AN: Alright, people! I have nothing else to say other than Thanks to those who reviewed on the previous chapter. So...THANKS.
And now, onto the replies as I was ordered by the story's owner!
To Fuyu Aki: First off, thanks for the review and secondly; it depends upon the reader's point of view on whether or not we changed Ace and Machina's personalities but I will tell you this; one time, I was at Tumblr and I saw that based on a player's analyzations of either the manga or the game (I don't really remember which one. LOL. Sorry. XD), he said that Machina and Ace's relationship weren't always the same from the game proper. He said that in one of the cycles; Machina and Ace were really good friends so just think that this story took place in that cycle. Again, thanks for reviewing and stay tuned for the next chapter. We look forward to the reviews.
To Ace-Deuce4ever: Thank you for your review. As for your question; AU means Alternate Universe. Please stay tuned for the next chapter. We look forward to your reviews.
Switching Sides
Chapter 3
"Stories of the Past"
8-year-old Ace was playing in the backyard of the family domicile. He was waiting for his father to come play with him when all of a sudden; he heard the front door being broken down. Worried and curious as to what was going on, Ace ran inside the house. However, he stopped midway and gasped at the sight in front of him.
His mother and father lay on the ground with guns pointed at them. His parents saw him and looked at him with frantic eyes.
"Ace, run! Run as fast and far as you can!" His father yelled at him. Ace looked at his parents, fear was evident in his eyes yet, he was frozen on where he was standing.
"We love you, Ace," whispered his mother before the Milities soldiers shot them with hundreds of bullets. Their blood splattered all over the walls and made a pool on the floor. After this, the Milities soldiers pointed their guns on Ace.
"Say good night, kid." One of them said but suddenly, he kneeled with the white of his eyes showing. He fell on the floor, lifeless. Someone killed him from behind. Then each of the soldiers fell lifeless one by one.
As they fell down, Ace was surprised at the presence of his older cousin, Alex, who was only ten back then. Alex ran towards him, kneeled beside him and seized him by his shoulders.
"Ace? Ace, look at me. Look at me." She ordered him as she shook him. Ace looked at her with a blank expression on his face but fear was evident in his eyes. All of a sudden, hestartedcrying and he wrapped his arms around Alex's neck. Alex hugged him back tightly.
"It's okay, buddy. It's going to be okay." Alex whispered soothingly in an effort to calm the boy. Alex held and supported Ace as they ran through the back door and into the woods.
"It's okay, buddy. It's okay." Alex said. Finally, they got to the highway where Ace's aunt and uncle were waiting for them. They were already straddled on chocobos. Alex mounted on the third Chocobo with Ace and they all took off, traveling towards the Peristylium in the very dark night.
"I'm sorry." Deuce said and squeezed Ace's hand.
"Don't be," said Ace. "You should've seen me on my first months here. The headmaster said I was kinda difficult back then." He added with a light chuckle.
"Tell me about it." Deuce urged but she quickly retreated as she realized this. Ace, seeing her eagerness, told her everything about his memories of his first day. The memories of his first months came to his mind as well.
The day after the attack, Ace woke up on a comfortable bed. He started to get scared because he didn't recognize where he was. Events of the previous night came flooding in his mind. His mom and dad were dead and worse, they were killed in front of him. He cried once again as he remembered.
Ace was still crying when someone entered the room. He looked up and saw that it was Alex. She wasn't wearing the same clothes as she did last night: clothes that were stained with blood of his parents' killers.
She wore a white shirt, jeans and boots when she came to his rescue but this time, she was wearing an unbuckled uniform coat, revealing a black shirt underneath, a blue cape, jeans, and sneakers.
"Alex!" Ace shouted in glee as he jumped off the bed and into his cousin's arms. Alex held him tightly and directed him back to his bed.
"Alex, where's mommy? Where's daddy?" Ace asked, desperately trying to convince himself that what he saw yesterday night was an illusion but deep in his heart he knew it wasn't.
"Please, tell me they're not dead..." Ace whispered as he wept on her shoulder, hoping that Alex would say that his parents were only on vacation and that they would be back soon. That it was just a horrible prank to teach him a lesson after all the bad things he did recently. But then, Alex said something quite contrary.
"I'm sorry, buddy. I'm so sorry," was the only reply that Alex could give. Ace cried even harder. Alex separated from him and held him by his shoulders.
"Listen to me, buddy, from now on you'll be staying here in the Suzaku Peristylium. They're going to take good care of you here alright. I'll be here too but I won't get to see you so much but I promise that I will visit you every chance I get, 'kay?" Alex explained like a sister as she wiped Ace's tears away.
"I need to you to be strong now," Alex added and Ace simply nodded yet, tears were forming again around his blue eyes. "Be strong…" She whispered on to his ears. "For your parents, for us… and most especially, for yourself…"
A month after the attack, Ace was officially enrolled in the Peristylium and was placed in Class Zero. He learned that a war broke out because of some man named Aid Culstyne? Was that him?
