Rocket Town is busy.
People have come out of their houses and spilled into the streets in order to better view the rocket, which is being prepared for the launch. The streets are packed and people call Cid's name as he passes, but he ignores them all, pushing through the throng of people and pulling Charlie along by the hand.
Smoke issues from the bottom of the rocket, tainting the blue morning sky. Charlie's heart is pounding in her chest, palms sweaty. Cid's hands are sweaty, too, and she's certain that his pulse is pounding at the thought of losing their rocket. She wouldn't want to be here with anyone else in the world.
Part of her is afraid that Rufus will be here, having expected her to come. Part of her is afraid that Rufus will drag her back to Midgar, where she'll be executed in front of the city. Part of her is afraid that Rufus won't execute her, but confine her to wherever he's living to make sure she doesn't escape him again.
Cloud and the others trail along behind them, but Cid is leading this mission, and it was something that everyone seemed to understand the moment they touched down outside of Rocket Town.
Cid pulls her all the way to the rocket, stepping over the NO TRESPASSING signs. There's no sign of Shera anywhere near the house, but there are Shinra troops all over the scaffolding, two of them guarding the bottom of the stairs.
"You ready to put that pretty gun of yours to use?" Cid asks her over his shoulder. "Don't worry, honey, if you're not, you got eight of us to back you up."
Charlie flashes him a very grateful and nervous smile, squeezing his hand as they come up on the rocket, their friends right on their heels.
It had been a long, sleepless night. Charlie knew that it would come to violence, and after seeing Cid throw the train conductor off the side of Mount Corel, she had understood that violence would not deter Cid from completing whatever task was at hand. Though she's more prepared for it now than she had been before, it still shocks her to see Cid swipe at the two guards with incredible speed to slice them open with his weapon.
This is war, she supposes. And they are our enemies.
"Listen!" Cid shouts at everyone as they gather at the bottom of the stairs. "Lottie and I will take it from here. Y'all wait back at the Highwind for us, okay?"
"No way!" Cloud steps forward, shaking his head. "I'll go with you!"
"Fine! Damn!"
"Meet us back at the ship!" Cloud instructs the others, who bid them good-bye and make back for the center of town. He follows Charlie and Cid higher up the stairs, to the next platform, where a few more guards stand waiting.
"Stay back, Lottie!" Cid jumps in front of her, weapon drawn, shoulder-to-shoulder with Cid.
He and Cloud cut down the Shinra troops like they're nothing, hacking and slashing and poking and prodding, tossing them over the side of the platform until their shouts cease abruptly. It's not the first time she's seen them fight and kill, but it's normally monsters that they encounter along their way, and these guards are only doing what they were told to do.
They climb the many ladders, one-by-one. Cid goes first, followed by Charlie, who feels rather safe with her back watched by Cloud. The Buster Sword on his back makes her feel safe, and she continues up with a little more courage than she had before, knowing that she'll eventually have to use the gun Vincent gave her.
He gave it to her to be used, after all.
As Cid climbs the last ladder, she can hear him swear when he reaches the platform, making her stomach flip. He pulls Charlie up by the arm, forcing her behind him, and it's then that she sees why Cid has suddenly become so anxious.
"Good to see you again, Charlie."
From between Cid and Cloud, she sticks her tongue out at him. "Let us through, Rude, or it'll mean trouble for you."
"Sorry, but I have orders," Rude answers, adjusting the gloves on his hands, flanked by two infantrymen. "Our job is to eliminate everyone who gets in Shinra's way."
"Even me?" Charlie asks, a hand on her hip.
"No, just your friends," he tells her with a small, knowing smile, "and then I'm bringing you home."
"She ain't goin' anywhere with you!" Cid shouts at the Turk, stepping forward with his weapon held out in front of him. "She doesn't wanna go back to Midgar!"
"Stay out of this, Charlie," Rude tells her again, putting his fists up. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"Don't hurt him too badly," Charlie pleads quietly in Cid's ear, touching his arm as he prepares for a fight. "He was good to me."
Cid sighs. "Damn it, Lottie . . ."
But neither Cid nor Cloud attempt to kill Rude during their fight, despite the fact that it would be too easy. She's seen Cloud fight at full SOLDIER strength, and this is not the SOLDIER strength she's accustomed to seeing.
But she's seen Rude fight at full strength before, and this is it. He isn't going to hold back against Cid and Cloud. If he had more room, Charlie thinks he might have an easier time defending himself against the two men swinging sharp blades at him, but the fight is awkward shuffling and getting caught on railings and trying to corner each other.
