Once More, With Feeling... – Chapter 7: Watchful Eyes
Summary: Cloud's just not as subtle as he thinks…
Author: Illusor Meaneld
Rated T: for Descriptive violence and injuries, No Adult Situations, No Cussing.
Disclaimer: I did not create, and do not own the characters from Final Fantasy 7, They are owned by Square-Enix, and I am simply borrowing them for my own (and hopefully your) enjoyment.
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Today was Monday, Cloud never tasted his breakfast, and slogged nervously to his first class. Today Zack would be teaching, and Cloud had to fight the urge to hide from his old friend. Though he was fairly certain Zack hadn't gotten a good look at him when Cloud had blurted his unfortunate excuse in the hallways, he wasn't sure that the SOLDIER 3rd wouldn't recognize him during class. He stood stiffly in line next to the other Sekhmet boys, his eyes staring straight ahead, his entire body carefully neutral. A few moments after their Squad had settled into place the door opened, and the quick striding of familiar booted feet told Cloud what he had been dreading, Zack was here. When Zack cheerfully started the class without so much as a pause, Cloud became hopeful. And as the Class progressed without any incident the blond slowly relaxed. Zack hadn't seen him, he was safe… of course, the SOLDIER had definitely HEARD him, so Cloud would have to avoid speaking to the energetic teen. It pained him to think of shutting out his loyal friend's younger self so, and he made a mental promise that they would be best buds again soon.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully. Cloud became quite good at sneaking out of his bunk unnoticed, and was quickly memorizing the infrequent patrol routes of the Shinra guards, his sword-strikes were improving, slower than he'd like, but it was there, he was still having a problem with footwork, since that was harder to watch and do at the same time, but he had formulated a plan for that too, and chaffed to put it in action. In replacement of the "Extended History" Class he'd tested out of, Cloud had been placed in a "Practical Physiology" class. And although he couldn't test out of THIS one for a few more weeks, there was no doubt in his mind he'd be able to. Cloud progressed as well as his body was capable, he was still small, and still weak but at least he didn't feel completely incompetent anymore.
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Angeal strode through the hallways of the Shinra building, the Buster Sword a comfortable weight against his back. He took a moment to smile at the irony, Sephiroth's pet-project Cadet was in the very class Angeal's own young puppy taught once a week. Angeal had carefully timed his entrance so that he arrived just moments after Zack started the class on their warm-up workouts. The door clicked open, and Angeal, casually walked through, closing the same door unhurriedly behind him. Of course the class had paused and looked up, startled at being interrupted not only by a SOLDIER, but by 1st Class Angeal Hewley himself, the right hand man of General Sephiroth. He gave the wide eyed boys a few moments to collect themselves as he walked patiently to the front of the room, once there; he turned and gently cleared his throat, a completely unnecessary action as all eyes were locked on him.
"Good afternoon Cadets," Angeal intoned calmly, "I will be joining your class today, but don't worry, I'm not here to watch you." At this point his gaze flicked pointedly to the SOLDIER 3rd standing almost next to him. Zack's eyes widened. "I'm here to assess the competencies of my protégé," He turned and offered a sly smirk to the boys, who were starting to smile at the obvious discomfort of their teacher, "You just all continue as you were, I'm going to make myself comfortable back there."
Walking to where he had gestured Angeal pulled up a folding chair, pointedly turned it for the best vantage from which to see Zack, and sat down, propping the Buster Sword carefully beside him. When Zack paled, and gulped, Angeal just smiled.
"S-soo….." Zack stammered, trying to focus on his trainees once more, "Um… yes well, … keep stretching of course, and make sure you work your wrists and knees." He spared frequent nervous glances in Angeal's direction, but as the SOLDIER 1st had suspected Zack soon relaxed. The boy was naturally social, and he honestly enjoyed working with the young Cadets. Angeal watched impassively, mostly keeping his gaze on Zack, he had been honest in his claim of wanting to "assess" his own student, even if he also had ulterior motives. Every now and again he allowed his eyes to slide past the students, never focusing on anyone in particular, but watching them as a whole. Out of the corner of one eye he mentally noted the Cloud Strife boy Sephiroth had mentioned.
As the class progressed he quickly came to the conclusion it couldn't have been the boy's prowess that had caught Sephiroth's eye, the boy was below-average, very small and struggling to keep up with his larger class-mates. No, it was something quite different that eventually caught Angeal's eye. It happened once when he'd let his gaze roam over the room, he'd caught Cloud in a moment of relaxation. The boy had paused in his forms to exchange a smile with his partner, who was talking under his breath. The second boy, who had unremarkable brown hair and a lean frame, sweated nervously, throwing glances at Angeal whenever he thought the SOLDIER 1st wasn't looking. … A Fan, Angeal guessed, and dismissed the attention. Cloud however, in response to the brunette's nervous chatter, was smiling slightly, a strange look of… well… patient indulgence on his face. It was so out of place on the childish countenance that Angeal had to fight the urge to stare. Fortunately he was very good at looking without looking. The rest of the session only furthered to confirm Angeal's findings. Cloud seemed to regard his classmates with tolerant amusement. When the class ended, Angeal took his leave, and with him went all the food for thought he'd gathered, a veritable banquet of questions.
