I've just been enjoying summer too much to write, sorry.
Chapter 11: A Method To The Madness
"...requesting permission to shut down the net...over." Cloud said into the handset. He waited a few moments for a response while watching the dozens of guardsmen filing past him down the hill towards the vehicles that would take them home.
"Training control, request to shut down the net has been authorized...over." The response crackled over the static radio.
Cloud paused a second before keying the handset, "India Three-Niner, shutting down. OUT." Once the transmission was complete, he immediately undid his chinstrap on his helmet, removed it and scratched his throbbing head. Three weeks of constantly listening to the drone of that cursed radio had finally ended. Turning to his backpack, Cloud opened it up and stuffed the handset into it while switching the radio off. "Good to go sir." He called to the OC- major Wells, who was standing with several of the platoon commanders a few meters away. The major merely glanced at Cloud, not acknowledging what he said with words, just a glance. "Hmph..." Cloud huffed at how ridiculous the man was, having come to despise him for being extremely arrogant. He wouldn't have to deal with him for at least five days during the week off they were being given though.
It had been a long; cold, exhausting, and miserable training exercise on the plains surrounding Midgar. It was a battalion-wide exercise, meaning the entire battalion was involved, every company. Three weeks of massive combat team attacks with the armoured and engineers, preparing for a war against a force that no body of government on the planet possessed other then Shinra. Cloud had spent the entire time relaying transmissions for the OC on battle movements and coordinating assaults with the rest of the companies. Considering the scale of the exercise and the amount of troops involved, something was always going on, meaning that Cloud was constantly glued to his radio from the moment he opened his eyes in the early morning hours until he closed them late at night.
With the final attack done and the after action reviews completed, 'End Ex' was called and the battalion was to head home to Midgar. The fall rains had kept the majority of the troops good and soaked, and with the biting winds of the wide open plains, they had been chilled to the bone for most of the ex.
"Strife!" Cloud turned to someone calling his name. Sergeant Hutz, who was filing in with the rest of 1st platoon to the trucks, walked over to him as Cloud stood up. He nodded to Cloud, this being the only time he had seen him during the ex. "Don't you look happy..." He commented sarcastically. "The OC doesn't need you anymore so feel free to hop on any of the trucks 1st platoon is taking back." He told him as Cloud breathed deep and nodded.
"Okay sergeant thanks." He replied before turning to his backpack and stuffing his signallers log into in.
"Having fun?" Cloud looked up to see Pete filing by, leading weapons platoon down the hill. Cloud smirked and shook his head. He may have had a hard exercise in terms of having a technical job but anyone in weapons platoon had a hard go in terms of physical work. As the troops past him in single file, Cloud noticed how exhausted they all looked, slogging along with their heavy weaponry but all of them had some sort of small smile or grin, for they were about to go home.
Throwing his weighed down backpack on, Cloud began the trudge down the hill towards the trucks. He was more then ready to get the hell out of there and have a little nap on the trucks back to Midgar. Down at the bottom of hill, he waited in line to jump on one of the lorries.
"We're full, man." The man sitting at the tailgate said as Cloud went to climb up.
"Can you move down?" He asked as he continued climbing aboard.
"Hey! We're fucking full, find another truck." The man snapped harshly as Cloud blinked in surprise at his sudden hostility.
"Do you know what other lorries 1st platoon is taking?"
"No." The man said quickly, offering no assistance as Cloud jumped off the tailgate and rolled his eyes. Walking among the dozens of troops filing onto the line of trucks, Cloud searched for Pete, hoping to get on his truck, not caring if it was 1st platoon's or not, just wanting to get out of there.
"Cloud?" He heard Claire's voice after he bumped into someone waiting in line.
"Oh, hey Claire." He stopped and looked around for Pete one last time before walking over to her. "How's it going?"
She shrugged and gave a frown, "What are you doing?" She asked, wondering why he was wandering aimlessly amongst everyone.
"I'm trying to find a truck to get on."
"Just get on this one." She said as she pointed to the one she was currently lined up to get on.
"I guess it doesn't really matter which one I get on..." Cloud nodded. "Alright..."
"Who do you even work for?"
"Well the OC but he doesn't give me directions on what to do. I sort of just find out through the grape-vine." Cloud tried explaining, knowing that it wouldn't make sense to the average person that he didn't have a boss.
