Hi, hi, minna-san! I survived my finals, though I don't know yet how I did on them. *sobs* I have to wait over vacation for that.
Here's the next part! I'm almost to the point that I have to write the parts instead of taking them out of storage! *gasp* *smirk* Enjoy, all you people who are crazy enough to read this stuff!
* * *
This was what workouts were supposed to be. It was Cloud's third week with the Wutai Garrison, and he could already feel the difference.
He'd been surprised to discover that the two men leading that squad of SOLDIERs he'd seen that first full day in Wutai were Andrews and Shimo. He soon discovered that both were well deserving of the praise Zack had given them.
Andrews was a tall, broad-shouldered redhead, with stormy blue-grey eyes. He was very strong, and had an extremely quick mind. He was almost frightening in his charisma, if not quite as much so as Sephiroth, and was a good leader.
Shimo was a tiny, skinny Wutaian guy, with grey-black hair and very light grey eyes. He was strong, sure, but his main features were his unbelievable speed and disgusting flexibility. Cloud had instantly started watching him. Now he'd picked up some of the Major's moves, even some mannerisms. Hell, he was even learning more Wutaian than the Shinra had deemed necessary. In between his duties as a Spec Four in the Shinra army, his workouts, and school, of course.
Cloud wanted to send a letter to Zack, to tell him how he was doing, and to thank him for his efforts in getting Cloud's P.T. assignments rearranged, but he didn't know what to do. Too many years of being a friendless loner made it difficult to figure out how to act with friends. He knew he was shy, painfully so about some things, and if he could, he would have stayed well out of sight of everyone. But he wanted to be a SOLDIER, and he wanted to do well, and that meant he had to stand out. He could crush his anxieties when he needed to, but he'd always be shy. So he was afraid of imposing.
He knew it was stupid. Zack was his friend, and Sephiroth, too, but they were also everything he'd ever wanted to be: handsome, strong, successful, admired. He just couldn't make himself write the damn letter. He'd tried repeatedly, but the words wouldn't come.
Thus, he was having an after hours session with Major Shimo. Workouts usually helped Cloud come up with ideas, or at least temporarily squash his troubles. Right now, it was mainly making him realize just how much of an edge Mako gave people. Shimo was really good, young for his rank (though, Sephiroth and Zack were that, too), and really really fast. Cloud had been able to almost hold his own with most SOLDIERs he had trained with, but now he realized just how much they had to have been holding back on him.
Cloud so wanted to be a SOLDIER.
Ducking under the major's Wutai-crafted long sword, Cloud forced his aching body into a burst of speed and sent the flat of his blade at Shimo's legs. He saw the major tense to jump, and the whole world went into slow motion. He felt the burn of muscles abused by an hour of being driven beyond their limits, the weight and momentum of his heavy blade, saw that Shimo would strike him from mid-air….
Cloud altered the path of his sword. Then the world was back on normal time, the blade sweeping across in its chosen path….
It crashed into Shimo's legs, even as the SOLDIER reached the top of his leap. The blow wasn't all that powerful, especially to a SOLDIER, but the major was in mid-air, and had no purchase or balance, and the impact was enough to dash him to the ground.
Shimo blinked up at him from the ground, then smiled slowly at him. Cloud just swayed on his feet and his sword slipped from nerveless fingers. Shimo was off the ground and catching him before he could fall faster than Cloud's tired mind could register.
The major eased him to the ground carefully, concern and happiness warring on his face. "Sorry, Strife. Didn't mean to push you that far. You should have said something if you were that tired." The happiness won out. "It happened, didn't it?"
Cloud blinked stupidly. "Huhn?"
"The world slowed down for you without using a haste spell. Didn't it?" Cloud nodded mutely, and Shimo, who usually lived up to his name, smiled like the sun. "That's good, Strife! That's one of the things that sets natural SOLDIERs apart from other SOLDIERs. You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Cloud nodded, and suppressed his irritation. Of course he knew! It was his job to know that sort of thing. A natural SOLDIER was an individual who possessed SOLDIER-like characteristics prior to Mako-enhancement. A typical SOLDIER was just like most people, only a little stronger, faster, or smarter than most. When they got accepted into SOLDIER and received the Mako-treatments, that was when they first started displaying trademark SOLDIER characteristics.
Shimo nodded. "Well, normally, we'd give you a day or two to recover, but the regular military doesn't recognize the same things as medical hazards as SOLDIER does. Are you going to be okay?"
