Chapter One

I approached the Shinra building with slight butterflies in my stomach. Sure, I'd been prepping for a month, but I suddenly wasn't sure if one month was enough.

"Second thoughts?" Hayden asked from next to me as I stopped.

"No." I forced a smile. "Just a bit nervous is all."

Hayden nodded, understanding. "Trust me—you're good."

I shot him a grateful look before we continued forward.

/

"Fill out these forms and proceed into the next room," a bored-looking secretary announced, waving a hand at the stack on her desk. The press of Shinra hopefuls each eventually got a form and a pen before finding a spot in the room to fill them out.

I looked at the questions and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Name:

Date of Birth:

Hometown:

Allergies:

Medical Conditions:

Applying for (Circle One): SOLDIER Turks Security Dept.

Hair Color:

Eye Color:

Ever taken Steroids/Performance Enhancers? Yes No

Is a Mako Reactor in Your Hometown? Yes No Being Built

There seemed to be no order to the questions.

I propped my chin in my right hand and started filling out the form. Dustin Hynek...9-18-1986...Mideel...None known...None known... I circled "SOLDIER". ...Dark Brown...Brown...No...No.

Satisfied with my form, I brought it up to the secretary. "Where do we put them when we're done?"

"Keep them and hand them to whoever's in charge in the next room," she instructed me and quickly snatched up the phone that had started to ring. "Hello, you have reached the Shinra Electric Power Company Headquarters. How may I help you?...I don't know, could I transfer your call to someone who should? All right." She hit a couple of buttons. "Gretch, take line 3, all right?" She hung up the receiver and noticed that I was still standing there. "Yes? What is it?"

I started. "Oh, nothing, I was just waiting for my friend to get done." I waved a hand in Hayden's direction. "That's okay, right?"

She nodded, a small smile growing on her face. "Yeah." I heard footsteps and turned to see Hayden walk up to the desk. She leaned forward and glanced at our forms. "Good luck making SOLDIER, you two." She smiled at us and sat back down in her chair before the phone rang again. She whipped back around and quickly pulled the phone to her ear. "Hello, you have reached the Shinra Electric Power Company Headquarters. How may I help you?"

Hayden and I quietly slipped out so as to not disturb her.

/

"All right!" the man who must have been in charge yelled over our heads. "Those dreaming to join SOLDIER join the line on the right! Those wanting to make the Turks go to the middle! Those just joining the Security Department line up on the left!"

Hayden and I joined the line on the right side of the room that was probably two-thirds of the total teens assembled there. The line slowly inched forward until I reached the desk.

"Form?"

I handed the secretary my form, and she quickly typed in the information before handing me a sheet. "Barracks 5, row 18, bunk 7B, footlocker combination 31-13-29. A standard uniform's inside—it should fit you," she commented, quickly looking at my size and build before flashing me a smile. "You can go ahead. Good luck."

"Thanks." I started to leave but hesitated. "Um…you don't think you could put my friend in the same barracks as me, could you?"

"Who's your friend?" she asked, brow furrowing.

Hayden stepped forward and held out his sheet. "Please?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Why not." She tapped his information into the system and handed him another sheet. "Same thing but bunk 8B and footlocker combination 16-35-5 instead." She leaned forward. "Now don't tell anyone I did that, okay?" We nodded vigorously, and she smiled, returning to her former position. "Go ahead."

We left the room with a "Thank you so much!" and exited onto the rest of the floor.

There was a pause as we looked at the stairs and elevators in front of us.

"What floor are the barracks on?" Hayden finally asked.

/

We discovered the floor the barracks were on and nearly literally bumped into another teen on his way out of the same barracks we were put in.

"Whoa! Sorry about that," he apologized. Seeing the papers in our hands, he asked, "What barracks are you in?"

"5, row 18," I answered after glancing at my sheet. "Is this it?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He grinned. "So you're joining my barracks." He held out a hand. "Jeremy Mathers. Bunk 6A."

"Hayden Tamerlane. I'm in bunk 8B."

"Dustin Hynek, bunk 7B."

We shook hands more or less all around, and Jeremy nodded to us. "Nice to meet you. Make yourselves comfortable, try to avoid seeing the Corporal alone if you can, and see you later." He flashed a smile before walking off in the other direction than we had come from.

My brow furrowed as I thought. "'Try to avoid seeing the Corporal alone'?"

Hayden shrugged. "Let's just go to our bunks and get settled in."

I nodded and followed him through the door into Row 18, keeping a vigilant eye out for a painted "7B" on one of the bunks. I spotted it and discovered that it was the bottom bunk on the right side, third bed from the back.

I also then spotted the blonde sitting on the next bunk down, and before I could stop it I thought Chocobo.

His hair looked almost exactly like a chocobo. I could not believe that anyone would try to make their hair look like that, and yet was having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that his hair was so spiky.

Apparently feeling my gaze, he glanced up and, noticing that I was staring, narrowed his eyes. I quickly looked away but could feel him drilling holes into the side of my head as I knelt down and messed with the combination lock on my footlocker.

31-13-29... I pulled down and the lock opened, so I wriggled it off and lifted the lid. Feeling self-conscious, I glanced over at the blonde who had seemed to return to his notebook before lifting out the uniform.

I then realized a very major problem.

I could not change into the uniform in the barracks.

/

I'd had all this figured out—get up extra early to get dressed before everyone else, sneak in a bit later or earlier to change out of the uniform, shower only when I was sure no one was going to be coming in (aka early in the morning)….

But I hadn't counted on this.

If I changed, it was likely that someone (most likely the blonde) would notice that I was not in fact a male, and I would then get kicked out without being in Shinra for hardly an hour.

That would definitely not work well with trying to become a SOLDIER to break stereotypes for females.

So, I did the only thing I could think of.

I dropped my bag in my footlocker, closed the lock, and left to change into my uniform elsewhere.

Bum bum bum! Hope you enjoyed the chapters! Next update will be later this week or next week - I'm not sure yet how I'm going to do this. Keep an eye open and I'll try not to keep you readers waiting too long!

- Kat