Summary: Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

Queen's Quornor: Surprise! Told you that last chapter wasn't the end of the story! There's plenty more surprises in store, worry not. And we finally get to meet more members of the supporting cast. And yes, I did take this title straight out of Memoirs of a Geisha, which I also do not own. It just seems appropriate. I know this chapter moves a little fast, but everything I was trying just wasn't working. Uncooperative muses... Leave me reviews, people!

The Heart Dies a Slow Death

"Laura, what's wrong with you?You've been awfully quiet tonight."

"Oh. Sorry. I'm just..." Laura stared down into her mug of coffee, refusing to look at her friend, who also happened to be one of her exes. "I've got a lot on my mind, that's all."

Bryan put his mug aside, reaching out to take her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. "Care to talk about it?"

No.

But you've got to tell someone. They'll find out in a few months anyway.

Yeah, I know.

She sighed and took a sip of her Folger's. "I'm pregnant."

The dark-haired man looked at her, stunned. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm pregnant. Knocked up, gotta bun in the oven, expecting the stork, maternally blessed, fulfilling my God-given purpose in life, with child, swallowed a watermelon, etc. Do you want me to draw you a fucking picture?" she snarled.

He held up his hands in an attempt at pacification. "No, I heard you the first time. I'm just surprised, that all. I didn't know you were seeing someone. I mean, it's only been a few months since we broke uup... I thought you weren't ready for another relationship."

"I didn't either." Seems I was wrong.

"Does that father know? Who is he?"

"You don't know him. And no, he doesn't know."

"Did you break up with him?"

"Not exactly. He... left me." Can't exactly tell him that he went insane and murdered me, sending me right back to Earth along with all of my stuff. He'd think I was nuts.

"What a bastard. What kind of guy leaves his woman when she's carrying his child?"

Laura was silent, gripping her mug with white-knuckled hands. You didn't know him like I did. You don't know how much I loved him, how much I still love him.

"Are you going to keep it?"

She nodded. I'd never give up my baby, this life we created together. Never.

"Laura, you can't raise a baby by yourself. You're back at work now, and Harris has got you on double-shifts. You don't have time to raise a baby!"

"I'm keeping this baby, Bryan. I loved its father, and I'm not going to abandon it or get rid of it. I took the time to create it. I can take the time to raise it as well."

"But Laura... What about your career?"

"I'll manage, Bryan."

"At least consider..."

"Get out, Bryan. Just...go."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Laura looked at the apartment tiredly. Number 514. A number she hated beyond all others, even the dreaded triple 6. The witch inhabiting this apartment had ever been the bane of her life, but she had a duty to her. She had to give her the news.

She placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it, opening the door and taking her first step back into hell.

Smell's not so bad this time. Guess Mom finally cleaned up a little.

She stepped over a few stray bottles of cheap vodka and into the living room. "Mom? You here?"

A harsh, throaty voice answered back. "I'm in the kitchen."

Laura made her way to the kitchen, avoiding various piles of filth and garbage all the way. This was the second reason she hated visiting her mother; one misstep could result in disaster. Her mother was sitting in one of the splintering wooden chairs at the rickety table, smoking a cigarette while watching "The Price is Right." For once, there was a glass of milk in front of her rather than the customary bottle of booze. She waved noncommitedly as her daughter approached. "So whaddya want now? Got kicked out of that fancy-pants apartment of yours and need a place to stay?"

Thank you for your gift of sarcasm. I shall cherish it always.

"No, actually. I'm doing even better than I was last time I visited." Three years ago. "I just came to inform you of something kind of important."

"Well, spill it. What's up?" Valerie gestured to the other chair and scratched at her greasy curls. "Siddown. I'm your mother, not some stranger. It's still your chair."

If you think I'm sitting in that disease-ridden fire hazard, you've got another think coming, you damned harpy. "Look, Mom. I just thought I'd tell you that in about five or six months, you're going to be a grandmother."

Valerie froze. "What did you just say?"

"Mom, do I have to spell it out? I'm pregnant. P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T."

The aging woman collapsed back in her chair, arm thrown across her eyes dramatically. Laura rolled her eyes, and started backing out of the kitchen. Here comes the storm...

"Have I taught you nothing, Laura? Marriage comes before babies. You don't get pregnant until you get yourself a man! Do you need one of my kits? We can get that baby out of you real quick."

"Mom, I don't want to get rid of this baby."

In a flash, Valerie was up, scowling at Laura with one fist curled. "Sweetie, you have to get rid of it. If you don't, then men won't want you anymore. Do you want to end up like your poor old mother? Alone?"

"I'm in a better place than you could ever hope for, you washed-up, filthy, yellow-toothed, ass-faced old bitch."

Ok, we need to get out of here. NOW.

Valerie screamed and flew at her daughter, catching her by the hem of her shirt and her hair and pulling her back. Laura grunted in pain and tried to pull away, but the older woman's long nails had snagged secure holds on the fabric. Despite Laura's efforts, she was hauled backwards and spun around, her head twisting to the side as her mother slapped her.

"You ungrateful little chit! Haven't I been nothing but nice to you all these years? Didn't I keep a damned roof over your wretched little head, food in your worthless stomach? I fucking taught you everything I know, sacrificed everything for you, and this is how you thank me? By getting knocked up and then crawling back here to call me names? Well, I'll teach you!" Each of these statements was punctuated by a slap or a claw, faster than Laura could react. Those same nails were sharp enough to draw blood; there was already several cuts oozing down her cheeks. She wanted to defend herself, but worried that the amount of force she could put into a punch or kick would be enough to kill her mother.

