The days continued to pass by. Ever since Tifa had been to their house, Sei, Yazoo and Kadaj hadn't known any more of her. Cloud hadn't showed up in school since that incident. It was a relief, but it was also bothering for Sei; it seemed Tifa had gotten into trouble. But, what kind of trouble could she possibly get into?
Cid continued to be the way he had always been since he got to school, which is to say the coolest teacher ever but also the strictest... and Yuffie no longer spoke to Sei. Sei guessed the girl was under strict restriction to talk to her and her friends, but she would just pass by, smile once in a while whenever they made eye contact and it was safe to say that was the only contact they had.
When he was told of this, Jake assumed it had to do with Cloud and Tifa. He also guessed that Tifa had told Yuffie about the time she had spent with the beings Cloud didn't like. Perhaps now Yuffie wanted to talk to them and see for herself since now she smiled at the remnants as well. But there was this loyalty towards her blonde friend that stopped her from finding out what Tifa had managed to see.
It was a Wednesday when Sei awoke with a feverish cold. Perhaps the sudden change of weather had caused it, and it had also managed to unleash her allergies.
"I didn't know you were allergic to anything," said Kadaj.
"Yeah, the truth ith, I'm allergic to duth and fur when I have a cold," said Sei. She smiled, noticing how funny she sounded. "But iff my health ith fine, my allergieth dithappear."
"Are you going to school?" asked Yazoo. "I am no doctor, and my knowledge on being sick is rather limited, but I think you should stay home and rest—"
"No, juth wait for me, I will be ready in a few minuteth…" said Sei, attempting to sit up. Everything hurt, and it took her a lot of effort to lift her shoulders a few centimeters from the pillow, and after struggling for about ten seconds straight, she dropped back into her bed, incredibly exhausted.
Yazoo looked down on her, somewhat troubled. It looked like her body was aching, much in the manner his had when he had first awakened in their house. He began to say, "I really think you should—" when Sei shouted a big, flat "NO!" making the brothers back away a step.
"Listen, I don't want you dying on me." Jake appeared in the doorway fully dressed and ready to go to work. "So, you will stay here, and Loz will take care of you. Loz, can you do me that favor?" Jake added, looking at Loz, who nodded.
"Alright, make her some soup or something hot and steamy and let her rest." Jake turned to Kadaj and Yazoo. "You two were supposed to be in your way twenty minutes ago, so I will just drive you to school today. C'mon, let's go." They all began to move out and finally the house fell silent.
"What do you feel like eating for breakfast?" asked Loz when he walked back to Sei's room. He didn't step in; he stayed at the doorway looking in on her, like if he was scared of getting sick as well.
Sei shrugged. "Anyting ith fine." She said.
"I think Jake has a cook book on soups," said Loz. "Would tea help any?" She nodded with a smile and then he leaped out of sight.
"Kurosawa and Teki went crazy when they didn't see you in class this morning," Informed Kadaj when they walked into Sei's room. "More than they already were, anyway." He added. Sei smiled; it was nice of Anna and Mimi to miss her when she was absent in school.
"How are you feeling now?" asked Yazoo. He reached out to her and touched her forehead.
"I feel better now." She said. And it was no exaggeration; she had slept most of the day, and every time she woke up, it became easier to breathe, especially with the help of Loz and his soups and teas he brought her. "Loz made some soups, and they were delicious!"
"I figure you were showing off with the girl?" asked Yazoo, looking at his oldest.
The oldest of the three shook his head no. "It was just chicken soup," he assured. Sei nodded.
"By the way, that friend of yours, what is her name?" asked Yazoo, changing the subject.
"Which one?" asked Sei.
"That one that's in your every class." Said Kadaj. "That weird ninja girl."
"Oh, Yuffie? What about her?" Sei was beginning to think she had threatened them or something.
"She neared us during P.E., and threw us a little note," said Yazoo. "Look." He took out a piece of folded paper from his pants pocket, unfolded it and showed it to Sei, who read it silently.
Where is Sei? Why didn't she come today?
"What did you say to her?" asked Sei.
"Well, we wrote back, saying you were sick, with a cold," said Kadaj. "We didn't talk to her after that."
