Hello guys! As promised, I'm updating more often! Life's a little bit complicated right now, what with school and stuff, but I promise not to leave you hanging! Oh, and someone asked 'Who exactly is Ms. Hanlin?'. You will find that out later within the story, dearie ;)
Enjoy reading, and please, please, please, please review! Also, if I owe you a fic from the panel at Motaku, I promise I'm working on it!
The true test of a man's character
is what he does when no one is watching.
-John Wooden
Cloud Strife was not in the Director's office. Neither was the Director for that matter.
"He thought you wanted some space.." One of the Turk's volunteered. The ginger snorted.
"Or was terrified that you'd castrate him, and with a rusty spoon no less." Sinovia turned to her.
"I'm beginning to like you."
"Cissnei." The young Turk stuck out her hand.
"Sinovia, though I bet you already knew that, didn't you?" Sinovia shook Cissnei's hand. "Oh...does this mean I can sit at his desk?" The Turks shot each other uneasy glances.
"He never said you couldn't..." Reno trailed off. Taking this as an 'okay' Sinovia sat down in his leather chair, relishing in the comfort.
"I want a chair like this." She settled down into it, propping her feet up on the desk and some rather important-looking paperwork. Grabbing a stack that was beside her feet, she began shuffling through it with interest.
"Yo! Pretty sure those are confidential!" Reno protested, though Sinovia ignored him.
'So, what I'm looking for is in Nibelheim." She thought to herself. An underground library, hidden underneath the remains of the ShinRa manor. Reading on, she saw it also contained sensitive material concerning the General, somehow linking him to the Jenova project.
"I really don't think you should be reading those.." Cissnei seemed to voice the concern that was written across all of there faces.
"These have a signature that matches that of your last head scientist. On top of that, they are printed on paper with the heading 'Department of SOLDIER Research'. Pretty sure they belong to me." Sinovia folded them up and slid them into her front pocket, then continued shifting through the papers. "Papers on Mako research?" Well, she was looking for those too. "I know you aren't in SOLDIER, but tell me, do you think these would have ever come into my possession?" They all looked at each other.
"They could have been collecting them for you." Cissnei suggested.
"Nah, smells fishy to me yo." Reno leaned on the desk. The door opened slowly, a spiky yellow head peeking in.
"You called for me?" Sinovia nodded.
"If you would excuse us? I need to talk to Strife alone." Reno was about to protest. "Just the hallway, if you will." She ushered them out. The door clicked shut, and Sinovia once again sat down in the Director's chair.
"Sit down." She waved her hand at the chair across from her. Cloud did as he was told.
"E-excuse me for asking, but why did you call me here?" Cloud asked, shifting nervously in his chair.
"I am removing you from Fair's presence during Mako treatments." Cloud's eyes widened, and he leaped up, knocking his chair over.
"N-no! You can't-"
"I can, and I am. He's hurting you Cloud." Sinovia told him flatly. Tears began to well up in the cadet's eyes.
"I-I know it isn't real." he sniffled. "But even if it's a lie, it's better then nothing."
"Cloud, there are much better choices for you out there. What if it goes too far?" Cloud blushed.
"W-well...it's...ah.." Sinovia groaned.
"I can tell if you lie. Goddess, he doesn't love you. No matter what, he will never want you the way you want him too." The cadet burst into a new round of tears.
"B-but I love him." he choked out.
"No, you don't." She stood, and placed her hands on the desk, leaning over to look the spiky haired man in the face. "You are NOT gay Cloud." He winced.
"How do you know?" Sinovia played with the hem of her shirt, thinking.
"Are you really going to play that with me, Cloud?" Sinovia grinned with mischief. "I was looking around a certain cadet's room.." she leaned over the desk. "..and I found some lovely magazines. I suppose you won't be needing them then?"
"So you took them!" He immediately rose, angry. Then he realized that Sinovia was grinning at him. "..you didn't take them, did you?"
"Oh, I took them. I just cut and pasted the pictures into Genesis' copy of Loveless. I do hope he enjoys." Cloud looked at Sinovia with horror, and she proceeded to clean her nails disinterestedly.
"You..you.." he pointed at her. "How could you?!" Sinovia shrugged.
"Scientists are naturally curious as to how a new element reacts with a stable environment. Do you think he'll blame Zachary? " Cloud was beginning to turn a furious red color, that Sinovia was enjoying immensely. "I'll make you a deal. If you go out tonight and have fun with a nice girl, I'll remove them before Genesis knows. I'll even buy you new ones." An indecisive look crossed the cadets face.
"Well.." he scratched his head. "..it's not that easy."
