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Ch.6
A couple days had passed and yet Zack still was thinking about the SOLDIERS he had seen. He still had so many questions he wanted to ask. He wanted to learn more about them. He never had felt so curious before about something.
After thinking about this for a little while longer as he relax in bed, Zack decided he was going to go out into the village and see if he could find those SOLDIERS again. It was the weekend thankfully and so he had no school for the day. He had no idea if they would still be there, but he needed his curiosity sated. However, he knew that if he left that Cloud would most likely want to go with him wherever he went, which was no problem to Zack. But, he wanted to make sure that Cloud would actually want to go if he knew the reason for his outing.
Zack finally managed to get up out of his bed with a leap to the ground. He then walked over to the still sleeping Cloud. A couple hours ago they had eaten their lunch, then afterwards Cloud decided he wanted take a nap. Zack originally had thought of also napping, but his thoughts kept him awake the entire time. He reached out his hand to try to shake Cloud awake, but then a better idea crossed his mind. He grinned sheepishly as he then allowed himself to free-fall across Cloud sideways. "Wake up spiky head!" he yelled playfully at his little brother.
Cloud let out a gasp as his eyes shot wide open. He began to flail underneath his big brother. "Zaaaack! Get off meeee!" he shouted as he started to laugh.
Zack laughed in response to Cloud. "Well first you gotta make me," he teased as he continued to flop around like a fish out of water.
Cloud tried to push Zack off him, but his little 6-year-old body, was't quiet strong enough to move an 8-year-old. The only thing he could do was shift around in the bed to get a little more free from Zack's hold on him. Though he still was laughing he managed to say a little. "I can't! Move already!"
Zack continued to laugh a little and finally decided to relinquish his hold on Cloud. He rolled over and toppled off of his younger brother and allowed him to get up. "Okay you're free now. But at least you're awake," he joked as he chuckled a bit more.
"Yeah cause you woke me up!" Cloud exclaimed, though his smile never fell. "Is there something you want? Got fun ideas for today?"
"Hmm...well I thought about going into the village actually. But…" Zack stopped, trying to think of how to ask Cloud what he was curious about.
"But what?" Cloud said as he sat up more properly on the bed. "What do you wanna do?"
Zack hesitated, as he did not know how Cloud would react. "Well, I wanted to go out and see if we could find those SOLDIERS again. I was just...curious is all. Figured you'd wanna follow with me."
Cloud shook his head. "No. I don't wanna see the SOLDIERS again. Why do you wanna go see them?"
"I don't know, I just wanna know more about them is all. I can't help it. Are you sure you wouldn't wanna go?" he asked, trying to see what Cloud might say.
"No I really don't wanna go there again. But you really wanna know… are you just going to go? Without… me?" Cloud asked quietly as he frowned slightly.
Zack was unsure of what to say to Cloud at that moment. It was true that he didn't want to leave Cloud alone, but he also wanted to go out and see to his own goals. Then a thought crossed his mind. "Hey, remember the school thing I told you? Even if we're in different classes, we will see each other at the end of the day. Well, I wouldn't even be gone that long here, so think of it like that then," he said with assurance in his small voice.
"Oh…" Cloud said as he seemed to relax slightly. "And then we can play when you get back?"
"Of course we can. We'll do whatever you want when I get back, how's that?" he asked curtly as he ruffled Cloud's hair.
Cloud smiled at his brother. Sure he didn't want him to go and see the SOLDIERS again, but he knew Zack would come back at least. Though he still felt a bit uneasy of SOLDIERS… well at least the word. That word he didn't really like at all, as well as the other word Shinra. Neither of them made Cloud feel well. He knew it had to mean something… but he couldn't figure out what it was. He hoped though that eventually he would know.
"Yeah! That sounds fun! We can go swimming today!" Cloud said as the thought just came to his mind.
Zack chuckled at Cloud's enthusiasm. "All right that sounds cool. I'll be back before you know it then. Don't have too much fun without me," he smiled as he turned and walked out of the bedroom and ran out of the house, briefly telling his mother he was going out.
He ran excitedly down the path from their house that led to the center of town. After a few minutes, he had finally arrived; however, he was short of breath as he had ran too hard. He stopped momentarily to catch his breath and then proceeded to slowly walk down the fork in the road, which was to his left now that he was coming from his house.
At first, as he moved closer down the path, he did not see anybody up ahead. But then upon inching ever closer to where the reactor area was, which was marked off by fences, he started to hear voices. Zack figured that it must be the SOLDIERS and they were inside the reactor area now. He knew he probably could not go inside of the area without getting caught, so he decided against that idea fairly quickly. He then deduced that the best option was to get as close to the fence as he could to be able to see them and listen to them.
