A/N: I just had to write a sequel even though I said I wouldn't. Consider it my Christmas gift to you. Enjoy.
Summary: Terra once again calls on Cloud and Luneth to babysit her children while having a Girl's Night Out, but this time they won't be alone. Poor Edgar and Locke never saw it coming.
367: Demon Children Revisited
"I cannot believe this!"
"Well I can."
"Luneth, shut up before I kill you."
"Kill me? You're tied to Edgar back to back. I don't think you'll be free anytime soon to kill me."
"We'll get out of this eventually, and when I do…"
"Cloud, you and I both know you care about me too much to kill me."
"Will you two shut up?" The blond king glared at his two companions (or rather glared at Luneth and attempted to turn to face Cloud, but could not seeing as the two were tied back-to-back). "This is hardly helping our situation."
"Well then what do you suggest Oh Mighty King Figaro?" Cloud asked, rolling his cerulean eyes.
"I get the feeling you don't like me," Edgar stated plainly.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Cloud asked. "The glares, the death threats, or the general hating?"
"And I don't understand what I have done to make you hate me," Edgar continued, unfazed by Cloud's snarky attitude. "I don't believe I have done anything to you to deserve this."
"You like Terra too much," Luneth said. The silver hair boy hung from an overhead beam on the barn, hands bound tightly behind his back.
"Forgive me," Edgar said. "Terra is a very nice woman and a great friend…"
"No, you like her like her," Luneth said.
"I was unaware that either of you were enamored with her," Edgar said.
"We don't like her like that," Luneth protested. "I'm her little brother, Cloud's her big brother. We just don't like you."
Edgar decided to ignore the boy. "I wonder how Locke is doing with the other children."
A cry of terror pierced the air. A silver-haired thief flew past the only window in the barn followed by a mob of about fifteen children. They waved sticks in the air like swords or lances, hunters closing in on their prey.
"Not good," Edgar muttered.
"I cannot believe we are in this situation again!" Cloud exclaimed, reiterating his earlier frustration.
"We got suckered, Cloud," Luneth said. "They promised us they would behave if we helped them get Edgar, and we did, but they lied and got us anyways. They tricked us like a bunch of saps."
"Luneth, shut up," the blond swordsman said. He knew he would have a headache after this even if Luneth did have a point. They had foolishly agreed to help the children tie Edgar up under the impression that the little demons would behave for the two Cosmos Warriors for the rest of the day. Their last time here should have shown them how possessive the children were of their beloved mother.
"What are the odds of Locke escaping the grasp of the kids and rescuing us?" Luneth asked, trying to maintain a positive attitude.
Said thief ran past the window the other way, followed by an even larger mob of children (if that was even possible.) "Not good," Edgar muttered dejectedly. "Not good at all."
"Cloud, why did you volunteer to watch these kids again?" Luneth asked, glancing down at his blond idol.
"Luneth," Cloud said in a deceptively calm voice, "You were the one who told Terra we would do it again. This is all your fault."
"Yeah, well…" The violet-eyed boy scrambled for something to say. "How do you expect me to say no to Terra?"
"Like this: no."
"You know it's a lot harder than that," Edgar said. "She looks at you with those pleading violet eyes, and she just draws you into to saying yes."
"Really?" Cloud asked. "Because she usually always glares at me."
"Well you did lock her in a closet for six hours," Luneth responded.
"Are you suicidal?" Edgar asked, trying to glance back at Cloud.
"She turned everything in my room a different shade of pink," Cloud responded. "I believe she had it coming."
"That's…that's actually pretty harsh for Terra. What did you do to her?"
"Kidnapped her moogle plushie collection but only because she had damaged my blade by using it to hack at some branch which kept hitting her window."
"Because you used her sword as a lock pick," Luneth said.
"Sounds like the two of you have quite the war going on," Edgar said.
"It all goes back to Luneth tripping near me," Cloud said.
"Him tripping near you or you tripping him?" Edgar asked.
