22Hello all!
So this fic was inspired by a song called Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol. All the titles are song lyrics.
My train of thought was basically this: Cloud never knew his dad, his coloring is an awful lot like Minerva's, ?!, Cloud never had a dad, he has two moms and nothing you say will convince me otherwise.
And that is how Demigod!Cloud happened.
Enjoy!
The Lightning In Me
Nibelheim was not any easy place to live.
The mountain environment was harsh and the weather was unforgiving. Isolated as they were, they often had to fend for themselves. Help from outsiders was not even a choice to be considered - they rarely got visitors and those that came were often surprised to find that the town even existed in the first place.
Crops were difficult to grow as winters were long and cold. Most had to hunt for their own food, though that carried its own dangers as well. Monsters roamed the mountain freely and ever since the mako reactor was built, they had become all the more dangerous. As winter drew closer, the number of those that fell to fever increased, children and elderly especially. There was only one doctor in town and he could only do so much.
But the people of Nibelheim were survivors and they would persevere.
Eira Strife had lived in Nibelheim all her life.
Her mother's family had been around since the town's founding and so she was learned in the old ways that most had forgotten.
She was considered an odd one, eighteen and not yet married or engaged. She'd never even given thought to boys before and her parents turned down every offer for her hand as she had no interest in the affair. But that winter, her mother had fallen ill and no matter what they tried, she would not recover. Her father was never the same after she passed. Her parents had been hopelessly in love, the kind where their very souls were entwined. So Eira was not surprised when her father passed not even three months after her mother.
She was devastated of course. They were her parents and she loved him for they had understood her in a way that no one had ever even tried. Without them, she was adrift, alone in a sea of uncertainty. But she did not blame them. She knew that they would never live long without each other. Still she missed them as a child missed her parents.
Yet her father was not even cold in the ground before the rest of the town came knocking, demanding that she marry.
"It's only proper," they said.
"A young woman your age needs someone to look after her," they said.
"You should settle down and start your own family, dear," they said.
"If you wait any longer, no one will want you," they said.
Eira shut her door in their faces.
She didn't need anyone to look after her and she certainly didn't need someone who would take advantage of her parents' deaths to claim her like she was some prize.
No, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
But she was lonely.
Her house was empty and the silence echoed in her ears.
Throwing on her boots and her hunting gear, she shouldered her father's shotgun and trekked out into the snow. Hunting was easy. Her father had started teaching her when she was young and while the townspeople went on and on about how improper it was for a woman, a young girl at that, to handle a weapon. But her mother had only nodded and said hunting was in a woman's blood.
It was the females who led the hunts in Nibel wolf packs, the females who were alpha.
So while her mother was unable to teach her due to an accident from when she was younger, her father ensured that she knew everything there was to know about hunting - how to use a rifle, how to track, how to trap, and so on.
The cold bit into her skin even through her layers, but she trudged on.
Winter was harsh in Nibelheim and it made her people hard.
There was a storm coming; the air was heavy with it and most of the animals had taken shelter. She managed to catch a few rabbits before it became clear that there would be little else in this weather.
Instead of turning back, though, Eira trudged on, further up the mountain.
Most people had forgotten, but Eira's mother's family remembered. The cavern nearest to highest peak, hidden away from the world, was a sacred place. A shrine that no one ever acknowledged creating made of stone and ice and mako crystal honoring the Goddess that so few remembered.
Her mother had taken her several times when the weather allowed her to make the climb and Eira remembered the stories she told.
"Cetra were the people of old," she would say, "They could speak to the Planet and hear her words, her voice. It is a talent that was lost with their people. But remember, little cub, just because we cannot hear the Planet does not mean She cannot hear us."
When Eira reached the cave entrance, she found a pack of Nibel wolves huddled just inside, curled up in a pile with the pups in the center to keep them warm. A female white wolf with blue-green eyes that glowed in a way that only mako could create stood at her approach.
