Chapter 14
There was more to North Corel than Tifa was expecting, but Corel must have been a bigger town than Nibelheim. Tents sprawled across the dirt where the railroad tracks came to an end, and a few cracked concrete buildings had been patched up with scrap, reminding her of the Midgar slums.
A few men loitering stopped and stared at Barret's arrival. Then they converged on him like a pack of hungry predators.
"Well, look who it is," said the ringleader. "Thought you left for good! You got some nerve showin' your face 'round here."
In his voice, Tifa heard a stronger version of Barret's accent. She'd always known him for a country man, but she'd known too little of the world to ever pinpoint it.
"That's some crew you got," said another. "Any o' your lady friends got the least idea what you done?"
Barret's shoulders were already slumped in defeat, and he said nothing for himself. If these had been any thugs in Midgar, he wouldn't have let them talk to him this way, but when it came to Corel, he thought they had the right.
"We do," Tifa said, speaking up instead. "And we don't have a problem with it."
The men's gazes shifted to her, looking her over. In most circumstances, she wasn't half as intimidating as Barret, but her feet were planted firm, and she let her right hand curl into a fist. Barret might not defend himself, but she would.
"Tch," scoffed the leader. "Y'all wanna get yourselves killed followin' this jackass around, don't say nobody warned ya. But you best make sure you're just passin' through, understand?"
"With such a warm welcome, who wouldn't wanna stay?" Jessie said.
The men glowered at her, and then, grumbling amongst themselves, turned to walk away.
"You okay, Barret?" asked Wedge.
"Yeah," he said, though obviously he wasn't. "Yeah. Let's just keep movin'."
At Wedge's suggestion (and with hearty agreement all around), they sought out the inn, such as it was, in hopes of getting cleaned up. It took a little wandering, since no one in town would give them directions once they saw Barret, but once the innkeeper realized they meant to move on afterwards, he pointed them to the public showers around back.
They'd been able to wash up in the river en route to Junon, but Tifa hadn't had a proper shower since Midgar. Beneath the accumulated sweat and the sea salt, she couldn't help but wonder if there were traces of Sector 7 finally getting washed away. She wanted to cry a little, not because of the loss of such a morbid souvenir, but because her first chance at such a mundane task was so far from what had been home.
And it wasn't just distance, but time. Even Nibelheim, just on the other side of the mountains, was forever beyond her. Erased.
She did wonder if there'd been other survivors. She'd wondered it before. Judging by the nurses' descriptions, she thought it was Zangan who'd spirited her away to the hospital, and she was grateful, but it meant she'd never seen the aftermath in Nibelheim. There had been bodies in the street, some of them cut down, but others still coughing from the smoke, not yet gone.
For the first time, she wondered if they might have blamed her for any of it. The guide who'd led Sephiroth up the mountain, a liaison hired by Shinra. They probably could have found their way without her, but the same was true in Barret's case: he'd been only one vote in the decision to build the reactor. They blamed him because he'd survived to be blamed.
And so had she.
The towels provided were flimsy at best, and Tifa left hers sodden without achieving much with her hair. It dripped heavy down her back, but in the dry heat of North Corel, she didn't mind it so much.
She found Elena around the front of the inn, frowning at her reflection in a compact as though thinking about reapplying her make-up in a place like this.
"Hey, Elena?" Tifa said. "Can I ask you something?"
Elena snapped the mirror shut and tucked it into a pocket. "Uh, sure."
"After what happened at Nibelheim..." Tifa hesitated, but she wanted to know. "How quickly did Shinra arrive on the scene?"
"I couldn't tell you to the minute," Elena said, "but it was dated the same day."
"So they were already in the area," Tifa concluded.
Elena nodded, studying Tifa critically. "I've been thinking about it, too," she admitted. "Nibelheim is in the middle of nowhere. If someone had called in men from the rocket launch complex, they might've made it in a couple days, but the troops didn't come from the north. So what were they doing there, unless they were waiting to see what Sephiroth did?"
