A/N: Welcome to chapter 36 of Fractured Love!
I would like to thank you all so much for the support you've given me concerning my announcement last chapter. It makes me feel happy that there are kind and understanding people out there. You are all great people in your own ways :).
Without any further ado, I'll let you get to reading. Remember, I do not own FF7 or any of its characters, Zack and Cloud rock, and Sephiroth is the best antagonist ever created.
Enjoy!
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Chapter 36
If they thought they'd been prepared for their exams, then the cadets of the Shinra SOLDIER programme were in for a surprise. Their first practical exam, an obstacle course, was laid out across the four different gyms. The cadets had to quickly move from one room to the next because it was their overall time that determined their final score.
What they didn't know however, was that each room was designed to test another skill. They also didn't know what to expect until they were called into the first one at a time and steadily progressed through the course.
The first room was fairly standard, with all kinds of regular obstacles one would expect from a course such as this one. It was mostly set up to test endurance, with bits of running interrupted by climbing over a wall, crawling underneath a net and that sort of thing.
The second room was made for speed. There were tiles that would give away the moment you stepped on them. Another example was a seesaw that the cadets had to use to reach higher ground, but they had to go quickly otherwise the seesaw would flip, making them unable to reach the ledge they had to get to.
The third room tested their strength. They had to take a big piece of rock to the other side of the room while pushing away large boulders and such as they progressed. The cadets were allowed to set the rock down in order to complete another task before moving on, but if they let it fall from their hands they had to start over from the beginning of this room with a slightly lighter rock.
The last room was a bit of doozy. After all the physical exertion from the previous rooms they now had to slow down and use with to get across these obstacles. Each required a different tactic, but weren't necessarily about speed, strength or endurance. But because all the cadets were pretty much ready to drop down at that point, critical thinking wasn't going to be their strongest point. Failing to get past an obstacle meant a penalty of a hundred push-ups before skipping the failed one and moving on to the next one. Only those who kept their cool would make it to the end unscathed and in pretty good time.
As expected Zack did pretty well on this exam. The first room was a breeze because it was what he'd expected to face. Entering the second room caught him a little off guard, but by pacing himself instead of rushing through blindly he made it through fine. He managed to get to the other end of the third room in one go with the heaviest rock. He was starting to feel all his muscles protesting however. Even though he'd been subjected to Shuryou's stairway run six days a week it hadn't prepared him for this. Though the run was brutal each and every time, at least you could conserve your energy by setting a steady pace for yourself. These obstacle courses however required sudden bursts of speed and strength, making it was more tiring than the stairway run.
He tried his best to get through the fourth room unscathed, but Zack wasn't so lucky this time. Though he understood the meaning of getting past the obstacles he was simply too impatient to think his actions through. There were ten parts in all in that fourth room, and Zack had to fail and do push-ups for half of them. Still, due to his good performance in the first three rooms, he still got a good time – one of the fastest even.
Kunsel did pretty decent as well, especially in the last room. He was one of the few who succeeded in passing every obstacle without fail. It didn't provide him with any bonus points, but did have a huge impact on his final time. All in all he got an average time in the end, which was something Zack was secretly proud of. He secretly told himself Kunsel wouldn't have been able to do so well if it wasn't for him.
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That evening the barracks were buzzing with activity. Everyone was talking about how their first two exams went. Those who knew they did well were ready to celebrate already. There would still be one final test, which was an important one, but felt like nothing could stop them anymore. Besides, the final test wouldn't start until late morning the next day.
Or so they had been told. What actually happened was that each barrack was invaded by SOLDIERs and infantrymen in the middle of the night. The cadets were roughly pulled from their beds, handcuffed and blindfolded before being pushed out of the room. It didn't matter whether you had gone to bed early or you had been celebrating only an hour prior to the invasion. Each cadet was subjected to the same treatment.
It turned out that this was part of the final exam. While the cadets had expected another simulated mission in the VR-room, it was far from the truth. They were thrown into a kidnapping by so-called AVALANCHE terrorists. The cadets' roles were to try and escape and get back to Shinra HQ, preferably while helping the others to escape and perhaps even uncovering some information as they did so. The problem was that they weren't briefed for this, so they had to decide their actions based on what they'd learned the past eleven weeks.
Zack had been dead tired after celebrating along with a couple of the others. He felt like he'd only been asleep for five minutes when he suddenly woke up from the noise and the shouting. The fact that it was dark and that he felt someone roughly pushing him facedown on his bunk didn't help him one bit. His mind was tired, confused and disoriented. So much in fact that he didn't even really try to resist, simply because his mind hardly registered what was going on in the first place. He vaguely registered the falling sensation associated with the dropping of an elevator, and the cold outside air hitting his bare arms before he was pushed into what seemed to be a van.
