"Professor...what does this have to do with me?"
"You are in love with two women out there, Mr. Strife. I know," Hojo told hm.
Cloud straightened himself and stuck his nose out. "So what if I am?"
"You're going to end up insane, Mr. Strife."
"What happens between Aeris and myself is none of your business! What's it gotto do with you?"
"Remember how I told you about Lucrecia?" Hojo asked, getting up and walking around the room.
Cloud nodded.
"How do you feel about Aeris?"
"Huh?"
Hojo turned to the Head of AVALANCHE Inc. "How do you feel about that flower bimbo clinging to the man you tried to impersonate?"
"Hey! Don't you call her a flower bimbo! Despite her being taken, I still like her!"
"And are you...OK with her being with this other person?"
"If she is happy, then I don't mind," Cloud said.
Hojo slitted his eyes. "Say that again, Strife?"
"If she's happy, I don't mind!" Cloud said again.
WOOSH....
Cloud blinked. "Don't mess with my mind, Sephiroth!" he yelled, poking his head out the door.
"SORRY!" Sephiroth cheeped with a ditzy smile.
WOOSH...
"Sephiroth!"
"What?!"
Cloud began to growl. "I SAID DON'T MESS WITH MY HEAD!"
"Hey, that rhymed!" Sephiroth giggled.
WOOSH...
A pained voice ripped through Cloud's head: >>>>"If she is happy, then I don't mind..."<<<<
Cloud shook his head and closed the door. "That was YOUR voice!"
Hojo stood leaning on the table with his arms folded. "About time you figured it out, you little twit."
WOOSH...
A different voice ripped through Cloud's mind...but the same statement: >>>>"If she is happy, then I don't mind..."<<<<
"Was that...Vincent's voice?" Cloud blinked.
Hojo nodded.
"WOAH! You can do that creepy mind thing, too! That’s messed up!"
Hojo pushed up his glasses with a little smirk. "It’s so much fun at parties."
Outside, Sephiroth got a message...
WOOSH...
>>>>Sephiroth, can you do me a little favor?<<<<
WOOSH...
>>>What kinna favor, Dadoo?<<<
WOOSH...
>>>>Ask Zack how he felt when Aeris was hanging all over Cloud.<<<<
WOOSH...
>>>Can do!<<<
Sephiroth skooted over to Zack and whispered in his ear: "Hey, Zack...how did you feel about Aeris when she was hitting on Cloud?"
"I figured, if it makes her happy trying to replace me, I don't really mind," Zack whispered back.
WOOSH...
>>>You got that, Dad?<<<
WOOSH...
>>>>Yes.<<<<
"Professor Hojo?" Cloud asked, waving his hand over the former ShinRa Biologist's eyes for the third or fourth time.
Hojo snapped out of it. "Cloud, do you know what Zack thought about you and Aeris?"
Cloud shook his head no.
WOOSH...
>>>>"If it makes her happy trying to replace me, I don't really mind..."<<<<
"Woah! That's messed up, man!" Cloud squeaked.
"Isn't it, though?" Hojo asked with a smirk.
"What are you trying to say? Is Aeris Lucrecia reincarnate?" Cloud guessed.
Hojo shook his head. "I should hope the hell not! Lucrecia didn't have that much air in her head!"
"Hey!"
"It's the truth."
Cloud considered this for a while. "I suppose you're...a little bit right, Professor...but what are you trying to say?"
Hojo got up and circled around the room. "It's kind of difficult to explain."
"Can you at least try?"
"Mr. Strife, have you ever understood the Euclidean Reflective Property?"
Cloud scratched his head. "Um...I used to sleep during Geometry class."
Professor Hojo whipped out another one of his infamous post-it notes and stuck it to the table. "Do you happen to have a small mirror anywhere on you?
Cloud shook his head.
Hojo grunted and walked out of the conference room. "Excuse me."
Scarlet got the near-surprise-of-her-life when Hojo walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him hopefully with BIG annoying shiny Sailor Moony eyes. "Hojo?"
"Do you still carry that mirror around in your purse?" the scientist asked.
Scarlet shook her head. "It got burnt with the rest of the ShinRa Building when Meteor struck."
"Damn..."
Tifa stood up with a shiny rectangular object in her hand. "I've got one."
Scarlet sneered at the younger woman as Hojo thanked her graciously and went back into the conference room with the mirror.
"Shiiny," Cloud remarked as the older man drew a line and three dots on the stickie.
"This line represents...a crossing of generations. This pretty little dot near the middle represents Lucrecia, the one by the top here represents Vincent, and this lonely, rejected and puny little dot way out there in the middle of nowhere represents me."
