This story takes place two years after the end of DoC. I kept the Shalua character alive, though. Probably every character in the story will have their own POV moments. I don't know what it is, but I just can't write in third person. Hope you all enjoy!
Oh this fic is also a slight FFX-2 crossover.
Disclaimer I don't own any FF7 or 10 2 characters, settings or any of that stuff.
By the way THANK YOU to all my reviewers who have kept up with my other stories. I hope this story pleases you all as well. My next story after I finish this one will probably be a sequel to Apartment 102.
Trained by the Trainee
New Life in Midgar
∞Xilamani's POV∞(see la mah nee)
The rebuilding of Midgar had started only a year and a half ago yet it was already becoming quite the bustling little city. However there was a huge problem affecting the Planet. After Chaos and Omega returned to the planet, strange fiends had been attacking the cities. The former Turks and members of AVALANCHE, and the WRO had all come together in one new organization called the PPRO, the Planet Peace Reserving Organization. The members were being called Pros. A brand new headquarters had been built especially for this new organization. My cousin Yuffie and I planned to move to Midgar all the way from Wutai in order to work with this new organization. Yuffie had refused to take on her princess duties and was exiled from her royal side of the family therefore she moved in with her mother's sister who happens to be my mom. Recently my mother had come down with a horrible disease that even the greatest of doctors cannot diagnose. The cost for further examinations was completely outrageous and in order to pay for them, Yuffie and I knew we must go to work. The president of the new PPRO, Reeve was a close family friend of my parents secured us a job, but it was Yuffie, who was good friends with the members of AVALANCHE, that secured us a place to live. Her nice friend Tifa was even letting us move into the spare room of her new house/bar.
"Tifa!"
"Yuffie!"
The two girls ran at each other and hugged for a few minutes. I stood back and smiled even though I felt a little out of place. I glanced around at the other people in the room. There was a guy with blond spikey hair cleaning the biggest sword I had ever seen, a huge black male with a machine gun for an arm, and a red lion like creature with tattoos. I looked through the arch doorway into the bar area where another blond man holding a spear in one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other was seated at the bar drinking a beer with a brunette woman sitting next to him. Upon hearing the commotion he stood and peeped his head out of the doorway.
"Oh hell! Not that little brat again!" He took a puff of his cigarette and shook his head.
"Shut up, Cid!" Yuffie said after pulling away from Tifa. She finally turned to me and began introducing everyone.
"Everyone! This is my cousin Xilamani. Xila, this is Tifa, that blondie over there is Cloud, that drunk idiot is Cid, that's Barrett over there, and that may look like just an animal, but that's Nanaki. Sometimes he acts more human than some of the others in here." She glared hard at Cid who only took another drink and went back to sit at the bar. "And…where's Vincent?"
"Shalua called him in to do inventory, he said. But I doubt he would have come anyways." Tifa answered with a slightly saddened look. She then perked up really quick. "Come on I want to show you the guest room! I've got it set up so cute! You guys are gonna love it!"
I drug my large suitcase up the stairs and down a hallway to the very last room on the left.
"Tada!" Tifa said as she opened the door revealing a rather large bedroom with two twin sized beds on opposite sides of the room. Most of the wood floor was covered with a lavender rug with a few light green dots on it that matched the lavender and lime green striped bed spreads and curtains. There was only one wooden dresser that Yuffie and I would have to share. On the wall that the headboards of the beds were against was a window with a window seat attached. Tifa even covered the seat with a lime green and lavender striped cloth.
"Wow this room is pretty cool! Thanks Tif, you really didn't have to do all of this!" Yuffie said running to the bed on the left side and plopping down on it. I walked towards the bed on the right side of the room and sat down.
"Thank you, Tifa." I said smiling at her.
"No problem…um…how do you say your name again?" She laughed awkwardly.
"Oh, I just go by Xila." I grinned at her.
"Ok, it was nice meeting you Xila. I'll let you two get settled in. Shalua wants to meet with you two at six a.m. sharp tomorrow morning so you might want to get to bed early, especially after such a long trip."
Yuffie and I exchanged wide-eyed glances. Six a.m. was an unknown hour to us. With both responded with a nod and Tifa was gone.
"Iya!" Yuffie said burying her face into a pillow. I looked down at the full length mirror beside the dresser. Yuffie and I did look pretty similar. Most people thought we were sisters, however my hair was much longer, and my mother passed down some unique violet eyes to me that were slightly more almond shaped than Yuffie's big round ones. After we finished unpacking we joined the others downstairs briefly then turned in at around nine o'clock that night.
∞Shalua's POV∞
How you get him to do it is none of my concern.
