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 style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>WARNED.

Flames will be ignored.

Special thanks tostyle='color:black'>: those who have read and didn’t review thanks for reading
thus far. We hope you enjoyed it.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

Chapter 42: Return II

Taking a chance, Yuffie style='color:fuchsia'>silently followed the gunman until he stopped some
distance away from their original position.

“You know, Cid got into a lot of trouble by style='color:fuchsia'>shadowing me, Yuffie.”

“I’m sorry, Vincent, but… I have to knowstyle='color:fuchsia'>,” she said, showing
herself, not really looking sorry at all.

The gunman sighstyle='color:fuchsia'>ed heavily. He had not planned on anyone joining
him. “Fine,” he conceded, giving a shrug of his
shoulders. “If you’re going to insist on
being here,
then you may as well help.”

Vincent continued walking,
leading the way to where he was housing himself and the style='color:fuchsia'>two injured Turks in one of the many abandon shelters
of the Forgotten Citystyle='color:fuchsia'>. He had just returned from getting much needed
supplies for the injured pair. Elena was awake
and aware of her surroundings, just barely, style='color:fuchsia'>but she needed assistance with style='color:fuchsia'>almost everything,
from her personal needs right down to feeding herself. style='color:fuchsia'>He supposed that Yuffie would
come in handy with caring for her.

But Vincent was more concerned about Tseng.

For the majority of the
time, the young handsome Turk was in and out
of consciousness. Mostly style='color:fuchsia'>he slept, astyle='color:fuchsia'> deep and troubled sleep,
in which Tseng would whimper and tears silently escapestyle='color:fuchsia'>d from behind his closed eyestyle='color:fuchsia'>lids. And even when he
did awaken, he seemed to not be aware of anything, or anyone, around him.

What disturbed Vincent the most
though, was the constant bleeding that issued
forth from Tseng’s anal passage. style='color:fuchsia'>He had stripped the Turk down, as he had Elena, in order
to clean up both their wounds, but as far as he could see, Tseng had no tears
or lesions that would be cause for such an out pouring. Vincent wasn’t
quite sure what to do about it, or how to tend to
it. He knew that the Turk would need medical aid.
The former Turk wasn’t too keen on the idea
of getting a doctor involved, but it didn’t
look like that bleeding was going to stop on it’s own, another
reason why he had allowed class=SpellE>Yuffie to accompany him.
Perhaps she could come up with some suggestion.

Cid had managestyle='color:fuchsia'>d to secure Vincent
with a mobile phone, and that morning the dark
haired gunman had called his lover to inform him
of his whereabouts, and asstyle='color:fuchsia'>k if Professor Gast was
still on board the Shera.

Vincent had stood and listened,
the phone moved away a little from his ear as he got cursed outstyle='color:fuchsia'>, the airman’s rich language screaming at him through the
tiny speaker.  It would have been nice to
hear seductive sweet talk, but at least he knew that Cid was doing a lot
better. Chaos had whined when hestyle='color:fuchsia'>’d ended the call. The beast was going to drive
him mad with lust. Like a naughty school boy,
Vincent had had to sneak offstyle='color:fuchsia'> away from his patients and try to alleviatestyle='color:fuchsia'> some of the sexual build upstyle='color:fuchsia'>. It was going to be like this until he was back
with his lover, but there was no telling how many days it would take Cid to
find him and the others here.

Hopefully, Tseng could
hold on a bit longer.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

“Whatever you do, Irvine,
make sure you don’t miss,” class=SpellE>Riona whispered urgently.

“Well, with you in my ear, I just might,” the rifleman
replied smartly as he locked onto his
target.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

This was it… the moment that he’d been dreaming of since the
start of all of this. The goal he had been so
determined to attain was now within his reach, and Sephiroth turned his
back on his adversaries, Squall and class=SpellE>Seifer, to face his best friend. Zack
stood before him, soot covered and fire singed, but the ex-general tuned
out everyone and everything going on around him. He
had eyes only for the person Zacstyle='color:fuchsia'>k was holding onto.

