If Misery Loves Company

Chapter 21

Resolution

By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Being that I'd slept in my own bed for a full night, the next morning I was feeling better than I had in a long damn time. I also had the joy of waking up to the smell of Shera cooking my breakfast, making it all that much sweeter.

I had a shower then wandered out to have my food waiting for me on the table. After having been cooked for by Shera for the last several years, eating the MREs that we had on the airship was nearly poisonous to me. I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get what I'm saying.

Shera was quiet, and I was as well. On my end, I was trying to figure out how I was going to work everything out, and for her… hell, I never knew what she was thinking. Maybe she was just dreading that I had to leave again.

Sure enough, I should have left that morning right after breakfast, but I didn't. Instead, I sort of just killed time around the house, fixing a few small things. I'd always been good at procrastinating on some level, and this was a showcase of that skill.

You were supposed to be getting on with saving the world.

I knew that but it was also possibly the last time I was ever going to see Shera. As much as I wanted to be able to come back and do what I should have done a long time ago, the odds were pretty heavy.

And unlike pretty boy Cloud and his virtual super powers, I was just a middle aged, fairly normal man.

Still, the need to succeed was there. Even if I didn't live, I had to see to it that the planet was spared, otherwise, Shera would die, right? I had to do it for her if nothing else.

As I sat eating lunch, now several hours late to getting on my way, I came to my realization. If I survived, no, rather, after we were done with our mission, I was going to come home and pick up where I had intended to after the launch.

Had it gone right.

After having my fill, I turned my eyes over to her. "Shera…"

She looked up to me with an expression that said she already knew what I was going to say. "Yes?"

It broke my heart, but I had to do it. "I gotta get goin'."

Shera got up and came around the table. "Cid… I know you can't promise me anything, but…"

I couldn't help but pull myself up and take her into my arms. "I'm gonna make it through this. That's the only way I get to be with ya, right?"

With a small affirmative sound, she nodded.

Keeping my tone light, I went further. "Well then, I'll do it. Hell, I've beaten the odds this far."

"Just… be careful," she whispered.

Having her that close was getting to me again, though I didn't pull away for a few minutes. Eventually I grabbed my coat and then took Shera's hand, to have her walk out with me.

Outside I whistled and the chocobo I'd ridden home came running. As much as I wasn't a fan of the birds, this one had been good and I'd never had to tie him up once. I grabbed my saddle and bridle from the porch and got him fixed up right quick. That done, I turned my attention back to Shera, holding her again. "Now, y'all are gonna stay in that house until I get back, right? God knows what sorta shit's gonna fall from the sky in the next few days."

"Okay," she said, her voice wavering a little.

There was no way I could stop myself from kissing her again. Like the only other time we'd done that, she gave in immediately, making this damn sexy purring noise. That got right to me.

Still, I knew I'd already pushed it by staying as long as I had and reluctantly, I pulled away and got on my bird. At first, I just rode away, but before long, I stopped. I'd seen the tears in her eyes, and I needed to reassure her that things were going to be all right. "Shera?"

She looked at me, a little surprised. "Yes?"

"I love ya." I was able to say it without any hesitation at all, and it felt great, but I really only said it in the hopes that I'd get the response I'd still been waiting to hear.

I got that smile from her, and she replied, sounding very sure, "I love you too, Cid."

Trying to not act like a giddy school girl for having heard that finally, I went on. "Oh, an' one other thing…"

"Yes?" she asked, taking one small step closer.

My cheeks burned, but I had to. "Remember when I told y'all that I was gonna teach ya to fly?"

Shera nodded.

I'd hoped beyond hope that she knew what I really meant with that, if not, I needed to clarify a little. "I meant it." I faced away from her and toward the direction I needed to go. "When I get home, I'm gonna make ya an honest woman an' we'll get to makin' them kids we were talkin' about a while ago."

Something like a squeak or a yelp came out of her, but I didn't stick around to have any further discussion on it. Instead, I rode as fast as I could back toward the ship. Once again, I wasn't running from her, I was getting shit done so I could be back with her sooner.

It took another twelve hour ride to get to the ship. I got onboard around midnight unnoticed. The only people around were Cloud and Tifa and they'd chosen, so it seemed, to camp on the ground. I didn't bother them, they seemed to be having a moment and I was too sore from my ride to really want any company anyway. As a result, I locked myself in my room and tried to sleep. Mind you, it didn't work too well by virtue of my nerves eating at me. Not so much my worry over what we were going to get into the next day, but moreover about marrying Shera when I got home.

If she would actually go through with it. I'd hoped she would, but there was fear there.

When I could see the sun come up through the small window in my room, I got ready for what was to come. I lit up a cigarette and stepped out of my room, just in time to see Barrett emerge from his. "Hey! Ya came back last night, too?"

He rattled his metal arm a little and gave a nod. "Yeah, I did… Hell, man, if I'd known you'd come back too I woulda come to your room for a game of cards or somethin'."

I had to laugh. Barrett and I had spent a fair amount of time doing just that and drinking. Sometimes, it was just good to have the camaraderie of another guy my own age. Of course, there was also Vincent, but he was technically, I guess, a lot older than us. He didn't like card games, I figured. I'll even admit, that as scared as I was of the feller, there was a time or two I did make the effort of trying to get him to join Barrett and me.

He wasn't into it. Not that he was rude with his refusals, he wasn't, he just, well, as he put it, "I have far too much on my mind, at present, to partake in such frivolities."

Any other man had ever used the word 'frivolities' around me, and I would have pegged him as a queer. I wouldn't do that to Vincent. Creepy and all he may have been, he'd earned my respect by that point. He'd honestly saved my ass a time or two. Can't fault him there.

Either way, Barrett and I headed to the bridge together, to see that Cloud and Tifa had come back inside together.

Once Tifa found out that we'd been around for a while, she seemed terribly embarrassed that someone might have seen something. Now while I hadn't assumed before that she and Cloud would have done the deed or such, with the way she acted right then…

I knew damn good and well the two of them had gotten it on the night before under my ship. Damn kids.

It wasn't long before the rest of the group showed up, even Yuffie. I'd figured that if ANYONE would have bailed for good it would have been that immature snot, but no, she was there, too. Which meant that she'd be barfing on my ship again…

Even my crewmembers returned, despite me having ordered them to all go home and not return. I'd figured that I could get the ship there on my own without risking their lives further, but they'd stayed.

That's loyalty right there. Where the ship went, they were going to follow. Great guys, they really were.

With everyone onboard, I decided to pull out the stops and put the Highwind's boosters to use, speeding up our flight considerably. We made it to the North Crater in record time, being well before noon when we landed.

It was now or never.