Cloud watches Aerith from across the camp at midnight. Her latest exhibition of power leaves him uneasy. Inflicting paralysis without materia is a feat he's only seen once before, on the cargo ship, when that phantom of Jenova froze him in place. During Barret's tale of their harrowing escape from the Turks at the Nibel Reactor, Cloud had been the only one not smiling. The trio Barret described are Shinra's elite, a scalpel when discretion and precision are essential. Nobody should have been able to flee the Turks like that.

Aerith had rescued them, again. Only this time, it was an offensive manifestation, not just healing winds.

He wonders what would happen if she ever turns that power against them. Against him.

Aerith tilts her head and peers in his direction amidst a wall of darkness. He looks away after catching her eyes. They are the only two awake, and it's very quiet. The team has been taking watch in pairs, given the escalation of pursuit. She resumes her gaze upwards. The long braid sways down her back. It's a clear night. They are still in the mountains, and paranoia is creeping over Cloud like rust. He opts to take the second and third shifts and keeps his attention honed on Aerith while she sleeps.

The night is uneventful. A few drones fly by overhead, but without a campfire the group remains inconspicuous.

In the morning, they discuss next steps. Bugenhagen had said the ancient temple is on an island, but with Shinra hot on their trail, commercial transit isn't wise due to ID scans, and it's unlikely anyone would charter them.

"So we steal a ship," Yuffie says.

"And who would drive it?" Cloud asks. "You?"

"Steer. You steer a ship. And no, I don't know how to steer a ship."

Tifa stretches. "What about an airplane? Maybe we can convince a local to help us?"

Barret shakes his head. "With what? We got no gil, no reputation. And now there's, what, eight of us? Ha, that's a lot to transport in secret."

Cloud agrees. Shinra will no doubt have all airspace locked down. Those hunter-killers are flooding the skies, and the nearest port for any overseas ships is Costa del Sol, which is very far.

"Got any more sudden reveals of vehicles?" he asks Cait Sith.

The cat, sadly, does not.

The mountains break into plains, verdant and endless. Everyone is nervous about the open space. In the distance, a bronze structure juts upwards, outlined by the bright blue sky. It appears to be an old rocket, complete with structural scaffolding, but at an angle that suggests it will never fly.

"Aha, Rocket Town!" Yuffie says.

Cloud's heard of this. Yes, under Palmer, there was a Shinra space initiative. The funding dried up after launch failure, and the employees working on the project ended up spawning a town of sorts around the centerpiece of their abandoned work. The area has no formal designation, and he can't remember the project name. It was somewhere in the archives at the Tower.

"No, that's Shinra territory," Cloud says. "We can't go there."

Even if Palmer is dead, presumably executed by the Turks, and space flight is indefinitely canceled, Shinra still has its claws in any company property.

"But there ain't nothing else around," Barret says. "Maybe a few of us sneak in an' take a look. Grab some supplies. I'm hungry as hell."

There are general murmurs of approval from all except Vincent, who doesn't seem to care one way or another.

"Alright," Cloud agrees. "Vincent and Yuffie should go with me. Barret, Tifa, you both are too high-risk. Scarlet is gunning for us, and your photos likely disseminated fastest in Shinra's hive. Cait and Nanaki, what do you prefer?"

"I'm stayin' here!" Cait Sith says. "I do not want to cross paths with Shinra. Sounds like a lot of bad luck."

"I'll remain as well. My unusual presence may draw attention," Nanaki says.

"What about me?" Aerith pipes up.

The group turns to her. She's standing with hands clasped, smiling sweetly. Cloud wants to keep her close. Keep an eye on her.

"Wanna come with us?" he asks.

She nods.

Vincent doesn't seem thrilled to be on errand duty, but then again, he doesn't seem particularly thrilled about anything except finding Hojo. Yuffie, however, is very interested in stealing from Shinra. She keeps talking about the best ways to scope out a target. Vincent, at one point, actually looks annoyed.

