Final Fantasy VII: 19 - Joy
Ilfalna and Angeal, no problem. Finding a name derivative of "Gast" that didn't sound as stupid as the original, fail. Me: Oh forget it, Lucrecia.
Title: Bundles of Joy
Author/Artist: purplekitte
Pairing: Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud/Aeris, cameos from Yuffie and Ilfalna, mention of Hojo and Angeal
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Theme: Jamie's list, 19 Joy
Ratings/Warnings: PG, non-graphic mention of childbirth, unexplained AU
When Fala was born, they were on the run.
Cloud was a nervous wreck. He understood Aeris was the last Ancient and when you were the last anything having kids was important. But what if something went wrong? AVALANCHE was known for its squalor not its doctors; Aeris was the best healer they had and now she was the one screaming with blood everywhere.
Cloud fidgeted, each muscle from head to toe twitching in turn. Sephiroth paced relentlessly in the small space of the terrorist hideout. They had been thrown out of the infirmary and he had never admired Zack more and understood him less. He wasn’t out in the hall, so he must be still as strong and collected and charismatic as usual, despite already having one broken finger last they’d seen him.
When the door opened and one of the amateur medics poked her head out, Sephiroth was past her before she could even speak. Cloud only caught the beginnings of “It’s a girl” behind him.
Zack was casting Cure on himself, while Aeris was holding a red, giggling bundle in a blanket. Her hair was a little lighter brown than her mother’s and her eyes were bright, bright blue. All babies had blue eyes, right?
Cloud had never been so terrified and so happy.
* * *
When Angel was born, they were rulers.
Sephiroth was no less on edge, like a caged animal with not enough room and nothing to strike at. The sterility of the World Restoration Organization hospital stunk like a laboratory, like pain and madness and death. This time Cloud held Aeris’s hand and Zack played with Fala, but he still stalked the halls in front of her door.
This was worse than even Zack getting his mako treatment for promotion to First Class. Part of him wondered if that meant he didn’t trust her as much as he did Zack, which would be doing her a great disservice. She had done this once before, when they were still fighting Shinra every day.
His worries ran from the explainable to the bizarre. His own mother had died giving birth to him, it was a dangerous, mysterious female process. And Jenova wanted nothing more than the destruction of the Cetra race. What if she’d infected Aeris through him? What if Hojo came back from the dead to carry out of his nightmares on this child? What if there had been another mad scientist carrying out experiments that Angeal had never told them about?
He and Zack’s SOLDIER enhanced hearing had them moving even before the door was open, though Zack took the time to put Fala over his shoulders, so he heard the “It’s a girl” from the Wutain princess.
Another girl who took after her mother looked around curiously. Her eyes were already green, unnatural, mako green. She laughed and cooed when she saw him.
Sephiroth had never been so terrified and so happy.
* * *
When Lucien was born, they owned a chocobo farm.
Zack was trying to do everything. Cloud was on his way back from Kalm, because of course the baby would always come early, in the rain. He’d tasked Sephiroth to watch the girls and Aeris is likely to take out a few of his fingers, again, in the very near future.
Now he was probably the one of them with his feet most firmly planted in the ground of the material world, but it didn’t take him two blinks to see that lady and know her for who she was, Ilfalna.
Zack wasn’t perfect, never claimed to be, though some who didn’t know him well might think so before he teased them out of it. Sometimes it felt like he had to be, so oh Odin was he glad to see her.
She stepped to the side when the door slammed and Cloud pushed in a doctor who looked like she’d been kidnapped and driven here on a motorcycle in the rain, which was probably all true.
No one showed a sign of being able to see her, except maybe Aeris upon whose forehead her hand rested, who hadn’t broken any of Zack’s hand yet.
“It’s a boy,” the doctor said, cleaning him up. They never cried, these children of the Ancients, only laughed and smiled, and this one was no different, looking around curiously at his parents and sisters through dark hair out of green eyes that weren’t supposed to focus yet.
Zack was always optimistic and supportive and persistent. There was no room for weakness or faltering. It would have been horrible for him if he had been faking a mask of good nature, but he was only acting as it was his nature to be.
