Chapter 20: Terrible Twos

"Was sish?"

Tifa blinked and turned her focus from washing down the table she was at, seeing her two-year old daughter holding up an apple to her. "Apple. Its a fruit, a food to eat."

"Applee," Jen tried to sound out, eyes narrowing with frustration, "Fwoot, foo two eaa."

"Jen, where did you get that apple?" asked Tifa knowingly.

"Don da hiwl," said Jen.

"What have I said about going down the hill by yourself?" asked Tifa, standing up straight and crossing her arms.

"Not two?" posed Jen.

"Then why did you?" asked Tifa, eyebrow raised.

"Wantad two," answered Jen in complete innocence before pushing up on her tippie toes to push the apple at her. "Appall appall."

Tifa sighed, smiled, took the apple, and ruffled Jen's hair. "Thank you sweetie, but please don't go exploring by yourself."

"Kay," said Jen before turning around, waddling out the door, and definitely heading back down the hill.

Tifa sighed, left the cleaning supplies on the table, took a bite to eat out of the apple before setting it down, and strolled out after her child. Usually she would leave watching her wandering toddler to Sephiroth, the man was very careful in the safety of his child, but not in a smothering way (which Tifa knew she was guilty of), he could be very quiet and stealthy when he wanted to, keeping an eye on Jen but allowing her freedom to explore. Unfortunately, Sephiroth was off at the WRO discussing something with Reeve and Rufus. Its not that Tifa couldn't do it... its just... she and Sephiroth filled two very different roles for Jen.

Sephiroth was a protector and teacher, possessive and not exactly warm. He tried at times for Jen, but it could be... awkward. He talked to his daughter like she was a fully grown adult, a fellow, an equal and a peer. He left Tifa to the nurturing role, which, was more important, at least to Tifa. Jen was far to intellectual, sometimes sharing the same cold calculation in her eyes as her father. She NEEDED to have someone show her warmth and care, that it did exist. Not that Jen wasn't capable of it, oh no, she was...

Jen was absolutely greedy for it.

Tifa walked down the hill, watching Jen amble into the woods surrounding their hill and home. The child slowed a little, walking or climbing over branches and rocks in a careful way nothing like Aerith's little one's would, like no innocent toddler would. A toddler had little to no concept of understanding danger, she'd seen toddlers nearly walk into busy streets back in Midgar before Meteorfall without a care in the world. Jen however understood death and danger and pain already. She watched her child look around, poking at different plants before she came across a blue-berry bush.

Jen squinted at it, poking a berry, coming away with a little blue goop. She tasted it, her eyebrows climbing as a delighted smile crossed her face. She grabbed a few and turned, spotting Tifa, and waddled over to her in excitement. She held up the now slightly squished berries. "Foo!"

"Yes Jen, blueberries are good food," agreed Tifa, taking a few out of her daughter's hands and munching on them, watching Jen polish off the rest, a blue smear on her face and hands.

Jen looked up at her, eyes so wide. "Wike?"

"Yes Jen, I liked them, thank you for finding them for me," she answered with a smile.

"Maa mommy happ?" asked Jen.

"You made mommy very happy."

"Up up up!" demanded Jen with glee.

Tifa smiled down at her and picked her up. Jen latched on fiercely, possessively, "Mine mine mine, my mommy, mine mine mine."

Tifa sighed and clutched Jen to her. The first words her child had spoken had not been mom or dad or yes or no or please or anything like that. It had been 'Mine'. Jen was absolutely greedy for affection from Tifa. Jen had taken a long time, to her first year, to understand affection, but when she did, she longed so badly for it that it could make Tifa ache to feel the need. Jen went out of her way to get the feeling from Tifa directed at her. As a child of Calamity, Jen could experience emotions more than normal children could. She could literally feel what her parents felt if they projected them at her. Jen turned into absolute jello when Tifa focused her love and care and pushed the feeling at her daughter.

