"Go back, Mama!" Cloud begged for the hundredth time. His mother didn't listen and continued to run. The world felt like it was spinning, though Cloud couldn't tell if it really was or not with how his mother had him pressed against her, refusing to let him see anything. Cloud's stomach protested the swaying and slightly bouncing movement by giving off that really weird feeling. Cloud stopped trying to convince her to go back for Sephiroth in fear that the strange feeling would get worse and turn into something else.
His mother soon slowed down and Cloud felt solid ground under his feet. His stomach didn't feel much better, and Cloud finally notified his mother of those sensations.
"Where does it feel weird?" She looked Cloud over with a critical eye, feeling his forehead before sitting him down on a chair.
"Tummy," Cloud whined. The world was still spinning and the strange feeling flared up before settling down again. His mother lifted his shirt and lightly felt his stomach, a concerned look joining the scared one on her face.
"What does it feel like?"
"I don't know!" Everything that happened today crashed down on Cloud and he couldn't take it anymore. He burst into tears. First Kadaj hurt him, then his mother was yelling and leaving, then Sephiroth gave him back to his mother so they could go back home, then that weird feeling came back – it was just too much! What was going on?!
His mother held him close and ran her fingers through his hair, lightly massaging his head. "It'll be okay," she said reassuringly. She repeated that sentence over and over, eventually calming Cloud down enough to where his sobs were reduced to sniffles. Cloud's head ached dully from his break down, but his stomach felt normal again. It had felt worse than the first time with Sephiroth.
Cloud hugged his mother back, and the two stayed there together, Cloud repeating his mother's mantra in his head after she stopped.
Jenova watched the little moment the human and Cloud were having from the coverage of the shadows. The sight of the human comforting the child brought back memories uncountable years old. Such a long time it had been since Jenova had had to do the same to one of her sons...
The shadow 'world' blurred the already distorted black and white image of the pair, clearing up soon after. The rest of Jenova's surroundings were either pitch black or images of numerous other potential exits to the real world. She stood there, in that hidden world only she and her sons (to a certain extent) could access, waiting for the human to separate itself from Cloud.
Ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, it did. The human took a seat next to Cloud, rubbing his back. Jenova took this moment to set her plan in motion. Slowly, to mask her presence, she reached her consciousness towards the human's and prodded at it.
Cloud's going to wait all night for Sephiroth if he has to. Wouldn't it be nice to give him something to help pass the time? Disguised as the human's thoughts, she changed her commands to suggestions and relied on persuasion to get the human to comply.
He'll get here really soon... I hope.
Cheer up, dear. Jenova nearly gagged at the choice of words the human would use. He's stronger than you think.
He is, the human agreed with 'itself'. But I still can't help but feel afraid for him. I just feel so bad for putting him in that situation in the first place.
And she should've felt that way, in Jenova's opinion. Damn human couldn't survive anywhere outside its home or without others and it was a total nuisance. Instead of saying any of that, however, she continued on with the trick.
Cheer up, dear, cheer up! Jenova hastily dug into some of the human's recent memories. He's lived here for a pretty long time, remember? And he told you what to do when dragons and wolves attack, right?
Yes, the human admitted.
Then there's nothing to worry about! All you have to do is wait for him with Cloud. But no matter how Cloud tries to hide it, he'll get impatient.
The human quickly thought of crayons and other small things to help keep him busy for a short amount of time.
What are you waiting for? You won't be gone for long. It's only going to take a second.
Only a second... Jenova saw the human stand and say something to Cloud before going up the stairs. Jenova moved towards the distorted image of her bedroom and lifted Bat. Cloud deserved to have a few more moments with the animal and he needed someone to supervise him while the human discovered a special surprise.
Sephiroth held up his right arm in defense as the Nibel wolf jumped at him. He grit his teeth as the wolf dug its teeth into the limb. He used his stronger arm and furiously pounded at the snarling beast's head, jabbing his thumb into one of its eyes. He pushed harder into the eye when the wolf refused to let go. The stubborn bastard released his arm and leaped away.
Sephiroth shook his arm and felt the wounds closing up. The wolf had its narrowed eyes on him, pulling back its lips into another snarl, raising its hackles, ears, and tail in a threatening stance. Sephiroth slowly moved towards the cave mouth, keeping his own eyes on the animal.
Without any warning, the wolf leaped at Sephiroth again. Sephiroth caught its head and squeezed it in an attempt to prevent it from getting its snapping jaws any closer to his face. The wolf's hot breath invaded Sephiroth's nostrils and he held his breath. The wolf lunged repeatedly, slipping through Sephiroth's grip and getting slightly closer each time. Sephiroth pushed the wolf to the right.
The furry, vicious animal proved its true intelligence by pushing both Sephiroth and itself in the same direction. Sephiroth released it and got to his feet after it flailed, bit, and scratched frantically. Not allowing the wolf another advantage, he jumped towards it as it stood up and wrapped his right arm around its neck to keep it in place. He then used his left arm and summoned part of his strength, twisting and snapping the Nibel wolf's neck.
Sephiroth stood up and looked at his handiwork. Something then alerted him of someone else's presence. He looked towards the top of the cave and saw a deep groove.
Kadaj was tightly nestled into that groove, looking down at the result of the commotion. He looked slightly disappointed and pissed off, most definitely due to Mrs. Strife being unharmed. Blaming the attack on his brother would have been irrational and stupid, so Sephiroth left him alone.
"Be grateful for the free meal," Sephiroth said audibly to him and set off for home, quickening his pace once he was out of the cave. It was primitive and backwards for Kadaj to have to live off of raw meat for some time, but food was food out here, no matter how it was obtained.
