Last we left off, Sephiroth was going to reward Cloud... with ice cream? Such a weird concept, but now we go to concept that concept! Thanks for the reviews last chapter, we are glad to see you guys still enjoying what we are doing.

Ch.36

The two of them continued walking in silence to the elevator, down to the main floor, and then out of the Shinra building until they were on the way into the city of Midgar. People stared at them as they passed, most likely gawking at being able to see Sephiroth. Cloud almost wondered if there were some that might even be jealous of him being able to be that close to 1st Class SOLDIER as much as he was now.

"So one thing before we get to the location," Sephiroth started, snapping Cloud out of his thoughts. "This is a place that you can't tell anyone else about, got it?"

"Huh? Oh uh… okay. Sure, I won't tell anyone," Cloud replied honestly. In the truth of it, he still had no idea what was happening. The pure concept of Sephiroth taking him to get ice cream was already far too strange. He didn't think anyone would believe him.

"I mean it, Cloud. Nobody can know of this. Swear to me on your honor as SOLDIER," Sephiroth turned to Cloud, stopping their progress as he eyed his student intently. His cold eyes and voice pierced the thin veil between him and Cloud, making Cloud almost uneasy with how serious he sounded… and about ice cream no less.

Cloud almost froze up from the stare. But he managed to keep his cool. He held up a hand, with his palm flat. It looked as if he was giving an oath, which to him really did feel like it. A oath… swearing he wouldn't tell where Sephiroth went to get ice cream.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," he gave his answer short and simple. He could only hope it was enough to convince Sephiroth.

The stare from Sephiroth still lingered there, but Cloud's questions were soon answered as the man finally turned back to face front and walked on. "Okay then. Let us continue. It is not too much farther now."

Cloud followed right behind him without saying another word. He didn't know anymore if he was speechless because he was scared, or because he was confused. Maybe it was a bit of both.

After only a few minutes, Sephiroth stopped right in front of a shop that was right on the edge of town. Cloud had not been paying any attention to where they were going, but now that he looked around, the place was not one that had actually been to before. The place seemed a bit more extravagant than what he had seen in other places, with fancy shops and bountiful colors lighting the evening atmosphere. Cloud wondered how he could have missed such an obvious part of the city. Though Midgar was huge after all, so having time to see everything after working all the time was a bit difficult.

"So uh, where are we exactly? I've never been this way before," Cloud echoed his own thoughts.

"You will see soon enough. But enough questions for now. Come on," Sephiroth instructed before opened the door to the shop and stepped inside.

Cloud wanted to ask him more specifically why they were at the current place. It looked like a regular restaurant, albeit nicer than the ones that he had been to before. But still, his thoughts lingered on that fact as they both set foot inside the establishment. "This is just odd. I mean, what, is there some random ice cream shop behind here maybe? After seeing Sephiroth like this, I wouldn't be surprised… almost… " He chuckled at the thought in his mind, pushing it aside as just mere conjecture.

Sephiroth walked through the restaurant, all the way up to the bar section. The bartender came over and gave a smile and a nod to Sephiroth. It almost looked like he had expected to see the general.

Cloud stood to the side as he saw Sephiroth whisper something. He couldn't hear what it was though. But what happened next surprised Cloud even more. The bartender nodded and reached for something under the counter. He then placed a key in Sephiroth's hand.

Without a word Sephiroth looked to Cloud and moved his head in a motion that indicated he was to follow. Cloud stayed quiet as he continued to ponder the situation he was in. He followed behind Sephiroth as they passed the bar section and started to head into a worker's only area.

But before Cloud could ask why they were there Sephiroth placed the key he had into a door that was next to them. He turned the lock and opened the door, revealing a staircase leading down.

"We're almost there," Sephiroth stated as he waited for Cloud to walk through.

Cloud wasn't sure how much more he could take. It was getting more bizarre by the minute. "Maybe I'm just dreaming… this can't be happening. Sephiroth taking me into a secret location for ice cream… it sounds crazy."

Cloud still processed proves enough. He walked down the stairs and heard the door close behind him. He jumped as he whipped his head around. Thankfully Sephiroth was behind him, he had only closed and locked the door. The one second fear that this all some trap faded as soon as it came.

"This isn't like a horror film… nothing bad is going to happen to me going down here. At least I hope…" Cloud's thoughts started to waver, feeling more uncertain than before.

"Just keep walking. Down at the bottom of the stairs there's a door that you can go through. Feel free to look around once you're there. I know you will be curious," Sephiroth stated from behind Cloud, almost making the blond jump slightly.

"Yeah, okay then," Cloud responded quietly.

When Cloud reached the bottom of the stairs, there was in fact a door. This one, unlike the one at the top of the stairs, was not locked. He pushed it open and peered inside. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. As soon as he stepped through the door, he gasped, now taking in the full sight.

