(enter Kit Thespian and Sephiroth)

Kit Thespian: Hello, fellow readers, today we're...

(Cait Sith enters)

Cait Sith: Hey, Kit Thespian. Hey!

Sephiroth: Great, it's the cat...

Kit Thespian: Um...What do you want, Cait Sith? I'm trying to do a Disclaimer here...

Cait Sith: But don't you want your fortune read?

Kit Thespian: Oh, boy...Cait Sith, you're adorable. I could give you a hug right now, but I'm kinda busy...

Cait Sith: Just one! Please!

Kit Thespian (sighs): All right. Fortune away!

(Cait Sith does his little dance thing and the moogle then hands Kit Thespian a card)

Kit Thespian: Let's see... "Beware the evil grasshoppers. Your lucky color is fuschia."

Sephiroth (laughs): What kind of a stupid fortune is that?

Cait Sith: I have one for you too, Sephiroth. (hands out a card)

Sephiroth (mildly curious): Really? What is it? (takes card and reads) "An unholy terror is headed in your direction. Haste is needed." ...Unholy terror?

(A group of fangirls walk in)

Random fangirl: Eek! There he is!

Random fangirl #2: Sephy! Sephy!

Sephiroth (running away): MOOOOMMMMYYYY!

(As soon as the dust clears, Kit Thespian and Cait Sith are still standing alone onstage.)

Cait Sith (shrugs): Ah well, (to audience)Kit Thespian does not own Final Fantasy VII or the characters therein. And she is not making any money off of this.

Chapter Eleven- Chit-Chat

If silence were a tangible thing, everyone in the living room would have been asphyxiated from the mass quantities of it at this moment. Tifa was in the kitchen, trying to reason with Cloud and Barret and cook a meal at the same time. There were, in case it hasn't already been said, two couches in the living room. Sephiroth was sitting on the floor in front of the couch that Yuffie was lying on. Lucrecia had gently settled into the remaining space on the sofa.

On the other couch sat Cid, Shera (with Marlene on her lap), and Reeve. Vincent was standing in a corner (as usual) behind Lucrecia. Marlene was playing with a new stuffed animal, a cat (ironically), that Reeve had brought as a present for her.

Cid, Shera, Vincent, and Reeve were all staring at Sephiroth. Yuffie's eyes were closed, though it was obvious she wasn't asleep. Lucrecia was watching everyone else, broomstick still in hand, to make sure that no one made any rash movements.

Sephiroth was making assessments of all those around him. The one named Cid seemed to one of those stereotypical pilots who swore a lot, had a little stubble on their faces, smoked, and spoke with a thick drawl. He stared at Sephiroth like one would stare at an invading insect.

Now, Shera was more civil. With her cute dress, glasses, and endearing manner, she seemly an unlikely mate for the pilot. Strangely enough, she was the only one of the group who had never personally met Sephiroth before, and therefore had a good deal of pity on him she may not have had otherwise.

Reeve was looking at Sephiroth with fascination. The former General was, instead of burning with insanity, like his old self: calm, collected, but sad in a way. Sephiroth could recall young Reeve, wild with anticipation at moving up the ranks of the Shinra executive committee. He hadn't been power-hungry, like the rest of them, but excited because new opportunities to work his crafts would be presented.

"I love building and engineering more than anything!" Reeve had exclaimed to Sephiroth, about nine years prior to this, "It's better than...better than food!"

"Is that why you were so thin?" Sephiroth thought now, looking at the bearded man on the sofa, "You're still a beanpole."

They had spoken a good deal during their time at Shinra. In fact, Sephiroth mused, if time had allowed, they might have become very good (even best) friends.

...It was still very silent.

What Cloud, Tifa, and Barret were discussing was what the sleeping arrangements would be. Having enough room wasn't the problem, considering that they were living in a big house (that they had gotten at a good price because of the relative-less previous owner's sudden death from choking on a chicken bone) with a basement. Not as big as the Nibelheim mansion, but big enough to house all the members of AVALANCE, which was probably the reason they had gotten it in the first place.

