'Fourteen years old?' the words stared up at him from the thick, pure white paper, and he looked down at his ID where in bold, dark print it announced to the world that today was his fourteenth birthday. Not that anyone recognized it as such except himself, his ID the only proof; no one in his village cared to remember, even his own mother would not noticed anything. It had always been that way, she would end up getting angry at him, how he was acting far to old for his age, thinking he was at least two years younger than he really was until he corrected her. Never once before had he ever had a birthday party and didn't care enough to pay attention to any parties the other villagers had, being as he was always forgotten.
Not any more though, not ever again, because after today he would be a part of the Shira army, his dream and driving goal to become a SOLDIER 1st class, the highest ranking fighters in the whole of the military. His eyes refocused on the paper in front of him and before he could loose his nerve he made a neat x in the box to confirm that he met the age requirement to join and signed his name with a proud flourish, writing the date beside it in similarly neat handwriting. He reached down and grabbed the bag beside him, a small thing that sadly held everything he would need or want of his possessions, comprised mostly of clothes and the few small curio pieces he had collected over his years, making small jaunts out into the mountains behind the village. With the application and bag in hand he made his way out of the house he had grown up in, filled with only memories of his mother, telling him how much he looked like his father, how it hurt, and in a strained painful way, whispering when she thought he couldn't hear that she wished he had never been born, her burden of a child.
He made his way down to the small white tent just past the edge of the small mountain town, waiting, almost pointlessly, for anyone who may decide to apply for the military. The quiet village nestled at the foot Mt. Nibel was not fond of the Shinra Electric Company, a world power enterprise, even though one of their reactors was stationed at the top of the mountain after which the village took it's name, those who did not outright hate the company and all of its workers had an opinion that they owed the company nothing. He was certain that, in applying for the army, he was placing the final nail in the coffin that was his life in the town, he would never been welcome much less ever accepted back here again. Not that it hurt much to think of it that way, he cared little for the people of the village after years of being looked through like he didn't exist.
"Welcome" He heard an excited voice say before he even saw the tall, imposing figure. He paused for a moment as he looked up at the man, whom was easily six feet tall and seemed to be made of nothing but muscle and sewn. It wasn't until his gazed traveled up the height of the human wall hat his apprehension faded, as he looked up into large cobalt blue eyes, reflecting a energetic joy, above the widest grin the boy had ever been on the receiving end of; the soft flesh on the outside corners of those faintly flowing eyes fitted into well worn crows feet, caused by smiling as the man was now. He had to wonder if he figure in front of him ever stopped smiling.
"So you wanna join the army, kid?" the man asked, the tone of his voice light and jovial, something the boy had never been faced with before, and took as mocking.
"I'm not a kid!" he responded, a bit of anger flashing in his voice even as his voice was a petulant whine that seemed to contradict his statement.
"Whoa, chill shorty" the man said his voice seeming to do the back peddling that he would not, "I was jus joken with ya" his voice lost it's big city edge, making him sound not much different from the men of the village.
"Jo-king" the boy said, his voice catching in his throat as he began to feel very nervous, and something that wasn't unfamiliar, if anything it was most common to him, fear.
'Zack Fair' the man reprimanded himself mentally 'You know as well as anyone else that those who sign up for the army have some social issues.' He felt his heart twist in pain as the small bundle of blue eyed, blond haired nerves shrank in on himself, as if in fear. What ever strength that had propelled him all of the way through that village to this tent seemed to drain from him. Zack shifted his voice to a more friendly, comforting sound, carefully reaching out and taking the application from the boy's grasp, all the while doing his best to explain what joking meant.
The SOLDIER felt another gut wrenching shock through his heart when he saw the look of fear melt away, leaving behind it one of confusion, tainted just slightly with a deep look of longing. 'Gods, this kid looks so small, and lonely, he really is old enough though' he noted as he looked quickly over the application. 'I wonder how close he is to his friends, if they have never indulged in a little teasing...' He decided to breech the subject as softly as possible, social outcasts weren't banned from the military program, but there was a certain amount that went into getting some of the worse cases accepted.
"Your friends not the joking kind, eh?" he tried, hoping that it would strike a better note with the boy, but found it just as sour as he watched the boy's face become pained.