Cloud and Aerith don't speak. He wants to tell her about the Jenova that's linking them, to divulge his curious fear around her abilities, but he can't seem to structure the questions in his head. He doesn't want to push her away. That conversation needs to happen, just not right now.

Rocket Town doesn't have any official entry or borders. A smattering of homes and shops encircle the dilapidated rocket, which seems an odd centerpiece of exalted decay. Shinra's banners, though a faded older style, pepper the buildings. Aircraft hangars line the outskirts, and engineers work in the open air. Cloud recognizes several modules they are building as part of the Airbuster units, to be sent to Midgar for assembly.

Vincent comments on the advanced technology and shows surprise that Shinra would ever consider space travel.

"Weren't biological interests enough?" he says.

The science division was severely defunded when Cloud had awoken. He tries to tell Vincent about Hojo's complaints of corporate undermining, to which Vincent seems uneasy to hear how closely Cloud worked with Hojo.

"For Hojo. Not with," Cloud specifies. Vincent says it's all the same.

Yuffie runs off, excited for a heist which only she has in mind, while Cloud and Aerith count their gil. Vincent remains outside as the two purchase nonperishable food and supplies from a nearby shop. It's not a lot.

As they exit, Vincent nods towards a middle-aged man with buzzed-short light blonde hair stalking through the center of town. The blonde is talking on the phone.

"That seems to be the de facto leader," Vincent says. "He was ordering others around. They respect him."

The man is scowling, furious with whoever is on the other line. Broad shoulders roll with agitation beneath his blue jacket. There's no Shinra logo on his clothing, but that means nothing when Shinra owns the entire town.

"What do you mean the deadline's been moved up!?" he shouts over the phone. "Are you fucking serious? I don't give a shit about a professor who's-it. There's no way it can fly in such short notice."

The man pulls a cigarette from his jacket and lights it. Then he covers his eyes with one hand, smoke trailing between two fingers.

"Those funds should be sent to the Space Program. Not hurried along on whatever grandiose plans you now have for my airship. My airship, which you confiscated!" He shoves a thumb at his chest for emphasis. Then he takes a long drag of his cigarette. "I know, I know," he says, calming down a little. "Well, the war is over, and so I thought… Right…. Yes, sir…"

He snaps his PHS shut and curses. The new president is a total asshole, he says, and this deadline is idiotic. He shouts and paces and jabs the air with his fist. Apparently, this type of behavior is customary because nobody in town is staring.

Then he spots Cloud and Aerith and Vincent.

"What the hell you three looking at? You from HQ?"

He walks over. Cloud adjusts his footing. Vincent doesn't budge. Aerith puts a hand on her hip.

"No, we aren't from HQ," she says. "We're passing through. What're you so upset about?"

The man laughs. "Upset about? Just that newbie, Rufus. Things were bad enough with the old President, and now I've got his brat crawlin' up my ass about deadlines, and what the hell do you care? If you're passing through, you better just keep on passin'. Ain't nothing to see here, as you can tell."

He flicks ash and juts his chin towards the failed rocket.

"So snap whatever photos you've come to take and get the hell out."

Done with the conversation, the man stomps off.

"Wow," Cloud says, watching him go.

"Not a fan of Shinra," Aerith remarks. "Well, let's check out those hangars. Maybe we can borrow a plane."

"Still no pilot," Cloud reminds her.

"Vincent, aren't you an ex-Turk?" she says. "Maybe they trained you on aircraft?"

"Yes," Vincent replies. "But the controls are likely different. It's been...decades."

Decades. The word falls with immense gravity. Cloud commiserates, except in Vincent's case, it was self-imposed and multiples longer.

"Let's try. I'm sure you can do it," Aerith says.

They split up and scout around. Cloud peeks into hangars and strolls past engineers welding together components. Most of the aircraft are slim and unmanned, and the few meant for human travel could not fit their whole group. Whatever airship that angry blonde had been yelling at Rufus about is not here, though Cloud wonders about the massive airship parked in Junon.

