![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Look, it's more Oh Gracious Twist of Fate-Interlude Two
Wordcount: 2,612
Chapter One: Escape
Interlude One
Chapter Two: Clean Up
New Chapter->
Interlude Two
1990
This was the part that Zack was never sure about. Sure, the idea that each of the incoming groups of troops should have a chat with one or more of the SOLDIERs was a good one. It gave the newbies something to shoot for and gave some of the SOLDIERs an ego boost. They needed to have such looks of awe turned on them, but Zack didn't need anyone to stroke his ego, even if he did enjoy it.
Still, he had better things to do than to play tour guide. And, sadly enough, it was even true this time. He still had all those reports from that damn fiasco with the chocobos that he had, unfortunately, been the one to break up. Because he was the one who stopped it, he was being punished by having to write the report up on it. Or so it seemed to him.
Hmm, maybe playing newbie guide wasn’t so bad after all. Especially since Seph had tossed him out of the office after listening to Zack’s complaints after so long.
Well, might as well get it started. Looking at the motley band, Zack smiled to himself. It felt like forever since he had been in their shoes. Had it really only been year? They had just gotten back from the front a few months ago. Some people where still….twitchy.
Zack remembered when he had gotten his run through the tour. Back then, with the war going on, the SOLDIERs who gave the tour were the ones who were injured in some way. Like Jes, who had been blind in one eye from shrapnel. He had gone back out once he had healed as best he could. Zack had heard that he had died two days before Wutai surrendered.
Still, looking at the just barely trained kids, Zack wondered if he had ever looked that green? If so, how the hell had he survived the war, let alone get into SOLDIER?
Most of these kids were just watching him with large, large eyes, and Zack grinned inside as he scanned the group. Well, looked like they had one smartass already, a redhead who was almost lazily looking at him. Zack fought to keep the grin off his face. Ah, a kindred spirit. Kid looked like a punk, with that red hair and the marks under his eyes.
Zack liked him already.
Another one who caught his eye made him think of those damn chocobos again. Anything that yellow and spiky deserved the comparison. Plus that look of sheer stubbornness reminded him of Seph’s bird. Zack would have to find out more about those two.
Gods, they had a lot of young looking kids out there.
The rest of the group was pretty standard, though Zack did pick out the odd Wutai kid, or ones that at least looked like they were from Wutai. That was odd. It really, really was, to see kids who, just a year ago, would have been the enemy.
Looking around, Zack let a bit of the grin free finally.
“Welcome to Shinra, kids. You’re in for a rough ride.”
///
Cloud was feeling rather lost. Not just by the tour, but by everything that had come before and after it as well.
Midgar was so completely different from Nibelheim that it was nearly impossible to compare the two. The awful, watching feeling was gone, had been gone since he had passed the mountains surrounding his home. Between bouts of motion sickness, Cloud had never realized how nice it was to not be stared at by whatever it was that stared at him. That alone had made it good to get out of Nibelheim, even if he hadn’t desperately wanted to escape the people who always looked down on him.
That’s why he wanted to become a SOLDIER, really. To prove to all of them that he was good enough, was strong enough, was better than they thought he was. Cloud was going to prove to them that he was worth something, He was going to do it, too. Show them all.
Midgar, though, Midgar was a bit hard to get used to. Everything was so different from what he was used to. Louder, faster, and just more. More people, more vehicles, more buildings with more stories.
It was so easy to get lost in Midgar if one didn’t know where they were going. And that was just above the Plate. Cloud would hate to even imagine getting lost below Plate. That was something they warned about when people first joined. A whole list of warnings. Don’t go below Plate without being shown where to go. Don’t go below Plate alone without letting someone know where you are going. Really, don’t go below Plate alone, period. Never, ever go below Plate by yourself and in uniform. Only people who could pull that off were SOLDIERs, and even they didn’t do it very often.
