A/N: Rated M for language and mild sexual content.
Chapter 23:
The AVALANCHE members gathered in the Cosmo Canyon library had nearly searched the books placed on higher shelves, having found only a few that might hold information about the Lifestream's effects on living creatures.
Nanaki was already reading one of the books from the small pile the team had gathered from the dusty reaches of the library. His species (or maybe it was just him) was capable of reading faster than humans, and so the only sound in the library as Tifa, Vincent, and Yuffie searched was a rather steady stream of "Interestings" from Nanaki's mouth.
"This looks to be everything in here," Vincent said after replacing a book that nearly fell apart in his hands. "I think it's time to head to the other library."
"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Finally, some action!" she added with a little dance.
Vincent and Tifa climbed down from their respective ladders to join Yuffie and Nanaki in the doorway.
"Ready?" Nanaki asked.
The others nodded and he led them out of the room and down to the vault door that led to the Cave of the Gi. Instead of looking for the alcove with the hidden switch that allowed passage further into the cave, however, Nanaki walked to the far end of the entrance and sniffed along the ground, then along the wall. The others watched him as his nose searched for something. Nanaki stood up on his hind legs, continuing to sniff the wall before he started moving to his right, stepping gently. Finally, he stopped and began pawing where he had just pressed his nose. Soon, the wall opened up as debris shook loose.
"Whoa!" Yuffie had been convinced he was smelling a solid wall.
As the others stepped toward the new opening, a group of Gi spectors flew at them, brandishing their spears. Tifa immediately swung a foot into one's ribcage, taking it out. Vincent was able to shoot three more in quick succession as Yuffie finished the final two with her Conformer.
There were surprisingly few attacks once they entered the hidden passage Nanaki had uncovered. "The Lifestream may not have been able to affect this place," Nanaki wondered aloud as they walked toward the library.
Of course, as soon as he said something a pair of hegs slithered up to the team. One wrapped itself around Vincent before he could get away and began constricting, as Tifa and Nanaki attacked it. Yuffie made quick work of its partner and joined the others to pry the second beast off of Vincent before he was squeezed to death.
Vincent fell to his knees to catch his breath while Tifa cast cure on him.
"Thank you," he said while gasping for air.
"Maybe I spoke too soon," Nanaki worried.
The tunnel they were in opened up into a large cavern shrouded in darkness except for the light from Nanaki's tail. He took the lead, since his eyes were better attuned to the dark.
"We're almost there," he said after a few minutes of walking in the dark.
Tifa suddenly felt a rush of wind across her back as if something ran past her.
"Ack!" Yuffie screamed, clearly getting knocked off her feet. "What the hell?"
Each looked around as they heard a distant skittering that seemed to move away from them, then to a far wall, and finally on the ceiling above them.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Yuffie warned.
Tifa felt tiny drops of what she hoped was drool fall onto her shoulder. It singed her skin and caused her arm to tingle. Before she could use anything to remedy the pain, the group suddenly felt as though large poles dropped around them in four places.
They heard a loud hiss as Nanaki's tail lit up the largest stinger they had ever found in the canyon. It was at least twice the size of the ones they fought in the Cave of the GI, its body hovering maybe five feet above them. The creature cried out in pain as Yuffie's Conformer glanced off its body and cut a leg as it returned to her.
Vincent began shooting, though the beast's small body and narrow legs made it difficult for him to land a shot. Nanaki leapt into the air to tear at one of the creature's legs, gnawing near the base of it until he had managed to bite through. The stinger stumbled on its remaining three legs, allowing Tifa to uppercut its small body, which was hovering closer to the ground.
With one last wail, the stinger fell limply to the floor.
"I'm going to need some mouth wash," Nanaki joked after everyone was healed up.
They found their way to the cave library and secured the door behind them.
"This is where the Elders stored their most sacred texts," Nanaki informed them.
A soft orange glow lit up the room, though there was no discernible source. It allowed plenty of light for the group to start searching the small library. The three walls without the door contained bookshelves but were not filled with many books. Another two rows of shelves lined the middle of the small room and were stuffed with literature.
"More reading, yay," Yuffie grumbled sarcastically.
