A/N: OK, it seems to me that not too many people are into this story so far. I hope to change that. Yes, guys, there is an OC as the main character, but she isn't a Mary Sue. She isn't generic or anything like that. If you're curious as to how I write with an OC as the main character, read my Death Note OC story. That managed to get a lot of reviews and faves, so I'm guessing I didn't do too badly in that area. I hope this story gets more reception than it's been getting.
OK, sorry for the rant, I had a family fight an hour ago, so I'm not in the best of spirits at the moment.
Edited 7/6/2013 Note: Considerably improved in my opinion.
Chapter 2: Stabbed Broccoli
Sera's steely amber eyes glanced around her when she stopped three feet away from the 7th Heaven building. Then, she decided to study her surroundings for a bit. Assessing her location was a method she would use to calm herself down. That way, she could observe other people doing simple tasks, such as mowing the lawn or tending to the garden, and be comforted in knowing normalcy still existed. While she was at it, she would wish that she could trade lives with these people. She would kill to achieve the mundane and to have normal worries and burdens than the ones she carried now.
She watched two little girls playing an innocent game of hopscotch across the street. One of them looked like the very cute Marlene, who was living proof that Sera had a soft spot for children. After all, she had a sister once...
Granted, she had an idyllic childhood, so at least she had experienced a normal life. Normal as opposed to now, when the citizens of Midgar would stare at her like she was some sort of freak. She was the jinx never allowed to be accepted.
Marlene's friend tossed their playing stone at their hopscotch grid and took the four little hops needed to reach her spot. Oh, for the days when she remembered actually being a kid. She could sense that her fingers itched to feel the handlebars of her motorcycle, so she headed over to her parking spot.
"Cute kids," that voice remarked behind her, as though reading her previous thoughts.
With an irritable sigh, she turned toward him. "Reno, haven't you pissed me off enough for one day?"
"Oooh, strong language coming from a lady."
"How long have you been standing there this time?"
He shrugged, ambling along toward her. "Eh, about two minutes. Why? Any interesting monologue I missed?"
Sera rolled her eyes heavenward. "Oh, shut up. Don't you have a skull to break about now?"
Feigning hurt, Reno told her mock reproachfully, "Is that all you think of me as, Serafin? A thug?"
With a dry smirk dancing on her lips, she retorted, "If the shoe fits."
She took on the remaining four feet to reach her motorcycle when a hand on her wrist stopped her. "Wait."
Shocked, she blinked several times. "What?"
Part of her was naïve enough to hope that he would drop the pretense of being a flashy professional assassin and be something closer to human. Or at least something more rational. After all, he reminded her of a spitting firecracker, always ready to go out of control at any minute. He was one of the most impulsive people she'd ever met. And why she wasted time on him at all was anybody's guess except for her own. She had her reasons.
Yet, at the same time, the curious, nosier part of her wondered what was so pressing that he just had to discuss it with her before she sped off toward the afternoon sun.
"You really want to move out of Midgar?" Reno asked nonchalantly, retracting his hand once he recalled he'd been holding her wrist for a while.
That was the question? No revelation on why he thought "indirectly" working for Shinra was so brilliant and exciting? Sera's inner detective screamed in protest. As long as she'd known him, she had never been able to obtain a straight answer as to why Reno expressed enthusiasm in what he did, given the often gory details associated with his job. Oh, she'd received a partial answer once, but that was probably just the tip of the iceberg.
That aside, why did he bother taking such an interest regarding where her Midgar escape plans stood?
She nodded warily in response to his inquiry. "Yeah, I've been thinking about it. So?"
"Uh," he amazingly faltered, "is it really that...bad for you there? Has anyone been, um, messing with you?"
"Well..." Sera sighed, glancing up at the cloudless sky, internally counting the number of instances she had been taunted and provoked. "It's a dump, if that's what you mean. And yeah, some of the people aren't that nice."
Because thugs like you live there now, she finished darkly in her mind.
Although the Turks and Rufus Shinra had since relocated to this city in hopes for their brighter future, it was small consolation in the grand scheme of things. Crimes of a more severe nature occurred almost daily from what she always heard on the streets. Arson, homicides, rapes…If anything, Midgar had regressed even further, regardless of Shinra Inc.'s presence or departure. It didn't matter in many respects. The lawlessness of that city would only worsen with time. So were Sera's pessimistic thoughts on that dilemma.
When she allowed her gaze to drift back toward Reno, she noted that he stared at her intently, his face blank. As though he was trying to figure her out, calculating what ran through her mind then.
Her breath hitched in her throat upon seeing those eyes looking at her so gravely. They were quite pretty, she admitted to herself. Green with a hint of blue, depending on the light, that reminded her of the sea on a tranquil day. If she closed her own eyes, Sera could imagine the lazily lapping waves, the grainy sensation of sand, and the sound of seagulls calling out in the distance.
What the...?
She was never this romantic, so why would she get this caught up in the color of a man's eyes?
She didn't have to be too concerned, for the spell was broken as soon as the telltale grin returned with a vengeance. "Yep, can't argue with you there. Midgar is a dump. But, hey now, if the boss had a real office building there again..."
Oh, he had to be joking. To think, Reno was being serious for a change (and Sera had been oddly drawn to that, too), and he had to go and say that. That really took the cake.
"Reno," she addressed him furiously.
Oblivious, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?"
And Sera proceeded to slap him in the face. Hard.
He winced, rubbing his jaw. "Ow...Jeez, you weren't kidding about being pissed off, were you?"
