A/N: Here's my side piece, which is related to my main epic story "The Living Key". Quick background if this is the first story of mine you've clicked on: in an alternate timeline, Sephiroth fled from the Shinra along with Aerith and her mother Ifalna. As a result, Ifalna was not killed in the escape, and the three of them were able to get out of Midgar. They settled in Cosmo Canyon, but Sephiroth left soon after to join a temple of monks located near Banora, on the island of Mideel.

Feel free to check out the main story if you haven't yet.

Chapter 1:

"This is the three of us at the Equinox Festival," fourteen-year-old Sephiroth said as he showed a picture to Ifalna, and six-year-old Aerith.

The three of them, along with Ifalna's fiancé Barnabas Duran, sat at the kitchen table. They had finished eating dinner, and now Sephiroth had taken out a few photographs he had brought from Mideel. Some of them were simply pictures of the tropical island's beautiful landscape, but others were of him and his two new friends, Angeal and Genesis.

"The red-haired one is pretty," said Aerith.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "You're not the first girl to say that…nor will you be the last."

"Which is the one who likes to garden?" Ifalna asked.

"Angeal," Sephiroth replied as he pointed to the raven-haired boy.

"There's a lot more pictures of him than there are of Genesis," Barnabas observed, "Does Genesis not like getting his picture taken or something?"

"He's going through his 'bird phase'," Sephiroth said dryly.

"Bird phase…?" Ifalna repeated confusedly. Then a look of understanding suddenly dawned on her face. "Ohhhh…"

"You have a friend who likes birds?" Aerith asked, not getting it.

"Seph's friend likes to make rude gestures at the camera," Ifalna explained.

"Oh, you mean he likes to stick his middle finger up!" Aerith said brightly.

Ifalna nearly choked on her tea. "Where did you learn about that?" she coughed, putting her hand to her burning chest. Had Aerith been sneaking out of bed to watch late-night TV during their captivity?

"Stevie Altney does that in class when the teacher isn't looking," said Aerith, "But one time, she caught him and sent him home with a note pinned to his shirt, telling him his mom and dad need to sign it."

"Wonderful," Ifalna sighed, "This is what I send you to school to learn?"

"Ah, most little boys get obsessed with doing that," Barnabas said dismissively, "They'll both get over it."

"I don't want to get in trouble," Aerith said uneasily, "I don't get why Stevie does it."

"Some kids don't learn their lessons, even when they get punished," said Sephiroth. "Genesis just happens to be one of those kids."

Aerith nodded as she reached for her glass of milk. However, she accidentally tipped it, spilling the milk. While there wasn't much left in the cup anyway, and the mess was small, Aerith froze in abject terror.

"Whoops," Barnabas said briskly as he reached for several napkins.

"Aerith, honey, it's okay," Ifalna said, worried that Aerith was still petrified of making mistakes.

"Yeah, kiddo, it's no big deal," Barnabas said as he reached over to tousle the girl's hair playfully.

Aerith gasped and twisted away, her hands flying up to protect herself.

Ifalna's heart sank as she pulled her daughter into her lap. "Sweetie, nobody's going to hurt you just because you knocked over a glass of milk that was almost empty anyway!" she said reassuringly.

Aerith was now shaking, not listening to anyone.

"Do you want me to call my aunt?" Barnabas asked, referring to Dr. Triton: the local physician who had helped Ifalna, Aerith and Sephiroth after their escape from Midgar. The kindly woman had given them passage in her van, paid for their tickets on the boat crossing the ocean, and hired Ifalna as a nurse/assistant, due to the woman's mysterious healing abilities.

"No, I know how to handle this…" Ifalna said miserably. "She doesn't act this way when it's just me and her, but…I didn't expect her to react this way with you, considering…" She gently stroked her trembling daughter's hair. "You don't have to be scared, little one. Remember, Barnabas is going to be your new daddy in a few days. You know he loves you and won't hurt you…"

"Dragon Lady mentioned something similar happened a few months ago when she bumped into one of the orderlies at the hospital," Barnabas said. Despite using his flippant nickname for his aunt, his tone was serious.

"Kids are clumsy," said Sephiroth, "Even I used to knock things over and bump into people when I was small. People in the Shinra building have no souls. They're temperamental bullies who take their frustrations out on anything weaker than them. As such, they would hit me…though I learned to fight back when I was about four…most of them, anyway."

He recalled how he was only able to attack Hojo once…and after that, he had been in isolation for a week, on a 1000-calorie-a-day diet. It was actually because his father had hurt Aerith that his fear of the man had completely gone out of the window during that attack.

