I don't own FF7 or its characters and make no money for writing this story.

Tifa stepped into the cave behind the waterfall as warily as a wild animal being forced into a cage, she didn't wish to come to Lucercia's cave, a place she had never been and only knew about from Vincent and Cloud. Yet she felt an insistent summonings to go there as if drawn by a siren to a treacherous cove.

She looked for the first time upon the beautiful living-dead woman trapped within, her body seem to glow as she reposed inside her crystal chamber like a princess from a fairytale. The cave was lit by the makos lights undulated around her, giving the impression that the cave was underwater. "You came Miss Lockhart, or should I say Mrs. Strife" spoke a smooth voice that she had hoped never to hear again, just to the left of her.

"Sephiroth, so you are alive" she said without turning as a large dark clad figure silently joined her and both gazed as the ex-Shinra scientist. "Have you come to finish me?" she asked him, looking at him for the first time.

He kept his gaze trained upon his supposed mother, but denied it with a small shake of his head. "Tell me Mrs. Strife, do you see family resemblance in my countenance to her?" he said with a tiny gesture of his head.

Her gaze returned to the beautiful corpse, she knew she was in the presence of her greatest enemy, now returned again but somehow his unthreatening behaviour made her feel oddly calm, she turned to examine his profile and he turned to face her, looking deceptively like an ethereally beautiful angel. "Yes, you look like her" she agreed.

"They say she was my real mother. You know that I feel when I look at her?" he said with his arms crossed before his broad chest.

"No" she said, eyeing him curiously.

"Nothing, I thought I would feel rage upon seeing the human woman who did not value me enough to keep me or even pity for her, but I feel nothing. It is like I have no connection with her whatsoever. Yet she birthed me and chose this route over trying to win me back. That's a great testament to motherhood" he said without rancor as they continued to observe the woman.

"She was weak, I would have fought for you" Tifa observed and could have sworn she detected a slight smile on his lips before it flitted away.

"Yes you are truly strong in every sense of the word, you would make a great mother. Were it possible" Sephiroth agreed. "The damage I inflicted on you; it rendered your uterus sterile."

"How did you know?" she sharply said to him.

"Aerith heard you begging to the Goddess in the lifestream and dragged me back here along with herself and insisted I atone for that" he explained.

"Yes things are better now that Aerith is back" Tifa said trying to keep bitterness out of her voice.

"You're worried that your husband only married you out of fear of being alone? You think that he is cheating on you with her when claiming to be making deliveries long into the night? You have a right to think that: even now they make love in her church" Sephiroth said suddenly holding up some sort of clear globe that showed just the scene he had described where Aerith rode her husband.

"You tell lies!" Tifa cried out hotly in denial of this.

"Tell me, has he been colder towards you? Almost indifferent? Does he show no interest in you physically?" he questioned her in a somber voice.

"How did you know?" she asked him.

"You see all in the lifestream. Rest assured, Aerith did not mean to break up your marriage, she's lonely and Zack has long since been reborn. She longs to have a family and Cloud loves her and longs to have a family as well. It is not that you are any less attractive, nor kinder, nor less virtuous than she. Soon, they will tell you she carries his child" Sephiroth explained.

"But it can't be true" she said, digging her fingers painfully into her arms in denial of what she had long suspected.

"Yet, you know it is" Sephiroth said in the same even tone of voice, incapable of expressing sympathy. "It was for the sake of perhaps having a child that you married a man you were no longer sure of his feelings for yourself" he concluded, each sharp truth seeming to pierce her heart.

She looked sharply at him when he said this "even I, who cannot even begin to understand human emotions can see that this is what you long for the most: a child. How you treat people, how you tend to them when they are down, how you try to create a family environment for the people you care about; is a testament to how a real mother should be."

"So why have you summoned me here, to shatter the illusions about my life?" she demanded of him.

"To offer you what you desire, that which I took away from you. A child" he replied.

"But how? I have tried everything in existence?" she demanded as her heart hammered in her chest.

"You forget that I can cast spells from my body? I can cure your uterus and make you fertile again" he replied.

