"What...happened to me?"
I had an idea a long time ago that Sephiroth has a confrontation with Hojo after he joins the guild. They find him in a broken down Shinra lab and he had developed a dart gun of sorts with Jenova cells inside.
During a struggle, Aqua gets shot and she is writhing in agony as the cells take a hold of her. Hojo cackles and exclaims that she'd either die or become a monster like Sephiroth.
In some versions of this piece, I had Sephiroth know the basics of what was in Hojo's lab from being in there so many times and he feeds her an antidote that doesn't get rid of the cells completely but it at least stops its poisonous effect.
Whatever the case, Aqua's light proves stronger than Hojo imagined and the result is a pair of wings that are not always physically manifested. That, and the light/darkness filter which I made up that helped her survive the RoD I mentioned several posts ago.
This is me just wanting things to be cool so who knows if it's actually feasible. In the KH universe where laws are more loopy, it probably is possible lol. Basically, I wanted the wings to both be able to take full physical form but also be transparent at times like they're pictured here. This is so that Aqua doesn't constantly have a huge pair of wings coming out of her back. She eventually learns to control them/will them in and out of existence.
I tried to make the wings big enough to support her but I know from a friend's commentary from a long time ago that they're probably still not big enough. = - =; oh well
Also, my first time drawing Hojo! He doesn't look Hojo enough imo! Ahh! (o w o ; ) Again, oh well~ Me motivating myself to actually get this out is a big deal so I'm happy enough.
Had drawn something different before this but realised I didn't want to start 2026 with that, so we get this dramatic piece instead.
Am hoping this year to explore more of the Aquaroth relationship prior to them achieving their current peaceful state too. ( ā¢Ģ Ļ ā¢Ģ )y
Thanks for reading!
BG from Manu T

















