I've seen a lot of these , but I have to admit, they rarely appeal to me, even though some could be very well written. But for some reason, I ended up playing with a plot in my head over the past while and since I generally write OCs,I thought it would be worth a try. This fic will not contain OC/Canon character romance. Please review, compliments not compulsory. Enjoy.
To be a SOLDIER
The Science Dept. wasn't quite as visitor friendly as some of the other parts of the Shinra building. This was a place of stark greys and whites, built to be used, not looked at. Still, the staff were friendly enough, and while there were all kinds of rumours about the things that came out of the science department, none of it was in evidence today.
Standard medical form, height, weight, BMI, bone density, various checks to be sure she was telling the truth. It was an efficient procedure, although her feet dangled out past the end of the examining table, which made things slightly awkward. The lead scientist handed her back the forms.
"Alright, Ms. Matheson, all this seems to be in order. But I'd like to clarify a few things. Could you join me in my office a moment, please?"
She dressed and stood, ex-military discipline asserting itself briefly.
According to his nameplate, the doctor's name was Kevin Sopean. There was nothing particularly memorable about the man, he could have been any of a dozen of Hojo's pale faced researchers. Thirtyish, glasses, dark hair, the pale skin of someone who spent his time in a lab. He fixed her with a searching stare, tapping the pen against his desk.
"Firstly, Ma'am, let me reassure you that you meet the requirements for entry into SOLDIER. I just want you to be sure you know what you are letting yourself in for."
"By all means, sir."
"First, Mako enhancements are permanent, so I would urge you to think carefully. SOLDIER has not to this point recruited women, so we're not quite certain what the effects may be."
"Why was that, exactly?"
"Not my department, you'd have to ask the Turks. All I can tell you about is medical facts."
"Anything medical I should know, then?"
"Well… you are several years older than our usual recruits. A body that isn't fully developed has an easier time assimilating the Mako, so… I'm afraid, Ms. Matheson, you will never be Sephiroth."
Pearl sneezed, covering her mouth. " That's a shame. But I'll be able to get by?"
"You wouldn't be here now otherwise."
"Alright." She stood.
"One last thing… you're from Banora, correct? Did you know Genesis?"
Pearl's eye twitched."Vaguely… I was younger, I think the only thing he ever said to me was 'Hey you, come back with those apples!'"
Kevin smiled, for just a moment. "Well, Ms. Matheson, there doesn't appear to be any major obstacles to your acceptance, that I can see. If you don't change your mind, report back here tomorrow for your infusions."
Pearl Matheson, prospective soldier recruit, saluted. "Sir."
"I'm no sir. Alright, now that that's out of the way, and you've got your place, tell me why. Why did you want to join SOLDIER? You must know it's not quite the same as the posters."
"I decided to transfer somewhere where I could be of the greatest possible value to Shinra, sir."
"And do you have a dream? To become 1st, for example? What do you hope to gain from this?"
"… I've served in Wutai since I was fourteen. I didn't want to die there."
"I see. Well, good luck to you, SOLDIER."
"Thank you sir."
"Dismissed."
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The SOLDIER 2nd who had collected her from the labs hadn't said a single word since he'd arrived, which for the moment at least, suited her just fine. Pearl could barely see, the sound of every step made her head pound, and every inch of her clothes was suddenly rubbing her raw. So her journey passed in a parade of periodic flinches and hesitations. When Kevin had said Mako enhancements sharpened the senses, he had not been kidding.
Just before they emerged onto the SOLDIER floor, her collector suddenly sighed.
"Look, I just want to know one thing… Why are you here?"
"I went over this with the doc."
"Shinra departments don't share info except at swordpoint. Deal with it."
"I thought it'd be the best way to survive the fall of Wutai."
SOLDIER 2nd sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds. "Well, I've heard worse. My name's Dennis, I'll be training you mostly. So, you're Banoran? Did you know Genesis?"
"No."
"Okay. Well, welcome aboard, I suppose." He extended a hand. Pearl almost gasped at the contact. The palms of Dennis' hands were criss-crossed with deep scars from blades. These weren't nicks, it was a miracle he had anything left of either hand above the thumb, never mind all his fingers. Shaking the hand felt like sandpaper. Dennis looked away.
"When I was younger, I thought palm parries looked cool."
