Summary: A single event can change the course of the future. If a single revelation have been given to Sephiroth before Nibelheim, what would have happened? AU of my own mostly-canon timeline. OCs, rated for lemons, mpreg. Ties in with past fics and oneshots.
Disclaimer: Akalara is mine, Kandi is Amazon's, Lily is Mystic's, canon characters are SE's... You get the basic idea.
Queen's Quornor: So here's a new chapter from me. There is another chapter from teh maniac ready at the gate, but this one has to come first to keep the timeline a little more intact. What I should do is go back, put all of his more recent chapters together, and then post the interspersed chapters from me and Amazon in their proper order. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to just try and do that later, when the fic is finished and I can sort through the various story threads and put them where they're supposed to be in a reposting or something like that. Whatever. Regardless, here's my next. And let's just say there are stormy seas on the horizon for one of our expectant couples...
Trust
Zack jumped a little as the sensor was placed on his stomach. "You could've warned me or warmed that up first, Doc. That's cold!"
Dr. Quorra chuckled lightly as she moved the sensor over her patient's abdomen. "Sorry, Zackary. But perhaps this will serve as an apology." She pressed the sensor, really just a fancy microphone, to a specific location on the SOLDIER's belly, and turned a knob on the connected machine. Kandi grabbed for Zack's hand and held it tightly, tears in her eyes, as the machine began emitting rapid thump-swoosh noises through its speaker. Zack's grin split his face in two, and his violet eyes glowed even more strongly as his emotions grew.
"That's our baby," he announced softly to the other couple in the room.
Sephiroth looked even more stunned than when the MRI scans had been handed to him, but his free hand found Akalara's, his fingers twining tightly with hers as the phantom heartbeat grew louder, stronger. Akalara smiled at her fellow mother-to-be, knowing that in a week or two she would be in his place on the table, listening to her baby's heart for the very first time.
"Baby's heartbeat sounds good and strong. I'd say he or she is very healthy right now, but I won't know for certain until I can perform an ultrasound." Dr. Quorra left the sensor in place and approached the room's remaining occupants. "Are you satisfied, General?"
Sephiroth glanced at Akalara, and his face softened into a loving, gentle smile. "With Colonel's Fair's condition, yes. But there is another matter I - or rather, we - must discuss with you."
"I need you to confirm the fact that I am pregnant, Doctor," the green-haired teen elaborated.
The physician immediately dropped her clipboard, the sharp clatter breaking Zack and Kandi's enthrallment with their child's heartbeat. "What? With whose baby?"
"Mine, of course." Sephiroth stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "She is carrying my child."
"That can't be right," Dr. Quorra muttered, stooping to retrieve her clipboard. "It couldn't be your child, if she is actually pregnant."
Akalara felt her love's arms tighten around her, as her heart hammered in her throat and Kandi reached out, trying to stop the doctor. Or perhaps distract Sephiroth before... "And why not?"
"Because you're sterile."
Kandi's hand fell away. Zack sat up, violet eyes wide. Time seemed to freeze for Akalara, her body turned to ice. She wanted to rewind the last few minutes and rease them, choke the words off in the other woman's throat before they could escape. Sephiroth would surely hate her now. He had repeatedly expressed loathing and disdain for those who were unfaithful, for those who broke their promises. What would he do to her, if he thought she had cheated on him?
Kandi's voice cut through the silence. "That's not what the report said." All eyes turned to the red-streaked woman, who was white as a sheet, but her jaw set. "Hojo's report stated that no human woman could ever bear your children, Seph. It never said you were fully sterile. Just incompatible."
"But there is still no way he could have sired a child on her," Dr. Quorra pointed out.
Kandi crossed her arms, brown eyes boring into Sephiroth's, not the doctor's. "I know for a fact that the General is the only man Ak has been with since her last period. And prior to that, the last time she was with another man was two weeks before it. If she's pregnant, and the baby isn't his, then it would have to be by immaculate conception or something 'cause there's no way it could have gotten in there by normal means."
The doctor chewed her lip thoughtfully, looking over the green-haired teen. "I'll need a blood sample, an amniotic sample, and a mako sample."
"Mako sample? Why would you need to check her levels? Ak's a Turk trainee, not a SOLDIER cadet," Zack said, swinging his legs over the side of the table to fully face his friends.
"Look at her eyes," the doctor stated dryly, crossing the room to open a cabinet.
Kandi approached her friend, cautious of Sephiroth, who hadn't moved or spoken since Quorra's announcement. She leaned forward and squinted, looking into the shorter female's cranberry orbs, then almost fell backwards in shock. "They're glowing!" she shrieked.
