Author's Notes: Woah, this is WAY beyond overdue. Last chapter was in what, July? I've been a bad author, so I shall attempt to make it up to you now with actual… actualness? Well, anyway, you're not here for my lame excuses, so I best just get to what is important anyway. So, longer chapter? And yes, I named the GF ability Move-Find as Sense here. Because, honestly, Sense makes more… well, sense.

Pilot Wings: Chapter 8

"It's… beautiful."

Not the most creative thing to say, but there isn't much more that the can come up with. The green tinge to everything, the softly glowing, water-like substance around the spire, and the pale green glow from the odd spire itself… the effect was not only eerie, but stunning. That and the feeling it made in him, the yearning from Siren (who was still not talking to him), the echoes of spells at his command. It was familiar and strange at the same time. The feeling of a draw point, but at the same time, it didn't feel at all like a draw point.

"It's a mako fountain. A point on the planet where the mako gushes forth of its own will. They call it a miracle of nature. Over years this fountain will produce natural, unrefined or condensed materia. Natural materia tends to be stronger than refined, but it takes longer to form."

Cloud nodded his agreement to the words of Nanaki, and all the while Nida moved closer to inspect the 'mako fountain'.

"A great man once told me that the wisdom of the Cetra is held in the materia, because it's made of mako and mako is the lifeblood of the planet, something we all return to. Interacting with that knowledge allows us to use it. This is one of the purposes of mako. Unfortunately, it is that knowledge from those people that leads to mako poisoning. While not necessarily toxic on its own, the overflow of memories, emotions, lifetimes, can lead one to insanity. So it's best not to come into contact with free flowing mako."

Nida barely even acknowledged the words of Cloud, instead paying close attention to the feel of the energy here. All spells, after all, had a unique feel to them. While some you could hazard guesses at before you'd had experience with them (like knowing that a spell had to be somewhere in the blizzard chain), other spells from draw points were ones you hadn't experienced before, and thus hard to define until you used them. This was one of those points he could not define in any manner. In fact, he wasn't completely sure that it even was a draw point. Luckily there was a perk to having Siren around, even when she wasn't being very cooperative.

Sense, whispered in the back of his mind called forth the ability unique to his GF, something that added an extra level of sensory perception, used to find young draw points back home, things new to the surface and thus yet to leave a visible mark on the surrounding environment. No sooner had he cloaked himself in the senses of Siren than he saw it, the tell-tale coiling of energy around the glowing stones, rising into the air before dissipating. The beautiful blue and white coil of magic.

"Cloud, Nanaki, I thank you for bringing me here. You were correct; this place does mean something to me. I can feel the magic radiating from this point…"

Mindful of Cloud's comment about not touching the mako itself, Nida held a hand out, leaving his fingertips to hover just over the mako-slick rock. His fingers were tingling from the sheer energy. No one had tapped this point in many a year, he could tell. The energy was eager for release.

"I suggest that you back up a few steps, and don't blink. I don't know how this is going to react to being drawn from."

Without further explanation, Nida reached out in his mind, both to his lovely lady Siren, and to the spire of stone. A whispered command, a moment of tense waiting, and then he could sense the magic in the stone recoiling from him before launching out. Warmth filled him, radiating out much like it did from the stone, but still he couldn't tell just what he'd found, only that he'd found a lot of it.

Hyne, what is this power?

I know nothing like it back home, but it's so pleasant. Warm and sweet, like the breeze over the fields of Balamb on a late spring day.

For a moment Nida was almost sure he'd gotten a response from Hyne himself, and his stomach revolted at that idea. The last thing he needed after all of this confusion, and having memories of the war drudged up was the voice of Hyne echoing in his head. He wasn't of Zelbalga blood, he had no interest in hearing the voice of god, much less coming to possess Hyne's power. Of course, he realized after a moment that it had only been the voice of Siren. Apparently she'd chosen to break her silence for the moment.

Have you ever encountered a spell quite like this?

Never before, my hawk, but it makes me think of home. Does it not you?

It does. It really does.

And frankly, Nida wasn't appreciating the homesickness it was causing.

Does it strike you to be like some other spell you have encountered?

I'm sorry Nida.

That was, of course, a bad sign. Siren wasn't one for using first names very often, and the few other times she had used it had all be in rather poor situations for him. Like the thing with that Ruby Dragon. Or the fight with a Zelbalga axe-man Orion, a man who had almost killed him.

I wish Eden were around, he'd be able to identify it for you, or another one of the older spirits.

Don't worry my lady, I am better served with you at my side than any other Guardian.