"I don't have friends..."
"N-no one?" Zack asked, hearing his own voice shake, but not able to do anything to stop it.
"No, I don't need them, I am better, smarter than the children in this village."
The cold, hollow voiced that the boy used, 'Cloud' Zack remembered from the paper in his hand, prompted the SOLDIER's next actions before he could really even think. He encircled the boy in his arms, and sent out a silent wordless prayer, as at first the body held there was tight and ridged as if guarding, waiting for a blow. When one never came Zack felt a small head slowly come to rest against his chest, and small arms and hands reach up, shaking slightly as they mimicked the larger ones, wrapping around the larger man.
'This kid' Zack thought, 'he acts like a simple hug is going to hurt him. It makes me wonder if he has ever been touched kindly in his whole life.' As if directed by his thoughts a small murmur escaped the slight boy in his arms.
"What was that?" he asked, making sure that it was a soft, kind question, leaning back slightly, and looking down, to find himself lost in the depths of the most lonely, but bright blue eyes in ever.
"Hugs are... nice." Cloud repeated, looking up, an almost hungry expression on his face, before turning his head to the side, letting it rest against the broad, strong chest in front of him. Zack tightened the hug for a moment longer before pulling away, Cloud quickly letting go and schooling his face to a neutral mask, but wasn't able to keep all of the hunger from his eyes.
'The first taste is never enough, is it kid?' he though softly, and decided to give the boy as much affection as he could through out the review. Starting with the medical he found out quickly that Cloud had 15 major broken bones, and countless smaller ones, though all of them seemed to have healed well enough. When Zack pressed him on the reason for so many he excused it away with having gone out onto the mountain paths and slipping or other such incidents. None of the reasons sat right with the older man, nor did the way the boy was able to cite the ins and outs of the healing process, as if he were the one to tend all of them.
The next medical issue he covered was illnesses, "When was the last time you got your shots?"
"Wha-" the question threw Cloud off for a moment before he responded "I haven't had any, never got sick with anything serious, and those things are too rare out here." Another convenient excuse, one that Zack saw through right away, after all each town was provided with enough shots and vaccines for each person as they were due every year. He bit back any words so as to keep from scaring the boy again but began thinking heavily on it. 'Why? This is starting to sound more and more like child abuse, on a village wide level... or am I just trying to find somebody who needs a hero?'
He then performed a quick, easy dental check which came up completely clean, and started, even as he was cleaning up from it, on the next part. A subtle psychological test, given while he had the applicant do small physical work, to distract them from figuring out the real purpose of the questions. He was surprised to find out that he had no father figure, never knew who his sire was, even by name, and that he best described his relationship with his mother as strained. He was relieved to find no suicidal thoughts processes, though he showed an extraordinary sense of superiority over anybody else he had ever met; "except you" he had added without a second thought. Without any other family, any friend or relationships with the other villagers the test was quick, but through.
"What do you prefer?" Zack had finally come to the one question he hated most, the look of abject fear in the eyes of those boys who found their attractions in those of the same gender, and the look of pure disgust at the notion of anything else from those who found the fairer sex to their liking.
"What do you mean?" Came the soft return question, the first time Zack had ever encountered such a thing, he hadn't even come across anyone else who had ever had something like this happen.
"Ah... do you find guys or girls more attractive." He could feel a soft blush raise against his cheeks, glad for his naturally dark skin which hid the effect for the time being.
"I don't know," was the dead pan response, accompanied by those wide blue eyes looking up at him with a curious expression. "I guess I never thought about it... the figure doesn't matter though, it is inside that does... so far... I prefer you." The final piece was accompanied by a dazzling smile, one that, if only barely, touched those hungry eyes. The soft touches Zack had given through the interview, kind and with little force, at first they had made him jump, but slowly he had relaxed and even seemed to enjoy them a bit.
'More than just a bit, crap, now what do I do, I don't want to break the kid's heart, but my girl back home probably would kill me for stringing him a long.' He fretted for a moment before getting his thoughts straight 'No pun intended, but I am the only person this kid has ever really liked at all... he probably doesn't understand the full scope of what he just said.' That in mind he tried to keep his next words as soft and friendly as possible.
