I had practically no idea how this had happened. I woke up slowly, first noticing the tight grip of bandages all over my body. The next thing I realized was that the surface beneath me was hard and cold. Next, I felt warm breath drifting across my face.
"Cloud, are you awake now?" the low voice asked slowly.
My eyes flickered open to reveal Marian Cross' face was less than an inch away from mine.
"God!" I cried, annoyed and taken off guard, rolling to my side as fast as I could. "What are you doing…?" As I sat up, my eyes swept the room. It was small, square room with hard concrete walls. I glanced to my side and saw large metal bars replacing one of the four walls.
Oh, no.
"Cross," Sokaro called gruffly from the other side of the room. "How can you be so calm during a moment like this? All four generals were just caught by the Noah! What are the odds of that?" He grunted loudly, rolling his eyes. "This is one of the strangest coincidences ever, and all you've got on your mind is women!"
"Actually, I was thinking a little about how badly I need a cigarette, too," Cross argued, a sly grin creeping across his face.
I leapt to my feet, scanning the room in horror. Sure enough, I wasn't alone – Cross, Sokaro, and Tiedoll were all sitting on the hard floor, staring back at me. I shook my head in disbelief. "No way did we all get caught…no way…"
Cross shrugged. "Yet here we are, a large, happy family."
I wanted to hit him more than ever right then. If he didn't shut up, I was never going to get to the bottom of this. Why did Cross always have to make everything seem so unimportant? He should take his job more seriously! "What happened?" I demanded.
Tiedoll shrugged. "I passed out and woke up here. I don't know anything beyond that." He glanced around at the others, nodding. "Pretty much the same thing happened to everyone else."
"This is unheard of!" Sokaro scoffed, crossing his arms. "How can this happen to powerful, well trained generals so easily?"
I brushed a hand through my hair, having no idea what to think. Shutting my eyes tightly, I tried to remember back to when I had passed out. Everything was pretty much a blur. I remembered bits of the brutal fight we had been part of, but not the entire picture.
"You may have been sleeping all day, but we haven't," Tiedoll piped up, breaking my thoughts. "I think I'm going to get some sleep."
"In here?" Sokaro demanded bitterly. "We should try to escape!"
Cross smirked. "You've been saying that for hours. It's about time we give up. We can start again tomorrow, right?" He yawned obnoxiously, slumping over onto the ground. "I need some sleep, at least."
I rolled my eyes as he almost immediately began snoring, his mouth hanging open. Did he always sleep like this? What did all those women see in him?
The others, even Sokaro, fell asleep almost as immediately. I wondered how long they had been awake. I had, on the other hand, been unconscious all day. I wasn't very tired at all. Lying on the cold, damp ground, I tried to force sleep onto myself, but it was impossible. I gave up and concentrating on bringing back my memory.
I had been pretty beaten up before I went unconscious. I remembered getting all the injuries that covered me. It wasn't too farfetched that I'd gone unconscious.
Wide-awake, I sat up, leaning my back against the wall and glancing at the other generals. My eyes finally focused on Cross.
He was really strange, that Cross. Always so shameless and obnoxious, even when he slept. How was it possible that he still annoyed me when he was completely unconscious? How ironic was it, though, that he didn't even shut his mouth when he sleeps? I groaned, rolling my eyes once again.
Unconsciously, I began watching him a little more closely. His snoring slowed down after a while and turned into relaxed, rhythmatic breathing. His long, red hair was sprawled all around him across the floor. My eyes fell on his mask, and I suddenly became curious as to what he was hiding underneath it.
Somehow, my curiosity increased with each breath he took in, my eyes unable to tear away from his mask. He seemed to be sound asleep, so I reached out hesitantly.
What was I thinking? Was I seriously going to touch Cross when he slept? He would definitely take that the wrong way. If he were asleep, though, how would he know?
I gently wrapped the tips of my fingers around the mask, lifting it as slowly and carefully as I could. When his fist wrapped tightly around my wrist, preventing me from lifting it any further, I actually jumped from shock.
I released the mask, tearing my hand away from his. Glaring at him, I whispered, "I thought you were asleep!"
"I was," he chuckled, "but then I woke up."
I raised an eyebrow. "Because I touched you?"
He shook his head. "I was awake before then. I just pretended to be asleep to see if you'd try it."
My eyes widened. "You knew I was going to?"
He shrugged. "Everyone does."
I hesitated before asking the next question on my mind – I wasn't too keen on making friendly conversation with him. "Why are you so afraid to show your scars?"
He reached out, drifting his fingers through my bangs without raising them. I backed away from his warm touch, my head nearly banging into the wall. "Why are you?"
I pressed my lips tightly together, not knowing how to respond.
Cross leaned forward, leaning against the wall next to me and brushing his hand through my hair again. "It's too bad that those other two are here. I hardly ever get you alone."
"That's because I avoid you," I reminded him.
He laughed again. "And why is that?" he asked, as if humoring me.
I glared at him from the corner of my eye. "Why do you think? You're a pig, general."
He laughed a little louder this time, throwing back his head a bit and finally dropping his hand from my hair. "You never beat around the bush, do you, Cloud?"
"Never," I agreed, avoiding his eye contact again.
He never asked for an explanation to my accusation that he was a pig. I supposed it was so obvious that even he noticed it.
It was silent, then, which I was only partially grateful for. When it was quiet, things felt awkward and I had the sudden need to fill in the silence with small talk. I usually didn't feel like this; I only spoke when I felt it was necessary. Cross sure did have a strange affect on the people around him.
It worked vice versa, too, apparently. I felt his eyes digging into my face. I shot him a glare from the corner of my eye, not wanting to imagine what was going through his mind as he looked me up and down.
"You know, we really are missing out on a great opportunity because those two are here," he thought aloud. "That monkey is with the enemy, so he can't bite my nose if I, say, tried to kiss you." As he said it, he began leaning in to my face again, his warm breath caressing my face.
I rolled my eyes, leaning away and kicking his leg. "Back off, Cross. Just because I don't have my Innocence doesn't mean I won't kill you."
He laughed again, stretching. "That's too bad. You'll come to your senses soon enough, though, Cloud." He winked at me. "I am irresistible, after all!" Before I could snap a snide comment at him, he continued on. "Not tonight, though. I think I'll go back to sleep, then!" He rested his head on the ground, shutting his eye.
I glared at the ground for a moment before turning the gaze to him. "How do I know if you're asleep or not?"
A smirk crept across his face. "You don't."
Author's notes: Thanks for reading my story! I hope you liked it and that you'll keep reading as it continues! Reviews are always appreciated!