Ho'kay, so, first semester of university first-time-away-from-home is over! Yay!
I've really haven't had the time to work on my main fic, Bleach's 'Shaping Bonsais'. Yet when I got off on break, I thought "Excellent. I can work on finishing it!"
...the plot bunnies had other plans. Le sigh.
So, here's yet another fic I'm working on. Crackish? Sort of. Fun? Very. Premise? Well, I often wondered how Zack acted in SOLDIER before Crisis Core...and how many rules and regulations he broke or had instated because of his activities.
So, without further adeu, I give you...
The Misadventures of Zack Fair
Author: Me! Aka_Pine_Writer!
Rating: G-R, depending on the chapter
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Final Fantasy. If I did, I wouldn't be worried about paying for my education, and Sephiroth would feature a lot more in all the games, and you would have the option to play as him.
Chapter 1: First Impressions are important
Music Track: Turkish Delight- Sagisu Shirou
It had started out as a normal day at ShinRa Electrical Company. In fact, it had started out as a rather boring day, if you wanted to be technical about it. The doors opened for the main-stream employees at eight a.m. sharp, the President went into his office at nine and by ten all SOLDIER operatives were up and about, running around doing errands, or trying to avoid errands.
The only interesting quirk in this daily routine was for just (at the moment) one man. Sergeant Adams had received a missive that morning, informing him that he had a young, promising recruit to meet, and to informally induct into the SOLDIER program.
He could tell, just from reading over the young man's stats, that this would be an interesting day.
He mulled over the information as he marched (old habits die hard) to the lounge where he was supposed to pick up the cadet: young, claiming to be sixteen, just barely old enough to enter. Glowing reports from drill sergeants and watchful talent scouts, excellent marks on tracking, tactics, and sword-work, and from all accounts, promising leader material.
Oh yes, this sounded like just what the SOLDIER program needed!
He grinned, excited at the prospect of potential new meat, and opened the door to the lounge.
Several young men were in this room, in various states of repose; three blondes were attempting to chat up the secretary (who was studiously ignoring them), and one brunet with dangerous looking hair was talking to a red-head that looked like he could be a trigger-happy, goggle-wearing moron.
"Cadet Zack Fair?"
The one with spiky black hair and easy smile stood at attention, grinning. "Reporting for duty, sir!"
Adams smiled. Oh, this was promising. Such a bright, eager young cadet, and from the looks of him, strong.
"Follow me."
Sergeant Adams took Fair through a series of small tests to try to get a feel for the kid.
The reports did not exaggerate. He had no problems with thinking things up on the fly, which helped him pass the tactics exercise, and his sword-work was excellent. Hell, give him a few years and a good teacher, and he might even rival the Trinity.
It was when Fair had entered the next room for the last test that He showed up.
The Sergeant did not see Sephiroth enter; rather, like most of the employees that had been there long enough, his Sephiroth-senses tingled, alerting him that the man had snuck up behind him.
It was with pride that the Sergeant did not flinch or jump when the low baritone rumbled right next to him.
"Is this Cadet Fair?"
"Yes sir."
"Did the reports exaggerate?"
"So far, no they did not, sir. His tactic skills are sound, and he seems to be a natural with the sword."
"And this test?"
"Just getting ready to start him, if you would like to watch, sir."
The General nodded, and turned his attention to the one-way window, keeping his eyes on the bouncing boy.
Zack waited inside the empty room excitedly, unable to keep himself from shifting, bouncing, and occasionally humming. His spiky hair swayed in tangent with his moving body, and his blue eyes sparked with excitement. He was so ready for whatever came next!
An intercom buzzed overhead, and Sergeant Adams' voice echoed in the chamber.
"Okay Fair. The object of this exercise is…"
"Is…?" Zack nodded, smiling and bouncing even faster.
"…get the flower."
Zack blinked. "Flower? What flo-"
An odd, chirping noise interrupted him, and Zack turned to face the strange sound, sword already drawn, legs shifting effortlessly into a defense stance.
He blinked down at the strange…thing.
It was a small cactaur, one that had a lovely red bloom on its' head. It made a chirping noise again, and to Zack's amazement, jumped from…would that be a foot or a root? Foot, Zack decided firmly when the cactaur gave an odd chuckling laugh, and started hopping again.
"Hey there," Zack grinned. "Are you the guy I gotta take the flower from?"
The cactaur chirped, and hopped again.
Outside the room, the two higher-ups watched with curiosity.
