It was a quarter to 7, and dusk has already began to set in. The promise made by Cid that he would be in town tonight was met as I watched the scruffed-chinned man make his way towards the mansion gates, occasionally waving to fellow neighbors.
He eased his way in, glancing around nervously for some reason I couldn't figure out.
I walked out of the double doors and to the yard where I met him with a nod.
"Cid," I shortly said.
"Hey Vince," he sounded a bit scratchy, "So, ready to go?"
I nodded again and turned around, "Tifa, let's go."
I watched Cid's reaction as Tifa timidly made her way out with her bag, which I took in my hands as soon as she came nearby. Tifa seemed to be less anxious to meet Cid, though Cid cleared his throat a few times, an act that meant he felt somewhat uncomfortable. I decided, from what I saw, that it was time to properly introduce the two.
"Tifa," I motioned to her, "This is Cid Highwind. He's the one who called this morning and the person we are supposed to visit."
Though I thought Tifa would act miserably shy, she stuck out a hand and gave a friendly smile towards Cid, "Um.. hello Mr. Highwind."
Cid took the offer of a handshake and also smiled back, shaking off his nervousness as he replied, "Hey Tifa, how you feelin'?"
Their hands parted, "Good," Tifa replied back; the situation was going smoother than I thought.
A few minutes, and a brief updating, we made our way out of the mansion grounds and through the center of the small town. The Highwind, which we took almost half the time we were searching to find Sephiroth around the planet, quietly hovered above a green patch outside the city; a long, thin rope tied it to the ground. I saw in Tifa's eyes, a look of awe and amazement. Instantly I knew she was going to ask...
"What is that?" she mumbled, eyes wide and never leaving the large airship.
"Cid's ship. The Highwind," I answered her, though my attention was now riverted elsewhere. I noticed as we walked, our fellow Nibelheim town folk were all outside there homes, eyes at our every move, and to my surprise, smiling.
"The Highwind," cried the voice beside me, still in grand marvel, "It's so...so.. big!"
I nodded silently, my eyes still scanning as to what the people of the town were up to. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I found out as soon as we reached the town gates where we met, whom I believe, the wife of the town's hotel owner.
She was a middle aged woman, with short, blond hair and dull blue eyes, wearing a white, commoner's dress with a light blue apron over it's front. She smiled gratefully, almost proud as she spoke, "We, as a town, would like to wish you good luck, and may you," she referred to Tifa, "Find all that you've lost," she then turned to me, the same smile still on her lips, "We would like for you to know, Mr. Valentine, we will be here to pray for you and your friends. We would be willing to help with anything, as you all have done to us."
The simple sentence made a cold shiver run up my spine, the tips of my fingers going suddenly cold. In my frustration to how my mind and body reacted, I simply gave a nod to her, in which in return she understood.
"Thanks lady, we know who to ask when we need help now," Cid spoke out; I thanked him in my mind, "And thanks for your support."
The woman gave a bow and stepped aside; Tifa waved farewell to her as she passed, utterly confused, no doubt, to what the woman had said to her earlier.
As we stepped on the large airship, Tifa was excited, as I was the exact opposite. I let off on her own, wandering around the ship as we took off, and I stayed behind with Cid in the starboard where we stood behind the large viewing windows of the room, gazing at the town; hundreds of hands waving at us like a field of butterflies flapping the orange sun.
"You froze up there for a minute," Cid began to say, not moving his eyes from the view of the people below, "Was that the first time they showed any care towards you or what?"
I thought for my answer and shook my head, "No. They have. I just never noticed it before," it was true, the town hadn't been totally against me as soon as I took Tifa in, and even before then. I wondered, was my act of taking care of the Tifa shown them that I was truly not entirely an evil being? The towns people had made a real breakthrough, as far as how I've felt about them, and now I considered them to be trustworthy people whom I can safely call neighbors.
