Jenova led Mrs. Strife up the stairs and into a long, dark hallway. Jenova opened the first door to the right and motioned for Mrs. Strife to enter. The room was practically empty. All it had was a small bed against the wall, an end table next to the bed, and a tiny closet. The walls weren't even painted.
Jenova removed the blanket from the bed and left the room. Mrs. Strife hear rustling, a low thump, and a sleepy "Hey!" from down the hallway. A whine followed and Jenova returned with a much warmer blanket.
"The sheets are still cold," Jenova said before leaving Mrs. Strife to get herself settled. The sheets really were still freezing, but the warmth of the blanket helped with that. Mrs. Strife snuggled Cloud closer to herself, exhaustion running through her limbs. She couldn't help but feel proud of her accomplishment. The Deal was far from anything she wanted to do, but... she climbed through half of Mt. Nibel and lived to tell the tale. It was unheard of – nobody could get very far without getting hurt, much less going through what Mrs. Strife did and still live.
With that in mind, Mrs. Strife kept Cloud close to herself and hoped the next four years didn't pass quickly.
Blinding sunlight streamed in through the curtain-less windows. Mrs. Strife sat up, opening her eyes. Her arms and legs were sore from yesterday, she noticed.
Cloud was still asleep. How he could sleep so long was beyond Mrs. Strife.
Picking Cloud up, Mrs. Strife unbundled him, leaving him in the tiny onesie he originally wore. Cloud wiggled a bit and let out the beginning of a cry. Mrs. Strife rocked him and tried to quiet him, but Cloud would have none of it. He was hungry and wanted feeding now. Mrs. Strife opened the door and took a quick peek. It didn't look like anybody was up here at the moment. Mrs. Strife closed the door and stood in the left corner near the closet and away from the window. All mothers in Nibelheim breast fed, but Mrs. Strife wanted to make the situation as least awkward as possible if she was walked in on.
Cloud was satisfied after a short while. Mrs. Strife sighed in relief and made her way down the stairs.
Jenova and four others were at the table. Jenova was at one end, two young boys sitting on one side and the other two, appearing older, across from them. One of the boys on the right, near Jenova called out a greeting upon seeing her and waved enthusiastically. The other three just sat there, bright green cat eyes almost identical to Jenova's studying Mrs. Strife intently. Jenova was sipping a steaming glass of liquid.
"Why don't you join us?" Jenova invited. Mrs. Strife took her offer and sat across from her, feeling a little deja vu. She shifted her hold against Cloud, propping him on his stomach over her shoulder and placed one hand on his back, the other behind his knees.
"These four are my sons. This is Kadaj." Jenova gestured to a boy with chin-length silver hair to Mrs. Strife's right. He looked about fifteen or sixteen. "Loz," Jenova continued. The boy between Kadaj and Jenova had the shortest hair out of everyone and gave Mrs. Strife a big smile. He looked slightly older, maybe seventeen or eighteen. "Yazoo."
"Nice meeting you," he said softly. Mrs. Strife was positive that Yazoo was in his early twenties. The way his back-length hair framed his face and shoulders seemed to suit him.
"...and finally, Sephiroth," Jenova concluded before Mrs. Strife could reply.
"I've seen you before. You don't come down very often," Mrs. Strife blurted to Sephiroth. She winced internally.
"I'm only in Nibelheim during the daytime when there are things I have to do. I'm not very popular there," he replied.
With the introductions over, Jenova moved on, "Cloud and Mrs. Strife, his mother, are going to stay with us for a while. Things aren't going so well for them in Nibelheim."
"How long?" Loz asked.
"Four years."
"Are you serious? That's way too long for the blanket thief to freeload!" Kadaj objected.
Yazoo gave Kadaj a good kick to the shin under the table.
"Ignore him," Sephiroth said. "He's always like that."
"Whatever. I don't know why Mother would go ahead and let anyone stay here, but you can agree that four years is too damn long," Kadaj said.
"Stop being a meanie, Kadaj!" Loz whined. That surprised Mrs. Strife. She didn't expect anyone to stick up for her. She knew Jenova would keep her side of The Deal, but that didn't mean that Jenova had to be nice to her. Mrs. Strife had a lot to learn; the fact that Jenova had a family was only the beginning.
Kadaj was about to say more, but the glare from Jenova shut him up.
"Mother never does anything for no reason. Definitely wouldn't do anything major just because she felt like it," Yazoo reminded him and, in turn, informed Mrs. Strife.
Kadaj let out a frustrated sigh and stayed silent.
"Has he gone yet?" Jenova referred to Cloud, changing the subject.
"Gone?" Mrs. Strife was confused.
"Baby go boom boom?" Loz supplied.
"Oh!" Mrs. Strife checked Cloud's diaper. Boom boom. "Yes, he went..." Mrs. Strife had nothing to change him with. She had forgotten that only the furs she and Cloud had worn were here.
Jenova stood and left.
After a short spell of silence, Sephiroth asked, "How old is he?"
"Turned a month old four days ago. No, five," Mrs. Strife corrected herself.
"Hm," Sephiroth said. "Still at the sleeping stage. It seems boring now, but you'll wish for it later."