Where he stood was in fact an ice cream parlor. But it was designed to look old fashioned in every way. The first thing that stood out was the checkered black and white floor that lined the entire area and stretched on directly in front of him from the door. The entire area from a quick glance looked no more than about 13 tiles deep, making it just big enough for a handful of people to gather.

On the left side of Cloud, there was a long counter that extended all the way to the back wall. It occupied almost half of the entire room on the left side of the doorway, only leaving a small space for the door to open and close. Everything was behind glass cases on that side, and as Cloud walked down, he noticed that there were many different kinds of ice cream. He didn't get a chance to take in all of it at the moment as his mind was still in a flurry over what he was seeing.

A narrow counter ran along the edge of the display cases there, positioned just below them for easy access. As he walked towards it, he ran his hand across the surface, detecting that it was as smooth as could be and slightly cold to the touch as well. He didn't know quite what it was, but thought that he could ask Sephiroth. Three turquoise blue stools were lined up along the counter as well, giving the indication that would be where patrons would sit, if there were any.

His head pivoted quickly to the other side to see what was there. It was mostly empty, save for a couple of similarly colored chairs that were scattered through the area just outside of the range of the door. A small table sat in the center of the other side, the top sporting a plain white color, which did fit in with the rest of the decor.

Cloud glanced upward to get a better look at the ceiling, which was just an ordinary white color, just like the table. The lights that illuminated the area were small hanging fixtures, dropping down just enough from the ceiling to cause a shadow to be cast from them. There were three on each side of the room, spaced out equally in order to offer adequate lighting.

"So, what do you think?" a calm and serious voice spoke, startling Cloud.

The blond turned to see Sephiroth leaning against the doorway, a small smirk on his face. "I-It's pretty nice here. I mean… I'm still trying to take it all in. There's a place like this… under Midgar. It's just, everything seems so old-fashioned. The looks, the atmosphere, even the prices would be old by today's Gil standards…"

"That is why I enjoy this place; for its atmosphere. Quaint and quiet. And only a few ever get to see this, which is such a shame. But on the other hand, I would prefer it not to be overrun with children screaming and shouting," Sephiroth replied.

Cloud turned more towards him now, intrigued by what he had heard. "You mean that nobody really knows about this place? I mean, I guess with how we got in there's something going on… Is that why it's a secret?"

Sephiroth let out a short sigh. "I would think by this point, that much would be obvious to you. But you are correct, hardly anyone knows of this place. Only me and a select few others. Now you are one of those few. Consider it a great honor," Sephiroth stated before he walked towards the bar area.

"Oh, okay then. Well that is nice to know. It's still just amazing that this place exists," he said again more softly as he still continued to gawk.

"Indeed it is," Sephrith replied simply, not saying a word more. He only sat down at one of the bar stools and began to sit quietly.

Cloud decided that it would probably be best to join him, so he ended up sitting on the farthest stool, just one away from Sephiroth. While Cloud knew he could trust the man, he still was a bit uneasy around Sephiroth sometimes. After he had taken his seat, the two of them waited in silence. There was nothing else around; just the two of them were there. This struck Cloud as odd, and he could no longer keep quiet about it.

"So, umm… how exactly are we supposed to get ice cream or anything here? There isn't anyone else here."

Suddenly a small figure popped up directly in Cloud's face. "I'm here, kupo!"

Cloud nearly fell off the stool, far too startled to even see what had shouted in his face. All that he was trying to focus on, was not falling off.

"Woah! W-What in the world is that thing?!" he exclaimed after he balanced himself, shock evident on his face and surprise in his tone. It was a little beige creature that had a large head and small body. On its face it had a big red nose as well as a red pom pom sticking out of it's head. It also had little purple wings on it's back, which where fluttering to keep it in the air.

"Thing? No need to be rude, kupo," the creature responded, its small hands going to what Cloud would assume to be where its waist would be.

"Yes, very rude. Cloud, learn some manners," Sephiroth spoke sternly, and then pointed towards the creature. "This is a Moogle. This one runs the shop here."

"I'm Mog, kupo."

"Oh, umm… okay. Hi, Mog," Cloud finally answered, still trying to process things. Could this day get any stranger?

There was something that crossed his mind quickly though. "So, are these th- , Moogles in other places too then?"

"Of course. They mostly serve as patrons or shopkeepers in various small locations around not only Midgar, but other places as well," Sephiroth answered calmly.

Cloud almost wanted to question, but he knew that Sephiroth would most likely not lead him astray. So he just accepted it. "Oh, okay then. Well that's um, good to know."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow to Cloud. "Did they not teach you about the creatures of this world back in your hometown? Most everyone knows about Moogles."