The guards they dispatch easily, tossing their bodies off the sides of the platform's railings to open up their fighting space. Charlie debates running right through the battle, wanting to board the rocket before they run out of time and it launches. If she could just get the Huge Materia, they all could leave before anyone has time to catch her and throw her in the back of a Shinra helicopter.
Thankfully, once Cloud knocks the wind out of Rude with the blunt side of his sword, it's all but over. He collapses to the ground, lying spread-eagle on his back in the middle of the platform, his breathing very shallow and ragged. Charlie is the last to step over him, muttering a genuine apology as his eyes fall closed behind crooked sunglasses.
There are more men inside, including a captain stationed right inside the entrance to the rocket. He gives them all a bewildered look, eyes lingering on Charlie. "Miss Shinra!" he gasps, eyes widening as he looks down at the weapons held in their hands. "How did you all get here? We had a Turk to stop you!"
"Yeah, about that . . ." Cid shrugs, looking pleased with himself, forcing the end of his spear into the captain's stomach and guiding him forcefully towards the exit. There's a horrible cry of pain as he pulls the blade from the soldier's stomach, pressing a button on the wall to close the door of the rocket.
"Let's go already!" Charlie snaps, nearly bouncing on her feet, a combination of nerves and excitement. Her stomach is churning, and she's sure she'll throw up any moment, but there isn't anything in her stomach to really throw up. "To the cockpit! We have to stop this rocket!"
When the door to the flight deck opens, Charlie is stunned to find people already inside, working on the controls in Shinra uniforms, going about their work happily.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Cid walks right up to the nearest one, slapping the drill right out of his hand. "What the hell are you guys doin' in our ship?"
"Captain Highwind!" the drill-engineer says, turning around to face everyone. "Miss Shinra! You guys came back!"
"Roderick?" Charlie asks, and the man smiles, the thinning hair on the sides of his head completely gray now, skin hanging off him as if he's lost a lot of weight in the years since they've last seen each other. When she turns to look at the other two crew members, she recognizes them, as well. "What are you guys doing here? Don't you realize what my brother is planning with this ship?"
"We're going to launch the rocket, ma'am! With the materia bomb, it's sure to destroy Meteor!" Roderick tells her excitedly, opening his arms and gesturing around at the inside of the flight deck, much to the delight of his fellow associates. He nods at Cid, as if just now remembering he's there. "Captain," he adds quickly.
Cid grumbles under his breath. "Look, this rocket ain't goin' anywhere."
"Why not?" Roderick asks, looking pleadingly at Charlie. "Our rocket could save the planet. Isn't that what you want, Miss Shinra?"
Charlie can't deny that's very much what she wants. She wants her rocket to mean something after the failure it was all those years ago. She wants her rocket to contribute to the saving of the world. And she wants to be here when it does.
She looks up at Cid, who seems to recognize the expression on her face. It doesn't take much convincing, and he rests his weapon against the nearest wall to look over the controls. "How's the rocket?"
"It's fine, for the most part," Roderick explains. He seems thrilled that Charlie and Cid are on board with this plan (for the most part), wringing his hands together in front of him. "We planned to set the rocket to auto-pilot, but the most important device is broken."
"Broken?" Charlie drags a hand down her face. Another thing wrong with her rocket. Another thing to keep it from launching properly. "Isn't anyone trying to repair it?"
Another crew member speaks up after Roderick looks away awkwardly, his cheeks turning pink. "Well, Shera's doing it . . ."
That causes Cid to erupt with rage. "Oh, fuckin' great job, you dumbasses! She's gonna take a hundred goddamn years to finish!" he groans, holding his head in his gloved hands as he digests this. "Okay, okay, tell her to get the fuck outta the rocket. Lottie and I are gonna take over here, so don't worry 'bout the auto-pilot! Now go tell everyone!"
"Yes, sir! Good luck, Captain! Good luck, Miss Shinra!"
He looks over his shoulder at her, eyes alight with passion. When she inches closer to her, he wraps an arm around her waist and grins, the crew members all running out of the flight deck.
"What the hell do you think you two are doing?" Cloud shouts at them from the corner of the flight deck.
Both Charlie and Cid jump. She had completely forgotten that Cloud was even here, having assumed he would have just waited for them outside the rocket. So engrossed in the prospect of her rocket launching again, she really has stopped thinking about the world outside of this little cockpit.
"I thought we agreed not to send the Huge Materia up to Meteor!" Cloud continues to protest, clapping a hand to his forehead. "There are generations of knowledge and wisdom inside that materia. We need to get it off the rocket! Don't you understand that?"
