Rating: PG for this chapter, but it will get bad

Warning: Yaoi in later chapters, possibly lemon if people like me enough

Pairings: Eventually ZackXCloud

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters except for the OCs that I created

Fullmetal-Alchemist10: Well this is my first story in a really long time... I don't think I'll be typing anything for my FMA one for a while... I dunno got sucked into FFVII and well, here's a fic! Hope you like it!

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"Now where do I go…?" A short, sixteen year old blonde said. He was looking for his new room in the barracks. He just got accepted as a cadet for Shin-Ra and was totally, and utterly, lost. "Well they said room 103…Ah! Here it is!" The blonde unlocked his door with the card key and walked in.

The room was very ordinary. It had two beds with, what looked like, very uncomfortable mattresses. There was a small table beside each bed, and there were also small desks on the other side of the room. This area was deemed the "sleeping area" in Cloud's mind. The other area was the "Living Room" which consisted of a very small television and a couch. There was also an extremely small bathroom that had the toilet practically in the shower. "I wish it was better…oh well, I wonder when my new roommate is going to arrive…"

The blonde walked in and set his suitcase on his bed. "Wonderful. They were nice enough to not give me some place to put my clothing. I guess I'll have to get some crates to store my clothing in…"

As soon as he said that, a brunette walked in. He had light brown, almost dirty blonde hair, and he also had oddly brilliant green eyes. "So I'm guessing you're my new roommate?" the brunette asked the blonde.

"Yup. My name is Cloud Strife. What's yours?"

"I'm Allen Nightroad. Just call me Al though. I guess you already claimed the bed on the left…I'll just be over here on the bed on the right…" Al walked over and put his suitcase on the bed.

"So what part of Shin-Ra are you going for?" Cloud asked Al. He wanted to get to know him a little more. Cloud was going to live with him after all.

"I'm going for SOLDIER, but I have the Turks as my back-up plan. I doubt I'll make it into SOLDIER. I've always been told I wasn't strong enough for it…What about you?"

"Well, I'm going for SOLDIER as well. I know this may sound cheesy, but I want to be as great as Sephiroth some day. I also think that you'll do find in SOLDIER. I anyone is to doubt themselves, it would be me…"

Al shrugged and started to unpack a few things.

Cloud was already almost done and decided that he'll finish the rest later. "Well, I'm going to go get my schedule for my classes. I'll probably be back in ten minutes or so, see ya."

"Okay, bye."

Cloud started to head towards one of the offices that he was told to go to pick up his schedule. When he arrived, he noticed a sign outside that said, "Sgt. Fugimori". "Hmmm... must be from Wutai," Cloud thought to himself as he walked in.

Sure enough, Sgt. Fugimori was noticeably from Wutai. "I have come to pick up your schedule, sir."

"What's your name?"

"Cloud Strife, sir."

Sgt. Fugimori flipped through a stack of papers until he found Cloud's. He pulled it out and handed it to him. "Here you are. You are to report to your first class tomorrow at seven-thirty. You will get your uniforms during your lunch break. I also suggest that you get some breakfast sometime before going to class. You are dismissed."

Cloud saluted. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Then, he walked out of the office.

"Ugh… 7:30 in the morning? For materia studies? Why did they give me such a boring class early in the morning… I wonder if Al has any of the same classes I do." Cloud thought to himself as he walked back over to the barracks.

As he was walking and looking at his schedule, he bumped into some man's chest. Cloud quickly looked up and noticed that he was in SOLDIER. "I'm so sorry, sir! Please forgive me! I wasn't looking where I was going, sir!"

The man had longish, spiky black hair, and mako-enhanced violet eyes. "Woah! Hold on there! It's fine! Don't worry about it. What are you reading that caused you to bump into me anyway?"

Cloud was taken aback by how friendly this SOLDIER was even though he was a lowly cadet. "Oh, I was just looking at my schedule, sir. I just got here today."

"Oh! Hey, could I look at it?"

"Yes, sir." Cloud handed over his schedule over to this strange black-haired SOLDIER.

The SOLDIER looked at it over for a few seconds, and then said, "Sergeant Fugimorei is pretty nice. Very strict, but he usually has some of the best kids. You also seem to have lunch break at the same time I do. Although, the material studies first thing in the morning doesn't sound great. Otherwise, you have a decent schedule. Mine used to be worse. Maybe I should tell you my name, too. I'm Zack; I assume that you have figured out that I'm in SOLDIER by now telling by how petrified you look. Relax though, I don't bite…much." Zack paused to see if he would get a reaction from the cadet. He sure did and it looked weirded out and petrified. "I'm just kidding about the last part." Zack grinned. "So what's your name?"

"C-Cloud S-Strife, sir." Cloud was still petrified, especially when he heard that his man is Zack, who is second in command to Sephiroth.

"You don't have to say 'sir' all the time; it makes me feel so old. Just call me Zack, I'm fine with it. Telling by your schedule, you want to be in SOLDIER, am I correct?"

"Yes…" Cloud still felt immensely nervous around Zack and he hoped that he could go back to his room sometime soon.

"That's great! Well, I don't want to keep you any longer, you look like you're going to piss your pants from being so nervous. See ya!" Zack just smiled, waved, and walked off, leaving Cloud completely dumbfounded.

Cloud made his way back to the barracks and into his room, and he found Al sitting on the couch watching TV.

"It took you quite a while. I was staring to worry. What happened?"

Cloud sat on the couch. "I accidentally walked into Zack from SOLDIER…"

"You don't mean THE Zack who is in first class SOLDIER and second in command to Sephiroth, do you?"

"That's the one…" Cloud glanced at the TV, and some random cartoon was on.

"Geez, I hope that you apologized."

"I did, and I didn't get the reaction I expected. I expected him to yell at me or something, but instead he talked to me like I was his best friend."

"Wow, that's weird. Well, I'm going to get my schedule now. Let's home that I don't run into Sephiroth or something."

"Heh, yeah. See ya."

"Bye."

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Fullmetal-Alchemist10: Well, that's chapter one of Before Horrible Times and I already have the second and third chapter written on paper, so I should have those posted soon! Please review! I'll post faster!