Cid hummed to himself as he overlooked Midgar from the top of one of its few clocktowers, currently still dressed in his school uniform as he let his gaze slide from building to building, along street by street. A bored, half-lidded gaze that would almost make somebody think he hadn't royally screwed up earlier in the day by handing over a notebook full of his failed guesses at a Cult hideout to a member of his own organization.
And that very blunder, that very earth-shattering, career-ending, lie-uncovering mistake was what clouded Cid's every thought as he stared over the city, using magic to enhance his eyes in a way not dissimilar to binoculars. A simple trick using the magic within one's body, so simple in fact that even regular Magic Knights were capable of performing it.
Though, like all things magic or combat based, Cid's own performance left what was commonly considered 'good' in the dust with all the nonchalance of a man walking past a tortoise.
"The people walking through the streets. They live their lives in the light, unable to see even that which lies beneath their feet." Cid spoke aloud to himself, his voice deep and commanding as a grin began to spread over his lips.
Before he hung his head and let his forehead smack against his raised knee.
"Nope. Not even super cool eminence phrases can cheer me up right now, I'm so super doomed."
XXXxxxXXX
Mitsugoshi Headquarters (Under Construction Ver.)
"Two reports within three days? I trust that you aren't bringing anything frivolous before us?" Alpha spoke to the kneeled form of Operative 227, the blue haired girl keeping her gaze locked squarely on the floor as she kneeled.
This time, it was only her and Gamma inside the mostly finished office of the Shadow Garden base atop the Mitsugoshi building. The clumsy yet brilliant woman stood at the side of the table that Alpha, herself, sat at with some papers that she had been looking through, prior to 227's entrance, in her hands.
"Never, Lady Alpha. I have a delivery straight from Lord Shadow, in fact."
Instantly both of the Shades perked up and their attention was on the girl like a hawk, making her begin to twitch ever so slightly under the gaze of two of her direct superiors. It was one thing to have the gaze of Lord Shadow aimed squarely at her, that felt like a true dream come true, it was an entirely different thing to have the gazes of both Gamma and Alpha squarely on her.
"A delivery from Lord Shadow? You were holding nothing, so I assume whatever it is, is small in size?"
"It's a message that I was ordered to give to Lady Gamma, Lady Alpha. I have not read a single line of his handwriting atop the page so I do not know what it says, but he informed me that she would know what to do with whatever he wrote."
"Were those his exact words?" Alpha questioned, getting a quick and almost silent hiss as 227 inhaled sharply.
"No, Lady Alpha. I apologize. His exact verbatim was 'This is to be handed to Gamma. I trust her to handle the situation appropriately.'" 227 relayed, getting a small hum from Alpha as Gamma looked like a mountain of zeni had just been laid before her with no strings attached.
"I see. Please hand over the note and then you may be on your way."
"Understood, Lady Alpha." 227 nodded, standing and displaying the notebook page, uncrumpled and perfectly maintained to Gamma before nodding sharply and leaving the room quickly.
"Lord Shadow wished for…me to have this message?" Gamma muttered to herself quietly, getting a curious hum from Alpha that prompted her to move the page down so that Alpha could read it as well.
Cult:
Hilda's Bakery
The words were written in the handwriting of her lord, of that she had no doubts. But the directness of it, the minimal usage of words, the fact that Gamma had been the intended recipient of this message; None of this made any sense to the blonde-haired elf.
"Lord Shadow is putting me in charge of an assault?" Gamma muttered to herself, smiling happily.
'No. Shadow knows about Gamma's combat aptitude, there's no way that he'd put Gamma of any of the Seven Shades in charge of such a task unless he meant for her to assign operatives to it. Though even if that's the case, the question is still "why Gamma", since I would be a far more logical pick for such a task.' Alpha thought to herself, thinking over the issue from as many angles as possible to try and understand the thought process of her lord.
"Oh, I'm so excited!" Gamma said excitedly, beginning to wave the note of their master around, finally revealing the back of the paper to Alpha, her eyes widening in shock. "I'll go prepare right aw-"
"Gamma. Wait." Alpha commanded, using every ounce of authority to keep the woman in place for even a second so that she could rise from her seat and snatch the paper out of her hand in a fluid and silent motion.
"Wha- Alpha?" Gamma questioned, seeing Alpha looking at the back of the note with an intense, and scrutinizing, gaze.
Moving around to stand behind Alpha so that she could read over her shoulder, the Shade's eyes widened as she saw the list of companies on the back, with names crossed out seemingly at random. With no explanation of what it was or what the crossed-out companies even meant.