"So I can have my husband's baby?" she said with hope in her voice.

"There is a catch, as I am the only who can control the spell for conception, I have to be the one who impregnates you. It would be in the usual way I assure you" he said

"How can you even think that I would ever accept you as the father of my child?" she said with her fists balled in anticipation of striking at the man.

"I won't harm you nor force myself upon you. The decision would have be yours and yours alone if you want to proceed with Aerith's gift. This offer shall be only made to you this one time" he explained. "See it as being retribution for my past sins towards you. I am strong and mainly human could give you a strong child, it wouldn't be enhanced the way I was nor would it have mako. I would do this for you because Aerith asked me to" Sephiroth explained.

"So she takes my husband and offers you in his place?" she bitterly said.

"No, I would not be involved other than from afar. If you lie with me tonight, a child will conceived between us but know the consequences, the child would have physical recognizable attributes of myself and certainly could not be passed off as your husband's child. What remains of your marriage will come to an end with your own infidelity as an excuse to end it. Your world will collapse and the people who care about you the most will likely turn their backs on you when they realize who the father of your child is. You will feel a betrayal that shall break your heart, that will be akin to what I suffered when I found out my entire life was a sham and all I was, was a creature created only for war. Yet I would offer you this gift from my body. Knowing all this, would you chose to carry this child who itself will suffer based on who its father is?" he asked her.

"I don't know" she said, feeling troubled, yet the idea of holding a child born of her own body was so tempting. But was it worth literally making a deal with the devil and having to lie with her enemy to conceive with him?

"See it as being a curse and gift at the same time. But know this, although Aerith asked me to do this, I wouldn't offer if I didn't feel you weren't strong enough. I know you're not like her, you would have fought for me and would have never accepted this fate. You would do the same for our child. I need your answer, I do not wish to tarry in her presence anymore than necessary. The sight just reminds me of what was taken from me" he said.

Tifa's mind warred between what was being offered and the entire life she'd built collapsing like a house of cards around her. "I accept" she finally said.

"Very well, take off your clothes" he said and yet he did nothing more than undo his trench and open his pants in order to remove his sizable engorged weapon and she shivered a bit at the sight.

Tifa felt strange as she lay exposed under him, he made no attempt to prepare her, yet her sheath was well lubricated as he slowly and methodically entered her. She could feel beneath her exposed skin the soft, damp bed of moss he had placed her on and the almost metallic smell of the water rushing over the cave's entrance, she shivered, yet her body felt heated. His soft hair brushed her flesh from where he hovered just out of range of her and allowed her not even a kiss as his heavy tool penetrated her depths with barely a sound from himself and a cry of pleasure-pain from her at the sheer size of him.

He held himself apart from her body with his hands extended on either side of her head, so they were connected only at their groins. She gasped and writhed beneath him, the bulk of him driving her loudly to shameful orgasms as she tried to pull him closer, yet he resisted, his face impassive as ever and only a slight hitching of his breath betrayed his own sexual enjoyment. Sephiroth's lovemaking was methodical, almost clinical as if he was trying to simply deposit something inside her and virtually noiseless. It was like he was feeling nothing, experiencing nothing.

He resisted all of her attempts of kissing and touching him, finally getting impatient with the woman, he flipped her so she was on her hands and knees and began taking her again at an unhurried pace. He let out a tiny moan before he caught himself, that her new position allowed him a deeper penetration of her. His still gloved hands captured her dangling breasts and kneaded them while he hurried his pace and then she locked onto him and cried out for all she was worth and this caused him to clench his teeth against his own embarrassing cries as his eyes rolled and his own stream met hers.

He pulled himself out of her and righted himself as he sat beside her. "You have conceived a child. I can still halt the process if you wish" he said in a calm voice as she lay back, not feeling embarrassed about her nudity in the least.

"No, I will fight for this child and keep it safe. I won't end up like her" she said as she looked at the person who failed Sephiroth from the beginning.

"It won't be easy. Many will turn from you. You will know a loneliness the likes of which you can't fathom" he said standing up.

