Redemption

Chapter Notes: The last two chapters have focused on setting the scene, and now that it's set I can start introducing some plot and some new characters. This chapter was also annoyingly long compared to the others, I had to force myself to stop it where I did.

Chapter 3 - A Forgotten SOLDIER

Cloud awoke weakened and disoriented, unsure of where he was or how long he had been there. It was dark out now, but he didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious for. His head was nearly splitting with pain, and when he lifted a hand to cradle it, his arms were heavy and weak, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. His breath was ragged and fast, his heart was beating a mile a minute and his mind was practically swimming around all the thoughts racing through it.

Things...could have been better.

On top of everything, he had in no way been magically teleported back to a place where he could collapse and sleep whatever this was off. Instead he was on a cliff in the outskirts of Midgar. Groggily the reality of the situation beyond just his physical pain started to sink in. The lifestream, the lifestream had rejected him when he had finally reached it, when he would finally be able to stand next to his friends, when he’d finally be able to apologize he had been cast away.

Now he was alone. That lifestream didn’t even exist anymore, his friends were lost forever, he’d never be able to even feel their words run through his mind. Only the cool voice of the planet would speak to him, never the warm voice of those who cared for him. A new sharp pain erupted in his chest, but Cloud was sure it wasn’t a physical pain.

He wasn’t capable of standing yet, crouched on the ground struggling to maintain consciousness, to deal with the mess his body was in. He would have to get to his feet soon, he’d have to bury his body and then walk back to Midgar. It took a good five minutes of preparing before he finally pulled himself to his feet, feeling weak and dizzy, but some of the pain in his head had eased, and his chest wasn’t burning as hard as it had been.

Looking around, he frowned. He had passed out on top of his body, so why wasn’t it there? He was tired and frustrated, and things like disappearing corpses were not striking him as amusing. Turning slowly, Cloud scanned the area. What he saw made him pause completely.

The small pit that his body had been in was still there, but there was no trace of either the body or any of the mako that had encased it. Instead, First Sword lay across the pit, fully assembled and pressed into its sheath. On top of it were many colourful spheres of materia, along with Mystile.

It looked so carefully placed, and Cloud was confused as to where his body had gone to.

Cloud decided he wouldn’t try to understand it, in no state to sit and puzzle over it. Instead he braced himself and walked over to where everything was. While he felt weak as a kitten, his steps were surprisingly sure. How much of his pain was real physical ailments and how much of it was generated by his mind was undeterminable.

‘The mako has poisoned you.’ A voice that was different than The Planet’s ran through his mind, but he was too tired to distinguish it even if it did sound painfully familiar. ‘Your body is struggling, but your mind is familiar with it. The mako will make things better as soon as your body absorbs it properly. For now, your body is putting everything into fighting it off and losing. Cloud you always were too stubborn.’

Cloud finally shook his head. ‘I...I know you. I recognize your voice, but I just can’t place it.’ He thought tiredly, not even sure if he had gotten through or not.

‘Don’t think too much on it Cloud, just save your strength. I’ll help you as much as I can. Now, equip yourself for the walk back.’

Shakily Cloud reached out for Mystile, strapping it to his arm. Despite the burning of his eyes or the fogginess of his vision, he slipped restore and comet into the sockets, too tired to sort through the rest. He opened the storage pocket on the side of his sheath, stacking the rest of the materia into that before he got back to his feet again.

He was still shaking, but he realized it wasn’t from the weakness most of his body felt, but from an underlying surge of energy, almost like the sugar rushes he used to get when Yuffie was the one who prepared his coffee. It was horrible how his body was reacting to this, half of it ready to face it like the Cloud from past would have handled it, half of it ready to cave under the pressure it created on his too young body. And then a smaller part, desperate to suck up as much as the energy it could, feeding off of it to gain more strength.

The voice’s advice to stop thinking too much on it seemed smart, so Cloud did stop. Lifting up First Sword he slipped himself into the sheath, having to adjust the straps to his smaller frame.

