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Cloud walked with his shoulders back up and his hoodie up. The lights were getting low in wintery Vale. He was asking about my day. I felt a lurch from my gut. Nebel was acting up a little. When Cloud looked my way, I could tell I'd been on his mind. So had our son. We were walking out of Beacon together.

I rubbed the place below my navel and felt a little kick. Or a punch. We called them kicks but he may well have been fist fighting inside of me. Our little son. Our healthy baby boy. And I wanted a boy as my eldest. Someone protective and secure in their own footing. The way his father was. All the time. His father knew his place in the world and his responsibilities to it. He was clever and well read and learned. He had an extra twist to him which made him reach out and take responsibility for half the planet and put it under his thumb. I loved that sense of duty and honor he had.

And I knew it hurt him at times.

I knew he was in pain over his responsibilities. He struggled with himself and us. Me and Ruby and one day our son when he breathed his first breath. Cloud was not a monument. He felt agony. And he was torn between the things he wanted to be and the things he wanted to do. I didn't quite want that for my son. I wanted something like it though. The honesty and honor. The honesty and honor and a bit of his father's mind would take him more than far enough. And maybe if I got to see my husband's cheek bones in my baby. Maybe the shape of his jagged hair. Maybe the slope and point of his chin. I wanted that for my baby boy. He was going to be so handsome if he took after his father and I. He was going to be a straight up lady killer as he grew up. All the little girls would want him. Though if he had his father's honor and pride and blindness he wouldn't do much with it at all.

And I know Cloud himself didn't really see what I meant by 'I want a son just like his father.' He was blind to the best parts of himself. He never really got it. I kinda liked that blindness. And I liked that he didn't really look at other girls. He totally could if he wanted to. He could get away with it. But in his head it was sort of 'what's the point?' He had me and Ruby and that made him happy. He didn't look at his students and he had eyes only for us and that's how I wanted it to be.

His honor and dignity I wanted my son to desperately have. I wanted that for my child so badly I could scream. Just the way he held himself. Like he knew what he could do. He knew what he should do. And his moral code bound him in chains. I knew that wasn't pleasant. But I still wanted it. I wanted my son to have that sense of justice and truth. That same drive which would one day force my husband to confront his family I wanted for my little baby boy. Cloud could say 'no.' If he wanted to. He could live the rest of his life with Ruby and I and never go and meet his mother. But at the same time he could not. It wasn't in him. It was antithetical to his personality. He had to try his hardest to slay Salem. He'd take this vacation and give us a family but one day he'd have to face them.

I loved that sense of justice he had in his heart. No, in his soul. He loved us but not even that was enough to hold him back from his destiny. I liked that he fought me on it. He drew a line and said 'no' to me. He told me he had to go. One day he'd have to fly. And it would be wrong of me to try and hold him back when that was all he ever really asked from me. It was my permission to one day face his destiny. He never asked for anything else besides my love which he had.

That honor. The way he held himself in check. He could be doing whatever he wanted. He was strong enough. He could be raping and pillagine his way across several continents. Instead he chose to be a hero. He chose to save people. He chose to sacrifice himself and destroy himself. That's the sort of man he was. That was the sort of man I wanted my son to be even though I knew it would bring him struggle and strife.

I didn't want an easy life for my son. I wanted it to just be the right kind of difficult. I wanted him to experience turbulence and love his little sister and other siblings. Ruby's babies. I wanted that sort of emotional hardship for him. I never wanted him to be hurt but I wanted him to be forced to grow. Cloud had been forced to grow. Pyrrha's death and roaming with Ruby in the countryside made him stronger and he became a better person for it. Even Ren and Nora's death made him a better person. He knew his power and that limits should be set on him. And if no one would put those limits on him, then he should put those limits on himself. How many people would do that with as much power as he had? How many people would go looking for things to check and balance them?

I grew up surrounded by powerful men. I knew what they wanted. They wanted more power. Unendingly they wanted more power. Cloud wanted less power. And sure he had power in a different way but given the choice he would abandon his strength. And that was his greatest strength. He didn't want to have all this responsibility and nuance. He wanted less of it. Given the choice between being who he was with all his strength or being some common civilian he would choose to be a civilian. Granted I wanted my son to have power. Especially if he decided to be a hunter. Just maybe not as much as his daddy did. His daddy. My baby's daddy. I never called my father daddy. He just plain wasn't to me. But Cloud had it in him to be my son's parent and dadda. Our first son would draw breath into this world and I knew that would change Cloud. He wouldn't be the same person he was now. Right now he was uncertain when it came to my baby. But once he stretched his tiny arms and grabbed with little hands outward and upward I knew that would change. Cloud would change. And it would change him for the better because despite what he may think, I knew Cloud could do this and be a parent in a way that would shame my own family.

My absent mother and my father who was present in all the worst ways would have nothing on Cloud who was loving and caring and protective. And I wanted my son to have some of that protectiveness. I wanted him to guard his sister and other siblings with jealousy. Having parents who looked out for you was one thing and it was a good thing. But I knew from experience how valuable an older sibling who had your back really was. I'd had that. With Winter. She used to take care of me when nobody else would. I loved her for that. I wanted to love on my children but I knew that if I could set my son up correctly he would be precious to his siblings. He'd be a protective and confident oldest. Like my own older sister had been.

