Chapter 14
The New Junon
Cid Highwind and Wymond stood silently on the bridge of the Highwind as it made its way through the air toward Junon Harbour. Tifa had come back with Wymond the night before with news of what had happened to Vincent. Mostly everyone was in a similar state of disbelief, Tifa was about as inconsolable as one could be and talked to no one all that night. Red XIII assumed it was because Tifa had been there to watch him die, he knew what kind of affect that has on someone compared to just hearing the news like they had.
The show of emotion from Yuffie was something the group had never really seen, she was about as sad as Tifa. She sat on a rock just staring at the ground, when Red XIII trotted over to ask if she was alright she had said, "The guy was always so dark and hard to get along with…but I always liked him."
"It is not unusual for one to realize how much they truly care for one after they have passed," Red XIII said wisely. "It is realizing this beforehand that is hard."
Even Reno and Rufus sat silently after hearing the news, though the two of them weren't by any means as friendly with Vincent as the others, they did realize that they had lost an ally, whether they were very close to that ally or not.
The next morning everyone awoke and gathered to tackle the issue of how they would defeat the Ancient Black minus one friend.
"Aeris believed he could destroy the Ancient Black," Wymond said, "but she did not say we couldn't do it without him. I know it's not easy but we do have to try and stay on task, the Black can't be far off."
"What's our next move?" asked Cid with a look that clearly stated he wanted to get moving and start killing some more Shadows. Generally Cid didn't get sad, after hearing the news of Vincent everyone reacted in their own way, Cid, naturally, reacted as he did for most things. He got pissed off and wanted nothing more than to get some payback.
"We should find your supplier and stock your airship with as many weapons and as much ammunition as we can, now that we're short one man we're going to need everything we can get," Wymond said.
"I'll get her in the air," Cid said moving off to the Highwind.
"I will accompany him, the rest of you should take a moment if you need it, do whatever you need to do to try and clear your minds," Wymond said, "when the time comes being distracted by his memory will kill you as well."
"I'll go too," Tifa said walking toward Wymond.
"You, above all, need to do whatever you need to do to clear your mind," Wymond said.
"I'm fine," Tifa said deadpan.
"None of you are fine, to consider yourself fine in such a situation is denial," Wymond replied.
"I can handle it," Tifa insisted.
"Tifa, I know how people like you work," Wymond said shaking his head, "you're like Aeris, you care about everyone, treat everyone as if they were your friends or family. It is quite possible you and Aeris could be considered two of the nicest people in existence as I have never met any two people who equaled both the strength you have in such a personality along with the subsequent weakness."
Tifa just looked down at the ground.
Wymond put a hand on her shoulder, "Vincent's memory will long linger in your mind as others will begin to accept his fate, that's just how it is with people like you and Aeris. I need someone like Cid, someone who reacts with anger and determination instead of sadness."
"You're saying I'll slow you down," Tifa replied looking up.
"I'm saying you're not ready to fight yet," Wymond said, "at least not to your full potential, what you need to do is what all people like you do. Go find a place, sit or lie down, and think about things until you can't possibly think about anything anymore. When you're done you'll find you've come to a sort of acceptance."
"You talk like you know how I work better than I know how I work," Tifa said quietly.
"I'm a Cetra guardian; it's my job to know such things, to understand how someone may think."
"Can you read minds?" asked Tifa.
Wymond laughed, "Why do you people always assume that, a man can understand a woman…he must have some supernatural ability!"
Tifa laughed.
"The world has come to believe a certain set of rules, so certain that no one could ever believe that there are things and people that work outside of those rules," Wymond said.
"Like the Cetra," Tifa said.
"If we couldn't understand things most are unable to understand the Cetra wouldn't be so special," Wymond said, "we probably wouldn't be so dead either, but things are how they are."
"Thank you," Tifa said.
"I just used a bunch of big fancy words to explain what you already knew, there's nothing to thank me for," Wymond then turned and walked toward the Highwind just as it hummed to life.
After a small trip the Highwind came to a stop to hover above Junon. After the incident years ago with Sephiroth Junon Harbour had been completely revamped and turned back into the bustling harbour city it had once been.
Junon was almost completely different now, it still had landing pads for airships but the rest was the opposite of what it had been. The platform above that had been built by Shinra that blocked the town below from the sky was gone leaving only the pads for airships. New shops and homes had been built and the harbour city was now something it hadn't been for a very long time: independent, and free of Shinra.
