"Man…"
An
old man walked up and down smoking his cigarettes.
"Why…"
He
mumbled to himself and then quicken his pace.
"Shera…"
No
doubt. This man is definitely Avalanche's pilot-Cid. The doctor just told him
that Shera would either wake up suddenly or sleep in bed forever. Before all
these happened, he was an old man eager to fly his plane and engage into
battle. But now, he was so helpless to see Shera lying on the bed not moving.
"Take
it easy, Sir." One of Cid's crew tried to calm Cid down.
"You
are saying that I don't know how to handle a situation like this?!"
Cid
scolded that crew and he walk towards him as he wanted to beat him up.
"He
didn't mean anything Cid. He was just trying to calm you down." Cloud stopped
Cid.
Cid
stopped. He asked all his crew and Cloud to go out of the room. There was only
he and Shera left in the room. He then pulled a chair and sat beside Shera.
"Shera,
how I wished that I was the one lying on bed." Cid blamed himself.
"Shera,
do you know all these years I…" Cid said and held Shera's hand.
"Damn…I
don't how to start this…uh…um…Shera, all these years I had been mean to you, I
never cared about your feelings." Cid spoke softly.
"But
you still stayed by my side. Even when I treated you so badly." Cid continued.
"You
never got mad at me. All the time you just wanted the best for me." Cid held
Shera's hand tighter.
"I
just hope you will open your eyes, and listen me say that I…" Cid said and he
closed his eyes.
"I
love you and I can't live without you."
"You
really meant it?"
Cid
opened his eyes immediately. He saw Shera looking at him with her beautiful
eyes. She looked…energetic…like she woke up long ago.
"Wait…did
you just…" Cid still can't believe what he saw.
"Surprise!
Yes she did! And we did too!"
The
door suddenly opened and Cloud shouted together with Cid's crew. Cid had his
mouth wide opened and his cigarette fell down from his mouth.
"Before
you kill your crew, I just wanted to say that this is my idea. I will do some
explaining."
Cloud
said while he was laugh out his wits. Cid just looked at everyone. He had no
idea what is going on.
"Okay,
let me put it this way. Just now when you were in the doctor's room, well, Shera
woke up. We wanted to see whether you
really care for Shera, so we planned this up and made you tell Shera what's in
your mind. Well, I can say Shera is a real good actor." Cloud explained.
Cid
looked at him. All the time he thought that Shera was unconscious, she was
actually not! Cid looked at Shera and she just giggled. He wanted to express
his feelings to Shera a long time ago, but not in front of all his crew and
Cloud! How is he going to face his crew again?! Cid can only wish that the
others wouldn't find out.
"That's
another surprise actually."
Cid
looked at Cloud. What else could be worst?
"Surprise!"
Well,
Cid's wish didn't come true. Standing in front of the door now was Tifa, Aeris,
and Yuffie. Great, now all the girls in the team knew about it.
"Cid,
how I wish someone would say something like that to me!" Aeris said and put her
hands together.
"You
better take good care of Shera or else…" Yuffie pointed her Shuriken at Cid.
Cid
forced a smile. He was a tough talking old man and cared about his ship more
than anyone else. Now, he was the center of a practical joke and the truth is
he didn't like it.
"These
kinda things should be romantic, and now you all just spoiled it…" Cid spoke
softly.
"If
she woke up earlier, you wouldn't be saying the three magical words right?"
Tifa said.
"Come
on, Cid. Don't get so mad. They just helped you to spit it out, that's all."
Shera pulled Cid towards her.
"How
can I not be mad? In a few minutes, I will be known as the Romeo that was
fooled by Juliet and all her friends in a play watched by everybody!" Cid
shouted.
"At
least you got me, right?" Shera teased.
Everyone
in the room wooed Cid. Cid's face immediately turned red.
"Now,
just let me and Shera be in private, okay?" Cid pleaded. He surrendered to
everyone in the room.
"Well,
be quick because Godo wanted to meet us all in half an hour at the town center.
I wanted you to be there too because your piloting skills are vital to us."
Cloud said and left with the others.
"And
one more thing, had you noticed that you were so stunned that you didn't even
thought of cursing?" Cloud said before he closed the door.
Immediately
the infamous Cid's curses rumbled the entire hospital.
Half
an hour after the team fooled Cid, the town center was packed with people.
There was Shinra soldiers, Wutai warriors, Fort Condor soldiers and Kalm's
residents. The Wutai soldiers were showing their swords to the Shinra and Fort
Condor soldiers while the two modern armies taught them how to handle guns.
