Let all this colour bleed out of me.

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# Sex thread (double points)

Memoirs of II

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...not even the scientists thought much of him. He was the first to go under into mako poisoning, the first to bleed his colour, and the first to seem like he'd just die off. He wasn't even much to look at, smaller than the rest of us, a recluse with a temper and something to prove. We all thought he'd be the first to go.

Looking back on it now, knowing and feeling what I do, I think he had the right idea. He let go first, let his mind expand to both mako and the lullaby and his body apparently just followed along. For an angry apparently weak boy, his ability to adapt to situations was quite amazing. I think she liked it best about him, that he could be anything and anyone if the right pressure was put on him in the early days.

In the fights, he was good with a sword, stubborn to the point of suicide. In the end, when he reached his stride and got angry, it was all of us who rode on our knees before him. Perhaps it was then we made a conscious decision to submit, to die off slowly, to give him what we could never be.

I'll be dead soon. I'm holding on only long enough for him to wake up. This hilltop overlooking the great city is where I think it would be nice to be reminded we're all human somewhere. We are nothing unless together and finally, finally, he will take the last of us inside and live a life for us all. It's not a burden I'd give to anyone, but let's face it, he deserves it. If they catch him, he'll be chained like a dog and then...
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The Reunion Theory

With the failure of Project G and the instability of the subjects to maintain their genetic code over long periods of time and in the face of the glowing success of Project S, a sub-project was started to see how the stability of S-cells and JENOVA cells would do on subjects who were born genetically stable. It was theorized that S-cells and JENOVA cells would accept a viable host and better it (example: SOLDIER), but in the end, all the genetic superiority would come together for a Reunion. Like cells would come to be together with like cells, and because of the sentient nature of such cells, their power added to each other with higher concentrations when provided with enough mako to provide for the higher energy requirements of such superiority.

Cloud Strife was originally chosen for a sub-project without his knowledge or consent at the age of fourteen upon his application into the ShinRa military division. His selection was based on nothing more than the fact that his blood-mako levels were on the high end of what was considered normal at that time, a fact seen in people who were subjected to low doses of mako. This was due to the close proximity to the Nibelheim mako reactor on Mt. Nibel, and he was chosen with other teenagers of similar age and high levels, most of whom were from small villages close to mako reactors or natural sources of mako.

The subjects were placed into a training unit and trained all the skills requiring to be security officers. The only difference in their training regime was that they were slowly introduced to mako-contaminated products to raise their levels and on quarter annual standard physical examinations, they were given a dose of dormant JENOVA cells.

At the age of sixteen, candidates were sent on specialty missions as none had successfully shown characteristics strong enough for SOLDIER qualification. Each had a flaw that deemed them risks for the program, so they were sent into high-stress situations with a high chance of death. Nibelheim burned. Gongaga mako reactor exploded. Wutai border tensions took a deadly turn. AVALANCHE was blamed for attacks on key military buildings. Three candidates were lost, but their bodies recovered, most others suffered some kind of trauma or injury.

All remaining candidates were rounded up and improved upon in the Nibelheim Mansion laboratory. It was during close study that it was noted some candidates began a 'bleed' when exposed too closely to JENOVA, S-cells or sometimes one another. A 'bleed' was defined as the expulsion of tarry black substance from the eyes, nose, mouth, sometimes the ears and with spontaneous vomiting of a similar looking black substance. Examination of the substance indicated they were all proteins commonly associated with pigment. Given all subjects were dark haired, it was quite a shock when their physical attributes began to lighten the more they experienced 'bleeding' episodes.

Instability began to show with higher levels of exposure to JENOVA cells and mako, the mental states and bodies unable to cope with the battle that seemed to rage between genetic stability and hostile take-over. Through the misjudgment of an intern, it was noted that the death of a subject in the presence of another resulted in cannibalism of certain organs of the dead. In this way, remaining subjects seemed to stabilize and grow stronger, so it was deemed that candidates who died during the years were given to the surviving members to strength them. Until the time of death, candidates would not kill one another it was noted, not even those who were so severely mako poisoned that they were almost deemed non-functional.

Five years after the project began, two candidates remained. Cloud Strife was a boy from Nibelheim, with black spiky hair and brown eyes, at first deemed a failure to the project until a single incident where all other candidates knelt before him during combat training revised his title from 'failure' to 'underestimated'. Johnny Black was a boy also from Nibelheim with dark hair and dark green eyes who showed considerable resilience to treatments but could be mako poisoned to submission. By end stage, both subjects were pale blond with pale blue eyes that had shown a tendency towards turning green when pushed chemically to be reactive.

Both subjects escaped the laboratory and were hunted without much success. Professor Hojo called off the search for them preemptively. Two months after their escape, the degraded remains of Johnny Black were found on the a hilltop overlooking Midgar. Cloud Strife is considered 'missing'.