Author's Note: Yay! A chapter with Cid! I love this chapter. I love this whole little arc, actually. It's great! Keep an eye on the crossover, for all of those reading both. Got one more chapter there coming up. But, enjoy this as well!
Traverse Town: Cid
Cid stood at the counter of his accessory shop, tinkering with a couple of bangles. Aerith had just put protection charms on them, but Cid couldn't remember which ones were protection against Fire magic and which ones were protection against Thunder magic. He might just have to go over and ask Aerith. But he was secretly cursing himself for not remembering the difference. And it was a huge difference.
Sighing, he set them down and figured he'd ask her tonight when he got home. Likely, she'd be up. He wondered sometimes when she did sleep. She was always early to rise and usually the last to go to bed, or almost the last, now that Leon was home again. Anyway, he could just say that the boxes got mixed up… or that he dropped them… or…
Well, no, it didn't solve his problem. He couldn't recognize the difference, no matter what. Aerith would tell him again and maybe he'd remember. That's how that worked.
The little bell over the door rang and he looked up. At least he looked busy, though the shop was completely empty aside from him and the newcomer.
The woman who walked in was closer to Cid's age. She had brown hair and round glasses. She was certainly new to Traverse Town, but she lacked the scared look that many who had just arrived had.
"Hullo," Cid called. "How may I help yeh?"
"I'm just here to browse," she replied.
"Suit yerself. If yeh have any questions, I'm righ' here."
She nodded and started perusing the shelves.
Cid went back to staring at the two bangles. They looked virtually the same, the only difference was the sigils, and Cid had no idea which sigil mean fire and which sigil meant thunder.
"You've got a lot of belts and bracelets," the woman said.
"Sure do," Cid replied.
"I was hoping you'd have more gummi related items," she said.
Cid stood up straight and took the straw out of his mouth. "I don' sell those ma'am. I'll take 'em for payment, but I don' sell 'em."
The woman frowned.
"Why d'yeh ask?"
"I work for a space travel program on another World. We're trying to make travel between Worlds more accessible and gummi blocks appear to be the way to go."
Cid raised an eyebrow. "So where yeh from?"
"Place called Disney Town."
"Huh, I've heard of tha' place. So yeh work for a space travel program?"
She nodded. "It's a small program, but we've got some funding from the King. He's already used to gummi travel, but our goal is to make it more accessible for the public."
"Tha's interesting," Cid said. "So yer here lookin' for gummi blocks to help with'at?"
She nodded again. "Someone told me you're the place for those."
Cid shook his head. "Like I said, I only take 'em as payment."
"Why don't you sell them?"
"Well, a, yer the firs' person to be lookin' for 'em. An', two, I'm tryin' to make myself a ship. 'Cause I'd like teh be able to go home someday. An'… shi-oot, I can coun' I swearit! Cat… I can sell whatever I wan'teh."
"I see," the woman replied. "I suppose I don't necessarily need gummis. At the moment, we're trying to figure out how to eradicate Heartless in between Worlds. They're a serious issue."
"Them's Heartless are a serious issue on the World's, if yeh hadn' noticed."
"Do you have any suggestions for large-number Heartless extermination?"
"Eh, maybe a cannon?"
Her eyes lit up. "That's a perfect idea. Would you help me build a prototype?"
Without really questioning what he was doing, Cid replied, "Sure, I coul' use another hobby."
xx
"What did you agree to?" Leon asked as they sat at the table for dinner that night.
"To help her build a cannon," Cid replied quietly.
"Why?" Leon asked. "We have Heartless extermination under control."
"Yeah, bu' this is fer the bigger picture!"
"I suppose getting rid of Heartless in between Worlds is still good," Aerith said. "It's less Heartless somewhere."
Leon pursed his lips, not convinced it was a good idea.
"Look," Cid said. "We're both scientists, and we're both interested in eradicatin' Heartless. Sure, we've got differen' scales in mind, bu' the poin's the same, like Aerith said."
"Will you be going to Disney Town to work?" Aerith asked. "Or will she be working here?"
"I dunno quite yet. From the way thin's were soundin' in our discussion, I thin' she's gonna be workin' here."
"I suppose I really don't have room to talk," Leon said. "I went away for two years to deal with darkness on a completely different World. I can't say Cid shouldn't go work on getting rid of darkness in between them."
"So, forgive me," Aerith said. "But do you think there may be potential for going back home? Or finding a more permanent home in this? You did say 'travel' did you not?"
"It seems like there's only one functionin' gummi ship that her program's aware of, an' it belongs teh the King. However, if I help her out, tha' migh' be somethin' that comes with the job."
Leon raised his eyebrows. Aerith seemed lost in thought.
"I don't know, what do you think, Yuffie?" Aerith asked.
"I don't like the idea of space travel," Yuffie said, frowning. "It makes me sick to my stomach."
"Well, so long as it's that thought and not the pasta," Leon muttered.
"Hey!" Aerith exclaimed.
Cid was certain Aerith's pasta was fine. Considering he'd already eaten seconds and wasn't feeling the slightest bit queasy. His mind was on cannons and ships and Shera—for that was the woman's name. He was supposed to meet with her tomorrow to discuss potential ideas. He needed to ask Leon if he could cover at the shop. Or Aerith. One of the two.
xx
The next afternoon found both Cid and Shera in a warehouse in Sixth District. The warehouse was more of just a hodgepodge of various scrap metals that had appeared in Traverse Town at some point or another. It was labeled free to use by the public, so Cid and Shera started there first.
