21 August 1979

Mrs. Strife pulled a sweater over Cloud's head and instructed him to lift his arms. He stuck them through the sleeves. The sweater was a little oversized, but it was good enough to protect him from the weather outside.

Cloud had gotten excited when he was told that everyone was going outside today. The only world he knew was the indoors, and Mrs. Strife was glad that he wasn't going to be trapped inside forever. She would let him play and explore, but not without watching him, of course.

"What's this for, Mama?" Cloud asked, tugging at his sweater. He never had to wear one before; he usually had a blanket wrapped around him whenever it got cold inside.

"It's a little cold outside. It's easier to wear a sweater instead of a blanket," she explained.

"Ohh," Cloud said. "Is it code inside because of outside?"

"Yes. Except it's a lot colder outside than in here."

Cloud looked amazed at this discovery. Mrs. Strife chuckled. Cloud was amazed with anything new he learned.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!" Cloud said eagerly. Mrs. Strife took his little hand in hers and led him down the stairs.

Sephiroth was sitting on the couch, waiting for them. Cloud ran up to him.

"We're going outside!" Cloud declared. He put his hands on Sephiroth's knee. "You're coming, too, right?"

"Yeah. I see that you're ready."

"Let's go, let's go!" Cloud said impatiently. He bounced on his feet and ran to the door. Mrs. Strife went after him, Sephiroth following. Cloud ran out when she opened the door.

It was cold outside. And there were rocks everywhere. Cloud picked up nearly every rock he saw, only to reluctantly put them back down when his mother told him to. She was sitting on the porch.

"Stay close to here," his mother reminded him.

"Okay," Cloud said. At least she let Sephiroth show him around, though there wasn't anything besides rocks to play with.

"Are there more wuffies outside?" Cloud asked. "Like Bat?" He wanted to pet Bat again, but hadn't gotten the chance, always being pulled back by his mother. Maybe there were more fluffy things to pet outside.

"There are, but not the same kind as Bat," Sephiroth told him. "The Nibel wolves don't come all the way up here, anyways."

"Why?"

"There's nothing for them to eat up here. No water, either."

"But we're here. We can feed the wuffies." Cloud would have given them some of his birthday cupcakes if they had come around then. After some thought, he figured that the wolves could have drunk whatever was in the fridge. Cloud liked juice and chocolate milk, so maybe the wolves did, too.

"They bite. And when they do, they don't let go."

"Nuh-uh. Bat doesn't bite." Cloud was sure that Sephiroth only said that they bite to scare Cloud into not wanting one. If Bat wasn't going to be around, then something else that was fluffy had to be around.

"Not all wolves are like Bat. Some of them are really, really mean."

Cloud walked forward, Sephiroth trailing behind him.

"Can we go and find a nice wuff?" Cloud asked. He stopped at the edge of the part of the mountain they were at and leaned over. Sephiroth pulled him back. Cloud frowned.

"You'll fall," Sephiroth warned.

"But I wanna see," Cloud protested. Sephiroth picked him up and held him a few inches away from himself. Cloud looked down and saw a lot of pointy, spiky rocks. It looked like they hurt. He wouldn't want to fall into that.

"Are dogs nice?" Cloud asked when Sephiroth put him down near Mrs. Strife. Cloud had seen dogs on TV. They looked really friendly.

"Most of them."

"Can we get a dog, Mama?" Cloud hoped his mother would say it was okay to get a dog. The ones on TV looked really nice, so they had to be like that in real life, right?

"A dog sounds nice," his mother said. Yay! Cloud said to himself. He was full of joy. If he had a dog, he'd get a really, really fluffy one and pet it all day and his mother wouldn't be able to say that it was mean because it really wasn't and he and the dog would drink juice and chocolate milk and – "...but I don't know where to find one."

Disappointment filled Cloud. "It's not fair," he said. He wasn't allowed to pet Bat; he couldn't find times where his mother wasn't looking so he could get away with petting Bat; wolves were mean biters, and they couldn't keep one because of that; and dogs were nowhere to be found here. No fair at all!

The disappointment from Cloud welled up inside Sephiroth. Cloud scowled and sat next to his mother. A bit of anger mixed in and joined the current emotion, immediately transferring to Sephiroth. It was strange how certain things said could change Cloud from bubbling with happiness to frowning and feeling more negative. Then again, Sephiroth did remember some instances where that happened to him when he was a kid.

Honestly, Sephiroth thought it was safe enough for Cloud to be around the bandersnatch as long as it was held down so it wouldn't be able to bite him. In his opinion, Cloud's mother was a little overprotective. She'd been swooping in after Cloud whenever he so much as thought of being near Bat.

