Hello! I live! I'm so sorry that this took forever and a half to write! I have no excuse, so I hope my deepest apologies will suffice :'(


Month 6


Tifa pulled a black tank top over her swollen stomach followed by a pair of black shorts to wear under a white miniskirt. For some reason, Tifa absolutely loved Halloween. She always looked forward to dressing up as someone other than herself. Also, since the kids were going to celebrate as well, she got to stay in cosplay all day!

Cloud walked in from the bathroom, Tifa's flat iron in his hand. He was taking the day off to help Tifa seeing as there were going to be A LOT of kids. Also.

Kefka.

Tifa hadn't heard a peep from the boy or his aunt from the time he had been picked up last month till yesterday, and in all honesty she hadn't minded not seeing them anymore. But he was back today and Tifa didn't have the heart to say he couldn't come, despite Cloud's strong opinions of the child. He had heard the stories and seen the bruise the boy had given her last month and Tifa practically had to force him to not hunt Kefka down. The biggest reason her husband was coming today was actually to keep Kefka in check, but that didn't excuse Cloud from having to dress up with Tifa. "Um," he muttered as he stepped out of the bathroom. Most of his yellow hair was hanging around his face instead of standing up like it usually did, but a few stubborn callicks remained.

Tifa immediately went into the bathroom and grabbed the gel. The faint smell of burning hair greeted her when she walked in. On the counter was a lock of singed blonde hair. She glanced back at Cloud who had a bald spot on his hairline. She lowered her gaze and smirked. "Nice hair cut," she mused.

He frowned. "I can't use a straightener, okay?" he grumbled.

"Is this where the 'oh, crap' a while ago came from?" Tifa grinned.

Cloud crossed his arms. "Maybe."


The pair finished getting ready without any other mishaps. Once Tifa had put on a long, red wig she borrowed from a friend, the pair was ready to go. On the way to the daycare, the smell of Cloud's lavender-colored hairspray filled the car. They were more than happy to get out the instant Cloud parked the car.

Tifa unlocked the daycare's door and started to the counter, Cloud following behind her. Before she reached her desk, Aqua leapt out from behind the counter. "Rawr!" the helper hollered.

Tifa jumped into a loose fighting stance, but then relaxed when she saw that the intruder was only Aqua. Tifa smiled. "What are you doing here…" she looked over the blue-haired girl's costume. She wore a blue dress, white apron, and a blonde wig. "…Alice?"

"I got here early," Aqua said with a sly smile. "I wanted to surprise you." She nodded at Cloud. "And hello to you, Mr. Strife..." she got a playful gleam in her eye. "Or should I say Jessie and James?!"

Tifa grinned at Cloud. "Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!" she beamed as she struck a pose.

Cloud looked a bit confused, but then smiled as he continued, also posing, albeit less dramatically. "Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Tifa grabbed her stomach and did a high-pitched voice. "Meowth, that's right!"

Cloud chuckled and Aqua laughed at their impersonation.

Once they had finished with the formalities, Tifa clapped her hands together. "Alright then, we should get ready for the kids," she told the two.

Aqua stood at attention. "Right. What needs to be done?" she asked.

Tifa dug in her purse and pulled out a large bag of assorted sweets. "Can you go put a bit of candy in each of the kids' cubbies? Also, you are aware that Kefka will be with us today?" she asked.

Aqua nodded and started off to the playroom after giving a groan. Once she was gone, Tifa had Cloud start putting up some decorations while she checked her mail and payments. Yet again, the Zuzelas had NOT paid (wow, what a surprise. Let's send another warning).

As she finished typing up and sending the mildly threatening email, the bell on the door chimed. Tifa looked up, "Ah, Mrs. Zuzela, I've been-…" she cleared her throat, "I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Warrior. I'll go ahead and get Light signed in."

Mrs. Warrior smiled warmly and gave a slight bow, as beautiful as ever, "It's okay, Mrs. Strife. We understand that normally it is Mrs. Zuzela and her boy Tidus in first. We are sorry to confuse you."

Mr. Warrior continued, just as formal with his speech as his wife, as equally as nice on the eyes. Tifa realized that they had a similar ethereal beauty to Kuja's mother. "You see, we have a conference to attend today and it starts fairly early. We should be back at around the usual time, but we might be a bit late. I do hope that's not a problem?"

Mrs. Warrior smoothed Light's head, "Light has his costume in his backpack. We weren't sure if you would be wearing costumes all day," Tifa and Cloud glanced at each other, Tifa trying to hide a jokingly sheepish face, "He has everything he needs, but might need some help assembling it all. Is that okay?"

Tifa smiled and nodded. "That's fine," she looked down at Light. "You can go to the bathroom and put on your costume. Let me know if you need help."

Light nodded while yipping a "Thank you, Miss Tifa!" and running off to the bathroom.

Without much more banter, the Warriors left. Once they were gone, a steady stream of kids began coming into First Fantasy in a vast array of costumes.

After Light was Zell dressed as Nacho Libre, then by Firion dressed as Red from Pokémon, Bartz as a chocobo (holding his stuffed chocobo, Boko, who was wearing some of Bartz' clothes), and Auron dressed as Samurai Jack (he told her himself that the cartoon samurai was his personal hero). By that time Light had emerged from the boy's room in his Superman costume holding a can of black hairspray.

"Miss Tifa?" he asked while tapping lightly on her thigh, "Can you help me get my hair black? Mother gave me a cover for my costume so it won't get dirty."

Tifa nodded and finished getting Locke, Zidane, Vaan, and Luneth checked in (the Red power Ranger, Diddy Kong, Samus, and…an onion taped onto his head, respectively) for Edea before going out into the back to spray and style Light's hair. Once it was completely black and slicked away from his face except for the forehead curl, Light chirped a thank you and ran inside to show the others.

"Let it dry before you touch it, Light!" Tifa called before heading back inside, she rubbed her belly with a grimace, "Ugh. Calm down in there, baby." She walked back inside while holding her hands over the spots where the baby wiggling around was bothering her, and was struck again with the thought that there was a living thing, a new human no less, growing in her abdomen and made up of her and another human's DNA.

Gaia, women are weird. It's like they clone things, but not.

Cloud raised an eyebrow as Tifa approached because of her pensive expression, and Tifa waved her hand as if to say 'Don't worry about it'. He thought about asking for a moment, but decided it leave it be with a shrug and stood to let Tifa take over the front desk again.

The door chimed open and Aqua's boyfriend snuck in wearing an elaborate purple suit designed to be the Cheshire Cat. Terra glanced around before looking at Cloud and Tifa and breaking into a smile upon seeing their costumes, "That's awesome," he laughed, "I'm impressed you could make your hair sit down, Mr. Strife. Do either of you know where Aqua is?"

