Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Common Ground ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10: Common Ground

“You'll say that we've got nothing in common,

no common ground to start from,

and we're falling apart.”

-Deep Blue Something “Breakfast at Tiffany's”

Raye drove away from the hot tropical sun and into the cooler autumn weather on her way toward Rocket Town. It was already late in the afternoon, and she had a long way to go. After about an hour or so, the sun soon began to sink toward the western horizon. The blue of the sky faded into brilliant orange, pinks, and shades of lavender with subtle hints of red. The evening star soon showed its light through the darkening curtain of the sky, and Raye removed her silver-rimmed sunglasses with dark purple lenses and placed them in the visor of the old pick-up.

After a few more hours, she finally saw what she assumed was Rocket Town in the horizon. The redhead rarely ever made trips to the settlement, and it was hard to tell whether it was the correct town since the rocket was no longer leaning in its familiar launch pad towering over the small houses and forest.

Raye pulled into the town and looked at the address on a box she had in the front seat. There wasn't a name since her father forgot to put it on there, so she had no idea who to ask for if she couldn't find the house. After driving carefully down the small street and passing small shops, an inn, and a tavern, she found the customer's home. Stopping her embarrassingly outdated and beat up truck of her father's, Raye got out of the front seat and looked at the home again.

The house was a quaint dwelling with a tree in the front yard and a white picket fence surrounding the establishment. Raye quietly walked up to the front door, knocked, and waited patiently for the person to answer while looking over her clipboard. The door opened for her, and an all too familiar voice spoke irritatingly.

“It's about damned time - oh my fucking gawd! Not you!!”

Raye's head flew up to find she was standing in front of none other than Cid Highwind.

“Wha…what?! You…here?!” Raye managed to spit out through her utter shock. “You live here?!”

“Well, who the hell did ya expect?” Cid returned sharply.

“Anyone but you! Dammit…I knew I should have had Brad drive this one!”

Raye heaved a heavy and irritated sigh as Cid stood expectantly in his doorway.

“Well?” he said.

“Oh, yeah. Right…the parts,” Raye replied as she made her way to her truck. “Where do you want them?”

“Take `em to the hangar,” Cid said. He noticed her vehicle. “Damn, this thing's been through hell.”

“Shut up and mind your own damned business before I put you through hell!”

“Why you little…”Cid growled.

“Why you little what? Bitch? Yeah, I'll take that as a compliment, thank you.”

Cid clenched his fist and bit his tongue. He hated when she did that to him!

Raye turned over the old pick up only to find that it was going to start being stubborn again.

“Oh, no,” Raye remarked. “Not again. Don't you do this to me you piece of shit!”

“Problems?” Cid smartly said.

“I said mind your own damned business!” Raye snapped.

Cid kept his mouth shut and let Raye try to start her truck to no avail. The redhead got out, reached into the back, yanked out a heavy tool chest as though it were nothing, and popped the hood.

“That damned carburetor!” Raye fumed. “I have rebuilt this stupid ass thing for what feels like a billion times! But does it ever help? Noooo! Because this thing is a piece of freaking crap!”

Raye began to rant and rave incessantly as Cid looked on in amusement.

“You @%#$$*%(*@!!!!!” Raye yelled as she gave the old vehicle a good sounding kick.

“Impressive…” Cid said to himself. He stood silent and let her carry on.

Raye lost her temper completely and kicked the beat up thing repeatedly. She kicked it hard with her steel toed work boots, and ranted and swore some more. Suddenly, the hubcap came flying off the wheel from one of her nasty kicks, sailed into the air, and straight through Cid's front window. The glass shattered and the shards could be heard falling to the floor inside his house. Raye stopped when she heard the sound, and Cid looked on in shock.

“Uhhh…”

“Well of all the shit ass luck,” Raye said calmly. “I busted your window.”

“Yeah…so you did…” Cid replied just as dumbfounded.

