L o y a l S O L D I E R

Mikan's POV 3

Angeal was gone. My own brother--my flesh and blood--had betrayed me and our family and had ran off with Genesis, the branded traitor of ShinRa. To tell you the truth, I was at my wits' end, stuck inbetween the choices of joining my brother and mentor, or investigating the matter more and settling things the right and "honorable" way.

Honor... Dreams...

What a load of crap.

My past beliefs were now shattered and my attitude grew bitter. Zack, who I could tell wanted to sympathize with me, was avoiding my prescence and gaze on the SOLDIER floor and training room, quickly heading in the opposite direction or awkwardly averting his attention to the closest person to him. If he pissed me off before, now he was just an irritating gnat. I didn't want sympathy, I wanted answers.

I then ran into Akkun Rutherford.

o0o

Akkun was a strange kid. He didn't studdder nor flinch, like most rookies did. Instead, he looked forward with an unshaken resolve. He also had luck on his side, with the whole "gunshot to the ribs" incident, and bumping into me on one of my lighter moods, too. And his desire to make his way into SOLDIER with my help utterly stunned me...

No one had ever requested my help with such confidence before. That, in itself, gained him the privilege to be my pupil and I immediately started his training.

"Mikan," Akkun said after a short sparring match in the training room, "what is that 'back door' you mentioned?"

I smirked remembering that first conversation we had. "It's simple really--you catch the attention of Director Lazard, the head of SOLDIER, and become a Third Class. From there, all I have to do then is entusiastically boast about your feats and skills and you'll reach First Class in no time."

Akkun said nothing.

Sensing his skepticism, I added, "What? Don't trust me?"

"Honestly," he replied, "I don't trust your motives. Why are you putting forth so much effort on me?"

He snagged me.

"Well," I tried to recover, "to tell you the truth, I want to prove something..."

"Which is...?"

I paused, the realization hitting me like a ton of bricks. "I want to prove that honor and dreams have nothing to do with becoming successful in life. All it takes is connections and determination."

From the expression on Akkun's face, I could tell that he had mixed feelings about my latter statement.

"It's not too late if you want to drop out," I offered.

He blinked and gave a straight-forward smirk. "Hey, I like the idea of a two-sided beneficial effort. There's no way I'm going to back down from this once in a lifetime chance!"

Now that I liked to hear.

As we trained into the afternoon, my cell phone suddenly beeped viciously in my pocket and I rapidly whipped it out. Flicking it open with practiced ease, I clicked my inbox and found a personnel announcement waiting for me. It read:

Personnel Announcement 0103

This is an official notifictaion of the change in status for the following personnel.

Angeal Hewley - SOLDIER 1st Class:

Killed in action

Genesis Rhapsodos - SOLDIER 1st Class:

Killed in action

The hand that hekd my cell phone was trembling while the other lost grip of the sword in my possession and my feet dashed me out of the training room without warning.

It seems now that I really wished I had joined Genesis and Angeal afterall...

o0o

Ah, yes... I have a confession to make...

It's really hard to write the interactions between Akkun and Mikan...X'D The dialogue always seems so awkward between them...(well it does to me anyway.) I don't mean for it to sound so strange but these two just have a strong connection to one another on a incredibly deep scale. ^^;; Yeah! Yah.

Well, Zack's up next... I hope he can clear up all of the emo-nemo-ness!! XO

Please review, wark!