2Tifa Lockhart fixed her gaze on the rooftops in the distance ahead of her. The little town of Kalm was built on top of a low outcrop of sandy rocks that rose prominently against the horizon. It was on the very edge of the plains that stretched outside the city of Midgar for miles in each direction and this gave it a commanding view of the surrounding area. It also meant that although they had been walking towards it for several hours, it didn't seem to get any closer. All around them the wastes stretched out, with only the road to interrupt the expanse of dead ground.
She was tired and her feet were beginning to hurt. Whilst her red boots were comfortable and well worn, she wasn't used to trekking in them for mile after mile as they followed the dusty road that was leading them towards Kalm. Plus, they'd all been awake for well over twenty four hours by this point. She stretched out for a moment, feeling all the muscles in her back pop as her arms stretched over her head. Her white crop top threatened to ride up, but the suspenders she wore attached to her black miniskirt held it firmly in place. Shaking her arms out afterwards, she caught the glint of colourful materia embedded in her fighting gloves. Fire and elemental combined, enough to give a very warm welcome to any monsters they encountered. Although, it had been eerily quiet so far. Just the eight of them walking, the blue sky and the dusty road.
"Question," Aerith chirped up from next to her. The slim brunette, long braid bouncing down the centre of her back, trotted forwards a couple of steps until she was alongside Barret. The solidly built black man with a prosthetic gun arm looked fierce, but behind his customary shades his expression was soft as he looked down to at Aerith.
"Yes?"
"When you say it will take us a full day to reach Kalm, how long is that? When my mom says a 'full day', she means from the time you get up in the morning till the time you go to bed...but for me, it means from the time you get up in the morning all the way through till the time you get up the next morning. So, which is it for you?"
"Er, gotta go with Elmyra on that." Barret looked up at the rooftops in the distance. "We're getting there."
"Phew." Aerith dropped back to Tifa, stretching slightly. "I'm not sure I could manage a whole day walking. My feet aren't used to it."
Tifa smiled at her in solidarity, her own feet letting her know she couldn't either. Tifa was fit, years training as a martial artist had built a strong core and decent stamina, but this constant march was taking its toll. Especially after the day (and night) they had already experienced.
"You aren't alone," a calm voice stated from Tifa's other side. It belonged to Red XIII, a quadrupedal creature that looked like a cross between a dog and a lion with a flaming tail. He had only one good eye, bright yellow and brimming with intelligence as he looked over at them both. His mane was braided with coloured threads and the occasional orb of materia.
"Surely you should be used to walking?" A voice called from behind. Genesis Rhapsodos, a former SOLDIER that seemed to have fallen into their lives along with his two companions. Quite literally, as they both dropped into the sewers underneath Midgar. Genesis and his friends were almost unbelievably from the past – seven years in the past, to be precise. They were still adjusting to the world they now found themselves in, with almost everything they had ever known lost for reasons unknown in the time between.
Red swished his tail and twisted so that he could stare at Genesis with his good eye. "I was a guest of Hojo's for some time. I was not afforded the luxury of movement whilst there."
Tifa internally winced at the reminder of how they met Red. He'd been trapped as a test subject in the Shinra laboratory alongside Aerith and had escaped when they broke in to free her. At least Professor Hojo would never be able to get hold of them again, Sephiroth had seen to that. She suppressed a shudder as she thought about the second SOLDIER, not wanting to turn lest he notice her attention but feeling him ever present behind her. Logically, she knew that this Sephiroth was not the one who had murdered her father, burnt down her hometown and then nearly killed her – at least, not yet he wasn't. But he could be, he had become him in another life. It made Tifa wary and a part of her wished that Sephiroth hadn't wanted to accompany them. The other part of her wanted to keep him close, keep an eye on him. Not that she would be able to do much against him if he did go crazy again, she may be strong but he was enhanced through mako treatments and had been training in swordsmanship since childhood. But Cloud would have a least a fighting chance against him if it came to it.
Cloud Strife. One of her childhood friends and the only other Nibelheim survivor that she knew of. Mainly because he wasn't actually there when Sephiroth went mad and razed the town, although he seemed to believe he had been. She wasn't quite sure what she felt about Cloud. She watched him now, walking ahead of her with Barret, his blond hair sticking up in soft spikes she didn't think anyone else could achieve if they tried and yet came so naturally to him. The giant sword slung on his back as easily as if it was made of plastic. Also a SOLDIER First Class, or so he had initially told them and she had believed. But then… Cloud himself now seemed to dispute that. A couple of days ago he started telling everyone he hadn't been a SOLDIER and she was still waiting for the explanation why.
