Life as a SOLDIER

Disclaimer: That would be a good idea… Hmm…

A/N: It is, I'm actually gonna do it! Cloud is gonna get geostigma in this fanfic!

Oh, and I realize I made a mistake. It was supposed to be "shachoo", not "sachoo". Sorry for that mistake! It'll be corrected in future chapters, I don't feel like going back and fixing the rest of the chapters…Okay, let's carry on.

Chapter Fourteen: The True Face of Jenova
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Cloud stopped suddenly. He had no idea what he just did, nor did he have any idea why he stopped. All of his program had been deleted.

"This is bad…" muttered Zack quickly under his breath, quickly retyping Cloud's program. "I can't believe this…. How could I have caused it…? How could I…!"

Sephiroth let out a groan of pain, shifting slowly to his side. "What--what happened?" he asked Zack angrily. "That… wasn't BERSERK at all…"

"No, unfortunately not," said Zack apologetically, continuing to retype the program. "I… accidentally caused an error. I misspelled the word 'berserk' and it cased a grave error in Cloud's programming. It completely jacked up the system, that Cloud reacted with the best way he could. With so many errors, his mind just cracked in two."

Sephiroth made an attempt to stand up, but fell back down to his side. "Ugh… Damn it, this truly is a first…" he took a hand to his chest, and felt the wound. "Well, he managed to do great damage this time…" he said with something like an ironic laugh. "I won't forget this in a hurry…"

At that moment, Tifa burst into the scene. "What's going on! I heard screaming and the clangs of swords, and I came up here to see…" she trailed off, seeing the sight in front of her. "What--What the--! What happened here?" she demanded. "Why is Sephiroth on the ground bleeding heavily! Why is Cloud just standing there! And Zack, why are you on your laptop! Now's hardly the time for chit chat or e-mail! Help me get Sephiroth back to the bar!"

Tifa ran over to Sephiroth and, with a great effort, heaved the six-foot-tall SOLDIER to the bar. "I don't need your help," said Sephiroth angrily, trying to break free from her vice-like grip. "I can fix my own wounds!"

"Stop that, you can't clean wounds like these on your own! Stop being such a big baby! Come on!"

Zack watched them walk away, and hurriedly typed up the rest of Cloud's program. I'm not sure if I should tell shachoo about this… he hit the enter' button , and rushed over to Cloud. "Hey, Cloud, you kay?"

Cloud blinked and looked around. "Huh? What happened, the last thing I remember is Sephiroth asking for a fight."

"Well…" started Zack uneasily.

"Well, what? I thought I'd remember this time if you used BERSERK on me," said Cloud, looking back at Zack. "You did, didn't you?"

"It's a lot more complicated then that," said Zack with a slight apologetic chuckle. "You see, I misspelled 'berserk' on your program. It caused a severe error in your programming… You went completely insane, you attacked Sephiroth viciously."

"…I went insane?" repeated Cloud. "Whatever does that mean?"

"Exactly what I mean…. Ah, never mind, maybe it's best if you don't remember…. Although you gave Sephiroth quite a beating. Come on, let's get back to the bar." Zack led Cloud back to the 7th Heaven Bar and went upstairs to the guestroom. "Tifa, how's Sephiroth?"

"He's fine, I just don't know how to bandage the wound," said Tifa. "He passed out when I laid him down on the bed. I think he lost a lot of blood."

"Ah, so do I…" said Zack, looking anywhere but at Sephiroth. "Uh, someone should bandage him."

"Oh my god!" cried Cloud when he saw Sephiroth. "What--did I do that to him! This is worse then last time!"

"Last time?" repeated Tifa. "What do you mean, last time?"

"Uh, Tifa, let us go get Aeris for help!" said Zack loudly, seemingly grabbing Tifa at random. "Come on, she'll heal him!" he dragged Tifa, calling over his shoulder, "Go on and bandage him, Cloud!"

"Aah, slow down!" called Tifa as they went downstairs.

