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Back in the SOLDIER barracks that night, Zack mingled with the other, lower class SOLDIERS and trainees in the mess hall rather than eating alone in his suite.

"Where'd ya take off to, Zack?" his dinner companion asked. "The General was in a huff about it."

Zack glanced across the cafeteria table at Cloud Strife. He half expected criticism of his disappearing act, even from this still-green recruit. Surprisingly, he found only genuine concern in the boy's blue eyes. He sighed.

"I just needed a break, Cloud. All this metal... it gets to ya, you know?"

Cloud nodded, but Zack could tell he didn't really get it. The blond hadn't been in Midgar long enough to feel the oppression of the Plates. Even when you were rich enough to live on top of the "rotting pizza" you were still within the circle of the eight Mako reactors, and the ambient dome of controlled weather they created as a by-product. Cloud's hometown, Nibelheim, wasn't much like Gongaga either. Nibelheim was nestled in the foothills of the mountains, and more rocky than green, he supposed. Zack sighed again.

"You're doing a lot of that tonight," Cloud said, looking pointedly at Zack's barely touched meal. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He scrubbed a hand across his face, thinking of yellow flowers and green eyes. "Yeah," he muttered. "I'll be alright."

The two were quiet for a moment, while the sounds of the cafeteria echoed loudly around them. Someone dropped a utensil and the metal chimed on the ceramic tiled floor. Someone else laughed, a little too loudly, a little too abrasively, at a friend's bad joke.

"Does this mean you don't want to practice tonight?" Cloud asked, pushing a pea around his plate with his fork.

Zack's eyebrows twitched in surprise. He hadn't expected Cloud to be so intuitive. Sure it was fairly easy to tell he wasn't in a good mood, but most people wouldn't bother to think beyond that. "I... well...." He knew how much his help meant to the boy, but he also knew that he couldn't give him his full attention tonight. "I can't. I need to deal with some stuff. But catch me in the morning, okay?"

The eager would-be SOLDIER glanced up at him, blue eyes wide and honest. "You don't have to explain. It's okay. And thanks, Zack."

He shook his head. "Thank me when you've made SOLDIER, kid. Til then, it's all just extra practice."

Cloud grinned and threw a mock salute at him. "Yes, sir!"

Zack couldn't help grinning back at him, but then, Cloud often had that effect on him. "Later, Cloud," he said, as he stood up.

The General Sephiroth caught up with him in the fifth floor hallway as he made his way back to his quarters. He fell into step with Zack silently, matching his long stride easily. With his head slightly bowed, his long, silver-blond hair obscured his expression from Zack's view. At the door to his suite, Zack paused, turning to face the General. He seemed to be waiting for Zack to invite him in, but Zack wanted to be alone to think.

"Sir?"

Silence stretched out between them as the General studied him intently. "Where did you go today, Zack?" he asked softly.

A half-dozen answers ran through his mind and were quickly discarded. He settled on something non-committal. "With all due respect, sir, I was off-duty."

Sephiroth gestured curtly. "I'm asking you as a friend, Zack. Where did you take off to?"

He looked away from Sephiroth's intense green gaze. "The Slums."

A soft sigh and the sound of leather moving against leather seemed too loud in the narrow hallway as Sephiroth crossed his arms. "Why?"

Zack fingered his wrist guard, contemplating lying. He doubted he could get away with it, though. Sephiroth knew him too well. "Looking for something green, something growing... and not potted."

"Ah."

The single syllable held more understanding than he had hoped for.

"Did you find anything?"

Green eyes... yellow flowers... Please don't tell anyone. He studied the patterned ridges of the carpet. "No."

A sword-calloused hand cupped his chin, and he let his head be tilted up. Sephiroth held his gaze as intently as Aeris had, but this time, Zack kept his secrets shuttered away. His friend and lover quirked one dark eyebrow at him, but Zack shook his head.

"Not tonight, Seph."

The strong, warm hand withdrew. "Very well then. I'll see you tomorrow."

Zack nodded, absently reaching for the door's lock panel.

The soft thud of boots on carpet was the only sound in the empty hallway as the door lock scanned Zack's fingertips. As the door swung open, the boots stopped. Zack glanced up to see Sephiroth turning back to face him.

"Stop wasting your time with Cloud, Zack. He'll never make SOLDIER." The General's eyes were hard and flinty.

Any other night, Zack would have bristled and argued the point, but tonight he just shook his head. Turning away from the General, he stepped silently into his quarters.

