Author's Notes: Say wha-? Notes? Yes, notes. Now, I know Aerith's name is
Aerith Gainesborough, yada yada yada, but no, nay! Nay I say! My fanfic, my
rules. And I know I spelled Cid Kramer's name with an "S" but for good
reason- there's already Cid Highwind, and I felt that Edea still needed a
husband, so ha. I gave Professor Gast a first name, Remus- a name I always
thought sounds intelligent. So, I'm sort of still obeying some brand of
rules or another. Alright, onward!
Chapter III: Family Values
[i]"It's truly a shame. This generation of kids has completely abandoned
the idea of a family sitting down and eating dinner together. They go gallivanting off with their friends and leave their poor families to tend for themselves. When I was a child, I sat with my family, ate my food, and was happy for it. One can only hope that this generation is just a fluke,
and kids will learn family values."
-From the journal of Queen Lace, third monarch of the Hollow Bastion
***~~~***
Who was the father of Sephiroth? Hojo? Vincent?
That's the thing- nobody knew. It wasn't that Sephiroth's mother was a slut- no, it was just that both claimed to be the boy's father. Lucrecia Valentine died after being killed by Hojo- without telling anybody who the father was. Hojo claimed to have mixed his genes with that of Lord Ansem's and implanted the embryo in Lucrecia's womb. . . But Vincent would never believe that lie. He loved Lucrecia with all of his heart, mind, and being. And he knew she would never volunteer for such an audacious experiment.
It was around then, fifteen years ago, when the first Heartless rose up from the abyssal bottoms of the castle, below the labyrinthine waterways. Hojo and Ansem worked and experimented on it. Hojo had taken genes from the Heartless and injected them into the baby Sephiroth, which sprouted his one wing, the wing that siphoned all of the black from his hair.
The castle had gone to investigate odd sounds from the lab, but Hojo had injected Heartless DNA into himself, transforming him into a great monster, the Behemoth. Hojo as the Behemoth, destroyed much of the castle, and killed many people. Remus Gast, Raine Leonhart-Loire, and Lucrecia to name a few. Queen Sorceress Dalaar, Ansem's sister, then banished Hojo to some unknown place of darkness.
Afterwards, Vincent then raised Sephiroth alone.
***~~~***
"Father, I'm home!" Sephiroth's voice- almost as harmonious as his mother's- called from the front door of their small home. Vincent was cleaning his collection of dueling pistols, the pistols used to protect the Lord Ansem.
"In my room. Did you have fun with your gang?" Vincent asked, putting a cleaned pistol back together.
"Wasn't with them. I went to the library. . . did some research on things. Although, while I was in the library, I heard Squall got into another fight with Seifer." Vincent rolled his eyes.
"Squall, the pacifist, and Seifer the antagonist, I presume?" Vincent asked.
"As usual. Laguna stopped the fight."
"So, he's useful for something, Praise be to Yevon," Vincent said without thinking.
"Say what?" Sephiroth asked, confused.
"You spent the whole day in the library, and didn't even find out who Yevon is? Old Hollow Bastonian mythology. They once thought a god named 'Yevon' built the Hollow Bastion." Vincent explained, still cleaning a rather large rifle. Sephiroth scoffed.
"That's ridiculous. Lord Velsco proved that the Hollow Bastion was built by Lord Nomura and his council, The Staff of Squaresoft." Sephiroth countered.
"So at least you learned one thing today."
"That's more common sense than anything."
"What DID you learn?" Vincent asked.
"Not a whole lot. . . I half thought about going to the Depths of the Bastion." Sephiroth admitted thoughtfully. Vincent dropped the gun he was cleaning.
"What?" Vincent asked shortly.
"Oh! Erm, I meant to the waterways to join the others!" Vincent was not convinced.
"I've told you thousands of times, that the Depths are forbidden, not only by Lord Ansem's laws, but more importantly, by me!" Vincent raised his voice only a little.
"I know, I know, that's why I went to the library instead!" At that time, the bell in the Bastion's chapel rang, signaling dinner time in the Dining Hall.
"All right. Let's just go eat. I'm so hungry I could eat a whole chocobo." Sephiroth gave Vincent a look of disgust and horror, then sighed and shrugged.
"Alrighty." And the two set off for dinner.
***~~~***
Things at the home of Yuffie were not as happy. Yuffie lived with her father and grandfather (Godo and Gala, respectively) and she fought with her father constantly. Her grandfather always stuck up for her, though.
With both father and grandfather constantly training her to be the successor of the Line of Wutai, Yuffie hardly had any time to her friends. But she made time. Dinner for example.
Tonight, she wanted to look nice for Sephiroth. At thirteen, she thought she should be worried about boys, her looks, and the latest gossip within the HB, but she couldn't.
