Roy walked next to Davis, the two of them talking excitedly about what they had been given to do as jobs for the first week of being at ShinRa. They and their other two friends, Cloud and Rex, had all gotten in due to the fact that they worked so well as a team while the other groups spent most of their time trying to get to know each other at the same time as do their given tests.
Although some others had gotten in, there weren't many. Roy glanced over his shoulder to see Rex talking at a million miles per hour to Cloud, who like usual just stood there nodding and not saying anything. Cute kid.
"I still can't believe I got in." Roy said.
"Good thing Rex and I decided to talk to Spike before the tests started. If we hadn't I don't think we would've worked together so well." Davis explained. Roy nodded, agreeing.
"I'm so excited for our first class tonight." Roy said.
"I know! I've always wanted to learn how to use one of those special ShinRa guns." Davis replied, his eyes lighting up even more than before.
"Imagine if we make it into SOLDIER and get to use those big swords!" Roy exclaimed. He was barely stopping himself from jumping up and down.
"Yeah! I'm definitely gonna try for SOLDIER." Davis said.
"Hey, dudes you're walking right past it."
Davis and Roy turned to where Rex had paused in the doorway to their shared room, raising an eyebrow at them. Cloud had already gone inside.
"Whew, good thing we've got you around," Davis chuckled, locking an arm around Roy's shoulders to steer him back to their room while speaking to Rex. "Otherwise Roy and I probably would've walked to Gongaga and back before noticing anything."
Roy reached the door and ducked out from Davis' grip, hurrying over to his bed to busy himself with something to do. Why, why did he have to have pale skin which showed his red face like a neon sign?
"You're a weird one, Roy." Davis chuckled again, heading over to his own bed. Rex shut the door behind them and started fiddling with the door handle, trying to invent a lock as the people at ShinRa hadn't installed their own.
"Hey, Cloud, want to go check out the cafeteria?" Roy asked, ignoring Davis' comment. Cloud looked up and met Roy's gaze, giving a small nod. "Cool, see you guys later." Roy walked to the door and shoved Rex out of the way mercilessly, opening the door and letting Cloud out before poking his tongue out at Rex and running after the blonde.
"Sorry I don't talk very much." Cloud muttered.
"No worries, I don't mind." Roy grinned. "It means I don't have to talk much either when I'm around you."
"You don't like talking?" Cloud frowned, obviously not thinking Roy to be that kind of guy.
"Not really, I guess. But I feel more comfortable talking to you." Roy admitted. He looked away, feeling the familiar sensation of a red face again.
"Same." Cloud mumbled, going back to staring at the floor while they walked.
They stayed silent until they reached the cafeteria, where the only things said were 'gross looking food' and 'I don't want to eat that'. The two were about to leave again when Zack Fair appeared in front of them, almost bouncing on the spot.
"Hey! How are you guys going?" he asked excitedly.
"Fine, sir." Roy said for the both of them, knowing that Cloud would not like talking to a superior any more than he liked talking to his peers.
"Great! You know, your group showed the most promise out of all of them. Did you see them? Fussing over things like who was going to do what just because they didn't know each other well. But you guys! It was like you clicked with each other! You just went straight to work and didn't even hesitate when allocating specific jobs. It was amazing to watch, really." Zack beamed, folding his arms proudly.
"Thank you, sir." Roy said, now joining Cloud in staring at the floor.
"So, you guys gonna try out for SOLDIER?" Zack asked. Roy looked up again and nodded, a small grin appearing on his face.
"Yes, sir." he said confidently.
"And hopefully you'll get in." Zack ruffled Roy's short black hair, then turned to Cloud and ruffled his blonde hair. "You too, kay Spike? Try out."
"Yes, sir." Cloud said quietly.
"Ha, you act like I'm gonna eat you or something. Don't worry! I already ate! Although, the food here is pretty gross... so occasionally I might be tempted..." Zack laughed and patted Cloud on the head. "Fooled ya!"
Roy glanced at Cloud just in time to see him also looking and the two shared a momentary glance of what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-this-guy?
"We should get going, sir." Roy said.
"Ah, yeah, you should. See you guys 'round!" Zack spun around and took off, the word 'Angeal' reaching Roy and Cloud's ears.
"Quick, before he changes his mind and comes back." Roy whispered, darting out of the cafeteria. Cloud followed quickly, determined not to get left behind.
"He seemed nice, but he just never stopped talking!" Cloud said, exasperated.
"I reckon!" Roy replied, chuckling. "C'mon, let's go see whether Rex and Davis have burnt down our room yet."
Cloud paused before responding quietly, "Are you being serious?"
Roy shoved him and burst out laughing, deciding to race him back to their room. A grin broke out on Cloud's face as he ran after his friend, feeling happier than he had in a while.
