Cloud was losing it. If he didn't pass this exam his career as a soldier would be cut short, even before it began. So many awesome things had happened already that he didn't like the idea of having to leave.
In his frantic state, Cloud has began to hyperventilate and was drawing quite a bit of attention to himself.
"You ok Strife?" Tidus asked from beside him. Ever since they'd been called to the lab, Tidus had matched Cloud's stride so that he could walk with him. He'd been saying something about their spar but of course Cloud was too preoccupied with having a small heartattack to notice that a god was speaking to him.
"Whaa?" Stumbled Cloud, being brought out of his frantic state but a nudge from Tidus.
"Breathe bud." Tidus smiled. "It's never as bad as they make it out to be. Even if you don't react well to the mako injection, there is always spots left for you as soldier." Tidus smiled and put his arm around Cloud bring him in toward his chest, ruffling his hair playfully. Cloud noticed that Tidus had a sharp spicy smell, almost like cinnamon. Cloud breathed in deep. He really loved the way he smelled. As fast as it happened it was over and Tidus had let him go.
"Sweet." Cloud said halfheartedly. "If I'm not good enough to be a real soldier, they give me a grunt job, like guarding the town or some shit like that."
Tidus laughed out right at this.
"Yeah something like that." Tidus smirked. "My friend Auron, he stared off as a guard too. His body reacted so bad to the injection and tried so hard to reject it that it almost killed him. He was pretty upset about it. They gave him an ok guarding job and after a couple years he tried again and this time his body accepted the injection like it had been craving it." Tidus kicked a rock that was on the ground and then turned to smile a Cloud. "So you see, even if you fail this test, you can always take it again."
Cloud smiled. There was no way in hell he could tell if Tidus had been telling the truth, but who could deny that smile. Certainly not Cloud. He instantly felt better from the little pep talk and tried to pick up the conversation that Tidus had been trying to have with him earlier. The walk to the lab seemed to take minutes. Before he knew it, they were all being ushered in to the white building. Instantly all Cloud's doubts about the injection returned.
"Alright trainees, I'm going to call you one by one and each of you is going to go into the experimentation lab and receive your injection from Dr. Hojo." Reno said calmly from the front of the mass of people.
"Once you're done depending on how well you react, you will either be escorted back to the field or to the dining hall for lunch. I know a lot of you are extremely worried about this injection and you should be. This injection has claimed many lives and destroyed many careers. Be prepared for anything. Don't enter this room expecting to react well or badly. You never know what it going to happen."
He looked down at the clipboard and then scanned the mass of trainees.
"Strife. Tidus."
Cloud froze instantly. He hadn't been expecting to learn the status of his fact so soon.
"We'll start with you two first. Tidus you'll be the first out of you two to see the Dr."
Tidus walked toward the door. Before he went in he turned and gave Cloud a reassuring thumbs up. Despite Tidus's cheerful attitude the whole ordeal, Cloud was still shaking in his boots.
Time seem to drone by as slow as molasses. Cloud's palms were being to sweet with anticipation of going into that room. Cloud was beginning to slip into a mild shock when someone grabbed his hand and turned him around. Cloud opened his eyes to find Zack standing behind him beaming.
"So how'd it go Spikey?" Zack asked his expression turning to slight confusion when he noticed the little beads of sweat on Cloud's brow.
"You haven't been yet? Well that's great!"
Cloud shook his head with a look of utter bewilderment and confusion at his crazy roommate.
"I wanted to be here when you come out. I want to walk you and your little boy toy back to fields."
Cloud flushed bright red and jammed his fists into his pockets. Sometimes he just wanted to punch Zack's lights out but he knew that one: Zack was a hell of a lot stronger than he was and two: he would be too nervous now to be a formidable opponent for anyone.
Whispering fiercely and through clenched teeth Cloud replied. "He is not my boy toy! And what makes you so sure that I'll be going back to the fields anyway?"
