Sephiroth stared at Roy and quirked an eyebrow in amusement. The rest of his face stayed entirely the same and Roy suddenly felt very small.
"What's your name?" Sephiroth asked.
"Ro- Kayli." Roy said, almost slipping up as Roy was the name he had been using for so long now and he was used to it.
"Are you wearing a wig?" Sephiroth asked.
"No, Sir. But I was wearing one last night." Roy explained.
"Does anyone else know?"
"Not that I'm aware of, Sir." Roy said quietly, looking down at the ground.
"Then first of all I feel it is my duty to congratulate you on your excellent job of keeping your gender a secret for so long. Secondly, I would like to tell you that I find this incredibly amusing and would like to see how it plays out." Sephiroth said, moving around to grab some papers off his desk.
"Sir?" Roy asked with a frown.
"You're dismissed." Sephiroth said as he sat back down in his chair.
"You're not sending me home?" Roy asked, shocked.
"Would you like to be sent home?" Sephiroth questioned, raising an eyebrow again.
"No, Sir!" Roy quickly said.
"Then you're dismissed."
Roy only just had enough time to run to his room and grab his schedule to check what he had first before he was then grabbing a pair of shorts Rex had leant him and a black top, darting out of the room and running to the first class of the day.
Swimming.
Panting as he reached the indoor pool, he was thankful to see that he had just made it and headed over to Davis, Rex, Cloud and Edvard.
"Hey! You took ages with Sephiroth!" Davis said, turning to face him. "We were beginning to wonder whether you were still alive."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Roy said, still breathing hard.
"Quick, go get changed!" Rex said, pushing him towards the change rooms. "Everyone else is done and Sephiroth will be here any minute."
Roy nodded and ran off to change, piling his uniform together once he was out of it and leaving it with all the others before coming out again. Gulping, he slunk back to Davis and hoped Sephiroth, who had now arrived, didn't notice him.
Folding his arms over his chest in what he hoped was an inconspicuous way, Roy listened as Sephiroth began talking to them.
"Today we are going to start with working as a team. I want you all to form groups of three or four right now." Sephiroth paused and waited as everyone began looking around and working out what to do.
"But we've got five!" Rex hissed under his breath. "This isn't fair."
"Cloud, Edvard, go make a group of three with that guy." Davis said, pointing to another Infantryman in their squad who was standing to the side and looking for a group to join. Cloud and Edvard nodded and walked over to him.
"Looks like it's just us, then!" Rex grinned, looking from Roy to Davis and then over to Sephiroth, ready to pay attention again.
Once everyone was in a group, Sephiroth began walking in front of them, his hands behind his back.
"One person from your group is to volunteer to be the victim. They are to jump into the pool and pretend to be drowning. The others in your group are to work as a team to rescue them from the water." Sephiroth explained. "We are going to do it group by group, so whoever is last will have a greater advantage as they will be able to get tips from the ones who have gone before."
Everyone started murmuring amongst themselves and Rex turned to Davis and Roy, eyebrows raised and a sneaky grin on his face. Before either Davis or Roy had a chance to ask him what he was up to his hand had shot up and he was facing the front again.
"Yes?" Sephiroth asked him. Rex lowered his hand.
"I was wondering, Sir, could my group go first?" he asked. Roy squeaked, his mouth falling open as he stared at the back of Rex's head in horror. How dare he!?
"What a coincidence, I was going to ask your group to go first anyway. Please come up here." Sephiroth said, stepping to the side and waiting.
Roy shot Davis a distressed look, but followed Rex anyway with Davis then walking behind him.
"Which one of you would like to be the victim?" Sephiroth asked. Roy's mind went into a spin as he tried to figure out quickly whether it would be better for him to be the victim or the rescuer.
"Roy?" Rex asked. Roy looked up at him, his eyes wide.
"Uh, okay." he mumbled.
"Alright, we have our first victim." Sephiroth said to the others in the squad who were watching. Roy felt his face go red and turned to the pool, gulping quietly. Taking a step forward, he squatted down and slipped into the pool, swimming out to the middle and then turning back to face the group again.
"Don't worry Roy! I'll rescue you!" Rex called out, grinning and diving into the pool. Davis raised an eyebrow at Roy, an amused smile on his face, before he too dived into the pool.
Roy glanced down at himself as he paddled in the water to keep afloat, checking that his top hadn't gone see-through at all. He was glad he'd chosen a black top, but he was also worried about the bandage he had around his chest and whether it would stay in place or not.
