Sephiroth had never been so nervous in all his life, for a moment, all he could do was stare at the two people who had spawned his beloved and gape. She had her mother's looks, he had to agree, but at the moment her father didn't look too amused. At last, Katy's mom gave a slight nod, and rather significant look at her daughter before getting up. "I'll go start dinner," she said and headed towards the dining room.

"Hm, your translation spell isn't working on everyone else," Sephiroth told Katy, for lack of anything better to say... as well as an escape from having to say anything formal. What DID one say in situations like this?

She blinked once, "It isn't? Oh. Guess I'll have to work on that, She said she'd go start dinner. Hey mom! Can we have spaghetti?" Katy bounced to her feet, then hopped from one to the other excitedly.

"No," Katy's mother replied from the kitchen, a reply Sephiroth understood all of. Pouting, Katy sat again and put her arms around her father. It had been a while since Sephiroth'd had to use his knowledge of Katy's native language, but it was coming back to him and living in her world with her translating would help him learn the rest too. "How many are here?" Katy's mom called from the kitchen.

For a moment, Katy hesitated, "Five- six... eight..." softly counting to herself, then finally raised her voice for the verdict, "Ten!" she called out to her mother, still clinging to her father, who looked like he wasn't going to let her go ever again. "Seph, think you could take the birds into the backyard and let everyone in?" She gave him an understanding but apologetic look.

He nodded, appreciating her excuse for him to give her time with her family. Sephiroth figured he needed time to get used to the idea of her having family. It was a strange concept, but perhaps he would start taking notes of how her parents acted together to see what Katy expected. Giving a slight bow to those in the room, Sephiroth turned, he headed back out the front door. It was odd how in moments of stress that back of his mind always noticed the oddest of things- such as the lack of shoes near the front door, Katy's brother-in-law to be was still wearing his, Katy's sister Samantha had only pulled hers off so she could put her feet on the couch, they were stuck under the coffee table. Katy hadn't taken hers off when she entered either.

Briefly closing his eyes as he stepped outside, Sephiroth took a breath, then started forward, striding towards the others who turned to look at him. "Hey," Zack called, getting to his feet from where he'd been crouched next to Aerith near the flowerbed surrounding the oak tree in the front yard. "You look... pale."

Thank you Captain Obvious, Sephiroth thought acidly. Swallowing, Sephiroth shook his head. "I'm fine," he stated, "Let's take the birds around back." Even as he said that, his Chocobo padded over to him, nudging his shoulder. Lifting a hand, he scratched her neck, then turned and started around to the side of the house. The others fell into step behind and Sephiroth completely missed the look Aerith and Zack exchanged.

Sliding closer, Aerith tucked her hand into Zack's, leaning against his arm while their Chocobos followed sedately behind, her large green eyes looking around. The right side of the house was brick until it got to the corner where the back patio was cut out of the side of the house, framed with bird feeders and flowerbeds. The patio was a rectangle of cement tucked up against the edge of the roof, taking a bite out of the available space of the rooms inside. A sliding glass door led into the dining room and a window near the back corner of the house had white half curtains on it, inside was dark. The siding on that portion of the house, as well as the entire back side was wide and painted white.

As they proceeded onwards into the backyard a woman of about thirty stepped into her own backyard with a small and rather old dog trailing behind. The tall, thin woman with thick and darkly curled hair down to her mid back looked up, eyes going a bit wide and pale. The dog simply snuffled the ground industriously.

"Oh-! Hey Carol!" Katy's voice shouted from nearby and Aerith looked over at the redhead who was just stepping out onto the patio from the sliding glass door. She'd removed her coat, but was still wearing the rest of her uniform. "Don't mind them," she said, gesturing towards the various members of SCYTHE and Sephiroth actually made an effort to be polite by looking towards Katy's neighbor and giving a nod of his head as he continued on his way.

Covering her mouth with a hand, Aerith tried to stifle her giggle but didn't quite manage. "I thought you were dead!" Carol finally found the voice to say, still looking frightened, her dog tottering away slowly, head down, huffing at the grass blindly.

