Issues

I forgot how much I hate sand and extreme heat. Remind me never to go to Tatootine.

In the last while the villains invited to the grand opening of Babylon Palace--except for a few--have been kept safely locked up within the floating palace above our heads here in Montreal due to a bit of accidental magic on my part (yes, people I had absolu-freakin'-lutely no idea what I was really doing--I was following my feelings). It was really idealistic of me to think that whatever I did would keep them locked up for good. And now it was on the move for some reason that I cannot fathom.

Well, considering all the major bs I managed to pull I thought I ought to do something about it.

So, of course, I ended up sneaking out of my own house to do just that.

And, of course, I get caught sneaking around the halls late at night. By Severus, He-Who-Can-Sniff-Out-Anybody-Out-of-Their-Beds-At-A-Late-Hour. I could hear snoring fromf my family. I suddenly heard William's cry in the nursery.

We stared at each other.

"I'll...go see what he wants," I said, at length.

"Of course," he replied, following me into the office that was transformed into baby William's nursery. He usually never cried at night and since he was older he did it less and less. I don't know whether or not to take this as a blessing or something else entirely. I admit, I felt bad for not being more active in the tyke's life. I may not have given birth to him, but I was his mother dammit. He should be about a year old now....I had been given him about this time...

"You know, I have no idea when his birthday is," I said to Severus after I managed to get William to go back to sleep. It seemed that he had soiled himself AND he was hungry. The having to feed him part I didn't mind much. It was an excuse for me to hold him in my arms and he's still so small and beautiful and soft and all I want to do is to hold him all day and night long...The diaper part I could live without, but that's life for you.

"I'm sure you will think of something. You are a clever girl, Keily," Severus told me. He gestured for me to follow him out to the garden where we could talk. It was a cool night; there was a lovely breeze that came and caught my hair, lifting it up gently.

"So, Miss Shinra....where exactly did you think you were going at this time of night?" he asked, looking down his lack-of-nose at me. He was using his professor's tone; it was something I'd never heard in use before although I knew he never lacked things to teach those around him. He never had to, but I suppose years and years of shoving knowledge into the thick heads of others could be habit forming.

"Nowhere," I lied, not looking him straight in the eye. I stared at his forehead, giving the impression I was looking him in the eyes.

"Oh, yes...Nowhere." One did not need to be an expert Legilimens to know that I had lied. "I don't suppose this late night sojourn of yours happens to involve the lastest postings in Miss Starflight's blog, does it?" Mentally I cursed ever teaching him about technology and he sent me a glare--an honest to goodness glare--and I felt ashamed, looking down at the ground.

I blinked. Why in the nine hells was I acting like a guilty schoolgirl? Looking up I did not see even a glimmer of surprise and wondered what had brought on this sudden change of behaviour. Severus and I had always acted more of two comrades--sometimes even as a married couple in the eyes of the public. Never as...as....professor and student. He had never been my teacher and I had never been his to teach. Thinking this reminded me of all the Hermione and Snape fanfictions out there and about how they solved their age gap and differences through various reasons, mostly rather unfounded ones meant to further the plot than to actually make sense...

I didn't even know why this was going through my head, but perhaps it had been a prelude to what was to come. And it certainly had the worst timing in the entire world...

"Keily...there's something I've been meaning to speak to you about..." he began. I avoided his eyes, not wanting to look into them or for his to look into mine. "Look at me, Miss Shinra." I winced at his tone; something I had never done before. Slowly, I brought my eyes up to look at him, expecting a grim expression on his face. There was none. "I wish to talk about some misconceptions and...wish to sort them out."

My heart trembled, even though it was incomplete. It wished to break again. I knew this was coming eventually. But what lousy timing.

"Severus...I don't think this is the right time..." I began.

"It is now or never, Miss Shinra. I'm sorry, but I must make this clear where others in their romantic, rosy views of the world have muddled things up." Here he hesitated, which gave me a very, very small sense of hope. I should have known better than to have kept it around him. Even a milimeter off the ground, that was still too high a place to put my hopes in front of Severus at that point in time. "I care for you...I might even adore you...but I am sincere in saying that I do not...love you."

