Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Adjustments ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: Adjustments

“I miss you,

I miss you so bad

I don't forget you,

Oh, it's so sad.

The day you slipped away

Was the day I found

It won't be the same.”

-Avril Lavigne “Slipped Away”

 

The next few days proved to be full of lonesome adjustments for the Captain. Cid tried to fix his own supper, but he managed to burn it to a crisp. How was it he could fly an airplane and build airships, but could not follow a simple recipe? His house was gradually becoming a mess, his dirty laundry, airplane parts, and sullied dishes scattered everywhere. Cid at least managed to make his own cup of tea, but even that proved to be quite a task since for some reason it just did not taste as good unless Shera made it.

Cid worked constantly in the hangar on the Tiny Bronco, mainly to keep his mind off Shera, which proved to be rather unsuccessful. He took apart the engine, examined components, and tried to fix them. The aircraft was waterlogged for so long that it became clear to Cid the he would have to order brand new workings. The concentration of salt in the ocean's water made many of the metal parts rust as well as most of the metal on the underside of the craft. Right now, Cid just wanted to get the engines up and running - he would worry about the body later.

The Captain stood in his hangar at the beginning of the week and assessed his airplane. The Tiny Bronco stood on jacks with a pile of scrapped parts from the engines and sheet metal from the body scattered beneath one of its wings. Cid was unable to salvage most of the engine components, so he was basically starting from scratch on his engines. The pilot heaved a heavily - he would have to search for more parts and get them in as soon as he could. Junon would be a good place to start, so Cid decided he would go there first.

Cid happened to possess a vehicle to drive, so he wasn't completely stranded, although he would much rather fly than drive anywhere. After grabbing his handmade spear from the hangar wall, he turned the corner to find his truck. The automobile was an older model Chevrolet truck. It was a dark blue but it was obvious there was a little wear and tear on the clear coat from the weather over the years. The engine, however, still ran as if it was new, and it drove just as smoothly as it ran.

The pilot tossed his handmade spear into the bed, started the vehicle and drove off toward Costa del Sol, hoping to catch the ferry on time so he could reach Junon. The trip was about three or four hours long, and as Cid drove, he couldn't help but to check the sides of the road for any sign of Shera, even though he knew it was in vein because she had about a day's head start. He pretty well knew Shera was long gone by now.

Cid finally reached the tropical city of Costa del Sol. He drove his vehicle down to the boat docks and parked it there to see if the ship had left for Junon. A sailor said it was just about to leave, so Cid drove his means of transportation onto the ship, paid his passage fees, and waited.

Cid stood on the ferry's deck looking down at the deep, dark water of the ocean. He remembered how mysterious the water was when he was down there with Avalanche. The water concealed a great many secrets, one of them being the key they needed for the Forgotten City. He was sure that there were a many more locked into the fathoms of the ocean that were waiting to be discovered.

The ferry reached the dock at Junon harbor, and Cid drove his car from the ship out of the cargo hold. He drove through the busy streets of Junon, looking about and lost in his own little world. He glanced back to the road, and suddenly he saw a young man in front of him, and he was about to hit the guy!

Cid slammed on the brakes, but a flash or red shoved the young man out of the way, and he heard a slight thump. He came to an abrupt halt on the pavement, and the flash that had spared the man was actually balancing on his hood. He looked up through the windshield to discover it was a young woman with long, red hair layered in a shag cut around her face. She had dark green eyes that glared back at him angrily.

“What the hell are ya doing ya fucking nut?! You almost ran over my brother!” she yelled.

The young man looked at Cid with a most bewildered and startled look upon his face and looked back at his sister, relieved that she had saved him, but rather embarrassed at her behavior.

Cid put the truck in park and stormed out. He did not need this shit, and he was in a most foul mood right now. The girl jumped from his hood, landing on the pavement. The young woman was wearing a black leather motorcycle-racing jacket with purple and silver stripes down the sleeves. She also wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of black boots, and she was a bit shorter than the pilot, probably around 5'4” tall. She stared at him angrily with her hands on her hips, expecting an answer.

“Well your dumb ass brother shouldn't have been walking in the middle of the dammed street!” Cid yelled back.

“He was crossing that damned street, you moron! Had you been looking you would have noticed the crossing light changed!” the girl yelled with equal edge to her voice. By now, a small crowd had gathered.

