天の龍 ~ 「俺の運が変われると思う…」 (kiraya) wrote in drops_n_ripples, @ 2006-02-25 20:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | butterfly effect |
Butterfly Effect: Chapter 6
Authors: Bard Linn and Kiraya
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: None, at the moment.
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Summary: “Hey, kid… think you could help me back to my room? Not quite sure I can make it myself…”
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 6
One of the few things Vincent had told his protégé about Midgar was that it was big. Cloud thought he had been ready to enter the city without making a fool of himself, but as the train made its way towards the world’s largest metropolis, he felt his jaw drop.
“Big” didn’t do Midgar justice. “Gigantic” didn’t, either. Cloud couldn’t think of a word that did. The buildings were huge! And the people! He had never imagined so many people could be crowded into one place like this. As the train traveled through outskirts of the city, he gaped at the terrible conditions. This was how people lived in the most powerful city in the world?
But then they moved upward, over the metal plate that covered the lower levels, and Cloud found himself shocked yet again. This area was the exact opposite of what lay below, a palace floating above a ruin.
Cloud abruptly felt very small, and very much alone.
“When you’re in an unfamiliar place or situation, make sure to keep your mind focused. Don’t allow your feelings, especially fear, to show. Remain confident and make sure to look as if you know exactly what you are doing and where you are going. And at your age, politeness wouldn’t hurt, either.”
Cloud took a deep breath and did his best to follow his mentor’s instructions. He wasn’t completely successful in hiding his awe at the city, but he did manage to mask his fear. As the train slowed to a stop, coming to rest in the last station before it would make its return trip to Junon, Cloud stood and shuffled to the exit with the rest of the passengers, moving as directed through metal detectors and luggage inspection with growing restlessness.
“Next,” a customs official said in a tired voice. Cloud stepped forward to the desk. “Papers?”
The teen handed over the documents his mother had authorized, suppressing the urge to fidget. How much longer was this going to take, anyway?
“What is the nature of your business here?” the man asked in the same monotone, scribbling something in on another form.
“I’m an applicant for the SOLDIER program,” he replied, unable to keep a note of pride out of his voice.
The official nodded absently, stamped the form he’d been writing on, and handed Cloud back his paperwork. “SOLDIER personnel headquarters are in the building just across the street, second floor. Recruiting office is right at the top of the stairs.” Cloud thanked him and, stepping outside, set off, his heart pounding hard in his chest.
He was taking his firsts steps to becoming a SOLDIER!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So…” Thomas drawled after the young blond had left the recruiting office, having completed his paperwork. “How long do you think he’ll last?”
“Hm… with his build, not very. Too pretty for his own good. Delicate, even. And his name won’t help, either,” Dickinson replied, glancing at the paper the young man had handed him a minute ago. “Who in the world names their son ‘Cloud’?”
“‘Cloud’? Pffft! Where’s he from?” Harris asked, chuckling a little as he leaned over his coworker’s shoulder. “Nibelheim? Where’s that?”
“Um… little country town way up in the mountains on the west continent,” Thomas answered, having pulled up a map on the console in front of him. His friends gathered around him. “Wow, population ninety-three at last count. Really tiny place!”
“I take it back, then; kid just might make it after all,” Dickinson said, glancing at the stats on the screen in front of Thomas. “He certainly didn’t act like a hick. Seemed to know exactly where he was going and what he was doing… meaning either he knows someone, has been here before, or is one hell of an actor.”
“Maybe. In any case, his handwriting is atrocious.” Thomas grabbed the papers from Dick and sat down to enter the new cadet’s information into the company database. “Does that look like a one or a nine?”
Dickinson glanced at the numbers scribbled in the spot for cadet’s birthdate. “Looks like a four to me.”
“A four? What are you, blind?”
“Well, it doesn’t look like a one! Maybe a nine.”
“An upside-down, drunk five?” Harris suggested, and ducked under his desk as Dickinson threw the universal weapon of ShinRa’s office workers at him: an empty styrofoam coffee cup.
“Whatever it was, it’s the nineteenth of August now,” Thomas declared as he hit the submit button.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“All right, that’s enough. Not bad. Here’s your squad number.” Cloud accepted the sheet of paper from the SOLDIER Second, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm his pounding heart. The man had run him through a variety of exercises to test his endurance, flexibility, strength, and reflexes, and it had taken more out of him than Cloud had expected. The youth silently vowed to practice more. He obviously wasn’t as in shape as he had thought.
Cloud carefully did his cooldown stretches before heading off to the barracks, consulting a map mounted on a nearby wall as he did so. It wasn’t long before he found himself in the section for SOLDIER cadets. Double-checking to make sure he was at the right room, he knocked on the door.