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
Reno glanced down at her (he stood about four inches inches taller than her) and noticed her seething with suppressed irritation. Well, "irritation" was putting it mildly.
"Nope. It was just a rhetorical question."
Sera shook her head at him like a disapproving mother. "Save your rhetorical questions for your buddy Rude. Later."
Before he could get another word in edgewise, she revved up her motorcycle, put on her helmet, and firmly pushed down on the gas pedal.
Back to Midgar, home sweet home.
As soon as she got home, Sera prepared dinner alongside Grandma, and tonight's dish was going to be vegetable stir-fry, her favorite. Nothing sounded better than eating a plate of veggies and beef to energize her.
Besides, she could put that healthy energy to good use...like pummeling Reno to a pulp for being such a tactless moron. Honestly, a new Shinra building in Midgar, which they were now apathetic to? And she supposed that after this hypothetical office building would be constructed, then all the mako reactors would come back in. History was doomed to repeat itself, no thanks to that despicable company still around—there would be the off-chance of it happening anyway. Ugh, and he'd wondered why she'd slapped him.
"Here you go, dear," Grandma Rosemary interrupted her vexed thoughts as she handed over the bottle of soy sauce.
Sera only nodded and gently poured the sauce over the frying vegetables in the skillet. As much as she'd doubted it would ever be in her genes, she was surprisingly the domestic type. Indeed, Grandma often commented on her flair to make a dish perfectly appetizing. Well, she'd acknowledge that, but if Reno found out how much she loved cooking, he'd never let her live it down.
Worse, he would start expecting her to cook for him. Sera shuddered at the thought. A terrible scenario, but one she bizarrely could see happening.
After she'd used the finishing touch of soy sauce, she soon turned off the burner and served the meal. Together, the two women sat down at their humble table, content with each other's company.
While forks clinked against old china plates, Grandma inquired, "So, how did your visit with Tifa go?"
Hoo-boy, Sera was not eager at all to talk about this. Reno would inevitably have to be mentioned. Not that she detested the man that much, but she just didn't approve of what he did for a living. His penchant for being a lazy, seemingly oblivious person didn't help matters.
"We didn't get to talk for very long. I mean, we talked about me possibly moving to Edge for good when...um, somebody stopped by," Sera explained, pushing the carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, and her preferred broccoli over to the edge of the plate. She scooped up a couple mushrooms and nibbled on them before taking a swig of tea from her glass.
Don't ask who it is, don't ask who it is, she inwardly prayed.
Grandma seemed to target her with her even stare. "Who? Oh, I know. I suppose...Hm, trying to think of all those other young people you associate with...Ah, Reno, was it?"
Damn! At the mere mention of that name, Sera didn't hesitate in spearing a broccoli piece. She didn't eat it, for she just needed something to vent her frustration on. Oh well, no big deal. She'd put on a happy face.
Literally, she smiled quite complacently in response. "Yep, sure was. He tends to overhear what other people are saying. He's got a habit of accidentally doing that. We all tell him to stop, but he's so forgetful."
Hmph, Reno wasn't so much forgetful as he preferred not to listen. Thus, Sera stabbed that same exact broccoli piece again.
"Did you two talk?" Grandma chewed thoughtfully on some snow peas.
Though these questions were fairly standard coming from an adult family member, Sera was nonetheless perplexed. She wouldn't cause any fuss about them, but she felt bombarded.
"Yeah, yeah, we talked. I was too focused on talking to him, unfortunately, so I didn't get to talk to Teef as much as I wanted. Reno and I were discussing how he was doing with his job..."
Stab, stab, stab! She took it out on other innocent broccoli heads.
"Sera, I would think you're too old to be playing with your food," Grandma told her gently with a vague hint of amusement.
Heat flooded her cheeks, so she resolved to actually eat the dinner she'd been desperate to get the ingredients for during her break from her own job. That position was far more respectable than Turk, thank you very much.
"Well, he and I tend to banter a lot. I still don't know if I could call him a friend exactly, even though I've gotten to know him better the past two years," Sera confessed the truth, not inclined to hold back with her grandmother. They had a close relationship, so it was a pointless task to hide anything from the elder woman's keen green eyes.
Grandma "hmmed" softly as Sera continued eating her portion, specifically the stabbed broccoli, which had tiny holes where the tines had been. She couldn't help but feel sorry for those little spears that she'd treated so mercilessly. They should have been eaten sooner.
"Here's a bit of grandmotherly advice." Grandma finished off her meal and leaned back in her chair, a noticeable twinkle in her eye. "I have a theory that you're looking at him as something apart from a man. You do end up doing that with people, whether you realize it or not."
Yeah, well, if you trusted no one, you didn't get hurt as often. You didn't have to worry about that happening. That was how Sera had always seen it. She very slightly squirmed in her chair.
Grandma continued, "Judge someone based on their true character along with their actions. Those qualities usually go hand-in-hand. If not, I'd say, for the most part, character matters more."
This was painfully awkward for Sera to listen to. Reno was a character all right, no kidding.
She sighed, "I guess. Hey, I think I cooked great tonight, don't you think?"
A change in subject could do wonders for a heavy conversation.
A/N: I firmly believe that food aggression does exist, and that many foods suffer under the tyranny of repeatedly used knives and forks. XD OK, weird, I know. But, chapter three will be interesting, guys. It won't be like this forever. Next chapter will be a bar scene, a night on the town. That will liven things up.
OK, I need some cheering up.