2. "My dream..."

It had been so long since Cid had left, and for many days Shera had lived in uncertainty wether he was alive or not, but then the news of AVALANCHES escapades came rolling over the news and Shera recognized Cid as one of the wanted 'terrorists'. At least he was alive! She hadn't expected him to drop in to tell her that himself, and were relived that she'd found it out somehow. Shera had learned not to expect anything from her Captain, except harsh words and blame, but that was okay. She knew she'd messed up back then when she ruined everything.

And usually she'd messed up something again when he yelled at her. In fact, it was Cid that deserved a medal for enduring her, not the other way around that so many kept telling her. But there were the times... the times when he wasn't angry... when he wasn't yelling, and would talk with her in that tone he used to. Not an intimate tone, just... a not furious one. That was the times she would dream what it would've been like if she hadn't ruined everything. If the Captain didn't hate her, and would look at her with a quite different look in his incredibly blue eyes.

Shera shook herself back to reality and blushed slightly.

All her life she'd prided herself at being practical, rather then being a dreamer and so Shera forced herself to gaze at the blue-prints of a new plane in front of her, but her mind seemed reluctant to work that day and she kept finding herself gazing over at one of Cids jackets.

She'd been staring mindlessly at the jacket for several minutes, when the door suddenly slammed open and Cids voice boomed; "Shera! Where the %&#$ are you?" Starting and jumping to her feet, Shera knocked over her pile of neatly sorted papers and they flooded the floor.

She gazed at the mess with a slight case of despair before her eyes darted to the door; "I-I'm here, Captain!"

Shera hurried out to find Cid standing by the table, and the man she vaguely remembered called Vincent stood by the sofa, tending to some woman that looked asleep. "Dammit, woman!" Cid cursed angrily and dumped down in the chair, "are you planning on letting me bleed to death?! Get the &%#$/ Restore materia!"

Shera's eyes widened at the sight of Cid's injured leg and she automatically raised a hand to her heart; "I-I'm sorry! I didn't notice..."

"Shera! Get the damn materia!" Cid interrupted angrily and massaged his temples in irritated motions as she ran off.

A few minutes later, Cid had healed himself and Shera was tending to the still unconscious woman. "She will be ok. She just needs some more rest," Shera declared quietly, and gazed up at Vincent. "Would you mind bringing her upstairs? There are two guest rooms there, you can place her in one of them."

The former Turk nodded and gathered the woman in his arms once again before gently carrying her off. Then there was an awkward silence before Shera finally turned to face Cid, to find him half asleep as he was leaning back with one leg on the table and supporting his head in his hand with his elbow also on the table.

He looked completely dead-tired. "D-do you want to go to bed, o-or should I make some tea...?" She asked softly, her heart once again aching for him.

Cid blinked drowsily and waved his free hand weakly; "just sit down. I wanna talk to ya."

Shera's eyes widened and once again she raised her hand to her heart, this time to check it wouldn't pop and ruin the moment. "Y-you do...?"

He'd never asked her to join him, and she wasn't sure she'd heard right.

"Don't make me repeat myself..." Cid growled irritated, and Shera quickly sat down on the chair at the opposite side of the table, nervously folding her hands in her lap. "I-I could make some tea..."

She felt he was getting irritated over her again, and her offer didn't seem to make things better.

"Dammit, Shera!" Cid barked and flung his foot down to his the floor with a thump as he sat up straight, but seeing how she closed her eyes hard and started violently at the sound, he drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "I said I didn't want any tea."

He began pulling off his gloves and sighed; "I wanna talk'bout Meteor."

Shera dared open her eyes again and relaxed as she saw he wasn't going to yell, but blinked quizzically at his statement; "Meteor? You want to talk about... Meteor?"

Cid slammed his gloves down on the table, his patience worn out; "yes, that's what I #%&$% said! Wasn't it?!"

Shera shrunk again and swallowed hard. "I-I'm sorry..." Cid leaned back in his chair again and absently stroke over his gloves like he was petting a cat; "we don't have much time to stop Meteor, but we're going to try. But as I'm runnin'round with these folks, I can't take care of things here. See?"

Shera nodded, not daring to open her mouth in fear of irritating him again.

Cid glanced over at her and frowned; "anyway, what I'm sayin' is that you gotta keep the peace'til I return, or is that too much to ask?"

