Life Finds a Way

Chapter 31

Genesis moved to offer Angeal a drink while they waited but was interrupted by the sound of his bathroom door opening. He raised a brow at his new protégé. "That was quicker than I expected."

She scoffed back. "You said we didn't have much time. I am trying to follow your orders."

He chuckled at her cheek, even if he shouldn't, especially since he could hear Angeal's muffled laughter behind him. He motioned toward the door. "Then let us go and meet your new roommate."

They moved toward the training wing of the Soldier floor. Angeal waved them off and headed toward Sephiroth's office. Once he was gone Genesis turned back to Clarissa. "There should be several more uniforms waiting in your dorm."

"Thank you." That was the last that was said until they approached the dorms.

It was one hallway over from the training rooms. There was a guard at each end of the long hallway. Seeing that made Clarissa glance over at Genesis. She voiced the question that ran through her head before she could think about how bad it might sound. "Are the guards posted here because of me?"

He gave her a thoughtful look. "We will be posting a guard by your door at night, but these are here because this is a hallway filled with teenage boys. Even if they are in training for Soldier, that doesn't make them impervious to being troublesome."

She laughed at his explanation. "I suppose that makes sense. Teenagers in general can be that way."

He gave her a questioning look but didn't ask whatever was on his mind. The guards saluted Genesis as they walked past. Directly behind the first guard was a small woman with shoulder length auburn hair leaning against a door. Clarissa's eyes widened as she realized she recognized the girl, but she was smart enough not to say anything. Her gaze shot to Genesis when he addressed her. "Cissnei, am I to take your presence here as the fact that you are our newest cadet's roommate?"

"Commander. Veld heard that she was being released and asked me to come over." She stood and moved around Genesis to address Clarissa. "Hi, I'm Cissnei. Nice to meet you."

Clarissa took the hand she offered. "I'm Clarissa, nice to meet you too. Will you be staying with me?"

The girl gave a nod. "As long as you are in the cadet program." After she shook Clarissa's hand, Cissnei turned to Genesis. "It is almost time for curfew in this hall, is there something else you needed Commander?"

Genesis furrowed his brow at the curt question but didn't comment on it, instead he turned to Clarissa. "This hall has a policy of no one in and no one out between the hours of 23:00 and 05:00. You will be expected to be up and ready before you assemble for training at 07:00. I will fetch you from the training room at 15:00. Do you have any questions?"

Clarissa gave him a salute and a "No Sir." She felt strange saluting Genesis, but she knew she had to get used to it.

His furrowed brow became a frown. "I'll leave you to it then." He didn't add anything before turning to leave.

At that she turned to the young Turk. "Let's see what the room looks like then." Cissnei turned and opened the door behind her.

The room they entered was small. The four beds took up most of the space in the room even though they were bunked. The only other thing in the room were four stacked trunks, two at the end of each pair of bunk beds. It was apparent this room was only for sleeping and changing. Clarissa moved to one set and lifted the lid on the top trunk to find it empty. She moved to the other side and found several uniforms like the one she was wearing. She turned to the Turk that was silently watching her. "It looks like this one has my stuff. I guess I'll take this side. With four beds and only two of us I suppose it doesn't matter if you have a bunk preference."

Cissnei only gave her a nod. Clarissa was starting to feel a little awkward at being watched so closely. She was certain Cissnei had been briefed on everything, so she could only wonder what the girl was thinking. She tried to shake off the unease as she sat on the bottom bunk attached to the trunk with her clothes and looked over at her new roommate. "I would like to apologize up front. I am sure this isn't much of an assignment. I hope it won't be necessary forever but, in the meantime, it would be nice if we could be pleasant acquaintances at least. It might make it easier if you don't object to the idea."

At her words the girl finally smiled for the first time. "Well you certainly don't seem crazy. If I'm going to be with you everyday for the next several weeks, it would be impossible for me not to get to know you some. For tonight, why don't we turn in. You have an early morning." She stopped and pointed to a small table between the beds that Clarissa had missed. "I believe there is an alarm in one of those drawers. You'll probably need it."

Clarissa gave her a smile before turning to open the top drawer of the table and pulled out the small clock that had been inside it. She set the alarm before putting it next to the lamp. She turned back and gave Cissnei an evaluating look. She hadn't missed the fact that the girl's statements had been worded for the information flow to go one way. It didn't surprise her at all, but she hoped they could at least get along. At this point she had nothing to hide, even if they didn't believe her. It actually made this whole thing easier. She didn't have to worry about something slipping at least. If she looked at it in that light she could consider it acceptable at least.

She shook off her thoughts before speaking again. "I slept a good part of the day, but I know 5 o'clock will come early, so I'm all for trying." She stood to look in her trunk again. She hoped they included everything she would need and not just the regular uniform. She was sick to death of sleeping in her clothes. Her search was rewarded with a few pairs of shorts and tank tops in addition to her normal underthings. She had never been so happy to see sleepwear and undergarments in her life.

She grabbed the shorts and tank top but paused when she remembered this tiny room had nowhere to hide. She gave the girl an embarrassed look as she held up the small bundle. "Uh, I know there is really nowhere to go to change, so if you don't mind..."

Cissnei laughed at her unspoken request. "If it makes you feel better I can turn around."

"I guess it doesn't make a difference, but I didn't want to, you know... just start stripping." Clarissa laughed at her own awkwardness but started changing as soon as Cissnei turned. It only took her a few minutes to finish. "Done."

When she called out, Cissnei turned with a smile. "You shouldn't worry about it too much. I believe things will get worse than this during your training if I remember correctly."

That made Clarissa wonder if they had some version of Hell Week. The thought made her shudder. It would make sense if they did. "You're probably right. For now, I'm going to try and sleep. Thank you for being understanding though."

Cissnei flipped off the light by the door at her words. Clarissa could still see fairly well, there was light coming out from under the door. She watched as Cissnei made her way to the other bed and heard her settle in. In the following silence her mind was instantly filled with everything that she had been faced with. She hadn't been here a week yet and she already felt like she was drowning. It made getting through the next several months seem impossible. She figured it was sometime in the spring since Minerva has said there were still several months until the incident with Genesis, but that seemed a lifetime away at this point. She realized she could only take it a day at a time. If Genesis was able to keep her in the training program, she knew this was her best bet to get close enough to them to at least have a chance of saving them.

Thoughts of her family kept trying to crowd in as well. She tried not to let those overwhelm her. She didn't push them aside, but if she felt the tears pushing at her eyelids she forced herself to think on something else. Those thoughts were still extremely raw. All these thoughts circled around in her head for a long time before she was finally able to slip into sleep again.

edit 11/15/2019