6 September 1979
"As far as I know, there are four or five Nibel wolves, at most, lurking around Mt. Nibel. They're mostly found near the base of the mountain, near Nibelheim, or out on the plains. The dragons aren't very close to the town, but they aren't very close to where we're at, either. They're somewhere in between," Sephiroth informed Mrs. Strife. "Avoid any and all caves if you can."
Mrs. Strife had seemed really eager and interested in knowing about what monsters were nearby. Sephiroth wondered if she had had a change of heart and decided to let Cloud explore part of the mountain. He suspected that the answer was no, but damn, Cloud needed to breathe! She constantly made up some excuse to prevent him from leaving her side. Sephiroth was seriously going to steal Cloud away in the middle of the night or something similar if she kept that bullshit up. He and his brothers went unsupervised half the time and they were still alive. They weren't fragile, and Cloud wasn't, either.
"Is there any way to defend yourself against them?" Mrs. Strife asked.
This woman wanted to fight them? Sephiroth didn't know whether to admire her bravery or shake his head, assuming she did want to fight the creatures. He gave her his advice anyways, albeit with some suspicion.
"I'd recommend carrying a stick with you. The Nibel wolves are extremely fast and don't often make much noise before attacking. Keep your eyes and ears out. If one gets a hold of you, or if you've managed to find the opportunity to hit one first, go for the eyes. It never fails, except on either a really desperate or really stupid wolf. That may seem a little easy, but dragons are a different story. For those, it's best to get away as far as possible. Dragons can't move very quickly, nor do they stray far from their caves, but they can breathe fire."
"Put that down, Cloud," Mrs. Strife said suddenly. Cloud let out an "Aww!" and dropped the rock he tried to pocket without getting noticed. What the hell was wrong with keeping a rock or two? Cloud crossed his arms and pouted. Sephiroth didn't blame him.
"Those aren't the only monsters," Sephiroth said to redirect Mrs. Strife's attention. "There are Sonic Speeds near the base of the mountain. Sonic Speeds are very fast birds. They'll use their speed to knock you down, but aren't very dangerous. Just watch out for their talons." Sephiroth saw Cloud trying to pick up a rock again. Go for it, Sephiroth encouraged before going on to distract Mrs. Strife again. "If you decide to take the bridge, which really isn't a good idea at all, you'll find them there, too."
"Put it down," Mrs. Strife said firmly after turning to face Cloud. Cloud fished the rock out of his pocket and angrily threw it against the ground. Damn it, Sephiroth thought. He felt Cloud's frustration running through him. Poor kid was going to let it all out one day. Sephiroth was sure of it.
"There's no point in worrying about them, since nothing ever comes all the way up here," Sephiroth mentioned. Mrs. Strife had to have a reason why she wanted to know.
"No rocks, Cloud," Mrs. Strife said again. She looked awfully relieved that she'd dodged Sephiroth's unspoken question for the moment. "It's time to go inside, anyways."
Cloud, on the other hand, was pissed. He didn't have tantrums very often, but one was definitely brewing right then. Sephiroth could feel it coming.
Cloud was fed up. It was always "No, Cloud", "Don't do this, Cloud", "Don't do that, Cloud", "You can't play right now, Cloud, it's time for your lessons", "Why don't you let me read you a story? You can play later, Cloud", and a bunch of other stuff coming from his mother. She wasn't letting him go out and play on purpose! Whatever the reason, Cloud didn't care. He wanted her to leave him alone. He wanted to go play with rocks. He wanted to go and do something – anything – with Sephiroth. But right now...
He didn't want to go inside. His mother couldn't make him.
"I'm not going," Cloud said defiantly. He clenched his little fists and scowled. No more, no more! She was going to make him go inside and then make him practice his letters and then make him practice reading words and then make him practice writing his letters and then make him sit and listen while she read him a story and then tell him to go to sleep, 'cause it would be bedtime by the time it was all over. It was the same thing every time!
