Disclaimer: I own nothing, Square Enix and Sega do. (Try and pick out what Sega owns)

Cid/Shera maybe more later on.

Summary: He had been afraid to tell her, all of them, what he really was. But now he has to...

Rated M for language

Golden Wings

Chapter 3

Over the next few months, both Cid and Shera were as busy as hell with the preparations for their move to Rafzakael out in the middle of the boiling, Sal-Kar Dessert. The small house with the white picket fence was sold early on, easy enough to find a buyer of a house of a hero.

All ties with the rocket building crew were cut with quite a few complaints but as soon as Cid told them to "get stuffed, it's our lives not yours!" and gave them some new blueprints for an airship to get them started on their own, the complaints were soon withdrawn.

They both told all their close friends in town what was happening.

At the local pub

"We gunna mish ya, Sid," slurred the drunken stool warmer next to him.

"I know Harry," Cid stated, absently nodding his head. "You've said that about twenty times now."

He hadn't touched his now warming beer and after three long hours of trying to explain to eight plastered men, with the help of the grizzly bartender, Teddy, exactly why he was leaving without mentioning where he was going or what he was going to be doing there. Only about 2 minutes ago had he finally had some success in getting the drunken faces to understand what he was saying.

Luckily enough none of his amigos had challenged him to stay and not leave them alone in the ditch in the ground they called Rocket Town. For that alone he was thankful. He was expecting outbursts from them and yet none of them had done anything but say "oh... good luck with that" and turn back to their drinks.

So maybe he was wrong about these people, these 'friends' of his that had never gone against him. As he remembered it, they had never done anything but agree with him, but maybe they had just done that not to get yelled at because they knew they couldn't win.

Oh well...

He remembered his friends from when he was at Rafzakael with his parents. They had challenged him. They had argued with him. They had tried and often succeeded to win against him. They had laughed at him and with him, not just because they thought they should to get on his good side like the drunks sitting in front of him did. AND they genuinely enjoyed his company.

They were real friends not just suck ups from his favourite pub.

Funnily enough they still found ways of keeping in touch. Things no one else would notice unless you knew what it was. Letters in the mail with addresses that made no sense and barely noticeable cuts in rocks at the side of his hanger that could almost seem like words but not quite. Secret ways of communication that Cid's father had taught them during their training with Rafzakael.

But all that wouldn't matter for much longer because the next morning Cid would take the Tiny Bronco, load up all they were taking and fly his beautiful wife and himself to the very building he had been born and raised in, in the middle of the Sal-Kar Dessert. Where his parents were and soon his future would be.

Rafzakael HQ.

At Rafzakael base airstrip

The Tiny Bronco landed on the dusty runway of the massive airstrip. Rafzakael cared not for its own secrecy, but still, only the biggest, richest companies of Gaia ever knew about the organisation.

Climbing out of the small plane and turning back to help his wife climb out, Cid thought about the huge step they had just made and wondered "maybe telling the AVALANCHE gang would have been a good idea," not saying it aloud as it may have worried Shera.

Once he had their entire luggage in hand he turned to look at the massive, silver coloured building that was to be called home from now on. He saw two blobs of colour walking towards them and broke out into a grin when he recognised them. His parents.

"Shera, you see those people there?" she nodded in response.

"Well they're my parents. The big one is my old man and the little one is my ma."

The blobs had quickly grown into complete figures and for the first time Shera had seen a creature that had the same untamed look that she had seen every time she looked at her husband's face.

The blond, shirtless, lycan stopped advancing and the dark haired lady beside him halted her movements also . The beasts head cocked to the side and his savage looking face suddenly broke out into a smile.

"Cidney!" his gruff, deep voice bellowed out of his hairy snout. He reached over and grabbed his son's luggage, hefted them into a tall pile he held with one arm and pulled him into a rough embrace.

"You stupid son of a bitch. If you hadn't gone and met your wife, I would box you round ya ears for bein' such a stupid fuck for leavin' this place."

"Yes Dad," Cid exclaimed pushing his father's strong hand off of his shoulder and moved to hug his mother.

His father then looked over to Shera and cocked an eyebrow. "Well Cid, gonna introduce us or what?"

"Oh, yeah. Mum, Dad this is my beautiful wife, Shera," he gestured to her with his left hand. "Shera, these are my parents, Hal and Nic."

"I'm pleased to meet you," Shera held out her hand to Cid's parents.

"Likewise," the beast named Hal grunted taking her hand. Cid's mother, Nic then stepped forward and shook her hand too.

"It's a pleasure to meet someone going through the same thing I am," Nic said with a short laugh. "Not that it's a bad thing."

"Enough chit chat. We're out here in the stinken dessert, let's get in that big building over there and put you in a married suite before someone gets hired, eh?" Hal's loud voice boomed as he turned and walked back to the Rafzakael building. Cid hung his head for a moment and made to follow the beast in front of him and the two women followed suit.

"Yo, Cid! You ain't hidin' from any dick head here. True colours are much more preferred here." With those words Cid shifted his body into the larger wolf-like form Shera had first seen a few months ago. His head turned back to glance at her and smiled.

"Welcome to your new home."