icedark_elf (icedark_elf) wrote in rp_prompts, @ 2008-12-29 09:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | ladynero:icedark_elf:tb:ffvii |
Introductions pt One (Ten Set 04 # 10: Shadows)
Title: Introductions
Authors: ladynero and icedark_elf
Characters: Abel Nightroad and girl Zack Fair
Fandom: Trinity Blood and Final Fantasy VII
Theme Set: Ten Set 04
Theme(s): 10-Shadow
Warnings and Notes: Crossover rp.
The sun was shining in his small room, but Father Abel Nightroad didn't want to get up. He was tired with a bone deep weariness that came from Sister Noelle's death and then the fight with von Kampfar to save Catarina. He knew he would have to get up soon, but he was warm and tired. There was also warmth at his back. Probably the sun heating the stones there. He snuggled a bit backwards into that warmth.
Mumbling, Zack curled into the warmth. Figured she'd have to wake up soon, and probably figure out what was going on on -this- world, but she was tired, and just wanted to sleep a little longer.
There was something soft behind him. Something soft that muttered in a human voice. Probably Catarina wanting to make sure he was all right. She use to climb into his bed whenever she had a nightmare but it's been years since she did that. He rolled over and pulled her into his arms, not opening his eyes only to freeze at the feel of muscles that Catarina didn't have under his hands."
Blinking her eyes open, Zack paused, studying the silver hair for a moment. For a moment, she thought Sephiroth, but...no. "Hello...."
"You're not Catarina." It was a stupid thing to say, but it he was still exhausted and wasn't thinking straight.
"Not sure who that is." She shifted a moment, trying to decide if she should actually sit up, but this was comfortable....
He looked at her, waking up a bit more. "Cardinal Catarina Sforza of the Vatican's Department of Foreign Affairs." That was the public face at least. He could admit that this woman was pretty with strange, almost glowing eyes, and hair that would make a hedgehog envious with its spiking ability.
"The whoza whatis with the what?" She was sure those words were supposed to make sense, even if they didn't really mean anything to her.
He couldn't help it. He started laughing.
Okay, not a bad reaction. Not the one she was looking for, but not bad. Laughing was a good thing, and Zack just grinned, a bit sheepish, yes, but a grin none the less.
It only took a few minutes before the laughter gave way to tears that had been hiding since Barcelona, and he curled into the mattress, breath ragged as the tears silently fell.
Okay. That? That was a bad reaction. Unsure of what to do, Zack rested her hand on his hair, petting softly.
At the first touch, he flinched as if struck and warily looked at her with a blue eye even as he continued to silently cry.
"Sorry." Voice soft, she shifted to move away as best she could, wanting to give him his room.
He scrubbed his face, ,trying to get rid of the tears. "I'm the one who should be sorry. It has been a bad few days," he apologized, plastering on his goofy priest smile. "How did you come to be in my bed?"
"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you," Zack said after a moment, sitting up and resting her back against the wall, pulling her legs up close to rest her chin on them.
"I might. There's been enough strange things in my life that I'd be willing to believe you're one of God's angelic messengers or one of Satan's succubi come to tempt me," he joked, even if he felt the joke was a bit thin.
Okay, she was obviously in a different world than normal, because neither of those made sense either. "I'm afraid you lost me there."
He looked at her, a faint frown on his face. "Amnesia?" he offered, knowing selective amnesia could affect people like that/
"Cultural differences, I think." A sigh. "SOLDIER Zack Fair. And I'm not from this world."
"Father Abel Nightroad," he offered in exchange. "And if you're not from this world, where are you from?"
"Gaia is the planet. Other than that, I have no real way of describing it." She nodded to him. "Father Abel? Is the first part a title of sorts?"
He nodded. "Yes it is. I'm a priest for the Vatican." At least he was at the time. That could change should everything become too much for him. He tilted his head, studying her. "I have not heard of this Gaia as a planet. In ancient mythology, Gaia was an Earth Goddess."
"What's the Vatican?" Watching him, she had to smile. "And you are taking a random world jumper in your bed well."
"The Vatican is the main headquarters for the Catholic Church," he explained, sitting up enough to wave a hand around them. "It was always important but during Armageddon, it emerged as a world power. World jumper?"
"I mean it when I say not from this world. I think it has something to do with the labs, but I'm not sure." Zack answered as she mulled things over in her mind, trying to see if it would make sense. "And what's the Catholic Church?"
"How long were you in a lab?" he asked, shivering slightly as he remembered his own experiences with scientists and doctors. "The Catholic Church is the general name for Catholicism, people who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and God." He shrugged, not truly sure how to explain it further
"So it's a religion thing, yes?" Okay, that made some sense, though she had guessed religion from the word 'church.' "And I was in the labs for long enough." Eyes glancing around the room, she spotted her sword. Good. Liked to know where it was. "So, now what?"
