"Get up! Finish strong or not at all, come on move it!" The deep baritone voice of Cloud's drill instructor rolled across the training ground. The instructor, Luxiere, was strangely compassionate in comparison to the other drillers, but that wasn't saying much. All it amounted to was his harried insults being slightly less demeaning than those of the other instructors.
Cloud stumbled over a loose rock and almost fell. The precious seconds he used to regain his balance only caused him to fall further behind the other recruits. They had been sprinting and going through a short obstacle course directly after their laps for Shiva knows how long, and Cloud had been ready to drop within the first half hour. Heavy brown boots dragged him down, only gaining weight as they picked up more mud. His legs were burning, and he had a killer cramp between his shoulder blades that flared up with more pain every time he gasped in another breath. He had long ago lost the ability to distinguish between tears and sweat, and no longer had the energy to care about the disgusting way his clothing and hair was sticking to his body. He couldn't even muster the power needed to swipe the moisture off of his dripping face with his shirt collar.
The backs in front of him were gaining ground while he barely paced forward. Cloud knew he was a goner.
-0Ω0-
Why had he done this to himself? Another clod of dirt plopped onto his bunk as he struggled to yank off his boots. As he did, more and more muck flaked off of the laces and onto his previously pristine blanket. Those who did well in training each day got to shower first, which meant that he would be getting into the locker room with the last batch of recruits. When he had first arrived in Midgar Cloud had sworn that he wouldn't be a washout for his mother's sake, but now he wasn't so confident. The number of jobs in a village as small as Nibelheim was so tiny that his poor mother struggled to stay employed enough to keep herself afloat; asking her to continue attempting to provide for two people was too much. That's why he needed the prestige and wages that came with being a dragon tamer at Shinra. Cloud knew he wasn't a model of physical prowess; all he wanted was a way to give both himself and his mother more comfortable lifestyles.
The blonde's hope was that his exposure to the feral dragons that roamed outside of Nibelheim would give him the edge he needed to bond with one of the beasts living in the underground den near Shinra's main buildings. Granted, most of that experience was hiding or observing their territory lines to skirt around them in his searches for food. Dragon tamers outside of Shinra were extremely rare for a reason; unless a person had a unique quality that really piqued a dragon's interest they would be the beast's meal within minutes of the two making contact.
There were no cuts among the ranks of the tamer recruits. Enough of them quit or were killed in the dragon matching procedure that it would be foolish of Shinra to further decrease the number of possible additions to their elite forces. In a class of sixty only about ten were able to graduate to the official tamer ranks. From session with many gifted recruits. Most of the time five or six was the norm, a mere ten percent of the participants.
The company needed all of the dragons it could wrangle for the war against Wutai. It stated in the enlistment contract that if a recruit survived the dragon matching partnerless (Something that had never happened in the entire history of the program.) they would be transferred over to the infantry. The war was draining their resources, and Shinra was reluctant to let anything that could even minimally strengthen their monopoly slip away.
-0Ω0-
He had never been more scared in his life. They were supposed to enter the dragon den later that day, and the superior officers had spent the morning betting on the results. Which recruits would make it at all, which ones would manage to connect with a dragon that was a hair above the rest. The odds were stacked against Cloud; not a single officer had put down any gil on his success. Though it was a superficial wound, it wrecked what little self-esteem and confidence he had been able to build up.
After the officers finished fooling around and their wagers were set, Luxiere mounted a tall box on one side of the room they had gathered in. After gaining the attention of those in the room he began to brief the recruits on what they were expected to do down in the caves.
"You will be stripped of all weaponry and given new clothing prior to your decent into the system of caves that is underneath Shinra's property. The dragons are not domesticated in any way, and none of the current tamers will be providing assistance. Traverse the tunnels as carefully or as recklessly as you like, the dragons will find you regardless. No recruit will have any advantage other than natural disposition. Even if a dragon fancies you, it might attack you to test your skill and mettle. Only once the bond mark appears on your left arm and the dragon's right foreleg are you out of danger. At this point you are free to exit the caves with your new partner to receive further instruction. I needn't mention what happens to those who do not manage to fool a dragon into being fond of them."
