Disclaimer: I think you all know the drill by now, don't you?
Notes: What? Did you think I was just going to abandon this? Oh, hahaha. Fuck you.
Warnings: Same warnings always apply. If you're reading my stuff, you know what to expect.
FIC START!
Chapter Sixty-two
Kain had been the one fixing up Canti's new room all on his own. What was left of her things from their tiny little house on Junon Street had been brought over by the Warriors of the Water under Cid's direction, and he found every thing she owned a place. He thought everything made sense where it was, but who knew how she was going to take it. He could hear her making a fuzz about where all the things were, but still thanking him in that incredibly adorable voice of hers. It made him blush and it was just a figment of his imagination. The last thing she had to put up was a My Little Chocobo poster. His mother never let him hang normal posters up in his room. He decided to do something nice with it and have it framed, that way no damage could happen to it, and it would look much nicer on the walls instead of just pinning up the paper. He rolled it up and looked around the room, sort of proud of what he'd been able to do on his own. Downtown. there was a framer he could stop by to ask about this. He picked up his backpack from his own room right across the hall and heard noises downstairs. He reached for his spear, just in case. There wasn't going to be another sneak attack on the Highwind manor if he could help it.
"I'm sorry, what?" Cid's voice asked, causing Kain to grip the handle on his spear that much tighter. "I mean, I'm all for things that help her-"
"Then you understand that this might be the best solution available at the moment." Kain recognized that voice. It was of the Headmaster. He couldn't help but be on edge, even though he knew that Leviathan of all people didn't bear the family any grudges. "All we need are shards of the Wind Crystal, and we can get right on to building it."
"Technology is one thing, but breaking off pieces of a crystal?" Cid asked, bewildered. "Now that doesn't sound feesible at all."
"Feesible or not, what will save your daughter's eyesight won't be just some operation. This is something that will come over time. We can use shards of the wind crystal to develop reconstructive glasses. At first, she won't be able to see anything without them, but given a few years of constantly wearing them, and her vision will come back to where it was before the accident," Leviathan explained as Kain creeped through the hall and stayed out of sight enough to keep listening to their conversation. "As you are the acting Grand Dragoon, Cid, I need your permission to take any amount from the crystal at all."
"I don't feel right doin' this," Cid said, shaking his head. "I want her to be able to get back to having a normal life as much as anyone else, don't get me wrong, but... what of the Dragoons?"
"The only dragoons left are you, your nephew, and your daughter, I'm afraid," Leviathan said, but Kain couldn't really tell if he was sad or not by that. "You are all that remains of the mighty Highwind family. I think what would be left would be plenty for the three of you to be able to keep your ability to ride the wind."
"It's hard to believe that most of us are dead," Cid said. "I've still not really accepted that my brother's dead. It always feels like he'll be back eventually. One day. He'll be back and everything will go right back to the way it was before." He took in a deep breath, causing Kain to do the same. He leaned against that shorter wall, knowing that he'd be able to enter the conversation himself if all he did was just walk down those stairs and say something all ready. But part of him really didn't want to get involved. He wondered what he thought about the idea of using the Wind Crystal to make reconstructive glasses for Canti, and the idea did make him smile. Then again, he just wanted his cousin to come home all ready. That would have made it happen easily enough.
"You have to grieve in whatever way makes the most sense to you," Leviathan said. "Either way, I want you to think about Canti's eyes. If we can use the wind crystal to build her a pair of glasses to help restore her eyesight, then why not do it?"
"While I want to just throw in and tell you do to it without even hesitating, I know that Canti's not the only one that might need the wind crystal in the end," Cid said, as he started to pace. "We only have one wind crystal, y'know? There's not some substitution that you can make for that material at all?"
Kain stood up and forced himself to walk down the stairs. "Uncle Cid," he said, catching the attention of both Cid and Leviathan, "What are you just standing around for? You're supposed to be an engineer, right?" He stood directly between them and declared, "I'm Kain Highwind, son of Richard, and I say we do whatever it takes to restore Canti's eyesight!" He crossed his arms as he looked between the two of them.
"Did you not just hear me?" Cid asked. "There's only so much wind crystal-"
"The thing's huge, though," Kain said. "Remember at Canti's ceremony, how much bigger than her it was? There's no way we'll need to use the whole thing to make a pair of glasses. Right, Leviathan?"
Leviathan nodded. "Just a few shards."
"Since my father's dead," Kain said. "I give you permission to take what you need to make those glasses."
"Hold up," Cid said, "You can't just-"
"Uncle Cid, you say you're worried about our ability to jump," Kain said, staring straight up into his uncle's eyes. "Truth is, mine's all ready gone. We might as well give what Canti needs. I'd much rather have her be functional than waiting around to see if I'll ever be able to fight as a dragoon again." He held up his spear before he just put it back in the holster. Lot of good it did him if he wasn't able to jump. "You'll just stand there and question yourself and talk yourself out of things over and over again, when there's no way Leviathan would have come all the way out here if he didn't need what he was asking for."
