15 November 1979

Cloud stirred awake next to his mother, his bladder shouting from the haze of sleep that it needed to be relieved – immediately.

He sat up, taking care not to move too much, and shook his mother.

"Mama... Gotta pee," he said, still not fully awake. His mother didn't move a muscle. Cloud shook her as hard as he could without feeling like he was going to pee himself. "Mama... wake up..."

He wasn't loud enough. Cloud looked out at the rest of the room, but it was too dark to see anything. He really didn't want to, but something was urging him to stop trying to wake his mother up and go out to the bathroom by himself. The call persisted, and Cloud slowly and reluctantly slid out of bed, sticking his hands out in front of him. The dark scared him a little, and he twitched, almost jumping out of his skin, when he touched the wall. He found the doorknob and twisted it, pulling the door open.

To the right, the voice, sounding like Sephiroth, told him. But where was the right?

"Cloud..."

Upon hearing his name, Cloud walked straight into Sephiroth's arms with no fear. He settled into Sephiroth's lap and hugged him back.

"How come you're not sleeping?" Cloud asked quietly.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"I gotta pee really really bad." Cloud squirmed, having to go more than ever now. Sephiroth made him stand up and led him to the bathroom, turning the light on for Cloud and closing the door almost all the way. Cloud rubbed his eyes at the sudden flash of light and slipped his pants down. He would have fallen asleep to the sound of his pee hitting the toilet water if the light hadn't been on.

Finished, Cloud flushed the toilet and walked back towards the dark hallway, noticing that Sephiroth was looking away from him. Without turning around, Sephiroth grabbed Cloud by the hand and led him back to the room.

"Can I sleep with you?" Cloud asked quietly again, not wanting to wake his mother up. He missed being that close to Sephiroth and snuggling right next to him. While he had no problem sleeping with his mother, it just wasn't the same as being with Sephiroth.

"Not tonight."

"Please?" Cloud nearly begged.

"I can't let you, Cloud. Not tonight."

"Why?"

Sephiroth said nothing and instead sat down and brought Cloud close to himself, holding him at an angle that Cloud was able to rest in comfortably. Cloud lay still, Sephiroth's heartbeat and even breathing lulling him back to sleep.

Mrs. Strife tossed and turned, feeling that something wasn't right, that something was missing. The feeling kept on pestering her, and she rolled over to discover that Cloud was gone. Fearing the worst, Mrs. Strife rushed for the door as if she had the demons from hell on her heels.

The light trailing out into the doorway from her room allowed her to see. The wide grin plastered on Jenova's face paralyzed Mrs. Strife.

No... No no no no no!

"Quit it," a hushed voice said lowly, snapping Mrs. Strife out of her morbid thoughts on her baby boy's fate. Stepping further out of the room, Mrs. Strife let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding once Sephiroth, cradling a peaceful-looking Cloud in his arms, came into view. "Leave her alone already."

Mrs. Strife reached for Cloud, quickly settling him back into bed and turning the light off before going back to demand what was going on.

"Limit your vision to nothing, human. See what good it does you," she heard Jenova mutter condescendingly.

"What are you doing out here?" Mrs. Strife whispered.

"I noticed that your little stalker–" Jenova interrupted Sephiroth's explanation with a noise that sounded like air quickly escaping from an oxygen tank before getting trapped again "–also took it upon herself to stick around at night."

Mrs. Strife held her hand over her heart, clenching the hand into a fist. She couldn't believe Jenova wanted to get her that badly. She did get some relief that Jenova apparently wasn't after Cloud; not a scratch was to be seen on her son. But...how long had this been going on?

"...and you just made the game less fun."

"You think this is a game?!" Mrs. Strife almost yelled before she remembered that Cloud was asleep.

"This was very, very interesting up until the human opened its never-closing mouth. I've lost enough motivation to where I need some convincing to continue for tonight."

"Get out of here," Sephiroth said.

"What a killjoy – is that what they say now? Yes, I think so. What a killjoy you are."

