So, as most of you already said and know...*sniffle* I KNOW! Nibelheim...*whimper* But do not fret! We are not upon the end yet. Ack, rhyming. Eheh...

Anywhoo...

THE REVIEWS! ZOMG Thank you all sooooooo much! As I promised you all, since I was gone for almost four days, I'm updating again! ^.^ Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

This is one of those chapter beginnings that seemed to just spring out of me. Sometimes I have a really hard time writing people just sitting and thinking, and writing what they're thinking about. To an outsider looking in, there's not much going on with dialogue and action, but there's so much going on in one of the characters' heads, that it makes up for it. At least, that's my hope...

And Zack's description of the emotions you feel when someone tells you that you can cheer them up, or "turn their frown upside-down", as the saying goes...I've felt that from time to time, so I pulled that from my own experience. Trust me, it's one of the best feelings you'll ever feel -the way you feel when someone tells you that you made their day, or were able to brighten it just a little bit.

Wow, deep-ish rambling much?

Anyway, to Nibelheim we go! Let me know your thoughts on the chapter! :D

BTW, can you believe it's August already? Where has the time gone...?

-Chapter 26-

Zack

I tried not to make it too noticeable, but I was watching Kiku the whole helicopter ride. I kept glancing at her, as if I were afraid she'd disappear if I didn't look at her every five seconds.

What's the matter with you? I asked myself. You see her almost every day! Now suddenly you get on a helicopter to go on a mission and you're freaking out! I thought you brought her along to calm you down. Is this what you'd call calm? No, I don't think so.

Kiku either didn't notice me looking at her, or was pretending not to for my sake. I hoped it was the latter.

Call the way I'm about to explain this crazy, but it's true.

I wanted her to notice the attention I gave her. I wanted her to catch me looking and grin at me, as if she'd caught me with my hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. More than ever, I wanted to be close to her -closer than we were already.

I guess, more than anything else, I just wanted to see her smile. I wanted to forget the way I'd seen her the night in the alley -the blood, her voice fading away from me, how helpless I had felt not being able to do anything but get her to 7th Heaven. I wanted to forget holding her while she cried. I wanted to forget everything except her smile. Her laugh.

Yet there was a conflicting feeling that wanted me to remember all that. To remember how she got those scars, and why she'd been crying that night. I wanted to remember how it felt to have her tell me that I could comfort her -that I could make things seem alright again.

It's an amazing feeling, to have someone tell you that you always know how to cheer them up. It makes your heart skip a few beats, and you can't help but smile. You just want to keep on smiling and tell everyone you meet how good you feel. Being told that you can make someone laugh when they're about to cry, or that you can make it seem like they were never crying at all -the emotions are indescribable. They have to be experienced.

Looking, or even just glancing, at Kiku, I felt all of these things. All these churned-up emotions and thoughts that kept drifting into my mind. No matter how hard I tried not to think about them, the thoughts came back every time I looked at her.

So maybe I wanted to feel those things, since I kept looking over at her. Maybe I figured, Well, if I think on this stuff for a long enough time, some of it will start to make sense.

After about an hour in the helicopter, I was starting to believe that that theory wasn't right. Actually, it just confused me even more.

I exhaled quietly. Such is life.

Kiku

The helicopter landed some time later (I had lost track of the time hours before). We filed out, and I looked around.

Nibelheim was nestled in the mountains, like many towns that housed mako reactors. Mt. Nibel rose up on the horizon, it's craggy, rocky face visible even from the outskirts of the town.

The town itself was very small. A little water tower stood in the center. Around it were a few buildings -an inn, a shop, a restaraunt, things like that. I saw grey smoke twisting up from houses on the other sides of the buildings. I was sure there had to be more than just those buildings there. There had to be.

As we got closer, I wondered how many people actually lived there, but didn't ask. It seemed like an irrelevant question for why we were there.

"So, how does it feel?" Sephiroth asked as we got to the main gate. He looked at Cloud. "To be home after all this time?"

Cloud looked at him, but made no reply.

Sephiroth looked back at the town. "I have no hometown. I wouldn't know."

Now Zack looked at Sephiroth, curiosity on his face. "Uh…what about family?" he asked.

Sephiroth turned to Zack. "My mother's name is Jenova. She died shortly after I was born. My father..." He laughed, cutting of his sentence. "Why am I talking about this?" he asked himself. He shook his head and looked back at the town. "Come on, let's go."

Cloud and the other grunt followed Sephiroth, but Zack and I hung back for a moment, each for our own reasons.

Jenova? I wondered, a shiver running up my spine. But that means...he doesn't know that Jenova...isn't a person. I mean, strictly speaking.

"Sephiroth's mother's name is Jenova?" Zack wondered aloud. "Hmm..."

I looked at him.

He looked at me.

We shrugged at each other (I, myself, pretending not to know anything about it; Zack didn't have to fake that one at all), and walked through the gates of Nibelheim.

