Chapter 2
Aeris woke early, and opened the door a crack into the other room to check if Tifa was still there. She wouldn't have put it past her to try sneaking out, after all that fuss she'd made about it being dangerous to associate with her, but she hadn't. Her dark hair pooled on the bed, and her chest rose and fell slowly beneath the blanket. Still sound asleep.
Probably shouldn't stare, Aeris told herself, and carefully shut the door.
Her mother was downstairs at the kitchen table, listening to the news on her radio. Her hands were loosely wrapped around a cup of tea, but she seemed to have forgotten it. She looked up as Aeris came down.
"Gods, Aeris, they're saying a reactor was bombed."
"I know, Mom." Aeris went to the stove to pour herself some tea. "I wasn't that far when it happened."
"That's what worries me. I know how you feel about Mako energy, but I don't think this is the way to stop it. People were killed last night."
Aeris turned her back on her mother, going into the pantry for sugar. "I don't like it either, but... a lot more people are going to die, if the Planet does. If Shinra keeps doing what it's doing."
"So you're still sympathetic to these AVALANCHE people, even after last night?"
"I think they're good people, Mom. Just... desperate. I understand that."
Elmyra studied her carefully as Aeris joined her at the table. "Your new friend... Tell me, did she have anything to do with it?"
"Mom!"
"Well, I think I should know if I'm harboring a terrorist."
"She's not a terrorist."
"But she is with AVALANCHE," her mother concluded.
Aeris looked at her meaningfully. "You can't tell anyone."
"Of course I can't. We're the last people who can afford to bring the Shinra down on us, which is why..." The door to the bedroom upstairs opened, and footsteps creaked in the hall. Elmyra lowered her voice to a whisper. "Which is why I don't think you should have anything more to do with her. Just let her go home on her own."
Aeris shook her head, but Tifa was coming down the stairs, and she couldn't reply.
"Good morning," she said instead. "You sleep okay?"
"Better than I have in ages," Tifa confessed. "My housemates snore."
Aeris smiled. She didn't know if Tifa was always so reserved, but she hadn't let on much about herself last night, and Aeris was hungry for these small insights into the reality of her life.
"Would you like some breakfast before you head home, Tifa?" asked Elmyra, a picture of hospitality, but Aeris shot her a look, knowing it was her way of suggesting that Tifa get going soon.
"Not if it's any trouble," said Tifa, glancing between them without understanding. "I'm sure I can eat when I get back to Sector 7."
"Breakfast sounds great, Mom," Aeris interjected. "I hear Tifa's a great cook, but I didn't catch much of a dinner last night."
"All right then," Elmyra said.
Tifa slid cautiously into the other chair as Elmyra moved into the kitchen.
Is something wrong? she mouthed at Aeris, who shook her head in reply. It wasn't Tifa's problem.
"Anything on the radio about the power outages?" Tifa asked aloud.
"It's still out in places," Elmyra answered from the kitchen, "but I think you should be all right on the way home."
"That's good to know," Aeris said, and reached to switch it off, sure there wasn't anything else they needed to know from the news report right now.
Tifa caught her hand. "I'd like to listen for a bit," she said.
Aeris nodded, though she didn't think it was a good idea. All the news was Shinra news, and they referred to AVALANCHE constantly as villains and monsters, calling for their arrest, even their execution. Why was Tifa doing this to herself? But, watching her face as they listened, she thought she understood.
Tifa felt guilty about what had happened. The casualty reports hadn't been finalized, and Aeris wasn't sure they could trust the news to report on them accurately, but the claim was more than a dozen confirmed dead so far. More than a dozen people whose deaths Tifa and her friends were responsible for.
Aeris let her listen until Elmyra had finished readying breakfast, and then switched it off anyway. "They're just repeating themselves now," she said.
"It's a scary time, though, isn't it?" Elmyra said as she sat down with them. Her eyes were on Tifa.
"It is," Tifa agreed, "but Shinra's responses just keep getting worse and worse. Did you catch that they're declaring martial law over this?"
"I don't like it, but bombing a reactor is serious business."
"Mom."
"I didn't say I thought they should declare martial law," Elmyra protested. "But a lot of people must think it's justified. I don't want all those soldiers around, and I certainly don't want you out there with them."
Tifa opened her mouth, and Aeris said quickly, "Tifa'll be with me, and I'm really looking forward to seeing Seventh Heaven. Besides, it's not going to be any more dangerous than last night, right?"
Elmyra sighed, giving up at last. "I should hope not."
