Disclaimer 1: I still don't own Final Fantasy.
Disclaimer 2: I don't own the song "I Believe I Can Fly".
Disclaimer 3: I don't own the amazing character Solomon (from the anime Blood Plus), who my own Solomon is ripped off. (le super-oh-my-gasp!)

Longer chapter than usual to make up for deh lateness...!

I Believe He Can Fly

Paige was almost glad the others weren't up when she left the house the following day. She had to go to school, after all, and at school, a blond, blue eyed guy would be waiting for her.

To avoid waking up her family, she didn't even eat breakfast. The food was in the kitchen, and the kitchen was in the same room as the living room (where her family slept), so all she did was peek inside. Little Bell slept on the two-seat couch with a small blanket on top of her, and Benjamin occupied the three-seat one. Her mother slept on a mattress. Since the house lacked other furniture that one could sleep on, or in, her dad had valiantly sacrificed himself and thus slept on a pile of duvets and quilts. Despite the current conditions, he seemed to be doing fine – he was snoring like a caffeinated lawn mower.

Once she was at school, everything seemed to her as a soup of incoherent events. This, she guessed, wasn't just because she hadn't eaten anything, but also because she'd hardly slept that night. That was thoroughly annoying – usually she fell asleep within a minute and slept like a rock throughout the night. Lack of food and sleep did nothing good for her anemia, either.

Thank goodness we don't have P.E. today.

"Are you... doing all right?" Solomon asked from beside her, and she twitched.

"Yes." Her reply was not unfriendly, but not entirely kind either. In other words, as monotone as she wanted it to be.

The rest of the day passed slowly, and she found herself giving one-word answers to whoever asked questions. That wasn't always the smartest thing to do, though, since that made no sense when one of her teachers asked when the famous Einstein died, for instance. She only survived the day thanks to the lunch break, during which she downed an inhuman amount of food (to brace herself for the rest of the day).

Once she got home, her family was at it again.

And of course, the family activities continued until evening. Paige excused herself earlier than usual and went to sleep. This time, she did sleep like a rock. Or, perhaps, like a boulder.

The next few days continued the same way. Her mum cooked and cleaned everything that could be cooked and cleaned, and her dad watched news and listened to country and folk music like there was no tomorrow. Paige went to buy matches for Benjamin several times and tried not to break into a huge smile every time she saw Bell (especially when Sephiroth was around), and helped John Smoth ("Shake it and move it away from here!") by walking Chilli as often as she could. John Smoth appreciated it ("You, my lady, I'm ya' man!"). She even brought Chilli to her karate lessons, although she had to leave her behind outside the house. Miraculously, the little chihuahua remained quiet while Paige was training. Back at school she successfully managed to tolerate Solomon to some degree. She thanked her "mask training" and Sephiroth for that.

Speaking of Sephiroth, he hardly visited home. She had seen him hunt students, though, who otherwise would have skipped the Phys. Ed. classes. In fact, the other teachers liked his progress with the students so much that the other P.E. teachers almost weren't there at all – they just left the work to him. There weren't that many students, after all. Paige once asked him discreetly at school if he got paid at all, since he refused to have his name in any sort of database that Shinra could trace. At that, he replied that he got paid in cash, and that the other teachers didn't even know his name. Apparently they had all sorts of boring nicknames for him, such as The P.E. Teacher, The Long-Haired Guy, The New Guy, The Commanding Commander, The Silver-Haired Guy and other fantasy-lacking titles.

Then, at long last, weekend arrived – and her family left.

Except for a few warnings from her mother (including that they'd be back later), all was well.

Thank goodness for that.

After her family returned to their own home, time turned into a whirlpool that swallowed Paige whole. All the strain she had felt for days disappeared. As a result, the next days flew past at an almost horrifying rate – turning into weeks before she could even try to count them. Before she knew it, the mornings were darker and much colder, and one day she was thoroughly shocked to find that summer was truly over, and autumn was about to take its place.