Shaking her head, Katy hopped through the birdfeeders and over her mom's flowerbed, striding across the wild grass of her side yard to her neighbor's- which still had the faint outlines of squares. Giving a laugh, Katy gave Carol a hug. "Nah, I just got lost." Turning, she gestured towards the rest of the gang, "Those're my friends, they can't really speak English yet, but we're working on that. That's Tifa," Tifa gave a wave as her name was called. "Cloud, Zack, Aerith, and Seph." Of course, Sephiroth was the only one not to wave. He was keeping his hands busy removing the gear from his Chocobo and once he was done with that, he pulled it over his shoulder and turned towards Katy.

Giving a giggle, Katy whispered to Carol, "Don't mind Seph, he's just trying to cover his embarrassment. He's really sweet once you get to know him." Suddenly turning, as if completely oblivious to Carol's continued shock, Katy crouched, "Hey Toodles!" she called and the small wobbly dog wandered towards her. It had a large head with short dark fur that was turning gray in its age. "Hey there sweety," Katy cooed to the dog, rubbing its head.

Aerith, after giving Zack's cheek a kiss, wandered over to join Katy and Carol, giving a smile and slight bow, "Hello," she said, her 'l's turning more into 'r's, "It is nice to meet you," Aerith continued, a phrase that Katy had managed to teach her- in trade, Katy could say the same thing in Aerith's language.

Katy laughed softly, "That was good!" she said to Aerith. "I'll have the translation spell set up soon. It's a bit hard to get any magic to work here. I think the planet's been sleeping for a long time." Standing and dusting her hands off, Katy brushed her bangs back out of her face absently. "I'll get to that after dinner probably- which will be shortly."

Lifting a hand to her lip, Katy picked a bit before dropping her hand, eyes drifting towards the others who had removed their gear from their Chocobos. Turning towards Carol again, she gave a smile, "Don't mind the birds, they're quiet at night." Stretching her hands over her head, she turned and headed back into her own backyard, "I guess put that stuff on the porch, I'll hunt through the garage for a tarp to cover it with."

"Hey, Katy," Tifa asked, looking up at the flat back of the house which was covered in white siding with two windows on each of the two floors. "You sure everyone staying here is alright?"

Flipping a hand, Katy dismissed that worry, "It's fine, girls'll be in my room, boys in dad's music room. It'll be cramped, but it's only for a little. We're here to find Vincent after all. He may be in China for all we know."

Zack coughed softly, smirking a bit, "What's 'china'?"

Laughing as well, Katy put her hands on her hips as she paced, looking at her mother's flowers, "Country on the other side of the world." She paused, then added "Or fancy dishes, depending on what you're saying. I'll show you some of the china dishes in the house." A light breeze played with the tops of the tall pine trees that grew in Carol's yard. Turning, Katy looked up at them, then turned the other direction, frowning a bit. "Hm," she said softly. "Looks like a storm," she muttered, folding her arms on her chest.

The back door slid open again and Samantha stepped out, looking from one SYTHE member to the next, finally landing on Katy. "Hi Carol," she said to the woman still standing in shock.

Taking a breath, Katy crouched in the semi-wild grass that grew in her yard, placing her palms on the ground. "C'mon earth. Wake up," she murmured. After a few moments more the grass seemed to shift around Katy and a moment later light pulsed out in a low wave from her palms, spreading across the yard, flowers and trees shifting like it had been blown by the wind- then straightening; revitalized by a spring rain. Her head sagged forward, and slowly, Katy toppled over onto her side with a soft sigh. Immediately, Sephiroth dropped his burden of Chocobo tack and strode towards her.

"Idiot," he muttered softly in Katy's language, pulling her against his chest and slid his arm beneath her legs, lifting her up. Samantha ran over, eyes wide, hand going to touch Katy's face. "Sleep," Sephiroth told Katy's sister simply, "Much power use today."