"That business on the front was just a ruse or, more accurately, a misdirection. I don't believe Lord Shadow would give us a false lead on the Cult, but I believe that he was testing us." Alpha explained to her companion as her eyes cycled over the list for the fifth time.
"Oh, I see! Lord Shadow was testing to see if we'd notice something obscure after giving such a big, bold comment and 'order'." Gamma gasped, a closed fist falling onto her upturned palm as she bounced a little on the spot.
"Precisely. He purposefully left some clues in by making the message slightly odd but otherwise left no hints as to what he was doing. Now the only issue is what this list and the crossed-out names mean."
"Perhaps they are all cult hideouts that Lord Shadow has discovered?"
"Unlikely, this many Cult members in the city would have been found by our members long before now."
"True…So many of these businesses are very famous too. There's nothing that really stands out about them when put in a list like this." Gamma sighed, beginning to mumble to herself as she looked over the list. "Crossed out. Crossed out. Crossed…taken. Taken out?"
Alpha's eyes widened and her ears twitched minutely as she caught the whispering of her companion, her thoughts running at a mile a minute.
"That's it. All the crossed-out businesses are cult hideouts to be taken out." Alpha realized, looking over when she heard an excited gasp leave Gamma's mouth.
"And all the non-crossed out businesses are famous, well-run businesses that we can still look into. Not as Cult hideouts but as a learning experience for Mitsugoshi's own business model!"
"Amazing…" Alpha muttered, leaning her hips back against the table and crossing her arms beneath her bust, looking up at the ceiling. "We purposefully hid the creation of this branch of Mitsugoshi so that it would be a surprise for Lord Shadow. Yet he still found out about it and not only informed us of the Cult but also gave us help in setting up the branch."
"Hehe, that's Lord Shadow for you. Though I am disappointed that he discovered the surprise before it was ready." Gamma sighed in disappointment, resting her weight on one leg and rubbing her arm.
"I doubt Lord Shadow has been inside the building yet. He likely knows that it was meant to surprise him and wants to see what we can do with this little bit of help that he's given us. He's thoughtful and considerate like that."
"Then I can't waste this opportunity! I'll handle the businesses to look into the business model of, Lady Alpha! Post ha- WAAGHGHGHMMNNMH!" Gamma said excitedly, turning and taking one excited step towards the door of the office before her ankle twisted weirdly and her head cracked against the back of one of the sofas and then against the soft, but not soft enough, carpet.
Alpha just sighed and hung her head, closing her eyes.
"Are you ok, Gamma?"
The beautiful, yet clumsy, girl just held a thumb up.
XXXxxxXXX
The Next Morning, Midgar Dark Knight Academy
Cid hummed to himself as he sat in his class, one of his very few safe bastions from being the 'boyfriend of Alexia Midgar' and one of his few safe bastions from Alexia herself. Since with his grade tampering and her need to excel in all her schoolwork, the two of them were placed in drastically different classes; their political standings and the fact that he was only from a low house of nobility did its fair share of legwork in putting them in differing classes too.
Within the auditorium-type classroom that the academy seemed to love using, and that he was currently sat inside, Cid always made sure to sit up high in the classroom but not at the very back. Usually, he made sure to sit about two or three rows down, but occasionally he'd mix it up just for a little variety; at least in the classes that didn't have seating arrangements, of course.
To his left sat Skel, and to his right sat Po; the three of them, a unit practically joined at the hip within the classroom mostly because, as Cid saw it, it was like putting three radio's buzzing with static next to each other. With so much interference going on you'd never be able to figure out which radio had a slightly higher pitch. Which was the exact thought process behind Cid's purposeful placement between his two friends, to create a veritable cloud of background-character static that would mess with even the most eagle eyed of students and staff; Cult infiltrators or not.
Towards the lowest rows in the classroom, the ones that naturally sat closer to the teacher and his podium/desk, two students were currently arguing between each other over the topic of the class. On one side of the argument, making the case for magic being most effective when utilized in set, practiced, configurations within the body, was Christina Hope. The daughter to Duke Hope of the Kingdom of Midgar, one of the true big wigs of the country.
On the other side of the argument, making the case that magic was too free-flowing and chaotic to ever be efficiently controlled in such a way, was Isaac Heesamole. The son to a noble house of high standing, but nothing on the level of a dukedom such as Christina's family.
