Chapter 36 – Into the Skies
Lightning's eyes burned as the delicate skin protecting them parted in order to greet the light of a new day. She wouldn't say the morning sun was 'welcomed' by any means. In fact, she had been dreading it for many hours before it had finally surfaced. Normally, she would have been up and dressed before the light filled the sky, but not today. Instead, she just laid in the same spot that she had fallen the night before, trying her best to avoid whatever this new day could possibly have in store for her.
A pair of voices could be heard echoing from the bottom of the stairwell outside of the door and Lightning let out a soft groan as she pulled the pillow over her head. Were they coming for her? The flower girl who had pleaded her to stay the night before had already come to check on her at least three times already, and Lightning feared that she would eventually grow tired and send in reinforcements. But she didn't really want to see anyone this morning, not even Aeris. The flower-girl kept treating her like she was some sort of wounded animal or like she was something extremely fragile that was about to break. She knew the girl only meant well with her concerns, but it annoyed her anyway.
Flinging her legs over the side of the bed, she sat up and allowed her boots to beat loudly against the hard floor beneath her. She hadn't even bothered to take them off the night before. She was still completely dressed from the pauldron strapped to her shoulder all the way through her thigh pouch and boots. In fact, the only thing that she had bothered to take off at all was her gunblade that now laid in the bed next to where she had rested. She snatched it up and began to make her way toward the door, pausing as she touched the handle.
'Get it together!' she commanded with a shake of her head. But with her instruction, her hand dropped to her side defiantly. '….. I don't think I can do this.'
Her head was a mess. She knew that she couldn't stay in this room forever but as hard as she tried, she couldn't seem to leave it either. She felt like a prisoner—a prisoner of her own will. She felt as if taking one step across that invisible barrier would cause her to burst into flames. But what was she so afraid of? Was she afraid begin the day and press on like nothing had happened? Was it the fear of something else bad happening if she did press on? Was it the fear of facing her comrades again after her breakdown the night before? Or was it the fear of facing Cloud again...?
Lightning sighed and took a step backwards.
Perhaps it was all four...
She could press on like she was okay but somehow that felt wrong and the very thought of trying seemed like a betrayal to Hope's memory, but the alternative felt like a betrayal to herself. The last thing she wanted from anyone, let alone her own comrades was sympathy. She'd had enough of that after her mother passed away. She hated people feeling sorry for her. She hated getting that sympathetic look from them. She hated that awkward silence when they couldn't figure out what to say and she hated it even more when they tried. That wasn't something that she wasn't ready to deal with now or ever from her comrades. She was almost positive that Aeris had told them about what had happened last night, and now they knew that she was even more of a wreck than she had let on the day before. They would see nothing more than a damaged little girl whenever they looked at her and then everything from how she carried herself physically to her emotional state would be under constant scrutiny. That was something that she just could not tolerate.
But was she anything more than that? Had she been… damaged?
She was scared. She was afraid to move forward. And she was terrified to find out whether or not Hojo had managed to get ahold of any more of her friends and she was even more terrified of what she would find if he had. That possibility alone was enough to scare her to death. She didn't know if she could handle seeing another one of her friends as she'd seen Hope the day before. She didn't know if she could handle losing another one that way. To have another one of them ripped away from her… and to be so helpless to stop it.
The doorknob began to turn, and Lightning stepped back. As the door opened, she was met with the flower-girl, who had somehow managed to creep up the stairs without Lightning hearing her.
"Oh!" she gasped as she looked at Lightning, clearly surprised that the pinkette had finally made it out of bed. "Are you hungry? The Inn is serving breakfast downstairs."
"No, thanks. I've already eaten a snack from my bag," she lied. The truth was she wasn't even the slightest bit hungry.
"Oh, that's great!" Aeris smiled. "So, I think we're going to explore the town in a bit… you know, to get more information," she continued. "I think it would be good for you to come with us…."
"Yeah, sure," Lightning shrugged.
"Really?" the flower-girl beamed. It was obvious that she had been expecting Lightning to put up some sort of struggle on the matter.
"Yeah," Lightning repeated with a bit more irritation in her tone than she'd intended. The smile faded from Aeris' face and Lightning knew that she had messed up. "… You're right, it would be good for me," she quickly recovered.
Aeris gave her a strange look and then the corners of her mouth turned up into a small smile, "Okay, then!"
