Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the OCs. Enjoy!

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088 – Career Paths

Beverly held her tongue as long as she could, but after watching Rinoa mentally curse out the laptop in front of her, she had to say something. "Why are you doing this?"

Rinoa didn't look up from the laptop, where she was sitting at the kitchen table of Merlin's house, across the room from where Beverly was thumbing through the newspaper. "Because it's fun." She hissed sarcastically, before saying, "This software is stupid."

"You have been toiling around in the IT Department for months, and you haven't learned anything." Beverly pointed out flatly, "You obviously hate it. Why are you still working there?"

"What else am I going to do?" Rinoa still didn't look up, pecking at the keyboard aggressively. "What? Not compatible?! You motherless son of a—"

Beverly snorted, leaning back in her seat. "Have you looked around? There's always a thousand things that need doing here in Radiant Garden."

"Yeah…but it's specialized stuff…like…building houses and doing research. Civilian stuff." She mumbled.

Beverly lifted an eyebrow, "What's wrong with civilian stuff? This is a military world, Rinoa, but there's still almost 30 percent of the population that is civilian."

Rinoa finally looked up. "Well, I'm not."

The unexpected anger in Rinoa's eyes made her swallow whatever comment she'd been about to retort with. The younger woman looked frustrated and sad.

"I…" Rinoa deflated slightly, pushing the computer away from herself and folding her arms against her chest. "Ever since I got back to Radiant Garden, I've been useless." She frowned, "Everybody here has a purpose…They run entire departments, fight Heartless, run missions. These people that I went to school with, hung out with, was friends with…I came back and they were all strong and grown up and responsible. Look at me." She lifted her shoulders defensively. "All I did was stay alive for 12 years."

"Against Heartless and Nobodies and inter-galactic war." Beverly pointed out, "I'd hardly say that's nothing."

"Yeah, well…so did Tifa and look at her now." Rinoa said sourly. "She runs the Combat Department, has a slew of interns under her command, is a pillar of the community, AND is starting a family. And I can't even install a lousy program!" She glared at the laptop.

Beverly frowned, "I survived for 12 years and all I have to show for it is a bar." When Rinoa looked at her meekly, Beverly narrowed her eyes, "You gotta stop comparing yourself to the others on the Restoration Committee."

"How can I not?" Rinoa said quietly. "I'm the appendix of Radiant Garden: unnecessary and only prone to screwing things up."

"Self pity is an ugly color on you." Beverly remarked. "Look," She sat up, pushing her hair away from her forehead. "Tifa, Aerith, Cid…they're good at what they do. Just because you're not good at what THEY do, doesn't make you worth less than them. C'mon, what is it YOU are good at it…or at least what you enjoy doing?"

Rinoa looked uncertain, "I…I don't know. I'm not good at anything, except—"

"Except…?"

"I'm…I mean I guess…bread." When Beverly gestured for her to continue, Rinoa cupped her hands under her knees. "Okay, I wound up stranded on this one world during my travels…This ritzy place that had all these restaurants and fine dining spots. It was harsh competition there, but I was short on munny and this guy named Linguini gave me a tip to this bread shop. The woman who ran the bakery offered me a job. Just a cashier, selling pastries and bagels and stuff…but I…sort of…toyed with the oven a few times."

"It's always good to experiment when you're young." Beverly winked.

Rinoa inhaled and continued. "Found out I had a bit of a knack for baking. Nothing fancy, just bread and bagels and things like that. I don't know…it's stupid…"

"How so?"

"Pfft." Rinoa looked at her, "Leon and Tabaeus are saving lives and fighting darkness."

"They can't do that on an empty stomach." Beverly touched her chin. "I like to think the happy hour at my tavern has helped ease the bitter aftertaste of some of their missions. We all serve a purpose, Rinoa. You don't have to be a gun-toting, hard-nosed soldier to be a bad ass."

Rinoa chewed the side of her lip. "You don't think it'd be lame?"

"Nope." Beverly shook her head, "But, honey, you gotta get out of IT. You're like a laptop terrorist in there."

Rinoa snorted and looked at the computer again. She sat up. "Oh, wait, I think it finally…" She clicked on something and then threw her arms up. "It's ALIVE!"

The fan on the computer suddenly kicked off and the screen went black.

"Mother fudge!" Rinoa smacked the screen down on the laptop and shoved it away.

Beverly snickered at her, paused, and then stood. "Just think about it, okay? There's no point in trying to learn something you aren't good at, to keep a job you hate, to impress people who have no say in the matter. So buck up, Bagel Babe."

