AN: Ugh. This took waaaay longer than it should have. Gave me hell at points. Anyway, please enjoy! (And if you do, please review!)

Disclaimer: Would anyone seriously believe I would try and claim these people as my own?

SOLDIER's Aspirations

It had taken Zack a while to find Angeal because the man was in the very last place the teen would have ever thought to look. In fact he never would have come out here at all but he'd already been to every other conceivable spot. Shaking his head at the sight of his mentor petting one of the birds with a gentle hand, a soft smile on his hard face, Zack strode toward them, asking,

"What on Gaia are you doing out here, Angeal?" The older man continued his delicate attentions to the chocobo though his smile took on the tone of slightly exasperated amusement that Zack seemed to inspire.

"Just a ritual of thanks," he replied enigmatically. Frowning in confusion, the dark-haired teen looked around the stable uncertainly. Most of the stalls were occupied with one of the birds and they were all engaged in various activities, some eating, some using their large beaks to mess around with their feathers, some seemingly asleep on their feet. Zack took a step closer to the one nearest him and jumped back in surprise when the bird warked loudly.

"Geez," he grumbled. "Kind of noisy, aren't they? Kind of smelly, too." Angeal gave a short, quiet sigh.

"These are noble animals, Zack. They're smart and hard-working, and they do us a great service. They deserve our respect, love and protection." Abashed, Zack looked away and scratched the back of his head to hide his unhappiness at having said something that disappointed his mentor. The truth was he thought they were beautiful creatures. He'd always had a fascination with wings, the beauty and symbolism of them. But he'd never gotten the opportunity to be this close to a chocobo and, though he would never admit this, their resemblance to the griffins that often attacked Gongaga made him nervous.

Another soft smile lit Angeal's face as he recognized the posture of his student. So reckless…. "Come here," he commanded mildly. The younger SOLDIER obeyed silently and when he was within reach Angeal took his wrist, removing his glove and drawing him closer. He guided the teen's hand up to the chocobo's head, pausing when he felt the tension running through him though Zack's face remained impassive.

"Relax," he spoke into his student's ear. "Chocobos are very attuned to body language and energy. If you are relaxed they will be as well. This is Belle. She's very well-behaved and even-tempered. Nothing's going to happen to you." Slowly, as his words sank in, the tension drained from Zack's body and he allowed Angeal to place his hand lightly on the blue chocobo's face, just under her eye. True to the man's word, the bird remained passive under the touch and, courage now bolstered, Zack began gently stroking the feathers. The bird's eye blinked lazily and she clicked her beak several times, almost causing Zack to pull away until he realized she wasn't attacking but merely demonstrating contentment. Relaxing even further, the teen moved his hand around, scratching her jawline, running his thumb along her smooth beak, and then burying his fingers in the feathers on the back of her head. It was like nothing he'd ever touched before but everything he'd thought it would be, heavenly soft. He wanted to bury his face in the bird's neck but wasn't quite that confident yet.

Angeal watched silently for a few minutes, enjoying his student's obvious delight. Then he spoke, "Come on, Zack. I want to introduce you to Sephiroth today. You'll probably be making 1st Class soon and working with him on a regular basis so we might as well do this now." At the mention of the words "Sephiroth" and "1st Class" the teen's attention was instantly diverted from the bird and he eagerly followed his mentor out of the stable. But just before he crossed the threshold Zack paused and looked back at Belle, a soft smile stealing over his face.

A few months later he was back in the building, making his way to Belle's stall with uneven steps, his chest painfully tight with everything he hadn't been able to let out. Recent images swirled unbidden in his mind: Angeal's ashen face smiling up at him in peace; the soft rain running in rivulets down the flat of the Buster's blade; Sephiroth wearing his usual carefully-controlled mask though the pain in his eyes ran so deep that Zack couldn't bear to look at him. The teen had handled things admirably – he thought – while duty still required it of him, but he needed to get away and without thought of a destination he ended up in the stable.

