Pater Familias

She did let me sleep in my own bed, with her. Pressed up against her sleeping form, Ink still at my neck, I felt content.

I remembered the days before everything went to shit with Lucretia. Lying in bed with her I’d treasured, because it made me feel so much less alone. Still, I hadn’t known at the time how illusory our relationship was. I’d still been absolutely crazy, motivated by impulse and desire more than anything.

This woman didn’t feel like Lucretia, thankfully. I couldn’t confuse the two women at all. Sakura felt curvy instead of slim. She smelled of almonds and her namesake instead of jasmine. She made noises of pleasure in her sleep while Lucretia never made a sound in bed, even during sex. They seemed as different as possible, really, and not just in a bed.

‘Cretia and I never argued. She subverted me or opposed me entirely on the sly. I couldn’t blame her for it; I’d frightened her at times. I’d never struck her or even raised my voice to her, but she’d felt the menace I represented. Sakura, though obviously a bit intimidated by me, would fight. Bless her, she’d hang the dirty laundry out in the open and make me look at it.

A vigorous pounding at the front door jerked me out of my reverie. I threw the covers back and staggered out of bed, covering Sakura and Ink. “Stay here,” I told both sets of groggy eyes. I shut the door behind me and waked out, passing the form of Valentine. Awake, he watched me go to the door.

I opened it to see another beautifully made, large man that heralded history with Sakura. This had to be George Allen. He was blond, muscled, impeccably dressed, blue-eyed and quite, quite pissed off.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked, tucking a device into his pocket that could only be a tracking unit.

I didn’t have time to argue with him. The more he got to say, the more alarmed Sakura would become, for she doubtless could hear him. I grabbed his wrist, jerked him toward me and swung out, knocking him cold. I hoped I’d silenced the man before Sakura recognized his voice.

While debating the best course of action, the question came.

“What are you doing with this man?” Valentine asked lowly.

“Nothing, yet,” I answered. Sephiroth, can you hear me?

Always, father.

I have another man to take to the labs. Indulge me?

I suppose. Don’t make a habit of this.

Sephiroth, dressed in only a pair of pants, dropped through my ceiling. Not batting an eye at seeing Valentine, he merely picked up my prey and hefted him over his shoulder.

Whatever pod is empty, I instructed. I’ll be down there late in the evening to take care of him.

Whatever, father.

Sephiroth phased out.

Four fiancés down, two to go.

“What in the name of Ifrit are you and your son doing?” Valentine persisted. I motioned him into the kitchen and shut the door.

“Sakura’s parents sold her to six different men, intending she marry one of them,” I said quietly. “Each man is tracking her by a sub-dermal bot, which I took the liberty of transferring to my own body. That man I knocked out is one of her fiancés. Sephiroth is taking him to my lab, and I will deal with him once we return from our mission.”

Valentine’s left eyebrow lifted slightly. “You’re protecting her.”

“As well as I can.”

Sighing, Valentine put his hand on the doorknob. “You’ve always bewildered me, Hojo.”

I returned to Sakura, nestling down with her and my little Ink. “Who was it?” the former asked, turning her sleepy head toward mine.

“Someone who got bad directions,” I answered, putting my arm around her. I fell asleep with Ink purring in my ear.

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Valentine could have flown the huey, I knew. Still, I didn’t argue with him. I just got in and started the bird. He sat beside me and Sakura took the back. The odd look he gave me as we left Midgar made me turn my head. “What?” I asked.

“I didn’t think you could do it,” he admitted.

“Valentine, I’ve been in so many helicopters and airplanes I can surely pilot one,” I said irritably. “How difficult can such a simple machine be?”

He said nothing, merely continued to stare at me with those red, fathomless eyes.

We flew in near silence, the only sound our blades churning overhead. Hours passed in this fashion. I didn’t want to speak because I had little to say. Valentine had ever been a taciturn individual; I hadn’t expected him to turn chatty. Sakura probably didn’t even know how to talk to the two of us.

When I set the skids down just outside the cavern, Valentine began to tremble. He helped me set the ray just inside the lip of the cave, waxen sweat sliding down his porcelain face.

“It will work,” I assured quietly. “In a few minutes you will have her in your arms.”

He inhaled sharply, nodded once and strode inside. Sakura joined me, watching me flip switches and turn controls. “Is he afraid the reunion won’t be what he wants?” she asked.

“I have no idea what goes on in that Turk’s head,” I snapped.

“Sorry.” Sakura bit her lip, looking hurt.

