Take Care
Sephiroth snapped awake. Not a groggy gradual awakening, an instant break to consciousness. At first he didn't know what had woken him, and he wasn't tempted to go back to sleep because... he'd never needed much sleep. Then, out of the otherwise unnoticed sobbing noises, a plaintive wail registered the sound to his ears. Sephiroth paniced. What was he supposed to do? What had happened? Well, no, it made sense that there would be crying. Of course there would be crying. Why had he not forseen some sort of crying? Why did he not have a plan of action? Okay... Crying. He supposed there was not a lot he could do. Go to the girl, and tell her everything was alright? No, that was plain untrue. Insensitive? Yes, that would be insensitive. Well? Tell her everything would be alright if he wasn't such an idiot? Maybe the best thing to do would be to leave her to it. But wasn't that failing, on the simplest level, parenthood? There should been evening courses. Maybe there were evening courses... Why had he not attended evening courses? Swearing under his breath, Sephiroth pulled some clothes on quickly, and grabbed a bag of the boiled sweets he always gave the girls when they pleased him. Sort of like the book on dog training he had read when he was tiny. He ducked into the first room, after his own, on the landing. There where twin beds. One was empty, though clearly slept in. He nodded to himself. Maybe they needed more privacy. He had thought sharing rooms would have helped them get on, learn to share and feel safe. Ariel was sitting on the carpeted floor next to the sofa in the living room. Her face was red and puffed. She had the kind of tear-stained look you only got by crying solidly for a long time, then taking a break, and crying some more. Sephiroth had approached her without her hearing him, and when he did step out of the shadows, she looked quite embarrassed, trying to hide her face, wiping her tears away. Moving to the sofa slowly before sitting down, Sephiroth lifted her tiny frame onto the cushion next to him. He handed her a sweet and put his arm around her. Ariel took it, but she didn't make any attempt to unwrap or eat it. Maybe the sweet had been a bad idea. Knocking the air out of Sephiroth, more through surprise than force, Ariel clung to him desperately, and began to sob some more. For a long time, they sat curled up together. Sephiroth didn't say anything, through fear and understanding there was nothing he could say. Eventually, when Ariel had fallen deeply into sleep in his lap, he decided to move her back to her bed. Somehow, though, he didn't want to leave her. He didn't need any more sleep anyway, although the sedentary hour or two had made him a little tired. He sat at the feet of the girl's beds, just thinking, peacefully.
Cloud slumped down the stairs and into the bar. His exhaustion and the pain in his legs- from various sources- was obvious from his gait. He had an odd feeling he wouldn't get a lot of sympathy.
"alcohol please!" Cloud chanted as an odd sort of greeting to his heavy-chested girlfriend. Tifa eyed him with a combination of suspicion and annoyance.
"No way, Cloud. You have work to do!" This annoying chirp was from an otherwise unnoticed teen girl sat in one of the padded chairs near the back of the bar. Bitch. Yuffie was bright and awake on Monday morning, already tearing through cereal and would probably be gone in a few moments. Clinging to that thought and completely ignoring her, Cloud kept Tifa's eye.
"Is there a lot of work to do today?" Wow, he sounded like a little child.
"Why don't you go look at the schedule, Cloud?"
Despite the temptation to increase the childish aura, and shadow her, he simply nodded.
"Whachadoin?" Hatsuma gave Sephiroth a jolt, coming up behind his chair and flinging her arms around him. Sephiroth felt mild annoyance, not because he didn't adore having three little girls treat him like a little girl, but because it was so strange to him. He commanded respect- and occasionally small armies.
"I'm looking up evening courses," he replied dryly.
"Wai?" Hatsuma's little girl speech impediment. How cute.
"To learn things. Because I want to. Because knowing things is fun. Because it means you don't have to say "why" so often. Any further questions?" Hatsuma shook the pigtails her oldest make-shift sister had done for her furiously, and skipped off in search of Ariel.
Sephiroth couldn't suppress a giggle. How could no-one want these children? Just as he put the catalog down, Nikita ran down the stairs and slid into the sofa beside Sephiroth's armchair. Nikita was the oldest foundling who was naive enough to follow Sephiroth. She seemed a little careless, even for a 9 year old. Well, not exactly nine, but about that. She was Sephiroth's secret favourite, because she already knew him. She recognized the hair, the eyes, the expression, from the Shinentai. And she still didn't fear him. He would never teach the girls to fear strangers, while they lived with him.
"Is Ariel okay? She seemed a little sad to me earlier..." He was loathe to mention something so obviously personal and secret, even vaguely. Clearly it had not been plain when she woke up, because Nikita merely shrugged. "So, you busy?" Sephiroth continued, "Why don't you write me another poem?"
"But I don't know what to write about!" She wailed.
"Write about Nikita." Sephiroth hoped she would think his speech quirky rather than realize he still got the names muddled every now and then. Nikita nodded, and after a pause, sped off up to her room. For a man who had decided to open his home to any child who would nod when it was offered, Sephiroth valued his time alone fiercely. He usually slept in the same room as Nikita, rather than leave her by herself at night, so his only refuge was his study. It just didn't catch the light quite like the sitting room.
Cloud had noticed one of the street children Denzel often played with wasn't around so much any more-a brunette with pigtails who always played with her moogle doll- Denzel had noticed too, but hadn't mentioned it before Cloud did. Apparently, she wasn't the only one. Cloud thought this odd, but enough of a non-event to be none of his business, until he saw her again. Trailing after Sephiroth. It was perhaps the oddest thing he had ever seen. From that distance there could be no mistaking Sephiroth, but he was holding a girl's hand, and was carring another, younger, girl over his shoulder. Cloud stood frozen in place until Sephiroth saw him. Sephiroth turned to face him and put the girl he was carrying down. He said something to moogle-girl too quiet for Cloud to hear and the children went into a shop. Cloud was trembling all over.
"Sephiroth! What are you doing here?" He called out, trying to sound brave and fearless. Sephiroth laughed.
"Cloud... I was waiting for you to spot me. What I am doing here is none of your business."
"I live on this planet, if you're trying to destroy it, that's my business!" Sephiroth laughed again, louder this time.
"Do I look like I'm trying to destroy the planet, Cloud? I'm taking my children shopping. There's a pretty big difference."
"Your children?"
"As much mine as anyones," Sephiroth's head dropped slightly.
"Oh, I see. You've been stealing street children. How many do you have?"
"Does everything I do have to be a reason for you to kill me?"
"You're lucky I don't Carry my sword around with me all the time now."
"Is that so? If I had seen you carrying your sword around all the time, I would Carry mine around. Then you would be unlucky." Sephiroth smirked.
"I beat you, Sephiroth!"
"I let you beat me. I had nothing to loose but you. Now, I have people depending on me. Killing me would do nothing but hurt them." He turned and followed the children into the shop. Cloud just watched. He hadn't changed. He still had the air and manner of a villain, and Cloud wasn't ready to believe otherwise. He ran back home, resolved to be better prepared in future.
Cloud lay on his back, with his eyes closed.
I had nothing to loose but you.
He heard the front door click. "Tifa!". He ran down the stairs calling to her, as Marlene watched bemused- she was usually more likely to do that.
"Cloud, what the hell..." Tifa smiled at him, frowning at the same time.
"I saw Sephiroth. He's.... in edge. He's kidnapping orphans." Cloud continued to detail what he had seen, Tifa nodding understandingly.
"You're right. We have to do something. Call Vincent."
End of Chapter 1
Chapter 2 Pending.
Home | Fanfiction | Fei Delta (author) |
