ALL RIGHT ALREADY! Here it is! *pant pant wheeze wheeze*

Final Fantasy VII: Children of Jenova

Chapter 25

The steady stream of profanity issuing forth from the pilot's seat of
the chopper had died down to a trickle as Cid more or less got the
damn thing under control, but the chopper continued to sway and jerk
as it flew. Cid shook his head, blew out smoke, and gazed at the
chopper immediately ahead of his. "They musta trained her pretty good
on that thing," he mused, watching the chopper flown by his daughter
sail smoothly toward the cloaked Highwind, and then launched into an
explanation of the differences between flying a regular airplane and
flying a chopper; specifically the trickiness of getting the rotor on
top and the rotor on the tail to work together to make the damn things
fly straight. Rude simply nodded and pretended to understand what the
hell Cid was talking about. Actually, he was more concerned about
finding a pair of good shoes to replace the ones Yuffie had just
hurled on. Halfway through Cid's speech, Tifa decided it was time to
shut him down.

"Cid."

"Huh?"

"My husband carries a great big sword to stick into people. I beat the
shit out of people with my bare hands. I'm not exactly technically
inclined, if you get my drift."

Cid gave a little hurt sniff. "Sorry. I kinda tend to go off on
that--"

Tifa grabbed on to what she had come to call the "oh-shit" handle next
to the window she sat by as the chopper lurched wildly again. "Have
you ever actually flown one of these before, Cid?"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. "Course I have."

"Are you sure?"

Cid fidgeted a bit in the seat. "I flew a sim once in pilot school."

Three things happened simultaneously in the back of the chopper. Tifa
shook her head sadly. Yuffie went into another "we're-all-gonna-die"
tantrum. And Rude quickly pulled his feet up off the floor of the
chopper.

*			*			*

"Park it right here," Elena said, and C.J. turned around and looked at
her like she'd grown a third eye.

"What!? Where's the air--" As the Highwind's cloaking device began to
shut down, the massive form of the ship flickered briefly into view,
then faded again. "--ship...whoa! How'd they do that?"

"Get your dad to explain later." Elena snuck a peek out the back
window of the chopper as C.J. set it down gently on the grass. "If he
doesn't crash first. Looks like there might be something wrong with
that chopper."

"Or something wrong with the pilot," Reno offered. "Junior, your dad's
never flown a helicopter, has he?"

"I don't think so," C.J. replied, watching the other chopper wobble
and sway as it moved toward the airship.

Elena shook her head. "Jeez. Well, if he's made it this far he should
be okay." She reached out with one hand, brushing against the hull of
the now partly-visible Highwind and seeking an entrance. "Dammit,
where is it..."

The moment she spoke those words, the cloaking device gave out
entirely, and C.J. pointed silently at the entry hatch.

"Uhm..." Elena looked at C.J., then at Reno (who simply shrugged),
then back at C.J. "Thanks...I think. C'mon." C.J. clambered aboard
first; Reno and Elena hauled Reeve in behind her. "Hey, Junior? You
know if your dad stashes any emergency stuff like food and water and
all on here?"

At the mere mention of the word "food," a loud growl issued forth from
the stomachs of both Reeve and Reno; the effect was not unlike stereo.
"Down, boy," Reno said to his.

"Um, yeah, I think he's got a case of MRE's or something...it's this
way." C.J. took off, and the rest followed her into what was once the
ship conference room; it had, over the years, been converted into
something resembling a galley to be used when the Highwind family
decided to go on vacation somewhere. It now boasted a microwave, a
small refrigerator, a water cooler, and a ping-pong table where there
had once been a stately conference table. C.J. shoved the ping-pong
table aside, rummaged through a cupboard, and found a few blankets and
a pillow, which she arranged in the middle of the floor. While Reno
and Elena did their best to make Reeve comfortable on the floor, C.J.
ransacked another cabinet and produced two dark brown plastic pouches.
"Most of these things are kinda gross, but these are good...I got one
with meatballs and rice and uh...well, it says 'ham slice' but I think
it's really Spam..."

"...egg, tomato, and Spam...just wanted a glass of goddamn water..."

C.J. looked down at Reeve, puzzled. "Um...okay..."