"What?!" Zack scrambled off the examination table and over to Akalara. He started to reach for her chin, but a sudden growl from the silver-haired man warned him off. "They are glowing!"
"That's why I need to measure her levels. Turk trainees never get an actual glow. At the most their eyes simply become brighter, shinier than before. A cadet must be exposed to high amounts of mako before their levels get high enough for the glow to manifest." Quorra took four large tubes and three needles out of the cabinet. "I also need a mako sample from you, General. Past a certain level, SOLDIERs have the ability to transfer their bodies' mako to another person, supposedly. I need to figure out where this mako in her system came from."
Akalara nodded, tears filling her eyes. She always felt so safe in Sephiroth's arms, and that remained the case now. But she feared that the moment he let go of her, she would never experience that safety ever again.
SASASASASASASASASASASASASASASA
"We decided not to tell you because we were afraid you'd react this way!" Kandi shrieked, her arms around Akalara while the younger woman cried into her shoulder. Sephiroth had accused his lover of cheating and lying the moment Dr. Quorra left the room, promising to have results soon. Akalara had defended herself, telling him that she hadn't really lied when she had said that she couldn't have children. The only babies she wanted were his, after all, so if he couldn't give them to her, she couldn't have them. The silver-haired man had retorted that obviously she was lying, since she was human and pregnant. This fight hat been raging ever since, with Zack and Kandi defending Akalara's honor against the man she loved, their friend.
"You still should have told me!" the general shouted.
"And what were we supposed to say? Huh? 'Sorry, Seph, but there's way too much mako in your cum to knock a human gal like Ak up'?" Kandi yelled back, stroking the younger woman's hair soothingly.
"Ak's never been anything but faithful to you, Seph!" Zack exclaimed for the fifth time, exasperation suffusing his tone. "She always asked permission to get with me or Reno, and it was always only when you were in the room, busy with Kandi or Lily! She never slept around on you, either, not even when you were on a mission somewhere. Not once!"
"And you were watching her twenty-four hours a day? The entire time?" Sephiroth sneered.
Kandi's eyes flared, and she let go of Akalara long enough to stalk over to the silver-haired man and slap him hard across the face. "How can you say that?!" she screamed as he rubbed his blood-red cheek. "Ak loves you. You're the best thing that ever happened to her, and her to you! Why would she fuck up the relationship she has with you, the future she has with you, for some fling with another guy? You know better than that! Her loyalty is part of why you fell in love with her!"
Sephiroth's peridot eyes grew hard. "Who said anything about a future with me?"
Zack and Kandi's jaws hit the floor at that simple statement. Akalara, however, simply wiped her tears away and went for the door, still crying. She paused before she opened it, turning to look at the man she loved. "I'm not stupid, Seph. I remember what you said in Wutai. I'm pregnant, the baby is yours, and Zack and Kandi aren't the only ones who've defied science lately."
With that she departed, slamming the door behind her. Kandi glared daggers at the silver-haired man and returned to Zack, who stared hard at his friend. "I hope you're happy, Seph. It's your own damn fault if she just walked out of your life forever, and we never see her again."
"But that baby couldn't possibly be mine!" the silver-haired man roared. "I can't have children!"
Kandi slammed the countertop with her fist, absolutely furious with her friend's stubborn pig-headedness. "Then how did she get pregnant? Huh? You're the only guy she's been with in six fucking weeks! Zack and Reno never touched her while you were gone, and she never cheated with anybody else!"
"You weren't watching her all the time! A quickie only takes about six minutes if you do it right!"
"I can't believe you, Seph!" Zack stormed over to the counter and matched up his MRI scans, forcing Sephiroth to look at them. "You want proof that the impossible can happen? The kid inside me is living proof! I got pregnant by a chick in less than an hour, and the kid, the uterus is still in here!" He pointed to his stomach for emphasis. "If a guy can get knocked up by a girl, why couldn't you have knocked up Ak?"
"Because I'm fucking sterile!" the silver-haired man shouted.
"No, you're not."
Dr. Quorra's voice cut through his tirade as effectively as a knife through hot butter. Sephiroth, eyes wide, leaned against the wall as his legs suddenly lost the ability to support his weight. "What?"
The physician, white as a ghost, looked around as she quickly closed the door behind her. "Where's Akalara?"
"She's gone," Zack explained curtly. "We'll tell her the news if you'll tell us."
