Chapter 20 Flawed Perceptions

They hadn't taken more than a few steps inside Cid and Shera's house before the woman slipped in from the back door. She wore a stained, white lab coat over khaki pants and a yellow knit-turtleneck. Her gray-streaked, auburn hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, bangs and a few stray strands of hair fell in her face. She walked with her hands clutched close to her chest and her shoulders hunched. Her lips were drawn down in a morose frown.

Her hazel eyes widened behind the round lenses of her glasses when she noticed the large group in the living room. Her eyes locked on Cloud and in a quiet, hesitant voice said, "Excuse me… Cloud, right?"

When Cloud blinked in momentary surprise and nodded she asked, "Did the Captain say anything?"

Before Cloud could ask for clarification, Cid slammed the front door open and took in the group standing in his front room before cursing at the woman and yelling, "Shera, are you blind? We've got guests, get them some goddamn tea!"

"I… I'm sorry," Shera stammered, shaking her head and weaving through the group to reach the stove on the far side of the room.

Cloud narrowed his eyes at how the short woman's shoulders hunched almost to her ears and murmured, "Really don't mind us, we just arrived and-"

"Shut up!" Cid interrupted, the unlit cigarette in his mouth dangling precariously. "Sit down in those chairs and drink your goddamn TEA!"

"Now just a goddamn minute!" Barret growled folding his arms and glaring at Cid. "Why the hell are you treatin' a lady like that?"

"I already told your friends, it's because of her I lost my dreams," Cid snarled back.

"No," Vincent's silky voice cut through both of the men's growls. "You told us it was her fault but gave no supporting details."

"Please," Shera said quietly. "It is my fault. If I hadn't taken so long checking the oxygen tanks Cid wouldn't have had to abort the mission to save my life. After that Shinra ended the program so…"

Cid huffed triumphantly, tilting his chin up arrogantly at the woman's admission. "Wow," Yuffie said in a flat voice. "You saved her life so you could treat her like crap for the rest of it. You really did her a favor," she hissed sarcastically.

Cid winced and scowled at the floor. Before he could open his mouth to defend himself, Vincent cut in again, "Why?"

Tense shoulders around the room lowered in confusion. Vincent hadn't taken his eyes from the female scientist. "What?" she asked faintly, lowering the tea kettle to the counter.

"Why did you spend so much time checking the oxygen tanks?" the former Turk asked, his unnerving red eyes locked on her. "Shouldn't that have been performed well before the launch?"

"They… they were," she agreed, but trailed off, looking down and to the left, biting her lower lip.

"But?" Vincent prodded.

Cid frowned opening his mouth to shout something more but Zack clamped a heavy hand on the man's shoulder and hissed, "Let him finish."

"But… Well, it wasn't commonly known, but Avalanche tried to stop the launch. They stole one of the oxygen tanks and so we replaced it with one we had in storage," Shera explained wringing her hands. "I had to check the tank they replaced though! Since-" she snapped her mouth closed.

"You saw something, didn't you?" Vincent asked in a soothing murmur.

She hesitated and then slowly nodded. Cid's jaw dropped in shock as she quietly explained, "I suppose after all these years it is okay to let you know. Especially since you don't work for Shinra."

Cid jerked back at that and frowned at Cloud and Zack's uniform. Zack tightened his grip on the man's shoulder again as the woman continued. "It was late, a few days before the launch and before the original tank was stolen. I was admiring the rocket against the stars when I noticed someone sneaking out of the spare tanks' storage shed. After one of the tanks was stolen, I was afraid the replacement tank might have been sabotaged."

"The hell?" Cid cried, tossing off Zack's hand. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Shera flinched and whispered, "Mattie Andrews was on watch that night… His wife had just given birth to twins and…"

"And you ended up taking the fall instead," Cid muttered, sinking weakly into a chair at the table and burying his face in his hands. "God damn it Shera, you shoulda told me!"

Shera shook her head sharply but before she could say anything, the front door burst open once more and a short fat man in a mustard-yellow suit bounced in the door. A few stray puffs of gray hair stuck out on his bald head and his paunchy face split with a wide smile.

