Disclaimer : I own nothing that you easily recognize.
Sephiroth was tired, physically and mentally, Genesis' betrayal and Angeal forcing Zack to kill him at the front of mind. He did not like how Shinra was handling it, and more and more secrets was spilling out. Monsters and perfect genes, huh?
As he lay on his bed, coat set beside him, thinking about what he said to Zack, the possibility of leaving Shinra after Nibelheim. Should he really? Where would he go then? Zack would most likely go with him as well.
"I beg of you..."
Hmm, I'm dreaming already?
"My servant who lives somewhere in the universe!"
Was I that tired?
"Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit!"
"I desire and here I plead from my heart!"
What is this about?
"Answer to my guidance!"
A sensation of falling was what Sephiroth felt for a moment.
Smoke and grass, th- What?
He opened his eyes to see not his room with its lights off, but to see smoke all around him. He crouched, pinched himself to make sure he was awake, and waited for the smoke to clear. He then saw a young girl in front of him and a crowd, all with varying hair colors. Are those even natural? How did I even get here? Did I unconsciously use an Exit materia? He checked his materias in his arm, and none of them were even warm from activation.
"Louise, what were you thinking, calling a commoner with 'Summon Servant'?"
Summon?
Some of them were starting to laugh, but there were quite a number of females silently staring at him, quite dreamily too. He picked up his coat beside him.
"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!"
The ones that weren't staring, laughed even more.
"Enough, Miss Valliere, continue." That was a middle-aged man.
"Mr. Colbert... can't I do the ritual again?" The pink-haired girl said.
The man named Colbert gestured a negative. "You can't."
"Why not?"
"It is strictly forbidden. When you are promoted to a second year student, you must summon a familiar, which is what you just did."
Familiar?
"Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon. It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it, because the Springtime Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to take him."
"But... I've never heard of having a commoner as a familiar!"
Everyone around laughed. Louise scowled at them, but the laughter didn't stop.
What have I gotten myself into? He was just a few moments away from summoning Masamune, it wasn't that he couldn't summon the sword, he just carried it so unwanted people kept themselves away.
"This is a tradition, Miss Vallière. I cannot allow any exceptions; he, may be a commoner, but as long as he was summoned by you, he must be your familiar. Never in history has a human been summoned as a familiar, but the Springtime Familiar Summoning takes precedence over every rule. In other words, there is no other way around it: he must become your familiar." Colbert said.
"You have got to be joking..."
"Well then, continue with the ceremony."
"With him?"
"Yes, with him. Hurry. The next class will begin any minute. How much more time is this summoning going to take? After mistake upon mistake, you have finally managed to summon him. Hurry and form a contract." Everyone voiced their agreement and began jeering.
Louise stared at him, looking troubled.
"You should count yourself lucky. Normally you'd go your whole life without a noble doing this to you."
Noble?
She waved around the wooden stick in her hand.
"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar." She chanted those words over and over, like a magic spell, and touched his forehead with the stick. Her lips then slowly drew closer.
If Sephiroth wasn't so busy thinking about what was happening, he would have pushed her away or something.
Then she kissed him.
"You have failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you have managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try," Colbert said happily.
"It's just because he's only a commoner."
"If he was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract."
Some of the students laughed.
Louise scowled at them. "Don't make fun of me! Even I do things right once in a while!"
"Truly 'once in a while', Louise the Zero," laughed a girl with gorgeous curly hair and freckles on her face.
Zero? Odd title.
"Mr. Colbert! Montmorency the Flood just insulted me!"
"Who are you calling 'the Flood'? I'm Montmorency the Fragrance!"
"I heard that you used to wet the bed like a flood, didn't you? 'The Flood' suits you better!"
"I hadn't expected better manners from Louise the Zero."
"Watch it! Nobles ought to show each other the proper respect,"
Pain, searing pain, it was coming from his left-hand. If it weren't for Hojo's "experiments", he wouldn't be able to endure it. Instead, he grunted.
