IMPORTIANT AN!:What I relate here is built up of a mixture of watching interesting programs about brain injuries and operations; my watching/reading too much about submarines and battleships, K*19 and Red Mutiny in particular, and putting two and two together and getting three, until xi-desolate-demon-ix said to me "Rufus ShinRa has a half brother apparently" at which point that last piece I needed slid into place, and I got four! Anyway I strongly doubt that (if any of this has any semblance of the truth) it would have all happened in the same universe, maybe one thing would have happened or the other... But who knows.

Oh! And I hadn't played Crisis Core before writing this, so FEAR the coincidences.

Theomachy

Dear Mr Valentine,
I've seen your and Cid's relationship become a strong friendship in such a short time, and I know how much the Captain knows of you and your past, I queried him on how much you knew of his, his answer did not build up my hopes, and I admit to fearing for your friendship, because of his childhood and adolescence he can be so misgiving and even spiteful, he regrets so much of it, but it's the paranoia you know, it stresses him out something terrible. So I asked him what he intended to tell you, I think maybe I was annoying him, as he snapped, but gave me permission to tell you anything I thought you should know. I think then, it would be best I start from the beginning, however before I do, I warn you, there is a lot here I didn't believe my self when I first found out, but I pasted together more information, and it does make sense, Captain himself has never challenged what I know.

Now, where to start, well, it was just over a decade ago, President ShinRa, not Rufus of course, his father, he'd lost his first wife but almost instantly remarried, it was a bit of a scandal you see, they'd had a fling, she'd got pregnant, he'd never really loved her and had always wanted to be rid of her, her son was devoted though, he was so angry when ShinRa introduced his new fiancée, only months after the death of his first wife, it doesn't take a genius to work out that a woman doesn't show after only a couple of months, and even at 12 the young ShinRa knew that his father had been having an affair with this woman, long before his mother died. Oh, I suppose you should know how she died, well, it was a bit of a mystery, no one really knew until after her death, the post-mortem was done properly, because according to ShinRa's doctors she was fine, it was all over the news at the time, but I only know because my own mother was an avid collector of all ShinRa news articles, it turned out to be a cancer, but all the tabloids were saying different things, the man who did the post-mortem said it could have been cured if it had been diagnosed. I guess ShinRa just wanted to be rid of her. Needless to say, Cid found out, and lost any trust he'd had left of his family.

Cid became even more distant from his family, the only reason he'd ever stayed around the family home or their holiday villa in Costa Del Son was for his mother's sake, and without her, there was nothing keeping him there, I don't believe the President cared though, in Midgar, Cid spent most of his time at the aerodrome, over sector 7 and some of 8, as you know when the sector seven plate was collapsed most of the aircraft were destroyed, and only the heliport was truly safe –to cover their tracks ShinRa had sacrificed the personnel who'd been there, the majority had been sent to Junon, I dread to think how they chose those to be left behind- he was often found in the airport maintenance hangers, this he's told me himself, the S.A.F personnel didn't seem to mind, however the officers, once the petty officers had found out and reported, had tried to get rid of him. It must have been like trying to get rid of a weed, he just kept coming back, his father found out and lectured him, even beat him as far as I know, but gave up eventually, as did the officers, and Cid spent years down in those hangers, he learnt a lot, and, according to him, was a good pilot even before telling his father that the moment he turned 18 he was joining the S.A.F. Of course he could have joined at 16, but until then he'd been keeping an eye on his younger, half brother, Rufus however idolised his father and eventually Cid lost his patience and gave up on him.

The papers went crazy when Cid finally upped and left, they made claims of a familial spat, Cid not actually being a ShinRa, all sorts, President ShinRa was quoted as saying "He has abandoned us, and we pride ourselves on having a close family, he is not my son," it seems he didn't really hate him so much though, as he continued to fund Cid's education and, as far as I can figure it, most of his life.

Here you must have guessed, Cid's genius with aircraft was realised, and most of the mechanics claimed that they had noticed it years ago, and maybe they had. He was 21 when he presented his plans for an airship, having grown frustrated with the lumbering dirigibles that they were currently producing.

It was 3 years before they finally accepted his drafts and blueprints as feasible and gave him a grant and crew to develop it, once again the tabloids, always hovering over the family, pointed out that his supply of Gil was considerably larger than most other researchers, and it was linked straight back to his father, who admitted he was interested in what his son could produce.