Of course, she was possessive of her to. She threw an absolute fit the last time Tifa had picked up one of Aerith's children, screaming and wailing 'Mine not thewers! Mine mine mine!'. Learning to share was going to be an 'experience' that Tifa dreaded having to teach. Jen hadn't quite lashed out at Aerith's children or anyone else aside from looks of pure hostility, but she knew it was coming at some point, and considering Jen's abnormal strength for a toddler, Tifa and Aerith had agreed to limit the visits until Jen turned three. That was 'apparently' the age where empathy started to form in force for children according to books and studies.

Milestones like that really didn't exist for Jen. She developed at her own pace and in her own way.

Jen cocked her head, looking up at the sky curiously for a moment.

Tifa couldn't help it, she always froze when Jen did that, suddenly stopped and looked upward. She was always so terrified another Calamity was coming, Jen had served as an alarm for the one that wiped out Wutai after all. Instead, she merely smiled and said, "Daa!"

"I suppose Sephiroth is done his meeting then, how far out do you think he is?" asked Tifa.

Jen looked down at her fingers, face scrunched up, before holding them up to Tifa, hands knocking her cheeks and getting blueberry all over. "Fwiv."

"Five minutes huh, you're getting better at sensing us coming from farther out," mused Tifa, "Lets go get cleaned up for daddy, okay?"

Jen blinked and squinted at Tifa's face. "Mommy messy."

Tifa snorted, reaching a hand up to wipe some of the blue off her daughter's face and show it to her. "Yes Jen, I'M the messy one."

Jen sqwaked, her wing beating. "Mommy mad me messy! Bawd tabl mannaws."

Tifa couldn't help it, she laughed. "Oh Jen, you're impossible."

Jen smiled toothily, a bit of confusion emanating from her, but enjoying her mother's amusement none the less. Tifa took them back up and washed their faces by the time she heard helicopter blades in the distance. Curious, she would have thought he'd just fly back. She took Jen to the porch and watched the helicopter touch down, eyebrow raised when Sephiroth, Reeve, Shelke, Tseng, and Rufus of all people, climbed out.

"Sheeek!" screeched Jen in delight, scrambling to try to get out of her mother's arms.

Tifa set Jen down and watched curiously as Jen waddled towards the oncoming figures, completely ignoring her own father as she come up to Shelke, "Sheek! Sheek!"

Shelke stared down at her for a moment. "Hello."

Tifa crossed her arms, studying the bizarrely warm welcome from Jen. Jen hadn't seen Shelke since that initially meeting after the third Calamity, but she clearly remembered her. Jen grabbed Shelke's hands and tugged her. Shelke glanced at Reeve, who merely looked amused and made a shooing motion. Shelke sighed and let Jen tug her along slowly, the adults overtaking and walking past into the tavern. Tifa moved to sit at the front inside table and waited as Jen brought Shelke over.

"Sheek! Sheek!" exclaimed Jen.

"Yes Jen, its Shelke," said Tifa, amused, and maybe a tad jealous that Jen all the sudden had a favorite aside from her mother.

"Fix!" exclaimed Jen, "Fix Sheek! Fix Sheek!"

Tifa's eyebrows furrowed. "Fix?"

Shelke looked down at Jen curiously. "What do you mean, fix?"

Jen let go and patted Shelke's stomach. "Hurt. Hurt hurt hurt. Shinwa do bad two Sheek."

That drew the complete silence of the other adults, mortification from Tifa, and a complete mask drawn over Shelke's features, cold and blank and emotionless. Tifa swallowed thickly. "Jen... I can't fix that."

"Can two!" countered Jen.

Tifa pulled Jen away from Shelke and sat her on her lap. "Jen, shh. Its not polite to bring up things like that, I don't even know how you know about that."

"Gamma," answered Jen.

Tifa shook her head, Lucrecia was, as far as she knew, still in a Mako Crystal, refusing to come out. The whole memory thing between her and Shelke though... could that be it? But how would Jen have those memories in the first place? Lucrecia sealed herself away years before Deepground.

Rufus cleared his throat. "Well, she shares her father's early bluntness it appears."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at that.

