Many thanks to GigaBahamut for showing me how to get this updated. Though it's be nice if fixed that.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.

Suggestion to SquareEnix: Next time you make an FFVII game, hire some of the people who worked on Prince of Persia. The gamer controlled acrobatics in there are awesome!

Chapter Twenty-Five - A Traitor's Mark

"Yeah! Take that, lightning beak!"

Yuffie danced around the fallen needle kiss, waving her shuriken with apparent disregard for her teammates standing on the narrow mountain road.

Barret stepped back toward the brush covered slope. "Watch it, ya crazy little-"

"DON'T MOVE!"

Everyone froze the moment Kunsel and Red yelled.

Tifa spoke first. "What is it?"

Kunsel pointed behind Barret. "Search crowns." Sure enough, less than a yard behind Barret stood three of the semi-ambulatory mushroom-like things. "Don't make any sudden movements. Just step away quietly."

Barret sniffed. "Ya make 'em sound like they're dangerous." Still, he did as Kunsel said.

He's a local. Kunsel's eyes narrowed. "They aren't as dangerous as some things around here, but I certainly don't want to be picking seeds out of my ass later today."

"You're all just being a bunch of sissies," Yuffie said, striding across the road. "They look harmless, what's the big-hey!"

Kunsel grabbed her by the collar just as one of the search crowns pelted her with seeds the size of a man's thumb.

"Now ya done it!" Barret shoved Tifa and Aerith ahead of him. "Let's get outa here!"

Kunsel and Red ran after him, an irate Yuffie tucked under Kunsel's arm.

Soon Red slowed down, his ears twitching. "Someone is engaged in a duel nearby."

"Yeah." Kunsel looked around. He pointed to a small path among the rocks on the upward slope. "That's got to be the path Zack mentioned."

They had to walk single file, Yuffie sulking near the back of the line since Kunsel had finally set her down. Around a corner they came in sight of the fight Red had mentioned. Everyone stayed back out of the way as Zack and Cloud clashed and rebounded off boulders.

Zack noticed the arrival of the party first. He grinned and lowered his 'sword' slightly. "Hey, guys. Wh-!"

Cloud collided with the branch, breaking it and sending both men tumbling to the ground.

Kunsel laughed as the two disentangled themselves. "You lost your focus."

"And you do a really bad impression of Angeal," Zack said, getting to his feet. He took back his sword when Kunsel handed it to him.

"Impressions aren't really my thing." Kunsel turned to Barret. "So, how do you recommend we get through to Corel?"

Barret raised his good arm as if about to point but stopped mid swing. He glared at Kunsel as he lowered his arm. "What you talkin' 'bout?"

Everyone else looked first at Barret then at Kunsel.

Kunsel shrugged. "You are from around here, right? It makes sense. You recognized the search crowns and the destruction of the village would be a good reason for hating ShinRa."

Barret's glare shifted to a resigned scowl. "Yeah, I'm from Corel. Long as ya know, I better tell ya it'd be best if I not go through there wit' ya."

"Why is that?" Aerith stepped forward, looking up at Barret with wide-eyed concern.

Barret turned his head away. "It's my fault. All my fault that Corel's gone."

Zack blinked. "You didn't blow up the reactor, did you?"

"No!" Barret's eyes shot up, glaring at Zack for only a moment before they fell back to staring at the ground. "But I might as well have. When ShinRa came we's all excited 'bout this mako business, thought it'd turn our lives around. All 'cept Dyne. He's my best friend but I convinced him to go 'long wit' it. Then one day we's comin' back to town and ran into one of the old men runnin' away. He was shot down right in front of us, just like that. We saw the village burnin' in the distance and tried to run away, too, but Dyne fell an' I tried to catch him. That's when I was shot in the arm." He lifted his gun arm and looked at it as if he saw the scene reflected in the dented metal. "So, you see, it's my fault. I can't go back there."