He hadn't been lying when he told Cloud that Nibel wolves weren't the nicest of beasts. When provoked or threatened, Nibel wolves had a temper nasty enough to be worse than Kadaj's. Unlike the bandersnatch, the Nibel wolf was made for speed instead of strength. With long, thin legs and a tall and thin body in general, the average Nibel wolf was fast enough to be able to catch up to the swiftest of yellow chocobos. Nibel wolves used their momentum instead of their weight to bring their prey down. Those, coupled with evasion techniques, made Nibel wolves the most dangerous creature in Nibelheim. Even dragons were easier to deal with, since they never ventured far from their caves.

Once a Nibel wolf found a good spot to bite, it took a lot to persuade it to let go. Wolf attacks in Nibelheim were extremely rare, but there was always at least one person killed or maimed when they happened. There was no way Sephiroth would risk bringing one to Cloud so he could get his wish. Instead, Sephiroth had an easier and safer way to cheer the little kid up.

Sephiroth turned and walked towards the path to Nibelheim. He sensed that Cloud was on the alert now.

"Where you going?"

"To get you something. I'll be back," he promised.

"Can I go?"

"It's really far away." Sephiroth hoped Cloud would give in without much of a fight. He mentally sent reassurances and promises of his return to Cloud, trying to further persuade him to stay.

Cloud sulked, the emotion hitting Sephiroth hard. Mrs. Strife hugged Cloud, trying to comfort him. Cloud's sour mood eased a little.

"You better take me next time!" Cloud said.

I would if your mother was less paranoid about you, Sephiroth said to himself. He set off, looking for any sign of his brothers.

He was going to need a little help with this one.

Mrs. Strife rocked Cloud, patting his back a little. He wasn't crying, but he wasn't very happy, either. She hoped that whatever Sephiroth decided to bring back wasn't dangerous in any way.

Sitting out there a little longer, Mrs. Strife came to a realization: she had a chance to get out of The Deal. She could ask Sephiroth more about Mt. Nibel and where exactly the monsters would be. She couldn't recall the route she was taken through to get here, but the observation she planed to do would help remedy that.

She stepped off of the porch, still carrying Cloud, and looked up. Nothing special. She could see the window to her room, which was covered by a sheet, when she inspected the right side of the house. A tiny window occupied the space a short distance away and was followed by another normal-sized one. The tiny window belonged to the bathroom, and Mrs. Strife knew that Sephiroth's three brothers slept in the last room on the right.

"What you doing, Mama?" Cloud asked.

"I'm just looking around, dear," Mrs. Strife said. She was never, ever going to tell him. Not about The Deal. If she got away from here, she wouldn't even have to. They'd get a ride to the nearest town and, eventually, to another continent – as far away from Nibelheim as possible.

"Can I pet Bat now, Mama?"

Why is he asking about it? "No, Cloud. It can bite."

"Aww, Mama! It's a nice wuff..." Cloud whined. It was the same excuse he'd been using for the past two days. "Look, it's nice to Ba." Mrs. Strife turned around.

Jenova stared back at Mrs. Strife, the bandersnatch – It's much bigger than I thought! – practically leaning against her. Jenova said nothing and went inside.

Mrs. Strife felt very vulnerable being the only person there (besides Cloud) with Jenova. She explored a little of the outdoors with Cloud, taking mental notes of the area, before going inside when the wind started to chill the air.

"Let's raid the general store."

Kadaj looked indecisive at Sephiroth's proposal. Yazoo tilted his head and Loz asked, "What for?"

"I'm going for a load of candy this time. I'll split with whoever helps." That should work as an incentive. Sephiroth couldn't get away with the raid by himself. Nobody looked away from him for even a fraction of a second when he was in Nibelheim.

"I don't know," Kadaj said. "Rock sliding, or helping out with your snack binge?" He looked out onto the steep incline behind him, sharp rocks jutting out of it. They were going to play a game of jackass again.

"Not all of the loot was for me, anyways." Sephiroth shrugged. "Go ahead and jump."

Kadaj turned sharply. "So some of it's for the kid?"

"Most of it, actually." The implication hung in the air: I dare you to say something against him.

"He can starve for all I care," Kadaj said bitterly.

Sephiroth let it go. They'd be arguing all day if he didn't. "How about you?" he asked Loz.

Loz looked back and forth between Sephiroth and Kadaj. Kadaj slowly shook his head.

"No," Loz mumbled.

Sephiroth said nothing and made his way to Nibelheim. Yazoo would follow if he wanted to.

