AN: I have no excuse for my lateness! I don't want to be irresponsible, so I'll be updating the story on these dates this month:
Saturday January 14th
Saturday January 28th
As you all can see, I skipped a week. Just like last year, I shall be having mid-terms for the week of January 23rd to 27th. The next few weeks shall be spent studying and writing bits and pieces of the story so that I don't fall behind. I'll also be giving you upcoming events that I know so far. On the last three days of March, I shall be busy performing in the school musical. The Saturday before that week shall be my piano recital.
Current poll results at the bottom!
That is about it for now. Onwards to the story!
Chapter X: Kriegerisch Rocket Town!
_*$&_*(&+%)(&%*(_!&%+!%)(&!%*&+!%()&!+)%(&+%)(&!+%)!(%&+()&%+!%()&!+*%&+!%(&+!%()&!+)%(&!+()%(&)
"What nonsense are ya sprouting?" Cid grumbles out, picking at his ear due to my outburst. "Some boys brought you in this morning. There was a silver-haired kid, his crimson-clad friend, and a burly dark skinned man. They're downstairs waiting for ya to wake up."
I nodded my head slowly, still surprised. "Thanks… um… I didn't catch your name."
"My name is none of yer business, kid." Cid replied gruffly.
I put on a dejected look, reveling in my ability to bring guilt to anyone who was rude to me. "Alright… Sorry for bothering you."
Walking towards the door with a sad disposition, I stopped and smirked when Cid yelled, "Stop!"
My mask changed to one of confusion as I turned my head towards Cid. "What is it?"
He scratched his head and turned his head away. "Name's Cid Highwind. I'm an airship pilot for Shinra."
I smiled. "Nice to meet you Mr. Highwind! I'm Maigen Tsurugi, one of the last Cetra." I winked at him, my lie extremely convincing. "But let's keep that from the rest of Shinra, savy?"
I didn't give him time to answer because I was already out the door and walking down the hall towards the stairs. But seriously, how did I get to Rocket Town? Life… more like the afterlife… is getting even stranger. The voice that speaks to me in my dreams… who is he? He called me a 'shell of my former self.' Have I changed?
My thoughts were interrupted when I was tackled to the floor by our cute silver-haired cuddle-kins! Woah… hehe… cuddle-kins… "Kadaj? You really need to stop tackling me." I stated matter-of-factly, my voice muffled by the body on top of me.
He stared down at me with sad eyes and I did my best not to think about the position we were in. "You had me worried! You just collapsed out of nowhere, little sister! We were lucky that Vincent decided to stop by at North Corel before heading to Rocket Town! I-If he hadn't come around to help, y-you…" His eyes began to tear. "YOU COULD'VE BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!" He wailed and hugged me to his chest desperately.
My whining ceased upon taking a glimpse of Kadaj's pained face. He was truly pained and worried about my collapse. Tears gathered haphazardly around the edges of Kadaj's eyes. He seemed more distraught now than when Cloud sliced the box containing JENOVA's head in Advent Children. My mouth opened and closed, unable to form any proper sentence. "Kadaj…"
The words that fell out of my mouth set off the waterworks. Kadaj sobbed loudly. "Don't worry or scare me like that ever again! I won't lose someone I care about!"
My eyes widened and softened as I returned his embrace, stroking his back to calm him down. "I will never leave you, Kadaj. I promise." My stomach turned as I guiltily thought that I was the cause of his pain.
Kadaj's emerald green met my ice blue eyes quickly. His desperate and begging eyes becoming calmed and skeptical as he wiped his cheeks. "I'll hold you to your promise, Maigen." I knew he was serious. I do believe that was the first time that Kadaj used my name.
"Yeah, yeah. Can you get up from the floor now? Yer blocking the stairs!" Cid's voice called out from the third step up.
We got off the floor in a rush, ending up with us banging our heads together. If I hadn't made this known, Kadaj's head is as solid as a boulder. I clutched my forehead in pain as I backed up from Kadaj. However, I ended up falling down backwards, sub-consciously rolling to let my body take the brunt of the fall and tucking my chin to avoid damaging my neck. I ended up lying face up on the ground, still clutching my forehead, and screaming in pain. "Awww! Fuck!"
"Watch your language, Maigen." Vincent scolded from the corner of the room, where he and Barret were sitting.
"Nah! The kid's got spunk and my newly given respect!" laughed Cid about a few feet away from me.
I stood up and clutched at my head. "Thanks. I guess."
"We have a question for you, Mr. Highwind." Vincent brought up. "Do we have your permission to use the Tiny Bronco for a little trip?"