Mrs. Strife heard very light shuffling and retreated back into the room, coming back out again when she heard no more.

"Don't worry about Cloud. He needed a bathroom break and wouldn't go back to bed."

"How long?" Mrs. Strife asked before Sephiroth left.

"Hm?"

"How long were you two doing this?"

"That's not important."

"Yes it is!" Mrs. Strife quietly exclaimed. "You couldn't have been getting any sleep for a while. Don't think I haven't noticed your tired looks."

"It's not important," Sephiroth repeated. "It'll all end tomorrow."

"...What?"

Sephiroth didn't answer. Mrs. Strife tried to reach out into the direction she had seen him, but he had already moved. She then heard a door open and close.

Confused and shocked by what she discovered tonight, Mrs. Strife sat by Cloud's side on the bed, staying that way the rest of the night without heeding the tiredness creeping into her eyes and mind telling her to sleep.

The bandersnatch wasn't moving, nor was he breathing. The way Bat lay curled up nearly fooled Jenova into thinking he was sleeping, but she knew better. She shook the lifeless body, denying that the inevitable had finally come.

No movement whatsoever. The animal had finally passed away.

Putting her fury to some use, Jenova carried the limp body outdoors, searching for a good place to put it to rest. All of Mt. Nibel was covered in nothing but rock, so the burial site was located near the foot of the mountain, where patches of grass grew among the dry earth. Here Jenova began to dig, using nothing but her hands.

"Why can't you use a shovel, Mother?"

Kadaj lazily dragged said tool towards Jenova and handed it to her. Jenova didn't take it, instead staring down at the tiny dip in the dirt she had made.

She suddenly jumped at Kadaj, almost knocking him over as she held him in a tight embrace. Kadaj stood there awkwardly before releasing the shovel and hugging her back.

Bat's passing held her in a small state of grief, but she would never ever recover if one of her sons – any of them – ever died. It was times like these, where when any pets she had died of old age, that she was grateful that her sons would continue living and never perish... as long as they were careful to not be so reckless in a fight.

"I've been missing you," Jenova confessed, ignoring the lank and greasiness of Kadaj's hair as she pressed her face next to his. "It's been too quiet."

"I'm not loud," Kadaj denied. He was released, then he grabbed the shovel and leaned on it. Looking down at the dead bandersnatch, he said, "Got too old, right?"

"Just like the ones before." Rauhanlaa, Eire, Ototo, Maneki, Zolat, uncountable others... and now Bat. If they didn't die from fighting or illnesses, it was always old age.

Jenova took the shovel from Kadaj and resumed digging, no more words being exchanged. Kadaj volunteered to dig several times, but Jenova turned him down. It took hours, and it wasn't until near the crack of dawn that Bat was finally lowered into the hole and covered with the loose dirt.

"Why is he dead already after such a short life and that human gets to live way longer?"

"It's the way things are," Jenova said simply. She herself didn't know the answer. She made her way back home, Kadaj following along behind her.

"It's not fair."

"Most things usually aren't."

"I know, but... That human. I-I want to kill her. I really do."

Kadaj's admission didn't surprise Jenova. Hell, she'd made it obvious that she was feeling the same way.

"You cannot. And neither can I."

"Why?"

"It involves a mess the human got itself into." She cut Kadaj off before he could ask anything else. "In time."

"When exactly?"

"In time."

Kadaj silently fumed a little. Among the things he hated, not knowing was one of them.

"You are not to hurt Cloud, either."

At this, Kadaj stopped in his tracks. "So now he's real important. More important than me," he muttered lowly.

The old sibling rivalry was flaring up again, this time against two opposing sides that weren't even related by blood.

"I have four sons. One isn't always what some make him seem to be, another is very independent, yet another still acts child-like, and the last has always taken it upon himself to compete for attention from the very start. Which one sounds like Cloud to you?"

"...none of them."

"Exactly. The only reason I don't want you laying a hand on him, not even to scare him, is because he's only three. If you want to start fights, start them when he's old enough to actually defend himself."