Walking slowly, Cloud made it to the edge of the cliff, and for a moment his eyes blurred and he saw a double vision. He saw Midgar as it had been the last time he stood at this spot. The bustling town before him destroyed, levelled into rubble. The land around it equally desolate, a barren wasteland shunned by The Planet. He had to stop that from happening, somehow he had to stop it from reoccurring; with only a sword and a broken heart he would protect The Planet.

He turned his back to the view and the vision with a promise to The Planet and to everyone who had sacrificed something to save it. He would stop it before things spiralled so far.

Cloud let his mind fill with nothingness on his trip back to Midgar, refusing to think any more on what had occurred on the cliff.

The first clock that Cloud saw when he stumbled into the Shinra building informed him that it was two in the morning. By that point his nerves had settled, his thoughts had stopped swirling and his chest had stopped aching. He was still shaking, his eyes were burning more than before and his skin felt cold and clammy, but he could feel the symptoms starting to lighten if only just a little. He just had to give his body time to cope, he just had to sleep it off and he was so close to finally being able to do that.

The halls were mercifully empty as Cloud drearily made his way back to his dorm room. Somehow the walk back to Midgar, through the slums, and the train ride up to the plate didn’t take as long as it did for him to walk the last distance, the final stretch by far the longest.

When he finally made it, he went straight for the bed, not removing a thing as he collapsed into the mattress.

Sleep came almost instantly, but it brought with it haunting memories that Cloud had hoped wouldn’t return.


‘Cloud, you aren’t as alone as you think.’


His alarm clock went off way too early, waking him up with its cheery ring, informing him that it was 7:30 and it was time for him to get up. Groggily Cloud lifted his head to glare at it before reaching out and hitting the button to shut it off. Cloud was surprised by the heavy weight on his back, belatedly realizing that he had fallen asleep as soon as he had hit the mattress, First Sword still strapped to him. With a groan he pushed himself up, sliding off the bed and onto his feet, rubbing his forehead.

He felt dazed. He could recall what he felt like when he had stumbled in here earlier in the morning, and it was odd how the symptoms had cleared up. He was feeling weak, but not shaky, and there was no pain in his body anymore. In fact, instead of pain he felt an odd sense of strength curled inside of him, which was a feeling he was quite familiar with.

Slipping the sheath off his back, he dumped everything on his bed before he stumbled to the bathroom. Flicking on the light and glancing at the mirror, his thoughts were silence by what he was greeted with. Bright, shining mako eyes stared back at him, looking quite shocked. Somehow they stood out far more then Cloud ever remembered them doing so. He looked young and naive, yet his eyes reflected a side of him that most definitely didn’t fit in. A side that had seen far too many things and held far too much knowledge to be a fifteen year old cadet.

His eyes strayed to the rest of his body, unsurprised at the amount of dirt that covered him. Something did catch his attention though; the sheen of glimmering sweat that coated his skin was too outlandish to be just sweat. Not sweat then, perhaps mako? He wasn’t sure how much had been absorbed into his body, but apparently it expelled the excess quite easily.

He was positive that The Planet and that voice was the reason he was still standing, certainly this body was not strong enough to handle all the stress on its own. Opening the bathroom drawers he found some medical supplies without too much difficulty. He quickly downed a high potion, and followed it with a tranquilizer to calm his nerves. To be safe he used one of the few remedies he had as well, not wanting to take any chances with a stray status ailment.

As the magic did his job, Cloud wandered back into the main room to locate his newly cleaned uniform. He was reminded that there was a special training event today, and judging by the clock he only had an hour before it went under way. This event was first in numerous screening missions, cadets who impressed enough people had a chance of being nominated for SOLDIER. Not to mention the challenge it offered, Cloud was itching to become reacquainted with First Sword.

Bringing the uniform back into the bathroom with him he hung it on the hook at the back of the bathroom door, arranging the towels. As he started the hot water for the shower, he frowned at the lack of planning he had to deal with a much bigger problem than his SOLDIER career.

