AN: Day Twenty-One…
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DECEMBER 21, 2013
Riot – Three Days Grace – 3:27
"What do we want?!" Zack yelled, leading the march around the front of the ShinRa complex.
"Vacation!" the handful of people answered. They waved about their signs with quirky quips scrawled across them and stomped about in a little circle. They looked absolutely ridiculous, but they really had nothing better to do. Zack stood in the center of them, not marching but stomping plenty and shouting lots.
"When do we want it?!"
"Now!" Only one of them actually said. The other shouts varied. All tangled into a garbled sort of something. Unsurprisingly, it had been Genesis who had shouted the correct word. Zack shrugged. They weren't really expecting results from their little impromptu protest, anyway. He started again.
"What do we want?!"
"Vacation!" Zack almost laughed at Sephiroth's monotone answer. He wasn't even shouting, nor stomping. He was sitting a few feet away on a convenient fountain base.
"When do we want it?!"
"Sometime this week!" Zack allowed himself to chuckle at that one. It seemed Genesis had decided to change it up. Well, it worked for him and the others didn't seem to really care. Zack laughed and the chanting continued. You never knew, maybe the fat man would get annoyed and actually give them what they wanted.
Stronger – Trust Company – 2:50
Cloud had never worked so hard for anything as he had for this moment. His nerves were frayed as he stood among all the other cadets awaiting the moment when their fates would be announced. It was torture. Making them stand here for almost an hour until whoever it was came out and read off the list of who had made it and who had not. Cloud was this close to screaming and ripping his hair out.
He wanted this more than anything.
To be a SOLDIER.
His entire childhood had boiled down to this.
The door to the side of the training room opened and you could've heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. As one, the group of cadets watched their CO walk what could only be purposely slowly to the front of the room. When he finally did reach it, the man cleared his throat and began to read off the names on the paper he held before him.
There was no ceremony, no preamble or preparation, just the listing of names in a monotone drone. Still, he listened to every word, praying for his name.
"…Skarlinx, Stanley, Strife…"
He'd almost missed it, but there it was. He was SOLDIER.
Flavor of the Week – American Hi-Fi – 3:02 (almost GenesisxCloud)
"Hey, Teef?" Cloud spoke from the doorway of the woman's bedroom. She didn't bother to look up from the magazine she had her nose buried in, only giving a hum to acknowledge that she was (probably only half) listening. Cloud inwardly sighed. "I'm going to hang around with Genesis today. Alright?"
He didn't even get a hum this time, just a nod of the head. Cloud wouldn't let it bother him, this was the usual these days. Some days it was worse. Most days it felt like he was only around to keep the dishes washed and the house relatively clean. Tifa only ever sat around and watched tv or read magazines and otherwise acted like her usual spoiled princess self. With one more sigh, Cloud left the apartment, glad to be out for even a few hours.
"Cloud, over here," an auburn-haired man waved when the blonde reached the center of Sector 8. Cloud smiled, a genuine smile he hadn't had the chance to show in over a week. Slender fingers slipped into his wild spikes and gently ruffled them. "Hey."
"Hey," he answered back, unable to stop smiling.
"How are you?" Genesis asked. Not liking the way Cloud had been looking before he had spotted him. He was hesitant to ask, but he knew it had to be something to do with Tifa. Even if he did ask, Cloud wouldn't give a proper answer. Genesis wasn't sure why he was still with that wench. She didn't appreciate the blonde at all.
If it were him, the redhead would never let Cloud feel anything but happy.
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AN: Onward! Repeats: Stronger. Favorite? Uh… maybe the first. Either way. Next Day!