The list about what to not to under the Plate went on and on, and Cloud had a funny feeling that they meant every one of them. Not for annoying reasons, either, but for actual safety ones. They all sat through the lecture about how more than one trooper got themselves rolled and their throats cut just because they were wearing the uniform. Going to get a whore, do it above Plate. At least those who roll people up there aren’t as likely to kill them just because they had Shinra’s mark on them.
All in all, though, Cloud found everything a bit confusing. The tour of the facilities hadn’t helped as much as he had hoped they would, and he was just happy to be able to find the barracks he had been assigned. It was a good thing that places were numbered, or he’d never find his way around.
“Hey, you’re Cloud, right?”
Turning, Cloud saw the redhead with the face marks grinning at him, lounging against the wall. “Yeah.”
“You’re in my group, aren’t you? I thought that the name and the hair would make you easy to pick out, but I was wrong. Lucky for me I saw you walking around.”
Without asking, the other boy wandered over and draped and arm around Cloud’s shoulders. “I forgot where we were supposed to go. So I’m just goin’ to follow you around, kay?”
Cloud blinked. This was someone who looked close to his own age who was actually talking to him, of his own free will, and without acting like Cloud was dirt. It was…odd. Even if he wanted something, he was being nice about it. What was the other guy’s name? Remy, Rudy, something like that. Cloud hadn’t really been paying attention, expecting to be ignored here like he had been for the most part at home.
“Name’s Reno. Come on, before all the best beds are taken."
///
Reno was pleased to see that he and Cloud weren’t the only ones who had gotten lost, so it was easy to snag a bed. Had even gotten the blond to be his bunk mate, so that was one less worry. Reno didn’t want top bunk and was more than happy to give it to Cloud. At least he didn’t have to worry about anyone who was too heavy trying to sleep over his head. That would have been nothing but a nightmare as he had waited for the bed to crush him to death.
What a way to go. Crushed to death by a lardass.
Strangely enough, he and the blond had joined the military for completely different reasons. While Cloud was trying to get into SOLDIER, Reno had actually been invited to join the Turks if he passed the basic training.
No problem. If Reno was anything, it was confident in his abilities.
Right now, it was almost fun. Cloud was fitter than he looked, and the pair, both slender and younger than they looked, seemed to find more than their share of trouble. Course, it had taken Reno a bit to figure out why Cloud had looked so young. The boy was a year younger than him. He had to give the kid credit that took balls. Technically, the age of enlistment was fifteen, having been dropped there from seventeen it had been before the war in Wutai.
Reno was far too happy to have missed that. He had seen the products of the mill Shinra’s military had been then, sending out greenies long before they should have. A lot of people who were crippled under the Plate had been those who hadn’t died in agony in the mud, or from infection, or sickness, or any of the dozens of other things in the Wutanese jungles that could kill people.
He dragged his mind back from the stories the ones who had survived used to tell him. Instead, he focused on the back of the man leading them down the hall. Yet again, he and Cloud were in trouble. Some of the older, bigger people in training thought it would be an easy task to bully the smaller kids. And for some of the kids, that was right. Reno had the funny feeling that those kids weren’t going to make it through the six month training process. Though the bigger kids probably were. Most of them were trying for SOLDIER as well, and Reno hoped they didn’t get through, for Cloud’s sake if nothing else.
Those boys had found out that the little blond and the scrawny redhead didn’t take shit from anyone, and there were constantly scuffles. Sometimes they got broken up by the trooper who was assigned babysitting duties, sometimes they got broken up when people started to bleed, and twice Cloud and Reno had sent someone to the base hospital with a broken bone. People hadn’t learned yet to try while the pair was separated, mostly because, at this point in their training, they weren’t. Everyone was stuck together for a little bit longer.
This time the fight had gotten broken up by a SOLDIER, the same one who had given them their tour. Reno felt for Cloud, who was being very, very quiet. The boy wanted to get into SOLDIER with a determination Reno had to admire, even if he didn’t know why. Being caught fighting like this by a SOLDIER could really damage his chances of getting in.
The SOLDIER waved them into the room, and moved to sit in the only chair in there. Lounged in it, really.
“So,” he said lightly, watching them steadily. “What caused it this time?”
