Cid Kagenou yawned while looking out the window of his room. The young teen lying in his bed, having woken up seconds ago to the first rays of sunlight peaking over the hills and directly into his face.
Was this some kind of divine punishment for failing to kill that Mist Dragon a few days ago? It must have been. How the hell was he meant to know that Dragon's couldn't be killed through conventional means, nothing ever talked about something like that. Not even in the fantasy stories of this world.
Not like Dragons were exactly common either. And to think that there was one in the Abyss Woods right outside the Kagenou family land! Who knew that being born to a noble family in the boonies would turn out to be so great?
Though that reminded him about the fact that the girls had told him something about finding a new headquarters. Which was more than a little annoying considering that Cid didn't even know where the goddamn base was.
If it wouldn't completely out him as a fraud and likely turn all the girls away from him he'd just come right out and ask, but he couldn't do that. There was too much at risk, he could never do that.
No matter how badly he wanted to know everything that he currently didn't.
With another yawn and a stretch of his arms above his head he groaned and rolled out of bed. Truly embodying the role of Cid Kagenou, mob-character extraordinaire, as he went about his morning duties. Happy that for once he didn't have any of his family's maids shoving him through the tasks as if he couldn't do them himself.
Even as a mob character he could do his morning routine without messing it up dammit!
But the fact that he didn't even have any of the girls around made things a bit gloomier for the pre-teen. The dull ache in his chest making him wonder if he'd forgotten to heal some sort of injury from his training the night before. But after a quick check and finding nothing, he just shrugged and ignored it, opening his door and walking out into the hallway.
'I only have three hours of tutoring today. That's nothing. I'm going to be bored out of my damn mind.' Cid thought to himself, smiling and waving at two maids as they walked past him.
The action was instinctual, done without any conscious thought on the boy's part. His mind a million miles away and not likely to return anytime soon.
'I'll have plenty of time to train after classes if I avoid Claire. But what to work on? Poses and one-liners? No. I can work on those at night in my room. Sword techniques? Potentially but given the age of my body I can't exactly push it too much further without ruining something important. I'd love to do something involving Shadow Garden but without the girls here I wouldn't even know where to start.' Cid thought to himself, sighing deeply as he turned into the room that was to be where he'd spend the next three hours 'learning'.
'One of the downsides of reincarnating. Having to learn boring stuff all over again. Hmmmm, Oh! I can go fight the Mist Dragon again! Hell yeah that sounds like an awesome idea. What better way to test the output of my super Eminence techniques than something that can't die to them? Perfect!'
And unknown to the poor tutor, turned to the blackboard to start writing something in chalk. A demented smile of pure bloodlust crossed Cid's lips. A gleam of battlelust entering his gaze as he looked out the window towards the woods.
'Soooooon.'
XXXxxxXXX
Three hours and ten minutes later
Cid hummed to himself as the world around him passed by in a blur of browns and greens. His surroundings melting into a single coagulous mass that was impossible to achieve without moving at speeds that even most Dark Knights would be jealous of.
"Shouldn't be too long now until- there! The mist! Hell yeah!" Cid whooped to himself, kicking off a tree branch and flying into the ever thick- eh?
Cid landed without disturbing a single leaf on the forest floor, one hand on his hip as he cocked it and looked around with a raised eyebrow.
Around him, like the magic that it was, the mist parted around Cid with a fair amount of birth. The young teen even moving a few steps side to side at varying speeds to test the effect. And surely enough, it managed to maintain its cleared effect no matter what he did.
Not that it effected him in the first place thanks to all the magical experiments he did on himself, but it was sort of neat. Though now there was a part of him that was starting to wonder how it worked.
And then all of a sudden, like a tunnel of destiny, the mist parted in a particular direction down the forest. Getting a slow hum from Cid as he looked in the direction it lead, even his enhanced eyesight from multiple cases of self-experimentation unable to pierce the distance and fog in the way of his destination.
"Well in the stories this kind of thing always leads someone to what they're looking for. Usually this is a main character thing but I'm the only one around and I'm in my Shadow -fit so why not?" He grinned to himself before blasting down the tunnel at high-speed.