Rufus smiled with amusement. "Anyway, now that we're here, perhaps we can ask your significant other."

Sephiroth sighed. "I already told you what her response would be."

"To what?" asked Tifa.

"Shinra is setting up a settlement program, encouraging and paying people to start or enlarge families as a counter to population loss," explained Sephiroth, "He wants a town to eventually be setup somewhere nearby under our watch and protection."

Tifa narrowed her eyes at Shinra.

Jen apparently agreed, scrambling down Tifa's legs and throwing herself on the floor. "No! Mine mine mine!"

"I agree with the sentiment," mused Sephiroth.

"I'm not completely against it, but farther out than just right outside the woods," warned Tifa.

Rufus nodded. "We were considering resettling Gongaga as more than a few stragglers that survived the Mako Reactor explosion, but we're concerned about potential leakage and radiation."

"That's a topic for Aerith," answered Tifa, "She could answer it, and maybe do something about it."

Rufus glanced at Tseng. "Make a note on the calendar where we have room."

Jen scrambled up Tifa's legs and hugged her, glaring over at Rufus. "No wike fat man sown. Home mine."

Sephiroth let out a sharp laugh at that. Tseng's lips twitched. Reeve placed a hand to block a smile. Rufus merely sighed. "Well, that's one way to describe Rupert Shinra. I'm honestly surprised she knows who he is. Do you bemoan my poor excuse for an old man that much?"

"Actually," admitted Tifa, "I can't remember the last time either of us mentioned him at all... maybe the gathering after the third Calamity?"

Rufus frowned a little. "Hmm."

Tifa glanced down at Jen. "How do you know about 'the Fat Man'?"

"Gamma," answered Jen.

Tifa hummed. "I see."

She turned to Rufus. "Anything else aside from trying to steal our land?"

Rufus scoffed. "I don't recall either of you actually buying the rights to this area."

"We'd like to see you or anyone try to make us move," countered Tifa.

"Point," admitted Rufus, "But at some point that should happen to solve any future legal issues."

"My blade can solve that issue if need be," said Sephiroth flatly.

Tseng cleared his throat. "With due respect, we'd rather it not."

Sephiroth sighed. "Bill my account then and send the paperwork here at some point. I want this hill and the surrounding woods, I don't care about cost."

Tseng nodded. "I'll see to it."

"Anything else?" asked Tifa.

Reeve and Rufus exchanged glances, making Tifa's stomach squirm. Reeve was the one who spoke, "You are completely free to refuse. But both of us were wondering if either of you would be willing to... offer aid in projects or in missions."

"No," answered Sephiroth, ice cold, "It will be a cold day in hell before I ever do another mission for Shinra."

Tifa was a bit more open, "It depends, I agree on Shinra, not even sorry Rufus, I'm not doing a damn thing for you. But the WRO... what do you have in mind?"

"The same kind of thing our other operatives do," answered Reeve, "Building, geographic surveying, monster culling, delivering supplies, handling disputes, ect..."

"Get me one of your fancy PHSs and send me requests, if I'm not busy, and I'm suited for it, I can help out," agreed Tifa, "But, I'm not a charity anymore, and I don't much care for going into Junon or Kalm or any other big town. I'm also not going to hide what I am, if you send me to places that cant handle a wing, that's on you."

"Noted," said Reeve, "Any help is greatly appreciated, and of course you will be compensated."

Tifa glanced down when Jen clutched at her and growled, "Mine."

"You're going to need to learn to share," scolded Tifa.

Jen shook her head. "Mine. Mommy, daa, home..."

She paused to consider, glancing over at Shelke. "Mabee Sheek. Awl mine."

Tifa's eyebrows climbed. Jen was thinking about 'claiming' Shelke?

Jen looked back up at Tifa, eyes narrowed. "Fif mommy fix Sheek."

Tifa sighed again. "Jen, I can't fix what Shinra did to her."

"Can two!" shouted Jen angrily, "Wook!"

