Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ An Unexpected Visitor ❯ My Family ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: My Family

Yuffie put on a light sundress and ran her fingers through her hair as she stared in the small vanity mirror studying herself intently. She smiled at her reflection as she thought about the man lying on her couch. 'He's so cute when he blushes.' The heat rose on her face. 'I can't believe I actually had the guts to kiss him!'

Yuffie couldn't help but to wonder what to have his strong arms wrapped around her waist and his lips against hers. Her eyes closed involuntarily and she felt an unfamiliar heat coil deep in her abdomen so intense it made her gasp. It made her knees go weak.

Gray eyes opened slowly as she gripped a nearby chair. "Whoa…" Her senses returned to normal but the heat remained. She turned from the mirror and returned to the living room and saw the silver haired man trying to stand on his own, but not getting very far.

"What do you think you're doing?" Yuffie asked in mock irritation.

"Trying to get to the bathroom, but as you can see, I could use a little help." He smiled at her.

Yuffie walked over to him and sat next to the boxer-clad man. "Put you're arm over my shoulders and I'll help you stand." He nodded and did as he was told. "Okay, and up." She groaned under his weight as the slowly made their way to the bathroom.

<Knock, Knock>

"That must be the courier. Let me know when you're ready to go back." She called over her shoulder as she went to answer the door.

Yuffie walked to the door and opened it.

"Ma'am, are you Miss Yuffie Kisaragi?" The young courier asked.

"Yep."

He handed her a large box. "Dr. Taylor told me to bring you this, and said everything you'll need is inside."

She sat the box inside the door and reached for her wallet that sat on a desk near the door. She pulled out some gil and turned back to the young man. "Do ya need a signature?"

He handed her the clipboard. "Yes, Ma'am."

She quickly signed her name and handed him a generous tip. He placed the gil notes in his pocket and smiled. "Thank you. You have a nice day!"

"You too." She closed the door and moved the box near the couch, emptying the supplies carefully. She eventually found a note at the bottom of the box.

=-=

Yuffie,

Enclosed you should find a weeks worth of antibiotics, sterile bandages, sterile saline, a pack of sterile basins, a box of gloves, some medicated cream and irrigation syringes. Your friend is to take the antibiotics every four hours when he is awake and he should start as soon as you get this package.

His bandages need to be changed once a day. Pour the Saline in one of the basins and draw it into the syringe. Flush the lacerations out with them. After they are clean, place a layer of the cream over the wounds and bandage them. The wounds will heal faster with the cream.

If he develops a fever of 101 or higher, call the clinic immediately. I will call to check up on you both later.

Sincerely,

John Taylor

=-=

Yuffie opened the cream and saw the blue color. She sniffed the cream and her nose scrunched up.

"I take it that doesn't smell too appealing." She jumped she heard his voice behind her.

"Geez, ya scared me!" She walked to him. "You were supposed to call me." Wrapping her arm around his tight waist, she helped him back to the couch. Yuffie gave an unhappy sigh when she had to release him.

"Here, read this. I'll be right back." She handed him the letter and went to the kitchen to get him a cup of water.

He reached over a grabbed one of the chalky tablets. He gratefully took the water she gave him and swallowed the foul pill down.

Yuffie reached over and grabbed the remote. "You ready for some TV?" She smiled as she sat next to him. He nodded and she turned on the TV.

After watching the news for a while, he brought his still aching arm up and put it over her shoulders. She sighed happily as they watched.

=-=-=-=

Over the next four days, the pair grew closer as they waited for Vincent' arrival. Both were amazed at how quickly their friendship was developing and though neither was ready to admit it yet, the love that the were feeling for one another was flourishing also.

Sephiroth was now sleeping in the spare room and had regained some of his strength. He still had to move slowly because of his protesting muscles, but he managed quite well. His wounds were closing quickly with the aid of the horrid smelling cream, antibiotics and his own natural healing ability that he had gained from the Mako treatments.

She had managed to get one of the Mideel shops to deliver clothing for him when she placed her grocery order. His old clothes had to bed thrown out because of the tears and blood that permeated them.

"Why is he leaving her for that other woman when its quite apparent that she loves him?" The General asked the ninja who was currently leaning against him.

The ninja looked up at him with amusement. Who would have thought that the great General Sephiroth would actually sit and watch a Soap Opera. She couldn't stand them herself and it appeared that he was tiring of the characters bitching and moaning, but nothing interesting would be coming on until this travesty ended. "I don't know. Most men are dogs who'll leave at the mere sight of someone prettier or younger than who their with."

