Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 and all that good stuff, just my OC.

Constructive criticism is more than welcome! Be sure to drop a review whenever you finish the chapter, they are greatly appreciated.

SPOILER FOR THE CHAPTER/AUTHORESS RAMBLE! Do not read if you're the type who doesn't like knowing what happens before you read anything, if so, read this later: In this chap, I'm gonna go ahead and say it, but, Mia gets a j-o-b! I decided on her particular job (which I won't say, yet) because I wanted it something believable and slightly tied into the story instead of something completely cliche' like her getting an automatic job as a Turk right at the beginning (no offense, to those who do have fics like that; besides, Mia is not the physical kind of person, as you see later in the chapter). So, in a stroke of genius and cruelty towards my own OC, I made her take a job that she would never seem to agree with, but still survive it somehow. I hope all you readers will find it reasonable and readable at the same time.

Chapter 4 Not So Good Morning, Not so Good Afternoon

I trudged downstairs, yawning the whole way down. It was certain that I wasn't a morning person, as everyone in the household knew. I sat down at the dining table and waited for Mom to set down whatever she had decided to cook for breakfast. With a rush of reality, I realized that I wasn't sitting at my table back at home, but in my temporary home in Edge. With a groan, I snapped out of my crossed memories of reality and whatever reality was now. I hardly ever hallucinated, much less dreamed, about my life BC/Before College, but seeming how I wasn't in the right dimension, hallucinations were an exception for now.

I yawned once more before glancing down at my right forearm. I pulled down the stubborn sleeve of my borrowed pajamas before looking up into the kitchen/dining room in the back of 7th Heaven. I must've followed the scent of breakfast downstairs while trying to wake up, because Tifa was busily cooking along with Marlene trying to help the best a child can while having an adult watching their every move, so as not to make a mess.

This made me smile at the memory of my first time helping out in the kitchen, which sadly was my last time, seeming as my mother didn't want me near the food pantry without constant supervision. Let's just say I got a little happy with the baking flour.

Denzel was wandering around the kitchen, looking for something to do, obviously. It was a wonder where Cloud could be, he seemed to be missing a lot less since the whole Advent Children deal, but he was always off somewhere in the house where no one could bother him. During my whole two days here, I had only seen him maybe four times. This didn't bother me, though, seeming as how I already couldn't stand him.

Tifa finished breakfast, and after fetching a mug of coffee, I sat down to my second homemade breakfast since moving out of my house, back on Earth, at college and a fate of frozen dinners. I dug into the delicious cuisine that was scrambled eggs while tossing manners to the wind.

When I reached for my cup of coffee, my pj sleeve slid down once more. I yanked it back up and tucked part of it between my pointer and middle fingers so it wouldn't slide down any more. It wasn't the fact that it kept sliding down my arm because the top was originally meant to have elbow-length sleeves (which had been stretched out after a long life of usage), but the fact that I was trying my best to hide a strange and rather off-putting mark that I had had since only an afternoon after my arrival to Gaia.

Nevertheless, I tried to act as normal as possible. It wasn't hurting me, it wasn't hurting anyone else, and most importantly: I didn't want to end up in a bad position in only my first few days here. It was enough that I hated conflicts and confrontations, so this only added some wariness to the mix. Plus, Tifa had her hands full enough, juggling 7th heaven, the kids, and, hardest of all, Cloud.

After downing some breakfast, I took my coffee into the living room of the house-section of the building and immediately began shuffling through the newspaper. As soon as I found the job adds, I picked up a nearby pen and began marking which jobs I could be any use of.

"Where did Mia go?" I heard from the kitchen. Marlene had been the clingiest in the household, which struck me as odd since I had no skills when it came to kids. I was the youngest in my family, so I never was exposed to young children. Probably because of Marlene's natural friendliness, she had accompanied me through the house whenever I wasn't accompanying Tifa. I was grateful for a friend, though.

"I'm not sure, sweetie, she may be in the living room, again." Tifa replied, who was aware of my compulsive newspaper viewing.

Since yesterday, I had been looking for vacant apartments and such, but I needed some extra cash first. I worked with Tifa yesterday, but I decided I wasn't too fond of what she had me doing. I'm a lot more useful at computer skills than pretty much everything Tifa set me to work on. I might as well have been better off in the middle of no where, where I couldn't make a mess. My destruction left three broken glasses, an overturned table, and a sink's worth of water on the floor. Tifa decided that it would be a good idea to browse through the jobs-wanted area of the paper.

