A Heart For My Nobody Says: Hey guys! Just a quick note... This is the tenth post I've made for this story, and I haven't gotten too many reviews. I'm really interested to see what you guys think so far, whether you like it or not, etc. I've actually been getting quite a number of hits on the story, which is really great! I'd just like to hear a little bit back from you guys. So if you have the time, it would be really appreciated if you would leave me a review! I try and respond to every review that I'm given too, so it won't be like you're talking to a brick wall. Feedback's one of my favorite things, after all. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the story!

Cloud

I hadn't ever really won anything in my life. I had a couple of arguments as a child that I thought I had won, and maybe a board game here and there, but that was it. I supposed it may not have been entirely my winnings, as Zack had actually paid for the bet we placed on the race, or at least he paid for it with Shinra's money. Nonetheless, I accepted the two-hundred gp quite proudly from the booth before turning around to face Zack again.

"Pretty loud crowd, huh?" He said, trying to fix his ear with his pinky, "My head's still ringing." I felt strange to tell him that mine wasn't. I also felt too strange to tell him that I didn't feel like I could be afraid of chocobos anymore. Not like I really was. At least not since I was little. All I could really do was hand him the gp and ask where we were going next. He just looked at my outstretched hand and smiled, "You keep it. It was your bet." He said. I considered arguing the subject, but instead I just retracted my hand and pocketed the tokens.

"Where to?" I asked, and he finished poking his ear to stretch out his arms. He took his phone from his pocket and flipped it out. Despite the similar colors, it was still strange to see Zack wearing something that wasn't a uniform.

"It's quarter past seven." He considered, "We've still got plenty of time. Do you want to head down and play some of the arcade games?"

"Sounds fun." I said, shifting my tokens around in my pocket. I wasn't quite used to my new clothes either. The turtleneck was just slightly too big, but I think the weird part was that it was a lot more comfortable then my uniform, and I didn't have to wear a helmet. I wasn't used to comfort.

"Wonder Square it is." Zack finished stretching with a smile and started to walk. I followed behind, paying closer attention to the Jockeys framed on the walls.

Gold Saucer was shaped kind of like a tree, and as it would happen, Chocobo Square was near the top, and Wonder Square was near the bottom. This didn't really matter, because the elevators could take us there fast enough, but it was always surprising to get a glance out the window or to look over one of the edges and see the height difference. It only ever took us about ten minutes to get from square to square, ignoring everything in-between, but at that point it was about seven thirty, and that extra ten minutes was enough to push 'getting dark' to 'dark'. The night sky was over us when we stepped out into Wonder Square, and all of the many lights were lit, making the park look even more amazing than it did before. Chocobo mascots ran around and sold balloons, and it was late enough that the couples had come out to win each other prizes. Just entering the Square, I spotted a young girl and guy trying themselves on a Love Tester. They apparently got a good result and giggled with each other, running off into the arcade.

"You two look like you're trying to decide what to do!" One of the mascots said, stepping up to us from behind. Zack and I turned to look at him. "Maybe a fortune will help you make up your minds. Just ten gp each!"

"Hmmm." Zack cocked his head at the man, "Sure. Cloud, you want your fortune told?"

"Yeah." I faced the teller as if it was necessary to the process.

"Alright." The mascot placed his hands out in front of me in the air, "I can feel your fate flowing through me. Oh! It says..." He began to do a dance, and I gave Zack an awkward look, "Aha! You will have a romantic encounter here at the park! Maybe this will be the one!" I tried not to look as taken aback as I felt. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I took a step back from the man and gestured towards Zack.

"Yeah," Zack nodded, planting his hands on his hips and looking self-important, "What've you got for me?"

"Oh, oh. Let me see!" The man said, taking his position again in front of Zack, "You... you... your aura shows me your future!" He started his dance again, and Zack just watched eagerly, "Oh, I see it! You will win great amounts of gp here in Wonder Square!"

"Oh, that's it?" Zack frowned, letting his hands slide off his hips. He paid, and we started walking again, heading in the direction of the arcade, "You got lucky with yours." Zack said to me after a moment, "Mine was just an attempt to make me spend more money." I tried not to react to the mention of my fortune.

"It's just a sham, anyway." I shrugged, "Mine's probably designed to make me stick around longer." Zack linked his fingers together behind his head as we walked.

"I dunno," He said, sounding surprisingly serious, "Never let a chance for a romantic encounter slip by. You never know what you might miss." He stopped, staring into the game filled arcade before us, and his expression suddenly turned to a grin once again, "Just like I'm not gonna let a chance to win great amounts of gp slip by!" He tapped me on the shoulder and ran ahead. I didn't know what to do but to run in after him. So I did.

Zack stopped short in front of a couple of simulator games. I probably would've run into him had he not been as ahead of me as he was. He tilted his head back and forth, examining the games.

