Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, and definitely not Vincent. :tear: THERE, I SAID IT! ARE YOU HAPPY, SQUARE, NOW THAT YOU'VE CRUSHED EVERY GIRL'S CHILDHOOD DREAMS? HUH? HUH:clears throat: Yeah, I'll calm down now. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
I'm ordinary. Just your average everyday girl, one of who is currently standing on the deck of the Highwind. You know, the kind you wouldn't even look twice at if you walked past me in the streets. Honest, really. I'm not gorgeous, or beautiful, or even pretty. Just plain. Sure, I turn a few heads with my silver-streaked hair and golden eyes. No one would ever believe me if I said they were natural, y'know? So just let them assume. Nothing exciting had ever happened to me. I'm deader and less productive than a bump on a log. Really. All I ever did was daydream, train, make weapons, read, and play music, and write, and draw, and maybe even occasionally stare at something, contemplating it. And eat sugary foods. What can I say? Aside from school, which I take pretty seriously, and nature, which I can't live without (but I really sure could live without damn mosquitoes), I'm ordinary.
But there wasn't anything even remotely ordinary about what happened to me that day that started all this…ok; maybe I'm going a little too fast. Let me start from the beginning…
It started out a typical day for me, yadda yadda yadda. I started the day with a rolling off the bed and a few choice curses. Yep, you guessed it - late for school in Cosmo Canyon (best place for your degree on the whole stinking Planet). Now, no offense, the university here is wonderful, but somehow, I just can't wake up at five every single day to observe the sunrise. You can relate, right? Well, it was damn 4:54 AM, and I was grumpy. C'mon, where's my coffee? Not that I'm an addict, but… Oh, forget it. Fast forward. Skipped breakfast, sprint all the way – three whole minutes and another thirty seconds up a ladder – burst in the Astronomy classroom just as the bell rings. Perfect. Not late, but I'd probably be cleaning out the cobwebby junk-filled cabinets for another week for 'toeing the line'. Great.
The rest of the day was actually uneventful (except for when Garret accidentally set the plants on fire and they exploded in Herbology, and when Priscilla purposefully spilled a ginormous bottle of glue and starch onto my shirt in Art – but I managed to wash it off soon enough), and at 3 o'clock sharp, all the students rushed off campus. Not that there were that many. Only a couple hundred. And so, whistling merrily on my way with a starchy-smelling shirt to the shops, I proceeded to take out my personal weapons –chakrams1 – and sharpened them, scaring quite a few people out of my way. I had made them for personally for myself. I'm not kidding. I work in a weapon/potion-making shop, and it's quite enjoyable. I could apply what I learned in Biology and Herbology to potion/elixir brewing. Call it real-life applications. But as for weapon making, I had to start from the bottom and work my way up. Now, after a couple of years, I'm one of the top forgers. I guess those sword-making lessons in Wutai (my hometown) really paid off. And so, I opened the door.
"FREYA KUROTO! YOU GET YOUR SKINNY LITTLE ASS HERE! WE GOT A LOT OF CUSTOM-ORDERS TODAY, SO HURRY IT UP!" Ah. My employer, Reesa Hirlen, was a tall, lean woman with auburn hair and glittering hazel eyes, with a temper that could blow your head off if you weren't careful. I had my fair share of those moments. They weren't exactly pretty, but overall, she was a fairly good boss.
That wasn't exactly a warm welcome. "Okay, what kind of orders?" I sighed.
Reesa nodded her head towards the table near the entrance, long bangs slipping out of her ponytail. "The mail came in today. I counted about twenty-some orders in there. Today's going to be a busy day. Various orders of shurikens, guns, swords…and a chain-whip."
I raised my eyebrows incredulously. "A chain whip?" I asked. "We haven't gotten an order like that for months! Those are pretty hard to forge, you know. Shane's not here today, and he's the most skilled at making those small links. It should take a good two hours for every foot of strong chain!"
My boss nodded her head. "Yes, but the letter said to finish it in two days. Five an' a half feet long, if I'm not mistaken. She wanted the links five millimeters thick each, two by four centimeters, a sharp-edged diamond shape."
I shook my head. "Two days? Shane's not going to be here until another week. I should get started on it right away, Rees."
"Yeah, you should. The pay's about two thousand and eight hundred gil for a nice make. Good luck. Holler if you need any help, okay?"
"I guess I'm not going to brew anything today."
"Damn right. Now, get!"
I smiled and headed for the forge in the back, putting on my fireproof smock over my simple black tee and denim jeans. I wanted a challenge today – and I got it.
After working early in the morning and late into the night on the chain-whip, I was finally finished. To tell you the truth, the thing was beautiful – deadly beautiful. The links were fine, but they were strong and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the whip would cut flesh easily. The handle was made of the finest wood available. I had spent hell on it, folding and re-folding the individual links over and over again to reinforce it – the unique Wutainese way of forging metal to strengthen it. My signature was inscribed into one of the mythril links. Now, it was done.
The weapon was put in a display case in the window (free advertising!). The owner was supposed to be picking it up today. Reesa was polishing the case and making sure there weren't any dents or damage. She had upped the price to three thousand gil. (Yeah, I spent that much time on it. And chains weren't exactly my specialty – those were blades.) After about ten minutes of waiting and no customers, the bells on the door rang as it finally opened at eight thirty sharp. A young, lithe girl, no more than seventeen, stepped into the shop. Her dark brown hair went just past her shoulders, bangs held back with a green headband, and her stormy gray eyes peered around the store.
"Um, hey! Yeah…I'm here to pick up my order? The whip? And by the way, you have any materia?"
Reesa immediately sprang into action. "Yes, yes, the whip! Three thousand gil. Right over here, if you please? Freya, can you show this young lady your fine workmanship?" She beamed at me, and added, "If you want materia, I'm afraid we don't have any. You'll have to go next door to get some."
The girl smiled mischievously. "All right. I'll check over there later, thanks."
"Yeah, sure…over here." I said to the girl. I didn't know why, but she looked familiar… "Wait, Yuffie!"
Her jaw dropped. "Frey…is that you?"
A/N: Muahaha! More introductions, plot development, and explanations in the next chapter. Please review! And yeah…can't you just imagine Yuffie with a whip:P Rawr! I just had to. Really. I just couldn't help myself.
1- You know, those really cool weapons in Dynasty Warriors 4? I don't really play it, but I saw it on this website and thought it was cool, so I jacked it. :D