Burning Castle

Burning Castle

Rated R: language, violence, may vary from chapter

Last Time


To Cloud it looked like there were four different computers; including the larger one and they all seemed to be connected. Picking up his hand lazily, Cloud turned to Naruto, who was still messing with some of the clear colored beakers. He was going to warn Naruto to not break anything when he dropped his hand on the system board computer on accident losing his footing. Cursing Cloud whipped around frantically but nothing seemed to have changed. Breathing out loud he smiled towards Naruto, “Don’t drop that...”

However a high pitched sound started to go off cutting into Clouds statement, along with flashing red and orange lights. Jumping back as far away from the computer as he could while Naruto who had been holding said glass breaker until it fell from his hand in fright started to yell and curse out loud. Slapping his hands over his ears and glaring at Cloud as he flipped the blonde off. Which looked ridiculous to Cloud since Naruto’s hands were by his ears. Kyo had also been frightened now and had his hair standing on end, slightly snarling at nothing in particular and jumping all around like a jack rabbit. “God dammit Cloud. What did you do.” Naruto shouted over the noise, heading for the metal door. Cloud narrowed his eyes right back at Naruto. “It was all your fault in the first place. Let’s go down and have some fun.” Cloud mimicked Naruto flying his hands about. At the same time trying to get to the metal door and away from the high pitched sound.

Giving the evil eye to Cloud, Naruto reached towards the door trying to open it. Frowning, he was trying to figure out who had shut it closed in the first place. ‘It was probably Cloud’. Naruto thought. That or they were screwed.

Now
Training and Inventing


Suddenly the alarms went dead along with the flashing lights. Puzzled the pair turned to each other. Shrugging Cloud tried the door again to see if it was still stuck, which it was. Naruto huffing, glared at the door like it had offended him before he started to walk around the room some more, maybe there was another way out. Running a frustrated hand through his hair Naruto came across some more glass tubes and tables littered with open books. “Way to go Strife now we are stuck here for who knows when.” Naruto snapped not liking the closed in space one bit. He saw Kyo out of the corner of his eye walking around, occasionally jumping on a crate or table sniffing around.

“Shut up this was all your fault, if you had not pushed...” Cloud was saying, but Naruto opted to ignore the blonde for right now. He had better things to do like, what the hell was this for instance. Cloud turned towards the idiot only to see him staring off to the right. Growling he looked at the computer that was the cause of this in the first place, demanding it to fall apart or burn in front his eyes. Sighing, he walked over to Naruto and Kyo to see what was so special that they just had to look at it. After seeing it he did have to admit it was definitely unique.

Right in front of all three of them was four to five large glass like tubes; each reaching easily six feet. The width also looked pretty large all around. In the back of the glass like tubes, there were large black and grey machines with small thin wires and plastic hoses that went into the glass tubes themselves.

At the bottom one could see grates in the glass bottom, like it could fill up with liquid and or drain it. Last but not least they could see latches or something that could possibly open the tubes themselves. Not liking this one bit Cloud and Naruto turned as one and started to search harder for a way out. The more they actually started to look at this place the more it started to become a lab for experimenting. Naruto frowned even deeper when he saw some needles and other books left out for note taking like the person or persons were not going to be gone very long. He knew they both needed to find a way out of this room. That or wait until someone found them, they were after all supposed to leave for Midgar soon. Hearing a thud Naruto turned fast on his heel only to witness Cloud trip and fall over. Naruto just stared at his spiky friend trying to comprehend what has just happened. Failing miserably, Naruto pointed at the blonde laughing, he just couldn’t help it, but he stopped soon after. When he realized he was getting light headed.

Shaking his head Naruto blinked repeatedly looking over at Cloud only to see him do the same. They both stared at each other in spoken agreement and raced towards the metal door, ignoring how the room seemed to spin by itself and the little black dots that were blinking in and out of their vision. “Open up.” They both shouted.

Panicking now that they were in real danger, they both tugged the door willing it to open. “Don’t breath in.” Cloud said weakly. Naruto would have retorted if not for him having a dizzy spell and falling onto the ground. He felt weak and it was staring to hurt his chest when he breathed, he couldn’t even move anymore. Blinking as the darkness closed in all around him, Naruto could only wish that he was anywhere but here. Distantly he heard another thud on the cement floor wondering ideally where Kyo and Cloud were before blacking out.

