Chapter 5 "A Little Break"

Cid was outside of Cosmo Canyon, staring up at the Highwind with his hands on his hips, muttering stuff under his breath. When the others approached, he turned around and said,

"I've got a blue print in my head so I know exactly what to do. But we'll have to head back to Rocket Town for the rebuilding."

"Alright," Cloud responded and everyone boarded the airship and took off in the direction of Cid's home.

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As soon as they arrived in Rocket Town, Cid started talking to everyone and even the newly appointed Captain Shera as if he was still the boss.

"As soon as I leave, you're in charge again. But we need to get this done and over with quickly," he told her.

Shera agreed so she and her workers worked hard and nonstop on the reconstruction with Cid giving directions and helping out here and there.

"This has gotta be perfect," Cid shouted out.

Cloud approached Cid from behind, whom turned to face him,

"The trip to the sky will have to wait for a couple of days, you got that?"

Cloud nodded, and returned to the six who were sitting on the grass.

"It will take a couple of days," he announced to them.

Some were disappointed with the news, but did not protest or complain.

"So go have some fun and relax while they're working on it." And with that, he went to sit next to Tifa, who was being spoken to by Yuffie.

"Look what my dad gave me when I told him that I might not be coming back from the trip... See-see, no touch."

She pulled out the Five Mighty Gods summon materia. Cait Sith came up from behind them to take a peek at it,

"Hmm... Interesting."

"Yeah, I know," Yuffie said, proudly, "I'm gonna go try it out, wanna come see?"

"Sure do," Cait Sith replied.

Yuffie turned to look at him, "I wasn't talking to you, furball. I was talkin' to Teef and spikyhead."

"Why not," Tifa said and she and Cloud followed the skipping Yuffie on the outskirts of town to see it, with Cait Sith following behind snoopily.

This left Barret, Red XIII and Vincent sitting on the ground, watching Cid and his workers rebuild the airship. Barret then looked at Vincent, who was taking a nap under a tree, still looking menacing and sullen and not even aware of it.

"Yo Vincent! Wake up!"

Vincent automatically opened his blood-red eyes, which were cold and emotionless.

"Why don't you, me and Red hit the pub and have a couple o' drinks?"

"I have no time to do such foolishness."

"Yea yea, whatever," Barret said lightly, waving a hand by.

"Mr. Vampire is way too serious to have fun," said Yuffie, who had returned from showing off her summon to Cloud, Tifa and Cait (that was fast, huh? haha). Vincent looked at her nonchalantly,

"Why do you insist on calling me a vampire?"

"You always sleepin' during the day. And I heard that you were found in a coffin. Plus you wear a cape... I won't be surprised if you were capable of transforming into a bat," she told him, arms crossed with her nose in the air.

Vincent stood up.

"Thaa da boy, let's go!" Barret said and they headed off to the pub with Cait Sith tagging along.

"Wait for me guys!! Wanna see my new summon that I just got??" Yuffie yelled after them.

Cloud and Tifa decided to go check in at the inn for the seven.

"Well, there's only five beds," Tifa commented.

Cloud shrugged and rubbed the back of his head, "We'll figure it out later. But we can share a bed, if that's fine with you."

"It's fine," she said with a nod and turned around, "Let's go down to the pub. I'm hungry."

"Me too," he said and they both headed downstairs.

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They entered the pub. Barret greeted them with a lift of his hand, holding a mug.

"Glad yeh two came. Have a drink!"

Red XIII had a bowl of beer in front of him as he sat on a stool and put his paws and head on the counter, snoozing dreamily. Vincent simply sat on a stool and watched the scenery in silence. Yuffie had a funny smile on her face, holding the neck of a bottle of wine. She drank out of it, clumsily, then poured some of it into Cait's tiny mouth and then his Mog's, too.

"Yuffie, what do you think you're doing? You know that Cait Sith's just a robot," Cloud told her.

"Don't worry," Reeves spoke out through Cait Sith. "I programmed him to be a bit more human. A little drink won't hurt or damage his system."

Tifa sat on a stool and called for two drinks and two dishes. Cloud joined her and sat on a stool next to her.

"Looks like everyone's followed your orders - having fun and relaxing."

"Yeah."

She smiled at him. It's been quite awhile since she did that. It was the same smile she gave him when they first met.

"I got you a drink and a japanese dish."

"Thanks."

Their plates came and they ate. The pub was soon only occupied by the crew, but it was very quiet since everyone was snoozing, all but Cloud and Tifa. Cloud was looking at his drink, stirring it with his straw. He felt Tifa's gaze.

"I wish that I had remembered it sooner," he suddenly said to her.

"What?" she asked.

He looked at her, "The first time we met."

He looked back down at his drink, "If I did, it would of really helped me out a lot to get through the problems I had before."

"That was 15 years ago. I myself didn't remember it until yesterday, when we thought it was the last time we were going to spend in Nibelheim," Tifa told him.

"You were the only one who wanted to be my friend... How come?" he asked, looking at her.

"Hey," a voice popped out, which startled Cloud and Tifa.

The bartender came out. "Tell your friends to get out. I'm closin'."

With a little difficulty, they managed to wake everyone up and went into Frubaloo's Inn to their room.

Red XIII slept on one bed. Vincent slept on the next one, as if he was sleeping in a coffin, obviously choosing to sleep on it by himself. Yuffie slept on the third bed, with Cait Sith sleeping right beside her. Barret snored like a foghorn on a bed for himself, leaving one bed.

Cloud lied on it, his hands behind his head. Tifa was on the other side, thinking. Cloud looked over at her, and noticed that she wasn't wearing her gloves. He never saw her hands without the gloves. They were slender and delicate (You would have never thought that they were capable of beating the crap out of anyone XD).

There was a flash of memory. Through thick clouds, a hand appeared as Cloud reached out for it. He was back down to reality and looked at Tifa's hands, which rested on her stomach. They were the exact same ones in his flashback. He looked at her face, her eyes were closed, revealing a spread of a hundred black eyelashes. Her skin was porcelain and ivory. She slept serenely. Unlike the others. Barret was snoring loud as hell. Vincent looked deathly scary. Red growled and purred over and over again. Yuffie was in LaLaland, mouth open, drooling. Cait Sith and his cat snores and "meow's" here and there. His mog gruffly breathed in and out with force.

Cloud thought to himself, glad that he didn't have to sleep with any of them, and soon fell asleep.