Monday 6:00 A.M
The sun was out and shining brightly in the beautiful morning sky.
A city was slowly getting started for the day. Construction workers were all buzzing in getting another building finished, children played while they walk to school. Shops were opening and getting ready for business.
And so was one slightly unknown bar, the 7th Heaven, owned and ran by Tifa Strife (née Lockart), in fact there she is at the counter, appearing to still have her attractive appearance, though she has slightly visible age lines under her eyes, she looked the same as she did (well not many people would believe that she was fourty-two) though she had a change in clothing as well, she still wore black tops, but this time it didn't show her stomach, and she wore long dark blue pants, with a white apron…Living her life as a housewife, bartender and for some of you who can guess, she lived her life as mother as well.
She and Cloud had a small private wedding (Not really, they decided to get themselves married in a court or something like that) but it went with the exchange of marriage bands (basically rings) in front of their friends, a day after they had signed the marriage certificate.
Again it was simple, and yet enjoyable.
And then after a year or so, they later gave birth to their first child, a boy, with spike brown hair (though this boy decided to straighten his hair, and so it was straight, but the back part of his hair was spiked downwards, and his fringe was curved to one side, but the ends were spiked and looked like they were plastered perfectly against his face) and his face, mouth and nose were just like his father's whereas his eyes were shaped just like his mother's. And his skin complexion well…it was slightly darker than his father's but lighter than his mother's, so a perfect between… But unlike his parents, he wasn't fighters like them…In fact he often wanted to walk off a fight instead of going off to prove or show that he wasn't weak or that he wanted to trifled with…In fact he preferred doing things like listening to music, while sitting on a tree's branch with a sketch book and a pencil on his lap.
Then by the time their first child had turned five, Cloud and Tifa, were expecting twins…But by the time Tifa was due, there was a complication in the C-section…
Oh yes, their first born son remembered this very well…His mother screaming as her water broke in the middle of the night, and then the excessive bleeding that came pooling down her legs to the bed.
Her first born son was standing out in the doorway, wide-eyed as older (unofficial) adopted brother lifts him up into his arms, while they go downstairs, so he could call the doctor.
"Scáth, wait here…" His older brother instructs as he goes over to the phone…Soon he dials the doctor's number, waiting for him or her to pick up before calmly explaining what happened.
At that point everything went by very fast for Scáth, the doctor came, his older brother and father took turns to check on his mother…The familiar sound of water dropping from the tap, every second as the world seemed to partially stand still…Finally there was a weak cries of an infant coming from upstairs. Scáth slowly stands up, getting off from the bar stool that he was sitting on... he instantly shivered slightly as his bare feet touched the cold wooden floors. Soon he walks across the room, behind the bar, and towards the second room of the building.
He looks up at the stairs, and takes a step. "Scáth, stay down there till I say it's alright to come up." His older brother on top of the stairs with a cracking voice. The little boy blinks twice and nods, then he goes across the dark, moonlit room to sit at the same barstool…
Minutes later, he hears his footsteps descending downstairs, and towards the barroom. There he caught a glimpse of his father holding something in his arms, but he couldn't make out what it was.
And Cloud did his best to make sure that he couldn't see either. Scáth simply stares as his father walks out the door— Then the doctor came down along with Scáth's older brother, Scáth tilts his head slightly, and sees a mere peek of the two of them. She (the doctor) handed his older brother some medicine, and instructs him to give it to his mother…Afterwards she added that they could pay her tomorrow, before she took her leave…
Scáth saw her walk out of the door and his father coming back in, this time with empty handed.
Eventually they named their new child (A girl) Spéire…
Lucky, Tifa was able to pull herself together after that traumatic event…And she almost instantly had the strength to raise Spéire for another year, before falling pregnant again…And this time the child she had was another boy, whom she named Zean, however unlike his siblings, he was the only one who resembled his father most (from the color of the hair, nose, mouth and eyes) but he had his mother's skin tone.
Living in the bar was nice, and it was also nice being an older brother…but everything has it's limits…
And here we are, thirteen years later, nothing much has change, every morning was the same old routine…
7:00 A.M
"Onii-chan have you seen my ribbon?" Spéire asks. I lower the book I was reading and shakes my head and then goes back to the section I was reading…Funny the character in story has a similar background to mines… "Scáth! Where's my white socks? The teacher will kill me if I don't wear them again!" Zean panics. "Keep track of your things, you're not a little boy anymore…" I mutter. Zean's feet thump around the room, pulling out the drawers and tossing everything inside to the floor in matter of minutes, before running into the hall, causing a ruckus inside the household.
