First thank you for all the story alerts and unexpected reviews! So, who wants me to name the 'sinister' voice in Clouds head?

Disclaimer: It might be mine for all you know…really…

Chapter 5 Classes Begin Part 1

Cloud resisted the urge to sigh as he stood in a line with the rest of the cadets. The room was lined with thick mats on the floor and walls. The instructor was demonstrating a basic strike and block. It was simple and boring. They spent half the class being half shouted at on basic principles. At last, they were paired off to practice. He was paired off with a rather large boy with dirty blonde hair. The boy sneered at him.

"Great, I get paired with the shrimp."

Cloud bit back another sigh. Children.

"Come on then." He said calmly, completely unaffected by the taunt, "Hit me if you can."

The boy, incensed, struck out the way the instructor had showed them. Cloud had already estimated what he would have to do to keep from getting hit. He was shorter and the taller boy had to strike down to get to him. If he kept moving he'd be fine. He blocked the strike smoothly, though the blow was jarring. He may not have any of his former strength and speed, but he it seemed he didn't need it to block such agonizingly slow strikes. The boy continued to attempt to hit him uselessly.

"Look at Strife!" The instructor barked, coming over and clapping Cloud firmly on the shoulder, "That is how you should be doing it!" Cloud tried not to falter at the unexpected praise. "Alright now, switch!"

Cloud immediately settled into offensive. His strikes held no strength and wouldn't so much as sting, but he was still able to consistently hit his partner.

"Strife!" The instructor called from the front of the class, "Come here."

Cloud stopped his attacks and walked briskly over the man.

"Yes sir?"

"Hit me."

Cloud blinked.

"Sir?"

"I said hit me, cadet. That was an order."

Cloud struck out with the move they were practicing. It was blocked effortlessly.

"Again."

Cloud repeated the move, pushing his body to move as fast as it could. Again, the teacher called for him to repeat it. They did that a few more times before he called him to a halt.

"Alright Strife, watch me." The instructor settled into another basic stance and demonstrate the strike and its counter. "Now do that."

Cloud lashed out with the strike first. Again, it was smoothly blocked. It didn't even look like it took the slightest bit of effort for him to block him. His opponent motioned for him to continue his assault and so he did. Sweat drenched his body. And then the instructor moved in with his own strike. It wasn't with the full speed and power of a mako enhanced SOLDIER, because he could actually see it coming. He moved to block as quickly as he could but it still wasn't fast enough. He kept trying to block uselessly, growing more tired and weaker with every strike. At last, it came to a halt.

"Are we done, sir?" He asked breathlessly. He wondered why he'd been made to do that. Perhaps it was lessons they'd already gone over? It made sense that he'd be signaled out as the smallest and weakest of the class.

"You're free to go early, cadet." The instructor said. With a groan, Cloud limped out the door. He needed to take a break, so he didn't even care to question the dismissal. He headed outside to the track to wait for his next class to start. He rolled his eyes as he saw who was running laps. It was Zach, of course.

"Zach!" He called. The SOLDIER halted mid step and turned to smile at him. Hey jogged over to his side.

"Hey! How was class?"

Clouds shoulders sagged, his head hung and he groaned.

"Horrid. I'm so weak it's just ridiculous."

Zach patted him on the shoulder.

"Awww. Don't be like that. I'm sure things will look up. You're only in the second week of classes!"

"They teacher pulled me aside to reteach me stuff!" Cloud moaned. "It's 'cause I'm the small one. The weak one. Urgh! How can I ever get into SOLDIER in the shape I'm in?"

Zach grinned.

"I'll teach you!"

Cloud looked up sharply.

"What?"

"During lunch and after dinner! We'll work on whipping you into shape in no time!"

Cloud stared down at his boots, embarrassed.

"You don't have to do that. I'm sure you're busy."

Zach shrugged.

"Nah. Angeal's been telling me it would be good for me to take on someone like he did me. Thinks something like that might take off some of my extra energy." As if to demonstrate that, he began doing squats.

