#babyroth au

[strayheartless]

I have an AU in my head where Gaia gets sick of the Sephiroth’s shit and ends up tuning him back into a baby and shipping him off to Cloud to raise differently.

Like she full of grandma Pascal’s him like “He said mommy I want to destroy every living creature on the planet, but I said m’hijo, don’t do that do something else!”

And Cloud has only a little concept of what’s happening when he helps Tseng excavate an old project S lab. He had a dream about a Moses basket in the middle of a burning Nibelhiem and the sound of crying. He just thought It was new parent anxiety over taking on Denzel, but it all suddenly makes sense when he looks into an incubation chamber and sees a tiny silver haired baby squirming to be held.

He’s annoyed about it obviously. Gaia seems to be under the impression she says jump and Cloud asks how high, but he’s also smart enough to know that this is a chance to save the General and the planet from an endless war. So he scoops up babyroth and takes him back to edge to raise him.

It’s tough going at first. Sephiroth’s is not an easy baby. He’s fussy; his cries can and will shatter glass; he’s stronger than he should be for what Cloud would wager is only about four months old. He starts teething early; he has opinions about carrots and bananas (much to the walls dismay) once he gets onto solid foods; he’s demanding in that way that only baby’s can be, but it seems a little bit more than that.

It takes everyone a while to figure out that what he actually is, is traumatised. He’s clingy in a way that shatters Clouds soul because if they put him down he panics. If he can’t see Cloud, even for a second, Sephiroth seems to think he’s been abandoned.

Eventually though, Seph settles a little, and it doesn’t feel so much like Cloud is running on two hours sleep accumulatively and sheer will power alone. Seph seems to smile a little more and there’s a little look of wonder in his little mako blue eyes that makes everybody melt.

Tifa finds it the hardest to reconcile this tiny child with the man who murdered her father, and it does put significant strain on her relationship with Cloud for a while (that’s not a judgment on Tifa btw, girls aloud to feel conflicted.)

Barrat on the other hand is of the opinion that the Goddess knows what she’s doing and a baby is a baby even if it did commit atrocities in a past life. It’s not current Sephs fault that his human parents experimented on him and a Alien symbiotic parasite god sent him mad. Current Seph just wants grapes and Barrats enough of a sucker for Rosie cheeks to give them to him.

Vincent is very careful with Seph (who they’ve all collectively decided never to full name unless he’s in trouble.). When he’s home from travelling he speaks to him quietly about everything and nothing. He doesn’t really touch him to start with, which frustrates little Seph who seems to think the cloak will add extra comfy cuddles. Over time though, Cloud,Barret and surprisingly Cid (who appears to randomly know a thing or two about babies.) help him get over his fear of hurting the little boy. Seph really enjoys cuddle time with Vincent, and learns to demand to be “upped” whenever he comes home.

Cloud, for his part is just dad, which he finds endlessly strange. He’d never really taken on that role for Denzel, he was the boys guardian sure, but they’d never really discussed the whole “if you want to call me Cloud that’s cool, but if you want me to be your dad I can be that too” thing. Marlene wasn’t his; Barrat was her dad and Cloud was Cloud. A parent of sorts, but not her Father. He was more like a devoted uncle really.

With Seph though it’s different. Cloud is this baby’s entire universe, and once language starts coming into play, various versions of “dada” become increasingly common. He’s not sure how he feels about it at first; this is the man who slaughtered his mother and decimated his villiage, the man who killed Aerith… but he was also just a baby.

This version of Sephiroth didn’t know what he’d done. Gaia had given him a chance at redemption and Cloud will be damned if he holds the acts of a mad man against a kid; no matter the circumstance.

So he’s dad. He feeds Seph, plays with him, baths him, puts him to bed, reads to him and teaches him everything he can. He doesn’t lie to him, and he always explains when Seph doesn’t understand.

And if Tifa slowly adjusts to being Mama then that’s nobodies business but their own.

Life’s nice being a family. Maybe they’ll add to it one day…

Or maybe Cloud will trip over a double Moses basket one day on the way out of the door to work, and when he looks down he sees two little crowns of hair one dark one red, and similar sets of shiny Mako eyes.

Maybe the little red headed one will cough weakly, and the dark haired one will fuss.

And maybe Cloud will curse himself for being a sucker for babies that used to be evil maniacs.

