Thanks to lava, nat, and ChaoticEther. (wolfy's gone for a few weeks so ethan beta'd this chapter instead)
Before long, Sun and Blake arrived at the Sector 6 playground.
"The gate to Sector 7's just over there," Sun said, pointing it out.
"Thanks," Blake said, "Guess this is where we part ways, huh?"
"Not quite! We still haven't had our date yet!" Sun said, hopping up onto a slide with a cat's face and motioning for Blake to join him. "Why not have it right here, right now? It'll be quick, I promise!"
"If you insist," Blake said, rolling her eyes and smiling, before hopping up to join him.
"What rank were you? Y'know, in SOLDIER?"
"I was…" Blake paused for a second, before her mind flashed. "First Class."
"Damn, even the same rank as him…" Sun muttered.
"The same rank as who?" Blake asked.
"My ex-boyfriend. He was the first and only person I ever dated," Sun said wistfully.
"Were you serious?"
"Pssh, naw, but I liked him for a while," Sun said, though his tone of voice betrayed the fact that the relationship was more serious than he let on.
"I probably knew him. What was his name?"
"It doesn't matter."
Just then, a chocobo-drawn carriage came through the gate to Sector 7, carrying Yang, who was wearing an indigo dress.
"Yang?!" Blake gasped, jumping to her feet. She watched as the carriage went past them and towards Wall Market.
"So that's Yang huh?" Sun said. "Come, let's follow after her!"
Sun went running off after the carriage. Blake sighed and ran after him, meeting up with him in Wall Market, a shopping center in the Sector 6 Slums.
"This place can be pretty scary, especially for a girl, so let's try to find Yang fast!" Sun said.
They made their way to the area outside a brothel/love hotel called the Honey Bee Inn, where Blake approached a suspicious looking older man.
"You looking to work here, or are you looking to be a customer?" he asked.
"What do you know about a girl named Yang?" Blake asked.
"Yang's our newest girl, I'm surprised you know about her already. She isn't in at the moment though, she's busy having her interview. Here at the Honey Bee Inn, it's customary for all the new girls to be taken to Shay D. Mann's mansion. Shay's a famous dilettante. Now he's looking to settle down with a bride."
Blake went back over to Sun. "She's at Shay D. Mann's mansion. Now come on, let's go."
The two of them made their way to the mansion, where they were stopped by the doorman.
"This is the mansion of Shay D. Mann, the most powerful man in all of Wall Market," the doorman said, before turning to Sun. "Shay's not into men, so I'm gonna have to ask you to leave and never come back. Your lady friend is more than welcome to enter, however."
Blake and Sun stepped aside to talk.
"Looks like I'll have to go in alone. You'll be fine out here, right?" Blake said.
"Nuh-uh, no way am I letting you go into a place like this alone. We need to figure out a way to get me in there. Let's see, I can't just bust in there, it'd cause too much commotion," Sun rubbed his chin as he pondered, before a lightbulb went off in his head. "I've got it! We'll dress me up as a girl!"
"What." Blake said, mouth agape, but Sun was already running back up to the doorman.
"My lady friend here has a cute friends she wants to bring in with her," Sun explained.
"A friend, huh? Sounds good to me," the doorman said.
"We're really doing this, huh?" Blake said as they walked away from the mansion.
"Yep," Sun grinned, holding his hands behind his head.
"Well if there's no stopping you, I suppose I may as well help you out. Let's see if we can't get some help for your disguise at the Honey Bee Inn."
"You sure you don't just wanna go there to gawk at cute girls?" Sun teased.
"Of course not," Blake dismissed, though a faint blush tinged her cheeks.
"Well luckily I managed to pickpocket this off some poor schmuck," Sun said, pulling out a membership card for the hotel.
"You're a pickpocket?" Blake said in disbelief.
"Hey, when you grow up in the slums, you learn what skills you can to survive."
The two made their way to the Inn, where they showed the membership card to the suited redhead standing outside, who let them in. In the lobby, there was a girl standing in a revealing bee costume, clearly one of the Inn's employees.
Blake decided to peep inside the keyhole of a room called The Queen's Room. Inside, she saw Jacques Schnee, dressed in a king's costume, laying in bed with an elderly shopkeep named Throckmorton that Blake had seen a few times before. Also in the room were a couple of SMC employees, one of which was dressed in a suit of armor, while the other held the lights. Jacques seemed to be doing some bizarre medieval roleplay, and soon got up and began monologuing.
"The wind's calm now… It's the curse of the resurrected Satan… Our beloved Queen does not awaken… The time is ripe… A legend has been passed on through generations…" Jacques monologued.
"Shouldn't we stop him soon?" One of the employees, the one holding the lights, whispered to the other one.
"We do have a luncheon with him soon…" The second employee, the one in the suit of armor, whispered back.
