Now after another slight cliffhanger, we are back again with the next chapter! So yay for that! Thank you all once again for reading and enjoying this story!

Ch. 18

"Well… Welcome to SOLDIER kid."

Cloud stared as he couldn't find the words to say or even the thoughts to think. He stood there dumbfounded as he tried to take in what he had just heard. He found himself to slowly be nodding, but he still could not form any words or proper thoughts.

"Now don't get too excited yet, there still is a lot ahead for you. The next steps for you will be tough. Over the next few months you will start your official SOLDIER training. Part of that includes exposure to raw Mako every few days. This is how SOLDIERs build up their incredible strength and abilities. Tomorrow you will return here for fitting for your outfit, understand?"

Cloud tried his best to snap out of his thoughts. He looked up at the director and quickly nodded. He straightened up as he gave a salute. "Yes sir!"

"Good, then you may leave. I would have you stay to fill out paperwork for an apartment for you to stay at, but according to the files, you have a older brother in SOLDIER already. May I assume that you are going to be staying with him?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, is that all right?"

"That is fine, we just need to know so we can add that information to the system. You may leave now. Congratulations on making SOLDIER again."

Cloud nodded again before he headed out of the training room.. Though once he stepped out there, the thoughts came rushing back to his head again. "I made… I actually made it…"

Cloud laughed as a smile formed on his face. A warm feeling surged inside of him as he picked up pace. He had to go and find Zack! He had to tell Zack! Both of them were in SOLDIER now! Their dream to be together had come true finally!

His mind kept rolling with thoughts as he strolled to the area in which Zack was supposed to be waiting. He wanted to break into a sprint, but he wanted to remain somewhat calm and composed in front of others; moreover, he did not exactly see Zack in that moment, so he knew he would need to look for him.

As Cloud approached the spot where he had last seen his brother, there was nothing currently occupying that space besides thin air. He thought of going to look around to see if he could locate Zack when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw the familiar face of his older brother, who was wearing a cheeky grin.

Cloud's face lit up as he started to slowly grin. He then quickly threw his arms around the neck of Zack. "I did it! I was able to make it in! I'm a SOLDIER like you now!" he exclaimed, not allowing any sense of embarrassment hold him back. After all, he was only thirteen-years old. He had a right to be excited.

Zack laughed cheerfully as he wrapped his arms around Cloud and swung him around. Neither of them cared that they were in the lobby as they both laughed happily and loudly. They knew that there was other workers and that they were most likely now turning to look at them. But they still didn't care. All that mattered in the moment was that they were happy for what had been said.

"See? What did I tell you? I knew you could do it! I'm so proud of you buddy!"

Cloud laughed as he was swung around a couple of more times as he watched Zack laugh along with him. Then, Zack finally stopped and planted him back down on the ground. The moment still seemed surreal as Cloud just stood there for a bit to take it all in.

"This isn't a dream after all. This is actually happening. I didn't fail. I am a SOLDIER," Cloud assured himself as he glanced upward briefly.

Zack reached out and ruffled Cloud's hair. He chuckled a little. "You're right about that. We're finally here together and SOLDIERs. After all these years, it's finally happened. We gotta celebrate!"

"Celebrate? That sounds really nice. What do you have in mind?" Cloud asked curiously.

"Hmmm," Zack hummed as he pondered all the different possibilities. "Well obviously we gotta go out and buy a cake. Can't celebrate without a good cake."

Cloud beamed. "Oh, you think we can do that? Let's go right now then!"

"Sure sure, we can go right now. Come on, I know just the place," Zack said as he draped his arm around Cloud's neck as he led his little brother off.

The two of them exited the building and walked down the path from the headquarters until they were in the area to get to other parts of the city. Cloud had no idea where they were going, but he was thankful that he had Zack leading him as his mind was focused on what had just happened.

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally stood in the presence of a storefront. Once they had stopped, Zack let go of Cloud and finally spoke again. "And here we are."

Cloud averted his eyes to the building in front of them. From the looks of it, one would not guess that it was a store since the architecture was the same as factory buildings. The only thing that Cloud could see on the front of it was 'Bakery'. Thoughts swirled in his mind about what type of delicacies would be located inside.

"I wonder if the food here will be just as good as what we had in Gongaga," he thought aloud so that Zack could hear him.

Zack almost stared at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding?! The food here is waaaaaay better. Oh you've never had anything like it. In fact, I've had to exercise even more than usual because I can't really stop eating these wonderful sweets," he admitted as he chuckled slightly.

Cloud started to laugh along with him for a few seconds before settling down. "Well, let's go then. I'm hungry from all the tests and moving my body."

Cloud and Zack strode into the shop and then made sure the door closed behind them. Zack walked in front, and as they started closer to the counter, the person tending the place noticed them.

