His heart was hurting from her words, although he had tried very hard not to show it. To hear Vincent called those horrible names...it made him angry and sad all at once, so he was confused in a jumble of emotions. He didn't know what to do other then fly.
He wondered idly if, at the speed he was going across the sky, he was leaving a faint trail of white.
Vincent...
He gently guided himself downwards towards the outcropping of rocks, changing his direction sharply and lingering so as to throw anyone following him off his track. He thought back to his demon and found that his scent seem to flare up from underneath his own at the very thought. He hoped he was okay...that nothing bad had happened to him...that they hadn't hurt him again.
He landed and his claws burned patches of grass clear. The fire within him raged brighter then ever before at the thought of someone harming the demon. He would not allow that anymore...he couldn't let Vincent get hurt like that!
It just wasn't right...
His aura was flaring around him brightly as the fire burned inside his chest, and unable to contain it he breathed a burst of flame into the ground, trying to keep clear from any brush or trees. The grass died instantly, not even remaining enough to flicker as the ashes scattered, Cid standing in the middle of it, breathing heavily, trying to get his breath back after releasing so much flame. He sank to his knees, closing his eyes and trying to keep himself calm.
So much anger and helpless rage that had nowhere else to go...rage at Shera for forcing him out of his own house, rage at the #$#^#@$ who had hurt Vin, rage at the dragons for being so closed-minded, rage at himself for being part of them, rage at himself because he was so weak he couldn't even run his own life...and was chased out of his house by someone that wasn't even related to him...
"Highwind...?" A soft whisper carried in the wind and he rubbed his eyes before turning. He could only see a glimmer of red amidst the darkness of the black rocks and he smiled carelessly.
"Hi Vin." His voice shook, although he tried to keep it calm. Filled with nervous awkward energy, he put his claws in his pockets and walked towards the rocks, wishing he hadn't incinerated his cigarette with the emotional outburst before. "You okay?"
"I'm fine..." Vincent turned to go deeper into the cave, the red disappearing and the black overtaking the opening almost completely. "Are you alright...?"
Cid walked, finding himself shaking despite his best efforts, and laughed nervously as he entered the small cave himself. "Ah, I'm $@#$in' fine."
"Well, I don't know..." Vincent was leaning against one of the walls when Cid finally settled down on the other side, the cave small enough so that their tails were allowed to intertwine without a problem. "You seemed upset just a little before..."
Cid blushed angrily and turned away, scratching the side of his face absently. "Uf, that was nothin', honest. I was jus' kind of frustrated, that's all..."
He turned to see if Vincent would be disapproving of such an emotional outburst. Instead he found Vincent staring at his own black claws.
"If I could breathe fire...I'd be doing the same thing..."
"Really, Vin?"
"Yes..." The demon nodded slowly. "I'm feeling just as frustrated as you...probably for the same reason..."
Cid nodded slightly. "The same reason deep down...that's not all of it tho', but you're right..."
Vincent thought of Sephiroth, and Cid thought of Shera.
"Are you frightened of death...?" Vincent's question seemed out of place and awkward, but Cid took it in stride.
"What d'you mean?"
Vincent looked at his claws and held onto his arms. "They're going to kill us for this...we don't have much longer for this world...I can feel it..."
Cid looked down as well at his own green and blue claws, watching the soft white light refract. He could almost see different colors inside of the refractions, but he wasn't sure. The aura, when he looked at it, fluxed and changed in such a way that it was impossible to pin it down to one extreme or one depth, how bright or how dull. But he always knew it was there, because even when it almost seemed to be gone, there would be a slight flicker, a reflection of one of his scales, that reminded him that he was glowing. He sighed somewhat.
'Well, #$^#,Vin, I mean...we all die sometime...and I'd rather die because of you then of anythin' else..." He coughed slightly. "Besides, I'd probably die soon anyway 'cause I smoke too much..."
