The Hotel- Dawn of the 6th dayCloud woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. It was 9:30 AM. He switched the alarm off and looked at Tifa who lay beside him, still sleeping peacefully.
Cloud smiled and pulled out a notepad and pencil from under his bed. He checked off the label "Confess your love to Tifa and get it on".
"Another goal in my life fulfilled," Cloud said.
Cloud heard Tifa yawn as she sat up.
"Morning handsome," she said with a warm smile.
Cloud turned his head and smiled back as he got dressed. Tifa got dressed as well.
"Last night was the best night of my life," Cloud admitted.
"Ditto," Tifa said giggling.
The two of them walked downstairs together. They heard laughing in the living room. They found Cid and Sephiroth watching the news, both of them laughing.
"What's so funny?" Cloud asked.
Sephiroth pointed at the TV. Cloud saw the faces of Lance and Tony as they were taken into custody by the police. Both of them had looks of defeat and humiliation on their faces.
"That's it. Now lock those two scumbags up and throw away the key," Cid said.
"Serves them right too," Tifa added.
Barret, Aeris, Vincent, Caitsith and Yuffie entered the living room.
"What are you guys laughing about?" Vincent asked.
"Nothing important," Sephiroth said, instantly changing the channel.
Vincent cocked his brow.
"Anybody want breakfast?" Aeris asked, changing the subject.
Everyone raised their hands.
"Then let's go," Aeris said as she walked into the kitchen. Everyone followed.
"Whose turn is it to cook this morning?" Barret asked as he sat down.
Everyone pointed to Yuffie.
"What?!" Yuffie cried in a bewildered tone. "I don't know how to cook!"
"First time for everything Yuff," Cid snickered as he lit a cigarette.
"Don't worry Yuffie I'll help you out," Tifa said.
As Tifa and Yuffie cooked, the phone rang. Aeris answered it.
"Hello?" Aeris said into the phone.
"Lemme speak to Blondie," Raptor said on the other line.
"Oh…it's you," Aeris said dully. "Cid it's for you," she added as she handed the phone to Cid.
Cid took the phone, already half-expecting it to be Raptor.
"If this is Maurice Raptor, I'm hanging up," Cid said.
"Listen Blondie, I…" Before Raptor could finish Cid hung up.
The phone rang again a few moments later. Cid angrily answered it.
"What do you want you son of a bitch?!" Cid yelled into the phone.
"What did you call me?!" The caller said…it wasn't Raptor, it was a woman.
Cid's eyes opened wide.
"What the…mom?!" Cid said, dumbstruck.
"How dare you speak to your mother that way?!" Mrs. Highwind said angrily.
"M-mom I-I'm sorry," Cid said nervously. "I thought you were someone else."
"Well you shouldn't answer the phone like that anyway, young man,"
The others snickered at Cid, apparently hearing his conversation. Cid gave them an angry look.
"Mom, I'm 32 years old. I'm not a young man anymore," Cid said with a sigh.
"Well, anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I'm a little ashamed at you for destroying the USS Arizona memorial."
"Uuuuuuhhhhhh-ooooohhhh," Yuffie said amusingly.
Cid glared angrily at Yuffie.
"Mom, that was just an accident all right. Listen, I'm entering a flying competition to get the money to pay for the damages all right, so don't worry," Cid explained.
"All right, just be careful Cid, and try to quit the smoking, you know it's bad for you."
"Yes mom," Cid sighed. "I've gotta go now, I love you."
"Goodbye sweetie, say hello to the others for me,"
"I will mom, goodbye," Cid replied as he hung up, though he expected Raptor to call back soon.
"Awwweeee," Yuffie said, clamping her hands together teasingly.
"Shut your face, ninja girl," Cid snarled as he sat down. "Your relationship with your old man isn't very solid you know."
Yuffie was quickly annoyed by this. "You leave my father out of this," She said as she finished preparing breakfast.
A few moments after everyone had started eating, the phone rang again. Cid answered it, knowing it was going to be Raptor.
"Hello?"
"Don't you ever hang up on me like that again or I'll sling your sorry ass!" Raptor said angrily.
"What the hell do you want this early in the morning?" Cid asked.
"I just wanted to remind you that the competition is tomorrow so you'd better be ready, blondie," Raptor said. "You know, it's not too late. You can still back out and find another way to pay for the memorial."
