Stand
Cloud
Zack
opened the large doors to the hall and stepped in. He couldn't
count the number of times he had been in here, but the room never
ceased to amaze him. The walls were completely plated in something
with a silver shine to it. I couldn't be metal because it never
got very cold. But it was hard at the same time. The ceiling didn't
look as though it was low enough to fit in this part of the ShinRa
building, but somehow it did. The floor, walls and ceiling all
looked like the same piece. It all had to be coated in something.
Zack walked up to the stage where the recruit's new enemies,
their officers, would stand and give their speeches on what was
expected. He sat down on a step that seemed to have no real purpose
to it. He took his buster sword off his back and leaned it against
the wall next to him. Now it was time sit and wait. He leaded back
and tilted his head so he could look at the ceiling. There was
nothing there, but it because of shadows and shaded areas it looked
like a sky full of clouds. Something stirred with that thought. Not
knowing what he pushed it to the back of his mind. Looking at the
ceiling always calmed him, and quite often Zack would come here
before he would leave for a mission. This was his
spot.
The
next thing Zack knew the doors of the hall were flung open and the
recruits were filing in. He stood to get a better look at all of
them. It was a pretty plain group. Most had various dark shades of
hair and wore bland colored clothing, like most of the people in
Midgar. When they were all in the room again and the door closed
they all began to talk. It sounded like a bunch of bugs chirping. There had to be at least 150 of them. Not an extremely large group
but it was bigger than normal. Zack hopped off the stage before he
was noticed, or so he thought.
In the back left rand corner of
the room a pair of strikingly blue eyes had been watching him
closely. These eyes watched as Zack made his way through the crowd
along the right hand side of the room. Zack stopped every so often
to talk to the recruits. He knew they would be standing in here for
quite a while before anyone cared to come in and get things moving
along. Most of the recruits were about 15 or 16, some were younger
and a few were older. But none joined after 17. Zack had found that
the recruits could follow along with his foolishness much better than
the rest of SOLDIER who just thought he was an idiot.
Blue eyes continued to watch him move about the room. Isn't he Zack, the SOLDIER First Class? Their owner wondered. He had heard about the SOLDIER's infamous curiosity about the new recruits. He was completely amazed, but didn't know why. What did he think the General's right hand man would be like? He knew that he would not be stiff and uptight. But still the man walking through the crowd of recruits still surprised him.
Zack rounded the back of the room and looked up over the crowd, which was pretty easy considering that this was a large group of many people shorter than him. As his eyes scanned the crowed something popped out at him, something that looked like blond spikes. In the sea of grays, black, and browns, the blond hair stood out. He smiled and headed over there. It was now time to have some fun.
The blue eyes saw him coming. Great, he thought, I've been spotted. He had seriously considered dying his hair that morning. The spikes stuck out enough but why did he have to have such blond hair!? He began to back up a bit towards the wall but when his back hit it there was no where left to go. He didn't want to talk to the SOLDIER, in fact, at the moment he didn't really want to talk to anyone. He sighed and slid to the ground, trying to make himself at least physically comfortable. The social discomfort that was about the take place could not be helped, he had not gotten used to Midgar yet. He was not used to talking to many people he had not known all his life.
Zack
was almost where he saw the blond-haired recruit, but this time when
he looked over the crowd he didn't see him. "Must have sat down
against the wall," he said out loud. He moved over to the wall
directly behind the spot the recruit was first seen at. And there,
sure enough, was exactly what he was looking for. Sitting on the
ground doing something that seemed to be dangerously close to pouting
was the blond-haired recruit he was looking for.
"What is with
that face?" Zack asked the recruit.
The
recruit looked up and stared at Zack with his blue eyes. This made
Zack's own eyes widen quite a bit. The recruit had eyes that were
bluer than the clearest sky he'd ever seen. Poor kid was going to
have it rough here. He was very small, and had almost girlish
features. He was going to be put through a lot by the other
recruits, Zack had seen it before, but this one definitely looked
like he would not just put up with it. He had a look of dead
determination on his face that was probably forever rooted. Zack
smiled, this was going to be fun.
"So kid, how old are you? Fourteen?" Zack asked knowing full well that well that the recruit
would not like being called a kid. He was hoping for some type of
large scale reaction. But all he got was a small glare and the one
word answer.
"Fifteen," he told Zack. He knew that the SOLDIER was looking for some type of reaction. He could tell by the look on his face. The recruit had to hold back a smile when Zack's face was taken over by disappointment. He looked like a puppy that had just gotten his bone taken away. The recruit refused to show any kind of emotion, knowing that it was the best way to get the SOLDIER to give up.
Zack
was not going to back down; this kid was way too interesting. He had
to find out who he was. At this point Zack had learned that he was
going to get nothing from the recruit, so he sat back against the
wall near the recruit. Maybe if he sat there long enough the recruit
would relax and talk. After sitting there for a while, Zack was not
sure how long; he decided to try talking again. He looked over at
the recruit. "So you know who I am right?" he asked. A nod was
all he received for that one. "Then why do you refuse to respond
to you commanding officer?" This one earned a worried look from
the blond. He had not thought that this SOLDIER First Class really
cared about such a thing, but what if he did? What would happen
then? He went to open his mouth but was stopped by the sound of
Zack's laughter.
"I was just messing with you Spike." Zack
said after calming down.
The
blond-haired recruit downright glared at Zack. He hated being given
nicknames like that.
"The name is Cloud," he told the
raven-haired SOLDIER. Cloud hoped that giving his name to the man
would prevent it from trying that one again in the future.
"Cloud huh?" Zack thought back to his earlier ceiling musings. Was that what struck me? He wondered. He had been thinking that the ceiling looked like clouds when his heart seemed to do tricks there in his chest. No, that couldn't be it, nothing about that made sense.
Just
then the assembly hall door slammed open, almost hitting a couple of
recruits who had been standing a bit to close. Zack stood up and
stretched, getting the kinks out for sitting so long.
"Well
Spike," he got a sharp glare from the recruit on the floor, "I
mean Cloud, I have to get back up front before they make me start as
a recruit again," he joked and took off.
Cloud watched him disappear through the crowd. He wondered what made Zack come down here all the time. There had to be some reason for it, curiosity was not an answer. What was he curious about? What was it about the recruits made him come down there for so long? When Zack jumped up onto the stage upfront with the recruits new "slave drivers" the room went silent. A few whispers were heard throughout the room. The recruits figured out that they had actually been talking to and joking with a SOLDIER First Class. And on top of that, it was not just any First either; it was Sephiroth's right hand man, Zack. Cloud chuckled a little before controlling himself, when he saw that Zack was looking at him and smiling, looking like he had just come up with something devious. Uh-oh, now I've done it! He is going to make my time here hell. Cloud thought to himself, sighing a little.
