Chapter two:
Cloud sighed as he stepped into the training room. It was the day after he had come into this world and he was about to start his first SOLDIER training session. He was pretty sure they were planning on training him just simply on fitness today, but he wasn't entirely sure.
As he entered the grounds, he noticed with approval that they were very well kept. He would at least hope that the training area for the cadets would be well financed seeing as the rooms were not. The ground was covered in brownish-orange clay and running courses were set up all around. A large number of cadets were present in the room, but they were scattered into smaller groups and were talking amongst themselves.
Cloud decided not to join any of the groups, thinking it might go well with his shy and withdrawn persona, and busied himself in stretching. He made sure the stretches were simple and common as to not make it look suspicious. He really thought no one would really notice how he was stretching, but it was good to be careful.
"Hey! You! Kid!" a brunette and rough looking boy called. Cloud ignored him, thinking he was talking to someone else, but was sadly mistaken as a foot jabbed him in his ribs. He looked up at the brunette with a questioning look and made no move to stand up from his stretch.
"Yes? You need something?" Cloud asked politely, his eyes innocent and honest. But, on the inside, he knew his real self would be glaring at the boy with anger at his disrespect. Though the boy wouldn't know who he was, Cloud knew that he was showing a very low conduct towards his fellow cadet.
"Yeah! Why ain't cha in a uniform?" the rough looking boy questioned. The question had a snide kind of hint to it, and the new undercover cadet knew that this boy didn't care at all about what he was wearing.
"I just joined. I'm getting it later," Cloud spoke truthfully, acting like he was answering any everyday question and ignoring the rude side to it.
And the answer was the truth. He was going to be getting his cadet uniform later that day seeing as they were low on the clothing. It was kind of pathetic, Cloud couldn't help but think. They had too many cadets that wanted to become a SOLDIER and not enough SOLDIERs at hand. The cadets weren't powerful enough to make it. And, unfortunately, Cloud had to act as one of those flunkies.
"OH! So, you're a newbie, huh?" the rough looking boy smirked evilly as Cloud finally stood up. Cloud was starting to get a knot in his stomach. "The name's Brian!" the brunette, now known as Brian, stretched out his hand. Cloud took it and shook it. Cloud noted with displeasure that the hand was slimy, greasy, and dirty with what seemed like caked on mud.
Cloud pulled his hand away and rubbed it on his jeans, some of the grime still stuck to his own hand.
"You know, for every newbie we have a little initiation test for 'em!" Brian took a menacing step towards the blonde, who in turn took a step back. In his real personality, Cloud would have probably decked the guy by now, but he had to keep up the act, whether he liked it or not!
"And, uh, what's this initiation, exactly?" Cloud stuttered. He hated to stutter. He hadn't stuttered since he was first joining the army back in his home world.
Cloud looked behind this Brian kid and saw a bunch of gross looking boys following their leader. Shit, this was bad.
"Oh," Cloud turned back to the brunette before him, "just gotta stay conscious for the duration!" Cloud couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He glared at Brian with darkened eyes and growled quietly. He knew what was coming next.
He felt a fist connect with his jaw and he staggered backwards. The group of boys let out something like a battle cry and charged at him. Cloud dodged the first strike charged at him, and barely got away from the second, but the third made a connection with his eye and the next thing he knew, Cloud was on his back getting a beat down from the group of disgusting bullies.
Just like high school, Cloud thought darkly, remembering when he was a teen fox demon. Everyone would attack the new kid. And, he sadly realized, that he had joined in the first couple times.
Slowly, the punches started to fade and finally stopped all together. The group stood up and backed away from the beat blonde. The looked at him in disgust. Cloud did not get off of the ground and faked pained expressions. Actually, he only felt a small stinging, nothing more. It was barely even there. But, that was because he was used to pain and had been so much worse. He didn't like acting, all of a sudden.
"Pfft! What a wimp!" Cloud's eyes shot open and his fake moaning stopped. Brian was the one speaking. "He didn't even defend himself! Now he can't even stand up!" the brunette leader spat onto Cloud's cheek in disgust. "Weakling!" And the whole grouped laughed, just like androids.
