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Chapter One The late day sunlight streamed through the windows of Kit's office, lending a golden glow to the young girl sitting in the chair on the other side of the desk. Though at times the severe makeup Kit's client wore would have made her look older, her uneasy fidgeting made her look like the thirteen year old she was, painted like a doll. Her dyed black hair fell over her face to cover her eyes as she lowered her head.
Kit was pretty sure she knew exactly what was going on between the mother and daughter, but just hearing it coming from the mouth of a counselor, in her experience, was not as likely to make an impact as allowing the patients to discover it for themselves. "If you're so capable of taking care of yourself, Carmen, why are you so worried about what your mother thinks?"
"I don't know..." Carmen muttered, returning to her fidgeting.
"Think about it for a moment, then," Kit urged her. "How do you feel when your mother acts disapproving of your boyfriend, or the way you dress, or the people you spend time with?"
Carmen lowered her head further, twisting the fabric of her skirt between her fingers. "...Mad. Frustrated. ...Hurt. I just wish she'd stop freaking out. She doesn't understand anything."
"And why does that bother you so much?"
There was a long pause before Carmen spoke. "I guess... well..." Her shoulders shook as she began to cry. "Mom's the only one left... after..."
The girl's voice broke, and Kit leaned over to hand her the box of tissues that were kept on her desk. Carmen accepted it reluctantly, wiping away her tears, but remained silent and sniffling for nearly a minute. "Sorry," she muttered, clenching her fists around the used tissues.
Somewhere in Kit's mind, she was dimly aware that Shinra's professors had always taught that a doctor was to remain completely detached from their patients... but didn't Shinra want their people to be detached from everything? But after Meteor, so many people like Carmen just needed a friendly, listening ear, not a cold, clinical analysis. Shinra's dead anyway, Kit reminded herself as she reached out to squeeze the girl's hand briefly. "It's all right. Feelings aren't shameful things, and this is a safe place. You can feel whatever feelings come to you, and you won't be judged."
Another tear began to roll down the girl's face. "I wish Mom wouldn't judge me."
"On the contrary, I don't believe she's judging you," Kit commented, "as much as she's trying to make sense of everything. You lost your father and sister, and she lost her husband and one daughter. You don't want to lose anything more, do you?"
Carmen gave a shuddering sigh. "And we're in the same boat... so Mom's worried about losing me? Is that what you're getting at?"
"I don't think you really need me to give you the answer to that one, do you?" Kit replied with a smile.
"Heh. No, I guess not." Carmen wiped her eyes one last time before looking up. "Oh, I'm sorry," she exclaimed as her eyes fell on the clock on the wall. "My time's been up for like ten minutes! I didn't even notice till just now-"
"Not a problem," Kit assured her. "You're the last one to see me today, so no one's been kept waiting. And besides, it's better if we can make some progress, rather than staying on a strict schedule. Ten extra minutes is a small price to pay, don't you think?" Kit did have someplace to be, but they wouldn't mind if she was a few minutes late. Her work often ran a little longer than expected. "Anyway, next time I'd like to talk to you and your mother together. Would that be okay?"
It took another few minutes to wrap things up with Carmen, and after the girl had gone, to tidy the office a little. Kit wouldn't be coming in again for a few days, as it was the weekend, but this way she wouldn't have to come in early next time, she reasoned. Once she was finished, she locked the door behind her and set off on her way to pick up her son.
Kalm had changed a lot in the past few years, thanks to the hundreds of Midgar refugees that had found their way to the tiny mining community. Though it had grown to several times its former size, it certainly hadn't become a metropolis in the sense that Midgar had been. The small, tightly-packed houses that had been built for the refugees were still the majority, though many now had second floors added, and a few larger apartment buildings had sprung up near the center of the city. Few of them were wired for more than lights, telephones, and refrigerators, since the only supply of electric power was a hydroelectric plant at the edge of the ocean north of town.
