Vagaries of Fate

Remnants

A/N: So this is another part that I have stepped out on a limb to add, so please feel free to let me know what you think of the reveal 😊

Chapter 25 

When Clarissa got to the room and found it locked, she barely paused before she rammed it with her shoulder. The impact barely dented the door, but it didn't open. She realized that it was probably built to withstand the occupants so it wouldn't be easy to break open. By that time, Genesis made it to her. He gave her a worried look, but she just pointed at the door. "Can you get this open?"

He almost refused, but the look in her eyes stopped him. She was nearly panicked. He had no idea what the issue was, but he obliged and rammed the door as well. It finally gave after he hit it once more.

The other two had caught up at that point. They were both out of breath, so all they could do was watch with curiosity when Clarissa flung the door open and ran in. She stopped halfway across the room and nearly dropped to her knees at the sight of the three bodies that were curled up in fear in the corner.

She had to take a couple of deep breaths before she could speak without her voice shaking. She did kneel at that point and spoke softly. "Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, it's alright. I'm here to help."

At her soft voice, the smallest of the boys finally looked up. His eyes widened at the sight of the kneeling woman with silver hair like his. The largest of them had started crying, but they all stood and took a step closer to her. It was the smallest that spoke. "Mother?"

Clarissa had to bite back a sob. She had thought these three were only fragments of Sephiroth's will. If she had thought for a moment that they were physical clones, she would have already been looking for them. There was no telling how long it had been since the scientists at this facility had abandoned them. It couldn't have been too long, but that was probably the least of what these children had endured.

She finally managed to shake her head as she held up her arms. "No, but I suppose you could call me Sister."

She expected them to be wary, so it was no surprise when they didn't step forward right away. Kadaj, even though he was the smallest, was the first to step forward. He stopped far enough away that he could look at her closely, but not close enough for her to grab him easily. He must have seen something that he wanted as he took a couple of steps closer.

Clarissa kept her arms up. She wouldn't try to touch him unless he made the first move. She knew they had to be spooked at best. She wanted to scream. These three just added to the long list of things that Hojo needed to die for. It was too bad that he couldn't be killed more than once.

Clarissa only watched as Kadaj reached out and grabbed a few strands of her hair. He let it slip through his tiny fingers before he looked closely at her eyes. He finally stepped close enough that he could put one of his tiny hands on her arm. "Sister?"

Clarissa couldn't make her voice work, so she nodded. He looked back at the other two and gave a small nod. It broke her heart to see them so mature for such little children. She knew that none of them could be over ten yet. If she had to guess, she would have said that Kadaj was probably only seven. The other two couldn't be much older.

At the boy's nod, the other two came forward as well. They were hesitant, she could tell, but once they were all standing in front of her, she finally wrapped them in a hug. They were stiff at first, but it wasn't long until she had three little sets of arms around her neck. Loz had started crying again, and she suspected that the other two were barely holding back. She knew they may never recover from being at Hojo's whims, but she was going to start treating them like the children they were. Her voice was barely over a whisper. Only the three that were clinging to her heard it. "It's okay to cry. I'm not going to let you three be alone again, okay? Now that I found you, you will never be experimented on again. I promise."