Mount Nibel/Caves

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Reno's ears pricked at a rather familiar sound... but this time he and Nikky weren't the ones making it... He squinted. "Do you hear something?"

He got up and went to the bottleneck... and found his future daughter there, lip-locked with Jared, both of them completely engaged in the kiss by now. The boy's iron grip on logic and cold hard facts was broken...

Reno thought he was going to have a heart attack. "Oh, my G**!"

Jared's eyes shot open and he broke the kiss, horrified that they'd been caught... "Oh, my G**..."

Joey blushed violently as she discoverd her dad staring at her... "Oh, my G**."

Amnesty was watching the fun and giggling to herself. "Oh, my G***d..."

Annie grinned as she observed all the action. "Cool!"

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky got a weird feeling and then, hearing all of that started cracking up. she tried to hold it back as she stood. ''reno...'' she giggled. ''leave the poor kids alone...'' she walked over and tugged on his sleeve. she looked over and winked at joey.

kamen looked over and laughed slightly. ''oh wow.... that was unexpected.''

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Joey returned her mom's wink and put her arm around Jared. He stiffened for a moment before finally deciding, What the h**l, and putting an arm around her in return. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. "That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

Reno was totally slackjawed... this was something he was not at all prepared to handle. "Uh... my kid... is gonna..." His speech jammed up in his throat. My daughter... and the son of Rufus Shinra? Oy, G**... His brain was spinning. "I don't think I can take this, Nikky... I'm starting to lose my mind," he explained calmly. "What's she doing making out with filthy boys at that age anyway?" He shook himself, absolutely blown out of the water. "My G**... Did I actually just SAY that?!"

Ami nodded numbly. "You kinda did."

Rude leaned back against the wall... and smiled for the first time in Reno's living memory. "Welcome to fatherhood, kid."

Reno facepalmed himself. "This can't be happening."

Annie was helpless in giggles now. "I don't believe it. My own sister! Oh!"

"Shut up," Joey snapped.

"Make me," Annie taunted.

"Don't," Jared requested, holding her back from giving her sister a flying tackle. He pulled her into another kiss, an course of action which of course made Joey very happy.

Ami rolled hr eyes. "There they go again...yup, she's her father's daughter all right."

Reno very considerately sat down against the wall before passing out.

[*~Nikkole~*]

she shook her head slightly and grinned. nikky held herself from laughing. ''reno.... chill out. its not like they're doing anything that would worry anybody. besides... i think its cute.'' she giggled slightly.

kamen rolled his eyes. ''dear g*d help me...'' he dropped his forehead on his knees with a light thud.

nikky glared at kamen before grinning back at the two. ''just remember that there are still adults around...'' she giggled. ''my little baby's growing up so fast.'' she made a mock cry as she went at sat down by reno.

kamen sighed. ''we've all lost our minds....'' he muttered. ''its either that or they left on their own....'' he couldn't help but chuckle.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami shrugged helplessly. "I think they did indeed leave voluntarily." I know mine wants to get out of here...

Annie giggled insanely. "This is a laugh riot!" She looked over at her parents... and realized her father had fainted. She approached them warily. "Uh... Dad? You OK?"

Jared and Joey ignored them all... they were in their own little world by now.

Rude shook his head and rolled his eyes. But he had to admit... seeing those two kids falling in love, even in the middle of everything they had gone through... it gave him a little bit of hope for the world they were heading into.

[*~Nikkole~*]

kamen looked up and shook his head slightly before laughing a bit. ''well... at least all of this broke the ice on the stress factor....'' he smiled as he looked over.

nikky made a funny face and looked over. ''reno...'' she poked him lightly. ''hey baby... you okay??''

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami glanced at Kamen, feeling slightly sickened by all this. "That's debatable."

Reno was out like a light. Annie shook her head and snickered. "It's OK, Mom... give him a few seconds for a breather, OK?"

She shook with giggles, her sister and father's antics making her feel better than she had in a long, long time. This really was the golden age... before I didn't care, but now I'll do anything to bring it back.

She gave her mom another hug. This is the way it was always meant to be... because no matter how dark it gets, there is no dark strong enough to put out the light.

Jared finally gave up. People had asked him to be what they wanted him to be all his life, and finally someone had come along just asking him to be himself... and let her love him for it. He pulled Joey closer and let their lips touch gently, losing himself to her.

[*~Nikkole~*]

kamen sighed and rested his head on his knees. ''we could still live without it though... i know i could.'' all this lovey dovey stuff made him want to puke... he had never liked it, nor had he really ever felt it...

nikky nodded and leaned back against the wall. she closed her eyes and took a deep breath... ''what a hectic day....'' she said quietly.

[matt]

Amnesty... lucky charm. What did she mean by that? Blood quickly drew his attention to Asuka, who had now finished meditating, but was still sitting down.

((( Unknowns Bio is on the charecter profiles, So Is the clone, and it isn't Sephiroth its a clone whose constructed from DNA of different people, who was given the structural description of Sephiroth.)))

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Jared pulled back from Joey, feeling just a little bit ambiguous about this sudden development. "You know... in a way, you and me together... this is kind of sick."