Raye looked over at the pilot. “Sorry about that. Clearly it was my fault, so I'll, ah, pay to replace it.”

“Uh, okay…whatever.” Cid wasn't dumb enough to get pissed at Raye because he didn't want those nasty kicks to be turned onto him.

Cid and Raye stared for a minute longer, and finally the pilot said something.

“So, you calm now?”

Raye nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, I think I'm good to go.”

“Well, I have a hangar that's easy to get to. I'll help ya push this thing to it, and you can work on that carburetor in there.”

“S…seriously?”

“Well, I'm not gonna make ya do it out here in the dark!”

“Uh, okay.”

Raye and Cid began to push the old truck to Cid's hangar where he was housing his broken airplane from the elements. Raye pushed as well as steered it with Cid helping from behind. Once they reached the building, the pilot opened the door, and the first thing the woman noticed was Cid's Tiny Bronco sitting inside. There was a table to her left with parts and tools, and the entire floor was covered in both components that were bad as well as ones that needed adjusting. Much of the metal plating had been removed from the craft, Raye noticed there were large holes in the scraps of metal, and many of the pieces were rusted. Still, the airplane looked like it was a beauty at one time. They gave the old pick-up one last shove and closed the door.

“Wow, cool plane,” Raye said, looking up at the Tiny Bronco.

“Thanks. She's my pride and joy, if I can get her to fly again,” Cid replied.

“What happened?”

“Well, she crashed into the ocean. I just got her out a few months ago after I got back from the North Crater.”

“I see.”

“Now you gotta tell me something,” Cid said as he began to clear his things from the table so Raye could work.

“Sure.”

“What the hell kind of a mechanic doesn't maintain their own vehicle?” Cid remarked smartly, which pissed the girl off.

“What the hell kind of a pilot can't fly his own airplane?” Raye shot back.

“Hey! It ain't my goddamned fault she crashed. Fucking Shin-Ra shot her down, so there!” But Cid didn't stop with that. “Fucking Shin-Ra and their goddamned broken promises….ruined my goddamned career, took my Highwind, tried to take away my Bronco, and it was their entire damned fault that psycho Sephiroth almost destroyed the world. Evil fuckin' bastards…had to fucking start over again. I worked so damned long for everything only for them assholes to throw it all away in a hand basket.”

“Yeah, well don't tell me about having to start over. At least you had a home to come back to! I was homeless because fucking Meteor destroyed my house, my business, and everything me, my dad, my late mom, and my brother ever worked for! We had to rebuild our lives, too, so you ain't the only one who has had hardship. The only thing that matters is that we're all healthy because we left the city. And as for my truck, it's not my fucking fault my dad is too stubborn to buy a new one, and so I have to be forced to drive that rolling death trap over hell and creation. It just burns my ass!”

Cid paused and looked at Raye. Cid almost forgot that there were people out there who were beginning anew as well. He suddenly felt selfish for ranting about his hardships when he knew it could be worse, when there were people out there left without family, homes, jobs, and many were even dying. Compared to that, Cid was spoiled.

“Alright, alright. Ya got me beat. It could have been worse, I guess, but, that fucking Shin-Ra hurt me.”

“We were all hurt in some way by them, Cid. They were lying, dirty, monopolistic bastards, and I'm glad they went under. Now maybe we can all breathe.”

Cid and Raye reached an unspoken understanding. The redhead could empathize with Cid because he had lost a lot, too.

Cid looked at Raye and said, “That god-awful truck still has been through hell. I could hear it coming before you were even here!”

Raye turned a bit pink and began to giggle. “Yeah, that's what I hate about that stupid ass hunk of shit! People know you're coming for miles around! Oh, my gawd. You should hear it backfire.”

“B…backfire?” Cid replied with raised eybrows.

“Holy shit,” Raye began as she set down her tools and the carburetor. “It sounds like a damned shotgun. I turned off the ignition once, and there was a big crowd of people around me. Well, as my luck has it, the exhaust backfired for some dumb reason, and everyone was ducking and screaming!”

