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To the Skies	By : sailtheplains Category: Final Fantasy VII > Het - Male/Female Views: 866 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Holy shit, are we back?! Damn! It's been too freakin' long! I've finished a drabble for Full Metal Alchemist, started serious editing for Vincent Comes Home and basically drove myself crazy! I've also got a couple chapters to post.

And I'm those who reviewed last...I'll try and remember who exactly did and thank you. So, over all--I thank you anyway. Rock hard.

Oh, this is perfect! Now my arm's fallen off too! Today is a terrible day! --Al Elric, Full Metal Alchemist
----

Cid walked quietly next to Tickie. He had just had a math class and he"d been thoroughly discouraged by it. In his little school in Swifton they were working on multiplication. Here, they were doing something called algebra which Cid looked at as utterly ridiculous. How could you add a letter and a number? Fortunately, Tickie knew what he was doing and he helped Cid stumble through it. However, his teacher"a woman everyone called Door"told him she expected him in her office that evening so she could catch him up. Cid found it hard to believe that he could possibly "catch up" to the confusing prospect of adding and multiplying letters and numbers but he was willing to try. After all"what other choice did he have?

So now he was going to a Materia class and this made him nervous. He"d never handled Materia before. His father had spoken about it sometimes, when he"d had some during the war but when he"d returned, he"d gotten rid of all of it. He wanted nothing that would remind him of those horrible years.

The only Materia they had in the house was his mother"s. She had bought it many years ago and kept it hidden away in her closet in a locked box so that her husband wouldn"t get rid of it. It was called Cure and she only brought it out when one of them managed to hurt themselves. It was a nice alternative to a doctor. His mother, though, had never let him touch it"saying it might pull him in. He had no idea what that meant and it made him uneasy. He couldn"t really get sucked in to that little green ball, could he? He was too edgy (and frankly, too proud) to submit the question to Tickie. He didn"t want to look like an idiot or sound like he was afraid. Because he wasn"t. He was just a little"uneasy. Yeah. Uneasy.

The unease grew when they entered the classroom, if you could call it that. It was just a large room. There were no chairs or desks. There were squashy blue mats on the floor though and a chalkboard at the front of the room.

Tickie led him to a mat in the back row and they sat down.

"You"ll get one o" these, today," Tickie said, opening up his bag and taking out a metal band of some kind.

Seeing Cid"s curious look, Tickie smiled and slipped the metal thing over his wrist. It seemed to shimmer and then expanded and contracted, fitting Tickie"s wrist perfectly.

"Why does it have a hole in it?"

Tickie pointed at the single circular indent in the metal. "It"s a Materia slot. The teacher"s name is Mortimer Pause (which is a funny name, if you ask me) and he keeps all the Materia in his office. The safest is Cure. How much d"you know about Materia?"

Cid felt as if he were closing in on himself. "Only a little," he had to admit. "My mom had a Cure Materia"but other than that, I"ve never seen one."

"Well, let me catch you up to speed then. Keep in mind, of course, that we"ve only worked with one kind, not any of the other four."

"Four?"

"Yep," Tickie said, happily. "There"s Spell, Command, Summon, Independent, and Support Materia."

"What do the other four do?"

"No idea," said Tickie, still quite cheerfully, shaking his head. "Pause said we won"t learn about Support until next year, Independent the year after, than Command, and Summon is last."

"Why does it take so long?"

"Because"well".I dunno that either," Tickie said, laughing now.

There was no time for further questions because a man entered.

Cid felt his stomach drop out of him.

"That"s "im," said Tickie, holding up his hand in a blatantly obvious manner to hide his mouth.

The man, Mortimer Pause, seemed to be as ominous as his name. He was tall, with black hair and deep-set gray eyes. Many of the professors here were officers, so many of them wore the blue uniforms of the military. Mortimer Pause, however, wore all black. It was a uniform of some kind and resembled the blue military uniforms in style and cut but something about it just seemed odd.

The dark-dressed man seemed to almost stalk to the front of the room. He stood before them all and scratched his templed. He was completely silent.

Cid crooked his eyebrows. The man looked sleepy.

Mortimer Pause looked about and tongued his cheek. "Cid Highwind?"

Cid froze. I hope he"s not going to ask me to use the Materia. I don"t know how!

"He"s right here!" Tickie sang out, waving his arm and pointing down at Cid. "He"s a little shy!"

A few quiet snickers traveled around the room.

Cid jerked to look at him. "I am not!"

Mortimer Pause closed one eye and laughed in a weird sort of way. "Tickie, calm down."

Tickie nodded vehemently and sat down on his mat again.

Mortimer Pause stared at Cid for a moment and then he abruptly turned away. "Okay, we"re gonna work on somethin" different today. Since you all have a grasp of what you"re doing now, we"re gonna move on to Esuna. Does anyone know anything about Esuna?"

A girl in the front row popped her hand into the air. Mortimer Pause nodded to her. "It"s a Materia that allows you to cure sickness and status effects!"