Rinoa smirked and stood, "Thanks, Beverly…I think I need a drink."

The older woman beamed, "And THAT is my specialty."

..:-X-:..

089 – Holiday Shopping

"So I think we can rule out shoes, purses, and jewelry." Yuffie remarked, sauntering through the shopping district aimlessly. "What's her favorite color?"

Jake was sullen behind her.

"Jake Alms, I know you are not giving me the cold shoulder." She said airily. "My team took the championship title fair and square. Be hacked off all you like, but take it like a man."

"No cold shoulder." Jake said, hands deep in his pockets as he walked alongside her. "My shoulder is toasty warm…like you could cook eggs on this baby." He smacked his shoulder. "I will admit defeat when you admit that if I had convinced Tabaeus to join my paintball team, you would have gotten slaughtered."

"Your logic?" She pressed. "And don't pull that 'because she's Leon's intern' crap, because Wallace had a few of Leon's recruits on his team and we cleaned house."

"Fine. Because...she's Leon's TOP intern." He said pompously.

She snorted and glanced around the shop where they'd popped in. "All right fine, whatever. Any of this in here screaming McCallister at you?"

Jake turned in a small circle. "Man, I suck at buying presents for people…And she's giving me absolutely nothing to go on."

"Well, Tifa certainly gave no hints that she wanted a year's supply of baby diapers for her baby shower, and yet you delivered."

"It's a fact of life, Yuffie: everybody poops. Babies poop A LOT. She and Leon will be thanking me for that one." Jake pointed out.

Yuffie shook her head, "Anyway, how about a gun maintenance kit? Can't say she wouldn't use it."

"Maybe I could get her a pet." Jake wasn't paying attention.

Yuffie spotted a box of cigars in a fancy metal box. The smell of cigars reminded her of Trevor, though she'd never actually seen him smoke. She picked it up, inspecting it. "The woman is working around the clock; you think she has time for a pet?"

Jake shrugged, "It just seems like everybody's got one now. Leon's had Duke for years. Aerith and Rinoa adopted that cat…"

"That's not a cat. It's a demon." Yuffie corrected. "Seriously, just go with the gun kit. Or a coffee maker. Or an external hard drive for her computer. Practical stuff is a safe way to go."

"Would you REALLY want to get a coffee maker for Christmas?" Jake leered.

"No, but I'm not Tabaeus McCallister. She's a weirdo like that." Yuffie decided to carry the cigar box with her. "Or you could pull something sneaky and get Mindy Tallman transferred to a galaxy far, far away."

"Eh?" Jake quirked an eyebrow at her.

Yuffie went to the check out to buy the cigar box. "McCallister HATES that woman."

"She does? Why?"

"I don't know; I didn't ask."

"You? Miss Sneaky Ninja Know-it-all didn't ask?" Jake looked amused.

Yuffie paid for the gift and took the bag it was in. "Part of being sneaky is knowing which buttons to push and which not to push. For instance, one button you CAN push is Cloud's stupid hairstyle. One button you CANNOT push is arguing about Kirk versus Picard with Leon."

"And Mindy is a no-no button?"

"BIG no-no button." Yuffie said, looking at him. "Why the first name?"

"I…might have…already talked to her some…Given her a tour…"

Yuffie groaned. "Does McCallister know?"

"I don't know. I mean, I didn't tell her but I'm not trying to hide it from her. Leon saw me and warned me a bit…" Jake lifted his shoulders, "I didn't know Tabs had beef with her."

"And it's invisible beef." Yuffie indicated. "The only person that I think could safely ask about that beef is Leon…maybe Tifa…"

"I'm her boyfriend, shouldn't I be able to ask—"

"Have you MET Tabaeus?" Yuffie lifted an eyebrow, picking up a gun maintenance kit from a nearby shelf. "I'm not saying you shouldn't ask, I'm just saying that you shouldn't ask."

"That doesn't even make sense—"

"I know!" Yuffie huffed, shoving the kit at him. "But it's Christmas. Your first Christmas together…and possibly your last if you harp on this. Let's face it, McCallister is a bit of a flight risk as far as relationships go."

"Oh, because you and Trev-Trev are so grounded?"

"Well, we sure as Hell owned that paintball tournament last week!" Yuffie snickered.

"WHY would you bring THAT up?!" Jake wailed dramatically.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him as he paid for the gun kit. "I'm just saying that Treffie is so far beating Tabake as far as awesomeness goes." She said, using Jake's odd couple nicknames that he had invented a while back.

