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Once upon a time there was a dark-haired Knight who served an evil Sorcerer. No one knew why the Knight served the Sorcerer, for the Knight was kind, and the Sorcerer was not. There was a reason, of course, but it had been hidden away, out of reach of everyone who looked. So everyone thought that was just the way things were.
One day, the Sorcerer told the knight, “Go. Retrieve for me the Maiden’s heart, so that I may have it for my own, and the Maiden will look at none other but me.”
“But why do you not court the Maiden, and earn his heart instead of taking it?” The Knight asked, for he knew the Maiden was very beautiful and kind, and he disagreed not with the Sorcerer’s desire, but rather with the execution of his wants.
“The maiden’s heart is already mine.” The Sorcerer growled, “And I will take it as is my right.”
The Knight could see that nothing he said to the Sorcerer would change his mind, and so the Knight traveled the lands until he reached the place where the Maiden was.
But when he reached the spot where the Maiden stood, the Maiden looked very sad, and the Knight sought to comfort him rather than wrest his heart from his chest right away.
“Maiden, why do you cry so?” The Knight asked.
“I know that you have come for the heart in my chest.” The beautiful Maiden said, “But it is no longer there. I gave it away to my love long ago, though he has forgotten that he holds it.”
The Knight stared at the Maiden in surprise. Surely, the Maiden must be lying? But when the Knight broke open the Maiden’s chest, he found that indeed there was no heart inside.
“But who have you given your heart to? How do I find them?” The Knight asked after he had sown the Maiden back up again.
“Look close, but far. Search deep, but at surface level. Look for the man that you do not know, but look for the man you know as well as you do the back of your own hand. When you have found the place where all of these are true, then you will have found him.” The Maiden answered.
The Knight was confused by the Maiden’s riddle, but he could not abandon his quest. And so he searched for the place that was close, but far. He searched through deep pools of water, but never looked past the surface level. He searched for every man that he knew, and every man that he did not know. And yet, he never found the Maiden’s love.
“Maiden,” The Knight said pleadingly when he had returned in desperation, “Please, you must give me another clue. I’ve searched near and far. I’ve swam the surface of many pools. I’ve spoken to every man I know, and every man I don’t know. I have not found your love.”
The Maiden stared at the Knight, and then said this, “I will only offer you this final clue, but it is the answer you seek. Look into the palm of your left hand.”
Confused the Knight did so, only to startle as he saw the heart beating fiercely in his palm.
“I didn’t- I didn’t realize that I was carrying it.” The Knight said in a daze.
“You did not have the eyes to see it. My heart has always been yours, and will always be so. It is yours to carry with you, so that you know you are forever loved.” And as the Maiden spoke, the Knight recovered the memories of the life that he had spent with the Maiden, and the love that they had shared. He remembered when the Maiden had lost him, and when the Sorcerer had caused him to rise up again, deeply under the Sorcerer’s spell. He remembered all of this, and so the strength of the Sorcerer’s spell was lost, and the hold he had on the Knight was cast off. At that very moment, the Knight was transformed back into the man he once was.
The Maiden saw the Knight’s transformation, and so he cried out in joy and embraced the Knight. With a trembling hand he revealed his own left palm, where a separate heart lie beating.
“I kept your heart safe, but I feared it was no longer truly mine.” The Maiden explained, tears running down his cheeks.
“Nonsense.” The Knight said, “For just as I have always held your heart because of your love for me, you have always held my heart because of my love for you. Our love is not a fragile thing, and none can tear from us that which we’ve been given by the other.”
So the Knight went home with the Maiden, and with the help of the Maiden’s friends they prepared to face the evil Sorcerer that had caused them so much heartache.
The End
***
“But Aunt Tifa.” A little voice pipped up from the bed, “You didn’t tell me whether or not the Maiden and the Knight managed to defeat the evil Sorcerer.”
“That’s a tale for another night, when your Aunt Tifa isn’t all tuckered out herself.” Tifa said, playfully tickling her nephew’s side to send him into a fit of giggles.
