I Never Let Her Die! (Aerith x Male Gamer Reader)

Disk 01: Chapter 22: Love and Rocket(s) Town

Grasslands. Open plains. Bright cloudless sky. For the first three days after leaving Mount Nibel, that was all we could see ahead of us, or to either side. On the fourth day the mountain's summit slipped below the horizon behind us, and still there was nothing else to be seen but the narrow dirt road leading the way towards Rocket Town.

"Man." Yuffie began to complain. "Couldn't Shinra have built this place a little less out of the way?"

"I suspect that out of the way was the entire point." Red answered.

Cait agreed. "Exactly Lad. You see, when a rocket with enough thrust to reach orbit takes off, there's a tremendous shockwave. Anyone too close could actually die just from the pressure, and even miles and mile away you'd have the risk of property damage."

"I guess that makes sense." Yuffie nodded.

Following closely behind them, Aerith and I were side by side, 'speaking' silently to each other. "So, you said we were gonna get one last team member in this town?" she asked. "What's he like?"

"Cid?" I had a hard time not laughing out loud. "Oh man, how can I describe Cid? He's ex-Shinra, a pilot who planned to be Gaia's first astronaut. Didn't work out yet, but he's gonna get his chance. What I should warn you about is, his language. Seriously, he makes Barrett's mouth seem like the mouth of a saint."

Aerith stared at me in disbelief. "I grew up in the slums Y/N. I've heard it all. And that still doesn't seem possible..."

"Heh. You'll see."

"I'm not sure I want to."

I stepped closer, put an arm around her waist. "For whatever it's worth, most of Cid's blusterous exterior is just that: bluster. Deep down underneath it all he's actually a pretty good guy. In any case it's Shinra that matters. Rufus should be in town when we arrive, so lemme fill you in on what we should expect..."

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Two days more and the pinnacle of the Launchpad peaked into view over the northern horizon. We came to the base of the pad a couple of hours later. Shinra number twenty-six was in a sad state, rusted, decaying, slanted at an alarming angle. "I had heard there was some kind of disaster during the final launch attempt." Cait said, staring up at the rocket. "It's why Shinra cut the funding."

"Damned shame too." Tifa said. "This was the one that would've actually put a person up there. Just like Shinra to worry about costs at the last minute..."

"When did this happen?" Yuffie asked.

"I'm not sure exactly." Tifa answered. "It was right around the time the war ended though. Why?"

Yuffie scowled up at the rocket. "Because that's your answer, I'll bet."

Half the group didn't follow what Yuffie meant by that remark. The rest of us just stared at her. "Aw crud, she's right." I said. "It makes perfect sense in context."

"What does?" Tifa asked. "I'm not following you..."

"Neither am I." Cloud admitted.

"The rockets." I said. "Shinra never really wanted a space program, did they? It was all about developing rockets powerful enough to use as ballistic missiles against Wutai. Then when the war ended, they didn't need that anymore. So they scrubbed the program, in spite of it's potential, at the first excuse."

"Their list of crimes just gets longer and longer with each passing day." Red said, shaking his head.

"So where's the town?" Tifa asked.

"Remember what the cat said about the takeoff blast..." Barrett told her. "The town'd have ta' be outta range."

"The road continues on." Aerith pointed out. "Should we follow?"