It all started when Reeve first found out about Scarlet's affair. Hanging out on Reactor #6's small outer platform, he recounted the incident to Reno the very evening that it happened.
         "It was getting late, and the last thing I had to do before heading home was drop off some blueprints to Scarlet. Weapons Dev. was working on the North Corel reactor's security system, and they wanted their floor-mounted rifles to blend in with the architecture. So I headed to Scarlet's office, a document tube under my arm. As I approached her door, I heard some… moaning sounds. There was definitely something going on in there.
         "Carefully, I took off my shoes and sneaked up to the door. I opened it a crack to see Scarlet in Heidegger's lap... err, having… They were…"
         Reno's facial expression contorted. "Say no more. I'm getting all these disturbing mental images now."
         Reeve clenched his hands into fists, in an apparent attempt to contain his anger. "At least you weren't there."
         The Turk didn't know what else to say. Obviously, he had never been in this situation himself, and therefore felt that he couldn't fully understand what his friend was going through. He took his arm and placed it across Reeve's shoulders. To his surprise, Reeve leaned into the impromptu hug, moving closer to Reno.
         "C'mon, Reeve. Can't be moping around here all night. Let's go hit a bar or something… work it out of your system."
         The executive shook his head. "No, not tonight. Thanks for being here for me, though."
         Reno smiled. "Sure thing. What're friends for, right?"
         Moving out of Reno's grip, Reeve rubbed his eyes with his palms and leaned his back against the flat metal of the Reactor's outer wall. He closed his eyes, taking deep, evenly-paced breaths as he fished around in his coat pocket for his cigarettes and lighter. A tired, sad smile was on his face; his eyes were red and moist.
         Reeve wedged a cigarette between his lips and lit it before handing the goods to Reno. "I'm glad I have a friend like you."
         "Really?" Reno replied as he lit his own.
         "Yeah. You're a real good friend."
         "Thanks."

         That all happened late on a Monday night. The rest of the week rolled on without incident. The few times he saw Reeve on that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, their conversations were limited to Shinra business and small talk. Then on Friday morning, just as Reno was getting dressed, a knock came at his apartment door. Yawning, he buttoned his shirt as he trudged toward it. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Reeve standing there, in his regular blue suit and red tie, a suitcase in one hand and a briefcase in the other.
         "Reeve! What the hell are you doing here?"
         The executive smirked. "What, no 'good morning'?"
         "All right. 'Good morning'," Reno said, rolling his eyes.
         "Good morning, Reno. I'm here to give you an assignment. I've already cleared it with Tseng, so don't worry about that end of things."
         "What? I'm going to be working for you?" Although the Turks were generally at the disposal of all of the department heads, Reeve utilized their services very rarely, if ever.
         "Depends on your definition of 'work'," Reeve replied. "May I come in?"
         Seated across from each other at Reno's kitchen table, Reeve revealed his plan: a weekend trip for the both of them to the Gold Saucer, and he'd pick up the tab. He explained that he really needed to get out of Midgar for awhile, especially after what had happened on Monday. He was taking today off as a personal day, and had no pressing obligations for the weekend. He invited Reno, he said, because he didn't want to go alone. Misery loves company, after all. The situation had been explained to Tseng, and the head Turk made arrangements for Reno to be "assigned" to Reeve for the next few days; Tseng had also helped Reeve secure passage on the long-range airship over the weekend. All of this information left Reno's head spinning.
         "Wait a minute. So what you're saying is you want me to leave for the Gold Saucer. With you. Right now."
         "Yes."
         Reno looked into Reeve's eyes. He was serious. After a moment, the Turk answered, "Give me a few minutes to get packed."

         Their helicopter landed at Junon Airport a few hours later. Stepping out onto the runway, both of them stared up at the elegant airship Highwind, hovering over the deck with its rope ladder dangling. They heard a gruff-sounding voice address them from behind.
         "I guess you're the guys who want to go to the Great Continent?"
