Chapter 17: The Next Generation

Tifa's jaw dropped when a few hours later a very tired Aerith walked through the door carrying not one, but two bundled up babies. "Twins?!"

Zack walked in after, a tired grin on his face. "Yep, two little rugrats," before he turned and called out the door, "C'mon uncle Cloud."

Tifa bit her lip to not burst out laughing when Cloud walked in carrying two overflowing bags of baby supplies and toys that he set on a table before shooting Tifa and Sephiroth a grumpy look. "Not one word."

"Oh don't listen to him," said Zack, "He loves playing with the babies."

Tifa giggled. "It suits him."

Cloud groaned.

Sephiroth gave a non-committal hum. "You 'play' with them? I'm surprised you'd risk handling an unenhanced child."

Cloud's groan stifled and he glared at Sephiroth. "I'm never more careful in my life than when I'm with them."

He scowled a little and shot a glare at the two infants in question. "Besides, they're tougher than they look. They're already chucking things at each other. Had to take their blocks away last night and they threw a fit over it."

Aerith sighed at that and sat down at another table, laying her babies down on their backs. "And what a fit it was..."

Almost as if in response, the two babies exchanged looks and starting giggling.

"Can't say Jen has that issue," mused Tifa, "We can't get her to do normal baby stuff at all."

Aerith gave a curious look over at Tifa, and then at Jen. Tifa paused briefly when she felt something from her child, terror leaking through the air. She turned her head to see Jen staring wide-eyed at Aerith, naked fear in her little eyes, a soft whimper escaping her lips. Sephiroth stiffened the moment he felt it as well, glancing warily back and forth between his child and Aerith. Tifa frowned intently and picked Jen up.

"Hey there shh, she's a friend," said Tifa, bouncing Jen a little, "No one to be scared of."

"She can probably feel the Ancient's presence," mused Sephiroth, "I imagine it is alarming to her."

"Aww, my Aerith, the terror of babies," jabbed Zack playfully.

Aerith turned her head to eye him warningly before glancing back at the baby, giving a small tentative smile and speaking in an almost cooing voice, "Hi there Jen, my name's Aerith."

Jen turned her terrified eyes away from Aerith, grasped at Tifa's arm, and buried her head into it, whimpering again.

"Hmm," said Aerith, bringing up a finger to rest on her lips, "This might not be..."

"She will learn to overcome her fears," said Sephiroth in a tone that brokered no arguments, "I suggest she confront this one head on."

Tifa rolled her eyes, "C'mon Jen, let's visit."

Tifa knew Aerith would never hurt a baby, or an innocent period, but the way Jen went completely frigid in Tifa's arms as they drew closer seriously set her on edge. Jen reacted to Aerith like she was life or death. It took a lot of effort to not just bolt away from her and sooth Jen quietly in a corner. But, this was for her child's own good. Aerith was a friend she would have to get used to, not to mention perhaps fight alongside her one day. Though Tifa desperately hoped that was at bare minimum twenty years off or more.

Tifa handed Jen off to Aerith, and watched anxiously as her baby trembled in her friends arms, Aerith herself seemed uncertain, "Tifa... I'm really not sure this is a good idea. If she's that scared, she ought to get used to being in the same room as me first, not this close."

"She will be fine," said Sephiroth.

Aerith frowned in his direction before asking Tifa, "So, what did you need my advice on?"

"Well... maybe it would be better to wait for her to calm down so we can show you," said Tifa before circling around the table to look at the twins looking curiously at her, "How about you introduce your babies?"

The first baby, wrapped in a bundle of maroon cloth, was a baby girl. Cheeks cute and red enough to pinch. Her eyes a glowing green, just like her mother, taking in the area around her, not focusing on anything in particular. Her hair broke what Tifa thought was a male-only tradition. While she hadn't grown enough hair for it to really show yet, Tifa could see brown tiny little spikes jotting up here and there.

