Faithless Memories

Unraveled

Chapter 58

Kris was fuming the whole time, but she managed to get herself under control. She realized that her hold on her temper was worse than usual, and now was not a good time for it. She would have to figure out how to put aside her own issues and help the Soldiers deal with theirs, or they could all end up in trouble. The thought was almost overwhelming, and she wondered again if Minerva had made the right choice. She knew it couldn't be undone, though.

By the time she had calmed enough to not want to rip Hollander to shreds, Moira had returned with the requested rope. It didn't take long for Genesis to tie him to the chair. Once that was done, the rest of the room settled, and they all turned to Genesis and Kris. Sephiroth was the first to speak. "What did you mean earlier when you said your eyes were caused by your choice, and not by me?"

Kris sighed and looked over at Genesis. She still had no idea how she needed to go about this, but she had to try. "When you nearly attacked Minerva, do you remember why?"

Sephiroth frowned and didn't answer right away. He was still frowning when he answered. "Everything, after we got to that cave, is fuzzy. I barely remember any of it. At least not until after you passed out."

Kris nodded. She wasn't surprised by that answer. "That was probably because Jenova was trying to gain control and stop whatever the Goddess had planned."

He sat back with a start. Genesis looked at her with shock as well. She could hear Hollander's exclamation from the other side of the room too. She ignored them all and kept going. "Jenova is not your mother, no matter what the jackass Hojo told you. He's as much of a lying sack of shit as Hollander is, maybe worse. What she is, is the destroyer of the Cetra race. She came to Gaia more than 2000 years ago and caused the mutations and plagues that nearly caused them to go extinct. The handful that remained managed to trap her, but her consciousness is still active."

She finally looked over at Hollander at that point and tried not to snarl. "You assholes have no idea what the hell you did."

At that point, she took a few deep breaths to get her temper back under control and looked back to where Sephiroth still looked stunned. Genesis had started pacing. She could see questions brewing behind the eyes of the rest of her companions, as well. Even Zack was looking at her like he didn't know her. That hurt, but she tried to push it down as she stood. "Look, I am sure you all have a lot of questions. Let me get out the basics, and then we can try to go over them, please?"

Genesis moved to her side at that point. He took her hand, and she could see that he wanted to know how she knew as well, but he pushed his curiosity down and nodded. "What did you mean that her consciousness is still active?"

Kris gave his hand a grateful squeeze and took a deep breath to try and smooth her frazzled nerves. She chastised herself since she had been raised better than this. She knew how to handle stressful situations.

She then looked back to Sephiroth and squared her shoulders. "First, let me start by telling you that your real mother is Professor Lucrecia Crescent. She did work with Professors Hojo and Gast on the Jenova project, but you were taken from her as soon as you were born. Despite her poor judgment, she never wanted you to be harmed."

Sephiroth's brow furrowed. He stood and walked a few steps away before he looked back. "What is the Jenova project?"

At his question, Hollander started yelling. "Don't! That is classified information! You can't!"

Kris glared back at him. "Really? Who here isn't part of it, besides Zack, and I suppose me. But since I already know it all, I think it's a moot point. You might want to keep quiet and hope we forget you're there."