Note: This chapter is set in the same universe as Chapters 1, 10, and 12. That is, it is set in a universe combining Ordinary Heroes and Superhero. In this universe, Lightning is still mostly referred to as "Claire" when she isn't running around in superhero form. Also, the tutu incident mentioned in this chapter takes place in Chapter 10.

X X X

Grandmothers, (Super) Kids, and Pets

Once upon a time, the matron had feared that she would always be alone. Then Fang and Vanille had come. From that day onward, the matron was never alone again. In time, Fang had even given the matron two wonderful grandchildren to fuss over.

The matron had watched those two grandchildren grow from infants into little girls, and there wasn't a day that went by when she didn't thank the Maker for the family she'd been given. So when Fang and her wife Claire Yun-Farron (better known to the world as Lady Lightning) needed someone to watch the kids for a weekend, the matron was only too happy to agree.

Vanille, of course, had volunteered to take care of everything superhero related although the matron wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or worried. Her younger daughter was a wonderful superhero, but every now and then the matron wondered if maybe Vanille wasn't doing a bit of villain work on the side. After all, the red head had come up with a plan to steal all the world's candy at the age of nine. True, Vanille hadn't actually carried out her plan, but she continued to update it.

"Grandma!" Diana jumped out of Fang's arms and sprinted toward the matron only to trip over a rock buried in the dirt. The girl hit the ground spectacular fashion, carving a trench twenty feet long into the dirt before skidding to a stop a few inches in front of the matron. "Ouch."

Behind Diana, Fang and Claire shared a look. The matron smiled. She'd dealt with clumsy children with superpowers before. Fang might not like to talk about it anymore, but she'd done a lot of tripping over as a girl and so had Vanille. Diana's current accident was still well short of Fang's record: a two hundred feet long trench that had come courtesy of a botched attempt at running at super speed.

"Are you okay, Diana?" The matron bent down to help Diana up onto her feet.

The girl sniffled and then hopped up to give the matron a thumbs up. "I'm fine, grandma! It'll take way more than that to take down Kid Awesome!"

The matron bit back a grin. Kid Awesome was the name Diana had chosen for herself although her parents had yet to let her go anywhere near any superhero related work. That was for the best. Diana might already be developing her superpowers, but she was far from invincible. "I see. It's good to know that Kid Awesome is so tough."

Diana preened under all of the attention, and the matron shifted her gaze to Averia, who had chosen to walk at a more sedate pace.

"Hi, grandma." Averia eyed the trench. "Uh, sorry about the mess. Diana and I can clean that up later, I guess."

"It's okay. Your Aunt Vanille has some robots around here that can handle that. How about you and your sister go inside while I talk to your parents?"

The two girls headed inside, and the matron waved Fang and Claire over. As usual, Fang wasted no time in giving her a warm hug while Claire settled for a simple handshake.

"So, you two are spending the weekend together?" The matron grinned at the look of discomfort on Claire's face. Lady Lightning was one of Cocoon mightiest superheroes, but matters of intimacy seemed to make her very uncomfortable.

"Yeah. It's been a while since we've had some time to ourselves." Fang wrapped one arm around Claire. "Besides, I have to make sure that I fulfil my wifely duties and all that."

"Fang!" Claire scowled, but there was genuine fondness in the expression. "Don't talk about our sex life in front of your mother."

"Fine, fine." Fang held her hands up in surrender as electricity flashed around Claire's arms. "Just don't zap me with that damn magical lightning of yours."

The matron favoured Claire with a warm smile. "I never thought Fang would meet someone who could keep her in line, so I'm glad she has you. Don't worry about the girls, I'll keep a close eye on them."

"Thank you," Claire said. "And watch out for Diana – she's still learning her own strength. When its bath time, you might want to have Averia help you. Diana likes to splash around and well… she can really, really splash around."

"She likes to pretend she can control water," Fang said. "It's cute."

"Not when all that splashing around can destroy a house."

"It's fine," the matron said. "Fang and Vanille did the same sort of thing growing up. I can manage. Now, get going. I know you two can fly pretty fast, but I'm sure you have reservations waiting for you at some fancy hotel."

"As a matter of fact we do." Fang grinned and shot up into the sky, her voice lingering in the air. "Last one there has to do whatever the winner says tonight."

Claire's eyes widened for a moment before her lips curled. "That cheater." She inclined her head at the matron. "Thanks for looking after the kids." Then she was gone, as well, a single peal of thunder marking her departure as she raced up into the sky.

"Ah, young love." The matron headed back into the house. "Such a wonderful thing."

When the matron got back into her house, she found Diana on the couch in the living room, her eyes glued to the television and some Friday afternoon cartoons. Beside her, Averia was flipping through a newspaper with a speed that would have frightened most people.

"So, how have you two been?" The matron settled down on the couch.

