Chapter XXI
Five days after arriving, the attack force, commonly being called the Army of Wutai in an optimistic hope that they would soon be occupying the nation, was nearing completion. Sephiroth now stood on a hill looking down at the large army, numbering near 150,000 men. The usual metal barrack buildings were too few to house all of these soldiers, so the majority of them were camping out in the fields. While the majority of this army was conscripts for the regular army, 500 members of the force were members of SOLDIER. Sephiroth had spoken to the Captains of the squads of SOLDIER, and expressed to them that they were to be his personal army when they attacked the beaches of Wutai, and then advance to Mount Hitoyama.
Though there were roughly 125 squads, he organized them into three main companies, and hand picked three Captains to become his Colonels in the field.
As Sephiroth watched, the three Companies of SOLDIER were all drilling in one fashion or another. Sephiroth could see that his 500 man SOLDIER army was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Though there were airplanes and helicopters taking off constantly, the low resonating hum of a long range helicopter caught his attention. Sephiroth saw the helicopter begin to land closer to the town, and knew who it was that had arrived. Quickly he came down from the hill and got into the small transport that Locke was driving.
"Done sight seeing boss?" Locke asked as he started the engine. Sephiroth merely glanced at Locke before he pointed to the descending helicopter.
"Drive there." Locke nodded and put the transport into gear. When they arrived, the helicopter's propellers were just winding down and the side passenger hatch was opening. From inside, the lumbering form of Cinna came out carrying a large box, with a look on his face as if he were about to be sick. Locke patted Cinna on the back and showed a face of mock concern.
"Hey, you all right? You don't look like you enjoy helicopter rides too much, now do you?" Locke asked. Cinna tried to lightly laugh, but his queezy stomach said otherwise. Sephiroth made a motion with his hand for Cinna to approach, and the weapon-smith came up to him carrying the long box. Cinna placed the box on the hood of the transport and began to undo the tie straps that were holding the package together. Doing this seemed to make Cinna forget his upset stomach.
"All right! Now this metal was a lot harder to work with than I anticipated, but I swear on my own mother's grave that this sword won't ever break! I call it the Masamune." Cinna pulled the long deadly blade out of the box and presented it to Sephiroth. Sephiroth took it in his left hand and marveled at its long blade that seemed to ask for blood to be put on it. Both Locke and Cinna were taken back when they saw a genuine smile come across Sephiroth's face.
To test out his new blade, Sephiroth quickly gripped the sword in both of his hands, and quickly brought it over his shoulder in a massive swing, but stopped short of hitting the ground. Though the sword weighed more than a normal person would be able to handle, Sephiroth was able to bring the massive blade to a stop instantly. Sephiroth then looked to Cinna, and gave him a satisfactory nod. Cinna's face turned into one big grin at finally being able to produce a blade that Sephiroth was happy with.
Sephiroth held the sword in his left hand with the blade going behind him and caught Locke's attention. "Make sure Cinna gets the best room in the town Inn. He's had a long trip and deserves a rest before he heads back," and then Sephiroth walked towards his command building. Locke shrugged and patted Cinna on the back.
"That's one hell of a sword you must have made to put him in that good of a mood." Cinna, while sporting a large satisfied grin, shrugged and Locke led him towards the town Inn.
Sephiroth entered his Command office and strode over to his desk. Staff members were busy filing reports and supply requests and barely looked up when he entered, but they took a second look when they saw the massive sword in his hand. When Sephiroth sat down, he placed his new blade on his desk and began to quickly read over the reports and orders that were in his In Box. As he quickly signed a few of the orders, Loran came up and leaned over on his desk, looking at his new sword. The blade itself was a bright steel color that was perfectly straight. The handle was wrapped in a blue dyed ray skin and the pommel was made of polished brass. She let out a low whistle as she took in the sight of the massive Masamune. Sephiroth looked up from his papers and lightly smirked.
"May I?" Loran asked as she pointed at the sword. Sephiroth lightly nodded and continued to read over the papers, but looked at Loran without raising his head. She picked the massive sword up and held it with both hands in front of her in the ready stance that they had taught her in training camp. To her, the blade did feel balanced, but it was still immensely heavy. She looked around to make sure no one was in the way and took a practice swing. She tried to stop the blade mid swing, but the momentum from the heavy sword tipped her off balance. She was able to catch herself, but she felt embarrassed, so she placed the sword back on the table.
"Are you sure you're going to be able to use that thing?" she asked. Sephiroth looked up and smirked.
"Of course," was all he said before he went back to his work. Loran shook her head and sat on the edge of the desk with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I guess you'd be the only one who could." Sephiroth lightly looked up for a second, and after realizing that she was not going to leave, he asked a question.
"Where's Bakusa?" Loran shrugged and motioned with her head in the direction off the door.
"Last I saw he was chasing after a group of female Shinra MPs." Sephiroth let out a single sound that could have been taken for a laugh.
"Humph. One day he's going to get in trouble for that."
"He's never got into trouble about that with you?" Loran asked. Sephiroth briefly looked up from signing another order and shrugged.
"It's never interfered with a mission before. Maybe you should go check on him, we all need to be uninjured for the invasion." Loran nodded and then got off of his desk to head out of the Command office. Sephiroth took the signed stack of orders and placed them in his Out Box. He stood from his desk before more orders came, picked up his Masamune, and went outside to watch the troops prepare for the invasion.
At dusk, Sephiroth stood on his hill watching the troops prepare to depart for the southern front. As he watched the Shinra troopers board their transport ships, Admiral Braeburn walked up the hill and stood next to him.