"Nonsense! Women love a man in uniform." Sinovia sat back into the chair, and leaned back, her feet resuming their previous post. "Then we can see if you really like guys. If that's the case, then I'll help you get Zachary." Cloud, whose head had begun to sink down so his eyes could stare at his scuffed boots, snapped back up.
"Really?!" He coughed. "I mean...you promise?" Sinovia rose her right hand.
"On my SOLDIER honor." Cloud nodded.
"Then it's a deal." He began to leave but Sinovia called him back.
"Before you go." She handed him a slip of paper.
"What's this? " he inspected it. "A paper excusing me from duty for a check-up and meal revision?"
"Good job at pointing out the obvious Strife. Good day." She flapped her hand at him. He gave a curt bow, and left. Sinovia shook her head, remembering the neat stack of naughty magazines on her bedside table. Silly boy. She silently hoped Sephiroth wouldn't be looking around her room in the near future. "Good thing I don't place too much value on 'honor'."
"What was that all about?" Reno asked as the Turks reentered. Sinovia shrugged.
"He's overdue for a few of the shots required for military personnel." She shuffled through the papers on the desk, suddenly feeling important. It was probably the desk.
"Ugh, I forgot about those." Reno groaned. Sinovia rose an eyebrow.
"You're in the same situation then." She shook her head, resting her forehead on her clasped hands."The way things are done around here will be changing. No wonder we're losing the war against the Wutai. I bet half of the fighting force being deployed is injured or ill." She muttered the last part.
"Don't worry too much about it." Reno scratched his head. "Did you have any plans for today?"
"I always have plans. They've been decidedly ruined though." Sinovia sent him a questioning look. "Why? Did you have an escape plan?"
"One or two. Unless you aren't willing to risk it." He grinned at her, issuing the words as if they were a challenge. Sinovia restrained the urge to tell him off. She was older then him by at least two hundred years, after all.
"I'm not frightened by risk." She rolled her shoulder, letting her hand drop idly over the side of the chair. The other fell to the other side, playing with the bolts. Feeling her magic rise to her fingertips, she paused, before grasping the bolt and turning it slightly. A barely audible squeak escaped as she turned it. Her magic had been looking for anyway to escape recently.
"Then let's go." Sinovia stood, readjusting the height of the chair to 'Lazard' level.
"Well, how are we 'going'?" Sinovia asked.
"Through the front door. No one's going to stop us." Cissnei explained.
"No, no one will stop you. I am under lock down." Sinovia really enjoyed humans, but sometimes they could be a little dense.
"All we have to do is disguise you. You can pull off a cadet with ease." Reno spoke as if explaining it to a child.
"Considering those hideous helmets, it could work." She ignored Reno's tone of voice, opting to think on the idea. If she was caught, it could be bad. But if she could get outside, it would be an easy task to rid herself of the Turk escorts and make her way to Nibelheim. Once there, she could claim she got lost, and was kidnapped by Wutai troops as a hostage. "Let's do it then, shall we? I will need a cadet uniform though." The Turks began chatting happily at this, one volunteering to sneak one from the lockers. Sinovia decided to take a little more time with looking through the numerous stacks of paper. A lot of material on secret military projects, but nothing of any interest to her. The only thing that caught her eye was a list of people. Her own name had been circled, and had several small black dots on it as if someone had tapped a pen against it while thinking. Off to the side, notes were written in pristine handwriting that she didn't identify as the Director's.
"Cissnei." She beckoned the Turk over.
"Yes?" She leaned over to look at where Sinovia was pointing. "Why's your name circled?"
"I don't know, that's another question I am looking forward to getting the answer to. What I'm wondering is whose handwriting this is." Cissnei inspected it a little closer.
"It doesn't look as if it belongs to anyone employed by ShinRa. If you want, we can run it against the database." Sinovia nodded, trying to make out the words.
"His..weakness...my...weakness.." She read aloud. "Whose weakness?" She poked the paper, as if that would coax the secrets from it. Sighing, she handed it to Cissnei, who in turn handed it off to the Turk who had returned with the uniform, giving his directions on what to do. Sinovia nodded as she was handed the uniform, and went off to the side room where infantryman change to well..change. Looking at herself in the mirror, she shook her head. Her underwear would protect her just as well, or maybe better, then this low grade armor. She stepped back into Lazard's room, and the chattering went quiet. Sinovia took the helmet from Cissnei, sliding it on her head.
"You look like a cadet all right." Cissnei looked Sinovia up an down. Spotting something, she pulled the helmet off, and shoved Sinovia's ponytail up, before placing the insufferable object over her head again.
"Ugh. Do they ever clean this helmet? It smells disgusting." Sinovia complained.
"Maybe once or twice a week." If she wasn't wearing the helmet, they would have seen her face scrunch up in distaste.
