Chapter Text
Standing in line with ten other boys, including himself. There was another row with another ten boys, making twenty of them. He stood completely still, his hands at his side with a backpack. His eyes wandered to the floor of the plane, hearing the sound of the cargo door opening.
Bright light took over his sight, his eyes squinted. Taking a step back, he looked forward with his hands over his eyes. There was a heavy set of footsteps from behind him, causing him to look at the sight.
A Shinra trooper who was a commander walked by him, with their hands clasped from behind. They walked proudly, before stopping in front of both lines.
By now his eyes had adjusted to the light from outside. His hand was back at his side, he was able to make out an airstrip and in front of them was the Shinra building.
They were topside of Midgar right now, and he could tell that they were at a place only for those who were enlisting to become SOLDIER.
The commander sighed, “well, let's go boys. Your training awaits you.” His voice was strong and steady. The boy nodded, and so did the others. “You all know what to do, I assume.” He turned his back on them to begin walking, and the boys started to walk with the commander as well.
The walk there was quiet, just the sound of boots against the cement ground.
The walk led them to a train, a well put together train that seemed fast. The boy had never seen it, not in his backwater town at least. Everything there was old and run down, only a building that belonged to Shinra was what kept his old town afloat.
But regardless, when the door of the train slid open. The boys lined up obediently, like kids waiting for their kindergarten teacher to let them inside the train. He was short, causing him to be one of the first ones.
There was a person by the door, standing next to what was assumed to be a conductor. They had a white lab coat on, well groomed hair which was slicked back. Brunette color, and there were signs of smile lines on their face.
The man held a tablet, tapping it once every time a boy stood in front of him. Something would be exchanged, the boy would hold up their Shinra ID, and the man would look at his tablet, tap something, then the boy would go into the passenger train. Wait a few seconds, then the next boy.
“Next,” the voice of the man was gentle. The boy stepped forward, looking up at the man. The man looked down at him, brows raised before saying, “you’re quite the little one.”
A frown.
The man chuckled, “your ID son?”
The boy dug deep into his pocket, rummaging until he felt his ID. He slid it out his pocket, holding it in front of the man.
The man leaned down, taking the card from the boy’s hand. His eyes squinted, “Cloud Strife huh?” A tilt of their head before another rumbly chuckle. “That’s quite the name.” He looked down at the tablet, pressing on something. “You’re good to go, child.” A pat of his head, and the man gave Cloud his ID back. “Welcome to SOLDIER.” There was a smile of admiration.
He glanced at the man’s eye, but not long enough to catch the color. Swallowing his nerves, “thank you.” He said in such a soft whisper that it was barely audible. He grabbed the ID card and shoved it back into his pocket, entering into the passenger train.
It was a train with beds lined up, all bunk beds stacked. Cloud went to the back, where no spot would be taken. The further he went the quieter it was. When he reached his bed, there was a hole underneath the bed to put his backpack. He did just that, by swinging his pack off and kicking it underneath.
Once he figured it was tucked all the way in, he sat at the edge of the bed. His eyes staring through the window that was across his own bed. He didn’t know what to say, or what to think at this time.
He looked at his body, he was dressed in his Shinra trooper outfit still, just without the helmet. He was adjusting his gloves, then fitted them again, before deciding to just pull them off. He stared at the texture of his gloves, a worn old brown leather. He sighed, shoving them in his pockets.
His hands moved to the buttons of his uniform, he worked from the top then to the bottom, his fingers working diligently. He had done this cycle more times than he could remember. There was a time where he felt excited to put on his uniform, but after being a trooper for over a year, it’s become exhausting.
Once the uniform had been unbuttoned, his hands went to the scarf to take it off. Throwing it off to the end of the bed, he worked on his shoulder pads and holsters. His eyes staring blankly into nothing while doing so, the same routine over and over.
Once he had everything off, he kicked it all at the foot of the bed. His boots were neatly tucked underneath the bed as well, and then he leaned back to lay his back on the mattress. Above him was a white frame of another bed.
Turning his head to look through his own window now, he didn’t know where they were going. But what he could see was that they were in tunnels for Midgar, underground somewhere. This led him to assume they were still in Midgar, and this train was taking them somewhere underground.
Whilst he laid there, the sounds of footsteps from the front of the train echoed throughout the hallway. It was quiet, the boys didn’t talk much. A few did chatter, but not many made a fuss. They all picked their beds and went about their days.
