I.
Slinking off to bed after showering was a little awkward. Cloud was probably on his way to the room Shera had offered to anyone who wanted one instead of sleeping on the floor downstairs. His bright, Mako eyes caught Cid's in the dim upstairs hallway. Cloud was briefly incredulous. A few things could be implied by the sight of their hosts walking out together. He pretended he didn't see them (for all of their sakes), and went about his business.
Cid wasn't wholly embarrassed to be seen being intimate with his housemate, but their relationship had been transitioning into something he didn't have a name for yet, or a proper way of expressing when other people were around. Hopefully, the ex-soldier wouldn't mention anything. Hopefully.
"You gonna stay up with the gang?" Cid's voice was muffled under the fabric of a t-shirt. He stuffed his head through the collar and tugged it down over his stomach. While her room was preoccupied, Shera decided it was best that she shared a bed with him.
"I'm not sure yet. I have to get up early to help Nanaki make it to the vet across town."
"You should probably sleep then, Shera. It ain't gonna show up tonight." Cid predicted. "Bet ya we'll end up having to track it down ourselves." He loaded a bullet or two into the hand gun he kept on his bedside dresser. Cid drew open a storage drawer and tucked the weapon down under some of his clothes. "Before Head Honcho stomps down here and bites a chunk out of my ass."
"Ross is going to bite into both of our asses. She called the house this morning asking if you were back yet." Shera sighed and drew back the comforter on the Captain's bed. She laid down, and it didn't take Cid long to draw back the covers on his side and spoon up behind her.
"It ain't like the damn thing has been pillaging the town again. She can pull the stick out of her britches n' wait. Should all be taken care of once you and Red figure out what's up. Right?"
"I hope so." But she really wasn't sure. Shera timidly placed her arm above the one that had been draped over her waist. The skin was almost hot to the touch. She could feel Cid's cool breath pass from his nose and ghost over the back of her neck. Goose flesh rose on the smooth skin of her shoulders, and her fingers absentmindedly fiddled with the wiry, blonde hair on his wrists. Shera shifted her hips to rest in a more comfortable position on her side, but she ran out of room and bumped into Cid's groin.
He was chewing on the inside of his cheek from behind where she couldn't see his expression. It always felt good to have Shera there with him, even if it would only be for a short while tonight. Trying his very best to mind his appendages (Cid prayed to god a little proximity and occasional friction wouldn't make his nature rise and turn things awkward) he propped his outward leg over hers under the sheets and closed his eyes. At least he wouldn't be this close to her when the sun came up. The morning salute wasn't something he could consciously monitor.
"Night." Cid grunted.
Goodnight." Shera didn't show any sign of being uncomfortable. He guessed everything was alright for now.
II.
A low, unnatural noise off to Shera's left roused her from sleep. Her senses were delayed. She had woken up too quickly, and her mind wasn't sure on whether to direct her body to sit up, lie still, or look around for the source of what woke her. It took a great deal of motivation to wrench herself from the submersion of partial unconsciousness. The room was silent, and the presence that had been pressed against her before falling asleep was missing.
Shera's hand felt the empty space of bed behind her. It was still warm where Cid had been. Lids that were heavy with drowsiness fluttered open and swiftly adjusted to the slight change in lighting. Her eyes first focused on the clock on the nightstand to determine what time it was. Maybe they were all getting ready to head out and scope the town? But, they couldn't be? No more than an hour and a half had passed since she retired. Shera sat up a bit and finally noticed the dark figure standing completely still at the end of the bed. She nearly jumped out of her skin. Her elbow hit the head board and she cringed.
"Cid?" Shera hissed.
No response.
"Cid?!"
She was apprehensive when he didn't respond the second time. The Captain's face was relaxed from any defined expression. Wary, Shera slowly crawled down to the end of the bed and lightly touched his waist. There was a bright, vibrant flicker of color in his eyes that disappeared so quickly she thought she imagined it. "Cid…?"
"Hn?" Whatever hypnotics he was under dissipated with the sighing end of his wide yawn.
"What are you doing?" Shera rasped. Was Cid sleepwalking?
"What?" He was completely confused by her question.
"What are you doing?" She asked again.
"Got up." That much, Cid was sure.
"Are you coming back to bed? You scared me half to death." Maybe he had to use the bathroom?
"Nah," he mumbled "I think'm gonna to head downstairs."
III.
The vet had no experience prescribing for Nanaki's species, but in general, they had a very clear idea of what was wrong with him. Lethargy, a dulled coat, weight loss, chronic fever, and dehydration. Interesting. "Not to worry, I think I'm very familiar with your problem, Mr. Nanaki. I'd like to perform a swab, if you're comfortable with that. I've never encountered a patient that I've been able to speak to."
"Whatever has to be done."
The visit didn't take very long. By the time it was over, Nanaki and his volunteered company were sent home with a box or two of something called fenbendazole. Shera allowed the medication's name to roll off the tip of tongue. She flipped the box over in her hand to read the dosage instructions. The medicine was relatively cheap. She told Red not to bother paying her back for it.
"A worm."
"That's it?" Yuffie's face twisted in disgust "Ewww…"
"That's what the physician said." Shera almost felt wary about the left over fish she was eating for lunch. "They did some type of swab, and confirmed that Nanaki has a rather vivacious tapeworm."
"Grrrooossss!" Their youngest member pushed her plate away and Cid dragged it in his direction. He was more than happy to finish her food for her.
"Damn, Red. What ya eat?!" Barret wasn't all that pleased to be informed either. Not the best topic while the group chatted over a meal.
