Wave Function

Cloud's first month as a SOLDIER third-class was a delicate balancing act. He rode out his first round of Mako boosters with the stubborn perseverance he'd honed training under Vincent, worked himself to exhaustion learning to fight with a broadsword under Sephiroth's watchful eye, sparred with Zack, chatted with Kunsel and had a number of private chats with Genesis. The Crimson General was planning something big, something he would have to go AWOL to achieve if Cloud was reading the signs correctly. The blond Turk-trained SOLDIER asked no questions, simply providing all the scattershot information his redheaded senior officer asked for and even introduced Genesis to Wolf one dark night; the girl turned out to actually be called Shelke, and was using her real name again now that ShinRa had finally given up on looking for her. She was now officially dead, apparently.

Despite being only nine and a half the girl wanted desperately to help those who would have been her fellow prisoners had she actually reached Deepground and agreed to provide Genesis with all the data and access codes she could tease out of the system. She was still new to Synaptic Net Diving, but she was a quick study and the information she'd copied from Cloud's brain had made her a very good hacker indeed. Among other things she was also getting scarily good with her jitte and Materia; Cloud had been taking her on monster hunts for three weeks before he got inducted into SOLDIER and she was going out on her own now.

Cloud soon learnt that despite thinking of himself as adequate when compared to Vincent, he was a prodigy by SOLDIER standards. He adapted to Mako with unusual speed, had sharper senses and reflexes than his peers who had been inducted four months previously and made magic look positively effortless. Casting spells with Mako running through him was child's play compared to before, quite possibly because he'd had to learn to do it the hard way back before his reserves had matured and he'd agreed to let a bunch of scientists inject Lifestream into his veins. He'd also acquired a mysterious sixth sense for danger that had probably built on his already keen awareness of being watched, which had been instilled through countless ambushes by Vincent -and Chaos come to that- under the rather flimsy excuse of 'improving his observational abilities'.

Cloud now could locate where the people looking at him were and which ones -if any- had hostile intentions. Not that a lack of intent made him drop his guard; some monsters weren't smart enough to have hostile intentions before they tried to eat you. This ESP-like ability gave him a massive advantage on extermination missions out in the slums and silenced most of the whispers of favouritism that had been roused by Sephiroth's mentoring. Not that there had been many whispers to begin with: Most of SOLDIER recognised him from his time as the Silver General's aide and respected him for his almost supernatural knack for getting Sephiroth to become more approachable.

Then in late September Genesis was dispatched to Wutai with a relief unit of SOLDIERs and Cloud was left to wait and worry.


The next month went fairly smoothly: more training with broadswords, more spars with Zack and a new Mako shot slightly worse than the previous one, although he bounced back a little faster this time around. Angeal let him have a go with his treasured Buster sword and pronounced him 'a natural' and Sephiroth -in exchange for the Dark General's occasional lessons- taught Zack some sword moves Angeal didn't know and a bit more in-depth training on the effects and advantages of linked Materia.

The Silver General had got his hands on six more new natural Materia since Cloud had shown him, Genesis and Zack how much better they performed compared to manufactured ones: a Fire, an Ice, an Earth and three All, all of which he was working very hard to level up. Several very nasty missions that month also helped Cloud level up his own Materia and when Shephiroth discarded his remaining manufactured Materia in disgust after a close shave with a pair of Midgar zoloms the blond gifted his mentor with his two remaining baby magic Materia: a Lightning and a Restore. Sephiroth had been reluctant to accept the gift but Cloud had insisted. The Silver General had given his stubborn student a look for his insubordination, but said nothing more. Instead, the next day he presented to his protégé a truly magnificent broadsword.

"This is Heaven's Cloud," the dragon-eyed General said with a gleam in his eye, "your new weapon. Since you seem to have a talent for the larger types of swords I decided you needed a new main blade; that katana doesn't do your style justice and the standard ShinRa blades are pathetic. This is a gift, so don't even try to give it back."

