A/N: A couple of chapters ago, Writer'sblott asked a question about the game Sephiroth and Reno were playing and I meant to elaborate on the rules and such, because chess is a little too simple. It's a mix of Risk and Fire Emblem, with some D&D rules in place.

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Prompt: The Games We Play.

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The battlefield stretched out before him, imaginary grassy plains and rolling hills dotted with his armies. Today they had decided on something a bit simpler, as they were implementing a new rule into their little game and his usual tricks would be an unfair advantage. Not that that would have bothered Sephiroth much.

Reno eyed the enemy line, searching for any weaknesses, anything he could use against him. He thought he might have spotted something, but he immediately flicked his eyes away so Sephiroth wouldn't take notice of his interest and focus his attention elsewhere. Satisfied with how his soldiers had been arranged, and having finished studying Sephiroth's, he met his opponent's eyes. Distantly, he registered the clock ticking, reminding him that they only had a limited amount of time to finish this.

He licked his lips. "Whose turn is it to start?" Reno asked, carefully nonchalant. The game had already began, and every move he made would be analyzed and then used against him. Sephiroth's face remained as blank as it ever was, the only sign he had heard being a twitch of his eyebrow.

"It's yours," He responded smoothly, staring at Reno like a cat waiting for his master to get comfortable so he could pounce on him with his claws out. If Reno hadn't already adjusted to it after being on the receiving end so many times, he would have been a little unnerved.

Instead, he nodded with a grin. "I thought so," he chirped, gaze immediately dropping to flit from piece to piece. This, at least, he took seriously, even if someone looking at them would think they had both lost their minds and were acting childish. In a split second, he made his decision, moving the company on his right forward while moving the left farther away from the main group. Then the center advanced.

His strategy was sound and he was confident that he hadn't made any devastatingly stupid moves, but Sephiroth's turn had yet to come and the General had a way of always proving him wrong. His eyes flicked up and he smirked, signally the end of his turn. He watched Sephiroth as his eyes dropped, studying the movements he had made.

He liked to think that he was better at reading people than Sephiroth was, and he had yet to be proven wrong. Sephiroth wasn't an easy read, his expression only changed minutely but when those small changes were paired with his body language, it became easy to see what he was thinking. The beginning of the game was always tough, but once they got into it, it flowed quickly and easily from middle to finish.

Sephiroth moved and the gap Reno had spotted widened almost invitingly. He smiled, recognizing it for what it was. When they had first started, Sephiroth had tried to overwhelm him with brute force, which didn't work when they were fighting on even ground. It had only taken two games for him to adjust, and he had learned frighteningly quick from that.

It was nice to know that his title wasn't just for show.

Reno flashed him a blinding grin as he looked up and ended his turn. Neither of them liked to talk when they were thinking, so they were using modified hand-signals. It was easier that way.

He moved, directing his troops to flow around Sephiroth's like water. He directed a few units towards the gap, to make it seem like that was his bigger goal. When he glanced up, Sephiroth was frowning, a small wrinkle in his brow. Reno resisted the urge to fold his hands together and cackle like a madman, that would give it away.

Instantly the gap closed and his soldiers were surrounded, which Reno had already calculated for as the units he had chosen were the slow, heavily armored knights represented by the staplers. Their hit points totaled more than the squad of lancers surrounding them in one turn. Sephiroth rolled the die, for each attack, lips twitching down as he scored a total of 13 out of a possible 36. He looked up, his turn ended and Reno started his counter attack.

His archers were already in place and he only had to roll how much damage they had done, nearly wiping out the lancers in one attack. Part of him couldn't believe that Sephiroth had let him do that and as he rolled the last attack, he scanned the lines again, then moved his archers back. The main force slid into their place as quickly as they had gone, the knights finishing off their attackers.

Reno ended his turn with a flick of his hands, leaning back on his hands and smirking as he studied his opponent. Sephiroth mirrored the smirk and a chill went down Reno's spine. He glanced down to make sure he hadn't missed anything and then back up.

"You're cheating," Sephiroth said, leaning forward to inspect the stickers on one of his archers. Reno scowled, opening his mouth to protest that he had done no such thing. Sephiroth silenced him by tapping one long finger against the 'archer' marked differently than the others.

"This isn't an archer." It was stated simply, yet accusingly. Reno drew himself up, ready to point out that it was a Sniper, one of the three upgraded units he had won in the last battle. Which the General was well aware of, judging from the gleam in his eye. He was stalling and Reno was going to give him a piece of his mind.

"Of course it's not." Tseng's voice called from the doorway. Reno's head whipped around to find his superior standing in the doorway, regarding them with half-confusion, half-amusement. "It's a mechanical pencil with googly eyes."

Reno sighed, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat as Sephiroth smirked at him. "You win," he announced, bemoaning the fact that he had been the one to suggest the 'Tseng rule' for ending the game. It wasn't fair that it was being used against him.

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Thank you for reading, I appreciate it.