"We've been good." Averia put the newspaper down. "I'm doing well at school, and I'm not grounded anymore."

"That's right. They grounded you for getting involved in that robot attack alongside AVALANCHE, didn't they?" The matron kept up with all the latest superhero news. She patted Averia's hand. "Well, I think it was very heroic, and you will be a wonderful superhero when you're older. But you need to be careful. You're still very young." She paused. "And you need to find a better costume too. That pink tutu was a bit… odd."

Averia sighed. "I wish people would stop mentioning the tutu." She grinned. "Oh, ask Diana about what happened when she tried to use her heat vision to make toast."

"Diana?"

The little girl huffed and glared at her older sister before she threw a punch that would probably have cracked concrete. Averia didn't even move as she caught the blow in one hand. "It's not my fault that I set the kitchen on fire! And we were in the fortress, so one of Aunt Vanille's robots fixed everything anyway."

The matron laughed. "Your mommy did that when she was little too." She leaned in close and whispered, "And you know, your Aunt Vanille once blew up the barn trying to use her heat vision instead of a Bunsen burner for one of her experiments."

"Wow." Diana's eyes widened. "I wonder if I could blow up a barn."

"I don't think you should try that." The matron chuckled. "Your Aunt Vanille didn't just blow up the barn – she blew up all her clothes as well."

Vanille had been so embarrassed. She had used her super speed to get back to her room, only to trip over like Diana had. The matron had come out of the kitchen to investigate the explosion to find her younger daughter buck-naked in the middle of a crater on the front lawn.

"Diana, why don't you take a look in the pantry? I think you'll find something nice there."

Averia watched Diana go and threw a quick look at the pantry. Her lips twitched. "She can't use her x-ray vision yet, but I think she'll like the candy." Her voice softened. "I hope we're not causing you any trouble, grandma. I know we kind of, well, break stuff a lot…"

"It's fine." The matron hugged Averia tightly. One of the best things about having grandchildren with superpowers was that she could hug them as much as she wanted. "I raised your mommy and your Aunt Vanille, so I can help raise you two girls. Besides, you're not that bad, and your Aunt Vanille has a few robots around here that can help clean up. She made them after your mommy got sick of doing all the household repairs."

"Candy!" Diana screamed, floating through the air with the bag of candy in her arms. "You're my favourite grandma!"

"Well, thank you." The matron smiled. "Now, remember, you need to share. By the way, how fast can you fly?"

Diana extended her arms in front of her and drifted through the air at what could – at best – be termed a crawl. "Not very fast yet, but it's okay. If I need to go somewhere, I just make Averia take me, and she can already go really fast."

The older girl sighed and made a face that the matron knew very well – Fang had made that exact same face when she'd been forced to carry Vanille around before the red head could fly properly. "It's not like I have a choice." She blurred over to Diana's side and reached for a piece of candy.

"Hey!" Diana floated away.

"Remember, you have to share." Averia squinted. "And no hiding candy in your pockets."

"Cheater, you can't use your x-ray vision!"

X X X

Bath time had always been an interesting experience. The matron had learned the hard way to keep well clear when bathing children with superpowers. Instead, she let Averia bear the brunt of her sister's antics. Fortunately, this was no ordinary bathtub. Instead, it was something Vanille had put together. It had a force field inside it and around it that prevented water from splashing out. It was also designed to absorb the force from any fall, making it extremely safe – Vanille had actually built it after the matron had slipped and bruised her back. Of course, once Diana had figured all of those things out, she'd decided to have as much fun as possible. And fun meant splashing around.

"This is so cool!" Diana spun in a circle, her speed sending a miniature tidal wave of water slamming to the glowing force field around the bathtub. "Look at me, I can control water!"

Averia, who had been given the task of helping her sister bathe, winced as the deluge of water hurled her against the force field. "Gah! Stop doing that, you little monster!"

"Little monster?" Diana grinned. "I'm a big monster!" She cackled. "Prepare to meet your doom!"

What followed was a battle of Herculean proportions before Averia finally managed to get her sister into a headlock, so she could shampoo her hair. The matron passed the shampoo through the force field and chuckled as Averia scrubbed Diana's hair clean.

"The shampoo is getting in my eyes!" Diana wailed. "I think my eyes are melting!"

Averia ignored her and continued to scrub at the spiky mess that was her sister's hair. "Then stop squirming! And it wouldn't get in your eyes if you closed them like I said." After another totally fake scream of utter agony, she couldn't hold herself back any more. "And stop faking it! You're almost invulnerable. There is no way normal shampoo hurts your eyes."

"Meanie!" Diana stopped her complaining – which had been completely fake anyway – and glared at her sister. "Take this!" Her eyes glowed bright red.

"Don't use your –"

Diana's heat vision rebounded off the force field and promptly vaporised all of the water in the bathtub. The steam exploded outward before recondensing into water against the force field. As for Averia, she slid down the force field, smoking slightly, as Diana hopped out of the bathtub.