"Of course we understand," Charlie tells him gently, stopping Cid from shouting back by resting a hand against his stomach, shaking her head. "But Cloud, don't you realize this is our dream? Our rocket is going to launch, and we want to be on it. This is what we've wanted for so long."
"We need that materia, Charlie. We can't let Shinra just send it up to Meteor. You know that." Cloud looks desperate now, as if knowing their minds won't be changed. Charlie would never change her mind, knowing that she has the opportunity now to fulfill her pipe dream with her captain at her side, a dream she thought dead. "We need the materia so we can save the planet from Sephiroth using its power!"
"Cloud, listen," Cid begins again, this time a bit gentler than he may have been a few moments ago. "Lottie and I, we're scientists. And science is its own power created and developed by humans. Who's to say that science isn't what'll save the planet?"
Charlie looks up at him, his arm still wrapped around her, holding her tight. There's something in his face that she hasn't seen since the day of the rocket launch, a half-forgotten day that she's attempted to put out of her life. All of sudden, there is nothing else in the world except for his face, for him.
"I was able to earn my livin' thanks to science . . ." Cid hesitates, looking down into her own face. "Thanks to Shinra . . . thanks to you." He doesn't even look back up to see if Cloud is still listening. Cloud might not even be there anymore. "To me, there's nothin' greater, no higher honor than takin' this ship into space like I should'a done all those years ago."
Charlie smiles, overwhelmed and unable to get close enough to him, wanting to cry just because she doesn't know how else to express her gratitude. To see him with that same passion she loved all those years ago, to see him with a fire under his feet, with determination written all over his handsome face . . .
She pushes herself onto her toes and kisses him. He responds eagerly, allowing himself to be pulled even closer by the front of his jacket, a hand splayed between her shoulder blades while the other combs through her tangled hair.
It's messy and sloppy, teeth clacking together and mouths open wide, breathing love into each other, breathing their hopes and dreams and passions and fears into each other. The coarse, haphazardly shaved stubble on his face rubs at the soft skin around her mouth, making it itch and tingle, but she doesn't mind so much.
"Hey! Hey!"
Cid pulls away from her with a sigh, a groan, and a roll of his eyes. "Can't you see I'm busy, man? I'm tryin' to kiss my girl here," he snaps at Cloud, gesturing at Charlie, who feels very dizzy at the implications of what he's just said. Plus, he's never kissed her like that before, and she thinks he may have sucked the very life out of her lungs. "Don't fuckin' worry 'bout what Shinra's gonna do, all right? We can take care of it, so if you ain't gonna help, then get the hell outta here!"
Cloud looks reluctant to leave them, though Charlie is eager to see him gone, if only to resume her passionate little display with her captain, with her pilot, with Cid.
The rocket suddenly seems to lurch, rumbling beneath their feet. Charlie is tired of earthquakes and tremors, but it's much easier to keep her balance. Slipping into the chair that faces the control panel, she looks around for something that might give her control of the rocket.
"What the hell's goin' on?" Cid asks her, hunched down over her shoulder and looking up at the monitor.
There's a few seconds of radio static before a voice comes in over the intercom, one that makes both Charlie and Cid groan. "Hey! Heeeeeey!"
"Gods, Palmer, what the hell do you want?" Charlie hisses through the comm system. "Stay out of this! Cid and I are taking over!"
"Too late! They said they finished repairing the auto-pilot, so I launched it!"
"Fuckin' Shera!" Cid straightens up to his full height, bracing himself against the back of Charlie's chair. "Why'd she have to pick today to get fast? Try stoppin' it, Lottie!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying! Nothing's working! Palmer has the entire thing completely locked up!" She pushes as many buttons as she can, even the Emergency Shut-Off button, but nothing works.
"Almost lift off!"
Cid slams a hand down on the control panel, making the entire thing rattle. "You're not even gonna give us a countdown?"
"Cid, stop!" Charlie grabs hold of his wrist as he makes to slam down his fist again. "You're going to break something!"
"Here we go! Blast off!"
"What!"
"Just hang on!"
The rocket trembles for a final few seconds before she hears the thrusters roar to life about fifty feet below them, pushing them off the launch pad.
"Lottie, look, baby, we're gainin' altitude." Cid points to something on the monitor that's tracking their progress, and Charlie can feel her heart racing impossibly fast.
Through the windshield, Charlie can see the clouds flying by as they sail up into the blue sky towards space, towards the stars. She can't look away, can't think about anything else other than this.
It can't be real. It's impossible. It must be a dream, and she's going to wake up alone and cold in a few minutes, and they'll still be aboard the Highwind and the Shinra No. 26 will be sitting pretty in Rocket Town like it has for years.
