Family

Family

Disclaimer: We do not own any characters of Final Fantasy. They are the
property of Square Enix and Sony. We do not make any money from the writing of
this story.

Pairing: Sephiroth/Cloud

W A R N I N G: This is about male
pregnancy (possibly) and male/male relationships. We are letting you know now
what the relationships WILL contain. So, if you are AGAINST such pairings, please find something else more to your
liking, you have been WARNED.

Flames will be ignored.

Special thanks to: style='font-size:7.0pt;color:#000033'>href="http://ff.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296806196">class=SpellE>fadingdreams, href="http://ff.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296812290">class=SpellE>Tieo, href="http://ff.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296806880">class=SpellE>squallpaine sephirothpaine, href="http://ff.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296763270">class=SpellE>Malcara,,and
to those who have read and didn’t review thanks for reading thus far. We hope style='color:red'>you enjoyed it.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

Chapter 18: Meetings

Upon Vincent’s return back style='color:red'>at 7^th Heaven, he noticed
that the building was in
darkness. He walked into the bar-room, smiling to himself when he found it
empty. He was grateful for style='color:red'>that. He didn’t think
he would be able to handle all the questions
about where he had been.

He realized he didn’t hear
anything, or anyone,
in the upstairs rooms above—all was silent.
Tifa and the others must have gone out to dinner
with that boy, Cloud, her
childhood friend. He vaguely remembered some
talk about it. But he wasn’t going to worry about missing out. He felt tired.
He needed to rest.

Finding his room in the dark
was not a problem for
him. Neither was finding his worn out shabby bed an issue either. style='color:red'>It was his comfort zone….his safe haven…style='color:blue'> Astyle='color:blue'>way from everyone… class=GramE>Away
from him.style='color:blue'>

Vincent went inside his room. Closing
the door behind him, he promptly style='color:red'>threw himself onto the bed. It
enfolded him, encasing his body within its familiar bulk. Vincent felt himself beginning
to relax almost immediately.

The low hum of the lamp light above
him brought an extra bit of comfort to
Vincent. It had taken him well over a day to
walk to Mount Nibel,
and another day to walk back. And he still felt
slightly numb, after being in the ice cold cave.
He ached, inside and out. Now, the only thing that he wanted to do, was
close his eyes, and rest.

However, his rest was to be interrupted.

For, each time Vincent closed
his scarlet orbs, the handsome visage style='color:red'>of Cid’s face popped into
his head. Stolen moments of their encounter would not leave him in peace.

Seemingly, they needed to
talk about what had transpired style='color:red'>between them.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

Another hour passed, before
the group of friends finally finished with their
meal. It took longer than anticipated because of the
unexpected news they were privy to, when Sephiroth and Cloud style='color:red'>returned to them and told everyone of their
engagement.  

Much congratulating was done, with
the men back slapping and the women crowding to see the ring, now proudly
adorning Cloud’s finger.

The only ones who wstyle='color:red'>eren’t really surprised by the couple’s style='color:red'>announcement were Mrs. Strife, Aerith, and Zack. style='color:red'>The dark haired man sat and smiled to himself. He knew all
along, that his tall, silver headed friend had found his life-partner style='color:red'>in the little blond. He’d known, from the very start
of Cloud and Sephiroth’s relationship, that it was going to lead up to this style='color:red'>point. And he was happy for them both.

Now, if he could only take a page
out of Sephiroth’sstyle='color:blue'> book, and find the
courage to ask Aerith
to marry him…style='color:blue'> Tstyle='color:blue'>hen….. Zack would be
in heaven too.

Mrs. Strife wiped a tear of joy from
her old eyes. She knew Cloud would be well
looked after by this man. Sephiroth might well give the outside world the
impression of impenetrable emotions….but she knew better. This man loved her
son, it showed in every essence of his being. She had nothing to worry about.

The members of AVALANCHE
wished them well, and everyone raised their glass of
champagne high up into the air, as a toast was made to the happy couple.

