Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Stargazers ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

::*::   Stargazers   Chapter Eight   ::*::     He was in a void of space, black space. It wasn’t discomforting; in fact, there was something nice about the dark abyss he was engulfed in. He felt he was slowly falling through it, almost sinking into it, except that there wasn’t anything to sink into.             It was just then, as he was deciding he wanted to keep on falling, slowly falling, drifting further downward, deeper…that he began to hear the echoes. Echoes of familiar voices, echoes of images he wasn’t quite sure he could place but that he knew were familiar. Oh…yes, he recognized them now, he remembered…although he wasn’t quite sure when he had forgotten them…he had never done that before…   They were voices from home, images from home, people from home, from now and long ago. He had seen them many times before, like this. Only they hadn’t seemed so far away, all those other times… voices…a group of three he remembered well…voices playing, voices laughing, voices loving life…unless he stumbled too close, forgot to back away. Then they were voices laughing, voices taunting, voices rejecting. He had stopped falling at some point, he wasn’t sure when. This, however, meant that he had to move of his own means, had to get away from the voices, had to run. But there- yes there, there was a familiar image that wasn’t as bad, the one that was on some level considered safe…however, it was the one he feared the most. She was beautiful, kind, adventurous… until he drew too near. Then she was frustrated, cold…she tried her hardest to be nice, and he didn’t blame her at all when she hinted that she want didn’t him anywhere near her at all, in a gentle manner. She tried gently to let him pick up on the fact that she didn’t want to pick on him, but more so didn’t want to be associated with him.   She tried to hate him nicely.   That was why he hated upsetting Tifa the most. He could tell she felt obligated to be nice, could tell she felt too guilty to be mean outright. Maybe if he hadn’t always said the wrong things, acted the wrong way…well, frankly maybe if he had been anyone other than himself, he could have been her friend. But he always failed so miserably his mother was the only one who didn’t hate him for it. He wasn’t quite sure what he should have done differently, just that he had been wrong all the time.   He began running- he needed to get away from the happy voices, knowing that if he didn’t they would turn sour. He needed to get away from Tifa, who didn’t want him near her. Maybe his own mother was secretly sick of him… everyone else was…   As he ran through the cascade of echoes, past the disproving looks- he wasn’t sure where he was going… he always would run to the woods, out of everyone’s way- that’s how he had found his favorite clearing, the one where Tifa found him once, and was nice. There was no one there to frown, so she was nice. She must have felt guilty. She was a nice girl…   There were never any woods here, though, in this black…the echoes of reality were there, but there was no echo of the woods. His only option was to keep running into the darkness, until there weren’t any echoes left. He didn’t understand why they seemed to follow him, didn’t they want him to leave? Was he doing something wrong again? Perhaps he wasn’t running fast enough, but he didn’t think he could go any faster, he was trying, didn’t they see that?   Very suddenly, a hand broke everything. All was still dark, but there was hand reaching out from nowhere…and somewhere from the other side of that hand, he could feel a confident smile. He stopped running…what was this…? This had never happened before…he wanted…he wanted to go towards it, but he didn’t know if he was supposed to…   He was sinking again, he realized. But he didn’t want too. The sensation was just as comforting as before, but that smile he had felt, where…? Ah, but it was too far out of sight at this point…what was it he had been trying to reach? It didn’t matter now; he was falling again, drifting again.   Cloud was in a void of space, black space. He didn’t mind it, he found it rather nice…he wanted to drift further down…he felt he was forgetting something, but he wasn’t sure what…it didn’t matter, though. He was sinking, nicely, slowly, falling, drifting…   Pages. There were pages turning quickly, as though wind were blowing over them, but there was no wind. He couldn’t see what was on them. Then there were more pages, behind, turning more slowly, some more quickly, but all of them moving. Then there were lights…two of them. Small and blue. Perhaps…perhaps they weren’t lights, they looked more like they were glinting off of something. He was falling, but this time towards the two glinting lights, past all the pages, pages that seemed to be following him downwards now.   