Oh No, There Goes My Halo

Disclaimer: Sephiroth, Aerith and all other characters mentioned in this fic solely belong to Square Enix and Disney.

A/N: I realised there wasn't that much humour in the others, so I tried to make up for this with flashfic #05. Now I have to tell you, this one kind of deserves the T rating, depending on your perspective. I think.

#05. compromising rainbows

"This sucks."

Storm murmured in agreement. Both turned away from their secret hideout, dismayed to find that after a week's worth of rain the Waterway had finally been submerged under. Even the chasm, once bone-dry, resembled something of a lagoon. Chip looked back mournfully. "Maybe we could just go for a dip in the water, as in really quick-like." Storm gave him a long, unenthused look.

"O-kay then, we won't. Jeez."

Chip sighed loudly, producing a visible puff of air. The sky was a deep, ominous gray, threatening to drown the kingdom further in rain. They were as of yet to be so lucky. Slowly the two boys trudged off back to the kingdom gates, where they found the girl they rescued from before standing there, watching them. One could have guessed she had been waiting there the whole time.

"You again," Chip said, eyeing her suspiciously, though Storm noticed his walk had instantly turned into some sort of bizarre strut. He turned away and coughed.

"Why, good morning to you too, mister grouchy," the girl – Aerith Storm remembered her calling herself – replied. Her gaze wandered sternly over both him and Chip. "Why didn't you guys wait for me? I wanted to go to the hideout as well, you know!"

"You can't. It's flooded," Storm said, somberly nodding his head as Aerith gasped. "There's no way we can get in there."

"Really? Aww, but I really like that place. It was so much fun last time." Chip found this a fine, opportunistic moment to snort. "So what are we gonna do now?" she pressed. Chip was about to open his mouth to disagree on her choice of wording but Storm immediately cut him off.

"Remember what we agreed to," he reminded him, "now that she knows about our hideout, she's one of us now."

Giggling delightedly at Chip's face, Aerith poked her tongue out at him. "Yeah Zack, I'm one of you guys now."

"The name is Chip, you got that? Chip! C-h-i-p-p!"

"Uh, it's one 'p', Chip."

"One p!" Chip corrected himself, looking flustered.

Aerith turned to look at Storm with a hopeful expression on her face. "Does this mean I get a codename too?"

Storm crossed his arms in a sudden turn of going all business-like. "Yes" – Aerith made a little whoop of joy, hopping up and down excitedly – "but first, you have to acknowledge the Terms of the Pact."

"Pact? What's a Pact?"

Storm turned to Chip. "Do you have the paper on you?" Aerith watched bemusedly as Chip scrounged in his back pockets, pulling out a ragged piece of paper. Grinning sheepishly, he handed the paper to Storm, who was less than impressed.

"Had to rescue it after mum put my pants in the wash."

Storm took the paper, straightened out the folds as best as he could, held it close to his face and read: "The Official Terms of the Pact dictate that all members of the group founded by Zack and I, Sephiroth, known to all outsiders as Chip and Storm respectively, must adhere to the following –"

"I don't see anything on the paper," Aerith interrupted, who had sidled to Storm's side without him having realised. Storm shifted his gaze to glare at her before turning away, effectively hiding the contents of the paper.

"Writing's probably been washed off but it doesn't matter; he's got the whole thing memorised anyway," Chip whispered to her. Aerith shaped her mouth into an 'o' of understanding. She whispered back, "But how can he remember all that stuff?"

"Dunno really, he's just weird like that."

"How many members are in this group?"

"So far, just us three. Storm's really fussy when it comes to new –"

"Number one: all matters that occur in the group must stay within the group," Storm continued over the voices of his companions, "this includes information about marked locations of our territories, i.e. our secret hideout; all manners of affairs and activities that transpire; all plans for future endeavours and missions we'll undertake, as well as information concerning future meetings; et cetera et cetera et cetera. Any questions on that?" He tapped his foot expectantly, inclining his ear towards their newest recruit. In truth Aerith hadn't understood a word of what Storm said – where'd he learn all those big words from? – and she was about to tell him so until she spotted Chip cupping his hands and mouthing the word 'no' over Storm's shoulder; hastily she shook her head. Storm smiled.

