Kids
Five
Riku turned to his right hand when he suddenly felt something cold brush against it. He rubbed his hand with his other hand. "It's not even cold." He muttered.
"You alright now?" Sora asked curiously when he suddenly noticed that Riku had stopped complaining. Riku just kept quiet before proceeding back to the house again. "Looks like we'll be stuck here for days… so I have to get used to their lifestyle and food!" he thought in annoyance, finally accepting reality. Sora followed after him, glad that Riku has calmed down already. Once they got inside, they stopped in their tracks when they noticed that Kairi was being forcefully interrogated by the adults. All eyes turned to them and stared curiously at them. Kairi swallowed hard before reaching for her pocket and pulled out a materia. The Bahamut Materia.
"How did you get… THAT!" Yuffie demanded in shock as she checked her materia slots. Her own Bahamut materia was still there… but how come Kairi has it too? It's the only one in the entire Planet!
"Where… how…!" Barret said in disbelief.
"…Mommy gave it to me as a present when I started training as a ninja in Wutai." Kairi explained before smiling sweetly at Yuffie. "You gave it to me in the future." She pointed out.
"OH MY GAWD!" Yuffie reacted in shock and confusion as she turned away and ran back upstairs again.
"I think I believe them…" Vincent said, shivering slightly before turning to Sora again. Sora blinked while patting Red XIII's head who had just approached him to say hello. "I don't know why you don't believe these young ones. I can smell Aerith and Cloud in this boy; I can smell Yuffie and… some foreign unfamiliar scent from Kairi… and I can smell Vincent and some other unfamiliar scent from Riku." Red explained.
Silence.
"Vincent?" Tifa asked, wanting to be sure.
"Vincent? … is your father?" Barret asked Riku.
Riku's eyes widened and he looked away.
"I thought you said you're Sephiroth's son!" Vincent demanded in shock; his face went paler than usual.
"Is there something you're not telling us, kid?" Barret demanded in disbelief.
Riku shoved his hands inside the pockets of his pants. "Erm… well… okay… so my real parents are Lucrecia and Vincent…" he began.
Vincent's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in shock, but before anyone else could interrupt him, Riku continued, "BUT—something happened along the way."
Everyone was silent as if anticipating the explanation. Riku could tell that they're still speechless.
"Sephiroth is my old half-brother. During your wedding to Lucrecia, Sephy accidentally bonked his head and then he started to think that you are a woman… and he fell in-love with you and took you away with him… but don't worry you still managed to stay with Lucrecia every other weekend… and so you still managed to have five children with her, and I'm the youngest… but then Sephiroth thinks that you were the one who gave birth although I think it's highly impossible because you're a man… but we were all raised with you and Sephiroth in the Valentine Mansion in Sector 1, Midgar… and Sephiroth wanted us to think that he's our father and you're our mother, but no, we're not stupid; we can observe things and of course we found out by ourselves so we just act around him." Riku explained to Vincent.
Vincent's eyes began to water because of so much mixed emotions.
"But how come you look like Sephiroth!" Tifa asked in confusion, staring unbelievably at Riku's silver hair and green eyes. "Oh. Blame it on Mako and JENOVA. It's already in mommy's system. But not to worry though; only three of us have silver hair: myself, and my two older brothers Dante and Kuja." He explained with a proud smile on his face.
"Oh!" Vincent reacted before finally passing out.
"Darn foo's! I knew Sephiroth's really insane!" Barret reacted.
"But who is your father, Kairi?" Tifa asked, turning to Kairi. Kairi smiled proudly. "His name is Zack!"
Cloud and Tifa jaw-dropped. "Hu-whaaaat!" they reacted in unison.
Kairi blinked. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Hey dad, you wanna see our family picture?" Sora asked happily.
Cloud held his hand at Sora to stop him. "No… please… no. Stop it! Just tell me how to get Aerith back, please!" he demanded.
Sora blinked. "…I don't know." He replied.
"We're not allowed to further cause damage here so that our future wouldn't be affected once we get back to where we originally came from." Riku pointed out.
"It's useless! We've already done enough damage! They already know who and what their children are going to be!" Kairi told her friends.
Sora and Riku exchanged glances before turning back to Kairi. "…you're right… damn…" Riku began.