Just like that, he dropped the bomb. In just a few sentences my world felt like crashing down all around me again. Something jabbed at my heart, forcing it to try and break apart again. I held it firmly...closely...protectively.

I smiled at him casually.

"Oh, is that so?"

He paused a moment to think, but he nodded.

"Well, that's alright then."

Before he could even nod in agreement or yell in protest, I had sprinted off. I didn't stop until I bumped into a certain someone...someone I hadn't expected to see at all. This seriously was not my night.

"Oh, fuck on a stick. Not you, too."

"Language, Miss Shinra. I'm sure I don't appreciate the foul words coming out of your mouth assaulting my ears. You're about as bad as that pilot."

"Shut it you," I said, too upset to care that I had used his name and too angry to notice him standing there, alone--at all! It should have struck me as odd. But he was there and not being psychotic. I don't dare speak his name. Not for fear, but out of respect....and a ten year old agreement I barely remember making at the age of eleven when I thought such people weren't truly real. I only made this agreement with two other people. One was with Rufus Shinra; the other was with Vincent Valentine. And lastly...

"You're crying," he deadpanned.

"Oh, gee...is it that obvious?" He scowled at me.

"You know...I have killed people for less than stellar behaviour."

"But you wouldn't hurt me, right?"

"Not in a way that a Full Restore won't cure at any rate."

I let out a mirthless laugh and looked around me for the first time, realizing that I had ended up somewhere on Mount Royal, surrounded by trees and no witnesses. If he decided to kill me off here no one would know I had gone except for the trees and the squirrels. How fitting.

"What happened to you?" I asked without meaning to.

He narrowed his eyes at me and reached out to wipe away a tear. I couldn't feel his hands; they were covered in leather, old and careworn. His touch was cold at best, with no warmth in his actions. He did it, because he was obliged. He shouldn't, because he lost that obligation a long time ago. I don't need a father anymore.

"What happened to you?" he returned, the inflection in his tone signalling a bit of amusement. "From what I hear...you're in love and already have a son..." He paused. "You're a mother." The statement wasn't lost on either of us who have either known a bad mother or never knew them at all. I changed the subject, however.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, hearing him growling about my language before he spoke.

"People have been appearing here where they shouldn't be...I thought I would pay a visit before I continued....my duties elsewhere." We both knew what he meant. But I said nothing about it. Best not to talk about such things at all, if it were possible. "I honestly didn't expect to see you again...you haven't changed much in appearance. I recognized you easily and followed..."

"Really? I see one habit of yours hasn't changed much." He smirked.

"How could I not follow you around? It was part of our agreement and you had a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble!" His amused expression was schooled into sobriety as he looked up at the sky through the thin canopy, seeing Babylon Palace hovering in the distance. "Word on the vine says you did that. It's tacky."

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind..."

"So I heard." He suddenly took my hand and began to drag my down the mountain. I didn't protest, oddly enough.

"Where are we going?"

"'We' are going nowhere. I am taking you 'home' if it is still your home after all of these years and then I am off...Can't have that blasted puppet find me after all."

"Ah..."

Silence.

"Then, can you please take me to Lord Vader and his troops' location?" He looked at me.

"What? Why?"

"I have something I need to do...and I don't want to go home right now..."

He simply sighed and ran a hand through his hair before nodding in agreement. He always knew better than to argue with me. Then again, he assumed that I always knew what was best for myself just as he did when he had been that young. I cannot say that I had ever been raised as a weapon in a laboratory, but I always did try to make the right choice.

"Hey...dad?"

He didn't realize I had call him such a personal name. He merely grunted as he led the way down.

"Ten years is a long time to wait."

"It wasn't as if you remembered until Kadaj and his gang dropped into your life." He paused, looking around before spreading a magnificent wing. "You'd better explain yourself to me before we head off, though...."

"Yes, dad."

"It's General, to you."