Better to just get this over with...
Lightning followed the flower girl down the stairs and into the Inn's lobby. She had expected it to be busy with travelers checking out but was quite surprised to see that it was relatively empty save for Cloud and Tifa, who were talking with the young woman who was working the front desk.
'Where are the others?' she wondered as her eyes scanned the room once more just to make sure that she hadn't missed them.
"Everyone else has already gone out," Aeris replied as if she had heard Lightning's silent question. "We needed supplies, so Barret went with Yuffie to go get them."
"Lucky him," Lightning replied sarcastically, causing the flower-girl to giggle. The sound echoed throughout the small lobby, causing both Cloud and Tifa to look up at them with a mixture of surprise and relief.
"Never mind. I don't think it'll be needed after all," Cloud said to the desk attendant, keeping his eyes carefully trained on Lightning.
"I'm glad you're up," Tifa smiled. "Aeris told us you didn't sleep last night so we were just about to book the rooms for another night. We still can… if you'd like?"
"That isn't necessary," Lightning replied. "We've had enough set-backs."
Tifa looked as though she were about to respond but decided against it.
"So, what do you say we head out?" Aeris suggested as an attempt to steer the conversation into a different direction. "Explore the town a little... see what we can learn."
"That sounds like a great idea," Tifa replied as she took the lead towards the exit. Clearly, she was uncomfortable.
"Light..." Cloud stopped her as the other two walked ahead. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she dismissed as she quickened her pace to catch up with the others, leaving Cloud trailing behind.
Perhaps she shouldn't have done that, but Cloud was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. The events at the reactor still burned so freshly in her mind and each time she saw those Mako eyes of his, it was like having the wound ripped open all over again. She just couldn't handle it. Not right now, anyway. She needed time. Time to heal. And he just had to understand that.
"Yo!" they heard as soon as they stepped out into the bright sunlight.
As Lightning struggled to adjust to the brightness, she made out a dark figure running in their direction.
"Did you get the supplies," Tifa asked the dark-skinned man that stopped right in front of them. "Where's Yuffie?"
"Yeah, I got 'em," Barret nodded. "I think she's over there droolin' over the materia. But that ain't important. I think I found somethin'."
"Sephiroth?" Cloud inquired.
"Naw," Barret shook his head. "No one's seen him come through here. But I met this woman. I think her name's Shera, or something like that."
"We didn't come here so you could flirt," Tifa joked.
Barret gave her a stern look before grumbling, "Shut up!"
"I was kidding," Tifa laughed. "So, what did you find?"
"Nearly everyone in this town is a mechanic..." Barret continued, "... for that rocket over there. They were supposed to have a big launch or somethin', but it didn't happen."
"Why not?" Aeris wondered aloud.
"I dunno," Barret shrugged, "but the captain of that thing owns a plane!"
"A plane?!" Tifa gasped. "Really?"
"Yeah," Barret nodded. "I saw it. It's called the 'Tiny Bronco'. It had a Shinra logo on it."
"Shinra?!" Aeris and Tifa gasped in unison.
"You don't think this town is associated with them, do you?" Tifa asked.
"I think they might've been at one point," Barret answered, "or they're looking to be again."
"What do you mean?" Aeris inquired.
"Well, when I asked about that logo, the lady said that Rufus was coming here today... somethin' about startin' up that rocket again," Barret explained.
The group remained silent for a moment before Barret spoke up again, "I can't believe those good for nothin' assholes are gonna show their faces around here."
"I wonder what the Shinra wants with that rocket?" Aeris asked.
"I guess destroying this world wasn't enough... now they want to find another one to mess up," Tifa speculated.
"We're all thinking it," Cloud said, "so let's go see that rocket. Maybe we can figure out what they're after."
"Yeah," Barret agreed, "and supposedly, that's where the captain is right now. Maybe we can ask about borrowin' that plane of his so we can stop chasin' Sephiroth across mountains on foot."
The walk to the rocket went quicker than Cloud expected and before he knew it, he was staring straight up at that leaning rusted piece of metal for which the town was named. It really looked like a piece of junk. Perhaps, it had been nice when it was first constructed, but the years had not been kind to it at all. The name 'SHIN-RA' was painted all over it, confirming what Barret had mentioned before about the town being affiliated with the corporation. Clearly, the company had invested some serious money into this project, but now it sat here, abandoned. That only begged one question: why had they given up on it?