         They turned around to see a pilot with dirty blond hair and a cigarette firmly wedged between his lips. He was Cid Highwind, the captain of the airship as well as its namesake. Behind him were a small group of crewmen in blue coveralls, who immediately picked up Reeve and Reno's bags and started carrying them toward the ship. After examining the paperwork that Reeve handed him, Cid finished his cigarette and immediately lit another.
         "All right then, let's get going. Haven't got all fuckin' day."
         Reeve and Reno followed Cid to the airship. Soon, they were flying high over the ocean. During the journey, Reno noticed that Cid seemed to be upset about something. What that was, the captain didn't say, and neither Reeve nor Reno bothered to ask.

         After Cid dropped them off in Costa del Sol, Reeve and Reno split up to gather some "supplies" for their trip to the Gold Saucer. Reeve left for a nearby chocobo stable, while Reno headed for Bar del Sol. It was still fairly early in the day, and the lunchtime crowd was only just starting to trickle in. The Turk gazed around the barroom for a moment, a hardened look on his face, when he spotted the person he was looking for, cowering in the corner.
         Reno walked over to the man, whose expression grew even more fearful as the Turk came closer. Stuttering, the man said, "Goo—good morning, sir! M—m—may I help you today?"
         Forcefully grabbing him by the shirt collar, Reno hissed, "Didn't think I'd see you again, scumbag. You know, if any of the Shinra brass were here, they'd skin me for letting a notorious dealer like yourself go free."
         "R—Reno, I—"
         "Can it, Mikey. Consider yourself lucky, since I'm not going to kill you today. That is, if you help me out."
         "A—and if I d—d—don't?'
         "Well then, I'd just have to send you where I sent your partner three years ago—on a one way trip, if you know what I'm sayin'."
         "F—fine. Let's go to my room upstairs."
         "All right. I'll take you there, since I don't want you pulling anything funny."
         Reno dragged Mikey to the back stairs and up to a small room, where their deal took place. The Turk watched as Mikey presented his wares—narcotics in all forms and potencies—and explained each one. Reno examined, sniffed, and even tasted some of the drugs, before settling on some white powder and some dried, crumpled leaves. He circled a small bag filled with these leaves under his nose, testing its aroma.
         "You sure this is Goblin Island zeio?" Reno asked. "I don't want none of that Bone Village hippie shit. I know how similar those leaves smell."
         "It's Goblin, all right. P—please trust me on this."
         Reno nodded. "It'll do. And as for the 'white materia'…" he said, pointing at the powder, "…gimme five measures of it."
         "Just five?"
         "You're pressing your luck today, you know that?"
         "All right," Mikey answered, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Five it is."
         Reno watched carefully as the dealer measured out the white materia into a bag. The Turk took this bag and, along with the zeio, tucked it into an inner pocket in his suit coat. His hand came back out with a wad of bills; cash Reeve had given him. "One last thing. Got any rolling papers?"
         "I—I'll throw them in for free."
         The Turk grinned wickedly as he counted the money. "Good boy. That's exactly what I wanted to hear."
         A little while later, Reno rejoined Reeve at the edge of town. Reeve had managed to score a pair of gold chocobos for their trip south, and had also gotten the latest tips on the Chocobo Racing odds at the Gold Saucer. Reno and Reeve secured their bags to the birds before riding away from Costa del Sol. Some time later, when there was nothing behind them but fields, and nothing ahead save for mountains, Reeve asked Reno how the deal went.
         "Pretty smoothly, I must say."
         "You didn't have to threaten the poor guy, did you?"
         Reno gave Reeve one of his custom sidelong glances and smirked. "Naaaah."
         Both of them burst out laughing. Reno looked over at his friend, and noticed his smile. I don't think I've ever seen him smile like that… He snapped out of his trance when Reeve caught him staring.
         "You're probably wondering about the white, right?" the executive asked.
         Reno blinked. "Uhh… yeah, I was." Actually, now that Reeve had brought it up, his initial request for white materia did seem a bit odd…
         "I haven't done the stuff in years. Not since college."
