They went to seventh heaven for real this time. Claire Farrons near death experience did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm. No matter how often Angeal advised her to take things easy, the freshly baken first class in fact insisted on joining the party.

After regaining consciousness in what she would learn was Angeal´s office (she could neither remember how she had managed to pass the competition, nor how she had ended up there), feeling as though she´d been hit by a truck, disorientated and confused she had tried to get up, just to be ushered back into a sitting position immediately by both Sephiroth as well as Angeal, concern etched all over their faces.

At their request she had remained there, seated, Angeal checking her pulse and kindly relieving her from the terrible burning pain in her chest with one of his replenishing spells.

She had felt better instantly.

After she had somewhat recovered, Zack and her had gone down to the tailor to receive their black First Class uniforms and they´d been brought to their new First Class apartments -APARTMENTS!- as every First Class had the privilege to have a whole apartment on their own. The first classes actually had a whole floor just for themselves.

Lightning couldn´t believe her eyes when she entered her new accommodations, stepping into a small hall that led into a cozy living room with a little built-in kitchen and two doors leading to the bedroom and a bathroom.

All her personal belongings fitting into the the little worn backpack she had brought from Bodhum easily, she set them down at her feet and leaning Blaze Edge against the kitchen table, she rightened up to look around the room.

Wow...

Zack had not been exaggerating when he had said being First Class payed off.

The pink haired female had no idea what she was going to do with all the space she had now.

She immediately went to the bedroom and put the picture of Serah which had been pinned to the bathroom mirror of her built-for-six bathroom for the previous two years on the nightstand next to her comfortable looking queen sized bed.

Gone were the nights spent crashing on her narrow soldier bunk. There were real down feather duvets on her bed here and a bunch of comfy looking pillows and the actual matrass was soft and bouncy.

Claire Farron couldn't believe Genesis, Sephiroth and Angeal had been sleeping like kings in one of these all the time while Zack, Cloud and her had been left to toss and turn their nights away on their hard rough field bed like cots.

She hadn't managed to finish stashing away her clothes when suddenly there was a knock on the door and she found Zack Fair in her doorway, grinning from ear to ear and entering without waiting for an invitation.

'Can you believe this?!' He blurted out, his arms outstretched to indicate that he was talking about the appartment.

'THIS! IS! AWESOME!' he yelled, jumping up and down, unable to contain his joy.

Lightning found it was contagious.

'Party down at seveth heaven. Now.' Zack announced with bright blue eyes.

'You're coming. Aren't you?!'

As her body seemed to have recovered and her mind was still on edge from what had happened earlier anyway, the freshly baken first class felt like going down to the slums together with the others for once. They had two rank upgrades to celebrate after all!

Angeal Hewley tried to talk her into staying at home of course, had encouraged her to take a break for her body to replenish, but the pink haired female found she simply couldn´t.

Besides, now that she was officially a First Class, she was not going to take orders from anybody.

Anybody!

And definitely not Angeal!

She wouldn't have to anymore.

They were of equal rank now.

Claire Farron felt as though a giant balloon of happiness had inflated inside her, ready to lift her off her feet and make her float a few inches above the ground as together with Zack and the others she made her way down to sector seven. Zack was bubbling over with joy, his bliss rubbing off on all of them as boasting with pride he showed off his brand new black First Class uniform to everyone who'd look, a childhood dream of his come true.

They took the booth in the corner again, the first classes' usual table, Genesis ordering a round of shots for them immediately, as well as long-drinks to get their party started.

They joked and fooled around for a while until Angeal Hewley announced that it was time fore some dinner, helping himself to three servings of wings Tifa had kindly supplied them with on the house while the bar around them slowly filled with people.

'Hey guys, now that I´m First Class, do you think I´ll get my own fan club too?' Zack asked somewhat shyly, his cheeks turning slightly red as Cloud immediately erupted in laughter at the idea of it.

'What...The Zack Fair fan club?!' the blond boy manageed in-between roars of laughter.