His blue eyes pierced hers, and Shera shook her head franticly; causing her pony-tail to bounce with her movements. "O-of course not, Captain! I will do my best!" Her heart pounded at the thought of him trusting her with a misson, trusting her not to mess up again.

Cid got up with a sigh; "I guess you can't mess up much on this one, as we're all gonna most probably die anyway."

He dragged his feet to his room, swearing that bed had never looked so soft and inviting before. Shera didn't move for several minutes, then only to reach out and pick up Cid's gloves.

She had to put them on the shelve by the door or he would get mad when he couldn't find them, even if they did lie before his very eyes. They were still warm inside she noticed and didn't quite understand why tears were stinging in her eyes.

The next morning Shera was setting the table for breakfast when Cid came traipsing into the room. Shera's eyes widened; as her Captain came bare-chested and hadn't even bothered fastening the belt on his pants, causing her poor nerves to tremble even more and made her drop an empty tea-cup.

At the sound of it shattering, Cid mumbled something, but merely drew a hand through his untidy hair as he was too tired to yell. "I-I'm sorry..." Shera half-whispered and quickly crouched down to pick up the pieces, only she could stop staring. It wasn't like it was unusual. In fact, it was Cid's regular breakfast attire, but it always had the same effect on her.

As Cid squinted down at her, Shera felt her cheeks burn, and lowered her gaze quickly before she began picking up the pieces with trembling hands, while he dumped down in his chair and lit up a cigarette. Walking over to throw the broken cup, Shera stood by the sink for a little while to compose herself and then turned with a careful smile. "Tea, Captain?"

Cid rubbed his face and vaguely debated for a shave before deciding against it, as usual, and nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes. Y'now I always have my #%$& morning tea!"

Another thing that didn't change; Cid was always grumpy in the mornings! Shera hurried over and poured the warm drink, careful not to look at him.

She gazed up as the unknown woman suddenly stood in the stair-way and smiled uncertainly to them; "good morning..."

Shera gave a friendly smile and signaled towards a chair by the table; "morning. You want some tea?"

The dark haired woman gave a barely noticeable nod and walked over to the chair; "yes, please, if it's not too much trouble."

Cid placed his cup down and waved her words off; "of course not! Now... I'm Cid. That there is Shera."

Sitting down, the unknown woman gave another nervous smile; "I'm called Rain."

She accepted the cup Shera gave her, thanked and took a sip before continuing; "I'm afraid I don't remember much of what happened..."

Cid leaned back and lit up a cigarette; "well, me'nd Vinnie just heard ya screamin' and found ya surrounded by some #&%$& ShinRa soldiers!"

The pilot watched her cautiously as Rain frowned slightly; "yes, those soldiers... "

She then smiled weakly to Cid, "I guess I should explain, huh?"

Cid nodded with a shrug as he tipped the ashes of his cigarette; "wouldn't hurt."

Everybody started as the entrance door opened, but it was only a well-known, red-caped figure that entered and Shera exhaled relived; "Vincent. Would you like some tea as well?"

The former Turk shook his head silently, "no, thank you."

Cid signaled for Vincent to have a seat at the table as well, and sighed irritated when he declined that as well. "Well, Rain here was just about to tell us what she was doing in the middle of nowhere with them &#$ ShinRas!"

Vincent merely nodded and Rain shifted uneasily before starting; "uhm, you see... I work at this bar at Midgar, but then I got word that my brother was ill and I had to go to Nibelheim and see him. Only... when I got there... he... "

She hastily wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye with her sleeve and sniffled; "anyway, I had no choice but to return to Midgar. That was when I ran into that ShinRa patrol. They wouldn't let me pass and kept throwing these suggestions..."

Cid snorted angrily and waved the cigarette to underline his words; "I tell ya, those #&%$% ShinRa soldiers are nothing but trouble!"

Vincent frowned slightly and shifted his weight almost unnoticeably; "it's not safe to travel alone. Specially under these times, and in unknown territory."

Rain blinked surprised as she gazed up at the silent figure. "How did you know this was my first time here?"

Cid grinned and lifted his tea-cup; "you were going in the wrong direction."

Rain moved her attention over to pilot and once again looked utterly puzzled; "I was?"

