Kayli stood on the beach, facing the ocean and staring with a peaceful expression on her face. The way the waves rolled in over and over again... it was incredibly relaxing. She probably could have fallen asleep standing up if she hadn't been attacked.
"Boo! Did I scare you? Huh? Did I?" Zack burst out, having just jabbed her in the sides before darting around to stand in front of her so that he could see her face. He was grinning stupidly and Kayli just rolled her eyes.
"I'm terrified." she said sarcastically. Yes, she had jumped when he had jabbed her, but who wouldn't?
"Woo! I rock!" Zack yelled, pounding the air with his fists before running off away from her to where ice cream was being sold.
With a sigh, Kayli sat down on the sand. Zack was actually fun to be around after a while and his happiness was contagious. It was also a relief not to have to pretend to be male any more, because Kayli felt like she hadn't been herself in ages.
"Kayli! Look!"
Turning around and leaning on one hand so she didn't fall to the side, Kayli used her other hand to shield her eyes as she looked for where Zack was. He was waving at her, holding two ice creams in his hand. They were already melting all over his hand and she laughed, standing up and quickly running over to help him.
"Why didn't you hold them separately in each hand?" she asked as he handed one to her before beginning to lick his hand clean.
"How was I supposed to wave at you if I did that?" Zack asked with a frown.
"Oh I don't know, I'm not the SOLDIER here, am I?" Kayli teased with a laugh.
"You're nicer as a girl than you are as a guy." Zack commented out of the blue.
"Thanks, but please don't forget I'm taken by Davis." Kayli reminded him with a small smile. She knew Zack was only teasing, but hey, couldn't she tease too?
"If I ever forget, you have my permission to hit me across the back of the head." Zack said seriously. Then he grinned. "So where do you want to start with training?"
"Uh, I'm not sure." Kayli shrugged. "Anywhere is fine. I don't really know what you have in mind so..."
"Well since you're a girl we need to work on how you're going to be able to gain the upper hand." Zack said thoughtfully before licking his ice cream again.
Kayli raised an eyebrow as she realised half his ice cream was missing. Looking at the ground, she couldn't but smile. But if he hadn't noticed, she didn't have the heart to tell him.
"So are you cool with that?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine." Kayli nodded. "But won't it look weird to everyone that you're training a girl?"
"Do we care what others think? No! Do we shape our opinions of ourselves by what others think? No! Do we do whatever the heck we want whenever the heck we want and not care if people give us weird looks and call the authorities? Yes!"
"Zack, we are the authorities." Kayli frowned.
"Precisely! You sure do catch on quick." Zack grinned.
"Is Sephiroth actually your friend? Or do you pay him?" Kayli asked with a sigh, a grin on her face.
"He is my friend, you horrible little girl!" Zack said.
"It was just a joke!" Kayli laughed.
"Yes, I know, but still you- Whoa! Look!" Zack grabbed her arm and stared over her shoulder, his mouth wide in shock.
Shaking her head, Kayli turned to see what had caught his attention this time. There was a group of girls behind her holding a box of chips between them, all eating and talking happily together.
"What about them?" Kayli asked.
"Reckon they'll mind if I join their little group?" Zack asked.
"Yes." Kayli said truthfully. Zack's happy grin faltered and he looked like he was going to burst out crying for a moment before he grinned even wider.
"You can introduce me to them! Then they won't mind!" Zack said.
"But I don't even know them!" Kayli protested, eyes widening in horror. He could not expect her to do that.
"That's not the point. The point is you're a girl and they are girls. Therefore they'll be friendly towards you and once they see I'm your friend they'll be friendly to me too. Please?" Zack let go of her arm so that he could clasp his hands together and give her his famous puppy-dog pleading face.
"Zack..." Kayli sighed. She glanced back at the group of girls again nervously. "I've been hanging around a bunch of sloppy, immature boys for the past who-knows-how-long. I'll probably only make a fool of myself and besides, I'm younger than them!"
"You're hurting me." Zack whined quietly.