The rocket climbs higher and higher and higher, until they're about to breach the planet's atmosphere, and when they do, it rattles the rocket again, but it pushes through the invisible barrier until the sky begins to turn dark, and stars are visible clearly through the black sky, through space.
It's silent between the three of them for a long time as Charlie takes in what's just happened. It all happened so quickly and unexpectedly that she hasn't had time to appreciate what's just happened at all. She can't believe that this is happening, that this dream she gave up on so long ago has finally come to fruition, and it's better than her old dream, because this time, she's in the rocket, with Cid, and they're doing it together.
Cid must feel the same way, for he lets out a loud whoop! and claps his hands together, bouncing on his feet. "Goddamn it, Lottie! We did it! We fucking did it!"
Charlie gets to her feet and feels the smile creep onto her face without warning, stretching the corners of her mouth as far as it can go, until she's laughing of her own accord, laughter she hasn't allowed herself in months. She throws herself at Cid, wrapping her arms around his neck and feeling her feet leave the ground as he picks her up and spins her around, shouting congratulations.
"We fucking did it!" he shouts again, setting her down so they're able to look out the front of the rocket together, admiring the vast frontier they've stumbled upon. "Oh, fuck . . . outer space . . . look at it! This was our dream!" He presses kisses to her cheeks, to her chin, to her forehead, to her nose. "You're a fucking genius, Lottie—"
"We did this," she tells him, giggling as his lips touch down along her jaw, tickling her. Cid pulls his head away, still beaming at her. "You and me."
"Yeah," he says breathlessly, nodding. "You and me."
"Isn't this rocket set for a collision course with Meteor?" Cloud asks suddenly, having hidden himself away in a corner for the majority of the launch.
"Sure is," Cid tells him.
Cloud blinks at him, dumbfounded. "Aren't you gonna do something about that?"
"What am I supposed to do 'bout it?" Cid scoffs, rolling his eyes and elbowing Charlie like it's some kind of inside joke, like it's funny that Cloud has no idea how a rocket works. "Palmer locked the auto-pilot device. We ain't gonna be able to change courses."
Cloud's face falls, and Charlie feels sorry for him. "So this is . . . the end?"
"Check him out, Lottie . . . he's ready to give up that quick," he chuckles again. "We ain't crashin' into Meteor, so relax, would you?"
"Don't listen to him. He's only being dramatic," Charlie tells Cloud, offering him an apologetic smile. "There's an escape pod we can use to get back to the ground. No one is dying in my rocket—"
"Our rocket."
"No one is dying in our rocket today."
"I got the lock code for the escape pod, okay? We'll bail before we crash into Meteor and get your ass back on the ground before the sun sets." Cid smiles sweetly at Charlie, too innocent. "Now, Cloud, if you don't mind . . ."
"Hang on!" Cloud interrupts again, and Cid scowls at him, one hand already on Charlie's back. "What about the Huge Materia?"
"Do whatever you want with it!" Cid replies angrily, shrugging his shoulders. "C'mon, I'll show you where you can find it." He makes across the flight deck for a ladder that will take them to the very front of the rocket, where Cloud stops him one last time.
"Wait, Cid. Are you sure?"
"I dunno." Cid turns around, resting his back against the base of the ladder as the rocket continues to climb, higher and higher and higher, going ever faster, everything working just as she had pictured it. "I know what I said, but I think . . . bein' here, in outer space . . . with Lottie . . ." He smiles weakly at her from across the small room. "Maybe that's all I ever really wanted."
Charlie smiles back at him, so full of love that she could die.
"Just . . . do whatever you think is right," Cid continues, turning back to Cloud and rubbing the back of his neck. "Lottie and I will support you. Right, honey?"
"Right," is all she can say, unable to take her eyes off him, unable to wipe the smile off her face.
"C'mon, princess. Let's get that Huge Materia."
Charlie follows Cid up the ladder, and Cloud climbs just below her. Upon reaching a confined platform, the three of them start up the next ladder, much taller than the last. At the top of that ladder, they emerge in an empty room where the Huge Materia is set inside a glass case that's locked up tight.
They all kneel before it, looking down at a control panel labeled with numbers. "All right," Cid sighs, brushing his fingers across the buttons. "We just gotta enter the passcode and the Huge Materia will be ours."
There's a long silence that follows, and when Charlie looks up again to see why everyone has gone quiet, it's to find both Cid and Cloud looking expectantly at her. "Don't look at me!" she protests, blushing. "I don't know the passcode!"
