Life as a SOLDIER

Disclaimer: …no comment.

A/N: WHEE! I'm glad you're all still following this fanfic! It's better to have a fanfic everyone loves:3 I'm glad you think the idea of Cloud with geostigma in this fanfic is an excellent idea. But tell me, should I use Fenrir too? Some say it's a good idea. Just let me know what you think, as always! Let's go.

Chapter Fifteen: Geostigma
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"Okay, Aeris, we'll see you again! Tifa, take care of yourself!" Zack waved to everyone happily. "Good bye!"

"Bye!" called Tifa.

"Take care yourself," said Aeris calmly, waving.

"See you, Tifa!" called Cloud.

"Can we skip the good-byes, and just leave?" asked Sephiroth irritably. "Come on!" he said, picking up Zack and Cloud. "Let's go!"

"Bye!" called Cloud again as Sephiroth tossed Zack and Cloud into the van. He sighed, sitting up. "You don't have to be embarrassed that they helped you so much," Cloud said to Sephiroth, looking out the window.

"Hey, Zack, who're the girls?" asked one SOLDIER from the passenger front seat.

"Friends of ours," answered Zack nonchalantly, not giving away any pretense that he and Aeris were more then friends. "The dark brown haired one is Tifa Lockhart, and the brown hair is Aeris Gainsborough. Aeris lives in that church, and Tifa works at the bar."

"Ooh, a bar!" squealed the other SOLDIER teasingly. "Is that why you didn't want us to go with you, Zack? You could share some fun with us!"

"It--Tifa's nothing like that!" said Cloud defensively. "Tifa's not a prostitute, and neither is Aeris! Don't think it was like that!"

"Sure, sure," said the SOLDIER driving the van.

"It's the truth!"

"Ah, don't let what they say get to you, Cloud," said Zack, patting Cloud's shoulder. "They're just jealous because they ain't got any women folk of their own," he said in a stage whisper to Cloud.

Cloud smiled at Zack. "Yeah… you're right," he said, calming down.

"Women folk," repeated Sephiroth with a snort. "What a joke. I don't need anything like that."

"Yeah, cause he's in love with himself," muttered one SOLDIER.

"I will NOT be spoken to like that!" snarled Sephiroth. "Shut up and face forward!"

The one SOLIDER jumped and faced forward.

Cloud sighed, unconsciously leaning on Zack again. "I always hated car drives…"

"Me too," said Zack. "I'm impatient sometimes, even though I don't look it."

Cloud was about to agree when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left arm. "Ow!" he cried, grabbing his left arm with his right hand.

"Cloud?" asked Zack, looking down at Cloud in concern. "What is it?"

As suddenly as it started, the pain passed. Cloud rubbed his left arm curiously. "Nothing…" he said. "Nothing, sorry to worry you."

"Are you sure? No one goes 'ow' suddenly without any reason," said Zack. "Come on, pal, you can tell me!"

"Really, nothing's wrong," said Cloud truthfully. "Really, my arm just hurt for a few seconds. I did trip down the stairs before we left. Maybe I'm just now feeling the pain of it."

"Maybe…" said Zack. "Well, I'm not gonna wait it all out. I'm gonna sleep the whole way there!" he announced, and leaned his head onto Cloud's. "Zack go beddy bye!" And with that, he fell asleep.

Cloud blushed and the SOLDIER driving the van called, "Fine, go ahead, I'll wake you when we get there." His own heart thudding heavily inside him, Cloud leaned onto Zack, and he too fell asleep in the van.

Sephiroth eyed the two friend leaning on each other. "Huh," he scoffed. "I don't think they realize how… odd that looks."

"Maybe they're just good friends," said one SOLDIER.

"Yeah, Zack said himself that he views Cloud like a son of some sorts! Maybe Zack wants to feel more fatherly to Cloud," said the other SOLDIER.

"…maybe Cloud has a different view of Zack," said Sephiroth quietly, seeing Cloud smile in his sleep.

About 8 ½ hours later…

"Hey, Zack, Cloud, wake up, we're here!" the SOLDIER who drove the van hopped out, and opened the back door. "Zack! Cloud!"

"Hubba-wa?" went Zack, looking around wildly. "Are we under attack?"

"No, moron, we're here. Wake Cloud up for me," he said, walking away.

Zack sighed with relief. "Oh, good, that was just a nightmare." with a sheepish chuckle, he poked Cloud awake. "Hey, Cloud, wake up, we're here."