All glasses extended in cheer, except
one—Tifa’s. The dark haired girl was not as
pleased, or as happy, as the others were over
Cloud’s ‘supposed’ engagement. style='color:red'>And why should she be? 
Cloud hadn’t exactly told her much about his ‘boyfriend’….

She knew next to nothing
about the guy and his friend, other than the fact that
they worked for the Shin-Ra military
facility as SOLIDERs. There had to be some
way to convince Cloud that he was making a huge mistake by marrying style='color:red'>this man. 

On the car ride home from the restaurant, style='color:red'>amongst all the good natured banter and teasing going on, the
martial artist sulked. She was style='color:red'>determined that, when she got home, she was going to
find out exactly if Sephiroth and Zack were who style='color:red'>they said they were.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

While everyone thought it would be a
brilliant idea to give Sephiroth and Cloud a bachelor party together,
Mrs. Strife had other ideas. She wanted them to
celebrate their last night being bachelors as traditionally as possible.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  If the men wanted to go out for drinks with
Cloud’s intended….fine. But she was determined her son was going to have a
bridal shower.

Everything to do with Cloud’s
wedding had already been
meticulously planned by style='color:fuchsia'>his mother, much to
Tifa’s chagrin. She had itstyle='color:red'> scheduled for the
following Saturday. The woman style='color:red'>was nothing, if not perfect at organizingstyle='color:blue'>, as Sephiroth knew to
his cost, since he style='color:fuchsia'>had witnessstyle='color:fuchsia'>ed the petite blond at
work.

Mrs. Strifestyle='color:red'> was so excited, telling everyone all about the day, and how
she expected it to run….. What flowers would adorn the room, what food would be
served afterwards. So excited in fact, she hardly realized it had become so
late. 

Although Tifa
had listened grudgingly to all that the older woman had said about her son’s
forth coming wedding day, she still remembered her manners, and insisted that
the woman stay the night. 

“There are plenty of spare rooms
here, Mrs. Strife,” she argued, when Cloud’s mother began to object. “And
besides, it’ll be nice to have some extra feminine company…right Aerith?”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

The other young girl nodded in
agreement. “And if you prefer, Mrs. Strife,” Aerith chipped in, “You can always
sleep in my room, with me.”

Blue eyes sparkled, as the elderly
woman hugged them both tightly. “I’d like to stay…..I’d like to, very
much…..Thank-you.”

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

THUMP

ZING

“Ahh-hh!”

CLANK

“Huh!”

SWOOSH

The noise of fighting woke the ex-Turk instantly. style='color:red'>Jumping up out of bed, Vincent made a grab for
Cerberus, his heart suddenly pounding, his senses fully
alert to the danger in his room. Slowly, he came to realize that there
was no immediate threat to him. style='color:blue'>He relaxed his body and lowered his weapon.

The sounds of the blows were coming
from outside. Re-holstering the triple barreled revolver,
Vincent went to the open window, to see who style='color:red'>it was making all the racket.

Leaning out he could see, in
the yard below him, two men, style='color:red'>stripped naked to the waist. Both
were bathed in the glow of the early morning sunlight, which reflected off the
sweat on their bodies.  

Vincent studied them as they
continued to practice sparring.

One was holding a buster sword, wielding the gigantic blade
as easily as if it were
a child’s toy. He seemed to be young. style='color:red'>Looking at the man’s face, Vincent guessed him to be
in his early to mid-twenties, although, the dark
spiked hair he sported belied his youth, giving
him the impression of an older, more mature
appearance.

Even though the style='color:fuchsia'>second male’s back was facing
towards Vincent, the gunman could tell
that this man was huge in comparison to the much
shorter male he was fighting against. Knee
length silver hair danced around his agile form, as he
easily avoided the cut and thrust of the other’s lunges.