         "What, you run with some kind of hardcore party crowd back then?"
         "Not quite, but some of the people I did hang out with were into that stuff."
         "What kinds of people would those be?"
         "Del Sol University business majors."
         Reno laughed, knowing exactly what Reeve was talking about. "Yeah, I can kind of see that."
         "I was never quite as into it as those guys were."
         The Turk felt a bit relieved upon hearing this. He'd only touched white twice in his entire life—it was an incredibly potent, and dangerous, drug. "So why are you doing this stuff again now?"
         "What other reason is there, Reno? Think about the old legend it was named after. White materia has the power to make all bad things disappear."
         Reno smiled thinly and nodded. He's taking Scarlet's affair a lot harder than I thought…

         When they arrived at North Corel's Ropeway Station late in the afternoon, a bellhop and a chocobo handler were already waiting for them. The handler took Reeve and Reno's birds away, while the bellhop took their bags. The three of them rode the ropeway up to the Gold Saucer, then took a back elevator up to the lavish Executive Suite. After the bellhop dropped their bags off and left, Reeve disappeared into one of the suite's rooms with the bag of white, while Reno surveyed their surroundings. The suite consisted of five rooms; a living room, two bedrooms, an office, and a bathroom, all of which were large and luxuriant. After having a look around, Reno sat on the sofa, taking out the bag of Zeio and the rolling papers. Around that time, Reeve came back into the living room, wiping away stray white particles from his mustache with the back of his hand, just as Reno started preparing himself a joint. Grinning, the Turk said, "Now this is a pimpin' pad if I ever saw one! Maybe we should go to Event Square tonight and scout out some curvaceous young chickens."
         Reeve, who started taking off his shoes and his jacket, smirked and answered, "You can pluck all the chicks you want, Reno. I'm not so sure about myself."
         "What do you mean? I thought that was part of the reason why you came here."
         "Perhaps initially, but now that I think about it, there's something nagging in the back of my mind, and I know it's going to pester me all weekend."
         "Fuck that! Let's just have some fun, okay?"
         Reeve shrugged. "We'll see. Besides, it's not like I said something wasn't going to happen."
         "Well, that's good." Reno paused for a minute. Wait a minute… what exactly did he mean by that? He turned to look at Reeve, who was walking toward the couch, undoing the knot in his tie.
         Oh shit…
         "You almost done rolling that joint?"
         "Oh—yeah." Reno licked the edge of the paper and sealed it, then twisted the ends. He took out his lighter and held it and the joint out to Reeve. "Here. Since you're paying for this little vacation, you take the first hit."
         Reeve waved them away. "Wouldn't dream of it."
         Reno nodded and lit the joint, his hands trembling nervously as, a few feet away from him, Reeve turned his attention to the buttons on his shirt. The Turk breathed in deeply, prompting a small coughing fit.
         "Damn you, Mikey!"
         "Something wrong with the zeio?"
         "I told him not to give me the Bone Village hippie shit!"
         "He gave you Lunar Harp instead of Goblin?"
         Reno shook his head. "Yeah. I suppose it'll have to do. Lunar's not all that bad, but it's not the best."
         "You're so picky," Reeve snickered.
         "Heh," Reno replied. "Do me a favor, will you? Remind me to kill him next time I'm in Costa del Sol."
         "Will do," Reeve said as he pulled off his shirt. Reno raised an eyebrow upon seeing his friend's bare chest; feeling the hastened pounding within his own, he made a conscious effort to maintain his casual exterior.
         "Been working out?"
         "A little." After taking a hit from Reno's joint, Reeve started for the master bedroom. "I'm going to finish changing, then soak in the hot tub for awhile… try and get rid of some of this tension that's built up inside of me."
         Tension…
         "You're welcome to join me, of course," Reeve continued.
         "I didn't know there was a hot tub in the bathroom."
         "What did you expect? This is the Executive Suite."