"Maybe they won't mind if you just go over there by yourself! Pretend you... look! There's a necklace on the ground there. Ask if it belongs to one of them and then go on from there." Kayli said.
Zack's eyes fixed onto the discarded necklace lying on the ground and he was dead-still for a moment before darting into action. One second he had snatched it up and the next moment he was over beside the group of girls, already starting to ask if any of them owned it.
Laughing silently, Kayli walked back down the beach to where she had been sitting before. She had almost finished her ice cream and only took a few more moments to devour it, then going back to staring out at the ocean.
"Hey, is that you, Kayli?"
Jumping, Kayli spun around and quickly scrambled to her feet as she saw an incredibly familiar face that did not belong here in Costa del Sol. Not at all. Nu-uh.
Warning bells!
"Alec! Fancy seeing you here!" Kayli said with a fake laugh. She couldn't believe it. This was Alec Freshtone, Gemma's brother. He didn't know she was pretending to be a guy. Why was he in Costa del Sol!?
She was suddenly very thankful that she had left her wig in the bottom of her bag and was wearing it now, because it would have been a very awkward situation trying to explain to him why she had cut it.
"Gemma told me you were going to visit a cousin at ShinRa." Alec said, shoving his hands into his pockets and grinning.
"Oh! Did she? Cool!" she laughed again, more nervously than before. This was not going well.
"I didn't expect to run into you here, though. How did you get enough money to come here as well as Midgar?" he asked curiously.
"Um... actually my cousin is here as well. When I showed up he was given a short holiday and they paid for me too." Kayli lied.
"Short holiday? You've been gone for months." Alec frowned.
"Oh, well we didn't leave right away. I got to stay somewhere near ShinRa for a while but finally they decided to send us here." Kayli shut her mouth and hoped she was making sense. She didn't feel like she was making sense.
"Cool," Alec said, turning and scanning the area. "So where's your cousin?"
Kayli stared at him silently for a moment before saying, "Oh! Uh, somewhere. But I really have to go... Look! There's Zack! He's also from ShinRa. I'll go get him and he can find Roy for you if you want."
Not waiting for a reply from Alec, Kayli took off towards Zack and dragged him forcefully away from the group of girls who had, amazingly, taken quite a liking to him.
"Zack!" Kayli hissed quietly. "My best friends brother is here and he wants to meet Roy so I have to go get changed and take off my wig and you have to stall for time but I promise I will be ready in five minutes because I've done it before. Please, please just keep up the act! I'm Roy's cousin!"
Suddenly running off from him, she made her way as far as the inn they were staying at before slowing down. Rushing into her room, she almost threw her things all around the room as she dug for her make-up bag.
Pulling it out and dragging her wig off her head, she quickly began applying the 'Roy' face that Gemma had taught to her. She remembered just in time to change her clothes and pulled on some dirty ShinRa pants as well as a baggy shirt, which she had to take off again as she realised she had to bound her chest.
Holding in a scream, she wrapped the bandage around herself and then put on her shirt again, tearing out off the room and running straight back to the beach, hoping Zack had been able to make small talk.
Slowing to a walk, Roy tried to make himself look calm and natural as he strolled along. He did his best not to make it appear that he was trying to look for anyone and was thankful when Zack spotted him first.
"Roy! Get over here!"
Turning his head in fake curiosity, he began walking over.
"Whoa, you look so much like Kayli!" Alec exclaimed with a smile. "You could be twins or something, seriously!"
"Ha, we get that a lot." Roy laughed. "How do you know Kayli?"
"She's my sister's best friend actually. Do you know where she ran off to?" Alec asked, frowning and turning to look around at the rest of the beach again.
"Oh, she's always running off." Roy laughed, waving a hand as if it was no big deal. "She's uh... probably fixing her make-up again."
"Yeah! Boy, does she fix her make-up a lot." Zack piped up, grinning.
Roy shot him an unimpressed look.
"So, when did you join ShinRa?" Alec asked.
"Oh, a while ago." Roy shrugged. "A bit before Kayli first came to visit."