SEC-002FZ.
She was the first of her kind, but the second attempt, only months into contraction of the ship and the steel of her structure was found to be off bad quality, she was scrapped and restarted, Fox Zulu, as she was called at the time, mostly by her construction crew (many of whom later flew in her), was accused of being cursed right from the start, and certainly her record supports that accusation:
First the steel, that was found out when a futtock broke and sent a man to his death; many were made ill when her Mako powerhouse wasn't shielded properly and was throwing out considerable amounts of radiation; then another was killed by a falling piece of the envelope shielding. If it hadn't happened so late in the projects life, then I wouldn't have been surprised if what had happened to Cid hadn't put an end to The Highwinds' life span.

Murdock (the C/M, you may remember him, Cid was teaching him to pilot The Highwind after the mutiny?) told me this part of the story, what I knew I knew only from the papers, and they'd got it quite wrong, despite the number of witnesses.

It was on the day of her naming ceremony, crowds were already gathering and it was only a few hours before all the important people in ShinRa and the military were going to show up, SEC-002FZ was towering above the crowd, settled in her scaffolding, as she would only be started up after the naming, at that time she was going to be The Brontide. There was a small platform up by the conning tower (you can still see that I might add, it's that peculiar brow on top of the envelope, it was where there commands would come from, Cid doesn't use it anymore, preferring to direct the ship from the bridge, however it is still connected to the ship as the range of view is greater from up there, for air to air combat and reconnaissance and such, you get the point), and a couple of crewmen were putting her name plate on, it should have been put on before but the tower was painted back then and the paint hadn't been dry, so the plate had had to wait. Murdock had been in his early teens at the time, visiting with his engineer father, but he could remember everything clearly, I'm glad I wasn't there, according to him he'd "never heard a man scream like that, never had since, I can't imagine how he felt," this is the story as Murdock told it:

The Captain came out of the offices, Palmer and Scarlet were following him, arguing amongst themselves; Captain was trying not to pay them any attention and took the opportunity to get away when Sam called him over, they were good friends and workmates, why shouldn't he answer the call. Some times I wish Scarlet had said something to insult him, or Palmer caught his attention, just something to hold him up a few seconds, but then, he probably wouldn't be the man we know now if he had been held up. He strode, cap in hand, smart and proper in his dark blue-gray uniform, silver buttons shining in the sun as was the ship, he walked straight backed; a symbol of pride and determination, he'd succeeded in creating this, a beautiful and magnificent machine, dwarfing in ability, appearance and majesty all that came before it, and if you don't mind me saying, all that shall come after it, I suppose that was what he was thinking when he passed under the platform, I'd like to know what was going on up there, because before I knew it, there was a scream from the crowd and suddenly everyone was paying attention, I was with my pa at the time, and I turned to look again, at first I didn't know what had happened, but the crew had frozen, the woman at the front of the crowd was still screaming and now others were calling out too, I only realised something was wrong when I noticed Captain was missing, then the crew near where he'd been got out of the way for a group of medics running over with a stretcher, I saw him then, the Captain, he was kneeling down, staring at his hands on the concrete runway, he sat up slowly, looking kind of blank, and raised his hands to his head, the crowd, seeing him move had finally shut up, I don't think I'd ever heard the port so quiet! All I could hear was a dull whispering, the medics trying to talk to Highwind, and the ShinRa cars drawing up in the distance. We could all see it except for him I guess, I mean I don't see how he could have seen it, don't know how he could have been conscious for that matter! I did know that I hadn't breathed for the entire time he brought up his hands and felt that, well I heard it was a screwdriver, looked like one, when he felt it though, his eyes went so big, his fingers followed the grip down to his skull, and he just shivered, Planet was it a hellova shiver!
His scream was horrendous; I think he thought he was dead, I mean no one knew how he'd survived it then, I've never heard a man scream like that, it was bloodcurdling, heartbreaking, I had to turn away, he ignored the medics and just passed out, they rushed him off, we all thought he was dead you see.