After days and hours of searching, nothing suited me at all. Almost everything in the paper had to do with some sort of physical-based odd job that immediately ruled me out. I groaned and tossed the paper back on the coffee table. Nibbling on my pen cap, I could only think of one thing to do.

"Hey, Tifa?" I called, aiming my voice at the kitchen.

"Yeah?" she answered, ready to assist me.

"Can you help me fill out a job application?"

And that was how I became the reluctant teacher of a Middle School's elective class… Yes, MORE children to complicate my life is just the right thing I need.

Turns out Edge isn't a town with job shortages. No wonder with all the debris flying around and buildings crashing during the Advent Children movie. As soon as the school heard I had been in need of a job, they were hot on my tail to hire me. The administration didn't even ask for a college degree, but took me in as soon as they heard I had some computer skill. (Note: SOME computer skill.) I really wasn't opting for this job, but I was talked into it by Tifa and the school principal. They were in high need of a computer teacher and, boom, here comes me falling out of the sky!

Great… Just sunshine and jellybeans great…

I suck at dealing with children! I was the youngest in my family, for crying out loud! There's no way I'm going to be able to handle 8 hours a day of stir-crazy 11-14 year olds…

A few teaching workshops later:

"Hello, class!" I greeted the wide-eyed 6 graders seated at an individual computer. I tugged uncomfortably at my blazer Tifa lent me. "I'm your Computer Application teacher. You can call me, Ms. Mia."

I wrote my name on the marker board behind me as I said it aloud. I turned back to my class who were staring at me… There was no way I was going to reveal my last name to strange children; one could actually be some kind of secret agent that's after me. Out of the blue, I had a quick and sudden vision of all of them turning wild and attacking me. It was a ridiculous notion, of course, they were how old, now?

"Shouldn't you take role?" a girl with blonde pigtails asked me sulkily. Impulsively, I was ready to throw a marker at her, but fought the urge.

"I should, now, shouldn't I?" I laughed awkwardly, picking up the attendance sheet and calling off all the names. The majority of them were here, a minority, not here.

"Who's your husband?" a random girl asked loudly. I was puzzled at this, and didn't know how to react.

"I don't have a husband." I answered.

"Are you divborced?" someone else asked. Something funny was going on…

That's when I turned to the board, quickly and noticed my name. Mrs. Mia was scribbled across in green dry-erase ink. I rubbed the "r" off quickly and smiled at my class. They asked way too many personal questions for 12 year olds.

"On with the lesson!" I said before picking up the lesson book the school had issued out to me.

"But, technically, we haven't even started it, yet." Pigtails girl said who was beginning to act high and mighty.

"I know that!" I growled behind a smile. After reading aloud some introductory I directed them in the child's play that was booting up and logging into your computer. After setting the lesson requirements for my newly acquired students I nervously sat behind my desk and looked for some teacherly duty to fulfill. This was my first class, so I had no papers to grade, and I had already sent a student to the office to turn in the attendance… Now what should I do?

A thought crossed my mind: there's always dictatorship… Nah, too many lawsuits involved. I need a clean record if I'm going to make it in Gaia, or at least Edge, especially as a school teacher now.

I stretched back and kicked my legs onto my desk. One more paycheck and I can get my own apartment somewhere cheap. First thing's first, though, I just need to survive a few more weeks of this…

I sank into the front seat of Tifa's car. My first day as a teacher was altogether exhausting and I wanted nothing more than to lie down and forget about everything. Through the rearview mirror I saw Marlene and Denzel exchange looks after some staring at me. I let my school-issued canvas teacher's bag slide off my shoulder and into the car floor.

"So how was your day?" Tifa asked. I wasn't quite sure whether she was asking me or the kids.

"Fine," I muttered along with a chorus of "Good"'s from the two children. I had had Denzel in one of my classes, but he hardly spoke more to me than the blonde recluse that was Cloud.

"Do you like your job so far?" Tifa asked eagerly.

I plastered a smile across my face and answered, "Yes."

The drive home drug out, along with my patience. The stress of responsibility had left me ready to get back home and catch up on my laziness. Plus, my videogame withdrawals were starting to catch up on me, seeming how my thumbs twitched at every familiar sight I saw in Edge that resembled anything from the movie or game. Upon arrival to the 7th Heaven, I found myself automatically stretched across the couch, on reflex, and didn't even know where my feet landed.