"How was it for you?" Claire asked, wondering how life as the OC's radioman was.
Cloud huffed with a grin and shake of his head, "You don't want to know..." He said as his eyes stared off into space, recalling the administrative horrors and melodramatic people he had to associate with.
"You look tired." Claire commented, noticing the bags under his eyes.
"Well you look exhausted." Cloud countered. "Everyone from weapons looks exhausted." They were all covered in dried mud, were slouching badly under their heavy weapons that they braced on their shoulders, and their general body language shouted 'we're in shut it down mode'.
"Yes, yes I'm quite tired." Claire gave a fake smile. "Weapons is hard work..." She said as the man in front of her gave her a hand up to the back of the lorry. She turned around and gave Cloud a hand getting up as well and the two of them took a seat side by side on one of the benches. "At least we're getting out of here before it starts snowing."
"I could've sworn it was snowing last night around midnight...or there was sleet with the rain." The back of the truck filled and the tailgate was thrown up, everyone waiting in anticipation for the vehicle to start moving. After several minutes, the truck jerked forward and several people gave halfhearted cheers that they were finally leaving that desolate land.
"Hey who are you?" The person sitting across from Cloud asked, a young stocky boy sporting a somewhat hostile look.
"Strife." Cloud answered before turning back to Claire, annoyed that he was interrupted.
"Aren't you the OC's sig?" The boy asked again as Cloud breathed deep and nodded. "So why are you on this truck? It's a weapons truck."
"...going to the same goddamn place." Cloud scowled deeply before turning again, back to Claire. "Anyway...you were saying?"
Claire giggled before looking between Cloud and her comrade who had just finished a few exchanges with him. She continued her story about how their tent caught on fire one night when someone kicked over their portable stove, almost killing the eight occupants. Cloud nodded while she talked, doing his best to pay attention but he was still rattled by his short exchange with the boy sitting across from him. He was getting sick of being treated like dirt for no reason. It was either because he was the OC's sig or because of how young he looked. Many of the people he worked with were still in their teens, aside from the masters and above, so he couldn't understand why he was given such a hard time. He was out there, under the same conditions and doing the same job but wasn't being treated as one of them.
"...burnt the hell out of my sleeve..." Claire smirked as she held up her arm, revealing the tattered and burnt forearm of the right sleeve.
"Whoa..." Cloud blinked in surprise. "Did it bring back memories?" He joked as her eyes narrowed.
"Almost."
"Hey uh-" Cloud leaned in close to her and lowered his voice. "Does anyone ever give you a hard time for how young you are?"
"Umm," She frowned as she thought about it. "Not really. I think I get it a little easier because I'm a girl actually. They give me easier jobs and less stuff to carry...I guess they think I wouldn't be able to handle it." She huffed.
"Not far from the truth..." Cloud quipped quietly.
Claire was visibly taken aback from his teasing, but she smiled through it and began her counter. "You listen here radio-boy..." She said pointing a finger at him and narrowing her eyes. He chuckled and averted his gaze while she shot back. "We can't all have a cushy job following around the major, cooking his meals and shining his boots..."
"I don't do that!" Cloud laughed. "You have no idea what I do."
"Like hell I don't." She smirked,
"Whatever, I'm going to sleep now. Maybe someday I'll tell you what I actually do." He replied while manerveuring into a more comfortable position and shutting his eyes.
The ride back into Midgar seemed much too short for the sleeping occupants of the military lorries. Most of the battalion was arriving back at their building and the main floor was packed with vehicles, troops, and equipment. And so began the longest part of any exercise- Post-Ex cleanup. When everyone arrives back from a long field ex, dirty, tired, and wanting to go home but can't just yet. Instead, they have to clean every piece of equipment and every vehicle until their superiors cut them loose. The longest few hours of any exercise.
"Catch." Cloud turned around after he dismounted the truck to see Claire standing on the tailgate. Before he was even ready, she tossed down the mortar baseplate she had been carrying. He was barely able to grab the large circular metal plate with one hand, giving her a dirty look before she jumped off.
"Thanks for the warning..." He griped as he handed it back to her.
"Ehh, you caught it..." She shrugged.
"I better find sergeant Hutz...see you later." Cloud said. He slung his rifle and went in search of the man.