Lightning couldn´t help but giggle, imagining Aerith´s face when she´d realize there were hordes of girls drooling over posters of Zack Fair sticking to the walls of their bedrooms.

Zack seemed to have misinterpreted her giggles as ridiculing.

'What?! I'm nice. I'm funny. And pretty handsome besides! The guy of evry girl's dreams.' he quickly justified.

Claire Farron threw him a doubting glance.

'Oh come on, surely you must have noticed. Even Cloud thinks so.' Zack pointed out.

The blonde in question looked revolted.

'Oh come on! You can't seriously think I haven't noticed the way you're staring at me when we're in the showeres?' the pup now turned on Cloud instead.

The latter quickly looking away to play with the pineapple deco on his drink, Lightning saw their comrade's cheeks turn crimson.

'Well, one can't blame him. I´m sure you´d make quite the poster boy.' Genesis threw in, causing Cloud´s face to redden even further.

'Yeah... You might even rival Sephiroth!' Angeal stated matter-of-factly between chews of chicken.

General Sephiroth Crescent could only snort at this, shook his head in annoyance, as they all turned their heads to look at him.

It was no secret that the legendary war hero was rather popular with the girls, his fan club counting the highest number of memberships by far. But it was also no secret that even the mention of those 'insolent bitches' annoyed the man to no end.

A fact that didn't seem to have hindered him from taking advantage of them in the past though.

'Well, Lightning will definitely have a fan club. That much is for sure.' Genesis Rhapsodos put in, his statement taking the pink haired female by surprise.

'What me? No way!' she blurted instantly, feeling her cheeks blush crimson too.

Lightning couldn't help but give a short emberassed laugh.

What was her comrade playing at?

A fanclub? Her?

Even the notion of it was ridiculous!

'What in Etro's name makes you say that?' she asked completely perplexed.

The insolent redhead just raised a well groomed eyebrow at her.

'Well you have your first admirer right over there...' he cooed, his voice lowering to a secretive whisper as he slightly moved his head to indicate a guy leaning at the bar, his gaze indeed trained at the pink haired first class.

Damn.

It was that turk again.

Unruly flaming red hair, and weird big goggles pushed up onto his forehead. Unlike all the other turks she knew he wore his suit jacket unbuttoned once again to reveal his untucked shirt below.

Well at least there was a shirt below this time!

Reno Sinclair.

For the first time Lightning really noticed the two symmetrical red marks on his cheekbones. In the light of the bar they stood out against the white of his cheeks like burns.

The turk in question catching her gaze, the pink haired first class found the impudent lad winking at her in what he must have thought was a very seductive way.

Claire Farron couldn´t quiet believe her eyes.

Uuuhggghhh...

She turned back to the table instantly. Felt her stomach churn in fond remembrance of their last encounter.

'What? Him?!' she asked somewhat incredulously, her fair brows furrowing in disbelieve as quickly she looked over her shoulder again to check once more on the turks unorthodox appearance.

To her he looked more like a punk than a turk really. A scoundrel. Someone who drank lots of booze and lived in a cardboard box in the outskirts of the Sector seven slums.

And maybe he did.

Either way. He wasn't to her taste at all.

Disgusted by the thought of all of it, she looked back at Genesis.

'How long has he been staring like that?' she asked, her eyes still huge.

The first class only shrugged his shoulders.

'What do I know.' he replied in his theatric voice.

'For about eight minutes now.' General Sephiroth Crescent provided acidly.

Angeal and the others looking at him in amazement, Lightning found she wasn´t exactly surprised that he had noticed. He had always been preaching about constant vigilance after all.

She quickly wondered what the turk was actually playing at, staring at her from over there for a prolonged time like that. He couldn´t possible still think he had a chance with her. Or could he?

Could he?!

She'd never returned any of his advances. She had turned him down, had slapped his face, had thrown up all over his shoes.

And besides she was now wearing a First Class SOLDIER uniform too. FIRST CLASS. Was he really thinking a first class like her would actually get involved with somebody like him?!