As far as he remembered, the planets contamination itself had not been the problem. Research had been done on the planets self-defence mechanisms, what triggered them and how to pinpoint contamination in the lifestream. These documents had fallen into the wrong hands, and a small, bloodthirsty cult had brutally exposed it.

No doubt this research had been done by Shinra. Cloud smirked lightly to himself as he showered, scrubbing his body down with soap. It seemed that most of The Planets problems originated with Shinra. Dirt, mako, and dried blood ran down his body in rivulets as he washed, perhaps scrubbing a little too hard to remove all the traces of the past day as possible. Mentally and emotionally the events lingered, but physically was something he had control over.

If his plan was to destroy the research done by Shinra before it became a threat, then he would have to gain access to the information. Somehow, being a SOLDIER seemed to open a lot of doors to the inside of Shinra. It would probably be for the best that he listened to The Planet, and stay with the power company.

He shampooed his hair quickly, wiping suds out of his eyes and climbing out of the shower in record time. He towel dried quickly while brushing his teeth at the same time, finishing with trying to wring as much water out of his hair as possible.

The final result was a healthy looking fifteen year old boy that looked breathless and just a little tired. Other than his eyes, Cloud was confident that there was nothing odd about him.

Pulling on his uniform as he walked back into the main room, he started contemplating what he would take with him for training. Most of the cadets participating in this training exercise would have spent a good part of the day before stressing over this, which made Cloud thankful he knew what he was doing.

Opening his sheath’s pocket, he dragged out all its contents along with the pitiful medical supply he already had been provided with by Shinra. Dumping everything on the bed along with the materia in the pocket, he unsheathed First Sword carefully. As much as he longed to take it all with him, he knew he would be pushing his endurance to overburden himself.

He split apart the pieces, the short sword at the base, and the two blades along the sides were all lain out on the bed, leaving Cloud with only the base sword. Frowning he grabbed one of the side blades, unable to go with just one piece. Snapping them together he returned First Sword to its sheath, turning his attention to the rest.

He popped a package of hi-potions and ethers into the sheath pocket, a hyper, a tranquilizer, and his last two remedies just in case. Satisfied with that he turned to his materia, starting to sort through it for the first time.

He was happy to see it was his old materia, his summons and his most powerful magics all there. But it was far too advanced for any cadet to own. He was ready to grab everyone’s attention, but he was likely to be accused of being a thief if he showed up with anything too elaborate.

He settled on the basics, lightning, all, and restore. Snapping lightning and all together, he added restore into his armband as well, before he strapped it on.

Looking down he had left quite a mess on the bed, First Swords other two blades, scattered materia and potions lying everywhere. Running out of time he refused to clean it up, instead he grabbed a blanket and threw it all overtop hiding the mess from view. Content with that he headed for the door knowing he’d probably be a little late.

His hunger drew him to the cafeteria to grab a muffin and a protein drink, taking it with him as he ran through the halls to get to the Shinra loading dock. By the time he got there most of the cadets were already loaded into the trucks or in the process of getting on, making Cloud curse quietly.

“Strife, you’re late!” His commanding officer shouted when he caught sight of Cloud, waving him over.

“Sorry I’m late sir, I was held up by someone.”

The man grunted unhappily. “There are no more spots left.” When he saw Cloud’s disappointed expression he grumbled, flipping through the papers pinned to his clipboard. “I guess there’s a spot in Group A, but you aren’t supposed to be there. Get in before I change my mind.” The man said, pointing to the truck.

“Thank you sir, I won’t let you down.” Cloud promised before he ran towards the truck.

Group A would be reserved for cadets who showed the most potential, and Cloud knew that he was definitely not an outstanding student by any far stretch, though he was intent to change that now. Pure luck had given him this opportunity and he wasn’t going to blow it.

Without any hesitation Cloud climbed into the back of the transport truck, shifting his sheath to the side and sitting down at the end of the bench. Three other cadets were seated in the truck. The black uniform signified a first class SOLDIER that Cloud didn’t recognize, and the light blue uniform of third class belonged to...

