A/N: The final 'proper' chapter of Roy. There is still an epilogue to go after this chapter... but since I've now finished writing the story it feels like it's over. I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I have and please, please, please read the sequel! It's gonna be great and you'll find out so much! Hehe.
Also, reviews make me very happy! I'm sure you already knew that... lol. But if you've never reviewed before, take the opportunity to do so now! I reply to every review and it makes me so very excited!
Don't forget to be prepared for the contest I'll tell you more about at the end of the epilogue... =D
Like last time, there are some more A/N at the end that I thought were needed.
Late in the afternoon the next day, Kayli was heading back to her room after a gruelling sword-fighting session with Brawn when her PHS beeped with a message. She sighed and and pulled it from her pocket, rounding the last corner and making her way to her door as she opened the message up to read it.
Entering the room, her eyebrows were raised in surprise. Davis looked up as she went over to her bed and wondered what had her so intrigued as she dumped her helmet, eyes still glued to the PHS.
"I think he knows," Kayli mumbled, looking up from her PHS to Davis. He raised an eyebrow questioningly and she bit her lip nervously. "I have to go see Lazard."
"What?" Davis stood up immediately.
"It might be for something completely different, though!" Kayli said quickly. "Maybe he doesn't know!"
"Is there anything else in the message? A reason why you have to go see him or something like that?" Davis asked, taking the PHS from her and reading it for himself. Sadly, all it said was that she had to report to Lazard's office as soon as possible for something important.
"Don't worry," Kayli said. "I'll put up a fight if he does tell me I have to leave."
"Do you want me to come?" Davis asked, handing her the PHS again. He was worried and couldn't hide it no matter how hard he tried.
"No, don't bother," Kayli shook her head. "Maybe I can drag Sephiroth into it and get the focus off me onto him instead?"
"Okay..." Davis wasn't convinced.
"I'll be fine. Rex told me yesterday that ShinRa needed someone like me as a SOLDIER so I'll be sure to tell Lazard how awesome I am in case he hadn't noticed yet." Kayli grinned cheekily and Davis rolled his eyes.
"Alright. I'll see you back here then once you win the argument."
Kayli giggled, nodded, and walked out the door again.
On her way to Lazard's office, she met up with Jensen who was also out walking through the corridor. She had to admit she was tense from being sent to Lazard's office since she had worked so hard to fulfil her brother's dream and hadn't gotten a chance to take the SOLDIER exam yet, but she did her best to appear calm in front of Jensen as the two of them began to talk.
"Don't look now," Jensen said after a moment. "But I think Jinx is following me."
Kayli fought the urge to look over her shoulder, but couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face. "Why doesn't he just walk with you?"
"Well, he didn't get a message." Jensen shrugged.
Kayli frowned and glanced across at Jensen curiously. "A message?"
"Yeah," Jensen sighed and looked down at his feet nervously for a second. "I have to see Lazard. Dunno what it's about though."
"So do I!" Kayli exclaimed, eyes wide. If Jensen had been called to see Lazard as well it must mean that he didn't know and she was still safe! This was brilliant! The relief that she felt was so incredibly that she couldn't believe she'd been so worried in the first place without fully realising it.
"Any idea what it's about?" Jensen asked her.
"No, none!" she laughed, earning a weird look from Jensen.
"Well, I hope they're not going to tell me I'm not allowed to go on any more missions for a while. I did okay in Corel, didn't I?" Jensen asked, turning to Kayli for reassurance.
"Yeah, you did!" Kayli nodded sincerely. "You acted as if only being able to see out of one eye didn't affect you at all."
"Thanks." Jensen smiled and looked ahead of him again.
"I wonder if anyone else has been called to see Lazard as well," Kayli thought aloud. "And if so, who? What for?"
"Only one way to find out, I suppose."
They fell into a comfortable silence as they continued through the ShinRa building and finally found themselves at the door to Lazard's office. They glanced at each other, shrugged, and then Jensen knocked on the door.
"Come in," came the response from inside. Jensen turned the door handle and walked in with Kayli right behind him.
Lazard sat at his desk, a lot of papers lying on front of him that his eyes were wandering over. He wasn't the only person in the room, however, and Kayli looked around to see Sephiroth, Brawn and her guns instructor all standing at the side of the room. She barely had time to take this in when two other infantrymen entered from behind.