The first thing Naruto came to be aware of was the noise. It was a dull hum that seemed to echo all throughout his muddled brain. The second thing that he noticed was wetness, it was pretty strange in itself. But he felt like he was surrounded in water or something. He could even distinctly feel small movement and feel bubbles move upward throughout his limbs. He felt weighed down, and was not able to open his eyes to try and look around. All he felt was wetness and fatigued. He didn’t even think he could move an inch. Distantly the blonde heard muttered words and a flash of light before all went dark once again.

Midgar was the, ‘City of Dreams’ some would say, the shining beacon throughout the Wuti war. Where thousands of people would go to make a new life, a new chance. Some wanted to just visit the city itself and see all the sectors above the plate. While others had wanted to start a new life and make a living in the large city, to get a good education and money. While still yet others wanted to go for the soul purpose of joining Midgar’s extensive military ShinRa. The training facility was actually right in the heart of Midgar itself, where people could look upon the majestic buildings and be proud of their very own military.

ShinRa of course had other responsibilities to the people, to provide energy that the planet itself gave to them. In the compound military, there were over twenty buildings all stacked in a line and in some semblance of order around one huge building, the HQ of ShinRa. Where the most important politicians, scientists, and working personal were working around the clock to make peoples’ lives even easier. Around the huge steel HQ building of about seventy floors, were smaller building.

Mostly training facilities and the school of Midgar education. Further to the right and a little away’s was the barracks, were young men and women would live for a period of time while they went through the training and education to become apart of the military. On the other side of the barracks was yet another building, this one seemed to stand alone all by itself. It even had it’s own buildings all surrounding it because of the different branches of the military, the elite training Soldier facility. Any person could get into the military but they would have to take rigorous tests in this building to even attempt to qualify into the Soldier training.

Then surrounding all the military facilities were apartments for the higher up’s and the rich to live there. A big bulky gray reactor right along the outskirts of the huge place to provide high voltage power for the military and there apartments. In the distance passes the training fields and the smaller white, blue and red homes a small beat up truck was slowly making it’s way across the landscape, it’s tarnished red color could be seen for over a mile. Through the landscape of nothing but some trees scattered here and there bushes could be seen everywhere along with outcropped rocks in all shape and form. The sun up high was beating ruthlessly down on the small truck as it kept going forward on a dusty dirt road. Just up ahead a person could see shining lights start to focus into view and soon they could be able to tell tall grey and white buildings up ahead of the road. The road itself was also starting to get less bumpy and before long it was a dark gray paved road leading up to large majestic iron gates, welcoming weary travels into the city Midgar.

People could be seen walking around and small stands that had started to show up beside the road selling various items, they could also see smoke billowing up towards the blue sky in some areas. Making the sun seem less harsh as the smoke drifts lazily across the sky. A large man that was driving the small red truck smiled at the sight before his eyes. Sighing softly he reached out a big hand and shook awake his smaller companion. Crystal blue eyes opened before a loud yawn pushed them closed again. Sitting up straight the spiky blonde youth scratched at his head before looking straight out through the window shield. There before his eyes was his soul destination. Midgar.

Smiling and feeling well rested the youth turned to the truck driver. “Hey thank’s for dropping me off here.” he said. The man turned his head a little, brown hair swaying a little from side to side, with bright green eyes he commented. “Don’t worry you said you needed a ride to Midgar and I just happened to be going there anyway Cloud.” He finished. Cloud just nodded his head too exited to talk. He was finally here, finally he was going to become a Soldier and prove to the villagers in Nibelhiem that he could do it and was not a wuse. As long as he could remember he was always being ridiculed for his stature or for being an outcast. His mom and Tifa were the only one’s to see him off as he remembered correctly.

But he was getting a feeling like he had forgotten something important to him, he just couldn’t remember. Nothing was really important anymore not after the accident. Shrugging his shoulders lightly, Cloud looked out the window to see homes and small businesses all clustered together. Trees and rose gardens were also scattered here and there throughout the buildings, making it a healthier and beautiful area.

Kids running around on there boards, causing trouble. He could also see people walking all around the streets, some talking while others just going to their destinations. This was the upper plate where everything was manicured and in order. Feeling a light bump on his left shoulder Cloud turned towards the man only to see troops marching to the left and giant billboards of the great Sephiroth. Yes he had finally made it to Midgar and was now heading towards the check in station at the military complex. Stopping finally the truck driver gave Cloud a few pointers, like where to go and not to and to watch out for himself. Cloud just nodded barley hearing what the man was saying.

