[[Author Forewords --- Well, after eating this story, chewing it around, showing a few people and spitting it out a few times, I've decided to post it here. Thanks to Mellon, Soshi and the Ryn for looking through this and keeping me working. I know the school plot is overdone. But I'm going to plunge into it headfirst and I will come out successfully portraying character and customizing events so that they may occur with a nice bit of immaturity. Have fun.]]
The wind blew sickly through the autumn trees. Leaves scattered across the ground and then picked up and flew. They made tiny chittering sounds as they skipped before flight and it sounded as if they were bidding the earthly world a good night. They spiraled into the slate coloured sky and disappeared into the sea of browns and reds. The wind would die but they wouldn't come back, like souls detached from their bodies.
The campus was deathly still other than that. Occasionally an older student would walk along the sidewalks and into another building and then the leaves would be all that moved. It was the first day for the new students; the hand-chosen few who had been invited to attend. They were all in the theatre, crammed in and squeezed together, awaiting the speech from their headmaster. It was clear that the groups were already separating themselves into factions as there were clear spaces between them. So when new students filed in, they were sucked into one of the existing groups or ignore completely. The stragglers sat in the middle of the theatre, in plain view for everyone else to see. It was unfortunate to be one of them.
To the side near the stage was one particular group. They were well groomed and seemed to look down upon everyone else for one reason or another. They milled around one boy in particular, a smartly dressed 20-something with blonde hair. He was probably cleanest of them all and stood out among them. He was dressed in sharp white pants with a black dress shirt tucked into them carefully. He held a long white jacket around his shoulders and gazed about with clear ice coloured eyes. "They are all so... disgusting..." he murmured as he watched the last few people stumble in. The dark haired young man standing stiffly beside him glanced at him questioningly. "They are all so common. Why does father cater to them...?" he continued. He turned to the oriental eyes of his companion. "They are not what I would've expected to accompany my arrival..."
"I wouldn't worry about them. They are certainly something we could handle, should that be what you're worrying about," the white faced boy replied.
The blonde smiled slightly and flicked his bangs from his face. "I know, Tseng. I trust that you can take care of anything that goes amiss." He looked at the faces around him and sighed. "I'm quite sure. You have proven yourself and your entire group's worth many times. Something just makes me... suspicious..." The blonde haired boy let his eyes travel around the room as he trailed off. The red-haired boy sitting on the floor stopped his litany of complaints at the silence and the entire group was then quiet.
"Damned aristocrats..."
Across the other side of the room, another group stared at the clean-shaven quartet. The speaker had been a muscular, dark skinned young man who towered over everyone around him. He crossed his arms, glaring directly at the blonde youth. "Makes me sick..." he muttered.
"Give it a rest, Barret. You're going to have to deal with them for the next few years so you'd better just calm down."
The caramel skinned man turned to the well endowed girl next to him. He snorted angrily but did stop his complaining. Silence, however, was not a virtue that Barret possessed large amounts of and he soon resumed his train of thought. "Jus' look at 'em. They're sittin' there thinkin' they're all high an' mighty. That pretty boy thinks he's so damned smart, don't he? Wha'cha think, Tifa? Think I should go muss his perfect hair?" Tifa rolled her chocolate brown eyes and brushed a strand of maple coloured hair from her eyes. She didn't even bother saying anything. She knew that Barret would just find someone else to talk about even if he actually DID go and rough the 'pretty boy' up. "Makes me sick..." he repeated, spitting on the cranberry carpet.
"Watch it, Barret!" The fiery haired girl sitting just inches away from where he spat looked up sharply.
She stared at the hulking brute of who she KNEW hadn't heard her and then snorted, going back to fabricating a new fake ID. She was smiling slyly from the card, her cropped orange hair hidden under an old work hat. She was proud of her IDs. Very proud.
"There's four of 'em..." Barret continued. "So that means we got one more than they do. We got em outnumbered." He nodded, seeming slightly eased at this. He turned and flopped his huge bulk into the plush theatre seating and kicked his feet up over the seat. "That's always a good thing."
It was about that time that there was a series of loud crashes from just outside the doors to the auditorium. Everyone seemed to lose interest in their previous movements, wondering what the hell could be making such a racket. No one seemed to realize the gaunt man in the red suit take his place on stage. His 'Welcome to the Midgar School for Talented Youth' speech was being largely ignored as the crashes grew more frequently. Mere moments later the double doors flew open and standing silhouetted in the wake was quite a sight.
The noisemaker removed his goggles and perched them atop his crown. He shook all over like a stray dog and dust lifted from his clothing. He ran a hand through his mussed golden hair and smiled lopsidedly. Even the official looking man on stage couldn't help but stare. Behind him, a slightly built blonde boy was cringing in the hall, obviously run over by the pilot. It wouldn't have surprised anyone if there had been a dusty footprint right in the middle of his navy blue tank top.
Just after the loud entrance, another boy blocked the doors. He stepped carefully around the injured young man lying in the hall and peeked carefully around the shorter pilot. His hair fell in front of his shoulders as he leaned in. It was obvious that he was aware they were late and further more had interrupted the welcoming ceremonies. He stood a sharp contrast to the faded blues and greens of the blonde, his white skin like carved ivory shrouded in black and red cloth.
Like many chain reactions, the room burst into talk. The red-headed boy standing near the stage shot up, nearly running into the well groomed blonde. "Hey! It's Vincent!" he shouted, pointing at the doorway. The slightly taller cue ball followed his finger and a faint smile danced across his lips. The fiery crested young man ran up towards the doors, his thin frame easily clearing a few rows of seats towards the end. He clapped the dark boy on the back, smiling widely. "Nice to see ya again, Vin! Come on over here with us..." he cooed, grabbing Vin's arm and pulling him towards the rest of his group. Truly startled, the dark haired boy could only be lead downwards.