His tight style='color:blue'>denim blue jeans fitted his
form perfectly, and showed off his physique to perfection. Vincent
caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the man’s right
arm, a Roman numeral—a number one.

But when the larger male spun
about on his heels to block a lethal strike,
Vincent’s breath caught in his throat. He would recognize thstyle='color:red'>at face and long split fringe mane from anywhere.

Although he was staring, Vincent couldn’t
help it. He couldn’t take his eyes off the majestic figure of the man below
him. For he knew, without a doubt, who it was
that he was looking at.

The combination of the nose
and mouth, blended together so well with the
slightly smooth pale feminine face. His overly
bright green eyes, shining like jewels, were the
mirror image of the ultramarine orbs that
Vincent had fallen
in love with… so many years ago.

He had found style='color:red'>the one called Sephiroth.

He had found his son.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

As Vincent style='color:red'>stared from his window, watching the two men duel with
each other, another pair of eyes was also watching
as well.

Tifa couldn’t help but admire the
flawless physiques of Zack and Sephiroth—much to her distaste. style='color:red'>She wouldn’t admit to anyone, much less herself, that she
found them both physically attractive. And the early morning display they
were putting on……

She felt herself getting wet between
her legs.

With an annoyed sigh, she dragged
her gaze off the two men and returned her eyes back to the screen in front of
her. She had stayed up style='color:red'>really late last night, pounding away at her computer,
trying to get into the personal file system of Shin-Ra’s mainframe. style='color:red'>Without success. Now, this morning, she was trying again.

So far, all Tifa style='color:red'>had been able to find was Cloud’s
name and rank. She could find nothing style='color:red'>on the other two. And apparently,
asking for information on anyone exceeding a 3rd
Class SOLDIER was highly classified, no outside
access permitted.

This meant that Zack and
Sephiroth had to be either 1^st or 2^nd
Class SOLDIERs.

She now realized that tapping
into Shin-Ra’s computers were a dead end,
unless there was some way for her to access it
from inside the base. But she didn’t think her chances
of that were very high.

She tried to recall something
that Cloud had said before about his… lover?
What was it? If she could only remember, it might help
her in her quest.

The sounds of the continuing
fighting outside drew her attention style='color:red'>once again to the window. Tifa
found herself focusing
on the high speed sword duel. The two men were
both fast, and deadly.

She watched, impressed, as the dark
haired man raised his sword….and brought it down to cleave Sephiroth in two. It would be a
perfect hit, she thought, the silver haired man would lose. She couldn’t help a
small smile of satisfaction creeping onto her lips…. style='color:red'>a smile that froze, as she saw Sephiroth leap into the
sky, and seemingly float,
suspended in mid-air, for several seconds.

The dark haired man was
yelling something, but through the closed window, Tifa
couldn’t quite catch what it was he said. Glancing back style='color:red'>across at Sephiroth, who was now
back down on the ground and reaching for a cloth to wipe his upper body with,
she saw that he was smirking. 

Tifa hated that smug look.

And if it was the last thing she did,
she was going to wipe that look off his holier-than-thou face, style='color:red'>forever.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

“Goddamn it, Seph! You’re not playing fair!” Zack style='color:red'>had shouted, pitching his sword into the ground, unable
to pursue his friend, who had style='color:red'>floated gracefully style='color:red'>up high into the air above his head.

“You should learn how to fly, Zack, otherwise you’ll never
be able to catch me,” Sephiroth had replied,
amusement lacing his soft baritone style='color:red'>voice. He began to slowly descend
to the ground, collapsing from over balancing style='color:red'>as his feet touched the ground.

He fell to his knees, and
cursed his own ineptness, style='color:red'>his bad language causing
Zack to fall about laughing.

“Yeah, show off….You can certainly
go up…but your coming downs need a bit more practice.”

“Loser,” Sephiroth style='color:red'>laughed, picking himself up off the ground, dusting
off his jeans. “At
least I can do it!”