Jen closed her eyes, and Tifa startled as Jen projected an image of DNA strands and pieces of them focused around an image of Shelke's body. It was vaguely familiar, had Jen done this before? "Jen, I don't understand."

"Fix fix fix!" whined Jen in frustration.

"Jen," asked Shelke slowly, "Are you implying that your Mother can correct the damage Deepground did to me that prevents my body from maturing?"

"Fix!" agreed Jen, smiling widely, "Fix Sheek! Make Sheek siwster."

Tifa froze.

Sephiroth froze.

The others looked confused, but not them.

Tifa swallowed. "Jen, no. Gods no."

"Wha not?" demanded Jen.

Shelke looked at Tifa with confusion.

"She wants me to use my...," Tifa trailed off, unease and fear in her gut, "She wants me to use my powers of Calamity on Shelke."

The others looked a mix between curious, confused, an wary.

"Which would require Tifa infecting Shelke if you don't understand the implication," explained Sephiroth.

"Ah," said Reeve, staring at Jen with apprehension, "I see."

"Well now," said Rufus, sitting up straight in his chair, "This is rather interesting."

Tifa took in a shaky breath, resisting the urge to disembowel any Shinra looking at her daughter like that, "Jen, even if I wanted to, and Shelke agreed, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do it without hurting her in other ways."

"I sho, I sho!" said Jen eagerly, scrambling down and tugging at Tifa's hand, prompting her to her feet as Jen reached for Shelke.

Shelke stared down at the stretched hand, a frown on her face. "I don't believe exploring the abilities of a Calamity on a living test subject is a wise idea."

Tifa agreed with that...

Then Jen's hands touched Shelke's with her other hand still holding Tifa's...

Tifa suckered in a breath as...

Damage, corrosion, breakage, stillness, wrong wrong wrong broken and inhibited, stunted and weak...

Take and study, fix, mold, heal, possess, become one, mine mine mine...

Tifa let out a small screech and yanked her hand free from Jen, making her daughter stumble to her knees, glaring up at her in annoyance. "Jen... what..."

"Jen," asked Tifa, taking a moment to breath, stressed and confused, "How do you know how to do this?"

"Gamma," answered Jen, as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Lucrecia...?" asked Tifa, baffled, "How would Lucrecia have any idea..."

"No, gamma!" said Jen sourly.

Sephiroth suckered in a breath and approached, kneeling down in front of her. "Jen, do you mean Jenova?"

Everyone in the room froze.

Jen smiled widely and nodded. "Gamma!"

Tifa lost all color in her face. "Oh gods..."

Jen had some of Jenova's memories?! Jen knew how to manipulate cellular life?!

Tifa took in a shaky breath. "Sephiroth, take her, now please."

Sephiroth had Jen in his arms a moment later, taking her firmly away from Shelke. Tifa shakily reached for her phone and dialed Aerith.

"Hey Tifa," said Aerith cheerfully.

"A-aerth," began Tifa.

"Whats wrong?"

"I... I need you to gather everyone and bring them to my home," said Tifa, voice cracking a bit, "And I... I need you all to not freak out when we explain. Okay?"

"Okay," said Aerith slowly, with deep concern, "Tifa, what's going on?"

"Just... get here quickly," said Tifa, clicking off the phone.

"If even one of them tries to harm Jen, I will not hesitate to kill them all," warned Sephiroth.

"I know," answered Tifa softly, "But we can't hide this."

Tseng cleared his throat. "Even if we were sworn to secrecy, it would most likely come out, from your daughter herself."

"I'm aware," said Tifa dryly, closing her eyes and taking another deep breath, "Dammit."

A lot of things made a bit more sense now. "I guess we know how Jen knew how to kill a Calamity then. She inherited the knowledge from the Jenova cells from Sephiroth... wait..."

"Jen, do you have any knowledge from Morb... mor... your 'Grandfather'," hissed out Tifa.

Jen blinked at her. "No."

Tifa's shoulder's slumped in relief.