An hour goes by. Vincent and Aerith return without luck. Yuffie appears, full of energy.

"I found the plane we're stealing," she says.

She's all grins as they follow through backroads into an area of deserted hangars beneath the shadow of the rocket.

"Check it out…" Yuffie opens a hangar door at the very end of the lot.

Within is a private plane, an older model built for long-range travel with a large cabin. Though the design is outdated, this one is clearly loved and in great condition.

Something whines overhead, approaching. Drones.

"We need to hurry," Cloud says. "Vincent, can you fly this thing?"

Yuffie fiddles with the lock on the cabin. From the shade of the hangar, Cloud spots multiple hunter-killers in the sky.

"Hurry it up, Yuf…"

"You come up here and help, Mr. Ex-SOLDIER."

"I told you, I was never a SOLDIER."

"Well, whatever you are." The tool in her hand snags something, and the handle of the doorframe breaks off. "Oh crap."

Cloud sees the drones transforming as they land into the automated killing machines they'd fought in Cosmo Canyon. These are slightly bigger, he thinks. Or maybe it was just bad lighting in the Canyon. In the daytime, these look much more intimidating. The metal shines sleek and impossibly dark.

Vincent is alongside her, digging into the door's hinges with his gold claw. With incredible strength, he snaps the door open.

The drones land somewhere in town. Cloud can't see them anymore, but he can hear the commotion. A loudspeaker instructs everyone to stay calm.

Cloud calls Barret on the PHS.

"We've found a plane," Cloud says to him. "We're trying to steal it, and we'll come pick you up."

"Uh, isn't that a terrible idea if those robots can fly?" Yuffie says.

Barret doesn't hear her. "Awright, but we might be on the move," Barret says, equally tense. "Can't stay here."

"Just don't come to town. Those HKs are here," Cloud tries to tell him, but the line is dead. He calls again, but there's nothing. Not even static. He examines the PHS, puzzled. Plenty of battery.

Vincent is at the controls of the cockpit. Yuffie hops down next to Cloud. She's got one hand on her shuriken.

"Jammed?" she asks of his phone.

He shrugs. Maybe. Those robots could be equipped with a disruption signal. Shinra was known to deploy those in wartime from mechanized units.

The two stare at the phone as Cloud tries to dial again. They don't notice the newcomer at the door of the hangar.

"What the fuck is going on in here?!"

The blonde man from town glares daggers with a cigarette hanging in his mouth.

"Tourists, huh? More like thieves!"

"No," Cloud starts. "We didn't—"

The man carries a lance and spins it into a fighting stance.

"Get the hell out of my hangar. Right. Now."

Aerith comes forward. "Those drones... Shinra is hunting us. Please, help us!"

The intensity in his stare lessens. Slightly.

Yuffie has her own ideas. She flips behind the man, drawing her shuriken as she lands, and puts a lethal edge to his throat.

"Alright, old man," Yuffie says. "You're gonna get in that plane and fly us out of here. Now!"

Cloud can't believe what she's doing. He hasn't drawn his sword, but now he might have to. Meanwhile, Vincent is silent at the door of the craft.

The man with the lance gives a raspy smoker's laugh. "Oh yeah? Wanna threaten me, you little shit?"

He nails her with an elbow and spins the lance. She leaps outside its range.

Heavy metallic hooves approach. Cloud hears it first. The sword is in his hands. He darts to the edge of the hangar door. Two drones—no, three—are coming this way. One camera-head locks onto Cloud.

"We gotta go!" Cloud says. "Now!"

A bulletstorm erupts, puncturing the aluminum walls. Yuffie and the blonde man hit the deck.

"You idiots!" the man with the lance hisses. "Get away from my plane!"

Yuffie retreats next to Cloud. The drones appear in the doorway, armatures extended into multiple barrels. Ammo hangs in loops.

"Vincent," Cloud calls. "We could really use that alter ego of yours."