Cloud chuffed and muttered, "It wasn't easy."

Tifa pointed back into the craft room behind her desk, "Aqua's, er, Alice is keeping the kids from taking extra candy from the cubbies, Mr. Cheshire."

Terra removed his top hat and bowed deeply with a wide sweep of the arm, "Thank you very much, madam and monsieur!" He straightened, replaced his hat carefully, and snuck into the craft room. A yelp from Aqua later, followed by laughter, announced that his sneaking abilities were none too shabby.

"Where did you get that costume, Terra?!" the hire hooted.

"That would be a trade secret, my dear Alice," Terra replied, "Now what can I do to help around here? I took the day off work and I don't intend to be kicked out of daycare."

Tifa smiled, always glad to have extra help. After Terra, more kids came in, but Tifa lost track of their costumes. Maybe she'd have them share during circle time. Circle time was a fairly recent activity since the Board of Education said that First Fantasy needed to have more educational aspects. Tifa DID teach the kids how to fight, but apparently that wasn't good enough for the people with money. Since the end of September when she was approached by a holier-than-thou official, Tifa began adding circle time to appease them. Either that, or she would roll in a cube-like TV and put on an old Magic School Bus or Bill Nye the Science Guy VHS. When it was one of those days, the kids knew that they were in for an outdated treat.

Tidus still hadn't made an appearance when Kefka arrived. His aunt quickly dropped off her nephew, and Kefka seemed strangely quiet. He was dressed like the Joker (which was already a bad sign), but while he was being signed in, he stood there quietly smiling (more like smirking). As soon as his aunt said goodbye, he slowly grinned up at Tifa. "Do you want to know how I got these scars?"

"Not particularly," Tifa replied honestly, noting his drawn-on facial scars.

The boy turned and started off to the playroom. "Suit yourself…" he chuckled.

By then, it was almost circle time, so Tifa left her post at the counter and went to the playroom. Tidus probably wasn't going to be there today.


Once the kids had circled up on Tifa's new, bright blue rug, Tifa announced that they would be sharing what they were dressed as. The kids all seemed to be pleased with this circle activity.

Light, of course, volunteered to start. He bounced up and exclaimed, "I'm Superman!"

"No you're not!" Vaan hollered. "You're just a kid in a costume!"

Light scowled at him. "It's just preteeeeeend…" he scoffed in a sing-song voice.

Once Tifa had those two boys calm down, the boy to Light's left, Bartz, stood up. "I'm Boko!" he yipped. He held up his stuffed chocobo. "And Boko's me."

After Bartz was Luneth, who for some reason had an onion taped onto his hat. "I'm an onion knight!"

After Luneth was Locke. "I'm the red Power Ranger," he said. He decided to add, "The MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RANGER."

Claire and Serah were next. They stood up together and Claire decided to announce her and her sister. "I am Dip-per and Se-rah is Ma-bel."

From the other side of the circle, Kadaj gasped and pointed at them. "Kids aren't allowed to watch that show!"

"Who are they, anyway?" a very unamused Snow snorted.

Claire scowled. "Kids are too a-llowed to watch that show! And they are the mys-te-ry twins in Gra-vi-ty Falls! They solve myst-er-ies to-geth-er and find mon-sters! It is the on-ly good show on Dis-ney Cha-nnel."

Tifa was worried when Kadaj shouted his opinions (or maybe his mother's), but if it was on Disney Channel…

"I like Phineas and Ferb…" Firion mumbled.

"That show is not as good as Gra-vi-ty Falls," Claire huffed as she and her sweater-clad sister sat back down.

Lulu was after the Farron sisters. She inoffensively told the kids that she was Sally, the girl from the Nightmare Before Christmas. After her was Terra who accidentally hit Lulu with one of her fairy wings. Lulu grumbled angrily as Terra quietly told the kids, "I'm Tinkerbell."

After Terra was Selphie. She hopped up and accidentally threw a stuffed unicorn into the air. Luckily, she caught it. The gleeful girl grinned at her success. "I'm Agnes! I like unicorns because they're so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

Tifa noticed that the next cluster of kids were dressed strangely, but she was sure that they would inform her in full of what they were. Garnet, Beatrix, Freya, and Adelbert (Tifa wondered how they got him to dress up with them) stood up. Beatrix counted them off and the four of them burst into song. Garnet stood up straight and proud. "We…" she started off.

"Are the Crystal Gems!" Beatrix and Freya continued. Garnet joined in with them for the next line of the song. "We're here to save the day…"

Adelbert chimed in. "And if you think we can't—"

They all sang the rest together. "We'll always find a way! That's why the people of this world believe in…"

"Garnet!" Garnet sang.

"Amethyst!" Beatrix belted.

"And Pearl!" Freya went on.

Adelbert jumped in front of them. "AND STEVEN!"

The Farron sisters, Lulu, Firion, Irvine, Eliha, Petunia, and Golbez started clapping and laughing happily. Even Cloud grinned! He knew what that was from? Tifa would make him explain the song later. Yet again, however, Kadaj pointed his finger. "Kids REALLY aren't supposed to watch that show!"

Aqua clapped. "Bravo for knowing that…" she oohed.

Tifa felt pretty left out at this point. She was definitely going to make Cloud explain everything to her later.

Rinoa was next. Her costume was very confusing. It looked like she was wearing an Iron Man costume, which was fine, but why was she wearing a red and yellow tutu? "I am Princess Iron Man," she informed proudly.

"That's not even a thing!" Zidane booed.

"Then why am I dressed like it?!" Rinoa snubbed. She sat back down crossly. "I am Princess Iron Man and I don't care what you have to say about it!"

"Okay…" Tifa muttered. "Princess Iron Man it is…" She noticed Squall who was trying to hide behind Rinoa's fluffy tutu. "Squall, do you want to share?"

He had been caught! His face blanched and he very slowly stood up. Tifa didn't recognize his costume, but he looked a bit like a lion. Squall anxiously rubbed his arm and had his head down. The other kids had to lean in and pretty much hold their breath to hear what he said.

"I-I'm wl-wLion-o… I'm a-a Thundow Cat…" he almost whispered. Suddenly, he jumped forward and flung out his arm. "WRAWR!" he shouted with a massive amount of energy. When he realized that his roar was definitely louder than what he wanted, he recoiled and flopped back down with his head hanging to hide his blushing face.

A few of the kids giggled at how loud Squall was for once, but it was Zell's turn. He stood up, shirtless and in blue tights, blue and red mask, and a red cape. "NACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted. A few of the kids and helpers laughed at his impersonation.