The words of the man in white ran through his head, ‘welcome to SOLDIER.’ The program was something he had been wanting to enter even before he enlisted. The posters and advertisements he saw on the old television back in his old home, it had convinced him to enlist. The best of Midgar’s heroes were SOLDIERs, and they all had this feeling of being invincible. Where they had smiles made for posters, their bodies all muscular.
They were like knights from fairy tales, coming in to save citizens from the horrors of war. They seemed so powerful to him, but the one that left a mark on him, was the one and only Sephiroth. The Hero of Midgar was what they called him. This was a 1st class SOLDIER, only a bundle of them were promoted for that. All hand picked by Shinra themselves, given superhuman-like advancements to be heroes.
But most of all, Sephiroth was someone, he was a person. He was someone who made a name for himself in Midgar, and amongst all of the citizens in the north, east, south, and west. Everyone knew who he was, when people heard Sephiroth, they thought of a hero.
Another thing about SOLDIER, was the fact that they would be bathed in riches. Being able to give a trooper’s family fortune, bathing them in riches. That was another motive of Cloud’s. His mother worked hard, all his life, all he had was her. He wouldn’t write any letters to her, wouldn’t call either, he felt like he was too scrawny and pathetic.
But his mother is the reason why he’s still alive. He can remember being little, real small and running up to her after he hurt himself. If he cried she would soothe him, and she would caress his head and tell him how strong he was. She always had some sort of confidence in him. She was poor as well, he had to make her proud, he had to help her.
He could remember being so small that he would struggle to sit on the seat at the dining table. He would play with his toys, and his mother would be sitting there with him, looking down at the papers on the table. They were bills and calculations on what to spend her paycheck on. How much she could spend to provide for not only him, but herself as well.
When he’d ask about it, she’d pick him up and set him down on her lap so she could explain. Her voice was soft, delicate like an Angel. At least, he thought it sounded like an Angel, he wasn’t a religious man but he always heard tales of Angels. Messengers sent from someone high above, and they would be beautiful. With their hearts made of gold, always with good intentions. That was what his mother was.
He needed to help his mother, because any woman like her would deserve to be spoilt by riches. He should be the son that will take care of his mother. If he became a SOLDIER, she would never have to worry about money like that again. She would just be able to spoil herself rotten, and that’s a good thing. At least, he thought it was.
He had another motive too, but it wasn’t as strong as the others. His thoughts led him to the pretty girl back at home with crow black hair, and for some reason his face heated up. He cleared his throat to forget the image, shaking himself. He hadn’t seen her in a year, but yet just thinking of her still made him nervous.
He hoped by being a SOLDIER she could rely on him more, and actually think of him, think of him as some sort of person.
The majority of his life was empty, he got bullied plenty. He didn’t have many friends either in the barracks. He would eat alone, and sometimes another trooper would join him with grub, conversing with him. But regardless, most of his life was just him being a loner. In his old backwater town, he lived next to the forest, to which he would explore until sunset. He would play alone, because if he tried to play with the other kids, he would be called weird, and made fun of for not having a father he knew. While every other kid had a father, and a mother.
The thought did something to him, because he found himself tightly gripping the bedsheet with a scowl on his face. He blinked his eyes, getting rid of his thoughts.
Now wasn’t the time to think of such things. He had to focus, soon the train would drop him off to wherever, and he’d need to make sure he was mentally prepared to the fullest.
He turned his head, seeing another trooper take the bed beside him. They were curled into a ball underneath their bedsheets, nestled comfortably. He heard their deep breathing, and he knew they were sleeping.
This got him curious, so he sat up halfway. Leaning off the bed just a bit so his head could poke into the hallway to see if the other boys were sleeping, and they were. He sniffled, glancing down at the ground before rolling onto his side. He stared blankly at the walls that the train drove by underground, letting darkness consume him completely.
-
The sound of yelling at the end of the train. His eyes snapped open, sitting up so fast and completely with his head hitting the frame from the bed above. He flinched, “ow.” He mumbled in such a pathetic tone that he sounded like a sad puppy. He rubbed his forehead, before rolling onto the side and poking his head out.
“What do you think is happening?” The words came from a boy above him. Someone took the bunk above while I was sleeping. The words from the boy was to no one in particular.
“Who knows.” The boy to Cloud’s right had said in a quiet tone.
“Get up boys! Get your backpacks! Don’t bother putting on your uniform, just your boots and backpack!” The one who was shouting like a lunatic was the commander at the front. He was pacing the hall with the twenty bunk beds.
