I may have let this chapter get away from me a bit and I may have also broken the forth wall. Whether that was a clever idea or a bad one is up to you, the readers, but I thought it was ironically funny as it slightly reflects the issue of us game fans having to wait forever for the remake to be released. hopefully part one is done at least sometime next year for the 20th anniversary. Gah! I'm totally hyped about the trailers I've seen so far. lol, but enough fangirling, This chapter starts to mov ethe plot along and throws in an interesting twist at the end.

Enjoy!

Zack entered his apartment and let out a big sigh of relief. The strap from the large duffle bag he had been carrying slid from his shoulder and the bag hit the ground with a heavy thud followed by a groan from the boy hiding within. This time however Cloud was able to unzip himself to freedom and took in a deep breath followed by an equally relieved sigh. "That was close."

"No kidding," Zack replied.

Cloud crawled out of the bag and rummaged through their supplies. "Well, the bread's smushed and I think a few eggs were broken, but everything else looks fine."

"Well, if we have to eat damaged food so be it. I'm not going back and risk bumping into him again."

Cloud turned away from the bag and slumped his shoulders in his cross-legged position. "I can't believe it. My first glimpse of him and I almost ruin everything."

"Eh, it's not your fault Spiky. How were we supposed to know he'd be there? Sephiroth almost always stays in the building."

The boy didn't feel any better though. "It still doesn't change that fact that I blew it. It doesn't matter if I wait for SOLDIER or not. If he figures out I'm here then I'm doomed anyway."

"Don't be so down, Cloud. So what if they find out you're here? The worst they can do is tell me off and throw you in an orphanage or something."

The boy shut his eyes and rose to his feet only to walk over to the window and glance out of it. From the high floor they were on he could easily see the city below. If he looked hard enough through the polluted smog he could even see the edge of the plate. "An orphanage… I can't go there. I won't."

"Spike?" Zack was getting worried now.

"An orphanage is a place kids go when they have no family. Until a couple of weeks ago, I had a one and now it's…" He couldn't bring himself to finish.

Zack stood up from leaning against the door and approached him. He had seen his young friend like this once before, but he had a feeling then that he hadn't been able to get all of his grief out. He still hadn't come to terms with it seemed.

"It's not gone Cloud. As long as you remember, your family will never truly die."

"That's just stuff people say to make others feel better. It's not really true," Cloud replied while fighting back a sniffle.

"Yes, it is. Listen to me," he grabbed his friend by the shoulders and turned the boy to face him. "Look, I've never mentioned her before because I wanted to protect her and her secret, but I have a friend who lives in the slums. She's really in tune with both nature and the Lifestream."

"The what stream?" asked Cloud.

"The Lifestream. It's the lifeblood of the planet or something. My friend explains it better and Bugenhagen also mentioned something about it. They both described it the same way though. It's where all life is born and where all life returns to after death. So, no one is really gone, we're all just part of the cycle of life…or something."

"You're really bad at explaining things," Cloud replied.

"I know, and I'm trying. Look, all I'm saying is that even if they seem gone, they never really leave us. Not as long as we remember them. Your mom would be proud of you for making it even this far. Heck, if it were up to me you'd be a Third Class already."

"You're just saying that," the blonde replied.

Zack shook his head and put on a serious face. "No, I'm not. Don't forget, you took down a Zolom. That's hard for a SOLDIER to do let alone a twelve year old boy with no mako enhancements. And you did it in the most ingenious way. Most people would panic and give up once those jaws clamp shut, but you didn't. You used your head and that stubborn pride and got yourself outta there. You should have seen it on the outside. That thing was really twisting in on itself. I had to back off just to keep from getting trampled."

"What's the point? It won't bring her back." Cloud tried to push away, but Zack held on. "I know it won't. And if there was a way I'd be the first to try. And I dunno, maybe if we do get found out I can try to adopt you as my little brother or something."

"Can you do that?" asked Cloud.

Zack scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure. But either way, we gotta find a better way of going in and out of here undetected."

"Yeah, I definitely don't want to bump into the General like that again," Cloud replied.