"Oh it's my favorite customer! How's it going today Zack? Bring a friend along? Just sit anywhere you like."

Zack led Cloud over to a small table, one of the few that was in the place, as he tried to converse with the older man.

"Yeah, this is my brother actually. He just made SOLDIER, so I brought him here to celebrate. What do you have for some good cakes today?" Zack replied.

"Oh that's wonderful news! Just you wait, I'll go get something special for you then," the man boasted as he walked towards the back of the store, supposedly to find a cake.

The two boys had some small talk amongst themselves for a few minutes before the slightly round man made his appearance once again. Though this time, he was carrying a cake. Cloud's eyes widened as it was sat down in front of them. It was a massive cake.

"Wow! This is the best looking cake I've ever seen!" Cloud exclaimed as he gawked.

It looked to be at least three layers to the cake, which was way more than Cloud thought he or Zack could manage to eat. It was covered all around in what looked to be chocolate, as it had a rich brown color to it. Around the edge of each layer seemed to be yellow icing, and the top of the cake sported even more of the same. There was also some more yellow color on the top of the cake, and as he looked up, he noticed there was a chocobo designed up there in intricate detail.

"Well, this is a new cake that I was trying. It's called the Chocobo special. Don't worry, it doesn't actually have chocobo in it. But I tried to capture the beauty of one in this cake. As you can see, it's mostly chocolate, but on the inside there is some coconut flavoring along with a rich, buttery filling in the bread. You'll be the first to try it so I'm intrigued as to how it is," the man, who seemed to be the shop owner, said to them.

"Awesome!" Cloud said as he bouncing up and down excitedly.

The owner of the shop then took two small plates and put a thin slice onto each. He grabbed a plastic fork for each plate before handing them to the boys. "Here you guys go. Let me know what you think."

Zack and Cloud looked at each other with wide, joy filled eyes. Both of they more than excited to try out this new cake. They both scooped up a piece of the cake with a fork and immedilet ate it. Their eyes then lit up seconds later with big grins going across their faces.

"Wow! You've really outdone yourself this time!" Zack said before going to eat another bite.

"It's so good!" Cloud said before humming happy, enjoying the rich taste of the cake.

"Thanks boys. And since you guys enjoy my creation, I'll let you take home a portion of it," the owner replied.

"Oh you don't have to do that," Zack said.

"Nah, it's fine. You said your brother made SOLDIER today, so it's on the house."

"Well thank you. This cake definitely will not go to waste. I was actually going to buy a couple of more so that we could have some stuff at home," Zack answered

The man glad Zack up to the counter, and Cloud followed along behind them. Once they were there, Cloud noticed that there was an array of cakes that lined the counter behind the glass. All of them looked so good. Zack picked out a few different flavor of cakes to take a piece of each home with them.

"Those are some good choices there," the man responded as he boxed the cakes up for Zack.

The man then told Zack how much it would cost, and Zach pulled out his gil and then paid for it all. "Thanks for all of this!"

Cloud finally started to pay attention again as he looked back up. "Yeah thanks for the awesome cake."

"Don't mention it. You boys take it easy. Try not to work to hard," the shopkeeper sad as he bid them farewell.

The two boys said goodbye to the owner as they left the shop. As they walked back towards the apartments, Cloud kept glancing at the bag Zack was carrying that contained all the sweets. Zack seemed to notice and switched to holding it in his other hand.

"Now don't get any ideas. This is dessert for tonight. Can't have you spoiling your appetite," Zack said as he chuckled.

"Yeah, but it looks so good!" Cloud pouted. "What are we going to have for dinner though?"

"Hmm that's a good question. It has to be something special at least, to go into the celebration."

Cloud started to think about what they could eat. There was so many options they could do, but one thought came to Cloud's mind. "What about baked salmon? Like mom would make us for special occasions."

"That sounds like a great idea! Only… I don't know how to cook it. I never really took the time to learn from mom," Zack replied sheepishly as he rubbed his neck.

"Oh...well, I know I helped mom a few times. But I'm not sure if I could fix it either," Cloud answered with a sigh, and he went into thought about what they could eat. Then a different thought came to mind on what foods would be good for celebration. "What about something like pizza?"

"Yes!" Zack shouted cheerfully. "That's another great idea. And I know the perfect place to go! There is a amazing pizza joint around here. They have this crazy deep dish, stuffed crust thing and it's so good!"

"Okay then! Well lead the way," Cloud insisted to Zack so that his raven-haired brother would guide them.

The two of them began their trek to somewhere to grab some dinner now. They bounced happily as they walked. On the way, Zack remembered something the shopkeeper had said. It was something he was going to mention to Cloud but had forgotten until just then.

"Hey Cloud. Since you did make SOLDIER, I thought it was only right to get you something. You know, to commemorate the moment. I just… don't really know what to get if I'm being honest. What do you think?" he asked curiously, wondering what Cloud would actually say.

