Chapter Twenty Five
The plane…
"Holy shit, the plane! This is the kid's fucking inheritance!" Cid gasped, letting the cigarette fall from his lips. He reached out and grabbed the control stick, pulling the plane back to level. Without the engines powering it, the craft seemed to protest this order to stay aloft, seemingly having resigned to it's fate. Cid struggled to get the plane to bank around, needing to get it over someplace where he could land. The altimeter may have slowed in its indication of decent, but he was still losing height.
He then noticed that the cigarette had fallen between his legs on the seat and it was burning the hell out of him. Cid reached down and grabbed it, putting it back in his mouth. There was, after all, no good reason to waste a perfectly good smoke.
Cid wasn't calling off his suicide because of cowardice. He was calling it off for his love of his son and the aircraft. Once he died, it would be a long time before the boy was able to afford a plane of his own. The kid loved to fly, and this plane was the one thing that the boy could have to keep a connection with his father. Cid had almost done something unbearably stupid.
The landscape beneath him was treacherous, but he spotted a small valley where there was an iced over lake with a good stretch of snow covered sand. Cid, with his years of experience, prepared to set down the unpowered craft on the ground below. There was no doubt in his mind that he could save the plane. He had to, for L.C.
"Come on, baby, this is the last thing I'm gonna ask you to do," he said between clenched teeth, hoping that he'd maintain altitude just a little while longer.
Turbulence rocked the aircraft as he got even lower, skimming the treetops on his approach to the beach. Cid cleared the tree line and he dropped her down onto the slushy sand, depressing the brakes to get his beloved plane to safely stop.
And it did.
Cid sank back into the seat and closed his eyes for a few minutes. He'd have to find a way to let L.C. and Jin know where the plane was so they could retrieve it, before finding another way to end his life. His compulsion for suicide hadn't abated, and the pilot still intended to go through with it.
A sudden banging on the side of the plane got his attention, and Cid got up, wondering what it could be. He opened the side door of the plane and looked out, but saw nothing. Cid stepped down into the snow, tossing the remains of his cigarette out before him. The banging came again, from the other side of the plane, and he scowled and walked around to see who, or what, was disrespecting his property.
He came around the tail of the aircraft. "What in the fuck do you-- oh shit!"
Looming a good two feet over him was a chocobo. It growled in its fear over the loud-mouthed stranger.
Cid had always possessed a deep fear of the things, even if he had been forced to ride one fourteen years ago. He'd been kicked once by one of the birds when he'd only been eight years old, and that incident had left an impression, both mentally and physically. The pilot raised his hands defensively and began to back away. "Stay back, God damn it!"
The bird turned its head to the side, bringing an angered blue eye to gaze upon the intruder. It growled once more and took a step forward.
Now, Cid was down right mortified. He may have wanted to die, but being pecked apart and killed by what amounted to a giant chicken was not the way he wanted to meet his fate. He spun in an attempt to flee, but smacked right into the tail of the plane, sending him crashing down into the snowy sand on the ground.
The chocobo approached the fallen man and reached down, taking the edge of Cid's jacket into its beak and pulling.
The bird may have just been playing with him, but Cid was fairly certain he was about to be eviscerated. He struggled to get away, but found that the bird was actually picking him up by the back of his jacket. "Put me the fuck down!"
"Dirk, drop him."
Immediately obeying the command, the chocobo let go of Cid's jacket, sending him back to the ground with an unceremonious thud. The bird then trotted over to its master's side.
Cid cursed under his breath as he struggled to get back up, brushing the sand and snow from his body. He caught a glimpse of red a short way off and realized that the bird's owner was nearby. "You know, you should keep your fuckin' animal under control, you son of a bitch."
There was no reply, as the bird's master simply crossed his arms over his chest, considering the situation.
The pilot finally looked up to see whoever it was that was in need of an ass kicking, and then he froze in place. "Oh you have got to be fucking me!"
Vincent narrowed his eyes and he snapped his fingers, signaling his chocobo to go back to foraging and to leave them alone.
