Mrs. Strife sat with Cloud in her lap and Sephiroth sat on her right. Jenova and Sephiroth's remaining two brothers stood near the stairs. Mrs. Strife was very angry after discovering Cloud's state, but... Kadaj's punishment – it was way too harsh, so much so it seemed like he was bullied. Loz, Yazoo, and, much to Mrs. Strife's utter shock, Sephiroth seemed very satisfied, especially when their brother was sent outside for who knows how long. Mrs. Strife tried to protest against it.

"It's not right," she had argued. "He's been severly injured and – "

"He'll survive," Sephiroth had cut in.

"I- it- but-" She wasn't been able to express her thoughts on the matter without constant interruption from everybody besides Cloud.

"He'll be fine," Yazoo said nonchalantly.

"It's not that bad."

Not that bad? Not that bad?! Loz made it sound like she was overreacting!

The last thing Mrs. Strife heard before losing it came from Jenova.

"If you're so worried, then why don't you go out and find him?"

"Why don't I go out and find him?! That's what you should be doing! I just- just can't believe this! It's like you don't even care!" Mrs. Strife accused. Cloud shrunk into his mother's hold, afraid and confused of what was going on.

Jenova tilted her head, eyeing Mrs. Strife threateningly. Loz scowled and Yazoo stared intently at Mrs. Strife like he was sizing her up.

"Hey! Mother does care about us!" Loz defended. Mrs. Strife's frustration grew. Assuming that she could count Yazoo, she had three people against her. What were they thinking?! Kadaj had at least one broken rib and he was out there with no food, water, or shelter. And he was going to be just fine?

"Alright, if you won't bring him back, then I will." Mrs. Strife sat Cloud on the couch before standing up.

"Where you going, Mama?" Cloud slid off the couch to follow after his mother. Mrs. Strife stopped him as she opened the door.

"Stay with Sephiroth. I'll be back in a minute," she promised. She trusted Sephiroth to keep Cloud safe, even against Jenova. She didn't think that Kadaj could have gone very far; considering his condition, it was likely that he was lurking around right outside the house.

Sephiroth took Cloud's hand and led him away from the door when Mrs. Strife left. Sephiroth shot a look at Jenova, silently warning her against going after Mrs. Strife. He himself was slightly upset by Mrs. Strife's accusation of Jenova not caring. His mother did care; she just had the strangest way of showing it. That caring side didn't show itself as much anymore now that he and his brothers were old enough to take care of themselves, but it was still there. Really, though, if Kadaj hadn't been punished, Cloud would've been hurt by him again.

Mrs. Strife was overreacting a little bit, in Sephiroth's opinion. Then again, she didn't know that Kadaj's fast healing had already taken care of his wounds and he was perfectly capable of surviving in almost any situation. They had all lived comfortably (as much as was possible at the time) in areas with worse conditions and less luxuries before.

Jenova went up the stairs, Loz and Yazoo following suit. Loz was still scowling. After a quick mental question from Sephiroth, Loz replied, I don't like her. She's saying bad things about Mother. Sephiroth said no more, deciding to leave his brother alone, before going on to pester his mother.

And what are you doing?

Sleeping. Is that such a bad thing to do?

Sleeping itself isn't. What you're going to do instead of sleeping may be.

Are you going to follow me around all day?

When I get back from outside, yes.

It really isn't worth the effort, protecting that thing. At least we now have a set time for the game's beginning.

It was all a game to her. That didn't surprise Sephiroth. Right now, she wouldn't go after Mrs. Strife. Not yet. Once Sephiroth brought Mrs. Strife back from her pointless venture, he'd have to be on the alert.

"Let's go outside, Cloud."

Cloud was scared and very confused. His mother had been yelling at Jenova. His mother had never yelled at anybody before. Why was she doing it now? Cloud couldn't understand any of it, and his mother's strange behavior was scary. So scary that Cloud had been close to crying.

He felt better now, though, since Sephiroth was taking him somewhere outside. Cloud sat on Sephiroth's shoulders, looking around eagerly. It had been a while since he had seen the gray sky and boring rocky ground and walls (ROCKS!), but he missed it. He wondered if Sephiroth was going to take him out to the grass and dirt again. Cloud loved the dirt... except when he had to take a bath afterwards.

"Where we going?" Cloud asked excitedly. Was Sephiroth going to take him to see something new?

