The future was never something Tifa had to worry about. A lot of was to do with her privilege. Mayor's daughter. This despite Nibelheim's nature as a back-water town, slowly sliding into irrelevance as air travel became increasingly reliable. Few people needed to navigate the trails and pathways across Mount Nibel. The trade caravans of previous years no longer made their long winding ways from Wutai and off to the East. Tifa's job might one day be irrelevant. But she still took the opportunity to train, to learn the mountain.
Bright lights and opportunities lured her peers East. Adverts in magazines arriving at best two months late and the static-filled TV broadcasts; both extolled glowing endorsements for the Shinra company. There was glamour and riches to be had in Midgar. Find a job and work your way up; enlist in SOLDIER and safe-guard the world's way of life. But none appealed to her. Part of it was her father; the thought of leaving him behind to run Nibelheim alone unbearable. He had never recovered from Mom's death. He doted on Tifa, obsessed with keeping her safe. Even her career as a guide resulted from a hard-fought battle – and still after he wanted her to turn her attention to something more conventional.
Her Father was never unaware of how limited Nibelheim's future was. Tifa too knew she needed to escape while she could or find a way to keep the town going after he was gone. Something to consider. Later. Always later. For now she would train to fight, she would guide the few people who still made the Mount Nibel crossing back and forth. She would care for her father.
Sephiroth stole everything from her; Tifa did not realise what Nibelheim had given her until it was gone.
Her father murdered; the last glimpse of her home aflame. And a gap. A four month period of ambiguity where someone transported from the Mount Nibel Mako reactor to Sector Seven in Midgar. She came to in a run-down hospital – mercifully a month before the funding her mysterious benefactor granted her – ran out.
The bright lights of the big city had never appealed before. Up close they were more like the lures used by fish in deep waters. The Mako tainting the air in those last days of Nibelheim objectionable enough, but nothing like the overwhelming, cloying murk afflicting Midgar in the darkness between the bright lights. Unpaved roads beneath the plate, former buildings patched together as best they could, new buildings shoved into gaps and wherever they would fit.
Tifa Lockhart, seventeen years old. No money. No job. No way home. If home still existed; the newspaper would eventually relate Sephiroth was dead, but it made no mention of Nibelheim. Could the town still be there? Even if it could, was anything for her back there? Her father, her friends, her neighbours; all gone. Homesickness set in fast. No open air here. The plates loomed overhead, stretching out beyond the city's border walls. Trips to the Upper plates were expensive, crowded with jostling workers and children on their way to expensive schools.
Mako scent lessened up here, but the sky was still hidden, shrouded by near constant haze, tinted green as night fell, grey under the brightest sunlight. A sense of otherness here; she attracted attention fast, her on loan clothes clashing with the business attire and latest fashions. Few places to dally or stall – unless it was for grossly overpriced food in the cafes and restaurants. This was not – and could not – be her home. The slums fitted better, despite the oppressive sky.
She had only once tried to leave Midgar on foot; striding to the edge of Sector Seven and out into the desert beyond. The land stretched out as far as she could see. No hint of green. Grey sky above. There was a town out there – Kalm. A day's walk away. But if she made it there, what next? It would not be home. A shadow of a vestige of home. Few hills nearby.
All her experience and knowledge of Mount Nibel useless now. Her martial arts training would keep her safe from the threats inside the city. She turned back. Shinra was not an option for her continued survival. Even now, there were rumours about the other sectors; Seven was one of the safest. That came – as everything did in Midgar – with a cost. Life was more expensive here. Cheaper in the adjacent Sectors.
Before: Tifa Lockhart; once the mayor's daughter, the most popular girl in Nibelheim. Tifa Lockhart; martial artist and Mount Nibel guide.
Now: Tifa Lockhart; orphaned and alone in Midgar. She would start again in this city without a sky. She would make Shinra pay.