The hunter-killers fire in unison. Bullets ricochet off Cloud's sword. Yuffie dodges and throws the shuriken into one's neck joints. The faceless camera rotates as she pounces on it, but her weight isn't enough to unsettle its balance. She pulls the shuriken out. This armor is tough, and the machine continues to fire.

Then an oversized bullet cracks its cranium. Wires fizzle and fry. Vincent stands on the wing of the plane with his gun aimed. The shot was immaculate. He shoots thrice more, each bullet tearing through the hunter's cameras. The robot staggers on its four legs.

The man with the lance smirks at their predicament. Serves them right, trespassing onto his private lot and trying to steal his private plane. These three are toast. He watches the swordsman and the Wutain girl hop around the bay, dodging fire, and there's a woman with a long braid crouched beneath the wing of his plane. And what is she up to? That gunman leaning from the cabin door also seems odd. That uniform looks straight outta Shinra's photo archives.

The hunter-killers advance, blocking the way out. A bullet dings the airplane.

"Hey, what're ya doing?" the man with the lance yells at the drone. "That's my plane!"

But the onslaught continues. Salvos of munitions soar towards the swordsman, and bullets pop along the siding of the plane.

"No, no, no!"

The plane, his baby, is full of holes! He stands between it and the drones, waving his hands for a ceasefire. But the drones only care to exterminate their prey. The woman under the wing conjures a spike of soil using an Earth materia, uncentering a drone and sending its laser blast right into his plane. A total nightmare is unfolding.

"No!" he pleads, ineffective, to the drones. "No, you'll destroy it!"

Then a drone fires at him! He would've been dead had the swordsman not intervened with broadsword raised like a shield. Mako-rimmed eyes flash at him.

"Open the bay doors!" his savior shouts. "Get us outta here in that plane!"

The suggestion is utter madness, but the alternative he cannot bear. He can't allow Shinra's dumb robots to destroy his plane. He's already lost the airship.

"Aw, fuck it." He decides. If helping these four assholes will spare his plane, then so be it.

He heads to the bay doors as the battle continues. Once he hauls them open, he tucks the lance under one arm and dashes to the plane. That swordsman is fast, he notices, and with those eyes must be ex-Shinra. Strange as he hasn't seen any SOLDIER-type assets in a while. Shinra must've really fucked up if their own units are going rogue. Maybe that's why the robotics division of Advanced Weaponry has been expanding.

In the cockpit, the engines purr beneath his touch. The propellers start.

"Get in!" he yells out the cabin door.

The woman under the wing, the gunman, and the ninja hop aboard. The plane begins to move. He pilots it towards the open runway ahead. That swordsman better figure it out real soon and get aboard, too, 'cause nothing is waiting.

The aircraft picks up speed, clears the bay doors. The drones continue firing while the swordsman whips around, blocking and dodging and running.

"Cloud!" the woman with the long braid shouts, extending her hand through the open cabin door. The caped gunman fires nonstop, granting his friend slim clearance.

Somehow, someway, the swordsman jumps, and his hand connects with the woman who'd shouted his name. But his weight nearly pulls her out. The others grab on and pull Cloud aboard just as the wheels go airborne.

Cloud collapses on the cabin floor. Someone pulls the door shut.

From the cockpit, the pilot sees the drones on the ground. One of them is damaged beyond flight and sputters on the airstrip. The others can fly, but they are no longer as fast as before. Damage done.

"We have to head to the plains," Cloud says. "Our friends are there."

"No way!" the pilot snaps. Then he considers how Cloud just saved his life. "I mean, not yet. Let's gain some altitude, and we'll come back for your pals."

The cockpit panels indicate minimal damage to the engines, but it won't fly very high with these holes in the cabin. Once the town is a dot below, he eases up on the controls.

"Shit," he breathes out. "You four are getting the hell off my plane first chance we get."

"After we pick-up our friends and get somewhere safe," Cloud says. This one must be the leader.

"What's your name?" the woman with green eyes asks. "I'm Aerith Gainsborough. This is Cloud, Vincent, and Yuffie."

