~!~
CHAPTER 6
~!~
Sephiroth stood in the meeting room with Lazard and Hojo.
~This is not going to be a good morning~
Sephiroth didn't understand why he was here. Both Hojo and Lazard were discussing about a mission that Sephiroth had accepted.
~Why can't they both just tell me what they want and be done with it?~
"But collecting specimens might cause a distraction on the real subject here. This is a delicate matter and it cannot fail."
Lazard argued, adjusting his glasses. Hojo did the same action and shook his head.
"Nonsense. You underestimate the powers of my creation."
Sephiroth mentally sneered at the conversation and at the dark brown haired man in the lab coat.
~And I had such a good time last night that had put me in a good mood. That's gone now~
Sephiroth refrained from smiling to himself in front of the other two men. It had been a good time, indeed. He felt intrigued and curious about the blonde man and couldn't wait to meet with him again.
~Needs to correct some of those manners~
The Silver General kept himself busy with his own thoughts, while he waited for the meeting to come to a conclusion, which he knew was going to take the entire morning.
~!~
"Get up, brat! Training's over!"
A rough voice shouted and its owner began to walk away. Cloud panted heavily on the muddy ground. Once again he was the only one left behind. But he knew that by each hard day of training he would be able to withstand a couple of minutes longer. Still, that meant no comfort if he was always the last one.
~I need to catch up and fast~
~!~
"Focus!"
Angeal's deep voice filled the training room, his sword held firmly in his hand.
"I am!"
Zack argued back, summoning thunder attack from his sword. Angeal just dodged it with some effort, but showed a cool demeanor.
"It doesn't seem that way. You're spacing out a lot."
The taller man pointed out, looking with a bored look over to his pupil.
"Give me a break, I haven't slept all day."
Zack whined, but seemed to gather strength from somewhere and performed a better thunder strike at his mentor.
"That is no excuse. Your enemies will not wait for you to get better."
The Dark General used a shield, because he had no time to dodge the sudden attack. The pounding on his head wasn't helping him focus much either.
"Not even if I do this?"
Zack let his mouth drop in a full sad pout complete with wide watery eyes. Angeal just sighed at Zack's antics.
"Not everyone likes puppies, Zack."
"Then they are heartless bastards!"
"You just proved my point. Now attack me like you mean it."
With that order Zack stayed focused, the pout on his face immediately replaced with a serious expression.
"You're not on your best either, Angeal."
Zack commented, noticing something different in the man's movements,
"Focus on the fight, Zack."
Angeal warned, sending a blizzard attack towards Zack's way, to which he dodged with some difficulty.
Suddenly something crossed the younger dark head's mind, Angeal rose an eyebrow when he saw his student smirk over something.
"What are you -?"
The Dark General froze when he saw the younger man hold two different materia in each hand.
"Zack, don't-!"
~!~
Genesis blinked when he felt a light rumble, but shrugged it off. He decided to spend the day chatting with his friend over the internet.
*How about lilies? Or do you prefer roses?*
Genesis read the message and replied.
*Roses match my hair better. *
*I see. What about food? What does he like? *
Genesis pondered on the question, remembering all kinds of food that first crossed into his mind. He had spent the morning talking with Nero about his new plans to get Sephiroth to fall for him. The man on the other line was helping by giving him suggestions and ideas.
~I'm going to develop such an elaborate romantic date that will make him melt before me~
The Red General smirked to his own thoughts while he replied to his friend's questions.
*Hey, Weiss has come online too! *
Genesis checked his friend's message and grinned to himself.
~Great. I always have a good time with them both~
~!~
Cloud took the public bus along with some of his colleagues. They were all heading towards the same bar the other night. It became a habit to go out after a hard day of training. It helped the troop's morale when they met with each other or with other soldiers of different levels, mainly SOLDIER classes.
But Cloud had other plans. He remained in the bus as it took him to Sector 8. When he got off, he immediately recognized a dark spiked head that greeted him the moment he stepped out.
"Hey, Cloud!"
"Zack."
Cloud acknowledged with a bright smile, but it soon vanished when he saw the state that his dark haired friend was in.
"What happened to you?"
Zack grinned, looking down at himself.
"A little accident happened."
He admitted, watching Cloud's worried face as he studied him.
~So adorable~
"An accident? You look like you just came out of a big explosion. You have bandages all over!"
"I'm fine! This is nothing, actually."
"What really happened?"
Cloud asked again, obviously in shock. The taller man had white bandages wrapped around his arms and they continued into his purple SOLDIER shirt. Not even his neck was spared from the bandages, which made the blonde wonder just how far the damage extended to.
"Well, I tried a little experiment with materia in today's training." Zack explained, scratching his head.
"It didn't work out as well as I had hoped."
"I see. Did you get into trouble for it?"
The shrug on Zack's shoulder and sheepish smile indicated that he did so.
"Yep. Angeal was so pissed off that he ended up laughing his ass off."
Cloud blinked as he listened.
"Huh? So he let you off the hook?"
"Naw. He still gave me one of his lectures!"
The dark haired man whined loudly, receiving a laugh from Cloud.
"Shouldn't you be resting tonight, then?"
"Not sleepy. I'm actually hungry."
Zack pointed to his stomach and Cloud looked at him with a nod.
"Alright. Guess I'm stuck with you tonight. Do you know a good place nearby?"
Zack grinned in victory, nodding his head.
~You have no idea how happy that makes me, blondie. Just you and me~
"I do. Follow me."
~!~
TBC