#claya

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I'd like Aya to be of the same age when she met Claudia in my canon - 25 - and it would be good for them to have a well-established relationship before Tifa's accident. If Cloud was, for example, 6 years old, Claudia would be 23, making her the younger one in the relationship this time around. Three years before the accident is more than enough time for them to become inseparable.

Also while Aya would be the older one, it'd still be Claudia that's more emotionally mature due to their difference in experiences. Aya is a really introverted person, traumatized by her family and following the path that was forcibly chosen for her. And while Claudia had her son at a really young age, with her husband and parents dying soon after, she still seems to be the more stable one. All of this would remain true for the au as well.

The reasons for them meeting (taking census, the first real date during Aya's annual leave, her extended stay during the sick leave) would stay the same.

For their second meeting, aside from buying Claudia her necklace like in the canon, she could get Cloud a cute plushie (possibly a yellow chocobo, since she herself noticed that he looks like a chocobo, even in one of my fics)

Thanks to Aya being on Shinra's payroll, Cloud would probably end up having a bit more toys in general, since whenever she would get something for Claudia, he would get something from her too.

While in the canon, they had limited time for dates in Claudia's household, due to the Nibelheim Incident, now it would be years away if possible at all. That would mean a lot more visits before Aya would decide to live with them. The young family could visit Aya in Midgar as well, where she could show them around and let them see the difference in their lives. They could even go somewhere for vacation.

Eventually, Aya would quit her job anyway, since she never actually liked working at Shinra. She would move in with her new family, already largely adjusted to their lives due to her multiple stays at their house.

While Aya didn't ever want to have kids, being with Claudia and an adorable child like Cloud would sweeten the idea. She ends up really liking him in my canon anyway.

She would be a lovely mom to Cloud, though she would obviously have a lot to learn, with her own family giving her nothing but trauma and her daily life being kinda messy in general up until this point. And while she's much more reserved than Claudia, she would do her best to let Cloud know that she has his back and that he has a friend in her.

Having a second mom around (instead of a potential dad), a person similar to him in personality at that, would make Cloud warm up to Aya rather quick and they would start getting along and hopefully sharing hobbies. Since I always imagined Cloud being a momma's boy and treating Claudia not only as a mother figure, but also his best friend, especially after the whole thing with Tifa, befriending Aya shouldn't be an issue!

While in the canon they already had few undisclosed encounters with some of the townsfolk during their walks and shopping, since Claudia would never shy away from showing her partner around, I can imagine many more interesting scenarios with them in regards to both women being queer (and Cloud having two moms etc). Some of them might end up being a bit negative though, but I imagine some of the friendlier faces being supportive of Claudia. Thea's and Tifa's reactions would be interesting too, since to me Claudia and Thea were friends since forever, while Tifa would be a lesbian in the making at this point.

Cloud would probably have it much easier after Tifa's accident, since he would have both women standing up for him and providing him with emotional support. With Aya being already very attached to her new family and having no previous ties to the village, she might be able to actually blow up in anger even better than Claudia did at Brian while defending her son. This can happen with multiple townsfolk and might either improve their situation or not help at all depending on how she does. Still, the effort would be made.

Still, it's highly possible that during the whole thing with Tifa, both women would be considering moving out of Nibelheim at some point. Cloud wouldn't probably want to leave Tifa in spite of not being allowed to see her and Aya wouldn't see herself going back to Midgar. Claudia probably prefers a simpler life as well, at least with Cloud still being little. In the end the women would decide to stay in Nibelheim and give it another chance, especially since together they should be a bit more resilient to the potential shunning.

With other women of Nibelheim fulfilling Thea's role in teaching Tifa useful household stuff, Aya might be able to convince Brian to let her teach his daughter some things herself and maybe that way reconnect her with both Claudia and Cloud.

With Aya's help and her past experience at Shinra, Claudia would end up looking at the company much less positively. In the end, the women could be able to talk Cloud out of joining SOLDIER. And if Aya's efforts to reconnect Tifa with them worked, Cloud probably wouldn't even feel the need to prove himself that hard. And while Claudia wouldn't end up alone anyway, since she would have Aya, I think we can all agree that leaving for Midgar didn't do Cloud any favors.

And since such a canon divergence might be the "time traveler moves the chair" kind of situation, that might mean that there wouldn't be any Nibelheim Incident to begin with, since any operation in Crisis Core where Cloud was originally involved, might result in a completely different outcome. That could mean them all staying at Cloud's hometown along with Tifa, but that's a bit of a reach and the possibilities would be infinite at this point.

Also they might actually move out at some point. If the Nibelheim Incident would still happen, I would just make them somehow survive, like I did the first time around (I should post the damn fic already).