The patrons of the local bar were laughing and making smart-aleck comments.
 “Having problems with the lady?”
 “What’s the matter, she too much man for you?”
 The ‘lady’ in question just snickered as her brother-in-law did his damnedest to drag her from her drunken perch.
 He eventually  conceded to trying to move her with words.   “We have to do something about the High King.”
 “Me, you, and what army?”
 “We’ll bring in someone new and pull back our old buddies.”
 “That plan sucks, Seymour.”
 “She didn’t kill him, the High King did.”
 “I know.   I have known that for years.”
 That had earned her a whack on the back of the head.   After a short growl, she stated.   “Go away.   I’m quite happy here.”   Seymour looked around in disgust.
 “Around mortals?”
 “Yep.”
 “Our home is under the reign of a tyrant, and you want to hang around mortals?”
 “It’s better than our weird jail-time back home.”
 “Sephiroth is alive.”
 “I know.”
 “Annunturiel Leonheart!   Did you hear me?   Me, you, Sephiroth, Jenova, Yuna and a new member can bring the High King down.”
 “Sephiroth was reincarnated.   He does not remember us, I know.   I met him.   Jenova is dead, at least that was the purpose of them cloning me.   And who, in this massive Universe, are you going to give the power of a God to?   It’ll take years to bring someone new in.   Remember when we first came in?   We all tried to kill off our own separate planet or species.   No way.   We are still stuck because of our sins.   I will not be a party to a new plague from our group of diseases.”
 “What happened to you Ann?   You used to be very solid and trustworthy.   Now, look at you...you’re a lush.”
 “Go away Seymour.   I don’t care, go get Seph.   Go recruit new people.   Maybe Jenova is still alive, she was always up for a revolution.”
 “What would your son say if he could see you now?”
 “Probably the same thing you did.  But, hey, he was taken from me...so who cares?”
 “He’s your son.”
 “Your bitch took him from me.”
 “That was a long time ago.   Zanarkand still stood.”
 “No thanks to you and Jecht.”
 “What about you?   You wiped out all the Hylians!”
 “Hey, King Link and Queen Zelda asked me to end the war.   I did.”
 “I am going to need your help restoring Sephiroth.   You know that mental stuff.   I don’t.   Then there’s the reconstruction of genes.   You are really the only one left alive that know how to do that as well..”
 “I will not curse anyone with immortality.”
 “Come on!!   The High King is going to kill us all off one by one!”
 “What about Jenova?”
 “She’s dead.”
 “Not sent.   Resurrect her.   She’s the one to call for stuff like this.”   Seymour hit his on the table out of frustration.
 “Ann.   Don’t make me make you.”
 “Don’t even.   You know I can kick your butt from here to Kingdom Come.   Especially since you gave ‘Anima’ away.”   He grinned and held up the small red orb.   She leapt from the table and drew her sword, as she opened her mouth to chant a summon he threw a collar at her that instantly turned her into a block of rose colored crystal.   The patrons in the bar started to creep towards the door.   “Don’t worry.   I’m leaving, I have what I came for.   Enjoy your evenings.”   With that and a display of telekinesis Seymour left the bar with the crowned heir of his people and the leader of the immortals.
 

 “Seymour, you dolt.   Do you realize how pissed off these people are going to be when you release them?”   Seymour shrugged.
 “Actually, only Anns’ going to be pissed.   The rest will be confused.”   Yuna just shook her head as she looked at the five blocks of crystal.   One of them was covered with a black tarp.   Her eyes went back to Ann.
 “Ummm...Seymour?   Ann’s crystal is cracking, and rather quickly.”   Seymour quickly moved to counter his pissy sister-in-law from breaking out.   All the while muttering,  “blue, blue.   I should be able to remember that, blue for the leader...blue.”   His efforts were in vain as Ann shattered the crystal, sending shards of it flying all over the medium sized room.   “Be careful doing that!   You could have killed me or Yuna!”
 “So?   You guys can easily be resurrected.”
 “Would you have lent your talents to do it?”
