Midgar High School

This was why she needed to protect her.

Shera, huddling in the corner, her eyes bugging out anytime she made a noise. Shera, a little too jumpy for normal. Shera... why hadn’t she seen her smile lately?

She’s the strategist. You heard her muttering.

One Elena did know, despite her behavior, was that Shera was sane. And would remain so if she had any say. Shera was too smart for her own body or something... that was it. Maybe she just needed to keep her more active?

It was hard to be in love with people who always had trouble following them. Zack wasn’t bad in that respect... trouble just showed up to his restaurant. But it kept trying to steal Shera... so much that she’d stopped going to school. Elena had to devise creative ways to skip in order to keep an eye on her.

Yes, it was smothery. Yes, she was obsessing. But this was Shera. Someone so capable; she didn’t deserve to be as helpless as she’d been acting.

Thank the gods Zack’s such a help. Even you, proud stubborn you, can depend on him.

She was in the corner again. Without the muttering, but with that sort of tired look on her face. If her parents didn’t have to work so hard to keep them all fed, she’d take her to talk with Mom... for Elena wasn’t maternal enough.

But maybe, this time, Shera didn’t need to be held. Maybe... maybe she just needed to hit something.

“You want to practice with your knife some? Valentine said you should, remember?” Not that she cared what that prudish Goth thought... in fact, she almost wanted to slug him for whatever he might have said to Shera. But she didn’t want to get eaten. It was troublesome.

“...You sure? You’re not... busy or something?” Always afraid of intruding. Hell, she lived with her. They were family now. There were no intrusions in her house.

“C’mon. You need some exercise.” She pulled her up from her seat easily, she was so light, and dragged her outside. Shera always carried the knife on her person, so there were no retrieval problems. The only problem might be Elena herself... unarmed, only capable of grappling... she might not be a good partner for practice.

But that really wasn’t the issue. The issue was getting Shera out into the fresh autumn air.

“Geez, El, you sure pull hard...” she said with a twinkle in her eye. Not a complaint; a tease. Shera was a natural tease. It was getting harder for Elena to be “good” around her. Or around Zack for that matter. She sure as heck wasn’t a prude... but they both got SO embarrassed about any contact. So she backed off.

“Alrighty, do you need to use me as a target or something?” she asked, watching as the other girl fiddled with the blade. Shera shrugged.

“Just need to practice jabbing with something in my hand. You should stay away from that... you look plenty fine without any holes in you.” Elena smirked. Plenty fine? Well, that was nice...

“Well, jab away! I’m gonna to run around like a crazy kid now,” she replied, and did as she said. She liked the weather around now... despite the urban setting. And spinning around until she was sick from dizzy was always the best way to enjoy it. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t worry.

“Block. Jab. Jab. Block.” Shera muttered under her breath. So focused while Elena twirled around like a kid on crack. Maybe she could fool Shera into thinking there was no worry. No pain. Just... leaves in the wind or something crazy poetic like that. Was not her area of expertise... that was for certain.

She stopped when she felt a nick. Just the barest graze and it shot her adrenaline up so high... and even though she knew better, she thought someone had broken into her sanctuary, trying to steal her girl...

“Oh HOLY I didn’t mean to...” but only Shera’s slight quaver. No enemies. Elena relaxed. And smirked while she was at it.

“You’re totally gonna get it for that one. NO ONE ATTACKS ELENA WARNER AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!” She used to use this voice with her boys before they grew up. Shera didn’t need to grow up anymore... she needed to grow down or something. The directions were still fuzzy in Elena’s mind.

“El... are you feeling—Ooof!” The tackle was precisely aimed to both knock the weapon safely away and knock Shera onto the ground. Elena was proud.

You still have skillz.

She was still standing. Smirking and standing. Elena was surrounded by brothers... Shera never had a chance. But... hadn’t Shera been able to predict moves before they happened? Had she really been caught off guard?

Judging by the look on Shera’s face... no. Elena knew she had to run before she too was toppled. And run she did.

“You get back here, El!” she laughed as she pursued. She almost expected to see red or black hair when she looked back... but no. Beautiful girls were so much more fun today. Well, any day. Zack really was a woman underneath all that manliness. Maybe that’s why she liked him so much.

“I will use my ninja skillz to escape!” she shouted, spotting that one tree on the corner of her street... the one that all the kids climbed, because the lady who owned the house next to it was old and childless but kind. Not many things grew easily around her neighborhood, so this tree was special... and especially gnarly and crazy. Yes, trees were crazy sometimes. She could swear this one was almost... alive.

She knew all the footholds and handholds by heart, and almost leapt into it... Shera was a fast little thing when she wanted to be.

“You can’t beat my CLIMBING SKILLZ!” and for a split second, she pictured the school rafters, the day that everything started to change... back when she thought Cloud was the cutest thing ever, and Shera was her catty rival.

Funny, how things can... utterly change.

“You think I can’t climb?! HA!” Something tugged at her ankle. And she was high up. Well, it was time for a new tactic; more ninja action with a mix of Spider-man.

Upside down, Shera looked... well, pretty. But upside down pretty.

“Peter Parker ain’t got nothing on me,” she said before planting a smackeroo right on Shera’s unsuspecting... nose. It was intentional, and sent the other girl into a fit of giggles. And her too. Ok, the giggles were a bit girly, but Elena was technically a girl. Just a weird one.

“Why do you get to be the superhero and me the damsel in distress?” Shera asked once she gained her composure. Elena shrugged, something that looked utterly strange while in a hanging upside down position.

“You’ve got the girl hair,” she answered, grinning like a goofball. Shera raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I have... knife fighting... skillz. Maybe I can be the sidekick?” Elena got into her best thinking position... well, as best as she could while inverted. In fact, the blood was starting to really make her head feel like it was going to explode, so she swung back up to an upright position. She felt much taller now.

“Maybe we could be like X-men. So totally this big band of crazy cool people. You could be Genius Blade. I could be... um....” Elena had to think on that one. She never really pictured herself as a superhero... just a dwarf. And they all had names that didn’t translate well into superhero language.

“How about Sonic Rage, the sound of fury?” she suggested helpfully. Elena always liked how clever she was. Made her life easier, not having to be the clever one. But... was she really that loud? At least the rage made sense. That was enough.

“And Gast can totally be our Dr. X... er... Dr. G. Or something.”

“And Re’s the Red Devil. No... Red Streak. He’s really fast now, El.”

“Zack can be the Muffin Crusader.”

“And the three of us have a special alliance.”

She wished that circumstances let Shera be like this more often. She wished that maybe she could stay in the tree longer. She wished... knife fighting was just to be cool, and there was no danger.

Elena wished for a lot of things.

But with the autumn sun in her eyes, and the breeze just kicking up around her... maybe they would come true. No, they would. She would swear to any of the gods, if they were listening. She’d set things right, or try and set people right.

“El? Can we climb trees more often? You’re fun to chase around. I see why the guys pick on you.”

There was a serenity to spinning madly. Righteousness was black and white... but happiness... it was green and blue. Maybe a little orange to spice things up and outlined in black.

“Yes, but you will be pwned. Sidekick.”

“Maybe you’re the sidekick.”

“Oh, I doubt that. I doubt that very, very much.”

Even though the blade was somewhere in her yard, Elena could feel another knife fight coming on. It was time for some more ninja action.

You really are the sidekick. But... it’s good to pretend until she figures that out for real.