Sky's sorrow

The blond toddler clutched his yellow blanket, looking at his two brothers who were playing 'kill the dragon'. Angel handed him a pair of black socks and smiled.

- Wanna be the dwagon?

Sky looked up at Angel, shaking his head. The silver-haired child shrugged, but all of a sudden, his brother's eyes widened, he flopped to the ground and after few hiccups he started an all-out wailing. The twins looked at each other and Zack bolted off to the kitchen to find his daddies, but they were already moving out to see what was going on. Sephiroth scooped the child in his arms.

- What happened?, asked Cloud, Did you two hurt him?

- No! Angel asked him if he wanted to be the dwagon, and then he stawted cwying!

Angel was flying near his daddy Sephy, trying to apologize.

- Sky… 'm sowwy… 'm sowwy… please, don't cwy…

- Cloud, it's been a week he's like that…, Sephiroth answered, putting a hand on the 2 year-old's forehead, He's having a little fever. Shhh… Shhh… C'mon my baby, daddy will give you some milk and you'll get better…

Sky sniffled and sagged in Sephiroth's arms, sobbing quietly. The silver-haired man prepared a little milk bottle and added a liquid medicine before giving it to his son. He sat down in his armchair while the child suckled the milk. Zack and Angel brought to their brother his stuffed mog. Sephiroth smiled and started to hum a lullaby, rocking his baby to sleep. Cloud left for the kitchen with the twins, returning to the preparation of the diner.

******

Cid and Vincent arrived in the late afternoon, covered in snow but on time for diner. The cold weather was forbidding them to leave at night, so they decided to stay for the night. Sky was still asleep, and nothing seemed to disturb him. After few hours, Cloud and Sephiroth put the twins to sleep too, before joining the vampire and his companion in the kitchen for a long poker game. They played and chatted until late that night, around a good Wutaian sake bottle, until Cloud couldn't take anymore and waved his goodnight, trying to climb up the stairs to go to bed. Sephiroth followed, almost as much drunk as his mate and as soon as they passed the doorframe of their bedroom, they fell in each other's arms, kissing and groping, but by touching the bed, the two of them were way too drunk to even think about continuing this, so they fell into oblivion.

Cid and Vincent did the same and slipped under the covers to get some sleep before the return trip to Rocket Town. But in the early morning, a powerful sound woke up Vincent. Being used to Cid's snoring, he cut off this possibility and opened his eyes, waking up his senses and realised it was a kid's wailing that was causing all the commotion. He got up and left his bedroom to find Cloud rocking Sky in the living room. The child was screaming and crying out loud, clutching his blanky and his daddy in attempt to be shield from the pain.

- Cloud? What's the matters?, he asked sleepily.

- I… I don't know… He's been grumpy all week long, he did a little fever yesterday and now, he simply refuse to sleep… I think he's hurt or something, but he can't show me where…

- Daddy?

Cloud looked up to see little Zack coming downstairs with Sky's little mog.

- Zack?

- Maybe Sky's eaws huwt…

- Why do you say that?

- Because when Angel asked him if he wanted to be the dwagon, he did this, and then that and put his hands thewe.

The child shook his head, sat down on the ground and mimicked his younger brother's actions, putting his hands over his ears. Cloud's eyes widened and he looked at his squalling son in disbelief.

- Oh no… My poor little baby… Why didn't I see this earlier?

Just then Cid, Sephiroth and Angel wearily made their way to the living room to see what was going on. Sky was crying louder and everything Cloud was doing turned out to fail. Finally, he just gave up.

- Seph, call Mikko and tell him I'll arrive in a few with Sky…

- Wait, wait, wait…, said Cid all of a sudden, You pokey-head thinks about leaving in the middle of the night, in the cold with a sick baby on your hands alone? Since he got me awake, I'm going with you.

With that he retrieved his Venus Gospel, got some warm clothes and went out with Cloud to the doctor's clinic. Sephiroth hanged down the phone.

- Now, what are we going to do?, asked Vincent.

- I think… *yawn* I think we better go back to sleep…

- Daddy…

- All right, all right, come sleep with me… As long as you don't kick me out of the bed…

Vincent smiled to his son and disappeared in his room while Sephiroth was taking care of the twins. About an hour later Cloud and Cid were back with Sky, who, thanks to the Gods, was asleep again. Cid went back to Vincent and Cloud put the baby next to him and his brothers before slipping away in dreamland.

********

Little Sky recovered from his ear infection in three days, to the joy of their parents. Time followed his course, the kids grew up, Cloud and Sephiroth taught them how to use a sword and how to use their limit breaks. The first tries were awkward, and not very powerful, but with time, those first steps would turned out to be the most important… For the future of the Planet.

End

So sorry for the delay… Really, sorry, all of you… But I was kinda sick last week, you know, gastroenteritis, real fun, believe me… Again, I'm sorry for the delay…