He sighed and scrubbed his face. "I should take you to Catarina," he admitted, but didn't make any moves to get out of bed or get dressed beyond the sleeping pants he was wearing.
"Will I be remaining in a single room while I'm here?" Wouldn't be the first time she'd been shut away from prying eyes. Best way to keep Hojo of that world from being too interested in her than was healthy.
"Perhaps for security reasons," he admitted, stretching back out on the bed. Maybe he could do that later. "Unless there's a reason you shouldn't be."
Zack shook her head. "No. Just curious." A wry smile. "I tend to end up hidden away. At least tell me there's a place I can practice if I need to."
Abel hummed, curling his arms under his head. "There's a practice yard for the Inquisition that we take over some times. Nice and big with only a few training dummies that insist on hanging around."
Well, that didn't sound too bad. "That would be nice. So, Mister Father Abel Nightroad, what is it you do?"
He shrugged a shoulder, blinking at bit sleepily at her. "Travel and solve problems," he admitted.
That sounded like a familiar job. "I used to do something similar," she admitted, watching him more. He really was nice to look at, and the similarities between him and Seph were a bit of a surprise.
He quirked a small smile at her. "Use to? Was that before the lab and being hidden away?"
"Something like that." She smiled back. "And when you can't stop bouncing from place to place, you don't have much time to help."
"Is there anything to keep you from bouncing? We could always use a bit more help here," he offered.
She laughed, and tried hard to keep the bitter out. "When I sleep alone, there's a chance I'll jump. Not too many people go for that."
"I'm sorry for what it's worth." He had his own shadows and troubles, but knowing that there was a chance of waking up in a strange world because there wasn't anyone to hold him in this one sounded like a lonely existence.
Zack gave a wave of her hand. "I've gotten used to it. Anyway, if you like, I'll help out while I'm here." She gave him a half-grin. "I do get bored easily."
He offered her a smile and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, grimacing as his back reminded him about those energy bolts he had intercepted the night before.
"You okay?"
"Back's stiff," he grunted, trying to stretch the stiffness out only to wince harder. "If I never see von Kampfar again, it'll be too soon."
"I can try a Cure if you'd think that would help?" She said, watching his actions with a practiced eye of a fighter. "And von Kampfar?"
"A member of the Rosen Kruentz Order, a Methuselah, and a Shadow User," he replied, glancing at her. "And what's a cure?"
"Healing magic." He was making no sense, but she figured if she hung around long enough, things would start becoming clearer.
"It couldn't hurt," he confessed. "What do you need me to do?"
Lifting a hand, she called up the power and cast, watching the materia glow green. "Nothing, really," she said with a grin.
His eyes slipped shut, nearly purring at the feeling of his back relaxing and stop aching.
That got a grin. "Take it that it worked?"
"Oh yes," he purred, literally, before he realized and stopped. He hated it when he did something that proved he was less than human.
Zack just grinned more. "You remind me of Seph."
"Who?" She couldn't be talking about his sister, Seth, because the name sounded a bit off.
"A guy I was with once. Had the long silver hair, the looks, and the purr. Your eyes are different though." Wistful tone to her voice as she glanced to the side.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"That you remind me of him or that your eyes are different?" She teased a bit, grinning at him again.
"Both." He grinned a bit. He couldn't really be miserable around her, not with that smile. He hadn't had anyone chase the darkness away like she could.
"He was my friend. And I miss him. And bright green cat-eyes are striking, but so are blue normal ones as well." He was relaxing, and that made her relax as well. People were less likely to set one on fire if they were relaxed.
"It sounds like you don't see too many normal eyes if you think mine are striking," he drawled with a shake of his head.
"Most eyes I see are glowing." She smiled. "And a new face is always nice."
"Glowing?" He shook his head again. "I have never heard of anyone whose eyes glowed." Except the Crusniks' eyes when they were in that form.
She tapped next to her eyes.
He offered a sheepish smile. "I thought it was just how the light was hitting them."
"It's okay. Last world I was on that wasn't a mirror of my own, they thought it was some sort of alchemy gone odd."
He shook his head. "No alchemy here. Chemistry, yes. Turning lead into gold, not so much."
She chuckled. "See, I would have called their alchemy magic. It had it's price, and needed items, but they changed things by sheer force of will."
"Interesting. There is a bit of magic here, mostly used by those who can tap into it, but it's not a common occurrence." He shrugged a shoulder. "Witches were believed to be on the vampires' side during Armageddon as thanks for their talents."
"We don't have a lot of witches. Just materia." She held up a hand, letting him see the bracer there.
He carefully reached out to run his fingers over the strange crystal globes. "I have never seen anything like that before."
"They are special. Normally show up where lifestream settles."
"Lifestream?" He looked at her, curious.
That got a bit of a blink, then she nodded. "When things die, their...life, I guess, goes to the lifestream. That flows in and around the planet, and new life comes from it." She sighed. "At least, I think that's how it works. Mako, the stuff that makes my eyes glow? It's condensed lifestream."
