Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Misunderstood ❯ Fidelius Familia ( Chapter 8 )

Thanks to reviewers!

 

Reeve's POV

 

Episode 8: Fidelius Familia (Loyal Family)

 

I can't help but feel angry at him for leaving Cid the way he had; in fact… for leaving all of us.

 

He never told us what he was going to do, not even his own lover. And now Cid… It's painful to see what has become of him. He clings to the hope, the belief that Vincent is still alive. I want to believe it as well, but it has been six months now. He would have turned up already.

 

And Cid is slowly dying. Without Vincent, he doesn't even want to live. It is heartbreaking to watch a man I consider to be one of my best friends slowly losing his grip on life.

 

The pilot, who used to be the one with the dreams… the aspirations to soar through the sky, is now only grounded by his very broken wings. It is a love that I wonder if I can even match, so deeply ingrained and true it appears.

 

Did he even know I wonder, when he decided to die, how much Cid loved him? Did he even realize how he had become a part of us?

 

Cid is the only one who displays it outwardly, but we are all hurting. Over the time that we spent traveling together a special bond developed between all of us, especially after Tifa's betrayal. It took Vincent longer than the others to learn to take part, but eventually we all considered each other like family. An eclectic one to be sure… but family nonetheless.

 

We all had our parts to play.

 

There was Yuffie, the itinerant brat that was like everyone's daughter. She was cheerful, always trying to keep up everyone's spirits, even though she bordered on annoying. Yet, no one would ever truly say that they wanted her to leave; in the end, we had all gotten used to her. It wouldn't have been the same without the kleptomaniac ninja.

 

Nanaki played the part of the wise grandfather, though his age belied him. In the beginning, he always had some concept to conjecture about or something intelligent to explain. He would watch over everyone and was even the very first to befriend Vincent, almost as if he knew exactly what the gunman needed. He was perhaps the calmest of us all. I never once saw him explode in anger or irritation. It was the most likely reason as to why he tolerated Yuffie more than the rest of us combined.

 

Aeris was like a mother to us all with her gentile demeanor, though that never stopped her from yelling at us when she felt the need. She was the only one who could make us feel guilty for doing just about anything, no matter how much Cloud attempted that stern look of reproach. In a way, she was the most manipulative of us all, knowing that her sweet exterior hid the “righteous bitchiness” - as Reno puts it - that was under the surface.

 

Reno was another one of those children that was always in trouble. With that unfailing grin and playful attitude, you would have never known that he was a member of one of the most ruthless part of ShinRa. Perhaps the twin brother of a sort, I would think, to the ninja. I suppose Reno and Yuffie were actually much the same, though I wouldn't dare say that to his face.

 

Actually, I might just to see his expression. Hmm.

 

There was Cloud, who should have been our leader, but often times came off as the cousin that everyone always whispered about. You know, the crazy one that every family has. He is the one that's always making weird comments and jokes, running off on random tangents and tends to get confused rather easily. Yeah, that was the blond swordsman.

 

What was that? Oh nothing, just Crazy Cousin Cloud; you'll get used to it.

 

It is kind of funny now that I think about it.

 

Cid was the one you could always count on to corrupt your children. The “cool” uncle if you will. The first to take them to a bar and get them drunk off their ass or the first to introduce them to they type of magazines that belong under beds; that describes Cid perfectly. He was the man with the airship, the one that could fly and the one that cursed like a sailor and did his job well.

 

If I had to choose a role for myself, I would like to think that I was more the father figure. I know I certainly felt that way at times. I am one of the oldest in the group, only Cid and Vincent rivaling my age. Even then, with the gunman's tendency to not take part in anything and Cid's sometimes lack of maturity, I felt the oldest of everyone. I've always had a fatherly complex; it goes along with my desire to someday have children… but that's a thought for another time.

 

But yes, I considered myself the father of the group. I'm not a man prone to bursts of temper, and it was often up to either Nanaki or me to rein in our more “excitable” members.

 

Do I dare say Reno?

 

Then there was Vincent. He was a part of our “family” also, but which role did he play? I cannot honestly see him as the child or the father or even the “crazy” uncle. It's hard to place him, only because he is so enigmatic. Yet, in the end, he began to show the true sides of himself, which had been so carefully hidden before. I suppose he was an uncle if nothing else but not like Cid.

 

Rather than being the “fun” uncle, he was the serious uncle. He was the one you would go to with your homework, the one that would teach you how to take care of yourself, or even show you shoot a gun. You could count on Vincent to give the honest truth when you spoke to him, never tainted or made attractive. You could rely on him to be the solid presence, to maybe even rein in Crazy Cousin Cloud.

 

I never really got close to Vincent. He was a hard man to get through to, just because of his “leave me alone” vibes that he was radiating in every direction. At the time, I was facing some of my own troubles. It was selfish, I know, but it was the truth nonetheless. It wasn't that he was unsociable or unlikable, but he did not like being asked questions. He hated for people to pry.