Next was Golbez, who wore a Batman costume complete with fake muscles. Of course, Cecil (who wore a sparkly, fluffy blue dress) stood up with his brother. "I'm Batman," Golbez said, making his voice deep and gravelly.

Tifa eyed Cecil. His costume was…unique. She might need to make him change… "And what are you, Cecil?" she asked.

"Cinderella!" he squeaked happily. Some of the kids snickered.

"Cinderella is a girl," Locke pointed out.

Golbez tossed his hand. "Let him be what he wants," he sighed. Under his breath, he muttered, "I tried to make him Robin…"

Zidane stood up. "Well, I like Cinderella!" he announced.

Cecil beamed and adjusted the headband in his shoulder-length white hair. "Yeah!"

After the Harvey brothers, it was Irvine's turn. He told the kids that he was Ash Ketchum. It finally seemed to register to him that Cloud and Tifa were Jessie and James, so he tried to leave, resulting in a small wave of laughter and Sora trotting out to catch the Pokémon master. After Irvine, Fran stood up and announced that she was a ballerina. She looked precious in her pink tutu. She had also taken the time to tie lovely bows around the bases of her long ears. After Fran was Quistis, who wore a curly red wig and a solar system-themed dress. She stood and made sure her Pascal doll didn't fall off her shoulder before announcing proudly that she was Ms. Frizzle. After her was Cobalt who was dressed as Mario. Once the cosplay plumber was done, Kefka stood up. Tifa noted the wide gaps between Cobalt, Kefka and the only one brave enough to choose to sit next to him, Petunia.

Kefka looked over at Golbez as he introduced himself. "I'm the Joker," he said somewhat flatly. What was he plotting? Luckily, he sat down after telling his title. He smiled nicely at Cecil and folded his hands in his lap. The dress-clad boy scooted behind his brother, though his skirt was still largely visible. He gathered it up and vanished behind Golbez, who had spread his cape out to make a better hiding spot for Cecil. Golbez gave Kefka a warning glare.

…Oh boy. Even when Kefka behaves it's unnerving.

Petunia and Eliha stood up together. No surprise; they did everything together. "I'm Bowser," Petunia announced proudly, "He's not a dragon, but he breathes fire, so I still like him." She smacked the turtle-shell belly of her costume happily before turning to Eliha. Unfortunately, Tifa didn't hear Petunia very well; she was busy looking from Eliha to Cloud (Cloud looking just as confused as Tifa was) and back again.

Eliha adjusted her awkwardly spiked wig and planted her hands on her hips, face set in a smile as she looked on the other costumed kids, "I'm Cloud. He saved the world twice and so he's the best hero here." She adjusted her purple sweater and thick SOLDIER belt before sitting happily while grinning over at the real Cloud.

Tifa glanced behind her to see a bright pink hue cover her husband's face. He looked away from the group of kids staring at him and scratched his neck bashfully, suddenly very aware of his costume. Cloud had never really considered himself much of a hero; the insurmountable help he had from his friends being the most prominent reason why. And he avoided any camera like a plague when he and his friends had returned from the Northern Crater. Barret had done most of the talking. Eliha didn't seem to notice or care though, because she started explaining to Light why Cloud was better than Superman when the pale child denied her claim. At Tifa's quiet request, Aqua went and stopped the argument before it started. Cloud hesitantly stood and went over to the small girl and asked her something. He was immediately answered with a loud, "Mommy looked at your clothes from some of the times you were on TV and made my costume from that! Do you like it, Cloud? Does it look right? You were in the back, so my Mommy couldn't see you very well…"

He paused awkwardly as his blush grew a bit brighter and Tifa could practically see his thought process: Um… I don't know, but… She's just a little girl. I don't want to upset her… But why me?!

He gave something between a nod, a shake of the head, and a shrug before standing and making his way back over to Tifa, blush still in place and pointedly avoiding eye contact with the other children. He sat down in the plastic seat he had pulled over next to Tifa's armchair and nodded his head in an "I know, it's fine," when she rubbed his shoulder sympathetically.

There was a bit of an awkward pause until Firion jumped up and pointed at Irvine. "Hey, wait a minute! Why are you Ash?! He's stupid!" he held up his Charmander plush toy, "Red is way stronger and smarter!"

Irvine jumped to his feet, "Nu-uh!"

"Is too!"

"Hey!" Riku barked at the two kids and pointed at the ground, "Siddown."

"Yes sir." The two boys sat immediately and avoided looking at him. Riku blinked with wide eyes. Why did they listen so easily? His eyes narrowed once more when he remembered his costume. He crossed his arms and turned a stony look at Sora, who started stifling laughter with Kairi.

Kairi carefully wiped a tear from her eye to avoid smearing her eyeliner, "Riku, when you stand like that and glare it makes you look exactly like Shadow."

"Even without the makeup!" Sora chimed in.

"And your hair is already spikey, and Sora can never beat you in a race-"

"Heeey!"

"It's true!"

"I know…but I beat him that one time…"

A smile crept onto Riku's face despite himself. "…Shut up, Amy."

Kairi's hands flew to her hips. "I was only Amy because she's the only girl in the main group! I don't even like her!"

Terra started laughing from deep in his belly, "Hedgehogs, be calm. The kids still need to finish so they can be freed."

Sora sucked his lips into his mouth and made a fish face before popping them back out and giving a "Gottagofast."

Aqua patted the Cheshire Cat's shoulder in thanks before finding where the circle had broken, "Auron, it's your turn. Go ahead."

The boy stood in a white kimono with gray hemming and placed his hand on the hilt of a toy sword, as if ready to draw it. The 7-year-old cool kid eyed the group without batting an eye. "…They call me Jack."

Golbez' jaw went a little slack. He never would have imagined that a kid could pull of Samurai Jack so well! Jack was even cooler than Batman! Even if the other kids didn't recognize who Auron was dressed as (though most of the grownups were smiling), they knew to stay quiet until Auron sat back down.

When the older boy took his seat, Yuna tugged on his baggy sleeve, "Who's Jack?"

Auron peered at the heterochromatic girl, "…Why don't you tell them who you're dressed up as, instead?"

She blinked before jumping up with an "Okay!" She fixed her fluffy white skirt and belted out, "I'm a bride!"

By then, Tifa was back from the bathroom and inserted a, "That's very nice, Yuna."

Cloud gawked at her. "Where were you and when did you leave?"