"Well, we did note she took more after me than you in what she appeared to inherit," said Sephiroth, "She may know how to manipulate cells, but she appears to not be able to do so on her own. If she could, I don't think she would have hesitated to do so with Shelke, with or without her permission."

Tifa gives a jerky nod. "Yeah..."

Tifa eventually took Jen back, sitting on the bar, thumbing her fingers anxiously through her confused daughter's hair. A few hours of intense silence or quiet conversations later, Aerith, Zack, Cloud, Vincent, Angeal, Genesis, Cid, and Nanaki entered the building. "Where's Barret?"

"Babysitting," answered Aerith, eyes flickering to study the occupants of the room.

"Sit," said Tifa, watching the ground mostly do so, Vincent leaned against the wall next to the door, Nanaki resting at his feet, tail thumping the floor.

Tifa ran her free hand through her hair. "I'm going to say this again just incase Aerith did not stress it, please, do not freak out. Okay?"

She waits for a collected assortment of nods.

"Jen... can detect, can feel, the damage Shinra did to Shelke, and she wants me to 'fix' it with my powers of Calamity," began Tifa.

Aerith frowned. "That's..."

"I'm not finished," said Tifa sharply, silencing Aerith, "She tried to show me, when she touched both of us at the same time. It was... confusing and startling. When we asked how she knew how to do this, she answered..."

"Gamma," butted in Jen, looking around the room, confused.

Tifa swallowed. "She's not talking about Lucrecia, she means Jenova, she inherited some of Jenova's memories."

Aerith takes in a sharp breath, alarm in her eyes. Zack stops bouncing his feet, eyes wide. Cloud tenses. Vincent goes perfectly still. Nanaki's tail stops thumping. Angeal swallows. Genesis raises an eyebrow, and Cid, of course, swears. "Ah fuck. What else from that thing does she know?"

"We're not sure," admits Tifa, "Its probably how she knew how to kill the Calamity, but..."

"No like gamma?" asked Jen, confused.

Tifa huffs. "No Jen, no one here likes Jenova."

Jen gives her a dubious look and glances at Sephiroth. "Daa wike gamma?"

"Not in particular," admits Sephiroth.

Jen startles. "Whah?"

"Jenova would have treated me as nothing more than a disposable tool and a weapon to be consumed when she was done with me if she had the power and will to have overtaken my own," answers Sephiroth, "I'm not blind to that anymore."

Jen frowns, her eyes going distant as if searching for something, but comes up blank and frustrated. "Dunnow. No member. Fink gamma wou wike daa."

"Like is one way to phrase it," said Sephiroth dryly.

Aerith loudly cleared her throat. "We need to know, now, right now, if she has shown any ability to..."

"She can't affect cellular life," cut in Tifa, "She's shown no aptitude to do so. She wouldn't have needed for me to 'fix' Shelke if she could do it herself."

Aerith nods slowly, her face still pale. "Alright. If she ever shows the capacity, you need to make it perfectly clear to her that she cannot do so."

"I'm aware," said Tifa irritably.

Vincent slowly straightened and walked over, his eyes glowing gold. Tifa tensed, Sephiroth's own hands inching towards his sword. Vincent stopped a ways away, glancing at Jen in consideration, Chaos's deep voice leaving his lips, "You find this alarming, I find this to be an opportunity. Little Calamity-Child, what do you know of your Grandmother's species? Of the Calamities?"

Tifa blinked, eyebrows climbing. She hadn't thought of that. Of getting information on the Calamities from Jen.

Jen stared up at Vincent, eyes narrowed. "Deaf. You deaf."

"Death," corrected Chaos.

Jen considered Chaos for a moment. "Wat wanna now?"

Chaos considered his words. "How many others are there?"

"Dunnow."

Chaos studied her, as if searching for a lie, before asking, "How do such beings come about? If they eat planets, I cannot see them spawning from one location."

"Pwogwator," answered Jen.

Chaos's eyes furrowed.

"Jen, can you sound it out?" asked Tifa.

Jen scowled a little. "Pwog-waat-oor."

"Progenitor?" asked Tifa, extreme unease in her gut.

