It's only been a year since then but it feels like a lifetime. Remember how happy we all were when we started Beacon? It was all so new, almost like a brand new life, even if some of us were acting cold and distant. You were so nervous at first but just like I knew you would, you found your place and became so happy...
It's quiet without you here and it hurts us to even think of trying to move on. How can we continue without you?
Cloud stepped off the transport bullhead with his duffle bag in hand and his sword carefully wrapped and slung on his back. The majesty of Beacon Academy was truly breathtaking. He could not stop himself from staring in awe at the truly wonderful sights. Vale was already high above Nibleheim in basic life quality but Beacon stood high above the city. Both figuratively and literally. Even though he had only just barely passed the minimum requirements to attend this prestigious school, he was going to work his ass off. He had to if he wanted to be like his hero, the living legend-
Cloud's internal rambling was cut off by a small girl with a very large shuriken shoving past him hard to get to the closest garbage bin and promptly vomit. The first thought through Cloud's mind was pity for whoever was teamed up with someone who got airsick. Having had enough of gawking at the sights Cloud adjusted his sword and started walking up towards the school, his home for the next four years. He did his best to avoid making any contact with other students choosing to walk up to the main hall as quickly as possible. Ghosts of regret were digging into his mind as he pushed through the crowd and began to feel like he was drowning; he was not ready for city life after growing up in Nibelheim.
"Cloud!" He heard a girl's voice call out.
He turned to see a brunette girl in a white tank top and a black skirt running towards him. Just before she stopped and threw her arms around him he realized who it was. It had been years since he had seen her and his childhood friend had really grown; and not just vertically. Cloud knew he had a blush growing on his face from feeling the pressure on his chest. Thankfully Tifa pulled away after a moment and gave him a smile. The blond had to fight every teenage boy instinct to keep his eyes on hers and not look down at Tifa's chest.
"It's so go to see you! I'm so happy you got into Beacon too!" Tifa said cheerfully, nearly squealing with delight at seeing her oldest friend again.
"Y-yeah. Good to see you too, Tifa." Cloud stammered as his gaze drifted away. He was glad to see her but it really knocked him off balance. Not to mention she was gorgeous now and he's not exactly an expert at talking to girls.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot you're not big on the physical contact thing." Tifa apologized nervously "So how did your mom handle it?" Tifa asked without looking to her friend "You getting into Beacon I mean." She felt she had to clarify because she knew what was bundled up on Cloud's back and he had a habit of dwelling on where it came from, though he had skill with the weapon.
"She was very happy. But she cried and told me to call often." Cloud answered almost robotically. He made a silent curse at his anxiety. "Did you um, come here with Master Zangan?"
"Mhm. Said one of the teachers here is an old friend of his." Tifa was cheerful and she had every right to be. He had seen her train and was honestly terrified of the strength her beautiful body hid, a real sleeping dragon all thanks to her mentor. Zangan, though quite old, was the third highest ranked Hunter in all of Midgar and only took Tifa on as a student due to some distant family relation between them.
All of Nibleheim had been over the moon that Tifa was accepted to be one of the first Huntresses in training to be able to leave Midgar in forty years and to attend Beacon no less. They had decorated the center of the village and celebrated the announcement long into the night. On the flip side the town was not as happy about Cloud being accepted. Strife had been a burden of a name because of his father but that did not matter here at Beacon Academy. A fresh start to a promising future almost untouched by his past. But with his old friend standing in front of him, he was at a loss of what to do or say.
"We should get inside." He said quietly and Tifa nodded her agreement, Cloud ignoring the fact Tifa had no bags with her.
Far above the main hall…
"So why the sudden shift in diplomatic stance?" Ozpin asked the stranger from Midgar lands keeping a close eye on the man's gaze, which in turn was carefully regarding Ozpin.
"I have already told you why." The tall Midgar faunus reply.
"You have told me why the kingdom wanted to open the borders. Not why Shinra only now admits Midgar needs the support of the other four kingdoms." Oz watched the general give a remarkable lack of emotional response.
"President Shinra believes now that Midgar is able to stand on its own we do not need to worry about Mantle initiating a hostile takeover." The general of the Midgar military stated. It was too much of a plain statement to Ozpin.
"I take it that line of thinking is from a relatively new member of the Midgar council?" The general nodded to Ozpin. Ozpin was intentionally using forty year old information, just as he assumed the Midgar man was. "And you do not need to worry about Mantle waging war with Midgar. Due to a rather recent event, Mantle is now known as Atlas and is a very close ally. In fact, all four kingdoms are very closely allied, working collectively towards a better future. "
"Some would say peace is just a facade waiting to be removed."
"Indeed. And you, general. Why is your presence part of the conditions?"
