This is so outrageous. Like halfway through 2020? Nope.
I don't own anything, anyone or anywhere you recognise. Sapphire, along with a few others who'll crop up every now and then, are mine.
Refuse to believe it. Calendars lieeeeeeee. Also, what even is 2020? You know, besides scary. Stay safe everyone. If you're out protesting somewhere with high tension, do so peacefully but not silently. And that's all, because I'm sure you're not here for politics, you're here for the FFVII character cameos! I'm so scared they won't be in-character...
Sorry this one wound up being a bit late! Kinda promised myself that I wouldn't post this chapter until I sorted out some cover art, because I was seriously procrastinating on it. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome though! May not be able to see it so well on here because smol, if you want a closer look you can search my username on deviantart. Except with dashes instead of spaces because reasons.
Big huge fluffy thanks to the person who left me another lovely review! Saphie's had a tough ol' time recovering physically, so now we gotta get her mentally ready to go kick butt! Also, massive shoutout to JustAFemaleGeek; was such a delight to see your reviews as you read through the story from start to now, it absolutely made my day! Just seeing how invested you got, gah. Cannot emphasise how much I loved it.
Chapter 6 - Bluff
With a few trophies from creatures I had slain in my possession and ripe for selling, I marched into the circle of tents in the rocket launch pad area with my head held high, prepared to barter my way across the breadth of the continent to Costa del Sol.
Not that my approach had anything to do with how I was going to barter. My head was craned back just gazing in awe at the rocket, far closer now even though it was likely still miles away. I had initially thought the gathering of tents encircled the rocket, but it was well away from the workers' accommodation. I supposed that made sense. I could see a few labourers carrying heavy loads, supervisors calling instructions and engineers studying blueprints and pieces of equipment and who knows what else. No doubt the work could get pretty loud, which would be a nuisance to those off-duty.
"A tourist, eh?" a worker asked from where he sat outside one of the tents, with a tone I couldn't decipher, a little disgruntled maybe? I wasn't sure he was even talking to me, or just making an observation aloud to himself. "Long while since we've had one of those."
I supposed my gawking wasn't too subtle, so I puffed my chest and put my game face on, trying to remember how SOLDIERs were supposed to act. "Hello. Can I ask you a question?" I requested, deciding that if he was willing to talk about me like I wasn't here, he was opening himself up to getting inconvenienced.
"Warm today, isn't it?" he rubbed a rag over his forehead, and I furrowed my brow, wondering if he was deliberately ignoring what I had said.
It sure was though, I had been guzzling water from every fresh water source I could find on the way here. "Definitely. A big change from the mountain, that's for sure."
"You've come from Nibelheim?" he quizzed me, eyes narrowed speculatively, before understanding dawned; maybe processing my SOLDIER uniform. His eyes paused on my exposed left shoulder before meeting my own. "Never met a girl SOLDIER before," he murmured curiously.
Huh. Well that wasn't a bad reaction, I supposed. First successful ruse complete! And with no effort on my part. "Who do I talk to about transport back to Midgar?" The less detail I could get away with fudging, the better. Plus, the more self-assured and dominant I came across (achieved by heaps of eye contact and a falling inflection) the less assurance he would need from me. Also, don't rub at my shoulder, which was dully tingling from the attention.
Whether my impression was convincing or barely passable, I was aware that it was just an impression. My mum, a Turk in her prime, had taught me how to be confident and convincing in any role, in some role-playing games we had played together when I was younger. Like then, this was an act, an impersonation; a con more than anything. I couldn't recall being in any kind of commandeering scenario like this one. Being in SOLDIER for just a year, I supposed that wasn't surprising.
To my relief, the worker needed no further convincing. He half-turned and pointed to a tent several yards away. "You'll find him in there. Good luck." The well-wishing prompted a question, but the worker walked away immediately after, so I decided it would be easier to find out from the man himself.
On my approach, it became clear that the hollering I could hear in the background wasn't just the general noise of communication across such a large area; rather it was all concentrated from one person in one small area. That small area being my destination. The voice was gruff, that of an older man, and the language he used equally coarse.
I set a stern frown on my face, ready to assert myself and undoubtedly rub this person up the wrong way. I had a hand on the flap of the tent, ready to push it back and enter when—
With light, skittish movements, murmuring soft apologies under her breath, a woman backed right into me and we fell backwards. I let out a grunt when my back hit the ground, winded. "Oh!" she called, looking over her shoulder, meeting my eye behind a pair of round glasses, "I'm so sorry!"
