Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Ice ❯ Dreams ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Dreams

 

Vincent awoke with a start, the sound of whimpering disturbing his already light sleep. For a moment, he thought it was himself and he wasn't realizing it. Then he understood that no, it was actually Highwind. This was why he preferred sleeping alone.

 

Rolling over, the ex-Turk stared at the shape that was the sleeping pilot. With his night vision he could see that the man was visibly shaking, though he was obviously still asleep. Occasionally he whimpered, muttering to himself in the darkness. He was most likely trapped in some sort of nightmare.

 

Vincent himself knew of such things quite well.

 

Sighing, the gunman knew he would not be able to return to sleep unless he woke up the damn pilot. And, for once, his sleep had been devoid of nightmares; how unlucky of him to be woken up now.

 

Growling slightly, he moved to get up and crept over to Cid's side, crouching next to his sleeping form. He reached out and put a hand on the pilot's shoulder, intending to gently shake him awake. The pilot felt warm under his touch, though he was shivering slightly.

 

“Highwind,” he began, voice barely above a whisper. “Highwind, wake up dammit!” He demanded a bit louder.

 

Cid suddenly leapt awake, eyes snapping open quickly as he sat up, putting Vincent off balance. He rocked backwards on his heels, arms flailing to catch himself as Cid's quick thinking prevailed and a strong arm whipped out, catching Vincent's flailing arm. He gave a great yank and instead of falling backwards, the gunman lurched forwards, crashing into the other man. The noise was accompanied by a series of curses and an annoyed sigh.

 

That is, until Vincent realized that he was kissing the blonde pilot. How his mouth had found Cid's he didn't know. And for some reason, he found himself enjoying the feel of his soft mouth pressed against him. Without thinking, he opened his mouth slightly and found Cid doing the same. Their tongues met, dancing around each other, discovering the taste.

 

Suddenly, Vincent's eyes flew wide open. He hadn't even remembered closing them. Then it hit him... he was kissing Cid!

 

With a loud gasp Vincent scrambled backwards, disentangling himself from the pilot and throwing himself as far from him as he could get in the tiny tent. He stared at the other man, who was now breathing heavily, with wide, crimson eyes. Cid's eyes were still closed, mouth open slightly, though he had the beginnings of a smile on his face.

 

“Didn't know ya had it in ya…” Cid remarked slyly, cracking open one eye to look at the gunman.

 

Vincent shook his head in disgust. “What the hell, Highwind? Why did you do that?”

 

Cid shrugged, nonchalantly, sitting up slightly to rearrange his bed area, which had gotten disrupted while they were flailing about. “Thought you were a woman…” he mumbled.

 

Vincent's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “What? How in the-”

 

“If you didn't wear your hair so damn long I woulda knew the difference,” Cid snapped angrily, cutting off Vincent's words.

 

The two men exchanged glares, neither coming out on top.

 

“Tch!” Vincent snorted before turning his back on the pilot to return to his bed. He climbed underneath his blanket and proceeded to close his eyes, trying to ignore both the pilot and the sudden stirrings in his groin.

 

“Same to you,” Cid shot back, also turning his back on his tent-mate, flopping down unnecessarily hard onto his makeshift bed.

 

“You will speak of this to no one,” came Vincent's soft sultry voice from the other side of the bed.

 

“As if I would.”

 

There was no answer.

 

Grunting at his tent-mate's rudeness, more to himself than for an audience, Cid tried to close his eyes and sleep. Minutely afraid of the dreams that were plaguing him before Vincent had so nicely woke him up.

 

Ugh, just the thought of the man sent strange feelings straight to his groin, making him hot and flushed, remembering the kiss and the feel of the gunman's lips his own.

 

Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave a great heave and began shaking violently. Having never encountered such a feeling before Cid wasn't sure what to do. He held on to the ground in terror as it pitched and rolled beneath him, tent rattling. He heard the sound of the others calling out in fear, too.

 

Vincent shifted in the bed, alert thanks to the shaking of the ground.

 

“What is going on, Highwind?” the gunman demanded.

 

“How the hell should I know?” answered Cid, words cut off thanks to the rolling ground.

 

Then, as abruptly as it began, the shuddering ended. The ground stopped moving and all was eerily still.

 

Cautiously the group of heroes began to edge out of their tents, head popping out one by one, almost afraid of what they would find. They gathered near the embers of the dying fire.

 

“There is a new smell on the winds,” remarked Nanaki, his remarkable perception for such supernatural things enabling him to sense this.

 

“Could it have been something Sephiroth did?” questioned TIfa.