He was still smiling as he bent and
reached for a towel. Reaching back to rub his shoulders dry, his one black
feathered wing popped out unexpectedly. Usually,
his trench coat would hide the appendage…..the tough
leather material the only thing strong enough to keep it style='color:red'>folded and contained. He had gone
through four dusters because of the blasted thing! style='color:red'>Now he eased it carefully back into his body, before wrapping
the matching
denim coat back around him.

Zack’s playful laughter style='color:red'>abated once Sephiroth
was back on his feet, coated and style='color:red'>with Masamune hid out
of sight.

“Man, you have got to tell me how you do that,” style='color:red'>the dark haired man said in awe, as the seven foot blade
disappeared. “How do you make it come and go like that? And where the heck did
you get such a formidable blade?”

Masamune was
a beautiful, but deadly sword…. crafted unlike any other weapon. style='color:red'>Although it was beyond any normal man’s ability to weld it,
because of its impractical length, Sephiroth
made it look easy, when he fought with it, the weapon virtually
weightless in his hand.

“I—I really don’t know how I do it.
And, to be honest, I
don’t even know where I got it from…..It just appeared
to me one day when I was training. I nearly
killed my instructor with it. I didn’t even know
it was in my hand until he hit the floor,”
Sephiroth explained, retelling how Masamune came to be in his possession. style='color:blue'>“Of course,” he
continued, laughing, “Hojo
got a massive hard-on when I cut off my instructor’s arm with it.”

“Tstyle='color:fuchsia'>oo much information, man.style='color:blue'> Too much informationstyle='color:blue'>,” Zack replied, laughing along with his friend.

A door opened, and a head popped
out. “Zack! Sephiroth! Breakfast is ready!” Mrs. Strife called out to
them.  Holding
the door open wide, she smiled, as her son’s dark haired friend made a mad dash
towards her, whooping with joy that his stomach was to be fed.

Sephiroth took his time going
back inside. He wasn’t a big eater, unlike Zack,
who he was sure would have taken all the pancakes by
the time anyone else had even managed to sit down.

The dining area was on the other side of the bar. style='color:red'>Walking past there, the General noticed a new face. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He openly started at the style='color:red'>handsome dark haired man sitting
there, taking note of the form fitting
black leather pants and black shirt the man wore.

The red cloak style='color:red'>that was draped around his shoulders had a collar style='color:red'>that was pulled up, shielding the lower half of his
face. A red head band swept his long dark hair
to one side of his face, covering half his features,
leaving just one eye showing.

A vivid, crimson
red eye.

And Sephiroth was amazed….he had
never seen anyone with such
a strange type of eye coloring.

“You’re staring, Seph, sit down,” Cloud style='color:red'>hissed. The seat next to him
was vacant, and he didn’t want Tifa to go
sitting by him just yet. He was still feeling hurt that she style='color:red'>hadn’t congratulated him on his engagement.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

As if acting on auto-pilot,
Sephiroth did as he was told, taking the seat next to his beloved, and
accepting the glass of orange juice that was pressed into his hand. But still
he felt his eyes drawn back to the mysterious stranger.

“Do I know you?” he finally asked.

Cid put his plate down, and stood up
to make the introductions. “Sephiroth this is Vincent…..Vincent
Valentine. And Vincent, this is Sestyle='color:blue'>ph-”

Before Cid could finish the introdustyle='color:red'>ction of Vincent to Sephiroth,
the glass in the General’s hand broke, style='color:red'>the shattered pieces falling onto the table.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

Everyone watched speechlessly as Sephiroth’s
hand remained tightly gripped in a fist shape….even though it was obvious he
had cut himself on the glass shards. Blood was spilling out through his tightly
clenched fingers.

Cloud and his mother hastened to
clean up the contents of juice and blood, fetching
clean cloths to wipe up the mess Sephiroth had unwittingly made.

Aerith quickly skirted around
Cloud, and wrapped the General’s bleeding hand to staunch the flow. But to the
young woman’s surprise, the jagged cut had already begun
healing itself.

