A day later…

"Cid."

The former flight jockey glanced up from his frenzied typing at the computer, still nursing a headache from the magic Merlin had hit him with. Headaches always made him grumpy. Cleaning up all that paper from the printer had not been fun in the least, either. "What's up?"

Leon folded his arms across his chest, looking every bit the stoic, calm, don't-ever-BS-me team leader he was. "You're on patrol duty with me tonight."

Cid swiveled around, twiddling with his toothpick in confusion. "Whuh-? Now wait jes' a cotton-pickin' minute! Who says so?"

Leon folded his arms. "I do. Get your spear. You're the only one able enough to stay focused on the job right now," he said, "and I need some backup."

Cid quirked an eyebrow. "How so?"

A long-suffering sigh came from Leon's chest, and he rubbed the scar on his face. "Well…something might 'come down' while we're out on patrol. There are rumors floating around, and the others aren't in any shape to do any patrol work. Yuffie's out cold from that last batch of sludge you call coffee…" (Cid bristled like a stepped-on cat, but Leon glared and went on) "…Aerith's practicing her magic again and is liable to murder me if I butt in."

Cid chuckled. Leon retorted with a glare and a clipped "I'm serious." Cid shut up, and Leon continued again. The things I have to put up with…he mused. They would've driven a lesser man insane a long time ago. "Tifa's gone off somewhere searching for any leads on this new dark group we've been hearing about, and Cloud's off the map; even I don't know where he's gone. Sora's not here, either." He raised an eyebrow. "I could ask Merlin for help if you aren't up for it…"

"Hey, watch what yer aimin' at! That's what's left of my damn pride."

Leon gave him a flat look. "…Whatever."

Cid grumped a bit, adding a few more choice words for good measure before finally giving in. "Okay, fine, fine." He hauled himself up and glanced towards the slightly dusty spear leaning up against the wall next to his computer. The weapon hadn't seen use in a while, but the blade was razor sharp. "Good thing I kept this thing sharpened, eh?" he remarked. "It's been a while."

"Right." Leon turned and headed for the door, but paused while he grabbed his gunblade from the corner by the door. "Better hope you can still use that thing, Cid. There's been talk around town about the bailey being infested again."

Cid swore under his breath and slung the spear in its harness over his shoulder. I'm gettin' waaayyy too old fer this crap.

They hadn't gone far when the Heartless showed up—less than a block, in fact. Leon readied his weapon as the Heartless scuttled in. "Cid, I hope you're ready."

"Heh, I was born ready!" Cid bragged with a cocky rub of his nose. He pulled his spear off his back over his shoulder and twirled it once so it rested beside him in his right hand, the point angled down and away. It had been a motion surprisingly quick for a forty year old. "What?" he drawled at Leon's frowning glance. "I practice from time t' time."

"..." Leon didn't reply.

Cid shrugged. "Let's kick some Heartless ass!" he crowed.

"Whenever you're ready."

Cid dashed in like there was no tomorrow. "Ah-hall righ'!" He swiveled mid-rush-a spin slash—"Take that, ya creeps!" and his spear swung out, the blade tearing through several Heartless like they were just smoke. "That's three down!" Leon came hot on his heels, Revolver propped back on his shoulder.

"This is it." SWISH! He swung Revolver quickly; down to the left; WHOOSH!-across again, the other way. One Heartless down. Assess targets; react; strike was the mantra in Leon's head. It had been for years, even before the Heartless had…no, don't go there. But fragments of memories rose in his mind unbidden…

...the stench of darkness made real as the gunblade flashed again and again…

A glimpse of iridescent angel wings…a soft, frightened smile from her…

…distant screaming…Another shout—running-the sounds of battle under an eerie sky illuminated by a looming meteor…one last flash of green-white light as he watched the meteor vanish into nothingness…

She was missing…he couldn't find her. Had to. He had to find the others!

Voices—his new group—clamoring. "I can't leave!"

The Captain—laden with the smell of cigarette smoke and a heavy tenor drawl.

"Last bird outta here, kid! Tifa, Aerith, grab loverboy and get the #$%& on!"

"No! NO!"

"Squall, there's no ti—" Arms—more than one pair, wrapping around his own, pulling-

"Hurry up n' bring 'im on, kids! We gotta leave, right #$%&in' now!"

Rumbling…the city dwindling below as the ship rocketed off the ground…

"NO! RINOA!"

The past…His parting scream, the sound of his own anguish echoing in his ears, made Leon's anger boil up hot and strong. "RAH!" He put his whole body into the next strike and knocked a few more off balance, then leapt up and hammered the blade into a Morning Star to take out his rising anger, pulling the trigger on his weapon as it came down. A pulse of energy burst along the blade, making it glow as it thrummed hard, gouging straight through the Heartless and slaying it.

"You still got what it takes?" He called out to Cid, who was surrounded by Shadows and Neoshadows.

Cid scoffed. "Fuck, yeah! Watch n' learn, rookie!" He whipped a stick of dynamite from a pouch on his belt while fending off the Heartless, paused, lit it with a handy lighter from his pocket, and chucked the dynamite at the nearest Heartless. "FIRE IN TH' HOLE!"

