Disclaimer: Final Fantasy belongs to Squaresoft and various other interested parties, not me. I'm not making any money from this, and no infringement of copyright is intended. This is a work of fandom, intended as appreciation of the original work.

Chapter 17

For the second time in his life, reveille couldn't come early enough to suit Cloud. He was up out of bed before it had even finished playing, much to the astonishment of the rest of his platoon. "You feeling all right, corporal?" his bunkmate asked him, bemused.

"I'm fine," Cloud muttered, waving off their concern and ducking his head so they wouldn't be able to see the flush on his cheeks as clearly. Damn his pale colouring, anyway. "Just couldn't sleep, and I figured I might as well not be late to inspection for once."

That was true enough, as far as it went, and he hurried into the showers before they could question him any further. He still wasn't very close to any of his toonmates, so thankfully there wasn't anyone who knew him well enough to be able to guess why he was so wound up today. If any of them figured it out, he'd be in for a world of teasing.

How could he not be excited, though? He'd finally found a friendly SOLDIER 3rd Class who was willing to pass on the duty schedule of Zack's unit to him, and Bence had told him that today was the day they were supposed to be back in Midgar.

Cloud hadn't so much as caught a glimpse of his best friend since the weekend leave gone wrong, when Zack had collapsed and Sephiroth had brought him back to the base. Cloud had spent the whole weekend sitting by Zack's bed in the infirmary, refusing to budge until he knew the older boy would be okay. Attempts to forcibly remove him had been stopped by a quiet word from Sephiroth when the man had checked in on Zack on Saturday afternoon, for which Cloud had been grateful.

By Sunday night Zack had been awake and aware enough to recognize Cloud and make a few feeble attempts to joke with him to reassure him. Cloud would have fought to stay with him even after his weekend leave was up, but Zack had insisted Cloud go back to his unit and report for duty on time. Reluctantly Cloud had gone, and by the time he got a chance to get back to the infirmary his friend had already been released.

Since then it had been one thing after another. The new SOLDIERs were shipped out again for more training as soon as they'd all recovered enough, and that lasted another two months. Then, a week before Zack was due back, Cloud's company had been sent out with a group of scientists to collect monster samples from around the reactor south of Junon. By the time they returned Zack had been gone again, on his first real mission as a SOLDIER.

Four and a half months, and it felt like years. At least this time Cloud knew it wasn't that Zack was deliberately avoiding or ignoring him. He'd written to the older boy whenever he had a chance, and a couple of terse and hastily penned notes in return let him know his letters were appreciated.

Now, finally, they were going to be in the same city again for a while. Cloud didn't have leave for another couple of days, but there was no reason he couldn't at least head over to the SOLDIER compound tonight and welcome Zack home.

Just a few more hours, one day's worth of patrols or sentry duty or whatever was on the roster for them today, and he'd be able to see his friend. How could he not be excited and eager to start the day? The sooner it started, the sooner it would be over.

Of course, the day itself was going to drag on forever, Cloud realized as he lined up with his squad for morning inspection. Impatient, he resisted the urge to fidget as he mentally urged the captain to hurry up so they could move on to the next part of the day.

Instead of dismissing them to breakfast, though, the captain stood at the front and surveyed the gathered platoons. Cloud's heart sank to his boots as he saw the expression on the man's face. No, he begged, pleaded with whatever deity might deign to listen to him. No, not today. Please. Tomorrow, but not today!

Nobody was listening, apparently, or if they were then they were being amused at Cloud's expense. "5th sword and 8th rifle have been chosen for deployment to the Northern Glacier, to investigate reports of monster activity in the ice fields," the captain announced. "We will be shipping out by transport airship at oh-nine-hundred today. Make sure you include your cold weather gear in your kits, and you will be issued additional special gear upon arrival. The general himself is leading this expedition, boys; make sure you show him why 5th sword is the best battalion in the army! Dismissed."

