"My arm's tired... you almost done?"
Cloud looked underneath the bed he was holding up for Cid. Tifa's birthday was tomorrow
and since Cid was never that great at remembering dates, he thought it would be a good
idea to get her gift one month in advance. The thing was, he had no idea where he hid the
present.
"Hold on! I'm sure it's under here.
Damncluttershouldn'tletitgetthatmessyinth'firstplace!" Cid responded. Just then, he
remembered and just then, he slammed his head on the bottom of the bed. "Fuck!"
"You alright?" Cloud peaked under the bed again. It was
like a whole different world under there. There were exotic animals and plants and
mountains and everything you could possibly imagine! Cid wasn't the messy sort, but when
it came to the world under the bed, the rules just didn't apply. "What
happened?"
"I hit my head," and Cid popped out. "It's not
under here. I remember where I put it"
"Thank god," he sighed as he put the bed down. After
giving Cid a kiss on top of his head he asked, "Well, where is it?"
-bokono
Cid smiled and jumped to his feet, somewhat sad to abandon all
the fascinating creatures that lived under the bed. He ran over to the closet, opened it
up, and pulled out a medium-sized square box with shiny blue wrapping paper, turquoise
ribbons, and... curious-looking little holes poked throughout the top and sides of the
box. Cid peeked in, and smiled as the box meowed.
"You got her a cat?" Cloud said with more than a little
glee. "She'll be overjoyed!"
"I couldn't really think of anything else she'd like... I
know she loves animals. But those little demons under the bed are just plain evil, and
dogs smell. Besides, only we can see the demons under the bed, methinks."
"You're a riot, Cid Highwind."
"Uhm... thanks?" Cid said, unsure of exactly what Cloud
meant by that. He shot Cloud quite a look and set the box on the nightstand next to the
bed. "Don't worry, he's got food and stuff," Cid noted.
"Cid... you know, it sure has been awhile since we last, you
know... made love." Cloud looked at Cid mischeviously, almost seductively.
-Kitsuko (proud to cross that little red line)-
Cid laughed. "Yeah. Would j'ya look at that! Almost 24
hours." Cid tisked. "Only three more hours to go."
"Yes, but... more importantly, how long have you kept that
cat in that box? You got the gift a month ago and it's been hidden long enough for you to
forget where you put it? Is the kitten healthy?" Cloud looked at Cid with sad eyes.
"How could you keep the poor thing in a closet?? And what made you think that you
would put it under the bed?"
-Bokono (i pay a little too much attention to the details, ne?)
"I was talking about the /other/ gift, you dolt!" Cid
snickered. "Who do you think I am? He's only been in there for two days, and I've
been feeding him..."
"You got her /two/ gifts, Cid? Aren't we being a bit
generous here?" Cloud looked at Cid with a tinge of artificial jealousy. "Do I
sense feelings of love here for a certain Miss Lockheart?"
"Of -course- not, Cloud! We have a purely platonic
relationship, you should know that." Cid frowned. "As for that /other/ gift... I
have no idea where it is. I'll just have to give it to her some other time. The cat should
be enough for now."
"Oh, geez, Cid... I'm afraid that Tifa will hate you and
cast you into the tenth circle of hell." Cloud giggled. "I guess that what she
doesn't know about, she won't miss... but I do feel bad."
"Love, please don't say that. I'm sure she'll be delighted
by what you've gotten her." "I certainly do hope so..."
-Kitsuko-
Cid stirred in his sleep. He opened his eyes slowly. Cloud's
silky blue hair was a blur in Cid's vision. Just a dream. Thank god. Cid loved Cloud, but
he would hate it if he ever got caught up in a relationship like /that/.
Yes, he did love Cloud. He would never say anything about it.
They were friends. He could ruin a perfectly great friendship if he ever said anything.
They were best friends who were always there for each other. They were the closest friends
in the world. They even shared a bed. That was enough... right?
-bokono (wanted to make this one serious...)
//What kind of sadist jerk would keep a cat in a closet?// Cid
thought, trying to contain his tired laughter. //Weird people get weird dreams,// he
reasoned. He stretched and looked at the clock, and as the numbers came into focus, he saw
that it was shortly after 3:30 in the morning. "Shit," he said softly to
himself. //One hell of a time to wake up,// he thought. He closed his eyes again. In five
minutes, he was sound asleep again.
"Cid... Cid, wake up..." Cloud said as he gently shook
him awake. Cid opened those pretty blue eyes of his and closed them again, feeling as
though he had just gotten to sleep again. Fortunately, no more alternate-universe dreams
come into his mind in the last five hours of sleep he's gotten. Hopefully he got at least
eight last night.
