Part II Chapter 6

"You know…you reeeaally could have told me that you knew Vinnie. I've been talking about him every once in a while to either you, or the entire squad, yet you said nothing!" Zack vented to the recently released cadet, still quite irritated over the most recent development in his attempts to uncover a certain friend's past. He felt jipped, cheated, a valuable resource had been under his nose the entire time! Vincent had probably known, or at least guessed, if his lack of reaction to seeing Cloud in the Gainsborough home had been any indication. It just wasn't fair!

"If it's any consolation, I didn't tell Vincent either." Cloud chuckled, sitting in the center of the commons area, cleaning his sword. It had been a few days since then, and once Zack had the doctor make sure that Cloud was fit for duty, he'd given into his commanding officer's order to let Cloud return to training. He wondered when Sephy and Cloud had gotten all buddy-buddy, the General didn't usually take an interest in the lives of mere cadets, but in the end had given in to their efforts, and Cloud had been released with little to no fuss, the man still in shock that his second-best buddy (as he'd decided to call the gunman, Sephiroth was considered his first) knew his best student, hell, from what he'd seen between the two at the table they were practically considering each other family!

"Besides," Cloud continued, holding his sword at eye level to insure that he hadn't missed any spots. For some reason Zack didn't understand Cloud was mighty picky about the shape of his weapon, he understood the need to take decent care of it, but getting nitpicky over just one fingerprint was going slightly overboard. "It was fun listening to you guys talk about each other."

If Zack were a dog, his ears would have perked at that statement, but since he was most assuredly a man, he had to settle for leaning forward a little bit more, putting his elbows on his crossed knees to show his heightened interest. "Really? Vince talks about me?"

"Yes,Vincent does." Cloud rolled his eyes, accenting the last syllable of the name as a jab at Zack's tendency to give things nicknames. Zack just waved off the correction, if he'd managed to get Sephiroth to accept being called Seph, or even Sephy if he was feeling particularly playful, then Vinnie would have to deal with it too.

"What's he say?" Zack's fingers were twitching, he wanted to know! Vinnie's mind was nearly as foreign to Zack as Sephiroth had once been and he wasn't looking forward to the long years that it would take to tear down the walls and get used to it. Any inside help on Cloud's part would be highly valued, although he had a feeling that such assistance wouldn't come easy.

"Not tellin' sir."

…sometimes he really didn't like being right. Cloudy was a good student and all, very patient and diligent when it came to figuring out Zack's tangled teaching methods, but he still went out of his way to be a pain when Zack wanted to know something outside of the squad hierarchy. Sure, he could probably get Cloud in trouble with some obscure, highly stretched charge for mocking a commanding officer, but where was the fun in that? Zack's old teacher had done it more than a few times, such a cheeky little brat he'd been back then!

Zack cracked a small smile, thinking back to the days when he'd have been in Cloud's place, hanging out in his squad's quarters, making cracks at the CO, figuring out which end of the sword was the sharp end…

Sometimes he wondered if he was the only CO who actually made cracks at the guys in power with his squad. Probably. Zack knew he was pretty unique when it came to his attitudes, oh the looks on his kid's faces when he'd appeared that first day, sat down on the floor like he was one of them, and then began telling an embarrassing story including a particularly annoying hall monitor that he'd heard the boys complaining about before he'd even come in. Most of 'em didn't even treat him like a commanding officer anymore, more as a senior squad mate. Most of 'em…but not Cloud.

The boy, for some obscure reason, had resisted a few of Zack's attempts to deepen the camaraderie between them to something a bit more than superior and subordinate. It wasn't that the kid was anti-social, nor was it that he seemed to dislike Zack's company (the opposite was quite true on both accounts). It was quite odd, because there were quite a few times when he'd just plop down next to the blonde and start talking, and soon they'd be goin at it like they were old friends, and then there were times when the blonde would all of a sudden pull away, as if catching himself doing something he wasn't allowed to do.

None of the others had any problems. Just Cloud.

"Hey, Cloudie." The black-haired SOLDIER tried to grab the blonde's attention again, deemed a successful venture when bright blue eyes turned on him questioningly, "Where'd you an' Vince meet?"

"Nibelheim"

Ookay…one word answer. A little elaboration would be nice…

"How?"

"I woke him up." Sensing a common theme in the conversation Cloud seemed to loose interest, going back to mechanically rubbing the cloth along the silver sheen of his sword.

"Maybe a few more details…?" Zack pressed.

