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That Third Class SOLDIER

Chapter Five: This is our Duty

Written by: Okami of Shinobi Saru Corp

Tseng in his pajamas, it was a sight that Lazard wished he could purge from his mind. But he supposed it couldn't be helped; he had after all called the Turk at a rather ungodly hour, demanding that he rush down to his office without hesitation or delay. From the corner of his eye Lazard noticed the perturbed Turk biting his tongue and clenching his fists, obvious signs that the poor man was desperately trying to restrain his wrath at the Director.

"You called, sir?"

Lazard piqued up at the sound of Tseng's accented voice, intentionally overlooking the Turk's obvious irritation. "Please forgive the lateness of the hour, Tseng, but this is important."

The Turk raised his eyebrows, the look of 'obviously' written across his face.

Cocking his head and turning around to face his desk, Lazard continued, "Did one of your kind intend to give me a file?"

Brow furrowed, Tseng pondered Lazard's question for a moment before replying, "What kind of file?"

The Director stroked his chin. Ah, so they didn't intend to give me this. Curious... "It regards a certain SOLDIER recruit and his intentions for being here, hence why I asked you to bring to me all those files about the trainees."

Taking Lazard's hint, Tseng handed the Director the large envelope which had been resting in his hand. Lazard couldn't help but notice the faint lines in Tseng's face as his gloved hands brushed up against the envelope. Even when things looked dim, Tseng had always been the epitome of calm; but this - these creases of worry in the Turk's face - was something new, a facial expression that Lazard had never seen the Turk wear before.

The Director once again fingered his chin with his free hand; things must be worse that he had originally thought.

"Who is it, sir?"

The question initially took Lazard by surprise, his head jerking upwards to re-focus his attention on the matter at hand. "Hm? Oh, he's of the typical sort; skinny, blue eyes, hair he's bleached white accompanied with an uncanny sense of fashion."

"Name?"

"Nick Fallow." Tseng's face hardened at the name. "Oh? Does this confirm a suspicion of yours?"

"Confirm a suspicion? No, not exactly."

He's hiding something. "Please deal with this by the end of the day."

Tseng scoffed slightly, a sound that resembled the sniffling of one's nose rather than anything else. "By which you mean immediately."

"At least someone catches on quickly."

The dark-haired Turk didn't waste anytime. Bowing himself out, Tseng waited for Lazard's signature flick of the hand before turning around and leaving.

As Tseng quickly glided down ShinRa's halls, he habitually flipped open his PHS and began sending a few messages. Once he was finished, his eyes absentmindedly glanced at his phone's clock, which in bold numbers read: 3AM.

The issue at hand was dire, that was for certain. Never before had something like this happened at ShinRa, and as such the issue needed to stay within the Turk's realm alone. Secrecy was key, and if anyone was bad at keeping secrets it was SOLDIER. Secretaries who loved to gossip, bored Commanders who needed a way to pass the time, the politics which surrounded Lazard and ShinRa - SOLDIER practically reeked with people who lived to obtain and share juicy tidbits of information.

He was going to need SOLDIER to stay on the outside of his circle of information.

The Turk smirked. Three people, two suspects, and one hour to make all the arrangements.

It was just the start of another, typical morning at ShinRa HQ.

4AM. The big, fiery numbers sliced through the darkness and burned my watering irises. Desperately I shut my eyelids, attempting to fall back asleep, but right before my mind would cut itself off from the world and drift into slumber a sharp pain would spring forth from my stomach, dragging my mind back into reality. Was I sick? Did I eat too much last night? Was something I ate not setting well with my stomach? I didn't know - I didn't care - I just wanted my stomach to be at peace.

Groaning I curled up into a tight ball and pressed a pillow up against my stomach. It didn't work. I flipped over and laid on my stomach. That didn't work either. Exasperated I hurled the pillow towards a nearby wall and let out a long sigh, quickly remembering that everyone else was still asleep.