"What did you do to me?"
"I marked you as my familiar, I don't expect you to understand." Louise said arrogantly.
He stared at the mark on his hand. Runes?
The tiredness he was feeling, came crashing back on him, and with what was currently happening, he just wished he was dreaming and dropped back to sleep. None of them were emitting dangerous aura, anyway.
He woke up in a room, looked around and saw Louise, staring at him. The room was of decent size, with expensive-looking furniture.
Damn, not a dream.
"Who are you?" asked the Louise.
"Sephiroth." He looked up at the sky, "Two moons?"
"What kind of question is that?" She frowned.
"Where are we?"
"Halkeginia, Tristain Academy of Magic." He didn't think it was possible, but she frowned even more.
"Do you know a place called Midgar?"
"No."
Sephiroth was trying to calm himself, this wasn't Gaia. He did not know a way to go back. Do you even want to? What was with this place anyway? If it weren't for the magical energy he felt, he would have doubted the magic part of the academy. Its design looked very old, where was all the technology?
"I'm going outside."
"Fine, you can take this as well, wash them for me, and wake me up tomorrow morning." Louise threw a bunch of clothes at him. Sephiroth easily caught it.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm not your servant, and with all that 'noble' thing I keep hearing, you should ask an actual servant."
"Ooooh... You're my familiar! So you should follow my orders!"
"No."
"Arrrgh! You don't get to eat anything tomorrow!"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, he didn't want to follow another tyrant, especially in another world. "Fine by me." He opened the door and left. He was a SOLDIER, in any meaning of the word, skipping meals was nothing new.
Sephiroth walked around, memorizing the layout of the school, passing by a teen couple. The blonde male felt like Genesis, with that fondness for theatrics. He went unnoticed, walking by silently.
After an hour or so, he ended up on top of a tower, looking out for any common land mark he might recognize with his highly enhanced senses.
As I thought, nothing. The two moons should have been enough of a clue. Something like this place wouldn't have been missed, with the surveillance Shinra's capable of. He heard the distinct sound of flapping wings and looked up. He saw a dragon and a rider, most likely a familiar-master duo. The girl with blue hair was looking at him curiously, as if assessing him. Dragon, huh? I guess that's why my summoner looked disappointed, with that talk about familiar representing the master's affinity.
Sephiroth got a little annoyed, dragons were nothing more than an annoyance to him. Even the King of Dragons, Bahamut, was only a little dangerous to him. Of course, they don't know that.
That morning, Sephiroth was left outside the dining hall, Louise following up on her threat the night before.
He would have been hungry, but a maid named Siesta invited him to eat. He was thankful, eating good food was rare, especially in Shinra, where Hojo randomly decides a 'treat' would be nice. He learned to order take-outs after the first time.
He followed the maid to the dining hall, and then saw the guy he called Genesis 2, doing the usual stuff that they do. He saw a bottle fall out of his pocket. Of course, Sephiroth having an ounce of humor, decided to bring it to the attention of many.
"This is not mine. What are you talking about?"
Guiche's friends then realized where the bottle came from and raised a loud commotion.
"Ooh? That perfume, isn't that Montmorency's?"
Sephiroth watched the playboy get his just desserts. He turned to leave, walking after the incident.
"Stop right there." The blond playboy named Guiche said.
Sephiroth stopped, bit didn't bother to turn and look at him.
"Thanks to you thoughtlessly picking up some bottle of perfume, the reputation of two ladies has been damaged. How will you take responsibility?"
"I won't, that was your fault."
Guiche's friends burst out laughing.
"Exactly, Guiche! It's your fault!"
Guiche's face flushed crimson.
"Listen, server. When you put the bottle of perfume on the table, I pretended not to know anything, didn't I? Would it have hurt to be a little bit tactful and just go along with it?"
"Don't care."
"Hmph... Ah, you are..."
Guiche snorted, as if looking down on him.
