Unseen
Author's Note: Here we go again! I still didn't manage to obtain Square Enix and its respective game rights. Blasted. But, on the bright side, I obtained a review! Thanks CupofTeaforAliceandHatter, as I didn't expect much of a feedback on just the kind of short Prologue. Now, to keep it nice and simple: on with the story!
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Chapter 1 – Inheritance
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It had been half a year.
Half a year since Sephiroth had been defeated, meteor had been destroyed and, not to forget, the world had been saved.
And here she was, putting groceries into the refrigerator.
Tifa Lockhart sighed.
Things really had changed. Grocery shopping instead of purchasing weapons and armor. Having to pay for expensive items instead of finding them in treasure chests. Talking to customers instead of fighting deadly monsters.
It was something she had gotten used to disturbingly quickly. Not to say she didn't like to lead a perfectly normal life. She was exceedingly proud of her 7th Heaven, the bar she'd built up with her very own hands in the course of mere months.
Cloud had stayed at her side wordlessly, moving to Edge with her, helping out wherever he could. The thought of him wanting to move on together with his childhood friend, after all that had happened in Nibelheim, filled her with overwhelming gratitude.
However, something was missing.
Tifa missed her friends.
AVALANCHE had split up six months ago and scattered into all parts of the world. They hadn't heard from each other ever since. God knew Tifa'd be calling them every day, hadn't her detour into the Lifestream back in Mideel rendered her PHS useless altogether. She hadn't asked Cloud for his, either. He'd probably thrown it away or hidden it somewhere, being the chatty person he was.
As if on cue, the doorbells started ringing melodically, announcing the arrival of no other than the spiky-haired blond in question.
"Cloud! Welcome home!" Tifa greeted in an overly chipper manner.
Cloud looked at her, furrowing his brows ever so slightly.
"….what is it?"
Tifa gave him a soft smile.
"…you always know when I have something on my mind, don't you?"
"…" Cloud merely sat his bag on a table, waiting for her to continue.
"Well, the thing is…it's Christmas next week. And I wondered if we could…go on a trip. With that monstrous bike you bought. What did you name it?"
"…Fenrir?"
"Yeah, right, that one. I know you're busy getting this idea with the delivery service to work out and all…but I thought maybe you're free over Christmas?"
And not in Aeris' church, but at home for a change, she mentally added.
He hesitated before he asked: "…where would you want to go?"
"Well….you see, I was sort of planning an AVALANCHE get-together…so I thought we could drive to Rocket Town and ask Cid to pick everyone up."
She'd been planning to do something along those lines for a while now.
Cloud tentatively raised an eyebrow.
"Why not call him?"
"How? It's not like I have his number or anything…"
"…Rocket Town address book."
Well, that was an idea.
"Okay….but you know we still need to set up a phone connection and I don't –"
Cloud held up a cell phone.
Tifa's mouth fell open.
"When did you get THAT?"
He shrugged.
Ignoring his lack of enthusiasm, Tifa semi-hugged him, beaming.
"You're the best, Cloud. I'll call Cid and ask him to gather everyone together. Sweet Shiva, why didn't I think to ask you sooner?"
The corners of his lips twitched as she took the phone from him and went to get Cid's number.
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Yuffie slammed the door shut behind her, then slid down its length until she sat on the floor, coughing violently. This had to be the longest, not to mention worst, day of her entire life.
They hadn't managed to get Godo's body out of the hellfire that used to be the Pagoda. It had been a miracle in itself that Yuffie and Staniv had made it out with just a few scratches and burns.
And friggin' smoke poisoning, Yuffie thought miserably as she gasped for air.
She had allowed herself to linger at the entrance and stare back into the flames that would be her father's grave. Until several people had shoved her out of the way to try and save what was left of the sacred building.
After that, she'd been running all around town to help putting out small and big fires practically everywhere.
Godo's house had also been the target of a bomb. There was nothing left of it but ashes and burnt wood.
After the work had been done, the remaining Mighty Gods as well as the New Crescent Unit, that had been under her father's direct order, had swarmed around her like bugs, suddenly concerned about her well-being. It had taken ages and her last breath to get away from them and into the silence of her unscathed house.
She needed a bath. And, more importantly, she needed to think. She needed to understand what had happened and how and why. And then she needed to find the ones responsible, hunt them down and make them pay.
She grit her teeth and clenched her fists as sheer hatred flared through her limbs. She was going to fight again. But this time, she would fight to kill.
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Cloud had been right, you couldn't miss Cid's name in Rocket Town's address book. Up to now, Tifa hadn't known that both his attempts to fly into space and his airship had made him that famous. But the size of the print said it all.
When she eventually dialled Cid's number, she braced herself for the worst, knowing that the foul-mouthed pilot certainly wasn't happy that it took her half a year to call him.
After just two rings he picked up.
"What the #&$% is it?"
She winced inwardly.
"Hey, Cid, it's Tifa. How are you doing?"
There was silence for a minute.
"…Cid?"
"Holy shit, Teefs, didn't expect'cha after all that time."
She could hear him crunching on his cigarette as he grimly added.
"Guess I shoulda known, though. Want me ta pick yer up?"
That took her by surprise. Should have known…?