“You gotta be shitting me!” Cid said with a laugh.

“Oh my gawd, I was so mortified. Needless to say, I fixed that problem right away.”

Raye and Cid laughed, and Raye continued. “And if that isn't bad enough, I swear to heaven that the floor is gonna fall out any time now.”

“Fall out?”

“There are holes in my floorboard.”

“Holes in the floorboard?!”

“Yeah, and you can see the road passing by beneath you when you drive. There is one hole in the passenger side that I would swear is as big as my foot,” Raye said with a laugh. “And don't go through deep puddles. That's a bad idea.”

Cid laughed even more at this and said, “Damn, maybe I need to talk to `ol Rick for ya.”

“Oh, no. Dad will not listen. He absolutely refuses to get a new vehicle, even though I know damned good and well that we can easily afford it.”

“And how do ya know that?”

“I do the bookkeeping for the business and the house. It's all in my computer, but you know what?”

“What?”

“Dad can sit on a tack if he thinks I'm going to continue to drive that piece of shit. The first thing I'm gonna do is get a new truck to drive and scrap that bitch!”

Cid started cracking up. “Won't that piss your dad off, though?”

Raye looked at Cid with a mischievous gleam in her eye. “He'll get over it - eventually.”

Raye picked up her carburetor from the table, and she and Cid sat down to take it apart. Working on these things was a long and tedious task, and Raye knew that it probably would take her awhile to get the thing fixed. Her cell phone rang after a moment, and she answered it.

“Hey,” the voice said on the other end. The caller was Brad. “You on your way back?”

Raye sighed. “No, I am gonna be really late.”

“What happened?”

“Carb went out again, and I am rebuilding it so I can get home.”

“Are you serious? You're not on the side of the road somewhere are you?”

“No, luckily I'm in Rocket Town, and you won't believe whose house I'm at.”

“Whose house?”

“Cid's. Lucky me, huh?” Raye said with a bite of sarcasm.

Cid looked up. “Hey!” he protested.

Brad began to laugh hysterically on the other end and tease his sister. “Yeah, lucky you! Hey, you never know - maybe you two will end up having wild sex or something!”

Raye exploded at this. “What?! You little bastard! Shut up! If you say anything like that again I will strangle you through this phone!”

Brad laughed even harder at Raye's reaction, and was thankful she was several miles away. However, he was afraid of what she would do to him when they got home.

“Say, listen, call me if you can't make it here,” Brad said once he stopped teasing Raye.

“Okay, will do.” Raye closed her phone and shook her head. “He dies when I get home…”

“Wha'd he say that got ya so pissed?” Cid asked.

“You don't want to know.”

Cid and Raye took apart the carburetor, cleaned it up, and examined components carefully. After awhile, though, Raye got up and went over to her truck to stretch her legs and retrieve her laptop she brought.

“Er, what are you doing?” Cid asked as she pulled out her computer from the front seat. She had her computer playing music because the radio inside the beat up vehicle no longer worked. When she pulled into town, however, the girl paused the song it was playing.

“Turning on my computer for some music or at least something for noise in here. It's too quiet.”

“Th…that's a computer?” Cid said dumbly. He wasn't very experienced with the computer side of technology. “Damn, it's small.”

“You should see my MP3 player,” Raye replied. “That thing holds my entire music folder on my comp, and it's smaller than my palm.”

“Wow. So what does that thing do?” he asked referring to the laptop.

Raye brought it over, flipped up the monitor, and placed it on the table among the scattered parts. “Anything you want.”

Cid watched as she pushed a button on the notebook computer to let it come out of sleep mode. An operating system screen came up and brought up the desktop. There were some programs from what he could see, but one caught his eye: “Mechanic Diagnostic Program.”

“What's that program for?” Cid asked, pointing to her monitor.

“Oh, it's a program designed to run a diagnostic on car computers. It works for airplanes, too,” the redhead explained.

