Disclaimer: No, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. It belongs to Squaresoft, and other great entities. Though this story comes directly from me.
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Dare to Dream?
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Who? Me? Well, I'm the best pilot in the world! No - the Universe! Or at least that's what I used to say. I'm Cid, Cid Highwind, pleased ta meetcha. Sorry, but right now there isn't even shit left to serve to guests. But hey, I've got something. A clean bed, the shirt off my back, and my trusty spear. And I've got fri- well, companions that is. Heh, we really traveled the world. We made the difference. But now I'm startin' to sound like those damn adventure stories that the old folks loved to tell me when I was a kid.
br
Huh? Yeah, I did have a childhood. I won't complain that I never got to play or that my parents never gave me hugs. Because that would be complete bull. I was such an ambitious little twit, but what can I say? I'd love to be one again. I remember me layin' on the porch at night while the old folks would set in their rocking chairs tellin' me their stories. Heh, I can even remember the way the fireflies used ta float around, drunk from the heat.
br
Those stories were always great. I would imagine myself in them. I would be a great hero rescuin' all the people. Gettin' the girl and all that shit. But there was this one story my next door neighbor always told me. And it always bugged the shit outta me. The first time he told me, I was only seven.
br
A great hero Alfred fights the fierce Dragon King Valvados. The hero Alfred gets summoned by a knight and- oh you heard of it? At the Gold Saucer? Don't tell me, you saw it at the Event Square. Yeah, Cloud and his friend really butchered it up, huh? They're my fri- well, I traveled with them. They snuck out while the rest were sleeping. I snuck out that night, too. Damn, it was free rides and everything, why the hell shouldn't I?
br
Well, the *real* story went like this.
i
A young boy named Alfred lived with his father in the slums of the great city Crestia. One day when he was ten, he met a girl his age named Rosa. They played together all the time and became the best of friends. They were still friends years later. But when Alfred was about seventeen, his father was banished for upsetting a lord related to the royal family of Crestia.
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In the countryside, Alfred was always mopin' around because he didn't have Rosa no more. The father got so mad at himself for making his son so sad and he drowned himself in a lake. Alfred didn't have nothin' or no one to turn to, so he turned to an easy money job: bounty hunting. He hunted criminals to earn up the gil, and soon villagers and townspeople were hiring him to kill monsters. He had traveled the continent hunting monsters and became an urban legend. He was the best at his trade just like me.
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One day, a knight came to a village he was staying at and begged for help. A king of a great city had his daughter kidnapped by monsters under the control of a dragon. Alfred went with the knight to the other city. He probably shit in his pants when he saw it. It was the great city of Crestia. He met with the king and agreed to help. But first he consulted an old hermit that had taken him in when his father killed himself.
br
The hermit, Vorman, was kinda like a mentor to Alfred. He always gave him advice on how to kill monsters. See, he knew these thing since he was some kind of a magician; a wizard. The old guy told Alfred that only love would slay the dragon. Alfred asked Vorman how he was supposed to get to love, but the hermit just told him that love would be there. Alfred was sorta confused, but he went on to the Dragon's cave.
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When he got there, he saw who the dragon's hostage was: his old friend, Rosa. His love for her as a friend basically killed the dragon and they ran off together. When they got back to the city, Rosa bugged the hell outta her dad and made him let Alfred stay over at the Crestia Palace for a night. See, Rosa's dad had actually been a lord back when Alfred lived in the slums and when the old King had died, the man ended up being on the throne.
br
Well anyway, during his stay the two caught up and they fell for each other and wanted to get hitched. Rosa decided to tell old dad her plans. The man was excited because he was always tryin' to get her to pick some guy to marry. So the ceremony was planned and was under way. But at the wedding, Rosa told her father that Alfred and she had known each other when they were kids. The king recognized him as a boy from the slums and banished him before the marriage ceremony could start.
