Life as a SOLDIER

Disclaimer: It's Fairy Red's wild philosophy about battle scenes. You can't have battle scenes without blood. She's crazy like that.

A/N: It's not gonna be bloody! Geez! You make me sound like a sadistically demented battle scene writer!
Mario: Because you are, Fairy Red.
Kazooie: True that! Who else loves battle scenes the best? Who was it that loves the fighting in "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children"?
Yami: Why goes "wow, Kadaj screaming in anguish" at the part when Kadaj goes "oka-san!" and screams in anguish?
Nana: And who loves the part when Cloud is fighting against Sephiroth and goes "wow, Cloud in pain" when Cloud gets stabbed in the shoulder?
Chikara: Yeah, and who thinks all the guys she likes look hotter when they're in pain?
Me: …me?
Muses: Yes!
Me: …-makes shifty eyes- so what? It doesn't matter, let's just continue!
Muses: Okay!
Me: Okay! Here we go!

Chapter Nine: The Fair and Square Battle
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It was 7:30 that evening, and they were getting back to Shinra. "That was soo much fun!" yelled the SOLDIERs as they all walked back into Shinra.

Cloud sighed, waling towards the end of the group with Zack and his two friends, lost in thought. Another fight with Sephy today… he thought. What a thing to look forward to during swimming time…but it can't be helped…

"Cloud, come with me," said Zack. "We're supposed to meet Sephiroth after swimming time."

"I know, I saw Sephy talk to you about something. What did he say to you?"

"Uh… I'll explain in here," said Zack, motioning for Cloud to follow him into the dueling room. "Sephiroth wants another fight, under special conditions."

"Special conditions?" asked Cloud.

"Yeah…" Zack stopped, and turned around. "Cloud, what would you say if I told you that the last two battles you had with Sephiroth turned out that way because I had done an untested program on you on sachoo's orders?"

"…what?" asked Cloud.

"An untested program…the 'BERSERK' program. I've…been testing it on you, trying to improve it. Sachoo developed the program by himself, and he wanted it tested to see if it worked. So he chose you as the test subject."

Cloud stared at Zack in surprise. "You've been testing an untested program on me on sachoo's orders…?" He stared at the ground, the shock of this realization crashing over.

"Do… you don't hate me now, do you?" asked Zack with worry. "I didn't want to test it on you, really! But sachoo ordered me too, and anyone who goes against sachoo's orders is killed! Brutally!"

"I don't blame you," said Cloud quickly, looking up at Zack. "But why didn't you tell me about it? It would have been nice to at least hear about it."

"I was ordered not to tell anyone about it. But now that Sephiroth is asking me to use BERSERK on you to fight again, I felt I had to tell you."

"I understand," said Cloud quietly, looking down at the ground. "Really. Please don't feel bad for me…"

"Well, I'm glad you could make it!" interrupted another voice. Sephiroth had entered the room, looking rather murderous. "Well, Zack? Are you going to do the program now? I've been working on a move I'd like to use on someone. Someone strong."

"And you need the program to do so?" asked Zack.

"Yes, Zack. You'll see the move once you get in the spectator's seat and start the program."

Zack stopped for a few seconds, then sighed resignedly. "Okay, Sephiroth… Cloud, do your best, okay?" Zack trudged to the spectator seats, and sat down, opening his laptop. "Let me know when you're ready!" he called.

Sephiroth faced Cloud. "Okay, Cloud, draw your sword. This will be our third fight here if I'm not mistaken. Let us hope you and I last the whole battle."

"Sure…" said Cloud, pulling out his own sword. I'll just fight him, decided Cloud, looking up at Zack. Even if I do get afflicted by the BERSERK program, I'll fight… I won't try to back down in anyway… "Let's fight!"

Up with Zack…

Zack watched the battle from high up, deciding to see how Cloud does on his own rather then use the BERSERK program on him. Let's just see how he does, rather then get Cloud riled up so early in the battle… Then again, I shouldn't use the BERSERK program at all…But then Sephiroth will notice I didn't use it…

"Hey, Zack, what's going on?" asked one of Zack's friends.

"Ooh, a battle?" asked the other friend.

"Not you two," said Zack. "Stay away from the laptop! I want to see how Cloud does on his own for the whole battle!"

"You mean you're not gonna use the program?" asked on SOLDIER.

"No," answered Zack.

"Why not? Cloud's gonna be mauled without any help from you. Sephiroth's too strong for anyone to fight. How can you expect Cloud to fight Sephiroth on his own strength?"