His piercing eyes backed up his callous statement. Those who were not inherently "worthy" in the eyes of a dragon would be left behind. The training they received was to make them more physically and mentally fit, but it was far from procuring automatic acceptance among dragons.
A thin blue uniform was shoved into Cloud's shaking arms as he was pushed forward by the recruit behind him. He had five minutes to change into the new clothing – that had no armor to speak of – before being ushered into line with the others in his class. He was already so wobbly with fear that he almost didn't get into position in time, and got a glare from Luxiere on his way past him. As soon as they were underground he could feel the moisture collecting on his body and the warmth of his limbs dripping away at a steady rate. It was a nerve-wracking experience, but being surrounded by other trainees gave him a buffer against the true danger of what he was doing. Cloud knew, in some small part of his mind, that he was essentially offering himself up as a meal. That section of his brain was curiously stifled at the moment, and he could feel a sense of numbness start to creep in. The eerie blue-green torches did little to illuminate their path, serving only as a pointless reminder that there were those who had come before.
When they reached the first junction a large chunk of their group was taken out by two dragons that had emerged from the corridor furthest to the left. They were the same size as the dragons roaming the Nibel Mountains, but their scales were far darker than the whites and soft grays Cloud was accustomed to seeing. He almost wanted to take a second look just to compare them to what he had grown up with back home, but knew better than to waste precious moments that could be spent running. The remaining recruits rushed down the central tunnel since it was the closest escape route. Cloud, however, in his frenzy turned his body much too far and sprinted down the right tunnel. He didn't even notice that he was alone in the dark until the only thing he heard was his own panting and galloping heartbeat. He didn't have the courage to go back towards where two dragons had already made a meal of his comrades, so he cautiously crept forward until he reached a large cavern with several collections of stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
Cloud had only been exploring the space for a few minutes before the ominous clacking of claws against stone met his ears. He barely had time to turn around before the large body of a dragon plowed into him. His back contacted the ground harshly, and a faint ringing started up in his ears. He was lucky he hadn't broken anything from the sheer force the beast had hit him with. Breath hissing discordantly through his teeth, Cloud began dragging himself back to his feet.
The thing that had attacked him was big, and appeared to be a muddy brown color, though he couldn't be sure with the dim lighting. Its four legs were at least as wide as his waist, and the claws glistening at the end of each one left him confident that they were razor sharp. Before he could get a handle on himself, two more appeared from another tunnel off to his left. If he thought he was dead before, he definitely was now. A column of flame spiraled toward him from one of the newcomers, a smaller beige, while the other, which was a rather startling shade of yellow, roared defiantly. Gasping he lurched forward unsteadily before throwing himself to the side. The flames flew past him, grazing his elbow on their way by. The immediate pain he felt was enough to assure him that the burn would be pretty serious if he made it out alive. His naïve hope that they would fight each other for their prey was dashed when they closed in as one, seemingly uncaring of how many others shared the kill.
Adrenaline made it easier for him to push the pain aside, but it also gave him the quick reasoning to discern that not one of the three dragons in the cave with him was even faintly interested in sparing his life. The tip of a claw caught one of his legs as he tried to scramble out of range behind some stalagmites, spilling blood all over his pants and the floor. It was only a light scratch but it was long, so he would end up losing plenty of blood by the time everything was over. The scent of the crimson trail he had left only appeared to excite the three giant reptiles further, and he was sure that the pointed boulder he had managed to squeeze behind wouldn't be hiding him for much longer.
A different roar echoed down one of the tunnels, and the three beasts closing in on him turned their heads to find the source. Out of yet another passage materialized the biggest dragon Cloud had seen in the caves thus far.
The next time his blue eyes blinked open he was propped up against the stone wall at the mouth of the cave, with Shinra personnel swiftly approaching. There was no trace of a dragon near the entrance.
-0Ω0-
Cloud knew that Shinra's executives were deciding what to do with him. He was a special case; nothing even similar to his dilemma had ever happened in the history of the company's dragon tamer program. Recruits either emerged alive after bonding with a dragon, or were devoured in the gaping depths of the caves. Somehow he had managed to not only draw out the practically legendary Violet Shadow, but also survive the unexplainable encounter without any sort of bond.
