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

Disk 01: Chapter 28: Dinner With Dio

Yuffie asked "Why you so excited? You act like you've seen it or something."

"I have."

"What!?" "Seriously!?" "When!?" "Where!?" Everyone was shouting at once.

Cid began to explain. "You all know about the Gongaga reactor explosion, right?"

"Yeah. We were actually in Gongaga not long ago." I answered.

"Good. Well, the thing is that back when the damned thing blew I was still on Shinra's payroll as a pilot. I got assigned to fly in the accident investigators. Of course, we couldn't land in the town or at the reactor itself. Too much frickin' mako radiation. I had to land in a field a few miles to the north, then wait until the investigation was over."

"Sounds boring." Yuffie said.

"Hold up squirt, that's where I'm going with this." Cid said. "It was boring alright... Boring as all hell. So after a few days I went out exploring ta kill the time. That's when I found the shop... See, there was this guy, a weapons merchant. Weirdest guy I'd ever met, at least until I ran afoul o' the lot of you... Had his shop out in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, he had this thing in the shop, under glass in a trophy case."

"You are certain?" Vincent asked.

"Totally. That's it alright."

"Strange that there's no record of him owning it." Tifa said.

"Well, I don't think he knew what it was." Cid answered. "Anyway I guess we should go there right?"

"Absolutely." Cloud replied.

"Speaking of going there..." I said. "We're still underway."

"So?" Cid asked.

I answered "So if you're back here, who's in the pilot's seat?"

Cid's eyes opened wide as he swore and rushed back to the cockpit...

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We arrived at Gongaga a few days later and hiked north to the shop. It was a well-maintained structure, with prominent signs on the roof and loudspeakers announcing the latest deals on new weapons and ammunition. "Nice shop." Barrett said. "But what's it doin' way in da hell out here? The guy can't get much business... This is the ass-end o' nowhere."

"Told you he was frickin' weird." Cid answered.

"Let's just talk to the man and hope he's willing to part with it." Cloud said.

A bell dinged as we entered the shop. From the back came a voice saying "Welcome! I'll be with you in just a moment, feel free to look around!" We did so briefly, and were surprised by the extent and quality of the shop's goods. More surprising though, was the fact that the isolated shop really was getting business. A dozen other customers were browsing the aisles. Cid led the way to the trophy case which was in an alcove at the back. But when we got there...

"It's gone!" Cid exclaimed staring at the empty case.

"A valid, if simple, observation." Red answered dryly.

The shopkeeper came around the corner a moment later and smiled when he saw Cid. "Captain Highwind! What a surprise, welcome back!"

"You remember me?" Cid asked.

"Oh sure, I make it a point to remember all of my guests. What can I do for you?"

"Well... We was wonderin' about the stone thing you had in this case..."

"Oh dear... I'm sorry Captain. I'm afraid you missed it by a couple of weeks. Honestly I hadn't planned on selling it at all, but a buyer came in that I couldn't say no to. Literally, I was terrified of him, not a man you refuse."