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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
- 8
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Cid leaned back in his chair, laughing at Tickie. "He didn"t really say that, did he?!"

"I swear, he did. All he talked about was how he never got along with Officer Pepper. You know how his jokes fall flat."

Cid shook his head. "He has such horrible luck with women. I don"t understand it. You think a guy like that would do just fine."

"He"s a professor." Tickie shrugged.

"Hey, you guys. Take a look at this." Rain walked up to them. She tossed something down on the table.

Cid glanced up at her black skirt and silver buttons, she responded by flicking his ear. "Quit staring."

He grinned and rolled his sleeves up.

"Oi"Cid"look!"

He refocused, looking across the table at Tickie, looking washed out in his red uniform. The boy, still scrawny, flipped the newspaper around. "Midgar is going to war with Wutai."

"You"re shittin" me!" He jumped up and snatched the paper. "Son of a bitch"they really did." He saw down slowly. "They"ve got photos"they rebuilt Junon over that fishing port"damn""

Tickie glanced at the clock. "Oi, hey"almost time for Materia. Hey, Rain, can we take this paper?"

She nodded. "I will see you"" and she here she flicked Cid"s ear again, ""in a couple hours. We"ve got class with the Captain today."

"It"s a good thing I forget the days," Cid told her, "I like having you to remind me."

She gave him a promising smile.

He read the paper on the way to class, sharing it with Tickie. "I remember them talking about this right before I came here." He smiled a little. "Seems like forever ago."

"Five years ago. You were nine. You"re getting old."

Cid elbowed him and they stepped into class together. He almost dead halted when he looked up. "Mort"s here before us. That"s weird."

"Ah, you boys know the news. Up here with the paper, please." Mortimer waved a hand, gesturing for it.

"Oh, are you gonna keep it, Mortimer?"

"That"s Professor, to you."

"Are you gonna keep it, Professor Pause?"

Mortimer took the paper from Cid. "You make me sound old. I won"t keep it"I"m sure you"ve got lots of paper airplanes to make. Now, go sit down."

"We can use Materia to do that," Tickie told him.

Mortimer pointed at him. "I can see your education went to good use. Morph, right?"

"Yes, sir!"

Cid laughed as he sat down on a squashy blue mat next to Tickie.

Mortimer waited only a few more minutes for everyone to seat themselves. Most of them seemed just as surprised as Cid to see their sleepy-eyed teacher there before them. A few even stopped and checked the clock to make sure they weren"t late.

"C"mon, c"mon, important news today." He waved his arms for quiet. "Some of you might have seen the paper this morning." He flipped it around, showing everyone the headline.

The room went quiet.

"Why is there a war?" asked Heartilly. "What happened?"

"No idea, ask an officer," Mortimer replied. "What you should be aware of though, it that those of you getting closer to our upperclassmen status will probably be asked to join up at some point. SOLDIER is interested in strong young people like my illustrious back row." He nodded back to Cid, Tickie and seven others of the Eighth year class. "They like Materia users. No one knows how long this war will stretch. You all know where Wutai is, right?"

"What do you think we should answer with, sir?"

"Don"t ask me. Not my war. Ask your brother, Highwind."

Cid blinked at his response and went quiet. Tickie glanced at him. "You don"t really think Fletcher would have""

Cid frowned. "I dunno""

Fletcher hasn"t spoken to him since the day Cid had stolen his Bolt Materia. For five years, there had been nothing but awkward, icy silence. Fletcher was eighteen and in his very last year at Lineway. He"d done fairly well and was training to be a sniper.

"He has solid grades"he wouldn"t have to be an officer if he didn"t want to""

"Hey!" Mortimer"s bark made both of them raise their heads. "Discuss it outside of class, boys. We"re going to do mock-combat today. Everyone up and get the mats out of the way."

The class was a mix of green, red, and dark red uniforms. The sixth, seventh, and eighth year Advanced Materia class all took their lessons together because there were only about twenty of them. Cid had joined this class in his seventh year, Tickie in his sixth. They took the regular class and then this extra class for extra practice in combat and strategy. They used the Materia in combinations presented to them by Mortimer or came up with their own.

Every other Saturday, Mortimer took them out into the forest for field practice. On these trips, they were permitted to take a weapon, as if they were heading off into a real battle. Cid, of course, always took a spear of some kind. Tickie always took some kind of long-range weapon, a different one each time.

And on some days, like today, Mortimer allowed mock-combat in the classroom.

"Remember, ladies and gentlemen, classroom is all about containment and learning how to aim with more precision. Who wants to go first?" Mortimer looked over them. "Highwind, let"s see if you can do better than last time. I asked Snow to keep the practice rooms open. So go pick out a weapon."

Cid grinned and jumped up. He jogged out of the classroom to the practice rooms, where Snow, Crane, Stark, Tilmett, and Packet were all engaged in teaching.