"Wait!" yelled Cloud. "I don't know how to bandage wounds!" But Zack and Tifa were already outside, and Cloud heard the door close. He sighed dejectedly. "Well, I might as well try…" he slowly looked back at Sephiroth, who was lying face-up on the bed, his wound still oozing blood a little. "I'll heal you then…" said Cloud, picking up a wash cloth and some bandages. "At least until Aeris comes here…"

Cloud got the cloth wet, and hesitated slightly, holding the cloth over the wound. his---his shirt is gonna have to come off, he realized. Cloud went a little red, shook himself off, and carefully unbuttoned the leather shirt, slipping it off so he could clean the wound. Wow, Sephy's fit! Look at his--AAH! What am I thinking! Cloud shook himself again, and hurriedly cleaned the wound up, wiping away and excess blood. Then he picked up the bandage roll and evenly applied the bandage around the wound.

When Zack and Tifa came back with Aeris two minutes later, Cloud was looking out the window, trying to think about anything other then Sephiroth's wound. "So you cleaned and bandaged the wound already?" asked Tifa.

"That's good," said Aeris when Cloud nodded. "It'll make the healing process a bit easier now. I ask that you three leave the room real quick, just in case. I don't want my magic to be confused and heal you three too."

"Okay, Aeris," said Zack. "We'll wait outside the door. Come on, Cloud, Tifa," said Zack, motioning for the mentioned two to follow him.

"You did a good job," said Tifa. "But now, you and Zack have some explaining to do!" she put her hands on her hips. "Now, tell me what you meant by 'last time'?"

Cloud sighed. Now was the moment to tell Tifa what was really on his mind while in Shinra. Cloud started when he first had a fight with Sephiroth, when Zack fist used the BERSERK program on him, to when Sephiroth beat Cloud up, to Cloud getting his own Chocobo, to when Sephiroth and Cloud had a fair and square fight, to the three of them becoming friends, to this current battle, when Zack made an error in Cloud's programming.

Tifa sat at the table, looking dumbfounded for a few seconds. "Let--Let me get this straight," she said, standing up. "You're telling me, Cloud, that there's some kind of new, untested program they made at Shinra called 'BERSERK' and that they're using YOU as the test subject for it… and that you'll just take it lying down!"

Cloud looked down at the table. "If I were to go against Shinra's orders… I'm told that disobedience is punished pretty harshly at SOLDIER…"

"That's true," agreed Zack.

"Disobedience!" repeated Tifa. "Cloud, standing up for yourself isn't disobedience! It's protecting yourself from people who want to use people like you!"

"It's--It's not using me, per se, it's… it's more like…"

"Don't try to defend what they're doing to you!" said Tifa. She glared at Zack. "And what about you! What kind of friend are you to actually test the program on him! Can't you just protest for him? Or better yet, just defy the whole thing! Make it all stop!"

Zack was stung by Tifa's words. "Don't you think I want to?" he asked, a bit defensively. "I don't want to test the program on Cloud, but I've been ordered to by shachoo!"

"Who cares what shachoo says? Testing is just plain wrong!"

"Tifa, it's a bit more complicated then that…" said Cloud quietly.

"How! If he's the shachoo, and he's in charge of a good company, then why is he ordering terrible things like this to happen? Can't he see the consequences? It nearly caused both Cloud and Sephiroth to be killed!"

Cloud flinched at Tifa's furious outbursts, and Zack said, "Tifa, things work differently at Shinra. Shachoo does run a good company, but he's… not exactly a good person at heart! Shachoo's word is law; you either follow orders or you don't."

"What's with men like him being 'either/or'?" asked Tifa in disgust. "I might as well march over to Shinra myself and tell them that this is wrong!"

"Ti-Tifa," began Cloud hesitantly, "really, I'm fine with the BERSERK being tested on me… I don't want to cause problems by refusing."

"Meaning you're just too scared to fight!" yelled Tifa, slamming the table with a fist. "I've always told you to be more assertive, Cloud! Otherwise people will walk all over you!"

Cloud looked down at the floor and didn't answer.

