Silent Dagger: Well…this is it everyone…the final chapter. It’s been a great run and you’re all awesome! I’m glad I was able to keep you amused and I thank you for not forgetting about me even though it’s taken so long for me to get to this point. It’s been a lot of fun, maybe I’ll do something like this again in the future. But for now… Sayanora.

Disclaimer: Awwww they’re still not mine at the end? pouts

Chapter Twenty: Freedom

Sunday passed into Monday and still the ‘family reunion’ had not disbanded. Everyone resembled zombies, just sitting anywhere and not focusing on anything, wanting nothing more than to get back to their normal routine.

“I’m bored,” Cloud whined.

“I swear, if you say that again, I am going to cut your head off,” Sephiroth growled.

“Okay Negative Ned,” Cloud retorted.

“Cloud…” Vincent said, his dark voice full of warning. “You’re driving everyone insane, just shut up.”

Cloud crossed his arms over his chest and with a huff! turned around and faced the wall. None of them were upset at this. Lucrecia sighed and lay back on her bed, facing the ceiling.

“I thought secluding myself in a cave that could only be reached by submarine was a bad idea…coming here was worse,” she complained.

“This is worse then spending years locked in a coffin,” Vincent agreed.

“Or as a clone,” Cloud added.

“Or as someone who had a lot of failed subjects because they’re weaklings,” Hojo said bitterly.

“Or as someone who just wants to destroy this planet but can’t now thanks to an idiot scientist,” Sephiroth said coldly.

“OR AS AN UGLY MONSTER WITH THE BIGGEST ASS IN THE UNIVERSE,” Jenova mourned.

They were all quiet for a minute.

“I think yours is worse actually,” Lucrecia said. “I’d rather be locked in here forever than look like you.”

“!! SHUT UP! YOU’RE SO MEAN!!!” Jenova screamed.

Lucrecia raised an eye brow. “I’m mean?” she asked. “You’re a bigger bitch than I am…in every sense of the word ‘bigger’.”

“SHUUUUT UPPPPP!”

“Both of you shut up!” Hojo shouted. “I’m trying to figure out how to get rid of the barrier around the house!”

He paused and they all looked at him expectantly. Hojo put on a face of severe concentration. “I think I might…” he trailed off, talking softly. They all leaned in a bit closer. “I might remember…” he added. They got even closer. Hojo snapped his eyes open and a grin came over his face. He grabbed a pillow and smacked every one of them across the face.

“I think I might remember that I am the master at everything! Mwhahahaha!” Hojo yelled triumph.

Sephiroth grabbed his sword and slapped it, still sheathed, across Hojo’s face. Hojo let out a girly cry and was knocked off of the bed he had been sitting on. He emerged with a large welt across his face and tears in his eyes.

“You’re so immature! Grow up you little brat!” he screamed.

“You do not know what you are talking about,” Sephiroth snarled.

Hojo quickly removed his shoe and threw it at Sephiroth, who wasn’t expecting it and was therefore struck in the eye by the small heel in Hojo’s shoe.

“OW! YOU ASS HOLE!!” Sephiroth bellowed, holding a hand to his eye.

Hojo cackled in delight and Cloud burst out laughing.

Sephiroth thrust with his sword, and the sheathed tip poked Cloud in the eye. “OW! OW! OW!” Cloud cried.

He began waving his hands frantically and his fist collided with Vincent’s eye. “Cloud you moron!” Vincent growled, bringing his hand up towards his eye. His arm hit Lucrecia’s who was bringing it up to cover her mouth while she yawned. The hit made her arm jerk forward and she poked herself in the eye.

“Dammit, Vincent!” she hissed.

Hojo and Jenova laughed at them, but Jenova was waving her tentacles in joy and one of them accidentally hit Hojo in the eye.

“You stupid monster!” Hojo spat.

“DON’T CALL ME A MONSTER!” Jenova shouted and started to roll towards him, but the floor, weakened by her weight, finally relented and she fell, screaming to the first floor.