Round glasses, narrowed unemotional eyes, a scowl that could only lift into the most scornful, mocking, ugly smirk—
"Shera?" came a slightly quieter grunt from inside. Some clattering, then the flap was pushed back, and a lean blonde-haired man with goggles at his hairline poked his head through. "What the hell are ya doin'?"
"I'm so sorry," she was murmuring, her weight lifting off me, brushing off her white lab coat as she dashed away.
Hunched shoulders donned in a white lab coat, a limp dark ponytail hanging between the shoulder blades, a cackling laugh—
His voice rumbled around a curse, before he looked down at me, thinly-veiled disdain lifting into something resembling concern with a hefty dollop of suspicion. "Ya alright there?"
That laugh—
I tried to respond in the affirmative, failed, and turned onto my side to empty out the contents of my stomach.
The man in charge immediately demonstrated how he got that position by barking out commands, and then he was crouching by my head, a sensible distance from the new little puddle I had made. "Still with us, Blue?"
Someone else once called me Blue. Someone who looked a little like this man, with a broad jaw and some manly stubble, with downturned eyebrows and a natural, serious frown. But this man was blonde, and gruff, where the other was friendly, and dark haired, and… ugh. I couldn't remember his name.
My slow nod was met with a satisfied bark of a laugh, and he slammed his hands firmly on my shoulders. "Up you get, then," he commanded, and gave me no time to attempt the feat myself before pulling me upright.
Too fast. Head spinning. Too much. Ow.
"Easy, easy…" he soothed, and then my world spun, and I was suspended above the ground, tender stomach pressing into his strong, extraordinarily pointy shoulder.
"Owie," I whined.
"Shaddup." He pulled back the tent flap only to allow us to enter, the heavy material buffeting me in the cheek before falling closed behind us. Rather, behind him, ahead of me.
I was dropped, without warning, onto a thankfully cushiony sofa. It was softer and deeper than it looked, and the equally soft throw over the back of the sofa suggested it was used for sleeping more often than not. The jaunty, precarious angle it rested at set off the rest of the room; scrap metal, papers, writing utensils, apparatus that I couldn't name and could only describe as mathsy, and countless other bits and bobs cluttered the tent with no apparent organisation.
A bomb could've went off in here and it'd probably look the better for it. A bomb could be in here and I'd have no idea. Some of those hunks of metal looked like they could be.
"Oi," the man addressed me in a grunt, with a gruff voice that sounded like it should've been on someone twice his age, "'the hell're you gawkin' at?"
"Uhh," I mumbled, and closed my mouth when I realised it had been gaping open for a while. Before I could give a respectable answer, we were interrupted.
A streak of daylight illuminated dust particles floating through the air when the tent flap was pulled back. I glanced in that direction before skipping over the person entering, as if to continue looking about the tent. Another queasy twist in my stomach made itself known.
"I brought tea," the young scientist announced, upbeat. China clattered as she placed a tray on the small coffee table a few feet from me. I looked at the tray determinedly, unwilling to look the white-coated woman in the face for a second time. "Cid?"
His hum I wouldn't have recognised as being positive had her pouring a cup out for him, adding a drop of milk and half a spoon of sugar before her slim fingers lifted the cup and saucer. Eyes fixed on the tray, I heard but did not see his receipt of the drink, giving a thanks under his breath.
"You should take some too," she spoke to the only other person in the room, and I squinted at her knees, bent over in the guise of being too uncomfortable from sickness to look any higher.
"Uh," I mumbled, as she poured from the teapot. I gazed at the dark brown liquid, suddenly very unsure of myself. How did I take tea? Did I like tea? Should I have asked for some juice instead? She was waiting for my order, delicate hand poised over the small milk jug, so I swallowed thickly and made my guess, "A little milk, and no sugar."
She fulfilled the order and handed me the saucer, "Hope it helps, you should have one of those dry biscuits as well." Such a mother hen, it was pretty endearing, and comforting, and it eased my nerves a little. Feeling brave, I glanced up, and where before I only saw the round glasses before, now I saw doe-like, caring brown eyes. Behind the glasses, which were still deeply unsettling.
"Thanks for this," I spoke in a murmur, holding the teacup to my chin and inhaling deeply, letting my eyes flutter closed. Breathing in the steam and aroma from the tea was probably more therapeutic than actually drinking it would be. Slightly quivering still from my ordeal, the memory fresh in my mind, I wasn't sure that I was ready to ingest anything just yet anyway.