With that he broke off their conversation and turned to regard Cloud and Nanaki. Again he had seemed to have left them in shock. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad thing that the other three of their expedition had chosen to wait outside of the fountain's cave.

"This place, it's a lot like a draw point back home, a place from which we can use para-magic to draw forth more magic. The light you would have seen is the condensation of that magical energy before it enters a person and becomes usable. I could have redirected it for a direct cast, but I would have been unleashing an unknown magic upon the two of you."

"So this is how you draw your magic?" Nanaki asked, moving forward to take a better look at the fountain that Nida's fingers were still hovering close to.

"Yes, but we can also draw from other people as well as animals and monsters. There are also stones, but that is another story that I may have already told you. I'm not very sure anymore. But, what it comes down to is that I've never encountered a spell like this before, not with this feel, and neither has Siren. For all I know I've found an extremely destructive spell."

But it does not feel like that. No fear, no malicious intent, just… home.

"Or I've found something a useful as Aura with a different purpose. There is no way to know without using the spell, and no way to use it without risking a poor outcome. All I know about it is that it feels… like home. But that makes no sense."

"Then why don't we just take you into battle and see what it is capable of?"

A simple answer to a less than simple problem. It was the only answer he had though.

"Wait," Nanaki cut in, "You say it feels like what?"

"Home."

The lion creature seemed to ponder this for a few moments, before nodding to himself.

"Cid has told me that your… Siren, can manifest in the physical realm outside of battle. Might we use this to speak with her?"

"I guess, but I don't see the point of…"

"I have an idea," Nanaki responded simply before sitting back on his haunches.

"Your ideas are rarely wrong," comes from Cloud and soon the swordsman is moving to join the lion. "So come on, Nomura, let's see the lady."

"Siren isn't the sort that just shows up to chit-chat just because you want her to."

It is alright, my hawk, I would like to hear what it is they want from me, and if they will only speak to me in person, so to speak, then I shall allow it. Relax, they will not be able to take me from you.

Then there is the feel of a warm hand on his arm, pushing it down and away from the spire. The hand falls away, and Nida slowly moves to take a seat next to Nanaki, not once meeting the eyes of the beautiful spirit before him, as solid as she is during any summoning, far more so than she normally is during their conversations.

This place is an amazing source of magical energy, she comments, and her musical voice actually echoed around the room. Normally the voices of Guardians didn't echo, even in places where a pin fall would. Their words were manifest directly in the minds of those listening, not actual vocalizations like those of a human. This whole situation was getting weird.

I haven't had the pleasure of being so solid outside of a battle before. It's marvelous. My hawk, you should let me out to play some more. Carby has always said the world was fun, and even sister Shiva told me once or twice I should actually ask you to let me out for a game, but I'm so sure she always meant a fight. What a masochist that one, you'd think she liked the violence!

"Siren, please focus. Nanaki wanted to ask you something, remember?"

You're such a spoil-sport little sparrow. Fine, I'll play nice, but you have to promise me that I can play later, maybe with that Yuffie girl, she looks so nice!

"Of course," Nida responded, already feeling tired. He could remind her later just how draining it could be to have a GF manifest outside of battle when they were existing on the same plane as their summoner. Were it not for the intense magic of this place, Nida was sure he would probably have passed out the second she had appeared. Whatever it was that was giving the Guardian such as solid form was also helping to support her presence here. A small blessing indeed.

"Lady Siren, are you capable of entering objects that are not mithril? Mister Nomura told us yesterday that you can inhabit objects composed of mithril when not inhabiting the mind of a sentient being."

Yes I can, Nanaki was it? Every one of my kind has their preferences of course. Ifrit likes fiery places, especially if lava is present, so I think he's kept in a lava lamp. How silly. And darling Quez is in that computer half of the time. I think she likes it. We either enter objects like mithril, objects that are sentient, monsters, objects of a similar composition to us, or something that we can slightly alter the composition of to better facilitate our presence.

This Nida had heard of before, from the studies Squall had sanctioned in Esthar, but never from a Guardian itself. They weren't all gossips like Siren though, and she was just humoring them because she liked being outside once in a while. Yet Nida could not see where Nanaki was going with this line of questioning.

"So, you would be capable of entering something like a liquid with a high concentration of magical and spiritual energy?"

Yep. Though it isn't exactly the most common choice for our kind. What if someone drank the liquid by mistake? That would be unpleasant for all parties involved.

"Could you then enter the mako from which Mister Nomura drew forth the magic?"

I believe that would be possible. Again, it is not common practice, and I'm pretty sure the only one of my kind that would do that on a more regular basis would be Carbuncle. That's one adventurous spirit. But I've always felt in tune with draw points, so I don't see why I couldn't try. What, do you have a reason you'd want me to enter this liquid here? Didn't you tell my Nida that the stuff can poison your mind?