"I'm not gonna tell you any more sir." Cloud responded, setting the sword lightly on the ground next to him, rising to his feet before slipping the blade back into its sheath on his back, "Vincent's past is up to him to share, you won't be able to cheat through me."

Drat.

"Come on Cloudie...! Just a little hint? I won't be able to see him for a while! Not until the exams are over!"

"Speaking of them…" Cloud pausing, tilting his head, "We aren't going to be taking them as a squad, are we?"

"Nope, sorry kid. You'll be in groups of three, but you won't have worked with your 'mates before the test."

"Ah. Okay. I wasn't sure."

His mind brought back to the exams left Zack chilled as Cloud retired to the bunk rooms, joining his squad mates in slumber. The boys had one by one drifted into the rooms, Cloud being the last one to hit the sack, the reason for him being Zack's sole victim when it came to questions that evening. Zack remained sitting in the center of the room, fingers buried in the threads of the whitish beige carpet beneath him as the very thoughts he'd tried to lose by hangin' with his squad came back in full force. He hadn't been very successful, and thoughts of the exams crowded mostly everything else out. They were less than a week away, and while his kids might be ready, he sure as hell wasn't.

They were his kids! What if something happened to one of them?

--

The day of the exam dawned at last, leaving a very nervous Zachary Fair in its wake. He had never been assigned a cadet squad before and he couldn't help but be afraid that he hadn't done his best with them. He really didn't want to think about what could happen if they weren't ready. The SME weren't normal exams; they were essentially a cadet's first SOLDIER mission. They were being split randomly into teams of three and sent out to varying locations all over the world to face either monsters or human fighters. Just like on SOLDIER missions, death was a very real option. Normally the concept of dying on the battlefield didn't scare him too much, but these were his kids. He had taught them everything (or almost everything) that they knew. That means that if any of them died it would've been his fault for not preparing them correctly.

"You worry too much." Zack looked up to find Sephiroth in the doorway. The SOLDIER First silently agreed with his superior, pushing himself off the bed and stretching the kinks out of his muscles, "I guess so…I'm just afraid one of them will die…"

"They won't. You know full well that SOLDIERs are being sent along as escorts. They are even making me go."

"Are you up to it? After last night, I mean." Zack asked his friend, he couldn't help the concern that leeched into his voice. Sephiroth's session with Hojo had been the night before; hence the reason Sephiroth had been in his quarters at such an early hour. They had been getting steadily worse over the last few weeks, getting to the point where the General felt severely drained the next day. Of course, Sephiroth's definition of drained would still put him at Zack's level.

"I'll be fine." Sephiroth waved off Zack's concern, "Just get ready, the exams start in an hour." The silver-haired man ducked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He sighed as it clicked shut, the world reeling around him. He put his hand against the wall to steady himself, waiting patiently for the attack to pass. He hadn't lied when he told Zack he'd be fine…eventually. He didn't want to worry his subordinate any more than he already was. It would distract the SOLDIER, and Zack had to be at his best for the SMEs. He had to escort one of the exam groups to their assignment and make sure that they weren't killed during the exams. Usually the instructors of that year's cadets didn't participate in any part of the exam—ShinRa feared it would compromise the integrity of the tests. Nevertheless, due to the great amount of SOLDIERs away on missions, they were rather understaffed right now.

Sephiroth righted himself as soon as he was sure that the dizzy feeling had passed, pushing away from the wall. He wished he could just take one of his pills, but he didn't want to have those things messing with his head when he was supposed to be responsible for three examinees. He'd just do what he had always done before he had met Zack--ignore it.

Sephiroth's wandering eyes landed on the door to the apartment, or more specifically under the door. Two yellow-colored envelopes were sticking innocently out from the crack between the door and the floor. The general sighed and crossed the living area of Zack's apartment, snatching up the missives before flopping down on his subordinate's couch to wait.

Zack reappeared from his room a few moments later, his black hair finally combed into some semblance of order, falling in downward turned spikes over the large metal weapon strapped comfortably to his back. His eye flickered shortly to Sephiroth on the couch before he focused on adjusting his uniform, "What'cha got there?"

"Orders."

Zack gave up on his uniform and caught the tossed letter. He broke the ShinRa seal on the paquet, removing the form inside, "How'd they know to send yours here?"

Sephiroth shrugged, he wasn't too surprised really, "Hojo makes it his business to know everything about me; I gave up trying to hide my activities from him long ago."