Eyes of the same golden-brown as Katy's looked up at Sephiroth for a long moment, as if she didn't quite believe that story but finally stepped back, "Come," Samantha gestured and turned, heading back inside.

Glancing at the rest of SCYTHE, Sephiroth spoke, returning to his native language, "Put the tack on the porch and feed the Chocobos before coming in," he ordered, trying to cover his embarrassment over the situation- and why did they have to look at him like that? Inwardly, Sephiroth scowled at the other SCYTHE members, as Aerith giggled behind her hand and Zack tried his best to look like he hadn't noticed a thing, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

Straightening, they gave him a salute, "Yes sir," was stated nearly in unison and Sephiroth chose to ignore Tifa's lack of enthusiasm. Samantha had already reached the back door and stood waiting for him. Shifting Katy in his arms, he got her head settled against his shoulder before he started walking, following Samantha into the dining room. From this direction, the living room looked even larger. The dining room was connected to the kitchen nearly directly- the only indication that they were different rooms was the framing around the wide door-less entryway. The carpet beneath the unfinished wood table was silver-gray where it wasn't stained, but most of all it just looked rather old.

"Mom," Samantha called, "Katy passed out in the backyard."

Katy's mother turned looking towards Sephiroth who resisted the urge to shift restlessly. In his arms, Katy lay limp, her left hand falling from where Sephiroth had tucked it on her chest. "She sleep," Sephiroth added, figuring that he probably should say something before he got pinned with the blame, "Long day."

Moving around the table and into the living room, he placed Katy on the couch where she and her father had been sitting when he left and removed her boots, setting those on the dark hard wood floor near the front door, then took the green blanket crumpled mostly on the floor nearby and covered his fiancée with it. She shifted slightly, murmuring softly with a faint smile touching her lips, "Seph..." Brushing her bangs back from her face, then took her glasses, folded them and placed them on the table next to the couch, Sephiroth couldn't help the smile that pulled at one corner of his lips and finally he stood, turning to face Samantha who looked him over critically.

Katy hadn't told him much about her parents or sister and her expression was some strange mix that he couldn't read. Though she was a small woman, Sephiroth's insides shriveled with an emotion he'd not felt in years: fear. Somehow, he felt as if he really did need Samantha's permission before touching her little sister. The lack of real control in the situation made him shift his weight uncertainly, but military control kept him from dropping his eyes. If only he could understand more of Katy's language, though he figured he was doing pretty good so far, after all, he could understand a few full sentences. It was just the conjugation of present and past tense and articles he didn't quite have yet. He knew you used 'the' when it was a single object you were speaking about, such as 'the backyard'. People were different, though and didn't have any sort of polite suffixes on their names such as 'san' or 'sama' and they seemed to be rather disrespectful to each other in that they used their names to speak to each other too- except 'mom' and 'dad'. It was... complicated, but nothing he couldn't work out eventually.

Thankfully a distraction came when Zack tapped his knuckles on the back door lightly before opening it and stepping in, feet bare and carrying his boots. He gave a bright smile and looked around, "Good afternoon," he said to Katy's mother as she turned to look at him. Moving around the table, Zack headed into the living room, eyes roaming around. "Not all that different," he said, "I was expecting something a bit more exotic."

"Like what?" Sephiroth asked a bit sourly, more than grateful for the distraction, "Hanging from the ceiling to eat dinner?"

Zack gave a laugh as he wandered in, looking around curiously before finding the front hall where he dropped his boots. "Nah, that'd just be awkward. So, who's this?" he turned towards Samantha with a disarming grin.

Gesturing vaguely, Sephiroth replied, "Samantha, Katy's older sister. The woman in the kitchen is her mother."

Stepping forward, Zack gave a respectful bow to Samantha, "A pleasure to meet you!" he said.

A giggle to the side announced Aerith who had been heading over to drop her own boots with the others, "Don't flirt, I might get jealous!"

