IV: A Petty Hero

Devon cupped his friend's face in his hands and inspected her from head to toe. "You're a fool, girl." he whispered. Valon looked like she was about to cry, her lower lip pushed outwards slightly and her eyes were narrowed. The Turk looked at her eyes, back and forth between red and blue and shook his head. "You could've died, you know."

Valon didn't look back at him, eyes evading his gaze. "I promised I wouldn't."

"So?"

"I kept that promise, didn't I?"

Devon rolled his eyes, his right eyebrow twitching in frustration. "Hey, look at me." he commanded, but his voice was low and hushed and dripping with worry. He smiled when his friend obeyed, teary eyes looking at him. "How do you feel?"

"It hurts." she whispered. "But I'm lucky, I think."

"How so?"

"The professor said I mutated," she explained, still speaking softly. Her voice was hoarse and raw, presumably from the screaming. "but normally mutations are really bad, right?"

Devon nodded affirmatively.

"Well, I only turned into a half albino." she played with a short lock of white hair. "I think it looks kind of cool." she giggled through her tears.

The Turk finally released her face and sat down on the bed next to her. Immediately she threw her legs on his lap, a gesture they'd done for as long as them both could remember. It was a friendly kind of intimacy, purely platonic, but felt good nonetheless. He felt himself relax a bit at the familiar contact.

"You know, I feel guilty now." he sighed. "I should have never agreed to help you."

Valon shook her head vigorously. "Don't feel guilty!" her voice was raised slightly, taking the Turk by surprise. "The professor said I show a lot of promise. He said I respond extremely well to the Mako, with proper training and guidance he thinks I'll be a First within a year!" her eyes gleamed with enthusiasm and Devon almost felt bad for not sharing the feeling.

"He calls mutating and bleeding from your Gaia-damned eyeballs a good response to the stuff? Shiva's tits, Valon."

"He doesn't think it'll happen again." once more, Valon waved away his reasoning with a dismissive flick of her hand. She really needed to stop doing that. "In fact, he wants me to meet the General!"

"You're going to meet Sephiroth?"

Valon hummed in an affirmative tone. Devon snorted. "Well, I'll be damned."

His name was Zachary Fair. Remember it well, for this is how he met his death.

A simple boy with simple pleasures, Fair was. He loved how the warm rays of the sun caressed his skin as much as he adored the soft drops of rain that soothed his muscles and cherished the earth below as much as he revered the stars above. Optimistic, headstrong and perhaps a little foolish, but a kind soul nonetheless.

Born and raised in the small, somewhat backwater town of Gongaga, he lived through a simple but enjoyable childhood. The boy always had bigger dreams however, and combining that with a head harder than a rock, the youth had left his beloved hometown at the nimble age of thirteen to join the Shinra military forces. One day, he'd sworn himself a silent oath, he would return a hero.

Needless to say, it was an oath easier sworn than carried out.

The first step he had to take was to become a SOLDIER. It was much easier to become a hero when one's abilities were enhanced beyond normal human possibilities, after all.

Again, easier said than done.

The boy was restless, he always was. Albeit his positive attitude and energetic personality, his attention span was disappointingly low. His professors and trainers had no hopes for the raven-haired youth, but he had all but surprised them, and admittedly, himself, when he'd been at the top of his class at every subject. Besides headstrong and somewhat foolish, the boy was inconceivably intelligent when he willed himself to be. And not only was Zachary intelligent, his talent with the sword was undeniable.

So much, in fact, he'd caught the eye of none other than Commander Angeal Hewley, a man as much of a legend as the infamous Silver General himself. The Commander had adopted the young cadet as if he were a pet, and with the extra training, Zachary had all but jumped ranks and was now a SOLDIER Second, no longer living in the shadow of his black-haired friend, but standing tall beside the man, not only as his friend, but as his lover, too.

A simple man with simple pleasures, Zack was. One of these simple pleasures was sleeping. More specifically, sleeping in. Much to Angeal's annoyance. The Commander had once said it wasn't very befitting of a hero to be lazy, so Zack tried to work on this flaw of his. However, he couldn't always help it, and sometimes his laziness still got the best of him.

The morning of the welcome ceremony, for example.

The boy all but jumped out of his bed, screaming in terror as he saw the numbers on his alarm glaring at him viciously, the green glow reminding him of the General's eyes. Not a pleasant mental image to wake up to. He rushed to his closet, threw on his uniform and swiftly made his way to the door that would lead him to the hallways, knocking over multiple pieces of furniture in the process. He stopped with a jerking motion when he saw himself in the reflection of the window, almost losing his balance on the slippery floor and cursing loudly at himself for forgetting his boots. He cursed again as he tried to tame the wild mop of black hair that seemingly lead it's own life, running his fingers through the spikes and uttered some more profanities when the locks jumped back to their previous position as soon as his fingers left them.

No time to look pretty, he thought, sagging his shoulders in defeat slightly. After a moment of glaring at his own reflection in the window, not quite as cold as Sephiroth could but terrifying nonetheless, he shook his head and made his way back to his bedroom to grab his boots. I really should be leaving those at the door, he berated himself.

He slipped his feet in the leather combat boots, not bothering to tie them, and ran to the door again. As fast as his legs could carry him, he ran through hallway after hallway, knocking people aside as he did. Ignoring the angry shouts and startled gasps, he rushed to the stairs and all but flew down all forty-nine floors, skipping multiple steps at a time. Blessing his long legs, he turned the last corner to make it to his destination; the huge assembly hall in the exact center of the SOLDIER premises.

He whooped loudly when he reached the back door, twisted the knob and slammed the door open with too much force in his enthusiasm for making it to the ceremony only slightly late.

A low "oof" made him halt abruptly. All of his instincts were screaming at him to run away and do it fast when he recognized the voice.

"He-" he gulped. "Hey, Seph."

The General's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, hardly noticeable, but to those that knew him well, it meant irritation. Or blood lust. Possibly both. Although Zack doubted the silver-haired man could actually feel pain, his long, slender fingers rubbed his nose in a soothing motion.

He just hit General Sephiroth in the face. With a door. Because he was late.

The Second felt panic rise through his very being. Sweat broke on his forehead when the legendary man's fingers twitched around the hilt of his equally legendary blade. He swallowed hard, his breaths ragged and his survival instincts telling him once again to run away you fucking fool.

Suddenly, Sephiroth jerked his hand away from his nose, turned around and walked up to the podium where President Shinra had been speeching about how fabulous his company was. Zack hadn't even noticed the fat man had called for the General to come up and speak a word of encouragement to the new recruits.

Only when Sephiroth was already halfway through his speech had Zack realized how close he had been to becoming a Zack-kebab. He ruffled his unruly hair and exhaled a shuddery breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Oh, Gaia."

His name, Zack. Remember it well, for this is how he evaded his untimely death.

AN: It's a little on the short side, but good news is we're pretty much done with introducing the characters! Finally we can get to the plot. I always hate writing those first few chapters, I just want to get to the actual story, you know?