Jen nods, reaching a thumb up to suck on.

"Gods, is she saying there's something out there creating Calamities?" exclaimed Angeal.

Jen nods at him.

"How?" demanded Genesis, "What is this 'Progenitor'?"

"Big cawamity, owigiwal," answered Jen, withdrawing her thumb.

"A big Calamity, the 'original'," sounds out Genesis, an intense concentration on his face.

"But... I remember Father calling Jenova the 'Firstborn'," said Tifa.

"Ahuh, fiwst bown fwom Pwogwator," said Jen.

"Oh," breathed Aerith, "Jenova was the first Calamity created by this 'Progenitor'."

Jen nods.

Tifa's eyes go distant, trying to recall something. "I... remember Father speaking of Jenova when we were flying to Mideel. He was... angry, perhaps even scared of Jenova. He said most Calamities try to steer clear of one another, but Jenova? He called her the Great Devourer, cannibal, the Beast of Endless Hunger. That she was... was a feared pariah. She went out of her way to eat other Calamities."

"Well, at least the kid got a good hobby out of her 'Grandmother' if her eating the Wutai Calamity was any indication," mused Rufus.

Tifa coughed.

"Num num," agreed Jen, "Jen eat, Jen gwow stwong, kiw Pwogwator."

Tifa blinked. "You want to kill the Progenitor?"

"Ahuh, Pwogwator ruwin evewythin," said Jen, a deep scowl on her face, "Gamma happ onwce, hen Pwogwator ate gamme home n gamma chagned."

Tifa took a moment to parse that. "Are you saying Jenova wasn't always a Calamity?"

"Fiwst Fawwen," agreed Jen, "Fiwst bown."

Tifa swallows thickly. Not sure she understands the full implications of that. That someone or something could be made into a horror like Jenova.

Chaos crossed the rest of the distance and gently reached out to cup Jen's chin, tilting her gaze up. "Tell us more about this 'Progenitor'. You said it was 'big'."

"Ahuh, wewly big," said Jen.

"How big?" asked Zack, "The Jenova that Cloudy and everyone fought in the crater was like, a two story house big. What are we talking about here? Three story? Four? Shinra tower?"

Jen pointed down. "Pwanet."

Shock rippled through the room.

Zack choked for a moment. "Are you sayings its PLANET SIZE?"

Jen nodded. "Ahuh, biwg pwanet."

Horror rolled down Tifa's spine, pure ice coating it, how could anyone kill something on that scale? "Gods..."

Chaos drops Jen's chin, stepping back, a frown on Vincent's face. "How did such a thing come to be?"

Jen shrugged. "Gamma wasn suwr, fink Pwogwator's pepwl stoopid, make pwanet Pwogwator. Wasn aways Pwogwator."

Tifa struggled to understand. "I don't... are you saying the Progenitor was... was a planet? Its people made it a... a Calamity? How would that even work?"

Jen scowled. "Gamma wasn suwr. Gamma fel it chawng swow, fel wong. Fink day wook fow ternawty."

Looked for what?

"I'm not sure she knows the words how to explain it yet," said Aerith uneasily.

"Jen, could you explain what you mean by wrong?" asked Tifa, focusing on what she did understand.

Jen gave her a grumpy look. "Hungy."

"It was hungry?"

"No, Jen hungy!" demanded Jen.

Tifa closed her eyes for a moment, breathing in and out. "Jen, I'll make you something to eat soon, this is important..."

"No! Hungy now!"

"Smart or not, she argues like any other two-year old," mused Vincent, the gold leaving his eyes, turning and walking back to his spot.

Tifa handed Jen off to Sephiroth and scrambled to cook up something quick for Jen. She set the plate on the bar, and Sephiroth set Jen next to it. The entire room watched Jen not-so-gracefully stuff her face. Everyone seemed to hang onto her every move, Jen paused briefly to eye them, before scooting to place the plate in front of her, her back to the room. Tifa let out a shaky laugh at the act. Her food wasn't why they were staring at her. Jen might be smart, but her body and mind were still young, she didn't understand how important this was, spoke like it was no big deal.