"Cool, my eyes feel all better now!" Diana smiled at the matron. "Can you help me get dry?"

In contrast to all of the trouble she'd made for her sister, the matron noticed that Diana was completely well behaved for her. Diana understood, even at this early age, that the matron wasn't like her sister. The matron would get hurt if she played around, unlike Averia. Once the matron had finished towelling her off, Diana shrugged on a fresh pair of pyjamas and scampered off to watch a little more television.

"Are you all right?"

Averia was soaking wet, and one of her eyes had begun to twitch. Little bits of electricity crackled along her body. "I'm fine."

"You know, she only does it because she loves you, and she knows she can play around with you without hurting you. Your Aunt Vanille did the same thing with your mommy when they were young." The matron looked around the bathroom. Thanks to the force field, everything was still in perfect condition. "We didn't have the force field back then though."

Averia couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Did they flood the bathroom?"

"Oh, yes. I had to shut off the water to the house and call a plumber. I can't remember what story I came up with, but it was the most horrible lie." The matron passed Averia some soap. "Thank you for helping me give your sister a bath."

"It's okay, and it's not like her hear vision is hot enough to hurt me yet." Her lips curved up into an evil little smile. "Maybe next time, I can electrocute her if she starts mucking up."

"I heard that!" Diana shouted from downstairs. "Mom said no electrocuting me when we're mucking around until I can use lightning too."

"Damn."

"Language, Averia."

Averia said something else, in Gran Pulse's language this time. Unfortunately for her, the matron had picked up a few words of Fang's native tongue over the years.

"Say that again, Averia, and I'll wash your mouth out with soap." The matron smiled sweetly. "I did that to your mommy too." She paused and lowered her voice. "But if you want to get your sister back, try putting a frog in her bed."

"Grandma!" Diana shouted. "Don't help Averia!"

Averia grinned. "Thanks, grandma. But next time, write it down. Diana already has her super hearing."

X X X

The next morning, the matron decided to go for a quick walk outside to check on the barn near the house. She'd heard a bit of a ruckus nearby the previous night, so it might be worth having a look. The perimeter defences that Vanille had put up around the house made it impossible for anyone to break in, but the matron had insisted that Vanille leave the local wildlife alone.

Perhaps she shouldn't have.

The matron was eyeing the back of the barn when she heard a low growl behind her. It wasn't a wolf. It was a bear, a very, very big bear. It had to be at least nine feet tall with broad shoulders, a powerful build, and a shaggy black pelt. The bear's jaws opened wide, and it reared up onto its hind legs and bellowed.

Slowly, the matron backed away. But before she could get far, the bear dropped onto all fours and charged –

BOOM.

BONK.

A peal of thunder rang out, and suddenly the matron was flying. It took her a moment to understand what had happened. Averia was holding her, the two of them floating a good thirty feet off the ground. Lightning flashed in the pink haired girl's eyes, and below them, Diana whacked the bear over the head with one small fist.

"Bad bear!"

The bear snarled and swiped at Diana, and it received another solid whack over the head over its trouble along with a ferocious glare.

"No eating my grandma, you meanie!" Diana waved one fist, and the bear backed up, equal parts startled and horrified by this small, dark haired menace. "Now, say you're sorry, or I'll whack you some more!"

The matron dragged in a deep breath. Bit by bit, her pulse returned to normal.

"Are you okay?" Averia asked. "We heard you go outside, and then we heard the bear. We came as fast as we could."

"Thank you." The matron looked down. Oh dear, she really wasn't cut out for flying. "Can we go down now?"

Averia nodded, and they drifted back toward the ground. In the meantime, Diana continued to berate the bear, her little fists shaking menacingly as she told the bear about all the horrible things she'd do to it if it tried to eat the matron.

"Well," the matron said, eyeing the bear a little less fearfully now. The animal was hunched up, quailing in the face of Diana's anger. "Do you two want to have breakfast? I can make pancakes."

"Pancakes?" Diana brightened for a moment before glaring back at the bear. "No pancakes for you!"

"Uh, grandma, what should we do with the bear?" Averia asked.

"Well…" The matron paused. The bear didn't look so scary anymore cowering in front of Diana, and with the two girls there she was definitely quite safe. So…

X X X

Fang smiled and banked to land on the matron's front yard. A second later, Claire landed next to her. The pink haired woman looked more than a little sleepy, and Fang bit back a grin. She was entirely responsible for her wife's recent lack of sleep.

"Matron," Fang shouted. "We're here to pick up the kids – wow!"

Fang was used to seeing some strange things when it came to her kids, but she had not expected a bear to come walking around the side of the house with the kids and the matron on top of it. "Since when do you have a bear?"

