'Okay guys, I really have to get to work, it's so nice of you to help with the household.' Serah's voice rang out over the sound of the washing mashine and Genesis and Cloud fighting over the remote control in the living room.

Lightning didn't know when she or any of the others had volunteered themselves for yet another bout of chores but Serah's voice had a bossy undertone to it that was impossible to mess with.

Still...

She had just gotten up and entered the kitchen to grab herself some breakfast and she so was not in the mood to start the day thinking about scrubbing the bathtub again.

Oh how much she missed those good old soldier days. At Shin-Ra there'd been staff for stuff like this.

'Okay. You Genesis, could dust off the furniture and maybe vaccum the floors,' Serah began in that authorative voice Lightning hadn't known existed before as bravely she strode into the living room, snatched the remote away from Cloud's startled midmotion frozen hand and turned off the TV.

'And Cloud... You can help him out, alright?'

The two of them only stared at her with big round eyes.

'Great. I expect everything to be spotless once I get back from work.' She added with a sweet big smile.

Risking a glance outside the window to the front porch, Lightning found Angeal Hweley busy mowing the lawn. He seemed to already have cut the hedges in the whole front yard too where Zack was busy painting the garden fence and it was barely 8 a.m.

What the actual fuck?

Claire Farron couldn' believe what she was seeing. Her little sister was ordering her comrades around as though they were a bunch of naughty school kids who were supposed to do their homework.

A bunch of grown mako enhanced men with years of combat experience under their belt. The elite of the Shin-Ra defense forces. Bowing to her little sister's wishes.

How exactly had she done that?

It was that exact moment that General Sephiroth Crescent chose to enter the hall from the backyard.

Claire Farron gave him a warning look and a barely visible shake of her head, but his chances of escape had diminished to zero the second Serah had heard the sound of the backdoor closing.

'Ah, good you're here,' Drill Seargent Serah began as her eyes took in the new addition to her cleaning squad.

'Claire, Sephiroth. I need you two to fetch some groceries from town.'

The silver haired first class looking only mildly surprised, Lightning could only stare at her little sister as though the wicked thing had sprouted fangs.

'What.. But... Serah... ' Lightning began in protest. Just to get shushed with a definite 'Shht.'

'You guys cleared out the whole pantry. We definitely need to stock up.' the little witch offered as some kind of explanation, before rummaging on the kitchen counter behind her, she produced a massive shopping list and handed it to the silver haired hero beside her.

Claire Farron too surprised to speak, it was over the longest shopping list she'd ever seen that for a brief moment their eyes met.

Typical. It was just so typical from Serah to team her up with Sephiorth. It was one quality at least she shared with director Lazard. The only quality probably. Beside the power to arbitrarily order them around it seemed.

But why? Why did they always have to team her up with Sephiroth? Somehow she could never just end up with Genesis or Angeal could she? Could she?

'Hey, that's unfair I want to do the grocery shopping!' Cloud piped up from somewhere in the living room.

'Yes let Cloud, do the grocery shopping..' Lightning picked up on it eagerly.

But again her hopes were smothered instantly by Serah's snappish tone and her stern expression.

'Shhhht. No arguing!' the drill seargent barked.

It was directed at the both of them.

'Claire, you are the only one who knows the way to the store and someone's gotta carry all that stuff back.' Serah said in her no argue voice that reminded Lightning of their mother's. Lightning had no idea where she had gotten it from.

Thinking about Serah's current profession she couldn't help but feel for all the innocent school kids her sister was unleashed at to torture everyday.

Those poor little buggers.

'Please I want to go shopping. I can carry that stuff!' Cloud Strife offered more than willingly.

Turning back to the living room, Serah gave him a withering look and a critical once over.

'I think Sephiorth's a little bit more up to the job.' she said, turning back to the general and actually winking at him. WINKING. At. Him.

'Okay, everyone's got a task? Great. I gotta go now. See you later.' she chimed and hurried out of the front door. Leaving the rest of them standing in the hallway.

'Your sister is worse then director Lazarad.' Genesis Rhapsodos noted as he let his body drop onto the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table.

Giving a long pained sigh, Claire Farron went over to the pantry and took out Serah's muffin patterned shopping bags.

Genesis could do whatever he wanted. But she herself was so not ready to face Serah's wrath that would rain down on her when she'd come home and find the food supplies still empty.

So yes. A grocery shopping trip it was.

'Are you coming?' she asked the silver haired general who had let it all wash over him relatively unfazed.

'Sure.' was his instant reply.

Looking up at him Claire Farron found there was an actual smile tugging at his lips.

'You do need someone to help you carry all that stuff back after all.'

The pink haired first class, she tossed the shopping backs at him and threw him one of her incredulous stares.