“Sephstyle='color:fuchsia'>!”

“Cloud?” Sephiroth took a tentative
step forward, a hand reaching out for his
beloved mate. But before he could reach histyle='color:fuchsia'>m, something sharp hit him in the arm.

“Nooo!”
Cloud screamed out in fear, watching horrified as his
husband stumbled slightly with blood erupting and
splattering from the gunshot wound he’d received. Breaking free of
Zack’s caring hold, Cloud ran to hisstyle='color:fuchsia'> stricken lover, embracing
him tightly.

“You stay away from that
breeder!” roared out an angry voice, and the sound
of another bullet going into the chamber of a gun filled the area. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “I will NOT
lose the only means to having a child!style='color:fuchsia'>”

“Lazard Deusericus…
Or,
should I say, Lazard
Shin-Ra?” Sephiroth mocked, his uninjured arm
wrapping around Cloud’s shoulders possessively.

A snarl erupted from Lazard before
he fired off the second roundstyle='color:fuchsia'>, but this time the bullet didn’t make impactstyle='color:fuchsia'> with its target as Sephiroth summoned all his
powers to erect a barrierstyle='color:fuchsia'> to keep him and
Cloud safe, though he didn’t know how long
he was going to be able to maintain the shied for. The
first gunshot wound he’d received was
attempting to heal, and the bullet style='color:fuchsia'>had already been
forced out of the entry hole, but the flesh
was now painstakingly slow in closing as he
was using most of his energy to protect style='color:fuchsia'>them.

The sound of a whip crackstyle='color:fuchsia'>ing ricocheted from off the walls.

“Let it go, Lazard,” class=SpellE>Quistis pleaded, standing
there, a crushed look upon her face.

“Sweetheart?”

“I want him gone. I… Enough
is enough. Look around us,” Quistis said, gesturing astyle='color:fuchsia'>t the destruction that had been wrought upon Garden.
“Our home is going up in smoke, and you still
want to hold on to the boy? Squall’s right,
we are not going to have the family that
we’ve always wanted, and we just have to learn to
live with it.”

“Quistis, you don’t know what
you’re saying,” Lazard
argued. “Dr. Kadowaki assured me thatstyle='color:fuchsia'>…”

“Whatever she told you, it’s
a lie,” Squall piped in.

“What do you mean?” Lazard style='color:fuchsia'>hissed, turning to stare at his commander.

“The reason why Cloud hasn’t conceivedstyle='color:fuchsia'> a child by you… is because he can’t. If youstyle='color:fuchsia'>’d forced it from Kadowaki,
she would have told you that. Cloud can’t get pregnant
by anyone, except for him,” Squall style='color:fuchsia'>revealed, nodding his head towards Sephiroth.

“Impossible!” vented class=SpellE>Lazardstyle='color:fuchsia'>. He was shaking, though the
hand that still held the loaded weapon aimed at Sephiroth remained steady. “class=GramE>All of Hojo’s research notes
document that the boy can get pregnant!” he
exclaimed, clearly upset at being deceived by his own personal
physician.

“Yes, but only by his partner,” Zack vented forcefully as he carefully maneuvered himself around thestyle='color:fuchsia'> cuddling couple,
his buster sword in hand. He wasn’t taking any chances with his friendsstyle='color:fuchsia'>, for they both
had a maddening look in their eyes. And people who were crazystyle='color:fuchsia'> about protecting a loved one were style='color:fuchsia'>fiery and unpredictable.

“It’s true!” Cloud added, his
urgent soft sounding voice ringing out over the continuing crescendo of
eruptions. “Hojo tried every means available
to him to obtain female eggs fertilized by
Sephiroth’s sperm. The truth is there’s just too much mako
in Sephiroth’s body. It’s made his sperm tostyle='color:fuchsia'>o potent to fertilize any
eggs…except for my eggs. I have just
as much mako in me so as not
to be affected,”
Cloud rushed out to explain. “And yes, Dr. class=SpellE>Kadowaki knew all this. style='color:fuchsia'>But she’s been
trying to figure out a way to get your wife’s
ovum, and your sperm,
to stay attached to my uterus.”

