A/N: Yeah, I totally agree with you guys. The second/sequel chapter didn't wrap the story up much at all - it only left it more open than before, really - and I didn't like leaving it just hanging there. So here's a third chapter. :D And hopefully the last now; I've tried to tie it all up a lot better in this one!

I have to say, as bad as Seph and Cloud are at not having thought through the whole situation... I'm equally as guilty. This originally started out as a kink meme one-shot, so it was sort of given that the glaringly problematic issues would be glossed over. 'Cause, y'know, kink meme prompt. Buuuut then it gets a few extra chapters and starting drifting away from it's PWP beginnings, and suddenly there's a bunch of stuff that really should've been addressed but hasn't been because whoops I totally did not plan for this to happen. For a start, the whole pregnancy is some creepy-as-shit body horror for Cloud if you stop to think about it too long. Eugh. So, yeah. Sorry. I'm kinda trash. orz

I still wanted to give them a happy ending, since I'm a stupid romantic bubblehead at heart, but it was kinda difficult to balance that with how fucked up their relationship is. orz;;; I get mood whiplash trying to write these two morons from chapter to chapter. Do they hate each other or are they secretly in love? No one fucking knows. They sure don't.

There is some super glossed over/mostly skipped baby birthings, and then this chapter is mostly a lot of sap to make up for the sad one previously. XP

Names are hard, I don't have time to work that shit out.

Also, did you want a lesson in Jenovian biology? Well, Sephiroth is going to give you one whether you like it or not.

Cloud had accused Sephiroth of not thinking things through before beginning this whole ridiculous plan of his. Sure, it sounded simple enough. Turn Cloud into a girl, fuck him in his new female body, get him pregnant, and nine months later there would be a new generation of Jenova's bloodline with the genetics of the two most powerful humans on the planet.

But then there were the details. Like how nine months was a long time to be stuck in a body that wasn't Cloud's own. Like how neither of them had considered the fact that Cloud's clothes wouldn't fit over the large, disturbing bump that he was sporting. Like the fact there was nothing for the baby when it arrived; he needed formula to feed it, clothes, diapers, who knew what else.

Sephiroth hadn't considered any of that. And... neither had Cloud.

He'd spent the last month and a half cursing both himself and Sephiroth. But it was Cloud himself who was the one who had refused to leave the City of the Ancients until it was too late to do so. He was too heavily pregnant to be riding Fenrir now, not to mention the clothing situation. On one of his last visits to Bone Village, he had managed to snag a men's shirt that was almost ten times too big for him. It was the only thing that fit now, dropping low enough to hit just a few inches above Cloud's knees. Which was just as well, since trousers were out of the question. His original pair had no chance of fitting, and Bone Village was such a small little town that there had been zero chance of finding actual maternity clothes anywhere. There was no way he could anywhere public like that. At least he'd managed to gather a pretty massive stockpile of food before that mistake became apparent.

So Cloud stayed in the City of the Ancients, lingering like a ghost amongst the ruins. Each day the dread in the back of his mind gained more weight, because each day drew closer to the fact the baby was going to have to come out. And Cloud was alone and with no idea what to do.

Great. Just fucking great. It was true that maybe the situation wouldn't have been quite so bad if he'd actually gone back to civilisation, but that didn't stop him blaming Sephiroth for everything. Goddamn fucking Sephiroth.

Cloud missed him so much more than he should have.

He'd spent a lot of time trying to figure out what exactly Sephiroth was plotting, never quite able to figure out just how sane his Silver Demon was by this point. The whole point of this pregnancy was to create a new generation... a 'heir to Jenova's legacy', Sephiroth had said. But he also implied he would be able to regain his own body through the process. Which was it? Both? How would that even work?

Sephiroth had been right when he had said that having to kill him broke Cloud's heart. Every time. But Cloud would kill him again with more fury than ever if Sephiroth planned any harm to their child. Using the baby's cells, letting him grow up only to then possess his body... Cloud's imagination conjured up plenty of nightmare scenarios.

He wasn't going let that happen.

But, of course, the biggest imminent threat to both of their existences wasn't Sephiroth. It was Cloud's own ignorance. If something went wrong with the delivery... Cloud sighed heavily, hiding his face in his hands. He'd been over that thought a million times already, and it was the same conclusion every time. He had no idea what to do.

He'd slowly picked his communication back up, sending messages to Tifa in particular, hoping for the day he'd have the courage to ask her how to deliver a baby, and hoping she would have a better idea than he did. At least she was in a better position to look the information up someone, or find someone who could help more.

