Quick note: Alright, this is the real Chapter 17. Not a joke this time. Sorry for the April Fool's trick. I'm surprised I managed to get this one out just a few hours later. o_o

Oh, and JollyBigSis: Wish granted! ;)

Jenova rummaged through the human's things, finding a large literature book full of short stories. She flipped through the pages, then looked through the human's other books before deciding to take the literature book instead. It was bigger and must have been more difficult to obtain. Therefore, it was more valuable.

What she planned to do was tame. She decided to test just how much Sephiroth was set on defending that human. She had left it in peace, though Sephiroth did stay alert during the late hours to make sure that she didn't try anything. Jenova was going to teach him that no time of day was safe.

Jenova turned to leave when another book caught her eye. She flipped through that one, finding photographs of the human, its partner, and Cloud. The photo album joined the other book in Jenova's arms. She heard Cloud pass by, waited until she heard a door open, and silently creeped down the stairs. Placing the valuables at the foot of the stairs, she went back up to retrieve what she needed next.

Mrs. Strife sat in her chair after granting Cloud permission to roam around the house. She still felt burdened from that day. Sephiroth had questioned her multiple times, trying to find out what happened. Despite the variations of "what did she do", Mrs. Strife refused to answer. She was sure that he had gotten Jenova's side of the story first. If what happened between herself and Jenova was going to be kept that way, that was fine by Mrs. Strife. She had gotten Cloud into The Deal herself, and, as much as she denied, there were consequences – consequences she had to suffer for. She had nearly given in and spilled everything quite a few times. She would've felt much less terrible with someone on her side, but he couldn't know about The Deal. Never, if Mrs. Strife had anything to say about it. Yet, with Cloud a permanent addition to the household, he was definitely going to know.

Everybody was going to know. And she felt like a horrible person, almost as bad as Jenova.

Mrs. Strife wrung her hands before she was grabbed from behind and ripped from her depressing thoughts. A hand clamped over her mouth before she could scream, and she was wrenched out of her seat. Mrs. Strife thrashed, yelling as hard as she could. She attempted to bite the hand, but it stayed. Mrs. Strife kicked furiously as she was half lifted, half dragged away. She bit harder. Everything grew dark as she was shoved into a tiny space.

Jenova opened the door and dragged the chest her sons would use in their little trap game outside. She released it once they were at the side of the house and sat on it. The human had managed to flip over and was pounding and pushing at the lid. It had lifted the lid an inch or two a couple of times before letting the lid fall back into place.

Jenova made herself comfortable, then looked through the large book again, this time giving the stories within some actual attention. It would take a short while for Sephiroth to come back, so she had some time to kill. Boring, boring, boring, boring, bor– wait, what was that one?

The title practically popped out at her; it was in such a large font. Holy shit. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Jenova was so happy she could piss rabbits. However, that changed nearly a second later. It was a shortened version. So shortened it couldn't even be considered abridged. Aside from the very beginning, the only parts included were The Pool of Tears and the trial at the very end. Jenova was absolutely pissed now. What about the race? Or where Alice gets stuck in a house? Or the caterpillar with the hookah? Or the Mad Tea Party? Or the duchess and the pig baby? The scene with Gryphon and the Mock Turtle? The Carpenter and the Walrus? The more missing parts Jenova listed, the more pissed off she became. The illustrations differing from the original was the last straw. Those pages were the first to go.

Jenova took hold of all of the pages of that abomination of an adaptation and pulled. Off with its non-existing head!

Jenova decided to save the pages for the time being and looked through the human's photo album once again, finding something else to destroy. She looked every single picture over with a critical eye before deciding to have a little mercy on the human. Just this once.

Ignoring the weaker pushes the human made, Jenova loudly declared, "What a nice wedding it must have been. But it's so bright and disgusting. Allow me to get rid of this one for you."

"No, nonononono, please, please no!" Jenova heard faintly. She took a smaller stack of the loose pages she had torn and tore those in half as close to the chest as possible so the human could hear. She laughed hysterically at the yells that followed.

"Oh, look: this one appears as if it was taken days after Cloud's birth. How did you manage to get someone to take it?" Jenova ripped one of the halves into another half, reveling in the human's despair. She continued ripping all of the pages until numerous scraps were left.

"There's no more. How terrible," Jenova said, disappointed. "Are you running out of air yet?" she taunted.

