Disclaimer: I do not own crisis core or final fantasy. They belong to square enix. All I own is my OC Jade Fair.
Hopefully you guys like this chappy :P and remember the three R's
Read, Rate and Review ^.^
Another day, another world of pain. It was worse today since Jade's wound didn't heal yet. The vertical slice down her arm courtesy of Sephiroth has yet to disappear.
Sighing, Jade re-bandaged her arm. The bandages that she wore overnight had some blood on them so it was time to change them. She threw the old bandages away and applied new ones before putting on her infantrymen uniform.
Walking out of her room, she noticed Zack packing up the cards from yesterday. "Hey Zack, what did you and Kunsel talk about after I went to bed?"
He looked up from counting the cards and sighed. "Well… he kinda knows that you're a girl now but, he promised not to tell anyone." Zack assured her as he put the cards back into the package. "We can trust him besides… who else can play Go-Fish for five hours straight with me and not loose their mind?" He grinned cheekily.
Chuckling, Jade thought about that for a while. The only person besides Kunsel was herself. "Well, I played Go-Fish, Slap Jacks, Crazy Eights, War and a bunch of other games with you and I didn't loose my mind."
Zack stuck his tongue out at her in a playful manner. "No fair, family doesn't count."
"Oh shut up." Jade tauntingly replied as she threw his helmet to him. "Now, we've got to hurry, there are only 15 more minutes before training starts."
Putting on her helmet and fastening one of the many latches it had, Jade quickly stuffed her feet into a pair of combat boots before telling Zack to hurry his lazy butt up.
After her brother finished whatever he was doing, the siblings raced down to the training room, pushing and shoving one another to make it there first.
"Move!"
"No you move!"
This little pushing and shoving match ended when they burst through the training room doors late. Multiple eyes stared at them from under the helmets of the infantrymen but the stare that was most noticeable was from the man at the front of the training room; 1st Class SOLDIER, Angeal Hewley.
"State your names." The first commanded, not amused. The siblings were in a lot of trouble.
Gulping, Zack said his name first "Zack Fair" before elbowing his sister in the ribs, silently telling her to do the same. "Jade Fair, sir!" She saluted.
Angeal had a looked of recognition on his face. "Siblings?" He inquired. The last name 'Fair' was quite common around Midgar. He knew it wasn't polite to pry about this information but he was merely curious. He had been an only child growing up and had always wanted a sibling.
"Yes sir!" The siblings said in unison before the first directed them to the end of the line. Over half the infantrymen left because they couldn't take general Sephiroth's training anymore.
Jade craned her head around to see the infantrymen that lasted after Sephiroth's training. Only Kunsel and Zack stood out to her since they were the only ones, besides the 1st class that she met. Looking at Kunsel, she gave him thumbs up before turning her attention back to the first.
"One word of advice; no, an order," Angeal lifted the giant, heavy sword off his back and put it against his forehead. "Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero you need to have dreams…and honour."
Those words would remain in Jade's mind for as long as she lived.
After Angeal put his sword back, a grin spread from his face. "I'm sure Sephiroth worked you to the bone yesterday?"
"Sir! Yes sir!" Came the chorused reply. Jade unconsciously rubbed her arm where Masamune sliced open her flesh.
"Well then…" He trailed off before pressing a switch making a wall of the training room flip, exposing the training weaponry. It was mostly consisted of swords but there were guns, gunblades, rifles, materia, throwing knives and more. "Choose a weapon and a partner and we shall get started.
Jade quickly walked to Kunsel's side, not wanting to be another first's sparring partner. She was still sore from the sparring session with Sephiroth yesterday. Since there were an odd number of people, someone would have to spar with the first. Looking around, she saw everyone else had partnered up except… Zack. Oh revenge was sweet. She couldn't wait until Zack got a taste of what it was like to get smashed down by a first class.