'Wait. What did she mean he's a little bit more up to the job?' Clouds voice followed them out of the living room.

Genesis Rhapsodos could only roll his eyes.


It was another beautiful cloudless summer morning. The slightly humid summer air stirred by a gently cooling summer breeze, the azure blue sky above them stretching endlessly, it was like all the other mornings in Bodhum. Perfect.

His eyes wandering over the perfect blue horizon General Sephiroth Crescent wondered if it ever rained in this place.

Probably not.

Following his former apprentice down the driveway and onto the narrow paved road that led away from it and into town, he couldn't help but feel that there were a lot of things perfect here in Bodhum.

Grocery Shopping wasn't exactly his kind of expertice. But grocery shopping with Lightning was probably worth any of the inconvenionces this side quest would entail.

Watching the pink haired woman of his dreams dressed in beach shorts and a loose white shirt walking a few meters before him, he secretely blessed Serah flor the opportunity of spending more time with her alone.

The pink haired woman not seeming especially happy with the circumstances herself, she didn't really pay him much attention and it was falling a little bit behind that the silver haired first class let his eyes roam his surroundings to appreciate the scenery.

Bodhum was beautiful. It really was.

The street was seamed with more cute litte beach houses like the one the Farron sisters lived in, each of them fitted with a perfectly manicured front lawn and an impossibly versatile assortment of exotic flowers General Sephiroth Crescent had never dreamed of seeing in his entire lifetime.

Yes. From all the things the foreign place had to offer, it was probably the vegetation that stood out most to him.

There had been no plants in Midgar. None at all. Except for the few exhibition pieces caged in behind two inch thick glass in the Shin-Ra cafeteria.

He had seen the wutai woods of course, had seen plenty of woods infact and he had seen the Costa del Sol palm trees. But this was different. Never had he seen anything like this.

Flowers with buds the size of pizza plates, their intricately patterned petals blooming in every color imaginable, the rich sweet scent of them, and the tiny swarms of insect life buzzing all around them. It wasn't something he had ever seen before or had ever had the time to notice, the airiness to think about.

'Are you coming or what?'

His pink haired guide standing waiting for him at a crossroads some 50 meters away, Sephiroth hadn't even realized he'd been standing at somebodies flowerbeds staring at the contents like a maniac.

It was was grabbing Serah's pink muffin patterned shopping bags a little tighter, that quickly he caught up with her.

'Sorry.'

'What have you been doing there?' Lightning asked sounding slightly irritated.

'Watching the flowers...' came is honest reply.

Claire Farron thought she must have probably misheard.

But the way he looked at her a little bit abashed, it made a tiny smill appear on her pinkish lips.

'Come on we haven't got all day, there's something I want to show you.' she announced before grabbing him by his wrist she pulled him forward and up to a little opening in the fences where a tiny path lead away into the thickets.

'Are you sure that's the right way?' the general asked somewhat sceptically as he entered the close gorwing bushes of the Bodhum undergrowth. Now they were inside, the tiny path betneath them was quasi non existent.

It was that very moment that Lightning released his arm again. To the silver haired general somehow it felt like a terrible loss.

'Don't wet your pants. It's a shortcut.' was all he got for an answer before his pink haired companion vanished in the bushes.

Thinking it was better not to argue, the silver haired first class pulled his precious shopping bags closer to his body and followed her into the wilderness.

It was a few minutes later that he emerged on the other side of Lightning's 'shortcut', his clothes littered with leaves and his hair full of twigs.

He wasn't exactly delighted, not until he took in the view.

They had emerged on a cliff. Said cliff overlooking all of Bodhum. Turning left he could see the sandy shores behind the Farron's beach house, while to the right he could see the port and the seaside city center of Bodhum stretching out before him in the distance.

It looked like a far way to carry groceries back home from.

'Don't worry, the store we're aiming at isn't in the city center. It's actually just a few hundred meters down the road.' his pink haired companion assured him as though she'd mindread his concerns.

It was that exact moment that she turned around to face him.

Their eyes meeting for a tiny moment, General Sephiroth Crescent found his companions gaze travel down to his messed up hair and shirt.

Taking in his rumpled expression Claire Farron couldn't help but burst out laughing.

'Come on it's just a few twigs.' she said, stepping up to him and starting to extricate some especially tangled looking litter from his long soft silver strands.

'We used this path all the time when we were kids.'

When they were kids...

Sephiroth couldn't imagine enjoying having his clothes and hair ruined by bushes no matter how tiny a boy he'd have been. Not that he would have ever had a chance to find out.

Still. Having the pink haired first class so close tugging around at his hair was probably worth it.

Or that was at least what he would have thought until she gave one of his strands a violent tug, ripping out some of his hair in the process.