"Phew... lotta stairs," Barret huffed as they climbed toward the side of the rocket.
"This is the easy part... just wait until you get to that ladder," Tifa teased, which caused the dark-skinned man to let out a loud groan of protest.
"There sure are a lot of wires and cords," Aeris remarked as she looked down upon the mess below.
"I'm sure a thing like this requires a lot of power from multiple sources," Tifa replied. "I can't even imagine how it all works."
"It is impressive," Aeris noted. "What do you think, Cloud?"
"Sure is," he agreed as he grabbed the rung of the ladder and began climbing. The truth of the matter was that he wasn't interested at all in their chatter. His mind was somewhere else. In fact, it was in the same place that it had been for the past twenty-hour hours—on Lightning. He had seriously messed up; he'd made a fatal mistake and had managed to destroy the woman that he loved. And even if he somehow hadn't managed to destroy her, he was almost certain that he'd destroyed what they had together. She was different now; changed. She'd barely looked at him all morning and she'd been completely evasive the one time he tried to connect with her. She didn't want to be around him, and he didn't blame her in the slightest. He knew that it was foolish of him to think that she could ever look at him the same way again. Even if he had thought he was protecting her, that could never change the fact that it was his sword that had plunged through Hope's back and it by his hand that she had lost her brother.
"What're you guys doin' here?"
Cloud looked up in surprise to see a man with yellow hair staring down at him as he reached the top. "We heard that the captain was here."
"Captain?" The man repeated. "I'm the captain! The name's Cid. Everyone calls me 'Captain' though."
The man was loud and had a very thick accent. It almost reminded him of the farmers that they had met outside of Midgar, but the country twang in this man's voice was much stronger than any he'd heard before. His outfit was plain—green cargo pants and a soft blue t-shirt, complete with a brown jacket tied at his waist, dog tags that hung from his neck, and ankle height brown combat boots. He wore a pair of googles just above his eyes and a cigarette between his teeth, which left him reeking of tobacco.
"What d'ya want?" the man demanded as he eyed Cloud and the others suspiciously.
"This is a pretty nice rocket," Tifa answered from behind him. "We're from out of town and came all this way to see it. Can you tell us about it? Wasn't there some sort of space project?"
"Wow! Not bad for a kid," Cid smiled as if he was impressed by her knowing anything about it at all. "You know Shinra developed a lot of technological gadgets during the meaningless war, right?"
Tifa nodded so the man continued.
"Now it's a Mako company, but in the old days it was a weapons manufacturer. Well, they came up with a Rocket Engine. There was so much excitement about the thought of going into outer space. Our dreams got bigger and bigger. They put a major budget into it and made prototype after prototype! Finally, they completed Shinra No. 26. They chose the best pilot in Shinra... no, in the world—me. I mean, come on," he went on. "And finally, we get to the day of the launch. Everything was goin' well... but because of that dumb-ass, Shera, the launch got messed up. That's why they became so anal!" he added as his tone became angrier. "And so, Shinra nixed their outer space exploration plans. After they told me how the future was space exploration and got my damn hopes up... DAMN THEM!"
This man seemed to have some underlying anger issues.
Cloud and the others exchanged nervous looks, but Cid didn't seem to notice as he continued his story.
"Then, it was all over once they found out Mako was profitable. They didn't even so much as look at space exploration... Money, moola, dinero! My dream was just a financial number for them!"
Cloud was trying his best to appear interested in Cid's story, but he found himself hung up on the man's use of descriptive words. What the hell was 'dinero'? Was that a foreign language? Perhaps it came from the south?
His head just wasn't in it today…
"Look at this rusted rocket!" the animated man continued. "I was supposed to be the first man in space with this... but every day, it tilts a bit more. At this rate, I don't know which'll be first—this thing falling over or me gettin' outta here. My last hope is to talk to the President..." he went on more to himself than to them. "Yeah! It must be news about restarting the space program! A young President. That's what we needed. He still has dreams, too!"
"But the President is coming?" Lightning asked, causing Cloud and Aeris to exchange nervous looks as they both knew what was on her mind.
"Oh yeah," Cid smiled. "He'll be here soon!"