Mom then knocks on the door ledge, holding up the laundry basket. I lower the book again, and see her head move around at the mess right in front of her. She sighs and shakes her head, then begins picking and folding the clothes again. "Goodness…What I am going to do with you Zean…" She complains lightly, as she gets down on one knee to pick up the clothes.
I turn to her. Mom stops and smiles good morning. I nod and replied good morning too.
"You'll be graduating high school soon…I can't believe it." She says with a slightly sad smile. I shrug. "Well kids can't stay kids for forever." I say. She shakes her head in disbelief, after all that was a rather blunt and obvious statement. She tells me to stop reading and come down for breakfast.
Soon everyone sat at the bar table, and "Itadakimasu!" Everybody went (except for dad and myself) soon the five of us began eating. Like usual Zean was eating his breakfast as fast as he could, and once again he earned a scolding from mom, Spéire giggle, dad and I simply just watch the scene.
After twenty minutes or so, breakfast was done, and the three 'famous' Strife siblings made their way to school.
7:30 A.M
Spéire looks at me and asks what do I think? Oh great I was spacing out again… "Can you repeat what you said?" I requested. "I was talking about the dance party that the school was hosting…I was wondering if you could help me convince dad to let me go?" She says.
N.O. There was no way I was going to get between her and dad again…Last time that didn't end on a good note and she ended up going to hospital because her blood pressure rose up too high.
"Sorry Spéire, but if dad won't let you go, then he has his reasons, after all you're the only daughter of the family." I told her sternly. Spéire sighs and clutches her hand held school bag, looking downcast as the three of us walked towards the school building. As usual, Zean left first, since his elementary school was next to the building, and then Spéire and I walked to the next building.
She waves lightly and goes to her classroom, I nod and put my hand into my pocket before heading to my class respectively.
I place my bag on my desk, and look out at the sky, thinking back to the dance… Obviously having second thoughts about it…Spéire was what? Fifteen now, she had the right to make her own decisions…Despite the weak constitution she had as a result from mom's hard labour. She was still her own person, and she had the right to live…but will getting between her and dad again put her life in danger? Like it did last time…
"Scáth-kun!" Shouts the familiar voice of Beira Valentine (Well Valentine wasn't her real surname…but she decided to take it when my father's friend Vincent took her in, since she was one of the victims of the OMEGA crisis). She then hugs me from behind.
Bits of her long black hair tickled my neck, funny even at aged nineteen, she still acted like a kid…
"So how was your weekend it?" She asks, taking her usual seat, right next to mines. "It was normal…I did some homework, went about here and there…" I told her. "That's so boring…You're just like papa…" She sighs lying her chin on her hand. I pull out my sketch book from my bag and then my set of pencils, then start drawing. Beira immediately takes an interest and watches from behind me as I sketch the bases of the classroom before adding the details. "Wow…You should do this for a living you know!" Beira says in a bubbly voice.
I didn't answer and continued to concentrate on the drawing, when suddenly it wasn't in my hand anymore. I look up and Beira was already flipping through the pages. Her mouth hung open in awe. "These are really good! You can earn a lot of money from these drawings!" She exclaims.
"Can I have my sketch book back?" I demanded. She chuckles and then nods, soon she hands it back to me. Then I flip to the page I was working on and continue on it again.
8:00 A.M
But when I wasn't even half way through, the teacher came in; I pack my sketchbook away, and waited for the homeroom announcements.
"As you all know, the dance is coming up in a few weeks time…So please let now be the time for you all to go and choose your friends who you want to come with you to the dance, and support them." He stops at that, and then goes on more about exams as well, then school efficiencies, policies, rules, safety, regulations and the usual things… After homeroom was done, the next teacher came in and it was time for math class. During the lesson, I stop taking notes and looks out the window thinking back to what I said to my sister? Snap out of it…The dance isn't till a few weeks away. So there'll be plenty of time to worry about it.
2:00 P.M
School was over and I waited near the entrance, waiting for Zean and Spéire. "Scáth!" And there was Zean. He runs next to me, bending on his knees, panting…My guess he rushed out of school as soon as possible without taking a breather. Soon I turn back and keep a look out for Spéire, and then I spotted her walking with a boy, who I recognized to be Oster Thetir one of the honor students at the school. Soon her face turns into a tint of red in the distance, she was blushing. He nods to whatever she asking. I felt my eyes widen in shock to it's own accordance, then she slowly heads our way. "By Thetir-san." She waves as she goes towards us. "Let's go." She says.