"Just try!" Cid urges her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
Charlie tries three different (and completely random) combinations, but none of them work. A red light at the top of the control panel flashes with the wrong passcode, and she sighs, frustrated. "It's no use. I don't know what the passcode could—"
Cid raises his eyebrows at her. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Well, I don't know if . . . it's worth a try, I suppose . . ." With trembling fingers, Charlie quickly punches in her birthday, the same code Rufus uses for all of his locked things. She doesn't really expect it to work, but the control panel's light clicks green, and the glass compartment door springs open to reveal the Huge Materia within.
"Holy shit!" Cid claps her on the back. "You did it! How'd you know?"
"I guess I just know my brother," she admits with a shy shrug. "There you go, Cloud. It's all yours."
"Great job, Charlie," he tells her with a smile, standing up to reach within the compartment, retrieving the Huge Materia and cradling it in his hands. "That's all four, isn't it?"
"That's the last one." Charlie touches the materia lightly as Cloud holds it up to her. It glows bright, a pale green color. "Let's hurry to the escape pod. We don't have much time before the rocket collides with Meteor."
Though she's loath to leave the rocket, Charlie knows that it's foolish to stay. Her precious rocket will be decimated soon, too small to do anything against Meteor, not designed as a weapon, but as a mode of transport. She leads both Cid and Cloud down the several ladders, halfway through a narrow corridor when there's a deafening boom! and a flash of light that blinds them.
Someone shoves her roughly out of the way. "Lottie, get d—argh!"
"Cid!"
When the smoke clears and Charlie regains her footing, she finds Cid lying on the ground, a large piece of sheet metal over his legs, pinning him to the ground. He struggles to free himself, but the metal weighs heavily on him. "Goddamn it," he breathes, trying to lift it off him. "It's too heavy."
Charlie tries to lift, but even with Cloud's help, it hardly moves. "Hang in there, Cid . . ." She strains her muscles as she attempts to lift with her legs, face turning red.
"Don't worry 'bout me," he tells them, reaching out to touch Charlie's wrist, preventing her from trying to free him. "You and Cloud get outta here. If you don't hurry, the rocket's gonna crash right into Meteor with you on it—"
"Don't be stupid," she snaps, jerking her wrist away from him and trying to lift the debris again. "I'm not leaving you here!"
"You're gonna be on that escape pod with us, Cid," Cloud tells him, giving Charlie a reassuring nod as they lift again. This time, the debris moves an inch, but not enough to free Cid's legs.
"You fuckin' jackass," Cid hisses at Cloud. "Take her and get the hell outta here!"
Charlie gives Cloud a piercing look. "I'm not going anywhere without Cid, so don't even try."
Cloud smiles, shaking his head. "I'm not gonna. I'm gonna do whatever I can to get you out of here, Cid."
Cid groans, tilting his head back to rest it against another oxygen tank. "You stupid son of a bitch," he growls at Cloud before looking right at Charlie. "And you . . . stubborn little brat. Leave me here to die, would you? I want you to get outta here. I don't want you to die, Lottie—"
"Oh, Gods, Cid, shut up and quit being so dramatic." Charlie rolls her eyes at him, her fingers starting to hurt from trying to pry the debris off him. She looks down at it, catching sight of a stamped number by her right hand. It's bright red, painted across the metal. "Wait a minute . . . this is . . ." She turns to look at the wreckage left behind. "Cid, this is oxygen tank number eight."
It takes him a minute to understand, but when he does, he drags a hand down his face and groans again. "Fuck. It really was malfunctioning, huh?"
Charlie purses her lips. "I guess so."
"Listen, Lottie, when you get back down there, you better apologize to Shera for me—"
"Apologize to her yourself," she tells him quickly, tired of his theatrics. She doesn't want to even think about leaving Cid behind on a rocket doomed for destruction. She refuses to be responsible for that, refuses to make that decision, refuses to leave him if that's what it's going to come down to. "We'll go together."
"No, honey . . . this is the end for me."
"Stop saying that, Cid. You're only upsetting her."
The soft voice is accompanied by the opening and closing of a door. Cid's eyes go wide when he sees who has stowed away for the launch, and Charlie blushes. "Shera?" he shouts, blinking wildly at her. "What the hell are you doin' here?"
"I decided to come along. I wanted to help you," Shera answers.
Charlie feels her anger surge. "No one told you to—" She closes her mouth abruptly before anything hateful can come spilling out of her. Even Shera seems to be waiting for something hurtful, and it's the nervous expression that makes Charlie soften. "Thank you."
"Goddamn it, Shera," Cid continues, albeit gentler than he would have before, especially as Shera kneels down beside Charlie and helps lift the debris. It's easier with three people, and Cid is able to wriggle his way free after a few seconds, rubbing his thighs and sighing. "Thanks."