"Show me where to put this down and tell Chuck I'm on my way to his place," Cid said into the communicator on his control console.
"Cid Highwind, you visit here far too often," said a female voice, it sounded like a joke but her voice was painfully serious.
Cid seemed to ignore the woman, "Is Shera down there still?"
"Still working with Chuck on that new armour of yours, why?" asked the woman.
"Good, tell her I'm bringing a guest and make some fu…" Cid paused, "…make some tea."
"You want me to tell her to make some tea?" asked the woman.
"You're just sittin' there on your fat ass, make yourself useful," Cid growled.
The woman cut the communication.
"So you'll insult a random landing pad operator, but you refrain from swearing when referring to tea?" asked Wymond.
"Long story, don't bother," Cid replied.
Wymond shook his head and watched as the Highwind came to a perfect landing on the pad.
"Chuck's place is down in the main town, he's the best supplier for airships that come this way," Cid said.
"He puts up with you, must be expensive stuff he sells," Wymond muttered, Cid didn't hear him.
"Alright, let's get moving, you got the Gil?" asked Cid.
Wymond nodded.
"Good, it'll take a while to put together the stuff and get it on board, I'm also gonna ask about something else while we're here," Cid said stepping away from the controls and heading to the bridge exit.
"Sounds like I'll be sitting around for a while," Wymond said, "hope they have some good tea down there."
"The best," Cid said, though he didn't really appear to be trying to sell the quality of the tea that much.
The two exited the ship and workers on the landing pad began to swarm toward the ship.
"Make sure she still runs, break anything and I'll kill you all personally," Cid growled at them. The workers appeared to be unfazed by the threats and went about their jobs.
Wymond assumed Cid said something similar every time he landed here and the mechanics had just started getting used to it as it happened so often.
The two stepped onto a large platform and it immediately began humming and moving downward at a slant. The platform was connected to a beam of some kind that went down at an angle to the town below; the platform followed the metal beam at a somewhat slow pace and eventually came to a stop. The two stepped off and the platform immediately began its trip back to the top.
"They only got one of those damn things per landing pad, said they were gonna get more, hasn't happened yet," Cid said apparently annoyed by this.
"I imagine those things can get quite full if a lot of people want to visit the town below," Wymond said.
"Yeah, things are damned inconvenient if you ask me," Cid muttered.
"I suppose it's better than having to jump down," Wymond said shrugging.
Cid looked at the guardian for a moment then nodded slightly, "Guess ya got a point there."
Wymond looked around the large bustling town, ahead it looked like they were about to run into a very large wall of people milling around. Children were running left and right, parents were chasing after them. People of all shapes and sizes charged from building to building hoping to get into the next shop without getting run over.
"This place used to be really dead," Cid told Wymond, "soon as Shinra kicked it, boom, look at it, thriving again."
"It does look like a prosperous place," Wymond said barely avoiding being tripped by a little girl who shot past him. "If a bit crowded."
"Yeah, it can be easy to get lost," Cid said, "but it's a hell of a lot better than the way it was."
Wymond made sure he stayed close to Cid, the guardian knew if he got lost he would truly be very lost. Wymond had no idea what any of the buildings were, there were no real signs, and he didn't feel that fighting the crowd to check every single building would be very fun.
"Here we go," Cid said finally pointing to a nondescript brown building, the door to the place was guarded by two large men.
"The place needs doormen?" asked Wymond.
"It's full of weapons and other stuff, Chuck didn't want any kids or anything accidentally running inside," Cid replied.
"Conscientious man," Wymond commented.
"Yeah, it's almost amazing the guy can bring himself to sell a sharp rock let alone heavy weaponry," Cid said, "he'd hesitate to kill a damn insect."
Cid walked up to the two doormen, "Hey guys how's it going, still guarding the door?"
"Same old," replied the one to the left deadpan.
"Chuck knows you're coming, go on in," said the second.
"This is my guest," Cid said pointing casually to Wymond. "He's something of a guard himself."
"Really," said the left doorman, not showing any real interest in what Cid had to say.
"I'm more a protector of people than doors though," Wymond said.
"People can talk back, people can run away," the right doorman said, "doors, they don't take no work at all to guard."
"Well said," Wymond replied.
"Thank you," the right-hand doorman said.
