Apparently I think of plots and stuff better when I'm on a plane or at work… A whole two and a half pages.

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

"And Angeal said that he'll train you in hand to hand while Seph said that when he has time he'll teach you some sword arts… Just remember Spike, those two are animals, don't fall for their tricks, especially when it comes to Seph. If given the chance he'll gobble you up faster than a Hungry…"

"Zachary."

Zack jumped and slowly turned around only to be faced with the General in question.

"Are you poisoning that cadets mind with lies about me again… And comparing me to a Hungry."

"…No?"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "No?"

There was a moment of silence before Zack finally caved. "… Maybe a little? I mean look at you. Your hair is the same colour as a Hungry and you eat up little cadets like poor little Spikey over here." As if to protect his student Zack wrapped his arms around Cloud, using his larger body to shield him from Sephiroth's view, while Cloud squeaked and tried to wrestle his way out of the first classes arms, despite knowing that resisting was pointless.

"I'm going to assume you've never been to Corel Valley before Lieutenant because if you had, you'd know that Hungrys' are white. My hair is silver." Sephiroth reached over to separate the two and Cloud sighed in relief when Zack's arms were pulled away, only to find himself in another pair of arms. He felt the heat rise up in his cheeks as soon as he realised that Sephiroth was holding him up against his chest. "And unlike Hungrys', I wouldn't need to cast Mini on your little cadet to eat him up."

Cloud could feel his head being tilted up and he was faced with Sephiroth's smirk. By now he was sure he was redder than a cherry.

"Do I even want to know what's happening here?"

Cloud was quick to use the sudden entry of a new person to his advantage as he practically bolted out of Sephiroth's arms and ended up all the way on the other side of the apartment away from both Zack and Sephiroth as Cissnei entered the room.

"What are you doing here?" Sephiroth questioned as his expression morphed into his usual indifferent look that he usually used when dealing with other employee's.

Cissnei just held up a small stack of papers. "I came to give this to your Lieutenant. It's the list of all the new recruits that you're going to pick up as well as all of your transport details. Katana and I will be accompanying you."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at that. "Two Turks? What makes you think that my Lieutenant would even need escorts in the first place?"

"Technically I'm going to be the Lieutenant's only escort. Katana is merely flying the helicopter there and dropping the two of us off before heading off to Wutai."

"What's in Wutai?" Zack questioned.

"Nothing much… Just a troublesome little monkey that got away. We're just making sure that it's not going to be a problem that's all."

Zack blinked. "This monkey doesn't happen to go by the name Yuffie does it?"

Cissnei stared at Zack for a long time before she replied. "What do you know about her?"

"I met her last time I went to Wutai. Sometime near the end of the war. She challenged me to a treasure hunt and somehow managed to steal my number and we've been running into each other ever since." Zack whipped out his phone and pressed a few buttons before turning it in Cissnei's direction so that she could see all of his messages.

She snatched the phone out of his hand to get a better look. "Can I… Borrow your phone for a little while?" Slowly Zack nodded his head. "I'll give it back to you in the heli. We're meeting on the roof in five hours." Without turning her head away from the phone she tossed the papers in Zack's direction before making her way out of the room.

Zack only just managed to catch them before they hit the ground. "What was that about?"

Both Cloud and Sephiroth just shrugged their shoulders and there was a long moment of silence before Zack jumped up and grabbed Cloud's arm. "Well then, now that that's done. We've got somewhere to go."

"And where do you think you're going before your mission?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow as Zack dragged his student towards the door.

"Slums. I'll be back before it's time to go. Yes I've already packed my bags. Yes I remembered to bring my toothbrush and yes my PHS charger is in there too." Zack said before Sephiroth could open his mouth to ask any of those questions.

The general just sighed. "Go on then."

"Thanks Seph. Tell everyone that I'll see them when I come back from Junon. Also can you lock the door when you leave?"

"I'm not you Zachary. Unlike you I remember to lock doors."

"Thanks Seph love you." With that Zack gave Cloud one more tug through the apartment door and slammed it shut behind him.

A few minutes later Cloud found himself beside Zack on a train heading towards the slums while Zack was diligently reading through the papers Cissnei had thrown at him.

"So… Where are we going?" The Halfling finally questioned after a long moment of silence.

"Going to go meet someone." They both fell silent again at Zack's short answer.

As soon as the train stopped, Cloud felt himself being dragged by the arm again. They went straight past the wall market and through a rundown playground before making their way towards sector 5. They stopped at a small house and Cloud was surprised to see that there were plants growing in the back area.

"Hey Zack… There's…"

"Yeah I know." Zack grinned as he knocked on the door. A young woman with long brown hair and bright green eyes opened the door. She was wearing a white and blue dress and a bright smile appeared on her face when she saw Zack standing before her.

"Zack!"