Being that Sephiroth was the only one who could really speak both languages that came from his world, he looked towards Samantha, pointing first at Zack and started introductions as Cloud and Tifa entered, Tifa and Aerith following Zack's example and put their boots in the front hall, "This Zack, Aerith, Tifa, Cloud," then with a gesture- which included himself and Katy who lay sleeping on the couch still, "We- are all SCYTHE." He took a gamble and used a word he hadn't used before. This 'are' word that sounded like the letter 'R' but seemed to be the appropriate one for conjugation purposes.

Samantha swallowed, giving a nod and put her hand to her chest, "I'm Samantha," she replied.

"So that's Katy's sister," Cloud stated, "that means she's a Cetra too, right?" He shifted from one bare foot to the other, feeling and looking out of place next to the cast iron trivets hung on the wall next to his head near the backdoor, still holding his boots.

Aerith, with a smile drifted over to the couch and had a seat on the floor next to it, tucking her feet under her as Sephiroth followed her example in having a seat near Katy and answered, "Yes, but she probably doesn't know how to use her powers." Zack, of course, flopped to the floor next to Aerith, putting his arm around her shoulders and Tifa took a seat on the hearth, looking in at the gas log that was set in the fireplace instead of a real fire. She couldn't tell the difference except for the pilot light clinging to one of the pipes she could see on further inspection.

Finally, Cloud followed the others and had a seat as well, taking the shorter couch that was currently unoccupied- its back facing towards the dinning room but he sat sideways in it and crossed his legs. Sephiroth turned towards Samantha once more, "Where is Matt and Dad?" he asked taking another guess at conjugation. As for knowing Samantha's boyfriend's name, Katy had told him as much as she could about her family before she forgot it.

Samantha blinked, brown brows raising slightly, and instead of using an overly simple sentence, she chose to speak a bit more normally. "They went to the store," she replied. Shifting, Samantha looked at the others who continued conversing with each other about various things they'd expected of a home on another world. "Want something to drink?"

"Do you want something to drink?" Sephiroth translated.

Zack looked up, then shook his head. "What's available?" Tifa asked.

Turning back towards Samantha and choosing his words carefully, he replied, "What do you have?" He relaxed a bit when Samantha didn't start laughing or look offended.

Samantha pushed her hair behind her ear with one hand as she replied, "Water, tea, and milk." Repeating the choices and the caution that the tea wasn't the same as what they thought tea should be, to those interested in having something to drink. Cloud voted for milk while Tifa and Aerith took water. Zack changed his mind after he'd initially said tea and took water as well. Repeating the order for Samantha, she paused, "What about you?"

"Nothing, thank you," Sephiroth replied after a pause in which he'd taken a moment to think about what she'd said and file this new word 'about' into his head. Finally he too removed his boots as Samantha departed.

Aerith hmmed softly, "You're really good at that," she said somewhat out of the blue. "You sound just like they do."

Pushing his hair back over his shoulder as he straightened from removing his boots, Sephiroth looked towards the small half-Cetra, "It isn't a very difficult language," he answered blandly, "It does have a lot of words that are similar but mean different things... Like 'china'," he added, which got a snigger from Zack- and a peek from Samantha in the kitchen who was filling glasses with water and ice from the fridge- how convenient!

Samantha returned, handing out the drinks as Sephiroth removed Masamune from his back and leaned it against the wall out of the way. Though, she had to make a few trips to get them all handed out to everyone as she couldn't hold that many glasses in her hand. Finally, he took a seat on the floor, leaning against the couch near Katy's head. She shifted slightly, eyes opening a bit as she rolled onto her side and slid an arm out from beneath the blanket to put around Seph's shoulder. "How'd I get in here?" she asked sleepily.

"You passed out," Sephiroth replied, "I don't think attempting any more big spells today is a good idea."

Heaving a sigh, Katy put her chin on his other shoulder. "But-" she started to protest.

Half turning his head, Sephiroth looked at he, "No, nothing more today. You do have limits, Katy; accept it. I can understand enough to translate when you're not around."

