Life as a SOLDIER

Disclaimer: …thanks for the reviews…and…uh…thanks.

A/N: …yeah. Uh… Yeah. Enter Cid Highwind. God, we're running out of things to say up here… -anime sweat drop- Let's continue.
Chapter Eighteen: Enter Cid Highwind, Shinra's (ex)Finest Astronomer!
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Shachoo sat at his desk, writing up a report on the success of the BERSERK program when the door opened. "Uh, sir, the secretary said you'd see me now?" A blonde-haired man of about 25 years old entered the room.

"I sure do, Highwind. Take a seat, please."

The man took a seat across from shachoo's desk, twiddling his hands nervously. He knew that shachoo only talked like that when he was downright furious.

"Well, well, I must say, Highwind, I expected much better from you. Much, much better. But apparently, your whole heart wasn't in the project, was it?"

"Of course it was! I wanted to do that project very much!"

"Then tell me why we spent over twenty-million gil on this project, only for you to fall asleep?"

"Uhm…" he stalled, scratching the back of his head.

"You're a disgrace! A complete imbecile!" Shachoo stood up and paced the room. "Have you any idea how much twenty-million gil is?"

"A lot, sir?"

"It's a DAMN lot!" yelled shachoo, pounding the desk with a fist. "A goddamn lot, Highwind! And guess what that means, Highwind."

"I'm fired?"

"That's right! You. Are. Fired. Now get the hell out of my sight before I decide to use you for tests."

"Aah! I'm leaving right away, sir!" he sprinted for the door, and stopped suddenly, looking back. "But, sir, what about my paycheck?"

"OUT!"

"Aaah!" yelled the man, and he hurried out of the room with his arms flying above him. He hopped into his car and drove away from Shinra before shachoo changed his mind.

Shachoo shook his head. "What an idiot…" he sighed. "Twenty-million gil on that space project… how could he get drunk the night before…? Bah, no matter…" he sighed and sat down again. "…huh, how nice, I took care of two annoying problems today: I successfully saw the perfected BERSERK program and got rid of an annoying nuisance. What joy…"

Meanwhile, at the 7th Heaven Bar…

Tifa opened up her e-mail and smiled. There was one unread message from Cloud.

To: fists (underscore) of (underscore) fury (at-symbol) yahoo (dot) com

From: cs (at-symbol) yahoo (dot) com

I'll make sure to watch out for myself in Midgar. I can't wait to see you either! Cloud Strife

"It's been a while since we last e-mailed each other," reflected Tifa. She was about to type up a response when the door flew open. "Hah!" she yelped in surprise. "Ah, sir, um, the bar isn't open yet," she said to the man who entered the bar.

"It's not?" asked the man as he sat down at the bar. "But, I really need a drink… when does the bar open?"

"It opens in another hour, sir… Bad day?" she asked.

"The worst…" sighed the man, slumping his head onto the bar. "I got fired from a high-paying job for a stupid mistake I made…"

"Wow, that is terrible," said Tifa sympathetically. "Maybe I'll get you a drink early, and you can tell me about it."

"Thanks," mumbled the man with a long sigh.

"Here, drink this, it's a bottle of Chateaux '90.."

"Is that okay?" asked the man as he took the bottle.

"It's plenty okay, I have over a million of those. Now let's talk. I'm all ears." Tifa leaned on the bar to listen to the mans story.

The man went on to explaining that he took a job at Shinra Company as the astronomer, but the night before, he got drunk pretty bad on a dare, and fell asleep in the spaceship, and was stuck asleep for a whole year. "And now… I'm just some useless bum off the street looking for a job…"

"You need a job, I got a job for you," said Tifa, standing up and pulling out a waiter's outfit. "I need someone to help me out here anyway."

"Wow! Are you serious?"

"I sure am. You seem helpful, and I need someone older to help me take care of this bar anyway."

"Sweet! This is like a gift from thou Lady Luck! O Lady Luck, thank you!" yelled the man.

Tifa stared at the man weirdly and flipped him a contract. "Here, just sign this and you'll be signed up to work."

The man signed his name with a flourish. "Here you go," he said happily.

Tifa read the signature and let out a gasp of surprise. "Cid Highwind!" she exclaimed. "You mean you are the Cid Highwind! I thought you were just some bum for real, but you're… Wow!"

"What, you didn't know?" He drew himself to full height. "I am Cid Highwind, Shinra's (ex)Finest Astronomer!"

"Whoa… Uh, wow, that's cool," said Tifa. "Anyway, go get some sleep, I'll let you stay at the bar, okay? You can have the room across from the guest room."

"Sure thing," said Cid cheerfully, and he trottled upstairs to go get some sleep.