"Good. You're sharper than I first thought. Even Chip here had trouble with that one, and I had to explain it to him word for word, the dummy. I see you're going to be a real asset to our group, Aerith."

Aerith let a nervous laugh escape her. Chip glared at Storm.

Storm went on. "All right, number two: all members must abide by the instructions set forth by the founders of this group. Whatever we say goes. Did you comprehend that?"

"Commmpreeeehennnnnnd," Aerith repeated in a much slower voice, sounding out the word. She looked to Storm in confusion, who took it as an affirmative and nodded.

"And lastly, number three: the founders reserve the right to boot out any members who breach these terms, or – in the plain words of Chip – 'are just sucky to hang around with'. This concludes the Official Terms of the Pact." Storm smartly rolled up the paper in his hands, despite half of it crumbling away to bits of papery dust and handed it back to Chip, who shoved it back into his pocket.

"Gosh, I hope I'm not a sucky person," Aerith said, chewing on her bottom lip worriedly.

"Don't fret Aerith – I don't think you're a sucky person," Chip said helpfully, a large change in attitude in the five minutes he and Storm had caught up with her again. "In fact I think you're going to be a great member, a great member who's really really great an-and nice and wonde–"

"Hold your moogles, Zack, she has to get a codename first," Storm snapped, accidentally letting slip his real name. Chip was so fickle with his feelings sometimes, it amazed him. It wasn't as if he could really impress the girl anyway... or could he? Did perchance she went for cheap flattery? Wondering where in the heck he was going with that particular train of thought, Storm turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "What kind of codename did you want for yourself, Aerith?" he asked her.

"Uhh, I haven't thought about it much yet, really," she admitted. "I kinda thought you two were going to decide for me."

"Ooooh, I know! I know!" Chip yelled, waving his arms excitedly in front of them. "Aerith, what does your mum call you besides your name?"

"My mum doesn't call me anything else but my name," Aerith replied.

"Oh. Guess that idea's out then... hmm, what about naming yourself after the colour of your hair, like Storm did? Let's see, hair's kind of a brown-y colour – your codename could be Mud!"

Aerith fixed Chip with a petulant look. "I don't want that name."

"All righty then. How 'bout Tree Bark?"

"No."

"Chocolate Chip Cookie? Ha, you'll have my name in yours!"

Aerith's bottom lip trembled. Storm tried to intervene. "Ah Chip, I don't think she likes your –"

"Wait – Pooh! Y'know, like the story of Winnie the Pooh, you could be Aerith the Pooh! Eh? Eh?" He switched his bright gaze between the two, one looking apprehensive while the other appalled. Slowly the grin slipped off of Chip's face. "...What?"

Thunder cracked above as Aerith bawled and the sky released a torrent of rain over them. "Way to go Chip, now you have the whole world crying with her because of your stupid ideas," Storm remarked dryly.

"What I say? What I say?"

Aerith whirled around and ran a short distance along the side of the kingdom walls, bending down to pick something up before running back to them. "My umbrella," she said, sniffling, "I brought it with me in case it was gonna rain." She struggled with the latch, small fingers fumbling.

"I–I can't open it." She looked as if she was about to cry again, and so Storm swiftly offered his assistance. "Here."

With a flick the umbrella shot open. Quickly the three huddled underneath it. In the far off distance they could see people running for cover, some arming themselves against the rain with newspapers. A lone dog ran in circles barking, caught up in the rush of the moment. It seemed that no matter how many times it poured in Radiant Garden, the residents would always be caught in it unprepared, believing sunny days were sure to be just around the corner again. The brief silence between the three broke when Chip cleared his throat loudly.