Even at this speed the fog was keeping perfect pace with him, clearing at the same distance in front of him and reappearing at the same distance behind him. He was beginning to think that this was more than a case of fine control, and more a case of a special protection.
Though before he could even try to figure out which one it was, he broke through the fog entirely, snapping to a dead halt at the edge of something he genuinely hadn't been expecting to see. Outwardly his black eyes slowly drifted over the half ruined and crumbled city, picking out the more recently used or fixed buildings instantly, even from this distance.
Inwardly however?
'There's a city in this forest!? What the hell!? How!' Mental Cid was clutching his head and staring at the floor with a thousand yard stare.
But despite this being a Main-character level find, as Eminence in Shadow he was allowed to be here, since he was meant to have information that the Main Characters didn't have. So with a grin that bordered on psychotic, he disappeared in a flutter of wind; in the spot where he once stood, some leaves swirled in a small tornado.
XXXxxxXXX
67 and 79, two talented magical sensors recently recruited into the ranks of Shadow Garden, both perked up with worry. Their faces grim and a bead of sweat beginning to roll down the cheek of 67.
"67? 79? Are you two ok?" 70 stopped her sword practice to ask, her face twisted into one of concern at the sheer panic that was beginning to appear on their faces.
"A-Alex- Alexandria…" 67 muttered, stammering over her words and seemingly unable to comprehend something.
"Alexandria has been infiltrated. And they're strong." 79 finally finished for her fellow sensor.
70 let her heart rate skyrocket and her face go pale for only a second before she snapped into action. Forming her magic in her hand until it created a bright light. The operative aiming it at the sky and firing.
The bead of light soared higher and higher into the sky, catching the attention of only a few operatives in Alexandria. The lower numbers who had received the most training and were currently the most experienced. And then the bead of light reached the apex of its flight, pausing for only a moment before exploding in a catastrophically bright and loud bang.
If fired at an object it had maybe only enough strength to burst through a couple layers of paper. But it didn't need to be strong, because this wasn't an attack. This was an alarm.
And like an aggravated beehive, the nearing 90 operatives of Shadow Garden began to move around. Searching for whoever had dared to invade their home, their headquarters, the precious city that their powerful Lord Shadow had won in combat for them.
XXXxxxXXX
"Woah. That magic blast had a pretty loud punch. But whoever fired that should know that it wasn't strong enough to actually do anything. Did they miscast it by accident?" Cid muttered to himself, rushing through one of the side streets of the ruined city that he had found.
From his vantage point on the hill earlier, he had figured that this was the quickest path to one of the main streets of the city and kept him hidden in the shadows. So there was no reason for him not to come down this side-street.
Also everyone knew that a proper Eminence in Shadow used the shadows to traverse, it was basically common knowledge.
He was about to continue talking to himself when he felt multiple magical signatures closing in on him. Getting a raised eyebrow from the young teen as he felt how surprisingly well controlled and strengthened the magical signatures felt.
He mulled over what to do for just a moment before a perfect idea came to mind. Causing a wide grin to cover his features as he rushed forward faster than he'd been moving before.
Only to snap to a dead halt in the centre of the main street, a cocky smirk on his face as he kept his back to the approaching signatures. He needed to time this perfectly otherwise it wouldn't look cool enough. He needed to make sure that his opening statement and appearance were perfect as Shadow. He'd have to come up with an awesome one-liner off the top of his head but he could do that in no time!
'Wait for it….Wait for it…..Now!'
"Within these ruins of regrets and broken promises, shadows lie in waiting. Come and prove yourselves!...Shadow Garden."
Three figures clad in the slime suits that Cid himself had developed landed in a triangle formation around him. Their uniforms exactly like what the Seven Shades had worn, evidently having become a uniform of some kind.
His eyes trailed from left to right in an instant. His eyes watching the two that had landed within the periphery of his vision and his magical sensing ability keeping track of the third that had landed behind him.
To him they were moving slowly. Their every movement highlighted in crystal clear clarity to his enhanced eyes. The way that their muscles coiled, their eyes narrowed beneath their masks and the way their slime suits moved alongside their bodies.