Searching through the books was much easier than trying to read through Hojo's research, as the books generally had titles on their covers and tables of contents. Nanaki, of course, wanted to read everything he found to gain a greater knowledge of the world, but resigned himself to reading only what was necessary at the moment.
"This looks promising," Tifa said as she pulled a book with a green leather cover from one of the shelves. It was called "The Lifestream's Unknown Gifts," and she flipped open the cover to find the table of contents. A chapter called "Terrestrial Lifeforms" caught her attention.
She began mumbling as she read, using her finger absentmindedly to keep her place.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I think this is it. 'In 1387, an earthquake brought forth a pool of Lifestream. Numerous fauna fell into the pool and needed rescue. Some of the creatures died of some unknown disease, but the survivors were known to villagers long after as troublemakers and degenerates.'"
She brought the book over to Nanaki so he could study it further.
"Interesting!" he said as he placed his front paws on the pages to hold the book open on the floor, his tail wagging softly. "So, one need not be injected with Mako to be affected, or at least, that is the case with beasts."
Nanaki continued reading the book as the others (who were better able to search the shelves anyway) continued looking.
There was no PHS reception inside the canyon, so when Tifa started to yawn she couldn't tell whether she was tired of the search or genuinely tired due to the time.
"Are we camping out here or should we head back for the night?" she asked when she saw Yuffie nodding off.
"I don't really sleep," Vincent said.
"Bullshit, you slept for 30 years when we found you!" Yuffie countered, suddenly energetic.
"Anymore," Vincent added.
"I'm also too excited to sleep, but if you two want to head back I can go with you. I'd just like to take some of these books back with us so I can look through them tonight," Nanaki offered.
"Agreed," Tifa said.
The two women scooped up the half-dozen books the team had collected and followed Nanaki out of the library. They nearly tripped over the corpse of the stinger trying to navigate the darkened cavern but weren't attacked by anything else until they returned to the tunnel between the cavern and the Cave of the Gi. A pack of sneaky steps attacked them outside the tunnel in the entrance to the cave, but their emaciated state made them easy to defeat.
Back on the other side of the vault, Tifa and Yuffie followed Nanaki up to Bugenhagen's observatory to set the books down on his small table.
"Come get me in the morning when you wake up," Nanaki said as he bid the women goodnight.
Yuffie stretched her arms up over her head once they were out of the observatory.
"Man, I am soooo tired! All those hours searching through dusty old books is really boring," she said.
"It's important, Yuffie," Tifa chided gently.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you just want this to be over so you can get back to Reee-no," the ninja added, making a kissing face.
"Absolutely not!" Tifa insisted, perhaps a little too forcefully.
When they were back in their hotel room, Tifa's PHS buzzed.
"I bet that's him!" Yuffie said excitedly.
Tifa rolled her eyes and opened her phone. Yuffie was right, but Tifa didn't want her to know that. It actually looked like the text hadn't come through since they arrived in Cosmo Canyon the night before. It wasn't surprising, the rock formations of the canyon and the lack of a reception tower made connection within the city difficult. Their hotel room had a window, which seemed to be the only reason they were able to get reception now.
"Heading back to Edge. See you soon?"
The date on the message was for the previous day.
So, Reno was back in Edge. At least Tifa knew that even when she got back and Yuffie left she wouldn't be alone, even though she really had to figure out how to be okay by herself. She never thought she relied on anyone before, but ever since Cloud left and she felt alone, she realized she had always relied on other people. She lived with AVALANCHE and then traveled with them for months and had been with Cloud after Meteorfall.
This was the first time she was truly alone in her life, and she hated it.
"Still a couple days out," she texted back.
She stared at her phone for a few minutes before realizing the time difference meant it was probably the early morning hours back in Edge. Reno was probably still asleep. Tifa put her phone under her pillow and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, she woke up to discover another text, sent a few hours earlier. Had she been drinking water, she would have choked on it when she opened the message.
"Something to think about until then ;)" the message read.
Attached was an image that instantly made Tifa's insides jump. It was clearly a photo of Reno, but the camera was angled to show the distance between his belly button and belt buckle. He had a thumb hooked behind his belt to pull his waistband down a bit, giving a clear picture of the line of hair from his belly to… below his belt. Tifa could also see one side of his Adonis Belt and his lower abs.