Smiling, she dragged Kunsel to the weapons wall. There were so many that it was incredibly hard to choose. At long last Jade chose a package of throwing knives while Kunsel chose a training sword. They walked back to their part of the training room and waited until Angeal gave the signal.
"Begin!"
And with that, all chaos broke loose. Knives were thrown everywhere and embedded into the walls, floors and some of the cadets. Swords clashed against one another, letting a shower of sparks fly. Bullets pierced through the air, whistling as they went by. Luckily, no one got hit with those. If they did, they would probably be sent to the infirmary or die.
Jade focused her attention on Kunsel. She readied her throwing knives in each hand. Though she had never used them in her life, she'd watched tons of people throw them. It was stand, aim and then with the flick of the wrist; throw.
Turns out… it wasn't that easy. The minute the knives left Jade's hand, they flew everywhere, embedding themselves in walls, floors and the vest of one unlucky cadet. Giggling in embarrassment, she shouted a sorry to the poor cadet before looking back at Kunsel. "Let me just get another weapon." She smiled awkwardly and ran to the weapons wall, grabbing the closet thing she could find before running back to him.
The weapon she chose was a training sword, the same as Kunsel. "Alright, now we're even." She smirked and got into the proper stance.
"Bring it; I know how to use a sword." Kunsel smiled and charged at her. He swung the sword at her midsection, intending to cut her in half.
Anticipating the move, Jade quickly jumped back a few steps so that the sword could only graze the training uniform.
Kunsel just smirked and motioned for her to come to him. They both had their strong and weak points. Jade's small frame lets her move around quite fast and combined with her excellent reflexes, almost nothing could hit her. Kunsel was strong so if he ever caught her with his sword, he could easily push her down. This was a pretty fair fight but then again, who said fighting had to be fair?
Jade was confused for a second but ran at him, holding her sword but not yet swinging. She wanted to wait for the correct moment. Suddenly, she was flying back and out of breath. Kunsel had apparently kicked her in the ribs when she got close.
Clutching her side, she growled. It was a low and deep growl, like the sound of an angry lioness. "You're gunna pay for that." She hissed out and ran at him again, bringing down her blade. Kunsel deflected it with his and metal sparks appeared. Before Kunsel could recover from it, Jade swiftly kicked him in the crotch, officially ending the match.
As Kunsel writhed in pain on the floor, he gasped out, "That's playing dirty!" Jade just shrugged and offered him a hand. "Meh, I don't like playing by the rules now up."
Pulling Kunsel to his feet, she noticed that most of the infantrymen's heads were looking at the fight between her brother and the first. Their fight looked mesmerizing. Every twist, block and turn looked rehearsed like that of a good play. Jade did not know how good her brother was. Sure they spared a few times but it felt like Zack was holding back but now, his true talent was revealed. Though there were a few hits on him, he was still fighting. It had already gone on for many minutes now.
"I did not think your brother could be that…good." Kunsel said in shock beside her. She just nodded in response and continued to watch the fight that is until the buzzer sounded. It alerted them that training was over.
Zack sighed in relief as the buzzer rang. He was dead tired and fell on his butt, lying on the cool floor of the training room. Angeal wiped a drop of sweat from his brow before putting his sword back on his back and extending a hand to Zack.
Jade watched the exchange silently and waited until the two males were finished talking. As Angeal told the rest of the cadets that today's training was over, Zack bounded over to Jade and Kunsel. "Did you see me? I was all…" After that sentence, he just made up a few sounds of describe how awesome the match was.
When Angeal dismissed the group, Zack continued to ramble on about how awesome the match was. It was fun listening to it at first but after 20 minutes of rambling on about the same thing, it was bloody torture.
"Did I tell you about?"
"Yes!"
"How about?"
"Yes!"
"Or maybe the?"
"YES! The answer is always going to be yes! You've rambled on for a good twenty or so minutes about how cool the fight was!" Jade shouted as she quickly lost her temper.
Zack was hurt so what better way to retaliate then with his infamous puppy dog eyes?