"Indeed it can, but I believe that as a creature of magic, one that regularly inhabits the mind of another sentient creature, you would not be affected in the same way that a human would be. It is possible you would be able to converse with the spirits and ask them just what powers they have imparted to Nida."

"Wait," Nida cut in, shocked. Why hadn't he thought of this himself? He was supposed to be the one with knowledge about the GFs and para-magic, and here was one that knew nothing easily coming up with a solution. "what if I lose her in there? I wouldn't lose Siren to some risky plan just to find out what a single spell is! This is not a risk I can allow!"

Because when it came down to it, this was a major risk. If Siren went into that liquid, got lost in the memories Cloud said existed, and didn't come back, what would happen to him? He'd be truly alone here, without anything from home, with no access to his magic, with nothing at all except his uniform and memories. For the first time in a long time he would be well and truly alone, in a way he didn't like the thought of at all.

"I have no intention of sending her into the mako itself," Nanaki said with a sigh, his tail flicking from one side to another. Quistis's cat did that sometimes, when it was impatiently waiting for Nida to feed it because Quistis was busy or something. It didn't appreciate how hard those manual can openers could be at times. "But rather a brief contact. That is all one would need. If that gives us just the littlest idea more we could see if the feeling she gets from the fountain and your spell is like the feeling in any of the spells in our materia. Not as simple as a battle, but less physical risk of a backfire."

"But…"

I'll do it, but only if you promise to keep my little hawk silent. I fear he is growing to worry more than is really necessary. Do we have a deal?

Cloud nodded for Nanaki, and before Nida could react he found himself under the hold of a sleep spell. Damn rapid casting bastards. With his voice taken away all he could really manage without seeming like a pouting child was a dirty glare at the summon. This they would have to talk about later.

"Now, Lady Siren, if you would…"

The spirit nodded and stooped next to the fountain. At the new range, the amount of green light washing over the spirit almost made her look like nothing more than a ghost… something helped along by the fact that the second she brushed a long finger against the liquid her body lost some of its solidarity, beginning to turn opaque. The moment her fingers pulled away the effect diminished though, the translucent becoming solid once more, though the look on her face was not the 'happy to help you' it had been moments before. Instead it was an expression of shock.

"What did you feel, Lady Siren?"

I… felt home. It was calling out to me. I could sense them all there: Shiva, Leviathan, even Bahamut. I could feel it.

"Could feel what?" Nanaki insisted.

Not like what I felt with Nida. It wasn't Balamb I could feel. No, that was my home, the higher planes where we exist when we are not with humans. Where we rest, where we revel of our own. But I haven't been able to reach out for there since we arrived in this place. And even now I could not breach this wall I sensed between me and it. But there is no doubt, this was home.

To this Nanaki nodded, "I see. Well, this answers our question as to what magic you have taken from this point, Nomura. What you have found is a mako fountain enriched with the knowledge of a spell we call Exit."

"Exit? I had no clue that this fountain handled that sort of magical knowledge," Cloud said with a sigh. "That, I suppose, would be why I've never found a materia here. Probably picked clean often enough…"

The whole time this little conversation was going on, though, Nida sat there with his arms crossed over his chest. Let him look like he was pouting for all he cared. This was not fair. He couldn't get a word in edgewise if everyone keeled over and died. Silence spells were just plain wrong. How exactly was he supposed to demand answers like this? Okay, so maybe not demand, but still, answers would be appreciated right now, like what an 'exit' spell did, how his Guardian was holding up to this experience, maybe even what exactly it would mean for him to have this certain kind of magic at his disposal.

My dears, this all sounds frightfully interesting, but I feel I must point out that my darling falcon looks like he's going to explode if you don't let him speak. Look, he's so cute when he's red in the face. Maybe I should fetch that Highwind character, I'm sure he'd help my falcon…

"Oh," Cloud said after a moment, before searching around in a pocket for something. Soon a vial of teal liquid was brought out and held out to Nida. "Echo screen. Removes a silence spell."

Nida knew that of course, but he couldn't point that out. Instead he just took the vial from the blond, and quickly drank the liquid down, massaging his throat right afterwards to encourage it to work faster.

"So," Nanaki continued, "it seems that this day has given us many answers, and a few new questions."

"Such as?" Nida finally got out, though he didn't much appreciate how raw his voice sounded. Apparently the echo screens in this place were of a lower quality than those that Odine had developed back before Adel had taken over Esthar. If he had to admit one thing about the bastard who had probably landed him here, it was that he was too smart for his own good. The arrogance he delighted in was well founded. Damn bastard.