Even with his odd circumstances, Cloud suspected that the only thing keeping him from being immediately shipped off to the infantry units was Shinra's greed. The Violet Shadow had never killed or shown interest in someone before; for three years it had been lurking in the shadows when recruits were sent down. With each passing year the hope that the majestic violet dragon would choose a trainee to bond with diminished until they had essentially faded away completely.
It was speculated by the company's top analysts that with training the beast would be on par with the black dragon Angeal, who was the partner of the notorious General Rhapsodos. Rufus Shinra wanted that type of power under his command.
With all of these factors taken into account, Cloud was confused about his involvement in the matter. Why would such a magnificent animal be drawn to protect the likes of him? He held no illusions with himself; he was well aware that he was nothing special. If anything, he was below average in several categories. Perhaps it pitied him? Out of all the rumors he had heard about the Violet Shadow, none of them ever hinted that it had made an aggressive move at a recruit, let alone attack one. It seemed that the Violet Shadow wasn't as heartless as dragons tended to be towards those who were not their handlers, which was a trait that was practically unheard of among its species.
'It probably thought that something defenseless and weak like me didn't deserve to die,' Cloud reasoned miserably. The door to the lobby he was waiting in clicked open, and he was beckoned into a conference room. His superiors had finally come to a decision.
"Recruit Cloud Strife," Luxiere began in a stern tone. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, you will be permitted a second chance to match up with a dragon." His tone held no room for any argument, and it was clear that the decision would not have changed even with his input at the meeting. It became obvious to Cloud in those moments that the timeframe where he could drop out had long since passed.
The preparation process for his "retry" in the caves almost identical to his first after he had been tended in the infirmary. The only difference was that instead of creeping down into the damp underground caverns in a group of shivering peers, he was slowly shuffling down alone. He had no weapon, and the mouth of the grotto only seemed to get wider and darker as he neared, making for a menacing silhouette against Shinra's brightly lit courtyards. As his boots creaked against the solid stone floors of the corridor Cloud yearned for the petty little machete he had been allowed to have on his person throughout his basic training at Shinra. Though it had seemed like a paltry tool at the time, it was looking pretty good right about then. It was scarier alone.
The shadow of Cloud's hair was barely reflected on the walls by the weak aqua light the torches along the beginning of the tunnel provided; he knew it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he was convinced that they were steadily getting dimmer. The unusual lighting cast a ghostly pallor over his face, making him appear even paler than he already was from living in the mountains the majority of his life.
His breath was echoed weakly in his ears. Could the dragons hear it? If not, surely they could hear his frantic heartbeat pounding its way through his chest cavity, or maybe the slight dragging sound of the limp caused by his injury earlier that day. A bead of sweat rolled down from Cloud's hairline and splatted onto the rock below his feet. The tiny splish sound it made as it impacted the ground snapped him out of the blind frenzy he was working himself into. Panicking now wasn't going to save his life. All he could do was pray to Shiva that the Violet Shadow saw something admirable in him and protected him from the other reptiles roaming throughout their underground lair. Cloud acknowledged that his life was out of his hands, and firmly in the claws of an entity with unknown principles. With such a staggering reality check as a lifeline the blonde walked down the tunnel with a new sense of acceptance.
-0Ω0-
He had been sitting amongst the same cluster of rocks for over two hours. While the he had the good fortune of not being approached by any hostile dragons, he had also failed to sight the violet beast that had approached him earlier that day. With each passing hour Cloud's internal body temperature continued to plummet. He was from the Nibel Mountains, but the light material of the clothing he had been provided with was not designed to retain heat. He was sure that if he had enough light to see a few feet away from himself that his breath would still be visible each time he exhaled. The blonde had long since stopped shivering, and he knew that was a bad sign; it meant that his body was tired of trying to keep him warm and was beginning to shut itself down.