Inhaling sharply, I motionlessly waited in the silent darkness, straining my ears for any signs of movement or - as is my squad's more typical response - cursing.

For minutes I listened, and it wasn't until I was sure that everyone was still asleep that I slowly laid myself back down.

During the coming day's training I was most certainly doomed to pass out, throw up, or do both at once. I would be exhausted from lack of sleep, I would be weak from yesterday's training, and I would be sick from my churning stomach. Panic flooded my mind as I realized the sad realities of the coming hours. Overwhelmed, tears of fatigue welled up in my eyes and I chastised myself for my fears. If I couldn't handle one day of pain then how on Gaia would I be able to survive a war?

I just needed to suck it up and get through tomorrow.

I don't want to!

I rubbed my forehead; just don't think about it Gavin. Just don't think about it.

I can't do it!

Well I can't just go home!

W-why did I come?

To be in SOLDIER, obviously.

It's too hard - I'm too scared - I think I should just quit. I don't even have a good reason for being here for Gaia's sake!

I don't need a good reason. Just do it - there's no deep logic that needs to be examined to do that simple task.

I can't!

I can.

I just can't!

No.

I'm too scared. I can't.

Conflicting emotions swelled up inside of me as I ran my fingers through my hair.

"I know..."

"Shh!"

My heart stopped and my chest throbbed at the sudden noise which had killed the stillness. Dumbfounded, I stuttered through my response, "Wha-? How long have you-?"

"You know, 'Shh' means to shut-up, right?"

I closed my mouth upon realizing that it was Quincy who had spoken. Hundreds of questions all wanting to be answered ran through my mind, though caution silenced them as I listened to what the teen had to say next.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?" I whispered in a voice that was barely audible.

Eyes now adjusted to the darkness, I saw Quincy hold up a finger and then lower it as he apparently heard the sound again. "That sound right there, did you hear it?"

"No, I-"

A loud thud cut me off. From what I could tell, it sounded like it came from down the hallway.

"How about that one?"

I rolled my eyes and sat up in my bed, clutching my stomach in a lame attempt to stop its pain.

"Think someone fell out of their bed?" I asked softly.

Quincy shook his head. The 'soul-searcher' looked as if he were lost in thought, a normal occurrence for the teen, though by the stone like stillness of his face he seemed to be giving these ponderings deeper consideration than his usual musings.

Daring to interfere with the teen's thoughts, I questioned, "Perhaps someone dropped something?"

Again the teen shook his head. "Of all people I thought you could come to a logical conclusion."

Another thud accompanied by a few muffled voices filled the room, causing Quincy and I to turn and stare at the door in curiosity and confusion. The noise had been too deep to be a mere object falling to the ground, leaving me with the assumption that the cause of the sound was a person (most likely a fellow trainee) colliding with the floor. But if it wasn't someone falling out of their bunk, then the next logical assumption would be...

I narrowed my eyes, snapping my head back around to face Quincy. "Is someone being thrown?"

"Heh, seems the most likely solution doesn't it?" The teen stood up and headed towards the door as he continued, "The noise is too loud to be someone falling. There aren't any heavy guys currently in the training department, so in order to make such a noise there must be an added amount of force involved. Since I don't think anyone here would purposely throw themselves to the ground - or at least not at such a time as four in the morning, especially after such training as they received yesterday - my guess is that someone is throwing an unfortunate someone else to the ground."

Following Quincy with my eyes, I watched him as he opened the door and peered outside.

"What are you doing?"

The teen didn't reply; he just glanced back at me before returning his gaze to whatever was on the other side of our bunk room door. Perhaps I had been hallucinating or fooled by the sleep that was still in my eyes, but I could have sworn that I'd seen traces of concern in Quincy's eyes; however, this concern was not kind, but cold, harsh, and calculating. It was strangely funny yet wholly expected for the 'soul-searcher' to give such a kind expression such depressing characteristics.

"Listen," Quincy hissed as he put a finger to his mouth.

