Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Final Materia ❯ Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Shukera's cell door slid open and locked in place. Curiously she stood up and looked around. No one was in sight. With her sword clutched tightly in her hand, she stepped out the cell and scanned the area. "What the hell??" She ventured out further away from the cell and entered Hojo's lab. Sadness mixed with rage, resentment, and confusion filled her inside. She froze when she passed the container that once held Jenova, Sephiroth's mother.

Something inside Shukera broke. She gritted her teeth as memories from her childhood flooded her mind. Visions of her being probed and poked with various instruments filled her head, flashes of the surgery that altered her appearance returned. She grasped the bar in front of her to stop herself from falling. She took in a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, not wanting to show her weakness. An overwhelming rage enveloped her and she began smashing everything near by and destroying the lab.

From the shadows someone stepped out as they clapped their hands. "Bravo!! I knew you would come back here. You can't resist the destruction because it's inside you. The darkness of this place fills you with resentment, making you more of what we created you to be."

Shukera spun around and pointed her sword at him. He walked closer to her and stopped directly in front of her. "I never got to thank you for bringing Rinoa here to me. You have saved me the trouble of searching for her myself."

Shukera glared angrily at him, "Fuck off!!!"

Hojo chuckled, "So harsh, even after everything I have given you." He turned his back to her and looked around his lab. "You even brought Sephiroth back to me, of which I'm grateful."

Shukera lifted her sword; "I will kill you before I let you lay another hand on Sephiroth!!! You only replaced him with your new toy!!! I wonder how he would feel about that?? But then again, being away from you would be doing him a favor!!"

Hojo chuckled, "Very funny!!!! Oh you poor Shukera…poor, poor, mislead Shukera. Sephiroth is once again under my control already, so there's no need to protect him any longer; you failed in that impossible endeavor. But what you failed to realize is that Sephiroth didn't need your protection. The perfect specimen I have ever had, I created him since before his birth…created him into what you see now. I must say I have done well. Even when you interfered and became too close to Sephiroth I stepped in and took care of it. I was the one who paid Reno to drug you. But it was his idea to have his way with you; I had nothing to do with that." Hojo encircled Shukera, moved closer to her until she could feel his breath on her neck, "It was all for him!! My pride and joy, my only son!!"

Shukera spat, "As long as you are alive Sephiroth will need protection from you!!! You have stolen his life with your stupid plans, made him into a monster, and confused him beyond his own understanding!!! I never failed Sephiroth!! You forget it was me who pulled him from the crater and saved him!! I did not bring him to you!!! You tricked him into it!!!"

Hojo laughed, mocking her, "Oh my dear, you are an even bigger fool than I thought!! It was not you who saved Sephiroth and pulled him from the crater. You see; if you think about it, he and the ancient have a daughter. The girl is about…4 years old now. So you do the math, but then again, let me assist you with that. Aerith and Sephiroth have a 4-year-old daughter. That was only possible by her being the one who drew him from the crater five years before you found him. I know this because it was me who first found the ancient and her brat!! I found and attacked her. Sephiroth tried to stop me, but I proved to be the stronger since I still had Jenova inside me. What you found was a shell of what my son once was, but I have changed all that!!"

Shukera spat, "Shut up!!! Your words mean nothing!! I care for my sister deeply and will not allow you to violate her relationship with Sephiroth!!!"

Hojo laughed, as he continued, "I have done everything I could to make my son the perfect man. Perfect in every way…a biological engineering success." He slowly faced her and reached out to touch her but she cringed and moved away from him.

Shukera snapped, "You're a lunatic!! Sephiroth never deserved what you did to him!!! I hated you since the day I met you!!!"

Hojo laughed even harder, "Oh but Shukera, you were designed as well. After I took you from your mother and sister, I began to mold you and shape your future. You could say I have control over you as well! Ahhh, the marvels of science!! Your mother and sister could not handle the Jenova inside them it poisoned them. But you, you were different."

Shukera stood her ground as rage coursed through her. She held her sword in front of her and glared at the laughing man who she despised. "All you did was give me the power to destroy you and Shin Ra!!! I should thank you, but I'm not going to take time away from your suffering!! You say you created me, then you are aware of what I can do!!!"

Hojo stopped laughing and paled slightly. "But I am your creator!! I'm like a father to you!!! Search your feelings, you cannot do this!!"

Shukera only fixed her hate filled eyes upon the little man and moved closer towards him. "THANKS TO YOU I HAVE NO FEELINGS!!!" She stepped closer to him and smirked, "You made sure that I have no feelings, to the point that I am dead inside!! You took everything from me!!!"

Hojo laughed, "Including Reno?? Oh my dear Shukera it's no secret how you feel about him. I have also known for a very long time that you were a threat to my son. You and that bitch sister of yours caused my son to think he can feel for someone. That's simply not allowed Shukera!!! I had to take him away from the both of you or you would have ruined him!!!"

Shukera laughed and held her stone up, tears welled up in her eyes, "I don't feel anything anymore. Sephiroth…Reno…you have your wish, they betrayed me, but it doesn't matter. You see you didn't take everything away from me. I still have my sister and this, the very thing that you tried to kill me for and now I know why." She smiled, mocking him, "I know why you tried to kill me!!"

Hojo's eyes fixed upon the dark stone in her hand and slid to the ground. Unlike the stone Sephiroth used to call upon Meteor to destroy the world, this one was black…solid black.

Hojo began shaking his head, "No, no, no, no…. that can't be…one of light, one of dark…"

Shukera stuck the point of her sword under his chin and forced him to look at her. She peered down at him angrily as she spat, "You knew!!! That's why you took me!! I know now because my master was the one who gave it to me when I was 10!!! He said when he met me I had this stone around my neck!!! He told me it was my special stone, and I have had it ever since. But the stone only worked when it came in contact with the white materia!!!"

Hojo began rambling on like a madman and tried to move away from her. "Have to tell the others…the end is near…."

Shukera moved closer, stopping him from moving. "You're not telling anyone anything!!!" She stuck the tip of her sword into the skin of Hojo's neck. "The lies stop here Hojo!! Tell me why you fear me so much!!! I can see it in your eyes!!! Tell me why am I such a threat to Sephiroth!!!!"

Hojo stared at her, "Your blood..." He began mumbling once again, "Blood contains antibodies that destroys...kills the cells of Jenova. You are the vaccination...the child that was not meant to be. So...the only solution was to destroy you."

Shukera's mind spun with confusion. "You are the one who should not be!!!" In a moment of blinding rage she thrusted the point of her sword through his neck and gave it a twist. "You are the one that should not have been born!!! You should not have been allowed to inflict the pain you caused on your son and everyone else you touched!!!!"

Hojo laughed as he looked up at her. He raised his hands and wrapped them around the blade and forced it out. "Poor pathetic creature, I cannot be killed!!!" He held his hands out of his side as he became surrounded by a green aura and began to transform. "That which lives inside me will keep me alive!!!" In an instant his voice became raspy and softer. "I am immortal!!!"

Shukera watched as he let out the monster that lived inside him. She heard its words and sneered, "You wouldn't want to bet on that bitch!!!" She took the tip of her sword and dragged it down her own arm, causing it to bleed. She threw the blade to the side and smeared her blood on her hands. "I will kill you!!!"