Cloud dragged himself into the mess hall, arms feeling like wet noodles. His stomach muscles hurt if he took a too-deep breath, and his legs were threatening to give out on him. Still, he felt a fierce sense of satisfaction. He had completed all fifty pushups without a single pause or complaint.
And it felt damn good.
"Yo, Strife!" a voice called, and Cloud looked up, startled. A face that he vaguely recognized from his PT that morning was waving him over, wearing a huge grin. "Come sit with us!"
Curious, Cloud got his food and walked over to their table, sitting down warily. The guy clapped him on the back, grinning. "This guy," he told the rest of the table, "Does not get intimidated by Sergeant Compensation in PT!"
Cloud blinked while the boys around him oohed and aahed. That's right, now he remembered that silly nickname the cadets in his year had given their Physical Training sergeant - so named, he had been told with little boy snickers of glee, because he was obviously compensating for something.
Cloud wondered vaguely what his real name was.
"But this is ridiculous, Zachary!" Sephiroth hissed, carding open the door to his office.
"I know, Sephiroth," Zack sighed tiredly, falling into the seat in front of the General's desk. "But we've gotta. It's a direct request from the brass."
Sephiroth frowned, settling into his own seat. "But there is no conceivable reason for a monster scare near Junon to require both of us to go. This is Third work! I have other things to do!"
"Like track down more sightings of clones?" Zack asked, pressing the heels of his palms to his tired eyes in an effort to relieve some of the pressure. The utter silence from the other side of the desk was answer enough. Zack let out a weary sigh, letting his hands fall back into his lap. "Has there been any progress? Any sightings of the real Genesis?"
"No," Sephiroth said quietly. "Just his clones."
"Fuuuck. Excuse me, sir. But this whole goddamn situation is a clusterfuck of the highest proportion." Zack absently tried to remember when he'd last gotten a good night's rest. Before Angeal, he'd guess. "And now we're stuck doing a standard cleanup sweep just because old Shinra's worried about his vacation home. One of his vacation homes." he let his head fall back against the back of the chair, eyes closed, thinking. Finally he said, "Why don't we take a group of cadets closest to graduating and test them out? They can do all the dirty work and we can relax. Call it an early exam or something."
Sephiroth was silent, and Zack cracked open an eye to see what he was doing. The General was staring at the First as if he had never seen him before. "What?" Zack asked.
"Zachary Fair, you are a genius," Sephiroth said fervently.
Zack grinned and closed his eye again. "Thank you, sir."
"All right, ladies, listen up!" Zack shouted, striding up and down in front of the eager line of cadets. "You all have been chosen to accompany the General and myself for a preliminary field exam near Junon. There may be monsters, so we will be in battle formation almost the full time an may see action. Make it through alive, and you just might get into SOLDIER. The General and I will not be stepping in for every little bruise and scratch. We will not step in, in fact, unless the whole thing goes FUBAR. Are we clear?"
"Sir!" The cadets snapped crisply. "Yes, sir!"
Zack nodded. "Load up!" he shouted, and there was a general scramble for the three trucks waiting to take them to Junon. The dark-haired SOLDIER chuckled, strolling over to where Sephiroth was waiting with his arms folded. "They're like little kids on a trip to the park," he said, grinning.
"I wouldn't know," Sephiroth said, unfolding his arms and moving toward the least-full truck. "I've never seen kids at a park."
Zack shook his head, hoping Sephiroth wasn't going to be cranky the whole time. Zack himself was actually looking forward to taking a break and only worrying about some cadets, rather than the fate of the world or some such similar thing.
He swung up into the truck behind his General, settling into his seat without even glancing at the trooper who was about to pee his pants from excitement. While the First was a friendly guy, that kind of embarrassment he preferred to avoid.
"All set?" he asked, receiving a few affirmative "Yes, sir's" from some of the braver cadets. "Right somebody up front thump on the driver's panel!" In a moment they lurched forward, and were on their way to Junon.
Yay, new chapter! Some military translations: FUBAR is an acronym that means "fucked up beyond all/any repair/recognition". Clusterfuck is "A confusing or chaotic situation or event, often caused by a failure of communication, an excessive amount of people attempting to accomplish a given task, or a complex environment." Both definitions are taken from the almighty Wiktionary, and both are used in real life in the American military. Since I am American...they will probably be used again, along with others. I will try to always give a definition. ^_^ Please drop me a line and tell me what you think!
