Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Second Chances ( Chapter 31 )

Chapter 31: Second Chances

 

“Sometimes we get second chances

And sometimes we never make it past the first,

It really makes you wonder why

Some things happen when they do,

It really makes me wonder

Why it wasn't me instead of you.”

-Michelle Branch “Second Chances”

 

Raye dropped her overnight bag in the middle of the floor and looked around. Cid was nowhere to be found, but there was enough of his crap around to indicate that someone had been dwelling there.

“Cid?” Raye called, taking a few steps forward and listened for him.

She was met with silence, and picking up a dirty shirt from the kitchen table, Raye ventured toward the laundry room of the house and dropped the article of clothing in a pile of clothes on the floor next to the empty hamper. Raye frowned, rolled her eyes, and let out a slight huff before exiting the back door to make her way out to Cid's hangar.

She found him sitting in a chair with a manual in his good hand and his broken one resting on an old, beat up table. Captain suddenly stood, wagging his tail and announced the woman's presence with a shrill yap making his master's head raise from the text.

“Hey…” Cid trailed. “Been wondering if you were ever going to show.”

“Ferry was broken down in Junon,” Raye explained. “And your house is a disaster again.”

“Kinda hard to keep it clean when you got only one arm to work with,” Cid responded holding up the cast-enclosed arm. “But the doc says I'll be able to remove this thing next week, if everything looks alright in the x-rays.”

Raye smiled. “That's great, Cid! It'll be a little sore still, and your muscles will be weak, but if you keep exercising your arm, you'll regain full use in about a month or less.”

“Well, I'm gunna do all I can as soon as I get this son of a bitch off!”

The redhead laughed. “I said the same thing every time I got mine removed.” She glanced up at the Bronco. “So, where should we begin on this thing?”

Cid stood up and put the book aside. “Well, this thing's been hauled out of the water, so you can only imagine how waterlogged the engines are. I was workin' on replacing waterlogged parts when I broke my arm.”

Raye shook her head. “Mind if I take a look?”

The pilot shrugged. “Might as well. Yer gunna be lookin' at her for a long time.”

Raye climbed the scaffolding and peered into the innards of the airplane. “Looks like this air intake is clogged with seaweed and some other junk. And look at what the saltwater did to the metal!”

Cid winced. “Yeah, no shit. That's why I had to buy some metal sheeting for the body.”

Raye nodded. “I remember that. So right now it's just going to be engine work?”

“Pretty much, but I think it'll go faster now that I've got the help. Did ya read the manuals?”

Raye nodded. “I did, and I brought them back, in fact. They're in my bag down at your house.”

“If ya still need to read `em you kin just hang onto `em,” Cid offered.

Raye shook her head. “Nah, I think these engines are pretty well the same, but it looks like airplane engines are much simpler.”

Cid stood up and glanced up toward the innards of the airplane. “They are. Or at least I think so. I am trying to design an airship engine that runs without mako energy. The reactors have been shut down since all that shit hit the fan with Meteor, and people are havin' to find other resources.”

“Yeah, I read that,” Raye said. “Edge's electricity is sketchy sometimes, but the WRO went back through Shinra's old files and brought back some technology that had been long forgotten. Something about power stations and lines in which electricity runs.”

“Ayup. `S what we got going here. I helped put that together. I've been doin' some thinkin', though…”

“Eh?”

“A while back, after I broke my arm, some buddies and I went through some old records of Rocket Town, and we found out that this area used to be big in mining some fossil fuel called petroleum. We was thinking that if we could find some, we could turn this town into a petroleum town again an' put some people back to work at refineries and rigs.”

“Kind of like North Corel went back to being a coal-mining town?”

“Exactly,” Cid said. “The way I figure it, if we kin get it up and going and find ways of implementing other sources of fuel, we kin wean the world off mako altogether and make the planet less pissed off at us.”

Cid glanced at Raye, realizing that he'd probably just said something she wouldn't understand as though she were a member of Avalanche. Instead of the perplexed look he expected, she looked thoughtful.