"You've got to be kidding me," Cloud groaned as he turned and trudged back to the barracks to start packing his kit. "We're all going to freeze. It's still winter up there!" Spring had come to Midgar, though the season hardly seemed to deserve the name in the area around the city. That far north, however, it would be a different story.

The weather wasn't why he was upset, of course, though he probably had a better sense of healthy respect for that kind of cold than most of his toonmates. It gave him an excuse to bitch, though, and that was what he really wanted.

At least they were going by airship. It wouldn't take more than half a day to get there, and he wouldn't be nearly as sick. Cloud was still getting teased by the men in his squad about his motion sickness from their last mission.

Once his own kit was packed, he took a moment to double-check the rest of his squad's gear. He'd slowly gotten used to the idea of being in charge of other troops, and the men in his squad had come to accept and even respect him, young as he was. That done, they joined the rest of the platoon heading for the airstrip.

The trip out wasn't too bad, all things considered. As a corporal Cloud was allowed up on deck, which helped his motion sickness further, and the rest of his unit had long since learned to recognize when he didn't want any company.

He knew he was sulking, but he felt he was at least a little entitled to it. Bahamut only knew when they'd be back from this assignment, and by then it was almost guaranteed Zack would be gone again. Sword and rifle companies could spend weeks or months stationed in Midgar, but SOLDIER units rarely stayed at the base for long. There wasn't enough for them to do in Midgar, and not enough of them available for everything outside of Midgar that required them.

Frigid air blasted them the moment they landed and stepped off the airship. Cloud shivered, even wrapped up in his winter gear, and he heard a few people around him cursing. It was no worse than winter in Nibelheim, but Cloud was rapidly reminded just why nobody in their right mind left their warm house more than was strictly necessary when the icy winds were coming down off the mountain.

They'd set down on a grassy plateau that ended in a cliff overlooking the ocean on one side, and a rapidly deepening snowfield on the other. If it was this cold here where there was still grass, Cloud shuddered to think what it would be like once they got out onto the snow.

Sephiroth and his unit of SOLDIERs had apparently beaten them there, or perhaps they'd already been here scouting and determined there was a need for further backup. There was a neat line of tents set up on the plateau, with plenty of room left for the two new companies of troops.

The general was waiting to brief them, the SOLDIERs lined up behind him. As the two companies of foot formed up in front of him, Cloud took a moment to glance over the SOLDIERs he could see. They were mostly 1st Class, but he was a little surprised to see a mix of 2nd Class and even a handful of 3rd Class included in the ranks. Usually if all three classes were present, the ratio was the other way around. This must be Sephiroth's personal unit, not just a group of SOLDIERs he'd assigned to come with him. Everybody knew only the best of the best made it into the general's direct command, and all of the 2nd and 3rd Classes present were probably on the fast track to 1st Class.

On the rare occasions Cloud had dared to dream beyond simply making it into SOLDIER, he'd pictured himself as part of that unit. He and Zack had talked about it, plotting various things they could do to make enough of a name for themselves to be assigned to that post. Seeing them and getting to work with them was almost as exciting as getting to work with the general himself.

Seeing they were assembled, Sephiroth nodded once and swept his eyes over them. "For those of you not familiar with the climate here, let me make this clear right off," he began. "The weather here is as much or more your enemy than any monsters you might encounter. A man can freeze to death out on the plains in mere minutes, without the right protection. Even with the best gear we can provide, getting lost out in the snowfields means certain death."

Gesturing behind him at the waiting SOLDIERs, he continued, "My troops have been here for weeks already, and have learned the pitfalls and dangers. I have assigned a SOLDIER to each platoon, and they will have ultimate command over your own lieutenants. I trust this will not cause any problems."

There was a note of warning in the general's deep voice, and Cloud winced mentally. There was often a bit of unfriendly rivalry between the SOLDIERs and the higher ranking regular troops. SOLDIERs were rarely put in direct command of regular troop units, for exactly that reason. This could indeed cause problems, though hopefully Sephiroth's presence would offset some of the worst of it.