Sei gripped her blanket and played with the edges, thinking. Maybe Yuffie had risked talking to them because she wanted to see what their reactions would be? But it hadn't been actual talking, it was a written message she had thrown to Yazoo. Was Cid in charge of watching her while Cloud wasn't there?
Her thoughts were interrupted when they heard a knock coming from the front door. Yazoo walked through the hallway and opened the front door; who he saw standing on the other side made him widen his eyes in surprise and he was forced to suppress the urgency to slam the door in Vincent Valentine's face.
"Oh… you… I know you from…" Where did he know him from? He was staring at the man, mainly because he didn't really know the guy, but the cloak seemed very familiar. Another thing was, he could feel this guy was siding with Cloud, so one could only imagine his intentions.
Vincent nodded, his red eyes focused on the remnant standing before him. Yazoo stopped talking, took a deep breath and said, "Jake is not here at the moment."
"I am not here to see him." Vincent's calm and cool voice made Yazoo frown. "I heard his sister was sick."
"Yes, that is correct," said Yazoo. There was a heavy silence lingering between them as they stood facing each other at the entrance.
"May I come in?" Vincent asked.
"Ah, yes," said Yazoo moving aside and letting Vincent walk into the house. "Go on into the hallway into her room, she is not allowed to get up."
Vincent turned to him, a questioning look on his face. "Those were her brother's orders earlier this morning." Yazoo led the way back to Sei's room.
"Sei?" he said when he walked in. "You have a visitor." Sei sat up, without muh effort now, ready to receive the visitor. Vincent made a very dramatic entrance and then neared Sei's bed carefully, as if frightened she would die if he made any sudden movements.
"Is your sickness grave?" he asked, in his cool voice.
She smiled. "No, Vincent, it's only a cold. I'll be okay by tomorrow."
"Yuffie sent me to give you this," said Vincent. He held a small cloth bag tied with a ribbon in his golden claw and handed it to Sei. She took it; it was a little heavy, and there was no doubt that its contents were fragile, judging by the way Vincent had been holding it.
"What is it?" she asked, setting the bag on her lap.
"Why don't you see for yourself?" he replied.
She pulled the ribbon and looked inside. The remnants neared her bed to take a closer look at what was inside. "Oh, wow!" said Sei, pulling out a small box. It was black, with blue and silver rose designs.
"I believe it's her way of saying 'get well'," said Vincent. His lips tightened as he tried to control a smile that threatened to appear in his face and patted Sei on the head. "Now, when is your brother getting home?"
"I don't know. But since he didn't go to work yesterday, I think he'll be coming home late," she replied, putting the little box in the bag and setting the bag aside.
Vincent's small smile disappeared from his face. "You will stay here all alone?" Sei gasped and looked at him, her eyes wide in surprise. Then she frowned.
"Loz, I'm hungry," said Sei, still looking at Vincent. "More soup? And teach some cooking techniques to your brothers," she added.
"Okay," said Loz, catching Sei's unsaid message in her edgy voice before walking out of her room.
Kadaj looked at Sei, and said, "Wait a minute, I don't want to learn how to cook, I mean, that's Loz's passion—"
"Kadaj, she said she was hungry. Now let us go make sure brother does not set the kitchen on fire," said Yazoo, dragging his younger brother to the doorway.
"Yuffie didn't send you," said Sei, when Yazoo and Kadaj had left. "It was Cloud." Vincent turned away from her letting his read cloak trail behind him and leaned on her desk, near the window.
"That's right," he said. Sighing and running a hand through her hair, Sei rolled her eyes.
"So then the box isn't from Yuffie," she assumed.
"No, it is from her," said Vincent.
"You don't trust them either, do you?" asked Sei, getting to the point.
"They have given me enough reasons to think that way," began Vincent.
"Yeah I know that, but they deserve a chance," said Sei. "I also know you think that a few weeks aren't enough to make a few misguided beings regain their way, but they are way better now than they were when you first met them." She paused, thinking on what else to add to what she was saying. God, she hated being sick; it made her mind whirl around with messy thoughts. He took her pause as his cue to finish what he had been in the process of saying.