"Like you did?" she concluded, standing up as well and getting redressed.

"No he will have you" he said. "That is more than I ever had" he said.

"Where are you going?" she asked him.

"I'll find some safe place to live out my existence, you shan't see me again. It is better this way, an innocent child can win hearts that long to destroy me. It is rather strange that I just willing gave you what I denied so many, it was enjoyable but not a pivotal experience as I was led to believe" was all he had to say on the subject of sex.

"You didn't do it right" Tifa said.

"Pardon me? I am perfectly aware of the process by which a child is conceived and it certainly worked" he said raising his elegant eyebrows at her audacity.

"You took all of the love out of lovemaking" Tifa explained.

"Then pray tell me what I did wrong?" he asked her and was shocked when she grabbed the collar of his trench and pulled him into slow, clinging open mouthed kiss that he instantly got lost in as he found himself kissing her back. Her arms eased around him while his own dangled at his sides, while she fisted one hand into his hair and stroked the nap of his neck, until he came back to himself and leaned sharply back while wiping his mouth.

"How is that supposed to help impregnate a woman?" he asked her, looking sharply at her .

"It has more to do with showing someone you care" she said. "One day you will find someone you love so much you will want to kiss them" she predicted

"Highly doubtful. Good bye Mrs. Strife, it certainly has been interesting" he said and flew away without a backwards glance.

Everything had gone just as Sephiroth had predicted as soon as Renji was born. Cloud took one look at the silver haired and green cat-eyed baby that Tifa never denied wasn't his and filed for divorce and she didn't ask for anything or challenge the divorce. Aerith and Cloud married soon after with their own young green eyed and blonde baby at the ceremony that everyone but Tifa was invited to.

Her friends all turned their backs on her in disgust and she sold the bar and moved to a small farm house that she suddenly inherited from an unknown Aunt, along with a fairly sizable estate that would keep her fairly comfortable, along with the proceeds of sale from her bar. She, being such a people person thought she would be lonely but she had young son to look after, whom she had named Renji Lockhart. She didn't know Sephiroth's last name nor cared to inquire about it, as far as she was concerned, the child was hers alone.

She kept busy gardening and caring for Renji and even bought some chickens, so she had fresh eggs daily. One by one her friends came to her to apologize and meet her son. Renji as he started to grow over the next couple of months, he showed no sign of being different from any other babies, So Tifa treated him as such. Figuring she had Vincent to help should anything supernatural manifest itself...and Sephiroth as she sometimes sensed him watching over them. But he didn't attempt to approach them and she was fine with that. Except for the secret visits he made to Renji that she chose to ignore.

Tifa had put Renji down for the night, covering him with a light quilt she had made herself as she had taking to handmaking his clothes and blankets. She gently smoothed back his baby soft hair in a way that never failed to make him droozy, it was quite abundant for his tender age of four months old. She could see herself in his face, but he needed time to grow to truly establish his features, they were still babyish and constantly changing. However, he had never had the blue eyes of a newborn, his skin tone was closer to Tifa's and she considered that a blessing. Having a child as pale as Sephiroth would mean forever chasing him around with sunscreen.

She admired her son, he was an adorable baby with chubby cheeks and as healthy and agreeable a temperament as you could hope for in a child. She turned on his musical mobile and the little mogs spun around before his clear crystalline sleepy green eyes. She paused and wondered if Sephiroth's own had ever looked so innocent and danced when he laughed. So much she didn't know about him but she wasn't worried, she had a feeling that he would be back someday and custody arrangements would be discussed, he was his father after all. She flicked out the lights and went to do the dishes before turning in herself.

Sephiroth silently let him into the window and walked noiselessly to the crib and his son opened his eyes and grinned at him toothlessly and excitedly waved his limbs around to see him. Sephiroth smiled down at him in a way that could only have been described as tenderly and reached down and carefully picked up the excitedly wiggling child. "Hi Renji" he softly said as he sat down and held him and leaned over and kissed him on his baby soft cheek. He wondered how such a tiny scrap of human life could cause his heart to ache. He looked about the room, it was well appointed and his son obviously healthy and well taken care of, everything he could hope for. He stayed for about half an hour and then tucked his son back into his crib and resolved that he would never be back again as he flew away, as he had many times before but couldn't seem to stay away from him.

