Guilt’s Cost: Part CX

Trip Plans

Jaras had kept himself locked away in his room for the most part accept for the times that he had gone to check on Tifa before she had left the night before. He hadn’t had anymore memories of his past resurface since the first and that was fortunate as he was having a hard enough time dealing with that. The days passed with him buried in books as he tried to cut off the outside world. After his first flashback his impulse had been to be with others, hoping that by being with them he could ward off anymore memories but now he had sunk into some sort of depression that left him wanting to be alone. Without the people from his past around him, maybe his mind would leave him in peace.

When he had gone out to pick up something to eat from the cafeteria at lunch-time he had run into Reno who’d taken it upon himself to give him the full rundown of the days events. The news that his father was better was great but offset by the news that Tifa wasn’t in the base. Knowing that she was in Rocket made him want to be there as well, no matter how inappropriate it might have been for him to go. For some reason, he felt compelled to go see Vincent.

Jaras left the cafeteria after only taking a small portion of his meal and went to Vincent’s room, as Reno had told him that was where he still was along with Tseng. He got there and knocked upon the door, a little surprised when Vincent answered. "Hi."

Vincent smiled and opened the door wide, motioning for his son to enter. "Jaras, I’m glad to see you."

He grinned briefly in response as he went past and made his way to the couch. "Reno told me you were up and about."

Tseng moved over to make room for Jaras to sit next to him. "We haven’t seen much of you lately. Are you doing all right?"

He sat and sighed. "Yeah, I think so. I’ve basically just been coming out for food and I came by here to check on Tifa and my father a few times."

"I see." Tseng dropped his gaze away. Truth be told he had been a little hurt that his nephew had been so distant since returning from the mission. Before that Jaras had been spending a lot of time with him and Tseng had really enjoyed that. "I was worried that something was wrong. I came by your room a few times but you never answered the door."

"I’m sorry." Jaras knew that he’d unintentionally hurt his uncle’s feelings. "It was nothing personal. I’ve just been thinking about things an awful lot. I’ve been afraid of regaining anymore memories."

Vincent hadn’t heard news of this before. Tifa and Jaras had never talked about this in his presence. "You remembered something?"

"Yes." Jaras locked gazes with his father, knowing that he was the only one present who could understand the terrors of belonging to Hojo. "Just a little."

Vincent came over and knelt before his son. "I’m terribly sorry. Do you think it had to do with going with us to the Shin Ra building?"

"I don’t really know." Jaras frowned to himself. "I don’t see why it would. The Shin Ra building from the past was destroyed and was very much unlike the one they rebuilt. So I don’t really know what would spark such a memory."

"But the inside of the lab was basically the same as all of Hojo’s other facilities." Vincent thought to himself.

Jaras shrugged it off, not wanting to think about it anymore. "It doesn’t matter. But I was thinking that maybe getting out of here for a little while might be a good idea. Maybe I just need a break from all of this."

Tseng knitted his brows in thought for a second. "Vincent wants to go to Rocket to be with Tifa. Maybe he could drop you off somewhere on the way?"

Jaras couldn’t suppress his need to smile. This was all working out far too well for him. "Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing Rocket. Really, I don’t remember ever being there so it would be like the first time."

Tseng looked at Vincent. "Would you have any objections?"

"No, that would at least leave someone to make the trip with me." Vincent nodded slightly. He had a sneaking suspicion on what Jaras’s motivations for going there were but on the same token Vincent did want to spend more time with his son and this would give them a chance. "I was going to leave this afternoon. The chopper that took Tifa won’t be back until later and I was going to hop on an airship."

Jaras raised his eyebrows. "That sounds great. I guess I should go get ready."

"This will work out well." Tseng stood up. "I will use this time to discuss things with the Turk you brought back. I need to work out some sort of plan on how to get Hojo once and for all and stop his Neo-Jenova Project before it gets too far."

Vincent stared over at his brother as he too rose back up. "You better be planning on counting me in on that mission. I need to see him die with my own eyes or I will never believe it."

Jaras nodded. "And me as well. I think that the two of us have the greatest interest in seeing to his end."

Tseng knew that they were right, but wondered about how well Jaras would be able to carry out such a plan. He may have once been Sephiroth but now he was a mild mannered bookworm. If he would be able to rise to the occasion and actually kill remained to be seen. "Well, I’ll be thinking about what we need to do. Hopefully by the time you return everything will be worked out. Hey Vincent?"

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Don’t you think you should call Tifa and let her know that you’re moving and going to show up?" Tseng asked.

Vincent laughed quietly to himself. "No, I think she deserves a pleasant surprise."

***

As per Hojo’s request, Rude had taken the madman up to the second Midgar lab the day of Vincent’s escape. The scientist had remained up there ever since, working furiously to get the growth accelerator operating. His desire to get the Neo-Jenova project underway was all consuming. There could be no further delays and Rude and the few other people that Hojo had given access to the lab had to literally bring him his meals or else he certainly would have starved to death, unable to break away from his work as it was. He never intentionally slept anymore, simply passing out from his exhaustion where he was only to wake up and continue on. Hojo was a man possessed, and also a man completely distraught from the loss of his most precious Mr. Valentine. Working on this project was the only thing he could do to keep his mind off of his heartache.

It was on the day that Shera died that Hojo finally placed the most promising of his embryos into the accelerator. He had wished to start its growth much earlier but his paranoia over the functionality of the machine had kept him from getting underway until now. He had completely rebuilt the accelerator in this time, hoping that his modifications he had made would make it quicker and more efficient.

Once the embryo was in the accelerator Hojo fell back into a chair to stare on, relieved that things were finally working out. His fatigue was getting the better of him and he became emotional. Bittersweet tears ran down his cheeks and he pulled off his glasses to wipe his face. His joy at the final start to the project was countered by the pain he felt in his heart. Mr. Valentine had run away and how he was ever going to get him back he did not know.

Hojo licked his lips as he twisted the stolen wedding ring around his finger. "You will come back to me, won’t you Mr. Valentine? You know I love you. You won’t be able to survive out there without me and you know it. Even if you come back just to kill me, I know that you will be back."