Oh, not good. Both boys stood silent.
“I know it’s not the first, and I know you aren’t the first they’ve tried it on.” Violet eyes, glowing faintly in the light, stayed focus on them. “Either of you care to tell me why?”
More silence.
Reno was very conscious of the eyes on him, but he, like Cloud, was staring at the floor by the man’s feet. He didn’t want to answer that calm voice because, even though those kids were wannabe bullies, they were still part of their unit, and they wouldn’t rat them out.
“I can guess. The two of you, no offense, aren’t that big. I get the feeling they’ve been trying to bully people for whatever reason. Well, I’ll tell you what. People like that rarely, rarely get into SOLDIER. They fail the psych tests, or the teamwork ones, and get washed out into the regular troops. Not fun for the regulars, but at least the SOLDIERs don’t have to deal with someone like that. Bad for everyone if someone that small minded ends up with more than human anything.”
A moment of quiet, and Reno knew the man was studying them. “Look up, kids.” Something in the man’s voice did make Reno look up, and he caught Cloud doing the same from the corner of his eye.
“People like that don’t make SOLDIER, or the Turks. People who team up and beat their opponents stupider than they already are, however, do.”
He was grinning at them, and Reno felt a bit of tension loosen up along his spine.
“Come on, let’s see what you little reedy things can do, hmm? I’m Zack, in case you forgot.”
And with that, Zack gestured for them to follow again and walked out of the room. Reno shared a look with Cloud. “I don’t know about you,” he said softly, “but that man’s insane.” A grin. “I like him.”
///
Sephiroth knew that more than a few people were afraid of him. He was used to using that fear to his advantage. In fact, he knew most of the people who he dealt with were afraid of him in some way.
Zack, however, was not one of them. It was…nice to know that there would be someone who would always be there to stand beside him, even if it was at the cost of a bit of dignity and discovering that there was a new fear due to Zack.
For the first time, Sephiroth was afraid of losing someone.
That being the case, Sephiroth was still going to be forced to murder Zack, he really was. The only thing that saved the man from death was the fact that Sephiroth really didn’t want to have to train someone else for the job. He had thought he had finally gotten Zack trained, and now the man just would not be quiet. Something about finding a few decent candidates in the newest batch trying for SOLDIER once they were done with basics. Zack had already complained that one was going into the Turks, and Tseng had sent a memo asking Sephiroth to have his subordinate please stop asking to keep the potential Turk.
The more Sephiroth tried to ignore Zack, the more hyper Zack would get. Eventually, however, he managed to convince Sephiroth to come watch them spar. Apparently, Zack had taken it upon himself to give them extra lessons, and had been pestering Sephiroth for a few weeks to come check it out.
Finally, just to have some measure of peace back, Sephiroth did.
For the limited amount of training they had had, and what he expected was complete lack of training before, he did have to admit they were not doing too poorly. Still, he wasn’t sure why Zack thought it would do for him to watch them.
Then, slowly, after a few minutes of watching, he slowly began to realize that what Zack was doing looked familiar. He was correcting them with little comments, little gestures.
Like when Zack was sitting with him, watching a movie, and showing him how most people reacted by example, or showing him how to play cards and then shamelessly cheating.
They were his new projects. But, given that Zack still was being his normal, somewhat irritating self, he realized that Zack wasn’t going to stop…being his friend. If anything, he was going to try to figure out how to make him like these new…children as well.
Strangely enough, Sephiroth was willing to give Zack a chance at that if he wanted.
He did feel rather sympathetic for the children after all. Zack was like a force of nature. You hide from him or just accepted that you couldn’t escape.
Looks like those two, like him, hadn’t escaped.
Good. Maybe it would give Zack something new to talk about besides his girlfriend. Because while Sephiroth knew he would kill for the man, and maybe even die for him, if he had to listen to anymore stories about flowers, he really might just have to go mad.