Cloud's face burned red with pure rage and he gritted his teeth. Anger boiled within him. As the group started to leave him, he wiped the disgusting spit off his cheek and rubbed it off in the clay beneath him. The last to leave was Brian, who gave a triumphant and smug grin in the direction of Cloud. That smile made the blonde teen snap.
And, right when Brian turned his back to him, without a sound, Cloud swept Brian's feet out from under him with a swift kick. The brunette was hovering there for a second, his feet shooting out to the right as he fell. In a mere second, Cloud was behind his falling form, placed his hand against the side of Brian's face, and slammed the brunette's head into the ground. The slam was so hard that a few cracks formed in the ground and small clumps of clay were sent shooting straight up.
Cloud was swift and quickly zipped away from the scene before Brian himself knew who had attacked him. Cloud stood on a far wall, behind a few course equipment, hidden from the large group of cadets.
Brian's groupies were rushing over to their fallen leader asking him who had just done that, if he was all right, and the rare question of "where did that newbie go?"
~After Training~
The large group of cadets walked slowly and laboriously out of the training room. They all kept groaning about how much their legs hurt and how their arms ached, especially a certain brunette who had a very hurt head. Cloud shook his head as he went unnoticed in the back of the large group when he heard someone ask Brian who had attacked him and he answered that he didn't know.
Cloud knew Brian hadn't SEEN who had attacked him, for the blonde had been too fast to be noticed, but couldn't he just figure it out using logic? Well, obviously he was the idiot bully of this group of cadets.
Cloud decided to ignore the gossip and complaints of the other cadets. He didn't hurt at all. That course had been child's play for him. No, not child's play, more like a simple little game for toddlers. But, for everyone else, it was apparently the worst thing that ever happened to him or her.
He had been right on the lesson focusing on conditioning the young cadets.
"Lunch is soon!" Cloud jumped a little bit in surprise, not noticing the dark haired man walking next to him. His name was Carmille. He was a bit older then most the cadets in Cloud's group, but the blonde didn't mind. At least he'd have someone to have a nice, intellectual conversation with every now and again. Carmille had been Cloud's running partner in two of the courses.
The blonde wouldn't call him and the man friends, exactly, but more like acquaintances.
"Oh, yeah, so it is!" Cloud said softly, looking over at the brown-eyed man walking next to him.
"Hey, why ain't you tired? I'd expect you to be dragging yourself across the floor by now," Carmille inquired as he noticed Cloud's smooth, calm steps.
Cloud cursed himself and scolded himself inside his head. He had been doing so well in his acting during the training, acting like he was massively tired when he really wasn't. But, here he was, almost walking regally and with out tire like nothing had happened at all.
"Heh, I guess I can just catch my breath real fast!" Cloud said the best thing he could come up with at a second's notice.
"You guess? You could barely breath back there! They must have some sort of spell over that room or something!" Carmille wondered to himself. That was something Cloud had learned of his running partner instantly. He had a small attention span. He seemed to always fade to another subject and forget what he was talking about earlier.
Cloud blinked at the dark haired man for a bit as he looked on in thought. Carmille blinked a few times himself then suddenly had a look of recognition.
"HEY! MIKEY-BOY!! WAIT UP!!!" Carmille yelled after another cadet and ran forward to catch up with his friend. Cloud couldn't help but sigh, glad that the crisis was averted.
The group dispersed to go to their own rooms. Cloud headed to his own.
As he opened the door, it creaked loudly, and the blonde found what looked like folded clothes on his bed. He looked over them and found a note hidden under a few folds. It read:
Dear Cadet,
Welcome to ShinRa. We are happy that you have joined and are hoping you become a grand SOLDIER. These are your cadet uniforms. They need to drip dry or they will shrink. Good luck! And, don't die out there!