Cloud started to hum as he thought it over. He tried to think of things that would be cool to have. Something he would want. There was a lot of small little things he thought of, but he wanted something to make an impact. Something that he could get that would be a symbol of him making it to SOLDIER.

After a bit more deliberation, Cloud stopped where he was, which caused Zack to stop as well.

"Well… there is one idea. I've thought about this before, but never brought it up. I thought it could be cool to get a piercing. Like, an earring of sorts."

"Really?" Zack asked, clearly surprised. "I didn't think you would be into that stuff."

"Well nothing big or crazy. Just something small, but cool looking," Cloud replied back. He didn't know why exactly, but the sound of having a earring just seemed… right… or something. It was another one of those feelings he had that he didn't know how to explain. But he didn't bother to bring that up as he felt it didn't matter.

"Well, if that's what my brother wants, then that's what we'll do. Maybe we can find something around here for that. We can do it right now. Sound good?" Zack wondered.

"Thanks Zack," Cloud said as he smiled.

It was later in the evening now and the two of them were sitting back in the apartment. About half an hour ago Zack ordered a pizza from the place he had talked about, and now they were just waiting for it to arrive.

Cloud gently ran his fingers over his left ear. It was still a bit red and sore, but Cloud could now feel the earring that was in the lobe. It was a small little round silver sphere. There was so many choices to choose from, but Cloud wasn't sure what would be best, so he went with simple.

"Does it really look cool?" he asked as he tilted his head to the side for Zack to look at it again.

Zack stared at him and then leaned closer to look at the earring. "Yeah, I like it at least. It kinda suits your look too," Zack said to him as he silently thought that maybe he should get one at some point as well.

"Thanks. And double thanks for buying it for me."

"You're welcome again buddy. You deserve it," Zack said as he smiled at his little brother. "Now, if only that pizza would hurry up and get here. I'm hungry for some real food."

There was a knock on the door suddenly and Zack jumped up to open it. After paying the man at the door, Zack brought in the pizza box and placed it on the table. The pizza they had ordered was a large deep dish style with cheesy stuffed crust, and it was topped with even more cheese.

Cloud gawked at the size of the pizza. "Wow, when you said it was a real deep dish pizza, you weren't kidding."

"Oh yeah! Now it looks good of course, but it tastes amazing! Now come on let's dig in!" Zack said as he started cutting slices for them.

They were now finishing up the delicious pizza as they were each taking their last bite, licking their fingers slowly as they did so. Once they had done that Zack brought out a few of the deserts to the table. After Cloud carefully examined each sweet he finally chose the one he wanted to eat for the night and bite right into it. He sighed happily as the chocolate was rich and thick.

Shortly after eating it Cloud leaned back in his chair. He felt he was just as stuffed as the crust from the pizza, and just like the crust, he felt he would pop at any moment if he were poked. Zack on the other hand, was sitting there normally, showing no signs of wavering after eating so much.

"Just, how do you eat so much Zack," Cloud asked as he then burped loudly, which relieved some of the pressure that he was feeling.

Zack just grinned. "Well, I told you I started doing extra training right? After eating like this for a while, you get used to it. You'll just have to work harder to work it off," the older brother chuckled.

Cloud didn't say anything more as he just wanted to relax for a moment. As he did that, Zack got up and walked to the counter to place the dishes next to the sink . After that was done, Zack had returned and sat back down in his seat. Cloud on the other hand though stood up and walked up to the couch and laid down.

Zack threw a quick glance to Cloud, and saw that he was holding his stomach. "Well, seems that we'll be doing some extra work tomorrow. Gotta work all of that off," he said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, okay. Not now though," Cloud uttered with an exasperated tone.

"True true, we can just relax for now. But first thing in the morning we are going to exercise like crazy!"

"Hmmhmm…" Cloud hummed in response as he closed his eyes, ready to just rest.

Zack started to groan slightly as well as he began to stretch. The light from the window was starting to dissipate, indicating that the sun was setting on the day. He finally roused up and started to walk towards the back of the apartment.

"Hey Cloud. Maybe we should get in bed. We are waking up early after all tomorrow. I'm going that way at least. You should as well," Zack said gently as he then started to yawn and stood at his door.

Cloud raised up from laying on the couch, slowly as he was still reeling from all of the food he had eaten. "Yeah, I here you. That sounds like a good idea. It's been quite a day after all."

After thinking back on the day, it was surely a roller coaster of emotions throughout. The best part though was that he had made SOLDIER. He still almost could not believe it, but it had just happened so it was still new and fresh on his mind. He smiled slightly as he thought of that and he walked towards his room now. The two brothers then bid each other a good night as their doors closed behind them.

Now a nice chapter of celebrating is over. What is next? More SOLDIER stuff of course! Cloud has made it now and now his big journey begins!