The second baby, a boy, was wrapped in a bundle of blue cloth. He had a happy toothless smile plastered perpetually on his face. His eyes, a softly glowing turquoise, kept shifted back and forth between his sister, his mother, his father, and Cloud. He didn't seem to have any interest in anything outside his family. His black hair was mostly flat, save for a bit at the front sticking up above his forehead. Looked like he was going to take after his mother in that regard.

Aerith smiled a little and moved to the one on the right, one arm wrapped around Jen keeping her to her hip, the other one ruffling the air on her giggling babies head. "Well... I wanted to name them after my parents, to give them a chance to live the lives their namesakes never got to. My little girl's name is Ilfana, her brother is Gast."

There was a brief and sharp intake of breath from Sephiroth before he studied the two children at a distance. "Your son has quite the name to live up to."

Aerith turned her head. "You knew my father?"

Sephiroth nodded. "He is, perhaps, the only scientist I have ever respected. I knew him from my younger days."

His face darkened a bit. "When he forsook his position and left with the Ancient, Hojo took full control over my 'upbringing'."

Aerith's eyebrows furrowed. "The Ancient... Sephiroth, did you know my birth mother?"

Sephiroth stared at her silently, and did not reply.

Tifa glanced back and forth between them uncomfortably. That... was a conversation best had alone between the two of them, away from the listening ears of those who had to business hearing about the topic, and children. Speaking of children...

She snuck a glance at Jen, who had a disbelieving look on her tiny face, staring up at Aerith, her little eyebrows furrowed in thought. Her body was relaxing inch by inch. Whatever had driven that intense fear into her seemed to have faded away. The baby released a grunt from her throat, almost sounding like a scoff, and at that, Tifa couldn't help but wonder what was running through her tiny little mind...

Jen-Jenova-She-It was honestly baffled. The Ancient-WEAPON-Holy-Backup Goddess-Aerith was blind. The woman did not know what she held in her hands. Could she not see? Or had her presence changed so much that it was no longer recognizable? It would not surprise her, as even her Son-Father-Chosen One-Sephiroth did not seem to know her either. Perhaps it was a mortal weakness or difficulty. It was... trying, to adjust to this... state of existence. It had left her so confused for the last few months since her birth, and her rebirth while in the womb of her Mother-Rival's Child-Son's Consort-Tifa-Lockheart.

To see.

To hear.

To feel.

To act.

All from one single source, one single body, one single perspective, instead of billions of cells, was so completely and utterly jarring. At times, it was difficult to properly think, with two distinct thought processes fighting in her head. Rather than let things BE what they ARE and leave it at that, her mind kept wandering, wanting to identify them, catalogue them, compare and name them in terms she understood even if it truly didn't matter nor change what they were. It was all pointless, yet is just kept happening! It was frustrating, but not the worst thing to come of her new existence.

No, that belonged to what she had lost and given up.

Her Son-Father-Chosen One-Sephiroth was not made in the same way her Mother-Rival's Child-Son's Consort-Tifa-Lockheart was. He was not 'Calamity', as mortals referred to them. He could not separate and control his cells on his own, guiding and controlling billions of cells at once across the entire world, not without her holding his hand the entire way. This body had inherited that weakness, that limitation. She had known the risk when making the choice to join with this body, to merge her soul into it, but to be bound to one body was... harrowing..., so limiting... and lacking in capacity.

So much had been lost during the months in the womb. The cells of this body did not work in the way a 'Calamity's' did. They could not store information outside their function outside the memories within the mind, and the mind's capacity was so far smaller. So many memories... so much knowledge... so much experience... had to be thrown away. She knew vaguely of worlds she had fed on, conquests against other's of her kind, of her long journey across the dark void, but the details were gone. She KNEW, she REMEMBERED who she HAD been.

First Fallen.

First Born.

J-E-N-O-V-A.