Cid frowned a little. “Well, how do you do use it?”

Raye glared at Cid. “You're an expert mechanic, and you don't know how to use this?”

“I dun even have a computer,” he replied dumbly.

Raye began to laugh. “Oh, my gawd, that is so bad.”

“Shaddup, will ya!”

Raye giggled. “Come here and I'll show you this thing.”

Cid got up from the table and followed Raye to her vehicle. She opened a panel in the fuse box, took a cable from a bag in the front seat, hooked one end of the cable to her computer, and the other into the fuse box.

“It's very simple. I just connect the car's computer with mine via this USB cable, activate the program, and it prompts me to tell it what I want it to do.”

Cid stood close to her and watched as she followed the prompts and began to run a complete diagnostic on the truck.

“What does it look for?” Cid asked.

“Bad sensors, clusters, just basic anomalies within the car's computer system that makes it screw up. For example, you could have an O2 sensor going bad that is making your vehicle start and idle funky, so I run a sweep to find that. Most cars nowadays are going over to all computers, and they have a sensor for everything - low coolant, temperature, O2, you name it.”

Cid had to admit that he was impressed by the girl's knowledge in this area. There were things that the pilot probably needed to touch up on, but he never really had the time. What made him feel horrible was that she was literate in computer technology, and he hadn't the first clue on anything like that, aside from using the equipment on the Highwind. He never considered a laptop for uses such as this, and frankly, Raye was making him feel old and outdated, and he very much despised that.

“Damn, this thing is pretty clever,” Cid admitted. He noticed another program on her laptop, and it looked like some kind of graphic program. “What's the other one for?”

“What other one?”

“I dunno. It's that one,” he pointed.

“Oh, that would be my graphic design program. I can put data in from blueprints and such on that and make a 3-D computer image of what the object is supposed to look like.”

“Yeah?”

Raye glanced at the Tiny Bronco and noticed there were a set of blueprints on its wing. “Let me see those blueprints.”

Cid handed the blueprints of the Tiny Bronco to Raye, and she began to input data into her program. Cid watched behind her as she entered everything he had written. Finally, she clicked on a button, and a 3-D image of the Tiny Bronco came up and rotated to show all the views.

“Holy fucking shit!” Cid exclaimed. “That is an awesome ass program! Goddammit, I feel so old.”

Raye laughed. “You should if you don't know anything about this kind of stuff, ya fossil! Hell, you don't even have to draw anything on those old ass blueprint papers anymore because all you do is input your data and hit the `Generate Model' button. See, look, I can even design a paint scheme for it.”

Raye clicked on the wings and the body and colored it candy apple red with blue stripes on the wings and one down the side of the plane. What was funny to Cid was that he decided that once he got the Bronco done, those were the colors he was going to repaint his baby.

“Damn, I love that paint scheme,” Cid remarked as Raye played around with other colors on the same scheme.

“I can do it, too. The painting part is mostly what I use this program for,” Raye explained. “I put in the components of a customer's car, paint it, and I show them how it'll look using this. It comes in handy, I must say.”

Cid looked thoughtful as though he were almost contemplating letting her paint the airplane when it was finished. However, the pilot had to focus on getting it up and running before he could even consider that stage. Then he remembered the blueprints of the Highwind he had.

“I'll be right back,” the man said. He disappeared into a closet and returned with some more prints for Raye. “Can ya do anything with this?”

Raye took the rolls from Cid and examined them closely. “Yeah, but this one will take me far longer.”

“Well, how long?”

“Um, well, a few hours at least. You saw how long it took me just for this little plane. This blueprint is an airship, so, yeah. Besides, I really need to fix this carburetor and go. My brother is waiting on me in Costa del Sol.”

“I'll, uh, rebuild the carburetor if you work on that,” Cid offered. “I could use a program like that, but I haven't a damned clue how to use it.”

