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No pain, No gain

'NO! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!' A fat man with long black thick beard and hair in a green suit yelled at the phone in his hand and slammed his other hand on his table, causing half of the papers and pens on it fell to the red carpet floor. 'THOSE TWO ARE THE MOST PATHETIC RECRUITS IN ALL OF SHINRA'S HISTORY! STIFE IS COMPLETELY USELESS IN THE FIELD AND HE COULDN'T EVEN ACTIVATE A SINGLE MATERIA! NOVE IS THE DEVIL INCARNATED HIMSELF!'

'It's Strife and Novia, Heidegger. Did you not see the videotape I have sent to you a few hours ago? Cloud Strife showed incredible strength and power in the use of materias and according to the database, Kadaj Novia was also very potential in materia and swordplay.' Heidegger, the head of the Public Safety who had control in both the Shinra Army and police force, grumbled under his breath as the man on the side of the line continued.'They are perfect SOLDIER materials and yet you refuse to let them enter SOLDIER... What is your motive behind this, Heidegger?'

Of course he had seen that videotape, more than once, and it is utterly impossible that a backwater country boy like Stife could have created a devastating blow with the materias like that, only the great General Sephiroth could that. Nove had his chance to get into the Third Class, but he simply blew it. There's never a second chance in his department ever.

'WHATEVER YOU SAID WON'T CHANGE MY MIND, UNLESS YOU CAN SHOW ME THAT THEY ARE BOTH COMPETENT ENOUGH TO JOIN YOUR GODDAMN DEPARTMENT WITH MY OWN TWO GREAT EYES OR I'LL NEVER HAND THEM OVER!' Heidegger growled before he slammed his phone on the table, crushing it into million pieces. He will never ever let those two pathetic idiots get into SOLDIER and he will make sure of that.

***

Lazard Deuserius, Director of the SOLDIER Department, a blond hair man who wore a blue suit with white lines and had white gloves, slowly closed his cell phone as he pinched the bridge over his nose for a moment. Having another session with Heidegger today was a mistake, because the shouts over his ear more than twice had doubled his headache. Not that he was asking for it, but Sephiroth had recommended these two recruits to him personally and wanted them in the SOLDIER program as fast as possible.

From what he saw from the security camera, the blond hair cadet had certainly some skills and guts. So does the young look-alike of Sephirtoh from what he had gathered from the database. They will most definitely become more useful on his side than on Heidegger's.

The only problem is that the head of the Public Safety, who is believed to be an idiot by some of the higher rank members, refused to hand over Strife and Novia, unless he can prove to him, under his puny eyes, that they belong in SOLDIER.

How can you make one arrogant and pig-headed idiot who always refused to believe the truth even when the clear evidence is right under his stupid eye balls? Lazard thought as he leant back against his chair and stared at the platinum ceiling above him, deep in thought. He had been through worse problem to get to this position, since he had lived in the slum, where people would steal and even kill for living. The Director was so in deep thought that he didn't hear the hissing sound of the electric doors in his office.

'Mission accomplishes. Director Lazard.' A soft voice said and Lazard jerked in surprise, but he let out a sigh of relieve when he saw that the one who entered his room is not the General, but Commander Rhapsodos, places some files on his desk.

'Eh- Good job, Genesis. A very good job indeed.' The blond man said almost distantly as he stared at the files that Genesis had put on his desk as if he tried to see something that's too far for his eyes to spot it.

'You looked tired.' The auburn hair SOLDIER pointed out as he headed towards the doors. 'You should ask someone to help you with these files, since you shouldn't trust what you see when your eyes are tired.'

Don't trust your own eyes... Someone to help... Wait a minute... That's it! Lazard thought as he got up and made a call to his secretary. Now, Heidegger won't have any excuse to not hand over Strife and Novia!

***

Being stuck in the Infirmary was the worst thing in the whole wide world, because there is a high chance that we easily get bored to death, which is the case for the young cadet Cloud Strife. He is going to die sooner or later if they kept him inside these white walls for another day longer, but he is not in terrible shape as Kadaj is, because he doesn't need two big bodyguards standing outside his door to make sure that he doesn't sneak outside. Almost every day, morning to night, he could hear the silver hair teen making loud and annoying complaints, even though they were only separated by three rooms. Only one thing is sure for both of them, death will greet them soon enough if they can't leave their rooms to at least stretch their stiffed legs a little bit, lying on the bed all day long and doing nothing is not very comfortable for either of them.

You know you don't need to think so loud in your head, I can hear your complaints even when I'm not inside your mind. A distorted voice spoke in Cloud's mind. The spiky hair teen had almost forgotten that he had his bird companion with him.

It's not like I want to talk so loud in my head, but someone else is already doing it verbally outside and I don't want to join the loony squad. The blond replied mentally as he took the red orb in his fingers.