Laughing at his friend's embarrassment, which could clearly be seen by anyone who was paying any attention to him, and his anger Zack shook his head.
"Because unlike you Blondie, I have faith in you…Besides if you don't react well to the injection I'm out a hundred bucks."
Cloud was in a state of totally shock and fury.
"You bet on how well I would do?"
Cloud sputtered.
"What in the hell were you thinking Zack!? I have half a mind to quit and not even get the injection so that your sorry ass will lose by default."
"Whoa whoa whoa there Spikey! I have total confidence in you. After watching you spar with the other blonde hottie, I figured you're a shoe in."
Zack shrugged.
"No one ever does that good in the prelims and react bad to mako. It just doesn't happen."
"Zack I'm going to…wait what? You think I did…GOOD today?"
Cloud was shaken by the unexpected compliment and decided that though he was furious with Zack he would let it go for now. After all, the last thing he wanted was to make a scene in front of the whole entire trainee squad.
"Hell yeah Spikey!" Zack grabbed his shoulders with enthusiasm.
"You stuck the fasted and best trainee in the troupe. If you don't react well there's no hope for anyone."
Cloud smiled. This really mad him feel better, but in the mist of all these good feelings he thought of a question.
"Zack, what's so special about Tidus? Ever since today started, Reno's been watching him as if expecting something extraordinary."
Zack looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to the conversation he and the blonde were having and then leaned in closer to his companion.
"Now I don't know this for sure and for all you know I could be as mad as hatters but there have been rumors circulating that Tidus is related to Sephiroth… that he's his brother to be more exact."
Zack clamped his hand over Cloud's mouth just as he was about to exclaimed and whatever profound statement that Cloud was about to make was lost in the palm of his hand.
The look Zack gave Cloud next was of measured intensity. It was obvious to Cloud that this was information that not everyone knew. If they did…there would be no hope for Tidus. He'd be a constant victim of expectations and epic failures.
Once Zack was sure that Cloud was in control of himself he released him and nodded his approval to continue.
"WHAT!?" Whispered Cloud as quietly and vehemently.
This was a complete and totally 180. Sephiroth and Tidus looked nothing alike. There was no way that they could be related in any way shape or form. It just wasn't possible.
"How could Sephiroth have a brother? If he had, Hojo would have documented that in his journals. Hell he would have experimented with Mako on both Sephiroth and Tidus." Cloud stopped to catch his breath.
"This just can NOT be a possibility!"
Zack glanced around that make sure everyone was still engrossed in their own doings and turned back to Cloud.
"No of this is for sure information. Last time I went to the President's office for the usual, I walked in on him talking to one of the Turks about it." Zack stared off into space for a spell, contemplating what all of this could mean.
Cloud suddenly brightened. He knew the answer to this.
"Zack! Hojo did experiment on Tidus!" Cloud whispered excitedly.
"What? How do you know? Questioned Zack. Frowning at the blonde momentarily for the sudden burst of energy and enthusiasm.
"Don't you see?" Continued Cloud. "On the way here, Tidus had been telling me that it was ok if I didn't react well to the mako injection today because in a couple of years or even months my body would have adapted to the injection and used what little I had had to fuel my body. If I were to take the injection again, I would react better than those who initially reacted well."
Zack scuffed at this. "How does he know that? There is nothing in ShinRa that proves that stat…."
Cloud and Zack both turned toward each other with mouths agape and nodded once. It all made perfect sense. The reason why Tidus knew that mako was an injection that was adaptable to the body is because that is what happened to his body. It was so clear now.
Cloud squealed. "That's how he knew Zack! It happened to him!"
Zack just stood there with his mouth agape staring at something.
"Zack? What the hell man! What's wrong with you?" Cloud was beginning to get frantic. They had figured out the mystery behind Tidus and he was acting like he was totally oblivious.