“It isn't hard. I can show you sometime.”

Raye went to work inputting Cid's blueprints for the Highwind into her computer as he figured out the carburetor. After a more than an hour, the redhead was ready to show the pilot his airship. Raye took the computer over to Cid, placed it in front of him, and clicked a button on the screen that brought up a 3-D image of the Highwind. Cid's mouth fell.

“Damn…” was all he could say. Raye stood back with a bit of a smirk as she was proud of her work.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Awesome. That's about all I can say.” Cid looked at her computer. “This thing can do a lot.”

“Yeah I take it everywhere with me,” Raye explained. “Hell, I even play music on it. My radio is broken in the piece of shit, so I just turn on my computer to listen to songs.”

“Music?”

“Yeah, I actually have a song paused, but I forgot what it was.” Raye pulled up her Winamp and hit `Play' on the window unleashing a barrage of very loud hard rock music causing the poor pilot to jump in his seat and his wild hair to finally tame.

Raye immediately hit mute and laughed uncomfortably. “Eh…heh, heh…that would be Fuel…I…like some hard stuff and I like it loud. Sorry.”

Raye began to turn the volume down, and Cid watched her pull up a list of music. “Er, that's…, fine. What was that song, anyway?”

“Getting Thru by Fuel,” Raye answered. “Very awesome, but I'll go a little softer for you.”

Cid glared at Raye. “I ain't as old as ya think. I listen to good rock, too.”

“Yeah? Just how old are you?”

“I'm only 32,” Cid replied.

Raye was surprised. “Well as young as you are I would think you'd be a little more competent with a computer.”

“Oh, fuck you!”

Raye laughed. “So, you listen to good rock. Well, what constitutes as `good rock' in your book, and I'll tell you if it's lame or not.”

“Lame?” Cid rolled his eyes. “I dun need you to tell me what's `lame'.”

“I'll be the judge of that, so shoot.”

Well, I s'pose I always enjoyed REO Speedwagon. Hmm…who else? The Eagles, Van Halen is a must…”

Raye stopped Cid in mid-sentence. “Holy hell, you're not as lame as I thought you'd be! I am a massive fan of the earlier rock.”

“No shit?”

“Dude, early stuff is where it all started, all the way back to Chuck Berry.”

“So what did you think I listened to? Celine?”

Raye began to laugh as she made a playlist of songs they would both enjoy. “Well, you never know…”

The girl joined Cid at the table and began to talk with him as they started to put together the carburetor. The two of them were getting along so well that it was almost hard to believe that they couldn't stand one another. Some songs would play, and Cid would burst out and say that he hadn't heard that one in years, and then they would reminisce about their high school days and share stories of their lives during the time the song was popular. Cid's was mostly about flight school horror stories, and Raye talked mostly of life down in the shop and when she lived in the slums, where the business began.

After what seemed like a short while, Raye looked at her watch and discovered it was after 2 am! The carburetor wasn't quite done, either, and they still had to install it in the truck!

“Oh, shit!” Raye said.

Cid looked up. “What?”

“It's after 2 am!”

Cid's mouth fell. How did time fly by so fast? They should have been done hours ago, but they spent so much time talking and carrying on that the two wound up wasting more time that actually working. What blew the pilot away even more was that he actually was having fun.

He never did anything like this with Shera. In fact, Cid hadn't a clue what kind of music Shera even liked. Raye was different from Shera in so many ways. The redhead liked to have fun and was outgoing, outspoken, and damn, she was clever. Shera was always quiet and never really said much, and she was always so shy. Sometimes Cid could get her to poke fun at him, but mostly, he yelled at her, which he regretted. The poor woman often got so flustered when Cid yelled at her that it almost seemed she lost all her sense, but then again, could he blame her? The Airmaster knew that he could be hard on her a lot, and he thought she understood that. Cid had concluded that he pushed her beyond her breaking point and drove her to leave. How could he expect the woman to stay when he cursed her all the time, even after the successful launch? The pilot knew he should have probably gone after her, despite the engineer's wishes, but maybe he had no idea what he would say, and even felt guilty and regretful over his actions. Maybe it was true when people said that you don't know what you got until it's gone.