"We know now that your magic does, indeed, run on properties quite unlike our own. We have discovered that your Guardian can interact with mako in a way that no other living being is capable of any longer. The last one died away three years previous. We have also learned just what magic this place gives, which might seem like something minor to you, but is important to some research that Reeve is currently working on. And, finally, we've discovered something quite interesting…"

This plane of existence is connected to my own, which is connected to where Nida is from.

"The lady has this right," Nanaki said, rising and bowing his whole body to her a bit. "If her plane of existence is parallel to ours, and yours is parallel to hers, then yours must be parallel to ours. We've also heard it from her that there is something keeping her from entering that plane of existence, which could pose a problem if we were to attempt to return you to where you are from without enough forethought."

"Hyne…"

And, just like that, Nida knew just what had gone wrong to bring him to this place.

For all of his genius when it came to working with magical energies, something had gone wrong for Odine. The man had failed to compress time, instead compressing planes of existence, or maybe dimensions. Not those parallel time frames, which Nida would have easily been able to return to by recreating the experiment with technology he might be able to come across and a sorceress, but actual differing planes of reality.

What is wrong my hawk?

It occurs to him that maybe that echo screen didn't work very well, because no matter how many times he opens his mouth, tries to express what he's thinking in rational words, no sound escapes him. He can't explain to Siren, can't explain to Cloud or Nanaki, can't even explain it to himself out loud.

There is no way for him to get home.

Words didn't make their way back to Nida until well after the adventuring group had returned to Rocket Town. After the initial lack of vocalization and Siren's returning to him, Nanaki and Cloud had decided that it was beyond time to take the shocked SeeD back. And Nida, still dazed from the revelation, had not even noticed the fact that Cid had spent the whole time hovering around him, trying to get him to say something, do something, or react in some way. After a while Reeve and Vincent had convinced the concerned pilot to back off and leave Nida to his thoughts. And even those thoughts didn't get him peace.

Please, little one, tell me, what is wrong. If you don't, I'll be forced to look for that information on my own and for all you know I'll accidentally have you 'remembering' that you're Zell instead of yourself. You don't want to be Zell, now do you?

The threats of the Guardian went ignored by Nida as he played back all of the information he had come have, and what it meant. The difference between here and home wasn't time. Time could be handled. The difference between here and home wasn't space either. There was no amount of journeying that would get him home, no number of miles walked, days spent searching, and nothing would get him home. Things were a bit more complicated than that.

It wasn't until much later that night that words finally found themselves escaping the young SeeD, and even then they weren't all that willing.

Cid caused it, no surprise there. When dinner had finished, Nida had found himself out in front of the house, resting under a large tree. The silence had helped to clear his mind enough to determine the exact problems that had arisen, something Odine would have understood far more quickly than Nida had. He'd actually started to nod off too, something he no doubt needed considering the fact that the concerns were quickly making him sleepy. Maybe he'd actually even fallen asleep, because one minute he was alone, the next there was a cold bottle being pressed against his cheek to get his attention. It was Cid, and a bottle of beer.

"Here, you look like you need it."

"Thank you."

The older man didn't even falter when Nida spoke, just nodded. In silence they sat there for a little while, neither opening the bottle, neither saying anything, just looking out at the night sky. Then, as one, the bottles were opened, and touched together in a silent toast.

"Being quiet ain't gonna solve nothing," Cid said, after the first sip.

"Talking isn't exactly going to do so either."

"Better than nothing."

Nida's turn to sip at the alcohol, a taste he didn't really like but something that Cid was right about him needing.

"There are, so far as research has shown, three major means of travel in the world. The translation, the compression, and the rotation."

"Sounds like math there."

"Science too, so you better shut up if you wanna know."

So for an hour the pair sat there, sipping away at their beers, nursing them really so that they'd last, and Nida explained the findings Odine had been toying with for years. About how translations were what you did every day, moving from point A to point B. Something that was easy to fix, easy to change, easy to get back from. He pointed out that he wasn't suffering from a translation, or maybe life would be a whole heck of a lot easier then. Then Nida talked about compressions, like that which Ultimecia attempted to perfect for her plans for dominating existence. Compressions weren't too hard to fix either. All you had to do was get rid of that which was compressing things together and they would spring back to what they were supposed to be, like a spring wound too tight and then released. If he was suffering in a compression that wouldn't be impossible to fix. Yes, it would be harder than a translation, but he'd survived a compression before and wasn't about to let another stop him from getting home.