Lazardstyle='color:fuchsia'> slowly took in all that was being said to him. class=SpellE>Quistis, accepting her fate, went and stood by her
distraught husband, rubbing his arm as she stared at him sympathetically.

“Because of the class=SpellE>mako and Jenova cells, it makes
me being a surrogate for anyone impossible.
I’m sorry, but I can’t give you what you want. No
matter how many invetro injections I go through,style='color:fuchsia'> I simply can’t get pregnantstyle='color:fuchsia'> by anyone else,” Cloud finished, holding style='color:fuchsia'>on to Sephiroth.

Crackling, sizzling fire was all that could be heard in the
sudden stillness of human voices. There was
nothing else for anyonestyle='color:fuchsia'> to say. Lazard lowered
his gun arm in defeat as Shiva and Ifit shimmered
from sight.

With a contented sigh, Sephirothstyle='color:fuchsia'> disposed of his long duster and hugged Cloud
close to his body. His black feathered wing
sprang forth
from his bare shoulder and, without so much as a goodbye he took flightstyle='color:fuchsia'>, escaping through a gaping hole in the roof of the
building, carrying his blond lover with him.

“Well, I think you’d
better figure out how you’re going to compensate my friends for this mess youstyle='color:fuchsia'>’ve made of their
lives, because if you don’t… well, I just wouldn’t want to bestyle='color:fuchsia'> in your shoes style='color:fuchsia'>should Sephiroth ever
come into contact with you again,” Zack said,
picking up the General’s discarded coat and striding awaystyle='color:fuchsia'>, passing through
the billowing flames and vanishing from
sight.

Turning to her husband, Quistis
asked, “What did he mean by Shin-Ra, Lazard?”

All this time, class=SpellE>Lazard fumed to himself. All
this time, he had managed to keep his
past to himself. But,
because of that silver-headed bastard blurting
out what he hadn’t wantstyle='color:fuchsia'>ed anyone to know, class=SpellE>Lazard now knew he had some explaining to do.

“Yes, please clarify things for
us,” Squall demanded, “style='color:fuchsia'>because after all,
we nearly lost our lives. If anything, youstyle='color:fuchsia'> at least owe us an explanation.”

Having no other recourse, Lazard
sighed and began his sorry tale. “class=SpellE>Deusericus is my mother’s maiden name,” he told his listeners. “She…
when she found out that she was expecting me, my mother told my fatherstyle='color:fuchsia'>, expecting him to be happy at the news. But he
told her quite bluntly that he already had
an heir, and
that he had no need for another. Refusing to
see him again, she struggled to make sure that I got everything a child
of my standing should have, while she went without.
This included spending money on me that was
supposed to be used for her own medical
treatments. My mother withered away before my very eyes.”

Lazardstyle='color:fuchsia'> paused for a moment, the painful memories of his
mother’s death hurting him. Quistis put her arm
around him and hugged him close, kissing his forehead tenderly.

“My father did set up a trust fund for mestyle='color:fuchsia'>, for when I turned twenty-one,style='color:fuchsia'>” he continued wearily. “And that was about itstyle='color:fuchsia'>. But I didn’t want his money. I wanted to ruin
everything that he had. I wanted to destroy
everything that he held dear to him. And then that bastard died— style='color:fuchsia'>shot by one of his own bodyguards, denying me my
revenge. So, since I couldn’t get to my father, I decided
to make my half-brother’s life miserable instead.
I became a rival to his company, his name, and everything he cared aboutstyle='color:fuchsia'>. And to top it all off, I meant style='color:fuchsia'>to get a hold of
his breeder lover, and separate them permanently,
like I had been separated from my mother.”

“Oh, sweet, Gaia,” Quistis
whispered.