She had to keep herself from squeaking so Yuffie wouldn't get wise. Thankfully, the young ninja was a surprisingly heavy sleeper and didn't even stir.
Tifa grabbed her phone and took it in to the bathroom with her while she got ready. Her lower abdomen filled with heat and felt as though it was doing somersaults each time she looked at the picture.
"I guess that red hair is natural," she said as she studied the picture. She was suddenly feeling an intense need to touch that trail of pubic hair… and see where it leads.
Tifa was rather perky that morning as she waited for Yuffie to finish getting ready so they could meet Nanaki and head back to the library, and the young ninja took notice.
"You're too perky today," she said as she struggled to keep her eyes open. "Be less enthusiastic."
Tifa just smiled as her friend reached for the coffee pot. It wasn't every day Yuffie thought someone was being too energetic, and Tifa knew she needed to calm her hormones before anyone caught on. Yuffie took a couple sips of coffee before speaking again.
"Okay, now that I'm awake, you wanna tell me about your little texty text?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Tifa was really bad at hiding her emotions.
"Oh please, you're as red as Reno's hair!"
Tifa blushed further.
"So, what'd he say?" Yuffie asked.
"N-nothing," Tifa stammered.
"SO IT WAS A PICTURE?"
"NO" but it was too late.
Yuffie was lunging for Tifa's PHS like it had the secret to immortality stored on it. Tifa was taller than Yuffie, so she held the phone as high in the air as she could. Yuffie jumped up to reach it a few times but Tifa kept moving it away from her. Yuffie suddenly got a devilish grin and tickled Tifa under her arm, causing her to lower the phone while defending herself.
Yuffie grabbed the device and ran into the bathroom with Tifa right at her heels. She slammed the door and locked it as Tifa screamed at her and pounded on the door.
"I already know you're out there, it's not going to work," the younger woman said.
She flipped open the phone and found the photo.
"HOLY SHIT TIFA!" the bartender heard from the other side of the door.
Tifa leaned her head against the wall and frowned. She could only imagine how she would feel if Rude stole Reno's phone to look at a picture of her, even one that didn't show anything too scandalous.
Yuffie opened the door and tossed Tifa the PHS, making a comment about the "carpet matching the drapes."
"I'd be in a good mood too if I woke up to that," the ninja added.
Tifa rubbed her hands over her face and groaned. All the enthusiasm she had for this day was suddenly gone. But at least Yuffie wouldn't be able to tease her anymore once they rejoined Nanaki.
"You're in a good mood this morning, Tifa," Nanaki commented when they entered the observatory.
Yuffie stifled a laugh and Tifa tried to keep from turning red.
"Just positive we'll find something good today," Tifa answered.
They were again attacked by some Gi spectors and hegs as they returned to the library but the creatures didn't put up nearly as much fight as Tifa remembered from the first time they were in the Cave of the Gi all those years ago. Like the mansion in Nibelheim, the Cave of the Gi was one of her most unpleasant memories from her journey with AVALANCHE. She remembered constant attacks, made all the worse by not knowing there was a switch in one of the dark alcoves that would allow them to proceed further. She remembered Cloud going into each one expecting to find something, only to find a switch that called another monster to attack them.
And then there were the oil spills and stingers. She thought back to Cloud having to grab Aeris by the arm after she slipped on the oil and nearly rammed herself into the spiked wall. Tifa herself nearly fell off the path and into the lava. A stinger came within an inch of killing Cloud before Aeris was able to use her Healing Wind on him. All around, just a terrible experience.
At least this time around she knew what was lurking in the cave, and they didn't have to deal with the puzzle or the oil. Nanaki again opened the secret door on the far wall that led to the library. When they reached the room, they found Vincent standing in almost the exact same place as they had left him.
"Geez did you even move?" Yuffie asked.
Vincent continued to read. He may not have heard what Yuffie said, or he was just that adept at ignoring people. After a few moments he closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then moved to a different area to keep searching.
"The back wall is done," he said, motioning to a few books he had stacked on the floor near the entrance.
