3: Putting on Heirs

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Saristis Noah sat patiently with his colleagues within the cramped cabin of their small passenger plane. Destination: Rocket Town. He hadn't realized the flight from Costa del Sol would be so lengthy. But the dullness and discomfort would soon be over, also soothed by the reflection of what good tidings awaited him once they landed. The somewhat young man combed his fidgety fingers through his lively red coif and sighed, looking out of the window onto the dark lands below. He recognized the terrain as the Nibelheim region, with an honorable grimace towards the jagged Nibel mountain range. And lastly a secret, satisfied smirk for what else might lie below.

"What's on your mind, Sar?" asked one of the redhead's colleagues, a plain, ginger-haired woman just a few years older than he. The anxious scientist shrugged and shook his head.

"Ah nothing, but I'm very eager to meet this... what's the name of the man we're meeting again?"

"Uh, if I recall, it's... ah yes, a Mr. Cid, Cid Highwind," answered another of Saristis' companions. He was a bearded, utterly middle-aged man with a gruff and haughty voice. "Do you think he might actually know the whereabouts of this creature?"

"Well, from what I gather, he'd at least know enough for us to be able to fare better on our own. There is, not to mention, that he was present at the Junon incident. Despite his... unpleasantness, Mr. Highwind was the only one available out of those who were also attendant to said incident."

"He was involved with Shinra at one time, wasn't he?" queried the third scientist in the seats opposite of Saristis, a small androgynous man with relatively spiky, fawn hair.

"Yes, he was to be the first man in space at the time that Shinra's now defunct Space Program was still funded," the redhead expounded in a single wind.

"During Meteorfall, wasn't he, along with the terrorist group AVALANCHE, the one who commandeered Shinra's rocket?" the lady scientist inserted. The other nodded and snugly folded his arms in each other.

"So he got his wish anyways. But all that precious materia we had was lost to them because of those bungling soldiers, and let's not forget those sloppy Turks. I swear brute force is never the answer to such predicaments."

"Hey, we have some of those soldiers under our employment now," the bearded man replied harshly. "If they were bungling under Shinra, will we be any better? They were our charge, too, before we turned rogue. Well, at least you came from Shinra, Sar, and Aridale, too. The rest of us were just affiliates."

"I think we're getting a bit off-topic, aren't we, guys?" Saristis said, his voice joking."Rather than our roots, I think we should focus on finding out more about our creature."

--

The plane landed smoothly in the fields just outside of northern Rocket Town, which preceded the former launchpad of the Shinra rocket. The quintet of zealous scholars filed out of the plane onto the midnight inked grass and looked around. The entire town was no doubt asleep, if only somewhat roused by the sounds of their arrival. But neither of the four, or rather five, seemed concerned with etiquette on how to make an entrance. Their only goal here was to seek out Cid Highwind.

"Ugh, this place looks a little too rural for my tastes," Aridale remarked with an arbitrary toss of her hair.

"Yes, well, I'm sure it still has its urban charms... somewhere," Saristis said, shrugging his shoulders. He dipped his hands into the pockets of his crisp, white lab coat and strode down into the long abandoned launchpad area. "Night hides many things, you know."

"Oh surely..."

The redhead loudly cleared his throat. "Now, where does Mr. Highwind live?"

"Just a moment," voiced the smallest man of the four present. He reached into an inner pocket of his own lab coat and produced a piece of folded yellow paper on which an address had been hastily scrawled. "Aha, it appears his house is located right on the other side of the launchpad. Bull's eye, sir."

"Ah, Evvey, without you, we're nothing more than a bunch of those stupid deaf-mutes," Aridale voiced to her near genderless cohort, her head bowed a bit in obvious admiration. Leering eyes, in turn, assaulted her without fail.

"Are you calling the rest of us incompetent?" barked the bearded man.

"If the shoe fits. But Sar is the head, so he's naturally a valuable asset," the woman noted with a sinister grin on her thin cream-colored lips. "You, Emerson, and Quelin, on the other hand are like... hangnails. Always getting in the way. Hard to get rid of, that sort of thing."

Emerson clenched his fists in unbridled fury towards Aridale's blatant vanity. Why he'd never given her five across the eye, he had to wonder, other than maintaining some air of composure and human credibility. Livid, he spat, "And I suppose you're unique?"