“I think that's a good idea, Cid,” she finally said. “This planet became angry with us for taking away its life. It gave us other natural resources to use for a reason - so we won't take away from its life force. Maybe we can find uses for other stuff on this planet…like water and wind. I read in a scientific journal a few years ago that researchers were playing with wind and water technology as a means of generating electricity. The idea is fascinating.” She looked over at Cid's bewildered expression. “You forget I'm a descendent of the people of Cosmo Canyon, Cid. I understand when the planet is in pain. It still is, but not as badly as it was. I think Mom knew that one day we would pay for our greed and mistakes. She used to teach us to never take more than we need from this planet, to use what it has to offer wisely and efficiently.”

Cid scratched his head. “Well, damn…” was all he could say. There was a pause. “Yannow, all this philosophical shit's makin' me hungry. Um…wanna go grab somethin' to eat?”

“You sure you don't want me to cook?” Raye offered.

Cid snorted. “With what? The sole of my boot? I ain't got shit to eat in this house, and it's damn lonely eatin' by yerself. C'mon. I know this great café in town.”

The pair went down to the house and put an objecting Captain inside. Cid took Raye to somewhat of a hole-in-the-wall place to dine, but the food was much better than Raye had anticipated. She sipped on a chocolate malt and nibbled her fries as the other residents of Rocket Town glanced at Cid and his redheaded company and tried to make something of what they were seeing.

“What the hell you lookin' at?” Cid groused. “Can't a man enjoy his dinner with a friend?”

The other diners went back to their conversations and meals as Cid returned back to his conversation with Raye.

“I guess they aren't used to seeing me here, huh?”

“They just ain't used to seeing me with a woman, period. Not like I go out on any dates or anything.”

“Oh.” Raye suddenly blushed as she entertained the assumptions of the other diners. She bit her lower lip. “Um, h-has it been that long for you? You know…since you've…gone out with anyone?”

Cid shrugged, swallowing a bite of his hamburger. “Why do you wanna know?”

“Just curious is all,” Raye responded candidly. “I mean, the way these people were lookin' at us…it kinda makes me wonder.” She blushed furiously. “S-sorry I asked.”

“Not that it's any of yer business, but no, I haven't been out with a woman in a long time.” He paused. “What about you? Since apparently we're chummy enough to be discussin' this sort o' thing.”

“Um…honestly? Me either. Haven't been out with a guy since…”

Her words failed to finish the statement, and she looked away, but Cid understood. “I see.” He dipped a French fry in a pool of ketchup. “Ever considered going out with someone?”

“Have you?” Raye retorted.

“I asked you first.”

“When would I have the time?” she sighed. “Besides, what man would want to go out with such a grease monkey like me? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm no Miss Universe.”

Cid laughed amusedly at her remark. “Well I ain't no Prince Charming, either.”

Raye snorted and ate a bite of her own hamburger before glancing out the window. Cid, on the other hand, couldn't quite pull his eyes away from Raye. Since he'd returned home from Cosmo Canyon, he'd been perplexed over the things that had happened there, and it left him confused, to say the least. Raye was…not a bad looking gal. In fact, Raye was really a lot prettier than she gave herself credit, and Cid could only conclude that for them to collide like that back at the Canyon that there had to be some kind of attraction between them, if at least on his part. Now it left some questions: had he always been attracted to Raye, or was their kiss just a forced experiment brought about by raw vulnerability?

Cid blinked, flushed pink, and then glanced down at his food. He didn't want Raye to see him looking at her like…that. He decided to finish off the rest of his dinner and change the subject before things got too awkward.

Raye finished her dinner and began to fish out her wallet to pay for her dinner. Raye was in no way a `girly girl'. She never carried a purse like girls should as they were cumbersome on a motorcycle, and she hated the bulkiness of them. She pulled out some bills, but Cid stopped her.

“It's on me,” he said.

“Oh, I can't have you do that, Cid,” she said.

“Shaddup before I change my mind,” he told her, picking up the ticket. “Ya drove all the way here to give me a hand. `S the least I can do.”

