Disclaimer: Judging from my current income, I probably don't own Final Fantasy.

"I'm no good at these games," Sephiroth said.

"Oh hush, you only just started," Cass said.

"I don't see the point," Sephiroth said.

"There isn't really a point," Cass said, "It's just supposed to entertain. There's an objective. Perhaps the end objective is not entertaining to you?" Sephiroth ruminated over her proposal.

"No," he agreed.

"Then we'll have to find one that does," she said starting to pack it away. Sephiroth looked at his feet that were dangling at least a foot away from Cass's office floor.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be sorry for something as silly as that," Cass said, "You're bored with it and it's no fun. That's not a crime."

"...You're really not upset?" Sephiroth asked.

"No," she said, "I'm bored and I'm really pissed that Hojo overloaded the circuits and blew out the power again, but I'm not upset at you for not wanting to play a stupid board game. Do the others really doubt your intelligence that much?" Sephiroth didn't say anything in reply, but merely eyed the gaudy box with an air of agreement. Cass seemed pensive for a moment then she got up. She picked up two square boxes from the top of her bookshelf that Sephiroth thought were some sort of decoration.

"Have you ever heard of chess?" she asked. Sephiroth shook his head. She set the boxes down and unfolded one into a checkered board. "It's a strategy game, would you care to try?"

"What do I do?" Sephiroth asked.

"It's for two people," Cass said, "We each have sixteen pieces and we set them against each other on this board. It ends when one person can capture a piece called the king and the other cannot save it."

"Okay," Sephiroth said trying his new word. Cass opened the other box and gently poured out mixed up black and white statues.

"The whole game revolves on how the pieces can move," Cass said she started setting up the board, black pieces on her side. She held up a white piece in front of him. "This is the king," she said, "this is the piece you want to capture, but he can defend himself. He can move one square in any direction." Sephiroth nodded and watched carefully as she placed it. She picked up another piece of about the same size, but of a different design.

"This is the queen," she said, "the queen is the most powerful piece on the board, she can move in any direction in any amount of squares, unless there's a piece in her way, then she has to stop and take it." He nodded. He liked the sound of the queen. She was set next to the king. She picked up two more pieces.

"These are bishops," she said, "they can move diagonally only, but they can move any number of squares unless-"

"There's a piece in it's way, then it stops and takes the spot?" Sephiroth asked.

"Catching on quick," Cass said with a nod. The bishops went on either side of the king and queen. Cass picked up two more shaped like towers.

"These are called rooks," Cass said, "they're like bishops only they move vertically and horizontally, not diagonally." Sephiroth nodded. They went at the ends of the first row. Cass picked up the last two big pieces.

"These are knights," she said, "they're a little strange. They can move two spaces vertical, one space horizontal or two spaces horizontal, one space vertical. Like an 'L' shape. They can 'bounce' over other pieces. They're the only ones that can." Sephiroth liked the sound of knights too.

"These little ones are called pawns," she said, "they move forward only, but capture diagonally. They can move two spaces as once if it's their first move, but then only one space at a time." Pawns sounded useless.

"However, if you can get your pawn to the other side you can rename them into another piece. You could have two queens or three knights," Cass said. Sephiroth perked up, then a thought struck him.

"How did you know I liked queens and knights?" he asked.

"I could tell," she said simply, "You can't place two of your pieces on the same spot and you can't go through pieces unless you're a knight. You capture pieces by taking their spots and you win when you trap my king. Would you want to play?" Sephiroth ran through the rules again in his head.

"Okay," he said.

"Alright," Cass said, "White moves first." Sephiroth looked at his set. He chose a random pawn and moved it up two spots.

"I used to be good at this," Cass said, "I'm a little rusty though." She made a mirroring move on her side.

Gast came in a little less than an hour later, when the light generators died, bringing flashlights and candles. He paused when he saw Cass had already dug some out and that she and Sephiroth were staring intently at a chessboard. He came in. He hadn't seen such a look of intense concentration on Sephiroth's face before. Cass looked as relaxed as ever.

"Dug out the old chessboard?" Gast asked. Cass nodded.

"I can't finish the analysis until maintenance fixes the power issue," she said, "We're just trying to pass the time." Gast nodded.

