A/N – Hmm...no reviews...ah, I'll give it a go and see if it helps at all.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 is the property of Squaresoft, but Rollin and his squad are mine!
Chapter 1
"So, what do you think?" the woman asked. Rollin swallowed the food still in his mouth to give an answer.
"As always, you're the best cook I've seen, Sis." He replied, giving thumbs up in the process, though it wasn't necessary. His sister smiled slightly, filling up a plate of her own. It may have seemed odd to anyone new to the small town of Haven that there were a brother and sister that didn't actually have much of a sibling rivalry. As a matter of fact, they were the only members left of their extensive family after The Great War – their parents were claimed by an unknown parasite, and their other siblings signed up for military duty (including Rollin). Out of the six children that joined (Cody, Zach, Andre, Marle, Emily, and Rollin from oldest to youngest), only Rollin came back from the chaos caused by the rebels on the now economically isolated planet of Cyphus. That left the two youngest, Tony and Megan, at the house. When he came back, only Megan was left there; Tony was infected by the same parasite that took their parents, and died. Of course, there were others who suffered likewise fates (infection, war casualties, and the like), but not so much as they did.
All they had left were each other.
Rollin remembered two of the last casualties in his tightly knit group of siblings: Cody and Marle, the two he was closest to. They both served in the same squad as he did, and fought as if they were experts on the battlefield; however, they were both caught in the blast radius of a grenade. Cody was lucky and died instantly. Marle didn't have such luck, losing an arm and suffering from multiple cuts from the shrapnel that was still lodged inside her entire body. He was the one who carried her back to the infirmary, and watched her die slowly. He still couldn't get the image out of his head. He was only fourteen.
It's been six years since then.
"Hello? Gaia to Rollin: you still there?" Megan asked, trying to get his attention. He snapped out of it, recovering from the blank stare he donned previously. She continued, "Michael called while you were asleep." Rollin sat up a bit straighter hearing this.
"What did he want?" He asked her, getting a shrug in reply.
"He wanted you to meet him at the hangar." His brow furrowed in concentration.
"When?"
"Whenever you can." Came the reply. His brow became more furrowed.
"How did he say it?" Yet again, the shrugging of the shoulders.
"He was kind of quiet about it." She answered, and Rollin chuckled; he remembered what it meant when Michael said that in a quiet tone of voice: it meant, "Right friggin' now." Slowly, he stood up, and walked over to the coat hanger, grabbing his only jacket.
"I better head out then." He said, opening the door. As he walked out, Megan stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"Bro?" she said questioningly, giving him puppy eyes as he turned around. 'Oh boy, the puppy eyes.' He thought to himself.
"Yeah?" he tilted his head slightly (for him, that's "I need some answers" in body language), as she quickly embraced him as if he was her father. 'She's going to be a heart breaker, that's for sure.'
"Be careful." Hearing this made him chuckle quietly.
"Don't worry." He sat down on his bike – nothing special or flashy; just something to get from point A to B in one piece, "I'll be back by dinner hopefully, and I'm buying this time." Starting the engine, he sped off for the only hangar in the entire city. The only thing he didn't know about was what Michael called him for.
And that he wouldn't be coming back home this time.
A/N – okay, not as much content this time around, but hey...what can ya do? Another chapter might be on the way, but it depends...school and all. Read and review please!
Until the next chapter,
Lloyd Redgrave