Flopping onto his sofa, Zack kicked off his boots. His sword-harness and sword lay on the coffee table where he'd left them before dinner. The six Materia in his sword barely reflected the dull light of his room, but they glowed with a pale light all their own. He stared at them without really seeing them for a while, mentally reviewing the various spells and abilities contained in the spheres of condensed Mako.

Raising his eyes from his sword, he glanced across the room at the single yellow flower Aeris had given him. It stood in an empty beer bottle -- the best vase he could find -- on the window ledge. Its leaves were already beginning to droop.

Muttering a half-hearted oath, he closed his eyes, slouching down into the soft embrace of his couch. But yellow flowers bloomed in his mind's eye, and deep green eyes opened the doors to his soul.

Why? he wondered, pushing himself upright and scrubbing his hands across his face. Why do I keep thinking about those flowers? That girl.... How did she see? How did she know I wanted to see something growing?

His gaze fell across his sword again. Maybe it was some kind of Skill Materia, he thought. He couldn't remember whether her staff had had any Materia slots or not. But where would she have gotten such a strange new Materia from? And wouldn't I have noticed her using it...? He shook his head, amazed by his own illogical thought process.

There were no answers, only more questions, he realized. Bending over, he tugged on his boots before picking up his sword and harness and buckling it on. Thinking wasn't getting him anywhere, so he might as well go find Cloud.

The practice courts in the adjoining building were filled with pairs of sparring SOLDIER's and aspiring SOLDIER's. Zack walked slowly down the side of the long open room, noting the various pairs and their skill levels. When he reached the last court on the first floor, which was occupied only by Cloud, he stopped. Standing just off the edge of the court, Zack watched the clean, smooth lines of the teenager's movements as he ran through the sword-drills. He had most of the forms down pat, even though he'd never held a sword before coming to Midgar a little over six months ago. There was an understated grace to his movements, too, hinting at the fluidity of a natural swordsman. If only he'd started training younger, and if people had encouraged him more....

That, Zack knew, was Cloud's real problem. No one had ever believed in the blond boy. No one had ever cared enough to encourage him. Instead, from what Cloud had told him anyway, people had blamed him for things that weren't his fault, even berated and punished him for accidents that he'd tried to prevent. So Cloud had learned to resent authority figures. He'd been well on his way to developing a really rebellious, antagonistic attitude toward everyone when he'd been admitted into Shinra's ranks. That was all the General saw when he looked at Cloud -- the potential trouble-maker in the ranks. But Zack saw more. A little honest friendship and encouragement would go a long way in nudging Cloud back toward the open, caring boy he could be.

"Hey, Zack!"

He glanced up, startled out of his train of thought.

"How long you been standin' there?" Cloud dragged a forearm across his sweating brow as he walked over to a nearby towel rack.

"Too long," Zack replied cheerfully, walking forward to meet him. "I'm getting stiff just watching you."

Cloud grimaced. "As if. That'll be the day, when I see you too stiff to fight." He shrugged his shoulders to loosen them, sword held loosely in one hand. "Thought you weren't up for this tonight."

It wasn't quite a challenge, but it was an honest question. Zack shrugged and drew his sword. "Changed my mind. I was thinking myself into a knot."

Cloud considered this, then nodded. "I think I know what you mean."

"So," Zack said, flowing into a guard position. "Are you up for this?"

Cloud's eyes narrowed as he copied him, moving not quite as fluidly as Zack had. He let his opening attack be his answer.

Zack grinned inwardly as their swords leapt and flashed. The boy had potential alright! Why couldn't the General see it? He was holding back, but Cloud wasn't, and the blond had nearly scored a hit already. Sure, Zack could still hold him off easily enough, but Zack was First Class. Only the General was truly a better swordsman than he.

Zack pushed Cloud to his limits, daring him to do more than he thought he could. And Cloud responded eagerly, throwing himself into the mock fight with almost single-minded intensity. In the end, Zack disarmed him neatly, but Cloud grinned at him anyway.

"You're too good," Cloud said, chest heaving.

Zack shook his head, but Cloud missed the gesture as he moved to retrieve his sword. Stretching, he tilted his head back and happened to glance up at the observation rooms on the floor above. They were built so superior officers could evaluate prospects, but rarely used. A tell-tale silver gleam gave away the General's presence, despite the lack of lighting on the upper floor.

Shit... Zack thought, glancing hastily away.

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© 7/23/99 Tavam Shaytar
http://www.leafwind.com/Lifestream/
All characters are the properties of their respective owners.

Chapter 3
Chapter 1
Back to the Planet