She chimed, "You're welcome. Hope you feel better." I offered what must've been a pretty shaky attempt at a smile at her well-wishes, as she picked up the tray and took her leave.
I'm not a halfwit, I knew the twenty-something woman wasn't the same person who locked me up and treated me like a test subject. It was just a shame she happened to have the same fashion sense. Good grief. I'd give her a makeover if I didn't find her as darned adorable as she was, with all her nervous skittering and her politeness.
"You're not with SOLDIER," Cid cut straight to the heart of the matter, his briskness a direct contrast to Shera's softer touch, and I felt a chill down my spine. Probably more to do with the sickness than anything, but his claim was a little unsettling.
Cid must've been pretty sharp, to pick that up despite appearances. I looked at him over my teacup, finding it to be considerably less comforting now, and took a sip. "I'm looking for transport to Costa del Sol, I'm heading back to Midgar." He was a smart cookie, to say the least, so I needed to be careful with what I said to avoid giving anything away. To be heading up the Space Exploration Programme run by Shinra, he was obviously smart, and affiliated with Shinra, and… wow, I did not think this through. Was it a crime, to impersonate a SOLDIER? I never claimed to be one, so what does it mean to impersonate something, just being dressed as one?
The engineer advised me to drop my nonsense (paraphrasing) and repeated his accusation, with a stern expression.
Seeing no real way around it, I shook my head in confirmation, "No, I'm not." Felt like my job title as a SOLDIER died when I did some six months prior.
"Well then, what's with the get-up?" he asked the obvious next question. So obvious in fact that I had completely overlooked it, and had neglected to come up with a safe explanation. Gears spun in my head.
He's with Shinra (more than that, he's leading their most ground-breaking research ever) so try to avoid knocking them. He's smart and has at least some human lie detector in his brain, so the less barefaced lying I do, the more likely it'll be believable. How can I not knock Shinra while still telling some modicum of truth in response to that question?
The answer was so obvious, it took me an embarrassing length of time to come up with it. Long enough for one of Cid's eyebrows to creep upwards, joined by the other when I had a very obvious epiphany, jerking my head up to meet his gaze.
"I came across one, in my travels," I offered nonchalantly, though the last word came out a little more hesitantly. I couldn't tell if he noticed, so fixated on maintaining eye contact that I couldn't comprehend much besides his eye colour. Baby blue. They were pretty, though piercing, a little intimidating. "Thought it'd be useful, give me some pull; get me in places I otherwise wouldn't be able to."
I waved my hands around me, indicating our current location, as proof of my claim. Cid hummed thoughtfully, chin propped on a fist with his elbow on a messy stack of papers, and shook his head, saying, "I don't buy it." I took a breath in preparation to fight my corner, but he shushed me. I was thrown for a loop when I noticed he was smiling. "How long you been sick? Assumin' you didn't blow chunks because Shera bumped into you." Wrong!
My brain was a little sluggish trying to process how this conversation was going, so it took me a few moments to give a reaction, which turned out to be an awkward chuckle that had me grimacing in the silence that followed. "Uh, I haven't been sick," I answered honestly, my eyes darting about because I wasn't sure whether that extended eye contact gave away my previous lie. "Not sure what came over me," I added.
"Huh," he huffed, and I wasn't sure whether that was accepting my claim or disbelieving it. "So why are you going to Midgar?"
All these questions were giving my brain whiplash. After an intelligent sounding "Uhhh," I decided on another partial truth. "I have a few friends from there, gonna make a surprise visit out of it." The ultimate surprise visit, to say the least.
"And the uniform helps with that, does it?" Cid wryly questioned. He just didn't even want to try to believe me, did he? A little imagination would go a long way.
"You'd be surprised," I replied in the same tone of voice, coming to the understanding that I wasn't getting away with this. "So… do you happen to know of a way I can get to Costa del Sol?"
He folded his arms over his chest, his distractingly well-toned arms I hadn't really paid attention to before now, and said in the same dry tone, "Yeah, and I might be able to help point you in the right direction, when my curiosity's satisfied."
The vagueness of his request, coupled with him leaning back in his chair and propping his foot up on his messy desk, had me chewing my lip in contemplation. How much would I need to tell?
…
"You…" he uttered, looking down, his face cast into shadow. "You told him everything?"
Heart pounding, I pleaded, "What else could I have done? I can't walk the breadth of the continent, even getting here was so difficult." He said nothing more, so I continued, "He was my only option, and he wouldn't take anything less!"
Couldn't he see that I was already torturing myself over my decision to reveal all that had happened to me? How I had painted that target onto my back, fully aware of my decision?