"Finally! Was getting bored of waiting!" Zean complains as he walks beside her. Spéire smiles apologetically and says sorry for making us wait.
I look at my sister and wonders, has she really grown up that fast? (Well I guess the answer was a total 'duh') but I didn't think that she'd be interested in boys yet, especially the ones at the school.
"So Scáth, who are you taking with you to the dance?" Spéire asks. I shrug. "Why worry about it now if we still have time?" I pointed out. She then nods and then the three of us walked silently to the bar, knowing full well that the place was going to be crowded.
The bell rang as soon as we entered the bar. "Taidama." Spéire greets we step inside. "Okaeri nasai." Mom replies as she passes a drink to another one of her customers.
"Hey Scáth play us a good one tonight alright!" Mr. Brandon shouts. I nod. Mom smiles. Mr. Brandon then praises mom for having raised such a multi-talented boy (A.K.A, me) Mom simply shakes her head and tells him, Cloud deserves some of the praise too, but she also joked about how all this praising was going to go into my head. "Mom, Scáth isn't that type of person!" Spéire scolds her. I place a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, she was just joking." I told her. Spéire smiles and nods. Then again, we both have the same problem, especially when it came to defending our loved ones.
Zean pushes through us and heads upstairs, probably to do some homework or something. Spéire then puts her bag down on a free spot at the bar stand and has a conversation with Mr. Brandon.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and then headed up to my room, before taking out my books and getting straight into my homework. Suddenly mom knocks on the arch of my door. "Scáth can you help me out with the sink? It's leaking again!" She tells me. I sigh and put my notebook down, then headed downstairs.
I pulled out the toolbox under the bar stand, and immediately went under the sink, and tightens one of the pipes.
Mom was on the floor, wiping the water away with a cloth. "Mom, why couldn't you have done this yourself?" I ask her. Mom stops and looks at me, pausing slightly before answering. "Well Scáth, I need someone who at least knows something about pluming that doesn't cost fifty to sixty gil an hour." She says. True…Those prices were ridiculous.
"Besides, you're a lot better than those so called 'professionals'." Mom adds with a quick wink. Then she goes back to wiping the floor again.
Within ten minutes the pipes was done, and I caught mom wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Not only that, but she looks pale and tired too… Did she get a nasty bug or something? "Mom why won't take a rest, I'll clean this up." I told her. Mom blinks twice and insists that she can do it. For some reason, I had a very bad feeling that what she had was far worst from exhaustion. "Mom." I grab the cloth away from her. And kneels in front of her. "Go and lie down okay, and that's not a suggestion." I ordered. Mom looks at me sternly. It's understandable, if there was one thing that she didn't like, it was being treated like a weakling (especially from her own kids) but deep down she knows that I was right.
Mom sighs and just smiles. "Well alright, I guess I do need the rest…I'll leave most of it to you Scáth." She says before she stands up.
Mom then heads off upstairs to her room, and then I continue to clean the floor.
6:00 P.M
Dad had just arrived home to see an unusual scene. Normally it would be mom who handled the bar, but this time it was me. "Where's your mother?" He asks. "She's upstairs." I answered.
He nods and then puts his sword on near the doorframe, and then heads upstairs as well.
"Shouldn't you be d-doing homework or something?" Asked one the half-drunk customers. I shrug and told him that I could that I can finish it easily. He didn't seem to really pay attention (or he forgot the question altogether) and just asks for another shot.
I poured him another cup of scotch, and goes off to serve some of the other customers.
Soon I hear the sound of dad's boots coming down the stairs. "Scáth, you do finish whatever work you have upstairs, I'll take it from here." He tells me. I nod and then leave my post to finish off my homework.
I walk pass dad, and then he pats my shoulder, and keeps his hand on there. "Listen, I need you to keep a close on your mother whenever you can, it's important that she doesn't over do it." Dad instructs. I nod and then he lets go.
I continue to head upstairs, and then look at my parents' room. Zean was there, resting his chin on the edge of mom's bed, napping there.
Though I could only see a mere glimpse of mom's face, it wasn't that hard to see her smile, soon she bends down and kisses my little brother on the forehead.