'Ouch, that hurts you know!' he exclaimed somewhat annoyedly and it was only then that Claire Farron realized what she'd been actually doing, groping around in general Sephiroth Cresecent's hair.

'Oops. I'm sorry. I think I got a little overexcited.' Was all she said as a little bit too quickly she did step away.

The silver haired man beside her, he quickly shrugged his shoulders.

No big deal.

'This was the place I spent most of my time back when I was a kid.' Claire Farron quickly steered the conversation back on course.

'Over there you can see the town, where we went to school and down there's the port and the funfair.' she explained pointing out the individual poins to him, all the time smiling that pretty smile at him.

'It always used to look so beautiful, especially at night, when the city lights would shine like a million twinkling stars.'

That smile. Plastered on her soft pink lips, lighting up her face like sunrise.

He was addicted to it.

It made him want to drop his stupid shopping bags and kiss her. Kiss her until the end of days.

'We always used to come here, Serah and I, to meet up with the others. Yuj, Maqui, Gadot and Lebreau.'

All the time she kept that smile in place. That pretty happy smile. Oblivious to what it did to him, it seemed.

'The guys used to engage in cliff jumping.' she said somewhat nostalgically as carefully she edged closer to the space where the ground beneath them ended and gave way to the infinite depths of the ocean.

'I never had the guts.' she admitted pensively as somewhat shyly she looked up at her silver haired companion.

The first class general sure footed in a pair of borrowed jesus sandals, he stepped up to his comrade's side to peer down into the deep blue waves, crushing down a hundred feet below.

'Wanna try?' he asked with the ghost of one of his haughty trademark smirks playing at his narrow lips.

Claire Farron gave him a hesitant shy look.

'No. Not now.' she answered a little bit too quickly.

It made the smirk on Sephiroth's lips intensify.

'Are you scared, Farron?'

It made the pink haired female roll her eyes at him.

Still.

It wasn't convincing enough to fool her year long superior.

'We have a task to carry out, remember?' came a quick feeble excuse.

'Of course.' the silver haired first class offered somewhat amicably. Still. That smirk, it didn't leave his lips.

Claire Farron, soldier first class extra ordinaire was scared of water.

He had suspected as much before, had seen glimpses of it, masked as uneasiness, back there in the soldier natarorium, couldn't blame her really, after what had happened to her in the Shin-Ra breath holding challenge. Still. The thought of it, somehow it amused him to no end.

It wasn't as though the water was dangerous.

And Claire Farron was an able swimmer. She had to be or she would not have survived the soldier basic training.

Still.. T here she was, getting cold feet.

'I can't imagine you grew up in a place like this. You are so incredibly lucky. It must have been beautiful.' Sephiroth mused as they fought their way back to the street.

Those words, they were sincere. Having grown up in the dreary desert of Midgar, in the dark confides of Deepground to be exact, to the silver haired first class, this place was paradise.

'It was beautiful.' the woman next to him confirmed, another reminescent smile tugging at her lips.

'Until my parents died at least.'

It made the smile decrease a little bit in width.

'How about you?' the pink haired first class suddenly asked out of the blue.

'How about what?' the general asked somewhat stupidly.

'Your childhood. What was it like for you? I don't even know where you come from.' the woman next to him elaborated.

It hade the silver haired first class swallow uncomfortably.

It was true. His childhood, it was the last thing he wanted to talk about. With any one. He didn't even want to think about. Not really.

Averting his gaze from his female comrade's face, the silver haired legend made to study the horizon.

After all these times, his childhood memories still gave him goosebumps.

'I grew up in Midgar.' he just said shrugging his shoulders, and distracting himself with the task of setting one foot in front of the other as they made their way back onto safe smooth concrete.

'You know what it's like. No sea, no beaches, no trees.'

It was all he could say without getting too close to brushing all those repressed memories.

'What was it like growing up in midgar?' Claire Farron pressed on eagerly.

'I mean what do kids even do there?'

Somehow she didn't get the hint.

The silver haired first class, he looked up at her with detached blank eyes.

'The same you did in Midgar.' came is swift reply.

'Training. Fighting. Killing.'

The pink haired female looking a little taken aback, it mercifully stopped her uncomfortable interrogation.


They reached the grocery shop a few minutes later and it was by then that Lightning's mind was driven off Sephiorth's childhood completely. There were tasks at hand to complete after all.

Grabbing herself one of the shopping carts from behind the counter, she snatched Serah's shopping bags from under her companions arm and threw them into the basket.

'Well let's get this done.' Was all she said as she manouvered the stubborn thing inside and into the first aisle available.

'So what's on the list?' she asked, suddenly all businesslike, eager to get the boring task behind her as quickly as possible.

Her silver haired companion staring at the regale around him like a child in a museum, Lightning couldn't help but wonder whether he'd actually ever been grocery shopping before. Probably not.

