We are back with this story now as Zack and Cloud have been reunited of course. Now we get to see what they are going to do now that they are together again.
Things are starting to pick up pace, and we have gotten rolling on this story idea too. Thank you everyone for reading the story so far. It means so much to us!
Ch. 15
The following morning, Cloud woke up as early as he could in order to be prepared for the day. Though, as he started to rouse and move about, he noticed Zack seemed to have been up for quite some time; therefore, maybe it wasn't as early as he had thought. He knew he had gotten some good rest though, which is something he had desperately needed after that long boat ride.
He decided to get dressed and get ready, though he was slowly moving to do it. Maybe some exercise would help to get his muscles to start moving and to finish waking him up. He started to do his squats again as Zack had instructed him too before, not wanting to let a day go by without doing them. As he was doing them, he heard a noise at the door.
"Ah, I see you have been remembering your squats like I told you. Good good," Zack spoke gently to him as he leaned against the door frame.
"Yeah I'm doing them. You taught me how to do them for our training so I wouldn't forget of course," Cloud replied.
"Well, as soon as you're done with that then we can head out if you want. On the way to where we need to go, I can give you a tour of the city," Zack suggested to him.
"Oh yeah! We gotta do that," Cloud said as stood up from his squat. "But wait… where are we going if it isn't just a tour of the city?"
"Oh...well, I figured I'd take you to the Shinra headquarters at least so you can see things for yourself. And try to go ahead and get registered too," Zack informed him.
"I gotta be registered first before I try out?" Cloud asked curiously. "Ah… well I guess that makes sense. But I wanna see Midgar! Let's go!"
Zack then motioned for Cloud to come with him as he started to walk towards the door that would lead out. Cloud followed Zack out of their apartment as they walked quite some ways until then stepping back out into the bustling city of Midgar. Cloud was quite excited to be able to tour the city, which is something that he had wanted to do when he first arrived; however, he prioritized locating Zack first as he felt that was the more important task. Everything seemed to work out in that regard since Zack was now providing him with a walk around the city, which did alleviate Cloud's innate fear of becoming lost in such a large and unfamiliar area.
"Okay so where do you want to go first?" Zack asked curiously with his back to Cloud."
Cloud snapped his attention to the back of his brother as he heard his question, though he was slightly perplexed at it. "Umm, well I don't know. Wherever you lead us is good with me."
Zack turned to face his little brother as he started to scratch the back of his head. "Oh yeah, sorry, that's right. You had not gone through the city yet. Well, that's okay. That's what a big brother is for. To show you the way. We'll just make our way wherever we can," Zack replied with assuredness as he turned back around and walked forward. "Try to keep up!"
Cloud quickly began to march forward to make sure that he kept up with Zack, as he did not want to get lost. As the two of them walked, Cloud kept staring up at his surroundings, moving his head from side to side in order to be able to see everything that he could.
Zack glanced behind him quickly and noticed this, cracking a smile. "Yeah, there's a lot of stuff up here. This big area we are in now is all what is called the Upper Plate. Most of the living spaces for people like us are up here."
"Oh wow, really? That's sounds cool. So everyone lives in this 'Upper Plate' area then?" Cloud raised a question, curiosity present in his voice.
"Well, not everyone. This is the main area. There are other places that have plates over different sectors of the city. Below those are the different sectors slums. It's home to more of the poorer people and other small businesses that apparently don't fit with the look here…" Zack trailed off with a slightly worried tone. "I-I've never had occasion to visit the slums whilst here, so I'll show you what I know," Zack stated to Cloud.
The two of them continued to move forward as Cloud's questions were quelled by the vastness of Midgar, and by what he had just heard about the other area. He began to get more intrigued by what was below them, or rather who was below them. He stayed silent for some time before finally deciding to speak up again.
"So… why don't we go and visit the area there some time? Just see what else this place has to offer."
Zack turned and glanced at his quickly before moving his head back around. "Yeah, of course we can. Who knows, maybe we might even be able to help some ya know?" he replied heartily.
There was a slight pause before the next utterance. "Okay now, because I almost forgot to tell you, the Shinra headquarters, as you might expect. You should be able to see it shortly, since it's such a large building. Just keep your eyes peeled," Zack told his little brother, figuring that his curiosity and enthusiasm would pick up after hearing that.
