Author's note: This is a collaboration between Ceara Ivory and Myself. We don't own Final Fantasy VII.

Those Chosen By The Planet

Disc 2 Part 8:

Decisions

Airlia sat in the darkened room, at a loss to help her child and at a loss to do a wife's duty for her husband. She knew they had talked about the possibility… That she could almost sense it within her body… Still, the news had hit her hard as her parents had seen the subtle signs that she needed a little time alone, and had taken Marlene to the play area to enjoy some downtime. The tears had run their course, though it still felt like a knife to her heart. A knock to her door told the brunette that Jenova had come. Getting up, she allowed the older woman to enter. "Welcome Jenova. Come on in and have a seat." At least Marlene doesn't have to suffer anymore.

Jenova came in and sat down. "Where is Marlene? I will need to talk with her as well." The woman explained. In her hand, she held a little gift. "I also have a gift for her that will keep the bad spirits from tormenting her until we have this little matter under control."

Airlia gave the woman an understanding smile. "My parents took her for a short time to the play area so I could process some emotions after the news I received. They should be back…" The door opened as Marlene came in. "Any time now." Airlia finished with a laugh.

Maeve and Arnold came with the little girl. Marlene rode atop her grandfather's shoulders. "Mommy!" She let Arnold put her down and she ran to her mother.

Jenova sat as she watched the mother and daughter embrace. She sighed. How she wished she'd gotten to do that with her child. No, Sephiroth wasn't completely hers, but he was as much hers really as that woman who birthed him. "Well, to the matter at hand then and then maybe you and I can have a short chat. Get to know each other." Jenova suggested as she held a small, prettily wrapped box with a bow on top of it. "Hello Marlene, you may call me Aunty Jenova."

Marlene smiled widely, "Wow I keep getting richer! I have lots of family now!" She ran to hug the older woman after releasing her mother from her hug.

Jenova accepted the hug and sat with the little girl on the sofa. "Marlene, I hear you've been seeing...things… Can you tell me about them?"

Marlene shivered as her eyes glazed in fear. "I … I can try. They're these… clouds that hover around people… They're angry that I helped my papa to be free of one."

"And how long have you been seeing these clouds or ghosts?" Jenova asked. "Rest assured I do believe you but I need more so I can help you."

Marlene nodded as she went to her mother for comfort. "Ever since I can 'member. They were always around three in particular… my papa and two of his men… They made them … mean."

Jenova gasped. "Mean? Oh wow. Did they hurt you? Or did they make the men hurt you?"

Marlene nodded, "The clouds couldn't hurt me, but they were mean… saying mean things to me… Papa never hurt me, but Biggs, he would try to hurt me when papa wasn't near. Saying he said it was okay… Mommy tried to protect me as much as she could."

Jenova pet the girl's head in a comforting manner. "There there little one. Now I can help you. I can't make it go away. You are what we call a sensitive or clairvoyant. This is a very special gift indeed."

Marlene looked up, her brown eyes shining brightly. "Special?" She was unsure of how she could have a special gift if it let her see mean spirits that wanted to scare her or have someone hurt her.

Jenova nodded. "Oh yes. Only special children can see through that veil between the two planes. But not all of these ghosts are bad. These means spirits are, but not all of the spirits are. Many are actually very good. What I will teach you is how to choose when you see them, when you hear them. You're going to take the control back."

Marlene smiled with relief in her eyes. "Thank you. Boko, a long time friend, has finally come back and has been at least helping me to sleep at night."

Jenova smiled gladly. "I have a present for you." She handed Marlene the wrapped box. "This trinket is a powerful object that you kill the bad ghosts away while we work on the rest."

Marlene smiled as she accepted the box and gave a look to her mother. "Can I really have it mommy?"

Airlia nodded, a gentle smile on her face. "Of course Marlene. She made it to help protect you from the bad spirits. Why not open it up baby girl?"

She tore into the box and found a beautiful necklace that held a strange, glittering green gem that when held in the light, shined with various colors, like purple and blue dangling from it. "Wow, it's really pretty Aunt Jenova."

Jenova smiled, "It's called a Mystic Fire Topaz. It will help you to be able to ward off the evil spirits because they can't stand anything forged from purity."

Airlia helped to put the necklace around Marlene's neck. "There you go sweetheart. Now you have nothing to fear while you train with Aunt Jenova. She'll keep you safe, I know it."

Jenova looked at Airlia. "Now why don't you and I go grab a bite so we can have our own chat. Concerning her lessons of course..."

Maeve and Arnold nodded as they turned to Marlene, "Want to go see your cousin Sephy?" Her only response was a squeal of joy as they laughed before taking her from the room.

Jenova looked at Airlia. "Now tell me your trouble. I cannot promise to be able to fix it but I might."

Airlia frowned, "It's unfortunately unlikely Jenova. As you know I suffered six terrible years of abuse." She lowered the collar of her dress to show some of the scars there. "I have more from when I shielded Marlene or was just plain beaten. I found out my growing concerns lately were right... The abuse has made it so that I can't have any children of my own except for Marlene. I adore her, do not misjudge me. But it would have been nice to be able to have my own children with Rufus. To show that there was one thing they couldn't steal from me."