Cloud read over the last line again. "Yeah! That'll settle ANYBODIES nerves!" he grumbled sarcastically to himself. This was the weirdest note he had ever read. Well, other then that one note Kiva had passed to him during homeroom in second grade… don't ask…
Cloud crumbled up the note and threw it away in the small trashcan next to his door. He shrugged off the clothes he was wearing and slipped the uniform on. There were two extras just incase and he folded them and put them into his small closet.
The uniform was a bit big on him, but it allowed good circulation and it was easy to move in.
Cloud stepped out of his room and headed for the dining hall. He had memorized the lay out of the ShinRa building the night before and was ready to go anywhere. Cloud passed a group of gossiping cadets on his way that were saying something about a new cook in the dining hall.
The blonde king stepped into the room that was supposed to be the dining hall. It was a huge room actually. It had to be to hold all the cadets and SOLDIER. Cloud looked at the food line and realized, with a sigh, that it would take maybe thirty minutes to get through it.
So, he decided he'd just go and sit at a free table and wait for the line to shorten.
He was surprised to find a table with no one sitting at it. He took a seat near the end without hesitation. This was pretty nice. It would help with his persona and he wanted some nice peace and quiet.
Cloud set both his elbows on the table and propped his head in both his palms. He stared off at the far wall as he zoned out. He wasn't really thinking of anything, really. Just, thinking.
But, Cloud was pulled out of his thoughts as a bang across the table shocked him back to reality. He looked around for the source and soon saw a tall man standing across the table from him, his tray set in the place directly across from Cloud.
He must have slammed the table, Cloud realized.
The man across from him took a seat calmly and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Now, what are you doing over here all by your lonesome?" the man questioned quite loudly, actually. Cloud looked over the man quickly. He had black, untamed hair and violet eyes. His skin wasn't exactly tanned, like Cloud's, but wasn't really pale either. And, Cloud realized, he was grinning from ear to ear. The smile reminded the blonde king of a certain red phoenix.
"Uh, well, actually I," Cloud started, trying to sound like he didn't know how to answer, but the black haired man held up his index finger as if to tell Cloud to be silent.
"Don't tell me! You're trying to put off the 'lone wolf' title, right?" the man questioned, his smile turning more into a smirk and he looked at Cloud through the corner of his eyes.
Cloud blinked a few times and finally decided to play along. This man seemed a lot like Kiva and he knew how to deal with people that seemed to have caffeine running through their veins.
"Yeah, you're totally right! Lone wolf is what I aim for!" Cloud smiled slightly. His cheeks hurt a bit at the forced grin. If he really did feel like smiling it would be fine, but he hadn't exactly had the best life and forcing a smile out of him never really went well.
The violet-eyed man's grin grew even wider, if that were possible. He laughed a thick laugh that echoed around the cafeteria. It earned a few weird looks from other cadets or SOLDIERs.
"I like ya, kid! You're ok!" the man slammed his hand against Cloud's shoulder, not meaning to make it so strong, the blonde guessed, and cause him to fall out of his seat with a yelp.
Cloud sat on the ground, his right leg still draped over his seat and his left out to the side. He crossed his arms angrily and glared up at the purple eyes that were peaking at him over the edge of the table.
"Sorry!" the man smiled sheepishly and Cloud rolled his eyes, but he still grabbed the hand that was offered to him to help him up. Cloud took his seat again and made no gesture that he was going to look at the man.
"I'm Zack, by the way!" the man introduced himself cheerfully. Cloud glanced over at the man, but remembered that he was trying to ignore him and quickly looked away again. Zack laughed again at Cloud's silliness.
"Cloud Strife," the blonde mumbled his name to the man. Zack leaned forward a bit towards the table and looked around with shifty eyes.
"And the boy of steal cracks under the pressure," Zack said as if he were some sort of game show host. Cloud rolled his eyes again and glanced at the lunch line. It was still pretty long, so he'd wait a few more minutes.
Cloud sat there for a while in silence, actually, and he started to wonder if that Zack guy had left. He didn't look over, though. He didn't really care. He just stared at the wall to his right, until a fork, with what looked like pasta on it, hovered in front of his face.
Cloud blinked at the food for a second then looked at the man holding the fork.