The roads were mostly unpaved, as there were none of Shinra's automobiles and motorcycles; the prevalent modes of transportation were bicycles and the occasional chocobo-drawn cart, weaving through the streets lined with vendors' booths and pedestrians on their way home for the weekend. Businesses even now were mostly street vendors, or perhaps the bottom floor of one of the two-story homes, for there had been more need to house the homeless than to house businesses, and both supplies and workers had been short. Kit's office was quite a luxury, really, and acquired only because it was logical that a counselor would not want to invite the potentially unstable into a home with a young child. To make up for that luxury, she remained in a single-story, two-bedroom house across town. It was all she needed. Kalm wasn't a place to get rich, and that was fine. Those who wanted wealth had early on moved elsewhere.
It was to one of the two-story buildings that Kit was headed now, on a wide street across from the lush green park that was at the center of the south side of Kalm. The first incarnation of Tifa's Seventh Heaven had been a bar in the Sector Seven slums, but when Tifa reopened in Kalm, she made it a restaurant instead. Not only was there already a bar in Kalm, but Tifa had decided if she was going to raise a family, she didn't want it to be done around drunks. She managed the place during the day, while Cloud watched their firstborn daughter, Lisa. It was unconventional, she knew, but studying martial arts as a young girl had also been unconventional, she was quick to point out. And Cloud, despite his cold detachedness in his AVALANCHE days, had become quietly devoted to Tifa, and thus to their daughter as well.
As Kit was crossing the street, she glanced back, hearing the sound of children's voices. Just as she'd expected, Cloud was over in the park, surrounded by a crowd of little boys. He hadn't really intended for it to get out that he was a former SOLDIER, especially since they were still highly regarded by the former Midgar residents, but it had happened, and now a lot of young boys nearly idolized Cloud, including her own son. Ironic, Kit thought, considering that everything that had happened, good and bad, was because Cloud had once idolized the boy's father.
But she didn't want to think about that now. Amidst the crowd of boys, she spotted a mop of unkempt silver hair and forced a smile as she pushed the door to the restaurant open. It looked like he might be awhile.
The place was nearly empty, since it was well after lunch and still quite some time before supper. There were only a few scattered customers eating in silence. Tifa was behind the counter, washing out some mugs, but she looked up and smiled when she saw her friend. She was pregnant again, and just beginning to get large enough that she was forced to wear looser clothing. When Kit commented on her dress, Tifa grimaced. "I hate being this large, but children are worth it, aren't they? Still, how did you ever manage to keep your figure after Gabriel was born?"
"It wasn't hard, since unlike you, I can't cook my way out of a paper bag," Kit grinned. "Why do you think I always eat here?"
"I thought it was the company," said Tifa, faking a disappointed frown.
"Seriously, there's nothing wrong with your figure," Kit insisted, "except that right now there's a growing boy inside it."
Tifa smiled softly, putting a hand over her rounding belly. "It made Cloud so happy when we found out. He loves Lisa, of course, but the thought of having a son... well, you know how he's been doting on Gabriel."
"I certainly do," Kit smirked. Though the other members of AVALANCHE were a bit wary of Gabriel, given the boy's strange parentage, Cloud and Tifa didn't seem to be as agitated - probably because they saw him often, living in the same town - and Cloud had actually become somewhat of a father figure to the boy. "Was it his idea or Gabriel's that he should be 'Uncle Cloud'?"
"I really don't know," Tifa said as she set aside her last mug and towel. "In any case, I'm Aunt Tifa now. He's a cute little kid."
"He would have to be," Kit murmured absently, thinking of his father. It still thrilled her to think about Sephiroth's haunting eyes, and that infuriatingly charming smile, even though at the same time it made her want to cry. No, she shouldn't think about that now, she told herself, fingering the Mako-infused ring she still wore on her right hand. Though she no longer needed its strengthening power, the thought of taking it off upset her. It had been a gift from him, after all, and even after all this time...