Giving another sigh, Katy half closed her eyes. "Where'd my glasses go?"

"On the table. Matt and your father went to the store."

Pulling her feet up, she shifted, sitting up. "Come sit up here," Katy said and obediently, he shifted to sit on the couch, Katy immediately draping herself across his lap. "Hey Blinkin," she said rather suddenly, looking towards Samantha, "who blew up the high school?"

Taking a seat on the edge of the couch next to Cloud, Samantha folded her hands in her lap. "Some kid named Chris Flowers. They haven't found any traces of bombs or anything either. Like he did it with magic somehow..."

Katy nodded, then blinked, "Hey- was it... yeah. I think so- that tall scrawny kid from my programming class. He always seemed a little odd."

Samantha smirked a bit, "Worse than you?"

Giving a grin, Katy flashed a victory sign and wink, "Yeah, worse than me, he would gobble in class sometimes. It was funny in a weird way. I didn't talk to him much though, he wasn't always in class and I had..." she dropped her eyes. "Michow."

"Where is she?" Samantha asked, leaning back in the couch finally. Cloud shifted away from her a bit more, seeming somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of sitting next to her.

Swallowing, Katy shifted into a more comfortable position on Sephiroth's lap, aware that they could only understand half this conversation, "She's kind of... not human anymore." Giving a shake of her head, "I'll tell you later, okay? These guys are hearing half a conversation and its all old stuff to them." She gestured towards the other members of SCYTHE.

Samantha frowned faintly, but only a moment, "So are they really...?"

"Yes," Katy replied shortly. "Um- my room? Is it still...?"

Taking the subject change, Samantha nodded, running her hand through her hair once again, pulling a lock of it around to poke against her finger absently, "Yeah, though we cleaned it up a bit."

"Are my pictures still up?" Katy asked. "I was thinking having the guys sleep in dad's music room, girls upstairs in mine."

Shrugging, Sam replied, "Yeah, they're still up." She had no comment on the sleeping arrangements. She didn't live there anymore.

Stretching, Katy absently rubbed Sephiroth's knee, "Downtown was torn up- what happened? Is your place alright still?"

"Yeah, our place is still there, most of the back roads between here and there are still passable. We don't know what happened really. After the rains stopped there was a really big thunderstorm with tornados that tore up a lot of the place. It's amazing so few people died but we're not the only area getting torn up with weird weather. There was some guy in a red cape that was healing people and killing the monsters that kept showing up."

Katy's answer was a soft hmm. Sephiroth, who'd been following as much of the conversation as he could spoke up in that moment of silence, "The rain is from wind crossing the world-boarder." This got a rather astonished look from Katy.

For a moment, Samantha paused, perhaps confused with his bad choice of words or perhaps the subject, "Ah," she said finally, puling one foot up onto the couch with her.

"Dang, Seph, that's really good," Katy told him and grinned, "I'm glad you picked it up with as fast as I kept throwing words at you." Leaning closer, she kissed his cheek and snuggled against his chest. Before the conversation could continue the front screen door opened with a hiss and clunk, heralding Matt and Katy's father's entrance. In their hands were some blue plastic bags, and with only a glance in the direction of their guests they headed straight into the kitchen.

Yawning, Katy put her feet on the floor and stood, swaying a bit and Sephiroth reached out, catching her before she fell. "Sit," he told her, "You need more rest."

Waving his hands off, she shook her head, "I need to do something." Prying his hands loose and picking up her glasses, she headed out of the living room and up the stairs. Samantha stood, collecting a kiss from Matt before heading after her sister.

Cloud sighed, "It's kinda irritating to not be able to understand most of what's going on around me," he commented, removing his gloves and rubbing the back of his neck.

Aerith laughed softly, "This is probably what Katy went though on our world. She'll have that translation spell fixed soon." Katy returned at last, somewhat leaning on her older sister for support. She looked tired and Sephiroth sighed at her stubbornness.