He looked at her stormy gray eyes and gave a shy smile. "If I had the could have the woman that I loved, no other woman could ever make me leave her."

She felt her heart flutter at his words. 'Leviathan, I wish he was talking about me…he couldn't be, could he?' Stormy eyes gazed at him in the lightweight navy blue pants and white t-shirt he was wearing and admired the gorgeous man. She was about to reply when there was a knock on the door.

Yuffie reluctantly pulled herself off the couch and cracked the door open. When she saw who it was, she grinned and threw open the door, leaping into the person's arms as Sephiroth watched from the couch.

"Vinnie!!!" She trapped the gunman in a bear hug around his waist. "I wasn't expecting you to get here so early!"

"Hello to you too Yuffs." He laughed and shifted his small travel bag over his shoulder. "Tseng and I finished earlier than we thought. May I come in? It is a bit warm out here."

"Do you even have to ask?" She grabbed his claw and dragged him into the house.

Yuffie glanced over at the silver-haired man sitting on the couch. "Seph, this is Vincent Valentine. He's my closest friend and part time protector." She said, playfully elbowing the man in the ribs.

Sephiroth went to get up and Yuffie was at his side instantly, helping him stand. He extended his hand to Vincent. " I know that Yuffie told you what happened and I want to thank you for helping me be free of Jenova's control. It is nice to meet you Mr. Valentine." He said somberly.

Vincent shook the General's hand. "She did and you are welcome. I have come to speak to you about you're parents."

Yuffie looked at the two and for the first time noticed how much they looked alike besides the obvious difference in hair color and eye color. They were both the same height and build and had almost exactly the same facial features.

'Its odd that both father and son look like they're the almost same age.' When it came to physical age, it was true. Vincent's physical age was only twenty-six compared to Sephiroth's twenty-three.

She didn't want to intrude on their conversation. "Maybe it would be best if I let you talk alone."

"No, wait Yuffie. If it's alright with Mr. Valentine, I would like you to stay."

"I do not mind at all and please, call me Vincent."

Yuffie turned off the TV before sitting on the couch next to the green-eyed man, while Vincent made himself comfortable in the rocking chair. He looked at the pair then to Sephiroth. "Please listen to the whole story before asking any questions." He said simply. The nodded and waited for him to continue.

The gunman pulled a box from his travel bag and opened the lid to show it full of pictures. He searched through the box for a moment before finding the picture he was looking for. Vincent took a deep breath before speaking.

"I know that you had been told by Hojo that he was your father and that your mother was Jenova. As Yuffie told you, this is not true." He looked at the picture in his hand and smiled before passing it to the swordsman and the ninja.

"That is a picture of a woman named Lucrecia. She was a scientist who was sent to work under Hojo and Professor Gast at the Shinra Mansion. At the same time she was sent from Shinra Headquarters, I was the Turk sent to Nibelheim to protect the scientists who were doing research there. During our trip to the Village, Lucrecia and I spoke with one another and found that we had a lot in common. She was the only bright spot during my entire stay in Nibelheim.

"We had been at the Mansion for a little over a year when we fell in love. We were both happy and loved spending time together." Vincent closed his crimson eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. "Hojo did not like the fact that Lucrecia was spending so much time with me so he contacted Shinra and had me reassigned. Leaving her was the hardest thing that I had to do.

"During the time I was reassigned, Hojo manipulated Lucrecia into believing that he loved her because he needed her body. He told her that I was not coming back and that is when their relationship started. A few months later, Hojo and Gast received a communication from HQ saying that I would be returning to my post in Nibelheim in two weeks. He knew that if I was to return, our relationship would resume and his plans would fail. In a desperation he asked her to marry him and she readily accepted.

"Professor Gast soon found out that Hojo was drugging her to make her more receptive to his advances. He tried warn Lucrecia of Hojo's instability and what he had done to her, but she was under his spell and wouldn't listen. Hojo found out about Gast's attempts to try and get through to her and could not allow the Professor to ruin his plans, so he poisoned him, making it look like suicide. He married Lucrecia a week later…two days before I returned.

"When I arrived, Lucrecia told me that she had married Hojo. I did not know what to do so I stayed to protect her. Apparently Hojo had stopped giving Lucrecia whatever drug he had been giving her on the night of their wedding, and over the next week, she realized the mistake she had made, and that Gast had been telling the truth.

"She went to him and told him that she no longer wished to be with him and since they hadn't consummated the marriage, she wished to get an annulment. I am not quite sure what his answer was to this, but whatever it was, it chilled her to her very core. That night, he made sure that they consummated their marriage so that the only way out for her was a divorce that he refused to give her.