Cid shook his head and smiled. If it was death that he wanted, the man before him would surely oblige. "Of all the places to land, I manage to find you."
"So, you're here purely on accident?" Vincent asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Yeah." Cid looked around, realizing that he'd been here before, twice in fact, and both times at the urging of the man before him. "Completely on accident. I ran out of fuel."
Vincent knew Cid better than that. "You wouldn't accidentally run out of fuel."
"No, it was on purpose. It was supposed to be a one way flight."
Vincent actually smiled. "You were going to intentionally crash?"
Cid looked away and shrugged.
"And you backed out of it?" Vincent was partially amused.
"No, not like you're thinkin'." Cid took a few steps toward the iced over water. "I just realized that I couldn't destroy the plane. It belongs to L.C."
"So, you still wish to die?" Vincent reached up and undid the buckles to his cloak, allowing it to fall to the snow.
"Yes."
Let's give the man what he wants, then. Chaos perked to attention, and knew that Vincent was going to give in, since he was now unbuttoning his shirt.
"I told you that if I ever saw you again, that I'd kill you." Vincent let his shirt drop down onto his cloak.
Cid looked over, seeing that Vincent was stripping. "Yeah, kill me, not fuck me, what are you doing?"
"These are the only clothes I've got. I'd rather not have them ruined when Chaos comes out." Vincent began to undo his pants.
"Okay…" Cid still wasn't comfortable watching Vincent disrobe and he turned his back to him. "Let me know when you're done there."
Vincent ached to tear Cid apart, and was having to fight Chaos long enough to finish undressing. He readied to push his pants off, but then the phone in his pocket began to ring, halting him. Fairly amazed that he could get a signal up here at all, Vincent pulled out his phone and answered. "Hello?"
"Vincent…"
"Tifa? What's wrong?" He couldn't believe that she was calling and he looked up to see Cid turn back to face him.
"Oh God, Vincent, Cid took off to kill himself and Jin and I…we don't know what to do…now Quigley's come by and told me that there's a cure for what he's dying of…" she cried into the phone. Not knowing what else to do in her misery, Tifa had called the only number that she could remember in her anguish.
"Just a minute." Vincent took a step forward and held the phone out to Cid. "It's for you."
The pilot looked confounded but took the phone. "Hello?"
Tifa stopped breathing and sat upon the edge of her bed, her eyes going wide. "C…Cid?"
Hearing the shock and tears in her voice made the pilot smile. "Hey, Tiff."
"You're…you're alive?"
"It'd be a little hard to talk to you if I wasn't." He kept his gaze upon Vincent, still seeing the rage seething beneath the stoic man's façade. "I almost did something real fuckin' stupid."
"Well thank God that you didn't! When Jin called and told me that you were going to kill yourself, I panicked!" Tears still fell from her eyes.
"No, killing myself wasn't the stupid thing, crashing the plane was. I couldn't take that away from L.C. I'm still not coming back." Cid's smile faltered as Tifa's crying got to him.
"Cid! You don't have to kill yourself! They have a cure! Quigley came to tell me that they have a cure for cancer!" Tifa gripped the phone tighter.
"You're just sayin' that to get me to come back, Tiff." Cid shook his head. "I ain't that dumb."
"Ask Vincent! He's the one that had the cure taken out of the lab!" She looked over at Quigley and Porter, as they were still present.
Cid knit his brow and then slowly lowered the phone. He locked gaze with Vincent. "Did you really steal the cure for cancer from the lab?"
Vincent just smiled faintly and nodded.
Cid huffed and rolled his eyes before putting the phone back to his ear. "Well, that would have been real fuckin' good to know about an hour or so ago."
"Cid, where are you?" Tifa was desperate to know where he was, since it would also tell her Vincent's location as well.
"Right here, about to die, Tiff."
"But I just told you! There's a cure!" She was terrified at the tone he was using.
"That may be, but I think Sue's got other ideas." He was still looking into Vincent's eyes, seeing that he was nodding in agreement.
"Cid! Get awa--"
He looked down at the cell phone in his hand, seeing that it was dead. The battery had given out. Cid let it fall down into the snow, since it was worthless now. "Bye, Tiff."