Zack crouched down with his knees bent and edged forward, making sure to be careful with each step as he remembered these SOLDIERS apparently have sensitive hearing. He positioned himself right at the fence enough to where he could peer through it just enough to see inside. Sure enough, he was right as he saw the SOLDIERS standing around inside the area, seemingly talking with each other about something. Zack of course, wanted to know what they were discussing, in hopes of finding out more information about their mysterious group.
"...so far. Also, why do we have to stay here with this reactor? We've been here for days and nothing strange is happening," one of the infantryman had complained, seemingly frustrated with something going on that Zack did not really understand.
One of the other SOLDIERS in blue with the different helmet spoke up. "Because we're the lower ranking people here so we have to do jobs like this. It kind of sucks, but just deal with it. It's something to do. Right commander?"
The one that must have been the commander, who wore the red-colored outfit, nodded. "Yeah yeah. We get the lame jobs and the 1st class get to do all the more intense and fun jobs."
The other person dressed in red then spoke up. "That may be true, but at least we're not risking our lives to get killed like they are. So I'd say be thankful."
"But, those 1st class are pretty impressive," one commented.
"That is true. Especially about that newest 1st class. What was his name again?" the commander asked.
One of the other infantryman cut in. "Oh, you must mean Sephiroth. Yea, he's the newest member of the 1st class SOLDIERS," he paused before continuing on. "He's always taking on all of the hard jobs, and never has failed a mission. Some say that he's superhuman, especially the way he carries around that long sword of his effortlessly. Not to mention he is much taller than anyone else as he stands at six foot one". He's even being regarded as the greatest hero now."
Greatest hero? Those words caught Zack's attention more than anything else that he had heard thus far. So it was true that SOLDIERS actually did help people after all, which is what he had originally thought. It didn't seem like that much to reveal, so Zack assumed that the soldier from the other day must have been cranky. He pushed the thought out of his mind as another came to the forefront.
All Zack ever wanted to do was help people, and he loved to do it as it made him happy. Now, it seemed SOLDIER might could help him to do just that. He wanted to find out more about this Sephiroth person, but he figured if he was famous then he should hear about him everywhere.
His thoughts were interrupted as one of the commanders stifled a slight chuckle, apparently at the soldier who had last spoken. "What, are you in his fanclub or something?" he asked sarcastically with a smirk.
The infantryman was taken aback momentarily before he recomposed himself. "Well, as a matter of fact I am. I'm a member of his official fan club."
"I still can't believe 1st Class get to have fan clubs. I would love to have something like that," one of the men replied. "But seriously you are in his fan club?!"
"Yep I am. I was a part of it before I joined the military. I am a loyal Sephiroth fan. He's actually one of the reasons I wanted to join, when I heard of his heroism," the man replied proudly.
One of the guys in red, the not-rude one, spoke up again. "Yeah, word is around Shinra that on his latest mission, he took on an entire army by himself and won without a single scratch being put on him. Even for a 2nd class like me, that's far out of my league if it's true," he said bluntly.
"Is he really that powerful?"
"From what I've heard yeah. I mean, if he can take on an army, then what can't he do? I'm just glad he's on our side," the 2nd class responded yet again.
"Truly the most amazing hero of our time," another SOLDIER said in awe.
Zack was nearly bouncing with excitement upon hearing of the tales of this man they called Sephiroth. He started thinking of what he could do one day if he was to become a SOLDIER. The ideas and thoughts racing through his small mind made him forget that he was actually trying to hide as he ended up bumping his head against the fence. "Ow," he said, and then clasped his mouth with his hands, realizing what he had done.
All of the men in the area turned their attention over to where Zack was hiding. They looked at one another before one of the men took a few steps closer to the fence and looked around. He looked for a few seconds until his eyes fell upon where Zack was sitting.
"Hey kid! What are… wait you are the kid from a few days ago! What are you doing back here?"
Zack froze for a moment, not knowing whether he should run or not. However, considering that these same guys had told them not to come back before, he didn't want to get in trouble with them, nor his parents for sneaking around. They were still behind the fence for now, so Zack decided to run. He stood up on his feet and turned around and he jetted off, jogging as fast as his legs would carry him to try to outrun the SOLDIERS.
After a few minutes of non-stop running, Zack started to tire out but was afraid of stopping. He stifled a glance behind him and to his surprise, saw that the SOLDIERS were not in pursuit. Instead, they were standing at the top near the reactor and watching him, most likely to make sure he did not come back. He sighed thankfully as he then stopped his sprint and proceeded to walk the rest of the way home, though the excitement in him was boiling.
When Zack got home he opened the front door and was immediately greeted by Cloud. He nearly tackled him over as Zack wrapped his arms around him. "Zack! You're back!" he shouted cheerfully.