Quorra looked at Sephiroth warily, then cleared her throat. "I ran the tests three times, to make absolutely sure I wasn't seeing things. Akalara is, in fact, pregnant. The father, unbelievable as it seems, is you, General."
The glow in the peridot eyes lessened considerably as Sephiroth's legs finally gave out, and he slid to the gloor, dazed. "How? I thought you said... The report said..."
"I know. But the mako tests gave me a possible explanation." She flipped to another sheet, ignoring the accusing looks Kandi and Zack were shooting the stunned man on the floor. "Akalara's levels are extremely high, on a level comparable to that of a Second Class SOLDIER. The mako is from a biological source, not the manufactured variety cadets and trainees receive."
"Biological? Did she fall into a mako spring or something?" Kandi inquired, turning a surprised look on the doctor.
Quorra shook her head. "Her mako is mostly secondhand. There were some traces of the manufactured mako from her injections, but the rest is all secondhand biological."
"Where the hell did it come from?" Zack asked, scratching his head.
"The general, of course."
"What?" Sephiroth's head snapped up, eyes wide. "I haven't been swapping blood with her!"
"No, but you have been ejaculating inside her body. And the mako sample I tested matched your sample almost perfectly."
Kandi stared at the doctor, then burst out laughing. "Are you serious?! Her eyes are glowing because he hasn't been pulling out?"
"Completely. All SOLDIERs have their biological makeup altered by mako, and a human body absorbed mako when exposed to it. A woman's body does the same thing to semen. So when Akalara's body absorbed the general's ejaculate, it also took in the excess mako contained therein."
"I thought biological transfer was only possible by blood exchange," Sephiroth protested, fisting one hand in his hair and drawing one leg up to prop his elbow.
"Transfer by semen is only possible at the absolute highest levels of SOLDIER. You and Genesis were probably the only ones capable of it, and now only you. Normal SOLDIERs, including First Classes," she nodded towards Zack, "only have trace amounts of mako in their semen. Very, very little is absorbed into their partner's bodies, and most SOLDIERs don't have girlfriends or boyfriends, which only lessens secondhand exposure to mako. But since there is so much in your ejaculate, and you copulate with Akalara on a regular basis, it had a chance to build up in her system, just like manufactured mako."
"But that still doesn't explain how Ak got pregnant with Seph Spawn," Kandi pointed out, hopping up on the examination table.
"Actually, it might." Quorra glanced at Sephiroth, then returned her attention to the younger man and his lover. "The higher a person's mako level, the greater their tolerance to mako in general. That's why First Classes can be so comfortable in mako-saturated environments that would severely poison a civilian. They've adapted to it, and so can survive relatively unchanged. How long have you been sleeping with Akalara, General?"
"Five months," Sephiroth mumbled, still reeling and holding his head in one hand.
The doctor nodded, satisfied. "The secondhand mako Akalara has been receiving from you must have increased her tolerance to the point that her body is accustomed to it. To yours, in particular. This may have enabled her to accept fertilized eggs that already have a large amount of mako in them."
"So what you're saying is that since one of his sperm fertilized one of her eggs, she can actually carry it to full term?" Kandi asked, brown eyes wide.
"That she is prepared for it biologically, yes. A normal human woman doesn't have that tolerance, and most of the women in SOLDIER wouldn't, either. Furthermore, she is biologically matched for the general's mako alone, since she is accustomed to it. His mako is as much a part of her body as her own genes. So while other women could accept the general's semen, they couldn't bear his children because their own bodies would regard the fertilized eggs as foreign, and not accept them. They would abort the eggs without even realizing they had been pregnant.
"But Akalara's body is used to his mako, to his semen. Any egg fertilized would have been regarded as a normal fertilized egg, and implanted in the uterine wall without incident." Dr. Quorra breathed a sigh and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I don't know how long it took for the acclimation to occur, but I think it's safe to say that, if I am right, Akalara is the only woman on the Planet capable of bearing your children, General. At the present time."
Sephiroth stared up at her, speechless. A moment later his place on the floor was vacant, the door was wide open, and the room was short one occupant.
Zack chuckled knowingly as the papers and MRI scans settled to the floor. "Congratulations, Doc. I think you just solved their first big spat."
SASASASASASASASASASASASASASA
Akalara sat curled on her couch, one arm wrapped around her lower abdomen as she cried for the bajillionth time today. Or was it still the first? She honestly didn't know. It could be blamed on baby hormones, but she knew the truth.
She was crying from a broken heart.
