Faithless Memories

Tryouts

He gave them ten minutes before he had them paired up. Most of the boys went for the dull swords along the wall. Zack thought about it too, but he finally decided that if he wanted to impress them, then he would show them that he wasn't inexperienced. Especially since they were told to pick any weapon. Several of the boys laughed when he grabbed a staff, but Zack just shot them a grin. Once they were given the start signal, it was quickly apparent that none of the boys knew how to use a sword. A couple of them chose to drop them and go at each other with their fists even.

Zack quickly realized that he far outclassed the boy he was paired with. He tried not to hurt him, but he ended up knocking him off his feet three times before the boy stayed down.

After fifteen minutes, the Soldier called a halt to the matches and looked around. He made a few notes before he spoke to the group. "From here, please follow Soldier Atlag, and he will give you the final instructions for the day. No matter what happens from here, I want to thank you all for your support of Shinra."

Zack was a little let down that it was almost over, but he turned to follow the rest of them out. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see it was the First that had been leading them. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he had to force himself to focus on what the man was saying. "You don't see boys trying out for Soldier often grab a staff instead of a sword."

It took Zack several moments before he could make his mouth actually produce sound. "Well, sir, you said to show you what we are made of, and I know the staff already."

The man chuckled slightly. "So I could see. How'd you pick up that skill?"

"Uh, my si-ibling taught me." He had almost said sister, but something made him not want to share that part.

One of the man's eyebrows rose at his statement, but if he caught onto the near slip, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he clapped Zack on the shoulder. "Your sibling, huh? Well, they must have been a good teacher." He didn't give Zack a chance to confirm or deny it before he turned to lead him out the way the rest of the hopefuls had gone.

His voice continued to be genial as he walked Zack down the hall. "There is one more thing we have to check before we can even talk about letting you into Soldier, but something tells me the next part will be easy for you."

Zack tried to keep from getting nervous, but the things that kept popping into his head were getting progressively worse. He was barely holding himself together when he was led into a small room with a padded table and a smiling woman. She patted a hand on the table as she spoke. "Why don't you jump up here for me. This shouldn't take long."

Zack did as he was told as the woman set to preparing something in a syringe. The man worked to keep his attention away from it as she finished. "My name is Commander Angeal Hewley. I think you've shown a lot of potential. Hopefully, this will pass quickly."

At that point, the woman grabbed his attention again. "This is a small amount of diluted mako. We just need to see if your body can handle it. Don't worry, it shouldn't be enough to make you sick, but there are some that get a little nauseous. Please let me know if you start feeling ill at all, okay?"

Zack nodded at her and grit his teeth at the sharp sting. The initial prick wasn't much, but the mako burned like fire. Once she was done, she had him hold a piece of gauze over the injection site as she cleaned up. She then smiled at him and had him lie back. "I'll be back in a half-hour to see how you're doing. In the meantime, just relax. If you start to feel anything adverse, you can push that button next to your head."

Zack had wanted to talk to the Soldier more, but the man left when the woman did. His mind was going too fast for him to relax much. It was nearly fifteen minutes after they had left that he remembered Kris was still waiting for him. He felt a little bad that he had gotten distracted to the point of forgetting she was there too, but he knew she would understand. He couldn't stop his grin when he realized he might have good news.

By the time the woman returned, his mind had barely slowed down. She removed the gauze and checked his injection site before she gave him a bright smile. "Looks like you will be able to handle the mako with no problem! Commander Hewley should be waiting outside for you. Give him this."

She handed him a sheet of paper with her messy signature at the bottom. Zack thanked her and walked out of the room in a daze. He was still on autopilot when he handed the paper off. The Commander glanced over the sheet before he grinned and clapped Zack on the shoulder. "Something told me you were perfect for this. Come with me."

Zack followed the man in silence to a spartan office. He barely noticed it when he was directed to take a seat. The man turned to him with a smile, and Zack finally shook his shock off when the man spoke. "Looking at your paperwork, I see that you won't be old enough to join for a couple more months, but that doesn't mean we can't get you started. If you're interested, I would like to offer you an unpaid internship until you can be enlisted. We would use the next two months to get you up to par for a Soldier Third. What do you say?"

Zack stared at him in shock for several moments. When he spoke, his voice had gone up an octave, and he had to clear his throat before he could continue. "Are you saying you want to spend the next two months training me? Yourself?"

The Soldier chuckled at his excitement. "If you're interested."

Zack jumped up and only stopped himself from hugging the man across the desk at the last minute. Instead, he tried to give him a salute. "Yes, sir! Just tell me when and where."

The Commander stood with a smile and held out his hand. "Glad to hear it. You can meet me at the elevator on this floor at 07:00. We'll fill out all the paperwork and get you started then."

Zack took the man's hand and shook it until the Commander raised a brow at him. He felt his face flush, but nothing could bring him down. He saluted again with thanks before he finally walked out of the office. Once the door was closed, he could barely keep himself from sprinting to the elevators.

When he got there, he found Kris was seated next to them. When she saw him, she raised her brow in an unspoken question. Zack didn't bother to try and explain. He grabbed her in a hug so tight it lifted her feet off the ground. She started laughing when he spun her a couple of times and had to beat on his shoulder before he let her go. She smiled at his enthusiasm. "I take it that means you got in?"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the elevator. "I'll explain over dinner. We are celebrating." Kris couldn't bring herself to argue. If you couldn't celebrate dreams coming true, then what else would ever be worth it. She allowed him to drag her down the road and to a restaurant that her boss had recommended, laughing at his continued enthusiasm the whole way.