Bird Strike
Part Two

Rating: PG
Category: AU
Pairing(s): Cid/Vincent, Zack/Sephiroth.
Warnings: Body parts
Summary: All’s well that ends well.
Notes: Ficlet for silvarbelle, who wanted some Cid/Vin.

Illustration by Animama

If you haven't read Part One yet, click here.

“I’ve had way better vacations,” Zack grumbled as he sat in the helm of the Highwind.

His husband had evolved up from an ant colony to a collection of mindless flying things roughly an inch long, wings a droning blur as a cloud of mini Sephiroths buzzed aimlessly, occasionally crashing into each other and becoming a larger Sephiroth. Zack sighed heavily as he watched the slow graceless acrobatics. He was so gonna make Cid pay for this.

Meanwhile, Cid was sitting in his own room, watching as Vincent slowly recovered from his catastrophic adventure. He reached out one large, calloused hand to gently stroke the long black hair, feeling his heart break as Vincent made a tiny inquisitive sound.

“You’re gonna be okay, baby. You’re gonna be just fine. I’m here.”

Vincent repeated the sound, and Cid lowered his head to kiss the pale white skin. At least Vincent would heal, and be the same as he ever was. And if he wanted to chase the airship like a dolphin in the sea that was fine, he could chase it all he liked. Cid had put bird strike prevention screens over anything big enough to suck in a Valentine.

“Thought I lost you,” Cid whispered. “Thought you were gone forever. Then I would have been alone for the rest of my life. I’m too much of an asshole to get lucky twice.”

Vincent briefly opened his eyes, then seemed to sink back into unconsciousness once more. Then the door to the small room opened.

“Dad I’m hungry,” said Benji.

Cid nodded, and slowly began getting out of bed, careful not to jar Vincent. “All right. We’ll go barbecue something on the beach.”

“Is Mom gonna be okay?”

“Yes, he is,” said Cid. “So don’t you worry. Your mom will be just fine. He’s probably gonna be mad at me for a week, but he’ll be fine.”

“Well ya did run him through an engine,” said Benji.

“Don’t remind me,” said Cid, rising to his feet and turning to make sure Vincent was covered. “What do you want for lunch?”

“How about ground beef?” Benji asked innocently.

Cid gave the child a sidelong look. “Benji how would you like to be abandoned on this island for the rest of your life?”

“Never happen. Gramma would hex you so your butt fell off.” Benji’s eyes suddenly grew wide. “Dad! When Gramma finds out what you did to Mom she’s gonna hex you so your butt falls off!”

“Relax, Gramma is not gonna find out what I did to Mom. I hope.”

“But Gramma knows everything! She has eyes in the back of her head.”

“Oh she does not!” said Cid.

“She DOES! She showed me!”

“Those are just fake googly eyes she uses to scare you. She’s a weird old bird.”

“THEY BLINK!”

Cid just sighed. “Tell me what you want for lunch.”

“Aiden and I gathered a bunch of oysters and stuff. Can you make fish chowder?”

“You can’t barbecue chowder!”

“Dad, if anyone could barbecue soup, you could.”

Cid picked the small boy up and placed him on the bed. “Keep your mom company. I’ll make you some fish chowder.”

“Dad?”

“Yeah Benji?”

“Mom really is gonna be okay, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” said Cid firmly in a quiet tone. “He’s going to be just fine. Just like the time Aiden fell down the stairs and broke his arm. It was really scary but he got better.”

Benji nodded. “Okay. But what about Sephiroth?”

“He’s going to be just fine too. It was a bad scary accident, but everyone will be okay. I promise.”

“Okay Dad. If you say so.”

“I do say so,” said Cid. “So you just stay with Mommy. I’ll make lunch.”

Cid left the room and stepped into the hall, pausing to watch a three inch long Sephiroth lazily drone by, with a full sized Zack chasing after it with a butterfly net.

“Highwind I am gonna personally beat the hell out of you,” Zack grumbled.

“Wanna borrow my fly swatter?”

“NO! Look, just catch him before he gets away!”

Cid picked up an old jar, half full of metal nuts and dumped out the contents, then managed to gently trap the tiny creature, closing his hand over the top.

“There. One busy buzzy Sephiroth-bug.”

“Uh… Cid? I’d be… really careful….”

Cid raised an eyebrow. “Why? He’s three inches long, what’s he gonna BLOODY FUCKING MOTHER SHITCAKES THAT FUCKING HURT!”

“Told ya,” said Zack as the tiny Sephiroth in a jar made ready to drive his masamune blade into Cid’s hand once more.

“TAKE THE LITTLE SHIT!”

Zack did, taking the jar and holding it close to his chest. “Well he wouldn’t be so testy if you hadn’t run him through a blender.”