Seeing the look in Kit's eye, Tifa came out from behind the counter to sit beside her. "You know, a man came in here the other day I think you should talk to. His name's Marcus, he's one of the few Shinra employees to survive Midgar, though he lost his wife. Ever since, he's been travelling around the world to the cities that had Mako reactors, helping shut them down and teaching people to live off their own energy instead of the planet's..."
Kit suppressed the urge to sigh, as usual when Tifa listed off the statistics for yet another eligible man. Still, she couldn't keep a note of exasperation out of her voice. "Why is it that the interesting people you meet are always single men?" Tifa's innocent look didn't completely mask her sheepishness, and this time Kit did sigh. "I know you and Cloud make each other's lives complete, but really, I'm perfectly happy without a husband. Cloud's been a perfect male role model for Gabriel, so I don't need to marry for his sake."
"I wasn't thinking of it for his sake," Tifa said. "Look, I don't need to be a counselor like you to know you're not as perfectly happy as you say."
"Well, of course I'm not happy," Kit responded, "but under the circumstances I'm as happy as I can be."
Tifa shrugged. "It just seems like maybe you could make an effort to get over him. It's been four years now since... that." She forced cheerfulness, but it was obvious the topic made her nervous.
"I suppose that means Cloud has completely put Aeris out of his mind then, hasn't he?"
Kit had only meant it as a gentle rebuke, but Tifa's face fell. "I've been thinking maybe he should talk to you," Tifa said softly. "Sometimes... well, last night I woke up and saw him lying there beside me, crying silently. He'd dreamed about her... He wouldn't say what the dream was about, just that he dreamed of her. Oh, Kit, sometimes I wonder if he's going... well, he has some of Sephiroth in him too..."
Kit shook her head. "I think it's perfectly normal. I..." Kit paused, she didn't like to admit this. "I still dream of Sephiroth, too. Sometimes even when I'm not asleep. Sometimes I can almost see him standing in the doorway, or out by the ocean, standing against the setting sun, turning his head to look at me one last time."
"How do you stand it?" Tifa asked bitterly. "He was... well..." Kit was glad she didn't continue, she'd heard that before too. "I don't know how Cloud stands it either," she finished. "I miss Aeris too, but I don't dream of her. I don't think I could take it if I did."
"You also didn't care for her quite the way Cloud did," Kit pointed out. "But you know why he can stand it? Because you and Lisa are here with him. It's the same reason I can stand it: because I have to, for Gabriel's sake. It would have been so easy, after what happened, to just give up on life, to do myself in one way or another." She was still a bit embarrassed at the thought - she would have given in to that temptation, after the last battle in the crater, if not for Vincent and Cait Sith refusing to give up on her. "But Gabriel was there," she continued, "a part of me, and a part of him. I wasn't willing to let go of that for anything. You're a part of Cloud, and Lisa is a part of you both. As long as he has that much to hold onto, he won't let go."
"I guess you'd know," Tifa said, trying to laugh. "You and Cloud have an awful lot in common, after all. Something else I was wondering about," she said so smoothly that Kit wondered if she was just trying to change the subject. "I remember when Cloud came back to Nibelheim... he looked sixteen then. But then when we met again those five years later, he hardly looked any different. During the whole ordeal, I tried to figure it out in my head, if Sephiroth was thirty years old, Hojo and Lucrecia would have to have been in their fifties, but neither of them looked it. And you said you were twenty-six at the time, but you don't look twenty-six even now. Do you think Jenova's cells slow the aging process?"
"I've wondered about this myself, and I couldn't give a definite answer," Kit replied. "All the data that Shinra collected about Jenova was in Nibelheim or Midgar, as far as I can tell, and the Shinra building was one of the first things to go. And we've read nearly everything in the library at Nibelheim. But it seems likely. I started wondering about this when we found out Hojo was Sephiroth's father. And Sephiroth didn't look as old as thirty either. Remember when Dio told Cloud he'd seen a guy about his age wearing a black cape?"