"Ah, I see," Cid commented after a short while, I knew he was watching me ponder over the event, snickering at the matter for 'the silent one' had began to feel.
"So the The Silent One is feeling a bit.... tranquil now, eh?" Cid gave a hearty laugh while I patted myself mentally from my correct guess of his action.
I grumbled quietly, but didn't respond back. Cid kept his laughing, soon stopping as a pair of footsteps ran behind us.
"Wow!" it was Tifa, sounding over excited. I faced her; she looked fully flushed in the face; her hair whip-lashed frantically around her back, and her short-hemed, white dress held skewed folds, "I was just up on the top, you know where we stepped up first? And I saw the people down below waving!" she pointed to the ground as she said 'people', "I waved back, and they all said 'Bye Tifa!', and I don't even know any of them!"
Cid's round eyes happily, yet confusedly, watched the girl in her excitement and chuckled a few times.
"Oh yeah! I saw clouds too!" Tifa raised her hands high up in the air, moving her head back to stare at their direction, "Billions of them when we started to raise higher and higher!" she placed her hands back down on her sides and turned to me shortly with a pout, "And I looked back down and everyone were small dots.... I got scared," her frown changed dramatically back into a smile, "It was great!"
I gave an amused 'hmm', "It looks as though you enjoyed it," I stated, referring to her dress and hair, "Perhaps you should check more of the inside of the ship if you are afraid of being so high; the deck isn't such a great place to be if you are afraid of heights, other than that it gets very cold up there."
She nodded, unsure, and asked, "Where else can I go? I only saw this one room with a big, long table like the one in the dining room at your house, Vincent, and that's all I found inside."
Cid hurriedly called one of his ship men in the room, and directed the young man to Tifa, "Hey, take her to go see the Chocobos. You'll love the Chocobos, Tifa."
"Oh," Tifa smiled at Cid and the man, "Thank you, Mr. Highwind," she commented as the young man happily escorted her out of the starboard.
Cid turned to me, "She's still pretty shy around others, isn't she? As far as talking.."
I nodded, "Of course Cid, she met you for the very first time minutes ago. Give her time to relax," Cid nodded, rubbing his chin anxiously about something else, something else I think may be very important to me.
"What is it, Cid?"
"Uh..." he gave a loud 'ahem', "Well, right now at the house Barret, his kid, Red XIII, and Yuffie are already there, like you asked. And I called Cait Sith yesterday also, he was in Midgar."
I turned to him, expecting news that would greatly change our day, "And?"
"And..." Cid continued hesitantly, "He called right after I called you... saying he told Cloud about it."
I felt my head begin to pound in anger, either that or Chaos wanted out. It was our plan to not let Cloud into the problem, although he was a close friend of Tifa's. I felt, as well as others, that the problem was only brought up because of him and his stupidity to leave her. The others willingly agreed to keep him out, until Tifa restored all her memories. Unfortunately, that plan was now corrupted; Cait Sith eventually did not know of the plan.
"Cait said he saw Cloud in a bar, in the Slums, and blurted out all about it," Cid sighed and covered his head with a hand, "He also told me that he and Cloud are rushing over and they're in Costa Del Sol as of now."
I couldn't do anything else but grumble, and prefer not to speak any more of it.
Cid seemed to understand that I was now silently thinking of what to do next, whether or not this news would cause a whole different problem other than Cloud would probably be more demanding than Barret, and Tifa's night would probably be more hectic and mind-boggling than expected.
Finally, thinking that the whole new demise wasn't fated
impossible, I decided to see what will happen when our ex-SOLDIER comrade
shows up finding that he is unknown to Tifa, hoping the woman could take
it if he became irrational, "Okay, a change of plans then. We'll
see what happens."
A/N: Thanks to all who reviwed and emailed me to continue!
I'm very glad you liked and supported this fanfic, and of course I will
continue to write ^_^. Thanks again! I appreciate the comments and
compliments.
Disclaimer: I still don't own it, I should just stop posting this up...