"Him tripping near me," Cloud responded.
"Really?" Edgar asked, glancing up at Luneth. "What really happened?"
"I don't remember," Luneth replied. "This was like a month ago or something. They hold grudges for a long time."
"Apparently," Edgar snorted.
"If you had a sibling you would understand," Cloud muttered.
"I have a twin brother," Edgar protested, "and we get along quite well."
"But when you were younger," Cloud points out, and Edgar has no choice but to agree with him.
"I think Terra picked up several new children," Luneth muttered, watching five more children running to join the mob hunting down Locke. "I don't recognize at least three of them."
"It is quite possible," Edgar responded. "Mobliz has become a gathering place for the various orphans displaced around the world. They know they will be cared for here. Plus the Returners tend to bring children with no place to go here."
"Yeah," Cloud muttered. "The little buggers sure seem to care about each other…what? You bring the little demons here?"
"They are generally well-behaved around Terra," Edgar responded.
"And when she's not around?"
"They have proved surprisingly resourceful."
"Well they definitely know how to work together," Luneth mumbled. Two sets of blue eyes glare up at him. "Don't give me that look: you know I'm right."
"Just because it's right doesn't mean you have to say…" Edgar trailed off as his gaze fell on a desperate Locke who tripped just in front of the only window in the barn. The mob of children (at least twice as big as it had initially been) fell upon their prey. He winced in sympathy for his friend.
Cloud felt the subtle movement. "I take it our fourth member has finally been caught." It was a statement, not a question.
A loud cry answered Cloud's statement. "Damn it, I'm not a piñata. Why you little…" Whatever else the thief sad was drowned out by the children's triumphant cries.
The door swung open, as the train of kids dragged in Locke. They had bound his hands and legs tightly behind his back. Cloud still did not know where exactly they got so much rope, and he certainly did not know who had taught them to tie knots so tightly and efficiently. Normally he might admire their skills, but certainly not in this situation.
"Do you guys need anything?" a smug, cocky voice asked. "We would hate to seem like mean hosts."
Cloud glared up at the dark-haired boy. He had learned quickly that this ten-and-a-half-year-old was one of the leaders of the troublemakers. For a kid, he was conniving, smug, devious, confident, manipulative, and cunning. Definitely cunning. "No Marco, we are fine."
"Although these ropes are a little tight," Edgar started to say, but Cloud swiftly elbowed him in the ribs. Any words they say can and will be used against them. He knew that from firsthand experience. Luneth rarely thought before speaking.
"Well I'm afraid I can't help you any with that," Marco replied. "Sabin only taught us how to tie ropes not how to untie them."
"Sabin taught you how to tie ropes!" Locke and Edgar exclaimed in unison.
"Yep," the boy replied proudly. "And he stated teaching us how to fight."
"Traitor," Edgar muttered under his breath.
"Who's Sabin?" Luneth asked.
"My younger twin," Edgar replied.
"Sabin is awesome!" another kid exclaimed. "He teaches us all these cool things like punching and kicking and how to tie knots and how to set up camp and…"
"Why do you like Sabin so much but hate us?" Locke demanded.
"We don't have to explain our reasoning to you," Marco said.
"Listen, kid," Locke said. "If you don't untie us right now…"
"You'll do what?" the boy asked with an evil smirk. "If you harm us in any way, we'll tell Terra. And then you'll be in huge trouble."
"Little demons," Locke muttered under his breath.
Luneth glared down at the kids. "You know we aren't going to steal Terra from you so you little brats have no reason to hold us against our will. You have just kidnapped a King and two of Cosmos' greatest warriors so…"
Marco smiled sweetly up to Luneth. "You might want to shut up seeing as we have the sticks, and you're tied to the ceiling like a piñata."
Violet eyes grew drastically wide. "You wouldn't dare. Ow!"
"I think you all know what we are capable of," Marco replied, turning to leave. "We'll bring you something to drink later." He waltzed out of the room followed by his posse of kids.