Tifa was personally aware of each time Sephiroth visited but allowed him the privacy, he was obviously in love with his son and meant him no harm. She went to check on him hours later, in need of relieving her bladder and was almost shocked to find a haggard looking Sephiroth asleep in her rocking chair with Renji still asleep in his arms."Sephiroth?" She said just loudly enough to wake him, knowing better then startle the man-warrior for fear of her son's life rather than her own.

He opened his eyes and seemed not sure where he was. She gently took the still sleeping Renji out of his arms and tucked him back into his crib.

"Sorry, I fell asleep. I know I have no right to be here" Sephiroth apologized and went to leave.

He was halted in his tracks when she took his arm. "You have every right to be here, he's your son and you paid for all of this. I'm onto you, I don't have an eccentric maiden aunt and never have, my people are not from money. Did you even keep enough for yourself to live on?" She asked him.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded of her.

"You look exhausted, your hair smells like smoke and I bet you have been surviving on army rations you have stored away somewhere" she guessed and he drew back sharply at her accurate guesses.

"You are wrong" he said with a smirk.

"You did this for your child as any father would" she said.

"How dare you..." He said.

"You love him, that is normal. A baby is not like a package you can just deliver. You will want to be with him. It's time to come home" she said.

"Home? I have no home" he said, drawing back.

"You said you needed an isolated place, it doesn't get more isolated then this. The place isn't that big but can fit three people just fine" she said indicating to the house.

"You would try and claim me?" He said, affronted.

"No, not for me; for him. He will want to know his father simply because you are his father and will love you too. Also, he you never know what he will manifest later. You can live with him, you can watch him grow up" she said spelling it out for him.

"So you have the audacity to suggest I become your new Cloud?" He snapped.

"We can co-parent, you don't have to be romantically involved for that, there is a bed in the shed that can be set up in the last available bedroom, that can be put there tomorrow and I have plenty of linen for it. Living arrangements can be agreed on in the morning. For tonight, it's too late to worry about this stuff. Come to my bed, the couch certainly is not big enough for you and you have been living rough and need a proper night's sleep.

"You expect another child?" He asked her with a naivety that made her smile.

"I propose sleep, some snuggling perhaps and that is it. I promise to keep my marauding hands to myself," she promised him.

"I'm not wearing much of anything under my uniform" he hesitantly said.

"Go take a shower and get some food from the kitchen while I feed Renji. We'll get your stuff from wherever you are staying tomorrow and get you soon new clothes. You certainly can't keep on wearing cold leather and metal around him, you might injure him" she said and purposely bared her breasts to feed Renji and any objections died in his throat in his embarrassment and he fled.

Fifteen minutes later, he lay in bed fully nude and firmly on his side facing towards the outside of the bed and struggling not to sleep, yet the sheets were clean and the mattress cradled him perfectly and the soft pillow supported his weary head just so. He was more than half asleep when Tifa crawled into bed and looped an arm around his waist and settled her body against his back, she didn't do much more then drape her arms upwards and take his unresisting hand in her own. She still wore the sleep shirt from earlier and he was grateful for this.

"What if you want more from me later on?" He questioned her.

"What if you do?" She asked him. "Don't worry about it for now, time will tell. You get to feed Renji bananas in the morning, he loves bananas and can spend as much time with him as you want. Just go to sleep?" She said and impulsively reached out and starting stroking his hair to see if it had the same effect on Renji's father as it did her son; it did.

"So tired" he admitted as their combined body warmth settled into the covers and lulled him even further to sleep and the smell of her breast milk, that he had smelled so often on the sweet breath of his son, soothed him just as much as the gentle strokes on his head.

"So sleep" she urged him softly, daring to press a kiss to his temple and he surrendered to slumber and slept for the first time trustingly in another person's arms.