[chikiiwi]

He had never seen how flowers grow so he would draw masamune-length flower stems

[altocat]

*gives babyroth to Vincent*

Stop brooding and SAvE hIM

Vincent is having a giant panic attack, years upon years of ruthless, unrelenting guilt overtaking him. He's failed in every way. He's no longer even a man. He failed Lucrecia. He failed himself. He no longer has any right to happiness, too submerged in sin to even consider alternative objectives. He needs to punish himself. He HAS to punish himself. All monsters must be punished. He should go back to his coffin, back to nightmares, back to vilification and self debasement. That's what he deserves, what he well and truly--

Babyroth *taking Vincent's index finger in his tiny hand*:

"Papa 🥺"

Well shit. All sins are now rendered meaningless. Unimportant. There's something even greater in his life now, some new meaning he has to shelter and protect at all costs.

He gathers the toddler up in his cloak and leads him away, this time towards what he hopes is a better, happier future for them both.

[chamomile-soup]

"Each child needs at least one adult who is irrationally crazy about him or her." (YES i am using an actual quote from an actual psychologist for my fucking babyroth post)

anyway au where lucrecia raises sephiroth

[dragonichaven]

A more refined version of a weakened Megidogan (aka Margaret) with their spawn + Hargon.

[stewardofmidgar]

between the night and the morrow

things that are hard to hear. || {open}

@warofthebeasts said:

❝ i don’t want to do this anymore. ❞ 

He’d been called out to Wutai, ostensibly to look over potential locations for mako reactors. Reeve had a sinking feeling, however, that he’d been sent mostly to see how successful the war was going now that Sephiroth was on the field.

He was roughly twelve, if Reeve remembered his briefing right.

Twelve years old, still tacky with blood from the latest sortie (the latest slaughter), one small hand clinging so tightly to his wrist Reeve thought it would bruise.

Sephiroth was uncanny; between the silver hair and those glowing mako eyes, Reeve was put in mind of the faerie stories his nan used to tell him when he was a child.

But Sephiroth wasn’t a Changeling; wasn’t a fae child left in place of a human one. He’d been made.

But he was still a child.

“...okay,” said Reeve, and wondered how far he’d make it with the boy, if they tried to run.

[strayheartless]

I have more Babyroth/ First babys things bouncing round my head. So here have whatever this is:

Based on this post

I think I should make it clear that these version of ASG will grow up different. They are still integrally them but without the angst and the jealousy. Sephiroth for one, doesn’t speak the same. He’s a little less formal and up tight. He’s still quite well spoken but Sephiroth “seph” Lockhart Strife is far more likely to yell “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK GENESIS?!?” When something goes wrong.

Genesis is far less confrontational. He’s still a pyromaniac don’t get me wrong - Cloud spends his life spraying things with fire extinguishers - but it’s usually cause he’s been messing with materia and it’s an accident rather than he’s mad and wants to burn down the world. He and Seph still get into arguments, but Gen is also far more likely to apologies when he knows he’s wrong.

Angeal is the chillest of the three kids. He likes to garden with his Uncle Barrat and and cousin Marlene; he’s quiet and cuddly; he’s a complete Mamas boy as well. Where Seph grew immediately attached to Cloud, Angeal kind of thinks Tifa can do no wrong. He likes to bake with her and helps her with food orders in the bar a lot.

Bedtime is Clouds domain. Tifa is very clear that yes, she’s their mom but she’s not giving up the bar, and Clouds work Schedule is far more flexible. Usually during the day Tifa entertains them while Cloud pops in and out on jobs, but the clock hits 4:30 pm and they swap places for the night. Cloud also tends to handle getting children out of bed. The way he sees it it he took them on, their his responsibility, Tifa should not have to deal with more than she chooses.

That being said, they are a pretty good team. It would be difficult to wrangle both Seph and Gen if they weren’t. Cloud gets them up; Tifa feeds them; Cloud handles learning; Tifa handles exercise and community work; Cloud makes dinner and introduces new foods; Tifa strong arms them into the bath; Cloud reads to them and gets them to sleep; Tifa makes sure she says good night before she leaves and checks on them when she come in from the bar. It just works for them.

When Angeal and Genesis turn up on the door step Sephiroth is about 16 months old so theirs a bit of an age difference between them that’s a reverse of the original one. He did NOT immediately take to no longer being an only child. Specifically he took umbrage with no longer being Clouds only priority.

