Author's Notes: If you're only reading part of this, or if you start reading it and then lose interest, feel free to drop me a line and let me know why-pacing, characters not engaging your interest, dislike of OC's, etc. Thanks!
About OC's—I know, most people don't care for them. I don't, either. But I used one instead of an established character for two reasons. The first is that I wanted to be able to put these characters into situations I didn't think Tifa would necessarily get into. The second is that I wasn't sure I could write Tifa accurately, and I don't see the point of claiming to use an established character, but writing them "OOC." If the character is OOC, it's an OC with an established character's name. At least, that's my opinion. So, a "Tifa-like OC." Forgive me, please, and give it a chance.
I started this eons ago, for my own entertainment, but I decided to go ahead and post it because there are bits of it that I really like. Hopefully someone else will enjoy it as well.
I personally don't like stories on here with chapters, because I have trouble reading stuff online at work sometimes (spotty internet connection), so I prefer to save them as Word files and read them offline. It's a pain doing that with multiple chapters. So, if you want a single file with all of the published chapters to date you can comment, then message me and ask for a link to the file. I won't send it to anyone who doesn't at least read the first chapter and comment, but if you'll do that, I'm happy to make things easier on you.
"Mature" for language, violence, and possibly adult themes.
Si'ara wiped down the counter of the now almost-empty bar and reminded herself for the hundredth time this evening that once she closed up tonight, her vacation would start, and she wouldn't have to see the inside of this or any other bar for almost a month. It had been one of those nights.
"Lookin' like you could use a few drinks before you call it a night, yo."
Si'ara knew the voice, and lifted her gaze from the worn wooden bar to search through the late-night haze for a shock of red hair. She'd noticed the Turk, Reno, sitting at a high table against the wall earlier, fortified by a steady stream of whiskey on ice, surrounding himself with a cloud of spice-scented smoke, and taking a moment or more to admire, compliment, or grope the assets of any attractive woman who passed within his view. She'd been worried at first, wondering why he was in her bar and hoping he wouldn't make trouble, but it seemed he was simply enjoying a night on the town, being his usual self-a flirtatious lush with no sense of discernment aside from an uncanny ability to judge a woman's cup size and alcohol tolerance at a glance.
She found him in the same spot, leaning on the table, whiskey glass in one hand, cigarette in the other. "It's been a long night," she admitted. Her assistant had shorted a belligerent drunk a significant amount of money, and it had been necessary for Si'ara to step in and figure out who was right and make reparations. Several customers had been quite willing to jump in fist-first on either side, and all in all, it had been a stressful and unwelcome situation. "But I'm pretty sure that there isn't much that's more pathetic than sitting around in your own bar after hours, drinking by yourself." She tossed him a casual grin and looked around to see how many customers were left. To her relief, everyone else had cleared out.
"I'm in town for a day or two." Reno tossed down the rest of his whiskey and set the glass on the table, leaning back against the wall and taking another drag on his cigarette. "An' I'm always up for a few more drinks."
Si'ara laughed. "And a few more, and a few more after that. You could probably support a bar or two on your own, Reno." She had made enough money off of him herself, at her bar in Edge, and on occasion at the bar she'd run in Midgar before that.
He shrugged, un-offended. "So come on over."
He said it like a dare, his eyes glittering at her wickedly through the haze of smoke. Si'ara frowned and got to work clearing tables, starting with the ones farthest from the Turk. She didn't want to go home yet—it had been a rough night, and it would be nice to go do something fun before heading for bed. But she wasn't sure that hanging out with a trained assassin who had once tried to kill not only herself, but all of her friends as well, counted as fun. He seemed friendly enough at the moment-she supposed the thing to do would be to make up her mind one way or another, and see how he took her response.
"I've still got things to do before I can get out of here." She had let Kyli leave after the unfortunate incident with the drunk, and had paid the price for that, as it left her to handle all the customers for the rest of the night, and all of the cleaning to do now. Although, she could leave the cleaning for Kyli to do in the morning—she would be running the bar while Si'ara was on vacation, and a little extra cleaning wouldn't bother her after an early night off.