In the next instant Cloud wished that he could have been oblivious to the whole thing. He turned around to find the very subject of the conversation standing right behind him and judging by the blank stare on his face, he'd been there long enough to hear enough to invoke some sort of emotion.
"Uhh…Tidus" Cloud began, frantically groping for anything to make the moment less awkward.
"I didn't mean to…" Cloud didn't get to finish what he was saying because at that very moment Reno called his name signaling that it was time for him to face his fate.
Cloud dropped his head and tried to dig a hole through the shiny marble floor with his eyes. He glanced briefly back up at Tidus's face trying to discern what was going on in his head.
Tidus was the first to speak.
"I suppose you'd better go Strife. Wouldn't want to keep my father waiting now would you?" With that Tidus rushed pasted Cloud practically running towards the exit.
"Strife, you're next!" Reno shouted from the front of the room.
Shooting a quick glance at Tidus's fast retreating figure he mechanically made his way through the crowd of people who were now staring at him and whispering about the odd scene that had just played out before them.
Without stopping to acknowledge that fact that he hadn't been paying attention and had caused a ruckus, Cloud walked right past Reno and into the examination room.
Who cared what happened now.
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"Damnit!" Thought Tidus furiously as he half ran half walked back toward the fields.
He'd successfully reacted to the mako very well, like he knew he would. The energy that coursed through his veins was more of a bother than welcome feeling. Now that people were starting to realize the truth, there would be no end to the constant horror of being a member of the ShinRa Corp. His only hope was to get out of there while he still had the time….before Cloud told anyone else of his dark past.
"HEY! TIDUS WAIT!" Gasped Zack, who was a couple hundred feet behind him.
Because of the mako injection, Tidus was moving faster than normal for any human male and that was making it hard for Zack to catch him.
Now there was a dilemma.
Should I stop? The worst thing that could come from this is have him blackmail me or have him tell EVERYONE that I'm Sephiroth's brother.
Deciding that the options would be way more favorable for him if he kept up the pace, Tidus accelerated slightly widening the gap between him and the gasping figure behind him in the distance.
Suddenly though the earth around him erupted and he was thrown to the ground violently, "What the hell?!" Screamed Tidus.
Zack had realized that there would be no catching Tidus in his accelerated state so he evened the playing field. Though Tidus had just received his mako injection and his body was using the new substance quickly, he was still a first year trainee and knew nothing of materia and its many uses.
Tidus tried to rise slowly but feel back onto the ground winded. While he lay there catching his breath, Zack unfortunately caught up with him.
"What the hell man? Why were you running?" Zack practically shouted down at him.
Tidus was pretty sure that if Zack wasn't so worked up he wouldn't have been screaming so loud. To Tidus that sounded like heaven because he was starting to have a terrible head ache.
Groggily Tidus sat up. "What do you want? Now that you know I have to leave."
The reaction that Zack gave shocked Tidus. He had been expecting an onslaught of questions about his brother and father while at the same time demanding him to stay.
"Well that makes sense. If we were to tell, life for you here would pretty much be hell." Zack whispered with a smirk.
He looked at Tidus and laughed openly at the trainee's astonished face.
"What? You thought that we would tell?! Now Tidus you should know better!"
Zack watched as Tidus stood and looked around the field. He could see that the shaggy haired blonde was contemplating this very carefully. A lot counted on his decision to stay here.
"Look if it makes you feel any better Cloud is head over heels for ya." Zack smirked and then turned on his heel. Calling back over his shoulder he added.
"You might want to go and check up on him. He looked pretty upset when you stormed off."
With that Zack left with an additional glance over his shoulder and the dumbstruck Tidus.
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Tidus just stood there for what seemed like forever and then ran full speed back toward the lab.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey guys this chapter took awhile. I'm trying to get the hang of it and I think it's going pretty well. Thanks for reading. Cloud and Tidus are going to have more interesting encounters. I can't wait to start writing about it! Review!!