Jenova sighed. "I'm going to tell you a secret. Sephiroth is not mine biologically. Well he is and he isn't."

Airlia blinked, "What do you mean?"

Jenova explained the Jenova project involving a defected Cetra and Hojo of Shinra. "Lucrecia sadly lost her life and I was hidden away for my safety. I didn't birth Sephiroth and I'm the last of my kind. I won't be having children biologically. I was saddened to know this. But Sephiroth needed me and wanted me as his mother."

Airlia sighed sadly, "How awful! Still," her eyes took a faraway look. "Part of you is in him. Rufus isn't within Marlene's genetics. I know he loves her to death, as do I. But I know part of him will still be hurt that we can't have children. And for me, I think it's just the culmination of everything I went through finally hitting me. They were able to steal one last thing from me. They stole my daughter from me after forcing me to carry her to term. They forced me to live with knowing she was mine, but would never be mine. That's why even if it felt like I would break from the pain, I had to shield her from their blows as much as I could, or redirect it to me with breaking a bottle of liquor. Because I couldn't let them hurt her."

Jenova smoothed the girl's hair soothingly as she did Sephiroth often. "I know it hurts. This is going to be hard. Have you talked to Rufus about this?"

Airlia nodded. "I did – when we were on our way to Wutai, I mentioned my concerns. Because my body felt weird so to speak. I couldn't put my finger on it, but part of me just kind of knew what was happening to me even if I didn't actively want to acknowledge it. He merely smiled and said we would adopt if necessary. It just hurts to know that he probably hoped somewhere within him that we could only for this to happen."

Jenova pointed towards the front door that had opened a little while ago. "I don't think it bothers him as you think it does."

Rufus had heard the news from Hojo and came as soon as he could. "Airlia..."

She blinked back her tears rapidly as she stumbled over her words mentally… "Rufus…" Her words failed her as the pain crashed through her of the truth of the matter.

He swept in and sat with her. He held her close. "I don't care if we can't have children of our own! I'm honestly kind of glad for this..."

She leaned into his embrace, "I just wanted one little piece of control over my life since so much of it was pulled from my hands for so long. Because I do want to adopt children, but I wanted it to be my choice, not because having children biologically was pull from me forcefully."

"I know, I understand, I do but..." He stammered. "Did I tell you about my mother?"

Airlia shook her head, "No… I never really got to know her…"

"She had a really hard time carrying children," Rufus began. "They adopted Anna and somehow after became pregnant with me. She nearly died having me. But she made it. Then...she got pregnant again...it was awful for her... She went into labor too soon and she and my baby brother died of complications."

Airlia smiled sadly as she held him tenderly. "I am glad that I won't be able to give you that worry, it was just one thing that I wished we could have decided together instead of it being made for us my love. It just seems the more I look at those years, the more they keep taking from me. The hardest part still is, to this day, knowing I couldn't be involved with my own daughter's upbringing or even choosing her name. I know one day Barret will tell her mildly the truth of things, beyond that I'm her mother. Because he knows, as do I, that some day someone with the wrong frame of mind is going to just blurt it out and it will come back to haunt Marlene. I don't care what people say or think about me. But she suffered more than anyone."

"Don't let them haunt you anymore," Rufus pleaded. "Don't give them that satisfaction. You are free now. And I honestly would not have even wanted to risk it. Adopting is better in every way. Especially since Father blamed himself for it. Because it does take two to tango as they say. This is better. You won't...I won't lose you that way. Father is glad he has me of course but I know he wishes that he had stuck with adoption. Losing her nearly killed him."

Airlia nodded as she kissed his cheek gently. "I know my love, but while it's selfish of me to wish I could have my own, because of the love we share, I wouldn't have minded adopting. It was just one further control of myself that I had lost." She held him as her tears returned of bitter, keen pain. But their release was necessary to begin moving on.

He held her and let her cry. Jenova wisely bowed out, leaving to return to her son and his family. "Cry Airlia, it's okay. Cry. I'm here."

Airlia just let the tears fall as she held him tightly, her body had healed as much as it would in the state of it's condition. She would have to work on trying to strengthen it herself so that she can move as 'normal' people did. When her tears slowed down, to eventually stop, she wiped at her face. "Thank you my love… for understanding."

He rubbed her back. "And I want you to know. I'm not going to let you or Marlene be hurt by this either. The general public doesn't need to know any of this. They know about my mother. As far as they're concerned. We discussed it and we agreed that adoption was our best option because of my fears and trauma. Yours is none of their business."

Airlia nodded as she smiled while her tears dried away. "Thank you… for everything." She decided to change topics, "How did things go with showing Yuffie the windmill idea?"

Rufus smirked. "The little thief loved the designs. I think it was cute how her father tried to...defend her…"

Airlia giggled. "He tried and failed miserably to cover up. But honestly it didn't matter at that point. We had the materia back, and they offered to help find ways to deter other thieves, so it will work out for the best in the end."

