Cloud

I'd heard a lot from the others. About how it was never a good sign when you were given a mission you got to know nothing about. They always laughed about how infantrymen were dispensable, and if Shinra was sending you on a suicide mission, they didn't tell you about it, because they wanted you to go in like you planned on winning. I had always heard about how people in jobs like this, army jobs, would make jokes to cope with the pressure of 'kill or be killed'. That's fine, I guess, but sometimes it became awfully hard to tell when they were joking, especially when their good luck pat on the back felt like a goodbye.

Infantry was not the place for me. I always found guns to be kind of, well... crude, I guess, and the armor was a joke. The only way you could really survive in infantry gear was to not get hit, which I'd proven myself to be pretty good at. I'd been working in Shinra for a couple of years now, and had obviously survived. I had also been shipped off to missions in a number of other regions, and proved that I could preform well in just about any environment. Unfortunately, I also proved that I would get motion sick in just about any vehicle. The latter stopped me from ever receiving a promotion, so I could only make a name for myself within the ranks of infantrymen. As long as you're an infantryman, you're treated like an infantryman, no matter how much you've proven yourself.

Special treatment only ever came during mission assignments, and it wasn't always favorable. I had excelled in my previous missions at reactors, so I was selected for another mission at a reactor. These missions were definitely not favorable. They were always dark and smelled strongly of the Mako they were processing into energy. They were also the hotspots for attacks from anti-Shinra terrorist groups who thought that the company was destroying the world by sucking all of it's Mako dry. Shinra tried to keep these terrorist views secret, but they were obviously out there, especially since some of the citizens felt the same way. It didn't really concern me. All that did was my mission, which happened to be at a reactor.

I stood in a line with the rest of the infantrymen as our captain called our names for the headcount. There were a lot more of us then there was on my last reactor mission; all of us lined up for something we knew nothing about. All we had been told was to pack supplies, so we were obviously staying there for a while. I heard my name, Cloud Strife, called by the captain, and I saluted in response as we were supposed to do. The headcount finished, and as we filed into the vehicles, I caught a glance of the first class that would be accompanying us. It was Zack Fair, a man with overgrown spiky black hair and a massive sword. I had worked on a mission with him before. He was nice, but it kind of made me nervous how much he would tease the head of the Turks. I guess they weren't as intimidating to a first class SOLDIER.

The armored vehicles took off, and we could hear the screeching of the metal doors opening as we left Midgar. As we drove, I had the same thought echoing through my mind; infantry was not the place for me. Seeing Zack only reminded me of that. He was an obvious choice for first class. He made advancing through the ranks look easy, going from third class to first in almost record time. I wanted to be able to advance through the ranks. I wanted to be able to wield a massive sword like that. I had actually never seen him use that sword though. On my previous mission with him, he had a different, smaller sword. If I was remembering correctly, his current sword used to belong to Angeal, a first class SOLDIER who was killed in action a while back.

It had been my dream to get into SOLDIER since I was a kid, and now I found myself stuck in a job that was supposed to be just a stepping stone. Why couldn't I advance? Then I felt my stomach churn a little. Oh right, that was why. I dug through the supplies I packed, and pulled out a cluster of journals held together by rubber bands and a pencil. I started writing in journals a while back because one of my squad mates said it might help take my mind off of being motion sick. It didn't help much, but it stuck, and I'd been writing ever since. I usually just wrote about my mission; what it was, where it was, who was going, and later I'd write about how it went. I didn't know much about my mission this time, but that had never stopped me before.

X day/X month/X year - Time: 8:36am,

I'm currently on route to my mission to the reactor on Mt. Coral. Mission details haven't been

given as of yet. I counted about twenty infantrymen assigned on this mission, including myself.

We're also being accompanied by two captains, one for each squad of ten, and one SOLDIER

first class: Zack Fair.

Got about six or seven hours of sleep last night. The infantry are antsy because we don't know

what we're dealing with yet. Hopefully, Zack will inform us upon arrival at the reactor. I hope

it's nothing too bad, because I know a few of the men here myself. Regardless of what it is, give

it more than your best, and maybe you'll see a promotion.

That last part finished almost all of my journal entries. A while ago, I had the same captain for three missions in a row. He was impressed with me on the first two missions. On the third, that was what he said to me; give it more than your best, and maybe you'll see a promotion. That gave me a lot more hope than I had at the time. He died on that mission.

When we arrived, we had a welcoming party waiting for us. Apparently, a number of troops had already been stationed there to guard the place, but the numbers seemed a bit larger than usual. The captain of the party wasted no words on us, and went straight to talking in private with Zack. This was fine by me, because it's a little difficult to stand at attention when your stomach feels like it's starting to do back flips. All I did was sit at the back of the vehicle we drove in on. The doors were open, so I just let my feet hang to the ground outside and peered up from time to time to watch the other guys waiting. That was all we could really do right then. Usually, we'd have some idea of where to go or what to do when we arrived at site, but as of then, we had nothing.

After a few minutes, Zack started to make his way back over to us. He looked laid back, but you could tell that he was formulating his words as he approached. The infantrymen formed a somewhat sloppy line in anticipation for what Zack had to say. Reluctantly, I joined them. I was interested to find out what our mission was.

"You were all told ahead of time to pack supplies for today's mission." Zack started, still watching the ground as he approached. He turned his gaze up to us, and all our eyes locked onto his. The Mako infused eyes were a trademark of a SOLDIER. He gave a long stare, and then his look got more serious, "As you've all probably figured out, that means we're gonna be here for a while. They've already got camps set up for us here. Our mission," he paused, "is to guard this reactor with all we've got. I know you all want to know more than that, but all I can tell you is that they're working on something important in there, and it's top priority to keep terrorists and Wutai assailants out. Until trouble, we're mostly on standby. All of you should report to your captains for your assignments."

We broke our line and joined our teams of ten to get our orders from the captains. On my way, I felt a hand against my shoulder.

"That's all he's gonna give us, huh?" It was Dallert, one of the infantrymen I had been on a mission or two with. He was a bit taller then most of the other guys, but he was friendly, and he was one of the people who remained friendly with me between missions.

"Guess so." I said, still wishing I knew more myself.

"How's the stomach?" He gave me a few pats on the back.

"Not great," I answered. The pats didn't help, but I decided not to tell him that, "Holding up."

"Well, maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who doesn't get any work 'till later." We both hushed up as we stepped into a line in front of our captain. As he handed out the orders, it turned out that both scenarios were true. I was one of the firsts to go out on duty, but the captain gave everyone a few hours to go unpack at camp. That meant that they really didn't have any pressing need for us to be there, and that made me wonder what exactly they were expecting, and what we should be expecting. It was strange to have a SOLDIER first class simply to be on standby.

When I made it to camp, it was a bit less camp-like than I thought it would be. There were no tents set up, but rather four Shinra mobile homes, most likely flown in by plane, and several metal storage crates full of supplies. The homes weren't anything special. They resembled trailers, except larger and metal. Inside, there were five rooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. I found the room with my name on it and threw down my bag inside. At least there were enough rooms that we didn't have to have bunk mates. Even all that made me feel strange about my mission. I decided, however, that it didn't make any sense to worry about it when there was nothing I could do, especially since my first assignment was just guard duty. Besides, with Zack there, it wasn't likely that things could go too wrong. All I could do was wait and see.