"Hey-HEY!" he cried in a disturbingly high-pitched voice. "Long time no see! So Cid how ya been?"

Cid lifted his face from his hands, the distress melting away to smoldering rage. Swiftly masking it with playful annoyance he turned to the man and drawled, "Well if it ain't fat man, Palmer. How long were you figurin' on keepin' me waitin'?" He hopped out of his chair and strode to the man's side before asking, "So? When's the space program going to start up again?"

Palmer rocked back and forth like a clown punching bag and in his whiny voice demurred, "Hey-hey! I don't know. The president's outside, so why don't you ask him?"

Cid spat an invective at the man and hissed, "Then why the hell did you come here you good for nothing piece of lard!"

As the captain squeezed past the fat man, Palmer rocked even faster, a scowl on his face as he whined, "Don't say 'fat'!" He noticed the tea kettle held limply in Shera's hand and perked up. Waddling across the front room and squeezing past Barret and Zack he addressed Shera, "Can I have some too? With lotsa sugar and honey...and oh yeah, don't forget the lard!"

"I think you've got that one covered," Yuffie muttered in a stage voice to Aerith who covered her sharp snicker under the guise of a sneeze.

Plastering a fake smile on her face, Shera replied, "I'm afraid we don't have any lard. Will butter do?"

Palmer rocked, frowning and hummed, "Well okay, as long as it isn't that low-fat stuff!"

Rolling his eyes, Cloud tilted his head towards the front door and the others followed him outside. Cid's furious bellow of, "What the? You got me all excited for nothing?"

Zack winced and muttered, "Sometimes being right sucks."

Cid faced off against the young president, his arms spread wide in mystification. Rufus stood in front of an armed guard, a bored expression on his face. His eyes flicked over Cid's shoulder and he smirked at Cloud and Zack before turning back to the older man. "Just one guard?" Barret huffed twitching his gun arm. "I got a gun this time Cloud, lemme take the shot."

Vincent placed a quelling hand on the man's shoulder and then murmured, "There's a sniper on the roof of the inn and Turks in the shade of the tree by the weapon shop. I wouldn't be surprised if there was at least one sniper on the roof of this house as well."

Barret froze straining to see the sniper to no success. The Turks, however, weren't really taking much effort to hide themselves. The pilot's squawk of outrage pulled their attention back to the face off in the street.

"Then what did you come here for?" Cid asked, shaking his head as if it would cause the man's reasoning to make more sense.

Rufus brushed an errant strand of hair out of his face and replied, "I want to borrow your Tiny Bronco. We're on the trail of Sephiroth but we've hit a slight snag. We finally think we know where he's going but it turns out we were going the wrong way. That's why we want your plane."

Cid spat a long string of profanity and ranted, "First the Airship, then the rocket, and now the Tiny Bronco. Shinra took outer space away from me and now you want to take the sky away from me too?!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Rufus sniffed, brushing an invisible piece of lint off his shoulder. "It appears you've forgotten that the only reason you could fly in the first place was due to Shinra, Inc.'s generosity."

They couldn't see Cid's face from where they stood, but the back of the man's neck flushed crimson over his collar and he shouted, "What?!"

Cloud missed the rest of the man's colorful tirade when Shera tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, "Follow me."

He had to subtly nudge some of his companions to pull them from watching the argument on the street like rapt spectators at a Loveless Avenue play. To avoid attracting more attention they slowly followed Shera inside. She bent over to lock the door behind them and in a low, fast voice said, "You wanted to use the Tiny Bronco, right?"

Considering the information they just overheard, Cloud nodded once. Shera shifted uneasily and said, "Palmer slipped out back. Cid would never hand over his plane so I think Palmer's going to try and steal it. You'd better hurry before he gets away with it."

"Right!" Zack nodded firmly. "Thanks for letting us know."

One by one they slipped down the narrow hallway and Cloud heard her give a wet laugh. "I had to, thinking I could fight him off, that would be something out of a Whiskey Dream."

