Chapter 1: Beginning of a Nightmare

"Do you think they're finished with that assembly yet, Adeus?" Cloud asked while laying on top of his bed in his and Adeus's room with some playing cards lying on the floor. They have been playing cards ever since they snuck out of the assembly room a couple of hours now. "I mean, I don't think it takes this long to talk about a breakthrough a scientist made."

"Maybe this particular one likes to bask in his own glory," Adeus said in a joking manner. "I overheard from a couple of 2nd Class SOLDIERs out in the hallways before we entered the assembly hall that Professor Hojo, the one who organized the assembly, loves to make all of his scientific research and breakthroughs known throughout Shinra. They say that he's doing all this so he can one day become famous just like his predecessor, Professor Gast. Sounds more like he only wants to brag about his work if you ask me. I mean, who goes through all this trouble these days just so they can tell people about a discovery they made?"

"Crazy people, that's who," the blond replied with a chuckle as he got off the bed and started to collect the cards. "I never hear of SOLDIERs bragging about everything they did on their missions, so why should a scientist like him get the right to do so? Not exactly proper etiquette, if you get what I'm saying?"

"I second that thought, man," the raven haired roommate agreed as he tossed a card box to his friend. "I promise you this; you won't be seeing me bragging on about what I do once I make it into SOLDIER. I don't know about you, though, seeing as how you told me it's always been your dream to become a part of SOLDIER. You'd probably be too darn excited to even notice that you're bragging before you even realize it."

"Oh, trust me. If I ever start to brag, it'll never be at the same magnitude as Professor Hojo made it. I'd do it as discreetly as possible."

"How, by calling your parents back at home and talking for hours on end about every little detail from your first mission?"

"Oh, shut up Adeus. What about you? Are you taking all this training stuff so seriously so you can get all buffed out and impress all of the girls by showing off your six pack and flexing your biceps?"

"That's pretty much the idea," Adeus admitted happily. "If you're going to become strong through all this rigorous training just so you can get a spot as a SOLDIER 3rd Class, why not also try to do it so you can impress the ladies too? It sounds like a win-win situation for me."

Well, how about you also try making yourself mentally fit instead of just physically?" Cloud suggested with a roll of his eyes as he set the deck of cards on a nightstand. "If you keep that head of yours in the gutter too long, everything's going to pass by before you even know what's happening. You know that they want to test our knowledge in battle tactics too, right?"

"Oh, I know that. What's the point, though, on studying battle tactics if we're not even insured a spot in the 3rd Class SOLDIER program? Unless they have a special division for cadets and grunts like us where we can be in the front line of the action the whole time, I don't see much of a point."

"Have you ever thought of how it might be able to save your butt if you know them? Don't forget that a grunt's life is also at risk despite being around so many others that might be acting as your personal human shield."

"Hey, that might be a good idea, using a person as a human shield during a mission. That might be a good way to save myself from getting shot of something like that."

At this remark, all Cloud could do was roll his eyes in annoyance. He quickly waved his roommate off and made for the top of the bunk bed where he slept.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Adeus proclaimed with humor surrounding his voice. "I'm not that heartless to be using a live person as my shield. Although if the person was already dead, then I think that would have to be another story."

"Uh, I think that's even worse, Adeus," the blond sighed exasperatedly as he laid on his side, his back facing the wall that was connected to the bed. "The one thing that you should do for the dead is let them rest in peace, not having them become a personal shield just so they can take the bullets. That just sounds so wrong on many different levels."

"You keep thinking like that and you'll be dead in the battlefield, Cloud" the teen replied as he sat down on the bottom bed. "Your morals, personal or not, should be thrown away when in battle. You do whatever you have to do just so you can survive. Of course, I'm not saying that you should always be using dead people as protection, but if that's going to save your skin, then just do it. Besides, it's not like the dead are going to be giving any complaints about it, right? After all, they're already as dead as they could be. A few extra bullets in them won't hurt."

"Okay, that last sentence just sounded totally wrong. I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that and remember the other stuff that you told me. Anyway, moving on to a less morbid topic…,"

Cloud never did get a chance to change the topic because a shrill sound reached his ears. Even with the protection of the walls and their door shut, it was still quite sharp that he had to cover his ears. It probably lasted for a good five or so seconds before it died down. Hearing the silence once more, he took his hands off his ears and had a "what-the-hell" look on his face.

"Please tell me that wasn't you, Adeus," the blond stated as he put emphasis on the very first word. "If that was your idea of a joke, then I'll show you my joke by killing you."

"I swear, Cloud, that was not me," Adeus replied as he stood up from his bed and picked at his ears a bit in an attempt to get the ringing sensation out. "I think someone else is trying to play a joke on us."

"Well, that wasn't exactly a very good one. The person screaming sure had a good set of lungs in order to have pierced through the walls with his voice."

"Maybe we should go outside and check it out a bit," the raven haired teen suggested as Cloud hopped off from the top bunk. "Who knows, maybe somebody really needs some help?"

"Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense," Cloud answered sarcastically. "Somebody outside our room is in desperate need of help, so instead of screaming out 'Help!' like a normal person does, he opts to go for the more feminine route by screaming at the top of his lungs 'Ahhh!' That does not make any sense to me."

"Life is full of things that don't make sense," Adeus retorted with a roll of his eyes at his roommate's previous reply. "Anyway, I'm going to go and see what's going on out there. Are you coming or not?"

