Of War and Bubbles: The Pilot Experiment

Cid sighed and glanced at the clock from where he sat on the bridge of his ship. Twelve o'clock, midnight he had been up since midnight the previous day going through paper work, getting everything in order for his next load of cargo. He had been staring at the page in front of him for at least an hour, the words all seemed to be bleeding into one another.

"Christ." He muttered squinting at the paper.

"One hundred kilos of bat dung." He muttered trying to read the document out loud.

He paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

"Bat dung?"

He reread the line several times, coming out with the same results. He shook his head.

"They are paying good money for their bat crap, who am I to deny 'em."

He signed the bottom of the paper, and made a small note to keep the dung far away from the cabins. He rose to his feet slowly throwing the papers onto the consol.

He stretched his back carefully feeling his joints pop.

"I'm getting to old for this shit." He muttered.

He was one of the oldest members of AVALANCHE, although if any of the members dared to mention the blond pilots age they would get a fist to the face. It wasn't that he was necessarily sensitive about his age as he was enraged when people pried into his personal life.

He slowly made his way down the hall to his cabin, making no sound. He had long ago trained himself how to walk around his ship with out alerting anyone to his presence. It thrilled him to no end when he was able to sneak up on people one of the many simple pleasures of being a Capitan. He walked into his room, grabbing a towel and a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom.

He opened the door to the bathroom and switched on the light, closing the door behind him. As his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness he saw that the bathroom had not been cleaned out. There were bottles and candles littered around. A pink bottle in the shape of a pony sat on the edge of the tub.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

He cautiously approached the tub, eyeing the bottle. He plucked up the bottle to get a better look at it.

"Bubble man bubble bath, now with twenty percent more bubbles and a fresh lavender scent."

Lavender. That was a flower wasn't it? He popped open the lid and took a deep breath in.

"Not bad." He said with a shrug.

He glanced around the floor. A CD player lay in the corner next to the tub, candles lined around. He leaned down and popped open the CD player and glanced inside. Enya's "Amaranthine" sat inside.

"Nice." He said approvingly, a smile forming on his lips.

Cloud could not sleep. He was prone to nightmares. Considering his past that was not too surprising. He would wake up in a cold sweat the images of the dying or dead staying fresh at the front of his mind. Tonight was no exception. After years of dealing with these dreams, Cloud had found the best way to get over them was to take a nice hot shower. Afterwards he usually was able to return to sleep. He walked to the bathroom door, shaking the knob to test if it was locked. It was not so he pushed it open. It was only once he was inside that he realized some one else was residing in the tub.

"Oh sorry the door was-"

Cloud broke off his eyes finally landing on Cid. All of the words he was planning on saying fled from his mind. He always knew Cid was a very eccentric man but seeing the man sitting in an ocean of bubbles, cigarette hanging from his mouth, humming along to Enya was just too much.

Cid seemed more than content to ignore Cloud's presence and continued to hum along with the song.

"That looks nice." Cloud managed to get out in attempt to break what he felt was an uncomfortable silence.

Cid grunted; smoke spilling out of his nostrils.

Cloud, too stunned to think or move simply stared at the man before him.

"Kid either get in or leave."

Cid's voice broke into his thoughts.

Cloud smiled slightly.

"Uh, no thanks."

Cid smiled, still not looking at Cloud.

"No problem. Then get the fuck out of here before I have to throttle you!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow, his smile growing wider.

"Good night Cid." He said as he turned to leave.

"Night kid." Cid said as Cloud closed the door.

Vincent rarely slept; he had had enough during his thirty years of solitude. When traveling on the Highwind he would often volunteer to take the night shift to watch over the ship. Cid had agreed to this after much persuasion and coarse language. After a while Cid even began to stay up late to keep him company for a few hours while the others had retired for the night. Earlier that evening when he had spoken to Cid the man had mentioned the fact that he had piles of paper work that needed to be done the before the following morning. He figured he could keep his friend company for a few hours, maybe even lighten the load, so he headed to the bridge.

As he turned the corner to head to the bridge he saw Cloud walking towards his room, a huge smile on his face, chuckling to himself. Vincent raised an eyebrow and approached him carefully. Cloud did not seem to register his presence until he was nearly standing in front of him. Cloud looked up sharply and graced Vincent with a rarely seen smile.

"What has put you in such a fine mood at this hour?" Vincent asked.

Cloud's smile grew wider and he inclined his head back in the direction he had come from.

"Go check on Cid." He said simply. He then turned and walked back into his and Tifa's room.

"Good night Vincent."

"Good night."

After making sure that Cloud returned to his room and shut the door Vincent headed down the hallway that lead to the bathroom.

"Cid." Vincent called.

"In here, Vinny!"

Vincent had long ago stopped trying to correct Cid when it came to his name. The more he expressed his dislike for the nickname the more Cid would use it. It was better just to try and ignore it, now it was beginning to grow on him. He opened the door and stepped inside. Nothing could quite prepare him for what he saw. After a few moments of silent observation, which included listening to Cid sing a full song along with Enya, Vincent felt the need to break the silence.

"Cid, what are you doing?"

Cid cracked an eye open to glance at his friend.

"What the hell does it look like?"

Vincent peered into the tub.

"Bubbles, and what appears to be a purple rubber bird."

"Duck."

"Sorry, duck."

Cid nodded his head.

"Want to join me?"

"No."

"You sure, it feels really good."

"Cid I'm sure it is heavenly but there is no way I would ever get in that tub with you."

Cid eyed the tub for a moment thoughtfully.

"Just as well I suppose, don't know where you would sit."

Vincent nodded.

"Good night Cid."

He turned and headed for the door.

"Night Vinny."

Vincent closed the door and headed off to his own room leaving Cid to enjoy his bath in solitude. As he reached his bedroom door he heard Cid's voice one again join in song with that of Enya.