Cloud sent a quiet thanks to The Planet when he realized that it was Zack sitting next to the first class at the head of the truck, talking politely to one of the cadets. This type of exceptional luck didn’t come naturally; The Planet must have been looking out for him.

“This is awesome that we got to work together.” Zack was saying happily to the SOLDIER next to him. “It’s been forever since I remember doing any missions together.”

“That’s because you’re only third class.” The man said matter-o-factly. “Training recruits is one of the few things where all ranking SOLDIER’s help out.”

“Yeah, well. I bet that they don’t bug Sephiroth to babysit cadets.”

The man shrugged. “I don’t mind, this is how we met, after all.”

Cloud found himself hanging on every word despite the fact he was looking the other way. Zack looked different than Cloud remembered, younger, perhaps even more energetic then he had been then, his hair a little messier if that was somehow possible. The first class beside him was completely different. Instead of the boyish nativity that Zack radiated, this man seemed to have it together, calm and mature. He looked older then all of them, somewhere in his mid-twenties with sleek black hair that fell to his shoulders and a little bit of stubble on his chin. Cloud couldn’t place him anywhere in his memories, which he didn’t consider too odd as Zack had been his only real contact within SOLDIER.

“The pickings sure are slim this time around huh? Not many made it into Group A.” Zack said, motioning to the cadets. “You guys must have worked hard to be here.”

One of the cadets, an older boy with short red hair smirked. “Only three of us, sir. He wasn’t selected for this group.” This was said with a leer in Cloud’s direction. Meeting the redheads gaze, Cloud gave him a glare that caused the boy to choke on the snicker that caught in his throat.

“Huh?” Zack asked, totally missing the silent exchange. “You’re not Group A?”

“I was late.” Cloud said quietly, well aware that everyone’s attention was on him all of a sudden. “This was the only spot left.”

After a short silence, the first class waved a hand in dismissal. “Well, don’t fall behind.” Cloud nodded, deciding he’d be able to prove himself well enough later. He knew he didn’t look very promising, it would be a waste of breath to try to convince anyone with mere words instead of action.

Intense blue eyes were still focused entirely on him though, Zack’s attention still fixed. When Cloud looked up, Zack smiled brightly, something Cloud did his best to return. Zack’s eyes then flickered away from Cloud’s for a moment, and Cloud realized belatedly that he was looking at First Sword.

“Hey, that’s a pretty fancy blade you got there.” Zack said, pointing. And once again, all eyes were on him, or more importantly, the sword that was a little awkward to explain away. Most cadets still used night sticks or practice swords that were divvied out amongst new recruits. If a cadet wished to use a different weapon provided by Shinra they had to receive training for it first, and there was nothing like First Sword provided by Shinra.

The remarkable blade eve seemed to have caught the first classes attention.

“Do you even know how to use that thing?” The man inquired flatly.

“Hey, that’s rude!” Zack chastised with an elbow to the man’s arm. Cloud was silently thankful that Zack seemed just as protective of the little people as ever. “Of course he knows how to use it, he wouldn’t be carrying it if he didn’t.” Cloud nodded his agreement.

“It’s bigger than he is.” The second cadet that said this was a boy with black hair with a white streak down the middle, reminding Cloud instantly of a skunk. That didn’t stop him from glaring the boy into silence. His eerie eyes seemed to be quite effective at shutting people up.

“Enough, let’s get down to business.” The first classes commanding voice also seemed to be good at silencing everyone. “I am Angeal, first class SOLDIER, and this is Zack, third class. Today we are to be your instructors for this training exercise.” He stopped to pull out a folder with the mission details, yet continued to hold everyone’s attention, including Zacks.

“This was to be regular simulated training, however a mission popped up and it was decided that it would be used as cadet training. This will be the first real battle for you, but rest assured that there will be enough SOLDIER around to succeed wherever you fail.