"No, I do not want to apply to be a secretary at ShinRa. Please listen carefully to what I'm saying this time!" Gemma clutched the phone in a vice-like grip, getting more agitated each moment. "I said I didn't want to be a secretary! Get it through your thick heads that I do not want to be a secretary!"
Tapping her foot, she waited for the person on the phone to finish stuttering. For the fourth time, she heard the click that signalled she'd been passed through to someone else. The first time she had heard it she'd thought they'd hung up on her. Now she knew better.
"Hello, my name is Gemma Freshstone and I'd like to inquire about-" Gemma's mouth fell open in disgust as the person interrupted her and began babbling about something else. "You're so rude!" she snapped, and was thoroughly pleased to hear the person stop talking. "I was in the middle of my sentence and you interrupted me! Now listen, I'd like to inquire about making a visit to ShinRa so that I can see someone that I know there.
"No, they're not in SOLDIER. No, I've never been to ShinRa before. Yes, I am a female. No, I would not like to buy a... why are you asking me if I want to buy a doughnut!?" Gemma was about to slam the phone down in absolute anger when another voice broke in.
"You'd like to visit someone in ShinRa?"
"Yes! Yes I would!" Gemma said, exasperated.
"A day trip or an overnight stay?"
Finally! Someone who is talking sense! "Just a day trip, please."
"Name?"
"Gemma Freshstone."
"And the person you wish to visit is...?"
"Roy Peters. He's an Infantryman." Gemma smirked triumphantly, glad that she had finally gotten through to the people at ShinRa. Perhaps all those other people she had been talking to were secretaries trying to give their jobs away because they hated it. Oh well.
"One moment please."
Gemma waited patiently, her anger fizzing away as she imagined going to see her best friend at ShinRa. Of course, she'd feel as if she were talking to a guy, but she'd know she wasn't.
"Which day?"
"Tomorrow, please."
"The people at the front desk will give you directions once you arrive. You will be allowed one day only as Roy Peters' work has been cleared only for that specified amount of time. Thank you for calling."
"Thanks! Bye!" Gemma hung up and punched the air with her fist, hissing 'yes' enthusiastically. Her brother walked in and raised an eyebrow, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl.
"I didn't know Kayli had a brother." he said.
"Huh?" Gemma asked, freezing as she stared at him and tried to make her brain catch up to what he was saying.
"You said Roy Peters."
"Oh! No that's her cousin." Gemma nodded as if she knew exactly what she was talking about. "Kayli went to visit him at ShinRa and tomorrow I get to see them both too!"
"Hmm. Great." Her brother walked out looking uninterested and Gemma sighed in relief. Hurrying back to her room, she silently hoped that Kayli wasn't making a fool of herself and had made some friends. Then she burst out laughing when she remembered Kayli's trade mark red face for when she was nervous.
The two friends had spent two months working on creating 'Roy' to be as believable as possible. About four weeks ago they had taken Roy out in public to see what kind of response he got, and the results were good. Many people believed Kayli was male.
Gemma grabbed her straightening iron and began doing her own hair, wondering how Kayli was going. At least she knew she'd made it to being an Infantryman, otherwise the person talking to her would have said there was no one by that name.
"You what?" Davis asked, staring at Roy in shock and disbelief. He could not possibly have just said what he thought he had said.
"Don't make me say it again!" Roy whined.
"How can you not have anything on tomorrow?" Davis grabbed Roy's schedule and read it over, eyes widening as he saw that Roy did, indeed, have tomorrow off. "That's not fair! My tomorrow is packed full of stuff!"
"Don't blame me, I didn't do anything except collect my schedule." Roy shrugged, taking his paper back and going over to his bed. Davis stormed over to Rex and looked over his shoulder, making sure he wasn't the only one to have a busy day tomorrow.
"What's wrong with you Roy? Rex's is stuffed full too!" Davis exclaimed, rolling his eyes and storming over to Cloud. "Your day is full, right? Tomorrow?" he snapped angrily. Cloud looked up, startled, and nodded.
"Maybe you'll get a day off later!" Roy said, beginning to get nervous. What if his day had been cleared because they'd found out and were going to send him home?
"Whatever," Davis said, sitting on his bed and putting his head in his hands. "Don't care."
"I'm sorry." Roy said.
"Doesn't matter. Maybe you're not as good so they don't trust you with as much stuff as they trust us with." Davis suggested, bringing his head up again and smirking. Roy grinned back and rolled his eyes, shaking his head lightly in amusement.
"Guys, class starts in ten minutes." Rex said, grabbing some things from his bag and putting his schedule away. "Or don't you want to learn how to use the guns any more?"
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up." Davis said, moving to grab stuff from his bag also.