Well, why don't you practice your inter-connection with your Inner-Lifestreams? Moon suggested. The inter-connection with the Inner-Lifestreams was a skill that the phoenix was teaching to the young cadet, it's a skill that allows a person to merge part of his own Lifestreams with the ones in the materias, so the magic could be more easily access or even develop within the person. So far Cloud had been trying to tap into his own Lifestreams several times and it was just like having a treasure chest with a dozen of keys in front of him, but he couldn't find the right one to open it.

Oh well, I have nothing to do anyway. Cloud thought as he sat up cross-legged, closing his blue eyes and relaxed as much of his muscles as he could. Then he could see the glowing green threads of the Lifestreams around him just like the last time he had tried to connect with his own.

Don't try to look for it. Let the Lifestreams guides you to it. The blond could hear the soft whisper of the black phoenix near his ears, even though he couldn't see him, Cloud could always feel the close warm presence of Moon next to him.

It's so warm. As soon as these words left his mind, the Lifestreams started to swirl around him and clung to him like sticky cobwebs, some of them merged together and formed small glowing orb, floating in front of him. The orb grew bigger and brighter as more of the Lifestreams merged with it, Cloud stretched out his hand hesitantly towards the might-be-his-Inner-Lifestreams, but a sudden horrible shriek caused him to jump back in surprise and something hard hit his from behind.

In matter of seconds, the spiky hair patient found himself on the floor of his own ward and a small bump on the back of his head. He rubbed his new throbbing injury while cursing mentally to whomever or whatever had been making that stupid shriek at the exact moment he had finally found his own Inner-Lifestreams.

When he got up, somebody had knocked on his door and he told the person to come in, half expecting it to be the doctor for his usual check-up and all, but the man who entered his room was not the doctor, he wore a helmet and a red SOLDIER uniform.

'Former-cadet Strife, right?' The man asked with a hint of humor in his voice and Cloud nodded his head dumbly. 'My name is Kunsel, SOLDIER 2nd Class, my friend, Zack, had asked me to come and bring you to the level 49's training room. He said it's urgent. So get up and change yourself while I take a little visit with the little devil.'

Cloud chuckled at the word little devil as Kunsel left the room, because he is sure in one hundred percent that the man is referring to Kadaj. The name fits him pretty well, Kadaj, the Little Devil and Sephiroth, the Demon who had slathered Wutai most powerful warriors. The blond thought as he got up and changed into his uniform.

Cloud's cheerful mood soon turned into a panic heart-attack when he, Kadaj and Kunsel stepped into the training room where the three famous SOLDIERs 1st Class, the raven-haired SOLDIER 2nd Class, the Director of SOLDIER and the head of the Safety Department are waiting patiently for them. Oh I have a bad feeling about this...

Lazard cleared his throat before he spoke seriously: 'Cadet Strife and Cadet Novia, Head of the Safety Department told me that none of you are qualified to enter the SOLDIER program, so I have to ask both of you to demonstrate your abilities and prove to me that you are good enough or not to join SOLDIER.'

The only thought that went through the teens' heads was: Oh, crap.

***

'Your mission is very simple: both of you only need to eliminate every enemy that the stimulation throws at you in a limit time.' Lazard said through the radio attached to the black visors that both cadets wore for the demonstration. 'We will begin the battle stimulation in ten seconds, are you two ready?'

'YES SIR!' They answered at the same time. Cloud tighten his grip over the handle of his sword that is equipped with the same materias he had used to beat the black beast, he doesn't why, but he felt more comfortable using the Ice and Fire materias, it's as if they were a part of him. The blond glanced at the silver hair teen out of the corner of his eyes, Kadaj, who was holding a short katana with the Thunder and Cure materias attached to it, looked a little bored.

Confidence. Remember Cloud? Moon whispered to him as the countdown for the virtual stimulation began.

That would be overconfidence for his case, Moon. Cloud replied as they got into their battle stances. The black phoenix chuckled at the back of his mind. You just have to relax, let your instincts guide you and the rest will come naturally.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it. The blond replied annoyingly, hating to be remind of what to do whenever he is in a battle, as the virtual room turned into a full-fledge forest and the ground was covered with a thin layer of white snow. Nibelhiem? Then ten grey-furred wolves jumped out of the forest and snarled at the pair.

'Looks like we are going to have more company, Nii-san.' Kadaj said as they pressed back against back with their weapons readied in their hands and twenty wolves more came to surround them. 'If you need my help, just shout my name and I'll come to your rescue.'

Cloud snorted angrily as he protested loudly: 'I DON'T NEED YOU TO COME TO RESCUE ME, BUT I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE ME WHO'S GOING TO RESCUE YOU!'