Zack looked unnecessarily proud as he continued where Angeal had left off, going through a short speech that seemed to be rehearsed. “A small cave was located outside of Midgar, containing a vein of peculiarly strong mako. A research team went down to investigate, but it was infested with strong monsters that drove them out. Our mission is to clear the monsters and obtain a sample of the mako, perhaps even materia inside the cave, and bring it back to headquarters. You will be graded on your performance.”

Zack took a deep breath, and Cloud almost smirked at how pleased the SOLDIER seemed to have not stuttered once. Zack may have been SOLDIER, but he was so innocently open he looked very much like a boy instead of a man.

Angeal pulled out a few copies of a map, passing a copy to each of the cadets. “Group A is in charge of the areas marked in red. Group B through D will be clearing the zones that the research department mapped out, removing monsters and setting up stations. Our group will be venturing further into the cave, where the research group was driven out. We will follow the mako vein to its source, and map out the area as we go. Any questions?”

The third cadet, a lanky, ordinary looking boy with cropped brown hair raised his hand. “So uh, what if there is a big monster deep inside or something?”

“Then it will be your mission to remove it.” Angeal said easily, shaking his head slightly when the cadet paled at the thought. “There is a reason why two SOLDIER have been dispatched at your side.”

“Yes sir!” The cadet said hastily, obviously comforted by the fact that there would be someone capable tagging along. There were, after all only four cadets, and one wasn’t even properly qualified for the mission assigned.

Cloud looked down at his copy of the map, glancing at it from different angles. He didn’t remember this cave, so there couldn’t have been anything too important inside. This narrowed it down to being just a simple mission that would go as planned. Pleased, he leaned back and relaxed.

The rest of the ride was uneventful; Zack and Angeal seemed content to talk to each other, though Zack sometimes made an effort to include the cadets in it as well. But the three young men were concentrating on preparing for their missions. Angeal made Cloud feel uneasy, so he decided not to draw any more attention to himself and stayed quiet as well.

When they arrived at the drop off zone, the driver threw the doors to the back open, releasing them out into the sun. They were far enough out from Midgar that grass sprouted up from the ground, something Cloud hadn’t remembered seeing in quite a long time. Hopping out of the truck he rolled his shoulders and adjusted his sheath to let it ride more comfortably on his back. He was still not used to the smaller size of his body.

He turned around to see Angeal and Zack stepping out of the truck and suddenly the first classes doubt of his ability to use First Sword was explained. On his back was the Buster Sword. Cloud immediately recognized it as the one he had used for most of his life, the sword that he had inherited from Zack. Zack was still only wearing a regulation Shinra hand out on his back, which meant...

Cloud sighed and turned to the rest of the cadets, realizing his history had just gotten a tad more complicated.

“So guys, what are your names? We aren’t even properly introduced yet!” Zack said with enthusiasm, leading the two cadets as they wandered deep into the cave.

Early in their adventuring they had come to a fork in the path. Due to time constraints Angeal had split them into two teams, and Cloud had been quite pleased when he was assigned to Zack’s team.

“I’m Ivan.”

The quiet, third cadet had been assigned to their group as well. He showed great potential with magic, standing behind Zack and Cloud as they beat the monsters down, firing off deadly magic attacks. Between the three of them nothing lasted for more than a few seconds.

There had been some raised eyebrows and snickers when Cloud had first drawn his sword for battle, but after he sliced down multiple monsters before the other three cadets had finished with theirs, he had made it clear he wouldn’t just be tagging along.

“Nice to meat you Ivan!” Zack said, before he glanced to Cloud. The blond was just about to speak, when a darkly coloured bat dropped from the ceiling of the cave on to Cloud’s shoulder. Cloud was a little high strung, he would admit. Jumping in surprise he had casted a lightning spell on the unlucky creature before he even registered what it was. The brisk execution of the harmless monster earned him an odd look from both Zack and Ivan.

“I uh, don’t like bats.” He offered sheepishly, which earned him a laugh from Zack. “And my name is Cloud.”

“Cloud? That’s a nice name.” Zack said with a heartfelt smile. Cloud had regained many more memories of Zack, of how protective and honourable he was. But somewhere along the lines, Cloud had forgotten what it was like to have someone be nice to him. Zack’s smile left him with a warm feeling that had otherwise been lost in translation.