Raye shook her head but smiled. “Well…thanks.”

Cid paid for their dinner, tipped the server, and he and his female companion went back to the house where they began the long and tedious task of removing more bad components and replacing them with new or rebuilt ones. The thing with Cid was that he not only had nearly every tool and shop machine there was to have, but he had quite a collection of nuts, bolts, washers, wires, spark plugs, and every other small part imaginable.

Hours passed, and the evening turned into late night as Cid removed the leather glove from his one good arm and rubbed his eyes.

“Shit…can't even think straight…” he groused tiredly. Cid had tried in the best way he could to help Raye, earning a good cussing from her for trying to do work with a useless arm. Eventually, he resorted to directing her work and handing her tools from his box. She took direction well and learned quickly, he discovered, though she wasn't much for constructive criticism, especially his idea of it.

“What time is it, anyway?” Raye asked.

“Uh, it's…” He took out his watch - the very one she'd gotten him for Christmas. “It's about 1:30 in the morning.”

Raye's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Are you serious?! No wonder I feel so tired.”

“Maybe we ought to call it quits for the night,” Cid suggested, stretching.

Raye slid down from the ladder. “Maybe we should and pick this back up early tomorrow.”

“Ha! You ain't gettin' me up too early!”

“Well I didn't say I wanted us up at the asscrack of dawn! Fuck that shit!”

Cid flicked the butt of his cigarette onto the grass. “Alright…just so we're clear on that `cause I ain't too keen on that getting up with the sun shit.”

Raye snorted. “Oh, gee, I had no idea.”

“C'mon,” Cid responded uncharacteristically warmly. “I'll show ya to yer bunk.”

He led her to the house and inside as Captain followed close at his heels. Raye picked up her bag from the middle of the floor and followed Cid back to the room that she'd stayed in with him the night he'd broken his arm. She came to realize in the light of recent events that this had been Shera's old room, and now that things were in the open, it didn't seem that she would be using it ever again.

“H-hope ya dun mind using Shera's old room,” Cid said, rubbing the back of his head.

“I don't mind, and I doubt she does, either.”

“Yeah…I doubt she will considering…” He paused awkwardly. “Well…g'night. I'll leave a light on in case ya…need to go to the bathroom…or anything.”

“Um, yeah. Thanks. Night, Cid,” the redhead responded.

He backed out and closed the door, and Raye listened as his boots thumped across the floor and eventually into his room. Safe that there was no danger of him walking in on her, she pulled out her night clothes and began to dress for bed. He had already put a pillow and neatly folded blanket on the couch in the room for her, and she arranged these items until she was satisfied before turning out the light and flopping onto the couch clad in naught but a white tank top and a pair of purple pajama pants.

Raye sighed, her mind reverting to the man in just the next room. The vulnerable kiss they had shared in Cosmo Canyon still weighed heavily on her mind, though they'd agreed to simply forget about it. Yet doing so was not an easy task. He'd kissed her, and at first, when she fled him, she felt violated. Yet as much as she hated to admit it, Raye enjoyed the strength of Cid's embrace and the warmness of his lips. The 27 year old woman had almost forgotten what such things felt like; it had been a few years since she'd experienced anything like that with a man. Alan had scarred her in ways that she could never reveal to Cid - in ways she felt he could never understand.

This was the second kiss Cid had stolen from her, the first being completely by accident, or so she made herself believe, in a pain killer induced state, but the other…Raye wasn't sure what to make of it. Was he doing that simply for the comfort amidst everything he'd been feeling? Was he attracted to her or did he simply latch onto her as a rebound? Or…could this be a second chance…for both of them?

Raye closed her eyes and sighed. The confusion was giving her a headache, and she rubbed her temples. She didn't want to deal with this. Denial had been working in her favor so far, but maybe it was just wise to simply see where it went, to see if he really saw her as the woman she was or if he would simply consider her as `one of the boys'. It was still too early to tell, so Raye decided to do the best and only thing she knew how to do - deny everything and forget it ever happened.