chapter III:
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"Wake yer asses up." Cid's 'inside' voice was magnified to a deafening level. I sat up from the ground and looked over to Cid. He was smiling madly and had a megaphone in his hand. I put my hand under the back of my shirt and traced the outline of my spine. Sleeping on the floor made my back sore, despite the cushion underneath me.
"Man, these girls really piss me off. They know they can't fall back to sleep!" he said to me. A click of static followed before a roaring "WHY BOTHER? GET UP."
From a bundle of sheets, Yuffie raised her hand and gave Cid an odd gesture with the palm of her hands. It also appeared that she said something as well, but the sheets she was under muffled any noise that came from her.
Cid laughed heartily and then started drumming his fingers over the megaphone's microphone, creating blunt beats that reverberated through the ship, which undoubtedly distracted Yuffie. "You know," he said loudly over the noise. He was smiling broadly at me. "You looked awfully cute while you were sleeping."
"..."
Cid smiled. "It's true! So modest, aren't cha? Haha! Well... ain't I right Yuffie?"
"Mmmmph," Yuffie's head surfaced through the layer of blankets. "I'm tired," she yawned, taking no acknowledgment of Cid's question.
"As am I," another voice said groggily. Aerith's head poked out from between the two beds. "This is a vacation, isn't it? Pllleeease stop pacing us like this..."
Cid grimaced and put the megaphone down next to his seat. "Well fine." He folded his arms around his chest. "You know, I got business to take care of in Atlantis anyway. I'll leave y'all in the ship, alright? Heh... now I gotta try this mermaid suit thingy on." Cid was looking toward the ground of the control deck, at a space that was blocked out by a stack of boxes.
"Mermaid suit??" Yuffie darted out of her bed, in a pair of underwear and a small wifebeater. She ran up the stairs towards the control deck, and gave a small 'ooh' as she looked to the ground. "Ha!" she pointed at Cid and guffawed brightly. "I can't wait to see you try that on!"
Cid stared venomously at Yuffie. The toothpick in his mouth stuck up as he frowned. "Yea? Well, no peeking. I gotta wear it. Spent tons and tons of money on it," he sighed, and paced towards a rather tall table that, from my angle, hid Cid's stomach down. Before doing anything else, he turned to Yuffie again. "Go! You aren't supposed to be up here anyway."
With a groan, Yuffie leapt back to the living deck, and dived back into her bed. "Tell me when you try it on. I'd love to see you walk in that thing," she said scornfully.
"Shut it," Cid grunted. His head was no longer visible; he had collapsed onto the ground in vain attempts to get the suit on. "Ah, FUCK IT! Someone help me!" he plead pathetically.
I turned to look at Yuffie, who was lying stomach-down on her bed as she watched the front of the control deck table, expecting Cid to surface into sight again. She caught my eye and hunched her right shoulder quickly in response. We both then directed our attention back to Cid, who was quickly muttering profanity under his breath. "FUCK DAMN IT, I SAID HELP."
"Oh, fine. I'll help you," Aerith said as she stifled a yawn. She walked past Yuffie's bed and up the stairs to the control deck. As she set her eyes on Cid, she shook her head and slowly walked towards him. "... Cid..." she said in a tone not unlike that of an admonishing mother. "...Here... let me help you..." Aerith's head disappeared behind the table, and a few seconds later, there was a strange moaning sound recognized as belonging to Cid. Yuffie started doubling up into uncontrollable giggles.
"There, there Cid... just stay still for just a bit longer... almost there... just an inch or—Yuffie! Be quiet. Please! ... Okay, you're all set Cid! Get up!" Aerith's head reappeared from behind the table as she looked down on Cid. "Um, you can get up now."
"I can't!" Cid barked. "Yuffie was right. ...Damn her."
"... I... can't... breathe...!" Yuffie said between giggles. "Oh my god -- so funny!"
"Shut yer trap!" Cid roared as Aerith helped him up. As soon as he could reach, Cid propped himself up with the table surface and gave Yuffie a mean stare. Yuffie didn't (or maybe she couldn't) stop her high pitched laughing. After an incredibly weird moment or two, Yuffie managed to exhale and control her laughter.
"Cid, walk down to us!" she demanded in an eager voice.