She stopped and bowed her head. "I mean no harm," she said softly, voice barely stirring the air, holding out three of the five rabbits she caught in offering, "I just wish to speak and be heard."
The wolf approached Eira's still form, sniffing at the rabbits before snatching them away and trotting back to her pack. She tilted her head in acknowledgement and then settled, glowing eyes watching her.
Eira released the breath she'd been holding and stepped into the cave - Nibel wolves exposed to mako were much more unpredictable and often more inclined to feast on man flesh than those that were not. She silently slipped passed the pack and into the cave, following the tunnels in a long remembered path. The tunnel opened up into a large cavern, the walled studded with mako crystals that glowed, illuminating the statue that stood in the center. It was surrounded by a shallow pool of mako, barely enough to cover her feet should she stand in it. The statue itself was in the likeness of a hooded woman, her hands cupped in front of her as if to hold something. Wings flared up around her from below, surrounding her.
Eira knelt at the edge of the small pool, hands clasped together in her lap, head bowed.
"I know that it's been a while since I last visited," she began, "But this winter has been a hard one. My parents have passed into your care and while I miss them terribly, I know they are together. They never could stand to be apart for long." Her eyes burned and she swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. "I know that you will care for them and that they will be loved. If...if you could tell them that I love them, I would forever appreciate it. They know I do, of course, but now that they're gone, it just seems like I never said it enough." She felt tears stream down her cheeks, but plowed on. "And you can tell them that I won't let those stuffy old fools force me into anything. Da's not even gone a day and they're already telling me to marry someone."
She scoffed and rubbed her eyes in a vain attempt to stop her tears. "Bloody vultures, the lot of them," she said, voice rough, "I won't marry any of them though. None of them care for me, not really, and I think they care even less about the old ways. So tell them not to worry about me - I can take care of myself." She paused, turning teary eyes up to look at the statue. "Just - They don't have to worry, really, I just haven't really...I haven't cried about it yet, so..."
Her voice choked off, words dissolving into a strangled sob. She curled in on herself, shoulders shaking as she cried into her knees. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Eira had no idea how long she sat there sobbing and whispering apologies to empty air. Her heart ached and her legs were numb - she could no longer feel the cold stone beneath them. Her fingers were sore from remaining clenched for so long and her nails bit into her skin. Her throat was raw and her eyes burned, but still she cried.
"Hush, child. You need not apologize; there is no crime in grieving."
Eira jerked up in surprise at the foreign voice only to quickly lower her eyes in respect.
A woman bathed in light stood before her with hair as gold as sunlight and eyes of the richest blue she had ever seen. She wore gold and silver armor and held a shield in her left hand and some kind of ornate javelin in her right.
"None of that, child," she said, "You are here to listen and be heard. Do not bow your head."
Tentatively, Eira raised her head. Her mother had told her stories of the Goddess Minerva. She was the embodiment of the Lifestream, a warrior, a healer. She was fierce as she was gentle. She was the Planet's voice and its protector.
"I didn't mean to trouble you," she mumbled, because surely the Goddess had better things to do than console a grieving teenager.
Minerva smiled softly. "I never mentioned any trouble, did I?" she said, "I hear all those that live on Gaia and all those that have passed. The Lifestream flows through everything and so I am everywhere."
"But why me?" Eira asked.
Minerva tilted her head. "Why not you?" she returned, "You honor the old way as best you can, acknowledge that Planet as a living thing when those She houses have largely forgotten. So why not you, my merciful child?"
"I could say something about not being important enough," Eira murmured, "But Ma would box my ears. 'Every piece is part of the whole,' she'd say."
"Indeed," Minerva said, "Your parents are well, Eira Strife, do not let their fates trouble you."
Eira took a shaky breath, feeling tears sting her eyes again. "Thank you."
Minerva tilted her head in acknowledgement. "What will you do, child? I have heard you and you are lonely yet you refuse to wed."