"Have you ever heard the expression, 'Curiosity killed the cat?'" the blond sighed as he walked towards the door that Adeus was busy trying to unlock on the number pad next to it. "This is one of those times I think we should just stay out of whatever's going on outside. I don't really have a good feeling about this, to be honest."

"Fine, you stay here and play it safe while I play dangerously and take a look."

"Hey, I didn't say I was going to stay behind! I was just saying that I don't like this one bit."

"If you're going to come with me, then stop complaining and start moving. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? For all we know, someone could just be pulling an innocent prank on someone."

Still giving off a look of uncertainty, Cloud merely nodded his head. Arguing about what they thought was going on was bringing them nowhere. The only way they can figure out what that scream from earlier was about was to open their door and peek outside. And that's exactly what they were about to do as Adeus pressed enter on the number pad and the door parted from the center and opened up, revealing the white walls of the cadets' barracks' hallway.

-Meanwhile-

"How much longer until I'm done with this piece of paperwork?" Zack whined as he continued to sit hunched over his desk with a pen in his hand. "I've been working on these papers inside the folder Tseng gave me for two hours now. When he handed me the folder and said that there were only a few, I thought he meant three or four. Since when did a few constitute for twenty sheets in one folder? He must be living in a different world to call twenty sheets a few."

Putting his pen down for a short break, the spiky black haired 1st Class SOLDIER glanced at the manila folder that sat open on the edge of the wooden desk. Lying on top of it were two piles of paper. One had the text faced downwards; the other stood face up and showed some empty spaces on designated portions of the work. Apparently, the face-down ones were the ones that were already finished while the others were the exact opposite.

"Let me see," he mumbled as he started to visually count the papers that were in the face-down stack. "I got fifteen done already, so I only have five more left to do, including the one I'm working on right now. Fifteen in two hours… It's probably going to take me another forty minutes to finish up the rest. Might as well take a break now seeing as I'm going to have a long night ahead of me."

With a small sigh, Zack got up from his computer chair and started to stretch a bit. He popped his shoulders a couple of times, grunting in content every time he did so. Feeling his stomach growl a bit, he walked towards his kitchen in search of a late night snack. Just as he was about halfway there, a wall clock chimed in at ten.

"Ten already, huh?" he said as he counted soft chimes of the clock. "I suppose that they're done with the assembly by now. Hojo might like to brag about all his stuff, but even he doesn't have the authority to hold the cadets past their curfew. Ah well, it's not I care anyway. I'd rather be doing work in here than listen to another of his boring drabble. I swear, all that man wants from everybody in here is attention."

From the kitchen, he made his way to one of the cabinets above the counters and opened it. Without really looking, he grabbed a bag of chips and brought them down, quickly opening it and popping a few into his mouth.

I wonder if Cloud and Adeus managed to sneak back to their rooms? he thought as he continued to munch on the chips while leaning on the counter. If I get in trouble with Angeal because of them getting caught, they're so going to get it from me. I don't blame them for leaving, though. Even they could tell the professor's speech was going to be boring. Maybe…

However, his train of thought was rudely interrupted by a lot of loud sounds coming from the hallway outside of his SOLDIER 1st Class room. Putting his chips down and brushing the crumbs off of his SOLDIER uniform that he chose not to change out of yet, Zack slowly walked out of the kitchen and towards his door, all the while trying to listen to the loud noises.

"Help, somebody help me!" a man's terrified shouts reached his ears clearly, despite the thick walls and door that were in between them. "This thing's trying to… No! Stay away, you hear me?! I said stay away! Stay away!! Aaahhh…!!!"

Startled by the intensity of the bloodcurdling scream, Zack stopped short from placing his hands on the keypad beside his door. Figuring that whoever was screaming just now was not doing it for kicks, he decided to listen carefully through the thick door, a feat easily accomplished due to his hearing stimulated by the regular Mako injections every SOLDIER received periodically. For a moment, he heard nothing. Then, he heard some kind of swift movement coming from the right side of the hall. However, it only lasted for a moment before it was eerily silent once more.

"Okay," he said very slowly as he started to back away from the door. "Something definitely doesn't seem right here. What was all that screaming just now about? What happened to that man? Maybe I should go outside and take a quick look. Before I do that, though…"

He quickly turned around and started to walk towards the center of his room where a coffee table and a sofa were situated at. On the coffee table was a sword; a big wide sword that was given to him by Angeal upon his succession to SOLDIER 1st Class. He picked it up from its resting spot and placed it onto his back.

"Better bring this with me, too, just in case," he said as he also picked up a couple of stones, both green in color, and placed them onto his armlet. "Can't be too careful these days. Now I'm ready to go and see what all the commotion was about."

Once again, Zack made his way towards the door. This time, he punched in the code to his door. Before he pressed the enter button, he made one last check to make sure he had everything on him.

"Sword…check," he mumbled as he made a mental checklist. "Materia, one recovery and one elemental based…check. SOLDIER 1st Class ID card…check. I am good to go!" he confirmed with a smile.

Seeing that he had everything on him, he pressed the enter button and waited patiently for the door to open.

"Alright," he said excitedly as the doors started to open. "Whatever's out there, you better prepare yourself for a beating because 1st Class SOLDIER Zack is on the job!"