"That is a... different sort of afterlife," he confessed, choosing his words carefully. "But I have never heard of a lifestream, mako, or materia before."
"I don't know about the afterlife itself, just what happens to the life itself." She shrugged. "Or what I learned of it in the labs. Anyway, if this planet has it, it must be buried deep, because you'd know lifestream if you saw it. Green glowing pools?"
He shook his head. "The only green glowing pools I have ever heard about are radioactive toxic waste from Pre-Armageddon, usually removed from a nuclear power plant."
"Oookay. Right. No lifestream here. At least not on the surface." Toxic. Ew. She wrinkled her nose at the thought.
"Things have changed greatly in the nine centuries since Armageddon ended," he offered. "There's a great deal less pollution now than Pre-Armageddon, and the population, while smaller, is more healthy."
"Armageddon?" She shook her head and stretched out one leg, then the other, tucking them close again as she didn't want to kick him by accident. "You keep mentioning things that tell me I'm a lot further from home than normal."
He hummed and twisted around to lean against the headboard, his own legs stretched out before him. "Armageddon began as World War Three, a war that touched every corner of the globe. No one really knows how it started and any records of that time have been lost, but sometime during the fighting, vampires emerged from the darkness. That was when it became Armageddon, when it stopped being man fighting man and became humans fighting for their very survival against a superior predator."
Listening to him, Zack was hit by something. She ran through it again, and wasn't sure if she was right or not. "You mean that they weren't fighting against superior predators before?"
He shook his head. "Humanity has been at the top of the food chain since it was discovered that certain chemicals can send a piece of metal into another person at a deadly rate of speed."
That got a snicker. "We still get munched on by the local monster population where I'm from.
"There are some werewolves and a few other things, but they reemerged when the vampires did, leading humanity to believe that they were genetically engineered by the vampires."
"We have dragons. Wolves aren't so scary next to them."
He shook his head. "No dragons."
She was going to say something else, but her stomach decided to put in a few words. Flushing, she put her hand on her belly. "Sorry."
He chuckled and actually stood up. "We should get something to eat." He glanced out the window. "It's still early enough that the mess won't be crowded by everyone fighting for food."
"Lots of hungry people?"
"This is the Vatican, a miniature city in its own right at times." He moved over to pull out one of his uniforms from the wardrobe/weapons closet and glanced at her. "Would you like something a bit more comfortable to wear that that?"
She glanced down at her own outfit. It was her normal, with the SOLDIER top and the shorts Seph had given her. He had been such a leg guy. "What's wrong with my uniform?"
He shrugged. "The shorts look a bit uncomfortable, but if you're comfortable in it, I can't complain."
"Seph had a thing for legs, and he was my commanding officer." An amused sound. "And not ashamed of using that fact to put me in a uniform he liked."
"The benefit of being in charge," he sighed, pulling on the priest's robes without flashing her or showing anything else as he got ready.
She politely turned her back on him, as he seemed to be the shy type.
It didn't take long until he was fastening his boots. "I'm dressed," he remarked, dryly, before straightening and opening the other side of the wardrobe to reveal a well stocked weapons' locker. He pulled down his shoulder harness and revolver to shrug on.
Turning back around, she studied him a moment, then glanced at the Buster. "Should I leave her here?" she asked, gesturing towards the giant blade.
He glanced at the sword, looking up from checking his revolver. "You can if you want. The Inquisition is always armed and their weapons are larger than that." He shut the wardrobe as he holstered his gun and tugged the small cape back into place.
That made a knot in her stomach relax, and she collected her sword. Having it on her back helped her relax. "So, you speak of great and mighty food."
He chuckled. "I speak of hot and filling food, don't know if it would be considered great and mighty," he drawled.
"Food that is good and hot is always great and mighty." And she was hungry.
He nodded and motioned for her to follow him. "Most people will be at Mass, so we should be all right."
Moving to join him, she was curious what the place would look like outside this room.
The corridors were large and airy with large stone arches opening up into the gardens, allowing breezes to dance through the hallways. Suits of armor, banners, tapestries, and paintings were scattered along the inner walls where there wasn't as much exposure to the elements. A few people in nun's habits, priest's outfits, or Inquisition tabards moved along the hallways, glancing at them curiously.
"People are very...covered here." She hadn't seen so much fabric since that trip up to Icicle Inn. And there was a lot of stonework as well. Rare in the day of metal walls she lived in.
"A small remaining tradition from the time when those who entered the Church's service took a vow of chastity," he remarked, before nodding at a fully armored Inquisitor. "That is from Armageddon, when the Inquisition was the main fighting force against the Methuselah."
Smiling at those who got close, Zack continued to look around. "This world is very different."
"I suppose," he murmured, leading her into the mess where kitchen maids were hurrying between tables and the kitchen with hot food and various drinks.
