30

Cid's Story:

A Man Loses His Dream, And Almost his Plane!

Note#1: Listeing to "Tick-Tock" from Interstellar soundtrack from here to Cid's departure on the rocket really helped me feel for it. Give it a try if you listen to music during reads?

Laughter rattled the tank room. A brighter and fresh-faced Cid, had his gloved hands over his hips, and he threw his head back and laughed some more.

"Come on, Shera! Stop wasting time on those oxygen tanks. I know you want to be careful, but if we keep going at your pace, then we'll never reach the moon. You work as slow as a snail," he cracked.

Shera jumped off her knees, hands slipping away from a control panel to one large tank as big as a car, and lifted her sparkling brown eyes up at the Captain.

"I'm sorry, sir. I just need to make sure they will be able to handle the launch. Two out of eight are giving me displeasing results," she explained, and rubbed her hands down her white lab coat.

Cid rolled his eyes, a bright teeth smile up at the vortex of the insides of his rocket, more than ready to see it flex its wings.

When he dropped his head to stare at Shera again, his look cooled, a hint of a stone gaze that was there only occasionally back then.

"Well then, hurry your ass up. We launch soon," he barked.

Twenty minutes later, Cid walked through the metal door with his head held high.

It was time.

"Finally," he whispered to himself, eyes up to the metal sky of his baby.

Five men lined up before the control room, their hands up to their caps, aged faces glowing with pride.

"We're so glad to have this day finally come, sir," one lad proclaimed.

"Our wishes are finally coming true," another announced, tossing stars from his eyes to Cid's.

"Fly our hard work, up into space, Captain."

"Go touch the stars!"

Cid marched pass them, letting his men uplift him even further towards the heavens. Men he's worked with for many years to build this rocket. They spent all of their time tweaking it, adding more, taking out some. Practice launch after practice launch. Test after test.

After twenty-five tries. Twenty-five ideas and pieces of equipment blown to the wind with explosions and fails.

It was time.

Nerves tingled all up in Cid's chest, giving him hardly any room to breathe as he stopped before the metal door.

"Thanks guys," he told his men, keeping his eyes ahead. With a loud crank, the door opened, and Cid stepped into the room only he had privilege to use. His own private office that was the cockpit.

He had a whiff of all the oil, the metal, the leather of the seats, the hard plastic, the distant fumes, and took it all in. His rear sat in the chair he's sat in so many times before, a familiarity that should've pulled away his anxiety. But he found himself shaking slightly, his hands pressing on the buttons he's trained to press. Pulled and dialed like he's always pretended to do. But this wasn't pretend anymore.

This was the real deal!

A large screen came to life, displaying a layout of the rocket and checking all points to make sure it was a go. Information blared in green computer font, displaying "100%" down the line of checkpoints. Engine room was only at 80% fulfillment, but that was good enough for Cid.

An intercom crackled to life as he buckled the many belts over his padded chest.

"Sir, engine pressure rising. Three minutes to launch. Beginning countdown," one of his men in ground control announced. Cid could feel the seat begin to vibrate, the walls humming to life.

He sucked in a breath.

"It's time," he whispered.

The screen unexpectedly flashed in red letters, and the fat chunk to the bottom of the rocket magnified before his eyes. Against all the buckles, Cid pushed himself forward in his seat.

"What the?!"

"Sir, we have an issue," the radio cracked. "Someone is still down in the engine room!"

Cid slammed a fist on the control panel.

"What?! Who's the little fucker?"

"I'm opening the intercom into the engine room now," the radio clarified. Buzz and static hung in the air, trying to hit through Cid's ears, but they were suddenly ringing.

He held his breath, and pressed a finger to the communication's button.

"Who's down in there?!"

He lifted his finger back, and waited. How long now? Just two minutes? Why? Why now?

"Hi Cid, it's just me." Shera's voice broke through the speaker, and Cid twitched to the snap of pain behind his sternum.

"Don't worry about me. Go on with the launch," she gave, her voice trying not to sound like she was about to die.

Cid had to blink to snap his thoughts back into motion. He slammed a fist to the button and screamed, "Shera! What are you still doing down there?! The engines going to boil you alive!"

He slid his hand back, and waited. A second felt like a minute, and sweat began to drip from his head, tickling his cheek.