Zack shivered, his overactive imagination conjuring up an image of the oily-voiced doctor hunched outside the door, his long greasy grey streaked black hair tied at the base of his skull and thick glasses glinting eerily from beneath his jutting eyebrow. He was the very picture of a mad scientist if you just added in a stained white lab coat. Zack shook his head violently, throwing his attention into reading his orders in an attempt to banish the creepy scene. Sephiroth saw the motion and lifted an eyebrow, but didn't ask. He figured that he probably wouldn't want to know anyway, "It looks like you won't have to worry completely." Sephiroth said at last, putting the missive aside.

"Do you have one of them?" Zack asked, looking away from the unfamiliar names printed on the paper. He had a member from Squad 1, 8, and 15. He had to take them to Fort Condor, a refuge of Anti-ShinRa rebels located between the Mythril Mines and Junon, to quell a minor problem with the people there. According to the orders, there was an armed mass of mercenaries congregating around the Fort, but it wasn't a serious enough threat to warrant sending in a SOLDIER Third Class.

"Strife," Sephiroth crossed his arms, glancing up at the ceiling, "They're being sent monster hunting in the Southern Marshes. A large monster has been terrorizing the miners in the mountains; it seems to be an oversized Zolom."

"A marsh snake? Zoloms are not that dangerous."

Sephiroth shrugged, "I said it appears to be a Zolom from the description given, except it's far larger than the Marsh Zoloms. Since we don't have any reliable information to go on, I'm being sent as back-up." The general glanced at the digital clock on the wall and rose to his feet, "I have to be in briefing room C-6 in about twenty minutes."

"I have B-1" Zack didn't move as Sephiroth retrieved the Masumane from its spot against the wall and belted the long blade comfortably to his side. The black-haired SOLDIER First was not watching his friend's actions; he was trying to look a little deeper than that. His practiced eye could spot the certain set of his shoulders, could see the tighter than usual grip on the Masumane, "Are you sure you'll be alright? You know that your control is completely shot after your sessions."

"For the last time, I'll be fine." Green cat-like eyes gave Zack an irritated glare. Sephiroth couldn't help but be annoyed with his subordinate, even in his current state he could take on a platoon of trained SOLDIERs on his own. A mindless monster would hardly be a problem. He snatched up his orders as he left, giving his friend a curt goodbye before he left.

On the way to the briefing room, he realized that he was being childish; Zack was only concerned. He even went so far as to admit that there was valid reason for worry, especially since most of the days after his session were now spent on Zack's couch. Hojo had been getting more test crazy with every week that passed. He rubbed his right arm subconsciously, knowing that if his black overcoat hadn't had long sleeves it would have been easy to see the strips of off-white gauze that wound from just above his wrist to his shoulder. Zack had bandaged it the night before, when Hojo had decided to see how long it would take the wound to close after the doctor had sliced his arm open. Luckily, it only took a few minutes to heal, but it had still been red and raw, the slightest jar would reopen it. Indeed the wound had reopened on his weekly trip to Zack's quarters.

Sephiroth banished the memory of Zack's horrified face when the SOLDIER had removed Sephiroth's coat to see the long, red, dripping wound. He flexed his hand experimentally, wincing when his muscles refused to work properly. He would not be able to do much strenuous fighting with that arm. Hojo had horrible timing, but at least Sephiroth was ambidextrous, he could wield the Masumane with either hand.

The general passed like a wraith through the halls, ghosting past unenthusiastic SOLDIERs as they left their rooms and began to migrate out of the barracks and to the main building. The SOLDIER Compound was circular in shape, all surrounding the large domed area of the training center. From the First Class barracks and moving to the right, the next building was the gym, followed by the Headquarters, and then the Second and Third class dorms with the attached cadet Barracks. Still following the circle around the Training Center was the operations building—his current destination--and behind which the Medical Building was located.

He paused on the steps of the Operations Building, his eyes continuing the circuit. He would need to remember to take the examinees to the Weapon and Materia Depot; most cadets did not have any weapons of their own. With the thought successfully filed away in the back of his mind, he pushed open the door, his footsteps nearly inaudible as he made his way down the hall. He breezed right passed the A and B wings, entering the C section and finding the 6th briefing room with little difficulty. He had never really been in the Operation's Building before; most of his orders were delivered directly to his office on the upper levels of the Headquarters. He wasn't surprised to see the cadets already seated at the small round table set in the center of the room. A viewing screen sat against the far wall, used to display maps, stats, and any other information that was relevant to the mission. Now it stood blank, the scope of this assignment was not large enough to warrant the use of the screen.

