"Nurse Clark!" one of the subordinate nurses called for the head nurse, who was still glaring vehemently at Professor Hojo. "The child is crowning!"
Slave: And this is the only childbirth term I know so I shall keep using it every time I need to have a dramatic birthing scene!
"Good." Nurse Clark smiled serenely. "Her labor is going well, should you care to know, professor."
Hojo shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. As long as the specimen is alive, it matters not to me whether she lives or dies."
Iscariot: Spoken like a true scientist, who has no idea if the child will survive without his mother, and most certainly could not be interested in the effects Jenova cells have on human beings.
He leaned up against the wall, uninterestedly watching the proceedings as nurses urged the host vessel to push, reassuring her that it was almost over.
Around half and hour later, the birthing process was complete. Nurse Clark smiled at the sweaty, sobbing Lucrecia and announced, "Congratulations, Miss Lucrecia, on your son."
After busily wiping the child off with a damp washcloth, the nurses wrapped the child in a blanket and handed the baby him over to Lucrecia.
The proud mother cradled the baby in her arms, gazing adoringly down into the face of her son. Hers.
Lian Hua: Ingame quote of Lucrecia's, from the waterfall scene: "Lately, I dream a lot of Sephiroth... My dear, dear child. Ever since he was born I never got to hold him, even once... Not even once. You can't call me his mother... That... is my sin..."
If Slave had bothered to play the game properly, she would have discovered Lucrecia's cave and realized that she never got to hold her baby. Hojo and Gast spirited Sephiroth off to somewhere, Midgar probably.
"You will of course, need to nurse him." Nurse Clark reminded her gently, smiling with relief that the birth went well. It was always a joy to see new life brought into the world.
"...My beautiful baby boy..." Lucrecia whispered.
"It isn't a baby, you ignorant bitch." Hojo growled in exasperation. "Neither is it yours. The fucking specimen belongs to me." He strode over to the bed and roughly snatched the baby, causing it to wail in pain and indignation.
Lian Hua: Shouldn't Hojo treat his precious specimen more carefully? He's the most unique baby in the world, after all.
Iscariot: That would mean having common sense.
"Please, Hojo...give me back my son!"
"Shut up!" Roughly Hojo slapped Lucrecia. "You stupid bitch! The specimen will be raised under my jurisdiction, as I see fit. I no longer have need of you." With his free hand, he drew out his gun and aimed it at Lucrecia's head. "Goodbye, darling."
Iscariot: My turn to bring one of Lucrecia's quotes from the original game! "I wanted to disappear... I couldn't be with anyone... I wanted to die... But the Jenova cells inside me wouldn't let me die."
Lucrecia cannot die. She tried to kill herself and could not die because of the Jenova cells. So Hojo cannot kill her. Playing a game properly goes a long way and saves yourself a lot of embarassment, Slave.