"Yes you are," his mother said sternly. Cloud turned to Sephiroth for help. Cloud was a little mad at Sephiroth for sitting there and talking to his mother about wolves, dragons, sticks, birds, and whatever else (Cloud wasn't paying much attention to the conversation) instead of playing with him. He was glad that Sephiroth tried to keep his mother busy so Cloud could pick up a rock. But poo! His mother still saw him!
I'll wake you up really early tomorrow morning and take you out somewhere for a while without your mother knowing, Sephiroth told him. Cloud smiled and bounced on his feet a little. His mother gave him a surprised look.
There's one thing you have to do for me, though. Cloud stopped bouncing, but kept his small smile on his face. I need you to do what your mother says.
Cloud frowned at that. His mother's surprise increased.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Cloud didn't answer her.
You promise? Cloud trusted Sephiroth, but he wanted to hear it. Hear that he really would take him out without his mother knowing.
I promise.
"I... I'll go inside, Mama," Cloud finally said. He was willing to give up – for now.
His mother stood up and led him inside. Sephiroth didn't move. Cloud looked back one last time. Sephiroth was looking straight ahead.
Mrs. Strife was shocked at seeing Cloud swing from upset to excited in a split second. Then he had frowned less than a moment later. What had made him do that? She mentally shook her head. She'd worry about that later.
Mrs. Strife let Cloud sit and color at the table while she contemplated what information she had gathered. The main thing she had to worry about while she escaped was the Nibel wolves. However, based on what Sephiroth said, she didn't expect to run into any. Avoiding the dragons seemed easy enough. Mrs. Strife decided to take a weapon anyways, just in case. Unfortunately, after looking out and down from the window, the ground was too far from her vantage point. There would be no other way, besides using the front door, to get out. The complete darkness at night posed another problem, too: she had no way of seeing. There weren't any flashlights or anything similar around the house, as far as she knew.
Thinking about it all made her so nervous she felt a little sick. It was so bad, she was completely paranoid about Cloud's safety. She understood why he'd be upset, but she couldn't help it. Mrs. Strife wanted her son all to herself.
The hours ticked by, and, soon, Cloud got tired. Mrs. Strife lay him down for a nap, settling in next to him. She needed to gather her thoughts and sort out her escape plan.
"Hey." Sephiroth poked Kadaj. The four of them were standing outside, in front of the house. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," Kadaj said. "It's not like you've been abandoning us or anything."
Kadaj hadn't let go of his hate for Cloud. In fact, he took even more offense to anything Cloud said or did than before.
"I haven't been abandoning you asshats," Sephiroth said. Kadaj had a habit of exaggerating.
"...you don't really do anything with us anymore," Loz said sadly.
"Yeah, you're always with that piece of crap," Kadaj muttered angrily.
"He's not a piece of crap." Cloud was a really nice kid; the complete opposite from the wild beast that Kadaj was at his age.
Kadaj ignored that statement, as he usually did whenever Sephiroth defended Cloud. "He's already taken you away, and, apparently, his mother isn't good enough for him."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"He's stealing our mother away, too! Don't you get it?" Sephiroth really wanted to beat the crap out of his brother for even thinking that.
"He isn't," Yazoo cut in. Kadaj stared at him in disbelief.
"Now you're on his side, too?!"
"Not on the kid's side. But, really, mother spends much more time with the bandersnatch than she does with him. Why aren't you jealous of the animal, too?" Yazoo had a point.
"I'm not jealous of that turd," Kadaj denied quickly.
"Well, something tells me that jealousy issues is something I need to add with the things wrong with you. I thought it was only anger issues, but I guess I was wrong," Sephiroth said. The situation would've been funnier if Kadaj hadn't been harboring his hatred for so long. There have been many times where Kadaj had made it obvious that he wanted to hurt Cloud in some way.
"Fuck you! Stupid kid's been extremely annoying from the start, never ever shutting the hell up! Now he's taken you and mother!" Kadaj yelled. "Now we won't have a dictionary because that thing is taking him, too!"
"Cloud is not a thing and Yazoo is not a dictionary." Sephiroth was very close to attacking his brother.
"This year is passing too slowly," Kadaj said bitterly. He found himself lying on his stomach on the ground with his arm being twisted painfully behind his back.
