Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy.

In the past I've updated very often... Sorry, but with this story, I might be slower... (Quality over quantity, yes?)

The Visitor

Later that day, or more specifically, later that night, Paige sat cuddled in a fleece blanket on the sofa with her feet pulled up. The wind was howling aggressively outside, pushing the rose bushes against the windows so that disturbing, scratching noises carried all the way inside. The dark, unpredictable howls and scratching sounds weren't about to stop any time soon. There was no rain, and it was most likely warm and dangerously dry outside, but still none of the TV channels worked. Paige was watching a black screen while trying to figure out which DVD to choose. Muttering occasional words of comfort to John Smoth – he was squawking things like "Watch out, lightnin's comin' for ya," and "Le-le-let the mike fly," she paid no heed to anything else than what was in her immediate vicinity. She had no doubt that if she tried going outside, chances were a branch (or maybe even two) would fly by and take her with them. The wind was pressing against the house from all sides, it seemed.

After Smoth had squawked something in a particularly low, nervous voice ("I'm driftin away like a feather in aaair..." and "My favorite rec-reco-record has go-gotta go"), Paige looked up from the confines of her soft, warm blanket.

Standing in the middle of the room was Sephiroth.

Doom, she thought absently, wondering what the elf-man-who-looked-unnaturally-intimidating-in-the-current-light was doing downstairs at this hour.

"Why are you up?" he demanded, staring down the blanket that covered her. Thank goodness for blankets and their make-believe safety.

"I'm not doing anything suspicious. I wanted to stay up and watch a good movie."

He glanced at the TV.

"None of the channels work now, though. It's because of the wind outside." That meant he wouldn't be able to watch the news. Would that bother him?

"...So you stay up because you are frightened of the wind?" he taunted, sitting down in the three-seat sofa – Paige sat in the two-seat one. From where he sat, Sephiroth observed her with something that suggested he thought he had found a weakness of hers.

"Wrong. I've seen worse than this. Try to picture rain with the strength of a hundred water jets spurting water, then add some stormy airplane engine-like gust, some hail the size of marble balls, lightning every millisecond and thunder so strong it feels more like continuous earthquakes. Then we're talking increase of adrenaline." She was overdoing it. Although she tried not to be sarcastic about it, she was a billion percent sure that he could sense she was exaggerating. And that she was currently bored, she mentally added.

"...That aside, if you're hungry, there's food in the cupboards and the fridge, and if you don't want any of that, feel free to grab-" He placed the 4x4 Rubik's puzzle cube on the table for her to see.

Solved.

"To grab... candy..." Her voice was so low she was sure he couldn't hear her.

Before he said anything, she reached for a small glass bowl on the dark wooden table. The bowl held a fair amount of small so-called Love Hearts. It was basically a bunch of little, flat hearts with various friendly or romantic things written on them. She didn't like the taste, but wasn't afraid to admit that she really enjoyed reading the small quotes. Seeing as Sephiroth, the-elf-who-was-not-an-elf, had solved yet another Rubik's Cube, she found it perfectly all right to grab a whole handful of the candy and retreat into her blanket. Suddenly feeling unhealthy – since she was in the presence of one who was no doubt a health-, sport- and training-maniac – she threw a few his way.

He caught all the Love Hearts with one hand, some in his palm, a few between his fingers, then immediately started inspecting them like a baboon would inspect insects before eating them. Paige held back a snort at her thoughts, but soon shut up when he started reading:

"...'My pal'? And 'Bless you'?" he asked, reading the quotes on each of the pieces of candy. Paige stiffened, hoping there wouldn't be any... improper... quotes.

"Uh, yeah. I didn't read any of them before I gave them to you," she defended herself, then ate her own Love Hearts in stifling silence.

"...'Hunk'?" he said, and the word was so short she didn't know if he was flabbergasted, furious or stock still in disbelief.

She, however, was torn between howling with laughter and dying of embarrassment. Of all things, he had to get one of those Love Hearts. Even a 'love you' candy would have been better.

"It's not like... It's really not like you're the only one getting offensive things like that thrown your way," she said. She was just making things worse by talking. She had to say something reasonable, at least. So she continued.

"Okay, listen to mine, then: 'hug me', 'real love', 'ever yours', 'hold me', 'yes dear'."