Cloud was kind just as he was strong. He always had his head on a swivel as he looked out for danger. He protected me back in Mistral. He did his best to shield the rest of us from the horrors of lower Mistral. He just happened to fail but he still tried. Even though I'd hurt him he still tried to look out for me. And he came along with a little white rose for me. I wasn't sure where he got it or if he even remembered that. He gave it to me in a quiet gesture. Gentle and solemn as a mountain. He shrugged me off when I suggested he give it to Ruby. Ruby really did prefer quality time over gifts so perhaps he'd been right. But the little rose to let me know that he was thinking about me had gone a long way with me. He'd been sweet despite his newfound power.

Then it happened.

The event.

Where he killed Ren and Nora. And he never really got over that or forgave himself. I really struggled to blame him for that because that was one of the ways he kept himself checked. He respected the control Salem had over him. Too much at times but he still respected it to the nth degree. He knew how dangerous he really was now that he was the strongest of us. He knew how bad things could get if he fell off the wagon. And he did that one time. He fell and woke up with his fingers around Ruby's neck. But I was right. He never let it happen again. I wasn't sure how. I didn't really get the details on how mind magic worked other than that it was a little like how aura worked.

Through aura you could feel what someone else was feeling. With mind magic it sounded more forced. Like you had to feel what your attacker felt and they had to feel what you felt. It wasn't a simple speak and obey command that Salem placed on him. It was this complicated and tangled ball of convincing and conniving words that imprisoned his thoughts and compelled him to follow his emotions. Then she trailed his emotions like breadcrumbs and that's why he had to obey. I think. I wasn't totally clear on how it worked. It wasn't simple and he'd told me it wasn't an on or off thing. It was a question of how much or how little but never of nothing at all. They still talked. Him and Salem. Him and his mother. They had little chats where they discussed such trivial matters as what does it mean to be a person. Or what does it mean to be alive. And they genuinely tried to get to the bottom of it together.

I wasn't really sure how you could. To me some questions were just unanswerable. So you should probably stop trying. But if you gave Cloud a problem and told him there was no solution he would still bash his head into that wall as he tried to figure it out. He was stubborn like that. He was hungry like that. He didn't like being told that something was impossible or if it was impossible he wanted to know why it was impossible. He lived for that struggle of defining himself. He knew that he struggled in vain sometimes. But he still believed in it. He still wanted that sense of identity which came from struggling against the seemingly impossible. He loved that.

Ruby was like that too in a lot of ways. I told her that her big family was probably impossible and she sure showed the shit out of me. Maybe that was my type. Because when Ruby wanted something and she wanted it her way then she would fight tooth and claw and bite her way until something gave. It wasn't always a good thing

And she was going to be a phenomenal mother.

Cloud it was sorta of obvious he could be a good father if he got over himself and his own fears. For Ruby it was pretty clear she was going to be fantastic. I loved how much she loved our son. She wanted things to be equal between us and she wanted to share in my baby with me. She wanted to love on our baby boy so bad it hurt her. I could feel it. She was in almost physical pain over how badly she wanted to snuggle my baby's face into hers. I could feel how bad she wanted it through our aura when she touched me just above the navel to feel the growing baby kick.

When she touched me I just knew how good of a mother she was going to be. She was empathetic. She would never ever go to far or hurt our babies. She would always be on top of it and this was her dream after all. I cherished her for that. And I wanted my son to get some of that empathy from her. She was such a sweet little soul that there was nothing to do but give her what she wanted. That's the real reason she was able to look up at Cloud and I with those gorgeous silver eyes and get whatever she wanted. It was because she was a sweetheart and she would never knowingly abuse the power she held over us.

So it was pretty apparent to everybody that she was going to be a fantastic mother and I hopped that she got to carry a little girl just like she wanted as our second. Our second. And I was sure to differentiate between the two of us but it was only for the sake of our sanity. Constantly referring to our first baby this or that way rather than my son or her baby was tiring. But it really was both of our first and both of our second. I know she saw it that way. I know that I saw it that way. Now that that was established we could start separating our babies based on birth mother rather than just age.

And she was going to be so good! I could only pray that I would be half as good of a mother as she was going to be because half of what she was packing was more than good enough. I mean… I really wanted to do better than just half as good as her. I thought I was going to be alright. I just didn't think I was going to have much on her. She was just going to be so good. I could not overstate how important her empathy was going to be. She was constantly going to be trying to put herself into our babies' little shoes and trying to do better than she was doing yesterday.

It was going to be embarrassing for me. I fumbling around my son while she had everything under control. That was going to be rough. But I couldn't truly complain because she was on my side. She was battling out of my corner. And I really shouldn't be too worried about competing with her and trying to keep up when she pretty much was going to nail it every single time and I just had to live with that.

I felt a sharp pain from my side but kept walking and ignored it. It was just a little hiccup and nothing more.

Cloud was walking purposefully slowly to match my gait. I really did waddle. Oh! That was frustrating! But I suppose it would be over soon. I wasn't the sort who waddled. I was… I was better than waddling. Even while pregnant.

I felt a second sharp pain from lower and stopped and gasped. I felt Nebel stir inside me and I clutched my stomach. A contraction rocked my whole body and I almost fell over.

"Oh!" I groaned and wobbled.

"Weiss?"

I felt my water break.

It was an almost indescribable sensation as liquid poured out of me. Another contraction rocked me and I swayed but Cloud caught me.

"Ah…" I panted.

"Weiss?"

"Oooh. It's happening. It's totally happening." I informed him in the middle of the Beacon courtyard. "I'm about to oooh," a contraction shook me. "Call Ruby. He's coming. My son is coming. Ow. Okay. I'm alright."

He picked me up bridal style and swung me along. Then he took off like a jet.

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-WG