4. Cloud's Story - I

1

In the morning Cloud woke in the cozy inn to the smell of garlic and cheese. Rubbing his rested eyes he saw Barret, Tifa, and Aeris sitting at the round table across the room. In front of them was a basket of garlic bread, a plate of sausage, and a dish of scrambled eggs that had been mixed with cheese. In the middle of everything was a pitcher of orange juice.

"That smells wonderful!" Cloud said. He sat up and stretched away the stiffness he felt in his back and legs.

Aeris turned and smiled at him. "It's about time you woke up. Barret was getting ready to shake you . . ."

Barret turned and smiled at him, his large mouth full of half-chewed eggs. He swallowed and said, "What Aeris meant to say . . . was that I was only concerned about your sleepiness because I wanted to make sure you got up before all the food was gone." He winked at Red 13 who was lying on the floor, a plate of food in front of him.

"You must remember, of course," the lion said, "that Barret most likely would have eaten all of the food. So there was some sincerity in his statement."

Cloud stood up and yawned. Turning towards Barret he smiled and said, "So I suppose you're looking for a thank you?"

Barret pulled back a chair for Cloud. "Not necessary, white boy. Jes hurry up and eat so we can get on with the day."

Cloud grinned and did just that. He took two chunks of garlic bread, a generous scoop of eggs, and four links of sausage, and then piled them onto his plate. Even as everyone else finished up and removed themselves from the table Cloud dug into his food, refilling his glass with the sweet orange juice more than once.

With his stomach full for the second meal in a row Cloud stood up and looked around the room.

Aeris was now sitting on the bed that Cloud had slept on. The rest of the team took to sitting on the other beds as well as some of the scattered chairs. Red 13, however, had found a cozy spot on the timber floor in front of the fireplace.

Barret rocked back and forth in his chair. Looking at Cloud, who was the only one standing now, he said, "So let's hear your story. You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crisis facing the Planet." He sat up straight. "Let's hear it all."

Cloud looked down at his feet, and then back up at Barret. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Tifa was the only member of the group not looking in his direction. She seemed to be looking at her hands.

I guess it's time . . .

Looking around at each and every one of them he started his story. "I . . . I used to want to be like Sephiroth, so I joined SOLDIER. After working with Sephiroth on several missions, we became friends."

"You call that a friend?" Barret asked.

"Yeah, well . . ." Cloud cleared his throat. "He's older than me, and he hardly ever talked about himself. I guess you'd call him a war buddy – not that I joined the company during the war with Wutai, but you know what I mean. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we trusted each other. Until one day . . ."

Aeris repeated, "One day?"

Turning away from the others, Cloud took a quick breath and then continued, "Years after the war, it was SOLDIER's duty to put down any of the growing resistance against the Shinra. That was five years ago . . . I was sixteen."

2

The helicopter slowly descended onto one of the helipads on the upper level of Junon, the massive Shinra military fortress that sat on the westernmost edge of the Eastern continent.

Cloud, suited in his pristine SOLDIER uniform, exited the helicopter with two Shinra guards, Randall and Tego, both of whom were still dressed in street clothes. Last off of the chopper was Sephiroth, who was also wearing his custom-made SOLDIER uniform.

Looking at the perilous fighter, Cloud tried to recall a time when he'd seen Sephiroth not clothed in the black-and-gray uniform, but he fell short in doing so.

Tego looked beyond the airship deck to the left of the helipad and dropped his duffle bag. "This is amazing . . . it's huge!"

He was referring to the massive cannon that struck straight out from the solid cliff of rock that the military base had been built into.

Cloud nodded, content with the knowledge that at least one other person was just as excited as he was to be partaking in the newest Shinra mission. He still wasn't sure after the short flight from Midgar how Randall was going to turn out, and Sephiroth was never one to show much emotion, but at least Tego would be there to share in the same overcoming anxiousness he was feeling.

The young SOLDIER said, "I said the same thing when I came here my first time."

Tego smiled. "I mean . . . I know you said it was going to be awesome, but seriously . . . this is incredible."

"Shinra, Inc. is an incredible company," Randall said, the words sounding a bit uncomfortable coming out of his mouth.

Cloud wasn't sure how to take this, but wasn't going to lose his current high by thinking too much into the seemingly sulky Shinra guard.

