The Forgotten Hero

Chapter 7

            “What’s the matter soldier?” The man in the red uniform questioned Verna. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

            Verna gulped. Her voice would give it away that she was a female. She pointed to her mouth and shook her head. Hopefully the other soldier would buy that she just couldn’t speak at all. Her eyes watched the real soldier as he nodded in understanding.

            “At least you won’t get on Heidegger’s nerves by saying anything,” The red soldier sighed. “If I were you I’d stay clear of the man. If he gets angry he’ll most likely beat the living daylights out of you.”

            Verna’s eyes widened. That most certainly wouldn’t be good. If she were to be punched then her hood had the possibility of falling off, which meant that everyone would discover she was a girl. Should that happen, then her cover for working for the underground newspaper would be blown.

            “Alright, we’re here,” The commanding officer stopped on the boat. “President Rufus and Heidegger aren’t here yet, but make sure you don’t slack off. If they walk in and you’re goofing around that’ll look bad on my part. Got it?”

            Verna nodded her head and walked into room. She glanced around. It was nothing spectacular. In all honesty she had to question why Rufus was even taking this boat. Wasn’t he the president of Shin-Ra Inc.? Couldn’t he take something more spectacular instead of this run down ship? Verna frowned at the thought; maybe Sephiroth was seen on this ship which would be why he was getting on it. Then again, why would he risk his life for something such as this?

            Avoiding the endless cavern of many questions – that is her mind – Verna looked out the window and towards the rest of the boat. She held back a smile as she noticed AVALANCHE get to their places. At least she wasn’t alone on this ship. If anything were to happen she could go and find them.

            Verna deviated her attention from AVALANCHE and towards the door that opened. Verna gulped slightly and saluted the two people who made their way into the room. Hopefully she gave a good enough impression.

            “At ease, soldier,” the smooth voice of the man dressed in white commanded as he walked past Verna. Verna slowly stopped saluting as Rufus glanced at her, “Your commanding officer informed us that you can’t talk, is that correct?” Verna nodded. “How inconvenient.”

            Verna felt a drop of sweat run down her face. Did he really just insult her for not having the capability to talk? She wanted to protest and actually speak, but that would contradict what she previously informed the new president. She glanced over to Heidegger who looked like he wanted to strangle her. Verna fought back the urge to run away from the two men and looked through the space between them. Both were intimidating beyond all belief.

            She narrowed her eyes at something moving outside the window. Glancing back at Rufus and Heidegger, it seemed that neither one of them spotted the figure. Looking back over, she quirked an eyebrow at realizing it was just Barrett in his sailor uniform. Sighing in relief, she glanced back over to Rufus and Heidegger. They didn’t realize he was there.

            “Now Heidegger,” Rufus spoke calmly, but a patch of ice was lying under his voice. “You informed me that the air ship would be ready to use to get to our destination. Did you lie to me?”

            “No, sir,” Heidegger shook his head. “The crew informed me that it would be ready, but I only just found out that it’d be ready in three days.”

            “Perhaps it would have been in your best interest to inform me before I arrived at Junon,” Rufus looked at the bearded man coldly.