I did as I was told and what I heard made a shiver run down my back. And it wasn't caused by the chilled temperature of the room.

"We told you to get up!"

The words echoed throughout our bunk room, and from the deep, rough tones that had enriched the exclamation, I assumed that the voice belonged to a rather large, heavy set man.

"Please!" responded the desperate and pleading cry of what sounded like a young trainee. "I told you, I didn't do anything! I just want to join SOLDIER, just like anyone else here."

I could clearly hear the noises of someone (presumably the trainee) being roughly dragged around. Inwardly I cringed as someone brutally threw open a door a little ways down the hall. A smooth voice followed the piercing noise and in a thick, unfamiliar accent said, "Don't make a fuss kid."

"No, please, you gotta believe me! I'm not an imposter and I don't work for any one," the boy yelled. It was obvious by the loud sobs that the young teen was crying.

"Don't try to fake it kid," exclaimed the voice of the large man. "We have proof that you work for another company opposing ShinRa. Also, we are aware of your 'research' plans."

"So I suggest you be a good little boy and come with us," the man with the accent finished.

My mouth opened slightly and even the calm and collected Quincy appeared a bit distressed by the news.

"Research plans? What's that about?" Yoshi, who had apparently woken up due to the sudden increase in noise, asked, not receiving any reply from either Quincy or myself.

"What?" The accused boy shouted, his voice shaking with terror as he desperately tried to explain. "You've got it all wrong! I have no research plans; I'm just training to become a part of SOLDIER, I swear!"

Silence was the boy's only answer. Sobbing, grunting, dragging, kicking, thrashing – all these sounds muddled together as the two men assumably continued their attempts to restrain the boy. The noises quickly approached our bunk room until everything suddenly ended with a heavy thud.

Curious to see what happened, I got up from my bed and peered over Quincy's shoulder. From what I could see, the boy was out cold and was being dragged by two men in black suits. The young teen had white hair and bruises dotting his arms and legs from where he had obviously been grabbed and hit. As the boy passed by our door, I could see a small drop of dark blood running down the young teen's face.

Quietly I watched the two men pull the limp body down the hallway. It was a shockingly morbid picture. The boy appeared to be around fourteen years old - not even old enough to be fully responsible for breaking the law - and yet he's being mercilessly accused by ShinRa without even a trail.

I scoffed. How beautifully ironic. Only a few hours after receiving Angeal's speech about honor something like this happens. I had already decided that such fantastical things as 'dreams' were beyond me, but this just further proves that my way of thinking is more logical. ShinRa is obviously a place where honor doesn't exist, so why should I try to be different? That would just require extra work, something which I nor my stomach would be too fond of at the moment.

Breaking the momentary silence, the man with the accent exclaimed, "Get back to your room kid. This doesn't concern you."

Quincy, Yu, and I poked our heads further outside our bunk room door and positioned ourselves so that we could see the scene playing out in the hallway. Once I registered what exactly was happening, I blinked a few times in surprise. Standing before the two men was Yu, his brown eyes narrowed and a strange confidence in his stance. An intense fire could be clearly seen burning in his naturally bright eyes – a sign of a determination that I had never known the boy possessed.

"Maybe not," Yu proclaimed. "But this guy's dream, like mine, is to become a part of SOLDIER one day. And you are ruining all his chances of that happening!"

I could hear one of the men sigh. Since the man's face was hidden from my sight I wasn't able to read his expression, but I was sure that if I could see it, it would one of intense irritation.

"Please kid," the large man began. "Just go back to your room."

Shaking his head Yu replied, "You're wrong! I've talked to that guy. His name is Nick and he's not a spy and he doesn't work for some other company. He's got a family who lives out in the country and he needs this job in order to support them."

"Don't make a scene kid."

"Then let Nick go!" Yu's eyes filled with tears. "He's innocent, I swear! You've gotta be making a mistake!"

"What is that kid doing?" Yoshi shook his head. "Does he have a death wish or something?"