"Good, you're all here," Lazard said, leaving his papers as he stood and walked around his desk to the front. "I have something very important to discuss with each and every one of you and I would appreciate it if you all listen attentively and give me your full cooperation."
Reaching back to pick some of the papers from his desk, he flicked through them slowly for a moment as he checked something. All the infantrymen were nervous as they waited to find out what was going on.
It had to be important. The General was here too!
"First things first," Lazard said after another pause. He turned to face the three men standing at the side of the room and addressed them. "Are these the four infantrymen you meant?"
The three men turned their gazes to the boys and scrutinised them for a moment before each confirming that they were the right ones.
"Good," Lazard turned back to the boys. "Then I'll get straight down to business and tell you why you've been called here."
Kayli had to force herself to breathe slowly and nervously wiped the palms of her hands on her pants. Had they done something wrong and were being punished? She couldn't remember doing anything that ShinRa wouldn't approve of, though, apart from pretending to be a guy. There was still a small doubt in the back of her mind that told her she was going to be kicked out, but she did her best to ignore it. Besides, if that was going to happen the other three infantrymen wouldn't be here right now.
Unless they were all girls in disguise as well. Kayli actually snickered at the thought.
"Is something funny, Peters?" Lazard asked, narrowing his eyes suddenly.
"Um," Kayli cleared her throat. "No, Sir. Sorry, Sir."
Lazard continued to frown at her for a moment before leaning back against his desk casually. "The four of you have each been recommended for SOLDIER. Your instructors have seen you performing well in classes and wished for me to know of your progress. If you choose to take the SOLDIER exam and you pass, you will then have the choice of being mentored by another SOLDIER should they also accept the responsibilities that come with that."
Silence descended on the room and Kayli found it impossible to speak.
"We've been-" One of the other infantrymen was spluttering, as shocked as she was apparently. "Recommended for SOLDIER?"
"That's correct." Lazard nodded.
"Seriously?" Kayli managed to ask, thankful that her voice sounded fairly steady.
Lazard turned his gaze on her again and she could see a twinkle in his eyes which made her nervous. "Yes, Kayli, you have."
It took her a moment for what he had said to sink in. In fact, if Jensen hadn't frowned and looked over at her in confusion she probably wouldn't have thought anything of it at all, but he had and that had alerted her to the problem.
Lazard had called her Kayli.
So that was it? He told her she'd been recommended for SOLDIER, got her hopes up, and then revealed to her that he knew her gender so she'd have to go home? In that instant, she felt an intense hatred for him.
"You're a girl?" Jensen asked quietly and hesitantly.
"Yeah, I am." Kayli confirmed it while glaring at Lazard. She couldn't believe he didn't look even slightly guilty about what he'd done.
The other two infantrymen gasped at what Kayli said and mumbled to each other about it, but it wasn't their response which made her jump in surprise and spin around.
It was Jinx.
Jensen had been correct in thinking that the green-haired boy was following him earlier in the corridor. In fact, Jinx had followed all the way to Lazard's office and then proceeded to hide outside where he could listen in to the conversation and hear what was going on. When he had heard Jensen's soft enquiry and the answer that followed, he had let out an incredibly loud shriek and leaped through the door.
"You're a girl?" Jinx yelled at her. Facing him, all Kayli could do was nod. "And you let me believe you were gay? You freaked me out and made me self-conscious whenever I was around you and you're a girl?"
"I'm sorry, Jinx," Kayli said. "I couldn't risk you telling anyone."
"I'm training to be a Turk! Secrets are my speciality!" Jinx protested.
"So what? It doesn't matter now, anyway." Kayli turned back to Lazard and squared her shoulders, ignoring Sephiroth's stare from where he stood.
"Miss Peters," Lazard began but Kayli firmly shook her head.
"Sir, just because I'm a girl doesn't change anything. The fact that I've been recommended for SOLDIER should tell you that! I'm just as competent as any other grunt and I believe I'll be an asset to you if you allow me to join. Please Sir, you can't kick me out when I've come so close."
Kayli swallowed nervously then and waited for Lazard to respond. Her nerves were taking over her now and she had to look down at the floor because she was so worried that she would be literally thrown from the building for deceiving everyone about her gender. She'd completely forgotten to implicate Sephiroth.
"Everyone except for Peters is dismissed," Lazard said.