"Bathroom," she replied. "I had to pee." She turned back to the kids. Next to Yuna was Zidane, who bounced up and exclaimed that he was Diddy Kong. Luckily he didn't become too theatrical with his pop guns. Next to him was Wakka who just as energetically jumped up. He had a piece of paper taped onto his shirt that said "costume" in backwards, crude letters. He made sure to explain that his mom didn't believe that they were going to dress up today. Once he was done, Vivi struggled to stand. For once, he wasn't wearing his large hat or coat. Tifa noticed the helpers giving him wary glances.

"I'm a heartless," he said meekly. "They're scary."

Riku scoffed and muttered to himself. "That's an understatement."

Sora and Aqua nodded in agreement from their spots on either side of the angsty hedgehog.

Next in line was Snow, who was Master Chief of course. Then it was Vaan. He announced that he was Samus. Petunia shouted, "You know Samus is a girl, right?"

"Nuh-uh!" Vaan protested.

"Yeah," Snow nodded. "I played the whole thing. She's a girl." He bowed his head and grumbled, "It made me really mad…"

Finally, it was the silver triplets' turn. Kadaj explained that they were dressed as three Jenova's Witness prophets. Tifa nodded and pursed her lips. Huh… how typical.

"Okay, is that everyone?" she asked the kids.

Rinoa shook her head and stood up. "No," she stated. "I saw Seifer."

"Yeah," Snow agreed. "He said that he was putting on his costume when I saw him."

Kefka grinned. "He sure is, Miss Strife," he told Tifa in a sickly sweet voice.

Right on cue, the door to the playroom slowly creaked open. What looked like a grimy yellow paw gripped the side of the door. There was heavy breathing. Suddenly, Petunia shrieked and ran for Squall's cabinet. When he realized where she was going, he squeaked and followed her. Once she had closed herself in, Squall tugged on the cabinet handle. That was his spot!

A few of the other kids began scooting closer to one another as the door opened a bit more. There was nervous murmuring. Tifa went to the door, unnerved by the childrens' uneasiness. What exactly could be so scary about Seifer's costume?

Once she approached, the door swung open and the person behind it roared metallically through a voice modifier. There was noisy shrieking from the kids, and the helpers tried to calm them down. Sonic-Sora had hidden in a corner though, so he wasn't helping.

Tifa looked back down at the nappy yellow teddy bear that had walked into the playroom. It was breathing heavily and its head was tilted grotesquely to the side. While it was pretty creepy-looking, Tifa knew that it was only Seifer; he was a bit of a troublemaker. This costume, whatever it was, didn't faze her much.

Kefka alone clapped his hands. "Way. To. Go," he smirked.

Tifa grabbed the large mascot head-mask off of Seifer. He yipped and reached for it. "Aw, c'mon…" he whined.

"Kill it! KILL IT!" Petunia wailed from the cabinet.

"Kids!" Tifa shouted. "It's okay! Look! It's just Seifer." She looked down at the pouting blonde. "Your costume is scaring your friends," she told him. "Would you mind changing? We still have some knight armor from Rinoa's birthday."

"Please change!" Sora yelped from his corner.

Seifer crossed his arms. "But I like my costume," he snubbed. He pointed at Kefka. "He likes it."

Yeah, but he was Kefka, Tifa thought. She looked at the mask a bit closer. It looked a bit like an animatronic mask… oh, wait! It was from that horror game! Cloud had downloaded it the previous Halloween and condemned it for its lack of weapons. Being forced into such a defenseless situation had really unsettled him. Tifa would never forget the yelp he made when he died! And he never played again. That memory aside, there was no way that Tifa could convince Seifer to rethink his costume. Well, Roxas had talked Squall into being the prince, so if he were there…

As if on cue, a casually dressed Roxas entered. Tifa accepted his lack of costume. He didn't seem like the type to dress up. Either way, he was there! "Hey, Roxas," she called.

The blonde didn't respond for a moment, and then perked up. "Oh, yeah! What?" he asked.

"You were able to talk Squall into being the prince," she said. She held up the mask. "Can you talk Seifer into being something… a little more family friendly?"

Roxas blinked quietly and then opened his mouth. "Oh…" he said dumbly. Why was he acting so strangely? His mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile. He pulled it off and shrugged, "Um, sure Ms. Strife."

He went over to Seifer and bent down at the waist. "Hey," he began. "You wanna go change?"

Seifer turned his nose up. "Nnnnnyo," he snubbed.

"Uh…please?" he smiled nicely and cocked his head to the side. Sora looked over at his brother and suddenly let out a snort of laughter before covering the lower half of his face with his large hands.

Seifer shook his head. "Uh-uh."

The entry door swung open and the bell jingled violently. "Veeeeeentus!" a voice screamed. Roxas went pale and stood up extremely straight.

Namine, dressed in a sparkly white dress, and a blonde in all black marched in. Namine giggled as her companion grabbed Roxas by the front of the shirt. Odd. Weren't those two dating? Sora burst into laughter and Tifa watched the exchange amusedly. The boy in the black mask sneered at Roxas. "I thought my clothes were missing!" he hissed. "This isn't funny! You went through my things without asking! Again!"

"Uh—Ventus! Calm down!" 'Roxas' exclaimed, pushing back on his brother.

"I'm Roxas, you nut!" the black-clad teen hollered. The Roxas impersonator grabbed the black mask, pulled it back and let go so it snapped back on the wearer's face. Fake-Roxas was let go while the other exclaimed in surprise and covered his eyes where the fabric had gone into the large sapphire orbs.

Once those two were calmed down and Sora was done rolling on the floor laughing, the black clad real Roxas (dressed as Westley from the Princess Bride) explained to Tifa that Ventus had decided to be Roxas for Halloween (to which Ventus replied, "Pretty scary, am I right?"). Then the real Roxas introduced Namine as the beautiful Buttercup. Once the explanations were done, Tifa assigned Roxas to transform Golden Freddy into a non-threatening knight. Ventus was assigned to the duty of coaxing Petunia out of the cabinet.


Tifa began getting worried about Tidus when lunchtime rolled around. He was there every day, but he hadn't made an appearance. She allowed the helpers keep an eye on the lunching kids while she went to check her email. Mrs. Zuzela hadn't emailed. Tifa began to compose one that asked the whereabouts of the toddler when the front door opened roughly and the bell rang. "Teefie!"

The daycare owner looked up to see a small blonde blur sprinting behind the counter to meet her. Tidus grabbed hold onto Tifa's legs and buried his face into her skirt. She looked up again to see who brought the toddler in. A hulking figure stood in front of the entryway, shirtless, tattoed, barefoot, and… did Tifa smell alcohol?

"Um," Tifa frowned. "Mr. Zuzela?"

