Siren stiffened in her seat and sighed lightly. After a brief non-hostile stare down, Sephiroth lightly cleared his throat. Siren averted her gaze, not able to hold eye contact with the General's piercing gaze any longer.
"No disrespect intended, sir, but I thought I was pretty clear when I said that I don't remember anything about my past or how I got these powers," Siren murmured.
"Something tells me that is just a ruse, Private," Sephiroth said, drumming his fingers on his desk impatiently. "To be completely frank with you, I think you're lying. But it is not my place to make you reveal anything about yourself that you're not comfortable with, so I'm not going to interrogate you."
Siren breathed a light sigh of relief and visibly relaxed.
"Although, I do have my own suspicions about where your powers originate from—"
Siren scowled at the General and clenched her jaw. She stood up from her chair, crossing her arms across her chest.
"You seem rather defensive, Private. If you have nothing to hide, then why are you acting like it?" Sephiroth asked, looking up at Siren with a curious glint in his eyes.
"I'm not getting defensive, sir, I just don't like when people get into my business when it doesn't involve them!" Siren hissed.
Sephiroth then glared at the young girl. "First off Private, change your tone. Second, sit back down. Now."
Siren heard the bass in the general's voice drop, sensing his impending anger, and sat back down immediately.
"My apologies, sir," she muttered.
"As the head of the Shinra army, and as your commanding officer, whatever battle skills you have are completely my business, Private. Don't overstep your bounds too quickly, especially not with me," Sephiroth growled.
Siren visibly flinched and refused to make eye contact. She had taken many verbal lashings from many different people, and normally would tell them all where to shove it, but she instantly felt obliged to listen to the General, and not just because he was her commanding officer.
"Okay Private, no more questions about your powers. Just keep up with your training and classes. And one more word of advice…" Sephiroth trailed darkly.
Siren raised an eyebrow in curiosity, noticing how the General's face took on a less authoritative look and more of a look of hatred.
"Stay away from Professor Hojo at all costs. If for some reason, he has you summoned to the lab, you are not to go there alone. Either have myself, or Lieutenant Fair accompany you. I will warn you now, Professor Hojo has gotten word about your powers, and believe me he would love nothing more than to start experimenting on you. I refuse to let him even get close to touching you like that."
Siren glanced up at Sephiroth and saw a fire in his eyes. The general's gaze was slightly unfocused and he had a clear scowl on his face.
"Well, I appreciate you looking out for me like that, sir," Siren smiled, catching Sephiroth's eye contact once he snapped out of his haze. She winked at him, and he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.
"Dismissed, Private," he sighed lightly, shaking his head.
Siren stood up and held Sephiroth's gaze for a few more moments, saying nothing, before turning and walking out of his office.
"Zack? Honey I'm home!" Siren called, laughing as she walked through the apartment door. She closed the door behind her and went straight into the kitchen, where Zack was standing over the stove cooking. The brunet snorted loudly and didn't respond to the comment.
She sat down at the little table, putting her head into her hands, staring out into space.
"So what did Seph talk to you about?" Zack asked, turning the heat down on the stove, and joining his roommate at the table.
"He was asking me about my powers and stuff. I reminded him that I already told everyone that I didn't remember anything. He said that he thinks I'm lying—"
"Whoa seriously?!" Zack asked, eyes widening. "I can't believe he accused you of that!"
"I could care less if he thinks I'm lying," the private shrugged.
Zack shook his head, and walked back over to the stove, taking a pot off the head and removing the lid. Steam poured out, and the aroma of the food quickly filled the entire apartment. At that moment, Siren's stomach grumbled loudly, and she grabbed her midsection, shooting a sheepish look at the lieutenant.
"What did you make, anyway?" she asked, getting up and looking into the pot.
"It's a macaroni and cheese…mixture," Zack laughed. "I just grabbed some random stuff that sounded good and threw it in there. Hopefully it'll be good."
The brunet served himself and Siren, and the two began to eat in silence.
"I do have to say, at one point during our conversation about Hojo, Sephiroth sounded kind of…protective almost," Siren said around a mouthful of food.
"How so?"
"Well, he said something like he would 'never let Hojo get close to touching me like that'. And then I thanked him for looking out for me like that. And then I winked at him," Siren giggled.
Zack nearly choked on his food. "You winked at him? Oh man, how did he react?"
"He just looked kind of confused. And then he dismissed me. But the way he sounded when he said he didn't want Hojo to get near me made me feel pretty safe. That probably sounds weird, because obviously Sephiroth isn't my bodyguard or anything, but…I don't know…" the snow-haired girl trailed off, not noticing Zack's smirk.
"Sounds like someone is getting a crush," he teased.
Siren shrugged. "Maybe."
Zack's eyes lit up and he smiled widely, before it quickly fell.
"I do have to warn you, Siren. I wouldn't try to get to emotionally involved with the General. He's a very busy man, and doesn't really have time for a relationship. Plus, I'm sure you've noticed that he's not the most social person, and…I just don't want you to get hurt."
"No, I can understand that. But I feel like he would be a more social person if people didn't treat him like some god walking this planet. He is still human, and it seems like most people forget that," Siren sighed.
