19 August 1979

Sephiroth rolled over to face Cloud. The boy never ceased to come and wake Sephiroth up when he slept in.

"Wake up! I'm three today!" Cloud held up three fingers.

"Can't you turn three later? I'm too lazy to get out of bed right now."

"No. Get up!" Cloud climbed onto the bed and jumped on Sephiroth. Cloud didn't stop until Sephiroth snatched him and pulled him close. Sephiroth then assaulted Cloud with tickles.

Cloud squealed and giggled. "Stop it!" Sephiroth tickled Cloud harder. "Lemme go!"

Sephiroth eventually released a struggling Cloud and rolled onto his stomach. Cloud sat on Sephiroth's back and started hitting his head.

"Come on, Sephiroth! It's my birthday!"

Sephiroth made no effort towards moving.

"Fine. If you don't get up, I'll stay here," Cloud decided. He lay next to Sephiroth.

"Cloud..." Sephiroth faced Cloud again.

"What?"

"Go away," Sephiroth said playfully.

"No. I'm staying here." Cloud meant business, Sephiroth noted. His cute little face made it hard to take him seriously, though.

"Go back with your mother for a little bit. I'll get up later."

"Shhh, Mama's sleeping." Cloud held up his finger to his lips.

"She's going to wonder where you are."

"I'm not going." Cloud pouted. "Can I stay with you?"

"No. Go away."

"Please?" Cloud stuck all of his little kid charm into that last word. Sephiroth was defenseless.

"Only for a little bit," Sephiroth sighed.

Cloud cheered and snuggled up to Sephiroth. Sephiroth had the strange feeling of completeness, as if there was a void that he had never noticed before. Pushing Cloud away for a second made Sephiroth feel empty, the complete feeling returning when Cloud quickly snuggled into Sephiroth's side again. Another peculiarity to add to the list.

Serenity and contentment, strengthened by physical contact, emanated from Cloud and coursed through Sephiroth. That had been occurring since the very beginning, but was no less strange now than it was before.

Cloud and Sephiroth lay there quietly for a minute or two. The silence was broken by a question from Cloud.

"If I'm three today, then how old are you?" Sephiroth put some thought into how to answer before deciding to give an approximate number.

"I'm over four billion years old." It was the absolute truth.

"Nuh-uh!" Cloud said. "You liar. Mama said that the biggest number ever is hundred. You can't be older than hundred!"

"Alright, alright, you got me," Sephiroth said. "I'm twenty-eight." That was his age when converted to human years. It was also his permanent age. The gift Sephiroth and his brothers had was the ability to freeze their age. After doing so, however, there was absolutely no way of undoing it. Sephiroth had decided to stop aging when he turned twenty-eight, Yazoo when he turned twenty-two, Loz when he turned eighteen, and Kadaj when he turned sixteen. He didn't really know why his brothers had decided to stop so young, but Sephiroth suspected that it was because he himself had decided to.

"Ohh," Cloud said. "That's a grown up number."

Sephiroth heard Mrs. Strife's footsteps in the hallway. Cloud had left the door open. Sephiroth sat up, Cloud imitating him. He led Cloud out into the hallway where Mrs. Strife snatched Cloud up.

"Where were you, young man?" Mrs. Strife scolded.

"Was with Sephiroth, Mama. Put me down!" Cloud squirmed.

"He came to remind me what today was," Sephiroth explained.

Mrs. Strife calmed down a little. "What kind of day is it today, Cloud?" she asked him.

"It's my birthday, Mama! I'm three!" Cloud held up three fingers again.

"Well, birthday boy, how about we go downstairs?" his mother suggested.

"Okay. You come, too, Sephiroth!"

Cloud was carried down into the kitchen. He was perfectly capable of getting himself down the stairs, but his mother never allowed him to do so. Cloud would slide his butt down every step to go downstairs whenever she wasn't looking anyways.

Cloud sat at the table, waiting for breakfast. Sephiroth sat next to him, scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"What's that?" Cloud asked curiously. The paper had a lot of funny marks on it. Cloud wanted to know what they were.

"Old words that nobody uses anymore."

"What's it say?"

"Nothing."

Cloud frowned. He was sure the words said something. He was about to try to get information out of Sephiroth when he heard the door open.

Jenova came in through the door, dragging the wolf inside. Cloud ran towards the animal before Sephiroth pulled him back.

"I wanna see the wuffie!" Cloud whined.

"It bites," Sephiroth said.

"No it doesn't. It's not biting Ba," Cloud argued. If it wasn't biting her, then it wouldn't bite him.

The wolf flopped down on the floor, its legs spread out all over the place. Jenova dragged it to the corner near the door and sat down.

Cloud tried to pull away from Sephiroth. His mother joined, trying to keep him in that spot.

"Lemme go!" Cloud yelled. The wolf let out a short bark, growling and looking around. It tried to stand up, but was held back by Jenova. Cloud thrashed, trying to break the grip Sephiroth and Mrs. Strife had on him. He gave up soon after, his mood completely sour.

His mother sighed. She brought Cloud his plate.

"Don't want 'em," Cloud said. It wasn't fair that he couldn't go and touch the wolf. It was too fluffy to not touch.

"You have to eat, Cloud," his mother said. Cloud was going to just sit there defiantly until his stomach rumbled. He could wait until nobody was looking to sneak away.

Cloud dug his fork into a chunk of pancakes (his mother had cut them into pieces for him) and shoved it in his mouth.