A nervousness came over Cloud. "Well, um… I don't remember learning about them at least. Maybe I wasn't worried about them. I kinda got focused on chocobos for the most part," he explained, trying to laugh it off as no big deal. "Maybe I'll ask Zack if he learned about them in school later…"

Mog flew up closer to Cloud's face. "Oh I get it! It's 'cause your hair looks like a fluffy chocobo, kupo!"

"W-What? Well, I mean… I guess so…" Cloud muttered, almost sulking at the comment. Zack had made the comment before, but that was just between he and Zack. Well him… and their friend Prompto, which reminded Cloud that he had to tell Zack. He had nearly forgotten about him after all this time. But over all he didn't expect anyone else to tease him about his hair.

Sephiroth smiled curtly, almost letting out a chuckle of his own at the comment. "You know, he's right. I never made that connection before."

"Aw man, not you too…" Cloud muttered quietly.

"Oh so that's not the first time you've heard that then?" Sephiroth astutely inquired.

"Yeah… but I thought we were here to get ice cream, not talk about hair," Cloud said quickly, hoping to divert away from people joking about his rather spiky hair.

"Yes I suppose you're right," Sephiroth admitted. "Well, go ahead and pick what you want. Mind you, all of the ice cream here is special. It's all made with sea salt, which is hard to come by. That is the other reason I keep this place a secret."

"Wow, really? That sounds really cool. I never knew there could be ice cream like that. So… um… which is your favorite flavor then?" Cloud asked, almost not believing that he was actually asking Sephiroth for his favorite ice cream flavor.

"Well, it's the same thing I always get," he spoke to Cloud. "Just your basic Sea Salt Ice Cream."

Then he turned to Mog. "The usual again today."

"Okay, kupo!" Mog exclaimed before looking at Cloud. "And you?"

Now that the Moogle's attention was on him, Cloud finally began to look through the different ice cream flavors, overwhelmed by the amount of choices. Having never had sea salt anything before, Cloud considered just having the regular flavor like his mentor. But after looking for a bit more, his eyes settled on a caramel-like flavor of the ice cream. He favored caramel anyways so it seemed like the best choice.

"I think I'll have the sea-salt cara-" he started to say, but before he could finish, Sephiroth spoke up instead.

"I believe you should try what I am having, before deciding on anything else."

Cloud blinked in confusion. This day was in fact getting stranger. Each passing minute something happened or was said that upper the weirdness. Now Sephiroth was telling him what ice cream to have? That Cloud should try whatever flavor that Sephiroth was going to get? Cloud didn't say anything back, as he only stared at Sephiroth with the perplexed looked glued to his face.

Sephiroth took note of Cloud's quietness and looked back at Mog. "That shall be it then. Bring two of my usual. One for me, and one for my student; Cloud."

"Okay! You got it, kupo!" Mog chimed cheerfully, before darting off to the back to prepare the sweet.

Sephiroth turned back to the front, crossing his legs and then proceeding to remain quiet. Cloud found the sudden silence to be almost eerie, save for Mog in the back making various sounds, almost like humming some sort of tune.

Cloud was still trying to process what had just happened when he heard the humming of Mog getting closer. The small Moogle appeared with two ice creams, one in each hand.

"Here you go, kupo." Mog said as he handled one to Sephiroth and the other to Cloud.

The ice cream was a light blue color with a few small shimmers on it, which Cloud assumed was the sea salt. They were shaped like a rectangle with a stick coming out of the bottom. The top of it was curved at both sides too. He turned it a few times in his hand, inspecting every part of it intently. It looked delicious.

"Are you hoping to stare at it to death, or are you going to try it before it starts melting?" Sephiroth asked in a teasing manner as he stuck the ice cream in his mouth.

Cloud looked at the man who was now eating on ice cream, and then glanced back to the piece in his own hand. Sephiroth had treated him to the ice cream after all. He even had showed Cloud this secret place, even if it was a bit odd to think about. Cloud almost lost his train of thought again as he was thinking to himself about the recent odd happenings, but he pushed those out of his mind for the moment.

He was wanting to try the sea salt ice cream quite a lot now, especially after he saw how much that Sephiroth was liking it. He moved the ice cream closer to his mouth, so close that he could literally smell the aroma of the sea salt. Finally, his lips parted and the seemingly delightful light blue ice cream came in contact with his mouth. As Cloud allowed his lips to close around it, he felt a stunning sensation. He felt a shiver through his body and his eyes lit up brightly, as he finally was able to taste the treat he had been awarded.

So yeah, a entire chapter dedicated to a Sephiroth going to a secret ice cream place. Is this the strangest thing ever? Who knows, but we thought it would be good to add in some comical things. Hope you guys liked it!