Chapter Thirty-Seven
-If You Nothing to do, I Hook You Up Homie
The next day, the group of Soldiers and company sat on the plane, already in the air.
Ryiah sat next to Cloud, playing with her phone.
"You know, you're not supposed to use those on planes."
"Says you," Ryiah replied.
"Says the pilot before the plane took off..."
"What does he know?" She grinned and shut off her phone.
"He went to school for taking millions of people in the air and making sure they don't die...I think he would know...what's that look for?"
"Sephiroth texted me again. We've been going back and forth all morning."
"Tch, so the hero thinks he's too good for the no cell phone rule, too, huh?"
Levei, who sat a few rows over, glanced down at her phone. "I kind of like this new Cloud..."
"What?!" Zack, who sat next to her, exclaimed.
"...but I know he's just acting like this because he's miserable..."
"In which case you should probably not encourage it."
Levei handed Zack a new Shinra magazine.
"Sweet!" He gratefully took it and instantly began reading.
"So easily amused," Levei said, but it fell on deaf ears, as he was too busy reading to hear.
"Well, he is a hero..." Ryiah persisted. "And that rule was made to keep everyone talking on their phones the whole ride. Tseng calls me while he's flying all the time, so I know it's safe."
"There is so much wrong with that...Tseng on the phone while flying?"
"He's a Turk." Ryiah shrugged.
"That excuse gets old."
"Your face gets old."
"I am human..."
"Your mom's human!" Ryiah exclaimed, getting up and walking down the aisle.
Levei watched as Ryiah stormed down the aisle and turned to Cloud, who rested his chin on his fist and looked out the tiny window with an expressionless face.
"Aw man..." Zack said.
"I know..." Levei replied, looking at Cloud sympathetically.
"I can't believe it! They're doing repairs on the training room? I hope they'll be done when we get back..."
"Wait, what?" Levei snapped her head to look at the magazine.
Zack pointed at the article. "Yeah, you didn't read this?"
"No I bought it for you...to read so you didn't bother me," Levei said, hiding in her book.
Zack narrowed his eyes at her. "You were just being nice, weren't you?"
"Me? Never. Don't even think about getting the wrong idea with that," Levei warned.
Zack pretended to yawn, stretching his arms out and around her shoulder. "Don't fight it. It's the First Class charm."
Levei faked a smile. "It's hard to fight what's not there." She went back to reading her book.
"It's only a matter of time..." Zack said, smiling as he noticed she didn't shrug away from his arm around her.
Up in First Class, Ryiah stood next to Sephiroth, who looked up at her, then at Genesis. "Will you excuse us for a moment?"
Genesis looked from Ryiah, to Sephiroth, to his book. "No."
Sephiroth turned back to Ryiah. "What does this breach of First Class concern?"
"I heard they have better snacks up here," Ryiah said.
"That is not a rumor, it is true," Sephiroth reported.
Genesis aggressively ate from his bag of peanuts, presumably to rub it in Ryiah's face.
Ryiah nodded. "Well, thanks for clearing that up for me."
She turned to leave when Sephiroth grabbed her wrist. "I need you to do something for me once we land."
"Anything," Ryiah practically whispered, her heart stopping from his touch.
"Go to this address," he said, slipping a piece of paper in her hand. "And ask for...just tell them Sephiroth sent you."
He let go of her wrist, and she walked back to her seat.
"What was that about?" Genesis asked, not looking up from his book.
"Personal matters," Sephiroth said simply.
Genesis scoffed. "I can tell she's had an effect on you, and not in a good way."
"Tch." Sephiroth crossed his arms, but isn't able to come up with something to say back.
"Mmhmm, that's what I thought." Genesis paused and looked at the flight attendant. "Another bag of peanuts, please? I seem to have aggressively eaten all of mine..."
Cloud was lying with his head against the window with headphones in his ears when Ryiah rejoined him.
"Sorry Blondie, I'm pretty sure you won't fit," she said, taking her place next to him.
"What?" Cloud said, taking out his headphones.
"Out the window. Airplane windows are tiny, they're not fit for jumping out of."
Cloud put his headphones back in.
"You can't tune me out, I'm in your head."
Cloud turned to her, and she winked at him. Then he turned back to look out the window.