He still didn't have to courage to pick up the phone and talk in person, though.

He didn't have the courage to do it when he felt the baby shift, or when he felt the muscles in his abdomen begin to tighten. It was only when the contractions began to get painful that he finally dialled the number in desperation.

"Cloud." It was less a greeting, and more an accusation. And Gaia, Cloud deserved it. He'd left them for nine months, with only a handful of vague texts to let Tifa and the kids know he was alive. He would accept every single lecture (Marlene was the worst for those, and Denzel would give him those kicked puppy eyes) but Cloud didn't have time to feel guilty right at that moment.

"Tifa!" he interrupted urgently. The panic and fear must have been blatantly obvious in his voice, because she quietened with no further admonitions. Tifa could always keep her head in an emergency. "...I need to know how to deliver a baby. Like, right now."

"A baby?" she questioned.

"Don't ask," Cloud said, through gritted teeth. Another contraction was coming on, and he really hadn't wanted to test his ability to talk through the pain. Shit.

"Are you with someone? Is she alright? Where are you?"

Cloud tried to relay only the quickest, most relevant information. "Middle of nowhere. No medical equipment or outside help. I... she's in labour."

"How long? Has her water broken?"

"...water?"

"The amniotic sac. It should just be like fluid coming out of her vagina."

Cloud closed his eyes, thankful that Tifa was being brusque and professional in response to the urgency of the situation. It made it slightly easier to hear about. But not by much. "Y-yeah."

"How long between the contractions?"

"Maybe... seven or eight minutes? It's been like that for about an hour."

"Okay. Can you hold on a sec?" Tifa's voice vanished from the phone, and Cloud heard her distantly calling. It sounded like she was talking to one of the kids. She was a little calmer when she returned; certainly a hell of a lot calmer than Cloud felt. "You've got a bit of time. The birth could take up to ten to twenty hours yet, if she's a first time mum."

"Twenty hours?!" Cloud repeated in horror.

"Denzel's going to fetch a doctor or midwife from the clinic. They'll be able to talk you through it a lot better than I can. Just make sure she's comfortable for now and keep everything calm."

He let out a pained groan and muttered something obscene.

Cloud was quite certain he would have preferred to have been stabbed through by Masamune again. Multiple times. At least that was over quickly.

Still, it could have been worse. There were no complications, and - apparently - twelve hours was a good time. But it was over, and thanked every deity he'd ever even remotely heard of for that. He could finally, fucking finally, get his own body back. Sephiroth had left him the genderswitch materia (and Cloud wasn't sure if that was a gesture of trust, or if Sephiroth was just being a smug bastard and displaying his absolute conviction of Cloud's compliance.)

Except that Cloud couldn't even do that, because suddenly he had a baby and nothing to feed it. The female body solved that problem, so it seemed he was stuck with it for a while longer. He was changing back the second he got to a town that sold baby formula though.

But for all that... he had a son. Cloud still started every time he heard those cries, as if his mind couldn't quite comprehend that this was a thing that had actually happened. The baby seemed healthy enough; he certainly had a good pair of lungs.

Cloud found himself staring constantly at the tiny thing. He couldn't tell what colour the little wisps of hair were yet - pale, definitely, but was it a silver pale or bright blond pale? The baby's eyes were a mix of both of his parents, a rich blue-green that was lighter around the pupil. The normal, rounded pupil. He didn't share Sephiroth's cat-slit eyes; the Jenova eyes. It was too much to hope that he would be completely free of her influence, but that one small reassurance made Cloud happier that he could have imagined.

He might have cried a little over that, out of sheer relief.

Cloud still found himself lingering in the City of the Ancients. But it was a pleasant sort of lingering, compared to the months of silence and gnawing fear. Cloud talked out loud, his voice sounding unfamiliar and warm to his own ears, and he smiled and he laughed. A baby wasn't much of a conversation partner, but Cloud was more than content with the gurgles and little noises he got back.

It was too fucking cute.

He started to think about going back. Taking a baby on a motorbike would be difficult, but Cloud thought he could make some sort of baby-carrying sling to wrap around the both of them, holding the kid close, safe against Cloud's chest while Cloud drove slowly and extremely carefully. From Bone Village he could find other transport to Edge; maybe he could even see if Cid was around to give both him and Fenrir a lift in the Highwind.