"I know, but I'm almost done. Tank number seven was having some trouble. I'm working on it now. Just keep going," she chirped. There was a hint of suppressed pain in her voice. Shera was trying so hard to hide it. She wasn't an idiot. Shera was one of the best astronautical engineers there was. She knew what would happen to her if she were to stay down in the engine pocket during the launch.

Cid could practically hear the countdown in his head, second by second passing by like a ticking clock as the numbers flashed before his eyes on the corner of the screen. He tapped his fingers impatiently. More sweat until he ran a hand across his brow. He bit his lips together, licked them.

"Come on, Shera, hurry up," he whispered.

"Starting engines," one of his men announced, and the rocket trembled. Cid would've jumped from his seat if it weren't for the belts. He pressed the button, and shouted, "Hey, wait! Shera is still down there!"

The radio came back to life, a worried boy proclaiming, "Sir, what do you want to do? If we cancel this, it will be another six months before we could launch again."

Cid squirmed in his seat, suddenly breathing too fast. The hairs to the back of his neck stood up. His heart was pounding against his chest, and more sweat snuck under his padded coat, suddenly feeling too thick to wear. He tapped a boot along with his finger, trying to force himself to breathe in slowly like he was trained to do. Even fallen planes and failed engines didn't get him this nervous.

"Cid, tank number seven is complete. Once I finish tank number eight, there should be no trouble for you in space," Shera shared, her voice already sounding like a ghost in his ear.

Her shy, little voice.

Cid's eyes burned.

No trouble, except finding your charred corpse down in there.

He licked his dry lips again, blinking constantly at the numbers.

"Thirty seconds," he heard.

The control panel with all of its buttons and gears began to swirl around Cid. His hands ran up to his hair, nails digging into his scalp.

"Please don't make me a murderer," he breathed, hyperventilating.

As each second passed, the rocket's rumbling grew, hungry for freedom. It shook its belly holding Cid inside it, shaking his bones as his blood ran cold through them.

What do I do?

His hands slipped down his cheeks, spreading his sweat around his neck, widened eyes at the countdown clock.

Twenty seconds.

"My dreams..." he trembled, goosebumps cascading across his skin. He lifted his head, eyes up to the buttons above him, and pretended to see the stars already.

But all he could see was Shera's beautiful smile. None of that pretend shit, nor forced kind. But the kind that held a real twinkle in her eye, like a glare from her glasses reflecting a light, but it stuck even when it was dark.

"Fifteen seconds until engines on. Internal temperatures rising," the radio reported.

Cid leaned his head too far forward, his chin down into his chest as his watery eyes darted to the big red button. It sat there, laughing at him, red and as dark as the blood that spilled from his father's body when he had that accident.

Son, I know you'll finish what I've started. If I can't get to the stars, I know you will. You have good instincts.

His father's voice echoed, tugging him to sit still. But Cid could do no such thing. His large pupils darted to the clock, when the radio counted down from ten.

"Ten."

Cid glanced back to the mocking red button, breathing in between his teeth.

"Nine."

The cockpit grew dark. Only the buttons and screen illuminated a bright light, making Cid appear like a ghost.

"Eight."

He saw flashes of his father lifting him up, arms out and pretending to be a plane, making rotor noises together.

"Seven".

His father's smile, face tanned and wrinkled from all the practice gliding outdoors.

"Six".

Cid watching the stars in his backyard on every clear night, smoking and dreaming.

"Five."

There was Shera's smile again, taking up the images in his head.

"Four."

Shera giving him a cup of hot coffee when she found Cid hunched over a desk, his droopy eyes trying to drill over blueprints even at the darkest part of the night.

"Three."

Shera bumping shoulders with Cid, the two giggling over something while drinking a beer together and gazing up at the stars in his backyard, dreaming together.

"Two."

Shera looking over her shoulder, her long hair waving at Cid along with her truest of smiles.

Cid closed his eyes.

"One."

The rocket began to shake, rocking Cid up and down in his seat, making him feel lighter than even air. He thought he could conquer the world, even if just for a second. He almost let it take him completely, the euphoria of it all.

But he popped his eyes open, a single tear escaping, and reached with all of his might, hand out, towards that red button.

"Sh—-it!"

And slammed it till it cracked under his fist.