Anyway, whatever the man's name is, Ace held him responsible for his parents' death. He swore to himself to avenge their killing.
Ace also didn't get to see much of Alex but she does visit him from time to time. Unbeknownst to him, the Headmaster and Alex were getting worried about him ever since Arecia reported that he completely refuses to make friends with the other children, no matter how much they encourage him.
Another month later, however, Ace has reached the breaking point. Nine was teasing him again to provoke him into playing with them.
"Hey, come on, kid. Why won't you play with us?" Nine asked while shoving him. But what was meant to be a playful shove accidentally turned into a real hard shove. Ace fell on the moist ground and got angry so he attacked Nine.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ace yelled at Nine as he punched the other boy. Queen, Cater, and Eight, who were present that time, tried to stop Ace but he kept throwing them off. Luckily, an adult arrived and stopped Ace before he could do any more damage.
"ACE! STOP IT!" A voice yelled. Ace immediately stopped from punching Nine and turned around. Alex and Arecia were there. Alex looked angrily at Ace. She sighed deeply, silently fuming with anger as Ace ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He cried.
"Please, forgive him. He still hasn't moved on from his parents' death. I'll talk to him." Alex said to Arecia and to the kids, all of who smiled gently at them, except Nine who was still clutching the parts that clearly hurt.
"I understand. I'll go and talk to Nine," replied Arecia. Alex nodded and showed Ace the way as they headed for the tree on the opposite side of the playground. She made Ace sit down on the tree's roots while she sat in front of him.
"Ace, what were you thinking? Why would you attack that boy when all he was trying to do was to get you to play with them?" Alex asked him in a stern voice as Ace's tears formed around his eyes.
"He wouldn't stop bugging me." Ace reasoned in between sobs.
"Ace, I know that, but that's not a reason to hit people!" Alex reprimanded him. "You turned nine just last month and I'm turning 11 in a few months time. Training is going to be harder for me so I need you to be responsible. I need you to take care of yourself. I can't always keep an eye on you because we're in different classes." Alex lectured him. Ace cried harder; he didn't want her to get mad at him.
Alex sighed after her outburst and pulled him closer to her. "Look, I know you miss your mom and dad. I miss them too. But you also have to take care of yourself from now on. You may think I was the one who wanted all of this for you. But all of this was because of you parents, Ace. They have always wanted you to attend this school. So make them proud!" Alex finished 'scolding' and hugged Ace tightly again.
"But I want to go with you." He begged.
"You can't, buddy. I did promise I'd visit you right?" Alex said and Ace nodded.
"I'll keep that promise." Alex said. She detached herself from Ace and wiped his tears with her long, soft fingers.
"Now, go apologize to him alright and try to make friends with them, yeah?" Alex ordered him and they walked back to the group. Nine and Ace patched things up between them and he agreed to play tag with them. But before all of that, he ran to Alex first.
"Are you going to be alright now?" Alex asked. Ace nodded and smiled cheerfully after which, he proceeded to hug her. Alex hugged him back and smiled at him.
"I got to run okay, buddy. Be a good boy and don't hit people alright?" Alex told him and he nodded once again. Alex ruffled his light blond hair before she ran back to her classes.
"That's so nice of your cousin." Deuce said with a pretty smile. Upon seeing her smile, Ace's heart pulsated rapidly in his chest once again that he thought it will bust out.
"Yeah," He agreed. Suddenly, Deuce stood up and checked her watch again.
"Well, we still have at least thirty-five minutes of break left. Want to play lacrosse?" Deuce asked him with a smile on her face again. Ace knew that it was an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Sure, come on." He said and they walked towards the fields. After getting some rackets and a ball, they started the game.
Deuce was really good at it. She always managed to get past Ace and shoot the ball in her designated goal. When Ace finally managed to get the ball, Deuce suddenly ran faster than both the Flash and the Tasmanian devil combined!
She ran a few feet in front of him but Ace couldn't stop himself on time and… BAM! He crashed into her, knocking her into the ground and trapping her under him. Their faces were so close to each other and their lips were almost touching.
They were both staring at each other's glassy eyes. He was captivated by her emerald-green orbs and she was captivated by his sky blue eyes. Out of the blue, Deuce took Ace's glasses from his breast pocket and put them on his eyes.
"I did say you look cute with the glasses, didn't I?" She asked in an innocent voice and he simply nodded, forever fascinated by how beautiful she looks up close. He leaned down to press his lips to hers, hoping that she wouldn't pull away. Thankfully, she didn't. Instead she leaned up, trying to meet his lips as well. But, alas, someone had to ruin their 'perfect' moment.
