"What is this!?" Hojo said with astonishment, stunned for the first time in his life. "Gast, don't tell me-it can't possibly be, but it's impossible, of course, but-" Hojo, for possibly the first time in his life, was babbling. "Gast, tell me what it is!" he finally spluttered, staring at the creature caged in the giant glass case. The glass glittered, slick as the metal of Midgar, and was lit with a soft glow. They all stared; it seemed to be of a woman·.only partially human.
Vincent tore his eyes away from the creature to look at the others. Hojo was shocked; Lucrezia surprised and delighted, and Gast proud and prepared with a scientific explanation. His eyes drifted back to the creature and he felt caught in its spell again. The woman was created with exquisite perfection in mind; her face was flawless, her lips curved upward as if she had one last, reassuring thought before she was buried beneath the tons of ice.
"I put it in there," Gast admitted self-deprecatingly. "It would have spoiled after I dug it out of the ice caves beneath the reactor." "Gast," Lucrezia breathed, "is that-is it·?"
"An Ancient," Gast affirmed proudly. "At least I think it is." He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked self-satisfied. Lucrezia's hands were pressed on the glass case, her glasses reflecting the soft light that stood above the encased creature. "And it's preserved so amazingly well," she said with awe. "It really is·?"
Hojo, it seemed, had gotten over his initial astonishment and turned to Gast, "Where did you get it?" he demanded. "I told you; beneath the reactor. The Nibelheim mountains reeks of Ancient as much as mako, Hojo; I knew that there was something interesting to be found, maybe a city. But an entire preserved Ancient--!" Gast was beaming with utter delight. "But I thought the Ancients left," Lucrezia said, turning to look at him before looking back at the exquisite creature again. "They were supposed to be travelers, weren't they?"
"They were," Gast agreed, "but some of them stayed behind. I think-mind you, it's only a theory, and no way of proving it-but I think this was the Jenova that the Ancients referred to in their books."
"Jenova?" Vincent inquired, finally joining in on the conversation. He stared at the creature in the glass case; it looked like a woman to him. An amazingly well preserved woman, as Lucrezia mentioned, but a woman nonetheless. That is, if he looked at her face and upper body. Lower body was--something. He didn't really want to think about it. Was it even part of the creature? Was it really human? He looked at the peaceful face, the closed eyes, and suppressed a shiver. He didn't like it, nor trusted it.
"Jenova was an Ancient," Gast said. "At least, that's what the Ancients implied, but I have no way of knowing, because most of the knowledge of the Ancients were lost. But I think that she was an Ancient that decided to stay behind, along with other Ancients, while the others moved on, as they usually did."
"She's beautiful," Lucrezia breathed, her eyes bright. "This really is wonderful, Gast," she said.
"Yes," Hojo said absently, staring at the creature, at Jenova, with an odd expression on his face. "It is."

Vincent lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, in the darkness, waiting for the familiar insistent beep by his ear, from thousands of miles away, and waited for Shinra's heavy, alcohol-stained voice speak to him with a voice of gravel stirred in cigar ash. The president called him every night, questioned him closely on every single activity that the scientists performed, and hung up on him every night, unsatisfied. Vincent knew that the president was seeking something, but what, Vincent did not know. Maybe the other scientists knew, but somehow Vincent doubted that. Lucrezia would not have known, nor the innocent Gast. But Hojo-

Ah, but Hojo is a scientist to the core, and a jealous one at that,