“Uh, Raye…” her brother ventured. He obviously did not want trouble between his sister and this complete stranger.

Cid got up in Raye's face. “What did you call me?” he growled.

“Get out of my face,” she flatly said, looking Cid square in his eyes before adding, “And I called you a moron. Moron!”

Cid pushed Raye, not hard, but enough to let her know that he wasn't in the mood for games.

As soon as Cid laid a hand on the girl, however, she pulled back and roundhouse punched him, landing the blow square on his jaw. Cid's head snapped hard to the side as he fell back on his ass. He looked up at the young woman with a mixture of bewilderment and total anger on his face as she towered over him with a hard stare. The pilot had no clue if he should kill her or what.

“You wanna try that again, asshole?” she hotly said.

Cid jumped up leaned in toward her brandishing an angry finger. “If you weren't a woman, I'd…”

“You'd what? Beat the hell out of me?” Raye scoffed. “You'd try.”

“Go to hell, bitch!” Cid yelled as he walked back toward his car.

“After you, jackass!” she returned.

Raye turned to her brother as Cid drove off honking his horn and brandishing his middle finger. If Raye could have gotten a hold of that finger, she would have ripped it right off his hand.

“What a fucking asshole.”

“Was that really necessary, Sis?” Raye's brother asked.

“He wasn't even looking! He almost ran you over, Brad!”

“But still,” Brad replied. “I bet he would've apologized if you hadn't yelled at the guy.”

“I don't care. Morons like that annoy me.”

Raye and Brad continued their own way. Meanwhile, Cid drove down to the business district, rubbing his jaw with his free hand. If that Raye gal would have been a man, he would have decked her, no questions asked, but Cid had a strict moral policy against hitting women. He loathed men who beat up on women, and if he had clobbered her, he would be a hypocrite. But, damn, he had to admit she packed one hell of a punch if it was enough to knock him on his kiester, and he was still feeling the pain on his jaw.

Cid parked his vehicle on the side of the street, grabbed his spear, and got out. He went inside a trader's shop to see what kinds of airplane parts he had for sale.

“Wow, that is one hell of a bruise you got there!” the trader said when he saw Cid.

“Shut the hell up,” Cid replied, embarrassed that he had his head handed to him on a platter by a fucking girl. “Now what do ya have for parts around here?”

“What kind do ya need? I got it all.”

“Well, I need airplane parts.”

“I have some, but not many,” the trader offered. “Anything in particular?”

“Aw, shit, where the hell do I begin?”

“A lot, eh?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, here is a carburetor, some spark plugs, and I also have a few cylinders.”

The trader laid out the parts before Cid, and the pilot picked up a cylinder, inspecting it closely. These parts had obviously been used and they didn't look like they were of good quality. Cid wanted the best for his plane, and he looked at the man skeptically.

“I don't think so,” the pilot said. “Look at this cylinder - it's cracked, and that makes it a piece of shit. Ya can't sell a cracked cylinder and expect it to work.”

Cid replaced the cylinder back on the counter and walked out as the bewildered man looked on. The trader was obviously pissed off, but at the same time, he was impressed that the man had noticed such tiny cracks in the first place.

Cid continued to look into the Junon shops only to find them full of shitty parts, or they didn't have what he wanted. There was another shop he wanted to look in, but it was located way on the outskirts of this city by the sea. Cid started down the street, and the further he walked, the people began to thin out. He soon found himself on the edge of the town totally, and the street he turned down was rather dim.

Cid suddenly felt uncomfortable, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up, as though someone, or something, were following him. He turned suddenly, and just as he turned a hideous beast leaped out from a back alley bearing its claws.

“SHIT!” he yelled, startled.

Cid quickly swung his large spear and smacked the beast with it. The beast fell to the ground and landed on its feet off balance, but it did not hesitate to leap at Cid again. The monster swiped at the pilot with his razor claws and charged him while Cid blocked every blow it tried to deal with the shaft of his spear as beads of sweat formed across his brow and dripped down his cheek. He stepped back as the monster stepped forward while blocking the beast with his spear.

Suddenly, Cid's foot caught on a loose brick of the cobblestone street, and he fell back on his rear. The beast knocked Cid's spear out of his hand as he fell, and it seized the opportunity to attack. Cid kicked it hard with his boot, but it did little to dissuade the monster. The fiend slammed Cid's shoulder hard into the street and was about to tear into him when he heard a `FWIP' and the painful scream of the monster.