"It was either tell him everything, or leave. Even if I left, he'd probably get in touch with Shinra and give them my description anyway, I was dressed as a SOLDIER. He called my bluff, so whether I told or I didn't, I was rumbled anyway."
Still nothing. He wouldn't even look at me. Shouldn't he be telling me off right now?
"You understand, don't you?" I gazed at him, hating how pathetic I felt but willing to be so. "Please?"
The slightest movement caught my interest; his fist clenching, leather creaking in the silence. That probably wasn't such a good thing. "I don't think you realise how much danger you've put yourself in," he grumbled from deep in his chest.
"You think I don't? Of course I do!" I insisted, voice raised in anger and desperation.
"If you had, you would've said nothing!" he yelled back, his striking blue-green eyes suddenly meeting mine, swiftly getting to his feet and taking steps to me, towering over me with a menacing look, nostrils flaring with rapid breaths.
But I wasn't intimidated, oh no I wasn't. "You're not listening! I was dressed as SOLDIER, if he's at all loyal to Shinra he'd rat me out whether I spoke or kept my mouth shut. At least saying what I did had the chance to influence his decision!"
"Influence?" he cut across the end of my tirade, lacing the word with a tone of incredulity. "So he goes from possibly reporting an unusual but unremarkable encounter, to aiding an escaped subject of great personal interest—"
"Don't call me that," I interrupted darkly, meeting his glare with equal ferocity. He raised a challenging eyebrow, but carried on a second later, at a slightly calmer pace, to his credit.
"…aiding you, at no benefit to himself and against the will of his employers; the greatest conglomerate this world has ever seen. A conglomerate that has an army at its disposal."
"Present company not excluded," I chimed in, eyebrows raised. His breath left him in a rush, almost akin to a laugh. Almost. Maybe.
"Are you trying to suggest that your blunder is made less severe if I am your opposition?" he enquired, trading some of his fury for a healthy dose of sarcasm.
I shrugged unassumingly. "Well, you'd hardly fight me, would you? You were never my biggest fan but there was some kinda… mutual kinship there, right?" My hand had spun in the air as I thought of the right term to present, which I did with the same hand as if serving him some kind of delicious meal he couldn't possibly refuse.
The commander propped a hand on his hip and leaned his weight on the same side, huffing a breath that was closer approaching a laugh than the last one. "Maybe not, though my lack of fondness for Shinra might tilt the scales in your favour."
I pouted at him for a second, before grinning, announcing "I'll take what I can get. So there! Sorted."
"And you think Shinra would send the compromised former tutor to recapture the escaped convict?" the redhead prompted unenthusiastically, clearly unconvinced by my dismissal. The new noun didn't go unnoticed, and I reflected that with an appreciative smile, before it fell as I registered his point.
"So let them send someone else," I remarked, attempting a blasé attitude, looking off to the side with my hands on my hips. "I haven't been gone that long, and thanks to you, I got a bit of a name for myself while I was there. I'll be recognised, for sure."
"That may not be a good thing," he interjected, smirking. I glared at him for his sass, and while I was thinking of a witty response, his eyes caught mine. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head, his lips pulling up in a sad-looking smile. "I'm still angry about this," he uttered.
"You don't sound angry," I pointed out, a little hesitant. He just sounded weary to me.
"I have to be," he murmured, softly enough that I felt like maybe I wasn't supposed to hear.
"No, you don't," I disputed, frowning.
There was something in his face then, maybe desperation? "Yes, I do," he dismissed. "It's the only way to teach you that you're doing something foolish."
Between his expression and his tone, my heart broke a little bit. My hands dropped from my hips, and I looked away, unable to endure the weight of his gaze any longer.
Why were we even arguing? What was done was done. I couldn't rewind and take back my words from Cid's ears, and this man couldn't tape my mouth shut or anything else to prevent me doing so again. He could yell all he wanted, but honestly, his reaction just fuelled the rebel in me. Made me want to go out and do the same thing again, just to show him I knew what I was doing. To show him that I was good enough, that I was on his level.
"I think we summarised our whole relationship just there," I murmured thoughtfully, still staring into space. Repentantly, I bowed my head. "We're… okay, right?"
His pause didn't fill me with confidence on what his answer was going to be. "You can't tell anyone else all that you told him. Especially if you think you can trust them. Promise me."
I shuffled my feet. "I hate making promises." Nothing is certain, after all. "What if some mystical being that can detect lies asks me my life story, and threatens to kill me if I don't tell the complete truth?"