Cloud nodded and managed to get his voice into working order, if only for a whisper. "Yeah…Happened before…..I'll be okay…"
Shimo's eyebrows went up slightly. "It has?" At Cloud's weak nod, he frowned. "Hmmm…That's interesting. You know, since Zack's really more-or-less in charge of you, I'm gonna have to send him a report. You should contact him, too, tell him your account of what happened. He'll want to know." Shimo hefted him to his feet. "Now, go rest. If you're feeling at all dizzy in the morning, don't come in. Call the base physician, and if he won't accept your explanation, call me. I don't want you doing yourself any lasting harm pushing yourself tomorrow. The slow-down changes something in your head. If it's happened before, I think you'll be okay, but I don't know, for sure. I've never met someone who's done it more than once or twice, though I heard rumors, of course. It usually happens once you're a SOLDIER, anyway, and then it sticks. Or it happens once as a regular, and again once you're a SOLDIER and sticks then. The Mako seems to make it hang around for a while."
Cloud nodded, not really hearing any of it. He just wanted to go to bed.
The trip to the barracks was a haze, and Cloud didn't know whether he drove, or got a ride, or walked, for that matter. He didn't notice the weird looks his squad-mates gave him as he staggered in. He just flopped down on his bed and abandoned himself to sleep. Just as he drifted off, he realized that he now had a legitimate excuse to send Zack a letter.
* * *
Zack's eyebrows seemed to be stuck somewhere roughly around his hairline. He'd just received Major Shimo's report on Cloud's incident with the time bending, and now he held in his hands a vid-letter disc from one Specialist Four, Cloud Strife. Zack popped the disc into his player and blinked when Cloud's face appeared on-screen. Cloud had only been gone a month, but there was something different about him. He seemed even older inside, or maybe not so much older as mature. Cloud's voice had dropped slightly, though, when he finally spoke, causing Zack's eyebrows to hurt, he cranked them so high. The teen also had picked up a slight Wutaian accent.
"Hello, sir…Zack," the boy spoke hesitantly. "Major Shimo said I ought to send you a letter because of my…experience with the time distortion. Uhmmm….I really don't know what to say, so I guess I'll start with the facts…"
Sephiroth had appeared even as the recording started, and stood behind Zack, watching the recording intently. It really was just the cut-and-dried version. Cloud sounded like he was a bored student reciting something out of a dry-as-dirt textbook. Then Cloud became hesitant again. "Ummm, I'm not really good at composing letters, so I get the feeling this sounds more like a report, than a letter, but it was intended to be a letter. Ummmmmm….well, Wutai is much nicer than I thought it would be, if primitive with people who hate us. Certainly better than that thrice cursed boat was! I'm picking up the language pretty well; I really like it. It's so smooth and flowing. Major Shimo is just awesome, and so is Colonel Andrews."
Cloud's eyebrows drew together. He looked worried. "Zack, I…I think something is going to happen here. The people get more and more restless. I understand their resentment. If someone came in and occupied my home, I think I'd kill them. Which is what I'm worried will happen here. Maybe not tomorrow, or next week, but eventually they'll just break out here. All they need now is a leader to rally behind."
Cloud shook his head as if shaking off the gloomy thoughts. "Anyway, thanks for setting me up at the garrison out here. You, too, Seph, since I know Zack'll show you this and since I know you had to have had a part in getting this done." He leaned forward, as if to switch off the camera, then paused. He blushed pink, then mumbled hurriedly, "Miss you both." Then the disc ended.
Zack sat back, smiling slightly. The kid was damn cute sometimes! Admitting he missed two of his friends as if it were something to be ashamed of. Then Zack's mood soured. He glanced up at Sephiroth, only to see he was wearing his typical cool non-expression.
"What do you think, Seph?"
The taller man frowned. "I think it's great that Cloud's a Natural, but it makes the mystery of why he was blocked all the more glaring. I'm also worried about what he said of the state of unrest in Wutai. Cloud has pretty good judgment where potential threats are concerned, for someone his age."
Zack nodded. "I'm worried about that, too. Especially since I received reports from Shimo and Andy which seem to say the same thing. Shimo suspects they've already found a leader, which is why they are showing any unrest at all."
Sephiroth shook his head. "I have gotten those same reports. Nothing we can do about it for now, though, but hope Cloud and all those green troops are all out of there before it hits the fan."