Nanaki deeply sighed where he sat. He was heavily embarrassed and quite bitter about his predicament. No one was going to let him live this down. "A prairie rat probably. The one time I eat junk food…"
"You got something for it, right?" Cloud's brows were scrunched.
"Yes, something that's supposed to kill whatever I have. Something else, a vitamin supplement, I think. Apparently, I have to take frequent baths as well."
"Why's that?" Cloud spoke with a full mouth.
"Ah, maybe it's better that we don't go into to detail?" Tifa awkwardly tugged on one of her earrings.
"Agreed." The consensus was in unison.
The conversation transitioned back to serious business. Voices became the background to Shera's inner monologue. When she thought she had things pieced together, they turned out not to belong in the puzzle at all. The vet didn't find anything else odd or abnormal with Red. All he had was a worm, no chemical temperaments. No additives in his system that might have been making him aggressive. Not a trace of Mako. Suspicion of him was cleared from her mind, leaving space for nothing but frustrating blanks.
She looked up from pecking around her plate to watching Cid while he talked. Something…something was peculiar about him, and the peculiarness wasn't there before. Shera couldn't put her finger on what it was. It was a mystery, and so was finding his jacket caked with blood in the woods. What did all of this mean? It all gave her a headache, and she lost her appetite.
IV.
As Cid predicted, the first stakeout the night before was uneventful. There was no sight or sound of this mysterious, final monstrosity. AVALANCHE discussed setting up some method of tracking over lunch if tonight, the beast failed to appear again. It hadn't been a menace for quite some time in its origin area, but the group knew better to leave loose ends untied. The sooner this thing was officially exterminated, the better.
"If you get thirsty, just help yourself to the open barrel in the kitchen. I put it there for you." Shera's voice was quiet to match the late night hush that had settled over the house. The only lights on were the lamp off to the side of the couch in the living room, and the light over-heading the stovetop in the kitchen. She offered Nanaki one of the large, worn out pillows from the closet and tossed it down for him on the floor. "I won't be out for very long. I'll come back and let you know if there are any developments."
"I appreciate your kindness." The beast's tail twitched above the hardwood. It acted as a third, dull light in the home. He dragged the pillow off behind the couch, laid down, and curled up for the night.
Shera rubbed the itch of drowsiness from her nose and padded to the back door. Not bothering to put on any shoes, she trotted down the porch steps and mentally reviewed the different routes each member of AVALANCHE was designated to take. If she remembered correctly, Cid's route was the field before the launch pad. She could hear Cait Sith taunting Yuffie with his megaphone, and everyone hissing that he should put the damn thing away and be quiet.
Their voices faded behind the gentle breeze in her ears. Shera squinted through the bright light of the moon, and made out Cid's figure standing a few yards away from where the Tiny Bronco was stationed for repairs. He was smoking, typical, and the flickering orange light of his lit cigarette stood out against the cool blue of the horizon. Yawning, she weaved around some large scale scrap parts for Cid's ship project and quickened her pace.
"Fuckin' scared me." Cid looked over his shoulder when she finally made it to where he was. He loosened his clamp on the long metal spear in his opposite grip. "I was gonna whip around and konk you aside yer' head. Don't be sneakin' up on me. Ain't learn your lesson last time?" He was wondering why he hadn't heard her coming.
"Sorry, I assumed you knew I would be looking for you." Shera winced and rubbed the long faded scar that used to be hidden under her bangs at the top of her hairline. A story for some other time.
"Woman, you ain't got any shoes on?!" He glanced down at her bare feet. No wonder.
"No. I'm surprised I haven't stumbled into an ant mound yet." Shera awkwardly laughed.
"You haven't? Well shit, so am I. Son of a guns are everywhere." The Captain exhaled and a ring of smoke lazily quivered out from his mouth. He let out a long sigh; expelling the rest of the exhaust through his nose.
"Tired?" Shera placed her hand on his forearm and gazed to the launch pad looming over the town. It was an eerie, black contraption contrasting the landscape and casting spindly, geometric shadows. The fog-like predecessor to dew hovered over the swaying grass. With the moonlight, the area was ghostly and mute.
"Like hell I am." Cid flicked away some ash. He looked down to make sure it wasn't glowing, and smothered it in the damp grass with the bottom of his boot. "I didn't sleep at all last night. Back hurts. Head Hurts. Hungry as hell. Kinda overheated, I'm fuckin' sweating. Pretty damn horny. I'll be glad when this is all over."
"Do you think it will appear tonight?" Shera squinted because one of his complains was not like the others. She laid her head against his arm and understood that the Captain was joking (probably (probably not)).
"Nah. It'll be a no-show, and we'll see if Red er' Pretty Boy can track it. Cloud's got a nose on him I guess. Mako modification n' all that technical shit."
"I see. If it doesn't appear I have a sample," Shera held her tongue "that you could probably use." She was certain that the Captain's discarded jacket had some sort of importance to what was going on. "You haven't seen anything, right?"
"Nope." Cid finished his cigarette and tossed it. Like the ash he'd been flicking to the ground, he made sure it was completely smothered. "Don't you stay out here with no shoes on."
"I don't plan to."
V.
Yuffie's high pitched scream cut through the early morning like a sharpened blade. It was verging on three in the morning, and Rocket Town was painfully silent until now.
Shera snapped up from the couch and Nanaki's back was stiff. The echo of Yuffie's voice faded. Tick, tock, tick, tock the clock in the living room filled the taught, viscous pause. The silence shattered when the scream was responded to by a blood curdling roar. The familiar, malicious tone of the roar struck a pulse quickening cord in Shera and she gasped; fearing the very worst.