Sheesh that Kadaj is getting a little too over himself! The spiky hair cadet shrieked in his head as he vented some of his frustrations on one unfortunate Nibel wolf, burning it into black charcoal. It was only after he had decimated his 15th wolf that he is calmer.

'NII-SAN! WATCH OUT!' Cloud heard Kadaj screamed somewhere behind him. When he turned around, something struck him hard on the stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him to the hard rocky ground. 'NII-SAN! WHY YOU BASTARD!'

The blond rolled over to his side and coughed out some blood and he looked up disoriented, seeing everything in double. He could easily make out the blurry silver hair of Kadaj and some giant purpled being that had supposedly hit him. He shook his head a little bit, to clear his dizziness, but instead of clearing it, it only got worse and half of his vision turned red. What the? Cloud touched his forehead and looked at his gloved hand covered with fresh crimson blood.

A loud roar snapped his attention from his bloody injuries back to the beast that Kadaj might be fighting, when he looked up, he spotted the silver hair teen cutting the beast into half while another one coming from his left side, the blond immediately yelled out the teen's name. His friend turned around upon hearing his name, but he didn't saw the other monster charging towards him and got tackled down by it. Cloud's eyes widen as he saw Kadaj, laid face down on the ground unmoving with some of blood over his silver hair.

No... No... No... Get up Kadaj! The spiky hair cadet shouted inside his mind as he struggled to get back up, but his entire body seemed to weight a thousand pounds and he felt so tired right now. No... I have to save Kadaj... Using his sword as support, the blond slowly pushed himself up enough to stand on his two trembling feet, but when he tried to take one step, his foot didn't respond and his vision started to black out. Damn it! Move!

Suddenly everything around brighten and the shadow he had saw in the Lifestreams appeared in front of him, but his spiky hair seemed longer than before. When he spoke, the man still had a young voice, but it sounded slightly different, more cheerful and familiar: 'So you want to be in SOLDIER? Work hard kid.'

Cloud felt his body's strength returned to him and a great surge of energy is running through his veins. He held his sword in fighting stance as he activated the powers of his two materias and his vision came back into focus. The two purple forms of the beasts that had attacked him and Kadaj were more defined than before, the beasts are known as Behemoths that had two long bull-like horns and had a very hard skin, they are almost immune to magic and small physical attacks. He slashed his sword downward and created a powerful wave of fire and ice towards the beast that is about to finish off the unconscious teen, instantly killing it, then Cloud dashed forward and held Kadaj in his arms.

'Kadaj?' He whispered the name softly, when the silver hair boy didn't respond, he took the Cure materia slotted in the katana and cast a healing spell over him and Kadaj. A green light covered their entire bodies for a moment and all their wounds were immediately mended.

When Kadaj stirred in his arms and finally opened his eyes, Cloud sighed in relief as he said: 'See, I told you it will be me who's going to rescue you.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.' The silver hair teen groaned as he sat up and rubbed his forehead, grumbling something incomprehensible, probably some small curses, but the mature blond doesn't really mind, because Kadaj cursing means he is perfectly fine. Cloud quickly got up and offered his hand to the healed teen with a smile, which Kadaj took the gloved hand in a firm grip before the blond pulled him up easily.

A loud and almost angry growl snapped both teens back to the reality and the fact that they aren't really safe yet. A sapphire armored dragon floating a few feet above the ground, its golden eyes flashed with fury at them and then it opened its mouth wide, where a large amount of energy started to gather around.

The two cadets stole a glance at each other for a second before they jumped up with the weapons infused with the element power of the materias. They slashed down in synch as the dragon released the energy beam in his mouth, but the beam and the powerful elements canceled each other out, leaving the dragon wide open to be cut down by the cadets. Cloud and Kadaj cross-slashed the face of the armored dragon before everything went suddenly black.

When the lights went back on, Cloud was breathing hard and he is on his knees with Kadaj next to him, the visors they were wearing showed "Mission Abort", he looked at Kadaj and asked: 'You're alright?'

The silver hair teen simply nodded his head in response before they could the electric hissing sound of the door, both of them looked up to see Lazard, Zack and Kunsel came in worriedly as the other superiors entered the room.

'Are you two alright?' Kunsel asked as he helped Kadaj up to his feet, Zack did the same for Cloud.

'I'm fine thanks to Nii-san.' Kadaj replied as he removed his visor.

'Well, from what I see, I think both of you did an extremely great job and welcome to SOLDIER!' The blond hair Director announced rather cheerfully, even though the cadets had just barely escaped Death's grip. While Heidegger cursed loudly as he stormed out of the room, the two teens were congratulated by the SOLDIERs.

Cloud silently whispered a thank you in his mind and he allowed himself to smile when he felt the warm non-visible wings of Moon enveloped him, but unknown to him is that an auburn hair Commander had saw them.