When Cloud first regained consciousness he realized he couldn't breathe. It was like clay in his lungs slowly sapping the strength from his limbs. He couldn't move his limbs, let alone open his eyes. Each failed attempt at inhaling left him more and more concerned. It grew, till panic and fear like he hadn't experienced ling a long time began to fester inside of him. A familiar feeling that came during the most dire moments of his life. He hadn't felt like this since he fell off Mt. Nibel started to settle into him. When first fought Sephiroth at the village reactor as a teenager. A feeling of utter helplessness that galled him to bone.

Was someone trying to kill him?

It wouldn't be the first time, and he'd make sure this wouldn't be the last. Axphiyation was new, but Cloud would be damned if this was what did him in. He had to start thinking beofee the lack of ozygen impaired rational thought. The former merc had to regroup himself and assess the situation. only there weren't many clues. His eyes wouldn't open so her coouldn't see. Couldn't breath , so there was nothing to smell. Sound was a faint and damp white noise that he couldn't make heads or tail of. And touch was so sensative, that he honestly couldn't distinguise individual sensations. Was he drugged? That would explain the molases in his body. Perhaps he was buried somewhere or maybe even tied up? Trapped under water? Could be the reason for the lack of familarity to his senses. Before he could calm his mind and take stock of his situation the protector of Gaia felt a sharp slap on his ass.

"Fuck!" Cloud screamed, in pain and a little indignation. And kept screaming his lungs out, as his ass cheeks kept burning. That hit definitely made it to the top ten worst pains he's ever experienced in his life. Might've even been worse than getting stabbed by Sephiroth the first time. Hell, it might even be worse then the second time he got stabbed by Sephiroth. But it wasn't all bad news, at least. All that screaming had dislodged the blockage in his lungs. Whatever was stuck was cleared, and he could finally breathe again. As the oxygen begain to fill his brain once more, the blond realized he had bigger concerns. Someone had hit him, and he couldn't lift a finger to do anything about it. Who was his attacker? Where were his family? Did they take his swords? And as his fight-or-flight insticts took over, how many of the did he need to kill?

As the man struggled to open his heavy eyelids, and move his weak limbs, Cloud realized he was being held by a giant. And wrapped in a body bage? No, wa that ablanket? Maybe he misread the situation? Maybe it wasTifa? That would explain the ass smacking maybe. But not the person holding him, this creature was much too big to be his wife. Plus, he didn't think she could hit him that hard in her old age. She was extremely fit her years, much to the jealousy of women a third her age. But this was too much! Maybe it was Barrett? Still stronger than the gunman should have been capable of, but perhaps he was using a new prostetic arm from Shera? Normally he'd kill Barrett for the roughhousing but the big man might've just saved his life. He could be merciful this time. As he mulled over whether to thank or hit his assailant, a loud voice boomed in his ear.

"He has a healthy set of pipes on him!" Said the giant, who was currently holding him. A rich set of laughter filled the room, as he felt himself get lifted higher. Way too high. That was not Barret. And there were multiple hostiles in the room and he still couldn't open his eyes. From the booming of their voices, they had to be huge. Probably equaling a summons and full power. Was this sometype of new monster mutated from the ruins of Midgar? Or the city limits of Edge? Cold dread started to seep into his bones, before anger overtook it. He's been kidnapped some type of intellegent fiend and these fuckers are having a laugh!

"Thank Minvera! Let me see my beautiful baby boy!" Said a tired voice across the room. Cloud felt himself being manhandled into another person's arms. His weak limbs unable to fight the transfer, no matter how much he struggled. Still fussing, his mind finally register the words of monster number two. Baby boy? Please don't let this be some type of kink kidnapping. His heart started to faulter at the thought. The Not-Soldier remember exploring the remains of Hojo's labs after Meterofall, and knew there were some truly sick people out there. And some experiments had an unfortunate habit of following their creator's habits. Hopefully this wasn't an escaped lab project retunring to exact some misguided revenge for the mad scientist. Preparing himself mentally physically and emotionally for the worst, Cloud had finally manage to open his eyes.

