Once More, With Feeling... – Chapter 5: Purely Instinct
Summary: Another day in SOLDIER Prep. … Another familiar face to see.
Author: Illusor Meaneld
Rated T: for Descriptive violence and injuries, No Adult Situations, No Cussing.
Disclaimer: I did not create, and do not own the characters from Final Fantasy 7, They are owned by Square-Enix, and I am simply borrowing them for my own (and hopefully your) enjoyment.
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Cloud was out of his bunk, stretched and in the showers well before the other boys woke. It was there, alone under the hot spray of water that he thought carefully about his predicaments. His body and mind still weren't quite acclimated to each other, with over 80 years of experience and habit from his old memories, his young body lacked the muscle-memory and reflex-memories to keep up. Some habits, like sword-fighting, were so ingrained that his older sub-conscious refused to relearn its moves. He chuckled to himself as he thought of the old idiom, "you can't teach an old dog, new tricks." Now he just had to convince his sleeping mind that he wasn't that old after all. The class with Zack had been a catastrophe, and he couldn't exactly go explain to his teachers what was wrong. The types of mistakes he was making weren't typical. Even Cloud wasn't quite certain where exactly the faults were, and he had trained a good number of people in swordsmanship in his days.
He finished rinsing the shampoo and conditioner out of his hair and turned off the water, standing and watching the steam rise for several moments. It was there, while the pressing silence filled the room once more that he realized what he needed to do. I need to train MYSELF… there were too many things, too many hints that a teacher might pick up from Cloud's strange mistakes, he couldn't and wouldn't rely on the instructor's help with those issues. Cloud smiled, yes… this could work… he knew the Shinra building interior quite intimately, he had scoured the building, and, after the whole Hojo incident, his memory did not fail him. He could locate and break into any of the training rooms whenever he needed them. He silently thanked Shelke's amazing foresight in giving him all the emergency access codes to every room in the building. Those would be a last resort, as they were often traceable, but he had them. Feeling altogether much better about his situation Cloud stepped out of the quickly cooling shower stall and began toweling his hair. Today would be better!
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General Sephiroth strode into his office, his hair still slightly damp from his post-workout shower, his stride hesitated just a moment for him to shut the door behind him soundlessly, A mental practice he often amused himself with. He walked about his office setting his personal belongings where he always placed them. Masamune had its own black lacquered stand along the back wall behind his desk. He traded his Coat and armor for a light-weight vest. Replacing the former on the fitted rack behind the door, now more comfortable, he sat at his desk and briskly pulled his expected pile of paperwork to him. Paperwork was a necessary part of the military, it made for efficiency and accountability. … at least that was the theory.
15 minutes later Sephiroth neatened the stack of finished papers on the right side of his desk. Had he really finished it all that fast? … A brief second of pondering brought all of the lengthy details of the 6 inch stack to mind. Yes, he had. Deskwork finished, Sephiroth stood, and pulling a polishing cloth from one of his desk-drawers, he went to work on his shoulder-pauldrons and sword, minutely cleaning any dust he might have picked up during his workout. It was the first week for the newest group of eager SOLDIER-Preparation Cadets. As such Sephiroth had to make an obligatory appearance. Once his armor, sword, and coat gleamed, Sephiroth re-dressed. The leather was soft and flexible, like a second skin, but without a little air-flow it was stifling and uncomfortable. The General neatened his hair until it was absolutely smooth, and still a little early strode from his office to meet with Officer Alrick.
3rd Warrant officer Alrick was also already attired, his blue uniform adorned with the indications of his titles and rank. He took stride next to the General without a word. New Cadets came in every month, both men were quite accustomed to the routine. As they walked Sephiroth reviewed Alrick's speech in his mind. The only variance would be the names of the squads. One old one gone, and one new one registered. Alrick would walk into the Cafeteria just as the Squads were finishing breakfast, start on his speech about how prestigious SOLDIER was, and how hard they needed to work to get in. Then Sephiroth would stride in on cue, and deliver his own inspirational speech, it was supposed to keep those worn out boys eager and enthusiastic. Sephiroth used it as a time to study the hopeful youths and try to guess where they would all end up. It was simply another of his time-eating amusements. Alrick paused just a moment by the door outside the mess-hall, exchanging a nod with the somber-looking general before stomping briskly forward and throwing open the door.
The officer's voice bellowed through the room, and Sephiroth imagined the startled looks of the newer Squads, after a couple of months the older groups got used to the display, and they were no-doubt trying to catch a glimpse of the great General himself through the door. This month, Squad Kujata had taken their final exams, they had been dispersed, some of the boys joined the General Military, and one or two entered Special Ops. There had been two SOLIDER candidates in there, both SOLDIER 5ths now. They were in the process of getting their Mako infusions. While Officer Alrick spoke, Sephiroth wiled away his waiting time by carefully recalling and how often his "predictions" as to the recruit's military futures were correct.
Sephiroth heard his verbal cue and straightened with a determined breath. He stepped forward, … and much to his shock he felt his warrior's instinct twinge. He continued walking, never hesitating and turned sharply to face the congregated Cadets. In the few steps it had taken to reach that position Sephiroth pondered the occurrence. His instincts always twinged when people looked at him, it was that honed sixth-sense, that spatial awareness that reacted to other people. Usually that sense ticked the moment he passed the doorway, when the Cadets could see him, and they reacted to his presence. This time it had actually reacted BEFORE he'd stepped into view of the room's occupants. How odd.