Charlie takes hold of his arm, helping him to his feet, brushing the front of his jacket off. "Are you okay?"
He nods, brushing some of the debris from his hair and smiling at her. "I am now. My hero."
She blushes furiously, shrugging her shoulders.
"Come on." Shera gestures towards the escape pod with a small smile. "This way. I've made sure the escape pod is ready for flight."
"Then I'm relieved," Cid tells her, elbowing Charlie in the ribs as Shera's back is turned to them. "Say somethin' nice," he whispers gruffly in her ear.
Charlie scowls at him, but knows that Shera very probably deserves this kindness right now. "Yeah, me too. I'm relieved."
Shera looks over her shoulder at them as she opens the door that will lead towards the escape pod. "Thanks."
The escape pod is just big enough for the four of them. Cid and Charlie squeeze onto the leathery bench on one side, while Cloud and Shera sit comfortably apart from each other on the other side.
"All right, hold on, I'm going to detach the escape pod," Shera says, reaching for a small control panel by the door of the pod. "Let's hope we land somewhere easily accessible."
"Oh, haven't heard, have you, Shera?" Cid grins, looking sideways at Charlie and leaning back in his seat, hands held behind his head. "Ended up gettin' my airship back from Shinra after all."
He wants to kiss her, just like he did on the flight deck of the Shinra No. 26.
The view out the escape pod's window is phenomenal and fucking amazing, but there's something about the smile on Lottie's face that's otherworldly in its own way, a smile he hasn't seen on her face for fucking years.
Both of them are pressed against the window, able to see the infinite expanse of space that surrounds them, so black that it's almost unsettling, filled with bright-burning stars that form the constellations that Charlie was always pointing out to him when she was younger.
The sight is enough to fill her with breathless laughter, laughter that makes him smile. He wishes that the two other jackasses weren't here, just so he could tell Charlie how he feels, what he thinks, without being overheard. He wants to kiss her without making a public display of it. He wants to tell her he loves her without making a fucking fool of himself.
This is what they had dreamed of, that night he took her out to look at the stars with him in his own little hideaway a few miles from base camp. They had dreamed of going into space together, of never coming back, and he wants to tell her that he's so fucking happy that he could die right now.
Charlie turns her head to look at him, and she is so beautiful and so fucking sweet, and a fucking genius who designed a rocket with him, a rocket that made it into space, something no one else had ever accomplished before. There are tears building in her eyes, but they're happy ones, judging by the smile still glued to her face, perfect teeth and a little dimple on her left cheek.
"I don't even know what to say," she tells him hoarsely, keeping her voice low as if to keep Cloud and Shera from hearing. "I never dreamed that . . . I might be here, with you."
"Yeah," he breathes, very aware of everyone's eyes on them. Clearing his throat, feeling a flush creep up the back of his neck, Cid points towards the rocket, still making for Meteor, headed for its destruction. "So long, Shinra No. 26 . . ."
They're just about to break through the planet's atmosphere again when the rocket collides with Meteor. Cid doesn't really think it's going to do anything, given the sheer size of Meteor and their tiny rocket, but there's a massive, soundless explosion that brightens the sky and shakes the escape pod, throwing everyone around, bodies slamming into each other.
Charlie and Shera's foreheads crack when they're thrown together, and Cloud is thrown from his seat against the locked door with a grunt. Cid nearly breaks his nose against the glass window as the escape pod is pushed faster towards the looming planet. Charlie and Shera continue to groan on the floor, rubbing their bright red foreheads, the both of them looking slightly disoriented.
"Everyone okay?" Cid asks, trying to see what's happened to Meteor.
"I think so," Shera answers, pulling herself back up into her seat as the escape pod straightens out, leaving space behind them as they make for a giant body of water still miles and miles and miles below them. "Sorry, Miss Shinra."
"No, it's fine," Charlie replies, waving a flippant hand at her and sitting back down next to Cid. "And you can call me Charlie. What happened to Meteor?"
Cid sighs, pulling away from the window to collapse beside Lottie, throwing an arm over the back of the seat, letting his fingertips brush against her shoulder. "It's still there, but I didn't really expect our rocket to do shit. Looks fuckin' worse, if you ask me. Guess that's what we get for pissin' it off."
The escape pod is silent the rest of the descent, and all the sentimental feelings he had felt only minutes ago now seem unimportant. He pulls Charlie closer to him, and she refuses to look out the window again until they've touched down in the middle of the ocean.