"No. I don't see." Kunsel had spent the time during Barret's speach leaning against a large boulder. "So you convinced your friend that mako was a great idea, so what? I doubt ShinRa would've given up their plans for the reactor just because of one man."

Barret sputtered.

"I don't have any sympathy for you!" Yuffie glared at Barret before stalking past. "You shouldn't have trusted ShinRa in the first place!"

"Hey!" Zack stepped up to Yuffie, blocking her path. "You're not helping."

Tifa held Barret's good hand in both of her's, an attempt at reassurance that Barret didn't seem to notice. He barely seemed aware of anything as the group moved on along the mountain trail.

*7*7*

Kunsel shook his head, feeling that he really should start cataloging the limit breaks his companions possessed. Interestingly, Cloud's latest one (which Zack rather unimaginatively dubbed 'Blade Beam') was the first to not involve his body glowing.

Good grief, even the ninja brat had a limit break. If everyone could cooperate for more than just beating up monsters, ShinRa might actually have a problem on their hands.

Finally, near late afternoon, they reached the shanty town of North Corel. Tents and shelters made from scrap metal dotted the space around the disused train tracks. On a low ridge stood the only two actual buildings, stone structures that looked ready to fall over at the slightest touch.

"Man," Zack said, "this place is a mess. Guess they wouldn't really appreciate a bunch of SOLDIERs walking into town."

Tifa nodded. "So what do we do?" She glanced over at Barret. He stayed near the back of the group, facing away from the shattered settlement he felt responsible for.

"We could dress in civilian clothes, but that wouldn't do anything about the mako glow and we don't have any sunglasses." Kunsel turned to Zack. "So, do we send the girls in to get supplies and information?"

"Hey!" Yuffie jumped up and down. "I'm not just a girl, I'm a ninja! Information gathering is my specialty!"

Zack grinned. "Funny, I thought your specialty was stealing."

"That too!"

"Is that really something you should be proud of?" Red asked.

Zack rubbed the back of his head. "Barret really should go, too, since he knows these people, but..."

"I ain't goin'."

"Figured as much." Zack put his fists on his waist and took a deep breath. "Okay, gang, let's take inventory and figure out what we can sell just in case there isn't enough gil to pay for the supplies we need."

For the most part, taking inventory went smoothly. A few items, mostly shredded clothing, were tossed without argument. Quite a bit of discussion went into what to do with the potions they collected. Aerith wanted to keep them as necessary medical supplies. Kunsel pointed out that they had a level 3 restore materia and Zack's old (not to mention fully mastered) cure for such purposes. Both of which were a great deal less breakable than the glass potion bottles.

Cloud ended up inadvertently settling that debate when he crushed one of the potion bottles while trying to get the cap off. He apologized the entire time he spent cleaning up, explaining that he'd intended to check that it was still fresh.

The real problem came when selling some of the materia came up. Yuffie, of course, didn't want to part with any of it. Zack pointed out that most of the materia was technically his and he could sell it if he wanted to. Kunsel also pointed out that most of the magic materia was of the old single-spell variety and probably wouldn't sell for much even though they were also mastered. Barret grumbled about how the whole thing made absolutely no sense to him. Tifa suggested they could sell the sense materia while Red pointed out that it could be useful in a fight with an unknown enemy. After the disaster with the potion bottle, Cloud just sat on his hands and kept his mouth shut.

Finally, with an air of exasperation from more than one of the party, the decision was made to sell the cure, enemy skill, and jump materia but keep the basic elementals, sense, all, restore, and the Shiva summon. Yuffie also insisted on keeping her steal materia. Though the fire and thunder materia could be sold if they found a set of multi-spell materia to replace them.

That settled, Tifa, Yuffie, and Aerith headed into the sad little village. Zack stretched before falling into his familiar habit of doing squats.

Kunsel glanced over at where Barret brooded against the cliff wall and sighed. "Hey, Zack, you don't think I was maybe a little insensitive back there, do you?"