The rocket made a successful launch of about twenty feet. It landed back down onto its launch pad, quaking the earth around it. Depressed over the change of heart, the rocket tilted its body, heading towards earth like a fallen pillar of humanity's greatest achievement, but then it stilled crookedly. A couple of high rails secured its belly, keeping it there.

As time went on, house after house built beside the tilted rocket, engineers, and scientists enthusiastic to keep it safe, even if it were to remind them every day of their failed launch. They wanted to never forget what they've put their hard work into, even if that meant it was all for a tall statue to look down upon them. Day after day.

My eyes watered, barely any tea sipped.

Shera kept spinning a little spoon around in her tea cup, her eyes distant while a false smile laid on her round face.

"The Captain aborted the mission, putting a halt to his dreams and all of our hard work, just to save me. And then Shinra pulled back on the Space Program, halting future launches," she whispered. Shera shook her head to herself, lost in it all. Tifa bit her lower lip, a fist to stifle her shaky inhale.

"The Captain lost his dream, because of me. So, you see, I don't mind that he treats me like he does. I deserve it. I will do whatever it takes to make him happy, even if it means putting up with his bitterness. I don't blame him for a second," Shera finished, her eyes wet.

Her story shed in light about a part of Cid I couldn't imagine existed. I was frozen in my chair, too stunned as I kept flashing the images of it all inside my head, trying to imagine what it was like as Cid.

"Fuck!"

Cid's cry made me almost shatter my tea cup on its saucer. His footsteps creaked the floors easily, his arms crossed.

"Any minute-"

A knock on the door silenced him.

I gasped, jumping away from my chair

When Cid opened it, his eyes dimmed even more than they already were. With a cigarette in his mouth, he grumbled, "Oh Palmer, it's just you."

Tifa gasped, choking on her tea.

Palmer paused when he entered, and wandered his sleazy stare onto her until their eyes locked.

"You know Palmer?" Cloud asked Tifa, grinning at the look of dread on her face.

Tifa swallowed and shook her head like crazy.

"Nope. Nope! Never seen him in my life," she frenzied.

I grinned evilly behind her.

"But Tifa, isn't that your boyfriend? You two seemed to have had a good time on the ship when you-"

She stood, twirled around and rammed a hand over my lips, burning flames with her eyes when she turned her red face to mine.

"Now, now, I know I deserve this, but I-"

"Ah! I never thought I would see you again!" Palmer exclaimed, his chubby cheeks bouncing up and down when he did a little dance.

He skipped around the table towards Tifa to give her a big hug.

"My beautiful sailor!" He sang. Tifa darted away and danced around the table to avoid him. Cloud sat back in his chair, smirked, and enjoyed watching her fall over her own steps.

"This is your boyfriend?" Vincent asked. He was quiet through the whole visit until now, and I almost forgot he was even there until he focused intently on Palmer's large figure.

In the middle of it all, Cid began to sizzle, his brown gloves curled into fists.

"Palmer, stop messing around! When's the Space Program going to start up again?" he cried, freezing Palmer in his tracks.

"Oh? I uh, am not sure. Why don't you go ask Rufus. He's just outside," the old man wailed. Cid practically imploded.

"What?! You good for nothing fat ass!" And crashed through the door. Palmer dropped his eyes to his fingers fiddling with the buttons to his double-breasted coat.

"Don't call me fat," he whimpered. He then lifted his stare, and finally noticed me. I began to walk backwards into a hall, afraid to take my eyes off him.

His puny eyes grew, and he pointed a fat finger at me.

"Ah! You ARE here! Oh, joy! Rufus will be so happy-"

Tifa kicked him between the legs, and the man sank to the floor, face red and hands rammed over his junk.

"Too hard this time," he squeaked.

Shera gasped.

Cloud opened the front door a slit, and peered out, ease dropping, while Vincent's white cheeks puffed up, suppressing an emotion he was too uncomfortable to express.

After a long minute of Palmer whimpering on the carpet, and Shera offering an ice pack, Cloud slammed the door shut and twirled around, his wide eyes on all of us.

"He's after the plane!"

Gasps all around the room. Shera dropped an ice pack to the floor, ice cubes scattered, and put a hand to her heart.

"The Captain must be very upset," she muttered, and then she began to think.

"You guys should take it," she suddenly proclaimed, moving quickly.