"Go with your commanders for now, and set up camp," Sephiroth ordered them. "We'll be moving out for an initial recon foray in three hours. Dismissed."

The SOLDIERs moved forward, gathering up their assigned troops and pulling the officers and NCOs off for briefings. "Sword company D platoon, over here!" Cloud heard someone say, and he turned to try to find them. "I want corporals and above with me; the rest of you start setting up your tents and gear. You know the drill, move!"

The man's voice was familiar, even over the noise of the rest of the crowd. At first Cloud had been certain he was hearing things, but when he joined the rest of D platoons NCOs and the SOLDIER who'd taken charge of them pulled off his helmet, his heart leapt. "Yo," Zack greeted him with a wink and a grin, before turning his attention back to business. "All right, you all heard the general. I'm Second Lieutenant Zack, SOLDIER 3rd Class, and I'll be helping you to get organized and teaching you to survive out there."

Looking over all of them, he turned serious for a moment. "Trust me on this, nobody wants to get lost out there. Storms can sweep in on a minute's notice, and they're killer. Our main priority on any foray is two-fold - keeping track of each other, and keeping track of our direction. The snow all looks the same, and when you can't see the mountains for the clouds it's really damn easy to get turned around."

He gestured at a pile of gear behind him. "When we're out in the big open spaces, we'll be planting flags to help us keep track of where we're going and where we've been. There's a limited number of them, but we just pull up the last one as the tail end of the unit goes by and move it up to the front. All marching is done single-file, so only one person has to break trail at a time, and the front position will be traded off regularly. Just like a flock of geese," he added with a grin meant for all of them. "Any questions?"

"Sir, what about the monsters themselves?" another corporal asked. "What are we dealing with, more of the same sort that are in Midgar? How did they get here?"

"No," Zack shook his head, his eyes dark. "These aren't like any we've found anywhere else. They're specifically adapted to the extreme cold; most of them have some form of ice elemental attack, whether spell-based or otherwise. Thankfully we do have one advantage; many of them are weak to heat and fire, so everyone will be issued a Fire materia. Used judiciously, they'll be the best defence you'll have. As for how they got here..." he shrugged eloquently. "That's what we're here to find out. Anything else?"

Nobody said anything, so Zack nodded. "All right, then. We'll meet back here ten minutes before we head out; triple-check your equipment and the equipment of everyone in your squad. Lives depend on this, gentlemen. Dismissed."

They saluted him, Cloud feeling very odd doing so, and the others broke up and drifted off to find their squads. Cloud hung back, and was rewarded when Zack promptly grabbed him around the neck and ruffled his hair vigorously.

"You!" Cloud exclaimed, fighting him off with a laugh. "You made it into General Sephiroth's private unit and you didn't tell me?"

"I got the transfer orders halfway through my last mission," Zack said cheerfully, his grin every bit as bright as Cloud had remembered. "Can you believe it? And I've got you to thank for it, you know."

"Me?" Cloud repeated, astonished. He couldn't imagine what he could have done that would have caused Zack to get such a prestigious assignment.

"Yep!" Impossibly, Zack's grin widened further. "What you told him about me carrying you back to camp in Mideel even though I was hurt impressed him, apparently. Between that, our performance in the attack that night, and the now infamous paint gun incident, we both caught his attention. Did you know he arranged for us to be in the same unit after boot camp?"

"I did, actually," Cloud blinked, reminded of something the general had told him. "He said so when I first saw him in Mideel, when he asked where you were. I forgot about it, with everything that happened."

"Yeah, so, that put us on his radar," Zack told him. "When he saw us in the alley that day and realized he didn't know why I was a SOLDIER and you weren't, he went back and looked at the tapes of the exams."

"He did?" Cloud's voice was dismayed, and his ears burned with embarrassment. Damn it, so much for Sephiroth not having seen his humiliation in the battle arena.