"With what?" Zack didn't so much as break his rhythm as he followed Kunsel's line of sight. "Oh. Maybe. Somebody had to say it, though. He can't keep blaming himself over something he had no control over." He didn't miss the slight twitch from Cloud.

Red huffed. "Excuse me." He turned and trotted over to Barret. Without a word he laid down, resembling a loyal hunting hound before a comfortable fire.

*7*7*

"Thank you. I hope your father does better soon." Aerith's smile faded as the tent flap fell behind her. "Everyone's so bitter," she murmured.

Tifa nodded. "I can understand the feeling. ShinRa's taken everything from them."

"It's their own fault for believing ShinRa," Yuffie said, her nose in the air. "At least Barret's willing to admit it."

Aerith shifted the bag of dried vegetables on her arm to a more comfortable position. "Perhaps. I do wish he didn't blame himself so much, though."

"Whatever." Yuffie skipped ahead. "You two can keep shopping if you like, I'm going to see if there's any good mat-information in this dump."

"Sure. Meet you back with the others in an hour?" Tifa felt to make sure her wallet was still in place after Yuffie passed. "And don't steal anything."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The self-proclaimed White Rose of Wutai vanished behind one of the dusty market stalls.

The brilliant sunlight and drab monotone of the shanty town made blending into the background even harder than normal for the outgoing ninja. She preferred the direct approach, anyway.

"Guy in a black cloak?" The man outside the sad excuse for an inn blinked at the oddly dressed visitor. "Yeah, I saw him. Had a cool looking tattoo on him. I wonder if I should get one. Hey. You think I'd look good with a tattoo?"

Yuffie thought it'd take more than a tattoo to make this guy look good, but in a rare display of tact she refrained from voicing that opinion. "Great, so where did he go?"

The man blinked some more. Yuffie suspected he needed glasses, badly. "I think he took the tram to the Gold Saucer."

That was easy. Too easy. Yuffie's eyes narrowed at her informant. "Why did he go there?"

"No idea," the man said with a shrug. "He never said anything. Though I suppose he probably went for the same reason everyone else does. It's the off season, but there's always somebody interested in having a good time. Kinda wish I could afford to go there once. I had been saving up before ShinRa came, thought it'd be a nice surprise for the wife. 'Course, she's dead now. Most everyone's dead. No point in saving anything after that. I think sometimes it'd be nice to start over. Guess that's why I asked about getting a tattoo. Just put the past behind me and try something new for a change. Doubt it'd do much good, but..."

Yuffie didn't catch the rest of the speech. The last thing she wanted to hear was another tale of woe from someone who refused to even try. She just couldn't respect someone who gave up. Like her father.

So she decided to return to the group early. There wasn't really anything else to do, none of the people even had any interesting materia to steal. Correction. These people had no materia to steal whatsoever. She'd never seen a more boring village.

"Hey, guys!" she yelled the instant she spotted the male members of her team. "The Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi strikes again! Haha!"

"You didn't steal anything, did you?"

Yuffie sniffed at Zack's question. "Of course not! I always keep my word. But I did pick up some interesting information on this Sephiroth you guys are looking for." The obvious interest her words brought made her grin. "So, what's it worth to ya?"

Ignoring the collective groan (and, in Barret's case, muttered cursing), Cloud sifted through the contents of the supply duffel until he came across a small yellow materia. He turned it over in palm. "One sense materia."

"All right! I knew there was something about you I liked." Yuffie made a grab for the materia but Cloud backed off before she could blink.

"The information first."

Yuffie pouted. "Fine. Some guy saw a man in a black cloak get on the tram for the Gold Saucer."

"That's it?" Zack frowned. "What would he be doing there?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Playing pachinko? How should I know? I don't even know who he is. Now gimme my materia!" She dove at Cloud again, who this time just looked startled as she attempted to mug him.

A few minutes later, Tifa and Aerith returned to an all too amusing sight. Kunsel sat on the train tracks with his head buried in both his palms. Zack stood nearby, looking both concerned and horrified at Yuffie, who was curled up near Cloud and hugging something to her chest. Cloud stood with his hands open as if he'd recently been holding something and looking more than a bit shell shocked. Barret just stood apart from the rest grumbling. Red padded up to the newly arrived teammates with what could be called a smile on his face.

