Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Familiarity ( Chapter 30 )

Chapter 30: Familiarity

“I get mad so easy,

But you give me room to breathe

No matter what I say or do

`Cause you're too good to fight about it

Even when I have to push

To see how far you'll go.

You won't stoop down to battle

But you never turn to go.”

-Sarah McLachlan “Push”

 

Raye wasn't sure why she was going to give being friends with Cid a chance, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know. They did, however, agree to forget that he'd even kissed her, and they walked back down to Cosmo Canyon together. Raye invited Cid to enjoy the rest of the festivities with her and watch her in the archery contest.

They came up through the crowd and approached her grandmother's stand as Brad sold some of Nokomis's goods to some festival goers. He looked up at seeing his sister and Cid together and oddly at peace.

“Hey…” he trailed, waving at them. “I see you found my sister.”

Cid rubbed the back of his head, still awkward from what happened moments ago. “Yeah…we kinda ran into one another.”

Raye glanced up at him. “I kinda invited him to enjoy the rest of the festival with us.”

Brad snickered. “Well aren't you forgiving!”

She glared daggers at him. “Don't fuck with me, Brad.” She sighed. “But I guess I am a little charitable these days. Does Grandma have any leftovers?”

“Yeah, she's got plenty.” Brad pointed into the house. “She should be inside heating it up, actually.”

Raye motioned for Cid to come inside with her, and he followed obediently. She found Nokomis inside busily preparing the leftover stew for dinner along with one of her yummy homemade loaves of bread.

“Grandma, do we have enough to feed an extra person?” she called.

“Aw, Raye, you dun have to do that…” Cid trailed quietly. “I kin go find my own food.”

Raye glanced at him. “Are you hungry or not?”

“Well…” He had to admit that he was starving. He hadn't eaten a whole lot of anything since he busted his arm and it was a futile effort to cook, much less do anything else.

Nokomis smiled. “Don't worry about it, son. I made plenty for everyone, including extra people.”

Raye grinned. “My grandma makes enough to feed an army.”

“Oh, um, your grandma?” Cid trailed. He shifted in his boots.

“Oh, yeah! Right. Um, Grandma, this is Cid. Cid, my grandma, Nokomis.”

“Hi…nice to meet ya,” Cid responded, holding up his good hand to greet her. He noticed that Raye was definitely her granddaughter because they looked quite similar.

“Same here. Have a seat and help yourself to some bread. I've actually just finished heating this up,” Nokomis told him, shooing him over to a table and making him sit down.

Cid felt awkward, but welcome nonetheless. He complied and Raye sat down across from him. “Erm, thanks.”

“Where is everyone?” Raye asked.

Nokomis smiled. “Everywhere. I doubt we will all gather for dinner together, but that's to be expected. Everyone's out enjoying themselves.”

She handed Raye and Cid each large bowls of stew and a slice of homemade bread spread with homemade butter. Cid was so hungry that he swore he could eat a whole chocobo - or two. Not a second after the bowl was placed in front of him did he begin to eat like some kind of crazed, wild animal. Raye paused mid-bite with her eyebrow raised and a stunned look on her face.

Cid noticed her stare and looked over at her. “Whut?” he asked with his mouth full.

“Cid, when was the last time you ate?” Raye asked, resting her head on her hand.

“Uh…uhhhh…I dunno,” he trailed. “Um, sometime yesterday…?”

Raye's eyebrows went up. “And what did you have?”

Cid swallowed his food and coughed slightly. She'd kill him for sure this time. “Um…some doughnuts…maybe a couple of snack cakes…I dunno.”

“I see,” Raye said, surprisingly softly. She suddenly reached over and grabbed a hold of his goggles. He knew it was too good to be true.

“H-hey! HEY! What the hell do ya think yer doin' ya crazy bitch!?” Cid yelled flailing.

Raye pulled them back from his head and let them go. They smacked Cid in his face and fell down around his neck. “Fuckin' idiot! Why didn't you eat?!”

“Ow gawd dammit!” he squawked, rubbing his face. “Have ya seen my arm lately?!”

“Ever heard of going out?!” Raye shot back. “For fuck's sake, Cid, I can't babysit your dumbass all the time. Christ…”

“Oi! I dun need you to babysit me!” he hollered.

“Bull fucking shit you don't need a baby sitter. Goddamn, Cid, I gave you a recipe book and gave you parts. You better not be wanting me to wipe yer ass for you because you're on your own, asshole!”

“I kin wipe my own ass, thankyouverymuch!” Cid yelled.

Truthfully, he was relieved by the fact that they were settling into the arguing routine again, but at least he knew they were doing this as friends, that she didn't hate him despite all the shit he'd done. The familiarity of it all was a nice break from the tense atmosphere over Christmas and just a few moments ago, and really, he hoped it would stay this way.