"Are you one of the SOLDIER people who've come to investigate?"

Zack, Cloud, and I started.

Kiku Oshiro, as I live and breathe.

Wait, I thought. I know that voice.

We spun around.

"I would've thought they'd send more...or at least someone more impressive," Anna said, grinning.

"Hey!" Zack protested. "I'm a 1st Class SOLDIER, mind you! 1st Class!" He put his fists on his hips and straightened up. "We're a small, elite group."

"Then how'd you get in?"

Zack slumped over dejectedly, and Cloud and I laughed. I made sure not to laugh too loud, though, so as not to draw attention to myself.

"Hello, Anna," Zack said emotionlessly.

Anna giggled mischeviously. "And hello to you, too, Zack. Hey, Cloud! Hi...Danny."

Thanks for not blowing my cover, I thought at her.

No problem, she thought back. What're friends for, if not to lie about your gender?

I waved a silent hello, and Cloud smiled and replied, "Hi, Anna."

"So they only sent two of you?" Anna asked Zack.

"Just me and Sephiroth," Zack replied.

"Mm-hmm," Anna said, glancing at Sephiroth, who was standing some distance away, talking to the other grunt. "Well, I've gotta mosey, but I had to come say hi! You're all staying at the inn?"

"Looks that way," Zack said.

"Well, then I'll know where to find you! See you guys!" She turned and started to walk away. Then she glanced back at me.

Did you tell him yet, Kiku? she asked.

What do you think? I replied. How in the heck am I supposed to bring this up? ! I'll figure it out, I promise.

Okay. Just making sure you're okay, Kiku, she thought.

I've got it under control. Trust me. But thanks for worrying.

What else are friends for? See ya!

And she left.

"Weird girl..." Zack said, almost to himself.

Cloud gave him a look, which I could read even under the grunt mask, and I wondered what that was about.

Zack must've known, though, because he laughed. He sighed happily. "Come on, you two. We'd better go see what the plan is for the rest of the day."

"Right," Cloud said, unamused with Zack's comment about Anna.

I nodded and followed them back over to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth looked at us. "We leave for the reactor at dawn," he said. "Make sure to get plenty of sleep. Only one of you needs to keep watch. Make sure you get some rest as well, Zack." He walked to the inn's front door, and put his hand on the knob. He stopped. "Ah, that's right," he said to himself. He looked over his shoulder at us, but mainly at Cloud. "You have permission to go visit family and friends, if you so wish." And with that, he turned and went inside.

Zack looked at Cloud. "Why are you still wearing the mask?" he asked.

Cloud shrugged. "I dunno."

Zack shook his head. "Weirdo..."

I punched him the shoulder. "It's not nice to insult your friends," I said quietly.

He pretended to be hurt. He gave me the puppy face, his bottom lip jutted out in a fake-pout. Then he grinned. "Kiss it and make it better?"

I laughed. "You wish, Zack Fair! Come on, I'm exhausted. Let's go see what the room looks like."

Cloud laughed in a "Oh, she got you!" kind of way, and Zack rolled his eyes as we went into the inn.

The inn was small, like everything else in Nibelheim. The lobby was made up of a front desk (which a man and a woman were standing behind), a few tables circled by chairs, and some bookshelves and paintings.

"Quaint," Zack said, looking around.

"And yet homey all at the same time," I said.

The three of us went up a long flight of stairs to the second floor, where our room was. Three beds were pushed up against the right wall, nightstands separating them. The door to the bathroom was on the left, just across from the front door. Across from the beds was a square table with three chairs around it. There were a couple dressers and things like that, of course. There were more paintings on the wall.

One caught my attention. It was a little girl, sitting in a chair, looking off into the distance. She was wearing grey, and the background was grey. She looked sad about something.

Why is she sad? I wondered. Too bad I can't read the minds of the people in paintings, too. Wouldn't that be trippy? As if reading minds wasn't trippy already...

I took the bed nearest the windows on the far side of the room, Zack took the middle, and Cloud took the one closest to the door. This was arranged so I wouldn't have to worry about staying in the grunt uniform when I slept. Since I was farthest from the door, Zack and Cloud would have time to hide me, or it would give me time to hide myself, were someone (like Sephiroth) to come into the room.

"Think we should turn in?" Cloud asked.

I looked out the windows, at the sky now filled with the shimmering light of the stars. "Probably," I said, running a hand through my still-short hair. "Sounds like we're getting an early start in the morning."

"Knowing Sephiroth, it'll be a really early start," Zack said. "Yeah, let's get some shut-eye."

So, with the unanimous vote for sleep, I changed out of my grunt uniform, Zack and Cloud disarmed themselves, and we shut off the lights and went to sleep.

Oh, by the way... That thing that you've all been waiting for since...oh, Chapter 1...? Let's just say that...Chapter 27 is an...epic chapter ^.^ That should keep you guessing for a couple days heehee Until then, ttfn! Ehhh, the rhyming again... Okay, leaving now.