I take a step forward, and then the floor creaks. Mom gasps and turns around to see me there. "Scáth, I thought you were looking after the bar." Mom says in shock. "I was, but dad told me to finish my homework." I explained. She nods and then caresses Zean's hair. "So are you going to get to it, or did you want to talk about something first?" She asks. I nod and then sits on the edge of dad's side of the bed. "Mom, you know that there's the dance coming up, and I have a friend who wants to go, but my friend has a condition, and because of that condition, my friend ended up going to hospital after a fight with his father…And he wants me to talk to his father so he can go to the dance…What should I tell him?" I explain. Mom smiles lopsidedly. "Sounds like to me, this friend of yours seems to like to take risks, as a parent I can understand the feeling of wanting to protect their offspring. Well if I were you, I would promise my friend's father that I will look after him, and take him to the hospital if anything were to happen. Is that a good enough answer for you?" She wonders.
I nod and then thank her before heading out the door. Soon––"Scáth, good luck with your friend." She says with a smile and a knowing look in her eyes. If there was one thing that I love about mom, she tells you straight on when it came to solving problems.
Afterwards, I went straight to my room, and continue on with my homework.
Soon I heard thumps from my window. I ignored at first, but it came again. And then I ignored it.
"SCÁTH GET YOUR SORRY BUTT DOWN HERE!" Shouted the familiar voice of Beira. I sigh and open the window. "What do you want?" I ask her. "Finally…" She mutters, then she gets into a leaping position. "MOVE, CUZ I'M COMING UP!" She shouts as she launches herself up, and slides down through my window, before kneeling in the center of my room.
"How was that? Pretty impressive huh?" She says with pride, not realizing that I was already working.
Beira huffs in annoyance and folds her arms, puffing her cheeks out just to show how annoyed she was.
After ten to fifteen minutes, I finished with my math and turn to look at her. "Shouldn't you be at your own place?" I ask her. "Well papa isn't home, so I decided to come over, why is that a problem?" She says with an accusing tone. I shrug and then get started on my economics homework.
"Jeez you're soooooo BORING…" She comments. I ignore her, after all she was just acting like an over-sided kid.
Beira paces around my room slowly before sitting on my bed. Soon my phone rang, and then I look at the caller I.D, the letters flared Vincent Valentine, soon I passed it on to her.
Beira answers it, and then I watch out of curiosity. She nodded and nodded, and just said 'ok', 'yup' and 'got it' soon she closes the head of the phone, and gives it back me.
"Well, papa says he's not coming home tonight, so I get to stay here!" She squeals.
I raise an eyebrow, wondering how is this in anyway exciting? Soon I hear a knock on the door. "Onii-chan, is someone there?" Spéire asks on the other side. "Yes." I answered. Then turn around, Beira arms were stretched away from each other, most likely from waving them, but it's too late now.
Spéire opens the door, wearing a lose purple sweater and a crème colored skirt. "Hi Beira-san." She says with a small smile. Beira smiles back and apologies for the sudden visit.
"Onii-chan, it's time for our performance, the customers are demanding it." She says.
Sigh…well I guess there is no disappointing them now.
I changed out of my school uniform, and puts on a plain white long sleeve button shirt, and grab my guitar, then headed downstairs.
There, Zean and Spéire were waiting at their spots dressed in their band outfits. Spéire does the usual band 'yell' and I start playing the guitar, whereas Zean does the drums and back up vocals.
Spéire starts the song with a low tone, and then high, and then in between. Mixing them all together one simple melody. When the breaks came, I go up to the front and perform some guitar tricks, earning some cheers from the customers, after the guitar solo, Zean and Spéire sings the song in a duet, while he continues to drum at the same time.
Soon when the performance was over, dad led all the customers out. Zean and I packed away all the equipment.
"Sounds like you all had fun." Says mom as she walks down the stairs, wearing a long sleeveless white nightgown. "Mom you should be resting." Zean says. Mom smiles and shakes her head. "I had enough rest for one day, so how about we make some dango for dinner?" She smiles. Zean and Spéire nods, then they went to the kitchen to help her.
Soon, dad and I were alone. "Dad, you know Spéire wants to go to the dance right." I told him. He nods, implying that he knew, then he looks at me. "She's still too weak and young." Dad says. I nod. "I know that, but please just let her go, please dad, I promise I won't let anything happen to her." I promised him. He looks at me unsure at first, but then he closes his eyes for at least five minutes, then he opens them again. He nods, and tells me with a condition, I have to make sure that nothing happens to her.
This is my first story, and if there is anyone who feels that the birthing scene takes away most of the essences of this chapter, please tell me via Review, and please, please be honest, is it good,
bad, crappy or whatever? I appreciate honesty! So please enjoy the story!