"Hey, lovebirds," yelled someone. Both Ace and Deuce looked at the direction from where the voice came from and they saw everyone from Class Zero standing there. Eight, Nine, Jack and Machina were smiling devilishly at them. Cater, Cinque and Seven did a tactical face palm at the four boys' action, while Trey, Sice, Queen, Rem and King just stood there, looking amused.
But someone caught Ace's attention completely. Beside them, someone was holding a video cam. When the said person lowered the cam, Ace was horrified that it was Alex. She had a mischievous grin on her face.
Ace and Deuce immediately separated from each other and stood up, blushing like crazy. Deuce then ran back inside the academy while Cater, Cinque and Rem followed her. They had smiles on their faces.
"Okay guys, see you around! Talk to you later, Ace!" Alex said as she ran away with her video cam, however Ace was too upset to care, not at her but at Nine who apparently distracted him from what would've been the greatest moment of his life.
Crestfallen, Ace walked back to their class room where he spent the last ten minutes of the break time there, thinking about her.
A few minutes before she meet up with Ace, Deuce took seven identical tiny moogle key chains and seven identical chocobo key chains. She needs to situate these in her classmates' rooms as a sort of a token of thanks.
But is it really? A voice at the back of her head said.
She first headed to the females' side of the common room. Deuce positioned the tiny moogle key chains on Cater's and Cinque's bed. She had accomplished this feat easily since the three of them share the same room.
Next, she went inside Sice and Seven's room. The Academy must have placed them together since both of them go along well, very well. Then lastly, Deuce entered Queen and Rem's room. They share the same room probably because they are the 'mature' women of the class. They are the ones who could settle fights, watch out for Class Zero's general welfare and the like. They go pretty well too.
Deuce had placed the cute moogle key chains strategically that they might be admired when seen but is in the right place, enough to be left untouched. Or so Deuce thought if her female friends wouldn't be so persistent in taking it for themselves.
"Which is also a lot better," she said to herself. It would make things a lot easier for her. After her work was done in the women's quarters, she headed next for the boys.
Deuce had this first impression that it might be so cluttered but how she was wrong! It was very organized like the photos you could see on magazines. Heck, it even has that strong manly scent. It was most likely Nine's perfume that was like sprayed all over the place in his determination to prove his 'manliness'.
She smiled at her thoughts but then shook them off as she still had some work to do. First of course, she walked to Ace's room. His room was simple. It had red wallpaper, a king-sized bed, a study table, a few other things to aid him in schooling and a television.
His drawers were filled with a variety of picture frames. They contain a few pictures of him and his family. There was one when he was a baby with his parents. At the bottom of the frame it said: Mom, Dad and baby Ace.
There was another picture of him when he was about eight years old. Then, another photo of him when he was about seven with his parents, another couple that looked to be parents of a girl that was about nine with the same blonde hair as his. There was an engraving at the bottom of the frame. It said Ace, Mom, Dad, Uncle, Aunt, and Alex.
There were various other pictures but the one on his nightstand caught her eye. On the nightstand, on the right side of his bed, was of him and the same girl on the other picture, only she looked like she was eighteen.
The girl had her arm around his shoulder, smiling proudly and casually, at Ace. Ace had his arm around her shoulder too. They looked like they were certainly enjoying each other's company.
Ace also looked happier on this one than on the other pictures of him with their classmates. The frame also had an engraving on the bottom: Ace and Alex. The picture looked like it was just taken recently. As Deuce stare at the picture, she felt a slight tinge of jealousy. Ace looked like he was very close to the girl and she does not like that. Sighing and shaking her head to get rid of the envious feeling, she took her eyes off the picture.
She pulled the blankets and lay on Ace's bed. Deuce felt his warmth and it felt definitely good. She allowed herself to close her eyes for a few moments when she remembered the chocobo key chains in her little hands. Pulling herself to sit on Ace's bed, Deuce placed a keychain on his bedside table.
After she was done with Ace's room, she entered Machina's room next. Machina's room also had red wallpaper, a king-sized bed, some elegant looking pieces of furniture and a television, but he had two bookshelves.
He also had pictures on his bedside tables. There were some pictures of him with his parents and his brother. There were some photos of him with Rem on the beach. It seemed to have been taken recently, maybe around the time before they arrived at the Peristylium. His arms were wrapped around her waist and he was kissing her cheek while Rem was smiling widely, seemingly enjoying the moment.
"And they say they just started dating," muttered Deuce as she placed the keychain on his nightstand.
When she was done placing a chocobo key chain on Machina's room, she entered Nine, Jack and Eight's room. She also placed the tokens on places that easily pick up conversations. Then last came in Trey and King's room.
As she closed the door of Trey's room, Deuce sighed to herself. Another mission went on successfully. Now, all she has to do is some listening. With that made up in her mind, she prepared herself for meeting Ace.