"Oh, Cloud!" Claire called before he got too far away. "Most of the guys in weapons are going out for drinks at that place downtown...what was it called? We went to it that one time on PAT..." She frowned as she tried to remember.
"Uhh...Oscar...Oscar Zees?" Cloud blurted.
"Yeah. But anyway, I don't know if you and the OC are planning on hanging out later but you're welcome to come if you want." She invited sweetly.
"Oh!" Cloud said surprised. "Umm," He scratched his head and chuckled. "Since when do you go out and socialize with other human beings?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed, "It's been a hard three weeks..."
"Well...I guess I'll have to cancel my plans with the OC but yeah, I'll come out." He answered. Claire smiled and gave him a little nod before she turned and walked away.
Two long and frustrating hours later, and Cloud was sitting in his office with the rest of the OC cell, waiting to get dismissed. Many of them had been poking good-natured fun at Cloud for how he had conducted himself during the ex and also for his troublesome radio procedures. He took it with an embarrassed smirk, knowing that he deserved some of the jokes. It had been his first time sigging and no one does it without making a few mistakes.
"Okay guys," One of the master corporals entered the room, silencing the chattering. "We're just waiting on Hutz, he's just going to confirm that we can get the hell out of here and go home." He informed. Cloud scratched his messy blonde hair, anxious to go take a long shower. "Hey Strife, good job sigging out there. It's never easy the first time." The older man complimented. Cloud thanked him just before Hutz entered the room, looking just as tired and dirty as everyone else.
"Listen up homos." He grunted as he leaned against one of the filing cabinets and looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. "We're done here, first timing is next Monday...0730 for PT." Several of the men mumbled happily to each other about the impending week off. "Before you go...I just have one more thing to pass off...you'll probably want to hear it." He cleared his throat and looked up from the paper. "In the three months that our sister company has been deployed to Wutai to quell that little uprising, this is the first time we've received an official report from Shinra on what's going on over there...and it's not good. What we got from the report is that so far...the entire task force, which the majority of is comprised of K company...has lost 65 killed and an unknown amount of wounded."
The room erupted in curses of disbelief, unsure if they had heard right. "65 killed from what?" One of the corporals asked.
"Shinra is calling them Wutai rebels at this point. The task force's job was to put down the protests that were going on in several of the southern Wutai villages, but apparently the villages managed to amass a large force of fighters. Last week sometime, they attacked one of the occupation forces at one of the villages...and wiped them out. It's shitty news to come back to...I know we all have friends in K company." Hutz said gravely.
"How the hell did they lose 65 guys?" Another man asked aloud.
"I don't know. But these 'rebels' must have a pretty big force to be able to inflict that much damage." Hutz told them. "We didn't receive the names of those who were killed, we're still waiting for another report. Sorry for being the guy to have to tell you guys that, it's a shitty way to end an exercise." Cloud frowned as he looked around the room, many of the men there had friends in K company, and not knowing if they were alive or not was worse then knowing. "But yeah...that's all I got...so have a good week off." The sergeant ended sadly before he left he room. It was quiet for a few moments as everyone looked around at each other, still shocked at the news.
…
"Hmm..." Cloud stared into his closet at the sad wardrobe. He really needed to buy more clothes, wearing plain t-shirts with cargo pants was getting old. He pulled a white shirt from one of the hangers and threw it on before looking in the mirror over his desk. "Meh.." He shrugged, his preparation for the night was complete. Grabbing the keys to his room, he left for Claire's wing of the barracks. The large single barracks where most of the young guardsmen stayed was very much like an apartment complex. Except each apartment was only a tiny room with a single bed and nothing else. It was a travesty that he had to pay to live there, but he just couldn't afford to move out yet.
Over at Claire's wing, he found her room and knocked at the door, hoping she hadn't left yet.
"Hey." Claire greeted a little surprised when she answered the door.
"Hey, you still going to Oscar Zees tonight?" Cloud asked,
"Yep...right away actually. You still coming?"
"Yeah-yeah definitely." He replied,
She opened the door for him and she went back into her room. Cloud took a few steps in and looked around, it was unsurprisingly neat and tidy with few personal items. Claire grabbed some money off of her desk before looking at herself in the mirror and running a hand through her hair. She wasn't done up in any way at all, jeans and a sleeveless black blouse. Almost as casually dressed as Cloud. "Ready?" She asked.
