Title: A Dark Moon Rising part 1 of 13
Author: Enide Dear
Rating: NC-17, eventually
Pairing: Cid/Reeve, Valenwind, Cid/Reeve/Vincent
Summary: This, as far as I can get it, is what you wished for – hot and smexy Valenwind. With Reeve.
Author's note: The drama! The suspense! The demons! The fedora! *squee*
The crowd that came hurrying up towards the Highwind was noisy, angry and scared – more of a mob than a crowd. They were dragging something in their midst, and occasionally the jarring sound of metal striking metal could be heard, something that agitated the towns people even more, making them curse and shout.
"Captain! Captain Highwind!" The loudest man in the group hurried ahead, up to where the captain sat in a comfortable chair in the sun, his feet on a table next to a teapot and a cup. "Captain, we need your help!"
"Fuck off." Cid grumbled, refusing to look up underneath the brim of the hat he'd drawn down over his eyes. "I'm on vacation here, and I ain't flying no goods for two more weeks."
"This isn't work, captain, this is your chance to help rid the planet of a dire threat!" The man sounded furious, but feeding that wrath was a strong current of fear.
"Yeah, that's what people usually say when they don't wanna pay for work." With a sigh, he pushed back the hat, blue eyes sparkling with irritation. "What's the bloody fuss about this time?"
The crowd reluctantly gave way as their unofficial leader led the dusty and annoyed captain towards the middle of the assembly, although a few took one last chance to aim kicks that rattled against something metallic.
"I'm in Nibelhieim, in the middle of nowhere and as far as I can fucking get from Rocket Town, and still I can't get away from work," Cid muttered to himself as he pushed a few stragglers away. "I should have just gone to Costa del Sol right away."
As the crowd finally gave way and gave him a first look at the object they'd been dragging along, Cid stopped dead in his tracks, the cigarette falling out of his mouth.
A small cage with bars of a strange material – not iron or steel, it was too shiny - sat in the dust. It was barely big enough to reach to Cid's hip and perhaps as wide as his outstretched arms, which must mean that it was very, very uncomfortable for the tall, dark man crouching within, his clothes in tatters and blood running down his face. Strange, red eyes glowered out at the captain from underneath dirty black hair.
"What the Hell?!" Cid stepped back, casting furious glances all around. "I'm no bloody slaver!"
"This is not a man, captain." The loud leader of the rabble growled. "It's a monster."
Before Cid could ask any more, the man pulled out a heavy-looking, three-muzzled gun and shot into the cage; more by luck than anything he hit the caged man's hand.
An inhuman howl echoed over Nibelheim as a huge beast threw itself against the bars, slobbering and growling. The villagers threw themselves away, but the cage held, and Cid only remained standing due to the pure shock that froze his body. The demon only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing, leaving behind the dark man, now pressing his wounded hand against his chest, and gasping for air through the pain. Instinctively, Cid tore off his scarf and threw it through the bars. The dark man recoiled as if the yellow cloth had been a snake, but slowly took up the scarf and wrapped it around his wounded hand – not that that would do much good, as far as Cid could see the hand was destroyed, perhaps enough to kill the man from blood loss.
"What the Hell was that?!" he shouted, enough anger in his voice to make the towns people back away even more.
"That was a demon, captain…"
"I mean, what the fuck did ya shoot him for?!" Cid raged. "Get some bandages or some Cure materia over here, now!"
"He won't die, captain. You can't kill demon that easily. That's why we need your help." The mob leader didn't budge, but he did look queasy at the amount of red blood that had spilled out on the ground and still seeped through the make-shift bandage. "We need to you to take the cage out over open sea and dump it. That will rid of us this…thing."
"How d'ya know?"
"The cage is plated with silver. The demon can't get through that." The man scowled at the cage. "We found him, in a coffin, and he turned into that…thing. We can't have such a thing loose on Gaia!"
Cid hesitated, glancing from the frightened towns people to the crouching man. If he hadn't seen the demon himself, he wouldn't have believed the story, but…he scratched his head under the fedora, not wanting to have to take this decision, but knowing no one else could.
"A'right…" he said slowly, feeling a bit sick inside. "I'll do it fer ya. Get him aboard the Highwind – but get him some bandages first! I don't wanna have him bleeding all over my ship."
"Thank you, captain. We're in your debt…" the leader started, but Cid didn't listen. He'd crouched down in front of the cage.
"Are ya a'right in there?" he said, lighting a cigarette and pulling deep on it, trying to steady his nerves.
"He won't speak, captain, probably can't…" The villagers of Niebleheim fell silent as a dark, barely audible voice spoke.
"No." The voice came through gritted teeth. "I'm in quite a lot of pain, captain."
"Gimme yer hand." Cid snatched a roll of bandages from a frightened woman and the villagers gasped and stepped back as the caged man hesitantly held out his shot hand through the bars. Very carefully Cid peeled away the blood-soaked remnants of his scarf, his face paling at the sight of destroyed fingers, and then wrapped the hand hard and neat in new linen, enough to make it stop bleeding. "Sorry 'bout the pain. Can't do much about that." He said as he stood, dusting his pants.
The man in the cage nodded, but didn't answer. He held his hand close to his chest, red eyes revealing nothing.
Cid got the towns people to move the cage by the simple way of pushing two poles under the bars and lifting it, and then directed them to place the cage in the steering room of the airship.
"So," he said when they were finally done. "That only leaves the matter of payment."
"Pay? I thought…you saw him!" The mob leader was taken aback. "You mean you want pay to take care of that trash?!"
"If I'm to call off my vacation to be yer bloody executioner, I'm fucking getting paid. Or else ya can to it yerself. The oceans is that way –" he gestured. "- only about two hundred miles, or something."
"We don't have much gils…"
"Then I'll settle for a full tank on Highwind, enough supplies ta get me and him to the ocean and…" Cid looked thoughtful, "…and that weird gun ya shot him with."
"You can't…!"
"Fine. Unload the demon, boys!" Cid turned and started towards his ship. "The deal is over!"
"No!" Muttering under his breath, the man smacked down the odd gun into Cid's palm and stalked away, calling for supplies. Cid scowled after him. *'Visit Nibelehim this year, see the beautiful mountains, the placid lakes and the quaint old houses,' my ass. No one said anything about demons, mobs, pitch forks and having to fucking work! Next year, I *am* going to Costa del Sol!*