Taking his eyes away from Randall Cloud turned and saw Tego giving him a look that said, 'How'd we end up with this guy?', and then turned to see what Sephiroth thought of the astounding scenery.

The black-caped man was already making his way inside the base however, so Cloud took one last look, waved for the others to follow, and then headed for the door.

As he pulled open the door and stepped inside of the base and out of the bright sun Cloud felt a twinge of dizziness overcome him, but he was told to expect that after such fast travel on a helicopter.

And even though the ride had been swift it had still been the farthest Cloud had ever travelled in a chopper. The team had taken off from the pinnacle of the SOLDIER headquarters in Midgar, had barely a minute to see the small town of Kalm before it disappeared into the distance, and then had rapidly flown over the Cardian Mountains, viewing the numerous small settlements along the way. Cloud had been to the settlement of Cardia itself, but even after all of his time travelling the Planet hadn't recognized the other two towns.

He still couldn't understand why anyone would choose to live in one of these places, especially the ones that were so far outside of Midgar that coal was still being used as the main source of energy.

Once inside there were a few brief greetings and then Cloud and the others were pointed towards a locker room down the hallway.

"If you have any need to refresh yourself, I suggest you do it now," a blank-faced man said. "You'll be flying in one of the Gelnika airships . . . and I suppose I won't have to inform you that the military airships aren't accustomed for luxury travel."

Cloud nodded at this. He'd been on one of the large airships once, and other than a cockpit and a dozen burgundy seats the main sections of the Gelnika were reserved for ammunition along with other military equipment.

"This is so sweet," Cloud heard Tego murmur behind him.

"Yes, it is," Cloud said back to him, glad to hear that Tego was still as excited even after the news of their potentially uncomfortable flight over the ocean.

As they walked towards the locker room, Tego said, "The only thing that could make this any better would be by knowing where we're actually going."

Cloud nodded. He agreed wholeheartedly.

Even Randall felt the need to say something to this. "Yeah . . . we really don't know much about anything. Even the actual mission has been kept secret."

Tego said, "Well I'm not so much concerned with that aspect of it, Randall ol' buddy . . . I'm more concerned with the location itself."

"Why's that?" Cloud asked, a hint of a smile developing on his young face.

Tego put an arm around each of their necks. "Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you why." He stopped walking and turned around to face them. "I need to know if there's going to be a surplus amount of ladies to anxiously greet me during my arrival."

Cloud rolled his eyes. He wasn't exactly pleased to hear this, for he himself took the mission very seriously, but at the same time he realized that Tego was simply overexcited, and that when they actually arrived at the set location, his attitudes would take a turn for the better.

Grinning, Tego gestured to each of his arms. "One lady here . . . and one lady here."

Cloud sighed.

Maybe not . . .

3

While Cloud and the two Shinra guards took some time to refresh themselves with some beverages and a few snacks that had been left out on one of the numerous tables, Cloud noticed Sephiroth and felt a tiny chill crawl up his spine.

He often saw the black-caped man as he currently was, sitting was his hands on his knees, staring at what seemed to be nothing at all. Cloud normally wouldn't say anything, fearing to disrupt Sephiroth, but on this occasion it seemed different.

He wasn't simply staring at nothing. He was staring at a row of blue lockers in front of him, his blue-green eyes scanning the bold, yellow numbers on the top of each locker.

Cloud couldn't see anything special himself, the numbers he thought Sephiroth were staring at ran from '09 – 18', so he turned to the black-caped man and asked, "Everything alright?"

Sephiroth didn't respond to him, he remained fixated on the numbers.

Maybe he's not looking at the numbers, Cloud thought. Maybe he's just wondering about the mission like the rest of us . . . unless they've told him something about it that we don't know.

"Sir?" Cloud said, staring into the cold, Mako-infused eyes.

Finally, Sephiroth looked away from the top of the lockers. "Yes?"

"Is everything alright?" Cloud repeated.

Sephiroth nodded and then looked back towards the lockers. "It seems so . . . it's just . . ." He paused and pointed towards the yellow numbers. "The numbers caught my eye for some reason . . . but their significance is lost on me. Does it remind you of anything?"

For an instant Cloud thought that maybe their fearless leader was losing his marbles, but he looked at the lockers anyways.