"Mommy! Mommy! This is Mr Cuddles! He tried to eat Grandma yesterday, but then I beat him up, and then I found that old machine that Aunt Vanille built that can let you read animals' minds, so then we became really good friends, and he's totally awesome, and so can we keep him? Please!"

Diana's words had come out at super speed, and it took Fang a full three seconds to make any sense of them.

"Wait! What? You almost got eaten?" Fang was by the matron's side in a flash, using her x-ray vision to scan the older woman for injuries. "You don't look hurt, but –"

"I'm fine." The matron smiled. "Diana and Averia saved me." She patted the bear on the head. "And it turns out that Mr Cuddles was just really hungry – it's been a tough few months around here for the local wildlife. Once we got that machine of Vanille's hooked up and gave him some food, he was much friendlier." She scratched the bear under the chin. "Isn't that right, Mr Cuddles?"

Fang wasn't sure what to make of the utter insanity of calling a huge bear "Mr Cuddles."

"See, mommy! He's our friend now." Diana turned hopeful eyes onto her parents. "Can we please keep him?"

Fang took one look at Claire. The look on the other woman's face spoke volumes. "I'm not sure we can."

"Awww…"

"He is a wild bear, Diana. He probably wouldn't like it away from the forest. But I'm sure he'd be happy if you visited him later."

"Yay!" Diana patted the bear on the head. "Hear that Mr Cuddles? I can always visit you later, and I'll bring you lots of fish and even some candy."

"I don't think candy is good for bears," the matron said. "But I think he'll like the fish."

Hopping off the bear, Averia cast a curious look at her mom. It wasn't often she saw her mom look so tired yet happy. "How was your weekend, mom?"

Fang chuckled as Claire struggled to come up with something reasonable. It wasn't like Claire could just tell their older daughter about all the things they'd gotten up to. Fang and Claire had spent most of their time in the bedroom or in the sky, and while Fang wouldn't have had it any other way, the girls weren't ready to hear about that sort of thing just yet.

"It was fine," Claire said at last. "We had a lot of fun."

"Oh, and we got this from AVALANCHE." Fang handed Averia a small data projector. "Have a look."

Averia turned the data projector on. A picture of her in a pink tutu fighting alongside Yuffie and Tifa popped up. "Thanks… I guess." She shuddered and pressed a switch to move onto the next image. It was another picture of her in a tutu, but this time there was a caption. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Tutu-girl? That's the name they came up with? Tutu-girl?"

Claire's lips twitched. "Yes, it is."

"Mom!" Averia wailed. "What if the name sticks? I'll be tutu-girl for the rest of my life! That isn't cool at all."

"Well, at least I have a cool name," Diana said. "Since I'm Kid Awesome." She paused. "We can be Kid Awesome and Tutu-girl."

"Gah!"

The matron stepped between Averia and Diana before the pair could go beyond exchanging words. "How about we all go inside? We were just waiting for my cake to finish, and it should be done by now."

Mr Cuddles, all nine feet of him, looked at the matron.

"Yes, Mr Cuddles, you can have some too."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

I've been waiting for a chance to show the matron off with the kids. In Ordinary Heroes, Diana and Averia don't really have grandparents (although Sazh and Amodar kind of fill that role), so it's nice to be able to give them a grandmother for once. As tough as it is to handle kids with superpowers, the matron has experience, so she knows how to do things.

You may also have noticed that Mr Cuddles made an appearance. Unlike the Ordinary Heroes Mr Cuddles, this Mr Cuddles is considerably larger, scarier, and thus at least fifteen million times cooler in Diana's book. Naturally, she made friend with him by bonking him over the head and asserting her superiority. That's how kids with superpowers make friends, apparently.

If you want to know where I am with my other stories, you can check my profile. You can also find a link there to a preview of the "Last Huntress" an original short story that I now have up on Amazon. I've also added a link to a preview of "The Gunslinger and the Necromancer," my second original short story. If you like Westerns with a paranormal slant, you're in for a treat. In case you're curious, I've included the blurb below:

When the Church needs someone to send the denizens of Hell back to where they belong, they go looking for Lizzy Stanton.

As gunslingers go, Lizzy's right up there with the best of them. No matter what kind of evil she's up against, she knows exactly how to handle things – put a holy bullet right between the eyes. But when she takes a job to go after a necromancer over in Pine Creek, she might just have bitten off more than she can chew.

With zombies, demons, and one tricky necromancer to worry about, Lizzy's going to have to be real quick on the trigger. In the gunfight between good and evil, she's the gunslinger who always delivers.

On a final (fan fiction related) note, let me just say that I saw Pacific Rim yesterday. I so, so want to write a Pacific Rim themed story now. Man… can you say Fang + Lightning + Neural Bridge = Complete Awesomeness? Not to mention the Eidolons would look really cool as seventy metre tall robots.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.