"I'm confused." Cloud muttered. The three youngsters turned to him with inquiring stares. He frowned at them while pointing accusingly at their faces, "The three of you are here because of…?" he asked, wanting to make sure.
"Samara…" Riku responded after a moment of silence.
"And who is Samara?" Barret asked calmly.
"Isn't she a character from a horror movie?" Tifa asked, blinking in confusion.
"…I think you based her name from that movie." Sora said. "Me?" she asked.
"She's your daughter… your second daughter." Kairi explained.
"I have two daughters?" Tifa asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Actually, there are three." Riku said. "And two boys." Kairi added. Tifa's eyes widened. "Five children!" she demanded in disbelief.
"Two sets of twins and then the youngest is solo." Sora explained. "Anyway, back to your evil little daughter," Riku said, sneering, wanting to scare Tifa just in case. "When Sora ended up here, she had me follow him." He continued. "And Samara made me follow after Riku so that I can contact her if we've found one another already." Kairi added.
"How come you cannot go back to where you came from with her help?" Barret asked.
"Samara gave me her pendant… the confidential thing she owns that marks her as a…" Kairi stopped herself before she could say Samara's surname. "…uhm… I forgot her surname. My bad." She lied as she reached for her pocket to get Samara's pendant… but she was unsuccessful. It was missing. Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh no!" she cried out in panic.
"What?" Riku asked, turning to her, sensing that something is wrong.
"I… lost the pendant!" she responded with a worried look on her face.
Sora and Riku were quiet, staring dumbfoundedly at Kairi. She just smiled sheepishly at them as she swallowed hard. "I… must've dropped it somewhere in the place where I landed when I arrived here!" she stated flatly.
"What can the pendant do anyway?" Cloud asked.
"I have to hold it and talk to her through my mind if we want to go back. Then I don't know what will happen. It's her ability." She explained.
Riku clenched his fists, "You lost the pendant!" he demanded in annoyance. Kairi jerked in surprise. "…I'll go find it right now, I promise!" she said nervously when she saw anger build up in his eyes before dashing out of the house. "Kairi!" Sora called out, following after her.
Riku just stood still, clenching his teeth in total impatience. "…I can't believe this is happening! What if that pendant gets lost forever and we'll be stuck here forever! And we can only stay here for a maximum of seven days… otherwise the future will be permanently changed!" he complained in annoyance before he started to pace back and forth.
"Seven days?" Cloud asked.
Riku stopped and turned to him. "It's Samara's style. She loves the number seven as much as her parents love it." He told them.
"You love the number seven," Barret told Tifa while trying to wake Vincent up. "Hey foo'!" he shook Vincent lightly. "Oh don't mind him. He'll come around later on when he's calm. He does that all the time in my time." Riku told Barret.
Cloud swallowed hard. He had just decided on something… and whether he likes it or not, he had to make that decision. Turning to Tifa and Barret, he began, "We have to help those kids find that pendant. If they cannot come back to their time…"
Tifa and Barret stared strangely at Cloud, but the former was the only one who got the message right when he trailed off. She smiled calmly at him. "There will be no Aerith." She figured out silently before patting Cloud's shoulder. "You guys stay here. I'll go on and help the kids." She told him before rushing upstairs to put on some decent clothing.
Cloud was surprised at her. Riku sighed heavily. "I'll go with her." He decided.
"No, you just stay here. We still have a lot more questions to ask you of." Barret instructed. Riku frowned but obeyed, sitting down on a chair and crossing his arms.
Tifa finally came down from the stairs dressed in black. "Aren't you going to eat breakfast first?" Red XIII asked her.
"Nah. This is urgent matter. Besides, I'm interested to know who my future husband will be!" she said with a wink before leaving.
Everyone was silent for a while before turning to Riku. "Could you give us any clue on whom Tifa got hitched to?" Barret asked curiously.
Riku shrugged. "Well… I could describe her future children and then you can guess from there." He said playfully with a sly smile on his face. "Well shoot." Barret told him, ready for the challenge while Cloud went to the refrigerator to get his cheese. Riku thought for a while before saying, "Well… their first set of twins… a girl and a boy. The girl is a superstar and she's… such a Prima Donna! She's the only one in the family with the Midgarian accent because of the influence of the media in Midgar… after all, she is an actress and voted one of the sexiest women in the Planet. Her twin was believed to be retarded so he was sent away to study in another place but he proved himself to be much more extra special so he's now the vice president. He's got Blonde hair and blue eyes… and then the next set of twins: Theodore and Samara. Theodore has blonde hair and she has Auntie Tifa's eyes. He's very cheerful and he's always laughing… then there's Samara, his complete opposite. Quite resembles so much of her mommy when it comes to her looks but she's got blue eyes… and she's really very strange but still likeable." Riku had a smile on his face, puzzling the others.