Vincent blinked at him, as if this had not occured to him before, which it probably hadn't. The thought of his own addiction killing him bothered Cid a lot. He had never heard of it happening to a dragon, but he knew other species could die from it, and he wasn't sure whether or not it would begin to affect him adversely as well. It was a worry in the back of his mind that he tried very hard to ignore, but he couldn't help but bring it up in the face of talk of death.
"Highwind...I don't want to live without you anymore..." Vincent looked away somewhat awkwardly. "You're the only thing in my life now..."
He closed his eyes and his voice took on a slight shamed tone. "I can never go back home...I never did. After you left I just...waited..."
"You can't go home again...?" Cid leaned forward slightly, confused. Vincent held his arms out, the thin limbs glowing softly.
"Highwind...they beat me before, because I was late...they made me promise not to leave...and now...I can't be rid of your scent, I've been gone for days, I broke my promise...they'd kill me now anyway for disobeying, if not because of you..."
"You...smell like me...?" Cid hadn't been able to tell in the small space where their scents intermingled. Vincent smelled like dusk and loneliness, while Cid smelled of flame and sunrise. When the two scents collided, it was like all times of the day mixed as well, and time itself seemed to warp. It was a pleasant feeling that seemed to last forever, and in such a small space it was impossible to tell which smell came from where.
Vincent nodded in response to his question, and Cid smirked to himself. "Heh, I smell like YOU."
Vincent looked down at himself. "I think it's the aura, actually...look..."
He took hold of one of Cid's claws and ran his own claw downwards, against the flow of Cid's scales. Cid started sharply and took hold of Vincent's claw, lifting it away from him.
"Vin! Don't do that, it'll cut you, you-"
Vincent showed Cid his palm, which was free of any kind of marks at all. Cid looked down at his own claws and saw there was no blood on the edges of his scales. He looked at himself in confusion. "What the..."
"I think the aura also protects me from your scales..." Vincent seemed to smile slightly. "So that I won't hurt myself...I don't think it will let you hurt me."
Cid smiled and shrugged. "Eh, not like I would anyway."
"Watch this..." Vincent took Cid's arm with one claw and poised his other over it. "Do you remember what they say about a demon's claws?"
"Filled with poison and can slice rocks like nothing?" Cid responded automatically, part of what he had been taught as a hatchling. He then coughed awkwardly. "I mean..."
Vincent, instead of looking upset as he had feared, only looked slightly amused. "No, they aren't poison, but they ARE sharp...watch."
He put one of his claws against Cid's skin and slid it downwards with enough pressure to obviously cause damage...
And yet the aura seemed to stop anything from getting through to Cid except a slight tingling.
"That's pretty #$^#in' weird..." Cid took his arm away from Vincent and ran his own claws across where the cut SHOULD have been.
Vincent nodded. "I guess no one ever experimented with it before."
He sighed and leaned back. "Although it doesn't do us much good...our threat is not from eachother, but from those around us..."
"#@%#..." Cid turned his eyes downward and crossed his arms, not sure of what else to do.
Vincent sighed and curled up, pressing his knees against his chest, resting his chin across his arms and letting his tail curl around his footclaws. "I wish we could stay here forever...I wish we didn't have to die..."
Hearing Vincent speak so fatalistically about something that Cid had been trying not to accept caused the dragon to sigh. "Look, Vin, it'll be okay, alright?"
"No it won't..." Vincent lowered his head until his forehead rested against his arms, so that his face was hidden from view. He shook slightly. "It's not going to be okay...it'll never be okay...I have no home, no life, nothing...I can't even have you...and soon I won't even be alive..."
Cid moved so that he was sitting next to the demon and put a claw on his shoulder. "Look, Vin, calm down. I'll think of somethin', I promise." In truth he sounded far more confident then he actually was. He was just as scared as Vincent was, but knew that the last thing that the demon needed right now was someone else to agree with his fears.
"What are we going to do...?"
Cid paused and thought while Vincent's shook underneath his claws. He scratched his head awkwardly.
