Chapter 2: Endings and beginnings
They sat in complete silence on the opposite sides of the big table in the operation room of the Highwind. "Some name to give to an airship," Yuffie thought. "How big does your ego have to be to name it after yourself? Gawd! Or how small does your..."
"How's your tea?" he asked her breaking the silence. There was a fickle metallic echo in the voice, caused by the hollowness of the almost empty room. Just a few days before the room had been full of people and full of noise, and now it seemed so empty it was almost scary.
"It's too hot... but I'm sure it's just fine," she said, wrapping her slim fingers around the steaming cup.
"Afraid I don't have coffee onboard this ship. Too difficult to make it in here, after all this is no tourist airship. It's built for Shinra's use... well, whatever they were using it for, those days are gone now. Those goddamn bastards."
"Uh-huh," Yuffie nodded. "You're sure feeling talkative, old man!"
"You prefer to sit in silence, brat? 'Cause that's just fine with me, too."
Yuffies eyes widened and she slammed her palm to her forhead. "Ah, no, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that we don't talk very often, and I guess it was a bit strange, that's all..." Cid let out a loud laugh and leaned towards her across the table.
"Well, Yuffie, I have to tell you it's pretty goddamn odd for me,too! Didn't think I'd be hanging around spendin' my last few free days of my life with you!"
There it was again, that word. LAST. It struck her right in the middle of her chest like an electric shock. It hurt. She didn't want to think about it. Not "last", the word wasn't even supposed to be part of her vocabulary, not yet. "Y-yeah, likewise, old man!" she replied, trying to sound as cheerful as she could, although it was all too obvious that was just what she wasn't. She felt awkward and too self-concious.
"So kid, you decided yet?" he continued, sipping his tea but keeping his eyes on her.
"Decided what?" she wondered.
"Wether you're going home or not." Suddenly she felt very irritated by his little inquiry.
"Hey, didn't we agree on this earlier? I don't feel like going home or flying around any more than I'm forced to. Let's just stay here, OK?" There was a strong, almost commanding tone in her voice.
"OK, no problem. Don't sweat! As long as you don't have a problem sharing a room with me." Yuffie sipped her tea and landed the cup on the table so lazily that she almost spilled out all the tea that was left in it.
"Well duh", she exclaimed throwing both her hands in the air. "We've spent many nights like that on the road! It's nothing unusual."
Cid gave a slight nod to her. "Yeah that's right... the rooms are usually big. But here on this ship there's only one cabin, and I tell you it's not exactly what you call spacious."
"Yeah, so what?" Yuffie said casually, finishing her obviously not-so-hot-anymore tea in one hungry gulp. Cid watched her wiping her mouth with her wrist and playing with the cup after she'd finished. She looked up. "What?" she asked, her eyes fixing on him, a small smirk spreading across her face. She was still such a child.
"Nothing," Cid answered, giving her a short moment to try figure out his thoughts before going on, "anyway, I need a smoke. You go take a look at the cabin if ya wanna. It's just right from here if ya follow the short corridor." He stood up, walked to the door, her eyes still following him. He stopped at the door and turned around. "Oh yeah, would ya mind taking care of the cups?" he said and went out. Yuffie blinked her eyes a few times, a favourite expression of hers, it seemed, when she wasn't very sure about what was going on. She turned back to look at the table and saw the two cups.
"Ahh, men!" she shouted, "Always leaving the cleaning up to us ladies like that! Geez!" She stood up and took the two cups, one in each hand, and went to look for somewhere to wash them.
Cid was standing on the deck, taking his time, leaning against the railing, a cigarette in his mouth. It was dark now and there was no sign of the pair that had stayed behind, Cloud and Tifa. He thought about them for a while. "Damn, I wonder if those two really know just how lucky they are..." The wind had calmed down now and it was a relatively warm night. The sky was black but far away on the edge of the horizon there was a bright light fixed in the sky, growing bigger every day, making the countdown all too visible and almost impossible to forget; the meteor. As soon as Cid's eyes found it he immediately felt angry and frustrated. Not knowing how to express his feelings, he kicked the railing a few times and decided to go back inside.
The temperature was a lot cooler inside the Highwind, due to the heavy ventilation in the airship. Cid walked down the stairs, his eyes searching for any sign of Yuffie. "Hey kid, ya hear me? I'm gonna go to bed but you do whatever ya want!" The airship was quiet and Yuffie nowhere to be found. He walked past the operation room, trough the short corridor to the cabin and opened the door, only to find her inside, sitting on the bed under a blanket. She had wrapped her arms around her legs and was leaning forward.
"Ya were right, it is small!" Cid's eyes drifted to a small pile of clothes she had left next to the bed. She'd taken off her boots, headband, shorts and top, but seemed to have left her underwear on.
"You old bastard, what are you thinking about," he immediately corrected himself, though his eyes settled on Yuffie's shoulder and the narrow strap of her bra that could be seen from under the blanket. Yuffie didn't seem to mind, or notice.
"I hope you don't mind me sleeping in the lower bunk, do you? I feel safe here. You mind sleepin' in the upper one?" she asked him blinking her eyes, flashing her long black eyelashes at him. However, the answer she got wasn't quite what she'd been expecting.