Wordcounts:
Nov 2: 5,078
November so far: 10,454
Nano: 5,323
OGToF: 13,760
Chapter Three: On the Run
Wordcount: 2,612
Chapter One: Escape
Interlude One
Chapter Two: Clean Up
New Chapter->
Interlude Two
1990
This was the part that Zack was never sure about. Sure, the idea that each of the incoming groups of troops should have a chat with one or more of the SOLDIERs was a good one. It gave the newbies something to shoot for and gave some of the SOLDIERs an ego boost. They needed to have such looks of awe turned on them, but Zack didn't need anyone to stroke his ego, even if he did enjoy it.
Still, he had better things to do than to play tour guide. And, sadly enough, it was even true this time. He still had all those reports from that damn fiasco with the chocobos that he had, unfortunately, been the one to break up. Because he was the one who stopped it, he was being punished by having to write the report up on it. Or so it seemed to him.
Hmm, maybe playing newbie guide wasn’t so bad after all. Especially since Seph had tossed him out of the office after listening to Zack’s complaints after so long.
Well, might as well get it started. Looking at the motley band, Zack smiled to himself. It felt like forever since he had been in their shoes. Had it really only been year? They had just gotten back from the front a few months ago. Some people where still….twitchy.
Zack remembered when he had gotten his run through the tour. Back then, with the war going on, the SOLDIERs who gave the tour were the ones who were injured in some way. Like Jes, who had been blind in one eye from shrapnel. He had gone back out once he had healed as best he could. Zack had heard that he had died two days before Wutai surrendered.
Still, looking at the just barely trained kids, Zack wondered if he had ever looked that green? If so, how the hell had he survived the war, let alone get into SOLDIER?
Most of these kids were just watching him with large, large eyes, and Zack grinned inside as he scanned the group. Well, looked like they had one smartass already, a redhead who was almost lazily looking at him. Zack fought to keep the grin off his face. Ah, a kindred spirit. Kid looked like a punk, with that red hair and the marks under his eyes.
Zack liked him already.
Another one who caught his eye made him think of those damn chocobos again. Anything that yellow and spiky deserved the comparison. Plus that look of sheer stubbornness reminded him of Seph’s bird. Zack would have to find out more about those two.
Gods, they had a lot of young looking kids out there.
The rest of the group was pretty standard, though Zack did pick out the odd Wutai kid, or ones that at least looked like they were from Wutai. That was odd. It really, really was, to see kids who, just a year ago, would have been the enemy.
Looking around, Zack let a bit of the grin free finally.
“Welcome to Shinra, kids. You’re in for a rough ride.”
Cloud was feeling rather lost. Not just by the tour, but by everything that had come before and after it as well.
Midgar was so completely different from Nibelheim that it was nearly impossible to compare the two. The awful, watching feeling was gone, had been gone since he had passed the mountains surrounding his home. Between bouts of motion sickness, Cloud had never realized how nice it was to not be stared at by whatever it was that stared at him. That alone had made it good to get out of Nibelheim, even if he hadn’t desperately wanted to escape the people who always looked down on him.
That’s why he wanted to become a SOLDIER, really. To prove to all of them that he was good enough, was strong enough, was better than they thought he was. Cloud was going to prove to them that he was worth something, He was going to do it, too. Show them all.
Midgar, though, Midgar was a bit hard to get used to. Everything was so different from what he was used to. Louder, faster, and just more. More people, more vehicles, more buildings with more stories.
It was so easy to get lost in Midgar if one didn’t know where they were going. And that was just above the Plate. Cloud would hate to even imagine getting lost below Plate. That was something they warned about when people first joined. A whole list of warnings. Don’t go below Plate without being shown where to go. Don’t go below Plate alone without letting someone know where you are going. Really, don’t go below Plate alone, period. Never, ever go below Plate by yourself and in uniform. Only people who could pull that off were SOLDIERs, and even they didn’t do it very often.
The list about what to not to under the Plate went on and on, and Cloud had a funny feeling that they meant every one of them. Not for annoying reasons, either, but for actual safety ones. They all sat through the lecture about how more than one trooper got themselves rolled and their throats cut just because they were wearing the uniform. Going to get a whore, do it above Plate. At least those who roll people up there aren’t as likely to kill them just because they had Shinra’s mark on them.