Cloud slid off his bed, shoving his feet into his boots and zipping them up quickly. He turned around and grabbed his uniform that was still at the end of the bed, folding everything quickly. He left his uniform on the bed, leaning down to grab his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder quickly.
“Aye Spiky,” the name got his attention, making him look up. He saw the boy that was above him, and the boy was sitting at the edge of his bed with his backpack in bed.
Cloud hummed his response.
“Mind if I get in front of ya?” His accent, Cloud was familiar with it. A southerner, meaning they were most likely a person in the blue collar business. Cloud nodded his head, stepping back so the boy could jump down from his bed. The boy looked back, “thanks partner.” A wink of gratitude.
“No problem.” Cloud’s reply was a mutter. The boy stood straight, and once Cloud had his backpack on completely. He stood in line with a straight posture, the boy that was to his right stood behind him.
The sound of what seemed to be a lasso-man yipping at herding sheep could be heard throughout the train. So the boys began moving in a single file line like steady cattle. Cloud looked down with each step, being careful so his boots wouldn’t touch the boy in front of him.
He stepped down from the train, looking around. It was a station that was underground, he still hadn’t seen the outside world since yesterday. It was dark, barely lit, and the pillars that supported the roof were made of cement and brick that was crumbling. The station seemed old, like it had seen its fair share of good and bad days.
The ground was cracked as well. Cloud sniffled, looking around with his hands holding the straps of his backpack.
“C’mon lads,” the commander spoke again, “follow me boys.” His voice wasn’t as harsh as yesterday.
The boys walked up a long flight of stairs that seemed to have over fifty steps. But none of them seemed to grow tired, they just continued walking obediently and quietly.
Eventually the mindless walking had led them to another building, which was just a room that looked like a big locker room. This was due to the fact the room looked dirty and gross but had lockers lined up against the walls, except one wall. There was no windows, and there was a few puddles here and there. With a big yellow sign that read, ‘CAUTION: wet floor.’
“Line up!” Another shout of another command. Cloud and the boys did just that. They lined up against the wall without any lockers, and the commander began pacing the line. He was talking to himself underneath his breath, which Cloud couldn’t hear. He stopped in his tracks then, and the boys straightened up naturally in fear one of them had messed up.
The commander spoke, “you will all leave your backpacks here. At the spot that you stand now.” He said calmly, pointing to the ground.
“Yes sir.” They said in sync.
“You will meet the doctors at this facility. The head doctor is Dr. Hojo, who you will meet.” His tone was sturdy, confident with each word. “You will treat this man with respect, and authority,” the commander walked with his hands at his sides in a neat march as he paced, “because he is in charge of SOLDIER. He is why SOLDIERs exist.”
“Yes sir.” Another response of obedience.
“Here,” he turned to the door, pointing to it. Cloud looked over with his eyes, he knew better than to look away at a commander who spoke. “You will all be given white shirts and white pants.” The moment those words left the commander’s mouth the door had slid open.
In came a little man pushing a cart with what looked to be the clothes the commander had spoken of. Cloud was standing near the door, in fact he was the second person by the door.
“Look inside for no more than ten seconds, and choose your pair of shirt and pants.” He ordered, and the cart was brought to the first boy in the back. Which was the person Cloud slept beside.
The boy looked into the cart, the little man began counting to ten seconds. While he counter the commander continued his instructions. “You will change to these clothes and you will be given thirty seconds to change.”
The cart moved to Cloud. He quickly looked in. “We will not wait for more than thirty.” He saw the pair and grabbed a white t-shirt with white pants to pull them out the cart.
“If you have taken more than thirty seconds you will be reprimanded!” The commander snapped, as if this has happened many times already. The little man moved again to the next boy. “During this time, you may swap positions in line!” When he had finished that statement, he looked at all the boys.
“Yes sir!” They responded, still looking straight.
“Good,” a nod, “I will be watching at the door.” He turned around to walk to the door that was on the other side.
The boys relaxed at that, looking around the room. Cloud looked at where the commander was at to catch a glimpse out the steel door slim light window. But all he saw was white, it kind of hurt his eyes to look at.
“You may begin.” The commander gave the order, and the boys dropped their backpacks. “One!” The commander was counting.
Cloud slid his undershirt off, and so did the other boys. He looked at the white shirt, slipping it onto his torso. He grabbed his boots, unzipping to take them off quickly.
