Chapter 21: Aqua's Quest for Motherhood

Nomura, a mysterious fellow adorned in shiny samurai armor from head to toe, sat alone in his Square Enix HQ office suite, doodling a sketch of a Kingdom Key flying straight toward the bent-over backside of one Cid Highwind. While getting the swooshy air-lines around the Keyblade just right, Nomura chuckled behind his mask and approved, "Nice."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Nomura tried to look busy, stacking papers and reshuffling them. He said, "Come in."

It was Aqua; dressed casually, she walked in with the sole mission to intoxicate Nomura with her smile, also greeting him, "Hey there, Mister Game Developer—!"

"Director," Nomura corrected.

"—Mister Director of…Games! I am so excited to speak with you today!" She took a deep breath and analyzed her level of sugary enthusiasm, determining an extra pinch was necessary to set up the point. "Your armor looks incredible—"

"It looks spectacular, I know—what is it that you want, Aqua?"

"I—ahem—I wanted to discuss with you the possibility of letting me become a mother in the near future!"

Glancing up from his important stack of blank papers, the armored game director guessed, "A mother of…a new fighting technique? A new shotlock? A situation command, what?"

Stymied by his cluelessness, Aqua smiled awkwardly and replied, "No, a…mother of a child. You know, like having a baby?"

"A…baby?" Nomura repeated, wildly indifferent.

"Yeah, like…I want to have a baby and start a family, and I thought it would be best to tell you first."

"A baby…baby…bay-bee…?"

Now perplexed by his confusion, Aqua uttered, "Yeah… You know what that is, right?"

Twiddling a pencil over his fingers, Nomura remarked, "It's a huge commitment. Don't babies get hungry and stuff?"

Lighting up, Aqua said, "They sure do! And I've got what it takes to care for one! Look here…"

Pulling out her phone, Aqua displayed a crystal clear image of herself cradling what appeared to be an oversized infant all wrapped in blankies and whatnot. Nomura slurred his confusion at this, but before he could annunciate, Aqua swiped to the next picture, this one showing herself walking the same baby in a stroller, and yes, that "baby's" legs were hanging out the front. Again, Nomura was disturbed.

Swiping again, Aqua half-explained, "I took these pictures to help convince you how natural of a mother I'd be! I can hold him really snug, walk him in a stroller, and even feed him lasagna!"

"Aqua, why did you do this to Ventus?" Nomura was sympathetic to the captured looks of simmering rage on the teen boy's face. "He looks absolutely infuriated!"

"What—? No, he agreed to it! See, he looks happy in this one!"

The next picture she showed off did indeed feature a smiling Ventus, however, Nomura was quick to point out, "That's because you've got him in the bathtub! God—is he nude?"

"What? No! He just took his shirt off. But if that were my real baby, he'd be all super nakey and squeaky clean!"

"Oh, sweet mother of—okay, WHY do you want a baby?"

"Well, I'm not getting any younger—"

"Nonsense, you have the body of an athletic nineteen-year-old, magically reinforced by endless youth and goddess-like attractiveness."

"Okay, well I don't feel that young…what with that 'decade in darkness' thing, which you profited off of—I just want to have a somewhat normal life while I still have the chance. Can you blame me?"

Sighing behind his samurai mask, Nomura continued, "Here's my next question: who will help you in making this baby?"

Sheepish in her response, Aqua hinted, "Well, I was hoping you'd be of assistance…"

Nomura, Square Enix game director at large, sat stock-still and completely silently.

Aqua requested, "Can't you find a sample from somewhere and have me inseminated?"

Breathing a sigh of relief so intense he internally fogged up his headgear, Nomura replied, "I'm not a gynecologist. And wouldn't that method forego any inclusion of a father-figure?"

"Well, not exactly—I can always find a man later, if I want one."

"What, you don't want Terra? He's tall and strong and smar—strong, very strong."

"I don't know if I want Terra… I love him like a brother, and we've already been through so much, plus he's…really into Fantasy Blitzball, and I hate that sport…"

Nomura sighed yet again, this time kicking his feet up and shooting a few darts. Scoring a few shots on Noctis's pictured scowling face, he gave his take, "Traditions aren't always looked upon with high esteem, but there's a reason people have them. They are what gives us guidance in a darkening world. They increase our chances of success while decreasing the scope of our daily grievances. Tradition comes from the tightest bond between humans—the closeness of family. Whether you believe in that sort of thing or not doesn't change the…help it gives. Because even with tradition closely adhered to, the pitfalls of life are still numerous. That's why it helps to do it the old-fashioned way. Can you go get my darts?"

"Wait…are you saying it's okay if I have a baby?" Aqua asked perkily.

"I'm strongly advising you to seek a relationship of mutual love and respect beforehand. That is the best care you can give to the future generation." Putting his feet back on the floor, he added, "Also, remember whatever child you bear will immediately become property of Square Enix. Like, at-conception-immediate."

"Wow…I can't believe it!"

"And I don't know how close you and Terra are, but I'm sure he'd be open to a conversation. Try it."

Grabbing his gloved hand, Aqua graciously wept, "Oh, thank you Mister Nomura! I'll take everything you said to heart! Oh, I'm going to be such a cool mom!"

Watching her skip out the door, Nomura grunted, "Hmph." He glanced at the wall. "My darts…" Then, he remembered his drawing from earlier. "Oh, right! Cid, Cid, Cid…you've got to learn to look alive, my friend."