"Barret made breakfast again," Cloud said with a touch
of sarcasm. "We wouldn't want to miss that."
"No, I guess not. Nothing like his famous Jamacian-style
black pancakes, huh?" Cid almost felt sick as he remembered the last time Barret
cooked. "Ew."
-Kitsuko-
"SHH! If he hears you, he will surely behead you!"
Cloud laughed. "And they are 'golden' ...not black." They could both hear
Barret's beckonings from the distance.
"YO! Get a move on it!"
Many nights and many mornings like this came again and again.
Nothing ever seemed to happen. Nothing exciting, anyways.
All this was about to change...
-Bokono-
Cid pressed buttons on the TV remote control aimlessly, just as
he had been doing for the past two hours. He had been experiencing such ennui more and
more frequently, and if this were to continue- well, he'd just have to find something
better to do.
But Cid had little to do here in Junon. Nothing needed to be
fixed, no one needed to go anywhere, no one needed complicated math equations from there
to Wutai solved, and he didn't have anyone to boss around. Even if he did choose to boss
anyone around, he'd have to be ready for quite the deathmatch- unlike Shera, who seldom
carried around anything but a frying pan or a wrench. //And even those proved to be
formidable weapons,// Cid thought as he remembered the scar on his right cheek.
//Bored, bored, bored.//
Cloud lay asleep on the couch next to Cid, probably tired out
from the recent heat and boredom. Too bad they were all just short of enough money to get
a decent air conditioning system. The SNN weatherman said that the temperatures in Junon
had reached the 100's in the past week, and it wasn't letting up anytime soon. There was,
though, the occasional midsummer thunderstorm, which usually temporarily knocked the power
out in lower Junon.
//Damn electric towers.//
But just then, as the stoic weatherman once again finished his
dreary predictions, a faint glimmer of hope- that maybe, just maybe, Cid Highwind's
boredom would be alleviated came. A knock on the door. It wasn't much, probably the
mailman or the crazy old fisherman next door, but it gave him the chance to get his tired,
hot body up and moving. He stood up, being careful not to awaken Cloud, and answered it.
-Kitsuko (lovin 'dem cliffhangers)-
Before Cid knew it, he was on the floor. His head throbbed. He
looked up. Something was coming. Closer and closer. It all seemed like it was in slow
motion. The black figure sped towards Cid's face until it met. Cid was no longer
conscious.
Rude dragged Cid out of the house, careful not to make any noise.
Once out, he gestured for Reno to move in and get the other one. Once Getting Cloud, Cid,
and Barret out of there, raiding the house would be simple. Fun missions like this were
great. The Turks rarely got any pleasure out of their work.
-Cloud-
Click.
Cloud, no longer sleeping, sat up with such a speed that rivaled
Wutai's finest martial artists. Without thinking, he grabbed something he saw out of his
peripheral vision- which, he realized only nanoseconds later, was no other than the arm of
Jonathan Reno. And at the end of this arm was a nice, shiny piece of black metal, pressing
into Cloud's temple. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that this was just another dream,
and that he would wake up soon. But this was no dream, it was a living nightmare.
The pressure of the gun to Cloud's head already created a fair
amount of dull pain. "Good morning," Reno said tauntingly, brushing a stroke of
fire-engine red hair out of his eyes with his free hand. Cloud silently made the decision
that he would not say a word unless specifically told to. If his friends were in trouble,
what good would he be if he were killed? "This shouldn't be too hard," Reno
said, pulling Cloud off the couch with his free arm. "Stand up," he said, gun
still pointed at Cloud's head. Cloud stood up quickly, shutting his eyes once again as
dizziness took him. After regaining his focus, he looked at Reno, who was handcuffing him
from behind.
"Well, you're not putting up much of a fight," Reno
said as he locked the handcuffs into place. "Guess that's the smart thing to do. We
Turks can be pretty brutal if orders aren't followed without a fight." Reno led Cloud
outside, and the two were silent until they reached the middle of the walkway, where Cloud
stopped. Reno gave him a questioning glance. "What'd you stop for?" Cloud
swallowed, remembering that Cid wasn't in the living room when he woke up, but there was
quite a bloodstain on the floor by the front door. He was too shocked from the Turks'
arrival to realize it until now, but Cid could be in some big trouble.
"Where's Cid?" Reno gave no response, and continued to
drag Cloud to the black van that was parked in the front yard. He threw Cloud in through
the back, and there was his answer. Cid lay in a battered heap on the floor, blood still
dripping from a fairly deep gash in his head. He opened his eyes wearily. "Oh
god..." Cloud said as Reno slammed the back doors shut.