[Two Hours Earlier…]

Zack and Cloud needed to get the apartment restocked on supplies, mainly food. To do this they'd need to go out. Zack wanted to set out alone but Cloud made it clear that he was not going to be stuck in Zack's small place for the next three years. So, Zack relented, stuffed Cloud back into the backpack and acted as casual as possible while they made their way out of the building. Once a few blocks away Zack darted into an alley and let the chocobo out of the bag. They walked for a good way before they found a local food store and began stocking up on supplies when Cloud bumped into something and frowned at it.

"Ugh, stupid card-board cut out," he grumbled as he walked past the figure and looked at a shelf of canned food.

"I am in fact quite real," came the silky chilling voice. Cloud stiffened and turned only to have his blue eyes widen at the man who was looking down on him with slitted cat-like eyes. The man's eyes narrowed and Cloud nearly choked while taking in a sharp gasp. General Sephiroth was staring him down like a predator would glare at its prey. The young boy found himself unable to move. It was Zack who saved the day.

"There you are Spiky. What's wrong?"

"Zack," the General addressed his SOLDIER making Zack's smirk vanish as he poked his head around the corner. "General? What are you doing here?"

"Who is your friend?" asked the silverette, not bothering to answer his subordinate.

"Him," Zack glanced over at Cloud whose eyes couldn't widen anymore. "He's uh…" He knew Sephiroth was getting annoyed at the delayed answer if the expression in his eyes was anything to go by. The man didn't really show much in the way of facial expression, but his eyes were another matter, especially when the mako shine increased with his temper. That's when Zack saw a canned label that had some flowers on it and the idea came to him. "He's my friend's little brother. He's never been above the plate so I thought I'd show him around, isn't that right buddy?"

Cloud tried to recover his voice enough to reply, but all he could muster was a hasty nod.

Sephiroth turned to glance at the boy before returning his gaze to his SOLDIER. "You took your time answering. Stalling is an indication of lying. You should know my reputation as an interrogator by now, Fair."

"I wasn't lying," Zack defended, sounding hurt. "You just surprised me, Sir. I didn't expect to run into you at the supermarket. Why are you here, anyway?" he tried again, hoping to change the subject. "Don't you have your groceries delivered?"

Sephiroth looked over to the soup counter and pulled out some instant packs of Wutai noodles. "They do not always deliver everything on my list. On rare occasions I must retrieve the missed items myself. This is one of those times."

Zack peeked closer to the hand basket. "Huh, never took you for a noodle person."

Sephiroth pulled the basket away and switched it to his other arm. "I was stationed in Wutai for several years - sometimes it was all we had aside from rations. It's not a habit I'm proud of, but it's also something I rather enjoy."

Zack smiled at this, "Oh, I get it. This is your guilty pleasure!"

"My what?"

"Your guilty pleasure - something that isn't the best thing for you, but you give it to yourself as a reward or when you're stressed out."

"I thought that only included chocolate or baked goods," the General replied.

At this Zack snickered, "N'ah man. It could be anything that isn't good for you. My mom used to make Red Velvet cupcakes for herself when she needed a break and raising me was a tough challenge,"

"I cannot imagine why," the General replied.

Cloud couldn't help cracking a smirk.

"Seph~," Zack whined before continuing his little story. "Well, she wouldn't eat them all and always had a few left over for me. They were some of the best cupcakes on the planet and I always felt energized after eating them."

"My sympathies to your mother," The General commented.

Cloud tried to fight back his laughter, but couldn't help a small chuckle. This caught the General's attention. He decided to include the boy in on their conversation. "And what guilty pleasure do you have?"

The boy was reluctant to answer, but a nod from Zack helped him find his voice. "Well, on bad days Mom would make her specialty meal; at least, that's what she called it. It wasn't anything really special. Just some vegetable soup with some spaghetti noodles mixed into the broth. We didn't have much, but it always made me forget why I was feeling down in the first place."

Sephiroth didn't miss the frown and the pain-filled expression in the boy's eyes. Zack tried to get his General's attention off of Cloud and back onto him. "So, any hints on what my next mission will be?"