I momentarily looked away from the hallway. I was torn. Yu's little performance, as it were, seemed a bit cliché to my cynical mind. It just fell too close to the stereotypical 'shy boy who found his courage and stood up against the big 'ol bad guy' scenario for my brain to take it seriously. However, at the same time, I found his actions rather admirable. Stupid, yes, but strangely heroic and honorable; a stark contrast to the attributes of most of ShinRa's employees.

Yu's voice abruptly pulled my attention back to the scene playing outside our bunk room. "Wha-what are you doing?"

Before Yu could utter the last word, the man with the accent picked up the blonde-headed boy with one arm and dragged him back towards his room.

"Stop! You're making a mistake! I'm telling you! Just stop!"

"I can't watch anymore of this." Yoshi turned around and covered his eyes. "It's making me sick..."

Inwardly I cringed as Yu kicked and flailed about, trying to break free. The man completely overpowered the boy and pulled him along as if he were dragging a doll. In one swift movement the man opened the door to Yu's room and threw the boy inside. I could hear the sounds of Yu's futile and muffled attempts to continue his argument as I solemnly watched the two men continue dragging Nick to the end of the hallway. Eventually, they turned a corner and were out of sight.

Silently I stepped back from the door.

"What the hell is going on?" Yoshi nervously asked, his pale face twisted in confusion and fear.

Quincy sighed as he softly closed the door. After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he began to explain, "I'm not sure, but from what I gathered, that boy was sent here by another company to become a test subject."

"A what?" Yoshi and I asked in unison, both of us shocked at the idea of a human being becoming some sort of lab rat.

"You heard me."

"Explain," I demanded.

"As I stated before, ShinRa can't afford to have their secrets run loose in the world or else some other company will steal their ideas and create unwanted competition. That being so, some companies – who want information about ShinRa's success – will send someone posing as a 'SOLDIER wanna be' wanting to become a part of the SOLDIER program. They do this so that said person will become infused with Mako energy and thus become the company's test subject – someone that they can study and dissect in order to better understand the secrets behind SOLDIER's strength and power."

"That's disgusting!" Yoshi exclaimed while sitting down on top of his bunk. "Why would someone willingly become a company's experiment?"

"Perhaps," Quincy sadistically murmured, "It wasn't done willingly."

Yoshi gulped, I bit my lip, and Jun (who I just now noticed) twitched his nose.

"Do you think that those men were wrong about Nick?" I asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had built up amongst us.

Yoshi rapidly nodded his head up and down. "Yeah, yeah! What if ShinRa got their information all mixed up?"

"I highly doubt it," Quincy replied, pacing the dimly lit room as he spoke. "ShinRa makes sure that their security and information are thorough and precise. They have to or else they would be subjecting themselves to hackers and infiltrators. In fact, I'm surprised that Nick got this far without being detected."

"Hm, I see," Yoshi pondered out loud before exclaiming, "So who were those bastards in suits anyways?"

"Turks, I would imagine," was Quincy's sudden, emotionless reply.

"Ohhh!" Yoshi smiled and nodded his head in apparent understanding before his face swiftly reverted to a blank, clueless expression.

"What's a Turk?"

Quincy grunted while he plopped down onto his bed and snuggled down under the covers. "Go look it up somewhere, I'm tired of answering your stupid questions."

Surprised by Quincy's irritated response, Yoshi stuck out his tongue. "Fine, just be a jerk why don't ya!"

The bi-polar kid then jumped down off of his bunk and headed towards the door. "If anyone asks, I'm off to get an energy drink. It's almost 5 AM and I betcha that Crimson-Freak will be here to recite that Love-whatever to us all. And by Gaia I am not gonna fall asleep this time! That guy's slender but he can kick like a Chocobo on steroids! Not that I've ever been kicked by a Chocobo on steroids before, but you get my point."

I nodded. Sadly, I understood exactly what Yoshi meant.

