The next few days passed by with no real eventful occurrences. Cloud and Elena had just spent time talking about various aspects of their life with each other, be it in the hotel, at the beach, or at the cafe as they had taken to more and more lately.

Elena watched as Cloud made his order at the cafe, and trailed the waitress with her eyes for a moment before looking back at Cloud, a grin donning her features. "Slowpoke."

He shrugged. "So what? You ordered too fast. You've got to answer to your tastes for the day--"

"Yeah, I did. My tastes were for pasta today. Not that difficult," she said simply, crossing her arms. "Whereas you, on the other hand, struggled for an hour--"

"Five minutes," he corrected with a small mutter.

"--deciding what you wanted," she continued, as though he hadn't interrupted her. "And in the end, it's fish. Again."

He grinned a little. "What can I say? The fish is good."

Elena sighed, leaning back in her chair, tugging at the collar of her white sleeveless top. "Everything here's good. You'd know that if you strayed from fish for a while."

"Says the woman who eats the pasta all the time," he replied with a small, playful smirk.

"Excuse me, I had salmon one night," she huffed in protest.

"Yeah, one night," he emphasized with the same playful smirk. "The rest of the time, it's been pasta."

She shrugged, knowing that he had her cornered there. "Fine, fine. I've only had pasta, with the exception of the salmon one night--"

He grinned triumphantly.

"--that you're aware of," she finished, a small smirk playing at her mouth.

"...When have you ever come here alone?" he asked, clueless.

"Plenty of times. You're just too lazy sometimes."

He didn't look like he fully believed her, which was unfortunate for her; she was lying to him, but wanted to see how he reacted. This wasn't really the reaction she was looking for.

"...You sure?" he finally asked, confirming her suspicions.

He isn't buying it, but I'll push it one more time... "Oh yeah, plenty of times."

He regarded her carefully before nodding slowly. "Alright... never mind, then. I was wrong."

She froze in place, a bewildered expression on her face. He... he... BELIEVED me?!

A grin cracked his features, and he started to chuckle. "Hah, I knew you were lying. You're a bit too easy to read, Elena."

Her shocked expression became replaced by one of embarassment. "...Dammit, I've been outwitted by a chocobo," she grumbled, closing her eyes slowly. "That's a story to tell..."

He grinned at her once more, uttering a small 'wark'. "So you've only had pasta and salmon once?"

She nodded slowly. "Admittedly, yes. But I'm sure everything else here is good."

"Next time we're here, we both try something other than our favorite thing. For me, anything but fish. For you, anything but pasta."

She narrowed her eyes at him a little. "...'Next time we're here'? You make it sound like we do this routinely."

"We do, sort of. Within the last two weeks, we've been here... what, ten days of the fourteen? You can't deny we've made a small habit of this..."

She resigned herself to this fact. "True... fine, we'll try something new next time, but you're footing the bill."

"Fair's fair."

Silence settled between them for the time being. She looked around for a while, seemingly uninterested in their surroundings. She looked back at Cloud, who was also looking around. She examined the area around his eyes, noted how the black eyes he had been sporting were now gone. Then, her eyes seemed to move on their own to meet his. While he was still looking elsewhere, she could still see his eyes clearly, the Mako infusions seemingly captivating her.

She wondered momentarily how he had arrived at the decision to become a SOLDIER. She didn't really know, and realized she had a sudden urge to know.

"...Elena, breathe already," he sighed, snapping her train of thought. "And stop staring at me; it creeps me out."

She blinked and took a deep breath. "Sorry, just..." Her voice trailed, and she looked away slowly.

"...Something on your mind?" he asked her finally, seemingly noticing her discomfort.

She shrugged. "Not really, just thinking."

He let it slide, and silence settled between them again.

"...Cloud, can I ask you something?"

He looked over at her, nodding. "Go ahead."

"I mean, if it's too personal, you don't have to answer..." she said, stalling for the moment.

"Ask."

"...Why'd you join SOLDIER?"

He looked taken completely aback by her question. "Eh... why'd I join SOLDIER?"

She nodded slowly, her eyes meeting his again.

"...The answer's probably predictable to you..." he grumbled.

"To impress Tifa?" she offered.

He nodded. "Transparent, right...?"

"Kinda. But... why back then? Why did you want to impress her back then?"

"Well... one day, she and I were alone on a trip through Mount Nibel. I don't remember the finer points... but in the end, she wound up hurt, and I was blamed for hurting her. It was partly understandable. I mean, I was there and I could have helped her... but I guess, somewhere along the way, I lost sight of her, and she wound up hurt."

"You weren't paying enough attention, in other words," she added briefly.

"Yeah, more or less. After she was hurt, though... I swore I'd get strong enough to protect her no matter what happened. Accident, attackers... I wanted to protect her. I remembered hearing the tales of Sephiroth back then, how he had unbelievable power. I knew it was completely beyond me... but I still wanted to be as strong as him. So did a lot of the other guys who joined SOLDIER. I wanted to be as strong as Sephiroth, so I could protect Tifa no matter what."