'Hey.. Gaia to Major Tom, we don't have all day.'

The silver haired first class looking a little bit startled himself, he quickly dug into the pockets of Snow's borrowed beach pants to produce the crumpled loking five feet long shopping list Serah had supplied them with.

'We should have taken a second cart.' Lightning commented somewhat dryly.

It took ages to work themselves through Serah's list. Not only was it the longest list Lightning had ever seen, the little rat had also forgotten to apply any kind of logicaly system or succession, causing them to scamper back and forth between all the different aisles and sections about a hundred times.

Veggies, meat, noodles, flour, milk, veggies again, fruit, eggs yoghurt, somehow it was all over the place.

General Sephiroth Crescent was not a lot of a help either.

It would take him ages to retrieve the simplest of objects, would take him several tries to find the correct aisles even and more than once Lightning found him simply staring at the shelves, studying the vast adssortments of things on display, seeming slightly lost, or rather, overwhelmed.

Again and again Lightning wondered when Sephiroth had last been shopping for groceries. If ever.

Still. In one of snows bermuda pants and fitting shirt, all topped of by that ridiculous beach hat Genesis had insisted on buying for all six of them, he almost did not look out of place. Almost.

'What in Gaia's name is topinampuh?' the general asked, his forhead wrinkled in confusion as he looked up from Serah's grocery list and onto the shelves right in front of him as though the product would just materialize itself out of thin air or at the very least have the decency to give him some kind of hint if only he concentrated long enough on it.

It made Claire Farron crack a smile.

Oh, how could she have been so mistaken.

He was out of place.

Totally.

Was lost.

Absolutely. And completely.

And no amount of beach clothes borrowed or owned would be able to change that.

'Let me see.' the pink haired soldier offered, stepping up to her companion and snatching the shopping list away from him.

'It's topinambur.' she announced somewhat triumphantly as she looked up to hand the shopping list back to him.

'What is topinambur?' the general asked somewhat stupidly.

Lightning gave a secretve little smile.

'I have absolutely no idea.'


In the end they managaed to get all their shopping done, even the topinambur, which to both of their delights turned out to be some ugly looking kind of root.

They made their way back to the Farron's all in time and they even had time to grab some sandwhiches form Cid's, to serve themselves and their comrades for lunch.

They reached the front porch ladden with bursting bags, both of them in a good mood and with a feeling of accomplishment and Lightning opened the door for them to carry all their stuff inside, greeting the others with a cheery 'Hey guys, we brought lunch.'

It was the last thing she got to say before she tripped over something blocky lying on the floor, making her almost fall. She would have fallen in fact, hadn't it been for the silver haired first class right next to her who had set down his bags in the hall and was there and ready to catch her flailing arm.

'What the...'

It was quickly turning back to inspect the object on the ground when she felt the general's hand, tugging at her arm.

'Lightning...'

There it lay, her mother's most beloved ceramic statue, a piece of rubble on the polished floorboards of the hall.

What the...

How could it have...

It was a moment later that she felt the general tugging at her arm again.

'Claire...'

His startled tone of voice bringing her back to reality, it was only then that Lightning looked up to find the entire house before her in shambles.

'What is going on?'

It was with a few quick strides that she darted over to the living room and it was there right in the doorway that she found her heart stood still.

The entire room was trashed. Looked as though it'd been hit by a bomb, as her mother would have said. Just that her mother had never seen a place that acutally had been hit by a bomb for real.

Lightning had. And she still thought the discription fitting.

The room looked as though there'd been a whole fucking nuclear war.

The once so neatly arranged books where yanked out from their bookshelves, the TV lay somewhere flickering in a corner, the comfly fluffy couch was ripped and torn with all the filling coming out and strewn all across the room, as was the filling of most of the pillows, and the curtains lay torn on the ground and hanging from the wall lamps.

The walls looked as thought they'd been scorched by flames, and the ceiling fan had come off the ceiling, hanging loosely on a few strands of cable and in the midst of all the terrible mess were her comrades, Genesis and Cloud staring at her with huge surprised eyes and Angeal Hewley lying bound and gagged in a bundle at their feet.

'What the actual -'

Claire Farron's temper rising with the speed of a supersonic cargo train, she didn't even got to end her sentence as at the very moment first class Zack Fair came charging through the closed living room window, sending glass shards everywhere, Angeal Hewley's precious buster sword clutched in both his hands and yelling on the top of his lungs 'For Honor!'

It was midair that he realized that Lightning and Sephiroth had returned and it was with a startled sickening crunch that he landed face first on the coffee table.

'Ouch... '

'It's his fault!' Genesis and Cloud chimed up in unision, pointing at Zack Fair and looking at their freshly arrived friend with impressions of utmost disapproval.

