Chapter 29: Fire and Water
'I shouldn't have called him 'chocobo head,' Tifa had time to think as she fell. And then her body hit metal and she instinctively rolled with the fall. It still knocked all the air out of her but that was better than splattering all over a hard surface much further down and so Tifa would take it. Her fingers bruised and cut themselves as they scrabbled for something to hold and she caught the side of a rail as her body came to rest against another one. Cloud had thrown her better than she'd thought was possible. Another explosion shook the walkway she was on and jarred her out of the contemplation her mind had slipped into defensively and she pulled herself to her knees. Raised her face.
Above and to the side she saw…
Sunlight.
Raising a hand, she waved. And then the walkway shook tremendously and Tifa hauled herself to her feet and bolted.
All around her she could hear metal screaming in protest. What had been in those bombs Cid had made? Or rather – what had been in those pipes she'd set it against? Soles of her shoes ringing, she sprinted down the walk and threw herself into the semi-safety of the hallway beyond. It was full of smoke and the way the building was shuddering now she felt like a dying leviathan's last meal, still alive as the beast gave its death keel and dragged her down. Brows low and determined, Tifa kept running, each footstep a name.
Denzel.
Marlene.
Aerith.
Dad.
Barrett.
Cloud…
She'd memorized the blue print of the main areas of the reactor but none of it rose up in her mind now to help her. She had a general sense of which way was the closest exit though and so she headed that way. Hoping, praying, everyone else got out safely.
The smoke got thicker and full of foul, choking smells and the building continued to shake and fall apart. Tifa had to rest a hand against the wall and stop running, moving forward as quickly as she could instead. Her eyesight sank to practically nothing and she pulled the lab coat up to cover her nose and mouth as she coughed on the smoke. Squinting her eyes as she pushed forward as quickly as she could. She would not die here. She would not die here. She would not –
Her boot caught on something on the floor and sent her pitching forward onto her hands and knees.
Where she came face to face with a scientist.
A dead scientist.
For a long minute the rest of the world disappeared. Details imprinted themselves on Tifa's mind in bursts. His name tag said Fletcher. His dark hair was just on the edge of needing a haircut. His tie was blue with tiny little white dots.
Half his face was missing.
Chunks of flaming metal fell around her and Tifa still couldn't seem to stop staring. Something above her groaned and a part of her knew she needed to react.
He had brown eyes… eye.
A body impacted with hers and they rolled as the ceiling fell. In the angry light from the fire, Tifa blinked her eyes dully. And saw a face peering down at her with concern.
"You okay?"
She blinked at the voice. His eyes were blue. Green. Blue.
"Hey. Come on. You've gotta snap out of it."
She blinked again, more rapidly and shook her head. Reached up to brace her hands instinctively against his chest because he was a stranger and still over top of her. He grinned, young and boyish, at the move and rolled to his feet. Offering his black gloved hand. She took it on automatic response again and suddenly he smiled. Hauled her to her feet and jerked his head.
"Come on. The way out's this way."
He waited for her nod and then took off running and Tifa sprinted along behind him through the flames and smoke and falling building. Keeping track of him by the back of his dark head and the wild spikes of black hair that would have given Cloud a run for his gil on which one had crazier hair. Her companion was easily more talkative than Cloud however because he kept up a running commentary as they ran, voice cheerful and unthreatened.
"Whoa!" He suddenly reached up and braced his hands just as a beam fell, taking the weight with a grunt. The strain showed on his face and then his eyes opened as Tifa skid to a stop next to him and he gave her a grin.
"Cut under, beautiful. I've got this."
Tifa skid under the beam, safe under the protection of his arms and once she was past he twisted and let the beam fall, catching her by the arm to keep running. He shot her a smile.
"Exciting, isn't it?"
Despite herself, coughing on smoke, Tifa still hiccuped a laugh.
"There!" he pointed and ahead of them, through the smoke, Tifa saw outside. She headed for it – and then skid to a stop to look back at her rescuer. Because he wasn't next to her anymore. He gave her a jaunty salute from deeper in, two fingers against his temple and a wink. Then he was gone, running back the way they'd just come. Tifa reached instinctively to stop him but he was long gone. Back to find more people to rescue? And she recognized his uniform.
Had she just been rescued by a SOLDIER?
She started coughing in the smoke again and hurried to reach the opening, a collapse in the wall, that he'd pointed out to her. Staggering out of it, Shinra soldiers hauled her out – and then let her go. Belatedly she realized she was still wearing the tattered remains of her stolen lab coat. Still coughing she found her way to the crowd of employees gathered further from the building and then melted carefully from that growing crowd to the crowd of onlookers where she shed her lab coat. After that, she slipped down an alley and then another and another until she was far from the orange glow of the burning reactor.
All around her the buildings were dark and lightless as the power to this section of the city disappeared. Tifa lifted her eyes to the sky – but the green glow from the still functioning reactors was all she saw. Folding her arms protectively over her stomach she frowned and thought.
There was no way she was going to find her way back to that dress shop. And she couldn't take the train. Not looking the way she was sure she was and without a disguise. Pressing her lips together she raised her head and looked around again. Trying to find the others was out of the question too. She wouldn't be the only one looking for them and it was more likely she'd be found by the wrong people than she'd find any of her team. It would worry them but she was going to have to get back to Seventh Heaven on her own.
Stairs. Reno had once complained about stairs. Each of the Plates had a support pillar. And you could take – stairs… Turning quickly she headed for where her sense of direction told her the pillar probably was. They'd watch those too but if she was quick enough she might get there before they remembered to. No one remembered the pillars any more than they remembered the walls around the upper city.
