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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
- 7
- 8
- 9
Here you are citizen. One steaming cup of justice! The Tick, from the liveaction series, The Tick

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His second decision of talking to Fletcher turned out to be a lot harder than he"d hoped. Hunting down his brother was a little harder than getting Morgan"plus, he"d had to make up for skipping his classes that day.

Door, in particular, had been nasty about it"giving him double-work to finish (which he only managed to do so by bribing Tickie with a promise of a candy bar and to tell him where he"d been). Captain hadn"t been all that worried, as Cid excelled in his class as it was. Snow glowered coldly at him but said nothing. He jerked his thumb at Free and told him he"d be working with a trident today (Cid had three teeth knocked out and a wrist broken and Free laughed when they hauled him out of the room, snarling.)

Mortimer Pause, however, had shrugged at him when he"d re-entered. He gave everyone their work as usual (they were moving into a Materia called Barrier) but then called Cid, again, into his office.

"I assume you had a good reason for skipping this class and going AWOL for an entire day?"

Cid glared. "Why does it matter if I miss one class? Everyone is getting so""

"Highwind," said Mortimer, grinning. "You forget, you"re at a military school"students who suddenly disappear are immediately noticed. There were people searching for you yesterday. It"s a good thing no one thinks to look down in Jack"s area."

Cid blinked at him. "You know Jack?"

Mortimer let a lazy smile cross his face. He leaned back in his chair, putting his feet on the desk. "Oh, yeah, met Jack when I started here. He let me know where you were right after you left with your sister."

Cid felt a hot spike of anger. "He told me he wouldn"t tell!"

Mortimer"s smile fell. "Cid, he only told me. He didn"t tell anyone else. Why? Because no one gives a damn about ol" Jack the sewing hand. None of the jumped up officers, professors, or goddamn officials thinks he"s worth their precious time."

"So why do you?"

Mortimer raised his eyebrows. "I should think that"d be obvious. I"m not going to tell anyone. I"m going to cover for you. I"m going to help you out. Why? I think you"re a good kid. And I think whatever is going on with your sister is probably more important. Besides, you"ll catch up. It"s not like you missed anything crucial. Although Mister Free did make a remark as to your absence. He seems to think it has something to do with your weapons class."

Cid dug his fingernails into his palms.

Mortimer smiled again. "Rivalry, eh? Sometimes rivalry can be a very good thing and sometimes, a very bad thing. What do you think?"

Cid locked his jaw. "I think I want to kill him."

"Hard words from a nine-year old."

Cid glared at him. "You asked me what I thought."

The man smirked. "That"s the spirit. Don"t let people question you. Stand up and take command." And now he took his feet off his desk and leaned forward on his elbows. "Which is what you plan to do, correct?"

Cid stared at him. "I"I dunno. Morgan. She"s"she"s miserable and my brother""

"You want to take control of your life?"

Cid looked at the desktop suddenly feeling out of sorts. He nodded mutely.

"Jack told me you had made some decisions. Said you looked pretty damned determined."

Cid looked up and nodded.

"Now, be careful in a situation like this. I can see from the look on your face that you want to trust me but some part of you is telling you not to. In this world, it"s hard to trust anyone. So be careful who you reveal things too."

Cid looked down again. "But how will I know? Who to trust and who not to trust?"

"That"s something you have to figure out for yourself. Do you trust everyone you come in contact with?"

Cid shook his head.

"Good, then think carefully. Are you going to tell me or aren"t you?"

Cid narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn"t"but one of them has to do with you anyway."

Mortimer seemed surprised by this information. He sat back again, raising his eyebrows. "And what would that one be?"

Cid chewed the inside of his cheek. "I want you to teach me how to use Materia and a weapon at the same time."

Mortimer blinked and straightened slowly. He stared at Cid. "Why?"

Cid had been rehearsing his explanation for this. He felt his mouth dry up but he plunged forward. "I want to get better at things. I want to excel and get good so I can get Morgan out of here. I want to be able to use Materia like you do. And I want to beat Free. I"m tired of being beaten by him. He laughs at me and I hate that."