'THIS PLACE BELONGS TO SHADOW GARDEN!?'
The three girls struck in a burst of movement and high-pitched air-pressure. Their movements precise, well timed and powerful. But before even the distracted and reflex-driven counter from Cid, it all meant nothing. Sparks flew in the air from the flurry of blows Cid deflected every second as the three of them attacked him not only in tandem but relentlessly. A wide-eyed gleam in their eyes that told him they wouldn't ever stop until he lay defeated or they did.
'Is this where the girls' new headquarters is!? How the hell did they find this- THE MIST DRAGON!'
Cid stepped to the side and twirled like someone born with balance putting even Feline Therianthropes to shame. Two bursts of sharpened slime spikes filling the air where he had just been and getting aggravated grunts from the two Shadow Garden operatives that had been hoping to strike him with their attack.
And Cid wasn't quite sure what it was, perhaps knowing now that these girls were actually truly his subordinates, but without truly thinking his mouth opened and he began to speak.
"Your breathing is too short, you're losing efficiency." Shadow spoke, deflecting another five rapid strikes from one of the girls before turning around and grabbing the wrist of another of the three girls, a Therianthrope.
"You growl when you're aggravated. Leaving the surprise attacks to others." He swung the girl up and over his head, slamming her into the first girl to receive advice from him, his sword-wielding hand raising behind his back and blocking a stab aimed at the base of his skull.
"You push into the ground too hard while running, it creates unnecessary noise." He flicked his wrist, sending the third girl flying backwards, the speed that he'd done so forcing her to hit the ground on her slime-covered back and roll for a few metres before getting her feet back under her.
He opened his mouth to say more before four flaring magical signatures on the dilapidated roofs around him caught his attention, making him grin as he looked up at all four of them in quick order.
"More shadows have come to hunt me down, have they? Very well. Step foot in this dance of battle and show me your waltz."
Four blades, sharpened and enhanced with magic, slammed into the slime of his cloak that curled over his head to defend him. The screeching of slime on slime being drowned out by the high-pitched whirring of building magical energy. The ground beneath Shadow's feet cracked and crumbled beneath his body and the force of the four simultaneous slashes. A shockwave of air only further damaging the area around them.
XXXxxxXXX
"Report." Alpha commanded curtly as she ran along the rooftops of Alexandria.
At her right, lagging only by a step or two, was Beta. And at her left, keeping up only because she was allowing them to, was 22. The numbered operative immediately answering the acting leader of Shadow Garden as they ran towards the bursts of magic and explosions of dust on the outskirts of the city.
"A mysterious intruder was detected three minutes and eight seconds ago, Lady Alpha. All available personnel have been sent to incapacitate them."
"Only one?" Beta asked, hopping off the edge of a rooftop and floating almost daintily for a moment until she had crossed the street and could land on a rooftop once more.
"Yes, Lady Beta. We are still unaware how they got through the mist and were aware of our relocation."
"Casualties?" Alpha asked, her voice and expression neutral but worry seeping into her heart as she asked it, praying to her one and only Lord Shadow that it would be a low number.
"Z-Zero." 22 stutters, as if she can't even believe the number herself.
"Zero? Impossible. What are they doing?" Beta asked, ever the inquisitive soul.
"They're just…fighting our members, Lady Beta. Based on reports it seems like the intruder is shouting…tips?"
"...What is the physical appearance of this intruder?" Alpha asked, her expression beginning to change for the first time that 22 had ever seen and it was changing into….happiness?
"They appear to be a young male. Black hair with a longer bang on the right side of their face and black eyes. Their clothing is a combat efficient black and gold trimmed outfit with a long flowing coat. The reports I've gathered say that it looks and behaves like our slime suits but feels different to anything our operatives have ever developed or felt." 22 listed off dutifully, despite her confusion at the weird reaction she was getting from Alpha, and then Beta as well once she seemed to be reacting the same way Alpha was.
And without a word said between them, Alpha and Beta shared a look. Their eyes locking for only an instant before the two of them disappeared in a crack of air that caused 22 to miss her next footfall in surprise, tipping over the edge of the next rooftop and onto the street.