BOOM! The dynamite exploded and took half the Heartless with it. Cid ducked under the flying Heartless and cackled, pumping a fist as he came up on his feet. "HA! Take that, ya li'l bastards!"

Leon saw the flames part behind Cid and tensed. "Cid, watch out!"

"Whuh?" Cid spun and got his spear up just in time—it was a Flame Armor. "Whoa!" Metal hit metal—and the Heartless was soon winning, pressing Cid back. "Ah! Li'l help here 'fore I get my ass whupped 'ere!?" Cid bellowed through the strain. Leon rushed in and stabbed at the Heartless from behind to little effect. Deducing this, the Heartless knocked both men flying with an abrupt spinning blow. Cid smacked into the ground and groaned, but fought his way back onto his feet and charged in again, yelling some inventive strings of cuss words that would never be part of civilized conversation. Yelling like that, however, warns the enemy, and the Heartless were no exception. The Flame Armor wheeled and lashed out so fast Cid had to bend over backwards to avoid the arm-blade. Leon, on the other hand, kept his cool through the shock and recovered; a kick off the wall had him flying straight at the Heartless before it could react, his sword held back in readiness. "Here goes!" he shouted. The gunblade suddenly blazed a bright, bright blue, and Leon vanished in a blur and a wordless shout. He reappeared behind the Heartless, bent over with his blade held out in one hand as if he'd just slashed through something.

He had. The Heartless sagged and then split in two at the waist. As the dark creature dissolved, a heart floated up and vanished in a flash of color with a soft shimmering sound. Panting hard, Leon straightened and rested his gunblade on his shoulder. "Well…that was fun, for a change…" he mused breathlessly.

"Yer tellin' me!" Cid groaned. He struggled to his feet, using his spear as a crutch. "Ngghh…" His back popped and he grimaced. "Agh, my back ain't gonna be the same fer a while."

Leon lowered his weapon with a sardonic glance at the older man, clipping the gunblade into its usual place at his side before he folded his arms. "Then maybe you shouldn't've bent over so quickly," he pointed out.

"What, n' get skewered by that thing? Go talk to a fuckin' wall, Mister Commander!" Still, the aging pilot was rubbing his back ruefully as he took the first few steps. "Shit..."

"Whatever." Leon couldn't hold back a smirk as they made their way up the stairs to the bailey. "So…you're fixing up the Shera?" he asked when they were nearing the passage to the bailey. He glanced over at the older man. "Is that why you've been away sometimes during the week?"

"Been one'a my projects." Cid's toothpick shifted. "So's the ol' Highwind. Been a while since I flew either of the ol' girls," he remarked, pausing while he gazed off into space. "Of course, there hasn't been much time these days," he said with a helpless shrug.

Leon nodded. "Reconstruction's been picking up speed."

"Damn straight." Cid rubbed his nose again. "Would be nice if we had a flippin' operating airstation 'round here; could sure help with the castle."

"What about the old one just outside town?" Leon remarked.

"'S still there, Leon," Cid grumbled. "Got pretty much buried under a rockslide durin' Maleficent's invasion. The crews just got it dug out a week ago," he said, scowling, "and that's the fucking problem." He gave a derisive snort. "I can't get the local high-horses t' let me use it for a landin' area. Hell…or even a stagin' area. They won't let me do a damn thing other than keep it from collapsin'! They're claimin' it's too much work, it's useless, and that it's jus' a frickin' eyesore that needs t' be scrapped fer materials!" He followed that with a bunch of suggestions about what those "fuckin' pansy- asses" could do with their claims in his opinion, some of which were rather inventive and/or anatomically impossible. Leon didn't bother listening to this. He was brooding again, but not in his usual doom-'n-gloom way. No, this was flat-out thinking, and thinking hard.

Finally, he replied, "I doubt that's the case."

A rakish, disbelieving grin spread across Cid Highwind's craggy face. "Weeeelll, now…" He chuckled and slapped Leon on the back. "Then you 'n me are gonna be doin' a little political backstabbin', eh?"

Leon shot him a look. "Not exactly. More like…" he allowed himself a slight smirk, "…necessary subversive maneuvering of unwarranted restrictions," he rattled off with a straight face. His SeeD training from the old days had included diplomacy—not his strong point by default-and evincing obfuscation with strings of complex words was one of his lesser-known tactics. But it was also good for poking subtle fun at people.

Cid stared at the younger man for a long moment, and then let out a gut-busting "HA!" He clapped Leon on the back. "Yer a'right, kid. May not be much of a talker, but I'll take bad jokes from yeh over Yuf's shenanigans any day. Remember that one time she tried t' cook soup for lunch?"

"Don't remind me." Leon groaned as they headed into the bailey. "How she got that stuff to explode, I don't know…"

Cid's hearty guffaws echoed down the passageway.

To be continued...

A/N: And so the plot thickens... I found Cid rather entertaining to write-though I decided to "bleep out" his...rather foul mouth. At first.

Cid: What the fuckin' hell are ya doin' in 'ere?! Thet's mah computer, ya frickin' asshole!

Me: (covering ears) Geesh! Somebody get a bar o' soap and corner him for once! Ooh! What's this? (pulls out a bar of soap)