"Yep...are you sure you don't need to spend another 10 minutes brushing your hair or something?" He joked sarcastically.
She frowned at him as she walked past and out the door. Shutting it and locking it, she turned to him as he continued to grin. "Why? Am I supposed to be trying to impress someone?"
After a lengthy walk to the downtown area and almost getting lost, the two found the familiar pub, which was just beginning to get crowded. They recognized almost half the bar, for many of the people there were from Claire's weapons platoon, all grouped to one side of the tavern. It wasn't that late, only around 9:00PM but they could tell that their comrades had already been drinking quite steadily.
"Heyyy!" Pete greeted cheerfully when he noticed them walking over to his group. Cloud smiled and greeted him back while the four other people sitting at Pete's table looked up at him and Claire.
"Who are you? I see you around a lot but never heard your name?" One of the men asked.
"Strife...I'm the OC's sig." Cloud told him with a sigh, getting tired of constantly explaining who he was.
"Are you two going out or something? You're always hanging out together..." Another man asked as he pointed at Cloud and Claire. Pete burst out laughing almost immediately, prompting Claire to give him a deathly glare.
"Uh no." Cloud answered awkwardly.
"Well take a seat you losers...stay awhile." Pete motioned as he pushed a chair out from the table. "You drinking this time Claire?"
"I guess." She sighed while looking around the loud bar.
"Hey Cloud, did you hear about what happened to K company?" Pete asked,
"Yeah, 65 guys killed. Kinda hard to believe." He frowned.
"You think they'll send more guys?" Claire wondered aloud.
Pete shrugged as he took another sip of his drink, "I hope so...and I hope we're with them."
Fields, the private sitting beside Pete gave an exaggerated huff while he scowled. "Why's that? Anxious to kill someone?"
"Yeah...aren't you? Or are you happy with shooting at plaster targets for the rest of your life?" Pete said as he looked around the table.
"Whatever man..." Fields shook his head before turning to his drink. "How long have you been at the battalion for?"
"Uhh 3 months."
"Yeah exactly. Get used to battalion life, its boring but its better then getting killed out in some shithole."
"...thanks." Cloud said to the waitress after he and Claire ordered drinks. "I thought you hated the guys in weapons?" He whispered to Claire as Pete and Fields continued arguing.
"I did at first but...after working with them for three weeks straight in the field...they're not so bad...once you get to know them." She explained.
"I see...so they're assholes until you get used to them?"
Claire chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess so." She said while looking over at several loud and boisterous men from weapons arguing about something. "How's working with the OC?"
"Oh god...don't get me started." Cloud said as he rubbed his face. "I've never met anyone as arrogant as him before in my life. He doesn't even call me by my name or rank just 'Signaller'." He said putting the word in air quotations.
"I'd probably call you signaller too if I was a major." Claire grinned.
"He doesn't carry any food or extra water either...I had to carry it all and cook his meals for him." Cloud vented.
"Aha!" Claire exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "I knew you had to cook his meals!"
"Oh shut up, that's not the only thing I do for him." He hissed while she laughed at him. Their drinks finally arrived and Claire looked at her small glass of green alcohol. "The only good thing is that I always know what's going on everywhere because I'm monitoring all the radio nets. You ever had one of those before?" Cloud asked, referring to her drink.
"No...but I was told this is what people who don't drink too often..drink." She said as she took a sip.
"A whiskey sour? Careful, they go down quick." He warned as he sipped his own drink.
"I didn't know you drank enough to be offering advice." She said, her tone sinister.
"More then you..." He pointed out.
"It is good though..." She admitted, enjoying the sour drink
"Go easy, you don't want to end up like the rest of these guys..."
"What? drunk?"
"No, coming out here every night. That's what they do eh?" He told her.
"Every night?" She frowned, not believing him.
"Well not every night. But a few times a week. What else is there to do for a single guy or girl with no responsibilities or obligations?" He explained. "From what the guys in the OC cell tell me, this is how most people at the battalion deal with the job."
"I guess people don't have any self-control."
"Guess not."
"...oh give me a break Crawford...I would love to see you getting shot at...Farron would be more dependable under fire then you." Fields argued with Pete. Claire snapped over to the conversation upon hearing her name. Not sure if it what Fields had said was a compliment or if she should take offense to it.