 

“No,” Aeris answered, shaking her head. “This was something much more powerful, much more ancient… I can feel it.” She turned her gaze towards Nanaki. “Can't you feel it too?”

 

The lion-wolf closed his eyes and appeared to concentrate before he spoke again. “Yes, I see, something has happened. The fates… they have shifted.”

 

“Bullshit!” Cid swore. “I don't believe in fate! It was something explainable I am sure.”

 

“Then what?” Aeris demanded, actually becoming angry. “Since you know the ways of the planet so well, what is your explanation?”

 

Cid spread his hands in a gesture of defeat. “Just `coz I'm not a science man doesn't mean I have to take any half-assed explanation. I'll believe what I want.” He snorted as he strode away from the group, heading back for his tent.

 

Cloud sighed at the pilot's behavior. “Well, he has the right idea at least. We can all go back to sleep. I don't think anything else will happen tonight,” he ordered, his eyes wandering to the star-filled sky.

 

Shaking their heads in agreement, the group of friends shuffled back towards their tents. Except for Cloud. He stayed up as sentry and turned a contemplative eye on the events.

 

It was going to be a long night…

 

* * *

 

Vincent grimaced as he looked at the flashing lights and the bright colors of the theme park Gold Saucer. He really hated places like this and strongly wished that it wasn't necessary that they be there.

 

Unfortunately for him, wishes don't come true… not his at any rate.

 

Cloud and the others, himself included, had discovered that Sephiroth was heading for a place called the Temple of the Ancients. In order for them to open said Temple, they needed a special key called the Keystone. Some man in an isolated house that they had miraculously stumbled upon told them that Dio at Gold Saucer had the keystone, so there they were. Should he have mentioned that everything they had accomplished so far was blind luck rather than great leadership? Vincent snorted to himself.

 

Cloud was required to entertain dear Dio in order to get the keystone. Poor kid didn't last any longer than three rounds in the battle arena. He seemed pretty angry about it, but Dio just laughed and handed over the key. Vincent thought then that they would be able to leave and get out of the supposed `happy' place.

 

Little did they know that the damn transit train was going to break down, trapping them all there until the park employee's got off their lazy asses and fixed the thing.

 

Sighing to himself, Vincent followed the others into the brightly bit building, again. The cat-moogle thing had told them that they would all be offered free room and board at the hotel, so that is where they were heading now.

 

The group of friends, or whatever they wanted to call each other, sat down in the common area of the hotel, discussing their next move. Cid promptly falling asleep as Aeris began her long tale.

 

Vincent found it vaguely interesting, all this nonsense about the Ancients and Sephiroth and finding the Promised Land. Sounded like nonsensical religious bull shit to him but he didn't bother to point that out. He did not think that anyone in the room would appreciate the comment.

 

He found it odd that no one mentioned the strange earthquake of a few nights past. They hadn't received any more events since then, but still, it seemed so odd that surely one of them might have questioned it again. But no, they were all strangely quiet on that and he sure wasn't about to bring it up himself.

 

Finally, Cloud and Aeris finished their long discussion that probably could have easily been squashed down into a few choice phrases and told everyone that the night was their own.

 

It was in that moment that Cid, illustrious and avid listener that he was, decided to snort and wake up. He glanced around blearily and sat up straight when he realized everyone was leaving.

 

“Wha… What's going on?” he asked Vincent.

 

“You slept through the whole speech, Highwind,” the gunman commented, neither answering his question nor caring what he thought.

 

Cid waved his hand away in a gesture of whatever. In the past few days or so, the duo had developed an unlikely friendship that was really little more than some type of truce. Cid was the only one who didn't fear Vincent, so he constantly tried to get the silent gunman to come out of his shell.

 

The pilot was the only one whom Vincent could stand because he wouldn't irritate him with questions like the others.

 

And Cloud had gotten into this odd habit of not taking one without the other. And since he usually wanted Vincent in his party, Cid was the inevitable third choice. The ex-Turk had this sneaky suspicion that Cloud trusted neither him nor Cid and wanted them close by at times. At least the boy was getting somewhat more intelligent.

 

“What do I really need to know, eh? Sephiroth bad guy, gonna kill the planet, we gotta stop him, big deal. Just point me in the direction of the bad guy and I'm good,” Cid commented with a snort, stretching mildly as he moved to get off the chair.

 

Vincent shook his head and started towards the stairs. Most of the others had headed off towards Gold Saucer, intent on enjoying the attractions. He had thought Cloud had gone to his room as well, but a few minutes later had saw him getting dragged away by Aeris.

 

Cute.

 

Vincent fought the urge to grimace.

 

“So where'd everybody go?” Cid questioned as he lit up a cigarette.