“Don’t be sorry for asking questions. Be mad at me for being short, but don’t apologize for something so natural,” I said in a quieter tone. “I’m sorry, Sakura. This is difficult for me.”

“I guess it must be.” She slid her hand under my braid and stroked the skin of my neck very gently. “It’s okay, Hojo. Just tell me how I can help you.”

I closed my eyes and threw the last lever, putting the machine on standby for Valentine’s channeling of magic. “You can put me back together if I fuck this all up,” I offered. “If I fail, Valentine will tear me limb from limb. He won’t be able to help himself.”

“But, you’re only trying to help,” she protested, moving closer.

“Yes, but he would tell himself otherwise, and rue the fact he no longer has a pretty statue to idolize.” I checked my medical kit, making sure for the fifth time I had everything I might need to take a person from mako hibernation. It was guesswork anyway; liquid mako suspension had to be different from crystalline suspension.

“Why do this, then?” Sakura wiped my forehead tenderly with her sleeve. Her eyes had darkened to pewter and her lips shone bright red from nervous chewing.

I grabbed her, swinging her to the mouth of the cave and trapping her against the rock. “Because, Sakura, I’ll never be finished with my reckoning,” I said, sounding harsher than I meant. “You have allied yourself with a monster doing penance, and I’m afraid the reparation is never going to end.” I felt a hair’s breadth from flying apart. “I do not want to see Lucretia. I do not want to hear her voice. She was my worst mistake.”

Sakura’s widened eyes absorbed me. Slowly, her expression softened from alarm to compassion. When her hand came up to touch my cheek, I closed my eyes again and just shuddered.

“Hojo, I may not be much, but I’m here. You can do this.” Sakura stroked my overheated skin, her soft fingers tracing a bewildering, fiery trail. “You can face her. I know you made mistakes, but surely you weren’t the only one?”

“No,” I admitted, coming back to myself with effort. “She made hers, too.”

“Then do what you have to, but don’t take all the blame.” Sakura smiled at me. Leaning up, she kissed my cheek. At that moment I heard the ray kick on.

I broke away from her and went to the device. At the tip of the canon-like muzzle, I inserted an empty power cell. It would hopefully collect all the energy expelled. If not, it would shatter and the ray would have to focus on the mountainside. “Please go to the helicopter and get the black bag from the cargo hold, Sakura,” I asked politely.

She obeyed. I took out the harmonics generator and powered it. Now I had to go inside and watch the mako. Once Valentine managed to use the mako long enough to split it, I would have to throw the low G tone into the chamber. “I’ll be back,” I told her. “I don’t want you going inside. It could be dangerous.” Not giving her a chance to argue, I left her.

I could barely see for all the glowing green. But, I spied Valentine’s red cloak and headed toward it, tonal device clutched tightly. In a few seconds my eyes filtered through the glow and I could see clearly.

There she was, lovely as ever and just as frozen as in life. I felt nothing but regret and resentment while looking upon that poreless face. Still, she looked so much like our son that my breathing hitched. I remembered crying over her, not too long ago. Crying and confessing to Sephiroth, and bemoaning my part in her fate. Cursing and wailing against her infidelity, cursing Valentine and the duplicity of women.

It takes two to sin in a marriage.

Thank Shiva I didn’t love her anymore.

I heard the mako crystal make an ominous cracking noise. Quickly, I pointed the generator and pressed the button. The bowel-vibrating G hummed with power…

And, nice as you please, Lucretia’s prison cracked into two perfect halves.

Valentine swept in, catching her before she collapsed, his eyes glowing hot. I turned off the generator and walked back to the ray, turning it off also. The power cell had survived, but it seemed full enough to shatter. I tucked it into a stasis box and pocketed it, looking at an anxious Sakura. “It worked.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hojo! Get in here now!” Valentine’s voice commanded, and so powerfully I felt compelled to obey. “She’s not breathing,” he said, grabbing me and hauling me down to Lucretia’s form. He held her in his lap, pearlescent tears escaping his eyes.

I’d expected this.

I took out the adrenaline syringe and hit her over her heart. “Lips over her mouth, pinch her nostrils shut,” I ordered. “When I tell you, breathe into her.” So saying, I pressed down upon her chest five times. “Now!”

Lucretia surged to life, gasping, her blue-green eyes wide and disoriented. Valentine covered her, kissing her face and shedding his tears on her skin. “Lucretia,” he called, his voice choked and raw.

I walked away.