"Where I'm from, Shin-Ra rules. It's an electrical company that finally took over the world after it defeated Wutai in the war."
He shook his head and lead her over to a table. "There is no one ruler here. The three main and powerful rulers are His Holiness the Pope, Her Majesty Queen of Albion, and Her Imperial Majesty the Empress."
"Lord Godo is nominally in charge of Wutai, but Shin-Ra only lets him keep the title as part of the surrender package."
He snorted. "That is one way to irritate someone into starting a rebellion," he drawled, loading his plate with food and pouring himself a cup of tea. "Do you prefer tea or coffee?"
"Tea. And I would just has happily pulled out of Wutai long before it ended. And I was only there a year or so." She collected some food as well. Was always hungry since the first Mako treatments, and the...irregular meals she got while hopping didn't help any.
He poured her a cup of tea, placing the pot between them as he started in on his massive meal. Damn nanites. The only time he got anything filling was at the Vatican.
After a moment, she chuckled. "Birds of a feather, aren't we? At least with this." She gestured to their equally full plates.
"Penny pinching accountants," he drawled back. "The only time I get anything filling is at the Vatican. When I'm on missions, I have to settle for tea-laced sugar."
"That's...disgusting." She wrinkled her nose. "That's also when you go out and kill a few animals to cook over a fire."
He shook his head. "No time for that when I'm on a mission."
"That sucks." She shook her head. "That was something Shin-Ra was good at. An army runs on its stomach."
He nodded to the few other people who had far less on their plates. "Yes, but when one person has a highly active metabolism, they think it's foolish to pay more."
"That's something I had then. We were an entire group of highly elite, constantly starving fighters. Especially the females."
He sighed and glanced at his empty plate, not remembering eating everything, and loaded it up again. "Wish we had that here."
"You should talk to someone. Your supervisor, maybe?" She nibbled at her food. No point in getting too overloaded. She'd been too long without a large meal to eat too much now.
He blinked at her, a bit confused. "But it's the accountants who control the money."
"So? Your supervisor should have some control over your well being. All the people I served under did."
He had the odd grace to blush and duck his head. "I didn't think about that,"
That was adorable, and she chuckled, nibbling on more food. "Well, there is my good deed of this world, then."
He huffed slightly but continued to blush. "It never occurred to me," he protested.
"Now you know to ask." Zack continued to laugh softly.
He hummed and nodded, working on his food.
Finishing her plate shortly, she sipped her tea. Hmm, darker than the teas she was used to. And waited for him to be ready.
Would probably find out what things were going to be like for her soon, in this world. At least nobody was trying to force her to kill her best friend.
He finished a third plate before pushing himself to his feet. "We should go see Cardinal Sforza now. Explain your presence here at least."
"Make up a story explaining me, you mean. For those who won't know the truth." A dry tone.
"She will know. She knows my secrets and keeps them," he said, his voice soft.
She could have asked, but she decided not to. Everyone needed their secrets. "I take it she's your superior? Or something similar?"
"Yes. She is the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and one of the Pope's Cardinals." He started out the mess and towards Catarina's office.
"Then she should know. Still, you'll eventually have to explain me to other people. If I stay that long." And there was that bitter tone again. She really needed to work on it. "People do tend to be curious where strangers came from eventually, especially in large places like this."
"You're not a Methuselah, and at the most, they might think you a spy from the Empire," he remarked with a shrug. If he had to, he would offer to sleep with her to keep her there.
A wicked little grin. "Some spy I would be. I don't even get what you are saying half the time."
He patted her shoulder. "Then we'll sit down in the library with some books, a few maps and I'll explain things to you."
She shrugged. "If it comes to that, it would be interesting."
"We could still use your help," he confessed, folding his hands in front of him. "We... lost someone a few days ago, and as much as some would hate to replace Sister Noelle already, we do need the help."
That sounded like there was a situation here. A bad one. "Come on. Let's introduce me, and then you can tell me about it." And the cycle started again. She always ended up someplace that needed her help. Then she'd end up moving on. Again.
He nodded and escorted her towards Catarina's office, pausing long enough to knock on the door before opening it and escorting Zack in.
Catarina looked up from behind her desk, her eyes slightly red and puffy, and placed her pen on a large stack of paperwork. "Father Abel, what brings you to my office so early this morning? I had thought you would sleep yourself out?"
Automatically glancing around, just to make sure that there wasn't some sort of danger here, Zack looked at the woman. That...was a really big hat.
"Actually, it was rather strange this morning," he remarked, closing the door and locking it behind him. "I woke this morning to find SOLDIER Zack Fair here in my bed, sleeping with me. She apparently moves between worlds when she sleeps alone."
Catarina looked at her, a curious and tired look in her eyes. "Do you have any control over where you go?"
A shrug. "No. I go where I go. Sometimes good, most of the time just normal. Sometimes...." She just shook her head. "Anyway, for the time being, I'm here, though that might change the moment I go to sleep."