br
That's one helluva story, huh? I remember when my neighbor first told me that story. I was really upset about it. I was just a kid. I wanted to know if Alfred ever got to Rosa again, and what happened to the king and- well, I was so fucked up by it, my ma actually went over to his house and yelled at him.
br
Heh, those were the days. I didn't have any jobs or responsibilities. Just the little chores I would complain about to my mom an' dad. Like checking the fish nets, or making sure the animals were fed. I lived by the ocean. Ever heard of Junon? Yeah, I know, it's a dump now, but in the old days. Man, it had all the shit any good town's got. Good people, good air, good products. I lived there until I was fifteen.
br
Me and my parents moved to the other continent and had an apartment in Costa del Sol for a little while. I remember that cramped little room we used to have. My mom complained a lot, 'cuz she never wanted to move in the first place. But it didn't really matter. Jus' a month after we cleared out, ShinRa started on that fuckin' plate over my town. When my ma heard about that, she wanted to move back, 'cuz that was when the world really believed Mako would solve all the problems. Damn, even I did. But my dad said no.
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We moved over to Gongaga for a little while. My dad found a job selling precious stones only found there in Gongaga, and we were livin' it big. There were mansions everywhere in that town. It only had about thirty families, but that town was growin'. And then the ShinRa came. I wonder how, but my dad seemed to know that the ShinRa were really no good bastards. He had us move outta town again. I heard from my- my-uh. . . from Cloud and his friends that a couple years ago the reactor there blew to town to pieces. Now they live in huts with nothing but shit to sell.
br
When I was eighteen, we were movin' from town to town. One day, my dad died. He didn't leave behind crap. We were poor, and me and mom got even poorer getting my dad a funeral. He's buried at a cemetery in Kalm. I was mad at'em for leaving me an' mom. I thought that he was stupid for avoiding ShinRa. My mom died from grief when my dad died. I wanted to die, too. I wished I could go back to my kid days at Junon. I still do sometimes.
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Heh, I acted like a kid after the rocket accident. I treated Shera like a slave. I remember the months we spent checking the rocket. I would watch Shera look at every inch of metal to make sure it was fine. I was supposed to supervise her, I guess. I would lean up against the wall and talk to her about my dreams for space.
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I started my dreams after mom died. I wanted to fly away where no one could find me. I spaced myself from everyone and read books about space exploration and aircraft. I imagined being able to get away from the world, 'cuz it gave me too many problems. But then I really got into science. It was fun doing that kinda crap, and it took my mind of my parents.
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I built my own plane and learned more about science. I got good enough for the ShinRa to want me to be in their Space Program. I said that I would only be pilot, but wouldn't work for the company. That was good enough for them. They sent me to their launch site. And that's where I met Shera.
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I told Shera everything and she just listened and told me to keep going with my dreams. She was really young then. Definitely for a scientist and on a project like that. She was barely out of her teen years and in her early twenties. She really knew how much I wanted my dreams. Who wouldn't after all the hours I spent talking to her about them? On that day, she didn't care if her ass fried, she just wanted me to get my dreams.
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I treated her like shit after that. All the staff left after the failure. Except her. For a couple days, I just stayed inside the rocket while Shera brought me my food. I called her a bitch, a disgrace to her family, and more. I didn't even notice that she was the only one left out of the staff. She quit ShinRa to stay with me. Heh, kinda flattering now that I think of it.
br
After four days I left the rocket, but I refused to leave the launch pad. She actually hired a man to build a house for the two of us to live in. Over the next couple of years, people started settlin' around us. And they called our place Rocket Town.
br
I was mad at Shera for years but in the end her mistake was a blessing. After I found out that she was right, I tried to apologize. But even after all I put her through, she let me save my pride and wouldn't let me ask for her to forgive me. Pretty damn nice of her. She still sticks with me today and we're close. She's my friend. But better than a friend. I see her like a- a-
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Those other guys. Cloud, Tifa, and them. Their my- my friends. Now after all we've been through I can't see myself without their crazy shit. Cloud has his- his Cloudness. And then Tifa has the way she worries but keeps it all in. I wonder if she'll ever tell Cloud how she feels. Seems like everyone knows but him.