Lightning and Barret exchanged looks of their own and Cloud knew that couldn't possibly mean anything good. Barret had always been a loose cannon anytime the Shinra were around, but this time, he had support. Cloud hadn't been solely responsible for the events that had unfolded the day before. Shinra, specifically Hojo, was just as much to blame. She had suffered so much pain at their hands and Cloud knew that she was now out for blood in any way that she could get it. He had an inkling that she had been heading out in search of that revenge the night before. Aeris would not confirm it when he'd asked this morning, but he felt as though he knew her well enough by this point to know for certain that's what she had intended. But now, they were coming to her, and Cloud didn't know if he would be enough to stop her and Barret both if they decided to pull something reckless.
"Can we borrow the Tiny Bronco?" he asked in hopes of not only changing the subject but to possibly get out of the town before the Shinra arrived.
"You out of your fuckin' mind?!" Cid shot back with a bit more anger than Cloud had expected. "That's my most cherished possession. I can't let you take it!"
"But-" Cloud began but Cid cut him off.
"I said no, goddammit!" he spat. "Now get your sorry ass outta here, kid, or I'll report you. You're trespassin' on Shinra property!"
"He's sorry," Tifa interjected quickly. "There's really no need for that. He was only asking for me."
"What'da mean, for you?" Cid questioned.
"Well, you see… like you, I have dreams, too," Tifa began, causing everyone to look at her curiously. "It's always been my dream to fly in a plane… a real plane!"
"I guess that's understandable," Cid muttered as if he fully emphasized with what she was saying. "But my plane ain't for no joy ridin'!"
"I understand!" Tifa nodded. "I just saw it and got so excited!"
"I can see why," Cid agreed with a chuckle. "She is a beaut!"
Cloud actually found himself impressed with how well Tifa was managing to diffuse the situation and calm the man down. Maybe they could pull this off yet.
"Oh, she is!" Tifa beamed with her crimson eyes wide with excitement. "And my boyfriend, here… well, he just wanted to make me happy!" she added as she tightened her grip on him and pulled her body so close to his that he would feel her breasts pressing against the side of his arm.
'What?!'
Cloud was lost for words, almost as if an imaginary brick had been shoved down his throat. No, it felt much worse than that. He could feel Lightning's fiery gaze burning into his back and in that moment, he found himself wishing for an entire pile of bricks to fall upon his head. Anything… anything at all to escape this!
"Well, that's nice and all," Cid smiled. "You know, I ain't such a hard ass all the time. Why don't y'all head over to my house. It's the first one when you go back into town. I'll be right behind you and then I might just give y'all that ride."
"Really?" Tifa lit up again, pushing herself deeper into Cloud's side, if that was at all possible.
'What the hell is she doing?'
"Yeah… well, call me a softy in my old age," Cid shrugged as he pulled a cigarette from the strap of his goggles and lit it. "I remember bein' young and havin' romantic dreams."
'Oh god… this can't get any worse!'
"I'm so happy!" Tifa exclaimed as she turned her head to Cloud. "Aren't you?"
"Of course," he managed to choke out as he nervously turned to look at her as well. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the rage burning in Lightning's blue eyes and he knew that if looks could kill, he'd be a dead man.
"Alright, alright! Enough with the mushy gooey stuff before I change my mind!" Cid said as he began pushing them back towards the ladder. "I have to finish up here."
Cloud nodded and then in a daze he began to descend the ladder. No one said a single word as they made their way back down the side of the rocket, but the tension in the air was so thick that it could have probably been cut with a knife. Perhaps, everyone was just as shocked as he was or maybe they just didn't know what to say. Were they waiting for Tifa to explain herself? Or were they waiting for him to demand the explanation from her? Either way, he was getting that explanation and he was getting it before they stepped foot into the house that they'd just arrived at.
"What the hell was that about?" he finally burst out as he rounded on Tifa.
"I'm sorry! I did what I had to… we need that plane." she defended.
"Really?" he questioned. "Because all you've managed to do is secure us a 'romantic' ride on it!"
"That was the only way that he would agree!" she argued. "You heard him earlier… talking about his dreams. He's so passionate about being in the air. I thought he might be more likely to agree if we tried a different approach."
"Again, you didn't get him to agree to anything," he countered. "He's just giving us a ride. Me and you. Just the two of us. Where does that get us?"