Kayli closed her eyes as Jensen turned and left the room along with the other infantrymen – Jinx included. She couldn't believe this was happening. She'd sounded so confident when telling Davis everything would be fine, but now she was practically trembling.
"I'd like to stay, if that's alright."
Kayli glanced up just as her guns instructor and Brawn walked past, leaving the room. Sephiroth was looking at Lazard with a steady gaze and then Lazard nodded to him before facing Kayli again.
"Miss Peters," Lazard said again. "It seems to me that you believe I am going to force you to leave ShinRa."
"Aren't you?" Kayli asked cautiously, feeling that the other option was too good to believe. Lazard couldn't honestly tell her he was going to keep her secret as well, right? Besides, there had been others present who now also knew her gender as well!
"Why would I?" he asked. "Being a female is not a crime."
"But-" Kayli glanced over at Sephiroth before looking back at Lazard again. "Girls aren't allowed to join SOLDIER!"
"Who told you that?" Lazard asked.
Kayli floundered for an answer but couldn't think of one. No one had ever told her that. It was in the rulebook though, wasn't it?
Lazard went on, "Sephiroth came to me to discuss your situation. He believes you joined ShinRa because of your deceased brother, Roy. Would you like to tell me about him?"
"He was my twin," Kayli said faintly, unable to think straight. Sephiroth had told Lazard? "But he was killed."
"By your older brother, Liam? The Wutai soldier who kidnapped you?" Lazard pressed on.
"Yes."
"When Roy was alive... did he want to become a SOLDIER?"
Kayli clutched the hem of her shirt in her hands for something to do, incredibly nervous. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with the Director of SOLDIER, of all people!
"Yes, he did," she admitted.
Lazard nodded and clasped his hands together in front of him. "That's all I wanted to know."
"What? I don't understand. You're not kicking me out?" Kayli asked, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.
"Did you ever actually read the rulebook?" Sephiroth asked, speaking to her for the first time.
"Of course I did!" Kayli said, glaring at him suddenly.
"Are you sure?" Sephiroth moved over to Lazard's desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out the book in question and throwing it to Kayli. She caught it easily and turned it over in her hands slowly.
"Maybe... not all of it."
"In any case," Lazard interrupted. "There never has been and never will be a rule against girls joining SOLDIER."
"You're kidding." Kayli mumbled.
"I'm actually quite serious. I also want to encourage you to take the SOLDIER exam as soon as possible now that you've been recommended. Sephiroth has said he'd love to mentor you but may not have enough time in his busy schedule. He is the General, after all."
"Yes, and you ask so much of me." Sephiroth said with a small grin.
"Wait," Kayli said with a frown. "Let me get this straight. All this time I've been pretending to be a guy, it was for nothing?"
"Yes," Sephiroth said bluntly.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Kayli exclaimed.
With a smirk, Sephiroth said, "You were the most interesting thing to happen around here in a long time. I wanted to see how long you could last without anyone finding out your secret." The smirk disappeared and he became serious again. "When I found out about the real Roy I knew it was time to end the game."
"That's another thing," Lazard added. "I want to let you know that if you feel you need to speak to a counsellor about what has happened one will be available to you immediately."
"Thanks," Kayli smiled. "But I think I'm okay."
"Consider it," Sephiroth said firmly. "Pretending to be someone for so long that you loved and lost may have had a negative effect on your mental health."
"Alright," Kayli sighed. "But only if you promise to try and make time to mentor me once I become a SOLDIER."
Sephiroth pressed his lips together in a tight, thin line as Kayli smirked this time and folded her arms. Lazard watched the exchange curiously, amazed that Sephiroth hadn't yelled at her yet for being so informal with him.
"Deal."
Lazard's eyebrows shot up.
"Is that all then, Sir?" Kayli asked, facing Lazard again and waiting patiently.
"Uh, yes." Lazard nodded. "That's everything I needed to talk to you about. Except, I would prefer from now on if you gave up on pretending to be a male."
"Don't worry," Kayli chuckled. "I'm quite happy to give up that hobby."
"Then you're dismissed."
Kayli saluted and turned to walk out the door. Just as she reached the doorway, however, she hesitated. There was one other thing that she probably should tell him, now that she thought about it, since he hadn't brought it up himself.
"Sir," she turned around and saw him waiting patiently for her to speak. "I lied about my age when I applied."