Then the van started moving. To where, Zack had no clue. He was lying uncomfortably on his stomach, but with his arms bound behind his back and the van jolting around underneath him, he couldn't manoeuvre himself to a more comfortable position. He did notice that there were others in the van too though.
"Hey, who's here?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"No talking you Shinra bastard!" He heard a voice boom from his right.
Damn! It seemed like they weren't left alone. Zack awkwardly turned his head towards the source of the voice, "Who are you? What's happening?" He said louder this time.
"I said no talking!" The voice boomed back.
Zack felt a steel toed boot connect roughly with his side. He cringed. The kick hadn't been that hard, but it was enough to hurt well enough to serve as a warning.
"And what does it look like is happening?" The voice answered anyway, "You and your friends are being kidnapped. Now just shut up and do as you're told if you want to avoid any more trouble."
The raven-haired young man took the threat and refrained from asking further questions. Instead he tried to calm his mind down and piece the fragmented bits and pieces together. At this point he didn't know that this was all part of the final exam, since he hadn't seen any of his kidnappers in the dark before he was being blindfolded. Then again, how would anyone have been able to break into the Shinra Building and kidnap all of the cadets? It was that question that made him consider the option.
It brought him some sense of relief, since it meant that this was all scripted and that he was going to be fine in the end. Then again, from what he'd noticed from the ones herding him and the other out of the building and the voice to the right, this exam was supposed to feel as real as possible. There were going to be no mister nice guys here. If the kick he'd received was any indication, then it was that he could get seriously hurt of he was not careful.
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They'd been on the road for what seemed like hours before the van finally stopped. Zack had tried to keep track of where they were going, but it had been no use. All he knew was that they'd traversed some uneven terrain, so that at least meant that they had left the main road at some point. Where and in what direction he didn't know.
The backdoor to the van opened up and the cadets were all roughly pulled back on their feet. This time some were struggling a lot more than they had before, and though he couldn't see it, Zack could hear that some heavy blows were dealt to make them stop. Though he felt his own urge to fight back rise up, he managed to push it down for now. He was helpless in this situation and knew he couldn't win. A better time would present itself later he hoped.
Once all the cadets were meek again they were herded to some other place. Zack tried to keep track of in what kind of area he was in again, and faired a bit better this time. He knew that they'd been walking outside, and that they at some pointed entered some caves. More than that he didn't register, but at least it was something. It narrowed down the places they could be on this continent. There were a lot of mountains, but only a few places that had caves in them. Most notably were the Mythril Caves to the west of Midgar.
After what Zack guessed to be about ten minutes of walking, they were finally stopped. The blindfolds were pulled from their eyes to reveal a dimly lit cavern. Before he could properly scan his surroundings he was pushed hard enough to make him drop to his knees. Zack turned his head to glare at the aggressor, only to see him and a few others leave the cavern and close the door behind them.
"The fuckers! What's going on?" Zack heard a voice say from his right.
He turned his head to see Luxiere on his knees beside him, struggling to get back to his feet. It was quite a task with his hands still bound behind his back. Next to him was a familiar face Zack was very glad to see. Kunsel was also in the room with him.
"I think this is part of our exam." His friend surmised calmly, also getting to his feet.
"The hell?! Why would they go through all this trouble to kidnap us in the middle of the night?" Luxiere complained.
"As a SOLDIER you need to be prepared for anything." Zack answered as he also rose to his feet, "Expect the unexpected."
"You're right." Kunsel agreed, "And we'll need to work together in order to get out safely."
Working together. Zack knew doing that with Kunsel wouldn't be any problem. Luxiere was an entirely different matter. Ever since their midterms, in which Luxiere nearly screwed them over during the VR-mission and only barely stayed in the programme afterwards, he and Zack hadn't been on the best of terms. They hadn't fought or anything, but Luxiere had rather pointedly ignored that Zack even existed. The raven-haired young man had a suspicion that it wasn't coincidence that they had been put into this room together. It did mean that it was going to be challenge.
"Well our first goal is to see whether we can get out of these restraints." Zack decided.
"Like I couldn't have thought of that." Luxiere snapped back, "Don't think that just because you were appointed as squad leader during midterms that you can boss me around now."
Yes, it was going to be a challenging time indeed for the three cadets.
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Despite how tired they were the adrenaline of what had happened back at base kept the three cadets up during the rest of the night. They used the time to work their way out of the restraints and formulate a plan of action. Or at least they tried to. Zack and Kunsel had worked out together that they had been bound by standard issue Shinra militia handcuffs. They had also managed to find a loose nail in one of the walls, and Kunsel had been trying to pick Zack's lock with it. He had so far been frustratingly unsuccessful though. He was a decent pick, but only with actual lock picking tools. Luxiere was actually a lot better at it, but he had made a point of ignoring them and trying to work on his own.