"Alright, enough chat, let's go see Chuck," Cid said opening the door, Wymond followed him in. "That damn tea better be ready!"
The last comment could be heard as the door slammed shut.
"What is it with that guy and tea?" asked the left-hand doorman.
"It's his thing," the right-hand one said.
"Thing?" asked the other.
"You know, we do doors," the right one said, "he does tea."
"Oh," the left-hand one said nodding, "I get it."
Inside Cid and Wymond entered into what appeared to be your stereotypical vision of a shop. There was a large wooden counter at the back with merchandise all around the place, on walls, in cases.
Wymond and Cid were surrounded by a massive collection of weapons, a great variety of them too. Guns, swords, spears, axes, quarterstaffs, daggers, those were all Wymond noticed before someone else spoke and reverted his attention.
"Cid, wondering when I'd get some more of your money," said a man now behind the counter. His voice was common, like any random person you might meet on the street, in fact he had this look about him entirely. Nothing special about the guy at all, he was quite small, probably three or four inches shorter than Wymond and also very small in the way of skinny.
It seemed it was no wonder the man was into big weapons, he didn't appear to have the physical strength to defeat an enemy but anyone with a large gun could take on a strong enemy.
He wore slightly curved square glasses and a plain white shirt with blue pants. Wymond also noticed a fancy ring on his right hand ring finger, it was gold with a hint of something red laced through it and a small red ruby embedded in the front. It was on the wrong hand to signal marriage so the ring either meant nothing or had some other value.
"Chuck, you and I both know you just enjoy my company," Cid replied.
"Make me some tea…is that tea ready…dammit where's my tea…yes I do so enjoy your time spent here," the man replied sarcastically. "It's a wonder how that woman lives with you I must say."
"You're just sayin' that 'cause you got a crush on Shera," Cid said smiling.
"Oh don't start with the crush thing again, for the last time I tripped," Chuck said shaking his head.
"And happened to land right on top of Shera," Cid said nudging Wymond as if asking the guardian to play along.
What it was exactly that made Cid think Wymond would play along escaped him and he just shook his head.
"Yes, because she tripped over the same large rocket launcher," Chuck said.
"I'm sure she did," Cid said.
"The same large rocket launcher you still haven't paid me for fixing by the way," Chuck continued.
"Today's your lucky day, Chuck, all debts will be paid," Cid said, "thanks to my new very rich buddy here I'll pay you for the things I haven't and for a few new requests."
Chuck seemed uninterested, "Yeah, whatever, you know I just do stuff for you because I enjoy your company."
"No, because you know the more I come here the more Shera will come here," Cid said as Chuck disappeared through a door behind the counter.
"I tripped!" came the yell from through the now closed door.
"It's almost amazing you have acquaintances," Wymond said, "it appears to me that friends would be out of the question."
"Ah, just teaching the kid to toughen up, there are meaner people out there than me you know," Cid said slapping Wymond on the shoulder and heading toward the counter.
"Yes, or you're jealous because he's probably smarter than you," Wymond said following him.
Cid stopped and turned to look at the guardian, "That's it, no tea for you!"
Cid vaulted the counter and went through the door.
"Oh, how horrible you are to deprive me of my hot beverage," Wymond murmured and did likewise.
Wymond closed the door behind him and now found himself in what appeared to be a very quaint little kitchen. The stove was straight ahead with other kitchen worthy appliances scattered around. There was also another door to Wymond's left which Wymond assumed led to a bathroom, bedroom, or some other home-like arrangement like a kitchen.
In the middle of the kitchen, naturally, was a round wooden table, sitting in one of the seats was an attractive brown haired woman wearing a white coat over her clothing and green pants. She also, like Chuck, wore glasses; hers were more rounded and oval-like.
"Shera, I presume?" asked Wymond walking toward the table and talking to the woman, she smiled.
"Yes, how did you know?" she asked.
"Process of elimination," he stuck out his hand, "Wymond."
"Wymond, interesting name," Shera said shaking his hand.
"How so?" asked Wymond.
"Well, in some very old dialects the name Wymond is directly translated to guardian, it's one of the very few names given to people that have direct meanings," Shera said. "It's also very rare because on average these names with direct meanings were given to Ancients…I read that somewhere."
"I was wrong, Cid," Wymond said looking at him.
Cid looked back curiously.
Wymond smiled at Shera, "She's the one who's smarter than you."