Hello and welcome back to another chapter of Deep Blue! Thanks for the reviews so far you guys are awesome! And for those of you familiar with my past stories don't worry, I haven't forgotten them! Right now I am in the midst of writing chapters for both " Ghost Story" and " Grey." In the meantime sit back and enjoy the ride! Disclaimer: Do I own the characters or the game? In the immortal words of Alanis Morrisette: You, you, you-oughtta know! (No.)

Home Sweet Home

Dinner was an awkward affair. It wasn't the food. By his standards, and pretty much everyone else's Eliza Strife was one of the best cooks in town. They could say whatever they wanted to about her but in the end it was always her food that was cleared away first during town get-togethers. Not that Cloud ever felt inclined to join. Tonight's meal was no exception: Mashed potatoes seasoned with chicken bullion, topped off with creamy beef and mushroom gravy. A hearty meatloaf peppered with Cajun seasonings, and finally a light garden salad served with ranch dressing and warm garlic toast. No, the food was definitely not the problem. The problem lie with the chef in question. His mother. Cloud wasn't a big talker. Nice and quiet was how he liked it best. But as it sometimes happens, Eliza was the exact opposite of her son. She liked chit-chat, silly stories or simple polite conversation between friends. Silence was stifling to her. And whenever she tried to initiate a conversation with Cloud it usually turned in to some form of fight.

Last time she had tried starting a conversation with him was just two days ago...

' So Cloud, I heard that your school is planning on putting on a play for the town's library benefit fund." The local library was one of the town's historical sites. It was said that during one of the continent's civil wars, Atenawa, chief of Cosmo Canyon back then, escaped capture from Shinra and hid out in the town. Specifically in the library's attic, where he later established the " Brotherhood of the brave." And thus the attic was used to plan many undercover operations and, to hide people who were unjustly put to the death sentence as displays of power. Atenawa and these people became the first group to openly oppose the Shinra conglomerate and fight to end enslavement of the poorer people. In short-the site of the beginning of what would come to be known as " The Brave Revolution." They won, and Shinra was forced to cease all enslavement and leave these lands in peace. That was over two hundred years ago. Now the building was beginning to wear, and there was talk of the building becoming condemned unless the town could raise the money it needed to fund the repairs needed to keep it standing. Eliza thought it was sad that such a treasured piece of history could be thrown away so carelessly and so quickly.

Cloud could care less.

Per her inquiry he swallowed his mouthful of beef stew and then nodded once. " Yeah." Eliza tapped her finger on her mug, waiting for him to say more. Cloud kept eating. Okay...

" The play this year is ' Macbeth', right?"

"...Yeah."

"...Are you going to try out?" A dubious stare across the table was all the answer she needed. " Oh, but Cloud you really should try out for a part. You always read so eloquently..." She was speaking of the times when he was younger. As he began learning how to read at some point it became custom for him to read her the bedtime stories at night. Anything from Mother Goose, and Shakespear's Sonnets to C.S. Lewis. Of course, those days had faded long ago. But still she always had praised him on his ability to put life in to whatever he read.

" That's reading. Acting's different." He stated this in a tone that suggested that she ought to have known better. That made her temper spark just a little. She did not like being talked down to by anyone-and she wasn't about to take it from her own son.

" I know that, Cloud. I was only suggesting that you try to get involved a little more." She huffed. Cloud lowered his spoon as he grit his teeth in annoyance. " Maybe if you weren't such a recluse you might have a few friends-"

" So you're saying it's my fault that no one like me." He had spoken softly enough, but the hard tones of anger were already evident. She rubbed her temples and tried to calm his ever-present anger.

" No, I'm just saying that it's no good for anyone to be as alone as you are, Baby. I-" Cloud set his spoon down firmly, the clatter louder than a car crash to their tiny kitchen.

" I would rather be on my own that be one of those damn short-dicks." She gasped-in what might have been awe or anger or maybe both. Cloud didn't pay her any attention as he kept talking. " I don't need anyone here, Mom. " Her spark turned to fire and she staed at him with all the power she had in her eyes, making the blue irises dance like cold flame.