It was bizarre to think it had been less than a week since she found him wandering around the station in the Sector Seven slums, looking disorientated. She'd put a hot meal in him from one of the vendors and, upon finding out he was planning to work as a mercenary across the slums, hooked him up with Barret for a job. Everything seemed to have imploded from there, leading to them now marching away from Midgar after breaking into the Shinra building to rescue Aerith, managing to actually escape, fighting against Destiny itself and miraculously winning, facing Sephiroth (the insane older one who belonged in this timeframe, not the young one travelling with them), surviving for a second time and now trekking to Kalm. Where, hopefully, they would be able to restock and regroup.
A fat raindrop hit the tarmac in front of her, staining the dusty surface dark. A second followed a moment later. Tifa sighed. There had been occasional showers so far, but mostly very light and passing almost immediately. Looking up now, the clouds looked more ominous and a lot darker than they had been throughout the day so far.
Sure enough, the rain didn't stop at two drops. The skies seemed to open, a deluge pouring down on them. Tifa tried to shelter herself as best she could with her hands, noticing Aerith doing the same next to her.
Unfortunately, one side effect of heavy rain and her usual outfit of a white crop top and short skirt is that she wasn't wearing very many layers and was quickly getting cold. Aerith at least could wrap her red bolero jacket around her shoulders, actually fastening the belt that she usually left dangling loose by her side.
"Here." A pile of red material was thrust in front of her face. She looked up to see Genesis holding it out to her, face turned slightly to the side as he very pointedly didn't look directly at her. "You're cold," he elaborated. "And your top… just put it on."
Tifa looked down, gasping when she realised her crop top had become transparent in the wet. Her trusty sports bra underneath did not leave a lot to the imagination. Her long dark hair, whilst reaching down to her waist in a long ponytail, had become straggly and thin and wasn't doing much to help her. She tried to cover herself as best she could with one arm, taking the coat from Genesis with the other. "T-thank you," she stammered, the cold causing her to shiver.
The red leather coat, that doubled as his armour and came complete with metal shoulder pauldrons, was heavy and dwarfed her. Genesis was taller than her and even on him the coat nearly reached his ankles. On Tifa it was brushing the floor. Immediately she felt warmer and far less exposed so she shot him a grateful smile. "Really, thanks."
He waved his hand nonchalantly. Tifa took in his appearance – under his red coat he wore a similar uniform to Angeal Hewley, the third SOLDIER in their group. A black knitted turtleneck without sleeves, covered in a harness that formed a cross on his torso and ended in a wide belt, loose black trousers and boots. Immediately noticeable were the holes in the knitted top by his left shoulder, through which she could see blood. There were also dried traces of blood streaking down his left arm that he hadn't yet had a chance to clean up after their fight on the outskirts of Midgar. He was cradling the arm against his chest carefully, trying not to cause himself any more pain.
Genesis noticed the direction her eyes were moving in and drew himself up, turning slightly so that his right side was towards her. "It's just a scratch."
"It doesn't look like it."
"There is a bullet still lodged in it," he admitted begrudgingly. "But I'm already healing around it, we're going to have to cut it out again."
Aerith frowned in concern. "I hadn't realised it was so bad." The girl had an affinity for healing magic, she would be the best person to look at the injury. She looked guilty, as though she should have realised how much pain he must be in.
Genesis shrugged his good shoulder. "There is nothing we can do until we're somewhere safe and can properly address it, so there was no point in bothering you about it."
"What he means is that he's too hard-headed to admit that he's hurt." A deep voice called from the back of the group. Angeal, a muscular man with a square jaw and dark hair that was currently plastered to the edges of his face rolled his eyes at Aerith teasingly. Sephiroth, the not-insane version, huffed a sound that might have been a laugh. It was hard to tell - as Tifa had noted over the last couple of days he rarely showed emotion except towards Angeal, Genesis and, oddly enough, Cloud. "Though he is right," Angeal went on. "We really do need a clean location to remove the bullet, he'll have to live with it until we get to Kalm."
Tifa turned her eyes back forwards, away from Sephiroth, as Genesis dropped back again to walk with his friends. Although the sight of the famous silver haired SOLDIER looking like a drowned grey rat was definitely one she wanted to commit to memory.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It was a tired and footsore group that finally staggered into Kalm, a couple of hours after night had fallen. The only ones that seemed unaffected by the length of their walk were Cloud, Sephiroth and Angeal – and only because of their SOLDIER enhancements. It had rained for most of the afternoon, turning the dry and dusty road into a slippery surface covered in wet clay. Tifa's red boots were filthy and she had splatters all the way up her long black stockings. Aerith's dress wasn't much better, the hem six inches deep in mud despite normally swinging above her ankles.
