Notifications

-Three weeks later-

Sephiroth was pushing another sheet of paper aside when the doors to his office were flung open. Without looking up, he recognized by the footsteps and the manner in which both doors were flung wide that it was Genesis who had entered. No one else would dare disturb the quiet of his office so blatantly. This being the case, he didn't glance up, knowing that Genesis would announce the reason for his presence in the loudest manner possible whether he was given acknowledgement or not. All he had to do was wait.

Genesis sauntered over to his friend, waving his hands about agitatedly. Something important must have happened to make him this expressive. As he approached, he asked loudly, "Have you heard the news, Sephiroth?" Despite the fact that he was given no response by the General, he wasn't at all discouraged. "The mentoring program has been verified. We're all babysitters now!"

That brought Sephiroth's head up slightly to regard Genesis as the red SOLDIER cocked his head and finally stopped waving and twirling his hands to punctuate his words. If Genesis had been expecting some sort of emotional response, he didn't get one. Instead, Sephiroth blinked, then replied, "I was aware of the suggestion, however I did not know it had been approved yet."

Genesis rolled his eyes expressively. "Oh, yes," he practically sang. "It was verified this morning. The president thinks it's a wonderful idea." A half-note of derision just slipped into his voice at that statement.

Sephiroth looked up finally as Genesis gracefully descended into a chair with the expected amount of flair, waving his arms and flicking his hair until he finally leaned forward and propped up his chin on his hand. Sephiroth was used to this and recognized it as the way his friend expressed either enthusiasm or displeasure. Now the only question was which one. Not always the easiest with this particular act.

One silver eyebrow raised. "And you are pleased with this?" Sephiroth asked passively as he reached for the next piece of paper on his seemingly endless pile.

That brought the usual spark of theatrical flair through Genesis' eyes and he smiled wide, raising his arms as if in some salutation to the ceiling. "Oh, no, I think it's a terrible idea that will result in the deaths of many cadets," he exclaimed, shaking his head in mock despair before glancing at Sephiroth with mischievous eyes.

Sephiroth gave the red SOLDIER a long, blank look. Then, looking back down at his papers, he replied, "Don't let Angeal hear you say that."

Genesis chuckled. "Oh, I already told him." Leaning forward, he shook his head, faux-sadness clouding his blue eyes. "I heard he already submitted his application for a second student."

Sephiroth's eyebrows rose at that. "Can he even have two students?"

Genesis didn't answer. Instead leaning back, he sighed, eyes gazing at the ceiling as a smile of wonder crossed his face. "Why anyone, even Angeal, would want more than one is completely beyond me. Especially since the other one's such a hassle anyway-"

Genesis stopped his statement as Angeal knocked on the doorframe and entered through the doors that still rested open from when Genesis had flung them there earlier. He was smiling slightly, and the glance he gave Genesis left no doubt in anyone's mind that he knew exactly what his old friend had been saying a moment before.

"We're each to be assigned to one cadet," he said, addressing Sephiroth, who had glanced up with slight interest at Angeal's arrival. It was much easier to get pertinent information out of Angeal than the ever exaggerating Genesis.

Sephiroth nodded after a moment. "When?" he asked.

"This week," Angeal replied. Something disheartened crossed his face. "At the moment the VIPs are squabbling about how to choose which cadet goes where." Sephiroth nodded in understanding. That he could understand all too well. None of them would ever allow anything to be done in Shinra without feeling they had some hand in its passage. Such political maneuvering hurt Angeal's sense of honor, which Sephiroth did not entirely understand, however he acknowledged it, having observed it enough times. Thankfully, Angeal's face brightened again, and he said, "We'll be given the assignments and meet them on Saturday."

Sephiroth allowed a slight feeling of amusement at both the way Genesis rolled his eyes and at how excited Angeal appeared about this. Personally, he would rather not have to interact with a cadet, as they all either worshipped him with a sort of frustrating awe or skittered away if he so much as looked at them. However, orders were orders, so it would be best to simply accept them. Who knew, perhaps he'd happen upon a cadet who could actually say 2 coherent words to him together.

"That is unacceptable!"

Tseng stood impassively, not reacting to the venomous glare Hojo gave him. "It has already been done, sir," he replied, restraining the urge to sigh in annoyance at the stubborn denial the scientist was screaming at him. Really, one would have expected a grown man in such a high position to be a little more mature when something he didn't like occurred.