Of course, Cid himself could jump into this intellectual debate if he truly wished to, it's not like there were any hard facts being thrown around. But truthfully, he had no wish to put himself into the firing squad of arguments and statements that both of the high-ranking students babbled out like machine-guns.
Not to mention that this was eating into class time something fierce, and Cid would never say no to wasting time instead of learning something both boring and largely inaccurate.
But the lack of mental stimulation eventually caused his thoughts to drift off as he rested his elbow on the desk and his cheek on his palm while staring blankly at the arguing students.
'My discovery should be in Gamma's hands already. The fact that I haven't had slime-using young women after me all day probably means that nothing has gone wrong….Hopefully. But I wonder how she's handling it? I hate to give Gamma of all the Shades a task like this but I'm sure that Alpha and Beta were busy with other things and Delta is….Delta.' Cid thought, sweatdropping mentally as he thought over the disaster that would unfold if he had given Delta a task like that.
He'd probably be able to hear the crashing of brick and iron all the way from the academy.
'Yeah. Giving it to Gamma was the right move.'
XXXxxxXXX
Meanwhile, Business no. 1
Nu made her way around the interior of the tailors with a trained, scrutinizing, gaze. Her expression and mannerisms well-rehearsed and trained to perfection to look like nothing but a regular, albeit intense, customer. Yet internally she was a vibrating mess of nerves and excitement.
She had only been in her new position, as Number 13 of Shadow Garden and the newly named "Nu", for all of a week by this stage, yet already she was being entrusted with a mission decided by Lord Shadow himself.
Of course, he hadn't been the one to personally give it out to any of the members participating, named or otherwise, but the fact that he had even deigned to help to this extent was truly something inspiring. So, to make sure that her lord's will was properly dolled, she would do everything in her power to learn as much as possible from this tailor's business model and techniques so that Mitsugoshi could take and use, or improve, it.
XXXxxxXXX
Businesses no. 6, 8-10, 13, 18
Meanwhile, as Nu and other higher-ranking numbered operatives went through the businesses to be learnt from and studied, the rest of the high-ranking numbers began to look into the cult-front businesses. And while none of them were as skilled as Nu when it came to disguises, none of them needed to be for this task.
The mission of actually storming and taking down these locations wasn't to be undergone yet. It was simply too dangerous and complacent to do such a thing without prior knowledge, after all. So, knowledge was what they currently went after, trying to learn as much as possible while staying as discreet as they could. Which, at the command of Gamma and Alpha, was a task easily completed by staggering not only the visiting times but also the group sizes that the operatives investigated each location with.
Singles, duos, even groups of four or five for more popular stores that they could get away with such numbers. And while they would be learning all they could, they were in no rush, there was nothing stressing them or pushing them to make mistakes. They could take their time and learn.
After all, their lord and master had yet to give them the order to strike. And until he did, they would not think about assaults or anything of that nature, because it wasn't needed yet. It was as simple as that.
XXXxxxXXX
An hour later, Cid
Cid wanted to die right now, he genuinely did. There was absolutely, positively, no reason that he should be in his current position.
Said position happened to be being led around the school via the second Princess of Midgar as she hugged his arm to her side. His only solace was that she was keeping his arm to her side and kept her grip on his arm as loose as she could get away with while still stopping him from pulling his arm away. If she'd done something like hug his arm to her chest or something he genuinely didn't know how he would handle it, and that it would inevitably, undoubtedly, get around to not only Po and Skel but the girls too.
He didn't know which one was worse to be honest, the jealousy of his two male friends, or the suspicion of his seven female friends.
…
On second thought he'd take the Shades any day of the week, at least suspicion could be tamped down and swiveled to laser-focus in on something else.
"So…where are we going?"
"Don't worry. We'll be there real soon." Alexia answered in that sickly sweet 'girlfriend' voice of hers, not even turning her head an inch to look towards him as she answered.
'Oh yeah. Clearly a private talk. Wonder if this is going to be about the Dual Gala's, they should be starting soon right?' Cid thought to himself, staring blankly at the ceiling, totally zoned out of reality, as he thought to himself about when they had taken place last year and what the current date was.
The teen, unfortunately, was dragged out of his daydreaming as he jerked to a stop. His head swiveling slowly as he turned to look around at his surroundings.
Which happened to be an old, cluttered, storage room full of training blades, dummies, and various other sword training apparatus. And almost immediately, Cid felt a shiver crawl along his spine as he realized where he was and who he was here with.
It was giving him sappy romance anime vibes in all the worst ways.