"Second thing on my list of things to do. Make sure that sanitation requirements are met." Sinovia's voice echoed inside the helmet and it made the Turks giggle. She rolled her eyes, following the others. Once or twice she stumbled over her own feet, the metal clanking as she walked along. Sinovia silently prayed that Sephiroth wouldn't come looking for her anytime in the near future. It wouldn't do any good if he found her goofing off in town when she wasn't supposed to be leaving the building at all. Though she could guess that'd he be out for the count for the next day or two. However, if her intial plan of leaving for Nibelheim was put in motion, then there was no way that she'd get off scot free with the first. She'd have to try her luck, so it seemed.
It had been relatively simple to get out of the building without being caught. In fact, she walked right past just about everyone. Sinovia was beginning to think that not a single person there had half a brain. No wonder assasins could get past their pathetically weak and oblivious guard. Who wore their helmets inside, anyway? It was ridiculous. Better yet, she was walking with Turks. Turks and SOLDIER members didn't take friendly walks with each other on a daily basis.
"That was stupid." Sinovia commented once they were safely away from the building, for lack of better wording. "I am beginning to wonder how these men tie their own shoes, let alone protect me."
"That's harsh yo." Reno told her in response, keeping a sharp eye out for SOLDIER personnel. Sinovia snorted, tugging at the gloves on her hands, slowly peeling them off. The next thing to go was the disgusting helmet that she handed to a nearby Turk, gloves neatly stuffed inside.
"Thanks for helping me escape." Sinovia said, scuffing the boots on the brickwork street. "Kind of a shame, really."
"A shame? What is?" Cissnei asked. Sinovia shrugged, looking around for a means to slip away. The entire reason she had wanted to escape was in order to find a way to Nibelheim. Now was the hard part. Sinovia shoved her hands in her pockets, craning her head and letting her hair fall in a curtain between her and the Turks. They were a pretty watchful bunch, and there was no way they were going to let her just walk off. Nor was she going to try that. It was a suicide mission if she had ever heard of one. Perhaps her magick could help her out.
It seemed like luck was on her side. People were not happy with ShinRa. The Turks worked for ShinRa. It was easy enough to incite a riot among the people, with a little bit of coercion to their subconcious. In the midst of the small battle, Sinovia slipped away, making sure that no one saw her duck into an alley.
`It had been easy. Almost too easy, now that she thought about it. Sinovia narrowed her eyes, looking up at the overhangs. It could be a set up, now that she thought about it. In fact, she could see this entire thing orchestrated to see where she would go if she had free reign. Perhaps to see if she was spying for a foreign country?
With this in mind, she changed her course. Sneaking off would do no good if this was the case. Instead, she headed towards her old home. Down the road from it, there was a small tea shop that she had visited ever since she came to this place, and that she continued to visit as the centuries went on. Naturally she became suspicious, and ended up being found out by the human family that ran the small shop, though they were rather loyal, for what they were. Besides that, they had fished her out of the river on the day she nearly drowned, so she owed it to them to trust what they said. Sinovia took a deep breath, removing the helmet turning her head up to the bright blue of the sky.
It was the first day of Spring, and she had gotten herself into a predicament. On the edge of the banks of the river, a tree had a bee's nest sitting among the branches. Sinovia had foolishly taken a broom to them, and they were not pleased in the least. Sinovia was backed up to the crumbling edge of the river, viciously swinging her broom around in anger, nearly winning. That is, until the soil underneath her collapsed and she fell into the water. Sputtering, she had surfaced several times, only to be forced back underneath the water. About a mile down the winding waters path, she had fainted from lack of oxygen, only to awaken on the banks, curious faces looking at her, and concerned voices asking if she was alright. She had been fine, but the kindness was appreciated, as was the warm cup of tea she was treated to.
Cherry trees blossomed on the back of the river, the pink petals gently sailing down the clear water, that had once been so hateful towards her. It was a beautiful sight, with the children added. They were playing in the river that no longer swelled to drown their trees, or flood their shop. It was the least that Sinovia could do, as they did save her life.
The tea shop still stood where she had left it for the last time, one of the several daughters of the owner's busying herself outside of the shop with the small group of flowers, their long pink petals overhanging the small garden's fence, dripping towards the ground. It had been awhile since she had visited, and she had barely taken a step into the fence before she felt a presence behind her that she was all too used too, hearing the clack of those heeled, leather boots.
"Hello Angeal." She turned to face them, a pleasant smile on her face. "Would you like to join me for tea?"
A/N: I just keep leaving you with cliffhangers. Keeps you hooked, right? What good is a chapter without a reason to keep you reading? It's nice to see people like what I write, by the way, and I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me this entire time. It means a lot to me :') Feel free to leave a review, favorite, and follow to see where this yellow brick road ends! (Harharhar)