"Is that it?" asked Tifa. "You just want to avoid any confrontations and arguments. As long as everyone's happy, right? That's not a good way to be, Cloud!"

"He's not a complete doormat," said Zack defensively. "Nobody picks on him, nobody bullies him. I think you're just worrying too much about Cloud!"

"Of course I worry!" retorted Tifa. "I worry because Cloud is too busy trying to please everyone that he never as time to worry about himself!"

"That's not true," said Cloud, looking up at Tifa. "I never tried to please anyone!"

"Avoiding fights and arguments is trying to please everyone!" corrected Tifa.

A door opened, and the three of them looked to the upstairs to see Aeris coming down the stairs. "Oh, the air is kind of angry, isn't it?" she asked, looking at each of them in turn. "Did I miss something? Why are we all mad?"

"I'm not mad, just frustrated!" said Tifa angrily. "Cloud here tells me that Shinra is testing a very dangerous program on him, and he doesn't want to stand up for himself!"

"That's not it at all!" said Zack, scowling at Tifa. "If you understood how things were done at Shinra, you'd see why Cloud's afraid to stand up for himself!"

"I--I'm not afraid of anyone," muttered Cloud, looking at the floor.

Tifa opened her mouth in a furious retort, but Aeris held up a hand. "That's enough," she said calmly. "Let's not argue about this anymore."

"But--"

"Aeris, we're just about to--"

"If you're all too angry to see each other eye-to-eye, then there's nothing to discuss," said Aeris. "Let us all calm down now, and take a few minutes to think it over. Only when we aren't seething about a problem are we really solving it."

Tifa looked down at Cloud, then heaved a sigh. "Fine…fine… If you don't want to talk about it right now… I'm sorry for prying," she said, sitting back down.

"No, no, I'm sorry for worrying you so much," said Cloud.

"Well… if we're done with that," said Zack, sitting down too. He looked over at Cloud, and bit his lip. But Tifa does have a point… Am I really his friend…? She's right, I should protest to shachoo about this… but… Zack sighed dejectedly, thinking about how shachoo had threatened him earlier that day.

Meanwhile, over at Shinra…

Shachoo grinned widely. He always loved it when a well-planned event went smoothly. He had just got the results of the latest "BERSERK" testing from Zack, and he could see the program was improving greatly. "Yes…" he said. "This is just perfect…" he looked up at the group of Turks who had been awaiting further orders. "You've been doing a brilliant job."

Tseng stepped forward with a nod. "Yes, shachoo, we've been greatly improving the program that you wrote. All we need to see are these current results of those test, and we'll have perfected it."

"And we've furthered our research on Jenova, too," said Elena, stepping forward. "It seems that her signs of 'actual life' started a little bit before Cloud arrived here."

"Do you think Cloud has something to do with it?" asked shachoo.

"We're not sure," answered Vincent. "We're still researching that fact. If Cloud indeed has something to do with it, then we'll be sure to find out what it is. Then again, it could be just a coincidence."

"Hmm…you're right, I suppose," said shachoo, running a hand over his chin thoughtfully. "Well, are meeting has come to an end. You're all dismissed."

"Right, sir," said Rude, and he and the rest of the Turks turned and left the room.

"Well, that was a boring meeting," yawned Reno, stretching his arms over his head. "I didn't see anything important about that meeting."

"That's because there's nothing of any interest to report," said Vincent. "We have a long way to go before we get any real answers."

"But still… I wonder if Cloud had anything to do with Jenova's signs of 'actual life'…" mused Elena.

"Well, for now, all we can do is find out the answers," said Tseng. "As Vincent said, we have a long way to go from here. Let's continue our research." the rest of the group nodded and went down to their own research room.

Back with shachoo…

Shachoo stood up and walked to the window. One day will come a time when they have to find out who Jenova really is…Or rather, who Jenova was really put into… he stared out the window down to a special part of Shinra where Jenova was held, and smiled to himself cruelly.

