Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they are the ownership of Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura.

AN: ^^; Sorry about the lack of updating on this among several others I've pumped out to test the waters to see if I can interest in any different kinds of works, but they are kind of in a kind of...limbo...in regards to inspiration or drive to work them. I recently got a PM from someone, but it wasn't signed with any kind of Screenname or something but it asked if I would write/post more and so, on behalf of that person, whoever you are, this is for you ^.^

Just a little note here...um, in no way, am I trying to make the Character Elmer you'll meet that is Zack's bunkmate, in way, shape or form, am I attempting to make his personality like that of the character Cam out of Sephcounttheways' fanfic "Blonde Ambition"...the dialouge between Elmer and Zack is just something that ran into my head...and possibly affected from reading Blond Ambition ^^;;;;; Either way! In no way, shape or form, am I attempting to gross you guys out by having him ask Zack about whether or not the Mako Reactor affects his Male parts...^^;;;;;; Its meant as a joke. Pure. And. Simple. Any flames in regards to it...I will take them in to consideration and consider changing the dialogue so as to offend anyone.

Sidenote: I'm kind of 50/50 working on an Original Story...If you're at all interested in reading what has been written so far, send me a PM to my email address that can be found on my Profile and I'll more then happily send you what I have so far. Thank you and enjoy.

Chapter 4

The first night away is always the hardest night of them all when young men go away to something as venturous as Boot Camp, those that have been coddled more then others might find it harder to sleep through the first night. Cloud was trying to push that feeling out of his head, but the scent of his Mom was on everything he had brought with him to Boot Camp, even the little raggedy little stuffed animal he had snuck with him into his jacket as he laid snuggled down into his bed. It was hard to not cry in the midst of the darkness of the four person bunker dorm room, but it was okay to do it, he wasn't the only homesick. A young man that had to be about Cloud's age or a little older was silently sobbing to himself like a homesick little boy had gone to off Camp without Mommy to hold his hand along the way, some of the others in the room had sent spiteful words towards him to just shut up, buck up and go to sleep but Cloud sympathized with him. But he couldn't tear up or cry, this was the Military, you didn't do that, but all he could do was sit up in his bunker bed and pull out pen and paper that he had managed to find in the drawers of the dresser next to the bunk bed set up next to his bunker. With what little light there was left, especially from the Moon; he decided the only way he was going to be able to sleep with breaking into tears in his sleep was to write to his Mother.

Hey Ma,

I've made it to Boot Camp safe and sound, or as safe as I can be aside from the way the instructor's yell at us which is expected since we are as they put it, "worthless little maggots that will be shaped into lean mean fighting machines" kind of funny, isn't it? I haven't had a chance to real to get to know my bunkmates yet since we are all kind of tired from having to run off the bus, run to the Processing Line, get loaded down in our gear, then be shoved off to our rooms. Tomorrow, we are suppose to have Orientation which some are saying is boring, it's mostly made up of the head honcho's blowing hot air up our…well, you get what they're doing. From what I can make out of the guys I'm sharing a four man room with, I'm probably the only blond with gravity defying hair as well as probably the only Cadet from Niblehiem.

Well, lights out was about fifteen minutes ago and they expect us to be asleep already, so, I'm kind of risking my first steps into this program and becoming a SOLDIER to find out who my Father was by staying up and writing this by moonlight…

I know what you would say, "Get some sleep or else you'll never succeed", so, I'm going to take my own ideas and stop writing this, say goodnight and go to sleep; the first morning bell is at 5:30 and we have from there till almost 6:30 to eat breakfast and get to our first Class. So…good night, Ma…miss you.

Your Loving Son,

Cloud Strife

P.S. I miss you…

The letter was finished as Cloud folded it up and tucked it up into his pillowcase as he let his head fall on it, but not enough to wrinkle the letter or to wake up any of the guy's in his bunk; it wouldn't be a good first impression to make at this hour of the night. Heavily the eyes shut closed, but there was no point getting to sleep at this point; he was wide awake and there was no point in trying to sleep and as he lay there with his eyes open, thinking of the next morning.

"Why is that adrenaline stays with you so long…?"