He doesn't care about their names. Let them figure out their shit with Shinra, and leave him the hell out of it. Except...those drones shot right at him. A loyal Shinra employee—years of work and obedience—irrelevant in the crossfire. No point in pretending he wasn't already pissed at Shinra anyways.

"Well, I think I just tendered my resignation," he says with a sigh. "The name's Cid. Cid Highwind."

Aerith smiles so sincerely it makes him uncomfortable. "Thank you for saving our lives, Cid Highwind."

Cid rolls it off. "Ain't nothing to it. You four are just lucky I care more about this plane than Shinra."

"Our friends," Cloud says. "Can we circle back yet?" He's on his PHS, but there's no connection.

Vincent peers out the window. "Those automations are not like anything I'd seen of Shinra."

"Me neither. Not like that," Cid says. "You guys must be pretty special to warrant all this attention."

As he says it, he realizes who they are. The fugitives from Midgar, though he vaguely recalls reports of a man with a gun-arm and a martial artist. Maybe some kinda four-legged creature with a fiery tail. But who can trust Shinra anymore? With the president dead, the executive team seems inconsistent with their messaging. He's heard conflicting news about what really caused the plate drop in Midgar.

There's something unsettling about this Cloud guy, but Cid can't quite put his finger on it.

The motors roar, and the cabin shakes as air rushes in through the bullet holes. Cid winces. It sounds like screaming to him.

"We've got to go back," Cloud keeps saying. He's so antsy. But the drones don't appear to be following, and the sooner Cid can get these guys off his plane, the better.

"So we pick up your pals, and then what?"

Nobody responds. Great, no plan.

They weave above the plains. The rocket gleams at its unnatural angle. It kills him, some days, to see it standing, but he hasn't the guts to tear it down. He keeps thinking Shinra may one day reopen the Space Program.

"There!" Cloud shouts.

Four figures become visible at the forest edge. One large muscular man, one slender woman with long dark hair, one reddish beast, and one...what the hell? A cat on top of a giant moogle? Cid shrugs. Okay, sure.

He lands the plane, and before it comes to a complete stop, Cloud is jumping out. He rushes to the woman. Of course.

"Tifa!" Cloud almost hugs her in relief.

Barret roars with delight. "Got yourself a plane, huh? Damn, didn't think you were serious!"

Nanaki notices the pilot. "Are you to thank for our rescue?"

Cid lights up a fresh cigarette. "Yep, that's right," he says. "So get your asses on board so I can finish rescuing you and get to fixin' my plane."

The four additional crew board. Cid gives the moogle a long cold look. Another automaton.

"I'm a fortune teller," the cat speaks. "An enchanted—"

"Yes, everyone knows!" Yuffie huffs. "Just get on and let's go!"

Hurried introductions are made, and the aircraft takes flight. Cid pilots it out over the ocean.

Tifa stands behind the captain's chair.

"Thank you, Cid," she says. "You didn't have to help us, but we'd be in a rough spot right now if you hadn't."

The gratitude is nice, but he doesn't respond. Something is pinging on radar. Something big. And closing fast. He peers out the cockpit, expecting to see a cluster of drones, but what's out there makes his jaw drop. The cigarette falls.

"Oh fuck."

Cloud is already next to him.

"Oh, no," Cloud says in a drained voice. "That's… That's an Airbuster unit."

Tifa and Barret inhale.

"A what?" Yuffie says.

Cloud paces the tight quarters. "I have to be on the ground to fight it. These things were designed to destroy units in-flight. The last one…" He pulls his hair with one hand. "Does this plane have any firepower?"

"What? No!" Cid replies. It's a plane meant for leisure travel, not some damn Shinra weapon.

Cloud grimaces. "Then, can you evade rocket-propelled artillery?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

The Airbuster approaches. Cid's never seen one in action, and the design is even more intimidating with those Mako-powered cannons hot.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Cid exhales. "What do we do?"