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At lunch in the Mess Hall, Cloud was quietly doing his listening exercises. It involved mapping the movements of his table-mates without actually looking at them. A rustle of cloth, a shift in position, the tink of silverware on a plate, … even the sounds of breathing and speaking. So he heard when Logan staggered up behind him with a plate of food, and bumped into his chair, a couple of Logan's peas and carrots rained on Cloud's head, but before he could protest the larger boy spoke,
"So Sorry Sir,… Didn't mean to bump into you!"
Cloud finally looked up, and offered the boy a smile, he'd apologized, so no harm done, "Thanks, don't worry about it." And he went back to his meal, Logan hovered for a few moments behind him, before the youth with green eyes moved slowly to his own place. When a second boy bumped Cloud's chair, causing his own food to clatter about the table, and a similar apology offered, Cloud wondered if perhaps they were still nervous from SOLDIER 1st class Angeal's visit. It WOULD make sense, nervous trainees were highly prone to straining themselves if they weren't paying attention. Cloud took a moment to consider Angeal, … he didn't really know much about the SOLDIER, … in fact he couldn't really remember much of anything about the man. But he was Zack's mentor, and… he had Zack's Buster Sword. Cloud hadn't remembered that, but… as he thought about it, … it kinda made sense, Zack looked a bit different, but his older self reflected a style similar to that of his teacher. Such was often the case from Master to Apprentice.
It wasn't until later, when Cloud was sitting in his new Physiology class, plucking the occasional green pea from his blonde hair, and practicing his MEMORY exercises, that Cloud put some more thought into the behavior of his Squad-mates. With his memory exercises, he did his best to recall the events of the day, and the previous one, and on backwards until it was too fuzzy, the more details he could remember, the better he graded himself. Now he thought about Logan's and the other boy's words, they had called him "Sir"…. Now Cloud was actually quite used to the deferment, as people were often uncomfortable around him and his reputation. … but … he shouldn't HAVE a reputation here, … it wasn't until he really considered it, that he realized the boys had been mocking him. Lunch today was not the first time, he noted as he remembered back, for the past several days they had been slyly throwing jibes his way. It was mostly Logan, Wyatt and Fisk, but occasional another boy or two would join in.
He was being teased! Cloud was momentarily astonished, he hadn't even noticed… he wondered what might have caused it, … well, he wasn't really being social, … all of his spare time was spent thinking or training. He might try to apologize, but by this point that wasn't going to help. It might just make things worse. Perhaps he should try to get to know the other boys better, … maybe hang out with them, play games, … chat and make friends with his 'peers'? … Cloud chuckled softly, earning him a strange glance from another class-mate. Naw, he decided, he didn't really have time for that. Oh well, how much damage could a couple of teenage boys really do? They couldn't really do anything with words, and his indifferent or even positive reaction to the teasing just seemed to confuse them. Cloud stifled a laugh, he should have gotten a closer look at Logan's face when he'd thanked the boy for his insult! One mystery solved Cloud turned his attention back to his class and his quiet training.
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The soft clack of expensive shoes on the polished floor was the only thing that proceeded Tseng down the hallways. The building was quiet, the hush of late night lending a peace rarely found in Shinra. Tseng quietly enjoyed finishing his work later than the others, he preferred to avoid the noise and press of the daytime activities as much as possible. Only a few of the lights in the halls were on, just enough for any personnel wandering around after hours. It was the dim lighting in the corridor that allowed Tseng to notice something unusual as he made his way to his office from the copy room, a light gently peeking from under a door, where no light should have been. The Turk paused, eyeing the door itself, it was one of the training rooms, and the door was clearly visible from anywhere within the room itself. Changing directions Tseng walked to the stairs, his pace never changed, the even sound of his shoes could have been a clock for how evenly they tapped the floor. On the second floor Tseng slid into one of the observatory rooms overlooking the training room. The lights were indeed on, and in the center of the room was a small boy with bright blonde hair. Tseng watched for a few moments as the diminutive blond swung his wooden sword carefully. His skills were below-average, The Turk decided. Another glance around the room below showed there was no suspicious substances, no drugs or alcohol the boy had ferreted off. Except that he was here in the middle of the night there was no suspicious activity.
Tseng turned and left, closing the door behind him and continuing down the hallway. Someone must have let the boy in for extra training; perhaps he was having trouble sleeping? Whatever the matter a little extra practice certainly wouldn't hurt the youth, and curfew had always been a laxly followed regulation to those in the SOLDIER sections. Tseng pushed the incident to the back of his mind, he reached his office with his copies, poured himself a cup of tea, and turned his attention to more important things.
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