“That was a pretty powerful spell for an impulse cast.” Ivan said quietly, drawing Zack’s attention back to what had happened.

“Hey, yeah.” Zack said, examining Cloud for a moment. “That was at least bolt2, how strong is our materia?”

When Cloud hesitated, Zack grinned and snatched up Cloud’s wrist, examining the materia set into his arm band.

“Wow, this stuff is mastered.” The brunet said with unabashed envy. “I just got cure2 a couple days ago and you’ve already got these mastered! Where’d you get stuff this powerful?”

Cloud had made a point to pick the most basic materia, but he had forgotten the minor problem that all the materia he had to choose from was mastered.

“It was passed down to me.” Cloud said quietly, the most valid reason he could think of, and it was technically true. “I didn’t have to train it much.”

“And I bet your sword was given to you as well?” Ivan muttered, sighing when Cloud nodded. “If I could afford to get equipment like that I would be breezing through this too.”

Cloud was about to say something his defence, but Zack cut in. “Nah, it takes a lot of training to use mastered spells and elite weapons. I’ll be damned if the big spells don’t drain everything I got, and weapons take a lot of skill and practice to use.”

“He should have been in Group A to begin with.” Ivan said sulkily. “It would be far less embarrassing.”

Zack chuckled, but whipped around when he heard a growling from behind him. The three of them fell into battle stances as a wolf that seemed to blend with the shadows prowled towards them, bearing fearsome teeth and glowing red eyes. The three of them tore through it easily enough, the beast falling quickly to their combined assault.

“Haven’t seen one of those before.” Zack commented, and Cloud hummed his agreement.

They continued deeper into the cave, but every encounter after that seemed to get more and more difficult. The oddly shaped wolves where everywhere, becoming more powerful the further in they went. Cloud decided they were nearing the source of these monsters’ power, probably the massive amounts of mako deep in this cave were mutating them and making them stronger.

Cloud’s damage was very effective thanks to First Sword, but despite its newest enhancements his body was still not used to the abuse that it was taking from the fearsome wolves. He couldn’t take much abuse without having to reach for a potion or cast cure.

They reached the end of a particularly cramped tunnel, suddenly spat out in a small cavern. They walked towards the middle of it, where mako had made the ground itself shimmer, but as they drew closer to the center they started to hear the scratching of claws against stone.

Wolves started to collect at the caverns entrance, seeming to appear right out of the shadows from every direction. When the large amount of wolves started their assault, the three of them started hacking through, beating them back. But for every wolf they killed, another one seemed to pop up.

Cloud’s body was pushed hard as he faced four of the wolves himself, reaching for yet another hi-potion as he hacked through them. There were at least a dozen wolves running around them, driving them together and dodging attacks as they snapped and clawed at the three young men.

They suddenly broke out into a howl when a much larger, much meaner looking monster came forth from the shadows, obviously the alpha of this damned pack of wolves.

“I’m out of ethers.” Ivan said unhappily as he swallowed the last one of his stash. He was draining his mana constantly firing off spells trying to keep the monsters at bay. Cloud paused after beheading a wolf that had been a little slow at dodging his sword, studying the cadet. Ivan was effective with magic, and it would reflect well in his grades. However without his spells he’d be reduced to beating melee on the wolves, which obviously wasn’t his forte. Nobody had expected to encounter this many beasts at once, so Ivan’s lack of preparation should not allow his grade to suffer so horribly.

It helped that Ivan hadn’t mouthed off at him, either.

Reaching into his sheath’s pocket Cloud broke off half his pack of ethers, handing them to the other cadet.

“Wow, thanks man.” Ivan whispered, quickly pocketing them.

Zack was studying the scene, deciding their course of action. “I’ll try to distract to distract the big one while you guys clear off these grunts, okay?” As he spoke, the alpha howled and more wolves materialized from the shadows around it, causing the SOLDIER to curse. Nothing like a monster with the ability to summon more of its kind.