 

He was a man that wore his emotions behind a mask, one of thick ice and indifference. He used his cloak to hide away from others and the world, obscuring most if not all of his face should his façade deign to crack and reveal a bit of himself. Even his formal speech was a way to keep everyone away.

 

Whether it was for fear of rejection, of being hurt, or maybe just uncertainty for facing a world he hadn't known for almost thirty years, I cannot presume to guess. I know that whichever the case, he didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking or feeling… at least, not until he was ready to let them know.

 

I won't say that Vincent was cold or unfeeling as some believed, and he was most assuredly not a vampire. He displayed none of the characteristics of one, despite the fact that he emerged from a coffin and had scarlet eyes. I've certainly never seen him look with hunger at someone's bleeding wounds.

 

I never really understood why Barret made it his duty to inform me that Vincent was a vampire and that I should watch out for him. I just raised an eyebrow and shrugged my shoulders, shocking him to hell when I told him I might like getting bitten. It was actually sort of amusing. I didn't go into details about Reno's biting fetish… but that's getting off topic.

 

He had a sense of humor, too, buried beneath the layers of apathy and disregard. I still remember the few times I heard him make a joke, the one about Nanaki and himself, and even when he imitated Reno back in the Northern Crater. Cid had also told me about the joke on the Rocket, laughing because he couldn't remember ever seeing the gunman watch that show. It must have been a memory from his youth.

 

The half-smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth, looking more suited on his face than a full out grin, was probably one of the more memorable moments about our excursion into the bowels of the crater. I only wished Cid had gotten to see it, though the pilot had most likely seen a lot more than that one half-smile that we were privy to in that minute.

 

We were all like that, storing little memories just in case they were all we had left, committing to our hearts the small things that kept us going: the sound of a laugh, the twinkle of an eye. In Cloud's case, the dried flower that he didn't think anyone knew about in a small leather pouch tucked into his pocket. I know I chose to remember such precious events of Reno and me, squirreled away into the deepest parts of my heart. I didn't want to think about losing him, refused to consider the possibility, but still…

 

I won't even go into that. There is no reason.

 

I didn't know Vincent that well personally, though I was beginning to the closer we got to the crater. The more time he spent with Cid, the more willing he was to open up to the rest of us. I saw him take Yuffie's taunting more in stride, not even glaring half as much as usual. I observed as he carried a short conversation with Reno, though I'm not sure what they talked about - Turk business most likely.

 

He even allowed Aeris to touch him once. It was nothing big, just a friendly pat to the shoulder, but instead of wincing and subtly shrinking away from her touch, he just nodded his head at her. He never actually physically shied away from anyone. I really don't know how he did it, but he moved away without making it obvious - not that people attempted to touch him often. I think in the beginning, everyone was a bit afraid of him.

 

The more he opened up to us, the more I found that he and I had much in common with each other. We were both more of the intellectual types, not that the others were dumb; I mean, Cid is absolutely brilliant, though it was sometimes hard to tell beneath the grammar - that sometimes bordered on ridiculous - and extensive cursing.

 

He carried himself some of the same ways that I did, which was how I knew without actual proof, that as a child, he had been raised in a family with money in some shape or form. It seemed not even Hojo was able to beat that small bit of arrogance out of him.

 

I think of the way he fought, and I realize, even though he was sometimes unsure of himself in terms of dealing with people, he was an absolute terror on the battle field. He had a fierce expression and a fiery determination in his eyes that even frightened the monsters, things which weren't supposed to feel fear. I certainly wouldn't want to come up against him in battle.

 

I never understood why some had the impression that he was a bit on the insane side simply due to the fact he was an introverted guy. Not everyone is cut out for being as loud and obnoxious as my lover… or Yuffie, for that matter. It suits Vincent far better to be quiet and contemplative.

 

To be honest, I'm not surprised that Cid was the first to see beneath the red. [1] He has a bluntness about him, a way of seeing the truth behind the lies and almost an instinct in knowing what a person needs. Beneath that blustery, coarse exterior lies a heart of gold, a truly sensitive romantic.

 

Just don't let him catch you saying that. He's a man's man… or something like that.

 

We all have Cid to thank for drawing Vincent out, making him a part of our big family… so that in the end, when we faced Sephiroth, we were like one. We were a unit of loyal soldiers, willing to do whatever it took to save the world that we loved so much.

 

I do hope that Vincent is alive out there. I sincerely wish that we could find him. He deserves to be home with the man who loves him and the rest of his friends, the rest of his family

.

The gunman has earned the right to be a part of something, to be important to someone.

 

And as soon as we find him again, I'm certain we, his loyal family, will let him know.

 

* * *

 

[1] I wrote this in here without realizing it, but it is also the story title for a really good Cid/Vin fic by Nevaeh Bluden on Adultfanfiction.net. You should go read it. It's really well written and has an interesting take on their relationship.