Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ November Rain ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13: November Rain

“’Cause nothin’ lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it’s hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain.”
-Guns ‘N Roses “November Rain”
A few days had passed since Raye had stayed with Cid in Rocket Town. The pilot kept mainly to his work on the Tiny Bronco installing the new components Raye brought him and adjusting what few ones were still good. The Captain put down a ratchet, walked to the hangar door, and stood inside the frame puffing on a cigarette. The sky was a dull, heavy grey today, and a chill wind blew into the hangar causing Cid to put his familiar blue flight jacket on. It was November in Rocket Town, and he realized that winter was approaching much faster than he anticipated.
Cid sighed, crushed the butt of his finished cigarette beneath his boot, and went back inside to work on his airplane some more. He closed the large hangar door to keep the draft from blowing inside and upsetting the blueprints on the table, the wind howling a protest outside as Cid silently worked. Soon, he heard the clouds open up and begin a cold downpour onto the metal roof of the hangar. The pilot heaved an even heavier sigh. It was too quiet around without someone to talk to, and for a moment he thought about Raye and the conversations they shared from the other night.
The pilot hated to admit it, but he didn’t feel so damned lonesome when she was there the other night. The redhead was fun, outgoing, and she had a wildly funny sense of humor. Raye was the kind of girl who seemed to enjoy just having fun, and she didn’t seem too preoccupied with what anyone thought of her. She was honest and opinionated as hell, but she did not seem prissy and stuck up.
The pilot was embarrassed that she had to see the interior of his house in the condition it was in, but he had been depressed since Shera left, and wanted nothing to do with staying inside where everything reminded him of her. Cid hoped that Raye didn’t suspect anything because he really didn’t want to give her an explanation if she did. What really blew him away was that she took the time to give him a hand by giving his house a good cleaning and show him how to cook something simple.
Truth be told, Cid knew he could have kept his own house clean and his dishes washed, but he had no idea how to do laundry or cook his own food because he always depended on Shera to do that. Now he had to depend on himself. Cid decided days ago that Shera was probably not coming back, and that he was only wishfully thinking for her return in vain. If only he could find her, then maybe, just maybe, he could try to sort things out. The pilot had a lot to say to her, but would he be able to say what he needed if he saw her again?
Cid sighed and put down his tools. He went over to the neatly stacked pile of parts in the corner of the hangar and rummaged through them, suddenly realizing that he forgot to order a component!
“Aw, dammit! Sonuvabitch!”
Without that part, Cid’s work for the day was done. How could he have forgotten something so important? He decided to retire to his house for the time being and call over to Raye’s shop to see if they had it. Cid held his jacket over his head, and ran through the cold downpour, coming in through the back door soaking wet and shivering. Deciding it was getting to be around dinnertime, he went to his refrigerator to see what he had to eat. Raye bought plenty of food for him, so he thought he would try the whole cooking thing again. There were several recipes hanging on the door of the refrigerator that Raye had written out for him. Cid took one of the recipe cards into his hands and examined it. The redhead’s handwriting was actually very pretty, and she had everything in order and the instructions were written right down to the minutest details.
Cid placed the card onto his countertop and picked up his phone. He dialed the number to Raye’s shop, partially hoping that she would answer. Wait a minute? Why in the hell was he thinking so much about her? This was just too fucked up.
A voice interrupted Cid’s thoughts. “Hello, Shield’s Garage and Parts?”
The voice on the other end was just Brad.
“Uh, hey, there, Brad,” Cid said uncertainly.
“Is that you, Cid?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Um, can I help you with something?”
“Yeah…I kinda forgot to order a part when I was there, and I can’t get nothin’ done without it.”
“Oh. Well, I can place it for you. If it’s really important I can have Raye drive it over tomorrow sometime,” Brad offered.
“Uh, sure, that’d be fine,” Cid replied. He ordered the part he needed. “Brats giving anyone trouble lately?”
“Nah, everything has been surprisingly calm today,” Brad said. Then it dawned on him that Cid was indirectly asking about Raye. “Raye isn’t home – she went out for the afternoon.”
“Deliveries, I assume?”
“No, she just went out.”