"I would kill for a shower," Tifa muttered, not for the first time over the last couple of days. Barret gave her a sympathetic smile. He'd long since discarded the dark glasses that he habitually wore and it was a nice change to see his kind eyes twinkling at her.
"Won' be long now," he reassured. They were loitering in the main town square, pretty blue-grey cobbles gleaming in the lamplight stretching out away towards timber framed houses. The continuing rain was keeping people indoors, apart from the occasional resident who was dashing between houses and giving them suspicious glances.
A shaft of warm light fell across the square. Tifa looked up to see Cloud in the doorway to the inn, beckoning them forwards. With relief, she led the way over to him.
"They've got a couple of rooms," Cloud explained. "One twin that Tifa and Aerith can use, then a connected suite that we'll have to cope with." He passed Tifa a key and gestured up the stairs. "First door on the left at the top."
"Thank you," Tifa smiled fondly at him, looking at the limp blond hair plastered to the side of his face. She started up the stairs, turning back once she reached the top to watch the others coming in. In the lobby, the innkeeper was frowning at the mess they were making on his carpets with the rain and the mud they were tracking in. Aerith was just behind her on the stairs, Genesis following her carefully. Angeal was hovering by Genesis, obviously concerned for his friend. Red was trying to be as discreet as possible as he crept past them all, not wanting to be thrown out for being an 'animal'. Barret was still in the lobby talking to a large woman wearing a voluminous green patterned dress, gesturing with his good hand.
"You ok?" Aerith asked as she reached Tifa. Tifa nodded in reply, smiling tiredly at the other girl as she opened the door to their room.
It was a tidy little room, nothing fancy, but it had its own bathroom complete with a shower. It was perhaps a bit chintzy for Tifa's taste, the windows had floral patterned curtains with ruffled edges and surfaces were covered in embroidered fabrics and lace doilies, but it felt homely and warm. Tifa looked longingly at the shower before sighing and gesturing Aerith inside.
"You go first," she offered. "I think Genesis will need your help."
"Oh, thank you." Aerith smiled warmly, but her eyes betrayed her concern. "Yes, I'll be quick." She dashed into the little bathroom and shut the door. Tifa took the red leather coat off before looking at the clean beds. With a sigh she gingerly folded herself onto the floor and, taking a tissue from a box handily placed on one of the side tables, began to clean the mud off it as best she could.
She could hear the shower running when a knock came on the door. Frowning, she pulled herself upright and answered it. Barret was standing on the far side, holding something out to her.
"I got something for you to change into." He informed her, thrusting his cargo towards her. Taking it, she could see that it was some sort of floral fabric. "If you leave your wet clothes they'll get 'em sorted." As he spoke, Barret rubbed his hand over his short hair, frowning at the amount of water still in it.
"Thanks Barret." Tifa was touched by the thoughtfulness, she'd assumed she would have had to wash out her clothes as best as she could in the shower and then just pull them back on.
"There's summat for Aerith in there too," Barret waved at the pile in Tifa's arms. "Not sure how good it'll be but at least it clean 'n dry."
"I'll let her know, thanks. We'll come and find you when we're done."
Barret gestured towards the door across the hall. "We're all in there. S'a bit of squeeze…" he shrugged. "See ya in a bit, then."
Tifa smiled and closed the door on him, taking the clothes over to one of the beds. She had just sorted them into two piles when the bathroom opened and steam came billowing out. Aerith stomped over to the beds, grumpily pulling at her hair. Tifa could see it was matted.
"This is going to take me ages to sort out!" The other girl moaned. Tifa could see why, Aerith's hair was easily as long as her own but had much more of a natural wave to it, compared to Tifa's straight black hair. Aerith pulled a strand and inspected the end of it. "Also, the extensions that Madam M put in have wrecked it." Pulling out a comb she sighed and got to work.
Tifa explained about the clothes from Barret before choosing the least pink dress, a green number covered in tiny yellow flowers, and slipping into the shower herself. Suddenly, she just longed to be dry again and she rushed through her shower, managing to wrestle her hair into obedience and pulling on the floral green tent she had been given. Luckily, it had a sash at the waist that made it slightly more flattering to her figure but the colour and style really didn't suit her at all. She grimaced in the cloudy bathroom mirror before going to find Aerith.