It was his mother

Big eyes the color of the bright morning sky, hair as golden as his own, and a gentle smile that made his heart ache. She looked younger than he could remember. Even digging back to his earliest childhood memories, this was younger than he thought possible. If he was a betting man, he'd say she looked like a teenager. Sweaty and exhausted, but with a radiant smile directed towards him, he felt peace and tranquility. As if all was right with the world. He must have died in his sleep and this must be heaven, Cloud thought with a smile. Not great, but if this was the end result, then he couldn't complain. Although, why was being a baby his heaven?

"Look Lighting! Your little brother finally made it out." His mother's beautiful voice called out.

It took a minute for Cloud to comprehend what was just said, his gaze noticing his mother shifting her other arm to raise a bundle to face him.

Another baby was revealed under all the layers. A tuff of blonde hair on it's head. Soft cherub cheeks and a drooling mouth. As the child open it's eye, the most beautiful blue stared back at him under heavy lids. His own eyes.

Who the hell is that?!

000

The next twelve months passed by fairly uneventfully. At least, compared to a man who has saved his world a couple of times. And would occationally, and randomly, go dimensional hoping to fight in battle tournaments against plumbers and talking hedgehogs.

Despite being one of the oldest reactor towns, Nidelheim was a quaint village. Idealistic to some, with its picturesque landscape and clean mountain air. Rivers ran to and fro. Up and down the mountains, sparkling and clear in the crisp air. At least, the ones that weren't tainted by mako runoffs. Then it became a whol different ball game. Chugging and fetid waters, its rushing liquid creating foam on the banks and poisoning its surrounding vegitation. Or at least the flora that didn't get mutated. But those were easy to avoid, since the three-eyed fishes and Touch Me frogs were so territorial. An odd case of symbiosis, by making the contaminated bodies of water their home, these creatures served as unitentional sentinals for the villagers. These weaker predators acted as the warning signs, to let you know when you were wandering into a dangerous areas. And it surprisingly made things safer! They only occasionally got into small battles with the local children from the village. All in good fun of course, nobody ever got more than a broken bone in those fights.

There forest and hills, thick with vegetation and wildlife of all kinds. This led to a rather abundant farming community for this sleepy mountain village. Sure, it was a coin flip on whether or not the wildlife were regular animals or monsters, And sure, the mutated vegetation may sometimes try to kill unsuspecting passer byers that got to close to their homes. But it was the fault of outsiders and the ignorant, for not knowing that the mutates tend to gather in packs! It led to unusual agricultural practices though. Being a farmer ment you spent half your time defending against slash and burn raids tacticts from the local flora. Or if you were yellowbellied, hiding in the farm shed till the aggresive plants went away. The Taylor family apparently offered the occational tributes. And it worked! These roving bands of murderous plants, leaving them realtively unharmed in their passing. Which is why the family always have such bountiful harvests every year. Some like to speculate human sacrifice or blood materia is involved, but since no one has ever gone missing mysteriously, it continued to be only a persistant rumor. What these tributes actually entail were a family secret. Only the main family knowing all the details needed. Selfish bastards.

The Lockharts' farms were one of the few families capable of actually growing anything on an industrial level. Being able to feed themselves and their farm animals with it's abundance. Then go off and sell what was left over to the local grocer. Or occasional traveling merchant in trade or business. Most sensible familys would hoard it for the lean months of the year, but they were rich, and rich people do weird things.

The community was by and large very close knit and friendly. Everyone smiled at each and asked "how do you do?" or said "Good day". Nobody locked their doors, and could always be counted on offer a small helping hand for their neighbors. At least if you conformed to their small minded ideals and didn't rock the boat. If you didn't, then well, you were shit out of luck. You would find life exponentially harder as a result. Social isolation became readily apparent and charity dry. If asked directly why, you'll be on the receiving end of flimsy excuses and back handed empathy. Told why everyone would love to help you if they could, but just don't have the time or resources to do so.