"You tell him."
"I can't!"
"Aw come on! Oh well…"
"A legend has been passed on through generations…" Jacques continued monologuing, pacing back and forth across the room.
"I'm so disgusted with him," the second employee whispered.
"...the sought after Promised Land…" Jacques continued.
"It's like this every time we have a business trip to Midgar," the first employee whispered.
"...One with Blue Eyes…" Jacques continued.
"We come all the way to Midgar for this bullshit," the first employee complained.
"...and a Great White Sword on their back…" Jacques continued rambling.
"At least you only have to carry the lights! I've gotta wear this heavy suit of armor!"
"...Will not lead to the Promised Land…" Jacques finished.
"Yeah, I know, but it's all part of the job," the first employee whispered. "Oh, by the way, did you hear? Mr. Schnee's wife found out about his affair with Throcky."
"What? No way!"
"Oh hey, it looks like he's finally done!"
Jacques approached the employee in the armor.
"Geez, Mr. Schnee! Er, I mean, Your Majesty…"
Blake looked away from the keyhole as Jacques slapped the employee.
"What'd you find out? Anything juicy?" Sun asked her.
"Apparently Mr. Schnee is really into bizarre medieval roleplay, and has been cheating on his wife with an elderly shopkeep named Throckmorton."
"Oh yeah, good old Throcky, I know that guy! I've bought from him plenty of times! I would not have guess he's sleeping with President Schnee, lemme tell ya."
"I'm gonna go take a peek in the other room," Blake said, peeping into a room labelled The Lover's Room.
"What do you see?" Sun asked.
"There's an elderly couple in there," Blake said. "Apparently their son rented them this room. He's a high ranking SMC employee and just got a promotion. There's also an orange haired girl standing motionless in the corner for some reason. It like she's a robot or something."
"That's cool and all, but aren't we here to help me crossdress?" Sun pointed out.
"Oh right, come on, let's head to the dressing room."
The duo went into the back room, where several employees were standing in front of a mirror, primping and doing makeup and the like. Blake approached one of the women.
"Hey, my friend here wants to look pretty, do you think you could do his makeup?"
"Sure," the woman said. She had sun lean forward and pasted some makeup onto him.
"All right, now let's head to the dress shop."
The two made their way to the clothing store, approaching the owner.
"Hey, I need you to make me some clothes," Sun said.
"Sorry, I don't make men's clothes," the owner said.
"Who said I wanted men's clothes? Just once, I'd like to dress up like a girl, so can you make a cute dress for me?"
"All right," the owner said, taking a moment to envision a dress. "I think I've got something, why don't you browse for a wig while I make the dress?"
Sun and Blake went over to the wig section, browsing the wigs until Sun found a blonde wig he liked. He also decided to spray on some of the sample perfume. They then went back to the owner, to find he had finished the dress.
"Hey Blake, do you think you could help me put this on?" Sun asked from the changing room. "I'm just putting it on over my regular clothes, don't worry."
Blake sighed and went to help him get the dress, which was dark blue, long, and long-sleeved, on. Sun stepped out, and looked at himself in a mirror.
"Hmmm, something's not quite right," he said, before grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting an ab window into the dress. "There, much better." He turned to Blake, striking a pose. "So, how do I look?"
"You're ridiculous," Blake sighed, shaking her head.
"You're no fun! Anyway, are you gonna get anything, Blake?" Sun asked her.
"I think I will," Blake nodded. She browsed a bit, before settling on a fashionable women's suit. Blake and Sun changed into and paid for their clothes, before heading back to Shay's mansion.
"Damn, you two look hot!" the doorman said. "Come on in, ladies!"
The two went inside, where a suited redhead greeted them.
"Hey, ladies, I'll go let shay know you're here," he said, turning and walking off.
"All right, let's go find Yang," Blake said. She and Sun went down a set of stairs to the basement, where they found Yang. "Yang!"
"Blake!" Yang said, immediately turning and running up to give Blake a big hug. Sun, meanwhile, moved off to the side to let them catch up. "You're alive! I'm so happy! Are you okay? You're not hurt are you? What happened after you fell?"
"Whoa, slow down and let me explain," Blake said. "After I fell, I met Sun, and he helped me out."
"Sun?" Yang asked.
"He's the boy that sold me the flower I gave you," Blake said, before she nodded over to him. "He's actually in here with is. He had to disguise himself as a girl to get in here."
"Seriously?" Yang said. She decided to walk over to Sun and introduce herself to him, holding out a hand for him to shake.. "Hey Sun, I'm Yang! Thanks for helping Blake out."
"Nice to meetcha, Yang," Sun said, grinning widely and eagerly shaking her hand. "Blake's told me a lot about you."
"Has she?" Yang said.