"So cute," she mused.

"Stuff it. Anyway, as I'm sure you know... I never made it into SOLDIER. I had failed myself, failed Tifa. But I guess... in the end, I still ended up saving her. I had even told her I was joining SOLDIER, that I wanted to become as strong as Sephiroth. And yet, I failed to, even despite a promise, more or less, that I'd make it."

She nodded slowly, focusing on each word for a moment. "...You say you were never in SOLDIER... but you got Mako infusions, as your eyes indicate. Which would suggest you were at least considered for SOLDIER..."

"Considered for SOLDIER and SOLDIER material are two different things, though. The Mako infusions overloaded my system, disabled my body for a while. And... the infusions weren't from 'considered SOLDIER material'. I thought you'd know that..."

She looked shocked to hear this. "...If not SOLDIER, then what...?" she began slowly, dreading the answer.

"...Hojo. That day in Nibelheim, when Sephiroth had been stopped... I was the one who stopped him. He nearly killed me in the process, though. Either way, Hojo saw potential in me, being the one who 'vanquished the mighty Sephiroth'. That's where the infusions came from; he tried to make me a Sephiroth clone, but failed rather miserably. The end result... well, I don't remember much between then and picking up Zack's buster sword outside Midgar."

She was shocked speechless. She had run many different scenarios through her mind, wondering about his reasons for wanting to join SOLDIER, about the story behind his Mako-infused eyes... but she had never imagined this possibility.

"I guess... all things considered, it was a good thing. If it weren't for his insanity, I wouldn't have been with AVALANCHE, I'd never have stopped Meteor..." He glanced up at her. "We wouldn't be talking right now, for that matter."

She felt her head nod. "That's true... so in a way, I... guess I'm... grateful...?"

He waved it off. "You don't need to worry about ticking me off. Vincent, sure, but like I said, it was probably a good thing. In my own way, I'm grateful too, however sick that thought might be..."

Silence sank between them again, the waitress bringing their meals after a couple more minutes. They looked down at their respective meals and just sort of poked at their food with their forks.

"...Cloud."

"Hm?" He looked up at her. "What's up?"

She met his eyes, regarded the Mako infusions with a slightly different air. It wasn't one of hatred, but one of awe, of newfound respect. "...Want to switch?" she offered, holding up the edge of her plate.

He looked at her pasta, then at his fish. He eventually shrugged. "Sure. Now's as good a time as any to have something different, I guess."

They swapped plates and both began eating. Cloud's eyes widened in surprise at how good the pasta was, while Elena's eyes widened in what appeared to be disgust.

"Cloud, how can you eat this?" she asked, attempting to wash it down. "It's just..."

He looked at her and chuckled. "Sorry about that... I guess I should've warned you I like my food that spicy."

She took a couple deep gulps from her glass, setting it down. "It's too spicy for sanity," she grumbled. She looked up at the pasta, which he was beginning to eat through rather quickly. "...So should not have switched tonight..." she mumbled, reluctantly going at the fish once more.

--

After Cloud paid the bill ("You weren't crazy about the fish; this is the least I can do for that, at least," he had said), they set off for the hotel.

Elena had a genuinely disgusted look on her face. "I don't understand how you can eat fish that spicy," she finally said. "Were your taste buds killed when you were ten?"

"No. I just... I don't know why, I like spicy food. The spicier, the better, at least that's how it is to me. Though, that pasta was pretty good, I have to admit. Not spicy at all, but still good."

"You're welcome," she replied sharply, crossing her arms. "Rub that in my face, why don't you...?"

"Hey, don't forget, you offered to switch meals," he replied, frowning a little.

She opened her mouth to reply, but closed it; he did have a point there. "...True."

The two of them exchanged small talk as they came to the hotel, and fell quiet shortly after walking inside.

It wasn't until they had arrived at their rooms that Elena finally spoke up. "Even though I hated the fish--"

"Sorry," he said softly.

"--tonight was a good night. It really was." She turned to face him, a smile on her face. "So, thanks Cloud."

He nodded, smiling back at her. "You're welcome. Next time we plan on a food swap, I'll remember you don't like spicy."

She chuckled. "Don't bother. I won't get used to it if you suit your meals to my tastes. We're not going to swap food every single night, you know..."

He raised an eyebrow at her, the smile widening a little more. "Alright."

"...Cloud, I want you to make me a promise, alright?" she finally asked.

He recognized the tone slightly, and focused his full attention on her. "Possibly...?"

She turned to the door. "The next time we go out..." She looked over her shoulder before opening the door. "...don't get that fish."

He grinned, chuckling softly. "Right, I'll keep that in mind."

They stepped into their respective rooms, closing their doors behind them.