"No, I'm not falling for that again!" Jade said stubbornly and closed her eyes. She was always a sucker for the eyes, especially Zack's. They were just the cutest, most adorable thing any human will ever see.
"But Jaaaaade!" Zack whined. "Forgive me?" Jade slowly opened one of her eyes; big mistake. As if his eyes couldn't get any wider or cuter, they did. She grumbled under her breath about one day being immune to those eyes. With a deep sigh, she turned to him. "Fine, you're forgiven."
"Yay!" Zack yelled quite happily and bear hugged his sister. "Choking, choking, need air!" She managed to get out before Zack released her. "Heh, sorry."
"It's alright." She assured before something red caught her eye; her arm. The cut from Masamune still wasn't fully healed and the training combined with Zack's bear hug must have re-opened it. "Urg, well I have to get this fixed." She gestured to her arm. The blood was seeping through the bandages.
A clock was mounted in the hallway, reading 5: 27 PM. It was almost time for dinner. "Tell you what, after I get this re bandaged, meet you at the cafeteria so we can get some food."
Zack agreed to this before running down the hallway shouting back, "See you at dinner!" Where he was going; probably to make some friends, cause some havoc, the usual. Jade just shook her head lightly, wondering were he got all his energy from before heading down the hallway to re-bandage her wound.
"What. The. Hell?"
There was some weird greenish brown mushy stuff on the three friend's plates. Being the brave one Jade poked it with her fork. The thing sprung back after the fork was lifted. "Not to freak anyone out but I think this 'Thing' just moved… by itself." She put emphasis on thing. What kind of food moves by itself?
Zack looked sick to his stomach while Kunsel turned a funny shade of green. Jade had to keep herself from throwing up once she saw what looked like a long strand of hair in her food. She looked around and saw the other infantrymen eating the thing. "I think I'm gunna be sick." She grumbled and slapped a hand over her mouth when she felt bile rise up in her throat. Making a rumbling sound at the back of her throat, Jade quickly ran outside the cafeteria and threw up in a nearby garbage can.
Zack and Kunsel came out running after her. They too were holding their mouths, looking for a garbage can. In the end, all three of them were leaning over the waste basket as if it were salvation.
Jade wiped her lips on the sleeve of her uniform. She did not care if she had vomit on the uniform, all she wanted was to brush her teeth and get some real food. "I am never going into that cafeteria again!" She yelled loud enough for the people in Wutai to hear and then began pacing around. "There has to be some sort of decent food around here." Then, Jade remembered about a little fast food joint they passed as Zack and she came into the Shinra building.
"Zack, remember the fast food place we passed just a block or two from here?" Jade looked over to see her brother empty the last of his stomach contents. The smell alone was enough to make someone hurl.
"Yeah…" Zack answered weakly as the rest of his stomach was emptied out.
"Why don't we go there? It'll be a chance for the three of us to get some decent food."
Kunsel and Zack looked at each other and nodded. "Alright." They answered in unison. "But after we wash out our mouths."
Jade chuckled at their last remark and nodded. "Good plan. Kunsel, you can come to mine and Zack's apartment and since you two are still throwing up, I guess I get the bathroom first." Zack's eyes widened as she laughed triumphantly before sprinting down the hallway to their apartment.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Jade could hear Zack's scream echoing through the hallway. The 'O' sound seemed to never end. Chuckling to herself, she quickly unlocked the door to the apartment before going into the bath room to get her teeth brushed and some mouthwash.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, her teeth were perfectly cleaned and she couldn't smell any acidy smell. When she looked at the digital clock, she quickly changed out of her Shinra uniform and into some baggy jeans and a large T-shirt.
'Odd, they should have been here by now.' Jade thought but then again, she was always the washroom hog at home. 'Zack probably went with Kunsel.' Shrugging, Jade quickly locked the apartment door before running to the first floor. Sure enough, Zack and Kunsel were waiting there, talking about training. "Alright! Lets get some actual food!" Jade chirped happily as she dragged both of them to the fast food place.