"How old did you say you were?" Lazard asked calmly.
"One year older than I am. It was my birthday yesterday and I turned fifteen," Kayli explained. "So my file probably says I'm sixteen now."
"I'll have it corrected right away." Lazard said.
"Thank you, Sir."
This time, Kayli did walk out the door and into the corridor beyond. She managed to keep a calm exterior all the way until she reached the corridor which contained the door to her room and then she screamed, running the rest of the way and bursting in to find Davis, Alec, Cloud and Rex all inside.
"What happened?" Davis gasped, turning to grab her arms, eyes wide in fright as he feared the worst.
"I can stay! I can stay!" Kayli said excitedly, her voice extremely high as she was practically squealing. "There's no rule that says girls can't be SOLDIERs so I'm allowed to stay and I was even recommended for SOLDIER and Sephiroth said he's gonna be my mentor if I make it in, which I will, so this is so exciting! Oh my gosh!"
Davis' mouth had fallen open as she spoke and when she finished he didn't even think about what he was doing before leaning forward and kissing her on the mouth.
The whole room was shocked into silence and Davis hurriedly pulled back after a moment, blushing bright red and apologising.
"I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't mean to... I mean, well, I wasn't really thinking and-"
"It's okay," Kayli said nervously, fiddling with her fingers. "You're my boyfriend, aren't you?" She tried to smile to reassure him but didn't know whether it worked or just looked like a grimace.
"Heh, yeah." Davis gulped.
"Don't make me sick," came a teasing voice and Kayli looked up to see Rex smiling at her. She gasped and moved over to hug him.
"You got let out!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's so good to finally be away from the infirmary. But what was all that about? I mean, what you were screaming when you came in?"
Kayli grinned again and took a step back so that she could see everyone in the room and would be able to address all of them at once.
"I got a message on my PHS telling me to go to Lazard's office and I thought he'd finally figured out that I was a girl and was going to send me home. Anyway, I get there and three other infantrymen are there as well. Plus our guns instructor, Brawn and Sephiroth. So then Lazard tells us..."
She trailed off and looked at the eager faces of her audience, enjoying making them wait to find out what had happened.
"We were recommended for SOLDIER! If we pass the SOLDIER exam we'll have the opportunity to be mentored!" Kayli exclaimed.
"That's awesome!" Cloud gasped.
"I know, right?" Kayli squealed. "Anyway, there's more! I didn't really believe what he was saying at first so I asked if he was serious and then... he called me Kayli."
"What? So he did know?" Alec asked.
"Yeah, he did! But he said there's no rule that says girls can't be SOLDIERs so he's letting me stay!"
"No rule? You've been pretending to be a guy all for nothing?" Rex frowned.
"As Sephiroth said," Kayli laughed. "Yes."
Davis shook his head in disbelief and smiled warmly at her, simply thankful that he didn't have to worry about her being kicked out any more.
"I guess that solves all your problems," Cloud said.
"I suppose it does," Kayli said thoughtfully. "So now I don't have to hide anything from anyone here at ShinRa!"
"Hey," Davis suddenly said with a grin. "Does Jinx know, yet?"
Laughing, Kayli nodded and proceeded to tell them how Jinx had overheard and come rushing in to confront her.
With a shake of his head Alec commented, "I haven't known him for long, but it's so like Jinx to go to a lot of trouble to listen in to a meeting only to jump out into plain view when he hears something shocking."
Everyone agreed while Kayli collapsed on her bed in stitches. It took her a good ten minutes to finally calm down and even then everyone was still smiling at what they'd just discussed. They hadn't all laughed like that in a while and it felt good.
It was great to see Rex so happy, as well, and Kayli was pleased that everything finally seemed to be coming together. She was sure that they'd probably have a lot more hard times in the future, but for now it was simply satisfying to see their problems fixed.
"Hey," Rex said suddenly, standing up. "I'm gonna go take the Turk exam."
"Right now?" Davis asked, eyebrows shooting up.
"I promised myself I'd take it as soon as I got out of the infirmary," Rex explained with a small shrug.
"You'll do fine," Kayli said as she pulled herself into a sitting position again. "In fact, I might even come with you and take the SOLDIER exam myself."
"Hooray for snap decisions!" Davis exclaimed as he stood up and grinned over at Rex. He then looked over at Kayli and reached a hand out, pulling her onto her feet as well. "I'll come too, then."