The Unofficial Vice-President Shinra

Whoever let the Twins meet any of the Terror Trio should be shot. I mean it. I'm going to kill Fred and George! (Kadaj and Loz, don't think you're getting off scott free, because as your new unofficial mom...I am grounding you until further notice...and that means...I am NOT taking you guys racing for a while!)

Let me start with how this happened to be. Last weekend some members of the Order had been sent to check up on Babylon Palace and to see if whatever the hell I did was still up and keeping whoever was inside...well...inside. Nobody told me that they had sent the Terror Twins on recon, though. So, it was to my surprise that on Sunday morning I find Fred and George on my doorstep. It was a routine enough meeting...they told me exactly the same thing I heard last time: abso-frickin'-lutely nothing.

And then I had to run off to do some chores arund the house (having more than just the usual two or three at one time tends to make it messier and merits much more cleaning). The Twins decided that they were quite bored and wished to do something and had somehow gotten their hooks into Kadaj and Loz into helping them out. I do believe that their reasoning was 'to exact possible revenge' for what I did with the little song I did some while ago. Those four plotted all the morning and some of the afternoon away and I didn't realize anything was going on until they were coming out of the bathroom together giggling.

I was with Nexu, Reno (poor darling) and Rude in the study, having a bit of afternoon tea when we witnessed this.

"Um...I'm not sure, but I don't think that's normal, yo..." Reno said, brows furrowing.

I nodded along with Nexu and Rude. Something was very much up, there was no doubt about it when the Weasley Twins were concerned...and if they roped any of the Silver Haired Men? Oh, boy! Shaking my head, I decided that a shower was in order before dinner was to start.

All was normal as one would imagine a shower. Lather, rince, repeat and all that. A thing I must tell you all is that I tend to avoid mirrors or just hardly look at them. Don't really know why, really. Or perhaps I just have a relaxed view on myself. Who knows? But this one point is something rather important later on.

Another random personal point is that I have a rather predictable wardrobe. If you made a bet about what colors you'd find in my closet, you'd most likely win because I carry (mostly) three colors: black, white and red. Although I should have switched to wearing all black (I usually do when I feel particularly bad or depressed), but I wore black and white for tonight, possibly to signal that my mood was getting better. And since it was a little nippy up here, I threw on a button up white sweater over the sleeveless black turtleneck I put on with my white trousers. I kept it opened right down to the last button, because I felt warm enough in the front. Dressed, I ran downstairs.

I was met with relative quiet. Kadaj was, oddly enough, quite friendly with me and even gave me a kiss on the cheek as he passed me by, looking quite happy about something. Loz looked a bit weepy when I saw him in the kitchen, pouring a glass of cream soda for me. He handed it over to me, muttering a quick apology before running off who knows where. I stared at the glass and sniffed it experiementally, wondering if his older brother had asked him to put something into it.

Of course, I got nothing, so I went to the one lady who could figure it out for me (I would have asked Severus to do it, but he had gone to pick up William from the Burrow).

"Hey, Nexu, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can you sniff this for me?"

"....Smells like cream soda."

"Nothing else?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because Loz looked like he was ready to bawl when he gave me this...thought maybe Kadaj was still sore with me and got him to stick poison into my drink..."

"I don't think Kadaj would poison you...I think he'd probably stab you if he still had his sword with him, but..."

"Yeah, you're right...plus I don't think he would poison his unofficial mom...hahaha...."

"...Unofficial mum? When did that happen?"

"Oh, I haven't told him yet, but I kind of feel like being his new unofficial mom..same goes for Loz and Yazoo if they can accept that...maybe it can get their minds off of Jenova a bit..."

"...Keily...I've been meaning to ask....what's your relationship to Rufus?"

"Rufie? Oh...well...about ten years ago..."

"Oh, my effin' god, yo! What's up with your hair?!" Reno asked, looking at me, laughing. Rude wisely kept his mouth shut, although I could very well see the smirk on his face.

I furrowed my brows at them, wondering what was so amusing. My hair felt perfectly normal, if such a statement can be made. Pulling some to the front--I brushed, then tied it back to stay out of my face--I found that my hair was....very much....strawberry blonde.