"I'll take the Spam." Reno offered, gladly accepting the pouch. He
tried to pull it open. Then he tried to rip it open. When that failed,
he clamped a corner of the thing in his teeth and worried at it like a
puppy chewing up a shoe, complete with head-shake. C.J. laughed, took
the packet, and sliced it open with her dagger. "Thanks. I forgot how
tough these things were to open." With that, he dumped the contents
out on the floor and surveyed them. "Candy
bar...matches...t.p...spork...woohoo, I got peanut butter in
mine...cardboard crackers--gawd, this brings back memories, doesn't
it, Elena?...heh, 'oatmeal cookie bar.' Yeah, right. You ever try to
eat one of these?" Reno asked, holding the pouch up, and C.J. shook
her head. "Looks and tastes like something you'd feed a gerbil...ah!
The main course!" Reno triumphantly held up another smaller pouch
marked "HAM" and tore into it.

"Dad told me these things have like five thousand calories apiece,"
C.J. commented, opening the second MRE and emptying the large pouch on
the corner of the blanket, sifting through the contents until she
found the one containing the meatball-and-rice entree. She tore it
open with her teeth and stuck the aforementioned spork in it, then she
drew a cup of water from the cooler. "You're supposed to just kind of
snack on one all day."

"Screw a bunch of that," Reno said around a mouthful of processed
meat. "I'll gladly sit here and eat these things till they make me
look like Palmer."

Elena opened her mouth to say something about that, thought better of
it, and closed it again. "Didn't they feed you?"

"Nu uh." Reno polished off his Spam slice and tore into the gerbil
bar. "And from what Reeve was telling me, I think it was a mixed
blessing."

"I never wanna see another chicken leg as long as I live," Reeve
muttered as C.J. helped him sit up and handed him the cup of water.
Reeve had always been suspicious of those purported "pure spring water
from Mount (X)" bottlers who supplied the water for those coolers, and
he suspected that in every spring water plant there was a guy out back
filling up the cooler bottles with a garden hose. But now he really
didn't care. The cool water in the little paper cup C.J. had handed
him trickled down his throat and extinguished a great deal of the
burning pain there...at least until he got carried away and
accidentally inhaled half a mouthful. He spluttered and choked,
dropping the half-full cup of water and spilling it onto the floor as
his hand reflexively came up to his mouth.

"Damn, boss..." Reno patted Reeve on the back as he coughed and
gagged. "You want me to go fill you out a toe tag? Maybe pick a coffin
out for you? I saw this cute little oak number with blue velvet
lining, it'd go really well with your coloring--"

Reeve glared at Reno, again fighting to regain control of his
breathing; he wiped his mouth, spitting blood into C.J.'s
handkerchief, and started to say something. Then he paused and looked
over at C.J. "Cover your ears," he said, and C.J. did. The he looked
back at Reno. "Blow me, Reno," Reeve said quietly. The two men stared
at each other for a moment, and then both burst out laughing. C.J.
looked over at Elena, one eyebrow raised.

"What does that mean?" C.J. asked softly.

Elena opened her mouth to say something about that, but two things
interrupted her: firstly, the "whump" of a helicopter outside being
landed a bit harder than the manufacturer intended and secondly, the
galley door being flung open by Barret.

"Everyone okay?" Barret asked, sweeping his gaze over Elena, then
Reno, then Reeve, then resting it on the tall woman in the Turk
uniform. "The hell...whose big idea was it to bring the goddamn Turk
along?"

"Barret." Elena immediately stood up, trying to get herself between
Barret and C.J. "Barret, listen to me--"

Barret simply brushed past her, grabbing C.J. by the back of her
collar and hauling her up off the floor. "You goddamn Shinra scum, you
got a lotta damn nerve...you gimme one good reason why I shouldn't
throw your ass right off this ship--"

"Barret!" Elena grabbed hold of Barret's hand and jerked it away from
C.J. "What the hell's wrong with you? This is Junior! This is -Cid's
daughter!-"

"What--" Barret shook his head, taking another good long look at C.J.,
who was on the verge of tears. "Elena, you told me Shinra got her. You
didn't tell me she was no goddamn Turk!"

Elena rolled her eyes. "And this is exactly WHY I didn't tell you."

Barret ignored her. "Shit, that's even worse!" His gaze pierced C.J.,
and his words seemed to be encased in ice. "I don't believe this shit.
Your daddy's been goin' out of his head tryin' to hunt you down and
there you are workin' for Shinra? You forget what those bastards did
to Zack?"

"I didn't have a choice!" C.J. spat back at him. "They made me do it!
They woulda killed me if I didn't!"

Barret snorted and turned away. "Sounds like you had plenty a' choice
to me."

Reeve sat up, glaring at Barret. "Step off her, Barret. She saved my
life. And besides, the girl is six years old. How the hell can you
expect her to make than kind of choice?"