Looking up again, Roy saw Rex surface just in front of him.
"Listen carefully!" Rex said, and Roy noticed Sephiroth walking around the edge of the pool in the corner of his eye.
"Listening." Roy said.
"I'm here to save you!" Rex said with a twinkle in his eye. "Please don't struggle, just trust me."
"Me too!" Davis said, swimming up to Roy's left side. "We're gonna get you back to dry land in no time. No need to panic."
"Sounds like fun," Roy said sarcastically. "I honestly see no point to this."
"Careful, Sephiroth's got mako hearing." Rex whispered. Roy rolled his eyes and grinned.
"Come on, start rescuing me already." he said with a sigh. Rex reached out and grabbed one of his arms, putting it around his neck as Davis did the same on the other side. They started swimming together towards the side of the pool when suddenly something came hurtling towards them from the left and crashed into the water, sending the three of them straight under the water as a huge wave was produced.
Sephiroth folded his arms and sighed, having just sent a fira at the three of them to spice things up a bit. They needed to experience just how difficult it would be in a real situation and catching them by surprise seemed to be the best way to do it.
Roy spluttered as he came up to the surface, gasping and trying to get air into his lungs. He quickly looked around for Davis and Rex, noticing them surfacing behind him. Swimming over to them, he quickly did a check to see if they were okay.
"What was that?" Rex asked, coughing.
"No idea, but come on." Roy said, gesturing at them to follow him to the side of the pool.
"Wait!" Davis said, glancing over at Sephiroth and then back at Roy. "You're supposed to be the victim still."
"Don't be stupid!" Roy retorted, grabbing Davis' arm and pulling him. Davis pulled backwards, trying to get out of his grip.
"Guys stop!" Rex said. "Roy, don't be an idiot. You're the victim and we're taking you to shore."
"Fine." Roy sighed, letting go of Davis. His two friends proceeded to grab his arms and swim towards the side of the pool with him.
Once they got there and climbed out, Sephiroth walked back over to them and raised an eyebrow.
"Sir, was that you?" Rex asked curiously.
"Yes." Sephiroth nodded. Oh... Roy thought to himself.
"Oh, so how'd we go?"
"In all honesty I am disappointed." Sephiroth said. "If Peters had actually been in danger and you dragged him out by the arms his head could have gone under any moment. When I attacked you with a fira you were unprepared and lost your victim to the water, meaning he could have drowned. As I recall, he swam to you.
"Now I think it is time I told you the number one rule about rescuing people from water." Sephiroth said thoughtfully.
Rex looked down, feeling embarrassed now that Sephiroth had said their faults in front of everyone else.
"The first thing to remember is that you should not help someone by yourself. This does not simply mean to go with at least one other person, but go with an extra life jacket or some other object that floats. If at all possible, you should go out to them with a boat so that you can immediately help them into it." Sephiroth said. "Now, why don't you just get the person to hold onto your back while you lead them to shore? Simple. Most likely the person will be panicking and therefore trying to get above the water at all costs. It is more than likely that they will end up pushing you under water in order to make sure they're okay."
Roy kept listening as Sephiroth spoke, but glanced down at himself to check again whether everything was okay. His black shirt was sticking flat against his chest and he couldn't see any of his bandage hanging out anywhere, so it seemed as if he was safe for now.
"Now, who wants to go next?" Sephiroth asked, and one of the groups put their hands up. After getting the signal from Sephiroth, they all moved towards the pool and one of them quickly volunteered to be the victim, jumping into the pool first and swimming to the middle.
As they set to work, Sephiroth singled Roy out from the rest and made sure no one was listening before bending slightly to speak to him.
"You look like you've got a huge lump on your back." he said. Roy's eyes widened and his hands went to feel his back. His face went red as he realised the bandage had bunched up there.
"Um, Sir, can I-?"
"Go quickly. I'll make sure no one else goes in while you're there." Sephiroth said before straightening up again and walking over to the side of the pool, casually throwing a fira at the group.
Roy wasted no time in running to the change rooms to fix his bandage. He trusted that Sephiroth would keep everyone out until he was done, but was still nervous that someone might manage to sneak past for some reason and end up seeing him.
Finally fixing his problem, which had been harder to do seeing as he was still soaking wet, Roy emerged from the change rooms and walked back over to the group. He noticed Rex staring at him curiously but as soon as Rex saw him looking he turned away. Don't you dare catch on... Roy thought to himself.