All in all, though, Cloud found everything a bit confusing. The tour of the facilities hadn’t helped as much as he had hoped they would, and he was just happy to be able to find the barracks he had been assigned. It was a good thing that places were numbered, or he’d never find his way around.
“Hey, you’re Cloud, right?”
Turning, Cloud saw the redhead with the face marks grinning at him, lounging against the wall. “Yeah.”
“You’re in my group, aren’t you? I thought that the name and the hair would make you easy to pick out, but I was wrong. Lucky for me I saw you walking around.”
Without asking, the other boy wandered over and draped and arm around Cloud’s shoulders. “I forgot where we were supposed to go. So I’m just goin’ to follow you around, kay?”
Cloud blinked. This was someone who looked close to his own age who was actually talking to him, of his own free will, and without acting like Cloud was dirt. It was…odd. Even if he wanted something, he was being nice about it. What was the other guy’s name? Remy, Rudy, something like that. Cloud hadn’t really been paying attention, expecting to be ignored here like he had been for the most part at home.
“Name’s Reno. Come on, before all the best beds are taken."
Reno was pleased to see that he and Cloud weren’t the only ones who had gotten lost, so it was easy to snag a bed. Had even gotten the blond to be his bunk mate, so that was one less worry. Reno didn’t want top bunk and was more than happy to give it to Cloud. At least he didn’t have to worry about anyone who was too heavy trying to sleep over his head. That would have been nothing but a nightmare as he had waited for the bed to crush him to death.
What a way to go. Crushed to death by a lardass.
Strangely enough, he and the blond had joined the military for completely different reasons. While Cloud was trying to get into SOLDIER, Reno had actually been invited to join the Turks if he passed the basic training.
No problem. If Reno was anything, it was confident in his abilities.
Right now, it was almost fun. Cloud was fitter than he looked, and the pair, both slender and younger than they looked, seemed to find more than their share of trouble. Course, it had taken Reno a bit to figure out why Cloud had looked so young. The boy was a year younger than him. He had to give the kid credit that took balls. Technically, the age of enlistment was fifteen, having been dropped there from seventeen it had been before the war in Wutai.
Reno was far too happy to have missed that. He had seen the products of the mill Shinra’s military had been then, sending out greenies long before they should have. A lot of people who were crippled under the Plate had been those who hadn’t died in agony in the mud, or from infection, or sickness, or any of the dozens of other things in the Wutanese jungles that could kill people.
He dragged his mind back from the stories the ones who had survived used to tell him. Instead, he focused on the back of the man leading them down the hall. Yet again, he and Cloud were in trouble. Some of the older, bigger people in training thought it would be an easy task to bully the smaller kids. And for some of the kids, that was right. Reno had the funny feeling that those kids weren’t going to make it through the six month training process. Though the bigger kids probably were. Most of them were trying for SOLDIER as well, and Reno hoped they didn’t get through, for Cloud’s sake if nothing else.
Those boys had found out that the little blond and the scrawny redhead didn’t take shit from anyone, and there were constantly scuffles. Sometimes they got broken up by the trooper who was assigned babysitting duties, sometimes they got broken up when people started to bleed, and twice Cloud and Reno had sent someone to the base hospital with a broken bone. People hadn’t learned yet to try while the pair was separated, mostly because, at this point in their training, they weren’t. Everyone was stuck together for a little bit longer.
This time the fight had gotten broken up by a SOLDIER, the same one who had given them their tour. Reno felt for Cloud, who was being very, very quiet. The boy wanted to get into SOLDIER with a determination Reno had to admire, even if he didn’t know why. Being caught fighting like this by a SOLDIER could really damage his chances of getting in.
The SOLDIER waved them into the room, and moved to sit in the only chair in there. Lounged in it, really.
“So,” he said lightly, watching them steadily. “What caused it this time?”
Oh, not good. Both boys stood silent.
