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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
- 6
- 7
- 8
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We aren't an existence in your dream. Don't forget me. Alfons Heiderich, The Conquerer of Shambala

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The next class of note that Cid attended was his weapons class. It was overseen by the fierce woman, Crane, and her posse of younger staff.

There was a man, very tan and brawny, named Packet.

A sunny woman, who looked more a young girl than anything, called Tilmett.

A mousy, skinny woman called Stark.

And another young man, dark-eyed and dark-haired (with an odd resemblance to Stark"he found out later that they were half-siblings), named Snow.

Cid walked into the training hall with Tickie, feeling even more nervous this time than when he"d gone to his Materia class the day and night before (but he"d left Tickie, feeling as if he should prove himself to Mortimer Pause"and for his trouble he received a nasty note from Door, inquiring over his absence. He"d made up some excuse about throwing up after his weapons class. She didn"t need to know, after all, that his first class wouldn"t be until the next day).

Crane immediately took him aside and assigned him to work with Snow. Tickie was under Tilmett"s direction. He seemed to be learning about shuriken, nun chucks and other throwing and projectile weapons.

Stark appeared to be in charge of sword training and brawny Packet seemed to be a close-combat grappler, or a martial artist"perhaps both. Crane herself could work with any weapon it seemed, but anyone who was to learn about firearms, she trained herself.

The first thing Snow did was, like Mortimer Pause, set his other fourth year students (in other clothes, obviously, that were more fit for fighting) on a set forms. He then approached Cid and seemed to be measuring him up.

"Crane tells me you"ll be starting with pole-arms and possibly, later on, battle axes?"

Cid nodded, strangling his nerves into submission.

"Okay, let"s get started then."

He led Cid to a rack. On it were several different kinds of weapons, and one section held nothing but spears. Snow seemed to peruse them for a moment and then picked out a simple rod about six feet long.

"We"ll work with this for now. It"s much shorter than ones you"ll use later but as this is your first time using a weapon of this kind I want you to get used to the weight and style. Once you"re fluent with it, you can move on to the edged spears. Understand?"

Cid nodded and reached out. The weight surprised him. He held it in both hands and stared at it.

"It's solid, condensed mythril, that"s why it feels heavy. Now," Snow said briskly, looking away over his group of students. "I always believe the fastest way for someone like you to learn is by experience. If you"d started class with the others I would go more slowly but since you"ve come in around the middle"you"ll need to catch up quickly and, of course, you"ll need to prove yourself. I won"t skirt around the subject that it gets pretty competitive. Plenty of these students would gladly beat you bloody. Understand?"

Cid stared at him.

"I"m not kidding," Snow told him, looking very serious about it. "Now, hold out your arms."

Snow showed Cid how to correctly hold the rod. Telling him to make sure he held it around the middle, with both hands, and not like a goddamn baseball bat. Then his new teacher turned away and seemed to survey his students. "Free!" he called. "Get over here."

The boy Cid recognized as his fellow student in Mortimer Pause"s class had a handsome face and hair the same dirty-blond as his own. He was giving Cid a strangely impassive look, keeping his face almost carefully blank. He approached Snow.

"Put your spear away and get a rod. You"re going to work with the newbie today."

Cid scowled inwardly, feeling the now-familiar rush of irritation. Newbie?

Free"s eyebrow ticked just slightly, showing his distaste for the order.

"Now, Free."

The boy went to the rack and picked up a rod.

Snow turned to Cid. "Remember, don"t be light-handed with the rod and pay attention to what Free does. Don"t fall for the same trick twice. Crane said you"ve got the potential to be tough and strong when you get older, so it"s good to learn this basic stuff as quickly"but as thoroughly"as possible, that way you can advance to more difficult weapons. Understand?"

Cid nodded.

"One final thing, Highwind. When I said these students would beat you bloody"Free here is the best at it. He won"t care that you"re new. He"s going to be brutal. Don"t come to me like a sissy. You"ll get better as you practice." Snow"s face was stern.

Cid attempted to match it, trying to be unreadable. He wasn"t afraid. He wouldn"t be cowed by this.

Snow walked away.

