Cell Division

I respectfully credit all Original Creators, namely Squaresoft, which became SquareEnix,for these characters. In this way, I pay homage to my Fandom's Original Creator, and illustrate my Community's belief that Fan Fiction is "fair use". I do not claim to own these characters. I do not make money or gil from using these protected characters, nor do I wish to make money or gil from them. In other words, I am borrowing these characters to entertain the adult fanfiction community, but I am doing so with the highest degree of respect to the engineers, game designers, music makers, and voice actors.

I sold my television. After doing without one for so long I felt it to be just noise. It made me feel slightly better to tune my radio to Hojo’s favorite station, to imagine that we could be listening to the same music at the same time.

I missed him. I missed him so much it left me sleepless four nights out of seven. I reached for him and found only cold mattress under my hands.

Two weeks passed like torture. I checked the mail every day as soon as it came, hoping to find a letter from him.

I knew I was losing weight and didn’t care.

A month rolled by. I forced myself not to let my appearance truly go, and made an appointment to have my hair cut the way Michael had arranged. The salon tech plucked my eyebrows for me and I had her wax my legs as well. I kept shaving my nether-regions.

I wondered if Sephiroth would kill me if I tried to visit.

I wondered if Hojo truly had forgotten about me. Surely he could have written…

On the two-month anniversary of my return, I realized I hadn’t had my period. The warning of my doctor came back to haunt. I’d known very well sperm could live in cervical mucus as long as five days, seven in the fallopian tubes. Removing my IUD after only a day and a half had been foolish.

I made a three-in-the-morning trip to a pharmacy and bought a home pregnancy kit. Once home, I tore the package open so viciously I sent the test stick flying. Crawling on hands and knees, I found it behind my bed. Legs shaking, I took it, poised over the toilet and peed on the paper strip. My heart beating like a drum, I prayed.

A pink, positive sign stood starkly in the readout window.

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My next few days would never go into my exhaustive memory banks. I walked around in a stupor, unable to focus and cancelling therapy sessions. Janis tried to talk to me and I refused. I went to bed and wallowed in despair.

I was going to have Hojo’s baby.

I would never abort. I couldn’t do that.

Would the child be like Sephiroth? Would he or she be a silver-haired, green-eyed beauty or would the child have black hair and black eyes? Maybe it would look like me.

Should I tell him? Would I even be allowed to tell him? No, Sephiroth would kill me if he found out. He’d consider a child competition for his father’s attention. He’d think I’d done this on purpose.

I cried so hard my eyes remained red and swollen for a week.

And then, after that long week, I simply got up and went back to living. I could not hurt my baby. I could not hurt Hojo’s baby.

I still loved him.

*Author's note- You can get pregnant this way. Sperm can indeed live inside cervical mucus for five days. Scary, huh?*