Eira grimaced. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful," she said, "But none of them care for me - at the very least, they don't care enough to give me time to mourn. It seems more like they think with Ma and Da gone, I'll be easy pickings. I'm sure some of them have good intentions, it just...it leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
Minerva regarded her silently for a moment and Eira had to wonder at her. She was beautiful and powerful and here she was, speaking to her as if she were an equal.
"The Planet has been stirring for a long time now," the Goddess said at last, "The Calamity is waking and Gaia feels her taint growing, building. An offer, I will make you, Eira Strife."
She blinked, brow furrowed, confused. "An offer?"
"Bear me a Champion," Minerva said, pinning her with piercing blue eyes, "One of that will put an end to the Calamity. Raise them, love them, and they will be your own."
"...Champion?" Eira asked, breath catching in her throat as she realized what the Goddess was asking, was offering. Her hand came up to rest on her stomach. "A child..."
Minerva was silent as she turned the idea over in her head. "A Champion...what will they fight? This Calamity?"
The Goddess gave a solemn nod. "The Calamity hurt Us greatly in the past. It killed a great many of Our children and tried to destroy Us as well. It was sealed away after a long battle, but that work has recently been undone. And in their greed and curiosity, humanity has started to spread its taint. It is dormant for now, but it will not remain that way forever."
Eira pressed her lips in thought. The idea of fighting something that could destroy the Planet was terrifying - the idea of her child being the one to fight, even more so. She wasn't sure she would be able to bear it. But the thought of having a child at all, of having someone to love so unconditionally, made her heart swell.
"Alright," she said, looking the Goddess in the eye, "I will bear you a Champion. I will love them and care for them and when the time comes for them to fight, I will stand beside them."
The smile Minerva gave her was breathtaking. She let go of her javelin, which against all logic stayed standing even without her hold on it, and reached out, fingertips pressing lightly against Eira's cheek.
"A gift," the Goddess said, leaning in to brush their lips together.
It was only the slightest of caresses, yet it was warm and made her heart swell and her limbs tingle. She leaned into the kiss despite herself, wanting to bask in the feeling for as long as she could.
Minerva pulled away with an airy chuckle and Eira smiled at her sheepishly.
Looking somewhere behind Eira, the Goddess called, "Ylva."
Turning, she saw the white wolf she had passed on the way in standing by the tunnel entrance, watching them with bright, intelligent eyes.
"Look after her, Ylva," Minerva said, "She bears a gift most precious."
The wolf bowed as best a wolf could.
Minerva smiled and stepped back, retaking her weapon. "Be well, my merciful child," she said, "Remember that you are loved."
And in a swirl of soft light, she was gone.
It was only when the wolf - when Ylva nudged her shoulder that Eira realized she had been sitting there staring at nothing.
"Ah," she said, meeting the wolf's eyes and feeling no fear, "I suppose the storm has started then."
Ylva made a rumble of agreement.
She sighed. "No going home then," she hummed, absently resting her hands on her stomach.
Ylva huffed and snatched her jacket between her teeth, urging her to her feet.
"Alright, alright," Eira said, following the white wolf into the tunnels.
Ylva led her back to the pack, the other wolves still sound asleep, She pushed Eira down into the pile and curled around her, nosing along her neck for a moment before settling with a satisfied rumble.
"Suppose I'm staying with you for the night, then?" Eira mused.
Ylva pointedly glanced towards the mouth of the cave, where Eira could see nothing but white and wind, and back at her.
Eira smiled and leaned into Ylva's warmth reaching out and tangling a hand in white fur. "Is this okay?"
She felt a warm nose press against her forehead before Ylva settled, content. Eira lay against the alpha, one arm wrapped around her stomach.
A gift.
A child.
She was going to be a mother.
Eira Strife smiled out of happiness for the first time in months as she drifted off to sleep.
Thoughts?
Until next time,
~Elri