Crimson Demons (FF7)

30) WRO

There he is. In the shadows. I can see his all-too-white lab coat, his greasy black hair that's been pulled back into a tight ponytail, and the sleek gun held at his side, which I choose to ignore. My rage seems to conceal the danger quite nicely, not that I care. What he's done to Lucrecia... To Violet... It's all too much for me to stay silent about any longer.

"Talk!" I demand, stopping short in front of the madman with my scarlet eyes raging like an uncontrollable house fire. "Why did you let this happen?!"

"Silence," he croaks, tilting his head in an almost mocking manner.

"You..!" 

"I said silence!" He booms, raising his gun and firing. Before I can react, I've fallen to the floor, warmth flowing from the hole in my chest. Lucrecia... 

"Why can't these people just keep quiet?" Hojo steps over me nearly too gingerly, cackling. "I can... Body... For my next experiment... A genius... I am... Success here! Justify... Hideous failures..." His insane muttering fades along with the rest of the world around me...

And then I'm sucked back into awareness, staring up at a familiar stone ceiling. The walls around my body are soft and warm. A coffin? Almost too quickly, I climb out, refusing to cooperate with Hojo's plans. I'm not dead... The second I stagger to my feet, an overwhelming wave of panic overtakes me, the entire world going in and out in a series of violent flashes... And then the wings tear out of my back.

~|~|~|~|~

With a start, I awaken, surrounded by clear, green-tinted liquid. Mako? To my right, Violet stands in a separate tank, head hung to the side and eyes closed softly; thank the Planet she's unaware of her watery surroundings. Hydrophobes... 

"Well look who's awake." I look forward to see Shalua smiling at me. She stands quickly, walking toward me. "Hang on, I'll release you."

I step out of the healing chamber perfectly dry, but I pay that no mind as I step down the flimsy ramp set before me. Shalua suddenly lifts her head and looks past me with a broad smile stretching across her face. It seems very forced. I turn to see Violet panicking in her little glass chamber, hands pressed up against the glass.

"Well, look who's awake," the WRO agent repeats, crossing her arms. Violet glares at her dangerously, sprinting out of the tank as soon as it's drained, stumbling into my side clumsily. Her eyes, glowing more intensely from the mako, narrow as Shalua makes her next teasing remake. "Don't like getting wet, do you?" Violet scowls and I drop my hand to the small of her back to try to calm her down. Thankfully, she doesn't freak out and even melts into the touch the slightest bit. 

Someone's got a butterfly heart beat.

Shut up.

"Where are we?" I ask Shalua, looking around the bizarre room carefully.

"Safe inside the WRO headquarters," she answers whilst pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I carried you back here from Edge after you collapsed during your fight with Deepground. It seems the beast inside you went a little wild back there." He was protecting Violet. "This happen often."

"Went wild?" I frown. "Do you mean Chaos?"

"Chaos!?" She shrieks, her eyes practically bugging out of her head through her thick glasses. She knows something..? "You're body harbors the Chaos gene?!" Something in her brain seems to click as she begins to pace, one hand behind her and the other in front waggling a finger. "Oh, so that seems to explain your relationship with Dr. Lucrecia Crescent." How does she know that? She turns to Violet quickly. "How about you? Are you... Holding Chaos as well?"