Cloud landed, gently, although there wasn’t anything to land on. The two small lights were smaller than he had thought…he wasn’t sure how he had seen them from so far away. They moved then- or rather, what was in front of him moved. The glints flickered across small, round spectacles set on a familiar face, as it lifted from looking downwards, silhouette shifting in the shadow. He was sitting at a desk, it seemed. The moment the figure stilled, the reflecting light was no longer visible, nor was anything to suggest there had ever been an image before him.   There was a flash behind him, and he whirled around. It was a flash of green and blue, alighting an image of the same man, features now lit with the colors which seemed to have erupted into a cloud out of some sort of bottle clenched in his hand. The flash of color was quick, and flicked, much like when lightning splits the sky. The moment the powerful light had died, so had the image with it.   To his side this time- there! Another image erupted form the dark, this time of red and gold. The image graced the darkness with its presence longer than the other two. The man was bent over a bowl which seemed to be the cause of the light, his features reflected in the surface of the liquid inside it, casting a red glint over those small spectacles.   Cloud wasn’t scared. The light from the images gave off the sensation that they held a tremendous amount of power. But fear had failed to strike him.   Awe had succeeded where fear failed.   Again the image faded from view, flickering as it did so, and he half expected to hear a rumble, the display of power reminiscent of a storm. The pages had caught up with him from his fall, the twirled about, handwriting now visible in scrawled, messy ink. They seemed to have a set destination in mind, and Cloud found himself turning about in a circle to watch where they were going to land. The flurry of pages had turned into a book now, its pages filled with that same scrawl of ink, pages flipping once again as though caught in a breeze. They then slowed, turning lightly, until coming to rest on a page only partially filled with the handwriting. Cloud stepped closer- the book seemed to be lying on a desk, facing away from him. He could see now that the writing was spreading itself, continuing that scrawl, jittering and dotting the ‘i’s as though someone were writing on the page. It was then that the tip of a quill became visible…and then slowly, the rest of its stiff plume, and well as the hand holding it. Then a light- clear, as though from a window at midday- began growing, as the spectacles and features of the man writing came into view, until he could clearly see him jotting notes, rapidly, only rarely pausing to frown, as though stuck for an accurate term. There were jars and vials of assorted sizes and colors littering the surface area of the desk, strange instruments and odd, nearly glowing tubes. Mixtures of different liquids and powders bubbled and churned, as though waiting to be attended to, but Hojo paid no mind to their call, continuing that ongoing scrawl across paper- books were visible now, everywhere. Stacks, and shelves behind…everywhere…   The pages returned then, a flurry of them from all sides of his vision, blocking the view. Cloud, with a start, reached out to push them out of the way, frantically trying to keep them from swallowing the vision whole. His meager attempts did nothing, however- there were just too many, coming too quick. He felt as though he were being pulled away from the alchemist, quickly being whisked backwards, through a set of large, oak doors, which slammed shut as he left them. Down some corridor he continued traveling, the doors still in sight, and suddenly both the papers and the force pulling him backwards retreated, dying down until there was no trace of them left. He paused… he was alone in the hallway. He turned around, and saw a stairwell leading up. Cloud took a step towards it, and everything began to grow darker. He continued walking towards the stairwell, his surroundings dissolving further into the darkness with each step, until he finally reached them, and lifted his leg to take the first step up…and he found himself falling, slowly, softly, tunneling, whirling, being pulled down unfamiliar corridors and back into the black abyss that felt almost as though it were his home.   He was falling in a void of space, black space. Slowly, drifting. There was something he was forgetting, he thought…about papers. They might have been important… but they were too far away now. He was drifting. Gently, nicely sinking. Color flashed in the distance, with an image, a silhouette, a man…it flickered away, swiftly as it came, followed by another, like distant flashes of lightening from a storm rolling away into the distance. They were powerful, beautiful, without limits… In the last one, he was sure he saw a smile on those worn features, approving another success… the abyss was nice, as it had been before, but now it was also wondrous… but it was slipping away…   ::*::   Cloud slowly began to crack his eyes open, blinking before opening them all the way, offhandedly thinking that somewhere on the edge of his mind he thought he heard a giggle. Then first thing he saw were two pairs of big, round eyes above him and he sat up with a start and yelp of surprise, staring at the two girls that stood on either side of his bed. “Wh… what are you doing in my room?!” To hell with that, he thought absently, What am I doing in my room?   