"You're really attached to the kid, aren't you?" Yazoo said. Sephiroth could sense Kadaj's anger at Yazoo's leaving.

"I don't know why. There are some things about him and I can't really tell what all of them are," Sephiroth admitted.

"What exactly are the 'things' you do know?"

"Don't let anyone else know what I'm going to tell you next: Cloud is like us."

"In what way?"

"Mentally."

"I think it has to do with why he and his mother are here," Yazoo said thoughtfully. "Never got an explanation for that."

Sephiroth hadn't thought of it that way. It was possible.

"Try talking to him when we get back. I want to know if Cloud can communicate with anyone else." It was a little strange that nobody else picked up on Cloud's ability.

"Alright. Have you tried asking mother about it?"

"I tend to avoid anything that gives me headaches." Yazoo nodded in agreement.

They stopped at the town outskirts. Sephiroth went forward to attract attention.

The townspeople had their eyes glued onto Sephiroth. They didn't look away once. Mayor Lockheart was giving Sephiroth the worst stink eye he could. Sephiroth bet that the bastard was still fuming over his lost chance.

Sephiroth entered the general store. Yazoo creeped in after him when Sephiroth notified that it was safe to do so.

Sephiroth slowly walked to one side of the store, purposely leaning way too close to the drink fridge. The clerk watched him closely, not noticing Yazoo slinking around on the other side and occasionally dodging behind a shelf.

Get whatever's good and go ahead and pick some stuff for yourself, Sephiroth silently told his brother. He opened the fridge and took out three root beers. The clerk looked a little antsy when Sephiroth strode over to the counter, but then grew still and stern when Sephiroth slowly turned to look at the chips.

Done, Yazoo said. Better move quick before the stuff falls. I swiped a lot. Sephiroth grabbed a random bag of chips and went to pay for them and the drinks. Yazoo bolted out the door.

Sephiroth found Yazoo leaning against the stone wall of the Shinra Mansion. He took everything in the paper bag the clerk had quickly given him and Yazoo dumped half of the chocolates and other treats that overflowed in his arms into it. The two returned home.

Shoplifting was their nonviolent way of telling the town to go fuck itself.

Cloud ran to the door and was pulled away.

"Sephiroth's coming back, Mama! I wanna go see him outside!" Cloud protested. He had been practicing his letters with his mother when a voice popped into his head. I'm on the way, it had said.

"You can wait for him in here. It's too cold for you outside." His mother sat him at the table.

Cloud could care less whether it was cold outside or not. He wanted to be with Sephiroth as soon as possible.

"What letter is this?" his mother asked, trying to distract him. She drew a stick with another stick going across the top.

"T," Cloud said. He fidgeted in his seat. His mother ignored his impatience and continued on with the rest of the letters, until Cloud eventually heard the door open.

Cloud barreled into Sephiroth, making him stumble a bit, and hugged him.

"Don't go 'way no more," Cloud said. He instinctively went limp when Sephiroth picked him up.

"But I left to get you something, remember?"

Cloud had forgotten. He noticed that Sephiroth was carrying something in his other arm.

"What is it?" Cloud asked when Sephiroth let him down. He followed Sephiroth to the table.

Sephiroth dumped a bag of stuff onto the table. He unwrapped one of the things and gave it to Cloud.

"It's chocolate," he said.

Cloud took a bite. It was good – better than chocolate milk. And there was a lot more, too. Even more chocolate bars and some other things littered the table after Yazoo came around. Cloud ate the rest of his chocolate bar.

"You want some, too, Mama?" Cloud asked.

"Maybe just one," his mother said after some thought. "You can have one more, too. I don't want you to ruin your appetite for dinner later."

Cloud groaned. Now his mother wouldn't let him eat a lot of chocolate. Maybe it would be a lot easier to get away with snacks than it would to try to pet Bat. Cloud planned to find out soon enough.

"Make sure to hide them," Sephiroth said. "There's an evil chocolate monster that likes to steal." There was a monster out to get his stuff, too?! It seemed like everyone was against him today.

Despite all that, Cloud felt that it was one of the best days he'd ever had. Sharing that day with Sephiroth made Cloud feel even better.

Notes:

Started: 2013年3月3日 （土）

Finished: 2013年3月6日 （水）

Yay! A longer chapter!

That info on Nibel wolves might be important later...

The small things Sephiroth tries to do for Cloud. At least Sephiroth has Yazoo on his side.

Chocolate really does have a strange habit of disappearing there. The evil chocolate monster may or may not get to Cloud.

Moving on to either September or October next chapter!