"Through the caves," Sephiroth answered. He kept going, stopping every time more than one big hole appeared and picking a path to take.

The caves weren't anything special. They looked exactly the same as the rest of the mountain. But for some reason, Cloud could hear his mother calling someone. Sephiroth heard her, too, and tried to follow the sound.

"Kadaj!" Mrs. Strife heard her voice bounce off the caves, the echoes nearly deafening. After searching for what seemed like hours, Mrs. Strife grew even more worried. She had seen no sign of Kadaj, and heard nothing – not even a dragon's roar or a wolf's growl – every time she called. The deeper into the caves she searched, the more worried for his wellbeing she became. She wondered what it was going through his mind that told him to stray further away from home. Mrs. Strife blamed it all on Jenova. That heartless monster! To think that she was this cruel to her own son, her flesh and blood...

Mrs. Strife shook her head, saving those thoughts for later. She continued wandering through the mountain, repeatedly calling Kadaj's name. When she backtracked and inspected another cave, she heard some pebbles shifting. A low growl made her freeze. She didn't dare turn around, already having a guess as to what was behind her.

Mrs. Strife held her breath, trying to be as least interesting as possible to the Nibel wolf hiding in the dimness of the cave. She heavily regretted not bringing anything to defend herself with.

The wolf snarled, moving closer to Mrs. Strife, sniffing as if deciding how much it would take for it to bring Mrs. Strife down. She jumped, nearly losing her balance as she quickly moved away, when the wolf made a pained sound and leaped to the side. Mrs. Strife took the chance to turn and see what was going on.

She faintly saw a tall figure with a humanoid shape around the shoulder area – Sephiroth. And Cloud was with him, too.

Sephiroth threw another stone at the wolf, moving away from the cave mouth and towards where Mrs. Strife was as the rock struck the wolf on the shoulder. The wolf advance towards Sephiroth. Mrs. Strife was going to panic. If the wolf got to Sephiroth, Cloud would get hurt, too.

Sephiroth lifted Cloud from his shoulders and thrust him into Mrs. Strife's arms. Throwing another stone, this time aiming for the wolf's head, he calmly instructed, "Get out of here while I distract it. The way home is towards the left."

Mrs. Strife held onto Cloud more tightly and looked worriedly at Sephiroth. "But what about you? "

"Don't worry about me," he said, keeping the calm tone in his voice. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Go now."

Mrs. Strife reluctantly moved towards the exit, keeping close to the walls. She buried Cloud's face into her breast. He squirmed and voiced his complaints, but Mrs. Strife refused to give in. She broke into a run, sprinting towards the left, before looking back. The Nibel wolf leaped, heading towards Sephiroth.

Jenova scratched behind Bat's ears. The old wolf growled in appreciation and leaned into her touch. He had gained a lot more weight when Jenova had first brought him home, but that weight had virtually disappeared. Bat wasn't horribly thin, but he had been eating considerably less. His painful whining had increased, nearly any movement hurting his bones. Jenova did what she could to make the bandersnatch comfortable, but that wasn't going to stop the inevitable.

Bat was dying. His old age was getting to him.

Jenova grabbed his head and pressed her own right against it. "Don't leave me," she whispered. "You can't go yet." She knew that what she said was stupid and that Bat couldn't understand a single word uttered. Yet, she couldn't really help but blurt that out. There was no way to stop a natural death, no matter how badly anybody wished there to be.

Bat tried to wrench his head out of Jenova's hold and she allowed it. He slowly stood up, trembling a bit as he did so, and circled a spot on the bed, laying down and making himself comfortable. His one milky eye, useless like his other one which was permanently closed up by a scar, remained open. Jenova patted him and let him be. She allowed herself a small amount of time to plot what she would do once Sephiroth returned. After all, she couldn't quit the game if she was the one that started it.

Notes:

Started: 2013年4月3日 （水）

Finished: 2013年4月5日 （金）

Sorry for the cliffie with Sephiroth. I'll get to it next chapter. What happens when he gets back will be mentioned, too.

In response to youraddiction227: Go ahead. :3 Just to warn you, Jenova likes to lurk around my house and force me to give her more opportunities to get Mrs. Strife.

In response to serellpaz: You're back! :D Well, that's easy for me to answer, but it's a crazy idea that involves fake biology.

Well, I'm kinda sad now, since a favorite author of mine has deleted most of her stories. :( They were really great, too... I regret never making myself review them...