For Honor or Glory

Projects S and G

Chapter 51

Alex had already mentally prepared herself for the coming conversation, or at least as much as she was able to. However, before she could say a word, her attention was snagged when Peter said, "Wait, I know I read something about Jenova in the files I saw about you and the two commanders, but why would General Sephiroth think Jenova was his mother? Why would Hojo tell him that? What is the connection?"

Alex rubbed her temple for a moment as if the action could hold back how frustrated she was. Somehow, she managed to keep a calm voice as she said, "I will explain everything if you give me a chance. If all you saw was the Project G files, you are missing a huge chunk of the picture, so just let me finish, please."

Peter gave her an uncomfortable look, but it was nothing to the frowns all three of the Soldiers wore. She tried not to think about it as she started over. "I suppose I should go all the way back to when Professor Gast first found a being in a two-thousand-year-old rock stratum and assumed it was the remains of a cetra."

There was another spurt of questions from most of the others. Angeal was the only one that had stayed silent as he watched her with worried eyes. Thankfully, all it took to gain quiet again was for Alex to put up both of her hands and call out, "Please stop."

Once the noise died down, she looked at her brother to try and gain a little courage before she looked back at the other two and said, "This is only going to get harder for you to hear; I know that. But don't forget that we are all in the same boat. I am affected by this as much as any of you. We aren't going to get anywhere if I can't even explain."

There was a long pause, but Sephiroth finally nodded. However, Genesis could not remain silent. At least he only looked contemplative as he asked, "I will give you my word to hold my questions until you are finished, but before then, I must ask—is this why you spent so much time in the lab? Were you finding this information?"

Alex couldn't hold his gaze. She looked down and felt a tremor go through her at the thought of what they might say if she told them where she first learned it all. Obviously, with Peter there to back up part of it at least, they would be less likely to tell her it was all her imagination, but she couldn't afford to tell them that the goddess had given her access to her previous life's memories along with a lot more. She did not need to be a mind reader to know that would not go over well.

Still, his question wasn't exactly wrong, so she finally looked back up with a nod. "Yes, after I became a professor, all the time I spent in the lab was focused on trying to figure out how to mitigate the possible mutations the experiments could cause."

"M-mutations?"

Alex glanced over to see Peter giving them all horrified looks. Something in the way he said it made her temper finally snap. "Look, you don't have to stay here. You aren't part of this. As a matter of fact, you are the reason we are even here right now. If you don't want to hear this, then feel free to start walking."

Angeal's worried look deepened as he got up and went to his sister's side. He put an arm around her shoulders and waited until he felt the tension decrease before he glanced at Peter and said, "Please do not take that to heart. We all know that you regret your choice, or we would not be here. However, Alex has asked us multiple times to listen, and we would get our answers. Can you not see that this is as hard for her to say as it will be for us to hear?"

Alex moved out from under her brother's arm, but she gave him a tight smile as she squeezed his arm and whispered, "Thanks."

Since no one else had made a sound since Angeal's rebuke, Alex took another deep breath to get herself back under control enough to continue. "Okay, so the being they dug up was dubbed Jenova, but she was not a cetra. She was actually an alien that crashed into Gaia and nearly destroyed the cetra.