"I told you I'd be back Cloud," Zack huffed slightly as he saw Cloud. "But boy do I have some things to tell you. It's really cool!" Zack emphasized with his voice, hoping Cloud would want to hear him out.
Cloud's eyes lit up with wonder. "Oooh? What is it? Tell me Zack! I wanna know! What is really cool?"
Zack grinned. "Oh you really wanna know? Well, why don't we go somewhere else then and talk about it. Wasn't there something you wanted to do when I got back anyways?" Zack asked his spiky-headed brother.
"Oh yeah! I wanted to go swimming! Come on come on! You can tell me about the cool thing as we swim!" Cloud shouted before running back towards their bedroom to get changed into something for swimming.
"Well okay then, that sounds fun. Let's get ready to go then," Zack said joyfully as he ran into the house and back to his room to get his swimming gear as well. After a few minutes, he was changed, as well as Cloud, and they started to march their way out of the house.
"Hey mom! Cloud and I want to go swimming. We can right?" Zack asked of his mother, who appeared to be in her bedroom since she was not in the open area of the rest of the house.
"That's fine. Just be safe okay? Don't swim out too far," his mother told him.
"Yay! Thanks mom!" Zack said before grabbing towels and then he and Cloud ran out the front door.
The two of them chased each other all the way down until they reached the shore. They walked away from the docks area and headed down to a area where they was plenty of room to play on the sand and swim in the water.
Immediately Cloud ran into the water and started to splash around. Zack laughed as he ran into the water right after him and started to have a small splash fight. The boys giggled and laughed as they moved around for a bit in the water. Soon enough though they stopped for a moment to catch their breaths.
"So what is the cool thing?! You said you had something really cool," Cloud said.
Zack wiped the water some more from his eyes as he sat down in the edge of the water and motioned for Cloud to sit by him. "Okay so I went to see the SOLDIERS again right? And I heard what they were saying. They do help people," Zack stated promptly with an excitable look upon his face. He paused briefly before continuing. "I heard a story about this one guy who is an actual hero. He does all the big stuff for them too!" he exclaimed.
Cloud blinked a few times as Zack started to ramble at him. He listened carefully though to each and every word that was said though. "Wow really? A real hero? But I thought you were a hero Zack. You being the best big brother, that makes you a hero right?"
Zack was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect to hear Cloud say that about him, though he didn't mind it. But it really made him consider how much Cloud looked up to him. "Hmm...well I guess if you want to call me that. I'm your hero then!" Zack said in a loud and playful voice. "But...you're the best little brother, so that makes you a hero too then," Zack said cheekily as he smiled at Cloud.
Cloud giggled happily at the comment. He wrapped his arms around Zack and hugged him tightly. "Thanks Zack." He then let go and looked back up at him. "So who was the hero? The one you heard about?"
Zack thought about it for a moment. "Hmm, what was the name again. Sepa...no that's not right. Sepha-...Sephir-...umm, oh I got it! It's Sephiroth," he said slowly, making sure that he said it right. "I think that was his name. It sounds really cool though don't you think?" he asked of Cloud.
Cloud slowly tilted his head to the side. "Sephi… Sepher…Sepharoth?" Cloud tried his best to pronounce the name, but it was such a strange and long word, it proved to be a bit challenging.
Though a sudden chill ran through Cloud. He suddenly felt uneasy. He wrapped his arms around his legs and he shuddered slightly. Why was he feeling this way? He couldn't understand… why did he feel… so scared now?
"I don't know… maybe?" Cloud managed to say though, trying to push away the uneasy feeling inside of him.
"Is there something wrong Cloud?" Zack asked, an expression of worry coming to his face. "You don't look happy all of a sudden."
Cloud shook his head. "No… I don't know. Just something I guess. Maybe something I can't remember…"
"Well maybe it's not anything bad...but hey, maybe we can both still be heroes though right? I don't wanna do it on my own without you, Cloud," Zack continued. "Besides, I heard that big heroes get their own fan club too."
"You wanna be a hero for the SOLDIER guys? Both of us?" Cloud asked. The uneasy feeling faded away and curiosity and excitement replaced it. "Fan club? What's that?"
"Yeah we can both go be heroes! We'll do it together," Zack said with a determined look before addressing the other issue. "And umm...well it's kinda where people like you and want to tell others of your hero things. If that makes sense," Zack said, trying to explain the best way he knew how. "It's like a group of people who talk about how cool you are."
"Ooh okay! I get it now. So we can really be heroes together? How would we do it though?"
"Hmm...let me think." That was a question that Zack had not expected to hear.
