Chapter Text
As it turned out, losing a company-issued materia was kind of a big deal around ShinRa HQ.
Honestly, it was all Zack’s fault, but who was going to believe a trooper about that? And so that was how Cloud ended up manning the supply station for his ‘punishment’, apparently with the intention to teach him some responsibility when it came to company issued equipment. In reality, it taught him two important lessons…Never trust Zack Fair when he’s only ‘pretty sure’ something is okay, and never open any kind of shop that required interacting with people.
It also taught him SOLDIERs were a group of self-entitled, pompous assholes, but that was besides the point. It was lucky he’d learned to stop taking shit years ago—seriously, if one more SOLDIER came in waving their status around like it made them exempt from the rules, he was going to snap.
“You’ve hit your limit for the month,” Cloud said, bored as usual at his desk.
Sharp mako eyes narrowed, and oh boy. Apparently today was the day. “Can't you make an exception?"
Cloud pointed at the sign posted clearly on his desk, detailing company policy on equipment allotments. Written boldly at the bottom were two key words: NO EXCEPTIONS. Had he known he would need to point to those two words so often, he would have made a damn placard and put it in the center of the desk.
“Nope.”
“I’m a SOLDIER. I need the extra—”
“Not my problem,” he shrugged, pulling out a granola bar and munching on it. “Is there anything else I can do for you today, sir?”
“I’m so sick of you infantry brats thinking you can just—”
“Do our jobs? I know, it’s a real hassle when people try to do that. Also a real hassle when other people try to stop them just so they can have an extra bracer. I mean, seriously, who even needs an extra one of those?”
“Mine broke, and—”
“And nothing, SOLDIER. You get an allotted number of bracers per year, and you hit your limit. You break it, you buy it,” Cloud told him, plain and simple. “It’s not like you can’t afford to buy your own anyway. Get over it.”
“Who’s your commanding officer?” the SOLDIER demanded, arms folded across his pompous chest.
Cloud sighed but rattled off the name, having gone down this route before. “Now will you please get out of here? I’m trying to eat my snack.”
And, yeah. If his commanding officer had a few choice words for him at the end of the week, so be it. He had 6 months left before he was done with ShinRa anyway—before he was done with the military, and he was done dealing with SOLDIERs. If they wanted to kick him out early, all the better.
He had big plans anyway. A whole new life was waiting for him at the end of his enlistment, and even a dishonorable discharge wouldn’t stop it from happening. If there was one good thing about his time in the military, it was that he had met a lot of people in his travels in and around Midgar. One particular mission had landed him in Rocket Town where he met a guy named Cid—a genius engineer who promised Cloud a mentorship once he got out thanks to the ingenuity Cloud had shown on his trip out there.
All it had cost him was the materia he had ‘lost’. It was only a plain fire materia, so it didn’t strike him as such a big deal at the time—especially not when he had called up his trusty SOLDIER friend who had proceeded to tell him it was probably no big deal. That he could just pay for it and call it a day since it wasn’t a unique type.
Thankfully his shift seemed to quiet down after the most recent SOLDIER snob, giving Cloud some much needed time to relax. He pulled out a book after finishing his snack, reading away on the intricacies of engineering and its uses. There were so many options! It had been years since he felt so excited about something, and this goal was actually attainable which made it all the sweeter.
Of course, his quiet reprieve didn’t last long. Boots were clattering on the hard floor within the hour, which was the typical indication another self-entitled SOLDIER had stumbled into his supply station.
“Ahem.”
“No exceptions,” Cloud warned, pointing at the sign with the company equipment policy.
“You have yet to hear my request.”
“Yeah, and you can spare me the time if you know it’s a rule violation.”
“You must be the one there’s been so much chatter about,” the SOLDIER mused, smirking at him as he finally glanced up from his book. “Do you know who I am, Sargent?”
Red hair. Red jacket. Mako eyes. Yeah, Cloud knew exactly who this guy was, and he still didn’t care.
“Seriously, I’m not in the mood. I’m not gonna lick your boots, so why don’t you save us both some time and get out of here?”
“I don’t appreciate your tone. Now, if you would be so kind as to pull my name, I think you’ll find I’m authorized additional materia compared to most,” the redhead insisted, eyeing Cloud expectantly.
Cloud, to his credit, resisted rolling his eyes. It seemed this guy was one of those SOLDIERS—the ones who insisted the rules were different for them, if he would just check. Nine times out of ten, they were wasting his time.