Cloud wanted to look after his child himself, he was dead set on that. But... he could a use a little help. In all honesty, he didn't know much at all about looking after a baby, and actually being able to get a decent night's sleep once in a while would be wonderful. If he returned to Tifa in Edge, it would just be like bringing another orphan into the rag-tag family. Cloud wondered what Marlene and Denzel would think of having a baby brother and smiled to himself.

Except he couldn't go back yet. There was one loose end still; Sephiroth. Cloud didn't know when or how or if he was coming back. If Cloud was in Edge when Sephiroth came searching for his son, there were a lot of innocents there that could get caught in the crossfire if things went badly.

Realistically, Cloud couldn't know when Sephiroth would turn up. But his instincts told him to wait. Or maybe it was less instinct and more Sephiroth's uncanny, Jenova-flavoured ability to get inside his head.

Cloud waited.

He felt it the instant Sephiroth returned, six days after the birth of their child. The awareness of his presence bled into every cell in Cloud's body, thrumming with knowing. He could feel the rhythm of Sephiroth's heartbeat, taste his energy, so similar to the connection they had shared when Jenova was at her height.

Cloud held his son tight against his chest protectively, though he couldn't immediately sense any malice in Sephiroth's intent. His swords were within arms reach.

Sephiroth's presence closed in on them.

Cloud didn't show the slightest sign of surprise when Sephiroth appeared in the sky just behind him, hovering with his wing outstretched like a descending archangel.

Cloud rolled his eyes, but inwardly his heart skipped a beat. Maybe several. "Would you stop being so damn melodramatic?"

Sephiroth gracefully landed in front of Cloud and allowed the wing to feather away into the ether, only to be unceremoniously grabbed by the cross of the leather straps over his chest. Cloud leaned over and kissed him, full and hard and deep. He pulled away just long enough to gasp a breath, and then they kissed each other again

Cloud lifted one hand lifted to Sephiroth's face, as if he still wasn't quite sure he was real. He paused.

Sephiroth's eyes. They were still the same piercing green as ever, but... the pupils. They had been cat-like slits before; Cloud had spent enough damn time staring into them to know. He'd always assumed it was some kind of Jenovian trait, which was why he'd been so incredibly pleased when their son didn't share it. But they were normal now. Just circles like any other humans.

Cloud shook the thought away to be dissected later. He rested their foreheads together. "You fucking bastard," Cloud breathed with more affection than he had intended.

Sephiroth smiled as though slightly bemused by this reception. "It's good to see you too, Cloud," he said quietly.

There was a soft gurgle from the bundle that Cloud still held in his other arm. Sephiroth stepped back, gaze dropping in confusion until he realised what it must be. "That is it?"

"Yeah. Congratulations, you have a son." It was either sarcasm or teasing; Sephiroth couldn't quite tell which, and he wasn't sure Cloud knew himself.

Sephiroth opted to ignore Cloud, simply staring for a long while. "It's so small," he finally stated, unimpressed.

"...he's a baby."

"And it's very pink." Sephiroth's face fell in almost childish disappointment. "It's not very god-like."

Cloud wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh, cry or punch Sephiroth in face. He opted for shaking his head in despair. "He's a baby. This is what babies look like, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth didn't pay any attention to Cloud's scathing tone. He was still staring. Their baby stared back, apparently fascinated by the new face. Sephiroth offered his finger to the tiny, grasping hand. He made a small sound that was almost an 'oh' as the little baby fingers clung on to him.

Cloud had to admit, his heart melted a little.

"He has good grip for such a tiny creature." Sephiroth approved of that much, at least.

He looked so huge in comparison to their baby; his hand alone was bigger than the child's head. It would barely take a thought for him to kill such a small, helpless thing.

It was a sobering thought, and Cloud finally regained enough sense and suspicion to take a few steps back with his precious bundle. "What are you going to with him now? I won't let you use my child to get your own damn body back."

Sephiroth blinked, raising an eyebrow at Cloud. "Why would I do that? I already have the cells I need."

He certainly looked himself; he carried himself with the grace and strength and dignity that Cloud now realised had been fading with the degradation of his temporary body. And the wing. Only Sephiroth - the real Sephiroth, not the remnants, not the temporary body - ever had that wing. It was just a question of, "how?"

"There were plenty of embryonic and multipotent stem cells in your discarded placenta and umbilical cord. You have your share of Jenova cells to draw on as well, after all."

"Wait, the discarded what?"

"It was simply a matter of having my temporary body absorb them. You have seen the process before, when I used Kadaj and Jenova's cells to reform myself."

