Seven Years Ago - September 8th
Angeal, Age 18
"I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" Her soft voice teased, a smile playing on her lips as she extended her hand to help me up.
"Of course not," I assured, accepting her hand and getting to my feet. I dusted myself off before looking at whomever had knocked me straight on my ass that day during training. It was a small woman, hardly over five feet tall with wild blond hair and a short sword in her right hand. She looked to be around my age, between seventeen and twenty. Judging by the way her hair had scattered braids and beads, I assumed she was from somewhere in the canyons. To be polite, I introduced myself to her.
"Angeal Hewley," I stated, shaking her delicate feeling hand softly.
"Ellone," she returned with a smile, "Ellone Heartilly." Ellone studied me briefly. "So, Angeal, where are you from?""Banora," came my succinct reply, "and you?"
Ellone giggled softly, "oh, a country boy, huh?" She sheathed her short blade and brushed hair out of her eyes. A breeze thankfully picked up, cooling the sweat on my face from training. "I'm from Cosmo Canyon."
"Sparring, cadets!" A lieutenant called, "chatting is for free period!"
I flushed in some embarrassment, but then looked at Ellone again. She smiled and unsheathed her sword, tilting her head like she were offering a challenge.
I accepted.
Ellone and I sat side by side in the grass, listening to instructor Letterly go over the things he'd noticed during the session this afternoon. It was warm and too hot outside for me, sweat still forming at my temples in the heat. I just wanted to go back inside to enjoy the frigid air conditioning of the building. Ellone seemed not to mind, so used to the heat back home that Midgar seemed to be even a little chilly for her. She was friendly and I enjoyed her as a sparring partner, maybe even someone to chit-chat with in class.
"When do you think the lecture is going to be over?" she asked quietly, "everyone here stinks like BO."
"Hopefully soon," I replied with a little laugh, "but you know, you probably stink too, Ellone."
"I should hope I count as everyone, Angeal," the Cosmo native giggled, "I was training just as hard."
Letterly soon gave all of us the go-ahead to go shower, change and head to our next classes. Ellone and I parted ways, going to our own respective locker rooms. There were only about three girls in the cadet program that I knew of, most girls more focused on finding a job that didn't mean enlisting themselves in a military-based organization. I was in my own stall, lathering my hair up and letting the hot water wash over me. I found myself wondering why Ellone had decided to join SOLDIER in the first place.
Once I was clean and dressed again, I made my way from the locker room to my next class, which was a class all about materia. I knew the basics of it all, how to equip it and what each would do. Throughout the lesson, I found myself less and less focused on the lecture and more on the simple girl from Cosmo Canyon that I'd spent a little over an hour sparring with. There was something about Ellone that I like, that I enjoyed. She was a smart girl, very good with a sword, quick and graceful. Ellone was not only a great promise for the SOLDIER program, but she was very sweet and she had a glow about her that was very entrancing. Everything about her was lively, but in a gentle sort of way I didn't understand.
"Hewley, are you with us?" Instructor Toma asked, catching my attention suddenly. I flushed in embarrassment while he and the rest of the class awaited my response.
"Yes, sir," I replied calmly, pursing my lips into a line before turning my attention back to the board. That was a first, I'd never been distracted during a lecture. I had to stop thinking about Ellone. She was a distraction, which wasn't something I needed at this point in my life. I was on my way to making third and soon after, second.
"I didn't know you could make friends," Genesis teased me in our apartment, "let alone a girl. What's she like?"
"I don't know, I can't explain her," I said and sighed, "she's just some girl from Cosmo Canyon, just a strange little villager."
"Well, obviously, she's more than just some strange canyon girl to you," Sephiroth interjected, watching me closely, "is there anything strange about her to you?"
"Aside from a peaceful little villager wanting to join SOLDIER," Genesis said helpfully, "what do you notice the most about her?"
"Her eyes, I've never seen anything like them before, the beads and braids and string in her hair," I murmured, looking to Sephiroth to gauge his reaction.
"What's so strange about her eyes?" The silver-haired boy asked, folding his arms. He knew what it was like to have strange eyes - his own were a mint green with slits for pupils.
"One is green, the other is blue," came my absent reply, "how does that even happen?"
"Genetics," came the union reply from my two friends. It didn't seem as simple as that to me, however. I felt like there was a reason her eyes were like that, but
I decided to leave it as it was, not question it.
"You're probably right," I said softly, leaning back to lay down on my bunk. "There's just something about her, you know?"
"It's called she's hot, Angeal," Genesis said with a snicker, "just admit it, you think she's hot. Point her out to me, I'll be the judge."
I threw a pillow at him from the top bunk.