"So what you are saying is... it doesn't matter, boy or girl, so long as they are the right person?"
"Yeah, I guess." Cloud's voice was very soft, almost unsure.
"That is fine, don't worry kid, it is better to fall for someone for who they are over what they are any day." Zack said, reaching up to ruffle those blond spikes, finding that there was nothing keeping them that way except their own nature.
Cloud felt odd, in a light, giddy way, something he had never felt before, but wasn't against the idea of feeling more often now. 'I wonder if this is what it is like to be happy.' he mused, letting his thoughts wander. 'I hope that I can keep feeling this way once I make there, to the army.' Zack's subtle rebuff had hurt, but not for long, as Cloud had proceeded to chastise himself mentally on how the other man had to be four years older than him, and didn't want a child going all doe eyed on him all the time, not to mention he had no idea if he had someone else already.
Cloud opened his mouth, about to explain to Zack that going to tell his mother that he would be leaving had no point, when suddenly there was a ruckus going up outside the tent, which had been closed when Zack had him strip to do a through health exam.
"Cloud!" a familiar male voice rang out making him wince slightly, which he hoped the SOLDIER didn't see. "Cloud, I know you are in there, get your sorry excuse for a human ass out here!" That made him shiver and before he could think about it he was headed to the door of the tent, prepared to open it and step out. It wasn't until Zack placed a gentle hand on his shoulder that he even realized what he was doing, or where he was.
Zack strode to the tent door, opening it easily, looking as proud and full of authority as if he were president Shinra himself. Cloud saw who the clear profile of the village butcher standing, fist raised as the canvas door way fell back to revile the battle hardened SOLDIER, so different from the friendly man he had come to know.
"Shinra dog" the butcher spat, letting the words hang in the air for only a moment before launching, verbally, into the man standing between him and the person he had come to retrieve. "Where is the boy, Cloud get your ass out here, right this minute. I swear to god if you don't move it I will make sure that you have enough limbs broken that you will have to chose one to keep healed properly." Cloud, hearing the angry tirade began to shrink as small as possible, tears burning behind his eyes, but he would not let them fall. "You owe it to your mother, she should have left you out in the snow that first winter after you were born you wretch!"
"SHUT UP!" The scream that came from inside the tent barely made Zack raise an eyebrow, but it sent the butcher up out of his skin, the sound far to high for a grown man, but the boy in question still had his child's voice, high and with out any timbre. "Just shut up! I don't owe my mother anything! Not for holding onto a child she hated, not for casting me aside the first time she saw my father in me, not for keeping his identity secret from me... I owe her for nothing." Through out his fuming Cloud had moved closer, not content to hide behind the much larger and stronger man and scream.
That proved to be a mistake as the butcher reached out, quick as lightning, and grabbed his wrist, twisting it and the arm violently behind him. A small yelp of surprise, colored only slightly with pain, escaped him, doing nothing to cover up the sick, wet sounding crack that made him close his eyes. He kept his eyes closed, in part to cover the look of pain in his eyes, but also to concentrate, and work to prevent himself from blacking out. He heard a sudden flurry of motion before it seemed like everything in the world slowed to a crawl, it jolted back to full speed as he heard a deep, gravely voice coming from behind the butcher.
"Let him go, immediately, and you will only be charged with assault of a Shinra employee. Test my patience and you will be charged with willful intent of damage against a Shinra employee." Cloud knew it was Zack, that the friendly man was also this same fearsome one, not above threatening death to protect a friend. Cloud felt his wrist released and his world pitched, spots floating in front of his eyes, and just as he was sure he was going to collide with the ground he felt a strong arm catch him, pulling him close to a warm chest, and it was there in that warm, safe place that for the first time ever he let himself fade into the darkness around him without fear of new wounds when he awoke.
Authors Note: This is slightly A/U, I made Cloud and Zack further apart in age than is cannon, for my own reasons. This story will contain Yaoi, probably some Het, and the possibility of at least pointing out Yuri, if you disagree with any of these that is fine, but please don't flame me if you read it and arn't smart enough to click away.