Four heads turned as the door settled back in its frame, the examiner clearing his throat as Sephiroth took up his customary post near the wall, "Now that we are all here I believe it would be time to get started."

Two of the examinees gave the examiner a cursory glance before they returned their gazes to the General in the corner. Sephiroth noticed with an odd sense of satisfaction that Strife didn't so much as glance his way, the blonde was so used to the general's presence that it was not so much of a shock anymore. Privately Sephiroth wished it could be so with all of the cadets; if they didn't get over their awe and fear of the imposing silver-haired man then they would never be able to accomplish much on the field of battle.

The wiry ShinRa examiner shuffled the pieces of paper in his hands before pushing his thin glasses to the bridge of his nose and addressing the cadets, "As you all know, the ShinRa Military Exams are what determines your fate in the ShinRa Company. Perform well enough and you may be scouted for SOLDIER itself, but do poorly and your career will be worthless." He leveled a hard stare at the two inattentive examinees that immediately tore their eyes from the general and tried to listen to the man, "Due to the ambiguous nature of the mission being assigned to you the General himself will be supervising your test. He will be acting as both the examiner and the proctor, he will be there to both judge your progress and prevent any fatalities." He finished up with some remarks on the grading system before excusing himself, leaving the general alone with the group.

He resisted the urge to grimace as he felt all three pairs of eyes lock intently on him. He hated working with cadets more than anything else. They were just too inexperienced and immature. Never before had they actually been in real battle, in a kill-or-be-killed environment. They had never had to worry about dying before. Most cadets were young and green, too sure of their immortality that they either ended up getting themselves, or their team mates, killed. He unintentionally called up the memory of the Malboro incident the previous year, the fact that Howell had disobeyed him was the very kind of stupidity he despised. Luckily for him, Strife's brush with death had instilled a sense of mortality in the squad, making them tolerable to work with. That was a good thing considering the amount of times he had allowed Zack to con him into training them. Surprisingly Heidegger, the Head of Shin-Ra's Public Safety Maintenance Department (AKA the ShinRa Military) and a great horse of a man, actually supported and encouraged the General's involvement with the training of the cadets. Sephiroth supposed that the man was hoping that he would divulge his considerable skills and experience to the new generation of SOLDIER; Heidegger would condone anything that made his army more powerful.

He quickly derailed that train of thought, now wasn't the time to be thinking about the contempt he held for the horse-faced man. He studied the three cadets still seated around the table, silently making his own assessments and impressions of the three teenagers. Cloud Strife was as tranquil as ever, completely at ease in the General's presence. The other two, on the other hand, were a different story. Nayan Yamir, a rather small-built cadet of obvious Wutaian descent with mid-back length black hair and stone grey eyes, had managed to contain his nervousness and excitement under the grip of an iron focus. The other, Damon Bedros, was an excitable brunet with forest green eyes from the far off town of Icicle Lodge. Unlike Strife and Yamir, who were both sparingly built, Bedros was taller than average with broad shoulders and well-defined muscles. Concluding his examination, Sephiroth addressed them, "I will not directly interfere in this test unless one of your lives are on the line, so you are completely on your own. The mission details will remain unknown until I deem it necessary to tell you, no questions." He inclined his head in a 'come along' gesture, turning his back on the examinees. Chairs scraped across the concrete floor as the cadets moved to follow his unspoken command.

After a quick stop at the Armory to check out a couple pieces of less-common materia (it turned out that the adets did have their own favored weapon) the group left the compound through the main gates. Sephiroth waited impassively as the guard checked over the papers authorizing the mission, he felt it was wasted time, but company protocol demanded it. Once beyond the fence of the compound he half turned to face his charges, "Do any of you own a chocobo?" He didn't really expect any of them too, the price to lodge a bird was impossible to achieve on a cadet's paycheck alone.

Strife's hand awkwardly rose, drawing odd looks from his teammates, "I do, sir." He intoned quietly with that same passive face, although Sephiroth could see a hint of nervousness in it. The general nodded once in acknowledgment and set off at a brisk walk, forcing the cadets to push their pace to catch up. He was heading to Upper Midgar's branch of the Midgar Stables, located in which was an elevator that passed through the plate and into the stable proper in Lower Midgar. Unfortunately, like the main branch, it was located at the edge of Sector Five, meaning they would have to walk from the ShinRa Building, the dead center of the city, all the way to outskirts. Of course it wasn't necessarily the walk itself that Sephiroth was dreading.

