Loveless

Part 8

The next day, really early in the morning, Zack took it upon himself to wake his sister up. The door to her room was unlocked so Zack had the possibility to enter without a problem.

"Rise and shine! Today is going to be a wonderful day for you!"

Eloise groaned and barely remembered what he meant. It was the day of her first mission as SOLDIER. Suddenly, the morning became brighter and she found enough confidence to get out of bed and shower. She walked out of the bathroom in only a towel. Zack was family and didn't care much about her growing feminine parts - she was the same young Eloise; forever and ever- but Eloise was a girl and quickly shooed her brother out of the room.

She dressed in her SOLDIER uniform and smiled contently. Unfortunately, she didn't have any sword to compliment the whole appearance; her training sword was somewhere in the building and was used only in training.

That was why Sephiroth decided to come by and give her a small present.

"This is a sword." She stated, pointing at it. "Are you sure is not for training?"

Sephiroth shook his head and chuckled. "Use it wisely or else I will double your training."

Her eyes widened and she gulped. Training with him was hard enough as it was, she didn't need to suffer twice a day.

"Yes, sir!"

Sephiroth's gaze softened as he patted her head. She was young and short compared to him so she was very squishy from his eye level.

"Welcome to your first time in my office, young SOLDIERs!" Director Lazard exclaimed in a suspiciously good mood.

The first time Eloise met him was when she had to pass the test for the 3rd class. He was reluctant at first but she made quite an impression afterwards.

"You five young 3rd class SOLDIERs will go on your first mission under my watch. It's quite easy. What you have to do is retrieve an important document from our secret source in Nibelheim."

The five SOLDIERs nodded and saluted. The four men walked out of the office while Lazard grabbed Eloise by her uniform.

"Yes, sir?"

He smiled kindly at her and made a sign to follow him. Lazard took something out of a pile of files and gave it to her.

"What's this?" She asked completely confused.

"Give this to the source. I trust that you won't read it. Also, that document has to be protected by any means, Eloise. It's very important for our cause."

She blinked, growing even more confused, "What cause?"

Lazard chuckled bemusedly. She was such a naive young girl.

"Right now, our cause is to protect Shinra from AVALANCHE. Have you heard of them?"

Eloise nodded. She had heard about a group of eco-terrorists opposing the actions of Shinra.

"What are your thoughts about it?"

"Well, sir, I think they are right in some points. Shinra is drying the world from its Lifestream but at the same time, I am grateful for Shinra's technology and innovations. It's all for a better life."

Lazard's smile widened and he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What a thoughtful young girl you are. I am glad you enrolled into SOLDIER, Eloise."

His words didn't sound like a compliment at all but more like a subtle threat. She wasn't sure what to believe and what to extract from his sentence.

"Are you ready, cadet?"

After she exited Lazard's office, she frowned. She glanced at the two files she had in her hands and titled her head to the side, curious of what was written in there.

Zack was trying to be funny and make his sister feel confident. When he saw how troubled she looked, his eyes lost their playfulness and he hugged her.

"Are you alright, Eloise?"

She squirmed into his arms and pushed him away. "I'm not a kid anymore." She mumbled, tidying up her uniform and hair.

Zack chuckled and leaned against the wall. "You're younger than I am."

Eloise scoffed. "Yes, by only a few years. It's not even that much. I have to go. See you when I come back." She saluted her older brother and walked away.

"So, tell me again why that document is so important."

One of Eloise's mates was an idiot. If he wasn't as strong as he claimed to be, he was perfect as a buffoon. Thankfully, the other two colleagues were more perceptive and more patient.

"Because it's important for Shinra. Don't you understand? We are Shinra's lackeys."

Eloise rolled her eyes. They were going to have that bad Shinra discussion again.

"Weird. I thought Shinra's lackeys are the turks." One of her mates mumbled, shifting in his seat.

The pilot scoffed and started to laugh.

"Hey, that's not nice! We're more like his bodyguards."

Eloise's head shot towards the pilot, hitting the SOLDIER beside her in the process.

"Isn't that the same thing but addressed in different ways?" That statement was meant for her ears only but the redhead heard her clearly.

He glanced at her over his seat and winked.

"I didn't know SOLDIER hires girls too. I'm Reno, yo." He didn't seem to be older than she was. "Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

In only a few long moves, Reno let his partner take control of the helicopter while he moved in the back. He sat in front of her, squishing the other two SOLDIERs into a corner. Reno stared at her with wide curious eyes that were a bit creepy.

"Eloise Fair, 3rd class SOLDIER." She mumbled.

"Fair. Why does that name sound familiar?" He wondered, tapping his chin thoughtfully, "Oh, I know! Zack's family name is Fair, right? So, you are his sister?"

She nodded groggily. Reno's eyes brightened before he leaned towards her expectantly. Eloise wasn't sure what he wanted from her so she just asked the first thing she could think about.

"Are you going to wait for us in Nibelheim?"

Reno shook his head. "No. You will have to spend a night there. We, Shinra's lackeys, have another business to attend to later tonight."

Eloise shot a glare to the mate who addressed the turks like that but he simply turned his head tow the side.

"What if there is an emergency?" Reno raised an eyebrow before she added quickly, "Just in case, I mean."

"If there is an emergency you can call us and we will come as fast as we can. Take my number, just in case." He just turned her words into his favor.