After a short examination Cloud shrugged and said, "I'm not seeing anything, Sephiroth."

The black-caped man slowly got to his feet and stepped in front of the lockers. Raising his hand he pointed at each of the numbers as he spoke them aloud. "Two . . . One . . . Three . . . One . . ."

Cloud could only stare. He could see the numbers himself, the '2' from the twelve being the first number and the '1' from the fourteen being the last, but it meant nothing to him.

Sephiroth continued, "Strange . . . it feels significant to me for some reason." He paused and turned to Cloud, an expression that wasn't quite a smile forming on his pale face. "But I see that it still means nothing to you."

Shrugging, Cloud said, "Sorry . . . I guess I'm just missing something . . ."

Sephiroth shook his head. "No matter . . . it's probably nothing anyhow." He turned to the other side of the room where Randall was laying on a bench and Tego was looking at himself in a mirror. "Are you all ready to go?"

Cloud nodded, and then Randall sat up and did the same.

Tego spun around from the mirror, and then nodded and said, "Let's go, Mocha Joe."

Sephiroth only stared at him, although Cloud had cracked a grin, knowing what Tego was again trying to do.

Tego remained facing Sephiroth and smiled. "Let's get outta here, Vladimir."

Again, Sephiroth only stared.

"Okay, okay," Tego said, "this one'll get ya." He clapped his hands together. "Let's oogle, Human Moogle."

When Sephiroth's empty stare remained unchanged Tego said, "Someday . . . I will get you to smile."

Sephiroth turned towards the exit, but before he left the locker room he looked over his shoulder and said, "I'll smile . . . the day your tiresome mouth stops prattling." He then exited the room.

Cloud raised his eyebrows and looked at Tego. "Maybe it's time to stop with the get-Sephiroth-to-smile jokes . . ."

Unfazed, Tego shrugged. "Perhaps . . . but only time will tell." He then turned towards Randall. "Right? Now let's get leavin', Steven . . ." He winked at Cloud as he headed for the exit.

4

The officer had been right to warn Cloud and others about the flight to their destination. Besides a bit of banter with a third Shinra guard that they had been joined by in Junon – the man called himself John, and although Cloud thought him a bit strange because he was already suited in his blue uniform (along with the standard-issued mask), he seemed alright after a while – the flight had been long and boring.

It was the landing that was the most memorable moment so far in Cloud's journey from Midgar.

Nomla, a fairly populated settlement on the western end of the Western continent, was apparently fifty miles or so from their final destination, so it was here that they were finally going to be equipped with whatever they needed for the mission ahead.

And when Cloud saw what he was going to be equipped with, he almost fainted.

Finally, he thought. I finally get some materia.

If you had asked him later what the three guards had received Cloud would not have been able to tell you. Everything in his entire being was fixedly focused on the small, blue orb of materia that was slowly being placed in the palm of his hand.

It's a Lightning orb, he thought, and tried his best to keep from squirming with excitement.

He thanked the military officer that had handed it to him and then turned to see what Sephiroth was receiving.

The black-caped man wasn't in sight however.

As if understanding what Cloud was wondering, Randall stepped forward and said, "He followed one of the suited men into the tent over there."

"Seems we're finally going to learn what we're all doing out here," Tego said.

Cloud turned to where they were looking and saw a billowing, camouflaged tent beyond an old military truck.

"Finally," the new SOLDIER whispered, anxious to get wherever they needed to be, anxious to try out his materia.

My materia, he thought, and felt a warm rush flood his body.

Tego looked at Cloud and said, "You got some materia, didn't you?" When Cloud nodded, Tego continued, "You lucky son of a bitch!"

The guard from Junon, John, still masked, leaned over Cloud's shoulder and said, "Let's see it, big time SOLDIER."

Cloud grinned. "Alright . . ." He lifted his arm from his side and opened his squeezed fist. The blue orb that sat in his palm received numerous gasps.

"You are so goddamn lucky," Randall said. "I'll probably never get any materia . . . I can't pass the SOLDIER exam."

Tego laughed. "I hear you there, brother . . . I received my third rejection letter in the mail just last week."

Randall looked over at the masked guard. "How about you, John? Have you ever tried to get into SOLDIER?"