"Hey, Ryiah," Levei called to her. "How are things with Sephiroth?"
Zack leaned to her and whispered, "Levei, what are you-"
She elbowed him and smiled at Ryiah. "You were saying?"
Ryiah smiled back. "Hey Twiggy, how are things with you and Zack?"
Levei maintained her smile. "Great, we're basically picking out shower curtains."
"What?!" Zack whispered. "What are you doing?!"
Levei held up a finger to Ryiah to signal she needed a moment and whispered to Zack, "What?"
"Shower curtains?!"
"...isn't that the saying?"
"No, I think it's just regular curtains!"
"Oh..." Levei turned back to Ryiah with her fake smile. "Curtains, I meant regular curtains...so has Sephiroth gotten past the whole 'I'm better than the world' thing?"
"Depends, what has Zack told you?" Ryiah asked, her smile also plastered on her face.
Cloud nonchalantly turned down his music.
"Oh, nothing specific, he said I should talk to you, since we're such good friends and all." She raised her eyebrows to enhance her smile.
Zack looked nervously between the two girls.
"I knew one day you would realize it," Ryiah said with a nod. "Although it took weeks of sharing clothes, sleeping in the same bed, showering together..."
Cloud suddenly got a nosebleed.
"I knew he was listening... What is this? Some kind of ploy to get me to talk about my personal business? You two working together now? Are you in on this, Zack?"
Zack put up his hands and shook his head.
Levei's smiled turned into a shocked expression. "What could I possibly gain with knowing your personal business? Tell Sephiroth your secrets, like you fantasizing about him, or stalking him? I'm pretty sure he noticed, if you didn't tell him yourself." Levei looked Ryiah in the eyes. "I'm just trying to return the favor of you always being there to listen to my...girl troubles."
"You never told me your 'girl troubles', if I remember correctly. Besides, the professional relationship that Sephiroth and I share is none of your business, and I don't appreciate you prying with such an unfriendly agenda."
"You kind of deserve it..." Zack pointed out.
Ryiah shot Zack an unpleasant look. "Oh for goodness sake, Blondie!" She shoved a napkin into Cloud's face and attempted to stop the nosebleed.
"I could'nd helb id," Cloud managed to say through the napkins.
Levei stared at Ryiah, trying to comprehend what Ryiah had just said. "I don't think I've ever heard more hypocrisy come out of someone's mouth than just then. This is the future of the Turks." She shook her head. "May God have mercy on Shinra." She turned back to her book.
Sephiroth poked his head into their section. "Someone say my name?"
"There you go," Ryiah said, removing the napkin and wiping off the excess blood.
Cloud stared at her as she dabbed his face.
"You need to learn to stop picturing me naked," Ryiah said sternly.
"At least you could use it to your advantage."
Ryiah shrugged. "Your desire for me does have its pros and cons."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Like-"
"We will be landing shortly, please fasten your seat belts and prepare for the descent," the captain's voice interrupted.
"Oh..." Ryiah sat back and fastened Cloud's seat belt before attending to her own.
"I could have done that myself," Cloud protested.
"You say that about a lot of things, Blondie, and yet, you still have me lend you a hand."
Zack turned to Levei. "What does she...? You know what, forget I asked."
"It's better not to ask questions when it comes to her. Ever. About anything. I like to think of her as...an empty space," Levei said as she fastened her seat belt. "It makes ignoring her a lot easier."
"Then what was that earlier?"
"Huh? Oh, just trying to help out a friend."
"Ryiah?"
Levei made a face. "No. Just forget about that. It'll all be over soon." She glanced at her phone.
"What do you mean it'll be all over? You mean the mission?" Zack asked.
Levei nodded. "What do you think I meant...?"
Zack shrugged. "That statement could be applied to many things..."
"Oh, right, I plan on ending her life."
"...yeah...like that..."
Levei shrugged.
"Hey, Ryiah?" Cloud said.
"Hmm?"
"What is your mission?"
"To observe Zack, of course."
"Oh...right."
"Why?"
"You haven't given any of us an honest statement the whole time we've been together."
"That's not true...I..." she paused thoughtfully. "Yeah, well, why would I lie about my mission?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
Ryiah smiled at him.
Back at Shinra, Cloud sat in the commons, watching a large television posted on the wall.