'UHHMMHHUUUHHH!' came Angeal's ready protest.

It was Genesis who finally stepped forward to remove the gag from around his mouth.

'Yes... What Angeal was about to say is that Zack completely lost his marbles. He attacked Angeal, set a fire materia off right on the coffee table, then went berserk on the furniture an - '

'SHUT UP I'LL KILL YOU!' Angeal Hewley roared, trashing around in his bindings and trying to lash out with his bound together feet.

'Oh... Well...'

It caused the redhead to kneel down again and stuff the make shift gag back into his rampaging colleague's mouth.

'What in Gaia's Na-'

Lightning had finally mustered the self control to speak, when suddenly she was interrupted again by the sound of footsteps coming from the floor above and making their way towards the stairs.

Great. Snow had awoken.

Looking over at the silver haired first class as if asking for advice she found the general's expression empty, found a vein pulsing dangerously at his temple.

'Morning guys...' Snow said as a way of greeting, giving Light and Sephiroth an amicable nod as he made over towards the shopping bags leaning by the front door.

'Have I heard the mention of the word sandwhich?' he asked somewhat eagerly as he started rummaging around the shopping goods.

'Uhm... Yes... There's bacon, cheese, roast beef and tuna.' Claire Farron supplied with an empty hollow voice.

'MMMHhhh excellent.' her sister's fiancé said, picking up one of each and starting to stuff them into his mouth right there.

It was only then that he turned to look at the living room.

It would have been a comic sight, if it hadn't been for the fact that it was the Farron's old beach house they were looking at.

There were debries everywhere. Genesis and Cloud standing in the midst of it with little bits of couch innards in their hair and clothes. There was Angeal Hewley still bound und gagged on the carpet and Zack Fair sprawled on Serah's little coffeetable, one arm sticking out and a disconcertingly odd angle.

'UUUHHHMMMMHHHMMMHMMMM!' came Angeal helpless protests.

It was almost surreal.

'Will you guys tidy this up before Serah gets home?' Snow asked through healthy bites of tuna tramezzini.

'I've already messaged Maqui and Gadot, we're going to the Clubhouse in the afternoon. Can't wait to show you guys the neighbourhood watch!'

It was all he said before patting Lightning on the shoulder, he turned away and sauntered back towards the kitchen where there could be heard to sound of the coffee machine kicking into action.

Claire Farron had forgotten how to move.

It was 11 o'clock.

It was the general who found his voice first.

'I have no idea how you guys are going to pull it off, but you. Are. Going. To. Fix. Up. This mess before Serah comes back. Do you read me?'

He had said it calmly, hadn't raised his voice. He didn't need to. That dangerously pulsing vein, paired with that eerie predatory glint that had found its way into his mako killer eyes was all the incentive his friends needed.

'And release Angeal, that's barbaric.' he added at an afterthought.

It was as if in a daze that the people infront of them began to move, as if woken from a stupor that they looked around themselves in disbelieve.

'What have you guys been doing anyway?' Sephiroth asked with arched up brow.

'Sparring.' Genesis offered with a shrug of his bedebried shoulders.


Lightning didn't know how they had done it. She hadn't stayed behind to watch. Instead she had let Sephiroth steer her away to the kitchen, had allowed herself to being pushed into one of the cozy chairs next to the breakfast table, where she sat quite stunned while she waited for the silver haired general to pour her some coffee.

It was the steaming cup of soothing hot liquid that brought her back to her senses.

'Sparring...' it was really all that she got out.

'Don't worry, they'll set things righ.' the general assured.

A deafening bang from the other side of the wall making them both jump, it made Claire Farron almost drench herself in coffee.

'Somehow.'

Claire Farron could only stare.

How in the world were they going to set things right in time?!


It was in the early hours of the afternoon that Serah Farron arrived back from work, a bunch of homeowork notebooks clasped under her arm..

'Hey everyone, I'm back!' she announced to noone in particular as she came walking into the living room.

'Is everything alright?'

Looking at the group of man gathered peacefully around the coffee table, she found them looking back at her guiltily.

Lightning didn't know how they had done it. She had spent the past few hours in the confines of the kitchen stowing away the gathered groceries and trying to come up with a suitable way of explanation and apology for her little sister. But somehow in an act of immense collaboration the floor was clean, the books were stacked, the ventilator was back where it belonged and the curtains were neatly ironed and back on their rail.

The walls still were a little wet where Zack had overpainted the big blotches of whatever with the paint from the gardenfence and so was the frame of the freshly integrated window. But all this Serah Farron didn't realize, didn't even notice. What she was staring at instead was the couch beneath their useless asses.

'What have you morons done to my couch?´ was all that Serah had to offer.