The cynical SOLDIER didn't seem impressed by my scenario, his expression flat but for a single perked eyebrow. Eventually, he sighed laboriously and relented, "You may divulge only if your survival hinges on it."
"What about with you?"
He looked surprised, then musing for a moment. "In that occasion," he decided brightly, "your life will likely also be at stake. You may divulge then also."
"I'm glad we got all that ironed out," I remarked, rolling my eyes.
"I'm not joking." His tone was slightly more sombre then, to reinforce the… lack of joking.
Contemplating, I folded my arms defensively and frowned. "You really think that?"
He shrugged, an action which wasn't totally reassuring. "It could happen. You know me; I can be volatile. Even without such… dramatic circumstances."
"Aw," I cooed, "I'm glad it would mean so much to you!"
"Says the one travelling to the other side of the world, just to see me," he retorted smugly.
"Pfft," I blew out air from puffed cheeks, "I'm going to see my friends, I just didn't want to say that and make you jealous if you're not my highest priority."
He took a step closer. My hands tightened on my upper arms. He tilted his head, bending at the waist to gaze at me eye-to-eye. Darn. "But, I am your priority," he corrected me, voice gentle.
Double darn. Was my bluffing that obvious?
Apparently. His smirk softened, and stretched into a broad smile, genuine and sweet, the same lopsided curve I had seen and adored a few months ago. No trace of mocking, yet I felt embarrassed seeing it, because he saw right through me. All the cheeky deflections, the sarcastic retorts, everything in my repertoire; it was all useless against him, the man who knew me far too well without us ever having a real conversation.
I looked away, dropping my hands to my sides. Seconds later, I looked again, as if there was a magnetic pull between our mako eyes. A question came to mind. One which I wanted to hear the answer to, but desperately wanted to avoid asking.
Sure, maybe I had some work to do to appear as indifferent as my tutor could. Of course he saw through it, he invented it. I could live with him reading between the lines and deciding that I cared about him. Kinda. On some level.
If I asked that question, I was taking a flying leap into expressing that teeny amount of care I held for him. And that wasn't something I was aiming for. But, alas, I didn't even get to choose.
"Are you a priority, to me?" he murmured the question plucked straight from my brain, while I blinked owlishly at him. He frowned, fine auburn eyebrows coming together in a pensive look, and slowly straightened to stand at full height.
Silence, as he pondered. I fought to keep my nerves from showing.
"I couldn't say," he eventually answered, sounding apologetic. Then, he smiled again. "Try me."
…
"Can't sleep?" the slightly timid voice addressed me, the speaker approaching me through the dark. The stars twinkled overhead but gave no noticeable illumination to the area, leaving it only dully lit by two tents with night owls for inhabitants.
"Must be catching," I remarked, offering a smile to the woman. "Hello, Shera."
"I didn't catch your name before," the young woman sounded almost apologetic as she addressed my lack of manners.
I cringed. "That's right. Call me Aqua. And I'm sorry, for…" I fumbled for words, while she shook her head, already dismissing my apology, "…earlier."
"It's okay! I'm not offended, I promise!" she forgave eagerly.
"That's good of you, thank you. I'm not usually that bad, I promise."
"I'm sure," she agreed with a giggle. A small silence followed, during which the scientist seemed to struggle for words.
I was just distracted by the sound of tiny, flapping wings. Not again. I scanned the area, and the slightest flicker of movement—
A hand shot out, and I enclosed the tiny insect in a single fist. The fluttering tickled my palm for a few moments, and turning to stretch the impromptu cage as far away from us as I could, I opened my hand. The little creature launched off a second later, bidding a hasty retreat.
Sardonically, I commented, "They don't tell you about these little perks when you sign up." I watched the moth for a few moments longer, wiping my hand off on my trouser leg. The stupid thing of course flew directly for the nearest alternate light source.
Shera laughed appreciatively. "That must be a nuisance. I wouldn't have thought of that."
"I didn't either," I harrumphed, swivelling the topic of our discussion to look at her, standing on my right and clearly straining to avoid gazing openly. "You can look, you know," I offered.
She met my eye then, looking a little sheepish. "Sorry, I haven't been around that many SOLDIERs," she explained. I pressed my lips together, feeling oddly dehumanised. Shera clearly noticed my dismay, her brow furrowing in worry as she stammered, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean any offence."
"No, it's fine Shera, sorry," I dismissed with a wan smile, exaggerating my tiredness as I stretched and yawned, rubbing one of my eyes. "I'm tired, I dunno what I'm doing."
