CHAPTER 1 – Of Elevators and SOLDIERS
The day started the same as any other. Kate Grigori was late for work due to an overcrowded train from Sector 5 to the Shinra building via the Sector 8 platform. Commuters from all over the upper Plate rushed into Sector 0 around 8 AM every weekday and generally caused an immovable traffic-jam in the surrounding sectors. Despite Shinra's claim to advanced technology and improvement in quality of life for people around the world, Kate secretly admonished the company for its lack of interest in rectifying the atrocious and overcrowded public transportation system.
Fleeing from the packed train station onto Loveless Avenue, Kate silently cursed to herself as a steady downpour met her face-on. Pulling her light, business trench coat up to her ears, and tucking her purse and briefcase under her arms, she dodged people and traffic along the avenue. Her eyes automatically homed in on the green and white fluorescent sign ahead that indicated a caffeine infusion was just moments away. Reaching the revolving doors, Kate rushed inside to find the queue was nearly twenty people long. With a glance at her watch and a groan she decided that she was going to be late no matter what she did, so she might as well as earn the reprimand from her boss with coffee in hand rather than without it. The line inched along at the pace of a tonberry. Trying to mentally speed up the process with her thoughts alone, Kate released another sigh as her place in line moved slightly closer to the counter. The man in front of her spoke in an irritated voice as he turned to look at her, "Do you mind not breathing in my face?"
As his eyes locked with hers, he immediately dropped the frustrated demeanor and straightened up. "My apologies Miss. I did not see who was standing there," he continued with what Kate assumed was to be a charming smile, but came off rather sleazy. "A pretty girl like you must have had a rough night, last night, hmmm?" he inquired with that same grin and a raised eyebrow.
Kate inwardly groaned. It was too early in her day to deal with this nonsense. Continuing to look him in the eye, she returned the gesture with a small grimace and arched her own brow at him. "I supposed you could say that," she shrugged. "I spent far too much time last night working on a subnetting issue for the new operations floors. Then I had to chase down a rogue router that was blocking all traffic into R&D. It had several inconsistent ACLs on the incoming ports, but I got it all taken care of in the end."
The man stared at her as if she had suddenly sprouted antlers out of her head, and Kate couldn't help but smile in earnest at his reaction. The man seemed dazed at her confession and then again by her smile. A man's voice behind Kate suddenly spoke, "Are you going to order your coffee or hit on the woman all morning, Myers? The rest of us have important places to be, besides your dingy little souvenir shop." The man, named Myers, turned a magnificent shade of red and turned back around to find the line gone and the barista falsely smiling at him. He quickly ordered and paid for his coffee then carefully made sure not to make eye contact with Kate again as he fled the coffee shop. Kate thanked the heavens above as she retrieved her coffee and hurried out into the street. Walking with as large of stride as her navy pencil skirt would allow, she made a beeline for the gigantic metallic structure that signified the titanic global superpower that was Shinra Headquarters; and nearly three blocks away.
Scurrying into the lobby and slipping on the wet tile floors, Kate nearly dropped her coffee. She righted herself just in time and managed to make it to the elevators at the rear of the main floor. Shuffling in beside the other late stragglers she swiped her badge and hit the button for the 65th floor. As people got off along the way, Kate kept moving towards the back of the elevator carefully holding her coffee close to her to keep from spilling any. Finally, the last employee disembarked at the 45th floor and Kate could have a moment to herself since she left her apartment back in Sector 5 that morning. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the aroma of her coffee, not daring to take a sip until she was safely at her desk, when the elevator halted with a ding and the doors opened. Looking up at the red dot matrix numbers she saw that it was only the 49th floor as a man in a SOLDIER uniform walked into the elevator. He nodded at her with a serious expression as he swiped his badge and hit the button for the 51st floor. She nodded back at him with a small nervous smile and continued to look straight ahead as the doors closed and the elevator continued its upward journey. She noticed from her peripheral vision that the man was rather large and muscular. He had slicked back black hair that hung to just above his shoulders, and a large sword attached to his back that looked impossibly heavy for anyone to wield.
