It'll Be Great

Shera half-dragged Airica throughout the stretch of Rocket Town, until finally they stopped in front of a rather large house. Airica recognized it as belonging to the richest man in town, the head engineer from the Shinra project. Shera glanced at her excitedly before raising her hand to knock on the huge door.

The door swung open and a large, bouncy woman immediately rushed out and swept Shera up into a hug. “I’m so glad you could make it, hon! Come on in!”

The woman’s face fell a little when she looked at Airica, but she recovered quickly and plastered that overbearing smile back on her face. She grasped Airica’s hand and dragged her into the foyer, bubbling something about her name being Rhonda and she’s so glad she could make it, blah blah blah…

Airica found that the women of this town liked to drag people along, and groaned inwardly as she tried to keep up with large, but surprisingly strong, Rhonda. They went through what seemed like miles of hallway before arriving at the door to a huge parlor. Even though the sun was still out, there was a large, inviting fire blazing in the corner fireplace, and there were mounds of blankets and pillows everywhere. A large, steaming pot of hot water stood on a table, surrounded by more china teacups than Airica had ever seen in her life. The walls were painted in deep, majestic colors like pine, and burgundy, and gold. She caught herself staring and quickly lowered her gaze from the pretty border at the tops of the walls.

She found herself face-to-face with at least two dozen women, all of whom were staring at here as if she were a leper. Her face reddened deeply and she tried stiffly to leave the room, muttering a curse word or two, when she heard various half-hearted protests from the group of women. She halted when she felt a small hand on her arm. She turned and looked at Shera, who gazed at her hopefully.

“Please, Airica…I really would like to get to know you, the way Cid knows you. And I think everyone else should too.”

Airica’s gaze swept the room again, and she noticed that the majority of the women were now looking considerably softer. Some even had pity in their eyes, which made her cringe in disgust, but at least it was better than pure, unbridled hatred. Closing her eyes briefly, she shook her head a little.

“Fine,” she said, opening her eyes again. “But I’m not putting up with any bullshit from any of you.”

There were a few gasps at her language, but many of the women merely nodded silently. She entered the room and took a seat near the fireplace, but not too close to anybody. She shook her head at Shera’s offer of tea, and rested her chin on her fists.

“Well,” Rhonda said happily after a moment of awkward silence. “What shall we do, ladies? Embroidery? Quilting? Recipe swap?”

Airica was about to get up and leave at these suggestions, when a cold, demanding voice shattered the small murmurs that had sprung up around the room.

“I think we should play Secrets and Lies.”

There was a silence as Airica looked for the source of the voice. It was, of course, the older, mean-looking woman she had seen at the sending-off. She was looking at Airica as if she were the scum of the earth. Airica shuddered and tried to relax again.

“Don’t be silly, Cora!” Rhonda exclaimed with a smile on her face. “That would be boring! We’ve all been living so close together for so long, everyone knows everyone else’s secrets already!”

“Not hers,” Cora responded coldly, her gaze never leaving Airica’s face. The rest of the women turned to look at Airica as well, and she suddenly felt more uncomfortable than she’d ever been in her life.

“Cora…” Shera said softly, a slight hint of warning in her voice.

“No,” Airica interrupted, holding up one hand. “I’ll play. What are the rules?”

Cora’s smile was almost imperceptible, and very brief. “You merely tell us something about yourself that may or may not be true. Then, we try to guess if it is or not.”

Airica was silent for several moments as she pondered the game. If she was going to set the record straight, now was the perfect time. She wondered which “secret” she would start with. She decided to go with shock value.

“When I was younger, I moved to Midgar from a nearby chocobo farm. My first night there…” She paused and took a breath. “My first night in Midgar, I was attacked by a large group of men. They took everything from me…what little money I had, my only possessions, including a gift from my dead mother, my clothes, and my virginity.” Tears began to spring to her eyes, but she swallowed them back. This wasn’t usually a subject that made her cry, but making such a confession in front of so many people was more difficult than she thought it would be. “They took me over and over again. Each one had at least two turns. They left me to die in the streets, naked and bleeding. I was only 17.”