Tifa flexes her gloves. A green materia shines and manifests a bolt of Lightning. The jolt shocks the unit, but doesn't slow it down. Nanaki sends a Fire spell into its core, but a suppression system quickly deploys. Barret cracks open the cabin door and shoots. The roll of gatling fire rattles the cabin walls. Cloud stands helpless. The Ice spell he casts won't stop this thing.

"Can we land?" he asks Cid.

"We're out over the fucking ocean!" Cid is regretting much in this moment.

The Airbuster unveils two arms loaded with missiles, powering up.

"Ain't killed us before! Ain't killin' us now!" Barret shouts, firing nonstop.

He holds a switch on his gun-arm, allowing a secondary mode to combine shots into triple the explosive power. A fireball shoots from Barret and impacts the Airbuster. Smoke spews from the smoldering hole in this chassis. Tifa lets out a whoop of joy.

Cid breathes out. The Airbuster is falling off radar. He wipes his forehead.

Cloud isn't relaxing, though.

And suddenly Cid sees why. The radar pings. Several bogeys. Dozens. A salvo of missiles and rocket-powered grenades soar from the fallen altitude of the Airbuster.

Panic flashes in Cid. He glimpses at Cloud, whose eyes are wide.

Then the world explodes. The barrage hits the plane, sending everything careening. The cabin jolts, the propellers fail. Freefall grips Cid's stomach. Alerts are sounding. The panels are spitting warnings. There are screams, shouts. Cid tries to steady the controls. It's too hard. The ocean is coming up fast, and all he can think of is how Shinra has destroyed his baby. Smoke fills the cabin. Out the window, he spots the wing on fire. It hurts him as badly as any physical pain. Cloud is helping him at the controls, or trying to. It's all happening too fast. The ocean is a blue blur becoming clearer by the second. Cid can see the waves cresting, the shadows of creatures beneath the tide. The sunlight glares as their angle descends.

Fast, too fast. He's going to die. He thinks of her—Shera—against all odds.

Then the impact hits, and everything goes dark. His body slams into something.

Suddenly, he's gasping awake. Cloud leans over him. There is bright sunlight above. There's grass at his palms. His head is pounding. There's salt in his mouth.

"Wh...what happened…?"

Cloud hesitates.

"My...plane?"

"We're alive," Cloud says. "That's what matters."

No, it doesn't. Cid shoots upright. He's laying on the shore of some forsaken place with these motley characters around him, and his plane… Oh no, it's drifting in the waters, hauled to the beach. The wings are broken apart. The cockpit glass is shattered. The cabin door is missing. The body is dented. The paint is scratched. Cid begins to cry. He can't help it. Tears—terrible, terrible tears—make their way down his cheeks.

He runs to the wreckage.

"We're sorry," Cloud says.

Cid wants to curse him out, but he's feeling weak and hollow. No, this wasn't Cloud's fault. This was Shinra's fault. They'd never respected his work. Never cared about his ambitions. They pulled the plug on his dream project, taken away his airship, and now...shot down his last hobby which gave him joy.

No, it wasn't Cloud's fault.

"It's...okay," Cid says. He reaches for a cigarette, but the pack is soaked. He tosses it aside. Not okay, not at all.

This was bound to happen, excising from Shinra's employ. He'd been thinking of quitting so many times, just never had the balls to do it.

"It's okay," he says again to convince himself.

When he faces the rest of the group, he sees how banged up they are. Cloud is using a Restore materia on Tifa, presumably the reason any of them are standing now.

"No sign of drones," Barret says. "But we gotta keep movin'. Maybe find some way to repair the plane."

Cid lets out a dry laugh. "There's no repairing this. Can't make her fly anymore."

"What about float?" Aerith asks. "Maybe we can use it as a ship to navigate over water?"

"You kidding me?"

These damn city kids.

But nobody else is laughing at her suggestion. Cid levels with her. "It's a plane, not a boat. And severely damaged. Retrofitting would take weeks with materials and tools we don't have."