Vincent didn't move for a moment, waiting for Cid to do something. He wondered if the pilot would now have any resolve to fight him or just let him do what he wanted.
Cid dropped his gaze away and tried to take a deep breath, but the cold air bit at his lungs, sending him into a coughing fit. He tried to catch his breath, but it wasn't working, and he fell to all fours as he struggled for air.
Vincent watched Cid's attack and winced slightly when the snow before the other man was sprayed red as the coughing got worse.
Cid continued to choke, and it got to the point where he was also forced to vomit, expelling his earlier breakfast and beer into the crimson patch of snow before him. His head swam as his body fought for air, and he collapsed to his side, placing his hands around his throat as he desperately struggled to suppress the fit he was in.
Continuing to watch Cid suffer, Vincent felt his anger begin to fade away. It was being replaced with pity and he realized that letting Chaos come out to rip apart Cid as he was now would be far crueler than Vincent was willing to be. Besides, Tifa would never forgive him. As it was, she was sitting somewhere right now, crying her eyes out as she thought he was killing the pilot. He couldn't hurt her like that. Vincent turned around and picked his clothes up out of the snow and put them back on. He buckled his cloak back around his neck.
No! Come on! You've been waiting for this! You were ready to give in and let me kill him! What in the fuck are you doing? Chaos screamed at him.
"He's too pathetic," Vincent replied aloud, taking a few steps toward the other man. "Too fucking pathetic."
Cid felt the tension in his chest ease up just a bit, but he still felt like he was suffocating. Desperate for any help or relief, he reached out and grabbed Vincent's pant leg, looking up at his former friend, pleadingly.
Vincent glared down at him, seeing that blood was still dripping from the corner of Cid's mouth. Obviously, the man was in very bad shape. "What do you want me to do?"
His lungs were too full of blood at the moment to allow him to reply. Inwardly, he simply wished for death to end the pain and smothered feeling he was suffering from. Cid tried to say something, but it just choked him again, and he coughed a few more times.
Vincent scowled as Cid produced another bloody spray that covered his left boot. "That's very nice, thank you."
"Vin…" he managed out between gasps. "Help me."
He screws my wife, intrudes on my solitude, pukes blood all over my leg, and now asks for help. Great, Vincent thought to himself.
I can still get rid of him, Vincent. If I wasn't so tired from the fact we haven't eaten in five days, I'd already have forced my way out and done him in. We could eat him, you know. Then his arrival wouldn't be a complete waste. Chaos was grasping at straws, wanting both to satisfy his murderous desires and growing hunger.
"Yes, Tifa would just love to know that I cannibalized her best friend." Vincent stooped down and picked up Cid.
The pilot closed his eyes and went limp in Vincent's arms. He felt new snow falling upon him as he was carried off somewhere. A cure, they have a fucking cure and I'm going to die out here alone with only Vincent at my side. Fucking lovely.
Vincent carried him into the cavern behind the frozen waterfall at the end of the small valley. The outcropping of Mako and Materia in the back of the chamber kept it fairly well illuminated, but to ward off the cold, Vincent had built a fire in the middle of the cave. He placed Cid on the ground beside it and then sat down next to him, wondering if he was going to live or die. After the episode the pilot had just had outside, he thought the latter was likely.
Even though he was close to the fire and still wearing his jacket, Cid began to shiver. His body was just too stressed to keep itself warm under these conditions.
Vincent saw this and frowned before reaching up and undoing the buckles to his cloak once more. Once it was off, he moved and draped it around Cid.
The pilot cracked his eyes open for a moment when he realized that Vincent had just covered him. He pulled the heavy fabric around him closer. Cid turned his head a little to see Vincent sitting next to where he was laying, seeming to ignore him and staring into the fire. "Thanks."