"You can just call me Jecht," the bronze giant boasted as he sauntered up to the counter. He leaned onto it and was not good at disguising his gaze as Tifa set Tidus in her increasingly small lap. Once she found room for him, the toddler flopped his head down onto her built-in pillows and a little onto her swollen abdomen. Tidus was dressed rather… strangely.

Tifa scowled and adjusted her already modest shirt collar. "Why is Tidus coming in so late?"

"Well, Brittany wasn't feeling great, so…" he said, his voice trailing off carelessly.

Tifa could only assume that Tidus's mother had a hangover, but she didn't want to think that poorly of her. For all she knew, this… Jecht... was intoxicated as well. He sure smelled like it. "Well…" she stated sternly. Her face was tense, but she tried to keep a polite tone. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

"Yep!" he grunted, lifting his arms above his head. Tifa was hit with an even worse stench. "Star of the Zanarkand Abes, that's me!" He planted his hands on his hips and looked down at Tidus. "I dressed 'em like his favorite athlete, right kid?"

Tidus scowled and hid his face in Tifa's chest.

She lowered her brow. "Wait, I thought that you hadn't been drafted yet?"

He blinked. "Whaddya mean?" he grunted. "I've been on the team for months! Don't you watch blitzball?"

"Your wife said otherwise," Tifa muttered angrily. Where was that fat payment for taking care of their son?

"Wife?" Jecht bumbled. "Oh… uh… oh! Yeah, we're engaged."

For how long, Tifa wondered.

"Yeah, she keeps gettin' cold feet, y'know… Well!" he quickly turned around. "I gotta get headed back." He tossed a wave over his shoulder as he walked out.

He was gone before she could say anything more.

Tidus tapped Tifa's collarbone, "Teefie, I'm hungry."

"Really? What have you had to eat today?"

He shrugged and his stomach gurgled. Had he eaten at all?

"Alright, I'll make you a nice big peanut butter and jelly sandwich. How does that sound?"

"Extra peanut butter!" he clapped and bounced for a second until Tifa put a stop to it.

"You have to be careful for my baby, Tidus, ok?"

"Sorry, Teefie. I'll be careful." He hopped down and ran toward the cupboard in his dirty bare feet.

After getting the famished boy fed and watered, Tifa searched her computer for the phone number for CPS. She drummed her fingers on her belly while waiting for the line to be picked up. Once she got past the mechanical operators, a real human greeted her.

"Hello," Tifa started, "I'm calling from First Fantasy Daycare. I'm a bit worried about one of the kids who has been attending for about a year…"


Outdoor time was a bit chaotic. Kids were playing as whatever character they were. Liono had somehow climbed to the "roof" of the playground, Batman and Joker had gotten into a fight after Joker taunted Cinderella, Princess Iron Man was chasing Diddy Kong, and Ash and Red had gotten into a heated debate about which Pokémon would beat which. The Crystal Gems were fighting Bowser, Master Chief, and Samus. Nacho Libre had Agnes in a headlock. Mario was racing Sonic and Sonic was racing Shadow, but then the chocobo sprinted head-on into Mario resulting in two bloody noses. Shadow won the race… again. They needed back up. And the helpers… well, they needed help.

Tifa was soon on the phone with said back up. Within 15 minutes, a massive yellow bear (luckily not a horror icon) lumbered onto the playground. "BARRET'S HERE!" the red-shirt-clad bear exclaimed.

Tifa grinned. "Barret!" she shouted. "Glad you could make it!" She eyed her friend. "I'm digging the costume. You're a bear, but this time you don't look like you're wearing a marshmallow."

Barret smacked his hand on his stomach. "Yup. I'm stuffed with fluff," he said. "I thought the kids would like it. Anyway, I brought us some kids from the Hundred Acre Hood."

Tifa laughed when she saw Marlene pulling Denzel out of the building. They were dressed as Piglet and Eeyore respectively. "I don't really think Marlene and Denzel are from the hood, but okay," she chortled.

"Shoot, I'm just surprised ya got spike to dress up!" Barret guffawed, pointing at Cloud. The James cosplayer was separating the Joker and Batman. He didn't notice Winnie the Pooh and company enter the scene. "Anyway, whatcha need us to do?"

Tifa gestured to the playground. "Really just make sure that the kids don't beat each other up," she told him. "And… we have a problem child…"

"The Joker?" Barret guessed.

"How did you know?" Tifa asked in awe.

"Cloud texted me this morning. I was coming whether you called me or not," Barret explained.

She lightly punched his arm. "Awwww, you…" she giggled.

Once they were done exchanging formalities, Tifa went back in to grab her snack. Her stomach was gurgling from hunger. She had just eaten lunch! She went to her usual spot on the bench facing the playground and opened her family pack of Oreos. She also uncapped her thermos of milk and stuck a fork into the frosting of one of the cookies. Once she did, she dunked the cookie in the milk and ate the cookie whole. Whenever she swallowed, she set her hands on her stomach. She blinked in surprise and poked at her abdomen. It was so hard! Was this one of those Braxton-Hicks that she read about? Cloud had wanted to feel one! "Cloud!" she shouted. "My stomach is as hard as a rock!"

James perked up from his place near the sparring ring. Batman and Joker were no longer fighting, but he was keeping an eye on them for good measure. Now she had his attention. He came over and felt where she was pointing. "Whoa…" he gasped and ran his hand over the rest of her equally tough stomach. He turned around. "Hey, Barret!"

Barret came from his place by the tire swing. He had been pushing Mabel and Dipper, so they followed him, too. When Marlene and Denzel saw Barret feeling her stomach with the mystery twins, they joined them. The surrounding kids followed. Soon, there was a small crowd around the now anxious Tifa. They only left when the hardness went away from her stomach. A few kids complained how they didn't get to feel it.


With Barret patrolling the playground, the kids stayed in line. Apparently giant Pooh Bears are more effective at keeping kids under control than a pregnant Jessie. Kefka still shouted insults at Cecil from a distance no matter how much chastising he received, though. Luckily, Golbez stayed near Cinderella, and Zidane hollered back a few zingers to defend his favorite princess. Soon, it was craft time and the kids were taken inside to make paper hats.

The witch hat craft seemed to be a hit! The kids were behaving pretty well since they were so focused on making the coolest headwear. Tifa moved from child to child to praise their work or keep them from over-gluing or cutting themselves. She had to cut for Firion as usual and keep the glue out of Luneth's mouth… as usual. Claire was the first one done. She placed her spider-and-bat-covered hat in her cubby to dry before going back to help with Serah's glitter bomb. Tifa smiled at the cute sisters before looking down at a tug on her shirt.

Irvine handed her a piece of paper with a carefully drawn picture of Meowth's face on it.