"You didn't let me finish," said Vincent. Sei closed looked at him. "Despite of what Cloud had asked me to do, I am here with no ill intentions." He crossed his arms on his chest. "Tifa told me about you and them helping her. You know, the way you and her are alike is you can see what others don't. And like her, you are also the voice of reasoning. Why else would your brother accept to have them in this house, in your school, in your life? One thing about Cloud is his pride. I should know, I've had to deal with him for some time."
Sei looked down at her lap. "What exactly did Cloud tell you to do?" she asked.
Vincent released a small dry and forced laugh. "Can't you imagine? Only an obsessed being would ask me to blackmail them to leave and never come back. Not that I couldn't do it," he added after a pause, "but I wouldn't if there were any consequences." He pegged her a look.
"I guess he really doesn't like them." She said.
"It's only natural," said Vincent. "Each one of them reminds him of Sephiroth. Especially the younger one of the three."
"But they're not like him," sei insisted. "Not anymore… and to be honest, I don't think they ever were. Why else would they have been looking for Jenova's head? They wouldn't have been looking for it if they didn't need its powers to be like Sephiroth."
"That is something Cloud is going to be forced into seeing. But don't misinterpret Cloud's intentions, Sei, he really cares about your safety, the same way he cares about Jake." Vincent walked across the room to the entrance. "That soup is sure taking it's time to get here. I'll go see what your friends are up to."
"Kadaj, I told you to pick up your boot," ordered Yazoo, not taking his sight off the man sitting in front of him and the table between them.
The mentioned boot had been on the floor in that same place for a couple of hours. Yazoo and Vincent had tripped on it—in that order—a few minutes earlier and Yazoo had ordered the same thing to his younger brother. Loz had been the third person to trip on it and was now on the floor trying to sit up. The heavy laughter that came out of his mouth didn't let him though.
"Hold on, I'm carrying this box and I can't see where I'm going," said Kadaj, with his head behind a huge box. "Do me a favor? Can you be my eyes because I can't—?"
"Just watch where you step," mumbled Yazoo, and then he sighed when a crashing noise was heard right after a scream; he guessed Kadaj had tripped on the boot too, had lost his balance like Loz and tumbled out the window.
"Watch where you step.' Is that the best advice you can come up with considering you were the one who tripped first?" Vincent reached toward the table between him and Yazoo.
"You really are one to talk," said Yazoo, also reaching towards the little table with a defiant glare. "You tripped on it too, and you already knew where it was."
"As his older brother you are supposed to pick up his mess," said Vincent.
"I am not. That mess is his; he picks it up. I am in charge of picking up my own mess."
"Funny guy; look how many soldiers you left on the ground and not once did you stop your game to clean your doings."
"I had to go on, or else I would forget my next plan, since you take too long to do anything."
Vincent's eyes were glaring at the remnant by now, as he neared the silver haired man. "Today's the day, remnant. No one has been able to defeat you, but once I reach you, I will make sure you have a chance to beg for mercy."
"Good," Yazoo was as calm as ever. "You have no idea how much I miss hearing those words coming from an adversary."
"You sure know how to sound tough; why don't you stop running around the table and face me like a man?" Demanded Vincent.
"Come now," smirked Yazoo. "Are we afraid you will be so tired you will not be able to beat me once you get your hands on me?"
"And here you go, calling your entire army to protect you from me."
"That is their duty, to be manipulated by me and to help me enjoy my games," said Yazoo. Then he added with a mocking smile, "However I don't see anyone protecting you, I guess instead of being the manipulator, you are the one being manipulated."
"You're going too far, remnant. I will show you I can take you and your crew with my own hands."
"You guys are so dramatic." The new voice startled them both. Sei bit into a salty cracker as she watched them interacting over a chess board that was laid between them. Judging by the figurines on the board, Yazoo was winning.
"It is all good fun," said Yazoo.
"By the way," Vincent added, "aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
Sei nodded and finished her cracker. "I was eating my soup, when I heard a loud bang. And then a scream. I thought you guys were fighting, so I came over to look."
"The noise was due to Loz tripping on Kadaj's boot," replied Yazoo.
"So then what's with the broken window?"
"Kadaj tripped on his own boot and crashed through it, screaming." Said Vincent.