“Oi, Coyle! Go get that, will you?” came a voice from within.
“What do you think I am, your personal slave?” another voice retorted as the door swung open. “Oh, hey!” A boy who looked to be about seventeen stood there, looking at him appraisingly. “You must be our new squad member.” He grabbed one of Cloud’s bags. “Name’s Scott Coyle.”
“Cloud Strife,” the blond replied as he followed him into the room.
“Listen up, fellows! We’re now a squad of ten again. Cloud Strife is joining us today,” Scott announced. Cloud counted, but only came up with three. Where was the rest of the squad?
“Hmm… Bit shorter than Wheaton, but if he has a better attitude it’ll be worth it,” another boy, around the same age as Scott, commented. “I’m Paul Moser. Wheaton is the person you’re replacing. He got kicked out because he couldn’t control his temper. Hope you don’t have that problem.”
“Not really,” Cloud replied, shaking Paul’s extended hand.
“You’re new to Midgar, aren’t you?” Scott asked, dropping Cloud’s bag on the one of the empty beds. “That locker is yours, by the way. They’ll be getting you uniforms soon enough.”
Cloud started placing his stuff in the locker Scott had indicated. “Yeah. I’m from Nibelheim.”
“Where?”
“Mountain town, west continent. Middle of nowhere,” Cloud truthfully replied with a slight smile.
“Another one, eh? Geez, if this keeps up we locals’ll soon be outnumbered by you country boys,” Scott said, grinning a little as he punched Paul lightly in the shoulder.
“‘Country boys’? Junon isn’t exactly ‘the middle of nowhere,’ y’know,” Paul retorted, shoving the other cadet, who laughed as he sprawled carelessly on his bed. “Anyway, Cloud… I don’t suppose you hear too much about how the SOLDIER cadet program works over there, huh?”
“Not really,” the blond admitted sheepishly.
“I can give you a brief overview,” Paul offered, settling himself on Cloud’s bed, “if you’d like.”
“You mean because you love to hear yourself talk.” Scott rolled his eyes.
Paul ignored him. “The exams are offered every year in the spring and in the fall, April and October, respectively.”
“So I just missed them…” Cloud realized, disappointed.
“Yeah, but you couldn’t have taken them anyway. You have to be in the cadet program for at least a year before you can submit your application. So it’ll be next September before you can even get started.”
“Not that you’ll take them until the spring after that, what with how damn long it takes them to process all the paperwork.”
Paul snorted. “Ain’t that the truth. Anyway, you usually take the exams in groups with people who enter around the same time. Assuming you pass those, you make it into Third Class.”
“Unless you do well enough to get passed right into Second Class,” Scott added, sitting up.
“Yeah, but how often does that happen? I think the last time was back during the war with Wutai.” Paul shook his head. “Anyway, that’s if you make it to the exams. Sometimes you get kicked out of the program because of your attitude or behavior, or for not being able to keep up.” His face darkened. “Sometimes they take you out for other reasons.”
“A good friend of ours was pulled by the Turks,” Scott explained, glancing at his friend’s expression. “He was very talented; they snapped him right up.” He turned his gaze to Cloud. “Better watch yourself if you don’t want to join them. You’ve got to be pretty skilled yourself, to be sorted in here on your first try.”
Cloud felt his eyebrows shoot up at that bit of information. He hadn’t counted on that little difficulty. He’d have to revise his strategy in order to avoid that unwanted interest. But what had Scott meant by… “First try?”
The older cadet gestured at the other people in the room. “All of us have attempted the SOLDIER exams at least once and failed. Not a big deal, really; we didn’t do too bad, so they let us reapply to train some more. Only a handful of people get in on their first attempt, anyway… and they’re usually the ones who’ve had some sort of prior training.”
“Oh.”
“On the other hand, the girls tend to do a lot better than us guys,” Scott said into the uncomfortable silence that had fallen.
“Girls can’t become SOLDIERs, idiot!” Paul reached over and swatted his friend with Cloud’s pillow. “Body chemistry issues, remember?”
“I was talking about the specialists,” Scott replied loftily before turning to Cloud. “Always be nice to the females you see in uniform. They usually end up equipped with the anti-SOLDIER gear in the cases where a SOLDIER… loses it.”
“Doesn’t happen often, though,” Paul added reassuringly, watching his friend closely.