The next group to do the exercise was Cloud and Edvard's group. Edvard readily volunteered to be the victim and then swam to the middle as had been done the previous two times. Then Cloud and the other person in their group jumped into the pool and swam over to begin their rescue mission.
Roy sat down on the cold floor and hugged his knees. Now that he was lower than everyone else he could quite clearly see their hairy legs from their knees down, and he glanced down at his own legs momentarily.
Screwing up his face in slight disgust at the fact that he hadn't shaved his legs in a while, he hoped it wouldn't be obvious to the others that he shaved at all. It would only give them another reason to think him weird.
Davis walked over and sat down beside him just as Sephiroth threw a fira at Cloud and his group.
"Why does Sephiroth keep speaking to you?" Davis asked in a whisper that Roy could hardly hear.
"What do you mean?" Roy asked, tensing up. Davis gave him a confused look but then turned away, obviously not wanting to repeat it. Roy felt a bit bad for keeping a secret from his friend, but he knew he couldn't tell him the truth no matter what.
Roy, Davis, Rex, Cloud and Edvard were eating lunch in the cafeteria after their swimming lesson. Edvard had once again piled his plate high and was eating it like there was no tomorrow. Roy took a bite of his food and looked around their table, his eyes falling on Rex who was frowning at him but then quickly looked away.
Uh-oh.
"We've got guns next, right?" Davis asked as he shovelled some food into his mouth.
"Yeah," Cloud nodded. "Hopefully we might actually be doing something instead of just learning how to take them apart and stuff."
"Don't you find all that fun, though?" Davis asked with a grin.
"Not as fun as blasting someone's head off, I'm sure." Rex commented with a chuckle and a smirk before it slipped off his face and he glanced at Roy again.
"Look, I'm not really hungry..." Roy mumbled, standing up. "I'm gonna go back to our room and hang for a bit."
He started walking to the door and glanced over his shoulder nervously to make sure Rex wasn't attempting to follow him. All he saw was Rex watching him with a deep frown creasing his forehead.
Reaching his room, he shut the door and leant against it. He wasn't sure what Rex was thinking, but he was worried that it might be exactly what he didn't want anyone to know.
Grabbing his schedule to double check that they had guns, he frowned. His schedule said that he had office duty with Angeal Hewley. What on earth was office duty and why wasn't he going to be with his friends learning about guns?
The door opened and Roy jumped, looking up to see who was entering. He swallowed and tried to calm his nerves as he saw Davis walk in and shut the door behind him.
"Everything alright?" Davis asked curiously, walking over to grab his own schedule.
"Yeah, but I've got office duty and not guns." Roy said, steering the conversation the way he wanted it to go.
"What? No way!" Davis exclaimed, immediately snatching his schedule off him to check it and see if he was telling the truth. "What the heck is office duty?"
"No clue." Roy sighed. "But I've met Angeal Hewley before so at least I know who I'm working with." Davis grunted a reply and gave his schedule back before walking to his bed and grabbing something from his bag.
"Hey, ready to take me on?" Davis said with a grin as he suddenly remembered their morning spat.
"Oh, I completely forgot about that." Roy said with a slight laugh. "I don't really feel up to it after swimming..."
"Excuses, excuses." Davis muttered, still grinning. Roy chuckled and shook his head, turning to shove his schedule back under his pillow where he kept it. Davis had pulled a book about guns out of his bag and was sitting on his bed looking at it, his expression now thoughtful.
"So that's how you know all about guns." Roy joked, gesturing at it. Davis nodded slowly in agreement and then looked up at him.
"What's up between you and Rex?" he asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" Roy asked with a frown. Davis scowled, standing up and walking over to Roy.
"Stop saying that." he snapped. "I don't know what's going on with you, but you keep talking to Sephiroth about stuff which you won't tell me and now there's something weird going on between you and Rex." Roy quickly stood up.
"Look, I don't even know what's up with Rex-"
"Then why did you leave early? It's like he knows something and you don't want a confrontation or something." Davis folded his arms.
"Just drop it!" Roy said, his own eyes narrowing now. "It's none of your business so keep out of it."
"Fine with me." Davis replied shortly, turning and walking quickly from the room.