"You don't think they... were expecting him to just drop everything and search out the Promised Land once he knew?"
Elena shrugged. "That might've been the optimistic outcome. But it makes more sense if they were hoping he'd go rogue."
"What?" said Tifa. "Why?"
"I know there were... concerns about Sephiroth, back then," Elena explained. "I mean, he was a war hero, but the war was over. He had enough support from the public and from the military that he could've made a power play, if he'd wanted to."
"So President Shinra saw him as a threat."
"He'd have been stupid not to." Elena let out a breath. "I don't see how they could've predicted what actually happened, but maybe they wanted to goad him into going off half-cocked before he could plan a real coup. Something they could use to justify taking him out."
"But they covered it up," Tifa pointed out. "Nibelheim was reported as an accident."
"Well, he was dead," said Elena. "What was the point of damaging the reputation of Shinra's greatest SOLDIER then?"
Tifa fell silent. Nothing about Nibelheim had ever made sense to her, but if this was how the pieces actually fit together, it made her stomach turn. She'd always blamed Shinra as much as Sephiroth, but she blamed them for the creation of a world that shaped men into weapons who only knew how to destroy. She'd never suspected Nibelheim might have been an active pawn in their game, an intentional sacrifice in the name of maintaining power.
Just like Sector 7. Just like Corel.
Elena was still watching her. "Nibelheim was loyal to Shinra, huh," she said.
"...I guess so," Tifa admitted, knowing it had been, enthusiastically so. "We thought they were there to help us. That Sephiroth was a hero. Even the reactor... Some of the older folks complained about it, but we all thought it was progress. And all of it was a lie."
Elena finally looked away, folding her arms. After a moment, she said, "What a mess of an operation. There were other ways they could've dealt with Sephiroth."
"...thanks," Tifa said, recognizing it for an expression of condolences from someone who wasn't very good at that.
Elena huffed faintly and then said, "Barret was looking for you. Probably because of the same topic."
Tifa nodded and followed her gesture on past the well in the middle of the camp to the edge of an outcropping. Directly beneath was a sign that she'd spotted earlier pointing the way to Gold Saucer, and the spot gave them an easy view of the merchants who lined the path, hoping to squeeze a few gil out of approaching tourists.
Barret didn't look at her as she approached. He was cleaned up and back in his own clothes, but he held his prosthetic disconnected in his left arm.
"...need a hand with that?" she asked.
"Huh?" Barret gave a start, looking to her and then down at the gun. "Oh, nah. I'll get it in a minute."
Tifa tucked her hair behind her ear. "Elena said you wanted to talk?"
"...yeah." He turned to her. "This thing with Sephiroth... It ain't somethin' we gotta do. Shinra oughtta be comin' through here, too. We could just keep our eyes peeled an' follow 'em."
She took in the expression on his face, knowing it was only out of concern for her that he was suggesting it. He thought talking to Sephiroth was the best way forward, but he'd drop it for her sake. She was touched, but at the same time, it hurt. She didn't want to be the weak link, the reason all of this fell apart.
"We could do that," she acknowledged, and she let her gaze slide off somewhere over his shoulder. "But whatever this cat-and-mouse game leads to between Shinra and Sephiroth, the rest of us are just collateral damage. It's always been like that." She took a breath, reaching for her anger to push through. "Sephiroth might not tell us anything, but if there's any chance for us to get ahead of this, we need to take it."
Barret nodded his agreement. "That's what I been thinkin', too. I just wanna see a way clear."
He still looked anxious, and she realized he was worried she was angry with him. She'd been withdrawn ever since he hadn't immediately shot down Aeris's idea. "I know," she said, offering him a wry smile. "I was... scared, more than anything."
"You still don't gotta be involved in it yourself," he said. "You could hang out here."
"And wait around while my friends go to meet that man?" She shook her head. "I'm going."
"Awright."
