Inception: Book 1 (FFVII Remake)

Ch.26

It had been a month since the battle of Fort Tamblin, and things had not been the same. Sephiroth had begun taking only monster-slaying missions and declining missions possibly related to Genesis or Angeal. He even refused to lead an investigation at Banora village, Genesis and Angeal's hometown. Sara wasn't given tasks related to her friends, but at the same time, she wished she could help out somehow. So she decided to do her own investigation.

Sara had started to search through the company archives with the help of Domino to look for anything related to Genesis or Angeal. She had no idea what to look for but had to try. Yet, she came up empty-handed when looking through the company archives. There was only one place or a specific person that could tell her what she wanted to know; her father, Darius.

She hadn't seen her father in well over two years since she became the president's bodyguard. Though they had been keeping in touch through emails, that was it.

So Sara decided to go and visit her father. She heads out of the Shinra building to her father's house. It was dusk, but she wasn't worried, for she had to get answers one way or another, and it didn't matter what time of the day it would be. The lights were on when she arrived at the house; she walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. The door opened, and behind the door was Darius, who looked at Sara in surprise.

"Hey, Dad," Sara smiled sheepishly.

Darius pulled her into a hug as the door closed behind them. The familiar warmth of family brought tears to Sara's eyes. She had missed her father so much, but she missed her mother even more. However, she tried not to think much about it.

Darius looks at her with a smile and says, "I'm glad you are safe, and I heard what you and Sephiroth did at Fort Tamblin. I'm glad that the war is close to being over."

While Sara wished she could tell her father everything, she wanted to get down to business.

"Dad, there's something that I want to ask you. Do you think we could have a chat?" Sara wondered.

Darius looked at her curiously and nodded, then headed to the kitchen to go brew some coffee. There was a plate of donuts, and Sara helped herself to one as Darius handed her a cup of coffee.

"What is it you want to know?" Darius asked.

Sara stared at the coffee mug and began to ponder, "Dad, you've been a scientist for a long time, right?"

Darius nodded, and Sara continued, "Do you know Hollander, by any chance?"

Darius frowned, "Yeah, as if I couldn't forget a guy like him."

Sara could tell that Darius didn't seem fond of Hollander, but she continued to ask questions, "Is Hollander a good scientist? Like, does he do well in healing SOLDIERs?"

"Saraphina, you need to explain to me why are you asking about Hollander. Where is this coming from?" Darius questioned.

Sara knew that she couldn't hide her motive, so she began to explain all the events that occurred when Genesis was wounded. She even described the Genesis clones she found in Wutai and Sephiroth's theory. Darius began to listen as he nodded his head. When Sara finished, she let out a long sigh.

"So what's your opinion, or do you know something about Hollander that could be related to Genesis's desertion?" Sara asked.

Darius didn't say anything but kept running the back of his head and took a few sips of his coffee before putting the mug down and sighing heavily.

"Hollander was always a man with ambition," Darius continued, "He always wanted to prove that he could do better than Hojo. But even when I was working with Hojo, I could tell the difference quickly between Hojo and Hollander when it comes to the work of science. Hojo would know the limits of his subjects, while Hollander would push the subjects beyond their abilities, which is why his projects always fail. Yet, he had always dreamed of being the head of the research department. But it was obvious who would earn the job, and that was none other than Hojo."