Monk
"Daddy!"
Cloud smiled as he ran up to me.
"How's your first year of elementary school?"
"I got to play on a trike but Donny wanted to play on a trike and I told him my daddy was super important and-"
"No."
I had to nip this in the bud right now.
"What?"
"Cloud, I love you and you're my son. But you are not allowed to use that fact to get your way."
"But you are super important."
"I'm important because of my deeds. If you want to become important then you need to do things that make people's lives better. You can't go through life bossing people around, you have to earn their respect."
He frowned.
"Next time you want to use a trike either wait your turn or ask politely but don't ever use my name or your mother's to get your way."
He deflated.
"Ok."
"I'm very serious. I do not want you to grow up to be one of those kids who only talk about how important their parents are, because those people don't work on improving themselves, on building their own reputation. I want you to become your own person."
"I understand, daddy."
I ruffled his hair and we walked over together to pick up Black from preschool. Cloud was my oldest, energetic but I found he had an ego. Black was more humble and little Alice was starting to walk. Three women, three different children. I loved them all. I walked with my children back to my home. I kissed Tifa on the cheek as she cooked dinner and gave Star a hug. The door opened and I saw my blond walk in.
"Doing ok?"
"Tired. Recruits extra stupid."
She smiles as she saw our daughter walk around.
"Am ok, now."
A nice domestic scene. A pity I had to kill so many people to make it happen but then again fuck the Covenant. If they didn't want to die they shouldn't have fucked with me.
Cloud Monk
I did not have a normal childhood.
I mean my father had 3 wives, there were 9 of us kids, we lived in a massive house on an artificial island in a moon-sized super base that served as the training yard for the most elite warriors in the Front and mass-produced high tech defenses and ships for our country... and my father built it and was in charge of all of this.
However, that didn't mean I didn't have friends growing up. A base that large has a lot of personal, drill sergeants, technical people, naval personel, the works. As the war went on, more people were posted on the Star Forge and some of those people had wives, husbands, and naturally children. So schools were set up and I got to go to them.
Truth be told, life was pretty good. When your father is in charge of the giant space station everyone lives on, people tend to treat you very well. At times I let that go to my head but my parents were very quick to stamp that out. Then one day I turned six and I was staring at this fountain, without knowing what called to me, and I suddenly felt the water. I reached out and found out it moved to my control, to my will. I showed off to the other kids and some of them seemed scared.
The school told dad and he had to come in.
"You're not in trouble."
The principal looked at him.
"He's um."
"I tested some plasmids on myself and his mother used them too, the possibility of effects being handed down was always a risk with the early plasmids. This is just confirmation of something I suspected would happen."
They talked for a bit as I played with the water in my glass and then the principal looked me in the eyes, serious but more relaxed.
"Your daddy is going to teach you how to use your powers, ok?"
"Ok."
Dad was often busy but he made time just for me and mom helped out too. The two of them taught me how to meditate, taught me tai chi, and I learned how to control my powers. At school, the other kids got used to it. I didn't feel the same need to show off my powers as the other kids in the family did but, as the oldest, I felt the most pressure to master this power we had been born with.
I didn't concentrate on the war, most of the kids in the Star Forge were actually pretty sheltered from it. People felt safe here, occasionally someone would lose a parent and they would receive our sympathy but we didn't really get how big of a deal it was. Still, we were all military brats and when we came of age we volunteered. It was then and only then that we figured out how much we were sheltered.