Vincent tensed his jaw and didn't respond. He was miserable himself. It was boring here, and he was hungry, very much so-- but that was the point. Vincent had come here with the simple intent of killing himself via starvation. Chaos had tried to take him over since he'd gotten here, but the demon had been incapable of getting very far away from the cave before losing his hold on Vincent's mind. When he'd awake, Vincent would simply walk back here. He was moderately surprised that Chaos hadn't killed the chocobo that refused to leave the area in order to eat it, but since the bird had become his only company, Vincent was grateful.
Cid had just stumbled into this plan though, probably ruining it. It was obvious that in the shape the pilot was in, he wouldn't be able to get himself back to civilization if he lived through the night. Vincent would have to get him to ASRIO, that much he knew. If the cure was to be had, then Cid needed to get it. He wasn't thinking about saving Cid for the pilot's sake, but Tifa, Jin, and L.C. needed the man for some reason and he couldn't deny them that. Especially L.C. Vincent felt bad enough for making his own children fatherless, and making yet another poor boy grow up without a dad was the last thing he felt he could deal with. As long as he kept himself starved, Chaos' ability to come out would just continue to fade, making it somewhat safe for Vincent to take the other man where there were people. If he managed to get Cid where he could get help, then it would be simple enough for Vincent to either come back here and wait out his final days or just kill himself outright if Chaos was helpless to stop him.
He would wait until morning. There was a chance Cid wouldn't even survive that long. A very good chance, he figured.
------------------------------
Tifa sat in tears upon her bed, inconsolable. Not only were Quigley, Porter, and Angel present, along with Tifa's two children, but Jaras and Jeanine had now arrived as well.
Every time she closed her eyes, she had visions of Chaos tearing Cid apart. Vincent had told her flat out several times that if he ever saw Cid again that he'd kill him without hesitation and he had been serious. If nothing else, she'd come to appreciate the fact that Vincent didn't make a habit of joking.
"If Vincent kills Cid…I'll never forgive him…" Tifa sobbed, as Jaras sat at her side and placed his arms around her.
Tifa didn't bother calling Jin back to tell her that the pilot had landed safely, since she saw no point in doing so if he was now dead at her husband's hands.
------------------------------
Back in Rocket, Jin was pacing the house, her tearful eyes fixed upon the floor. She'd sent L.C. to the neighbor's to play, since she wasn't yet prepared to break the news to him. Until the wreckage of the plane was found, she would just have to believe on some level that Cid was alive, and until she was shown evidence to the contrary, she would say nothing to L.C.
------------------------------
Night had fallen, and the snowstorm had grown worse. The chocobo had entered the cave and was fluffed up sleeping in the corner, oblivious to the two men near the fire.
Vincent hadn't moved from where he'd ended up after giving Cid his cloak. It was getting terribly cold now as the storm outside raged on, and the fire's heat just wasn't enough.
Cid had started to shiver again, beneath the cloak. He was conscious and gazing into the blaze, thinking about his son and Jin. Knowing that they were mourning him even though he was still alive made him feel worse than he did physically. Cid felt tears in his eyes at the irony of it all. He was dying, and stuck with the person that hated him most. But he knew that Vincent had a good reason for his feelings. Cid had brought it upon himself. Affair with Tifa aside, he knew he'd generally carried on with being a jerk to Vincent with great elan. The constant taunts and name calling-- he was lucky that the former Turk hadn't killed him a long time ago although there had been a few physical altercations between them fourteen years back. Cid had always possessed some deep desire to press his luck with the other man, although he was damned if he knew why.
The cold that was cutting through him made it impossible to think about anything other than his physical misery after a while.
Vincent heard the pilot's breaths shudder and he glanced over, seeing that he was shivering as he froze. Being fairly cold himself, Vincent realized what he had to do, and it made him want to curl up and die. Until Cid was taken care of, though, Vincent would have to do what he needed to. Slowly, he crawled over and got behind the other man. Vincent lay down on the ground behind Cid, put the edge of the cloak over his own body, and then moved close enough that he was spooned up against the pilot firmly. Not knowing what else to do with his upper arm, Vincent grit his teeth and then let it slide around Cid's waist.
Cid held his breath as he felt Vincent settle down against him, and when that arm snaked around his waist, he snapped. "Again, kill me but don't fuck me, Sunshine."
