Chapter 10
Aftermath
So bright, so damn annoying.
I slowly tried to open my eyelids but it hurt like hell. They batted furiously with
the sudden invasion of light.
Why was it so damn bright?!
So I gave up on opening my eyes for the moment and assessed the rest of myself.
My head was throbbing hard, I musta done somethin' to it, that much was obvious. The
rest of my body ached, but it was centralized in a few places. Like along my back,
straight, long lines of pain searing down my back.
And my leg, damn did that hurt! The rest of me was okay, except for the aching
and bruises. My neck was stiff too, I was laying all funny on the bed. I moved a little and
quietly cried out in pain. My back!
"Sir I think this one's conscious." Said a far away and distant voice.
I slowly opened my eyes, accepting the light and its blaring yellow. Suddenly as
my eyes came into focus there were four faces directly over me. One guy who must be a
doctor, a couple of nurses and, oh no. My commander.
"Mr. Highwind can you hear me?" asked a distant voice.
I tried to talk but my jaw hurt. I flexed it experimentally. It was like I'd never
moved it before.
"Yeah." Mumbled a weak, gravelly voice.
Did I just say that?
"Mr. Highwind are you in pain?"
"I'm all right."
There was the voice again.
I tried to tilt myself to sit up but it hurt too much.
"Mr. Highwind you seem to be in pain."
"Where the hell am I? Demanded the voice.
"You're in the sick bay at your fighter base."
"Fighter bay?" asked the voice, confused.
I realized that the voice must be me.
"Yeah fighter base, you're in Eclipse squad remember?" asked a gruff voice.
A puzzled look spread across my face.
"Come on, Eclipse. God what a dumbass." Said the same voice.
"Now Mr. Nairne please. The medication and trauma of the crash seem to be
affecting his mind a bit." Said a voice that was probably the doctor.
"Crash?" I asked suddenly.
The doctor fielded this one.
"Yes Mr. Highwind your fighter was shot down."
"Wha? When?"
"Three days ago."
Then slowly it all started coming back to me. The outpost, the tower, and. Oh god.
"Lennie! Did you find Lennie?" I asked frantically.
"We looked kid, he must not have made it." Said Nairne solemnly.
I suddenly realized that Nairne was my commander.
"You made ace kid, six kills in all." Said Nairne.
Then the memories started flooding in.
The Dragons' screams, Lennie's call for help. Me arriving too late, that Wutaian
bastard turning Lennie into dust. My mad rampage, six Wutaians who wouldn't be
returning home.
"Mr. Highwind. Get some rest."
A sharp sting in my arm, and then black.
****
They were finally there, after four days of marching, whining and overall
exhaustion Shinra's army had reached their camp.
The night they arrived every man was asleep in the camp except for one, their
general, Sephiroth. Aided by a dim utility lamp in his tent he pored over an array of maps
and charts. Tracing routes and forming strategies, and then disgustedly discarding them.
He knew he needed sleep, but he needed a strategy even more. As he nodded off,
head on a pile of charts, it came to him as if out of divine intervention. And with the slow
closing of his eyelids he began plotting the fine nuances of his strategy. The Wutaians
didn't stand a chance.
****
Halfway across the world from the war Rotterdam sat in a small café working at
his laptop. Since the war had started he'd gotten a total of about six hours of sleep. It was
a constant cycle of meetings, lying and sleep.
And the president had been especially angry about the report of the first air strike.
The losses had totaled to almost a squadron's worth, with many others injured. There
were tales of rookies making ace on their first mission, and veterans being shot down
without a kill. War was a horrific and crazy thing.
All of this just another one of the president's foolish orders blown out of
proportion into this. What did Shinra even want with the Wutaians?
As he sipped at his coffee it hit him. It was so blatantly obvious he chuckled.
Shinra you greedy bastard, you really worked this one out well. But there would be a hole
in the plan somewhere. And when he found it Rotterdam would tear the whole thing wide
open.
****
The constant sound of the helicopter blades was soothing in a way. And for a
moment he almost forgot about the war. But as the helicopter flew over the mountains the
sight he saw reminded him how terrible this war really was.
The site that had once been a small peaceful village and a watchtower had been
transformed into a junkyard. Crashed fighters littered the ground and all that remained of
the buildings were charred holes.
An involuntary chill shuddered across his body, so many lives lost in this petty
corporate war. Of which he had still not figured out why Shinra had started.
"Lord Godo sir shall we touch down?" shouted the pilot over the noise of the
blades.
All the pilot got in return was a curt nod. With a light thump the helicopter
touched down on the singed grass and Lord Godo stepped out, Staniv behind him.
"Wow they really did a number on this place." Said the pilot in awe.
The damage was even worse up close. Some bodies had stayed intact, and the
looks of fear on their charred faces were enough to make someone nocuous. Apparently
they had that effect on the pilot, for he politely excused himself to go and wretch in the
tall grass.