 

“Most have gone out to enjoy Gold Saucer, as for me, I am going to bed,” Vincent answered curtly as he moved to continue up the stairs.

 

Cid shook his head and rushed the guy, latching onto his arm and giving a great yank. Startled Vincent fell backwards slightly, landing almost completely in the pilot's arms.

 

Cid smiled down at him. “Well, well, what have we got here?”

 

“Let go of me, Highwind,” Vincent ordered with a snarl, glaring at the pilot and pulling himself out of his grasp.

 

“C'mon, Vince, I want to go have fun, and I don't wanna hafta go alone,” said Cid, frowning at him.

 

“I don't have fun,” Vincent responded, crossing his arms and glaring at the blonde.

 

“Tonight you're gonna. C'mon,” Cid stated, grinning from ear to ear. He latched onto Vincent's arm again and started moving for the door, pulling the reluctant gunman with him.

 

“Cid… “Vincent warned, trying to remove his arm from the pilot's steel grasp.

 

The blond stopped suddenly turning to look at him in wide-eyed amazement, “Holy fucking shit, Vince…”

 

“What?” the gunman questioned, eyes turning dark.

 

“You called me Cid, not Highwind, Cid. Maybe I am getting through to you…” the pilot trailed off before a huge grin covered his features.

 

Vincent violently yanked his arm from the other man and started to stalk away quickly, choosing not to respond to that statement.

 

“Ah, c'mon, Vince-”

 

“Stop calling me that!” He turned around and glared at the blond pilot. He hated nicknames.

 

“Alright, Vincent, don't go back up to the room and sulk please. Just for one night?”

 

Vincent eyed the pilot who was trying his best to convince him to go. Sighing heavily he turned back towards the exit. “Will you stop calling me by those ridiculous nicknames?” he asked as he headed out the door.

 

“Sure!” Cid answered as he hurried to catch up to him. “So, uh, whatcha wanna do Vin, uh er, Vincent.”

 

“You tell me. I simply wanted to go sit in the room,” Vincent pointed out.

 

“Good point,” said Cid thoughtfully.

 

They now stood in front of the tunnels designed as graves that would take them to the various attractions offered at Gold Saucer. The blond looked at each and every one, trying to figure out which would be the most fun.

 

“If this is the supposed fun you have to offer me, Highwind, then I think that returning to the hotel room will be better,” remarked Vincent dryly.

 

“Aw, shuddap!” Cid stated, scratching his head. He looked over the tombstones one more time before grabbing Vincent's arm and jumping in one.

 

After a rather fast ride through a tunnel, the duo found themselves deposited at the Speed Attraction.

 

“What is here?” Vincent asked. He had never really gone exploring inside Gold Saucer and knew nothing of the attractions.

Cid simply smiled. “You will see.”

 

He led Vincent to the entrance and paid the lady at the booth for the both of them. It was a one person ride, but with Vincent's slim body, they managed to both just fit.

 

Handing Vincent the small laser gun designed for the ride, Cid explained what it was.

 

“See? We ride this track and along the way targets pop up. You shoot them to get points. Shoot enough of `em and you win something special.” He grinned at his brilliant idea. How else could he get the gunman to come out of his shell but to show him something that the man enjoyed?

 

“And I suppose you want me to do the shooting?”

 

“Shit yeah! If I did it, we wouldn't win nothing!”

 

With a sudden lurch, the little cart began on the tracks. Almost immediately, the targets began popping up in random directions and in random shapes. From balloons to toy airplanes to stars and cacti, it was utterly ridiculous.

 

But Vincent found he was enjoying himself as he carefully and almost effortlessly, shot each and every target. Cid couldn't help but watch in admiration as his friend seemed to have a good time.

 

He felt a familiar stirring in his groin as he watched the raven-haired man hit each and every target. He cursed himself inwardly. Ever since that day in the tent when they had shared the one kiss, he hadn't been able to get Vincent out of his mind. He wanted him in a bad way and it was starting to take a toll. He didn't understand why either. It was just one kiss.

 

Finally, the ride was over. When they stopped, the two were immediately bombarded with Gold Saucer employees who were talking excitedly about breaking records and winning the big prize and all.

 

By the time everything was sorted out, Vincent had his name printed on some billboard and won a free stay in Gold Saucer complete with food and board. There were some other minor prizes that weren't worth mentioning as well.

 

“Well, still keen on returning to the room?” Cid asked.

 

“You planned this didn't you?” Vincent demanded almost playfully, casting a suspicious eye on the pilot.

 

“Who, me?” asked Cid all innocent.

 

“Shut up, Highwind, and lead on.”

 

Cid grinned. “Yes sir!”

 

* * *