Cid swallowed and turned to Free, who was smirking slightly.

"You ready, newbie?"

Cid tensed. "Stop calling me that."

Free snorted. "Tell you what, newbie. You give me a work-out and I"ll consider it."

Cid felt a moment of unease. He held his rod up as Snow had showed him.

Free smirked again. He dropped into a crouch and flew at him.

Cid barely had time to react. He ducked and immediately made contact with Free"s foot as it rammed into his chin. Cid reared into the air and felt the mythril rod slam into his face. Cid stumbled backwards, feeling a hot surge of anger as he touched his bloody nose.

Free chuckled quietly. "Well, newbie?"

Cid backed away a step and raised the rod, studying the other boy.

"pay attention to what Free does"

"Not going to attack me, newbie? You scared?"

Anger spiked in him again, he tried to strangle it. Fletcher had done this to him sometimes when they"d scuffled. His older brother would intentionally try to make him angry. Because anger made you stupid.

"I"m not scared," Cid told him, sliding one foot behind him.

Free nodded, rolling his eyes and he yawned. "Sure thing, newbie."

Cid was glaring at him and suddenly the boy was gone. Surprised, Cid blinked and then a hard wham rocked his head. He fell to his knees. He tried to drop completely, maybe kick his legs out from under him or something, but Free had already moved. He felt a boot launch into his stomach, completely winding him.

Cid was suddenly reminded of his father.

He felt a white-hot burst of rage. He jumped up, grabbed his rod and ran at Free. The other boy neatly side-stepped him and stuck out his foot. Cid tripped and Free swung around, lightening fast, and clubbed Cid right over the head.

He was dazed now and could hardly see and something hit him again, in the back, in his face, on his arms and legs. He heard his rod clatter to the ground. His legs felt like jelly as something slammed into his chin. He could taste his own, hot, salty blood. And then he heard a thump and felt cold concrete on his forehead.

Free squatted down next to him, chuckling quietly and smirking. "Nice job, newbie."

When Cid woke up, Tickie was sitting by the bed, smiling cheerfully at him. "Are you all right?"

Cid took a painful breath, feeling as though every bone in him had been mashed to bits. "Where am I?"

"Infirmary. Free kicked the shit out of you."

Cid gave him a slow, annoyed look.

"I know," said Tickie, tapping the side of his nose. "I hate that guy too."

Cid felt his face and teeth and went about, making sure everything that should be attached, still was.

Tickie grinned, sticking his tongue out between his teeth. "You"re all right, of course. They used a Cure Materia on you when Snow brought you in."

Cid felt a dark river of anger and disappointment flood into him. "Snow brought me here?" He could just see the dark-eyed, stern young man looking at him with unveiled disgust.

"Yeah," Tickie told him, his smile slipping into something more sympathetic. "He saved all the teeth Free knocked out though, to make sure they could all be put back in."

Cid tongued his teeth, uncomfortable with that thought.

"Wouldn"t worry about it if I were you. It was your first class. You"ll get better."

Cid clenched his hands. "I"m gonna get him."

"Good idea," said Tickie, nodding happily. "I hate that guy. Just make sure you get really good first. The custodians are gonna be really mad if they have to scrape your blood off the floor again."

Cid glared at him. "Are you trying to rub it in?"

Tickie gave him a very serene smile. "Course not. But Door sent another note by the way. She wants you in her office today."

"You are trying to rub it in, aren"t you?"

Tickie grinned and chuckled at him.

Cid"s electronics and engineering classes were surprisingly easy for him. He wasn"t sure what it was, maybe simply because they were beginner"s classes but he found that everything he read and studied made perfect sense. His professor, Captain Cetbal, (who preferred to simply be called "Captain" by everyone) was a grizzled war veteran with a booming voice and he used it to roar his surprise at how quickly Cid caught up to the rest of the class. He"d managed it in a very short amount of time"more quickly than any of his other classes and he couldn"t help but feel a little proud of himself for the achievement. For some reason, it just all fit together.

