I do not own Final Fantasy VII.


The Angel's Heir

Chapter VI: Conversations

When Marlene passed the stairs, she noticed Seraphim sitting on the steps, cloaked in black with his hood drawn up. He turned his glowing green eyes up to her.

She reguarded him briefly before continuing on toward the kitchen. Seraphim followed her.

"What's up Seraphim?" Marlene asked gently.

Seraphim remained quiet, trying to summon up his strength to ask his questions.

"What did you and Denzel talk about yesterday?"

Marlene paused. She then shrugged and said, "Not much." She stood quietly and continued. " Denzel just asked me how your mom and dad just got together is all."

"That's all?"

"Pretty much." She smiled at him.

"So what did you tell him?"

"Nothing, I just told him to ask Tifa about that."

There was another moment of silence.

"So what else did you talk about?"

"We just talked about how life's been since we'd last seen each other."

"Oh, ok." Seraphim remained a few seconds longer then drifted back up to his room.

Marlene sighed heavily and watched as he blended into the shadows. She felt her gut tighten. Vincent appeared momentarily and stood at the counter.

"I'm worried about him, Vincent."

"He has been acting strangely." Vincent followed his grandson up to his room, entering swiftly, without knocking. He went to the bed through the dark and sat beside the brooding young man.

'What's the matter?"

Seraphim didn't answer, he only hung his head.

"You can talk to me."

"Grandpa, have you ever really liked a girl, but she didn't exactly feel the same way about you?"

Vincent smirked and put a hand on his shoulder. "You have no idea."

"What do you mean?"

Vincent's smirk faltered and then looked into Seraphim's eyes.

"I was in love with a beautiful lady named Lucrecia. She was a scientist I was assigned to look after when I worked for Shinra."

"So what happened?"

"I thought she returned my feelings. But then something happened, she became scared of something."

"What?"

"She never would say...the next thing I knew, she was leaving me to go back to her husband."

"She was married?"

"Yes, she and I had a love affair. I never knew if she really cared for me. It turned out though that she left me because she was scared I'd think ill of her when I discovered she had a hand in my father's death...and then there was our love child."

Seraphim dropped his head and looked at the floor.

"She'd become pregnant then went back to her husband for fear of what would happen to our child if he found out it was mine."

"So what happened to my dad?"

"She ended up giving herself and our unborn son to an experiment her husband was conducting."

"A-and?" Seraphim felt himself shivering just thinking about it all.

"Hmn...maybe I'll tell you more later...but anyway, returning to the point of the conversation, it seems that being in love with with women who don't love us runs in our family."

"How so?"

"Your father fell in love with your mother before he even knew what love was. But your mother remained fiercely loyal to a young man she grew up with."

"Cloud...yeah, I remember mom telling me that story when I was little."

"Did she? How much did she tell you?"

"She told me about Avalanche and their quest to bring down Shinra and save the world."

"Did she tell you about Sephiroth?"

"She told me that he was the general of Shinra's army."

"That's all she said?"

"...And that he was a great hero...he fought valiantly and well during the war against Wutai."

Vincent smiled at the way Tifa covered up for Sephiroth for the sake of their children. It would be a pity for them to grow up knowing their father was something less than holy...to know that hell itself couldn't keep him for long.

"Good."

"My dad is a good man." Seraphim turned his brilliant eyes back to Vincent. "I want to be just like him one day."

Vincent closed his own eyes and exhaled deeply, recalling all the reasons why that would be a bad idea. But he just smiled and put his arm back around the boy. "Promise me something?"

"Sure."

"Promise me you'll be better than him."

Seraphim's brow furrowed and he looked into his grandfather's face and tried to find the meaning behind his words; that that request had more to it than the simple sentence allowed. The way he said it, made Seraphim's body grow numb, like he was begging him to retract the fact that he idolized his own father. But as they stared at each other, Seraphim gulped and nodded, and promised.


"So you'll be alright?" Vincent asked as he tossed his tattered crimson cloak over his shoulders.

"I'm sure we'll be just fine." Marlene chirped as she saw him out the door.

"I wish Seraphim would come too." He went out to meet Yuffie, who was waiting with three impatient kids outside. They'd been begging to go to the Gold Saucer all week, but it was only then that Yuffie had finally given in and granted their wishes.

The twins were bouncing all around, with energy summoned from some place unkown. Demetria, on the other hand, was resting quietly in Yuffie's arms and then perked up and started struggling when Vincent walked out of the house.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" She fought to get away from Yuffie, reaching out for Vincent like her very life depended on it.

"Alright, here you go!" Yuffie finally released her and let her teeter across to her grandfather as he scooped her up and hid her playfully under his cloak.