Frowning, Zack shook his head. “Uh...Maybe we should call for backup then.” He reached for the radio attached to his belt, but Cloud cut him off.

It would look horrible on their scores, and cast Zack in a bad light if they had to call in backup for a simple assignment. Cloud fumbled for the release on First Sword, sliding the separated blade into his other hand. “Just go for the alpha, it’s the one spawning all these monsters anyways so if we kill it then we’re home free.”

Before anyone could argue, Cloud had picked his target. The all materia that he had junctioned flared to life as he cast. Ivan had been shocked at the medium grade magic cast at a single target, but his eyes had widened the size of saucers when Cloud’s bolt3 struck every wolf in the large group.

A simultaneous yelp, followed by the reek of burnt fur and meat sounded as the wolves all died from the fatal shock. Perhaps a bolt2 would have sufficed...

“Well, that plan works too!” Zack said enthusiastically as he jumped into action, charging for the boss. The alpha howled to summon a helper, but the freshly spawned wolf was dispatched almost instantly by a fire spell from Ivan. Angry the beast snarled and attacked, but Zack and Cloud were both on it with drawn swords by that time.

Zack was taking most of the hits, enraging the beast enough with his sharp attacks that most of its attention was on him. Ivan casted repeated heal spells when the SOLDIER needed it, and Cloud put everything he had into beating down the boss.

With First Sword split he wasn’t hitting as hard, but his attack speed had doubled with a blade in either hand. Being beat down fast, the wolf seemed to become more and more frustrated, the barrage of magic from the cadet that was out of reach only seeming to anger it more.

Snarling it suddenly switched targets, attacking Cloud fiercely and causing the blond to yelp as sharp teeth tore into his gut. He cast a cure3 quickly as the monster recharged for a second attack, stemming the blood flow substantially. The wolf was ready to attack again, but Cloud was prepared for it. Meeting it half way, the blond drew on his limit break, charging with omnislash but a breath away.

The impossibly fast barrage of attacks halted the monsters attack and drove it back into the ground, and when Cloud finally collapsed in an exhausted pile, there wasn’t much of the beast left. Spluttering an angry howl it tried to make a clumsy retreat, but Ivan caught it with an ice spell that finished the creature off.

Panting Cloud drew himself from his crouched position, casting another cure3 to seal off the last of his wound. He was shaking slightly, but when Zack examined him everything seemed to be in order. “Well, that worked out well.” Zack said, patting Cloud on the shoulder and giving Ivan a thumbs up, which the cadet returned after swallowing another ether.

Zack reached for his radio again, but this time there was a blissful look on his face as he did so. “Hey, Angeal. We cleared the source of the monsters on our end. How are you guys doing?”

Angeal’s voice fed back through the radio, loud enough that they could all hear. “Nothing exciting. We’ve located the mako’s source, and secured a materia sample to bring back to headquarters. Mission successful, head back to the entrance.”

Ivan looked gleeful at that, a successful mission like this would look outstanding on his record, things were looking up.

“That was awesome!” Zack said triumphantly as he bounded towards the entrance. “You guys did great!”

Ivan made a note to smile at Cloud as well. “The others were wrong about you, Cloud. You’re really something.” He said with a respectful tone. The praise made Cloud uncomfortable for some reason, so he only nodded, looking away from the boy’s honest expression as he muttered out a “Thanks.”

There were no other incidents as they walked back to the entrance. Zack and Ivan walked side by side, talking cheerfully about nothing in particular as Cloud brought up the rear, trailing behind. His body wasn’t used to the exertion, especially not after such a tiring night. Frustrated with his weakness he knew he had a lot of training ahead of him, yet he was somewhat satisfied that he had managed to make it through the entire mission despite it all.

When they reached the surface, everyone else was already there waiting. Groups of wide-eyed cadets talked amongst themselves, excitedly babbling about their first mission. There was a slight commotion near the Group A truck that caught Cloud’s eye, though.

