Chapter 2
A Lone Survivor
Authors note- I decided to try and tone down Cid's language a little more this time just so I wouldn't have to rate it 'R'.
Before totally spazzing out on this guy I decided to assess the situation.
I was in a ghost town, with a gun pointed at my head and probably no one else around to get me out of this.
So basically I'm screwed, but not for long.
"Freeze!" yelled the man holding the gun shakily.
I had to think fast.
"Come on stupid I'm not afraid of an unloaded gun." I said.
Sure enough the guy fell for it. Looks like I've got a rookie on my hands.
The kid looked down at the gun and before he had time to realize I was bluffing I delivered a hard punch to the stomach followed by a swift little kick that knocked the gun clear out of his hand.
I picked the gun up from it's landing spot about ten meters away, while the kid was still trying to recover from my punch.
I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and lit it up.
"Now you just learned a valuable life lesson. Never mess with Cid Highwind."
The guy looked up from his out of air, bent over position and I took the opportunity to blow a ring of smoke in his face.
"Now I'm not even quite sure who you are. But I don't think you wanna hang around here for too long."
The kid tried to talk but he was still recovering from my punch. This kid was such a fucking pansy.
"So if you'll just tell me your name and what the hell you were thinking putting a gun to my head, then I might be able to let you go."
"Winters" the kid gasped out.
"What?" I asked, intentionally trying to bug him.
"My name… is Winters."
"Winters eh? Is that it? Cause last time I checked names normally came in two parts."
"Hector Winters." He said now standing totally upright having recovered from my punch.
"All right then, now we're getting somewhere. Now tell me Hector what are you doing in this hell hole?"
"This 'hell hole' was my home until about an hour ago." He said.
So this kid has survived the attack? How did he pull that off?
"Any other survivors?" I asked.
"Nope, just me."
A lone survivor huh? Well I don't envy this kid. Having everyone in your village dead has gotta suck.
"Well kid I'm gonna have to take you back to Midgar for questioning about what you saw here."
"But…"
"Don't even start kid."
So we walked back to the ship with him in front of me so he wouldn't try any funny stuff.
As we neared the village center I thought I heard something in the sky.
"You hear anything kid?" I asked.
"No."
Must just be me imagining things again.
But then suddenly I heard it again, growing increasingly louder. Like engines, but very quiet ones.
I turned back to look in the direction I'd heard it and off in the sky I saw a trio of gray shapes. They were hard to make out from this distance. But I could tell right off that they were fighter jets. The pointed nose and slender wings gave it away.
Also the engines were pretty big for something so little so they must have a lot of power. And the last clue was the wing and nose mounted cannons. No regular ship had that feature.
As the fighters neared the village their guns fired off a few shots into the streets. They didn't seem to have noticed us yet, but that wouldn't last forever. So we might still have a chance.
"Come on kid. Run for the ship!" I yelled.
He complied and we made a mad dash for my freighter.
I looked over my should and saw the trio of gray ships making runs on the buildings, just making sure that there were no survivors. And oddly enough I thought I saw some Wutai markings.
Just as we got within thirty or so meters of Freighter 14 their attention turned to us.
Authors note- When I said I had no clue what meaning "In the Absence of the Sun" had I didn't mean that I had no clue, just that I hadn't quite figured out how to work it in yet. Also I am open to any suggestions because I only have a rough idea of the plot at the moment.