Tifa nodded. "I always thought that was strange... I'm going to grow old before Cloud, aren't I? Aeris was an Ancient... did they have longer lifespans?"
"I really don't know," Kit said honestly. "That wasn't really my area of expertise when I was with Shinra. But Tifa, don't be jealous of her. She's dead, and Cloud married you. That's proof that he can deal with the fact she's gone, and he wouldn't have married you if he didn't love you."
"I know that in my head," Tifa muttered, "but I can't help wondering, what if she hadn't died?"
"But she did, you saw her body," Kit reminded her gently. "Of course if she hadn't died, maybe there would have been..." Her voice trembled in spite of herself. "Maybe there would have been some other way to stop him." Who knew what the White Materia could have done, if it had been wielded by someone who knew how to use it? That was what haunted Kit the most, the idea that maybe he could have been healed from his madness, if they'd just known enough...
"But there wasn't," Tifa said, mirroring Kit's logic. They'd certainly had this discussion enough times that she should be able to. "And the planet did just fine. As for Sephiroth, if the White Materia could have helped stop him peacefully, he destroyed that chance when he killed Aeris. Uhm... Kit?"
Kit couldn't listen to any more. A trembling hand covered her mouth as she remembered how it had been. A huge winged shape, looking like something from a nightmare, but his eyes still glowed in the same face; his hand, the same that had brushed the hair back from her eyes before he'd kissed her, blasted them with a pure blue light... then his familiar eyes stared at her in shock, and the monstrous form he'd taken began to disintegrate. There was no pain in his eyes, just surprise, and then a final look of malicious glee just before he vanished.
"He just vanished, Tifa. It was as if he'd never existed..." She'd known then he wasn't gone just yet, but Cloud had finished off his very essence within the Lifestream. She hadn't seen the battle, but she'd seen his Masamune appear from nowhere, falling to the rocks below as boulders rained down all around them, drowning out the clatter of metal on stone. "If there had been a body... That's something I could have touched, to know he was gone, but..." She could imagine what it would have been like, if there had been a body. To close his aquamarine eyes one last time, to brush back the long tangled hair from his face, leaving one last kiss on his cold forehead...
Tifa looked a little disturbed by these words. "Are you saying... you think he's alive?"
"No, I felt it when he died," Kit said, unshed tears threatening to choke her. Suddenly the inside of the restaurant seemed stifling. "He's gone, I know that with all my heart. What I'm saying is... we had closure with Aeris. Cloud could say goodbye. But for me, there never will be closure. I'll never be able to explain to him..."
Tifa reached out to give Kit a hug as her friend's voice broke, but Kit drew back. "No - Tifa, I... I need to go."
"Kit..."
"Sorry," Kit whispered in a rush as she slipped off the stool, heading for the door before Tifa could say a word of comfort.
Once outside, she stopped to regain her composure, hoping there was no one to see her blinking back the tears, breathing the fresh air in deeply as she tried to calm herself. It was ridiculous to still go into a blind panic when she thought of him, she knew that. But somehow, she couldn't stop it from happening.
The voices of children laughing brought her out of it, and she looked up to see that Cloud was headed back, surrounded by a small group of boys. Gabriel was among them, and upon seeing her, ran to her gleefully. "Mama, mama! Look what Uncle Cloud gave me!" He was holding a small wooden sword, painted silver to look like real metal, and his eyes shone brightly in pride.
Kit froze. The sight of those turquoise eyes looking up at her past the silver hair and the small hand gripping the sword made the tears start flowing in spite of herself - he looked so much like a miniature version of Sephiroth at that moment. Not wanting to show her pain in front of Gabriel, Kit fled. One fleeting glance over her shoulder as she ran showed her that Cloud had knelt down beside the confused boy, glancing after her. He understood what was going on, and Kit would bet he was telling Gabriel not to blame himself, because it was his own fault for not realizing.