"I personally wish to confirm the state of Vale and if Midgar will be welcome at the Vytal Festival. Merely accepting students from around Midgar lands will convince us you're friendly," the general said meaning Ozpin himself "But not if the kingdom is secure or willing to accept us. I mean no offence but I do hope you understand why Shinra wishes to take these precautions."
"I do, General." Ozpin reply with a nod "Forty years is a long time to be isolated and I am honored to accept students from Midgar." he needlessly adjusted his glasses "And honestly I am surprised Shinra was able to persuade the council of Vale." The headmaster of Beacon had a feeling it was something deeper and more sinister than merely well picked words that got Vale to be the host of the nation.
"As am I. Though I've never had the talent to navigate the political minefield and am more than willing to leave those with the skills for it to the talking." The faunus annoyed Ozpin, though he would never let that show, by being entirely unreadable. Even more stone faced than Ironwood.
A light ping noise interrupted them and had Ozpin checking the time on his scroll then looking back to the silver haired faunus "I apologize but I must get moving for the orientation. You are welcome to attend as well."
"Gladly."
In the main Hall…
The students from Midgar were beyond speechless to see the top ranked Huntsman from their kingdom on stage with headmaster Ozpin. It stemmed from the living legend almost never being seen in public unless on a mission and having numerous stunning accolades to his name. Cloud very nearly could not believe the people of Vale had no idea who the silver haired faunus on stage was but the little voice in the back of his head reminded him of the forty year isolation of Midgar. It was only two months ago that Shinra announced the plans to revive the CCT within the unfinished sector of Midgar. But here and now were the main focus to Cloud and he pulled himself out of his musings as Ozpin finished speaking and handed the stage to a blonde woman.
"I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch and I would like to introduce General Sephiroth of Midgar." she said calmly with a hint of sternness "Now as I'm sure you know, we have students from the long isolated kingdom of Midgar with us. It should go without saying that we expect you to welcome them and treat them as equals." The speech went on for a few more minutes longer than Cloud would have liked. He felt all they were doing was putting more pressure on the few from Midgar. Thankfully they were finally dismissed and told to be at the ballroom by nine pm.
As Cloud and Tifa turned to leave the main hall Tifa bumped into a smaller girl who turned and decided to speak rather loudly "Hey! Watch where you're swinging those things." She said with a malicious smirk, clearly meaning Tifa's chest.
Tifa had been about to apologize but scowled and retorted with "Aren't you the girl that puked on the bullhead?" The martial artist crossed her arms under her ample bust "Twice." Cloud was dumbstruck by Tifa's venom. Last he knew she was nice and polite to a fault.
"There is nothing wrong with airsickness!" The smaller girl with black hair and the huge shuriken retorted "It's perfectly normal." she then spun on her heel and stormed off.
Cloud felt the hairs on his neck stand up and turned to face the one watching him. He spotted a girl with black hair, with red highlights, in a black and red outfit next to a tall blonde girl with hair long enough to rival Sephiroth, and a blond boy with some armor and a sheathed sword. The blonde girl said something with a smile and punched the blond boy in the arm, something that made the blond boy facepalm in embarrassment. Just as he turned to leave Tifa saw who he looked at and gave a friendly wave, proceeding to grab his arm and basically drag him over to the trio. Cloud tried to break free but Tifa's grip was stronger than steel.
"Hello!" Tifa called out to the trio "I'm Tifa Lockhart and this is Cloud Strife."
"Hey there. I'm Yang and this is my sister Ruby." The blonde girl reply, giving the girl beside her a nudge with her elbow.
"Hey." Cloud said quietly and awkwardly. Ruby looked between him and the other blond boy.
"Jaune Arc." The boy said as he held out his hand to shake, Cloud accepted the gesture.
"So what do you fight with?" Yang asked the brunette. Tifa raised her arm to the side and flexed.
"Just the hands and these guns." The martial artist said with a smile. Yang's face lit up.
"Nice! Always awesome to meet another fist fighter!" Yang nearly cheered as she reached out to squeeze Tifa's bicep "Nice solid guns to go with your cannons." The blonde nodded approvingly.
The brunette looked confused for a moment "My can-" and immediately from confused to halfway between angry and embarrassed. Yang laughed. Cloud and Jaune shared a confused look.
"You two look like brothers." Ruby said and dropped her gaze to her boots when Jaune and Cloud looked at her "You know. Just a bit. Thought it was funny." She got quieter with each broken sentence.
"Yeah… I guess kinda…" Cloud reluctantly said as his hand subconsciously moved to scratch the back of his neck.
"I wish." Jaune breathed "I have seven sisters so having a brother would have been great. Think dad would say so too."