Yes, it was true. They had gotten everything back to how it was, had cleaned up the mess, had tidied everything up, had even glued their mother's ceramics back together, but what they could not possibly have fixed together was the couch. No amount of Angeal Hewley doubless awsome sewing skills could have stitched that thing back together.

So what they'd done instead, in their immeasurable desperation, was that they had burrowed Snow's truck, had discretely gotten rid of the old disemboweled thing and had gotten themselves a new one. It was really all that they could do.

Still. It was nothing like the old one. Not even the same shape.

'Yeah well... Sorry for that...' Genesis began in his smooth melodic voice.

'But there was some kind of accident. The couch had to go.'

Serah only stared.

'What kind of accident?'

Looking at all her gathered guest in a mixture of disbelieve and wonder, it was Genesis' she came to rest at, waiting for elaboration.

'Well... Cloud has... You know... A bedwetter problem.'

'Wait, what-' the boy in question began somewhat protestingly.

But it was Zack Fair's foot coming down hard on his, that made him shut up instantly.

'It's okay Cloud. That's nothing one's got to be ashamed of.' Snow Villiers piped up from the doorway.

The spiky blond threw him a withering look.

'Are we going to the clubhouse now or what?'


Morning and noon had been so very eventful that Claire Farron wasn't sure she could stomach yet another adventure, still she tugged along. Riding in the back of Snow Villier's pick up truck, she listened to her sister Serah telling her all about her morning at the school.

'Those children... Really they do not have an ounce of respect that day.' the younger Farron said and it was from the corner of her eyes that Lightning saw Angeal Hewley throw Genesis, Zack and Cloud accusing glances. The latter three were uncharacteristically silent.

Claire Farron had now idea what had happened between the four of them this morning or how the situation could have escalated so quickly and somehow she really didn't want to know, but from what she had gathered the other three must have bonded against Angeal, probably the only voice of reason and had silenced him with Serah's tearack.

Their usually kind forgiveing comrade sending them all death glares from under the rim of his borrowed sunglasses, he still seemed rather upset.

Well, Lightning could not exactly blame him.

She wasn't sure what she would have done to those bastard had they ever had the guts to conspire against her like that.

She would probably have killed them.

The ride in the truck was a rather bumpy affair and with all of them squeezed in in the pickup platform, there was not really pace for comfort.

All in all Claire Farron was glad when they arrived at their destination and was thankful to get off.

They had managed to secure a parking spot right in the front and were therefore best situated to get their first glimpse of the 'clubhouse', as Lightning had come to know it in the weeks since her return to Bodhum.

The quite presentable beach bar sitting right in front of a pretty lagoon, maybe Bodhum's most popular tourist location, it was where Snow Villier's spent his afternoons, was where the neighbourhood watch got their funding from.

But the clubhouse was not a beach bar exclusively. It was also the NORA headquarters, some kind of a national park ranger station really, paired with a pretty decent hunting center next to it.

Well, they had really managed to built themselves something up. Lightning had to give them that much credit.

Most of it had probably been Lebreau's work.

It was right upon entering that the group of them was greeted by Yuj, Maqui and Gadot, who vanished behind the bar to quickly dive for drinks.

They took a well deserved timeout then. Gathered around one of the bigger tables of the bar, Lightning used the precious half or something hour to relex into her seat and let the pleasent currents of the air conditioner cool her burning skin.

Days in Bodhum really could get hot.

The relaxing break ended much too early though when Zack and Cloud turned into annoying toddlers yet again.

'Okay, So what are you guys actually up to all that time?' the dark ahired puppy asked with the hunger for adventure playing in his eyes again.

Really. Couldn't they ever just relax?

It was Maqui who answered his question first.

'We go hunting.' he provided matter of factly.

'Cool!' Cloud piped up from somewhere next to Snow.

'Awesome let's go!' Zack agreed eagerly as he got up from his seat and started to pull out his sword.

It made the NORA people erupt in laughter.

'No, not with these.' Yuj informed, as he stopped Zack's hand middraw.


'We're using these!' Gadot informed as a few minutes later they were all gathered in the adjourning hunting facility, the broad shouldered man holding up a decent looking recurve bow.

'Ohw...'

It made the guests excited mood deflate not insignificantly.

'What. Is. That?' Cloud asked somewhat perplexedly.

It made Lightning mentally facepalm herself.

'A bow.' Serah piped up from behind them, giving one of her perfect sparkling smiles.

The bow, it turned out had become Serah's favourite weapon. Her little sister a tiny bit too young to be playing with weapons when she had left her all those years ago, Lightning couldn't help but admit that she had become quite good with it too.

There was a little commotion where everybody rushed foreward to supply themselves with bows and arrows Gadot was handing out from behind the counter and then another jostle as all of them were trying to get out onto the backyard training parcours all at once.