"...maybe Yuffie and Red can stay behind, though," she amended. "I don't know if they let animals in amusement parks, and Yuffie's..." Just a kid, she wanted to say, although she didn't think Yuffie was any younger than she'd been when she'd first come to Midgar. But whatever hardships were in her life, Yuffie hadn't had to leave her childhood behind her entirely. Tifa's had ended in Nibelheim.
"She thinks we're tryin' to protect 'er, an' she'll revolt," Barret said. "But we oughtta have somebody lookin' out for Shinra anyway. Reckon they won't be comin' through the valley like we did, but the ropeway's the only way up."
"Right."
Barret finally twisted his gun-arm into place, and with his hand free, he placed it firmly on her shoulder. "You ain't gonna be alone," he promised. "Not through any of it."
Tifa sucked in a breath. "Yeah," she said.
There was no reason to expect they were heading into a massacre, she told herself. Sephiroth might have murdered a lot of Shinra employees, but if he'd been asking directions from civilians, then he wasn't killing everyone in his path.
She just didn't know what he would make of them. Did being an Ancient even matter to him, as a heritage he was completely disconnected from? Maybe all that stuff about the Promised Land was just to get Shinra's attention. He knew exactly what they wanted, and they only assumed he wanted the same.
She did want answers, just as much as anyone. Maybe then, she could understand all this well enough to put a stop to it.
They regrouped in front of the inn, where Barret informed Yuffie and Red of their assignment. Yuffie seemed none too thrilled about it until they came in sight of the ropeway station and she tracked the length of the cable ride with her eyes. After that, she cheerfully waved them on their way.
Tifa leaned her head against the window as the car got moving. Below them was a broad stretch of unmarked desert, as if no one had ever lived there, but Corel had been around here somewhere. She kept thinking she might spot the shells of burnt-out buildings somewhere on the horizon, but she didn't.
What did Nibelheim look like now, after five years?
Barret shared her solemnity, but there were a few excited gasps from the others as the ropeway drew close to the Gold Saucer. The gold paneling glittered in the early afternoon sun, and colorful neon signs greeted their arrival, accompanied by an energetic music playing through unseen speakers. They slid into the station, and as they disembarked, Tifa noted that it was styled to have them enter through the mouth of a giant moogle.
The floor was decorated with cartoon chocobos, and a bright yellow welcome sign marked the entrance into the park, where an employee in a hot pink and black uniform waited. Her eyes skimmed over them as they approached, but if she thought there were anything odd about their group, it didn't make it into her voice.
"Welcome to the Gold Saucer!" she said brightly. "Is this your first time with us? A day pass is 3000 gil, or you can purchase a lifetime pass for 30,000 gil."
"3000 gil for a day pass?" Barret repeated incredulously. "Are you serious?"
"The Gold Saucer offers a one-of-a-kind vacation experience," the staffer said without missing a beat. "From the endless fun of Wonder Square to the excitement of our VR-enhanced chocobo races, once you've seen them for yourself, you'll understand it's more than worth the price."
"Um," Wedge got in before Barret could say anything. "We're actually waiting on one more person to join our group. Would it be okay if we hung around here for a little while? We wouldn't want to miss each other in all the excitement."
"I could always let your friend know you'd gone on inside," the woman offered helpfully.
"That's okay," said Wedge. "We wouldn't want him to think we'd been having all that fun without him."
She nodded, admitting defeat for the moment, and they meandered over to an open area in front of the station.
"You guys can't even afford day passes?" Elena asked them.
"Maybe one," said Tifa, "but... those are funds that could be better spent." They didn't have Seventh Heaven to bring in income anymore, so they had to be careful.
Elena didn't quite seem to grasp her point. "I think it's worth going inside and seeing if we can work out any big names he might be meeting with-- or targeting," she said, and as she drew a crisp 10,000 gil note out of her wallet, Tifa wished she were someone with fewer scruples. When they'd taken Elena prisoner, Tifa hadn't touched her money; AVALANCHE weren't common thieves, after all.
"Oh!" Aeris exclaimed at the sight of what was easily several day passes. "Can I come?"
"I guess so. Two sets of eyes are better than one."
