"Three absences already, what do you have to say for yourself?" Lazard asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down at Cloud over the top of a folder.
"Three?" Cloud asked, frowning.
"Yes, three. Did you lose count?" Lazard asked. Cloud sighed and looked at the floor, feeling his face go red in embarrassment.
"I didn't realise I'd missed that many." he mumbled.
"Speak up, I can hardly hear you." Lazard snapped. "Look, all I want to know is why you've missed your training sessions three times." Cloud didn't say anything and Lazard tapped his foot impatiently.
"Just because." Cloud finally said.
"Look Soldier, if you're not willing to tell me what's going on you won't be able to move through the ranks." Lazard said. "You have to be honest, try your hardest and be loyal."
"Whatever the reason I missed training, I can handle it myself." Cloud said.
"Ah, I see." Lazard said, leaning back slightly and dropping his hand with the folder to his side. "Another thing you need to learn while at ShinRa training to be a SOLDIER, it's perfectly normal and manly to ask for help occasionally."
"Whatever, can I go now?" Cloud asked, looking up again.
"Careful, that kind of attitude could get you kicked out." Lazard warned. "Just one more thing. I've been thinking about assigning you a mentor, a bit like how Angeal was Zack's mentor. Though, everyone knows that did no good. I'll assign someone to be your mentor that might just be able to break you from your shell. All right, now you can go." Lazard turned and sat back down at his desk.
"I don't want to be broken from my shell!" Cloud said, eyes wide.
"Then what are you doing here?" Lazard asked, looking up at Cloud with a serious expression. "You have so much potential, Strife. Why can't you see that? You need to push away your insecurities and work as a team. That's not possible when you're always pushing people away and holding onto your insecurities."
Cloud stared angrily at Lazard before turning and walking out. He didn't want to ask for anyone's help or be forced to work with those other trainees. There was no way they'd all be able to cooperate, what with the number of times they'd bashed him up and shoved him in lockers. But he couldn't tell anyone about that because then they'd call him weak.
"Spikey! Woah, you had to speak to Lazard!" Zack ran up, a cheeky look on his face. "Dude, what did you do?" he asked jokingly.
"Did the insane asylum send you here?" Cloud asked, walking straight past him.
"Uh, not that I know of. I came here of my own will. Because I want to become a hero! Isn't that cool!?" Zack asked, his eyes wide in excitement.
"Totally." Cloud mumbled, still walking away. Zack realised and ran after him.
"Why did you come here?" Zack asked, now walking beside his friend. Cloud didn't reply. He had no idea what he would say. "Spikey?"
"I don't know." Cloud said stiffly.
"Okay." Zack shrugged. "So, have you got a training session now?"
"No." Cloud said.
"Awesome! C'mon, let's go annoy someone!" Zack said, beginning to bounce up and down.
"Just leave me alone! Stop following me, talking to me and trying to befriend me! I've had enough, all right?" Cloud snapped, turning to him with eyes flaring. Zack stopped dead and stared with wounded eyes.
"I was just trying to be your friend." he whimpered.
"I don't want any friends!" Cloud yelled, spinning around and running off.
A girl of about fifteen walked into ShinRa, a nervous look on her face as she walked up to the receptionist desk.
"Excuse me, am I able to visit one of the SOLDIER's in training?" she asked. The receptionist looked up and smiled.
"Of course! Please state your name and the name of who you would like to visit and I'll organise something for as soon as possible." came the reply.
"Thank you. I'm Tifa Lockhart and I'd like to visit Cloud Strife." Tifa said.
"Just a moment." the receptionist said, typing away at the computer quickly. "All right, you can go right in. I'll just call someone to escort you. It wouldn't be nice getting lost in a place like this!" the receptionist laughed, trying to joke.
"Oh, thank you." Tifa said, still incredibly nervous.
Soon enough, Tifa was being led through the halls of ShinRa to find Cloud. Her guide wasn't saying a word and was walking rather quickly; she was finding it a bit hard to keep up.
Eventually, the guide stopped walking and signalled that through the door they were standing in front of was where she would find Cloud, then he turned and walked away. Tifa raised an eyebrow in disbelief and then shrugged, opening the door and walking in.
"Uh, what?" Zack asked, staring at Lazard and blinking in confusion.
"You heard what I said Zack." Lazard said gruffly.
"Yeah but, why me? I mean, you could've picked anyone else, why me? You know Angeal was like my big brother, so why did you choose me for this mission!?" Zack asked angrily.
"Exactly for that reason. I'm sure he wouldn't like to shut you out of everything, so if you're sent he just might hesitate in time for us to catch him." Lazard explained.
"That's not fair." Zack said quietly, glaring at his boss.