“I like that the Knight got his memories back and returned to the Maiden.” Asher said shyly, peaking up at Tifa as he settled deeper into his bed.
“So did I, munchkin. Now go to sleep, while I go reassure your dads that I did an alright job putting you to bed.” Tifa said, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead.
“But I asked for you to be the one to put me to bed this time, Aunt Tifa.” The little boy pointed out.
“Yeah, but your dad’s are silly sometimes.” Tifa replied.
“Yeah.” Asher agreed, and Tifa was still smiling about it when she shut the door behind her and raised an eyebrow at Cloud lurking in the hall.
He didn’t even have the grace to seem ashamed about it, just looking back at her with crossed arms and a bit of a pout. He was obviously still sulking a little that Asher hadn’t asked him to put him to bed like usual, and Tifa rolled her eyes at him as she passed him and walked down the hall.
“Wasn’t that story a little messed up for a kid to hear?” Cloud asked as he fell into step beside her, “What if he gets some sort of nightmare from it?”
Tifa never thought that someone would ever manage it, but somehow, Cloud was more outrageously overprotective of his kid than Barret had been. One of these days, Tifa was going to make him a medal about it and glue the damned thing to his forehead.
“Have you actually paid attention to the fairytales you read your kid lately?” She asked dryly, “They’re all full of that sort of weird stuff.” She paused right before she reached the kitchen, “Besides, if you really want to talk about nightmares, how about the trauma I faced while having to help you give birth after Jenova-cell weirdness made it so you were able to get pregnant? Or hell, even the trauma I faced while dealing with your depressed and pining ass while Sephiroth still had Zack under his control? Or-“
“Hey Cloud, are you getting Tif’ all worked up again?” Zack called from inside the kitchen, cutting through Tifa’s rant, “I thought I asked you not to do that, babe, she’s the best babysitter we’ve got and I don’t want to miss out on date night!”
Of course, now that Zack was the one saying something Cloud had the grace to start looking guilty. Tifa huffed and shook her head at her friend. But to be honest, she was fonder than she was exasperated. She’d seen how upset Cloud was after Zack’s loss once he’d remembered it, had seen how he had mourned once he got his memories of the man back. Cloud was much, much happier now that Zack was back in his life, and Tifa would never want to take that happiness away. Even if she occasionally wished they weren’t so completely enamored and tied up in each other.
“It’s alright Zack, I’d do it for you if not for Cloud.” Tifa called, pushing her way into the kitchen.
Zack grinned at her from the counter where he was fixing up Cloud’s favorite nighttime snack. He was such a damned good husband. It was unfair that he didn’t come in a pair so that Tifa could have one. “You’re amazing, Tifa. Maybe I should take you with me next time instead of old Spike, give us both a break and let him watch the kid.”
“Hey.” Cloud protested instantly.
“No thanks.” Tifa replied dryly, as the two of them both ignored Cloud playfully, “I’d rather not deal with the sulking Cloud face I’d see for months afterward if I dared. Give me his snack instead?”
Zack paused, looking torn as he looked from Tifa, to the bowl, to Cloud’s pleading face. Tifa snatched the bowl away from him while he was distracted before he was forced to decide- she knew who the winner would have been, anyway, and it wouldn’t have been her- and clutched it close to her chest as she breezed away with a quick kiss pressed to Zack’s cheek. She pressed another to Cloud’s cheek, too, with a cheery wink and wave as she walked past his pouting form.
“Thanks.” She called merrily as she exited the kitchen and headed toward her room to squirrel her bounty away safely; not that she wasn’t likely to just sit down on her bed and consume it all right away. Zack was a good cook, you had no right to blame her. “Remember the rules to the kitchen, and what you guys are and aren’t allowed to do in it!”
“Yeah, yeah!” She heard Zack call and Cloud grumble, and she shrugged her shoulders and headed up the stairs. If they decided to break the rules, nothing she said was going to say would stop them, though they better clean up after themselves well.
And if they didn’t… Well, Asher had to find out where babies came from some time, didn’t he? Tifa would just make sure he was curious enough to find out where from his daddies. It’d serve those two lecherous bastards right.