         Reno took another hit and nodded. "True. Anyway, I don't think I'll be joining you. I just want to sit here for awhile… to think about things."
         "Suit yourself," Reeve said as he entered the bedroom and closed the door. Reno stared at that door for a long time.

         The following afternoon, the two of them headed down to Battle Square, where Reeve, armed with his materia and a borrowed sword, took out his frustrations on the monsters in the Arena. As Reno watched from the surrounding amphitheater, a man with slicked back hair and a sophisticated demeanor sat down next to him. Despite the whitish-grey color of his hair, he looked to be around Reeve's age. The Turk took a couple of glances at the man before turning back to the match.
         "He a friend of yours?" the man said, pointing to Reeve, who was lunging his Murasame at a Ho-Chu.
         "Yeah. My best friend."
         "Good luck to him, though I know he doesn't need it."
         "What makes you say that?"
         "Reeve's just lucky like that."
         Reno raised both his eyebrows. "You know him?"
         "Yeah. Went to school with him. Oh, my apologies. I haven't introduced myself," the man said, extending a hand. "I'm E.G. Kramler—just call me Kramler."
         "Reno Cerise," replied the redhead, completing the handshake. "Just Reno's fine."
         "Reno… you're one of the Shinra Corporation's Turks, right?"
         "That's right. What do you do?"
         "I don't think you need to concern yourself with that…" Kramler answered, a thin smile on his lips.
         Narrowing his eyes at the man, Reno replied, "Don't press your luck."
         The ending bell rang out from the Battle Arena, when Reeve had voluntarily ended the match. It wasn't long before he was able to rejoin Reno at the Arena's entrance, with Kramler following the Turk from close behind. The light armor Reeve had worn in the Arena was gone, replaced with a maroon suit and black shirt with the top three buttons undone. Reno slid on the jacket for his own white suit, the tails of his turquoise shirt left casually untucked. Kramler, sharply dressed in a black suit and black shirt, grinned at Reeve as the executive caught sight of him.
         "Been a long time."
         Reeve's jaw dropped. "Kramler?" He immediately rushed up to the man and greeted him. Suddenly, Kramler drew Reeve aside, just enough so Reno couldn't overhear anything they said. A moment later, they came back.
         "You guys hungry at all?" Kramler asked.
         "Well, we haven't eaten since breakfast," Reeve replied. "How about we go to the restaurant in Chocobo Square, maybe lay down some money on the birds while we're at it."
         Reno shrugged. "Fine with me."
         "All right," said Kramler. "It's decided then."
         Reeve and Reno walked behind Kramler as they left the Battle Arena. While they were walking down the steps, Reno whispered to Reeve, "What were you guys talking about when he pulled you aside?"
         "He wanted to verify that you were cool… that he won't have any problems with you."
         "Who is he, really?"
         Reeve leaned a little closer to Reno's ear, his voice lowered conspiratorially. "Ever hear of the Gabbiani family?"
         Reno had. Taking another look at Kramler's slick mode of dress, he wasn't a bit surprised.
         They finally reached the bottom of the steps. One by one, they entered the chute that led to Chocobo Square; the Turk, the executive, and the mobster.

         While waiting for their chocobo steaks to arrive, Reno idly watched the races while Reeve and Edgar Gabbiani-Kramler carried on a lively conversation, discussing old times in Costa del Sol-- back when Reeve was studying architecture and engineering and Kramler accounting-- as well as their lives since then. Catching snippets of their banter here and there, Reno learned that Kramler had known the Gabbianis for a while, and eventually married the Don's niece, but didn't consider himself to be a part of the mob. Rather, he dabbled extensively in investing, and playing the Great Continent's emerging money markets. Entrepreneurship was more prevalent on the Great Continent that it was on the Shinra-dominated East Continent, and Kramler had wanted a piece of the action. On his side of things, Reeve told Kramler about his crumbling marriage and his job and responsibilities at Shinra. At one point, the conversation took a different turn.
         "So how did you guys get here anyway? By sea? Air?"