After a moment of silence, John nodded his head and replied, "Yeah . . ."

"I'm guessing you were unsuccessful," Tego said good-humoredly.

Turning towards him, John grunted, "I would think the answer to that would be pretty damn obvious."

It seemed at first that the mood of the group had changed after that statement, but then John grumbled, "Idiot . . ."

Tego laughed out loud. "Indeed, kind sir, I've never been mistaken for those of great wisdom. Although I do have one more question . . ."

"Yes?" John said.

"What's with the mask?" This question was asked simultaneously by Cloud, Tego, and Randall, all of them knowing that that was going to be the question asked.

John laughed. "The mask?"

"Yeah," Cloud said.

"I just had surgery . . . and it's best that I keep the mask on."

"Oh," Randall said. "Surgery . . . on your face?"

John nodded. "Remember how we just figured out that I didn't make it into SOLDIER?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Well," John said, "I suffered a bit of an accident during the Battle portion of the exam."

"A bit of an accident?" Cloud questioned.

"Yeah . . . a fist moved my nose almost two inches across my face."

Tego made a face. "Yikes . . . sounds icky."

John shrugged. "It's over now . . . and they're letting me partake in the mission now that I'm healing."

Ahead of them they saw Sephiroth exit out of the tent.

Taking a breath, Tego said, "Looks like it's time . . ."

John said, "Yes, it does."

As the group began walking towards the black-caped man, Tego looked over his shoulder at John and said, "You seem like a good guy, John, and I'm sorry about your face."

"Thanks, I guess," John said.

Tego smiled. "But I'm guessing that as bad as it is it still can't make you uglier than our dear friend Randall over here."

"Bite me," the subject of the joke spit out, but a smile was on his face nonetheless.

Cloud heard all of this, but his main focus was still on the small, blue orb that he held in his hand.

Materia . . . finally . . .

5

In the back of the military truck that they had seen near the tent, on an old, bumpy, and almost-forgotten road, Cloud paced back and forth. He wasn't sure if he'd ever felt so anxious in his entire life and found that he was looking up towards the front of the truck again.

The windshield wipers did little to defend against the constant pounding of rain that had started a few minutes before. The driver, whom none of them knew, shouted his growing anger out loud every time that he hit a bump in the increasingly hard-to-see road.

Next to Cloud were the three Shinra guards, all sitting on a pair of wooden crates. On a third crate sitting very still and calm was Sephiroth.

Once his attention was turned away from the front of the truck Cloud again found himself looking at Sephiroth's modified SOLDIER uniform. The elite head of SOLDIER's long gray hair flowed down around the black and gray outfit. Below the black pants were jet black boots. The only vivid color that you could ever find on Sephiroth was the greenish-blue color that came from his cat-like Mako-drenched eyes.

Cloud looked away and then continued to pace in the back of the truck. "It sure is raining hard." No one responded. He walked over to Randall, who had been complaining about motion sickness. "Hey, how are you doing?"

Randall made a dismissive motion with his hand before lying down on the crate. "I'm all right, you know how it is."

"I wouldn't know, actually," Cloud said to the guard. "I've never gotten sick from being on the road." He turned and walked towards one of the other guards on the next crate, listening as the rain outside dropped from the sky at an accelerated tempo. He asked, "Everything okay?"

Tego nodded, and for the first time since they'd met the man remained silent. Cloud turned and started pacing again.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Sephiroth looked up at him, shaking his head slightly. "Hey." Cloud turned and looked at him. "Settle down." His thin, green eyes never stared at you, they stared through you.

Cloud, still antsy and tired of being cooped up in the back of the truck, said, "They gave me some new materia, I can't wait to use it!"

Sephiroth smirked and looked up at him. "Just like a kid . . ."

This remark immediately halted Cloud's actions. He did not want to appear like a kid in front of Sephiroth. This man was the reason Cloud had joined SOLDIER in the first place. Standing straight up and facing Sephiroth he asked, "You going to brief us about the mission?"

The three guards glanced over at the speaking men, suddenly interested.

"This isn't a typical mission," Sephiroth replied.

"Good!" Cloud yelled, breaking his stillness.

Sephiroth looked at him curiously. He asked, "Why do you say that?"