"Aerith…" Barnabas knelt down in front of the child. "Look at me…"

Slowly, Aerith turned her head slightly, only one eye meeting his.

"Accidents happen," Barnabas said gently, "I knock things over too, sometimes. Sometimes, I bump into people. But really, all you have to do is say you're sorry, and most people won't make a big deal out of it. I'm sorry people thought it was okay to hit you and Sephiroth for things you didn't mean to do. But you know what? I plan to be a good daddy to you…and good daddies don't hit their kids…just like good mommies don't."

Ifalna took the opportunity to cast a mild healing spell on Aerith, causing her to stop shaking.

"I'm gonna make sure no one ever hurts you or your mom again, alright?" Barnabas promised.

Aerith abruptly let go of her mother and lunged at Barnabas, throwing her arms around the strong man.

"You're gonna grow up in the best place a kid like you can live," Barnabas said as he patted the little girl's head, "No one's gonna take you away from here, understand?"

Aerith nodded, biting her thumbnail, as the little girl often did when she was nervous.

"Hey," Sephiroth said, poking Aerith's shoulder, "Why don't we go get some fresh air? I still haven't seen Nanaki yet."

Aerith let go of Barnabas and slid off of his lap, grabbing Sephiroth's hand. She immediately ran for the door, dragging Sephiroth along.

Barnabas glanced at his bride-to-be, who was glancing out the window, watching Aerith and Sephiroth walking toward the main part of town together. He noticed the worried look on her face. Just then, Ifalna glanced back at him, and managed a small smile.

"I just remind myself that it could have been worse," she told him, "Every time I couldn't be with her, I worried so much. Especially when…" She trailed off, shaking her head.

"Hey…" Barnabas took her hand in his. "You're gonna be my wife pretty soon. I've still got a lot to learn about you, though, and I want to know the bad as well as the good."

"Aerith is growing like a weed," Ifalna remarked, "I'm going to have to get hew a new swimsuit soon. The other one barely fits her…"

Cosmo Canyon had no bodies of water surrounding it. There weren't even any pools, but the local children often kept cool by running through sprinklers, spraying themselves and each other with hoses, and sliding on rubber wet-slides. Aerith had taken to playing with the other kids quickly, and on days when the temperature outside equaled that of the human body, she simply wore her red one-piece swimsuit for the day, soaking herself with her friends at the nearby hydrant.

"Because of Hojo…" Ifalna sighed, "I doubt Aerith will ever be interested in wearing a two-piece suit when she gets older."

"What do you mean?" Barnabas asked, his voice tense. Ifalna had told him enough stories about Professor Hojo for him to get slightly uptight whenever his name was mentioned.

"Aerith absolutely refuses to talk about it," Ifalna said, leaning on the table, her fingers pressed against her forehead. "And the worst part is…it was done to spite me. It was all my fault, Barnabas…"

"If that Hojo guy is involved, it's not your fault," Barnabas insisted, "He's done some fucked-up things, and those are the decisions he makes."

"He took Aerith from me for three days when she was only three years old," Ifalna said, tearing up, "He deliberately burned her hand with a hot iron, to see how well she could heal herself. She cast a healing spell right away, no materia…but my god…hearing her scream like that…"
She sniffed and wiped her eyes, while Barnabas moved his chair closer and immediately wrapped his arms around his fiancée.

"They had me behind a two-way mirror, where I could see Aerith, but she couldn't see me. The room was soundproofed so she couldn't hear me, but they had speakers so that I could hear everything. Then he burned her a second time, just below the ribs. I made the power go out, and a Turk who was in the room with me pistol-whipped me…hard enough to knock me out for two days. When they finally brought her back to me…I found out that Hojo had forbidden her to use her healing abilities. He told me he wanted to see how fast she could heal naturally compared to a human…or myself. He had threatened to hurt me if she disobeyed. I did what I could for the burn afterward, but too much time had passed for me to be able to heal it completely. She'll always have that scar to remind her."

"How is that your fault?" Barnabas wanted to know.

"Because I told Hojo that he would never be the genius that Faremis was, and I did so in great detail!" Ifalna wept, "And he got me where it hurt the most…! After that, I never spoke to him again unless I was asked a question."

"If Avalanche ever got big enough to storm Shinra Headquarters…" Barnabas growled, "I'd kill that man with my bare hands!"

"If you kill him, then you're no better than he is," Ifalna admonished him through her tears.