"Great!" Nanaki said. He moved toward the pile and opened one up to read.
"So, did you learn anything from the books you read last night?" Tifa asked, looking through the books on one of the free-standing shelves in the middle of the room.
"Quite a bit, actually," the red beast responded. "It appears the presence of the Lifestream altered the hunting and mating patters of most of the species on earth. As you discovered, Tifa, some species are dying from the contact, but others are thriving."
"Okay, so what can we do about all the attacks in town" Yuffie asked.
"For the most part it looks like we just have to keep fighting and eventually there will be fewer monsters," Nanaki answered.
"That's it! We just have to wait it out?" Yuffie was not pleased.
"Well, I found something in one of the books that might have a clue," Nanaki continued. "Apparently, something similar happened thousands of years ago after Jenova landed and the planet tried to heal itself."
"The texts go back that far?" Vincent inquired.
"The book I read was not that old but had apparently been written based on historical documents from the Cetra. If you'll recall, Jenova disguised itself as a Cetra and poisoned them with its own cells, turning them into monsters."
The others stared at Nanaki with anticipation.
"Which means many of the monsters in the world today still contain Cetra and Jenova cells within them. The Lifestream appears to be interacting with those cells."
"Wait, I'm confused," Tifa said, holding up her hand. "So, the only ones affected are those with Cetra or Jenova cells?"
"I believe so," Nanaki said.
Tifa's eyes began to well up with tears. "So, Cloud's disappearance really is probably due to what happened two years ago…"
"That looks to be the case now. Also remember, that if any part of Jenova still exists, Jenova can influence the creature."
"That was Hojo's 'Reunion Theory,'" Vincent noted.
"Exactly."
"But we defeated Jenova, and Sephiroth!" Tifa insisted.
"Yes, but it doesn't look like we cleared Jenova cells from the planet," Nanaki said.
"Is there a way to do that?" Vincent asked.
"I'm not sure, honestly. If I don't find anything more in the books here, I think our next place to search would be the Forgotten Capital."
Tifa closed her eyes. So many thoughts were swirling around in her head right now. What Nanaki said made sense on some level, but it didn't seem like there was much anyone could do. She just spent days traveling to Cosmos Canyon and searching the libraries there, she wasn't exactly looking forward to another lengthy trip to the Forgotten Capital. She… missed her bar and maybe even Reno. On the other hand, Cloud was traveling to Aeris' resting place near the city of the Ancients, so maybe she could find him there.
"Can I return to Edge before we set off for the Forgotten Capital?" Tifa asked. Nanaki looked at her, puzzled at first, but then he seemed to understand.
"Yes, that would be fine. We don't have to leave right away, though I wouldn't want to wait too long. Why don't we all take a week to gather supplies?"
"Maybe the Highwind will be fixed by then," Yuffie hoped. She certainly was not looking forward to anymore boat or car rides. Not that the Highwind was any different, but at least it was quicker.
"Maybe," Nanaki mused.
Meanwhile…
At least Junon had been a change of pace. Now the Turks were just wasting time in their office each morning and patrolling Edge each afternoon. And Seventh Heaven was closed so there wasn't even anything to look forward to. Reno had been tapping his fingers on his desk for way longer than even he realized.
"Could you stop that, please?" Elena said in a way that made it clear she was leveling out a command, not a request.
"I'm your superior, you can't tell me what to do," Reno barked back at her. He had no qualms about stopping his finger-tapping, he just didn't like when Elena used that tone with him.
"Reno, stop annoying Elena," Tseng said from inside his office. He had ears like a bat.
Elena rotated around in her chair to give Reno a childish "haha you got in trouble" look that he did not appreciate. He narrowed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. King of the playground.
Reno stopped tapping his fingers but started humming just to get back under Elena's skin. It also covered up the sound of him flipping his phone open to check for a response from Tifa (he had sent that photo hours ago, and even though she was in Cosmo Canyon, he felt she should have responded by now) and then closing it again. His relationship with Rude was improving each day, but he still felt a little guilty when he texted Tifa.
He also figured that things were only improving because Tifa was out of town. Would Rude still want to go to Seventh Heaven every night knowing that Reno could be scoring with the woman he still idolized? Reno didn't think Rude had moved on from Tifa completely; after all, it had only been a few days.
