Pater Familias

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It came to me in the lab, a lightning strike of utter clarity that swept in as I performed a simple task with chemist’s glass.

Sakura’s sister would have to wait a few more days.

I took the lift down to the mako storage units. Crates and crates of mako, both refined and raw, made the isles I walked through seem gloomy and crowded. There, in the back of the storage I found the crystalline form of mako, the diamond-like formations that were too big to become materia and too hard to use in injectables. I carried one whole crate back up to my main lab and sent everyone home.

Slightly sick with excitement, I used my cell to call Valentine.

“Yes?” he answered tersely, his gravely voice so guttural as to shudder my soul.

“Are you busy?” I asked.

He paused. I could feel him trying to discern just why I would want to know his status.

“Not at present, Hojo,” he answered at last.

“Good. Come to the lab, if you would.” I hung up on him. I didn’t want to give him any information on something as unsecure as a PHS connection.

While I waited, I set up a table with chunks of mako from the crate. The tongs and strikers I set up at the end. Hands shaking, I leaned against a read-out machine and closed my eyes.

If this worked, Lucretia…

“What?” Valentine asked, suddenly just there, in front of me. I looked into those red eyes and shivered.

“Help me,” I said. I gestured to the four-octave strikers. “Take a striker and tap it on the table, then hold it close to a large chunk of materia.”

Valentine, eyes glittering with impatience, started with the smallest striker.

Nothing happened.

“Just work your way through them,” I instructed, watching the monitor. “The instant you see something, feel something, draw back.”

He looked at me, comprehension dawning. The air charged with his understanding, and the implication of what I meant to do. Now, his hands shook. Carefully, he began working his way through the strikers. Our harsh respiration slowed until we breathed in rhythm.

The low G caused the mako to tremble violently. Before Valentine could draw back, it shattered. He inhaled sharply through his nose and closed his eyes. “Such a quick break would kill her,” he whispered.

“No,” I argued, inspiration striking a second time in one day. “Mako crystals are poorer materia, Valentine.” I grabbed a sheet of paper and started notating rapidly, my inspiration coming faster than my hand. “When you use materia to make magic, eventually the materia splits!”

He sucked in a deep breath, but I wasn’t finished.

“I can make a device to drain the magical ability from the materia, softening it in preparation for the split. Before the split, however, we need to hit it ourselves. It will crack instead of exploding!” I sketched the beginning idea for a machine to do this. I needed a ray, something to channel the energy in a direct focus away from the cavern. It had to be adamantium, or titanium… Perhaps a diamond for the lens…

“Hojo.”

I brushed his voice away.

“Hojo,” he insisted.

I tore my eyes away from my work. “What?”

“Why?”

“Why what?” I asked irritably. I drew quickly, convinced this ray would need two people to man it. One person to throw the lever in the event of overload, another to direct the beam.

A gleaming metal hand slapped down on my paper. I looked up at Valentine. His eyes seemed to flash yellow for a moment.

“Why do this? Why bring her back, and why now?” he demanded.

I sat back, staring at that claw I’d worked so hard to perfect. “Because it’s what needs to be done,” I answered at last. “Because ‘Cretia should either live or die, not hang about like some gross, coral-encrusted shipwreck.”

“Why would you care?” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

I stood up swiftly. To my surprise, he stepped back, his eyes narrowed as if he might fear me…

He did fear me.

Of course. Of course he feared me. He didn’t know what I meant to do, but he knew what I could do. Superhuman abilities and demons aside, I probably still figured heavily in his nightmares.

Swallowing back bitter gall in my throat, I made a show of lowering my hands. “Valentine, don’t,” I said. “I loved her too, once upon a time. Our love died for many, many reasons. It already withered by the time you and your Turk cock came around. You were merely the death-knell of our relationship.” I straightened my glasses, watching his eyes flicker from red to yellow and back again. “However, my lack of love for her doesn’t mean I have no pity. She gave me a son I’m very proud of, you know. And, I’m sure that she would like to know him.”

Valentine looked at the floor. “I’ve always been the interloper,” he murmured. “I ruined your marriage. I bedded your wife regularly, and with great enthusiasm, I won’t deny it.”

“Anyone would have.” I shrugged. “’Cretia was a hot little piece. I loved her mind more than her body, though.”

Silence like a tomb fell upon us.

Valentine looked at the shards of mako. Slowly, he picked up a chunk and crushed it to powder. “I’ll help you bring her back,” he intoned in his sepulturic voice.

“You’ll do more than help.” I picked up my sketch and studied it. “It isn’t me she’s going to want to see. I would prefer it if she not see me at all.”

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“You seem so distant these days,” Sakura said, stirring her iced tea.

We sat in her little café, the first place I’d visited with her. I met her rain-cloud gaze, wondering if she could bring a little life-giving water and coolness to the scorched, parched area between my heart and my soul.

“Your duty with Havars getting you down?” she asked when I didn’t say anything.

“No.” I stubbed out my smoke. “I have a lot on my mind, though.”

“Like what?” She played with the remains of her ice cream, letting sugary foam fall from her spoon to the bowl in great, long globs rather like cave formations.

Cave formations…

“I’m bringing my ex-wife back from the dead tomorrow,” I said.

Her spoon clattered to the bowl. “What?” she asked, sounding horrified. Her eyes widened.

“I’m bringing my ex-wife back from the dead tomorrow,” I repeated patiently. I shrugged. “She isn’t really dead anyway, just in a sort of suspended animation.”

“I see.” Sakura frowned. Her hand trembled while smoothing back her hair. “Hojo, you have to know how…bizarre this sounds to me.”

“I’m sure it sounds very strange,” I said soothingly. I stood, throwing pay on the table and grabbing her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

To my surprise, she wrested free of my grip. “What do you need me for, then?” she asked. Before I could blink, she was out the door.