"Yuffie, you are the heir to an infinite line of ninjas. You've not the time to be worried about such things." Her father would always say.
But then her mother would always cut in and say "She is but a child, Godo. She is a child, before a ninja." That was before her mother had died of pneumonia, and her grandfather moved in.
Her grandfather took the defensive stance for her, in the place of her mother. But her father never stopped to remind her of her heritage. Speaking of which. . .
"Yuffie! What ARE you doing?!" her father screeched. Yuffie, with her hair tied up in a bun, which was erupting with locks of blue hair, looked to her father innocently.
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked, perfectly aware of what he meant.
"You are ninja. Yet here you are prettying up with makeup, worried about boy who can't love!" Godo always had a strange way of speaking, and it was only accentuated when he was angry.
"Father! Please!" It was not a request, but an order.
"Yuffie! You dare talk-back to father this way?!"
"Godo!" Grandfather had interjected. "That is enough! Yuffie is girl. Not boy. You must learn she is different. She not like you nor I."
"Father! Keep out! Yuffie is MY daughter, not yours! And-"Godo was interrupted by chapel bell, calling everyone to the Dining Hall. "Ooh! Dinner!" Godo ran out of Yuffie's room, out of the house, towards the Dining Hall. Godo did enjoy his rice. . . Gala gave Yuffie a proud smile, and the two went to go eat.
***~~~***
Aerith Gast was an orphan. Her mother, Ifalna, died shortly after giving birth to Aerith. She caught pneumonia while recovering from giving birth, and died only two weeks after Aerith was born. Her father, Remus Gast, was killed a few months before Aerith was born. The Behemoth that Hojo became had impaled him with his horn, during his rampage.
So Edea and Sid Kramer took her in. They had adopted many children over the past few years. The kids in the orphanage were Aerith, Seifer, Lulu, Rufus, Fujin, and Zack.
Aerith and Zack had dated briefly before, but the relationship ended when Aerith discovered her feelings for Sephiroth. Though broken up, the two remained friends, and Zack defended Aerith against Seifer and the rest. Aerith loved Edea and Sid dearly, but she wished she'd known her mother, or father. But she knew they were happy, wherever they may be.
Aerith was combing her long brown hair when a knock came at her door.
"Aerith? Are you in there?" It was Edea.
"Yes, Matron."
"The dinner bell rang a few minutes ago, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, just give me a second."
"All right, we'll be on our way."
Aerith wanted just a few more minutes. . . She gingerly picked up a framed picture of Seph and her in the library. Getting teary eyed, she opened up the back, took the picture out, and dropped it in her wastebasket. Using a tissue, she dabbed her eyes, then walked out of the orphanage, catching up with Matron and the others.
***~~~***
A knock came at Squall's door. "Who is it?" he called.
"It's me." Sis's voice.
"Come in." Ellone. . . Sis walked in, dressed in her white and blue gown, and her short green cape was draped around her shoulders. Using her left hand, she tucked her hair behind her ear, and crossed her arms. "This isn't about Seifer, is it?"
"It is." She replied crossly. "What exactly happened?"
"I already explained it to Laguna," Squall replied shortly.
"All right, now explain it to me."
"Seifer challenged me. Real formal, and all." Squall hated lying to Sis, but. . .
"All right. . . Couldn't you have turned him down?" Ellone asked.
"I couldn't have just walked away. . ."
"Isn't that what you usually do?" Squall didn't answer. "You wanna be cool, huh? Just don't get hurt in the process. And don't hurt anybody else. But, you know, if I can't control you, then I won't be seen fit to raise you."
"All right. I promise- no more fighting. It's just that. . . You know how Seifer is. . ."
"Yeah. . . I suppose he claimed he was 'the sorceress' knight'? Who's the lucky gal this year?" Squall couldn't help but to grin.
"Lulu."
"O-oh. . . I see. . . So I guess the Sorceress' Knight is taking it up a notch- being a knight for an actual sorceress. . ." Again Squall grinned.
"Yeah. . . Sorceress Lulu. . . Hmmm. . ." Both were in silence.
It was about five years ago. Lulu was eleven, Ellone was fourteen. Sorceress Adel was looking for a successor, and wanted Ellone. Lulu became jealous, as she was Adel's daughter, and tried to cast a spell on Adel, but it backfired. Adel went mad with power, and tried to destroy the Hollow Bastion. She was incredibly powerful, even killing Queen Sorceress Dalaar, orphaning the infant Princess Kairi. She was so powerful, that she couldn't be killed.
It was Laguna who came up with a plan to seal her in the Depths of the Hollow Bastion, thereby ending his prison sentence of attempted murder on Queen Sorceress Dalaar. Doctor Odine made the device, and something to steal her powers with, just in case. Adel came into contact with the brooch that Odine made, killing Odine in the process, and Laguna was able to imprison her within the seal. Lulu stole the brooch, and released the powers, thereby inheriting them.
