Wow, call me butter cause I'm on a roll! -dodges bricks- What? Well, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this...cause if I did, Cid fans would probably hurt me...
"Why are we doing this again?" Cid asked, or rather, whined, to Aldrick as they drove to the mall.
"Your mother wanted you to wear something nice for Christmas. I believe she wanted you to go out and buy pants and a shirt."
"...But why are we doing this?"
Aldrick couldn't help but smile. "Your mother doesn't trust you alone. Something about 'that son of mine would grab the first thing he saw. Maybe you can try and get him to get something nice.' Or, something like that."
Rolling his eyes, Cid pulled into the parking lot for the mall, searching for a parking place, as Aldrick felt his angel charm through his windbreaker. Since he got it, he had never taken it off except to shower, and was growing more and more fond of it as time went by.
Finally parking, the two teens got out of the car. Aldrick, surprised the weather wasn't colder, took off his jacket and tied it around his waist, which caused a laugh from Cid. "What? It was colder around winter where I lived last."
"Really? Where'd you live?"
"Twilight Town."
Nodding in response, Cid quickly pulled out a cigarette and his lighter, and as he lit up, Aldrick noticed something around the lacrosse player's neck.
"...Are you wearing your goggles?"
Blowing out smoke, Cid grinned. "Of course! If I didn't wear them, I would feel like something's missing."
Aldrick smiled as he shook his head, and noticed they had finally reached the entrance to the department store. "Looks like you have to put it out."
"So it seems." Taking one last puff out of the cancer stick, Cid threw the butt into the outside ashtray, and the two teens stepped inside...right into the perfume department.
Aldrick immediately scrunched his face as the combination of about fifty different perfumes assaulted his nasal cavity. Quickly rushing through it, with Cid close behind, he made his way into the men's department.
Taking in a few deep breaths of fresh air, Cid laughed as he said "Was it really that bad?"
"...You have no idea..."
Chuckling to himself, Cid sifted through dress shirts, to which Aldrick always stuck out his tongue in disgust. One shirt actually made Aldrick burst out laughing, causing Cid to ask "What's wrong with this one?"
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Aldrick could only say "You can't pull off pink...trust me."
Getting fed up with searching, he said "Fine! You find something!"
The gray-eyed teen started his search, and stopped when he found a sky blue button-up shirt. /This would go great with his eyes...Stop that!\ After his own mental scolding, he handed the shirt over to the lacrosse player. "That should be good. I say get some dark pants to go with it, and you should be fine."
Sighing out of relief, Cid took the shirt and headed over to the pants, quickly finding a pair of black dress slacks. "Alright, I'll go try these on. Oh, and hold onto these for me." Cid took off his goggles and tossed them to the teen. The throw went over Aldrick, so he jumped and grabbed them, only to have his necklace catch on one of the clothing racks and break off his neck, and the teen watched as it fell to the floor.
"Oh no!" Bending down to pick it up, he immediately noticed that the clasp had broken.
"Take to the jewelry place. They should be able to fix it. And while you're there, I'll try these on." Cid said in a calm voice.
Nodding, with the broken necklace in one hand and Cid's goggles in the other, Aldrick left the older teen and headed over to the jewelry department, and met with the woman at the counter. Her short black hair bounced and heart-shaped face seemed to radiate happiness. Her name tag read 'Rinoa'.
"How can I help you today?"
Aldrick placed the necklace on the counter, and Rinoa looked carefully at the clasp. "Hmm...looks like you caught it on something...but it should be an easy fix. Wait one moment."
As the woman walked away, Aldrick browsed the selection they had out of boredom, when he eyes rested on a charm of two crossed lacrosse sticks. The teen's mind immediately thought of Cid. /Technically, I didn't get him a Christmas present yet...\
"Here you go!" Rinoa said happily as she handed Aldrick the necklace and a receipt. "Anything else I can do for you?"
Taking another moment to think, Aldrick nodded and pointed out the lacrosse themed charm. "I want that."
Taking out her keys, she opened the display case and pulled out the charm, along with a chain, and placed them in a bag as Aldrick replaced his necklace. Handing the teen the bag and another receipt, Aldrick paid the woman and started to head back to the men's department when he ducked down after an extremely large bang.
"Alright, we'll do this quick and easy. Stay calm, and do what we say, and you just might walk out of here with all your body parts." It was a woman's voice who said this, and Aldrick could only think one thing. /They're robbing the store?!\
"Everyone stay where you are. Any movement might not go over well." This voice was an older man.
