Chapter 4: Male Bonding and Poultry
Man, were they fucked.
Cid didn't want to believe Cloud's theory, but it explained why he'd
come away from the Darkness younger than he should have been. It
would explain Aerith and Yuffie, too--but not quite. For nine years
now, it had bugged him. Why did he remember their adventure with
Cloud and everything that came afterward? Why didn't they
remember?
And now... If Sora succeeded, and their world was restored, which
when would it be restored to? They wouldn't even be hoping for
the same when, would they?
What were the chances that Aerith would be so willing to die a
second time 'round? And no offence to the girl, but Cid had lived
twelve good years that he wasn't ready to sacrifice just to give
Aerith a second chance at life.
And Tifa--Cid hadn't been close to her, but Lockheart's had served a
damned fine beer and it didn't seem right that Tifa should be dead
while Aerith lived.
And Vincent--
Cid winced. He didn't really want to think about this. It was
bound to hurt but good.
Thanks to the miracles of modern--well, not-so-modern
anymore--stasis technology, Vincent was considerably older than Cid.
Every year of Vincent's life before they had met, increased the
chances that Vincent--if he were still alive--would not remember
him. Shit. He didn't like those odds.
How would he bear it if Vincent looked at him the same way Yuffie
and Aerith had when they first arrived in Traverse Town?
Still... a lousy chance to get back what he'd had was better than no
chance at all.
"What do we do?"
"I'm not sure," Cloud said. "I'm not sure there's anything we can
do."
"Fuck that. We won't know until we try, right?"
"Well..."
"Give it up, kid. I know you're not the type to sit around on your
thumbs."
"I don't even know where to begin."
"So? Just--"
Cloud grabbed Cid's arm just above the elbow. "Instead of yelling
at me, how about telling me where you'd start."
Cloud let go, and Cid rubbed his arm. The kid had a hell of a
grip.
"Well?" Cloud asked.
"Vincent," Cid said. Maybe that was selfish, but he should at least
get points for being honest about his priorities.
"You'd look for Vincent?"
"No." Cid grinned. "I'd find Vincent. Everything else will work
out from there."
"And if he's dead?"
"He's not. You said it yourself."
"I said I didn't know."
"So I fucking read between the lines!" If Cloud had thoroughly
searched the Underworld for Aerith, wouldn't he have bumped into
Vincent if he was hanging around down there?
"You shouldn't--"
"Look, if he's dead, no problem. I tell him he's spent too much of
his life in a coffin already and I'm going to nag him until he stops
being such a broody old dead guy."
"And that'll work?"
"Oh, yeah, he hates it when I nag."
Cloud laughed.
"Hey, I'm not joking. He wouldn't go to the grave without enough
breath to tell me 'You're not my mother' one last time."
Cloud shook his head. "Okay, so death is not a problem. What if he's
like Yuffie--what if he doesn't remember you?"
That wasn't going to happen. It couldn't happen.
"Then... I kidnap him, find a nice out-of-the-way planet, and settle
down to... to... raise Chocobos with my unwilling hostage."
"Okay." Cloud lay back against the roof and tucked his hands under
his head. "You've convinced me."
"Convinced you? Of what? That I'm off my rocker?"
"I'll do it with you," Cloud said.
"You'll...?"
"I'll find Vincent with you."
Cid felt caught between asking if Cloud was crazy and demanding that
they leave right now. "Hey," he said, and his voice shook. He
tried again.
"What convinced you? No, don't tell me. It had to be the Chocobos,
right?"
"I liked raising Chocobos," Cloud said. "It could be a good
life."
It could be the best. Cid lay back against the roof, too. "As long
as we could race them," he said.
"Of course."
"Remember our first Gold Chocobo?"
"Dawn's Gold," Cloud said.
"Yeah. She was a damn fine bird," Cid said. "A real pleasure to
ride."
"And she outclassed Joe's Black Chocobo by so much, he wasn't seeing
anything but her tracks for a week."
"What's this?" A girl's voice broke in. "Some secret male-bonding
ceremony where you lie around talking about poultry?"