 “No, but I’m sure somebody would have.”
 

 After a few moments of silence and glaring at my strange brother-in-law I looked at the other poor souls he recruited for his war.
 “Wow.   What did you do to them two?   They’re all messed up.   OK.   That’s Seph, some of him.   What is that?”
 “Jenova.”
 “Ick.   Who’s under the tarp?”
 “Your clone.   She was tough, I had to catch her within seconds of her death, and before someone saw me.”
 “Who’s this monkey?   Hey!   That’s my gun!”
 “That’s why I grabbed him.   Oh, and I think he’s already capable of shape-shifting.”
 “So?”
 “Have some optimism Ann.”
 “Seph and Jenova should be easy.   I think their DNA is till on file.   If not I can always go track their kid down and do it backwards.   This guy...what’s his name?”
 “Vince...I think.”
 “Vince is going to suck, big time.”
 “Why?”
 “He’s dead.”
 “I didn’t kill him!”
 “No.   I think he’s been that way for while.”
 “Get someone new...Yuna?   Arrange a burial plot for him.”
 “Why?   He’s going to suck, but he’ll work.”
 “You said he’s dead.”
 “Yeah.   Like my dad was dead for all those years, only he’s still flesh and blood.”
 “I give up, does he have to be resurrected?”
 “I don’t know.   Tests are needed for me to know that.”
 “Well, what do we do now?”
 “Seymour...hell.   Why are you dragging me into this?”
 “Because you are sweet and talented...”
 “Shut up.   Sedate all but Vince.   Keep them under until I tell you different.   You can do that before you release the crystal, right?”
 “Yep.”
 “Do it.   Hook them up to the computers so I can take a look at their genetic structuring.   Let Vince out now.”   Seymour released the collar that had trapped Vince.   In the blink of an eye Vince had grabbed Seymours’ throat and had my gun pointed at his head.   I chuckled then walked over and pried my gun from his strong grip.
 “Thank you.   I spent much time wondering where this had wandered to.”
 “You took Annes’ summons.”   Seymour nodded slightly before replying.
 “:Let me go.”   Vince did.   “Anima is mine.   I had simply loaned it to this one..”   He gestured towards me.   “When she left, I guess the clone inherited it.”
 “She has a name.”
 “I know, I read her files.”
 I finally decided to speak.   “What are you talking about?”
 “The clone has pretty much her whole life in her computer.   Her job, her life, her work.   The company she worked for.   OH!   Get this...The clone was married to Sephiroth!”
 “Gross.”   After a pause I looked back to Vince.   “Vince?   Is that your name?”
 “Vincent.”
 “So shoot me.   OK, here’s the breakdown.   I am the real Ann.   There’s me, Seymour, Yuna, who’s behind the glass as well as Sephiroth and Jenova...we are the ruling family of these lands.   There’s a King above us, hence we call him the High King.   Well, he has fallen from grace, so to speak.   He killed Sephiroth, blamed Jenova and very effectively got rid of both of them as well as relocating their kid.   We actually aren’t sure their kid is even alive.   The High King has this talent for taking our kids and hiding them form us.    Well, old Seymour here thinks we, the small group of us, should kill the King.   In our group there is something called ‘being crowned’, someday I’ll explain that, but only four of us have those talents.   Until then Seymour thinks you would be a charming addition to our ranks.   So, this is a moment of choice.   Please don’t waste my time.   I have a lot of work to do with these guys.”
 “Why me?”
 “Does it matter?    Ask Seymour, he grabbed you.”
 “What about your clone?”
 “I’ll probably destroy her, we really don’t need two of us running around.”   Vincent stood up.   “Relax, I’ll pulverize you.”
 “Can I leave?”
 “If you want, know this...I just may be the only one that is capable of reversing the damage that was done to you.”
 “Why?”
 “Because I am a genius.”   Seymour snorted.   “Settle down Seymour.”   Seymour looked at Vincent.