Cloud blinked. "I...think I get it."
"Now which one of these dots is closer to Lucrecia?" Hojo asked.
"Uh...I thought Lucrecia was dead?" Cloud recalled.
Hojo sweatdropped and labeled the dots L, V and H. "Which of these dots is closer to L?"
"Um...V?" Cloud guessed.
"And which of these dots seems to be left out?"
"H."
"Good, now who is closer to Aeris in real life at this point?" Hojo asked.
"You're confusin' me!" Cloud whined.
"It's not a hypothetical question. Easily answered. Now, who is closer, relationship-wise, to Aeris? You or Zack?"
"Zack."
"All right...now who was closer to Lucrecia?"
"I don't know! That was thirty years ago! I wasn't even born yet!"
Hojo grabbed Cloud's head and pointed to the dots. "L is Lucrecia! V is Vincent! H is Hojo! NOW do you get it? WHO WAS CLOSER TO LUCRECIA?!"
"Vincent! Vincent was!" Cloud finally cheeped.
"Finally," Hojo grumbled. "Now who was the one dejected and all alone?"
"Hojo was," Cloud said.
"And who is the one dejected and all alone now?"
"Uhh...you're still single, aren't you?"
Hojo gritted his teeth. "Your CHOICES are Zack and Cloud."
"Uh...Cloud?"
"Very good, Strife."
"Woah. Is it just me, or did these people have our exact same names?" Cloud reflected.
There was a big crashing of heavy things heard from the waiting room.
"Oh! Now I get it! We're in the same boat! I see now!" Cloud said, slightly burnt.
The vein in Hojo's forehead had popped out and was pulsating in a rather menacing manner. "Now...do you see?"
"Yeah...but I don't hate Zack like you hated Vincent."
"I didn't hate Vincent. In fact, he rarely acknowledged my presence...until it got to that human experimentation bit..."
"You're skewing off the subject, Hojo."
"My apologies, Mr. Strife," Hojo said, drawing a new dot closer to H, labeling it S.
"Who's that?" asked Cloud.
Hojo ignored his query and pointed to H. "Which dot is closer to H now? L or S?"
"Uh...S?"
"He CAN be taught," Hojo mumbled to himself and leaned against the table. "Now, assuming L, V and H can also be interpreted as Aeris, Zack and yourself, who would you say would represent S at this point in time?"
Cloud put a finger to his chin and considered this. "I...have no idea."
"Think, Strife. Name a person very close to you, who cares about you, a loyal friend who has stayed by your side through thick and thin and everything else..."
"Ur..."
"All right...let me narrow this down so your puny brain can understand: A certain woman very well-skilled in the marshal arts who loves you with all her heart and would be very pleased if you'd spend at least a little time with her before the next century who's name begins with a T and ends in an A!"
"...You don't mean Tifa?"
"About time, moron."
"No way! Tifa and I are just good friends," Cloud professed.
Hojo shook his head. "You're such a simpleton. A blind man could see that Miss Lockheart likes you. And you like her as well, your pride just won't let you admit it."
Cloud blinked. "Uhv...I...uh...so, do you have a Tifa?"
"That's the weirdest question I've ever been asked. Yes, I do, actually."
Cloud looked at the stickie on the table. "S...huh...S-scarlet?"
"Very good."
"But you hate Scarlet!"
Hojo looked to both sides and dragged Cloud as far away from the door as could be managed. "Shh! Don't tell anybody this, but...I adore Scarlet."
"Huh? Then how come you treat her as if she were a piece of moo poo?"
"Cloud, when you're as old as I am, you'll understand that you can't do the same things that you did when you were younger."
"But..."
"I'm trying to help you out, boy. Don't piss me off. When this is over, I want you to give Miss Lockheart the love that she deserves. Don't turn Tifa into the next Scarlet. One's plenty, I assure you," Hojo said.
Cloud scowled. "Not if you do something similar, Professor."
"What could I possibly do similar to that?"
"I will lift all of your charges if you apologize to Scarlet and thank her for what she's done for you...all right?"
Hojo considered this. "It's a deal."
"Oh, just one more thing...what did you need that mirror for?" asked Cloud.
Hojo put the mirror to his little diagram on the stickie and lined it up so Cloud was able to see the reflection. "Just a little bit of history repeating."
Cloud's eyes lit up. "I loved that song!"
"Oyv...just a warning, Strife. Try not to make AVALANCHE into the next ShinRa."
"Don't worry! I won't!" Cloud said.
"Famous last words..." Hojo mumbled as he and Cloud headed for the door.