"Alright. I have to explain some things because that man is being painfully stubborn and refusing to give up at all and I'm running out of time." Her words, while initially easing his worries, very quickly brought all of his worries back.
Though outwardly he let none of it show, just humming in a non-committal manner with his hands in his pockets.
"I thought that he would have given up by this stage, and that I wouldn't have to do this. But at this rate I'm going to have to bring you to the High-Gala with me."
"Oh, I see."
"And so that nothing is ruined, I'm informing you now. I have a betrothal to Zenon Griffey."
"Oh, I see."
"And I know that its going to be brought up during the Gala, so you are going to have to play along and not be caught off guard when its brought up."
"Oh, I see."
There was a sound akin to the cracking of a whip from behind her, making the second Princess whirl around in an instinctual panic only to pause as all she saw was Cid holding his hands up in a pathetic manner while shaking them slightly.
Too bad that the poor lighting and all of the obstacles in the way didn't let her see the support beam that he'd caved in to release some pent-up annoyance.
"So, you're just dating me to make Mr. Zenon back off." Cid commented idly as he put his hands back in his pockets, things beginning to make a lot more sense now.
Like why, for example, she had chosen to 'date' him of all people. It would make sense that when trying to aggravate someone of a high-standing like Zenon Griffey, a random, weak, mook like him would make the perfect stand-in.
Just because it made sense didn't mean that Cid had to like it, however.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Is that any worse than you, Mr 'I confessed fake love on a dare'?" Alexia shot back with a hand on her hip and a slight, mocking, tilt of her head while grinning cruelly at him.
'You spineless background characters.' Cid knew exactly how Alexia had discovered that knowledge, and he knew that they would have folded in an instant.
"I'm not exactly trying to get caught up in a dispute with a Princess and a higher-tiered noble so-"
"And it would be such a shame if the student body was to discover why you asked me out. There would be a witch hunt. In fact, you'd never have another peaceful day in this academy for the rest of your life." Alexia spoke, her voice and expression getting crueler and crueler as she did so, getting a small twitch out of Cid's eyebrow as he realized the corner that he had been backed into.
"I'm really not cut out to be a part of the High-Gala, though. I don't even own anything nice enough to bring to such an event." He tried, since it was the truth.
He had clothes that were nice enough for events with other low-ranking nobility and events partaken with them, like the Low-Gala, but nothing on the level of wealth and extravagance as the High-Gala of all things.
"Oh, that's perfectly fine." Alexia hummed, immediately making Cid tense up as he levelled a flat gaze on the immensely smug second Princess. "Since you're my boyfriend that I care for so much. I'll even graciously open my purse for you and order a something fitting from a rather fashionable business that's beginning to expand into Midgar."
"No thanks I'm good." Cid deadpanned, trying to pull himself out of this situation without ruining his background character act.
"No no no. I insist, truly." Alexia purred, strutting around behind him and ending up next to him, looking up at his face with a look that screamed to him that she already knew she'd won.
"I could never ask my girlfriend to buy something for me. Especially because I'm sure that this business is very expensive."
"Hmmm, being Princess gives me a few advantages. Now accept."
Cid just hummed and looked towards the ceiling, thinking through all of his options as Alexia just grinned smugly at his side. The second Princess seeming to take genuine joy in watching Cid realize that there was nothing he could do except take her 'offer'.
"I'm still gonna say no. Sorry."
"Eh?" Alexia nearly fell over on the spot, her mental fortitude so rocked by his surprise declaration that it nearly sent her physical form tumbling onto her ass.
"I really don't want to put myself in the way of the royal family and Mr. Zenon." Cid explained with a small shrug, closing his eyes and turning his head a bit.
"You- You can't-" Alexia stammered, her eyes wide and jaw slack for only a moment before her expression morphed into a glare, and then into an arrogant smirk after a few moments.
"Well, I think that this will change your mind."
Cid's eyes opened and rolled to the side in idle curiosity, widening a little as he saw the golden coin rested between her thumb and index finger.
'She's actually willing to throw Gold Coins at me to make me agree to this? What sort of obscene wealth does this girl have!?' Cid asked himself mentally, surprised that she was going to go to this extent over a gala of all things.
He needed to play this cool. While Shadow had full access, technically, to the surprisingly deep coffers of Shadow Garden thanks to multiple thefts and Gamma's up and coming business, Cid Kagenou did not. To Cid Kagenou, an entire gold coin, a Royal Gold Coin at that, was a ridiculous amount of money to just be handed for something so simple. Tens of thousands of zeni at the very least, a hundred thousand per coin if it was a properly pure and crafted Royal Coin.