"Yep," Sun said with a wink.
"You know, I like the ab window," Yang complimented him.
"Thanks!"
"I should've included one in my dress. Oh well. Say, didn't I see you with Blake at the park?"
"Yeah, that was me! You don't have to worry about me though. Me and Blake only just met. It's nothing."
"What? Oh no, don't misunderstand, Blake and I just grew up together, nothing more," Yang stammered, a bit flustered.
"Poor Blake, having to listen to us both call her nothing," Sun teased.
"Shut up Sun," Blake said, looking down at the ground to hide her blush. She then looked up and approached Yang. "Mind telling us what you're even doing in a place like this, Yang?"
"Right, ummm…" Yang started.
"I'll just plug my ears and give you two some privacy," Sun said, walking away from them and covering his ears with his hands.
Yang gave Blake a hug again. "I'm really glad you're okay."
"Thanks," Blake said. "So what happened?"
"When we got back from the reactor, there was this weird man. I managed to squeeze some info out of him, and that's when Shay's name popped up. Dad wanted me to leave the guy alone, but something's been bothering me."
"And you wanted to get the story straight from Mann's mouth," Blake surmised.
"Yep. So I made it here, but now I'm in a bit of a bind. Mann is looking for a bride. Every day, he gets three girls, chooses one, and then he, well…" Yang trailed off. "Anyway, I have to be the girl, or I'm out for tonight."
"Psssh, we got three girls right here, so there's no problem, right?" Sun said, popping up and wrapping his arms around Blake and Yang, grinning a big grin. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear."
"Sun, can you please just stay out of this?" Blake said, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.
"Oh, so it's all right for Yang to be in danger?"
"No, I don't want Yang in-"
"You gonna be able to handle yourself, Sun?" Yang said.
"Of course! I grew up in the slums, I'm used to danger," Sun said with a proud grin.
"Sounds like we have a plan, then," Yang said, nodding at him, while Blake just sighed.
The suited redhead then came down to fetch them. "It's time ladies. Shay is waiting."
The three of them were led to Shay D. Mann's office, where they were made to line up in front of him.
"Hmm, which of you fine ladies should I pick?" Shay pondered, pacing back and forth. He eventually approached Yang. "I think I'll pick you. You're not too bulky, not too lean, you're…"
"Just right," Yang sighed, rolling her eyes. "Be gentle, okay, Shay?"
Shay turned to his two lackeys. "You two can have the others, I'm gonna take this one to my room."
Shay left for his bedroom, Yang following behind. The lackeys led Blake and Sun to the basement.
"Well, are you ladies ready?" One of them asked.
"Nah, not interested," Blake said, throwing off her suit to reveal her SOLDIER uniform underneath. She pulled out her sword and quickly knocked out one of the lackeys. Meanwhile, Sun had cast off his disguise, pulled out his staff, and knocked out the other one. Blake grabbed Sun. "Come on, we gotta go help Yang!"
"Right," Sun nodded.
Meanwhile, in Shay's room, Shay was trying to get Yang in bed.
"You know, you have really nice hair," Shay commented, reaching out to touch Yang's hair, however, Yang caught his wrist, and twisted his arm behind his back, just and Sun and Blake came running in. "What the hell?!"
"You don't get it, do you, Shay?" Yang said.
"Get what?"
"Shut up, we're the ones asking questions here!" Yang barked, spinning him around and grabbing him by the balls with her prosthetic. "Now tell us what your assistants found out! If you don't talk…"
"I'll chop them off," Blake threatened.
"Please no! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!" Shay begged.
"Then talk," Yang said gruffly.
"I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm was! It's what I was ordered to do!"
"Who ordered you?"
"If I told you, I'd be killed!"
"If you don't tell us…"
"I'll rip 'em off," Sun threatened.
"Aaah! It was Hazel Rainart, the SMC's head of Public Safety Maintenance!"
"SMC huh? What are they up to? If you don't tell us…" Yang tightened her grip on his balls a little. "I'll crush them."
"Okay okay okay, I'll talk. They wanna crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE. Literally, they want to break the support pillar holding the plate up above them!"
Yang gasped. "They're gonna break the support?!"
"Uh huh. I hear AVALANCHE's hideout is in the Sector 7 Slums. I'm just glad it's not here in Sector 6."
"They're going to wipe out the Sector 7 Slums?!" Yang shoved Shay away, then walked over to Blake. "Blake, will you come with me to Sector 7?"
"Of course," Blake said, and she, Yang, and Sun started for the door.
"Hold on a second!" Shay yelled. "Why do you think scum like me would babble about the truth?"
Blake thought it over for a second. "Because they're sure they'll win."
"Correct!" Shay said, hitting a switch and causing Yang, Blake, and Sun to fall through a trap door to the sewers below...
Bossman rights!