Rebirth of a Holy Dragoon

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. OCs belong to various friends. I think you know the drill by now.

Notes: None at the moment, just keeping this here in case there are in the future.

Warnings: You don't remember the list of warnings I gave before? Fine. Here. Cursing, potential OOC, OC x Canon, stupid fluffy romance, sex, angst, self-insert author avatar, shitty storytelling.

FIC START!

Chapter Thirty-six

Canti managed to have a normal week after hearing Kain's confession. Life kept going as usual. She spent most of her free time practicing with her lance and reading, and there were quite a few times when Kain would come over to give her a sparring partner at about her size. It didn't take long for her to catch up to his ability. Cid was doing a lot more work for the Warriors of the Water, and he made a lot of calls on the Sphere. Canti had never noticed him being so distant before, but with what all she was doing, she didn't really think on it much. Every night, Canti slept deeply, dreaming about school and sparring, though one night she passed out again on Kain's shoulder on the family couch, and Cid let them both just stay there. It seemed like everything was falling into place, becoming normal.

One morning after Canti headed off to Garden, Cid went back to work on the Sphere. If he was going to learn more about his adventures outside the barrier, he was going to have to know more about the airships. He spent all day at the ship-yards working on the engines, but it had been a long time since he watched any launch from the yards. Everything was under constant maitenence, which made no sense whatsoever. One of the feedsites he'd read said something about there being a ship called the Highwind. The captain, the crew, and the missions this ship had gone on were not specified, but the fact was, it shared his family's name. If he had a ship back during the days of his being a pilot, then why didn't he remember it or its name? Wouldn't someone in the family remember having an airship? He dialed a number, hoping there would be a response.

The call was answered by a gentleman with long silver hair and battle scars all over his face. "Well, well. I haven't heard from you since your brother decided you needed a sabbatical. How are you holding up, there, Cid?"

"Setzer!" Cid lied with that big smile he had always used whenever he was trying to sweet talk someone into getting his way. "Man, I'm doing some work for the Warriors right now, and I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me. That is, if you've got the time."

"Oh, is it in regards to that monster you had to round up? I thought everyone had been interviewed about that…" Setzer said, pushing the hair out of his face.

"No, no, I need to ask you about something else."

"You've got me here. Better ask before I have to get on with something else."

"Right. Well. I was wondering if you know anything about the ship, the Highwind," Cid said sternly. "It went on missions to outside the barrier, right?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about, Cid," Setzer said. "If there was a ship with your family's name on it, don't you think your brother would know about it?"

"The moment I go looking for that information from him, I'm going to be questioned by higher ups."

"So you aren't working for the Warriors."

Cid sighed. "Setzer. Do you have any information or not?"

"If you come looking for this kind of information from me, I'm going to have to report you, Cid," Setzer said, shaking his head. "Please. For the good of your daughter, you mustn't do this. I'm a gambling man, but I wouldn't take a chance on this."

"My brother said the same thing. I just want-"

"What ever it is that you want isn't worth it!" Setzer slammed down onto the control panel of his Sphere and it went off on Cid's end.

Cid knew he was on the right track. But there was simply no information he could gather at his current rank, and it bothered him. What was he going to do? Something was being covered up. Something about the outside, about the enemy, something… and the fact that the memories of his travels were taken right out of his mind, the same way Canti had her own memories extracted when he told her things he wasn't supposed to. Cid wasn't sure what to do now. He was pretty much barred from going back to work because of his brother's orders.

"Why would there be an airship with our family name on it?" He asked, looking up at the ceiling with a sense of hopelessness. Where did it come from? Who was its pilot? What adventures did it go on? He wondered if there was a way to find the ships at all. He went back to the control panel and brought up a picture of the Highwind airship again. He got a good look at the propulsion system, and suddenly, it all made sense. The engine he'd been working on was the same size as that one! He gathered up his wallet, put on his coat, and snatched his spear just in case. After strapping the spear to his back, he headed out of the house and in the direction of the ship-yards. Cid Highwind was going to find out one way or another what was going on.

The school day had gone remarkably normal until it was time to Chorus to start. Mateus hadn't gone out of his way to give her any bother since she told him off the last time. Canti sat in her spot among the sopranos when the tardy bell went off.

"As promised," Starlet said as she stood in the center of the room next to her piano, "You will all begin your very first project." She was just beaming about it. "You will all gather into pairs and write a song together. The point of this is to find a harmony between your voices and to create an emotional response with it. We'll have a concert where all of you will sing the songs you've written together, and yes, that is a part of your final grade, too."

Canti cocked her head to the side. She raised her hand.

"Ah, yes, Miss Highwind?" The entire Chorus turned to looked at her in anticipation for her question.

"We have to partner up?" she asked.

"Yes. That's a part of the assignment. Finding a harmony between your voice and another's that you might not have expected, and turning that into something that will give the listener an emotional response," Starlet said with a nod. "Anything else?"