This is because Genesis was an extremely sickly infant. They weren’t actually sure if he’d make it at some points. He’s got childhood Asthma -but he grows out of it; he is in a constant struggle to put on weight; he’s diabetic, and occasionally is right kidney just decides to give up for a bit. Vincent has hypothesised that it has something to do with his past (future?) degradation. But it’s later revealed by Tseng that “no, he was that ill as a child originally, Hollander just used to send test drugs to his parents occasionally.”

Angeals a pretty emotional kid. He’s not headstrong and rough like Seph and Gen but he cries pretty easily. As he grows up he’s still pretty easily set off and all cloud can think of is that thinly little ravenette boy who used to shuffle into the living room with his blanket and curl up next to Cloud because he had a nightmare. Clouds gone soft, Sue him.

One of the most memorable childhood incidents between the tree of them is the time Seph got Gens head stuck between the banister rails on the stairs.

Angeal once swallowed a spider and then proceeded to panic himself in to throwing up on the kitchen floor.

4 year old Seph is of the opinion that Cloud is “older than God” to which Cloud replies “it’s the stress of looking after three cracked out racoon children, it adds years to your face.”

Genesis tells the kids at school not to be mean to him because he’s uncle Vincent is a vampire and will “eat your liver with white wine sauce”. Vincent does not deny this when asked about it by a teacher at pick up time… yet nor does he confirm it. Everyone is unnerved.

Angeal insists on pulling up garden weeds and hiding them in his bed. Cloud is tired of explaining that plants are for pots ore the garden NOT for beds!

Yuffie likes to play a game when she comes to visit it’s called “did Cloud say this to his children or his dog?” Her favourite is “please do not lick the screen door, I just cleaned it!” He did not say it to the dog.

To answer Salty’s question no Zack and Aerith do not come back in this AU, mostly because they both found peace with each other. But also because they were not crack head evil lab experiments in their previous lives. Angeal gets added on the technicality that he did a lot of shit while being “conflicted by honour”

[altocat]

If you have the time, could I request a happy Babyroth with Vincent? I've been exposing myself to too much of their trauma and I need to chill out a bit

Vincent takes his new son far, FAR away from Midgar, selecting a plain, ordinary town where Shinra will never look for them.

It's the Christmas season, and Sephiroth asks if they can stop to admire some of the pretty lights and toys in the shop windows. He's never gotten the chance to experience the holidays before, so Vincent is ready to oblige him. Sephiroth is particularly fascinated with the beautiful Nutcracker clocks, quietly delighted at the design and trimmings, the tiny clockwork figures emerging every thirty minutes. When Vincent asks him if he'd like it as a present, Sephiroth is genuinely dumbfounded. He NEVER receives presents. He barely even knew how to react when Vincent bought him hot cocoa earlier.

On Christmas day, Vincent is surprised to find that Sephiroth made him a gift--an assortment of scribbled crayon drawings of their adventures together. Didn't cost a thing, but he can tell that Sephiroth worked really, REALLY hard on it. When he surprises Sephiroth with his coveted Nutcracker clocks in turn, Sephiroth hops up and down in an excited fit, hugging Vincent's damaged arm over and over. He later curls up in the present pile after all the unwrapping is done and holds his clock while he falls asleep.

And Vincent sits in his chair and cries for the first time in a long while.

Because Sephiroth was the one thing he will never, ever regret. Because now he truly understands.

It was worth it. Worth everything.

[altocat]

Vincent kidnaps Babyroth from Shinra and they celebrate his birthday together

Sephiroth is too anxious and bewildered to remember how long they've been walking. The road out of Midgar yields very little protection from the elements. For all his invulnerability, he feels naked and vulnerable, finding relief only when the strange man bundles him in the heavy shelter of his cloak.

They reach the green forest refuge, miles upon miles behind them, civilization little more than a muddy trickle in this dense, unfamiliar jungleland. Sephiroth is afraid. The man watches him with an intensity that frightens him deeply. Something raw, anguished, full of regret, yet longing. He's confused and agitated, lost in the constant silence that hangs between them. The man holds him close like something precious, treasured. But Sephiroth can feel the burgeoning heat of some else nestled within him, black and roiling, made ugly by harmful hands. The man, he thinks, must be like him somehow. Monstrous.

