Rebirth

Chapter 18 - Poison

Tifa trembled under the covers. It had been at least two hours since Kadj's last visit but
his words still replayed in her mind. She knew now that they intended to keep her there
and take her baby. She couldn't let that happen. Her baby was also Cloud's baby. It was
conceived of genes from both parents and Cloud's had been change by Jenova during his
time with SOLDIER. She knew what that meant. This was not going to be a normal
child. It would possess powers and abilities she could only imagine and, in the hands of
the wrong people, could be used to continue Sephiroth's destruction of the planet.

She lifted the blanket cover and peeked down at her body. The faint glow gave evidence
of the child growing inside her. She felt a warm flush of maternal love wash over her.
This was her baby. Her's and Cloud's.

"I won't let anyone take you away from me," she whispered to her unborn child. "Even if
it means that both of us have to die," she thought.

She hugged her knees to her chest again and threw her head back, eyes closed, and
rocked back and forth.

"Where are you, Cloud?" she whispered to the empty room.

In the kitchen upstairs, Loz and Yazoo leaned up against the counter and watched Kadj
prepare another drink for Tifa. Kadj held the clear vile of viscous liquid over a cup of
water and let three drops fall in. He slowly stirred the water until it was clear again.

"Vitamins for the growing mother and child," chuckled Loz.

Kadj held the glass up to the sunlight, looking through it. He smiled and said "Jenova."

"Let's try this again, shall we," he said.

Kadj placed the glass on the tray that also contained a sandwich. He picked up the tray
and walked back downstairs.

Tifa looked up as Kadj walked into the room. "How does he do that?" she asked herself.
She hadn't heard him approach.

"Leave me alone!" she snapped at him.

Kadj smiled and held up a hand in a peace gesture. "You have to at least be thirsty by
now," he said walking over to the table. He stopped and looked at her and placed the tray
on the table again.

Tifa lowered her head and hugged her knees to her chest tighter. Kadj sighed and sat
down on the bed.

"You have to eat," he said with real concern in his voice. "Please, I really don't want to
force you."

Tifa looked up at him and snarled "Get out of here, leave me the fuck ALONE!" She
threw the tray, food and all, against the wall behind him.

Kadj sighed again and looked down at his hands. "Ok, it's your choice." He stood and
turned to the camera. "Let's go," he said to his brothers watching on the monitor
upstairs.

Loz looked at his brother and smirked. "Its show time," he said, grabbing the
hypodermic needle from the table in front on him. "Bring the straps and watch out for
her feet. She kicks." Yazoo chuckled and followed his brother down to the basement.

Tifa sprang from the bed and threw herself at Kadj's back as he spoke to the camera, but
he was too fast for her. He whirled around and caught her in mid-air, slamming her back
down on the bed, and drove his knee into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Her
eyes flew open wide in pain as she felt like her ribs would crush under him.

"Don't struggle," he growled through clenched teeth. She was much stronger than she
looked. Yazoo and Loz burst into the room to help Kadj hold her still. Yazoo grabbed
Tifa's flailing feet and pinned her down with his knee. He quickly bound her legs with
the leather straps he had brought and tied them to the footboard of the bed.

"Settle down!" Kadj snarled in her ear as he straddled her on the bed, leaning his full
weight on her shoulders. She thrashed around like a wild animal, screaming with rage at
the top of her lungs.

"Get the fuck off me! I'll kill you, you fucking bastards!"

Loz grabbed one of Tifa's flailing arms and pinned it down on the bed. He wrapped a
tourniquet around her upper arm and pulled the tip off the needle with his teeth.

"Keep her still, Godammit," he snarled.

Tifa screamed as she saw the needle.

"No, NO!"

Tifa felt the cold liquid flush into her arm through the needle. She felt the drug work
through her system, making her limbs go heavy and her eyelids shut. She was aware of
Yazoo and Kadj releasing her as she stopped struggling, and she sank back into the bed.
The drug was taking effect. Her mind turned inwards, towards the unborn child she
carried.

She became aware of . . . Others . . . Others who whispered to her and to her child of
memories from the distant past. Lives lived on planets far from hers and thousands of
years ago. Terrible and fierce memories.

"Inhuman . . . monstrous," she whispered.

She saw her unborn child, suspended in her womb, sleeping unaware. The Others wanted
to wake her. Wake her child.

"No, she's too young," she murmured softly.

Kadj stood over Tifa, watching the struggle play out on her face. He turned to his
brothers and smiled. It had begun.

She couldn't let them wake her daughter. The fetus was only 24 hours old and had no
understanding of herself yet. To expose her to sentient thought from other worlds would
destroy her unformed mind. Bend her will before she was born.

Now Tifa knew what they wanted and the horror of it hit her with the force of a giant fist.
She fought against the Others, against the memories, with all of her being. Placing
herself between the Others and her baby, she struggled to find anything that would bring
her back and banish them from her mind. Everywhere she turned, she was forced back
by the Others, by their unrelenting memories. She saw distant worlds, alien worlds,
scarred by the blast of their suns, stripped of their own atmosphere, poisonous clouds
drifting past her, strange beings speaking languages she had never heard but she
somehow understood. The memories became so loud she could hardly hear herself think.

"I must not go mad," she thought. "She will have no defense."

She desperately searched her own memory for a lifeline. She searched her memory for
Cloud's face. His sweet, sad, strong face. But she couldn't see it. She whimpered
quietly as the rising voices swept over her, threatening to take her sanity.

"Tifa, he's coming for you."

Aeris! Tifa heard her friend's voice faintly in the back of her mind. She turned towards
it, struggling to hear. Suddenly Cloud's face flashed in her mind. She caught it before it
could be swept away by the Others and held it there, staring into it intently, blocking out
the rising babble of the Other's memories.

She suddenly gasped as though coming up for air and sat upright in the bed. She was
alone in the dark, cold room, her body covered with sweat. Slowly she moved her limbs,
testing to see if she had control of them back. Her head throbbed from the residual
effects of the drug she had been given. She looked down at her stomach and saw the
glow of her baby was still there, but it was fainter, its heartbeat slower.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to her daughter, tears falling down her face.