The first smartass cadet from the truck was laid out on a stretcher, a medic wrapping his leg in a splint while it seemed his head had already received similar treatment, judging from the bandages.

“Woah, what happened?” Zack exclaimed as he got close, seeing Angeal standing next to the cadet with a grim look on his face. “You said there hadn’t been any problems!”

Angeal growled. “There hadn’t been.” The annoyance was clear in his voice and the cadet on the stretcher winced. “Until the kid decided to show off with a quake spell. I’ll be damned if it didn’t cause a small cave in right on top of us. I threw up barrier but the stupid...” He trailed off with a sigh. “How did your show offs fair?”

Zack grinned, punching the air energetically. “Not a problem! Both these guys show a shitload of potential.”

Angeal nodded, glancing back to the cadet on the stretcher as he was carried away by the medics, his skunk-haired friend trailing behind with a concerned expression. After a pause his attention drew back to Cloud. “So I suppose there’s more to him than meets the eye.” He said flatly.

The blond didn’t falter, despite the fact that he wanted to shrug off those prying eyes and ease away from the scene. Zack grinned as he turned to face Cloud, reaching out and ruffling the blond’s hair good naturedly. “Awh, but that wouldn’t take much.” Cloud was ready to protest when Zack continued. “He’ll bulk up, just you wait. I got a good feeling about this one!” Unsure of how to react, Cloud remained silent.

“I guess we’ll see.” Angeal said with a light grin and Zack’s behaviour, turning to the truck. “Alright then, let’s get these kids home.”

“Hey Spike, wake up we’re back at Shinra, sleepyhead.” Cloud snapped to attention, blushing slightly when he realized that he had dozed off on the ride back. It was only Ivan and Cloud that rode back with the two SOLDIER, as the two other cadets had been taken back in the medics truck. The other three seemed to be content speaking with each other and somewhere along the lines Cloud had leaned back and relaxed, perhaps a little too much.

Zack was hovering over him, waiting for him to get out of the truck. Cloud stood hastily, sliding out of the back easily. Zack seemed to have boundless energy, hopping down and rolling his shoulders easily. Angeal had already run off for something that seemed official, and Ivan had gone to celebrate. “Was just resting a bit.”

“Ha, you slept in, didn’t you?” Zack’s grin softened the playful accusation. “That’s why you were late! But don’t worry, I would have never woken up if Angeal hadn’t dragged me out of bed.”

Cloud shook his head, finding himself smiling lightly anyways. “No, I just didn’t sleep very well last night.” Zack’s curiosity seemed peaked so Cloud continued. “I think I had a bit of a bug yesterday, I wasn’t feeling very good.”

Shrugging it off, Cloud started walking towards the loading bay’s exit. “I heard something was going around, thought you looked a little pale but you’re pretty damn fair to begin with I think.” Cloud nodded lightly in agreement, deciding he’d rather not list the symptoms of mako poisoning that he had experienced.

“So uh, Cloud. Want to go out for drinks?” Zack inquired out of the blue, which made the blond pause.

“Eh?”

“Drinks! And maybe some food too, I’m starving and I hate eating alone.” Cloud tilted his head.

“What kind of drinks?” The question itself just seemed so odd.

Zack stopped his light swaying, seeming to be thinking very hard on his answer. “You know, I never thought about it. Nobody’s ever said yes when I ask.” It wasn’t the idea of going out to eat with him, but the odd way he sometimes phrased his invites that made people raise an eyebrow.

Cloud shook his head, not quite sure what to think. “You’re buying.” He muttered, but that didn’t seem to faze Zack at all.

“Kay then, let’s go get those drinks.”

AN: Originally Zack was just going to ask Cloud out for lunch, but my beta pointed out the similarity to what a vent-friend of ours would always say. Whenever he met ANYONE new, the first thing he'd tell them would be "So, you want to go out for drinks?" When someone finally said yes, and asked what drinks, he didn't have a clue. XD Nobody had ever said yes so he never had to think about it. I just couldn't resist. X3; Anyways.

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