Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This collection is mine, as are the OCs—ya'll know 'em by now.

..:-X-:..

073 – Newbies

"Ooh, check out the fresh meat." Yuffie rubbed her hands together maliciously.

Beside her, Leon looked up from his clipboard to follow her gaze to the new recruits that were piling out of the recently arrived Gummi Ships. About once every quarter of the year, ships would flood Radiant Garden with new, fresh faced, bright eyed soldiers who had decided to leave their individual bases on their home worlds to train in Radiant Garden: the veritable epicenter of the military Alliance. Leon and the rest of the Restoration Committee usually took bets to see how long most of the newbies would last.

On Leon's other side, Private McCallister was also looking at a clipboard. As was the norm, a painfully high number of soldiers had applied for the Weapons Specialist Department. Leon had, from the beginning of the Alliance, put out very stringent requirements to screen out applicants and was very selective about who he accepted. To date, his department was the smallest in the Alliance. Unfortunately, this meant that all new recruits saw this as a personal challenge and would submit applications to his field by the boxful.

Sure enough, between his and McCallister's clipboards, there were roughly 370 applications coming from the 500 newbies that were clamoring out of the ships. They were loud, they were excitable, and they were very, very green around the gills. Everything about Radiant Garden impressed them…and did he mention that they were loud.

"Newbies." He murmured under his breath with a grimace. "You've got a few openings in your department, right, Yuffie?" He asked her.

"But of course. I'm always willing to pluck the little puppies from the field and train them to become merciless pitbulls of awesome!" Yuffie remarked.

"You should get that on a T-shirt." McCallister mumbled.

Yuffie and Leon looked at her.

The soldier lifted her eyes to them. "Pitbulls of awesome…sounds like a bowling team."

Yuffie snorted and went off to scout, while Leon rubbed his eyes at the slurring names on the clipboard sheet.

"What's the damage?" He prompted.

"Looks like 378 applications in total, sir." McCallister replied. "Here comes one now."

Leon glanced at her and then out toward the hangar floor. Sure enough, a young man with wild brown hair and freckles was ambling over. He had a thick build but moved quick on his feet. Leon folded his arms, tapping the clipboard in his hand against his side. This would go one of two ways, in his experience. Either this guy was going to be an egotistical prick who had seen a cowboy movie at some point in his life and therefore thought he knew everything about weapons, guns, and swords…OR this guy was going to be a simpering little bitch who wanted to get in with a superior officer early and bank on playing teacher's pet to get into the program. Either way, Leon wasn't looking forward to it.

"Commander Leonhart." The soldier greeted. "Hi, my name is Tom Laurel. I've applied for your Weapons Specialist Department program."

"Keep walking." Private McCallister piped in, not looking up from her clipboard.

Laurel looked wrongfooted, glancing to the soldier and back to Leon. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to put a face to the name on the application. It's an honor to finally meet you."

Leon remained impassive. "You know you have to survive Basic Training under Cloud Strife first, right?" He said flatly.

Laurel bobbed his head, "Yes, sir. You can count on me!"

Then he did what Leon judged to be the most awkward salute ever and then trundled away to rejoin his fellow newbies. Leon watched him go, amused, and then looked to McCallister. "What're his grades?"

McCallister was already looking at Laurel's application on her clipboard. "He's high on teamwork, defense, and organization…but his actual shooting scores are terrible."

"Well, you weren't exactly glowing when I accepted you." He ribbed. She gave him a flat look at that, and he snorted at her before glancing back to the hangar floor. "Sounds like Aerith's kind of soldier." He commented.

Yuffie had immersed herself in the mass of hopeful soldiers, chatting them up and feeling them out. She was very hands-on when it came to recruiting; Leon preferred the process-of-elimination approach. If they survived basic under Cloud—which was no picnic—and had the marks, he'd consider them. But there had been plenty of times when—

"That unbelievable whore." Came a low, sizzling hiss.

Leon blinked, concentration broken, and slowly swiveled his head to look at Private McCallister. She was rigid as a steel beam, staring across the hangar floor. Her face was quickly paling and her eyes were filled with poison. Leon had never seen that expression on his soldier before. Disturbed, he followed her gaze to a petite blond woman who was stepping off the Gummi. She had a very wide and toothy smile, and the male soldiers were tripping over themselves to aid her. Now…Leon knew that McCallister wasn't exactly a lady-like woman who wanted men to hold doors for her…but she had never expressed contempt for those women who were like that…And certainly not this kind of hatred. This kind of hatred was inspired by people you knew personally.

