I do not own Square Einx or any of its characters… but if I did, it hell wouldn't have been Zack laying dead on that cliff! *Makes distraught angry noise* I am now going to blackmail Enix into making an alternate-universe ending or something for crisis core :D
P.S.
Special thanks for this story goes to loveboylove in her attempt to beat proper grammar into me and for suffering as my editor. Thank you very much!
Promise Lily
The small bunker room abruptly awoke to the jarring sound of five different cell phone ringtones, which had join forces to make the alarm clock from hell. In almost perfect unison each man in the room either:
Reach for his phone and turned it off or
Jumped out of bed, missed his phone and landed in a pitiful cursing sprawl on the floor.
Cloud himself was one of the former, as he'd been awake before the alarms even went off. In fact, Cloud hadn't slept much at all that night. Ever since sergeant Takaharu had outlined his mission for tomorrow, Cloud had been able to think of little else. Even the comfort and welcome of his own bed, after a grueling day's training, had done little to stop the whirling scenarios in the young soldier's mind.
The mission in question was thus: ShinRa troops were to invade and secure the last Dentari1 stronghold on the Dentiri peninsula.
The Dentari warriors' extensive knowledge of the area and state of the art communication equipment made pinning down the individual squads, not only extremely difficult, but also very dangerous as focusing too much on one group gave the other's openings for attack. To counter the enemy's battle tactic, ShinRa's executives had devised a new plan; Send a small group of soldiers surreptitiously by air to land on the peninsula's tip. Have them make their way towards the enemy's hidden radio base camp, then infiltrate and destroy all radio equipment. This will allow the large ground force to advance and kill the disorganized Dentari as they advance down the peninsula. The ground force will also be accompanied by an arsenal of fighter bots, which will be deployed once the radio equipments removed. Using the bots any soon was futile as the Dentiri would simply jam the frequencies or hack into the mainframes effectively turning them on ShinRa troops. With the radio and other computer gone the bots could operate under no threat of tampering.
"As First Class soldiers Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth are all assigned to other tasked," The sergeant had said. "Your leader on this mission will be First Class Soldier Zack Fair. Report to him at exactly 04:00 on the air field, and don't be late! Any questions?" Cloud who had already been gawking at the importance of this mission, felt his heart skip a bet in minor flight.
Zack! Cloud thought, agitation rising as the thumping of his own blood drowned his squad mates questions. Zack was going to be leading them!
It was true that ever since Cloud's first meeting with Zack he'd been somewhat in awe of the older man. Zack was the first person at ShinRa to treat Cloud with any kind of respect, regardless of his blond hair and boyishly feminine appearance. He was strong, determined, agile, quick to laugh and even quicker to give others a reason to join in. Whenever Cloud had had a particularly bad day or felt like he wasn't strong enough to make it through a fight, Zack always seemed to materialize next to him and offer a small bit of encouragement or a comrade to battle beside. It would be a lie to say Cloud didn't admire Zack and even more of one to say he didn't feel some manner of affection for him. As Zack continued to rise in rank and prestige Cloud couldn't help but wonder why the man maintained his friendship with a lowly solider like himself. That couldn't be normal...could it? Sometimes Cloud wondered if Zack maybe thought of him as more than a friend too….and now they would be going on a dangerous and potentially deadly mission together. Cloud only hoped he's floundering wouldn't get anyone, especially Zack, killed.
These thoughts, worries, and more, were what had so persistently kept Cloud awake all night and continued to haunt him as he went through his morning routine. Trying to pace himself with the other soldiers', so as not to be the first or last out on the air field, Cloud arrived exactly on time. There were five men in all including himself. Moving out into the darkness of early morning, Cloud looked up as a few small water droplets peppered his face. He couldn't tell for certain, but judging on the smell and energy charge of the air, that they would be in for quite a storm later today. Putting on his standard issue helmet Cloud fell in line with the other grumbling soldiers, most still groggy and irritable from lack of sleep.
The group made its way over the hard asphalt of the air strip; their path lit by large lights sealed into the ground. Ahead they could hear the whirling blades of a transport helicopter and dimly make out its half shadowed shape in the dark. A figure motioned for them to board as the group approached.
"Morning!" Zack's cheery voice called over the noise when the soldiers got within earshot. "Hurry up! The pilot said there's gonna be a heck of a storm! We need to leave as soon as possible!" Cloud barely had enough time to sit down and strap himself in, before Zack sprang into the opening and the helicopter rose into the dark sky.
"Ok, everybody strapped in?" Zack asked as he looked the troops over. Cloud nodded glad for the anonymously of his helmet. He could tell Zack was in a really good mood today. Excitement was shining out of the man's bright blue eye, and springing from every word and gesture. It was quite contagious and with what seemed like no effort he soon had everyone else charged as well. Cloud inwardly smiled as he watched Zack and the other men talking excitedly among themselves; their early irritations left behind on the dark ground.
1 I was getting bored with ShinRa always beating up Wutai so I created the Dentari to serve as an alternative punching bag; poor blokes.