"He what?" Sei ran to the window and poked her head out. She saw Kadaj on his back with his eyes closed, relaxed beyond belief with a flower in his hand and pressed to his nose, inhaling its sweet scent. "Too bad the fall didn't hurt him." Hissed Sei.
"What do you mean?" asked Loz.
"That I was so worried I forgot the game room was on the first floor and I worried for nothing!" said Sei.
"Ah." Vincent patted Sei's hot-tempered head. "But it seems the accident has made you forget about your illness. It appears to me, you have been cured." She blushed, acknowledging his conclusion. "Well, I must leave now." Vincent stood up.
"Running away from a losing battle, are we?" teased Yazoo.
"Unfortunately, yes." Said Vincent. A smile almost pulled at the corners of his mouth, but it wasn't quite a smile. "I am expected back in a matter of time. However, if you wish, we can finish the game some other day."
"Another day, then."
"Can I be the cheerleader?" Kadaj had climbed into the game room through the window and had brought the box in with him and settled it before him.
"I'd love to see that," said Sei.
"Okay then." Kadaj opened the box, searched through it and pulled out a pair of pom poms. Yazoo, Sei and Loz gasped as Vincent merely stared at the youngster.
"Give me a 'Y'!" shouted Kadaj, raising his hands over his head so his body would make a "Y". Loz covered his face when he saw this. "Give me an 'A'! Give me a 'Z'! Give me double 'O's! What's that spell?"
"Vincent, you really don't have to see this," said Sei, pulling the red cloaked man towards the entrance.
"It's not like I wanted to anyway," he said, fleeing from the scene and feeling selfless shame.
Once at the door, Sei held him back by the arm. "What will you tell Cloud?"
He remained silent, seemingly thinking about his answer. "The truth," he said finally. They said good bye to each other and Vincent began walking away before Sei closed the entrance door.
"Help! I'm getting raped!"
"Shut up and give me those things!"
"GYAAH!"
Sei ran into the room just in time to see how Kadaj and Loz crashed through another window together. She stood there for a moment, silently as Yazoo watched her carefully for a reaction. "Are they—?"
"Related?" Interrupted the remnant. "Yes. They are brothers. Can you tell? The family resemblance is amazing, is it not?"
Sei chuckled. "Not that; were they fighting?"
"Oh, not at all. It was their happy dance; they tripped over Kadaj's boot again."
Sei laughed again. "You're being sarcastic, aren't you?"
"A normal human being would have known that without having to ask," teased Yazoo.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She sent a playful defiant glare at him, and he looked back at her, without blinking or moving, but a smile was threatening to play on his face.
"Oh, I've been looking for you two." Sei and Yazoo turned to face Jake. "Imagine my surprise when I found two wrestling grown men rolling all over the backyard instead."
He pushed Loz and Kadaj forward; Kadaj was smiling innocently and rubbing the back of his head, and Loz was holding the pom poms firmly in his hands, glaring at his younger brother with an embarrassed blush.
"Jake, I thought you wouldn't come home until late?" asked Sei.
"Yeah, well, something came up and— is that a broken window?"
"Is anybody hungry?" asked Yazoo, changing the subject. "I remember Loz made some dinner."
"Two broken windows? IN ONE DAY?"
"Let's go eat!" Sei and the three brothers headed towards the kitchen, ignoring Jakes cries of sorrow and fury.
"Two windows! TWO GOD FORSAKEN WINDOWS!"
Next day in school, Sei, Kadaj, Yazoo, Mimi, Anna and Yuffie had been assigned to a group project. Yuffie thought there couldn't be a more perfect opportunity to now be able to spend time with Sei and them. Maybe something good would come out of this. But when she told Cloud that where they were meeting would be Sei's house, she was one hundred percent sure he was going to say "No way." However, since Yuffie had said the word "School work" with a lot of emphasis, Cloud agreed, but told Tifa, Cid and Vincent to go along with her, just in case things got bad.
"Why don't you come too, Cloud?" asked Tifa. "You know, your help could be… helpful in case things get too bad." Of course that wasn't what she had in mind; she wanted him to see how much the remnants had changed.
"No, you'll be fine. Besides, I've got some business to do."