Belle was eating when Zack opened her door but raised her head with an interested chirp as he stepped inside. The bird fluffed happily and approached him though to Zack it seemed like she was also looking toward the door in expectation. She had become familiar with Zack since their first meeting as he often accompanied Angeal; however, he'd never visited the stable alone and he was sure the bird was now searching for the older man.

It was more than Zack could take and the tears he'd been holding back broke free with a sudden sob. "I'm sorry, Belle" he whispered, reaching out tremulously to stroke a cheek. "I'm so sorry." I wasn't enough, I wasn't enough to save him. Needing the contact, the teen wrapped his arms carefully around the chocobo's neck and pressed his face against her soft feathers. Despite Zack's agitated state and despite his unusual closeness, Belle seemed to sense that he required this and remained still, only gently running her beak through his hair while his tears rolled down her feathers to kiss the floor.

xXx

"Hey, Zack. Here for Belle again?" The dark-haired teen grinned at the shorter dirty-blond teen who looked up as he walked through the door.

"Yep. Plus I know how much you miss seeing me, too." The blond rolled his eyes but chuckled.

"You're early aren't you?"

"Yeah, I gotta ship out for a few days soon and I wanted to see her before I left."

"Well, she's out back in the paddock."

"Thanks, Hale," Zack said as he exited. Then he stuck his head back in: "Oh, and try not to get too heart-broken while I'm gone." He dodged the bucket Hale flung at him, laughing heartily. Still grinning maniacally, he went around the building to the fenced area where several chocobos were frolicking; some initiating play-fights, some stretching their legs, some merely enjoying the sunshine. Belle was near the middle of the area, contentedly nibbling some greens. In one bound, Zack jumped over the fence, alarming a couple of birds. He gave a sheepish look to the handler minding the flock and made his way to Belle in a more subdued manner. She looked up and chirped happily when she saw him, craning her head forward for him to pet. Chuckling warmly, Zack obliged.

As the dark-haired teen enjoyed the chocobo's company – which largely involved him simply talking to her, telling her about the things happening in his life – his eyes fell on Hale and a tiny brunette girl who'd come out to the paddock, bringing three very young chocobos with them. The two proceeded to engage in play with the birds and Zack realized that they were actually training the chicks, using games to teach them how to be proper steeds when they were old enough. He watched, unaware that a soft smile had stolen across his face as nebulous thoughts and half-formed ideas began whispering through his mind. It looks so … rewarding. And fun.

Eventually Zack had to leave and with regret he gave Belle one last pet and hopped back over the fence, this time less enthusiastically. An irritated voice drew his attention and he curiously followed it to the front of the building. There he found Urlod in the process of berating a short teen with spiky bright blond hair. Zack barely tamped down a sneer as he approached – he'd disliked the tall platinum-blond man from the start and with Zack that was a pretty hard thing to accomplish. Urlod was completely arrogant and self-confident and not in a tolerable way like Sephiroth. Everything had to be precise and calculating with him and it showed in his icy blue eyes, severely trimmed hair and goatee and even his austere black clothing. Simply put, the man was an asshole. And he had too many earrings. Worse than Rude, Zack thought every time he was unfortunate enough to run into Urlod.

Naturally, then, Zack felt the need to interfere.

"I've told you before—"

"What's up, Ur?" If the platinum-blond hadn't been so controlled Zack was pretty sure he would have twitched at the informal address. As it was, the teen suspected he was well on his way toward developing a facial tic from Zack's mere presence.

"I was reminding this infantryman that this area is meant only for SOLDIERs or handlers, not those of the general army," Urlod replied coldly in that cultivated voice that made Zack want to do something completely childish like whack him upside the head with a pillow. Or put a kactuar in his bed. Plus the man's implications pissed Zack off. He really didn't understand it when people seemed to think that any other part of ShinRa's forces were less important than SOLDIER. Sure, they were amped up, better-trained and highly skilled but that didn't lessen the value of anyone else in Zack's eyes.

"I asked him to meet me down here," Zack told him, putting as much of a you're-an-idiot-for-not-figuring-that-out-yourself tone into his voice as possible. (Really didn't like this son-of-a-bitch.) He turned to the infantryman and added, "Next time, just let him know upfront, okay?", winking ever-so-subtly.

