Daughter of the Crossfire- Chapter 2
A/N: *Feels dejected* Well, I posted this and What a Mess! At about the same time, yet the latter of the two gets a whole bunch of attention, this gets none. I think it's cuz the description said Serafina before saying Femme! Seph. Sad day, people thought that I had an original character that takes the path almost every single other OC takes. No, I went down a road that most people have never even considered. XD
Thank you, Ethereal, for being the first person to comment on this story. Yes, you have it straight now, Sephiroth was born a girl, and Hojo refused to give up the project, despite the female subject. And while I feel horrible that people thought it was another OC X cannon character, I loved your OC. You hear that readers! Go check out her story called 'Dreamcatcher', it's by A Glimpse of Ethereal Blue, and while it has an OC, it has a very unusual storyline. VERY UNUSUAL.
And, my apparent third-in-command, GNXmike, and yes, we need a community. YAY for GENDER BENDING! ^_^ Also, as promised, a chapter that exceeds the normal length.
Also, thanks me malum for reviewing! Thanks for pointing out the odd error; I have a way of screwing up and not noticing!
And thank you, those who put me in their alerts and favorites, despite the possibility of OC. I will not let you down. And, hey, it's nice to drop off reviews as well!
LOL, I just noticed it just beat 200 hits. It looks so sad next to my other stories. (1,000 hit's plus)
And now…. I, Vendetta
KAM: And KAM,
Vendetta: …Present to you…. Chapter 2!
Gawd, I am such a chicken sometimes! I mean, a girl's department store shouldn't scare me so much! Okay, Serafina. You can do this. Think SOLDIER third class- SOLDIER third class. Okay….. That did little to help me or my nerves. But then again, I was lost. That was the downside to being a girl raised as a boy. I mean, I only owned one bra, and my other goddamn undergarments were actually boxers! Forget makeup, I need clothes! Not to mention the fact my only bra was actually back at the labs…..
I am so lost….
"Need some help dearie?" I practically jumped straight out of my skin when I heard an elder woman's voice appear out of nowhere.
All right, I admit it. She was really behind me the entire time, and I am shamefaced to say that she caught me completely off my guard. Hot damn, that's near impossible.
Anyways, I flipped out when I heard the voice, right? But when I calmed myself down from the potential heart attack, I looked closer, and saw a woman, perhaps in her 30's? And beside her was a girl about 8 years old. They were both staring.
Oh wait, let me classify that, for those who haven't quite grasped the complete awkwardness of my current situation.
The pair of girls were staring at me. And that, my friends, is simply unacceptable. So I quickly tried to salvage my pride, or at least what remained of it. "No, Ma'am, I do not need help."
Holy shit.
Was that my voice? I was unusually accustomed to my deep male voice, which reminded me of a cello, long and elegant, bow stroke after bow stroke producing a deep timbre that could make grown men cry for the beauty of it all.
My actual voice still had a musical quality to it, but it was on the other side of the string family. It reminds me of a violin, having a wide variety to the octaves available, and unlike the cello, it could change from a very delightful tune, to a sad, ominous one, in little more than a shift in a finger. It was also notoriously difficult to master, and where my voice was normally almost purring in its' easy confidence, in this voice, I somehow managed to come off weaker than I had meant it to be.
In other words, I sounded pathetic.
I hate sounding/being pathetic.
"Really, I am, uh, fine?" And that! Goddammit! That came off as a question? Inexcusable!
"Okay then…" She took the child's, her daughter, I mean, hand and began to walk off into the shop.
I had a sudden urge to stop her, and I could not stop myself before I cried out. "Wait!" Ah! My cold stone self-control failed me! The end of the world is here! And then she turned back around to face me, confusion was present on her face, as well as a little bit of bemusement, and I had to think up something fast. "Um…." My voice failed me, and that is not the only thing going off the clock…..
I couldn't think of anything! Why must you fail me now, intelligence! I did manage to resist the overly strong urge to bang my head against a wall, in order to literally smack some sense into my impulsive teenage skull. Oh, Hojo would have a field day if he knew! And by field day I meant that it involved the extensive torture and study of my body and its hormones, so that he might be able to suppress them! I actually kinda like my emotions, ya know, so I really don't want that to happen…..