Zack had never been so terrified and so happy.
Title: Bundles of Joy
Author/Artist: purplekitte
Pairing: Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud/Aeris, cameos from Yuffie and Ilfalna, mention of Hojo and Angeal
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Theme: Jamie's list, 19 Joy
Ratings/Warnings: PG, non-graphic mention of childbirth, unexplained AU
When Fala was born, they were on the run.
Cloud was a nervous wreck. He understood Aeris was the last Ancient and when you were the last anything having kids was important. But what if something went wrong? AVALANCHE was known for its squalor not its doctors; Aeris was the best healer they had and now she was the one screaming with blood everywhere.
Cloud fidgeted, each muscle from head to toe twitching in turn. Sephiroth paced relentlessly in the small space of the terrorist hideout. They had been thrown out of the infirmary and he had never admired Zack more and understood him less. He wasn’t out in the hall, so he must be still as strong and collected and charismatic as usual, despite already having one broken finger last they’d seen him.
When the door opened and one of the amateur medics poked her head out, Sephiroth was past her before she could even speak. Cloud only caught the beginnings of “It’s a girl” behind him.
Zack was casting Cure on himself, while Aeris was holding a red, giggling bundle in a blanket. Her hair was a little lighter brown than her mother’s and her eyes were bright, bright blue. All babies had blue eyes, right?
Cloud had never been so terrified and so happy.
* * *
When Angel was born, they were rulers.
Sephiroth was no less on edge, like a caged animal with not enough room and nothing to strike at. The sterility of the World Restoration Organization hospital stunk like a laboratory, like pain and madness and death. This time Cloud held Aeris’s hand and Zack played with Fala, but he still stalked the halls in front of her door.
This was worse than even Zack getting his mako treatment for promotion to First Class. Part of him wondered if that meant he didn’t trust her as much as he did Zack, which would be doing her a great disservice. She had done this once before, when they were still fighting Shinra every day.
His worries ran from the explainable to the bizarre. His own mother had died giving birth to him, it was a dangerous, mysterious female process. And Jenova wanted nothing more than the destruction of the Cetra race. What if she’d infected Aeris through him? What if Hojo came back from the dead to carry out of his nightmares on this child? What if there had been another mad scientist carrying out experiments that Angeal had never told them about?
He and Zack’s SOLDIER enhanced hearing had them moving even before the door was open, though Zack took the time to put Fala over his shoulders, so he heard the “It’s a girl” from the Wutain princess.
Another girl who took after her mother looked around curiously. Her eyes were already green, unnatural, mako green. She laughed and cooed when she saw him.
Sephiroth had never been so terrified and so happy.
* * *
When Lucien was born, they owned a chocobo farm.
Zack was trying to do everything. Cloud was on his way back from Kalm, because of course the baby would always come early, in the rain. He’d tasked Sephiroth to watch the girls and Aeris is likely to take out a few of his fingers, again, in the very near future.
Now he was probably the one of them with his feet most firmly planted in the ground of the material world, but it didn’t take him two blinks to see that lady and know her for who she was, Ilfalna.
Zack wasn’t perfect, never claimed to be, though some who didn’t know him well might think so before he teased them out of it. Sometimes it felt like he had to be, so oh Odin was he glad to see her.
She stepped to the side when the door slammed and Cloud pushed in a doctor who looked like she’d been kidnapped and driven here on a motorcycle in the rain, which was probably all true.
No one showed a sign of being able to see her, except maybe Aeris upon whose forehead her hand rested, who hadn’t broken any of Zack’s hand yet.
“It’s a boy,” the doctor said, cleaning him up. They never cried, these children of the Ancients, only laughed and smiled, and this one was no different, looking around curiously at his parents and sisters through dark hair out of green eyes that weren’t supposed to focus yet.
Zack was always optimistic and supportive and persistent. There was no room for weakness or faltering. It would have been horrible for him if he had been faking a mask of good nature, but he was only acting as it was his nature to be.
Zack had never been so terrified and so happy.