"What's it like? I've been thinking of joining... but do you think I'm too old? Apparently if you join older than fifteen you're seen as weird." Alec said, chuckling nervously.
"Uh-" Roy's brain froze up for a moment. Thinking about joining ShinRa, hm? What would be the nicest way to smash his dreams? "Actually they do think it's weird if you join older than fifteen. And seriously, it's a really tough place."
"Hm. So it'll even be weird if I'm only one year older? I'm sixteen." Alex explained.
"Hey! You're my age!" Zack said, adding in his two cents worth again. Or... two gil worth.
"I'm not sure, it's ultimately up to you." Roy said, wishing he could have said something else to ruin Alec's hope of joining ShinRa.
He had nothing against Alec. He just had everything against having to see Alec at ShinRa everyday and keep the act up even more than he already was having to.
"Well, do you think I might be able to catch a ride with you when you head back to ShinRa? Or am I not allowed because I'm not 'related'?" he grinned, apparently thinking that was funny.
Yeah, Kayli had never understood him in all her years of knowing him.
"Sure!" Zack said with a grin. "That way you can apply to ShinRa sooner and before you get any older!"
Roy began abruptly choking on air and had to turn around before he succeeded in composing himself and turned back around again.
"Sorry, I think I swallowed a bug. That's something they definitely don't teach you at ShinRa – how to keep away the insects." Roy said, smiling apologetically as Alec had raised an eyebrow at him.
"Actually they teach you that when you become a third class." Zack filled in for them.
"Right." Roy mumbled.
"So when do you leave to go back?" Alec asked.
"Tomorrow." Zack said with a firm nod. "But in the afternoon, late at night."
"Cool, and you're sure it'll be fine if I tag along?" Alec asked again, just to be sure. He didn't want to end up going with them if it would only end in getting yelled at by someone higher up in ShinRa.
"Absolutely positive. There is nothing wrong with-"
"Are there enough seats?" Roy asked suddenly. "I mean what with you, me and Kayli... I don't remember seeing another seat available."
"Nah, there are four seats." Zack said with a breezy wave of his hand.
Roy slowly nodded his head, faking a content smile as he bashed Zack up in his mind.
"Sweet." Alec said, smiling.
"What made you want to join ShinRa?" Zack asked.
"Not sure, really. I guess I've just always wanted to be able to help keep people safe and when I heard that Kayli's cousin had joined it inspired me even more." Alec explained with a small nod of his head.
Great, Roy thought to himself with a sigh, I inspired him to ruin my life.
"Awesome! Well, I know for a fact that ShinRa is always wanting more people to join so I'm pretty sure they'll accept you with open arms." Zack said happily.
"My friends are probably wondering where I am so I should get back to them." Alec said, changing the subject. "Where can I meet you tomorrow, then?"
"You know the inn down the road?" Zack asked and Alex nodded. "Well you can meet us there. It's where we're staying."
"Cool, thanks so much. Hey, Roy?" Roy looked up as he heard his name and nodded, waiting to be spoken to. "Could you tell Kayli thanks from me?"
"Sure. I will." Roy nodded. "But what for?"
"For making such awesome friends at ShinRa which gave me a connection and made it easier for me." Alec grinned.
"Okay, sure." Roy nodded.
"Talk to you tomorrow!" Zack said, waving enthusiastically. Alec nodded, grinned, and walked off.
"Zack Fair I am going to kill you!" Roy hissed in fury once Alec was out of earshot.
"What did I do!?" Zack asked fearfully.
"You told him he could come back with us! He's going to expect to see me and Kayli together in the helicopter! How do you expect me to clone myself? You're such an idiot!" Roy vented his frustration, even adding a thwack to Zack's shoulder after he finished speaking.
Zack stared at him silently for a moment, eyes wide, before he grinned.
"Just tell him one of you had to go back early. Maybe you did? ShinRa called you back early for something so-"
"But I can't turn up at ShinRa as Kayli. Not everyone knows about me." Roy snapped.
"Then... I need to call Sephiroth."
