Wings

Chapter One

By Tyloric

Warnings: Minor spoilers to the plot of FFVII, Some foul language

NEW COMERS: Refer to the prologue before reading this chapter!

--Present Day--

Cid brushed his fingers along the carton in his pocket, stroking it like one would a beloved pet. He wanted so desperately to pull the carton out, pop a cigarette in between his lips and just breathe in a good, long whiff of it. He had always enjoyed that satisfied feeling since he first started smoking as a teenager. Smoking and sex, his two favorite things.

Problem was he hadn’t had either in weeks. Yuffie had pulled all of AVALANCHE out to Wutai as a sort of reunion to celebrate the one year anniversary of them ‘saving the Planet’. He hadn’t wanted to come, to be completely honest, but Shera had made him.

“All you’ve been doing for the past two months is work on that airship of yours! Get out, have fun,” her words echoed in his head. He had resisted the urge to argue that working on his ship was him having fun.

But as he had turned to leave the house she had called out, “And don’t even think about smoking!” Damn women. She was killing him. Killing him.

So after their first day of celebrations (it really had been nice to see the gang all in one place again) he had come up to the mountain to think… and mope. Mostly mope, but there was thinking involved.

He gazed longingly up at the stars; his visit with them previously had been short-lived in that Shinra rocket, but it had been worth it. Still, a part of him was insisting that it hadn’t been enough. But at least he’d been there at all, he told himself. How many people could say that?

“Hey!” a cheery voice called out from behind him. “What’cha doin’ all the way up here?” Cid turned to look over his shoulder, watching as Yuffie bounced up next to him. She wore her trademark smile, which was full of optimism. She was wearing that blue tank top with the white flowers on it, though she wasn’t wearing the coat that usually accompanied it. Her pants, as w