Loveless

Part 5

Eloise was groggily walking towards the training room, silently praying that Sephiroth will have mercy and understand how hard was the training for the 3rd class SOLDIERs. She knew he wasn't going to kill her but he wasn't going to let her leave without a few broken ribs either. When she arrived in front of the door, her hand was shaking on the knob and she wasn't sure if it was because of excitement or fear. With one last sigh, she opened the door and closed her eyes tightly.

"Are you going to keep your eyes closed for the entire day?" He asked calmly.

She opened one eye to get a glimpse. The scenery was nice. He programmed the room to look exactly like a forest and he was standing in the middle of it. Eloise walked towards him while staring in amazement at the sight; it was all very realistic.

"This look really nice."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow bemusedly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was making her feel inferior from every aspect. She bit her lower lip and crossed her hands behind.

"You don't have to be shy. I'm not going to bite you."

She titled her head to the side, like an innocent puppy. "I'm not afraid you will bite me. I'm afraid you will beat the shit out of me."

Sephiroth chuckled and took a step closer to her before he turned his head to the side and pointed towards a tree.

"We won't fight today. Instead, I want you to learn how to control your energy. There are 8 trees around us, in a circle. We are exactly in the middle of this circle. On each tree, there is a target, smaller or larger. You have to use only your energy to hit the center of every target."

Her eyes widened. "I don't know how to activate it. It doesn't have a button or something."

He grabbed one of her arms, rather harshly, and pointed it at one of the trees. The SOLDIER tightened his grip on her arm, almost cutting the blood circulation while she cringed.

"Think about it. Think about something that makes you feel inferior."

Sephiroth's presence was one good reason but he was her mentor. He was someone she admired, not felt disgusted or pressured.

"Think about Genesis." Sephiroth whispered, still very serious.

Her head turned towards him inhumanly fast. His face was blank and his eyes were staring at the tree. She sighed and closed her eyes. Genesis was a person she didn't feel inferior to but she was annoyed every time his face or red hair would appear. He was a mysterious bastard who always kept a book in his pocket. That book, she wasn't curious what it contained, but he was quoting from it nonetheless. She could feel the energy slipping through her body and with every thought about Genesis, it was growing stronger.

Sephiroth smirked when he felt a tingling sensation coming from her hand. Her let it go and she hit the target without a problem, right in the middle; not only that, she broke the whole tree.

"That was interesting." Sephiroth trailed, seizing the damage.

She opened her eyes and stared at her work. The tree was on the ground, still emitting sparks.

"Indeed. It is a good start but you have 7 more trees. That one was easy. Let's see how you hit the others." He smirked and took a few steps behind her before pressing a button on his phone making the trees move. Some of them were rapidly getting closer to her, some were getting further away.

Eloise rubbed her forehead and groaned. Of course it wasn't going to be easy.

After the training session with Sephiroth, Eloise walked straight to her room. She didn't need food or water. Everything she needed was a bed; a large and comfortable bed. Her back hurt and her fingers were a little pale; she consumed a lot of energy throughout the session. Sephiroth was one hard coach and he didn't let her leave before she hit every target and destroyed the trees in the process.

Like always, she met Genesis at the elevator. She tried to glance subtly at him but Genesis was very bold with his actions.

"You're glowing." He said out of nowhere.

She's been taken aback by a lot of things Genesis said but now, it reached a whole new level. Genesis smirked and took a step closer to her, noticing the faint pink color in her cheeks. With every step closer, she was getting further and further away from him until she hit the wall. Instead of a scene taken from a movie, Genesis grabbed her arm and stuck it into her face.

"Your hand is glowing blue." He remarked, the smirk never leaving his face.

Eloise was so embarrassed that she could just copy an oyster and plunge her head in the ground.

Genesis raised an eyebrow bemusedly and chuckled. "Don't get your expectations too high, newbie. Just because you have electricity running through your veins doesn't make you special."

That sentence made no sense at all. Eloise didn't understand what he was talking about. What expectations? About being a SOLDIER? She scowled and pushed the red head away harshly.

"I don't know what you're referring to and I don't think I want to. But, for your information, I won't change my principles. I have the right to hope and expect for whatever I want, no matter how improbable or not it might be."

Genesis was ready to say something when someone else walked down the hall.

"What are you doing with my protegee, Genesis?" Sephiroth's voice was so different than how it sounded a few hours earlier.

Genesis's frown only deepened.

"Your protege, huh." He scoffed and trapped Eloise between his hands. "Will it turn differently in a few weeks?" He asked ironically, glaring down at her with a suspicious glint in his eyes.

Eloise had never realized that having Sephiroth as her mentor, and in such a short time, could make such a big difference. Now she knew. Genesis was one of the SOLDIERs that saw Eloise as a little fan, keen to spend time around the best SOLDIER in Shinra.