Cloud nodded slowly and continued to follow behind Zack as the two marched on silently for some time. Cloud couldn't help but to wonder about everything he said. He still could not believe how big Midgar was compared to Gongaga. It almost felt a slight bit intimidating by the vastness, but he saw that Zack walked around the place easily and seemed to know it all pretty well.
"Here we are in Sector 0 is where we are now, which is the central location for everything else to spring from in Midgar. So what do you think?" Zack asked as he turned to Cloud, who was just staring in awe.
They had approached a large building that towered above everything else in the area. Cloud assumed that it must be the Shinra headquarters, and once again, Cloud could not believe the size of the building he was seeing. He craned his neck back almost as far as it would go so that he could see the entire scope of the place.
The massive building was an odd shape, with a strong metallic color coating it just like all of the other scenery in the area. At the bottom, there seemed to pipes jutting out that most likely was the source of energy that was used around here. Cloud assumed it was mako energy since the design looked similar to that of the mako reactor back home, but he was not for certain of that.
Upon looking more around, he saw that the base of the building narrowed up to a point and then more building could be seen. A large metal container of sorts seemed to be sandwiched between the middle of the building and the top, which grew even narrower than before. Though, it was only that small from their viewpoint of course, as the actual size of the building was much larger. Though, one other thing that Cloud noticed was that the base area was also surrounded with several other tower-like structures, though not as tall as the main building.
After taking in this enormous sight, Cloud felt slightly intimidated to be there, almost like he did not belong. He was entrapped in his thoughts but a sudden force upon his shoulder released him from his mind. He looked down to see that Zack was standing beside him, with his hand rested on the blond's shoulder.
"You know, if you keep craning your neck like that it might get stuck," Zack chortled. "I know it's a lot to take in, but I'm sure you can handle it. Now come on, we're gonna be going inside now. Gotta get you familiar with the place after all since it's where we will spend most of our time."
Cloud understood what Zack was saying finally. "Right, I get it. Well I guess then let's go," Cloud replied back as he allowed Zack to lead the way into the oversized headquarters building.
The two made their way up to the front doors, which then slid open for them to enter. Upon stepping through, the inside was just as large as Cloud had anticipated after seeing the outside. The first thing that he noticed was in the very center of the floor directly in front of the doors was a large desk, which most likely was where everyone checked in at; or so he assumed as there was a lady standing on the other side of it. On either side of the desk was a stairway that seemingly led to an upper area of the ground floor. Then, on either wall was two elevators, and next to them were doorways labeled 'Exhibit Hall.'
As Cloud was taking everything in once again, Zack finally spoke up. "All right Cloud, so this is the registration desk, and the information help desk, whatever you wanna call it. We'll get you signed up here. Then we'll use those elevators to go to the other floor for training," he said.
Cloud nodded, and after a slight pause, Zack then leaned in towards Cloud. "Between you and I, you're not really supposed to be able to go to any other floors, but I'll use my charm on the receptionist here. Besides, she knows me," Zack gave a wink before he marched Cloud up to the desk.
The receptionist, who was working on a computer, stopped what she was typing and looked up to see Zack. A smile filled her face. "Ah Zack! It's nice to see you. Is there something you are here for today?"
Zack leaned up against the counter and angled his face towards the lady. "Yeah, I'm here to register my brother here for the SOLDIER trials like I did a couple years ago," he said as he then looked her over more. "Can I say you are looking very nice today," he said as he grinned at her with an innocent look.
"Thank you Zack," The receptionist giggled as she looked at Zack a bit longer. Then her eyes shifted to behind Zack and noticed Cloud. "Aw why didn't you tell me your brother was so cute!"
"Oh, well I guess it never came up," Zack said as he slowly scratched the back of his head. "Well he wants to be a SOLDIER like me of course. But also…" he leaned in closer to her. "I kinda promised him we could train some. I know he's not in Shinra yet, but could you let us in to the training floor? For me?"
The receptionist slowly looked to both her sides before leaning in a bit closer to Zack. "I know I really shouldn't, but fine, just this once. But if you get caught, that's on you."
"All right!" Zack said, but then quickly clasped his mouth as he realized he had spoken a little too loudly. "Thanks a bunch. I owe you one," he said to her as he winked.
Then turning to Cloud, he spoke. "Okay we can get you signed up now."
Cloud walked up to the front of the desk as the receptionist began to type away at her computer. She asked Cloud several questions about himself and other things and soon enough she had finished typing everything out. She wrote on a small sheet of paper and then handed it to Cloud.