"Try not to get caught," I warned as the blonde waved and walked out the door, loudly shutting it behind him.

Growling at the sudden noise, Quincy pressed his pillow up against his ears and attempted to obtain a few more moments of precious sleep.

Meanwhile, I just stretched out my arms and yawned. I desperately wanted sleep, but it was so close to Mr. Crimson's recital time that falling back into slumber would probably do more harm than good. So, I slowly got dressed, trying to pass the time without disturbing the other two resting members of my squad.

Usually I would take advantage of these quiet few moments and ponder over what had occurred out in the hallway. But today was different. At the moment, I was too focused on myself and the coming day's training to even want to think about what had just happened. The whole ordeal didn't directly concern me, and pondering over such things certainly wouldn't help me during the coming day's training, so thinking about it would have to wait for another time.

As if there would ever be 'another time'.

The rest of the morning went on much like the previous one. We all participated in Mr. Crimson's Loveless reading before heading outside for our early morning workout (though this time - thank Gaia - there were no fireballs involved).

By lunch break, a lot of gossip was already going around about what had happened to Nick that morning. Stories sprung up about how Nick had been subjugated to torture until he confessed who his employer was, or how Nick's purpose in coming to ShinRa was to join SOLDIER and then led an attack against his own teammates. Other tales were a little more far out, claiming that Nick was actually some insane psychopath who set this whole thing up just for the fun of it.

But despite the stories that everyone discussed and created, Yu never once doubted Nick. Whenever he was questioned about the matter, Yu would always reply, "ShinRa got this one wrong. Really wrong. And now people have to suffer for it..."

Perhaps Nick was innocent, perhaps he wasn't – I would never know for sure. And to be honest, a part of me really didn't care.

Eventually the stories died down until they became non-existent due to no new information being given about the situation. Nick quickly became just another forgotten memory in the minds of the other trainees.

And soon, I too completely forgot that he ever existed.

Later that day, Lazard sat at his desk, his hands folded in front of him and his eyes staring at the Second sitting before him.

"Don't worry about it, Angeal," the Director calmly stated. "Things like this happen. Lucky for you this is the Turks business, so you can take it easy."

Not satisfied by this answer, Angeal pressed the conversation further. "Sir, what is going to happen to that boy?"

The Director shrugged. "That would be a question for the Turks."

"But?"

"But," Lazard added, leaning on his arms upon the desk, "I suspect that whatever does end up happening to that boy, it won't be pleasant."

The Second scowled, though he quickly restrained himself once he remembered whose presence he was in.

"And you're okay with this?"

"Angeal, SOLDIER is a military department. We can't be lenient in giving out punishment towards those who seek to destroy the company. It's part of our job. Do you want us to just forget our duties and let ShinRa come to ruin?"

"No…" Angeal shifted his eyes and stared at the wall beside him. He knew what his duty towards ShinRa consisted of, but this just didn't seem right. That boy couldn't have been older than fourteen. He probably had a family – a whole world outside of SOLDIER – and ShinRa, hardly giving any thought to the matter, accused him of being a traitor. Just like that. No questions asked, no mercy given.

"Well then, that settles it." Lazard swiftly leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "There's a new assignment for you, I believe. I suggest that you get to it as soon as possible."

"Yes sir," Angeal solemnly replied. Slowly he stood up and started towards the door before turning around and asking one last question.

"If I may, sir, are you sure that Nick was to blame and not someone else?"

"I'm sure, Angeal," the Director replied, a small hint of softness in his voice.

Angeal nodded his head. "Right. I should be going, sir. Thank you for answering my questions."

Lazard slightly smiled. He watched the teen walk out of the room before turning back to his desk. For reasons unknown to him, he pulled up a printed copy of the information that had been on the computer chip. He stared at it for a moment before placing the paper back into its respective folder.

"Right." The Director said to himself. "No need to second guess myself."

This was just another part of working for ShinRa, and unpleasant as it may be, it was just another thing that he would have to accept.