Cloud waves a hand. "Then there's no time for that."

Well, yeah. Cid can't believe he has to explain this.

"So now what?" Barret asks.

"I know a place nearby," Yuffie says. "We're in the Wutai province now."

A prickle goes up Cloud's spine. Wutai is the enemy, he's been trained. He has to forcibly refute the pernicious claims popping in his head.

"It's about a day's walk," she says, ringing seawater out of her bandana. "Maybe we can figure out our next steps on the way."

Tifa rubs her arms. "Those drones aren't going to stop. We have to keep them from tracking us."

Cloud is out of ideas. Wutai is their best bet. And yes, they have to keep moving.

Cid hates letting the plane out of his sight, but there's no use pining over it without the proper tools. So Vincent, Barret, and Cloud pull what's left of the crushed hull out of the ocean, concealing it beneath nearby trees as best they can, and the group ventures into the fields.

Distant mountains consume the horizon. Wutai is on a continent slender like a blade with mountains dominating the hilt while the main township rests on its edge. The breeze smells different here. No Mako, Cloud realizes. This might be the first time he's breathing actual clean air.

The journey ahead is tiring. That Airbuster unit wasn't destroyed, as evidenced by its output as it plummeted, but hopefully it can no longer pursue. The HKs, on the other hand, will no doubt be scouring for the wreckage. Barret groans about having to walk every-damn-where, and even Cloud is exhausted. All this chasing Sephiroth around the globe is wearing on his optimism. Though his compulsion to find the General remains, Cloud understands the perils have drastically increased. Maybe it isn't worth the others following further, especially with the new unknowns lurking beneath his skin.

As they walk, Aerith steps beside Cid.

"We have phones if there's anyone back home you need to call," she offers.

"Nah, there's nobody at ole Rocket Town for me. 'Cept maybe Shera," he says. "Plus, I bet your PHS are all water-logged anyways."

"Shera?"

"Yeah, she was…" He halts, not sure if he wants to tell this story to strangers. Hell, he isn't even sure if anyone outside of Shinra is supposed to know about what really happened with the launch. The news coverage blamed sabotage.

But everyone is listening. Grasses swish around their boots, and birds chirp across the meadows. Bands of pale clouds break apart the sky. Cid looks at each of them, realizing they've all surely already shared whatever unique circumstances brought them together.

"You first," Cid says. "Why does Shinra want you all dead so badly?"

Glances go to Cloud. But Aerith speaks. They are on their way to an ancient temple. She tells of her mysterious lineage, her quest for truth, the fortuitous way she'd met Cloud.

"Science division, huh," Cid says, sizing up the swordsman. He's heard horror stories leaking out of those Shinra labs.

Tifa goes next, talking about Nibelheim burning, her father's death, her team-up with Barret and Avalanche. Barret continues with his recap of Corel, his love for Marlene (who is waiting at this very moment for him to get his ass back there, so they better hurry the hell up). Nanaki seems less confident in his ability to assist, but he is the last of his kind and the heir of a brave warrior who died defending his village. Vincent says nothing, though the impression to Cid is that this man is out for revenge. Cait Sith is enamored with Cloud's fortune, a prediction of something astonishing that he simply must see through, on principle.

Cloud, then, is prompted to tell his story, pieces of which overlap with Tifa's. But it's vague and difficult to follow, except when he describes meeting Tifa in Sector Five.

"Hey," Barret interrupts. "Remember when I tried to throw you over the railing at the Five Reactor, when you were peekin' over the ledge like that?"

Yes, he remembers. Barret chuckles.

"Damn, how things have changed."

No kidding. Cid nods. It's all fascinating, how badly Shinra fucked up these people. Well, add Cid to the list. They shot down his plane. He'll never forgive them.

"What about you?" Cid asks the young ninja. "What's your reason?"

"Me?" Yuffie had been observing the surroundings. "Oh, Sephiroth, for sure."