"So you absorbed the- Shiva's tits, Seph, that is gross! How did you... no, you know what, I really don't want to know." Cloud frowned. "I thought the temporary body died."

"It was in the process of dying," Sephiroth clarified. "It was necessary to crystallise it in mako to preserve it until the Jenova cells became available."

Cloud was silent for moment. "So you're not going to possess our child, or absorb his cells or anything?"

"No, Cloud." Sephiroth shook his head, as if amused by the fact Cloud would consider such a thing at all.

Cloud relaxed. For the first time in nine months, he relaxed, and it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He kissed Sephiroth again, and Sephiroth, though somewhat surprised by the sudden affection, kissed him back.

Cloud was smiling widely when they broke away from each other. "Hold him," he said, offering the blanket-bundled baby over to Sephiroth. Sephiroth gave him an uncertain look.

"It seems so small and fragile," he frowned. "Maybe I should not-"

"He's your son, Seph. Hold him."

"...how?"

Cloud rolled his eyes in exasperation and manhandled Sephiroth into a suitable baby-holding position. He tucked his son into his arms. "There."

Sephiroth shifted his weight awkwardly. Cloud had never seen the man look so thoroughly bewildered in his life, standing there with a tiny child in his arms and no idea how to react to it.

It was oddly adorable. Cloud hid a grin behind his hand.

"It is like a tiny person," Sephiroth said, frowning in confusion.

"He," Cloud corrected. "And, yeah. That's kind of what a baby is. What were you expecting?"

"A large gelatinous blob of replicated Jenova cells."

Cloud stared at him for a long moment before bursting into laughter. "You are ridiculous, you know that?"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at Cloud, but he was still paying more attention to the baby than Cloud's strange sense of humour. "I didn't expect replicated cells to be so... cute."

He stroked a finger gently over his baby's cheeks, examining the wide eyes and tiny button nose. The baby opened his mouth and made an attempt to suck on Sephiroth's finger when Sephiroth lightly touched it against his lips. Everything about Sephiroth's expression and body language softened.

Cloud couldn't help it. He hugged both of them. He buried his face into the crook of Sephiroth's neck, careful not to jostle the baby too much.

This could work. Maybe he was being overly optimistic, but Gaia, he needed some optimism in his life right then. The way Sephiroth was looking at their child... with awe, almost tenderness. Sephiroth was alive, the baby was fine, and Sephiroth... Sephiroth cared. Or he could learn to care. There was definitely hope for it. This could work.

"Are you crying again?" Sephiroth asked, still sounding thoroughly bewildered by this turn of events.

"No," Cloud denied. He was trembling and sniffing a little, but no tears were present. He hid his face against Sephiroth though, just in case. "I'm just relieved. I thought... I don't know. You were going to do something awful to the baby. That you'd hate him."

"I have no plans to harm him. He is my heir, after all, and it would be counterproductive to destroy what I went to such lengths to create."

"Oh, you went to lengths?"

"And I admit he is... rather adorable."

Cloud shook his head. "I didn't think you'd be so susceptible to cuteness."

"I have always been rather susceptible to you."

Cloud frowned. Or, at least, he would have called it a frown; Sephiroth would have called it a pout. "I am a fully grown man and I am not cute."

Both of those statements were currently incorrect. Sephiroth knew better than to point this out, though, and only chuckled. Then his eyes widened as the baby yawned in his arms.

Susceptible to cuteness indeed.

"Aw, baby's sleepy," Cloud cooed, much to Sephiroth's amusement.

"Have you not named him yet?"

"Oh." Cloud took the bundle from Sephiroth's arms and started gently rocking it, almost subconsciously now. "No. We... never really discussed it. Before you left. I was thinking maybe you'd be around so we could choose something together."

"You didn't know when I would return."

"I was living in hope."

"You waited for me."

It sounded a lot like 'you care about me', and that was a dangerous admission to make. No matter how true it may have been. So Cloud avoided answering by busying himself with their child, re-tucking the blanket around him. He led Sephiroth into their building, where he had build a cot just around the corner of the shell's spiral. He laid the sleepy baby down.

The baby blinked wearily a few times and yawned again, eyes drifting shut.

Cloud's heart melted a little every time.

Sephiroth stood beside him, staring intently down into the cot. His fingers found Cloud's and twined them together. Cloud was trembling again, like he couldn't make sense of Sephiroth being nice. Of feeling like he might have a chance to happy, after all of this.