...Soon, quietness reigned in the room. If felt remarkably much like sitting in an enormous underground marble hall that was actually a mausoleum readied especially for her death, except she was alive and desperately trying to save her life before the elf-or-vampire-man would say something that embarrassed her so much she would kill herself. This was hardly what her face expressed, though: She was dead calm on the outside, wearing her face like any other person might wear a mask. That said, though, her face probably looked completely dead.

When she mustered the willpower to look up, he was gone.

Again.

It was kind of relieving, but at the same time annoying. She was obviously not somebody he wanted to waste his time on. And he even left the candy behind. She should have seen that one coming, though.

In any case, she should probably get to bed instead of watching a film. Her dad was coming home tomorrow, after all.

"Here he comes..." she muttered breathlessly, feeling worse by the second. She was practically plastered to one of the larger windows in the living room, and John Smoth was moving back and forth, restless.

Why couldn't Sephiroth just swallow his pride and go hide in his room?

"Don't say anything reckless." The cold, calm voice from Sephiroth, who was sitting on the sofa, was soothing and disturbing at the same time. He had everything under control, which was pretty good, but this was her house (or her family's cabin, actually) and the person on his way up the porch was her dad.

And knowing her dad, he would enter immediate demon-extermination-prayer-mode-including-holy-water the moment he saw Sephiroth's silver hair. Sephiroth's extraordinary eyes made it no better.

Then the entrance door opened and the sound of heavy bags falling to the floor was heard.

Wait. Bags? For how long was he planning to stay?

"Hello...? Hello, Paige?" sounded the voice, which was both dark and squeaky at the same time.

"Dad," she said, almost coldly, sounding like she was scolding him for visiting. That wasn't intentional – she was actually happy that he dropped by every now and then. Calmly walking into to the hallway to keep him from coming into the living room, she kept her 'mask' on her face. "Ah, Paige! How good it's to see you!" Then she was given a big bear hug which she very reluctantly returned.

"Pops, we have a visitor," she started, and then her dad immediately turned long-necked and tried peeking over her shoulder into the living room, but Paige pushed him back.

"Hear me out," she whispered. "It's very important that you remain calm, because even if he looks a bit unusual, he's perfectly normal and kind and polite. And there's a reason he's here."

Her dad gave her a deep, worried frown, already suspicious.

"Why have you-"
"He's my teacher, in Physical Education," she added, loud enough for Sephiroth to hear. The two of them had already exchanged their ideas somewhat awkwardly. Luckily, her father visibly relaxed. From his point of view, teachers were obviously people who deserved respect. They were trustworthy, and in his mind, they were honest and good people who worked for the best of the youth of the country. Stroking his small mustache in place, her father rolled his bony shoulders and cleared his voice, then adapted a polite smile.

Then he walked into the living room, and the moment he saw Sephiroth (who was now standing), his smile turned brittle and he turned to Paige for help.

"Pops, meet Sephiroth. Sephiroth... this is Aaron." ...For some reason, Sephiroth's name tasted strange on her tongue. It sounded foreign to her – and probably to her dad as well. At least her face and voice remained somewhat... lethargic. To her own taste. It was far better than the look and sound of panic. In other words, she preferred keeping her guard up. Like usual.

Sephiroth moved closer and reached out a hand, managing only half a smile, but his eyes remained strong. Paige mentally begged her father not to notice his slit-like orbs.

Then she recalled her and Sephiroth's discussion from earlier that day:

She thought he was planning to say that he was some important person. His plan was much simpler than that, though. He was going to say he was a teacher. When she heard, she made an unbelieving frown.

"Who did you think I would claim to be?" he inquired.

"You want my honest opinion?" she said in a flat voice. He waited.

"...Well, I've been thinking a lot. I hardly even slept tonight. And I really thought you were going to say something like this: 'I am Sephiroth, General and soldier of the Military Forces of the organization Shinra, currently deployed here to supervise an operation as a part of my obligations to certain organizations as well as my home country, to serve and support Shinra's and my country's international allies. What brought me here is a matter of national and international security and cannot be discussed lest I consult my superiors in person beforehand. As to the reason behind me being here, I got involved in an inconvenient situation, during which I was injured in a crossfire between... ah, what would be the most appropriate term with which to describe them? ...Gangsters, I believe will do. They were in no way a part of my mission, yet they seemed insistent on reprimanding me for entering their territory during a trivial investigation."