Silence passed between them once more. The house came within sight and Jenova held the door open, allowing Kadaj to go back inside after two weeks of exile.

"Nothing can ever replace any of you, and nothing ever will." With that said, Jenova left Kadaj to his own devices, informing him that he could not do anything to the human until she said so.

Loz was building a fort out of blocks to set his fictional army on while Yazoo was reading, as they usually did when Kadaj walked in.

"You look gross," Loz observed. Yazoo didn't even look up. Stupid nerd.

"Oh, really? Never would have guessed," Kadaj said sarcastically. "Did I miss anything here while I was gone?"

"Nah. 'Cept Yazoo's being reading some story about a guy named Dildo."

"Bilbo. His name is Bilbo," Yazoo ground out, annoyed.

"Shut up, nerd."

Loz looked around guiltily. "Kadaj..."

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"For ratting me out?"

"No. Kadaj, I'm sorry."

A rotting stench suddenly invaded Kadaj's nostrils and he clamped his hands over his nose. Loz burst into hysterical laughter.

"You asshole! Why would you do that?!"

"I really do hate it when you spring us with the silent ones..." Yazoo opened the window and stuck his head outside. Kadaj joined him, hogging up the little space the small window provided.

Loz's laughter died down. "After you had to go, nothing really happened. Well, one thing did. That dumb lady was talking shit about Mother."

"She what?!" Kadaj wrenched his head away from the window. That bitch! Ohhh, he really wanted to wrench and pop her head off, wanted to rip off her arms, wanted to -

Not yet. Not until I say so.

"Yeah, and then the big dummy ran outside and almost got eaten!" Loz continued.

"I saw that part. Sucks it didn't happen." Damn you, Sephiroth. Should've let the whore die.

"It doesn't matter anyways," Yazoo said, still at the window. "The kid's going to leave once he turns four, and that means the woman will leave, too. So when he leaves, we'll get Sephiroth back, and when the woman leaves along with the kid, we won't ever have to see her again unless we go into town. Why didn't that go through your head the first time around?"

Kadaj didn't give two shits about what would happen after they left. He knew that Sephiroth wasn't going to be the same way ever again for as long as the little chocobo shit lived. And the bitch that brought it into the world had to die, too – she was the one taking up the extra space in the house, the one eating up more of the food, everything!

And now she was insulting his mother. That was the last straw.

"Don't bother. I'm pretty sure Mother's been getting her back." Yazoo stepped around Loz's figures and blocks scattered around the floor. "Can't say for sure exactly what's been going on since I haven't gotten out of here much, but something is definitely happening." He sat on his bed.

"Any ideas?"

"I know for sure that she and Sephiroth have been stalking that woman, but Sephiroth isn't helping Mother."

"Yeah, I've seen them doing that," Loz confirmed. "It looks like they made some kind of bet."

Kadaj snorted. "So now Sephiroth's on the human's side, too?"

"No," Yazoo interjected before Kadaj could gripe. "He's not against Mother out of the kindness of his heart for the woman. It's because of the kid."

Another reason Kadaj wanted to kill the brat as slowly and painfully as possible. Everything was changing for the worse because of it. If only the bitch had never come... Why couldn't she have died?

"How'd you find all of that out, nerd?" Kadaj was feeling destructive. He just had to rile somebody up – anybody.

"Because we're not stupid like you." Loz looked down as his fort was completely destroyed by Kadaj's violent kick. "Dammit, right before the prisoners were set on fire." He shot Kadaj an irritated look.

"Don't cry, Loz," Yazoo taunted.

Loz didn't reply. Kadaj was too tired to try to escalate things into a full out fight. He began to climb up to the top bunk bed.

"You're not going to wash off all the blood and crap on your face?" Yazoo inquired.

"Screw you," was all Kadaj gave as an answer. It had been way too long since he'd slept in a bed. He threw himself on the mattress, letting out a small cry of pain as his back throbbed. Pulling back the blanket, he discovered Loz's metal cars strategically placed in now messed up rows.