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Barrett always cares about what he's doin'. He's trying to rebuild Corel now. Red XIII's at his home, too. He was always a refreshing change to the rest of the group. Him and Tifa were the only one who really kept their cool. Yuffie's still the same girl. Always trying to snatch somethin' away. But she does it 'cuz she wants to rebuild Wutai's economy. It's near damn all tourism now. But she's trying to change it. She just needs a little gil which she's short on.
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Cait Sith is still on duty. His controller was Reeve, from ShinRa. At first I thought that he was shit. ShinRa trash. But he had something to care about too. Vincent was cold. But after his story Lucrecia, we all knew why he was like that. I probably understood that guy the most. We went through the same shit. We both had our dreams crushed.
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And there was that girl, Aeris. Heh, who would've guessed that I would end up caring about her. She was almost like a daughter. She really saved all our asses.
br
Heh, kids. Except Vincent, they're all still kids. They have dreams left for them. I almost feel like they're my family. I'm startin' to sound like one of those cheesy bastards on kids' television. Who knew that Cid Highwind would get mushy on someone, huh?
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I wonder if Shera will ever have a family of her own. Maybe. . . she can be part of my family? Shit, what am I sayin'? That I wanna be her huband? I dunno about that. She did a lot for me. She wanted to give me my dream. And in the end I got it. I got into space after all. And now that I'm back in Rocket Town with her, did I actually learn to. . . care. . . about her?
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Shera was willing to give her life for my dream. It's a funny thing about dreams. I reached for it, and almost grabbed it. And I blamed the person who wanted me to have it the most. The Universe didn't want me to have my dream. But then I got my dream. Shera tells me that when someone gets their dream, their heart send out another dream for someone to catch and want. It's kinda corny, but that's what she said. Cid Highwind sending a dream into the Universe. Imagine that.
b
Dare to Dream?
br
Who? Me? Well, I'm the best pilot in the world! No - the Universe! Or at least that's what I used to say. I'm Cid, Cid Highwind, pleased ta meetcha. Sorry, but right now there isn't even shit left to serve to guests. But hey, I've got something. A clean bed, the shirt off my back, and my trusty spear. And I've got fri- well, companions that is. Heh, we really traveled the world. We made the difference. But now I'm startin' to sound like those damn adventure stories that the old folks loved to tell me when I was a kid.
br
Huh? Yeah, I did have a childhood. I won't complain that I never got to play or that my parents never gave me hugs. Because that would be complete bull. I was such an ambitious little twit, but what can I say? I'd love to be one again. I remember me layin' on the porch at night while the old folks would set in their rocking chairs tellin' me their stories. Heh, I can even remember the way the fireflies used ta float around, drunk from the heat.
br
Those stories were always great. I would imagine myself in them. I would be a great hero rescuin' all the people. Gettin' the girl and all that shit. But there was this one story my next door neighbor always told me. And it always bugged the shit outta me. The first time he told me, I was only seven.
br
A great hero Alfred fights the fierce Dragon King Valvados. The hero Alfred gets summoned by a knight and- oh you heard of it? At the Gold Saucer? Don't tell me, you saw it at the Event Square. Yeah, Cloud and his friend really butchered it up, huh? They're my fri- well, I traveled with them. They snuck out while the rest were sleeping. I snuck out that night, too. Damn, it was free rides and everything, why the hell shouldn't I?
br
Well, the *real* story went like this.
i
A young boy named Alfred lived with his father in the slums of the great city Crestia. One day when he was ten, he met a girl his age named Rosa. They played together all the time and became the best of friends. They were still friends years later. But when Alfred was about seventeen, his father was banished for upsetting a lord related to the royal family of Crestia.