Barnabas regarded her incredulously. The man had imprisoned her, killed her husband and imprisoned her again along with her child, drugged her, restrained her, slapped her on occasion, abused his own son, and now he knew that the man had hurt Aerith enough to leave a physical scar(in addition to the mental ones). Yet, Ifalna didn't want him dead?

"I could only condone killing him if he were coming at you with a weapon and poised to kill you first," Ifalna said, calming down slightly, "but I can't bear the idea of killing out of rage or revenge. Even after all the things he did…and besides! You kill him, the rest of Shinra gets angry that they lost their science department head, they strike back, and the game of death just goes on and on…"

"That just leaves life in prison," said Barnabas.

"And that's plenty of time to reflect on his crimes," said Ifalna, "The man's pushing forty. Humans live an average of eighty years. It's a just punishment."

"How long do Cetra live?" Barnabas asked.

Ifalna shook her head. "No test ever determined for certain," she said, "But…the few fossils brought back…suggest an average of 110 years."

Her fiancé saw the look of fear in her eyes, and what she was clearly thinking: I'm going to be alone again one day…

"Bugenhagen is well over a hundred," Barnabas declared cheerfully, "When I first arrived here almost twenty years ago, he was still really old. I asked him what his secret was. Part of it was his diet…part was sheer will…the other part was just living here."

"I do hear the planet very clearly over here," said Ifalna, "I think if- and I hope this never happens- there's an earthquake, we'd wind up with a mako pool around here. The only problem for the Shinra is that even though there's an abundance of Lifestream here, they'd have to get under the mountain. Thankfully, the world is big enough for them not to focus on this place."

"People live long lives here," Barnabas reassured her, "And…I'm an ambitious guy. One of my goals is to live at least as long as Bugenhagen does. Guess that means you're stuck with me."

Ifalna leaned against her fiancé's chest. "Oh well," she said, smiling.

"You've been smiling all day," Sephiroth remarked the next afternoon as he and Aerith walked hand-in-hand throughout the walkway tunnel system that ran through the canyon. Both were dressed in swim-suits and water shoes.

Aerith's grin only grew wider. "Uh-huh! I get to put on fancy clothes and be in a wedding. And then when it's over, I'll get to have a mommy and a daddy like most of the kids at school."

"Have you told your classmates how excited you are?" Sephiroth asked.

"Well…some of my friends. Auryn, and Rae. And Elfé knows too. She walks with me to school since she and Master Terrato live nearby. But not everyone at school has two parents…so I don't talk too much about it…in case it makes them feel bad."

"That's very kind of you," Sephiroth remarked appreciatively.

"Does it make you feel bad?" Aerith asked, suddenly remembering that Sephiroth had no parents to take care of him.

"No," Sephiroth reassured her, "Don't worry about that. I'm happy that you're happy."

"You're sure?"

Sephiroth chuckled. "Yes, Aerith. I'm not jealous or sad. I've accepted the fact that I'll never have a normal family. My mother died when I was a baby, probably because the lab made her sick. And my father…" He chuckled again. "Why am I even bringing this up?"

Aerith frowned. "Do you have a father?"

Sephiroth sighed. He might as well tell Aerith, since her mother already knew.

"You remember Professor Hojo?"

Aerith's expression soured as she nodded.

"He's technically my father," Sephiroth admitted, "Though he never actually told me. You see…I overheard him and the president talking about me…that's when I found out…a couple days before I got us out of Midgar."

"But he was so mean to you!" Aerith exclaimed. She then looked away. "…And me too. He locked Mama away in the bad room until you saved us. And…he hurt me too…"

"Yes," Sephiroth acknowledged, "You see…just because someone is your parent, it doesn't mean they're going to automatically love you, or take good care of you. My…father…if you can really call him that…well, I hate him. I hate that he convinced my mother to let him do so much damage to her. It's probably why she died. But…" He then looked at Aerith and squeezed her hand gently. "…that's why I'm happy for you. Barnabas is a good man…and an excellent fighter. I feel better knowing that he and Avalanche will keep you and your mother safe. I also feel better knowing that he's teaching you how to grapple. If any Turk tries to take you back to Midgar, you'll know what to do."

The two of them exited the walkway, walking toward a set of sprinklers turned on at full-blast. A dozen other children were already running around, soaked to the skin as their excited shrieks bounced off the walls of the canyon.

"Guess what?" Aerith said, her cheerful mood returning.

"What?"

"They both told me a few days ago…" Aerith could barely keep still as she spoke. "…that we're going to be a big family. They said they were going to give me brothers and sisters."

"Really?" Sephiroth commented, "So how do you feel about that?"