"…the Cid Highwind," repeated Tifa. "Amazing, I always wanted to go to outer space… too bad he fell asleep throughout the whole journey otherwise he could tell me about it…. I gotta tell Cloud about this!"

To: cs (at-symbol) yahoo (dot) com

From: fists (underscore) of (underscore) fury (at-symbol) yahoo (dot) com

Hey, Cloud, I got something exciting to tell you! I'm sure you've heard of him: Cid Highwind, the Shinra's (ex)Finest Astronomer has come to work at my bar! He got fired from Shinra apparently, and was looking for a job so I decided to give him one. I need someone older to help me manage by uncle's bar anyway.

What about you, Cloud? I bet many new good things have happened to you! Remember to tell me, all right? Okay, bye!

Tifa Lockhart

Meanwhile, over at Shinra Company…

Good things weren't exactly how Cloud would have defined the times he was going through now. The doctor was devastated to see the damage Cloud had sustained in that uneventful battle. "These are terrible wounds!" he exclaimed. "Oh, ay me!"

"You can cure him, right?" asked Zack.

"I can, sure… Oh, just lay him onto the bed, I can cure this… Not the first time I cured wounds this bloody…"

Zack laid Cloud onto the infirmary bed. "I want to stay by him," he said.

"Are you sure? I'm going to have to bring in a lot of blood to make up for what he lost."

Zack hesitated, then shook his head. "No, I'll stay by Cloud! I can overcome my weakness to stay by him! He needs me!"

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "If you say so," he said. "but curing him will be a hard thing to do, the stigma might make it near impossible…"

"It matters not!" said Zack. "If he needs any blood, just tell me! I'll give all I have!"

"Okay, I'll hold you to that," said the doctor. "Just give me space, I can cure this… I hope."

Zack heaved a shuddering sigh, sitting on the bed next to Cloud. "I hope he'll be okay…"

The door opened and Zack's two friends came in. "Dude, we came as soon as we heard! Is Cloud okay!"

"I'm… not sure," said Zack, glancing at Cloud. "The doctor says he'll do what he can, but the stigma…"

"Stigma?" asked the other SOLIDER.

"Yeah, remember, I told you about it, didn't I?"

"In passing," said one SOLDIER. "But you never told us in detail."

"Okay, I'll give you a brief explanation. The stigma, or 'geostigma' for scientific terms, is some kind of infection that effect the mind and body. It fills you with pain all the while making you remember many memories, happy or sad."

"Oh," said the other SOLDIER.

"So it's a bad infection?" asked one SOLDIER.

Zack sighed sadly. "I'm afraid it is…. I caused it too, I erased Cloud's programming once…"

"Wha? Zack, you deleted someone's program? You know that you weren't supposed to do that!"

"I know that! But I… I had no choice, I caused an error, and it was too complicated to fix…"

"What kind of error?"

"I don't know, but it caused Cloud to go insane…"

"Oh, gee, we're sorry, Zack! We didn't mean to bring it up!"

"No, no, its okay, I don't blame you or anyone else…" he glanced at Cloud with sad eyes. "But I'll never forgive myself for putting him through it all…"

"Zack, buddy…" said the two SOLDIERs.

"Zack, if you're gonna really give your own blood to him, stick out your wrist, I'm gonna need two needle fulls," said the doctor, pulling out two needles .

"Of course!" yelled Zack, holding out his arms dramatically. "Take all that you need! All of it!"

"…I said I only needed two needle fulls," said the doctor, staring at Zack weirdly. "Don't worry, I'm not hurting you."

"Oh, okay," said Zack with relief, taking care to not look at the blood-filled needles.

"He should be okay in about a day or so," said the doctor, now applying the two blood-filled needles to Cloud. "You can rest easy now."

"The stigma won't hurt him throughout the process, will it?" asked one SOLDIER anxiously.

"No, it won't hurt him, it hasn't hurt him so far. As long as Hojo-sama doesn't hear about this… I mean, his perfected clone of Sephiroth beaten to a pulp… Bad news has always made Hojo-sama a little eee…"

Suddenly Cloud shot up. "Aah!" he yelled, holding his left arm. "Stop that!"

Everyone stared at Cloud. "Uh… How are you feeling?" asked the doctor.

Cloud glared at the doctor. "Where am I! I'll take you all on together!"

"Whoa, Cloud!" exclaimed Zack, covering his mouth. "It's just us, Cloud. See? Me, and my two friends, and the doc."

He uncovered Cloud's mouth. "Where's Sephy!" Cloud demanded.

Zack blinked. "Uh, Sephy is in his room, gloating over his victory…"

"Victory?" repeated Cloud, looking confused now.