"Let me out!" The human attacked the tops and sides of the chest with as much strength physically possible for it to use.

Jenova ignored the human and made herself get lost in thought, idly ripping out pages from the large book. Sephiroth was taking longer than expected. Ah, well, he'd still arrive before the human suffocated. In fact, she could sense that he had already passed the Mako spring. What a fun game this was going to be.

Turning to grimmer thoughts, Jenova thought about Bat. He–

"Quiet. I'm thinking," Jenova said in response to the scratching noises the human made.

Back to Bat. He wasn't–

"Quieeeet. I'm thinking," Jenova hissed, slamming a fist down. The scratches paused for a few seconds before resuming. "Make your fingers bleed all you want. They'll definitely be more help to you than before," she said condescendingly. She got off the chest, holding the destroyed book and the photo album, and flipped it upside down when the human kept on.

Silence came from the overturned box of wood. Finally. Jenova started to think about the bandersnatch's worsening condition when Sephiroth came up the path. Ahh, dammit! She'd have to think later.

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth asked suspiciously. He held a plastic bag in his left hand.

"What am I doing?"

Sephiroth lowered the bag to the floor, releasing it, and stepped closer. "What's in there?"

"Air." Jenova scooted to the far end of the chest as Sephiroth leaned forward, placing his hands on it.

"And...? What else?" He was starting to get annoyed. The annoyance changed to surprise as the human frantically started to beat at the chest, though the pounding wasn't as loud or as strong as before.

Sephiroth looked up, obviously not pleased. Jenova grinned at him and slid off when Sephiroth yanked at the chest. Jenova yanked back, not letting him help the human without a fight. Sephiroth tried nearly everything – he pulled the chest up, tried to flip it on its side, pushed it, pulled it – but nothing was very effective. He was putting nearly all of his strength in it, too.

The game of tug-o-war continued, Jenova overpowering Sephiroth with each pull. Suddenly, she rushed forward and knocked Sephiroth down, squishing him with the chest. Lying on top of the object, she stared down at him.

Sephiroth was furious. He obviously wasn't enjoying the game. Jenova didn't resist when he rolled and flipped everything on top of him on their side. He quickly stood up and wrenched the lid open, pulling the human out.

The human was sweating a little and panting heavily. She looked at Sephiroth like he was her savior, numerous thank you's escaping from her lips.

Jenova laughed at everything, not caring at either of the angry faces looking back at her. The human was especially upset when it found its book in horrible condition and its album on the ground. It looked very relieved, however, when it at discovering that the album was perfectly intact.

Sephiroth was about to say something when all three heard screaming.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Today was a really shitty day. He had left to bring Cloud some more treats to stuff him with, and his mother's tormenting Mrs. Strife was what he came home to. The day got even shittier once he discovered the source of the scream.

He and Mrs. Strife ran like their asses were on fire; even Jenova moved at a faster pace than normal. A red-faced, tear-drenched Cloud greeted them, running towards his mother and sobbing. Mrs. Strife looked like she wanted to join him in crying.

"It hurts, Mama! It hurts!" Cloud cried. Part of his forehead was a blackish-purple; a huge bruise had already formed.

"What happened?" Mrs. Strife asked, nearly panicking. The closest Cloud had ever gotten to getting hurt was falling, but he had always been able to catch himself with his hands. Even when he first started walking there was someone around to stop him from landing.

"It was 'Daj!"

Mrs. Strife's eyes widened. The concerned look on Jenova's face changed to a dark one. Sephiroth didn't wait around for any more details. He sprinted up the stairs and stormed into his brothers' room.

Yazoo and Loz were pinning down a thrashing Kadaj. Several cuts and bruises that marred his face healed and faded. Yazoo, who was holding down Kadaj's arms, released Kadaj's left arm and twisted the right, almost breaking it. Kadaj grit his teeth in pain and violently pulled his brother's hair. Loz let go of Kadaj's legs and slammed his elbow into Kada's balls.

"AAAHH!" Kadaj cried out. He couldn't hold that one in.

Sephiroth decided that his brothers had punished Kadaj enough. It was his turn.

Silently instructing Loz to pin Kadaj's legs again, Sephiroth approached Kadaj, looking down at him. Kadaj looked up menacingly at Sephiroth.

Saying nothing, Sephiroth brought his foot back and slammed it into Kadaj's ribs, hearing a crack. Loz and Yazoo released Kadaj, who clutched at his ribs in a fetal position. The three left him there and went downstairs.