He reached out and took her clipboard. "Take a walk, McCallister." He said warily. As she immediately spun 180 degrees and marched away, he decided to find out who this woman was who had the power to rattle his best soldier so easily.

..:-X-:..

074 – Catching Up

Aerith was sitting in one of the chairs in Tifa's office. "A homebirth, huh?"

Hunched at her computer and trying to finish off the latest reports that were due by the end of the week, Tifa bobbed her head once, eyes never straying from the monitor. "Yeah, we talked all week about it. I think we're going to do it."

"That sounds wonderful." Aerith said dreamily. "And what of painkillers?"

Tifa rattled off the final sentence in the latest report and saved the document, sitting back and rubbing her eyes. "I have nothing against them, but I don't want them. Painkillers make me all—" She make cuckoo gestures around her head, "And I don't need to be like that during delivery."

Aerith nodded in understanding. "How's Leon taking it?"

"What part? The homebirth part, the soon-to-be-parents part, or the whole baby part?" Tifa snickered. "I bet he cries when she's born."

A surprise laugh burst out of Aerith. "You bet?"

"Oh, oh, yeah." Tifa leaned her head back in emphasis. "Big, big man tears."

"But you won't cry?" Aerith pried.

"I will promise no such thing." Tifa ran hand over her stomach, and didn't miss Aerith's almost envious glance at the bump. "But I'll be hormonal and in pain, so I have an excuse."

Aerith made a noncommittal noise and seemed to snap out of whatever trance she'd drifted into for a few seconds. "So, you're seven months along now, and you two still haven't picked out a name?"

"It's hard, okay?" Tifa whined. "And Leon is a terrible name-picker."

"Or maybe you're a terrible name-picker and you just can't appreciate the greatness of Leon's suggestions." Aerith offered loftily.

Tifa looked at her. "Did he pay you to say that?"

Aerith chuckled and sighed. "You're so lucky. You're going to be a mother and have this beautiful little bundle to hold in your arms…" She trailed off a little before sitting up. "What does it feel like…when she kicks?"

"Weird." Tifa answered quickly. "Really, really strange at first. She moves all the time now, but at first…It's nothing I've ever felt before."

"Yeah, Cloud said you freaked out a little." Aerith snickered.

"I did not freak out; I got excited." Tifa responded. "Speaking of, are you two okay?"

At the conversation shift, Aerith looked uncomfortable. "I guess so."

"You guess so?" Tifa smelled trouble.

"It's…I mean, we're not FIGHTING or anything." Aerith fiddled with the braid of her hair. "We just haven't really been talking lately."

"Is it the research thing?" Tifa moved the mouse of her computer to select printing preferences on the finished report.

Aerith watched the printer chug to life and laboriously begin printing the pages. "We have kinda moved past that. He's still not okay with it…but he's respecting that it's my decision." She fidgeted some more. "But there's this woman he keeps talking about."

Tifa, who had been taking a sip from her lemonade, nearly spit it all over her keyboard. "You think there's another woman?" She tried not to laugh.

The idea of Cloud cheating on Aerith was about as ridiculous as Leon cheating on Tifa. If they liked being attached to their penises, they would never dare to cheat.

"No…not like that." Aerith shook her head. "He thinks he met a time traveler lady."

Tifa stared at her for a beat. "Time traveler."

"I know it sounds ridiculous."

"Of course it sounds ridiculous." Tifa pointed out. "Why does he think he met one?"

Aerith lifted her shoulders. "Something about a blue flash of light and talking to Merlin."

"Well, there you go." Tifa snapped her fingers. "Merlin loves the idea of time travel. She was probably some drifter from another world with a half-rate teleporter device, and Merlin wanted to make it sound more zazzy than it was."

"Maybe." Aerith frowned, "But the whole thing is making him paranoid."

Tifa remained deadpan. "Did he go to one of Jake Alms' special brownie parties?"

"Not that I know of." Aerith ran a hand over her face. "Then there's this whole letter problem." She paused.

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "Cid told me. You don't actually believe that—that—" Anger boiled up inside her and she closed her eyes briefly. She reached over and snatched the finished document from the printer.

Aerith sighed, "Take it easy. He's in prison. He's never getting out. He can't hurt anyone ever again."

"Then what do you call this?" Tifa gestured to the empty air between them. "We're still talking about him. THAT is what is so—" Hot tears hit her eyes and she hiccupped. "Curse these…hormones!" She wiped at her eyes, staring at the ceiling until they abated.

..:-X-:..