"Damn them," Locke muttered. "Damn them."
"When we tell Cosmos…" Luneth started to say.
"Do you really think the Goddess of Harmony is going to punish a bunch of children?" Cloud asked.
"I don't understand why they love Sabin and not me," Edgar muttered.
"I can see why," Cloud responded.
"I get the feeling you don't like Edgar," Locke said. "And I really don't understand why you would have any reason to hate him."
"He likes Terra too much!" Luneth exclaimed from his spot on the rafters.
"So you're just as overprotective as those kids," Locke observed. "And they tied you up because…"
"They're evil incarnate," the blond swordsman responded.
"I'll agree with that," the thief responded.
"How are we going to get out of this?" Luneth asked.
"Use your skinny little wrists and…"
"Shut up Cloud!" the Onion Knight exclaimed.
"Well I don't know about you," Locke said, suddenly standing up, a knife in his hands. "But I'm just going to slip quietly outside and escape."
"You better untie us first," Edgar responded. "And you are not leaving us alone to face these brats."
"Give me one reason why I should?" Locke asked. "I mean, sure we're friends, but this is self-preservation and…"
"I have enough dirt on you to land you in one of South Figaro's high-security prisons for a long time," the King responded calmly.
"That's blackmail!" the thief protested.
"Precisely," Edgar responded. "Untie us and you're staying."
"I hate you," Locke muttered darkly, untying both Edgar and Cloud. He glanced up at Luneth. "Do I have to get him too?"
"Yes, you have to get me too!" Luneth exclaimed. "Terra will listen to me over you."
"No she won't," Locke countered.
"Uh, yes, she will," Cloud said. "Takes his side of the story over mine every time."
"I'm sure Terra…" Edgar began.
"Every. Single. Time."
"So how are we going to handle these kids?" Locke asked. "I've got it! We waltz out there and…"
Cloud took his Buster Blade (which was resting against the wall) and held it out in front of the only window in the barn. It was immediately met by a barrage of rocks. "Trust me," Cloud said. "The whole 'just walk out there and talk with them' method doesn't work."
"You little kids are too chicken to come and face us like real men!" Luneth cried out through the window. Three sets of hands jerked him away from the window, but the damage had already been done.
"Oh really?" came the reply. "Then this means war!"
"Luneth," Cloud muttered. "If we get out of this alive, I am going to make your life a living hell."
"That's not very nice," the silver-haired boy observed.
"Normally I would agree with you kid," Locke said, "but you have that coming."
"This is ridiculous," Edgar muttered. "We are four grown men…well, three grown men and a young teen. We should be able to handle a large group of children."
"Shit!" the thief suddenly exclaimed.
"Locke, not in front of…" Edgar started to say. However, he dove out of the way as a ball of dung shot through the only window, splattering on the far wall. "They just shot shit at us."
"Man the battle stations!" Luneth cried, diving to the side of the window. "What weapons do we have?"
"Some cut rope and whatever they throw back at us," Locke responded, eying the sparse barn. "They sure know how to stock a prison."
Both Edgar and Cloud facepalmed. "We have our own weapons," the King of Figaro muttered.
"That will go over well with Terra," Cloud muttered. "And we have one valuable piece of ammunition."
"We do?" both the thief and king asked, staring at the blond swordsman curiously.
A faint smirk covered his face as glowing cerulean eyes landed on the youngest babysitter present. Luneth pressed himself more tightly against the wall. "No," he said, violet eyes wide in horror. "Absolutely no way that we are doing that again."
"You were the one that started this war," Cloud said, ducking as another dung missile flew over his golden spikes. "It is only fitting that you hould be the one to end it."
"Cloud," Luneth muttered, slowly backing away from his idol. "Let's be reasonable."
"Seems reasonable enough to me," Locke responded.
"You're not supposed to be taking his side," Luneth growled, glaring at the thief. However, Cloud took that moment to dive forward, intending to tackle the silver-haired boy to the ground. However, Luneth was faster, leaping back with a scream of terror. This resulted in several minutes of frantic cat-and-mouse, with Luneth running all over the bar to avoid capture.