"…wha..?" Cloud blinked awake. "Noo, five more minutes…"

"Come on, lazy, let's go!" said Zack cheerfully, lifting Cloud out of the van and onto his feet. "We can get back to sleep when we get to our rooms!"

Cloud groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Fine, fine," he mumbled, letting Zack lead him back inside Shinra.

"Here you go!" said Zack, opened the blanket so Cloud could hop into the bed. "Good night, Cloud!"

Cloud looked up at Zack with one eye. "…thank--thank you," he stammered. "Good night to you too."

"You bet!" said Zack happily. He ruffled Cloud's hair and cheerfully walked out of the room and closed the door.

Despite being ever so tired, Cloud hugged the pillow closer. Zack…if only…I knew why I felt this way about you…

Flash: Zack bawling about not being perfect, and Cloud hurrying to comfort him…

At that same moment, Cloud felt the intense pain in his arm again. He gasped in surprise and pain clutching his left arm again. This is just like last time…!

Flash: Zack was applying the wolf-head earring to Cloud's left ear, humming cheerfully to himself…

The pain in the left arm continued; Cloud gritted his teeth and grabbed at the bed, his fist clenching the bed covers in pain.

Flash: Zack and Cloud were in the Chocobo Garden, and Zack was watching Cloud fondly while Cloud cuddled Kumo…

After a few seconds of anguished pain in his left arm, it stopped, leaving Cloud wincing terribly on the bed, panting slightly. What--what was that pain..! It shouldn't hurt this bad.. No, I can't tell anyone about this… I can't worry anyone like that…

Avoiding fights and arguments is trying to please everyone!

Tifa's words echoed in Cloud's mind, but he shook it off. "No," he said aloud to himself firmly, releasing his left arm. "I'm not avoiding a fight… or argument… I don't want to cause a worry over nothing…"

If you understood how things were done at Shinra, you'd see why Cloud's afraid to stand up for himself!

"I'm not afraid… This is just crazy… Hearing voices isn't a good sign, I'll just ignore it…" Cloud laid back down on the bed, and fell back asleep, clearing his mind of any thought at all.

A few weeks later…

Throughout the weeks, the pain in Cloud's left arm kept on coming and going, but Cloud continued to ignore it. Convinced that it would do no-one any good, he resolved not to tell anyone about it, not to make it obvious that his left arm hurts when it starts hurting again. It was no easy effort, but Cloud managed to succeed; no one ever noticed anything wrong with Cloud.

But as of late, the pain continued to intensify, a hot searing pain in his left arm that caused Cloud to suddenly remember many things, sad or happy. Cloud had checked the arm out himself, and saw a dark, dirt-stain-like blemish on his upper left arm, and it seemed to be the cause of the pain. But no matter how badly it hurt, Cloud always told himself the same thing: "It won't do any good to tell anyone, and I'm not important enough to have people needlessly worry about me".

Today was the first day of Autumn, and it was beautiful outside; the sky was always clear blue with a few puffs of clouds drifting around; there was always a fine cool breeze, and the falling red and gold leaves were a sight within themselves. Today, Cloud was wondering off by himself in the Chocobo Garden. He had left dinner early, not eating much.

He sighed, sitting against the tree with Kumo plopping onto his lap. "Kumo, it's weird…" he said, closing his eyes in the breeze in the shade. "I've been losing my appetite lately…"

"Caw?" inquired Kumo, looking up at Cloud.

"It could be because of… No, but that was long ago…" Cloud scratched the back of Kumo's head absentmindedly, deep in thought.

Kumo purred appreciatively, and let out a hungry caw. "Caw, caw!" she said.

"Oh, are you hungry? Okay, wait here, I'll go get your food…" He placed Kumo down on the ground, stood up, and went to the little birdhouse that stored all of the Chocobo's food. As he took hold of the bag, the sharp pain started again. He winced slightly, and turned around to bring the food to Kumo, determined not to show any pain in front of Kumo…

With Zack…

Zack had been noticing that Cloud was acting weird these past few weeks. If something's bugging him, why won't he just say so…? thought Zack worryingly as he finished the last of the spaghetti. We've been friends for a long time, I can't see why he can't tell me anything…

"Dinner's good tonight!" said one SOLDIER happily, dropping the fork onto his plate. "Let's go get seconds, Zack!"

"Yeah, there' plenty left over!" agreed the other SOLDIER.

"Uh… Not tonight, guys, I'm gonna go check on Cloud," said Zack, standing up. "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

"Come on, Zack! You spend all your time worrying about him!"