Her last text said she wouldn't be in town for a few days. He hoped Rude would forgive him completely by then but seeing Tifa might change things. Now Reno had to really look like he was a nice guy, not just to lure Tifa into bed, but to keep Rude from kicking his ass for hurting her. He was in too deep now.
"Reno? Rude?" Tseng said from his office. "Go upstairs, Rufus wants to talk to you."
Reno looked at Rude with a "now what?" expression on his face, but the bald man looked just as confused (well, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, which was as much confusion as Rude was capable of showing). They each stood up and quietly walked out of the Turks' office.
"What do you suppose he'll have us do now?" Reno asked with his hands on the back of his head.
"Probably needs a coffee," Rude said.
Reno guffawed and smacked Rude in the shoulder. "You got your sense of humor back, buddy!"
"Yeah, brushing up on my comedy routine," Rude said in a monotone voice.
They entered Rufus' office a moment later without stopping to check in with the secretary first. Rufus was standing up while on the phone and held one finger up to them.
"Thank you, that will be all," Rufus said to the person on the other end of the phone before hanging up. He continued to stand and rested his knuckles on his desk to lean over it, peering at the two Turks in front of him. "I need you two to start surveilling AVALANCHE again."
"Why?" Rude asked.
"It seems some of them were spotted recently in Cosmo Canyon," Rufus began. "I think they're continuing to search for an explanation to the monster problem."
"So? What if they are?" Reno asked a little indignantly.
"I told you, Shinra needs to be the ones to save the world. We can't have them getting in our way."
"Okay, but, what if, like, we teamed up with them, yanno?" Reno suggested. "They're the 'planet saviors' after all. Helping them would still help Shinra."
Rufus seemed to ponder his suggestion for a moment, much to Reno's genuine surprise.
"You're right, Reno," he said after a while.
Reno wasn't used to hearing that from Rufus, or anyone, really. He knew he was right. He was right about a lot of things, but because he was Reno, people didn't seem to want to give him credit. Pfft.
"I am?"
Rude looked shocked as well (again, in his own Rude way).
"I want you two to start surveilling the barmaid. She's apparently traveling back from Cosmo Canyon now. She seems to be at the center of their activities. Follow her. Find out who she's talking to and where she's going. And report back."
"Just surveil, sir?" Reno asked, eliciting a knowing glance from Rude.
"I still want Shinra to end the world's problems this time, but" he lowered his head and signed, "if it looks like AVALANCHE will beat us to it, we should join with them to increase our own stature."
"So, leech off their popularity?"
"It was your idea, Reno."
"Sounds good, boss," Reno said. "We'll see what we can squeeze out of her."
Rude shot him a decidedly malicious look that Rufus didn't notice. Reno just had to try his luck. The two Turks headed for the door.
"What a perfect assignment for you," Rude said with a hint of envy.
"Hey man, this is great!" Reno enthused. "No more desk duty. No more patrol. We get to stalk someone in the shadows and drink all night – for work!"
Rude shrugged his shoulders.
Reno could feel his phone buzz in his pocket once they returned to their office.
"So, what's the new assignment?" Elena inquired. While she was glad to have them out of the office again so she could be alone with Tseng, it still meant she was forced to do boring work rather than the more devious tasks a Turk was to perform.
"Surveilling Tifa," Rude said plainly.
"Haven't you been doing that for years?" Elena asked, as innocently as she could muster.
Rude was not amused.
"Too soon?" she asked with a rueful smile.
Reno plopped down in his desk chair and pulled out his phone.
"1 text message from Tifa"
The words made his heart skip a beat. That was new. Should probably see a doctor. Probably smoking too much. Yeah, that was it.
"Nice photo. Be home in two days," it said.
She really needed to work on her flirting. Reno decided at that moment he would help her with that when she got back.
End notes: So, even I wasn't expecting the Forgotten Capital trip. It just kind of came out while I was writing this chapter. I figured out how it will all fit in thought, and that means we are just a few chapters away from Cloud returning! I've had his return planned out since the beginning. I think you'll enjoy it.