And if all that wasn't enough, she was still in company of five guys. Also obviously members of SOLDIER, three of them being renowned war hero legends.

What the fuck was he thinking, trying to flirt with her with a bunch of sexy guys around?!

Impossible.

That guy had to be either drunk or extremely foolish.

Probably both.

'Shh... I think he´s coming over.' Cloud suddenly shushed the others.

Lightning wasn´t sure whether to throw up now or save it for later.

Well. Throwing up didn't seem to have deterred Reno Sinclair at all.

Fine.

If he had the guts to come over to talk to her, he´d definitely receive what he was asking for.

She had gone through a lot that day and she hadn´t become a SOLDIER First Class to deal with scum like Reno Sinclair, be he turk or not.

Nobody was going to mess with Claire Farron tonight.

That much was for sure.

But she couldn't just take out Blaze Edge and kill him there in front of everyone, or could she? What was the punishment for killing another Shin-Ra opperative anyway? Lightning didn't know. But after the events of the day she had a feeling it probably wasn't worth finding out.

So when the turk finally arrived at their table to ask her whether he could actually buy her a drink, the pink haired female, playing nice (they were kind of colleagues after all), looked up from her seat in front of him, politely informing him that she was well supplied and that he needn´t worry about her being provided with any kind of aliment.

Her comrades watching the developements with bated breaths, Claire Farron planned to play it cool as turning away from her admirer she made to focus on her drink again.

But however the turk didn´t seem satisfied.

Inching closer to her yet, he tried again.

'Come on... I know you want this too, yo?' the young man drawled, his speech slurred from alcohol and Lightning noticed something else there again. That weird distinct speech pattern she couldn´t quite place.

She could have asked him about it of course. Had she really cared.

But as things were she didn´t want to find out more. Not even in the slightest.

The pink haired first class, she could sense her former sensei tense, ready to get up and knock this guy into the middle of next week from the other side of the table.

His cold mako eyes narrowing dangerously at the cheeky fellow, all the others watched on in anticipation and Lightning couldn´t help but feel that he was being overprotective of her that day.

Well, on the other hand he'd almost seen her suff it.

Maybe she did mean something to him after all?

She noticed Cloud swallowing in discomfort, the tension tangible, and it was trying to calm her former sensei with a swift cool glare of her's, that turning back, she made to deal with her new admirer on her own.

She didn´t need the silver haired general to watch her back all the time.

She was a first class now.

And he was not her sensei anymore.

She didn't need him to watch out for her anymore.

Or anyone really.

Making up her mind, the pink haired female turned back to her admirerer just to find the cocky redhead's face only inches from her own.

How dare he come that close?!

Something in Claire Farron snapped and it was with her body acting of it's own accord that with one swift forward movement of her right arm she grabbed the young man´s balls through his dark turk suit pants.

Hard.

'I said no.' She told him smiling up at him, emphasis on the last word.

Her voice was deadly as she twisted her hand cruelly.

It wasn't that she'd wanted to touch him there in particular. But screw it, she had touched his bare chest already. What did it matter?

Surely he would get the message this time.

The poor turk whimpering in torment, he could do nothing but stare at her in horror as the pink haired female threatened to castrate him.

Claire Farron waited a few extra seconds to let the effects of her actions sink in.

'So... Now we have an understanding, I advise you to approach somebody who isn´t wearing a SOLDIER uniform next time you´re feeling lonely, understood?' she growled.

Her voice was low, murderous, barely a whisper, and she could see shock there in addition to the pain now written all over the young man´s tattooed face.

Her eyes boring into his in what could only be described as a very menacing way, the pink haired first class slowly released the turk´s private parts, earning a huge sigh of relief from him.

'Now leave, and rest assured... Next time I see your ugly face here, I will use my sword instead.' she told him, as now absolutely terrified, Reno Sinclair hurried to leave through the saloon-style doors.

Good.

That had settled things for sure.

