fanfic by volly
final fantasy vii (c) square enix
...
Title: kittyback ride
Characters: Centered around Cait Sith and Red XIII. Mentions other members of AVALANCHE, and Reno.
Prompt: friends
Notes: i admit it. i fansquealed at the sight of cait sith riding red. it was too adorable. and. no. this is not meant to be some sort of 'ONG CAITXNANAKI PRON WTF111ONEEELEVEN' fic. they're friends. look at the prompt. and i know my title vacuums. go away.
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Cait danced. Red bit down a snarl. "No."
"Please, Red. Just this once?"
Red XIII lifted his muzzle to the ceiling of the Sierra, as if beseeching the gods for mercy. Why him?
The smaller feline glanced at him hopefully. Funny how a mere robot was capable of so much emotion. Red bared his teeth but reluctantly inquired, "How did this happen again?"
Cait Sith plucked at the collar of his gloves, wincing a bit at the vomiting sounds just one deck away. Cid had to fly all the way to Wutai to pick up Yuffie, and was now making all haste back to Midgar. He had to try and convince Red before the battle started. "There was a bug in the Mog. I think Reno planted it there. He does that sort of thing a lot. He never quite got over my 'cat fetish'."
Red gave a conspicuous twitch at these last words. He couldn't believe that he was even considering Cait's pleas. This has got to be a mistake. "And so you want me to...?"
Cait bobbed his head and let out a squeak of surprise as Red rose from his haunches, towering over the other cat with all of his fangs showing and his claws unsheathed. "Do I look like a Mog to you? A chocobo? Who do you think I am?"
And Cait cowered a bit. Red was angry. An angry Red was a dangerous Red, especially since he was always so quiet and calculated all the time. It took a lot to stoke Red's rage.
"I know who you are, Red. You're my friend. I'm asking this as a friend. It won't happen again. Please?"
The bigger cat looked down upon the smaller. Red's growl died in his throat and he studied the robot with genuine questioning. "Why?"
"What?"
"Why do you want to fight?" Red clarified, shaking his head. A few scarlet licks of his mane toppled over his broken eye. "Why do you bother? What can you do in this? You've misplaced your megaphone, so I don't know how you're planning to help. Cait's most likely to be destroyed and if that happens you'll have to construct a whole new model from scratch. Why would you want to do these things?"
Cait tapped his chin. Red did have a few points, and it was after a few moments of thought that he finally replied. "Have you ever just stood aside and let your friends do all the fighting for you? Have you ever just watched your friend knot themselves into possibly-fatal predicaments while you just sat away and did nothing? I'm a member of AVALANCHE, Mog or not. I can fight, so I should be allowed to."
"No one is preventing you from doing so," Red snorted, tail swishing around his manacled ankles. He growled with mild amusement at Cait Sith's apprehensive stare--the fairy cat was eyeing the flaming plume as if afraid it might singe him.
"I need mobility. This robot isn't very swift. You are, though."
Red thought this over, before finally emitting a sigh of defeat. "What can you contribute? I will not haul around dead weight."
And Cait beamed. It seemed like things would go his way after all. He reached into a crimson cape and yanked out a pawful of--
"Materia." Red eyed the gently glowing spheres. Cait's grin widened to a ridiculous degree.
"Well, Red?"
It seemed like there was to be no way out of this one. Red floundered. "I still don't know."
"It won't be too bad." Cait stepped up to the larger feline, one gloved paw slipping the Materia back under his cape, the other reaching out to pat Red on the nose. Red twitched, but did nothing. "Think of it as a sort of piggyback ride. Did your parents ever give you a piggyback ride? Or, as a matter of fact, it'll be more accurate to call it a kittyback ride. We're the only cats in AVALANCHE--we should stick together, shouldn't we?"
Red hesitated. A shout sounded down from above--Cid. "Hey, we're at Midgar! Barret, Red, get your goddamned asses down there already--I'm taking Yuffie up high."
Cait Sith winced. "He didn't even mention me. I'm thrilled."
And with that Red made his decision. Shoving his muzzle under the smaller cat's body, he flipped the bewildered robot over his shoulder, allowing Cait to land roughly on his back. "Hang on, then."
"Red!" Cait squeaked, clutching the other feline's mane. "Thank you, Red! You don't know how much I appreciate--"
Red tore out of the cabin with all speed, shoving Cait Sith's words back down into his own throat. With a growl, he launched himself over the side of the airship and onto the Bahamut summon below.
Red should have a seat belt. That was the only coherent thought in Cait Sith's head as the two fell together, down past the steel-grey blur of the skyscraper, falling down so much faster than they could ever toss Cloud up. Red should have a seat belt.
Falling...
Red landed. Red was a living testament to the statement "cats always land on all fours". Cait Sith was much too dazed to admire his friend, however, and toppled over Red's neck, sprawling out on the ground, exhausted.
The larger feline bared his fangs in what Cait learned to interpret as a smile. "You weren't the one running around so."
"Biological creatures will always have more endurance than manufactured robots," Cait muttered, groping in his cape from a few of his last globes of Materia. Red was swift, but Bahamut Sin still mnaged to be able to cuff him around a bit with his frightening sabers of claws. Luckily, the cuts weren't very deep, and a lovely Cura healed the cat nicely.
Red licked his paw where a wound had been located just a second before. "Thank you."
"I should thank you." Cait leaned against Red's heaving flank, tipping his nose to the sky above, where all the other members of AVALANCHE were still preoccupied by the task of boosting Cloud up to where Bahamut loomed over Midgar. Even now he could see Yuffie's slim form plummeting downwards, while Cid and Barret stood a bit farther off, twiddling with Barret's robotic arm. "That thing takes a lot, huh? Used up almost all of my Materia on that beast."
Red sniffed, shaking his tousled mane irritably out of his eyesight. "I sincerely doubt that it was an ordinary summon. Cid told me that Tifa said Cloud's Materia was stolen. The Sephiroth clones might be behind that."
"Might be." Cait rubbed Red's side playfully, a grin slipping on his face at the vexed rumble the other emitted at the gesture. "Hey, we work really well as a duo, don't we? That wasn't too bad, right?"
Red grunted. He hated to admit it, but Cait did help quite a bit in the battle, and it wasn't as cumbersome as he thought, hauling the little cat around. As a matter of fact, it was quite entertaining. "Could've been worse."
"I wasn't that much of a burden, was I?" Cait poked the previously-injured paw, whic Red quickly withdrew with a soft growl. "Those cuts weren't caused because of me, were they?"
"Doesn't matter," Red shrugged, lowering his head wearily to crossed forepaws. "Anything for a friend."
Cait Sith beamed, then squeaked in surprise as Tifa Lockhart swooped down just a few feet over from the two felines. Cid snubbed out his cigarette and tapped Venus Gospel impatiently on the ground. "Alright, let's get in the Sierra already. Hurry it up, won't you?"
Red obligingly knelt, allowing Cait Sith to clamber on his back yet again, before padding over to the waiting aircraft. Cait ran his gloved paws experimentally through his friend's luxuriant mane and smiled. "You're a good friend, Red. I really can't thank you enough."
"Don't mention it," Red glanced challengingly at Yuffie, who was watching the two cats with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.
Cait purred. "I think some sort of recognition is in order. How about I make Mog version 2.0 Red-shaped?"
Red bucked the smaller cat off and left Cait mock-yowling at the foot of the Sierra. He couldn't help but chortle at the thought, though. Cait watched his friend attempt to brood and tugged a bit on a whisker, a grin widening over his face.
A Red-shaped Mog. You know, that actually sounded like a good idea after all.