"Do you know how to fly a plane?" Tifa questioned. "No? Me neither. In fact, none of us do. We need to see how it works."
Cloud opened his mouth to argue but no words came out. She was right. He knew nothing about planes and neither did Tifa, or Aeris for that matter. He was fairly confident that Yuffie didn't either, especially considering her spectacular display of motion sickness aboard the ship to Costa del Sol. As for Cait Sith and Red, they weren't human and were incapable of operating a plane. And Barret—well, the only way he was flying a plane would be if he was going to crash it into something. That only left one other person.
"Lightning," he finally said with a voice full confidence, hoping that it would be a good start to winning the pinkette back over. "She could have done it!"
Okay, to be honest, Lightning had never mentioned operating a plane before, but she was military in an advanced technological world, and she had mentioned some of her world's modes of transportation. It couldn't have been all that different. But most importantly here, Tifa needed to understand they had other options rather than tricking Cid into helping him, and Cloud needed her to know that her way of deceiving the man had put both he and Lightning into a very uncomfortable position.
"Where is Lightning!?" Aeris asked as she looked around frantically. "She was right behind me!"
She had left and it was no secret why.
"Are you happy?" Cloud spat at his oldest friend.
"Cloud, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'll go after her. I'll explain!"
"Don't bother," Cloud replied. "I think you've done enough…. Aeris, can you make sure she's okay? Cid is coming so we need to go inside and play our part in this mess that Tifa has created for us."
"Uh, sure," Aeris nodded before quickly dismissing herself.
"Cloud, please… I said I was sorry," Tifa apologized again.
Cloud acted as though he hadn't heard her at all and turned to enter the Captain's house.
"Excuse me?" a voice greeted them as soon as they stepped inside the door. "Can I help you—Barret? Nice to see you again."
"Hey, Shera," the dark-skinned man said as he gave a slight wave. "This's Cloud and Tifa. We just talked with the Captain an' he told us to come here."
"Oh?" she questioned as if she almost didn't believe what he'd just told her.
"FUCK! Shera!" a loud voice bounced off the walls causing the small brunette to jump slightly. "What are you, blind!? We got guests! GET SOME TEA! FUCK!"
"I… I'm sorry," Shera squeaked before rushing off to the kitchen.
"Really, don't mind us," Cloud said as he wondered what sort of animal could possibly speak to a woman like that.
"Shut up!" Cid commanded angrily as Shera quickly returned with a pot of tea and one too many cups. "Sit down in those chairs and drink your goddamn TEA!" he demanded as he threw himself into a chair at the table. "ARGGGGGGH! I'm pissed!" he shouted. He took one look at the tea in front of him and then shoved away from his place at the table. "Shera! I'll be in the back yard tuning up the Tiny Bronco! An' make sure to serve them some tea! All right?!"
And with that, he stormed out through the back door, leaving them all left to wonder what on earth had just happened.
"Wow," Tifa was the first to break the silence.
"Sorry," Cloud apologized. "It's our fault."
"No, no," Shera dismissed. "he's always like this."
"He was okay before," Tifa thought aloud. "Maybe a little short tempered, but he wasn't like this."
"No…" Shera muttered. "It's because of my stupid mistake. I was the one who destroyed his dream…"
"What happened?" Cloud asked.
Shera looked at them all for a moment. Cloud could tell that the story that she considered telling them caused her a great deal of pain, and for a moment, he didn't think she was going to tell it. But then she did. She went on for nearly half an hour about how she had ruined the big rocket launch because she had been trying to fix a faulty oxygen tank. She had crushed Cid's dream of being the first man in space because she had been trying to save his life. Of course, that was not the way she had told it, but that was how Cloud and the others heard it. She was trying to save him and was willing to sacrifice her life to save his dream. And to save her life, he sacrificed his dream. It was almost poetic. She was owning all the blame, but they all saw it for what it was. A story of love and sacrifice. A twisted one full of anger and swear words, but a love story, nonetheless.
"After that, the space program was cut back and the launch was cancelled," she ended her story. "It's my fault his dream was destroyed… That's why… it's alright. I don't care what the Captain says. I'll live my life for him."
"Shera!" Cid's voice boomed through the small room once more. "You still haven't served 'em tea!"
"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered.
"Hurry up and sit down!" he ordered as he reclaimed his previous chair. "Or ain't my hospitality good enough for you!?"