"No hurry, yo." Reno shrugged and laid his head back against the wall, blowing a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling.
She finished collecting empty glasses from all of the tables except those closest to his, her mind drifting over the interactions she'd had with him in the past. On a business level, they'd been fine-as long as he wasn't in the mood for a fight, he'd been content to spend his money buying drinks, for himself and for the random floozies he picked up on a nightly basis. And when he had been in a fighting mood, he'd tended to limit himself to watching for rowdy customers, or the guys who felt they could handle the staff as well as the drinks, and he'd kept his fights outside, in the street or in the alleys. But on a personal level-well, that was a little different. Her bar in Midgar had been destroyed, and thousands of people killed, as a direct result of his actions. And he'd kicked her ass, along with her friends', for the right to do it. They'd had other encounters since then, some of which had gone better, some not so much, but right now that one stuck in her mind.
Decision made, she set the dirty dishes on the bar and turned back to where he was sitting. "Ah, another time, maybe." She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling errant strands off of her face and sighed. "Right now, I think I'm ready to write this day off and hope that tomorrow's better."
"Your call." Reno slid off the barstool, accepting her rejection with a shrug and heading for the door. On his way, he put his cigarette out in an empty ashtray, then waved at her without turning around and left, the door swinging closed behind him. A moment later, the roar of a high-powered motorcycle filled the quiet night, revving loudly, then fading swiftly into the distance.
Si'ara wasn't sure whether she should feel relieved or disappointed, but suspected that relieved was the wiser choice. Although the Turks no longer actively hunted her or her friends, they still worked for Rufus Shinra, and no matter how reformed that man might seem to be, she suspected that his nature was unchanged. He had done a lot lately to repair the damage his predecessors had done to the planet, but then, what would make better PR than that? He could blame all of the horrors and atrocities the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company had committed on his father and his father's advisors, wooing the public to his side. Not that it mattered. The mako reactors were shut down, but Shinra now owned the majority of the world's natural resources, having purchased mines and tracts of land while they were cheap, deemed unnecessary in view of the plentiful energy the mako reactors had provided. Shin-Ra Electric Power Company was still in control, and Rufus Shinra was at its head.
Pushing such thoughts aside, Si'ara finished clearing the tables, then popped open the cash register and sorted the cash quickly, putting back enough change for the next day and taking the rest into the office. Once it was in the safe, she locked up carefully, checking everything to make sure it was secure. Kyli had her own keys to everything but the safe, which she shouldn't need to get into. Confident that all was safe and sound, she headed out, locking the door behind her.
A quick stop by Costa Del Sol's all-night convenience store provided her with ready-to-eat meals for the next day, so she could decide just how to spend her vacation without worrying about cooking or cleaning. That was something she wanted to avoid for a day or two. The night was quiet now that Reno and his motorcycle were gone, and as she walked the half-mile or so to her house, the sound of waves lapping against the shore grew more distinct. Her current home was on the edge of town—she liked the convenience of city life, but disliked people, so this was the best compromise she could find.
Pausing at the front door of her modest cottage to dig for her keys, she became gradually aware of a subtle wrongness. The feeling grew more pronounced when she went to unlock the door and found it already open. Senses now fully alert, she pushed it open, confident that she would be a match for any intruder that might be inside, but annoyed to have her home violated in this way.
To her surprise the first figure she saw, spinning to face her, was Elena, the most junior of Shinra's private hit squad. As Turks went, she wasn't very imposing. Si'ara threw the bag of groceries at the petite blonde, and was preparing to follow it with a flying kick when she heard a soft voice say, "Not moving would be a better choice, Miss Ravenscar." That calm demeanor could only belong to one person—Tseng, the Turks' Wutaian leader. She glanced to her right and found herself, as expected, staring down the barrel of a gun into the eyes of a trained killer. Straightening slightly, she held her arms away from her side, palms toward him, while she tried to decide on a course of action. Then darkness swept over her as her bones seemed to turn to jelly and the floor rushed toward her noiselessly.