Cid yanked off his heavy leather glove to stare at the hole in his hand. “Take your bug and buzz off. In honour of his latest manifestation I’m gonna stop calling him Sephiroth and start calling him Buggeroph.”

“You’re a lousy human being, Cid.”

“You’re welcome. I’m making fish chowder, you want some?”

“You making biscuits to go with it?”

“Of course.”

“Okay,” said Zack. “But say you’re sorry to my bug!”

Cid regarded the proffered jar containing the mini-roph sourly, then removed the cigarette from his mouth.

“I’m sincerely sorry that you’re a bug.”

Zack just sighed and rolled his eyes, taking his jar and heading back to the helm. Once safely inside he let the “bug” fly free. Some of the Sephy-bugs were getting decidedly large. However none of them seemed to contain the brain. They were clonking into walls, windows, and each other, droning aimlessly in all directions like the ball in an old Atari video game. Oh well. At least they were getting bigger.

“You guys hungry?” he asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag of Cheez-its. He opened the bag, noticing the treats were pretty badly crushed, but he didn’t think the tiny creatures would mind. Zack held up the bag, and seconds later was violently mobbed by tiny buzzing Sephiroths.

“GUYS! Don’t run me over! Geeze I wish you were bigger and not in bits all over the room.” He sighed quietly. “Just hurry up and come back to me, you know I don’t like being without you.”

***---***

“Baby?” said Zack softly. “How are you feeling?”

It had taken almost three days, but Sephiroth was at last whole and himself. He was standing before the mirror in the small ship-board cabin, checking himself over.

“I seem to be whole, but I admit to being concerned.”

“About what?”

“About that,” said Sephiroth, pointing to the last droning sephy-bug, cruising aimlessly around the room. “It refuses to rejoin.”

“Are you sure you want it to?” said Zack as the inch-long creature bonked into a window.

“Well I’d really rather not lose track of it until I know what it’s for,” said Sephiroth. “Catch it and put it in a jar with some holes in the lid. I don’t want it getting hurt.”

Zack gently captured the tiny creature with the formidable stinger. “I’ll set up a terrarium for him. What should we call him?”

Sephiroth delicately arched one eyebrow. “Well we’re not calling him Buggeroph.”

“So you heard that.”

“I did. I would extract a pound of flesh for that remark if it came from anyone other than Cid. There really is no point in taking vengeance on the mindless.”

“He was truly upset by the accident,” said Zack softly. “He’s a good man under that hard outer crust. You know that just the idea of doing anything that would affect his kids or cost him Vincent would make him ill. He’s been through hell these last few days. He just refuses to let anyone see it.”

“I know. But he still needs his ass kicked.”

Zack smiled, then drew back the covers on the bed. “Come here. I missed you.”

Sephiroth slipped out of his clothes and got into bed beside Zack. “I missed you too. And don’t worry. I would never hurt Cid. Torment him slightly. Never hurt him.”

“Would really like to know what that one lone sephy-bug is for, though,” said Zack, drawing his lean beautiful husband close.

“Well I’m sure whatever it is, I don’t need it. I hope.”

In the room next to Zack and Sephiroth’s, Cid lay in bed with his own healing little bird, holding Vincent to his chest, stroking his hand over the long tangled black hair as Vincent huddled close.

“I’m sorry,” said Cid quietly. “I really am very very sorry. I almost died when you…”

Vincent yawned, then raised his head to place a soft kiss on Cid’s lips. “It’s over. Let’s just forget about it.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“Forgiveness is overrated, Cid. But if it’s important to you…. Yes I forgive you, even though there really isn’t anything to forgive. You told me numerous times not to fly with the ship in case that very thing happened.”

“I know, but if I hadn’t yelled at you it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Yelled…?” Vincent frowned in thought. “Cid we didn’t go into the engine because you yelled. We got kicked in by some turbulence. You must have felt it.”

“Well I felt the ship drop for a moment, but I thought it was you guys going through the fan blades.”

“Well it may have been, but you yelling and us going into the engine was a coincidence. No it was exactly what you always warned me it would be; a freak gust of wind came along and we were thrown into the engine. I shouldn’t have been flying beside the ship.”

Cid held Vincent a little more tightly, gently nuzzling the top of his head. “It doesn’t matter. You’re okay. That’s all that’s important. I couldn’t go on without you.”

Vincent smiled, and kissed him softly. “You never will have to, Cid. I love you.”

The door suddenly flew open, and Zack appeared, wearing only his shorts and carrying a butterfly net.

“Did it come in here?”

Cid swore loudly. “Zack what are you doing?”

“The last sephy-bug got loose. I think it came in… THERE IT IS!” Zack lunged after the tiny creature, deftly catching it in the net. “HAH! Caught you, you little shit! Thought you could get away, didn’t you? Come on, back to the jar. We have to get you all nice and happy and full of honey so you can rejoin Daddy. He looks pretty damned silly right now without a left nipple.”