"So, what do we do now?" Sephiroth asked softly, mindful of the dozing baby.

Cloud mentally shook himself. "Well," he began, pulling Sephiroth away from the cot so they could talk without risking waking their child. "You, Mr. I Have A Wing, can start by flying off to somewhere that has decent supplies. We need some proper clothes for him, I can't keep just wrapping him in a blanket forever. And some real diapers, and wipes, and baby formula and a bottle to use to feed him with. For a start."

Sephiroth looked thoroughly bewildered again. "Baby formula," he repeated, like a mental note to himself. "But then what have you been feeding him so far?"

Cloud made a pointed gesture to his chest area. "Why do you think I'm still stuck in this damn body?"

"Oh."

Cloud gave him a wry smile. "You had no idea what you were getting yourself in for with this, did you?"

"No," Sephiroth admitted gravely.

"Fine," Cloud said, huffing a short laugh. "We'll figure it out in the morning. Right now, I want a nap while I have the chance."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me," Cloud warned him, "you'll learn to take what sleep you can get."

Sephiroth hadn't been subjected to the regular crying of a newborn yet, and thus didn't feel the need for naps, but he crawled into bed with Cloud anyway simply to enjoy the company. He wrapped an arm around Cloud's waist as they lay together, stroking the small of his back.

Cloud appreciated it. He had become addicted to Sephiroth's touch; he had thought it was a sexual thing, just the lust they shared, but he found that this casual affection was just as satisfying. The months alone had been hard. It didn't matter whether he loved Sephiroth or hated him; Cloud always felt his absence like a hollow ache in his heart.

Sephiroth's hand slowly brushed up the length of Cloud's spine. "Are you sure you only want to sleep?" Sephiroth murmured.

Well. So much for casual affection. "Sephiroth," Cloud protested. "You do recall I had to give birth with this body? Less that a week ago?"

"So?"

"So you don't want to go down there, believe me." Cloud sighed; it wasn't like he didn't want Sephiroth, especially after so long. "As soon as we find a food source for the kid that isn't my boobs, I'm going back to my own body. Then we can fuck all you like."

Sephiroth paused, considering this. "Is that incentive for me to fetch this formula you were after? I am then able to fuck you?"

"No. But it's a nice bonus." Cloud's smile turned slightly feral. "Although... after being stuck as a girl for nine months and all the bullshit you put me through, I think that I should be the one to fuck you for once."

"That sounds agreeable enough," Sephiroth purred.

Cloud grinned, brushing the ends of their noses together in an eskimo kiss. "Now let me have my nap. Your son hasn't given me the chance to sleep any longer than three hours at a time since he arrived."

"I apologise on his behalf," Sephiroth murmured, and Cloud just shook his head.

He curled into Sephiroth's warmth, that arm around his waist returning just to hold him. Their legs tangled together beneath the covers, and Cloud was absently aware of Sephiroth brushing the bangs from his face as he dozed.

Cloud gradually drifted out of his sleepy state, though he didn't know how long later. An hour or so, maybe. The warm of Sephiroth's body was still pressed close against him, but Sephiroth's expression was distant. Frowning. He had been using the time while Cloud was napping to think. And Sephiroth thinking that deeply was not always a good idea.

Cloud touched his cheek."What's wrong?"

"I can't hear her."

"Huh?" Cloud said eloquently. Maybe he wasn't quite as awake as he had thought.

"Mother. Jenova," Sephiroth corrected himself. "Her voice has been growing steadily fainter as her cells were destroyed. But now I am reborn - now more cells have been created - I should be able to hear her again. But I don't."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Cloud tried to sound sympathetic; Sephiroth looked so lost, like an abandoned child. But he couldn't stop his heart skipping. If that was true...

"I don't understand why. I am myself. The cell transfer was successful. How could it have gone wrong?"

"I don't know," Cloud said softly. He had never understood the process fully; who was he to say why it failed this time?

Sephiroth rolled away from Cloud to stare at the ceiling. "Help me work it out."

"I'm sleep deprived and don't have the first clue about Jenova anything," Cloud pointed out.

"Just lie there and pretend to listen then. Perhaps if I work through from the start..." Sephiroth ran his hand through his bangs, an uncharacteristically distressed gesture. He closed his eyes in concentration, pulling together the memories that he had long since cast aside. They were warped and blurred now, half-remembered fragments of lab coats and lessons.