"What the hell is this?!" Kadaj threw a car at Loz's head. His brother caught it.

"I needed somewhere to put them," Loz said innocently.

"Ever thought of the closet?"

"I was too lazy." Loz grinned at the anger emanating from Kadaj.

Kadaj threw the rest of the cars onto the floor and rolled over, pulling the blanket over himself for more comfort. One of these days he was going to look for a screwdriver, loosen the screws, and shake his bed like crazy to crush Loz in his sleep.

16 November 1979

It was all ending by tonight. Sephiroth guaranteed it. Though he really didn't want to, he had to take advantage of his mother's mourning over the dead wolf. It was while he was confronted by Mrs. Strife that he learned of Jenova's unfortunate discovery, and if he didn't take the chance now, there would probably never be another.

His mother wasn't going after Mrs. Strife for at least another day or two, and he knew it. He and his family had all the time in the world, and when another living thing's time was up, it never ceased to surprise them.

Remembering that, he then remembered that Cloud was human, and, therefore, mortal, too. The one hundred years, assuming Cloud ever lived that long, were going to pass by in a flash, and it left a sinking feeling inside him. But... there had to be a way to stop that. There just had to. Sephiroth would do anything to find that way.

However, he had to come back to the present, and it was after sunrise that Sephiroth roused Yazoo.

I need you to help me out with a raid. He didn't expect a reply, instead waiting outside for his brother.

Yazoo didn't take very long. They set off for Nibelheim without another word.

"Kadaj is back," Yazoo suddenly notified.

"Good for him." Sephiroth was confident that Kadaj wouldn't try anything. Not so soon after being let in, anyways.

"So... in whatever's been going on... Who's winning?"

"Nobody so far. Hopefully it stays that way by tonight." Sephiroth rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. They were starting to feel heavier and heavier each day. "Anyways, the raid's the same as last time. But just get chocolate along with whatever you want."

"Alright. Think we can get away with a lot more now that it's really early?"

"Let's find out."

They sped down to the general store, Sephiroth opening the door and strutting through it, leaving it open for Yazoo to slip inside. The clerk eyed him warily more so than usual, suspicious of why Sephiroth decided to bust in so early. Sephiroth made a show of walking to the fridge and sticking his face in it as he decided what drinks to take.

I want a cola this time, Yazoo requested. Sephiroth grabbed a cola and a root beer, closing the fridge door after deciding to take grape soda for Cloud to try this time around.

Sephiroth ate up more time by checking out the miscellaneous stuff, taking a bottle of bubbles. Yazoo zipped out of the store. Sephiroth took the sodas and the bubbles to the front counter, placing the gil needed on the hard surface. He took a quick glance under the counter, where the pain-relieving medicines and other simple-looking bottles were at, before taking a huge container of sleeping pills and slipping it into his pocket.

The clerk looked at the bubbles, then at Sephiroth with some disbelief.

What? Sephiroth sarcastically asked, keeping the one-sided conversation to himself. I fucking love bubbles, bitch.

Once his things were paid for, Sephiroth didn't hesitate to get out of there. Yazoo waited for him near the Shinra mansion, and they set off for home.

Cloud was waiting for Sephiroth when they returned, and Yazoo took his share of treats and the can of cola before leaving.

For the rest of the day, Sephiroth dodged Mrs. Strife's attempts at questioning him, using excuses that had some sort of mention of Cloud. He busied himself with doing what he normally did with Cloud, and even got the chance to let Cloud drink the grape soda. If the way Cloud almost literally bounced off the walls was any indication, then the little boy really did enjoy the can of purple crack. Seeing the hyper little kid was hilarious to Sephiroth, though Mrs. Strife didn't find it as amusing and gave Sephiroth an earful.

"Come here, Cloud," Mrs. Strife called. "Bedtime."

"But I don't wanna go to sleep," Cloud whined from the pillow fort Sephiroth had constructed. "I'm not tired," he said for emphasis.

