-Hides- I tried… (In response to dawn chase, the prologue was shorter! Pleasedon'tkillme)

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII nor its characters. I also don't own the ideas taken from Love Monster.

Cloud didn't know how he always found himself in these kinds of situations. Correction, he did know how, he just didn't know how it always happened to him. So here he was again in the hallway for what was it now? The third time? At 3am. The only difference was that this time, he wasn't being held up against the wall.

"Who said that you could touch him? He belongs to me!" Yeah, not to mention he had one weird... He wasn't sure if he should call him a saviour or not. All he knew was that morning he was stupid enough to get up out of bed for training and the next thing he knew he had been backed up against the wall by that rat of whom he still didn't remember the name of and then Johnny came out of nowhere and now they were having what looked like a yelling match... Over him... Yeah it was weird.

The rat scoffed. "Yours? I don't see your name on him. Besides, why would you want a disgusting creature like that? Or is it just that trash attracts more trash?"

Cloud only had one thought going through his head at this point. He hoped that someone would walk past soon.

He felt himself being grabbed and found himself behind Johnny. "He belongs to me."

The rat seemed to laugh at that and the next thing Cloud knew, Johnny had disappeared and there was a soft thudding sound as someone hit the ground. Cloud guessed that was the cat being pushed to the ground while he was once against up against the wall, being held up by a pair of rats.

The one that had been taunting Johnny before had flicked out a knife. "If you want such a disgusting thing…" He started approaching Cloud with the knife. "Then I might as well make him just as disgusting on the outside."

"The fuck! Are you insane? Let me go!" Cloud yelled at as he finally realised where this situation was going and panic started to settle in while he struggled against the two rats that were holding him up.

"Stop struggling you little shit." Cloud could feel their hold on him tighten.

He didn't know how it happened or if it was just an automatic reaction from the adrenaline rush, but the next thing he knew, one of the materia from his gold armlet started heating up and Cloud could hear Phoenix's cry echo in his head. As the rat got closer, the cry got louder until the rat stopped and looked around.

"The fuck was that?"

It took Cloud a moment to realise that the cry was no longer ringing in his head and that everyone else could hear it.

"The fuck IS that?" The two rats holding up Cloud unceremoniously dropped him to the ground and stared down the hallway in fear.

"Fuck! Isn't that a summon?"

"It's Phoenix!"

The rat that had been holding up the knife dropped it to the ground. "Who the hell summoned it?"

"It has to be this Halfling. He's the only one that…"

"Don't say stupid things! This little shit couldn't summon a fly even if he had the magic power for it!"

"What do you all think you're doing?"

They all stopped and turned in the direction of the new voice to see both Sephiroth and Genesis standing near the elevators. Genesis had a twisted, disgusted look on his face while Sephiroth had his gaze trained on the summon that was coming towards them.

"Looks like we have a little clean-up to do Seph." Genesis said. Sephiroth just sighed as he dumped the papers he had been holding in Genesis' arms.

"Hold this for a second."

Before either of them knew it, Masamune was out and the summon was disappearing in a mako coloured mist. As calmly as anything, Sephiroth casually slid his sword back into its sheathe before he turned his attention back to the cadets with a somewhat annoyed expression on his face.

It was an odd sight he had to admit. Two rats were sitting on top of Johnny, while one of them was still holding the cats' arms behind his back. Cloud was on the floor, having been dropped on the ground by the rats that had previously been holding him captive. The two rats in question were frozen to the spot while the one that had been about to attack Cloud with the knife was in a similar state with the knife at his feet.

"Would you cadets like to explain what this is? Or am I going to have to play a guessing game? Because from what I can see; this looks like an intervention gone wrong." There was a dead silence before Sephiroth sighed again. "Get out of my sight, the lot of you, I'll deal with you later."

The rats quickly scurried away while Johnny growled and followed after them, giving Cloud a look that the Halfling couldn't quite place. It looked like something between being a protective and possessive look.