When she reached her house, she closed the door behind her and slid down against it, burying her face in her hands, allowing herself to cry now that she was out of everyone's sight. She shouldn't have run, she knew that, and she berated herself fiercely for it. With all her talk with her patients about feelings not being shameful, and seeing what a great influence a parent's reaction could have on a young and impressionable child, she should have been able to control herself better.
After she'd calmed down a bit, she went to the bedroom, to the secret locked compartment whose key hung hidden on a chain around her neck. It had been built into the back of the closet specifically to hold one thing alone. When she had opened the tall door, there stood the Masamune, leaning against the back corner. No one had ever been able to use it aside from him, and with him gone, it served no purpose except as a memento.
She ran her finger lightly along the edge when she picked it up; it still could cut as easily as it had four years ago. No rust touched the blade, no tarnish dulled its shine. She'd thought of polishing it once or twice, but always when she opened it, it looked as shiny as if it had been forged yesterday. It was likely that some of his unearthly power had seeped into it over the years, making it as immortal as he'd wanted to be. Or maybe it was the materia embedded in the handle, glowing softly as she ran her fingers over them. Materia was even rarer now than it had been before that time, but she never would have dreamed of removing the ones in his sword, or even using them. She wasn't even sure what some of them did.
She jumped as a soft knock came on the door. Wiping her eyes hurriedly, she called for him to come in. She knew who it would be. Sure enough, it was Cloud who came into the room after a moment's uncertainty.
"Hey, Kit," he said, trying to work up some of the casual manner he'd had back when they were with AVALANCHE. The embarrassment on his face betrayed it. "I just wanted to say, you know, I'm sorry. He was so interested in my sword, I thought maybe he'd like one of his own. I didn't think you'd react like that." He shrugged. "I guess I just didn't think."
"No, it's alright," she reassured him. "It just wasn't very good timing on my part. You know how it is, good days and bad days, and... this is a bad day."
"Yeah, I do." His eyes were fixed on what she held. Many people had died on that blade. President Shinra had died, Tifa's father had died, Tifa had almost died, Cloud himself had nearly died... Aeris had died when that sword plunged through her back. "So you kept it after all."
Kit nodded, and Cloud slipped an arm around her shoulders in support. It was something he never would have done before he'd been married - back then he was all cool and collected, never admitting sensitivity. "It holds lots of memories," Kit told him. "Even if they're mostly bad, they're memories of him."
Cloud reached out impulsively to touch the blade, and drew back as it cut his finger. "Still sharp as a razor," he said with a sheepish smile, sticking the cut finger in his mouth. Then he sobered again. "What do you do with it?"
"Nothing. I just keep it here in the closet, where I can see it sometimes, and where Gabriel can't get to it," she answered. "As you can see, it's dangerous. Like its owner," she sighed.
Cloud gave her a vaguely exasperated look. "You haven't told him about his father yet, have you?"
"No..." Kit put the sword back in the compartment and locked it. "I just can't bring myself to do it."
"You're going to have to sooner or later," Cloud pointed out. "He hears the stories in town... you think just because AVALANCHE created a whole new set of legends for the people to repeat, they've forgotten about Sephiroth the war hero?" Kit didn't know what to say.
"Sometimes the kids ask me to tell them stories about when I was in AVALANCHE, or when I worked for Shinra," Cloud continued, "or legends about Sephiroth. I can't tell them the truth, not with Gabriel there. And then one day he asked me why he didn't have a father."
Kit looked up in shock. "What did you tell him?"
"I told him it wasn't for me to say, he should ask you. Did he?"
"Well... yes." Kit closed the closet door and turned back to Cloud, forcing herself to look into Cloud's eyes, the same glowing blue-green as Sephiroth's and her own. "I told him his father had died before he was born. It's the truth, after all."