To his credit, the infantryman fell in with the ruse almost immediately. "I'm sorry, sir," he answered in a soft voice after a brief pause. "I'll remember that from now on."

"Good. Let's go then. Oh, and Ur," Zack said over his shoulder, "don't forget that I said it's fine for this guard to be down here." The infantryman dutifully followed Zack and when they'd put some distance between themselves and the stable Zack stopped and offered his hand with a smile.

"Hi. I'm Zack." The other teen hesitated for a split-second then took the hand.

"I'm Strife, sir," he offered with a gentle smile and open blue eyes. Way too many blue-eyed blonds running around here, Zack thought idly.

"Please tell me that's not your first name."

The blond chuckled. "No, sir. It's Cloud." That makes sense. Guy's got a pretty airy look to him. Not that he looked vacuous – he just reminded Zack of a bright summer sky.

"No 'sir's, Cloud. I'm only seventeen." He grinned widely at the shorter teen who returned it with a milder but no less genuine version.

"Okay, Zack. So, um, you're a SOLDIER?" They talked amicably the whole way back to the ShinRa building in the center of Midgar, mostly about their roles in the company's infrastructure then meandering to less generic topics such as their homes. Zack took a strong liking to Cloud in that short time. The blond was perhaps a little retiring in nature but he was attentive, honest and just plain … good. When they went their separate ways Zack insisted on trading PHS info in case they wanted to contact each other and he made the other teen promise that he would do so if he felt the need or even just for the hell of it. Cloud gave another chuckle and agreed.

Over the next few months Zack slowly worked the blond into his leisure routine, usually meeting just to hang out, sometimes grabbing a meal or finding new and interesting ways to entertain themselves. (Such as the incident when Zack – who was on Wutai time having just completed a rather long mission there – roused the unfortunate Cloud at 1AM to – of all things – go bowling. Of course there were no alleys open at that time of night so Zack, trailed by an only semi-lucid Cloud, used his privileges as a 1st Class to raid the surplus items for ten cylindrical objects that stood as pins and something suitably round – which turned out to be an over-sized mako stone and the Research Department would have killed him if they had found out – and set the whole thing up in the lobby of the ShinRa building. Neither one was quite sure later why exactly they weren't tossed into a holding cell for the rest of their natural-born lives but no one ever came and they managed three games without repercussion.) Everything was fitting into, if not exactly a predictable pattern (after all, he was a SOLDIER), at least a pleasant one. And then a piece of Zack's world crumbled.

"Hey, Hale!" The blond seemed startled to see him, in fact had almost a panicked look in his eyes.

"Zack…." The dark-haired teen frowned in concern.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Are you … are you here to see Belle?" The way he asked it seemed like he hoped the answer would be "no."

"Well, yeah," Zack answered slowly, little butterflies spreading ice through his gut. "Why?"

"She, uh … she…."

"The chocobo 'Belle' has been euthanized."

He actually stopped breathing for a moment. It felt as though he'd been sucker-punched and he couldn't breathe. Every muscle stiffened and burned like he'd just run a marathon. Then his eyes focused on Hale's and the absolute sorrow he saw there brought him back to himself. With rigid control over a sudden fury that was exponentially rising, he turned to face the voice that had so callously and carelessly ripped away part of Zack's heart.

"What do you mean, 'euthanized'?" Zack questioned Urlod, enunciating each word very carefully.

"She had passed her prime – she was no longer useful in the field. Thus it was time for euthanization." A bit of Zack's anger gave way to horror as he realized the man wasn't being callous – he was merely stating an absolute fact, a norm, a logical next step. He looked back at Hale and saw a confirmation in his face – the blond wasn't happy about it, but that was in fact the way things worked. Urlod was still staring at him aloofly, clearing wondering what the SOLDIER's problem was and Zack's fingers twitched as he suddenly thought of the Poison materia he had equipped. Don't use it don't use it don't use it…. Abruptly Zack left the stable without even a good-bye, just needing to get away as quickly as possible. He went not back to Midgar but further out into the fields, out toward the stable grounds no longer in use. Once he felt he was far enough away he stopped, threw his head back, closed his eyes and screamed.