The night dragged on and the drinks stacked up, the atmosphere inside the bar becoming more rowdy as people had to constantly shout at each other to get their points across. Many of the men from weapons platoon had left in search of a new bar, leaving nine to remain. Cloud was feeling woozy but relaxed, and was enjoying listening to the mishaps, insanity, and hardships of previous training exercises that the older guys had been on, who like him, had grown up hearing stories of the Wutai War but had never gotten the chance to go themselves. Claire remained quiet for most of the night, sipping away at her drinks like they were water and finding her vision starting to double. It wasn't long before she had to cut herself off and make a loud note of it to Cloud to prove that she had self control.
"Claire, are you drunk?" Pete asked as a smile formed on his lips.
"Nope." She sniffed and tilted her head back.
Cloud was chuckling quietly to himself as he watched her, waiting for her to do or say something that would give away her inebriation. "You sure?"
"Are you?" She asked with a scowl.
"Kinda."
The smash of a beer bottle over at the bar sparked some interest with them as two men began yelling at each other. They recognized one of the men to be from weapons who was arguing with a much bigger man. Cloud's table wasn't able to make out what the men were saying until the much bigger man shouted "..Shinra Guard FUCK!" And shoved the guardsmen backwards over a stool. He crashed to the ground and another beer bottle broke.
"Hey fuck you!" Pete shouted, standing up and pointing at the man. Before Pete made it two steps, Fields hurled one of Claire's empty glasses at the large man, striking him in the face. The cup shattered and sent sharp glass shards into the man's face. Almost instantly the entire bar stood up and rushed towards the section the guardsmen occupied. Many vulgar obscenities were directed at the guardsmen along with many beer bottles.
"Holy shit!" Cloud swore as a bottle went flying past his head. The men from weapons jumped out of their seats and rushed into the bar battle, the dance floor becoming a tangle of flying fists and bodies. Cloud hadn't been in a fight since he was ten and that was with kids his own age, these people were almost twice his age...and armed. He looked at Claire who was just as dumbstruck at what to do as he was. They were outnumbered almost three to one and were losing badly.
"We should uh...get the hell out of here." Claire said as she watched a mob of people rush towards her.
"There's two!" One of the blood drunk bar hooligans shouted to his friends as he pointed at Cloud and Claire.
The exit was blocked and there was no way they would be able to get around the half dozen people coming at them. Another bottle was hurled and Cloud managed to dodge it again. The bottle went flying past and smashed one of the green stained glass windows behind him. "Come on!" Cloud yelled at Claire as he jumped over flipped chairs and tables for the smashed window. She quickly followed him, insane drunk psychos right behind her. She could barely believe it when he managed to dive through the window in his drunken state. He flew through the window and out into the street, landing hard on the pavement of a back alleyway. Claire vaulted out the window, slicing both of her hands on glass shards that lined window sill when she propelled herself through.
"Oww! Shit that hurt!" She cursed while looking down at her bloody hands.
"Run Claire!" Cloud yelled in warning from the ground when he saw several angry people trying to climb through the window.
"What-oh shit.."Claire took off running down the alleyway with Cloud right on her tail. "Where am I going!?"
"I don't know, just run!" He yelled back. Looking over his shoulder he saw a few people in the alleyway but he couldn't tell if they were chasing after him. He blinked a few times to try and focus his eyes but decided it was better just to run. They turned a few times in the twisting back alleyway, taking them deeper into the downtown.
"Are they still chasing us?" Claire yelled back to Cloud.
"I don't know, just keep running til we're out of here." He said back. Their wobbly sprint turned into a lazy jog and soon they were out of the alleyway and into a empty train yard. They stopped running and looked around for a road or way out of the train yard. "I have no idea where we are..."
"There's probably a road on the other side of those tracks over there." Claire said as she pointed across the half dozen train tracks to the other side of the wide open yard. Cloud shrugged, it was a better idea then just standing there. "Was there even anyone chasing us?" Claire asked after they cleared half of the yard.
"Yeah, but I don't know for how long...we probably didn't need to run as far we did." Cloud admitted, looking over his shoulder at the alley they came from.
"That really got out of hand, didn't it?" Claire said looking over.