"Don't worry about it," Gast said, "Who's winning?"

"The thing about chess is that you can't really decide the winner until the end," Cass said. Gast chuckled at the response. Sephiroth looked up.

"What happens if none of us can win?" he asked.

"We call it a draw and walk away," Cass said, "Quit stalling and make your move." Sephiroth looked back down and moved his bishop to capture one of Cass's.

"Check?" he asked. Cass nodded, then moved her King aside.

"Nice try," she said. Sephiroth studied the board intently again. Sephiroth moved his pawn-made-queen to take a knight protecting Cass's king, but moved no further. He wasn't in a position to capture just yet. Cass moved her Knight over.

"Checkmate," she said. Sephiroth blinked and looked. There was no place to move to have protection from Cass's pieces. He hadn't seen it coming. He looked up at her.

"What?" she said, "You didn't think I was going to let you win, did you?" Gast saw the barest hint of a smile flit across his features. Then the lights breathed back into life.

Sephiroth considered his play carefully, then moved his Knight to take Cass's queen. It was the first time he'd ever taken a piece more powerful than a Bishop and he celebrated silently. Next step: the king.

"Damn," Cass said, though her facial expression didn't change, "I was going to use her." It didn't stop her from calling "Checkmate" a few moves later. He looked down again and found that, once again, he was too busy trying to get through her defenses to create his own. Cass's set at home was much nicer than the one at her office. She said it was a going-away present from Aurore.

"You're getting better," Cass said.

"I know," Sephiroth said. He wasn't upset about losing. The game itself had a certain thrill for him. "I can't figure out how you do it."

"I'd tell you, but that's counter-productive," she said, "I know you want to figure it out on your own."

"Yes," Sephiroth said, "I got your queen though." He grinned.

"Don't rub it in," she said.

"Are you letting me win?" Sephiroth asked.

"Why do you say that?" Cass replied. Tseng peered in through the curtain, curious as to what Cass and Sephiroth were doing until curfew that wasn't strenuous.

"You aren't doing your usual defense," Sephiroth noted.

"You figured it out last time," Cass said, "It appears that your tactics lessons taught you something useful." It took him quite a few years, but he found a way around Cass's fluid defense. "This is a different strategy," Cass said, "since my usual tricks don't work anymore. Quit stalling." Sephiroth took her queen again.

"Sucker," Cass said. She moved her knight. "Checkmate."

"What?" Sephiroth said. He'd been taking all of her pieces how could he... Oh.

"I walked right into it," he said. She'd purposely set out pieces for easy pickings. He'd torn apart his defense and left his king exposed. He frowned.

"I can't imagine someone doing this in real life," he said.

"It's a rare and heartless commander that would," Cass said, "You wouldn't, not even when you knew it would work. You don't like to give away your pieces or your men. That's a good commander in my book." He nodded.

"Rematch," he called.

"Shh," Tseng hushed the others, "this is the closest he's come to winning." Sephiroth was in concentrated completely on the board. His defense, though suffering, was intact. Cass's defense was floundering.

"Check," he called for the third time this game. Cass moved her king back to safety and Sephiroth prepared to take her second bishop.

"Check," Cass called, much more relaxed and blasé than Sephiroth. He moved his king from her half-assed attempt at checkmate. Genesis and Angeal watched a few more turns with quiet interest. Sephiroth had Cass in check two more times.

"Checkmate," Cass said. Angeal and Genesis sat up in surprise. They thought Sephiroth was winning. Sephiroth was quiet, working silently through what exactly he did wrong. The tables had turned in a way. Cass had taken his normal tactic of breaking through the defense to take the king, while he had built up his own in an attempt to subversively take hers. Yet she still won. Sephiroth sat back with a smile.

"Fuck," he said.

A/N: Yeah...I'm not sure what this is. It just sort of came out. Hope you liked it, now I'm diving back into my pile of final projects.

P.S. I've decided I'm going to Canada next summer. Quebec City to be precise. I know it ain't someplace cool like France or Japan, but I'm psyched. I get to stay a month and see their summer festival, have excursions like whale watching and hiking and cool shit like that. I'm so happy.