The amber-haired girl on his right darted towards the door as Cloud tried to recollect his thoughts, and figure out where he was supposed to be in accordance with his memory. The other girl, with dark hair artistically pulled back in some intricately woven design, smiled at him, as he heard the one who ran to the door calling for Miran in the hall. “Are you alright? They were worried about you- we were watching you for Miran…”   At that moment, Miran entered the room right behind the girl that had fetched him. “Oh, good! You’re finally awake!”   Cloud remembered something about being lost, and Ras, and a comment about drinking contests, and not much else. He looked at Miran bewilderedly, “…What?”   “Ras carried you up here last night after you passed out, all bumbling and apologetic, and when you didn’t wake up before Zacks had to attend a meeting this morning, Ras insisted on watching you for him since he felt it was his fault, after which he soon remembered he had prior obligations as well to supervise those working on the caravan construction, and asked- begged, really- me to watch you in his stead. I had just stepped out to stretch my legs a bit and these two young ladies, who I found outside the door, were kind enough to do me the favor of watching you and collecting me in the off chance you woke up while I was out of the room.” He smiled, as though there were nothing to it, crossing his arms over his slate-blue vest.   Cloud paused a moment, before repeating himself, “…What?” he shook his head a bit, “Wait, I passed out?”   Miran blinked, “Oh? You don’t remember do you? The same thing happened to me once, if I recall correctly… Apparently, Ras was drinking Dragon’s Breath last night, and when you off-handly reach for your cup of tea, you accidentally picked up his glass instead. You were probably distracted by him talking his head off, as he usually does; one sip of that can take you down real fast if your not ready for it- I’m good at holding my alcohol, lemme tell ya, but that stuff is weird- all sorts of things in it. I personally don’t think it’s safe for consumption, but tell our idiot friends that and they’ll probably have more gusto to try it- they’re very similar, you know- Zacks and Ras, that is. Considering the fact that you’re on the small side, aren’t a big drinker, and weren’t expecting it- pah, if it’ll take me down, I’m surprised you aren’t dead.”   The girl with the black hair rolled her eyes a bit at that, “You’re exaggerating horribly, Miran, you know it’s not lethal.”   “Do I? Do I really?”   The girl with the amber hair giggled, “You’ve just got a grudge against it because you can’t drink it with Ras and Zacks.”   “That’s not true! I refuse to get near that junk anymore, I tried it once, and what’d it do? I am an experienced drinker, thank you, and I know when something’s messed up…” Cloud, meanwhile, furrowed his brow, ignoring the current argument going on. That hadn’t been right, he was sure of it- he remembered, while Miran had been explaining… he had picked up his cup of tea- he was quite certain- and he had taken a sip of what was definitely tea, and then…that’s when everything wavered in his mind…the room had spun, and…that was it. No, something was definitely not fitting together correctly. “…Um…” Cloud coughed a bit to get the attention of the three, “…If you wouldn’t mind…I think I’d rather like to get dressed…”   “Well, don’t let us stop you-“ The amber-haired girl began, but soon found herself cut off as she was drug out the door by her female companion.   “Er-right then. I suppose I’d best let Zacks and Ras know you’re all right…you are feeling alright, aren’t you?” He asked, smiling as Cloud nodded, “Oh good! All’s well in the world then… right, off I go…” He closed the door behind him as he exited the room, and Cloud rubbed his temples a moment, wondering if this sort of insanity was everyday around here.   ::*::           & nbsp;   Cloud wandered down the hall, side-stepping offhandedly to avoid another human embodiment of a worker ant and his mile high stack of papers. After getting dressed, and grabbing a bite of lunch with Miran (it had been close to noon when he had woken), he was informed he’d be on his own for a decent portion of the day. Zacks with a whole list of things to attend to, Ras stuck as a glorified babysitter, and Miran needing to work on not only his own paperwork, but Ras’ as well, he was familiarizing himself with the halls so he wouldn’t do something as pathetic as getting himself lost again. He found it wasn’t too difficult as long as he kept track of what level he was on, and didn’t focus on the direction of hallways but rather whether he was moving in the direction towards his room from the main lobby, or the direction away from it. Cloud had realized the building was larger and more complicated than that, but for his temporary stay, and since he didn’t really need to be anywhere specific, the simplified system seemed to suit him just fine.             &n bsp; Miran had mentioned there were several libraries located throughout the vicinity, so he was hoping to stumble across one. His first thoughts for making use of the time was towards practicing magic, but he realized that once he got started, he wouldn’t want to stop. If he kept up his best efforts for more than an hour, he would probably knock himself unconscious again by the time Zacks returned from his duties, and that wouldn’t be very nice.             &n bsp; The blonde had been wandering around for nearly a half an hour now, but the people running about as well as his own thoughts had been keeping himself entertained. He was glad everyone here was too busy here to pay him much mind- the few that he had encountered, such as Ras and Miran, had treated him nicely enough, even if was just because he knew Zacks. It was sort of nice to pretend that he fit in here, and that he wouldn’t be sneered at if the others were to give him the time of day.             &nb sp; He paused at a stairwell leading down, not only to mentally check off that he was about to go down another level, but to try and place a slight sensation of familiarity. He ventured downwards, following the corridor that greeted him. He still couldn’t place it- the halls seemed to have an almost ethereal air to them in his mind’s eye. He turned left, without really thinking about it, as though he had walked these halls before, although he hadn’t, as though he had seen these corners before, although he hadn’t, and as though he was familiar with this route, although he wasn’t.                Cloud scrunched his nose a bit at the sensation he couldn’t place…had he been somewhere similar before? No, he had never left home, and there certainly weren’t any corridors like this in his village. Had he wandered this way last night? …No, he had never gone down this many levels, he was sure. What then? He shook his head; no need to make a mountain out of a molehill, people experienced unexplainable déjà vu all the time.             He continued to wander until he caught site of a doorway at the end of the corridor he was in presently, and something made his heart pick up its pace. That door…            &n bsp;  He remembered now. He had been right, he had been dreaming last night, but it had trailed into something odd that he couldn’t quite remember no matter how he wracked his brain. He did, however, remember this doorway. And papers. Yes, he was quite certain this was the door.             &n bsp; He stood there a moment, a bit unsure what to do with himself. Continue? Turn back? Tifa wouldn’t have hesitated. Then again, Tifa had quite a penchant for trouble. However, as he stared at the door, he already knew he couldn’t bring himself to just walk away from it- after all, it didn’t feel particularly foreboding; in fact, if he remembered his dream correctly, it was more…wondrous. So down the corridor he went, wrapping a hand around the door’s handle, and slowly opening it, peering in to see if anyone was inside.                There wasn’t. Or at least it didn’t seem so; there was a good amount of light flooding in through windows towards the back that were hard to see because of the many bookshelves obscuring the view. Closer to the front of the room was a wooden desk, with a chair pulled out and left askew. Various bits of equipment, jars and flasks littered the desk, and as Cloud’s gaze trailed to the other walls, he found tabletops covered in the same, although more organized, and some only covered with various stacks of papers.                “…Hello?” He inquired softly, and upon receiving no reply, called out again a bit louder as he stepped into the room, lightly closing the door behind him. He remembered the dream now, the enchanting flashes of light, and the make-shift wizard controlling them. His thoughts were now diverted, however, to the many shelves of books. He had never seen so many in one spot…and although he had expected to find a large array in his search for a library, he hadn’t imagined how excited he would feel to have them all at his fingertips- he had read the same pages so many times at home, with the few books he had possessed. Again and again, nearly memorizing them word for word. He stepped forward to the nearest bookcase, and walked along its length, taking in the bindings of the many books that provided titles that hinted towards their contents. They seemed to deal primarily with the uses of various substances, most of which he had never heard of. He continued onto the next case, this one seemingly to be filled with hand-written books, journals, or notes. Onto the next one. “Glory,” Cloud breathed as he stared at the books before him now; they were all on magic. Magic webs, spell classes, spell casting…   These could help him. They could help him become better…perhaps, perhaps if he was good enough, good as he wanted, needed to be… If he became good enough with magic, perhaps he could gain some respect for it. Just enough that he wouldn’t be such a disappointment, that Tifa wouldn’t have to feel guilty anymore.              ;  He blinked, thoughts broken. The dream last night, there had been something different about it. There was something else…it had ended differently then it had used to. He shook his head- it was just a dream, no matter how familiar he was to it.             &nbs p; He kept moving, wondering what else was occupying the other shelves. Books on biology, magic beasts and mythical creatures, he paused at a book on the lore of soaress and soaress stones; the creatures had certainly managed to capture his interest. But he continued, determined to explore the rest of the shelves. There were books on mathematics, arithmancy, scrying…books on ancient cultures… now there were books on mixed topics, ones that contained brief information on a wide variety of subjects, much like the one he had at home which had said the soaress was a creature that existed only in man’s imagination. Then series, sets by the same author, arranged next to each other as they had been intended to be. His eyes flicked over the author’s names and suddenly backtracked as he was struck by a familiar one. That was the author of one of the books he owned, his favorite out of the ones he had, Ghast! He kneeled down, reading the titles in his series and- there! There it was! It was his book! He plucked it from the shelf and flipped through it, amazed. It was an introduction to the basics of magic- its abundance years ago, how it was needed today, the workings of magic webs, and the faulty old-age system of separating magic into two classes that failed to take several discovered exceptions into consideration. He had found the man’s thinking so logical and easy to follow, as though they were always on the same page… he snapped the book shut, sliding it back onto the shelf, and switched his attention to another of Ghast’s work…it was about soaress…             ;   After glancing over the introduction, he planned on only skimming through, as he had lost track of the time and really should check… but he was kidding himself if he thought he could resist reading just part of the first section, that familiar style, that same voice in writing, but by the gods, it was new, and he quickly found himself immersed in the words of his familiar mentor.                “What are you doing? No one is allowed here.”            & nbsp;  Cloud nearly dropped the book, visibly jumping from being caught off guard by the scowling alchemist, and felt a sensation that resembled his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach. Unlike the dream, Hojo’s presence did inspire fear. There was something about the man that felt inherently wrong. “I-I’m sorry…I didn’t mean- I didn’t know-“            & nbsp;  Hojo cut him off by snatching the book had had been reading out of his hands, peering at the pages the wide-eyed boy had been reading. He fixed Cloud with a glare, “You didn’t touch anything important, did you? If I find my notes have been trifled with…”           & nbsp;   “No- no, I didn’t touch anything, other than another book in that series, I’m sorry, I really didn’t know that no one was allowed in here, I was looking for a library…” Cloud realized he was talking faster than normal, and probably sounded like a babbling idiot.             & nbsp; Hojo waved a hand in the air in a dismissing manner, as he snapped the book shut with the palm it had been resting in, slipping it back onto the shelf, “Enough.” He paused pensively, fixing Cloud with a scrutinizing look-over, “…Interesting choice,” He commented, with a tone that implied he wanted a reason for it being chosen.                Cloud took a moment to answer,  his heart rate above normal, “…Ah…I have a book by the same author at home…and I just recently learned that soaress actually exist…so when I saw them under his name, I couldn’t help my curiosity…”          &n bsp;    “…He used to be a very wise individual. His earlier novels were magnificent. …As for soaress,” Hojo snorted, “I suppose that idiot showed you his, did he? He doesn’t know how to use it properly.”           &nb sp;   Cloud knew he was referring to Zacks, and decided to ignore the ‘idiot’ comment. After all, he was in Hojo’s territory, and really didn’t want to be on his bad side. That, and Zacks really did have a tendency to act like an idiot. He felt himself calming down a bit, as Hojo didn’t seem terribly angry. “…He said they got themselves caught easily. But they can’t be too easy to lose, since he didn’t seem too hesitant to send it to Sephiroth…”          &n bsp;    “Bah, that’s because he always sends it to Sephiroth- and Sephiroth has a soaress stone. Soaress can sense the whereabouts of other active stones, and aren’t easily distracted along the way when they have such a target in mind. Of course, you’re companion is unaware of this; he’s one of the fools who believe that soaress actually have some form of personal being resembling a… ‘soul’, for the lack of a better term. He obviously believes his soaress has grown accustomed to being sent to Sephiroth, as though he can find him easier because of some form of attachment, or familiarity.” He shook his head at the ridiculous idea, “It has as much reasoning to it as believing a pet rock with a face drawn on it is a sentient being.”                “…Oh.” Cloud was impressed that Hojo seemed to be well knowledgeable of them; apparently he wasn’t an expert only in magic and alchemy. In the back of his mind, he remembered Zacks telling him he should really, really avoid the man, but was still frustrated with the lack of reason behind it.  “I really know nothing about them. …The very idea seems rather otherworldly. I didn’t think they existed until I actually saw one…”           &n bsp;   “…Neither did I. Perhaps that shows you’ve a sounder mind, to not believe so easily in legend…” He paused in his drawl again, appearing to once more be taken by thought. “…Your magic abilities are impressive. I was under the impression they would be wasted, but perhaps you are more intelligent than the company you keep. Let me see it again.”   “Er…” He faltered under Hojo’s impatient gaze, but didn’t have a decent excuse not to fulfill the man’s request. Hesitantly, Cloud reached out an upturned palm in front of himself, and though it took him a brief moment longer then usual, no doubt due to nerves, the spark soon formed in his hand,  duplicating itself rapidly to consume his hand with the powerful branches of light.   Hojo immediately stepped closer, one hand adjusting how is spectacles sat before his eyes as he leaned downward a bit, fascinated. “…How long have you been able to generate lightning?”   “…Since several days ago…Zacks helped tell me how to do it.”   “…Probably believes himself an expert at it. Can you throw it?”   “Throw it…?”   “Yes,” Hojo said as he pulled away from the sparks, “Casting it as a ranged spell without creating a bolt- having the sparks generate at an area not connected to your own body.”   “I don’t think so, I’ve never tried anything like that…”   Hojo frowned, shaking his head, “...Pity. I suppose it will be some time before you manage it, then, its easier to try creating bolts first, as they branch from yourself, but they’re hardly useful at an amateur level. They might reach a foot in front of you, if you’re lucky. Bolts are very compressed. One at a decent length is quite an advanced feat. Throwing it is much more useful until a greater power is developed…Far more useful for my interests as well, but as I said, pity…”   Cloud was half listening to what Hojo was saying. Throwing magic… How? He knew how to call it forth, should it really be that hard to control where it develops? He had halted the lightning he had brought forth from his palm, but he focused on calling it again. As he felt it coming, he did not concentrate on having the power blossom from his hand, but instead focused on an area just above the floor several feet ahead. If he released it now, with his concentration on that spot, where else could it go…?   Hojo was surprised out of his drawl by a sudden crack of energy that fizzled over Cloud for a moment, but also a spot several feet away from him. He stared. “…Did you just…” He stared at the spot where he had seen the lightning crackle briefly before it fizzled out. He did it. Zacks’ runt had just made an attempt at throwing lightning, and hadn’t failed miserably. “You did.” He quickly switched his gaze to Cloud, and was surprised to see him frowning, though his features showed none of it.   “I messed it up. It didn’t go only where I wanted it, it generated around me, too.” He scowled, “And it fizzled out too quickly…I had no control over it whatsoever, it was just a burst of energy, not a controlled spell…”   Hojo felt a small smile curling at the edge of his lips. He had been right. This boy had a controlled, self-scrutinizing mind. This was what he needed. And at the speed he grew more capable…“I have a proposal for you, boy.”   Cloud looked up at that, his turn to be surprised again, and silently waited for him to continue, Zacks’ warning drifting back into his mind.   Hojo walked over to his desk and plucked a small, empty, corked jar off of it. “…You see this?” He asked, as he lightly tapped the side of the glass. “…I need someone able to cast elements inside sealed jars.” He set it back down on the desk, “…I need someone who can generate magic in order to test its effects on a slew of concoctions. Test the ideas of being able to bottle magic power itself, controlling temperatures on substances that don’t react within the bounds of limits only magic can break. I need an apprentice. One to carry on my work, and to help do the small necessities that waste far too much valuable time. And you,” He fixed him with a pointed stare, “need a mentor. I can pull out the potential of your abilities. I understand the wonders of their workings, I understand how your desire to be enlightened. It has become my life as much as you wish it to become yours.”   