They all laughed.

“Out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out…” Cloud mumbled to himself, rocking slightly and hugging himself.

Four more hours had passed and everyone was literally starting to feel insane. Vincent punched Cloud in the back of the head. “Would you shut up?” he demanded.

Cloud held his hands to his head and pouted. “Ow…” he complained.

Sephiroth was pacing around the room. “If I don’t get out of here soon I’m killing all of you,” he said.

“But then you would be stuck all by yourself,” Lucrecia pointed out.

“AND THEN YOU WOULD START TALKING TO YOUSELF LIKE THAT CAVEWOMAN DOES,” Jenova said, her head poking through the hole in the floor that she had caused.

“Screw you,” Lucrecia snapped.

“I wanna go back to the Highwind!” Cloud cried plaintively.

“This weekend is going to give me worse nightmares than I already had,” Vincent sighed.

“Oh all of you quit complaining,” Hojo snapped. “You sound like a bunch of kids. Don’t make me play the role of ‘daddy’.”

There was silence and Hojo grinned. “Excellent, good children.”

“Shut up you pervert,” Lucrecia said harshly.

“That was harsh,” Hojo frowned.

“And true,” Vincent added.

“Oh shut up you emo monster,” Hojo growled.

“I am NOT emo,” Vincent said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I am,” Cloud said seriously. “So is Sephiroth.”

“Don’t lump me into the same category as you, failure,” Sephiroth said darkly.

“IS BEING EMO COOL?” Jenova asked.

“Yes!” Cloud exclaimed.

“THEN I’M EMO TOO!”

“No you’re not, you’re just an ugly beast,” Lucrecia said sweetly.

“GWWWWAAAAARRRRR!” Jenova roared.

“Point proven,” Lucrecia giggled. She turned back to Hojo. “Don’t you have any more alcohol?”

“Um…no, you guys drank it all in one night,” Hojo sighed.

They were quiet for a while.

“This is torture!” Lucrecia cried.

Another three hours had passed and they still remained trapped within the haunted hotel. The ghosts had gotten sick of them and simply drifted through the walls and left and all of them were suddenly feeling very jealous of them. Sephiroth was absent-mindedly examining his sword while Cloud was curled into a fetal position on one of the beds. Vincent was leaning against a wall with his eyes closed and Lucrecia was sprawled out on a bed looking at the ceiling with tears of frustration in her eyes. Hojo was calculating something to himself while Jenova tried to get them to laugh by belching loudly, which only succeeding in making the room smell so they told her to stop.

“Hojo, have you found a way to turn off this damn barricade?” Sephiroth asked.

Hojo shook his head. “Nope, it appears that the only way to turn it off was by that switch I had.”

“What exactly will happen if we just leave?” Cloud asked.

“You’ll be diced into itty bitty bits,” Hojo replied with a sadistic smile.

“Oh…” Cloud sighed. “Darn.”

“YOU GUYS I’M REALLY BORED,” Jenova said. “AND I’M STARTING TO FEEL A LITTLE CLAUSTROPHOBIC.”

“Well no wonder, your ass takes up half the hotel,” Lucrecia muttered.

“WHY ARE YOU SUCH A MEAN PERSON?” Jenova cried.

“I’m not, you just annoy me,” Lucrecia replied.

“I think you have a mean streak in you,” Hojo smiled. “You dumped poor old Vincent for me, a mad scientist, you let him be turned into a monster and you made your son an evil person hell bent on summoning a meteor that will destroy the entire planet.”

Lucrecia said nothing.

“POINT FOR HOJO,” Jenova laughed.

“Whatever,” Lucrecia mumbled, turning on her side and staring at the wall.

Vincent opened his eyes a bit. “Why doesn’t everyone just stop talking for a while?” he suggested.

“No,” Hojo argued. “I want to talk.”

“ME TOO,” Jenova complained.

“If you keep talking I’m going to turn into Chaos and kill you,” Vincent warned.