"Wait, what?!" Palmer protested, trying to get up.

Shera rushed into a room, came out a second later, and tossed keys to Cloud's face.

"Hurry!" she cried.

We booked it, Palmer trying to get up to follow us.

"Wait! You can't do that! That jet is ours!" But he slipped over ice cubes, and he face-planted on the rug with a loud thud. I thought the house shook a little.

The four of us scrambled out, shutting the back door behind us. Cloud rammed the key into the plane's lock, and used his other hand to twist the knob of the door to slide it open.

"What about the others?!" I cried.

"We'll get them later! Barret has the other phone!" Cloud replied, climbing inside. I followed, taking his hand to help hoist me up, and I almost froze when I gazed over the cockpit. It really was a small private jet, with an aisle wedged down the middle, five brown leather seats on each side.

"Whoa," I whispered, gazing at the lovely polished wood interior. There were small round windows, giving me a glimpse of Shinra trucks pulling up along the outside of town. Troops began to depart.

"They're here!" I groaned, taking the seat closest to Cloud's.

"Wow, this is luxury," Tifa awed, kneeling over a seat to slink her arms over its leather head. Her eyes scanned the small plane with admiration while she took a pleasurable inhale of the leather scent.

Cloud slid the key into the ignition slot, and turned it. He pressed a button, and the twin engines roared. Rotors began to spin.

I leaned over his seat, peering down at the control panel over his arm, and asked him, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"NO!" Cloud yelled as his hands worked. He flicked on all the switches till lights turned from red to green.

"Well, there wasn't much to live for anyway, except revenge, I guess," Vincent rumbled, sitting quite comfortably in the chair despite his dark words. He seemed ready if death were to take him.

A gun shot fired, and a bullet suddenly bounced off the metal door frame. All eyes turned, and a panting Palmer with a bloody nose smacked his hand over the ledge of the doorway, too short to climb in easily.

"If I can't have this plane, then no one can!" He aimed his Mako gun up at Cloud's head, ready to fire.

Cloud slammed his boot on the gas pedal, and the plane went in motion. Palmer yelped, and his gun clanked inside the jet, rolling near my feet. The plane moved faster, the Shinra executive's hands clinging on to the edge of the door for his life.

"Wait! Stop the plane," he wailed. His patchy grey hair fluttered around his round face. The engines grew louder, pushing the plane faster over grass, away from town and into a grove. Shrina troops began to fire, but their bullets only bounced from the metal plating, grazing it.

"Don't fire, you idiots!" Palmer cried. Cloud circled the jet, away from the trees, but Shinra troops got in his way. We all screamed, trying to avoid running anyone over, and with the steering wheel, he made a hard right into town, crashing through the fence around Cid's house at high speeds.

"We're going for it!" Cloud shouted, and he pushed on the lever to accelerate.

"Not through town!" Tifa shrieked, stepping beside him to gaze out the windshield. People panicked, scampering away. Cid and Rufus had their eyes grow wide before we cut in between them.

For a few seconds, time slowed almost to nothing. Rufus turned his head in time to glare his diamond eyes through my window, and deliberately, he found me. I held still, not breathing, not blinking. Nothing. He made a tight line with his lips, standing only just two feet away with the glass window between us. His perfect blond hair ruffled over his hard face, eyes following my gaze like he was determined to never lose sight.

Last second, I decided to flip him the bird, and my cheeks puffed up with a suppressed laugh.

Rufus narrowed his eyes, but the rotors along the wing came, and he stumbled back in time before he was cut.

Time returned, and everything went into motion.

"What the actual fuck?!" Cid's cry reached us, and he toppled over Palmer like a ladder.

"Hey! Don't climb over me! Help me," the fat man wept.

Cid shoved Cloud out of his seat.

"Move the fuck over! Let me drive!"

Cloud bumped into me, and we accidentally pretzeled into a seat behind Cid.

Gun shots fired, again, making Palmer screech. Cid pulled back on the wheel, and we began to float away. My stomach began to flip, and Cloud put a hand into his mouth, groaning as his face turned green.

"No, no, no, no, nooo!" Palmer's pathetic voice shouted, reaching the cabin. The world shrank under him, his short legs kicking when they ascended off the ground.

Tifa stood over him, her hands on her hips and with a satisfying smile.