Nodding, Cid sipped to his hot tea. "Yupp. Midgar is the other way. You were heddin' fer Rocket Town."

Shera knew too well the embarrassment that flushed over Rain, and cleared her throat; "so what is going to happen now?"

Cid glanced up at her and sighed; "dunnow. Tifa and the others are lookin' fer Cloud, but we're prolly gonna look fer a way to that &%#$ Sephiroth and finish this as soon as I hear from'em."

And so it was decided that Rain would stay with Shera until the final battle was over and they could make sure she actually got to Midgar, or it was really Shera that insisted, but all objections was quickly silenced. Then the PHS rang and Cid nearly jumped as it was clear that Tifa and the others actually had found Cloud, but in a bad shape, and the Highwind were comming to get them as well. Well om board the airship again, Cait Sith revealed that ShinRa was now after the four Huge Materias, planning to use them against Meteor.

Barret went into an amazing cursing-fit when learning that the ShinRa was planning on ruining Corel to get one of the Huge Materias, and Cid had to shout to gain his attention; "&%#$!!! Barret! Shut up! We're not going to let ShinRa get their filthy hands on that Materia!"

Yuffie raised her eyebrows and gazed quizzically over at the pilot; "we're not?"

Cid walked over to the young man piloting the Highwind and began instructing him for their immediate travel to the small mining-town. Of course they were too late to stop the ShinRa train, but then Cid found another train and they set off to catch the one with course for Corel. After a nerve-wrecking train-ride, they actually got a hold of the Huge Materia, but Cid couldn't feel that thrilled about their tiny victory. He was worried.

And a quick discussion resulted in everyone agreeing on going back to Mideel to check on Cloud and Tifa. Arriving there, they barely had time to talk to the depressed Tifa, when a WEAPON decided to attack, and Cid could hardly belive their bad luck! No sooner had they chased away the giant monster, and the pilot had declared things couldn't get worse; then the life-stream began breaking through the surface!

Nobody could belive their eyes when Cloud was actually back to normal, but the ever-closing Meteor forced them to move on and not dwell at the impossible that had happened. Tifa tried explaining how they'd fallen into the life-stream and the two had sorted out the memories in Clouds confused mind, but it sounded mighty strange to Cid! Arriving at Junon, they went after the third Huge Materia after picking up the second at Fort Condor, and stumbled into a crazy submarine hunt! No sooner had they managed to sink the enemy submarine , then they heard on the intercom that the ShinRa were flying the Huge Materia to Rocket Town to launch the rocket.

"What the &%#$%&#$ are we waiting for?!" Cid raged,

as Cloud nervously turned the submarine back to Junon; "I'm going at top-speed, Cid!"

The pilot ranted and raged the entire trip and were the first to run to the Highwind. "C'mooon! We ain't got no #%&$#$ time to loose!"

He threw horrible curses over the poor soul piloting the airship as Cid was sure he kept the speed down on purpose, and when they finally landed outside of Rocket Town, everyone drew a relived breath. Everyone; except Cid, who were running towards the town.

"Hey!" Cloud called out, fastening his sword on his back as he trotted after him, followed by the others, "wait up!"

Finally catching up with him, Cloud found Cid staring at the ShinRa soldiers at the ramp of 'his' ShinRa no. 26! "That's it!" The pilot sneered, biting down on his cigarette, "that's #$&% it!"

Tifa barely had time to open her mouth to tell Cid to calm down, when he darted towards the soldiers, leaving them no choice but to follow him into battle. The Turk called Rude was no obstacle for the furious Cid and he flung open the door to the cockpit of the rocket, demanding an explanation of his employees. The anger flew out of Cid as he realised what this meant; ShinRa no. 26 was going into space.

His blue eyes flickered for a second, then he ordered the crew out; he was taking his baby into the space himself! As one by one of the crew-members left, giving small encouragements and words of admiration, Cid barely noticed them. His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt strangely numb. He was going into space.

He was finally going to have his dream full-filled.

Cid then turned to Cloud and the others, telling them to escape while they could. In a way, Cid was a little sorry that he couldn't stay with them until the end, but this was his destiny. If his destiny demanded he would miss the fight with Sephiroth, Cid had no choice but to accept. It was no guarantee that they would defeat the once so great general called Sephiroth, but Cid's dream would finally come true before everything went to hell!