"Who'd have thought..." she mumbled moodily, too low for anybody in the classroom to hear what she said.
"Hm?" said Solomon, who still appeared to sparkle like a sun despite the change of seasons. Paige shook her head and looked out the window.

Little did she know that the next P.E. lesson had in store for them.

Dancing.

...So this was how it felt to die.

Because their curriculum required it, and because their headmaster wanted them to learn to dance properly (or, more specifically, dance with decency) before the Christmas Prom, they were going to learn how to dance in the P.E. classes (since Sephiroth was apparently the only one who could teach the students without them complaining). Personally, though, Paige was absolutely not planning to go to that dreaded prom. Just like the years before, she'd skulk away in the dead of night and stay hidden until the prom was over. Perhaps she could have enjoyed it if it hadn't been for the dancing - and Solomon. Yet, here she stood, half listening to Sephiroth as he commanded them to discard their running shoes. They had to manage with socks this time, since running shoes were a bit inconvenient when it came to dancing. Sephiroth hadn't even told them to bring dancing shoes as a warning.

But...

Dancing.

Paige swallowed in an attempt to quell her fear, looking once more at the other students.

Dancing most certainly involved body contact with others. Considering Solomon was quite insistent on making her see him, her death sentence was already spoken. But, body contact! Couldn't that be considered harassment or something if a student really didn't want to dance?

But nobody wanted to go against Sephiroth, simply because Sephiroth was Sephiroth, and Sephiroths were not beings that one should meddle with. And considering Sephiroth looked thoroughly annoyed that he had to put aside the "normal" training in favor of dancing, it was smarter to stay out of his way.

"I'm gonna die," she muttered to herself. This gym hall would be where her soul left her body and went to a paradise without school princes, school princesses and other things that had to do with Solomons and their merciless beauty and kindness. "I am gonna die," she repeated, this time almost wanting it.

And so, one minute later, the Dancing Lesson of Doom was upon them.

Paige wore black workout pants and a red t-shirt (and white socks, since she didn't have dancing shoes). She was standing in a corner, almost pissing in her pants every time she glanced up and saw that Solomon was watching her from the other end of the gym hall, smiling carefully; requestingly.

"All right - find someone to dance with. If there aren't enough boys, or girls, simply tolerate it and dance with whomever is left."

What?! He'd just told them to find partners?!

Wide eyed, literally breathless with fear, she looked up and saw Solomon start to walk in her direction, his elegant strides too fast in her opinion. She stepped backwards and turned around to find the closest door, but to get to it, she had to pass Solomon. Still, honesty speaking, she felt she could run up a wall to escape him right now. Too bad the gym hall had super-high walls and an even more solid ceiling. A blur of colors, which was actually a horde of newly formed dancing "couples", walked past her and onto the dance floor. It gave her a suspicious feeling that everybody had already found somebody to dance with before the P.E. lesson started, even though that was impossible. No one had seen it coming. Speaking of colors and people and faces and the blond, blue-eyed Solomon, she was pretty sure her indifferent 'mask' was on vacation right now. Perhaps it was in Mexico, or Japan, or Hawaii, or Australia, or any other place that was very, very many countries away.

Sooner than she expected, her hand was seized by Solomon's and she turned around, ready to overflow with excuses that allowed her to leave.

"May I have this dance...?"

Solomon looked down at her, smiling apologetically, softly, his eyes radiating every gentle emotion Paige knew the name of, and she turned her head away completely. The hand he held felt like it was withering. Very soon, the rest of her body wilted (or so it felt) until she must look like a poor excuse for a rag doll.

The next hour or so did not go well. Not well at all. Paige was too perturbed to manage a single step. The only thing she could concentrate on was keeping her face as straight and calm as possible. That was her number one priority. It was only made worse when Sephiroth announced they were going to increase their speed and add another couple of steps and moves. Those who already weren't doing so well (or who hadn't done anything at all except stepping on the toes of their partners, like Paige) were in for some cruel torture. Thankfully, though she would never admit it, Solomon was patient with her. Paige didn't even catch the name of the dance before Sephiroth told them to take a short break.