“You asshole!style='color:fuchsia'> You put our lives on the line for your style='color:fuchsia'>own selfishness.
You wanted the leader of the Turks, simply in order
to get back at Rufus Shin-Ra, your brother?”
Seifer shook his head and
cursed. If he’d been able to, he
would’ve strangled
Lazard for this social injustice that he hastyle='color:fuchsia'>d brought upon them. But
now wasn’t the time to waste on killing, for at
that moment, Irvine and class=SpellE>Riona showed up, an style='color:black'>unconscious Zellstyle='color:fuchsia'> slung over Irvine’s
shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He’d still not recovered
after being hit by Sephiroth.

They all needed to get
out.

Luckily, the fire teams
were already hard at work extinguishing the
raging blazes about the Garden, and the sounds of
eruptions had abated, the crackling of flames dying down. Picking their way
carefully through all the fallen debris, Seifer
guessed that they would be accessing
the extent of the damage in a day or two.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

It was nightfall, and the style='color:black'>bleeding from Tseng’sstyle='color:fuchsia'> back passage had stopped, though Vincent wasn’t absolutely sure how long style='color:fuchsia'>it would last. Already
it had stopped and restarted twice. He gingerly lifted style='color:fuchsia'>the Turk and took
him over to the pool
in the centre of the cavern, carefully carrying the naked man into the water,
not caring that his own clothes were getting soaked in the process.style='color:red'>

The trepid water came up to Tseng’s neckline, style='color:fuchsia'>and he groaned weakly
as the liquid’s healing powers worked its magic on his
abused body, closing up small cuts, sealing tiny
scratches and easing out the aches and pains of his tensed muscles.

Once Vincent was satisfied that
the dip had done some good, hestyle='color:fuchsia'> emerged out from the pool and lowered style='color:black'>Tseng back down onto his
makeshift bed, allowing class=SpellE>Yuffie to dry the man style='color:fuchsia'>and cover him with the extra style='color:fuchsia'>bedding that Vincent had on handstyle='color:fuchsia'>. He watched silently for a moment, and then told her
that he too needed to dry off. Making his
way from their campsite, looking for some
privacy for himselfstyle='color:fuchsia'>, he let her know that he wasn’t going to be too
far away, just in case trouble arose.

After some time alone
with Tseng, the little ninja placed her head
on the Turk’s chest and listenstyle='color:fuchsia'>ed to his heartbeat and his
evened out breathing. How long hastyle='color:fuchsia'>d it been,
since Yuffie had last seen
her older brother? Years, she figured.

She had been juststyle='color:black'> a small child still
in diapers, learning how to string her first
bow, when Tseng began leaving their home for
days on end. Then, under the cover of nightstyle='color:fuchsia'>, Tseng had actually
left for good, and was never heard from
again.

Tseng leaving like that had been
so overwhelming for the little ninja. Not that class=SpellE>Yuffie remembered much about
him, really, but the ensuing uproar it had caused
within the family, and the looks of distress on her parent’s faces had stayed
with her.

Looking down at him, class=SpellE>Yuffie recalled the family painting of themstyle='color:fuchsia'> which had been displayed in the great hall of
their home. In the picture, Tseng was much younger looking, a scrawny teenager
with his long black hair style='color:fuchsia'>flowing freely around his shoulders, dressed in
his formal tribal attire as heir and prince of Wutaistyle='color:fuchsia'>. He was seated
beside their
mother, who was holding the infant class=SpellE>Yuffie in her arms. And
their father, Gordo, was standing proudstyle='color:fuchsia'>ly behind them all.

Yuffie had
asked many times as she get older,
what had happened to her brotherstyle='color:fuchsia'>. But her mother and father would always reply, “He’s
where he needs to be”, and would lestyle='color:fuchsia'>ave it at that. However, Yuffie
was much too curious for her own good, and once
Tseng was well enough to be ablestyle='color:fuchsia'> to answer her, she was
going to question him about why hestyle='color:fuchsia'>’d left, and style='color:fuchsia'>to make him explain his reasons for having never
returned.