But of course, SOLDIER aren't just anyone, thought Kate. Judging by his black uniform, he must be a first class member. I wonder what his name is. I know he's not the great Sephiroth, obviously, due to the lack of silver hair. Or any resemblance to the posters in the cafeteria. The Shinra marketing company sure loves to show off their top ranking SOLDIER. (Most of the posters showed the warrior in black leather with a long sword standing in a field of luscious grass and blue sky, silver hair flying, and some ridiculous Pro-Shinra catchphrase.) Nor is he the flamboyant one who always cares so much about his appearance. What was his name again? Jenny? Jennings? Gene- Genesis. That was it.
Kate knew it wasn't Genesis, for she had run into him once before in the elevator. She had been late to work (once again) and decided to run up the stairs instead of waiting in line for the elevators. This was one of her less bright ideas, though it did get her past the initial horde cramming into the lifts. She had bumped into a red-haired guy with a red coat near the elevators while being jostled by the crowd. He had looked down at her with a haughty expression as she forcefully blew air out of her nose in frustration. She had then decided that she didn't want to be herded along by the crowd like a chocobo and slipped across his path to the stairwell. She had made it to the 9th floor before she thought she was going to die.
Huffing and puffing like a dualhorn with asthma she dragged herself into the hallway of the 9th floor call-center department, and wobbled to the elevators at the end. The entire floor was filled with cubicles save for one wall that held the managers' offices overlooking the room, and all eyes were on her as she struggled to the elevator doors. Feeling her face burn in embarrassment as she tried to catch her breath and not look like she was going to faint or be sick in front of all the operators, was one of the toughest things she had to overcome while working at Shinra. Especially, since she had eaten a fast food meal at a local chain that morning before boarding the train in Sector 5, and it was threatening to come back up with every gulp of air she took. Finally the gods had mercy on her and the doors opened, only to take that mercy away as there stood the man in the red coat front and center with a huge grin of triumph on his face at the sight of her disheveled appearance and shortness of breath. Trying to school her look of shock into one of indifference, Kate had squished into the elevator past him, doing her best not to touch or even look at him, swiped her badge, and hit the button for her floor. Smashed up against the wall, Kate could hear two women whispering to each other and giggling into their hands while looking at the red-haired man at the front of the elevator. Trying to ignore their conversation became impossible as the next floor brought two more people on and shoved Kate back into the two women.
"I can't believe I'm on an elevator with Genesis!" squealed the brunette with too much purple eye-shadow to her friend.
"I can! This is the fifth time I've been so lucky!" answered the blonde while not taking her eyes off the man called Genesis. She would have been pretty if she didn't have her cleavage hanging out and two pounds of foundation on, thought Kate.
As a fan of wearing minimal make-up and being a pro at getting ready in less than half an hour despite the length of her hair, Kate didn't see the point of painting on a face that wasn't her own. She liked to be presentable and would often dab a splash of color across her cheeks and eyelids with a quick dash of mascara and call it a success. That was about as "put together" as she would get in her day-to-day routine. Her real vanity was her hair. She had been growing it out since she was seven when she saw a picture of a princess in one of her storybooks who had magical hair that allowed her to heal sick animals and fly. Now at twenty-eight it had grown to her knees where she would keep it trimmed and the ends blunted. She did have a knack with healing spells and materia, but she hadn't learned to fly yet, much to her dismay.
Her hair was a gorgeous shade of golden blonde that shimmered beautifully when true sunlight reached the upper Plate through the smog of pollution, but it was a rare occurrence these days with the added construction of Sector 4. However, when she went to work, or out and about, or even left her apartment for that matter, she kept her hair braided and wrapped into a large bun at the base of her neck. She felt that her hair was something rather private and didn't want people staring at her all the time, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it off just yet.
"Maybe I should have him sign something," said the brunette.
"Oh, no you don't want to do that!" said the blonde over-reacting with a zealous shake of her curls and her eyes going wide.
"Why not?"
