Okay, so most of you are probably going to be a little disappointed by this chapter. It isn't actually continuing the story line from where it left off in the last chapter, as in it's not going to be jumping straight to The Beach chapter. I spent a lot of time thinking about if I really wanted to include this chapter or not, but in the end I decided to for a few reasons. Mainly I wasn't very comfortable just skipping three weeks ahead to when the class trip is, but the other reason is that I felt this would be as good a time as any to introduce a few new characters that will be playing important roles later in the story.

A huge thanks to Ancielle for her help in beta-ing this chapter!

Intermission: New Faces

The party sure was crazy, Cloud thought as he parked Fenrir and walked up the front steps of the school. Hopefully things won't be too awkward with Aerith and Zack… It was the Monday after the party, and Cloud hadn't seen either of them since.

As he walked through the front doors of the school, Cloud heard a strange noise coming from Barret's office. Against his better instincts, Cloud decided to investigate so he walked over and opened the door before peaking inside. He was surprised to see Barret standing in the middle of the room, holding a young, laughing girl in the air and spinning her around over his head. Even more surprising, Barret was also smiling and laughing, which was the sound Cloud hadn't been able to place before.

The moment Barret noticed Cloud in the doorway, however, he set the girl down and directed his usual glower at him. Before he started speaking, he covered the girl's ears with his thumb and middle finger, able to do it with his one hand since it was so large compared to her head.

"The next time you fucking come into my office without knocking, Cloud, I swear I will kick your sorry ass so hard you won't know what the hell hit you," he yelled, although he made sure it wasn't so loud that the girl would still be able to hear it.

"I'm sorry sir, I was just…" Cloud stammered, but Barret cut him off before he could finish.

"I don't care what kind of lame ass excuse you might have, just make sure it doesn't happen again," he growled. "Oh, and uh, you better not talk about anything you saw or else…"

"I understand. Sorry, I promise it won't happen again!" Cloud said in a rush as he jumped backwards and slammed the door shut. "Wow…"

"So, I see you've met Marlene."

Cloud turned around and saw Tifa smiling at him. "Marlene? Who's that?"

"The little girl with Barret, she's his daughter."

"What?" Cloud exclaimed in shock. "Barret's married?"

"That's right, although his wife actually passed away two years ago. Barret doesn't like people to think he has a soft side though, so he tries to hide it. Everyone knows about Marlene, however, so you can ignore whatever threat I'm sure he made."

"That's a relief."

"Hey you two, what's going on?" Aerith asked, having just walked in through the front doors.

"Not much," Tifa replied. "Cloud just walked in on Barret playing with Marlene, it was pretty amusing."

"Oh you've met her now! Isn't she so adorable? I've babysat her in the past a few times when Myrna was still alive," Aerith explained.

Before Cloud could reply, the bell rang indicating that classes were starting in five minutes. The three of them hurried for the classroom so they could get seats next to each other.

One week later

Hand in hand, Cloud and Aerith walked into the weapons training room. Cloud felt that things between him and Aerith were going pretty well now. They weren't officially dating yet, but it was assumed among all their friends. Cloud wasn't sure what exactly he was waiting for before he asked her out, but lately he'd been considering doing it during the upcoming class trip.

Thankfully, Zack seemed to have accepted the fact as well. Lately he'd been hanging out more and more with the two of them, and Cloud was already considering him a good friend. Once Zack had stopped being so possessive over Aerith, he and Cloud had found out that they actually shared a pretty similar list of interests.

As Cloud and Aerith walked over to a corner of the room to practice in, Cloud noticed Cid talking to a woman he'd never seen before. Since Aerith made no mention of it he just ignored it and started to train with her.

When they took a small break after a few minutes, however, he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. "Who's that woman talking with Cid?"

"Hmm? Oh that's right, I forgot you haven't met her yet. That's Shera, she's Cid's wife."

"What? Cid's married too?" Cloud exclaimed, a little too loudly.

Shera started to laugh, but Cid turned to face them and frowned at Cloud. "Something wrong with that?" he asked

"No, not at all!" Cloud said quickly. "You just didn't seem like…"

"The type of person anyone would ever marry? Well, Shera's a little insane, what can I say?"

"I am not!" Shera exclaimed, still laughing. "Once you get over the occasional swearing and smoking Cid's actually a wonderful person," she said to Cloud.

"What? I am not!" Cid declared indignantly. "I'm a mean bastard here to teach kids the basics about fighting so they don't go and get themselves killed. I hate 'em all."

Everyone in the room laughed at that.

"I don't mean to be rude," Aerith began, "but why are you here today Shera? It's pretty rare for you to actually come to the school."

"I know, I needed to talk to Cid about some of the disturbances in the poorer districts of the city."

