A Tradition

September 2024

"Have you ever thought about having kids?"

Aeris lay sprawled on her futon, staring up at the ceiling of their room. Yuffie had insisted this inn was one of the least touristy ones, a qualification that had mattered less to Cloud than the fact that it was also cheaper than the ones along the main drag. Their room was small, but clean, sparsely decorated with ink paintings and calligraphy Tifa couldn't read.

All told, it had been a weird day. After Yuffie's materia theft, their truce with the Turks, and the unexpected reappearance and demise of Don Corneo, Aeris's question seemed like the most normal thing in the world.

"What brought this on?" Tifa asked anyway, taking a seat on her own futon nearby.

"Yuffie," said Aeris. "Her father pretended he didn't even know her, and she's living on her own even though he's got that great big house. I was just thinking... if I were a parent, I'd never let things get that bad."

Tifa hummed her agreement. As irritated as she was with Yuffie, Godo would likely spend longer on her shit-list. "It was pretty rough to see," she said. "She was a real brat today, but... I can see why. She can't even depend on her own father. Why depend on us?"

"We're obviously much cooler than Godo," Aeris stated indignantly.

Tifa chuckled. "I hope so. At least, no matter what Marlene is like as a teenager, I mean to be there for her."

Aeris sat up. "That's right. You sort of already have a kid, huh?"

Tifa tucked her hair back behind her ear. "Sort of. I mean... I don't know that I think of myself as her mom, but... she's like a daughter." She hesitated. "I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"I think it does. I mean, if you were her mom, that would kind of be like you and Barret were together." Aeris narrowed her eyes, giving Tifa a speculative look. "You aren't, are you?"

"You think I'd be keeping that a secret?"

"Maybe~"

Tifa rolled her eyes, even as some part of her warmed at Aeris's insistence on knowing for sure. "We're not together. But I guess you have a point... I mean, that's the idea I grew up with. That one day I'd get married and have kids."

"So you have thought about it," Aeris observed, her expression growing more serious.

"I used to. Or at least, I used to assume... That's just what I thought life would be like when I grew up. But then, just when I was getting old enough to give it some serious thought..."

"...Nibelheim happened."

"Yeah. Normal kind of went out the window, after that. I haven't thought about it in a while."

Tifa considered one of the wall scrolls, artful strokes of ink running down the paper. Wutai wasn't that far from Nibelheim, but it was a place she'd never imagined visiting. She'd never imagined a lot of things. Waking up alone in Midgar, it had taken everything she'd had just to cope with the now. Even after the bar and AVALANCHE brought some stability back into her life, her thoughts more often tended to the past, lamenting what she'd lost and holding onto her anger when she needed something to keep her going. She wouldn't let Nibelheim happen again, she wouldn't let Shinra get away with it.

But what could she build, in the future, once the present no longer meant chasing enemies across the world? Would it look anything like her 15-year-old self had envisioned, a husband and a kid and a dog in a cozy country house? She didn't think so. What she felt herself longing for was the community she'd built in Sector 7, where everyone had depended on each other.

There'd been so many kids there without any parents, looked after by whoever could manage it. Barret and Marlene had fit right in. And Tifa... She'd become a part of that, too.

"I guess..." she went on, "I'd still like it to be part of my life. Kids, I mean. It wouldn't be the picture-perfect family I imagined as a kid, but that's okay. And I know Barret would help."

"Just Barret?" Aeris wondered.

"Well, I don't know what everyone will be up to, once this is all over. Cloud was ready to take off before I brought him in on the AVALANCHE job. You have your own life to get back to. Most of you do."

"Hmm... Even Vincent?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "Can you imagine Vincent as a babysitter?"

Aeris giggled. "Maybe. It'd sure be fun to try it out."

"Anyway, what about you?" Tifa wondered. "Do you ever think about kids?"

"Oh, sometimes." Aeris leaned back on her hands, and despite the casualness of the motion, a solemnity flitted across her face. She'd never just been casually musing. "Sometimes I think I'd like being a mom. But then I get so caught up in what it means for me. Do I have an obligation, as the last of the Cetra, to carry on that legacy? Even knowing it's ultimately futile? And is that something I want to put on a child?"

Tifa watched her, brows knitting into sympathy. Unbidden, she remembered Hojo's lab, and his efforts to breed Aeris as though she were an animal. It wasn't right to see her only for her blood.

"But then," Aeris went on, "I've never been angry with Mom for that. I didn't want to be special, but I wouldn't trade the bond I share with her. Ah... You see? I always wind up going in circles."

"I don't think you should ever feel like you have to," Tifa said firmly. "That's nobody's business but yours. And you know... you could always follow Elmyra's lead. She's no less your mom, right?"

Aeris tilted her head thoughtfully. "Yeah..." she said, but she didn't sound convinced.

"Unless, I mean..." Tifa faltered, glancing down. "I know there's things about being a Cetra that you can't really share with the rest of us, but does that mean...? No, never mind. Forget I said anything."

"It's not that I can't be close to humans," Aeris said slowly.

"...you just don't really talk about those things with us."

"Tifa... Does that bother you?"

Tifa drew in a deep breath, still not looking at her. "We haven't actually known each other that long, but from the start, I felt like... you could probably know me as well as anyone ever could. But then, you talk about how alone you feel because of your heritage, and I..."

Aeris's hand reached across and took hers, her grip gentle but firm. "That doesn't mean you can't know me," she said. "I just... spent so long trying to pretend I was normal. I pretend a lot." She gave a rueful laugh. "You kind of... see right through it."

Cautiously, Tifa looked up at her. "You don't have to pretend with me."

"I know. I guess it's just habit."

Tifa relaxed, smiling. "I'm glad that's all."

Aeris's lips quirked, and her voice took on a teasing note. "You really want to get close to me, huh?"

"I do," Tifa affirmed without hesitation, but then she blushed. Was she being overeager? "I- I mean, we're friends. Of course I do."

Aeris's smile widened, and she shuffled a little closer across the short distance between them. "You know... To get back on the subject: I was a kid with two moms, and that might be a tradition I'd like to continue."

Tifa felt her whole face going red. She didn't know what to say.

"What do you think?"

"I... I think it sounds nice," Tifa managed.

"Good," Aeris decided. Her eyes still twinkled, but her smile had softened, not just teasing. Aeris was more forward than Tifa could ever hope to be, but even she needed reassurance.

Tifa adjusted her grip to give Aeris's hand a squeeze. "Definitely worth looking into," she added.

"In that case, I have a few ideas on how to start," said Aeris. "There's still daylight, and we passed a few restaurants with food I've never even heard of."

"So is this, um..."

"Yes, it's absolutely a date," Aeris confirmed, leaning in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. Tifa blushed again, but this time she noticed she wasn't the only one.

A date. A date was another place Tifa hadn't expected this day to go, but this time she wasn't about to object.

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