XXXVIII.

"#$%^, Cloud, what the #$%'s wrong with this thing?"

"We've sure worked on it long enough...*uuuuurrrgh!*...there...one... ..."

Cid hopped on Cloud's hog and put the key in the ignition again. "Y'know, kid...we've been working on this for days now...This is the last time I'm #$%^$* with this thing! If this doesn't start right now, it's all you!" They had worked on it ever since they got back to the Cloud Nine. Lane really pulled the thing apart, but Cloud was hesitant to part with it until he knew putting it back together wouldn't help it's case.

Cloud's eyebrows drew together above his glowing blue eyes as he made a final adjustment, sitting on the warm cement sidewalk. He wiped his brow with greasy, oily hands. Some grease was unconsiously wiped onto his forehead. "At this point, I'm ready to dump it, too. Now try it."

Cid turned the key. Nothing happened.

"$%^*." Cid cursed.

Cloud let out an exasperated moan. He leaned all the way back until he lay on the sidewalk next to the deceased bike and covered his face with his hands. "That's it! I'm dumping it today." He threw his hands down to either side. "I'll have to see about getting a new one. Man, I don't wanna do that."

He was suddenly shadowed by a figure over him, blocking out the sunlight filtered through the diminishing clouds. "Hi hon. No luck?"

He got up from the sidewalk and put an arm around Tifa's waist. "Nope. Dead as a doornail."

"Too bad." she said as she rubbed his strong back with her hand. They gazed at the sorry piece of machinery together.

"We'll have to get the buggy from Barret and haul it over to the scrap heap."

"Well, I'm goin' the $%^%* in an' havin' something hard. Then I'm takin' a nice long nap, then a little vacation and head back ta Rocket-That-Ain't-There-No-More Town ta see how Shera's doin'. #$%, I miss that woman..."

As soon as Cid was finished, none other than Bill Triniman was heard yelling something as he excitedly ran toward the group. A pack of men of various ages seemed to walk after him, following his lead.

"There he is, my good young men! Our new President!"

Cloud, Tifa, and Cid exchanged puzzled glances. They all turned over their shoulder in the direction Triniman was sprinting as they figured someone important stood beyond them. But no one else was on the street at this time of day.

Triniman stopped dead in front of Cloud, his mouth a wide smile. Cloud took his arm out from around Tifa and nervously wiped his hands with a rag he picked up laying next to the bike. Tifa put her hands on his bicep as he fooled with the rag.

"Hello, again, Cloud! We meet again! Tifa! And Mr. Highwind!"

"Hi, Bill," Tifa greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Doc...just don't call me #$%^ Mister. I'm old enough without that!"

"Hey, Bill. What...what brings you here?" Cloud hesitantly asked. He didn't like the first few words he heard as Bill made his way up to meet them.

"I and my colleagues-"...he glanced over his shoulder...and saw they didn't catch up yet, not as excited about meeting Cloud as Bill was..."-oh, they'll be here soon...We need to ask a huge favor of you, which, I think, is a perfect request for such an able young man as you."

Cloud flicked his eyes at the scientist for an instant. "W..What's that?"

The pack of young men finally caught up to where Bill stood. Cloud flicked his eyes quickly at them, then locked a stare on them as he recognized some of the faces that were part of his acquaintences in the Shinra military. His gut tightened as he was well aware of the fact that most of the men who stood before him outranked him.

On the other side of Triniman, the young men, inluding David, Jed, and Luke, all noticed something different about him. There was no doubt that this was the Cloud Strife they knew from three or four years ago, as that perfectly spikey mass of golden-blonde hair itself was the only thing needed to recognize him as such, but each saw a different aspect of him that made them wonder what happened to him. Some saw his increased build, something he definitely didn't have as much of three years ago. Even though all the men except Bill Triniman stood a couple inches above Cloud's height, he looked like he could take them all down one by one. Some noticed his glowing eyes, and that in itself made SOLDIER come to their minds, and shudder. Others noticed the dark scars around his neck and wrists, revealed by the white tank he wore, and realized that their own bumps and bruises were nothing compared to what must have happened to him recently. All noticed that whatever caused the scars was reflected in his eyes.

Luke leaned toward Jed and whispered. "Is that Tifa Lockhart?"

"Yeah!" Jed whispered back. "She was Zangan's top student...I heard about her... that chick is lethal..."

"Look at her hand! She's got quite a rock on there!"

"Her and Cloud Strife!..."

"Well, they did supposedly grow up together..."

"But her and Cloud Strife?"

Triniman's face glowed as he spoke. "Well, you know that there's massive damage from when he military and political power, Shnira, was taken down. You also know that we at the plate cleanup site are begging for help when there is none to give. We need someone that can direct us toward future progress and solidify the set systems before chaos tears even more innocent lives apart. That's already been done by Shinra. We need someone's help desperately to pull people together as a team. Gongaga, Midgar, Corel...all of them need an individual that cares..."

"And so...you're...you're saying?"

"We would like to offer, invite, ask...whatever you may call it...we're asking you to be the next president of the Shinra Corporation...so we can...-"

Cid's and Tifa's mouth dropped, respectively. The two of them glowed along with Triniman at the thought...Cloud Strife as the new President? That would mean the terror of the Shinra dynasty could be reversed...there could be so many possibilities...

Cloud gave each man in the pack a hard glance, rolling it over in his mind.

Tifa practically gave a little jump as she snapped her head toward Cloud to see him accept.

"I've never been..." Cloud breathlessly began as he shook his head in shock. "I've never been so insulted in my entire life."

There were dumbfounded, blank stares from all sides surrounding Cloud. His face twisted into sheer fury. He came down hard on all of them. "You mean to tell me you haven't learned the first two times about investing a leader with that much power! We've just gotten over all this tyranny, and so soon after you want to lick someone else's boots! You need someone to do the thinking for you that badly? You learned nothing from Sephiroth? Or was it your idea all along to have 'the Sephiroth clone' to lead you into some whacked out new Promised Land? Or is this still part of some twisted experiment!"

Cloud's eyes narrowed. He pointed a finger at the group of men. "No...I was practically on my deathbed when I swore that no one would use me as an experiment for the third time...You won't get the satisfaction! I'll let you chose another guinea pig to pick and prod and observe until there's nothing left of him!"

"But Cloud! Cloud!" Tifa softly said to him as he took light hold of her hand and started toward the Cloud Nine.

"C'mon, Tifa...let's let what's left of the Shinra to their twisted delusions of grandeur. Hopefully we won't be anywhere near here when they find their next lame victim..."

"Cloud!"

Cloud was pulling Tifa toward the bar along with him, and he wasn't letting go of her hand. With his back turned, Tifa rolled her eyes toward the heavens so the men could see and held her first finger up with her free hand for them to wait there for a second.

"Jeez...what's eatin' him?" asked Jed.

"That boy has been through hell and back. On second thought, it's natural he wouldn't want anything to do with the system anymore."

"What happened to him?"

"I can vouch for that!" Cid interrupted. "This is as much $%^* as I know... ain't much, but it'll shed a little light on the matter..."