         "Took the airship Highwind," Reeve answered, cutting into his chocobo steak. "We executives have that kind of access."
         "Who was piloting, may I ask?"
         Reeve gave Kramler a strange look. "Who else? Cid Highwind."
         Kramler took a sip of wine and pondered for a moment. "You know, they're taking the airship away from him."
         At this point, Reno felt compelled to cut in. "They can't do that. Cid owns that ship."
         "I know," Kramler replied. "I helped him finance the building of it."
         Reno and Reeve both paused in their eating to glance at Kramler.
         "He called me last week," the grey-haired man continued. "Said that the Shinra wasn't satisfied with merely leasing the airship and they forced him to sell it. Didn't say how they forced him; I'm guessing they made him some sort of deal where they breathe new life into the Space Program."
         "The Company's not really interested in that sort of thing these days," said Reeve.
         "I figured as much. At any rate, it's a done deal. Starting next week, I'll be receiving the Highwind's loan payments from the Shinra, not from Cid."
         "No wonder he looked so pissed off during our flight," Reno mused.
         "You better watch out, Reeve," Kramler continued. "I hear you own something like a third of this place, correct?"
         Reeve nodded. "That's right. Dio and Shinra split the other two-thirds. The Gold Saucer was something of a pet project of mine. My share of it cost me a lot of money, and Scarlet was against my financing such a large portion, but I'm happy I did it."
         "With the kind of gil this place generates, the Shinra's going to want to buy your percentage off of you. Just like they bought the Highwind off of Cid."
         "We'll see what happens when the time comes—that is, if it comes."
         Reno turned to Reeve. "You mean you'd actually consider selling your part of the Saucer?"
         "Honestly, that's one of the last things I'd want to do, but you know me. I'm not the type to speculate."
         Kramler said to Reno, "He's probably also told you he doesn't believe in luck, right?"
         "Numerous times," the Turk replied with a smile.
         At that moment, the fanfare sounded on the racetrack. A black chocobo by the name of Teioh had come in first. Reeve flashed his winning ticket.
         "Teioh and his jockey Joe are rising stars on the Chocobo Racing circuit. I've been watching them for awhile now."
         "Thanks for the tip," Kramler replied. "So I should bet on them now while the winning's good, eh?"
         Reeve nodded. "Definitely."
         Reno smirked at Reeve, then caught Kramler looking at them from his side of the table, arms folded.
         "I should get going now," he said. "I have to be in North Corel early tomorrow morning. Got some business to take care of there." Standing up, he extended his hand out to Reeve, who promptly shook it.
         "Reeve, be sure to get in touch with my office once you get back to Midgar. I'd like to introduce you to the markets over here. Reno," Kramler said, his hand moving toward the Turk. "It was a pleasure to meet you. Take care of Lucky for me, all right?" he said with a wink.
         Reno shook Kramler's hand and nodded. "Sure thing." He looked over at Reeve. "'Lucky', eh? An old nickname of yours?"
         "Unfortunately," the executive sighed.

         On Sunday, their last night together on this mini-vacation, Reeve and Reno came into their room after a long, eventful day of enjoying the Saucer's amusements. Both were a little bit drunk, but by this time, they were to the point that the alcohol was just starting to wear off. After making himself a drink, Reeve prepared a line of white materia on the glass coffee table. He offered some to Reno; he declined, and instead pulled the small bag of zeio and rolling papers out from under his jacket. Using a rolled-up thousand-gil note, Reeve snorted the white powder up one of his nostrils and looked up to Reno, his eyes catching sight of the zeio.
         "Where've you been hiding that stuff? I didn't know you still had some."
         Reno spread a silly grin across his face and stuck his tongue out at Reeve.
         "Fine, be that way." Reeve took off his jacket, undid the rest of the buttons on his shirt, picked up his vodka martini from the coffee table, and plopped down on the couch. Trying not to stare at Reeve's exposed chest, Reno walked over to the bar. Reeve gave his friend a funny look.
         "I thought you weren't going to drink any more tonight."
