Give Me a Hand
Chapter One: Highwind, We Have a Problem

It was something icy cold that woke me from a damn good dream. I suspected that Shera's cold feet had bumped up against me again, and I was about to give her hell for them, when my senses figured out what it really was.

A hand. Why were Shera's fingers so fucking cold?

"Damn woman, did you put your hand in some fucking ice water?" I asked as I rolled over, ready to tickle the hell out of her and give her a piece of my mind. That woman is perhaps the most ticklish being to ever walk this gods damned green planet. Of course, if I tickled her too much, she knew just where to hide my cigarettes.

Unfortunately, I found out pretty quickly why her hand was so cold. What little I knew about biology- all field knowledge- came and slapped me right in the face. Without blood flowing to it, a hand can get pretty damned cold.

And a good way to cut off the blood flow was to actually... cut off the hand.

"Shit!" I shouted as I threw the severed hand away from me. My immediate thought was that is was some sort of gag for that stunt I pulled for her birthday... but that was long enough ago that she wouldn't try something this elaborate. Besides, she may have been a lab scientist at one point, but she was no fucking Hojo. She'd never be so gods damned morbid about it.

This was just fucked up.

I jumped out of bed, a sudden panic seizing me. If Shera didn't do it... that meant... no. I wouldn't just accept it until I saw her smirking face again. Or didn't. But hell, I didn't want to think of that just yet... I was a hopeful bastard when I wanted to be.

I flew through the house, checking every damn nook and cranny. She wasn't a large woman, so I could see her squeezing into a number of places. But every place I looked... nothing. Gods, I hadn't realized how big this old house was. It took me near two hours to look through it thoroughly enough.

She was nowhere to be found. And I was fucking pissed.

I ran back upstairs and shuffled around the bedroom to find that hand for a clue... anything. I didn't like to feel desperate, but dammit, that woman had the market on Cid Desperation Points. I didn't really want to touch the hand again, dead things were really fucking creepy, but I had to.

It had a ring of hers on; the little turquoise one that I'd jokingly given her just in case no one ever asked her to marry them. Fuck, I hadn't even paid enough attention to notice she actually wore it. How gods damned fucking ironic that I noticed now.

There was also something attached to it. A small slip of paper, tied around her tiny stump of a wrist. There was a bit of writing on it:

Sometimes, sacrifices must be made.

What the hell kind of cryptic shit was that? I flung the hand away from me, disgusted that someone could do this to... damn. Sacrifice... they fucking killed her. Whoever sick bastard they were, they fucking killed her. Sacrifice my ass. This was pure Sephirothian sociopathic behavior.

Well, I bet they weren't counting on this reaction.

I quickly ran back downstairs, and headed straight for my "special" closet. The one that Shera kept trying to reorganize. Well, honey, there was damn good reason I never let you. Sorry for the dishonesty, but there are some secrets an old man has to keep.

I pushed hard on the side wall, after moved the dusty old mop and kicking some unusable machine parts. The familiar click resounded like an old friend. I only wished the circumstances were far less... well shit, I couldn't let it get to me.

Not if I was going to get those sons of bitches.

A few years in the Air Corps had gotten me a number of strange and unusual things. I wasn't any fucking ninja, but I did know how to use a couple of different interesting items... and I had such items squirreled away in my secret stash. Hadn't needed them when I was with Cloud and Company, but damn did I ever need them now.

See, I was a man on a mission. And there's nothing a man on a mission needs more than a fucking huge ass load of weapons. Guns, anti-aircraft missiles... I had a few. I could have used some backup, but most of us had scattered, looking for our own lives.

Vin checked in once in a while, but he'd already had his visit for the year. I didn't expect him for a few months at least. Cloud... no fucking clue. Tifa... somewhere on a beach in some bikini probably. Barret... kid involved. Red... good deductive skills, poor gun handling. Reeve... fucking hell no.

Looked like I was in it alone. Well, I had all night to prepare. I wasn't going anywhere until it was sunrise. I was going to put the fear of... hell, I didn't believe in gods anyway.

Well, I was going to put the fear of Captain Cid Highwind into them. That was for sure.