"I'm trying to help us stay warm. Drop the inappropriate thoughts," Vincent said in a lackluster manner. He was honestly too tired to put up with any of Cid's protests. "I'm not gay, I never have been, and I'd appreciate it if both you and everyone else quit saying otherwise."
Cid snickered to himself quietly, but it was cut short by another brief bout of coughing. Vincent was funny whether he knew it or not. However, the pilot opted not to say anything further. He may not have liked Vincent, but having the other man against him was making him far more comfortable as some of the coldness was leached from his body. It went without saying that if they survived this, no one would ever be told of this night. "Good night, Sue."
Vincent just grunted in response and closed his eyes. Maybe he was dead and this was Hell. It sure felt like it could be-- although it was awfully cold.
------------------------------
In the morning, Vincent woke up. Before he opened his eyes, he felt the body next to him and he was confused for a moment, until he remembered the night before. Feeling nauseous for having slept with Cid against him all night, he slowly sat up, looking around.
The fire had gone out and it was like ice within the cave. Daylight was making its way through the cave's entrance, mixing with the Mako glow coming from the rear of the chamber, giving everything a sickly hue.
Vincent sighed heavily as the ever-present hunger in his stomach nagged at him for relief that would not come. He turned and looked down at Cid, seeing the considerable bloodstain that had gathered beneath his head during the night. The pilot's skin was unusually white, and his slightly parted lips were almost blue.
Vincent watched and listed, but Cid didn't do anything.
Nothing. He didn't even seem to be breathing.
Vincent felt his heart rate jump a little and he got to his knees. He placed a hand against Cid's cheek, finding it to be unbearably cold.
Looks like your problem worked itself out, Vincent. Chaos was amused with the situation.
"No…Cid?" Vincent put both of his hands onto the pilot and rolled him onto his back. "Cid?"
There was no response.
"Shit! Cid!" Vincent shook him, needing some sort of sign from him. "Come on!"
Nothing.
Vincent sat back hard on the ground, feeling his hands shaking. "Oh God…"
Then something happened that Vincent had, in part, not expected. He hung his head, covered his face with his hands and cried. Not just a few silent tears, no-- body wracking sobs. His shoulders heaved and each breath came with a hoarse gasp. All of the memories of things that he and Cid had done played through his mind. Maybe things had taken a turn for the worse between them recently, but prior to that, the pilot had been a permanent fixture in both his and Tifa's lives. Most regrettably, there was a little boy whose entire world was about to crumble back in Rocket.
"You should learn to take a fuckin' pulse before writing someone off as dead, Sue."
Vincent looked up, eyes wide. Cid was sitting there, arms crossed over his chest and a look of deep satisfaction upon his face. The former Turk suddenly felt like an idiot and in his anger, he picked up a small rock and pelted Cid with it. "What the fuck? You did that on purpose?"
He shrugged. "I felt you wake up and decided to mess with you a bit, so I just laid there. I didn't think you'd instantly just panic like that and I sure as hell didn't think you'd start crying like a fifteen-year-old girl. I wish I had my fucking camera right about now."
Vincent was not amused and had it not been for his starvation, he wouldn't have been able to hold Chaos back. His momentary sorrow had now been completely eclipsed by anger and embarrassment. A string of obscenities burned in his throat and for one of the few times in his life, he didn't hold them back in the least. "You cock sucking mother fucker! You think that was funny? I thought you were fucking dead! Shit! What's wrong with you?"
"Calm down, Sunshine. Don't stain your panties. I was just screwin' with you." Cid unsteadily got up. "What's with this cryin' bit anyway? You on the rag?"
Vincent rose to his feet, scowling. The urge within him to run over and kill the man he'd just thought dead a moment ago was profound. "That was not funny."
"No, but your reaction sure as hell was." Cid chuckled to himself and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm goin' outside. Nature calls."
Vincent just watched him leave and then huffed. Yes, life with Cid. I can see what Tifa and Jin thought appealing about this.
It's not too late, we can kill him!
