I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters.
Damaged
Cody held Jessie as she sobbed. It had been a week since Wutai, and they had made very little progress. Both in Jessie's emotional recovery, and their journey. Aerith had had no advice about what they should do, and actually had been unusually quiet, and the others all had no idea what they should do. Cody was too concerned about Jessie to care much about their mission.
Slowly, Jessie's sobs subsided, and Cody squeezed her gently, Jessie sniffing and tightening her own hold before speaking. "I'm sorry. I'm making everyone miserable."
"No, you're not," Cody said, pushing her back so that he could make her look at him. "You're hurting, and you need time to recover. No one can fault you for that."
Jessie sniffed and nodded, and Cody tugged his mask down before kissing her. Jessie sighed, leaning into the kiss, but even as their tongues began to slide against each other, neither of them had even the slightest inkling to go further. This was how it had been. Cody knew without having to ask that Jessie was afraid. Afraid of having flashbacks to Wutai. Afraid of not being able to go all the way and disappointing him. Afraid of it not feeling the same. Afraid of seeing disgust in his eyes when he remembered what had happened to her. At no point would he feel disappointed, and at no point would he ever be disgusted by her, but flashbacks to Wutai or her not being able to go all the way were legitimate concerns, and were the only thing Cody were worried about.
Cody finally pulled away, pulling his mask back up, and Jessie hugged him again. Just as he did, Roche stepped out of his tent, stretching before pulling his sword out of the ground where he'd left it the night before.
"Care to have a morning dance, Cody?" Roche asked, smiling excitedly, though his eyes betrayed the fact that this was the only way he could think to try to help Cody and Jessie.
"Not right now," Cody said. "Thank you, though."
"Go," Jessie said. "I'll be okay."
Cody hesitated, then nodded, pressing his forehead to hers for a moment before following Roche away from the camp, summoning his Gunblade on the way. Both of them turned to face each other for a moment before Roche exploded forward. Cody deflected his blade, then spun after him, launching himself after Roche with a blast from his Gunblade. Roche spun just in time to deflect Cody's blade over himself, then slashed, only for Cody to spin around him, slashing again. Roche flipped over it, and Cody deflected his blade, then stepped backward, avoiding a second slash. As he did, however, he squeezed his trigger again, and the back edge of his blade crashed into Roche's side, dropping him to the ground before Cody healed his bruised ribs for him.
Roche laughed, standing. "Your dance just gets better and better. I missed facing you with that sword. Completely different than you with one of mine."
Cody nodded, smiling slightly. "Thanks for the dance. I needed it."
Roche nodded, and Cody returned to Jessie, who smiled proudly and kissed him before tugging his mask back up for him. The others all began to wake up one at a time, everyone helping break down their camp before they began to move again.
Cody ran his hand gently over Jessie's back as she cried. She hadn't cried herself to sleep, but she was having another nightmare about it. Alex held her tightly, and slowly her trembling began to subside. They'd found a small shop far from anything resembling civilization, and the shop owner had told them about having sold something called a Keystone, which was the key to a temple of the Ancients, to Dio. For lack of any brighter ideas, they all agreed to go to the temple, as Sephiroth seemed to be obsessed with the Ancients. Even if he wasn't there himself, they might find a clue about his plans. So, they were on their way back to the Gold Saucer to try and buy the Keystone from Dio.
As the sun began to rise, Cody gently shook Jessie's shoulders, Jessie stirring, only to curl into him tighter. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly, and they remained there for close to an hour before Boco pushed his head into the tent, letting out a soft, concerned, wwrbling sound. Both of them smiled appreciatively, and reached up to stroke the festhers of his head before getting up and beginning to pack up. Jessie pulled on her new replacement for the outfit Corneo had ruined, wearing it instead of a suit for the first time since Wutai, and Cody's eyes qidened slightly as he saw it, looking up to the easy smile she wore. Neither said anything, because neither needed to. They both understood. It was progress. He tugged his mask down and kissed her, Jessie kissing him back, before they climbed onto Boco, Cody wrapping his arms around her as they began to continue toward the Gold Saucer.
The next few days passed slowly. Every night, Cody held Jessie and listened to her cry in her sleep, then every day, they all traveled in silence. However, there was progress. More and more, Jessie seemed to brighten, and seemed to be regaining her energy, as though the weight of what had happened was slowly beginning to fade. As it did, the mood slowly lightened back toward what it had been before. Finally, Mt. Corel was in sight as they stopped for the night beside a beach. That night, Jessie smiled as she drifted asleep to the sound of the waves, and didn't cry once in her sleep. Cody smiled, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep. However, he woke Jessie early the next day, before sunrise.
"It's too early," Jessie groaned, rolling away from him.
"That's fine," Cody smiled, pulling his swimming trunks on. "You're going to have to pee in a few seconds anyway."
