Chapter Text
Another sleepless night. They came every once in a while, and the exhaustion from the next day's training sessions would double nearly every time. The only upside, which wasn't much of an upside, really, was that these nights allowed Cloud to have the chance to remember what he was here for, why he had decided to join SOLDIER. Of course, the answer was simple, but now, with last week's explosion of confusion, that answer wasn't satisfactory anymore, nor was it easy for Cloud to find another one.
His reason for going through the trouble of getting to Midgar from his hometown was, at first, because of General Sephiroth. An overdone and overused reason; everybody traveled from far and wide, or, in the case of those who already lived here, locally because of the legendary man, but then again, who wouldn't? Sephiroth had been the one who had led Shinra to victory in the long and hellish war against Wutai, which had ended shortly after Cloud began his training as an infantryman. While Cloud had never stepped foot in Wutai, the rumors of the war told enough of the experience, assuming they were true: food often spoiling in the humid, tropical-like weather of the area, Wutai militias constantly on the move to harass and bring down the main Shinra army little by little, the bombs bursting, families – children, even – losing their lives in the struggle... Even with Wutai's defeat and surrender, a new and unofficial war had moved to Midgar, where spies were constantly being found and pursued. Third Class SOLDIERs or those with higher rankings were usually the ones to bring a spy in, but it wasn't uncommon for grunts to be sent out instead.
Cloud rolled onto his side for the hundredth time that night, trying to get to sleep before his thoughts turned to that day, not very long ago. His efforts were in vain.
It felt like an eternity ago, though only six days had passed. Six days, and everybody was still asking the same questions: Why? How? Have we been betrayed? Cloud himself was vacillating between the more simple yes or no question of betrayal, and he couldn't bring himself to even consider that yes, Sephiroth had betrayed Shinra, betrayed all of those who looked up to him. Nobody had even an iota of an idea as to why or how; no theories had been made as to why Sephiroth could have deserted Shinra, and desertion was definitely what had happened. Sephiroth was too great a man to be captured, and too clever to actually get lost. There was no other reason for his disappearance – he had to have deserted, and it was only forever ago, six days ago, that it had been confirmed. Even now, Cloud and many others refused to believe it had actually happened, but Cloud's refusal to accept the facts had been waning as the news spread through the whole planet, and he started questioning himself over why he was still in the SOLDIER program, now that his idol was gone. He had found some time to write to his mother who was always eager to learn about how he was doing, stating that he wasn't going to give up because of his promise to Tifa, but that was only a half-truth, and he had the vague feeling that he was only trying to convince himself that that was the only thing keeping him from giving up other than his lack of a way to get back home unless he were to fail the entrance exams.
Tifa. Cloud wrapped the thin blanket tighter around himself. He'd wanted her attention, had wanted to be her friend for as long as he could remember, but Tifa didn't seem to know that he even existed. He remembered the cold night atop the well, just a short time before he left for Midgar, when he announced to her, promised her that he was going to be a SOLDIER and made the additional promise to save her if she was ever in a pinch after she requested him to do so. He was surprised that she even read the note he had left, and was even more surprised when she had climbed up the well in that bright blue dress to sit with him, her matching heels in one hand. She had even took the time to be there to see him off. Cloud didn't want to break a promise like that, but that reason only told him why he had to stay, but it wasn't a reason that motivated him a whole lot. His mother had passed his contact information on to Tifa, but so far, Cloud hadn't received a single letter from her.
His musings were slowed down by the heaviness of his eyelids, and soon stopped his brooding to catch a little bit of sleep. His eyes had only just closed when his drill instructor burst in.
"You ladies have had enough beauty sleep!" Instructor Moors loudly bellowed, scaring some of the cadets into falling out of bed. "Get your wimpy asses out to the mess hall!"
Cloud groaned. His bed wasn't comfortable enough to lull him to sleep earlier, and now it just so happened to be comfortable enough to make him never want to leave it.
Cloud tugged at the back of the shirt of his cadet uniform, allowing air to cool his sweat-slicked back. The instructors pushed all the cadets a little harder than usual, and the sun decided to contribute to helping beat the crap out of Cloud and the rest of the cadets. Cloud thanked any and all gods out there for the air conditioning in the barracks, even if the insanely low temperature nearly froze him sometimes.
"Davis! Strife!"
Cloud stopped in his tracks, his back ramrod straight, and saluted. Cadet Davis followed suit.
"Hit the showers and report to the train station. You'll be accompanying SOLDIER operatives on patrol duty."
Cloud and Cadet Davis were getting out of drills early, but patrol duty in the slums was no walk in the park. Every so often, an infantryman or two was called out on patrol duty to gain more experience. It was the infantry's job to enforce the law above the plate and break up minor riots in the slums, and it was a SOLDIER's job to take on the more dangerous missions, often outside of Midgar, and they handled most conflicts that brewed in the slums. Moors must have had quite a bit of faith to send out two cadets to the slums. It was better to be safe than sorry, which was why nobody from the Plate went to the slums alone, but for a cadet to accompany an actual SOLDIER seemed a little redundant to Cloud, but he supposed that it wouldn't hurt to have some experience in the underworld. If he made it into SOLDIER, he'd definitely have to go down there sometime.