"It's called swing. A pretty traditional prom dance," offered Solomon, his velvet voice summoning an alarming number of girls closer. "But still, since we're all beginners, we can hardly hope to become pros after just one Phys Ed lesson..." The last sentence was obviously directed at her, because he glanced playfully at her toes while wiggling his own.

Leaving the gym hall that day was like stepping into an oasis filled with light and joy and pools and diamonds and rubies and suns and starts and ice creams and hammocks and sandy beaches and soft beds with huge pillows and no Solomons. Paige found herself on the verge of crying with happiness, although when she realized her eyes were wet for real, she became furious with her ignorance.

The next P.E. lesson was also going to be spent dancing. That was what Sephiroth had told them before they left.

For the very first time in her life, Paige wanted to skip, or fake illness, or come up with a very plausible excuse that could be used even in front of Sephiroth. It wasn't fair that even as their teacher, all Sephiroth had done last time was to instruct them. He hadn't danced at all – not with anyone. Paige had even heard some students say he probably couldn't dance at all.

But she knew better than skipping classes.

Skipping P.E. was asking for trouble – Sephiroth would find her and bring her to the gym hall by her hair if he had to, along with all the others who had originally planned to skip.

Therefore, she went to Phys. Ed. willingly. And this time she was prepared.

For one, she had spent all day reinforcing her mask, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. She was also wearing black workout pants, a black, long tank top, black socks (since she didn't own shoes appropriate for dancing), and even a black hair band, which held up all her light, pale hair in a ponytail. In other words, she must look like she was going to a funeral rather than a Physical Education lesson. Perhaps that would repel Solomon. To add to her "mask" and her clothes, she sent a furiously cold Glare of Warning at Solomon every time he looked at her. Annoyingly, he seemed amused – or was that admiration?

"Find partners," Sephiroth ordered.

And Paige watched the others find partners and effectively joined the flow, avoiding Solomon's view for as long as possible. If a girl asked Solomon to dance with her, he wouldn't have the audacity to refuse, right? That wouldn't be very gentlemanly. As if on cue, Paige saw the school princess herself tap Solomon on the shoulder, and he turned. Paige had to think of abnormally many ugly, terrifying things to prevent herself from laughing out very loudly. This was the best she could ever have hoped for!

But her joy was short lived.

Before the others had settled, a large, firm hand seized her wrist and she snapped around with a mix of surprise and anger. Once she saw who her dancing partner was, though, her surprise developed into disproportionately out-of-control shock. She was being pulled along by Sephiroth. She followed in his wake, petrified, stupefied and two hundred percent unready. And despite all her "mask preparations" earlier that day, her indifferent, cold expression was very close to coming apart at the seams.

Glancing around, she saw that the others all had partners. That was why Sephiroth had taken her hand.

"I shall demonstrate first, so please pay close attention," he said.

Then she realized she and Sephiroth were on the middle of the floor. The others stood around them in a circle.

Mask, mask, mask, mask mask mask maskmaskmaskmaskmaskmasmasmas, she muttered in her mind, keeping her face straight.

"I-I can't dance, not for the life of me," she stated, and found that she sounded as constipated as she felt. Sephiroth ignored her. When she glanced past him, she saw Solomon staring back at her, his hand held tightly by the school princess – a colorfully clothed, beautiful girl wearing her hair in a braid – with almost perfect makeup (almost, since it was perhaps a little too much).

As Sephiroth quickly explained the dancing moves, Paige listened as if her life depended on it. After a while her face calmed more and she relaxed, because apparently, she and Sephiroth weren't actually going to dance all alone in front of the others, just demonstrate the dance moves very slowly, step by step. Without even touching each other. After a while Sephiroth told them to try, and once they started doing well, he told one of the students to turn on some music, since there was a boomblaster CD-player by the door. While Sephiroth walked around and corrected the others, Paige stood alone on the floor, smiling almost viciously when she saw the school prince and princess dance together. Apparently, she was the only one left without a partner. It suited her well. The dance looked really easy, so it wasn't like she'd miss anything. After a while Sephiroth told them to add more steps and increase their speed – he repeated that a few times – until Paige was thrilled she only had to watch and not actually dance. She was off the hook this time.