"I do not," disagreed Zack, crossing his arms. "What makes you say that?"

"Everytime Cloud does something like wanting to be alone or not talking, you like to make a big deal out of it. If you're so worried about Cloud's personality, why don't you just change his program? You are the lead programmer at Shinra after all!"

Zack turned away before answering. "I…can't do that to him. Cloud's different from the rest of us somehow, and I…"

"How's he different?" asked the other SOLIDER curiously.

"I have no idea. Shachoo says that Cloud is different somehow, and how will I find out hw he's different if I change his program?" Zack walked to the door, waving over his shoulder and calling, "Catch y'all tomorrow!" Zack went straight to the Chocobo Garden, and he saw something frightening there. "…! Cloud!" he asked, running over to the collapsed blonde. "Cloud, hey, wake up!" he said, shaking him awake.

Kumo was dancing on her toes, trying to peck Cloud's face. "Caw, caw, caw!" she went, clearly in distress.

"What happened?" asked Zack, quite glad now that he took the time to learn the Chocobo language.

Kumo looked up at Zack and cawed something.

"Cloud says his arm's been hurting him for a while?" asked Zack in shock. Kumo nodded and cawed some more. "And today, it seemed to be hurting him worse then ever…?"

Kumo nodded. "Caw, caw," she said sadly, gently clawing Cloud's left arm.

"It….it bled today?" asked Zack faintly. Now he had to deal with blood.

Kumo nodded again. "Caw! Caw, caw, caw!" she said, looking distressed again, and indicated a few droplets of something green on the grass.

"….that's not normal…" said Zack faintly. "How could this… This has to be something else… another error or something…?" he shook his head, and said to Kumo, "You wait here, I'm gonna take Cloud to the infirmary, okay? I'll let you know if anything happens!"

"Caw," agreed Kumo, stepping away so Zack could pick Cloud up. "Caw, caw!" she called as Zack hurried away to Shinra's infirmary.

"Doc! Doc, I need your help!" yelled Zack as he burst into the infirmary.

The doctor jumped and hurried over to Zack. "Yes, yes, I'm here to help, but calm down! Tell me what the problem is."

"It's Cloud's left arm," said Zack, laying Cloud down on one of the beds. "According to his Chocobo, his left arm has been hurting him for a while. And today, it bled, pretty badly I'm guessing."

The doctor took this all in with several small nods. "I see, I see… Well, let me roll up this sleeve to observe the arm…" As the doctor did so, Zack could see a dark-dirt-stain-like blemish on the upper let arm. "Hmm…!" said the doctor in mild surprise. "This… this is new… I've never seen anything like this…"

"You haven't?" asked Zack in disappointment. "I thought it was…"

The doctor let out a long sigh. "I'll see to him, though I can't promise anything. If this caused him to faint today…"

"Okay…"

"Now, clear on out of here for a few seconds, I can't have people in here when I check up on patients."

"Sure thing," said Zack, albeit looking worried, and he backed out of the room. "Can I see him later?" he asked at the doorway.

"You can see him tomorrow," said the doctor, waving a hand. "Really, Cloud is in good hands, Zack, don't worry." Zack nodded and left, closing the door.

After bandaging the blemish, the doctor walked to his desk, picked up the phone, and dialed a specific number…

With Zack…

Zack sighed, leaning on a wall outside of Shinra. "Was that what was bothering Cloud…? If it was something as drastic as that…. Why didn't he just say something…?"

"Caw!" went Kumo, standing on top of the hill.

"Huh? Oh, that's right," said Zack, and hurried over to Kumo. "You know, Kumo, I don't think you've been introduced to my Chocobo, have you?"

Kumo shook her head. "Caw?"

"Cloud will be just fine, the doctor said he'll be fine." Zack smiled, and whistled loudly. "Heh, my Chocobo should be coming too."

Some kind of hyper cawing was heard, and some footsteps thudded towards the two. "CAW!" went a 4 foot tall black-feathered Chocobo.

"Hey! Hello, Fuzzy!" said Zack affectionately. "How are you?"

"Caw, caw, caw!" said Fuzzy.

Kumo stared wide-eyed at Fuzzy. "Caw!" she went. Meeting bigger Chocobo always scared her.

"You're soo cute! Yes you are!" said Zack, snuggling Fuzzy's head. "Ooh, ooh, Fuzzy, look here, this is Cloud's Chocobo, Kumo! Say hello, Fuzzy!"

"Caw!" said Fuzzy, bowing his head politely to Kumo.