XXXxxxXXX
43 could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to catch her breath. Sweat rolling down her temple as she stared at the dark cloaked boy before her, currently fending off four simultaneous attacks with a smile on his face.
'How isn't this bastard down yet? Half of us are on the verge of exhaustion and he's still going strong. Who even is he?' 43 thought to herself, watching the boy dance between blades and sparks alike as if he was immune to the very concept.
It was infuriating how easily he was handling them. And all those mocking comments he was making, as if they were such terrible combatants that they needed help from an enemy of all people. Who did he think he was?
"LADY ALPHA AND LADY BETA ARE INBOUND!"
The singular cry sent a wave of energy through the 40 or so operatives that had been drawn towards the intruder. Making girls that had desperately been trying to regain their breath, like 43 herself, get up on wobbling legs despite the heaviness of their breath and the redness of their faces.
'Once Lady Alpha and Lady Beta are here. This intruder is history!' 43 thought to herself, trying to summon the energy to create her slime blade once more and failing.
And like angels sent from the very Gods themselves to smite the intruder, both Alpha and Beta appeared in cracks of air that ruffled their clothes and hair. The battle falling to a halt as the boy turned to face the two Shades almost before they had actually arrived and the operatives fighting him backed off in preparation for the fight that was no doubt about to break out.
Both Shades fell into a kneeling position, both of them placing a fist on the ground and bowing their heads deeply.
"Lord Shadow, you've come at last." Alpha spoke, a tinge of happiness and pride in her voice that would have thrown off the operatives around them, if not for the fact that a horrifying truth had just made itself known to all of them.
They had been attacking the founder of their organisation and their High-Leader, Shadow.
Instantly every single girl in the area fell to a knee like Alpha and Beta did. Shadow's gaze sliding over all of them before returning back to Alpha and Beta.
'Holy shit this feels so real now…..This is so coooooool!'
"Rise." Both of the Shades instantly stood, staring intently at Shadow.
"You did not inform us you were coming, Lord Shadow. If you had we would have come to greet you the moment you left the forest limits." Alpha spoke professionally, placing a gentle hand on her chest.
"I'm aware." Shadow spoke, not moving in the slightest, nor did his inflection shift even a millimetre.
'Shit. What do I say? That I just wanted to look around? That I didn't want to drag them from their work? No no no. None of that is cool in the slightest!' Cid thought to himself, panicking inwardly.
'Why did Shadow not inform us he was arriving? Or make it known to our operatives who he was? Why come in through the way he did and move around the outskirts of the city instead of coming straight down the centre? And 22 said something about giving tips to the girls…' Alpha thought to herself, her mind churning through the situation before everything clicked perfectly into place.
"Lord Shadow, you were testing our defences and response times. Weren't you?" Alpha questioned him, making all the numbered operatives around them stiffen up nervously as the truth of the situation dawned on them.
Besides Alpha, Beta's expression became even more cheery than it had already been as she spoke up.
"Such a genius manoeuvre, Lord Shadow!" She praised him, pulling out a small notebook and beginning to write something down.
She couldn't do it as feverishly as she normally liked to, or mutter to herself, not when she was in front of Alpha, her subordinates and Shadow himself, but she could still get away with doing this for now.
"How were your subordinates, Lord Shadow? Were our response times acceptable?" Alpha questioned him, looking around all the stone-stiff, kneeling operatives all around the three of them.
'AN OUT! OH THANK YOU ALPHA YOU VERY PRETTY LADY YOU!'
"Hmph. It was…adequate." A wave of tension seemed to leave Shadow and wash over the assorted Shadow Garden members.
"Only…adequate?" Alpha asked, her gaze narrowing and washing over the girls who suddenly seemed like they wanted to try and cosplay statues.
'...Shit what the hell do i say now? Alpha's definitely going to want an explanation of some kind.' Cid thought to himself, carefully controlling his facial expression and voice not to give his nervousness away.
"...How long did it take you to get here, Alpha, Beta?" Is what he decided to go with, winging it in his blind mental panic.