Tifa stopped in her tracks and whirled to face the older woman, her eyes wide. Shock, realization, pain, and then understanding flashed through the young woman's whiskey toned eyes before her face firmed with determination and she threw a thumbs-up at Shera. A faint sheen of tears sparkled in Tifa's eyes as she pivoted and dashed down the hallway to Cid and Shera's yard. Squashing down his curiosity about their interaction for later examination, Cloud followed her out.

Palmer stood on the wing of the salmon-toned plane, utterly ignorant of the dangerous group forming up behind him. "Hrmmm…" He whined, fiddling with the knobs of the cockpit he was too fat to fit in properly. "Why do I have to do this? I'm the head of the space program!"

"Hey!" Barret shouted, waving his Heavy Vulcan in the air. "Get your fat-ass offa' that plane. We're takin' it!"

Palmer turned, the engine sputtering to life and narrowed his piggy eyes at Barret, then Zack and Cloud. "Hmmm I think I've seen you somewhere before…" After half a second, he slammed a fist in his other palm and cried, "Oh, I know! It was at the Shinra building! When the President… was... killed…" The enthusiasm drained from his voice and he paled, gulping in fear at the large party assembled before him.

"Se-security!" he wailed, drawing a strange gun from his coat and jumping off the humming plane.

He fired at Zack and the former SOLDIER yowled as the equivalent of a fire 2 spell engulfed him. "Oh yeah? How about this!" Aerith hissed at the man dousing him with the acidic water of an Aqualung enemy skill. Using the tried and true combo, Barret followed with a Bolt 3 spell, the moisture from the Aqualung amplifying the severity of the damage.

The singed, rotund man stuck his thumbs in his ears and waggled his tongue at them in defiance, only barely ducking to miss the wildly spinning propeller of the Tiny Bronco. In the distraction of dodging the plane themselves, Palmer dashed off to escape, running out the open side of the fenced yard. Cloud heard the screech of brakes and a wet thud, but he was too focused on the slowly ascending plane.

"Quick, grab on!" He called, flinging Cait Sith onto one of the tail supports and splaying on the port wing, Tifa at his side. Even with the added weight of the full party, the surprisingly powerful plane rose into the air. Yuffie wailed in terror, tucked against Zack's side. Cloud scrambled to reach the cockpit without flying off or treading on one of his friends.

The woods between the town and the rocket flashed by beneath them and the plane spun on an eddy of wind aiming directly for the rocket. With a bellow of effort, Cloud jumped over where Red XIII precariously clung to the wing and wrenched the yoke of the plane so they passed between the booster tanks of the rocket and one of the support claws. Growling with the awkward angle and pull of the wind speed, Cloud steered the plane to a lower altitude and back towards the town.

With one hand keeping him aboard and the other desperately trying to avoid houses and trees, Cloud held no illusions that he could fully fly, much less land the plane. He heard a few screams and cries of outrage when they passed over the town center. Then bullets flew all around them, pinging off the metal and one traced a burning line across the arm Cloud steered with.

"Hang on kid, I'm almost there!" Cid called from the tail of the plane. Cloud peered over his shoulder and winced at the trail of black smoke from the tail of the Tiny Bronco. With an uncanny confidence, Cid made his way from the tail to the cockpit and slipped in with the ease from years of practice.

The blond sighed in relief, pulling his bleeding arm down to hold on and ease the strain on his left arm. Cid swore and shouted, "I can't steer with the tail like that, we're going down!"

Yuffie wailed from the other side of the cockpit. "Can we do an emergency landing?" Zack asked.

The plains vanished beneath their descending ride giving way to the coast and then the ocean. Cid nodded sharply and barked, "Hold on ta' your drawers and don't piss in 'em, it's gonna be a rough one!"

The grizzled pilot did what he could to slow and soften the landing, but Red XIII's claws screeched sharply on the metal as the plane skipped across the ocean surface like a flat pebble. On the third bounce they glided to a slow drift, the churning water settling around them. Moans of pain and relief rose from all around Cloud, the jarring impacts left him feeling like a bead in the rattle of an excited baby.