"Well, first thin's first...you ain't got nowhere to go, right?"
Vincent didn't respond. Cid rubbed his head and felt heat rush to his face as he tried to think of something to say. "Well...#$^#, Vin...you could come stay with me..."
Vincent slowly turned his head and looked at him, his face streaked with blood from his tears. "Stay with you...?"
Cid shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. "Sure, it's no big deal at all. It'll be better for both of us anyway...if I keep comin' out here sooner or later someone's goin' t'follow me an' then..."
"You want me...to stay with you...?" Vincent couldn't understand. Even after everything that Cid had done for him, the offer to live with him, to stay with him...the ultimate in demonic commitment...he was offering him that? He couldn't believe it...this couldn't be real...
Images of Shera flashed through Cid's mind, but he laughed, trying not to think about it. Vincent looked so shaken, he didn't want to bring up unnecessary complications at the moment. "#$^#, why the #$^# not?"
Vincent ran his black claw across his face in an attempt to wipe the tears away, only causing the blood to smear backwards towards his ear. "But...you live with other dragons, Highwind...it won't work..."
He didn't want to impose...
Cid paused. "@#$%, you're right...but I'll think of somethin'. You can trust me, right?" He smiled earnestly at Vincent, who smiled softly back at him. "We just cover you up or somethin' and it'll be fine."
Cid stood and exited the cave, taking his comforting smell and warmth with him. He turned and smiled at the demon. "Stay here, I'll be back soon."
With a flutter of wings, the dragon was gone, and Vincent was alone.
Please don't be home, please don't be home...
Cid opened the door to his house as quietly as possible, bracing himself for an angry tirade that he knew was coming.
Fortunately, no one came to the door to yell at him. Breathing a slight sigh of relief, he walked over to the coatrack on the wall, looking for one of his larger coats. In the winter, despite their inner fire, dragons still got cold, and their wings were especially subsceptible, which is why several articles of clothing, heavy overcoats and the like, were designed to cover a dragon's wings completely. He took one of his coats and one of his tail-warmers, which was designed with the same purpose as the coats, to keep the tail warm in the cold, and quietly snuck back out of the house, shutting the door behind him and taking to the air, hoping that no one had seen him.
It didn't take him long to make it back to the rock outcropping. He landed near the opening and looked inside, worried that perhaps Vincent had left while he was gone, or had been captured or worse. Fortunately, the ruby eyes were still glinting in the darkness, and turned to see him with genuine relief.
"Where did you go...?" Vincent tried to make his voice emotionless and failed. Cid ducked into the opening and held out the articles of clothing he had retrieved.
"See, look. We can cover up your wings and tail with these. We hide your horns with your hair, keep your claws undercover, an' you can pass for a dragon no problem." Vicnent took the garments of clothing from him gingerly, studying them in confusion.
"What...are these...?"
"It's a coat." Cid cocked his head slightly. "Demons didn't use 'em?"
Vincent shook his head and tried to put the coat on without success. "We just endured..."
Cid walked over to him, taking the coat authoritively and putting the coat over the demons black wings. They were larger then his, but they still fit within the fabric. "See, not too #$^#in' complicated, is it?"
Vincent was able to put on the warmer by himself, and he carefully moved his hair so that his horns were hidden. It didn't take much effort, considering they were rather short.
"This's still goin' t'look kind've weird, 'cause it's not that cold out, but we got a decent chance now." Cid walked back out into the night air, watching Vincent emerge to follow him. "It'll be a #$^# of a walk there, but it's better'n flyin' now."
Vincent nodded, still overwhelmed by what was happening, and the two began walking, Cid close to Vincent's side to make sure the coat and warmer stayed in place. They tried to chat idly during the way, but as they neared the town their voices got more strained and nervous. Vincent's got softer and Cid began to swear more often, but they tried to keep their nervousness under control.
Once the town came into site, Vincent balked.