"Yeah I do mind! Did you see how low the ceiling is in this room? You're a lot more tiny than me so you get to the upper bunk before I change my mind and haul you back to Wutai to your pops." He even managed to surprise himself with the sudden harshness of his reply. Yet that wasn't the real problem - what the heck was she doing here, sitting in his bunk with nothing but underwear on? As if the world coming to an end wasn't enough, he had to be turned into a dirty pervert before the end of his days.
"Oh," Yuffie said in a tone of surprise. She didn't argue with him, but got up from the bed. He watched her carefully wrap the blanket tight around her and then slowly climbing up the ladder to the upper bunk. When she had settled herself in she threw the other blanket in the bunk at him, which he just managed to catch without falling against the wall. "Here, this is yours! Suppose you be needing this in this friggin' cold airship cabin!"
Cid didn't say anything but kicked off his boots and turned off the light in the cabin. In the faint moonlight that managed to get inside the room trough a dusty window Yuffie could see him taking off his shirt and goggles, placing them on a small sidetable next to the bed and climbing into the lower bunk. There was a sound of him searching for a position in the bed and the blanket shifting.
"Great," she thought, "I'm spending my last days in a tiny airship cabin with an old pilot, Cid Highwind, who just happens to have a perfect body!" She hadn't seen much, but it seemed to be enough, and quietly in the back of her mind she liked what she'd seen. She didn't know much about men, but she knew that seeing him like that was giving her all kinds of thoughts and ideas that she'd rather not have about someone like Cid. She decided to shrug it off, and concentrated her thoughts on the next few days ahead of them.
Cid was lying on his back in his bunk, staring at the bottom of the upper bed. He couldn't sleep, he was too confused. But it didn't seem to matter a lot, since the world was coming to an end and all. He wondered why Yuffie had tried to act so brave earlier that evening on the deck, when he saw clearly that she was terrified of the situation. Hell, he was terrified! In fact, it seemed like the only natural feeling to be having at the moment. He let out a deep sigh.
"Cid..." the voice upstairs sounded unsure and small.
"Yeah?" he replied in a low voice.
"I can't sleep." she said.
"Yeah I know. You worried, too?" he tried to let her open up, unburden herself a little. After all few days from now their lives would be depending on each other. Better make her feel confident.
"Yeah... I'm... Cid, I'm really scared."
"I know." He wanted to be as reassuring as he could, even though he wasn't an expert in having profound conversations with young women.
"I want you to know that it's not at all bad being here... with you," she confessed. Cid was quiet.
"That, and... it's freaking cold in here!" Suddenly her voice was high and lively again, so much more the usual Yuffie.
"Heh, I know that, too. But not much you can do about that. Or do ya want me to keep you warm or what?"
Shit. That wasn't at all what he was after, but the words just escaped his lips without warning.
Now the voice upstairs was silent. Great, he had managed to get her even more scared than she'd been before. "Way to go Cid, you old fool" he kicked himself, when suddenly there came a very shy, quiet, yet meaningful answer from the bed above;
"Would you mind that very much?"
What did she mean by that?
"N-no I wouldn't mind..." he managed to answer in a clearly surprised tone. He could hear her moving above his head. His heartbeat doubled it's speed in seconds. He saw small slender legs come down the ladder. He quickly sat up in the bed, watching her climb down. "Why the hell did you have to ask her that? She's looking for some kind of substitute or replacement for her old man and you're willing to take advantage of her like this?"
"Hey," she said in a soft voice, holding the blanket tight around her with her both arms.
"Hey," he answered, staring at her. "So ya really wanna sleep in the lower bunk, huh?"
Without saying a word she climbed in the bunk and sat herself down next to him. He turned to look at her but didn't know what to say. She was quiet for a moment and then turned to look at him, her eyes meeting his in the dark.
"Hey Cid, just so you know..."
"Yeah?"
"I'm not a kid, right? What I mean is, I am not a child." Her voice was calm, although he could swear he recognized nervousness in her face and posture. She was acting so brave again. Or perhaps she had actually become that during the past weeks, without them noticing. After all the little ninja had never lacked spirit.
"I know," he replied, hesitantly but carefully raising his left arm, putting it behind her back and wrapping it around her. Her tiny figure instantly pressed against his, her breathing growing heavy and fast. He leaned back, pulling her down next to him on the bed and holding her in his arms. She let her head fall against his chest and closed her eyes. He was warm against her cool skin. They lay there quietly for a moment, just listening to each others breathing.
"You feeling any warmer?" he asked her and she answered with a nervous giggle. "Y-yeah."
He stroked her soft hair gently and she began to relax in his arms, starting to forget about what was coming and concentrating on the moment.
"Cid?" she said after a moment.
"Hmm?" he answered in a low growl, letting his hand slip to her waist.
"You worried? About what will be?"
"Nah," he said in such a calm tone of voice that she actually believed him for a moment, "not right now."
There were no more words, as neither of them really had anything more to say to the other. Soon they were both gently drifting away from all the troubles that awaited them, all the uncertainty and despair, all the confusion. Before they knew it, they had fallen into a peaceful, deep sleep, and the before so cold and hollow airship had somehow managed to at least for one night become warm and comforting.
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Whoa, the next chapter came pretty soon, then. I'm not very sure if I'll continue the events from that night for a bit, or if I'll jump straight to the time of Advent Children. If you have any opinions, they're very welcome. Oh, and please forgive any typos, I tried my best, but there may still be some left.