This New Day
Chapter 3 - The Airship
Cloud ran through the waist-deep water towards Tifa, knocking down a few kids on the way, and splashing Yuffie's shoes and Nanaki's face as he exited the pool. He grabbed his startled woman by the waist, gave her a sloppy kiss, and picked her up. He carried her away in hero fashion as everybody cheered.
Everyone was going home, some with buckets of Holy water.
The "happy couple" hopped onto Cloud's motorcycle and left. They didn't even need to ask; Barrett was going to take Marlene and Denzel back to the Seventh Heaven Bar in his cargo truck—but not before visiting Cid's airship, where the truck was stowed. Cid and the rest of the gang were in the huge cockpit, waiting for Barrett, so they could see Marlene and meet Denzel.
For Marlene, all went as expected. She got hugs from everyone, even Vincent, and got compliments on what a polite/mature/lady-like/blah-blah 6-year old she had become. Denzel, barely 9, didn't know what to expect.
"He's adorable!" Yuffie shouted when Denzel entered. She ran towards him with open arms and hugged him so tight around his shoulders that he couldn't move. Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
He wiped the cooties off and then realized who she was. "I saw you fighting that huge Bahamut with your ninja star!"
"No, sweetie, it's called a Shuriken," she said in a soft voice. "But yes!" she proclaimed loudly with a grand arm gesture, "that was me, the Great Ninja Yuffie, Wutai's greatest warrior!"
Yuffie took Denzel's hand and ran him to where Vincent was standing.
"Denzel, this is Vincent. Vincent, this is Denzel, my new crush."
"What a relief. I was about to file a restraining order on you."
"Ha! Don't flatter yourself."
Vincent looked embarrassed but he quickly shifted his attention toward Denzel.
"Don't worry, kid, she can't cause you trouble if you avoid eye contact."
Shoot! We already made eye contact!
"What's a restraining order?"
They heard a loud, puppy-like "GRRYEOOW!" from across the room. Denzel turned to look.
Yuffie had stealthily dashed over and performed a sneak-attack pounce on the red furry wolf creature that Denzel had seen at the church. She had her arm around its neck and was vigorously scrubbing its head with her knuckles.
"Denzel!" Yuffie shouted. "Come over here and meet Red!"
"Please let me go. You know I do not like this," Red whispered.
"But I have to introduce you to Denzel!"
"You did not need to ambush me to accomplish that."
Yuffie giggled and gently let go of him.
Denzel approached. "Hi, Red! Great Ninja Yuffie, is he your pet?"
Yuffie and Red both laughed. Denzel was surprised at Red's human voice.
"I am Nanaki. You can call me Red if you wish…"
"And it's just 'Yuffie' to friends like you," Yuffie added.
He continued. "Everyone here… we are comrades… friends of Cloud and Tifa… and now you. Denzel, I am honored to meet you."
"GRRRRRRRR…"
The canine turned tail and ran to catch his seemingly invisible assailant. Out the doorway, and back within seconds, he returned defeated, with hay, chocobo feathers, and Marlene's robot kitty cat toy riding on his back.
Just when Denzel's wonderful day was threatening to turn a weird kind of sour, the robot cat shot a crazed smile at him.
"Top o' the mornin' laddie!"
"Marlene," Denzel shouted across the way, "shut that thing off!"
"I can't doooo that!"
"What? No games, Marlene, just shut it off!"
"I mean it, I can't do it!"
"She cannae do it, laddie."
"I'll shut it off," yelled the pilot, looking mad as he marched over to the sorry sight. Cid grabbed the cat by its neck and held it up to his face. Red escaped and curled up in the back corner. Yuffie knew what profanities were brewing and dragged the kids out to the hall.
"Makin' a ruckus and draggin' chocobo shit onto my deck? You outta yer mind? What the hell Reeve?"
"I'm not Reeve, I'm Cait Sith."
"I'm not Reeve, I'm Cait Sith!" Cid mocked him in a falsetto voice.
"I'm an independent AI."
"I'm an independent A-hole!" the mocking continued.
"I'm a chain-smokin' wife beater."
"I'm a chain-smokin' … hey, she's not my wife!"
"And?"
"Oh, uh… and I never laid a hand on her…"
"Really…"
"I mean, except in all the right places… "
Cait Sith wolf-whistled.
"Don't you play buddy-buddy with me after you…"
Reeve entered, and Cid tossed Cait into the man's arms. "Get outta here."
"Did I miss something?"
"Whaddaya mean 'did I miss something?' All of a sudden, you change into a crazy sonnuva bitch an' use yer 'sophisticated' robot to make trouble on my ship!"
"Cait Sith, were you being a troublemaker while I was gone?"
"I'm sorry, Faither."
"What? Are you a ventriloquist now? Where's the remote? Where's yer Bluetooth?"
"Cait Sith is now an independent AI. Whatever he did though, I'm responsible. I'm starting to think his initial programming was too open-ended. And he still has much to learn."
"Yeah, well, learn him some manners!"
"Cait, apologize to Mr. Highwind."
The robot cat turned his head and hissed at Cid.
Reeve was a little surprised an embarrassed. "I'm really sorry. I think someone's getting some reprogramming tonight!"
"The hell you'd better!"
"Oh, and by the way, the kids want to come back in. Are you ready to calm down and have a proper introduction with Denzel?"
"Of course," he smiled, "let 'em in."
Reeve exited. There was some whispering, and soon enough, Denzel entered.
"Mr. Highwind, uh, hello…" He didn't know what to say, so he just smiled.
The kid's nervous. I'd better just break the ice.
"So, how did ya like bein' the man o' the house fer a couple o' weeks?" Cid asked.
Denzel thought that was a sick joke. Of course he didn't like it at all. On bad days, he was bedridden from the sickness, and on good days, he'd sit outside, listening at the vehicles passing by in hopes that Cloud would come back on his motorcycle. If asked yesterday, he would have teared up. But today, he was cured, and Cloud was back. Denzel blankly stared back at Cid only because he had no clever response.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't a proper introduction." Cid took Denzel's hand in a firm handshake. "The name's Cid. This is my ship."
"The Highwind, right?"
"You know about the Highwind? Very good. The Highwind is an important airship. She helped us save the world, and all of us here have fond memories of her..." Cid bent down to meet Denzel at eye-level and whispered, "...especially Cloud and Tifa. But don't ask 'em about it 'cuz they won't say anything!"
Denzel became curious, but responded "Okay."
Cid stood up. "But this isn't the Highwind. She's retired. This is my new ship. Her name is Shera. Oh, and ya see that pretty lady comin' outta the engine room just now? Her name is Shera too."
Shera approached Denzel. "Hi Denzel! So good to meet you! Barret's told me so much about you..."
"Barret? Not Cloud or Tifa? Oh, I'm sorry ma'am. Nice to meet you."
Cid jumped in: "Barrett talked to YOU, and not me?"
Barret's heavy footsteps boomed as he dashed over to them.
"Cid, don't get all upset... It's not like you're the one answerin' the phone"
"Or even stepping away from your work when I try to hand it to you," Shera chimed in.
"Get back to yer post, woman!"
"The ship's grounded, for god's sake, and I've already double-checked all systems..."
Cid let out a big sigh. "Whatever."
Shera turned around and walked away.
"When did she get so goddamn bitchy?" Cid said to Barret.
"You mean, when did she get wise to your bullshit?" Barret answered.
They turned their heads and saw Denzel staring at them, wide-eyed and silent.