Yet, for some unidentifiable reason, the woman chuckled, as if she could hear my internal resentment. "Ah, I see. Well, it's alright, sweetheart, it's Aerith's first time here as well." As my eyes landed on the young girl, Aerith, and her eyes brightened as she flashed a brilliant smile toward me. "I am Elmyra, so what is your name, Sweetie?"
I was confused for a second or two, as I did not know whether or not to say my actual name, or the one everyone knew me as. I made my decision, and answered with a very tentative smile. "I'm…. Serafina." You know? It actually felt kinda nice not to lie about who I was.
So, this girl was the calamities child? Somehow I wanted to doubt that this innocent teenager was actually the planet's worst nightmare. But what Minerva told me probably was the truth. The silver hair and cat-like eyes proved her heritage.
She was her Mother's daughter, and that meant she would have to be eliminated.
My child, she is simply another like yourself, a Daughter that was caught in a battle above the two of you. She is innocent of Jenova's crimes, and she resents the life she was forced into. Help her, and we might prevent her fall, or at least soften the blow. Minerva's voice rang out in my head, and I forced a smile that only I knew as fake.
Daughter, she is not familiar in human nature. She was raised in a way very different to your upbringing. Do not do things so under-handedly. The Calamities chosen Daughter is trying to trust someone other than herself. She is delicate, more so than she will admit, and you must not crush her very fragile trust that she is reaching out for you to take.
I sighed inwardly as I realized that the Goddess knew what she spoke of.
My smile became genuine as she told us her name.
"I'm…. Serafina."
The little girl that was called Aerith reached over and grabbed my hand from where it had been clutching my shirt. I just stared at the girl with wide eyes while she proceeded to drag me into the accursed department store.
"Well, Sera." The little girl looked up at me with bright eyes, trying to calm my nerves before she continued the walking/dragging. "You have a very pretty name. So, it's your first time here as well?"
I only had to look away from her gaze and dip my head in shame. "Yeah, it kind of is…." My voice trailed off. She looked a little sad for a moment, before she brightened again.
"Well, that's okay! I mean, I haven't been here before either. But I don't want Elmyra to pick out my clothes!" While I was a little curious to know why she did not call Elmyra her mother, I found her antics a bit cute. Oh, who was I kidding, the girl was adorable. Not that you heard it from me, of course.
I stared blankly at what was apparently called 'lingerie' with only the slightest hint of confusion showing in my facial expression, but somehow Elmyra was able to sense my discomfort and confusion. "Serafina…. Haven't you seen a pair of underwear before?" I shook my head somewhat absently; still giving the strange clothes most of my attention. "What kind of parents do you live with!" She sounded more than a little angry, and it was probably with me, so I turned away from the undergarments and towards her, my voice hardly more than whisper when I replied.
"I don't have any parents." Suddenly the anger was gone as quick as it had come; the sudden changes came most definitely unwarranted. Instead it was replaced by something quieter, something that I couldn't recognize.
"Serafina… Do you live alone?" She looked at me with sad eyes, if that's what they are. I simply shook my head.
"I am an orphan, but I have a legal guardian. He wants me to be a SOLDIER, and I have been told all my life that I should have been a boy. My mother committed suicide, from what I have learned, shortly after my birth." I wonder if I had been Sephiroth at birth, would my mother still be around. It was a reasonable deduction. I closed my eyes before I explained why I did not know the conventional ladies underwear.
"When I was four I was asked if I wanted boxers or briefs." She raised one of her eyebrows in question of our common female issue. "At least he let me take care of such issues as the proper supplies for my 'girl problems'" Elmyra's eyes softened at the confession.
"You poor thing. I'll help you, then." She looked at me oddly and then leaned over to whisper in my ear. "What are you wearing, then?" I shrugged.
"Boxers. Not much else." Her one eyebrow joined the other in its raised position at her surprise.
"Right then."
I walked out with the store with Aerith and Elmyra in front of me. I had paid for what I had gotten; I could not burden myself on them that much. It was plenty enough that they had helped me in the first place!
My favorite piece of my wardrobe was going to require some work, of course, but it would be worth it in the end. It was a tank top that I could attach the Masamune's sheath to. That was going to come in handy should I ever come down here, and I was definitely coming a second time.
We went to Aerith's home, and it looked only slightly bare, but very homey all the same. She took me into her bedroom so that she and I could try on the clothes. Elmyra also demanded that I change into girls clothes, and stubborn as I am, I didn't really want to argue with her about it.
I left Aerith to her devices and went to the guest room to change.
