Here I skipped the crappy in between part for after that whole incident. It seemed too stupid to write and type out for you. Maybe some other time. We also get to endure through some Evie and Yuffie interaction which has a tendency to lean towards funny. I always kind of picture their relationship to be a somewhat violent and sarcastic one from Evie's point of view. Then we see some SOLDIER action without the violence for once. I always thought of the SOLDIER before the fall of Sephiroth as some fighting organization that helped people a lot. Even in public. That might be just me. Enjoy.

Words: 2623

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all parts of the contemplation go to Square Soft or rather Square Enix. I own Evelia and the things based around her.

Things returned to normal according to Sephiroth and I shouldn't worry about anything. I shrugged it off when he told me, not like I remembered much anyways. Today Zack and Aerith invited me to help make some wagons for her flowers. He had promised a while ago that he would make her one. He had yet to do so. I was sitting on a train leading to the slums; nothing like seeing some woman with a giant sword to freak people out. So naturally there was a 10 foot area around me that was unoccupied. I didn't say anything the day was young and sunlight was streaming in. the long ride gave me nothing more than time to think. And naturally my thoughts turn to the one person who occupied my head like 80 percent of the damn time.

It almost made me angry knowing I had a guy crossing my thoughts more than whether I should get new materia or learn a new move from Sephy. I felt weird, very unlike myself. I was a stranger in my own body. When the train stopped and I saw the smiling face, I stood and thought to myself. Maybe it's from lack of social communication… I smiled warmly at Zack who lead me down to see Aerith waiting. She clapped happily and with a tilt of her head and a grin, she gave me a hug. I was quite tall in comparison to her, and when she pulled back from me she stared between Zack and me for a long time.

Zack and I exchanged looks waiting confused. She blinked before speaking, like she was thinking about something, "Aww you guys are so lucky." I chuckled lightly and decided that it was wagon-making time.

I was glad to find that the numerous wagons she had kept her happy. Occasionally, Zack would go out to look for something and I would stay with Aerith to talk about things. Girl stuff, stuff I never got to talk about with Zack.

Everything we could think of we talked about. It was really fun, until Aerith brought up Zack…usually it was about good things, but this time it was awkward for me.

"You and Zack have been close for a long time then huh?" I had just finished telling her about one of the many interesting stories me and Zack had together on our missions.

"Yeah, since I joined SOLDIER… like three or four years ago. We became distant after I became a 1st Class though, but we're back to being really good friends. I'm really happy about it… Why?" She paused in tending to her flowers to stand and look at me.

"He talks about you a lot… even if he doesn't seem to notice himself. I know he cares a lot about me, but Maybe it's not just me…" I stood abruptly a bit confused.

"Aerith, don't think like that, Zack cares about you a lot. I may be his best friend but that's probably the only reason why he talks about me so much. When he can't see you he's always with me," I said trying to turn the conversation away from awkward, but she was very stubborn.

"It's not impossible to love your best friend as more than a best friend and it's not impossible to love more than one person." My jaw dropped and as I went to try and save myself, Zack came bursting in a grin evident on his face.

"You don't know that Aerith…"

"It seems I know Zack better than you…" She mumbled her brown hair swaying as she smiled sadly. I opened my mouth to respond, but Zack was to close by.

"Well that was easy. Let's try this combination Evie, then we need to go on a mission. Sephiroth would be mad to see you haven't done at least one today," I nodded slowly. Sephiroth made sure that I went on at least a mission a day. Zack had to come with until I could fight Sephiroth properly, Sephy didn't think I was recovered fully. Sometimes I thought he was right… because he was.

I felt fine, but there was still something off about me. I couldn't pick out what it was. I bent over with Zack as we assembled another variation of a wagon for Aerith. When we finished it was cute, something she would probably like. Then we left, more awkwardly on my part than Zack's.

On the train back to center of Midgar I felt my phone vibrate as a beep went off. I had an email. I flipped it open to see that evil treasure hunter was bothering us. Turned out a few missions ago it was just Yuffie. Evil thing.