"The actual cannons will have to be made out of gummi blocks," Shera said. "Lest they fail in transit."
"Fair enough," Cid muttered.
"But for now, just a general shape and functionality will do."
"Sure thin'. Will buildin' them out of gummis be easier or harder than scrap metal?"
"Both," was Shera's reply. She fell silent for a moment as both of them looked around. "It will be easier because scrap metal is more abundant than gummi blocks. It will be harder because scrap metal doesn't bind as easily as gummi blocks."
"Righ'."
"So, are you thinking projectile weapons, or magic for the cannons?"
"Huh? I confess I hadn' thought abou' it," Cid grumbled. "Though, off the top of my head, I'd say projectiles. More predictable than magic."
"I hear you there," Shera responded.
Cid felt a smile of satisfaction grow on his face. But satisfaction of what, he really didn't know.
They gathered up a lot of potential metal and ended up in the workshop behind Cid's Accessory Shop. He had some room to spare there, room enough for a cannon prototype.
"Are we tryin' to make this functional?"
"I suppose we'll have to. We need to make sure it actually works against the Heartless."
"Righ', righ'. Yeh gonna be stayin' here, or…?"
"I think I might stay here, it is a really nice little hotel. I'll stay here until the working prototype is finished, and then I'll go back to Disney Town with a functional cannon."
"Makes sense, I s'pose."
"I should thank you, Cid," Shera said. "You certainly didn't have to do this."
"I want teh, though. So it's no matter."
xx
A week went by and the result was a semi-functioning cannon. It functioned… some of the time. Cid, who had experience with cannons before, was surprised that this was giving him so much trouble. He wrote it off as being because the metal was scrap metal found who-knows-where, versus Radiant Garden's best metalwork that he paid a pretty penny for.
Shera had never built a cannon before, she'd only worked on gummi ships. However, she was a quick learner, a feat for which both Cid and Shera were grateful.
"I suppose I should sent word that this is taking longer than usual," Shera muttered one day while they were working.
Cid slid out from under the cannon and took the wrench out of his mouth so he could reply.
"I'm sorry it's takin' this long, I remember this goin' so much quicker. But I'm beginnin' to think I'm mis-remembrin'."
"Don't worry about it, this is a long-term project for a reason. I may leave and go see if there's anything in the budget to get better materials."
"That migh' help," Cid grunted, sliding back under the cannon again.
Shera sat down on the floor near his head.
"What's weird, though, is that I don't mind that it's taking this long. For the first time since I joined the space program, I'm actually having fun with a project, and I'm not even working with anyone from the program!"
Cid tried to sit up and almost hit the underside of the cannon. He swore.
"You okay?" Shera asked.
"Ye-ahp."
He wheeled himself out from under the cannon again and then sat up.
"Yer enjoyin' this?" he asked.
Shera nodded. Cid thought for a second.
"I s'pose I'm enjoyin' it too."
Shera smiled.
xx
Shera did end up going away for a couple of days. She came back with a few materials that Cid said would be essential if they were going to make this work. Cid was trying to find alternative ways to get the cannon to fire, rather than explosives. Explosives were less reliable than magic. But he needed something to ignite the cannon.
"I think we're stuck with explosives," Shera muttered, looking over the blueprints. "One of my coworkers suggested plasma, but I don't even know how you would begin to get a hold of something like that…"
"Explosives are expensive," Cid replied. "An' one-use only. We don' have the munny for tha'."
"Magic?" Shera suggested.
"I s'pose," Cid shrugged. "Bu' how would you even…"
Shera frowned. "I don't even know."
"Look inteh tha' I guess," Cid mused. "We need some sor' of energy."
xx
"Does any of yeh got suggestions for how to power the cannon?" Cid asked at dinner. "Explosives work great in the short-range, but I don' thin' they'll work long-range attached to a ship. Besides, explosives is expensive."
"Can gummi blocks power it?" Leon asked. "You'll be making the final product out of gummi blocks, will you not? So something that works with your current cannon may end up having to change anyway given the change of materials."
"Didn' thin' of tha'…" Cid muttered.
"Magic?" Aerith suggested.
"Yeah, bu' how d'yeh make magic shoot out of a cannon?"
Aerith bit her lip, thinking.
"Yeah, see?" Cid said. "Tha's where Shera an' I are stumped." His fork scraped against his plate and he frowned. "Yuffie, did yeh steal my potatoes?"
Yuffie looked at him, mouth full of potato, and shook her head.
"Yeah, righ', little squirt."
"Ahm noht ah skert!" Yuffie mumbled.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Aerith chided. "There's more potatoes in the kitchen."
Cid put his head in his hands, thinking more about cannons than about potatoes.
xx
"We'll get it," Shera insisted.
"Are yeh sure?" Cid said, rolling his eyes. "We've been stuck for a week."
"I'll go back home and see if I can find something. Maybe I'll poke around on a few other Worlds too. There's no telling what I'll come up with. But, besides, I like working with you."
Cid smiled. He liked working with her, too.