However, in the end, Cloud had much more stamina and speed then the smaller boy, easily pinning him to the ground.
"Look at us," Edgar muttered. "Those children have turned us against each other. We can't afford to be savages and fight against each other when those brats are continually assaulting us with crap." Another dung projectile flew through the window, followed by an alarmingly large rock.
Cloud merely eyed the newest assault weapon with mild curiosity, not truly processing the impact of the attack. His glare turned up to face Edgar. "We don't have any other projectiles besides Luneth unless you want to start throwing the poop back at them with our bare-hands. I doubt we could fling that rock back at them effectively."
"That's not a rock," Locke observed casually. "That's a mini boulder. Holy *##!" He ducked as a large watermelon splashed on the ground behind him. "They're moving out to fruit."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Cloud muttered, dragging a struggling Luneth toward the window. He crouched below it, peaking over to see whether or not he had a clear shot.
"On the count of three," Locke said, helping Cloud look out the window for the best shot. "And throw him slightly to the right and up in the air."
Luneth's violet eyes were wide with fright.
"One."
The silver-haired boy whimpered, trying to get some part of him free from Cloud's chokehold.
"Two."
Cloud moved into a crouch, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.
"Three!"
In one second, the blond swordsman had leapt to his feet and flung Luneth as hard as he could out the window to where the largest group of children had gathered. They screamed as the silver-haired boy flew towards them, scattering away from their small catapult.
"Who gave them a catapult for Christmas?" Cloud grumbled, watching the chaos outside with just a bit of sadistic glee. Just a bit.
"Relm," Locke responded. "Little devil."
"Now we need to formulate our next plan of action against the children outside," Edgar said.
"Whatever you say Mighty Figaro."
"I still don't understand why you don't like me."
Luneth looked up in fear at the group of children surrounding him. "I didn't want to come out here!" he cried. "They threw me! I swear."
"Doesn't matter," Marco said with a grin far too-evil for a boy of his age. "You're our prisoner now, which means we get to torture you."
"Wait!" a smaller, dark-haired girl cried out. Luneth dug through him memory. Aya…Ayame!
"What?" Marco asked, upset that his plans were being interrupted. "What for?"
She knelt down beside Luneth, obviously measuring his height. "How good are you at getting stuff down from high places?"
"Like?" the silver-haired boy asked weakly.
"A cookie jar on the top shelf in the kitchen."
That certainly got all the kids attention. Luneth held back a smirk. So they wanted cookies, and he could certainly get them that. "I have a ninja form, so I snatch stuff from difficult-to-reach places easily."
Marco motioned for the group of children around him to huddle close. After a few moments of hushed discussion, he turned to face Luneth. "All right," he said. "We'll make you a deal: your freedom for our cookies."
"But only one cookie each," a blond girl said.
"Mari!" Marco exclaimed, glaring at her.
"Terra knows when we get more cookies than we're supposed to," another boy said, brown eyes wide. "She just knows."
"Right," Marco muttered, turning back to face Luneth. "You. Cookies. Now."
Luneth had to admit, biting into his triple chocolate treat, that Terra could bake some mean cookies. The chocolate seemed to just melt on his tongue, filling his mouth with euphoria.
"So they just threw you out at us?" Ayame asked, nibbling away at her own cookie. The entire kitchen was swamped with the children of Mobliz making their one cookie last as long as possible.
"Yeah," Luneth muttered. "Cloud can be like that some times, but…"
"Wanna get revenge?" Marco asked suddenly.
"What?" the silver-haired boy asked. "Team up with you to…I'm listening."
A devious smile spread across the brown-haired boy's face. "Okay. Here's what you have to do."
"No, I say we sneak around to the back of the barn…" Locke started to say.
"That is a bad position to be in strategically," Cloud input. "Little cover and no place to retreat from."
"We have to think of something," Edgar input. "They'll tire of torturing Luneth eventually and come back for us."