He chuckled. "Yes hopefully we can finally get those windmills up and running."

Solomon chose to follow his daughter and her family back to their apartment. The once-missing mother wanted terribly to get back to some normalcy and make her family a meal. Or...order up a meal anyway.

"So Daddy, what have I missed?" Anna asked as she tucked a napkin into Sephy's shirt as they served up the gourmet take-out.

Solomon smiled. "Well let's see – we'll start with some easy things. Found the stolen materia from the windmills. We're currently employing a master thief to try and make it impossible for other thieves from stealing them in the future. We have Mr Wallace resting comfortably in the recovery ward while Hojo monitors the new hand he gave him. Your brother as you know asked Miss Marchand to marry him at last."

Anna smiled happy. "Yes, I am so glad. And I'm glad Mr Wallace is okay. He was very odd up until Junon. Sometimes it was like he was a different person. I'd like to see him later or tomorrow perhaps. Check on him. How is Aeris doing?"

Solomon frowned, "She is resting comfortably, though she is still in her regret stage of things. It's also come out that Airlia is Marlene's mother – biologically speaking. So we've done a birth certificate for her properly… Rufus offered without a second thought to be the father."

Anna smiled about that. "I'm glad he did that. He'll be good to Marlene… How was Mr Wallace about that matter? I know one thing was irrefutable. He loves that child, he loves her to pieces." She told them about the Zolom attack. "All he cared about was saving Marlene. He knew I could easily have fled with her into the caves and hidden but he… he loves her."

Solomon nodded. "Airlia already decided that he will still have a part in her life, so long as he allows them to have an active role in parenting. According to Rufus, Barret didn't even expect her to say that much to him. She was just very muted about the whole topic, but she got to finally have her confrontation and she had no hate going into it. We still have the other resting in a cell." He didn't want to alarm Sephy.

Anna nodded. "I'm so happy things seem to be working out. We just need to keep an eye out for that...demon… I'm sure the Cetra will keep trying. Jenova's going to look into destroying that materia but she wants to be sure destroying won't have catastrophic consequences as well."

Sephy looked at his plate and fiddled with the vegetables on it. "Mommy I don't like dis." He shoved away the broccoli.

"Sephy, you haven't even tried it," Sephiroth said before Anna could respond. "Here, try this." He took some shredded cheese and put it over the broccoli. "Now let it sit just a few moments so it can melt, then try it."

Solomon grinned as he watched Sephy take a small bite with the melted cheese and put it in his mouth. A moment later, the piece was devoured with childish glee. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Much like you were at that age Anna. Both you and Rufus had problems with certain foods that if you added another element to it, you'd just eat it alive."

Anna giggled. "Well to be fair, broccoli is not very good plain, Daddy. If it's cooked, it needs seasoning, salt, pepper, cheese. If it's not cooked then it needs ranch dressing, or bleu cheese. Either will do." She took a bite. "Yeah, the chef forgot to season these. He must have been busy cooking the rest. Sephy, I got dessert...your favorite…"

Sephy grinned in joy as he saw a big bowl of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. "Yay!"

Solomon got back to the task at hand. "I'm going to see if Rufus and Airlia are okay with doing a private ceremony for now. As quickly as possible so that when the world demands a big fancy thing, it doesn't matter if someone tries to do something stupid, not that the Turks would allow it."

"I'm glad, Airlia and Rufus deserve a little peace," Anna stated. "Everything is going so well now…"

Wedge growled as he looked at his cell wall. It was all he had seen for the last while since he was abandoned by Barret. If only he could have killed that little whore… Then they wouldn't have even known about who they were. It was all her fault.

A black misty cloud slowly took form in front of him, shaping into a Behemoth creature. "Yes, you are angry aren't you? Your friend abandoned you to die. Your whore stole your daughter from you. Barret claimed her as his own. Now another man...claims her…"

Wedge growled as he spoke, "Oh let me guess, the Shinra Prince wants my daughter as his own, as if I don't have enough people wronging me in this fucking life! That whore! So she hopped into his bed after running from me with my daughter. I knew I should have killed him."

"What if I said you could…" It hissed in Wedge's ear. "What if I could give you your revenge?"

His brown eyes brightened, "And what price would it come with?"

"Oh nothing big, I promise. You see...I want revenge on them too…" It hissed. "But as you see my form is not solid. I need your help. You need mine. All I ask is the use of your body."

Wedge nodded, "All I want is to have my daughter back from the men who stole her, and for all three of them to pay with their lives. Give me that, and I promise you, you may use my body."

The Behemoth grinned a toothy smile. "I will require payment in advance if this going to work at all." It said. "Let's kill them all…"

Wedge nodded. "Yes, let's. What do I need to do?"

"Just open wide and hold still," The Black Cloud aimed for Wedge's mouth and oozed into the fat man's body.

Wedge remained still, mouth open until the cloud had fully vanished into his body. He grinned frighteningly as his eyes turned pitch black. Yes, this will be my revenge at last!