Alpha's ears twitched beneath her platinum blonde hair and Beta's expression paled, the light-blue haired elf looking around and paling further the more that she did.
"Three minutes and forty seven seconds, Lord Shadow." Alpha responded dutifully, even as her mind began to come to the same conclusion that Beta was reaching.
"Lord Shadow is Lord Shadow but… When the opening engagement failed to take out the intruder. It took three minutes for any higher ranking members like myself or Lady Alpha to be made aware that we were needed. Other than the initial alarm we have no way of knowing the severity of an attack unless an operative can escape and reach us as 22 did." Beta realised.
Shadow just gave a small smile to the two girls, which they took to be silent praise at figuring out where they had gone wrong.
'Lord Shadow is so brilliant! He figured out the weakness in our defences and came to show us it directly. He's so benevolent~' Beta thought dreamily to herself.
'Shadow…your wisdom truly leaves us a step behind yet again. You must have known about this from the moment we set up in Alexandria and waited until we resumed regular operations. Your greatness knows no bounds.' Alpha thought.
"We'll work on fixing that right away, Lord Shadow. Rest assured."
Shadow just nodded, looking off into the distance.
'Where is he- the castle. Of course.' Alpha followed his line of sight before turning back to him.
"If you are able to, Lord Shadow, we can show you how we have set ourselves up within Alexandria and get your input?"
"Hm. Very well. Let us go. And all of you." He spoke louder for his final sentence, the Shadow Garden operatives around him tensing up one final time as they were directly spoken to by their leader. "Keep in mind what I have told you all."
"Yes, Lord Shadow!" The reply was almost cacophonous in its synchronicity, all 40-odd operatives replying at the exact same time.
Their generous Lord Shadow had taken the time and effort to personally give each and every one of them tips on combat, they couldn't waste his valuable wisdom!
"Please, follow me, Lord Shadow." Alpha spoke, gesturing in the way of the castle as she turned around to begin walking in that direction.
"Lead the way, Alpha, Beta." Shadow nodded, looking for all the world as if everything had gone according to plan.
'PHEW! Crisis a-v-e-r-t-e-d!'
XXXxxxXXX
Welcome to the second chapter of this surprisingly successful fanfic. Seriously, I'm so glad that you guys have been enjoying it so far!
Speaking of surprisingly successful, for those of you on Ao3 did you know that I'm the fucking pioneer of Cid & Claire? Before I made this fic the only option was Cid/Claire.
Also, this is the second of the three chapters that I had stockpiled and I'm planning to release chapter 3 sometime before the end of the month but after that I have no idea when chapter 4 will drop since I'll need to actually write it first XD So I really hope that you guys enjoy this chapter and chapter 3 when it eventually comes out because seeing you guys enjoy my fics always helps my muse.
Also if I forget to post it before the end of June, know that FF16 got its claws into me and refuses to let go.
Other than that I have nothing to say other than come join my discord if you want to chat or suggest ideas for the fic!
Discord code: ctMzhq3
REVIEW REPLIES:
Narutodarkfan: It makes me very happy to hear that you've been enjoying the fic so much! And as for his personality, yeah I kept his Chuuni cause I never planned for this to be an OOC Cid story, nor do I think it would be fun to do so. If anything this story is meant to be like a maturation story with just a lot of fights stuffed inbetween the seams XD
Familiarantiguo: Always happy to hear it and I'm glad that we can be a fascination of yours I suppose?
Last admiral: When he does it won't be explicitly written out, I don't write lemons.
Yay-man: Glad to hear it!
Anikong: Still deciding what canon events to keep but tweak and which ones to throw out entirely. Its surprisingly hard
YuukiAsuna-Chan: To me, he's always cared about them a little. Since that's how I interpreted the end of episode 2 and the start of episode 3. But unlike in Canon, my version of Cid wasn't able to push it down and move on quite as fast and that's how we've ended up here.
REVIEW REPLIES OVER
Farewell, I can't wait to see you lovely peeps in the comments and if you guys want, should I put omakes (Non-Canon to the fic) or side stories (Canon to the fic) at the end of each chapter as a fun little ending note?