Shut up! Vincent went over and snagged his cloak from the ground, before throwing it around his shoulders and buckling it.
He exited the cave and looked up, seeing that the storm clouds had parted. There was a good eight inches of fresh snow on the ground from the night before, and the whole scene was peaceful, until the quiet was shattered by Cid having another coughing fit as he returned from where he'd vanished into the nearby foliage. Cid bent over and put his hands on his knees, expelling more bloody fluid from his lungs.
"So the plane is out of fuel?" Vincent asked, taking a few steps toward the other man.
"Did you not pay attention yesterday when we went over that?" Cid shot back, wiping his mouth on his coat sleeve. "Or perhaps you missed the fact that her engines weren't running when I set down?"
"Fine, then we'll have to take Dirk."
Cid shook his head. "The chicken?"
"Chocobo." Vincent started back to the cave to go retrieve and saddle up the bird.
"No."
Vincent stopped and turned back around to face him. "No? How else are we getting you back to civilization? You're in no shape to walk that distance."
"I don't like those things." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Then you'll die." Vincent produced a smile.
"God damn it." The pilot scowled and looked out over the frozen lake. "Of all the fucking places to land…"
"I'm getting Dirk ready, we'll leave shortly. Get whatever you need from the plane." He went back into the cave and got to the task of tacking up their ride.
------------------------------
Tifa awoke in the morning, Aaron lying at her side in the bed. Charlotte had just started stirring in her crib beside the bed, and she knew it wouldn't be long before she needed to get up and nurse the baby.
She slid from the bed and carried out her morning rituals before going and changing the baby and getting to the task of feeding her daughter.
As she sat there with the baby in her arms, tears fell down her cheeks. How Cid had ended up where Vincent was seemed odd. Maybe he'd known where to find Vincent and had gone to him on purpose, knowing that he would indulge the pilot's death wish. If she found out that Vincent had done such a thing, then she would know that he was lost to her forever.
When she finished nursing the baby, a knock came to the door. Not wanting to jostle the infant who seemed more than comfortable at the moment, she called out, "Come in."
The door cracked open and to her surprise, Reno strolled in, walking with the aid of a cane to help him steady his balance. "Hey, Tifa."
"Reno! I can't believe you're up and around like this." Tifa patted the couch next to her, indicating that he should sit with her.
He eagerly made his way over to her side and landed. Reno turned his one shining eye to her, seeing the tears that still marked her cheeks. "What's wrong? Thinkin' about fly boy and Vinny?"
She nodded shallowly. "Yeah. I just wish I knew where they were…and if Vincent…"
"Killed him or not?" Reno leaned back, placing his arms along the back of the couch.
"Yeah."
"Tifa, look, you know that he didn't." He looked over at Aaron, who was still sleeping on the bed.
"He said he would if he ever saw Cid again." Tifa stared down at the baby in her arms.
"I don't think he would. Vinny's full of shit sometimes." The former Turk turned and gave her a smile.
"Reno, I really hope you're right. I'm just so scared." A few more tears fell from her eyes.
He sighed and moved to put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm gonna find them, Tifa. I swear to you right here and now that I'm going to find Vinny and I'm going to give him back to you. I decided that the other day, and I'm gonna stick by it."
She gave him a smile. "How are you going to do that, Reno?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to." He moved to get up, tapping his cane on the floor once he was up. "You'll see."
------------------------------
Vincent had the bird ready to go, and he led it out of the cave. Cid was just emerging from the plane with his pack over his shoulder.
Vincent got into the saddle, figuring that Cid would just have to ride behind him. He rode the bird over to where the pilot was standing, looking full of reservations. "Come on, let's get you out of here."
Cid put his hands on his hips. "I hate you, you know that."
"Yes, I'm aware, let's go." Vincent moved the chocobo just a little closer to him. "Get on."
"And I'm going to have to ride in the bitch seat behind you?" Cid asked.
"Get on, Cid!" Vincent shouted, having lost his patience.
"I should be driving, I always drive."