He had no idea what they were supposed to do to be able to join Shinra to try and become SOLDIERS. He had no information about how to join or even where to go. After thinking it over for a bit, he thought about the men he had ran into twice already. He might would be able to obtain some information from them. However, then the thought occurred that they probably would be none too happy to see him coming around.
He slumped down as he tried to think of another way. He figured it might take some time to figure that out, but he was determined to not give up. Maybe there would be another group to come to the village that he could ask? Or, maybe he should try to get close to those other soldiers again, regardless of what they would say? These were questions that ran a race in his mind. Zack knew there would be time, so he would wait until there was an opportunity.
"Hey Zack? Are you thinking or something? Or fallin' asleep?" Cloud asked curiously, seeing that Zack had his eyes closed and head down.
Zack was snapped out of his deep thoughts as he opened his eyes and looked up. "Oh I was only thinking. I'm not sure how we can do it. But I know we will figure it out! After all, after finding out about Sephiroth, I have a dream: to be a hero."
"Me too!" Cloud said excitedly in reply to his brother, as he wanted to do what Zack did. Not only that, but the idea of becoming a hero really spoke to Cloud. He liked the sound of it and it made him feel excited. And plus he liked the sound of Zack saying his dream was to become a hero. To Cloud that sounded like the coolest dream ever!
"Yep!" Zack smiled at Cloud. "Now, where were we? Oh yea," he said as he stood up from the ground, gathered a handful of water, and splashed Cloud heavily with it.
"Hey I wasn't ready. I'm gonna get you!" Cloud yelled as he laughed and arose from the ground as well as he started to chase Zack around.
The two boys continued to play in the water at the ocean for quite some time. Before they knew it they were starting to feel a bit hungry. They had no idea what time it was, but they knew it must have been close to dinner time. They also noticed that the sun was already lowering further into the horizon.
The two boys got out of the water and started to dry off. Zack smiled as he placed a towel over Cloud's head. He started to rub the towel quickly in order to dry and fluff up Cloud's hair. "Gotta love the fact your hair is real spiky."
Cloud laughed slightly. "Hey, your hair is spiky too. I think it's even bigger than mine," he argued, trying to compare the size of their hair. He grabbed his own towel and threw it over Zack's head and tried to rub his in return. But of course he couldn't quite reach Zack's head cause of how much taller he was to Cloud.
"Nah no way. Your hair is the spiker one," Zack said with a laugh. "And I bet it will get to be even more spiky looking as you get older."
Cloud was about to make a comeback at Zack when a thought came back to him. He remembered faint words from somewhere. "Chocobo butt!" The words echoed in his head. It was a bit hazy, but Cloud remembered he had heard them in the dream about where he had come from. That dream had happened well over a year ago, but there was certain parts that just seemed to stick in the back of his mind.
Cloud frowned slightly as he looked up at Zack. "Is it okay though that my hair is spiky?"
Zack looked confused for a second at Cloud's comment. "What do you mean? Of course it's okay. What made you think that suddenly?" he asked curiously.
Cloud wanted to try to explain. He had to try to explain the dream to Zack before, but it just felt so hard for him. But he took in a deep breath and spoke anyways. "So it doesn't look like a chocobo butt?"
That thought had never occurred to Zack. Though, when he looked closely, Cloud's hair did kind of resemble exactly what he said. Zack wanted to chuckle at it, but he kept his thoughts on that silent as it seemed as though Cloud seemed to not like that name. He did not want to make Cloud seem uncomfortable.
He calmed himself before responding. "Well...it's not really like that. Don't believe that. Your hair is fine the way it is," Zack said with a reassuring smile. "Besides, have you ever even seen a chocobo?" he asked with a slight raise in his pitch.
Cloud looked to the side as he pondered over the thought. Then he looked back at Zack. "Nope."
"Then why are you so worried? How about…" Zack paused as he thought for a moment. "How about if we ever see a chocobo we can see if it's true or not?"
Cloud's eyes widened. "We could see a chocobo?!"
"Of course we could! I mean, I don't think there's any here in the village. Maybe someone will bring one?" Zack questioned out loud.
"Oh yeah! I hope someone will! I wanna see a chocobo now!" Cloud exclaimed happily.
Zack smiled. "Good, I'm glad you agree. Now, let's get back to the house for dinner yeah? I'm starving. Say, I'll race ya," Zack said cheekily as he smirked at Cloud.
"Another race? Okay! I'll start!" Cloud started before he took off running, not waiting to see what Zack would say.
"Hey no fair, I wasn't ready!" Zack exclaimed as he picked up the rest of his things and took off after Cloud to try to catch up as the two of them ran back towards the house as the last light of the sun faded in the distance.
Zack and Cloud now have a goal/dream set! How will that go? What's going happen? Find out next time!