"I promise I'll look after her," Tifa said.
"Oh, please. I'm not a baby."
"That's true," said her mother. "I sometimes think there are babies who listen better."
Aeris caught Tifa stifling a laugh, and she eased into a smile herself. "Well, anyway... Thanks for breakfast, Mom."
"You're welcome."
Tifa insisted on doing the dishes once they had finished eating, prompting Elmyra to confide in a whisper that "She certainly has good manners for a terrorist."
They stepped out into a morning that thankfully smelled better than last night. The lights were steady overhead, and the fires were out. Some of the neighborhood people were out in the street, and Aeris greeted them as they passed by.
Tifa let her lead them through Sector 5, but once they reached Sector 6, she seemed to recognize the way for herself. Aeris didn't have to warn her to be on her guard for the monsters that sometimes crawled out from the shadows of abandoned hovels. Tifa saw the first of them before she did, and Aeris stood back in undisguised awe as Tifa utterly destroyed it with her bare fists.
She almost forgot to look for any others, but nothing showed. Maybe they weren't eager to share in the beatdown. Aeris relaxed her grip on her staff.
"I guess those muscles aren't just for show," she said.
Tifa looked back at her, seeming unsure how to respond.
"Sorry, I'm just impressed."
"Oh. Well, thanks." Tifa dusted off her hands and gave her an awkward nod. "Let's keep moving."
They ran into a few more of the creatures as they hurried through the worst part of Sector 6. Aeris got a few solid hits in, but Tifa was easily the better fighter, and she probably could have handled them on her own, though she came out of the last fight with a nasty scratch on her leg. Once they were through the gate into the relative safety of the park beyond, Aeris motioned for her to stop and sit down.
"Let me take a look at that for you," she said.
"It looks worse than it is," said Tifa.
"Just hold still. I may not be much of a fighter, but..." She closed her eyes to concentrate, and summoned her magic to close the wound. When she opened her eyes, Tifa was rubbing the blood off to look at her bare skin.
"I should've known," she said. "You're a healer."
"A bit," Aeris said.
"A bit is plenty," Tifa said with a glance at her braid. "I've never gotten the hang of materia."
She assumed Aeris had used the materia pinned in her hair, and Aeris didn't correct her.
As they moved on into Sector 7, Tifa first began to relax, and then her pace quickened. Eager to get home, Aeris supposed, especially after the night she'd had.
Aeris had never been to this part of Sector 7, but she spotted the bar immediately. It stood out from the surrounding buildings, and not just from being a story taller or having a neon sign out front proclaiming its name. At least the first story managed to look like it hadn't been cobbled together from scrap materials, the way most buildings in the slums did. Someone had put real effort and care into its construction.
A few people in the street hailed Tifa as they passed, and she responded with friendly but quick hellos, never slowing to chat.
The 'open' sign out front of the bar wasn't lit, but of course Tifa pushed on through the doors. A group of people sat around one of the tables, but their talk silenced and stools quickly scraped back. Aeris stood in the doorway as they erupted in a chorus of relieved exclamations.
"Tifa!"
"We were so worried, Tifa."
"Thank the gods you made it back safely."
They crowded her with hugs, and Tifa smiled in a way Aeris hadn't seen yet. "I'm glad to find you all here," she said. "I didn't know if you'd made it either."
"Tifa!" exclaimed a tiny voice, and Aeris stared as a little girl pushed her way through the sea of legs to reach her. "You're back!"
Tifa knelt down and scooped the girl up into her arms. "Yeah," she said. "Sorry if I worried you, Marlene. I just missed the train is all."
Gods, Aeris thought. This wasn't a resistance cell. This was a family. Was Marlene Tifa's daughter? She knew kids went through that phase sometimes where they called their parents by their names. And then, it had started off that way with her and Elmyra.
The other woman in the group noticed her standing in the doorway, and nodded in her direction. "Who's this?" she asked.
"Oh!" Tifa shifted Marlene in her arms as she turned back towards the door. "This is Aeris. She helped smuggle me down here and let me crash at her place. Aeris, this is Jessie, Barret, Biggs, Wedge, and of course Marlene."
Marlene had tucked her head shyly against Tifa's shoulder, but Tifa poked her nose at her introduction, and she gave a little giggle.
"It's nice to meet you all," said Aeris.
Barret regarded her skeptically, and it was Jessie who stepped forward first to offer her hand. "Thanks for helping out our girl."