" So you don't need me?" She challenged. Cloud reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he fought to ward off an on-coming headache.

" Mom, please-you know that's not what I meant!"

" I don't know what you mean anymore, Cloud! I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" The moment she shouted those words at him she regretted it. He looed up at her from his seat at the table, and the hurt and anger were enough to make her feel lower than dirt. Her anger left as quickly as it had come and her hands flew to her mouth. " Cloud, I'm so sorry! I just..." She wanted to say she didn't mean a single word of it, but could she when her precious little boy was growing in to an angry, lonely, cold-hearted man? She sniffled as a tear escaped her eyes and dripped in to her hand. Blinking rapidly she reached for him, her boy. " Cloud-"

" May I be excused?" He stood up abruptly at her movement as he made his request. Not waiting for an answer he walked out of the kitchen and upstairs to his room, where his door was shut with a shotgun's bang. Eliza folded her arms on the table and buried her face to cry. Across from her his stew sat silent, partially finished and growing cold. In his room Cloud sat on his bed, looking out of the window as he tried very hard to remember that crying did no one any good. It was bad enough that everyone here hated him. That he could handle. But what he couldn't handle was one lingering thought.

" Mom...is disappointing you all I'll ever do?" And despite his best efforts, a single tear escaped the stronghold he'd forced on his eyes and fell from his face.'

After that they both simply let things go back to the way they were. A silent truce always seemed to be established whenever they had a fight. That was past. Brush it off like it never happened. Start all over again tomorrow. Now she was sitting across from him again, and once again the silence was uncomfortable to her. Both of them felt the strong sense of deja vu hovering over them. Cloud knew she wanted to talk to him, but what the fuck were they supposed to talk about? His friends? Nonexistent. His girlfriend? Also Nonexistent. School activities he was involved in? An idea of pure fiction. Well that left only one topic: Her. Eliza Strife worked as a waitress in the local tavern, and the job was surprisingly not bad. She was always allowed to keep the tips she earned and since the food always had to be fresh, she was always able to bring home some form of cake or pie, sometimes even leftover steak for free. ' Yeah those are fine, but Mom's are better.' He thought. Still free food was free food so Cloud tended to not complain much. At times when employee hours were cut, it was that free food that became their source of sustenance for the day.

Deciding to break the silence first, Eliza cleared her throat and took a fork to her salad. " So, how was your day?" She ventured, taking a bite.

"...Fine. How was yours?" She raised her brows in mild surprise. Cloud usually never offered to talk at the table. Smiling a little she decided to tell him about the funniest thing that happened to her today.

" It was okay, although I think I embarrassed my manager." Cloud chewed on his meatloaf, then swallowed before asking.

" How?" She giggled, and forked another bite of her greens.

" Well, there was this guy who kept whistling at me for service. Y'know that's actually a pet peeve of mine. If you need me, then call me. Whistling at someone is just so irritating." She grumbled. Cloud chewed silently, but from the focus of his eyes she knew he was listening. That fact alone made her smile even brighter. " So anyway, Jerkface is whistling for me, so I stop cleaning the tables and start looking around under them." Cloud frowned and arched an eyebrow at her.

" Why?"

" The jerk asked about that, too. He said he was trying to call me over. So I stood up and said: " Sorry, Sir. I thought you were whistling for your dog." It didn't help any that my manager happened to be standing right behind me when I said it." The two of them sat silent for three seconds. Then Cloud's lips turned up in to a humorous smirk and he snorted over his plate, followed by a low chuckle. Across from him his mother started giggling happily. She did it. She actually made him laugh...

" Then what happened?" Eliza took a drink of her tea before answering him with a smile.

" The guy just stared at me like I had two heads while the manager began apologizing over and over again. And to make it worse his wife was hiding behind her menu, she was so embarrassed." Another quiet laugh from Cloud. " When I came back to the table, there was a twenty-gil tip on the table for me. I think she left it for me because he embarrassed her."