He became increasingly irritated as they traveled the streets of Upper Midgar. They were mostly empty at the early hour of the morning, but every now and then someone would make a spectacle of the illusive General of ShinRa walking down the city streets like the common folk. Sephiroth snorted to himself; if there was anything he disliked more than the company itself it would be what they had done to his image. He was one of the most recognizable people in the entire company, perhaps even more so than President ShinRa and his son Rufus. He absolutely detested the attention that it drew to himself, Sephiroth was a very private person and he did not agree with how the company had used his image, his involvement in the Wutai War, and his position in order to inspire fear and awe in the citizens under its control.

Not a moment too soon they left the streets, a lone bell chiming in the dim depths of the UMB Stables. A curly haired blonde woman sat at the reception desk, she was in the process of filing paperwork when Sephiroth strode up and dropped his orders right in front of her. The startled girl looked up at him in surprise before quickly averting her eyes and reading over the missive. She scribbled something down on the form before passing it back to the silver-haired general, "Just give that ter Earl down below."

He didn't acknowledge her words, instead choosing to lead the trio further into the building and to a rather large elevator, obviously built to handle a decent sized group of people. A rather pleasant looking middle-aged man met them at the bottom of the shaft, "Bonnie said ya were comin' down. I'm Earl." He greeted the nervous cadets before addressing the general. "Is it time fer the exams again General-sir?"

Sephiroth nodded, handing the completed form that the receptionist—Bonnie had filled out for him. Earl looked it over, "So ya got stuck with the Marshes? Good luck with that. So yer'll need three birds? Plus Jenova o' course." Jenova was Sephiroth's own mount, a black-colored chocobo, named after a mother he couldn't remember.

"Only two, Strife has his own." The blonde added his own affirmative to the General's statement. Earl thought hard for a moment before the proverbial light bulb flickered on in his head, "Cloud Strife?" At the blonde's hesitant nod he broke into a smile, "Yer friend, Valentine I think 'e was, dropped yer bird off 'bout a couple weeks back…Zero right?"

Earl led the group away from the elevator and down the isle of the stable proper, the large open room giving way to stall after stall of curious yellow birds. More than one of the chocobos stuck their heads over the half-doors, watching with mild interest as the new people passed. Earl paused and gave one of the birds a quick pat on the head before half-turning to face the group, "Since this is yer test ShinRa is payin' fer the birds, but any time after this and yer'll hafta rent one by yerself. One bird costs 1000 Gil," He glanced at Strife, "Yeh don't hafta hear this, go on and get yer bird ready. He's in the Great Section, stall 8."

Cloud gave the man a grateful smile before slipping off. The General followed him with his eyes before following suit, although he turned into a different section. It had been too long since he had seen Jenova.

--

"Uhm…General, sir," Sephiroth glanced at the Cadet that had addressed him, it was Yamir again. The A-Class Cadet had already finished readying his rented chocobo and was adjusting the harness straps. Bedros was across the small courtyard, having a one sided argument with his mount as he tried to coax the bird to letting him get close enough to put the harness on it. Strife had not rejoined them and Earl had taken his leave already, claiming that he needed to take care of some of the birds.

"Hm?"

"You still haven't told us the mission parameters." Sephiroth bristled at the cadet's flat tone, only years of conditioning allowing him to keep his annoyance imperceptible. Hadn't Yamir gotten the point when he said no questions? But before he could reprimand him for his disobedience he was interrupted, "It's the Midgar Zolom, isn't it?"

Sephiroth tilted his head, noticing the blonde-haired cadet that had exited the main stable, leading his chocobo to the courtyard where the rest of the group waited. The general did not speak for a few moments, "And where did you come by that information?"

A slightly nervous look slipped past Strife's guard before he flushed guiltily, "I-I overheard one of the examiners talking about it and when Mr. Earl mentioned the Southern Marshes…" He shrugged uneasily, "That's why we aren't taking a truck, right? Marsh Zoloms tend to hide when they hear a motor or wheels."

Sephiroth made a mental note to hunt down the tactless person who had given away the mission. He hadn't even known about it until that morning and yet from the sound of things Cloud had heard a few days prior. As it was, the silver-haired man didn't care enough to reprimand the cadet for his exceptional observational skills. The kid would've made a great Turk.

Cloud relaxed when he realized that Sephiroth wasn't going to get angry with him. The general closed his eyes momentarily, trying to ignore the ache that was building behind his eyes, "Strife is correct." He addressed the entire group, deciding that it would be as good a time as any to inform them of the mission, "I assume you are all familiar with a species of monster called a Marsh Zolom."

