Hello. This is a story I'm making on Final Fantasy VII with a new theme to it. It is basically going to be a zombie-type story. It all takes place inside the Shinra Company building, from beginning to end. Hope you will enjoy it.
I do not own any of the characters (except for Adeus [ah-day-us for those who are curious on how to pronounce it]). They are all owned by Square Enix.
Prologue
"How much longer do you think they're going to make us wait here?" a spiky blond hair boy dressed in a blue shirt and pants uniform, just like the rest of the cadets in the room with him, asked his friend, whom he was sitting next to.
"I don't know, Cloud," the person, who had black hair that was somewhat long and tied up into a ponytail at the back, replied in a whisper. "All I know is that somebody wanted almost all of the Shinra army staff, including any available 3rd to 1st class SOLDIERs, which looks like all of them to me, into the assembly room. Apparently, it must be something really important that they want to talk about."
"Well, if they don't start soon, I'm going to sneak out of this place," Cloud replied while tapping his foot impatiently. "I mean, we're the closest ones to the door. It's practically right next to us. I doubt that they would even notice one cadet missing from all of this."
"That's what you're saying now, but are you going be thinking the same thing when you get caught wandering the hallways?"
"Oh, come on, Adeus. I'm sure even you're thinking the same thing as me. Besides, they only said that this scientist of theirs named Hojo wants to tell us about a scientific breakthrough he's made. What does it have to do with us? Nothing, I tell you."
"I wouldn't say that it has completely nothing to do with us," Adeus said thoughtfully. "It does seem weird, though, that he's asking for every person who's in the Shinra army. Does what this guy has to say really affect all of us?"
"I don't know and I don't care," Cloud answered with a small huff. "I've already made up my mind, though. I'm not going to just stand around and listen to some scientist tell everybody that he's discovered something so extraordinary. If you ask me, he could have easily done the same thing by submitting an article in the Shinra newspaper."
"Wait, you're not seriously leaving, are you Cloud," his friend asked in hushed shock as the blond started to casually make his way out of the open door.
"Well, why not?" the blond asked back as he neared the exit. "We're bound to figure out whatever this scientist had to say tomorrow morning. If it's that important, then everybody will be talking about it."
"Oh, you're unbelievable, you know that?"
"I know. So are you coming with me or not?"
"You want me to ditch this assembly with you?" Adeus asked in shock.
"Don't tell me you're actually planning on staying here just to listen to the scientific crap?"
"Uh, that kind of was the plan."
"Fine, your loss of freedom. If this happens to go long into the night and you have a hard time getting up tomorrow for morning training, though, don't come crying to me about it."
"What? You don't really think it'll last that long, now do you?"
"I don't know, Adeus, but I'm not sticking around to find out. See you tomorrow morning if you're not too out of it."
"W-wait a minute, Cloud," Adeus whispered hastily as he walked as quickly and inconspicuously towards the door his friend just exited out through. "I'm going with you."
"I figured you were going to say that sooner or later," Cloud answered with a grin as he saw the black haired teen sidle alongside the walls until he was out of the doorway. "You always try to do whatever it takes whenever it comes to the training stuff that we do."
"Of course I take them seriously. Those are probably the only things that these people here look for when they're choosing who they want to have in SOLDIER."
"Is that why you decided to take my lead and ditch the assembly?"
"I…well, that's…, It doesn't have anything to do with it, Cloud! I just want to do well on my training, is all."
"Whatever you say, Adeus," the blond said with a shrug as he led the way down the hall to the cadets' quarters where they both shared a room. "I wonder, though, if Zack's going to do the same thing as us."
"SOLDIER 1st Class Zack Fair? I thought he came here simply because he had nothing else to do. The announcement earlier did say for any available 1st Class SOLDIERs to attend."
"Oh, I wouldn't put it past him to come up with an excuse or two to get out of it. Either way, I bet you a hundred gil that he sneaks out of there."
"Yeah, I guess we shouldn't put it past him to do that. Anyway, let's hurry up and get to our rooms before one of the higher-ups catches us; then we'd really be in trouble."
And with that, the two of them continued on their way as stealthily as they could towards their rooms, hoping that none of the SOLDIERs or other personnel would catch and report them.