"I already said I couldn't! Stupid."
With my curiosity getting the best of me and catching me off guard, I found myself walking up to the control deck, dying to know exactly what Cid was wearing. Yuffie, feeling that she would be safe to follow my judgment, followed close behind.
"Get-goddamn-DOWN!" he roared obliviously. "AERITH!!!!" Just before I was able to get a good full view of Cid's lower body, he hugged onto Aerith's legs and flinched. "NO!!" he screamed.
I stared. Cid was completely naked, except God was gracious enough to spare my eyes by having the suit (which resembled a sea horse's body) welded onto his body and covering his more intimate parts, and everything under as well. The suit was a curious shade of violet.
Yuffie started laughing again.
Cid sheepishly looked up. "Business is business. Shut it or I'm not going to support your big asses throughout this trip," he said coldly, and used Aerith as support to get up. "Now, you morons better help me out of this ship."
Aerith and I were the only ones that were listening to Cid talk – Yuffie was still laughing at the matter. Cid frowned.
"Well... I guess I'll drag myself to the gawddamn door," he grumbled, and then slowly crawled towards the staircase. After painfully making it down the staircase, he paused. "Oh yeah. If you guys want to come down to Atlanta, you can get those forsaken suits out of the larger glove apartment in the control deck. Might as well give you blowhards access to it, since you're already fucking creeping around it-" he sighed. "-If you guys go and you aren't back by the time I'm back, I'm leaving you useless fucks here... You guys sure goddamn deserve it."
With all of that said, Cid used the sides of his arms to crawl toward the exit. With much effort, he opened the exit, which revealed a horizon that sea water reached out of in a rich shade of royal blue. The waves smoothly rippled over its body as if a small boat was grazing at the water as it rowed through a small river. Although the ocean appeared peaceful, you couldn't imagine anything living submerged in it. I gulped. An old phobia of mine began to take rise as I thought of drowning.
Cid then plopped into the water. I steadily walked towards the exit, and cautiously looked out to the ocean to see how far the drop was. It was only about seven feet. I couldn't see a shadow or a reflection of Cid's through the water. I gulped to myself and shook my head. Just a fright... just a fright.
"Leon? What are you doing?"
I turned at Aerith's voice. "Oh... um, nothing..." I slammed the door of the exit and quickly tiptoed toward Aerith. "What is it?"
Aerith gave me a perceptive look before saying anything. "Well, since Atlantis is such a nice place and this is a vacation, why don't we get our suits on and take a dip into Atlantis."
I frowned at her, not having anything left in me to mask my feelings. "No," I said. Even I could feel the fear in my voice. "... I'll just stay here..."
"PARTY POOOOOPER," Yuffie teased. "What, are you afraid of the water?" She said mockingly.
I could have easily dismissed her accusation, but when it was really a true fear of mine, I just couldn't find myself to lie. Instead, I tried intimidating Yuffie by staring at her. After staring back for a short period of time, Yuffie looked away and started giggling to herself. I continued looking at her, only with a look of helplessness in my eyes.
I don't know how I reached this - or any sort of conclusion by having one of my many moronic encounters with Yuffie - but I reached an epiphany right there. Hell, actually, I reach epiphany after epiphany by the dozens whenever I'm forced into close proximity with such a magical Yuffie. Lucky. But this one stood out, and it told me that, yes, no one did understand me, nor cared to. I sighed.
"C'mon Aerith, let's go take a swim!" the two, completely ignoring me, walked up the stairs toward the glove compartment and, from stripping down to bare-naked skin, helped dress each other up. I looked away, and took a seat onto the floor. The girls were giggling and talking to themselves while they put on their suits, but I couldn't bring myself to pay any attention to them, or any of their conversation. A couple of minutes passed by slowly, and the only thing I noticed of their actions was a frightening splash of water from outside of the ship, as the two jumped into the ocean. To meet the same fate as Cid...? I shuddered.
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ending notes: this chapter sucks. I'm going to rewrite it, but I honestly thought that I should have updated this story already. It's been a month since I wrote the last chapter. Blah.
Oh yea, more on FFVII: I think Cloud and Yuffie make the greatest couple possible in that stupid game. Yea, not even Cloud and Sephiroth beats out them. Yes, you heard right. Heh.