Chapter 14: To Wutai
Br. Br.
Kairi lay on her bed, contemplating not picking up her PHS. After that last mission, she really didn't feel like dealing with people at the moment. Then again, someone somewhere would probably throw a hissy fit if she didn't. With a heavy sigh, she sat up, reached for her PHS on the bed-stand, flicked it open, saw a text message, opened it...
...and stared at it blankly.
Standing orders from Lazard: The ceasefire with Wutai has been broken. You are shipping out to Wutai with the next detachment of SOLDIER. Report to the ground floor tomorrow morning at 0600 hours. Bring nothing but your weapon, your materia, any usable items you may have, and the clothes on your back. All else will be provided on-site in Wutai.
Numbness set in. "They're... I'm..."
She was going to fight in a war?
Her stomach clenched tightly. War had long since stopped being a thing of stories and fiction to her. She had heard enough SOLDIERs who had served in the Wutai War speaking in the cafeteria, of what it was actually like.
Screaming.
Fire.
Gore.
Chaos.
Death.
And so much more, all of it bad. There was nothing romantic about slaughter. Nothing glorious about killing people who were trying to defend their homeland. No comradeship in watching those you fought alongside die one by one...
"And there is no point bemoaning about it," cut in Mother.
Kairi scowled at that.
"Would you rather keep whining or start preparing yourself child?" scolded Mother.
Kairi crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah yeah..."
She frowned, staring at her PHS silently. "Fighting in the middle of a war wasn't exactly what I expected to be doing when I hit my sweet sixteen. Wonder if I'll even remember the day when it arrives."
She slowly shook her head. "Would have rather had a party, invited over Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Sora, Riku, everyone really."
"Crave not what was lost my child," whispered Mother, "It will only weigh you down."
She started to do a little research on Wutai and the war on her PHS. At an overview, Wutai was situated on a heavily mountainous and forested continent. The outskirts of the continent were mostly cliffs, save for a beach to the far south where Shinra was attacking from, and a few heavily defended beaches closer to the capital that were near impossible to maintain a beachhead on. She glanced over a map on her PHS and contemplated it, as a SOLDIER, she had access to a bit more information that the public, and marked on the map was how far inland SOLDIER had made it. The war had been going on since 1992 apparently, and it was now half way through 1997. Five and roughly a half years later and Shinra had pushed Wutai almost solely back onto their own continent and cut roughly half-way through the south part of Wutai.
She scrolled over a few brief battle reports, most major victories over the last few years were attributed to one of the trio, mostly Sephiroth, sometimes Genesis or Angeal. From what she could tell, the only time Shinra really made any progress was when one of the trio was over there. There were so many choke points on mountains that pushing through that way appeared to be heavily costly. On the other hand, the lower paths through the mountains were forest, and Shinra was heavily susceptible to guerilla warfare there. Wutai's Ninja's, especially their famed 'Crescent Unit', were rightly feared in the forests, and even in mountain caves. In short, it seemed to be an awful grueling slaughter to push through just for the sake of setting up a Mako Reactor in Wutai.
Which she could admit really pissed her off. Call it whatever they wanted, hide it behind victorious war stories and tales of Sephiroth's feats, greed was still greed. It was the only reason the war had started. It seemed so pointless to her, on both sides. Was it really worth it to engage in a war for such a thing, or to resist and start a war to repel it? She didn't honestly know, she hadn't read up that much on Mako Reactors, she didn't know what the big deal was.
"There are two main reasons I've determined. By allowing a Mako Reactor there, Shinra would have held complete economic domination over the nation," explained Mother in a dismissive tone, "Not to mention the effects bleeding the planets lifeblood out with reactors has on the environment. I don't particularly care about the second one except on principle, as I can personally think of much better and delicious uses for the lifestream then to be wasted as fuel."
Kairi's eyebrows furrowed, a little confused on what Mother meant by 'delicious', but dismissed the thought. "How'd you figure that out?"
"By poking around in the heads of those who bear my cells," said Mother.
"Well that's useful to be able to do," murmured Kairi.
Mother chuckled darkly but said nothing else.
Kairi resumed her reading, rubbing her eyes tiredly. There were a few small scattered villages along the way to the ultimate objective of the war: Fort Tamblin. That fort blocked off the entrance into the capital area of Wutai. If it was taken, then the war was pretty much over from what she read. If Shinra wasn't stuck in mountains or forests, and got into the flat capital area where they would actually be able to use their machines and artillery, not to mention be out of the mountain choke-points, it was assumed Wutai's leadership would surrender.
Speaking of leadership...