I have to admit that the underwear that Elmyra had told me to get felt very weird and rather awkward at first, but I also must say that they feel a lot better than the boxers that I had to fill with tissue every day. The bra confused me at first, but I think I got it on right…. I hope I did….. I wore a simple black tank top and a pair of black skinny jeans. A pair of black boots with a kitten heel slid easily over my feet. I let my extremely long hair out of the pony tail, and just brushed it out.
Curse my bangs; they just popped right back into position. I was hoping that they would stay down and make it harder for people to mistake me for Sephiroth. But no such luck, I suppose.
I looked into the mirror, and definitely liked what I saw. I looked kinda…. Hot….
I walked back into Aerith's room, she had donned a soft pink dress, and had placed her light brown hair in a ponytail quite similar to the one I had earlier. She had placed the other things I had bought, as well as my SOLDIER uniform into a bag, and I thanked her for the help. We walked downstairs as she hummed absent-mindedly a happy tune.
I then saw the clock and gasped. My thoughts were something along the lines of: OH SHIT HOJO'S GONNA KILL ME I'M SO LATE!
But the only words that left my mouth were, "Is it that late already?" in my usual, deceptively calm voice. I picked my bag up off the floor, as I had dropped it out of my shock, and gave Aerith a rather quick hug. "I'll see you again soon." I let her go as I turned to Elmyra and smiled. "Thank you for helping me today, Mrs. Gainsborough, but I have to go back now." I quickly rushed out of the door and ran for my life, not even thinking at how exactly I knew their last name.
I managed to quickly run the distance between the sector 5 slums where Aerith lived, and when I made it back to Loveless Avenue, I hadn't broken so much of a sweat. So, I slowed my pace down dramatically, allowing myself to no longer look like a blur of silver and black. This part of Midgar was the only piece that had any good sights. I sighed at the thought. 'I work for the company that is working actively to destroy that.' I scoffed at the idea of being for hire. I was the Professor's property, the tattoo only covered up so that Aerith and her Mother could not see it.
But, of course, just my luck, right smack in the middle of my musings, I got tackled by an unknown object.
I, Genesis Rhapsodos, was parading around the street dedicated to the poem I followed as a religion, with my best friend, Angeal Hewley right at my side, acting as my partner in crime. Well, I was parading around. Angeal was following slightly behind me with a look of embarrassment at my country-boy-in-big-city behavior. Not that I cared all too much, of course, why should I?
So, I had been happily taking in the sights of Midgar, when I saw a familiar mass of silver hair from the back- And I only knew one person with silver hair. Anyone care to guess his name?
My eyes practically went up in flames at the mere sight of him.
How dare Sephiroth turn down my attempts at friendship, and then come down here by himself! I immediately left Angeal in my dust, ignoring his indignant cries of abandonment, and raced after the silver haired bastard.
And I tackled him to the ground. As I did so, I heard a sharp, feminine cry of surprise, which I stowed away in the recesses of my mind as blackmail. He should be surprised, arrogant bastard. I slide off my target, now that he was caught and in my grasp, at least after we had tumbled a good five feet and came to a stop with myself on top and Sephiroth's hair covering up his body. What happened next, I had never expected.
I heard a soft, feminine voice that sounded strangely like a violin come out of Sephiroth's mouth. "What the Hell?" And then Sephiroth got the hair out of his face, I was more than a little surprised to see a responsive, feminine face illuminated by the barest hint of make-up. But what ultimately shattered my teenage mind was when 'he' pushed the hair behind him. My mouth dropped at the sight. I hadn't seen that coming.
Well, Sephiroth most certainly did NOT have THOSE.
I was apologizing before my brain had even caught up with my mouth, or even before I fully could comprehend what I had just done. "Oh, oh I am so sorry! I mistook you for someone else! I didn't realize that you were a girl." My face was hot with embarrassment, but the Sephiroth-look-a-like wasn't much better, the poor girl was more flustered than I was, for the sake of the goddess.
I managed to regain my composure before she did, and immediately began with a proper apology. "I am very sorry for tackling you, Miss. I mistook you for another with your physical appearance, as from the back you two look identical." I looked up and down her appearance, and I liked what I saw. But this was not the time to flirt, as I could have seriously injured the girl. "I believed you to be a male, but was rather surprised to find…" I only gestured towards the tell-tale signs of woman-hood, unable to voice the words due to my embarrassment. "And, you are obviously a girl." Damn it, now that I had looked back toward her more feminine features, I could hardly avoid staring at them. I decided to stand up so that I could be the gentleman here. I offered the lady my hand and she took it with gratitude shining in her eyes.