Sephiroth did not have to think about his speech, he had given it more times than he could count. The newest Squad's name was "Sekhmet"… the general's lips twitched, and judging by the flinching around their table they seemed to have realized what the name meant. While he spoke Sephiroth played his game, "The Names Game" is what Angeal called it. This morning Sephiroth had requested a list of all the names and corresponding faces of the S.P. Cadets. A quick glance over the sheet of paper was all he allowed himself. And now, hours later, he tried to see how many faces he could match to the names he'd read. It was a great mental exercise, truly challenging, and a great assessment of his nearly perfect memory.
As he was giving his "inspirational speech", trying to match names and faces, and walking towards the back of the room slowly, … Sephiroth noticed another peculiarity. He was so accustomed to S.P. cadets watching his every move that he barely noticed them; he simply tried his best not to make solid eye contact. (the few times he'd tried that the boys in question had wet themselves.) But one lad, one youth, caught his eye. For the most part the child was unremarkable, very small and lean, Sephiroth would have passed him off as a soon-to-be-dropout. But the tiny blond, unlike his peers, had not once glanced in Sephiroth's direction. His eyes remained firmly glued to 3rd Warrant officer Alrick's face. He sat poised on his bench, his back stiff. Sephiroth's gaze continued around the room. Sure enough all the other boys were still trying to watch him, despite the fact they had been called to partial attention at the beginning of the presentation. As was the routine, once Sephiroth had reached the far back of the room, Alrick called the boys to attention once more, snapping their eyes back to the front. It made them nervous, knowing that THE General Sephiroth stood behind them, the lot of them quietly sweated, wondering if they were doing something the legendary man disproved of.
Sephiroth silently paced, glancing over the backs of the boys heads while Alrick spoke. Again the blond, so small the General could barely see his spikey hair from this vantage, caught his attention. He was not quite as rigid as the others, though his posture was far from relaxed. Now though, what Sephiroth noticed was the subtle way the boy shifted. As if to test a half-forged theory Sephiroth widened his pacing, sure enough, the boy's movements increased incrementally. He doubted the child was even aware of his movements. But where ever Sephiroth moved, the boy… Strife was it? … yes, Strife, adjusted his position to lean slightly in his direction, as if he were listening for him, or trying to spot him from the corner of his eyes. It reminded him of a fox, its ears slowly twitching to catch the sound.
The presentation ended, and both Alrick and Sephiroth left the room. The instinctive awareness disappeared a few moments after he passed the door-frame. The Silver-haired general now suspected the diminutive blond, the boy seemed to possess great instincts of his own. He would no-doubt make SOLDIER very quickly, perhaps another prodigy like Angeal's student Zackary Fair? It was different though, Zack had never been as aware, but his physical prowess and fast learning made quick work of the rigors of S.P. training. Curious now, Sephiroth left 3rd Warrant officer Alrick where he had found him, and strode up to the floor right above the S.P. training rooms, all these rooms were similarly designed, with a second floor that had a set of rooms with one-way windows into the training and testing areas below. It was meant for evaluations, both of the teachers and students. Sephiroth used it now to see if his estimate for young Strife was correct.
He watched as Squad Sekhmet filed in, the first boy was a tall, broad-shouldered youth with dirty blond hair and green eyes. Logan Kade, … Sephiroth's memory supplied, it seemed the thickly built teen had taken unofficial command of the squad, he moved with assumed authority amongst the other boys, following behind him were two more muscular, athletic boys, one with short black hair, and grey eyes, … Wyatt Boden. … The other with muddy hair twisted into a messy ponytail, his eyes were so dark as to be almost black, the ever so slight off-white complexion finished the ensemble, part wutaian. … that one would be Fisk Sutherland. Both Fisk and Wyatt followed Logan like seconds… like lackeys. A lean built boy with brown hair and hazel eyes, "Gavin Caradoc", proceeded the miniscule blond Sephiroth was looking for, blue eyes, the General noted, … Cloud Strife. The rest of the squad filed in, though the silver-haired SOLDIER wasn't paying quite as much attention, Brown hair, Chocolate eyes,… Fallon Connor, … another blonde… strawberry tint, butterscotch eyes … Teagan Cece. … having run out of names he remembered Sephiroth focused on the boys as a whole, … yes Logan took the lead, the others followed… except for Cloud Strife. For some inexplicable reason the smallest boy didn't notice the "unofficial" chain of command in his group, usually children that small were picked on, and immediately took one of the bottom rungs without question. From his vantage point Sephiroth could clearly see the resentment in Logan's eyes. Perhaps Strife was as much a prodigy as Sephiroth hoped, surely that would explain his sub-conscious superior attitude.
10 minutes later Sephiroth watched on in open-mouthed shock. Had he completely misread everything? The boy was absolutely incompetent! How had he even gotten IN to the SOLDIER Prep. program?? Even granting allowances for it being the first week of Weapons Training, Cloud Strife's performance was abysmal. He twitched in all the wrong places, and was nearly crippled when it came to keeping his balance. Sephiroth sighed, pressing one hand to his face, it was almost depressing, … he could have sworn the boy had promise! … The silver haired general slowly paced the room, he was usually very good with these things, it distressed him to see how far off the mark he'd been this time. He spared another glance at the class below, searching for some explanation, and like an answer to his silent request Cloud twitched, the moment Sephiroth's gaze landed on the boy his shoulders stiffened, and he glanced sharply around as though someone had called his name. … How remarkable!
Sephiroth deliberately focused on the room he stood in, noting the comfortable furniture and lounge-like quality of the decorations. He paced to the far side of the long room that paralleled the length of the training hall below. Then as he reached the furthest edge of the window he deliberately whirled and stared at the small blond. Cloud's body jerked, and his eyes darted around warily. So Sephiroth hadn't been wrong. The boy's instincts were absolutely phenomenal. Satisfied with his test the SOLDIER 1st Class strode from the room. Perhaps the Cadet would perform better if he didn't feel like he was being watched by some threatening presence.
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