"Sir, the troops should be ready to depart within the hour. The rest of the army will arrive shortly with the remaining transport ships," Braeburn said. Sephiroth briefly looked to the Admiral and nodded.
"They arrived here earlier than expected," Sephiroth said, more like a statement than a question.
"Yes sir, I told them to get here as quickly as they could, or I would hold them personally responsible." Sephiroth smirked and then turned to face the Admiral.
"How long until they reach the southern front?" The Admiral did some quick mental calculations and then answered.
"They'll land in four hours and will be at the front in six."
"How long will the trip from here take to the main landing site?"
"Six hours sir." Sephiroth smirked at the quick efficiency of the Admiral and began to make his way down the hill.
"We depart at dawn for the main invasion. Admiral, you can use the Highwind as your command vessel. It'll have a better vantage point than any other ship." Braeburn nodded and gave a salute, then gave one final look at the troop transport ships before leaving the hill himself.
In the mess hall, the rest of Sephiroth's squad was sitting with the other members of SOLDIER eating their last meal before the mission. Loran lifted a spoonful of the green sludge that was supposed to be trout almandine and let it fall back onto the plate. Locke, who was laughing to himself at the ongoing failure of Bakusa's romantic conquest, noticed Loran's mood of melancholy and decided that he could stand it no more.
"So Loran, what's up? You've been moping about since we got here." Loran lightly shrugged and shook her head dejectedly.
"It's nothing, really," she said and tried to leave it at that. Locke squinted at Loran as a smirk came across his face and he then shook his head.
"Na, I've seen that look plenty of times before. If I had to guess, I'd say you've got romantic feelings for someone who doesn't have them back, am I right?" Loran quickly looked at Locke and wondered how it was that he knew her secret that she thought that she had been hiding so well. Locke saw her expression and let out a small laugh.
"Hey, Bakusa's the dim witted one remember?" They both shared a light laugh, and Bakusa, at hearing his name, broke away from his flirting long enough to ask if he had heard his name.
"You say my name?"
"Na, it must have been that red head who just walked by," Locke said as he gave a silent wink to Loran. Bakusa quickly looked around and gave Locke a pat on the back.
"Oh yea, I like those red heads. Watch me go put the moves on," Bakusa said as he ran his hand through his hair and checked his breath and then got up to go find the mystery girl. When he was gone, Loran took in a deep breath and stirred her sludge.
"So am I that transparent?" Locke took a drink from his plastic cup and shook his head.
"No not really. So have you talked to him about it?" Loran was about to say that she had tried, but she paused when she realized that she had never said who it was.
"Talked to who?" she said in a conspiratorial way. Locke smiled again and lightly shrugged.
"Well, it's pretty easy to figure out. It's not me cause we're sitting here talking about it, and it's not Bakusa, unless you've totally lost your mind. So that really only leaves one person, am I right?" Loran lightly smirked and nodded her head. Locke nodded and whipped his hands on his napkin.
"So have you talked to him about it?" Loran leaned her head on her hand and shook her head.
"No, I tried, but I ended up just getting into an argument with him about something totally different." Locke shrugged and leaned back in his chair. He took in a deep breath before he gave his advice.
"Well, I'll be honest with you. In the two years that I've been in his squad, I've seen plenty of girls take an interest in him, but he's never really paid them the time of day. He talks to you a lot more than any other girl he's been around. I guess if he were interested in a girl, it'd be you. Hell, me and Bakusa have been giving the boss hell for all the small things between you two. But, in all honesty, I don't see Sephiroth settling down with a girl anytime soon. But don't let it get you down, just stick with it and something's bound to happen. I wouldn't go rushing off and tell him though; he's not really the kind that would know what to do about that. He'd probably act really awkward around you. That's what happened when a secretary tried to give him a Valentine's Day card last year. It was funny really; he'd go out of his way to avoid seeing her for six months. She finally got transferred to the Turks so that ended that." Loran lightly laughed at the thought and gave Locke a smile.
"You know, you're really easy to talk to." Locke shrugged and scratched the back of his head as his face turned a slight shade of red. Loran let out a soft laugh at Locke's embarrassment but she stopped short when Sephiroth sat down next to her at the table. Locke put his toothpick in his mouth and gave Loran a quick wink before he turned to look around for Bakusa. Sephiroth ran his fork through the green mass and grimaced.
"What's this supposed to be?" he said as he leaned over to smell it.
"I think it's supposed to be trout almandine," Loran said as she stifled a laugh at Sephiroth's expression as he reeled back from the mystery meat.
"Well I'll be damned," Locke said as he saw Bakusa came walking back with a large smile on his face.
"Score one for the B-Man! I've got a date lined up with that red head when we get back from Wutai!" Locke shook his head in disbelief and Loran tried to stop from laughing. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and then smirked before he said what came to his mind.
"Good, now you have a reason to get back from the invasion in one piece." Bakusa winced in a melodramatic fashion and clutched both of his hands to his heart.
"Oh, that was cold boss! As if I wouldn't give a hundred and ten percent normally. But now that you mention it, I can be a major hero and really impress the ladies."
"Well," Locke said as he shook his head, "at least you can think of something to motivate you to go to battle. Me, it's saving the world from utter destruction, but whatever works for you." Loran could not hold her laughter in any more and erupted in a frenzy of laughter. Locke began to laugh once he heard her start, and even Bakusa began to laugh, even if it was at his own expense. Sephiroth smirked, but a light chuckle did come from him as he shook his head at his squad. It was a welcome light moment before the battle that they all knew would be coming.