"Looks like Yuffie has some evil death wish for us again. Wanna try it out?"

"We'll check it out when we get back to the SOLDIER floor." I nodded staring at Zack a second longer than usual. Then we got simultaneous beeps. Turns out the Zack Fan Club was updating their mail again. It was growing in size, at over 300. Then another two beeps came from me. One from the Evie fan club which was strong in the thousands and the Zack and Evie ship club. Strong in the thousands as well. Estimating their size by the end of the year at the end of the message. It said somewhere in the hundred-thousands by then. I sighed and put my phone away giving Zack a tight smile.

"You evil thing, come here!" I grabbed the little squirt and lifted her in the air.

"Let go of me! You'll be sorry if you don't!" I stared down at my invisible watch as I waited.

"Oops, I'm not sorry. Too bad, now give me a good reason why I shouldn't kick your little butt from here to Wutai for nearly killing me and Zack with that summon?" I growled pointing to Zack who held the material in his hand. It was strong gold color.

"I'm cute?"

"Wrong."

"I'll beat you up!"

"Very wrong."

"Because I don't know any better?"

"Getting warm."

"because I'm a little kid?"

"No. Now I'm gonna kick your ass." I let her go and literally kicked her ass. She fell over and started to fake cry. Zack instantly felt bad. I scoffed, "Oh don't give me that, you're trying to be manipulative, I know. I do it too."

"No… you don't." said Zack lightly.

"Exactly, because I don't need to." I said smugly. I smirked and walked up to her poking her with my boot. "You are NOT that cute. Stop it." I sighed for a moment before glancing at Zack. "Look. Yuffie you need to understand that you almost killed us and most people wouldn't even have put up with your crap. Some people would have killed you by now. Not everyone is as nice as us. You need to understand this." She glared at the floor stubbornly and I shook my head. I looked around the dark cavern she had dragged us to and dusted off my black pants before smacking her in the head and walking away.

Returning back to the SOLDIER floor, it was fairly peaceful, which was nice for once. I ran a hand through my long black hair. I stared at it. It was getting really long and sometimes I missed when I would pull it back every day. I felt someone give it a gentle tug. It was Zack. He smiled gently and I returned the face.

"Your hair is getting long." I nodded a couple of times, "I like it." I locked eyes with him a blank face on compared to his smiling one. Then my face broke into a grin.

"Thanks Zack. I was going to cut it." He shook his head and pulled on it again before walking away. He seemed to be a lot less… vibrant and cocky lately. I shook my head sadly… things really were a lot better a few months ago. There was too much change in too little time. My hand clenched into a fist and the sound of leather tightening reached my ears. I needed something to get my mind off of Zack. I was too antsy for training. I couldn't stay still and I wasn't in the mood to be Hojo's play thing.

I left the building as quickly as I had come and decided to head for the heart of Midgar. The sound of my combat boots hitting the ground beneath enchanted my clouded mind. I couldn't concentrate. Nothing could hold my mind properly. I needed to get my thoughts figured out. Paying attention to my enhanced senses made me realize that being dressed in my casual clothing would have been a better idea.

"Look it's Evie!" I heard people whispering and saying to each other while pointing. A little girl walking by smiled at me and I pulled my gloved hand out of my pocket to wave gently. She started squealing with happiness. The people who paid the most attention to me were females. The males only grinned at me occasionally.

I stared up at the main Shinra building as I passed by it. I ignored it not wanting to walk back inside. I released a big sigh and walked away calmly. But I bumped into something. I stopped walking noticing the sudden weight against my thigh. It was a little boy. He looked at me with wide scared eyes but I bent down and stuck my hand out gently putting on my sweetest smile.

"Aw, hello. Are you alright there?" he said nothing for a moment. Then he gulped and took my hand. I smiled broader and easily pulled him to his feet. I stared at him as he stared back. "You looking for someone or were you playing and you bumped into me?"