"Are you serious?"
"Of course I am," Davis replied. "Why wait any longer? There's only one way to find out if we can pass it now!"
"Imagine if we all pass!" Kayli exclaimed. "We'll be Third Class SOLDIERs and Rex, you'll be a Turk!"
"You'll out-rank me!" Alec whined to Kayli, pouting.
"Wow, that's too bad!" Kayli said sarcastically, smiling.
"Come on," Rex said, heading to the door.
Suddenly feeling nervous, Kayli followed him out of the room and down the corridor, Davis right behind her. They didn't talk much as they made their way along but kept shooting nervous glances to each other. The excitement was building with each step, but they had to part ways when they got into the elevator.
Rex had to get out on a different floor, so Kayli and Davis wished him luck and hugged him before letting him go and continuing on their own way to Lazard's office.
Kayli found it ironic that so soon after being recommended for SOLDIER she was going to take the exam. She just hoped it wasn't too difficult and that she managed to pass it, even though it didn't matter because she could take it again any time.
After she and Davis spoke briefly with Lazard about taking the exam, another instructor was called in to take them to an exam room where they would be able to take the first test. It would be a written paper.
Reaching the room, the instructor flicked the lights on and then turned around to face Kayli and Davis who were still standing outside.
"Just a moment," the instructor said. "I have to check the papers to make sure there are no mistakes."
Kayli and Davis nodded, waiting patiently as the instructor leant against one of the desks in the room and began to check through the papers thoroughly. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he read every word to make sure they were all correct and Kayli began to shift around, unable to keep still any more. The anticipation was killing her!
"I think it's okay," the instructor muttered, reaching the end of the first paper. Picking up the second one, he began to check that as well.
Kayli let out a sigh and glanced over at Davis, who was watching her with a small smile of amusement. She smiled back instantly and then chuckled quietly.
"I feel like I'm going to get in there and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing," Kayli whispered to him honestly.
"Me too," Davis admitted. "But I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Hopefully!"
The instructor finally finished up with both the papers and then laid them out on separate desks before heading to the front of the room again and opening a drawer in the larger desk, pulling out two pens.
"Okay, you two ready?" he asked, looking over at them expectantly with his eyebrows raised.
Kayli's hand quickly found Davis' and she squeezed gently, getting a response him right away as he squeezed back.
"I guess so," Davis said to the instructor, giving a small shrug and moving to step into the room.
Kayli pulled back on his hand, making him frown as he turned to look at her.
"It's gonna be fine," he repeated, trying to reassure her since he thought she was probably having second thoughts. "Even if we don't get in we can try again later."
"I know," Kayli sighed. "That's not what I'm worried about. If we become Third Class SOLDIERs we won't be able to see the others as much any more."
Davis thought about that for a moment before shrugging, "It's inevitable, isn't it? One of us was always going to take the exam first and have to leave the others. Cloud already tried it, remember?"
"Yeah..."
"Besides, I'm sure we'll still be able to arrange times to see them," Davis said, his tone of voice making it sound like a promise. Kayli smiled up at him and nodded.
"Okay. Then there's just one more thing I want to do before I go in there," she told him. Davis raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting.
Taking a deep breath, Kayli stepped closer to him and stretched up onto her tip-toes. Leaning forward, she briefly smiled at his suddenly surprised face before closing her eyes and kissing him.
Putting his arm around her, Davis quickly returned the gesture as he got over his surprise. After a moment they pulled away again and Kayli grinned shyly, her face red in embarrassment.
"Ready yet?"
Kayli giggled as the instructor sighed and tapped his foot.
"Come on," Davis said with a pleased sigh. "Let's go pass the first SOLDIER exam."
Still holding hands, they entered the room and made their way over to the desks which had the papers on them. The instructor passed them a pen each and then they finally let go of the other, sitting down and staring down at the white booklets in front of them.
"Alright," the instructor said as he took his own seat behind the larger desk at the front. "You may begin."
A/N: The next 'chapter' to be submitted will be the epilogue and it will be the last of this story. I really just wanted to remind everyone again that there will be a link to the sequel along with the epilogue so that you can easily add it to your alert list right away and don't miss any updates once I start writing it. The epilogue for this story will be the prologue for the sequel.
That's all for now, a LOT more information will be with the epilogue when I submit it.