Sorry it took so long. you guys probably lost interest by now. if not, then thanks. :) anyway, this chapter's really sad. I cried mainly because of how well song 4 fit with the mood. TT it's the next-to-last chapter, so try and enjoy it. :(
Chapter 37 - The Flame of Hope
Song (1): Protect Life from the Fifth Element Soundtrack
Song (2): Cid's Theme Reborn from the Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack
Song (3): The Flame of Hope from the Sonic The Hedgehog Soundtrack
Song (4): Just Smile from the Sonic The Hedgehog Soundtrack
…Armageddon…
"So you will die for them?" The Phoenix asked Cid, who fearlessly stood eye-to-eye with the mighty creature in the image of his friend, Damian.
"Y-yeah." Cid hesitantly answered. "I'd die for them. I risk my life everyday just to see them smile. But…" Cid began to stutter as the Regeneration Spell that Aeris had cast wore off and his wounds started to appear, sending a suddenly sharp pain through his nerves. "But I'm…not standing here just for them. I'm here for you, too." The Phoenix fell into a state of confusion. Cid continued. (1.)
"Ya see." he said. "I promised my mom before she died that if I ever had a kid, I'd protect 'em no matter what happens. I promised that to her cause that's how she was with me. Through all the things I put her through and everything I did to her, she still took care of me like she did the day I was born. I was lucky enough to have a mother and a friend in my mother, and I want that for you…Damian." Cid slammed his eyes shut to keep his tears from falling. "I want you to have someone who'll take care of you and protect you like my mom did for me cause I think that's what you deserve after everything you've been through. You deserve that and everything else. I…just don't want your life to end here. Not like this."
Cid slowly closed his eyes again and allowed a single tear to fall from his right eye and down his bloody face. The Phoenix gazed into Cid's being with a sudden look of forgiveness that did not fit its fiery features. The orange glow emitted by its veins slowly faded and its skin gradually returned to an olive tint. The pilot looked back up to find he was no longer staring at The Phoenix. He was gazing into the forest green eyes of his good friend. However, the look of happiness Cid showed on his war-ridden face was not a mutual look amongst the two of them.
"If you don't kill me now," Damian said softly. "Then The Phoenix will take me over and destroy everything we know, Cid. There's no hope as long as I'm alive. I have to die." Cid tensed completely as he listened to Damian's conclusion.
"No!" he shouted. "I'm not leavin' this spot without you! I mean it!!" Cid then involuntarily wrapped his arms around Damian, allowing the immense power of The Phoenix to surge through his own body. Within that instant, Cid found himself blinded by a bright light. He shut his eyes fiercely he could see no light through his eyelids. (1 off.)
…???…
Cid slowly opened his eyes to see that he was now in a large marble hallway with very detailed runes and hieroglyphic photos. He looked around for a familiar face. No one…
"The hell am I?" Cid asked himself as he continued to gaze down the odd hallway. He then heard a distinct voice call out like a gentle wind.
"You're in my mind, Cid." the voice said. Cid turned around to see Damian in the maroon shirt and pants he wore when he first met Cid three months ago. In fact, the only thing missing from his appearance was his heirloom coat.
"In…your mind?" Cid asked, still somewhat in shock as to how quick everything had changed within what seemed like a matter of seconds. His comrade nodded. (2.)
"All the pictures and writing you see on the walls here…" Damian explained. "They're my memories, Cid." The young man began tracing the runes with his fingertips. "Everything I remembers on these walls."
Cid began to look closely at a few of the hieroglyphics. He noticed several of the events written down into the wall. His first encounter with Damian. The day at the hospital when Damian first met Vincent. The Phoenix destroying the Training Room in the Sierra. Damian's battle with Sephiroth atop the Shinra Building in Junon.
There were also several memories, of course, that Cid had no clue of. Damian as a child in an orphanage of some sort. A little girl who appeared to have violet hair and faint red eyes. Pictures of a young Aeris, their mother Ifalna, and their father Professor Gast. Cid continued to read and watch Damian's life story as the two of them walked down the beautifully elaborate hallway.
"All these pictures are things that happened to you?" Cid asked Damian. The red haired young man nodded.
"Everything I remember deeply." he replied. After a while, they stopped in a circular room. Cid gazed at the many pictures drawn upon the walls. (2 off .
"This is the place in my mind where I keep the people that are important to me." Damian explained to Cid. Cid then noticed a few familiar faces. Marlene. Denzel. Loz. Barret. Reeve. Yuffie. Nanaki. Cloud. He then looked to a large hole in the wall in front of them. (3.) Around it, he saw a picture of Tifa, Aeris, Vincent, and himself, and within it was a small flame about the size of a candle whose light was the only source of light in the entire hallway, yet it lit everything inside.
"These five people I hold close to my heart." Damian told his friend. Cid grew slightly confused.
"Five?" He asked. "There's only four pictures." Damian shook his head.
"Look closer."
Cid squinted his eyes and noticed that a set of wings were drawn on the sides of the opening, making the flame seemed as if it symbolized…
"Wait." Cid started. "Those wings…" Damian gently shut his eyes.
"…The Phoenix." Damian nodded. He then reached out to the flame and pulled it into his hands using his mind.
"This flame…" Damian began. "Is all that remains of the Phoenix." Damian blinked loosely as he eyed the tiny flame. "But it's also my spirit flame. Should it go out, the universe will turn back to the way it should be and The Phoenix will cease to exist…but so will all my memories of you and everyone else." (3 off.)
Cid gazed into the warm light of Damian's spirit flame. It was just like him. Warm, gentle, and strong enough to fill an entire universe with its presence be it care and kindness or death and destruction. He then looked up into Damian's soft green eyes as they stared into the flame with a transparent sorrow. The young man allowed a single tear to flee from his eye and down his soft face.
"If I put out this flame, I'll save the universe…" Damian began. "But to tell the truth…" Damian became unable to keep his eyes open as the swell of tears grew within him. He bit his lip lightly as the tears began to flow freely. "If I have to forget everything you mean to me…" Damian slowly dropped to his knees as he began to cry heavily. Cid felt helpless as he looked down at his ally. Damian then shouted his true feelings. (4.)
"Then I don't want to put it out, Cid!!"
Now would be the first time Cid ever heard Damian sob like this, and it broke him down inside. He knelt down on one knee in front of Damian on the verge of tears himself and held the young man's hands above his. Damian looked up into the pilot's sky blue eyes.
"Damian." Cid began. "You remember what I told you…when you told me that you didn't wanna fight?" Cid blinked as a tear fell down his face. "I said…that when all this is over, all of us are gonna look back on this and laugh." The pilot's tears became heavy, and he fought to keep them at bay. Cid gave Damian his famous grin, and the young man's crying let up slightly.
"Now, I want you to close your eyes…" Cid told Damian as he sniffed to keep the tears from falling. "…and smile." Cid sniffed once more as Damian closed his eyes, allowing the tear hidden within to fall. "Because when you smile, we'll be together."
Cid looked up to the ceiling of the room to see a picture of all of Avalanche, including the Turks, Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, and Damian, standing together on a shoreline…all of them smiling. Cid cried silently as he gazed at Damian's final memory before closing his own eyes.
"…And together…" Cid sadly added. "…we'll always stay."
Cid slowly closed his Damian's hands with his and put out the flame, allowing darkness to consume the light that filled the room.
…(4 end.)