"Okay then. I'll take the kids with me," added Tifa.
"No, I'll call a baby-sitter," assured Cloud.
Tifa almost screamed in frustration five minutes later when Cloud climbed onto his bike and left. The only thing that stopped her was the reminder that she would get to spend another afternoon with Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz.
When the Avalanche team got to Sei's house, Mimi and Anna where already there, preparing the living room to start working. Yazoo and Kadaj where in the kitchen and Loz was in his room, looking for something.
"Hello Sei!" said Tifa. Sei looked up from her chores and smiled widely when she saw who it was.
"I'm so glad to see you!" squeaked Sei, throwing her arms around Tifa and hugging her tight. "It's been a very long time!"
"I know! Where are the others? Where's Jake?" asked Tifa.
"He's working; I called him and asked if we could use our house. But come in, come in. Vincent! Cid! Yuffie! I'm so glad to finally have you all here!" said Sei. She introduced them all. Mimi and Anna recognized Cid from school, and where actually surprised to find that Sei already knew him before they did.
Sei smiled at Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo when they walked in and sat down. "Okay, so what exactly are y'all supposed ta be doin'?" asked Cid, also taking seat in the living room.
"It's like a presentation," said Mimi. "We have to read this guide and then create our own little act with characters of our choice. We have to be as creative as possible."
"That sounds like fun," said Tifa, getting the guide and leafing through it.
"Have you started thinking about what you want to do?" asked Loz.
"Well, we find it a bit difficult," said Yazoo as he bit into a cookie. "In other words, we have not a clue."
"Let me see that guide," said Kadaj. Tifa handed it to him. "Okay, it says… It has to be creative, yada, yada, yada…" Kadaj frowned as he read the next piece "and even if the act is under the Horror category, it MUST have complete sentences because it is possible to think in complete sentences when we're scared, I know from experience… We do NOT think in complete sentences when were scared!" He said as he slammed the guide on the table.
"Kadaj, calm down." Said Anna. "We don't have to do Horror anyway. We can do comedy. Or drama or… I don't know."
"How about a musical?" asked Tifa.
"A musical?" asked Sei.
"Yeah. With characters from… Sesame Street?"
"I wanna be Elmo." Said Anna.
"I wanna be Cookie Monster." Said Kadaj.
"I thought you said you weren't doin' a Horror presentation," said Cid. "'Sides, whater they teachin y'all kids? All this business 'bout musicals 'n' shit makes me lower my expectations for the town's future." Everybody burst in laughter. Even Vincent cracked a smile which he immediately hid under the neck of his coat.
"I know… and Sesame Street?" Said Mimi. "It's going to be so embarrassing if we do something like that!" She shuddered to prove her point. "How about we use Shakespeare or something similar?"
"Teki, come on. You don't have to be all smarty pants all the time," said Kadaj. He'd grown out of his habit for calling both Anna and Mimi by their last name, except when he wanted to make a statement.
"I know," aid Yuffie. "We should try to do some weird dances and then see what happens!"
"Exactly. Kadaj, Dance," ordered Anna.
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" replied Kadaj.
"You do it all the time! I don't see why you don't want to right now," laughed Anna.
"Dance is an involuntary movement of the body that shows spirit," explained Kadaj. "You can't order spirit."
"I am appalled you even know the word," muttered Yazoo.
Tifa who had been drawing during the whole conversation, handed a paper to Cid and asked, "Is it ok if the costumes look like this?"
"What the hell is that?" he asked, releasing a small laugh.
"It's the Elmo costume."
"That looks like a bear suffering from anorexia."Tifa slapped Cid on the shoulder.
"Turn the paper horizontally and try drawing it again on that space." Vincent pointed his golden claw at the paper, all of a sudden cooperating.
"Hey, I always get confused… how do you difference horizontal from vertical?"
"Think Sex," said Cid. Everyone looked at him. "You know, lying down." He added. "Vertical is… not sex."
"Why not just say up and down or side to side?" asked Kadaj between laughs.
"Let's all work on something!" suggested Sei. "That way we can all help, and we can finish earlier!"
"Me, Kurosawa and Vincent are going to try to draw the costumes," said Tifa.