"She came to me the next night and told me what had happened. I was furious that he had forced himself on her, I picked up my gun and went to search for him but she stopped me. She feared that he would kill us both and begged me not to do anything. Reluctantly, I obeyed her wishes.

"Despite her marriage, we still loved each other deeply and two months later, Hojo had returned to Midgar for a week to attend to some matters that required his presence." He allowed a sad smile to grace his lips. "That was the best week of our lives. With Hojo not around, we were finally able to express our love for each other openly, both physically and emotionally."

"A month and a half later, Lucrecia found out she was pregnant. She came to me one day while Hojo was in the lab and told me. There was no way that Hojo could be the father…the baby was mine.

"We were so happy that we were going to have a child together. But Lucrecia's happiness was short lived, Hojo also had to be told. I tried to tell her that we could run away, but she knew that Hojo would not allow that to happen. So she told Hojo, and he assumed it was his. He began to tell her of the experiments he wanted to run on her and our unborn child and she refused. But he didn't allow that to stop him."

Vincent pulled out another picture and gave it to them. It was a picture of Vincent, his eyes a beautiful dark green, wearing a smile as he stood behind a very pregnant Lucrecia, who was also smiling as his hands rested on her belly.

"That was taken during another of Hojo's trips. We made plans to leave Nibelheim and live the rest of our lives together but our plans were derailed. Lucrecia became very ill during her pregnancy and went into labor three weeks from her due date while in the lab with Hojo. I was coming back from checking with the security forces at the Mt. Nibel Reactor when I heard a scream from the basement. I ran down the stairs and found Lucrecia bleeding on the exam table crying out to hold our baby and Hojo hunched over our child.

"Vincent," she said in a very weak voice "please don't let him hurt my son…my Sephiroth…please stop him…"

"I knew she would die if she did not get help so I pulled out my cell and started to call for help when Hojo straightened and pointed a gun at me." Vincent clenched his fist.

"Put the phone down Valentine."

"I told him I would not, that Lucrecia was going to die without help. But he laughed in said that she was beyond help he tossed his head in her direction and I looked over to her. She wasn't breathing. I lunged at the bastard; I would not allow him to hurt my son. We wrestled for the gun but it went off…he shot me and I remember everything going black. I died, but somehow, he was able to bring me back and that is when he started experimenting on me. Hojo changed me and locked me in that coffin in the basement of the Mansion where I stayed for thirty years only to be freed by Avalanche when Yuffie found the key to the door.

"A month after meteor, I found Hojo's personal diary. He had drugged Lucrecia while she was sleeping late in her pregnancy and began injecting her with Jenova cells and Mako. She had no idea that this was going on or why she was becoming ill when she had been so health during the months before."

=-=

Tears slowly rolled down Vincent's cheek as he looked to Sephiroth. "You were so tiny. Your eyes were the same color as mine in that picture, and you had a full head of silver hair…such a beautiful baby…our son… I am so sorry that I failed you. I'm sorry we couldn't show you how much we loved you and wanted you in our life so we could live as a family."

Yuffie had been crying for a while with her head buried in Sephiroth's shirt. He stroked her hair as tears slid down his cheeks as well… "Vincent…" he started, his voice thick with emotion. "I do not blame you or mother for what happened. I only wish Hojo was alive so I could give him a death so horrible he would think that writhing in the pits of hell would be a welcomed alternative."

He looked Vincent in the eyes. "You don't realize how much it means to me to know that I was wanted and to know that I had parents who loved me. To know that I was not just some experiment made by Hojo using his cells in a lab is more than I could have asked for. The very idea of being related to Hojo in any way disgusted me.

"After all that you did to try and protect me…gods, you gave your life for me…I am glad that you are my father." He looked down to the ninja and saw that she had fallen asleep. Unconsciously, he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

Vincent smiled at this and whispered. "You love her, don't you?"

Sephiroth nodded. "I do. I have never experienced love before, until now."

"You will tell her soon, won't you?"

"Yes."

Vincent nodded and hesitated for a moment. "I saw your mother about two years ago."

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "I thought she died?"

"She did, but the Jenova cells within her would not allow her to join the Lifestream. I am uncertain as to if she is still there or not now that Jenova is dead but maybe you should go to the waterfall east of Cosmo Canyon. Yuffie knows where it is."

"We will soon…" He thought for a moment. "Vincent, would you tell me more about my mother, and about yourself?"

"Of course."

=-=-=-=

AN: Please read and review…or else!

See disclaimer in first and last chapter…