Disclaimer
I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. I do; however, reserve the right to any original characters that I may come up with throughout the story, or anything else that I may create during the course of writing it.
Prologue
L arge cylindrical specimen tubes lined the walls of the dim room. Each cylinder was connected to several wires and feeding cables and all were filled with an opaque blue liquid. The specimens were unmoving within the glass casings, and the only disturbance from within was the occasional bubble that emerging from the oxygen line.
There were also plaques placed at the base of each tube, bronze, with characters etched in. The name of each project was the largest of the words, and beneath that in smaller, harder to read words the name of the specimen was listed. Finally the names of those in charge of the experiment could be found, although slightly larger than the name of the specimen.
The young man looked down at the plaques as he walked slowly down the hallway, reading off the names listed. Odin… Shiva… Ifrit…Carbunckle. Many others lined the walls of the room, and he highly doubted that those currently inhabiting this dark chamber would be the last.
Red materia, Summons, one of the more disgusting projects that Shin-Ra had effectively saddled under their belt in an attempt to line the pockets of their designer suites with even more Gil. Truthfully, hardly anyone outside of the Materia Research and Manufacturing Department knew the process in which red materia was created.
The young man snorted, moving further along the line of tubes until he reached the one that he had snuck into the room to see. Slowly—as if afraid that he may break the fragile casing that held her there—he reached out and touched it, and as always, instead of the warmth that he wished so deeply to feel as his hands pressed gently against the transparent glass, his fingers were met with an unyielding cold.
As it always was, and he thought bitterly to himself, as it always would be.
Chapter One
Shin-Ra Company
Tseng scanned his eyes over the notes that were stacked in neat piles upon his desk. Several of the stacks that occupied the space were reports on either current or past missions that Shin-Ra’s Administrative Research division, more commonly known as the Turks had been on recently. Other files consisted of memos from the President Shin-Ra. The last file that occupied his desk was entitled: “New Unit Transfer.”
He ran is fingers over the memo thoughtfully, it had been quite awhile since the Turks had received a new recruit. Picking up his pen, he underlined the name of the newest transfer, and skimmed over the information and training listed below her name.
Name: Sabine Cole
Age: 19
Birthplace: Midgar
Test Results:
–Mechanical: Passed
–Firearm Sniping: Passed
–Field Test: Passed
–Aptitude Test: Passed
Skills Include:
–Mechanical
–Driving
–Communications
–Exceptionally qualified in the use of Materia-Magic (MM).
Notes:
No previous training in fighting. Shin-Ra will evaluate her at a later date to determine what type of style she would be best suited for.
Tseng raised an eyebrow at the notation that lined the bottom of the memorandum. ‘No previous training in fighting? What do the heads think we do exactly? I suppose she can get buy for now with just the materia-magic skill, after all we could actually use someone who is skilled in support magic on the team.’ He tapped his pen against the desk a few times, thinking. ‘It all really depends on her I suppose.’ He slipped the page into a red folder and pressed the small gray button on his speaker.
The unit beeped to life.
“Hello Mr. Tseng, what do you need?” The petite young secretary blipped over the small com. Tseng couldn’t help smiling; Darryl was such a sweet girl.
“Darryl, would you please check to make sure that the company has shipped the uniform for the newest member to the changing rooms?”
“Of course I can Sir. Is there anything else you would like me to do?” Tseng skimmed over the papers on his desk.
“If you can get in touch with him send Reno up, I have a few questions about his last mission.”
“Of course sir, I hope you remember that the Recruit should be here shortly?”
“Yes, Darryl, thank you for the reminder.”
“No problem Sir.”
Tseng took his finger off the comm. and looked out his office window. Midgar was a city of endless night with the exception of the few that lived in the upper levels, even then the sun seemed to refuse to shine as brightly here as it did in other places that he had visited.
The reactors sucked up the lifeblood of the planet and turned it into a nonrenewable energy source, he knew that, practically everyone in Shin-Ra knew that, and if they didn’t they were either incredibly dense or simply did not care. Several small rebellious groups also knew that, and tried their best to make it common knowledge, but many people were happy with the fact that they had electricity in rural towns that otherwise would not be privy to such a luxury.