"Oh, thank you, Irvine! This is really nice!" Tifa complimented. It actually wasn't that bad at all! The boy had a knack for drawing, it seemed, "I'll go put it up in the front room with the others."

The boy shook his head and smiled, "No, no. That's a costume for your baby, Miss Tifa. I have some tape on it already so you can put it on your shirt."

Tifa blinked before breaking into a huge smile, "Aw, honey, that is so sweet of you! I'll get Meowth dressed right away." She flattened out any small creases in her stretched shirt and stuck the Meowth picture on with pride. "How do I look?"

Irvine laughed, "Good! Well, I'm going to go finish my hat! Let me know if the tape gets un-sticky and I can get more!"

"Well, thank you for making such a lovely costume for my baby to wear. I'll make sure it doesn't get too dirty so I can put it on the wall after today."

The boy nodded and ran back to his chair to finish his hat. Tifa hustled over to her husband, "Cloud! Cloud, look! Irvine made the baby a costume! Isn't it adorable?"

Cloud looked down at Tifa's stomach and chuffed, "That's pretty good."

Tifa snorted and pressed some of Cloud's recovering spikes back flat. James doesn't get frizz. He is far too fabulous for that.

Aqua barked, "Hey! Kefka! What do you think you're doing?"

"Whaaat? I wasn't even doing anything! Unless I'm not allowed to do crafts with everyone else, Miss Aka."

The Cheshire Cat frowned, "Her name's Aqua. It's not that hard to remember."

Aqua shrugged it off and snatched a warm, hidden glue gun from Kefka's lap. "We don't need hot glue guns for the crafts we do. Where did you get it from?"

The other kids paused what they were doing to turn and watch. Kefka shrugged, "Found it."

"Where?"

"My house. Now give it back."

Aqua's eyes lowered. "I'm going to hold onto this until your Aunt comes to pick you up, okay?"

Kefka's face soured. He turned back to his craft with a "Hmph."

Craft time continued without any other issue, and everyone's hats were turning out rather nicely, and other than Luneth getting glue on his everything, there was even relatively little mess outside the realm of glue dots and tiny slivers of paper littering the table and floor. Suddenly Tinkerbelle let out a yelp and fell to the ground with her chair toppling over as well. A few of the kids laughed, Kefka obviously gleaning more enjoyment than the rest, as the little girl started crying.

"Someone glued my hair to the chair…!" she wailed. Locke and Auron immediately joined Aqua as she rushed over to verify the state of Terra's hair.

"Oh, honey!" the helper exclaimed in pity when she saw the tangled mess stuck underneath the lip of the plastic chair Terra had sat in. Tifa came over and reacted similarly while the girl continued to cry.

Kefka was the only one still laughing.

Tifa stood and eyed him. "Kefka?"

His laughter vanished, though a cruel smile still remained, "Yes, ma'am?" he asked calmly.

"Is this why you had a hot glue gun?"

He shook his head. "It wasn't for her originally. Cinderella just wasn't being left alone today is all."

Cecil's face puckered in worry and he checked his hair for glue.

Tifa closed her eyes in irritation. Why, Kefka? Just why?

"Tifa, I got Terra's hair off of the chair, but the glue is still sticky. He put Elmer's on top of the hot glue."

Again. WHY?

Locke took the two steps between him and Kefka and threw a sloppy punch at Joker's face (being dodged as usual). "What the heck, Kefka?! Why are you so mean to everyone?! Say sorry to Terra!"

Kefka's mouth pursed into a resolute scowl, "I hate brats like you the most." The beginnings of magic started pooling in his hands.

And was interrupted by Cloud scooping Kefka up around the middle and ignoring the kid's screeching disapproval. He stood up straight and tossed the boy over his shoulder. "Cool down, kid. Throwing a fit won't get you anywhere." He cast Silence on the blond since it had obviously begun to wear off, then turned to Tifa with a question in his eye.

She pointed to the small yellow chair in the corner, "20 minutes."

He nodded and walked the screaming Kefka over to the timeout chair and plopped him down, but didn't budge an inch afterwards except to stop Kefka's escape attempts. Meanwhile, Aqua had taken Terra to the sink in the infirmary to try and wash the glue out. Tifa let the rest of the kids have free time with supervision from her helpers and started wandering around to patrol.

"Mama! Mama! Look at my hat!" a loud voice hollered up from below.

Tifa knelt down, "Ooh. That's very decorated, Zell. I like your stickers."

The boy beamed and wrapped his arms around as much of Tifa as he could manage. He peered up at her with giant blue eyes, "Pick me up?"

"What do you say?"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaase?"


After a while, it was time for Tifa's volunteers to trade shifts. Riku, Sora, and Kairi would be replaced with Isa and Lea as soon as the two college students arrived. What Tifa did not expect was for Lea to come in wearing a fat suit with giant underwear sewn onto it, a bald cap, and a red towel tied around his shoulders. The kids loved it, though! They were running around chanting "Captain Underpants" for the next 10 minutes! Unfortunately Isa didn't have a costume, but that was only to be expected. Isa seemed far less likely to dress up than even Roxas (and Tifa had suspicions that Namine had talked her boyfriend into dressing up).


As usual, Kefka was keeping a low profile for a while after acting up. He was currently playing by himself on the swings, and this didn't change when Zack showed up dressed as Austin Powers. Aerith had arrived alongside him wearing a cute Union Jack dress with tall white boots. She had also worn her hair down for what seemed the first time ever and was holding it back with a Union Jack headband.

As soon as he entered, Zack swung his arms out and shouted, "Hey, bay-bee!"

Tifa immediately put down Zell and rushed over to the couple. Their costume, however clever, was far too inappropriate for a daycare. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Just comin' to check out the grooviest people at the grooviest place in town!" Zack followed up loudly. Aerith nodded happily.

Tifa sighed and rubbed her brow. "Alright, just… please don't stay in character," she told them.

Aerith scowled and lightly hit her fiancée in the arm. "See!?" she hissed. "I told you we should've gone with the Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes!"

The puppy slumped. "Aww, but they're not relevant!" he whined.

"Relevant to what?!" Tifa exclaimed. "They're timeless!"

Aerith pointed at Tifa. "She gets it!"

"But… but… I wanted to be something cool," Zack blubbered.

"I suggested cool things," Aerith argued. "You said no to Ruby and Sapphire!"

"But they're both girls," Zack retorted. "I can't be a girl."

"No, gems are genderless," Aerith corrected. She turned to Tifa when she noticed that the daycare owner looked confused. "It's a cartoon… you don't really watch cartoons."