"I hope the other guys are okay...I kinda feel bad for running away like we did."
"I don't know how much good we would have done in that brawl. People really hate the Shinra Guard." She said with a depressed look. As they neared the edge of the train yard, they realized that there wasn't a road on the other side. In fact, there wasn't anything on the other side. What there was, was a missing section of the top plate that separates the slums from the topside. The hole was about the size of a football field and there appeared to be no fences, railings, or anything else that would to deter people from coming too close to the few hundred meter drop-off. "I wonder what happened here." Claire said as they stopped at the edge and looked down at the world below them.
"Careful.." Cloud warned, putting his hand on her shoulder when she came within a foot from the ledge. She gave him an odd look before taking a step back and sitting down, letting her legs dangle over the edge. "What are you doing?"
"Sitting down...and you?" She frowned before looking right over the edge and straight down. "Sure is quite the drop." She looked down at the tiny shacks and rubble that people lived in, the place resembling just that: a slum.
"You think we're aloud to be here?" Cloud asked looking around at the dark train yard. He sat down cross-legged a safe couple feet away from the edge, not as eager as Claire to plummet to his death.
She shrugged and looked up at the only light source in their entire view, the Shinra headquarters building off in the distance, giving off a eerily unnatural bright white light. The building was massive and was the tallest thing out there, menacing to just look at, not to mention to wonder what was conspiring inside. "Look at that place. You think president Shinra even knows that 65 people just died for his power company?" She asked with a sneer.
"I doubt it. We're just guns for hire." Cloud replied, knowing exactly what he was. "How you feeling by the way?"
Claire raised her eyebrows as she looked over, "Good, actually. Tired though." She said with her eyes half open and a wry smirk on her lips.
Cloud grinned, she was still drunk. He leaned on his knees and looked a little closer at her, making sure she wasn't going to end up falling off the edge. "So are you going to start going out to the bar regularly now?" He joked.
She scowled and laughed aloud, "Yeah right, because I loved getting chased out of a bar and down an alley."
"Really? Because it seemed like you did.." He smirked, causing her to attempt to give him a friendly shove. His heart skipped a beat when he swayed near the edge but managed to catch his balance. "If I fall, I'm taking you with me." He promised.
"So I take it you're going to start coming out here more often...or do you already?" She asked,
"No...I'm going to start getting ready for SOLDIER selection. It may not be for at least a year but I want to be as ready as I can get." He explained while she sighed and shook her head. "What?" He asked annoyed.
"You've really got to give that up, Cloud."
"Give what up?"
"The whole SOLDIER thing." She said seriously.
"Why do you care? I'm not asking you to do it with me," He frowned as he stared hard at her, "I know it's going to be hard, you don't need to remind me."
"The reason I don't think you should try out for it is because not only will it be extremely difficult but you're doing it for all the wrong reasons." She told him as she swung her legs up onto the pavement and faced him. "And let's say you do make it...do you think you're really going to be able to go and see this girl that often? No, you're going to be busy doing all of Shinra's dirty work...things that are less morally sound then what we even do now." Cloud blinked and looked away, his gaze falling on the Shinra headquarters. It was hard to have dreams when no one had faith in you. "I'm not trying to be mean. I'm your friend and I don't want to see you get hurt chasing after some impossible dream that's supposed to have a fairytale ending." Cloud remained silent, preferring her when she was sober and a little more merciful. "Oh...don't get mad..I'm sorry." She said sincerely, her expression softening. "Don't you think you've done enough? I mean you left home and gave up everything you ever knew, what more does this girl expect from you? If she expects you return a SOLDIER..." Claire huffed and shook her head, "It doesn't matter who she is...she's not worth it." When Cloud didn't respond she sensed that she had offended. It needed to be said though. He continued staring out across the city with a deep frown, not appreciating how she constantly had to rain on his parade. "Cloud?" She said softly.
"Yeah?" He responded unenthusiastically.
"What's this girl like? Why are you doing all of this for her?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"Why do you want to know? So you can tell me I'm an idiot and that I shouldn't waste my time?" He spat with a deep scowl. "No thanks..." Standing up, Cloud crossed his arms and breathed deep while he looked around the train yard.