"Advanced class with Pause?" Snow asked.

Cid nodded. Snow nodded back and looked back to his students. These were fifth years. He paused a moment, pretending to debate on his choice of spear while he looked through the ten-year-olds for Morgan.

She was there with Stark, a shortsword in one hand, a small dagger in the other. She was limber and skinny, pretty as ever. She didn"t talk a whole lot to anyone but she seemed to have some sort of kinship with her instructor. Cid still was not permitted to openly ask questions about her but he found little ways around that.

Jack still worked downstairs and took her measurements when her uniform needed altering. She talked to him. And Jack and Stark were friends. So Cid managed to worm information out of Jack. In exchange, Cid took Jack all the latest magazines, cross-words, and news whenever he could and when he was out in one of the towns, he always brought Jack back some nice cigarettes.

"Hey, Highwind! Hurry up." A young man in a dark red uniform like his own poked him in the shoulder. "You"re against me. I"ll get all the good Materia if you take too long." He saluted with his sword and left the practice hall.

"Yeah, yeah, I"m comin"." Cid yanked down a trident and went out.

His opponent, Vivi, was already sticking four Materia in his sword and two in his armband. Cid looked over the remaining Materia. They could use any of it except the Summons. When this had first began, he"d chosen only attack Materia, which had led to an incredibly flashy defeat. So, he"d taken to picking out Barrier and Cure right away for his armband. He also picked out Bolt, Enemy-skill (which was an extremely handy Command materia) and Poison.

"Done?" Mortimer asked. He put down the Materia box and lifted another. "Okay, random accessory. Put your hand in the box. No peeking."

Vivi stuck his hand in and drew out a silver Star Pendant.

Damn, Cid thought, looking down at his Poison Materia, which the Pendant would automatically counter.

Vivi put the pendant on.

Cid stuck his hand in and drew out a Jem Ring, which would protect him from Paralyze, Petrify, and Slow-numb. He stuck the ring on.

Mortimer put the box down and lifted two small bags. "Two random items for both of you."

Cid took his bag. He could feel a potion and a"he wasn"t sure. He looked in the bag. Dream Powder"oh, that"ll put him to sleep. Man, I don"t see those very often.

Suddenly, Mortimer was shouting, "Go!"

Cid jerked his gaze up and stuffed the bag in his pocket just as Vivi threw something at him. Fire exploded all around him. He whipped out his potion and downed it and quickly cast Cure on himself. He mind flickered over the Enemy-Skill.

Flame-thrower, Magic-hammer, Frog Song, and Big Guard. No one has found out what all you can learn with this Materia yet. But, still, not bad.

Going with Enemy-skill was always a gamble. Some of them had no spells, and some only had one, two, three, four, five, or six. Six was the most he"d ever gotten.

Frog Song takes the least out of you"I think.

He reached for it and cast. Casting from Enemy-Skill was always a little tougher because you had to sift through several spells at once and they all wanted to be used.

Vivi dodged him. He was smaller and faster than Cid. Back and forth they went, it seemed to go on and on until Vivi tried casting Poison at the same time Cid cast Flame-thrower. Cid seized up with pain and Vivi slammed back into the wall.

At that point, Mortimer stopped the match. He cast something on Vivi and the boy stirred but dropped his sword. Cid was down on his knees.

"Would have been a double-knock out," Mortimer said, casting Esuna on Cid and leaning down to take the Dream Powder, ring and Materia from him. "You"re both still too preoccupied with attacking directly but not having any solid defense. Cid, you had Barrier but didn"t cast it and Victor, you had a Pendant and seemed to think that would protect you from fire. You got cocky too quick and Cid didn"t think. Up you go to the side. Sabri, you"re up next. And, how about Danny."

Cid limped to the sidelines and leaned against the wall while his body considered shriveling up and turning inside out. Vivi sat next to him. They smiled at each other.

"Next time, I"ll kick you ass."

"Save it for Snow"s class. You still have to beat up Free. He"s a prefect now, y"know."

Cid laughed, tired. "You"re kidding. Maybe he"ll go off to war and get killed."

Vivi snickered.

A couple hours later, Cid parted from Tickie and headed off to meet with the Captain for Electronics and Engineering. He'd been skipped ahead in his class and was fairly proud of it. He took it with upperclassman.

Rain Nix saved him a seat and he gladly sat next to her. "You look like you got beat up," she told him.

"Combat practice in Materia." He grinned, determined to be cool and nonchalant about it. She was a year older than him, after all, and he"d met her so long ago when they"d bumped into each other in the hallway when he was looking for Fletcher. He didn"t want to look like the stupid kid in the middle of all the upperclassmen.

"Well, well," boomed Captain Cetbal. "Sure you"ve heard Midgar is going to war with Wutai. It"ll be interesting to see what"s going to happen. Are any of your parents involved?"

