"They say nothing beats the power of love. It is a power so great that it can overcome any obstacles. However, I have never come across this power. Perhaps, only the power of knowledge is the fate of my life. I believe that each and every one of us holds a different kind of power. And it is up to us on how to use it." –Howard Jaego

Squall stood silently against the wall as the passerby stared at him. He closed his eyes to avoid any eye contact. He can hear about four or five people walking past him every 3 minutes. He heard a group of girls walking towards him taking small shy steps. He can hear them whispering about him. He sighed and opened his eyes to look at them. There were about 5 or 6 of them wearing uniforms. He guessed they were probably in Junior High, but doesn't recognize their uniforms so they must be from a smaller school somewhere in this district.

"Oh my, oh my! He's looking at us." A shorter girl squeak in a whisper.

"He's so handsome. But I don't think he's from around here." A tall, athletic built girl spoke.

"Maybe we can ask him? Show him around even!" A plump, cute girl spoke as her hand covered her mouth.

Squall sighed as they stayed a distance from him. He didn't like the attention. If possible, he would've hid out from sight every time there's a crowd. A lot of people told him that he is very good-looking and he hated that. It would mean more people staring at him.

Just when Squall thought about reaching into his pockets for his phone, he heard heavy steps come from the opposite direction of the girls. Squall turned his head quickly to see a man slightly older than he. His blond spikes glowed in the sunlight. His pale feature glimmered as his sweat ran down his face. His bright blue eyes glittered as if he just had yawned. He was a couple inches taller than Squall and more muscular. He wore a dark royal blue sleeveless shirt and black pants with a silver belt. He had on a dark velvet scarf that was pretty worn out at the edges. His brown boots skid as he stopped right in front of Squall.

"How did it go, Cloud?" Squall said paying no attention to the girls squealing with excitement when they noticed Cloud. A lot of people had said they were the perfect pair of handsome guys. Cloud had a more mature look while Squall had a childish look. They were to die for, as Squall remembered some of the girls saying back at the office.

Cloud yawned and Squall can tell it wasn't the first time since they arrived here. Cloud ran a hand through his hair. "Not the most excited conversation, I can tell you that. And the place didn't have air conditioner. They opened the windows but it still felt like an oven in there. But everything went according to plan."

Squall nodded and folded his arms. Both Cloud and Squall had noticed the girls coming a bit closer, but not close enough to hear them. "Great. That means we can head back now, right? I'm getting tired of this place."

Cloud shook his head. He wiped a sweat from his forehead. "No. Although he agreed to the terms, he won't sign the contract until tomorrow afternoon. He wants his attorney to witness this." Cloud bit his bottom lips as he recalled the meeting. He cursed under his breath and Squall laughed.

Just as they turned around to leave, the girls finally had courage to confront them. "H-hi!" A bright red-haired girl said loudly being so nervous.

Cloud and Squall only turned to look at them. The girl fidgeted with her tie. Another gave her a slight push. "You guys aren't from around here, right?"

Cloud felt a little annoyed because he was getting uncomfortable with his drenched clothes full of sweat. He tried to hide a small irritated sigh not wanting to hurt the girls' feelings. "No, we're not."

"W-well, if you guys like, we can show you around town. We're off from school for the rest of the day."

Cloud let out a loud sigh and scratched his head. "Sorry, but we're not interested in little girls."

Squall gave Cloud a you-did-not-just-say-that look. Cloud shrugged his shoulders. He just wants to take a nice shower now.

The girls, however, were persistent. "We're old enough to go out on our own. And you two certainly don't look that old."

Cloud grinned and shook his head. "Believe me, we may look like this but we're as old as your grandparents." The girls just gave him a confused look. He pointed to himself. "I'm 58 years old." Then he pointed to Squall. "And that guy just turned 80 yesterday."

At that, Cloud grabbed Squall's shirt and quickly dragged him away to safety. On the way to a hotel, Squall and Cloud laughed at his little scheme to drive away the girls. When they reached there, they registered at the desk and soon got a room with two beds. As they were putting their equipment away, they joked about rather wanting to stay with beautiful women instead.

The next day, after getting the contract signed, Cloud and Squall made way to the train station. They got their tickets and waited for their train to come.

Squall sighed. "Why didn't you take Fenrir? If you did, we would've been home by now. It's not even that far from here to the academy."

Cloud smiled at Squall's childish complaints. "I have to let Fenrir rest too. Otherwise, it won't last long."

Squall gave Cloud an are-you-kidding-me look. "It's a machine. You can always change the engine."

Cloud shook his head. "I'm too busy to do that."