"Go on…" Cloud urged.
Riku cleared his throat, "And then there's the youngest, Lavinia. She bites people. She's like Little Miss Ray-of-Sunshine. Another kiddie version of Auntie Tifa but she's got blonde hair."
"I'm pretty sure their father isn't Cloud even though Cloud has blonde hair," Red XIII pointed out with a skeptical look in his eyes. Cloud glared at Red with a look of disbelief in his eyes.
Barret blinked. "I don't get it!" he told Riku.
"Well… she married the most unlikely of all people." Riku explained. Cloud was quiet, putting all the clues together in his head. And his mouth dropped open in awe. "Just don't tell her…at least for now." Riku told him upon realizing that he got the answer already."
Cloud took a deep breath and nodded with a disturbed look on his face.
"…or don't ever tell her… EVER! Let her find out for herself!" Riku added quickly before Cloud could make a comment.
Cloud just blinked and slowly turned away, "I… think I need some fresh air…" and he slowly walked outside, leaving the others.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"This is where I landed, I know!" Kairi pointed out to Sora and Tifa.
"But this is a vast field!" Tifa said.
"Oh no… if we lose that pendant, we're stuck here forever and the future will completely change!" Sora said with a worried look on his face.
"Don't worry… we'll find it." Tifa said with a determined look on her face as she began to search on the ground. Kairi and Sora quietly observed her with weird looks on their faces. She was basically crawling on the dirty soil and searching for a pendant. "How does it look like anyway?" she asked.
"It's… heart-shaped and it's silver. It has…" Sora trailed off when he almost gave off the name of the logo that is engraved on the front part of the pendant.
"It has what?" Tifa asked.
"Some Wutaian characters in the front." Kairi saved.
Sora breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Well I don't read and understand Wutaian." Tifa pointed out.
"But it's very identifiable. Believe me, you'll know once you see it." Kairi said convincingly.
"What's the logo for?" Tifa asked.
Sora urged Kairi to help Tifa so she did. Sora began to search someplace else. "It's your future family's symbol. Like a Coat-of-Arms." Kairi responded with a weak smile on her face.
"Gee… I must've really married a very rich and powerful man from where you came from, huh?" Tifa asked, but she was still completely clueless. Kairi just shrugged. "Well… you got it! He's really rich and really powerful!" she pointed out.
"Not to mention, influential. He's like the king!" Sora added.
"Interesting," Tifa said before she felt something hard against her right knee. She lifted her knee off the spot where she felt the hard object and saw a heart-shaped pendant. She picked it up and frowned when she easily recognized the ShinRa logo engraved on the front. She turned it over and saw some barcodes also etched on it. "Ew. ShinRa." She instantly threw it away over her shoulder, not caring where it landed, and then she started searching again for other pendants on the ground.
Sora and Kairi noticed her reaction. "What did you find, Auntie Tifa?" the former asked.
"Some silver pendant with ShinRa on it. But I threw it away." Tifa replied.
The youngsters fell silent as they stared in horror at Tifa. "WHY DID YOU THROW IT AWAY!" Sora cried out in shock.
"It's ShinRa crap! Surely you're not searching for anything ShinRa, correct?" Tifa asked mindlessly as she proceeded in her own merry way to find another pendant.
Kairi felt the world spinning around her. "Oh no…" she wailed.
"Why?" Tifa asked cluelessly.
Kairi suddenly remembered what Samara said, "Never ever mention ShinRa." She just sighed heavily. "…Nothing, Auntie Tifa." She said softly.
"Where exactly did you throw it?" Sora asked, approaching Tifa. Tifa thought for a while before shrugging, "Didn't really care where. I just threw it over my shoulder. After all, it's ShinRa… so why should I care?" she asked before proceeding to search.