More than physical darkness was starting to spread through the upper Sector Five and Tifa had to dodge trouble and panicked groups more than once but she was used to that and she reached the pillar without problems. All it was, was just a set of steps leading down into a subway like structure and Tifa went down the steps carefully, keeping her feet silent. No one was there yet though and so she slipped under the camera and turned it to show the ceiling. Then she went to the wire mesh fence that blocked the beginning of the stairs. Looked around and found the locked 'door'. The chain through the wire grates of the door and the wire grates of the fence looked pretty thick and determined. So Tifa shifted over to the hinges. Drawing back she lashed out with a hard kick that rattled the links and made the hinges groan as her boot impacted. Face set, she did it twice more and the hinges broke. The door crashed backward, now attached to the sagging fence by only the thick chain. Not exactly super SOLDIER method but Tifa felt pretty darn good about herself as she dusted off her hands in a satisfied motion. A quick look over her shoulder showed no one had stopped to investigate the noise yet but Tifa decided not to push her luck and she hopped over the fallen gate and started down the stairs.
About half way down, Tifa decided Reno, for once in his life, hadn't been exaggerating about how many of these damn stairs there were. By the time she finally got to the bottom her legs were burning and she had always considered herself being in shape. She chased kids around for pity's sake! She didn't have to kick the other gate down. It was just a matter of finding toe holds for her boots and climbing over the fence. Down here things weren't as upkept as they were Above. She jumped down and looked around to orient herself – and the weight of the night finally caught up to her and she had to bend over and rest her hands on her knees, suddenly exhausted and wanting nothing more than a hot bath and the sounds of her brother and sister's voices.
The trip from Sector Five to Sector Seven was a bit of a blur though she roused enough when she went through Sector Six to not walk openly down the streets and once or twice she had to duck low in the shadows until people making low voiced deals finished their business and moved on. She felt like she had cotton in her ears, everyone's words filtering in slowly and not making sense but she kept her head up and kept to the shadows until she suddenly found herself in front of the window she'd climbed out what felt like a lifetime ago. Not remembering the past ten minutes or exactly how she'd gotten there. It took her two tries to get the window open and when she finally did, Barrett's angry face was there to meet her. It changed immediately though when he saw who it was and he reached out and physically hauled her inside. She let him with a smile, not minding the manhandling at all.
He exclaimed over her but she just let the comforting gruff sounds wash over her, still smiling and the smile relaxed and went fuller and more content as she heard Aerith and the children's voices.
"Hot bath" she whispered. "Bed."
Despite all the noise they were making someone must have heard her because the next time she was paying attention Tifa found herself comfortably in the bathtub surrounded by hot water. With a sigh, she relaxed back into it and shut her eyes again.
"You used one of the materia." Aerith's voice and Tifa dragged open a single eyelid to see her friend perched on the edge of the tub with Marlene sitting on the countertop. Tifa smiled.
"The fire. It was – amazing, Aerith. Best feeling in the world…" she shut her eye and reached up to touch her hair. "I should wash this. It probably smells like smoke."
"Among other things" Aerith's voice was soft and Tifa opened an eye again to look questioningly at her friend but Aerith shook her head and moved over to sit at the head of the tub. Poured soap into her hands and began to scrub Tifa's hair. With a content female purr, Tifa sank just a little deeper into the tub and relaxed, hearing Aerith chuckle above her.
"Is anyone else back yet?" she asked and she felt Aerith move slightly and then answer:
"Not yet."
Tifa hummed. She'd worry. As soon as she could pump any emotion into her other than an absolute adoration of hot water and its inventor. Tifa opened an eye and focused on her little sister. Slipped her hand out of the water and held it out, not realizing how bruised it was until Marlene suddenly hopped off the counter and ran over to grab it in both of hers.
"See?" Tifa asked, careful not to wince. Keeping her voice light. "I'm fine. Not even hurt. You and Denzel can stop worrying now."
Marlene sniffed mightily and held Tifa's hand tightly but managed a smile.
"I told Denzel you'd be okay," she stated and it made Tifa laugh.
"Duck" Aerith instructed and Tifa slid forward so she could go under the water and let Aerith's fingers scrub the soap out. After that however the water was dirty and so Tifa stood up and reached for a towel. At which point Marlene had to let go of her hand for just a minute or two. Aerith fussed over Tifa, taking the time to comb her long hair out. Tifa dozed off twice while it was happening and the second time Aerith laughed. Giving her bare shoulders above the towel a gentle push.
"Bed" her best friend instructed and Tifa stood up with a sigh and a nod, wrapping the towel a little more tightly around herself.
"Pajamas?" she asked and Aerith shook her head.
"After we get to the bedroom. You've got some bruises. And cuts. I want to fix them first."
"Nothing's broken" Tifa answered with a smile, feeling a little bit drunk even though she hadn't touched anything. Aerith rolled her eyes and even Marlene smiled.
"Come on" Aerith steered her friend out the door and toward her bedroom. Tifa went with a drowsy smile, bare feet padding on the old wood comfortably. Just before they reached her door, there was the sound of steps on the stairs and Tifa turned her head, pausing to see both Cloud and Leon coming up the stairs with Cid right behind them, looking – well, like hell. But alive. At the moment it was all Tifa had time to pay attention to.
"Hi" she waved a hand, feeling fuzzy but as if everything was right with her world again. For some reason both Leon and Cloud came to abrupt and dead stops, two pairs of light eyes going wide and unblinking.
"Come on" Aerith sounded more amused than anything as she steered Tifa into the bedroom. Just as she shut the door, Tifa very distinctly heard Cid state a:
"Daaaamnn."
"Aerith, why were the guys staring at Tifa?" Marlene asked but Tifa didn't hear the choked, laughing response because she'd seen the bed and, towel still wrapped around her, she simply laid down on her stomach on it and went to sleep.
