A/N: Thank you to everyone who's still reading in this mostly-dead fandom. I appreciate you very much. This chapter is dedicated to everyone who is bad at making phone calls.

XXX

You've reached the office of Colonel Gerald Taisha of Shinra Incorporated. He is either out of the office, or unable to answer the phone at this moment. Please state your name and number and your call will be returned as soon as possible.

There was a beep, and Sephiroth panicked. He had what he would say all planned out, but he had planned for Taisha to answer the phone.

"Shit, um, sorry. Colonel, this is Sephiroth call—"

"You're not supposed to say shit, Seph." Cloud sat down next to him and wagged his finger.

"Neither are you. Go away, I'm on the phone." He picked up the phone and attempted to retreat to the back of the store, but the cord didn't stretch far enough. "Apologies, sir, this is Sephiroth calling. I wanted to—"

"Are you talking to someone in the big city?"

"Yes, shh. I just wanted to say that—"

"Seph! There are dragon bubble blowers! Can we get—" Cloud came running down the aisle with a brightly-coloured package in his hands.

"Not if you don't shut up, right now. Go wait outside." He snatched the bubbles away and held them up out of Cloud's reach. Cloud tried to grab them a few times before giving up and finally going outside. He turned his attention back to the phone just in time to hear it beep as the messaging system cut him off. "Shit."

"That will be an amusing message for him, at least." The pharmacist, Mr. Perkins leaned over the counter with a smile. "Do you want to try again?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "How much do I owe you?"

"For the call? A gil, if you're offering."

"A gil?" Sephiroth sputtered. "It was long distance! It's bound to be more than that!"

"A gil's plenty, not to worry." Mr. Perkins took the phone back and set it in its place on the counter. "It wasn't a very successful call, after all."

Sephiroth allowed himself a smile. "Well, maybe he'll be able to get a laugh out of it. How much for the bubbles?"

"Cloud's not going to know what to do with himself when you're gone," Mr. Perkins said, shaking his head. "Ten, including the call."

He pulled out the cash and set it in the tray Mr. Perkins kept on the counter. "Thank you."

Cloud was sitting on the step outside, looking glum. "Are you mad at me?"

"No." Sephiroth dropped the package on his head. "I am questioning why I thought it would be a good idea to make that call with you anywhere in the vicinity. My doctor's probably trying to organize a rescue mission for me as we speak."

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"Then why do you have a doctor?"

"Because it's lots of fun to stab me with needles. Did you want those bubbles or not? I can probably get my money back if you're not interested in them."

"I want them!" Cloud tore open the package and extracted two plastic dragons with circles attached to their mouths. He handed one to Sephiroth, then opened the jar that came with them. He dipped the wand end into the jar, pulled it out and blew into the tail. The bubble mix sputtered a bit and dripped onto the ground.

"Impressive. I can see why I wasted ten gil on you."

"It's hard!"

"Uh-huh." Sephiroth tried with his dragon, but blew gently. A dozen or so bubbles floated away on the breeze. "Very difficult."

"How'd you do that?" Cloud snatched the jar away and tried again, with similar results to his first attempt.

"Blow gently. You're bursting the bubbles before they can even form. Like this." He showed Cloud again, emphasizing how carefully he was blowing.

It took a few more tries, but Cloud got to the point where he could almost always get at least a few bubbles, and he grinned happily.

"Sephiroth! There's someone on the phone for you!" Tifa came running down the street, hollering at the top of her lungs.

"You stay here," Sephiroth ordered as he stood. "Guard the bubbles." Perhaps having a mission of some sort would keep Cloud from following him and interrupting again.

"Dad said it was really important and to run as fast as I could to find you," Tifa gasped. "You'd better hurry. Ricky went up to your house."

"Thank you. Cloud, maybe you can go after Ricky to tell him Tifa found me."

"Yes, sir!" Cloud saluted with his dragon in hand, splattering all three of them with bubble mix, then took off running.

Bob was on the phone when Sephiroth approached, and he hesitated a moment, but Bob waved him closer.

"Looks like someone found him, Ger. You take care now. Hi to the wife for me. Here he is."

Sephiroth took a deep breath as he lifted the receiver to his ear. "Colonel Taisha, Sephiroth here."

"Afternoon, Sephiroth. I just got your rather interesting message and figured I had better call."

"I apologize for that, sir."

"Not at all; it sounded like you were having fun. Did you get the dragon bubble blowers?"

Sephiroth felt his face heat up—something that had only happened to him once or twice before. "Yes, sir," he said quietly.

"Good to hear. There's nothing quite like a summer afternoon spent blowing bubbles and eating watermelon. Now, what was it that you had wanted to talk to me about?"

"I—I wanted to apologize to you, sir," he blurted the words out in one go, as though apologizing was akin to tearing off a bandage.

"Apologize?"

Shit, he was going to actually make him say it. "Yes, sir. For ..." He hesitated. How the hell had Cloud managed to apologize so sincerely without humiliating himself? Having no pride to begin with probably did it. "I didn't think about what it would have been like for you or the other troops when I went into that compound. I was just trying to show off, and I'm sorry."

The line was silent for several moments, and Sephiroth wondered if he had been cut off. There was no way in hell he could manage that a second time.

"Sir?"

Colonel Taisha cleared his throat. "I have to say, that's not what I was expecting when I saw you had called. You understand that while I played a large role in the decision to send you to Nibelheim, it was a joint decision, and I can't overrule it just be—"

"I'm not asking you to," Sephiroth interrupted, frowning at Taisha's assumption. He hadn't assumed Cloud was just trying to get out of trouble; Taisha could at least give him the benefit of the doubt. "I just wanted to apologize, that's all."

"Oh. Well, in that case, thank you, Sephiroth. Apology accepted. Are you having as miserable a time there as you thought you would?"

"Not really." He saw Cloud through the window, apparently trying to teach Tifa how to blow bubbles properly as well. His success at the task was questionable, and it looked like an argument was brewing. "I think I'm beginning to understand why you sent me here."

"Good. Perhaps by September you'll have figured it out."

"Perhaps. I should go. They just spilled the bubbles." It was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked like tears were forthcoming from both of them.

"Make your own to replace it," Taisha suggested. "Someone there will be able to tell you how."

"Thank you, sir. See you in September."

"Take care."

Sephiroth hung up and handed the phone back to Bob without looking at him. The fact that his apology had been overheard made it worse, and he wondered how much the mayor knew about the events that had led up to him being here.

"That was very brave of you, Sephiroth. You realize that, right?"

He attempted a nonchalant shrug, but didn't think he pulled it off very well. "Do you know how to make bubble mix?"

Bob smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "I think I can help you out with that."