Chapter 10

That night after the first set of trails were over, everyone was allowed back to the rooms to sleep. Once back in the barracks Cloud heard many of the others complaining about how they felt sore and were positive that they had broken bones.

Cloud felt drained too, but he didn't think he felt as tired and as sore as the other felt. He figured it had to do with his demi-god strengths. He could last a bit longer than the others but he was trying his best to not reveal that. He was sure something bad would happen if the truth came out that he was a demi-god. He wasn't too sure what it would be but it was just an unsettling feeling that he had.

All he needed to do though was find a way to relax for the night. If every day was going to be like this he knew that he would need a good night of rest to prepare for the next. As he got ready and headed towards his bed Marcus walked up besides him.

He smiled friendly. "Hey Cloud! Man what a first day, huh?"

"Yeah, it was pretty tough," Cloud answered.

"I think I'll be feeling sore for a month or more at and just from today!" Marcus stretched as he spoke. "But hey you looked like you were doing a pretty good job. You prepare ahead of time or something?"

"Something like that…" Cloud answered. "I used to exercise a lot back home."

"Ah neat! Well I guess that means you will totally be making SOLDIER! I believe in you buddy!"

Cloud smiled at his new friends. "Thanks, but you did good too. We'll make it together, right?"

"Of course! I'm far from giving up. I heard some of the guys talking though, I don't think some of them will last the first week."

"I guess we just have to see."

Marcus shrugged in agreements. "Anyways I think I may hit the hay right now. See you in the morning Cloud!"

"Night Marcus…" Cloud said before he yawned.

After changing into his sleepwear he climbed up to his bunk and crashed down on it. Not having much more strength to stay awake he closed his eyes and fell asleep. In his mind his dreams led him to his ambitions. He was there making SOLDIERS. He had done it and he was proud of himself. Even his father was there, smiling proudly at him. He knew already that his dad was proud of him, but still he dreamed for another moment to have it happen again.

By the time morning came, Cloud felt like he had a great night of sleep, even if the bed wasn't the softest. The orders were being barked from someone though, telling everyone to get dressed and ready within 5 minutes. Everyone scurried around and shuffled to get ready as fast as they could before all running out the door. The first thing they were told was to head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. When there Cloud opted again to sit by himself, barely awake he thought it was better to just stick to his own thoughts and personal space.

But of course someone had to sit down in front of him. It wasn't one of the SOLDIER this time, instead it was Bartholomew. Cloud had no idea what the other guy wanted, but he wasn't fully trusting of him since his attitude was a bit blunt before.

"So Cloud," Bartholomew said as he placed his food down on the table. "Was what I heard yesterday true?"

"Heard what?"

"Dude, really? Did your country boy mind forget already? You were yelled at by one of the SOLDIERs. Everyone was staring. So it's kind of hard to forget that."

Cloud sighed. He had hoped to avoid that conversation at all costs. He wanted to keep his special materia a secret but it had already been blown now. The only hope he had was that it would die down and be forgotten over time, but it seemed that Bartholomew wasn't going to ignore it.

"Doesn't matter," Cloud answered. "Don't know why it matters."

"You have a materia. It may be a supposedly fake or dud, but you still have one. I wanna know where you got it," Bartholomew said as he leaned forward on the table.

"My father gave it to me," Cloud answered as simply as he could. "That's it."

"Yeah yeah I know that, but where did your father get it? You can't just get materia that easily, especially out in a hic-"

"Cut it out Bartholomew, leave him alone already."

Cloud turned to see that Marcus was moving closer to the table. "Stop wasting time pestering Cloud over it. He said his father gave it to him so leave him alone."

"And why do you think you can tell me what to do?" Bartholomew stood up and glared right at Marcus.

"Cause if you waste all your time hounding Cloud and don't eat, you won't have any energy for the training today."

Bartholomew scoffed. "And you care…. Why?"

"I don't. I just want you to leave Cloud alone already. So get lost already and stop asking him personal questions he doesn't want to answer."