"Because," continued the blonde drawing out the word. "If you ask him that, he'll just think you are one of the usual rabble of girls fawning over him or worse yet, one of his fan club groupies!"
"But I AM in his fan club!" whispered the brunette loudly for the whole elevator to hear.
Kate snorted at this with a roll of her eyes. The silence in the lift became deafening as all eyes turned to her, including Genesis'. Trying to not look at anyone, Kate made a little coughing sound and prayed for the ability to disappear on the spot. Of course, no such luck, as the brunette turned to her.
"What are you laughing at?" she asked in a whiney voice.
Kate risked a look at the woman beside her. "I wasn't laughing," she said quietly and averted her eyes again.
"Yes you were," answered the blonde. "You were trying to make her look bad in front of Genesis!"
Everyone was watching the exchange between the three women with interest as the drama unfolded between them. Genesis continued to wear his haughty expression while pretending not to listen, but he was watching the women's reflection in the metal doors.
Kate huffed at that. "I am doing no such thing. I could care less what you do, or think about Genesis, or anything else for that matter," she stated simply.
Both the brunette and blonde puffed up at that comment and looked outraged at Kate as the doors dinged open. No one moved as they were completely engrossed in the conversation as the women had a stare down.
"How dare you insult him!" exclaimed the blonde as she took a step toward Kate in what little space remained in the elevator.
"I'm not insulting anyone," said Kate as she squared off to face the blonde. "I am merely stating a fact that I don't care about your little fan clubs or whatever for the SOLIDER operatives, including Genesis. So go do whatever you want to do, but leave me out of it."
The doors threatened to close, but Genesis held out an arm causing the doors to retract once more. "Ladies," he said while turning his head to look over his shoulder at them. "I do believe this is your floor, is it not?"
The two women jerked their heads toward him at the same time and made little "o's" with their mouths as they gawked at him then hurried forward. Jostling the other occupants, they made it to Genesis as he bowed to them and gestured to the 22nd floor that lay beyond his hands. They squealed "Thank you" and "Oh, Genesis!" at him as they exited the lift and he stepped back inside.
"My pleasure, ladies," he simpered. "Have a pleasant day." He smiled at them as the doors closed and the elevator continued upward.
Kate released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and averted her eyes for the remainder of the ride, until she noticed that it was down to just her and Genesis. Trying to sneak a look at him, Kate thought that he was handsome in a roguish yet aristocratic way with his choppy red hair and pointed features, but the effect was somewhat ruined in her opinion due to the gaudy silver earring and obnoxious red leather overcoat. Realizing that he was still watching her with that stupid grin, she looked up and met his gaze.
"What are you smiling at?" she huffed and crossed her arms as best as she could while still holding her briefcase. The action came off slightly clumsy, but she didn't care.
Genesis just smiled wider and leaned back casually into the corner of the elevator. "Oh, nothing in particular," he replied with a flamboyant wave of his hand.
"Right," said Kate with a pointed look at him.
The elevator door dinged and opened on the 49th floor and Genesis rose from his corner and exited. As the doors slowly closed, he turned and mockingly bowed to Kate saying, "There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the goddess."
The doors closed with a soft whump, leaving Kate standing in the elevator alone and looking very confused. She had tried to puzzle out what Genesis had meant by those words all the way to her desk that day, but had given up when she saw the pile of work waiting for her, and thought nothing more of them since.
Jarred back to the present by a low voice, Kate blinked hard a few times before looking around her and seeing the same muscular man from SOLDIER still standing several feet from her in the lift.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" she asked tentatively.
The man gave a small smile, "I was just asking if you were lost in thought, but it seems I needn't have bothered as that appears to be the case."
"Heh. Yeah, sorry. I was just remembering something," she said dismissively, waving her hand exactly how Genesis had months before.
The man quirked an eyebrow at her gesture, but said nothing as the elevator stopped and he disembarked with another nod in her direction. Kate just stood there staring at the elevator doors without seeing them. What is with these SOLDIER guys anyways? she thought to herself. They are all so strange.