Taking a deep calming breath, the pink haired soldier turned back to the table to quickly take a wing from the basket and stuff it into her mouth Angeal style, where she chewed on it aggressively.

Getting rid of admirerers did make hungry.

She was about to take a sip from her cup to wash it all down with as looking up she found her comrades staring at her.

Their eyes huge, mouths gaping in shock, she could see remains of chicken resting between Angeal´s molar teeth.

The silence lasted for almost a minute. Nobody dared to move or say a word until Genesis abruptly got up from his seat, nearly stumbling over his own feet in the process.

'Drinks anyone?'


It was late in the night, all of them slightly buzzed, that they made their way back home to the Shin-Ra HQ.

'You know what, we should get tattoos!' Zack suddenly came up with.

Claire Farron only raised her brows.

'Yeah, you know, to mark our SOLDIER First Class-hood. The Shin-Ra emblem maybe.'

'No way!' Claire Farron replied instantly.

'I'm feeling like a Shin-Ra property already, I don't want it confirmed on my body too.'

'Then maybe piercings at least...' Zack suggested.

'We need something, some kind of symbol, I dunno... I always wanted to get an earring.'

'Well, lets make it piercings then. I think I can live with that.' his female friend replied, rolling her icy blue eyes.

'YES!' the puppy yelled as he punshed the air triumphantly.

Cloud suddenly looked glad he wasn't going to make first class anytime soon.

They'd been debating all their way back about what to do to honor their first classness.

Every first class had something cool that set them appart from other soldiers, Zack had pointed out and he didn't seem to be lacking ideas either, but Claire Farron had a feeling tattoos and earrings wouldn't quite cut it.

'Maybe you should get yourself a decent sword first.' Lightning suggested at a second thought, which abruptly ended the conversation.

And in time too, she thought as they found headquarters rising up infront of them.

Walking throught he Shin-Ra front gates felt different this time. She felt different this time.

She was a first class now. Suddenly she felt like she owned the place.

Or maybe that was just the alcohol?

It wasn't that she had gotten herself wasted again. Not by any means. But she'd definitely had enough to feel some effect on her.

Taking two steps at a time Zack and her swaggered up to the elevators like they never had before and leaving Cloud to get out on the Soldier floor, they rode up to the first class premium storey.

Once arriving in her new apartment Claire Farron let herself fall onto the couch.

HER COUCH!

Somehow she still could not believe it.

Finally having some time to relax, to let it all sink in, the events of the day, her rank upgrade, the evening at seventh heaven, Lightning let her gaze wander to the huge glass pane that made the back wall of her living room and over the lights of the city below. Towards the constantly working Mako reactors that surrounded the city immersing the rooftops into an eerie glow and to the silhouettes of the mountains towering in the distance.

Somehow she still couldn't quite grasp everything that had happened.

All the things she had achieved.

All the things she had accomplished.

So much had happened since she´d left home.

Home...

Somehow she wondered where that place was now.

She hadn´t thought of Bodhum or of the people there or even Serah in a very very long time.

And she felt a bit guilty about it too.

Now that she was a first class she should really ask Lazard for a few days off for once and visit, Lightning thought.

At least that was what would have been the right thing to do.

She guessed she really should.

But somehow now the time had come, she didn´t feel like leaving after all.

This - SOLDIER - had become the place she belonged.

This was where her friends were.

Was her home.

Not Bodhum. Not anymore.

It was a soft, muffled crackling sound at her door that caused her to snap out of her musings and it was suddenly alert that she looked over to the small hall to see the shadow of someone´s feet through the tiny gap between the door and the brand new linoleum floor.

What the fuck was going on?! The pink haired female wondered as slowly getting up from the couch she cautiously made her way over to investigate.

When she open the door the first thing that caught her eye was a small squared parcel wrapped in brown paper, sitting at her doormat.

For a moment she just stared at it.

Huh?

What was that?!

A parcel? For her?

She figured somebody had to have gotten the wrong door.

She wasn´t expecting to receive anything after all and she had also just moved in there. There simply weren´t a lot of people who knew of her new address.