"Our pilots put up a good fight." Said Staniv, surveying the scene.
"Yes, they died with honor." Replied Godo.
"It looks like many enemy fighters went down before the battle was over."
"Yes our pilots took many to the grave."
"But not enough to end this." Said Staniv, gesturing with his hands to the
wreckage and destruction. Godo nodded sadly.
****
The minute he woke up he regretted it. It felt like his body had been dropped off
the top of the Shinra building, trampled by the train and then chucked into an oven to
cook. The last thing he remembered was having that fighter on his tail and calling Cid for
help. But Cid musta come to late, cause this sure didn't feel like any hospital bed. Felt
more like a bed of nails. He rolled over to find he'd been laying on a splintered piece of
his canopy, which had dug into his back at numerous places.
And suddenly it hit him, that he was down and no one had found him yet. Were
they all dead? Or were they picking up survivors now? Then suddenly he thought he
heard helicopter blades whirring. They were here to get him, finally. But as he looked
around he realized that they might not be able to find him amidst all the wreckage and tall
grass.
The blades seemed to be getting faster instead of slower. But that couldn't be
right if they were landing to pick up downed pilots.
Unless…
He jumped up, ignoring the excruciating pain that coursed through his body. As
the chopper lifted off he waved his arms desperately and then the pain was too much, and
he collapsed into blackness.
****
Godo sat staring out the window gravely, when suddenly a movement in the grass
caught his eye. He dismissed it but then there it was again.
"Set us down." Yelled Godo over the blades.
"Sir?" asked both the pilot and Staniv confusedly.
"Set us down!"
The pilot quickly obeyed and near crashed the chopper in the process. Godo
jumped out before it even hit the ground and ran to the spot where he'd seen the
movement.
Could it be a surviving Wutaian pilot?
But all hope faded as the standard gray Shinra uniform came into view. Still it
was a survivor, and the man appeared to be in great pain. He knelt down and checked for
a pulse on the man's dark skin, it was there, but just barely.
As he stood back up he read the muddied name patch on the man's uniform.
Flight Officer Leonard Clifton.
Author's note- Fairly short chapter I know, but it was necessary. Pretty soon I'm going to
have a straight Rotterdam chapter, but I think we'll have a Cid chapter first. And for
those of you who didn't catch on to who the surviving pilot was, it's Cid's friend Lennie.
Adios!
Aftermath
So bright, so damn annoying.
I slowly tried to open my eyelids but it hurt like hell. They batted furiously with
the sudden invasion of light.
Why was it so damn bright?!
So I gave up on opening my eyes for the moment and assessed the rest of myself.
My head was throbbing hard, I musta done somethin' to it, that much was obvious. The
rest of my body ached, but it was centralized in a few places. Like along my back,
straight, long lines of pain searing down my back.
And my leg, damn did that hurt! The rest of me was okay, except for the aching
and bruises. My neck was stiff too, I was laying all funny on the bed. I moved a little and
quietly cried out in pain. My back!
"Sir I think this one's conscious." Said a far away and distant voice.
I slowly opened my eyes, accepting the light and its blaring yellow. Suddenly as
my eyes came into focus there were four faces directly over me. One guy who must be a
doctor, a couple of nurses and, oh no. My commander.
"Mr. Highwind can you hear me?" asked a distant voice.
I tried to talk but my jaw hurt. I flexed it experimentally. It was like I'd never
moved it before.
"Yeah." Mumbled a weak, gravelly voice.
Did I just say that?
"Mr. Highwind are you in pain?"
"I'm all right."
There was the voice again.
I tried to tilt myself to sit up but it hurt too much.
"Mr. Highwind you seem to be in pain."
"Where the hell am I? Demanded the voice.
"You're in the sick bay at your fighter base."
"Fighter bay?" asked the voice, confused.
I realized that the voice must be me.
"Yeah fighter base, you're in Eclipse squad remember?" asked a gruff voice.
A puzzled look spread across my face.
"Come on, Eclipse. God what a dumbass." Said the same voice.
"Now Mr. Nairne please. The medication and trauma of the crash seem to be
affecting his mind a bit." Said a voice that was probably the doctor.
"Crash?" I asked suddenly.
The doctor fielded this one.
"Yes Mr. Highwind your fighter was shot down."
"Wha? When?"
"Three days ago."
Then slowly it all started coming back to me. The outpost, the tower, and. Oh god.
"Lennie! Did you find Lennie?" I asked frantically.
"We looked kid, he must not have made it." Said Nairne solemnly.
I suddenly realized that Nairne was my commander.
"You made ace kid, six kills in all." Said Nairne.
Then the memories started flooding in.
The Dragons' screams, Lennie's call for help. Me arriving too late, that Wutaian
bastard turning Lennie into dust. My mad rampage, six Wutaians who wouldn't be
returning home.