"You watch yourself, Kisaragi…The black panther will rise again." He threatened.

..:-X-:..

090 – The Paradox, Part Three

It started and ended with a flash of blue light.

One moment, Cloud was alone at the Dark Depths, lost in his thoughts, and the next, the now-familiar form of Agent Mike was tumbling past him in a burst of blue light, rolling hard on her side and popping up in a half squat.

"Duck!" She barked.

Cloud had little time to process her sudden entrance, but he immediately ducked all the same. A cold mass sizzled through the air where his head had been a second earlier, and when he looked up, the cold mass was revealed to be a thick, black, serpentine creature.

"The Leech Hybrid?" He gripped his sword.

The time agent drew her gun. "I've been chasing it through five different realms now." She said, out of breath.

The writhing black snake-like monster launched itself at her chest with a snarl. Instead of firing her weapon, the agent lunged to the side and wound up beside Cloud.

"We really need to stop meeting like this." She managed with a wry wink.

Cloud slid three steps sideways, blocking the pathway from the Dark Depths that would lead back toward the main town. The hissing creature had recovered itself and was rounding on the two of them, its thick body undulating furiously. Seeing it now, in the cold light of day as opposed to the shady nighttime alley where he had seen its counterpart, Cloud noted the gaping hole of a mouth on the head of the thing. No fangs. No claws. Its eyes were narrow slits on the sides of the head, a vivid blue amidst the pitch black skin.

"Don't let it touch you." Agent Mike warned. "Once it latches on, it's almost impossible to get it off. It'll bleed you dry and…you saw what happened to my partner."

This was immediately proven to be easier said than done, as the Leech abruptly lurched at Cloud. He took an instinctive step backward, lifting his Buster Sword to defend himself. He couldn't move away, though, and let the thing barrel into town. Gripping the handle of the sword, Cloud swung baseball-style as the Leech careened toward him. The creature's momentum started to work against it, but just before it collided with the business end of the Buster Sword, the Leech seemed to effortlessly bend its body out of the way. It glided over the blade and re-directed itself in mid-air, the gaping hole of a mouth aiming at his throat.

Cloud cursed and ducked, drawing the broad side of his sword up to block it.

"Stopra!" Agent Mike barked.

The spell slammed into the scaly back of the Leech, with the residual force of it ballooning around the creature's body and encapsulating the Buster Sword. Cloud released the weapon before the spell could grab his hand, and he bounced back a step, staring at the sight.

Both the Leech and his Buster Sword were trapped in the Stop Spell, but while the Buster Sword was completely frozen, the Leech looked like it had been locked into slow motion. The skin and the scales continued to roll, and its body began to writhe in anger, but at a dramatically slowed rate.

Agent Mike hurried over to him. "Hybrids have a high tolerance against magic. It takes stronger spells to slow it down."

"Then why didn't you use a stronger spell?" Cloud snapped.

"What part of 'five realms' did you not hear?" She reproached, crossing over to the paralyzed beast. "I'm almost out of ether as it is."

The Leech made a horrid sucking noise with its mouth through the spell, and its already-bright blue eyes flickered.

"Shit." The agent cursed, hastening her movements toward it.

"What's it doing?"

"It's trying to open another portal." She explained. "That Stop Spell wasn't as strong as I thought it was."

"Or this…thing…is stronger than you thought it was." Cloud remarked.

She lifted her gun to the creature, pulling back the hammer to end the Leech, when the Stop Spell abruptly broke. With a crack and a snarl, the serpentine creature lunged at her. The Buster Sword clattered to the rocky floor and Agent Mike fired her gun instinctively. The bullet went wide and the Leech wrapped itself around her arm, its tail slapping her wrist where that strange watch was that enabled her to time travel.

Cloud reached her in two strides and caught her gun as she dropped it.

"Shoot it!" Agent Mike screamed, real fear flashing in her eyes as the Leech's mouth dove toward the skin of her forearm.

The technology on her wrist beeped and there was a blue flash of light. Cloud lifted the gun and swiftly took aim just as the Leech's mouth latched onto the woman's arm. She cried out in surprise and horror. Cloud couldn't take the shot; from where he was standing, the bullet would have torn through the Leech and hit the woman right in the chest.

The portal opened behind her and the time agent toppled backwards into it, struggling with the Leech as it clamped onto her forearm. Cloud didn't have time to think: he reached for her and just barely got a hold of her other arm. There was a harsh gust of wind and then he was falling after them. The portal closed, and only the Buster Sword was left in the Dark Depths.

..:-X-:..

Preview for next week: "Merry Christmas."