Yet each time Mother-Rival's Child-Son's Consort-Tifa-Lockheart called her Jen, cooed at her, it made her stomach flutter in an odd way. Feelings and emotions that she did not recognize bubbled up around her. It was all she could do to quash the bizarre sensations. The warm feeling made no sense to her, and would be isolated until she could identify and understand it. To be frank, there were many such feelings and urges that made no sense...

For example the nice soft fabric the clothes the Ancient-WEAPON-Holy-Backup Goddess-Aerith had on. She could feel it rubbing against her bare arms. She wanted to nestle against it, bury her face in such softness, and she had no clue why! It wasn't even limited to these specific clothes, whenever she was put down to sleep, the urge to nestle into warm blankets skyrocketed and would not be denied. Aside from warmth, what purpose did such an action serve? She didn't know, but she didn't deny that sensation when she was alone, to curl around them and allow the baffling contentedness to wash over her.

But definitely not now in the arms of one who should be the greatest threat to her. Most definitely not. Absolutely not. Irrefutably a bad decision, one she would not allow...

Jen-Jenova-She-It wanted to curse out-loud, but couldn't get more than a gurgle as she rubbed her forehead into the nice soft fabric.

"Hey, I think she's warming up to you," teased the Idiot-WEAPON-Ancient's Consort-Zack.

"No, I think she just likes my clothes," said Ancient-WEAPON-Holy-Backup Goddess-Aerith, a soft smile on her face.

Jen-Jenova-She-It gurgled in agreement. Like was an impossibility. Tolerate was at most what she'd allow.

Well... not that she could honestly do anything about it. She could not increase the rate this body aged. She would have to wait until physical maturity before she could... do whatever she wanted to do. Because that was another thing she had lost, and had left her alarmed and drifting aimlessly.

The hunger was gone.

The desire to consume, to feed, to grow, to replicate, to enact Reunion, it was just... gone. Her plan to take this vessel and use it's potential power to take revenge and consume this world suddenly had no worth because their was no instinctual desire for it. She wasn't even sure she could consume lifestream anymore, that she could feed on and consume souls. Her entire existence, to move from one world to the next, her entire purpose...

Was gone.

And she had no idea what to do about that. She could take revenge, simply because her enemies had stood against her, forced her into this, but that would put her sole existence at risk, and the fear of absolute death was terrifying in a way she had never felt before. Her 'parents' hadn't given her much direction as of the moment for any other purpose. That 'conversation' they had earlier hadn't helped. She didn't know what she wanted! And this insufferable lack of being able to speak words or communicate mind to mind, was intolerable. At most all she could do was project feelings at those who bore Calamity within them. She didn't know how humans put up with being babies. Speaking of which...

She turned her head to look down on the Rivals-Children of Gaia-WEAPONs-Ilfana-Gast, contemplative. They didn't seem offput or irritated or impatient. The two of them were just laying there smiling at their mother or giggling... why? What was so amusing that they were giggling ALL THE TIME?

"Wanna go say hi?" asked the Ancient-WEAPON-Holy-Backup Goddess-Aerith.

Jen-Jenova-She-It blinked and glanced up at her. What did she mean?

She had her answer when she was lifted up and laid down next to the other two babies. The two of them glanced at her, looked at each other, back at her, and then started giggling, again. She gurgled at them, trying to demand a why out of them. What about her was so amusing? That only seemed to make them giggle harder. Insufferable little monsters, she'd get back at them when this body gained mobility. She turned her head towards Mother-Rival's Child-Son's Consort-Tifa-Lockheart and threw her confusion at her. That only made a familiar sad-look cross the woman's face. It made her stomach feel weird, to see and feel that emotion from the woman, it was undesirable, but she didn't know why she didn't want the woman sad. It happened so many times, whenever Jen-Jenova-She-It was expected to act in some way according to what they thought, but either didn't know why or didn't know how.

"I suppose I should explain what we asked your help with," said Mother-Rival's Child-Son's Consort-Tifa-Lockheart softly, "Jen, could you please tell me what two plus two is?"