Eventually Kunsel had enough, "Luxiere, why don't you stop being an ass and come help me?"
"I thought you two were the promising future SOLDIERs. You should be able to figure this out."
At that point Zack had had quite enough, so he walked away from Kunsel to stand before the obnoxious fellow cadet, "First of all Luxiere, we're not SOLDIERs yet. Second of all, if you keep this attitude up you'll never be in SOLDIER. What happened at midterms was your own damn fault. If you'd just kept to your orders you would have been fine. Be glad that Shuryou thought you had enough talent to prevent you from being kicked out of the programme altogether. Now stop being a fucking ass and use that talent to get us out of these restraints before those men come back."
The stared at each other with glares on their faces. Neither were willing to back down, but in the end it was Luxiere who looked away first, "Fine!" He hissed annoyed, "Get me that nail and I'll get us out."
Relieved that their fellow cadet agreed, Kunsel handed him the nail and held out his arms as best as he could so Luxiere could pick his lock. With only a few minutes of tinkering around they finally snapped open. Kunsel quickly got his hands out and rubbed at his wrists. Now that he was free, getting the other cuffs off was a lot easier and the other two were soon also free to use their arms again.
"Okay, now what?" Zack questioned.
"Don't you have a plan already, oh fearless leader?" Luxiere said sarcastically.
Kunsel rolled his eyes, "Stop it Luxiere. We still need to work together if we want to get out safely."
"I know that." The other cadet snapped back, "But while you two were fumbling around picking those locks I at least thought about how to get out of this place altogether."
"Then why don't you enlighten us with your bright idea?" Zack shot back.
Luxiere looked Zack straight in the eye, as if he dared to challenge him again. Instead of wasting his time taking him on Zack just sighed and looked away. He didn't miss the smirk on the other's face as he did so though.
"They have to feed us at some point. Even if this was a real kidnapping, they would have simply killed us if they didn't plan to use us for something." He pointed towards the door, "There's no hatch in the door for them to shove food thought, so they'll have to open the door when they come to bring us food. Now that our hands are free, we can overpower them and get out."
"That sounds good, but there is one major problem here." Zack said, causing Luxiere to glare again but he ignored it as he elaborated, "I don't know about you, but I have no idea how to get out of these caves. We could easily get lost or caught again."
"Leave that to me." Kunsel replied, "I've been paying a lot of attention to how we were led through these caves. I think I should be able to find my way back out."
"Are you sure about that Kunsel?" Zack asked.
"Positive. Trust me Zack. I'll get us out of here."
"All right. I guess we'll have no choice but to try."
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Waiting for someone to bring them food took a lot longer than expected. Since there was no light other than the dim light bulb that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room, it was impossible to tell what time it was. The fact that neither of the three wore a watch also didn't help.
The three even dared to take turns in trying to rest up a bit. They had talked through the details of their plan already and now that they couldn't do anything for the moment they felt the adrenaline ebb away and the need to rest flood their minds and bodies. Since they didn't know how long they would have to wait, they decided to take the risk and get a little bit of sleep in while they still could.
Luxiere was on watch when he finally heard movement coming from down the corridor. He quickly roused his two fellow cadets. Zack and Kunsel instantly got up and took their positions. And not a moment too soon, for only a few seconds later their door was unlocked and opened. They acted before even properly assessing the situation. Luxiere roughly pulled the door open, making the guy holding the knob stumble and fall, a plate with food crashing unto the ground with him. Kunsel was on him right away and used the cuffs to restrain him.
The guy hadn't been alone however. Two armed guards stood a little bit further away from the door. They rose their guns and pointed them at the three prisoners, "Hold it right there you fuckers." One of the two growled.
"Like hell I will!" Luxiere roared and stormed towards the man.
The deafening sound of a gunshot followed soon afterwards. Luxiere suddenly felt a burning pain in his left leg and dropped down to the floor screaming. Kunsel and Zack were shocked by what had just happened.
"Now put your hands up where we can see them or we'll shoot you two too." The second guard threatened.
The two friends did what they were told and rose their hands in submission.
The guards, seeing the two weren't going to cause any more trouble, smirked. The one who had shot Luxiere quickly scanned the room, assessing the situation, "You." He said, indicating towards Zack before looking at the third guard still on the floor, "Free his hands."
"I can't. I'm no good at lock picking and the one who is, is currently in no condition to do anything." Zack said calmly, looking towards the still squirming Luxiere on the floor.
"Lock picking, eh?" The other guard said, "So that's how you were able to get out of your cuffs."
Zack nearly cursed out loud. He only just realised that the guard had merely been trying to figure out how they'd freed themselves, not to actually free his friend. As to prove his point, he holstered his gun and walked up to the guard on the floor, grabbing a pair of keys to remove the handcuffs.