"I will work with the rest so I can figure out the plot of this nutcase presentation and make the background." Said Mimi.
"And I'm out of here," said Loz. He disappeared in the kitchen as the rest set off to work.
"We should do something that involves a lot of guns, because our class is made out of mostly guys," said Yuffie.
"Is that comment supposed to have a specific point?" questioned Vincent.
"Well, guys like guns."
"And girls like purses," said Yazoo.
"What's your point?" asked Mimi.
"Think of it," said Cid lighting up a cigarette. "Attack a woman, and she uses her purse to hit you. Purses can be considered weapons."
"Exactly." Said the silver haired remnant.
The women thought about it for some time before they agreed, although one had to wonder how exactly those two knew about such thing. "You see?" asked Kadaj. "Yazoo's always right. Except when he's wrong."
After this, they left the small outside talk aside and focused on the project. Yuffie found it amazing that even though Yazoo was so quiet, he had a lot of good ideas in his mind. He kept the Sesame Street part, but he made it sound like it would be a cool project to show the rest of the students. Kadaj repressed his hyperactive side and helped too, putting in ideas that sounded crazy at first but eventually made sense. Even Cid and Vincent were helping, by throwing out suggestions that could make the project seem far more interesting, although it was obvious that to them the project was pointless and nothing more than a waste of time.
They had all managed to connect somehow, to share ideas, to make suggestions and not be judged, and it seemed the Avalanche team was having fun doing this… It was as if some odd magic spell had been placed upon them. After a few hours, the costume designs were finished, the plot was finished and the background design was finished too.
"Wow, we are done with the skeleton of the whole project. We got that over with earlier than I thought," sighed Sei. "And we have a month to make all this happen."
"Party time I say!" said Kadaj. He pulled a bag of confetti from somewhere in the couch cushions and began throwing it in the air like a little girl would throw flowers around her.
Vincent looked away once again feeling selfless shame, Yazoo smiled, Sei applauded and so did Yuffie, and along with the rest, laughed, relieved they had been able to work together. Mimi began throwing confetti in the air as well.
"Did you get hold of candy on the way here?" asked Anna. "Because you're acting like if you're somebody else again."
"You're a different person?" asked Kadaj. He took her by the shoulders and said "I'll call you Strawberry!"
"That reminds me I have something for all of you," said Loz from the kitchen. "And you'll be so surprised; your eyes will fall out of your sockets."Nine eyebrows arched as Loz came in carrying a bowl of something inside. He put it on the living room table and handed little plates to everyone.
"What's in the bowl?" asked Cid.
"This is my own secret recipe, a secret dessert made with 47 secret ingredients," said Loz.
"Wow, this is so… secret," said Yuffie.
Loz lifted the lid from the bowl and revealed a pudding like green substance decorated with all sorts of berries, cookies, chocolate chips, syrup and frosting.
"Loz, why would you bother doing something like this?" asked Yazoo.
"You all worked so hard and I thought it might be nice to have something sweet as a prize…" Loz lowered his eyes.
"Well, this is very nice of you!" Tifa hoped her words might help lighten him up. Fortunately, her plan worked.
"I hope you all enjoy it." Everyone began eating from the delicious dessert Loz had made. It was a little hard for the Avalanche team to believe Loz had made it, since his appearance contrasted with the delicate syrup traces on the dish he had made. Then again, despite their appearances—and past—the remnants were not what they seemed.
"Is it normal for a 15 year old to believe in Santa Claus?" asked Anna all of a sudden.
"I would say, she is still pretty much innocent. Her mind hasn't been corrupted yet." Said Tifa. "Why?"
"Because my sister still believes in Santa Claus. She already made her list, actually." Said Anna.
"But we're barely halfway September!" Exclaimed Yuffie.
"I know, but she gave it to my mom so she could 'send' it to the North Pole. It says 'Please try to get me at least 5 things on the list.' And there are exactly five things on that list." Anna paused as she took another bite of the sweet in her plate. Everyone else waited in silence for her to continue her story. "They are a TV, a Computer, a cell phone, an iPod and a car. I think this is the year when my mom tells her that Santa Claus doesn't exist."
"You know, Marlene doesn't believe in the tooth fairy anymore," said Tifa.