Sora felt his knees getting weaker, but he didn't say anything else, so did Kairi. They just watched Tifa search with a helpless look in their eyes. Sora and Kairi exchanged hopeless looks but they were interrupted when Tifa cried out in exasperation and got up, dusting herself. "This is pointless. I'm going back to Kalm and get Red XIII. I think we're going to need his help." She told them.
The two were just quiet.
"You guys are going to be okay here? I'll be back in a jiffy." She told them.
The two just nodded.
Tifa wondered why the two were suddenly quiet. "Well… alright…" and then ran off back onto the road going to Kalm.
When they knew that she was already too far away from them, Kairi began to cry and Sora let himself collapse backward to the ground.
"I can't believe her!" Kairi said in disappointment as she wiped her tears away.
Sora just looked up at the clouds as he felt the air blow against his face. "Well… that's Auntie Tifa… same as always…" he decided.
"This is harder than I thought! We can't say ShinRa and it's the ultimate clue on how we're going to find the pendant!" she said with a frustrated look on her face. Sora sat up and sighed heavily. "I wish my dad's the one who came with us here instead… he understand things better, I guess… even if he acts like he doesn't." he said softly with a sad look on his face.
"Or my mommy… she's good in hunting and finding lost stuff." Kairi said with a sad look on her face.
"Aw, don't cry, Kairi," Sora said with a sad smile on his face as he got up and gave her a comforting hug.
"Hey, what are you kids doing here? You lost or something?"
Their eyes widened when they heard an awfully-familiar voice from behind them. They turned around as a shadow loomed over them. Their eyes widened. "Mister Reno!"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
This time, on her way back to the vast field where she left Kairi and Sora, Tifa brought along Red XIII with Cloud and Riku. Upon arriving there, they realized that Sora and Kairi were not there anymore.
"I thought you left them here?" Riku asked with a frown on his face.
"I did. But… where are they?" Tifa asked with a confused look on her face.
Cloud shook his head impatiently and began to mosey around the area. "Sora!" he called out with a worried look on his face.
"Gee… maybe they started looking for the pendant that I found but I threw it away… Oh well… They could be around the area somewhere." Tifa said mindlessly with an optimistic look on her face.
Riku's eyes widened as he turned to her, "What?" he demanded.
"Well I found this pendant a while ago with ShinRa on it but I figured it wouldn't be the pendant you kids were looking for so I threw it away." She responded.
Riku's jaw dropped and Red XIII clearly saw the rage form in his blue-green eyes. "You WHAT!" he demanded in shock.
Tifa blinked as she turned to Riku with a surprised look on her face. Riku marched up to her with his fists clenched. "You threw it away!" he demanded in annoyance.
"Well yes. It's ShinRa and I'm pretty sure you're not searching for anything ShinRa, right? Besides, ShinRa is gone and…" Tifa began, but Riku cut her off, "YOU IDIOT!" he screamed at her face before he moved away and began to pace back and forth before Red XIII and Tifa.
Cloud was quietly observing the young boy and the behavior that he was displaying. "Gee… he's got tendencies just like Sephiroth…" he thought to himself with an amused look on his face.
"I beg your pardon!" Tifa demanded from the boy. Riku realized what he had just said and he turned pale. "Oh… I… said that you were… intelligent…" he said sheepishly.
"You did?" Tifa asked with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"Yes, he did." Cloud said, approaching Riku.
Tifa blinked, her facial expression softening. "Oh. Okay." And she was calm again before turning to Red XIII and started talking to him about sniffing out the whereabouts of Sora and Kairi.
Riku breathed out a sigh of relief and turned to Cloud. "Gee… thanks, Uncle Cloud." He said with a slight smile.
Cloud smiled slightly at him and patted his head. "Just be careful the next time you open your mouth to say something." He warned before turning to Red XIII who was already sniffing the air and the ground. "Any sign of them?" he asked.
"…I can… smell another scent… a Turk." Red XIII revealed.
Their eyes widened. "A Turk?" Tifa reacted in awe.
"Reno." Red XIII elaborated before turning to his left. Riku smiled slightly, "Oh, it's Mister Reno. Cool." He said with a pleased look on his face.
Red XIII kept his eyes fixed at one particular direction: at a hospital-like sanctuary a bit far from where they are. "And they went there." He told them.
Cloud, Riku and Tifa turned their gazes to where Red XIII was looking at. "Oh. I know that place." Riku said.
Cloud frowned. "Let's go." He told them before leading the way.