         Reno didn't answer, didn't want to tell him that he needed a drink. Instead, he took a swig of brandy, straight from the bottle, and said, "We should get some girls up here tonight, this being our last real chance to do so."
         "What are you implying?" Reeve asked. Reno knew perfectly well that Reeve knew what he was implying.
         "C'mon. Neither of us has gotten any all weekend."
         "Well, you had your chance. As for me, I know I'd just feel like a total hypocrite afterwards."
         "Yeah, whatever. Are you absolutely sure about this? C'mon, man, think it over."
         "I'm too busy getting fucked up to think anything over, Reno. The answer's no. No girls."
         Reno took a couple of hits from the zeio joint before parking it in a nearby ashtray. He then drew both hands to his shirt buttons and struck a mock-sexy pose, flicking the buttons loose of their eyelets one by one.
         "C'mon. We'll get some hot tanned bitch from Costa del Sol, have her perform a little striptease for us…" Reno said, slowly pulling off his shirt, as Reeve chuckled at his parody. Two bracelet-style tribal tattoos ringed the upper part of Reno's right arm, dark patterns against his otherwise pale skin.
         "And then, one at a time, she'll come on to us, slide on top of our laps…" Reno continued, perching himself on the edge of the couch, and slowly leaning in over Reeve. Their eyes were locked, and Reno noticed a certain dullness in his friend's irises. No doubt from the white, he thought.
         "…and do what-ever-the-fuck-we-want-her-to-do…" Reno finished, his voice simmering down to a whisper as his face leaned in closer to Reeve's. The older man blinked as Reno, who was now entirely aware of the dry and lonely surface of his own lips, felt his heart race with an intensity that he had previously only imagined.
         "Reno… what the hell do you think you're doing?"
         The redhead's bottom lip trembled as he tentatively leaned in closer. Reeve turned his head to one side as Reno's lips dove for his. They met his cheek instead.
         "Get off of me. What the fuck's gotten into you?"
         Reno didn't answer, and instead pressed his chest against Reeve's, sliding his legs onto the couch as he did so. Not caring about having missed his initial target, he closed his eyes and moved his mouth up to Reeve's ear, tracing the inner curve of it with his tongue and teeth, his heavy, lustful breathing against Reeve's ear.
         "That's it," Reeve said, before forcefully pushing Reno off of him and into the glass coffee table. Without another word, Reeve stood and stomped off to his bedroom. He not once stopped to look back at the shattered table while Reno quietly slipped into unconsciousness, a pool of blood slowly collecting beneath him.

         A few hours later, Reno awoke to find himself laying in a completely different room from the one he had passed out in. All he could see above him was a bright fluorescent light. His body was bare, save for bandages around his torso, left shoulder, and head, as well as white sheets covering him up to his waist. He heard a small gasp, then saw the silhouette of a man looming over him. As his eyes adjusted to the light, the figure became recognizable to Reno, and he suddenly became very tense. It was Reeve, completely sober, his face was wracked with… worry? Remorse? Exhaustion? Reno couldn't really tell.
         After a long silence, Reeve finally said, "Just so you know… they aren't serious. Your injuries, I mean."
         "My injuries…"
         "You—The doctors said you'd be out for awhile, though."
         "Oh well. Where exactly am I, anyway?"
         "The infirmary in Battle Square."
         "Okay."
         "Fortunately they didn't ask too many questions about how you got injured. Don't know how we're going to explain this to Tseng, though…"
         "Eh? Explai—ahh…"
         Reno replayed the evening's events in his mind as best as he could, finally lowering his eyes when he realized the mistake he had made.
         "Listen," Reeve started, "I'm very sorry I did that. Sometimes I don't know my own strength. Still, you know how my temper can get… and you were crossing certain lines…"
         Reno tried to nod, but found he lacked the strength. "I know, but deep in my heart I was hoping-- there isn't anyone else here, is there?"
         Reeve shook his head. Reno continued.