The other girl, after waging war on her own hair and finally getting it back in the braid, had managed to put on the pink dress. Annoyingly, she wore it well. Stifling a sigh, Tifa collected the wet clothes and headed to the door. As an afterthought she pulled the red leather coat over her arm, the shoulder pauldrons knocking together loudly.
Aerith followed her closely, both of them padding barefoot across the thick carpets. "Did Barret tell you which room they were in?"
Tifa led the way across the corridor and knocked on the door. "I think they are all in here."
Cloud answered, still wet through and covered in dirt. Tifa frowned at him and gestured back to their room. "Our shower's free if you want."
She was rewarded with one of Cloud's rare smiles. "Thanks, they're looking at Genesis in ours." He grabbed a small pile of clothes and passed them out the door, greeting Aerith on the way.
"Put yer wet things there," Barret pointed to the corner of the room next to the door. "When them SOLDIER boys get done, I'll take 'em all down." He waved through to the second room, connected to the first via an archway. On entering, Tifa saw Red was lying down at the foot of one of the beds, grooming himself clean with long swipes of his rough tongue. Sephiroth, obviously one of the only boys who had managed to avail himself of a shower so far, was leaning against the bathroom door dressed in baggy beige trousers and a khaki green shirt. Through the bathroom door she could just make out the hulking form of Angeal.
She carefully laid out the coat on one of the beds before heading to the bathroom. Genesis was sitting on the toilet, bare to his waist and grimacing whilst Angeal worked on his shoulder. A blood covered bullet was propped on the edge of the bath and from the way Angeal was prodding Tifa suspected it wasn't the only one.
Genesis hissed and Tifa's attention was drawn back to him. He opened his eyes and frowned when he saw her standing there.
"This isn't a show." He said sharply.
Tifa shook her head, a guilty expression on her face. "Sorry… do you guys need anything?"
Genesis yelped suddenly and Angeal straightened, holding up another bullet in a pair of tweezers. "I think that's it," he said, sounding satisfied. "Now get in the shower and get clean, then we'll ask Aerith if she minds looking at you."
"I don't!" Aerith chirped, craning around Tifa. "We'll wait out here." She pulled Tifa back by the arm and pushed her towards one of the beds, shutting the bathroom door behind her. Tifa sat down heavily, noticing that Red was the only one in the room now. Barret was stomping around in the other room and Sephiroth seemed to have disappeared.
"What was that for?"
Aerith put her hands on her waist and leaned towards Tifa. "It's rude to stare," she admonished. "Even if they are only half dressed!"
Tifa blushed and looked away. "I wasn't! I was just seeing how bad his injury was."
"Uh huh…" Aerith gave her an amused look. "If you say so."
Red chose that moment to look over at them, his head appearing over the end of the bed. "You are aware they can likely hear you?"
Tifa dropped her head in her hands. "I should just call it a day now."
Aerith sat down next to her and bumped her shoulder. "I'd agree, but Cloud is still using our bathroom. How long do you think he'll be in there?"
Tifa snorted. "No idea. I'm not sure he's taken a shower in the last week."
At that, Aerith's nose crinkled. "In that case, he should take his time!"
The bathroom door opened suddenly, all three occupants of the room looking over as Angeal exited carrying a pile of clothes. Tifa could only gape at the bizarre sight of him wearing a fluffy pink dressing gown. He coughed awkwardly, shuffling over to the other room. "I wanted to get these to Barret…" he trailed off and shot through the archway.
Tifa exchanged a glance with Aerith before they both dissolved into giggles. Angeal reappeared holding some clean clothes and they sat up straight, stifling their laughter as best they could.
His cheeks dusted pink, Angeal disappeared back into the bathroom again. Red simply sighed and returned his attention to getting clean.
A couple of minutes later, the door opened again but this time Genesis sauntered out. He was now wearing a pair of jeans, but he still had nothing on his torso. Tifa dragged her eyes up to his shoulder and winced at the injury there.
Now he was clean there was nothing hiding the open wound on the front, but more concerning were the black lines creeping forwards over his shoulder from the older injury on his back. It was one that he'd had when she'd first met him, unlike the bullets that came courtesy of a showdown on top of the Shinra tower with the new President, Rufus Shinra. Tifa hadn't seen the original wound since the train graveyard, where Aerith had first tended to it and tried to heal it, and it was looking a lot worse now.
Aerith had already sprung to her feet and was waving Genesis over to the bed. Instead of sitting on it, he slumped down onto the floor by Tifa's feet, his back to her. Aerith retook her seat and held her hands over the injury.