Roy sighed and sat down on his bed again, putting his head in his hands. If Rex really did know about him, then Davis might end up asking Rex what was going on and Rex might tell him. Then the news would spread even more and things would go downhill. Should I talk to Rex before he has a chance to say anything to anyone else? I could get him to promise not to tell.
Standing up again, Roy decided to go find Angeal and ask him what they were meant to be doing in the time they had before six o'clock.
Angeal was in his office when Roy found him. He was busily writing a report and Roy was amazed at just how fast his hand was whooshing across the page.
"Ah, there you are." Angeal said when he looked up and noticed him. "Can you believe my computer crashed the day after you and Genesis came around to set them all up? Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. The stupid thing was corrupt, that's all."
"Sir, what exactly does 'office duty' include?" Roy asked curiously.
"We're just going around to make sure that all electrical equipment is working properly and if it isn't then we make a note of it and by the end we can send off the list of what isn't working to someone professional who can then come fix it." Angeal explained, standing up and putting the beginnings of his report into a drawer in his desk.
"Oh, okay." Roy said.
"Come on, I've already written down what's not working in here." Angeal grabbed a pen and a clipboard which had some paper on it and walked to the door, Roy following quickly. They turned right when they left Angeal's office and walked through the next door they found.
"Alright, start by checking the phone on the wall over there." Angeal said, pointing before walking forward to the flat-screen computer which sat on the desk in the room. He sat on the chair and began testing to see if it worked.
Roy walked over to the phone and picked it up, holding it to his ear. He could hear the dial tone so he hung the phone back up, satisfied that it was working. He then walked over to test the phone on the desk, doing the same thing.
"How come you have to do this job, Sir?" Roy asked. "Aren't you a 1st Class SOLDIER?"
"Heh, funny you should mention that. Sephiroth's been grumbling about how he has to train you guys ever since he found out." Angeal chuckled. "I suppose it is a bit strange that we have to do this, though I don't really mind. Your lot is cute."
Roy turned away to hide his blush and looked around for something else he could busy himself with. He walked over to a photocopier that stood at the side of the room and checked to see if that worked as well.
"I reckon you've all got a lot of potential for SOLDIER," Angeal continued. "Are you going to try out?"
"Yeah, it's what I've always wanted." Roy nodded, a smile working its way onto his face as he turned off the photocopier again.
"That's great! I always wanted to be a SOLDIER too," Angeal sighed and stared off into the distance as memories flooded his mind. "The Buster Sword I have was made for me specially."
"Is that everything in this room?" Roy asked. Angeal looked around and slowly nodded.
"Yeah, let's move on."
"I have a message for Edvard Frederiksen."
The guns instructor lowered his weapon and turned to the door, looking at the SOLDIER who stood there.
"And the message is...?" he asked.
"Professor Hojo has accepted him and requires him to go up to the lab immediately." the SOLDIER said, looking around the room for anyone who might look like an Edvard.
He didn't have to look for too long, as Edvard quickly made his way forward, his face lit up in excitement and happiness as if it was Christmas day already.
"Fine. Take him. What do I care?" the guns instructor shrugged, turning back to the rest of the class and lifting his gun again. Edvard followed the SOLDIER out of the room and through the corridors of ShinRa towards one of the elevators so that they could go up to the lab.
"You look a bit small to be going to see Professor Hojo. What's he accepted you into?" the SOLDIER asked as they stood in the elevator.
"He's accepted me to be his apprentice, Sir." Edvard replied, swallowing nervously.
"Apprentice? That's interesting." the SOLDIER commented. They fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments and Edvard looked up at the numbers, watching them rise quickly. Finally the elevator dinged and the doors opened. "Alright, this is your level. Been here before?"
"Yes, I know where to go. Thank you, Sir." Edvard said, saluting and then stepping out and walking along a stretch of corridor before going into a room.
Professor Hojo looked up from what he was doing and grunted before looking down again. Edvard paused at the side of the room, not wanting to come further in until he was told he could do so.
"I suppose I should explain to you what's going to happen." Hojo said slowly, putting down something he was holding and pulling off a pair of rubber gloves. He walked over to Edvard and put his hands on his hips. "You will come here every morning instead of going to your other classes, then you will leave when it is lunchtime. After that you will come back. At the end of the day you will return to your normal room."
"Yes, Sir." Edvard said.
"It will be different to when you stayed in a room up on this level and ate with the scientists. I have been told that you must still have contact with the others in your squad." Hojo explained. "I wish I could keep you up here so that it's easier to find you if I discover something fascinating during the night, however this is how it is going to be and that is final. Now, if you'll just come over here..."