"Highwind, I can't...I can't, they'll find me, they'll know me, I'm a-"
"Shh!" Cid cut him off. "You're a #$%#in' dragon and that's #^#$in' that, okay Vin?" He stared at him seriously. "You can do it, now shut up an' #%@$."
It took Vincent some effort to move his footclaws forward, but Cid took one of his arms and led him along, refusing to stop. Vincent was nearly dragged along, paralyzed with fear as he entered the city of the people sworn to kill his kind.
Cid was breathing quickly and walking just as fast, mumbling to himself so that Vincent couldn't hear. Vincent couldn't hear much of anything anyway, his heart was pounding in his ears and he heard rushing in his ears. He closed his eyes tightly and clung close to Cid, trusting the dragon to protect him. Without much else of an option, he completely surrendered his fate to Cid, trusting that he would be alright.
They managed to make it to Cid's house without incident and slide inside. Both of them sighed audibly, then heard a slight movement on the couch.
Before Vincent could say anything, Cid put a claw to his lips and dragged Vincent to a closet, opening the door and pushing him inside quickly. Vincent stared at him in confusion, but all the dragon did was signal again for him to be silent. Vincent was left in complete darkness and, still frightened from the entire excursion, curled into the corner, pulling a loose piece of clothing over him in a effort to hide.
"Why are you home so late? What have you been doing?" An angry female voice surprised Vincent, and he twitched. He hadn't expected a voice at all...much less a female one...
"Get the #$^@ out of my house, Shera! I'm not #$^#in' kiddin'!"
"Why are you acting like this? What are you up to?"
There was movement, rapid movement, and Vincent clutched the fabric he was hiding under closer, closing his eyes and trying to keep quiet.
"Get out of my house!"
"No! I refuse! Tell me what's going on!"
"#$^# no! Get OUT!" Cid's voice was strained with frustration. There were sounds of what seemed to be a struggle, and the sound of fire flashing through air.
"Get out! Get out NOW!"
"You're hiding something! I know you are! I KNOW you are! I can smell her on you, she's somewhere in here, isn't she?"
"Shera-"
"Isn't she?!"
"#$^# OFF!"
Vincent cringed against the corner, clutching the fabric close to him and trying to keep his breathing under control. He heard a rush of air and felt the door to the closet open, and he twitched slightly, trying to freeze.
"SHERA! Get the #$^@ away from that!"
"Where is she!?"
There were more sounds of scuffling and the closet door slammed fiercely. The front door opened and there were more sounds of flames, claws scraping on the floor, then the front door slamming. Instantly the sounds of someone pounding on it came to Vincent.
"You let me back in this instant!"
"Get the $@#$ AWAY from me!" There was the sound of the door locking, then some more clicks. The windows.
"You can't keep me away forever!"
"I can sure as #$^# try!"
Slowly the pounding and shouting receded, and he could hear Cid sigh in relief. The closet door opened again, and Cid kneeled, pulling down the fabric that had protected Vincent from Shera's sight.
"You okay?"
"Who was that...?" Vincent's voice shook as he tried to regain his composure. Cid grimaced, his fangs showing slightly.
"Someone I wish would leave me alone. Don't worry, she's gone now."
He held out one of his hands, taking Vincent's and pulling him up. He led Vincent away from the main room and into the bathroom.
"Just ignore her, she's a #^$#$. It'd probably be best if you stayed quiet durin' the day an' #$^#, y'know..."
Vincent was studying the shower with curiousity. "What is this...?"
"Oh, right. That's 'cause water can kill dragons like that." Cid snapped his claws. "We use steam instead. Takes a #$^#in' long time, but it works."
"Very strange..." Vincent walked into the stall and felt around the entire thing, investigating and apparently commiting it to memory as much as possible. "I've never seen something like this before..."
Cid put his claws in his pockets awkwardly and shrugged. "Well, you can use it if you #$^#in' want to...I'm goin' t'try an' get some sleep...I'm #$#^in' exhausted..." He turned and walked away, his tail still twitching in agitation from his encounter with the other dragon.