"You're all set. You are now ready to come to to SOLDIER trial tryouts in a few days. Just make sure to bring that sheet with you when you come."
"Thank you," Cloud replied quietly as he looked over the piece of paper. It was a sheet that had his name of it and stated the day and time of the tryouts for SOLDIER. He carefully folded it and placed it into his pocket.
"I don't believe there is anyone near the elevators right now, so this would be the best time to make your move," the receptionist replied quietly to Zack.
"Right! Thanks again for your help. I'll see you around," he said to her before turning around. "Let's go Cloud," Zack said as he then ran off towards the elevator area, motioning for Cloud to follow.
The two of them entered into the elevator and Zack pressed the button labeled 49, which was the floor specifically for SOLDIER. The elevator started moving upwards as they waited patiently for it to reach the destination. Zack knew they would have to be careful once they were there and try to avoid personnel. A few more seconds passed and they finally stopped as the elevator dinged; then, the doors slowly slid open.
At first glance, Zack did not see anyone around at the moment, so he thought to move directly behind the wall in front of them just to be safe. He turned to Cloud. "Okay, watch me and then follow me."
He then darted from the elevator behind the wall that he had just thought to go to. Cloud nodded silently as he followed right behind Zack. The two of them quickly sped down the hallway as they passed by several doors and more hallways leading to other areas. It wasn't long before Zack stopped and peered down one hallway, before motioning Cloud to follow more and they continued sneaking around.
The two reached the end of the hallway finally and Zack stopped, causing Cloud to halt right behind him. The training room was just to the right of where they were. Zack peered around the corner and saw there was another SOLDIER heading towards where they were, and from the looks of it, he was a 2nd class. Something had to be done so that Cloud would not be found out.
"Okay Cloud, I'm gonna go distract that guy and get him to go the other way with me, and I want you to run into that room there," he pointed at the training room. "Just push the button on the door and it will open and let's hope there is nobody inside. There shouldn't be at this time at least."
"Got it," Cloud said as he stayed clear of the sight of the SOLDIER, but prepared himself to run when it was time.
Zack walked out and then seemed to strike up a conversation with the 2nd class SOLDIER. He put his hand around his shoulder as Zack was able to get him to turn back towards the other way and they started to walk off in the other direction away from the door.
Cloud breathed in deeply before running to the door that Zack had told him to go to. He pushed the button and quickly went inside as soon as the door was opened wide enough for him to sneak through. Once he was on the other side, he looked around the large room he was now in.
The room was seemingly just a large square room with multiple panellings lining the walls. It was mostly empty from what Cloud could see. Though, on the wall to the right he noticed that there was a timer situated there. As he continued to glance around, he noticed that directly to the left of the door he had entered sat a large machine. He assumed this might control the training sessions, though he had no idea how it all worked. He was thankful that nobody appeared to be in the room though as he decided to just wait for Zack to come to him.
After standing and waiting for what seemed like ages, he heard the door finally open and took a look over to it. He saw Zack was standing in the doorway and slowly entered it as it closed behind him automatically. He also appeared to be holding an extra sword as well, as he walked over to Cloud with it.
"Here, you'll need this to train. Standard issue Shinra sword, just like mine," he stated as he extended it out to Cloud and waited for him to respond.
Cloud slowly took the sword and looked over it with wide eyes. "We've never actually trained with weapons before."
"Yeah, I know. You haven't at least. I've used these for a while now...To be honest with you, I'm not supposed to use this room either, but I always sneak in here to train when I can," Zack admitted to Cloud as he chuckled. "But I haven't been caught yet. So, are you ready to get started then?"
Cloud laughed, happy to see that Zack truly had not changed from when they were young. Always trying his best, even if he was being a bit sneaky about it. "Yeah! Show me what to do!"
Zack grinned. "All right, let me just turn on the simulation then and we will go," he said as he walked over to the large machine that was in the corner.
Cloud watched with curious eyes as Zack set up the machine. Soon the room lit up all around them. Another grin spread across his face as he was ready to spend time with Zack once again as well as train with him and prepare to be in SOLDIER.
Zack then walked back over and stood in front of Cloud and raised his sword to him.
Cloud moved forward slightly and then raised his sword in a similar battle stance.
The two boys locked eyes for a brief moment and exchanged a smile before they rushed towards one another, the impending clash of their swords signifying the beginning of their training together.
Soon enough Cloud will try out for SOLIDER. He is almost there! What could go wrong? XD
We still got so much planned for this. Can't wait for you all to read it.