As the two were reflecting upon this, the chapel bell broke their silence, and the two set off for the Dining Hall, neither saying a word. It wasn't an awkward silence, but, rather, a mutual quietness.
Chapter III: Family Values
[i]"It's truly a shame. This generation of kids has completely abandoned
the idea of a family sitting down and eating dinner together. They go gallivanting off with their friends and leave their poor families to tend for themselves. When I was a child, I sat with my family, ate my food, and was happy for it. One can only hope that this generation is just a fluke,
and kids will learn family values."
-From the journal of Queen Lace, third monarch of the Hollow Bastion
***~~~***
Who was the father of Sephiroth? Hojo? Vincent?
That's the thing- nobody knew. It wasn't that Sephiroth's mother was a slut- no, it was just that both claimed to be the boy's father. Lucrecia Valentine died after being killed by Hojo- without telling anybody who the father was. Hojo claimed to have mixed his genes with that of Lord Ansem's and implanted the embryo in Lucrecia's womb. . . But Vincent would never believe that lie. He loved Lucrecia with all of his heart, mind, and being. And he knew she would never volunteer for such an audacious experiment.
It was around then, fifteen years ago, when the first Heartless rose up from the abyssal bottoms of the castle, below the labyrinthine waterways. Hojo and Ansem worked and experimented on it. Hojo had taken genes from the Heartless and injected them into the baby Sephiroth, which sprouted his one wing, the wing that siphoned all of the black from his hair.
The castle had gone to investigate odd sounds from the lab, but Hojo had injected Heartless DNA into himself, transforming him into a great monster, the Behemoth. Hojo as the Behemoth, destroyed much of the castle, and killed many people. Remus Gast, Raine Leonhart-Loire, and Lucrecia to name a few. Queen Sorceress Dalaar, Ansem's sister, then banished Hojo to some unknown place of darkness.
Afterwards, Vincent then raised Sephiroth alone.
***~~~***
"Father, I'm home!" Sephiroth's voice- almost as harmonious as his mother's- called from the front door of their small home. Vincent was cleaning his collection of dueling pistols, the pistols used to protect the Lord Ansem.
"In my room. Did you have fun with your gang?" Vincent asked, putting a cleaned pistol back together.
"Wasn't with them. I went to the library. . . did some research on things. Although, while I was in the library, I heard Squall got into another fight with Seifer." Vincent rolled his eyes.
"Squall, the pacifist, and Seifer the antagonist, I presume?" Vincent asked.
"As usual. Laguna stopped the fight."
"So, he's useful for something, Praise be to Yevon," Vincent said without thinking.
"Say what?" Sephiroth asked, confused.
"You spent the whole day in the library, and didn't even find out who Yevon is? Old Hollow Bastonian mythology. They once thought a god named 'Yevon' built the Hollow Bastion." Vincent explained, still cleaning a rather large rifle. Sephiroth scoffed.
"That's ridiculous. Lord Velsco proved that the Hollow Bastion was built by Lord Nomura and his council, The Staff of Squaresoft." Sephiroth countered.
"So at least you learned one thing today."
"That's more common sense than anything."
"What DID you learn?" Vincent asked.
"Not a whole lot. . . I half thought about going to the Depths of the Bastion." Sephiroth admitted thoughtfully. Vincent dropped the gun he was cleaning.
"What?" Vincent asked shortly.
"Oh! Erm, I meant to the waterways to join the others!" Vincent was not convinced.
"I've told you thousands of times, that the Depths are forbidden, not only by Lord Ansem's laws, but more importantly, by me!" Vincent raised his voice only a little.
"I know, I know, that's why I went to the library instead!" At that time, the bell in the Bastion's chapel rang, signaling dinner time in the Dining Hall.
"All right. Let's just go eat. I'm so hungry I could eat a whole chocobo." Sephiroth gave Vincent a look of disgust and horror, then sighed and shrugged.
"Alrighty." And the two set off for dinner.
***~~~***
Things at the home of Yuffie were not as happy. Yuffie lived with her father and grandfather (Godo and Gala, respectively) and she fought with her father constantly. Her grandfather always stuck up for her, though.
With both father and grandfather constantly training her to be the successor of the Line of Wutai, Yuffie hardly had any time to her friends. But she made time. Dinner for example.
Tonight, she wanted to look nice for Sephiroth. At thirteen, she thought she should be worried about boys, her looks, and the latest gossip within the HB, but she couldn't.
"Yuffie, you are the heir to an infinite line of ninjas. You've not the time to be worried about such things." Her father would always say.
But then her mother would always cut in and say "She is but a child, Godo. She is a child, before a ninja." That was before her mother had died of pneumonia, and her grandfather moved in.