Cloud wasn't that easily fooled. "What else?"
"He asked if he'd died when the meteor destroyed Midgar," Kit admitted. "And I... I couldn't answer. I just froze up, I couldn't say anything. So he climbed onto my lap and said he was sorry if he'd upset me." Cloud frowned. "What was I supposed to do?" she replied bitterly to Cloud's unspoken rebuke. "Tell him no, I helped kill his father? Sorry Gabriel, your father was a madman who wanted to destroy the planet, so me and your Uncle Cloud and our friends killed him." Kit managed a shaky laugh. "He's only three years old. I'm not saying he wouldn't understand, he understands more than is natural at his age."
"He's going to find out sooner or later, you know," Cloud said. "If you wait too long, until he's made up some elaborate fantasy about his heroic father dying when the meteor destroyed Midgar, it will crush him when he learns the truth. Don't you think that's what happened with Sephiroth?"
"I don't know what happened with Sephiroth," Kit said wearily. "I know I'll figure out some way to explain to Gabriel what really happened, maybe over a period of time, and it'll come out sooner or later... but right now, I just don't know how."
Cloud shrugged. "I think it would be better sooner than later."
"Yeah, I know you're right... but until you've been there, you can't know what it's like." Kit pushed the hair back from her eyes, trying to compose herself. "I'll tell him when I find an appropriate way, Cloud. Leave it at that." She sighed. "For now, I suppose I should talk to him about what just happened, let him know I'm not upset with him... Where is he, with Tifa?"
"Actually, I ran into someone else who's waiting outside with him now." Kit caught a little mischevious glimmer in Cloud's eyes and gave him a penetrating look. "You'll see," Cloud assured her. "Are you feeling better now?"
"I guess." She wasn't, but her face wasn't streaked with tears anymore, and that was something. She thought for a moment of asking him about his dream about Aeris, but decided against it. He might have come a long way from his cold, emotionless days, but she didn't suppose he'd be entirely happy with anyone knowing he still had dreams that made him wake up crying.
"Well then, I'll get back to the kids, and let you talk to Gabriel." Kit went to open the door for him, and stared at what waited outside.
Gabriel was laughing at a familiar white mound of fur nearly as tall as she was. The cat sitting atop the stuffed moogle's head turned to look at her with a smile. "Kit! How nice to see you, it's been quite some time!"
"A week, maybe." Kit was exasperated. "Reeve, I'm not in the mood for-"
"Tsk, tsk!" The cat waggled a finger at her. "You're not talking to Reeve, you're talking to Cait Sith, the extraordinary fortunetelling machine. Reeve's a swell guy and all, but he spends far too much time in his office drawing up plans. Doesn't get out enough."
"Apparently not, or he wouldn't get such a kick out of being a stuffed kitty-cat," Kit muttered. Cloud flashed a grin at her, waved, and headed back towards Tifa's Seventh Heaven. Kit nearly threw something at him.
"You certainly seem to be having a wrong-side-of-the-bed day today," Cait commented as the moogle's mechanical body leapt into the air to face her. "Want your fortune told? Maybe it'll tell when you're likely to be less grouchy."
"I told you, Reeve - er, Cait, I'm not in the mood for this," Kit repeated, but the moogle was already dancing around, waving its arms in a mystical fashion. After a moment, a slip of paper was produced, and the moogle proudly presented it to Kit.
She sighed and read it out loud. "Romance is the key to your happiness. Your lucky number is seven." Gabriel giggled.
"Hmm, that's not right," Cait said, frowning. "Let me try again." The moogle began its dance once more, as Gabriel watched in amusement. He still had the wooden sword strapped to his waist, but in the context it didn't bother Kit as it had earlier. He was just a boy with a toy sword, looking at a funny stuffed animal.