"What's going on?" Cloud asked.

"Crime is just a lot higher than it usually is for some reason. There have been a lot of burglaries lately and even one fire, although, thankfully, no one has been hurt so far."

"I still don't see what the fuck I'm supposed to do about it…" Cid muttered.

"They just want your help investigating the matter whenever you have time to spare," Shera said. "You're highly respected by everyone there and they're really interested in your take on what's going on."

"Shera works at the police station," Aerith whispered to Cloud in explanation.

"Right, right, I'll see what I can do," Cid sighed.

"Thanks!" Shera said happily, giving Cid a hug before heading for the door. "I've got to get back to work now, good luck with your training, everyone!"

"Take care!" Aerith called out before she and Cloud went back to training.

One week later

Together, Cloud and Aerith walked into their final Materia class of the week, both excited for it to end since the class trip was starting next week. Several steps into the room, Cloud noticed a seemingly new addition.

"Look, Bugenhagen got a new rug," he commented, pointing at the red object on the floor.

"I am not a rug," the not-a-rug replied as it stood up on four legs.

Cloud protectively thrust out his arm to prevent the creature from being able to reach Aerith without getting past him first. He was shocked to notice that it also had a tail, which seemed to be on fire. To his surprise, Aerith burst into laughter behind him and walked past his arm so she could pet the creature's head.

"This is Red, Cloud. He's Bugenhagen's companion."

"Although I prefer to be called Nanaki, Red is just a nickname the kids came up with," Nanaki responded, purring softly in response to Aerith's petting.

"First Barret brings Marlene to the school, then Shera shows up asking Cid for help, and now you. Something big is going on, isn't it Red?" Aerith asked in concern.

"We aren't certain," Nanaki responded evasively. "I can't tell you very much about it, but I suppose it's pointless to try and keep you completely in the dark since you've already noticed as much as you have."

"Okay, so what exactly is going on?" Cloud asked.

"As you may have noticed, or heard about, things out in the city have become much more turbulent than usual in a surprisingly short amount of time. We don't know if it's simply a series of events chained together, or if some group or organization is directing it all. The one thing we do know is it's bad. The Shinra Company has just recently started investigating, but…"

"Enough Nanaki!" Bugenhagen said sharply as he entered the room. "Everyone tells me how amazing it must be to have a cat that can talk as a companion, but when his tongue is so loose, I often view it more as a curse."

"I'm sorry," Nanaki apologized. "I just felt they should know at least the basics of what's going on."

"I know my friend, but for now they need to focus on studying and learning. Outside information such as this will only serve to distract them, but you are right. Sometime in the future, if this continues to escalate, we may need to request their help as well. For now, however, everyone please take your seats. Today, we begin work on advanced Materia such as Fira."

"Think we should start investigating?" Cloud whispered to Aerith as he sat down next to her.

"Absolutely not," she replied firmly. "Bugenhagen is right, this is something for them to handle, we need to focus on learning as much as we can for now."

Cloud sighed in disappointment and started listening as Bugenhagen began explaining about how higher level Materia was more difficult to control.

When the class ended, everyone hurried to the auditorium where Barret was waiting for them.

"As I'm sure all of you already know the class trip begins on Monday."

All the students let out a cheer.

"And as I'm sure you already also know where we're going, thanks to a certain unnamed someone," Barret growled as he looked over at Cid "make sure to pack for the beach."

"I'm so excited!" Aerith exclaimed. "An entire week relaxing on the beach, it's like a dream come true."

"It's going to be so awesome," Tifa agreed.

"There won't be any school work or anything like that," Barret continued. "This is meant to be a small break from your studies to reward you for all the hard effort so far. I'll see you early Monday morning in front of the school," he finished.

"Well, guys, I guess I'll see you Monday morning," Cloud said as they started to leave the school. "I have a bunch of stuff I need to do around the house, not including packing, before we leave, so I won't be able to hang out this weekend," he explained.

"Alright, take care Cloud," Aerith said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll see you on Monday!"

"See you then," Tifa and Vincent both called out as they headed to their cars as well.

Cloud started up Fenrir and headed home, eager for the weekend to be over so he could spend time with all his new friends on the beach.

It's very short, at least compared to the other chapters, but I think from this point on most of the chapters will be. (Although they should be longer then this one at least.) It's either shorter chapters with faster updates or longer chapters with slower updates, so if people really care, let me know. I did manage to tie in the beginning of the main plot line into this chapter though, so in the end, this is actually more of a real chapter although I'm going to leave it titled as an intermission. Hopefully it wasn't too boring. I'd also like to thank everyone who's left a review, it really means a lot to me.

Next Chapter: The Beach