The rest of the party went to the hotel for some sleep, while Beowulf, realizing his chance to seriously talk with Reis, took advantage of the cool night air to discuss the goings on in the hotel balcony.
"Reis, we have a lot of looking to do, just because a President from one city shows us hospitality doesn't mean we'll be able to find our stones..."
"Shhhhhh.........see the stars." Reis calmly put a finger to his lips, "The number of those stars shouldn't be the number of your worries, Beowulf, let time worry about itself. Look at how well the future turned out after every bad thing in this world we've seen so far."
"They still have to deal with the monsters on the moon. I fail to see that as quite a happy ending, do you?" he said rather ominously.
"We are chosen to save the world through time....that means this era, Beowulf," she said, calming him, "If we can do all that we've done so far, why not this?"
"I...suppose you're right Reis....I love you for that..."
"And I love you, Beowulf, for you honest feelings."
The two then left the balcony and went to sleep. But they weren't the only ones who weren't able to sleep. Cloud sat on the roof, staring at the moon silently, without a sound, Sephiroth climbed up with him.
"I've--been meaning to ask, Cloud, what is it that I was going to do in the future that would make you hate me so much?"
"You--no--he would have realized who he really was, and would have only cared about becoming more powerful than anyone else. Willing to spill the blood of innocence just to get that power."
"Oh...I see..."
After a moment of silence had passed, Sephiroth voiced his feelings.
"I've been thinking....the time I spent with these people, has given me a reason for existing, no more wondering who I am, or where I came from, just.....here and now, with friends. And as far as power is concerned, the only power I'm worried about is the power these evil Lucavi Delita keeps talking about might possess."
"As long as we find all the Zodiac stones before they revive Ajora, we can seal all of them up for eternity, at least, that's what Alma told me." Cloud looked at Sephiroth for a long moment, then looked back up at the moon. Sephiroth took it to mean he accepted him as a member of the group finally, no longer an enemy, but a close ally.
"When all of this is over, Cloud, we all have to go back to our own eras don't we?"
"Yes--but...why are you asking me that?"
"Our destinies are made up of choices, if I make the right choices, or if you do, or if we all do, we can have better lives because of them." Suddenly Sephiroth stood up, trying to voice what burden he had kept in thought for some time, "I promise you Cloud....I will never become the man who killed Aeris."
"Do you also promise," Cloud carefully matched his intensity, "Not to become him, or the man who destroyed Nibelheim, or almost destroyed the earth with a Meteor, or nearly destroyed my life as little as it was then, no matter what the truth gives you?"
"I.......do...." Sephiroth said finally.
Aeris saw the two would-be adversaries and quietly climbed up on the roof and leaned her head on Cloud's shoulder, Cloud said quietly, "We all have our choices we value and share, don't we?"
Sephiroth began to doubt his integrity just then.
"Sometimes....I wish I could make good choices like you, Cloud. There are times when I wish I was somewhere else....in some other time." Sephiroth quietly leapt off the roof and was gone.
Aeris asked Cloud, "What were you just talking about?"
"We talked about your future....and his."
"What about my future?" she asked.
"I'm.......not at liberty to say....you...you......" he fumbled for words that he didn't want to say.
"Do.......I die?" she looked down trying to assess what had transpired in their conversation and at the same time keep from crying.
"No.....it's not like that.....he...makes a choice....which takes you from me."
"I hope.....he makes the right choice." Aeris replied with a semi-choked voice.
They gazed up at the moon, which now appeared a very dangerous object in the sky. It reminded Cloud of Meteor, and this worried him.
The next morning Ramza found Delita and Alma asleep together on the hotel suite couch having watched, "Television" Cloud had called it, the night before. They seemed very content.
"Hmmm....they'll wake up eventually, I won't bother them." He smiled.
"Delita, you'd better take good care of my sister, she's the only family I have left...." he whispered to no one in particular.
As Ramza went to bathe in what the local people called a 'shower,' he thought about his newfound friends, now become braves.
"It's a long road ahead, I know, but if you can stay with me as long as possible, we can endure this war. Now if only we could find the next stone...."
After drying off, Ramza headed to the next room finding Beowulf, Sephiroth, Cloud, and Aeris already up and having breakfast. He bit his lip for oversleeping while the party was out on their own.
But then again, who ever said he had to be leader? It was a hard enough job winning in a sword fight, why'd he have to be a leader. Instead of going to the hotel restaurant, he walked down to the promenade, where he ran into Zidane and Garnet.
"You guys are inseparable!" he exclaimed.
"More like he's attached to me!" Garnet spoke slyly, "Ever since last night, he's been treating me less like a girlfriend and more like royalty."
"But you are royalty." Zidane cooed.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I like being treated like it!" she snapped, "I just happen to like being independent!"
"Yes, your Majesty!" Zidane kissed her on the cheek.
"Oh, your terrible!" she bopped him on the head.
"Oh brother!" Ramza sighed.
Ramza walked downstairs to the main street to hear someone call him.
It was Delita, "Wait up!" he ran up as quickly as he could. "I'll go for a walk with you."
"How'd you know I was going for a walk?" Ramza asked suspiciously.
"You don't think I know you enough that you would do that? Besides Alma told me you do this every morning."
"Groan, so what else has she told you about me?"
"More like what she's told me to do!" Delita said.
"What do you mean by that?"
"She's asked that I stop acting like a king and more like a knight, doing chivalrous things of sorts, I guess I could do that, but it doesn't feel like it's the real me."
"You do know why she wants you to do that don't you?"
"Why's that?"
"She likes you, Delita, she only tells that to men she likes, so if you like her, you'd better do it then huh?"