Once all four of them had their stuff, they walked to their class together and were excited to see that there were already racks of guns in the room.
"This is great!" Davis said, going straight over to a gun and picking it up. He started rattling off information about it that sounded impressive but made no sense to Rex, Cloud and Roy.
"Uh, okay?" Rex said, a look that plainly said that-went-over-my-head on his face.
"Forget it. It's just a really good gun." Davis said.
"Why didn't you say that first?" Roy teased, shoving him slightly. Davis rolled his eyes and put the gun back, folding his arms.
"It's not my fault you guys are so uneducated." he retorted.
"See this face?" Roy asked, pointing at his own face. Davis raised an eyebrow and nodded. "This is a not caring face." Roy finished.
Davis exchanged a glance with Rex and the two of them cracked up laughing.
"What?" Roy asked, his face going red again.
"You sounded like a girl!" Davis laughed.
"Yeah, you did," Rex agreed. "It was hilarious!"
Roy turned away from them, ducking his head to try and hide the fact that he was incredibly embarrassed. This will never work... they'll find out!
Thankfully their conversation was interrupted as their instructor entered the room. He walked over and gave stern looks at whoever was touching the guns so that quickly everyone stepped away from the racks with the guns.
"Before I start this lesson, I would just like to tell you all that I will not tolerate bad behaviour. While I am speaking no one else is. If I tell you to do something you will do it without asking me why or procrastinating." He picked up one of the guns and brought it to his eye level, looking at the class over the top of it. "I should also let you know that I have been given authorisation to shoot as punishment. I think that's all I wanted to say for now."
The class shifted awkwardly, glancing at each other with slightly horrified expressions as the words sunk in. Their instructor lowered his gun and put it back on the rack, smiling a small smile which seemed to terrify them even more.
"I'm gonna die."
Roy tilted his head slightly, absolutely positive that he had just heard Cloud say something, but didn't dare turn to look in case he got on the instructors bad side.
It appeared that this class would turn out to be the dreaded class. Oh, the irony.
[1 month before]
"Come on." Roy grabbed Gemma's arm to hurry her up as they crossed the road, trying to weave their way through the raindrops. They ducked under the shelter of a couple of shops once on the other side and Roy pointed out where they were heading.
"You are doing all the talking." Gemma hissed. Roy grinned and nodded, walking towards the dark little shop and pushing on the door to open it up.
Once they were both inside, Roy made his way to the counter at the back of the room, glancing at the strange objects being sold. Gemma followed him closely, nervous at being here without their parents knowledge.
"Excuse me," Roy said, putting a hand on the counter and looking directly at the shop assistant.
The man was around twenty-five and had about ten piercings in his ears alone. Roy shivered slightly, but hoped it wasn't noticed.
"What?" the man asked.
"I um, heard that you do some..." Roy glanced around the shop nervously and then turned back. "...false documentations?"
The man stared at Roy, not moving for twenty seconds. Perhaps it was done as a dramatic pause, perhaps not. But then he slowly nodded and leant on the counter.
"What have you got for me?" he asked.
"I'd like you to change some information on my birth certificate..." Roy explained, fishing around in his pocket for the papers. He found them, pulled them out and handed them to the man.
"You want a different name or something?" the man asked, gently unfolding the papers to take a look at the information on it. He frowned at something he saw and looked up at Roy again, giving him a glance over.
"I'd like the name to read 'Roy Peters' and the gender to say 'male'." Roy said confidently. The man chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.
"You're actually a chick under all that?" the man smirked.
"Can you do it or not?" Roy snapped angrily, refusing to answer the question. Gemma nudged him from behind. "Oh, and I want to have been born one year earlier so I'm a year older than I really am."
The man narrowed his eyes slightly but nodded, taking a pen and beginning to jot things down on a scrap piece of paper.
"Let me get this straight. You want to be a guy called Roy Peters who is fifteen years old?" he asked.
"That's right." Roy nodded.
"Done deal." the man said. "You got cash for me?"
Roy glanced at Gemma before reaching into another pocket and pulling out a bunch of notes, putting them in the man's hand. The man counted them and then smiled, putting them somewhere out of sight under the counter and also hiding Roy's original birth certificate and the paper he'd written on.
"Come back tomorrow and you'll have your wonderful new birth certificate all ready for use." the man said.
"Thanks." Roy said.
He and Gemma made their way back out of the shop, and once outside in the wind Gemma burst out laughing.
"You're actually a chick under all that? It was priceless! Oh my gosh, Ka- Roy, I love you! Even he thought you were male!" she laughed, shaking her head.
"Yes, Gem. But come on! I really wanna buy those pants I saw in the shop over there." Roy said, pointing at a clothes shop. Gemma rolled her eyes.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to your new obsession with male clothing. Oh well, let's go then!"