[THNMY, locked to jenova_nexus]
((continued from hereThe thrum of the great engines, the smell of the mako - these things do not escape Sephiroth's notice. But they are, perhaps, of less importance now as he crosses the few remaining steps that separate him from the tube that holds Jenova
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--but even as she goes, sliding and twisting, helpless as a corpse, she tosses the thought at both of them like a dagger: it hadn't been her who'd decided Nibelheim should burn.
Revenge wasn't part of her; it was something that came from a human mind. Or something close to it, anyway.
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Jenova reaches for Sephiroth, to trigger something else, the sound of derisive laughter - Hojo's. Nibelheim might not burn, but what about whatever else he hated?
Whomever?
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The memory of Hojo's laughter doesn't trigger as much of a reaction as Jenova might have expected. After all, he'd grown used to Hojo's laugh over the years.
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She is at the foot of the stairs, head-down and limbs awry, like a discarded toy. Cloud is approaching, coming to Sephiroth's side, sword in hand. 'This far enough?' No danger of falling into the Lifestream here.
Teré is standing back. 'What's ... she saying to you?' She doesn't fully expect to be answered.
If Hojo's voice is too familiar, if he doesn't listen to his father, then ... if she reaches into memory, and the next voice is tired, tear-choked, female. ...what have we done ... what have we done....
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Unfortunately for Jenova, that attempt has even less of an effect on Sephiroth than his father's had - the only thing she gets back from him is a vague sense of confusion and pity. After all, he's never even heard his mother's voice before - or if he has he certainly doesn't remember it.
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Stronger, cooler than the first memory. Vincent, we've made up our minds. It's too late to turn back anyway.
A ragged gasp, an attempt at laughter. I wasn't expec ... this to hurt so - s-so much....
Weakened. It's for science. For all of us....
Horrified. Oh ... oh god. This isn't ... what have we--
Stop LAUGHING. Stop it! And through the memory, Hojo's laughter again, distant. What monster did you put in me!?
Oh god oh god it hurts--and not even words now but a wail of pain--
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Too far Hojo, even for science...
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Jenova is still digging, forcing what she remembers onto Sephiroth. Too far too far Hojo but--
My dear, said Hojo to Lucrecia, long ago, let's not forget whose /idea/ this was.
Sharp disconnect, like static, and then Lucrecia of sometime-later was on her knees, stone floor cold beneath her, nails digging into her swollen abdomen to distract from the worse pains. This isn't what I -- what is he - it - he ... my god, will he be human at all? And her voice breaks at the last.
Static. Stop it. Get out of my head. Stop it. Stop it, stop it, stop it-!
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"I'm trying." It was just that it so much harder with so much of Jenova in him.
My head is no place for you to stay. Leave. This directed largely at Jenova, with as much of his will backing it as he can manage.
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And it doesn't stop, the words repeating and repeating and blending into a chain of sobbing and hatred and broken words.
And Jenova had had to listen to that for months.
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Sorry, Jenova. Looks like that might not have had quite the reaction you had been expecting.
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And with that observation Jenova is silenced, finally - utterly. There is still the purely biological call of the Reunion, but there is suddenly a complete absence of Jenova's mental presence.
One second, two, three, more, leaving Cloud looking nervous, gaze moving from Jenova to Sephiroth. 'Sir ... did she stop?' Why?
'She stopped?' That from Teré, almost exactly two seconds before her breath caught in her throat and she tensed, almost doubled over in sudden pain as a high-pitched tone drilled into her mind and her head felt like it was caught in a vise. She made an incoherent sound, almost voiceless, and didn't seem able to breathe.
'Teré!?'
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