Cid's plan worked. None of his alcohol was found.
However, he DID discover something that he was only semi-aware of, and that was that Reno was on several drugs that he knew of, and several more drugs he didn't even know, and the evidence of that was all over Reno's side of the room.
Despite the fact that they were Reno's drugs, which Cid vehemently stated several times as they dragged him off, they had nothing to convince them of that with Reno missing. Cid cursed his luck outloud, repeatedly. What DID give him some satisfaction was the fact that Reno was going to be in just as much #$^# as he was going to be in.
Cid was struggling against the grip on his wrist half-heartedly, knowing that actually breaking away would be pointless, but he wanted to make it perfectly clear he did not want to go. Not to mention it was making it difficult and awkward to maneuveur with his crutches.
"God#&#@ it, I already told you those weren't mine. Jesus Christ."
"Highwind, please try to co-operate..." Shera sighed deeply. "It would make things so much easier for everyone."
"The #$&# I'm goin' to co-operate if didn't do any #$^#in' thin' wrong!"
"Listen, until we have Reno here to vouch for you, they could be yours or anyone's..."
"$^@^, they aren't mine! They weren't even on my side of the room!"
Hojo made a disgusted noise of frustration, which made Cid laugh in a way. This caused Hojo to jerk on his hand roughly, knocking Cid off balance and nearly causing him to fall, had it not been for Shera catching him. Cid regained his sense of balance to find Hojo's eyes boring into his own.
"I don't have time for your childish activities, Highwind." The anger on the professor's face was evident, but his voice remained under control. Cid could almost see him twitching. "Now come along and co-operate, or things will be much worse for you."
Cid wanted to say something, wanted to continue rebelling, but he knew that wasn't a good idea. He held it in, forcing himself into silence as they continued walking down the hallway, frustration boiling within Cid with every step.
This was all that $%^$er Reno's fault...god#^#@ him and his #$^#in' drugs, @#^@...
When they got to Jenova's office, Shera and Lucrecia broke off, and Hojo pushed the door open angrily, continuing to lead Cid in although he had stopped struggling as before. The professor let go of him once in the room angrily and walked towards the desk near the wall, arms crossed and an unhappy expression on his face. Cid made his way towards the empty chair, flopping into it gratefully as he let his crutches fall to the floor.
He couldn't speak when he saw Jenova at first either, but she could. Her voice made him feel uneasy.
"Hello, Highwind."
Cid blinked for a moment, brushing back his hair with an idle hand. "Um...hi."
"I want to speak with you concerning Valentine."
Cid jerked sharply. "What? What happened? Did somethin' happen to him?"
Jenova waved a large hand to silence him, the motion somewhat slowed and distorted. "No, he is fine. We want to ask you about the bottle in his room."
So Vincent HAD told them the truth. Good for him...he wasn't about to let Vincent take the fall for him when it was his fault.
"Yeah, that was mine. Sorry about that."
Jenova and Hojo exchanged glances for a moment.
"But the rest of the #$..." Cid cut himself off mid-word, trying to think of a replacement. "The rest of the stuff in the room isn't mine, it's Reno's."
Jenova leaned over her desk, writing something with slow, deliberate movements on a piece of paper underneath her arms. "Either way..."
"Whether or not the drugs are yours shall be determined later, Highwind." Hojo's voice had again taken on the cold, calculating tone it had before. Cid felt his attention slipping away already. "We also want to inform you that actions will be taken against the Weapons to prevent them from repeating what happened to you."
Cid blinked for a second, raising one of his bandaged hands to touch the cut that had been covered over his forehead, smiling in an evil way. "That's great. I've been wantin' to hear that."
"Do realize, however, that there will be repurcussions for what you have admitted to..."
Cid nodded. This didn't really surprise him, he was fairly sure his parents knew he drank anyway. They knew that Cid had gone out of their control long ago, and no longer tried to stop him. Cid leaned back, letting the tired muscles in his back relax for a few moments.
Jenova handed the paper she had been writing on to him. "This is where you have to go, and when. It's not voluntary."
Cid took the paper with distaste. He hated being told he had to go places. And it was probably one of those touchy-feely places where everyone was told to get in touch with their feelings, which meant they got to whine for hours about things that Cid didn't care about. He nodded, however, not wanting to voice his disapproval.