“Seph?”
Cloud said gently, placing
a hand on his lovers shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. But the silver
haired man ignored him.

“I… uh… please, excuse me.”

Sephiroth stood quickly, and
left without another word, leaving everyone,
including Cloud, staring after him.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

Some time later, Vincent found Sephiroth far away from town.
The silver haired Gstyle='color:red'>eneral was stood alone, staring out across the border
that led into Edge.

Those at the breakfast tablestyle='color:red'> had been shocked at Sephiroth’s reaction, and in a bold
move which shocked even him, Vincent had volunteered
to search for Cloud’s fiancé and promised to
bring him back.

Now that he had found the man,
what could Vincent possibly say to him? “Hi there,
Sephiroth….I’m your father?” Or maybe… “I
know you may not want to hear this, but…..”

Deciding to stay on safe ground for
now, Vincent simply said, “Cloud sent me
to check on you.”

He didn’t receive a reply. The tall
man still stood immobile, staring out over the horizon, his back stiff and
rigid.

“Look, Sephiroth-”

“Do you know…?” Sephiroth
suddenly said, his voice low, almost as if he were
talking to himself. “You have the most unusual color of eyes I havestyle='color:red'> ever seen. And I thought
mine were different.” He turned now to face the long
dark haired man.

Vincent smiled, but it was
hidden behind the collar of his cloak. His red eyes
sparkled as he style='color:black'>answered.

“It’s a family trait. Only the males are gifted with ruby
jeweled spheres.”

Now that the ice had been broken
between them, he dared to go and stand at Sephiroth’s side. He glanced across
at him, taking pleasure in looking at his son’s face, his features so much like
his mothers.

“I’m sorry that my arrival upset
you,” he said, genuine concern in his voice. It had never been his intention to
meet his son in such an unorthodox way.

“I must admit that your presence astonished me,” style='color:red'>Sephiroth said. “Please forgive me for my rude
behavior.”

Silence fell upon them. But it was a
comfortable silence. And Vincent was enjoying spending time alone with his son,
even if Sephiroth was unaware that he was such. But after a few minutes,
Vincent knew he had to keep his promise to Cloud. The boy would be out of his
mind with worry.

“Come on. I’m sure your
friend Zack is getting ready for your stag party,”
Vincent ventured.

“Hmm….. If I know him, style='color:blue'>and I do, he’s probably already cleaned out Tifa’s style='color:red'>entire liquor supply,”
Sephiroth joked.

“Well, if he hasn’t, then we can finish the rest,” style='color:red'>Vincent laughed back.

“I’m not usuallystyle='color:red'> one for drinking, but I bet
I can drink you under the table,” Sephiroth challenged, finding it
fairly easy to banter with this mysterious man.

“I’m not one for drinking either. But well….. You know…style='color:red'>I might take you up on that.”

Together, they walked back to the bar. It didn’t bother them
that they were in each other’s company. Sephiroth was
only too glad of the man’s easy companionship.  
And the only thing that mattered to Vincent was style='color:red'>that he was getting along with his son….. and that
Sephiroth had made a new friend.

class=GramE>oOo TBC oOo

A/N: So, finally, Sephiroth and Vincent met. But Vincent
didn’t tell him that they are related. What’s up with that? Will Vincent tell
the General that he is really his father? Or will Vincent keep that information
to himself? And what’s the deal with Tifa? She’s
going to be a pain in Cloud’s side for a minute. Is going to give up on him now
that he and Sephiroth is engaged or will she try to
break them up? Don’t know? Well, stay tuned for the next chapter.

Mitts & ArchNemesis

class=GramE>oOoOo Teaser for Chapter 19 oOoOo

“Tifa, for once could you be happy
for me? It’s not like he’s just marrying me for
the baby,” Cloud blurted out.

Tifa started laughing. “You don’t actually believe
that you’re having a baby Cloud, do you?”