With an annoyed sigh Bartholomew picked up his stuff and began to walk away. "Whatever. Probably was stupid and a fake anyways to draw attention to himself."

When Bartholomew was finally far enough away, Marcus chose to sit down in front of Cloud. "Hope he wasn't being too annoying."

Cloud shook his head. "No, and thanks."

"No problem. I understand what it's like to have sentimental gifts from family."

Before Cloud could ask what he meant Marcus pulled something from undershirt. There was a small silver chain and at the end of it was a small silver medallion. "This was a gift from my own father, for my 10th birthday. He… he passed away later that year, so I always keep this on me to remember it."

"Oh… sorry," Cloud replied, not sure what else to say.

"Nah, it's cool. I look back at it as a good memory. It gives me the strength to keep on trying."

Cloud started to smile a little, happy to see that Marcus was really showing to be a good new friend. He really felt like he could trust him more so than anyone else he had talked to so far. "My father gave me mine uh… thing, for my 14th birthday. Just as a way for me to remember since I was going out here."

"Cool, I won't ask much more about it though, I can tell it's a personal type thing."

Cloud nodded thankfully. "Yeah, thanks though."

The two went to finally eat their meals, seeing that the time to do so was dwindling down. Eventually they were called to rejoin everyone and the training for that day began again. It was just like before but they had Cloud and everyone go through it more times and it was starting to show the wear and worry in some of the boys.

Cloud could already see that some were starting to complain much more than the day before. There were even a few that shouted aloud that they were done with this and quit, storming out of the training room. While he did feel bad that not everyone was going to make it, he still had to keep the focus on himself. If he wanted to be one of the few that got to SOLDIER he really had to put in all the effort that he could.

Slowly the days passed one after another, blurring together. Everything became a solid routine and Cloud was expected to follow it in full. More boys had either dropped out because they feared they couldn't keep up or they were directly kicked out for disobeying orders or not making it to the standards they set for the day or week.

Cloud was always at the top of the group though, and he could see it was bringing him unwanted attention. The other boys stared at him more often and tended to whisper when they assumed he wasn't looking. But he always ended up seeing one way or another. Bartholomew was one of the main ones who gave him such looks, and also one of the others who surprisingly was doing fairly well. He hadn't said anything since their last encounter so Cloud left it at that, but he could only wonder what the stubborn headed boy said behind his back.

The only one Cloud knew he could really trust was Marcus. He was the only one who stepped forward to always be friendly and nice to Cloud. It did help him feel a little better by the end of each day knowing that he had a friend ready to relax with. It also made the training days a little easier with someone by his side to support him along the way.

After another week passed things were different by the morning. They were woken up earlier and lled into the training rooms, but they weren't there to start their usual routines. One of the SOLDIERs stepped forward and cleared this throat. "As of today the group of you that is left, you are nearly on your way to becoming SOLDIER. You have all passed the early level fitness tests, and that means we can move on to the next stage. Now today we introduce a very important element that all SOLDIERs have. As you probably all know, the answer is plain and simple; mako energy. There is a process to all of this so you all better follow along accordingly!"

All of the boys remained quiet as they nodded. They all had heard about this, it was something that easily was told from person to person. Every SOLDIER had mako energy injected into their bodies. The 3rds had the least amount of course and the 1st had the highest. But there were many stories of those who never made SOLDIER but could have. Those who tried getting the mako injections but reacted poorly to the stuff. They would get sick and some would even have mental breakdowns from it. No one knew exactly why that was, but it made Cloud worry slightly.

He hadn't thought about the mako stuff before. He was still a demi-god though, so would that stuff really matter? He was already stronger than the rest just because of his blood alone, but he didn't let that get in his head that he could clearly be better. The trials were still a very big challenge to him and even he felt tired some of the days.

Taking in a deep breath he let his thought calm down. He reached into his pocket, his fingers wrapping around his special materia, and he finally got to the relaxation he wanted. "Dad, you've been watching right? Still believe in me? You probably do, I've made it this far after all. So thank you."

