 |
Rogue and Zack 13
He seemed to instantly shirk any doubts he might have. He rolled his shoulders, swung his sword into the ready position, and started the deadly dance of dodging the beast's claws and lashing tail. And it was a dance he was good at. He rolled under the huge paws reaching out for him, jumped out of range of the tail, constantly getting back behind it to slash at the vulnerable back of the beast. He cast fireballs and lightning bolts that seared the monster's flesh, and its roars shook the very night.
Sucker could rattle the stars right outta the sky...
Then, without warning, it fell. The behemoth went down with a heavy, meaty thump, sprawled out in front of Zack. Still. Rogue felt the grin curling her lips. Now that was a good start to First.
Speaking of... What the ******** is he doing here?
Rogue felt her pulse increase the second she saw the flash of silver and black on the ground below.
Sephiroth. ShinRa's little poster boy. Their self proclaimed hero. And he had the Mesamune drawn.
When he raised it and rested the blade against the side of Zack's throat, Rogue was already on her feet and on her way to the door of he 'copter, throwing it wide, leaping out into the night, artificially lit by the sickly yellow glow of street lamps.
The instant her booted feet hit the ground, her blade was flying into her hand with a harsh shink against the sheath. She snuck to the corner in a half crouch, ears straining to hear what was going on around the corner. Sephiroth's smooth voice snaked around the concrete.
“Overconfidence will be your undoing...”
More like, it'll be yours, hotshot...
Although she would consistently claim to have no fear whatsoever of Sephiroth, Rogue had to admit that the smooth, unrelenting confidence that edged his voice, that coated his soft spoken words in steel, sent an uneasy chill down her spine every single time she heard him spoke. Even “it's sunny out today” had a threatening undertow when Sephiroth spoke it.
However, he was a fellow First, a comrade. Albeit one that sorely needed to be put in his place. While she had nothing to be afraid of from him, she couldn't wait til the day came that she got to take him down a notch or two.
In the meantime, there were more important things to attend to.
Rogue whipped easily around the corner, swinging up her sword just in time to catch the Mesamune, Sephiroth's legendary, custom-made blade, on the hilt. Thus saving Zack from an abrupt bisecting of his body, a task that the unnecessarily long warblade was more than up for.
With far more grace and confidence than she would have expected in herself, Rogue lifted her eyes from the intersection of lethally glittering edges to meet Sephiroth's empty green gaze. How had he gotten into the training session...? Hadn't Angeal locked it?
“Not today, big guy,” she said. “This isn't a place where you get the spotlight.” She could practically feel Zack's eyes on her, just as she heard him let out the breath he'd been holding in a soft whoosh of air as she forced the Mesamune up and back, like a pry bar on the blade of the guillotine. Sephiroth stepped back, took one lousy step back, no stagger, nothing, with the force of her push, shifting minutely, readying himself for another strike. This time, at her. And this time, Rogue felt her heart start to triple time, her hand tightening convulsively on the handle of her sword.
Yeah, this was the moment she'd longed for, but was she ready?
Then, everything was a rain of blinding blue. First the buildings began to dissolve into a shower of dazzling sparks and data streams, then the body of the behemoth, then, slowly, the image of Sephiroth himself.
He'd been nothing more than a creation within the program.
Despite herself, Rogue sighed in relief and pivoted on one foot, turning to look at Angeal, who held his phone in the Abort Mission command lit bright. She stepped back as Angeal scooped up Zack's broken sword, weighing it in his big hands.
“Training's over,” Angeal said smoothly, turning a bit from Zack, who promptly scrambled to his feet.
“What, why?!” When Angeal was silent, he whined a little more, sounding like a cross between a chagrined child and just plain indignant. “I was just getting warmed up.” He snatched the VR goggles away from his eyes as Angeal, whom it had no doubt marked as a target by this point, turned back and leveled the smoothly sheared edge of his sword to his face.
Rogue couldn't resist a soft chuckle. To what, getting your a** kicked?
With a tolerant, affectionate smile, Angeal flipped Zack's blade smoothly, waiting for the younger SOLDIER to take it back. What good it would do Zack in its current condition, Rogue had no idea, but he accepted it from Angeal's grasp, bringing it closer to examine the damage, and sighed. More than half the blade was gone.
In SOLDIER, a damaged weapon was often a direct blow to the pride. Angeal, Genesis, Sephiroth, and even Rogue herself all had custom-made swords. Rogue's had been commissioned by her father while she was still under his wing. Now there was a pun if there ever was one. So, because of that, the warriors took good care of their weapons. They were a mark of their rank and skill.
“Zack,” Angeal began as he passed by Rogue, offering her a small smile of thanks for taking control of the situation earlier. Zack turned to look at him, his bright eyes questioning.
“Embrace your dreams.” Angeal finished enigmatically, not pausing or slowing his stride. Zack tilted his head.
“Eh?” he said quizzically. Rogue had to agree with that sentiment. Angeal's impromptu philosophy lesson had seemingly dropped straight from the sky and caught the both of them off guard.
Angeal finally paused at the door of the training room, continuing as though this fact were the most natural fact in the world, and it was normal to just yank it down out of the air to have a conversation about.
“If you want to be a hero, then you have to have dreams. And honor.”
When he spoke of honor, Angeal used a stern, almost reverent tone that made Rogue stand up and take notice, although she'd heard his speech before. This was practically Angeal's tagline, but he took it very seriously. The way he looked back over his shoulder... It took him beyond the rank of teacher and mentor and elevated him to a rank much closer to hero, himself. Angeal was, at the moment, the closest thing Rogue had to an idol.
She had to wonder if he knew how much of an impression he made.
He stood there for only a moment, giving a little time for his words to sink in before he continued out the door, leaving with nothing more than the smooth slide of the door and Zack, head bobbing to the other angle in consideration, in his wake.
|
 |