Cloud walked towards the back of the truck and looked out of the foggy window. "I joined SOLDIER so I could be like you. But by the time I made First Class, the war was already over." He turned around to face Sephiroth, his childhood hero. "My big hopes of becoming a hero like you ended with the war. That's why I always sign up whenever there's a big mission . . . kind of a way to prove myself." He bent over and looked eye to eye with him. "Say, how do you feel, Mister Sephiroth?"

Letting out a small chuckle, Sephiroth smiled, which was something only a handful of people had seen, and replied, "I thought you wanted a briefing . . ." Cloud stood up and crossed his arms. Sephiroth continued, "Our mission is to investigate an old Mako reactor. There have been reports of it malfunctioning . . . and producing brutal creatures."

"Creatures?" Tego asked.

Sephiroth nodded and then shook his head when he saw the excitement building up in Cloud's eyes. "First, we will dispose of the creatures. Then we'll locate the problem and neutralize it."

Cloud tapped his foot on the floor anxiously. He had heard rumors about monsters running wild from others during his stay in Cardia a month ago. He wasn't quite sure if he understood what the things really were, but he'd heard enough people refer to them as if they were talking about the nightmarish beings from horror skits on television or from children's novels. "Brutal creatures . . . where?"

"The Mako reactor at Nibelheim."

Cloud's eyes widened. "Nibelheim! That's where I'm from."

Sephiroth nodded his head. "Hmm . . . hometown."

Unexpectedly the truck jolted towards the left, almost flying off of the broken down road. The driver steered the truck back into the middle of the road and slammed on the brakes. "Sir, something strange just crashed into our truck!"

Sephiroth stood up, another one of his rare smiles gracing his thin, pale face. "That would be one of our monsters . . ."

6

The two members of SOLDIER, Cloud and Sephiroth, grabbed their swords and jumped out of the truck while the others stayed inside.

Cloud looked quickly at the handle of his sword where the materia orb had been inserted, although he couldn't look for long.

The creature was dark jade with monstrous, yellowing teeth. It had a large, swooping tail with spikes of bone decorated on its sides. Beneath its yellow eyes was a disfigured nose where small puffs of smoke were slowly billowing out from. On its green, scaly back it had two large, misshapen wings.

Wow . . . Cloud thought, and then made a quick decision.

Face to face with the huge dragon-like creature Cloud ran towards it, trying hard to prove himself to Sephiroth. He took a suicidal swipe at the beast with his blade, connecting with one of its front legs.

The monster roared, bellowing foul-smelling smoke, and then slashed at Cloud with the injured leg.

Cloud ducked and turned around to run back to Sephiroth, suddenly understanding that he was no match for the beast.

When he made it back to Sephiroth, the beast still holding its ground and growling, Cloud yelled, "What should we do? Should I use the materia?" He paused, and held his sword out in front of him as the creature took a mighty step forward.

Sephiroth only stared, not flinching an inch.

The black-caped man turned away from the beast and looked deep into Cloud's eyes. "Do you know how to properly use the orb?"

Cloud wanted to say 'yes', he wanted so badly to impress Sephiroth. But when the green creature took another step towards them and raised its gnarled, clawed paw in their direction, Cloud screamed, "No . . . I don't think I can!"

Both he and Sephiroth jumped back, avoiding the claw, and then ran a few paces to the creature's left.

"Watch and learn, then," Sephiroth said. He then took out his long, thin sword and gestured to his own Lightning orb. Before Cloud could even tell whether or not Sephiroth had begun the summoning, a parade of electricity shot out of the black-caped man's hand.

The screeching monster's large muscles turned to jelly in seconds, forcing its remaining skeletal figure to slowly tip over to the soggy ground. Sprinting past Cloud with his sword extended, Sephiroth gave the monster a finishing blow with his long blade, slicing the remains of the melting creature into two violently separated halves.

The mighty mouth of the beast fell silent. What was left of the body was still.

Cloud turned towards Sephiroth and found that he was speechless.

The black-caped man sheathed his sword, his demeanor showing no signs that he felt what he had just done was anything special, and then said, "Let's get back on the truck . . . we must be close to the town."

Cloud could only nod as he watched Sephiroth leisurely make his way back to the military truck.

I will watch and learn, he thought, and then raced through the pouring rain towards the truck.