br
In the countryside, Alfred was always mopin' around because he didn't have Rosa no more. The father got so mad at himself for making his son so sad and he drowned himself in a lake. Alfred didn't have nothin' or no one to turn to, so he turned to an easy money job: bounty hunting. He hunted criminals to earn up the gil, and soon villagers and townspeople were hiring him to kill monsters. He had traveled the continent hunting monsters and became an urban legend. He was the best at his trade just like me.
br
One day, a knight came to a village he was staying at and begged for help. A king of a great city had his daughter kidnapped by monsters under the control of a dragon. Alfred went with the knight to the other city. He probably shit in his pants when he saw it. It was the great city of Crestia. He met with the king and agreed to help. But first he consulted an old hermit that had taken him in when his father killed himself.
br
The hermit, Vorman, was kinda like a mentor to Alfred. He always gave him advice on how to kill monsters. See, he knew these thing since he was some kind of a magician; a wizard. The old guy told Alfred that only love would slay the dragon. Alfred asked Vorman how he was supposed to get to love, but the hermit just told him that love would be there. Alfred was sorta confused, but he went on to the Dragon's cave.
br
When he got there, he saw who the dragon's hostage was: his old friend, Rosa. His love for her as a friend basically killed the dragon and they ran off together. When they got back to the city, Rosa bugged the hell outta her dad and made him let Alfred stay over at the Crestia Palace for a night. See, Rosa's dad had actually been a lord back when Alfred lived in the slums and when the old King had died, the man ended up being on the throne.
br
Well anyway, during his stay the two caught up and they fell for each other and wanted to get hitched. Rosa decided to tell old dad her plans. The man was excited because he was always tryin' to get her to pick some guy to marry. So the ceremony was planned and was under way. But at the wedding, Rosa told her father that Alfred and she had known each other when they were kids. The king recognized him as a boy from the slums and banished him before the marriage ceremony could start.
br
That's one helluva story, huh? I remember when my neighbor first told me that story. I was really upset about it. I was just a kid. I wanted to know if Alfred ever got to Rosa again, and what happened to the king and- well, I was so fucked up by it, my ma actually went over to his house and yelled at him.
br
Heh, those were the days. I didn't have any jobs or responsibilities. Just the little chores I would complain about to my mom an' dad. Like checking the fish nets, or making sure the animals were fed. I lived by the ocean. Ever heard of Junon? Yeah, I know, it's a dump now, but in the old days. Man, it had all the shit any good town's got. Good people, good air, good products. I lived there until I was fifteen.
br
Me and my parents moved to the other continent and had an apartment in Costa del Sol for a little while. I remember that cramped little room we used to have. My mom complained a lot, 'cuz she never wanted to move in the first place. But it didn't really matter. Jus' a month after we cleared out, ShinRa started on that fuckin' plate over my town. When my ma heard about that, she wanted to move back, 'cuz that was when the world really believed Mako would solve all the problems. Damn, even I did. But my dad said no.
br
We moved over to Gongaga for a little while. My dad found a job selling precious stones only found there in Gongaga, and we were livin' it big. There were mansions everywhere in that town. It only had about thirty families, but that town was growin'. And then the ShinRa came. I wonder how, but my dad seemed to know that the ShinRa were really no good bastards. He had us move outta town again. I heard from my- my-uh. . . from Cloud and his friends that a couple years ago the reactor there blew to town to pieces. Now they live in huts with nothing but shit to sell.
br
When I was eighteen, we were movin' from town to town. One day, my dad died. He didn't leave behind crap. We were poor, and me and mom got even poorer getting my dad a funeral. He's buried at a cemetery in Kalm. I was mad at'em for leaving me an' mom. I thought that he was stupid for avoiding ShinRa. My mom died from grief when my dad died. I wanted to die, too. I wished I could go back to my kid days at Junon. I still do sometimes.
br
Heh, I acted like a kid after the rocket accident. I treated Shera like a slave. I remember the months we spent checking the rocket. I would watch Shera look at every inch of metal to make sure it was fine. I was supposed to supervise her, I guess. I would lean up against the wall and talk to her about my dreams for space.