For a long few seconds I merely stood, trying to process what I’d done wrong. She knew what I was like. She knew me for a villain, even, so why would my news upset her? It wasn’t like I…

Shit.

I bolted after her. I’d lost my opportunity, however, for I reached the street and saw no sign of her. Cursing, I stomped down the sidewalk, hands shoved into my pockets. I hadn’t given the woman any reason to doubt me, had I? Why did she have to jump to conclusions and dart away like a frightened doe?

Had I been too distant, like I’d done with Lucretia?

Had I forgotten her as a woman, like Lucretia?

Women were so much work. They took offense when none was meant, read so much into a relationship. They gave men too much credit, took for granted we spoke their language. Sometimes a spade is a spade, but to them it seemed a shovel full of shit.

I walked the entire seven kilometers to the Shin-Ra apartment complex, which sat right outside Shin-Ra, Inc. Looking up, I saw her light on. She’d made it back, at least.

I lurked around the entrance, unwilling to confront her yet boiling with resentment that she would believe me duplicitous. I’d never given her a reason to believe I was fickle…

Had I?

I didn’t know. I felt lost, here.

Due to my own efforts at keeping her safe, the security regiment all stayed inside the building. I could not gain her attention just shouting from here. I called her apartment only to get an endless ring tone. Disgusted, I paced around her building, trying to get up the nerve to crash it.

She gave me no credit.

I sat against a light post and closed my eyes.

I liked Sakura. I felt attracted to her. She was smart, focused and kind, and I wanted more of her. How could I get more of her if she assumed the worst?

“Doc?” Zed leaned over me. “You okay?”

I stretched, noting more than just a few hours had passed since I’d sat at the base of this pole. “I’m fine, Zed,” I said softly. “Are you ready for another injection?”

He assented. I led him down, dosed him, and gave him a syrup I’d created to ease the body’s acceptance of mako. He said little, but offered me a smoke from his mangled pack. I took one, lit it and sat there while watching him.

Zed was the sort of man Cloud Strife would appreciate…

I called the blond, morose leader of AVALANCHE while Zed dozed upright under the influence of my slightly narcotic syrup.

“Strife.”

“Hello, Cloud,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, hey Hojo.” Strife replied. “Not bad. I think I’ll need another mako shot sometime soon.”

“I’ll bring one to you at Seventh Heaven, if you like,” I offered, thinking of my need for AVALANCHE.

“I’ll be here all day tomorrow, so okay,” he said. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have seen Vincent?”

“Not today. He and I have some business to take care of tomorrow morning, so I’ll pass a message if you like.”

“Nah, it’ll wait. Talk to you later, Hojo.”

“Goodbye, Strife.”

I woke Zed up and sent him on his way, then walked to Sakura’s building. Climbing the stairs, I passed several guards and stood outside her door. The guard there hurriedly left. My knock echoed in the hallway.

“Who is it?” Sakura asked fearfully.

“Hojo.”

“I have nothing to say to you.” I heard a thumping sound, and then a drag. The sound of latches unclasping…

“Sakura, you had better not be preparing to take off on me,” I warned.

“Or you’ll do what?” she asked in a hateful tone.

“Let me in.”

“No.”

“Let me in or I’ll just get a key from management.”

“Why not just break it down, like all my other would-be lovers?”

I leaned my head on the door and sighed. “I can’t explain matters to you through this slab of wood. Give me the benefit of the doubt, please.”

“It’s dangerous to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

I started getting angry. “Sakura, I thought you actually gave a shit about me.”

“I’m not the one resurrecting a dead spouse,” she said, and I heard the latches close.

“Well, I’m not intending some big reunion, only breaking her out of a mako prison!” I shouted, finally losing my patience. “Bahomet’s balls, woman, I thought you knew me better than this!”

“You’re scaring me, Hojo. Just leave me alone!”

I saw red. “I’m scaring you,” I repeated slowly. “How?” I’d never lifted a hand to her, nor made any threatening gesture.

“I don’t like your angry tone.”

Teeth grinding together, I looked at my arm and saw my skin darkening to olive. “I thought a little fear turned you on, Sakura,” I accused. “You went after me, remember? Now, I’m after you, and I refuse to talk to your door any more.”

“So, break it down!”

“Now, why would I have to be so crude?” I asked, grabbing the knob and shoving it through the housing. The door opened easily without any sort of latch attached to it, and I threw it open.

Sakura stood beside her suitcase, clutching an empty glass and her bottle of Triple Filter Silver. She stared at me with panicked, widened eyes. The glass slid from her suddenly lax grip and shattered on the floor. “You broke my door,” she said quietly.

“You invited me to do so, twice.” I looked at her suitcase. “You will stop running, Sakura, if I have to make you.”

In dismay I watched her sit heavily on her suitcase and cover her face with her delicate hands. “It’s instinctual, Hojo,” she whispered.

“Humans don’t have instincts, just learned behavior,” I argued, bringing her to her feet with a firm but gentle tug. I retrieved her bottle, unscrewed the top and handed it to her. “Get your belt in. I’m taking you to my apartment right now.”

She didn’t argue. I caught sight of my reflection in the window and attributed her compliance to intimidation. I gleamed dark olive and my hair stood out.

Why does he put up with me? I’m always making him mad, turning him down sexually, and causing trouble.

Oh, bloody hell. For once I didn’t want to know what she thought. It would pare down my anger and I felt quite ready to indulge in a little snit. I dug into my pocket and took one of Syvas’ joints, putting it behind my ear.

I’d better do what he wants. He looks mad enough to chew nails. Sakura took the bottle cap from me and secured it, throwing the liquor down on her couch. “I’m ready,” she said quietly.

“Good.” I picked up her case and urged her toward the door.