La chanson de Mei
"Tu n'iras pas."
Encore une fois, Mei entendait les mêmes mots laisser la bouche de son père alors qu'elle se dirigeait vers la porte, les expressions sur le visage de ses parents à la fois défiant et sinistre. Après avoir été réconforté par Duncan et Eika, Mei avait pris la décision de quitter l'établissement abandonné et de retourner chez elle pour annoncer l'état de son frère.
Il a été reçu ainsi qu'elle s'y attendait.
"Après nous avoir dit ce qui est arrivé à Tyler, comment ça pourrait prendre des semaines pour qu'il... tu penses honnêtement que nous allons te laisser partir maintenant?" Sa mère était la suivante à parler, ses yeux pleins de larmes. "Nous avons dit à tous les deux de ne pas rejoindre cette faction oubliée par Dieu! Et maintenant, regardez ce qui s'est passé!"
"Mum... s'il vous plaît." Les mots de Mei étaient crus et tendus, audace de ne pas regarder dans les yeux de sa mère tandis que sa main reposait sur la poignée de porte. « Nous savions tous les deux à quel point cela pouvait être dangereux. Et il se rétablit! Tyler est fort, tu verras."
"Non, ça veut dire non." M. Song était un homme de peu de mots, mais quand il a parlé, tout le monde a fait attention. "Je me fiche de ce que vous dites que ces mercenaires peuvent faire, Tyler n'est qu'un garçon. Et je ne vais certainement pas risquer de te perdre aussi pour la même idée stupide. Connaissez votre place et gardez votre nez dehors."
Les mots durs de son père ont été suivis par les sobs enroulés de sa mère, écrivant la fin de tout autre argument. Son père avait fait partie de l'une des nombreuses factions de résistance de Timber, et un soulèvement particulier l'avait amené à voir la mort violente de certains de ses amis les plus proches. L'homme sourit à peine ces jours-ci, hanté par ses échecs, et Mei savait que découvrir l'état de Tyler le blesserait plus profondément qu'il n'oserait le montrer.
"... très bien." Mei s'est détournée de la porte, un sourire faible sur ses lèvres alors que l'expression de sa mère était déformée par celle du soulagement. "Je vais rester ici."
Ce n'est qu'au matin qu'ils se sont réveillés avec un bout de papier pour découvrir qu'elle ne l'était pas.

Au moment où Mei avait consulté ses contacts et était retournée dans l'établissement abandonné, elle a vite découvert qu'elle avait manqué le briefing de la prochaine mission, à son ire. Ils ont probablement continué sans elle, considérant qu'elle était trop traumatisée par l'état de son frère. Mais Mei savait une chose, et c'est que Tyler ne voulait pas qu'elle abandonne l'objectif de la Faction. Il y avait un travail à faire, et elle le ferait volontiers à sa place.
Après avoir entendu les intentions du groupe pour monter à bord du train, Mei a décidé de faire un saut fou là-bas, dans l'espoir mince de les attraper avant qu'ils partent pour Deling City. Toutefois, avant de le faire, elle a entendu un crash sonore où l'infirmerie avait été attribuée, suivie d'un crik masculin. Sans hésiter, elle et quelques autres SeeD se sont dirigés vers la pièce, appréhendant de les consommer alors qu'ils cassent la porte ouverte.
-- Qu'est-ce que...?
"Syrus? Mei trébucha sur son nom dans l'incrédulité comme le mâle que Duncan avait prétendu être inconscient pendant au moins des semaines, était là, à côté de Kein et regardant autour complètement sauvage comme un animal en cage. Ce n'était pas possible, n'est-ce pas?
La bouche de Mei s'accrochait inutilement, regardant de Kein de retour à l'énigme aux cheveux rouges avec un regard qui la dépeignait voulant l'embrasser ou le gifler. "Tu vas bien!"
Name: Asa "Ace" Fiore
Age: 21.
Gender: 'Male'
Appearance:

This is Ace. Hair is short, messy and jet black, and possesses noticeabley boyish and youthful features. This has earned Ace the nickname 'Pretty Boy'' from peers, much to her disdain, although they dare not call her this to her face in fear of her sharp tongue. Body type is short but lithe, which can prove an advantage on the battlefield. The standard clothing at the start is the standard Galbaldian uniform, except in maroon, with an accompanying helmet when on the field. See here.For casual clothing, Ace prefers to wear a thick, black leather jacket with closed zip, ripped flare jeans, and brown boots with a low wedge heel.