What Nida had discovered he was suffering from was in fact a rotation. The name was, of course, far from straight forward. Rotation just implies spinning, or turning, something fixed as easily as a translation. Truth of the matter was that Odine used this term when speaking of moving through different dimensions. So Nida went on to explain how atoms, the things that make up all existence, take up space and all vibrate at the same frequency. Yet since there was so much space, other atoms had to exist, just vibrating at another frequency. And thus multiple plains of reality could in fact exist one within another within another within another. The wrong kind of shock could set atoms vibrating at another frequency, setting them into another existence without their even realizing it. Of course, there was no proof that this had ever been done before, but if what was going on here was even real, if any of this was real and not just a dream or a coma or he was insane, then this was most likely what had happened, and he had no hope at all.

The only way you could cure a rotation was with equal and opposite force to what had originally changed your frequency, and praying to god it got you back to where you belonged.

By the time he's done explaining this, and about how even a Sorceress couldn't create a rotation alone, how it had to be a combination of Rinoa and the machine Odine had created, and who knows what else, he's in tears. Not the kind of tears that would have him sobbing mind you, just quiet tears. Nothing to make his breathing irregular, or make his shoulders shake or any of that embarrassing stuff, just tear after tear after tear. He can't stop them either. There was no way home for him, no way back where he belonged, no proof other than Siren that he really belonged somewhere else.

"Yanno," Cid said, when the explaining was done, "might be a bigger mercy if you're actually crazy or in a coma or something. Because then you'd at least be able to hope that someday you'd wake up or something like that. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be gone from here and never be able to get back."

"I can tell you that it sucks," Nida grumbled under his breath before finishing his beer. "Sucks like… a fucking black hole."

The older man doesn't say anything, and for that Nida is very thankful. Right now he doesn't know if he can handle any sort of comfort. Doesn't know if he can even handle someone saying 'it's going to be alright' even though that is total bullshit. It's not going to be okay…

"Well, I gotta admit, this is fucked up. And it kinda seems like you're screwed."

That wonderfully sensitive statement earns Cid a dirty look.

"Hey, I wasn't done yet, kid. I was saying, kinda seems like you're screwed. But ya know what… some smartass once told me that the world isn't going to stop if you give yourself the chance to rest. Damn idiot was right. It ain't gonna stop, hell, it never does. Thing about it is that it doesn't matter if it stops or not. You still got time, and so long as you got time, you got hope. So what you are gonna do right now is get yourself some damn sleep, and we'll figure out some damn ass way to get you home tomorrow."

"Cid, I…"

"Don't you make no excuses either. You've got the fucking world heroes three times over on your side, you think we're going to give up just because it's hard? If we did that then who knows where the fuck this place would be today with that silver-haired psychopath. Trust me, when I tell you that we're not gonna stop, even if you want us to, until we get you home then I sure as fucking hell mean it."

"Cid…"

"So you just better be ready for when we send you home because it sounds like your boss won't be happy with a 'hey, sorry, I've been on another planet in another reality for the last week so do you mind if I just take it all as paid leave?' Understand? Besides, you won't be happy with yourself if you don't help us out, right? So get your lazy ass into bed!"

"Cid…"

"What the fuck kid, why are you still out here? Shouldn't you be marching your ass into the shower and then taking yourself into that goddamn bed and getting some fucking sleep?"

"Highwind…"

"What the fuck is it already?"

"Shut up."

"Why…"

"That is an order Captain, and I do have a higher rank than you do."

Which of course lead to a series of curses from the older man, and gave Nida the perfect chance to steal away his bottle of beer. Cid didn't like this much either, and the curses only intensified. Until Nida kissed him that was.

"What was that for?" Cid asks, when Nida's pulled away, "You were fucking crying just ten minutes ago."

"Maybe, but I think I've found a better use for my time, Captain Highwind."

"Such as?"

Nida gives him the kind of smile he reserved for use only when he was dealing in bad jokes. "Just so you know, I'm very hands on when it comes to debriefing my men… Some say that I could do with a less… hands on approach."

This got the older man smiling, "You're a master of the mood swings, General. One has to wonder how you got your rank."

"My superiors liked the way I could breeze through any situation. I'm more than just lip service like some other people."

The smile only widened as Cid quickly got to his feet and pulled Nida up as well. "Well then, General, I expect I should figure out if you're someone worth following or if I should request reassignment…"

Except, after a moment, the playful atmosphere is dropped, and Cid is pulling Nida close. The smiles are gone, and while there is another kiss, it's more hesitant on both sides.

"You sure you're okay kid?"

"No. I know I'm not okay. All the more reason to try to ignore it long enough to get to sleep."

A silent nod of consent comes from Cid, and then they are heading inside.

Sometimes, cares are better left for the morning.