* * *
Cloud was instantly bolt upright in bed as the ground shook. Some of the others were also awakened, but most of the platoon slept on. Cloud, however was alarmed. He smelled smoke, ozone, and mako, putting him instantly on guard.
/Bolt spell, close by, hit something flammable,/ he thought. He couldn't help but hope that it had hit Banford and all his accursed reports. He jumped out of bed, climbing into his closest set of clothes, the BDUs he'd worn the previous day. (Shinra BDUs actually aren't really BDUs; they're not camouflaged etc, but they aren't dressy at all while still being Shinra uniform and blue.)
Cloud scrambled out the door just as Buck Sergeant Ryans ran up. "Strife! Get back inside!" As Cloud jumped back into the room, she came charging in as well. "Form up! I don't care what you're wearing, just get in line!" Everyone complied, with varying degrees of speed and sharpness. "Okay, you guys. Ready to march! We're going down to the armory." At the uncomfortable rustlings, she looked grimly at them all. "We're under attack. Wutai is rising up against the Shinra."
Uncomfortable rustlings became murmurs of dismay and shock. Someone even whimpered. Ryans managed to get them out eventually, and they started down the road to the armory at the double. There were shouts from all around them now, and fires were burning everywhere.
To Cloud, it was like a dream. The cries of distressed soldiers and the not-so-distant war-cries of the enemy rang without meaning in his ears. He complied with orders reflexively; had he been told to march straight forward with a steep cliff before him, he would have marched right off. He took a rifle and handgun mechanically from one of the armory officers, checked them both to ensure they were in working order, then took the ammunition as he was bidden. Then he waited for everyone else to sort themselves out.
Cloud knew most had joined the Shinra military for reasons similar to his; they'd needed money or housing or education, and the military promised that. They'd never expected the need to fight. After all, Shinra had conquered the world and even put down proud Wutai, who else was there to fight?
Wutai, apparently. And more Wutai. Wutai, until every man, woman, and child of that too proud nation was dead and gone.
Cloud was better off than most. He'd been trying to get into SOLDIER, and there was always fighting to be done for a SOLDIER. He'd long ago gotten used to the thought of killing another human being. He knew it would be different in practice, but he thought he was doing at least a little better than most of the others in his unit.
They were still green, after all, and had only a few experienced officers and sergeants. Lieutenant Jackson was one, as was Buck Sergeant Ryans. A few other sergeants and an officer here and there, but aside from that, that was all the live combat experience in their platoon, no, in their company. Captain Banford was as green as anyone else.
/Damn,/ he thought. /We really are gonna die…/ He regretted that. He would miss Zack and Sephiroth, and his mom would have no one to take care of her. He fought back shameful tears at that thought, and steeled himself for battle, even as Ryans ordered them forward to meet with the rest of the company.
It was time to fight. Cloud hoped he took a few of them with him.
* * *
Zack was absolutely livid. The first reports from Wutai had finally come in, and they were not good. The Wutai forces had attacked in the dead of night, catching the Shinra garrisons at their most vulnerable. They'd bombed hell out of one of the barracks buildings right off, killing a huge chunk of the forces there, and an even greater percentage of the experienced fighters. Zacks sole consolation was that, at the end of Major Shimo's report had been a tiny, non-regulation, hand-written note that read simply: 'he's fine.'
Zack glared at Sephiroth's back. The white-haired general was displaying no more than his usual coldness, but it was vastly more annoying than usual. Zack knew he could not expect the other man to respond the same way to the same situations as he did, but it would have been nice if he'd at least looked less than his perfect self.
"How the hell could the damn regulars be so stupid?!" he demanded, more of himself than of Sephiroth. "Posting so few on guard duty is suicidal just about everywhere, but in Wutai, it's even worse! How could they possibly--?"
Sephiroth interrupted. "They're just regulars, Zack. They're living off of SOLDIER's accomplishments in Wutai, anyway. Being lax comes with the territory."
"But still--!"
Sephiroth turned on him abruptly, usually pale green eyes gone emerald with rage, silver hair floating around him, as if he was pulling in a major charge. Zack reflexively stepped back. "Shimo already told you he's okay, and we can't do jack squat about past screw-ups by the regulars. What the hell more do you want me to do?! You think I'm not worried? We could lose all of Wutai to this, and Cloud, and God damned Shinra won't even let me send out a squad, never mind a force large enough to be successful!"