"We'll be contacting Reno. Thank you for coming."
Taking that as a sign to leave, Cid leaned down to get his crutches, while Hojo shuffled somewhat awkwardly.
"I think Professor Hojo has something he wants to say." Jenova's tone made it clear that there was no doubt whatsoever in her statement. Cid, confused, looked up, his hands still questing for his crutches, at the man who coughed awkwardly, adjusting his glasses and tightening the ponytail behind his head before speaking in his normal, clipped tone.
"I did not intend for you to be injured, and I apologize."
Cid narrowed his eyes. Did he really expect him to just accept an apology just like that? His inner sense told him that he should just say yes, but he hated listening to himself. His voice was scathingly sarcastic.
"Well, #$^#, I feel SO much better now."
The awkward silence that followed gave Cid the impression that he had definitly said the wrong thing, but he refused to take it back, instead levering himself upwards on his crutches and moving away, heading for the door. Neither Jenova nor Hojo said anything, and Cid closed the door behind him, sure that he had probably made a rather large mistake. He caught a sound that almost sounded like Jenova laughing behind him, but decided he must have been imagining it.
Trying to force it from his mind, he began to head down the hall, only to be stopped by Lucrecia and Shera.
"Do you know where you're supposed to go?"
Cid was tired of dealing with them and it was showing. He glared at them both angrily.
"I got the #$^#in' sheet, so now I'm goin' to get some #$^#in' sleep if that's okay with you two."
They broke away from him instantly, letting Cid go through in a foul mood, the paper that Jenova had given him tucked into one of his many pockets.
He got back to the room and got ready to take a nap, feeling exhausted and frustrated. His next class was later on in the day, so he'd be fine as long as he set his alarm. He flopped into his bed and fell into a deep sleep, not having any dreams during it, something he was actually grateful for.
The next day passed, thankfully, without much incident for either Cid or Vincent. Cid spent most of his day practicing with Reeve for the Talent Show, while Vincent took care of the numerous small things he had been neglecting lately. They still hadn't had contact since they had met outside of Vincent's room, and during this time Vincent had a great deal of time to think.
Seeing Cid again, and hearing him express his concern over what was happening to his room, reminded Vincent of how much he missed having him around. He felt overwhelmingly alone, even when Cloud was in the room, which he was even more rarely lately. He missed having people he could talk to, yet it was his own fault for refusing to talk in the first place. He felt extremely stupid and bad about what he had done, and wasn't exactly sure how he could fix it.
Cid asked him to come the Talent Show...well, that's what he was going to do. He was going to go and apologize, and tell Cid what was bothering him like he should have before. He was going to trust Cid.
He knew he had never done that before, but he didn't want to lose him over such a silly thing. He was sure that Cid would understand if he was the person that Vincent thought he was. He had to, or else he was making a big mistake.
But Vincent knew that he couldn't be making one, everything inside him told him that. He just had to trust him, for once, just trust him. He had to finally let someone else help support him.
The call from his parents that came later on that afternoon wasn't as bad as Vincent thought it would be. He explained carefully what had happened during each phone call, the first coming from his mother and the second his father, and his parents believed him. Vincent felt mildly surprised, but he knew that he had never really betrayed their trust before, so they didn't really have a reason to disbelieve him. He was glad for that. He didn't get along well with his mother, less so with his father, but he was glad that the ordeal hadn't become worse then it already had. They both urged him strongly to go to the meetings, which he was planning on doing already anyway, but he thanked them for their advice. He always felt drained after speaking with them.
At least the rest of his day was uneventful. He checked Cid's story, but there hadn't been an update, which both relieved and bothered him. Without the story to help, he didn't know how Cid was feeling at the moment. He felt very cut off, and he felt his own concern rising. He wanted to know how his friend was feeling, and he realized that must have been how Cid had been feeling all along. He felt another wash of regret, but clenched his first again in determination to fix what he had done.
Cid's parents didn't even call him.
The next day, the day of the talent show, Vincent went to his mailbox, his headphones firmly set in his ears and his walkman at high power, and found a card in there that he hadn't seen before. Mentally deducing it had to be the box of miscellaenous things he had sent himself, he took the blue card up to the counter of the mail room, stopping his walkman, looking around curiously. He had never been here before...he didn't really know what he was supposed to do. He pulled his ID from his pocket where he kept it, standing at the counter for a few moments tensely, fingering his card.