Brad put Cid’s delivery on the list for the next day. “Alright, she’ll be there with it tomorrow.”
“Alright, thanks a lot,” Cid said hanging up his phone.
Not more than five minutes after Brad hung up with Cid, did Raye come into the garage.
“Hey, Sis, you’re back early,” Brad said.
“Yeah, I got done at the orphanage,” Raye said as she hung up her jacket. “Everything go smoothly while I was gone?”
Brad grinned deviously. “Oh, yeah. Everything’s great. Guess who called a few minutes ago?”
“Shera?”
“Nope. Your boyfriend Cid!”
Raye shot her brother a horrified look that quickly changed into total anger. “HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!” Raye yelled as she hit her brother repeatedly in the arm.
Brad yelped but still could not contain his laughter even as his sister was drumming him.
Raye finally calmed down but continued to brood. How in the world could her idiot brother say such absurd things?
“Well, what did he want?”
“He forgot to order a part, and he needs it tomorrow. I volunteered you for the job!” her sibling declared triumphantly.
The redhead exploded. “Wh…WHAT?!”
Brad burst into laughter. “Oh, come on! You said so yourself on the way back the other day that he didn’t seem as bad as you thought he was!”
“Oh my fucking GOD! You are a conniving little BASTARD!”
The phone suddenly rang, and Raye picked it up still fuming. “WHAT?!”
“Uh…did I interrupt something?”
The voice on the other end was Cid’s. Raye thought that he must have forgotten something else.
“CID! Uh...HI!” Raye stammered.
Brad ran over and hit the speakerphone button. “RAYE LOVES BLONDS!”
“GET BENT YOU QUEERBAIT!!” the older sibling yelled at Brad.
Cid could hear Brad laughing hysterically as Raye pushed the speakerphone button again. “I swear to God I am gonna kill him...Now did you forget something?”
Cid debated as to whether he should answer her. “Yeah, I need another component. Can ya bring it with the other one tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Raye said still sounding exasperated with her brother. “What is it you need?”
As Raye wrote down what it was he needed, Brad began to make a humping motion on one of the cars in the shop. Raye’s mouth fell, and she shot Brad a threatening glare.
Cid stopped speaking for a moment as he heard Raye yell, “Would you fucking STOP?!” Then she returned to Cid. “I’m sorry – my brother’s being an idiot.”
Cid had to laugh at the madness that was ensuing. “I take it you’ll be kickin’ his ass in a minute?”
“You bet I will. So, see you tomorrow?”
“Sure thing.”
Raye smiled and she had to throw in a joke with the pilot. “You better clean your house before I come over.”
Cid sniggered, but couldn’t resist an, “Aw, shaddup!”
Raye hung up with Cid and yelled at Brad. “I cannot fucking believe you!”
“What was with the ‘You better clean your house’ thing?” Brad asked.
“Uh…inside joke.”
“An inside joke? You went from totally hating the guy to sharing inside jokes with him?”
Raye turned red. “Oh, fuck you!”
Brad laughed knowing he had bested his sister, and the two continued on their work.
Cid, in the meantime, hung up his cell phone and pondered what Brad meant by “Raye loves blondes.” Maybe she and Cloud could hit it off if she liked blonde men.
“Wait a second…” Cid muttered as he realized that Brad meant him! “Oh, GOD! That bastard!”
Cid shook his head, knowing that Brad was just trying to get a rise out of Raye. He went over to the counter, looked at his recipe card, and put on a kettle of water for his tea. Then he grabbed some ingredients from the fridge, removed his gloves and washed his hands. Cid slowly proceeded to prepare his supper for the evening, continually reading his recipe card Raye wrote him to check the next step.
After a while, the teakettle began to whistle, and Cid had his food simmering on the stove. He poured his hot water over a teabag in his cup and let it steep for a few minutes while he stirred his supper in the skillet. He was trying an easy stir-fry recipe, and from what Cid could tell, it was turning out well. Maybe cooking his own dinner wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.