The three of them slowly sat down and Shera began pouring the tea. Cid impatiently looked at his watch and then grumbled, "They're late… Where's Rufus?"
No sooner has the words passed through Cid's lips, the front door suddenly jerked open and a hefty man welcomed himself into the home. He looked familiar. Definitely Shinra, but Cloud was having hard time recalling when they had crossed paths last. He casually took a sip of his tea and pretended as if he hadn't seen the man barge into the house, but the man most certainly saw him. His beady eyes travelled from Cloud to Tifa to Barret and then back to Cloud as he too tried to piece together where he knew them from. Finally, Cid cleared his throat successfully getting the large man's attention.
"Hey-HEY!" the man managed to smile as he tried to play it cool. "Long time no see! So, Cid, how ya been?"
"Well, if it ain't fat man, Palmer!" Cid teased. "How long were you figurin' on keepin' me waitin'!? So, when's the Space Program gonna start up again?"
"Hey-hey! I don't know!" Palmer replied. "The President's outside, so why don't you ask him?"
"Fuck!" Cid swore angrily. "Good for nothing, fat fuck!"
"Don't say 'fat'!" Palmer defended as Cid shoved back angrily from his chair and stormed outside to confront the President. "Hey! Tea! Can I have some too?" he asked Shera. "With lotsa sugar and honey and… oh yeah, don't forget the lard!" he added before taking Cid's chair and then looking between Cloud and the others once more. "Hey? Have we met before?"
'Yeah, the Shinra building…' Cloud realized as the events from that night came flooding back to him. They had gone to rescue Lightning and Aeris from Hojo. They had first seen Palmer in the executive conference room as he and a few other officials met with the former President. Except Palmer did not know that because they had spied on them from the bathroom vent system. The second time they encountered him had been at the scene of the President's murder. He had been a blubbering mess at the time, crying about how he had just seen Sephiroth. What were the chances that he could actually place them to that night? And if he could, did that mean that both Aeris and Lightning were in danger once more? Could that be why the Shinra were really here rather than that rusty old rocket?
"Nope," Cloud finally replied as he pushed back from his seat as well and motioned for the others to follow out the front door. Best to get out of here before the man realized exactly who they were.
"What the!?" Cid's angry voice travelled from the house's white picket fence on the opposite side of the front yard. "You got me all excited for nothing!? Then, what'd you come here for?"
Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. The President really was here and not even 50 ft from where they stood. Even if airhead Palmer hadn't fully recognized him, he was certain that the President would. You can't exactly forget the face of a man that you've fought before. The President hadn't seemed to notice his presence yet, but Cloud already got the confirmation that he needed on Shinra's presence in town; they were not interested in the rocket at all, which meant that they could only be interested in….
"I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco," Rufus said outright.
'What?'
And for a second time today, Cloud had been caught completely off guard.
"We're going after Sephiroth, but it seems like we've been going in the wrong direction," Rufus explained. "But we think we have to cross the ocean. That's why we want your plane…"
"FUCK!" Cid swore loudly. "First the airship, then the rocket, and now the Tiny Bronco!? Shinra took outer space away from me and now you want to take the sky away from me too!?"
"Oh my…" Rufus shook his head. "You seem to forget it was because of Shinra, Inc. that you were able to fly in the first place."
"WHAT!?" Cid shouted. He was becoming irate and this was probably not going to end well for him.
"Uh, excuse me…" a soft voice whispered as a small pair of hands tugged Cloud back into the house. "This way…" Shera ushered as she directed him to the back door. "You wanted to borrow the Tiny Bronco, right?"
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret exchanged confused looks before nodding.
"I believe that Palmer's going to take it," Shera continued as she pointed through the back door to the fat man that indeed appeared to be trying to steal the airplane. "Why don't you talk to him?"
"Hmm… Why do I have to do this…?" Palmer could be heard talking to himself as Cloud and the others joined him in the back yard. "I'm the head of the space program…"
"We'll be taking the Tiny Bronco," Cloud said loudly, causing the overweight man to jump with fright.
"I've seen you somewhere before…" Palmer accused as he spun around to face them. "I know!" he finally realized. "The Shinra building! When the President was killed!" The man tried to keep a brave face but as he slowly backed away towards the white picket fence, he couldn't hide the trembling in his limbs. "Se… se… security!" he finally managed to get out. He looked around and waited for a moment, but when he realized that no one was coming to his aid, he slowly placed his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a small Mako gun.