A sudden beep over the comm. was the only warning for him to snap out of his revere and turn back to the desk before a young red headed man came barreling through the door.
“Reno is here.” Darryl’s exasperated voice came over the comm. Tseng pressed the gray comm. Button (Which in all truth was unnecessary, as the doors were still wide open from Reno’s rather unorthodox entry.
“I’ve noticed thank you Darryl, have you called about the uniform yet?”
“Yes sir, the uniform has already been shipped here and placed in a locker for the new recruit.”
“Thank you Darryl.” He released the button, and looked calmly up at Reno.
“Hey there boss.” Reno walked over to a chair and sat down in front of the desk without waiting to be asked to do so. Tseng sighed inwardly at the obvious display of not caring if his superior was in the room or not. Reno was something of a wild card; however, so Tseng had become accustomed to this.
Tseng sifted through a few papers and exchanged Reno’s greeting before pulling out the file he wanted.
“Reno, I am sure you are wondering why I called you up here.” He scanned Reno’s face for a sign that he was even listening, and upon eye contact Reno raised both of his eyebrows in response, and scratched his head.
“Not really, after all I get called up here a good bit.” He grinned at the raven haired Turk before letting out a laugh. “I’ve pretty much come to expect it after missions yo.” Tseng had to grin at that one.
“As you and I both know well, you were the head of the last mission to,” Tseng gazed down to his notes “The sector 3 slums. Am I correct?” Reno stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before nodding.
“Yep, you put me in charge of that mission yo. Rude came in the front with me, Ivy worked as sniper.”
“Correct and according to your report, you blew out the second story of the building with the subject in question still inside?” Reno glared forward.
“Yeah, about that,” Reno leaned forward towards Tseng and let out a sigh, “He wouldn’t leave the building, and he was threatening to open fire from above, so we threw a few grenades up there.”
“You are aware that that was not proper procedure, and you blew out an entire floor of a Shin-Ra company building.”
“That building was not even in operation, the company had decided not to use it anymore.” Tseng slid a piece of paper across the table to Reno. “What is this then yo?”
“That is the invoice from a contractor who came to the site a month before you decided to blow out that floor, Shin-Ra was planning on using that building as a workshop for different auto-mecha parts. Because you decided to destroy an entire floor, it is going to take an extra 15,000 Gil to refurbish the site.”
“That’s not my fault yo! If that was the case then you should have relayed that information to us beforehand!”
“That’s not the point Reno; the company doesn’t care about a measly 15,000 Gil. The money they are going to make from sweat-shopping the workers in the slums is going to make up for that little fluke quite easily. The reason that I called you up here is because you knew it was a Shin-Ra building but you blew it up anyway.”
“It wasn’t in use, and you never gave me any information that the building wasn’t expendable.”
“Reno I—” The comm. Went off again and Tseng reached over to press it.
“Yes Darryl?” His voice didn’t sound quite as polite as he wished that it had.
“The new recruit is here now. Since you are with Reno now, I thought I could send her down to the locker room to change?”
“No, its fine let her in now.”
“Yo! We’re getting a new recruit? You need to work on your communication yo.” Reno leaned his head back in his chair and looked to see the newest addition to the team.
Truthfully, Tseng couldn’t help but think that she didn’t seem like much. She was of medium height and thin, her long dark hair that fell past her shoulders had been pulled back into a loose but neat braid. Her skin was a pale cream color which led Tseng to the impression that she didn’t get out much, and lastly her eyes were fixed on the ground in front of her as if she had the intent to purposely avoid contact with either of the men in the room.
“You must be Sabine.” Tseng said warmly, standing up from his chair. The girl only nodded and bowed courteously, but still did not move her eyes from the floor. Reno looked over to Tseng and raised an eyebrow while flicking his thumb back at the recruit as if to say ‘You can’t possibly be serious right?’ Tseng simply coughed and continued.
“Well Sabine, I’m sure you have heard plenty about the Turks, after all you were promoted here from within the company. Please trust me when I say that there is no need to be shy.” She raised her eyes slightly and shifted in her position, she still did not look entirely comfortable.
