Prelude To Perfection - BONUS
H'okay folks, how ya holdin' up?? We're currently workin' on Perfection, and I think we've kinda figured out what in the hell we're doing, *laughs and discretely crosses fingers* and wouldn't it figure the first thing we zero in on is curl-your-toes hot smex *laughs*. Anyway *waves hand dismissively* I digress...
So, you know how DVD's have all those kewl little bonus features? Well, we do too. And for those of you reading this...yer special 'cause I'm not posting this in any comms *winks*. As you read through this you'll get a feeling for our personal writing styles, and if you feel so inclined, don't hessitate to let us know what you think when you compare this to Prelude to Perfection! So really what follows is the piece that is directly responsible for spawing this Valenwind epic. Silence and I were chatting one day and she asked me if I'd bat around an RP with her using one of her drabbles that she had started. I shrugged on my end and said "sure, why not right?" So she sent me just one paragraph and I wrote a replying paragraph, and the rest is well-read history! ^^
I would also like to include a LINK to ani_mama's beautiful pic that she drew, inspired by the very last paragraph of Prelude to Perfection...you, my dear, are our inspiration. Thank You so very very much!! ^^
And now for a:
Note from Silence: As promised, here is the "bonus chapter," otherwise known as the solo pre-writing for this before I looked at it and said, "There could be a lot more to this." I sent Cal just the little bit you'll recognize from the beginning chapter of Prelude to Perfection, and kept the rest from her until we were...I think two chapters in. She was all "whoa," and I was all "whoa," and you guys are probably all "whoa, she's a lot better when she has help." So yeah, thank Cal for that bit :D. And enjoy this little...thing ^^
So without further ado, and with Silences' permission, I give you:
Title: Untitled
Author: silence_laughs
Rating: PG-13 (Cid-speak)
Pairing: Cid x Vincent (if you squint and tilt your head just so)
Disclaimer: All FFVII characters and locations and shit therein belong to Squeenix, the actual fiction claims Silence as it's mommy and I'm just...well...posting it XDD
Please scroll up to read the "Intro" stuff and get a link to a picture drawn by the wonderful ani_mama that was inspired by Prelude to Perfection!!!
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“You really think you’re somethin’, don’t ya, Valentine? All that an’ a bag o’ chips, huh?” Cid sneered.
Vincent made no response, exactly as Cid had expected.
“Yeah, I know what y’re thinkin’. Think y’re better’n us ’cause the big scary madman locked y’away in the big dark basement, dontcha?” Vincent did not even blink. Fitting. No, perfect. “Think y’re th’only one of us got a reason t’hate ‘em? Think y’re th’only one t’have a score t’settle? Think again. Look around ya, Valentine! Why the hell y’think we’re all here? We all got somethin’ drivin’ us t’get this done. An’ you,” Cid snorted disdainfully, “actin’ like we ain’t worth nothin’. Well let me tell ya this- you ain’t no better’n us. Y’ain’t worth no more’n any of us.”
Vincent continued to stare, mute and unmoving. Cid poked him in the chest with the wooden handle of his spear.
“An’ y’don’t mean a damn thing t’me. Nossir, no more’n the rest of ‘em. So don’t go thinkin’ that, either. We don’t need you. So quit actin’ like we do. Quit thinkin’ we’re obligated t’save yer ass. F’it was up t’me, we’d leave ya here. Woulda left ya last time. Hell, I wouldn’t’a even gone through the trouble o’ gettin’ y’outta the damn coffin if I’d’a known how much trouble y’were gonna be. Tch.”
He turned away from Vincent and spat on the ground. “An’ another thing. It’s a real shame- no, no, it’s a damn crime fer someone t’look so good an’ have no personality. A real waste o’ …attractiveness. Don’t look at me like that-” (Vincent’s gaze had not shifted in the least) “-I ain’t sayin’ I want nothin’ t’do with ya. Ain’t you been listenin’ t’me at all? Pfft.”
Tifa’s voice broke Cid’s rant. “Cid? How long does it take to give him a remedy?”
“Shut up, dammit! M’workin’ on it! You,” he addressed Vincent, “don’t be laughin’ at me!”
Though Vincent couldn’t move, Cid was absolutely right about the laughter. Mentally, he was laughing harder than he had in a while, and Cid’s scolding only served to increase his amusement. Still, it would be best for him to get himself under control before his condition was reversed.
“Now look here, Valentine, I don’t think you get it.” Dammit, I’m runnin’ outta things t’say. “I’ll letcha go fer now, but no more o’ that gettin’ yerself inta trouble mess, a’ right? Might not save ya next time.”
“Cid! Hurry up, would you? We need to move!”
“M’workin’ on it, I said! Damn!” he called back, and poured the remedy down Vincent’s throat.
Suddenly able to move again, Vincent swallowed, wiped his mouth, and looked at Cid seriously. “My apologies. I never intended to worry you.”
“Worry- What? The hell’re you talkin’ about? Didn’t you just hear me talkin’?”
“Yes. I heard you quite firmly assuring yourself that I am of no importance whatsoever to you.”
“That’s right. So what the hell makes y’think I’d bother worryin’ about ya?”
Vincent dropped his eyes. “Normally, when a man needs to assure himself of a thing so violently, he is lying to himself.”
“Wasn’t talkin’ t’m’self! Was talkin’a you!”
“Then tell me this- a moment ago, when I suggested you were reassuring yourself, you agreed. Why, if that is not the case?”
Cid, flustered and growing angry, sputtered, “Y’damn fool idiot sonofa-”
“Besides,” Vincent cut in, “you never said that you, personally, do not need me.”
