The whole group gathered around the soon to be parents in a comfortable two room, in-suite birthing room at the WRO headquarters infirmary. Gone was the blaring white everything and cloying disinfectant smells that wrecked the nerves of so many when thinking of clinic setting-anyone that had had experience directly with Hojo in the past that was. But that was then and this was now. The WRO had changed a lot of things. They had changed for the better; the world had as a whole had. Now what would have been unheard of was happening and everyone couldn't have been happier or more excited. There were so many there and many more waiting by the phone for the new arrival.
Cloud and Tifa, now already a comfortable, married couple, and the ones closest to the expectant couple, decided to stay and aide in the birth if only to be comforting to the atmosphere. Cloud and Tifa flanked the female as she bore down, with Cloud on cool towel duty for her forehead and Tifa to be a constant comfort while she held the young woman's hand and coo her praise on how well she was doing. Even the doctor attending the birth had a vested interest (excitement) with this birth as well.
Cid, Barrett, and Reeve holding a plushie mog for baby to be, Rufus and his Turks starting with Tseng respectively, Rude and Reno, and last be never least Elena in tow patiently waited in the second room for news. Eventually Yuffie had taken to waiting outside in the second room with everyone else as well for the couple's and her own comfort, especially when she started to turn green and as things became more…wet and more colorful.
The soon to be father's unnerving neon glare didn't help either as it declared GET OUT as he continued to support his wife with her back against his chest and he massaged her shoulders and while his face as always never showed it, he felt he might just faint on the spot. He'd never done this before and he was so nervous though his stony face would never convey that but he continued to offer what support he could for her. He did not have time for the little ninja at this moment being childish.
Yuffie was out of their like a rocket and into her fiancés presence. Rufus merely gave a meaningful smirk and wrapped his arm around his finicky wife to be for comfort. Thank Leviathan they weren't in a rush for heirs for either of their 'empires' so to speak, Yuffie thought. She definitely was just not ready at this time.
The strangest of the guest that had chosen to stay with the couple seemed to almost blend in with the shadows in the corner of the room and that was Vincent. He fidgeted in his own way in that he was not stone still in that corner; close enough to the father-to-be to reach out and touch his shoulder if need be. It seemed so odd yet it seemed right for him to be there.
It was so surreal how they had gotten to this point in time. He'd remembered it as if it had been just yesterday…
Vincent violently jerked awake; Lucrecia was calling him. His heart was pounding and he was covered in sweat. He felt different, somehow lighter. He looked down at his chest and noticed that the normal telltale healed gunshot wound-was gone. Vincent was up and over to the small washroom and looking into the mirror, obvious shock and amazement in his eyes. While he still looked to be twenty-seven years old, the normal pallid coloring he'd adopted from the experiments done to him had been replaced with a more even strawberries and cream complexion, belaying healthy life. Where the multiple cuts and ill healed wounds were, now healed flesh covered every inch of him. His carmine eyes looked over to his claw. There was a niggling in his mind to try to remove it, to check the flesh below. While he wasn't sure what was going on, what Lucrecia had called for, he hoped with all his heart that the last area that Hojo had scarred would be gone. He slowly begin unclasping the bearings on the main arm. He began sliding it down and off. Once the golden claw was removed, next came the black glove that also covered the arm. He began slowly pulling it off. As it was pulled down, more beautiful unmarked flesh was coming up. Once completely removed, Vincent just looked down at the pristine arm and his eyes instinctively welled up. He weep tears of joy. As he sat still looking at his reflection, he heard Lucrecia in his waking moments.
She had been frantic in the message but it had been clear. She'd been judged by the Cetra and had been with him throughout Deep ground and the Omega Crisis. After Chaos had returned to the planet…
That evil creature had become something of an ally at the end. He actually missed him, the others not so much.
He'd returned to Nibelheim to the mansion that he had remodeled should his friends visit but more so to just seek rest and respite from it all.
She had told him a many of things in his waking dream, some things he felt actually heart-breaking and others not hard to believe given certain circumstances that had arose but had made his guilt flare to the maximum. Before he could begin to lament, Lucrecia told him some earth shattering information that was-but was not. He had a mission and with his garb and signature cape back in place and Death Penalty holstered he was on his way.
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