Zeph was a mild, paranoid, and generally meek child. He used to be a little bolder with a sister to protect, but now he was settling into another home and he felt like he was at the bottom of the totem pole. It was as expected until he found his place in the family. They were patient, kind people that were growing on him quickly.

Now that he had a silver sword in his possession, however, he felt much more confident. He felt a little more like himself. That blade would be a way for him to stop any other werewolves from eating anyone else if he could help it, and he hoped Cloud's training could help him with that goal.

Cloud had seemed less than enthused over Barret gifting the children weapons, but Zeph could understand that. Weapons were a big responsibility, Cloud had told him and even showed him the care he took with his swords. But that was fine, Zeph thought. Care should be put into something as precious as a weapon, especially one that can kill werewolves.

"Okay, now that you're both done almost killin' me...I hope." Cloud sighed as he warily looked at the shiny weapons in Zeph's and Denzel's hands as they stood in the alley behind the bar. Zeph had almost slashed Cloud with his sword just a minute ago as the warrior tried to help him properly hold his sword. Denzel had smashed one of the ends of his rod into Cloud's knee when he swung it as he put the weapon into a battle ready position, causing the warrior to grunt in pain and hold his kneecap for a few moments.

He may be a warrior, but Zeph supposed getting clubbed like that was still jarring.

"Let's start on a basic stance. Your footwork is just as important in battle as your weapon. If you don't keep your balance while swingin' your weapon, you may as well just let the monster eat you." Cloud walked over to Denzel and crouched down to move his feet into the position he wanted them to be at. He moved over to Zeph and did the same thing before standing up, taking several steps back, and crossing his arms. "Like that," Cloud said with a nod of his head.

One foot out, the other back just a little bit with the foot at a slight angle. Denzel looked up after studying his feet. "But don't we move a lot during fights?"

"Yeah. Where to put your feet when you aren't moving is important, though." Cloud took out two of his swords, then put himself in the stance he had the children in. "I'm gonna move around, but my feet are gonna end up in that stance. It's second nature for me, and it'll be second nature for you, too."

Cloud moved about, twirling his swords artfully through the air. He stopped, and his feet were in position. Again he moved about and again he landed his feet in that stance. He put his swords back in his sheath and nodded. "It'll take time and practice, but if I can do it, I'm sure you guys have a fighting chance to do it too," he said with a wry grin.

Zeph looked down at his feet, wobbled a little, and fell out of the stance. He rubbed the back of his head and looked up at Cloud, who was watching him with his arms crossed again. "Oh."

"Put your feet back into position," Cloud said. It was a gentle command.

Zeph bit his lip before trying to get his feet just right. After a little while Cloud came over to correct him. The blond warrior pat his shoulder when he was done. "There."

Cloud looked over at Denzel and then moved in front of him. "You too, Denzel. Move your feet into position."

The brown haired boy looked reluctant to mess up the stance he was still in. After a moment he shifted his feet, then tried his luck remembering the stance. Cloud bent down and corrected it, then stood up. He walked in between the two boys and mimicked their stance. "We'll do it together, okay?"

The next half hour was Cloud calling out two orders: To stand straight, and to go into the basic stance he was teaching them. He corrected them here and there, and eventually they had it mostly down. Cloud patted their shoulders before walking in front of them and turning to face them. "Good, you're getting it."

Next he began showing them how to do basic swipes. Cloud separated the two boys further before going over to Denzel and positioning the hands on his rod. He then stood fifteen feet in front of them and took out a sword. "This is more for you, Zeph." He turned his head to look at Denzel. "You can sorta do the same, it's just a little clumsier..."

Cloud brought his blade down neatly, then did it a few more times. "This basic form is easy, you two should have it down in no time."

Zeph and Denzel looked at each other, then looked at the weapons in their hands. They both tried the chop, their form steadily growing more steady as they practiced and Cloud corrected.

"Good. Make sure you have a solid grasp of this basic form before we go into any kind of defensive positions." Cloud walked over to Denzel as he gave the air thwacks with his rod.

Zeph continued to focus on his basic swordwork as Cloud helped Denzel with his rod. He felt much more confident now than he had when they first started, but he knew there would be more difficult things to learn later. During lunch Denzel quietly talked to him about things called Spirit Attacks, and other times called Limits.

Denzel had explained that they were special techniques that a person could do when they were angry or desperate enough in battle. He claimed he had done it once with a metal rod to bust open a water pipe to stop one of those strange monsters that appeared in Edge while a dragon attacked the Plaza. When Zeph looked skeptical of the story Denzel rolled his eyes and told him that he didn't care if he believed him or not.

Well, maybe it was true. Cloud and even Tifa said it was possible to do. Maybe one day he would learn how to do one.

"Hey, Spiky! Think I could talk to ya before I left?" Barret had appeared in the alley they were training in, from behind the corner of the bar. He was smiling and waving. He had said his goodbyes with Nanaki right before practice; Barret had wished them good luck with their training. Nanaki wished them well and said he would be back again for a visit.

Zeph was disappointed that they had to leave. Barret was like Cloud and Tifa, he made a place feel safe and secure. Nanaki was probably the only one of their friends that could sniff out a werewolf, unless there were a few others like him that Zeph hadn't been told about yet.

Cloud looked back at the children with a nod. "Keep practicing. I'll be back." He walked off towards Barret, and before he disappeared behind the bar he was given a hearty pat on the back that pushed him forward a step.

Zeph continued to practice as told, thinking about his future with a silver weapon by his side. Sure, werewolves were rare. They had to be. But there was no way he was taking a chance at coming close to one without his sword. He looked over at Denzel, the boy working on his thrusts. "They won't allow these at school, will they?"

Denzel turned, moved his bangs out of his eyes, then shook his head. "You aren't supposed to have weapons at school. I don't think anything is gonna attack us there, though."

Zeph grunted, then did a few more slices through the air. "Denzel, you think we'll ever meet a werewolf?" He called out to Denzel as the adults talked out of sight.

Denzel hummed to himself while swinging his rod again. "What if we already did? They look like anyone else most of the time..."

The blond boy nodded before finishing another swing. "That's true. I guess that's what makes them scary, they could be anyone." He had a disgusted look form on his face. "Bastards..."

Denzel couldn't help but frown. "What if there's good ones out there, that don't eat people?"

Zeph moved his hair out of his face, his black band trying but failing to keep his long bangs away from his eyes. He looked towards Denzel and snorted. "A good werewolf? Sounds like a fairy tale." He swung again, more forcefully this time. "One of 'em took my sister."

A good werewolf. That sounded like a joke to him. Something that liked the taste of raw flesh and the scent of fear couldn't ever be good. Zeph couldn't blame Denzel for harboring a hope such as that, of course. He hadn't been kidnapped by such a monster and tortured underground with no chance of escape.

It was such a horrible thing that a person could be twisted into a monstrosity like that, he thought. It was a miracle that none of his rescuers were infected in the process. What would they have done if one of their friends had been bitten or scratched? Would they try and save them? It would have been futile. Zeph narrowed his eyes as he cut again. Such a horrible thing...

He heard Denzel sigh next to him, still practicing his swing. Zeph liked Denzel, but his curiosity and hopeful optimism on the subject of werewolves was just strange to him. "Guess we'll see..." Denzel mumbled.