“It’s Rhapsodos, spelled R-H—”
“Just because I’m in the infantry doesn’t mean I can’t spell,” he muttered, and this time he did roll his eyes. Rhapsodos, Genesis. First Class SOLDIER, Rank Commander. Material Allotment, Level Five.
Material allotments were determined by the different types of materia—standard, command, support, independent, and summon materia. Users were only authorized one of each type they could actually cast, meaning most SOLDIERs could only check out one or two at a time. Level Five meant Genesis could have one of each, which was admittedly a bit rare.
Cloud clicked into his file, looking over what he already had checked out in his name.
“All you have left on your balance is a support materia,” Cloud told him, glancing up from the terminal. “Which will it be?”
“I don’t need a support materia, I need a summon.”
“You already have Bahamut out in your name.”
“Yes, and I intend to keep him. It’s not as if anyone else could summon him anyway.”
“Doesn’t mean you get to check out two,” Cloud responded.
“Says who?”
“Seriously?” Cloud pointed at his damn sign, where it clearly stated under Section 6, Subsection B, that such a scenario was not an exception to the materia limitation policy. “Can I go back to my book now?”
“No, you certainly may not. I need to bring Shiva with me—”
“No problem. Just give me Bahamut, and we’ll call it a deal.”
Genesis narrowed his eyes. “I refuse. I demand to see your superior officer.”
“Get in line, buddy. He’s gonna tell you the same thing he tells them—company policy isn’t open to interpretation.”
In fact, other than reprimanding Cloud on his ‘poor attitude’, his Lieutenant made it a point to thank him regularly. Apparently he had already saved the company no less than a million gil since taking this post, being the first infantryman to stand his ground against these SOLDIER assholes. Not that he particularly cared about doing a good job—frankly, he just wanted to keep this ‘post’ till his enlistment was done because there was plenty of down time for him to read.
“I’m not leaving here until I see him,” Genesis insisted, standing his ground.
Cloud plopped back down in his seat, opening his book with disinterest as the man continued to huff. After the last SOLDIER, it was only a matter of time before his Lieutenant showed up anyway.
“You realize I could just walk behind the desk and take what I need, yes?”
“Not if you don’t want to be landed with desk duty for a month,” Cloud retorted, knowing damn well that was what happened to SOLDIERs who threw their weight around like that. Yeah, he could probably pry the damn materia out of the case, but it wouldn’t do him much good if he got stuck on desk duty. “But hey, your call.”
“I’ll make you a deal, then. You look like a capable young man,” Genesis tried, taking on a whole new tone. The flattery route—not very creative, Cloud thought, having heard this one before too. “I’ll turn in Bahamut if you can find one name in your registry that can summon him.”
Cloud snorted, not even needing to look. “Does the name Sephiroth ring a bell? He's polite by the way. Never gives me shit when he comes in here for supplies.”
“He doesn’t count. He has no interest in Bahamut!”
“You can’t add contingencies after the fact. And anyway, I never agreed to your deal. The answer is no.”
“I’m not leaving without—”
“Give me the damn materia,” Cloud snapped, holding out an expectant hand.
“Are you deaf? I’m not turning him in. Bahamut is a very rare creature, and—”
“And there’s at least one more person in this registry who can summon him,” he responded, arching a brow. “Are you another one of those SOLDIERs who says things they don’t mean?”
“No, because I said Sephiroth didn’t—”
“It’s not Sephiroth.”
Just when Cloud was sure this man could get no more condescending, Genesis laughed at his assertion. “You’re delusional. There’s no other SOLDIER capable of such a cast, or I would know of it.”
“Yeah?” Cloud asked, punching a very familiar name into the registry. "SOLDIERs aren't the only ones listed in this registry."
He spun the screen around so Genesis could see it, clear as day.
Strife, Cloud. Infanty Gunman, Rank Sargent. Materia Allotment, Level Five.
“You can use summoning materia?” Genesis huffed, openly skeptical as his eyes flittered over to check Cloud's name badge again.
“I don’t get paid enough to make this shit up.”
He clicked into the file, pulling up his materia statistics.They were a bit erratic, honestly, and it was his inconsistent casting that held him back when he went for the support squadron. Summoning had always been the easiest for him, though. Sure, he’d never tried Bahamut before, but he was willing to try anything once—especially if it shut this guy up. His mana levels weren’t as high as someone like Genesis or Sephiroth, but he’d dabbled enough to know he could manage more than most when it came to this stuff.
“Only half a dozen SOLDIERs are capable of calling a summon, and none but myself and Sephiroth can handle Bahamut.”