"She oughta know better," Barret grumbled. "She knows what Shinra
is--"

"So you'd rather she end up dead? Give me a break." Reeve shook his
head. "So you mean to tell me that if it'd been Marlene falling into
that crack in my yard, coming out with a grown-up body, getting caught
by Shinra, and given the same choice, you'd expect her to do that?"

"Don't you be draggin' Marlene into this, Reeve," Barret growled. "I
ain't gonna hold that against you, 'cause you prob'ly ain't in your
right mind right now--"

"Yes or no, Barret?" Barret's silence spoke volumes, and Reeve shook
his head in disgust. "You haven't changed a goddamn bit, have you?
Take a look down here, Barret. You take a good look at my eyes,
because I want to assure you that I'm completely lucid when I say that
I owe C.J. my life, and if you know what's good for you, you'll drop
the subject. I'm not in a very good mood right now to begin with, for
obvious reasons. Don't piss me off any further."

Barret stood a full head taller than Reeve and probably outweighed him
by close to a hundred pounds, so normally he wouldn't have been
intimidated by a little guy like Reeve, certainly not when said little
guy barely had the strength to sit up. But there was something in the
tone of Reeve's voice, coupled with some malevolent spark in the
smaller man's eyes, that made Barret take an involuntary step
backwards and tear his gaze away from Reeve's as he did. "Dropped," he
said flatly, turning around and storming out of the galley. "For now."

Reeve sighed and lay down again, shaking his head. "Son of a bitch,"
he whispered hoarsely, and Reno nodded. "Who does he think he is..."
His voice was giving out again, and he coughed weakly and clutched at
his chest. "Ahh, shit, that hurts--"

"Easy, boss." Reno patted him on the shoulder. "No need for you to get
all worked up about it. Get some rest."

C.J. watched Barret leave, and as soon as she was sure he was out of
earshot she burst into tears.

"Shit." Elena wrapped her arm around C.J.'s shoulders and sat her down
on the floor again. "Don't cry, honey. He didn't mean that. He
couldn't have."

"Yes he did," C.J. sniffled. "He's mad at me. Daddy's probably gonna
be mad too when he finds out."

"No he isn't. I got your personnel file. Honey, your daddy already
knows they made you work for them, and he's not mad. Okay?" Elena gave
C.J. a squeeze. "He's going to be very happy to see you."

*			*			*

"Shit, shit, shit!" Cid angrily flicked his cigarette out the narrowly
cracked window of the chopper as he set it down. "Fuckin' cloaking
device already went belly-up, so we gotta move right now." He set the
chopper down with a loud thud, wrestled with the door, addressed a few
improper nouns to it, and finally opened it. "Everyone out! Move it!"

Cid came out first; Rude came out after him half-dragging a moaning
and whining Yuffie out of the seat. Tifa followed behind, shoving
Yuffie as well. "Yuffie, we do not have time for this," she said
calmly, in the same tone of voice she had once used to explain to Zack
that cookies did not belong in the tape player. "Complain all you want
after we're on the ship."

Cid didn't bother to wait for them; he simply stormed on board the
Highwind just in time to see a very pissed-off looking Barret stomping
back toward the bridge from the galley. "Hey! Barret! Where's Junior?"

Barret stopped just long enough to jerk his thumb toward the galley
and grumble something about "goddamn Turks" before he started toward
the bridge again.

Cid nodded and followed. As much as he wanted to go bursting into the
galley and sweep Junior up into his arms, he knew that he needed to
get the Highwind the hell away from Neomidgar before he could do
anything else. "She okay?"

"Guess she is," Barret replied. "Shinra prob'ly took real good care of
her. Bet Elena had to drag her out kickin' and screamin'."

"The hell you mean by that?" Cid asked, then it dawned on him. "Forget
it. I know exactly what you meant." He stepped onto the bridge and
took his usual position. "And I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear it,
least till we get our asses outta here."

"Shit." Barret shook his head as the Highwind began to rise into the
air. "Shinra got all kinda brainwashin' shit, Cid. For all you know
she coulda run Elena and Reno and Reeve through with that spear o'
hers after I left n' not thought twice about--"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that either." Cid's hands
tightened on the control stick. "And if you say another word about it,
I'm going to smack you upside your head with MY goddamn spear."

"Fine," Barret spat, shut down for the second time that night. "You
won't hear nothin else about it...till she turns on us, then you'll
hear plenty."

"That's enough, Barret."