"Time to go," she sang.

And she crunched his fingers with her boot. With one hand gone, his only one left couldn't bear to hold his weight. She didn't even have to crush it before he slipped, and fell back.

"My loooooove!" He reached for her as he fell, landing twenty feet into the trees and disappeared behind bunches of yellow leaves.

"You weren't THAT good," she hissed, and reached for the door, about to close it, but to her surprise, a metal hand stopped her. She gasped when sharp Mako eyes climbed, and met with hers threateningly.

Witnessing Rufus's bodyguard emerging into the plane silently, my eyes widened, mouth opening to let out a cry as soon as I saw who it was.

"Isaac!"

All hell broke loose.

"Hey, hey! Who the hell is this?!" Cid cried, struggling to pilot when his eyes darted away every few seconds to watch the commotion behind him.

Stiff and silent as an android, Isaac locked eyes pass Cloud, to me, his target. He aimlessly tried to shove Tifa aside, nothing more than a distraction to him, but she threw her right fist. Isaac blocked it before she could even shove her attack forward, his detections seconds ahead of her moves. Every time Tifa tried a kick or an upper cut, it was again dodged or blocked seconds before hitting him. The kickboxing fighter clenched her teeth. Vincent neared, taking out his weapon.

Cloud stayed back, hiding me behind him.

One second, Isaac seemed surrounded. Tifa, Vincent and the door behind him. As the plane ascended further, air began to pull outside, fluttering hair and clothes.

I did one blink, and then I heard Tifa gasp. She knelt forward when a hard metal punch slammed her square in the gut. She lost all of her breath from the blow, rapidly breathing back in squeaks. Another hit slammed down into her cheek, tossing her head to the side.

I shrunk as small as I could while watching Tifa fly across the aisle. Vincent caught her with one arm, his other holding his revolver, and he aimed.

But Isaac vanished before he could fire. Suddenly, there was a gasp falling out of his lips, and he doubled over, grunting. Vincent passed out over Tifa's body in the aisle, his back slipping away from Isaac's fist.

"Hey, hey! No fighting on my plane!" Cid cried, his eyes trying to stay focus to the sky as he kept the plane steady over the trees, until a coastline appeared. He began to press a few buttons, and shouted, "I can't fly this thing any higher unless we close the door!"

But Cloud was too busy glaring at Isaac, and I was afraid to move, tight as a ball in between him and the window. Isaac and Cloud shared a silent exchange, their eyes flashing with warning.

Cloud was hesitant taking out his sword, the space much too small to even consider a proper battle, but his hand reached for it with instinct, fingers touching its handle.

Poised, Isaac stood tall and smirked, cocking his head to let his loose brown hair fall to one side. Bangs half hid his lifeless eyes.

"I don't think that would be wise," he warned. He seemed more android than I last saw him, not even a glimmer of familiarity in his eyes, not a spark nor signs of recognition when he even took notice to me. His posture grew smoother, each move with purpose, his eyes calculating. He didn't seem like the Isaac who warned me on that beach in Costa De Sol. What happened to him?

Cloud's muscles tensed, Mako fumes quickly spilling from his pores.

"Then what do you expect to do? Crash this plane with all of us on it?" he asked. Isaac ignored him, and dug his unrecognizable eyes into my fearful stare, not even blinking. He then slipped through the air, gone in a flash. We didn't know where he would turn up next.

Cloud stayed put, keeping his back pressed against my hands. His shirt soaked with sweat.

"Hey now! What the hell are you doing?!" Cid screamed. I gaped from behind Cloud's shoulder, finding Issac standing over Cid. He lifted a glowing hand, and aimed for the control panels in front of Cid's lap.

Isaac's eyes stayed on mine. "Rufus would rather have you, Aqua, than have this plane, if that's what it takes. Come with me or this plane crashes," he put flatly.

I shook my head.

"You want Rufus to have me?" I trembled, hands clutching to Cloud's back. A hint of the real Isaac appeared in those flaming blue eyes. Just seeing my fingers touch Cloud made him clench his teeth, his body quaking with rage.

"Still hung on your fake hero, I see?" he hissed between his teeth.

"Stop calling me that?" Cloud barked, annoyed, but I lifted an eyebrow and suddenly asked, "Isaac, what do you know about Cloud? Is there something about him we don't know?"