The blond smiled dryly at the almost exact quote of what he himself had said the previous day about the Materia. Heaven's Cloud -despite the ridiculous name- was an absolutely superb blade with six separate Materia slots, high attack power and considerably more innate magic than his katana, Yoshiyuki. It felt cleaner than Yoshiyuki as well: that finely tempered blade held vengeance lurking deep inside and was always more powerful after the death of an ally. His new broadsword on the other hand was, well, pure. New, bright and full of potential.

"Thank-you sir," he said, twirling the blade to get a feel for its weight before settling down to run through a few pattern dances with it, never minding that it was only a few inches shorter than he was tall from point to hilt.


Towards the end of October Angeal and Zack were also dispatched to Wutai; Cloud discovered after they had left that Genesis had successfully pulled off his vanishing act, taking nearly fifty of the third- and second-class SOLDIERs with him. The mission the Dark General and his protégé were on was also Zack's test for determining if he was ready for a promotion to first-class. Despite knowing that said promotion would include an injection of alien viral cells, the optimistic second-class was as cheerful as ever when he left and determined to do his mentor proud. Then ten days later, towards the end of the first week of November, Sephiroth himself was scrambled out to Wutai in a hurry and in the middle of the next night Cloud was roused from sleep by Chaos shaking him.

"Hush, little wolf, and listen to what I have to tell you."

Cloud sat up, Mako-bright eyes casting a faint blueish glow, and paid attention. "I'm listening." Chaos had started calling the blond 'little wolf' rather than 'little chocobo' after his first Mako injection. Cloud rather liked the new nickname.

"Good. Firstly, know that Angeal has defected and joined Genesis in his scheme to destroy Deepground and cripple ShinRa. Secondly, the little mage has already slain a Deepground platoon, taken their places with his followers and tonight has infiltrated Mako reactor zero beneath the ShinRa building. Rosso, Weiss and Nero have been rescued and even as I speak to you the little copy-cat is with them, deactivating the behavioural modification chips used to keep them in line so they can be removed. All three will be kept hidden away from Hollander and the Company alike until they have learned to be human.

"Unfortunately the little paladin lacked the courtesy to inform either the little dragon or the little puppy of his intentions so both were shaken by his sudden departure. The little paradox wishes you to tell them the truth of his absence and to help them adjust." Chaos paused. "Ah yes. My dear avatar will only be in Midgar for two more weeks before leaving for a time to assist her newfound cousins. I also have a gift for you wolfling, one that I picked up on my recent travels." The quasi-summon dropped a massive, oddly shaped sword onto Cloud's bedspread. "this is Apocalypse. It is slightly less powerful than the blade the little dragon gave you but Materia equipped to it in battle will level up three times faster."

"Thank-you," Cloud said, examining his newest toy reverently. The sword had a deep red blade which had large pieces cut out of it, making it surprisingly light for its size. It also ended in two sharp prongs rather than the usual point and had curving cutaways just below the hilt on each side that would be good for catching an opponent's blade in.

"I have a special blade in mind for you for when you are closer to achieving your true potential, little wolf," Chaos said cryptically, "but you are not there yet and it will take time and work for me to create what I know you will need."

Cloud blinked. "Chaos, you're going to make me a sword?"

"You are like a son to me, little wolf, and a child of Chaos should be properly equipped to take on the world. Besides, the Lifestream sings of your future possibilities, most of which are very much to my taste. A good sword will aid you in achieving what I have felt hinted of in whispers and dreams."

The blond third-class grimaced. "I have a destiny? It isn't as gloomy as yours is, I hope?" It was nice to know that Chaos saw him as a son though; the strange being actually did father-son type activities with him on a semi-regular basis, though they had often ended up with him getting killed by accident when he was younger.

"No. Go forth and act according to your nature, little wolf. The Planet asks for nothing more than that."

Cloud grumbled and rolled his eyes at the sheer unhelpfulness of that parting comment, but Chaos was already gone.


So, Cloud gets used to SOLDIER, Genesis defects and Chaos shows a little more of his hand. Plans within plans and wheels within wheels.