Damn, she has one helluva strong grip! I didn't, or couldn't, voice my discomfort, and I simply decided to introduce myself. "I am Genesis Rhapsodos. Might I ask for the ladies name?"
She blushed a very little bit, and I decided that the girl was terribly shy. "Um… My name is Serafina. Serafina Gainsborough."….. But it didn't subtract from her beauty- which admittedly was very alluring, albeit a little bit more innocent than I usually liked- in the slightest. "It is nice to meet you, Genesis Rhapsodos." The girl offered me an extremely tentative smile, and I could only notice how tight my pants had suddenly become.
Damn my body's reactions.
Oh. My. Goddess! I am desperately resisting the urge to squeal like a rabid fangirl! What had happened to me? I mean, I am the calm, collected, intelligent, emotionally-disabled (Courtesy of Hojo), and the one to never ever show/feel a whole bunch of emotions! What has my teenage mind done this time!
And while one part of me was ranting about the indignity of it all, the other was simply gloating over this. I was obviously a girl! If only Hojo could see me now! I had fought for the lesser part of my life to show the emotions that were suppressed since I was practically a newborn. Actually, it had been last week, when I first saw the handsome boy with the fire-red hair, and a personality to match, that I had begun to test out with smiles and chuckles, as well as other normal, human responses to things.
… I digress.
But besides that, Genesis didn't suspect a thing! It was more than I could have ever hoped for, more than I could comprehend! The only thing that confused me was why Genesis found my breasts so interesting, so much so, that he actually stared at them for a little while before deciding to stand up, as well as help me up. Goddess, he was such a gentleman!
I bent down and began to collect my things that had been spilled by the surprise attack, and Genesis followed my example rather well, helping clean up the mess, because after all, he created it in the first place. I looked to him with a deceptively cool gaze and smirked as he once again gave me a once over, stopping only at a few key points on my body….
Something's telling me that I need to cover up a little more. I decided to reward the teen with a smile as his azure gaze once again rested upon my own emerald green. "Well Mr. Rhapsodos, I'd best be off. It was a pleasure meeting you." I turned away, and began to walk away, when I felt a strong hand grab my arm.
"Just Genesis would be efficient, if you wouldn't mind Ms. Gainsborough." At his voice, I smirked. That desperate to know me, hmmm? But even though I had offered Aerith's last name as my own, I mentally frowned at the formal way he was addressing me.
"If that's so, then I must insist you call me Serafina." That was my name; he should call me by it. He nodded his understanding, and my smirk grew into a legit smile.
Awkward silence reined the two of us in for a couple seconds, before he began the conversation again. "Umm…." He looked down, his pale face alight with a faint blush.
"Yes?" I did not understand why he had suddenly let the quiet rule, and was eager to see what he wanted of me.
He looked hopeful, straight at my eyes when he continued his train of thought. "Will I…. See you again?" I grinned internally at the question. Sooner than you think, Genesis.
"Yes, Genesis, I'll be around." I gave him another soft smile, as I continued, "But, it would be nice if I had a number to go with the face…." With that, I had given him what I hoped to the Goddess was a sultry smile, and had grabbed a pen and paper out of my bag for him. He took it, and wrote down his contact information faster than I could say my own name. Once he was done, I folded the paper, and stuck it in the pocket of my jeans. I looked back up, and gave him a smile.
Goddess, I loved the guy, but if I kept up the smiles, my face was going to crack! But, since it was for Genesis…. It would be worth changing myself a bit. "I'll call you soon, but I really must be going." With that, I stalked off, and once out of Genesis' line of sight, began to run back towards the tower. After all, I needed to be back at headquarters once again under the guise of Sephiroth before they came back.
But it was so worth the trouble.
No sooner had the fair Serafina passed out of my sight was I running back toward where I left Angeal. He and I had shared everything since we were young boys. He deserved to know who my first love was. And, I really think I like Serafina. A lot.