Instead he got out and grabbed his stuff eyeing the long line for trainees wanting to get in. Clutching the paperwork his mom had given him a little over a year ago, Cloud swung his bag on his shoulder and headed towards the line, somewhat wishing that he had a friend from Nibelhiem to accompany him, but he quickly dismissed the idea. It had taken over an hour for the line to dwindle before it was finally his turn.

He had stayed quiet most of the wait opting to look around his surroundings and the other people. “Step up.” A lady ordered already reaching for the paperwork, which Cloud gladly gave. She looked it over while Cloud actually started to notice something about her. She was a Third Class, with the blue uniform and a white stripe on the sleeve, which meant she was about mid way through the ranking system. She had short brownish red hair and hazel cat like eyes. She was easy on the eyes, Cloud was snapped out of his thoughts when the woman handed him back his paperwork.

Sighing the woman gestured with her slight hand, “You go to the left and follow everyone else, then go to the right into building 4H to take your physical.” She said curtly, wanting to get the next person who was in line up next. Cloud gratefully nodded his head and walked towards the building, following some other soon to be cadets for their own physical. When he entered the small white building he saw that it was a standard hospital room. It had three rooms along side the small corridors and about eight white beds as he could see. Cloud could also see some pictures of mountains or of the ocean along the white walls. He stopped behind a young man and waited until it was his turn to be examined.

They had been given a little privacy from the outsiders with a screen that stood in the middle of the room. When it was his turn, he got to see the other side of the screen just like everyone else. There were two chairs a small white bed and a table filled with notes and papers. Two people were there waiting, a nurse and the Dr. Cloud stepped in and sat down on the bed while, the nurse was getting him ready. Cloud chanced a look at the Dr. Noting that he was practically bold and had large glasses on.

He was wearing the standard white coat of a Dr. And had a needle in his left hand. “Ok Mr. Strife, why don’t you roll up your sleeve and let me get some of your blood.” He said professionally. Cloud obeyed trying not to think about the needle intruding his body. Smiling the Dr. ‘Carter’ as the name tag said put the needle through a computer sample by the corner. It only took a few moments and before long, Cloud could see at least two pages of paper printed out.

Looking over the pages Cloud could do nothing but wait. If he passed and was deemed physically fit with no disease or anything, then he could get into the military, from there he would have a little tougher time going into Soldier but he could do it. If he passed he was going to head right over there and request to be signed up for it.

Lucky he had the money or he wouldn’t have even made it past here. “It looks like you’re a healthy fit young man.” Dr. Carter commented giving him the green card to move forward. Standing up and grabbing his things Cloud headed out the building already in high spirits. Next stop would be the Solider building.

When the blonde finally got to the Solider training grounds, he noticed that the building in itself was huge, that and he could see a lengthy line that started from the entrance. Sighing and grumbling about stupid lines, he walked over to it and prepared to wait yet again.

“Hey so you want to try Solider training to.” Someone said, to Clouds left. Raising his head a little Cloud was met with brown eyes and dark spiky brown hair. He just nodded not really up to talking right now since he was a little agitated from all this waiting. “Oh that’s cool, I’m going to try it too as you can see a lot of other people want to be in it. I had also heard that Zack would sometimes help out a little and that the great Sehpiroth would come once in a while over looking the cadets.” The brown haired youth kept talking, believing that Cloud was listening.

“I heard their tests are hard and that the regular military would be a better choice in the percentage department, but I want to see if I can hack with this program.” He kept talking, while Cloud would ever so nod his head once in awhile. Then came their turn and signed up for the program, that was the last time Cloud had seen the brown haired youth. It had turned out that Lann, his name was, couldn’t even hack with the regime of the Soldier program. Cloud couldn’t have blamed him, he too thought the first week was hard, with all the running they did. They were always running it seemed, and the early waking hours and the sleepless nights in the barracks. It was a personal hell.

Cloud personally hated the barracks since there was no privacy to be had, they all slept with four to five other cadets and there was only one bathroom per room, not including the outdoor bathing rooms. He also hated the greys and whites of the buildings, there was no personal touch to them, it just looked like a big blob after looking at it for so long. The floors were always white and clean along with the white doors leading into yet another white classroom. Another thing that he hated was the tests, the written parts were a breeze to him and he would usually be the first out after he had finished said tests. No what he hated was the physical tests where the Stg. would make them run up hills or swim in lakes until all their body parts had become numb hours ago.

