New Appreciations

Sunny with a Chance of Nostalgia

Cid lay on the ground, panting heavily. He turned and saw Shera lying in the grass nearby, and pulled himself over to her. “Hey, girl, you ok?” “Ugh.” She opened her eyes and slowly dragged herself to her feet. “The Highwind,” she began. “It’s gone,” muttered Cid. Shera remained silent. “Anyway, we’re alive, which is better than nothing.” He looked around. “Think I owe you an apology, Shera. Givin’ you all that crap about not flyin’ the ship right, then I go and crash the goddamn thing into a cliff.”

Shera shook her head. “No, it was my fault, I distracted-!” “Would you stop blamin’ yourself for every damn thing that happens around here??” Cid roared. “It’s not yer fault! Now siddown and shaddup!” He started pacing around in circles as Shera slowly sat down and stared at him. “You’ve…changed…” she commented, watching him. “Dunno what yer talkin’ about,” he muttered. “Yes…” He turned on her. “Yes what??” She shook her head. “Nothing.”

He turned away again. “I’m gonna go and see if I can find somewhere to park our asses for a while. Gotta be some kind of settlement around here. Wait here.” He stormed off into the woods, and Shera watched where he’d gone for some time, looking thoughtful.

Cid stormed on through the forest underbrush for a good 30 minutes before realizing that there wasn’t any benefit to acting like a raging elephant. He plunked down on the ground and sighed heavily. “Stupid Shera, doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” But he knew she was right. He had changed. Something had happened to him, and he didn’t know what it was. “People change,” he said to himself. “Fact of life.”

He got up again and walked on, more calmly. He walked on for a while longer, lost in thought. “Wonder if-AAAAH!” Cid fell forward, barely catching himself and throwing himself backwards just in time to avoid tumbling down into a gaping chasm in the earth. “What the-??” He stared down into the chasm, suddenly recognizing it for what it was. “Well, if it isn’t an old friend,” he muttered.

He was standing on the edge of the place where the temple of the ancients had been. I’ve got a lot of old memories from this place, he thought. Wonder if all that stuff is true, if dead people really ‘travel back to the planet.’ He wasn’t sure whether or not he believed it, but he said, “Hey there, Aeris,” anyway. Then he sighed again, and headed back to where Shera was waiting.

* * *

Shera was still sitting by herself when Cid arrived on the scene. “Ah,” he began, “Can’t really find any civilization around here, figure we’ll just wait until someone comes for a tourist visit to pick us up.” She nodded, still very quiet. “Yeah, what’s wrong?” He felt oddly annoyed with her, sitting there, seemingly unconcerned, while they were stranded on some island somewhere with no towns or cities anywhere, surrounded by wide ocean. “Why don’t you say anything.”

Shera seemed to snap to life. “Oh, I’m…sorry. I’m just…nothing. Nevermind.” She seemed detached, disturbed by something. Cid blew out a breath. “Aight, whatever. Anyway, we should settle down somewhere for the night. Make some kind of camp. Don’t really want to see any fire again for a while, but we’ll have to make one, gets mighty cold this time of year.” He started off towards the temple of the ancients, and looked over his shoulder when he didn’t hear her footsteps behind him. “C’MON!”

Shera turned and stared into the sky for a moment, then ran off behind him. “Coming!”

Go on to Chapter 5