Author's note: The main title is borrowed from a game soundtrack and has nothing to do with anything, but since these have nothing to do with each other, it seemed as good a title as any.

These are all drabbles - a hundred words on the dot, at least according the count in WordPerfect - mostly written for challenges at the Livejournal communities game100 or 15minuteficlets, to give credit where it's due - the ideas were mostly sparked by challenges there.

Bargain

"Hands behind your back," Cloud said.

The naked glee in Yuffie's eyes never flickered. She placed her hands behind her and leaned over the heap of crimson materia until her nose nearly touched one. "You said I was going out with you and Cid, right?"

"That doesn't mean we've gone crazy." He shuffled through the pile, setting several aside.

Her face fell when she saw his choice. "That chocobo-mog thing?"

"You said you'd do anything for a summon. Any summon."

She pouted, but she took the materia. "I was hoping you'd want sexual favors and then you'd let me choose."

Sunflowers

Reeve paused a moment on the station steps, looking out over a sea of gray and black and navy umbrellas before unfurling his own.

As he walked, he tried making a to-do list, though of course he’d have a dozen new problems on his desk by the time he got there. He needed coffee, and he had five gil on hand. Needed to get by the bank, too.

Then he spotted the girl on the corner. Her umbrella was leaf-green, and her basket was full of sunflowers. He decided he'd make do with the coffee they'd have at the meeting.

The Road to Hell

They're fighting for what they believe in. And they've killed a lot of innocent people in the process.

According to them, so have we. Sometimes I question their versions of events. I never liked Scarlet, but I can't see her ordering a massacre just for the hell of it. Shinra makes its mark in other ways. I never think of it in terms of right and wrong, just as the way things are. Of course that's not how they see it.

They're trying to do what they see as right. Their intentions are good. You know how the saying goes.

A New Threat

I guess we won. Humanity's still alive, Meteor's gone, and Sephiroth's dead. We did our part to take down Shinra. And now we're left to try to build normal lives and mourn our losses. I tend bar in Costa del Sol. Saving the world feels so distant I might as well have dreamed it.

Sometimes I really do dream, nightmares of some vague new threat, and wake with my heart hammering. But they're just dreams. The dangers the world faces now are much more complicated and much less dramatic. It might be easier if we did have something to fight.