As awkward as it was, Cloud was glad to have somebody to talk to. He wished he could talk to Yang or Ruby too but just knew there was no way he could yet. Still just an awkward kid around girls and really hoping that would improve soon. A part of him was saying he had to ease into it and train the skill like any other. Probably the memory of his mother saying that time and again.
"Yeah. Tifa and me are the only kids in our families."
"But we're like brother and sister." Tifa added, trying to get Yang to stop talking for a moment.
"Where are you from?" Ruby asked with excessive annunciation, like she had to carefully select and pronounce each word. Cloud understood exactly what that was like. It was rather endearing to meet someone on his level of social awkwardness.
"Nibelheim." He answer without thinking "It's, uh, a village to the west of Midgar."
"Oh wow. Really far from home." Jaune said.
"Well I hope you make it through initiation." Yang said with a smile but saw the question looks from the foreigners "Not everyone that applies to Beacon gets in, y'know. So I hope you Midgar people are as strong as the rest of us."
"Tifa is." Cloud remarked to himself, momentarily forgetting he was around people.
"You'll do great!" Ruby cheered "You and Jaune!"
"Thanks." Both blond boys said.
"So know any good places to eat? I'm starving." Tifa asked.
As the five left the school proper they passed by a black haired girl with an amber gaze and a large bow sitting atop her head leaning against a tree. The group nor the girl paid each other any mind, no more than a brief moment of silver eyes meeting the amber. Blake would often be sitting and reading but opted to try and spot the students from Midgar, admitting she had no idea how they might stand out. Her sharp hearing caught a rustling of cloth from above her and she tracked the sound, discovering a male faunus up in the branches. His lion-like orange tail gently swaying in the air before it curled as he stretched and rolled off the branch, landing on his feet next to her.
"Oh, apologies for nearly hitting you." He said right away.
"It's fine. I knew you wouldn't." Blake remarked with no attachment to her words. She looked him over noting his messy hair with a couple of feathered hairpins, his ochre colored left eye and the closed and scarred right eye, the tattoos on his left shoulder one looking like a stylized XIII and the other a foreign design, the orange colored male halter top and matching pants, gold bangles on his wrists and ankles over elbow length fingerless orange cloth gloves and ankle high sandals. The boy made Blake think of desert tribesmen from a couple of books she has read.
"Nanaki Seto," the boy said while holding out his hand to shake, his tone gentle and polite "Of Cosmo Canyon. I do apologize for not looking before I jumped down."
Blake cautiously shook his offered hand "It's fine, seriously. Blake." He seemed nice enough but so did Adam at first "Cosmo Canyon? Is that in Vacuo?"
"Midgar." He smiled "Are you a student here?"
"Not yet." She reply tersely.
"I wish you the best of luck, Blake." He took a couple steps back to show he was leaving "Maybe we'll see each other in class."
Later that evening...
It was strange to be bedding down in the ballroom of Beacon with so many others. Almost felt like a camping trip that Cloud had never been able to experience. He lay his wrapped sword down first and unrolled his sleeping bag on top of it. Tifa, wearing pajama pants and a loose tee shirt, dropped her duffle next to him and lay down on the bare floor, resting her head on the stuffed bag. The blond wanted to question her but assumed she knew what she was doing. Undoubtedly, she was much more comfortable in harsh conditions than he would be. Possibly it would always be that way.
Some yelling caught their attention and they looked over to see a white haired girl yelling at Ruby. The brunette martial artist sat up, ready to march over to her defence and Cloud sat down on his sleeping bag and watched the exchange. After listening to the white haired girl for a bit Cloud had formed the opinion that she was control freak and began to feel the fine hairs on his neck rising. He turned his head to look over his shoulder and was unsurprised to see a handful of guys looking in his direction instead of towards the ruckus. Tifa was definitely a head turner. He was not sure if he should or even wanted to take the chance to be more than just an old friend to Tifa. He shook his head and slipped into the sleeping bag on his sword, burying his thoughts and focusing on getting some sleep.
Up on the roof of Beacon Academy General Sephiroth stood staring out onto Vale, lost in his own thoughts. When he had departed Midgar, the kingdom had not been in the most peaceful situation. He had left his loyal and trusted second and third in command to oversee things, praying they could deal with the situation. He pulled his phone, a rather ancient device compared to the scrolls the other kingdoms had, from his pocket to check the time and if he had messages. Nine thirty PM and no messages. The door to the roof opened and two male voices, in a discussion about ancient Grimm, washed over him and by their voices he could tell they were not students.
"Oh, General Sephiroth. I see you found the best place to think." One voice spoke very rapidly, cutting off the other.
Opting to be polite to his hosts, he turned to greet them with a nod. One man had messy green hair, an equally disheveled white dress shirt, black dress pants, and thick glasses. The other was a man past his prime, as made obvious by his grey hair and round belly, that was dressed quite sharply in a red jacket with yellow hems and gold buttons.
"Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck." The fast talking disheveled one introduced himself.
"Peter Port." the rotund and much older man followed.
"How does it feel to be the first Midgar official to be in another kingdom in forty years?" Oobleck quickly pressed.
"Not the first time I've been an ambassador for Midgar." Sephiroth answered without attaching any emotion. Though he could see a flash of confusion in the eyes of the other men "Midgar had been trying to make an alliance with a small kingdom that shares our continent, Wutai." He did not blame them for not knowing. Wutai had been on the western side of the continent and had been so secluded and independent that Shinra had only discovered them twenty years ago.
"Fascinating!" Oobleck announced "So there has been two kingdoms on Gaia for all these years. But I've never heard of Wutai. Do you know anything about that kingdom?" While the doctor spoke a mile a minute, Peter calmly lifted the pipe he had been carrying and lit it, taking a puff. The acrid scent made Sephiroth wrinkle his nose.
"All I know is they've been secluded since ancient times and their government is a hierarchy."
"A hierarchy?" The doctor asked no one specifically, no small amount of concern in his voice "How have they survived this long?" His enthusiasm and energy seemed to be boundless "General may I-" and he was suddenly far too close to Sephiroth for his liking, causing the silver haired man to slide his foot back and move his hands into a ready stance "Oh goodness, my apologies." The much too fast doctor apologized as he retreat.
Sephiroth nodded and returned to his neutral stance "I am not accustomed to friendlies rushing me." Both beacon teachers noted his use of tactical jargon. Not even their other General friend used such language in friendly chat.
"If I may," Oobleck started much calmer than before "Are you a faunus, General?" He was only asking because he had noticed the slight points at the top and bottom of the foreign General's pupils. And the way they expanded far beyond a human's when he purposely invaded the man's personal space. If it had been light out, there would have been no need for the question.
"Is that important?" Once again, Sephiroth attached no emotion to his words.
"To the faculty of Beacon, not at all. But others may not be as welcoming." Port spoke up, finally. Giving Oobleck a chance to dig a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, borrowing Port's lighter.
"I was made aware of the rampant racism in the other kingdoms."
"You make it sound like Midgar doesn't have any human-faunus issues." Port was baiting him into speaking more, it was obvious to Sephiroth but he decided to take the bait regardless.
"There are bigger issues to focus on in Midgar." He bit off the statement, making it clear he no longer wanted to talk about Midgar.
"Yes, bigger and better things that deserve attention. Like the new students." Port relented, knowing better than to push the stranger "Any of the students from Midgar that you're hoping for, General?"
Sephiroth had to think about that. He had read over the profiles of each student given permission to leave Midgar to attempt to attend Beacon, each one of the twenty four terribly similar ten page reports. Twenty four teenagers out of the hundreds that had applied, all but a handful were among the top ten percent in terms of ability or knowledge. While some were remarkable and others remarkably under qualified, he had not placed any amount of hope in any of them. He knew exactly which ones were going to fail and expected others to but if he must consider the possibility of any of them successfully passing the test to attend Beacon it would have to be Zangan's student. If the reports were to be believed, the girl was far from being the best academic but had the potential to one day become an equal to the current headmaster of Midgar's own Huntsmen Academy, Bifrost.
"None of them have garnered my personal attention." The silver haired General reply "If any Midgar student stands a chance, it would be Tifa Lockhart."
"Sounds like you don't have confidence in your students." Port very nearly teased.
"I am the General and emissary of Midgar. I am not a teacher nor do I have any personal or professional investment in these students." Sephiroth stated "I lack the required information to make any kind of educated estimation of which students may succeed."
"Spoken like a true commander. Seeing the world in black and white and always following logic." Oobleck rambled.
The three conversed for another hour on the rooftop before calling it a night. The conversation meandered around the present situation of Beacon, wandered through ancient history for a brief time, and deeply analyzed the local Grimm varieties. Overall, Sephiroth enjoyed having an intelligent conversation with the two veteran hunters. On his way to his room, somewhere in the back of his mind, he found a small hope that he would not be called back to Midgar for at least two weeks. He could delay it since it was his job to verify the security of Vale for Shinra but if he was needed, they would send his second in command or possibly his third to replace him. As he lay on the bed waiting for sleep, he thought about the student profiles again and what might happen if none of them made it into this prestigious Academy. Would Shinra decide to take everyone back and close the borders? Would they be sent to the other Hunter Academies? But most importantly, would it affect his reputation in any way?
Hello everyone! I've had this idea in my head for a long time and decided to finally write it down. Let me know how my first attempt at actual fanfiction is going. But now the questions! Will I keep them the same? Will I keep the duo's the same? Stay tuned and find out!