"What are you doing?" Cloud asked Zack blankly. The ravenette blinked at him with big eyes, his mouth like a simple dot. He just stared at the blonde a couple seconds, the wagged the fork up and down a few times.
"Eeeeeeeeeeat the food. Eeeeeeeat the food!" Zack whispered, continuing to wiggle the food in front of the new cadet's face.
"No thank you," Cloud pushed the food away from his face and back over to its owner. The smell was starting to get to him. He still had his acute sense of smell and the smell of food, namely the meat, was driving him crazy on the inside. It was lunchtime and he was hungry. He tried not to show it, but the loud growl that came from his stomach made his attempt pointless.
"Hey, kid, you gotta eat!" Zack smirked at the blonde who just shook his head.
Cloud jabbed a thumb at the long line. "I'm waiting for the line to get shorter." Zack clapped lightly on his palm with the tips of his fingers.
"Smart! Smart! Grand idea!" Zack mocked the way a smug "gentleman" may have spoken. Cloud arched his eyebrow at Zack as if he were crazy. Well, he probably was, but he wasn't going to actually ask him that.
A few more minutes passed and Cloud suddenly felt he needed to talk to someone. It was a very good thing that Zack had decided to come and keep him company. At least not everyone in the SOLDIER program was a total jerk.
"So, are you a cadet or SOLDIER?" Cloud asked slowly, turning to Zack and twiddled with his thumbs. He was surprised to see that the man hadn't touched his lunch of pasta yet.
The raven-haired man just grinned and laughed a little bit. "Actually!" Zack smiled happily as he dragged out the word. Cloud arched his eyebrow again at the odd man.
"Actually? What does that mean?" Cloud questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly and Zack chuckled.
"I'm the Lieutenant!" Cloud's eyes went wide with surprise and Zack burst into laughter at his expression. Cloud had not seen that coming. This crazy man was the Lieutenant? That just didn't seem possible! This man seemed like he needed help tying his boots in the morning!
"I know! SHOCKER!" Zack's smile never left as his laughter finally silenced. "So, what, are you? A new cadet, or what? I've never seen you around here!" Cloud shook his head to get it out of its haze and blinked at the ravenette.
"Huh?" he questioned him, blinking at him, and then remembered what he had been asked. "Oh! Yeah, I'm new here," Cloud paused a minute to think. "Sir," he finished with a flinch on the inside. He had to keep up the persona. It felt weird to call someone other then the members of the Grand Council "sir".
Zack's smile faltered a bit and he looked closely at the blonde. He reached over and poked Cloud's bruised face. Stupid Brian. "Some o' the other cadets rough you up a little?" Zack questioned, continuing to poke the bruise. Cloud didn't even flinch, because it didn't even hurt.
"That would be an understatement," Cloud mumbled. It was weird. Because his body was younger now, it held more injuries for a longer amount of time and bruised easily, but Cloud was used to pain in his mind and a few things he still possessed in this human form. He didn't really FEEL the pain, just knew it was happening.
"Eh, you seem pretty tough! It couldn't of been THAT bad!" Zack's full grin was back and Cloud flinched that time. He didn't mean to seem tough. He was supposed to look weak.
"Forget it," Cloud grumbled, shooing the meddlesome finger away from his face. He was starting to get a bit uncomfortable with the man across from him.
"Yeah! Yeah, sure!" Zack waved his hands in front of his chest as if to ward something off, which made Cloud flinch again. He looked a lot like Kiva when he did that. "Hey! The line's shorter! Go and get your food!" Cloud glanced at the shortened line, then back at Zack with a suspicious look.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" the blonde asked, meaning it to be a joke. The ravenette seemed to get it, for he started to laugh… again…
"NAH! NAH!" he said between his laughter, "You just need to eat somethin'!!" Cloud sighed and got up from the table. He stood at the back of the line and waited for his turn. He finally received his tray of pasta. Strips of meat were sprinkled over the noodles and he also had a good pile of peas and corn. He snatched a small carton of milk and went back over to his seat.