Jen finished her food and held up the plate towards Tifa, crumbs sliding down to land on her lap. Tifa took the dish, placed it in the sink, and walked back to her daughter. "What did you mean by wrong?"

Jen scowled at up at her. "Whw cawr?"

'Why care', she sounded out in her head. "Because its important."

"Sheek impowtant," said Jen, narrowing her eyes, "Fix Sheek."

Tifa took in a breath and let it out. Not this again. "Jen, I can't just..."

"Fif no cawr bout Sheek, no cawr bout Pwogwator," snubbed Jen.

"Jen," said Tifa in a warning tone.

"No!" shouted Jen, "Fif no fix Sheek, no mow tawk!"

Tifa's lips tightened in frustration. "Jen, now is not the time to throw a temper tantrum."

Jen glared at Tifa, crossing her arms, mouth stubbornly closed.

"Okay, give the brat to me and I'll shake an answer out of her," said Genesis sourly, rising to his feet.

Sephiroth's sword was drawn and pointed in his direction. "Sit. Back. Down."

Genesis paused briefly before obeying.

Sephiroth allowed his sword to lower, the tip touching the floor. "I think that's enough for the day. My two-year-old child is stressed and aggravated from answers being pried from her like she was being interrogated. Any more questions can wait, preferably until she is old enough to properly articulate her explanations so no misunderstandings occur."

"The information she has could be literal life or death for the Planet," said Aerith.

"Aerith, she's a kid," said Cloud, surprisingly agreeing with Sephiroth, "And unless this Progenitor is close..."

He glances at Jen, who gives him a dubious look before saying grumpily, "No."

"...then its not an immediate problem," finished Cloud.

"I'm not arguing for or against," began Reeve, "But the information could be useful for other Calamities."

"And we have no idea when they will come," said Sephiroth, giving Cloud a considering look as he spoke, "The Wutai Calamity might have simply been close, others could be decades, if not hundreds or thousands of years away. Potentially millions. A few years to a decade for Jen to mature is no great deal, especially for those of us who will not age."

"No," said Jen stubbornly, "No fix Sheek, no mow tawk!"

Sephiroth ignored her words. "We did the courtesy of letting you know about this development so there were no future misunderstandings. If that is all, kindly see yourselves out. Now."

Tifa crosses her arms as she watches them leave, the last to go is Shelke, standing in the doorway, contemplatively and cautiously looking at Jen before shaking her head and leaving.

"I wasn't aware, Lockheart, that you approve of interrogating infants," snapped Sephiroth.

Tifa closed her eyes. "I wasn't..."

"I'm not particularly in the mood for excuses after that," gritted out Sephiroth, "Jen is our child, she belongs to us. We are to protect her from anyone that would harm or abuse or use her in any way. They'd have locked her in a room to pry out every answer if they could."

He paused to consider. "Perhaps not the Puppet, surprisingly."

Tifa exhaled and opened her eyes. "Are you not even slightly worried?"

"No," answered Sephiroth, "This 'Progenitor' is not an immediate threat. Neither are the other Calamities. They are a potential one, not active to us. Even if they were, and winning, we can survive and flee the world on its corpse."

"No wun," said Jen, "Hiss pwomihed wand. New wace bown hewr, famiwy gwow. Mowr cawamity com, Jen eat hem, Jen gow stwong, Jen wead famiwy n kiw Pwogwator."

Tifa stared at Jen, not understanding.

Sephiroth walked over and picked Jen up. "That's enough for now child. I do believe you are an hour or so overdue for a nap."

Jen scowled. "No tiwrd."

Sephiroth hummed, making for the stairs. "So you say."

Tifa had a bottle out by the time Sephiroth came back down and sat next to her; she sighed. "I think I envy other parents. They get to have normal temper tantrums and childish behavior from their terrible twos. We get revelations like that along with it."

Sephiroth huffed, and the pair of them settled down to share the drink, brooding over the days discoveries...