"Sephiroth will also be going on this mission along with two trainees." Lazard said, picking up the file and reading from it.
"Which trainees?" Zack asked, trying to lessen his bad mood by changing the subject. Lazard scanned the file.
"Cloud Strife and Peter Reynolds." Lazard read aloud.
"Spikey!?" Zack gasped in disbelief.
"Uh," Lazard looked up at Zack, suddenly very disturbed.
"Cloud's going! That's awesome!" Zack said, grinning. His smile quickly fell however and he looked at the ground. "Or, not so good. He hates me."
"The kid has got to learn to work in a team. This is good practice for him." Lazard said.
"Yeah, I guess." Zack shrugged. "So when do we leave?"
"This afternoon," Lazard said. "Go get ready." Zack nodded, turning around and leaving the room.
"Holy crap, Rude, look at this!" Reno said, eyes fixed to the computer screen as one arm flailed about pathetically trying to get Rude's attention. Rude sighed but walked over to stand beside his partner.
"What?" he asked.
"Look!" Reno repeated. He pointed at the screen where there was a huge block of text. Rude did not feel like reading it all right then. Thankfully, Reno highlighted the important parts.
"Mr and Mrs Strife were sent on a mission." Rude said, his eyes scanning the highlighted text.
"They were investigating Professor Hojo!" Reno said. "Without permission! The old president didn't want them to investigate Hojo 'cause he didn't want Hojo to get mad. But they did it anyway, secretly." Reno explained. Rude frowned slightly.
"I don't like the sound of this." he said.
"The old president hired someone to kill the Strife's." Reno whispered.
"And Rufus Shinra must know." Rude said, nodding.
"Okay, we should leave now." Reno said, slowly closing everything and shutting the computer down, then standing up. Rude nodded and the two of them silently left the room, going to do whatever job they were meant to be doing.
Cloud stayed quiet as he and the other trainee were debriefed by Sephiroth. They were both in their full uniforms, complete with the helmets. It was impossible to tell them apart now.
"So, there you have it." Sephiroth said. Cloud fought the urge to question the general. They were going to Nibelheim!? It wasn't possible. But, it was true. It seemed like the world was against him. What would Tifa say? He hadn't written any letters and hadn't taken the call. She probably hated him now.
The door opened and Lazard walked in, a clipboard tucked under one arm. He was leading behind him a nervous looking girl.
"Sephiroth, I found someone to be your guide." Lazard said. "This is Tifa Lockhart. Nibelheim is her home town so I figured she would be useful. She came here looking for someone but agrees this would be a better way to spend her time." Sephiroth nodded.
"Is she aware of the dangers?" Sephiroth asked. Lazard narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.
"There are no dangers. Do you remember which mission this is, Sephiroth?" he asked in a tone that said he was not to be argued with.
"Of course. My apologies for the mistake." Sephiroth said. Tifa seemed to relax slightly.
"Good. Well, you should be on your way." Lazard turned and walked out of the room. Cloud Strife stared at Tifa from behind his helmet and struggled not to move away or hide his head. He couldn't believe it. She was right there and would be their guide in Nibelheim. Unable to fight it, Cloud ducked his head. His face was on fire and he just knew he was bright red.
"Welcome to the team!" Zack said happily. "Wow, you're prettier than I imagined." Tifa blushed slightly and gave a small grin.
"Thanks." she said.
"You know her?" Sephiroth asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah! She's Cloud's friend." Zack said, looking over at the two trainees and sighing. Even he couldn't tell which one was Cloud.
"When are we leaving?" Tifa asked quietly.
"Right now." Sephiroth said. Tifa nodded and looked over at the two trainees, wondering why one of them was looking away with his head down.
"Well, come on!" Zack said eagerly. Sephiroth nodded and walked out of the room. Everyone quickly followed, and Tifa looked around in excitement as they stepped onto a private jet.
"This is how we're travelling?" she asked, shocked.
"No, sorry." Zack laughed. "Seph's just getting something. And if I leave him alone he'll get lost, the big pushover."
"Oh." Tifa said, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Um, Zack?"
"Yeah?" he turned back to face her.
"Do you know where Cloud is?" she asked. "I know it's not really the time to ask, but I was just wondering. I've been looking for him for ages." Zack nodded in understanding and a small grin appeared on his face. He glanced over at the two trainees, and saw one of them glaring at him. Ah-ha! He had now located Cloud.
"Well you see-"
"All right, let's go." Sephiroth reappeared and Zack groaned.
"Sorry." he muttered to Tifa.
"No, don't worry about it." she said, shaking her head. Zack shrugged and walked out after Sephiroth, allowing Tifa to drop back and walk with the trainees.