"Seraphim still doesn't feel well, and the heat's been bothering him more than usual lately, as well as the sunlight. Maybe it's best that he stays with me." Marlene supposed as she thought of another wonderful idea. "He can help me run the bar!"

"Hey, good thinkin'!" Yuffie agreed, but then she frowned. "Just don't let him be getting into the liquor while we're gone.

Vincent raised his eyebrow at her and Yuffie just shrugged at him.

"Well, I hope you all have fun." Marlene wished as she waved goodbye to them. The troop piled into Yuffie's old truck and they rumbled down the road toward the port to catch a ship to the Eastern Continent.

As she returned inside, Marlene went upstairs. She paused in front of Seraphim's door and sighed mournfully. He was in there by himself and she was standing outside by herself. They were alone together and would be for another long week. There was so much she wanted to talk to him about, but she was uncertain of how to say it. Her heart thundered painfully and her stomach twisted at the thought of sitting in there alone with him. She found herself breathing heavily, with great effort like there was a weight on her chest. Her entire body trembled and she took a step toward the door only to take step back.

What would she say to him if she knocked at his door? What would she do? Marlene was never the type of girl to be nervous about a lot of things. More often than not, she was the most reasonable, wise, and the soundest mind of all the team ever since she was a little girl. She was the voice of reason when the adults were too wrapped up in their own selfish minds. But now she stood frozen, frightened at the door of a boy she'd known since his birth. A boy who's mother played mom to her when she was a child herself. It seemed without cause, that she'd feel so nervous about being near him alone. But it wasn't fear of the young man that made her feel this way, at least not entirely. He did not literally frighten her; it was something else, something deep inside of herself that made her feel this way.

She took another step back, then retreated into her own room.


"Dad? Can you give me some advice?" Seraphim asked as he rested in his room, his phone nestled between his head and his pillows.

"Of course I can."

"Dad, how did you Mom fall in love with you?"

Sephiroth was stunned. He'd hadn't expected a question like that; but it was bound to be asked at some point. Seraphim was a man now, and it was about time that he'd finally started asking weird questions like that. Sephiroth didn't really know what to say, he couldn't tell him that he'd kidknapped her and held her prisoner for a month - thereby probably inducing stockholm syndrome...Sephiroth shook his head. "Well, she was sad and lonely, so I took her to my house and took care of her. I gave her everything she could need and want and lavished her with all the love and attention I could give."

"Oh...ok."

"What's bothering you, Seraphim?"

"It's nothing."

"Don't do that. Tell me what's bothering you."

"Dad...I think I'm in love with Marlene."

"Marlene?" Sephiroth sighed and relaxed against into his chair. They'll be talking for a while.

"Yeah...I don't understand it."

"Love is difficult to understand. You will question it forever my son."

"And I don't know if she feels the same way."

"You have reason to doubt?"

"Well...there's this other guy. His name is Denzel and he's her childhood friend."

Sephiroth smirked and nodded to himself in understanding. "I know exactly how you feel. Your mother rejected me for her childhood playmate as well...and my mother rejected my father...it seems our family has a curse."

"That's exactly what Grandpa said."

"Pay it no attention, my son. If you truly love Marlene and prove it to her, she'll recognise it and return it."

"You sure about that?"

"I'm positive. I never thought I'd ever truly win your mother: she tossed my heart back in my face numerous times...but in the end, she came around and we got married."

"Well that makes me feel a little better, I suppose." Seraphim still sulked though. "Dad...can I tell you something?"

"Anything."

"I've been having these weird dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Just darkness...all black...and there's a woman there calling to me."

"A woman? Can you see what she looks like?"

"No...only her shape. She's got a beautiful body."

Sephiroth smirked. "And what does she say to you?"

"She keeps calling me to come to her, that she can make all my pain go away. And...she says she wants to 'become one', with me."

Sephiroth's heart skipped a beat.

There was complete silence over the line. Seraphim couldn't even hear his father's breathing. At first he thought the phone cut off.

"Dad? Dad."

Sephiroth drew in a deep breath. "How long have you been having these dreams?"

"Since I got sick last week. Is there something wrong, dad?"

"N-no...it's alright, son...it's just a dream."

"Yeah."

"Pay it no attention."

"Ok."

"I have to go now, I love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

Sephiroth hung up the phone. He sat quietly for a moment, contemplating the meaning. It sounded frighteningly familiar, like he felt when that creature was taking over his mind. But she was dead...dead and buried. There was no way she'd be able to hurt his children. So Sephiroth pushed it away. He didn't want to think what he was thinking. The best thing he could do was pray it would all blow over and nothing was happening...it was all in his head.