He turned the heat off the burner under the skillet and removed it from the stove. His tea had steeped in the water, and Cid got out his dinnerware and served himself dinner. The pilot sat down at his table and took a sip of his tea. Taking a bite of his dinner, he found that he outdid himself. It actually tasted great! Cid looked across toward where Shera normally sat and wondered what she would say if she saw this and sighed. What he really wanted was for someone to share this with, but he was alone, but at least he would have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
The pilot finished eating, got up, and put his dishes in the sink. What he didn’t eat he placed in a container for tomorrow, and he began to wash his own plates. The aviator hated doing the dishes with a passion, but he decided he would not let his house get as bad as it was ever again. His mother didn’t raise him to be a slob, and he wasn’t going to live like one.
Once he finished this chore, he decided to go back out to the hangar and work on his blueprints for his next airship. The rain had let up on its torrential downpour and was now lightly falling upon the ground, the droplets making a pinging noise on some sheet metal he had leaning outside against the east wall of the hangar.
While in the hangar, everything was quiet, the only sound being the rain falling on the metal roof, and Cid became lost in his own little world as time passed. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like some kind of whining noise from outside followed by a scratching and rustling.
“What the hell is that?”
Cid picked up his spear, knowing well that little noises could mean something big. He cautiously stepped outside and peered about in the dark as the cold rain continued to fall. The pilot went back inside and grabbed a flashlight so he could better see. Creeping along the wall of the hangar, the man rounded the corner on the other side, about where he heard the noises. A wad of dead grass moved, and a pair of eyes glowed from the beam of the flashlight. The grass moved about some more, and Cid braced his spear to be greeted by…a puppy?
Cid knelt down, and the little pup weakly walked up to Cid. The poor thing looked as though it was starved and cold, and Cid figured that it was abandoned.
“Well, well, little fella,” he said to it as he picked it up. “What are ya doin’ out here in the cold?”
The puppy whined as it wiggled down into Cid’s arm for warmth, and the pilot could feel it shivering from being so wet.
“Ain’t no sense in makin’ ya stay out here,” Cid said to the puppy. He held it in one arm and walked back down to his house where it would be warm and dry. Cid never had pets when he was a kid, so he didn’t have the first clue about pet ownership. Still, he didn’t feel it would be right to leave the poor thing outside to suffer, and he had to admit that he felt sorry for it.
Cid walked back into his house, grabbed a shirt from his hamper, and wrapped the pup in it to get him warm. He was able to take a closer look at it now that it was in the light. The puppy had floppy ears and a grey coat of short fur. His ribs clearly showed from going without food, and it looked up at Cid with its tiny brown eyes and its little black button nose. He whined at Cid and stared up at him with what seemed almost like a pleading look, and the last thing Cid wanted to admit was that the dog was cute.
Cid smiled and put the little dog on the kitchen table wrapped in the shirt and pet him. He was just so small, and Cid couldn’t fathom how someone could abandon the little thing. He figured he would keep it for a few days and try to find it a good home with some boy or girl who wanted a pet. Cid turned away for a moment and began to rummage in his cabinet for his bedtime tea. The pup watched Cid closely and suddenly stood up. He gave a small, “BARK!” which startled the blond, causing him to turn around and stare at his new little companion. It dawned on him that perhaps he should feed it something.
“Well, aye aye, Captain!” he said to it with a salute.
Cid found a small bowl and filled it with water. He placed it on the table and let it drink while the pilot rummaged in his refrigerator for some pieces of food. He opened a drawer and found some slices of roast beef for a sandwich he made yesterday and decided to give it that.
“Sorry, dog,” Cid said as he feed it the beef. “This’ll be all I got.”
The puppy devoured the roast beef faster than Cid could feed it to him. He probably hadn’t eaten in days, and Cid wasn’t sure if the roast beef would be enough, so he thought over what else he might have to offer it.
After the pup ate all of the roast beef, he laid down with his head on his paws, seemingly satisfied with his dinner. Cid smiled and decided to skip his tea for the night. The engineer found a box, lined it with the shirt he gave to the pup, placed the dog in it, and carried it to his bedroom where he placed it next to his bed for now. Cid took a quick shower, and upon returning, he found the dog curled up in a ball inside, sound asleep.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Cid muttered. “He just made himself right at home.”
Cid gave the puppy a light pat on the head, crawled into his own bed, and went to sleep.