Or not.

Sephiroth came walking towards her from the far end of the room. In response, her face froze completely. The closer he got, the colder her face turned – a wordless warning that she did not want to dance.

Apparently her face had the opposite effect of what she desired, because just as the music faded and the next song started, he stopped in front of her and took both her hands without asking. He placed her hand on his shoulder and held her other arm out a little, whereas his free arm soon touched her waist. She recoiled and almost stepped away, but when she looked into his face, there was no question about it – Sephiroth was challenging her.

And so, she gave him the steeliest glare she could muster – the only thing she could do in a situation like this.

Alas, it only took half a minute for her to realize she looked like a fool. The others were snickering, focusing more on her and Sephiroth than on their own partners. Soon she realized that because of her, Sephiroth also looked like a bad dancer. He, too, seemed to be aware of that. The dance they were trying to perform was called swing – the two partners didn't have to be too close to each other. It had many different moves, but Paige found herself unable to learn any of them. Perhaps their physical distance also meant that it was much harder for Sephiroth to lead Paige.

So when the music changed, he didn't hesitate to change tactics.
This time, Paige really, truly thought she was done for.
Sephiroth suddenly pulled her closer.

What?! Why? What? Eh?! No! No way! Gaah! and other incoherent things filled her mind. All she wanted was to push Sephiroth off, or to step away from him.

And so she did.

Only he stepped with her. And he didn't let go of her. Paige couldn't look him in the eye, so she looked away and tried stepping away once more. Again Sephiroth stepped after her. Every time she tried wiggling away, his grip on her waist strengthened. She tried almost running backwards, but they were so close Sephiroth steered her in half a circle instead – still following her while staying close. Their steps were completely synchronized. Now Paige was beyond terrified. She didn't know what sort of dance this was – swing or tango or cha-cha-cha – but Sephiroth seemed insistent on not letting her go. Then he moved first, towards her, and Paige stepped away, always keeping her face cold and her jaw set.

Next he moved forward again, and their legs and ankles and arms and even their chests brushed, to her extreme horror. So she tried stepping away enough to create space between them, but Sephiroth turned it all into a dance of sorts. The others might not see it, but he always clasped at least one of her hands to prevent her from running off. And so they continued their game of cat and mouse – she would try slipping out of his grip and he followed, or he gave chase and steered her in different directions. After a while he put in an extra move or two, some rather elaborate turns and twists that made Paige's stomach swirl along with it, and finally Sephiroth increased their speed. They were moving along twice as fast as the others. All she could see was his silver hair billowing back and forth.

Soon – when she thought she couldn't be closer to peeing her pants, he touched her briefly at her hips, and she bent out of the way. Not long after that he did the same on the other side, and she bent the other way. He was no doubt manipulating her – and because of it, she wasn't even breathing. Sephiroth lead her through a series of impossible moves this way – by touching places she didn't want him to touch. They were almost always close enough for him to practically guide her legs with his own. Enraged with Sephiroth for doing this and with herself for letting him, she glanced up and glared at him so profusely that he halted for a second. Then she stepped against him, forcing him to step back. Thoroughly pleased that she had managed to do so, she smirked in dark amusement and stepped forward again, only this time he sidestepped and swung her around after him. But then her courage faltered again as she thought of their much too close proximity.

This went on and on until she was completely exhausted. Hardly able to move properly, she was being moved around by Sephiroth. She felt humiliated. It must look like she had given herself to him utterly.

When the lesson ended, he let her go and she retreated and slumped down to the floor. She couldn't even muster enough willpower to smile that the dancing lesson was over. She just wanted to go home.

The others slowly left the gym hall, until only a few were left.

"Well done, today," said Sephiroth, who waited until she looked up. Then, slowly, he turned and left.