"Are you crazy?" Cid said. "I had to pull a lot of strings to get admitted into the competition. There's no way I'm backing out at this point."
"Why don't you come down to my office and we can discuss this," Raptor said.
Raptor hung up. Cid put the phone down and sighed.
Ford Island airfield
Raptor smirked as he put the phone down.
"I did warn you blondie, but you had to be the tough guy," Raptor said, apparently scheming something.
The Hotel
"So he told you to drop out of the competition? What an ass," Aeris said as she drank her coffee.
"Yeah but he doesn't intimidate me," Cid said as he lit another cigarette.
"How do you know this Raptor guy anyway?" Yuffie asked.
"It's a long story," Cid replied.
Everyone finished eating. Cid stood up.
"Well, time for my morning practice at the airfield. I just hope Raptor won't be there to bust my balls again," Cid said. "Coming Aeris?"
Aeris nodded and followed Cid out of the kitchen.
"So we have only 2 more days of vacation left, how are we going to spend it?" Yuffie asked.
"She's right, we should do something special," Barret said. "Let's throw another Luau."
"Not a very good idea," Tifa said.
"And why is that? The first one went well," Barret said.
"No it didn't. First of all, you got so drunk I had to drag you upstairs to your bed," Sephiroth said.
"Don't forget Tifa and Yuffies little catfight," Cloud added.
"And I fell into the pool and got deactivated for 2 days," Caitsith added.
"And you nearly destroyed my hair," Sephiroth finished.
Barret didn't say anything. He was convinced.
"Well we should still do something special. Either today or tomorrow," Cloud said.
"The flying competition is tomorrow and we're all gonna be there to cheer for Cid so, we'd better do something today," Tifa said.
The kitchen went silent for a moment as everyone tried to think of something.
"How about a movie?" Tifa suggested. "Let's all go see a movie together."
Everyone nodded, accepting the idea.
"That seems a little mediocre if you ask me," Yuffie said unimpressed.
"Oh, well then I guess we'll just spend today doing nothing," Tifa said smarmily.
Yuffie paused for a moment and sighed.
"Fine," Yuffie said, "We'll see a movie."
Ford Island Airfield
"Hey, boss," One of Raptors men said. "That blonde guy is back."
Raptor stepped out of his small office hut and spotted Cid and Aeris climbing out of the jet they had flown to the airfield.
"Ah, let him practice," Raptor said calmly. "It won't do him any good against my skills tomorrow."
Cid figured he'd have a word with Raptor before he began to practice.
"Stay with the plane, Aeris, I'll be right back," Cid said as he walked towards Raptors office.
"Ok, just be careful near that guy," Aeris said.
Cid entered Raptors office and found him sitting in his chair, smoking a cigar.
"Oh, blondie," Raptor said with a smirk. "Good to see you again."
Cid glared at the smiling Raptor, already annoyed.
"I wish you'd stop calling me that. My name is Cid."
"Oh well excuse me, blondie!" Raptor said. "Take a seat."
Cid sighed and pulled up a chair in front of Raptors desk and sat down.
Raptor put out his cigar and reached into his desk drawer. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. He placed them on his desk, facing Cid.
"Whats that?" Cid asked.
"The forfeit papers," Raptor said. "So, are you going to sign it or did you just come here to piss me off?"
Cid rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I already told you, I'm not dropping out," Cid replied.
Raptor narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Well that's a shame, because you have no idea what your gonna be up against tomorrow," Raptor said, trying to intimidate Cid to no avail. "But you can avoid the shame and humiliation of losing. All you have to do is sign the paper."
Raptor pushed the paper towards Cid.
"Yeah, right," Cid scoffed. "I bested your stupid hoop stunt the other night without a problem. This competition should be a breeze for someone like me."
Raptor sighed and put the paper away. He looked at Cid through narrow eyes.
"Fine," Raptor said shrugging. "Have it your way, blondie. But like I said, you don't know what you're up against."
"We'll see about that, Maurice," Cid said as he stood up and began to walk towards the door.
"I warned you blondie," Raptor said, raising his voice.
Cid looked back at Raptor and smiled.
"By the way, Maurice, your fly is open," Cid said as he walked out the door.
"What?" Raptor said as he looked down. "Oh shit…" he muttered as he zippered his pants.