She retorted with a hard punch to his good arm that made him jump as he recoiled away from her before reaching across the table to steal her bread. She slapped his hand.

“Drop it or die, asshole!” Raye snarled, taking back her piece. “If you want more, all you have to do is help yourself.”

She bit into her piece of bread to affirm that it was hers and that she wasn't sharing. She ate her stew as Cid served himself another hot bowl along with a slice of bread. He sat down and sighed.

“Something wrong?” Raye questioned.

“Naw, nothin'. I was just thinking about all the work I still have left on the Bronco and I can't do shit with this bum ass arm.”

“You tried to work on it with that bum ass arm didn't you?” Raye asked.

“No…” Cid trailed.

“Liar.”

“And how the hell would you know whether I did or not?”

Raye looked up and smirked. “I'd try to do the same. You said yourself that you and I are a lot alike.”

Cid snorted and smiled. “Okay, ya got me. Yeah, I tried, and it failed.”

Raye shook her head. “I just knew as soon as I left that day that you'd do something dumb like that.” She finished her stew. “You still want help on that airplane? I brought the books with me so I could look them over.”

Cid's head shot up to look at Raye. His jaw fell a little, dumbfounded. “Seriously?”

She nodded.

“I figured you wouldn't want to see me again after…what happened,” he told her frankly.

Raye shrugged. “A promise is a promise. I kinda made it to Dad, too, and I can't back out on that no matter how bad you piss me off.”

“Mah, I wouldn't hold you to keepin' a promise that doesn't deserve to be kept. I was a fuckin' asshole and an idiot. I deserve to be on my own on this.”

Raye shrugged. “I think we're all assholes and idiots sometimes, Cid. I think that we just have to learn from our mistakes and go on is all.”

He sighed and crossed his arms. “Well I sure as hell learned somethin' from it. Too bad I'll probably be alone for the rest of my life `cause I lost the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Raye stood and collected their dishes. “Join the crew. I'll never be able to trust a man again after what I went through before.”

Cid cringed a little at this, wondering if he'd damaged Shera like that. “Well…n-not all men are like that, hun.”

“Show me a good man that isn't my brother, then,” Raye snorted. She washed up the bowls and put them in the sink strainer to air dry. “Want me to go get those books and we can look over them?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Cid waited in the room while Raye went to grab the manuals. Captain came in from outside, having previously made his home with Brad at the stand and settled down at his master's feet underneath the table. Raye returned shortly with the manuals in hand, and they looked at an engine schematic together. Cid explained some things about then engines and made some comparisons, but the rudimentary concepts of all engines were pretty much the same.

“So, you think you can make it sometime next week?” Cid asked.

“Hnn…I'm sure I can. There isn't as much work to be done during the winter and especially after the holidays, so I'm sure I can be out on Sundays.”

He nodded. “Alright…I can work with that. I'm available pretty well everyday of the week.” He scratched his head and adjusted his goggles. “You know, I might be pushin' my luck, but…you think you kin be out Saturday night and like, I dunno, stay over so we kin get to work early?”

Raye's eyebrows went up. “Um…I dunno, Cid. I don't know how much Dad would like that idea…”

“Aw, c'mon, Raye. Yer a big girl ain't ya? Besides, he ought to know I ain't gonna do anything with ya.”

Raye shook her head and turned the page of the book she was looking at. “I dunno. I am Dad's only daughter no matter how old I get.”

“Well I was thinkin', too, that it would save you from havin' to get up so early and drive to my place. I know you won't wanna leave late on Sunday night, so we can get a lot of work done Saturday night and all day Sunday if we start early enough. Brad gets to go stay with Shera, doesn't he?”

Raye sighed. “It's different for a man, Cid.”

“Aw, just ask him, `kay?”

“Alright, I will,” she agreed. “I have to admit that I like the idea.”

“You…really trust me that much?”

“Well, yeah, of course I do,” Raye told him. Then she grinned. “Besides, you probably value your testicles and won't do anything to cause me to rip them off. Am I right?”

Cid winced. “Yeaaahhh…” He put a hand down between his leg protectively.

Raye nudged his foot under the table, and he jumped. “What?”

She nodded toward the window. “There's a lot of festival stuff that goes on after the sun goes down,” she told him. “Want to go check it out and get some candy or something?”

He ventured a light smile. “Yeah…sure.”

They stood up and left the house, venturing into the night air. The desert was chilly after the sun went down, but it was much nicer here than back in Rocket Town.

“It's a nice night, isn't it?” Raye remarked.

“It sure is…”