"I'm excited!" Aerith exclaimed, "Uncle Barnabas took us to his house and showed me the room that I'll be sleeping in. And whenever Mama does have a baby, there'll be a bedroom waiting for it."

"I'm sure you'll be a wonderful big sister," Sephiroth said to her.

"You know, Seph…" Aerith said matter-of-factly, "You can still have a family. You could make one when you grow up. You can get married and have kids."

Sephiroth laughed nervously. "That's a long time from now, Aerith. I don't even know any girls in Mideel yet."

"I'll marry you, then," Aerith offered as she began spinning around idly.

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "I…beg your pardon…?"

"Well not now!" Aerith giggled, "You just said it would be a long time from now. If you don't meet anyone else, I'll marry you when we both grow up."

And just like that, she ran off toward the sprinklers with the other children.

"I'm home!" Aerith called out as she walked into the apartment two hours later.

Ifalna walked into the living room and smiled. "Did you have fun playing in the sprinklers?"

"Yup!" Aerith answered cheerfully as she ran her fingers through her damp hair. "Seph walked me back, but he's going to look at bracers at the Tiger Lily shop."

"Here," Ifalna handed her a towel.

"Thanks," Aerith said as she began rubbing it against her head vigorously.

"Easy now," her mother chuckled, "Your hair will get all tangled if you dry it like that."

"'Kay."

"What's this?" Ifalna asked as she examined Aerith's knee. There was a small scrape on it.

"It's fine," Aerith said dismissively, "It didn't even really hurt when I fell." She then smiled proudly. "I got right back up and kept playing!"

"Well, that's good, but you should heal it before it gets infected," Ifalna told her, "Here, I'll do it…"

"No!" Aerith exclaimed as she backed away, "I'm fine- you can just put a bandage on it."

"Aerith, why don't you want me to heal you?" her mother asked, puzzled.

The little girl looked away. "I wanna be normal."

Ifalna scowled. "Normal?"

"If we'd been normal, we wouldn't have lived in the labs," Aerith reasoned, "They wouldn't have given us tests, and they wouldn't have hit us. It's best to be normal, and what we can do with cuts and bruises isn't normal."

"We also wouldn't have met Sephiroth," Ifalna pointed out, "Would you rather that never happened either?"

Aerith's eyes widened in alarm, and she quickly shook her head no.

"If I'd been normal, I could never have helped make Elfé better when she was sick," Ifalna also reminded her, "But now she walks with you to school because she's okay now."

"That's true…" Aerith pondered, tilting her head as she put her index finger to her pursed lips.

"I know people sometimes think it's okay to come after us and hurt us, just because we're special," her mother said, taking Aerith's hand in hers, "but that's no reason to not like being special. Besides, we're in a safe place now. Tell me: have you ever seen a Turk or a soldier around here, the entire time we've been in Cosmo Canyon.

Again, Aerith shook her head.

"Like I told you yesterday," Ifalna said patiently, "We're going to be all right. Now…can I heal that scrape?"

"Can I try instead?" Aerith asked.

Ifalna smiled. "Of course! You remember how, right?"

"Uh-huh!" Aerith's head bobbed up and down, "Think of the Lifestream, and move my hand like this…"

The little girl's hand began to glow as she concentrated on the scrape, envisioning the flesh knitting together. As she waved her hand about one inch over her knee, the tiny scratches began to close up, leaving nothing but smooth skin.

"Great job!" Ifalna praised her. She immediately hugged her daughter. "You healed yourself perfectly!"

"But…" Aerith hesitated, "Is it okay for everyone here to know what we can do?"

"Yes," Ifalna told her, "Nobody who travels outside of here ever talks about the Firecats. They won't talk about us either. Barnabas and Terrato promised me."

"Will we ever have to leave here?" Aerith asked nervously.

"I don't see why we have to at this point," Ifalna answered, "But we never know where life will take us. Right now, though, life has taken us here, so don't worry so much, okay?"

That seemed sufficient enough for Aerith. "Okay!" she answered brightly, "I'm gonna go color, okay?"

"All right, but change out of your swimsuit first," Ifalna called after her as she ran off.

"'Kay!"

"As I've said, all I have are a few psychology electives," Dr. Triton explained the next day as the two women walked around the hospital together. "But I guess we're dealing with a bit of backlash on Aerith's part."

"But she's been fine before these past few days," Ifalna insisted, "She rarely even gets night terrors anymore. If anything, she seemed to be the most well-adjusted between her, myself, and Sephiroth."

