Sky's the Limit
"Come on, we're going to
be late!" Cid's date tugged at his sleeve impatiently, her pretty face marred
by a little scowl and a worry creased brow.
Cid managed to drag his
eyes away from the television in the officer's quarter's common room (news from
the front was on…what could be more important than that?) to look down at his
highly annoyed date. She was small and slim, with ebony dark hair and expressive
big blue eyes. Pretty little thing. Unfortunately, for the life of him, Cid
couldn't seem to recall her name at the moment. Terry? Mary? He was pretty sure
it ended in 'ry'…
"We've still got…." He
checked his watch. "An hour and ten minutes! The play doesn't start until
seven, and it's not even six yet."
She grabbed his wrist and
stared at his watch. "Cid…your watch is an hour slow." She said with an
exasperated sigh.
Cid glanced at the clock
on the wall, and swore creatively under his breath. Carry (?) squeaked in
distress, and Cid belated recalled that swearing in front of ladies wasn't
exactly something a good officer in the ShinRa army did. Of course, Cid wasn't
exactly the best-behaved officer…he was just the best damned pilot ShinRa had
ever had, which was probably the only reason he hadn't gotten himself booted
out of the service yet. With the war with Wutai still raging, ShinRa couldn't
afford to lose a pilot of Cid's caliber.
Even if he did drive his
superiors right up one side of the wall and down the other. Judging from the
irritated look on his date's face, he was doing a pretty good job of doing that
to her too. This is the last time I let Serigi talk me into a blind date…
"…It's not a problem."
Cid forced himself to say calmly, giving her his best 'trust me' smile. "I know
a shortcut. Come on!" He grabbed her wrist and took off for the door, dragging
Sherry (?) along behind him.
Terry-Mary-Carry-Sherry
didn't particularly like Cid's idea of a shortcut, which involved 'borrowing' a
high speed assault bike from a friend of his and tearing through Midgar's back
alleys at a velocity that would give any halfway decent traffic cop respiratory
failure.
"EEEEEEEEEEK!" She
shrieked, barely audible above the sound of the wind hissing around them as Cid
neatly slid around a truck, jumped the sidewalk (nearly running over some old
woman and her fluffy white dog), and skidded the bike to a stop right in front
of the theater entrance. He took his helmet off, slung it over the handlebars,
and turned back to look at her. "See? I told you I knew a shortcut."
His date's eyes were wide
and glassy. "Y...y...y...yeah..." she sputtered.
Cid vaulted off the bike
and offered her his hand. "We've even got about..." he checked his
watch. "Two minutes! Plenty of time!"
Mary-Carry-Terry-Sherry
took his hand and stumblingly got down, her face pale behind her helmet's
visor.
"Careful now."
Cid cautioned. "You'll fall." Cid dehelmeted her and gestured to the
theater entrance. "Shall we go?"
Terry-Sherry-Mary-Carry
didn't say anything, she mere stood trembling and attempting to smooth her hair
and dress for a second or two before she unsteadily began to walk towards the
doors, leaving Cid to follow, muttering to himself about the strangeness of
women. Sheeesh...he'd only done what she'd asked and gotten them there on
time...
By the time they'd found
their seats, they'd already missed half of the newsreels. Cid cursed to himself
about that; war news always went first on the reels, so by the time they got
in, he only got to see the tail end of footage of the bombing of Wutai's navy.
God, he missed being at the front...yeah, it was important to have the best
pilots reserved for Midgar's defense, but he itched to be in the sky, not
wasting time here.
"That's a ShinRa
B-26 Thundermaker taking out that Wutai cap ship." Cid explained in a
whisper to his date as they watched. "Shabby flying...stupid *&^%%'s
lucky he hasn't gotten himself blasted out of the *&^*ing sky..."
"SHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Cid winced as a very
large man in the row behind him hushed him, but failed to notice how
Terry-Carry-Mary-Sherry blushed hotly and edged away in her seat away from him.
Still, he held this tongue through the rest of the newsreels (something boring
abut economics and some human interest garbage), and even managed to be good as
the newscreen was lifted, revealing the curtained stage behind.
Sherry-Terry-Mary-Carry
sat forward in her seat eagerly as the curtains parted to show an elaborate, elegant
stage behind. Cid leaned back, already bored, and tried to feign polite
interest.
Before act one was half
over, Mary-Sherry-Carry-Terry was in tears...
And Cid was fast asleep.
"I have never, ever
been so humiliated in my entire life." Carry-Mary-Terry-Sherry snapped as
they left the theater, Cid still rubbing his head where the guy in the row
behind them had clocked him upside the head for snoring at the very end of the
play. Terry-Mary-Sherry-Carry's heels clicked angrily on the pavement as they
headed out towards his borrowed bike. "You're . . .you're. . . ahhhh. . .I
can't even think of any words for you!!!"
"Er...sorry..."
Cid said apologetically, not quite sure what he'd done wrong.
"Pilots! I should've
known better than agree to go on a date with a pilot! Mother told me all about
pilots! Flying, that's all you ever think about! Flying, and war!"
Sherry-Mary-Carry-Terry snapped.
She was cute when she was
pissed, her blue eyes bright and her cheeks flushed, but somehow, Cid liked her
better when she was mildly exasperated and obnoxious. "That's not
true." Cid said. "I have a dream."
"Really, hotshot,
what is it? Own the biggest, baddest aircraft on the block?"
Carry-Terry-Sherry-Mary demanded, whirling to face him.
"Er...no..."
Cid replied. He pointed up. "Those."
"Those? Those
what?" Sherry-Terry-Mary-Carry demanded. She looked up. "I don't see
anything."
"The stars."
Cid said. "I want the stars."
"The stars?!?!"
she laughed. "Of all things? You want the stars? The sky is the limit,
Cid, nobody can reach the stars. It's impossible."
Cid scowled. "No it
isn't. I'm going to fly among the stars one day. That's my dream."
"It's a stupid
dream." Sherry-Mary-Carry-Terry said. "You're a crazy pilot, you've
got a stupid dream, and you've got the manners of a...a....a....a..."
"Stupid crazy
pilot?" Cid suggested.
"EXACTLY!" She
agreed passionately, gesturing dramatically as she did so. "And if I never
see you again, it'll be too soon! Goodbye, Cid Highwind!"
"Goodbye...Mary?"
he replied as she stormed off along the sidewalk.
She turned to face him,
blue eyes glowing with menace. "My name is LISA!!!" she
snarled, before huffing off.
Cid winced again. WAAAAAY
off... he scolded himself. He watched her until she vanished into the
crowd, then went back to his borrowed bike and sat down on it. He took his
helmet, and started to put it on.
He halted, and stared up
at the star filled sky. Stupid dream? Impossible? he thought wistfully. Is
it really just the wistful dreaming of a crazy pilot to want to fly among the
stars?
Just as he thought that,
a shooting star streaked across the sky. Cid smiled. Nah...not impossible..
Still grinning, he put his helmet on, secured it, and headed back towards the
barracks.
--Fin