"Aqua, don't," Cloud insisted, his hair fluttering towards the door. There was buried fear in his voice.

Isaac's fierce flat line of lips, slowly morphed into a little smile. Something about that look sent a dooming chill down my spine.

He lowered his hand a little, tossing his smirking eyes out to nothing but ocean.

"You still don't know." He tossed his eyes back to Cloud, and they burned brightly into a pale blue state. "How convenient," he sneered. I felt Cloud jolt in my hands, his back heating up while muscles grew.

"Ask Hojo," Isaac finished, no longer interested, and eyed me again, a melancholic smile in his eyes.

My question unintentionally became his distraction, and Cloud took advantage of it when he rushed forward.

"You know nothing!" And he crashed his shoulder into Isaac's chest, shoving him. They tumbled back, falling through the open door.

And into the air.

I inhaled sharply.

"Cloud!"

"Whao!" Cid exclaimed.

I reached, magically taking a hold of his hand before being pulled over the ledge. My hand and leg stopped me from being hauled through the door. The ocean crashed under us, hundreds of feet below, as little white waves in a land of dark blue. Sea spray tickled my cheeks, and I licked the salt of it with my tongue in the air when I screamed, "I got you!"

Cloud was hanging on, but Isaac clung to his leg, sharp metal fingers drilling holes into its muscle until blood dripped down his face. Cloud pressed his teeth together, enduring the pain while reaching for his sword with his only free hand. I had to pull my other hand into the grip, to keep his from slipping. Only my wedged feet inside the doorway were my anchor.

My hair ruffled around, blocking parts of my vision as I saw Cloud's sword lift, but Isaac held up a hand, and shot a beam, blasting Cloud's arm. Cloud cried as his arm went limp, and his sword spiraled down into the water, like a lost rotor, until it crashed into the waves. He tried to kick at Isaac, anything to get rid of him. His hand began to slip from my fingers. The gusts tossed my tears aside, while I used all of my strength to keep ahold. They were both too heavy, Isaac especially.

"I can't hold on!"

And then, a gun shot screamed, bursting its sound waves through the air. Cloud, Cid and I held our breaths, still.

Slowly, after a breath, I turned my head and looked up.

Vincent's triple barreled gun leaked with smoke, his hard red eyes down to the water.

The weight suddenly felt lighter.

My head whipped down, and Isaac had one eye and a third of his skull blown away. My stare widened, more tears trickling free. That injury would've been fetal, his human skull one of the few organic pieces of him left, filled with brain matter, nerves, bone, muscle, and blood. I'd expected to see all of that splatter, but to my disbelief, his skull appeared made of a metal plate, bits of brain and wires sticking out. Mako and white blood spilled from tiny catheters, and the metal plate that was his skull, chipped away with ragged edges. I had no idea he had work done on his head. He was less human than I ever realized.

"Isaac," I breathed, my heart stopping.

His only eye, locked onto both of mine, brown hair flapping around his head. He was falling, head first, fading away, and crashed into the water.

My mouth dropped, fearing for the worst.

But as we flew farther, Isaac's head popped out, and his one eye lifted, watching us leave. His other eye was nothing more than an open wound, crying in Mako and white blood. His head became smaller and smaller.

He lived. I felt guilty to be relieved, and my heart started beating again.

I could breathe.

With Vincent's help, we pulled Cloud up, and he sighed, "Thanks, Vincent," and finally, closed the door.

"Fucking finally!" Cid cracked, and he tilted the wheel to lift the plane up higher.

Tifa groaned, rubbing at her bruised belly. Vincent rushed to her side, handing her a bottle of potion while settling his soft hand down her back to steady her. Tifa drank the potion quickly and collapsed in her seat.

"I wasn't expecting THAT," she cracked, unaware of Vincent's helpful gestures.

Cloud stayed on the floor beside the door, collecting himself as he winced, his arm bleeding. I examined it, seeing how it fell out of its shoulder joint. My fingers touched the bloody mess, and I could feel the broken bones crack under his skin and muscle.

"Be broke your arm," I muttered, blinking back more tears.

Cloud hissed between his teeth.

"Better than stabbing me through the chest," he joked dryly, growing pale.

Vincent found another potion in his stash, and handed it to Cloud.