With that over, he followed with the rest of the group to get breakfast. It was like usual except this time they were handed a pill to take. They were told it would help give a better chance at withstanding the mako infusion, but first they would have to eat so they wouldn't be going in on an empty stomach. Overall he was told this process would take nearly all day with everything that had to go into the preparation.

Once the food was done they were led into the training rooms to recheck all of their stats from their weight to height, compared to when they first started weeks ago. It all seemed to blur passed Cloud as one thing was checked and prepared after another. By the time they were ready for the mako infusion, it had already been two hours since they had begun the day.

Next they were led to a lab area where they would get the small dose of mako energy. It wasn't going to be as much as 3rd Class SOLDIERs had, but it was enough to test if they would be able to withstand the stuff in the first place. As long as he could withstand it he hoped.

They were lined up alphabetically by last name just as they waited until they were called in next. Marcus's last name actually started with W, what it was Cloud had forgotten, so he was behind him by a few boys. When Cloud looked back to him he gave a smile and a thumbs up, mouthing the words 'You got this'.

Cloud nodded back to him and proceeded forward when it was his turn. He entered a secondary room within the bigger one, it was something more like a doctor's office. Though there was no chair or place for him to sit. There was a large tube against the other wall filled with some tubes and other things. Next to it was someone dressed in a lab coat filing something into a computer. "Just stand there for a moment and we will begin."

Cloud did as he was told and waited for the man to be done. After a few more moments he finally looked over. "Cloud Strife, correct?"

"Yes," Cloud answered.

"Okay… that should be everything. Let's get this over with. Step into the tube."

"Um, what? What's going to happen? I wasn't told how this works."

"The tube you enter will be filled with a mako solution. Your body will absorb it through your skin and mucus membranes into your bloodstream and organ systems. Every 15 minutes throughout the entire session the concentration of mako will slowly increase until we hit the required amount for beginners. The IV will be used to give you supplemental medication to increase your tolerance to the mako."

"Oh um okay…" Cloud said as he stepped closer to the tank. None of that really made any sense to him but he had to believe the guy, he was a doctor after all. He could feel his hands becoming clammy once he stepped inside. Nervousness ran through every part of his body as the doctor began hooking up the necessarily IV's to him. He tried his best not to focus too hard on it though. He wanted a clear mind and wanted to relax as much as possible.

"Just relax kid, you won't even know it's happening."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The doctor sighed, clearly having gotten this question many times before. "It means you'll be asleep the entire time. But you will be monitored the entire time so you have nothing to worry about."

The aspect of being asleep the entire time did add to his nervousness, but he tried not to show it. He just breathed in deeply and waited for the sleep to enclose on his mind. Before he knew it, his mind was already beginning to feel heavy and the room around him faded away into darkness.

Cloud's eyes fluttered open and he was met with murky green water. He opened his mouth out of sheer natural reaction and found that he had an oxygen mask on his face. He couldn't remember at first what was happening. Everything was so disjointed and blurry he couldn't make heads or tails of the situation either way.

Suddenly the green fluid was drained from around him and the tank he was in opened. Even when he blinked several times the room and everything in it was a blur. It almost felt like it was beginning to spin, but he could barely keep his eyes open to check. The light coming from the room was beginning to hurt his head so he shut his eyes.

There was a throbbing pain in his head, making any thoughts he tried to process worse. He could hear shouting though. Whomever was in the room was shouting… and it seemed to be more than one person. He couldn't hear well enough to figure that part out, but he did know he was being dragged somewhere.

Slowly he tried to open his eyes again, but he was met with blinding lights. His head burned again and the pain seemed to radiate throughout his entire body. Everything was hurting him. None of that made sense, but he still was unable to ask why. But soon enough, for the second time in that day, his mind pulled him back into the darkness.

Heh Chapter 10 everyone! I FINALLY MADE IT! Hope you all enjoyed :) Also thanks to Prurient_curiosity (on Ao3) for helping with the medical stuff in this chapter!