For weeks, Paige thought things could never get as bad as that dreaded dancing lesson.

Well, Paige was, as usual, terribly wrong. Right now she was outside, in the forest, in the chilly autumn wind and cold, pouring rain, together with the rest of her class.

They were on a field trip.

The teachers in charge were, as always, their Physical Education teacher (Sephiroth) and their homeroom teacher. Thankfully, he had informed them that they weren't going to stay in the wilderness for the night, so people only had small backpacks with them. Paige didn't even have that much. She had mountain boots that were a little too big, loose-fitting jeans and a large, black raincoat. Despite the light-weight luggage, some students were whining that they were going too fast. Therefore it was getting late by the time they started on their way back. Apart from Solomon offering her warm chocolate (it was a temptation she almost couldn't resist), nothing dangerous happened on the way back to their old school bus – except that her anemia was making it hard to breathe. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Sephiroth had been silent all the way.

"There it is! The bus!" exclaimed a happy boy, running ahead.

"Finally!" And the others followed. Many of them rushed past her and pushed her, so she stepped out of their path for a moment to get some rest and some air.

The bus was parked at a makeshift parking lot at the very end of an old tractor road, high on a cliff with the stunning view of a forest and a large river below. Further away were mountains, which currently looked like no more than dark silhouettes with light halos left by the setting sun. That was all there was to see of the sun, though – she could barely see the Columbia river through the heavy rain and the thick layer of clouds. The rush of the river below was so loud she consciously stepped back from the edge, just to be safe. Bad memories, including Solomon and a similar river, still haunted her.

Gritting her teeth as dizziness suddenly overwhelmed her, she stepped back even more, just in case she fell over. Her anemia – lack of blood – was doing nothing to help her. Mentally cursing it, she turned to the others, who had also come closer to the cliff. Their homeroom teacher was the one who had told them to gather, because he wanted a class photo. That way the students could look back at this trip in the future with "joyful nostalgia", as he put it. Sephiroth was standing a fair distance behind the homeroom teacher. This, Paige guessed, was because he didn't want to end up in a picture that Shinra could somehow trace later.

Solomon stood next to her, a little too close, so she shoved him a little.

He shoved back playfully, smiling. She returned the smile, although hers was significantly less warm.

Then she pushed him with much more strength, so that he crashed into some others, who gladly returned the favor. Before she knew it, all the others were laughing and pushing and shoving so much that Paige turned around – to make sure they were not too close too the edge. The ground was wet, but not really slippery, although it was still raining a little.

And then – from behind – with such force the air was knocked out of her lungs, somebody crashed into her so hard that she fell forward and rolled around.

"Gah!" she exclaimed, ready to extract a very painful revenge as she stood up.

But she stood up so fast that her blood left her head, and not to fall, she stepped backwards.

Bad idea.

Very bad idea.

The last person she saw before she fell over the edge of the cliff was the one who had (playfully) pushed her: Solomon. He looked petrified.

Barring all thoughts that couldn't help her at the moment, she steeled herself for the roaring waters she was about to plunge into. She couldn't even scream.

Sephiroth had seen everything – he saw Paige step backwards into thin air, and he saw Solomon nearly jump off the cliff after her, screaming her name at the top of his lungs. If it hadn't been for the other students, who held him back, he might have been in the river below already, with Paige.

...Could a person like Paige survive falling into the icy currents below from that height?

Paige.

And what he did next surprised even himself.

The only way down – no, the fastest way down – was the way she had gone. Sephiroth found himself lunging forward, past the students, who were now shouting and moving about with shock, without a clue what to do next. He continued running. Discarding the raincoat he had borrowed at the school while moving, he jumped over the edge. He heard some of the students scream as he did. Once he was out of their sight below the steep cliff, he forced gravity away from himself and flew along the surface of the water, scanning the white foam and the much stronger currents below it. He followed the river downstream, searching for any sign of Paige – whether she was alive or not – while making sure the others couldn't see him.