"Watch it." Cloud rumbled, reminiscent to our first meeting, as he pushed my feet out of his lap. I muttered something that sounded like an apology before realizing what I just did. Hooooly cow… hooooooooooollllyyy mooing steak cows…

Suddenly it was very hot and I fanned myself awkwardly before resituating myself on the couch and keeping my eyes glued to the television set. I knew my face was fire red but I didn't dare look to see if Cloud noticed. I watched the moving pictures on TV, unaware of what was even on for feeling self-conscious. I was scared to stay in case of further embarrassment, but I was scared to leave for seeming rude.

Wait a minute…. This was the guy who is rude to me, so why should I care?

With this thought I got up and made a confident exit as possible. Of course, no exit from the same room as Cloud is complete without an accidental trip… Yeah, so what if I tripped over an electrical chord? I gathered up my dignity and walked out like the lady I think I am. So my day went pretty smooth afterward, seeming how there was no Cloud-sightings. It's kind of funny that he was actually in the living room... Ha ha ha...ha...

I found myself back on my bed staring at the ceiling as usual. This was a growing habit that probably wasn't going to go away soon. I sighed, and began absentmindedly counting imaginary sheep and was at sheep number twenty-six, when I saw Marlene out of the corner of my eye wander in through the open door of my bedroom. I felt her weight next to me, as she imitated the same, stretched out position I was in. She stared at the ceiling a few minutes and after a sigh from me, she struck up a conversation.

"What's it like where you're from?" she asked me. Marlene had asked me repeatedly countless questions about where I came from, but I only revealed everything but the name of country, city, and planet, for that matter, I was originated.

I pondered the question carefully before answering, "Strange."

"Really? How can it be strange?" Marlene asked, probably conjuring all sorts of fantastical visions of where her roomy lived.

"Well, for one thing, the animals are a lot different." I answered, picking my words carefully. It was true, that Earth's animals weren't near as dangerous or weird as those on Gaia. Or for that matter, they weren't near as yellow, now that I remember the chocobos.

"What're they like?" Marlene asked with excitement and wonder sitting up and looking at me with her big, brown eyes.

I had to stop myself from saying "normal", but instead I said, "Just strange, compared to here."

Marlene was silent as she took this in. I wondered if she would keep pressing me for questions about home. It was a wonder she hadn't managed to squeeze out the fact I wasn't from anywhere on the surface of the planet.

"Are you going back?" she asked. There was uncertainty hinted in her voice.

"I don't know, Marlene." I said, just as uncertain, "I don't plan on it."

The TV flashed the latest news stories as I vegged out on the recliner. I balanced an empty glass of milk in my hands as my eyes steadily glazed over from lack of concentration. It was close to my bedtime and its about time I crashed, but I decided to catch what was on TV before going to bed. Really, though, it wasn't until a more petty news story played on the screen when I got interested.

"-police have caught and interrogated three confirmed members but have yet to get any leads on more society members-."

The news channel flipped at the speed of light to a random documentary as Cloud surfed the channels. I jerked to life, in a flurry from the change in shows.

"Put it back!" I sputtered, trying to keep my milk glass from crashing to the floor as I sat up in my seat.

"Why?" he asked, begrudgingly, but switched the channels back, anyway. The same news woman hadn't left and was still rambling on about a odd, new suspicious society.

"-some of there activity includes strange summoning rituals, unknown to any specialists, and seem to center there beliefs around Jenova and what they call, 'The One-Winged Angel'." The woman said before conversing a bit on the subject with a fellow news anchor-man and leaving the subject, but not after assuring that the public was safe and the cult was seemingly harmless, just suspicious…

"They have no clue what they're getting into." Cloud stated, before changing the channel to the documentary that had caught his interest, earlier. I only gazed at the TV, not focusing on anything particular but pondering the subject. My body had gone rigid with my concentrated thought.

"What's with you?"

The question startled me out of my trance, and startled me again to realize that it came from Cloud. I was pulled from my train of thought and back into reality.

"Nothing… just thinking…" I replied, trying to stay inconspicuous about my contemplatinos. I hoped he wouldn't pay me any attention, but I wasn't about to run away, this time. It was awhile before he replied.

"So, where exactly are you from?" he asked me. I mentally groaned and rolled my eyes, hoping the darkness of the unlit room hid my facial expressions. However, the inquiry did startle me some and I racked my brains for a quick lie. I had been getting that question, a lot, but not from him, plus, he said he wanted an exact answer…

"Um… no where you've been before…" I said weakly. The statement was exactly what I didn't want to say.

"It didn't seem like it." Cloud replied, "Why can't you just go home, though? Do you have to stay here?"

