Chapter 26

Today was the day.

Yes, that day.

The war with Wutai started today.

Cloud could only hope this ended as well as the higher ups hoped it would. As he got himself ready to head out, it was about 4:30 in the morning, when his PHS device sounded off through the apartment. Flipping it up, he looked at the new message displayed on the screen.

Kunsel.

Hey Cloud, rise and shine (if you're not up already). The big guys said that we need at the aero-way thingy at 7:30 sharp and be ready to board our assigned plane.

Cloud closed his phone and got a bag out, preparing his items that were necessary for the trip, if it could be called a trip. They were being sent straight to hell.

At least, that's what it felt like.

He would just have to wait and see.

When Cloud got to the "aero-way thingy" as Kunsel put it, he noticed that Sephiroth and Angeal were waiting while some of the other 2nds and a handful of 3rds scurried around preparing for lift off. Other 2nds were getting into the helicopters and airplanes while the rest were doing jobs such as packing and making sure that the planes were ready to go.

He considered going to ask Sephiroth where he was supposed to be, but then hesitated.

He was sure to break down if he went anywhere near Sephiroth or Genesis or for that matter any of the 1sts.

Sephiroth probably already had his plane assignment.

"Cloud!" a voice sounded as he was preparing to go over to Sephiroth.

Cloud looked to his right to see Kunsel heading over to him from one of the planes that were being prepared.

"Kunsel," Cloud said, nodding to Kunsel as he approached the spikey haired blonde.

"We're both on plane A-3 on the far end," Kunsel informed him. "I figured you wouldn't want to approach Sephiroth and ask him yourself."

Cloud nodded and silently sighed in relief. He was glad that he could keep the charade up a little longer and he was also glad that Kunsel hadn't said anything that implied his cowardice.

As Cloud headed towards the plane he couldn't help but feel a certain pair of mako green, cat like eyes boring into his back.

Zack and Angeal were on the same plane as him.

Cloud mentally freaked out. He was most certainly not ready for this.

Kunsel must have noticed that he was freaking out because he walked right up to Zack and Angeal and started a long conversation about something. Cloud never actually found out what they were talking about.

He didn't care about that though.

He was just grateful that he was not included.

So he sat alone, looking out the window, ignoring the glances that both Zack and Angeal were sending him. Kunsel continued to ignore him, at least for the time.

But then he came back and started another conversation with him. Or at least he tried to, it was mostly Kunsel doing the talking. He talked about a variety of things Midgar, Aerith, Turks, alcohol.

Anything.

He hadn't realized how much time was taken up by Kunsel's talking because the next thing Cloud knew, the pilot announced that they would be landing in a half an hour.

Too soon.

The next hour was all a blur to Cloud and when his head finally cleared, he was steeping off the airplane and onto foreign soil, ready to fight the war with Wutai.

A small part of him almost couldn't wait to throw himself carelessly into the fray.

Angeala stepped off of the bus that had stopped in Midgar, her eyes wandering the city's tall building and modern day look.

She wandered around, looking for the one thing that would lead her to her destination.

Finally she saw the big letters that read:

ShinRa Inc.

With a sigh she looked up at the dark gray clouds that covered the bright blue sky.

What a miserable life these people must have, never seeing the light of day or the bright, luminescent twinkling of the stars in the sky.

Despite all this, she couldn't help but wonder how her son would react to seeing her? Would he forgive her? Would he deny knowing her?

Would he disown her as his mother on spot?

She blinked before entering the building that was completely modernized. The red ShinRa logo was everywhere, and so were many posters of the famous SOLDIERs, all of these items littered the walls of the lobby. She saw people in all sorts of clothing some of them were in uniforms while others were in suits.

She walked up to the receptionist who looked rather bored and said a weak hello in greeting.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a rather bored tone of voice and Anjeala could tell that she was trying not to be rude.

"Where can I speak to the SOLDIERS's director?" she asked the woman.

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked.

"No."

The woman looked at her computer screen and then looked back at Anjeala.

"Director Lazard just got out of a meeting. I can call to see if he has a moment," the brown haired woman said before picking her phone up and spending about a minute talking to someone.

She hung the phone up and said to Anjeala, "You're lucky, he does have a moment. His office is on the 49th floor. The elevator is down the hall to the right."

Anjeala nodded and thanked the woman before using her directions to find the elevator.

When Anjeala arrived at the 49th floor she looked around and attempted to find her way.

Finally, a SOLDIER helped her find her way and as she approached the office of Director Lazard, she noticed a bald man in a black suit looking at her and she felt uncomfortable.

Shaking it off, she knocked at the door before quietly entering the room that she knew would lead her to her son.

End of chapter 26.

Not too much to say. Thank you to my beta SarahK0583.