"You do understand that there is a point of concentration between Materia and a weapon that you might not be able to handle at your age?"

Cid looked at him anxiously but narrowed his eyes. "I don"t care."

"Exactly, you don"t care and to learn something like that you have to care. Technically, I"m not supposed to give private lessons to students anyway. And, this cuts into my time. Give me a good reason why I should help you."

Cid stared at him. "Well"I"I thought you"would"" he trailed off.

Mortimer"s smile was cool. "That"s not a real reason. Who"s to say I care what you think?"

Cid suddenly felt a coldness settle in him towards this man. He thought of Mortimer as kind of his friend. He had hoped Mortimer would agree. But if not, fine. He"d do it himself. Cid"s shoulder hunched and glared at his professor. "Then I"ll do it myself. I"ll learn to do it on my own."

Mortimer smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Will you now? And when and how will you do this?"

"At night," Cid snapped. "I"ll go to the weapons" room and just get a spear"they leave it open anyway and I"ll get a Materia""

"And how will you get the Materia considering I have it all? Only older students are allowed to hold onto any and only to use in practice."

Cid hissed between his teeth. "I"ll find a way."

Mortimer nodded agreeably. "Good luck, then."

Cid stood up. "Are we done now?

Mortimer chuckled. "Yes, we are. Go back to the classroom."

Cid whipped around immediately and went back to the classroom. He"d been so sure, so sure, that Mortimer would help him.

Never, ever assume anything. Ever again.

He returned and reached hard and fast with his Materia. Tickie stared at him for a moment, a little sadly, and was silent the rest of the class.

So his third decision had gone badly but a few days later, after his classes were done, he stomped about everywhere in a very bad mood. He asked anyone who came by about Fletcher Highwind and where he might be found. Why the adults here wouldn"t reveal such a thing was odd. They refused to tell Cid point-blank where his brother was and commanded him not to look for him.

Cid ignored them.

And so his nine-year-old self, in his Fourth Year brown uniform looked about for any dark red uniforms and spotted a patch of them down in the courtyard. He took off through the halls, skidding around a corner and slamming into a girl, scattering her books and papers everywhere. With a frustrated sigh, Cid stopped, grabbed them all up and dumped them into her hands. "Here. Sorry."

"Thank you."

He looked at her. She was a Fifth Year from the look of her gray uniform. Although it was in shambles, her shirt untucked and jacket unbuttoned. Her skirt was rumpled and her socks were in uneven heights on her calves. She had red-brown hair and a pair of brown eyes, which were looking at him with a sort of mild interest.

Cid wrinkled his nose at her look. "You"re welcome." He started to move past her.

He didn"t see her grin. "Don"t you wanna know my name?"

Cid whipped around. "I"m in a hurry! I don"t care!"

Rather than look hurt, she looked amused. "My name is Rain. Isn"t it generic?"

"Well, I"m Cid. Isn"t that interesting? Now, leave me alone! I"m looking for someone!"

"Who are you looking for?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"I might know them."

"No, you wouldn"t."

She smiled. "How do you know?"

"He"s my brother and he"s an Eighth Year."

She shrugged. "I guess you"re right then."

He glared at her and turned away, running down the hall again. When he burst out the doors, he saw that the knot of Eighth Years were still there. He swallowed, hesitated only a second, and then strode up to them. They looked very tall.

They look down, a mix of boys and girls, puzzled at the Fourth Year in their midst.

A boy half-smiled. "What do you want, shortshit?"

Cid clenched his teeth, biting back a reply and saying, "I"m looking for Fletcher Highwind."

One of the girls laughed, fanning her face. "Then you must be the only boy looking for him."

The girls all tittered.

That went right over Cid"s head.

Another boy rolled his eyes. "You"re fucking stupid," he told the girls, who only laughed at him. Then he turned to Cid. "Dunno what the hell you"d wanna talk to him for. Isn"t like he talks to anyone." But he knocked a thumb over his shoulder. "He"s a real asshole, hangs out by the cemetery."