'Okay, okay everyone, no panic, we are quite many, we should be dividing into groups. Or we'll scare away the pray.' Gadot announced as he mentioned for the soldier operatives right next to him to follow.

'Okay guys you can come with us!' he said before turning to the others.

'Maqui, someone's gotta stay behind and tend to the bar.'

There was a defeated groan somewhere from the back of the crowd.

'Yuj, Cloud, are you two taking off together? Oh okay, that's fine.'

'Zack, Lebreau? You coming?!' he added somewhat confusedly.

'No.. I think we'll stick around the practice range a bit.' Lebreau piped up from next to the parcours entry sounding slightly breathless.

'Uhm... Okay whatever.' Gadhot finally gave in.

'Serah, Snow... Lightning you know your way around anyway.'

It was out in the backyard that the the NORA people quickly decided to devide them up and after a quick crash course, escaped into the wilderness. It was after the most of the hustle and bustle had cleared that Ligthning moved over to get herself some gear.

She was about to head out after the others when miraculously, she found herself left with Sephiroth.

Well. She wasn't stupid enough to believe in coincidences anymore.

Watching Zack and Lebreau slip away into the training parcours, finally the two of them were the only ones left with the practice targets.

'Do you want to take a few practice shots, or what?' Claire Farron asked when the man on the other side of the lawn didn't make to move.

Staring at the things in his hands as though they were a foreign lifeform, the man in question suddenly seemed lost, seemed utterly clueless.

'I... I'm not trained at the bow.' he offered as an explanation as carefully he made to look up to meet her eyes.

Never had Claire Farron seen him look so emberassed.

Never had she seen him look emberassed at all.

Never would she have dreamed she would. Not in a million years.

General Sephiroth Crescent was not emberassed. Ever. Except that he was now.

'What? You've never shot with a bow?' Claire Farron asked somewhat incredulously.

It only made the look of shame on his face intensify.

It turned the expression on Lightnings face into one of glee.

General Sephiroth Cresecent, legendary hero of the wutai wars, flagship of the Shin-Ra defence forces, was not familiar with the bow.

How was that even possible?!

But of course. The bow wasn't a weapon Shin-Ra had in it's arsenal. And he had grown up in Midgar. Where there were no woods to hunt or to play ranger in.

Well. Growing up in the thickets of Bodhum, Lightning basically knew the bow in and out.

That arrogant superior gesture seemignly reserved for the general exclusively, for the first time ever, Claire Farron sported one of those triumphant smirks herself.

Never had she thought the day wood come that she'd actually have the chance to teach General Sephiroth Crescent something. And least of all how to use a weapon.

Well, that alone had been worth coming here, she figured.

Had been worth the entire fiasco of the whole day.

'It really isn't all that hard.' she began as she saunteered over to him, taking the bow and quiver away from his outstretched hands.

'We were kids when we learned how to use them.'

It was her chance to rub salt into his wounds. And the incredulous look he gave her, it was her well-deserved reward.

'Come over here.' she instructed as she made her way to one of the training targets and made to stand behind the line drawn on the ground.

'I'll show you how it's done.'

Taking out an arrow she drew the bow and aimed straight at bulls eye.

It hit target.

'See.'

'Now you try.' she said trusting the equipment back at him and looking up at him expectantly.

The silver haired man staring at her blankly, Lightning finally took heart and explained it all to him.

'Okay, It's not all that hard really. Nock your arrow like this, grasp the bow string. Draw. Aim. Release.' she explained somewhat nonchalantly as if it were really all that easy.

The silver haired first class right beside her still seeming rather lost, Lightning watched him try and follow her scarce instructions before finally he let the arrow fly.

His first ever arrow sailing through the air in a spectactular arc, it shot right past the practice target and vanished into the bushes beyond.

'OUCH!' They heard someone exclaim from somewhere behind the trees. It suspiciously sounded like Angeal.

'GENESIS! YOU RUDDY SUN OF A WERERAT! I'LL KILL YOU!'

Yep. Now that definitely sounded like Angeal.

'Ooops.' The general said soemwhat sheepishly as carefully he lowered the bow to it pointed back to the ground.

It made the triumphant smile on Lightning's face expand to full width.

'Well, noone is perfect, I guess.' she simpered.

The silver haired first class grimly staring ahead of her, he made to pick another arrow.

It was then that Lightning felt pitty for him.

'You're gotta position yourself better.' she offered as she stepped up to him.

'Try and get your feet at 90 degrees to the target.'

The silver haired first class following her advice as best as he could, Lightning came a little closer still to inspect his stance.

'You're gripping the handle all too tight. Relax a bit.' she said as she reached out to touch his hand.

It made the silver haired first class look back at her in wonder.

'And what are you doing with the string?' Lightning asked in mock reproach, ignoring that ridiculed furtive stare of his.