"I'm sorry I made you cry, Aerith. I only wanted to help you pick a name."

"It's okay Za–I mean, Chip. I know you were only trying to be nice." Aerith sighed sadly. "But I still have no codename."

"Rainbow," Storm said suddenly. Both Chip and Aerith looked at him, bewildered. "What?"

"Look, a rainbow," he repeated, pointing up at the gray sky. "Can you see it?" Sure enough, just beyond the castle was a faint arc of many colours, shyly peeping between the clouds.

"Wow," Aerith breathed. "That's so pretty."

"Mm, yeah," Chip said with a lot less enthusiasm. He didn't really think much of such girly things like rainbows.

A joyous smile spread across Aerith's face. "I think I've decided what I want to call myself now."

"Really, what?" Chip said obliviously.

"I want my codename to be Rainbow!"

Storm shrugged impartially. Chip looked horror-struck. "What! Why would you wanna have a codename like that for?"

"I like it."

"But I don't!" he persisted, as if his opinion held the weight of a king's. "It's too girly! What kind of a group would we be if we had someone with the name of Rainbow in it?"

"A good group, that's what."

"But we'll be the laughingstock of the t-t-towwwwwn," Chip whined, stumbling over his last word. He and Aerith continued to argue over the name for a good long while until Storm heard him say something that sounded downright ridiculous.

"...such a long name! I mean, it's two whole civicballs long! Come on!"

"What did you just say, Chip?" Chip turned to face Storm.

"Huh?"

"That word."

"What... civicballs?" Aerith snickered. Storm blinked. "That's not a word. I believe you meant 'syllables', correct?"

Chip scratched the back of his head. "It isn't? But Cloud told me that's how you say it..." He trailed off, muttering, "Dumb Cloud, gonna get 'im once I find him, gonna give him the worsest noogie of his life... hmm, I don't suppose 'indibitchual' is a word either, is it? Does sex mean sharing coloured pencils?" Storm sighed.

"I'm still going to keep the name Rainbow," Aerith said. Chip forgot his newfound grudge at once.

"No! You can't!"

"Yes I can."

"No!"

"Yes!"

Storm lowered the umbrella. "NO!" both Chip and Aerith cried and shielded their heads, preparing to get drenched.

"Not like you two realised, but the rain stopped a full five minutes ago." Chip and Aerith gazed around in wonder. Giving back the umbrella to its rightful owner Storm added, "As Chip takes a grievance to anything he regards as girly and you don't want to let go of the name, why don't you both just compromise?"

"Like how?" Chip said impatiently.

"Shorten the name. Have it down to one syllable."

Aerith contemplated the idea, twirling her pigtail in her hand absentmindedly. "Okay then," she finally said, all smiles and bright eyes again, "why not? I kinda like that idea. From now on, I shall be known as... Bow! Short for Rainbow. Hey, it could also stand for the bows in my hair!"

Chip looked as if he was about to protest. One frosty look from Storm made him change his mind. "Sounds... great," he conceded in defeat.

Eventually the three made their way back into the town section of Radiant Garden, Aerith skipping all the way. She couldn't wait to get home and tell her mother about the two boys and the new group she was in and the Pack thing she was told to follow, as well as the argument she had with Chip and the big words that she heard from Storm and the rainbow she saw. And she definitely wouldn't forget being called an asset by Storm. She would tell her about that as well. After of course, asking what it meant. Looking around to see how far back the other two were, she saw that Chip was muttering to himself while banging random things with a stick he had picked up along the way, whereas Storm was staring up at the sky, lost in thought.

In Aerith's mind, no better companions existed anywhere else.

A/N: I admit little Sephiroth's a bit of a smart alec in this one. The last half of this chapter was inspired by pics linked to Final Boss's profile. Check them out if you haven't already!

…civicballs. :p