The next morning, at the 7th Heaven Bar…

Cloud was already awake that morning, looking at the rising sun when Sephiroth blinked awake. "…?" he asked, sitting up. "Ai-yee," he winced suddenly, putting a hand over his bandaged wound. "What happened?" he asked. He glared suddenly upon realizing that it was Cloud who was in the room.

Cloud looked back at Sephiroth. "You…Are you feeling all right?" he asked hesitantly.

"Feeling all right?" repeated Sephiroth indignantly. "Are you kidding, I hurt like hell right now…"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" said Cloud. "You're not angry, are you?"

"No, I'm not angry," said Sephiroth, standing up.

"That's good," sighed Cloud with relief.

"I'M FURIOUS!" yelled Sephiroth, unsheathing Masamune and pointing it at Cloud. It was a very long katana, mind you, and it was pointed directly at Cloud's nose. "Tell me what Zack did to cause this?" he asked menacingly.

Cloud looked at the edge of the Masamune, then looked up at Sephiroth. "Uh, Zack said it was an error, remember… I don't quite remember the battle."

"Well, you'd better hurry up and remember it!" snarled Sephiroth angrily. "My dignity is in ruins now, if anyone hears about this! I've been defeated TWICE by you!"

"…" said Cloud, at a loss of what to say. Since Zack had deleted the program and rewritten it, Cloud was having trouble remembering things.

At that moment the door opened and Tifa entered, carrying a tray with steaming oatmeal and a bowl of fruit on it. "Oh, is this how SOLDIERs say good morning to each other?" she asked with a grin, setting the plate on the bedside table.

Sephiroth sighed angrily, lowering Masamune. "Excuse me, I'm not in the best of moods for cheek."

Cloud ran over to Tifa, hiding behind her. "Sephy's still a little scary," he said quietly from behind Tifa.

"Sheath your sword and eat your breakfast," ordered Tifa. "And sit back down, if you move to much, you'll reopen the wounds."

Sephiroth looked astonished. "Are you ordering me around!" he demanded.

"Don't make me use force now!" said Tifa warningly, raising a fist. "Sit back down and eat!"

"…fine," said Sephiroth, grudgingly acknowledging that he was in no condition to argue anyway. He sat down at the edge of the bed and pulled the tray closer to him. "Ugh…" he muttered, lifting a spoonful of the oatmeal. "Is this meal first class? I can smell the artificial flavoring!"

"Shut up and eat!" yelled Tifa.

Cloud looked between Sephiroth and Tifa. Wow, she really does have no idea on how ways are run around here! Back in Shinra, no one would dare have the nerve to even talk to Sephy… I guess that's how brave Tifa is, thought Cloud with a smile.

"So, when are we going back to Shinra?" asked Sephiroth, now examining a pineapple closely.

"Uh… Today, I think," said Cloud. "I'm not sure, I'll go ask Zack."

"You do that," said Sephiroth, replacing the pineapple and lifting a bushel of grapes to examine.

Cloud nodded, knowing that Sephiroth wouldn't try anything while wounded like that. He went downstairs and looked around for Zack. To his surprise, Zack was leaned over his laptop, reading an e-mail. From the look of shock on Zack's face, it was a pretty distressing e-mail. "Zack?" asked Cloud. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" asked Zack, looking up. "No, nothing wrong," he said cheerfully, closing the laptop. "I was just reading a scary online fanfic!"

"Oh… Uh, Sephy wants to know when we're leaving. It's today, right?"

"Yeah, it's today. We leave at 6:00 PM."

"Okay!" said Cloud with a big smile. "Thanks for telling me!" he darted back upstairs with an elated feeling.

Zack, however, looked bleak, and opened the laptop, reading the same sentence over and over again. It was this sentence in the e-mail from shachoo that distressed him because it spoke an unspoken threat to be wary for Cloud…

Jenova is showing signs of actual life, Zack, and if Cloud has something to do with it, then be ready to have nice long talks with him.

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Let's leave it there. I'll update this in a little bit, hopefully. If not, I'll see you again! Bye, for now!