"Maybe he"ll do us all a favor and cut his wrists. Then he can sleep with them." One of the boys smiled. "You know the rumors about Fletcher Highwind, right? Sayin" he sleeps out in the cemetery. His bed looks perfect everyday, like he doesn"t even use it."

Cid glared at them but turned away. Cemetery, then.

And when he arrived there, around the corner and down a long path through some woods. Cid finally saw his brother, sitting on a bench with a few books. He ran up to him and planted his feet in font of him. "Fletcher."

His brother glanced up at him; he scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"I"ve been looking for you! Morgan is sick! We have to get her out of here!"

Fletcher"s face was expressionless. "Morgan will deal with it. She"ll get tougher. I"m not leaving."

Cid stared at him.

"Would you go away?"

Cid felt his shoulders slacken and everything in him seemed to stop. Go away?

"B-but".you haven"t see her! She looks terrible!"

"She"ll toughen up."

"How do you know?!" Cid yelled at him. He grabbed his older brother"s shoulders.

Fletcher batted his arms away. "I know because I"m not stupid."

Cid stumbled back, practically snarling. "You hate us both then?!"

Fletcher froze at that for a split-second. Then he just glared at Cid. "I"m working on becoming an officer. She"ll toughen up. Besides, we shouldn"t be so attached anyway."

Cid"s eyes got as big as saucers. "What?!"

"It"ll just end up bad in the end," Fletcher shrugged, as if they were talking about baking cookies that might not turn out.

"Have they brainwashed you or something?! How could you say that?!" Cid was yelling again. "She"s your sister! And you don"t care about her! And now you say you won"t talk to us anymore"that"s just like Mom!"

Fletcher dropped his books, stood and slammed his fist into Cid"s face. "I"m not like her. Don"t you ever compare me to her!"

Cid stumbled back and sat down hard. Blood was running out of his nose. He wiped it on the back of his hand, clenched his fists and ran at Fletcher. He managed to latch onto his brother"s jacket, tearing it open and reaching in to grab his shirt. Cid tried to hit him.

Fletcher grabbed his arms and threw him away. "Get away from me, Cid." He looked away, seeming disturbed suddenly. "Just stay away. It"ll be better that way. When I become an officer""

"Shut up!" Cid roared at him. "Just shut up!" He turned and fled.

Betrayal. He couldn"t believe it. First his mother, then Mortimer and now his older brother. His ran and ran and ran, all the way back to his empty dorm. He sat down in his closet, closing the door so no one would know he was there, wanting to hate his brother. He knew Fletcher had distanced himself from them"but he couldn"t believe it. His brother hated them. He didn"t even want to try to help Morgan. He wanted to become an officer. One of these jumped up, prissy officers. He couldn"t believe it. Hot anger raced up and down his spine. "You son of a bitch."

There was only one good thing that had come out of this situation. And now, Cid didn"t feel guilty at all. The decision had been a split-second one, when he"d ripped his brother"s jacket. He glared down at his hand and opened it.

The little green Materia was cool in his hand.

Tickie was smiling, no surprise there, but he was excited. He and Cid were standing in the weapons room. "How did you get it? Do you know what kind it is?"

Cid put his fists on his hips and shook his head. "Got it from my brother. I dunno what kind it is."

"He didn"t tell you?"

Cid snorted. "I didn"t ask."

Tickie"s smile turned mischevious. "Why not?"

Cid looked at him, catching the grin and smiled back.

"You stole it."

Cid nodded.

"How long do you think "til he notices?"

Cid bit his lip, reaching for a trident about seven feet long and hefting it off the rack, thinking. "I dunno. But no one has said anything and he hasn"t come to find me."

"He probably doesn"t even know your schedule."

Cid set the butt of the trident on the ground and then let it tip forward, swinging it into his hands with a practiced ease. He had never used this particular trident. It was a little heavier than the mythril one. He turned back to Tickie. "Why wouldn"t he? Why is it around here that no one wants you to know where your brothers and sisters are? No one would tell me where I could find Morgan and Fletcher. They said I shouldn"t be looking for them."

