Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Mako ❯ City of Midgar ( Chapter 2 )

** Final Fantasy VII and most of the characters within these pages belong to Squaresoft. Some concepts and characters are MINE! Do not use them under any circumstances! **

All warnings are attached to the first chapter. If you don't bothering reading them, than don't flame me about the content you've seen here.

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Cid docked the Tiny Bronco, his airship and most prized possession, at one of the many ports in Midgar five hours later. He questioned his being here for what felt like the hundredth time. He couldn't understand why he was so anxious to meet this Tifa Lockheart. It wasn't as if he had never accepted a job like this before; he had done some bodyguard work in his career as a hunter, but never for a… child? Teenager? He didn't really know who he was going to be looking after. Sighing heavily and patting his pockets for his beloved cigarettes, he disembarked the airship. He was immediately accosted by a bored-looking man in SOLDIER uniform. The man demanded to know who he was, where he was going, and how long he was going to be there. Cid answered all of his questions, trying not to look too angry. The SOLDIER pointed him in the direction of the check-in office, and then left to harass some other people.

He stopped a few feet away from the check-in office and gazed around the port in awe. Not only was the port itself busy with life, but the city outside of the port's impossibly tall glass walls were filled with thousands of people, of dozens of different races. Cid watched as strange-looking people and creatures wandered in and out of the doors. He shook his head in disbelief, taking another long drag off of his cigarette before tossing it to the dirty ground. He swore loudly as a young boy leading a tiny blue Chocobo on a leash stepped on his foot. The boy hollered back with words that were just as colourful and insulting, his speech clipped with an accent Cid didn't recognize. He smiled at the boy's vulgarity as the child hurried away, tugging his Chocobo behind him as it squawked indignantly.

I really can't stand people, he thought as an overly large woman wearing too much perfume and make-up pushed him out of her way. He made his way over to the check-in office and sat down, knowing it would be at least another hour before someone even noticed he was waiting. To his surprise, he only had to wait a few minutes before a middle-aged woman addressed him. Cid filled out the customs and security forms, and than sat through a long talk from the woman about protocol and the consequences of committing a crime. She even went through what would happen to him if he was found out to be a spy for one of the resistance groups.

Finally, Cid was allowed to leave. He headed for the nearest exit. As he entered the busy streets of Midgar, he suddenly realized that he was clueless as to where he was going. Tifa had told him that someone would meet him in the airport, but he didn't feel like being in there any longer than was necessary. He stood in the middle of the street, ignoring the glares he received from other pedestrians.

This is such fucking shit, he thought as he started walked in the general direction of the nearest communications building, hoping to get in contact with Aerith. Like one of their damned contacts is gonna pop up in front of my fucking face in a fucking city like this. Why do I do these things?

Cursing under his breath, Cid changed his mind about where he should be, and decided where he wanted to be. He started searching for the closest bar. There really wasn't a lot to choose from. He'd walked into one of the poor Sectors of Midgar… the Slums, Aerith always called them. It was dirty, to put it mildly. But when he entered the first bar he came across - Seventh Heaven - it was like another Sector of the city altogether. It was very clean and well kept; there were no drunken old men slumped over the tables, no one was fighting, and it didn't reek of sweat and urine.

I would move to this place just for the bar! Cid smiled and sat down at the bar, lighting a much-needed cigarette. No sooner had he taken his first blissful drag, his craved nicotine was plucked from his fingers and dropped into a half-empty glass. Cid growled and bunched his hands into fists. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? I'm…"

"This is my bar, so I make the rules. If you wanna smoke that bad, you can go outside, or you can go to another bar. Simple as that."

Cid looked up at the speaker. To his surprise, it was a young girl, no older than twenty. She had very long brown hair, ruby red eyes, and a pretty face. The girl laughed at Cid's startled face. "I guess you weren't expecting a girl, were you?"

Cid shook his head, staring blankly at her breasts. The girl didn't seem to care, but after a few silent minutes, she cleared her throat. Cid blinked and narrowed his eyes in mock anger. "No, girlie, I wasn't expecting a pretty thing like you. Now how about a stiff drink, Ms…?"

The girl laughed again. "Tifa Lockheart. I'm very pleased to meet you, Cid…"

"WHAT?" Cid nearly fell off of his stool in surprise. He glared as Tifa laughed yet again at his expense. "Shut up. Why the fuck didn't you meet at the damned port?"

"Aerith told me about your insatiable love of alcohol, and how it almost always wins out over your responsibilities. I therefore assumed that, since you were docking at Airstrip 27, you would exit at the doors nearest to you… and that's only a few blocks away. Naturally, you made your way over here. It was a simple deduction of male stupidity."

Cid watched suspiciously has Tifa made his drink and set it down in front of him. She smiled at him. Rolling his eyes, Cid tossed the liquor back, not even blinking as it burned its way into his stomach. "Right. Male stupidity. Whatever you say."