"Yeah," said Biggs. "We, uh, got separated, up on the plate. With all that commotion."
Jessie rolled her eyes. "She already knows who we are, you dunce, or Tifa wouldn't have brought her here. Right?"
Tifa nodded. "She knows."
"Doesn't seem so smart," Barret said, "leading her right to us." He folded his arms across his chest, and Aeris realized that one of them did not end in a hand. If not for the open affection he'd shown Tifa moments ago, Aeris would have found him more than a little intimidating.
"I promise, I'm not going to tell anyone," she said. "I think what you're doing is really brave, going against the Shinra."
"And if she wanted to rat us out, she's already had plenty of chances," Tifa put in. "I trust her, Barret."
"Well, all right. But that don't make her one of us." He took his eyes off Aeris and nodded to Tifa. "We gotta talk about last night, and make some plans."
"Right," Tifa said, setting Marlene down.
The rest of the team started making their way towards the back of the bar; Aeris guessed they had a back room of some kind.
"I'd be happy to watch Marlene for you," Aeris offered, "while you're having your meeting."
Barret bristled at the suggestion, and she knew she had misread the situation. He scooped Marlene up with his good arm and placed her on his shoulder, much to her delight even as he kept on scowling. "Marlene stays with me," he said.
He joined the others, who had gathered by the pinball machine. Biggs pulled a hidden switch, and the platform descended through the floor into a room below.
Tifa had stayed behind, and she gave Aeris a rueful smile. "Sorry about that. Barret will trust you with his life before he trusts you with his daughter. Nothing matters more to him."
"Oh. She's Barret's daughter?"
"You thought she was mine?"
Aeris shrugged sheepishly. "There is kind of a resemblance."
Tifa tucked her hair behind her ear. "I guess I have known her since she was a baby. She's family. They both are."
"Are you and Barret...?"
The blank look that held on Tifa's face for several seconds answered that question for her, but then comprehension hit and Tifa shook her head. "No, no. Just good friends."
"Got it. You all seem really close, I guess I'm just trying to figure it out. But hadn't you better get to your meeting?"
"Yeah. Um. Are you okay to wait up here? I still owe you lunch, after all."
"Sure. I don't mind."
"Thanks."
Tifa took the pinball elevator down to join the others, and Aeris stood listening to the clank of its gears until it had returned again to its place, disguising the basement. This place must have been built from the start to house a secret base, but she wondered how long Tifa had been involved. She'd only heard about the bar recently, but she lived in Sector 5; Tifa could have been running this front for years.
Aeris leaned her staff against the wall by the door and went to the jukebox. Maybe later she could play something, but she'd noticed some pictures on the wall beside it. They turned out to be nothing personal, though. A few photos of the slums' minor celebrities, one of them signed, and some framed postcards of faraway places that Aeris couldn't name. Maybe Tifa knew them, or maybe she just liked mountains.
The fridge was a different story, covered in crayon stick figure drawings depicting the various AVALANCHE members. Taped prominently in the center was a drawing of Tifa, Marlene, and Barret that read 'Happy Birthday Tifa' in careful letters. No date, though.
These were the people fighting for the Planet. Maybe Aeris should have been one of them. She knew how dire the situation was for the Planet, better than anyone. It had been her own act of defiance, she thought, keeping out of Shinra's grasp. Whatever they wanted with her, she knew it couldn't be good.
But not helping them wasn't the same as tearing them down. There weren't a lot of people willing to stand up to Shinra these days. After Wutai had lost the war, it hadn't seemed like anyone would ever be strong enough to.
Tifa's friends were only a small group of people, but they were willing and determined to fight, whatever the cost... And the cost bothered her, but someone had to do something, or Shinra would kill the Planet.
Her mother, her birth mother, kept saying lately that Midgar wasn't safe for her anymore anyway. Maybe it was time to take a risk, and stop hiding.
Aeris heard a shuffling just outside the door, and she turned towards it, but no one came in. With an uneasy feeling, she crossed the bar as quietly as she could and retrieved her staff. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
A man outside jumped and hurriedly attempted to compose himself. "Uhhh... Bar's not open?" he asked.
"No," she said. "It's closed this morning."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh... Why is that?"
"It's a bar, those are just the hours," Aeris lied. She had no idea when Seventh Heaven was typically open, but he didn't seem to either.
"Well, what are you doing here?"
"Visiting Tifa."
"Tifa?"
She pointed up at the sign above the door, where Tifa's name was prominent.
"Oh, right. But she doesn't live here alone, does she?"