"Sergeant, perhaps you could help me," Sephiroth finally said as they watched Zack sheathe his blade and bend down to get a closer look at the cactaur. "I'm afraid my information on cactaurs is somewhat limited. Why is it not attacking Cadet Fair?"
Sergeant Adams did not answer right away, instead focusing on the boy, who was now shaking hands with the prickly creature. The creature, once released from the hand shake, hopped back a little, and did its' odd, hopping dance once more.
"Um…"
"Yes?" Sephiroth pried, voice hardening just slightly.
Adams knew that meant the General wanted an answer. NOW. He turned to meet the General's gaze, trying not to fidget nervously.
"I…I think it is trying to court Fair, sir."
Sephiroth just stared at him.
"Yeah, um," Adams fidgeted. "I guess maybe it's because of Zack's hair, thinks he's another cactaur or something…"
"I see. And what would happen if Fair danced with it, as he is now?"
"WHAT-"
Even as he turned, Adams knew it was true. For one, the General never lied to his men (and Adams was proud to be considered one of Sephiroth's), and for another, from what he had gleaned from the boy in just the few hours of knowing him, Adams knew it was exactly what Zack would do, if given the opportunity.
He was still dismayed when he saw his SOLDIER hopeful, not bouncing around the room and slashing at the creature, but rather…
Zack was imitating the cactaur's dance perfectly, and once the cactaur started up again, joined it in perfect synchronization.
Silence echoed in the room.
"Perhaps if we had a dance team, he could audition for that instead," Sephiroth said dryly.
"Ye-yes sir."
"And yet, he still manages to complete his objective."
Adams blinked, stunned when he looked up into the room again.
Fair was bowing to the cactaur (who returned the gesture quite gracefully), and was holding the red bloom in his hand.
Zack emerged from the room, triumphantly holding the bloom in hand, and grinning like a maniac.
"Not to sound conceited sir, but that was a lot easier than I thought it would be," he chattered, seemingly not seeing the General leaning there. "That was fun, actually. Poor Snuggles though; seems lonely, doesn't he?"
"Snuggles?" Adams said faintly. The boy…had named…the cactaur…
"Yeah, seemed wrong to just keep calling him cactaur, you know? Giving him a name makes it, I dunno, more intimate I guess."
A snort from Sephiroth announced his presence to the young cadet. Zack whirled, saw the General, and froze. One second elapsed, then two.
"Are you forgetting something, soldier?" Sephiroth said.
"SIR!" Snapping to attention, and giving Sephiroth a salute, Zack then stood perfectly still, a feat that Adams had, until now, thought impossible.
"At ease, cadet."
The boy grinned, and started bouncing again. "Soooo…did I pass? Did I? Did I?"
Adams sighed, rubbing his temple with his fingers. "Zack, I don't think-"
"Of course you passed," the General cut in, silencing Adams. "Welcome to SOLDIER-"
"Yahoo! Thank you, sirs!" Zack cheered, doing the dance he had just learned (much to Adams dismay) and still wearing his grin.
"I expect you to be well-rested for tomorrow," Sephiroth said, slinking towards the exit. His next sentence froze the boy, and wiped the smile from his face.
"Don't think you can solve everything with a dance, Twinkle Toes."
The General left, and Zack turned to look at Sergeant Adams, a serious look on his face. "Sir?"
"Yes, Fair?"
"…do I get to keep this?" Zack offered up the flower.
Adams groaned. "Yes, Zack, you can keep it. Dismissed."
"Sweet," Zack said, placing the bloom behind an ear, and heading back out, whistling happily as he went.
Adams watched him go, knowing somehow, deep within his being, that life just got more complicated, and that ShinRa would never be the same.
Eh heh heh…so I seem to have a fondness for green prickly creatures from Final Fantasy. I blame this on a previous fic I did, called 'Cactaur Dance', which you can find in my profile. I also would like to place the blame firmly on Final Fantasy XII as well (I'm playing it for the first time). In it, you can go on hunts. One of the first hunts you can get is chasing down a cactoid with a red flower blooming on the top of its' head. When I first caught up to it, I thought it was rather cute, and that it was trying to dance with me…then the next thing I know, my support character is down from 1000 needles, and my main character is at half health. So, that is how this little drabble came to be; that, and I could picture Zack being very willing to dance with something like that instead of jumping in, sword flailing. Even at the expense of his reputation with the General. Ah, first impressions…