“Not anymore,” Scott agreed, though his expression was still somber. “Used to a lot more…”
A knock on the door interrupted their discussion. “And here would be your uniforms and schedule. Better get some sleep, Cloud. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Cloud agreed. He stowed away the clothes while glancing over the sheet of paper in his hand, mind working rapidly. This would be tricky, but not impossible. He just had to do well enough to pass the exams, but poorly enough so the Turks wouldn’t want him. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cloud glanced around warily. He didn’t see anyone, and since the area between the barracks and the training compound lacked any substantial cover, things should be perfectly safe…
It still made Cloud feel terribly exposed, though. Unfortunately, there really was no secure way between the two buildings, as he knew from spending the last month memorizing the layout of ShinRa’s military complex. Vincent had lectured Cloud repeatedly about knowing your terrain and your surroundings; the blond saw no reason to ignore that advice.
More than just the surroundings, Cloud had examined the people about him. His teachers and immediate superiors were basically neutral towards him. He was just another SOLDIER cadet, nothing unusual or spectacular. As long as he did as they asked with an average level of success, they dismissed him from their minds. His squadmates were more or less the same. One of the disadvantages — or advantages, depending how one looked at it — of replacing a member of a previously formed squad was that the squad had already broken into groups of friends. Only Scott and Paul made an effort to reach out to him. Considering what he knew, though, Cloud was glad not to have too many friends. Besides, he wasn’t very much of a people person anyway.
“Hey there, cutie,” came a drawling voice. “What’s a pretty little thing like you doing all alone out here?”
Cloud started in surprise as a SOLDIER First Class walked — or rather, wobbled out of the shadows. “Um…”
A strong arm flung itself around his shoulders. “How ‘bout you and me head back to my place, mmm?”
Cloud twitched. He knew his features weren’t very masculine, but he didn’t need the reminder. “I. Am. Not. A. Girl,” he ground out. “Sir.”
The SOLDIER laughed heartily. “I know, I know… not in that uniform, heh heh! Not that you’d have to— but oh no, not with the cadets! Too bad…” He sighed hugely as Cloud stared at him in utter confusion. What in Gaea’s name was he going on about? “Hey, kid… think you could help me back to my room? Not quite sure I can make it myself…”
Cloud stifled a sigh. The man had to have drunk quite a bit to be this wasted, he thought, vaguely recalling something about Mako reducing drugs’ effectiveness on a person’s body systems. This wasn’t at all the view of a SOLDIER First Class that the boy particularly liked, but… well, he really didn’t want to risk getting on the warrior’s bad side by refusing… “Of course, sir.”
It took them longer than Cloud would have liked. The man was tall and quite heavy; “helping” more or less meant supporting the SOLDIER completely.
“Key’s in my pocket… no, not there… There.” Cloud successfully fished the key card out of the man’s pocket and unlocked the door. Luckily, the SOLDIER had a room on the ground floor. Cloud didn’t even want to think about trying to lug him up a set of stairs. “Care to stay a little while?”
“I’m sorry, sir. It’s almost curfew already,” Cloud responded. He got the man inside and then bolted, staying in the shadows as much as possible as he headed back towards his room. It was a good thing he knew how to move about the compound undetected; the last thing he wanted was to be caught in the SOLDIER barracks without permission. He really couldn’t afford that type of black mark on his record.
“Calling it a bit close there, weren’t you?” Scott asked as Cloud slipped into the room.
“Yeah. Hopefully won’t happen again,” Cloud replied as he moved over to his bunk, the encounter with the SOLDIER already gone from his mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zachary Sinclair waited a long moment after the youth had left his room before standing from where he had “collapsed” by the door. This had been a far more interesting time than the recently promoted SOLDIER First Class had anticipated when he’d left for his usual night on the town. At least, it had become more interesting after he’d come back and found that cadet leaving the training center, anyway.
There weren’t any rules against cadets being out and about at this time of night; most, however, chose to go out into the city proper. Bars in Midgar, especially under the plate, rarely checked IDs, and many young troopers took advantage of that.
So what were the odds of a cadet spending his night training, and on a Friday, no less? Zack’s curiosity had flat-out demanded he find out what was going on… and so he had put on his little act. People tended to be a little more careless around drunks, he’d discovered.
Unfortunately for him, his target hadn’t really gone for it. What little information he had managed to glean from him, though, just made the kid all the more interesting. He had managed to get Zack back to his tiny apartment with surprisingly little difficulty. He had known his way around the SOLDIER barracks as if he had been there before, which for a cadet wasn’t likely. He had been able to handle a good deal of Zack’s weight. And, perhaps most intriguing of all, he hadn’t loitered in Zack’s quarters either, hadn’t leapt at the opportunity to get to know a First Class like so many other cadets would have.
The blond certainly was a very, very interesting kid… one who should prove well worth investigating.
Zack looked forward to the challenge.