Sephiroth opened the front door and found Cloud kneeling on the floor before Jenova. Jenova held a sleeping bandersnatch down as Cloud pet the animal to his content. Cloud looked up and ran to Sephiroth, squeezing his leg like it was the most important thing in the world. A great sense of relief and happiness from Cloud hit Sephiroth hard.
As Sephiroth lifted Cloud and reassured him that nobody was leaving anymore, he immediately noticed that Mrs. Strife was missing. Cloud hugged Sephiroth's neck, nearly choking him, and Sephiroth looked past Cloud and over to Jenova.
Where is she?
Jenova gave him a mischievous look, as if she had just played a practical joke, and said nothing.
Shit. He held onto Cloud for a little while longer before setting him down. Sephiroth tried to go up the stairs, but stopped when Cloud tried to follow. Cloud latched onto Sephiroth's leg and didn't let go. Sephiroth looked down into those bright little blue eyes and saw that the pouting little kid was set on following him. Double shit. Sephiroth couldn't take him up there, not without taking the chance of having Cloud see something horrible.
Defeated, Sephiroth dragged his leg (and Cloud) towards the couch. Cloud snuggled into Sephiroth's side when he sat down, and Sephiroth draped an arm around him, keeping his eyes on Jenova the whole time.
"Wait here. I'm going to get something for us to color. I'll be back in just a second," Mrs. Strife promised. Cloud seemed reluctant to let her go, but he stayed put in his chair. Mrs. Strife rushed up the stairs and into the bedroom, stopping in her tracks as darkness engulfed the room.
Mrs. Strife felt something brush against her and jumped. Turning around, she found herself face to face with Jenova, their noses nearly touching. Mrs. Strife backed away quickly.
"The boot, the maiden, or the head rest?" Jenova asked, the grin that spelled absolute danger and horror for Mrs. Strife on her face. "The boot, the maiden, or the head rest?" Jenova repeated when Mrs. Strife didn't answer.
Whatever Jenova meant by those three things, Mrs. Strife had no idea, but none of them sounded good.
"Do I need to choose for you?" Jenova looked off to the side, as if thinking very carefully. "How about all three?" The grin grew wider.
Mrs. Strife turned and ran. She ran for what seemed like forever, only to come back to where she started.
"Welcome back," Jenova said, rooted to her original spot.
It was like the last time – there was no escape. Mrs. Strife, knowing that running was futile, decided to stay as far from Jenova as possible.
"I changed my mind. Let's do something different."
A rope materialized in Jenova's hands, and she rushed forward, tackling the now fleeing Mrs. Strife to the ground and wrapped the rope around Mrs. Strife's arms and legs, binding them together. Mrs. Strife flailed and screamed, hoping that somebody – anybody – could hear her.
"Little fish, out of water and suffocating on land. Let me put you out of your misery." The floor of the bedroom returned, but, like the time before, the walls were nonexistent. Jenova stabbed the floor, missing Mrs. Strife by a few inches. Mrs. Strife writhed, using all of her strength to get away from the blade. Jenova then stabbed the other side of Mrs. Strife and continued the stabbing, purposely missing Mrs. Strife every time. It clicked in Mrs. Strife's mind that this was Jenova's sick form of entertainment.
"Stop it!" Mrs. Strife begged. "Just let me go!"
Jenova burst into hysterical laughter. Mrs. Strife struggled to free herself, but the rope was bound too tight. Jenova resumed her cruel torture and Mrs. Strife kept up her begging, stopping soon after. Jenova seemed disappointed when Mrs. Strife did so. The walls returned, and Mrs. Strife was gagged with something before she could do anything. The rope had disappeared upon the walls' reapparance, but Mrs. Strife found herself being dragged to the closet and yet another something was tied around her hands, binding them together again.
Pain traveled up Mrs. Strife's right arm and the side of her head after she was thrown in the closet. She heard the door close and struggled in the darkness, bumping her head against the wall.
Sephiroth lay a napping Cloud down on the couch and went up the stairs, Jenova following after him with the bandersnatch in her arms. Sephiroth quickly entered the first room to the right while Jenova kept going straight ahead.
Sephiroth heard faint thumping coming from the closet and released Mrs. Strife. He unknotted the sweater tied around her hands and ungagged her.
"Cloud's fine," Sephiroth said before Mrs. Strife could begin to ask. "He's downstairs." Mrs. Strife nodded and quickly ran down. Sephiroth went out into the hallway and stopped Jenova from going down after Mrs. Strife.
"You're not going down there," Sephiroth said firmly.
"Why should I? It really seems to like to fight with my internal organs well enough." The bean-shaped organ in Jenova's hand throbbed.
"Make a deal with me."
Jenova tilted her head at that, obviously interested.
"I'll be watching everything you do," Sephiroth began, "and you can't use any of your 'stunt doubles'."
"Will you even go so far as to not sleep?"
"Yes." And Sephiroth meant it.
"Suit yourself. I accept your deal. There will only be one of me, but if you succumb to sleep, the human is free game for me."
It was a rough game, one that Sephiroth would definitely have trouble with.
"Alright."
Notes:
Started: 2013年4月8日 （月）
Finished: 2013年4月10日 （水）
I hate high heat. So, so much. It's going to get worse, and I'd say it's just about time to bust out the pool. It's a cheap pool from any big store, but man does it sound like heaven right now. By the way, has it gotten any warmer for anybody living up north?
First person to correctly guess what Jenova meant by "boot", "maiden", and "head rest" can go ahead and demand which story I update next. Hint: all three are torture/killing devices.