The last of the vibrations ceased as Cid killed the engine. For one long moment he slumped in his seat, his head bowed. Then he shook his head sharply, grimaced and climbed out of the cockpit to examine the damage.

They did their best to stay out of his way as he worked. Her face already a shade green at the gentle rocking of their makeshift boat, Yuffie curled against Red XIII's side and moaned quietly. Zack and Cloud assisted as they could though in the end they allowed him to work undisturbed.

After considerable time tinkering with the tail connections and the engine, Cid shook his head and sighed, "She won't fly anymore." He snorted and added, "An' even if she could, there's no way she'd get inta the air with all of you weighin' her down."

Aerith blushed and then sheepishly asked, "Can we use her as a boat?"

Cid threw his arms in the air as if pleading for help from above and spat another stream of profanity before huffing, "Do whatever you want."

Barret huffed and asked, "An' what about you? Wanna get dropped off back at shore or somethin'?"

Cid spat his soggy cigarette butt into the ocean and shook his head, "I dunno what I wanna do. I'm through with Shinra and since the rocket's never gonna be used, there really isn't anything holdin' me to that town."

"And what about Shera?" Tifa asked quietly, her face blank but some instinct in Cid made him cringe and scratch the back of his head before sighing.

"Gotta do some thinkin' about that… Probably best if she gets a vacation from me." He released a breath of relief when Tifa considered his words and then nodded once. Cid groaned and sat on the fuselage just behind the cockpit before asking, "What are you lot going to do anyway?"

"Well, we're actually pursuing Sephiroth, like Rufus Shinra was. Our goals don't really coincide however," Cloud explained.

"Sephiroth?" Cid scratched his chin, the sound of his gloves rasping over the stubble was faint over the splashing of the water against the sides of Tiny Bronco. "I go from not hearin' about that guy for years to twice in one day. I thought he died."

"So did we," Zack sighed, shoulders slumping. He smiled faintly when Aerith gently patted his arm that rested around her waist and continued, "We want to find out whether it is Sephiroth or not. Even so, we plan to stop what he's doing."

"Eventually we're gonna take out Rufus and Shinra too," Barret interjected, pausing in shaking water out of his gun arm's inner workings.

Cid snorted, "I don't know about any of that but… what the hell, sign me up."

Cloud shrugged and asked, "What do you guys think?"

Most of them made either affirmative or indifferent sounds. Yuffie fought back a wave of nausea and moaned, "Whatever, as long as we reach land soon!"

Cid grinned and jabbed, "Glad to be aboard, numb-skulls!"

"Numb-skulls?" Cait echoed, his voice affronted.

"Yeah, anyone dumb enough to go against Shinra's gotta have some screws loose. I like it!" He barked out a laugh before asking, "So where we headed? Rufus said somethin' about Sephiroth goin' to the Temple of the Ancients."

Aerith straightened up in her seat and gasped, "Really? Did he say where the Temple of the Ancients was?"

Cid shook his head and shrugged, "I dunno. That brat said he was 'headin' in the wrong direction' so that ain't much to go off of."

Tifa shook her head and looked up to dabbing a damp cloth on Yuffie's forehead and said, "Let's head for land, perhaps we'll find more information about the Temple of the Ancients." She shot a look at Aerith's distracted face and murmured, "If nothing else we might find out if the name is accurate."

Yuffie perked up slightly and suggested, "How about heading west? No… no reason in particular, just…" She pointed west and there was a faint dark line of land.

Zack shrugged and said, "Why not? It can't hurt."

Cloud hoped the sudden chill he felt was only the ocean breeze on his damp clothes.

Despite his flicker of apprehension at her odd behavior, Yuffie did have a point about their proximity to the smaller continent of Wutai. In the confusion of their rough landing, it hadn't seemed like they'd flown far enough to be this close to the once proud nation, but perhaps the ocean currents pulled them to shore while Cid fiddled with his repair attempts. If nothing else however, the opportunity to move without tripping over someone else made it a compelling choice.