"Fuck no! It's the only working air craft I have!" Cid denied immediately.
"But Mr. Highwind!" I began to protest, but was cut off by a withering glare from Cid.
"You're not going to get what you want from me, so get all of yer asses out of my house before I report to the Turks posted in town!" He threatened.
My previously light and begging eyes turned dark and resentful. Shooting a look at Vincent, Barret, and Kadaj before they did something rash, I bit out a sharp "Let's go." Having said that, I promptly picked up my bag, which had rested on a random chair, and stormed out of the house, the other three following after me.
I led them to the town inn and paid for a private floor. When the innkeeper shot me a questioning look upon seeing my traveling companions, I merely smirked. "Mercenaries I hired to protect me in my travels." I received a skeptical look once more before the innkeeper handed me the keys to the whole attic.
We silently made our way up to the attic and locked the door before Barret spoke rather loudly. "So what do we do now? Cid's not going to be helping us any time and I doubt he'll be friendly if we encounter him again."
I began to stretch my arms as my cold eyes glanced out the window. "I wanted to recruit him the easy way, but I guess he's too stubborn. We'll just have to do everything the original way."
Vincent scoffed lightly. "So we're going to do that?"
My raised arms fell to my sides as I turned to face my gang with a cool and scheming smirk. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow night we're going to steal the Tiny Bronco."
"So we're finally going to do something illegal?" exclaimed an enthusiastic Kadaj.
Barret barked out a choked laugh. "We've been braking the law this whole time!"
Kadaj gave us a confused expression, so I reinforced the meaning behind Barret's 'well explained' statement. "Plotting against the government is considered 'treason'. Therefore, what we have been doing the past few days is against the law."
Kadaj looked thoughtful for a moment. "If we're going to be a group of criminals, then we'll need a name and declaration of existence!"
Barret and Kadaj immediately began to spew out random names while Vincent and I sat on the beds to ponder upon possible organization names.
"Warhog!" That reminded me of the video game Halo…
"Silver Streak!" I wish I saw the third Transformers movie before I 'died'…
"Cornwell!" Ahhh… What kind of name is that?
"Silver Elite!" Sephy's fan club? No thank you.
"Calhoun!" Er… Didn't I learn about him in History? Wait… this isn't Earth…
"Dirge!" Funeral hymns don't make good titles, Kadaj.
"Iron Maiden!" 'Maiden' may be one letter away from my name, but now I'm reminded about Resident Evil 4… *shudders Ewww the twitches…
"Giocondo!" I appreciate your effort to incorporate music into the name, but there is nothing cheerful or jolly about our goal.
The wave of absurd names came to an end when Vincent suddenly gave me a suggestion. "How about an organization name in Latin?"
"What's Latin?" Barret interrupted. "I ain't never heard of such a language."
I frowned at his use of a double negative, wondering whether or not I should correct him. I shook the idea away and answered Barret. "It's an ancient language where I come from."
"If that's the case, then only the people in our organization will know what the name means." Kadaj pointed out.
"Not true." Vincent countered. "If Sephiroth does remember Maigen, then he'll also remember how to understand Latin."
"I say we go for it." Barret exclaimed. "If only one person on the outside knows the language, then we won't really have much of a problem with a Latin name. Well, if you can come up with a name, that is."
I thought about it for a moment before it clicked. "Nox Miles. (Pronounced: Nox Mil-less)" I declared out loud. "Night SOLDIERs. We're an anti-Shinra, anti-AVALANCHE, pro-Lifestream organization."
The three of them paused to ponder the name, but they all eventually agreed to the name. The sky was already dark by the time we went to call for dinner. After we had eaten our fill, we went to sleep. Well, it was more that Kadaj and Barret fell asleep than Vincent and I. I needed to let my stomach digest and I had to clean up before going to sleep.
_(&_($&_*&^_*&$+$)(&_*($&+!)$(&_)$(&+!($&+)($&+!)$(&+)($&+)($&+)(!$&+)(%&#*%^&#$+)(%!+)(%^&*%^#_%*U!+)$(
Bane: We are Nox Miles!
Cloud: I think you're on a sugar high :/
Kadaj: Nope, that's just her at 1 in the morning!
Genesis: Happy New Year everyone!
Everyone: GENESIS?
Genesis: What?
Sephiroth: (*gets possessive and pulls Bane to wrap his arms around her) what are you doing here?
Genesis: I have no clue.
Bane: Well… My friend Brenda and I were talking about an omake where I should bring you back for something.
Vincent: And that would be?
Bane: I forgot.