This again? She gave an annoyed gurgle and held up four fingers as best she could. She couldn't figure out why they thought this was important. In the back of her mind, the urge to blend in, to be subtle, to deceive, to hide until she was ready, clamored for attention. But she had no clue what it meant to be an infant. The most care she had given to these tiny little things was the fact that people let their guards down to them. She could faintly recall having wiped out entire cities because no one paid attention to an infant or small child, or they didn't want to kill them.

There was a certain delicious irony to something so small and innocent serving as a vector of contagion and harbinger of death.

"So... you taught her a trick?" asked Idiot-WEAPON-Ancient's Consort-Zack, "That's cool."

Jen turned her head and gave him the best glare she could. If she decided to kill them all, he would be the first to go.

"She's got your glare Teef," came a bemused voice.

Jen turned her head and stared at him. Puppet-Traitor-Stolen Child-Gaia's Chosen-Cloud. He stared at her, no recognition in his eyes, but a bemused look on his face. Did he think she was funny too? Insufferable little...

Mother-Rival's Child-Son's Consort-Tifa-Lockheart chuckled, and spoke with a bit of pride, "Yeah she does. But no Zack, it's not a trick, ask her to do something, or some simple math."

The Ancient-WEAPON-Holy-Backup Goddess-Aerith glanced down at the baby on the table with open curiosity. "Can you open and close your fists five times?"

Jen-Jenova-She-It gave a soft, as-most-exasperated sigh as she could, and did as instructed, causing the women's eyes to widen slightly, "Oh... she understands us, doesn't she?"

"Dude!" said Idiot-WEAPON-Ancient's Consort-Zack before bumbling over, "That's so cool! Hey mini-Tifa, can you do..."

Jen-Jenova-She-It stared blankly at the fool as he began to rattle off one thing after the other, before turning her head to her mother, stretching her arms out, and wailing for her to get her away from him, which unfortunately only came out as a gurgle...

Cloud watched, far to amused, as Tifa stalked over and shooed Zack away from her child. "Alright, that's enough hyperactive man in my baby's face."

Zack pouted and took a step back. "Aww..."

Aerith laughed a little before picking up and handing Jen back to her Mother. "Well... that's... unusual?"

Tifa nodded and glanced down at her disgruntled baby. "Yeah... we... well... we think she inherited memories from us. It's the only way we can explain her knowing stuff like that, and not acting well... like a baby."

Cloud stilled at that. "Memories? What memories exactly?"

Tifa shook her head. "We don't know. We don't know if it's basic general information, or specifics."

Cloud turned his gaze towards the baby, and watched as she turned her head to meet his gaze; in the back of his mind, he could see Nibelheim burning. "I hope for her sake it's just general information."

Tifa nodded. "Yeah, we do to."

Cloud blinked a few times. "We?"

Sephiroth scoffed. "My memories of my time with Hojo are far less pleasant than yours."

Cloud glared at him. "Really? I was his damn experiment for..."

"For what? A few years?" said Sephiroth dryly, "I was his experiment until I left for Wutai as part of SOLDIER. Thirteen years and then having to constantly return to the labs whenever he demanded it as a SOLDIER."

Cloud... didn't have a response to that aside from glaring at him.

"Back on topic," said Tifa, steering them away from a head on collision before turning to Aerith, "I wanted to ask for your advice on what to do for her. She has... well... no interest in baby things, she just stares at toys with complete and utter confusion. Treating her like a baby generally gets her irritated, and boredom has caused her a fit on more than one occasion. Sephiroth's suggested starting her schooling, but... she's three months old, it just feels so weird..."

Aerith seemed just as lost as Tifa was. "Well... when you asked for advice, I didn't think it would be for anything like this. This... requires a bit of thought."

Tifa deflated a little at that. "Yeah..."

Aerith sat down and start playing with her babies feet, making them giggle and laugh, a small smile on her own face as well. "Hmm. Well... have you figured out anything she likes? Gast loves his blocks, and Ilfana loves just laying on the ground playing with grass."

