I do not own anything nor do I make any money from this story. All rights apply.
A/N: The lovely Sinnatious has graciously allowed me to write in The Fifth Act world. I highly recommend The Fifth Act – it is beautifully written with great characterisation and a neat, well paced plot.
I wanted to try my hand at a 'serious' bit of drama and thought the world Sinnatious created with The Fifth Act would be a good stage.
Lastly – I recently broke my hand so my updates will be slow because my typing is much slower than before, but the story is plotted out completely.
Bring the Rain 01
"Aw, our boy's all grown up," cooed Kunsel to Zack as they watched Cloud look over the mission documents.
Cloud chose to ignore their antics – he actually had work to do. This was his first mission as a SOLDIER First Class after the incident at Nibelheim a couple of months ago. While he was a little annoyed with Zack and Kunsel, he knew they were just worried about him. Everyone seemed to be worried about him – "casual" questions and side long glances. Mostly it appeared as though they felt he was going to disappear or some such thing. It was nonsense of course, he wasn't going anywhere – this was his home now. As much as he missed his friends, he took solace in knowing they would all be happy and alive this time round.
"You know, I hadn't heard of Holden till this mission," said Zack retuning the talk to the mission at hand.
"I guess that's what made it a perfect hide out – a sleepy village no one knows about. Who knows what sort of things could be up in a place like that," added Kunsel. "Of course, you're going to have to tell me about all the excitement it has to offer."
Cloud nodded as Kunsel's straight faced joke. Holden was smaller than Nibelheim and didn't have a reactor. It didn't even have any distinct land features – it really was a collection of houses in the middle of nowhere. The tip off of anti-ShinRa activities came from an anonymous traveller who had said in his call that the village was full of armed men and no families. Lazard hadn't been keen to send Cloud but both Angeal and Sephiroth had put him forward as a candidate. Angeal as a thank you for all Cloud had done for him and Sephiroth as a way to get Cloud back into the swing of things and hopefully get everyone back on track in their daily lives. The excitement of the last year had worn thin for Sephiroth who wanted things to return to their normal pace – it wasn't ever going to return to the way it was but he hoped the routine of their past ways would return.
Lazard had told Cloud the details of the mission but he checked over the documents again for last minute changes – nothing. Go, check it out, report back. From the way Lazard spoke, he wasn't expecting much. The information was sketchy and lacking in detail but ShinRa couldn't ignore anti-ShinRa suspicions. Zack had helped him pick out his team of young but promising infantrymen. The eight young men were a mix of skills and strengths, and they all looked nervous as they piled into the truck. This was their first mission as ShinRa infantrymen and they were being lead by Cloud Strife – the man who had appeared out of nowhere strong as SOLDIER First Class but unknown to anyone. Also, the man who randomly attacked Sephiroth and often looked like he would win the exchange if not for the others holding him back. Then there was also his sudden disappearance and return months later. And he had chosen them for the mission. The only soothing balm for their nerves was the fact that Zack and Kunsel were relaxed in his presence and even joked around with him.
"My phone's always on if you get bored," called Zack as Cloud climbed into the passenger seat. He would have preferred to drive but there were rules.
Cloud flashed a smile in Zack's direction before telling the driver to move out. Zack stood for a few minutes watching the truck roll away. He felt anxious for some reason, but it wasn't because he didn't trust Cloud or feel that he couldn't handle the mission – in fact, he didn't feel any worry over Cloud's abilities. Holden – he was concerned over Holden. It was too strange, too suspect – what was going on in that "village"? He shared a glance with Kunsel; Holden was suspicious and something was going to happen.
They just had to wait for the call.
XxX
The thrill tone of his PHS pulled Zack sharply from his sleep. He didn't recognise the number but he did know it wasn't a PHS number. He could hear the static on the line before he got the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
There was a lot of noise on the line, and not all of it was static. He could hear background noise – sounded like running and… pops?
"...hear me?"
"Who is this?" asked Zack blinking back sleep.
Again he heard the pops and some distorted speech but he couldn't make out words.
"T… …ssi… tr…"
"Cloud?" said Zack. "Are you-" and the line was dead.
Zack stared at the phone for a few minutes to see if they would call back – to see if Cloud would call back. He did, however, the line was no better and the call cut off before Zack could make out any words or sounds. But on the third call he definitely heard the sound of gun fire and realised the pops he had been hearing had been gun fire.
"Cloud?"
"Tr… mis…" again Zack couldn't make out any words until one got through. "…ack" – it was his name, he knew it. And he knew for sure it was Cloud trying to call him. As expected something had gone wrong with the mission.
"Cloud – hang on, I'm coming," said Zack.