-Meanwhile-
Those two are either really daring or really stupid, a raven haired SOLDIER 1st Class situated at the back of the platform where the podium was situated on thought as he looked at Cloud and Adeus trying to leave the assembly room unnoticed. They're really lucky I managed to distract the other 1st Class here or they would have been in a world of hurt by now.
"Did you even hear what I just said, Zack?" a man of the same hair color and looking to be somewhat older asked.
"Uh, what?" Zack replied dumbly as he diverted his attention to the man next to him. "Sorry, I kind of missed the last part."
"Oi, you better start to pay attention more when someone's talking," the man said with a sigh. "That kind of behavior is something that can easily get you in trouble with the president. Anyway, I asked if you were sure that you had finished all of your business before deciding to come here?"
"Uh, I'm sure I did, Angeal," the young teen answered as he thought it over, knowing full well in the back of his head the small pile of paperwork on his desk in his room. "Oh, wait a minute. There's still that report for the Turks that I haven' t finished yet. They said that they wanted it two days from now, but I think Tseng's expecting it by tomorrow so he can look over it for any mistakes I might have made."
"Heh, that sounds just like Tseng," Angeal chuckled a bit. "Well, if you think that you have to do it, then go ahead and do it. You don't have to stay here and listen to Professor Hojo talk about whatever it is he's decided to talk about."
"Oh, trust me, I'd rather be doing paperwork than to listen to that creepy old scientist run his mouth about something that nobody cares about. To be honest with you, I think he just likes to hear himself talk about his 'scientific breakthroughs' and all that jazz."
"You keep talking like that about him and you'll find yourself in a lot of trouble; just like those two cadets that snuck out of the room while you were trying to take my attention away from them."
"Wh-what are you talking about, Angeal?" the teen asked, trying to feign ignorance on the subject. "Who managed to escape from this room?"
"Oh, cut the act, Zackary," the man said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "You've been my student for so long; I can practically tell what you're doing before you even decide to do it. Before those two even left, I figured that they were going to pull something like that while you unconsciously help them."
"Nothing I do can get past you, can it?" Zack asked with a nervous half-grin.
"Fortunately for me, no. I'll tell you what: If they don't get caught, I won't report you. However, if they are caught, then I'll let Director Lazard know that you helped two cadets leave a conference when they weren't supposed to."
"I hope that you're not going to make me promise to that and then just conveniently find them wandering the hallways, are you?"
"Where's the honor of making a promise, then, if that's what I had planned all along? Besides, I could just get you in trouble right now if I wanted to."
"Good point. Alright, if they don't get caught, you won't say anything about this to anyone."
"Be thankful that I actually put up with your antics every now and then."
Yeesh, I didn't think that I was that noticeable, the teen thought. I really hope that Cloud and Audeus don't do something stupid and get themselves caught. If they do, then I'll personally give them hell the next time I see them for training.
"Alright then, Angeal. I better make my back to my room now if I ever plan on finishing the paperwork for Tseng tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Try not to get yourself sidetracked on your way there," the man said in a knowing tone.
"I won't," Zack answered as he walked off the podium and made his way to the exit nearest him. "Just try not to fall asleep while listening to the lecture. I'll probably ask you about it in case we have a meeting regarding this speech."
"I'm not your personal recorder, Zackary."
"I know, but you'll still end up helping me with that. Anyway, I got to get going now. See you tomorrow, Angeal!"
With a small wave of his hand, the young SOLDIER 1st Class got of the platform and made his way towards the nearest door. A few of the 2nd and 3rd Class SOLDIERS and a couple of daring cadets looked at him as Zack softly hummed to himself as he passed them by. Apparently, he was happy that he found a way to get out of being here right now.
"Restless little pup," Angeal mumbled to himself with a roll of his eyes. "Always managing to find some way to get out of listening to Hojo's speeches. Hopefully, he's not going to miss out on much this time around."
Sorry that this chapter is somewhat short. I did not want to give out too much info before the main story itself started. I do hope, though, that I managed to establish where the main characters are just as the story itself begins. Hope you enjoyed it, despite what might be a possibly confusing prologue.