"Take it back!" Sephiroth demanded. He lifted his right hand and punched the back of Kadaj's head.
"I'll take it back when Ifrit's balls freeze and Shiva's tits melt!" Kadaj tried to crawl out of Sephiroth's grip.
Loz wrapped his arm around Sephiroth's neck and pulled.
"Let him go!" Loz said.
"Not until he takes it back!"
"Fuck all of you! I'm not taking anything back! GET OFF!"
"Just let him go," Loz pleaded. "He's not going to stop saying things. Help me out here!" he said to Yazoo.
"I'm taking no part in this," Yazoo said. "What use would I be? After all, I'm just a dictionary," he said sarcastically.
"He takes that part back! Right, Kadaj?" Loz pulled Sephiroth harder. Sephiroth started having difficulty breathing, but he refused to get off of Kadaj. That asshole owed an apology.
Yazoo just watched the scene with a bored look on his face. He eventually pushed Loz and Sephiroth over. Kadaj quickly scrambled to his feet.
"Nothing you say about him will make stop hating the kid," Kadaj said. "I'll still count down the days until he and the nag get out of here." He stormed into the house. Loz looked between the door and his remaining brothers before deciding to stay outside, not wanting to experience Kadaj's wrath.
Sephiroth was going to make Kadaj regret it. None of the accusations Kadaj made were Cloud's fault. Idiot seemed to have forgotten that Cloud was only three.
I'm going to quit already. Yazoo was referring to Cloud. Yazoo had been trying to contact Cloud for the past three weeks.
How much were you able to do? Sephiroth had already told his brother that he could feel Cloud's emotions, talk to him mentally, hear his thoughts, and see through his eyes.
If I think hard enough, I can hear a bit of his thoughts, but that's only because I never got the hang of prying into someone's mind. I'm going to assume that it would be the exact same thing if any of us tried, besides you and mother, of course. He has to have something to do with you. If he didn't, then why are you able to interact with him so much mentally and nobody else is?
More questions that wouldn't receive an answer. Most of those questions revolved around Cloud and his mother...
Jenova dragged the scalpel across her arm, watching the cut heal itself instantly. The human wanted to run. It could run all it wanted; Jenova could care less. All she wanted was Cloud. It took so long to make the child that losing him was out of the question.
The sun was setting and Cloud and that human were still asleep. Good. Jenova put her plan into action. She dug the scalpel into herself, cutting deeper and deeper before reaching in and ripping out a kidney. She willed the twitching organ to morph itself into Cloud's likeness and gave it a single objective: sleep. That was all the Not-Cloud had to do. What happened next was up to the human.
Jenova ghosted into the human's room, slowly pulling Cloud away from it. She replaced him with the Not-Cloud and placed an object next to the human before making her way to Sephiroth's room.
"What are you doing?" Sephiroth asked. Jenova placed Cloud on his bed before passing Sephiroth, who was at his desk, and leaving.
"Ask later," she said before she left the room. There was no time for answers now, cryptic or not. The human was going to wake up soon.
She sat in her room again, back against the locked door, scratching behind Bat's ears. Jenova was going to see just exactly how desperate the human was. If it died, Jenova wouldn't care. It wouldn't be going against The Deal if its escape ended badly.
Run, rabbit. Run.
Notes:
Started: 2013年3月7日 （木）
Finished: 2013年3月11日 （月）
Ended on a bit of a cliffy. Sorry! Mrs. Strife's escape attempt will be in the next chapter for sure. I'll explain more on what Jenova means by that second to last sentence then, too. Hehe, Jenova isn't stupid.
Fun fact: I've always thought Jenova would be psycho if she moved around and talked (well, more than she did in the original game). Don't know why. Has anybody wondered if her insanity has passed on to her children?
I've opened up a poll on my profile page. Check it out and vote, if you like. :D
One last thing: I know I haven't mentioned it since Chapter 2, but I really appreciate the feedback. Even a new follow or favorite makes me eager to work on the next chapter! I'm going to take this moment to be a total bitch, though. REVIEW! Review or Mrs. Strife dies! *holds key to cage Jenova is currently locked in*