"I expect it," said Zack stubbornly. "I refuse to use the program during this battle. I don't want another…another…Look, I don't want this to end in a bad way! I want this to be a fair and square fight! Let's see who the better of the two really is!"

"Meaning you don't want to see a bloody end to this battle!" teased one SOLDIER.

"Please don't use that word," groaned Zack in annoyance. "Look, if you came here to bug me, leave."

"But we wanted to see the fight," protested the other SOLDIER. "If you're allowed to watch, why can't we?"

Zack frowned at his friends, opened the laptop, clicked up his friends' programs, and typed up "is it lunchtime?".

The two friends exchanged glances. "Is it lunchtime?" they asked in unison. "Whee!" they took off to the cafeteria for lunch.

"That got rid of them," thought Zack with relief. "Hmm… I wonder how the battle's going…?" He glanced down at the battle. "…yeah, it's doing a great job so far."

Down at the battle…

Cloud wasn't a good fighter, but he made up for that with quick parrying and dodging; Sephiroth, on the other hand, was an excellent fighter, attacking swiftly and quickly, barely leaving Cloud an opening to attack. "What, is that all you got?" taunted Sephiroth. "You'll never get far if you just hide all your life!"

"I defend because I can't attack you like this!" Cloud said, dodging yet another attack and blocking the other attack quickly. "You're too fast!"

"You have to be brave when attacking!" said Sephiroth. He attacked again, the two swords clashing against each other with a loud clang. "Don't wait for an opening, you have to get aggressive!"

"I can't get aggressive!" protested Cloud. "I don't like fighting all the time!"

"Then you won't get far in SOLDIER!" said Sephiroth. He smirked to himself, and whirled around quickly, getting his hair all into Cloud's face, distracting him. He the faced Cloud again and whacked him away, the sword being knocked from Cloud's hand.

"Ouchie!" cried Cloud as he hit the wall. He looked up to see Sephiroth coming at him. He quickly pulled out sword number two and defended with that.

"That's not all I have up my sleeve," said Sephiroth. He jumped back kicking Cloud's first sword towards him. "Go on, combine those swords. Let me see their true strength."

Cloud scowled at Sephiroth, standing up. "Fine, I will," he said, giving Sephiroth the blue-eyed-pouty-look, and he combined swords one and two. "Let's continue! It's easier to combine the blades during the heat of battle!"

"Heh," snickered Sephiroth. "If you wish it." He jumped high again, and charge down at Cloud.

Cloud parried the attack, and pulled out sword number three to block the recoil move from Sephiroth. He attacked Sephiroth quickly with the combined blade and sword number three. Sephiroth blocked these easily and parried the third attack. Cloud recovered from the blow quickly, and combined sword three into the first two, and attacked again. Sephiroth parried the attack again, but was caught off guard by Cloud's sword number four. He put a hand on the wall to cushion the attack. "Hmm! So you can fight back!" he said. Cloud jumped away from Sephiroth, landed near the seats and combining swords four through six, and dodging as Sephiroth came to attack him again.

Now that the fighting was closer to Zack, he could keep a better eye on the battle. Wow, Cloud does fight pretty good on his own, he thought in amazement. I haven't typed anything to help Cloud at all, and he's fighting pretty good… He needs not my help… Uh, but what do I do if Sephiroth realizes that I haven't used BERSERK yet…? Ah, who says he'll find out?

Sephiroth jumped away from Cloud's attack and glared over at Zack with a look that read "Why haven't you used BERSERK yet!".

…okay, he did notice I didn't use BERSERK yet… But, I don't want to do it again…

Sephiroth looked back at Cloud, who combined sword number seven in the mix, and attacked again. Sephiroth defended twice, and struck back, knocking Cloud away. Cloud landed on his feet, and combined the last blade together. Now their blades were evenly matched in power. They came at each other, both swords clashed against each other. Sephiroth showed no signs of exhaustion, but Cloud was another story; Sephiroth could see that he was starting to get worm out. This is the perfect opportunity to just defeat him, thought Sephiroth, looking over at Zack, who was still watching the battle. "Look, Cloud an idiot!" Sephiroth yelled suddenly, pointing at a random spot somewhere.

"Where?" asked Cloud looking over to where he pointed.

Sephiroth smiled to himself at Cloud's gullibility. If Zack refuses to use the BERSERK program on him, then I'll go ahead and defeat Cloud fair and square! It'll make them off their guard for a while… Sephiroth tripped Cloud again, but instead of stabbing him, Sephiroth whacked Cloud away like one would a tennis ball or something.