"We should definitely be thorough," said Aeris. "Sephiroth's target could be at any one of the attractions."
Tifa found herself stifling a smile. At least one of them was having fun.
Barret seemed less than thrilled, but he didn't protest. "You two be sure to check back regular," he said instead. "We don't know when Sephiroth might be showin' up."
"Roger that!" said Aeris. There was a skip in her step as she accompanied Elena back to the ticket office.
Jessie stared after them. "So," she said at last, "do you think Elena would be willing to pool funds, or...?"
"Maybe we give it a few more days," Wedge suggested.
"If we ever make it somewhere with a decent inn, she might volunteer," Tifa reasoned. She let herself fantasize briefly about sleeping in a bed. When was the last time they'd done that?
"So how we feelin' about her?" Barret asked, looking to Wedge.
"She definitely likes being counted on," he said. "But I don't think she's on board with what we're doing so much as she's not on board with Shinra anymore."
"Any idea what makes us the lesser of two evils?" Jessie wondered.
"Mmm... She thinks Shinra's messing up a lot. We are, too, but... at least we're admitting it?"
Tifa nodded slowly, reflecting on what Elena had said of Nibelheim. "Yeah," she said. "She thought it was a mistake how they dealt with Sephiroth the first time. And now they're still following him around to see what he'll do, even after he killed their President."
"I guess the verdict is we've at least got potential," said Jessie. "I can live with that."
"Yeah," Barret agreed. "Been thought of a lot worse than that."
They didn't know the ropeway's schedule, but the first time it returned from North Corel, they all tensed in anticipation. Apparently this was a slow time of day for arrivals and departures, and none of the handful of people who disembarked were Sephiroth.
Tifa let out a breath. Her hands clenched and unclenched, and it all seemed so stupid in the moment, standing smack in front of the cable car waiting for her worst nightmare to step off. When she felt Jessie's hand against her back, guiding her away, she didn't protest.
The concourse was at least spacious, with plenty of room to walk around and even some chance for privacy amidst the cheerful cartoon scenery.
"You okay?" Jessie asked.
"I don't know," Tifa admitted. "This feels stupid. We have no idea what we're getting into."
Jessie was quiet for a moment, searching her face as if trying to find the solution to a tricky piece of code. "Well," she said, "that's not totally true."
"What do you mean?"
"I know what you saw in Nibelheim was basically two completely different people, so he seems impossible to predict. But, what's he up to since he's been back?" Jessie ticked off different events on her fingers as she went on. "He killed President Shinra, stole a specimen from a lab, and now he's been travelling around. He was in Junon base when we were, he was on the cargo ship with us-- What didn't he do?"
"...attack us," Tifa said, recognizing her train of thought. Her greatest nightmare and he hadn't brought it to them.
"And there's no way he wasn't aware of us. We made kind of a ruckus in Junon, and we took advantage of the one I'm betting he caused on the ship. Whatever he's doing, I don't think he sees us as a threat."
"That could change."
"It could," Jessie acknowledged. "But at least for now, we just came to talk. I'd say the most likely scenario is he just refuses."
"...maybe you're right." She couldn't stop thinking about what he'd done in Nibelheim, but if he were razing every town in his path, then they wouldn't have needed to look for intel on his whereabouts. There wouldn't have been intel from civilians who'd spoken to him without coming to harm.
Had his rage narrowed in focus? If he'd only ever directed it towards Shinra, she could have understood. But even if that was what he said he was after now, she would never understand Nibelheim, never understand him, never trust that they weren't seconds from it happening again.
She breathed in and out and ran back over Jessie's reasoning in her mind. Probably, statistically, rationally, he wouldn't show up to Gold Saucer and light the place on fire. That was something he'd done only once, not as a pattern. He'd ignored them up until now, so that was probably what would happen. He'd give them one of his cold stares and walk away, and that would be all. Barret wouldn't push for a fight.
"Oh, shit," Jessie said.
