Act II
"Did you really have to be so rough, Cidni?" Axel asked as we walked together back to her apartment, picking a ruffled feather out from in between her breasts.
"Did you really have to trick me, Axel?" I replied, keeping my wings tucked tightly to my body; getting rid of them in public was extremely awkward.
"I have to train you for 1st class, you know." She looked up at me and picked another stray feather from out of my ponytail. "If you keep letting your guard down like that, you'll be in 2nd class for the rest of your life."
I rolled my eyes as the door to her living quarters opened. Being the privileged Turk that she was, she got to live inside the Shin-Ra Building.
I had to fly to work. Nah, I'm kidding. Almost got you there, though, didn't I? Anyways, I didn't live too far from the Shin-Ra Building, so I just got up late every morning and ran to work. Exercise is good for you.
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." I said, sarcasm oozing from my words.
She grinned and sat down on the couch, motioning for me to take a seat opposite her, on the love seat. "It's what I'm here for." She paused and the lighthearted tone left her voice. "So, what's wrong?"
"Huh?" I asked, sucking the wings back to where they'd come from. Very awkward indeed. I had totally forgotten my reason for seeking out Axel in the first place!
"Something's bugging you." She replied, her eyes trained on me as I sat down. "I can see it in your eyes, and the way you fought. Something was missing."
"Oh, right. You know Zack Fair, right?" Who was I kidding? She was practically the head of his fan club. I soon realized that bringing Zack up in conversation with Axel was a bad idea, as her eyes gained a glazed sort of look.
"Hmmm...yeah..." She sighed dreamily.
I frowned. "Can you at least stay in this world long enough for me to tell you my problem?!"
"I'm sorry, were you saying something?" She asked, grinning up at me.
I sighed in frustration. I had known it would be a bad idea to go and complain about Zack Fair to his #1 fan girl. But I came anyways. Intelligent? Nah, not so much.
Quickly, I stood up, turning my back to the sitting Turk. "Oh, never mind. I guess I'll just have to do with sex for favours, like you."
"Wait, hold on a sec..." I heard shock in her voice. "You wouldn't..."
"Wouldn't what? Screw Zack to get him to refuse the promotion that's rightfully mine?" I smirked, looking over my shoulder. "Oh, I'll stoop to your level just this once."
One step toward the door was all it took to snap Axel back to reality. "You lay one finger on Zack, SOLDIER, and I'll see to it that your forehead gets properly acquainted with Mr. Bullet." She paused and the exaggerated fury left her voice. "What's this about a promotion that you deserve?"
I chuckled, turning heel and sitting back down, even though what I really wanted to do was pace back and forth and break things. I sighed deeply in an attempt to collect my thoughts into a coherent line of speech. "So, your precious puppy has apparently been recommended for 1st. By...guess who?"
Axel shrugged.
"His buddy, Angeal, who else?" I growled, the pain of being humiliated like this was growing, and growing fast. "This is so not fair!" I stood up quickly, nudging the love seat back about an inch.
"Heh. Fair."
That was the last straw for me. She thought she could just make light of my problems? She had thought wrong.
I wheeled around and unsheathed the machete at my thigh. "Shut the fuck up, Turk, or so help me God, I will not hesitate to slit your throat." Oops. Once again, I had spoken without thinking it through. I seemed to be good at that.
Axel's eyes widened in fright. Never before had I said anything to anyone as hurtful as that. But, in my defense, I had never been angry enough to say something so hurtful before.
Before I could say anything else that would later get me in trouble with Tseng or possibly Rufus Shinra himself, I slid the machete back into it's holster and whirled around. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've a mission to attend to." With that, I walked out of the room and back to the SOLDIER floor, leaving poor Axel wondering what the hell just happened.
Oh, and, before you ask, no, it was not my time of the month. You know how Mako enhanced men are stronger and more violent than regular men? Well, the same goes for Mako enhanced women. Mood swings and all.
Anyways, guess who was the first face I saw when I got back to the SOLDIER floor? Yeah. Zack.
"Hey, Cidni!" He waved giddily at me, and for a second, I thought for sure his hand was going to fly off.
Oh dear Gaia, that's right. I would be stuck with him on this mission.
I rolled my eyes. "Hey."
His face dropped a little. "What's wrong? You look upset."