Damn you Reeve.
If you value your job as vice president here you'll find some way to persuade him.
And that way is? I asked myself as I walked down the empty hallway of the new building. Although this building had been standing for over six months it still faintly smelled of fresh paint. The walls were a dark blue color and the tiles of the floor were grey. I sighed as I reached the door that read Valentine on the outside. I knew he was still here. If he wasn't out on missions, Vincent never left his office until after ten so he wouldn't have to run into any of us and be forced to speak. I knocked lightly and waited for some sort of response.
The door slowly opened and I looked up at the tall, dark, mysterious man. He had a look on his face that I took as a 'What do you want now?' This would be the third order I've given him today.
"May I step inside your office and talk with you for a minute, Vincent."
He pulled the door open wider and stepped back. He didn't sit so I kept standing as well.
"I just spoke with Reeve and I guess you've heard Yuffie has moved to Midgar." I started, trying to sound casual. He narrowed his eyes at me knowing I didn't come in here for some simple small talk. "Well, it turns out that she and her cousin are here to work for PPRO."
He responded with a grunt of understanding.
"Since Yuffie has had some combat experience we'll let her skip training and become Tifa's partner, but her cousin, Xilamani, will need training." I said hoping Vincent caught where I was going with this. He continued staring at me as if to say 'and?' So I continued. "Reeve feels that Xilamani will be safest training with you since you are the strongest fighter we have here."
"I can't do that." He said with a slight shake of his head. His long hair spread out along his shoulders as he did so.
"I hate to be the bear of bad news, but you have to do it or I'll be forced to fire you. All you have to do is take her with you on missions for four months." I said trying to make the job look easy. The stoic man in front of me gave a rare look of disgust and leaned casually against the wall beside him, sighing loudly in the process.
"If the girl has no combat skills place her doing inventory." He said probably breaking his high score of words in a sentence for the week. He sure wasn't going to make this easy for me.
"There's a meeting tomorrow morning at six. Be there or I'll have to fire you." I said in the same monotone he used with me. There was no use in me standing here trying to persuade him. I knew it would get me no where so I turned on my heels and was out of his office within seconds.
∞Xilamani's POV∞
"Girls! Wake up! You don't want to be late for your first meeting." Tifa said flipping the light switch and blinding both Yuffie and I. We both groaned loudly and sat up to face each other. We both looked horrible, nevertheless we got out of our beds and took turns in the bathroom across the hall. I wore a mid-sleeved violet shirt, and a khaki skirt that reached my knees. Yuffie on the other hand was dressed in a black tank top that looked more like a sports bra and a pair of short dark green shorts.
"Ready?" Cloud was standing by the front door with the keys to his bike in his hand.
"Of course!" Yuffie chirped jumping at Cloud and stealing his keys. "Can I drive?"
"I don't let anyone drive Fenrir, you know that." Cloud said with a slight chuckle. He gave me a small glance then turned to walk out. He sat on the bike first followed by Yuffie, and then I sat at the end holding on to Yuffie for dear life as he sped of causing a slight fishtail effect. At the high speed Cloud drove, we arrived at the new PPRO building in less than five minutes.
The place was so huge! Everything looked so modern compared to the buildings in Wutai. There were people rushing around yelling about reports of fiends here and there. I heard a woman claim that a group of ten people were being held hostage by a group of unfamiliar looking undead soldiers. Groups of soldiers were leaving and groups of beat up, tired looking soldiers were entering. Evidently they were returning from a battle. I had trouble keeping up with Cloud as he zipped through the crowds of people into a busy elevator. We rode up to the fifth floor and walked down a long hallway to a huge room with a long silver and black table. A woman dressed in a ripped skirt and white lab coat greeted us at the door.
"Shalua! Long time no see!" Yuffie said attempting to give the woman a hug, but was politely shut down.
"We've got a lot of things to discuss today. We'll pick up on old times later. Did you happen to pass Vincent on the way here?" she asked looking past us at the empty doorway. I walked passed her I looked out the huge glass window of the room and watched all of the construction works far out on the land working on more new buildings.
Yuffie stood beside me. "Wow! They're gonna have this city rebuilt in no time!"
"Hey girls! Let's get this started." Shalua said walking over to the head of the table. The rest of us took a seat near hers. It was only Cloud, Yuffie, a few other new people, and me there. The distant sound of metal shoes hitting the hard floor could be heard and then a tall man dressed in all black with a tattered red cloak that covered his shoulders, neck, and all the way up to his lips. His long black hair and dark red bandana covered nearly the rest of his face. From I could see, he didn't look very happy. Yuffie hopped up from the chair she was almost seated at and skipped over to him.