She flicked open a photo of Godo Kisaragi, the leader of the nation of Wutai. He was depicted as a serious looking man, dressed in a purple kumono with a black trim over a white robe, held closed by a white sash. He had black hair and eyes, a pointed mustache, beard, and oddly, eyebrows as well. His clothes made it a bit difficult to get a ready on his body, she couldn't catch a glimpse of muscle under those long white sleeves. Though, he had been reported leading a few battles directly earlier in the war, and was said to be able to fight SOLDIERs. Whether that meant 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class, she didn't know. Curiously, it seemed that before the current ceasefire, the man had trailed off his appearances in the war.
His wife, Kasumi Kisigari, had no recent photo's available. Before the war, she was said to have been a beautiful woman and a gifted speaker. There was a note that the woman had suffered sickness during her pregnancy, and had never fully recovered. She became susceptible to sickness, and dropped off public appearances shortly after the birth of her daughter. Kairi wondered briefly if that might be why Godo had been scarce and even tried for the ceasefire, to tend to his wife. Romantic idea, but who knows.
Kairi flicked to the next picture, of a five year old Yuffie Kisigari who...
She blanked for a moment. Was this picture taken on a BATTLEFIELD? She stared, mouth agape, at a series of images taken by a scout that depicted a young black haired child going through the aftermath of a battle and picking around for items. Then, of the girl being chased by, yet eluding, what Kairi assumed to be the girl's Ninja guardians. Kairi didn't know if she should laugh or cry at the image. A child should be nowhere near such a place, yet the sight of her mischievously evading her guard made Kairi want to giggle.
She slowly shook her head and rubbed her eyes again, yawning a bit. "Bleh... screw it, time to sleep."
Kairi set an alarm for 0530 hours, tossed her PHS onto the bed-stand and pulled her covers up to sleep...
...and awoke to the alarm the next morning.
Kairi sighed heavily, grabbed a spare set of clothes, showered, and got ready. She briefly checked over her equipment: The rapier that Genesis had given her, the 3rd class uniform she wore, a Restore materia, a Fire materia, a Bolt materia, and a Barrier materia she had picked up during her time being watched by Zack. She had a few basic items, some potions and a single phoenix down, but nothing else. She only had a little pack she attached to her hip to keep things in after all, couldn't fit much in there.
Well... guess she was ready then, or, as ready as she could be. Kairi walked out of her room and paused, noting a number of SOLDIERs already making their way across the SOLDIER floor towards the elevators. She slipped into a gap in the mess of bodies and followed wordlessly. She had no one to wait to say goodbye to after all. She considered it a small blessing she was up a little earlier than normal so she didn't have Zack waiting outside her door for her. She didn't want to bother seeing or arguing with him. She had her orders, and despite not wanting to go to Wutai, she wasn't going to be late because of him.
All the SOLDIERs shipping out assembled in the bottom floor in a neat and orderly fashion. She noted a number of troop transports outside, some loading infantry, some simply waiting for them. She refocused on a man standing in front of them, and smiled softly to see it was Genesis, Loveless opened and held in one hand for him to read while he waited.
The moment 0600 rolled around Genesis spoke, "When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end, the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar, she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting..."
Yep. Leave it to Genesis to start quoting Loveless in front of an assembly of SOLDIERs off to war.
Genesis snapped the book close and practically glared at the gathered SOLDIERs. "That's as close to a speech you sorry lot are going to get. You are not infantry or raw recruits, you are SOLDIERs, veterans or not you don't need a pep talk. Get the hell in the transports before I fry you all."
Kairi wanted to laugh, same old Genesis, but thought better of it, starting forward with the rest of them. Genesis's eyes passed over the group with disdain as they walked until they saw and locked onto her.
There was a slight furrowing of his eyes before he called out, "Apprentice."
Kairi paused and changed directions, getting a few glances from the other SOLDIERs, but ignoring them. "Sir."
Genesis blinked once and scowled. "Sir? Come now apprentice has it really been so long that we no longer know one another? I'm insulted."
Kairi's face twitched briefly with amusement, at least until a near hostile look crossed the man's face. "What exactly are you doing here?"
"I had orders to be down here to ship out to Wutai," she said, "Same as everyone else I imagine."
There was a hint of disbelief in his eyes before he held out his hand. She fished out her PHS, opened it, got her orders on screen, and handed it over.
Genesis glanced at it for a moment before a delightful glee entered his eyes. "So you are! Ah, reunited at last my apprentice, Nothing would forestall your return."
"Act three, kind of, you paraphrased it," said Kairi, feeling herself start to fall back into the routine they used to have.