Zack was instantly contrite. He saw that Sephiroth was as worried as he was. He reached up to brush the taller man's cheek softly. Sephiroth closed his striking green eyes and turned toward the touch, drawing a long, shuddery breath. "Sorry, Zack. I didn't mean to explode like that."
Zack smiled and shook his head. "It's fine, Seph. That you can lose your temper is one of the things that reminds me you're human." He wrapped his arms around Sephiroth, and sighed sadly. "I guess this means dinner's off, huh?"
Sephiroth got a determined look in his eyes. "Not if I can help it. I'll go see what the brass buffoon wants me doing about all this, then I'll send you a message. Remember to check your email!"
Zack grinned at their nickname for Heidegger, then nodded at the reminder to check his mail. He tended to 'forget' when there was stuff he didn't want to deal with hanging around his account. Then he and Sephiroth whirled, hands going to weapons, as someone cleared his throat in the office doorway.
/The new Turk,/ Zack thought. /What's-his-face, Reno!/
The lanky seventeen-year-old Turk stood in the doorway, a cocky grin on his face. "I don't think the boss'd like to know what you're calling him, y'know?" The grin took on Zack-ish proportions. "I like it!"
Sephiroth glared suspiciously at him. "What are you doing here, Turk?" he growled.
Reno shrugged. "The Prez sent me to get Shinra's war hero, some dude by the name of Sephiroth." He looked right at Sephiroth, indicating he knew fully well who he was addressing, then went on blithely, "You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?" He was giving him a way to dodge the meeting in the upper-level conference room, Sephiroth realized. His estimation of the Turk went up.
He shrugged though. "That's me, unfortunately. Joy. I get to go face all of that brass and the President at once."
Zack smiled uneasily, still unhappy about getting caught hugging Sephiroth. "Better you than me, Seph. Just play nice and don't hurt the other kids too badly. No bashing faces in, ne?"
Sephiroth smiled slightly. "Yes, mother."
Reno, still in the doorway, grinned. "So, how long you two been married?" Zack choked. Sephiroth glared. The Turk smiled wider, blithely ignoring their reactions to his question. Then he sobered with lightning quickness. "Y'know, I can probably help you guys out a bit."
Zack raised an eyebrow, suspicious. He wouldn't put it past the Turk to be playing head games with them, or to be seeing how far their loyalty really stretched. "How so?" he asked. The Turk flipped his flaming red ponytail over his shoulder with a shrug.
"Cloud," he stated evenly, all traces of the irresponsible jokester gone. "The Turks are sending someone to Wutai, and it looks like I've been nominated. I could run messages, or something, if you want."
"Why?" Sephiroth asked. He was even more suspicious of people than Zack was.
The Turk frowned. "Well, you know the Turks do some of SOLDIER's recruiting, so we have a pretty good idea of what makes a good SOLDIER. All of us had Strife marked as an easy SOLDIER second, if not first; even Lark did, and the Boss is one smart lady. We're still scratching our heads over how he could possibly have bungled the stage one and three tests, since he passed stage two with flying colors, badly enough to be denied entrance." He shrugged, and was abruptly the irresponsible prankster again. "My curiosity's gonna land me in a snug little box six feet down. Just a character flaw, I guess."
Sephiroth and Zack looked at each other a moment, oblivious to the tiny hopeful look on the Turk's face. Slowly a grin spread across Zack's face, and he turned back to Reno. "I think I have just the thing. Take Seph to his meeting—," he ignored Sephiroth's half-stifled moan. "—then meet me in elevator two on the 44th floor at about…" He checked his watch. "15:00. Got it?"
The Turk grinned. "I'm reading you loud and clear!"
* * *
Well, well, well. I know the whole business of Naturals is corny, but I decided I needed some way to differentiate SOLDIERs First Class like Sephy-chan and Zack from the cannon fodder SOLDIERs First Class you fight as normal opponents in the game. It's got something to do with brain waves….but this isn't the 'mind of a SOLDIER' referred to in the previous part. And Turk fans! Heeeerrreeeee'ssssss Reno! Tseng will show up soon, too. Aa, I better shut up before I betray the whole plot! But Cloud's limit breaks' origins will be explored, and the Turks will be developed. All coming up in the next couple parts! (insert DBZ announcer's voice) Stay tuned for the next episode of (insert me) MY FIC!!! Mwahahahahaha!!!