Switching Sides

Chapter 2

"Getting to Know Each Other"

Cid Aulstyne sat on a high leather chair in his room that overlooks the city he rules. He brings his glass of wine near his nose, drinking in its scent before taking small sips. Cid smiled; it was a fine wine after all.

He sat there for a few moments, enjoying the silence that surrounds him in this ungodly hour of the night and his fine wine.

However, as quickly as his smile came, it vanished. He has still not received a phone call from his spy at Suzaku Peristylium for two weeks now.

Suddenly, his telephone rang. Cid almost jumped at the sound that was both new and loud in the silence but instead, he found himself smiling.

It could only be that one person, the one who he has been waiting for two weeks that could be calling him.

Pulling himself to stand up, he picked up the receiver.

"Hello," he said authoritatively.

"Good evening, sir," the young lady commenced on the other side, "Terribly sorry for reporting in late," She paused as if to ask permission to continue.

"Hm? Yes, go on." Cid replied.

"I've met the elite class, sir. Class Zero."

"Hm?" said Cid, urging her to continue.

"There will be fourteen of them." She said.

"That includes you?" Cid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, sir."

"How do they look?"

"Well, first there's Ace, a young boy with a light blond hair and blue eyes; then Deuce, a young woman with a dark colored hair. Trey, a blond youth that wears a leather gloves. The gloves seem to be for archery, though. Cater, a flared red-head. Next is Cinque, a long braided orange haired girl. Sice, a white haired woman whose hair's tied into a ponytail. Seven, a short silver haired woman. Eight, a boy with brown hair with metal knuckles. It seems to me that he uses his hands in combat. Nine, a scarred man with spiky blond hair. Then, Jack, a coiffed blond boy. Queen, the Class President. She wears glasses too. King, a man with a blond mullet hair. Lastly, the childhood friends: Rem and Machina. Both have dark hair color. Machina is very protective of Rem as it appears."

Cid listened to the long report of his spy, committing to memory everything she had said. She has done well and nods in understanding at her description of herself. Everything needs to be in riddles if they want this operation to be a success. No one knows who could be listening to her as she converse with him. The connection is too open.

"They seemed to be assigned with a class number too, sir."

This information particularly caught Cid's interest. His eyes narrowed as he asked his spy a question. "What do you exactlymean?"

"For instance, Ace is the class number one. Deuce, number two and so on and so forth. The tenth number student though, is never present."

"Hm. Does this indicate their strength in battle?"

"Not necessarily, I think." The spy replied, too unsure.

"Do you also know what weapons they wield?" Cid asked once more.

"Not yet, sir. But apparently, Eight is a martial artist and Trey is an archer, observing from the equipment they use every day."

"Yes, yes, the metal on his knuckles and the leather gloves." He agreed and nodded even though the person he is talking to cannot see the action. He is satisfied with this information for now.

"Hm," He let out a sound as he discerned his next command, "Make sure you always stay subtle. You are to stay there and gather as much information about this Class Zero. Know how they fight and earn their trust for you to obtain the information needed. Do I make myself clear?" Cid ordered her like how a commander of an army would.

"Yes, sir." The woman replied.

"Next time, I want information on their weapons." He added at the last minute before the call would disconnect.

"And please, keep safe." Worry was clear in his voice as his father side kicked in. It is his beautiful adopted daughter he sent to this mission after all.

"Yes… sir." And then the line was cut. Cid placed the receiver back to its cradle.

"Excellent," his plans are going well. Cid looked out the horizon, hoping to have the information he wants and needed soon.

Ace walked in the cafeteria and ordered his lunch. He looked around and he saw that Deuce was nowhere to be found.

Maybe she's eating lunch somewhere else.

Ace sat on a table with Eight, Nine, Jack and Machina. He observed some of his classmates around him. Sice and Seven were sitting side by side again. Sice was obviously relieved to have gotten away from Trey's big mouth.

Cater, Cinque and Rem were together as they ate. Cater and Cinque were either teasing or asking Rem about her ambiguous relationship with Machina which was probably both as Rem was turning red like a tomato.

King sat alone, observing his classmates as well. Queen sat with Trey, discussing about other plans for the class. Eight, Nine and Jack, meanwhile, were talking about girls again.