"Aerith, Tif? You girls mind sharing the bed with me? There's not enough room upstairs to put out sleeping bags and stuff. My bed's pretty big though." Katy asked, returning to cover Sephiroth's lap once more, pulling Seph's arm around herself. Admittedly, Seph did like having her there, but the look her father was giving him was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Resolutely, he ignored the look and urge to find a hole to hide in. It wasn't like he and Katy could really get away from each other, considering the dreams they shared.

Tifa shook her head and Aerith answered, "Not at all."

"What about us?" Cloud asked.

Katy grinned, "There's a fold down couch in the other room and enough room on the floor for two even then."

Zack sighed, "I guess Sephiroth gets the couch."

"I don't care," Sephiroth replied, he really didn't, unlike most of the officers in SOLDIER, Sephiroth hadn't really wanted all the comforts and privileges of rank. His regulars hadn't gotten half the crap their commanders did, so Sephiroth had opted to ditch the other officers and continue living like one of the regulars during the war. He was more comfortable that way anyway. It kept him alert and aware of what was going on around him- and inadvertently made the SOLDIERS more loyal to him- which didn't hurt.

Flipping his hand, Zack leaned back against the couch, "Feh, Seph, just take it."

Frowning faintly, Sephiroth shook his head, "No," he decided, "Cloud can have it."

Blinking, the blonde stared at Sephiroth, opening his mouth to protest but closed it at Sephiroth's look. "Yes sir," Cloud mumbled, looking away.

Sighing, Zack shoved a hand through his hair, "Shoulda known he was gonna do that," he muttered. Katy sniggered, putting her glasses atop her head for a moment while she rubbed her face with both hands. "Hey, Katy, where's the bathroom?" Zack's asked rather out of the blue.

Blinking, Katy put her glasses on again, pointing, "That way, second door, works the same as yours." Zack stood and headed off. Aerith shifted, getting up to sit on the other end of the couch from Katy and Sephiroth. Tifa shifted, stretching her legs out in front of her, hands dangling between her knees as she leaned forward. Silence fell again as they waited for dinner to be finished. Katy's father went back the direction Zack had gone, but returned with a guitar which he began picking at. He wasn't an expert, but was good enough to play a song or two and that filled the silence for a time.


At last Katy had ironed out the translation spell to work on everyone else. It was somewhat strange to be saying things in one language but have them come out the other, but Zack figured he could get used to it- though it was more like he had to. Remembering what Katy had said about how she'd figured out how to make it work in the first place, he simply ignored what he heard himself say.

They had been living in Katy's house for four days now, the girls upstairs in Katy's room, the boys downstairs in Katy's Dad's music room- it wasn't the most comfortable of accommodations, but he'd gotten a few good pictures of the girls tangled up together on Katy's bed... that was worth the beating he'd received the day Tifa found out, but Katy had laughed and posted the picture on something called the 'internet'. Katy's mother was an excellent cook, though quite often, Aerith and Tifa helped and they'd had some of Katy's native foods like 'Hamburgers' and 'pork ribs'. Somehow, they'd managed to all fit at the table in the dining room every night- though Samantha and Matt weren't always with them. Breakfast and lunch were always whatever you found.

It was their fifth night on Earth and they were eating some tomato sauce and noodles type of dish called spaghetti, which seemed to be one of Katy's favorites for she'd been asking for it all day. At least she was too busy eating to talk. Talk went on around her though. "Is there nothing that can be done about these monsters?" Jenine, Katy's mother asked. Sephiroth, too, had been silently brooding over his dinner, perhaps pissed about not getting any time alone with Katy since her return home. Or maybe it was her father- who had even gone so far as to clean his guns while Sephiroth was in the room, occasionally looking over and smiling... just smiling... It made Zack incredibly glad Aerith's father was dead.

Glancing around and finding that no one else was going to answer that question, Zack replied, "Yes and no. We tried stabilizing the boarder into one gate, but it shattered after we got through and drained Katy immensely while it was up. So the only thing we can do is kill them as they come. At least, that's the way it looks right now."