Cloud lay on the couch with his head on his mother's lap, still crying, though not as hard as before. His nose was red and the bruise covered half of his forehead. Mrs. Strife rubbed at it and Cloud cried out.

"Do you want me to make it better?" she asked. Cloud nodded quickly. She kissed him on the forehead. Cloud looked disappointed, as if to say, "That didn't help at all." He sat up to look at Sephiroth.

"You, too," Cloud demanded. Sephiroth bent over to place a kiss on Cloud's head, feeling awkward as he did so (Jenova never ever expressed affection towards him or his brothers that way). Cloud still appeared disappointed.

Jenova leaned over from the back of the couch and towards Cloud. She ignored Mrs. Strife's look of horror and rubbed at Cloud's forehead. The bruise and most of the redness disappeared and reappeared on Jenova, healing afterwards.

Cloud touched his head and nose. "Doesn't hurt," he said, surprised. Mrs. Strife looked between him and Jenova with disbelief.

"What happened?" Jenova asked Loz and Yazoo.

"Kadaj was being a meanie!" Loz said.

"...he grabbed the kid and threw him," Yazoo elaborated.

"Hey, you can talk!" Cloud exclaimed. "How come you said you couldn't?"

"Because I didn't feel like it," Yazoo said simply.

"What did you do to him?" Jenova asked, referring to Kadaj.

"I got him where it hurts!" Loz said with pride.

"Nearly broke his arm," Yazoo said.

Sephiroth stayed silent. He waited until Kadaj finally came down before he said his testimony. "One or two of his ribs is broken."

Kadaj stood as far away as possible from everybody without going back up the stairs. Sephiroth held his breath as he waited for his mother to deliver her verdict.

"You've had enough punishment," she said. What the hell?! That's bullshit! "But –," she interjected, stopping anybody from saying anything whether it was positive or negative, " – there is room for one more." Kadaj appeared slightly nervous, but he stubbornly kept the angry look on his face.

Jenova pointed to the front door. "Out," she said.

"What?" Kadaj said in disbelief.

"Out," Jenova repeated.

"But I- he's -!" Kadaj sputtered.

"I. Don't. Care. He is three years old. You do not take advantage of him because he is too young to be able to defend himself. You know better."

Kadaj tried to argue some more, but Jenova would have none of it.

"Out."

Kadaj huffed angrily and practically stomped to the door. "When do I –"

"When I say so."

Cloud and Mrs. Strife flinched when Kadaj slammed the door behind himself.

Kadaj was boiling with rage. That rage erupted when he saw a bag of snacks that he knew were for that piece of shit. He walked far, stopping in a secluded area, and launched the bag off the side of the mountain.

It was all that bitch's fault. If it weren't for that dumb broad, everything would've been normal. Instead of his whole family turning against him, he would've been devising a plan to terrorize Nibelheim with his brothers, and they would've caused mayhem, just like they always did. Now he was stuck out here. His expulsion could last between a week and the rest of eternity. He couldn't go back inside, no matter what. If he had to eat, he'd have to hunt down an animal and kill it. If he had to shit, he'd have to find a place outside to fucking shit. If he was tired, he'd have to sleep on the damn rocks. If he wanted just a little bit of social interaction, whether it's a fight or an argument or even something peaceful, too fucking bad!

Oh, but Kadaj was going to bide his time. Once the year passed and the two rats were to return to Nibelheim, Kadaj was going with them. He was going to murder that moronic chunk of vomit.

And the kid was next.

Notes:

Started: 2013年3月30日 （土）

Finished: 2013年4月1日 （月）

I was on a roll yesterday, and I guess it carried over to today, too. Awesome! I'd been getting real lazy and less motivated to write, but that's gone now.

I hope you guys are satisfied with Kadaj's punishment. :3 More irony here. Poor Mrs. Strife; now she's got two people out to get her - one for fun and the other for seriously.

Okay, I don't really mention Bat the bandersnatch because I know how everyone generally feels about OCs (I feel the same way). There's really only one story around here where I really liked the OCs (well, one of them, anyways) and it features the awesomest old lady you'll ever read about. Don't know which fic I'm talking about? SHAME ON YOU. You should know! Anyways, Bat does have a (very) small role in this story, which is why he was mentioned in the first place.