-Kitsuko-
Cloud reached out to hold Cid and flinched at a sudden pain. He
looked at his bleeding wrist with one half of a broken handcuff on each side. The link
between the cuffs must have gotten caught on something sharp on Cloud's belt and broke
easily when he reached out for Cid. Shinra never bothered to put much money into such
things.
Cloud decided to ignore the small scratches around his wrists. He
cradled Cid's head in his arms. The black van started off on its course back to Shinra.
Reno wouldn't worry about Barret just yet. It would be too risky to have all three of them
together. He would take them back to Shin-ra and let the president take care of them. Then
he and Rude would worry about Barret.
-Bokono-
Cid stared at Cloud blankly, conscious, but spaced out. He weakly
reached up to wipe a trickle of blood out of his eyes, his heart twisting at the
realization that soon enough, they would be at the Shinra headquarters, and that the gods
only knew what would become of them when they were sent to see president Shinra. Tales of
sadism, violence, and rape flowed into his mind whenever the name 'Rufus Shinra' was said.
Hopefully these were only rumors designed to decrease the young presidents' popularity.
"Your handcuffs... pretty cheap," Cid said with a
smirk. "It's locked, though. From outside."
"Yeah, I know." Cloud paused. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine. Just a bump," he said. The van started,
and the four were on their way to Shinra. Once they were there, the amount of security on
the premises would determine how long it would take, if ever, for them to escape. Cloud
hoped that at least they would get a doctor to look at Cid. He was almost positive that
Rufus wanted them alive.
-Kitsuko, she of few words-
Reno approached Rufus. Rufus, as usuall, was sitting at his desk
on the top floor of the Shin-ra building. His hair was unusually messy today. Reno figured
he had just finished with one of the prisoners recently caught. He was one of their own,
caught snooping around on an unauthorized private floor. Obviously he had stolen the
keycard. "We have Cloud and Cid in our possession," Reno stated, a hint of glee
in his voice. He rarely ever did anything that pleased the President. He was hoping that
this time he had. "Rude is with them downstairs."
Rufus' eyes lit up. He doubted his Turks, and when they did
something right it was a moment worth noting. "Really?" Reno nodded. He had done
it! He had pleased the president. Surely he would be rewarded. "Well, which one do
you want?" Rufus said, almost casually.
"Excuse me?" Reno was puzzled.
"You know what I mean, Jon. I'm giving you a choice. Take
whichever one of them you like.
Reno understood. "Th-thank you, sir," this was his
reward. Although he was expecting a raise, this would definitely do. Reno could be just as
sick and twisted as the President himself.
"Well? Which will it be?"
Reno had to think. It was hard to decide which he found more
attractive. He might say Cloud, because of his youthfulness and his innocent appearance.
But he liked just the opposite in Cid. Cid came across as rough, more manly.
Cloud was beautiful. Cid was handsome. Cloud was more aggressive
and would definitely put up a fight. He was sure of that. He knew from experience that Cid
wouldn't fight but would rather get it over with.
He needed something new. Cloud it was. His struggling may make it
more fun. "Cloud."
"Alright. You have Cloud." The President's smile was
evil. "Have Rude bring them up." //Cid... what is this... my eighth time
already?// Rufus snickered.
-Bokono-
Cid didn't struggle as Rude led him and Cloud up the stairs to
the president's office. He was too dizzy and tired to. But as a precautionary measure,
Rude held guns to both of their backs. A bullet in the spine would most likely kill them
on impact, so he jabbed the deadly weapons just below their shoulder blades- which would
hurt them, but most likely not kill them right away, in the event that he had to shoot in
self defense. And as they reached the end of the staircase, Cid and Cloud looked at each
other in horror upon seeing the wild look in the eyes of Rufus Shinra. Something in their
guts twisted- and snapped- at the realization that after what was to come, their lives may
never be the same.
-Kitsuko-
Barret arose from his deep sleep. The house seemed unusually
quiet. The TV was on... but no flip-flip-flip. He got out of bed and walked downstairs.
-Cloud-
Two guards took Rude's place. "I'm sending you and Tseng
back to Junon to get Barret." Rude bowed to Rufus and turned, obeying his orders.
Rufus turned to the prisoners. "Well, you did a fine job
getting yourselves caught." A smile spread across Rufus' face. "Cid, you will be
staying with me." He turned to Reno. "Take Cloud to your room."
-Bokono, who would write much more because she's having fun...
but has to call it a night /_\ -
Cid watched in quiet agony as Reno led Cloud down from the
president's office to his own quarters. He debated with himself as to whether or not it
was even worth it to attempt to escape and risk being shot. Was he even strong enough to
try? The more Cid pondered over this, the closer Rufus was getting, and the wider his
maniacal grin.
-Kitsuko-