075 – The Paradox, Part Two

There is no inconspicuous way to run through town. Cloud discovered that fairly quickly as he bolted through Radiant Garden, narrowly avoiding civilians and push-carts and boxes as he careened toward the town perimeter. Eugenia Harker, the widow who lived by herself at the edge of town, had called him again personally to come take care of 'that same damn problem with the blue lights, the yelling, and the damn disruptions.'

This was the first sign of anything regarding that strange woman that Cloud had come across since that fateful night, and he wanted to get out there, find that woman, and get some answers before she ran away again. He reached the Harker property a few minutes later, slightly winded from the sprint, and feeling a little embarrassed for the zeal that this mystery was giving him. Shaking it off, he moved toward the original alley where he'd seen her first, fighting that zombie guy with the black snake.

Sure enough…

"Hey, you!" Cloud rounded the corner, spotting someone in the alley.

The woman had been squatting with her back to him, looking for something, given her posture. She started slightly at his yell, half spinning and remaining crouched, but her hand moved to the gun at her hip. Upon seeing Cloud, however, that same flash of recognition dawned in her eyes. This time, however, she didn't evaporate into the air.

"Why is it always you?" She stood on her feet, facing him. "You shouldn't be here."

"Are you a time traveler?" He demanded, sparing the pleasantries.

Her dark hair was pulled back, same as last time, but her long bangs were framing her face. Her eyes were narrow. "Don't ask stupid questions."

"Stupid because you're not or stupid because you are?" He pressed. "I deserve to know."

"Why?" She cocked one hip and folded her arms. "What does it matter to you? I've got some business to take care of and it doesn't involve you. So go home, Cloud."

He pointed at her. "There! How do you know my name?"

"With hair like that," Her gaze flickered up to his hair and back to his eyes. "your name gets thrown around a lot around here."

"Why are you here?" He demanded. "Who are you? How do you know me?"

She pursed her lips for a moment, "I'm hunting."

"Hunting? Hunting what?" He took a step closer to her, lowering his voice.

She exhaled. "A hybrid creature called a Leech. A mixed breed between a Nobody and a Heartless. They attack in pairs. That snake thing? That's half of the team. I'm trying to find the other half." She swallowed. "It's a parasite that latches onto its victims and uses them as a host. They drain the life energy out of the host while they use their body to wreak havoc and destruction."

"So that guy was—"

"A puppet, yeah." She rubbed her forehead. "He was my work partner. We were hunting this thing together. He was already dead by the time you got there. He had probably been dead for a while. He had to be put down."

"Oh…sorry." Cloud blurted quickly before asking. "You're wearing the same clothes that you were that night…and your cuts are still fresh…I saw you in this alley nearly a month ago. How long ago was that for you?"

The accusation of time travel hung naked in the air, and the woman danced around it.

"A few minutes." She said with a smirk. "Thanks for helping me out that night."

Cloud frowned, "Who are you?"

"Nobody worth remembering." She winked. "Just call me Agent Mike. The organization that I work for hunts the mutated remnants of the Heartless."

Cloud narrowed his eyes, "A time travel organization?"

She chuckled throatily. "Sure. Whatever floats your boat, blondie."

"You're awfully chatty this time." Cloud said suspiciously. "Aren't time travelers supposed to be all secretive and withhold information?" After a beat, he asked. "Why did you recognize me that night? Were you scared?"

"Of you?" She looked amused at the idea. "No. I just wasn't expecting to end up…" She cut off abruptly, as though realizing what she was doing. "I should go."

She started to reach for that mechanism on her wrist: the time travelling device, Cloud assumed.

"Wait." Cloud lifted a hand. "Do we know each other?"

Agent Mike paused and smiled. "Not yet."

And with that, she winked and activated the device. With a flash of blue light and a gust of wind, she was gone, and Cloud was left standing alone in the alley…again.

"The Hell, man!" He barked at no one.

Widow Eugenia Harker stomped out onto her front porch, gray hair flying wild. "Will you shut up! Let an old woman take a nap!"

Cloud cringed and started walking back toward town.

Well, that had answered few questions and created a thousand more.

..:-X-:..

A/N: The woman that McCallister raged at will be coming back; this was just her teaser intro. Cloud and Aerith's relationship situation is definitely a slow burn, but, believe me, the tipping point is coming.

The Paradox subplot was supposed to be a three-part bit, but I'm considering extending it to five parts. It's just been entertaining to write. I'm loving the theories about who this time traveler is…if she really is a time traveler…

Preview for next week: "You sure know how to romance a woman."