“Ten!”
He made sure his boots were tucked and tidy, because boots were important to Shinra. He shoved his blue Shinra trooper pants off, revealing his black boxers underneath. He quickly grabbed his white loose pants, slipping them onto himself.
“Fifteen!”
“You wanna swap Spiky?” He heard the sound of another boy who looked at him. “I’m kinda nervous.” They spoke quickly. Their eyes showed nervousness.
He didn’t understand why a stranger wanted to swap with him, but there was no time to think. Cloud nodded his head, “sure.” He grabbed his backpack and boots to swap places with the boy.
“Time!”
Cloud stood straight, and so did the others. It seemed everyone had finished just on time. His eyes looked at the boys, and he saw that it wasn’t just him who swapped places. Many of the boys who were at the front seemed to swap two places back, or three places back. Maybe they were nervous as well.
The commander was pacing again. He looked up and down at each boy to examine them. “Good.” He nodded his head then walked to the door again. He knocked on it three times, and the door slid open at the very last knock.
The boys turned to the right. When the commander walked into the white room, the boys followed as well. They were close in proximity.
When Cloud entered the room, he saw how clean it was. There was a man with a lab cat in the center of the room. Cloud looked at him with curiosity.
“Ah, our new nominees!” The voice was enthusiastic. But the face was hideous to look at. The man had wrinkles, and long hair that was tied back. In all honesty, it reminded Cloud of a rat.
“Line up please, please!” He urged, a bright smile on his face. The boys did just that, lining up against the wall like good dogs.
The doctor smiled even brighter at the sight of all the boys lined up. Cloud noticed how there was another man with him, but they seemed much smaller in terms of importance. They were holding a clipboard and pen, looking at each boy and marking something down.
“My name is Dr. Hojo.” The doctor who stood in the center introduced himself.
“Hello sir.” The boys all said at once, dipping their heads.
“Oh please! No need for such a formality!” Dr. Hojo unexpectedly laughed with amusement. “I’m not like that stiff ol’ commander, just nod or shake your head, or say yes sir. It doesn’t matter much to me.” He rubbed his hands, laughing boastfully. The man was clearly excited.
“You boys are all here to become SOLDIER, yes?”
A nod.
“Yes,” Hojo had hummed with delight, “well, you boys will be here for who knows how long. Making a SOLDIER is a very complicated process. Did you know, it took Sephiroth over a decade to become a SOLDIER?” He pointed his index finger up into the air.
A shake of their heads.
“Yes, it took quite some time.” Hojo clasped his hands from behind as he paced the line of boys. He too was studying each boy, examining their traits. “But, here in SOLDIER we have decided to do things a bit differently.”
Hojo stopped at the center, all the boys looked over. “You will be subjugated to doing tests, because we here at Shinra, at SOLDIER, want to engineer the perfect human. The perfect being, who naturally holds superhuman strengths. We will enhance your sight, hearing, taste, and smell. We will put you through extreme tests to see how powerful your will is. To be a SOLDIER you must have a will stronger than the planet itself.”
Silence.
Hojo crossed his arms, “the first rule of SOLDIER is,” he looked around, “no attachments.” The word was said with venom. “Attachments are forbidden, I will not tell you why because you boys must figure that out yourselves. But, you cannot hold attachments for people or to things. This includes a girl you left at home- or boy,” he added, “and your family.”
Cloud looked at the ground at the news. No attachments? But what about his mother? What about the girl back at home? He cared about both of them. He was here because of them. How can he just get rid of his motive to be a SOLDIER like that? Why couldn’t he be attached to them? To have a drive was a good thing. They were his drive. That was a good thing, wasn’t it?
“Second rule of SOLDIER,” Hojo continued, “honor. You all have the honor of SOLDIER. Never get rid of that honor.” He pointed to all the boys.
A nod.
“Another thing is that obviously you boys can't get rid of your attachments so easily,” he shrugged, “so we will give you two days of the week to call your family, or girl, or anybody really.” He stated with a patient tone. As if he understood what the boys were thinking.
A nod.
“Then once a week, once every two weeks, blah blah blah, you understand. We just need to ween you boys off the attachment.” He said casually.
Another nod.
“Also,” he had a cheery tone, “if you are caught with having an attachment. You will be executed.” The news seemed to stop something in Cloud’s brain.