Cloud was speechless. Could this actually be happening? What was going on? Hadn’t he been looking for library somewhere along the line? …But it was nonsense. He had a life already, a life at home, with his mother, and Tifa, and his woods…but this was what he had wanted, what could earn him respect; correct what he always did wrong. But he couldn’t... “I can’t…I’m leaving tomorrow.”   “Returning home, I know. A pitifully small village, without a single scholar’s influence, I assume. But what then? What use is your ability there? You plan on retreating now that you’ve just opened your eyes? …It’s up to you, of course. If you were perfectly happy with your little life, then return to it. However, you might want to consider what those you are returning to would think of you backing down from such opportunity.”   Cloud was trying to keep his mind straight…he hadn’t thought of what his mother would think- would she want him to pursue this? He knew that if he asked, she would say yes, even if she wasn’t sure if she’d be alright taking care of herself for so long. But it… it could actually work out. Maybe. “I…don’t know. It might be possible…I don’t know.”   “Just consider it. There is no need to think about it all at once. Now…I need to get to work, I’ve been set behind. You may go.”   A bit stunned, Cloud simply nodded, and quietly found his way back to the door, stepping out and watching the make-shift wizard beginning to work his wonders as he shut it behind him.   ::*::           &n bsp;   “Oh good, you’re not dead,” Cloud received as a greeting, along with a large grin, from a waiting Zacks who was leaning against the door of his room with his arms folded, “Where the hell’d you get off to?”            &nb sp;  “…I went looking for a library,” He responded tentatively- had had a feeling Zacks wouldn’t take it well if he told him about his encounter with Hojo.”            & nbsp;  “Pah, I should’ve known. You feelin’ alright? You were out cold when Ras brought you up here last night. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up…”           &nb sp;   Cloud shook his head, “I’m fine. But…I didn’t drink any Dragon’s Breath. I’m positive of it. I remember tasting the tea…”           &n bsp;   Zacks quirked a brow, “Ras was right there Cloud, he saw it. …Besides, Dragon’s Breath can distort your memory real bad; you had intended to drink tea, you had wanted to drink tea, so as far as the Dragon’s Breath effect on your mind is concerned, you drank tea. Trust me,” He reached out an arm and patted him on the shoulder, “Nothing to it.”            &nb sp;  Cloud frowned, but decided to drop it. He was so positive…but Zacks knew the effects of the odd drink rather well, it seemed. Could it really have warped his memory so realistically? “…Why on earth…would any sane man or woman actually drink such a thing?”                “Ha!” Zacks laughed, “Proves you’re a man, that’s why! Besides, its one helluva buzz.”   “…”  Cloud gave Zacks one of those ‘you have no brain’ looks, but received only a simple grin in response, “…Can I get in my room now?”   “Nope.”         ;       “…And why would that be?”            &nb sp;  “Because.”          &nb sp;    “…” Cloud glared at him, and reached for the door handle, attempting to shove Zacks out of the way. The later, however, refused to budge. “...Alright, fine.”            & nbsp;  He released the door’s handle and turned to head back the way he had come- if he couldn’t get in his room, then he could try to actually find one of the libraries that had managed to keep its location hidden. That didn’t work to well however, as Zacks’ arms suddenly wrapped around his middle and he found himself swung over the larger man’s shoulder. “Zacks!” He cried in surprise, as he began walking down the hall, “What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!”                  “Nope.”                “Augh! Would you stop it? This is embarrassing! And where are we going?” He complained as he continued his attempt to struggle free, hoping he would be released before anyone actually saw him.             &nb sp; “We’re gonna go spar. I need to work off some aggression form being surrounded by idiots, and what better way than smacking around my favorite companion, eh Spike?”                “That’s not funny, don’t call me that, and my sword is back in my room, so if you would kindly release me…”           &nb sp;   “Not sparing with swords, gonna do a little hand to hand.” He explained cheerfully.            &n bsp;  “For God’s sake, Zacks, put me down!” He pleaded, getting desperate as they were soon to pass by the crowded lobby.             & nbsp; “…Mmm, Lemme think about it…”           &nb sp;   “…”          &nbs p;    “Nope.”                “Zacks!”   ::*::