Genesis waved dismissively and handed back her PHS. "Come apprentice, you are riding with me."
"I have a name aside from 'apprentice' you know, and I haven't even been that for damn near half a year," said Kairi, following in behind him.
Genesis scoffed. "Once my apprentice always my apprentice, it's in your walk, your speech, your fighting style, your very soul now."
He shot her a quick glare. "It better be anyway."
She raised her chin and an unimpressed eyebrow. "If you say so."
That merely made him grin. "You see? There is the superiority I instilled in you. Oh I'm going to have such fun sicking you on the Wutai."
"That makes two of us," whispered Mother with equal glee.
Kairi rolled her eyes and climbed into the front-most transport with Genesis and a few other SOLDIERs. They sat in the frontmost seats across from one another.
Genesis hummed in thought for a moment before critically eyeing her. "I can't imagine you improved as much under the droll of the 'puppy' and basic monster missions."
Kairi shrugged, a heavy frown crossing her face. "A little bit, probably not as much as I would have if someone hadn't taken me on a crazy dragon slaying mission and gotten me removed from their keeping."
Genesis placed a hand against his chest. "My apprentice you wound me. There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the goddess, Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds."
"Act two," said Kairi, unimpressed, before countering, "My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey, In my own salvation, and your eternal slumber."
Genesis threw back his head and laughed. "Act four, well played apprentice, well played."
There was a groan down the transport. "Are you two going to quote Loveless the entire way to Wutai?"
Genesis scowled. "I wasn't planning on it but if you insist I'm sure we can make it a point to quote it every other sentence."
There was a chorus of 'please no' from the other SOLDIERs.
Genesis turned to Kairi. "What do you think apprentice? Shall we enlighten these uneducated neanderthals?"
There was a merciless gleam in her eye. "Lets."
For the next few hours, Genesis and Kairi passed his Loveless back and forth, quoting and discussing it with one another. When they arrived at Junon, their transport was the first to empty. It was a petty vengeance she supposed, but oh how she enjoyed it. Though, the mini-Genesis taunting was probably going to start back up in full swing again now.
"All forms of vengeance, no matter how small, are things to be treasured my child," said Mother with approval, "They are stepping stones for bigger and greater acts of revenge."
Kairi hummed in agreement and stepped out of the transport alongside Genesis.
"That was fun AND educational," said Genesis with devious glee, watching the SOLDIERs vanish into the collective mess.
"Only way it could have been better was if we could have forced Zack to listen to it for hours on end cooped up in the transport," said Kairi before frowning, "Then again, that would mean I'd have to deal with him, so no thanks."
Genesis turned his head slightly, his voice lowering, "I warned them to have someone else watch you, they didn't listen. You have my apologies."
Kairi's shoulders slumped at his words. "So... you really do know. Do you think I'm..."
"Crazy?" said Genesis lazily, "Kairi, all SOLDIERs are crazy in some way, shape, or form. To be honest, all of Shinra is crazy as far as I'm concerned. You going off on a batch of monsters means nothing to me, especially when there have been no repeat incidents or hints of an encore. Forget the past my apprentice, hold your head high and push forward, shoving others who would bare you out of your way."
Kairi searched his face and eyes for a moment, hunting for deceit or judgement, but, he showed nothing, and that made her relax. "Alright."
"Come, we wouldn't want our ship to leave without us," said Genesis, starting forward.
Kairi followed in his wake, shifting to a position she hadn't taken behind him to his right in months. It felt... good... to have someone to talk to, to interact with again...
"Do I not count?" hissed Mother bitingly.
Kairi's eyes furrowed. "You're my Mother, that's a granted."
There was an outraged undignified huff. "I see my affections are unappreciated!"
"Well we did only start talking again yesterday," pointed out Kairi.
"It's not my fault you didn't beckon me back prior," countered Mother, "You are foolish to trust him so readily, he will betray you like the rest."
The thought made her frown. "He... no, he wont. He doesn't hold what YOU did against me."
"You should listen to your Mother my child," whispered Mother, "Only I am trustworthy."
Kairi rolled her eyes, gave a 'yes Mother' and dropped the subject, allowing Mother to get the last word lest they keep on arguing all the way to Wutai. She walked through the lower part of Junon silently, glancing around. She hadn't actually been in the place before, outside of it yesterday was the closest she came.
She wasn't impressed by what she saw.
It was like the Midgar Slums, just, not as bad. It was obvious there was poverty here. At least it looked like a town rather than a gathering of shacks, tents, and run down buildings.