A Third Class and a Second Class SOLDIER were waiting for Cloud and Davis when they arrived. Before anybody boarded the train, the Second Class instructed, "Stay together. If anybody gets separated, send out a message from your PHS." PHS numbers were exchanged, then the train was boarded.
The first thing Cloud noticed upon exiting the train was the stench. Sewage and other disgusting fumes emanated from all over and, coupled with the darkness only broken by blinding beams of artificial light and rare pockets of actual sunlight streaming from the gaps in the plate above, gave Cloud a sense of decay, as if he were slowly but surely dying inside. He found it harder and harder to breathe as the seconds ticked by, and his intense study of his surroundings as the patrol began didn't help ease his nerves or his rising sympathy towards the civilians. As far as he could see, nobody was entirely clean, and most people looked pale, gaunt, and thin enough to be mistaken for slightly emaciated. The shops and houses were made entirely of scrap metal or other raw materials that were dangerously weak, like cardboard. The adults seemed grim and weighed down by many troubles, unlike the few children Cloud caught a glance of. The kids ran in small groups, shouts of joy ringing out and smiles on their faces – a miraculous feat, in Cloud's eyes. Then again, being able to live past a single day in this place was a miracle itself, and most of the inhabitants must have lived their whole lives here. Cloud bitterly realized that the safety, comforts, and luxuries of the Plate came at the price of the misery, poor living conditions, and lack of law enforcement and order of the slums. If it weren't for the Third Class SOLDIER keeping an eye on him and Cadet Davis every few minutes, Cloud would have had empty pockets.
The atmosphere became more cheerful once the group trudged into the Sector Six slums, where a multitude of shops and crowds made any space to move easily nonexistent. Cloud was more at ease by the way nobody seemed to pay much attention to him and the others. He was afraid, though he didn't like to admit it even to himself, of what the various murderous glares they received could escalate into.
The clamoring swarm of people pushed and shoved each other, and Cloud was knocked down and nearly trampled. Not bothering to express his anger at the moment, Cloud quickly got to his feet with some difficulty, and pushed through the crowd to find a less occupied space to pull out his PHS.
"May I borrow that?"
Cloud held up his machine gun, a standard-issue model all cadets were required to learn how to use, and pointed it at the... man? Woman? He couldn't really tell; the person next to him wore an assortment of cloth and leather along with a trench coat and had the creepiest mask he had ever seen. The mask had the widest and most disturbing grin, and the eye holes were completely black.
The person held its hands up in surrender. "I mean no harm. All I'm asking is to borrow your phone. I don't have one, and I have to make an important call."
Cloud didn't believe the masked figure and backed away.
"What harm is there in letting somebody borrow something so simple? If you're afraid that I'm going to take it, do remember that you have a weapon." The person shook its head, shoulder-length black hair swaying with the movement. He or she put their hands down. "Paranoia seems to take the sensibility out of everybody these days."
Paranoia? Hell no, he wasn't paranoid! It was simple common sense: don't talk to strangers, especially those that could potentially give somebody nightmares.
"It will only take a second or two. Trust me."
Cloud's resolve was slowly breaking down, and he tentatively handed his PHS over, keeping the rest of his body away from the person.
"Thank you," the person said with a short incline of his/her head. The figure dialed a number and waited a moment. "Ea, be a dear and remind Geles to ready the tea. Don't forget to preheat the oven for dinner. The guests are almost arriving." The person had to raise her voice – Cloud was positive that it was a female – to be heard over the noise. She hung up and returned the PHS. "Thank you again." Without another word, she turned and left a disconcerted Cloud.
Cloud dialed the number of SOLDIER Second Class Johnson, quickly telling him where he was. Soon enough, he was reunited with the group. The rest of the patrol was finished with no problem, and Garrison, the Third Class SOLDIER, announced that one more run through had to be done before they could consider the small mission complete. Cloud obediently trailed along, still disgusted by the state of the city under a city, and all went well.
Around Sector Four, Cloud was viciously thrown back several feet, and a sharp pain spread from the side of his head to everywhere above his neck. Feeling something trickle down the side of his face, Cloud put a hand to one of his ears, both of which were ringing, and felt something wet above his right ear.
Blood. Somebody had hit him very hard, and he was bleeding. He heard yells of alarm and a massive explosion, no doubt rendering him deaf, and caught a fleeting glimpse of fire before everything turned dark.
Notes:
Idea conceived: 2013年5月25日（土）
Started: 2013年5月26日（日）
Finished: That same day
I got this idea after watching part of The Dark Knight yesterday. Normally I'm not very interested in Batman, but I had seen some screenshots of the Joker floating around on the internet and after watching a little bit of the movie, I can say for sure that I friggin' love that guy! He's just so nonchalant and acts like what he's doing is totally normal. Now I gotta borrow that movie from a friend. owo
This is the only time I'm breaking out of my temporary hiatus (I only posted the news in one place; I'll go ahead and move it to the profile page), but if I get another story idea, you bet I'll write it down. Also, if anybody's interested, I have another Sephiroth/Cloud idea ready (gender-bending Sephy included), but I have no idea on how to start it. Maybe the break time will let my brain come up with a beginning. I swear that the first and second chapters are the hardest to write.
Ea, Geles, and the stranger aren't OCs. If you can guess who the stranger is, I'll leave you a little present. ;)