Chapter Two: Fallen Lilies

Last chapter…

"Hey, I already said I was sorry," the talking red blur insisted. Oh, a cheeky one.

"The hell, ya could've made it sound si-

He didn't finish what he was saying 'cause when he looked up, he saw the face of the nameless stranger in his dreams.

Fate had a funny way of bringing people together but this ain't one of them.

He tore his gaze from the guy's alabaster, paler-than-pale face after much deliberation on his part. He was mentally strangling himself as to why he didn't just go and punch the livin' lights outta the guy and why he can't shake off the feeling that somehow…somehow

"Here," the said guy extended his hand towards Highwind. This brought him back to his senses and he could feel a bruise forming 'round his bottom. Highwind glared at it and jumped up to his feet without any further fuss.

Heh, didn't think I could do that, did ya? Highwind mentally did a victory dance and smirked. He even huffed a little mainly because of the fact that he got his cursing a the minimum (This was the first guy he cussed that day and it was already noon) and that maybe, the heavens might suddenly look at his good self and bring him back his Shera.

"And here I thought I was making a friendly gesture," Cid just ignored the comment and inhaled deep, calming himself. He was on a role here. Hell yeah! He thought he almost heard the guy chuckle. Planet, help him if he did, he'd walking home with his hobo cloak shoved so far up his fuckin' ass.

"Hmmm…pretty fit for an old guy," the guy said still holding his arm out to Highwind. Okay, that did it, there was no heaven! After a few moments, all hell broke loose…with a vengeful spork.

"ENOUGH OF YER FUCKIN' ASS CHEEK. FUCK THIS, I AIN'T IN THE MOOD TO BE MESSED 'ROUND WITH AND I WON'T TAKE ANYMORE SHIT FROM THE DAMN LIKES OF YA SO JUST GET THE FUCK OFF!" Cid yelled at the top of his voice. Almost sounded shrill but who cared? He huffed, straightened his collar and walked off.

Or stormed off, whichever you prefer.

People from around them were staring. Yeah, if y'all can consider them people. More like the bums and the stoned creatures were staring at them with their eyes being all twitchy and whatnot. Anyway, Highwind went his way fuming, cursing and throwing away his now broken pack of smokes.

'Tis a good thing that the engineer/pilot didn't see the cloaked stranger after their exchange. Otherwise…things would've gotten uglier than Cid's verbal abuse.

The stranger just smiled behind his buckled red cloak. He dusted here and there and fixed himself. Then, he looked up to the sky and thought to himself:

He didn't change Aeris, just like you said.

And with that, he followed the trail of the pissed-off head engineer and pilot of Rocket town.

And possibly in the whole planet. The stranger added to his musings.

Now we follow the glorious Cid Highwind knocking over an innocent flower vendor on the street.

Just how did he loose reflexes after 4 fuckin' years of stormy flights, avoiding lightning strikes here and there, was still a mystery to him.

He just fucking hit two random people in a span of ten damn minutes!

He was storming away, hands in his pockets, away from the cheeky guy who bumped into him in the slum parts of Rocket town. He never met a guy who would tease him straight up to his face and smile while doing it. Well, that is, unless 'teasing' was meant in a whole new different way…ahem…anyway, he just couldn't get the chuckling guy's cloaked face.

Oh how he wanted to get some color into those pale cheeks…yeah! Colored with multiple intensities of bruises more like it.

But then, he could've done that a while back. He just didn't know why he held back.

It was fer Shera…my Shera… he thought to himself but that just wasn't enough.

He never gave a shit before about what Shera would think if he punched a guy just for looking at him funny. Heck no, Shera didn't bother with that. If all, maybe she even liked his tough exterior. She didn't leave 'cause of that…

Or maybe she did…

Ack! Enough of that, no! She left 'cause she can't take anymore of yer drunken sprees every night and yer awful breakdowns…which often results to violence…

Yeah…she left 'cause ya just had to be a tough guy.

He didn't notice that a pink-clad girl with soft brown bangs that defied the laws of hair-gel but was amazingly cute was about to hit him.

And hit him she did.

Lilies flied and so did the girl. Both bodies fell in a heap with a dull thud and a few groans.

He was cussing when he remembered that it was a girl he hit while walking. Shit, what a gentleman Highwind.

He got up, knowing too late that the girl was on top of him, and he scolded himself again.

"err…sor…sooorr…ah. Fuck it, here," he extended his right hand to help the girl and the girl took it. She smiled up at him and then got all surprised.

"did you see where my basket went?" she asked him. he remembered seeing the basket fly up somewhere and he was determined to find it.

"err…I'll find it. Hang on," he found it lying a few feet away from him.

"Here ya go!" he said and grinned his Highwind grin at the girl. Minus the cigarette of course.

Ohhh…the Planet must fuckin' hate me…Cid mentally groaned as he rubbed his ass. Someone's gonna be sore tomorrow.

"Here's your basket, lady." Pushing past Cid, she frantically looked everywhere with a panicked expression.

"Thank you," she didn't stop looking panicked though.

"Oh, my lilies!" of course. Cid sighed and picked up the lilies. Wow, he was bein' a gentleman all of a sudden. 'S long as the guys from the tavern didn't see him, it was good.

After about 2 minutes, all the lilies were back in place.

"Soo…soooorrr…sorry'boutdat," Cid made a very sorry excuse for an apology but nonetheless, the girl smiled.

"It was nothing. Here, have one. Give it to someone dear, you'll never know," she said and gave him a lily. Or it may be a lily, it had a gash of reddish hue in the middle all scattering but not overpowering the white of the flower. Around the edges of the five white-red petals were black spots, highlighting the whole flower. It was truly remarkable.

Not that he was admiring it, of course. Tough guys don't do that.

The girl walked off while he stared at the flower. He did a double take but a sudden wind blew and the girl was no longer there.

"Hmmm…pretty weird this day turns out to be. Maybe I should stop getting' laid…HELL NO!" and with that, he continued his long journey to his pad at the center of Rocket town.

Unknown to him, the cloaked guy was observing him from the shadows.

Tsk, you just had to make the first move, hadn't you Aeris?

.+.A/N.+.

Be good. Just go and press the go button. Go on, ya know ya want to.