A pang of irritation went through him as Cloud began arguing and just as his famous temper were about to get the better of him, the entire rocket began shaking. "What the #&%$&% is going on?!"

Cid barely managed to keep his balance when Palmers exteremly annoying voice declared over the intercom that he'd launched the rocket and there was no going back! Grasping a hold of a chair, Cid inhaled sharply as the rocket lifted from the ground and shot up in the sky, almost forcing him down on his knees; pure will-power keeping him up. Stumbling over to the panel, Cid began checking the course with a frown.

"Just as I thought..." He muttered as Cloud and Barret came over to see what he saw on the screen; ShinRa no. 26 heading straight for Meteor.

Vincent shifted uneasily, not quite comfortable with the thought of dying up there in the middle of the dark nowhere. "Is there nothing we can do?"

Cid snorted offended and gazed back at the pale faces that looked at him. "Of course! I always keep an escape-pod for cases like this!"

At that point everyone were too relived to argue at the possibility of him forseeing a situation just like the one they were in the middle of, and all Cloud worried about was the Huge Materia.

With a resigned sigh, Cid waved towards the door on the right and decided they'd might as well take it with them. Gazing a final time at the panel, the pilot soon followed Cloud up the ladder and began the difficult task of freeing the Huge Materia. If only he could remember the code!

Jumping down the final steps on the ladder, Cid landed between Red XII and Barret. "We got it!"

He grinned widely at their relived faces and Cloud landed beside him. "Alright. Let's go!"

The pilot trotted ahed and pushed open the door; "this way!"

Cid barely noticed the electricity sparkling between the two tanks, when suddenly everything exploded and he felt himself getting flung backwards at the power of the explosion, then slammed to the ground with a shock of pain shooting up his leg. Blinking away the dizziness, Cid found himself on the ground with an iron plate weighing him down and sparks of electricity shooting from the torn wires just beside the horrified Cloud. Groaning, the pilot placed a hand at the wreckage and pushed, only to gasp in pain and lean heavily back at the wall. "My foot's stuck in the debris." He shook his head, "you gotta go without me."

Cloud frowned at the angry wires then gazed down at the pale Cid; "we don't leave friends behind!"

He motioned Barret forward as it was only room for two to lift in the narrow hall and the torn wires made it quite dangerous as well.

"You're &%$" stupid!" Cid sneered and closed his eyes hard. This was not how he'd imagen his dream ending. "$%& stupid!"

Cloud and Barret pulled at the iron-plate, but in vain. The narrow hall made it hard to get close enough to lift the debris, but the sparkling wires that dangled dangerously close to Cloud made things even worse.

Cid absently gazed over at the ruined tank and vaguely noticed the number. "Tank no. 8 blew up." He made another effort to pull free his leg, but swallowed a groan of pain as he sank against the wall again. "So tank no. 8... really was malfunctioning." Cid closed his eyes. "Shera... you were right."

He gazed numbly over at Cloud and Barret, who stood huffing after straining themselves. "But... this is the end for me."

All his life, Cid had believed that his ultimate dream was reaching space, but now he found himself reluctant to die even after he'd achieved his goal. A feeling inside him told him there was something more. Something he had yet to reach. Something greater then reaching space!

Suddenly the door to the escape-pod opened and Shera came walking in; "don't say that, Cid."

Cid's eyes widened in disbelief and his jaw dropped. "Shera?!"

He stared wide-eyed at her, and if the situation hadn't been that serious, Shera would have laughed. She'd never seen him so utterly dumb-struck.

"I tagged along," she explained as she approached the sparkling wires, "now I'm here to help."

Cid blinked, then anger flooded him. That silly woman was determined to get herself killed! "&%##$&$!!!"

He ranted as she began fixing the wires so they could pass and four could lift the debris, where two couldn't. Cid inhaled to begin another round as Shera crouched down beside him to help lift the wreckage when the thought struck him: she'd saved his life. Back then, if he'd taken off; he would have been killed when the tank blew up. She had been right. He had been wrong. And now she saved his life again.

Gazing down at the ground, Cid swallowed hard; "...sorry."

Surprised Shera glanced up to meet his eyes, only then Barret hollered; "liiiiift!"