"Well, I don't like to brag but-"

"Now, now, Jenna, you always do this," Saristis interrupted. "We've work to do; we don't have time for your quibbling amongst each other."

"You're the boss, Sar," Aridale chimed.

"Why don't you and Quelin find the inn? The rest of us will head to Cid's house."

"Ah, to be paired up with the real resident deaf-mute around here. Come on, you sack of dead meat."

Aridale and Quelin, a tight-lipped twig of a man with salt-and-pepper hair, departed from the main group and wound through houses and open yards to the main streets of town. Saristis, Emerson, and Evvey took a different direction, heading straight south from the launchpad.

Kitton Evvey, preferring to be called by his last name over his unfavorable first, led the way to Cid Highwind's house, silently muttering to himself. As anyone in the group knew, he was a bit on the obsessive-compulsive side, but then again so were they in each their respective rights. His unique tick was just rehearsing random bits of information to himself. And it turned out to be more helpful than it was annoying. In one case, it was even life-saving.

After a few short minutes of trotting over rusty old cables and scrap metal, they approached a less than solitary house, though cottage would have been more fitting a word, where nestled in a half-fenced yard was a tiny, shiny red aeroplane. The trio of men circled the yard on its left side to the house, then huddled a few feet away.

Lights were on.

"So this is the Highwind residence," Saristis uttered.

"Looks like they're in," Emerson noted.

"No time like the present."

They stepped up to the door. Before knocking, Saristis adjusted his sleeves and shirt collar, while Emerson smoothed his beard, mustache and what hair was still growing from the top and sides of his head.

Tap tap.

"The hell?" an agitated voice resounded. "It's almost 1 a.m.!"

A feminine, infinitely softer voice had vaguely replied.

"Shit, don't look at me, I wasn't expectin' anybody!"

"Well, that must be Cid Highwind," Emerson chuckled. "Sounds like a man after my own heart."

"More like your mouth on a bad day," his superior corrected.

There as a shuffling behind the closed door, and then the hasty sound of several tumblers turning. At last, the door opened to reveal a robed, meek and petite brunette, with thick black-rimmed glasses and slightly freckled cheeks. On the hand that gripped the door jamb gleamed the simplest of silver wedding bands. Like Aridale, the woman was certainly pretty for how plain she was— who knew, she might have looked even prettier with her out of that giant ponytail. But not his type, and from what little Saristis recalled of Mr. Highwind, she didn't seem like his, either. He stood corrected. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Oh, pardon me." Saristis bowed his head courteously and went on to say, "I am Dr. Saristis Noah, and these are my colleagues Anton Emerson and Kitton Evvey. We're here to speak with a Mr. Cid Highwind. Is he in?"

"Um... you want to talk to Cid?"

"Shera! Who's that?"

"It's some people to-"

"People? Lemme see here." A rough looking blond-haired man pushed past the woman, removing her from their initial view. He was dressed down in a wife-beater and sweat pants, taking long drags from a cigarette. His dark blue eyes were understandably irate, as was the rest of him. "Lab coats? What d'ya want?"

"Uh... Mr. Highwind?"

"Yeah?"

"My name is Saristis Noah and I would like a moment of your time to…"

"I ain't buyin'!" Cid erupted. The redhead laughed once, graciously amused by the blond man's harshness.

"No, sir, we're not selling anything. Now, I don't know if you remember but we met about a few months ago. I'd like to talk with you about something. Is that alright?"

"Hmm, well…" Cid scratched at the light stubble of his chin, took another drag of his cigarette, and then exhaled the smoke through his nose. "What about?"

"Ah, would you mind inviting us in, Mr. Highwind?" Saristis inquired with a small smile. "If you don't mind?"

"Ah, whatever. Shera! Make some goddamn tea, we got guests." Cid spun on his bare feet and casually retreated into the dining room, seating himself in a chair at the table. The woman, Shera, grinned nervously and gestured for the men to come inside. They all bowed their heads, exchanging secret glances, and at last, followed suit. As they entered, the three strategically took positions within the dining room to their immediate right, firstly with Saristis taking a seat directly across from Cid, Emerson next to the redhead, and Evvey shifting comfortably into the corner behind them, notepad in hand.

"Well, then... Mr. Highwind."

