(A/N: Hey all! Guess who's sick? ME! My little sister gave me her cold! Fun, huh? Now my throat hurts, my eyes hurt and my joints ache! Whoopie! But at least I have Ramune and Pocky to ease the pain! So, with out further adieu...READ ON!)
"Where th' hell's she gotten to, yo?" Reno moaned tetchily, "We hafta get back t' work before that old man tears us a new one!"
"Well, she usually runs off to one of three places when she's upset." Kyle said thoughtfully, "The wolf pen, which I highly suggest you avoid unless the idea of being wolf chow appeals to ya, the stables, and if she did head that way, she's already long gone, and the tire swing by the river."
"What did you mean by, 'if she went to the stables, she's already long gone'?" Tifa asked, taking a deep swig of water.
"Well if J.D. went t' th' stables, she probably saddled up Bonanza and went riding." Charlie shrugged.
"And who…or what, pray tell is a Bonanza?" Rufus asked with a snort as he wiped his neck and brow down.
"A green horse who hates everybody but J.D. and Pop-Pop and has tried to break my back on no less than nine separate occasions." Kyle said with wry smirk as he pushed himself away from the table.
"Really? Just nine?" Charlie taunted, rising from his seat, "Well, we'll help ya look. What with us being responsible sibs an' all."
"Well, where should we start?" Elena asked with a shrug of the shoulders. The ranch was huge and had several acres of forest so really, Jayden could be just about anywhere.
"The stables. If Bonanza isn't there, it'll save us whole lotta walkin'." Cid replied as he walked towards the door.
"Probably a good idea." Rude mused as they walked outside, and began making their way towards a cherry red barn from which the sounds of soft whickering could be heard.
"Y-you said horses are in there, right?" Yazoo asked tentatively as Charlie made his way to the front of the group to open the doors, "Well…what exactly are hor-!"
His question was cut short when Charlie threw open the barn doors to reveal pen after pen filled with large, beautiful creatures in a variety of colors and sizes. At a pen located towards the back, separate from the rest, was a substantial black one of the beasts…along with the absentee.
"Heh…guess we caught ya, huh?" Kyle smirked, eyeing the temperamental horse and keeping his distance, "Remember me?"
The green beast snorted at him, pawed the ground, and gave him the eye. Yeah, it remembered him.
"Easy there." Jayden murmured, running her fingers over it's neck and resuming currying the horse's back, "So…what exactly can I do for all of you?"
"Well, helping us move all that debris would be nice for starters, yo." Reno said pointedly, moving forward to poke Jayden in the temple…only to have her flinch away from him before he made contact.
"Well…Gramps gave me the rest of the day off." Jayden said shortly, eyes locked on the horse in front of her.
"Really? Havin' girl issues there, sis?" Charlie teased poking Jayden in the back of the head repeatedly without her so much as twitching, something that wasn't lost on Reno.
"Yes, actually. Thank you oh, so much, brother dear, for making it public news." Jayden said sarcastically, squatting down to change out the curry comb for the hoof pick, "Y'want me t' go into specifics now that we're on the subject?"
"What are they talking about?" Loz wanted to know, looking at Sephiroth inquisitively, as if the One Winged Angel held the answers he sought.
"…at a later time." Sephiroth coughed into his hand, trying to hide his embarrassment at the line of questioning.
"So, someone skipped out on Sex Ed, eh?" Barrett grinned, "Well when women reach a certain age, they start-!"
"That's enough of that!" Yazoo barked, faintly red in the face from the overall mortification, "We'll explain it to him later!"
"Now I know you're only a day or so away. God, y'always get so bitchy." Kyle snorted, turning to leave the barn.
"Only because you make me that way." Jayden retorted dryly, bending over Bonanza's left rear hoof to pick it clean.
"And you know, if you aren't feeling well, you shouldn't go riding." Reeve said, noting a saddle, blanket and bridle draped over the pen door.
"Yeah, while jogging is great for reducing…unwanted pain…riding increases them." Elena said with a light cough, coloring slightly.
"…I'll live." Jayden said blandly, moving forward and taking hold of Bonanza's right rear hoof.
"Yeah, well, don't work too hard." Cid snorted, laughing out loud as Jayden paused to flip him off before resuming her task.
And while the AVALANCHE resistance and the Turks left the barn with Charlie and Kyle, three remained, staring hard at Jayden's back.
"Bee in your bonnet boys?" she snorted, not even needing to turn around to know who was behind her.
