First of all, thank you very much to those who have read my humble attempt at writing, even though it is so short. Second of all, any reviews make this writer happy and update more often, so review even if it's just a "you're slow". So before my copy of Crisis Core comes, here's another teaser before I am wasted from playing. I'm sure you are all playing that anyways. And as always, disclaimer applies. Besides, if I did, I would not be foaming at the mouth for Crisis Core like everyone else.
Words in italic are thoughts
Endless Crisis
The days and weeks passed on by like a blurry dream for currently 14 year old MP Cloud. It wasn't that hard to readjust to the old life of being a grunt. His work is very simple, and usually just involved shifts of guarding and at times, shifts of patrolling above the plate. The dreariness of this routine was magnified by the fact that nothing seems to be going on within Midgar. This leads to something Cloud hasn't noticed before, the fact that some of the older and more experienced members of the Shinra Military Police were stationed at the front line at Wutai.
Now that the war is over, Cloud finds himself hauled to the corporate military celebration party by his fellow squad mates.
"Our shift is in 2 hours, why are we going there to be wasted?" Cloud grumbled as he was forced to make his way up the stairs of the main Shinra Building along with his comrades.
"Because," one of them answered, Cloud forgot what his name was, "the celebration is held up at the SOLDIER's cafeteria!"
"Yep!" another one chimed in, "it's not everyday that we'll be able to see those lucky bastards get wasted and make fools of themselves!"
So far, Cloud has not seen hide or hair of any SOLDIERs, especially not his friend nor the bane of his existence. However, now he has a chance to possibly see a familiar face, even if they technically have not met yet. Zackā¦. Cloud smiled at the possibility of seeing his strong and brave friend again.
Unfortunately, the key word there is possibility, not actually seeing the warm-hearted first class SOLDIER. Only a quarter of the people there were SOLDIERs. In addition, no matter how closely Cloud looked, he can only see second and third class SOLDIERs. There was no sign of Zack's spiky black hair, his optimistic voice, and no sign of the Buster Sword that was eventually passed on to him.
Maybe he didn't want to come here any more than I did. Cloud mentally reassured himself, that the man, who brought a ray of light into his otherwise meaningless and hopeless existence, is around, just not here. After an hour or so of sipping punch, right before he needs to leave for his shift, Cloud went to ask one of the still sober second classes a hopeful question.
"Excuse me. Is there a first class SOLDIER named Zack around?" Please say yes, please say he's around.
The second class gave Cloud a blank look, before shaking his head, "Nope. There isn't any first class SOLDIER named Zack."
No! It can't be! That was Cloud's first thought as soon as he got over the shock as he made his way to security duty at level 31, and briefly wondered if he had died and gone to hell.
For the next couple of weeks, Cloud was simply existing and functioning solely on auto-pilot. This only switched back to conscious operation when his dull routine was disturbed by the news and order that came abruptly one late morning.
"Monsters are appearing all over Midgar," A blond woman dressed in the standard blue Turk suit stated to the squadron that Cloud is in. "The SOLDIERs and the rest of my colleagues are taking care of them as we speak. Your job is to go out there and make sure that the denizens in Sector 3 stay out of the way. Go now!"
After they had finished keeping the order around their assigned sector of Midgar, Cloud and the pilot in his squadron, were assigned to go on a mission somewhere outside of Midgar, and were ushered onto a standard Shinra helicopter.
The helicopter then flew below the plate to pick up the Turk and the SOLDIER whom they were accompanying. Having nothing better to do, not out of false hope, Cloud turned his attention to the opened helicopter door to study the people he is going to be working with. As they came in, Cloud's eyes widened in recognition.
The first man that came in first is the Turk. Cool, calm and professional, albeit a lot younger with shorter hair is, without a doubt, Tseng. But Cloud's attention was focused only on the second man, the SOLDIER. Not just any SOLDIER, his uniformed showed that he was first class. Cloud was almost overwhelmed with a tidal wave of emotions as he recognized this SOLDIER. It was Zack.
Excuse me for this coming out the way it did. Like I said, this was written to kill time as I wait for my copy of Crisis Core to be shipped to me. And I blame my allergy meds! It makes me almost completely incapable of thinking, never mind writing masterpieces. So don't forget to read, review and criticize, so that the new chapters would come out faster and better.