Why couldn't that stupid doctor have kept her mouth shut? If she hadn't spilled the beans, Sephiroth would never have found out about his supposed sterility. He would have remained blissfully unaware, assured of their baby's paternity and completely in love with her. But now...
"I guess it's just you and me now, baby," she sobbed, wiping her eyes and nose yet again. "Your father wants nothing to do with us."
Sudden whines and whimpers filled the air, and Akalara looked down to find Zexion standing with his front paws on the couch, staring up at her with huge blue eyes. Sniffing, she leaned over to pick him up, cuddling him against her chest like a child with a moogle doll. The silvery-purple puppy whined and buried his head under her chin, attempting to comfort his grieving owner.
"I don't even know if he'll come back to me when he finds out that I didn't cheat," she confessed sadly. "He's so proud sometimes. I don't know if he'll tell me he's sorry, that I was right and he was wrong."
She was aware of the room darkening around her, and strong, unseen arms embracing her, phantom fingers stroking through her hair in a soothing manner. In his own way, Zexion was trying to make her feel better and sort of succeeding. The green-haired trainee appreciated the gesture, but she knew exactly who she wanted to comfort her. That was quite impossible, however, since the man she wanted was also the man she was fighting with in the first place.
"What am I going to do, Zexion?" She nuzzled his silky fur sadly. "I can't force him to listen. But if he faces facts and still rejects me, I can't stay here, either. I can't remain here in Midgar, around him, and watching him continue on with his life. Especially if there's another woman involved. I couldn't bear it."
There was a knock at the door, and Akalara tensed, her hand freezing on the puppy's back. She hoped...
But she didn't move. If it was him, she wanted to see him and she wanted to flee out the window and down the back of the apartment building. Was he going to ask her forgiveness? Or would he abandon her, just like everybody else she had ever known?
The knocking continued for a minute, then ceased. More tears slipped down her cheeks; she had lost him.
Her phone rang.
Choking back sobs, Akalara reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "Hello?"
"Akalara."
"Sephiroth."
There was a soft thumping noise at her door, as if he had leaned against it "The tests came back."
"And?" She curled tighter, leaning her head on the back of the couch tiredly. Zexion remained on her chest and stomach, his illusion cradling her securely.
A slow exhalation. "You were right."
The teenager remained silent, not daring to hope. Numb inside.
"I was a stubborn asshole, and what I said to you was unforgivable. All I can do is apologize, and hope you will take me back." A softer thud; perhaps he had leaned his head against the door? I've never begged on my hands and knees before, Akalara. But if it would convince you to take me back, I would." His voice lowered, desperation and apology suffusing his tone. "I'm not sure I can live without you now."
Just a line. Logically, she knew she wasn't the only woman to have heard her man utter that phrase in an attempt at reconcilliation. But now, hurting because of his cruel words and needing him so desperately...
Zexion was placed on the floor and she got to her feet, going to the door. She pressed one hand to the smooth metal, imagining that he had done the same on the other side, and laid her head against the door. "You really hurt me, Seph. I'd never cheat on you. You should have known that."
"I know. But it hurt me that you and Kandi kept this from me. I would have been upset, but I would have accepted it. Finding out like that..."
"I never wanted you to find out because I knew how much you wanted to be a father. I wanted to protect you."
There was silence on the other line, then his voice whispered through the door, over the phone "I would rather suffer the brutal truth, Akalara, then hide behind a shield of ignorance."
She closed her eyes, feeling more tears welling. "I'm sorry, Seph. But what hurt me the most is that you didn't trust me. I trust you with everything; why can't you do the same for me?"
"I don't know. I know how hard it is for you to trust, and I am honored that you find me worthy of it. But when it comes to me... I can't stop thinking about how people have broken my trust. My mother, Dr. Armelia, Dr. Gast, Angeal, Genesis... They all left me, Akalara. All of them." She heard him swallow, and knew he was being totally honest. Nothing was being held back here. "It would kill me if you left me, too. I don't think I have the strength to survive losing you."
The lock was turning before she knew it, and the door slid away to reveal him standing there, phone held to his ear, peridot eyes filled with tears. Akalara stared at him, fully aware of how terrible she must look right now from her hours of near-constant crying, and how doors were opening as the civilians on her hall began peeking out to see what was going on. This would probably be in all the tabloids next issue. But right now, all she truly cared about was the man outside her door.
"You never lost me."
Then she was in his arms, crying into his chest, and he was holding her, so tightly she almost couldn't breathe. But that didn't matter now.
Everything was all right.