During the past hour, Bella and the stranger conversed enthusiastically, and found out that they shared quite a few interests. Soon, Bella had grown quite a liking to the stranger. And it seemed the feeling was mutual.

"Apparently, President Shinra's meant to be on this train…the richest man in the country." Cloud declared.

Bella looked at him a little warily, noting the expression on his face. It was a strange expression...a kind of impish one.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird though…that he's taking a public train…you'd think he'd have his own train…"

"That's true. But what's really interesting is that he reserved a whole carriage. And what makes it even more suspicious is the amount of security guards and policemen protecting it…"

Bella looked at him even more warily…He seems to have thought about this quite a bit… "It gives me an uneasy feeling though. Knowing that the richest man in the country is on our train and taking into account the current rash of train robberies…"

There was a slight silence for a minute.

"White nail polish…Getting into the winter spirit?" Cloud asked, changing the subject.

Bella looked down at her nails and then looked at Cloud, she smiled. "No…I just thought white's different. Plus my mother doesn't like black and white nail polish…Guess you could say I was being rebellious…."

He let out a small laugh and leaned back in his chair, keeping his eyes on Bella. His eyes moved from her face down to her neck, where he spotted a long necklace with a unique charm on it. It was a white cloud, with a silver lining around it.

"Can I see it…?" He asked pointing at her necklace.

"Uh…Sure. It's a lucky charm. A lucky Cloud." She said looking at her necklace. She pointed to her necklace, "Cloud," then pointed to Cloud, "Cloud." A humourous grin appeared on her face and the same on Clouds.

"My grandmother gave it to me…she gave it to me, right before she… uh…she past." Bella ended and leaned in a little closer to Cloud, so he could examine her necklace.

He looked at her compassionately, "I'm sorry…"

"Oh it's alright; it was along time ago…I was young and she gave it to me to help me deal with the situation. It was a kind of reassuring thing, I suppose. She told me that every cloud has a silver lining and that there'd be a silver lining to her death. It helped a lot." She reassured. She grabbed her pendant, with the necklace still around her neck, and gave it to Cloud to take a closer look.

Cloud reached out his hand and began to grab the necklace, when suddenly the lights in the train turned off. The train filled with darkness.

Then there was a slight jolt and the train's speed increased.

Bella gripped the armrests of her seat. Her heart began to race in fear. What's going on…?

There was a sudden uncomfortable silence. Then the whole carriage filled with screams; the screams of children and adults. Bella suddenly felt sick; sick from the disturbing feeling of terror that encircled the air in the carriage.

Cloud looked around in the darkness, surprised. Then his face immediately turned to Bella.

"Are you ok?" He asked. He was unable to see her face, but he could just make out her outline.

Bella didn't answer. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She was petrified. Remembering an article on a recent newspaper, it read: "TRAIN ROBBERS LEAVE NO WITNESSES", her fear grew stronger.

"Bella? Are you alright?" He repeated.

"Well…I'm absolutely petrified, I feel like puking, my heart is racing a million times a minute, and my hands can't stop shaking. But other then that…I'm just peachy." She replied breathlessly, after recovering her voice. Surprised at what she had just unexpectedly said.

"Well, glad to hear it." He replied sarcastically. "Now, I'm going to go see what's going on...I'll be right back." Cloud told her calmly.

He stood up and was about to turn out of their row when a force pulled him back, forcing him to stop. He spun around and found Bella's hand gripping onto his wrist.

"Don't go!" She squeaked, "Don't leave me…alone." her breathing becoming louder and faster. Tears filled her eyes and her body began to heat up. Cloud could tell she was practically on the verge of a panic attack.

He sat back down and replaced her grip on his wrist with his hand. He held her hand tightly with his left hand and with his right, he gently grabbed her other hand and held it to his chest.

"Feel my chest" He told her softly as he breathed calmly, "I need you to follow my breaths, ok? When I breathe in you breathe in and do the same with breathing out." He instructed.

Bella nodded slowly.

His left hand let go of her grip and he straightened her hand out, and then held it up to her chest.

"Remember follow me." He whispered.

He inhaled, "In".

She followed suit.

He exhaled, "out".

She did as he did.

A few seconds had past and Cloud could feel her breathing rate slowly return to normal.

He let go of her hands and wiped her panicked tears from her face. "That's better." He whispered.

She flashed a small smile.

He lifted his hands and gently gripped Bella's arms. "I need to go…"

Bella stared at his dark figure. The truth was she didn't want him to go and leave her alone. She was frightened. But she knew nothing she could say would change his mind. So she decided to let him go.

She nodded her head. "Ok…"

He let go of her arms and stood up. Bella watched his outline slide out of their row and walk down the isle towards the front of the train.

As soon as his dark figure had blended into the darkness, Bella leaned back and pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them tightly. In her mind, all the background noise faded to low murmurs. She sat in her own silence, too scared to move. She closed her eyes and tried to erase the frightening robbery thoughts out of her head. And surprisingly it worked. The only thought left in her mind was…Cloud.

She hoped he'd be safe and would come back.

She then remembered her necklace. She gripped her pendant and closed her eyes tighter.

"Stay safe Cloud…Please keep him safe…"

With that she leaned back into her chair and slowly fell asleep.