Joey just gave him that crazy grin, a shadow of the self she'd been before the raids, back when they were just kids playing in a band together... and the closest she'd ever come to an offensive strategy was noogying someone mercilessly for ripping off her hat at recess. "Hey, this is war. What do you expect?"

He had to admit... she had a point.

Reno mumbled as he came around. "Uhhh..."

Annie leaned over him. "Hey, Dad... you gonna be all right?"

He held his head as he looked across the cave and saw Joey still gooning off at Jared, and then over at Fruxas, still sulking in his stone cage. "I just found out half my kids have horrific taste in men. Yeah, sure, I'm gonna be just peachy."

Annie laughed out loud. "Lay off him, Dad... once he gets past the Pull-Ups epoch, he actually becomes slightly more sane. Trust me on this. It's high time she discovered she has estrogen anyway... she's been completely uninterested in her female status prior to this point of her life."

Reno gave Annie a long, hard look. "I thought you said the two of you are only eleven."

"What's your point?"

"Aren't you girls a little too, say, prepubescent for boyfriends?"

Annie shrugged. "I donno know what 'prepublicssent' means, but apparently, Joey isn't it. She's had a crush on Jared since third grade."

Reno looked heavenward. "Why me?" He facepalmed himself. "Please, God... just tell me why. Why me."

Jared suddenly became alert. Joey noticed his unease... "Jared, what's the matter?"

"I sense something really weird... I can feel the General coming, but... I could swear his presence is carrying double intensity."

Joey paled. "You aren't saying..."

"Maybe. I'm not sure."

Joey's thingy facade dropped, and for an instant, Ami could swear she saw something on that defiant face besides rebelliousness and determination. It was stark terror.

****

Yazoo kept his melee pistols trained on the interloper. "Got anything to say for yourself? I'd rather not get your brains all over my suit, so for both our sakes, make it good."

As he waited for an explanation, he felt a probe lightly touching into his mind. Oh, s**t... Jenova. She's onto us!

He sighed. "I don't have time for this." He aimed a punch at Unknown's head and raced back inside without even waiting to see if Unknown remained unconscious from the impact. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's showtime."

He backed up into the bottleneck. "For lack of a batter expression... let's get ready to rumble, folks."

Ami went into the arsenal and found the glowing blade Kamen had surrendered to her earlier, at the Fort, to replace her Dragon's Teeth. "What's happening? Thay found us?"

He nodded, reloading his guns. "Mommy dearest got a lock on me." He moved back out into the bottleneck. "I'm taking my post."

Jared snapped back into underground rebel mode. "Amnesty, Reno, Cloud, Vincent, head out into the ante-cavern. Everyone else, grab a gun and head into the bottleneck. Try to reduce the invaders' numbers as much as possible before they enter this part of the cavern. If too many get in, Annie... you know what to do."

She nodded and began charging up a teleport envelope. "Right."

Joey encased the preliminary combatants out in the antecavern in time speed envelopes to help them match the abilities of the clones they were about to face... there would be no other way for them to keep up, not even her dad... he hadn't tapped his time manipulation abilities yet. She sat and focused her energy on assisting them as Jared grabbed one of the sniper rifles and knelt in the bottleneck, preparing to defend his base.

Rude joined him. "You got the look of someone who's done this before, kid."

"I have done this before. Way too many times." He steadied himself and leveled his eye with the scope.

Rude tried to ignore how much the boy was currently reminding him of his father as he followed suit...

[*~Nikkole~*]

kamen looked over and then moved out of the way and against the wall. he took a deep and breath and attempted to calm his nerves..... it wasn't working.

nikky walked up and smiled briefly, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. ''chill, kid... its going to be alright...'' she said before walking off to find reno... she could sense kamens unease and hoped that would help him a little.

kamen prayed silently that all of this would end well...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Joey opened her eyes long enough to see her mom heading out to follow her dad into the antecavern. She got up and held her back. "Hold on, Mom... you don't wanna get mixed up in this 'till the last second." Like her father, she had an almost hyperactive concern for her mother's well-being. She grabbed one of the rifles and handed it over. "Take this and get ready to blast them to h**l... a fairly basic strategy, but it works sometimes." She grinned. "Besides, let's not forget those little surprise packages Ann and I left for 'em..."

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky was stopped and looked over with a slightly disappointed look. she sighed, took the rifle and nodded. ''okay...'' she looked back and grinned. ''surprises are always fun....''

kaman couldn't help but roll his eyes but then had to duck a flying knife. he eeped and then glared and pocketed nikkys throwing knife.

nikky grinned before getting serious again...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"Mom, I gotta tell ya... clone troopers are real nasty suckers. Mean and stupid, most of 'em... but not stupid enough to be unable to kill ya soon as look at ya." Joey looked downright grim at this point. "Once I saw this one chick, Marlene Wallace... she got gutted alive where she stood when she crossed an S6 trooper. She was one of the best... one of the heroes of the revolution, and they still swept her out. I'm just saying, Mom... watch yourself, OK?"

[*~Nikkole~*]

nikky nodded. ''yeah... i will. no worries there.'' she gave joey a nuggy. ''but you watch your self too, kid.'' she grinned. ''no parents should see their children killed... even if they don't exist yet.''

kamen was silently and irritably waiting.... but he looked pretty pissy... and as approachable as a bear with a headache.