Over the next week he did his best to avoid his friends, even Aerith and Cloud because he knew that in his dangerous state of mind he would only end up accidentally hurting them. He did his duty but with none of the energy and cheerful attitude that had come to be expected of him. It even went so far as to cause him to become irritated and brusque with others. It certainly wasn't that he wanted to be that way – he just had no outlet for the way he was feeling.

But he knew he'd gone too far the day he snapped at Sephiroth. Just after he did it – when it was too late to take it back, of course – his brain caught up with his mouth and his eyes widened in horror as he fully expected the silver-haired man to chuck the Masamune straight through his chest. But Sephiroth merely smirked (the bad one) and informed Zack that he'd just volunteered for Hojo's lab simulations, letting the teen know exactly how very badly he'd fucked up. He never expected it was the best thing that could have happened.

xXx

"Hey, Zack. I hear Hojo's looking for you again. Apparently he can't reach you on your PHS." Kunsel gave him an apologetic smile and Zack knew the 2nd Class had been ordered to track him down.

"Yeah, wouldn't you know it, the darn thing just isn't holding power today." He grinned at the brunet, nearly as cockily as usual.

Kunsel smiled back. "I see. Well…." He trailed off, silently giving Zack an opening to come up with a reason for the 2nd Class not to have to drag him back to the lab.

"Oh? What's that?" Zack theatrically cupped a hand to his ear. "I think I hear my mom calling me. Since my PHS isn't working, I'll just have to jog on over and see what she needs."

"Jog to Gongaga you mean?" Kunsel asked in a very monotone voice.

"Yep. No way around it." Kunsel stared at the dark-haired teen for a minute then grinned widely.

"Okay. I'll pass the message along."

"Thanks, man. I owe you." And with that Zack quickly high-tailed it out of the building, seeking a place to hide for a while. Anything to get away from Hojo. He hadn't thought he could hate anyone more than Urlod but lo and behold he could. Zack often amused himself while in the lab fighting the scientist's increasingly bizarre experiments by trying to come up with a term obscene enough to describe the man, eventually reaching the conclusion that he would probably have to create a new term just for him. Something that could suitably describe every bit of his horrible and disturbing nature. And that god-complex attitude. Even with as many "trials" as Zack had been compelled to run for the scientist he was willing to bet that Hojo couldn't pick him out of a line-up if his life depended on it. Stupid, arrogant, self-absorbed, inhuman….

While Zack fumed his feet carried him through the ShinRa training compound and out to the grounds. The wind took his hair, using it to tickle his nose, and he finally paid attention to his surroundings, briefly berating himself. If he wanted to hide, staying on ShinRa property was probably not the best way to do it. Then he realized he was unfamiliar with this area. It took only a moment to get his bearings – he was at an extreme end of the grounds and he had never come out here because … well, there was nothing here. Looking around, he noticed he was completely alone. Apparently no one else would come out here either. He grinned. Perfect. Now to just find somewhere that he wouldn't be within plain sight….

A short distance away Zack came upon his hiding place, a large and seemingly unused storage shed. No, definitely unused, he amended as he went inside, pulling the door closed behind him. There was nothing inside but the odd scrap of metal and a fairly impressive layer of dust. Again Zack reflected on the size of the thing – at some point it must have been in regular use. So why not now? After a minute of scratching his head and wracking his brain Zack came up with an answer. Near the shed's location was an entrance to the city outside, also now unused as a more expedient route had since been established. Clearly it had at one time been very convenient and was not so anymore. Mystery solved, the dark-haired teen turned his attention back to looking over the shed. Obviously, whatever had been put in here wasn't of a sensitive nature as there were several small, high windows that were allowing in a surprising amount of light despite their size. It was a pretty nice space, really. If he could just get some things in here to keep him entertained it would be a great hiding spot.