Cid looked up at Raye with his piercing blue eyes. “Well, I'm assuming you won't be leavin' tonight.”

“I…guess not,” Raye hesitated. “I gotta call my brother.”

Raye phoned Brad and told him the repairs took longer than expected, even though the girl knew she could have been done hours ago, so she was lying out of her ass, and went on to say that she would come after him as soon as she was done.

Raye hit the `End' button on her cell, opened the truck, and took out her wallet to determine if she would have enough to stay at the Inn.

“Whatcha doin'?” Cid asked.

“Seeing if I have enough to stay at the Inn.”

“Don't do that,” Cid replied. “I got an extra room - just stay here.”

Raye looked at the pilot in surprise. “I…don't wanna intrude.”

Cid scowled. “Ain't my hospitality good enough? I mean, my house looks…”

“No! It isn't that! I just don't wanna trouble you, but if you really want me to stay, I will.”

“Good. `Cause I wasn't gonna let ya refuse anyway.”

The two got up and started toward Cid's house. Raye grabbed her laptop and a messenger bag with a change of clothes and other personal items. She never knew when she would have to stay somewhere when it came to her father's truck, so she was always prepared.

Cid opened a gate in the backyard and led her to the backdoor. They entered Cid's house, came down a hallway, and Raye almost gasped aloud when she saw the inside. There was laundry everywhere, on the table, on the counter, and even the couch, and it was all dirty. The kitchen sink was piled with several failed attempts at cooking, and there were some pizza boxes lying around, some half open with pizza still inside and stuff growing on the leftover slices.

Well, at least if he gets sick he has a penicillin factory in his own home, Raye determined.

There was also an overflowing trashcan with lots of parts boxes, used tea bags, and uneaten food, among other refuse that cluttered up the place. Raye noted that Cid's bedroom door was cracked open, and she could see that the bed was unmade, half the blankets on the floor, and there was more laundry piled in his hamper. She didn't even want to think about what the rest of the room looked like.

Still, Raye kept her mouth shut because she was polite, and followed Cid as he led her to a room with a closed door. Raye was almost afraid to see what was beyond that door, and when the pilot opened it, the girl was surprised; it was the neatest room in the entire house, almost as though he never used it.

“Uh, sorry about the mess and all,” Cid said rather embarrassed by his typical bachelor pad. “I, uhhh, don't have a lot of people to visit.”

“It's fine,” Raye said, deciding right then and there that the next day she would clean the hell out of his house to repay the favor for letting her stay. Besides, Raye was sort of a neat freak, and she just couldn't stomach this kind of mess.

“Bathroom's in here if you need it,” Cid replied. “I'm gonna turn in.”

“Uh, okay, thanks…”

Cid went to bed, and Raye stepped into the bathroom. She flipped on the light, and gasped at all the parts that were lying in the bottom of the bathtub. What was even odder was a rubber ducky that was perched in the corner of the tub with a pair of goggles on its little head.

“What the hell…?” Raye said holding the ducky up between her thumb and forefinger. She replaced it and scanned the components. “How in the hell does he shower?!”

The woman left the bathroom after combing her hair and went into the spare room where she would be sleeping. Raye changed into her pajamas and looked around. There were several mechanic books in the bookcase, an empty closet, and a couch with a blanket and pillow lying on the end, neatly folded. What struck Raye as peculiar was that there was an old sewing cabinet in the corner, but she assumed that someone like Cid would use it to store bolts and screws.

Raye placed the pillow on one end of the couch as she had no idea whether or not the thing folded out into a bed, and really, she didn't feel like trying to find out. She unfolded the blanket and lay down on the sofa as she unfurled plans in her mind to give the house good scrubbing the next day.