Tifa frowned briefly in confusion. She hadn't heard the ropeway, and it wasn't there at the station, but she followed Jessie's gaze in the other direction--
Stepping back out of the entrance was a figure in that unmistakable black uniform and long silver hair. Even his stature was distinctive; few people were as tall as Barret.
Tifa felt Jessie grab her hand, and the contact managed to unroot her feet from the floor. They hurried to rejoin their friends. In front of the ropeway platform, Barret and Wedge straightened up.
"Sephiroth, ain't it?" Barret said. "Mind if we have a word?"
Sephiroth's gaze slid off of him, turning instead to Tifa as she and Jessie ran up beside Barret. "Tifa," he said, and hearing her name in his voice was like swallowing ash. "What is it you want from me?"
"...you remember me?" she managed.
"Of course I do."
Jessie hadn't let go of her hand. "We had... some questions..." she got out. Despite all her logic, her voice was unsteady.
Behind him, Aeris and Elena shoved past the startled ticket-taker to burst out onto the concourse, stumbling to a halt when they took in the scene. Sephiroth turned his head enough to put them in his peripheral vision. Gold Saucer's cheerful music continued unabated, oblivious to the murderer standing in their midst, and Tifa had the horrible thought that it would go on just the same after he'd killed them.
"What is it you're after?" Barret asked, voice loud and firm, trying to draw his attention the way he'd draw fire. "Are you just leadin' Shinra on a wild goose chase?"
"Your curiosity is to be commended," Sephiroth said coolly. "But it's presumptuous to assume I'd tell you."
"...and what about me?" Aeris asked. She still sounded out-of-breath as she and Elena carefully edged around him to reach the rest of them. Sephiroth watched them, saying nothing. His expression might have been that of a statue for all Tifa could read in it.
"Shinra says you're an Ancient," Aeris went on. "That you were created to be one. They've wanted to find the Promised Land for a long time. I don't think you'd really show it to them, would you?"
Sephiroth regarded her steadily. "You know that isn't what I'm looking for," he said.
"...no, I didn't think it was."
Behind her, Tifa could hear the whirring of the car approaching along the ropeway lines. "Then," she began, and swallowed. "Are you... trying to lead Shinra to something else?"
"Shinra has its uses," he said, "limited though they are. It's far from a precise instrument, but it can be single-minded."
"...you're using them to find something for you," Jessie realized.
Sephiroth returned his attention to Aeris. "Perhaps you would know. Have you ever heard of the Keystone?"
"Keystone...?" Aeris repeated.
"Does that unlock somethin'?" Barret asked.
Sephiroth shrugged. "You can look, too, if you like."
"You think we'll do your work for you?" Barret demanded.
"You want to understand," Sephiroth said simply.
"...and what about Jenova?" Tifa asked. "Why did you need it, and... what did you do with it?"
Sephiroth smiled, a smile with no warmth in it. "You're a long way, aren't you?"
"We're not asking the right questions, are we?" said Wedge.
"I've got one," Elena spoke up. "Where've you been for the last five years?" When Sephiroth didn't answer her, she pressed on, "Was it part of the plan to let everyone think you were dead? Or did Fair almost do it?"
"He can't help you," Sephiroth stated. His smile had vanished.
"Because he's dead, or...?" Aeris ventured, something hopeful in her voice.
But Sephiroth didn't answer her. He took a step forward, and Barret shifted as if to move into his path, but Tifa grabbed his arm and held him still. Sephiroth strode past them, near enough she could have reached out and touched him, and boarded the ropeway. The minutes stretched, none of them moving, Sephiroth visible dimly through the car's tinted windows. Then the door shut and the car pulled back out of the station.
Barret glanced over at Aeris and Elena. "Well, you two made it just in time," he said, and only at the sound of his voice did Tifa unwind her hands from his arm. He acted as though he hadn't noticed.
"We came straight back once we realized he was already here," Aeris explained.
"You saw him...?" Tifa asked.
Aeris shook her head. "We found the person he came to meet."
"Dio, the owner," Elena elaborated. "He's a collector of rare items and antiquities."
"Antiquities like this Keystone, maybe," Jessie concluded.