"I think that's the main reason why Angeal, Genesis and I are his only friends. We see him as he is, not as 'The Great General Sephiroth'. He's just Seph."
"I would like to get to know him more too. I hate the fact that he calls me Private, or Miss Laurentis. I don't think I've even heard him say my first name yet," Siren said, gaze pointing to the table.
"That's normal protocol. As a SOLDIER, Seph will not call you by your first name. He only uses formal titles. Now, I'm sure once he gets to know you more, he'll probably start calling you by your first name. Just remember that since you're hanging with me, you'll be seeing a lot more of the General," Zack said, looking at Siren for a reaction.
The young girl looked up from the table at Zack, a hopeful expression on her face. Zack chuckled and took their dishes to the sink.
"Don't fall too hard, too quick Siren. Be careful."
"Okay mom, thanks for the advice," she laughed, sticking her tongue out playfully at the brunet, who rolled his eyes.
Over the next six months, Siren focused mostly on her classes and training. After having a few more interactions with the General, she felt that it wasn't going to go anywhere, and decided to focus her attention completely on making her way up through the ranks. After having the Third Classes' skills evaluated by watching during random training sessions, Sephiroth immediately made a call to the Shinra execs telling them that it was absolutely unnecessary to have Private Laurentis remain a Third Class, and that she should be bumped up to Second, and also be given a position as a commanding officer.
Siren received word of her upcoming promotion, from none other than Sephiroth himself. She was in one of the training rooms, practicing her close combat, when the general walked in. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, and put down her Sai, saluting.
"General sir!"
"At ease, Private," Sephiroth said, nodding at Siren curtly.
"So, I'm assuming you came here to tell me something?" the girl asked, completely bewildered as to why the General was interrupting her training session.
"I am here to let you know that over the past six months, your training sessions have been observed, and a decision has been made to promote you to SOLDIER, Second Class."
Siren smirked lightly and remained silent. Sephiroth eyed her curiously, and then chuckled.
"I know that you think you should have been promoted right to First Class, but you have to work your way up the ranks, just like everyone else. Yet, that doesn't mean that it has to be at the same rate as everyone else…" Sephiroth trailed, giving Siren a knowing look.
Siren smiled and nodded. "I understand. Well thank you sir. So, who observed me?"
"Lieutenants Hewley, Rhapsodos, Fair, and myself. We're the highest authorities in SOLDIER, so whenever we feel that there is someone who deserves to be promoted, we will randomly observe them within a six month period to see if their skills are up to par. I have the final say so, of course."
"So how do you think I'm doing?" Siren asked without hesitation, and with no sort of arrogance in her voice.
Sephiroth found himself taken aback for a brief second at the look on Siren's face. It begged for approval, and he thought for a moment that he was glad he didn't have any criticism of the young girl. As cold as he could be sometimes, he would hate to be the one to crush a young girl's confidence.
"I think you're doing very well. And in fact, because of your fearless attitude and your hard work ethic, I also want to let you know that you will be promoted to Sergeant. You have the right personality and skills for a command position."
"Again, thank you sir. So…when do I start?"
Sephiroth chuckled. "The third class graduation is in two months. At the ceremony, you will receive your new class ranking, and commanding title. Both will be in affect after that."
"Two whole months? I want to start whipping these newbies into shape now!" Siren laughed. "I think I'll survive waiting. I'll just keep training in the meantime."
"Your ambition and drive is very admirable. Keep it up, and it won't be long before you make it to First Class," Sephiroth said, his face softening.
"Well good. I can't wait until I'm First Class so I can wear whatever I want. These standard issue uniforms are awful. I already have my uniform for First Class planned out, I'm so excited!" Siren squealed, bouncing up and down like a child.
Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow and smirked at the young girl. "Whatever it looks like I'm sure it'll suit you well. Congratulations on your promotion again, and have a good day, Siren," he said, turning on his heel and walking out of the training area.
Siren stood frozen at the sound of hearing her name float of the General's lips. A large grin slowly made it's way across her face, and she ran over to her gym bag, grabbing her PHS out of it. She quickly dialed a number and waited impatiently as it rang.
"Zack speaki—"
"He said my name! Finally he said my name!"
Zack chuckled on the other line. "Progress, finally. Maybe he'll propose to you next week!"
"Don't be a dick," Siren laughed. "He just told me about my promotion, and he said my name. I'd say today was a good day."
"Oh Gaia, I think the lovebug has gotten you. Now we might be good friends and roommates, but don't expect me to always listen while you blabber on about how amazing he is. I'll have none of it around me."
"Shut up Zack," Siren quipped, hanging up the PHS as Zack laughed loudly in the background.
Wow, so I thought that I was going to abandon this story for a while, but it's baaaaack. Not with a vengeance, but it's back. I've been getting back in FF7 and I reread this story, and just had to attempt to keep it going. Cloud will be coming into the story soon, yay! There might be some big time gaps, and that's because I'm lazy and I'm not good at writing filler. Anywho, lemme know what you think and hopefully it won't be another 1-2 years before I update this again.