"Shit, Yuffie," Cid said, doing his best to hide how startled he'd
been. "Didn't your father ever tell you 'curiosity killed the
ninja'?"
"Blah, blah, blah, old man. I'm here for Cloud."
Cloud sat up. "Chocobos aren't poultry. They're
livestock."
"Birds are birds," Yuffie replied.
"Hey, Cloud," Cid said. "Did I ever tell you about the Sorceress of
Wutai?"
"Wutai didn't have a sorceress!" Yuffie snapped.
"It was a secret. Only your father knew who she was."
Yuffie stomped her foot. "I don't think so."
"Yeah, Cloud, so one day I'm drinking in Turtle's Paradise--you
remember the place?"
"With all the fliers," Cloud said.
"That's it exactly. So there I am, and Lord Godo walks in and joins
me. The man had a lot of troubles on his mind, what with his
daughter being a thief and all--"
"Hey!"
Cid ignored her. "So maybe he drank a little too much, and he told
me this story about back during the war. You see, he was afraid
that Wutai didn't have enough soldiers--it was only a little island,
after all."
"It wasn't little!"
"So, he thought of this woman his father had told him about, a great
sorceress living in hiding. He went to her to beg for help. She
told him that the last thing he needed was a Sorceress War, but if
he would gather all the stray cats on the island, she'd make sure he
had enough soldiers.
"So, he gathered them all up, and she cast a spell that turned them
all into ninjas. Only the spell wasn't perfect, you see. For one
hour each day, the ninjas reverted back into cats. And that's why,"
Cid said, "there was that house in Wutai full of nothing but
cats."
"That's a lie," Yuffie said.
"And that's why, Lord Godo told me, his daughter was a Materia
thief--"
"What!" Yuffie squealed. "I never stole Materia from you!"
"But you have stolen stuff from my shop," Cid said.
"That was for practice! I always gave it back."
Cid turned to Cloud. "You see, she's actually a transformed kitten,
and she still has a cat's fascination with bright, shiny
objects."
Cloud chuckled. "That so?"
"Honest truth."
"Oh really," Yuffie said. "How stupid do you think we are?"
"Well--"
Cloud interrupted him. "What are you doing here, Yuffie?"
"Kairi sent me. It's getting late and she's worried that you don't
have a place to spend the night."
"There's a hotel," Cloud said.
"Never any vacancies," Cid told him.
"Oh."
"Leon said you can stay with us."
And wouldn't that be interesting? Two men, two girls, and that one
tiny bed...
"I didn't consider..." Cloud said.
"Look, kid, if you don't mind the Moogle snores, there's a perfectly
nice couch in my shop."
"'Moogle snores'?" Cloud laughed.
"They're not bad at all," Cid explained. "Quiet and kind of
high-pitched, and really... well, they're rather cute."
Yuffie stared at him.
"What? Can't an old guy think something's cute?"
"You're weird," Yuffie said. "Were you always this way or is it a
sign of aging?"
"He always was," Cloud said. "Yuffie, will you please thank Kairi
and Leon for me? And tell them I'll see them in the
morning?"
"Oh, fine." Yuffie turned back to Cid. "We need a ride in the
morning. We wanted to go tonight, but--"
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you wanted."
"Okay. Bye." Yuffie cartwheeled, then flipped backwards off the
roof--the little show-off.
"Couch?" Cid asked Cloud.
"Yes, thank you."
They jumped down from the roof--albeit less dramatically than the
ninja had--and headed toward the accessory shop.
"Did you make up that story just now?" Cloud asked.
"What, the ninja cats? 'Course I did. There weren't any
sorceresses in Wutai."
"No, I meant did you make it up just now or have you had it in your
arsenal for a while."
"Oh. It was just now."
"Impressive," Cloud said.
Cid grinned. "I learned from masters, kid. There ain't no better
liars in the universe than old fishermen and old pilots."
"You'll have to teach me."
Cid threw his arm around Cloud's shoulders and pat his shoulder
guard companionably. "That's just what I'm doing, kid."