The trio sat in silence, trying to come up with a plan to best the demonic children without causing lasting bodily harm (and thus invoking the wrath of Terra). However, a familiar voice interrupted their thoughts.
"Cloud! Cloud, open up!"
"Luneth?" the blond asked, peaking through the crack in the barn door. Upon confirming that it was indeed the youth, he opened the door. "How did you escape from the children?"
"They forced me to get some cookies for them, so I slipped away while they were snacking in the kitchen. I think they're still there."
"They're all in the kitchen?" Cloud asked, glancing back at Locke and Edgar. This could be their one golden opportunity. "Lead the way, Luneth."
However, they arrived to find the kitchen strangely deserted. "Luneth are you sure they were in here?" Edgar asked, feeling a strange dread in the pit of his stomach.
"Well…" Luneth began, looking around the room. Suddenly he transformed into his ninja form. "Maybe if we…"
However, Cloud immediately understood what was about to happen. "You little traitor!" he yelled, lunging for the boy.
Luneth easily leapt out of the way. "Fire!" he yelled, safely sliding across the kitchen floor out of the line of fire.
The other three babysitters were not so lucky. They were immediately pelted with a barrage of rotting fruits and vegetables most likely dug up from the compost heap. In seconds, they were completely covered in filth.
"Booya!" Luneth yelled, fist pumping the air. "Way to go! Now let's get this cleaned up before Terra gets home, and we all end up in trouble."
Terra arrived back in Mobliz (with Celes in tow from their girl's night out) to find a clean house and no major signs of disaster. She smiled as the children came rushing over to swarm her with hugs, stating about how good they had been and how much they had missed her.
"Thank you so much," she told her four babysitters. Locke, Edgar, and Cloud looked completely worn out, but Luneth still seemed in good shape.
"Tough day?" Celes asked as Locke wearily walked over to her. She tried to hide the smirk across her features as she took in his haggard appearance. It looked like he had been drenched in the water as his clothes were slightly damp. However, there was a faint odor to him that hinted that he had been hit with something unpleasant.
"You have no idea," Locke responded. "Get back in the airship, and let's go home."
She chuckled at that. "Sure thing, you big baby." She waved goodbye to Terra before turning to head back toward where Setzer had parked the airship. (Whenever they needed to travel to a far location, he was usually available for a ride.)
"Well," Edgar said, offering his hand for Cloud to shake. "I think we were able to put our differences aside in the face of this tragedy."
Cloud, however, brushed past the king to pick up his Buster Blade. "Don't count on it, pretty boy," he muttered. "I'm still watching you. One misstep with Terra, and well…I'll just leave it up to your imagination."
Edgar absently moved his hand to his throat, slightly stunned by the blond's threat. However, he smiled as he felt Terra thread her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much, Edgar," she whispered, pressing a kiss against his cheek.
His smug smile faded at the sight of Luneth and the kids of Mobliz sending him death glares. Forget Cloud. It was these children of Mobliz he would have to look out for in the future. He really should start taking Sabin with him whenever he visited Terra's town.
"I better be off," he muttered, breaking off his embrace with Terra.
"Okay," she smiled sweetly. "Bye Edgar! Bye Luneth!"
"Hey Luneth!" one of the children exclaimed. "Next time you come over, we can pull off Plan E, okay?"
"Of course," the silver-haired kid responded. "They're really fun once you get on their good side."
"Plan E?" the King of Figaro asked, knowing that he would instantly regret it.
"Oh nothing," the teen replied with an evil smile in the king's direction. He stood still for a moment until a crystal appeared in his hand, and then he had vanished.
Edgar swallowed nervously. He really had reason to fear for his life when it involved the beautiful Terra. However, she would definitely be worth it…assuming he lived long enough to enjoy it.
Fin.
A/N: Please click the shiny review button below, and Terra's children will not kidnap you in your sleep and hurl mini boulders at you. It really is for your own safety that I ask this.