When my fellow SOLDIER popped into my line of sight, I began calling his name. "Angeal! Angeal!" I paused to catch my breath, but my excitement was still largely prominent in my heavy breathing. "You'll never guess who I saw!" I told him in a joyful voice. Serafina Gainsborough was the first woman who did not assume me to be a flirt. Serafina, who treated me as if I were something special! She was as radiant as the sun, her hair seemed to be made out of strands of moonlight, her eyes like emeralds encased in the face of a porcelain doll. She was beautiful, and she could have had any man that she desired, and yet she had shown interest in me, the country boy from Banora! It was unbelievable, and definitely too good to be true. But I believed the innocence I saw in her, she could not have faked the look I saw in her eyes.
Angeal merely raised a fuzzy eyebrow at my excitement. "Oh, I don't know," he began in a sarcastic voice, "The lead actress from LOVELESS?" Well, ouch, that hurt. But I could see his point. After all, I had been around LOVELESS Avenue all day, parading around in my love for the poem. He was probably a little annoyed with my favorite piece of literary work by now. I still feigned hurt.
"That was simply uncalled for, Angeal." He simply kept his eyebrow up, silently willing or telling me to continue with the story. I decided not to leave him hanging for too long. "No, I thought," Emphasis on the thought,"That I saw Sephiroth." His other eyebrow raised in surprise.
"Really, I thought that he had chosen to stay back at headquarters." I could hear the way his voice dripped with disappointment at the mysterious third member of our group. I mentally sighed, because my best friend was sometimes a little oblivious to the meaning behind my speech.
"'Geal, I meant that I thought I saw him, but it wasn't really him." That seemed to restore some confidence in my best friend's judgment of the teen that looked so similar to the fair Serafina.
"Is that why you ran off?" He asked me, the sarcasm in his voice was gone; instead it was replaced by a simple curiosity to find out why I was so excited about seeing a Sephiroth-look-a-like. I mentally frowned at that. Serafina… was more than a clone. They were similar, but, well…. Her body was more than a little different from his. The face, however, was the same. I just nodded so he would know.
"But, I came to a similar conclusion when I saw the silver hair as well." I raised a hand to rub my neck as I admitted to unleashing perhaps the dumbest thing I had ever done, on the girl of my dreams. "I kinda, ya know, tackled the look-a-like from behind….." I looked at Angeal's disappointed face rather sheepishly; of course I shouldn't have tackled Serafina, even if it had turned out to be Sephiroth. I could have really hurt the girl.
"He landed with his hair in his face," I did an impression of Serafina earlier to emphasis the point, "And since it was so long, it covered everything down to his chest!" I knew why Serafina kept her hair long, she wasn't a fighter. But Sephiroth? One could only guess. I looked toward Angeal, who was giving me all of his attention, and I smirked as I noticed that.
"And when he pushed the hair behind him, it turned out that 'he' was a 'she'!" Angeal looked at me with a look made of a combination of disbelief and shock, before he once again regained the over-protective teen/brother/Whatever you wanna call it act that he always held onto.
The shock was replaced by doubt. Angeal deadpanned, "Are you trying to imply that Sephiroth is actually a female disguised as a man to enter SOLDIER?"
I let my shock and horror show all over my face. "What?" I shook my head in denial. "No, there is no way that she could ever make her voice as deep as Sephiroth's, and well, you didn't see the tits, my friend. They are…. Large, to say the least." I made a crude symbol of male appreciation of the prominent features of the teen. There is no way on Gaia that she would be able to hide them." I made a crude symbol of male appreciation of the prominent features of the teen. "She walked off, and she couldn't have gotten too far."
Angeal nodded as he accepted this. He had been dragged around all day, being taken to see the Sephiroth twin was nothing more. "Let's see the twin, then." My face brightened.
"Right, and, by the way, her name is Serafina. Come on!" I took my friend's hand and dragged him to where I last saw the angelic woman. She was long since gone, and though we searched the surrounding areas, there was no trace of the silver haired girl.
"Hunnnnnh, she's gone," I said the obvious out loud, sounding slightly disappointed, but I knew that I shouldn't be. Serafina had told me that she had business to attend to. I looked over to my best friend, and Angeal looked murderous. I shrugged, "She told me that she'd call me, I gave her my number."
"Don't get your hopes up," Angeal deadpanned. He removed his hand from my grip, and began the walk back towards headquarters. I reluctantly followed behind him, but my thoughts still focused on that of fair Serafina.
A/N: It's awesome. I typed up about 4,500 words. It took forever.
Also, read and review. I draw upon feedback!