He was mildly surprised to see Zack still sitting there. Some part of him expected the Lieutenant to get up and leave while the blonde was still in the line. And, again, Cloud noticed that the man hadn't touched his food, yet. The king shrugged off the thoughts, grateful that the man hadn't left, and took his seat again.
"DIG IN!" Zack exclaimed suddenly, making Cloud jump in surprise. The violet-eyed man finally began to shovel in his own lunch and a small, real smile went across Cloud's lips.
He waited for me to eat, Cloud realized with joy as he began to eat his pasta slowly and with delicate manners. Zack paused for a second to look at Cloud and chuckled. Cloud looked at him through slightly narrowed eyes.
"What's so funny?" the blonde inquired.
"Oh nothing! Just, with all those manners you're using, you remind me of a friend of mine!" Zack smiled at Cloud then began to eat again. Cloud couldn't help but wonder who this "friend" was, but decided to leave it at that, seeing as Zack hadn't said it right then.
Cloud was busy finishing off his corn when Zack finally chugged down his drink and sighed with satisfaction. Cloud hadn't touched his milk yet, or finished his peas, but the crazy Lieutenant was already done.
Zack smiled a bit, then put his head on the table and stared at Cloud as he ate. Cloud blinked at him for a few seconds, his fork still in his mouth, and then finally placed the utensil down with a sigh.
"Yes, Sir? You need anything?" Cloud questioned blankly. Zack stared at him a few more seconds.
"Do you want your milk?" the ravenette finally asked. Cloud glanced at his milk.
"Yes sir, I do," the blonde answered.
He was about to go back to eating when Zack spoke again. "Are you sure?" Cloud set his fork down again and looked over at the odd man.
"Yes, I am sure," he answered, not really caring that he didn't say "sir".
The blonde waited a few more seconds to see if Zack asked him anymore questions. He didn't, so Cloud lifted up his fork again. He was about to put it and a small pile of peas into his mouth when, "Are you sure you're sure?" Cloud placed his fork down with an angry and loud sigh. He looked down at the grinning Lieutenant with an annoyed glare.
"Yes sir! I'm sure I'm sure!" Cloud ground out through gritted teeth.
"Are you sure you're sure you're—" Cloud cut off the Lieutenant's question by snatching his milk and quickly chugging it down.
"All gone!" Cloud stated, placing the empty carton back on his tray. Zack made a face, like a sad puppy, and pouted. Cloud rolled his eyes and began to eat his peas again.
He thought he was in the clear, until Zack spoke up again. "Do you want your peas?"
Cloud slammed his head on the table.
~After Lunch~
Cloud sighed angrily as he threw his tray away. Zack had finally stopped asking him if he wanted his own food. Cloud was very thankful for that. But, as a substitution, the crazy black-haired man had taken great joy in poking the blonde's gravity defying hair.
"IT'S LIKE A CHOCOBO'S BUTT!!!" Zack exclaimed cheerfully as he followed Cloud around the room, continuing to poke his hair.
He's like a little kid! Cloud thought to himself.
"I'M GONNA NAME YOU SPIKY, AND YOU SHALL BE MINE!! HELLO LITTLE SPIKY!!!" Zack patted the top of Cloud's head happily, using a quote from some movie Cloud couldn't remember the title of.
The blonde could feel a vein pulse on his forehead in anger. "I am not a dog, sir!" Cloud ground out, exasperated. Zack just laughed and continued to poke the blonde's spikes. Cloud sighed and decided to try and ignore the annoying man.
He headed for the doors to go back to his room, but just as he opened the door, he ran into someone and fell flat on his back. Cloud groaned, more in frustration then in pain. He kept his eyes shut for the time being, trying to calm himself.
"Hey, Sephy! Whatcha' doin' here?!!" Zack questioned quite loudly. Cloud guessed he was talking to the man he had run into. What had he called him? Cloud's eyes snapped open and he gawked at the tall man standing before him.
"I needed to speak with you, Zackary," the man answered Zack, not even looking at the cadet that had run into him.
General Sephiroth!