She tried to ignore the periodic gasps and choking noises that came from the women around her. It was apparent that her story was having an effect on them.

“I was rescued by a young woman who owned a bar. She taught me everything I knew about making drinks, and defending myself against rapists, of which there were plenty in Midgar.” She looked at Cora for the first time since the beginning of her story.

“Secret or lie?” she asked her boldy.

There was a long pause as the two women stared at each other. For half a moment, Airica thought she saw a flicker of sympathy cross Cora’s face as she pondered the story, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. Cora straightened up, her face and body even more rigid than before. She had to be strong before the other women.

“Lie.”

Airica looked at her calmly before standing and heading towards the door. Protests, more urgent and sincere than before, came from all over the room, accompanied by firm admonishments towards Cora. Airica stopped at the door and turned, silencing the room with her strong gaze.

“She’s right.” All the women stared, disbelieving. “I was 15.” The last thing she saw before turning and leaving the room for good was Cora, wincing.


Airica sat in the tavern for almost an hour, determined to return to that original, comfortable drunken state she’d been in before Shera had rudely interrupted her alone time. The tavern was officially closed, as there were no longer any customers, but she left the door unlocked anyway. There was no fear of any of the women entering, especially after her horrifying story. She sighed and lowered her forehead to the bar, her hand still on the whisky bottle.

‘Imagine what Cid would say if he’d seen me tonight,’ she thought with a bitter smile. ‘Would he be proud? Or unimpressed?’

She lifted her head for another drink and almost choked when she heard a firm voice call her name from behind her. Once she’d recovered from the strong, burning liquid trying to fight its way up her nose, she whirled around at her intruder, ready to scream and kick them out. She was shocked to see Shera standing there, surrounded by about half of the women from the party. Her mouth hung open in a very un-ladylike fashion as they filed in one by one and took seats at the tables and bar. Rhonda walked up to her, trying to suppress her uncontrollable smile, and looked closely at her.

“If you don’t think you’re too drunk, Airica, we’d like something to drink ourselves.”

Airica stared in complete disbelief at the women sitting patiently, awaiting their drinks. It took her several drunken seconds to react, but she gradually made her way behind the bar and began pulling glasses out of the cupboards one by one.

“We’ll have whatever you’re having,” Shera said complacently from her place at the bar. Airica almost fell over from the shock.

She began to pour the whisky into the glasses and hand them out, eyeing the women carefully as they sipped. Some of them gagged and choked on the strong liquid, but others drank it slowly, expertly. They were all completely silent. When Airica finished pouring the drinks, she leaned against the bar, her focus finally coming back to her.

“You don’t have to feel obligated to spend time with me just because I’ve had a rough life, you know,” she said almost bitterly, practically desperate to break the eerie silence.

Rhonda (one of the expert drinkers, she noted) waved her hand dismissively. “That has nothing to do with this. We’re here because Shera told us you’re the only woman who’s been able to make Cid smile in a long time.”

Airica glanced sharply at Shera, who quickly averted her gaze, blushing brightly.

“So?” she asked, eyeing Rhonda suspiciously.

“So…” another woman sitting nearby began. “Cid deserves to be happy. He brought us all together here. If it hadn’t been for him and his dream, we wouldn’t have this town. It may be boring, but it’s still our home.” Airica recognized the woman as the one who had wistfully recalled her brief time spent with Cid on the nearby island. She shook her head quickly.

“But, the gossip…all the horrible things you say about him…” she began, still not understanding. Another woman piped up in response.

“You’re so lucky to have a job, Airica. We all used to work, but now there’s no need for it. At least you have something else to occupy your mind, even if it’s just for a few hours. It gets so dull here…we’re not proud of the gossip, but sometimes it’s just the only way to pass the time.” The woman chuckled. “Sure, it’s more serious to some people-“

“Like Cora,” someone admitted wryly. There was a slight titter amongst the women.

“ – but to most of us, it’s just something silly we do to make time go by a little quicker. Until Shinra comes back and opens the project again.”