The man growled as he got up. The fall had caused his lip to bust and he wiped away the blood with a glare towards Luxiere. While the first guard continued to keep a shot on the three cadets, the other two put the handcuffs back on again and searched the room for whatever could be used as a lock pick. They found the nail and took it with them, leaving the room bare with anything that could be used. Once done the three left the room and locked the door, leaving the three cadets cuffed and with Luxiere injured alone again.
"Fuck!" Luxiere exclaimed, finally letting out his pain and frustration.
"That was very reckless of you Luxiere." Zack said while Kunsel approached to examine the leg.
The injured cadet glared at him, "This is an exam. I didn't think they would actually shoot!"
"Zack has a point. Considering the fact that we were able to get injured during the VR-mission and the way we were handled while being brought here, you should have expected them to shoot." Kunsel said.
"Rub it in already." Luxiere groaned in pain as he shifted his position, "Man this hurts like hell."
"We need to try and stop the bleeding." Kunsel concluded.
"How though?" Zack wondered, "We've got no supplies and we're cuffed again."
The three pondered that question for a while. Kunsel quickly suggested trying to rip some of their clothes so they could at least make some kind of tourniquet, but with their hands bound behind their backs they were unable to get a good enough grip. It seemed their fellow wouldn't be able to get more help other than keeping his leg still and slightly elevated.
The food had become dirty by falling onto the ground, but the three took and ate it anyway, There was no telling when they were going to be fed again, and their near escape had taken a lot of energy despite it lasting less than half a minute.
They all fell silent after that. On one end they were all individually wondering about what they were going to do now, but they were also simply disheartened by their failed attempt to escape. The fact that the people holding them were not holding back on them only served to make them more cautious.
Zack in particular took it hard. Though he wasn't officially their leader and it had been Luxiere's idea in the first place, the thought that someone on his team got seriously injured was hard to swallow. He should have anticipated that their kidnappers would be armed and careful. He should also have anticipated that they weren't going to hold back. He should also have anticipated Luxiere's impatient temper. It were these thoughts roaming through his mind that made him feel more guilty than he should. He doubted his ability to perform under serious pressure. This exam was going to prove to be a serious test of his character, which was going to decide whether he was really SOLDIER material or not.
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Zack shook awake by the sound of the door opening. He hadn't even noticed he'd dozed off. He blearily adjusted his sight to the dim lighting of their room and saw three men standing near the door. Two were the same as from the morning. Zack recognized them as the ones who'd pointed their guns at them. The third one was unfamiliar, and he seemed to be of higher rank.
"So these were the prisoners who tried to escape this morning?" The new man asked.
"Yes sir. They managed to get out of their restraints and attacked Richard. Luckily we were able to subdue them quickly."
The man hummed and nodded. He slowly let his gaze go over the room, letting his sights fall on each of the room's three occupants in turn. Zack and Kunsel glared right back at him. Luxiere to a lesser extent. Though the wound in his leg wasn't bleeding as badly anymore, it was obvious that it had weakened him considerably.
"Not so tough now, are you big guy?" The man smirked at the injured cadet, "Maybe if you're good I'll even have that leg of yours looked at by a real doctor."
"I don't want any of your doctors near any part of my body." Luxiere shot back weakly.
"We'll see about that." The man sneered. He then gestured to the two guards behind him, "Take them to see Billy."
The three cadets were roughly pulled on their feet by the two guards. Burning pain shot through Luxiere's leg that made him almost drop back down to the floor. He didn't get a chance though and was soon pushed together with Zack and Kunsel to be herded out of the room.
Seeing his fellow cadet being treated like that made anger boil up inside Zack. Even though he couldn't stand the guy's attitude, Luxiere was still part of his team, "Oi! Can't you see he can barely walk?"
One of the guards turned his head to face him. Zack recognized him to be the one who had actually shot Luxiere, "Well that's kinda his own fault isn't it? Shouldn't have tried attacking me."
"That's still no reason to treat him like this." Zack objected.
"I can do whatever the fuck I want. Now start moving before I decide to give you a wound to match his."
Zack growled but didn't reply. He was starting to lose his temper, but didn't want to risk being in a worse position than before. Having one of his team members shot was bad enough. He needed to think things through and come up with a plan that would get them out of here. He knew both Kunsel and Luxiere relied on him, even if the latter would never admit to it.
But it needed to be foolproof. Every detail needed to be thought through if he didn't want anything like what happened earlier to happen again. They had been rash in their actions, and now it was up to him to resolve that.
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A/N: Lots of Zack in this chapter. His current doubts will become important later on in the story. But he'll need to step it up if he wants to prove his worth as an actual SOLDIER. Can he do that? Find out in the next chapter when you'll get the conclusion of this exam.
Until next time! Leave a review on your way out please!