That was when the seed of idea planted itself and began to sprout. Large space … good light … unfrequented location…. Zack's mind cast back to that day when he'd observed Hale playing with the young chocobos and then, naturally, to Belle. I could do it myself. I could do it right so that they'd never be treated the way she was. I could keep them safe. Zack looked around the empty shed again, this time grinning. This could work. But it would take careful planning. First thing first: Reconnaissance.

Over the next few days Zack casually staked out the shed and surrounding area during his free time (and the time he spent hiding from Hojo). His earlier observation that no one went back to that area seemed to be correct. As a final test he bought a lock for the door and then waited for any sign that it had been disturbed or someone had complained about its presence. Again, nothing. Truly excited now, he went to the next stage of his plan: Learning as much as possible about chocobos and their care.

During this time Zack's attitude did a 180 to the relief of his fellow SOLDIERs and friends. He began visiting Aerith and pestering Cloud again, no longer concerned about inadvertently hurting them through a carelessly harsh word. It took some work to convince the blond that Zack wasn't irritated with him, though. Since he'd been largely ignoring his PHS that meant Zack had inadvertently been ignoring Cloud who'd gone on to assume his friendship was no longer wanted. The dark-haired teen was quick to assure him that wasn't the case at all and, in a stroke of brilliance, made Cloud promise that if he ever really needed to talk to Zack and couldn't find him, he would ask Sephiroth as the man was bound to have at least some idea where the errant SOLDIER was. Zack also apologized to silver-haired man who waved it off but told Zack he would inform Hojo that the teen no longer had any spare time in his schedule for the scientist's experiments.

Zack learned a great deal over the next few weeks, mostly from Hale who he hadn't seen since that day but who seemed glad to once again talk to the SOLIDER and readily answered all his questions. Zack was told about proper housing, diet, what they needed in terms of attention and training, and perhaps most importantly, what to expect from the birds in terms of behavior as they grew. When he felt he was well-schooled enough, Zack casually inquired where the chicks actually came from. To his disappointment they didn't come from anywhere in Midgar – that would've been too easy – but from a large breeding farm to the east. After consulting a map he became even further disheartened. That area was low on the danger scale; there wasn't much out there except the farm and monster sightings were extremely rare. And SOLDIERs were almost never given vacation time. He could see if it was possible to have the chicks shipped to him but he figured doing so would just make it that much harder to keep his plan a secret and the last thing he wanted was for ShinRa to find out.

Then luck dropped an opportunity right into his lap. A report of monster sightings had been made out by the farm and Lazard said that Sephiroth had requested Zack to be sent. Best of all, as he said that a 1st Class should be able to handle what was bound to be an easy mission alone, the teen was being sent out by his self. The only downside was that he'd been given just one day, meaning he would have to dispose of the monsters quickly so that he could obtain the birds from the breeder and return from the mission early, giving him time to set the chocobos up in the shed before he had to report back. Quickly, he contacted the breeder to find out what was available and how much it was going to cost him. There were currently seven chicks which were old enough to be taken and Zack blanched a bit at the price. But he would be getting a variety of colors and, besides, he wanted to do this. So he agreed to the terms, asking the breeder to hold the chicks for him until he got there.

Hardly able to contain himself, after prepping for departure Zack took a few minutes to run down to the shed and double-check that everything was prepared. He'd listened carefully to what Hale had told him and built several stalls inside the shed. Not knowing how many to construct, he'd just built enough to fill up two of the walls, stopping when he realized he'd done ten and there was no way he'd be able to care for more chicks than that and possibly not even that many. Straw and wood shavings (which he'd largely stolen from the SOLDIER chocobo stable) covered the floor and he'd bought rakes and flat shovels for cleaning. Two dozen large ceramic dishes were neatly lined up against one of the empty walls, just waiting for use. The only thing Zack hadn't prepared was the food – he figured the breeder would have what would be best for the chicks when he picked them up. And it looked like that was the only thing left to do. Unable to contain his excitement any longer, Zack actually giggled, bouncing on his toes. I can't wait!