The pilot rubbed the back of his head, well knowing that all eyes were left on him. "Hey... Don't mind me... Go back to the talking thingy..." he shouted, following closely behind Vincent. Barret stood up instantly.
"Hey! What the hell are ya doin'?!" he yelled at the blonde man. The pilot looked over his shoulder and blinked.
"Er... I'm followin' Vin! Gotta problem with that?" he called back.
"Yeah I got a problem with that! You gonna sit over there with those snots who have their heads so far up their asses they gotta wear oxygen masks?"
The pilot blinked but any response he would've given was cut short. The scarlet haired boy fairly ran him over, growling audibly. So audibly in fact, that Barret could hear him from across the room. "Ya lousy jackass! Go back to the fuckin' coal mine ya came from!" he shot back.
"Why don'cha make me, PRINCESS!"
"Practice fallin' down, I'll be there in a minute!"
The crimson haired boy would've been had the bigger, bald member of his group not been quicker. He kicked wildly, hoisted from the ground by his waist. "DAMMIT RUDE, LET ME GO! I'M GONNA TEAR THAT PANSY A NEW ASSHOLE!" he growled. The cue ball held him as best he could but eventually lost his hold on the scrawny boy. Falling to the ground, the redhead took little time to find his feet, sprinting through the aisles. Barret left at the same time, the two foul tempered young men ready to bite each other's throats with their bared teeth. The more level headed of each group seemed to follow in short suit, reaching desperately to try and stop the inevitable confrontation.
The man on the stage had run the very edge and was waving wildly at the two groups who were about to clash. "Stop! I will not tolerate this sort of behaviour in my school! Stop I say!" he yelled, failing to no avail. The only ones who didn't run towards the middle of the room were the busty Tifa, the quiet boy Vincent and the blonde boy with his hair slicked back. The blonde sighed a little, shaking his head and watched from his safe corner near the stage.
The lanky flame haired boy leapt onto the row of seats to his side and vaulted into the air. He nearly took the brute over backwards, landing directly on the larger man's massive chest. With his huge tree trunk arms, Barret grabbed the scrawny boy by the shirt, tugging him roughly away. It was at that second that the bald man from the group of clean cut young men stopped a few feet from Barret and let loose with a fierce right hook. It caught the caramel skinned man right in the stomach and he yelped, dropping the hot-tempered youth. The crimson haired boy dropped to the ground, crouching momentarily before readying for a second shot. His leap was delayed severely by the orange haired girl of who had just reached the fight. She stretched over the seats separating her from Barret and grabbed on of the loose shirt tails belonging to the antagonist and pulled sharply. There was the soft play of ripping fabric and the boy fell to the floor, rolling under the chairs. He reached out and pulled the girl's feet from under her, the fiery haired girl joining him on the floor.
From there, chaos ensued. Never one to miss the action, the pilot jumped into the fray, not really going after one side or the other. He laughed hysterically and disappeared between a blue suited boxer and the hulking chocolate skinned grunt. By that time, the oriental man had reached the scuffle and tried to pull the redhead away. He was rewarded with a slug to his perfect jaw from the thrashing young man and dropped him instantly. Two others from Barret's group had jumped into the fight, a more slightly built young man with dark hair and a rather round young fellow wearing a hat. They jumped into the big mess and the shouts began even fiercer.
There was a loud crack as one of the seats broke and a shoe flew into the air. No one could really tell one side from the other, all persons involved seeming to have turned into a single throbbing organism. The oriental looking blue suit ran into the battle finally, landing a solid blow on the leader of the rival group. Barret stumbled over backwards, tripping on the orange haired girl and falling onto his back. In mere moments, the blonde pilot flew on top of him, landing heavily on his cut caramel coloured chest. Profanities from both of them sprayed into the air and everything went to hell.
It was at that moment that reinforcements were called in. From the double doors in the back of the room came a flood of blue clothed young men, all of which were covered completely in muscle. They all had the same strange glowing blue eyes and all who saw them inwardly winced. They moved swiftly into the brawl and began grabbing clothing, arms, legs, hair, pulling at anything they could and dragging the fighters apart. The saner of the fighters broke easily from the fray but, naturally, Barret and the red haired boy wouldn't give in so easily. Several of the blue eyed men were tossed aside as the brute swung his arms. The lanky youth darted out of the way, vaulting over rows of seats to try to escape. Eventually everyone was restrained, though some weren't the least bit happy about it. They were lined up in front of the stage and they were then introduced to the Headmaster.
"You all have surely made quite reputations for yourselves. On the first day of school, you have not only been in a fight but you have single-handedly ruined my auditorium. You all will be fined 1000 Gil for the damages and you are all to serve three days of In-School Suspension in the detention hall. I hope you all have made yourselves quite HAPPY." There was a large spat of venom at the end of the sentence and the red faced Headmaster turned on his heels and exited, stage left.
The blue eyed young men lead the delinquents away, marching them through the double doors. There was a queer sort of half smile on the red-head's face as he was escorted out, arms pinned behind his back and feet dragging on the ground. He chuckled a little.
"Well, at least I know I'll be able to PAY the fine, miner-boy," he cooed. Barret growled softly but said nothing. His big mouth had already gotten them in enough trouble.
The blonde boy watched from the corner of the stage as his entire group was lead away like prisoners. He shook his head a little and walked after them casually. He would be able to win a fair pardon for all of them. After all, he was his father's son and there was no one more powerful on campus than the Headmaster's offspring.