didn't have the right qualities. didn't tick the right boxes. didn't fall into line or take orders the way he should. but that loyalty to the company, that determination to prove himself, that flash of raw potential was enough to separate him from the rest. instead of third class hues he's offered a tailored suit with a smile that says there is no option to refuse.
and he takes it.
and he's fucking good at it, is the thing. really good. maybe not the best out of pressure - when he has time to think, and his hands star to shake and he falls out of the moment - but his mission track record is shaping up to be something worth paying attention to.
now, if only he were any good with relating to his coworkers. veld's been swapping him in and out of partnerships for the better part of the last month, trying to find something that sticks. cloud is a battle prodigy, but his ability to work in a team is lacking. he's best as a solo act, but he lacks the foresight and confidence to act if something goes wrong.
so here he is in the early morning in the office, a coffee set out for the other member of this assignment. zack's been telling him he's got this and offering every tip and trick he can think of to help the blonde fit in, but he tries too damn hard and won't just be himself.
[ NIBELHEIM. it had to be nibelheim. cloud had imagined his return home many a time, imagining glory attached to his name and redemption in the eyes of the people who had shunned him. envy, maybe, regret that they hadn’t done more to know him. he’d imagined he’d return a hero, dripping with power and influence and then they would see all they’d missed out on.
then they’d see.
but things just hadn’t panned out that way. while he’d accomplished a great many things, all of those things were hidden behind the bold strokes of a blackout marker. everything he’d ever accomplished would forever remain hidden under tight lock and key. cloud's twenty, surviving being a turk for four years at a young age is nothing to sneeze at, but unsettled.
the closest thing to bragging rights he had was being assigned to this mission. the one he had practically begged tseng to remove him from, for hours, until it was made clear that there was no budging. tseng had told him that if he had been bold enough to switch careers, then he was bold enough to face the consequences. and zack was going with him - it wasn’t as if he lacked moral support.
it had been hard to argue against that. even if the lengthy car ride left him nauseous and napping for most of it, trying hard to look dignified even when he was banging on the cabin and asking to pull over so he could sit down for a minute.
the twenty year old turk shudders, tipping his head forward into his hands with a groan as the truck lurches forward yet again. It’s a good thing general sephiroth isn’t giving him the time of day, or else he might be afraid he was making a poor show for his department. he swallows hard and forces himself to look up and alert, not wallow in his own misery. ]
I’m fine. [ he says quickly, before Zack can ask.
he glances out the window, frowning heavily. things are looking more and more familiar, landmarks standing out starkly in the waning moonlight. his stomach twisting into uncomfortable knots. the phone rings and he leans back in his seat, checks the caller display, and brings the phone up to his ear with a sigh. ]
[ the night is quiet and peaceful. if he hadn't known nibelheim all his life, what the people were like, he could even call it idyllic. his mother is delighted to have him home (and with a friend, she hadn't been able to get over that) and the night had gotten away from her. she's out at her garden, harvesting the ingredients for the stew she intends to make for all of them.
he thinks that maybe he'll even say hello to tifa. let himself be seen by the townspeople, show them that he'd made something of himself after all... make the best of what was rapidly becoming a bad situation. ]
I know it's just a place, it's got no power over any of us. That's not the point - there's something in this town [ a pause ] and it's burning.
[ this wasn't what he called to report.
he'd called to report that sephiroth had been acting off. that something was wrong, very wrong, and the secrets in the basement were well beyond what any of them were anticipating on finding. they needed to withdraw, now, and someone needed to do something before sephiroth went somewhere they couldn't draw him back from.
and in a blink it's different.
the blonde grips the phone tightly to his ear, gaze out the window as his mind struggles to process the words he'd just spoken.
it's all burning.
the screaming is what makes it real. ]
He - [ he feels the heat through the window, superheated and burning his palm. he yanks them back and goes for his gun, bolting for the door, the phs still held to his ear. ] I need backup, now! I - shit, I told you! He just -
[ Not my son! Claudia Strife screams in the distance. Please, me and not my so- ]
[ the official report comes later. pieced together from forensic evidence scattered about the remnants of the burning village. the turk and the SOLDIER who were assigned to the mission are declared KIA, one having died fighting sephiroth while the other succumbed to injuries outside of his childhood home. cloud strife's corpse was reportedly found a few feet from that of his mother's, while Zack Fair was located within the mako reactor. Both had been dead long before the requested backup had arrived, with the Turk's corpse being burnt well beyond recognition.
it wouldn't matter if it wasn't. the turks records are scrubbed once they're gone. like they never existed at all.
so when reports come that experiments have escaped professor hojo's lab, they don't attach a name to the half-dead one that the SOLDIER is lugging around. even as he starts to become more aware, ever so slightly more certain of himself and his surroundings. midgar had been their goal right up until they'd encountered genesis and caught sight of the chopper that stopped to gather him up once he'd been defeated, now they're headed for cosmo canyon. to AVALANCHE.
cloud's suggestion. once he'd found the ability to make words. curling his fingers against zack's arm when he'd tried to make his last stand. they'd run the opposite direction, away from the fight.