"Would you be willing to help us fight against the Rosen Kruentz Order should you remain here?" inquired Catarina, trying to keep a note of desperation out of her voice. "I can find someone willing to share your bed in a non-romantic way to keep you here."
And after it was over, she'd be on her own again. But she had that pesky tendency to helping, so Zack just smiled. "Tell me about this Order. Need to know the enemy, right?"
"The leader is called the Contra Mudi, the Enemy of the World," began Catarina, waving them towards chairs as she emerged from behind her desk to sit near them. "They are a group of terrorists and mercenaries, determined to either destroy the world or plunge it into a war between the humans and Methuselah again." She shook her head. "That is something humanity couldn't survive."
Zack settled into a chair, listening. "So you are wanting to take out this Contra Mudi? And assassination?"
"If we could find him, it would be ideal," she sighed. "But we can't find them. Our intelligence isn't that good or they take out the informants before we even get close."
"I take it you can't get one of their people with enough knowledge to find them?"
"They usually end up dead," sighed Abel, shaking his head. "The one I got close to ripped his own heart out. From the expression of horror on his face, he wasn't in control of his actions."
She grimaced. "Ew. Nasty. So you're basically just putting them down where they pop up, then?"
Catarina nodded. "From what I have gathered from our intelligence, they are behind a smaller band of terrorist and using them as patsies to get what they want. A few members of the Order have actually stepped out of the shadows to manipulate events the way they wish them to come about."
"So it's a running battle. Never fun." She mulled over the idea. "And they are trying to start another war. That's not something that should happen." War was a nasty thing, she knew that one first hand. "I guess this means I should help as long as I can."
"Thank you. I can slip you into the AX as a member of the clergy if you wanted," Catarina offered. "That way you could be Sister Zack Fair and blend in a bit better."
"Would I have to wear all the layers that seem popular here?"
"You could wear one of the priest's robes," she offered, waving a hand to Abel's outfit.
She looked over his outfit. Maybe with some modification, she could handle that better than the layered dresses. "I can do that." She chuckled. "Should I go ahead and request food funding from you then, as it seems your people get starved out in the field if they don't?"
Catarina looked at them confused only to sigh as Abel blushed and ducked his head. "Abel..."
He shrugged a shoulder. "I didn't know I was suppose to come to you for more funds," he confessed. "I've been surviving."
"It apparently never occurred to him." She leaned to the side, resting her chin on her hand. "And my calorie requirements are rather...high."
"Is it anything to the volume of food that Abel normally consumes while here?" Catarina inquired, standing up and moving to her desk to start the paperwork.
Zack coughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was."
Catarina shot Abel a glance but he continued staring at his hands, folded in his lap.
Ah, the lovely uncomfortable silence. "So, I'll be one of your people for the time I here, I take it? That'll be nice."
"Yes. You will be answerable only to myself and your partner," remarked Catarina, filling out the necessary paperwork.
She hummed. "Partner?"
Catarina nodded. "And your partner is answerable to you and to me."
Hadn't had a partner in a while. " Any idea who you might be assigning me with? I should warn you, I'm rather...clueless as to the setup of this world."
"Considering you are already off to a friendly relationship, I don't believe the transition will be too hard," she said, getting a startled look from Abel.
Glancing over to the other, she grinned. "Seems he's not sure what to do to that statement."
"I have to keep him on his toes somehow."
"I think you succeeded."
Catarina glanced at Abel. "I'm going to reassign you to a larger room that you both will share. Will that be acceptable?"
Abel nodded and glanced up at her, his eyes still a touch wide from the announcement. "Yes."
"If he's really that unsure of this...." Zack started.
"It's fine," Abel hurried to reassure her. "It's just, I've never had a steady partner before."
"Well, you have me while I'm here. We'll make people weep with our food bills."
Catarina pulled out two plastic cards and casually tossed one each to Abel and Zack. "Department cards for food."
Catching it, Zack looked at it, then tucked it away. "So, now what?"
"Now, you get Abel moved into your new rooms, then hit the Tailor for new uniforms," remarked Catarina with a smile as she slid a pair of keys across the desk. Abel reached out and gathered them up, noting the number on them.
It was going to be odd having so many layers to deal with when it came to working. Still, she nodded. "It was nice to meet you."
Catarina smiled. "A pleasure to meet you too. And thank you."
Giving her a smile, Zack stood, and glanced over to Abel, letting him lead as she didn't know where any place was.
Rising to his feet, he handed her one of the keys before motioning her to follow him. "I don't have much to move."
"And I'm carrying everything I own. Again. So, shall we?" She took the key, pocketing it and following.
"We shall," he murmured, walking over to open the door for her and escorting her back to his quarters. "It won't take me long."
Again trying to see if she could make sense of the pattern of the halls, she hummed. "So, what is this AX like?"