Zack then promptly spun around and ran off, leaving Roy to fume on the sand, his hands clenched tightly into fists.
"I'm telling you, Brawn hates me." Davis groaned. He, Rex and Cloud were on their way back to their room after being forced to do an endurance run.
"He's not that bad." Cloud said, frowning and glancing over at the other boy.
"Oh no, he likes you," Davis laughed. "But that's because you can do everything he asks without even breaking into a sweat!"
Cloud looked down at his feet and mumbled, "I do sweat."
"This is the weirdest conversation. Seriously, I still just can't get over how Roy was pulled out to go on another mission this morning." Rex sighed. "Do you think he'll get eaten by a monster or something? If he does we won't have to worry about him any more."
Davis shot him a frown. "I thought I was supposed to be the sour one out of us."
"Stole your job." Rex laughed.
Cloud looked over at Davis and saw the slight worry on his face. Yes, it was obvious that he and Roy were in some sort of relationship. The way they spoke to each other and the way they looked when thinking about each other gave it away like a beacon.
"Hey! Where's Peters?"
Spinning around, they found themselves facing Jinx once again. The boy with the green Mohawk did not look happy.
"He went on another mission, why?" Davis asked, folding his arms.
"Reno's been asking about him. Said there's something weird about him that he's going to find out." Jinx said, folding his arms to copy Davis and then raising an eyebrow in a challenge.
"Yeah well, mind your own business." Davis growled, grabbing Rex's shoulder and pulling him to face the other way, continuing walking to their room.
"So you do know about it." Jinx said smugly. Davis froze and clenched his jaw. There was no way anything Jinx said could make him spill about Kayli.
"What on earth are you on?" Rex asked, turning around to fix Jinx with a look that clearly showed that he thought he was mental. "Roy's just Roy. Sure he's probably got a history, but don't you? I have a history! Davis has a history! Cloud has a history!"
"Well said." Davis murmured.
"I stand by what I said. You know something that neither you nor Roy wants anyone else to know." Jinx said, staring at Davis still.
"Let's go." Davis said, breaking eye contact and again trying to walk off. This time, thankfully, Jinx didn't say anything else and simply let them walk off.
Reaching their room and walking inside, Davis sighed.
"So what was that all about?" Rex asked immediately.
"Huh?" Davis asked, frowning and looking up.
"What's Roy's secret?"
"Not you too!" Davis groaned, turning away from him and pulled at some of his hair in frustration.
"You're not even going to tell your best friend?" Rex pouted.
"It's not my secret to tell!" Davis said. "Ask Roy when he comes back."
Rex frowned but slowly nodded.
"I hate to say it but you have a point."
Davis moved over to his bed and was about to check his schedule for tomorrow when the intercom crackled into life. He paused, shocked to hear it because it hadn't been used ever since Roy had been first called when Gemma had visited him.
"Davis Taison, you are needed at reception."
"Oh, do you think there'll be a cute girl waiting there for you like there was for Roy?" Rex asked excitedly, obviously thinking along similar lines to his friend.
"Who knows." Davis shrugged. "But I highly doubt it."
"Good luck." Cloud said, raising his head from checking his schedule.
"Thanks, but I don't think I'm about to go to my doom either." Davis laughed. Shaking his head lightly, he headed over to the door and exited out it, making his way to reception. He wondered what he could be wanted for and then suddenly remembered Roy saying he had to talk to Sephiroth about keeping Reno quiet. Could Sephiroth be wanting to speak to him? But he wouldn't have been called to reception, would he?
Hands in his pockets, he turned the last corner and began moving over to the front desk when something caught his eye and he frowned before stumbling over his feet and staring in disbelief and horror.
Director Lazard was slowly walking towards him and there was a man beside him who had a stony expression on his face.
Davis could have recognised that face anywhere and his feet suddenly felt glued to the floor, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. His hands started sweating and all he wanted to do was turn and run, but instead he forced himself to stand there and speak the dreaded words he had hoped he would never have to say.
"D-Dad. What are you doing here?"