Bill, Katy's father, wiped his plate with a piece of buttered bread and spoke after swallowing, "So is that what you plan on doing?"

Zack shook his head, "No, we're here to find Vincent, so if you've seen him, it'd be nice to know which way he went." Bill shook his head, lifted a hand and shoved his hair back from his face.

Tifa took a sip of water and spoke up at last, "So- where's this video game we come from?"

Silence fell briefly, Katy looking quite pale. Sephiroth stopped eating for a moment, lifting his eyes and looking around the table in... confusion? Finally, Katy glared, "Aerith! I can't believe you told them! I was going to get around to it!" she hissed.

Aerith lifted her hands, "I only told Zack!" she defended.

"I only told Cloud," Zack added, looking sheepish.

Cloud looked down, "I told Tifa."

Silence fell again.

Sephiroth stared down at Katy, "So what is this about a video game?" he asked softly... dangerously.

Scraping her fork back and forth across her plate with soft squeaks, she stared at it, "Yeah, hm... it's how I knew what was supposed to happen." She mumbled. "I'd decided to tell Aerith first- see what kind of reaction I'd get. I didn't want to scare anyone..."

"So Aerith told Zack who told Cloud who told Tifa... And no one told me?" Sephiroth asked, glaring at Katy.

Katy slid down in her chair, "sorry..." she muttered.

Unexpectedly, he stood, sliding around behind the chairs and left the room. "Oh hell," Katy muttered and got up as well, ignoring her father's look for saying words like that The front door slammed shut- opened, shut again, only more softly.

Zack cleared his throat and said cheerfully, "I think I'll have seconds..."


Sephiroth sat unceremoniously in the grass of the front yard heedless of the dew that had already settled on it, draping his arms on his knees, scowling straight ahead. "Do you trust me so little?" he asked sourly, aware that Katy had followed him.

Slowly, she came forward and knelt beside him, sitting on her feet, hands in her lap, "No, that's not it-" she stared down at the grass in the half-light of the sunset.

"Then why didn't you tell me this in the first place?" He didn't sound angry, which was the most frightening thing to Katy. After a second of thought, he retreated behind his mask of cool indifference. It was a upsetting thing to watch- how his jaw relaxed; eyes became half-lidded; corners of his lips pulled faintly downwards.

She sat on the ground finally, staring down at her hands still, "Look- I'm sorry! I didn't know how anyone would react. It's... it's a weird thing- to get told you're from a friggen video game- to be told that people probably are fantasizing about you right now, writing Lemons and self inserts, drawing Hentai pictures of you with people you'd sooner stab than kiss without a care in the world for your actual preferences. It's really kind of ... disgusting now that you're not just a fantasy."

He didn't look at her, didn't have the slightest interest in looking at her at that moment. "And did you write those sorts of things?"

Katy licked her lips, "Only about you and Aerith, but hey, Zack was dead and you've obviously got a thing for Cetra..." He muttered to himself. Pulling her knees against her chest, she wrapped her arms around them, one hand removing her glasses. "I'm sorry- I did intend to tell you, I just didn't know how anyone would react! I was going to tell everyone one at a time."

"You've said that already," Sephiroth pointed out a bit coldly.

Swallowing, Katy forced herself to lift her head, "Alright, fine," she stopped, checking her tone of voice and what she was going to say. A hasty 'fine, just be that way' would piss him off, she'd lose him in a second. The key lay in being calm, adult... "Sorry."

"You've said that too."

Grinding her teeth, Katy lashed out before she could stop herself, "Then what the hell else is there TO say? It's done. You know. Everyone knows."

"It's not the information," Sephiroth said softly.

Swallowing her next words, Katy looked down again. "Yeah, I guess I am a fucking hypocrite... talking of trust and giving none. Sorry I couldn't be perfect for you. I tried." She stood, "Good night." She drifted back inside, heading upstairs, removed her clothes, pulled on a nightshirt, brushed her teeth with a little too much force, and crawled into bed.