Perhaps it was because of the sheer vigor that Cid put into his work. He found that when he focused his nine-year-old brain on his subjects, he could completely forget about the outside world. Of course, sometimes this backfired on him. If the subject he had to read about was boring than he got agitated, left his dorm, and wouldn"t do it at all. Instead, he"d go practice Materia or work with his weapons.

He saw Fletcher very little. Morgan was the same. So much that he finally just blew off all his classes one day and hunted his sister down.

He could see her through the little window in the door, sitting in the back row. She looked small and pale. Cid immediately felt guilty. He should have come to see her sooner. He should have hunted her down earlier. He should have checked on her, made sure she was eating all right, made sure those girls were being nice to her. He should have asked about her teachers and the prefects and her dorm.

Throwing caution to the winds, Cid opened the heavy door and stepped inside. Luckily, the woman at the front of the classroom was not the beady-eyed Nova. It was a middle-aged woman with long, brown hair that nevertheless she gave him a startled look.

He heard a tiny gasp in the otherwise silent room.

Cid blinked a lot and looked at the teacher. "Uh"I"need to talk to my sister."

The woman"s eyebrows shot up. "I can"t simply let a student walk out of here."

Cid did some very quick thinking. "Well, I was finished with a class and Jack"you know, the sewing hand downstairs"he asked me to find her ("cause she"s my sister and all). He said he had something for her."

"Do you have a note to confirm this?" the woman asked suspiciously.

Cid tensed. "Er, well, no"but I could get one."

"You say it came from Jack"," the woman scratched her ear. "All right. Who"s your sister?"

Cid swallowed gratefully. "Morgan Highwind."

She turned and gestured to Morgan, who nearly tripped over herself to get to the front of the room. Someone sniggered.

Cid felt that anger spike in him immediately. He glanced around for the culprit, but no one looked guilty.

"Just for insurance," the teacher said, "take Deanne Ruthford with you."

Cid snapped his head over to look at her. "Why?"

She gave him a serene smile. "To ensure that you are, in fact, going to see Jack and not anywhere else. Deanne will come back to me then."

Cid turned away before he let the scowl cross his face. He felt Morgan"s tiny, ice-cold hand, slip into his own. He squeezed it as they walked out the door. A petite little blond-haired girl followed them. She sneered at Morgan and wrinkled her nose at Cid.

Cid glared at her.

"Well, come on," she told him, rather impatiently, as if he were an unruly three-year-old.

Cid turned away, holding Morgan"s hand tighter and he strode away, not sparing the little wench a backwards glance. He desperately tried to remember where the staircase was to get to Jack and prayed that the man would be there.

He felt more than saw Morgan glance at him. She held up her hand directly in front of her and close to her chest, so Deanne Ruthford couldn"t see and she pointed to the right. Cid went right unquestioningly.

"You better be going to Jack, or I"ll tell Kram."

Cid rolled his eyes and then suddenly, he saw the staircase. Unconsciously, he sped up, tugging Morgan along and down the stairs. Deanne followed, complaining about the dirty staircases in this school and if her father was here, he would certainly have something to say about it.

Cid got off the staircase and turned to his left. "You can go now," he told the girl.

She looked down her nose at him"as much as was possible for a snotty six-year-old to do to an annoyed nine-year-old. "No-o-o, I"ve gotta make sure you"re not a liar." She sneered at him. "Although it wouldn"t surprise me, considering where you"re from."

It took a lot of self-control that Cid wasn"t aware he"d had for him to ignore the bait. He bit his lip, swallowed hard and stepped into Jack"s office.

The man was there, looking wild-haired and surly, sitting behind a desk layered with paperwork. He glanced up, did a double-take and stared at Cid.

Cid looked at him frantically, keeping his back to Deanne so she couldn"t see his face. "Hi, Jack, I"I brought Morgan like you asked me to."

Jack"s eyebrows shot upwards. He seemed to consider Cid for a moment and then he looked at the youngest Highwind. His eyes went a little sad when he did. Then he was standing up, studying Cid again. A little smile crooked the corners of his mouth. "Well good, Cid. That was fast. Did you have any problems?"

"Her teacher made her," and Cid sneered, cocking a thumb over his shoulder at Deanne, "come with us."