“I’m…. sorry Tseng sir, I’m a little nervous.” She spoke quietly, but her voice had a strong sound to it, she straitened slightly after she spoke and forced herself to make eye contact.
Tseng was, despite being a Turk, a caring person and in all honestly not at all cruel unless his job forced him to be. He smiled warmly as she looked him over, and couldn’t fight the impression that she seemed to have made a decision about the man before her, but whatever decision she had made she kept to herself. Once she had finished sizing up the man before her, she relaxed slightly and seemed more at ease than before.
“Your file says you have exceptional skill with materia-magic, which is excellent, at this time we are without someone experienced in that area. I hope that the company has already given you some materia with which to familiarize yourself.” He looked up, her cue for response.
“Yes Sir, a few offensive type magic as well as supportive and restorative sir.” She spoke clearly and watched his face for signs of approval.
“That’s good.” He said simply, and moved his finger along her file. “Skilled with mechanics, skilled with communications… but it says here that you were never officially trained in any combat style. Why is that?”
“It wasn’t necessary before.” She said slowly, apparently his question had caught her off guard. Tseng glared at Reno as he snorted at her response. He fought back a chuckle as he noticed that look that she had shot at the back of Reno’s head, and half expected the younger man’s red hair to actually catch fire.
“That’s fine; you should be evaluated as far as fighting technique and style at a later time, but for now I’m satisfied that you have some skill with magic.” She nodded in agreement and smiled. “Further down the hall there is a changing room, you should find a locker with your name on it, your uniform is there.” She nodded again. “You are dismissed.”
She turned to leave but stopped halfway and looked back at Tseng and shot him a—what the thought was—a thankful smile before leaving. She had a charming face when she smiled he thought to himself before snapping out of his revere as Reno gave another snort.
“That’s the new recruit?” Reno asked, an annoyed tone lacing his voice. “She really doesn’t seem like much, she seems kinda mousy.”
“At least she isn’t a rambunctious brat.” Tseng countered, causing Reno to drop his mouth open in surprise. “You are dismissed as well Reno, but show her around the building once she gets changed.” Reno got out of the chair, grumbling. “And be polite to her.” Tseng called as Reno shoved the doors open, rattling poor Darryl’s nerves even further.
Cole, that name sounds familiar. Tseng thought to himself before going back to sorting through the stacks of files. Oddly familiar.
Chapter Two
(1)
SHIN-RA COMPANY – LABORATORIES
Professor Hojo leaned heavily on the polished white desk beside him. The Professor was an old man, and a master of every aspect of the bio-engineering research department. Some would call him brilliant, others—when away from the facility—a heartless, soulless, madman, whose sheer cruelty was only surpassed by his devout passion for the science that had caused him to become so.
He looked down upon the examination room from his office observatory much like a god would upon the world he ruled, lips curling into a cruel smile while he watched his latest two subjects undergoing the procedures that would make them the embodiments of his most recent inspiration.
The scientists hurried about the two subjects, connecting wires, checking IV feeds, inserting more of this glowing liquid, while extracting blood and tissue samples. Frowning he reached over onto the desk and pressed the comm. button.
“Inject 50 CCs of Makan into both subjects.” He snapped into the microphone. The sudden crackle over the intercom made the head scientist jump and turn slowly, looking up at Hojo.
“But… Sir…with all do respect, 50 CCs would undoubtedly kill them.” The uneasiness in the man’s voice caused Hojo to grin malevolently.
“I know.” The scientist beneath him—such an ant—gulped, unsure whither or not to protest, but before he could restrain himself the words slipped out.
“Sir, they are just children!” He spoke in earnest, before biting his lower lip, cursing himself mentally for the slip.
“Doctor Elveon, if you have such a hard time fulfilling your current job, I’m sure I can find a much more useful way put you to use.” His grin stretched to the edges of his face as he watched the good doctor turn three shades lighter.