"What do you think?" He said, looking to me, "Snowboard or motorcycle?" I looked to where he'd been looking at the simulators. Both games had a setup like you were actually riding the one you chose. I thought the idea of standing on a snowboard motion pad looked fun, but I would be far less likely to fall on the motorcycle. Falling on a game seemed like something that it was funny to be worried about, at least for an infantryman with Shinra, but the truth of the matter was that everything was a bit more difficult when not accompanied by the adrenaline rush of battle.

"You should play the snowboard one." I finally answered. Zack took a second to examine the machine.

"Looks like it costs gil, and you win gp." He said, climbing up on the board and inserting some money. The game started instantly. Zack leaned forward on the board to start his character down a mountain of snow. He was doing well at first, but the game got steadily more difficult, and he soon found his character boarding face-first into trees. The sad image of his character lying flat in the snow, crushed by a snowman, marked the end of his game. Looking defeated, he stepped off the board and I couldn't help but to laugh just a little. "The things hard." Zack finally said, admitting his own defeat. I didn't know what I was hoping for, but I chose that moment to climb up on the board myself.

"Well, let's see how I do." I said, putting some of my own money in the machine. That was a mistake. I ended up stuck between a wall and a tree, and it sort of looked like they were playing pong with my character. It wasn't long until game over was written across the screen in ominous red letters. I stepped off the board in my shame, and Zack looked to feel a little better about himself. "Let's find something a little easier." I sighed.

"How about this?" Zack said, walking up to a basketball throwing game, "Super Dunk. Can't be too hard, right?" I thought it at the time; famous last words. Twenty tosses and twelve misses later, it turned out that this game was really not any easier. "I was always told that I had to improve my accuracy." Zack said, scratching the back of his neck and laughing at himself.

"You thought that Battle Square looked fun, right?" I said, eying a 3D battle game, "How about you try this one?"

"You first." Zack insisted, stretching his arms after the ball game. I stepped up to the battler and put the money in. The game was about predicting when to hit high, low, or in the mid body area. I didn't do too bad, almost beating the third opponent in the game. Zack walked up to the plate when I got my game over. Surprisingly, he did worse than I had, losing to the second guy. "Geez." He laughed, stepping off of the machine, "The kids who get good at this ought to join SOLDIER." His eye then caught yet another game as a couple stepped away from it. It was a funny looking pink game, with the words 'Mog House' written across the top. Zack just laughed as he considered the game. "We have to be able to beat this game." He decided. I nodded in agreement, and we put the gil in.

The game was about a young creature called a mog, who had also been named Mog, coincidentally. The narrator of the game told us that in order to find a mate, Mog had to learn how to fly, and it was our objective to feed him kupo nuts until he succeeded. It sounded simple enough, but the problem was that he never seemed to be done eating nuts. Then, when he tried to fly, he would have been overfed and just fell straight to the ground. When we finally got it right, both Zack and I yelled "Yes!" at the same time. I figured that we must have looked like idiots to anyone that was watching. I thought about how if the Wutai under covers had seen us playing that game, they would have never suspected us. The game ended with Mog getting a wife and starting a family. Just as sappy as we'd expected from the beginning.

"We won the game." Zack said, victoriously turning to me. We had been standing rather close together so that we could both see the screen, "And there was your romantic moment." He laughed, but he sounded tired, "Happy mogs. I guess I'll just have to wait for my huge amounts of gp."

"Yeah," I laughed with him, equally as tired, "It figures that the one game we completed doesn't give gp." He leaned against the game and stared up at the lights on the ceiling.

"Oh well." He said, smiling, "I had fun. There's been too much of a lack of fun lately."

"Mm..." I stared up at the lights too, "It's kind of late, huh?"

"Yup." He said, pushing himself off of the machine, "Time to head back for tonight. Maybe if we get some sleep, we can stay out later tomorrow?"

"Sounds good." I said, stepping away from the machine myself.

The walk back to the hotel felt longer than it was. We didn't really talk to each other on the way there, but we did exchange a few yawns. It was only just after nine when we arrived back at the room, but we'd had an early morning, and I was by far tired enough to go to sleep. I slipped off my shoes and walked to the window to enjoy the view of the many night lights. Zack's first destination was the bathroom to brush his teeth. I watched as a gondola slowly drifted by in the distance. The view from that ride must have been amazing at this hour. I simply stared out the window until Zack came out. Jumping, I felt Zack's hand near my hip. A small metal ball with a red light dropped from his grip into my pocket.

"It's the receptor." Zack said, moving in to stare out the window next to me, "I forgot to give it to you earlier." His breath smelled minty from brushing.

"Hmm." I nodded, settling down a bit, "Do you think they'll do something tomorrow?"

"Heh... I hope not." Zack laughed softly, "I could use another day like this." He smiled out the window and then turned his eyes to mine, "It was fun, wasn't it?" I hadn't actually seen the mako in his eyes this close before.

"Yeah." I said, because it was. Zack took a few steps back and let himself drop into the bed behind him.

"I'm bushed." He said, eyes closed, "I'll see you when you wake up."

"Yeah." I said again, walking across the room to my bed and the light switch, but I figured that Zack had pretty much fallen asleep right there and then. And not long after the light was flicked off, I was out cold as well.