Indeed, to anyone else, Gabriel wouldn't have seemed to be an unusual child, except for the silver hair and the glowing eyes that came from exposure to Mako energy. Kit watched him closely for any signs of the instability that had claimed Sephiroth, but if there was any strangeness in Gabriel at all, it was his uncanny friendliness and intelligence. At the age of three, he was playing happily with all the children of Kalm, many of whom had lost one or both parents in Midgar. If he accidentally hurt or offended them, he was quick to apologize and offer a shoulder to cry on. Little girls were already flocking around him, and Kit had no doubt that by the time he was a teenager, every other boy in Kalm would be jealous, and all the girls would be heartbroken.
The moogle handed Kit another slip of paper, and this time she smirked in spite of herself. "Today the stars are right for a long journey. Expect adventure, and wear pink."
"Uhmm... maybe I should try reading Gabriel's fortune instead," the cat said, beginning the dance yet again.
When he was through, Gabriel handed his slip of paper to Kit, laughing. "It says 'Beware of the leopard, for today it may change its spots', is that right, Mama?"
"That's what it says," Kit agreed. Where had the boy learned to read so fast? "Although I'm not too sure it's true."
"It most certainly is," Cait said indignantly. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that anything is possible, and anyone can change. If necessary, a leopard could dye itself green and call itself a dragon."
"Or a reclusive city planner could become a goofy-looking fortuneteller," Kit added with a smile. "How come I never get a visit from Reeve, only Cait Sith?"
"Fah! City planners are boring," the cat said with a wave of his hand. "Whereas a fortunetelling machine tends to be more fun, and comes in handy in more instances. Isn't that right, Gabriel?"
The boy nodded, silver hair bouncing. "Cait's my friend," he said. "What's a city planner do?"
"Uhm..." Kit tried to think of where to begin, but Cait cut her off.
"Not much," he said dryly. "Not much at all."
"Then why don't you... er, why doesn't Reeve-"
The cat cut her off again. "Well, it's been nice seeing you again, Kit, and you, Gabriel," he said as the moogle bent so he could shake Gabriel's hand, which was larger than the paw of the stuffed cat. "But a fortuneteller's work is never done. I must be off - but I'll see you both again soon. At the latest, you'll be at the gathering next month, right?"
That was probably why Kit had been so tense lately, she realized. It was that time of year again, and it always brought back so many memories... "Yeah, we'll be there," she agreed.
The moogle bounced off merrily, as the stuffed cat clung to its head for dear life. "Hey there, sir! Care for a fortune for your lady?" he called to a young couple holding hands by a fountain. Kit shook her head, wondering what it was in Reeve's mind that had ever given him the idea of inventing Cait Sith. When she'd met him at Shinra, he'd seemed like a normal kind of guy, especially when you compared him to the other top Shinra employees, who all were completely heartless, if a bit quirky. Reeve had seemed like a nice man, a good conversationalist, and perfectly witty, but not eccentric enough to come up with that. And you certainly wouldn't find any clues in his character now; the man spent all his time helping the citizens of Kalm add on to their city efficiently, drawing up plans in his office and instructing the city's directors on the best ways to deal with the expanding population. And yet the stuffed cat riding a giant moogle was still at large there, popping up to amuse people when their burdens got too heavy.
With Cait gone, Kit took Gabriel's hand. "Did you have a good time today with Uncle Cloud?" she asked, leading him into the house.
Gabriel smiled and nodded. "He was showing us how to do some of the attacks he'd shown us before. Uncle Cloud's really cool like that. He says I'm really good with a sword for a beginner." Kit sat down at the kitchen table to listen to what Gabriel's day had been like, but the boy abruptly sobered and climbed into her lap. "Mama," he said seriously, "I'm really really sorry for making you sad earlier. I didn't mean it."
"It's not you," Kit assured him, hugging him close to her. "I was having a bad day, that's all. It's not your fault at all. Or Uncle Cloud's." Cloud had said she should tell him about his father soon, before he found out in some other way... would this be a good time?
Yes, she decided. It would be as good a time as any.