“I know it’s not the first, and I know you aren’t the first they’ve tried it on.” Violet eyes, glowing faintly in the light, stayed focus on them. “Either of you care to tell me why?”
More silence.
Reno was very conscious of the eyes on him, but he, like Cloud, was staring at the floor by the man’s feet. He didn’t want to answer that calm voice because, even though those kids were wannabe bullies, they were still part of their unit, and they wouldn’t rat them out.
“I can guess. The two of you, no offense, aren’t that big. I get the feeling they’ve been trying to bully people for whatever reason. Well, I’ll tell you what. People like that rarely, rarely get into SOLDIER. They fail the psych tests, or the teamwork ones, and get washed out into the regular troops. Not fun for the regulars, but at least the SOLDIERs don’t have to deal with someone like that. Bad for everyone if someone that small minded ends up with more than human anything.”
A moment of quiet, and Reno knew the man was studying them. “Look up, kids.” Something in the man’s voice did make Reno look up, and he caught Cloud doing the same from the corner of his eye.
“People like that don’t make SOLDIER, or the Turks. People who team up and beat their opponents stupider than they already are, however, do.”
He was grinning at them, and Reno felt a bit of tension loosen up along his spine.
“Come on, let’s see what you little reedy things can do, hmm? I’m Zack, in case you forgot.”
And with that, Zack gestured for them to follow again and walked out of the room. Reno shared a look with Cloud. “I don’t know about you,” he said softly, “but that man’s insane.” A grin. “I like him.”
Sephiroth knew that more than a few people were afraid of him. He was used to using that fear to his advantage. In fact, he knew most of the people who he dealt with were afraid of him in some way.
Zack, however, was not one of them. It was…nice to know that there would be someone who would always be there to stand beside him, even if it was at the cost of a bit of dignity and discovering that there was a new fear due to Zack.
For the first time, Sephiroth was afraid of losing someone.
That being the case, Sephiroth was still going to be forced to murder Zack, he really was. The only thing that saved the man from death was the fact that Sephiroth really didn’t want to have to train someone else for the job. He had thought he had finally gotten Zack trained, and now the man just would not be quiet. Something about finding a few decent candidates in the newest batch trying for SOLDIER once they were done with basics. Zack had already complained that one was going into the Turks, and Tseng had sent a memo asking Sephiroth to have his subordinate please stop asking to keep the potential Turk.
The more Sephiroth tried to ignore Zack, the more hyper Zack would get. Eventually, however, he managed to convince Sephiroth to come watch them spar. Apparently, Zack had taken it upon himself to give them extra lessons, and had been pestering Sephiroth for a few weeks to come check it out.
Finally, just to have some measure of peace back, Sephiroth did.
For the limited amount of training they had had, and what he expected was complete lack of training before, he did have to admit they were not doing too poorly. Still, he wasn’t sure why Zack thought it would do for him to watch them.
Then, slowly, after a few minutes of watching, he slowly began to realize that what Zack was doing looked familiar. He was correcting them with little comments, little gestures.
Like when Zack was sitting with him, watching a movie, and showing him how most people reacted by example, or showing him how to play cards and then shamelessly cheating.
They were his new projects. But, given that Zack still was being his normal, somewhat irritating self, he realized that Zack wasn’t going to stop…being his friend. If anything, he was going to try to figure out how to make him like these new…children as well.
Strangely enough, Sephiroth was willing to give Zack a chance at that if he wanted.
He did feel rather sympathetic for the children after all. Zack was like a force of nature. You hide from him or just accepted that you couldn’t escape.
Looks like those two, like him, hadn’t escaped.
Good. Maybe it would give Zack something new to talk about besides his girlfriend. Because while Sephiroth knew he would kill for the man, and maybe even die for him, if he had to listen to anymore stories about flowers, he really might just have to go mad.
Wordcounts:
Nov 2: 5,078
November so far: 10,454
Nano: 5,323
OGToF: 13,760
Chapter Three: On the Run
From: (Anonymous)
Yay!
Anyway, I don't have an insane journal account, so I can't officially sign it, but,
Xazis