The words came from the last source anyone could have expected:
Vincent. The tall man strode onto the bridge with Red XIII at his
heels. "Junior's fine, Cid. I just checked on her. She's a little
shaken up, and very upset--" here he cast a withering glance at
Barret-- "but she's fine."

Cid nodded. "What about the others?"

"Surprisingly well." Red XIII did his little dog-shrug thing. "Reno
just needs some food and rest, which Junior has already taken care of.
Junior has a few minor cuts and scrapes. Reeve's probably the worst
off...he's bleeding internally, and I'm willing to bet that he's
severely dehydrated; I seriously doubt Scarlet was giving him anything
to drink in the gas chamber. He's stable for now, but we need to get
all three of them to a doctor." Red sighed softly. "She was asking for
you, Cid."

"Okay." Cid nodded again, lighting up another cigarette. "Vincent,
once we get outta Neomidgar airspace, I want you to take over the
stick again."

"Of course." Vincent replied, and Cid stepped on the proverbial gas,
sending the Highwind shooting across the sky.

*			*			*

Scarlet sighed and sat down in the new chair she'd procured from
another office after disposing of both her own chair and the corpse
that sat in it. /Long live Scarlet,/ she thought and giggled, a bit
hysterically. Yes, she would certainly live long and prosper now. She
wondered why in the hell she hadn't had Vail do this before. It was
amazing. All of her senses were boosted to an incredible level; she
heard Raven's high heels clicking down the hall all the way to her
door, could almost hear the fabric of her jacket creasing as she
reached up to knock, and before the knock came, Scarlet smiled. "Come
in, Raven."

"Wh--" The door opened, and sure enough, raven was on the other side.
"How--forget it. We've got problems."

"No we don't." Scarlet yawned. "I found our leak. You're off the hook.
In fact, you just got yourself a promotion. Seems your boss decided he
didn't like the way I was running things, so you can replace him."

Raven frowned at her. "That leaves us with one Turk. Archer's dead.
C.J.'s gone and, I'm going to scramble the fighters to get her back--"

"What you're going to do," Scarlet drawled lazily, "is forget her. We
don't need her anymore." She huffed softly. "You need some more
manpower? You can have Donna after she wakes up." Scarlet stood up
slowly, and it was with no small degree of unease that Raven noticed
the blood caked under her fingernails. "Vail and I are going on a
little trip."

"Where?" Raven had a sudden and almost overwhelming urge to get away
from Scarlet, as far and as fast as possible, and Scarlet somehow
picked up on it, coming out of her chair with surprising speed and
agility and taking hold of her tie.

"The Gold Saucer," Scarlet replied, yanking on the tie in her hand,
which in turn jerked Raven's head down within inches of hers. For a
moment, she seemed about to say something more. Instead, she grabbed a
handful of Raven's hair, then she violently pressed her mouth to
Raven's. "Take care of things till I get back. I'll be damned if I
leave Palmer in charge."

*			*			*

Sephiroth Obscura was bored out of his mind.

/I never did like the Gold Saucer,/ he thought again. For reasons he
could not fathom, Cloud seemed to enjoy the hell out of wasting his
money on those inane video games in Wonder Square, or zipping around
on that idiotic roller coaster shooting at balloons and things that
looked like fish, or racing those smelly chocobos.

Ah, there he was. Cloud came back to the hotel room and flopped down
on the bed. "You don't know how much fun you're missing, buddy," he
said with a smile.

"I'll take your word for it." Obscura smiled again, that same forced
smile. "You did get hold of the others, didn't you?"

"They were kinda busy." Cloud yawned and stretched. "I managed to give
Shera a call, though. She's gonna tell Cid when he gets home. Bet you
can't wait to see C.J."

Obscura chuckled. "I saw her a few days ago." He looked at Cloud,
searching for a reaction, and found none. Mind control did take some
of the fun out of things, but it was certainly useful.

"Mmm. Anyway, I guess they'll all get here after they get done...doing
whatever they're doing...damn, I forgot..." Cloud shook his head as if
trying to clear it

/wrong this is wrong what am I doing here how did he get here/

of some cobwebs, then he closed his eyes and sighed. "Man, I'm bushed.
'Night, Zack."

"Hmm." Obscura nodded. "Good night."

Cloud turned off the lamp and fell fast asleep; Sephiroth Obscura sat
in his chair, awake, the dim blood-red glow of his eyes like two weak
night lights in the darkness.

*			*			*

"Cid..." Vincent stared out the window of the Highwind, fully
expecting a slew of fighter jets to follow the airship all the way
from Neomidgar to the ends of the planet, but..."They're not chasing
us."

