Birth of a Failure
Zilpher's short red hair blew in the wind. He stared down at the ruined ground around the Midgar area. "We took the life out of the Planet." he thought. Zilpher straightened up. "Well, at least I got to be in SOLDIER." he chuckled to himself. With his head turned toward the sky, Zilpher took out a medallion from his pocket. The sun glared around the picture of a beautiful lady that was set in the center of the medallion."Lucrecia. If only you knew what is planned for your children." Zilpher put the medallion back in his pocket.
"Zilpher!" called a male voice, "Hojo requests your presence, immediately!" Zilpher turned around to see a Shinra officer standing at the base of the cliff by his motorcycle. "What? Has he already started? Hojo was supposed to notify me earlier. He always does this." Angered, he clinched his fists and climbed down the hill.
"What do you mean by dead?" Hojo stared down at the lifeless body in the glass in front of him. Disgust and disappointment was shown on his face. The lab assistant backed away and then spoke, "There were two children born, a male and a female. The boy came out fine and healthy. The female, who happened to be completely composed of Jenova cells, was born lifeless and beyond means of revival. It would seem that the female's cells were too destructive for her own good." Hojo, remaining calm, turned to face the assistant, with an evil grin, "So, it would seem that you're telling me that Jenova Specimen B is completely useless to the Jenova Project, but could've been more powerful than her twin brother, Sephiroth?" "Yes." the assistant was nervous. "Well then, we'll simply say she didn't even exist and dispose of her body and continue the project as planned. Since we never announced twins no one will suspect a thing. No one needs to know." Hojo closed the glass then he laughed. "But sir, what about...nevermind."
Zilpher walked into the lab, "You should've called me earlier. I wanted to see the children born." he smiled a devilish smile, "You know how much I wanted a chance to raise your 'extra' child." Hojo nodded at Zilpher then, signaled for two guards in the back to come forward. He whispered something to them. "But, sir. Why?" Hojo whispered something else. One of the guards nodded and the other smiled. "Hey, what's going on? You agreed to let me have the girl and I did cover most of this up! I want to see her!" Zilpher was getting impatient. "Ah, of course, but first I must see to the boy." Hojo hurriedly headed toward the door. Hojo's assistant tried to follow but Hojo stopped him and told him to stay with Zilpher. Hojo laughed and was gone.
The two guards approached Zilpher. "What do you want?" The guards nodded to one another. "Time to go." "Wha...?" Before Zilpher could finish he felt someone bash him from behind and he collapsed on the floor unable to speak. The assistant stood over him with a hammer in one hand and a needle in the other. Hojo returned, laughed, and pointing at the assistant said, "He must be silenced." "But...sir I...don't understand..why?" the assistant struggled to speak. One of the guards shot the assistant. Then, pointing at Zilpher, Hojo said, "Leave him to me. He will suffer." Hojo laughed. "...Hojo..." Zilpher tried to get up, grunted in pain and fell to the floor, unconscious Hojo's laugh ringing in his ears.
The air smelt of dirt and dust. Zilpher sat up and felt something fall off his lap. He opened his eyes and saw a small bundle with a note attached. It read: "Zilpher, have fun taking care of this failure. HOJO - P.S. She's dead! Ha ha!" Zilpher threw the bundle down the street and stood up. His feet wobbled. Luckily, there was a wall beside him and he caught himself. "Damn you, Hojo!" he said through clinched teeth.
Zilpher sank down the wall and sat with his head on his knees. He heard a dog barking at the end of the alley. Slowly, Zilpher lifted his head and looked over. A rather large dog was nidging something small and barking excitedly. Zilpher watched the dog for a few moments before he noticed something strange.
A small tan arm was extended toward the dog. The dog licked the hand and barked. Zilpher heard a baby's laugh over the barking. He rose to his feet and ran toward them. "You're alive!" he cried when he reached the baby. The baby girl squealed happily. "This is amazing," Zilpher thought, "I could raise her to bring down Hojo!" The baby made a grunting noise and shook her head from side to side. Astonished, Zilpher picked up the baby. "Do you know what I'm thinking?" The baby shook her head like she understood.
"You truly are Jenova incarnate." Zilpher said, " You deserve a better name." Zilpher's mind wondered toward the past. "What?" The reports on Jenova, experiments, his personal memories of Hojo, the living child, all these things flashed into Zilpher's mind. His head began to hurt. "What are you doing? What's going on?" Zilpher cried in pain. A small vioce in his head and answered, "I am Shones. I needed to know the truth before I was born and the past as well. Don't worry, the headache won't last long." Zilpher collapsed with Shones in his arms. The dog whined and laid down in front of them.