"Ah," said Jack, as if he knew all about being followed by annoying little girls. "Well, they"re here, so you"re free to go."

Deanne frowned, bouncing her hair and flounced away.

Cid sighed, letting his shoulders sag.

Jack leaned against his desk. "You gonna tell me what pleasure I owe this visit?"

Cid shifted uncomfortably. "Well"I"I wasn"t going to come here, at first. It was the only thing I could think of."

"Only thing you could think of? I"m glad I rate high on your list. For what?"

Cid stared at the floor, biting his lip. "I hadn"t seen Morgan in a while and no one would ever tell me where she was. So"I hunted her down. And I got her out of class by saying you"d sent me on a quick errand, but her teacher said I had to take that little girl to make sure we went."

"Ah," said Jack, rubbing his scratchy chin. "Well, excuse me if I don"t participate in the family reunion but I have work to do."

Cid opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He felt ashamed but grateful all at once.

"Mister Jack"," said the tiny voice next to Cid.

Cid stared at Morgan. She sounded horrible. Gone was the energetic, happy girl she"d been back in Swifton. In her place was a worn out, pale, fragile little thing. She sounded terrified and sick. Her peaked face was sad and tired.

What"s happening to her? What have they done to her?

Cid stared at his little sister, open-mouthed as she squeezed Cid"s hand very, very tightly. "Thank you for not telling, Mister Jack."

Jack stared at her for a moment with some incredible intensity, as if he was trying to see into her brain through her skull. "Jus" call me Jack, little lady. And you"re welcome. You"re Cid"s sister, ain"t ya?"

She nodded, looking as if she might pass out.

"Ah, yeah. I can see the resemblance. Although, yer a lot prettier than he is."

The smile she gave was small and shy and charming, she looked at the floor with a little giggle.

Jack stretched. "Well, boy. I"ve saved your ass this time but don"t expect me to do it again. You owe me one."

Cid stared down at Morgan"s cool, pale hand. He nodded.

Jack let them sit on the floor behind his desk and just talk to each other. The more Morgan said, the angrier Cid became.

Many of the girls weren"t very nice to her because she was shy and pretty. They hid her things and poked fun at her. She had no appetite anymore and Mistress Nova had told her to, Stop complaining, Miss Highwind and learn to be tougher. This is a military academy, if you"ll recall. The schoolwork wasn"t very hard for Morgan and she liked it"but already her teachers thought she was slow because she sat in the back and didn"t talk. She had just wanted to see Cid or Fletcher but no one would really tell her how to find them and she was closing up like a clam. The idea of talking to a teacher terrified her.

"I haven"t seen Fletcher at all," Morgan whispered in her tiny voice. "Does he hate us?"

Cid wanted nothing more than to go back to that classroom and kill every one of those little girls. Thinking of Fletcher only made it worse. His brother hadn"t even attempted to see either one of them. Morgan was suffering! Didn"t he care? "I"ve only seen him a few times but he"s never spoken to me since we got here."

Morgan stared at the ground as tears fell off her thin cheeks.

Cid felt a wave of misery crest over him. He put his arms around his little sister. "Hey, Morggie, it"ll be okay. Just you an" me, right? I"ll help you as much as I can. I"ll chop up those little girls and bury them in the walls."

"Don"t talk like that, boy," Jack suddenly said, low and dangerous, but he didn"t even turn around to look at them. He kept his gaze on his work.

Cid looked at him over Morgan"s hair.

"You gotta be careful about what sorts "o shit you say around here. These are military officers and most of the kiddies here? Their parents are military officers. Or they"re rich. Either way, be careful about who you decide to fuck around with, son. Don"t forget, military organizations like ShinRa can have you hunted down."

"I""

"It doesn"t matter if you weren"t serious or not. Words like that get around, boy. You"ll get kicked out for a threat like that"especially as young as you are. If you"re worth somethin", they"ll work like hell to keep you. Right now, you ain"t worth shit."

Cid stared down at the part in Morgan"s pretty black hair and he felt her sob against him.

What am I suppose to do?