"Thanks," Cloud groaned, and he quickly screwed off the cap to take a gulp. Like magic, his bleeding wounds in his leg and arm stopped. The holes closed up. The pieces of bone meshed, and his skin grew color again. With a curing sigh, Cloud bumped his head back against the door, and looked down at me.

"Thank you, Aqua for-," he paused, in hopes for a moment of connection, but I was too lost in thought to take notice, my eyes absently stuck to the door.

I couldn't stop thinking about Isaac.

I began to wonder if he was gone. Not physically, but just, everything else. He may as well have been a stranger, working for Rufus until every bit of his body replaced with metal and Mako, even his heart if he had to.

I held my tears in, waiting for another time to shed them, and sucked in a heavy breath along with a sigh.

Dry lips startled me, touching my forehead, and I gasped, falling back to the plane. I blinked rapidly, trying to suppress the tears. Cloud's hand slipped behind my head, sending soft waves of tingles down my neck, and he closed his eyes.

"It's okay. You can cry," he whispered against my skin, like he could already read my thoughts with his lips following them along my brow.

I closed my eyes tight, and thankfully burrowed into his shoulder, weeping softly.

Cloud held me, his back tucked against the edge of a seat and his legs out across the floor, my body curled into him until I felt so small, I could fit in his pocket.

I cried softly, letting the sounds of the plane's engines strum, Tifa and Vincent gazing out the windows, quiet. Even Cid joined, his mouth shut as he kept himself busy in his thoughts.

It was a moment of peace, my eyes wetting Cloud's neck while taking in his warmth. I think he knew why I cried, but he never asked to clarify. He stayed close, letting me take all the time I needed.

After a few minutes, I almost dozed off in Cloud's arms. I felt him move his head, lifting it up and feeling his neck vibrate as he spoke.

"Cid, what will you do now?"

Grumbles were coming from the pilot.

"Fuck if I know. Shinra took the Airship from me. Then the rocket. And now they're after this plane. I'm sick of it."

There was a pause, and then he added, "What did you say you were looking for again?"

Smiles spread around the cabin. I could practically feel Cloud grinning, and his arms tightened a little more around me.

"What about your woman, Shera?" Tifa's voice piped.

Cid scoffed, but he didn't say anything at first. I imagined his stare falling heavily to the controls, eyes half closed.

"She'll take care of things while I'm gone. She always had," he ended up saying, lifting his focus back to the ocean. The plane tilted, turning around.

"Well, I may as well help out," Cid was saying. "You all got balls going against Shinra, I like it. I don't get the whole Rufus wedding thing, but something tells me it's another lie. Big fucking surprise."

The plane steered back towards land, and Cloud chimed in, "We need to pick up the others."

Cid chuckled to himself and pressed forward on the speed lever.

"Then let's go pick their asses up," he cried with enthusiasm. Tifa cheered. Vincent grunted. And Cloud turned his smile inward, resting his chin on top of my head. He let out a long sigh. I could feel his heart flutter, his hold stiffening while fingers played with my hair, sending tickles in my skull.

There was no place I'd rather be but here in his arms.

But something still bothered me. I pulled my face back, blinking old tears from my goopy eyes, and asked Cloud in a hushed tone for his ears only, "Why would Hojo know about your past?" I cracked, my throat raw. Cloud's hold tightened, and he held his breath.

"He doesn't," he exhaled. His hand fell from my hair into my shoulder, and squeezed me into him, as though just the thought of Hojo knowing anything made him feel uneasy.

"It's just another Shinra lie," Cloud reassured, shaking his head to himself.

I gripped into his shirt firmly, biting my lower lip to stay quiet. Would Isaac lie about something like that? I often knew when he was lying, and he seemed to be truthful when he hinted that Hojo would know something. The look he gave me, almost pity in his eyes, like knowing the truth would shatter my fragile heart.

Isaac. What do you know?

I tried to relax into Cloud, in one of the best places in the universe.

But I couldn't stop thinking about what Isaac said.

Note #2: I know I should probably include Wutai before Gold Saucer , but I hadn't plan on it…. When I play, I save it for later, like after leveling my magic Materia to 3 or above because Yuffie doesn't steal it for some reason. I wait way later, like right before Diamond Weapon wrecks havoc. If you do, when do you play Wutai side quest?

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