samaqi: this fic, when completed, will be a Sci-fi, Adventure. However, as I'm writing a few chapters as a submission to Seiftis Forever Festival 2024, I'll focus mostly on family and Seiftis romance.

A good song to listen to when reading this chapter and the next: Happy Ending by Mika, on YT: watch?v=oFkSMHle8-M


"Good?"

"Yum!"

Seifer smiled endearingly at Quistis, her mouth full of food made by him.

"How are the new restaurants doing?" she asked between bites.

"Don't have positive cash flow yet. But when the promotion is over, I think we'll break even."

"That's promising."

"Yeah. Do you want to help out your husband by pretending to be a customer there? I'm sure the bar will be filled in minutes."

She scoffed amusingly. "It would have worked better if you asked me a couple months ago."

"You still got it. You're the most beautiful woman in the world."

"I'm getting fat."

"You'll get back to normal in no time."

He stepped out of his chair and knelt beside hers. Ear placed on her round belly and hands gently massaging it, he asked, "Our child is a kicker. No, no, that's a fist. Hyne! I hope we won't have a Chicken Wuss in our family!"

"What are you talking about?" Quistis frowned.

"Just kidding," Seifer smiled and looked up at Quistis. "I'm dying to know our child's gender..."

"Which is exactly why I don't want you to know. You do show preference..."

"No, I don't have any preference. I'll love our child, no matter if that's a he or she."

"Oh, really?" she quirked her chin towards the baby room already full of accessories. "Look what you've done so far..."

The room was painted in pink. In the corner sat a crib with hanging toys of Carbuncle and Cactuar flushies. On the table were two dolls of Shiva and Siren holding hands. The latter, if one turned on the switch on its back, would sing Fated Children in a nursery rhyme version.

"Okay, I admit that I'd love to have a girl," Seifer hissed. "You see, I don't know if I'd get along with a copy of me. But if it's a girl, she'll likely be perfect like you. I'll teach her karate. Balamb Garden opens new martial arts classes for little kids on the weekends now. Have I shown you the videos of these cuties kicking…"

"Seifer," Quistis put a finger to seal his mouth. "I know you're excited, but it's still very early."

The elephant in the room was that Hyne's descendants had a hard time conceiving and delivering.

"Selphie hid it too well from us. And also, we both saw that first-hand with Acma," Quistis said with a somber voice.

"And I saved her with my Knight Aura, didn't I? I'll die for you and our child," Seifer squeezed her hands.

"Please..." Quistis leaned over and cupped his face. "The world no longer has magic. Ultimecia can't reach us now. No one needs to die. Promise me, you won't touch your cursed power ever again. Stay with me, with our child, until the rest of your life, won't you?"

He nodded lightly, then grabbed her hands calloused from numerous battles. He felt her worry, her love - a love that very few people in this world would give him.

"Quis," He looked tenderly into her cerulean eyes. "I'm... I feel happy."

Her smile grew wider. "And I'm happy that you feel happy."

He closed the distance between them, let his forehead touch hers, and was about to reach her lips.

"I'm sorry," she backed off. "This is very romantic, but I truly have to pee."

"Of course!" he laughed and made way for her to the bathroom. "Well-played, Mrs. Trepe-Almasy! This is the fifth time this morning, isn't it?"

"It gets worse," Quistis called out from the bathroom. "When I told Gavin the news, he burst into laughters and said he knew it long ago and he felt so relieved that he didn't have to pretend anymore."

"Just because you pee a lot at work?"

"Yes. He has three sisters, one is in the army, too. Five nieces and nephews, two more coming this year. He says he's a diaper ninja."

Seifer whistled. "The lad never got married?"

"Widow. No child."

"Oh. Tragic," Seifer blurted out, then noticed a sound from a touchscreen in Quistis' office room. "Someone is calling you, I think?"

"You can pick it up. Just touch the green button," Quistis called out from the bathroom.

"Are you sure?" Seifer hesitated.

"Yes, it's not work, must be a personal call."

He reluctantly located the button and carefully touched it as if touching a bomb. He was never a high-tech guy. The amount of new communication technology after the disappearance of magic admittedly scared him.

"Good morning! This is Galbadia Communication Center. May I speak with General Trepe-Almasy?"

"She'll be back in a sec. This is her husband."

"Good morning, Mr. Trepe-Almasy. May I open the line from Esthar, caller SeeD Smailes?"