Being pregnant at sixteen and out of wedlock, with some outsider would certainly do it. This was the situation that Claudia Stife found herself in, the day the village search party returned with camping supplies of her lover Zephyr and no traces of the man himself. It was a known story. A desperate man looking to provide for his family, goes into the mountains to hunt or scavenge for food, only to be eaten by the various fiends that lurk in the shadows. Her own Pa and brothers died the same way after all. It was typical situation, it happened more often than you would believe. Especially in a village as remote as Nibelhelm. But it didn' stop the rumors that the pretty wanderer left his pregnant conquest in search of more fertile grounds. It hurt to hear such things. To see former friends turn their backs on her, after a lifetime of friendship. But then again "Fuck Them". Claudia was nothing if not stubborn. As her Ma used to say, "Our name is Strife because bad things will always happen to us, but we're still kicking."

Not the most clever of family sayings but it worked. And very concisly explained her luck.

So, she rolled up her sleeves and got down to business, forging a life for herself and her future children. As a fairly small woman, she didn't exactly have the physic that was very useful for most types of farm work or ranching. Which unfortunatle, was ninety percent of the jobs in her village. Most other types of businesses, or ventures were run by families that didn't really need extra hands. After all why hire the town tramp to man the register, when you can get your grandchild to do it for free? Still, she scrapped by with what she could find. And in the final half of her pregnancy, found a steady rhythm of doing various odd end jobs. Although, as tough as the blonde was, she was thankful to have gained some small renown as a seamstress. It brought in steady money, she was more than happy to fix holes in shirts, then clean up after chocobos. Sometimes, it felt like those stupid birds waited till she was on duty to drop their pies!

The few bright spots in her life were her childhood friend and neighbor Thea Lockhart. A beautiful foreigner from Wutai, with long silk black hair and cherry colored eyes. Although calling her a foreigner is a bit misleading since she was born in Nibelheim, her father having immigrated when he was a young man. Still, beauty crossed all cultural barriers. Back when they were younger, she was quite a hot ticket in the village, All the boys falling over themselves to impress her, at least till she married Brian Lockhart. The brunette was one of her few friends that stuck with her through thick and thin. A constant source of comfort through the long months. Brian was alright too Claudia supposed. Seeing the two of them together, still had the blonde woman shaking her in disbelief. That the village weirdo managed to to turn her friend's head, was the upset of the century!

The other, was the small cottage that she convinced Zephyr to buy. At the time, he instead wanted to buy a ring that a passing merchant almost convinced him to get. Very sweet of him, but they had more practical concerns. Pulling together what meager savings they had, her a boarderline oprhan and him a traveler living out of a suitcase, they were able to buy it. At a very steep discount from her friend Thea. Thank the goddess she did, cause at least she has a place to sleep instead of a shiny rock of dubious origin. The only disruption in this new life, was the premature birth of her baby or babies. What a shock that was to have twins! In hindsight, it made sense that it was two. Thea did think she was bigger than normal, but Claudia figured she was just being hazed with fat jokes. Most women tend to struggle with one birth in the country, so it was a miracle that little Claudia Stife was could get through it, healthy and hale. A beautiful boy and girl with golden hair and blue eyess. Her angels stared back at her with sleepy expressions. Thea would later jokingly wonder if a man was even involved in their creation, since they looked so much like her.

"Not a whole lot of Zephyr in them," Claudia agreed bemused, if a little sad.

Thus, began their little family of three. It was hard work trying to keep on top of everything, but she loved every moment of it. With the help and company of Thea, and her own little girl, days seem to pass by in a blur of hard work and comfort. Watching her children grow was truly a joy, she couldn't ever imagine trading for the world. They were for the most part, sweet children. And surprisingly, with minimal crying and open affection. It made her a little smug at how happy her children where. How well behaved. That being said, she did have a few hang ups as she observed the children at play.

With her pretty looks and bright smile, Lighting was an adorable baby girl. She was prone to shyness and giggling. This allowed her to worm her way into the cold hearts of the other villagers. Not surprising, considering she was one of two baby girls currently in the village. A boarderline curse of Nibelheim, there alwasy seemed to be more boys than girls, for any given generation. In this case, her angel outnumbered four to one. Well, better than her own choldhood, where it was five boy for every one girl. Thsi made the little Strife, very popular. After all, you don't want to alienate your potential daughter-in-law, when she's spoiled for choice. In a backwards village like there's, she was a source of hope for future generations. That just maybe, the reactor town wouldn't end up another forgotten dustball in twenty years. In hindsight, Claudia realized that this might be the source of her fellow villagers bitter feelings towards her. That she chose someone other than their kin., forcing them to look abroad.

