Pregame What-if Fanfic

by Laguna Loire

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Pairing: None

Summary: What if a child is born

Pregame What-If Fanfic

by Laguna Loire

- Chapter 1-

"Something's wrong," Lucrecia insisted, watching as her husband went over the charts of his newest experiment. Although he still oversaw the injections she was regularly given, he hardly took interest in the project these days.

"You're just nervous about becoming a mom, Lucrecia," Hojo told her. "You're going to be fine and so is our little baby... um what was that stupid name you want to give him?"

"Sephiroth," Lucrecia pouted. "And its not stupid. It's..."

"Look, let's not get into that discussion again," Hojo waved her off. "You're just going to get yourself worked up again. I'm sorry, okay. It's not a stupid name. In fact, its a very nice name. Now, go find something to occupy yourself, I've got work to do."

"But..." Lucrecia tried, again, to bring up the subject of her concern for her unborn son.

"I said I am busy. Now leave me alone."

Lucrecia walked out of the lab.

"Lu," the dark-haired man who approached her smiled at the object of his affection with warmth in his eyes.

"Vincent," Lucrecia smiled. "Walk with me. I need someone to talk with." she was silent at first as they walked down the streets of Nibelheim. "Did I make a mistake marrying him?"

Vincent wanted to shout out that yes she did, that she should have married him and not Hojo. But she didn't need to compound one mistake with another. And he knew if she did leave, Hojo would take her son from her in revenge. It would be Hojo and the mighty Shin-Ra corporation versus sweet little Lucrecia. And Vincent knew damned well who would win.

"That's no longer a question you can afford to ask yourself," he said, instead. "The question you have to ask now is 'what is best for my baby'. You know full well that if you try to leave..."

"Hojo will steal little Sephiroth from me," Lucrecia sighed. "Actually, I don't know if he actually would. These days he hardly seems to have any interest in me or the baby. Gods, Vincent, I'm really worried about Sephiroth. Hojo won't let me get looked at by anyone outside the lab. He thinks they'll screw up his precious experiment. And he keeps telling me I'm overreacting. But I just know that there's something wrong."

"Lu..."

"You think I'm overreacting, too, don't you?"

"No. But this is your first child. How could you tell the difference? How do you know it really is something to worry about and not just first time mommy jitters?"

Lucrecia smiled. "I guess you could be right."

"Look, whatever happens I'll be here for you. I promise."

Lucrecia nodded. "Let's get home. Thanks by the way, I feel much better now."

But in her heart, Lucrecia still worried for her unborn child.

- Chapter 2 -

"Push, Lucrecia," Hojo stood by watching as his wife delivered her firstborn son. "That's it, I see the head. Good... just a little more."

Lucrecia was bathed in perspiration as she bore down once again. She was exhausted and felt quite drained.

Nearby, Vincent guarded the door, though his true purpose in the room was known only to Lucrecia and himself. He wanted to be there for her in case something went wrong. He'd made that promise and he intended to keep it.

Lucrecia gave one final push, at last delivering the baby she'd waited almost a year to see. Weakened by twenty-nine hours of labor, she lay on her back, catching her breath.

The silence was deafening to her ears. Surely she should have heard something by now. Why did she not hear crying?

"Doctor," she whispered, "my son..."

"I am sorry," the doctor told her, glaring daggers at Hojo. "Your son is dead. He died from a violent reaction to some foreign bodies in his blood stream complicated by a case of Mako poisoning."

"And how long until I die? How long until I am reunited with my son?"

"Not long now," the doctor admitted. "Your body has been exposed to the same poisons as your son was."

"Then let me follow my son," Lucrecia whispered. "Do not hinder me. My baby needs me."

Those were the last words that came from her mortal lips as her breathing ceased.

Hojo sank to his knees, defeatedly. The Jenova Project was a failure. It had been contaminated somehow. He turned and glared at Vincent. "You screwed it up! You fucked it like you've been fucking her!"

"I never fucked Lucrecia," Vincent said, calmly, "I made love to her. And if he is my son, it probably gave him a better chance. Anything that came from your shoddy DNA would probably have miscarried in the first trimester."

Hojo pulled a gun from his pocket and fired at Vincent. He continued to fire it at him long after his bullet-ridden body was dead, its only movements the morbid dance it performed as the bullets struck him again and again. He laughed as he watched the body dance. He was still laughing as they led him away to the sanitorium.

In the world between Life and Lifestream, three spirits converged and took shape, a mother and father doting on their newborn son.


(OWARI)