Cloud had also found, to his surprise, that he missed home a little. He didn’t miss the villagers but he did miss his room and his mom, maybe even Tifa a little. He would often stay up late in his little hard bed wondering what they were doing. Did they miss him as he had missed them? Did that accident have to occur, was the main topic for the spiky blonde on many nights where he could not sleep. He would often think about his dead friend and what could have happened. But as soon as he would try and picture his friends face it would come up blank in his mind and his thoughts would literary scatter until he would think about something else.

Now the actual classes for Cloud were fun because he could learn about other weapons and how to use them. He still liked his sword but he didn’t mind experimenting at all. The only down side of this was that the cadets couldn’t use materia until they had graduated from the program. The teachers themselves weren’t that bad, sure they were hard asses and would push and shove but they were good teachers and they shaped you up in no time. The program was only six months so the Sgt’s and staff had to really push a cadet into becoming a Solider but that was only step one. Cloud had found out that there was actually two parts to the program.

The first was the six months where they started the cadets off with basic training and getting them into shape, basically weeding out the ‘weak links’ as some had called it. The second part was where the cadets would really start to learn, they would also be moved from their current barracks into nicer building with only two to three people sleeping in each room, and have two bathrooms located in each room. The second part of the program the cadets could use materia right after they had been subjected to mako, the life energy source, by the local scientists. They could also start learning hard core battle simulations from the computer and fight higher up’s.

The second part took another twelve months, so Cloud was looking at staying in Midgar for awhile, maybe even more if he didn’t pass the program. But that was not the cherry on the topping, no he found out that when he passed the second part he would have to go into a more elite training system to become the bottom rank in Solider and then gradually move up. Right now Cloud had been there for about five months, nothing had happened either in those months. He had gotten the occasional letter from his mom telling him about her going ons. He had made some friends but didn’t stick with them that much, like everyone else in the building they never knew when they could break down and leave like so many before them. There was also the occasional bulling because Cloud was a little short for his age, but he taught them in sparring training that he could and would kick their asses if they messed with him. That’s why right now the blonde was currently scrubbing the marble hallways, because he had gotten into a fight. Sighing Cloud stopped for a moment to wipe some sweat from his brow frowning. It really was a stupid fight he didn’t deserve to get punished. It had started off as any normal day at the T3 barracks, Cloud had wakened up late as usual, and being the last person up also meant that he had to wait in line to use the bathroom. His roommate John Marky was just ahead of Cloud talking up a storm like every single day.

“Hey did you here today we have Sgt Mcane today for defense.” He said aloud to no one in particular. “Oh shit, that guys an hard ass and a stickler for rules.” Jack said just coming out of the now steaming bathroom.

Cloud had also heard everyone else muttering about this Mcane. Well it looked like the day would be interesting after all. After the daily routine of washing up, Cloud had headed off to the cafeteria before class had to start. The cafeteria building itself was small and snuggled right in between two training sites so the regular military also had use of it.

The building like everything else around the grounds was colored grey but the inside was completely different from the usual white walls. The walls were filled with reds, oranges, and blues and they had no order to them.

The ceiling itself had a large bird resembling a dragon monster picture, while the marble floor had a picture of a forest with trees and grass included. The tables were also in disorder, making everyone sit where ever and the chairs were actually wooden benches. The food as well was unique, always from a different continent in the world. After the hectic bustle in line and getting his strange food, which resembled a steak but tasted like roast chicken. Cloud ate fast only having about ten minutes.

He then practically ran for his next class because his building the, ‘Old Goat 9' was half way across from where he currently was. Reaching room seven right on time like usual Cloud slowed and walked in quietly, greeting some peers, before he went to his little spot in the room. Waiting yet again Cloud looked around seeing some people also lined up in their spot already standing attention, while Cloud just sort of hunched there looking dead tired. Trying not to yawn he only had to wait a minute before the instructor for the day had arrived. He marched up through the rows of cadets like he owned them until he reached the front, back straight and eyes glaring across the room in general. In the back of him was a huge mirror that captured everything in the room.

“Listen up ladies, today we are going to spar in a one on one match. I want you to use everything we have taught you thus far and if I don’t like what I see, you are out of here UNDERSTOOD.” He shouted out loud.

‘Yes sir,’ echoed back throughout the whole room, while Cloud internally snorted. So this was the guy Mclane, he acted like all the other instructors. What was so special about him, Cloud mused a little puzzled.