"With grass?" asked Sephiroth, a slight look of bafflement on his face.

"I think the planet has a soft spot for Ilfana, for its newest Ancient," said Aerith softly, "I can hear it whispering lullabies and soft words to her every so often."

Tifa did a double-take. "That's right... she, they are Ancients, aren't they?"

Aerith nodded.

Tifa smiled. "Well, I'm glad your not alone anymore."

Aerith closed her eyes, a sad smile on her face, laying a hand on and rubbing her children's bellies. "It'll be an experience, teaching and guiding them about their heritage, when they're older."

She tilted her head towards Jen. "I imagine it'll be a... somewhat similar experience for you and her."

She hesitated. "Maybe. Do you know what exactly she's inherited from the two of you?"

Cloud hid a frown. He didn't think pressing them about that was a good idea, nor that the baby would have even shown anything at this point.

Tifa took the question in stride, merely shaking her head. "Not a clue. I'm... hoping she got more from Sephiroth than from me."

She shifted focus, glancing down at Jen in her arms. "So... what do you like baby girl?"

Jen's eyes pinched together in thought, before looking up at her mother and gurgling.

Cloud placed a hand over his mouth to hide his amusement and stifle a laugh. Great answer.

Tifa of course hears what little escaped his hand and glares at him before huffing and looking back at her child. "Can you try projecting an image or something?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Project?

Tifa paused. "She can project her emotions at us, sometimes images. You haven't felt anything?"

"No," said Cloud, echoed by Aerith and Zack when Tifa glanced at them.

"In that case," said Sephiroth, "I assume it is because she is connected to us, bears our cells, in a sense."

"Makes sense," said Tifa, smiling down at her child and teasing, "Guess it's a family thing, huh Jen?"

Jen stared up at her blankly.

Tifa merely gave her a sad smile and ruffled her hair. "You'll get it one day."

"Honestly Tifa," began Aerith, "I think... maybe trying to teach her how to be a baby first might be in her best interest. She only gets to be young once."

"How do you teach a baby with potentially adult memories how to be a baby?" asked Tifa.

"By example," said Aerith with a mischievous grin before picking up her babies, one in each arm, "Lets go play in the dirt."

Cloud doesn't stop himself from groaning. "She says it without care because I'M always the one who has to give those two little monsters a bath."

"Oh, but they love bath time with uncle Cloud, don't you kids?" said Zack, glancing at his children who giggled back in response, "We always somehow end up with a wet chocobo-head at the end."

Tifa snorted and started to head outside. "Alright, let's go."

Cloud grumbled quietly to himself, because he somehow knew he was going to end up dirtier than the babies before they were done here. Aerith set down her babies on their bellies in the dirt covered sparing area Tifa and Sephiroth had. Twin heads lifted up to look around, taking in a new area, before immediately glancing back down, grabbing a handful of dirt, and shoving it in their mouths.

"Ilfana! Gast!" admonished Aerith, scrambling to try and scoop it out with her finger, much to her children's amusement as they tried to gnaw on her fingers with their gums, "Get that out of your mouths!"

"Somehow, I don't think Jen will have that problem," teased Tifa as she set her child down next to her friend's.

Cloud watched the infant stare at Ilfana and Gast with the most perplexed expression as the two babies continued to either try to eat dirt or throw it on their mother. Jen reached a hand down, grabbed a bit of dirt as best she could, glanced at it, then threw it at her mother's boot. Tifa raised an amused eyebrow at that, while Jen simply stared at her dirty boot with bafflement, as if she couldn't understand why it was supposed to be fun. Then the sad look crossed Tifa's face, and Cloud couldn't help but feel concerned.

Tifa's heart was a large, giant, all encompassing thing. To those she cared about, she'd help them out, care for them, try to be there for them, with all her might. Failing that, failing others, was one of the few things that seriously depress and hurt her. Ignoring the utter disaster at Edge of course. That Jen was family to her, her child, and she couldn't help her...