"Damn, I still can't get over about how hot Deuce is." Jack said in a perverted tone. When Ace heard that, his blood boiled. Thankfully, he was reading a small book he brought.

"Yeah, oh god, did you guys see her eyes? I have never seen eyes that beautiful." Eight added dreamily. Ace was then clenching his fist under the table.

"What do you think about her, Machina?" Jack asked the raven-haired boy beside Ace, but Machina paid him no attention. He was staring at the lilac haired girl a few tables away from them.

Nine followed his gaze and smiled mischievously. "Oi, Machina!"

The boys noticed Cater nudging Rem and nodding towards Machina's direction. Rem looked at him and both of them immediately looked away, faces burning red. Class Number Eight, Nine and Eleven patted Machina on the back in order to 'calm' him.

"Come on, Machina, admit it. You have the hots for her." Eight said teasingly.

"We're just friends." Machina denied as he drank his soda, his face still bright red.

"Yeah, sure, friends." Jack countered with a mischievous smile.

"Okay, Machina, fine. You won't make a move on her, I will. I mean Rem is just so hot." Nine said.

"Don't you dare, Nine," Machina growled at the Class flirt. "Or I will kill you." With that, they teased Machina at his protectiveness of Rem.

"So, you do have the hots for her," exclaimed Jack in admiration as he slammed his fists on the table. Machina was riled up with their insistence.

"Okay, fine, I love her." Machina said in defeat. His head hung in the air. "But don't tell me that you don't have the hots for Seven!" retorted Machina.

Jack gasped as his deepest secret was revealed and looked like a deer caught in headlights. Nine and Eight rolled in laughter at Jack and teased him.

"So that's why he always eyes her creepily!" Nine triumphantly declared. "Especially her skirts!"

Ace was just quietly eating his lunch as he listened to the three boys squabbling about each other's love lives. Fortunately, they left Deuce out of the conversation.

"Well, fine, I have a crush on her." Jack admitted in defeat. "But Eight likes Cater!" He blurted out, smiling wide like an idiot. Eight almost fell off his seat in surprise and the other three boys, except Ace, laughed at Eight's reaction.

"What the hell, man? That was supposed to be our secret!" Eight yelled at the katana wielder.

"Sorry, dude." Jack uttered in a false apologetic voice. Nine laughed harder and wiped the mirth forming around his eyes. Machina did the same thing too. Eight looked at Jack in annoyance.

"Oh, so you think this is funny eh, Nine? Don't tell me that you don't have the hots for Queen." Eight argued; Jack's and Machina's eyes widened in surprise. Nine falling for Queen? That's a damn miracle.

"That's where you got it wrong, Eight," Nine replied as if it was common knowledge. "I would never fall for that stick-up-the-ass Class Prez."

"Yeah, right. I can see it sometimes, Nine. Whenever we're in class, you're always staring at her. You could burn a hole in her head if that was possible. I mean you're doing goo goo eyes at her." Eight pointed out.

"No, I do not!" Nine countered, shaking his head in disagreement.

"Oh, really? Then, explain why you like annoying her. You always like to push her buttons until she'll chase you around the academy trying to stab you." Jack said evenly. Nine's eyes widened as if he suddenly realized something.

"See, no explanation there." Jack emphasized.

"Whatever." Nine rolled his eyes, he then though of changing the subject. "So, Machina, are you planning to ask Rem out anytime soon?"

"He already did." Ace stated casually and continued to drink his soda as if the boys around him weren't there at all.

Machina choked on his lunch as the three boys sat there, surprised. When Machina finally managed to swallow his food, he looked at Ace with a death glare. But Ace doesn't seem to notice because his attention was on his book. Hell, if looks could kill, Ace would already be ashes by now.

"Seriously, Machina? You asked her out?" Jack asked, unable to believe what he just heard.

"Yes. Now, shut up." Machina ordered them. The guys, namely Jack Eight and Nine, whooped until Machina finally snapped.

"Oh yeah, you think that'sfunny? What about Ace?" Machina said while pointing his finger at the blond boy. "He asked Deuce out on a date and she friend zoned him." Jack, Eight and Nine pounded on their table and laughed so damn hard everybody in the cafeteria stared at them.