"…you don't remember," said Zack slowly, exchanging glances with the two SOLDIERs and the doctor.

"Remember? Remember what?" asked Cloud looking around. "What's going on? Why am I in the infirmary?"

"Cloud, you were… brutally beat up by Sephiroth, and now you're here recovering in the infirmary…" Zack trailed off, and walked over to Cloud and hugged him.

"…?" asked Cloud, returning the hug awkwardly.

"Well!" said the doctor, looking a mix of relieved and confused. "I'm glad you recovered so quickly. You're not feeling dizzy or nauseous, are you?"

"I'm feeling a bit woozy," admitted Cloud.

"Do you want to stay here longer or do you want to be discharged?" asked the doctor, placing a hand on Cloud's forehead.

Cloud glanced sideways at Zack, who was watching anxiously. He blushed lightly and said to the doctor, "No, it--it's all right, I'll leave now. Thanks for everything."

"No problem," said the doctor walking back to his desk shaking his head. "I'll never guess or figure out how a SOLDIER's immune system works… I should've been a pediatrician…"

Cloud looked up at Zack shyly. "You… You were here the whole time, Zack?"

"Of course!" answered Zack cheerfully. "I'd never abandon a friend in need, Cloud. You should know that by now."

"It's true," said one SOLIDER.

"Now can we move on to lunch?" asked the other SOLIDER.

"Sure," laughed Zack as Cloud hopped off of the infirmary bed. "I hear we're gonna have yummy things for lunch today! And a good hearty lunch will do you good, Cloud!"

"Sure, I'm starving," said Cloud happily, and he and the three of them hurried off to the cafeteria to enjoy their instant macaroni and cheese lunch special.

Meanwhile, at the 7th Heaven Bar…

"Who's this?" asked Cid, pointing at a picture frame on Tifa's desk.

"Oh, that's my best friend Cloud," answered Tifa cheerfully, seeing the picture Cid was pointing at.

"Hey, he looks like a SOLDIER," commented Cid. "The outfit certainly looks it."

"That's because Cloud is a SOLDIER," answered Tifa. She picked up the photo, smiling at the Cloud in the photo fondly. "But he's still my best friend ever… We grew up in Nibelheim, even though we never saw each other much. I miss him so much, but he'll become stronger for me… he promised me."

"If you asked me, I'd say you have a small crush on Cloud," said Cid in a teasing tone, tying a red bow tie to his waiter outfit.

"I--I don't…" stammered Tifa, hurriedly replacing the photo back onto the desk. "No, no, he's just a friend! Really, and besides, he already likes somebody else."

"Does he now? Who's the girl?"

Tifa hesitated. This Cid was a funny guy, and he was easy to get along with, and very agreeable, but what would he say if he knew that Tifa's best friend was bisexual? Ah, I'll let him know anyway, thought Tifa indifferently. "Well, the one Cloud likes isn't a girl per se."

"No?" asked Cid. "How can the person Cloud likes be anything but a girl?"

"It's… well, different. You see, Cloud's a bit bi, and he likes this guy friend of his called Zack. They're good friends too, and both are in SOLDIER."

"Wait, wait, Cloud is a guy, and he likes a guy named Zack? His best guy friend Zack?" Tifa nodded. "…huh," said Cid. "Odd world. You know," he added, "Cloud kinda reminds me of a Chocobo I once saw."

"Does he now?" asked Tifa. "Yeah, many people say that Cloud reminds them of a Chocobo. I wonder if it's his spikey hair and his blue eyes…?"

"Must be," said Cid. "Back south where I used to live, we had millions of Chocobo like these running around all over the place. I love Chocobo, but the Chocobo I had died a long time ago. He was a very old Chocobo, he dyed after 72 long years of living! It was my grandfather's Chocobo, my father's Chocobo, and when he came to me, it was my Chocobo."

"What was his name?" asked Tifa.

"Cid," answered Cid. "We name every single male in our family Cid. I happen to be Cid VII."

"Ah," said Tifa. "That's interesting… Well, we'll have more orders to look through, and plenty of dishes to wash. You're shaping up to be a fine bartender," said Tifa.

"Alright!" said Cid excitedly, and the two of them went downstairs to take care of bar affairs and so on.
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Heh, heh. I thought Cid was a bit funny, so I decided to introduce him into the story. He won't be a main character, but he'll be good comic relief.
Kazooie: That's a surprise, Fairy Red HATES comic relief.
So what? Even if I don't like it, some readers might, and I have to respect that!
Kazooie: Whatever.
Huh. Anyway, I'm glad your still reading this… Blah, I say that every chapter… Hmm… uh… BYE! SEE YOU IN A LITTLE BIT! AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! Okay? Bye!