br
I started my dreams after mom died. I wanted to fly away where no one could find me. I spaced myself from everyone and read books about space exploration and aircraft. I imagined being able to get away from the world, 'cuz it gave me too many problems. But then I really got into science. It was fun doing that kinda crap, and it took my mind of my parents.
br
I built my own plane and learned more about science. I got good enough for the ShinRa to want me to be in their Space Program. I said that I would only be pilot, but wouldn't work for the company. That was good enough for them. They sent me to their launch site. And that's where I met Shera.
br
I told Shera everything and she just listened and told me to keep going with my dreams. She was really young then. Definitely for a scientist and on a project like that. She was barely out of her teen years and in her early twenties. She really knew how much I wanted my dreams. Who wouldn't after all the hours I spent talking to her about them? On that day, she didn't care if her ass fried, she just wanted me to get my dreams.
br
I treated her like shit after that. All the staff left after the failure. Except her. For a couple days, I just stayed inside the rocket while Shera brought me my food. I called her a bitch, a disgrace to her family, and more. I didn't even notice that she was the only one left out of the staff. She quit ShinRa to stay with me. Heh, kinda flattering now that I think of it.
br
After four days I left the rocket, but I refused to leave the launch pad. She actually hired a man to build a house for the two of us to live in. Over the next couple of years, people started settlin' around us. And they called our place Rocket Town.
br
I was mad at Shera for years but in the end her mistake was a blessing. After I found out that she was right, I tried to apologize. But even after all I put her through, she let me save my pride and wouldn't let me ask for her to forgive me. Pretty damn nice of her. She still sticks with me today and we're close. She's my friend. But better than a friend. I see her like a- a-
br
Those other guys. Cloud, Tifa, and them. Their my- my friends. Now after all we've been through I can't see myself without their crazy shit. Cloud has his- his Cloudness. And then Tifa has the way she worries but keeps it all in. I wonder if she'll ever tell Cloud how she feels. Seems like everyone knows but him.
br
Barrett always cares about what he's doin'. He's trying to rebuild Corel now. Red XIII's at his home, too. He was always a refreshing change to the rest of the group. Him and Tifa were the only one who really kept their cool. Yuffie's still the same girl. Always trying to snatch somethin' away. But she does it 'cuz she wants to rebuild Wutai's economy. It's near damn all tourism now. But she's trying to change it. She just needs a little gil which she's short on.
br
Cait Sith is still on duty. His controller was Reeve, from ShinRa. At first I thought that he was shit. ShinRa trash. But he had something to care about too. Vincent was cold. But after his story Lucrecia, we all knew why he was like that. I probably understood that guy the most. We went through the same shit. We both had our dreams crushed.
br
And there was that girl, Aeris. Heh, who would've guessed that I would end up caring about her. She was almost like a daughter. She really saved all our asses.
br
Heh, kids. Except Vincent, they're all still kids. They have dreams left for them. I almost feel like they're my family. I'm startin' to sound like one of those cheesy bastards on kids' television. Who knew that Cid Highwind would get mushy on someone, huh?
br
I wonder if Shera will ever have a family of her own. Maybe. . . she can be part of my family? Shit, what am I sayin'? That I wanna be her huband? I dunno about that. She did a lot for me. She wanted to give me my dream. And in the end I got it. I got into space after all. And now that I'm back in Rocket Town with her, did I actually learn to. . . care. . . about her?
br
Shera was willing to give her life for my dream. It's a funny thing about dreams. I reached for it, and almost grabbed it. And I blamed the person who wanted me to have it the most. The Universe didn't want me to have my dream. But then I got my dream. Shera tells me that when someone gets their dream, their heart send out another dream for someone to catch and want. It's kinda corny, but that's what she said. Cid Highwind sending a dream into the Universe. Imagine that.