'You're doing it all wrong.' she criticized as she made to reposition his grasp there as well.

'Don't grip the arrow with your fingers.' she lectured.

It was right then that there was a surprised yell and a tiny giggle, ripping the both of them out of their concentration.

Looking up and into the direcion that the sound had come, they found Zack and Lebrau practicing on some of the straw stuffed animals outside. The two of them standing close and giggling. And touching and flirting too, by the looks of it.

'I think the two of them are getting on quite well.' Sephiroth observed.

It was the understatement of the century.

They were getting on distustingly well.

Claire Farron was in fact waiting for the two of them to pull their clothes off and starting making out right there.

It wasn't something unreasonable to expect either. Zack had never had a problem with publicly displaying his affections. He had infact done that to them on plenty of occasions for several years.

Honestly why did Zack always have to make such a big show of it? Somehow Lightning could not understand, couldn't have wrapped her head around the idea even if she wanted.

Never ever in a million years would she want someone to watch herself and Sephiroth when they were kissing.

Wait. Where had that come from?

They weren't kissing.

Okay.

They had kissed. Once. Or twice. A few times. On that blasted evening. But they hadn't kissed since then. Probably wouldn't kiss in the forseeable future, if ever. Not that Lightning would have wanted to.

Or did she?

Fuck she wanted to.

She really did.

It was with an act of utmost selfcontrol that finally she took a few tiny steps away from the man right next to her.

No. She wasn't going to do any such things. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Well maybe someday... Just maybe?

The man in question looking over at her with one of those adorable halfsmiles that always reached his eyes these days, Claire Farron quickly made herself return to busines mode.

'Okay. Pull back the string using your back muscles not your arm. You gotta aim a little bit above the spot you actually want the arrow to go. But just a little.' she said, her voice coming out a little bit more breathy than she would have hoped. Still, she carried it off well.

'Okay. That looks about right. Release.'

The arrow missed it's target again. But this time it at least hit the practice board instead of one of their comrades' buttocks.

'Well. No master ever fell from heaven.' Lightning said somewhat relieved, her good mood restored in the blink of an eye. (Or flight of an arrow really).

'It's nothing to be ashamed of you know, one cannot be good at everything' the pink haired female teased as she went over to the practise target to wrench out the stray arrow.

'Nobody's perfect.'

She was in the process of turning back to him when suddenly another arrow shot by, narrowly brushing the skin of her left cheek and hitting bullseye.

It made the pink haired female freeze mid motion. Made her heart drop to her knees.

The man on the other end of the practice range just gave his stupid trademark smirk.

For a few moments Claire Farron only stood there, startled.

'Oh... Okay. I think you got it.' was all that she got to say.


It was late in the evening already when they had all returned from the woods, some of them more successful, some of them less, with Angeal Howley distressedly rubbing his behind every other minute and Genesis nursing a black eye.

Lightning and Sephiroth managed to catch up with the others shortly after their private training session and Zack and Lebreau had vanished to who knew where doing who knew what.

Claire Farron tried hard not to think about it.

In the end Sephiroth had landed a few critical hits himself on some of the real life targets too. As thought he'd been working the bow for all his life... A fact that seemed to irritate the pink haired first class to no end.

It were the Norah guys who had brought home the best catch, and it were the same who were now busy skewing their very best pieces to grill them over barbeque for dinner.

The clubhouse bursting with people, it was right outside in one of it's cozy outdoor sitting areas that they now recided, all of them tired from the day and eager for some food, so much that even Genesis looked as though he was going to try some tiny bits of Gorgonopsid.

'Hey Angeal you gotta try these... They're simply wonderful.' the redhead offered, handing his childhood friend a big steaming portion of barbequeued Bodhum wildlife.

It was his way of trying to make up for all the terrible things that had happened that day.

'Hmpf...' Angeal grunted somehwat grumpily, but he accepted the offered token of apology anyway.

Claire Farron watched it with her brows forrowed in concern.

'They'll get over it.' Sephiroth assured, as settling down beside her he set a plat e of well done something with potatoes right infront of her.

'I think it's Adamantheron.' he informed.

'Maqui swore they're delicious.'

It made the pink haired woman smile. Never would she have imagined the general bringing her food. Or the two of them getting on this civilly in any realistic setting.

It was the NORA guys' time to tell some stories this time.

The moon rising higher and higher into the sky, it was listening to their Bodhum wilderness adventures, the history of how they'd built the clubhouse and all the little comic anecdotes that came with the Bodhum everyday life, that they let the evening fade away.

It was a nice change for once.

Sharing the plate of deliciously grilled beastmeat with the silver haired man right next to her, their forarms brushing everytime they reached out for a bite, Lightning couldn't help but find that she was happy.

Unnaturally happy really.