"You're going to lose that adrenaline in a second if you don't shut up and try get to sleep!" one of the guys threw a pillow at Cloud which seemed to shut him up for the night as his mind finally found a way to fall asleep, dreaming of home, his Mom, but the dream he wanted most to come true was finding out who his Dad was.

Zack stood in the processing line as he yawned behind the one in front of him as the line moved as slow as could be; it was crazy how slow the line was and only because some guys were trying to debate out their rooming accommodations and it was driving the ones responsible for the Processing crazy. Some walked away grateful for what they got while some just walked away grumbling and complaining about how unfair all of it was to have to be stuck with someone they knew was going to snore since they had heard their now bunkmate snoring on the bus ride to the Compound. Once it was Zack's turn, he was grateful to just get a room to go and fall asleep in, the long ride out from Gongaga was not a fun one it could be said and everything ached. Luckily, their Commander wasn't one for berating them, just yet; he just wanted them off his Parade Grounds, off his bus and in his barracks before he had some reason to berate them before the due time. From all Zack could figure, maybe being part of ShinRa wasn't going to be all that bad. Unfortunately, it got worse, especially when Zack found out his snoring bus riding mate was one of the guys he would be sharing a bunk with, oh what joy that must've been even as the others watched on, snickering and giggling at the fact he got stuck with the guy.

"So, what's your name?" the young man snorted; it was apparent he had some breathing problems from his weight and it made him slightly heavy set and he tended to waddle when he walked, how he ever made through the scanning process was beyond anyone, "My name is Elmer, I hail from out of the kind of Western woodlands, can't really pinpoint you to whether its part of Gongaga or Niblehiem, but its home."

Zack didn't seem too put off as he extended a warm, welcoming, shaking hand as his face gave the young man a warm smile, "Fair, Zack Fair, I'm from Gongaga…"

Elmer seemed rather surprised to had met a backwater boy much like himself, "Well, glad to had met you, Zack, say, can I ask you a personal question?" the young man pulled Zack aside as to try and not draw the other guy's attention, "Have you noticed anything, odd…about the little man downstairs?"

"What are you getting at?" Zack couldn't tell if this guy was trying to play a game of, 'Find the Hotdog' or if the guy was serious about this, "Are you saying you're some kind of sick bastard that gets kicks off asking about other guy's equipment?"

"No, no, no, I'm just saying…you're from a backwater part of the World…and you guys have Mako Reactors back there and…well, did it effect the little guy?"

As odd a question as that was; it was hard to not say it might have, living out in such a place that housed a Mako reactor; it had now and again among some of the local men when he was younger they would sit around and talk about whether or not it was in the best decision of the Elites of the town to had allowed such a thing of ShinRa's into their little woodland town. Some of the men had even reported having problems "performing" after they had been stuck working around it for an extended period of time, but there hadn't been any problems in regards to size, if at all, the problem of whether or not it affected their "swimmers" was a question that was among them all. Zack even remembered getting a got swat on the bottom and a long talking to after he had come home and dared to even ask his Mom what the men meant about "swimmers" and "performing" among the other things the men had talked about. He never dared go near those gruff old men ever again out of fear of what his Mom had told him. She had told him, that if he even dared to go near the Mako Reactor that his, at the time of his child like language, that his "pee pee" would fall off and he would never be able to be considered a boy anymore and he would start becoming a girl.

To a little boy, that was taken seriously.

Zack nervously chuckled to his new bunkmate, "No, I can't say that has…Let's just say…I'm pretty sure "he's" still in working order."

"Well, how do you know?" Elmer waddled behind to alongside Zack as they hefted their rucksacks of their belongings along with them to their bunk.

"What do you mean how do I know?"

"Have you ever tried it out on anyone to make sure your guy isn't going to fail on you when the time calls for it and you've got some hot young thing panting out your name and you can't g---"Zack clasped his hands over his overweight new companion's mouth as he tried and hoped to Gaia that the night was hiding his embarrassed blush, "What?"

