The first time Zack meets Cloud, he thinks she is a boy; a tiny, pretty boy, but a boy nonetheless. He also does not, for even one second, think that she might be a SOLDIER recruit.

It's not just because she looks so young (too young, but it's not like anyone cares) and delicate, or that her body's all bone and no muscle. It's her eyes, and the way she walks. The kids who want to join SOLDIER, they're looking for something – a purpose, an ideal, a new life, anything at all; not this kid though. She's lost and confused, yes, but her eyes are blue steel and she moves with purpose, even though she quite obviously does not know where she is going.

Later, when they know each other better, Cloud wants to know why Zack singled her out for personal training. In her usual self-deprecating way she assumes it's because of friendship. It's not. Sure they're friends, but Zack, much as he likes to have fun, has never been a fan of wasting time, his or anyone else's. But Cloud starts out at the bottom, and moves up slowly but surely, with a kind of implacable belief, as if the kid can't see any ending other than the top.

And it's not the recruits who are looking for something to believe in that become SOLDIER Firsts.

When it comes out that Cloud is a girl it doesn't make one whit of difference to Zack, not with the way her sword work is finally coming along. After months of training, the moves she hasn't been able to master are starting to flow. Cloud's always had mental strength, but in sword fighting, that strength can also be a weakness. She tends to overthink every swing, which slows her down and trips her up. Now, though, her body is starting to react instinctively, the sword becoming part of her. She's stopped thinking and started moving. She doesn't have the physical strength, not yet, but she moves like quicksilver when she's not tripping over her own feet; besides, mako treatments don't discriminate between male and female.

But he sees how her teachers and fellow recruits start to treat her, the way her instructors stop training her and peers start mocking her (they'd mocked her before, but not like this). Cloud simply grits her teeth silently, pushing herself even harder, but that's still not going to get her through the SOLDIER exam. It's very easy to sabotage a cadet, and there's a good reason why prospective SOLDIERs make it a point not to anger their instructors; it's also the reason no woman has ever made it to SOLDIER.

It's why he pushes her for the Nibelheim mission. Cloud's decent right now, and someday she's going to be amazing. This mission will be her chance to prove that, and when they come back no one will be able to say Cloud doesn't deserve to be a SOLDIER.