Just then, they heard from the speakers that their train was coming and to prepare to board. In 5 minutes, the train came. The duo climbed aboard and found their seats. After the train departed, Squall started to drift off to sleep. Cloud had closed his eyes earlier but somehow could not fall asleep. He sighed irritated. He opened his eyes to see Squall's head bobbling up and down. Cloud smirked when he thought of drawing on Squall's face like when Squall and Zell had done to him. However, he didn't have a pen so he quietly left the room instead.

Cloud was walking towards the front where the bar would be. As he entered the vehicle where the bar is, he saw a young woman stand up and walk away opposite of where he was. She had long dark brown hair that reached below her waist. She seemed to be wearing a short black dress. Although he couldn't see her face, he can tell that she must be quite beautiful.

Cloud kept his eyes on her as he walked to the bar. He kept staring even after she had disappeared into the next vehicle, never looking back. The bartender noticed Cloud's stares and chuckled silently to himself.

"Gorgeous, isn't she?" The bartender burst the silence around Cloud making his head snap to look at him.

"What?" Cloud didn't quite hear him.

The bartender gestured to the door where the brunette disappeared to with his head. Cloud smiled. "Too bad I didn't get to see her face."

Cloud ordered a drink which the bartender quickly served him. The bartender whistled. "That's a shame. That's the kind of gorgeous face you'd never forget."

Cloud frowned in shame. He dropped his head down and sighed. "Great, my day is just great. Thanks for asking."

The bartender laughed. "But don't you worry, she comes by often. If you stay long enough, she might even be back."

Cloud shot his head right up. "Really? What does she order?"

The bartender laughed at Cloud's silliness, filling him with another cup. "All I can say is she can really drink. Orders the strongest thing we got on board. To top it off, this was her fifth cup since we departed. I'm surprised she's still sober. Most people would be out on the third."

Cloud felt a smile come to his face. "Wow, I've really got to meet this girl."

Cloud decided to stay a while to see if she came back. After two hours or so, Cloud gave up. Sleep was crawling quickly to him. Then he noticed that he had been drinking more than ten cups or so. He shook his head as the bartender gave him another refill. But Cloud raised his hand for him to stop.

"Stop it or you're going to kill me." Cloud shook his head to get the dizziness out.

"I don't think you'd die soon. With that drink, most guys would pass out on the fifth drink. I'm still surprised you're still sane after ten cups!"

Cloud burst out laughing. "Wish I could go into a drinking contest with that girl though. How fun would that be."

The bartender laughed. "I think you'd lose. Your drink is not even as strong as hers."

Cloud stared at the bartender frowning that he just dissed him. "Give me one of those then."

The bartender turns around and opened a cabinet behind him. He took out a white bottle with a picture of a dark winged horse. He poured it into a cup and gave it to Cloud. "Knock yourself out."

Cloud stared at the reddish liquid. The quickly raised the glass to his mouth and gulped it down. He felt the burning sensation down his throat and he coughed violently. He felt his head get dizzy ten times worse than it was before. Cloud flinched at the sensation it brought him.

"Holy sh-! How does she gobble this down?" Cloud refrained himself from swearing. "It tastes great though. What's it called?"

The bartender handed the bottle to Cloud. "Dark Horse in Flight."

"Nice." Cloud smiled as he handed it back. He shook the pain from his head. "Ugh, I shouldn't have drunk at all. Have to write reports right away when we depart."

The bartender eyed Cloud suspiciously. "Are you….are you a See-Ed?"

Cloud smiled and shook his head. "No. SUS."

The bartender's eyes widen in shock. Cloud noticed and began to think he was acting weird. "What?"

"Well, it's just that you don't meet an SUS member every day. And plus, there are rumors."

"What kind?" Cloud raised his eyebrows.

"Well, that they're dangerous and ruthless. They give this dark aura wherever they go. You'd noticed right away if you meet them."

Cloud laughed. "Oh, that's only Sephiroth. The rest of us are pretty normal."

The bartender laughed. "Oh, good. That's what I was wondering too when I heard you are SUS."

Cloud laughed. They talked for a bit more until Cloud stood up to leave. But then he turned around to face the bartender. "Oh, I was being rude. I didn't even ask for your name."

The bartender swung a towel over his broad shoulder. "The name's Barrett."

Just then, there was a sudden explosion at the front of the train. Cloud rushed to the front to inspect the scene soon followed by Squall who still had drool on his face. When they reached the engine room, they couldn't see anything but smoke. But Cloud made out a figure. A woman, with long dark brown hair stood up as if picking up something. She had on a mask but he could still see her brown eyes. She jumped out of the window on the ceiling and disappeared from sight as the fire began in the engine room.