Maybe, if most of the boys didn't leave the village in her youth, she might have. It was after all, how Brian got Thea. He was the best of what was left, he only boy their age around to take her on a date. It was an uncharitble thought, but it was the truth. Those other men left tofor work, but its hard to pick someone that's not even there.

Now, her son Cloud was a different story. While pretty enough to justify being Lightning's twin, he had developed a personality that left much to be desired. You'd think, how does a baby develop a personality? A mystery that Claudia herself was still trying to wrap her mind around. But he had one. And it stressed her out. Well, she amended, it wasn't his personality that could be described as bad but more the things he did. After his birth, her little Cloud never seemed to cry. An odd thing to complain about, to be sure, but it wasn't just that. He never seemed to emote the way a baby should.

When he was hungry? He started patting his stomach

When he soiled himself? He held his nose

Wants your attention? A hard stare from across the room

Truthfully the staring was the oddest part because of the expression he would make with it. Looking at the village as if he was truly taking it in with wonder and nostalgia. Staring at street signs and his picture books with a look of concentration as if he was trully reading what was written there. The staring at people was where the expressions seem to become more pronounced. He'd look at her with a mixture of sadness and joy. Confusion at Lighting like she was a particular troublesome problem he couldn't figure out. At Thea with big eyes of longing.

He has a crush on me, she joked.

Even stranger was the way he looked at her daughter Thalia, as if she was an imposter. Everytime the sweet little girl wobbled over to play with him he'd back away as if she was a Nibel wolf trying to devour him. Her friend thought that it was hilarious, saying it was a classic case of a boy not knowing what to do when a cute girl approaches him. Claudia thought it was just plain rude.

Not to say that there weren't things that he did that made her proud as well. At only six months old Cloud was already capable of speaking in full sentences instead of the typical baby babble or single words that Lighting was attempting. A true genius, she thought with a smile, if only he didn't speak like an old man. But she couldn't fault him for that, since Brian avoided him like a plague. The only male influence he had were the grandfathers at the local inn when Claudia would pick up extra hours as a cook.

If only he didn't talk back to every person that gave Claudia hassle. While she was more or less used to the sneers and whispers behind her back, her son seemed to think the only appropriate response was to insult them when he caught them. Most found this hilarious, as watching a tiny human being doing adult things tend to be, others brush it off. A few would take exception to this and end up trading barbs with her baby until they were both red faced. Thankfully, they got out of the encounters relatively unscathed since people tend to not take your side in arguments where you're screaming at a child. So all in all very proud of her baby.

It was the walking that aggravated her the most however. Like most things Cloud did or learned, he did it at a speed that left Claudia wondering if she was hallucinating. Typical of most children he first learned to roll on his sides, then crawl short distances, and eventually toddle with heavy supervision. As she watched Cloud running around the back garden and then glanced down at the gently rocking Lightning in her arms, she still couldn't come to terms with the fact that the whole process took 4 months.

Now that he was mobile, Cloud had a tendency to just disappear for minutes at a time. She'd turn around to clean the dishes and only see Lightning playing by herself in the living room. The first couple of times it happened she would begin to panic only for him to walk around the corner or come out of the bathroom. Eventually she learned to fight her instincts to go looking for him if Cloud wasn't immediately in sight. It was worse at night when she could almost swear he wasn't sleeping in his crib. A few instances when Claudia would wake up in the middle of the night and swear he was gone but would suddenly be hit with a wave of fatigue and be too tired to investigate. When she woke up in the morning he'd be right where she left him. She knows what some of the less charitable members of the village say about him.

Weirdo.

Monster.

Demon Child

It hurts but she holds her head high through it all. She smiles with pride as he begins reading out loud to her. Hides her smugness as he tears the village gossip hens a new one for their hurtful words. Encourages him when he starts doing push ups and running laps around the garden.

Things are never easy for a Stife but they're still kicking.

And Claudia was nothing if not stubborn.