"You have to go to sleep." Mrs. Strife bent over and peered into the shelter. "Come here."

"How come Sephiroth doesn't have to go to sleep?"

I've been wanting to for a while already... Sephiroth thought. If his plan went through well enough, he'd be able to catch at least a few hours.

"You have to sleep because you're still little. Sephiroth can go to sleep whenever he wants."

"I'm not little! I'm a big boy now!"

"Cloud, you still have to go to sleep." Mrs. Strife reached into the fort and pulled out a resisting Cloud.

"No! I don't wanna!" Cloud furiously kicked at the air.

Sephiroth stayed out of it and went to the kitchen to take out two cups. Cloud's rebellions didn't happen often, but they weren't always easy to sit through. It took a lot of patience.

Mrs. Strife didn't say anything back as she took Cloud upstairs to put him to bed. Holy hell was he difficult sometimes.

Sephiroth poured some juice into the cups, crushing and dumping half of the sleeping pills into one of them. Jenova hated anything sweet, but couldn't stay away from the stuff for some reason. He poured more sugar into the tainted drink to arouse less suspicion. She'd definitely have some suspicion towards Sephiroth's intentions, but as long as she drank the juice spiked with the drugs, then it wouldn't matter.

Passing by Cloud's room with the cups in his hands, he noticed the kid laying on the bed with a pout. Cloud gave Sephiroth a help me kind of look.

Go to bed, Sephiroth said firmly. Cloud's pout turned into a frown. His displeasure coursed through Sephiroth, who only shook it off and twisted the knob to Jenova's room, finding the door locked. Swearing under his breath, he quickly set out to look for something thin, but strong. He found a paperclip among the random junk in the drawers under the TV, and picked the lock, the door swinging open to reveal a cut and bloodied Jenova.

Putting the drinks down, Sephiroth ran forward to snatch the knife away from his mother. Jenova tried to yank it back, but didn't put up much of a fight, obviously weary.

"I'd like to have that back. If you will..." Jenova extended her right arm, the bloody one decorated with long, deep cuts.

Instead of returning the knife, Sephiroth gave her the clean juice. Jenova looked at the drink with disgust when she received it and purposefully tipped the container over to spill the juice, letting the cup fall to the floor as well.

"After the few seconds I spent slaving over making that for you," Sephiroth said mock scoldingly.

"Strangely, uncharacteristically, and unusually nice of you, but it's not necessary." The cuts weren't healing. She was forcing them to stay open.

"Drink this and I'll give it back." He doubted that she was going to fall for it, but it was worth a try.

Jenova made her kssh sound and grinned. Sephiroth mimicked her, shoving the other cup – the one he couldn't lose – in her face.

"You do remember what determines the winner, don't you?"

"If I fall asleep, you win. If there are two or more of you, I win." It was easier said than done in Sephiroth's case. It would be much simpler if he just gave up, but no – he couldn't. He reminded himself that he was doing this for Cloud, so he wouldn't have to lose a parent. Mrs. Strife had briefly mentioned that her partner had died before Cloud was even born, and if Mrs. Strife were to die... Cloud didn't deserve that, even if it would be a horrible means of having him stay.

"Do not consider this a victory. If you sleep at any time, I will know." Shit. She was up to something. "What exactly is in there?"

"Why don't you find out?"

An eternity later, Jenova finally took the juice and chugged it, gagging at the taste. Sephiroth waited there, making sure that she didn't throw it all up. He waited and waited until the drugs started to kick in, then he left, closing the door behind him.

Sephiroth didn't sleep for the rest of the night, instead pondering over what tricks his mother had up her sleeve.

Notes:

Started: 2013年5月9日（木）

Finished: 2013年5月16日（木）

Finally! I had promised that the chapter after this one would be in December, so I had to hold onto this one a little longer. The game is almost over, too. O_o The results will also come in the next chapter.

Kadaj "borrowed" the shovel, of course.