"It must be undone!" Hojo screeched hoarsely. His eyes burned behind his glasses, but in a way that failed to frighten the young turk, simply because the scientist looked like he would have a heart attack if he got much more excited. Tseng knew that Hojo couldn't do anything to him, no matter how displeased he became due to his place in the turks, so he was afforded the rare privilege of observing Hojo's actions without fear, and seeing just how absurd they could be.

A dubious privilege at best, he decided as Hojo stood before him, livid, thin hands clenched into straining fists. "The president has already decided to implement the mentorship program," he repeated calmly. "It is being processed as we speak."

"The General has much more important things to do than mess around with snot nosed brats!" Hojo hissed, eyes flashing.

The urge to sigh was getting stronger. "The program makes use of all high class SOLDIERs," Tseng stated, almost raising his eyes to the ceiling before catching himself. "The General, like the others, will be assigned a cadet. It will only be for two or three days a week they meet; it will not stress his schedule. This was taken into account when he was included in the program, as with the other prominent 1sts."

"This isn't just any 1st we're talking about!" Hojo spat, "this is Sephiroth!"

Oh Leviathan he wanted to roll his eyes. But this was a test of his ability to restrain his emotions, Tseng reminded himself. If he could pass this, then combat would never seem a problem again. "The administrating staff are aware of that," he replied tonelessly. "Their decision stands as I have told you."

Hojo's hands were shaking, as if uncontrollable, and the scientist's face twisted in malice. But then he stood straight, drawing himself up as if he had dignity to retain, and said haughtily, venomously, "Very well, then. We will see. Now get out."

Thanking Leviathan, Tseng obliged the grumpy scientist, turning and departing from the lab. This time, he carefully restrained a smile from affecting his expression. There. After fifteen minutes of that, he felt like he could weather anything with a straight face.

After the turk left, Hojo spent a few minutes pacing back and forth agitatedly. How dare they!? Sephiroth was his subject; how dare they make a decision regarding a role as a mentor figure before consulting him! The General's unique mental state would be affected unpredictably by such an influence.

He wouldn't allow such tampering with his experiments. Grabbing a piece of paper, Hojo furiously scribbled a note to the cadet coordinator. If the man did not assign the General a small, weak, useless thing that would die upon its first time in real combat, he would die in a way worse than any he could imagine. Hojo smiled as he put the note in his pocket, to mysteriously appear on the coordinator's desk later that day. That would serve to end this nonsense.

"Cadet Strife, a moment."

Cloud looked up, eyes wide, at the instructing lieutenant. But, then, ignoring the sniggers from the others around him, he nodded and said, "Yes, sir," as was required to show attention. Abandoning his course out the door, he turned and waded through the crowd of cadets up towards his teacher's desk. On the way, he carefully stepped over the feet that flashed out to trip him and ignored the shoves and elbows he got, and the whispered jeers about being in trouble. Cloud was so quiet that he almost never got called out by an instructor; so all of his classmates were enjoying this.

However, once he was safely through, a sharp look from the teacher sent the other cadets out of the room. Cloud envied them. He was going to be late for lunch because of this, and have to squeeze in at a table rather than finding a quiet one to himself. But he dismissed that thought as he walked up to his instructor, looking at him warily. He hadn't though he had done anything wrong today, but some of his instructors disliked him for his quietness.

"Sir?" he asked as he came up to the desk.

The instructing lieutenant was fishing through a stack of papers. "Strife. You've been assigned to the new mentorship program that's being set up. Your info is being processed now and the program will begin by the end of this week." He looked up finally, pulling out a sheet of paper. "Do you understand?"

"Mentorship, sir?" Cloud asked, blinking. This wasn't what he had expected at all.

"You'll be assigned to a higher class SOLDIER, who will oversee your training up until the SOLDIER exams, then possibly afterwards if you pass," the teacher explained, stressing the if in the sentence. Cloud didn't respond to that. Then the instructor handed him a piece of paper. "This is a briefing from Director Lazard; it's got more information that I do. Read it, and report to practice gym 6-C at 8:00 sharp Saturday for your mentor assignment." He glanced up at Cloud. "Understood?"

Cloud blinked, still overloaded with information. "Yes, sir," he replied automatically.

"Good," the instructor replied, bending back over his papers. "Dismissed." He waved a hand vaguely, obviously not intending to pay any more attention to Cloud.

Nodding, Cloud hurried out of the room, carefully tucking away the paper he had been given. He was very surprised by this; he wasn't a stellar student even though he got good enough grades. But he would be thankful of any instruction a SOLDIER could give him. Unexpectedly, this upcoming Saturday became something of both trepidation and anticipation.