The question was so sudden and it struck me somewhere deep, not cutting like a knife but still scratching like paper. I didn't know how to answer it without looking completely stupid, though. I glanced around the room, unwittingly, and my speech was beginning to falter as I tried to make up an excuse. I made a perfect fool of myself, stuttering and sputtering, all the while trying to make up a lie and Cloud was watching me act stupid.

"I'm sorry." I eventually managed to choke out of myself. Even I was surprised by what I said. I didn't even know the reason for why I was apologizing. "I have no where else to go."

It was a while before he spoke to me again. "You're not up to anything, are you?" he asked interrogatively.

I felt my brown eyes widen. I wasn't sure whether he was confronting me, or just joking. I hoped he was just joking, but his tone had said otherwise.

"What would I be up to, if I was, that is?" I said, a little uncertainly, which hopefully didn't reveal me a total fake. He seemed so sure of himself, unlike me.

"Don't you think it's just sort of strange, once you think about it? You, suddenly showing up, no way to get home, no place to go, and most of all, you seem to be reluctant about telling us where you came from." Cloud said. He was almost indifferent, but something told me that he was ready to tear into me if I turned out to be trouble.

I could feel my heart sinking as the words sunk in, but when they finally did a new feeling came over me. A rare anger that only comes from confronting stubborn bosses on videogames welled up in me. I've been feeling his unwelcoming aura ever since I arrived, and it had not yet ceased. My own thoughts roared at me about how none of this is my fault. It's not like I'm looking to hurt anybody as soon as they turn their back. Besides, a part of me presented, he's been so rude from the beginning; I have yet to cause any harm.

Suddenly, I felt my heart fill to the brim with all the emotions that had been stirring in me. My mind was so flooded and my heart was so full, I felt like I would burst at any minute.

Something did crack, though.

"Yeah, it's strange! This whole place is strange! It's not my fault I've gotten into this, and there's no turning back, seeming how I'm too deep into everything!" I said, my voice rising with every word. I was beginning to feel more and more irritated and my body trembled. Thoughts and arguments crowded my mind. "None of this makes any sense, to me, how I got here, what got me here. You can't just expect me to know everything!"

"You can't expect me to just stand aside and let in a stranger! How do I know you're not going to steal from us, or not? How do I know whether you're going to turn your back on us?" Cloud said, his voice rose, but keeping steady, unlike mine and his eyes bored into my own. His words conjured up a silence between us, and I had just realized that I was standing.

I sat down, dejectedly. He spoke again, apparently not finished with me.

"This is my family, and I'm not about to let someone in between me and them." He said, sternly, on his feet and facing me. His words both hurt me and made me rejoice in the fact he had began to think of the odd crowd as family. I still couldn't help but feel such feelings of self-loathing stir up in me from long ago.

My lips refused to part as I tried to speak. Words caught in my throat, and I found myself at a loss. How could I answer him? How could I still be standing here?

I felt my cheeks get hot, and my body trembled less violently as I felt a growing pit of emotion in my stomach. Cloud was still waiting for me to open my big mouth.

I finally replied, but slowly, words coming little by little. "I…I don't want to hurt your family. I'm not here to do that… It's just, everything's been so confusing to me… and there are so many things I can't explain, and even if I did, I'd just screw up everything. It's too confusing for me to understand…" That was the best I could get out. I had been sobered up immediately at Cloud's previous outburst, and I couldn't believe that any words could come out of my mouth.

After finishing, I did the thing that I had become best at lately: run away. I tread the stairs to the second floor and gathered speed as I burst into my room, slamming the door behind me and turning the lock. I knew full well that it wasn't fair just to run away and lock the world out like that, but I was too scared to go any further.

I threw myself on my bed and tears ran down my face as I lay staring at the ceiling in the same position I've been taking up lately. Frustration burned in my chest as I tried to uselessly decode my thoughts and situation again, but amid the internal chaos, my head felt strangely clear. I growled and tossed onto my side. A perfect copy of me stared back from the mirror above the dresser I used so often. Dark eyes, once brown, gazed back at me, a negative energy was extremely noticeable, in them. I ran a hand through my hair and growled at a single white line amidst the brassy strands.

Great, grey hair and I'm only twenty four…

Oh my gosh. SO much happened in this chapter and I didn't even realize it! First, there's the job searching, then BAM, Mia's all grown up and teaching! PLUS, she has a big blow-out with our beloved Goldilocks/Cloud! Ugh, sorry if it seemed rushed. I was typing like a friggin' energizer bunny and this chapter best get reviews! lol!

;)

Ninja Cat of Light