"Can I ask you something?"

Cloud looked up. It had been hours since anyone had said anything. He had assumed they had fallen asleep or at the very least lapsed into their own thoughts.

"...Cloud?"

He pressed his ear against the wall. "Yeah?"

A pause. "Why did you come here?"

Cloud smiled faintly. "I'm your bodygaurd. I fufill my half of the contract so I can get paid."

A longer pause this time. "I'm serious."

He turned towards the wall. "So am I." When he recieved no reply, he continuted. "You do know I'm holding you to the promise of a date."

Silence.

"Also..." Cloud heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his tangled hair. "I don't know. I have to know you're safe. I don't want anyone on this goddamn planet to touch you. You're too precious to lose. Not because you're the last Ancient but because..." He sighed again, struggling with his thoughts and feelings. "Well... because you're you... I just... I have to have you with me."

He could just barely hear sniffling on the other side of the wall.

For a while she didn't say anything. Cloud wondered if he had said too much.
But after a while her meek voice came again drifting through the godforsaken piece of metal that seperated them. "Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"I wish you were in here with me."

Cloud leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, picturing her. "Me too."