On the other hand, it seemed to have gotten Zack a position he knew the other boy had dreamed of, and the pain of failing the exam was distant enough now that Cloud could be glad for his friend's sake. "You have the luck of the gods," Cloud accused his friend with an exaggerated sigh. "At this rate you'll be 1st Class before I even have a chance to take the exams again."

"I don't think the 'fast track' is that fast," Zack said, squeezing Cloud's shoulder in sympathy. "So the bad news is, Sephiroth's unit is almost never in Midgar, even if he is." His sigh was no less deep than Cloud's had been, but it wasn't exaggerated. "The good news is, I've got the authority to make sure I'm always the one in charge of your unit when we do get to work together. And I'll bet you anything that you'll be assigned here when you pass the next exams; you impressed him as much as I did."

"How, by falling flat on my face in the arena?" Cloud asked, his flush deepening. Zack ruffled his hair again before he could dodge, and Cloud changed the subject hastily. "Anyway, isn't it some kind of conflict of interests or something to be in charge of your friend? I mean, won't people end up accusing you of favouritism and stuff?"

"I think it's just that Sephiroth is smart enough to know that having you in my unit means I'll be working five times as hard to make sure you all get through it alive," Zack shrugged. "Anyway, he knows we work well together. And I checked around, I'm not the only SOLDIER who's got standing requests about assignment preferences on record, not by a long shot. It's all on the up and up." He grinned again. "Now come on, get your ass in gear or you're not going to have time to get your squad organized. Move it, corporal!"

The last was barked in true drill sergeant style, and Cloud rolled his eyes at his friend even as he saluted. Zack returned the salute and waved him off, turning to go rejoin some of the other SOLDIERs.

Feeling so light he almost worried the wind would pick him up and toss him over the cliff, Cloud went to go check on his squad's tent and gear. They teased him, of course; he couldn't expect them to pass up such a prime opportunity. Despite the envious overtones, though, the teasing wasn't malicious, and as good as Cloud felt at that moment, it would have taken a great deal more to hurt him at all.

The rifle and sword platoons were mixed up and assigned in groups, with the higher-ranking SOLDIER in charge. In their case that meant Zack deferred to the 1st Class who had charge over the rifle platoon they were working with, but that just freed him to volunteer to take rearguard with Cloud.

As they walked out onto the snow plains from the grassy area, the difference in temperature was immediate and marked. "Hades, it's colder than Shiva's tits out here," one of the riflemen exclaimed, and Cloud had to agree. The wind was bitterly cold, and found every crack and seam in his armour and clothes to get to his body.

"Wait till you've been out here a few hours," Zack called up the line to whoever had complained. "Or for a night patrol. You'll be sure you're never going to get warm again."

Grinning, though the expression was mostly hidden by the scarf he'd wrapped around his neck and lower face, Cloud shook his head at his friend. "I seem to recall a conversation in Mideel where you referred to me as a 'mountain-bred wimp', or something along those lines. Care to eat your words, lieutenant?"

"Hey, that argument assumed habitable conditions," Zack protested. "This is not habitable!"

"Oh yeah? There's a settlement farther up the mountains, isn't there?" Cloud countered, his eyes sparkling as for once he was able to get the best of Zack in a debate. "If they're living in it, then by definition it's habitable. You're just a tropic-bred wimp, instead of a mountain-bred one."

Grumbling to himself, Zack flashed Cloud a rude gesture that was somewhat hampered by his heavy gloves, and Cloud laughed.

"All right, we're about to pass the outer sentries," the 1st Class called back. "We're going to circle around behind the town, and head down the mountains to the area they call Gaea's Cliff. That's where the patrols have been finding the highest concentration of monsters. The sky's clear, so we won't bother with the flags for now, but once we get down onto the glacier you can't orient yourself by the mountains any more. Pull in close to each other and start planting the markers once we get there."

There was a chorus of 'yes, sir!'s, and Cloud and Zack turned their attention to their flanks and rear. Teasing and catching up and generally enjoying being together could wait until they got back to camp; they were on duty now, and lives could depend on how alert they were.