I stared for a good ten seconds as many scenes from earlier in the day began to click into place like a puzzle.

"KADAJ! LOZ! FRED! GEORGE! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

So there you have it. Kadaj and Loz are grounded and the Twins have been temporarily banned from my house. Normally, I would have laughed at such a trick, but I have a thing against being artificially blonde. And when I had calmed down and laughed a little about it, the twins thought I looked good as a blond and refused to give me the antidote to change my hair back (they used a slow working potion that would change my hair color so that I would only realize it when it was too late). And now I must deal with ridiculous nicknames from Reno....mostly those involving 'Vice-President' and 'boss'.

Hmmm....I think it might be time to invest in colored clothing now...black and white doesn't seem to be a good color scheme right now....Stupid Remnants...stupid Twins...stupid Reno!

The Prince Speaks: Quick Update

In an effort to lift Keily's spirits, everyone present pitched in to help her make dinner for us all. She was weak, sore and still injured, but she had to get up and do something, because she did not feel that she could just sit down and let other people do any work for her. So we worked together for a night of nothing, but Italian cuisine.

The young woman had disappeared halfway through the boiling of the linguini, so that left myself to stand and keep watch of it. The Nobodies were having a time preparing a Cesar salad; Larxene chopping up the lettuce into manageable pieces, Axel frying up some actual pieces of bacon and Xigbar had accompanied Demyx out to buy some dressing. We had invited Nexu's group for a stay at the house, which meant that we had to augment the amount of food we were preparing. They hadn't arrived yet when I heard the peals of laughter and music coming from upstairs where Keily's room was.

And then, as Nexu and her group was welcome into the house by Axel, the song started to play, which, for very obvious reasons...enraged our new guests like nothing else. They chased Keily around the second floor of the house, their footsteps easily heard below as well as Keily's rather loud singing. The original was annoying enough as it was, but with Keily's slight change in version, well...

Several things broke, lots of swar words were tossed and Keily actually seemed to be having a very good time, despite her self-pity and loathing about everything she had done. Something must have uplifted her spirits and it was only after she tripped on a chair did the chasing stop and I was able to ask her where she had learned such a atrocious song.

"I learned it ten years ago! At least...I think it was ten years ago...might've been less than that...But an old friend sent me a message and reminded me of the song and I couldn't help, but switch in a few words of my own-hahahaha..."

Kadaj, growled from where he was being restrained by Reno? He said some very ungainly things at Keily and the girl only stuck her tongue out back at him.

"Only a Shinra..."

"That's right, only a Shinra, Kadaj," she said, possibly hinting at who had exactly sent her such an idea.

Well, at least we're heading towards a more normal direction, but I can't help, but wonder what might be going on up here in Babylon Palace.

-----------------------------

The following was typed up by Keily after Severus relinquished the laptop to her. Be advised that it is not wise to sing this song in front of Kadaj or any of the Remnants. A note is that when Keily sang this song, the word 'witch' was pronounced with a different beginning consonant.

Well, Kadaj's mom a witch.
She's a big fat witch.
She's the biggest witch in the whole wide world.
She's a stupid witch, if there ever was a witch.
She's a witch to all the boys and girls.

On Monday she' a witch.
One Tuesday she's a witch and on Wednsday to Saturday, she's a witch.
Then on Sunday just to be different, she's a super king kamehameha wi-atch!

Have you ever the Remnant Kadaj's mom?
She's the biggest witch in the whole wide world!
She's a mean old witch and she has stupid hair.
She's a witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch!
Witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, she's a stupid witch!
Kadaj's mom's a witch and she's a dirty witch!

Talk to kids around the world and it might go a little bit something like this!

*insert incomprehensible singing here*

Have you ever the Remnant Kadaj's mom?
She's the biggest witch in the whole wide world!She's a mean old witch and she has stupid hair.
She's a witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch!
Witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, witch, she's a stupid witch!
Kadaj's mom's a witch and she's a dirty witch!

I really mean it!
Kadaj's mom!
She's a real fat fricking witch!
Real fat frickin' witch!
Kadaj's mom yeah!