"Hmph. I can't be bought with money." Cid scoffed, the gold coin being held tightly in his fingers as he grabbed it and held it tightly, as a low-rank noble like him was expected to do.
"Liar." Alexia scoffed in egomaniacal humor, watching the teen quickly pocket the coin, only for her to pull another out of her pocket like it was a ten yen coin.
"Now if you agree to the terms, go fetch." There was a gleam in her eyes as she flicked the coin, only for it to splutter in confusion as he simply hopped over to it and picked it up, instead of making some frantic dive for it like she had been expecting.
And in another world, he would have done so. In fact, he would have caught it in his mouth mid-air while barking like a dog. But that was a world where Shadow Garden was a game and Cid wasn't aware of the money at his disposal. In this world, neither of those things were true, and as such there was no instinctual panic at the sight of such a large sum of money being thrown around casually by the princess.
That wasn't to say that he was nonchalant in his retrieval of the coin, of course not. Regardless of the money at his true disposal, this money could be traced straight back to Alexia and would actually be expected of him to have, and that was always useful to have; not to mention the act of low nobility that he had to keep up. Yet he did not dive after it and he did not overreact in any kind of way, as Alexia had been expecting and hoping for, merely because Cid in the back of his mind knew that this money wasn't something that he needed.
Yet, like Cid had discovered Alexia was remarkably skilled in, the second Princess merely rolled with the punches, the dark gleam lighting back up in her eyes as she crossed her arms under her slightly above average bust.
"Good pooch."
XXXxxxXXX
That Night, Unknown Location
"And no one knows of your deployment?"
"No, Lord Fenrir. Absolutely no one is aware."
"And those 'colleagues' of yours?"
"None the wiser that I'm anything except a castle guard." The man spoke, kneeling on the floor before the illusion of the 5th seat of the Rounds.
Of course, an 'illusion' wasn't quite the correct word to use, but the man had no way of knowing that, nor would he be deigned such information unless he somehow managed to rise the ranks of the Cult.
"I see. Very good. Keep an eye on both Princesses, especially in the upcoming Gala." Fenrir ordered, seeming to be relaxing back in a chair as his soft voice floated through the air, gentle yet sharp like a surgeon's scalpel.
"If it be your will, Lord Fenrir."
"You'll receive more specific orders closer to the date of the High-Gala. Until then continue as you were."
"Of course, Lord Fenrir. Glory to the Cult."
"Uh huh." Fenrir droned.
With a flicker, the 'illusion' disappeared, cutting the only source of light in the windowless room and covering the Cult operative in darkness once more.
XXXxxxXXX
Hello hello!
No side story or omake this time, I genuinely couldn't think of one and didn't want to put off posting this chapter any longer just so that I could. For reference this chapter has been finished since the 23rd and I was waiting for more than one beta reader to go over it.
But its finally done, the Dual-Gala arc is on its way and holy shit making things up from scratch is surprisingly difficult while trying to keep it within the same scope and vibe of the manga/anime. So hopefully I've managed to keep my streak going and haven't ruined anything up.
Speaking of making things from scratch, since the last time I updated this fic i've actually started writing my very own original story. You can find it on Royal Road, its name is "Young Swordmaster's Journey" if any of you want to go check that out, thank you. I'm very happy with it so far but am really struggling to get used to being able to, and having to, come up with everything all on my own.
But aside from that I don't have much else to say so here's my discord
Discord code: ctMzhq3 OR plasmaassassin
REVIEW REPLIES:
Anikong: That's the idea honestly, and hopefully I can pull it off well.
Anime0CC0Manga: I shall do my best.
Xerzo LotCN: Oh yeah, Alexia's plan is very dumb. But I think it was more Zenon that she had an issue with, not the arranged marriage itself.
Cainabel201X: I'm glad you enjoy my writing of the Shades.
SizzleSchnizzle: He's doing his best and that's what counts.
Warrior of six blades: I'm glad that I managed to convey Alpha's ice-queen aura in that moment, makes me happy to hear.
Hecseferblade: Pacing is something that I put a lot of stake on so it makes me happy to hear that you think it's going well. Also a 9/10 is wonderful and a great honour.
Mograinya: Thank you for your comment. And I know that there aren't really any large timeskips like that after that point in the story, but I'll keep that in mind for the future.
END OF REVIEW REPLIES!
Alright that's me over and done with! And with this, this shall be my last update of 2023 for any of my fics. Congrats TwtS fans, you've won this year.