#fmbte

[vinnie2757]

The battle is won, but at what cost?

Last but one chapter left, my lovelies~!

‘So this is it,’ Tifa echoes.

‘Well, then, I guess,’ Cloud hedges, wringing his hands some more. ‘Let’s mosey, then.’

Cid buries his face in his hands, scrubs harder than when he’s trying to get engine oil off.

‘Fucking murder me,’ he breathes, and then, louder, ‘just say something more – just tell us to move out, fuck sake. Mosey, fucking Planet swallow me.’

Cloud blinks, and then squares his shoulders.

‘Move out,’ he echoes, in a voice that feels much bigger than the chest it comes from. ‘And – listen, if you want to go back, I – I don’t blame you.’

‘I am going to push you down those fucking steps, I swear,’ Barret huffs, and comes stomping down to shove past the boy.

Cloud rushes to follow him. Tifa goes to follow, but before she gets onto the first step, a horrible, ear-splitting screeching tears through the stale, lingering air around them and nearly drives them to their knees.

‘What the fuck is that?’ Yuffie demands.

‘Watch your mouth!’ Cid snaps back, not even really aware he’s saying it.

‘Cid!’ Vincent calls, and they whirl to where the gunman is aiming, and then firing.

‘Oh, Planet,’ Tifa breathes, and Cid shoves at her.

‘Go,’ he barks, knees bending to jump, ‘we’ve got this.’

[vinnie2757]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 14: The Fall

The last moment of peace before the final showdown.

‘Barret’s gone back to Marlene, obviously. And everyone’s gone home, or to somewhere they love, to – to – to someone they love.’

His ears are burning, and he chances a glance across at Shera; her cheeks are pink, her gaze in her lap.

‘You came home,’ she says, barely above a breath, almost lost in the breeze.

‘Yeah,’ he breathes back.

For a moment, their gazes meet, and they both flinch, faces heating.

[vinnie2757]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 13: Find a Reason

Midgar, and finding a reason to fight.

The barrier is gone.

‘Then,’ Tifa says, slowly, ‘we can – we can go after Sephiroth, now, right?’

Cloud nods, and looks at Cid, hovering at the console.

‘Can we get down there, in the airship?’

Cid snorts, claps the trainee pilot on the back.

‘Course we can,’ he scoffs, ‘this is my star student. He can go anywhere I can, and he’s stupid enough to go places I wouldn’t fuckin’ dare!’

‘Uh,’ the trainee says, ‘thanks, Captain.’

Cid laughs, claps him on the back again, and then turns at Barret’s muttering.

‘What now?’ he asks, and Barret nods at Cait, doing some odd little jig atop the Moogle.

‘Uh,’ Cait says, ‘um. Two things, guys. Rufus is – gone.’

‘Thank fuck for that,’ Barret mutters, and Tifa clips his arm.

‘And the Sister Ray is – it’s being overpowered. There’s too much energy going to it from the Reactors. I can’t turn it off. It’s – it’s been redirected to the mainframe.’

‘By who?’ Cid asks.

‘Hojo.’

[vinnie2757]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 10: Launch Codes

The gang return to Rocket Town, and things are. Not ideal.

‘They’re going to use the rocket to launch the Huge Materia,’ Cid says, ‘that’s the only possible reason they can be going there. They’re going to use my fucking rocket to blow up Meteor! Fucking idiots, there’s no way it’ll work.’

‘We have three of the Huge Materia,’ Cloud says, ‘they must know we have two of them by now, and they don’t know we have the third. They’re going to try and launch it with two.’

‘It won’t be enough,’ Cid sighs, and leans back in the seat. He rubs his eyes. ‘Fuck sake, Shera.’

Cloud chews his lip, and then shrugs.

‘We’d better get topside,’ he says, and rifles in his pockets for his PHS. Looking at it he says, ‘if we can get the Highwind close enough, we should be able to avoid Junon entirely, right?’

Cid shrugs, and pulls one of the side-sticks back, and the sub begins to ascend. ‘Fuck knows. Worth a shot.’

He can’t think, his focus is totally shaken. All he can think about is that he hasn’t spoken to Shera for a week, and he should have called her, and he should have told her that he loves her, and fucking ShinRa are in the town, and it’s his town, and he was meant to keep them safe, and for fuck sake!

They break the surface, and the commander helpfully opens the hatch to get some air in, and before he’s sat back down, because he’s very accommodating, as prisoners go, everyone’s PHS rings at once.

[vinnie2757]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 9 - Stalling

Rocket Town is not a town used to being told what to do, but Shera understands that some battles you wait to fight.

The first crack to the smile comes between heartbeats. A short, sharp snarl, curled lip and dark eyes, and then it’s gone again. The Captain had always said you couldn’t trust a Turk, and she wonders if they can trust themselves.

‘What the President is doing isn’t your concern. We require the rocket.’

‘You do, do you? On who’s orders? Rufus’? I don’t know if Palmer’s out of hospital yet to authorise access.’

Elena’s smile turns cold, and her eyes flicker to the troops, who straighten either side of Shera. Shera herself stiffens, because she must.

‘You have a very loud mouth,’ Elena says, ‘which is at such bizarre odds with your file! I thought you were a mouse, if I’m honest. Quiet and meek and very much yes sir, no sir to your darling Captain.’

Shera doesn’t reply. She watches the shadows move inside the Inn. More troops come down from the path into the town, marching along like they own the place. She sees another blue suit, and recognises the man inside it.

[vinnie2757]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 6 - The Beginning of the Fall

It’s not so much a rest, as it is a fall.

She’s just about to plate the food when the door is unceremoniously kicked open. On reflex, Vincent is out of his chair, gun in hand, and Yuffie springs to her feet, grasping the fork she’d been spinning around her fingers. Red’s back arches, but it’s only Cid.

‘Fucking behave,’ he snaps, and slams the door behind him.

He’s dripping mud, not just muddy, dripping it. He’s battered and bruised and looks twice as bedraggled as the others had. Shera opens her mouth to express her dismay about the state of the floor – it had taken her a long time to get it clean after the mud the others had traipsed through – but the look on his face tells her not to.

‘Fucking PHS broke, didn’t it?’ he says, and kicks off his boots, yanking at his jacket. ‘You better not have fuckin’ worried. You know I’m made of harder shit.’

‘We weren’t worried!’ Yuffie says, entirely too loud. ‘Of course not! Who cares about you, old man! It’s your fault we’re here in the first place!’

[vinnie2757]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 2: Neon Geometry

Cid ain’t as stupid as he looks, no matter what the robot thinks.

Cloud talks so slowly, like he doesn’t know what to say, and before he knows it, he’s drifting off, asleep before they’ve got to the shit he doesn’t know. Vincent shakes him awake, hand on his shoulder.

‘Cid,’ he says, ‘hey, it’s late. Time to go to bed, old man.’

‘Ain’t an old man, go fuck yourself, grandad,’ Cid snorts back, but accepts the hand Vincent offers to pull him out of the ghost-cold chair.

Vincent rolls his eyes, and lets go to let Cid make his way upstairs.