They landed on a small beach on what was close to as far south as one could be on the island while still being on said island. Zack shielded his eyes from the late afternoon glare and looked around before asking, "Okay, I'm seeing rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Do you know if there's anywhere around here we'll be able to camp for the night without becoming a larger mass of aches than we already are?"

Yuffie paused in combing her fingers through her salt-crusted hair and looked around before shrugging. "Gotta admit, I didn't spend a whole lot of time on this part of the island… for obvious reasons. There really isn't much of anything around here but a few obscure shrines. As for sleep…" She grimaced before shrugging and offering, "Our best bet is probably to find the least rocky or flattest ground we can."

Aerith sighed, tossed a tired look at Zack and drawled, "I'm glad you didn't promise this would be a glamorous trip, or I'd have to hit you right now."

Zack laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Pretty sure Cloud would have set me straight if I'd tried."

They scoured the rocky beach for a smooth or at least somewhat flat area to camp for the evening that wouldn't end up with them beneath the tide. Unfortunately the beach was infested with Adamantaimai. The golden-horned, carnivorous turtles put up a nasty fight whenever they were encountered, their array of barrier spells weakening the impact of their spells and weapons. Tifa took great joy in stealing Adaman Bangles from them while Zack and Aerith were relieved that the Enemy Skill Cloud told Cait Sith to Manipulate them into using wasn't a painful one this time.

After a few rounds of fighting, another wave of the party's materia mastered, birthing new ones. When Alfonse Jr. birthed a new Transform materia, Zack bounced around, holding it up to his Transform and exclaiming, "Look Alfonse! You've got a grandchild! I dub thee, Alfonse the Third!"

Swiftly hiding his pained grimace before Zack could see it, Cloud waved his hand at Zack and said, "You keep this one Zack."

"Alright!" Zack beamed at Cloud with the devotion of a dog given a prime cut of steak. Shaking his head, Cloud rolled the extra materia in his hand before shoving them in his pouch to deal with later.

The setting sun painted the stony ground and sky a fiery orange before they finally found a somewhat decent location to stop for the night. Exhausted from the emotions of the day, Aerith slumped against Cait Sith's side while Cloud and Zack arranged the driftwood they'd been collecting as the afternoon wore on. Barret frowned at the remains of the Adamantaimai they'd killed to clear the location and asked, "Why the heck hasn't this gone away like all the other monsters?"

"Because I've got a hankering for turtle soup," Yuffie explained, licking her lips and drawing a gleaming dagger from somewhere and hacking away at the enormous beast. "Aunt Umiko makes the best turtle soup in Wutai and she taught me the recipe."

"Heh, it'll feel a little bit like justice to eat one of the dang things that's been tryin' ta' eat us all day," Cid huffed with a toothy grin. "Problem is, whatcha' gonna cook it in? Its shell?"

"Cloud has a pot," Yuffie replied without looking up. She cheered in triumph when she reached the tender flesh beneath the monster's scaly skin. She called to Cloud over her shoulder, "While you're getting the pot, ladle, and tripod out, bring out the spices and the tubers Aerith found before we reached Rocket Town last night."

"I can't believe that was only last night! This has been a crazy day," Aerith huffed and shook her head in wonder before climbing to her feet to help Tifa and Yuffie slice out chunks of meat.

While the women laughed over the odd perception of time, Cid gave Cloud a weird look trying to figure out where he could be holding a pot big enough to feed all of them. Tubers could be in his pockets, a tripod could be collapsed but… He felt momentarily vindicated when Cloud reached into the small pouch at his side and pulled out a handful of potato-like plants. Then he felt confused when the young man removed the pouch from his side, setting it on the ground and sticking his hand deep inside… and then his wrist… and his elbow…

He didn't realize he was making wheezing noises of horror until Barret clapped his shoulder in commiseration and advised, "Don't think about it man, it'll only break your brain."

Barret rolled his shoulders and shuddered as Cloud somehow pulled a massive cauldron from the small hip pouch. The ladle, bowls, and utensils inside rattled when Cloud set it on the rocky ground with a slight grunt. Cid's wide blue eyes went from the cauldron to the tiny pouch and back. Barret patted his back in solidarity and walked past Cloud to gather the tubers for Yuffie.