A transport truck which was scheduled for a route on the eastern half of the continent dropped Zack off in the area of the monster sightings late that morning. With caution he began scouting the area but after half an hour had still come up with nothing. Growing a little frustrated at the lack of action and drain on his time, he changed his tactics to looking for someone who might know what the hell was going on. Another fifteen minutes or so and he'd come across such a person in the form of a man in a floppy hat relaxing on a large rock with a pad of paper. Zack's luck was running high as the man knew exactly what had happened. Apparently, it had been his grandmother that had seen the monster which his father had then reported to ShinRa. However, on closer inspection it turned out that the "monster" was merely an over-large hedgehog that had given her a fright when she went out into the vegetable garden. ShinRa had been contacted again but obviously not soon enough to prevent Zack's unnecessary trip.

Despite an initial wave of annoyance, Zack was soon trotting to the breeder's farm with snatches of nonsense song whistling through his lips. It was almost too good to be true – now he had all the time in the world to get his chicks before he had to worry about going back to Midgar. His mood was still excited when he got to the farm and he inadvertently alarmed one of the care-takers by bouncing up with an ear-to-ear grin and announcing jubilantly, "I'm here for the chicks!" It was unlikely that the poor girl had ever even seen a SOLDIER in person before and Zack could be a bit overwhelming at the best of times. Therefore it was completely understandable if all she could do for a moment was gape at him in shock. Fortunately the owner of the farm, having been drawn out by the dark-haired teen's loud voice, saved the girl from trying to deal with the boisterous SOLDIER. He shook hands with Zack and led him inside to show him the chicks.

According to the breeder they were about five weeks old, although all hatched on different days. Three were yellows, two were greens, one was blue and one was black. Or so Zack was told. At this point they all looked pretty much the same, covered in very soft, grey down feathers. When Zack made the mistake of asking how they could be sure what color the chicks were without any feathers to see, the breeder launched into a rather complicated explanation of genetics involving "Pundit squares" and "chromosomes" and "wild type" and "mutation"…. All Zack was really able to glean from it was that because they knew what the parents were, they knew what the babies were. Figuring the man knew what the hell he was talking about, Zack requested all seven chicks as well as whatever food they would need. Then he handed over a significant portion of his savings and the birds were officially his.

The next step was getting the babies home which the breeder was also prepared for, packing the birds closely but comfortably into a large yet not unmanageable plastic crate. There were a number of thin slits which allowed air and some light inside but weren't wide enough for anyone to see what was in the box. Zack was a little concerned about the method of transport but decided to trust once again that the breeder knew what he was doing. So he thanked the man, gave him his contact info so that Zack could receive any supplies he needed directly, and then hefted the crate containing the chicks and the food and made his way back out into the fields.

When he was in a relatively open area he set the crate down and contacted headquarters, explaining the situation. They confirmed that they'd received notification that the report was false, although too late to reschedule anything. As such they would be sending out a helicopter for Zack. Zack mulled over that as he disconnected the PHS. He'd been worried about trying to explain the crate to whoever would be driving the truck that was supposed to pick him up, but now that he was going by helicopter instead…. Depending on who they sent, he might not have to worry at all.

When the copter arrived and touched down, Zack grinned at the flash of red he could see through the window. Once again, his ideal situation. The cocky Turk was exactly who Zack had been hoping to see.

"Hey, Reno," he called over the noise of the blades as he hopped in with the crate.

"Yo, Zack." The red-head cast a look at the crate and dryly commented, "Nice box."

"The best," Zack returned with a grin. They remained silent for the rest of the trip until Reno set them down on the helipad just outside the ShinRa building and Zack got off with a "Thanks."

Rather than going through the building to the training compound (which would have been a much shorter route), Zack chose to wind his way through Midgar and enter the grounds by the unused access point near the shed. Above all he wanted to avoid attention from ShinRa personnel, so though he attracted odd looks from the citizens he felt it was worth it.

Then he turned a corner and saw who was waiting for him by the door. Urgh. He'd half-expected it and half-hoped he wouldn't have to deal with it anyway.

"Cissnei," he greeted with a touch of a sigh. A flash in her expressive amber eyes told him she'd caught the tone but her face showed nothing.

"Hello, Zack." Her arms were crossed loosely, her entire pose casual though Zack knew very well that could change in an instant. Zack unconsciously tightened his hold on the crate.