"That's a weird question," Aeris stated.
"I was just curious. Can't a guy be curious?"
"There's being curious, and there's being a creep."
"I'm not being a creep! I'm just... new in town! Yeah, and trying to learn a little about my neighbors."
He wasn't a creep, Aeris realized. He was a spy. She didn't know how much he knew about AVALANCHE, but he at least knew that some of them hung around here. At worst, he already suspected this was their base, and he was trying to eavesdrop on their activities. Either way, she couldn't let him leave.
"Well, Tifa had a late night and she's still sleeping, but I'm sure she'll be up soon if you want to meet her."
"Nah, I think I'll try again another time..."
"I insist! I'll introduce you."
"I don't wanna put you to any trouble."
"Oh, it's no trouble," Aeris said, and she planted her staff meaningfully on the stoop. He looked down, and then tried to make a break for it. Aeris swept her staff under his feet, tripping him and sending him sprawling down the steps. The clatter drew the attention of Tifa's neighbors, and Aeris hoped they could hear it in the basement, too.
"Wow, are you okay?" she said loudly. "That looked like a nasty fall."
"You tripped me!" he exclaimed, pushing himself up on his hands and scrambling back from her as she descended the stairs to crouch beside him.
"I would never," Aeris said.
Faintly, she could hear the clank of the pinball elevator. She planted a hand on the man's chest, holding her staff ready in the other.
"You should lie still a second, so I can check if you hurt yourself."
She didn't think she could keep him for long, but thankfully the door opened, and Tifa stepped outside. "Aeris?"
"Oh, thank goodness. This poor man tripped on your stairs and I think he hit his head. We'd really better get him inside."
"I'm fine!" the man shouted.
Tifa looked at him, met Aeris's gaze, and nodded in understanding. "You're right, we should make sure he doesn't have a concussion."
Aeris stepped back as Tifa hauled the man to his feet and manhandled him inside. Aeris followed, and stood by the door to block his exit. Although, Barret had come up from below, and she was sure between him and Tifa, they had the situation under control.
"Have a seat," Tifa said, pushing the man down onto a stool.
"I haven't done anything," he protested, looking uneasily between her and Barret. "I just wanted to know what time the bar opened, and this crazy lady pushed me down the stairs."
"He was snooping around being a creep," Aeris corrected. "And then he tripped."
Tifa looked at her with an amusement that said she clearly knew Aeris was responsible.
"The bar's open when the sign says 'open,'" Barret said. "What're you really after? You tryin' to mess with Tifa?"
"No! No. I was just curious... a-about my new neighbors. I'm new in town."
"That right? Where you stayin'?"
"Umm.... I don't have a place yet."
Barret approached the man, towering over him, and tapped his gun arm slowly on the table. "You better start tellin' the truth now. I don't got a lot of patience for creeps."
The man swallowed. "I... I'm just doing what I was told."
"And what's that?"
"L-looking for you. The man with the gun arm. They wanted to know where you live."
"Who did?"
"I don't know."
"Well, who're you reportin' back to?"
"I... was supposed to leave a message. At that place in Sector 6. You know, the inn."
Barret nodded, tapping his gun arm again on the table as he did.
"I don't know who it's for, I swear! And- and I'm not the only one looking into you. S-so even if you get rid of me, it won't make any difference!"
Barret looked to Tifa. "You believe 'im, Teef?"
"Maybe," she said. "But I think we'd better look into it, just to be sure."
"A-and then you'll let me go? You'll let me go, right?"
Barret kicked the man's stool, nearly knocking it over. "Can it! Ain't no one talking to you anymore."
The man swallowed again and nodded.
"So I can head to Wall Market," Tifa went on, "find whoever's supposed to pick up this message, and see what they know."
Barret grimaced. "That's a nasty place, Teef. I don't like the idea of you goin' in there."
"We need to know, don't we?"
Aeris spoke up. "She doesn't need to go on her own," she suggested.
Tifa glanced at her, and Barret nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, maybe Jessie could back you up... We'll talk it over."
"What do you want to do with him in the meantime?"
"We keep the rope downstairs, yeah?"
Barret hauled the spy up by his collar, and he and Tifa headed for the pinball elevator. Barret paused before flipping the switch and threw a look over his shoulder.
"Aeris, you comin'? Or you wanna stay up here on lookout?"
Aeris gave a start. "Coming!" she said, and hurried over to join them.
As the elevator started down, Tifa threw her a smile and mouthed, Nice work.