Tifa shook her head and started to put away some spotless glasses. Cid pulled out the letter she had sent him and put it on the bar. "So, why do you need me here? You were kind of evasive in this little letter of yours, you know. Who is this brat I'm supposed to be guarding? If SOLDIER is watching him, than why does he need a fucking bodyguard? Why do you want to get him out of Midgar? Is he…"

"Whoa, stop! I'll answer all of your questions, okay? Geez!" Tifa cried as she hopped up on the bar and than sat down beside Cid. "Alright, first things first. The reason why we needed a bio-hunter is because, well… you have experience with young people who have been infused with Mako, so…"

"Damn it! I knew I was gonna get stuck hunting down another fucking kid! Fuck this! You do this by yourself!" he said furiously. Cid got up and headed for the door. Tifa made no effort to try and stop him, save for telling him the reason why he was hired…

"He is the one who attempted to assassinate Sephiroth seven months ago. We hired you to protect him."

Cid turned around slowly and faced Tifa, searching her face for any signs of lying. Her features were set; she was very serious. Even her voice had lost its sweet laughter. "Cid…. I need to know. Are you willing to help us? If not, then I can't tell you anything else."

Cid nodded and sat back down beside her. She smiled again, looking somewhat relieved. "Good! Okay, first, I'll tell you a little about Vincent… that's his name. You must understand that although he is rather young, he is extremely powerful. He was one of the first to be altered by the Mako…" She trailed off as she caught Cid's disbelieving stare.

"Wait…one of the first? But you just said he was young! How old is the guy? Fucking two hundred years? Damn, he'll probably die before I even meet him!" Cid grinned at her. "Sorry. Please, continue."

"Stop interrupting me. Vincent is under constant surveillance of SOLDIER, because they think he's trying to overthrow Sephiroth's attempts to find the being called Chaos… which is very true. We need to get Vincent out of Midgar as soon as possible, without drawing too much attention to ourselves."

Cid frowned as he took in her words. This was a dangerous task, far more so than any other job he had ever taken. But if he didn't take it, who would? He doubted that the members of AVALANCHE were capable of guarding this boy called Vincent. All they were good for was stealing Mako from the authorities and pissing them off. Really, all of the resistance groups were full of hopeful children, futilely trying to fight for a better future.

After several silent minutes, Cid looked up at Tifa and nodded. "I'll do it. I'll take the job."

Smiling, Tifa hugged him and jumped to her feet. "Thank you so much, Cid! You don't know how much this means to us! I bet you want to go see him now, right? You wait here, and I'll get some of my friends to go with you." Tifa all but skipped away from the bar and up the stairs at the back of the house. Cid assumed that's where Tifa and her friends lived.

After a few minutes, Tifa returned with two men. One of them had unruly blonde hair and looked to be the same age as Tifa, about twenty or twenty-one. He was carrying a massive sword on his back, but it didn't appear to be heavy in the least. That didn't bother Cid; many people carried weapons with them these days. In fact, it was stupid not to do it. His companion was considerably taller, around twenty-five, and shaggy black hair. He carried no visible weapon. What Cid found so unnerving about them was their eyes. Both of them had strange, almost glowing, bright blue eyes. Cid had a sneaking suspicion that the two of them had Mako in their blood, which would explain why the younger one could carry that sword as if it were nothing.

Tifa interrupted his thoughts, tugging him over to her friends. "This is Cid Highwind… the bio-hunter we hired to protect Vincent. Cid, this is Cloud Strife, my best friend and co-worker in crime for the past eleven years. And this is his better half, Zak. They'll take you to see him." She smiled warmly. "I know you can do this, Cid. Come and see me soon!"

Cid smiled back at her, then followed his guides out the back door. As he stepped away from the wall, he felt a terrible sense of danger, as if something was watching him. He shook it off and hurried after Cloud and Zak, not wanting to seem like he was backing out of the job. They entered the busy streets of Midgar, passing through the crowds with ease. Cid wondered what kind of reputation the two men had, to make people move out of their way so quickly. He avoided the dozens of SOLDIER that kept looking at him curiously, as if they knew what he was going to do.

Sighing in annoyance, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling heavily and holding the smoke until his head swam.

I'm gonna get fucking killed before I even meet this kid! Why me? I hate this!

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**Reviews are respected and accepted; Flames are expected and subjected to vast amounts of mockery and laughter before being used to toast Shera's hair**

**RANT OF THE DAY** I wish people would stop complaining about how Vincent is paired with Cid, and how Vincent isn't gay, and that Cid has Shera (*GAG*), yadda yadda yadda…. GET OVER IT!!!!! Not everyone has the same views as you. I, for one, happen to enjoy this pairing immensely because it's not seen very often, and I like the characters! LONG LIVE VINCENT AND CID!!!!!!!

Done ranting! : ) (That wasn't directed at anyone in particular, just wanted to vent a bit!)