It turned out that the instructor was also participating and had beat everyone up in the room thus far. Cloud after he had defeated his first fight with a sweep of the foot stood in line for his next fight. He only had to wait another five minutes because everyone was getting their ass kicked by Mclane. Cloud faced his new challenge, a medium built man in his mid twenties. He had long black hair pulled up with sharp dark eyes that were drilling holes into Cloud. His name was Jing, and he apparently didn’t like Cloud all that much, well the guy hated everyone really, since the bastard would actually go out of his way just to pester the blonde. Some would say he was just a bully but even this guy was a little excessive like he was trying to prove that he could beat everyone.

At the start Cloud had jumped into his defensive stance in his black and white uniform, while Jing all but charged at the blonde. Cloud side stepped and spun trying to hit Jing in the lower back but Jing jumped back and away before he charged again. Cloud came in with a kick and they both slammed their shins into each other, then Cloud came back with a three punch combo but Jing blocked while he had also tried to hit Cloud with his fist. After blocking and kicking for thirty more seconds non stop they both skipped back a ways breathing hard. Cloud knew that even though Jing was an asshole he was strong asshole.

Breathing a little more easily Cloud was the one who charged this time coming in with a fake right and kicking out instead. He landed his foot right in Jing’s Solar Plex finishing the fight. Jing went down hard coughing and hacking trying to regain his breath back. Stepping away and bowing ever so slightly Cloud went back into the line breathing a little harder then usual. He had a little smirk on his face, it felt good to beat up Jing when he had the chance after all.

Then it was finally his turn to face the instructor, Cloud couldn’t say that he sucked at fighting Mclane but it certainly was not his best. The instructor moved like water literally, the man was fast and relentless coming left and right, giving Cloud no chance to breath and get a good stance in. He had nailed the instructor in the face once but that was about it. The rest of the time Cloud was getting hit trying to block at least half the blows. When the spar was finally done everyone limped back into their spot and tried not to keel over.

Mclane grinned broadly at the cadets with his eyes shining like a madman. It was not a picture Cloud wanted to see again for a very long time. “Listen up grunts you did pretty good today but don’t let that get into your heads. You still have a long way to go, dismissed.” He said shortly. Cloud was all to eager to leave like everyone else to get some food and a small nap before their next class.

The next class was on training with weapons, Cloud had found out that he liked this class the best and would listen to the instructor with all ears. There instructor Vill had already went through fifteen different weapons and there uses along with there weaknesses. She would even demonstrate with them and talk about there history. The last class the blonde had was regular teachings about the world in general, math, and some sciences. It was mandatory and if a cadet fell behind they would be dropped just like in everything else.

Dinner was a new fair in the blondes book, it had started out like any other but for the fight. It really was unexpected, one minute Cloud was waiting in line for food the next he gets hit in the face. Cloud reeled and turned back angrily seeing other people fighting, so like any young sensible man would, he joined in. Well it turned out that it wasn’t very smart to say the least because now here he was on his hands and knees scrubbing the marble floor. The other fighters also had similar jobs on different floors. Signing Cloud straightened his back, he was almost done, just a little more and he could finally call it a night.

Cloud was brought out of his musing by loud foot steps heading his way, curious he looked up about half way only to realize the guy was tracking mud prints all over his clean floor. Cloud could have cried it had taken him five hours to do the whole damn job and it was ruined in less then a minute. Glaring daggers at the fool Cloud noticed distantly that the guy had long spiky black hair, with unique violet eyes. He also had on a blue uniform but Cloud wasn’t looking at that right now, no he was glaring at the idiot.

“Hey do you know how long it took me to clean this up.” Cloud said indignantly standing up to his full height, he also noted that the guy was at least a head taller than him.

“What.” The black haired idiot said surprised. When he saw Cloud’s eyes looking down he also followed suit slowly only to realize his muddy boots and the clean floor up ahead. Cloud then turned his head so the guy followed only to see his foot prints behind him. Laughing and putting a hand behind his head the guy walked up to Cloud.

“Man I’m sorry, hey let me make it up to you. Come one, oh and by the way the names Zack.” He said already leading the poor blonde outside before he even knew what was happening.

“The names Cloud Strife.” He said distracted, looking up at Zack who was a First Class Solider an elite, then Cloud realized that he had just blown up in front of said First Class Solider.

‘Well shit,’ was the only thing Cloud could come up with.

-I'm back and will start to update more- Brighttears