Vincent locked gazes with the other man. "Okay, look, it's my chocobo, so I'm holding the reins. Get over it and get on!"
Realizing that he shouldn't press his luck any further, Cid relented and went to the side of the bird. Vincent slipped his left boot out of the stirrup so Cid could use it to hoist himself up. Once on, he situated himself behind Vincent.
Vincent tightened his grip on the reins. "Aren't you going to hold on?"
"No." There was no way that Cid was going to put his arms around the other man's waist.
"Fine." Vincent kicked the bird and it bolted beneath them.
Cid instantly regretted his refusal to hold on and quickly reconsidered as he was nearly thrown off the animal's back. His arms immediately cinched around Vincent, holding on tight.
Vincent rolled his eyes and urged the bird to go as fast as it could with the considerable burden of two men upon it. If all went well, he could have Cid to the last mountain town he'd passed on the way here in four hours or so.
As they rode on, Cid began to feel exhausted again, despite having just slept for nine hours. He couldn't help but lean forward against Vincent's back, rest his head against the other man's shoulder and close his eyes. "Hey, Sue?"
Feeling the pilot get closer to him didn't thrill the former Turk, but he knew that Cid didn't feel well. "What?"
"Why didn't you just kill me? Why go to this trouble?"
Vincent didn't want to get into this with him, but this was likely to be one of the last conversations he would have. "I was going to, but once I saw how sick you really are…I rethought it. Besides, if they can cure you, then you need to get better and go back to L.C. It's bad enough that Aaron and Charlotte have to grow up without a father, but if we can spare your boy that fate, then so be it."
"Sue?"
"Yes?"
Cid smiled, keeping his eyes closed. "Thanks."
A protracted silence passed before the pilot spoke up again. "Can I ask you something?"
Vincent knew that no matter how he replied, Cid would do so anyway. "What's that?"
"Can you forgive me?"
He reined the bird to a stop and hung his head. The fact that he hadn't forgiven the other man was one of the things that had made him cry that morning when he'd thought Cid had died. "I don't know. I may have ruined my marriage, but you did betray my trust by doing what you did, and then taking Tifa to bed within a day of my supposed death… That was pretty hard on me, Cid."
"I know, I'm sorry, guy." Cid honestly did regret his rushed attempts at a relationship with Tifa. "I was all fucked up. Learning I was dying…seeing her fear of being alone after she'd been told you were dead…. I'm not trying to make excuses, but things were out of control."
Vincent gently urged the bird onward again. "But you're with Jin now, and plan to stay that way?"
"I married her a few days ago." Cid brought his left hand up from around Vincent's waist for a moment, flashing the plain gold band he now sported.
His red eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the ring. "Really?"
Cid put his left arm back where it'd been. "Yeah, so you don't need to worry about me tryin' anything with Tifa again. Besides, I think she and I both know now that it just wouldn't work between us. All we really did was fight, Vincent."
Hearing his actual name told him that Cid was being honest. "I see."
"I'm with Jin, where I belong. My son's happy, and so am I. She must be going out of her mind right now. I can't believe I put her through this…" Cid fell silent and sighed, affording him a few coughs.
"You can call her when I get you to the town up ahead. I'm going to buy you a train ticket and get you on your way to ASRIO, all right?" Vincent felt the other man lean on him a little more.
"Okay. Don't let me fall off." Cid was losing his battle to stay awake.
"I'll see what I can do."
------------------------------
It was just past noon when Vincent crested a hill, spotting the mountain town spreading out before him. The houses there had smoke drifting up from the chimneys, making Vincent long to be out of the cold. Cid had been sleeping against his back now for several hours, and he was ready to be off of the bird.
They got onto the main street of the town, and he stopped Dirk in front of a restaurant. Vincent turned slightly. "Cid? Wake up."
The pilot opened his eyes and sat up. "We're here? Where is here?"
Vincent helped Cid slide to the ground before dismounting as well. He tied the reins of the chocobo to the hitching post before the small diner. "Mairnet, or as you would say, 'back woods fucking no where'."
"Oh." Cid stretched, trying to get the soreness from his body.