"Did you accidentally tell the cruel reality to her?" asked Cid eyeing Tifa as if she were some kind of lowlife.
"No," she replied flatly.
"Did Cloud?" asked Vincent.
"Who's Cloud?" asked Anna and Mimi in unison.
"He's a friend of ours." Said Sei.
"No, it wasn't Cloud." Said Tifa. Her face saddened. "He wasn't even around when her first tooth fell." The heavy silence only lasted a few seconds, because Tifa's face suddenly brightened again as she added, "I told Marlene to put it under her pillow. I was so excited I would get to do this that I took the tooth but I forgot to put money in its place." Tifa blushed. Her audience groaned and then laughed. "Now all she does is put them in a little box and save them for when Barrett comes home so he can see them." Tifa concluded.
They talked more and then Jake finally got home. He opened the door, and saw the Avalanche team eating with the remnants and Sei's friends as if they had been long lost friends, and they were all looking back at him like rabbits frozen by the headlights of an oncoming car. Not only that, but the floor being a carpet of confetti, managed to somehow concrete his thoughts he had definitely walked into an unknown place. "Shit, wrong house." He said.
"Very funny." Said Sei, laughing.
"Is this some kind of weirdo convention? Anything we're celebrating?" Said Jake, coming in and closing the door after him. "Where's Cloud?" Sei told him how they had the project and how Cloud didn't come but had sent the others instead. He helped himself to the dessert Loz had made and complemented the chef. They continued talking and joking around with each other and telling stories until it was time for the visitors to leave.
They said bye to each other and then they all went their separate ways. Jake and Sei remained outside, while the remnants stayed inside, picking up a bit. The cooling night air wrapped about them as crickets chirped and a few fireflies floated in the distance.
"You want to know what I think?" Jake asked Sei. "What?" she asked.
"That they actually had fun. I heard Cid and Vincent talking, and they some things that make me believe their thoughts on the remnants are changing. They might not show it, but I think my suspects are right."
"Well, we gotta thank Cloud for that, because if it weren't for his carelessness, Cid, Vincent, Tifa and Yuffie would never get to befriend them. If they did."
"Oh, they did, I'm sure of that." Jake crossed his arms. "And I'm also sure that because their thoughts are changing, they probably feel a little guilty about it as well."
"How can we make Cloud understand? Honestly, I thought Cid and Vincent would be hard to win over, but they accepted them so easily, I'm almost convinced I'm in another dimension," said Sei. Jake smiled as he remembered the scene he had walked into that afternoon; he had thought the exact same thing.
"He doesn't want to." Jake shrugged. "I'm sure he has his reasons, Sei. But you're right. I never thought Cloud could be so thick-skulled. He seemed pretty easygoing. Perhaps it's just some people that he gets along with."
"Or maybe it has to do with Sephiroth killing Aerith." Suggested Sei.
Jake looked up at the dark sky, memories of Aerith coming back to him. She had been a very nice person indeed; he hadn't really spoken to her much, but what he knew about her made it fully understandable why Cloud had collapsed after her death. He himself hadn't been there to witness the true brutality of the act, but he still felt for her, and Cloud and the rest who were affected by her passing. He understood fully why Cloud despised the remnants. "I'm sure it does," he said, sighing. "I'm sure it does."
He went into the house and Sei followed after him. She went to her room to rest after she had showered, and lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling. Images of the evening flashed before her as if she were watching a movie, and she smiled in the darkness, a happy feeling enveloping her body.
Out of nowhere, the image of Cloud being angry and alone flashed before her and stayed there, as a reminder of her guilt. It was true she had had fun with her friends, but there was no denying that she would've had even more fun if Cloud had been with them. Instead, he chose to turn away and ignore them, sending the others to do what he wasn't allowed, and sitting in solitude by the sidelines.
It was hard for her to believe what Cloud was doing. But it was kind of ironic too. Instead of pulling Avalanche away from the remnants, he had given them chances to befriend them. It was all so confusing. So much so, that she already felt a tiny speck of hate in her heart towards Cloud. She shook her head. She couldn't be thinking that way of the first guy besides her brother to accept her the way she was, years ago.