If you're anything like me Mr Valentine, I suppose you're wondering how he survived, you see Cid had always been a headstrong man, but before the accident he had, apparently, been quite different, Sam says he'd been a patient and thoughtful person, who'd rarely got stressed with anyone other than his family, for who his enmity had grown over the years, after the accident though, that was when he gained his short temper, it was also when he began to both swear and drink more regularly, something he'd not done in the S.A.F. The screwdriver had gone into his frontal lobe, it hadn't killed him, obviously, but had caused damage enough to change his personality, I suppose we can only be thankful he's wasn't so hurt as to loose all that personality, he's still a kind and warm man and he's still a very intelligent man, though no one knows if he was always so inadequate in just looking after himself. There is a similar reported incident, a patient and sober man working on the mine railroads in Coral had a pole thrust up through his cheek and up through his skull, it was found yards away, he survived, but became violent, and drank.

Through his entire time in the S.A.F the war in Wutai had been raging, President ShinRa had been reluctant to send Cid out there, however he did go out on a bombing run in a Gelnika; that was the only time he went out on that run, his hatred at what he'd done and what was happening reached President ShinRa. Shortly after recovering from the accident he found that The Brontide's naming ceremony had gone of not without hitch, the champagne bottle had failed to smash and most of the crew had serious reservations about flying in her, her status as 'cursed' was settled, she'd even tried to kill her creator and captain. Cid didn't fear her though, and took command on the ship's first proper flight, with her cargo of bombs she was being sent out to Wutai's capital city, Cid wasn't pleased, and his father was probably annoyed after doing so much to keep his son out of the war, but he wasn't going to let anyone else take the ship.

There was, however, a problem was the mako powerhouse, they dumped their cargo over the already ravaged city and shortly afterwards made an emergency landing, Captain has told me himself that what he saw through the binoculars that day could have taken him out of the war for good, the people he saw in the city, and the carnage, horrified him, worse of all, it sunk in just what he'd done in dropping those bombs, never the less it was three more runs over the province of Wutai, and a visit from the head honchos of ShinRa Corp' before he was discharged permanently from the S.A.F, apparently he was too mentally unstable from the injury he'd received, but his crew, saddened by his departure, knew better, it was purely the scenes in Wutai.

Cid was kept around in engineering, but Palmer considered his talent and knowledge to be going to waste, and with Scarlet having no further control over his military career, of which there was none, President ShinRa was glad to give Palmer what he wanted, after all Cid was becoming more than a nuisance, having been detached from his family for so long other than through the occasional business phone call or interview, Rufus barely knew he even had a brother, and when Cid directed attention towards them and found out how he'd been practically forgotten as a ShinRa, he became angry and started pestering them and making ridiculous demands, including denying any knowledge of The Brontide and demanding to know why his requests for funding were being ignored. If it wasn't for the testimony of the other engineers he worked with, most believed that ShinRa would have sent Cid to an asylum to get his 'insane' son out of the way, and to stop embarrassing them, but instead Palmer got him, and sent him to what we all know now as Rocket Town. Cid calmed down almost instantly, ecstatic at being able to work, not only with the rockets, but with the chance of becoming an astronaut. This was when I met him, at that time his name was 'Cid Highwind' he won't tell me when it changed, I suppose it was after he was taken out of the S.A.F, and that said, he also won't tell me if his insanity in Midgar was acted or honest, I know he still has peculiar moments, maybe you know more than me? Maybe it was the injury, maybe it's just him, or what he's lived through, who knows.

Now, I fear I'm babbling, my thoughts go round and round when I try to figure out if the Captain is even sane now or not, his crew are loyal and they trust him, but I'm not so confident in them anymore, I think it's the altitude, all the aviators I've ever met seem a little unhinged, maybe I'm just getting worried over nothing. He's got better since he met you.

But now, the crew, that's something, it's not really important to why I'm writing to you, but it may confront something I once heard you voice, how The Highwind's crew (she regained the name 'Highwind' simply through commonality, everyone called her The Highwind in Cid's name, so The Brontide got forgotten) always seem to have 2 sides to them at all times, the men and women you see normally are very different to the ones that mutinied in Junon, and that side of them always seems to be present just under the skin. Now I'm afraid it's not something I've ever witnessed myself, but shortly after Cid lost command of the ship, when she became a private ship for the ShinRa, a executive spent a considerable about of time there, sending telegraphs back to the HQ about what he witnessed there, it was well known that the crew were not always as loyal as they could be to the ShinRa, and the removal of the Brontide plaque had only helped prove this. Copies of the telegraphs were obtained, and I'd be willing to send you them if you want, until then I shall only skim over them, and what he said.