Cloud: But the conversation was only yesterday…
Bane: I forget things… I'm only mortal!
Kadaj: Wasn't it something about Genesis getting sick?
Bane: I think it was… (*turns to Genesis) So how are you doing buddy?
Genesis: Buddy? I don't even know yo- (*suddenly pukes on the couch)
Cloud: Hey, is he okay?
Genesis: What did you do to me witch?
Bane: (*pouts) That's mean…
Vincent: What did you do, Bane?
Bane: I made him as sick as I am. It looks like his immune system isn't that good. It was only a cold.
Cloud: (*notices a piano in the room and goes over to it) When did this piano get here?
Bane: Don't touch it!
Cloud: (*had already touched the D two octaves from the middle C) Ah…
Bane: Where's me rum? (*grabs coffee and downs a little)
Kadaj: Oh let me try! (*pressed F sharp)
Bane: (*removes cup from lips and stares at coffee) This drink, I like it.
Genesis: Yeah, I know it's coffe-
Bane: ANOTHER! (*smashes cup on the floor)
Kadaj: Oh… (*pressed D flat)
Bane: Guessssss whoooo madeeee wafflesssssss! (*brings out a plate of weird looking waffles from nowhere)
Genesis: I'm not going to eat tha-
Bane: Wahhhh Wahhhhh Wahhhhh Wahhhh Wahhhhhhhhhhhh
Genesis: ENOUGH! We'll try some. (*takes a spoon… don't know why… and eats a piece) Well… they don't seem to be making me sick… They're actually pretty good…
5 plates later
Kadaj: No more waffles Bane!
Bane: (*wails loudly while hitting them all with waffles)
Genesis: No really. We're starting to feel sick…
Bane: (*keeps on wailing and smacking with a waffle)
Vincent: Cloud press the middle C.
(*Cloud pressed middle C)
Bane: (*goes back to normal) Why does everyone look sick? Ohhhh waffles! I got dibs!
Everyone: (*groans)
(&$+)(&$_*(^!_$*(&+!)$(&_*($&+)(!$&!+()$&$*^+)*$&+)($&_!)(*&$+!)($&(_*^%*(!$&+)($&_(*^$+!)$(&+!)($&+)($&)$()*
Oh… That was random… Yeah… I have a piano in the back of my mind that alters my mood… REVIEW REPLY TIME!
Mata Nui: (*looks at orb) I'm going to save this for an emergency. Thank You and Happy New Year! I don't know what to get you though… Oh! (*runs off for a moment then comes back with Hojo (bound and gagged) I'll give you Hojo! Now you can torture him! The Black Sacrament… Ahh I do love the Dark Brotherhood! Wait… Well, you already have Hojo… so I can't really give you his head without him dying and taking away your pleasure of torturing him!
Bloodrose 45: Thank you for continuing to follow my story! I will keep writing!
April Marciano: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Awww I'm flattered! Though I doubt my chapters are really worth a million dollars, Thank you! Yes, you can vote for all of them. Nearly everybody has the same opinion as you! Kadaj and Vincent's relationship is more along the lines of family than anything! Don't worry. I shall never abandon this story!
Exemia: Yes Axel, don't give any spoilers! Demyx… YOU'RE SO CUTE! / I'm excited that Axel's coming back too!
Bibliotaku748: Okay… we'll see how long you're responsibility lasts when mid-terms is around the corner. I'm not a short tempered Asian! *pouts
Anayu123: Yay! Welcome to the review blog! Thanks for reading my story! Sephy is sexy… but it'll be weird… Maigen is like… 14 and Sephiroth is going to turn 23 soon in the story. It's a big gap, but if the votes are in Seph's favor, I'll make something work… Maigen was afterall, born in 1996 which is like 3 years before the part of the story she's in… so technically, she's only 3 in that world… And if I look at it like that… Seph would be a pedo… great… Now I'm worried about the circumstances of the future possible pairings…
Tiryn: Sephy does need love… But as I wrote for anayu123, the circumstances will make him and a few others look like pedos…
+%(&+!)(%&+)(%&*%&+)(%&+)(&%+)(%&+)(&%+)(%&+)%(&+!()%&+)(%&+!()%&&%+!)(%&+)(%&+)(%&%&+!)(%&+
The results for the poll is a bit… eh…
Sephiroth and Genesis are tied in 1st with 3 votes
Weiss is in 2nd with 2 votes
Mystery Guy and Nero are tied in 3rd with 1 vote each
Vincent and Kadaj remain vote-less because they are better as family members.
Wow… just wow.
Bane: Sorry Vincent. Sorry Kadaj. But the poll might change!