A few hands went up.

"Well, that"s life. Hope they come back alive. I want to see my advanced students after class. Let"s get started."

They were working with heavy-duty gear that day, re-creating and bottling electricity to compare to the compression of Materia. It was interesting work. This class and math had become his favorite subjects, with the exceptions of Materia and Weapons.

Cid had grown several inches, after all, and was filling out with muscle. He enjoyed doing things with his hands and his natural love of competition kept him near the top.

When class had ended, he stretched and stood.

"You have to stay, don't you?" Rain asked.

"Yeah," Cid said. He shrugged and flashed a smile. He watched her leave and then walked over to the Captain, where four other boys and two girls were already gathered.

"This will make one of you happy for certain. Runway is being repaired. So, you seven will be the first to learn to fly the school"s new planes. You don"t have to, of course, but if any of you want to be pilots or want to continue in this field, I"d recommend it. I already gave your names to the Commander for recommendations. You should get your results by tomorrow. If you don"t want to, just tell me"but if you do, hang onto your letters." Captain grinned and nodded at Cid. "I knew you"d be excited."

Cid was beaming. Things were happening so fast lately. His studies and training were going well. Almost too well. It was enough to make him giddy. He didn"t care about any stupid war. He was going to fly.

He ran out of the room when dismissed, flying around the corners of the now-familiar hallways and dead halted. He looked down a passage.

There was a Morgan. She was with a few other girls. Her expression was odd though. Something he couldn"t quite interpret. She glanced over one of the girl"s shoulder and spotted him, standing on tiptoes. She opened her mouth but one of the girls said something to her.

I didn"t know she"d made friends. Cid waved and took off, cheerily racing down a set of stairs to see Jack.

"Do you gotta run your ass off wherever you fuckin" go, boy! Slow down! Goddammit."

"But Jack"Jack we get to fly!"

"Off the roof, hopefully."

Cid laughed. "No, no"Captain said""

"Who"s Captain?"

Cid waved his arms around. "Captain Cetbal! He said they"re repairing the runway and we get to fly the school"s new planes."

Jack gave him an irritable look and looked down at the sock he was darning. "So. If it can"t blow shit up, what"s the point?"

"Aw, but Jack! C"mon! It"s cool!"

Jack grumbled at him like an old dog with a puppy tugging on his ear. "Yeah. Sure. Bet you"re excited. You better be careful or ShinRa will try and get their hands on you."

"But I"m not flying yet. It"ll take lots of time to learn to fly the big ships after I leave this place. I can hardly wait!"

"You wanna be a war pilot?"

"Well".no. But I want to fly."

Jack snickered. "And here Midgar will be disappointed. They"ve already got some Highwinds, they"d want to the whole set. Maybe they"ll get your sister."

"Oh, you mean my dad? Well, yeah, but he"s been out of it for awhile."

Jack glanced up. "And your brother too, or are still angry with him?"

Cid blinked. "Fletcher? But he isn"t out of school yet."

Jack laid down the sock. "I just got his uniform back. Mort told me he just submitted his transfer papers. You brother is going to war, boy. War isn"t ever something to be celebrated."

The boy stared at the older man for a moment and then he scowled. "It"s Fletcher"s choice""

"If you"re gonna make amends, do it now, Highwind. You might end up regretting it if you don"t."

"He"ll be fine. There"ll be time for that later." Cid shrugged.

Jack shook his head, snickered and picked up the sock again. "Famous last words. Do what you like. Good luck. Don"t hit anything."

Cid rolled his eyes and walked away, aggravated. No, I won"t let Jack spoil my mood. He"s so pessimistic. Who cares what Fletcher does?

But across the school, as Morgan sat in an empty closet, hiding, she cried.

Fletcher will go to war and come back just like Dad.

But, for the next two years, Fletcher did not come back. He did not write. Cid and Morgan received word about him through rumors. He had done well at this battle but had sustained injury at another.

Sometimes, Cid"s mother contacted them, although those times were few and far between. She never spoke about their father and she always contacted them separately.

For Cid, there were other things to consider. Mock-battles, personal feuds and grades. He received approval for his recommendation and began flying lessons the next week. Girls were starting to get a little more interesting too. He considered himself far too busy to be concerned about anything else. He was convincing himself that hated his brother, his mother was a burden and he had no reason to worry about anyone but himself.

Meanwhile, Morgan sat in her closet and asked herself, "What did I do wrong?"

-------
It has been months since I wrote the previous chapter and I have been stuck on where to take it. Finally, today, this came to me. So, hopefully, I'll be able to push forward with the plot. This went a little too quickly and some details were left out but I'll be working with that as I'm finally able to get back into the groove. Thank you, to those of you who read this.
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To the Skies