Our story begins in the small town of Neibelheim, where the teenaged boy Cloud lives with his mother and his evil stepfather Sephiroth. Cloud has hated his stepfather ever since his mother met him, in the town that he grew up in. As Cloud was growing up he didn't have many friends, he was a social outcast, the kid that everyone picked on, or bashed. He hated his life growing up, not having any friends and no self esteem from being ridiculed everyday of his life, sometimes he wished he were dead.
But now he's grown up, he's been through a few different mercenary training schools, and finally he's at one that he loves. Cloud has made a lot of good friends at this school, his life is finally starting to look good, and he even has a crush on this girl, her name is Rinoa, he thinks she's an amazing person, but she only sees him as a best-friend.
Today is a day just like any other, Cloud wakes up, he rubs the sleep from his eyes and slowly he drags himself out of bed, he gets dressed and buckles his sword to his belt, before saying goodbye to his mother, and completely ignoring Sephiroth. Cloud runs out of the house to his motorbike, he starts it up, and screeches out of the driveway, and sped out of town with a thunderous roar. On his way to school following his usual route, along the highway to Balamb Garden, he didn't see anything different, than normal, the sun shining, the same old fields of grass, and the glistening ocean, which looked as though it had a thousand diamonds strewn across it.
As Cloud approached Balamb, his breath was taken away at the sight of the massive school, right on the banks of the ocean, it really was a spectacular view. Cloud stopped at the gates to the School, he flashed his student ID, and the guard opened the gates.
On his arrival to school, Cloud pulled into the big parking bay, and the motorbike halted to a stop. Cloud looked at his watch and, realizing he was late, bolted to his homeroom, he apologized to the instructor and took his regular seat in the back row. The day was pretty much an ordinary day, he went to his classes, some more enjoyable than others, such as field training, where he learns how to fight against small monsters, and weapons training, where he learns different sword techniques, and how to fight against people, opposed to history of Gaia, where he didn't learn much due to the fact that he wasn't listening much. During weapons training he was paired to spar with the person he hates the most, his 'worst-enemy' you could say, Seifer, and it was a heated fight, because they both took it pretty seriously, but in the end Cloud beat him, he looked into Seifer's angry gaze, and smirked.
On his lunch break, Cloud met up with his friends, Rinoa, Squall, Tifa and Zell. They had a lot of fun talking about what they did on the weekend, and what they had been up to in classes. All of Cloud's friends knew that he liked Rinoa, and they were always dropping hints to her, and trying to support Cloud. The big formal dance was coming up, they have one each year as a break for the students, and Clouds friends had been dropping hints to Rinoa all week about how the dance was coming up, and how she should get a date, and how Cloud was available. In the end it paid off, because right there Rinoa asked Cloud to the dance, and he was thrilled and quickly replied yes. He looked into Rinoa's bright blue eyes, and Rinoa caught his eyes, and they smiled at each other.
The rest of the day couldn't be spoiled for Cloud, not after hearing this good news, he went off to the rest of his classes, magic usage, where he mastered a new magic, fire, and in military defense, he learned some moves for defending himself and he learned how to identify some different monsters in beastiary class. So the day went really well, he learned some new things, and he got asked to the dance by the girl of his dreams, nothing could ruin this perfect day. Cloud said goodbye to his friends, and headed off to the parking bay to get his motorbike. But when he got there he found, Seifer and his goons, Fujin and Raijin, waiting for him there by his moterbike. They confronted him, and as Cloud doesn't like running from fights, he stayed and fought, 3 on 1, he put up a good fight, dodging blows and getting a few of his own, but there were too many of them, and they beat him badly, then they just left him, and he was left lying on the cold cement, barely breathing until another student found him lying there, half dead, the student quickly took Cloud to the hospital wing, where he passed out cold.
'Cloud drew his Buster Sword from its sheathe, he raised it slowly up into his stance. Seifer drew his Gunblade 'stinger', and proceeded into his stance. They stood there, for a moment, glaring into each others eyes, both daring the other to make the first move. Then suddenly Seifer ran forward at Cloud and lunged at him, Cloud deflected the shot with a swift movement of his sword. They circled each other, then Cloud made the next move, he swung, but Seifer parried the attack away. Seifer chanted a magical spell and his Gunblade glowed a fiery red. Seifer pointed the gunblade directly at Clouds heart, and in a flash of red hot light, a beam came out of the Gunblade and seared through, Cloud…'
Cloud awoke with a start, he was covered in a cold sweat, it had all been a dream. He looked around to find himself still in the Hospital Wing, he looked at the clock, it was 2:12am. He decided to try to get back to sleep. But the sound of Seifer's insane laughter was still fresh in his mind, he looked over at the bedside table and he saw some cards, he read all of them, they were from his friends, and the principal. All of them wishing him well, and to get well soon, and on closer inspection he saw the dates and realized that he'd been in the hospital wing for 3 days. He put the cards back and he laid his head on his pillow, and he slowly fell asleep.
When Cloud awoke the next morning he was greeted by Rinoa's happy smiling face. Cloud started to tell Rinoa of the way he came to be in the hospital wing, but Rinoa cut him short and explained that she already knew of how he came to be here, that Seifer and his goons nearly beat him to death, and that the principal has expelled them all. Rinoa proceeded talking to Cloud about all the fun that he missed, and what she had been up to, then she told him something that enraged him so much that he couldn't bear to even look at Rinoa, she explained to him that the other night at a party Squall confessed his love for her, and that she is now going to the dance with him. All that Cloud could murmur from his pursed lips was "get out". Rinoa tried to apologize, but Cloud just ignored her, she started crying, but still Cloud remained outraged. Rinoa left, still crying, and Cloud just laid there letting his anger spread through him.
Later on that day the nurse came in and said that it was ok for him to leave now. So Cloud slowly got out of bed, his body was still sore and bruised, and he found it slightly painful to move, but he took some medicine and he quickly started to feel better. Cloud got dressed, gathered his things and headed out to the parking bay to get his motorbike and head home. Cloud pulled into his driveway, and parked the bike in the garage. He was greeted by his Mother smothering him with hugs and kisses, she said how the nurse had rang and explained what had happened to him, and that she had been worried sick. They both headed inside, Cloud saw Sephiroth sitting in the lounge watching TV as usual. Sephiroth chuckled at Cloud, he had heard of how Cloud was bashed nearly to death, and he found it quite amusing, and he said to Cloud "Ha I always knew you were a pansy, can't even hold your own in a fight". Cloud simply ignored him and went to his room. Cloud sat there in his room, contemplating his anger, he tried to calm down, but the thought of his best friend stealing the girl that he loved away from him, just made him angrier, he just laid in his bed and went to sleep.
At school the next day the tension between Cloud and Squall was incredibly intense, Squall felt bad for what he had done to Cloud, and Cloud simply hated his guts for taking the one girl he ever loved. Squall thought that he should apologize to Cloud, so he approached him, and Cloud just told him to leave him alone, he never wanted to hear from him again, what he did to Cloud was unforgivable. The rest of the week was pretty much the same, Cloud kind of became secluded, and he rarely spoke to anyone. One day Cloud and Squall passed each other in the hallway, and Squall bumped into Cloud, this is just the thing that Cloud had been waiting for, to vent his anger, he threw his books aside and punched squall right in the face, breaking his nose and sending him to the ground. Everyone around him was in shock, and then they started abusing Cloud, asking how could you do that, and that was too cruel for words. Cloud ran off down to the parking bay and got on his motorbike and went home.