A short chapter entailing Tifa in the aftermath of her first encounter with Genesis. I may have taken some liberties by creating a Shinra facility, but we didn't really trust them anyway, did we? We all know they have little secrets hidden all over the place!
Enjoy.
fire mystic
Windows to the Soul
Mako eyes.
Could she have mistaken that luminescence? Was it possible his eyes were simply that bright, that startling?
On her walk back through town, she couldn't help but glance around, eyes searching for any trace of the red of his coat rounding a corner, or of his hair catching the late afternoon sunlight. Would anyone know him if she described him? With his height and coloring, surely he would stand out. Or did he ever come into town?
"Why am I obsessing like this?" The people walking past her looked at her, startled. Uhoh. She had said that last part out loud.
She returned to the inn in time to have dinner with the innkeepers, who were a lovely older couple that had long since seen their children grow up and move away. Tifa enjoyed their company, and appreciated their ability to take care of their guests without crowding them.
She sat listening as they told her of interesting places she might want to visit while she was in the area. She had told them she was interested in peace and quiet, and they knew of many places in the area that would offer her a combination of solitude and beauty. They were the places she couldn't find on a tourist map.
Tifa decided this was the perfect time to ask them about the area around the lake where she had been spending much of her time.
"I found a beautiful lake in the woods on the other side of town. Do you know anything about that area?" It was an innocent enough question and Tifa managed to inflect it with just the right amount of curiosity. The reaction she got, however, was uneasy.
"Do you mean the woods that lead up into the hills?" Minna asked.
Tifa's brows furrowed. "Yes, now that you mention it, there are hills beyond the trees."
Minna looked at her husband, Asa, who had suddenly made himself very busy eating.
"What? Is there something I should know? Should I not go there?"
Minna laughed, but there was a tightness about it. "Oh, no, dear. I'm sure it's perfectly fine. Just be careful. There aren't any houses out that way in case something happens, and well, there are stories about those woods. There have been stories ever since Shinra left town."
Shinra? Shinra had been here? That was impossible. Tifa thought back to her days with AVALANCHE. She had certainly known where all the Shinra reactors were. The knowledge had faded a bit, but wouldn't she have recognized the name of this town if Shinra had a major facility here.
She posed her question very innocently. "Shinra? The same Shinra Electric Power Company that owns the Mako reactors?"
Minna's smile was easier this time. "That's the one. But there's nothing so grand as a reactor in these parts. Just an old abandoned research facility."
Tifa hoped they hadn't noticed that she had stopped chewing. Her hands lifted, subconsciously brushing her hair back behind her ears
"Shinra deserted it years ago, but the stories remain. You know how kids are, letting their imagination run wild. There are always stories about how you can hear machines up there in the dead of night, and such. Silly ghost stories. I imagine all the kids go up in those woods just to spook themselves. But the old place is locked up tight as a drum. No one's been in there for years."
Something tightened in Tifa's chest. Mako eyes. Shinra. Research facility. She had a sneaking suspicion that the facility may not be abandoned as Shinra would have liked the natives to believe. She hoped her feelings weren't written across her face.
She spent the rest of the evening debating whether to call someone with this information. But what did she really have to tell them? All she had were suspicions, after all. She had no proof whatsoever that the man she had seen wasn't anything but another wanderer enjoying the view.
She talked herself out of the phone call, convincing herself it was for logical reasons, but she felt guilty. A tiny spark in her mind kept igniting, whispering that it wasn't for logical reasons at all. She didn't call simply because she didn't want to; didn't want to deal with any drama it might create, didn't want her friends to know how far out of her way she had gone to escape, didn't want her newly found personal space incringed on by another Shinra fiasco. She would do a bit of poking around herself, and if needed, she would call later. Otherwise, she was leaving it alone. After all, she was on vacation, and she was going to enjoy it.
Letting it go for the night, she cracked open a one of the windows, just enough to let in a bit of cool, fresh air, and snuggled down in the comfort of the soft mattress and the warm comforter, her mind drifting off until sleep took her.
She dreamed that night.
Warm, delicious dreams, tainted with the slightest bit of red. The dreams would fade upon waking, leaving nothing but a single image behind.
Blue eyes.
Mako eyes.