"You must be the commoner summoned by that "Louise the Zero." To have expected a noble's wits from a commoner was completely my mistake. You may leave."
"Whatever."
Guiche's eyes narrowed.
"It would seem that you don't know the proper etiquette for addressing a noble."
"I know of it, though you do not deserve it."
"Very well. Then I shall teach you a lesson about respect. A perfect way to relieve some stress."
Guiche stood up.
"I challenge to a duel!"
Sephiroth slightly turned his head to look at him, "Where?"
"I'll be waiting at the Vestri Court."
"You... You're going to get killed."
"Hm?"
"If you truly anger a noble..."
Siesta dashed off in a hurry.
I doubt it, and this is the perfect chance to stop them from looking down on me.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?! I saw all that!"
"Nothing, he did everything himself."
Louise sighed and shrugged disappointedly.
"Apologize to him."
"No."
"If you don't want to be hurt, go and apologize. If you do it now, he might forgive you."
"I doubt it."
"Just do it." Louise fixed Sephiroth with a firm look.
"No."
She huffed.
"Fine. I'll show you where the Vestri Court is."
"Gentlemen! It's a duel!"
Guiche lifted his artificial rose high, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.
"Guiche is going to duel! His opponent is Louise's commoner!"
"Sephiroth."
"Huh?"
"My name."
"I don't care. First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche remarked in a sing-song voice, as he twirled his rose.
"..."
"Right then, let us begin," said Guiche.
Sephiroth didn't summon his sword yet.
Guiche watched Sephiroth with a leisurely smile and flicked his rose.
A petal floated down as if dancing in the air...
And became the armor-clad shape of a female warrior.
Its height was about the same as a person's, but it appeared to be constructed from some hard metal.
Under the pale sunlight, its skin... its armor gleamed.
Sephiroth smirked, "Can't even fight on your own?"
"I am a mage, therefore I fight using magic. Surely you have no complaints?"
"No." Genesis was even worse, he loved his summons.
"I guess I forgot to mention earlier. My Runic name is "the Bronze." Guiche the Bronze. Accordingly, my bronze golem "Valkyrie" shall be your real opponent."
The warrior-shaped golem charged towards him
Its right fist impacted heavily with his stomach. Angeal can punch much, much harder than that.
"W-what? Why are you still standing?"
"Are you done?"
The smile fell of Guiche's face, he summoned six more Valkyries.
"Attack!"
At least they're simultaneously attacking. Sephiroth thought.
Everyone saw Sephiroth swinging his hand while spining like he had a sword. And sword he had, inch by inch a sword so long was coming out until it finished at seven feet long. With single that maneuver, the six golems were bisected and had melted a bit around the edges where it was cut.
Sephiroth felt the rune inside his left glove active, and his considerable physical abilities even stronger.
So that's what it is.
The last golem was still in front of Guiche, a defensive stance taken by the golem to protect its master.
At least it was protecting its master, until Sephiroth disappeared and reappeared in front of Guiche sword relaxing towards his side like he was finished attacking.
The crowd gasped at seeing the golem and Guiche's wand fall into pieces, without them ever seeing Sephiroth's movements.
Sephiroth drew closer.
"Y-y-yield!"
Guiche's eyes had a mixture of dread, fear, and awe.
"What?"
"I yield!"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, and used a thunder spell, singeing Guiche's hair at tips. Drawing even more gasps from the crowd when he used magic.
"Let this be a lesson to you, just because you think someone is weaker than you doesn't mean they are no threat, there are no commoners and nobles in the battlefield. Had you known what was I capable of when you challenged me, I wouldn't have given you any mercy."
With his hair and cloak flowing as he turned around, he left the court.
Louise looked once at Guiche, not knowing what to feel at the person who insulted her all throughout her academic life being nearly killed, and looked towards her familiar. She followed Sephiroth, wanting to know what he did.
I hope it's any good, I do want people to review and tell me what I need to change, so I can review. Since this is my first fic, I hope you people don't burn me at the stake.