"Let go of me, whore!" she yelled, bringing a leg up to knee her mother's stomach. Valerie folded with a pained grunt and let go, allowing Laura to sprint for the exit.

"Sinful little bitch!" A bottle twirled through the air, and Laura ducked it, flinching as it shattered against the wall. Hurtling over the mess in the living room, she reached the door and wrenched it open just as her mother clattered into the entry-way, another beer bottle held ready. "Get back here so I can teach you a lesson!"

"No!" She raced for the stairs and mounted the banister, sliding down the rails until she reached the bottom. Huh. The old escape route still works. Her mother was still screaming obscenities from the fifth floor, and Laura looked up just as she reached the front doors. Valerie's pinched face glared at her from atop the stairs.

"Laura Rene Kerrington, if you walk out that fucking door, I swear I'll write you straight out of my damned will!"

"You don't have a will, Mom! And I don't need your shit anyway; I'm the sole beneficiary of Grandma and Grandpa's will!"

The bottle came hurtling for her head. Laura raced out the front doors, watching it explode against the metal handles with no emotion whatsoever.

Goodbye... Valerie Kerrington.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

It had been three months since she had returned to Earth. Three months since he had killed her.

Three months since she had known the deepest, most powerful love she would ever know.

Laura took her life a single day at a time now, trying desperately to act like nothing was wrong when she was falling apart on the inside. She lived for the baby, his baby, and nothing else.

Nothing else mattered anymore.

She watched Advent Children as often as she possibly could. It broke her heart to see the events played out, as she knew they had to have occured in reality, but this was the only way to see his face, to hear his voice. The movie and the baby were her only connections to the man she loved, and no matter how much it cost her, she would not relinquish them.

She dreamed of him nightly, of the moments she had shared with him and his brothers. She often woke up, soaking wet, images of their lovemaking fresh in her mind. Other times she would awaken to find his name ringing from her lips, the moments of his fight against Jenova's hold on him haunting her consciousness. Then there were the nights when she would envision his death, a reoccuring nightmare that rendered her exhausted and unable to sleep.

This was such a night. Her own screams had awoken her from the horror, her mind's eye still watching him fade into a spray of emerald fire-lights. Drawing her legs up to her chest and resting her head against her knees, she wept, pouring out her sorrow in a river of heart-ache, of soul-deep pain.

Why did you make me leave? I could have helped you!

The memories are killing me. I don't know if I can go on, if I don't have you beside me...

Somebody help me through this nightmare. I can't keep living like this!

She couldn't confide in her friends. Denise would think she was insane. During their conversation over the Instant Messenger, she had expressed reservations about Laura's pregnancy, and offered to raise the baby along with her own daughter when it was born. Laura had flat-out refused, and while her friend still wasn't happy with the idea of her raising it alone, she had agreed to come down and stay with her during the last trimester until it was born and she was comfortable with its care.

Bryan didn't want to help her work through her pain; he wanted her to move on as fast as possible. Ever since she had told him she was pregnant, he refused to leave her alone. He called her, e-mailed her, came to see her as often as he could, and every single time, he gave her the same offer:

"I still love you, Laura. Give me another chance; let me be the father of your baby. Forget that loser, he's never coming back. Marry me. I'll give you everything you need."

But you can't give me what I need the most. Nothing can.

Her love for him was consuming her, making her wither and die. She knew she had lost the will to live. The only reason she hadn't joined him in death was because of the life in her womb. She had to live for the baby.

Why did you have to die? Why?

Still sobbing quietly, Laura got up to go to the kitchen. Her throat, her mouth, felt like they had been filled with sand.

Why does this always happen to me? she thought sorrowfully, filling a glass with water. The people I care about the most always wind up dead. First Joseph, and now...

Tears brimmed again. She gripped the sink and grabbed a dish-towel, wiping at her eyes. Look at me. I can't even think his name without breaking down. What kind of a mother is that?

Better than my mother, that's what. Did I ever have a mother in the first place?

After their violent confrontation, Valerie had disowned her. Laura had no mother now, only the promise of her inheritance from her grandparents, who, while disapproving of her lack of a husband, wholeheartedly agreed that she should keep this baby. Still as hypocritical as ever, expecting me to be the paragon of chastity while she remains the proverbial Whore of Babylon. Thanks Mom. I love you too.

A drink of water made her feel a little better. She would have preferred Smirnoff or Captain Morgan's, but she refused to endanger her baby with her desire for alchohol. The strongest drink she would have for the next six months would be Diet Coke.

How much longer can I last? I'm driving myself out of my mind, and I know it. Can I at least make it through this pregnancy so I can give the baby to Denise and her husband, if I can't live for it?

This love is killing me. I need him so much...

But you can't bring back the dead. Nobody can.

Wiping at a few stray tears, Laura picked up the glass and shuffled out of the kitchen, praying she could get some sleep before she had to go to work. Wonder what shit Harris will put me through today? What's his beef with me anway? Is he still sore over that whole thing with Thomson?

As she passed through the living room, she noticed that her window was open, the wind fluttering the curtains lazily. That's odd. I thought I closed that window before I went to bed.

The draft was chilling her skin. Still holding the glass, she went to close it.

Then her eyes fell upon something laying on the couch, freezing her in place.

Her heart stopped. Oh. My. God.

It moved just as the glass slipped from her fingers, shattering on the floor and spraying across her naked legs and feet in a cascade of glittering crystal tears.