In a few moments, the three walked into the living room (Tifa had put the food in the oven and set the timer). Cloud said,

"Okay, here's the lowdown: Tifa and I will stay in our room, Cid and Shera will have the double bed in the basement, and Barret stays in his own room. Yuffie remains in her room, obviously. Marlene has a double bed, so Lucrecia can bunk with her. Coincidentally..." Cloud's eyes roved around the room at the three remaining men, "the bedroom upstairs has four twin beds. You three can take those."

There was a pause as Sephiroth, Vincent, and Reeve all looked at each other with a small trace of apprehension.

Reeve spoke up, "Aw, what're you two worried about? It'll be just like college, except no annoying RAs."

This constituted two very befuddled looks from the ex-general and ex-Turk.

However monotonous it sounds, more silence followed.

It was broken only by Shera suggesting, "Who wants to play Mafia?"

Later that night...

Reeve got the next closest bedto the door, and Sephiroth got the bed furthest. Vincent, without a word, took off his cape, settled into the sheets of the third bed, and went to sleep. Reeve honestly didn't know how he did it. The dude scared him sometimes. It seemed, well, that Vincent was a little not-right in the head.

And lying in the fourth bed, staring at the ceiling with his Mako-green eyes, was the king of craziness. At least, that's how it seemed in the past. Reeve couldn't find anything wrong with Sephiroth now. He knew Sephiroth better than Cloud did in the past.

It took about an hour average for Reeve to go to sleep, because it took about that long for his mind to wind down and relax. He always thought too much. Maybe Sephiroth had the same problem.

"Can't sleep?" he softly asked.

Sephiroth turned his head towards Reeve and answered, "Not really."

"Sephiroth...Have you really turned over a new leaf?"

"I should like to think so, yes."

"What do you mean?"

"The only way I can be completely changed is to receive the goodwill of the others as well, I think. Without that...You understand."

"Kind of...Well...You want to chat?"

"...Chat?"

"You know, just talk about random stuff. Like we used to."

"Like what?"

"I don't know...Do you like anyone?" What kind of a stupid question is that, Reeve?

But Sephiorth didn't seem to mind. He just had a very odd look on his face, "Like...anyone..."

"Have you ever had a crush?"

"Not really."

Sephiroth was slowly slipping back in time to the time where he felt very comfortable speaking around Reeve, almost like the two were buddies. Reeve was very comfortable to talk to.

"Sephiroth..." Reeve's voice took on a sudden tone of nervousness, and he was about to prove that he was not the most sensible person in the world, "since we're rooming and all, I need to know something. Were those rumors...true?"

"...What rumors?"

"That you're, um...uh..."

"What?"

"...Gay."

So much for comfort. Sephiroth had to use every ounce of control not to scream "What!" at the top of his lungs. He managed to keep it at a sharp whisper.

"What!"

"Well," Reeve was oblivious to the danger he was putting himself in, apparently, "you never got near any of the girls and you sometimes shied away from them. Some of the guys started assuming that you were a little 'fairy'."

"I am not homosexual, and I have never entertained any sort of homosexual thoughts. There's a reason for..." Sephiroth stopped as he realized that he was about to give away his most embarrassing secret.

"Whew...that's nice to know," Reeve sighed with relief, "So, what's with the shying? You just don't like the idea of sex in general?"

"I never said that."

"But I saw you back then. You literally ran out of the movie theater when the couple in the film started doing a kissing scene."

"...You mean you saw me?"

"It's hard to miss the big guy in the black cloak. It got a lot of people talking."

"Well, I'm not gay. We've established that."

"It wasn't even a real sex scene. What's so scary about a couple kissing?"

Normally, Sephiroth wouldn't have gone this far into the conversation and he would have told Reeve to shut up a long time before this, but he didn't want the skinny engineer going around believing that he had unorthodox sexual preferences. It was unheard of. It was about time that this conversation ended, though. He wasn't quite ready to reveal his reasons for celibacy.

"Good night, Reeve," he said.

"If you're that creeped out about a little kiss, maybe you should get out more. Just a suggestion."

"Good night, Reeve."

"You like waffles, Sephiroth? I was thinking 'bout making some waffles in the morning."

Sephiroth threw Reeve his classic glare of doom, "Good night, Reeve."

Reeve shrank back into his pillow and blankets, "...Good night."