Her grandfather took the defensive stance for her, in the place of her mother. But her father never stopped to remind her of her heritage. Speaking of which. . .
"Yuffie! What ARE you doing?!" her father screeched. Yuffie, with her hair tied up in a bun, which was erupting with locks of blue hair, looked to her father innocently.
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked, perfectly aware of what he meant.
"You are ninja. Yet here you are prettying up with makeup, worried about boy who can't love!" Godo always had a strange way of speaking, and it was only accentuated when he was angry.
"Father! Please!" It was not a request, but an order.
"Yuffie! You dare talk-back to father this way?!"
"Godo!" Grandfather had interjected. "That is enough! Yuffie is girl. Not boy. You must learn she is different. She not like you nor I."
"Father! Keep out! Yuffie is MY daughter, not yours! And-"Godo was interrupted by chapel bell, calling everyone to the Dining Hall. "Ooh! Dinner!" Godo ran out of Yuffie's room, out of the house, towards the Dining Hall. Godo did enjoy his rice. . . Gala gave Yuffie a proud smile, and the two went to go eat.
***~~~***
Aerith Gast was an orphan. Her mother, Ifalna, died shortly after giving birth to Aerith. She caught pneumonia while recovering from giving birth, and died only two weeks after Aerith was born. Her father, Remus Gast, was killed a few months before Aerith was born. The Behemoth that Hojo became had impaled him with his horn, during his rampage.
So Edea and Sid Kramer took her in. They had adopted many children over the past few years. The kids in the orphanage were Aerith, Seifer, Lulu, Rufus, Fujin, and Zack.
Aerith and Zack had dated briefly before, but the relationship ended when Aerith discovered her feelings for Sephiroth. Though broken up, the two remained friends, and Zack defended Aerith against Seifer and the rest. Aerith loved Edea and Sid dearly, but she wished she'd known her mother, or father. But she knew they were happy, wherever they may be.
Aerith was combing her long brown hair when a knock came at her door.
"Aerith? Are you in there?" It was Edea.
"Yes, Matron."
"The dinner bell rang a few minutes ago, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, just give me a second."
"All right, we'll be on our way."
Aerith wanted just a few more minutes. . . She gingerly picked up a framed picture of Seph and her in the library. Getting teary eyed, she opened up the back, took the picture out, and dropped it in her wastebasket. Using a tissue, she dabbed her eyes, then walked out of the orphanage, catching up with Matron and the others.
***~~~***
A knock came at Squall's door. "Who is it?" he called.
"It's me." Sis's voice.
"Come in." Ellone. . . Sis walked in, dressed in her white and blue gown, and her short green cape was draped around her shoulders. Using her left hand, she tucked her hair behind her ear, and crossed her arms. "This isn't about Seifer, is it?"
"It is." She replied crossly. "What exactly happened?"
"I already explained it to Laguna," Squall replied shortly.
"All right, now explain it to me."
"Seifer challenged me. Real formal, and all." Squall hated lying to Sis, but. . .
"All right. . . Couldn't you have turned him down?" Ellone asked.
"I couldn't have just walked away. . ."
"Isn't that what you usually do?" Squall didn't answer. "You wanna be cool, huh? Just don't get hurt in the process. And don't hurt anybody else. But, you know, if I can't control you, then I won't be seen fit to raise you."
"All right. I promise- no more fighting. It's just that. . . You know how Seifer is. . ."
"Yeah. . . I suppose he claimed he was 'the sorceress' knight'? Who's the lucky gal this year?" Squall couldn't help but to grin.
"Lulu."
"O-oh. . . I see. . . So I guess the Sorceress' Knight is taking it up a notch- being a knight for an actual sorceress. . ." Again Squall grinned.
"Yeah. . . Sorceress Lulu. . . Hmmm. . ." Both were in silence.
It was about five years ago. Lulu was eleven, Ellone was fourteen. Sorceress Adel was looking for a successor, and wanted Ellone. Lulu became jealous, as she was Adel's daughter, and tried to cast a spell on Adel, but it backfired. Adel went mad with power, and tried to destroy the Hollow Bastion. She was incredibly powerful, even killing Queen Sorceress Dalaar, orphaning the infant Princess Kairi. She was so powerful, that she couldn't be killed.
It was Laguna who came up with a plan to seal her in the Depths of the Hollow Bastion, thereby ending his prison sentence of attempted murder on Queen Sorceress Dalaar. Doctor Odine made the device, and something to steal her powers with, just in case. Adel came into contact with the brooch that Odine made, killing Odine in the process, and Laguna was able to imprison her within the seal. Lulu stole the brooch, and released the powers, thereby inheriting them.
As the two were reflecting upon this, the chapel bell broke their silence, and the two set off for the Dining Hall, neither saying a word. It wasn't an awkward silence, but, rather, a mutual quietness.