" Hn, Nice." The conversation stopped then, with only the clink of silverware on plates as the dinner was eaten. But the silence that followed was a welcome one. Comfortable. And when dinner was done, Eliza washed the dishes and Cloud helped her to dry them. The night was peaceful, the house blissfully calm. She decided that now was as good a time as any. As he began climbing up the stairs she called out to him.

" Cloud, wait." He paused on the third step up and looked down quizzically at her. " There's something I've been meaning to give you." Curious Cloud descended the stairs as she reached in to her jean pocket to retrieve her present to him. She held out her hand and opened her palm. It was a ring of pure stainless steel, and it took the shape of a ferocious wolf, a ring of silver clamped down between it's fangs. It was an amazing piece of jewelry. And she wanted him to have this? As if reading his mind she nodded and kept her palm open. " For you." Cloud took the ring and slipped it on to the ring finger on his left hand. It fit perfectly. " It was your father's."

Cloud looked up from the ring, unable to hide the surprise on his face. This awesome ring was his Dad's? " James always had that ring, you know. I never knew where he got it. " She pondered this small mystery for a moment. " He gave it to me to hold on to every time he had to go to sea. He'd ask me to keep it safe for him until he came home. Didn't want to lose it in the water, he'd say. That was always his excuse." She laughed, rolling her eyes at the mention of it. " But I always knew why he let he keep it." She walked forward and took Cloud's hand in her own, stroking his palm like she used to when he was little. " He let me keep it with me because he always knew how much I missed him when he was away. So he would give me the ring to let me feel like he was still here." His mom kissed his hand and looked up in to his eyes. " I know he would want you to have it."

"...Mom..." And as she came forward to him he gathered her in his arms hand held her close, inhaling her scent of perfume and honey. He was sorry to admit that he had very few memories of his father, other than one or two innocuous things. He remembered loving it when his dad sang for him, strumming his guitar. He remembered the time his dad had taken him to the beach, tossing him in the ocean's waves to let him ride back to the shore. And then James started cracking up when a piece of seaweed flopped unceremoniously on to his head during one big wave. Still he had laughed with the man at his own mess. the only time he could remember laughing so hard. Three years old and he'd still managed to remember. Physically all he had of his dad was a picture of him sitting on the beach, one knee drawn up to rest his arm on as he stared out at the water.

His dark blonde hair had been wind-tossed in the picture, his blue-grey eyes staring out at the water. It was obvious it was a candid shot, and it was the only picture they had of him. And while he had just enough memories to miss him, he knew his mother missed him ten times more. So naturally the fact that she gave him his Dad's ring was something he treasured at once. They broke apart and his mother cleared her throat and waved him off. " Now get to bed, Dear. Just because you've been suspended for the week doesn't mean you won't have plenty to do tomorrow. I need your help around the house so get some rest, okay?" He nodded obediently and kissed her on the cheek.

" Thanks, Mom. I swear I won't lose it." She ruffled his hair, earning her an annoyed grunt from her son. He turned back up the stairs and began his ascent up to his room.

" I know you won't. I love you, Cloud." He paused and turned around.

" Love you too." He tuned back to the stairs and walked to his room and then closed the door. He changed out of his clothes in to a simple pair of grey sweat pants and slid under the covers. The moonlight shown brightly between his curtains and he put one hand behind his head, the other he rested in the covers around his waist, staring at the wolf on his hand as it glinted in the moonlight. The fact that he was now wearing his father's ring felt so surreal to him. A picture was one thing. To have something physical that he actually had owned once put him out of that place of stories and legends and put him in the real world. James Sawyer had really been here once. With his mother. With him. Soon his eyes grew heavy, and the wolf's form dimmed as his eyes finally closed.

Done! Now this chapter had two purposes: One was an inside look at what life is like at home for Cloud, establishing his relationship with his mom. And two: The ring-which will play an important part later in the story. Oh, and for those of you who don't know the name James Sawyer, he's a character from the t.v show " Lost." And is what Cloud's father is based off of. Look up Josh Holloway and you'll see what Cloud's " Dad" looks like. In my head his mom looks like Sophia Myles. Lol. anyways next chapter we'll get to see Tifa YAAAAAY! As always please R&R and bless your happy happiness!