 “She’s studied genetics, anatomy, engineering... you name it.   For the better part of her long lifetime.”   Vincent looked over at the still encased Jenova and Sephiroth, and then his eyes lingered on the covered block.   He silently watched as Seymour sedated them while Yuna set up genetic scanners that began to display anatomical maps as soon as she turned them on.
 “Why are they here?   They tried to destroy the world.”
 “Ann is going to re-write them.   Return them to who they were before they got stuck in your world.”   Seymour lazily replied.
 “She can do that?”   Seymour nodded in affirmation.
 “What do you want with me?”
 “Your help.   Ann can make you into one of us.   We require help in our quest to destroy the High King.”
 “Why not engineer an army?”
 “It was pulling teeth to drag her here.   Anyways we can’t have too many crown running around.   We are quite the dangerous bunch.”
 “I though her clone was a snot, but the real thing is horrid.”
 “Ease up...hello?   I am right here!”   After glaring at them for a moment I left the room.   My genetic charts weren’t reading out in the lab.   Great, do I have to reprogram them?   I hoped not.   Through the glass I saw Seymour talking to Vincent.   Probably apologizing for my behavior.   After a small dance I got the computers to obey me, and I went back into the infirmary.   “Seymour, for your health I hope you weren’t talking about me.”
 “This is what you get when we turn into lushes.”   I growled at Seymour.
 “So, Vincent.   You want all sorts of power, along with the genetic chemistry to pull of damn near the impossible?”   Vincent stayed silent as he considered me.  “Come on, say yes.   If you don’t Seymour will probably do it himself and you might end up like Seph over there.    Half feathers, half flesh.”   Vincent groaned.   “Seymour, take a hike.”   Seymour looked at me.   “Go.   I’ll be nice.   Scout’s honor.”   Seymour slowly left the room.   I turned to Vincent.   “Listen.   As much as I dislike the idea of picking a fight with the High King, Seymour is right.   He has to be dethroned.   I don’t know what my clone was like, I left after she was deemed a success.   I am sorry if I come off a little sharp, but that’s the way it is.   I don’t know what kind of hell Seph and Jenova put you through...fact of the matter is it surprises me that Seph found her.   I do know that when there were her they were good people to be around.   You probably need a lot of genetic work.   I am capable of a lot of things.   I’ll go more into detail after I get a genetic map of you.   I do not experiment, I know.   If you want to help us, great.   If not, that’s OK too.   After all I gather Seymour didn’t have your consent on being brought here.   Before you go, if you do, I can try to reverse the damage that was done to you.   I think you’ll be stuck as an immortal, but that shouldn’t upheave your life considering that you re actually the living dead.”
 “Can you erase my memory?”
 “Yes.   I do not recommend it.”
 “Why not?”
 “If by some fluke something triggers your memory it could render you brain-dead.”
 “How much time do I have to consider your proposal?”
 “I’m going to read all the stuff my clone collected.   Start on Jenova and Seph...I don’t know.   A week?”
 “Then, I will have an answer for you in a week.”
 “I’ll need to run some tests on you before Seymour shows you to a room.”
 “What king of tests?”
 “Like the ones I’m running on Seph and Jenova.   No needles or wires.   Just a 30 minute scan.”
 “I suppose.”
 “Well.   Lie down...take a nap.   Or glare at me.   Cuss up a storm, whatever.   Just try to keep your breathing steady.”   I began scanning Vincent and went to read Seph and Jenovas’ results.   They were a tangled mess of a numerous amount of species.   This was going to be difficult.   I’ll have to isolate all separate species by DNA then filter them out and pray enough of their own DNA is still left so I could get a pure growth pattern of their natural form.   A computer beeped.   “You’re done Vincent.   The door to your left.   Seymour is behind it.   He’ll set you up in some living quarters.”
 “When are you going to wake them up?”
 “When I’m finished rebuilding them.”   He nodded curtly and left.   I spent the majority of the evening reading my clones files.   They were helpful, concerning Sephiroth.   Jenova was still a slight mystery.   I wasn’t even sure that there was enough left of Jenova to restore her.
 Quite the puzzle and project, indeed.

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