Tandis que l'interphone craquait à la vie, l'expression joyeuse de Mei s'estompait dans une stupéfiante comme un bruit étouffant noyé au-dessus de la statique. Alors qu'elle ouvrit la bouche pour exprimer sa préoccupation, une voix très familière retentit, une voix qu'elle n'avait entendue que la nuit précédente. Une qu'elle n'avait jamais imaginé entendre si tôt.
"Mei!? Qu'est-ce que tu fous là? La dernière fois que j'ai vu ou entendu ta voix, tu t'es enfuie de moi en disant que tu devais partir!"
Sans voix, la bouche de Mei s'ouvrit inutilement, comme un poisson qui gronde pour l'air, alors que Syrus l'exhortait rapidement à entrer dans le bâtiment. "Il semble que vous vous soyez rencontrés?" La voix non amusée de son frère murmurait à côté d'elle alors qu'il la fixait avec un reflet glacé. "Fraterniser avec les mercenaires? Mon Dieu, Mei, à quoi pensiez-vous?"
"Ce n'était pas-je veux dire, ce n'est pas comme ça!" Mei a chuchoté, son visage une expression déchirée de choc et de culpabilité. "Je le jure, il m'a juste aidé à Balamb. Je n'ai jamais imaginé...
Une autre voix masculine a soudainement parlé de l'interphone, en assumant un ton plus professionnel et composé comme il a répondu au mot de code de Mei avec la bonne phrase que Corvo et elle avaient convenu. Une fois qu'il a émis le mot de passe pour entrer dans le bâtiment, Tyler n'a pas perdu de temps à le frapper dans l'interphone, et peu de temps après, un clic audible a sonné, confirmant leur droit d'entrée.
Une fois la connexion de l'interphone coupée, Tyler a laissé un soupir fatigué, regardant sa sœur avec un regard désapprouvé. "Je savais que j'aurais dû te poursuivre à Balamb. Tu es juste trop amical avec tout le monde."
"Ouais, eh bien... oups." Le visage de Mei s'est retrouvé dans un sourire de moutons alors qu'elle s'éloignait des paroles de Tyler et se tapait la porte ouverte. "Je te promets que je serai professionnelle à ce sujet, ok? Tu sais que ma loyauté est envers la Faction, rien d'autre."
"C'est bien," Tyler gronda sous son souffle, quelque chose de territorial luant dans ses yeux alors qu'il suivait la fille dans l'entrepôt, où ils rencontraient les SeeD assemblés.
Enfin, ils se sont approchés de la salle des communications, où le groupe de mercenaires a été rassemblé. Les yeux de Mei les regardaient tous, de l'étrange fille comme un boxeur avec un bandage sur le nez, à un mec avec un manteau de labo et d'attendre, était-ce un Moomba?! Les mains de Mei se claquaient sur la bouche pour cacher la crinière qui menaçait de s'échapper à la vue de la petite chose furieuse, mais un regard d'acier de Tyler était suffisant pour la forcer à garder son sang-froid. Doucement, elle regarda le reste du groupe; un mâle maladroit et non kempt avec une expression sérieuse, un homme gris avec des lunettes familières (M. Duncan! Mei a rappelé intérieurement avec un sourire surpris,) et dernier de tous..un jeune mâle avec des cheveux roux flamboyants et un long manteau noir. Syrus Cromwell, le guide et partenaire de danse de Mei de la veille.
Mei s'est débarrassée de la gorge et a serré les mains devant elle alors qu'elle sentait tous les yeux attirés vers elle. "Donc, umm... suppose que le mystère est résolu maintenant, droite Syrus?" Elle murmurait de moutons, gagnant un soupir exaspéré de son frère alors qu'elle s'étalait les épaules et prenait une position plus professionnelle. « Mei Song, membre de la Faction de la résistance militaire galbadienne, » s'est présentée avec un tranchant sans caractère sérieux à sa voix lorsqu'elle a fait un geste à son compagnon. "Et voici mon partenaire, Tyler. Nous sommes ici pour le débriefing, conformément au contrat qui nous a été délivré par votre jardin. Qui est le premier SeeD dans cette opération?"
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...