The executive, a , wrote mainly about the overall behaviour of the crew, how the ship handled, what problems arose, how there were fixed and coped with, you know the sort of thing, you probably had to face up to that sort in the ShinRa your self. The reports aren't so interesting, not until later on anyway, shortly after he compared the crew to "bees, busy, industrial, never stopping in their loyal work," after that he became far more focused on the psychology of the men, he began to write about how they acted towards their superiors, compared to how they'd acted when Cid was in control, according to the newspapers and opinions of others, it was, he said, to find out if one scenario brought out better cooperation and work in the crew than the other. What he found out he wasn't overly pleased about:

"I fear the men of [The Brontide] are disloyal to the ShinRa, their loyalties obviously continue to lie with the ships' designer, Cid Highwind, I am disturbed by their haphazard approach to following orders, I believe that we only survive their careless attitude through their care of the ship. I have questioned a few, and they all insist that the ship is cursed, one, a Wutainese man, who I distrust immensely, even claimed that she had taken the souls of the dead and had become a yōkai of some sort, and controlled the men like puppets. I honestly do not know if he was merely spinning a yarn, or if their superstition really stretched that far, I have come to know that the airmen here are little better than sailors when superstition comes into the equation…

…I went into the bowls of the ship the other day, as you know the ship is cut into four quarters by two crossed major hallways through it, those hallways are mirrored on each floor, minus the cargo hold, and off those halls are corridors, for the first time I ventured down those corridors, and I find it to be like a maze, aggravated I'm sure by the bulkheads that have been shifted with, I am sure, intent to baffle the likes of myself. Within minutes I found myself quite lost, but continued onwards rather than turning back. Down a flight of stairs, three ladders and many of these spider-webbing passages, barely wide enough for two men to pass each other, I found myself at what I believed was one of the main halls, but my hope was soon dashed when the bare metal floor and hatch covered walls reached my senses, on top of that it was cold here, and upon placing my hands to the walls I found them not just cold, but more prone to vibration than any other I'd encountered, I deduced that I'd made my way to the inner hull wall and that following this passage would eventually lead me to a Port to Starboard hallway. I ended up going in the wrong direction however, and instead ended up back in smaller corridors before I knew what was happening, intent on turning back I almost missed the sounds of voices, having only come across a tiny fraction of the crewmen who worked here, my instinct told me to go towards other human company. Despite being glad that I know now of their hostility, I still wish that I'd not heard them, for upon pursuing their voices I stumbled past the double doors and into one of the fo'c'sle, immediately the men off watch, sitting and chatting from their bunks, hushed up and turned to look at me, the look of pure hatred I received made me turn tail, and I'm not ashamed to admit it, as I know stronger men than I who'd have done the same.

My comparison to bees is quite wrong. These men are wasps, and we have invaded the hive."

He later went on to compare the Highwinds' structure as to be little better than a submarine in maneuverability through it, and "worse for keeping the crew disciplined, while the petty officers would venture into the first few hundred yards of the crews' domain, the officers rarely, if ever, went down there and the crew rarely needed to go into the main halls, as such I do not believe close tags have ever been kept on the morale and loyalty of the men, indeed I have spent some time watching the halls, and when the men do cross them, or spend time in them, they act jumpy and I have seen them, as the quartermaster has said: 'jackrabbit' it would seem this term means that as soon as you've seen them, they've seen you."

He asked President ShinRa to recall the men and replace them, however that never occurred, I assume that the training needed was too great and expensive, and he was hoping that the men's love of the aircraft would stop them either mutinying or scuttling the ship. He obviously didn't expect Cid to return years later and inspire mutiny in his men, if what I have heard is the truth, this act was with little effort on his part; maybe you can enlighten me, as I have my doubts: men do not get gunshot wounds and lose an eye through a peaceful operation?

I hope that what I have written shall not cause damage to your and Cid's friendship, he is a good, kind man, and he cares for you very much, I just feel you should know about his past, as he knows about yours.

---Shera

If anyone is wondering, Theomachy means a battle against, or between, gods and Brontide means the sound of distant thunder.

Despite having checked this through before, I have more recently re-read this, and am aware of many errors, please excuse them, one day I will get around to fixing them, and maybe adding in the ShinRa sports car that Cid has in FF7 that I was going to mention but I think I forgot.