There was a loud crash from out of his vision behind the counter, and he looked in that direction with worry.
"Careful!"
"Careful I am!"
Within moments someone came to the counter, staring at Vincent with very tired eyes. "Yes?"
Vincent stared. He looked like a small boy, or at least, he was the size of one, with a large blue and white striped jesters cap on his head. Matching the blue of his hat was a blue shirt that had a large Z on the front, and when he reached out his small, child-like hands to take the card from Vincent's still hands, Vincent could see a large blue diamond on the back of it. Not sure of whether or not it was a tattoo or just pen, he didn't get much of a chance to study it in depth as he pulled his hand back underneath the counter, pulling out a large black book. Vincent felt the slight urge to ask if he needed help, but restrained himself.
"Need your ID..." The boy's voice was tired and exhausted, and Vincent held out his ID wordlessly. The jester wrote down the number on the card quickly and then slid the book back towards Vincent. "Sign here."
Vincent took the pen and looked up just in time to see what seemed like the first jesters twin, except clad in red and a T on his shirt, hanging upside down from the ceiling, a clipboard in his hands as he shuffled through the packages at the top of the shelves. The blue one turned angrily.
"It's number 327!"
"Know the number I do!" The red capped one angrily flipped onto the floor with surprising grace, glaring at his twin in annoyance.
"Um..." Vincent felt very awkward.
The two of them began bickering incessantly, and Vincent felt even more awkward then he had before. He tapped his returned ID on the desk for a few moments.
"Excuse me, um..."
They turned and stared at him. "I'd like my package..."
"If Thorn would do his JOB..." The blue one climbed back up towards the counter angrily, causing Thorn to throw his hands in the air and begin climbing shelves with surprising grace.
"If shut up Zorn ever did..."
Thorn eventually found the white box that Vincent had packed his things in and pulled it free, landing back on the floor easily. He slid it across the counter to Vincent, who took it gratefully.
"Thank you..."
The jester twins finally stopped arguing for a moment, apparently surprised. Zorn was the first to speak. "Um...you're welcome..."
Vincent took the package from the counter and walked off, hearing the two renew their argument as soon as he was out of earshot. Shrugging, he walked back to his room, bobbing to the music coming from his headphones occasionally.
In the box were several books that Vincent had wanted, some of his CD's and tapes, and some of his old sketchbooks. He kept them for nostalgia and also to study where he had gone wrong originally. He carefully arranged his things in their new places in his bedroom, setting his alarm for when the talent show would begin, and waited, watching TV distractedly.
Cloud came in once, but it was only to grab something he had forgotten and then disappear again. Vincent had become somewhat suspicious of where Cloud went during this time. Was he really dealing drugs or involved in some kind of drug cartel? Vincent's eyes roved lazily around the room for a moment. If he was still dealing with drugs, where would he be hiding them now? Certainly not the light...
Vincent shrugged. It wasn't his business, and he didn't want to ask anyway.
Finally, his alarm went off, alerting him, and he put on his large black sweater and trenchcoat as he headed out the door, thirty minutes early.
"I don't know about this, Cid..." Reeve was going back into his more timid mindset as he paced back and forth backstage along with the other people who were planning on being in the talent show. Cid was lounging on a large bass drum, looking very at ease. "Are you sure we should be doing this...? I mean, what if we get in trouble or something...what if we mess up...?"
"Stop worryin' so much, catface." Cid waved airily and smiled. "We'll be fine. Don't worry about it."
In truth, Cid was just as nervous as he was, but he wasn't going to show it. Cid had a masterful gift for hiding how nervous he was, but it did manifest itself physically by causing his limbs to shake compulsively sometimes. Fortunately, situated as he was, it would have been difficult for him to begin shaking.
The talent show had actually become something of a big thing, and it had many acts and people in it, something that helped Cid and Reeve feel a bit more at ease. If they had been one of the only ones to be in it, they would have felt more nervous then they did now. Finally, they heard the voice of the show master, and they settled into silence, still feeling extremely nervous inside.