She hummed thoughtfully, looking straight forward for a few moments. "Are you nervous, about tomorrow?" she asked softly, sympathetically.
I was more nervous about tonight actually, partly convinced an army was on their way here. Thanks for nothing, imaginary tutor.
Apparently my lack of response was concerning, as the young woman leapt to her boss' defence. "Cid is as good as his word, you don't have anything to fear from him! He's honest to a fault, sometimes brutally so!"
"Said like someone who knows," I observed, smiling ruefully as she looked away. Hey, I could sympathise, my tutor was much the same as far as I could remember. Seeing that made me feel a connection with Shera, even if we were very different in a lot of other ways. "How much did he tell you?" I asked, voice light as I was simply curious. How many would Cid trust to tell my story, one which I had such difficulty parting with myself?
"About you?" she asked for clarification, and shook her head in the negative when I nodded in the positive. "Nothing! If you told him anything secret, you couldn't have trusted a more trustworthy person."
Laying it on a bit thick there, aren't we? "You really admire him, don't you Shera?"
Her blush and incomprehensible stammering made me wistful. She was too sweet. "N-no! I don't admire him - well, I mean, no-not like that!"
I tilted my head, imitating innocence. "Not like what?"
"I… not like… not like nothing!" she yelped, brow furrowing in consternation. I sniffed, catching a whiff of something. "Just he's really intelligent, and he has a really interesting way of working, I've never had any experience with anything as interesting as this—"
"Cid," I called out into the dark in the direction of the approaching engineer, casting my eyes over to the young scientist, whose mouth clamped shut, her eyes almost impossibly wide open as if to compensate. "Good evening!"
"Good night," he corrected abruptly. "What're you two whisperin' about at this hour?" His gruff voice was slightly muffled, speaking around a cigarette that hung from the corner of his mouth. The end was lit with an amber light that jumped with every syllable, almost hypnotically.
"Nothing!" came Shera's high-pitched response, quick as lightning. Cid raised an eyebrow at her, eyes moving to me, as if expecting me to spill all.
Airily, I answered, "Exchanging stories about terrible bosses. Care to weigh in?"
Shera looked at me like I'd just kicked her puppy, while her boss rolled his eyes. "You'd know all about that, right SOLDIER?"
"Naturally," I agreed with a smile. "Job's not without its perks though."
"You been fillin' her head with rubbish?" Cid complained, gesturing to the young woman, who looked like she was on the way to a panic attack. "Don't you go gettin' any fancy ideas, Shera," Cid grumbled, squinting at us with playful suspicion. "Can't have you swannin' off to SOLDIER, you ain't done enough around 'ere fer that." With a puff of smoke as if to emphasise his point, he continued his saunter in the direction of his tent, having come from the opposite direction.
Shera gripped my elbow, hard enough for me to know that she wasn't doing it for comedic effect. Seeing her distress, I smiled sympathetically. "You haven't been around guys like that much, have you?"
"He's… a lot to take in," she mumbled, breathless enough to sound as if she'd been for a brisk jog. Did he really intimidate her that much? She shook her head at me, with a few breathy laughs. "How do you keep cool like that? Can you teach me?" she requested pleadingly.
Poor Shera. She was far too impressed by my lack of self-preservation. "You just kinda… turn it back around on them. Guys like that can be full of themselves, so it's easy to tell what they pride themselves on. Just one or two jibes, and…"
Dangling, legs kicking, a white-knuckled hold on the arm that held the front of my shirt—
Weightlessness, then rushing wind, falling—
Landing wrong on a throbbing leg, cradling it while he criticised me, my head spinning—
I scratched the back of my neck, rethinking my advice. "…I'm sure you know best how to deal with it," I gave up, frowning. "I wouldn't want to get you in any trouble."
Shera looked deflated, but nodded in acceptance, and cast her eyes in the direction her boss had left in. "I suppose I should go to my tent, it is late after all."
I bit my lip, hoping that my backtracking hadn't upset her, but nodded in acceptance. "It sure is. Sleep well, Shera."
"Good night, Aqua," she bid farewell with a smile and a wave, heading for her tent in the same direction Cid had gone.
I continued watching the stars for a little while longer, a new pastime in my travels that I had become fond of. The serenity and peace allowed my mind to sort through the mess my life had become, while also reminding me that my problems were miniscule and all but insignificant to the world around me. It put things in perspective.
The stars would still shine, whether I made it to the other side of the world or not.