Disclaimer: see chapter one


Nero gently ran his fingers through his son's hair, "Come on kiddo, wake up."

Dominico finally began to stir, blinking his eyes and stretching his arms as he finally woke up. " Morning mama," he said with a wide yawn.

"Good morning to you too. Who were you talking to in your sleep last night? You must have been having fun too, because you were laughing quite loudly," Nero said, giving Dominico a warm hug.

"No, mama," Dominico said, meaning nobody. Nero understood.

"Ok get dressed, breakfast is ready," Nero said, standing up and walking out of the room.

Dominico sat up and rubbed his eyes before climbing out of bed. "I wonder why my friend looked so sad," he thought to himself. "Maybe I will try to get it out of him tonight".

Dominico got up and dressed, then went downstairs to get breakfast. Nero was on the phone with someone as Dominico entered the kitchen.

"Sounds fantastic. See you this afternoon," he said before hanging up the phone and turning towards Dominico. "That was Uncle Sephiroth. We are invited over for dinner today."

Dominico smiled and climbed up onto a stool to eat his cereal. "Where Papa?" he asked.

"Gone out of town with Cid Highwind. He will return tomorrow," Nero answered, handing Dominico a glass of juice.

Nero watched his son carefully. It was amazing to see the change in his son. In only a couple of the days, the sadness that seemed to linger around him had all but vanished, and he was nearly back to normal. He did however seem more thoughtful the past few days.

Nero figured Dominico would tell him when he was ready, but for now, Dominico was happy, and that's all the mattered to him.

"We have a few hours before we go over to Uncle Seph's, what do you want to do?" Nero asked, pouring himself a coffee. "Want to watch a movie, or play a game?''

"Colour," Dominico said around the mouthful of cereal he was eating.

"Don't talk with you mouth full," Nero gently chided, "I will go get your art supplies."

Nero practically bounced up the stairs, he was so relieved. It had been 2 weeks since Dominico had touched his art supplies. He walked into Dominico's room and selected one of his son's adult colouring books from the bookself. He smiled as he picked up the ocean themed one remembering the 4 page piece Dominico had worked so hard on to present to him on Mother's day.

He picked up the leads and headed back downstairs again.

He placed the items on the dining room table and told Dominico they were there.

Dominico sat down and picked up his leads. He opened the book and got straight to work. He worked quietly on his colouring until it was time to leave, to go to Sephiroth's.

They arrived at Sephiroth's a little early so Dominico had time to play a video game with Uncle Cloud. Nero watched as they played the game, racing each other around a track, throwing obsticles in each others way, trying come out the victor. Dominico was winning, but Nero had a feeling that it was because Cloud was letting him.

Sephiroth watched Nero closely, noticing the relieved smile on his little brother's face as he watched Dominco laughing at his Uncle, triping over something Dominico had thrown in his way.

"I take it he is doing much better?'' Sephiroth asked, walking over to Nero and watching his husband playing with his nephew.

"Yes, much better. Whatever was bothering him seems to have disappeared. He is almost back to his happy self again," Nero said, turning to his oldest brother, with a smile on his face for the first time in 2 weeks. "I am so relieved."

Sephiroth looked at Nero and nodded. "You said he is almost back to his old self. What did you mean by almost?" he asked, heading back to the kitchen to check on the roast he was cooking.

"Well, he is just as happy as he was, but he seems to be a lot more thoughtful lately. Like he has something on his mind," Nero said, joining Sephiroth.

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Sephiroth asked, taking some plates down from the cabinet.

"I tried, but he has indicated that there is nothing wrong. I am wondering about 1 thing though," Nero said, taking flatware from the drawer and headed for the attached dining room.

"What's that?" Sephiroth asked, following him so they could set the table.

"He hasn't taken me back to the dreamscape yet. I am wondering why. He sort of told myself and Father last night that he had to repair it, but I got the feeling he was hiding something," Nero said, laying out the flatware on either side of the plates Sephiroth placed on the table.

"Hmm, that is weird," Sephiroth commented. "Are you going to ask him again tonight?"

"No. I don't want to push it. He seems content, and I wish for him to remain happy," Nero said, finishing up his task. "I just hope he is ok."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Sephiroth said, laying a hand on Nero's shoulder amd smiling at him. "Just give him so time."

"Yes, you're right," Nero said.

They stayed at Sephiroth and Cloud's until well into the evening, playing family games and watching movies. It was the most relaxed evening Nero had had in quite some time, and he was quite glad for it.

When they arrived home Dominco headed straight upstairs, and Nero assumed he was tired and wanted to get ready for bed. Instead Nero found him in Vincent's office, sat at his desk, looking at the computer. Vincent allowed both Nero and Dominico to use his computer whenever they needed to. He himself had very little use for it.

"What are you doing, Dominico?" he asked, walking over to the desk to see what his son was studying so intently.

"Looking," Dominico said, pointing to the screen. Nero looked at what his son pointed at, it was a list of names, some were from Gaia's ancient history. Some were names of old Gaia gods, and some were from the constillations that were above Gaia's sky.

"Why are you looking at names, Dominico?" Nero asked, both confused and concerned.

"Project," Dominico said, scrolling farther down the list. He highlighted a particular name.

Nero looked at the name he had selected. "Saitharius," he said, impressed. "That's a powerful name, Dominico," Nero commented laying a hand on the child's head. "It means dark warrior in ancient Gaian," Nero said.

Dominco smiled. It was perfect for his new friend. He couldn't wait to tell him.


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