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“Well, I was on a trip escorting Professor Hojo and Professor Ghast to the one
mako reactor so they could take readings. Vincent had been chosen, by the President of
course, to go with me because we were the two best Turks. The President actually had us
doing most of his dirty work. We were the most ruthless and efficent Turks he had.
Anyways, we escorted the scientists there with no problems and everything was going fine
until we heard a scuffling sound on the catwalks up in the rafters and supports. Drawing
our guns we looked for who or what had made the noise and shortly thereafter I saw a
gun with a silencer slip into view, the shooter still well hidden, and aim for Vincent.
Before I could warn him though I heard it be fired and from the distance it was away I had
enough time to throw myself at him and take the bullet for him. As he went off to find the
killer I lay there trying to ignore the pain to get up and go after him too. Next thing I
knew though Professor Ghast had run out and went to get the pilot while Hojo stayed by
me. It was then that he slipped a needle out of his pocket and injected me with
tranquilizers. I fell unconscious almost immediately and the last thing I saw was his
smirking face. That was the cause of many nightmares later on by the way,”Mym
explained with a sort of slight irritation in her voice as she spoke of Hojo.
“That’s horrible,”Aeris said, a hand going to her mouth, the other holding the shirt
around herself,”So the President arranged it all with Hojo before hand?”
“Yes,”Mym answered,”And Professor Ghast knew nothing of it’s being setup or
my 30 year long imprisonment in the lab afterwards.”
“All Ghast knew was that I had died in the hospital and that ShinRa had arranged
my funeral. It was an empty casket, though, they kept the lid closed to hide the fact that I
wasn’t in it,”she explained,”I heard from Hojo that it was a rather nice funeral. He also
happened to mention to that comment that it also meant that I was dead and anything that
happened to me didn’t count because I didn’t matter as a living person anymore. I hate
him for that, and for much much more.”
“What all happened while you were in the lab?”Aeris inquired, looking at Mym
while she played with her shoelace.
“Well, 30 years of tests, experiments, more needles being injected into me than I
can count or remember. Mind you, I was asleep some of the time he did experiments so
even I’m not sure of what all he did but one thing’s definitely true. It was a nightmare and
I’d never want to go through it again.”
“Well, unless it allowed one of you guys freedom from Hojo for good,”she
whispered this and Aeris barely heard it. Vincent didn’t miss it though, his hearing had
been enhanced from Hojo’s experimentations on him, as had his vision and other senses.
“You shouldn’t sacrifice yourself for our well being,”Aeris said quietly,”After all
you’ve been through.”
“After all I’ve been through,”Mym started,”I can handle it better than any of you.”
“Not to sound mean when I say this but, even Vincent only had a shortened period
of exposure to Hojo’s madness,”she explained,”I had 30 years of it to deal with, 30 years
of him messing around with my body, altering things here and there, giving me powers I
didn’t want, experimenting his cold black heart away.”
She looked down at her hands and clenched them as she whispered,”30 years of
him making me less and less what I used to be.... More of an avenging angel of sorts
now...”
“Avenging angel?”Aeris questioned quietly,”Why do you say that?”
“I hope you and the others never find out,”Mym explained,”Let’s just say it’s
another one of the parting gifts Hojo gave me...”
“At least tell me what it is,”Aeris pressed, trying to figure it out.
Mym sighed and simply nodded.
“Allright,”she said,”I’ll explain. When I get injured extremely badly or get pushed
till I’m past my limit with anger I undergo a change of sorts...”
She looked down then continued,”My strength, power, speed, all of that is
doubled at least and I change forms as well. Hojo altered it so that when I change I
become what he said the President said I always was in life. Either an avenging angel or a
cold blooded killer. As it stands right now I have 4 transformations...hopefully Hojo
won’t find a way to give me anymore. I don’t want them.”
Aeris shuddered a bit thinking about that, she changed forms when provoked to
much, that was so cruel of a thing for Hojo to do. But Aeris herself knew that that was
what Hojo was good at, being cruel.
“Hojo told me one more thing,”Mym whispered,”He did the same thing to
Vincent...”
“What?”Aeris gasped, Vincent’s eyes going wide as he listened in from around the
corner. Could that explain the strangeness he felt in his body, the strange tingling in his
mind to go hunt something.
“Yes,”Mym spoke up a little,”He told me that he’d given Vincent transformations
as well... and that they’d be with him forever, as are mine. Of course Hojo also added that
was if he lived through his time spent locked in a coffin. It enraged me so... I just wanted
to rip him apart...”
Mym clenched her fist as she said this, her voice cracking as she vehemently
whispered the last phrase,”I wanted to make him hurt for all he did to Vincent, Sephiroth,
Lucrecia.., Ifalna, all of them!”
She looked up at Aeris, her violet eyes glowing brightly in the dark night.
“I wanted to see his blood stain that damned lab coat of his. His blood, not mine
or Vincent’s or Lucrecia’s or Ifalna’s or anyone else who was undeserving of the
punishment he dealt out to those he saw as sinners and demons and the like. His blood....”
As she finished she quieted down and looked down at her clenched hands again.
“That’s... what he deserves,”Aeris stated quietly, as she looked down at her hands
in her lap as if deep in examination of them,”But... then we’d be no better than he is.”
She looked up at Mym again and noticed the glow in Mym’s eyes had dimmed a
bit but was still burning there.
“I already am no better than he is,”Mym whispered as she stood,”I’m going to
avenge those he hurt. Not for myself or my own mission to destroy him, but for them.
And also to protect you and keep you forever from his clutches. I swear it.”
This said she turned and prepared to walk back into the inn but Aeris stood and
reached a hand out as she called,”Wait!”
Mym turned and looked at her with a questioning look, her eyes having the same
odd glow to them.
“You aren’t leaving to go after him are you?” Aeris inquired, one hand still holding
the shirt around herself.
“No, I was going to go get my sword and go relax on my own for a bit. It helps
me think and that’s what I need to do now.”
“Oh.. Allright...”Aeris replied a little uncertainty in her voice,”Just please don’t
leave to go fight Hojo yet...”
Mym turned her head away and walked to the door, as she stood in it she turned
back to Aeris.
“Not yet.. But soon he will pay for his crimes.”
She then turned and disappeared into the darkness of the inn. She didn’t see
Vincent though because he had already gone back to his room to think things over, things
were more confusing now than ever for him and his anger at Hojo was rising steadily.
After sitting in the room for a few moments he had fled the hotel to go think and as Mym
walked out of the inn with her sword in hand, headed for the orchards on the other side of
the well she spotted Vincent sitting on the roof of the ShinRa mansion. Lightning flashed
in the distance and Mym continued to look at Vincent as the lightning illuminated his dark
form, cape billowing behind him. As she watched him after a few moments he turned and
gazed down at her, they nodded to each other, he turned his head back to look away again
and she went off to the orchard. Mym began practicing with her sword as she thought
about implications of things, while Vincent sat and watched the mountains and the reactor
in the distance as though he saw the phantoms that were supposed to haunt it. Each had
gone their own ways, needing time alone to think about the many things that had been
brought to light.