Tifa narrowed her eyes. "Is it that Steven Universe show?" she asked. "There's a bunch of kids dressed like characters in it."

Aerith gasped and slapped her face with her hands. "Really? Aw, that's precious!" she yipped. Tifa really had to look into this show. It was like everyone but her knew about it.

Tifa crossed her arms. "So… did Cloud call you?" she asked.

"No," Zack replied. "We were gonna surprise you guys. Looks like it worked!"

"Do you need any help today?" Aerith asked.

"Always," Tifa grinned. "There's a lot of kids."

"That means it'll be even more fun!" Zack chirped. He zipped to the playroom. Aerith followed after him to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble.

From inside the room, an ecstatic Snow belted "Zack's here!"

"Yeah, baybee! And I'm here to stay!"

A loud thumping at the window announced everyone in the room to look at Barret. The large Pooh Bear waved a massive hand, "Hey, Aerith! I found a place that would be good for caterin'! I'll tell you more when we're in the same room, awright?!"

Aerith laughed and nodded before Barret lumbered away, revealing a spidermonkey-esque Zell clinging to the large man's back.

Back in the playroom, Cloud felt a tug on his pant leg, followed shortly by an "Uppie, Croud!"

He blinked and looked down. Tidus was holding onto Cloud's pants with one hand and holding his other hand high in the air.

"Up!" The toddler commanded once more.

"…Why?"

"Up!"

"…"

Tidus started climbing Cloud's pants, so the older man was forced to pick him up, lest his underwear be put on display for everyone in the room. But when Cloud put the kid on his hip (heavily mimicking Tifa's stance) the boy starting trying to climb up higher. Cloud's brow furrowed.

"What do you want, kid?" he asked a bit impatiently.

"Up!"

Cloud shoved a small hand out of his face and put Tidus on his shoulders in an attempt to get the kid high enough to be quiet. It apparently did the trick because Tidus flopped forward over Cloud's head as soon as he was up on his perch. Cloud heard a small chuckle and looked over to find a grinning Aqua, who left the room after being noticed. Tifa came in a moment later and smiled.

"I see that you're still Tidus' favorite," she noted warmly. Cloud shrugged carefully.


Kefka snuck another glue bottle from the box full of Elmer's and stuck it behind the bookcase with the rest of his stash. He only needed a few more bottles now.


Tifa was sitting outside and watching everyone play. She had made sure Aqua was keeping at least one eye on Kefka wherever he was, so that should hopefully keep him from doing anything too evil. She understood that there was still time to do minor damage, but no ponytails could be completely cut off. She adjusted somewhat uncomfortably when the baby moved around and ended up kicking Tifa in the ribs. The baby wiggled a bit more after Tifa moved, and she was pretty sure she felt an elbow and feet poke into her uterus. Tifa rubbed her belly and wondered what it was like in there. Sometimes the baby didn't move very much and it worried her, but today the baby was much more active than normal. Maybe it was from the Braxton Hicks earlier. And she had had another one early that morning, too.

She started poking her fingers hard into her stomach area to feel where her baby's lumps and bumps were. Their head was pointing horizontally to her right, the knees were right behind Tifa's protruding bellybutton, and the feet were curled up out of reach. She went back to the baby's head and started rubbing gently. "Hey little one. You know, you're very active today. That's good. It lets mommy know that you're nice and healthy. But don't keep kicking until you give me aches, because mommy doesn't appreciate that."

Someone came up behind Tifa and rested their chin on her head.

"Talking to your bump again, mommy?" Aerith teased lightheartedly.

Tifa laughed, "Shut up. You'll talk to your eventual bump just as much if not more. You already talk to flowers, Mother Gaia!"

"And I thought you said we were going to synchronize our first pregnancies anyways?"

"Well if you and Zack didn't take so long to get married…!"

"I'm sorry! Our schedules keep clashing…" Aerith mumbled.

"What schedules?!" Tifa chuffed.

"And then his mom got sick…"

"When did that happen?"

"Uh. I mean my mom got sick."

"You would have mentioned it to me and I would have helped out."

"Then Zack's dad got sick…"

"…"

"His dog died?!"

"…Zack never had a dog. His nickname is Zack the puppy."

"…You have to promise not to laugh."

Tifa leaned her head to the side. "Why?"

Aerith went around to Tifa's right and whispered in her ear. "Zack and I haven't ever… you know…"

"So? Neither had Cloud and I before we got married."

"Well, I mean. Weren't you freaked out by it?"

"Uhm…no. Not really. It's just a thing that people do. Didn't you ever have sex ed class in school?"

"I was homeschooled, Tifa."

"Oh, right… And Zack's afraid of it, too?"

"Yeah."

Tifa eyed the man dressed up as AUSTIN POWERS. "Seriously…?"

"Yes! You can ask him yourself on your own, or get Cloud to ask."

"…Ya'll are both older than us!"

"I know! But that's why we've been engaged for so long!"

Tifa smiled and hugged her friend, "Awww. Aerith, you have got to be the purest person I've ever known."

The flower girl laughed. "It can be a bother sometimes, to be honest."

Suddenly, Tifa had the sensation that she needed to go to the bathroom NOW or she would flat-out wet herself. "I need to pee now." She stood and hustled inside with her legs stuck tight together and managed to reach the bathroom before springing too severe a leak. When she reached past her stomach to wipe, she noticed that it was once again as hard as a rock. This was the third time today! And why hadn't she needed to pee so badly for the other two! Agh, whatever. She finished and left the bathroom to go and sit, continuously poking her diamond-coated abdomen because the toughness was so odd.

When she got to her armchair in the playroom, Serah noticed the daycare owner's fascination with her stomach. She trotted over with Claire keeping an eye on her from the book corner.

The little pinkie caught Tifa's attention and she adjusted herself so that her stomach was more accessible. "Wanna feel, Serah? You didn't get a turn earlier today."

Serah broke into a wide smile and chirped, "Yes, please!"

Tifa took the little girl's outstretched hands and held them to her stomach. Zidane noticed the display and ran outside to tell Cecil, who also hadn't gotten a turn. So Tifa wasn't pleased or surprised when more or less the entire daycare once again ended up gathered around Tifa to have a turn touching her tight tummy.

Isa forced everyone into a line with help from Lea, Aqua, Ventus, Terra, Marlene, and Denzel, but it wasn't going to calm down until Tifa's body returned to its boring old self. At least Tifa had several…lets be honest…bouncers to keep the kids in line. Barret was very good at his job, and a couple of ex-SOLDIERs didn't hurt any. Aerith hung around next to Tifa to help keep her from getting nervous.

It's sad that all this is necessary.