Turns out it was a burger joint and a tasty looking one at that. "Um Jade… your drooling." Kunsel quickly pointed out. She quickly snapped out of the heavenly food trance and wiped the drool away.
"Come on! Lets go!"
After eating three burgers, three drinks, a massive amount of fries, twenty four pieces of deep fried chicken, the three friends were finally full. After paying the bill, they walked out of the burger joint, laughing and burping to their heart's content. "Ah, that was the best meal in ages!" Jade burped as the soft drink bubbles came out of her mouth in a loud BUUURRRRP.
"Ditto that." Kunsel pumped his fist in the air happily as he let out a burp as well. A rather loud one too.
Zack smirked and chugged down his soft drink. He was going to win the best burping competition. After a few seconds, his stomach started rumbling. Jade and Kunsel both looked his way, eyes wide.
"Zack, you did not just chug down the rest of your drink?" Kunsel asked with a fearful look in his eyes. All Zack did was nod as a reply. The bubbles were coming up into his throat for a loud burp. Jade and Kunsel waited in fear and anticipation for the burp to happen, then suddenly
"BUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!"
A loud and thunderous burp echoed through the block. Some of the citizens looked at the trio with distaste shown on their faces. Other younger folk cheered Zack on for burping so loud.
Kunsel and Jade burst out into laughter and clapped Zack on his back. "Good job buddy/bro."
It was already quite dark outside and Jade felt herself beginning to grow tired. "Hey guys, I'm a bit tired right now. I think I'm going to sleep, night." She hugged her brother goodnight and hugged Kunsel who was a bit hesitant at first, goodnight as well.
Yawning, she dragged her half asleep body through the hallways only to bump into someone. A rather tall someone with ankle length silver hair and a giant sword at his side.
"General Sephiroth!" She saluted and stood up straight, all sleepiness from her body erased. Sephiroth just looked at her with his cat like eyes. "At ease."
Jade relaxed a bit but still kept her composer. She had just bumped into Sephiroth; Zack would be so thrilled when he hears this.
"You're the one that Masamune cut." He stated as his eyes traveled to her bandaged arm. Jade nodded and looked at her arm, not wanting to meet his eyes. It was like they were staring into your soul.
"I am sorry." Jade looked up at him, meeting his eyes. This was the second time he apologized. It made him seem more… human. Much unlike how the they put him to be, the silver demon of Wutai, destroying countless of countries. They were most likely true but this was a side that only twice in her life had she seen.
"It's alright, after all it was just an accident." She said happily. "It should heal within a week or two."
Sephiroth was taken aback by her comment. People besides Angeal and Genesis never strike up a conversation with him by their free will. Maybe he could have another friend. "Jade Fair correct?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Um yes, I was the one that did 150 more push ups than the rest." She chuckled a bit. Push ups were fun from time to time but after that workout, she never wanted to do another push up for as long as she lived.
Sephiroth just nodded and they stood in akward silence. He really needed to improve on his social skills. In the end, Jade broke the silence with a yawn. She was getting incredibly tired by the minute. "Sephiroth, it was really nice to meet you. Maybe we could talk again?" She asked and extended her hand out for him to shake.
Sephiroth nodded and grasped her hand in his, shaking it. "Until we meet again Jade." And he walked down the hallway, leaving Jade alone with her thoughts. 'I gotta tell Zack!' She raced to her shared apartment but didn't find Zack. He was probably still hanging out with Kunsel.
Shrugging, she took a shower. After a long day of training, she just wanted to go to sleep. Curling up in her bed, she turned off the lamp by her nightstand and wrapped herself in the blankets. Jade was snugger than a bug snuggled in a rug. With pleasant thoughts in mind, the tired girl soon fell asleep, dreaming of the adventures tomorrow.
Well, that was chapter 3. Little hints are being dropped off. Hopefully you can pick up on them :) Have a great day and until next time my awesome readers. Cheers ^.^
Storm Caleum
