Author note: Hi, TheGreatSalmon here…and below is my first (weenie) story on this site! Please be nice... (Or if you prefer to give scathing criticism, I'll take that too, all for getting better at writing!) Anyway, enjoy :)

"Complications"

Cloud had always assumed that he would have to wait a week. That was the most common time he heard quoted by newly recruited 3rd class SOLDIERs, fresh spat from the gamut of gruelling tests and procedures that infused their bodies with mako. Zack had sworn it was a matter of days for him, but then again he was considered something of a prodigy outside the 1st classers, and had been past the point of even weekly top-up injections for over a year. But Cloud had never been one to take for gospel the tales of men who struggled to recall what they had for breakfast, let alone months-stale memories.

However, when the young infantryman awoke after an apparent nine days in a comatose state, he began to realise the whole experience might be a little different for himself.

It was as if some kind of thin film had been pasted sloppily but completely over his eyes. When eventually his lids struggled open, his vision wasn't much better than when they had been closed; their being open only served to let in light, and a copious amount at that.

Cloud reached out into the harsh white glare. Or at least he tried to, but his limbs felt as if they'd been nailed down. He has no idea where he was, but as his dulled hearing began to pick up the chink of sterile glass and of shoes on immaculate tiles, and the insistent whirring of machines, a nagging voice in the back of his mind whispered, "hospital bed".

Then there came the high-pitched whine of a machines demanding attention; some hurried footsteps and short, sharp mutterings. A dull ache in something that might be called his left shoulder was the last thing Cloud registered before he was pulled back under, mind and body, by the darkness.

It was nearly two weeks after he had first set foot in the operating room, when he was guided to a seat on an unforgiving bench by the cold, clammy hand of one Professor Hojo, that Cloud finally managed to sit up. Since his first awakening on the ninth day after his procedure, a few people had come visiting: Kunsel, Luxiere, and others from his regiment, and Zack, who was by his side for at least an hour every day. Cloud had no idea where the 2nd Class SOLDIER found the time with his hectic schedule of training, but was glad that he did. However, during Zack's visits he talked little and even then it was only his mouth that moved. Even moving his head to look at the other man or twitching his lips up into a smile at one of his myriad jokes was a chore.

Cloud knew by this point that he must look a wreck; he'd seen it in Zack's face the first time he'd come visiting, and he could see it now in the shocked face of the nurse who'd found him sitting upright and glancing around the room. From the way she stared, she must have put him down as a goner. Sure enough, he was soon attended by doctors, but not only Hojo. Professor Hollander was in attendance also, and a motley group of under-staff and interns milled around the edge of Cloud's vision.

After a quick examination by both doctors of his person as well as various books and charts, followed by a conferral that was briefer still, the men turned to Cloud with grim expressions. Fortunately, it was Hollander who delivered the news, his grizzled baritone making a welcome relief from Hojo's high, thin whine.

"Cadet Strife, I'm afraid we have some bad news."

The fact that he'd said "cadet" rather than "candidate" would normally have set a sinking feeling in motion in the pit of Cloud's stomach, a feeling that would be consolidated by the lack of mention of any good news, but he just felt numb. It didn't sound real, more like something you'd hear on a tacky TV medical drama.

"The mako that we use for SOLDIER procedures did not agree with the less processed lifestream already present in your system due to your apparent contact as a child. As a result, a rejection of this mako occurred within the…"

The scientist's voice became a buzz, falling insignificant into the deep sense of dread that was growing within Cloud's heart. Somewhere deep down he'd known, but he just hadn't been able to bring himself to back down from the offer of promotion, an offer that had seemed so sweet and hard-won at the time.

"…causing palpitations of the heart, the after-effects of which spread to the…"

Just say it.

"I'm sorry, cadet. Your application to the SOLDIER program has been terminated."