Nationality: Galbadian. Hometown: Winhill
Trained At: Galbadia Garden. Graduated at 17.
Weapon/Combat Style: With the standard Sword and Para-magic combo in the beginning. Ace shows a skill in swordsmanship that stands out from the other soldiers. She favours heavy, two handed swords for impact and physical power, although this has the disadvantage of making her attack slower. Her skills in Para-Magic are balanced, which means that she doesn't have any particular strengths or weakness in any area. At this current stage she has stocked a fair amount of -'ara' spells, and the occassional magic debuff. She particularly favours stocking offensive spells over support ones (such as Shell etc), preferring to rely on her own strength.
Limit Break: Ace uses her environment to her advantage by drawing the elements around her into her sword (such as a field, beach, snowfield, or desert), before striking an elemental blow with a particular side effect. When she is an enemy of SeeD, she will always and only use Terra Break when she is down to low health.
When Ace upgrades her weapons, she will be able to combine her attacks to create more devastating ones.
**Terra Break-** Ace will strike her sword into the ground, causing the earth to split open underneath the enemy with a violent tremble. The ground then starts to shake more and more, until either the earth finally swallows its (single) prey (50% chance), or causes sustainable damage to a group of enemies from the shock pulses (50%, 100% in boss fights)
Personality: On the outside, Ace is aloof, distant, cold to everyone she meets, and a bad enemy to make due to her unwavering determination in a fight. She is a difficult person to befriend, not because she doesn't want to to be close to people, but rather that she *can't*, in fear of exposing her secret. For this reason, she feels deeply lonely, but she won't admit this to anyone, not even herself.
There is also another side to Ace, one that she keeps well hidden from most people: her temper. Due to the events in her past, she has grown up deeply resentful of Esthar and Sorceresses, and in her pursuit for revenge, she can be perceived as reckless and begrudging where either are involved.
Ace's femininity is something that's she's struggled with for nearly all of her life, having been forced to live as a male. It's a subject that she finds unsettling and frightening, but luckily for her, few people have ever discovered her secret.
Biography: Asa was born in Winhill to two hard-working parents, both of whom owned the Flower Restaurant. The first few years of her life were uneventful, until the Sorceress War came. Young girls were plucked and torn away from their homes as potential successors to Sorceress Adel, and in a desperate bid to protect their daughter from the Esthar soldiers, they told her to hide in a closet and not to come out, no matter what happened. Asa obeyed, but in doing so, she was forced to bear witness to her parents' slaughter, dark memories which haunt her to this very day.
After this event, Asa was forced into hiding whilst the soldiers ravaged her hometown. The flower shop owner found her in the fields one day, dirty and starved, and took her in temporarily. The shop owner advised her that the world was no longer safe for little girls, and in order to survive and resist Sorceress Adel, she needed to disguise herself as a boy so that the Sorceress wouldn't come looking for her. The owner cut her hair and gave her boyish clothes, and Asa then became known as 'Ace'.
It wasn't long before Ace was enrolled at Galbadia Garden, where most orphans seemed to end up, thanks to the war. Ace's heart was filled with bitter regret and rage at what the Estharians had done to her family, and she held even greater contempt for Sorceresses, seeing them as evil, corrupt witches and little more. She decided to keep her male persona as an armour for both herself and the people around her, so that she would never have to relive her past, or feel like the helpless girl who watched her parents die.
Ace proved to be an impressive student, and at 17 she was honoured with the title of one of the best swordsmen in G-Garden. Shortly after, she was finally accepted into the Galbadian Army, and she has since rose through the ranks to Lieutenant. Whilst her combat experience is to be admired, her leadership skills are still unrefined, and she often struggles with the dilemma of what is more important; the lives of the people she calls comrades, or the mission.
Most recently, she was assigned with the task of repairing the communications tower in Dollet. However, due to SeeD's interference, the mission was ultimately a failure, leaving Ace in a state of frustration at both failing her goal, and losing her men in the process.
GF: N/A. Like Irvine, she doesn't start out with a GF. Therefore, her memories are completely intact. Later on in the story, I imagine she'll receive one but we'll wait and see.
Appearance: N/A.
Elemental Affinity: Earth.
Junctions: N/A
Abilities: To be continued...