         "Well, anyway, I was hoping that you would go along…"
         Reeve looked away from Reno and idly scratched the back of his neck. "No. That… would not have been possible."
         "I understand that now."
         There was a long silence. Reeve pulled up a chair from somewhere in the room and sat down next to Reno's bed.
         "Obviously there's been some sort of miscommunication that's been going on between us."
         "Reeve, no, that wasn't it. You've been such a good friend to me. I just wanted you to be something more. It's my fault. I was foisting my own desires onto you--"
         "And now you've discovered that I can't be your 'something more'."
         Another long silence. Finally, Reno asked, "How do you feel about me? How do you see our relationship?"
         After a small hesitation, Reeve answered, "Reno, you… you're my best friend."
         "Even now?"
         "…Yes. Even now. Even through all this bullshit. Reno, why did you do it?"
         "I had to. I couldn't keep my feelings bottled up anymore. Besides, I didn't think you'd mind… since you like to take chances and all."
         Reeve shook his head. "Not those kind of chances. Evidently, we don't know each other as well as we think we do. In my case, I certainly didn't expect you to… well, you know..."
         Reno nodded, and lowered his eyes. "What time is it, anyway? Don't we have to fly back to Midgar tomorrow?"
         "Don't worry about it. Both of us will be staying here for another couple of days."
         "You're staying too? But why?"
         "To take care of you, obviously," Reeve said. "I do have to look out for you, you know."
         Reno smiled, "Of course. What are best friends for?"
         In return, a small smile broke out from Reeve's concerned face. "Exactly. Now get some rest. I'll be back later."
         Reeve stood up and turned out the light as Reno let his head sink deeper into the pillow. The last thing Reno heard before falling asleep was the door closing behind Reeve as he left the room.

         The Highwind came to pick them on Wednesday morning, landing in the grassy valley near North Corel. Cid was piloting, and with him was a woman in a long white coat, who he introduced to Reno and Reeve as his assistant Shera. During their journey across the ocean, Cid and Shera spent very little time on the bridge; instead, they wandered all over the airship, apparently savoring the trip while it lasted. When they arrived at Junon's airport, Reeve shook the pilot's hand and said, "I met a mutual friend of ours while I was at the Saucer. He told me about the Highwind. I'm sorry you're being forced to let her go."
         Cid gave him a strange look. "Funny. Never thought I'd hear that from a goddamned Shinra executive, of all people. But yeah… this was my last official trip aboard Lady Luck. Now all I have left is her," he said, thumbing back to a small seaplane parked near the hangers. "That's the Tiny Bronco. Shera flew 'er here so we'd have some way to get home."
         "Well, at least you still have something, right?"
         "Ain't the Highwind, though. It's like they say, 'You never know what you've got 'til it's gone'. Words to live by if I ever heard 'em."
         Reeve nodded. "We should get going. Thanks again for the ride."
         Cid said nothing. As Reeve and Reno walked to the Airport's platform elevator, the latter looked back at where Cid and Shera were standing. Cid gripped on to Shera tightly, his head leaning against hers and his sky-blue eyes focused on the hovering Highwind.

         In the months that followed, Kramler's prediction came true, in a manner of speaking: Reeve was made a proposal by the Shinra to sell a part of his share of the Gold Saucer. After two months of negotiations, Reeve sold a part of his stake to the Shinra Electric Power Company, giving them a fifty percent majority share of the Saucer's ownership. In the meantime, Reeve had also begun his business affiliation with Kramler, investing in promising companies located on the Great Continent and making a good deal on the returns.
         As for Cid, the manned rocket Shinra No. 26 finally received a launch date, with him as the astronaut, as had been planned from the start. However, the disastrous combination of a rushed schedule and a prolonged safety check led to the launch being aborted at the last minute; afterwards, a proposed relaunch was postponed indefinately.
         Finally, in all those months, up until their most recent meeting the day after the Reactor #1 bombing, neither Reeve nor Reno so much as mentioned that trip of theirs to the Gold Saucer.