“So?” Cloud shrugged, still holding his hand out. “Trying never hurt anyone.”
“We’ll see,” Genesis muttered, popping the red orb out of his bracer and handing it to Cloud with clear reluctance.
He accepted it wordlessly, the jolt from the materia more startling than usual as their fingers grazed. This was definitely the most powerful summon he had ever held if that was any indication, which was saying something since he was currently keeper of the supplies. He debated briefly being a brat and checking the materia back in instead of playing this game, but something told him Genesis would just stick around and complain if he did that. The point in all this was to move this interaction along, not to let it drag out, and so he wrapped his hand tightly around the orb instead.
A familiar tingle resonated inside him right away, like this orb had always belonged to him somehow. It had been a while since he needed to try anything like this, but he was pretty sure he could do it if he just—
There.
He closed his eyes, pulling on the point where his mana met the mako that had begun to tickle his skin, crackling from the materia in his hand.
“Shit,” he whispered, surrendering a lot more mana than he expected in exchange for creature held back by the mako. The sudden loss left him short of breath, leaning on his desk for support as he fought the urge to collapse.
Exhaustion aside, it was actually pretty cool. He couldn’t help smiling as he opened his eyes, seeing Bahamut for the first time. Definitely something he wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. There were a few dragons back home in Nibelheim, but none had looked so fierce—and none were tied to him intrinsically, waiting on his command to attack.
“You…” Genesis stared at him, wide-eyed and open mouthed. “How?”
“Does it matter? It’s done, and we had a deal. Do you wanna keep this one or do you want me to get Shiva?” Cloud asked, hoping to speed this right along. When there was no answer, Cloud took a guess, releasing Bahamut from his grasp and handing the orb back to Genesis. “You don’t look like a Shiva kinda guy.”
“Who is your superior officer?” Genesis asked, softer this time.
“Seriously? You’re a sore loser.” That didn’t stop Cloud from rattling off his Lieutenant's name, since he technically wasn’t allowed to decline to tell a SOLDIER that information. “Can I go back to my book now?”
“Of course. I’ll be seeing you around, dear.”
Dear? Cloud raised a brow, wondering what was with the sudden change in tone. He was pretty sure Genesis had winked at him as well, like they’d just shared a secret or something.
If they had, Cloud had definitely missed it.
-----
A week later, Cloud sat in SOLDIER headquarters with his head hung, wondering which SOLDIER it was that he pissed off so sufficiently that they went and cried to Lazard about it. Apparently not even his Lieutenant had the pull to get him out of a summons to see the Director of SOLDIER, which meant he had to suck it up and take this reprimand whether he was right or wrong.
“He’ll see you now,” the man’s secretary said, buzzing him into the office.
Cloud let out a long sigh, trying to hang onto the words of advice his Lieutenant had given him. Be polite. Just let it go if he calls you an asshole—it’s not like he’ll be wrong on that account. Agree to reel it in a bit and he’ll send you on your way.
Fuck that, Cloud thought, narrowing his eyes as he stepped in and saw Genesis Fucking Rhapsodos standing by the Director’s desk. So much for their deal. If this was how he wanted to play it, Cloud had no intention of holding back—he’d tell the Director exactly who started this shit.
“You’re certain he’s the one?” Lazard asked, glancing between the two.
“Positive,” Genesis confirmed, extending a hand to Cloud. “Shall I prove it?”
Cloud raised a brow, looking at the man like he was crazy. “What’re you talking about?”
“You, my dear, are a catalyst.”
“A catalyst for what?” he responded, confused.
“Have you never heard the legends?”
“Obviously not…” Cloud shuffled where he stood, suddenly feeling like he was missing something important. He wasn’t in trouble, so what in the hells was happening? “Why am I here?”
“Congratulations, Strife. I’ve already drawn up the conscription paperwork,” Lazard told him, his smile awfully kind for someone who had just uttered the word conscription. “You’ll begin your new life as a SOLDIER starting today.”
“Wait…What?” He looked between the two, laughing because that was all he could do. They couldn’t be serious. “I’m 6 months away from leaving ShinRa. I have no interest in being a SOLDIER.”
This time as he looked between the two men, neither said a word even when he demanded an explanation. Even when he raised his voice and repeated the question with some more creative language. Instead they just exchanged a look, clearly not having expected such a response.
“I’m sorry,” Lazard said after a long delay, and it almost looked like he meant it. “Once a conscription has been enacted, it’s final. You’re a SOLDIER now, Strife.”