To Charlie's surprise, Cid's house still stands when they return to Rocket Town, having been fished from the ocean by their friends aboard the Highwind.
When she voices this to him, Cid laughs. "I built my fuckin' house. You think I'd build some shitty fuckin' thing?"
Their rocket has blown out the windows, however, of all the nearby homes and shops, and some buildings don't have roofs anymore. Trees have split and branches have fallen in the middle of the roads, but the atmosphere is exciting. Everyone who witnessed the history rocket launch is talking about it with others, and reliving it by telling those who had been inside during take-off.
Cid leads them all inside his home, which he confesses has never held so many people inside before. He offers them whatever space he has for the night, and with the massive disappointment in regards to Meteor, Cloud decides that they'll stay put for the night and think of a new plan tomorrow.
They all pile into the sitting room, crowded around the television to see what's going on in Midgar. It's all old footage, she knows, because Sector Seven is still standing in the clips they show, and that doesn't escape Tifa or Barret's notice. As Barret begins his daily rant about the crimes that Shinra has committed, Charlie slips away unnoticed, sneaking into the kitchen, where Shera is putting a kettle on the stove to boil and looking through the cabinets for something to cook.
"Do you need any help?" Charlie asks carefully, watching Shera flinch at the sound of her voice. It's discouraging, but she supposes it's only natural after everything. "I should warn you, though . . . I can't cook to save my life."
"No, no, that's all right." Shera smiles over her shoulder, but it's weak and tired. "I don't mind."
Charlie nods. She should have known there was no use for her here in the kitchen. Sometimes it feels like there's no use for her anywhere, hardly able to do anything. Instead of going back into the sitting room, Charlie seats herself at the kitchen table, looking up at the lamp that swings back and forth with every gust of wind through the broken window.
She does a double-take, looking back up when it swings just the right way. Standing back up and on her toes, Charlie grabs hold of the warm lamp and plucks a tiny, silver listening device right off the inside of the lampshade. Shera watches, bewildered, as Charlie holds it up.
"What is that?" Shera asks.
"Tseng must have bugged your house when he came." She sets it down on the table, sighing. She's certain that no one is listening on the other end anymore. "I'm sorry. I never asked him to come here, I swear."
Shera nods awkwardly, turning back towards the stove and busying herself with a few boxes of pasta. "You have a very good eye, Miss Shinra."
"Tseng's been bugging my apartment for years," Charlie confesses, toying with the bug distractedly. "I suppose I'm used to it. I know all of his hiding places." They laugh softly together, but it's forced, and Charlie knows that she shouldn't beat around the bush anymore. "Listen, Shera, I . . . I am so sorry for what happened all those years ago."
"Oh, you don't have to—"
"No, I do," Charlie interrupts her. That makes Shera turn around again, wide-eyed behind those round glasses of hers, probably the same ones she wore five years ago. "I could tell you that I was forced to make that call, or that I believed it to be the right call, but really, I . . ." She hesitates, wondering if her apology will even be enough. "I just wanted to be a good daughter, even if it was at the expense of someone else's life."
Shera looks down at her feet, opening and closing her mouth for a moment before deciding not to speak. Charlie rather wishes she would.
"I just want you to know that, if I had to make that decision again, right now," she continues, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks, "I would never go through with it. It's something that has haunted me for a long time, and . . . knowing what I know now, about my father and the company . . . I should never have asked Cid to continue with the launch. I should have aborted it myself the moment I found out you were in the engine room."
There's a long silence between them, until the kettle begins to scream. Shera quickly takes it off the heat and clears her throat. "Thank you," she rasps. "But, to be honest, I never really needed an apology from you. I would have been honored to sacrifice myself for a successful launch."
"How did it feel? Being in space?" Charlie can't help ask.
Shera smiles at her, a little more genuinely. "I should be asking you. It was your dream, wasn't it?"
The words knock the wind out of her. To know that Shera will not hold this against her for the rest of their days is a weight off her chest. To know that Shera doesn't think her a murderer, doesn't think her a clone of her father or brother . . . that knowledge goes a long way, and it's so overwhelming that Charlie excuses herself before answering Shera's question, sneaking out the back door.
Cid is outside as the sun begins to set (though it hardly seems like it, with a recharged Meteor making its way closer and closer to the planet with every passing moment), smoking a cigarette and gazing wistfully at the empty launch pad, his fence collapsing and broken from the force of the blast.
Charlie clears her throat, wrapping her arms around her as goosebumps cover her bare skin. "So . . ." she begins slowly, walking up to his side and biting down on her lower lip. He still has that dreamy look about him, just like he'd been wearing in the escape pod, looking out the window and towards the distant stars. "I think I'm going to head back to the Highwind now."