Mrs. Strife chuckled. She assumed that Sephiroth had to help out with his brothers when they were younger. "Well, he's a bit of a sleeper now. I don't think he'll be interested in moving much."
"When you learn a new skill, you tend to use it a lot. Age doesn't matter." The way Sephiroth said it made Mrs. Strife doubt that he was joking.
"I'll get ready for when the time comes. What do you think will help?"
"A leash, or a cage, maybe." His brothers laughed a bit at that; even Kadaj joined in.
"I guess I'll have to make one," Mrs. Strife joked back.
"We still have the box we used when we played Trip-Trap," Yazoo joined in.
"Trip-Trap?"
"It's a game we used to play. We haven't really played it recently, though," Loz said.
"How does it work?"
"First, you have to be in a place set up with 'traps.' Any place with room will do. Then you need to cover your eyes with a blindfold or anything similar. The goal of the game is to leave the area without setting off any of the traps, which should only go off if you trip or fall over them," Sephiroth explained.
"What was the box for?"
"If you fell in the box, you got locked in!" Loz exclaimed a little too enthusiastically.
By then Jenova had returned. She beckoned for Mrs. Strife to come to the living room. Mrs. Strife obeyed. Jenova dumped some pieces of cloth on the couch and held her arms out, silently asking for Cloud. Mrs. Strife slowly leaned forward and reluctantly let him go. Jenova placed Cloud face up on the couch and took off the dirty diaper. She grabbed the lighter cloths (which were wet) and wiped him. Cloud's face scrunched up and let out a cry.
"I know, I know," Jenova soothed. "It'll be over quick," she reassured both Cloud and Mrs. Strife, who had tensed a little.
Jenova wrapped a bigger and thicker-looking cloth around Cloud's bottom and between his legs, securing it with a knot tight enough to stay wrapped, but loose enough for comfort. She handed Cloud back to Mrs. Strife and threw the dirty diaper and cloths into a can. "Can of DOOM" was comically marked on the front. Or side. Or back.
"This should hold for a while."
"Thank you," Mrs. Strife said sincerely. When she returned to the table and took a seat, Jenova was in the kitchen, Sephiroth and Yazoo discussing something about break outs and death races (they must have joined the "game craze" everyone seemed to be talking about. Nibelheim didn't take the fad well), and Kadaj and Loz seemed to be giddy for some reason.
"Consider this a one-time thing," Jenova said. "You're on your own next time."
"Mmmf," Kadaj grumbled, now frowning. He shot a glare towards Mrs. Strife, but didn't say anything.
Jenova came over and placed a plate of bite-sized meat in front of Mrs. Strife. Sephiroth, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo had gotten up to serve themselves. The six of them ate in silence, Cloud squirming a bit in Mrs. Strife's arms.
"When the sun starts to set, we go down to Nibelheim to get your things," Jenova announced. Mrs. Strife paused. Again, she had forgotten that none of her things were here. Cloud would have to stay behind. She didn't want to put him in danger going back and forth.
"I have to go, right?"
"You do. There are some belongings you may want to take that we don't know of. Is it correct for me to guess that you had locked up the place before you left?"
It was. The key burned in Mrs. Strife's pocket.
"Who's going to stay behind? To watch Cloud, I mean."
"Sephiroth will." All eyes turned to him. The tone in Jenova's voice said there was no backing out.
Sephiroth gave a simple shrug. "I'm willing."
"It's best to start getting ready. The days are growing shorter, and it is already two." Night tended to fall around six in the evening towards the end of fall, but it would probably come a little earlier.
The hour Mrs. Strife heard shocked her. "Two?" Had she really been asleep that long?
"Yes, two. You came down half an hour ago."
It was a real miracle that Cloud was asleep that long. Cloud couldn't have gone to the bathroom too long ago; his butt wasn't burned. How he hadn't gone earlier was a bit harder to believe.
"It's nothing to worry about. You were probably walking for over two hours with no rest yesterday."
Though she had a good reason to that time, Mrs. Strife swore to never sleep that long again.
It was nearly five-thirty when they left. The time passed quickly, though most of it was spent watching TV. The only memorable thing was how everybody (besides Mrs. Strife and Jenova) had reacted to a commercial about a horror movie featuring a high school girl with strange powers going to the prom and another commercial advertising something called an Atari. Mrs. Strife swore that Jenova was also interested and just hiding it.
Before Mrs. Strife walked out the door (Jenova, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo were waiting outside), she handed Cloud to Sephiroth, giving Cloud a kiss on the head.
"I'll be back soon, Cloud."
With that, Mrs. Strife walked out, trusting Sephiroth to take care of Cloud.
Notes:
Started: 2013年1月22日（火）
Finished: 2013年1月24日（木）
...and we have an update! This would've been out sooner, but I gave up on the writing and had to start over. Once I wrote something down, I immediately thought of something else to add or rewrite. My brain's stupid.
They may seem out of character, but I'll explain that soon. Imaginary treat to anyone who can guess the movie!
Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and alerts! I didn't expect this to get so much attention in less than a week. I promise to get Chapter 3 out by the 31st, since it's a special day.