"I sense no illness about you…why do you insist on shirking from your clean up duties?" Sephiroth asked calmly, folding his arms over his chest.
"Why is that any business of yours?" Jayden retorted, rubbing Bonanza's ankle and clicking her tongue lightly as she moved forward to clean his front hooves.
"Because one less person means that much more work for the rest of us." Yazoo said coolly, tapping his foot impatiently, "So why do you insist on-"
"How about this…an equivalent exchange – a question for a question." Jayden interjected, still not turning around as she continued to pick the horse's hooves clean, "You answer mine, I'll answer yours. Fair right?"
"…I guess." Loz shrugged, glancing over his shoulder at his brothers seeing whether or not they felt this was a good idea and when both nodded, he replied, "Fine. What's the question?"
"Why do you insist on calling a decaying box of flesh Mother?" Jayden asked, back still to them, "…even though the creature it used to be didn't give birth to you…nurture you…or care for you in any way, shape or form like a mother would?"
"Because we share her cells and follow her great will." Sephiroth said hotly, feeling anger start to constrict in his chest.
"Just because you share cells with something, doesn't make them your mother." Jayden said flatly, "That's a pathetic answer. Try again."
"And how is it pathetic?" Yazoo snarled, eyes flashing threateningly at her as she finished cleaning Bonanza and led him back inside his pen to tack him up, shutting the door with a clack.
"Because mothers want you to follow your own will, not theirs. Mothers are compassionate." Jayden said evenly, nuzzling the horse before looking at them through the corner of her eye, "Mothers are willing to comfort you at three in the morning because someone you thought you'd spend your life with broke your heart. Tell me…can your box of JENOVA soup do that?"
"W-well…no, but-" Loz was interrupted by Jayden as she saddled Bonanza.
"Then why do call her Mother?" Jayden asked, her gaze piercing as she cinched up the girth and reached for the bridle, "Why can't you answer me? What are you all so afraid of?"
"That's more than one question." Yazoo protested as she walked over to the pen gate and grabbed the bridle.
"Why can't you answer it?" Jayden retorted, sliding the bit into Bonanza's mouth.
"That will be enough of that!" Sephiroth snarled, eyes flashing with just barely contained rage, "Our reasons are our own! Now answer our question!"
"My reasons are my own." Jayden replied coolly, stepping into the stirrup and swinging herself up and into the saddle, "It's really no business of yours."
She walked the horse to the pen gate and kicked it easily open.
"Have a nice day...gentlemen." She said sarcastically, giving the green horse a good kick to the sides to send him galloping out of the barn, leaving the Remnants and the One Winged Angel to eat her dust.
"That impertinent little…how dare she speak of…" Yazoo sputtered, face flushed with anger as he stared after the fading dust cloud.
"I don't know brother…I'm starting to wonder if maybe…she had a point." Loz mumbled, twitching slightly as Sephiroth and Yazoo rounded on him, "I mean…why do we call her Mother when she didn't give birth to us?"
"Because JENOVA is my Mother. I was told so my entire life." Sephiroth spat venomously, eyes flashing.
"Not to sound…rude, or anything…but doesn't that sound a bit like brain washing to you?" Loz asked tentatively, "What if you were-!"
"SHUT UP!" Yazoo bellowed, startling Loz so much that he back into a bunch of farming supplies and fell to the ground, "Don't start spouting such…such NONSENSE!"
"But…but what she-!" Loz sputtered.
"I will hear no more of this." Sephiroth snarled, turning on his heel and storming out of the barn, "The only reason I tolerate her reprehensible remarks and ludicrous requests is that she shields us from those fanatics…and has them at her beck and call."
"Geez…could this get any more annoyin', yo?" Reno thought to himself, watching Jayden, seated directly across from him, eating with her head bowed so she stared directly at her plate. She'd been doing that the entire meal and hadn't even looked up at him when he asked for her to pass the gravy boat.
And what really ground his gears was that Jayden was glancing up at anyone else who spoke to her – even the three embodiments of everything that was evil. Reno was the only one she refused to acknowledge.
No woman was allowed to ignore him! It was like, an unwritten law or something! Besides…they had been fine earlier that day. What could he have done wrong between then and now?
A loud squeaking interrupted Reno's thoughts, making him glance up. Jayden was clearing away her dishes and excusing herself from the table. An opportunity to corner her was rearing its head! But…he would have to time it perfectly.
Reno watched as she entered the kitchen, heard the clatter of her setting her dishes in the sink and watched out of the corner of his eye as Jayden walked down the hall towards her room.
