13 January 1979

"Man, having only one TV blows." Kadaj leaned over the top bunk, facing Sephiroth, who was on the floor leaning against Yazoo's bed.

"There's nothing to watch besides old reruns anyways," Yazoo said.

"Least they make time go by faster. Not making any noise at night's hard to do."

"You just want to watch the porn channels, you dirty, dirty boy," Sephiroth said mock accusingly.

"No I don't."

"Magazines aren't enough for you, little wanker?"

"Screw you! And what the hell is a wanker?"

"A word that describes you perfectly."

Kadaj glared. "Barf eater."

"Fart smeller."

"Butt slut."

"Ass whore."

It was on now.

"Bastard!" Kadaj was raising his voice.

"Faggot!"

"Shit eater!"

"Fudge packer!"

"Fruit!"

"Piss drinker!"

"Dick wad!"

Sephiroth paused for a bit, then smiled mischievously.

"Wanker," he said lowly.

That did it. Kadaj rolled off, landing on Sephiroth's legs. Sephiroth crawled out from under Kadaj and pinned him to the ground. Loz jumped on top of the both of them. Yazoo just watched with a bored look on his face.

"What the hell does that even mean?!" Kadaj choked out.

It was too crowded for any messing around in here. Sephiroth wormed his way out from between his brothers and took off down the stairs. He knew Kadaj would run after him.

"Get back here, you bitch!" he heard Kadaj screech.

Mrs. Strife rubbed her eyes and took another sip of her tea. Cloud sat next to her with his sippy cup full of juice in his mouth. A few books gave him the lift he needed to sit comfortably at the table.

Mrs. Strife struggled to stay awake. She hadn't slept a wink that night two days ago. She hadn't even wanted to go back upstairs until she remembered that Cloud was still in bed. He had still been asleep, even after Mrs. Strife unmade the wedge and settled under the covers.

Mrs. Strife had been on the alert as every second ticked by, expecting Jenova to pop out of nowhere and kill them in their sleep. To her relief, that never happened.

The next day was a normal one. Mrs. Strife managed to sleep for a few hours that night, but was still wary. Nothing happened then, either.

Now she longed to take a nap. It took forever to get Cloud to take one, so Mrs. Strife couldn't find much rest there. Her little boy spent nearly every minute he was awake on the go. She was grateful that Sephiroth was always around to play with him. Cloud wasn't very happy when Sephiroth decided to spend some time with his brothers after lunch today, but juice and some reassurances that he wouldn't be long helped keep Cloud from following after him.

A huge boom sounded, a more muffled one following after. Mrs. Strife heard many thumps and a shout before seeing Sephiroth zip down the stairs. He grabbed his boots, hopping on one foot to put them on. Kadaj came down next, chasing after Sephiroth. The two of them ran circles around the couch before standing in place and making jerks to the left and the right, trying to trick the other and capture him.

"You tell me what that means!" Kadaj yelled.

"I wanna pay, too!" Cloud jumped out of his chair, but Mrs. Strife snatched him up before he could leave the area. Cloud fidgeted and kicked. "Lemme go, Mama! I wanna go pay!"

Loz made his appearance, and Sephiroth ran outside, both Kadaj and Loz hot on his heels.

Yazoo silently made his way down the stairs and sat on the couch.

"It happens sometimes," he explained to Mrs. Strife. Mrs. Strife hoped it was only a game.

Several minutes passed before Sephiroth reentered the house, arms locked around Kadaj's upper body and Loz hanging onto Sephiroth's leg, using his weight to slow him down. Kadaj was held upside down.

"I wanna pay, too!" Cloud whined.

Sephiroth hobbled inside, Yazoo closing the door after him. Kadaj kicked furiously, trying to land a blow to Sephiroth's face. Sephiroth released Kadaj, letting him land head-first.

"Don't do that!" Loz exclaimed. "You'll make him dumber than he already is!"

"Shut it, tubby!" Kadaj retorted. He sat up, rubbing his head.

"Who are you calling tubby?!"

"You, fatso!"

"I was on your side, you meanie!"

"You didn't help much," Kadaj accused. Loz let go of Sephiroth and went after Kadaj. Sephiroth made his way to the table and let the two fight it out themselves. Yazoo just sat there on the couch.

Cloud ran and stood in front of Sephiroth after Mrs. Strife let him go. Cloud lifted his arms.

"Make me up-down!" Cloud exclaimed. "Pease?" he added.

"No, Cloud," Mrs. Strife said tiredly. There was too much excitement going on this week.

"Why not, Mama?" Cloud frowned.

Mrs. Strife was about to give Cloud a reason when she heard something sliding down the stairs. Kadaj and Loz stopped their skirmish.

Jenova slowly lifted herself up, arms wobbling. Her four sons rushed to help her up and practically dragged her to one end of the table. Jenova slumped forward carelessly. Her head bonked the table really hard. Mrs. Strife winced.

"What happened? You look terrible," Kadaj said worriedly.

"Nice to know my appearance is reflecting how I currently feel." Jenova propped her head up with her hand and leaned on it.

Mrs. Strife hadn't noticed before, but Jenova did look terrible. Her eyes were dull and her face was gaunt, the black bags under her eyes making her look even more dead. Her hair looked almost nothing like it normally did. Mrs. Strife felt sorry for her until she remembered that it was self-inflicted.

"If anybody decided to hold auditions for a zombie movie, you'd fit the role perfectly," Sephiroth joked.

"Ruuuuuh," Jenova rasped.

Cloud crept close to Jenova. He tugged on her sleeve.

"Wha sombie?" he asked. Cloud hadn't perfected his z's yet.

"A walking dead man," Jenova answered.

"Ohh. Why you sombie?"

"I don't feel well."

"Sih sombie?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To stop the turtles from flying."

"Why?"

"Because they would have taken all the sandwiches. After the sandwiches are gone, they would've put toasters in water. Toasters don't like being dipped in water." Mrs. Strife mentally shook her head. It was almost the exact same answers she'd gotten.

"Don' be sih. I sop bad tussles." Cloud puffed up his chest.

"The turtles are gone now. I should eat all the sandwiches before they come back."

"I'll get it," Sephiroth volunteered. He walked and got the bread.

"Wear a dress while you're at it." Sephiroth's brothers laughed at that.

"Can't fit in one."

"Borrow Big Bertha's, then." Sephiroth shook his head in amusement.

Mrs. Strife couldn't believe it. That couldn't have been the same woman who had terrified (and possibly had the intention of killing) her three times already, couldn't have been the one that offered salvation for a cruel price. It wasn't really Jenova who had just teased Sephiroth. It wasn't really Jenova sitting there. It had to be a completely different person – it just had to be. Mrs. Strife refused to believe that the exact same person she barely started to discover was so different from the last encounter.

"Ah, I just remembered. 'Twas brillig -"

"No, no, no, no!" Kadaj interrupted.

Notes:

Started: 2013年2月18日 （月）

Finished: 2013年2月19日 （火）

Ahh, it's even shorter than the last one! Sorry! More Cloud in the next one for sure, though.

Okay, show of unseeable hands: who really needs to know if anything bad will ever happen to Mrs. Strife? Too bad, 'cause I'm not telling.

Had to show Mrs. Strife's disbelief here. And Cloud's cute attempt at being heroic.

I'll try to make the next one longer, but there's no guarantee. No ten-day gap between this update and the next for sure, I can promise you that.