Zack nervously chuckled as he pushed Elmer into the room and Zack jumped up onto the top bunk, "…Let's just…not talk about our own personal…extracurricular life activities tonight, okay? We've all had a long bus ride, and I'm tired…and when I'm tired, I tend to say things I wish and want to regret later."

"It's cool man…sorry that I invaded your personal life," Elmer huffed about on the cot as he tried to get comfortable with the excess weight he had on him.

"It's alright…Night Elmer," Zack tiredly yawned as he rolled over on his side, trying to close his eyes and mind off to the world, but Elmer's question was still on his mind, Of course I know it works…or at least I think it does…

Dear Cloud,

Hey, it's me…Tifa. I guess we left off on bad terms before you left to try and join SOLDIER…about the night at the bar…I just want to say, thanks. I meant to tell you my thanks after you save me from that big old Gorilla, but I guess, you weren't in your right state of mind to hear my slurred thanks. I heard form your from that you got decked pretty hard in the head by his fist and all you got was a shiner from his fist and lost consciousness for a little bit…As far as my Dad goes. I can say this, he hasn't let me touch a drop of alcohol since that night and I've been away at a kind of Finishing School since you left for Midgar. Heh, I guess you weren't the only one leaving for somewhere far off, but…I should be getting to stop off back at home around Christmas time…I hope you can come home for Christmas even if its only 6 months away.

The night at the bar…I'm sorry for feeling you up…I feel so terrible for doing that to you and I only hope you can forgive me for doing that and hopefully…when you come for the Holidays, maybe I can make it up to you? But it's all up to you if you still want to speak to me, if you don't want to ever speak or see me again, I'll fully understand, Cloud…But I do hope we can still be friends. Well, I better make this short and brief…lights are out in a few moments and I'm writing this before curfew, so, I hope to hear from you or at least see you in the near future.

Friends Always,

Tifa Lockhart

P.S. Your Mom sends her love…

Tifa finished with the letter as she placed it away in a drawer at her desk as she turned off the desk lamp, looking across the way from her bedroom window to the solitary window still lit in the Strife household as a woman sat a table, alone, head in her hands, quietly sobbing. The first night alone without Cloud in the house, sleeping quietly in the next room so that she knew that when she went to sleep, there would be some form of male support there to drive out any intruders that would dare creep into her home during the night; for Teresa, it was hard to come to terms with the fact that the only two men she had ever had in her life were gone. One in a figurative sense and the other, in the reality sense; lying to Cloud that she was off at a Finishing School was hard to write to him, she couldn't very well come out and tell him that she was staying at home to keep an eye on Cloud's mother because she had seen the way she had become the moment Cloud's bus had pulled away. She had become a broken woman the minute the bus had pulled around the corner as she fell to her knees and openly sobbed, her tears mixing with the dirt of the road as the crowd started for their own homes. Leaving her to grieve the loss of a son to the dogs of ShinRa so that he could become just like the dogs of ShinRa; cold, heartless, and devoid of emotion or compassion for any human life or lives they took under the orders of some commanding officer who was just as desensitized as the rest of the brainless bastards at ShinRa.

Crawling into a bottle seemed like a nice idea, but, "…No, no…I can't just do that…it would kill Cloud if he found out…" she pushed the bottle away, more like threw the bottle of hard liquor at the wall, "…Oh great Goddess or Gaia…please…send me a distraction or something to keep away the temptations of this Planet so as to not give my son reason to be disgraced of me…Please…Or I shall surely go mad…"

"Ms. Strife?" a soft knock came to the door of her home as she softly moved away from the table, but cautiously as she peeked the door open a little, "…Are you Ms. Strife?"

Teresa eyed the stranger with great curiosity; he reminded her of someone she once knew at one time, but washed away as the man's face became clear, "Y-Yes, I'm Ms. Strife…may I help you?"

"Teresa…Is that really you?" the voice became familiar as the man tried to force the door open further, "I…It's me…Nathaniel…Nathaniel Strife…More like…"

"You…" her mouth dropped open with shock and awe, taken back by the fierce reality shock that had been kicked into her seat as her eyes softly focused on him, "You…You…You…"

"…I'm home…to reclaim the woman who would be my wife…"