"NOW!" Reno cried in his brain, pushing himself away from the table and calling out casually that he was going to the can, before skirting after Jayden, catching up to her easily.
"Hey. What's up with you?" Reno asked, catching her before she made it to the end of the hall, "You avoidin' me or somethin', yo?"
"…why does it matter if I am?" Jayden said coolly, eyes direct at a section of wall by the floor.
"I knew it!" Reno cried triumphantly, "So what's the deal? Why outta th' blue and all?"
Jayden smirked, but never once looked at him.
"Why don't you ask yourself that, Red." She muttered moving away from his and opening the door of her room.
Reno automatically blocked her path and stared down at the top of her head.
"Whaddya mean, 'ask myself that'?" he said inquisitively, trying to get a good look at her face.
"Are you really this slow? Or is this another tactic you use against your assassination targets so they'll be lulled into a false sense of security?" Jayden asked bitingly, eyes directed solely on the floor now.
"So y' noticed, mm? Ah well, C'est la vie and all that crap." Reeno snorted, shaking his head, "At last you've acknowledged my true genius, yo! But that still doesn't explain-"
"…don't over think things Reno." Jayden said coldly, ducking under the arm that blocked her path, "We wouldn't want your brain to overheat."
As she slammed the door in his face, Reno had to wonder, 'What did I do?' He wasn't about to let Jayden end the argument like that, so of course he threw the door open and stormed into her room.
Jayden even twitch as though she had anticipated the reaction. She was seated on the platform bed so that her back was towards him and her arms were wrapped around her knees, the balls of her feet rocking lightly against the platform as Reno stomped over.
"Alright, I wanna know what's up." Reno growled, standing directly behind her and tapping his foot, "I don't know what's pissin' you off, but I aint movin' one step until you tell me what's up, yo."
"…why don't you just go cry to your whore?" Jayden asked bitterly, eyes locked on the floor beyond the platform.
"Y-you mean…did you…aw shit." Reno said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "Well, I still don't get why you're so mad. You said it was o-"
"I was only joking you ass!" Jayden snapped, lifting her gaze from the floor to the window, "I only said that to get you off my back for awhile! You just wouldn't let up and it was driving me nuts! I didn't actually think that you would…"
Reno glanced at the window and finally caught a glimpse of Jayden's face – she looked totally lost.
"Get out of my room Reno." Jayden said tersely, burying her head in her knees and pointing violently to the door, "NOW."
Reno turned to go and made it a few steps, pausing to look at Jayden over his shoulder.
"Go!" Jayden snapped heatedly, spurning Reno into motion and sending him out of her room.
"All I'm saying is that maybe-!" Loz began again, only to have Sephiroth cut him off again.
"Why are you questioning Mother now?" Sephiroth thundered, eyes flashing angrily, "Why do you take the word of that little twit over that of your own flesh?"
"Do we have another traitor in our midst?" Yazoo hissed, balling his hands into tight fists and glaring at his younger siblings.
"What in Holy's name are you fools arguing about" Vincent asked coolly as he strode into the room, "Its a wonder the dead aren't doing backflips in their graves, what with your noise level."
"Yes, anything we can help you settle gentlemen?" Reeve inquired, glancing up from his newspaper to look at the group of (currently) red-headed men congregating behind the sofa.
"It's nothing that concerns you." Sephiroth said crossly, eyes locked on Loz.
"Actually-!" Loz piped up.
"Shut up, Loz." Yazoo snapped, glaring at his sibling.
"That girl asked us about why we call JENOVA Mother when it didn't give birth to us but-!" Loz was cut off by Sephiroth and Yazoo barking, "Stop questioning your existence and just accept that JENOVA is your Mother!"
"Actually, if I may, she isn't." Vincent interjected with a cough, making Sephiroth whip around to face him, "You were merely infused with a large portion of her genetic code."
"You lie." he hissed, eyes flashing at the undead man.
"We don't actually. Your birth mother was manipulated into submitting her unborn child...that's you - to experimentation." Reeve said easily, watching three sets of eyes widen, "I do believe it was better known as the...JENOVA Project?"
(A/N: After being confronted with a truth they don't wish to accept, the Remnants and Sephiroth begin to wonder what exactly it is a mother does. Meanwhile, Reno wonders what to do about Jayden as now she isn't speaking to him...at ALL. And things get tense when poachers get into the wolf compound! All this next chappie! R&R!)