"You're next mission won't be for another two weeks. You've been placed on leave after your last mission. You're also required to visit the SOLDIER consular, due to the loss of your party on the mission."

Zack smiled at the General and shrugged. "I'll be fine Seph. It does bug me a little, but there was nothing I could have done to prevent what happened. It was an accident and I'll miss Captain Rodney's jokes, but they died doing what they love. Going out on missions and helping people."

Sephiroth could sense the sadness in Zack's reply. He was putting on a strong front, possibly for the boy, but he knew his fellow First Class. He'd have to mention this to Angeal later.

Sephiroth took his leave then; having gotten the items he wanted he headed back to Headquarters. Zack and Cloud grabbed the essentials. Bread, cheese, milk, toilet paper (Zack couldn't stand the sand paper that the company gave out), butter, eggs, some hamburger meat and hot dogs, two soda bottles, some snacks and Zack's favorite soup; Ramen. The SOLDIER figured it would do for now and he'd run down to get more later. When it came time for Cloud to go back in the bag they had to try and make sure nothing would get damaged. It was a tight fit, with Cloud having to hold the more breakable stuff.

They had nearly run into some Turks and although Zack wanted to say hey to Reno, he couldn't risk them finding Cloud, so he managed to elude them. The price to pay for his success once he got in the elevator was a sudden smell of egg yolk and a muffled, "Ew."

[Present…]

Zack shook his head as he walked over to the bag and brought it into the kitchen and began unloading the groceries and putting them away. Cloud went to help, but Zack refused and told him to grab some soda and plop on the couch.

"There's not much on TV at this time of day," Zack commented from the kitchen, "and I do have a game system, but Reno's currently borrowing it and won't give it back until he's beaten the game."

Cloud blinked in confusion, he had no idea what his friend was talking about. He barely saw a TV growing up let alone whatever Zack meant by a gaming system. He chose not to comment and instead flipped through the channels. Zack was right. The programs were beyond boring. Instead he turned it off and looked around the apartment instead. He found a small drawer and pulled out some of the cases he thought were music, but they looked more like movies. "Hey Zack, what are these?"

The teen looked up from where he was in the kitchen and smirked. "Those are my other games that Reno didn't care for. He likes army and gun-style games better. Those are my Final Fantasy games."

"Final Fantasy," the boy repeated.

"Yep, I have One through Six. I wish they'd hurry up and release the Seventh game though. It seems like it's been forever."

Cloud shrugged, figuring a game must be like a story. "Maybe they're not finished writing it yet."

"Writing it? Yeah, I guess. The guy in charge of the project did say it was a long story and that it had a lot of characters. I just hope this one has a lot of action and humor."

"I'm sure if you were in it it'd be hilarious," Cloud replied.

"Yeah, but the main character's supposed to be this guy who had a rocky past and got caught up in something big and now thinks he's a hotshot and can do the impossible. At least, that's what the latest feed from the gaming interview site had to say. Heh, I'd love to see him go up against Sephiroth, that guy has to be the greatest warrior in the world. No one can best him with a sword."

"But what if he didn't have his sword on him?" asked Cloud.

"Impossible," Zack replied. "He always has his sword, even if you can't see it."

Cloud blinked in surprise. He had heard rumors that Sephiroth's sword was about as long as he was tall. It was hard to imagine how he could hide a weapon that big.

. . .

Far off to the East in the hot, dusty terrain of Cosmo Canyon, a figure clad in red faced down a saber-like cat with a flaming tail. The two didn't communicate through words. Instead, the first figure merely stepped aside and revealed a small, open box. The creature approached slowly. Inside were three people who had been shrunken and put to sleep with materia. Two appeared injured, but their wounds had been treated to some degree. When the cat looked up the other figure had vanished. Not one to leave people behind, the cat gripped the side of the box with his mouth and carried it carefully back to his village.

Next Time: Flowers bloom in Midgar, Zack tries to figure out how to make it work, Angeal drops by for a chat and Cloud gets a letter.