"Aerith grew up never knowing the difference between freedom and captivity," Dr. Triton said as they entered the lounge and sat down at a table. "Now, she understands the difference. She goes out and plays in the sun, she has friends, she goes to school, and she can eat candy and go inside and outside, so long as she has your permission. Before, you had very little say in her life." She then chuckled. "It's a wonder she actually listens to you. Plenty of other children wouldn't have, had they been in her situation."

"Don't jinx it…" Ifalna groaned.

"I wouldn't worry about that," the doctor reassured her, "But now you're getting married. You told me how excited Aerith was about having a father for the first time she could remember. But now…I think she's getting scared. She might be worried that something will happen to take away all these wonderful things. I think the passage of time might be the cure for that anxiety. But for now…just be patient. When she sees that there's no perceivable threat to her new life, I'm sure she'll calm down."

Ifalna nodded. What the good doctor said made complete sense.

"In the meantime, you've got a wedding to think about," the older woman reminded her, "And then, married life to look forward to."

Ifalna smiled at the thought.

"Ah, young love," Dr. Triton teased, "Both of you smile like that when I mention the upcoming happy date."

Now the young mother's cheeks were turning pink.

The doctor glanced around the empty room. "Good thing I offered to look after Aerith for the weekend while you two get…accustomed to married life."

She had expected Ifalna to turn redder, but to her shock, her assistant went completely white.

"What's wrong?" Dr. Triton asked, expecting to glance down and find blood pooled at the younger woman's feet.

"I…nothing…" Ifalna said feebly.

Dr. Triton's razor-sharp mind was at work again, and she soon realized what was going on.

"You never told him about that Shinra intern who attacked you," she realized.

Ifalna hung her head, ashamed. "I think as the wedding gets closer, he's assumed I simply want to wait until the wedding night," she said, "But…I don't know how I'll react…Harriet- I do not want to electrocute my husband during the first night we're married…"

"I've heard of 'vagina dentata'…" Dr. Triton mused, "'Vagina fulgetra' is a new one…"

"The 'lightning' doesn't come from down there," Ifalna stated irritably.

"Sorry, sorry," the doctor apologized, "Just trying to inject a bit of humor, but that was probably in poor taste."

Ifalna sighed, looking gloomy.

"So he doesn't know," Dr. Triton stated.

"…No."

"Ifalna- you're marrying that man in two days," the older woman told her, "You need to tell him what happened! Trust me- he'll understand. Yes, he might rant about wanting to kill the man responsible, but-,"

"I think that man is already dead," Ifalna butted in. "I heard a gunshot and felt the man's life-force cease to be. The Shinra don't tolerate that kind of breech."

"Tell him," Dr. Triton urged her, "What are you afraid of?"

"I already feel as though this is all too good to be true," Ifalna confessed, "I find freedom again, and only a month later, I start having feelings for someone. Now we're getting married after just one year, and…" she trailed off, a sad smile appearing on her face. "Good Gaia, I'm just like Aerith…worrying it'll all disappear."

"Like mother, like daughter," the doctor kidded.

"I always worried that getting my memories back would ruin everything," Ifalna admitted, "But this scares me pretty badly as well. Barnabas is…well, he's exactly what I've needed, and the fact that he adores Aerith as well…"

"That's for sure," Dr. Triton laughed.

"Not many men out there would agree to raise another man's child," Ifalna admitted.

"I think that applies more for divorced parents," said Dr. Triton, "not widowed ones. Plus, I know Barnabas will eventually be raising at least one of his own kids along with Aerith…who is quite excited that you and Barnabas both told her she'll be getting younger siblings eventually."

Ifalna turned red. "She told you-?! We didn't tell her that so she could announce it to the world!" she groaned.

"Children have no filters," the doctor chuckled, "You wouldn't believe some of the things that those little ones tell me when I give them their check-ups."

"At least it means she's more social," Ifalna reasoned, "Until we settled here, you could count the people she would speak to on one hand."

"Yes, if I recall correctly, it wasn't until we were on the boat that she stopped hiding behind you or Sephiroth whenever I spoke to her," Dr. Triton said amusedly.

Ifalna smiled warmly. "Yes, well, she loves you now."

"And I, her. It will be lovely to have her for a great-niece…but I'm a greedy woman, and I want more great-nieces and nephews. So please…for everyone's sake: talk to Barnabas. Tell him what happened. He'll understand it wasn't your fault. He won't see you as damaged goods, if that's also what you're worried about."

Ifalna nodded. "I will. Tonight."

A/N: This is a two-parter. Chapter 2 will be up shortly.