"And what are status affects Mister Free."

A boy in the second row perked. He"d been looking behind him for some reason. The boy swallowed. "I""

"Maybe you should pay attention, Mister Free, and stop staring at our new student."

There were a few quiet sniggers at that too.

Free went silent, settling on his mat.

Tickie put a hand over his mouth and Cid heard him cackle. "I hate that guy," he murmured gleefully.

"Status affects, let"s go on to someone who might actually know. Miss Crescent?"

Another girl, this one a smallish brunette on the end of the second row seemed to curl in on herself. "It"s things that effect your insides. Cure doesn"t work on them because that Materia only deals with outer wounds and bones. Esuna is the inside equivalent."

"Very good, Miss Crescent. However, as none of you are deathly sick right now, you won"t be too affected by Esuna. You"ll feel a strange tingling sensation and the accompanying warmth"just like Cure. Be sure to keep an eye on yourselves"as always, be careful not to be pulled in and make sure you work in pairs. If you have any questions, don"t be afraid to come to me. Okay?" He looked about again. "Heartilly, you"re in charge." He tossed the boy a dark blue, cloth bag.

The dark-haired boy nodded, looking very serious.

Tickie started to stand up, along with the other students. Cid stood up awkwardly. Tickie grinned at him, but gave him no instructions on what he should do.

And, as it turned out, he didn"t need to. Mortimer Pause suddenly put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. How the man had appeared behind him, Cid had no idea. His teacher said, "If you"ll come with me, Mister Highwind."

With a last look at Tickie (who gave him a wide grin and thumbs up), Cid followed Mortimer Pause out of the classroom and across the hallway. The man opened a door and allowed Cid to step inside.

It must have been his office. It was shabby in comparison to the Commander"s office. Mortimer Pause"s desk was old and chipped and had several grooves carved into it (it was also an utter mess). There was a single window behind him that had a cheap pair of shades covering it. The floor had a threadbare blue carpet on it (with a stain the resembled coffee to the immediate left of the desk).

With a wave of his hand, the dark-haired man gestured for Cid to sit in one of two chairs in front of the teacher"s messy desk. Mortimer Pause sat in the chair on the other side and began to rummage, first in the wild assortment of papers on the desk and then to several drawers.

Cid sat straight and resisted the urge to scratch his neck (the stiff collar of his dress shirt was annoying) and he found himself staring at a photograph. He could just see it from where he was sitting. There were several people in it, all wearing blue suits. They all had small handguns (except for one man who had a some kind of rifle hefted over his shoulder) and they had smirks on their faces (except for one other man, who looked incredibly serious and another, who had messy graying hair and a flask in one hand). Cid leaned forward a little, trying to get a better look at the photograph.

Mortimer Pause cleared his throat loudly.

With a jerk, Cid straightened as if he"d been given an electric shock, but his new professor merely smiled. "You know somebody in there?"

Why would I"?

"No," Cid murmured.

Mortimer Pause let out a curious sort of laugh. He reached over mounds of papers to the photograph and flipped it around. "Y"know, Highwind, most students know better than to look at someone"s personal possessions."

"Sorry," Cid mumbled.

"Don"t be. These are only friends of mine."

This seemed to be permission. Cid looked at the photograph. "Are they all officers?" he asked, looking at the blue suits.

Mortimer Pause laughed again. "Not really. They"re Turks."

"What"s a Turk?"

The man"s eyebrows raised in surprise. "Never heard of a Turk?"

Cid shook his head.

"Well, there"s a lot of complex definitions but I"ll sum it up. Basically, we"re secret agents."

Cid perked. "Wow! You"re a secret agent!" Cid suddenly imagined a man in a dark overcoat, stalking down the streets of some dangerous city.

Mortimer Pause smirked, something in his eyes that Cid couldn"t interpret. "Not anymore, Highwind."

Cid quieted. "Why not?"

Mortimer Pause laughed a bitter laugh. "See these three here?" He pointed to the friendly-looking man with the rifle, a red-haired man with the cheeky grin, and the man with the flask. "These were friends of mine. This guy," he said, pointing to the man with the rifle, "disappeared about seven years ago and so did he after he went to look for him. The guy with the flask was taken a couple months previous."

Cid felt a stab of horror. "What happened to them?" he whispered.

"Nobody knows," Mortimer Pause whispered back, grinning in a menacing sort of way. "They"re probably dead."

Cid looked away, wishing he hadn"t looked at the photograph at all.

"But anyway," said Mortimer Pause, very conversationally, as if they were exchanging baseball cards. "Here"s your wrist guard. We keep all the Materia here under lock and key, so don"t worry about losing it. You only use it in class. If you want practice after class, you have to come see me. And I"ll either set you up with a prefect, or I"ll come myself (which I usually do, can"t trust the damn prefects). You"ll need to come by, naturally, to catch up."

Cid sighed miserably, his shoulders slumping.

Mortimer Pause snickered. "What?"

"I"ve gotta see Professor Door too."