"I
like this. A combination of guns and swords. I never thought this day would
come." Godo said to himself while looking out from his room window.
"Lord
Godo, when can we start?" Rude asked Godo.
"The
Avalanche is still not here yet. What took them so long?" Godo wondered and
looked into the distance.
"Hey,
don't you recognize me?"
Cloud
came from behind Godo. Godo looked behind and saw someone in a black cape. Part
of his face was covered but Godo can still recognized him. Godo's expression
changed drastically. The man in the cape looked like…
"Not
another one…I know what you are thinking but this is actually…Cloud." Rude
explained to Godo. Finally, Cloud didn't have to explain himself.
"How…"
Godo tried to finish but was cut off but Cloud.
"I
wanted to know too." Cloud replied and acted like he was real bored with this
explanation.
"Where
are the others?" Rude asked Cloud.
"Coming.
Barret and Cait Sith are interrogating the soldier we caught in Midgar with
Reno. Aeris, Tifa and Yuffie are still making fun of Cid, Vincent and Red XIII
are nowhere to be found but they will surely turn up in time. I think that's
all." Cloud said and stood beside Godo.
"Shinra,
Fort Condor and Wutai forming an alliance…I can't really believe it but the
soldiers looked like they knew each other for a long time." Cloud looked at the
soldier becoming friends and fooling with each other.
"They
looked just like a bunch of kids now, but I believed that they will win this
battle against the ancient army." Godo replied.
The
two looked around for a while. Suddenly, a gruff voice was heard from behind.
"Yo
Cloud! We gotta some information out of that guy. I think ya might interested."
Barret walked closer towards Cloud. Behind Barret were Reno and Cait Sith. Reno
looked as usual but Cait Sith looked like he just had a lot of fun.
"There
they are."
Godo
said and pointed in front of the hospital. Cloud looked and saw the girls still
teasing Cid and Cid trying to get away from them. Cid wasn't as tough as he was
some time ago.
"I
guess we are five minutes late."
Cloud
turned to his left and saw Red XIII speaking to him. Beside him were Vincent
and Elena.
"Why
are you with them, Elena?" Reno asked curiously to see Elena coming with the
two quiet members of the Avalanche.
"I
regretted, okay? Man! You and Vincent should get a life!" Elena shouted at Red
XIII and stood next to Rude.
"Sitting
quietly is a good way of relaxing." Vincent spoke.
Elena
shook her head and can't believe people like this existed. She felt more
comfortable with the other two turks.
"Everyone's
here? Let's start the meeting!" Godo said and stood up.
"Now
we got a bad situation. The ancient army had captured Midgar and they are going
to launch an attack on Kalm real soon. From what we know this army is
vulnerable against melee attack. But getting near them is our biggest problem.
They got long-range attacks and now they are under a well-defended city. So,
any suggestion?" Godo asked the crowd.
"I
thought you got one, isn't that why you called us here?" Reno asked.
"I
am afraid I am out of ideas. There is a backup plan, but…"
Godo
stopped. Everyone looked at him. It must be something unpleasant.
"What
is it?" Cid asked.
"Half
of us will defend here at Kalm and the other half will lead an escape with the
civilian. This way we can buy some time to save those civilian and probably
thought of something else but the other half will…" Godo stopped again.
"The
other half will be a suicide team, right?" Cloud questioned. Godo only nodded.
"So
if there is no ideas from everyone, I am afraid I have to execute this plan."
Godo finished his statement.
Silence
filled the atmosphere. Live or die? If you choose to live, you will probably
survive for a short time but you will end up feeling guilty till the day you
die. But if you choose to die, you will surely be dead when the ancient army
came. So what should it be? Live or die?
"To
execute this plan, I will need some of us to stay. Any volunteers?" Godo asked.
The
silent atmosphere continued. This is the time to decide. Live or die?
"I
will stay." A girl stood out from the others.
"Aeris?
Why…"
"I
know what I am doing. With my healing abilities, I will be able buy more time
for the escape." Aeris interrupted Godo's question.
"Well,
anybody else?" Godo asked again.
This
time, there was no respond. Trust me, this is an incredibly hard decision.
"If
there are no volunteers left, there will be a "lucky draw" tomorrow morning.
Everyone have to come and let faith decide whether he or she should live or
die." Godo finished and stepped down.
The
crowd started to break up. Everyone went back to his or her room to have some
rest. But all of them knew that they couldn't get a wink of sleep that night.