The dreamy look vanishes instantly and he looks down at her. "What're you talkin' 'bout? I told you that you could stay here for the night. Did Shera fuckin' say somethin'?"
"No!" Charlie says quickly, stopping him before that thought can take hold within his brain. "No, Shera's been kind. It's just that . . ." She shifts uncomfortably upon her feet, scoffing. "I'm not going to sleep in the house that you share with another woman."
He laughs, like it's a joke. When he notices that Charlie isn't smiling, the humor vanishes from his face quick enough.
"Well, you don't have to sleep in the living room, y'know. You can sleep in my bed, if you want." He takes the last drag off his cigarette, flicking it over his property line and into the unruly grass. "With or without me. Your choice, but I'm hopin' you choose to sleep with me."
"I'm not sleeping in the same bed where you've fucked other women."
Cid's face seems to take on a range of emotions before settling on complete confusion. He blinks at her in reply before thinking of something to say. "First of all, I don't think I've ever heard you say fuck before—"
Charlie flushes. "I've said fuck before—"
He slumps his shoulders, still smiling in a way that makes her feel as if she's being mocked. She can't bear it. She's never liked sharing a bed with Rufus where he had fucked other women, though he was always more than accommodating about it. It feels degrading, like she's just the same as all those women.
Maybe she is, even if she doesn't want to believe it.
Do you want to end up like one of those slum girls? Do you know what they do for a living? her father told her once, when she was just a girl, dreaming of something other than the company, dreaming of space and the stars.
Do you want to be like one of those whores your brother is so fond of? her father told her once, after hearing about her little crush on Angeal.
A whore, just like your mother, he told her once, after catching her in bed with Rufus, the night she watched her brother nearly get beaten to death on the floor of his bedroom.
Cid frowns, bringing her out of her reverie. "What do you want me to do 'bout that, honey? I've changed my sheets since then, if that's what you're so concerned about."
"I think I just want to go back to the Highwind."
"Okay," he says after a minute. When she takes a step away, he takes a step forward. "I'll go with you."
"You should stay here. It's your house, and I wouldn't put it past Yuffie to go through all your things."
Charlie wants him to come, truly, but their extended absence would surely be remarked upon, and she doesn't want to rub that fact in Reeve's face. She'll have time to talk about the rocket tomorrow, and Cid will be able to tell their friends for her if he stays here tonight.
"I'm just feeling kind of tired," she adds, smiling weakly at him. His prolonged silence is making her nervous. "So, I guess I'll . . . see you in the morning."
"Yeah." He runs a hand through his hair. "Good-night, kiddo."
The Highwind feels impossibly big when she boards, and that's speaking as someone who's been in space.
The crew members are all gathered together in the Operation's Room, sharing drinks and stories. They call her in and convince her to take a shot of whiskey with them before she calls it quits, making for her bedroom.
Charlie locks herself within the room, the silence oppressive. For a brief moment, as she passes by the window that frames Meteor perfectly in the sky, she wonders what it might be like to fling herself from that window. She wonders how people might react to finding Charlotte Shinra's broken body on the ground. She wonders if people would celebrate. She wonders if Rufus would cry for her.
She should feel happier. She accomplished her dream, all with her captain at her side. She had made it to space, had been among the stars like her mother used to dream of.
And all she can think about is how much has changed since the first failed launch. All she can think about is how Rufus tried to execute her, how Reeve had finally voiced his disdain for Cid, how Midgar is no longer home.
The last thing she wants is to ruin Cid's enthusiasm about what happened today, so she lies awake for hours, watching the sun go down and the moon come up, wondering what her friends are doing, wondering if they're talking about her, if they think she's run away to steal her airship from them.
Around midnight, she finally starts to drift off. Her eyes are growing heavy when there's a soft knock on the door.
She's infinitely grateful for the company, no matter who is on the other side of the door. She would be even more grateful if it's a crew member holding an extra shot in his hand for her.
"I'm coming," she calls out, feeling under-dressed in her shorts and tank top, cracking the door just enough to keep most of her body hidden. "Oh—"
"Hi, Lottie." Cid doesn't look drunk, which is the only reason she thinks he might have come here at midnight. He looks like he dressed in the dark, as well. His shirt might be on backwards, his jacket thrown over it, and his pants are slightly crooked. "Did I wake you?"
"No."
"Good." He rests his forehead against the door frame. "Can I come in?"
"I'm not dressed for the occasion."
"That's all right, honey. I've seen you in a lot less before. Now, you gonna let me in?"
Charlie smiles shyly. "Okay."