Viral Love

I almost felt relieved at having to fight monsters tonight. It gave me something to think about other than Lucrecia. Still, Hojo didn’t appreciate it when a bagnadrana chewed on him. He changed form, growing about three feet and turning dark green. He grew black claws, fangs and tentacles, and ripped the monster apart in seconds. Afterward, standing there and breathing hard, he fixed his cold, black eyes on me.

I stepped away from him, my hand on the borrowed gun. “It’s me, Vincent, Hojo,” I said. “Calm down.” He truly looked frightening like this. The last time I’d seen him change form, he’d been hideous, almost unrecognizable as anything human, but this… It was different when I could still see who he was.

Hojo blinked. Slowly, he sat down in the dust. I didn’t think he could talk. He seemed to be waiting for something… Ah. He just waited to return to his original form. I sat across from him to do my own waiting. One of his tentacles inched toward me, looking like a snake. I watched it, curious as to what he intended. He didn’t seem aggressive.

The tentacle wrapped around my boot, then swirled to gently grip my ankle. His eyes met mine, no longer cold, but hot with lust. I shivered. If he decided to make a real advance, I’d have to correct him. I no longer found him abhorrent, but I wasn’t really of a mind to let him fuck me.

The tentacle crept farther up, twining around and around my leg. Slowly, he began to pull me toward him. I fought, kicking and grabbing for purchase on the loose soil, but he still dragged me easily. Shit. I might have to transform to defend myself.

Hojo put me in his lap and just stared at me. The moon illuminated the green nimbi around his dark eyes. He didn’t move, didn’t speak, just sat there and looked at me. Relieved he wasn’t pushing, I let him hold me.

This felt strange. I sensed his slow shrinking. For some odd reason I had a feeling we’d done this before, with me holding him instead. I pushed harder for the memory and, after a long few minutes, I head Chaos chuckling. The memory came, then.

Hojo had sat in my lap while I had my Chaos form, and had plucked cactuar needles from me. He’d spoken to me softly, soothingly, undisturbed by the danger of his situation. I could have become angry at the continued pain, and if I had, I could have badly hurt him. Trust a madman not to know what’s good for him.

Still, he’d treated me very kindly. I didn’t think I’d ever felt a touch so careful. I’d cursed his gentleness time and time again, but I’d certainly appreciated it then.

Wait just a damn minute.

Chaos had allowed Hojo’s contact. Chaos never did that. I tore through people, animals, anything in my path while in that form. My sneaky, alpha demon must really like Hojo.

Hojo shrank to a size that couldn’t accommodate my weight comfortably. I got off of him. He stretched out in the dust and made a pained sort of noise as his tentacles began withdrawing into his body and his fangs became smaller. The claws must have hurt the most, for when they diminished, he groaned loudly.

I did sympathize. Everything hurt when I changed.

“Jesus,” he said softly. “What the fuck happened?”

“You took a Jenova form,” I answered.

Hojo sat up. His eyes clapped on me quickly. “I didn’t attack you did I?”

“No.” Inwardly, I smiled. “I think you considered raping me.”

Hojo, eyes wide, shifted his attention to the ground. His hands went in his hair. “It’s a real concern, Valentine. You need to be careful. I don’t want to add that to the list of things I feel guilty about for your sake.”

I wondered. If I took Chaos form and he took Jenova form, and we fought, who would win? I liked to imagine I would, but I had to consider I wouldn’t. He was strong in his human form, but those tentacles were stronger even than him. “I’ll be careful,” I assured. “If nothing else, I can fly and you can’t.”

“Who says I can’t?” he snapped, getting up. “Just because I don’t show off like my poor son, doesn’t mean I can’t grow a wing just like he did. Being afraid of heights puts a damper on such things.” He shuddered. “But, I have to think my wing wouldn’t be a pretty, glossy thing like my son’s. It would probably look like the wing of a vulture.”

I watched him straightening his clothes, fussing with his appearance. I tried to visualize what he’d look like with a wing, but I didn’t come up with anything repugnant, like he obviously believed he’d manifest.

His fear of heights really seemed a problem. Without that to contend with, I could transform, grab him and fly the rest of the way back to Midgar. We could be home quickly.

Again we began walking. The lonely road and the silence went a long way to soothing me at my core. Finally, we reached the outskirts of Kalm, where Hojo’s abduction team had grabbed me, Cloud and Tifa in the first place. I had contacts here, and a permanent room at the inn. We could sleep without worry today.

I led the bedraggled, irritable Hojo into the flop house, only listening to his complaining with half an ear. I didn’t know what had set him off, but he’d been in a bad mood since his transformation back to his original form. He kept up a muttering litany while I spoke to the innkeeper, got my key, and arranged payment for damages Shin-Ra incurred over a week ago.

“Have you seen my friends?” I asked the innkeeper as she checked to see if I had any mail.

“No, they’ve stayed away since those Shin-Ra people came here and tore the place up,” she answered with a wry smile.

“I do apologize for that,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “It isn’t the first time, you know. Shin-Ra’s always causing trouble. Don’t worry about it.” Her eyes went to the mumbling Hojo. “Friend of yours?”

“Partner in crime,” I replied. “Could you send room service up with food in about an hour? He hasn’t eaten properly and I’m afraid he’s going to go into a diabetic coma.”

The innkeeper accepted my subtle explanation of Hojo’s obviously scattered awareness. “I’ll get Jeanie right up there,” she promised. “Here,” she added, opening a cooler and handing me a can of Electro Cola. “That ought to hold him a few minutes.”

“Thank you.” I collared Hojo and began dragging him up the stairs. I had a loft room, the only one on the very top of the inn, and I couldn’t wait for him to recover from his craziness in the lobby. At the door, he began to fight me. “Let go of me, wife-stealing Turk!” he hissed, throwing a punch.

I took the blow, wondering just what was wrong with him. He hadn’t been this upset with me since we left Shin-Ra labs. It amazed me how hard he could hit. I’d have a bruise on my face.

Opening the door, I shoved him in. “Get in there,” I said harshly. Before he could recover, I thrust him into a chair and brandished the can of soda, sticking it under his nose. “Drink this before you say anything else.”

Hojo blinked twice, accepted the can and opened it. He sat quietly, drinking while I made sure my room hadn’t been tampered with. I heard him crumpling the can. He sighed.

“Better?” I asked.

He looked over at me. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell you I’m boarder-line diabetic,” he said, his voice low and rather embarrassed. “It isn’t a problem unless my meals start coming infrequently.”

Amused I’d been correct when just making an excuse for him, I sat on the bed and began removing my boots. “I’m no man of medicine,” I replied. “Why don’t you carry candy or something?”

“I usually do,” he admitted. Slowly, he began to copy my actions. His feet smelled terrible. “You wouldn’t happen to have socks around here?”

“Go take a shower,” I commanded, pointing to the bathroom. “While you’re in there, burn those socks and wash out your boots.”

“With greatest pleasure, I obey,” he said, staggering off for the bathroom.

I turned on the radiator, then answered the knock at my door. Jeanie stood there with a tray. “Hi, Mr. Valentine,” she said cheerfully.

“Hello.” I took the tray. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” She threw me a grin and ran back down the stairs. I set the food on the radiator, hoping Hojo would hurry and not use all the hot water.

He came out, wrapped in a towel and carrying his wet clothes. I sighed. Those wouldn’t dry before we had to leave. Irritated, I jerked them from him and handed him the tray. “Eat.” I put his clothes over the radiator, then his boots.

“You’ll make someone a good husband,” he said snarkily, sitting and commencing on the food.

“Shut up.” I went into the bathroom and started my own attempt at hygiene.