"Vinnie! Did ya miss me?!" she asked giving the fabric that hung off of his shoulders a slight tug. He looked at her for a while then turned to take a seat next to Cloud and right across from me.
"Heeeey…not even a little bit? A little itty bitty bit?" Yuffie asked hovering over the now seated man. He gave an exasperated sigh followed by a slight nod.
"Woo hoo!" she then quickly took the seat closest to Shalua and right next to me. I gave Vincent a brief glance and was surprised to see him already looking at me. I knew I was blushing right then. There was no way to hide it besides to turn my face and let my hair fall over my cheek. I couldn't even pay attention to what Shalua was saying because of those deep garnet eyes analyzing me. Just from the slight glance, I could see those eyes held back so much emotion deep inside. I was really good at reading people, but also easily read myself.
∞Vincent's POV∞
What is Shalua thinking? Whose idea is this? Look at her… She wouldn't last one minute in combat. How am I supposed to train this? The girl shyly turned her face away from me, hiding behind her long black hair. Hm… a cousin of Yuffie? I beg to differ. I finally tuned into what Shalua was saying.
"We must fight to keep this planet safe! No matter what it takes. Soon PPRO will develop an investigation group that will work solely on finding the source of these fiends…"
I looked back at the girl again, tuning Shalua out. Well, at least she was a good listener. She watched Shalua intently as she went on explaining the purposes and goals of the PPRO. All which was useless information to me. The vice president then rested her eyes on me.
"Vincent, this is Xilamani, your new trainee. Her parents are good friends with Reeve. He trusts that you will treat her well and equip her with the skills she needs to succeed here." The girl raised her eyes to mine. So that's why… a friend to her parents. I knew there must be a deeper reason to why Reeve would stick me to such a task. She put a section of hair behind her ears several times with unsteady hands. Do I have such a presence?
∞Xilamani's POV∞
Tifa then entered the room taking everyone's focus off of me. She smiled at everyone in the room then waved at Yuffie. "Hey partner! Cid's waiting outside with his new plane. Our first mission together is at the Chocobo Ranch. They said something about some kind of Chocobo Eater fiend there terrorizing the poor chocobos."
"Not the chocobos! Let's go!" Yuffie shot out of her chair and she and Tifa were gone. Cloud had a group of five men that he would be training. They slowly gathered as well leaving Vincent and me sitting at the table facing each other.
I smiled and let out a nervous laugh. "Uh…" I couldn't force myself to say anything else. I looked down at the table.
"Vincent, since Xila here is a newcomer. I want you to start out with mild missions. A farmer in between here and Kalm has been complaining about some cactus like fiends ruining his crops." Shalua handed him a paper that I assumed had the man's address and other info on it. He folded the paper four times and tucked it under his cloak. He stood and began to leave. I wasn't sure what to do so I remained sitting. Once he reached the doorway he looked over his shoulder at me.
"Let's go." His deep voice took on a rather harsh tone. I quickly gathered my bag that I brought with me and hurried behind him. It was so hard keeping up with this man's quick large strides. He had such a powerful walk. I wanted to just stand still and watch him. He carried himself so well…
He stopped suddenly and faced the elevator. It was already on its way to our floor so there was no need to press a button. The doors opened and everyone in the elevator walked out leaving it empty for Vincent and me. I hesitantly followed him in there and watched as he pushed the button labeled B1. This place had a basement?
I gasped as the elevator suddenly started moving down. Living in Wutai, I had little experience with elevators or many other modern machines. Vincent didn't seem to notice. He leaned against the back of the elevator with his arms crossed over his chest. I was thankful his piercing eyes were glaring at the doors instead of at me. I couldn't even begin to imagine what training with this man was going to be like.
∞∞
∞Yuna's POV∞
"Hey, whaddya thinks down there?" Rikku asked. Rikku, Paine and I were all surrounded by a mysterious hole out in the middle of Bikanel Dessert. Strange fiends had been pouring out of it and causing damage to the Al Bhed's new Home. There is even a rumor that a strange man dressed in a black cloak with silver hair climbed out of this hole. There have also been countless murders around Spira with more rumors of a black cloaked man tied to them.
"I don't know…" I said taking a step back. The hole was docile at the moment, but who knows when it would erupt with more fiends so I tried to keep my distance. Rikku began speaking again but in that same moment I thought I heard…whistling…
"Shh…" I said quickly. I heard the whistling again this time it was more prominent. Could it really be…him? Maybe I had finally found the tie between our two worlds!
"Yuna"
"Yunie!"
I heard my friends yell as I jumped forward into the hole.