"Jenova's cells are, as they are named, true cells, with the ability to self-reproduce and respond to stimuli. But in addition, they also have the ability to act as a virus, inserting their own genetic material into a host cell, and to selectively replicate sections of the host's genetic material in order to aggressively evolve.

"The host body - for humans, at least - sees Jenova's DNA as a pathogen and attacks the corrupted cells, eventually resulting in degenerative diseases such as degradation or Geostigma."

Despite being given a free pass not to pay attention, Cloud was doing his utmost to follow Sephiroth's impromptu alien biology lesson anyway. He wanted to know. He wanted to help, if he could. "But you never had any of that."

"No. The way that I was... produced, I was exposed to Jenova's cells and DNA from conception. My body did not see it as a pathogen and did not react. It was simply always there." Sephiroth paused before continuing. "The genetic material inserted into the host's DNA is what allows the Jenova cells to take control of the entire of the organism. It activates the Reunion instinct and allows you to hear her."

"I haven't heard her since the Geostigma was cured," Cloud added, though he found it unlikely the information would help in any way.

"But you still have Jenova cells."

"I guess?"

Sephiroth was very quiet for a moment. "A two-way conduit. When the Geostigma was cured, it did not remove the Jenova cells from your body. That would be impossible. Instead... you could be healed by the cells becoming harmless to you. Rather than implanting Jenova's genetic code into your DNA, the cells were forced to accept your genetic code into them instead. A two-way conduit; it can occur both ways. Your body then recognised the cells as being your own, and no longer attacked them."

Cloud was staring at Sephiroth with wide eyes, not sure he was quite keeping up with the speed of Sephiroth's theorising. "You don't know that, though."

"No. We wouldn't know for certain without having the cells tested, and thankfully there is no one left alive who can do that now." Sephiroth bared his teeth at the mention, then continued his train of thought. "Extrapolating from that scenario, the cells in the child and the cells that replicated inside you... the cells I absorbed. They still retain Jenova's abilities. But the genetic material," Sephiroth frowned, "that is yours. When the final true Jenova cells collected in the temporary body came into contact with the new cells, the new ones would have been superior in strength and number. They inserted the new DNA, overwriting the old, 'inferior' genetic code."

"I don't..." Follow. Understand. Cloud shook his head. "You need to come up with better conversation starters for pillow talk," he joked lightly.

Sephiroth was staring at him now.

"It's you."

"What's me...?"

"You. Your DNA. Your cells. You overwrote her."

"What?"

"You are Mother now."

"What?!" Cloud yelped. Too loud, and he winced when he heard the thin wail coming from the cot. "Shit," he sighed. He held up a finger, indicating for Sephiroth to stay where he was, and untangled himself from the bedsheets.

He took longer than he needed to, taking the chance to try to process what Sephiroth was implying. It was just a theory. It didn't mean he was right.

But there was the way he had been able to sense Sephiroth's presence, from the exact moment he absorbed the new cells. He had assumed it was just the Jenova cells in both of them, but Sephiroth was right. He couldn''t feel any of Jenova's influence, despite such a Jenova-like trait being apparent. And Sephiroth's eyes. The cat-slit pupils that weren't cat-slit anymore. It could have been just a coincidence, but that seemed increasingly unlikely.

Cloud's cells had certainly altered something, it seemed.

He scooped up their baby, holding him close against his chest and murmuring soothing nothings. When he had quietened, Cloud brought him back to the bed.

Cloud gave Sephiroth a hard stare. "I know this sounds really ironic right now, but I am no 'mother'. I will accept that maybe some of the genetic code got a little mixed up somewhere along the way. But maybe Jenova just got sick of us."

Sephiroth smirked a little. The first of those certainly was an ironic statement, given that Cloud was cradling their child at that precise moment. "I doubt that."

"You really think I... overwrote her?"

"I cannot sense her at all. I can only sense you. Your heartbeat, your breath, your energy."

"Well, I am lying right next to you." Cloud gave a small smile, which soon faded. "She's gone...?" He breathed it like a wish.

"It seems likely."

Cloud laid their son down between them, and curled on his side to stare at Sephiroth.

This could work. No Jenova meant no burning down villages, no clones, no destruction of the Planet. Sephiroth had been a good man before everything went to shit. ShinRa pushed him to the edge and Jenova dragged him over, but both of them were gone now. Maybe they could do this.

Sephiroth seemed despondent at his loss, but he had more immediate family now. The more immediate family in question was grasping curiously at the silver strands of Sephiroth's bangs, and Cloud allowed himself to smile.

This could work.