"Dio didn't mention it," said Aeris, "but that's probably what he came to ask about. Dio must not have it, though."
"What was that stuff about 'Fair'?" Wedge wondered.
"Zack Fair," said Elena. "The First Class SOLDIER assigned to accompany Sephiroth to Nibelheim."
"Dio did say... Sephiroth was headed for Gongaga," Aeris added, and again there was something in her voice. "Elena remembered that's where Zack was from."
"You knew him?" Tifa asked.
Aeris nodded. "He and I... Well, it was a long time ago. But I wonder if he... made it home...?"
Barret stroked his beard thoughtfully. "So if he ain't dead, Sephiroth might be plannin' to change that while he's got everybody huntin' around for this Keystone."
"Aeris, you really don't know anything about it?" Jessie asked.
Aeris shook her head. "I can try to ask, but no."
"Ask who...?" Tifa wondered.
But Aeris just clapped her hands together as though she hadn't heard the question. "Hey, have we got some time before the next ropeway? It'd be nice to unwind a little."
Barret exchanged glances with Tifa; he'd caught the diversion, too. "Seems to run every half hour or so," was what he said.
"Good! That's enough." Aeris turned to Elena, who held up her hands preemptively.
"I'm good," she said. "Take somebody else this time."
Aeris took that in stride, eyes settling next on Tifa. "How 'bout it?"
"Um... Okay," Tifa decided. She didn't know that she really wanted to, but they were stuck with this incongruously positive music for the next half hour, and maybe it was better to be moving. Part of her wondered, too, if Aeris was seeking someone to confide in, rather than announcing her thoughts to the whole group.
"You and Barret have both been really tense," she murmured as they passed through the entrance, "but I didn't think he'd say yes."
"Probably not," Tifa agreed. All other thoughts left her as she stared at the array of rainbow-colored archways leading to different areas of the park. Aeris threw her a smile and lead the way towards one labeled 'Wonder Square.' Stepping through the arch put them on some kind of conveyor belt pathway carrying them through a tunnel. The music grew faint, but they passed a family being swept along back to the station. Their laughter echoed after them.
"......so, you knew Zack?" Aeris asked as the tunnel fell quiet again.
"A little," Tifa said. "Just from when he came to Nibelheim."
"What a coincidence, huh?"
The conveyor belt delivered them to the end of the tunnel, and they stepped out onto another brightly-lit concourse where people bought balloons from costumed vendors and children ran past yelling. Tifa looked at Aeris, trying to parse her expression. "Are you okay?"
Aeris laughed. "Imagine you asking me that, after what just happened!" She shook her head, her smile fading slightly. "I guess I'm a little worried, but I don't even know if I need to be. What about you?"
"It wasn't... like I expected," Tifa admitted.
"Well, he didn't try to kill us."
Tifa shook her head. "Not just that. He just seems like a man."
"Oh." Aeris hesitated, and in that moment Tifa recalled that both she and Sephiroth were Ancients. "Well, that's what he is, isn't it?"
"...yeah. I guess that's all he is."
Aeris walked on ahead, leading the way up a set of stairs and into an enormous arcade, crowded with people and flashing with colored lights. Beeps and boops from the different machines competed with the music.
"So," said Aeris, "how much do you think we can win in half an hour? I wanted to get souvenirs for everybody, but Elena dragged me away after two games."
"Don't these cost money...?" Tifa wondered, noting the coin slots in the front of the nearest machines.
"Yep! And Elena let me have the change when we bought our passes."
Tifa let out a laugh in spite of herself. "You're kind of a menace, aren't you?"
Aeris beamed. "I try."
They split the remaining gil between them, and Tifa went up to one of the claw machines full of colorful plush chocobos. It was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous to be doing this minutes after an encounter with Sephiroth.
But maybe that was the point. He hadn't brought anything to an end, hadn't taken anything from her or turned her life upside down. All he'd been was an interruption to Aeris's quest for souvenirs, and that was as much power as Tifa wanted him to have, too.