Finally! Everyone was gathered inside which was perfect. That's where Kefka's glue pile was. Not to mention, Silence had finally worn off so he was able to combine all the glue into a large floating ball without coating himself. He kept a low profile from under the table (which was covered in a plastic tablecloth). He couldn't strike just yet, though. He peeked out from a fold in the tablecloth. It allowed him to see out into the playroom. While he carefully kept the floating ball of Elmer's in tact, he noticed Luneth. That kid enjoyed the taste of glue. Kefka noted that from the craft.

Everyone was facing the daycare owner, interested in her stupid unborn baby holder. Kefka scowled at how easily amused these other kids were. So her stomach was hard! You know what else gets hard? Glue. Since no one was looking, Kefka slowly began easing the ball out from under the table. Once it was out, he noticed Luneth break into a large yawn.

Perfect.

Suddenly, the mass of sticky white exploded. Kefka took cover under the tablecloth and table while everyone became covered in the white mess. There were loud shrieks and hollers from all that the bomb hit—which was everyone. Kefka bit his lip, trying not to laugh. He hoped that he would get banned from the daycare after this stunt. It was too beautiful to have no effect.

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed the back of Kefka's purple jacket and yanked him out from under the table.


Aqua immediately cast Silence while Barret held up the struggling Kefka. The child couldn't help but laugh, giving himself away. Tifa was livid. By the time she reached Barret and the helpers, eight children had informed her that their costumes had been ruined… as well as their hair. Light was the most upset.

Tifa finally reached the dangling Kefka who smiled at her. "That's what you get for not letting me tell you how I got these scars," he snickered, pointing to his face.

Before she could even say anything, Barret was already carrying the child away. Pooh was sticky, but not with honey. That in itself was unacceptable. Tifa followed, curious to see what would happen.

Barret had slammed the door to the quiet room to have a little talk with the Joker. The quiet room was not so quiet, but Tifa could hear every syllable. Cloud had joined her outside the door. He looked even paler with all that glue. When she acknowledged him, he waved. "My friends call me sour cream," he smirked.

Tifa smirked and started guiding Cloud back into the playroom to begin the cleanup process, but not before Barret's voice made its way through the door. After hearing Barret's start, Tifa decided to stay behind to make sure Winnie the Grizzly Bear didn't go absolutely over the edge.

"Now listen here, you lil' shit," Barret snarled. "I wadn't here lass time you was, but Spike tol' me plenny. So you think you're real funny, huh? Goin' round makin' pranks and actin' a fool. It stops now, Joker-shit. I'm sicka people like you, and I've had it up to here with goddam tricks and antics from lil' punk-asses like yourself."

"But I—"

"Shut your ass up," Angry Pooh Bear continued dangerously. "This attitude ain't gonna get you nowhere in life! As you are now, you're a brat of a kid. Keep it up and you'll be the shittiest excuse of an adult I ever seen. Clean yo' act up or you're gonna run into fellas who'll mess you up more'n I am! Shit, you keep it up and some otha punk-ass is gonna get pissed off at your bigheaded self and he'll put a bullet in yo' head! Now you's gonna go out and buy enough glue so you can repay Tifa for what she's lost cuz o' you, an you're gonna go apologize! Got it?"

The suddenly tiny boy nodded, "Y-yes."

"Yes what?"

"Sir!" he yelped, "Yes Mr. Pooh Bear sir!"

A pleasant smile warmed Barret's face and the grizzly bear exterior retreated, leaving the large man as harmless as Winnie the Pooh once more, "That's what I thought." He reached for the Hunny jar he brought with him and produced a bag of Teddy Grahams from within. He tossed a few into his mouth before offering a small handful to Kefka. "Teddy Graham?"

"N-no thanks."

Barret raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"

Kefka's hand shot out and Barret turned the little bear crackers into the boy's palm. He ate the handful immediately, "Thank you for the Teddy Grahams, Mr. Pooh Bear sir!"

Barret smiled once more before standing, ruffling Kefka's hair, and opening the door to the office, "I'm glad we had this talk. You be on your way, now."

Kefka bolted from the room and ran into Tifa halfway to the playroom. He pulled himself free of her glue-covered exterior and looked up before his lip started quivering. His face contorted into a tight ball before an extremely forced, "I'msorryIexplodedglueoneveryone," escaped him.

Well at least he apologized. You gotta start somewhere.

Tifa nodded, "Thank you for apologizing, Kefka. Would you mind helping everyone clean up the glue? Luneth is still busy getting his mouth rinsed out by Miss Aqua."

Kefka nodded and ran inside to grab one of the mops to start helping the cleanup.


While kids were being rotated in and out of the playroom to be washed off outside, parents started arriving to pick up their sticky little babies. Tifa had Kefka explain to any parents who were worried exactly why their child was or had been covered in glue. What surprised the daycare owner was that the 6-year-old demon prankster took it upon himself to apologize to everyone who asked about the incident, even though it seemed to cause him great discomfort to do so.

Just like last month, Mrs. Palazzo arrived precisely at 3:00 to pick up her nephew. Kefka was surprisingly well behaved and left without any problems. However, Tifa did pull aside his aunt to explain that she was not going to allow Kefka to return. His aunt understood completely although she was disappointed that she lost yet another caretaker for her terrible nephew.

The other kids left without many issues. Tifa had to warn Seifer's mother about her son's first costume. His mother had no idea; his father helped him make it. A few parents (especially Light's) were upset about the glue but tried their best to mask their feelings. Tidus's mom showed up at a godly hour luckily, but she didn't look too great. Tifa didn't show any hint that she had called anyone about Tidus's state.

Finally, it was time to go. Since there were a few mages among the helpers, the glue got cleaned up quickly. However, they were all going to have to shower. Not to mention their costumes were kind of ruined. Magic can't fix everything after all.


Once Cloud and Tifa had showered and gotten into bed, Tifa put their laptop on her lap. She looked at Cloud expectantly once she pulled up Youtube.

"Okay," she told him. "You've gotta show me what that Steven Universe show is. Everyone seemed to be a big fan and I'm the only one who doesn't know about it."

Cloud frowned. "I think that you should wait till you have the baby," he warned. When Tifa gave him a pout, he followed up. "It's a really emotional show… and motherly love… and it's way too cute."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "Then at least show me the first episode."

Cloud sighed and took the laptop. He pulled up the best quality bootleg version of the first episode. "Okay then…"


Thank you for reading! I would say that I'll have the next one out soon, but I don't want to potentially lie to anyone who has read this much, haha... :/

Also, thanks to KROW the intern for writing much of this month! I do promise to write the vast majority of next month :)

THANK YOU!