"Kain..." Cid breathed out, watching his nephew's sad face only grow that much sadder. "...I know you love her."
"Having her back is more important than being able to ride the wind," Kain stated, trying not to break down into tears. "So. Do what you have to, Leviathan."
The water eidolon put his hand on the young man's shoulder. He knew that Kain had a lot of grief to process, and the heir to the Highwind family wasn't the type to allow his emotions to show. "You have a lot on your heart," Leviathan whispered. "I feel it all the way over here. Do yourself a favor, young man, and don't block those feelings out."
"I can handle myself," Kain said, turning to leave. "You do what you can to help Canti, or so help me, I'll impale you myself!"
Leviathan nodded. "I will do that."
When Cid wanted to reach out to him, Kain just pulled away from him and headed out the front door. "Kain, don't just-"
The door hung open until Kain pulled it shut with his hand. He headed up the sidewalk, through the fancy housing area that the manor was smack-dab in the middle of, and continued his walk towards the center of the downtown shopping area where he knew he'd be able to have Canti's poster framed. Kain wasn't used to walking this area anymore. He had jumped through it every other opportunity he had ever since he had learned how to jump years ago. He hated having to walk through it and deal with all the looks of his neighbors. He liked the lower developed area around where Uncle Cid's tiny little house used to be. Those people all seemed to have the right thing in mind. Just getting through the day without judging anyone else. There weren't many chocobo drawn carts out there, or even automobiles.
"Kain?" came a voice behind him. "Is that you?"
"I'm surprised to hear your voice coming from around these parts," Kain said, turning around to see one of his classmates standing there. "Locke Cole."
"You're walking through here? All that stuff they have on the Sphere all the time, I'm actually surprised to see that you've walked out of your manor," Locke said, extending his hand to him so that they might share a mighty handshake. "You could get mobbed by reporters or something."
"I don't care," Kain said, continuing on his way.
"But, doesn't your whole family have this... apperances thing to keep up?" Locke asked, following him.
"Did before. Don't care about it now," Kain replied. "Got something I have to take care of right quick, so if you aren't interested, please just leave me be."
"No, I wasn't planning on anything in particular, it's just that-"
"It's just what?"
"I met someone from around here," Locke said. "Took me a moment to realize the girl you sweet on is from here, too. Is that what you're doing out here?"
"...Locke," Kain grunted, annoyed. "Could you... just... stop, please? The girl I like just happens to be hospitalized because she's going blind. Now if you have something meaningful to say, say it so I can go and do my business."
Locke stopped. "Dude, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Now you do," Kain said, wishing he could just jump away. That made dealing with people so much easier.
"Wait, you don't have to leave all pissed off like that."
"Just leave me alone for now. I'll be back at Garden to deal with everyone else when... my father says it's time..." Kain trailed off, and Locke suddenly understood a lot more than he had just a few seconds ago. Kain immediately went back to stomping in the direction he was going. Locke decided to let him just do his thing, silently turning back to the house he'd been told to meet his new date at. It was around here somewhere.
Leviathan had gathered just shavings from the Wind Crystal into an envelope made of sacred cloth and took them to his own laboratory hidden beneath the city of Dagurreo. He looked over the blueprints of the glasses that Balthier had drawn up for him and placed the shavings of the wind crystal into a dish under a large laser that concentrated sunlight to its most pure state. He typed madly onto the control panel and suddenly that laser began to move. Leviathan sighed as he stepped away from it, allowing it to do what it needed. Taking a sip from his coffee cup. It wasn't going to take too long.
"So, will it be enough, Headmaster?"
"It'll be enough, yes," Leviathan said, turning to his Sphere screen. "The two of you have done quite well."
"That's great!"
"Do yourselves a favor and don't take credit for the design. I don't want anyone starting a fight with you over all this. Most people don't like the idea of taking a piece of something like the crystal to make something personal with it," Leviathan said. "There are so many that would put me under fire for allowing this... but considering, I don't see much of a choice here."
"She's more important than any of the rest of us, isn't she?"
"...what all do you know, Minwu?"
"I know a lot about the barrier, and what is beyond it... Everyone knows what happened to the rest of the Wu family, no thanks to you."
"Keep your trap shut, or I might send you to be with them."
"I never understood why you didn't."
"That's obvious, isn't it? You have a higher purpose. No matter what you know or what information you've been able to figure out, you have something much more important to do, and that is to take care of my little pet project, Minwu. I had hoped you'd be in Kain's position, but I won't dwell on that any further than I all ready have."