Hojo wandered over to the side of the room and picked up some of the equipment that was on a bench. Edvard followed slowly, eyes wide as they took in everything he was seeing.
Hojo then proceeded to explain to Edvard what each piece of equipment was and what it did. He explained the uses of different machines, where everything was stored and even what certain parts of the room were used for.
"Understand?" Hojo asked suddenly, staring at Edvard curiously. The boy quickly nodded and swallowed again. He felt so incredibly nervous about being in the presence of such an esteemed scientist. Hojo sighed and wandered to a different side of the room this time, fiddling with something.
Edvard stood quietly and patiently, waiting for further instructions and not daring to touch anything for fear of getting yelled at. It was a few more moments before Hojo seemed to remember the boy was still there and turned back to him.
"I will no longer be sending you out when doing things of great importance. You are to watch everything I do and take it all in." Hojo said firmly. "Sometimes I may even ask you to give a SOLDIER an injection or something. Of course, I won't until you've seen it done quite a few times, but expect it to be asked of you in the future."
Edvard swallowed again and nodded, his eyes following as Hojo walked over to a machine and detached something from the side, examining it carefully before re-attaching it.
"If I don't tell you that you can touch something, you are not to touch it. If I ask you to do something you are to do it immediately and without hesitation." Hojo rambled, grabbing another pair of rubber gloves and putting them on. Edvard watched as the scientist walked over to pick up a small vial that contained green liquid. Hojo gently prised off the lid and then tipped the contents into a test tube, bending down to watch the green liquid mix with the other substance that had already been in the tube.
Edvard gasped quietly as the liquid began bubbling and Hojo muttered something angrily, leaving the test tube and walking over to a cupboard, pulling out another vial. This one contained a yellowy substance.
"The problem with experimenting is that you never know whether it's going to blow up in your face." Hojo mumbled, tipping the yellow substance in with the rest. Taking a step back cautiously, Edvard bit his lip.
The door to the lab suddenly opened and Sephiroth walked in, going straight over to the chair that was in the middle of the room and sitting down.
"So you're back are you?" Sephiroth asked Edvard, who simply nodded, afraid of saying anything else to the 1st Class.
"Oh, hello Sephiroth." Hojo said, keeping his eyes on his concoction as he slowly lowered a gloved finger into it. Edvard stared in horror, wondering whether the liquid was going to eat away at the rubber and flesh, but Hojo didn't seem frightened in the slightest.
"I'd like another dose." Sephiroth said calmly, taking off his leather gloves and picking some dirt from underneath one of his fingernails.
"You, my friend, are becoming addicted I believe." Hojo stated. He withdrew his finger from the test tube and took off the gloves, turning to Sephiroth and sighing. Edvard found himself releasing a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, glad that Hojo hadn't harmed himself.
"Just do it." Sephiroth said, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
"Alright, alright." Hojo mumbled, walking over to grab a syringe. He quickly prepared it and filled it with mako before walking over to Sephiroth. "How many times do I have to tell you-!"
"Sorry, forgot." Sephiroth said, quickly standing up again and taking off his coat. He then sat back down, his biceps now exposed. Hojo shook his head and then moved forward to inject the mako into Sephiroth's arm.
"Honestly, you'd think from all the times you'd had mako injections that you'd remember the simple fact that you need to have your arms bare so that I can actually inject it!" Hojo grumbled.
Sephiroth snickered, a small smirk on his face. Edvard frowned slightly as he watched Hojo remove the syringe and walked over to dispose of it. Sephiroth stood up again and put his coat and gloves back on, moving towards the door. He paused and turned back, looking at Edvard.
"Am I to assume you won't be back in my classes, Frederiksen?" he asked.
"Yes, Sir." Edvard said, quickly moving his feet closer together so that he was standing at attention. Sephiroth chuckled and left the room in so swift of a movement that Edvard thought for a moment he had vaporised. He quickly shook his head and turned back to Hojo, seeing the scientist once again tipping something into the test tube he was using to experiment.
Squaring his shoulders, Edvard stood silently and waited for the moment when Hojo would ask him to do something for him. It was such an exciting thought that the poor boy almost squeaked out loud, but he managed to keep it inside by looking over at Hojo again to see his serious expression.
Disappointing Hojo would mean disappointing himself, and he did not want that to happen.