Aldrick's mind was screaming at the teen to do what the man said and stay still, but his body decided 'let's move towards Cid, since I can't see them, they obviously can't see me.'
His head cursing his feet, Aldrick quietly shifted through the clothing racks, and was almost to the men's department when he reached the aisle. The one piece of open area where they had the best chance to see him, but, by the sounds of it, there were only two people, and they were by the front of the store.
Heading into the back, and after taking a deep breath, Aldrick tried to quickly dash across, only to hear a "Hey! You! Stop where you are!" Stopping in fear, the teen stood up and looked at who called him out, only to see a young man in black, a stocking over his head. /So...there were three people? Damn...I should've stayed still.\
The young burglar sauntered over, gun in hand, demanding "Give me the bag and your necklace."
Aldrick clutched the bag and his necklace in the same hand, shaking his head. "No...this is a present for someone...and this was a present for me...you won't have them." he said quietly.
The young man stopped walking, but still had his gun trained on the teen. "What was that?"
"...You won't have them..."
"I see. Then I'm sorry to say goodbye. Well, not really."
Aldrick closed his eyes, heard a bang, and started to fall...to his right/But...he shot me...didn't he?\ As he landed, Aldrick barely opened his eyes, seeing the blur of the young man, then two more blurs coming up to him.
"You dumbass! You screwed us up!" The woman's voice from earlier.
"I knew you shouldn't have had a gun. Now we have to get out of here."
As they left, Aldrick could hear the young man call out "You got lucky, Chickenwuss!"
Sitting up and patting himself down, Aldrick found no blood, no hole, no pain. But...didn't he get shot at? Looking to his left, the blood drained from his face as he saw Cid facedown on the ground, a pool of blood growing larger from beneath him.
"Cid!!!" Aldrick cried as he rushed over to his fallen friend and turned him over, revealing the gunshot wound and a smirking Cid.
"Heh...you idiot...why didn't you give up the stuff..."
"It's special to me! Please be okay!" Taking off his jacket, Aldrick used it as a type of bandage, and placed it over the wound, applying pressure to stem the flow of blood.
Cid face winced as pressure came onto the wound, but his smirk was still there. "Damn...that really hurts..."
"Cid! Please, stay with me!"
A little chuckle escaped the older teen. "I'm okay...but...a little tired...I'm just gonna...take a small nap..."
"No, Cid! Stay awake! Please!"
Closing his eyes, Cid's body suddenly went limp, and Aldrick's hands left the wound and went to Cid's face, smearing blood. "Cid, wake up. Please. Wake up! I need you, Cid! Wake up! If you don't, I'll start cutting myself again! I don't want you to leave me! Cid!!"
Cid didn't move, and Aldrick started to cry as the paramedics came and put Cid on a stretcher. Aldrick stayed by Cid's side as they left the department store. It had started to rain, but the gray-eyed teen didn't care. As Cid was put in the ambulance, Aldrick started to follow, only to be stopped by the EMT. "Are you a family member?"
Catching a glimpse of the name Leon from the name tag, Aldrick shook his head. "But I'm his friend. I need to get on there with him."
The EMT shook his head, his brown hair matted down from the rain. "I'm sorry, but only family members and spouses can ride in the ambulance."
Aldrick's heart seemed to break. "But he's special to me! How would you feel if your best friend was shot and they didn't want to let you ride with him!? Are you that heartless!?"
A look of pity and remorse crossed over the EMT's ice-colored eyes, but he shook is head. "I'm sorry, but it's protocol."
Aldrick tried to get in anyway, but was stopped as two police officers held him back. The doors to the ambulance closed, and the vehicle drove off.
Once the police officers had let go, Aldrick fell to his knees and into a puddle, the rain beating on his head as thunder boomed above. Gripping his bag and Cid's goggles tightly, Aldrick stood up and ran. He ran as fast as he could towards the hospital, and made his way into the emergency room lobby. Dripping wet, he walked up to the front desk saying "Cid...Highwind..." as he tried to catch his breath.
The receptionist looked at her papers, saying "He's in critical condition, and they're working on him now."
Nodding, Aldrick went into the waiting area. Placing the bag with Cid's Christmas gift in it on the seat next to him, he clutched Cid's goggles tightly, praying to whatever higher power, be it man or woman, big or small, to save Cid.
To be continued...
Wait for the next chapter before you yell at me for Cid getting shot...please? I don't wann get hurt...I have a low pain tolerance...
Anyways, yes, Leon is an EMT...basically a doctor...I'll hint and LeonxCloud later on, don't you worry. Review, please!