"Go in there and get something to eat. I'll walk on down to the train station and get you a ticket." Vincent's tone made clear that this was an order.
Cid nodded. "Aren't you hungry? You ain't eaten since I landed, at least."
Vincent looked away. "No, I'm all right."
The pilot thought about the previous day and the few moments that he'd seen Vincent without his shirt on. He found himself examining Vincent's face a little closer, seeing that his cheeks seemed a little more hollow than they'd been. "Sunshine? You're starving yourself, aren't you?"
The gunman shrugged. "I'm all right, Cid. Now, go get something to eat, you need it."
Cid wanted to argue but Vincent turned away and walked off. He realized that Vincent was killing himself, and that there was nothing he could do about it.
After getting the train ticket that would allow Cid to get to Costa del Sol by the following morning, he went back to the diner. Vincent entered and spotted Cid in a booth, working on a cup of coffee. He sat opposite the pilot and unbuckled his cloak, allowing it to fall back off his shoulders. "Your traveling arrangements have been made, here's your ticket. You leave at three."
He took the ticket and shoved it into his jacket pocket. "Thanks. Vincent, you're going back up there after I leave, aren't you?"
The former Turk nodded. "Yes."
"And you're up there to kill yourself?"
His crimson eyes met Cid's. "I have no choice but to do this. With Chaos in me, I'm too much of a danger. If they tried to treat me, he'd fight and come out and I can't risk him hurting anyone."
"It's funny." Cid took another sip of his drink. "Here we are, completely different, and in two separate situations, but we go to kill ourselves at the same time and end up in the same place."
"I'm just trying to protect everyone, Cid." Vincent leaned back, the smell of the food being cooked getting to him.
"So was I." The pilot looked down into his coffee cup. "I didn't want everyone to watch me die."
On some level, Vincent understood. "Luckily for you, there's a cure."
"Vince, did you have them get that cure out of the lab because of me?" Cid asked, trying to not do so in a way that would set Vincent off.
"Yes."
"So even in the middle of all that they were doin' to you, you actually thought of helping me?" Cid was fairly amazed that this had happened.
Vincent didn't want to talk about it. "Yes."
"I'm gonna have to find some way to get my plane back home. After I get patched up, I'll see if Brad can give me a lift out here with enough fuel to get the old girl back to civilization." He frowned. "I hope being out there in the snow for a few weeks doesn't mess up the plane too badly."
"I'll keep an eye on it as long as I can." Vincent picked up a napkin from the table and began to fidget with it.
"How long do you think it's going to take?"
Vincent cocked an eyebrow. "What?"
"To starve yourself to death?" Cid finished his coffee and leaned back as the waitress dropped his plate onto the table.
His eyes were drawn to the burger and fries that Cid had ordered. "I don't know, maybe another week or so. I'm not drinking water or eating anything. It should be fairly soon."
"Okay." Cid began to eat.
Vincent shook his head. "You can't tell them where I am, Cid."
His eyes narrowed and he answered with his mouth full, "I didn't say I was gonna."
"No, but I know you and you would have." Vincent leaned forward. "I'll just go somewhere else if you're going to rat me out."
Cid figured he owed Vincent whatever he wanted. "If you don't want me to tell, then I won't. You have my word. I'm not all that thrilled with you dyin', but I understand your reasoning. I won't tell."
Somehow, Vincent knew he could trust Cid on this. "Thank you."
"But when I come back for that plane, I'm taking your body out of that cave so we can get you put out there with your brother in Wutai, all right?" Cid met his gaze.
The fact that the pilot would do this for him was oddly touching. "I…I'd appreciate that, Cid."
"Sure thing."
"Are you going to call Jin?" Vincent asked, needing to change the subject.
He shook his head. "No, my phone's not getting any reception up here and the waitress said the phones in town ain't working thanks to that storm last night. I guess everyone will figure out I'm alive once I show up at the ASRIO base. I can call Jin from there."
"Good. Cid?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell Tifa I'm sorry, and that I love her, okay?" Vincent produced a faint smile.
"You got it, Sue."