Run Through The Jungle

Sephiroth shivered. He was wet, he was cold, and he was not happy. This was supposed to have been a routine scouting mission, but he hadn't counted on a storm coming and washing out the trail, and therefore causing them to have to make their own longer route back to base camp.

So now here he was sitting out in the middle of the damn jungle as night fell, hoping that the fire Donovan was attempting to start would last through the night.

"Alright!"

Donovan piled some branches on the meager fire that had started and then sat down. Sephiroth got up and moved as close to the fire as possible.

"I don't s'pose you brought any food," Donovan said.

"No, I did not," Sephiroth replied, choosing to ignore the informal way the man was speaking to him, because he was too tired to be bothered with correcting him.

"Damn…" Donovan said.

Sephiroth stared into the fire, weariness beginning to take its toll on him. He was exhausted, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. He didn't trust Donovan enough yet. He seemed to be a good SOLDIER, based on how quickly he had climbed the ranks, but Sephiroth needed to see more before he would trust him enough to let his guard down.

"They talk about you a lot back in Midgar, ya know?" Donovan said, "They say you made First Class at 15. That true?"

"Yes," Sephiroth answered simply. He was growing tired of that question.

"That's really amazing," Donovan said.

Sephiroth merely snorted softly.

"You probably get that all the time, though," Donovan said.

Donovan started babbling about something or another, but Sephiroth was no longer paying attention. He cursed whoever had decided to assign Donovan to his command. The Major, though practically still a child, was skilled, that was for certain. But he had to be the most annoying person Sephiroth had ever met.

Unfortunately, Donovan was the highest ranking SOLDIER member in his battalion, aside from himself, so he'd be seeing much more of him. Probably, he thought with a slight grimace, Donovan would be accompanying him on every mission from there on.

His thoughts came to a halt then, as he realized that he'd been so preoccupied that he'd forgotten all about how miserable he was. He looked at Donovan, who was still talking, and wondered if that had been the man's intention all along.

It couldn't have been, he told himself. Donovan was too simple-minded for that.

-----

The air was wet and heavy the next morning as they picked their way through the undergrowth, Sephiroth cutting a path with his sword.

There was a loud slap from behind him, followed by a string of muffled curses.

"I hate this fucking jungle..."

"Language, Major," Sephiroth said, slicing through a vine.

"Sorry, sir," Donovan said, then muttered under his breath, "Fucking bugs the size of my goddamn fist..."

The continued on for 500 yards or so, until they came to a clearing and a low growl from directly in front of them made Sephiroth stop. A monster that resembled something like a cross between a wolf and tiger came out of the trees and stood there, snarling at them.

Sephiroth eyed it, forming a battle strategy in his mind. It would probably be best to hit it with a spell rather than attack it directly to avoid...

Donovan let out a yell from behind him and before Sephiroth knew what was happening he charged the beast, doing a rather impressive one-handed flip and landing behind it.

"Take this, you bastard!" he said, and brought his sword down before the monster even had the chance to react. The beast let out a death cry and crumpled.

Sephiroth watched Donovan clean his bloody sword on a giant leaf and considered his battle strategy or lack thereof. His conduct was reckless, but he had to admit it was effective.

Donovan swung his sword back into its place on his back and looked at him, obviously for orders.

Sephiroth walked past him, sidestepping the beast's corpse and settled himself on a rock. He'd been in need of a rest for awhile and this seemed like as good a place as any.

He took out the compass and raised it to the sky. The needle hovered over "SW". Excellent, they were still heading in the proper direction.

He raised his head to check the location of the sun, and chills ran down the back of his neck...seconds before he heard the sound of metal slicing through flesh.

He jumped up from the rock and whirled around in time to see Donovan pull his sword out of the back of a black clothed man.

"That was a close one," Donovan said, "Another second and the bastard woulda had ya."

Sephiroth was shocked for the first time in years. Donovan had noticed the assassin's approach before he had. That had never happened before; he was always the first to notice anything. Perhaps Donovan was better than he'd been giving him credit for.

Or perhaps he was just slow because he was tired. Yes, that had to be it.

I hope you enjoyed the beginning of my latest fanfic endeavor. There's lots more to come!