Chapter 12

a little family fluff...sorry if it's too much, I was having a lot of fun!

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"What is that?"

"Is that...Sephiroth?"

"HE WILL DESTROY US ALL"

I was suddenly aware of all the voices encircling us at this crucial, catastrophic moment in our lives and realized how badly I did not want everyone's eyes on my family. "Sephiroth," I said aloud. "We gotta go..." He didn't look at me but slowly shook his head in agreement. As we turned away from my apartment and the only home Lucien had ever known, I quickly took one last glance at our past, present and future as it continued to melt away.

The walk to Seventh Heaven was torture as we continued to get many stares and several gasps. I wanted to disappear. The flames and explosion had caused everyone in the slums to step out of their homes to watch the spectacle, but they quickly returned inside when they caught a glimpse of the three us walking through the street. "I wish we could hide a little better..." I thought to Sephiroth. He remained as stoic as usual without an answer and I knew he was still pondering on the events that had just taken place. I knew he was, in his own Sephiroth way, upset over Genesis' death. I also knew how he usually reacted to things and I was sure he was beating himself up over letting him intrude our home in the first place.

"It isn't your fault, you know..." I said aloud. Sephiroth glanced at me for only a second before focusing back on the road. Lucien was walking quietly beside me, watching Sephiroth as if he was going to float away at any minute. I still think he was a bit shocked to be near him.

"I should have been paying more attention." He broke me out of my thoughts and I focused on him again. "You were asleep." At this, I looked back to the road and tried to focus on anything but the fact that my home was destroyed. "Atleast he didn't capture Lucien." As if on que, Lucien reached out and grabbed Sephiroth's hand.

Sephiroth instantly looked down at their entwined hands and his face held a look I had never seen before. He stopped in his tracks and turned fully to Lucien. At this, Lucien almost began cowering away. I almost said something, but Sephiroth then dropped to his level. He studied his face for what seemed like an eternity until Lucien finally put his little chubby hand on his father's cheek.

At that, my emotions exploded.

All the fear, the dread, the sadness came to a sudden halt. I couldn't stop my silent tears as I watched Sephiroth close his eyes for only a second before focusing them once again on his son. "I swear to you, I will always protect you with my life. If anything ever happens, I will always find you...and bring you home." At this, Lucien began to sniffle once again. "I have no home." Sephiroth's face darkened but suddenly brightened back up at my voice.

"We are your home."

Both of my boys looked at me suddenly as if I were their savior, but I continued to look ahead as I searched for the right words as my tears continued to fall for our broken lives. "From now on, when we have a problem, we will face it together. We are a family now and I will not let anything corrupt that...not again." I mumbled the last part but I knew they could hear me. "Genesis is dead. Jenova remains but she is weak without a vessel. As long as we stay away from her, they cannot harm us." I looked to Lucien, then back to Sephiroth letting my words sink in. Sephiroth pondered on my words before standing up, still with Lucien's hand in his. "Jenova will not rein victor in this battle."

I smiled weakly. "I know…we have you to keep it that way. You may be a bad memory to the rest of the world, but to us…you are the only hero we have." "and the only one I want…" My last sentence was thought before I could control it, but in that moment it seemed appropriate and I was glad it had slipped through. Within only a few days, our entire worlds had been stripped apart but seamlessly woven back together in an more beautiful way than before. Sephiroth smirked and nodded his head at me and I headed towards the bar with determination in each step.

When Tifa saw us come waltzing through the front door, I thought I saw her face pale slightly. It must be shocking still to see Sephiroth alive and well...and well-behaved for that matter. "What has happened," Tifa said and quickly dried her hands on the towel beside her. She looked exhausted. Night shifts at a bar had to be utterly draining. "Our home was destroyed. Genesis is dead. And we are all ready for bed." At that, I quickly smiled. The news shocked Tifa but she quickly recovered. "Dear Gaia...Okay well come in, take the room you were in before. Get some sleep and we will all decide what to do in the morning." I shook my head and headed up the stairs, but not before throwing a "thanks" at Tifa. I really was sleepy and so was my son.

Lucien refused to sleep without Sephiroth by his side. I couldn't be in the middle anymore; he had to be able to hold his hand. I don't know if it was the fact that our home had been destroyed or that Sephiroth had once again saved us, but Lucien was determined to not ever let him out of his sight.

And to my astonishment, I didn't care.

I actually loved it.

Having someone for Lucien to depend on besides me for only a few moments... What a relief it was. To know that, in this case especially, If I needed to break down and lose my composure for a bit, I had someone strong enough beside me to pick up the pieces and put us all back together.

SEPHIROTH's POV

I awoke from my dreamless sleep when I heard the door to Seventh Heaven open and shut. The sound was barely audible, but after the events that had just unfolded hours before I was on edge as it was. I looked over to my sleeping family and silently groaned. An elbow was being forced in my ribs and as small and weak as Lucien appeared, the position was unbearable to be a part of any longer.

