Tifa: advances from the left

Yuffie: advances from the right

Cloud: chomping on a donut, suddenly realizing the two girls Uh…

Uh indeed, Cloud. Uh indeed. Haven't updated in a while… school, as you may have guessed. 10th grade now! Woohoo! 11th in England… I think? Maybe? Dunno, haven't been there for some time… anyway… enjoy!

Cloud: getting sucked in under Tifa and Yuffie

Chapter 6- Ink Blots

The Shin-ra syndicate stared at Cait Sith in awe as he and Mog radiated the orange glow. Heidegger raised his finger, but Scarlet slapped it back down.

"Cait… will this be a problem?" Rufus asked impatiently.

But Cait Sith didn't answer. Instead, his eyes rolled back and he grinned wildly.

"Is this really the Lucky 7's?" Elena asked in alarm.

At that moment, a short, stocky man burst through the door and waddled in.

"And who are you?" Rufus demanded as Mog and Cait Sith suddenly began to rip apart random items in the shed.

"I am Yoshinori Kitase! Now that Hironobu's gone, I think we should make some changes. I changed Lucky 7's a bit. Namely… it's more fun!"

No one knew what he was talking about, but they were all smart enough to figure out that this meant they should run. Well, most of them were. The others (a.k.a. Reno) followed mindlessly.

But no one cares about that right now. Well, I don't anyway. We haven't checked up on Cloud in awhile, have we? Let's go see how that's going…

Cloud wandered down the hallway, switching his sight between the door numbers and the number on the card in his hand. 202… 204… 206. He knocked on the door. A middle aged black man with grey, neat hair and a short beard opened the door. "Ah, Mr. Strife! Come in, come in. Just lay down right here on this sofa."

Cloud did as he was told.

"I suppose you know why you are here?"

"Yes."

"Lots of normal people go to therapy. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I know."

"Okay. We're going to do some tests. Just make yourself comfortable on that sofa there. Now, I will say a series of unrelated words. After each one, I want you to tell me the first word that comes to your mind. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright." He sat down on a chair and looked at a list in his hand. "First word is, table."

"Ceiling."

"Light."

"Ceiling."

"Orange."

"Ceiling."

Dr. Kudo stopped for a second to examine Cloud. "No, don't describe what you see, describe what you think. Helium."

"Helium."

"No, you cannot say the same word I do."

"But that's the first word that came to my mind!"

He sighed in annoyance. "Okay, next test. Here are some blots of ink. I show you one, and you tell me what it reminds you of. Okay?"

"Okay."

He showed him one of the blots.

"Ink."

Kudo dropped the papers, and heaved another sigh. "You know what, I just remembered, I have a thing I have to… do… right now… so you may leave now."

"But I've only been here a few minutes."

"I know, I'm sorry. We will have to reschedule to some later time."

"Okay." Cloud stood up. "I guess I'll just come by later, then?"

"Yeah, sure. Good-bye."

"Bye." Cloud left, turning the corner towards the dormitories where he was staying.

Meanwhile in the evening on the Eastern Continent, Red and Barret were entering the hotel lobby they were staying at.

They were dripping wet.

"So what did we learn today, Barret?"

"Just because the ride says you're so close to the water you can catch the fish with your hands… doesn't mean do it. Sorry, Nanaki."

"Nanaki? That's your name?" the clerk behind the counter blurted.

"Yes…"

"Oh, well I have a message here for you. It came a couple days ago. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Red walked to the counter, took the envelope in his hand with a "Thank you", and walked down the hall with Barret.

"How come you all call me Red XIII? That's my experiment name. Nanaki's my real name."

"Look, Red XIII was the default in the name choice. We didn't really feel like erasing Red XIII and putting in Nanaki."

"But then my grandfather told you my real name."

"But we couldn't just start calling you something different after we had been calling you Red, could we?"

"I don't see why not."

Red opened the envelope, and slipped out the paper (which was rather comical, seeing as he had no thumbs) and opened it.

Nanaki,

We request that you return to Cosmo Canyon as soon as possible. It is about your father. See you soon,

Colt Tamsarian

Headmaster of Cosmo University

"What's it say, Red?"

"It just says I need to go to Cosmo Canyon as quick as I can."

"So you will be leaving?"

"Yeah."

They returned to the room where Cid was and told him.

Cid sighed. "Okay, I understand. When will you be leaving?"

"I was wondering if I could take the Highwind to Cosmo Canyon."

"Sure, okay. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

When Red had said goodbye to everyone, he went with the pilot of the Highwind, and they took off.

"Have you noticed that our people are getting picked off one by one?" Cid said.

"What do you mean?" Barret asked.

"First Cloud left. That wasn't really something to be bummed over… but then Cait, and now Red. Are our annual vacations really that bad…?"

Meanwhile, the airship zoomed through the air. Red sat silently next to the pilot, staring out the windshield.

"Wow… this is weird," the pilot said.

"What?" Red asked.

"Just you and me."

"Where are all the other crew?"

"Back at Moogle Land."

"Don't we need them to help control the ship?"

"Not really. They just tinker around and make it look like they're doing something."

"Oh…"

"Yeah…"

Silence.

"So… what's your name again?"

After a somewhat awkward ride to Cosmo Canyon, Red entered the observatory/university. There are the dorms over there, he thought. I should go say hi to Cloud while I'm here. He went all the way up to the top, where Headmaster Tamsarian's office was. He knocked.

"Come in," a humble voice from inside said.

Red scratched at the doorknob. "Again…"

"Do you need some-"

"No! I got it!"

By some miracle, Red managed to opened the door and enter. He was shocked by what he saw inside.

"Ah, nice to you again Nanaki. This is your father, Seto."

Sure enough, sitting there right next to the headmaster, was a mirror reflection of Red XIII.

Alright, believe it or not, I have posted:) I found the time to work on little bits and pieces of it at different times, sometimes at night, in the morning, or during the day. Also I've been pestered by writer's block for a bit. Well, anyway, thanks for reading, and I swear I'll try to post 7 much sooner.