But for now, still listening to
the steady beating of her brother’s heart, Yuffie
was lulled to sleep.

class=GramE>oOoOoOo

Once more Zack found
himself driving a vehicle, and entering the
hanger of the Shera. Lookstyle='color:fuchsia'>ing briefly back behind himselfstyle='color:fuchsia'> he smiled to see a familiar sight—Sephiroth
cradling Cloud. He fondly rememberstyle='color:fuchsia'>ed the time when he had
been driving his friends back to base after
their night out binge drinking and getting smashedstyle='color:fuchsia'>, and how he had looked
into the rear-view mirror, quietly watching style='color:fuchsia'>as Sephiroth embraced
Cloud as if he never
intended on letting go.

‘It style='color:fuchsia'>doesn’t feel that long
ago,’ Zack thoughtstyle='color:fuchsia'> to himself as he braked and pulled the transporter up to
a stop.

“Zack!” A
chorus of voices called out to the former 1^st Class SOLDIERstyle='color:fuchsia'> as he slowly opened the driver’s side door and climbed
out.

Spotting his wife in the crowed
immediately, Zack swooped down on her and hugged
her to him, twirling her for a half-spin before
kissing her for all she was worth. “Honey, look who I brought back,” style='color:fuchsia'>he whispered tenderly in her delicate ear.

Cornflower eyes widened a
fraction. “Oh, Zack, he did it. Sephiroth got Cloud,”
Aerith sighed happily, watching in awe as the large
silver haired man gallantly helped his smaller mate exit from the back seat of
the vehicle.

The weary trio wasstyle='color:fuchsia'> then welcomed warmly by
the crew, and AVALANCHE. style='color:fuchsia'>Backs were patted, and congratulations hailed. Then,
above all the commotion, there came another call.

“Ma-ma?…
Ma-ma!... class=GramE>MA-MA!”

Tifa couldn’t hold the style='color:fuchsia'>squirming infant any longer. The tiny tot had struggled
to be free from her hold as soon as shestyle='color:fuchsia'>’d set her blue eyes upon Cloud and Sephiroth. style='color:fuchsia'>Carefully placing
Stephanie on the deck floor, Tifa
watched with tears blurring her vision as the
little girl crawled her way to her parents,
and for the first time, Tifa didn’t style='color:fuchsia'>begrudge Cloud his little bit of happiness.

“Steph?!
Oh, my precious jewel,” Cloud exclaimed, running
forward and scooping his baby upstyle='color:fuchsia'>, returning to
his husband as he held her to him while beaming
proudly. “Seph, our baby, she spoke andstyle='color:fuchsia'>, and, she’s
crawling so well.” Then, unable to contain
his tears of relief and joy, Cloud buried
his face in Sephiroth’s broad chest in order for no
one to see him cry, taking comfort in the
strong arms that wrapped protectively around both him and the child.

“Well,” came a gruff gravelly
voice, “I hate to be a party pooper,
but we gotta get the hell up outta
here.”

“Cid! You should be in bedstyle='color:fuchsia'>!” Aerith chastised the pilotstyle='color:fuchsia'>, going towards him as if to forcefully make him return
to his room.

“Yeah, maybe I should bestyle='color:fuchsia'>. But Vince called. We gotta
go and get him and Yuffie,” Cid style='color:fuchsia'>related to the listening crowd. “Hestyle='color:fuchsia'>’s found two Turks—Tseng and Elena, half dead.
Vince said that they’d been tortured pretty
badly, and both are in need of style='color:fuchsia'>urgent medical attention.”

Without another word, the group hurried back inside. They
had another rescue mission.

class=GramE>oOo TBC oOo

A/N: It’s about freakin’ time! But
it’s not over yet, we now have to see what happens with Tseng and Rufus. Stay
tuned for the next chapter to find out.

Mitts & ArchNemesis

class=GramE>oOoOo Teaser for Chapter 43 oOoOo

Gast didn’t know how much he
should tell Tseng. He didn’t want to be the cause of additional pain. “…is at class=SpellE>Healin Lodge. He was attacked by who we believe were the
same thugs who attacked you.”

Tseng tensed. Was Rufus hurt, if so, how badly? Oh, so many
questions, Tseng couldn’t keep them all straight in his head. But he did have
one that he needed the answer too.

“My… child?”