Tifa watched in awe as Aerith natural healing flowed through her hands and into Genesis's back. The injury there looked infected, red and angry, with the same dark lines spreading outwards like a spider's web. They reached all the way across his back to the far side and were beginning to creep down his arm as well as across his shoulder to the front.
A swirl of green light surrounded him and the marks began to recede, but all too soon Aerith's healing wind had finished and yet the lines still remained. Genesis reached up with his right hand and gingerly prodded at his shoulder. Peering over at it Tifa could see that the wounds had at least closed but they still were still red and looked sore.
Aerith sighed and slumped sideways, Tifa catching her with one arm around her shoulders.
"Are you ok?"
"I will be," Aerith smiled up at her. She waved Genesis back down when he started to stand. "Don't you go anywhere, you still need bandaging up."
"I'll do it." Tifa stood, stretching her hands above her head and flexing her fingers to try to get the kinks out of her back. "What should I use?"
"Here," Angeal had appeared in the bathroom door, holding out some clean wraps to her. "The innkeeper found us these."
Tifa took then and crouched on the floor next to Genesis, who was staring at the carpet. "Does it feel better?" She asked him, starting to wind the bandage around his torso. She'd wrapped up her fists enough, she assumed wrapping someone's torso was similar.
Genesis shrugged one shoulder. "Yes, but far from perfect."
Aerith frowned from her seat on the bed. "I'm sorry, I can't do more here." She tapped her lip with one finger. "I guess going back to the church is out of the question too. I don't know where else I'll be able to help you."
Red popped his head up again. "Am I correct in assuming that your healing ability is linked to your heritage? If so, how about Cosmo Canyon? It is a place in harmony with the Planet."
"That might work."
Genesis scoffed. "We're SOLDIERs, or at least ex-SOLDIERs. They don't exactly look kindly on our kind or anyone connected to Shinra in Cosmo Canyon."
"No, they don't." Red agreed affably. "However, I am confident they will make an exception just this once."
"It's agreed then!" Aerith clapped her hands together with a smile. "Cosmo Canyon it is. At least… depending on what everyone else wants to do."
"We can always make a detour," Angeal told her with a smile. "Even if we are following the other Sephiroth, who's to say we won't pass close by?"
"That's the spirit!" Aerith beamed. Tifa smiled at her enthusiasm as she tied off the wraps. Genesis gingerly moved his arm but didn't complain, a sure sign that she must have done a passable job.
Sephiroth re-entered the room, carrying steaming bowls of something that smelled delicious on a wooden tray. "Ah, room service!" Genesis quipped from his position on the floor. Sephiroth merely rolled his eyes as he passed him a bowl.
"Yours is in your room," he told the girls. "I assumed you would wish to rest after eating."
Genesis paused, spoon halfway to his mouth. "I thought we were going to discuss what happened at Nibelheim tonight?" Tifa stiffened, leaning away from him. He frowned at the movement but didn't risk twisting to look at her.
"After sleep," Angeal directed firmly, pointing at one of the free beds. "We can talk to Cloud about it in the morning."
"Excuse me," Tifa said woodenly, standing up. "I'm tired, so I'm going to go see if Cloud has finished yet."
Aerith took one look at her expression and got to her feet as well. "I'll come with you, I'm beat! Goodnight everyone."
Genesis looked up at them both, a puzzled expression on his face. "Are you ok?"
"Sure," Tifa managed to summon a small smile. "I guess things are catching up with me, that's all. It's been a long day."
He seemed placated at that, and with a chorus of farewell echoing at their backs the girls slipped out into the corridor.
"Are you really ok?" Aerith asked her.
Tifa sighed. "It's just… Nibelheim. It's a difficult thing for me to talk about."
Aerith opened the door to their room, revealing Cloud who was still in the process of borrowing their mirror to brush his blond hair. He looked over as they entered, narrowing his eyes as he took in Tifa.
"What happened?"
Aerith's concerned gaze was fixed on Tifa's face as she answered Cloud. "Genesis said they wanted to talk about Nibelheim. I won't ask now as it's late and we're all tired, but I think we do probably need to discuss it. We're all here with you."
"I know." Tifa sat down heavily on the edge of her bed. "I just… I don't know if I can…"
"You don't have to," Cloud interrupted her. "I can tell them about it. I owe them, and you, answers anyway."
Tifa looked at him, lips parted uncertainly. "But I don't understand how you can know what really happened there either."
"Tomorrow, Tifa. I promise." His lips quirked slightly as he grimaced. "This is one promise I'll even be able to keep."