"Don't you want any?" Mrs. Strife asked Sephiroth.

"I'm fine."

Cloud finished his food and looked back to the door. Jenova was still there. Good. Cloud was going to get his hands on some of that fluff, he promised himself.

"Can I pet the wuff now, Mama?"

"No, Cloud."

"Why?"

"It's not safe."

Cloud pouted. His mother didn't let him do anything.

Cloud got his chance when Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo came down towards the evening. His mother was making Cloud birthday cupcakes and Sephiroth was washing dishes. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo were ignoring Cloud, as always.

Cloud was behaving, sitting on the couch and watching cartoons. He didn't really watch what was on TV; his mind wandered somewhere else. Specifically, the door. Jenova had taken the wolf out somewhere. He knew they had to come back sometime.

They did. Jenova took the same spot she had in the morning, pulling the Giant Fluffy (as Cloud secretly called the wolf) with her. Cloud looked over the couch and into the kitchen.

His mother was watching him closely. Cloud turned around and faced forward. He periodically checked to see if his mother was still watching him. Every single time he looked, she still had her eye on him. He bolted towards the Giant Fluffy when Mrs. Strife bent over to stick the cupcakes in the oven. Cloud sat in front of the animal, reaching his hand out to touch it.

Jenova took Cloud's hand and placed it on the wolf's stomach. The wolf twitched and growled, but was shushed by Jenova.

"It's so big and fluffy," Cloud said. The fur felt as fluffy as it looked. Cloud wanted to put his head on it, too.

"It is," Jenova agreed.

"Why won't it move?" It was just laying there, swishing its tail.

"He's old. Nothing moves much when it's old."

"Ohhh. What's his name?"

"Bat."

Cloud petted Bat for a little while longer before he heard his mother yell.

"Cloud!" She came and yanked him away.

"He's a nice wuffie, Mama! He didn't do nothin'!" Cloud was carried to the sink. His mother wet his hands and scrubbed them.

"It could have bitten you, Cloud! I only looked away for one tiny little second and you're running off! I think I'm going to have to keep you around me more often!" she scolded, now drying his hands.

"But he's nice, Mama," Cloud whined.

"No buts, Cloud. The cupcakes are almost ready. You can help me put the frosting on."

Mrs. Strife made Cloud sit at the table again. Kadaj was giving Cloud the ugliest glare Cloud had ever seen on him.

Kadaj had seemed unusually happy. Until he saw Cloud with Jenova, of course.

Don't start anything, Sephiroth warned Kadaj.

Even if I don't start anything, the little shit and his mother are getting out of here in exactly a year, anyways.

Oh, really?

Hell yeah! I asked a long time ago.

Sephiroth directed his mind towards Jenova's and asked if it was true.

The human leaves when Cloud turns four. That settled it.

Does Cloud know about that? Sephiroth asked.

No. If no one was going to break the news to Cloud, then Sephiroth would. But not now. There were still twelve months to go. Today was a (bittersweet) day to celebrate.

Mrs. Strife placed a plate loaded with cupcakes in the center of the table. "There's still more," she said. Holy hell did this lady make a lot.

"Happy birthday, Cloud." Mrs. Strife was beaming. Cloud seemed to have forgotten about what had put him in a lousy mood and smiled.

"Happy birthday," Sephiroth said next. He reminded himself that Nibelheim wasn't very far from here.

"Happy birthday," Yazoo and Loz said. Sephiroth and the two of them stared at Kadaj.

"Yeah, yeah, birthdays and whatever," Kadaj said, irritated.

"Happy third year, Cloud," Jenova finally said. She had been staring into space after coming back down from leaving the bandersnatch in her room, snapping out of the dream-like state when everything grew quiet.

"Thank you," Cloud said cutely with the biggest grin on his face.

Cupcakes in the house went extinct that night.

Mrs. Strife wiped the chocolate off of Cloud's face. He tried to push her hands away.

"I can do it, Mama," he protested.

"Here." She handed her son the napkin. "Clean your hands." Cloud wiped his hands on the napkin and threw it into the Can of DOOM when he was done.

Three years had passed quickly. Too quickly, Mrs. Strife thought. She didn't want to give Cloud up at first, and she was completely against it now. But she had no choice. All Mrs. Strife could do now was enjoy the time she had left with him.

"Come on, Cloud." Mrs. Strife was about to lead him upstairs.

"But I wanna play with Sephiroth." Sephiroth was playing some kind of made-up game that involved the TV.

"Benny Hill show!" he exclaimed.

"Bingo!" Loz said.

"Ahh, shi- shoe! I meant shoe! I swear!" Kadaj said. Loz was doing a victory dance.

"Just-just for a little while," Mrs. Strife compromised. She kept an eye on Cloud while he sat close to Sephiroth to play a game of TV bingo.

Jenova was pleased. Cloud and Sephiroth were nearly inseparable. That part of the plan was completely perfect. The other required patience. Just one more year until Cloud was hers; only one more year until the human was to leave.

Notes:

Started: 2013年2月25日 （月）

Finished: 2013年2月28日 （木）

Three quarters of the way done! Next few chapters will drag a little and have more Sephiroth and Cloud moments (not yaoi. Sorry, but that won't be for a while). Mrs. Strife will be extra clingy towards Cloud, too.

A (possibly) long-awaited cameo of the Can of DOOM. Yay!

Jenova was taking Bat the bandersnatch out to take a shoe.

Last update for February. See you in March! ;)