“What the- I just thought that’d be too, uh, cruel. Yeah, that’s it.”
“Hm. Crueler that stating that I have no personality?”
“Yeah, a’ right, that was a lie. Y’have one. It just stinks.”
“Mm. And what of your desire for me?”
“Wha- I tolja I ain’t got none! You asshole, you didn’t listen at all, didja?”
“Quite the contrary; I listened to you more carefully than you listened to yourself.”
“What the- fuck you, Valentine,” he exclaimed, and walked away with his hands in the air.
Vincent smirked. Messing with Cid’s mind was proving to be quite entertaining. Then again, most things involving Cid were entertaining on principle.
With everyone back together, the group headed back through the forest to the Highwind.
“Hey, Vince.”
“Hm?”
“C’n you teach me how t’do that?”
“How to do what?”
“Read minds an’ shit.”
“I can’t read minds, Highwind.”
“Sure ya can! Y’did it earlier.” He grinned brightly until he realized what he’d said. “Aw, shit.”
“Hm,” was the only reply Vincent gave before swishing his cape and walking away briskly. Cid watched, open-mouthed in his frustration at being ignored.
Back on the Highwind, he rested the elbow of the arm holding his cigarette on the railing and exhaled loudly.
When heard the distinct click of Vincent’s boots behind him, he suddenly felt the need to apologize for his earlier behavior. Not fond of admitting his mistakes, he decided to start with conversation. “Vince?”
“Hm?”
“You scared?”
“Of…?”
“What’s gonna happen. Meteor an’ shit. I know I am.”
“Fear of the unknown is natural.”
“So y’are?”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“I am unnatural, remember?” he asked dryly. “As for fear, I am…indifferent. If the world is ending, let it end. I can only hope I will be allowed to die, preferably beside all of you.”
“Y’d wanna die with us?”
“It is better than dying alone.”
“What’s it matter? Y’die, y’re dead.”
“Sometimes the last moments are the most important.”
“Y’know what, Valentine? You are one weird-ass sonofabitch.”
“Perhaps.”
“Hey.”
Vincent felt a smile beginning to form. “Hm?”
“I uh, well, uh, y’know.”
“Not at all. I have no idea.”
Cid snorted and shot a glare at Vincent. “Y’sure do make this difficult, y’know? Shit,” he groaned. “Guess I hafta actually say it, huh?”
“If you want me to respond, yes.”
“So y’really can’t read minds, huh?”
“Of course not.”
“Jus’ wanted t’say m’sorry.”
“For what?”
“Fussin’ atcha earlier. Shouldn’t’a done that. An’, y’know, didn’t mean most of it.”
“Would you think me odd if I said I enjoyed spending that time with you?”
“I’d think y’were out o’ yer fuckin’ mind.”
“Hm. I did enjoy it, all the same. We have not spent much time getting to know one another, and that was an excellent opportunity.”
“So, uh, hey.”
“Hm?”
“Now that…now that y’know me a little better an’ all, think y’could ever maybe forgive me fer bein’ an asshole?”
“Now that I know you a bit better, I know that if I could not forgive that, I would hold a grudge against your very existence. As it stands, I am rather grateful for your company.”
“…M’just gonna take that as an all around compliment.”
“Hm.”
“An’, uh, m’sorry ‘bout sayin’ we don’t need ya.”
“There is no need to concern yourself with that. Did you worry that it may have driven me back to Nibelheim?”
“A little, yeah.”
“I have no desire to end my association with all of you just yet.”
Cid chuckled. “Not just yet, huh? How long y’gonna hang on?”
“I suppose at least until we find Hojo.”
“Hm. What’d he do to ya, anyhow?”
“He made me what I am.”
“An’ what’s that?”
“A monster.”
“Monster? You? Nah. Monsters’re what hide in the closet an’ under the bed. You’re just…eccentric.”
“Eccentric and demon-possessed.”
“Oh, is that what y’meant? Don’t worry ‘bout that. We all got demons, Vince. Yours’re just a little more obvious.”
“Hmph.”
“Say.”
“Hm?”
“You think I’ll ever make inta space?”
“I am quite certain you will.”
“Yeah? Why?”
“You have the power to realize your dreams so long as you do not forget them.”
“Think so, huh? Well, we’ll see about that. F’you ain’t right, I’ll haunt ya after I die. How’s that?”
“I look forward to it, my friend.”
“Huh?”
“Hm. It will be nice to have some company for my eternity here.”
“Eternity?”
“I am…not alive. I cannot be killed as long as Chaos resides in me. So, if you want to haunt me, I will wait for you.”
“Meetcha at yer coffin.”
“Very well. If I catch wind of your death, I will hurry there.”
“Heh. You really are one weird guy. Kinda like that, I think. Y’oughta make fer good company fer eternity.”
“Highwind?”
“Cid.”
“Cid, then.”
“What?”
“You are welcome to haunt me even if your dreams do come true.”
“Sure thing, buddy. Hey, does that work, ya think?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wouldn’t I need some unfinished business or somethin’? I mean, if y’lied, I have a reason. But if I make it…well, then what’s gonna keep me here?”
Vincent pondered the question, more amused than seriously considering. As far as he was concerned, ghosts never manifested themselves in physical form. “If you make it into space, I will wear a pink ball gown and curl my hair, and accompany you to a public outing of your choice.”
“What the- oh, ‘cause y’d never do that in a hundred- ever. I get it. A’ right. That’s a deal. See ya then, I guess.”
Cid walked away, headed for bed, but Vincent remained, still smiling faintly. No, ghosts did not need physical forms. He knew that Cid Highwind would haunt him forever, unfinished business or not.