"AX is a small group of agents in the Department of Foreign Affairs whose job it is is to go out and deal with potential threats and problems that could escalate into a larger war."
"You stop fires before they get too big. Got it." And maybe this wouldn't be too hard after all. "SOLDIER is for something similar. Or going out when Shin-Ra wanted things or people killed." Their thinking killing machines, she had heard one of the higher ups call it once. Hadn't liked that at all.
"That's as good a description as any," he mused.
"And given so far the main tensions you mention are between humans and these Methusa thingies, I gather we're trying to keep those from getting bad."
"Methuselah is the polite name for the vampires," Abel remarked.
"Methuselah. They are vampires. And their name for humans?" Because if you were going to have name splitting, it probably went both ways.
"Terrans."
"Well, at least I'll know who's calling who a what now."
He chuckled. "Yes, but Terran and vampire are considered derogatory terms."
"Still, at least I'll know what I'm being called." She was silent for a few moments as they walked. "What are the major differences between the two groups?"
"Methuselah are stronger, faster, have heightened senses as well as red or gold eyes and fangs," came the reply.
"Weaknesses?"
"The two big ones are sunlight and silver. Sunlight burns them while silver is a poison."
So far they sounded like SOLDIERs with more issues. "Anything else I need to know about them?"
"If you're going to kill them, go for a head or heart shot." He tossed her a wry smile. "Cutting them in half only pisses them off."
That got a slow blink, then she started to laugh. "I'll remember that."
He nodded. "Destroy the heart or the brain. Most of the time, we try to arrest them and bring them in for judgment, but then there are the ones who can't be arrested."
She understood that one. "All right. So, what do you think about this situation?" Zack didn't want to be forced onto someone who would resent dealing with her.
He glanced at her. "I don't mind being assigned to you as a partner. You see, I don't have a normal partner because most of the missions I'm sent on have a strong possibility of someone coming back either severely hurt or in a coffin." He swallowed around the lump in his throat.
"Well, at least that's something I'm -used- to." She gave him a shoulder bump. "You know, even if I don't have a clue on what you'll be talking about half the time, I'm willing to listen."
"How about on the way to the Tailor, we swing past the Library and I'll pick up a few books on history to help explain things better," he offered with a smile.
"Sounds good." She sighed dramatically. "But what will it do for my mindless fighter image?"
"You can always go out and beat up on the Inquisition when we're done."
"Me fighter. Me thump things." She grinned sideways at him.
"And next you'll be clubbing boys over the head and dragging them back to your cave," he drawled with a small smirk.
"Only as long as they don't have cold feet."
"Isn't that what thick socks are for?"
"You ever had to force someone to wear thick socks to bed? It's nigh impossible." She nodded.
He pointed to the stone floor. "There aren't a lot of carpets or throw rugs here. Thick socks in the winter are a blessing when going to the bathroom."
Zack snorted. "Note. If I'm still here come winter, we are putting down something on our floor."
"At least we're not farther north in Germany. They measure snow in feet instead of inches."
"Ew." That was an icky mental image. "Icicle Inn all over again."
"At least the air is cleaner and much of the pollution is gone."
"So, you are taking my mysterious and strange origins quite well." It was a random subject change, but she really wasn't...used to this. At least in most worlds she ended up, she was a familiar face, if the wrong gender.
He shrugged. "What is the point of freaking out and having a panic attack?"
"You'd be amazed." She shrugged. "So, moving room and all that."
He nodded and pushed open the door to his old room. "It won't take me but a few minutes to pack my robes."
"Need some help?" She slipped back into the room, taking herself to an out of the way corner.
"There isn't much actually," he confessed, looking around the sparsely decorated room. "All of this was here when I moved in."
Glancing around, Zack nodded. "Let me know if you need me to carry anything."
He nodded and packed the boxes of bullets in a separate bag, handing that to her. "Just that goes from the weapon's locker side."
Taking it, she watched him more. "All right. Sorry I'm turning out to being disruptive."
"Disruptive how?" He folded the last few robes and placed them in the bag before gathering up his toiletries and hairbrush
"Getting your rooms changed, sticking you with a rather clueless partner, that sort of thing." She shrugged. "Usually I get stuck in a room and left there until I jump again."
He shrugged and picked up his bag. "I have slept everywhere from a burnt out and ruined building in the middle of a war zone to a fine feathered mattress in a palace. Confused and a bit clueless you might be, but you are not helpless."
A small smile. "No, never claimed that, usually."
"So see? You are hardly disruptive."
She gave a little bow. "All right. I'll try to refrain from commenting on it." Straightening, she leaned against a wall. "So, new rooms, library, tailor. And after that?"
"Depending on how late it is, either dinner or taking over the training yard."
"Want to see what you're getting?"
"Want to get an idea how your skills match up to the rest of ours," he remarked with a shrug, starting out of the room again. "Father Tres Inques is a battle android. His codename is Gunslinger for a reason."