The calling rule seemed to be fair, it made sense. But executing someone because of their attachments? How was that fair? He couldn’t understand for the life of him as to how attachment was such a bad thing. Why was it so bad to be attached to something as a SOLDIER? Did it get in the way of training? But how?
He knew why the execution was a thing. With the execution the SOLDIER would be rendered useless. But how? How could they possibly be useless? But still, executing was extreme. Why not just exile the guy? Leave him in the dust, leave him to live a normal life or as a Shinra grunt. Why in the world would anybody need to execute someone for having an attachment to another? That just didn’t make sense.
Cloud looked up at the ceiling to find an answer. But he saw railings instead. Troopers and doctors walking them and looking down at the boys, studying them.
What the hell?
He looked back at Hojo, who was letting the boys take in the news of being executed if they had an attachment. Once he seemed tired of waiting, he spoke again. “I mentioned to you boys, that you will be put under extreme tests, yes?”
A nod.
“Well, your final test.” He rubbed his palm against the back of his hand as he thought of a way to say this. “There will be another twenty boys in the next six months. Right now, it’s just you nineteen. Nineteen ‘cause we accidentally miscounted the last set of trainees. But still, another twenty will come in six months.” He added the last part quickly.
Silence.
“You nineteen plus their twenty will make a batch, you will be family, brothers in arms, and honorable.” Hojo said calmly, standing completely still. He clasped his hands from behind, “for your final test. You forty will be put into an arena and will fight till the death, till there is only one left.”
Some of the boys stepped towards Hojo with offense. As if they wanted to fight the doctor at that moment. There was gasps amongst the boys. Cloud knew that most, if not all the boys hadn’t killed yet. They were all Shinra grunts, just infantrymen with no experience except guarding and doing as they’re told. Being good dogs for the military, doing basic work. None had ever really killed.
Being put into an arena? With boys who you’re supposed to treat like family? Kill each other? He could hardly believe what he was even hearing. How was he supposed to kill the people who he viewed as brothers? How was he supposed to kill people he would treat as family, as his own flesh and blood. That wasn’t possible, only someone so insane would do that.
That wasn’t said when he signed up for the program. Had he known he’d have to kill, he wouldn’t have signed up. It seems that all the boys thought the same as well, because they were looking at each other, murmurs of confusion rang in the air.
Cloud inhaled, trying to calm his nerves. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand, trying to soothe himself. He could feel himself trembling, until he pinched the back of his neck and was able to stop.
“And the most important rule of all,” Hojo wasn’t finished. The boys fell silent at the voice of Hojo. “You will have no names, simply numbers. This is your new life now. You can choose to continue having your name, if you desire. But once you are a SOLDIER, you will be simply a number. The life of SOLDIER doesn’t have attachments or identity, because you will be a hero, the people will give you a name, not yourself.” Hojo explained calmly, as if he was talking to a group of children.
The boys looked down, as if they were defeated. Cloud Strife would no longer be known as Cloud Strife any time soon. He would be a number, his identity would be stripped away. He would kill his own comrades. But… maybe that’s why they’re given numbers instead of names. Cloud would never kill, so they give him a number, a different version and life of Cloud, a version of him that could kill.
“The commander here will give you your number by stamping your hand.” Hojo pointed to the commander, who held a self-inking stamp in his gloved hand.
A nod.
“That is all,” he took a step back, “for now.” Turning his back on the boys, he walked to the other door at the other end of the room. Which led to another white room, it seemed that they would be going through something else again. Maybe a place where they take their weights and height.
After about five minutes, his turn finally came. The commander held his hand up, “hand.” He said simply. Cloud held his hand up for the commander, who took his wrist. “What’s your name child?” He spoke with a voice that only military men reserved for children.
“Cloud Strife.” He answered.
“A cloud of violent struggle is what you’re named after, huh.” The commander’s voice was quiet, processing the name. “Well Cloud, are you violent?” He continued to hold Cloud’s wrist.
“No, I don’t think so.” Cloud said quietly, shaking his head. He looked down for a moment, questioning if he was capable of being violent. There was a frown on his face.
“Well Cloud,” the name got his attention, “maybe with this new name you’ll become that. A violent SOLDIER, who is a hero.” There was something hidden in that tone, but Cloud couldn’t figure it out.
Something cold pressed on his hand, and the commander let go. “Welcome to SOLDIER…” he said something else but Cloud couldn’t hear it. His eyes moved to his hand as soon as the commander had finished stamping him.
Welcome to SOLDIER, 0636.