But there is nothing monstrous about the small gift laid out before him, its tantalizing scent hitting the air as the man slowly removes the crumpled foil. Sephiroth sniffs hesitantly, recognizes. Chocolate. Gast had gifted it to him once before. But this is different, spongy and full, covered with strange toppings and small candles.

"I almost forgot," the man grunts, the flicker of his lighter illuminating the gloomy, scarlet sparks that light up the stillness. Six tiny candles, nearly lined together. "Picked this up earlier."

Sephiroth tilts his head, opens his mouth and closes it again.

The man only shrugs, awkward, gruff. But his voice is gentle enough. "Happy Birthday. Six is a big year."

Sephiroth doesn't understand, his brow wrinkling. He gnaws on his thumb, sucks.

"...you know. Birthdays?"

The child shakes his head, hums. When the man reaches out to him, he doesn't pull away, feeling the heavy hands upon him, exploring his face, his glassy emerald eyes. He traces the bruises, frowns, pulls the boy closer.

"... We'll get you something nice when we get into town again."

Sephiroth makes no noise at all. He crawls into the man's lap, a tiny silver ball, watching the last feeble flickers as the man spoons bits of cake in clumsy claws, holding them up to his lips. He nibbles quietly, savors, his quickened heartbeat slowly relaxing. The man smells of smoke, the lingering scent of blood and sterile lab chemicals. The cloak is heavy upon him, enveloping him, weighing him down.

Sephiroth closes his eyes and nestles closer. He doesn't care.

[altocat]

Au where Shinra gives Babyroth to a random family in nibelheim (Da Strifes) to see how he’d function with the locals for a few years, until Hojo & President Shina goes to pick him up cause Wutai War.

Sephiroth becomes abnormally attached to both his adoptive mother Claudia and his tiny baby brother Cloud. Claudia actually has some very solid control over Sephiroth's incredible strength and he obeys her without question, helping her make ends meet after the death of her late husband. While he never seems to fit in with the other kids in town, he's mostly content to follow Claudia around and help her take care of the baby, often carrying Cloud around for no particular reason other than he wants him with him. Sephiroth is a very shy, very unusual child and the villagers often gossip about his off-putting appearance. He mostly just hides behind Claudia's skirt for comfort.

When the time comes for Sephiroth to be taken away for training so that he can enter the Wutai War, Claudia fights tooth and nail to keep her adopted son. Sephiroth, equally, refuses to be separated and nearly kills several guards in the process of trying to remain with his family. Shinra is successfully able to wrangle Sephiroth however and Sephiroth spends years of combat and bloodshed only thinking of them. Whatever killer's nature or detachment they were looking to foster in him, it didn't catch on. Sephiroth is soft and continues to remain soft, not obtaining any personal glory despite his incredible strength or the number or times Shinra tries to break him.

Not a hero. Or a legend. The project is deemed a total failure. A complete sappy Mama's boy through and through.

[altocat]

Decided to do a little interest check for potential upcoming/future fics and oneshots. Vote on what you want! Not saying they'll be done right away but I will certainly prioritize one over others if there's a large consensus!

[altocat]

Awwww, I just love babyroth getting affection, any other thoughts on that?

Babyroth only ever got affection from Gast. An occasional scientist or orderly might have reserved him some small momentary bit of kindness, but not enough to sustain him. It was a very unaffectionate, cold and clinical childhood overall. Hence why Sephiroth himself grew into a rather cold and clinical adult.

AU-wise, Sephiroth sucks up affection like a sponge, clinging to whatever he can get. He's so starved for affection that his love for those who share it with him borders on obsessive. He will ask about them night and day, doing whatever he can to earn the right to see them again. He might be skittish around touch, but keeps close to them as much as possible. He loves being held, and comforted. And if they ever show any signs of fear or distress, he gets very upset in worrying about them. They are his entire world. If something happened to them, he'd be heartbroken.

[altocat]

We always want to head cannon that in those Babyroth is saved by X character aus that he'd immediately devour all the sweets and candies he never got the chance to try in the lab, but in all honesty, it would probably be too sweet for him. Like a Victorian peasant that dies from a Baja Blast.

Baby Sephiroth keeps having full fledged breakdowns every time he eats something sweet. Both because he has no idea how to process the taste and also because it's simultaneously so good that it's giving him actual trauma. All the years wasted.