He didn't want to consider what that felt like. He wondered if it would be worse then what he felt for failing Zack. For failing Aerith.

For failing Tifa when she needed him.

He brushed off the thoughts and moved to join in the 'fray', carefully 'sneaking' behind the two twin terrors, grabbing a bit of dirt himself, and dumping it right on their heads. The two babies squawked and glared up at him before reaching for dirt and tossing it at him.

"Just remember Cloud, you're washing them," teased Aerith, moving back to join Zack who huffed and joined in the teasing, "He complains about it, but he's always the reason our babies are so dirty at the end of the day. He just can't help but join in. He's a choco-chick at heart."

Cloud shot him a look. "Am not!"

Clomp

He blinked a few times as a little clump of dirt hit him right between the eyes, followed by the laughter of the babies. They thought that was funny? He'd show them who the winner of this dirt war would be...

Tifa didn't know if she should be struck speechless, or laughing her ass off, to see Cloud playing so happily with the babies. She couldn't recall him ever being so happy, except maybe for his early youth when he was alone with his mother. Not that he'd even remember those times with what Hojo did to him. It brought a small smile to her face. Perhaps they were just what he needed to finally heal and move on with his life. Zack and Aerith being back probably helped a lot as well.

Her eyes briefly flickered to Sephiroth, who sat on the porch at a distance carefully keeping an eye on Jen. She wondered if there was any chance of that for him. He had certainly settled, during her pregnancy and Jen's first few months, but she still hadn't seen the man happy. Content maybe, but never happy. Had he ever honestly been happy? Was he capable of it anymore? Was it a fool's dream to wish a monster happiness?

Him or her.

She had been happy at first when Jen was born. But... she had quickly found herself inadequate as a mother. It was... sadly funny in a way. She thought she would have been an alright mother to a normal child, but... her special baby... was anything but normal. The intelligence and rapt attention in her eyes, the inability to communicate, the utter bafflement with anything infantile... every ounce of frustration and helplessness she felt from her child ripped at her. She hadn't seen Jen smile once since she'd been born...

Even Aerith's suggestion to try to teach her how to be a baby (absurd as it sounded), almost made her feel like she was forcing it on her child. But she wanted her baby to be happy... like Ilfana and Gast were happy...

She flinched a little when she was caught offguard by a comforting hand on her shoulder, she turned her gaze to see Aerith's soft glowing emerald gazing into her own knowingly. "It'll be alright Tifa. She'll get there, slowly but surely."

Tifa gave her a small smile. "I hope so."

"I'll come and bring Ilfana and Gast over for play-dates often," offered Aerith, "We'll get here there. Get her happy and content with her life."

Her eyes seem distant. "It will be better for her, and safer for all of us."

Tifa had the brief urge to haul off and slap her for that comment, it reminded her foully of the Jenova comment Aerith had made last time she was here. But she didn't...

Because as awful as it was to hear Aerith allude to Jen doing anything like what Sephiroth or Tifa herself had done... it was a possibility, and the Planet's track record with Children of Calamity had turned out with all of them causing horrible destruction, except maybe Angeal? They grudgingly had a right to be wary. It was unfortunately in Jen blood, and from both Sephiroth and Tifa herself. So Tifa merely sighed, nodded her head, and turned back to watch her child stare at Cloud, Ilfana, and Gast make an utter mess of themselves, bafflement on her tiny little face...

Author's Notes:

Been a good few months while since I've updated this.

Anyway, this chapter serves to:

A) Give us a bit of Jen-Jenova's perspective. (Her naming convention is going to stay for this chapter only, it kind of felt awkward to use, so she's going to 'grow' out of it.).

B) Finally give us Aerith babies! (Sorry if it seems like I choose a cheap way out with the names, but, I couldn't think of one! Gave you guys ages to halp).

I think a timeskips coming, short one, maybe a year.

Oh, and the next Calamity is making planet fall either in the next chapter, or the end of it.

:D

Action time!