He felt hot, roiling frustration and helplessness lick up into his stomach. He tightened his arms around his sobbing sister, feeling the threat of tears and desperately trying to strangle them.

He would not cry.

There was nothing to cry about. He had to take things as they came. He must become worth something. He must excel. Then he could graduate, get out of here and take Morgan with him. He"d take care of her. But first"he had to surpass the competition (his mind lingered for a bitter moment on Free). He must, in essence, divide and conquer.

This stiffened his resolve. He didn"t need anyone. He didn"t need the father who"d left them, the mother who"d sent him away or the older brother who hated him. All he needed was to become good at something. Then he could get his poor sister out of this miserable place.

He burned his blue eyes into the floor. He"d do it. He"d do it or die trying. He"d never give up. He"d make himself worth something. He started going over his priorities.

What"s easy for you?

Engineering and electronics. He"d managed to move past his class (it was the one class where he found his textbooks absolutely engrossing) and Captain was considering putting him with the Fifth Year class. This was heartening.

His regular mathematics class was abysmal but Tickie was helping him. The boy may have been a little odd"but he was practically a genius.

His Materia classes weren"t outstanding, but they were by no means terrible. He"d gone in to work with Mortimer as much as he could and he"d made up for all the time he"d missed.

His other classes were mediocre; he"d had to rectify that. Except, of course, for his weapons class.

At first, Cid had thought that learning a weapon like the spear may have been a bad idea but after getting three brutal beatings from that guy Free, he decided he would never let it go. He had it out for Free; he had to admit. The boy took great pleasure each time in beating him bloody and every time he woke up in the hospital wing that familiar incensing rage roared through him.

He"d get him.

So when he walked into class, he put himself in a mind-set. Snow always put him with Free. Why, Cid didn"t know. Perhaps stern, aloof Snow just enjoyed seeing him beaten to a pulp. At first, it had angered him. Snow had minimal influence in his training. He gave Cid the basics, of course, but it was always much less than he gave his other students. Snow even worked with them and Cid couldn"t understand what he"d done to make Snow dislike him so much.

Yet, eventually, Cid just gave it up. No use worrying about a lost cause. He didn"t need Snow"s respect or praise or instruction, he"d learn it on his own or not at all. He treated Snow with the same cold indifference that Snow treated him with. His teacher said very little of it, only smiling the very first time Cid had blanked his face entirely to him. He"d nodded and then called Free over, telling Cid he would now move onto longer, edged weapons.

This was worse for Cid, as now"in addition to a beating, he"d have to worry about getting stabbed with a foot of mythril edge too. Free made every effort to do so and was, of course, successful. And when he"d woken up in the hospital wing again he"d been so furious with himself that he"d declared war and vengeance there and then.

Okay. So what can I do with all that?

As he stared down at the floor he decided three things.

First, he would put all his academics efforts into his work. He"d excel at everything, even if he had to work with Tickie and Mortimer Pause every day and all night.

Second, he would seek out Fletcher and force his older brother to talk to him.

And last, he"d take a spear to Mortimer and ask him to help him use Materia and his weapon at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone (which was actually kind of an interesting analogy for the situation when he thought about it), in effect.

Cid glanced up and blinked. Jack was simply looking at him, a strange little smile on his face. "Made a decision, "ave ya, boy?"

Cid glared and nodded.

Morgan sniffed and pulled away from Cid. "What is it?"

Cid cleared his face and brought forth a warm smile. "Don"t worry about a thing, Morgan. I"ll get us out of here. You just watch and then you won"t have to worry ever again. You just think about staying strong and ignoring those girls."

Morgan nodded, looking miserable again.

Cid hugged her. "I better get you back."

The look she gave him made Cid feel incredibly guilty. "Do I have to go back? I wanna stay with you."

Cid looked away from her tears. "I"m sorry. You can"t. I"m gonna work hard so we can get out of here. Okay?"

She choked on a sob, but she nodded bravely.

So Cid walked Morgan back to her dormitory, hugged her one more time and smiled as the door closed.

Then he turned around. His smile dropped. An angry determination set in. He thought about his three decisions.

He"d start today.

--
- 6
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- 8
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To the Skies