A couple of monsters decided to try their luck on the group as they marched through the snowdrifts, but they were able to dispatch the threats without any problems. Cloud didn't even get his sword bloody; the riflemen took care of them from a distance, with a bit of backup from well-placed fire spells cast by the two SOLDIERs. Zack pointed out the town as they passed below it, though Cloud couldn't make out much other than the solid shapes of a couple of buildings.

Getting down into the valley was an adventure all in itself; they'd been equipped with skis, but the hill was steep enough to cause problems for all but the most experienced skiers in the group. Cloud had no trouble, and Zack's enhanced reflexes were clearly enough to make up for his relative inexperience, but the group suffered half a dozen wrenched joints, two broken legs and a badly sprained wrist by the time they made it to the bottom. Zack and the other SOLDIER used their Restore materia to cure the injuries each time, and Cloud shook his head as he looked back up the slope.

"How do we get back up there?" he asked, disbelieving.

"There's a motorized lift that goes up to the town from farther to the east," Zack said, stepping off his skis now that they'd reached the bottom. The skis would have helped them move faster, but they cut manoeuvrability down drastically and that could mean the difference in a battle. "Or there's a place that's more of a switchback than this slope, where we can climb up if we're careful. We try to avoid disturbing the town more than we have to, which is why we take this way down."

"That, and their idea of a 'good' way down is throwing themselves off the side of a cliff with a board strapped to their feet," the other SOLDIER muttered as he passed them on his way back from healing the last injury. "And they make the slope down as difficult as bloody possible. Crazy bastards."

"Oh, snowboarding," Cloud nodded, understanding. "Come to think of it, I think I heard about that. They're trying to increase the tourist industry here by appealing to the adrenalin junkies, aren't they?"

"You would be into that kind of stuff," Zack rolled his eyes. "Well, feel free to try out the slopes if we get a leave day. The locals will love you forever if you're any good at it. As far as they're concerned, we're 'cheating' because we've got the enhanced reflexes."

Laughing softly, Cloud strapped his skis out of the way on his pack and took his place in line again. The snow wasn't as deep here, since there were enough trees to break up the wind and keep the worst of the drifts out.

Unfortunately, the monsters seemed to appreciate the easier conditions as much as they did, because they began to encounter them with increasing frequency.

"Bunnies?" Cloud exclaimed as he hacked down one of the animals in question. Behind him Zack was a blur of motion, graceful and deadly. He now wielded with one hand the same sort of buster sword he'd once had to drag behind him, and Cloud felt a twinge of jealousy. "We're being attacked by rabid rabbits?"

"Just about anything can be a monster these days," Zack said as he glanced around once to make certain there were no more enemies, and slung the sword across his back again. He wasn't even out of breath, Cloud saw with a sort of amused not-quite-resentment. "Check out the teeth on those bastards. Whatever animal they look like, those are carnivores."

"Keep your eyes peeled, we're going to hit the open snowfield soon," the 1st Class shouted back down the line. "The temperature's going to drop sharply, and once we're out of sight of the forest there are no landmarks. The mountains are all around, they're useless for navigation. Get the markers ready."

Cloud wasn't carrying any of the flags; as rearguard, it would be his and Zack's job to pick up the last flags and pass them back up to the front to be replanted. They would be the least likely to wander off course, with a full line of markers in front of them, but they would also be vulnerable to attack with nobody to protect their rear.

As promised, the temperature difference as they came out of the tree line was significant. Cloud started shivering despite himself, and the first gust of wind in the open nearly staggered him. Zack caught him by the sleeve and steadied him for the moment it took to get his feet back under him. Cloud grunted a thank-you; in air this cold, speaking was just asking for your lungs to freeze.

Careful to only breathe through his scarf, ignoring the way the deflected moisture turned to ice almost immediately on his face, Cloud slogged through the path left in the snow by the man in front of him. He could see right away why they were supposed to switch trailbreakers frequently; tramping down a path in these drifts would wear you out in no time.