"You're going to leave? Alright, see you later then..." Claire said bidding him farewell with a slight wave of her hand. She swung her legs back over the side of the ledge and grimaced as she inspected the cuts on her hands.
"I'm not going to leave..." Cloud told her with an slightly exasperated tone. Claire went about picking glass out her cuts, mumbling something under her breath while she did. "Hmm?" Cloud frowned.
"You're still here?" She asked,
Cloud sighed and sat back down, still shying away from edge. "Well...what did you want to know?"
"If you don't want to talk about, you don't have to." She told him looking up, "It's none of my business, so I won't pry anymore."
"No, no it's okay. I don't know why I get so embarrassed whenever the subject comes up." He said with a scratch of his head.
"It just means you really like her..."
"Heh...yeah." He said quietly to himself. Claire turned to face him, waiting for him to continue on. Cloud paused a few moments until he noticed she was staring. "Oh, um...well..."
"What's her name?" Claire helped with a smirk.
"Tifa..her name's Tifa." He said. Just saying her name brought a small smile to his face.
"And why does Tifa pull Cloud Strife's heartstrings?" She smiled, watching him become visibly uncomfortable.
"It's hard to explain." He frowned, "I mean, growing up I never really had any friends. I was sort of the black sheep in my town. The other kids didn't treat me very well...they would be sort of nice with me one on one..but in a group they all enjoyed picking on me." He explained, Claire listening closely. "Tifa had always lived beside me but I never really knew her that well until a few years ago. She was different from the other kids, she was always nice to me, even in front of the others and never put me down. She was my only friend and the only person I could talk to whenever I had problems or was having a bad day." Claire couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He may have been a little socially awkward at times but it was hard to imagine that he could have had such a rough childhood. "A few years back, just after Tifa's mother died, there was an accident involving both Tifa and me in which she got injured. The townspeople blamed me for getting their perfect little girl hurt and I wasn't allowed to see her for the longest time. It was my fault that she got hurt...because I wasn't strong enough to save her. So two summers ago I promised I would leave and wouldn't come back until I returned a SOLDIER and stronger. She told me not to forget about her and if I was to come back home that she would wait for me..." He finished, swallowing hard.
"Well...I hope she waits for you. Even if you don't go home a SOLDIER, she'll still want to see you...I know I would." She smiled, finding his story both very somber and very sweet.
"Thanks..." He said quietly, running a finger along the edge of the drop off. "So now you know."
"Thanks for telling me Cloud." She thanked, knowing it wasn't easy to talk about. "I won't bring it up again."
He nodded while he flicked a few tiny pebbles off the edge, watching them sail out of sight. "How's the hands?" He asked, noticing her bloody palms.
"Doesn't hurt too bad." She shrugged, probably because she was still tipsy.
"So...I think it's your turn now." He said as he motioned towards her.
"My turn?"
"Well you know the full story of why I'm here...what's yours?"
Claire chuckled quietly to herself and shook her head, "It doesn't compare to yours. I just come from a poor family that needs money. Now come on..." She slowly began to stand up, "Let's get out of here."
She stumbled momentarily but was able to shakily get to her feet, Cloud laughing at her as she looked around, disorientated. "You okay?"
"How the hell do we get out of here?" She mumbled,
"I think we can go back the way we came...it's probably safe now." He told her as he began walking in the direction of the alley.
"It sure was a crazy night." Claire said, thinking back to the bar brawl. "I wonder if Pete is still alive?" She wondered calmly.
"I hope so." Cloud said, the end of his sentence turning into a chuckle, finding it funny how unconcerned Claire was for their friend.
…
It was hard to keep something like that a secret. Even during morning PT, before everyone went into work, there were rumors surrounding what had happened during the week off. Claire knew what ever had happened was serious, for even her chain of command was talking in hushed tones to each other. After PT, and right after she reached The Choke, one of the sergeants called the younger members of weapons platoon together.
"Battalion parade in fifth-teen minutes out on the main floor. The CO wants to address us all, apparently it has to do with the rumors circulating about that shit in Wutai." The man in red told his troops.
Once he left, Claire turned to Pete who was sporting several small bits of medical tape on his face from the brawl the previous week. "Okay...why the hell is everybody so freaked out? I was on the track running today and everybody was standing around talking the whole time...and they all looked really serious." She said to him, "What happened in Wutai? We lose more guys or something?"
