SOLDIERs of the WRO

Learn from the past

Wonder for today

Listen to tomorrow

For time is the greatest teacher of all

Word Count: 1099

Thank you all for giving this story a chance at life again.

Enjoy

Eight years...has it really only been that long? It feels more like an eternity has gone by. Zack, why did you have to die that day? Why did you leave me here to face the world by myself? Why didn't you just run away and save yourself?

These thoughts and more had been occupying my mind as of late ever since I had gotten my head straight. The memories of our time together were the clearest and dearest to me, even more than those of my childhood home. Zack had always been there for me even during the years as Hojo's pet. The times he would talk to me and just hold me in his arms, letting me know it was going to be alright again someday.

New snow covered my window sill at the Seventh Heaven Bar. It had been snowing for three days now and the roads were closed so my deliveries had come a screeching halt, the snow held no traces of the Mako's blue green tint anymore. Both Denzel and Marlene had taken advantage of it, having huge snow ball fights with the other orphans. Reeve and Rufus both were doing a good job cleaning up the planet of Shinra's past damages. Still starring at the fresh snow my mind could not help but flash back to Zack laying on a blood soaked battle ground and hearing from a distance my own cry of utter loss.

"Why?" I questioned out loud as Tifa came walking in with a phone in her hand looking worried. Tifa looking worried was nothing new nowadays. I knew I was a big part of why she normally has that look on her face. That is why I try not to be around a whole lot.

"Phone call for you, Cloud," she said, trying her best to smile at me. "It's Reno, he says he has something important to talk to you about." Giving me one last look she sat the cordless phone on the bed and walked out of the doorway back to the main bar and her costumers.

I sighed, getting up, and picked up the phone. "Reno?"

"Cloud! Hey man! How have you been doing lately? Delivery business going well for you?" He asked.

"I get by fairly well," I replied, sinking back into my chair.

"I hear you're gone an awful lot goin' from one end of the planet to the other. Least that's how Yuffie paints the picture."

"I have heard what she thinks of my career choice," I said, not being able to fight the impulse to rub my eyes in irritation.

"Ya, I bet. Well let me get straight to the point then." He paused briefly before continuing."You know how the WRO is trying to keep the peace and lower monster populations, right?"

"Yes, I have heard about that."

"Well, we've been losing a lot of people to monsters. Most are just too tough for normal folk to deal with and AVALANCHE can only do so much. So, with a little planetary help, we came up with a idea kinda like that of SOLDIER. You know, to keep the monsters down and the planet safe from threats like Sephiroth and Jenova."

"Planetary help?" I asked, not quite understanding what he meant.

"Well, it's mostly the planets power we use to boost SOLDIER. With its permission mind you, we learned our lesson with the planet already," he answered, sounding proud of himself.

"And you want me to join your new SOLDIER group?" I inquired, an amused tilt of my lips the only outward sign of my inner thoughts.

"Yep, you got it, Cloud. We already have a few exSOLDIER's signed up. So what do ya say?"

Looking once again at the snow covered window sill, I sighed deeply. I wanted nothing more than to accept his offer but something just felt wrong about it.

"No, Reno, I can't do that again. SOLDIER, even if it is the WRO's SOLDIER, is still just that in the end. And I don't want any part of it. Besides, I didn't even make it into Shinra's SOLDIER. I was still a grunt when Sephiroth went mad," I explained.

"What? But Cloud, you are already doing most of the stuff the WRO SOLDIER's do! And as for the past stuff with you being a grunt, that's ancient history. Come on, Cloud. We both know you're a first class in all but title thanks to Hojo and if you joined up even that would be rectified. We can pay you big gil for your work too. Then you don't have to run that delivery service anymore."

"And what makes you think I want to quit my delivery service?" I asked, starting to get testy with him."I can live on the gil I make now."

"Come on, Cloud, just think. You can finally put Fenrir to good use. It was built for combat, not making deliveries. And with all the extra gil you could help give Avalanche more funds to do what they need to do."

"Reno, you are not getting me to do this. Tell Rufus that I will not join SOLDIER ever again, even if he is willing to pay me five thousand gil a hour."

I heard Reno huff on the other end of the line. "Alright, Spikes, if you change your mind then let me know. Your replacement isn't one that Reeve or Rufus wanted to have to put up with".

"He can't be so bad that Rufus would want me over him."

"Let's just say he gets a kick out of the humiliation of others, yo. It's also someone we need to use the Planet's power on. The less we use it though the safer the Planet is because it puts a fairly big strain on her power. We also can only use this with the permission of Aerith. She is the master mind behind it all, actually. Who'd of thunk it, right? She must be angling a holiday for you or something," he said, continuing to ramble on like usual.

"Aerith is alright with this?" I asked, thinking I had heard wrong. Not that I was really surprised about her going so far as to interfere and interact with the Planet, but for her to be alright with SOLDIER again was just a little bit shocking.

"Yeah I know shocking right? Well, anyway got to let Rufus know. See ya, Cloud." And with that Reno hung up, leaving me with even more to think about as I sat looking at the snow drifting past the window.