"You're kidding." Cid checked the radar, including that enhanced by
the tracker. "I'll be goddamned...wonder why not? Aah, forget it, I
got more important things to worry about--take it, Vincent. I'm gonna
go see my girl."

Cid didn't even wait for Vincent to take the stick; therefire, the
Highwind went into a sharp if brief dive as Cid left the bridge,
walking perfectly straight (perhaps accustomed to odd little quirks of
air travel like this)while the rest of the poor folks on board
staggered and swayed until Vincent wrestled the ship under control
again. As he passed Yuffie, who was in her usual perch in the engine
room and yelling unkind words at him (punctuated by the occasional
"urk" and "blargh") he didn't even look up. All he could see was the
door of the galley, and it seemed miles away.

When he finally reached the door and pushed it open with a shaking
hand, his eyes flicked over Elena and Reno, leaned against each other,
fast asleep...then Reeve, lying asleep on his side in a nest of
blankets on the floor...then the blonde woman in the Turk's uniform
kneeling at Reeve's side stroking his forehead, who looked up sharply
as the door opened. Cid mentally compared the fuzzy little
black-and-white photo he'd seen on Elena's computer to the face of
this woman...the piss-off-and-die smirk was gone, and there was a deep
scratch under her eye, but there was no question about it. "Oh my
God..." Cid took hold of the door frame to keep his knees from giving
out. "Junior..."

C.J. stared up at him, eyes wide, lip trembling. "Daddy?" she said in
a tiny voice. She stood up shakily, carefully stepping over Reeve's
legs, and picked her way to the door.

"Oh my God," Cid gasped again, slipping his glove off and laying his
hand on C.J.'s cheek. He felt as if he were looking into a mirror, one
that reflected his face with Shera's eyes, and he opened his mouth to
say so, but all that came out was a soft, choked sob. He threw his
arms around her, holding her tight, and she burst into tears.

"I wanna go home," C.J. sobbed against Cid's shoulder, and he stroked
the back of her head gently. "I wanna go home. I was so scared,
Daddy."

"I know, punkin," Cid whispered. "We're goin' home right now...you
just get some sleep, okay?" He glanced down at Reeve. "He's gonna be
okay. Don't worry."

C.J. sniffled. "Tifa used her Full Cure Materia on him and it didn't
do anything. Maybe if I'd gotten him outta there last night when I had
a chance--"

"He just needs to get some rest, honey." Cid held C.J. tighter. "So do
you." He let out a soft chuckle and added, "And that Viper's comin'
outta your allowance."

"Huh!?" C.J. looked up quickly, and Cid actually managed to keep a
straight face for a full three seconds before he burst out laughing.

"It's okay, punkin." Cid smiled and patted C.J. on the head. "I'm just
glad you're okay. I was so worried about you..."

"You're--" C.J. sniffled again. "You're not--mad at me--'cause of--"
She plucked at her uniform and looked up sheepishly.

"Honey, how could I be mad at you over that? It wasn't your fault."
Cid kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair back. "C'mon. Bugs said
you could sleep in his bed again."

C.J. giggled softly, then stopped. "Um...Daddy..." She sighed heavily.
"I--I wanna stay in here...in case...y'know..." Her eyes flicked back
over her shoulder toward Reeve, and Cid nodded.

"I know." /She's still...oh, man./ "It's okay. We'll be home before
you know it, punkin." Cid kissed C.J. on the forehead once more and
turned to go back to the bridge, making a mental note to have a
serious chat with both Junior and Reeve later.

---

Author's notes: OKAY! OKAY! DAMN! Here it is already! There were a few
RL issues getting in the way of writing this, and I apologize. The
good news is, I have a DAMN GOOD reason for getting behind--well, two
damn good reasons. I have a little side fic project going--it is,
however, a yaoi fic. If you don't know what "yaoi" means, you probably
don't want to see this thing. Project #2 is an actual game. With
original characters. One of whom is a 58-year-old retired samurai lady
who seems to have taken over a good part of my brain. Another is a
lady soldier, a bit like Cloud but not quite as messed-up in the head,
and she and C.J. like to go out together and blow stuff up a lot. So
anyway, this chapter is dedicated to all the people that sent me
nastygrams and prodded me to get off my lazy ass and write.



--Sailor Solathei
ICQ 16074474
------------------------

--"They crawl up your leg...and they bite the inside of your ass...and
you're yelling 'Hey! Get out of my ass, you stupid rainbows!' "
--Cartman
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