Sifting Through The Pieces

Final Fantasy and the characters herein are property of Square-Enix. I make nothing off of these stories and have nothing worth sueing for. This story regards a sexual relationship between TWO MALES. If this bothers you, do not read. Thank you.

Sifting Through The Pieces

Prologue

Sequel to Need For Control

By K.Sipesh

After watching the destruction of Meteor from the airship, with tears in his eyes, Cid set the craft down outside of Midgar. He cut the engines and gazed over all those amassed, which noticeably, didn’t include Vincent.

He pulled out a cigarette with a shaking hand and lit up before saying anything. "Okay, guys…look-- I guess we did it and from here I’d really like y’all to get off my ship. I’ve got shit to take care of."

All still being in shock over what had transpired, no one really questioned Cid’s request and silently, they filed off the bridge and to their cabins to retrieve their belongings.

Tifa was the only one who didn’t move to leave and once the others were gone and she was alone with the pilot, she approached him. "Cid?"

"What?" he huffed, doing his best to try and look as though he was busy checking various gauges at the helm.

"You want us all to get off so you can go back to the crater, don’t you?" Tifa asked quietly.

He knit his brow and swallowed hard before turning his eyes to her. "Look, you know as well as I do that there ain’t no one that could’ve survived that blast."

"But you’re still going back there to look for Vincent, aren’t you?" She took a step closer.

Knowing that she was the only one aware of what had been going on between Vincent and he, Cid cracked. "Yeah, I am."

"I’ll go with you, if you want."

Cid shook his head and looked away. "No, I wanna be alone."

Tifa then understood. He believed Vincent to be dead and from having seen the way the gunman had turned into Chaos then to be knocked from the air by Sephiroth and cast into the depths of the crater, she supposed he was right. Vincent hadn’t re-emerged, and he’d never gotten back on the airship. Besides, as she had said before, there was no way that anyone could have survived the blast that followed their escape. Tifa knew that Cid needed to go alone-- to say his goodbyes and mourn. He wasn’t the type of man that would do so in the presence of others. She would respect that and leave with the others.

Cid was caught a little off guard when Tifa closed the remaining distance between them and threw her arms around him, kissing him gently on the cheek. Being in her embrace caused something to snap and a few tears managed to fall from his eyes and he drew in a jagged breath.

Tifa felt him in danger of breaking down and held him a little tighter. "I want you to call me whenever you do get home, okay? I need to know that you’re going to be all right."

Cid closed his eyes for a moment, gathering the last of his bravado for her before stepping out of her embrace. "Yeah, I’ll do that."

"Okay, then. I’ll get out of your hair." Tifa offered him one last smile and then walked from the bridge.

The pilot remained in his spot, until he saw the others all outside of the airship and on the ground through the view window. They milled around for a bit, adjusting their packs and talking, before walking toward Midgar together.

Once they were a safe distance away, Cid looked over at one of his helmsmen. "Morris, get this thing back in the air and get us to the crater again."

The man offered his captain a curt nod and came over to take control of the ship as Cid slogged from the bridge and back toward his room. He was going to break and didn’t want anyone to see it. The notion that he’d finally gotten through to Vincent just a few days before only to lose him like this was cutting through him. Soon, he found himself running the rest of the way to his cabin as the tears ran free and his heart broke.

There was just no way that anyone could have survived in that crater, or so he thought.