She's a damn liar. Cloud rolls his eyes. But everyone is too tired to put up with her antics. No matter. Cid is stuck with them now, and he isn't all that sorry about it. It's an interesting group, and this ancient temple stuff sounds like a decent adventure. Beating Shinra to the punch will be satisfying, he thinks. Make them taste real failure.

"So, Shera?" Aerith inquires.

Well, got nothing else to pass the time on this endless walk. Might as well give 'em the sorry tale.

"Right." Cid clears his throat. "It happened a while ago. Back when Shinra was committed to space exploration. That rocket you saw in the middle of town… well, that used to be my life's work."

Cid was head engineer of the Shinra Space Program. He'd risen through the ranks, designing engines and vehicles, and aerodynamics was where he excelled. Rocketry, in particular. Space exploration was his passion. So when the opportunity came to build the first-ever crewed spacecraft, Cid jumped at it. He assembled a team, and Shinra dumped gil into the project, partitioning land for the launch.

"It was going to bring prestige to the Shinra name. There'd been some bad press lately with a mishap at some Reactor, so the company was eager to showcase a spectacle like Number 26. That was, uh, the prototype design number," Cid explains.

Then, the day of the launch arrived. It was glorious weather. All flight checks were green, conditions within expected parameters. The crew was strapped in.

"Everything was perfectly planned." Cid's eyes gloss into the past. "Perfectly…"

Except one crew member was missing. Shera, a brilliant engineer on the project alongside Cid, had been doing one final safety check. After reporting she was good to go, Cid started the ignition sequence. There was no turning back. The amount of fuel required to burn made this a one-shot. All or nothing. Shinra had poured funds into this project, with the clear expectation that it should succeed. Cid's reputation granted nothing less.

Then an alert went off. An oxygen valve was leaking. Cid thought it had to be a misread. The sensors had previously shown no discrepancies.

Shera went to check it out against protocol. Once the ignition burn started, everyone had to strap in and hang on. But she deviated. The leak, she said, was too significant. It could cause an explosion. All of their deaths.

Cid didn't believe the readings. He knew this ship in and out, and this felt like a false alarm. He told her to get back to her seat, but she didn't listen. She entered the chamber where the valve was.

"I had to make a decision," Cid says. "Either proceed with the launch and burn her to a damn crisp because that area had significantly less shielding… Or abort the launch."

It was a grim choice. One person's life for his life dream.

He wanted to proceed. The launch was happening. Shinra would be revered. Cid would be honored. But Shera… She would be dead.

At the last second, he canceled the sequence. The rocket had already undergone immense burn, and the liftoff became unbalanced. It was never meant to remain on the support scaffolding like that. Metal crunched. The shaft leaned.

Cid's voice becomes hopeless. "And that was it. Shinra pulled the plug. They decided to pump gil into their biological weapons division instead of salvaging the space program. I figured I was out of a job, but they kept me around. Threw me some bones. Nothing interested me anymore, though."

He'd lost everything. Because of one stupid sensor.

"Was Shera right about the oxygen valve?" Aerith asks.

Cid doesn't know. The sensors were shut down, and when power was restored, the readings were normal again.

"I traded everything for her…"

"You cared for her," Aerith says. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Cid laughs, but it's terse and hollow. He waves the question off. "Anyways, who the hell cares. Let's just get to Wutai. Would love to get my hands on one of those drones, though. Director Scarlet has kept a lot of us in the dark about this latest work. Pretty exciting stuff."

Then he notices the dismayed reactions from the others.

"Exciting and dangerous, I mean."

Total gearhead, Yuffie thinks. The rest chatter about Shinra's mistreatment of the launch or opine on how much gil Shinra actually has left in those endless coffers while she keeps her eyes on the horizon. The village of Wutai is beyond. She'll need to be careful. The others are oblivious to her plan, which of course she just hatched, which is how all good plans are crafted. Spontaneous, shifting with the tide, and always adapting. Opportunities are aplenty if one knows how to look.

Yes, this might be the first time in a long time that she's happy to be coming home.