"Cid! Now spill it, I hate beatin' around the bush, ya hear? What d'ya want with me?" He persisted in tipping his chair onto its hind legs. His impatience was almost endearing.

"We'd like to ask you some questions about the incident in Junon some time ago," Saristis explained. One of Cid's eyebrows crept up in slight caution.

"Eh?"

"The... the incident. At Junon. Monsters attacked. You were there, with a number of others, who saved the city."

"Oh. Well, yeah I was there. What's it to ya?" Cid asked brusquely, taking an especially long drag from his ever shortening cigarette.

"Well, during that same event there was something else," Emerson piped up. "Something that goes beyond the realm of monsters. We thought you might know something about it."

"Like what?"

"Evvey, care to inform Cid on the supposed specifics of our mystery creature?" Saristis offered.

"Yessir." Evvey stepped forward, flipping through his yellow notepad. "It reportedly hides behind a human semblance. Thus it should be sentient, and answers to a name. No conclusive evidence as of yet to a definitive sex. However, a few testimonials that we've managed to gather point to it being female more than male. Ah…" He browsed through several more pages whereupon countless notes had been scribbled, then nodded to his finally finding the desired tidbit of information. "Other testimonials strongly indicate it being involved with the World Regenesis Organization, WRO for short. And as it stands, you, Mr. Highwind, are the commander-in-chief of their air division."

"Oh Evvey, didn't you forget to mention one thing that might further rouse Mr. Highwind's interest? That the Junon incident and sightings of this creature also coincide with the first true reported sightings of the deceased general Sephiroth, for instance? Since that so-called... Meteorfall disaster."

"There have been unofficial reports prior to even the Junon incident, sir. Situated primarily in Costa del Sol. But no one eyewitness is ever completely certain of what they saw, not even after further interrogation."

"This is truly an intriguing case."

"One more thing: The sightings have generally ended less than a year and a half ago. As have those of the creature we are seeking. But that does not mean the end of unofficial accounts that crop up once in a blue moon."

"Thank you, Evvey," Saristis said with a grateful nod. Cid folded his arms in each other and continued to glare with severity uncommon for him. Meanwhile, Shera returned from the kitchen with a tray occupied by little cups, a tea kettle, and silverware just for this sort of occasion.

"Here you go, some nice chamomile tea. I'd have made rose but we're out at the moment... thanks to him." She turned slowly to Cid, noticing his hard, concentrated stare. "Is something wrong, Cid? You look kind of angry. Then again, you always look like that, so…"

"Eh?" he grunted, and then waved her off. "Ehhh..."

"Mr. Highwind, what we're getting at is this," Saristis began. "We would like you tell us the whereabouts of this creature, or at least drop us a hint of where or who to go to next. We apologize if the information we have disclosed is too insufficient for you to properly help us out, but anything you can give us will be greatly appreciated."

Cid sat straight in his chair, and drove a finger into his ear. "Ah, I dunno nothin'. All this Sephiroth and creature shit, not one bit. Junon? Just did what I thought was right. Nothin' more to it."

"But sir, we-"

"Do you have shit for ears?! I said I dunno anythin'! Now get out of my house, we gotta get some sleep!"

"Cid, what is it you don't know? Maybe I can help," Shera inserted, which granted her a glower from the man.

"Shera, shut up! We don't know nothin'! Alright?!"

"Are you sure, Mr. Highwind?" Emerson said, his eyes hard. "Perhaps you're not digging deep enough into your memory. Or maybe you're suppressing it all for some reason?"

"Hey!" he snapped. "Don't tell me what the fuck I'm suppressin' or all that shit. I'm finished with ya. I'm goin' to bed; don't let the door hit y'all asses on the way out!"

Cid disappeared in a searing cloud of hostility, leaving his guests dazed. Shera just stood at the head of the table with a blank look on her face. She then shrugged and chuckled haltingly.

"You'll have to excuse Cid. He's always so easily excitable..." The meek looking woman pulled off her glasses and cleaned them diligently on the sleeve of her robe.

"Miss Shera, you heard what we were talking about, right?" Saristis asked. "Would you happen to know anything?"

"Oh, Cid's picky with telling me certain things sometimes, so I'm just as much in the dark as you are. I'm sorry, but you'll still have tea, won't you?"

"Oh, of course, but we'll have to be quick. Our company is obviously no longer welcome."