An Ancient Poem Recited by the Waterside
...If I am ever in a bind.
...My hero will come rescue me...
.:A SOLDIER's Struggle:.
"Hey! Wake up!" a coarse voice called out to a young boy who had fallen asleep in the back of the transportation bus. Blue eyes focused as the blur of sleep faded. Blond spikes bobbed as the young male grabbed his things and left the vehicle. "Hey! Cloud!" Blue eyes met with almost as blue orbs that belonged to a rather strange boy from Nibelheim, "Daniel... You do realize that you can't have your hair like that, right?" Cloud stared at the boy's light brown hair that was gelled into a fauxhawk and had random dyed stripes of cotton candy pink placed everywhere. His eyes looked over the boy who was dressed in girl pants with a black studded belt (which did nothing because the pants were so small they were not even covering his ass), a light blue shirt with random abstract designs covering most of the right side of the rather tight fitting article of clothing, a small black hoodie with more abstract designs covering the majority of the front, random bracelets and chains hanging from him, rainbow colored nails, yellow (left foot) and orange (right foot) high top converse, and a few piercings (including a left helix, both lobes, tongue, and right side of bottom lip.
Danny giggled, "Silly! I know that!" he then pouted, "Which is a shame, because I totally love styling my hair..." Cloud held back a laugh, not wanting to break the news about his outfit, "Hey, where are we?" He scanned the area, "Looks like a resort town..." as they walked toward the beach to take in the view, Daniel noticed a rather large cargo ship to the right of the beach, "Looks like we've got to take that ship in order to get to Midgar..." Cloud followed his cohort toward the docking area in hopes that they'd catch the boat before it left.
"Costa del Sol..." Cloud caught sight of a 'welcome to' sign as he and Daniel walked up the stairs and over the bridge to get to the docks, "How far away do you think Nibelheim is?" almost crashing into Danny when he stopped to ask the question, Cloud grumbled, "Like I know? Come on..." this time Cloud grabbed the other by the left bicep and practically dragged the boy before he decided to actually walk for himself.
A soft thud was the result of Daniel tossing his bag toward the railing where he leaned against and sighed, "Don't be shy, Cloud! It's just the open water..." Cloud joined his friend by the side, his bag still strapped to his back, "What are you doing?" he tensed when Daniel sat up on the railing of the boat, "Get down!" Cloud said in a panicked voice. Daniel only laughed, "Chill out man!" he rose his hands in defense while slipping his foot into the loop to his bag, Cloud was about to grab him when the boat lurched from a wave.
He was alone... Lost within the crowd of new recruits as they were herded into the Shinra training facility. Cloud lost one of his only friends from Nibelheim on the boat ride over. Around four days had already passed since the ship arrived at Junon and from where Cloud was transferred by jeep to Midgar.
Apart of their training was getting to Midgar. Not only did they have to survive the boat ride over, but the jeep could only take them as far as Mythril Mines where the recruits had to hike through to the other side where more jeeps were waiting to race through the marshes while keeping out of reach of the Midgar Zolom. Getting to be a part of the Shinra Army was not an easy task. One had to prove themselves worthy, and what better way to do it than on their way to their destination (not like that was the original plan, but President Shinra decided to consider it as extra training).
Cloud was placed into a platoon of fifteen men commanded by a Second Class SOLDIER (Any women recruits were placed into their own platoons to help prevent sex crimes among the soldiers). His platoon was Bandersnatch. Each platoon had their own 'home'; fully equipped with: kitchen, living room, bed rooms (each squad had their own room-five men to a room-while the Commander had his own apartment), bathroom (five of everything), rec room. The 'home' was divided into two levels; the three bedrooms upstairs along with the bathroom.
The house had a rather convenient layout: You walked into the living room from the front door, to the right of the living room was a staircase and a rather large kitchen, straight back was a hall way with an extra room on each side while the rec room was the door at the very end of the hall. Cloud and the others flooded into the house to check out what they'd be dealing with.
The commander called for everyone to join in the living room, there he would assign them into squads and then rooms. Each squad would later receive a special set of orders; Cloud's would end up with kitchen duty for the week.
When the recruits were allowed to go free, Cloud and his squad went to claim their bunks. In the room were two sets of bunks shoved into a corner (the extra space left between them and the wall was made for a table for the bottom and a built-in table for the top), while the other bed was on the other side of the room. One of the extra rooms downstairs was a locker room where their objects and uniforms could be stored away.
The four other men Cloud was with were familiar with each other and took the bunks, so that meant Cloud got the lone bed. While the others were screwing around, Cloud ventured downstairs to view the rest of the home. He found that the door on the right side of the hallway led to a basement that was used as a small training room.
There was an "Officer's Club" where the recruits would go to hang out on their off time to get drunk, find higher ranking personnel to bother, and just do whatever. Because it was the first day for the recruits, the place was mostly filled with just higher ups (since most of the lowers were too busy to even notice the building).
Cloud sat at the bar, drinking some coffee and grimacing as a drunk Third Class played piano. The tender laughed, "Pretty bad, huh?" Cloud looked to him, a rather tanned individual with dark hair and a way with drinks, "If you mean the drunken freak disgracing that piano, then yes..." Cloud eyed the drunk and heard the tender laugh again, "Oh! I thought you were making faces at the coffee..." he sighed, looking at the boy and how he watched the piano, "You play?" Cloud shrugged, "I was never taught properly... A neighborhood girl of mine had a piano... I used to play on it"
A hand came colliding with the back of a still casually clad Cloud, his eyes widening as his teeth clenched. He spun in his chair to glare at whom it was who hit him... He couldn't, however, glare at the goofy idiot who was grinning at him, "Drinking that stuff without booze, eh? You've got guts!" the man, whom Cloud realized was one of the higher ranking men, shrugged, "I'll live." The barkeep laughed again, more hearty this time.
"Zack Fair," the SOLDIER held his hand out to Cloud, that same grin on his face. "Cloud Strife..." he shook the man's hand wearily, almost afraid that he was wearing a hand buzzer of some sort; he blamed the smile. "Hey, Yoru! Stop killing that piano!" Zack shouted at the drunk fool on the worn instrument. Cloud watched as Yoru stumbled away, to sick to continue. When Cloud turned back, he looked into his cup, "Did you tamper with my drink?" He asked Zack, still staring into his cup. "No... Why?" He looked at Cloud and chuckled, "Because there's an olive floating in it..." he looked to Zack, "and you have an empty glass..."
Moments later Cloud was ushered to the piano by Zack, "C'mon! play something!" Cloud tried to back out, "But I can't even pl-!" he was shoved into the stool, "No buts! Now play! And that's an order!" he gave Cloud a wink as he backed up toward the bar to sit and listen.
Defeated, Cloud made himself comfortable on the old, but sturdy piano bench. His eyes ran over the keys and his fingers gently familiarized themselves by stroking them softly. Before he knew what he was playing, Cloud's fingers just started pressing down the ivory and creating the familiar tune he and his childhood friend, Tifa, would play.
After getting used to the feel and the sound of the piano, Cloud fastened his pace (he feared the first few minutes were too slow and depressing for the bar).
More barflies were starting to zone in on the bar and Zack decided to pluck Cloud away before he was molested by either a recruit or another soldier. Cloud was actually a little happy to leave, "You really can play!" Zack teased as they left.