Guilt’s Cost: Part LXXVI

Imprisonment

Hojo continued to stare at Tifa as she was held by Cloud. After a few minutes, he licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Well, I guess we should get you to where I plan to keep you."

Cloud’s grip on her let up, and she wriggled free of him. She was torn between attacking Hojo and running over to Vincent’s side.

"Ah, Ms. Lockheart, I would remind you that if you were to do something without my asking, your friend Mr. Valentine over there would suffer the consequences. You already had to make me shoot him in the arm, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but there isn’t a whole lot left to shoot him in the next time." Hojo smiled with false kindness.

A choking lump welled up within her throat. Tifa couldn’t bear to be responsible for Vincent suffering anymore. She hung her head in defeat.

"Come with me." Hojo started to take a few steps away.

Tifa followed obediently, with Cloud right behind her. She was completely emotionally destroyed at this point, and could think of nothing else to do. Hojo opened the door to a small side room and motioned for her to enter. Before going in, Tifa looked one last time to where Vincent was laying. His body twitched in occasional throws of pain, but he wasn’t truly conscious anymore. She tore her eyes from him, in her heart fearing that it would be the last time that she saw him. Tifa didn’t want to remember him like this.

Inside the room were a small hospital style bed, a sink, and a toilet. Nothing else except for the small light fixture in the ceiling was to be found.

Hojo made his way beside the bed and waved his arm over it. "Please, have a seat."

Tifa shuffled over and did as ordered. She sat heavily, folding her hands in her lap. Hojo smiled at her submission and picked up a shackle from the floor, fixing it around her ankle. The chain attached to it was just long enough to allow her to move around the room, and tears fell from her eyes as she realized that there was not going to be any escape from here.

"Cloud, feel free to have a seat." Hojo requested, pointing to a chair in the corner. He wanted to leave his creation here to keep watch over Tifa. "If she tries anything out of the ordinary, feel free to stop her, but I do not want her harmed. Do you understand?"

Cloud nodded from the chair. "Yes, Sir."

"Good boy." Hojo looked back at Tifa, seeing the tears upon her face. "Ms. Lockheart, please don’t be so upset. It will make it harder for you body to adjust. I need you in top form for my experiment. Tell me, when was the last time you ovulated?"

Tifa looked up at him blankly. Besides the fact that his question had hit her out of the blue, she like most women had absolutely no idea as to the answer. "I… I don’t know."

Hojo frowned. How women could be so completely unaware of their bodies he had no understanding. "I see, then tell me this; when was the last time you menstruated?"

This was too embarrassing for her and she hung her head not wanting to answer nor look at him any longer.

"Ms. Lockheart, I will remind you of Mr. Valentine’s situation." Hojo sneered, annoyed at her last ditch effort at disobedience.

"A week or two." She replied quietly.

"Good." Hojo produced a small vial from his pocket. "And tell me, how much do you weigh?"

She gave another quick and quiet response.

"Thank you." Hojo drew up into a syringe an appropriate dose of some hormone intended to force her to ovulate. He brought the needle over to her and pulled up the sleeve to her shirt.

Tifa didn’t so much as flinch as he drove the hypodermic into her arm. She had no idea what it was that he was giving her, and she didn’t care.

Hojo pulled away and smiled. "There, now in a few days you will be ready to have me harvest your eggs. You do know that I was just joking earlier about the whole ‘create the child the old fashioned way’, don’t you? I was merely trying to rile Mr. Valentine."

Tifa covered her face with her hands, trying to block out the scientist and Cloud’s animated body.

The mad man sighed. "I truly do not wish you any ill will, Ms. Lockheart. I have nothing against you. Please, relax. I’m even going to keep your husband Mr. Strife here with you."

Tifa shuddered with tears. "He’s not my husband!"

"What is that?" Hojo knitted his brows and leaned closer. "I think you might have lost me there."

She looked up at him with the deepest hatred in her eyes. "Cloud is not my husband! He’s dead!"

Hojo’s eyes were caught by the wedding band on her left hand and he dared to reach out and touch it with his index finger. "Then why do you still wear this?"

Tifa retracted her hand instinctively at his touch and dropped her gaze away.

Hojo’s eyes went wide and he made a most awkward expression with his lips as the answer formulated itself in his mind. "Did you marry Mr. Valentine? What sort of woman turns her back on her husband of seven years that quickly? I knew there was something going on between the two of you, but this? I did listen to the tapes taken from your implant. I heard you fucking him on the way to Rocket."

Tifa felt no need to correct his interpretation of the real events that took place on the airship several weeks ago. She knew that he was only going to use the knowledge that she and Vincent were married to torture them.

Hojo turned to Cloud. "How do you feel about that?"

Cloud stared back at the scientist with no emotion whatsoever. He no longer felt at all, and the computer within him was confused by the question. "Please restate."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot." Hojo laughed to himself. He turned back to Tifa. "I will have something sent in for you to eat a little later. Now, don’t try anything stupid like starving yourself, because that won’t help me with getting your body to produce as many eggs as I want. Also, if you don’t eat everything that I send in, I will again have to take it out on Mr. Valentine. Do you understand Ms. Lockheart? Or do you prefer Mrs. Valentine?"

Tifa hung her head again with a slight nod. "I understand."

Hojo beamed. "Good, I knew that you would be smart enough to figure this out." He turned to leave, but stopped short of the door. "You know, it’s funny. All this time I’ve wanted to punish Mr. Valentine for fucking my wife, but I never figured that I would have his wife to mess with. This is truly lovely."

Tifa was wracked with sobs as she found herself locked alone in the room with Cloud’s body. She collapsed onto her side, facing away from where Cloud sat. Her tears weren’t for herself; they were for both Cloud and Vincent. She now feared that she must mourn both of them. Cloud for the second time, Vincent for the first.