"Cloud, dinner!" she called out to him from the kitchen, stirring a pot in front of the stove. "I made stew! It's your favorite!"

The young blonde child ran into the kitchen, leaping into the closest seat around the table.

"My, someone is hungry!" she laughed.

"You make the best stew, mom," Cloud grinned as he grabbed the spoon and bowl around the table.

"I know I do," she chuckled, joking at her ego. She then saw the band aid on his cheek and the bonds wrapped around both his hands from the night before.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him.

Cloud gave her a curious look, a look as if nothing had ever happened. "Huh? I feel fine. Why?"

"Your wounds don't hurt?" she asked again.

"No, it feels okay," Cloud said.

But she continued to stare at Cloud, her mind filled with emotions. Cloud simply shrugged.

"Mom, really, I'm okay. It doesn't hurt anymore."

But she knew it wasn't his wounds that bothered her. She grew concerned for Cloud and how he was at the moment, always getting into fights and always angry. He seemed normal to her now, but she couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Okay," she said, resuming her smile.

She lifted the pot over to the table and carefully served Cloud her specialty stew.

"Here you are," she said to him. "And don't forget to give thanks to Minerva."

"Mom," Cloud groaned at the mention of her 'ritual'.

"Hun, I told you that it's not just me you should thank for the food and for our house. I've told you that everything is the way it is because of the Planet. You, me, and everyone else is here because we had been given life by it."

"That sounds so stupid," Cloud complained. "Can't we just eat?"

"It's not stupid," she explained. "It's the truth."

"How do you know that?" Cloud asked.

"Well, we're here right now, aren't we? There's no way we would be here in our home eating my stew by accident, right? And I wouldn't be able to tickle you like this, right?"

She poked into his small figure and tickled his sides, making Cloud howl with laughter until he submitted.

"Okay! I give up!" Cloud cried.

She smiled warmly at him as she sat across from him. "Now, close your eyes and let's give thanks."

Cloud groaned but she ignored him as she closed her eyes to give thanks. But before she could, there was a knock on the front door.

"Who could that be?" she asked. "Stay here, Cloud."

Cloud watched her leave the kitchen. He couldn't see, but he heard her open the front door and could hear the conversation from the other room.

"Mr. Rosch," he heard his mother's voice. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hello, Miss Strife," he heard a man's voice. He knew all too well why that man would come. "May I have a word?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"You know what happened between him and my son last night, right?"

"I'm aware of that, sir, and I have disciplined Cloud appropriately for his actions. I'm sorry for what happened, but your son should know better than to pick on him."

"Miss Strife, that son of yours is nothing but trouble. He's the one that got Mr. Lockhart's daughter into that accident."

Cloud could hear his mother's raised voice. "I don't care what he did! You and everyone else in town keep blaming my son for something he didn't do!"

"You know damn well it was his fault! You need to learn to better control that brat! You're just as much trouble as that son of yours!"

"How dare you say that about me and Cloud! Get out of my house!"

"You're both to blame for all this mess, Miss Strife! If he starts another-"

"Out!"

The door slammed shut. Cloud gritted his teeth as he held his tears back. He could feel the anger swell inside of him, feel the hatred of the other villagers. He stood up and was about to leave but his mother appeared into the kitchen, wiping her eyes.

"Cloud, where are you going?" she asked him.

"Anywhere but here!" Cloud yelled, finally letting the tears out. "No one wants me here anyway!"

"Sit back down, Cloud," she told him. "We still have dinner to eat."

"I don't wanna eat!" he shouted. "I wanna leave! I hate this place! I hate everyone!"

He ran past her and upstairs to his room, slamming the door shut. Cloud buried his head into his pillow and sobbed quietly. But as he laid down, he could hear her downstairs, crying. It was the first time he had ever heard her cry. He felt angry at the towns people, and he felt guilty for making his own mother cry, which made him cry even harder until he finally cried himself to sleep.