Cid looked up to see an arrow sticking out of the beast's eye. It reared up and clawed at the arrow with both paws, and Cid managed to escape.

“Hey, you need this?” a young man's voice asked.

Cid turned to the sound of the voice and saw it was the same young man he almost hit earlier. Brad held up Cid's spear and tossed it in his direction, and the pilot caught it up with his left hand.

“Aw, crap. Don't tell me it's YOU again!” a familiar woman's voice said.

Cid looked to see that the red haired girl from earlier was poised with a large bow loaded with an arrow. Her bow had materia slots in it filled with materia, one fire, one ice, and one lightning. Raye aimed another arrow at the monster that attacked Cid and glanced over at the pilot, giving him a bit of a wink.

The monster, on the other hand, removed the arrow from its eye and charged at the group. Cid heard gunfire, and discovered Brad aiming a .457 Magnum at the creature. Raye called on a fire spell from her materia, igniting her entire bow and arrow set on fire. The fire did not burn her hands, though, since she wore special gloves to protect them. Cid noticed the bow and quiver of arrows she carried on her back seemed to be made of some type of metal alloy that protected the weapon from its own spells. She released the string on the bow, sending the flaming arrow flying through the air and right between the creature's eyes.

“Nice shot, Sis!” Brad yelled.

Raye smirked and reloaded while Cid took off toward the beast at a full sprint. He jumped up, skewered the beast with his spear, and pulled out again. The three of them took turns attacking until the oversized beast dropped dead in the darkened street.

Once the monster dispersed, the three celebrated a bit at their victory. Cid lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it while Brad and Raye high-fived each other. Raye turned to Cid.

“I was going to let that thing eat you, but Brad here insisted we help,” she said coolly.

“Well, I didn't need it - I had everything under control,” Cid replied with an arrogant tone to his voice.

Brad and Raye looked at one another and burst into laughter.

“Yeah, good one!” the redhead giggled. “If you didn't need our help, then what were you doing under that ugly thing, anyway?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Cid returned.

“What are you doing on this end of town?” Brad chimed.

“What are YOU two doing on this end?”

“There's a shop we just made a parts delivery to,” Brad explained.

Raye elbowed her brother. “What business is it of yours?”

Cid ignored Raye and turned to Brad. “A parts shop? That's where I was gonna go! Been lookin' for airplane parts all day!”

“God, you didn't go to those other places did you?” Raye inquired. “Those other places have shitty stuff. I'd pity you if you actually bought something from them.”

“Well, how is this other place, smart ass?”

Raye was about to open her mouth to say something nasty to the pilot, but Brad cut in. “It's great! His stuff is great quality, and he gets most of his material from us.”

“You deal in parts?” Cid asked.

“Sure do and we also carry plane parts!” Brad answered cheerily. “Located in Edge, the new city being built outside Midgar. Give us a call!”

Brad handed Cid a business card, and the pilot looked down at it.

“Shields? Are you guys related to Rick Shields?”

“Yeah, he's our father,” Raye explained.

“Hot damn! Rick and I go way back to the construction of the Highwind. He always provided my parts for both my plane and my airship. I haven't talked to him in years.”

“You know my dad?” Raye said in surprise. “Ah, crap, that means I have to be nice to you!”

Cid scoffed at Raye, and the redhead responded by turning away her head and crossing her arms in front of her.

“Give us a call,” Brad encouraged. “I'm sure he'll give you the hook up.”

“Will do,” Cid replied.

It was obvious that Brad was a whole lot nicer than his sister was, and because he was so nice, Cid decided that he would give them a call. He needed all the parts he could get. In addition, he knew Rick to be a good, honest man, and his stuff was always the best quality. Rick was quick about delivery, but for some reason, the man quit hand delivering Cid's parts, and he began to ship them instead. Cost of fuel, maybe?

The brother/sister duo began to part ways with Cid, but the pilot stopped them.

“Oi! What about this body?” he asked.

Raye glanced back at Cid. “Well, since you seemed to have everything under control and didn't need our help, you can take care of that,” she brusquely answered.

“Hey…HEY!! Dammit! Get back here!” Cid yelled.

Instead, Raye smirked, and walked off with her brother tagging along. Cid gave Brad a pleading look, but the boy instead just shrugged and followed Raye.

“So, Brad, tell me more about this girl you met…”