“OHHH…” Jenova trailed off. “FINE, I’LL STOP.”

“You should just do it anyway,” Sephiroth suggested.

“HOW COULD YOU ASK HIM TO KILL YOUR OWN MOTHER?!” Jenova bellowed.

“Because you’re getting on my nerves,” Sephiroth growled.

“Oh? How strange since you’re such a momma’s boy,” Hojo giggled.

Cloud lifted his head from the bed and laughed. “Momma’s boy, momma’s boy!” he sang.

Sephiroth’s eyes flashed. “Don’t make me kill everyone in this room. I am not a momma’s boy at all.”

“Right,” Hojo said.

Yet another two hours passed and everyone was sprawled out in various places looking at the ceiling. They had not spoken a word in those two hours and all of them were looking a bit haggard by this time and close to snapping.

“I’m--” Cloud began.

“I swear if you say bored you’re dead,” Sephiroth threatened.

“Hungry,” Cloud finished.

“Now that you mention it, we haven’t had anything to eat for a while,” Hojo said. “Didn’t plan the food part out so well.”

“WELL, IF YOU WERE AS AWESOME AS ME YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO EAT EVERYDAY,” Jenova boasted.

“Yeah, but if we were you, we’d be loud, obnoxious monsters that have bad breath and no arms,” Lucrecia said.

Instead of arguing, Jenova snaked a long tentacle over to Lucrecia and poked her in the ear with it.

“EWW!!!! IT’S SLIMY AND GROSS!” Lucrecia shrieked.

“SERVES YOU RIGHT YOU JERK!” Jenova shouted in victory.

Suddenly, Hojo sat bolt upright. Everyone looked at him. “I’ve just realized something,” he said.

“What?” the others asked.

“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing really. I only made plans to create a device that would keep us all trapped in here…I never actually got around to making it,” he admitted.

There was a dead silence.

“So you’re saying…that there is no barrier that will kill us if we leave?” Sephiroth asked darkly.

“Well…yes,” Hojo replied.

“And you’re saying that we stayed here for so long for no reason?” Vincent growled.

“Um…yeah,” Hojo replied.

There was another moment of tense silence and then an explosion of shouts.

“YOU CALL YOURSELF A GENIUS?!” Sephiroth bellowed.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I STAYED HERE UNDER SUCH A STUPID THREAT!!” Lucrecia screamed.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Vincent roared.

“I WAS MADE FUN OF ALL THIS TIME BECAUSE OF YOU KEEPING ME HERE!” Jenova cried.

“I’M GOING TO YELL TOO BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING!” Cloud screamed.

Hojo smiled innocently. “We all make mistakes,” he laughed. “Come on, you have to see the humor in life.”

“I’m leaving!” Sephiroth growled. “I’m too pissed off to even kill you right now!” he stormed from the room and they heard him open the front door and then the door slammed.

“Screw coming back to this world, I’m going back to my cave,” Lucrecia snapped. She also left the room in a huff, or tried to but Jenova stuck out a tentacle and tripped her. “I hate you!” Lucrecia snarled, standing up and stomping on the tentacle with her heeled foot.

“OWWW!” Jenova complained.

Lucrecia left the hotel. Vincent stood up and fixed Hojo with a red-eyed glare. “You’re going to pay for this,” he growled. He left the room and Cloud hopped up and began to follow him. He looked back at Hojo.

“I actually sort of had fun,” Cloud admitted before following Vincent out.

Hojo sighed. “Well, looks like the family reunion is over,” he said. “Well, dear Jenova, I’m off.”

“FINE, I’LL JUST ROLL ON OUT OF HERE,” Jenova replied.

Hojo waved farewell to her and left the hotel as well. Jenova began to shift her massive bulk so she could roll of the hotel when Dio came into the hotel.

“Oh, so you’re the one who’s been causing all this damage,” Dio said crossly. “You’ll have to pay for all that you know. I estimate that this will cost you about 100,000 gil.”

“GWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHH!!” Jenova cried.