With an expression much like that of a person watching a snake swallow a rat twice the size of its head, Cid watched Cloud's arm disappear into the bag a few more times, pulling out a small satchel of herbs, a smaller cauldron, and an iron tripod.

"It's a good thing we picked up a bigger pot in Cosmo Canyon," Tifa mused when she came over for the spices and a few more knives. "Yuffie says we should fill the cauldron half-full of water."

Cloud nodded and turned to Vincent and Red XIII calling, "Vincent, could you fill this at the spring Red found near that ridge?" He pointed to a green patch near the cliffs north of them. The cloaked man looked up from clearing stray rocks from where they would sleep that night and silently nodded. It still took Cloud aback how smoothly and silently the man moved. He wordlessly took the cauldron from Cloud and with Red XIII at his side departed for the spring.

With Zack's help Cloud assembled the tripod and hung the pot over the fire. "Just in time!" Yuffie chirped dumping large chunks of spiced turtle meat and chopped tubers in the pot. She stepped aside and Vincent carefully poured the collected water in with the meat.

The few evening chores settled, they gathered around the fire to wait as the soup cooked. Cid scratched his stubbled chin and finally asked, "I can't take it. What in the hell is up with that pouch of yours Spiky?"

Cloud sighed and hung his head and asked, "What is it with people calling me various iterations of Spiky?"

"It's the big spike of hair in the center," Vincent offered in a low voice. "It is a distinguishing characteristic and thus one of the first things remarked upon."

Cloud scowled and tried to smooth the tuft of hair down to no avail. Tifa and Aerith giggled over the attempt. Cid nodded thoughtfully and muttered, "I think you're right. But back to my question, how the hell did you pull that," he pointed to the cauldron. "Outta something that small?" he finished, pointing to the pouch attached to Cloud's belt.

The blond snorted and elbowed Zack in the ribs. "I explained to Barret and he still struggles with it. Maybe you'll do better."

Zack laughed and looked up from the small design he was making with rocks. Running his fingers through his hair he shrugged and said simply, "Some time before the war with Wutai, before I was in SOLDIER actually, Shinra developed a method to cut down on travel costs with the troops. High ranking commanders would be given a chest or a pouch, something to store all the supplies a contingent would need. They've improved a lot over the years, it used to be they could only carry one item that was larger than the container."

Cid swore viciously and struck his thigh with a fist, "Why in the blue blazes is Shinra makin' sci-fi stuff like bottomless pouches that can hold infinite stuff before sendin' folks in ta' space?"

Tifa looked up from her conversation with Aerith and interjected, "It can't hold infinite things. After we left Gongaga we discovered that it can only hold up to 99 of the same type of object."

"Oh, like that's any better!" Cid grumbled. "Maybe if Shinra had sold those they woulda' had enough to fix the rocket so I could go inta' space!"

Zack picked up one of the stones in his design and tossed it in the air and caught it a few times as he continued, "I'm not really sure how it works but it seemed to be standard issue for SOLDIER Firsts but not the lower members of the military. Something about needing a high concentration of mako to power whatever makes them bigger on the inside."

Barret frowned, "High concentration of mako?" Without speaking, Cloud and Zack looked up at him. In the dimming twilight, their eyes noticeably glowed blue and violet respectively. Barret grimaced and muttered, "Right. So that means they couldn't just sell 'em to anyone 'cause they can't use them."

"It's too bad though," Yuffie muttered sadly as she started ladling out bowls of soup. "That kind of easy storage space would be amazingly convenient."

A/N: As for the Cid thing… oops, looks like we went off the rails a bit there but… He needed a wake-up call. Shera being part of the fan clubs was a suggestion from Circle of Phoenix. I admit I didn't think she would fit, as most of the club members I'd portrayed so far were pretty self-assured, then I realized: wouldn't someone trapped in an unpleasant situation look up to a strong woman who *wouldn't* take that kind of treatment? So yeah… Hope it went over okay.

Also, this chapter is posted as a congratulations to Circle of Phoenix for passing her driver's test. :D