Yamir and Bedros nodded while Strife took over the task of placating the brunet's chocobo. The general continued, "It is a serpentine monster that lives in the Marshes to the south of Midgar, between the Chocobo Ranch and the Mythril Mines. Normally they don't grow any longer than a full grown man and are content to stay in the swamps. Recently there have been reports of one of the monsters heading into the mountains and the miners are getting nervous. It will be your job to either subdue it, or if it is beyond the scale of your abilities, engage it and record its attacks, strengths, and weaknesses so that a more suitable team can be sent."

Sephiroth looked over each cadet in turn as he spoke, wondering whether they all truly understood the scope of the mission. This wasn't just a test of strength, but of observation and of judgment. They needed to know when to quit, what to do when they evaluate a situation and find themselves lacking. There was more in the report than what he'd told them, keeping the information to himself as he'd been instructed to. ShinRa had already sent out a set of scouts on this mission, to have only one of them return intact, and he'd been scared out of his mind by the awesome power of the gigantic snake. There was a reason that Sephiroth himself had been assigned to this particular mission. Neither he nor the board of examiners expect a first time set of examinees, unenhanced by mako, to fight such a beast and win, even if they were the top three trainees in the program.

Sephiroth knew Strife's unexpected strength, his perception, and his decent materia skills. The report also spoke of Yamir's cool-headed leadership and strategic mind, praising the student who was only outclassed by the trainee that Sephiroth himself had helped train. Bedros seemed to be much like Strife, but geared more toward pure, brute force than complicated swordsmanship and weapon use. He had little to no magic skills, but they were made up with speed and pure stamina.

As the three chorused their comprehension, and Strife helped Bedros into the saddle of his –almost- unwilling chocobo Sephiroth just watched them. He'd find out soon enough if they were up to the task.

As he watched he rubbed his bandaged arm unconsciously, an action that wasn't missed by a pair of bright blue eyes.

A/N: Finished Woo! I'm just on a roll this past week. Having little internet access does wonders for the drive to type. When my Grandma isn' dragging me all over the place and I'm at home with nothing to do—I type! Sure, it'd been mostly Detective Conan stuff recently, but I'd realized that this story was owed an update. I'd just recently rehauled the entire plot after the SMEs, to be truthful I couldn't remember what I'd had before. There should be maybe…2 more parts after this one (parts, not chapters. No idea how many of them left there are.), just barely catching up with the beginning of the game as the story ends. Then again, none of the game will really happen, since Sephy will not go insane. That was one of my whole purposes in this fic! I like non-insane Sephy.

There's a reason for Cloud's distance from Zack, it'll be explained by the end of this part, but if anyone is impatient drop me a review and I'll send back the line explaining it. It occurs directly after the SMEs, but before the transition to Part III so it's pretty soon, maybe a chapter or two or three depending on how long I make them.

Anyways, Parts three and four will be…shorter than this one, methinks. Dunno, depends on how much I stretch it.

Didj'all know that FDT has over 14k hits? I wonder how many of those are rereads and how many of those are individual people. Oh! I hath a question I wanna ask—has anyone (besides 'Cere) read this multiple times? 'm just curious.

Um, I know people point out that I'm neglecting this character or that character, but I have my reasons. Look at the way the story is set so far, and what I have planned for the last two. Each 'Part' focuses on the interactions between a certain set of characters.

Part I: Cloud and Vincent, Seph and Zack

Part II: Bit of Seph and Cloud, lots of Vince and Zack

Part III: Lots of Seph and Cloud, bit of Vince and Zack

Part IV: Zack and Cloud, Vince and Seph

Make sense? I'm not neglecting people! I'm just…not there yet.

Bleeeh…the part after this is gonna be the hard part. That last bit with Sephy was the last part I actually had something written for so…everything from now on is gonna be completely and utterly new.

Thanks everyone for the reviews so far! Almost 100...and it's for a story I'm actually proud of! I love you all so much! It makes meh feel good when someone takes the time to just drop a note and tell me why they like the story. Or even if it is pointing out something that I could improve, or that bothered them abit about the characterization or whatnot. I take all the suggestions/criticism into account in the later chapters, and once I finish this story I have plans to go back and add maybe a few more intermediate scenes so that Vinnie warming up to people isn't as…abrupt. It isn't, really, I just…have lots of time skips. Stuff happens between those…

Wow…I think I'm gonna stop this huge A/N now…See ya'll!

P.S: I've atually started working on the next chapter, so it might not be that long of a wait this time n-n;