"No, I'm fine. You must be imagining things." I replied, hoping to change the subject.
"Naw, I'm pretty sure your eyes are glowing..."
'SHIT!' I mentally cursed. I had totally forgotten about that! It's really easy to tell if I'm mad, regardless of if I'm hiding it well. It's because of all the Mako. Whenever I get really angry, or any version of upset, a chemical reaction occurs in my body which makes my eyes glow a bright Mako green. Which is really difficult to miss, because my eyes are normally more blue.
Thinking quickly, I closed my eyes and thought happy thoughts. 'Mmm. beach, water, swimming, chocolate...' I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I smiled, certain that they were back to their regular blue. I chuckled. "Seriously, Zack." I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as I turned to see Angeal walking down the hallway towards us. "You should really lay off the drugs."
"Wha-?!" His eyes widened and I couldn't help but laugh, tucking my anger away to the back of my mind. "Hey, I don-I don't do drugs!" He protested as I walked over to greet Angeal.
"Where were you, Cidni?" The 1st asked, one dark eyebrow arched curiously.
"Hello to you, too." I grinned until he gave me the "tell-me-why-you're-late-or-else" look. The grin kind of fell off my face on it's own. "I'm terribly sorry. I had some, uh...business to attend to." I would have to go and apologize to Axel when I got back from this mission.
"Business...Right." He smiled as if he knew what I was talking about. It didn't look like he believed me. "The plane leaves soon for Wutai. You two better get on it." He turned his gaze back to me. "And don't be late."
"Way to put me on the spot." I could feel my cheeks warming up, but I didn't care. The only one there that hadn't seen me blush before was Zack, and he didn't matter very much to me.
I sighed. This could be an interesting mission.
"So we're just supposed to neutralize the Wuati troops?" Zack asked on the flight over.
"And look for Genesis." I added, making sure the puppy didn't forget the most important objective of this mission.
Part of me hoped he was there, while the other part hoped he wasn't. I mean, if he was there, the re-introduction would be awkward, to say the least. Plus, what if he'd changed? Hell, what if he forgot me?
I took a deep breath and calmed my thoughts.
"You look kinda..." Zack started, pulling me back to the moment at hand. "distracted."
"Huh?" I asked stupidly.
He shrugged. "Well, you were sorta starting off into space. Do you know Genesis?"
"Heh...I used to." I stopped myself before I revealed anything incriminating. "But that's a story for a different time, Puppy."
"You're no fun."
"I know."
The rest of the flight to Wutai was spent in silence. Zack spent the time getting pumped. At least, that's what I assume he was doing; Angeal and I wasted our time getting some much needed rest.
I woke up when the small plane landed with a jolt.
"You know," Zack looked at me, one eyebrow cocked in amusement. "If you guys are gonna sleep, do it after the mission, not before it."
I frowned at him, rubbing my eyes groggily. "Be quiet, you. No one asked for your opinion." I averted my eyes upwards, sending a silent prayer to the heavens. 'Gaia, help me...'
Next thing I knew, the 3 of us were making our way to Fort Tambin. We had just come across a pathway that led through a grouping of trees, when we were confronted by a posse of Wutai troops.
Zack, being the cocky, little puppy that he was, took them on himself, likely trying to prove himself worthy of 1st class.
They didn't take long to die. Once they had, Zack mentioned something about making a good impression on Lazard, if he was watching.
"Gah, I knew it..." I muttered. Luckily, neither of them heard me.
That's when Angeal mentioned Dumbapples.
I chuckled. Zack had no idea what a Dumbapple was! I was tempted to yell at him, saying something like: "Well, you should know what a Dumbapple is...YOU ARE ONE!", and then throw something at him, but I figured that wouldn't go over too well if I was competing with him for the promotion to 1st.
Part of my heart jumped when Angeal-bless his soul- said that Zack would never get to 1st if he didn't know about Dumbapples.
YES! Looks like I was in luck, whatwith me being raised in Banora and all.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he began walking down the path to Fort Tambin. I followed him, eager to leave the puppy behind for a bit.
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A/N: Sorry for the uneventful-ness of this last chapter, save for the little bit of Axel abuse. I'm having a little bit of writer's block, but I seriously hope that Act III is better. ^^