She set Gabriel back on her knee, but before she could open her mouth, Gabriel asked cautiously, "Is Cloud my daddy?"
"What?" Kit was so shocked at the idea she nearly forgot what she had been about to say. "No, whatever gave you that idea?"
Gabriel stuck his thumb in his mouth. "I feel him the way I feel you. So I thought maybe I'm related to him too."
"What do you mean, you feel him?"
"When he's happy or sad, I can feel it even though he doesn't say anything, just like I do when you're happy or sad."
He seemed to take this as perfectly natural. Kit was grateful for small favors, though the implications of what he was saying boggled her mind. "Can you feel other people?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not really. Just you and Uncle Cloud."
Kit thought about this for a moment. Between Sephiroth and herself, she should have expected Gabriel would be born with some kind of special power. She thought she knew what it might be - Cloud had been injected with some of Sephiroth's genetic material by Hojo, Shinra's resident mad scientist, who was attempting to clone Sephiroth. Cloud had escaped before the experiment was finished, but he did have some of Jenova in him, as did Kit. She had also been an experiment of Hojo's, closed into a capsule in which she was exposed to high levels of Mako energy which should have mutated her into a monster. But the body of Jenova was right next to that capsule, and the Mako energy combined with that of Jenova had changed her inside, rather than outside. At least that's what Sephiroth had said. She still wasn't sure about what powers she might have, though she had manifested a few. Gabriel was probably sensing the kinship between the three of them, who all had Jenova's power within.
Gabriel was still looking up at her seriously, with a finger in his mouth. She couldn't think of what she could say to her son about this, but if she didn't tell him about his father now, she wasn't sure she ever could get up the strength.
"Gabriel... about your father," she began. "First, let me tell you, he was a very, very handsome man. He had eyes like yours, and hair like yours, only he'd let his grow long. The reason I was upset when I looked at you today is because I'd just been thinking about him, and..." Her voice trembled dangerously, and she stopped speaking to collect her thoughts.
"I know, Mama. I know you've been sad for a few days now."
This power of his would take some getting used to. She'd have to figure out some way to keep herself from becoming too upset from now on, she realized. But maybe if she told him, he'd understand...
"Yeah. I'd been thinking about your father, and... Gabriel, you look so much like him," she said, tears welling up as she brushed his silver hair out of his face. "I miss him so much sometimes... but..."
Gabriel leaned closer to her and squeezed her tight. "It's okay, Mama," he said. "You don't have to talk about him now if you don't want to. Don't be so afraid."
She was afraid? Now that she thought about it, he was right - she was petrified. She hugged him tightly, and was only slightly bothered by the realization that he was the one comforting her.
They sat there holding each other silently for a few minutes, and then Gabriel spoke. "Was my father a fighter like Uncle Cloud? It's the sword that upset you more than usual, wasn't it?"
She nodded. "Yes. He had a big sword, kind of like Uncle Cloud's, and he could use it better than anyone who ever lived. I can't very well tell you not to learn how to use a sword yourself, because it's something that I think he'd be very proud of. It just... surprised me. You looked like your father, only little."
The boy smiled. "Was he brave?"
"Quite brave," she replied. He had been, to challenge Cloud that one last time in the Lifestream.
"Did he die in battle?"
Kit swallowed hard. "Yes, he did." She had to tell the truth, but she feared what Gabriel's next question might be.
Gabriel didn't ask it. "I think that would be a better way to die than being destroyed by the meteor," he said, snuggling closer. "The meteor killed all kinds of people, but dying in battle would mean you were strong and brave enough to look death in the face."
Tears began to stream down Kit's cheeks, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to explain the story to him this night. "Don't cry, Mama," Gabriel said, comfortingly, but she couldn't stop. Only three years old, and he was wiping the tears from her face with his shirt sleeve.
"It's all right, Mama," he kept saying. "Don't cry."
To Chapter Two. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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