AN:/ Ahahaha please don't expect me to keep this up! And yes! there is absolutely another Cloud body floating around now, in a rare instance of when a spare is not actually a good thing.
Cloud didn't remember his mother as clearly as he wanted to. The woman who had loved and raised him had been overshadowed in his memories by Sephiroth's obsession with his mother, Zack's memories, and the trauma he'd experienced since he last saw her. Hearing her voice again didn't bring a flood of remembrance, because life wasn't that kind, but it did come with a wave of love for the one person who had always been there when he needed her.
Until she couldn't be, anymore.
"Cloud! There you are, good morning," she greeted. The line wasn't the best, but he could hear her smile in her voice.
"Morning," he replied automatically, at a loss for what else to say. "Mom, are… are you okay?"
"Of course I am!" she said with a laugh. "How about you, are the nerves getting to you yet? It's a big day for you."
"Yeah, yes, I'm – I'm fine Mom, don't worry." Big day?
"Sweetheart? Cloud?" came the slightly worried response. He'd never been very good at lying to her at the best of times, unfortunately, and she had clearly picked up the note of uncertainty in his voice.
"I'm just… I'm just a bit homesick, Mom, that's all. I'll be fine," he said, a little more truthfully than he had intended, then confessed. "I miss you."
I've missed you for a long time, Mom.
"I miss you too my little Cloud," and he could hear her smile again, "I can't believe my baby boy is off journeying the world to work in the big city! It seems like only yesterday that you were small enough for me to carry with one arm, and now you're all grown up and starting your life as an independent young man."
"Mom, what would you – I mean, if I don't – " he asked haltingly, not sure what he wanted to say.
He lapsed into silence for a moment, unable to quite express the idea that he could go home, back to Nibelheim. If his mother was alive, and he was in Midgar but not yet in the barracks, then it must be some point in the week when he was staying in a temporary lodge in the city. It was perfectly possible for him to just… go. To leave it to someone else, whatever "it" was.
Nibelheim may have been a backwater hell of freezing temperature and unrestrained bullies, but he wasn't a child or a teenager any more. Well, technically he was, but he had enough experience with real enemies to know that a grown child who had never left the snowbound town couldn't hurt him in the ways they did before.
"If you want to come home, Cloud, that's okay," she said gently after a few moments. "You've done so much already just getting to Midgar, and if you're having second thoughts about the SOLDIER programme there's nothing wrong with getting a job in the ShinRa offices or in a store or something, or just plain old coming home and working in the town."
"Thanks, Mom. That… that means a lot," he forced out.
"Just remember – I'm so proud of you! Just do your best, be yourself, make lots of new friends and I'm sure you'll be a SOLDIER in no time!"
"I will, Mom," he smiled, a little wetly. "I love you."
"Oh, sweetheart – I love you too. Now get going! Your induction is at twelve, isn't it? You don't want to be late!"
"Induction?" Oh shit, the induction.
"It's Monday, Cloud," she told him slowly. "Monday the seventeenth, induction day? When you go and get introduced to your unit, and get assigned a room? The day you made me mark down in my calendar so I could phone you as a backup, backup alarm to make sure you woke up in time? Cloud, please tell me you haven't forgotten what you're supposed to be doing today."
"No Mom, I hadn't, I just – I only just woke up so I'm a bit out of it. Sorry. I'm already packed," he told her hurriedly, hoping he wasn't lying and feeling a rush of gratitude for his younger self's enthusiasm when he checked the trunk and found his backpack packed and ready inside.
"Good! Get some breakfast, that should wake you up properly," she instructed. "You have a couple of hours, but you should get there early, just in case you get lost. And double-check all your paperwork is handy, you don't want to be in a queue digging through your luggage for a piece of paper!"
"Yes Mom," he laughed fondly. "I promise I will."
"You say that, but I know you're rolling your eyes at your old mother's worries."
"I'm not, promise."
"Well. I won't keep you any more, you've a lot to do! I love you, I'm proud of you, you're going to do brilliantly, now I'm going before I start crying. Call me when you can! I know the line's expensive but I really want to hear about your day. Write to me too!"
"I will. Speak to you soon, Mom."
They exchanged goodbyes that turned to byes and then instructions to put the PHS down before his mother finally hung up. Cloud couldn't quite bring himself to do it; hearing his mother's voice again was the one purely good thing that had happened to him in several months.
Maybe it's a reward?
As he thought it, he dismissed it. The Planet, as far as he was aware, didn't actually care about things as small as human beings. He was either here to do something, or because this was the most convenient time for the Planet to dump him in. Not knowing which it was, however, left him with a choice to make.