It wasn't until Elena turned the lock that she realized what she had said. The next time we... go out?! Wait, what was I thinking when I said that?! She threw herself upon the bed, bewildered. "...Alright, for real this time... what the hell is wrong with me...?" she mumbled under her breath, absolutely confused.


*sighs* I am really hating my wireless mouse. It likes to quit on me when I least expect it, and it seems to kill batteries faster than I can say 'Is this even NORMAL?!'. I don't have a reliable wired mouse, though, and I'm not a big fan of my laptop's touch pad...

...But enough gripe about that.

I don't really know where I got the idea for this chapter. It was pretty well established in the game why Cloud joined SOLDIER, when he and Tifa were sorting through his thoughts in the Lifestream. I guess I just wanted the next person to ask to be Elena, who really doesn't know anything about Cloud when it comes to trying for SOLDIER.

...This brings up my own personal point of confusion. What's the real deal here? Did he get 'considered for SOLDIER' and injected from that? Or did he receive the infusions from Hojo, as I've outlined? I'm fairly certain it's my line of events, but considering I haven't played the game in a long, long while... Feel free to give me the correct version if I'm wrong; I'll just work with this one for the sake of the story's progress.

That reminds me, I picked up Crisis Core about a month or two ago, only to find (to my pure, abject horror) that my PSP was missing. I searched my room for it, and found it -- broken. So yeah, I have that game now, but now I need a new PSP. Yeah, I have just some of the worst luck sometimes. Oh well, it'll pick up somewhere.

So... I can't remember if I've said this before or not, but I picked up Final Fantasy IV for the DS, and I've been playing it a lot lately. According to a strategy guide I reference once in a while in my local Borders (no, I don't own one; figure I don't need one yet), I'm missing a lot of stuff trying to progress the main storyline. For example, I've completely forgotten about the Augments, and I've forgotten whereabouts to find them. I've also had some rough luck with the last couple bosses. The Dark Elf/Dark Dragon combination in the Lodestone Cavern, for instance? Yeah, he gave me a lot of trouble the first time, but I thoroughly trounced him the second time. And THEN, my venture into the Tower of Zot... yeah, first enemy I encountered one-shotted my entire team. Suffice to say, it was a buzz-kill... but I persevered and made it to the Magus Sisters, who I (somehow) breezed through on my first try. Now I'm stuck at those annoying little six dolls that merge into one after a while -- but by all rights, I'm not stuck at THEM. I beat those little buggers down on my first try. It was GOLBEZ, who immediately followed with NO BREAK IN BETWEEN, that just irked me. His elemental defenses absorbing everything I throw at him but one element... I checked the strategy guide to see if I missed something, and it turns out that yes, I missed the SIMPLEST method to deal with that problem of 'what's his elemental weakness?!'. Libra. Pure and simple, Libra. Even if I don't see his HP, I see his WEAKNESS. Now I just need to regain the drive to smite those six dolls of annoyance once again...

...Man, I can rant. I'll also take this opportunity to say that I'm actually... quite sad about losing Tellah. He's one of the coolest 'red mages' (though he's technically a sage in-game) I've ever seen, even despite his extremely low health. He's just fun until he runs out of MP. Of course, I remember the fight against the Magus Sisters. He ran out of MP, and the one that likes casting Reflect and Berserk... don't remember her name, but she Berserked Tellah. He spent the rest of the fight meleeing her for a whopping 7 damage a turn! I mean, compared to Yang's... after 3 rounds of Focus, 3k damage and Cecil's 600 or so, yeah, Tellah's 7 damage staff attack was epic. ...Okay, I'm turning off my sarcasm mechanism now.

I'm going to hop off FFIV for a while, though, as great a game as it is regardless. Before my rant risks becoming longer than the chapter...

On that note, I DO realize this chapter's just a little shorter than the others (on my computer's Document manager, it says it's 12kb, while my other chapters are at an average of 16kb), but I didn't want to risk doing anything else to this chapter for fear of wrecking it just a little. So, there's a short chapter here, and for that, I apologize.

...It's an odd thing, really. I seem to do my best thinking/story-writing at my local Borders Cafe. I have a guess, however weird and far-fetched the idea may sound, but it's possible that being in the Borders Cafe, that close to books of all shapes, sizes and forms, allows the knowledge of other famous writers (and some not so famous, but still...) to flow through me...? *shrugs* Doubt it, but it's still weird that my best ideas happen in Borders...

Alright, I'm going to stop the rant now before I DO make this longer than the chapter. Besides, if I don't save anything to talk about in the NEXT chapter's rant, it's going to be a dull day when I put that one up...

I DO, before I go, want to apologize for the lack of consistency I once had. Life happens sometimes, though, and it's slowing me down more than I care for.

...Same as last chapter's rant. I'm not going to give a 'Next chapter...' for this rant, either, because I'm not 100% sure what it's going to be about. I mean, I have an idea, but nothing I wish to say, lest I ruin the surprise beforehand.

And with that, I shall return to this story with a new chapter (sometime soon)! -Spiritslayer