Cloud looked up again, smiling faintly at his antics.

"I guess we could do that…if it's not too much trouble." He wondered briefly at how one little difference could completely change how things were supposed to be. Had he and Zach always been destined to be friends?

"Its no trouble at all. Come on then, we'll start now. First, some stretches." He showed Cloud some basic warm-ups which he easily moved through. It helped get rid of some of the aches from his class. "Now, for some laps. Come on, Cloud." He started off at an easy pace and increased it. They did five laps around the massive track before Cloud was forced to stop.

"Too….tired..." He gasped.

"Nope!" Zach chirped, "Now its time for some push-ups! Give me twenty and I'll buy you something nice for lunch."

Cloud dropped to the ground and started pushing himself up again. His arms were shaking by five. When he reached twenty he collapsed, uncaring that his face was rest in dirt.

"Urgh…" He groaned. How was he supposed to get to his next class now?

"You okay, spiky?"

Cloud glared up at him from his position on the ground.

"Do I look okay? I'll never be able to get to History like this…"

Zach reached under his shoulders and lifted the blonde up.

"You'll be fine. If it hurts that's a good thing!"

Cloud groaned again.

"If you say so…" He proceeded to half drag himself inside, Zach by his side to make sure he didn't collapse. He was early to his next class but he hardly cared. He sat down at the desk closest to the door and collapsed again.

"I'll see you later, Zach." He mumbled as his head hit the desk. Zach chuckled.

"See you at lunch! Meet me at the track again, okay?"

Cloud grunted in affirmative, not lifting his head from his desk. He didn't move when the teacher came in and started shuffling around with papers. He only sat up when other people started entering the room. The class was boring and he mostly half napped through it. It enraged the teacher of course, who kept asking him questions at random. All were easily answered, he didn't even have to think hard.

When the class ended it was time for lunch. He headed outside as Zach had requested and found him sitting in dirt in the center of the track. Zack held up a large brown paper bag.

"I told you I'd give you lunch!"

Cloud wandered over to him and sat down next to him. He looked at the bag warily and the scent of cooked meat drifted over to him.

"What is it?"

Zach pulled something out of the bag with a flourish.

"Fried Rarab kabob!"

Cloud took the offered stick, staring at it in near horror.

"That sounds…completely unhealthy."

Zach snorted.

"So? That's half the point! Come on! Eat up! It's delicious, I promise."

Cloud pulled a chunk of meat off the stick and stuck it in his mouth. His eyes closed against his will as the flavor hit him. It really was delicious. He hadn't had anything like it in ages. Junk food had lost its appeal to him a long time ago. But it was simple to amazing to ignore. He finished the piece and opened his eyes to see Zach grinned at him.

"You were right, I admit it." Cloud admitted. "I spent a lot of time eating practically army rations at home, so this is really different."

Zach winced.

"Hard times, huh?"

Cloud shrugged.

"Pretty much." He said quietly.

"Where you from anyway, Cloud?" Zach asked curiously.

"Nibelheim. You?"

"Gongaga. Guess we're both country boys, huh?" Zach laughed.

Cloud smiled ever so slightly.

"Yeah…" He finished his food while the two chatted casually about the differences between Gongaga and Nibelheim. Cloud stood at last, dusting off his pants.

"I have to get to class. See you after dinner, right?"

"Right!" Zach said waving cheerfully as Cloud began the trek back to his next class. Zachs guess at the schedule had not been wrong thankfully. Weapons training was in another padded room, this time with large cushions to sit on during lectures and racks filled with different types of wooden swords and a bins filled with padded staff.

Cloud sat down at the front of the class again, barely interested in the class. He missed his sword. The weapon was custom built after all, completely unique. He sighed heavily as the instructor began to discuss why some swords had hand guards and then blended into a lecture about different types of basic swords. The entire day was spent listening to the lecture so Cloud zoned happily, content to dream about the day he'd be able to build his sword again.

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