"Mr. Highwind. Get some rest."
A sharp sting in my arm, and then black.
****
They were finally there, after four days of marching, whining and overall
exhaustion Shinra's army had reached their camp.
The night they arrived every man was asleep in the camp except for one, their
general, Sephiroth. Aided by a dim utility lamp in his tent he pored over an array of maps
and charts. Tracing routes and forming strategies, and then disgustedly discarding them.
He knew he needed sleep, but he needed a strategy even more. As he nodded off,
head on a pile of charts, it came to him as if out of divine intervention. And with the slow
closing of his eyelids he began plotting the fine nuances of his strategy. The Wutaians
didn't stand a chance.
****
Halfway across the world from the war Rotterdam sat in a small café working at
his laptop. Since the war had started he'd gotten a total of about six hours of sleep. It was
a constant cycle of meetings, lying and sleep.
And the president had been especially angry about the report of the first air strike.
The losses had totaled to almost a squadron's worth, with many others injured. There
were tales of rookies making ace on their first mission, and veterans being shot down
without a kill. War was a horrific and crazy thing.
All of this just another one of the president's foolish orders blown out of
proportion into this. What did Shinra even want with the Wutaians?
As he sipped at his coffee it hit him. It was so blatantly obvious he chuckled.
Shinra you greedy bastard, you really worked this one out well. But there would be a hole
in the plan somewhere. And when he found it Rotterdam would tear the whole thing wide
open.
****
The constant sound of the helicopter blades was soothing in a way. And for a
moment he almost forgot about the war. But as the helicopter flew over the mountains the
sight he saw reminded him how terrible this war really was.
The site that had once been a small peaceful village and a watchtower had been
transformed into a junkyard. Crashed fighters littered the ground and all that remained of
the buildings were charred holes.
An involuntary chill shuddered across his body, so many lives lost in this petty
corporate war. Of which he had still not figured out why Shinra had started.
"Lord Godo sir shall we touch down?" shouted the pilot over the noise of the
blades.
All the pilot got in return was a curt nod. With a light thump the helicopter
touched down on the singed grass and Lord Godo stepped out, Staniv behind him.
"Wow they really did a number on this place." Said the pilot in awe.
The damage was even worse up close. Some bodies had stayed intact, and the
looks of fear on their charred faces were enough to make someone nocuous. Apparently
they had that effect on the pilot, for he politely excused himself to go and wretch in the
tall grass.
"Our pilots put up a good fight." Said Staniv, surveying the scene.
"Yes, they died with honor." Replied Godo.
"It looks like many enemy fighters went down before the battle was over."
"Yes our pilots took many to the grave."
"But not enough to end this." Said Staniv, gesturing with his hands to the
wreckage and destruction. Godo nodded sadly.
****
The minute he woke up he regretted it. It felt like his body had been dropped off
the top of the Shinra building, trampled by the train and then chucked into an oven to
cook. The last thing he remembered was having that fighter on his tail and calling Cid for
help. But Cid musta come to late, cause this sure didn't feel like any hospital bed. Felt
more like a bed of nails. He rolled over to find he'd been laying on a splintered piece of
his canopy, which had dug into his back at numerous places.
And suddenly it hit him, that he was down and no one had found him yet. Were
they all dead? Or were they picking up survivors now? Then suddenly he thought he
heard helicopter blades whirring. They were here to get him, finally. But as he looked
around he realized that they might not be able to find him amidst all the wreckage and tall
grass.
The blades seemed to be getting faster instead of slower. But that couldn't be
right if they were landing to pick up downed pilots.
Unless…
He jumped up, ignoring the excruciating pain that coursed through his body. As
the chopper lifted off he waved his arms desperately and then the pain was too much, and
he collapsed into blackness.
****
Godo sat staring out the window gravely, when suddenly a movement in the grass
caught his eye. He dismissed it but then there it was again.
"Set us down." Yelled Godo over the blades.
"Sir?" asked both the pilot and Staniv confusedly.
"Set us down!"
The pilot quickly obeyed and near crashed the chopper in the process. Godo
jumped out before it even hit the ground and ran to the spot where he'd seen the
movement.
Could it be a surviving Wutaian pilot?
But all hope faded as the standard gray Shinra uniform came into view. Still it
was a survivor, and the man appeared to be in great pain. He knelt down and checked for
a pulse on the man's dark skin, it was there, but just barely.
As he stood back up he read the muddied name patch on the man's uniform.
Flight Officer Leonard Clifton.
Author's note- Fairly short chapter I know, but it was necessary. Pretty soon I'm going to
have a straight Rotterdam chapter, but I think we'll have a Cid chapter first. And for
those of you who didn't catch on to who the surviving pilot was, it's Cid's friend Lennie.
Adios!
