Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Where the Streets Have No Name ( Chapter 35 )

Chapter 35: Where the Streets Have No Name

 

“Where the streets have no name,

Still building then burning down love,

Burning down love,

And when I go there,

I go there with you,

It's all I can do.”

-U2 “Where the Streets Have No Name”

 

Cid closed the cowling of the Tiny Bronco and removed his greasy leather gloves. He had stepped up the work on the small plane and Raye came over during the weekend to help him finish it once and for all. He looked up at his beloved creation and grinned satisfyingly. The waterlogged components had all been replaced or rebuilt, and the rusted metal sheeting had been replaced with brand new, shiny sheets.

Cid glanced at Raye. “Well, all that's left to do is to start `er up.” He gestured toward the other side of the airplane. “Help me push this thing out so the prop wash doesn't tear up my shop.”

Raye smiled. “Sure.”

She took a hold of the airplane using the wing and the side's handle and began to push with Cid. The airplane began to move slowly and with a little more force, it gained enough speed to roll out onto the grass.

“Whoa, that's far enough,” Cid said. He straightened up and looked up to the cockpit. Cid climbed up onto the wing and slid the cockpit door open and jumped inside. “Oi, you might wanna move, Raye.”

Raye stepped to a safe distance inside the hangar and watched Cid as he began to flip switches on the instrument panel. He opened the throttle an eighth of an inch and flipped the master switch on. He took a hold of the key, pushed on the brake, and looked around.

“Clear prop!” he shouted.

The propellers began turning over as the engines struggled to come to life. Cid turned the key several times and finally, at long last, the engines roared as the propellers became a blur of life.

“WOO! FUCK YEAH!” Cid cried happily. He glanced down at Raye and gave her a thumbs-up and a toothy grin.

To her surprise, she found his ecstatic smile devastatingly adorable as he seemed to turn into a much different man. He was smiling genuinely since the first time they had met, his eyes sparkling with life and glee, and it was then that Raye knew that his passion was the sky. His demeanor was endearing, and she blushed over her thoughts.

She allowed a smile to slide over her full lips as she watched him taxi the airplane to the grass runway behind the house and take off. He did a few circles around Rocket Town and Raye watched him, wishing she could be with him as she had never flown before in her life.

Cid did a few barrel rolls before bringing the Tiny Bronco in for a landing. He shut down the plane, opened the cockpit, and jumped down, still grinning happily. He ran over to Raye, lifted her up, and twirled her around.

“Hell yeah!” he shouted. “I kin fly again!”

Raye blinked bewildered, but she gave into his contagious glee and put her hands on his shoulders, laughing. “Ha ha…you're crazy, you know that?”

Cid put her down and abruptly drew Raye into an embrace. “I couldn't have done it in such a short time without yer help, Raye.”

Raye blinked. Her hands had no idea what to do, but she knew that it felt dangerously nice enveloped in his warm arms. She finally relented and rested her hands on his strong back, mostly curious to see what he would do.

Cid did not flinch. Instead, he found he enjoyed holding Raye and closed his eyes. They stood there for a few moments and Raye swallowed hard. She wasn't certain what was going on here or what these fluttering feelings were bubbling up inside of her, but it made her pull out of Cid's grasp abruptly.

“Whoa…what the fuck was that?” she softly asked.

Cid turned red and looked away from her embarrassedly. “I…I dunno. Sorry…I,uh…”

Raye waved a hand dismissively and quickly changed the subject. “So when you gonna offer me a ride in that thing? I've never flown before, you know.”

Cid glanced up wide-eyed with surprise. “Whaaa?! You've never flown?”

Raye shook her head. “Never. I always wanted to, though.”

He grinned, shrugging off his awkward feelings, and gestured to the plane. “Now's as good a time as any.”

“Oh, Cid…I-I shouldn't trouble you.”

“Get yer ass up there!” he said with a playful growl. “We're goin' fer a ride and you ain't changin' yer mind.”

He gave Raye a boost up to the cockpit before climbing up himself. She looked down at the instruments inside the cockpit - attitude indicator, turn coordinator, airspeed indicator, tachometer, vertical speed indicator, and other instruments that Raye could not identify. She had read about all the other instruments in the book Cid had given her to learn the systems of the plane.

“Hop in,” Cid told her, handing her a headset and gesturing to the seat behind him. “Sorry ya can't be up front next to me…”

Raye got in awkwardly and sat down. She fumbled with the seatbelts before Cid leaned down and took them from her hands. He buckled her in before sliding into the seat up front. Raye looked out of the Tiny Bronco's windows as Cid buckled himself in and slid the overhead cockpit door closed. He switched on the master and Raye could hear a whirring noise start up when he did so.

He looked about him, cracked the window and shouted, “Clear prop!” before engaging the engine. This time, the Tiny Bronco started right up, and he glanced back at her grinning.

“Ya nervous?”

Raye shook her head. “Nah. I'm fine. I trust you, Cid.”

He chuckled and faced the front as he gently pushed the throttle in to give the airplane more power. Cid taxied the plane toward the grass runway as he did before, and when he got to the end, he went through his run up checklist: test the flight controls, test the idle of the throttle, check the radio, and finally look for other traffic, even though he was sure he was the only airplane taking to the skies nowadays.

Cid pushed in the throttle fully, released the brakes, and the airplane sped down the plain, bumping and shaking along the way from the uneven ground. As it gained enough speed to generate lift, Cid gently pulled back on the controls and Raye was met with the strangest sensation.

The ground rapidly grew smaller behind her as the shop, then the house, and then the entire town grew smaller. Soon Raye could see everything from a bird's eye view - she could see the forests around the area and down into the clearings of those forests. She observed the vast plains just south of town and a lone car traveling on the highway she was all too familiar with. Her green eyes went wide as she took in the rising mountains in the distance, and Cid suddenly called her name and pointed to the field they were flying over. She looked down and saw a flock of chocobos running over the open field.

“This is really amazing, Cid,” she breathed.

He smirked and gave a little chuckle. “Ain't it? I tell ya, Raye, this is the way to see the world. Ya feel so free and weightless up `ere.”

“A place where the streets have no name…” Raye trailed, phrasing the lyrics of a song she knew.

“Ha ha…you could say that,” Cid said lightly.

It was already almost dusk when Raye and Cid had gone up in the Tiny Bronco, and Cid continued to fly, giving Raye a chance to see the sunset over the ocean below them. A sunset was by all accounts beautiful on the ground, but to see it from the air gave it an even more aesthetic appeal. The fiery rays of light danced upon the water's surface below them as the sun began to sink below the horizon. The sky itself looked as though someone had taken a brush and streaked the canvas of the sky with fierce oranges, glowing golds, and bright lavenders.

She took all of this in as he final ray of light sank below the horizon and disappeared from sight. Cid turned the airplane around and landed the Bronco a little after dark. The lights of Rocket Town had glittered on the surface. He helped Raye down and the two of them pushed the airplane back into the hangar. Once the door had been closed, Raye looked at Cid's plane.

“Now that we know she flies, all she needs now is a paint job,” Raye remarked.

Cid stood next to Raye and crossed his arms. “Ayup, it looks kinder funny with parts that are faded red an' brand new aluminum.”

Raye smirked. “Funny…I thought it looked more pinkish…”

Cid glared at her. “Oi…it's faded red, damn it!”

Raye grinned, poking fun at him more. “It's pink, Cid.”

“It is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is NOT!”

Raye giggled. “Cid.”

“What?”

“I'm fucking with you!”