"Oh hey." Zack walked in and pointed to the television. "Are they airing Sephiroth's special soon? Ryiah will want to see this."
"I'm sure she's going to the premier with the hero himself," Cloud said bitterly.
"I'll text her just in case."
"No need," a voice said behind Zack.
He jumped and dropped his phone, seeing Ryiah behind him.
"You think I would miss sharing this moment with my friends?" she said.
"Well...yeah..." Zack laughed slightly.
"You don't have friends," Cloud said.
"I have Zack, he's tall enough to count for two people," Ryiah replied.
"That's right!" Zack agreed.
"Even if he has the intelligence of half."
Zack's grin turned into a frown. "What?"
"...you've got me there," Cloud agreed.
"Cloud!" Zack exclaimed.
"I'm just kidding, Zack."
Zack pointed at Cloud. "You'd better watch your back."
"Sure, sure." Cloud waved a hand.
"Where's the popcorn?" Ryiah asked, positioning herself in front of the television.
"Hey, I can't see!" a soldier called out.
"Looks to me like you've got a pretty good view," Ryiah replied, grinning at him from over her shoulder and slapping her ass.
The soldier blushed and looked away.
Zack pulled her aside. "You'll hurt your eyes if you stand that close."
"I think that's the least of her worries," Cloud said.
"...what is that supposed to mean?" Zack asked.
Cloud crossed his arms and sat back. "Whatever you want it to mean."
"...is there a wink in there somewhere?"
"No."
Zack scratched the back of his head. "Man...can't catch a break here..."
"Shush, it's on!" Ryiah instructed.
"And now we get to our feature presentation, the moment you've been waiting for your whole lives to witness: An inside look into the life of our hero, Sephiroth!" Sephiroth's theme opera music began to play in the background, while a montage of clips of Sephiroth plays, ranging from a few of his missions, to his daily routine, etc. "And now, a sneak peek into Sephiroth's...soft side.'" There was a chorus of "Awws" and "Oohs" in the background.
"Okay, here we go!" Ryiah exclaimed, clutching Zack and Cloud's arms with anticipation.
"You're making me bleed," Cloud said.
"Pain is pleasure, endure it," Ryiah responded, her eyes not leaving the television screen.
The man on the screen continued, "Tell us more about the hero, is he a romantic? Does he hold the door?" It suddenly cut to Sephiroth, where you can see the shoulder of a person standing next to him.
"I am neither a romantic, nor a cynic," Sephiroth said as he's shown on the screen, before it cuts back to the man.
"And there you have it folks, a look into the personal life of your famed Sephiroth."
A commercial came on, and Zack looked nervously at Ryiah who had a blank expression on her face.
"Journalism at its finest," Cloud said. "I think they did a nice job at cutting out the useless parts."
Zack looked from Cloud, to Ryiah, then back to Cloud, then again at Ryiah. "Uh...at least they got part of you in there...?" He forced a smile. "I'm sure they'll put more of you in the next segment with Sephiroth. You did more interviews with him, right?"
"Define...interview," Ryiah said.
"You were at that dinner? The beach? They must have...something."
Ryiah had a confused look on her face. "I can't believe it..."
"Aw, don't feel bad, Ryiah, I'm sure they just had time restraints or something..." Zack tried to comfortingly pat her on the back.
"They cut me out."
"There's a first time for everything," Cloud remarked.
Ryiah suddenly grinned. "They cut me out! I'm Sephiroth's fake girlfriend!"
Zack turned to Cloud. "She's taking this better than I thought."
"If I'm not his fake girlfriend, that means he really does want me!"
"Or...not...uh...Ryiah..."
Just then the television cut to a Shinra-related story.
"Yes, it's here once again, the Shinra Annual Awards Ceremony! Where all you hard working soldiers will be recognized for your dedication to this company!"
"Oh no, not this again..." Zack groaned.
"Why don't they just call it the Sephiroth Annual Awards Ceremony?" Cloud sarcastically suggested.
"I'm going to that," Ryiah remarked.
"You're not part of Soldier, you can't go," Cloud pointed out.
"I can if I go as an honored guest."
"Are you trying to ask me to be your date?" Zack asked with a grin.
"Sephiroth already asked me~!"
"What?!" Zack and Cloud exclaimed at once.