Zack nodded. "We'll see how it goes."
He nodded. "The codenames are for reports or serious situations and you need to get their attention." He smiled. "Only Father Wordsworth is always called The Professor, unless Sister Kate is mad at him again for jamming her sensors with one of his cockeyed inventions."
"So what's yours?"
"Crusnik." He gave her a wry smile. "Only Sister Esther doesn't have a codename but then, she's not a full field agent either."
"I'll remember that. It's going to be fun learning about everyone."
"You probably won't see SwordDancer a lot. He's still on his personal mission, both other than him, you'll probably run into them at least once." He smiled. "And that is after I introduce you to them for the first time."
"What you've mentioned of them so far sounds interesting." She shook her head slightly. "And I wonder about this Inquisition you keep mentioning. What are they?"
"During Armageddon, they were the fighting force of the Vatican," began Abel. "They were warriors from God basically, and a more zealot bunch you'll probably never meet. To them, the only good Methuselah is one with its head on a pike."
"Ouch."
He nodded. "It doesn't help that the Inquisition is currently lead by Cardinal Francesco diMedici, the half brother of Cardinal Sforza and His Holiness." He sighed softly. "His Holiness is a gentle soul who, unfortunately, is easily cowed by shouting, which diMedici does. A lot. especially to get his way."
"See, maybe it's just where I'm from, but I keep expecting to hear about people trying to have each other killed." It did happen a lot, and she was one to know.
"Humans kill humans and Methuselah kill Methuselah. Sometimes, they even cross the species line to off the other. When it is something small like that, the local police handle the situation. We are sent in when there's a massive slaughter or a terrorist cell has popped up to hijack an airship to crash into Rome."
"I was thinking more assassination attempts here."
"We try very hard to keep that from happening. If anything serious happened to the Main Three, then it could be a disaster."
Zack just nodded. "I'm just used to in-fighting, I think." She shifted, seeing how many more things he had to collect.
He blinked and realized he was standing there with his bag in his hand. "Well, we should get to our new rooms."
"All right." Pushing off from the wall, she moved towards the door again.
"Sorry, I get to talking sometimes and forget what all else I was doing."
She laughed. "It's okay. You've never seen me in full distracted mode."
"How bad is yours?" he inquired.
"I tend to fight without even paying attention to people sometimes." She got a sheepish look. "I was busy trying to not end up falling down the hill and they weren't all that good."
He chuckled. "Then you should see the Professor when he's involved with one of his inventions. Doesn't even seem to remember there are other people around until something blows up and he's yelled at."
Zack shook her head in amusement. "A few of the lab techs are like that. Especially the ones who deal with materia."
"It's also why he doesn't go on missions much."
"Random explosions during missions does tend to be a distraction, yes."
He chuckled."Very true."
She put on an innocent smile. "Useful at times, but usually only if you know about them before they happen."
"Oh yes. It irritates the bad guy to know end when an explosion goes off that he didn't expect and wrecks all his plans," Abel agreed cheerfully.
"On the other hand, very useful when you just need them to look away before you punch them."
He nodded. "Or shoot them."
Okay, maybe this world wouldn't be so bad. "So, why is this place a maze?" She was rather lost already, and hoped it wouldn't take long to figure out how things were set up. At least the Shin-Ra building had been set up so you could walk around without getting too out of place.
"As close as I can figure, it was a small church that was built on and built on, expanding as things were needed." He stopped in front of a door and unlocked it. "And this is ours."
"Hope you don't mind me following you like a puppy for a few days," she told him, and poked her head in the door.
"Not at all," he remarked, walking into the room. It was a larger room than his old one, with a small sitting area along with a bookcase against one wall. There were two wardrobe/weapons lockers, a queen sized bed, and a door that lead into the bathroom containing a shower, toilet and sink.
Moving into the room, she set his things down by one of the lockers, and went to look around. "Nice."
"It's standard quarters for a married pair," he confessed, going to unpack his robes and place his toiletries in the bathroom.
Fluttering her eyes, she smiled sweetly at Abel. "But this is so fast...." she teased.
He blinked at her a few minutes before he realized what she said and blushed dark red, holding his hands up. "No.. really.. nothing like that..." he stuttered.
"I'm teasing. Honestly." She waved her hand. "I'm a stranger to you, and you seem like one of the nice guys."
"There are some times I would hesitate to call myself 'nice' and still others when that is almost an insult to nice guys everywhere."
She glanced at him. So far, he was better than some of the ones she had met. "So, put things away and then to get books and clothes?"
He placed the empty bags in the bottom of the wardrobe and shut the door. "Now we are ready to get books and your uniforms."
Zack rolled her shoulders, stretching some. "All right." Her tone was dry. "Yay, clothing."
He smiled and patted her shoulder. "You only have to wear it when you're on duty or on a mission."