"Oh yeah." The raven-haired boy thought.

Ace looked up from his book, surprised and angered that Machina told them that.

"Why would you tell them that?" Ace asked crossly.

"You tell my secret, I tell yours." Machina replied indifferently as he resumed eating.

"Don't worry, Ace, there are still lots of fishes in the sea." Jack said in between laughs.

"Well, she didn't exactly shoot me down. I asked her out for a walk, she asked if it's a date or not and when I said no, she agreed." Ace explained in one breath.

That stopped Jack, Eight, and Nine as they looked at him with faces that clearly said 'Are you a freaking idiot?'

"What now?" Ace asked, irritated.

"Are you insane?" Jack asked and the Class Ace gave him a "What the hell?" kind of look.

"Why would you say that it's not a date?" The Idiot of Class Zero followed.

"Well, I didn't want to scare her away!" Ace argued back.

"Still, you should've said that it was!" Eight replied. Ace rolled his eyes at them and checked his watch. There's only an hour of break time left and he still has to get to the courtyard.

"Whatever. I got to run, she's probably waiting for me" Ace said as he gathered his things and ran out the door faster than the Flash.

Deuce sat by the fountain in the courtyard, waiting for Ace. Checking her watch, she noticed there was still an hour of break left. Suddenly, she heard someone calling for her. She looked up and saw Ace running towards her.

"Hi." He greeted her as he stopped, panting.

"Hey." She said while smiling.

"Uh, you ready to go?" Ace asked her.

"Yeah," replied Deuce as she stood. The couple then walked side by side.

Ace took her to various parts of the school such as the chocobo ranches, the basketball court, the headmaster's office, and the football fields. It was a sort of a mini tour since Deuce never got to go everywhere ever since she arrived. Finally, they got to the last part of their walk.

"And this is the lacrosse fields." Ace pointed out. The lacrosse field was almost the size of the football field with two nets on each side and the equipment were placed on racks so that the students could play during their free time.

"Lacrosse, huh?" Deuce said, feeling a sense of nostalgia when she touched one of the lacrosse sticks. Her father used to teach her how to play lacrosse every day until she got better playing it.

"Um, Deuce," Ace began. Deuce looked at him and she tilted her head again in curiosity.

"What is it, Ace?" She asked straightening her head once more.

"Uh, about when you asked me if this was a date, I was…uh…planning it to be that way, but I sensed that you didn't want it to be that way so, I said that this wasn't." Ace said while blushing like crazy.

"Oh, uh, why would you want to ask me out on a date?" She asked curiously.

"Trust me, it's not like that. I…uh…just wanted to get to know you?" Ace replied with a nervous smile.

"Oh, um, what did you want to know about me?" She asked as she sat down on one of the benches.

"Just what you want to say about yourself," He answered.

"Um…well, I was born in Concordia on February 8, 826 and when I was about 6, my parents died in an accident. They died in a house fire." Deuce looked at the horizon, tears were almost forming. She was biting her lip as she recalled the events it seems. Ace regretted for having even suggesting the idea.

"I was the only survivor," Deuce continued, "A family friend took me in because my parents' last will and testament. It said that I would be left in his custody should they die."

"My guardian loved me like his own daughter and we lived in Concordia for the past 10 years."

Smile now forming on her sweet lips as she probably recalled happy moments.

"He sent me to the Concordian Peristylium when I was 8. He visits me at times to see how I was doing and recently, he agreed for me to be sent here. Hm, I guess that's all I can say about me." Deuce finished explaining and not even minding that Ace was holding on to her hands as she told her sad story.

"Thanks for… sharing that." Ace, who was beside her, felt a connection with the young girl. Silence surrounded them for a while. "I want to tell you something about myself as well," said Ace. Deuce looked up to him in curiosity.

"I was born here in July 10, 825," he started off. "And when I was 8, my parents were murdered in front of me." As he explained everything to her, the memories of that day came to his mind once again.

AN: Okay, and that is chapter 2! Again, posting for my friend, Muddy Writer. I'm sure you guys can put 2 and 2 for the first part of this chapter. See ya!