Satisfied that his will would be done, he set aside a few hours later in the afternoon that he would later use to perform an autopsy on the bodies to see what the refined mako product ‘Makan’ his most recent brilliant idea, would do to the human body. He couldn’t fight the excitement that grew within him that there would be some sign of mutation.
President Shin-Ra, sadly, was not as much of a sadist as Hojo himself. All of his passion happened to be tied up in the sheer lining of his pocket; however, if he could somehow… tailor his report to make it look as though the mutations were in fact positive for human bioengineering, then the president would more than likely provide him with the funding necessary to further research his experiments.
After all, now that he had finished testing with the first batch of children, he was just positively itching to test it on the first batch of adult humans. But the even greater results would of course stem from the women who were currently carrying. Those after all always turned out to be the most interesting experiments of all.
Hojo turned back to the laboratory below him, and watched with disturbing admiration as the young subjects on the table convulsed in what he hoped was pain.
That usually meant that the medicine was working.
(2)
SHIIN-RA HOUSING FACILITY
Balancing her groceries in one arm while flipping through her key ring in an ineffective attempt to enter her front door, the girl thought back to her afternoon. Reno had taken her around the building and shown her where her desk was, as well as the other facilities within the headquarters. Although he had been polite to her during the entire tour, she couldn’t fight back the notion that it was a forced politeness, and that he had no real interest in actually showing her anything at all.
Sabine sighed and entered her apartment. Shin-Ra provided housing for the Turks, as well as the scientists and other top level employees—a very expensive gesture to be sure, as the housing facility was located above the plate.
Dropping the sacks onto her overly large dining room table, she walked into her den unzipping and shrugging off her jacket. As a rule, Turks were not to wear their uniforms outside of the Shin-Ra facility if they were not currently working on a mission or heading to a rendezvous point, so she—along with the other members of the Turks—had to wear a separate outfit to work in the morning, change into their uniform once they arrived, and change out when they exited. It was an annoying procedure, but it also staved off mixing work with public life, as the Turks were a generally loathed faction—even within the Shin-Ra cooperation—and it made it much easier on the team as a whole to not wear the uniforms in public unless absolutely necessary.
Continuing into the den and flopping onto her couch she let out a long, tired sigh and checked her watch. Ru-Ru would be phoning soon to ask how her first day was. The thought made her grin, Ru was her cousin, and they had always been very close to one another. Growing up in the executive housing facility together they did not have much contact with other children, and this had led to a very strong friendship.
She stretched out her legs as far as she could and fought back the weariness that started to ebb invade her consciousness, she desperately wanted to stay awake for the phone call, but her visit to the laboratory, and the mental re-wiring from her first day of work had left her both physically and emotionally drained.
Inside, she knew the reason that she had been transferred to the Turks and away from the medical division, and she was pretty sure that Tseng would know eventually if he decided to pry deep enough into her files.
Personally, Sabine hated the Turks, she hated the filthy jobs that they were given, and she hated the fact that they fulfilled their duties without a second thought about those who were caught in the crossfire. In all honestly, she figured that this was the last nail in the iron clad coffin that her uncle had forced her into after the death of both her mother & father.
The phone eventually did ring although she never heard it. Within fifteen minutes of having lain down on the couch, she finally surrendered to the weariness that had been creeping up into her body since she started going to the laboratory regularly for her checkups.
(3)
“If you won’t do it for me, do it for your mother and your father, this was after all their dream, and for you to become a living part of it would make them so very proud.” A hand on her cheek, a gentle yet cruel smile, a pair of grey eyes shining with a hidden greed.
Spiraling, twisting, turning, needles, pain, faces that flashed before her eyes, and then there was white, so much white. Cries in the distance. Her cries? Or someone else? Who was crying? Where? A hand reaching out to her, was that… red? Something red?
“Sabi, give me your hand.” A voice called, the red voice, a voice that cared, she didn’t have the strength, then the voice began to fade, and the hand pulled back.
“No…” she thought wildly, “Don’t leave me here, I don’t like it here.” A part of her cried out. She tried her best to reach, but her muscles… her muscles no longer worked. Something, ropes, wires held her back. She wanted to scream, but something covered her mouth.
Then it was quiet.