Next came Mateus' hand, and Canti just rolled her eyes.

"What is it, young man?" Professor Starlet asked.

"Does it matter what the song is about?"

"As long as you're able to get an emotional response out of your audience, no, it doesn't matter what the song's subject matter is," Starlet said. "Now, please. Partner up, if you would."

The class all shuffled about, and it was clear who was wanted by others. Canti watched many make pairs. Across the way, she could see that Mateus was also watching everyone else pass him by. And it was that moment that she knew without a doubt that they would be pairing up for this. It wasn't like they bothered making any other friends in the Chorus besides one another. There were some guys that were giving high-fives about partnering up, and a few girls who cheered loudly because they were going to do an assignment with their absolute best friends in the world. And Canti just walked through all those other pairs, staring at Mateus as she made her way to him. He also headed in her direction, meeting her halfway.

"All right," Starlet said proudly. "Until after the concert, this will be your one partner to work with on this project daily. You'll all be allowed time alone in the practice room, as it will be best not to preform your song here. We don't want the accusation of people stealing lyrics or some such nonsense that I've heard a million other times while running this particular class."

Mateus smiled at Canti, beaming at this whole situation. Now he'd finally get some time alone with her, as the class was demanding it! "I'm excited," he whispered, though his voice didn't sound particularly excited.

"It is what you asked me for," she replied. "I hope it works for you."

He nodded. "It'll do just as well, since I know now that you'd rather just spend time by yourself than with others. I know we don't know each other that well, but this may correct that."

"You're right," she said. The two sat down next to her things once Mateus had gathered all of his things. They both pulled out a notebook and started writing down ideas to exchange with the other. The assignment was to sing something that would give the listener an emotional response, and Canti tried to think of what would give her an emotional response. She didn't look up from her notebook for a while, which her partner noticed.

Starlet then caught everyone's attention. "Now that you're all partnered up, I now have to give you a very stern warning. This assignment will try your patience. Even if you are best friends, you may have disagreements that are difficult to work out. You can not change partners. It would put you at a disadvantage to have to start completely over, and that would mean you'd also disrupt more students by having to change their projects as well. I won't have any of that." She pointed at a clipboard. "All of you will sign this sheet with your partner before you leave, and once you do, you will be partnered up until after the concert."

"Have you an idea?" he asked. "Do you know what kind of emotional response we're going for?"

"I think I do." They started to head over to the clipboard to give their signatures for this contract. Canti knew she wasn't going to be able to partner up with anyone else in class, so she might as well have been resigned to her fate.

"Do you?" Mateus was first. His signature was very intricate and fancy. Legible, but written in a way that looked like he went out of his way just to make it more pompous looking on purpose.

"Yeah. Last week, someone told me that… they loved me…" Canti's signature was incredibly curvy and cute, with a little heart looped over the letter I at the end of it.

Mateus couldn't believe what he was hearing. All ready getting confessions of love, and she wasn't even the type to go looking for it. He noticed that she didn't want to look up while talking about it, so she must have been embarrassed by it. "You want to respond to this confession with a song, don't you?" he asked, his voice smoother than usual. "I suppose I could also write lyrics about my own love dilemma."

"I don't really want to respond to who gave me the confession," Canti said, shaking her head. "I don't think I'm ready to be in a relationship."

"But you like this confessor, yes?"

"Not in the way you're thinking! I like him but…"

"Then how do you feel about the confessor? If you're confused, write a song about being confused," Mateus said. "How you're in a whirlwind, how you feel tossed about…" He pointed at her notebook. "Write it down. Anything can inspire you, so let it."

"I- I didn't know you were the creative type…" Canti said, looking back down at the notebook.

"I'm not the best at it, but I do make the attempt in my free time," he said gently, starting to write in his own book. "I can go with that. Being left confused. There was someone I used to be close with, but then suddenly it all stopped. I never understood why…"

She decided to put all her feeling down on paper about Kain, but she wasn't going to tell Mateus that her song was dedicated to him. How she liked him and how they've always been close, but since their relationship had gone from just being familial to being more than that, she wasn't sure how to feel about it. Canti was so into pouring her heart out that she didn't even notice when the bell rang.

"...hey," Mateus said, tapping her shoulder. "I know you hate being late, so you might want to get a move on."

"Ah! You're right," Canti said as she gathered up all her things. "Thank you."

"Any time at all," he said, bowing his head to her. He watched her run out and then walked out after her, always keeping his eyes on her. Mateus had a feeling that her father wasn't going to be happy about finding out they were working together. He couldn't imagine Canti trying to tell her father about it after what happened after she revealed he even spoke to her, and he'd heard Cid go off to his own father on top of that. He smiled. There was nothing that could be done about it. He hoped it wouldn't take too much to persuade Canti to give him more time, more effort, more of herself. He could have let out an evil cackle, but decided not to. At the very least, not now at Garden.