For now the SOLDIER had point, though, and he wasn't likely to get tired any time soon. They kept their positions, doing their best to set a straight course through the snow. Twice the wind gusted and swirled around them, kicking up snow and completely turning Cloud around, but with the markers there to guide them they never lost their way.

In concentrating on fighting the elements, though, they almost forget that the weather wasn't their only enemy. The attack came out of another strong gust of wind, the monsters using the swirling snow to hide themselves until the last moment. The first shout of alarm from up front was lost in the howl of the wind, so Cloud and Zack had no warning when they were suddenly charged from both sides.

Swearing, Zack cast a fire spell over all the enemies on one side, and they screamed and writhed in pain. Cloud tried to put his back against his friend's to protect them both, but a lunge from some kind of ridiculously oversized flying wasp forced him away. Another one stung him from behind; the actual wound didn't go very deep, but it felt like the thing had injected liquid ice into his veins.

Cloud slashed at them with his sword, wishing for a moment that he was still in the rifle corps. They were much too fast for him to hit, even when they stayed low enough to be in range. Finally he remembered the Fire materia in his bracer; not the low-level one that had been given to everyone else, but the same mastered one he'd carried with him since Mideel. He'd managed to acquire a low-level All to go with it; he could only cast the first level spell if he was targeting multiple enemies, but it was enough to send the insects screaming into the snow.

He'd lost track of Zack, but the winds were starting to die again and he thought he could see the markers to his left. He turned to head for them, keeping a wary eye out for more enemies, and his eye was caught by a dark, humanoid figure in the snow. "Zack?" he called, thinking it was his friend for a moment.

Only for a moment; the figure was too slender to be Zack. It could be one of the others, though, and it seemed to be beckoning to him. He slogged through the snow in that direction, careful to keep the flags in sight. "Hey! Are you okay? Who's there?"

The wind kicked up again, and he lost track of the markers. He stopped moving instantly, waiting for it to die down so he could see them before he continued. The figure beckoned again, and when he didn't move it approached him.

He had just a moment to realize that it wasn't one of the other troops; it was in fact a blue-skinned woman dressed in so little she should have been frozen solid. Then she beckoned again, and suddenly Cloud couldn't remember why it was even important that she wasn't a trooper. She was lost, and helpless in the snow, and he was supposed to help her, right?

Taking a step closer to her, Cloud lost even that train of thought. Everything was spinning, and he felt like he was tumbling around in a strong current under water, unable to tell which way was up.

Something hit him hard and knocked him face first into the snow. He floundered, the powdery white drifts higher than he was, trying to find his way back to the surface. He lashed out with his sword as he struggled to his feet, not sure what he was doing but fairly certain that if something was hurting him, he was supposed to hurt it back. There was a shrill scream of pain, and suddenly his head cleared again. He found himself standing over the frozen body of the blue-skinned woman, his sword hacked halfway through her chest.

Except for the colour of her skin she looked enough like a human to make him sick at the sight of her death. By sheer strength of will he managed not to throw up, jerking his sword out of the body and staggering back.

Coughing, hardly able to breathe in the frozen air, he quickly tugged his scarf back up over his face and looked around. The wind was blowing again, and he had no idea what direction he was facing or how far he'd come from the rest of the group. Even when the wind dropped, visibility was still poor more than ten feet away; he couldn't see anything but the falling snow.

"Zack?" he called hoarsely, his voice cracking with cold. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Zack? Zack! Trey, Adam, where are you? Zack! Colin! Zack!"

There was no answer, his voice ripped to shreds and carried away by the wind. Turning slowly in a circle, he strained to catch sight of something, anything, in the snow.

Only blowing white met his eyes. He was cut off from the group, with no idea how to get back to them or even to the forest. He could feel the chill creeping under his clothes to leach the heat away from his body.

In short, he was lost... and they'd already been warned that getting lost out here was as good as being dead.

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