Just as Cloud was about to follow Sephiroth stopped him. "You come with me cadet. I believe we have something we need to discuss." Cloud practically froze at that. He hoped that he wasn't about to be kicked out of the program. He had just been defending himself, though he may have overreacted a little bit with the whole summoning. He could have just set fire on all of them but his brain hadn't been working very well.

Sephiroth casually walked over to Genesis and took his papers back off the red haired First before he and Genesis started making their way towards the elevators. He stopped when he realised Cloud wasn't following them. "Well? Are you coming?"

Cloud was quick to scurry into the elevator with them and he stood behind the two while Sephiroth punched in the floor number. Genesis was still giving him a disgusted look.

"You know I never thought I'd see the day where a bunch of cadets would lower themselves to fight over such a transparent charlatan like you."

Cloud blinked… A transparent what? Did he just call him a fraud?

"Genesis!" Sephiroth was quick to scold him while Genesis looked indignant.

"What? He is. He's not even a proper monster… He's…"

"That's enough Genesis." The elevator stopped and the three of them stepped out. "Go to your office Genesis, I'll deal with this one on my own." With that, Genesis headed in straight down the hallway to his own office while Sephiroth lead Cloud in a different direction.

Cloud looked around a little, recognising the floor as the one that he and Reno had broken into a few weeks ago. When they got to Sephiroth's office, the general pushed open the door and settled down on his plush chair, placing his papers down on his desk before gesturing for Cloud to take the seat opposite him. Cautiously, Cloud sat himself down on the chair. There was a slight awkward silence before Sephiroth sighed, mentally reminding himself to see what the hell that was in the elevator with Genesis later. He had to see to this Halfling first.

"Name cadet."

"Cloud Strife, sir."

Sephiroth was quick to bring up the Halfling's profile on his computer. "So, you want to explain what happened down there?"

"I don't know sir! One minute I was going to training and the next that rat had a knife and Johnny was on the floor and I was panicking and then Phoenix…" Cloud knew he was tripping over his own words but the general was really intimidating in person and he couldn't stop himself.

Sephiroth held up his hand and Cloud almost immediately shut his mouth.

"From what I gathered, those rats cornered you, that cat tried to protect you and failed miserably and you ended up summoning Phoenix?" Slowly, Cloud nodded his head.

"Yes sir."

"Your armlet if you will please?" Sephiroth held out his hand and Cloud winced, hoping that he wasn't going to get his materia confiscated. He gently undid the clip on his armlet and cautiously placed it in the outstretched hand and watched as Sephiroth examined the materia. "You take good care of it."

"They were all presents from my father sir." Cloud explained.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. The cadet didn't have his father listed, which usually meant that either he didn't want anyone to know who his father was, or his father was dead. Going by the looks of things, he went for what seemed like the most logical answer.

"Don't people usually keep things like this as mementos instead of using them?"

Cloud looked startled. "Excuse me sir?"

"Your father. He isn't listed here."

"S… Sorry sir." Cloud spluttered. "But my father is very much alive."

Sephiroth looked a little bit surprised at that. "Oh… I apologise for the misunderstanding." He put the armlet on his desk and pushed it towards Cloud. "I'll let you off with a warning cadet. Next time you get in that kind of situation, casting fire would have been the better option, or even a bolt."

Cloud looked surprised. "Sir?"

"I can't kick you out on the grounds of self-defence. Not to mention I don't think I would want to after seeing what you can do. Those rats will be dealt with accordingly after I speak with your instructor. I'm not sure what will happen with the cat though. My suggestion is that you avoid being alone in hallways till this situation in sorted." There was another somewhat awkward silence.

"Um… Is that all sir?"

Sephiroth looked thoughtful for a moment. "I guess so. Dismissed." With those words, Cloud was out the door.

Sephiroth stared in the direction that the cadet had gone for a few moments before a single word left his lips with a small grin.

"Cute."