"This guy serious!?" Barret asked irritably as he raised his own, much larger gun and pointed it right at Palmer's head which caused the fat man to gulp loudly.
Just then the trio heard several shots fired from the front of the house, followed by a lot of shouting and commotion, suggesting that Cid had decided to put up a fight of his own to keep what was rightfully his. Cloud was impressed that the man was willing to face off against the Shinra, but if he somehow succeeded in his rebellion, they would have to face him too and that wasn't ideal. The last thing Cloud wanted was to involve civilians.
"I suggest you get out of here," Cloud warned.
"I don't think so," Palmer replied with quite a bit more confidence in his voice. "That was the sound of your friend being executed for defying the President. They'll be here soon and the lot of you will be off to prison again!"
"Is that so?" Cloud challenged as he drew the sword from his back.
"Oh yes, I remember you," the fat man continued. "Tell me… how is your friend? The pink-haired one. I heard Hojo really did a number on her."
"Shut up," Cloud ordered as he took a threatening step forward.
Palmer raised his gun to fire but suddenly, as if out of nowhere, something struck him with such force that he was sent airborne, which was hard to believe given how overweight he was. Cloud's eyes followed the fat man through the air and finally to the dirt where he landed, bloody and unconscious, perhaps dead. When Cloud's eyes finally snapped away from the broken man, they landed on the large Shinra truck that had struck him. Aeris and Yuffie hopped out of the back, followed by Cait Sith and Red. Lightning jumped from the driver's seat, slammed the door behind her and then walked over to the airplane.
"Are we doing this or not?" she questioned irritably as she climbed into the pilot's seat.
"There isn't enough room," Yuffie complained.
"Well, then I suggest you hold on tight!" Lightning replied sarcastically as the propellers began to spin and the airplane roared to life.
"I don't think she's jokin'," Barret said as he ran over and hopped into the back, pulling Red, Cait Sith, and Aeris up as well.
Cloud sighed and then with a shake of his head, ran over to take his place on the wing opposite to Tifa and Yuffie.
"Better hold on," he warned them and with that, the airplane began to move, slowly gaining air. It would be a challenge to clear the house with the small amount of space she had to work with, but somehow, Lightning managed it. They emerged on the other side of the roof to see quite a fight in the street below. It looked like Cid was making his stand, after all. He looked up wide-eyed at their appearance and swore so loudly that they could hear it over the sound of the wind and the propellers. Suddenly, the plane dipped and for a second, Cloud thought that Lightning had lost control of it and they were about to crash, but instead it steadied, aiming directly at the President. She was trying to kill him!
As the plane shot straight for the blonde man, bullets began ricocheting from the side of the body and tail. "For fuck's sake, Pinky, you're gonna get us killed!" Barret screamed, but Lightning ignored him and held her course.
The President somehow managed to dive out of the way just in time, but Cid saw his golden opportunity to save his prized possession and jumped aboard, grabbing hold of the same wing as Cloud. "What the fuck is she doin'?" he demanded. The plane began to ascend again, but the bullets kept coming in. "Fuck! The tail's been hit!" Cid yelled just as black smoke began pouring from the back of the plane.
The airplane was damaged, and Cloud was unsure if Lightning knew that or not, but she kept going. They had made it away from the town and were now heading towards the sea. Surely, she wouldn't try attempt crossing with damage to the structure. But she was! She was going for it. They had just covered the water, when a small explosion occurred from just under the tail, sending them plummeting straight for the water.
"Emergency landing!" Cid called over the wind. "There's gonna be a big splash so hold on to your drawers and don't piss in 'em!"
The blue waves were getting closer and closer as the plane continued to race towards them with increasing speed. Cloud held his breath and hoped for the best…
A/N:
Sorry for my absence lately. It's never my intention to stay away for so long. Life can be quite the time suck lol. Anyway, I really hope you all enjoyed this one. Please don't be too harsh on my extremely RUSTY writing! I struggled trying to find my groove in certain parts of this chapter and I feel like it definitely shows.
If anyone is still reading this thing, please leave me a review to let me know your thoughts.
Love you all and thank you so much for your continued support,
Lady A