She took the time to briefly wonder who might have set it there, to then look up to see a dark figure retreating down the corridor, long silver hair reaching down it´s black clad back.

'Sephiroth?' she called after her former first class sensei, careful to keep her voice down in order not to alert anyone else, knowing the proud lean man would hear her anyway.

The silver haired first class wordlessly turned to look at her, mako green eyes scanning her features as cautiously he kept his distance.

'Why didn´t you knock?' LIghtning asked, unable to keep the surprice off her voice.

Now, she definitely hadn't reconed with him, had she?

They'd just spent the evening together at seventh heaven after all.

'I... I didn´t want to bother you or anything...' the man just said.

Was that nervousness she detected in his voice?!

No way.

It couldn´t be.

Impossible.

She must have misinterpreted.

'Just to stay on the safe side, in case you were in the mood to take somebody's balls off again or something...' her former sensei explained carefully, the right corner of his lips rising up into an adorable half smile.

Lightning couldn´t help but chuckle at that stupid comment of his.

'What is in the box?' she asked as slowly he came over, probably having come to the conclusion that she wasn´t posing any threat to his manhood after all.

'Why don´t you look for yourself?'

A soft smile now forming on his face, reaching his mako eyes for once, Lightning had a hard time taking her eyes off him.

She found she simply loved to see a genuinely happy expression on his face instead of his normally guarded features. It wasn´t exactly a frequent occurrence.

Tearing her gaze away she hesitantly made to open the small package in her hands to reveal a green-glowing, maxed out healing materia.

'A healing materia?' she asked, disbelieve written all over her face as she looked up again.

The silver haired first class slightly inclined his head in confirmation.

She had seen those things in training. Had seen Angeal Hewley use them, sometimes Zack.

She knew they could come in pretty handy.

Well, calling them handy probably was the understatement of the century.

They were life savers really.

'Yes... I wanted you to have one.' the general explained, his voice gentle once again.

'In case you ever get hurt again and Angeal isn´t there to help you out.'

There was silence for a bit as the two of them stared into each other´s eyes, mako green on icy blue.

Was there concern in those mako depths? Lightning wasn't sure.

The way he looked at her, suddenly it made her knees feel weak.

'Now that you´re First Class I guess it will be impossible for me to keep you out of trouble.' the man added with a tiny chuckle when his comrade did not respond at all.

The pink haired soldier, for a few moments she just stood there, lost for words in face of the beautiful unexpected gift she had received.

And from him of all people.

True. She'd received a respectful gift from him before, right after becoming second class. But after everything that'd happened between the two of them she'd tought he was done handing out gifts after presenting her with Blaze Edge.

'They are really expensive... It must have taken you days to max it out like that.' she finally managed to get out, admiring the small green orb that fitted snugly in her outstretched hands.

Looking up at him again, she found her former mentor shrug dismissively.

'Never mind.' was all he said.

She found her gaze drawn to his eyes again, those beautiful mako green eyes, as not for the first time she longed to understand what was going on behind the facade of his handsome features.

All his thoughts, his emotions, they were a complete mystery to her.

To everyone.

Sometimes she wished that he´d just let her in.

'You don´t get promoted to First Class everyday.'


Back in the sector seven slums, in a dingy winding street, covered by a sheet of rusting corrugated iron perched against a run down cot, cowered a half rotton cardboard box. And in that box there lay a man, an almost empty flask of whiskey clutched in his half opened gloved left hand.

His other had resting over his crotch protectively, the front of his once fancy dresshirt was crusted with dried vomit and the stench of urine hung heavily in the air.

Lying on his back in what looked like a half tried puddel, his black business suit ruined, his alcohol impaired mind drifted in and out of focus as he gazed up onto the plate above where there should have been the starry skies.

'I knew it.' the pittyful creature muttered almost to himself, his voice slurry with the effects of the alcohol and something else. Something that was just uniquely him.

'She does love me after all. I fucking knew it, yo.'