"Yeah? And now?"
Ghost of a smile. "Sure, but they also hurt a lot. Still, it's usually better to lose your hands than your head."
The elevator dinged, and they stepped out onto the main floor.
The SOLDIER floor was much less populated than she'd expected. The floor had the standard Shinra sleekness, all metal with the occasional plastic plant or inlaid Shinra logo. There was almost no one is sight, so Dennis paused just inside the entrance for another little speech.
"You're going to learn a lot over the next few days. Things you never saw on the posters. Y'see, despite what a lot of people think, SOLDIER isn't a group of superheroes having a ball cutting up rocks and being invulnerable to all harm. We take our jobs very seriously."
A SOLDIER 3rd ran past, arms spread wide and making 'nnn nnn nnn' noises. Dennis paused a moment.
"Normally. Davis, come here!"
The SOLDIER skidded to a halt. "Sir?"
"Why did you do that?"
"Youthful exuberance, sir." Davis was maybe fifteen, and very freckly.
"I see. While I can appreciate the sentiment–"
"Sir, with all due respect, you're twenty two. Your life is over."
"Feek told you to say that, didn't he?"
Silence.
"Go find him now, tell him I'll deal with him later. Scat."
Davis fled.
"It's a good idea to make friends with that kid."
"Yeah? He Heidegger's nephew?"
"No, he's a baker. Parents run a shop in sector 2, they keep us well stocked. They invite him back fairly regularly, so he's a little more respected than the average 3rd. You'll pick up a lot of little details like this over the next while. Do you sleeptalk or have night terrors?"
"No one's ever told me if I did."
"Alright, well, we have a lot of empty dormrooms right now, so you can more or less take your pick. K Block is pretty much deserted. You can even get your own room if you like."
"That sounds like favouritism. That'll piss off people."
"Well, we could put you in with three fifteen year old boys, but we figured that wouldn't be fair on them or you. Your choice."
"Hmm."
"You'll also need to bear in mind when picking, everyone on this floor has very sharp ears, and the vents are really good carriers of sound, so you might want to cover them with something if you're doing something you want to keep private. You might hear someone crying at night, but that's fairly normal, it's best to just ignore it."
"Crying? Why?"
"They don't usually announce it, and no one asks. You can get settled in later. Time to meet some people. Most of the thirds are out, I thought it was best to take things easy at first. They're going to be interested in you, 'first girl in SOLDIER' and all that, so be prepared for questions."
She eyed him. "Is the 'first woman' thing going to be a problem?"
"From us? No. All the 2nds and most of the 3rds have been to Wutai. You figure out pretty quick that girl fleas bite just as hard, or else you find out how a shuriken through the forehead feels. Your biggest problems will be with the humans, not us. Ready?"
Pearl shrugged. "Sure."
"Alright then. Welcome to the doghouse."
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When Dennis brought her into the in-house canteen, there were less than a dozen people there, discounting the canteen staff, who were all SOLDIER 3rds. Dennis approached a group of three, obviously brothers, who stood as they approached. Davis was standing behind, urgently speaking until he saw them coming.
Dennis waved back the seconds as they were about to stand.
"This is Pearl, the new girl. I'm gonna need your help training her now and again. Pearl, these are the triplets, Oisin, Rafiq, and Anton. "
Oisin looked towards Dennis "TWAG or Squee?"
"Meh," said Dennis, shrugging. A couple of smiles, then the group stood up and introduced themselves. Oisin carried the standard infantry blade at his hip, and had very well developed wrists. Anton carried a worn combat knife in addition to twin sabres, while Rafiq carried the same infantry blade, but over his shoulder, and he was dotted with burn scars.
"You're training me? So… I'm not going to be trained with the other thirds?"
"You're a special case, a five year vet and all that. We'll need to start you a little more advanced. Plus, we're kinda short of thirds at the moment, so…" They all examined the surface of the table briefly.
A pause.
After a moment, Rafiq spoke up. "So, you're Banoran? Did you know Gen-"
"No."
"Touchy subject?"
"No-one ever believes me! Gets annoying as hell."
"It's not that big a town."
"Sure, but Gen was the boy on the hill who could evict you if you pissed him off. Angeal was nice, but he wouldn't help with robbing the groves. I was nine when they left for SOLDIER and wasn't all that interested in the papers. No big story to it. We just never crossed paths much."