And this explanation – spoken by Paige with a dull voice and even duller face – was rewarded with a highly amused smirk and glowing eyes that were so sparkly and perfect in her mind that she mentally cringed and turned away. Her hours spent to come up with that explanation was wasted (since he was going to pretend to be a teacher), and the only reward she was given, was lack of sleep. And a lone smirk.

"And how did you plan to explain how I ended up here?" he asked, curious if she had anything else to add to the story.

"...I wouldn't know."

And now, after shaking her dad's hand – who seemed dumbstruck – Sephiroth stepped back a little. Then her father glanced at Paige, his mouth opening and closing a little.
"Ah, I-I see, but I'm... What... Why are you here, then?" he asked, perturbed. As if suddenly realizing that Sephiroth was much taller than him, Aaron took a deep breath to make his chest look bigger.

"Being a Physical Education teacher, I wished to get acquainted with the area – especially the forest. Unfortunately, I stumbled across a cliff that I should have stayed clear of. The ground gave away under my feet and I fell."

"Yeah. A hundred feet," Paige added, her voice so dull that she grabbed the attention of them both. The thick sound of irony wasn't something she had intended to use, though.

"Up by the big river. He would've been taken away by the river if it hadn't been for the sun. There was hardly any water left," she added, trying to sound a little more enthusiastic. It made her uncomfortable to have to do so, because that meant lowering her imaginary guard. It felt like she was exposing herself.

Sephiroth's face remained calm and frozen.

"...You fell?! But- Why didn't you call the hospital?" her dad asked, turning to Paige.

For a moment silence reigned and Paige almost thought Sephiroth expected her to come up with something, so she frowned. But then the silver-haired-elf-who-was-pretending-to-be-a-kind-and-noble-human-having-fallen-victim-to-an-unstable-cliff spoke again:

"That would be because I requested that she did not, which Paige kindly accepted. My reason is this: I simply cannot afford medical treatment, nor do I wish to rely on anybody else to pay hospital fees in my place. And as you can see, I am already healing. Of course, after I start working as a P.E. teacher, I will be able to afford paying Paige for letting me stay here. If needed, I will offer my assistance with other tasks. Surely, if your daughter had chosen to leave me behind when she came upon me in the forest, I would have been far worse off."

There was a thick, icy, shiny, queen-like and dangerous beauty shrouding Sephiroth, and for a moment he looked like a looming piece of solid sincerity and politeness.

Personally, Paige felt more like a mute, pale, ninety percent transparent wallflower or something else that was gray and unnoticeable.

And after the display of magnificent and supernatural elfishness, her dad had no idea what else to do than kindly accept Sephiroth's lengthy explanation. He even offered (on Paige's behalf) to let him stay for as long as he pleased. From what she had gathered earlier, Sephiroth was reluctant to let his name be registered in any kind of database (and thus he couldn't even use his own credit card). Therefore, by claiming (or lying about) that he had lost his credit card in the river or somewhere close to it, her dad even offered to go buy some clothes for him. The moment her father turned his back to Sephiroth, however, that cold, menacing, king-elf-like look returned to his face. Even now, when he didn't carry his sword (and in addition wore a pair of black Puma pants and a red t-shirt), he looked positively dangerous. Behind his mask, however, she could see him twitch occasionally, as if in pain. Once, he even wiped his forehead briefly, wearing an angry scowl.

A little later, Paige was relieved to find that the bags her dad had brought inside earlier were actually shopping bags, and not 'sleepover bags'. They were full of food, to boot. But still, apparently all the food was super-mega-stuffed with heavy calories and tons of sugar. Delicious food. Paige figured her mom had told her dad to bring it all over.

"Mom, just what're you trying to do to me? I, who am planning to become a-..." Before she said too much, she shut herself up and looked around briefly. Nobody was watching. Sephiroth and Aaron, her dad, had gone outside for a bit. Staring down the shopping bags for some seconds before picking them up, she carried them to the kitchen. John Smoth the parrot spoke up:

"Yah, let's take it all back to the register, start it all over from the canister! Let's break it all down," he squeaked, nodding like crazy.

"You're not getting any of this. If you eat it, you'll die," Paige deadpanned, looking at the food coldly. At least now she wouldn't have to spend her own money on food for a while.