"You missed an interesting display."

"Apparently," Tifa said. Next to her, Aerith started to giggle.

*7*7*

"Why would someone put the entrance to the world's only amusement park in a place like North Corel?" Zack looked out the window of the tram at the haphazard gold disks sparkling with randomly colored lights.

"An attempt at economic stimulus," Kunsel said. "Before the only way to get here was the helicopter shuttle from Costa Del Sol. A few months after the reactor blew, Dio set up the tram service in order to attract business to the area. Obviously, it didn't work the way he planned, though it does have the advantage of being free and open year-round unlike the shuttle service." He looked around at the eyes staring at him. "What?"

Zack shook his head. "Seriously, is there anything you don't know something about?"

"Hey. Unlike some people, I like to keep up with current events."

"Living in a test tube for four years doesn't let one catch up easily."

Kunsel winced. "Okay. You win this one."

The tense silence following that exchange lasted only long enough for the irritatingly cheerful park music to reach the tram. Soon after, the doors opened onto a poka-dotted plaza inhabited by one poor soul in a bright yellow chocobo costume.

"Welcome to the Gold Saucer!" the mascot yelled, waving his 'wings' frantically. Everyone ignored him except Yuffie, who paused just long enough to stick out her tongue while pulling down her lower eyelid.

Kunsel sighed as he put away his wallet. Zack had nominated him as treasurer of their merry band after the argument earlier in the day. The responsibility made him acutely aware of how much they could not afford the exorbitant prices of this place. At least they managed to get in the front door. The greeter didn't even bat an eyelash at Red. Maybe she was used to strange customers.

"Wow!" Aerith cried as she danced ahead into the brightly lit entrance hall. Tubes lead out to the various attractions from the curved wall. "Let's have fun!"

Kunsel cleared his throat and Aerith's smile faded slightly. "I know this isn't the right time to do this," she said. She slid over to Barret's side. "Hey, Barret, cheer up!"

"I ain't in no cheery mood. So jes' leave me alone."

No one could blame him, either. Zack was still pretty shocked at the dirty looks they, no Barret, had gotten from the villagers who spotted them navigating around the perimeter of the settlement.

Aerith continued unfazed. "Really? That's too bad." She stepped over to Zack, latching onto his arm. "Let's go!"

Tifa looked over at Barret before leaning over to whisper in Aerith's ear. "Wasn't that a little harsh, Aerith?"

"Just act normal when this happens," Aerith whispered back.

"You think so?" Tifa didn't sound so sure.

Kunsel rolled his eyes. He liked Aerith, but the girl had a very strange way of dealing with people and their problems. "We've been fighting a lot lately, so maybe some R&R would be a good idea."

"Fine!" Barret stormed toward one of the tubes. 'Battle Square,' apparently. "Messin' around doin' $#^&#. Don't forget we're after Sephiroth!" The tube made a 'shoomp' noise as the air pumps kicked in to rocket Barret away.

"Uh, as I was saying," Kunsel said, "we'd probably look a little less suspicious if we act like regular tourists, anyway. I guess I don't have to remind anyone what we're actually here for."

"All right!" Yuffie grabbed Cloud's hand and attempted to drag him over to the information stand. "You're with me!"

Cloud glanced at Tifa, but she had her back turned. With a sigh, he finally let the hyper ninja direct his movements.

I just had to have someone call Barret on his oddly placed guilt. Really? Everyone in town agrees to something and it's just his fault? How does that work? It makes a bit more sense from watching Before Crisis (I say watching, not playing, because there is no official North America release for the game, blast it), what with Barret taking a more active role in assisting ShinRa prior to the disaster, but that's hardly a good reason for wallowing in guilt. Not that there's ever a good reason to wallow in guilt, some are just more understandable than others.