"I can't find my mom and dad. They were here somewhere. But I can't find them." He said in a small voice. Then he started crying. I bit my lip and wiped at his huge brown eyes and ruffled his short black hair.

"Don't cry, I'll help you find your parents little guy. My name's Evie, Short for Evelia. What's your name?" he sniffed slowly glancing at me.

"My friends call my Johny." I smiled broader for his sake and stood up to my full height. He stared up at me with his wide brown eyes and I stuck my hand out he smiled a little and put his smaller hand in mine. I smirked as we started walking. SOLDIERs… hero to the children, and protectors of the peace. We were trusted so easily here. I tried talking to him to keep him calm as I looked for a couple of people who's genetics matched his. About an hour later he tugged on my finger and I stopped to bend down.

"my feet are tired and we still haven't found them…" he started choking and sobbing. I bit my lip, he was only about 8 years old.

"how about you get on my shoulders and help me look for your parents?" he sniffed and nodded and I pulled him easily onto my shoulders before standing slowly. he gasped and giggled in delight. "Don't cry and when we find your parents maybe I'll buy you an ice cream cone, okay?" he nodded and wrapped his small arms around my head. I smiled despite myself.

I always said I hated children and never liked animals. But when faced with them I could never treat them horribly. He fell asleep on my head as I walked around Midgar. I made sure not to hurt him with Harpenger on my back. "Johny? Johny!" I stopped and turned to stare at the voice of a 30year old woman, but I couldn't find the face. I stared as I heard the same voice call out to her husband. I looked down the street a couple of times before crossing.

"Oh my gosh, you found him. We were so worried." The woman sobbed as her husband came running. He looked to me then to his son and smiled, grateful. I returned it gently before sliding him off my shoulders and catching him easily. He woke up quickly giggling before I put him on the floor. I stood silent as the family reunited. I took a deep breath a smile crossing my face before I started to walk away.

"Wait!" I turned to see the three looking at me. I walked back silently but not without a smile. "Thank you so much. You're Evelia right? The SOLDIER 1st Class?" I nodded once before pulling some of my black hair behind my ear. My gloves passed over my piercings. I paused having forgotten about them. I smiled broader and turned back to the woman with a grin.

"It was my pleasure ma'am. Now Johny, you gonna be a good boy and not get lost again?"

"Yeah!"

"Good. You worried your parents and I think it's past your bedtime so I owe you an ice cream cone alright? I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner, I didn't know who I was looking for exactly."

"No thank you. You helped us find him. Thank you so much."

"Hey Evie?"

"Johny address the nice lady properly," his mother scolded.

"No it's alright. What can I do for ya kiddo?"

"Can I have your autograph?" I stared at him with a raised eyebrow. Before I let out a chuckle, and I looked around for a second. "here." He handed me a small book with a pen in the shape of a sword. I smiled gently and opened it to an empty page. Glancing through it as I found an empty page I say other SOLDIERs were in the book, and from the looks of it I was the only 1st Class to have not signed it yet. I smiled to him and wrote.

To little Johny,
Be careful and try not to get into trouble.
From,
SOLDIER 1st Class
Evelia Reinhardt.
P.S. I owe you one Ice cream cone of your choice.

I signed it under the message, closed the book and stood. I handed to it back to him tenderly and he smiled and hugged the book.

"Thank you again. Honestly." I nodded and waved as I walked away from the small family.

Not to far away from me Zack was standing watching me with an odd look on his face. He was staring into my eyes a small smile on his face and he was blinking slow like he was thinking or something. The look made me feel weird but he met me halfway to him.

"A good deed for the day huh?" I smirked at Zack and nodded once. He smiled back gently.

"Let's get you upstairs to Sephiroth," he mumbled pulling me along. I gripped my hand around his bigger one warmly and followed obediently. Things weren't that bad.

"Wanna go get your hair cut with me sometimes soon?" I asked quietly. He looked at me and nodded with a smirk of his own. Things… were actually good and normal. Or as normal got for us.

Does anyone notice a quote from another game in here? : D First person to guess gets a taste of the newest chapter before everyone else.