“Now, hush Sara, you know that’s not going to happen. Shinra could give two shits about us and our project.”

“Hey, now, that’s not true! We could all be working again any day now, President Shinra promised he would provide more funding to the Space Program soon!”

As the women bickered, Airica began to realize the big picture. These women were all brilliant. They were all scientists, engineers, they all had jobs and self-worth once. Now, Shinra’s refusal to reopen the project had them all sitting like ducks on a pond, nothing to do but tread water and find things to keep them busy. And they all cared about Cid, deeply, as a friend and as a leader. She wondered if Cid realized their affection for him, and pondered telling him about it when he returned.

She sat on the only barstool left, next to Shera, and shook her head slowly.

“He really cares about you, you know,” Shera whispered to her woozily, as she gulped the whisky and made a horrid face. “And as much as I wish he cared about me that way, it’s worth it just to see him smile every night.”

Airica’s heart melted as she looked at the girl. She instantly knew who Shera was…she was the reason the project had failed. She was the scientist who had stayed to check the oxygen levels…she was the one whose life he had saved, even at the risk of sacrificing his dream. Tears filled her eyes and she looked away quickly, feeling a very sudden and strong pull towards the women around her. She turned around to view her unusual customers, whose bickering had subsided into small talk, reminiscing about their work on the rocket, and laughing. One woman caught her eye and stood up.

“Airica, is it true that Arnie is planning to change this old place into a restaurant?”

“Yeah,” Airica called back, lifting her glass. “In fact, these will likely be the last alcoholic beverages ever consumed in this building. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

There was a pause as the woman looked into her glass thoughtfully.

“Tell him that if he’ll start letting more women in here to drink with their husbands, we would be more than happy to let him keep the place the way it is.”

Airica smiled slowly. For a moment she doubted that Arnie would be too keen on the idea of letting a bunch of women in to drink, but she knew that his heart was truly and only in the tavern business, and that running a restaurant would only serve to make him unhappy.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, lifting her glass again.

The rest of the women lifted their glasses too, calling out and laughing with glee. They all stayed there for a long time that night, getting in most cases too drunk to walk straight, and singing and laughing together.


For the next twenty-four hours, the dozen or so women from that night remained joined at the hip. Together, they shared their hopes for the future, and their recollections of the past. Even though Airica had nothing close to a scientific mind, she reveled in their mathematical chatter as they tried to figure out how much food would be needed for how many people. The rest of the women, expert in domestics as they may have been, chose to keep to themselves, finding very little in common with the scientists.

At one point, Airica pulled Sara off to the side, and pointed at Cora and another woman, who were both washing clothes in front of their homes, bent over their work as if nothing in the world were more important.

“So why don’t they come and join us?” she asked in a whisper. “I mean, aren’t they scientists too?”

“No,” Sara responded with a giggle. “See, most of us came here when we were young, and unmarried. We found our husbands through work. But some of the men came with wives already.” She gestured towards the two women, then shrugged. “Most of them are nice enough, but it’s really hard to get along with someone you have absolutely nothing in common with.”

Airica nodded, and they returned to their dinner preparations.

Sometime around mid-afternoon, they heard the screams. Echoing over the hills, screams of pure horror filled the air, and every plate, recipe, spoon, bowl, and napkin was dropped as the women rushed to the front entrance of the town. They reached it just as the first of the terrified men did.

A strong-looking young man headed up the group. Airica had seen him at the bar, and thought she remembered his name to be Thom. Sara, Thom’s wife, rushed up to him and embraced him fearfully.

“It’s…it’s coming!” Thom gasped, trying to catch his breath as a number of other men raced in and sought out their wives. “They’re dead, Sara! So many are dead!”

A/N: Yeah, I know it got a little mushy in there, but hopefully I'll make up for it with the next chapter, which will, of course, deliver details on what killed so many. I hope everyone is still liking it. If there's anything that's bugging you, please let me know. I can handle constructive criticism! Anyway, I'll be out of town for labor day, so there won't be any updates until next Tuesday, but I'll be writing over the weekend, so I ought to have at least two chapters ready to post then. Thanks a lot for reading!