She didn't comment or say anything though. She had never asked Genesis what he thought about the slums or the state of the people who lived in them. She kind of doubted he cared, sad to say. Or if he did, he didn't deem it to be his problem. Either way, in a crowd of SOLDIER's crowded at a lift up to Upper Junon wasn't the place to ask him.
Genesis, and by extension her, were on the first lift-full of SOLDIERs up. Small perks of being Genesis's favored she supposed. They arrived at the top and started out into the city. It reminded her of Midgar, the upper city was far better off than those who lived below. Was it an intentional design of Shinra's to make it like this? It was... off-putting...
"I've told you before my child, if the people down below cannot haul themselves up, then their is little point in doing it for them, as they will simply fall again," said Mother blandly.
"Really, in those words?" said Kairi dryly, "I seem to recall you calling such people pitiful and telling me not to feel anything for them."
"Well, I was trying to be more considerate of your views, shame on me I suppose for that," jabbed Mother.
Kairi's lips twitched in amusement. "How nice of you, but when you say it like you really don't mean it, then you might as well say what you really want to say."
Mother huffed. "Insufferable child."
"You know you love me," teased Kairi.
Mother grumbled something Kairi couldn't hear, but she paid it no heed. They reached a large ship in the Junon harbor and boarded. Genesis briefly spoke with the captain before dismissing him with a wave of his hand and stalking to the front of the ship. She followed him and stood behind him silently, taking a quick pass over the front area. Large, flat, and with plenty of space that SOLDIERs and sailor's alike seemed to 'magically' want to give Genesis.
"Hopefully this isn't anything like flying in a plane or going on a train," she mused.
Genesis glanced back at her. "You can't seriously have motion sickness, can you? The mako in your system ought to snuff that out."
Kairi shrugged. "I dunno, just being high up in the sky or on a rocky train makes me nervous."
A malicious smile crossed Genesis's face. "Well, unless we get into the middle of a hurricane, or a Wutai boat hits and sinks us on the way to the southern beachhead, we should be fine. Statistically small odds."
Kairi snorted. "You're doing that on purpose."
He turned and placed a hand over his chest. "I have months worth of teasing to catch up on my apprentice, especially considering our month together was spent getting you up to par more than anything else."
Kairi rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah I was bad, I know."
Speaking of which...
"Would anyone mind people sparring up here?" asked Kairi.
Genesis shrugged. "So long as they hold back enough to not destroy anything I don't see why not. If someone singes or gets something on my coat I will throttle them as a warning."
Kairi smirked at that before asking, "Genesis, can we spar? I kind of feel a bit rusty fighting someone else with a sword, I sparred with others on the SOLDIER floor every so often but..."
Genesis had such a smug look on his face that Kairi almost wanted to punch him. "They're not me. I'm flattered."
Kairi drew her sword and swiped at him in response; Genesis drew his blade, countered, disarmed her, and pinned her to the deck in five seconds. "You're right, you ARE rusty. Pride is lost, wings stripped away, the end is nigh. The capability to slaughter monsters is nothing to the art of swordplay."
"Act two," she grumbled, "Now get off!"
Genesis stood up and offered her a hand, she took it and pulled herself up.
Genesis slowly shook his head. "I was planning on simply lazing about but we can't have you getting killed off in Wutai like a green recruit now can we?"
Kairi scowled at him.
He readied his blade. "I hope your ready my apprentice, we have months worth of training for you to catch up on. I intend to cram as much of that into the boat-ride over to Wutai."
She didn't have time to respond before his blade was already swinging through the air towards her...
Review responses:
Tentaclecat: If it's any consolation, the pairing isn't even going to really take into effect until pretty much the end of the story, considering Kairi is fifteen going on sixteen at the moment. There will be no 'love' for quite some time, merely a teacher and an apprentice. Perhaps I should have simply removed the pairing bracket, let it build up to the finale, and then put the pairing bracket in the sequel, as your letting it ruin the story for you before you can even see why it happens. It's not going to just 'instantaneously happen' and thus 'make no sense'. But I degrees, at least you like the story enough to keep reading despite your displeasure ^_^.
Tahio: Hmm. How do I respond to this. Considering both Jenova and Sideous are pure evil manipulators, it fits. Comparing Kairi to Kerrigan is an interesting comparison to make, considering something that's going to happen in the pinnacle of the story, it's a very interesting comparison indeed and has some truth to it, though, I don't imagine Kairi going full-blown 'Queen of Blades'. She won't be a queen though, I can guarantee that. :Teaser:
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Now what will going through a war do to poor Kairi... hmm...