His hands jerkily rose from his sides until they were even with his face. In the faint illumination that the torches in the tunnels provided, Cloud saw that his fingernails had gone from a healthy pink to a dark purple. Somewhere in the back of his muddled mind Cloud was sure that the rest of his body wasn't faring much better. It seemed kind of sad that he had marched into this damp pit ready to be killed by a ferocious dragon only to freeze to death before any of the beasts had a go at him.
A muffled clicking echoed through the grotto. Instinctively Cloud tried to slide himself into a slightly more protected rock formation, but his body was so numb that he succeeded only in slumping further onto the ground. Resigned, the blonde opened his ice blue eyes. At least he would know the face of his killer when the end came. It took his tired eyes a few seconds to focus in the darkness; as his surroundings slowly became clearer his eyes widened to an almost comically large size.
The violet dragon from earlier was pacing toward him at a devastatingly sluggish speed. At first glance it didn't appear to have any ill intent; if anything, the slight ripple of its scales and flickering tail seemed to depict nervousness. When it saw that his eyes were open, the Violet Shadow retained eye contact and slowed its approach to an even more gradual crawl.
Tension was thick in the dank cavern air, and Cloud could honestly say that he had no idea what was going on. As far as he could tell there were no markings on his body that were characteristic of being bonded with a dragon, so the huge purple monster had no reason to come back for him. His cluelessness only intensified when the feral, completely untrained dragon began coiling itself around his chilled body. It was a well-known fact that the cave dwellers emitted much more heat than humans; it was a part of their nature that Cloud was extremely grateful for. It didn't hurt that the dragon had decided to drape one of its wings across its flank, which left him almost completely covered.
As feeling trickled back through his body Cloud noticed how smooth the dragon's hide was. Each scale was so tiny that once fitted together they were almost as even as the immaculate floors in the Shinra lobby that he had been forced to scrub when he had first enlisted. When it shifted he could feel the muscles moving underneath, as if its hide was as thin as human skin. (But living up in Nibelheim Cloud had seen how weapons of all types and calibers simply bounced off the seemingly impenetrable skin of the wild dragons roaming just outside his village.) The dragon's body was so unlike what he had expected after witnessing how tough they were. Its flank wasn't rock hard against his - now shivering - frame, nor was it course and scaly as a smaller reptile would be.
He wasn't sure how long he had been laying in the claws of the beast when it lifted its head off of the freezing ground and glanced quickly in his direction before assessing one of the side tunnels that led into the cavern. Upon further inspection, Cloud realized it was the one from Shinra's facilities that he had stumbled down hours before. Suddenly a fierce snarl ripped through the frame of the Violet Shadow, sending harsh vibrations rattling down his spine. His false sense of security vanished in an instant, and Cloud stared at the small side tunnel with trepidation, waiting for more dragons to emerge from its maw.
"If it isn't here or the boy is dead I'm filing a complaint report. If it is here and the boy is alive I'm filing a complaint report. You're wasting my precious time down in these musty tunnels. I'm nothing more than a glorified search party, and my friend, the fates are cruel. Sending me down here will not save that boy; the arrow has left the bow of the goddess."
Genesis' voice filtered out of the narrow space, followed by an amused rumble that bounced off of the walls of the cave. 'He's with Angeal,' Cloud's fried brain realized. A sense of awe began to overtake him. He had never seen the two of them in person, and if the rumors were even half true they were a magnificent sight to behold. Genesis and Angeal were legends, second only to the Silver General that was the head of all dragon programs within Shinra. He himself was not bonded to a dragon, but somehow had the powers of one. (Personally Cloud thought that there was some foul play going on in the general's childhood, but looked up to him as a hero never the less.)
Another growl from the Violet Shadow alerted his attention to the current situation. What was the dragon wrapped around his body going to do? It was already tensing up, and if it bunched its muscles much more they would start to crush him. That's when he felt a faint tingling feeling on the back of his left hand.
The dragon spent so long being "meatloaf" in my document since I couldn't think of a name. In the end I just gave up. First chapter and the two main characters have barely met each other. :/ I'm open to mistakes being pointed out (It's past midnight and here I am...), and any comments that you guys as readers have. Regardless of what you thought, thanks for taking a look!