"So what's up?" It was no doubt a futile tactic, but might as well play dumb.

"What are you planning on doing with them?" Straight the point, of course.

"I just want to take care of them. That's all." The young Turk-in-training stared at him a moment longer and then she smiled.

"That's good enough then." She took a step forward, head tilted curiously. "Can I take a peek?"

Finally Zack smiled at her. "Sure," he answered, looking around. "Not out here though, okay?" She nodded once and opened the door for them, punching in the old security code and waiting as the old metal squeaked and squealed its way ajar. Once they were inside Cissnei punched in another code, closing the entrance while Zack went to the shed, undoing the lock and placing the crate inside. Cissnei joined him – making sure to close the shed door – and Zack eagerly opened the crate.

It took a bit of coaxing but one by one the birds exited, cautiously but inquisitively exploring their new surroundings. Both humans were quiet, caught up in watching the little chicks. Then Cissnei asked,

"What's the stuff on their toes?"

"It's to help me tell them apart until they get a little older." Before Zack left, the breeder had been nice enough to put non-toxic paint on the chocobos' nails – just one each – in different colors to help distinguish them.

"Mmm. Well, I'll see you later. Take good care of them, Zack." And with that Cissnei was gone.

Zack took another moment to gaze proudly at his new flock then got to work. He pushed the crate off into a corner and removed the container of food. For a minute he debated whether he wanted to put the babies into their stalls now or leave them out. He decided to let them roam around for a bit longer – he wanted them to be friendly with each other and he didn't want them to feel lonely on their first day in a new place. So he arranged several dishes in the middle of the shed and filled them with the nestling food he'd bought. Several more dishes were filled with water and these he left against the wall to avoid tipping. One or two of the chicks poked their beaks into the dishes but most of them still seemed to be content in investigating their new home.

Zack stood there awkwardly wondering what he should do now and then a thought struck him. "You need names!" he said aloud, once again excited. Until he thought about it. New problem. He had no idea what to name them. Should he use names like "Valiant" or "Swift"? Bleh. No. Or maybe something like "Clover" or "Sky" or "Cloud"…. A grin suddenly curved his lips as he watched the chicks, one in particular catching his attention. They didn't have any proper feathers yet, but most of them had odd-looking spikes at their wings, tails and heads. The one Zack was looking at had quite a mess of spikes on his head and glancing at the paint on its nail he saw it was one of the yellow males.

"Cloud," the dark-haired teen said out loud. It was surely a coincidence but at the name the chick in question looked up at him and peeped. "Alright then, Cloud it is." Continuing in the same vein he spotted another with a rather spiky head, this one a green. Zack pondered for a moment then said, "Reno." The bird glanced at him briefly then went back to his own interests. "Definitely Reno." The rest of the names came rather easily. Genesis for the second green – a fussy sort of chick – Sephiroth for the black – most certainly an attitude on this one – Aerith for the female yellow and Tseng for the male – both quiet-seeming – leaving just the youngest chick, the blue. Zack took a minute to think about who else he wanted to name a chick after and came upon the obvious choice. Gently he took the bird into his arms to look him in the eye and run a light finger over his cheek.

"Hello, Angeal."

AN: Kind of angsty in the beginning, I know, but sometimes that's the way origins are.

It's weird trying to figure out the life-cycle and growth of a chocobo. I used a sort of amalgamation of what I know from raising psittacines and what I've learned about ostriches and I'm also assuming that chocobo hatchlings are more precocial than altricial. Basically, I'm BS-ing.

My manager does the same thing to me that the breeder did to Zack. As a science major I had to take just about every type of science including Genetics. I find it interesting, but for some reason I suck at it, maybe because of the whole probability thing. (I suck at Statistics, too.) So she'll be there trying to figure out what color mutations we're likely to get from a pair of 'Tiels and I'll just nod along. It is pretty cool, though. Sometimes you can use it to determine sex before you can do so visually.

Also, I have no idea if hedgehogs exist on Gaia and nor do I care. Too cute not to use.

Originally written 8 May '08