Rude was a mountain. Few things could shake him. He kept his head in even the most chaotic of situations. If Avalanche attacked the Shinra building headon, he wouldn't move. If President Shinra declared another war, he wouldn't move unless ordered. If he were in a Mako reactor about to go critical, he just might flinch. But for some reason he now stirred.

Rude stood tall and uncrossed his arms. Cloud looked at him curiously, trying to understand the Turk's change in behaviour. Rude looked ahead, then back to Cloud.

"Now's your chance," the bald mountain spoke.

Cloud looked over at Elena, who had found a place to sit, isolating herself. She looked quite depressed. He then started towards her.

Maybe this is a bad idea, and I should just leave her alone.

Aeris turned when I approached. Well, too late for that now, genius.

"Hey Sephiroth, sorry about leaving you to the wolves out there..." She smiled slightly. It wasn't genuine; Clearly she still had a lot on her mind.

I went and stood next to her, leaning on the railing as she did. "Why did you?"

"I figured Hojo had something to say to me, so I thought I'd get it over with. I just didn't think I'd get so angry... Just being within ten feet of him."

"He can do that to the best of us."

A mischevious look crossed her face. "Say, do you ever get the urge to, like, yank out his fingernails one by one?"

"All the time." She giggled.

"Or maybe throw a match into his dirty, greasy hair?" she continued playfully.

"I can't say I haven't dreamed of it," I grinned and laughed gleefully in my mind. That, and switching the labels on all the chemicals in his lab, feeding his files to Dark Nation, and plenty of creative uses for uncooked rice...

She smiled for real and grappled my arm. "You give yourself far too little credit, oh Great Sephiroth."

"Pardon?"

"You tried to get Zack out here to cheer me up first, right?"

"... Is it that obvious?"

"Mmm-hmm. But I feel better already. So, thank you."

"No problem." I was never quite sure how I'd helped exactly. I'd talk about torturing Hojo any day of the week.

She resumed looking out at the stars. I suppose it's because she can't see them from her home in the slums. She was silent for a while. Then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked, puzzled.

"Oh, I was just thinking about... Well, everything." She leaned into me. "Do you ever question it all?"

"Question what, exactly?"

"Why we're here right now. How we got here. Why things turned out this way. What it will mean for the future. Fate, essentially."

"Not at all. I make my own destiny."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself."

"I've never questioned it. I regret some of my past actions, and others I'm proud of. But they were all my actions. You?"

"I'm not so sure. I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself and say there's some big plan for me, but sometimes I look back at everything that's happened... Sometimes it feels like I'm being pushed to follow a certain path." She sighed. "I wish I had your strength."

I would hate to think like that. But then I had to consider that, in her terms, Shinra would be the force pushing me down this path. That made me hate them more than ever.

"Where do you see yourself, say, five years from now?" she inquired.

"Still here at Shinra, most likely."

"When do you think you'll stop working for Shinra?"

"It will depend on the missions I take, and by extension the money I'd be making. At worst, though, I could likely retire in just over ten years. Fifteen, and I could live very comfortably."

"What will you do when you retire?"

I had to think about that. My first instinct was to say 'travel', but I figured there wouldn't be too many places in the world left by now that would be worthwhile visiting. I had already spent a summer at Costa Del Sol (At the behest of Zack, and working on a tan I never managed to acquire), I had already visited Cosmo Canyon once or twice, and then there was Wutai, which I had seen enough of.

"I'm not sure," I answered.

"Hmmm, okay." Then she laughed.

"What is it this time?"

"You really want to know?"

"Uhh, sure?"

"Really really?"

"I don't think I like where this is going." That just made her laugh harder. Great. I've driven her insane. Somehow.

"I was just thinking of how cute you'd look with a little girl."

"... What?"

"A little girl of your own. A daughter. She'd have long silver hair all done up with ribbons and a cute little dress. Or maybe a boy with denim overalls and a fascination for toy cars that get littered all over the stairs. Ohh, it'd be soo cute..."

I briefly tried to picture this, then started to doubt my own sanity. "You're not trying to tell me something... Are you?"

She let go of my arm as she started laughing again, staggering around the balcony, to the point where she had to stop and catch herself on the railing and catch her breath. "No no no!" She took one look at me and continued laughing, leaning on the rail as if she would fall. Yes, she's insane alright.

She finally composed herself. "My my, is the thought of having kids so scary to you?"

"No, I... I haven't really thought about it." Besides, if I'm any indication, the first time they threw a tantrum I'd have to have that section of the house rebuilt... By the Ancients, and I'd have to feed them too...

"Well, now you are! How does that make you feel?"

"Insane." Then I started laughing uproariously. Family, huh?

"Then I guess that leads to my final question: You've picked where we've gone for our dates so far, now it's my turn. Let's go visit an orphanage I know in Sector 3."

"To be fair, in both instances it was all Zack's idea..."

"Oh come on! It'll be so much fun! We'll just pop in for a few minutes and say hi to the kids, I doubt the matron would have any issues with their biggest hero visiting..."

"What's the point of this exactly? To test my abilities as a parent?"

"Not exactly. More to get you thinking about stuff other than work." She looked at me and smiled. "Why do you think Zack drags you all over the place, hmm?"

"To get drunk and have me pay the bill?"

"To get you out of the Shinra building and away from all that. To get you to experience the world. I think he sees what I see: A man who has commited himself to his work. And that's not a bad thing! But you act like there's nothing else out there for you." She waved a finger at me. "And that is a bad thing. You're not just commited; you're consumed."

I found myself starting to get angry at the waif for lecturing me on how I live my life. How dare she try to interfere, I never even asked her out in the first place; That was Zack's setup. But she had a point I couldn't disagree with.

"Work is all I've ever had," I found myself saying.

Yes, another seriously belated update. My bad. I started chapter 8 after finishing 7 one very early morning, and this weird thought came up to have Aeris talk to Sephy about kids. I've always figured that, if Sephy lived a pseudo-normal life, grew up a bit and got married, that he'd have adorable kids and be an excellent father. Though that might be my fangirly-ness talking, consider that he spends the entirety of Final Fantasy 7 focussed on taking the world back for his disembodied head of a mother o.O; It may seem like an odd conversation for the poor guy to get trapped in, but trust me, this is a plot point that's going to define later events and give this story even more credibility ;)

Chapter 9 is started, and will wrap up the dance thing once and for all.