"Ouchie!" cried Cloud as he hit the wall. His sword was a few feet away from him. Oh, no, I'm defeated now..! thought Cloud. Unless Zack's gonna do the berserk again… Cloud looked up at Zack, who was waving a white flag, indicating that Cloud should admit defeat.

Sephiroth landed in front of Cloud. "Well, Cloud?" he asked. "Need I ask again? It appears that Zack isn't going to use BERSERK on you. You can't win now."

"You cheater," muttered Cloud, looking up at Sephiroth. "But nonetheless… I… admit defeat…"

Sephiroth sighed. "You're no fun," he sighed, sheathing his own sword. "But you admitted defeat; even I have a sense of honor like that." He held out a hand with caring eyes. "Let me help you up." Cloud smiled, and reached for it, but Sephiroth quickly moved it, causing Cloud to fall onto his face. "Psych! Hah! You're gullible too!" Sephiroth turned away and walked off, laughing.

Cloud got to his knees, scowling after Sephiroth. "That meanie," he muttered to himself, standing up.

Zack jumped down and ran to Cloud. "Wow, Cloud, you fought brilliantly!" he said. "I expected that much from you! You're pretty good at fighting!"

"It was probably just luck," shrugged Cloud. "I dislike fighting…"

"Well, that's life," said Zack. "See, you're good on your own. You didn't need BERSERK to defeat Sephiroth. I think even Sephiroth knows that. Which is why he fights dirty around you. He can't play fairly sometimes."

"…you don't have to put it like that," muttered Cloud, sheathing the sword.

"What, you mean using the words 'play' and 'dirty' in the same dialogue?" asked Zack curiously.

"Yeah…" muttered Cloud.

"Gasp! You don't like me, you like Sephiroth, don't you!"

Sephiroth stopped with one hand on the doorknob.

Cloud went red and shook his head. "No, that's--that's not it! Not at all!"

Sephiroth turned around slowly. "I didn't hear that," he said. "And you better make sure I don't hear it again."

"What, that Cloud likes you in that way?" asked Zack.

Cloud glared at Zack. "Zack, do--don't! I don't like Sephiroth! Not in that way!" He looked over at Sephiroth. "Really!"

Sephiroth stared for a few seconds, and walked over to Cloud. "You don't have to lie," he said. "If you like me, say so. Just get used to disappointment if I say I don't like you back."

Cloud looked up at Sephiroth, and stared at his feet. "Uh… Actually, there's someone else I like…" he said slowly.

"Someone else?" asked Sephiroth.

"Who?" asked Zack.

Cloud looked down at the ground. How can I tell them both that I like…? "I don't feel like telling anyone right now…"

"Is it Tifa? I'll understand if it's Tifa," said Zack.

"Tifa? The girl Cloud mentioned?" asked Sephiroth.

Cloud hesitated. I like Tifa, but the way I feel for… the way I feel now is much different then the way I feel for Tifa… "Yeah, it's Tifa," mumbled Cloud.

"Oh! Then why are you so hesitant to tell us? You little shyster!" said Zack playfully, punching Cloud in a friendly way.

"You don't have to be embarrassed," assured Sephiroth. He looked down at Cloud again. "Cloud, Zack?" he asked.

"Yeah?" asked Zack.

"We're friends now, okay?" said Sephiroth without preamble. "You both have proved to have lots of nerve and strength. I admire that. Okay?"

"Sure!" said Zack as Cloud nodded slowly.

"Cloud…?" asked Sephiroth, looking at the blonde SOLDIER with puppy green eyes.

Cloud looked up. "Yes, Sephiroth…?" he asked.

Sephiroth stared down at Cloud with the puppy green eyes, and looked at Cloud's shirt. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at Cloud's shirt.

"Where?" asked Cloud, looking down at his shirt.

SMACK

Sephiroth had smacked Cloud's nose up with his hand. "Hah, hah!" he laughed loudly. "What's that!" he repeated with a laugh. "Where!" he repeated, walking away with laughter.

Cloud rubbed his nose with a scowl, and Zack laughed loudly too. "Well, I'm glad that settles things!" he said. "Things feel much better!"

Cloud smiled at Zack nodded. "That's true," he agreed. "Now the fighting can stop," he said.

Au contraire, thought Sephiroth with an evil grin as he opened the door. The fighting has just begun…

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Not my usual standard of fighting scene, and not my usual standard of shonen-ai, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. I hope you did too. This was a bit of a short chapter, I apologize. Next chapters will be longer then this, really. Keep here for the next installment of the fanfic, and don't forget to review! Bye!