Tickie smiled. "This is a military academy"as they remind us eight million times a day. They"re always real careful about siblings, always wanna split "em up. Wanna make "em hard."

Cid gave him a puzzled look as he started to walk towards the doors and down the dark hallway. "You mean"like"they want us not to care?"

Tickie nodded, raising his eyebrows, still smiling. "Basically. That way if something happens to you, they can still use you."

Cid stopped cold in the hallway and stared at him. "Use you? Like"a tool? Just""

"For whatever they want." Tickie shrugged. "S"just the way things are. That"s the military for you."

Cid continued down the hallway (they were going to use the Materia classroom, because it had mats and they had no idea what Fletcher"s Materia did) thinking about that. "That"s bad. They shouldn"t do that."

"Depends on your perspective, really."

Cid blinked as he turned the knob and opened to the dark classroom. "How do you know all that? And what do you mean by your perspective?"

Tickie went into the darkness and searched for the light switches, nearly blinding them. "I asked. My sister went here too."

Cid was shutting the door and he looked at Tickie. "Your sister goes here?"

Tickie smiled. "No. I said she went here. She graduated in my first year. Then got killed."

Cid stared at him. "What happened to her"?"

Tickie"s smile softened. "I don"t know. I didn"t ask when they told me. I just wanted to know why they"d kept us separated. And they said so that you won"t cry as much and so they can still use you. And if you don"t like your brothers and sisters, it doesn"t matter. Essentially, you"re suppose to be alone here," he grinned. "Walls between you and everyone else. Only God to keep you company."

Cid and Tickie made their way across the room, clearing a large space in the middle and Cid gave him a funny look. "God?"

Tickie looked at the ceiling, grinning still. "He"s up there."

Cid looked at the ceiling. "No, he isn"t."

Tickie laughed. "You can"t see him."

"Is he a ghost?"

"No. But he can see everything."

"And he"s your God?"

"Yes."

"Your God is spooky."

Tickie blinked and then he burst out laughing.

So the two young boys stood together, Cid holding the trident and both looking at the Materia.

"Mort always says that after a while you can start to tell the difference between Materia that"s the same color," Tickie said. "Obviously, that was before you got there, else you"d know it already. And I wouldn"t be telling you about it right because you"d already""

"Tickie."

"Yes," not missing a beat, as always, he continued, "Because all Spell Materia is green but it isn"t labeled or anything"but, so far Mort"s let us use Cure, Esuna, Barrier, and Sleepel." Tickie touched the green sphere. "But this doesn"t feel like any of those do""

Cid nodded. It had been hard, at first, to distinguish but soon he began to recognize the cool of Restore, the almost"bubbly feeling of Esuna, as if he"d just taken a great drink of water. The strange feeling Barrier put in you was as of you were touching cold stone, solid and reassuring. Sleepel was always lukewarm and cheerful. Even though it could be used as a weapon, as it"s call stated (I give your enemies gentle rest. You move in for the kill.) it was a strange sort of Materia. But Tickie was right, this Materia didn"t feel like any of those. "Suppose it"s an attack Materia?"

Tickie raised an eyebrow. "But you"re brother is an Eighth Year"I mean, it"s weird that he"d even have Spell Materia. He has access to most of the other types. I know older students can carry it around and practice""

"Well, he just got here and he"s never used Materia either""

"That"s just what I was gonna say. "Cept that I"d"a thought he"d practice with something cooler."

Cid shook his head irritably. "Nevermind Tickie. Let"s just try it." Cid held the Spell Materia for a moment, feeling something"it felt"white, but hot".or something. He couldn"t really describe it. He popped it into the trident and gasped.

"What?"

"Wow, it"s not like with the bands. I can feel the Materia through the silver and feel each slot and"oh!"

"What?"

"It"s Bolt Materia."

"How did you know?"

Cid paused. He wasn"t exactly certain"it had just come to him. "It just"called, dunno. It felt right. It called about someone called Ramuh."