"I don't know...I guess we'll find out in fifth-teen minutes though." Pete told her as most of C company began to file out of The Choke and out onto the main floor. They followed their comrades out to the main floor where most of the battalion was beginning to gather. At the front of the large group was the battalion sergeant major, the CO's right hand man who struck fear in the heart of every trooper. The short man looked around and began to ask the company sergeant majors if all of their troops were present. When he was content, he barked for the troops to quiet down.
"The CO is on his way down," He yelled to the 500 some people that surrounded him, "We won't form up, just keep this semi-circle and for fuck sakes...keep your mouths shut, this shit is important." The angry man told the men and women of his battalion.
It was completely silent when the CO entered their midst, the only sound coming from his boots. He stopped next to the battalion sergeant major and looked among the many faces that waited patiently for him to address them. "Good morning troops...I hope you enjoyed your week off...it's going to be your only time off for quite some time." He cleared his throat and held up a piece of paper for everyone to see, "I hold here...a letter from president Shinra that I received yesterday...and folks...it's not a very nice letter." He held the letter in front of his face as he began to read it, "It reads..."
"Colonel Richards, It is with deep disappointment that I am sending this to you. Four months ago I tasked you with what had appeared to be the relatively easy job of dealing with several small protests taking place abroad near several of our military outposts. I tasked you: The Commanding Officer of my most prestigious military battalion, which is globally unmatched in terms of training and technology, to quickly and quietly handle this unpleasantness. Today however, I received word that not only have these protests not been silenced but that they have grown to the point of armed uprisings. I was also made aware that we have sustained almost 250 casualties from a primitive people that live in wooden huts. Now I'm not sure if you just chose to keep your best and brightest behind, or if all your troops are as incapable of fighting and winning against unorganized Wutai rebels as those who are currently over there but any way you look at it, it brings a great deal of embarrassment to myself; my corporation, the ENTIRE 1st battalion of the MidGuard, and most of all you. Seeing how I have vastly overrated the professionalism and lethality of the guardsmen of your battalion, I will authorize you to assemble another task force of equal or lesser strength to depart for Wutai immediately. Sort this mess out Colonel, or I will relieve you of your command and find someone who will."
"Signed, President Shinra..." Colonel Richards finished slowly. He lowered the paper and looked at the faces of his men. Many of them wore looks of conflicted anger, feeling like they had been betrayed by Shinra. "That man...that man hasn't got the faintest idea of what is happening over there right now. Does he seem to forget that he was in a war for almost a decade with the same people? He only let me send a fraction of the men I wanted to send...and when we are unable to do the job, he gives us this?" He fumed as he waved the letter. He huffed and shook his head, astounded by the ridiculousness of the situation he had been put in. "112 dead, 50 wounded, and 80 missing. Those are the numbers. That means that there are under 100 men in fighting condition, the task force is completely combat ineffective. We have one week...one week to prepare before we depart." He said loudly so everyone could hear him. "I'm sending A and C company, B company will stay here. I've also managed to secure the aid of my good friend lieutenant-colonel Lionol, who is CO of Junon's regiment. He has pledged to send us one of his rifle companies, giving us a total of about 450 troops. That's it though...there will be no artillery, armoured, or air support going with us."
Claire peered around the people in front of her to keep her eye on the CO. It was hard to believe what he was saying was true, it had to have been some sort of drill or something.
"There will be an o-group upstairs in the lecture theater for all of the company and platoon commanders. It will detail everything that we know so far, as well as our tactical intent once we land on the ground over there." The CO said, "That's all I have for now...we all have work to do." He said turning and departing the mass of people. It was quiet for half a second before there was an eruption of chattering. People could hardly believe that within a weeks time, they would be on their way to Wutai where hundreds of their comrades were either dead or dying. The company sergeant majors attempted to gain control of their men and get them back to their respective company areas but their voices just weren't loud enough. Claire was caught in the mass of people, staring off while deep in thought. She just stood there as people bumped into her, arguing and expressing their fears and doubts. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about the situation. It seemed too soon. She had been a Shinra guardsmen barely a year and here she was been shipped off to fight already. If men who had spent years training, were getting massacred, where did that put her? All of a sudden she realized that she wanted to go home.
Oh shit. Stay tuned, things are going to get good and violent.