I stepped outside of the farthest bedroom down the hall and made my way down stairs to see just who had arrived. There in the shadows stood Vincent Valentine. The ex-Turk. I assumed he had been patrolling the area and before I made myself known, I studied him for a bit.

Vincent had always been a mystery to me. I knew he had undergone experiments much like Cass and myself, but I also knew he had something to do with Project S…The same project I was born from. I was not going to confront the man. That would prove to be awkward and difficult, seeing he was just about as social as I was. Still, I wanted to know him a bit better.

I had not even resumed my descend when he spotted me and as I took the last step, I glared in his direction.

Nothing was spoken.

The silence rang thick throughout the bar and it suddenly felt as if the sitting area was much smaller than it had been previously. After a few more awkward seconds, Vincent finally gave and glanced down at his freshly poured gin. I quietly sat two stools down from him and reached over to pour a glass as well. It wasn't until the third glass that I realized we had been in sync with our drinking. Almost down to making the exact same sounds as the liquid burned into our lungs.

I knew that he worked my Mother, my REAL mother. The one that no one liked to talk about. The one who had somehow and for some reason locked herself inside that crystal when all was apparently lost. But I still had no real answers or real truths. Only Hojo's fabricated history books in that damned mansion.

"You knew my Mother."

My eyes narrowed as Vincent seemed to freeze in time. His hand had barely made it to the glass and I realized that my sentence was the last one he ever expected to hear.

"…yes…I did"

I took another shot and looked at him this time.

"Tell me…what was she like."
With that, Vincent swirled to meet my gaze head on with an icy glare. What was it he was thinking?

"I do not feel obligated to be the one to talk to you about your mother."

"Lucrecia."

Vincent's eyes closed briefly in a pained expression that one would have missed by blinking, but I caught it nonetheless. I then came to the conclusion that they must not have been on good terms…at all. "My mistake…I did not realize you held such contempt for her." He blinked and then looked at me and although his face was hidden and as stoic as my own, his eyes held a burning passion that I could only relate in the way I looked at Cassmora.

My face changed and became completely unreadable as I tried to decipher this man's feelings and thoughts. I wanted to read them, but for some reason that I didn't understand, I couldn't. He wasn't blocking me. He didn't feel my subconscious demanding entrance. I just simply couldn't take that extra step. I yearned to hear it instead.

His sighed long and hard and I thought for a moment he would never reply when he finally said it.

"Contempt? No…I worshiped the very ground she walked on. I never held contempt for your mother, or even resented her. I was too madly in love with her for that."

I mentally took a step back. Although I was not astonished to hear him utter those words, the way he said them…almost as if he had an entire sea of guilt swimming around inside of his head. Why was he so guilty? And ashamed?

When I opened my mouth to speak, the words were so foreign that I almost felt childish in saying them. "I feel…I feel as if I am missing something…You loved my mother? But she was married to…" I couldn't even say his name. The thought of that madman being my father was a fact that I had tried to push from my mind since I was a child. Especially after I knew what he had done…

"Yes…I know…I loved her before… and even after…"

Before? He loved her before?..…Did he love her before my birth? Before my conception? Did he love her enough to…?

With a shock that radiated throughout my body, I turned to look at this man once more. His nose, the shape of his eyes. I was searching for something familiar, but all I could see was familiarity. In fact, I couldn't find anything that wasn't familiar besides the color of his hair. I knew mine was because of the Jenova cells inside me. I suddenly found myself wondering what the color of my hair would be if they did not as I continued to study Valentine. The way he carried himself. His stoic personality. Being aloof with the rest of his friends and trying to appear emotionless.

I was just like this man.

I was part of this man.

Dear Gaia….This man was my father.

Did he know? Is that why he was riddled with guilt? Or was he pained to look at me because I reminded him of my mother? I was too intelligent to not come to this conclusion but was he?

I was at a loss of what to do for the second time in a matter of days. Should I ask him? No, that was too strange and nothing like me. Still…Once again, I felt completely immature and almost innocent…

"Is it possible…that you…" I let the words hang in midair as Vincent clenched his fists tight. I could tell he was uncomfortable. I was as well. Which made me mentally find the resemblance even more apparent.

I didn't say the words.

I didn't have to. I knew. And he did too.

"You are aren't you?" He closed his eyes and looked down in mortification. "I don't know for sure…but…"

The wind deflated from my lungs and I felt as if I had been hit by a huge pillar...a pillar of truth. All the lies, the secrets. They made sense to me now and I was silently overcome with emotion. But not in the way you would think. I could've been angry. I could've thrown another tantrum. But Jenova was not part of me anymore, at long last. And for the first time in my entire life, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

With that Vincent, glanced wearily over to me as I looked straight ahead, taking another shot.

"Thank Gaia."

Vincent looked at me shocked and I thought I even saw his mouth open in a small 'o' before returning to his usual self. I glanced at him sideways before beginning my retreat back to my sleepy family.

"Thinking that man was part of me…It was a huge burden that has suddenly been ripped from my shoulders. For that, I thank you." I then took my leave and headed back up the stairs, but not before feeling a tiny fraction of guilt leave his mind and a small sliver of hope replace it.