"Um…no, actually I wanted to ask you to pick the others up and get them to my place…you know, so we could all meet again for Christmas."
"Christmas? How can you be fuckin' thinkin' 'bout that shit, now, woman?" He sounded sincerely incredulous.
"What? What's wrong with that?" Tifa demanded, irritated at his tone.
"…you haven't been watchin' th'news, have ya?"
"What are you talking about? What news? Don't tell me they forbid Christmas."
"Tifa, there was a report on TV this afternoon. They were freakin' out because a helluva lotta tourists wanted their money back an' shit."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
His dead serious tone worried her.
"They were all vacationin' in Wutai, Teefs. It got attacked this mornin'. Lotsa bombs and fire, 's all I know. Stupid media dunno anythin', shitheads are jes' arguin' over the damned tourists' rights, not givin' a crap 'bout what happened to the townspeople."
Tifa's blood ran cold. She put her hand to her mouth, eyes wide and disbelieving. This was a bad dream, right? Or a joke….no, not even Cid would joke about something like that…
"…Tifa, you there?"
She held onto the cell phone so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"Y-yeah, I'm here."
"Yeah, look, I was jes' 'bout ta leave ta check on things there, 'cuz the Highwind is up an' runnin' again. Guess they might need help. You wanna come, I'll pick ya up if ya tell me yer damned location."
She swallowed her questions and nodded. Then, remembering that Cid couldn't see it, she said in a firm voice: "Yeah, me and Cloud will come too. We're in Edge, we can meet near the old train station not far south from town."
"Alright, see ya in a tad."
With that he hung up.
A second later, Tifa was trying to call Yuffie's PHS.
No one answered.
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Granted, she was clean, her futon was cozy and she had finally stopped having coughing fits. But her thoughts just didn't calm down enough to let her sleep tonight. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Wutai, her Wutai, burning, burning, burning. Then she saw Godo, saw his blood, his face, his throat…she'd run to the bathroom to puke twice already. And her thoughts kept reeling. Who was that foreigner Godo had been with? Why didn't they see any trace of him in the Pagoda? What did they have to talk about in the first place? What would happen now? Officially, she was the heir to the throne. Ruling Wutai? No way she could do that. She was seventeen, for Leviathan's sake!
It was all so surreal, she wished she could just fall asleep. Because she was sure that, when she woke up the next morning, Godo would be alive and Wutai would be as intact and boring as ever.
Boring. Oh, how she wanted Wutai to be back to boring right now. Wasn't it all her fault? Wasn't she the one who'd wished for 'some action' to begin with?
She turned onto her other side for the sixtieth time that night when she heard a faint knock on her door. Sighing, she got up and opened it just wide enough to peek through.
"Yuffie."
"…Staniv."
"May I?"
She let him in before sliding the door shut again. She didn't bother turning on the light. Instead she crossed her arms and plopped down on her futon, looking at him expectantly.
"What is it, gramps?"
"I hope I haven't awoken you from sleep…"
She made a dismissive gesture.
"Sleep's for losers. So?"
"I wanted to talk to you about…Lord Godo's death."
Her right eye twitched for a split second before she put a perfectly smooth expression on her face.
"…what about it?"
"…he was…still alive when I found him. He was able to give me something…and I was able to hear his last words. I thought you should know."
She didn't ask why he told her that now, pretty much in the middle of the night. Somehow she understood. The darkness seemed comforting.
"And here I was worrying you came to torture me with my duties as soon-to-be-empress. Stupid me," she muttered.
"…"
She contemplated saying nothing. Waiting until Staniv was fed up with her obnoxious behaviour and left. But Yuffie was never really chummy with silence. And even though she would have never admitted it to anyone, what mattered to Godo in his last moments, mattered all the more to her.
"Tell me."
Staniv looked up into her eyes, searching her face. She stared right back. After a moment he averted his eyes and cleared his throat, pulling a small piece of crumpled paper out of a porch on his obi. He pressed it into her hand without another word.
Yuffie unfolded it slowly, letting her gaze wander from left to right again and again.
Dear Godo,
I want to make an announcement. No, two, actually. The first one is as follows:
This Christmas, we will celebrate the downfall of Wutai.
Preparations are complete and at this very moment, a few good friends of mine are in town, enjoying their 'holidays' just like some of the countless tourists that keep your precious country alive. I told them to have fun. They said they'd start with it at ten a.m.
The second announcement is simply to prove that the first is neither a joke nor an empty threat.
This will be the last thing you read. Shortly after, you will be dead. But I'm sure you've realized that by now.
Now you will probably be thinking something like, "why is this happening?" or "what did I do to deserve this?"
Comprehensible.
And because you are a dying man, I'm inclined to drop you a hint…maybe you will figure it out before your time's up.
"The day the crimson sun set for the last time, after ten years of constant shining, was the day the Lord ripped a bone out of his body, sacrificing it to the One With A Hundred Faces to gain eternal peace. The Lord was granted his wish as the Hundred Faces turned the bone into a sword and severed his head from his shoulders. This caused the bone-sword to shatter and from that moment on the shards kept slicing their way through everything the treacherous Lord ever held dear. Thus, they will continue slicing until they reached the Promised Land."
Even after your death, I don't expect Wutai to go down without a battle.
Merry Christmas and my best regards,
The Bone