"Caw!" agreed Kumo, nodding her own head. She noticed that Fuzzy had only four toes on one foot.

"Well, I'm glad you two are here…" said Zack sitting down in between the two Chocobo. "Now we truly are a family!"

"How do you know if Cloud feels the same way about you?" asked a voice behind him. Zack looked back to see Sephiroth standing there, holding a leash that held Spikey. "Haven't you realized?"

"Realized what?" asked Zack, looking upside down at Sephiroth. "I care about him, yes. Why, he doesn't like it?"

"Oh no, he likes it. Cloud more then likes it in fact."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"If you haven't noticed yet, then blame it on your own ignorance," said Sephiroth, turning to leave. "If you noticed the way Cloud acted around you, if you took time to notice why he holds on to you so tightly…" He walked away, Spikey snarling furiously at Kumo and Fuzzy as she walked by.

Zack blinked as he watched th two walk away. "Huh? What are you talking about?" But Sephiroth didn't look back nor answer.

"Caw," said Kumo in amusement.

"I know Cloud likes me," said Zack with a smile. "I like him too! I feel like we're family!"

Fuzzy and Kumo exchanged glances. "Caw, caw," said Fuzzy.

"Eh? Different how? Is there any other 'like' out there?" asked Zack with a laugh. "The feelings I have for Cloud are entirely fatherly! I know the way Cloud feels me is that of a son to a father!"

Kumo and Fuzzy exchanged glances again.

Meanwhile, back in the doctors office…

"…new illness?" asked the doctor.

"No, it's not," said the other voice. "It's some kind of error. But I know how to fix it."

"But he needs to stay here, I can't discharge him from the infirmary yet!"

Cloud blinked a little, and lifted his head slightly. Huh…? This wasn't where I was… where am I? Where's Kumo? He could see the infirmary's doctor standing there, along with the back view of another man. Who's that other guy…?

"Trust me, I know what to do with this."

"Hojo-sama, it's against the rules to let a SOLIDER out without being completely healed--"

The man called Hojo raised a hand. "That is enough. Who says anyone will find out about this? What shachoo doesn't know won't hurt him, and besides, I can use this to my advantage."

"I--"

"Enough," repeated Hojo. He looked back at Cloud. "Ah, I see your patient is awake. Go on and see how he's feeling."

The doctor looked slightly harassed, but he bustled over to Cloud all the same. "Well, Cloud? How are you feeling?" he asked, laying a wrist over Cloud's forehead.

"…? I'm feeling so confused…" said Cloud truthfully, sitting up. "I remember… the Chocobo Garden… I was feeding Kumo, and then.. It was all black…"

"Well, don't move around so much, you're still pretty weak," said the doctor, removing the bandage to check on the arm.

Hojo came up to the other side of Cloud's bed. "Cloud, you don't mind having to come with me real quick, do you?"

Cloud looked up at Hojo. "N…No, I suppose not, but… Who are you?"

"I'm one of the leading scientists here at Shinra. I know how to fix that stigma in your left arm. So if you please, follow me."

Cloud hesitated, looking at the doctor. He nodded. "It…It'd be best for you to go with Hojo-sama. He'll know what to do… I admit, I've never seen anything like a stigma before."

"Stigma?" repeated Cloud as he got off the bed to follow Hojo out of the room.

"I'll explain everything," said Hojo in a reassuring tone, calling to the doctor, "I'll let you know what happens, okay?" the doctor called something in agreement, and closed the door. "Worry not, Cloud, I know how to fix that stigma in your arm."

"It's--It's nothing to be worried about," said Cloud, staring at the floor. "Really, Hojo-sama, I'm not worth that much trouble…"

"Quite the contrary, Cloud, you are a great source of worry," said Hojo as he led Cloud down the corridor with the many locked and closed doors. "Ever since you fist came to Shinra, we scientists have been wondering how one of Jenova's cells got into you… But now, the stigma will tell us."

"Eh?" asked Cloud.

"In this room… We'll find out many things…" said Hojo, entering a code on the door. "For in this room, Cloud, is where Jenova is."

Cloud gasped and looked up at Hojo. "You mean…?"

Hojo smiled. "That's right," he said, and led Cloud into the room, the door closing with a mighty thud behind them.
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Whee, let's leave it there! What do you think? Seriously, I never expected anyone to actually like this fanfic! If you're still reading this, the you must really like it:D That's awesome of you all! Thanks for reading! Oh, and should I use Fenrir in this fanfic as well? Don't forget to review! Bye, for now!