Said SOLDER smiled in return. "Hey Aerith. I wanted to introduce you to someone." Zack pushed Cloud in front of him so that the two were standing face to face. "This is Cloud." Something seemed to click in the back of Clouds' mind and Aerith seemed to stare at him with a thoughtful look on her face before it morphed back into a smile.

"Hello Cloud. I'm Aerith Gainsborough." She held out her hand.

"Cloud Strife." Hesitantly Cloud reached out and gave her hand a gentle shake before pulling away. Zack's grin seemed to widen and Aerith took a step back as Zack practically shoved Cloud into the house.

"So what brings you two into the slums at this time of day?" Aerith questioned as she ushered them both towards the dining room table. She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment before reappearing with two cups of tea and a teapot.

"Just thought I'd introduce you to my student before I went on my first mission. It's going to be Cloud's first time without me as my student. I was hoping that he'd be able to run here if he ever needed to get away."

Aerith nodded as she took a seat at the table with them. "He's free to come any time." She stared at Cloud with a knowing expression on her face and Cloud couldn't help but think that she could see right through him.

As if on cue, Cloud's PHS started ringing and the cadet jumped in fright. "Excuse me." He grabbed his phone and stared at the unknown number in confusion for a moment before he flipped open the device and held it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Strife?"

"Yes?" He got the feeling that he should have known the gruff voice on the other side of the line but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"It's Tseng. Can you put Zack on the line?" The Halfling made a small sound of agreement before he passed the phone over to Zack.

"It's Tseng." It was now Zack's turn to look confused.

"Excuse me for a moment… It's probably to do with my PHS." With that the SOLDIER stepped out of the front door and shut it behind him, leaving Aerith and Cloud alone in silence.

"So…" Aerith began.

"Are you a phoenix?" Cloud was surprised that he just let his mouth run with his head. He was even more surprised when Aerith merely started laughing.

"It's the first time someone's just out and asked me that before." She continued to laugh for a few moments while Cloud just wished he could sink into his chair. When her laughter finally died down she answered Cloud's question. "My mother was a phoenix, the same as me. My father's human so I'm actually half." A moment later and Cloud was staring at a pair of golden wings.

"Does Zack know?" Cloud questioned as he stared at her wings in awe.

"He does… Does he know about you?" The Halfling was somewhat surprised at the question and Aerith smiled knowingly. "Don't worry, I won't tell him." Cloud sighed in relief.

"Thank you…"

"Though you could just tell him you know. You can trust that Zack won't tell anyone." Cloud didn't look so sure about that.

"My parents are the only ones that know… And you… I've been hiding this for pretty much my whole life. It's not easy for me to just… Tell anyone."

"What about me?"

"We're the same aren't we?" She smiled.

"I'm pretty sure that my wings aren't white and I'm not quite clear on your abilities but I'm pretty sure that you're not a Halfling." Cloud smiled back and a second later his small grey tipped wings made an appearance.

"That's what everyone thinks."

"Believe me Cloud, it'll get harder to hide it. You're trying to get into SOLDIER right?" Cloud nodded. "You're going to be put into situations… Things you can't control and someone's going to find out eventually. What are you going to do then? Where are you going to run to? I mean if no one around you knows, who are you going to know who to trust and where you can hide?"

"Well I have one now don't I?" Aerith just shook her head with her smile still on her face.

"I'll do what I can for you, since we are the same… But Cloud…"

"I know… Be careful… My mother used to say that to me all the time. Be careful, don't let your wings out unnecessarily, remember you're a crane not a…"

"Sorry about that." Both Aerith and Cloud almost jumped as Zack opened the door and tossed Cloud's phone across the table back to the Cadet. "Need to head back Cloud. Tseng wants to talk to me a bit more about the whole Yuffie thing before I head off to Junon…" He stopped when he noticed that the two were both staring at him like a pair of chocobo's caught in the headlights. "Was I… Interrupting something?"

Aerith laughed a little, shaking her head. "No, Cloud and I were just talking about you that's all."

Zack pouted a little. "That's mean… I hope you were only saying good things about me."

Cloud was quick to follow up on Aerith's story. "I was telling Aerith about when I just moved into your apartment and you had all of that old pizza all over the floor."

"Hey it was perfectly edible…"

"Anyway." Cloud was quick to steer the conversation away from that topic. "You were saying about Tseng wanting you to come back?"

"Yeah." Zack sighed. "Guess you can come down on your own some time to get to know Aerith better… No more talking about me though."

"Then what else are we meant to talk about?" Aerith grinned. "You're the only thing that we have in common at the moment."

Zack pouted while Cloud got up out of his seat. Zack was quick to follow his lead and started heading towards the door.

Cloud paused on his way out and turned his head around to face Aerith. "Thanks for the tea."

Aerith also stood up at his words. "It was no problem… Also about that other thing…"

"I'll be sure to run here if something happens." Aerith nodded as the two started making their way out of her house.

One other thing before I finish off. I have a guessing game for you. Someone within Shinra will find out about Cloud. I just thought it would be fun to see who you all think it'd be.