Tickie shrugged. "Well, best point it somewhere else then." He edged back a few steps.

Cid nodded and held the trident in both hands. He"d never seen anyone use the weapon and Materia together. With the band, you could just hold your arm out but Mortimer had said something about a focus point"he scowled.

He held the weapon in front of him and closed his eyes, thinking about the back corner of the room, concrete and firm, and let his mind slip down the weapon. Materia may have had its own distinct presence, but over all, it was always warm and he couldn"t help but smile a little at the comfort of it.

He reached out, sensing that little bright thread.

(I will kill your enemies. May Ramuh feed my Power.)

He grabbed it.

He wasn"t sure what happened then. Just a yell and something made his whole body jerk. Everything went dark, cold".but then"a tiny pinprick of light".and warmth".

What"s happening to me"?

And then his eyes popped open.

A face and a mess of dark hair blurred before him and then he felt something else"he recognized this"the warmth, comfort, and heal of Restore. He breathed hard, blinking and tried to sit up.

And he was helped along by the person with the dark hair. Mortimer Pause. Who was staring at him, looking neither angry, surprised, nor pleased. He seemed almost mild about it, rather indifferent, almost. He kept looking at him for another moment, to which Cid curled in on himself and raised a hand to touch his shoulder. His sleeve was burned and the flesh there felt rough and hard.

"You"re lucky I was here."

Cid stiffened his lip, hardened his eyes and threw his little shoulders back (despite the mild ache in his left one) and said, "You were in your office?"

Mortimer smiled. "No. I was over there." He pointed to a door. A storage room.

Cid looked puzzled and opened his mouth to speak but Mortimer grinned.

"I was waiting for you. I figured you"d come. Word went through particular members of the staff that Fletcher Highwind had lost his Bolt Materia, funny, he didn"t say how. Just said he"d misplaced it."

"If you knew what it was, why didn"t you tell us?!" Tickie cried out, sitting on his knees next to Cid.

"Yeah!" Cid said, suddenly realizing this important detail. "I was"I think I was dead! Then I would have had to see his spooky God."

"He"s not spooky."

"Yes, he is, if he watches you all the time"makes sense if he can watch you when you dead!"

"Well, then you sh""

"AHEM." Mortimer cleared his throat loudly. "If you two are finished. I could answer the question for you, or you could argue about the spookiness of the God, the mat, or your sister"s aunt"s dentist""

"Well, he is kinda spooky."

Mortimer gave Tickie a look. Then he smiled and shook his head to look at Cid. "To be quite honest, I didn"t think you"d do it. I figured you"d cave. You"re only nine, after all."

Cid glared at him. "You said I was nearly a man at nine."

Mortimer chuckled. "So I did. I wondered if you"d remembered. And I told you to take control of your life, didn"t I? Or something to that effect. And you did, and nearly killed yourself."

Cid sobered. "What happened?"

"Bolt Materia is an attack Spell Materia. Casts lightening down at your opponents. And you know that. You"d have to had, considering it"s call, correct."

"Well"after I"d already sensed for it and listened, yeah""

"Then why did you activate it?"

"To see if I could."

"Seems your aim was off."

Cid scowled. "I was thinking about the other end of the room."

"Ah, but you forgot something," and here, Mortimer yanked the trident away from Cid. "I told you that you had to have a focus point. Every Materia user has a different focus point, a joining between you, the Materia, and the weapon. The weapon is just a thing, after all. To the Materia, you"re just an outlet. It"s up to you to control both."

He stood up. "Watch my eyes and watch how I move this weapon."

He flipped the trident neatly, so he was holding it with perfect ease in his hands. Then he suddenly braced his feet and flipped trident around his right arm, grabbing with his hand and sweeping down. A green glow flared up and a bolt of lightening struck the opposite wall. His eyes were dark, intense, and focused.

Then the flare died and he looked at the two boys. "What was I looking at?"

"The wall," Ticke said.

"The weapon," Cid answered, at the same time.