( probably should've done that to begin with, zack mutters. i'm sorry essai... sebastian. )
they're camped out underground, deep enough into a cave that the fire won't show. zack's thrown a blanket over him and gone out hunting, and cloud's spent the better part of the day fading in and out of consciousness.
the sound of footfalls pulls him closer to this world than the next, and groggily, he lifts his glowing gaze ]
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
the rookie.
Date: 2020-05-14 10:45 pm (UTC)didn't have the right qualities. didn't tick the right boxes. didn't fall into line or take orders the way he should. but that loyalty to the company, that determination to prove himself, that flash of raw potential was enough to separate him from the rest. instead of third class hues he's offered a tailored suit with a smile that says there is no option to refuse.
and he takes it.
and he's fucking good at it, is the thing. really good. maybe not the best out of pressure - when he has time to think, and his hands star to shake and he falls out of the moment - but his mission track record is shaping up to be something worth paying attention to.
now, if only he were any good with relating to his coworkers. veld's been swapping him in and out of partnerships for the better part of the last month, trying to find something that sticks. cloud is a battle prodigy, but his ability to work in a team is lacking. he's best as a solo act, but he lacks the foresight and confidence to act if something goes wrong.
so here he is in the early morning in the office, a coffee set out for the other member of this assignment. zack's been telling him he's got this and offering every tip and trick he can think of to help the blonde fit in, but he tries too damn hard and won't just be himself.
he won't be great until he does. ]
prelude.
Date: 2020-05-14 10:48 pm (UTC)then they’d see.
but things just hadn’t panned out that way. while he’d accomplished a great many things, all of those things were hidden behind the bold strokes of a blackout marker. everything he’d ever accomplished would forever remain hidden under tight lock and key. cloud's twenty, surviving being a turk for four years at a young age is nothing to sneeze at, but unsettled.
the closest thing to bragging rights he had was being assigned to this mission. the one he had practically begged tseng to remove him from, for hours, until it was made clear that there was no budging. tseng had told him that if he had been bold enough to switch careers, then he was bold enough to face the consequences. and zack was going with him - it wasn’t as if he lacked moral support.
it had been hard to argue against that. even if the lengthy car ride left him nauseous and napping for most of it, trying hard to look dignified even when he was banging on the cabin and asking to pull over so he could sit down for a minute.
the twenty year old turk shudders, tipping his head forward into his hands with a groan as the truck lurches forward yet again. It’s a good thing general sephiroth isn’t giving him the time of day, or else he might be afraid he was making a poor show for his department. he swallows hard and forces himself to look up and alert, not wallow in his own misery. ]
I’m fine. [ he says quickly, before Zack can ask.
he glances out the window, frowning heavily. things are looking more and more familiar, landmarks standing out starkly in the waning moonlight. his stomach twisting into uncomfortable knots. the phone rings and he leans back in his seat, checks the caller display, and brings the phone up to his ear with a sigh. ]
We should be there in a half hour.
inferno.
Date: 2020-05-14 11:04 pm (UTC)he thinks that maybe he'll even say hello to tifa. let himself be seen by the townspeople, show them that he'd made something of himself after all... make the best of what was rapidly becoming a bad situation. ]
I know it's just a place, it's got no power over any of us. That's not the point - there's something in this town [ a pause ] and it's burning.
[ this wasn't what he called to report.
he'd called to report that sephiroth had been acting off. that something was wrong, very wrong, and the secrets in the basement were well beyond what any of them were anticipating on finding. they needed to withdraw, now, and someone needed to do something before sephiroth went somewhere they couldn't draw him back from.
and in a blink it's different.
the blonde grips the phone tightly to his ear, gaze out the window as his mind struggles to process the words he'd just spoken.
it's all burning.
the screaming is what makes it real. ]
He - [ he feels the heat through the window, superheated and burning his palm. he yanks them back and goes for his gun, bolting for the door, the phs still held to his ear. ] I need backup, now! I - shit, I told you! He just -
[ Not my son! Claudia Strife screams in the distance. Please, me and not my so- ]
MOM!
[ The line goes dead. ]
survival.
Date: 2020-05-14 11:16 pm (UTC)it wouldn't matter if it wasn't. the turks records are scrubbed once they're gone. like they never existed at all.
so when reports come that experiments have escaped professor hojo's lab, they don't attach a name to the half-dead one that the SOLDIER is lugging around. even as he starts to become more aware, ever so slightly more certain of himself and his surroundings. midgar had been their goal right up until they'd encountered genesis and caught sight of the chopper that stopped to gather him up once he'd been defeated, now they're headed for cosmo canyon. to AVALANCHE.
cloud's suggestion. once he'd found the ability to make words. curling his fingers against zack's arm when he'd tried to make his last stand. they'd run the opposite direction, away from the fight.
( probably should've done that to begin with, zack mutters. i'm sorry essai... sebastian. )
they're camped out underground, deep enough into a cave that the fire won't show. zack's thrown a blanket over him and gone out hunting, and cloud's spent the better part of the day fading in and out of consciousness.
the sound of footfalls pulls him closer to this world than the next, and groggily, he lifts his glowing gaze ]
wildcard.
Date: 2020-05-14 11:16 pm (UTC)