...Paige didn't know how long she'd been the river when she finally stranded on a small, sand-covered part of the riverbank.

Coughing and spluttering water, trembling with exhaustion and shock, she tried pulling herself up.

Struggling to make her arms work, and failing, she eventually rolled over on her back. To her grand frustration it was still raining and she was so cold her limbs felt ten times as heavy as they should be. Coughing up some more water, she mentally cursed herself for being so indefinitely stupid – who would step step towards the edge of a cliff without even looking where to put their feet? Sephiroth would get her for this. That aside, though, she was physically unharmed, if she didn't count in the coldness that had settled in her bones. But her cellphone! Her cellphone was beyond saving now. Not that she used it much, but, but – ah, it was simply extremely frustrating for it to stop working when she needed it so! How would she contact the others and get help?

There was a clicking noise, a very rapid one, and it seemed to be close. When she realized it was her teeth, and that they were clattering like a broken machine gun, she clenched them together. The clattering only moved to another part of her, it seemed – this time, her entire body was shaking and trembling so much she must look like she was sitting on a bike on its way down an endless staircase. Her lips might as well be made of ice, they were so cold.

"Blast it..."

Still annoyed, but now worried as well, Paige tried to get to her feet. Again she failed miserably. In fact, she only barely managed to get to her knees before they buckled under her. Cursing lightly some more – while thinking of something more appropriate to say or do – she sat down and bent forward to ease her dizziness. Really, with her anemia, what would become of her?

Then, through the sound of the light rain, she heard something else. Faster than she thought possible in her current state, her head whirled around.

Sephiroth landed in front of her.

Sephiroth landed in front of her on the sand.

Landed.

Sephiroth had been in the air, and had slowly landed (too slowly for it to have been some sort of jump) on the riverbank next to her.

His silver hair was dark with rain, and his black gym clothes couldn't be much drier. He looked at her with something akin to disbelief, or perhaps even disappointment. Paige tried scowling, but her face was so physically cold it hurt, so she didn't. To him she probably looked as expressionless as usual. That aside, though, she could have sworn the elf-man-who-was-not-an-elf-but-currently-her-teacher had levitated right above the ground before landing. Was the cold getting to her? No – she was so sure she'd seen him fly. Just like that guy on the news, the flying London man.

"Paige," he said as he came closer, and she did the only thing she was able to do – she bent away from him a little when he came too close.

He wouldn't have that, though. He took hold of her upper arms and pulled her to her feet, and after checking if she could stand on her own (which she couldn't), he stooped a little and hoisted her up until her feet no longer touched the sand.

Bridal style.

If somebody were to see them like this, she would be done for in so many ways. Her pride would be forever banished, exiled in a land of no return.

"Who would have thought... Apart from being cold, you seem unhurt," Sephiroth said as he stared walking, a little hurriedly.

"Who'd have thought you- you can fly," she retorted, and he stopped in is tracks.

"...Fly? In your condition, should you really leap to conclusions like that? Beware, or you will make a fool of yourself and regret it later," he retorted, starting to walk again. Then he broke into a run.

Really, all Sephiroth could do was make her feel inferior, faulty and clueless.

And so, she ended up in the doctor's office. He took some tests and said he'd get back to her. She also became the gossip stock of the entire school. To add to that, her parents found out everything. By the end of the week she felt her ears would fall off because they called her so much. Even John Smoth ("Keep walkin' and ya can't get far, wherever you are!") was against her. And Solomon was on her back like never before, apologizing again and again, looking more honest and broken each time even when she said it was her own fault. She was the one who hadn't paid attention, and now she was the one who had to pay for it. Bottom line: her fault.

But one thing still overshadowed all the others: She was absolutely certain that when Sephiroth had found her by the river, she had seen him hover above the ground for a second.

Yet he refused. Each time she asked him about it, he refused swiftly with so much sense and logic she thoroughly doubted her memory. And really, when she heard herself ask about it, she sounded like a fool. So she stopped.

R.R.

John Smoth says you're his ladies and he's your man.