Cid quickly pulled his leg free when he felt the pressure lighten and grasped a hold of a pipe in the wall to pull himself up on his feet.

The sound echoed through the hall as they dropped the iron plate and Shera pointed weakly towards the door; "this way. We should hurry."

She waited for them to pass, then gazed puzzled back at Cid, who hadn't moved, and started when she found him looking strangely at her. "Captain..." Shera pleaded, cursing herself for how her voice trembled, "you have to hurry."

He nodded silently, and took a limping step towards her and Shera automatically reached out to support him. Her heart raced even more as he slowly took her hand and let her place it around her slim shoulders, and Shera stared franticly down at the ground with burning cheeks. Why did he keep looking at her with that strange flicker in his eyes?! Neither said a word as she helped him walk/limp into the escape-pod.

The attempt to destroy Meteor failed. Instead it seemed like the Meteor was closing even faster then before, yet they decided to rest the night in Rocket Town before traveling to Cosmo Canyon in the morning. Cid sat gazing at the TV, yet he didn't really pay attention. There was something bothering him.

He gazed up as Shera entered the kitchen and noticed much to his irritation that she jumped startled when she saw him.

"C-Captain! I didn't... I mean... I-I'm sorry." She stuttered, figuring he had to be angry with her for interrupting his TV-watching as he was gazing strangely at her again.

Cid frowned, both over the fact that she DID irritate him, but also that he knew the guilty feeling wouldn't go away until he'd talked to her. "Shera... don't apologize all the time, and move yer lazy ass over so I can talk to ya without hurting my neck!"

Shera's eyes widened and she clutched her cup like a life-saver; "I-I'm sorry... I mean..."

The look Cid sent her was enough to silence her and she quickly walked over to the sofa he was sitting on, sitting down as far away from him as possible. Her hands were trembling and Shera was afraid her heart might pop at any moment. He was probably going to yell at her for sneaking aboard the ShinRa no. 26... She hesitatingly raised her gaze to meet his eyes, and found to her surprise that he didn't look angry at all. In fact, he looked slightly uncomfortable. Shera's eyes widened. Maybe he didn't want her to sit down? Or at least not on the same sofa he was on? Dear Planet, she made him uncomfortable!

Just as she was about to jump up and apologize, Cid drew a deep breath and decided to jump into it; "Shera... I..." He shifted his weight and found it easier to talk when he was not looking at her, "Tank number eight blew up. You were right, and I was wrong. Yet... you should have let me go back then! You should have just ignored it!" Irritated, he found enough strength in his words to meet her eyes.

Shera inhaled deeply with shock and shook her head numbly; "I-I couldn't! If I had ignored it, you would've been killed!"

Cid pulled of his pilot-glasses and sighed; "dammit, Shera..." He cursed softly and met her eyes firmly, "you should have let me be killed! I didn't listen to you, and wouldn't have deserved better! Instead... you..."

Shera felt the blush flush her cheeks and her heart pounded even wilder; "I couldn't let you g-get killed! You should have just continued the launch... I told you to continue. I didn't mind."

Cid frowned slightly as he reached out and took her hand; causing Shera to start. She stared numbly down as he gently held her hand in his, feeling the warmth of his skin against hers. Shera swallowed hard, vaguely reminding herself to find the gloves and place them on the shelve before she went to bed. Cid pondered on her words, feeling it was something he should understand in them, but couldn't figure it out.

He then finally gazed up at her again; "why couldn't you let my own foolishness and pride get myself killed? You should have known I wouldn't go through with the launch." Shera swallowed hard again and gave a weak smile. "No... I didn't know t-that you wouldn't go through with it, but I was hoping that y-you would. I knew how much it meant to you!"

She wanted so desperately to convince him that she only did it to help him to fulfil his dream, not ruin it! Cid merely shook his head again; "if you knew how much it meant to me, then you should have let me go. Why didn't you?"

Shera found her breath stuck in her throat and stared helplessly into his blue eyes. "Captain... I..." She quickly pulled her hand free and darted out of the room, leaving Cid with an utterly puzzled look. Finally in her room, Shera sat down on her bed and removed her glasses so she could rub her eyes that was stinging with withheld tears. Why couldn't she let him go and get himself killed? Because she loved him...!