If the induction is today, I've already signed my contract with ShinRa.
Although it was a tempting thought, leaving and going back to Nibelheim wasn't really an option. ShinRa would collect on the costly fee for breaking the contract and Cloud himself wouldn't be happy or fulfilled sitting in a house on a mountain waiting to see if the world was going to die or not.
Cloud wasn't naïve or egotistical enough to think that the entirety of the future was on his shoulders alone, but he was aware that he was the only person who knew exactly what was coming. And the best way for him to do something about it was as part of ShinRa.
From his hazy memories of his time as a ShinRa infantryman it was mostly hard exercise, long classes, and boring routine; nothing he couldn't handle, though he'd be hard-pressed to keep up in an unfit body he was no longer used to. He was never going to pass the mako sensitivity test anyway, so he would never be part of the SOLDIER program experimentation under Hojo's hands. He could just be Cloud Strife, new recruit.
Sighing, he stopped trying to weigh up pros and cons. It was never really in question; he'd go to the induction, join the infantry, and figure out what to do from there. A lot of people were relying on him, even if they didn't know it, and if he played his cards right he would eventually be able to rely on them again in turn. He would need to – if he was going to avert a disaster and defeat Jenova, he would need help. It wasn't a fight he could win alone. It never had been.
Rummaging in the pockets of the old backpack, that he vaguely remembered had been consigned to the trash after the seams gave way a couple of months after signing up to the infantry, he located a protein bar and, more importantly, his birth certificate and induction booklet.
It had Welcome to ShinRa Public Security Division - Keeping Midgar Safe emblazoned across the front in the company-mandated font and colour scheme. Inside was a basic organisation chart, a crude colour coded map to the ShinRa tower, a short FAQ section and most importantly the schedule for the day.
The induction would start at twelve o'clock on the sixth floor, with all participants expected to arrive at the lobby with time to spare to get to the meeting room; with less time to get there than he'd like, considering he didn't actually know where in Midgar he was, Cloud tucked his papers into his waistband and under his shirt to deter pickpockets and swung his backpack over his shoulder. Shoes shoved on, room searched for anything he might have missed, and protein bar held in his mouth, Cloud pulled the door shut on the room he'd begun this next stage of his life in.
As Cloud navigated Midgar, having quickly identified his location as being somewhere in Sector 6 and fairly close to the train station, he was both relieved and disconcerted by how dull his unenhanced senses were. The world seemed to be doused in fog, grey and a little fuzzier than he was used to, which was currently a blessing as Sector 6 smelt and sounded awful for a normal human let alone someone with enhancements. Clearly, he'd taken his senses for granted over the years; however, he missed the convenience of being able to read from a distance and eavesdrop on any conversation in the station less than he expected.
The only thing that really affected him, though, was the sheer volume of people crammed into tiny spaces like the train. Everywhere he looked there were sweaty bodies and loud chatter, a far cry from his travels with Vahana's family or even back among the sparser population of Edge. Every now and again he'd catch someone's eye and quickly look away, sensitive to the thrum of frustration in the crowds. It was odd, though, how every now and then they'd frown at him in puzzlement rather than anger, as if it was the strangest thing in the world for a country bumpkin to be gawping at the differences between their hometown and the big city.
The sight of the sky coming into view when the train breached the Plate was a welcome relief, bringing a little sharper focus with the daylight.
Hopping off the train and heading for the centre of Midgar and the giant tower there, Cloud braced himself for a flashback or a panic attack on seeing the large ShinRa building entrance again, immaculate and imposing with the iconic logo plastered everywhere. He was almost disappointed when it just registered as a big door; his hands grew clammy and his heart began to pound only when he passed through and saw the wide, busy expanse of the lobby, and that was nerves more than trauma.
He was polite towards the receptionist, who appeared to appreciate it, and signed his name in the visitor book to get his temporary lanyard and keycard for the sixth floor.
"Good luck, Mr Strife," the receptionist – Amanda – said as she handed it over alongside a cheap name badge for him to pin to his sweater, "and just between you and me, from what I hear there's a real treat in store for your welcome speech!"
He smiled blandly in response.
"Thank you, I'll look forward to it."
As he walked over to the queue for the lifts, Cloud frantically racked his brains to see if he could remember who gave the welcome speech. It wasn't Sephiroth, he would have remembered that, but he was fairly sure it was one of the Firsts.
It wasn't the first time he had rued not being particularly attentive as a teenager, and he was painfully aware that it likely wouldn't be the last. Who knew what he'd forgotten or had twisted in his brain?