In any case, what was taking her dad and Sephiroth so long? They were outside somewhere.

"For now, since my economical situation cannot provide enough money to pay for my stay here until I start working as a P.E. teacher, I will try to make myself useful in other ways," Sephiroth spoke, perhaps a little too monotonously. He was lying, after all. Of course, there was no way he would pay anybody at all, even though he had already stayed at Paige's house for a while.

"No, really, that's fine! Until you've recovered from falling off that cliff, you should take it easy," Aaron said, grinning apologetically. Sephiroth held back an impatient, insulted sneer.

They were outside, standing in the sunny, overgrown garden. Grass was everywhere, bushes were threatening to hide any paths that might have been there in the past, trees loomed above and around the small, cabin-like house and kept it somewhat hidden. Even boulders the size of cars lay scattered about, providing protection for the rodents or snakes that no doubt occupied the many holes beneath them. Though the leafy branches were both heavy and dense, sunrays easily broke through, and in their light, swarms of insects were visible. Also, Sephiroth could hear a stream nearby, but he couldn't see it.

Needless to say, the garden needed some tending.

Then, as Sephiroth stepped back to get a better overview, the back of his head hit a branch. The impact wasn't strong, but it thoroughly vexed him nonetheless. Thus he stepped away a second time, and this time he almost stumbled over the roots of the same, pitifully dehydrated tree. With all this tall grass, he couldn't even see his own feet. Aaron was about to express his concern, which only added to Sephiroth's quickly worsening mood.

So he calmly walked closer to the the dry, dying tree, which was about as thick and tall as an ordinary street light, and gave it a roundhouse kick that broke it in half. Then he proceeded by grabbing some of its branches with one hand and roots with his other. Ignoring the pulsing sensation in his wounds, he jerked the tree up – his face still devoid of expression – and threw it uphill, out of the garden.

Judging by Aaron's expression, that might not have been the wisest thing to do.

"...The tree was light and hollow, and the roots were not deep," Sephiroth explained in an attempt to explain how he had split, pulled up and thrown up the tree so easily.

Aaron's wide eyes and mouth remained startlingly open, and his mustache twitched a little. Sephiroth continued:

"I learned it in the military. Strength and technique training was useful, especially so in mock battles against several people at a time. Surprise attacks using your surroundings also have an effect. I might add that one's strength doesn't lie in one's arms, but in the movement of your entire body. The tree would be no feat for any of my fellow soldiers."

"...Oh. Impressive..." Aaron said, breathless. At least he seemed to believe Sephiroth - to a degree. But somehow, Sephiroth felt better now that the man was no longer underestimating him.

Paige came outside just in time to walk back inside again with the two others. She had no idea why they had gone outside, nor why her dad's face was white as a sheet, but that didn't matter. At least he was in one piece, physically unharmed.

So, while she was busy making a boring dinner, awkward silence ensued in the living room. The television was on and her dad and Sephiroth were watching news. Personally, Paige felt like she was forcing herself to make horrible food, and found she was more lethargic and expressionless than usual. Dinner dragged on for a while, as they hardly spoke at all. Once evening was starting to make its appearance, her dad seemed almost happy to leave. He would have been beaming with joy and relief to get out of there, if it hadn't been for the fact that he was leaving Paige behind with Sephiroth. So it seemed to her, anyway.

She joined him when he walked out to his car.

"Don't worry. He doesn't have any interest in me. In fact, I think he dislikes me with a passion," Paige assured, her voice flat. "But he's polite, so it'll be okay," she added as an afterthought, although she wasn't telling the whole truth. She was standing by the closed door of Aaron's decade-old jeep lookalike. Her dad's mustache bobbed up and down a few times as he thought of what to say, now that Sephiroth was inside the house. Out of hearing range.

"...Just take care of yourself and call if anything happens. We'll come visit."

We'll come visit? Oh no. The sliver of 'peace and quiet' she so desperately wanted was now completely out of sight. Sliced to pieces. Burned to a crisp. Evaporated. Once Sephiroth met her weird family, he would run away screaming like a girl or a pig or something.

"...Yeah, sure." If she had sounded pensive and bored before, she now sounded like she was at death's door.

R.R.

Don't worry, I won't overwhelm you with her entire family just yet. First I want some progress with the two of them...