"But-"
"Feek. Stop talking." Oisin. "So, Pearl, anything you'd like to know before you settle in?"
She considered. "Why weren't women recruited before now?"
A circle of shrugs. "You'd have to ask Lazard."
"Why all the huge swords? You guys compensating for something?"
The SOLDIERs all gave little sighs. She looked at Dennis.
"I touch a nerve?"
"No, it's just... Every single cadet I've ever trained has asked me that question. Every single one. And they all act like they've said something incredibly original and clever. I had such high hopes for you, too. To answer you, no one in SOLDIER chooses the weapon they use, and the weapons suppliers don't take measurements, so probably not. Even Sephiroth and Genesis had their weapons and costumes chosen for them by the marketing department."
"What am I going to be doing over the next few weeks?"
"Mostly training, either sparring with me or in the sim room. Maybe some missions if we think you're up for them. I might draft in help for different things. First off, we'll need to assess your abilities. Anything else?"
"For now, I'm okay."
Pause. Then Oisin.
"So, Pearl… why did you decide to join SOLDIER?"
She sighed. "I figured I could seduce my way to the top."
A moment of utter silence. Then, Feek:
"What? Who told you about our promotion policy, that's supposed to be secret!"
She froze. Feek held a straight face, but the others burst out laughing in the pause. Pearl sighed.
"Look, gentlemen, I'm not in the mood to play 'how much bullshit will the new recruit swallow' today. So, one of you had better explain that, and for now, please grow the fuck up."
Ush looked at her. "Alright. Absolute truth from here out, honest. In order to make 1st, you have to be recommended by a senior 1st class SOLDIER, and be personally trained by him for a while. An old joke in this department calls that the honeymoon period. As far as we know, it's not accurate. Probably happens now and again, but if you recommend someone who isn't ready, they get killed, so anyone exploiting the young'uns to get fucked will suffer the beating of a lifetime once it's found out. So no, there are absolutely no compulsory seductions for promotion. Anyone gives you trouble, you can set your fanclub on them."
"Every single SOLDIER has a fanclub?"
"Naw. Just the big names. Which includes you, on account of being the first woman, Shinra's gonna push that angle like hell. The newsletter for your fans is over there. The Banora Pinks.
"Huh. That's actually kind of clever, I'll give them that. But… I've been a SOLDIER 15 minutes."
"Shinra's PR department can be scary." Pearl searched Dennis' face, but detected no trace of a joke. Ush inclined his head towards Davis, who immediately hid behind a plant
"Davis here's already signed up."
"Really? Let me see."
He rummaged in a pouch for a second, and handed across a copy of the newsletter on the noticeboard. It was, of course, a pink page.
"'Pearl Matheson, born in the remote but picturesque orchard town of Banora, spent most of her childhood working in the groves. She ran away to join the army aged fourteen, beginning the process of calcification that produced the gem we see today…' Ugh. Tell you what, keep it. Keep me posted on anything interesting, yeah?"
"Well, apparently you have a longstanding crush on Executive Palmer...", said Anton, reading over her shoulder.
"Really? I didn't know that."
Don't worry, nobody takes those things for total truth… on this floor, at least. He just wanted to know a bit about you. Davis, give her a muffin."
The SOLDIER 3rd shoved one at her at took off at a run.
Well, as apologies go…
She bit down on it… and jolted out of her chair with shock.
A circle of smiles. Anton leaned forward.
"First meal with mako enhanced senses… you never forget it. Enjoy this moment as much as you can. You got a Davis cake as your first, now that's lucky. Me, I got field rations, and nearly died of the shock."
"I- Is it always like this?" That one bite was honestly the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted.
"Fraid so. One of the things about SOLDIERs that isn't on the posters. Bad news is, the bad tastes are magnified too."
Davis reappeared and left a cake box on the table, which put paid to conversation for some time.
Feek spoke up again in the lull. "Did Den tell you how he got his scars?"
"Palm parries."
"What? That's all? Come on, you can't just leave things there, it's a funny story!"
"Only the way you tell it, Feek."
Rafiq stood up, hands waving, spraying cake crumbs.
"So, three ninjas walk into a bar…"