"No I won't," Jessie harrumphed moodily. Several seconds later, she let out a dramatic, groan that sounded like a sob but that he knew wasn't. "I hate you."
As she stood up, Alex held up her bikini with the latticework of straps over the chest and she snatched it from him aggressively before stomping out of the tent without bothering to grab her boots. He chuckled and left the tent as well, only taking his materia bands, and headed out into the water. It was cold but not unbearable, and once Jessie was finished using the bathroom and changing, she waded out to join him, Cody enjoying seeing her in her bikini again, even with the grumpy, anti-morning scowl on her face. Finally, she reached him and he wrapped his arms around her, Jessie wrapping hers around his neck.
"I thought I was supposed to be the one who's grumpy in the morning," Cody said.
"I don't wake you up before sunrise," Jessie almost pouted.
Alex chuckled and tugged his mask down, kissing her. For a moment, she refused to give in, but finally began to kiss him back. As they continued, he felt her relax more and more into the kiss until her bad mood had entirely evaporated. Finally, as cody began to reach the limit of time he could go without his mask, he pulled away, tugging it up and moving around behind her. He wrapped his arms around her just as the sun began to peak over the horizon out to sea, staining the sky above the sea them with brilliant reds and pinks. Jessie gasped, eyes wide as she stared at the beautiful scene before her. Slowly, the sun rose further and further from behind the horizon, the pinks and reds brightening to oranges and yellows as the sun, looking like a big yellow ball with orange around the edges rose. Then, finally, it broke midway up, and became blinding to look directly at, but now, Cody and jessie had their eyes directed upward, where the clouds above them were tinted a pale pink and backed by a clear blue sky. Finally, Jessie turned around in cody's arms and pulled his mask down, kissing him heavily, Cody returning the kiss in kind.
"Thank you," Jessie smiled. "For making me wake up."
Cody smiled. "I didn't make you wake up. I just didn't want to sleep in pee."
Jessie laughed, kissing him again before pulling his mask up for it. "I love you, Cody."
"I love you, too."
Jessie held him for a while longer before Aerith walked over to the water's edge.
"Cloud's being moody," she said apologetically.
"Really?" Cody asked, voice dripping with sarcastic shock. "Mr. Emo is moody?"
Aerith and Jessie laughed. The three of them headed back to camp, Cody and Jessie changing back into their usual clothes. Then, they all headed inland, reaching Mt. Corel after an hour and having Boco once again gather them Chocobos to ride. As they waited, Cody summoned Choco, who flew down to greet each of the girls excitedly, then settled in Jessie's cupped hand, Jessie all but glowing with happiness as she stroked his feathers. Finally, Boco returned with enough for them to pair up, and Cody and Jessie climbed onto Boco, Cody sitting behind Jessie, who lifted choco to her shoulder before holding Boco's reins, Yuffie jumped up behind Vincent, Cloud climbed up behind Tifa, and aerith climbed up in front of Barret, making sure to pout where Cloud could see her, Cloud simply rolling his eyes.
They all set off, Nanaki once again keeping up with the Chocobos easy enough, and whenever a monster appeared in front of them, Aerith, Vincent, or Barret killed it, holding something like a competition, while if it was behind them, boco slowed enough for Cody to kill it. In this way, they made rapid progress, reaching the cable car to the Gold Saucer after only a few hours, and the Chocobos, minus Boco who joined them in the car, all scattered. Cody pushed the lever forward, starting the car moving before joining Jessie in a seat.
"I didn't think I'd be back here for a long time," Jessie admitted.
"Same," Cody nodded. "Hopefully we'll have time for an uninterrupted date, this time."
Jessie nodded, the grinned, the teasing light he hadn't seen in weeks finally returning to her eyes. "Maybe you'll get to watch me flirt with my lesbian fan this time."
Cody snorted, but shrugged. "Maybe floundering for a compliment and coming off as a cute child. You're kind of hopeless at flirting."
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course. I'm terrible."
"Very," Cody smirked as she pulled his mask down, then kissed her.
She pulled away and tugged his mask back up just before they arrived, and they all climbed off, walking over to the girl working the ticket booth. She instantly greeted them all happily, once again giving them a huge discount on Cid and Vincent's lifetime tickets before letting them all in.
"I'm so tired!" Yuffie complained almost instantly.
"It is getting late," Tifa agreed. "Let's rent some rooms for the night, then find the Keystone in the morning."
"One problem with that," Cody said. "We have no GP."
Everyone groaned before Boco let out a loud "Wark!" and pecked Cody on the back of the head. Jessie giggled.
"Looks like you're racing again," Jessie smirked, then hummed thoughtfully. "And, actually, Cloud, I know a game you might like."
"The Battle Square?" Cloud asked.
"Besides that," Jessie said. "Come on. I'll show you." She gave Cody a quick kiss. "I'll meet you when you're done your race."
Cody nodded and took Boco to the Chocobo square, signing himself up for a race.
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