"Yes," Seifer blurted out before even thinking of any Smailes he knew.

"Thank you. Connection established. Have a good day!"

The voice stopped, and the screen showed a loading icon.

"Who's calling?" Quistis asked, still stuck in the bathroom.

"Smailes? Who's that?"

"It's Raddie!"

"Bacon boy?"

"Yes! Tell him I'm coming in a sec!" Quistis couldn't hide her excitement.

When the video on the other side turned on, it revealed Raddie who looked years older than the last time Seifer saw him. The bacon boy wasn't alone, though, but sitting next to a cyborg-looking figure that almost startled Seifer. Its eyes were fully red, with thin, almost transparent eyelids. There was no nose, but two nostrils just above what looked like a dead lightbulb.

"Sei... fer..."

The cyborg made out a few words that if weren't his own name, he wouldn't have recognized.

"You… are… a… live…"

At each syllable the cyborg made out, a blue light would emit from the lightbulb.

Sensing Seifer's petrification, Raddie used his mouth to silently signal who the cyborg was.

What? Of course... Seifer thought, although still troubled by her monstrous appearance.

"I should be the one to ask that question," Seifer laughed nervously to hide his uneasiness. "I can't be dead that easy."

"What... you... do... Quistis... room?"

Seifer narrowed his eyes as the cyborg stopped talking, but he couldn't make sense of her words.

"Please give her some time to adjust. She just woke up, a lot of things to catch up on," Raddie scratched his head. "She seems to want to ask what you're doing in Quistis' residence unit?"

"I see. Great to see you're both alive now, kids. We would've loved to visit you, but we've been quite busy making babies here," Seifer teased in a nervous tone.

"What... mean... Where... she..."

"In the bathroom. I'll get her!"

Seifer hastily excused himself and found Quistis in the bathroom.

"Shit, Quis. It's Acma. She's a freaking cyborg now," Seifer explained.

"I know," Quistis said. "Why are you acting like that?"

"Have you seen what she's like now?" Seifer sighed.

"Yes," Quistis sounded more confused. "Her body was destroyed. It was beyond miracle that she survived. Do you really expect her to come back in one piece after all that?"

"Okay, I know what she did was noble and such, but... I don't know, I'm scared."

"Oh, at least please don't show that. She's still her. I'm sure they'll make her a new body that looks more friendly."

"Right..." Seifer still couldn't hide his uneasiness.

"Is her look that important?" Quistis frowned.

"What?" he was caught off guard by her question. "No, I mean... I don't know why but... nah, forget it. They're waiting."


"Hold on a sec!" Napen cut off Luluna's recounting. "Are you trying to portray Seifer Almasy as some kind of guy who values looks so much that he abandoned his wife and child?"

"Trying?" Luluna wrinkled her face to the point of distortion. "I don't have to try anything. You know how it went. That douchebag cheated on my mom with a blonde bimbo in the Fire Cavern and disappeared with her. He even left my mom's Triple Triad card there covered in dirt, no words, no letters, to add to the insult. It's as obvious as 1 plus 1 equals 2. He married my mom for her looks. She got pregnant, got fat, whatever, and he immediately found a new replacement. A couple of Balamb residents spotted them. The bimbo, they said, looked like my mom, just years younger, taller, thinner, and ten times more attractive..."

Napen hissed, then sipped his cup.

"What? Do you side with him?" Luluna challenged.

"No!" Napen corrected quickly. "I just try to be objective here. Attractive women do have their own disadvantages, don't they? Even your mom who has it all: looks, personality, intelligence, magic, strength... They still suspect their men of liking them just for their looks."

"Wait!" Luluna laughed. "You include magic and strength in your criteria for women?"

"Very nice features to have. I've got to find a partner who can protect my ass when I get older, don't I?" Napen explained. "But, what I'm trying to say is, most men love by looks."

"Superficial!"

"Can't fight biology!" Napen corrected Luluna who winced in disgust. "But didn't they know each other most of their lives before getting married?"

"So what? The conclusion is the same. The douchebag left me and my mom for a bimbo. That's how I shamefully became fatherless for the first time and got ridiculed for most of my childhood."

Napen nodded lightly then asked. "How did General Sebastsky come into the picture?"

"Drink!" Luluna refilled their cups. "It was the best time of my life. I'll tell you from start to end, no details left behind."