Mortimer Pause appeared to think for a moment. "Mathematics, isn"t it?"

Cid nodded.

"Miserable bitch, isn"t she?"

Cid goggled at him. Mortimer Pause roared with laughter, putting his feet up on his desk. "So, Mister Highwind," he continued, still grinning. "Have you ever used Materia before?"

Cid blinked quickly and shook his head.

Mortimer shrugged. "That"s fine. Most kids don"t when they get in here."

Cid quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"However, that is, of course, no reason to slack off"nor does it give you any excuses. You"ll have to work around that old hag, Door, and get in here to catch up."

"But won"t learning Materia be harder than Math?"

"Of course."

"Then why"don"t you just let me come here and not to Door?"

Mortimer grinned, taking his feet off the table. "Hey, that"s not in my job description. You gotta learn to be resourceful, Highwind. Figure it out. You"re nine. You"re nearly a man."

Cid stared at him. "B-but""

"What? You can"t hide behind your age."

Cid glowered at him. "I don"t hide behind my age."

Mortimer laughed. "Well, hell, I dunno that."

"Well than why would you say something like that?"

Mortimer shrugged, but he grinned a grin that reminded Cid, for some reason, of Tickie. "Shall we get started?"

Cid stared at the floor, still thinking. He nodded.

Mortimer stood up, his imposing frame somewhat softened by his almost mysterious manner. He tossed Cid the wrist guard and pulled a little green orb out of his pocket. "This," he said, holding up the orb, "is Materia. It"s green; therefore, it"s Spell Materia. This one is Cure. It"s the safest to use and the easiest to learn. Go ahead and pop it in."

Cid stood up and took the orb from him. He managed to put the guard on his arm and flinched when Mortimer gently turned it so the Materia slot faced the ceiling. The tall man then sat back on his desk (after shoving some papers out of the way) to watch.

Cid stared down at the little green ball. It looked like a marble; it was an absolutely perfect circle. It felt odd against his fingers, almost as if it was wiggling. He tongued his cheek, hesitated (remembering what his mother had said about it pulling you in and then instantly banishing the thought, as his mother only made him sad) and then dropped it into the slot.

It felt as if something like warmth suddenly rush into his arm. It spread like warm butter on toast, seeming to soak up into his shoulder, through his chest, neck, and face. It spread down his other arm, and both his legs. He closed his eyes, breathing in the sensation. It was the most wonderful thing he had ever felt.

I will help you heal and strengthen. I will keep you alive.

He gasped. The voice had come from nowhere, penetrating his skull. It made him dizzy. The rush was like nothing he had ever experienced. He felt everything in him relax, sinking into the amazing warmth.

And then, abruptly, it was gone.

He sagged, but something was keeping him from falling.

"You all right, Highwind?"

Cid blinked and, realizing that Mortimer was holding him up with a smirk on his face, he scrambled up and held onto the professor"s desk. "What was that?"

"That"s Materia. Not even SOLDIER gives over Materia to their people until they"re about sixteen or so. That"s one reason why students from Lineway are always in demand. You don"t have to teach "em a damn thing about Materia."

"But that warmth""

"That"s why using Materia can be so dangerous. It tugs at you. It"s addictive if you"re not careful." Mortimer held the Materia between his thumb and middle finger.

"Wow""

"Wow, is correct, Highwind. So, make sure you pay attention. This stuff isn"t to be taken lightly. Everyone gets taken in the first few times but you eventually get used to it."

"What happens if you let it do"whatever it"ll do if you don"t pull away?"

"Excellent question, boy. However, I"ve seen so many different results that you can"t pin it down. I"ve seen people who just"stopped living. I"ve seen people who would do anything"like a drug addiction"to have their Materia. I"ve seen people who went insane. Ha, you heard it talk to you, right?"

"Yeah""

"If you use it too much"you can never get rid of those voices. They will continue to talk to you"always pulling at you"begging to be used. Always at the edge of your mind and you can"t get rid of it."

"What if you just stop using it?"

"That"s possible." Although the manner in which he said it, he didn"t seem convinced. "Most of the time though"even if you never use it again, it continues to call to you. It drives people crazy. That"s what happens to most of them. You have to have a strong will to fully master Materia. That"s why we start you all off with the easiest"and most common"Materia to use. Like any skill, it must be practiced, built up and perfected"which takes a lot of work."

Cid nodded to himself, staring at the ground while he contemplated this.

Mortimer smiled. "Just let it soak in, Highwind." He stretched, yawning loudly. "Come back tonight around eight or so. That sound all right? Bring Tickie with you if you"re nervous."

Cid glared at him. "I"m not nervous."

"Stubborn little spitfire, ain"tcha?" He grinned. "As you say, Mister Highwind."

Cid scowled and jerked in surprise when Mortimer ruffled a hand in his hair. "You"ll do all right, Highwind."

Cid lost his scowl but he stared at the floor, a little sadly.

Thus, he didn"t see the twinkle in Mortimer"s gray eyes.

---
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To the Skies