Zack Fair and the Playwright

Chapter 1: Meeting Emilie Shinra

It was presently seven in the morning and the raven haired first class SOLDIER had just come from breakfast with his blond cadet friend, Cloud Strife. He was quite surprised to run into the woman talking to the Shinra President. Admittedly, he thought that she was a new employee. That was when President Shinra scowled at Zack and turned to the albino woman that had fallen. Oddly enough, he sounded concerned as he asked, "Are you okay Emilie?"

"I'm fine niisan. I fell on my butt, not broke a rib," came her exasperated reply as she turned her violet orbs onto the company's President.

Zack had his hand scratching at the back of his head sheepishly as he extended his other hand to help her up. Emilie Shinra gratefully accepted the proffered hand. Emilie's skin was commonly described as pure alabaster and her eyes were a piercing amethyst that showed her annoyance with her adopted brother's arrogance. Her gaze was also considerably kinder towards Zack since he wasn't being an arrogant pain in the ass. That is what Emilie "fondly" called President Shinra. Zack spoke in his steady, friendly tones, "I'm sorry. That little tumble of yours is completely my fault miss…"

She chuckled good-naturedly before supplying her name, "Emilie Shinra, adopted baby sister of Mister high and mighty over there, and what might your name be good sir?"

The denim dress clad woman was partially joking of course. Emilie was a fairly good natured person most of the time, as Zack was beginning to notice. Obviously he didn't know much about her since Emilie didn't visit her oldest brother at his work place often, but the old nut had insisted on it this time without telling her why. Zack responded good-naturedly, "It's a pleasure to meet you Emilie. I'm Zack Fair."

As soon as he told her his name, a grin made its way onto her face. She couldn't help it since she happened to be close to Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth. She had met the three SOLDIER 1st class members after she had passed out from dehydration and suffering from amnesia. They'd been twelve and she was seventeen. The five foot seven woman asked, "You're Angeal's protégé, aren't you?"

The question had startled both men greatly, even though President Shinra recovered first. Zack had to wonder how she knew that. The President was giving her a look that said she better not has done anything to reveal that she was different. Emilie rolled her eyes at her brother, and when that didn't get him to stop giving her a stern look; she glared at him. That clearly did the trick and Zack spoke in a slightly startled manner, "Yeah, I am. How did you know that?"

It earned him a highly amused look before she announced, "Angeal told me that himself. He nicknamed you the puppy. He's always calling me Faerie."

Zack was startled by this information, but he wasn't going to complain. She was a friendly, open, and honest type of person. He had a feeling that he would be good friends with her. At the moment, she was being led towards the meeting room. Not that she wanted to go, but there was a fear that the three top SOLDIER members of all time in Shinra would mutiny if they didn't see Emilie soon. Some of the men guarding her adopted brother were staring at her in a manner that made her want to go elemental on their butts. She gave her brother a steady look and stated, "I'm going to go ahead of your little entourage niisan."

The older man inwardly sighed and reluctantly agreed, "Very well Emilie, but be careful."

She rolled her eyes at her adopted brother before turning on her heel and sweeping into the meeting room with mid-back length white locks flowing behind her. Her entrance caused three sets of pale blue pools to settle on her. She grinned impishly at the sight of her brunette friend's attire. It was something she could never resist teasing him about. Well, she could always do that later. Emilie was used to the quirks of the trio, even though no one else was.

Admittedly, there were plenty of comfortable chairs in the room, but she chose to sit on Angeal's lap, which earned the now embarrassed slicked-back raven haired male highly amused looks from his less socially adept friends. They were the only ones so far who knew that Emilie and Angeal had been going steady for the past year. Seeing as Zack was a SOLDIER 1st class, he was fast and had arrived just in time to hear Genesis and Sephiroth greet the woman he toppled over earlier, "Morning Emilie."

What probably startled Zack the most was where the snow skinned woman was sitting, which happened to be on his mentor's lap. There was also the fact his mentor was blushing profusely. Of course, only the occupants who had arrived earlier knew the real reason behind Angeal's crimson flushed visage. Genesis was chuckling at this and stated, "You have the perfect timing for causing newcomers to the SOLDIER 1st class to become confused."

Zack blinked and asked, "Is Angeal girl shy?"

That question resulted in the amethyst eyed woman dissolving into fits of laughter, Genesis snickering, Sephiroth looking at Zack like he was an utter moron, and Angeal burying his face against his girlfriend's hair since her scent had always soothed him and took the edge off of his embarrassment. After a few minutes, Angeal had calmed himself enough to speak without looking like a cherry tomato, "No, I'm not girl shy. These two were just giving me a hard time about Emilie sitting on my lap. Again."

Genesis smirked at his friend and then clarified, "Emmy always sits on Angeal's lap, even during SOLDIER 1st class meetings, because she is his girlfriend."

This earned the brunette a dark look and a swat tinged with fire. None of the others present so far had noticed since Emilie, who was half elemental fae, was good at hiding her powers. There was also the fact she trusted those three more than anyone else. Of course, she did have the other powers belonging to an elemental fae, which includes telepathy and mind reading. She could also heal others through touch when it was needed, but that was about all anyone needed to know. Sephiroth had stayed silent during that little exchange since few people understood or even noticed the albino's power.

Zack had clearly relaxed about his mentor's odd position as he realized that his older brother figure had merely been embarrassed by his friends teasing. He had to admit that he was surprised by Emilie's decision to come to Angeal's defense. The snowy tressed female's smug look had told him that he had clearly missed something about that brief exchange between Emilie and the brunette SOLDIER 1st class. Unfortunately, he knew very little about Emilie, so he couldn't figure out what the exchange was about. For a split second, he wondered if his mentor would be mad at him for accidentally knocking Emilie down. His tone was rather sheepish as Zack apologized, "I'm sorry for the naïve question and accidentally knocking Emilie to the ground."

The half fae rolled her eyes and deadpanned to her bewildered boyfriend, "My dearest brother was being a self-righteous prick again. It really was uncalled for that he chewed out your protégé."

At Zack's confusion, Angeal translated, "She's forgiven you and feel free to ignore the 'pain in the ass known as my eldest brother'."

Zack just shrugged in acceptance and turned to the albino, "Thank you Miss Shinra."

She just chuckled and stated, "You're welcome. Now stop apologizing. Didn't you know it's illegal for a SOLDIER 1st class to repeat an apology for the same incident twice?"

The three most famous SOLDIER 1st class members were probably the only ones who knew without a doubt that Emilie was joking with that last line. After a few minutes Zack realized that the white haired woman was joking, even if everyone else in the room was still a little uncertain. That alone was telling of the rarity of the albino woman's visits. Besides, one of the top three SOLDIER members are there was almost a necessity for Emilie's visits. That was the theory the others had about the woman.

The half fae then grumbled, "It's another half hour before brother dearest comes in with the booty call committee."

This, of course, earned her highly amused stares from everyone except Angeal. Angeal was being more possessive since Emilie was clearly his woman. She just chuckled and gave the broad shouldered, sable tressed man a peck on the cheek to soothe his momentary jealousy. Not that she liked her brother's little entourage any better than her boyfriend did, hence Genesis's burn.