"I don't mind things like that. It's just the fittings." She wrinkled her nose.
"Fittings?" He shook his head. "The Tailor's job is simply to make sure there are enough uniforms to go around and modify any that might need it."
"It's the trying things on that gets me. Usually they involve fittings, but we were also the first group of female SOLDIERs, so that may have had something to do with it."
He hummed, not commenting, as they walked down the hallway.
Gaaah, this place and its halls. "I'm going to start drawing little chalk diagrams on the walls. Just so you know."
He snickered. "If you just follow the scent of fresh air, you'll eventually end up at a window or outside. Everything else can be found from there."
"Outside is good."
"Most of the outer offices and rooms have large doors that open up into the gardens that surround the Vatican. SO if you get lost, head outside and stick your head in the first open door you come to and ask directions."
"You can do that here? Where I'm from, that's an invite to get things thrown at your head."
"If they didn't want to be bothered, then the curtains or doors will be closed." He shrugged.
She nodded. "All right. I guess it's more follow you time now, though."
He smiled and started back for the hallway. "You can lock the door if you want, but since I never have anything of value to be stolen, I rarely do."
"I'm carrying everything I own. Remember?"
"I didn't know if you felt more secure locking the door." He shrugged and started down the hallway again.
She smiled at him. "Thank you for that." Following him, she once more tried to track their path. "So what sort of missions do you go on, besides dangerous?"
"Investigative at times," he confessed. "One of the least dangerous was investigating why some ships were vanishing near this one Albion island."
"Albion?"
"The other human power on the continent," he remarked. "It had started out as Albion, then the name was changed to England when the tribes of people had settled down to live, and after Armageddon, the name was changed back to Albion."
She just shook her head. "Back and forth, hmm? How big is this Albion place?" It would be good to get an idea of numbers.
"It's actually one of the smaller countries, but they have an entire city built below Londinium for the Methuselah to live in." He frowned faintly and thought. "I'm not sure exact numbers, but before Armageddon, there were close to even billion people in the world. Now, there's only a few million in this part of the world."
That got her to stop and stare. "Few million?"
He nodded. "Rough estimation with the Methuselah counted as well. No one really knows what is going on on the other side of the world or past the Desolate Lands."
She was trying to process that number. "We were less than a million back home. Just under."
He gently grasped her wrist and tugged her along. "There is a map in the Library to give you a better scale of things."
"I'm just trying to process those numbers."
"It's possible your planet was smaller than ours?" He shrugged.
"Who knows. Maybe. Though we do have monsters that eat people on a regular basis."
He gently pulled her through a set of large double doors and into the Library where people were bent over books and scribbling away on paper. There were rows and rows of books, enough that someone could get lost for a good long time in the stacks.
"Wow...." She looked at the books in fascination.
"There are many here that are pre-Armageddon," he remarked, stopping before a large map that was framed on the wall. He tapped a small dot. "This is Rome, where we are located."
"I think this place is bigger than my world." She looked closer, trying to get a scale of things. "I'm not sure by how much. We have a lot of empty territory."
He walked over and pulled an ancient atlas off the shelf, bringing it back to hold it next to the map. "This is what the world looked like Before Armageddon." He tapped the tiny dot. "There's Rome."
She just shook her head. "That's...chaotic."
"Only Europe is known about these days." He circled the continent. "Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas are lost because we can't get to them for one reason or another.'
"Weird." She sighed. "Lot to learn about."
He smiled and went to pick up two more history books, mostly all about Armageddon, and tucked them under his arm.
Looking at the map for a few moments longer, she went to join him again.
He gestured towards the doors. "And now to get your uniform," he murmured with a smile. "These are just for visual assistance."
Shifting the blade on her back, she hummed. "I'll need to be able to fit my magnet under it."
"I figure there was some way to hold your sword to your back which is why I didn't ask if you wanted to leave it in our room. This way, you and the Tailor can figure out how to make it work."
"Yep. Magnet that's strapped to my back. Keeps Buster on, even with her being the size she is."
"Powerful magnet," he mused, thinking. "Do you have to wear it under all your clothes or can you wear it just under something like this?" He tugged the short cape around his shoulders.
"At the moment, it's between my shirt here," she tucked the tighter sweater, "and an undershirt."
"Very powerful magnet," he murmured. "You shouldn't have any problems then."
"Good." She smiled. "She's been with me through a lot. I wouldn't want to lose her."
"Oh you wouldn't. It would just be a matter of how to adjust the robes to fit you and your style."
Zack chuckled. "As long as you aren't asking me to do things in a skirt and heels, I can manage. Never did like heels."
"Only these sort of heels." He gestured at his own boots which were more like combat boots than anything.
"That I can do." She had fought in heels once, but that was because Seph had a quirky sense of humor. "So, getting me lost again?"
He chuckled. "Not really." He nodded towards an open door that allowed people to see both white and black uniforms hanging on racks.
Continued here