"No, you"re both wrong."

They blinked.

"The problem with Materia is that in those scant seconds you cast, you"re vulnerable because you may have your eyes open, but you"re not seeing anything. Activating Materia isn"t a physical exercise. Some users even close their eyes."

"I"m confused." Tickie said, looking pitiful about it.

Mortimer smiled. "The move I made with my arm, flipping the weapon and bringing it down"that isn"t just for show, it helps a user bring their mind to readiness. You pick out your enemy, move as you feel necessary and then put yourself there"in the weapon, the Materia"and everything comes into focus. The opponent is there, for the scant few seconds you won"t see him, in your mind. It"s like completing a circle. How your body chooses to draw to your weapon and Materia to your mind completes it"then you can go after the bad guy. But there is that weak point"that for a moment, your other senses are muted, all seven"well, six depending on what kind of user you are."

"Seven?"

"Touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight, psychic or paranormal, and, of course, sense of humor"and a lot of people lack that one anyway. But the sixth sense"the one of psychic or paranormal sense or ability is a variable"certain kinds of Materia can intensify it. It tends to be more with defensive Materia users. Restore, Esuna, Barrier and all those"Holy magic, and Summons too."

"Why?" Cid asked.

"Defensive magic, Holy magic, and Summons"require a sense of oneself to use them, especially Summons. But a skilled defensive Materia user can open up that sixth sense during a cast, it reaches the Materia, the Materia reaches back and amplifies the cast"the user and the Materia are more aware of each other, so it"s easier for them to use it. But only certain kinds of people are like that. It"s psychic, so naturally, not everyone is attuned to it. And when you teach classes like I do, you can always tell right away who is and who isn"t."

"How?"

"Well, they"re drawn to it, they have a knack for it but give them Fire or an attack Materia and they don"t do as well. You, Cid, for example, are not attuned to defensive magic at all"and you"ll feel the difference when you can take control of using that Materia. You"ll have an easier time with offensive Materia (which is probably the only reason you were able to activate it at all). Tickie, you"re some strange place in the middle but considering it"s you, that doesn"t surprise me."

Tickie laughed.

"So," Mortimer said, sitting down again. "Now that the unintentional lesson is over. Tickie, take these Phoenix Downs back to my office and go to bed."

Tickie paused for a second and then he nodded, taking up the red cloth bag, just barely whisking a glance at Cid and then walked out of the room.

Mortimer placed the weapon between them. "Your brother will probably have to do some sort of job or punishment, you know."

Cid looked at him blankly.

"Well, I assume you"re not going to give it back to him."

Cid"s face darkened. He shook his head.

Mortimer snorted. "I didn"t think so. Seems things have gone awry between you two, but that"s not surprising either. It happens a lot here. But once it seems that the Materia can"t be located, he"ll have to do some stupid job or whatever in exchange."

Cid stared at him. "You"re"not going to tell them?"

Mortimer shrugged. "Well, technically, I"m not here. I arranged a date with a lovely woman named Treppe so I wouldn"t have to go to another one of Officer Pepper"s stupid parties. So, really, I"m not here. But, boy, am I going to be irritated when I walk in tomorrow morning and see that slightly charred piece of stone over there." He pointed to where he himself had hit the wall. "And I"ll figure it was probably one of those damn prefects. Hate those little bastards. They"re only ever made prefects because of who their parents are. Little snobs."

Cid continued to stare. Mortimer smiled and popped the Bolt Materia from its spot. He took Cid"s hand, opened it and laid the ball down. "Go put that weapon back. And if you"re going to keep this, hide it well. They don"t like it when Materia turns up missing, all of your rooms will likely be searched." He motioned for Cid to get up and they walked to the door. He let Cid go first, with the trident and then he flipped off the lights and shut the doors. "Friday nights at ten-thirty, Cid. Every Friday."

Does he".mean".

"Are you going to"?!"

Mortimer raised his hand. "Even the walls have ears. I"ll see you next class. Now, put that away and go onto bed."

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To the Skies