I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters.
Next Stop
Cody looked around the village quietly, leaning heavily on his gunblade. He was still weak from having fought Levi as hard as he did, and the trip over Mt. Corel had not been easy so far. However, now that they were on the far side of the valley that marked the halfway point, across with they'd taken a rope bridge that had been blowing around rather unsettlingly in the wind, they'd found the quiet mining village of North Corel, where they would hopefully have an inn, or at least a vacant tent they could rent. The Gold Saucer was close, but they would have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to get rooms, so they'd agreed to cram into as few as possible, assuming they even needed one, which Cody assumed.
"You...You're..." a man near the entrance gaped at Barret, then turned, sprinting into the village. "Hey! He's back!"
"Wait here," Barret growled, seeming unnecessarily agitated as he stomped away.
"Let's find you a place to sit down," Jessie suggested.
Cody nodded and walked over to a short cliff face off to one side, sitting down heavily before tugging Jessie into his lap as Boco sat beside them, resting its head on Cody's shoulder.
"Good boy, Boco," Jessie smiled, stroking his feathers. "I don't understand why you won't just ride on him so you can rest."
"Because now I have an excuse to hold you," Cody said.
"You could have been holding me all day while riding Boco," Jessie pointed out.
"Eh, details," Cody dismissed, pressing a masked kiss into her forehead.
Just then, several male voices began to yell at Barret, blaming him for North Corel being reduced to a collection of tents. Once they'd decided he wasn't worth the effort of yelling at, he returned and began to lead them through the small village. One the far side was a tram station with a short railway under a rope tram leading to the Gold Saucer and a blue tram car waiting on the railway.
"Barret, are you alright?" Tifa asked worriedly, after nearly fifteen minutes of his eyes not leaving the ground and him not speaking a word other than to tell them to follow him.
"Sorry," Barret said.
"What happened?" Aerith asked.
"My hometown used to be around here," Barret said.
"What do you mean 'used to?'" Red XIII asked.
"You're from Corel," Cody realized.
"Yeah," Barret said.
"What happened to it?" Jessie asked.
"The original Avalanche occupied a mako reactor being built there and took Rufus Shinra hostage," Cody said. "In the battle that ensued, the reactor was destroyed. Shinra, particularly Scarlet, blamed the nearby town of Corel, so Shinra burned it to the ground."
"Were you one of the ones burning the town?" Barret asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I was one of the ones fighting Avalanche at the reactor," Cody said.
"So, why were those horrible people saying those awful things about you?" Aerith asked.
"It's my fault," Barret said. "It's all my fault. My hometown, Corel's always been a coal mining town. It may be dusty and poor, but it's calm. A real small town. As Cody said, Shinra moved in to build a mako reactor. In our village, only my friend, Dyne, was opposed to it. I talked him into agreeing. I talked everyone into it. And then Shinra burned the entire village to the ground. They killed almost everyone."
"That's horrible!" Tifa gasped.
"It's my fault for convincing everyone to let them build it in the first place," Barret said.
"No," Cody said, staring at the ground. "It's my fault. I was on guard when Avalanche invaded the reactor. And then during the battle, the explosion that destroyed the reactor, I caused it. I was fighting a group of Avalanche troops and accidentally hit a container of explosives with a fire spell."
"It was you?" Barret asked.
Cody nodded. "Cissnei blamed the explosion on Avalanche, then made me suffer for it during training for the next year."
Barret was silent for a long while before shaking his head. "It wasn't your fault the town was burned. That was all Shinra. And it would have never happened if I hadn't been so set on convincing everyone to let them build it."
"Don't blame yourself," Jessie said, resting a hand on Barret's arm. "We were all fooled by Shinra at first."
"That's why..." he grit his teeth as anger set in again. "That's why I get so pissed off! Not only did they take advantage of me, but I lost my wife, Myrna, too!"
"Hey, guys!" the tram's operator said. "If you all want to go to the Gold Saucer, hurry and get on!"
Everyone piled on quickly, and the tram began to move. Cody settled into a seat beside Jessie and sighed, Boco lying beside him, resting his head on Cody's leg, allowing him to pet him.
"Excited to return to the Gold Saucer?" Cody asked.
"Not really," Jessie said. "I'll have to pay my way this time, and no one's going to recognize me."
"I think you mean I'll pay your way, and you can go incognito and avoid media and paparazzi," Cody corrected her.
Jessie laughed and nodded. "When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad."
Cody leaned in to whisper. "And then tonight, we can get our own room, and I can give you another massage."
Jessie grinned playfully. "Excellent, but it had better be a full body massage this time."
"Oh, it will," Cody promised.
Jessie smiled and pulled his mask down, kissing him for a few seconds before pulling away so he could put the mask back on. Finally, they turned to the front as the Gold Saucer came into view. It was a massive metal tower, more akin to a plant than a saucer, with lights all over it, gold or copper plating, by the look of it, and loud, lively music echoing from it. After a few minutes, they entered a dark tunnel, then exited from a large pink cat-like creature's mouth and slowed to a stop. As they stepped out, Cody looked around at the small room, one themed like a sort of nature area with several chocobo and other friendly animal statues and paintings around it, like a play area for children. There was even someone walking around in a fat chocobo costume, which Boco thought was great, the chocobo beginning to run around the person and nudge him with his head, trying to get the man to play with him.
Jessie and Cody laughed and Cody whistled, Boco trotting over to him and walking along beside him as they headed for the door into the Gold Saucer. The girl at the door stopped them, however.
"Are you all together?" she asked everyone nodding. "A single pass for all of you will be three thousand gil. Or you can get a lifetime pass for...Jessie?"
"Hey Sarah," Jessie smiled. "I didn't know you still worked here. I would have at least thought you'd get a promotion."
"I turned it down in favor of skimming profits from the pass fees," Sarah smiled. "It's so good to see you again! Tell you what. Since it's you, I'll give you all a lifetime pass for ten thousand."
"Won't that get you fired?" Tifa asked.
"Oh, I'll be alright," Sarah smiled.
"I'll pay for it," Cody said, stepping forward and handing her money.
"Thank you so much, Sarah," Jessie smiled.
"You're welcome," Sarah beamed. "Oh, and the girl at the hotel has a huge crush on you. I know it's not your cup of tea, but if you flirt a little, I'm sure you can get a deal on rooms."
Jessie hummed thoughtfully and glanced at Cody.
"I'm sure I can handle watching my girlfriend flirt with another girl," Cody smirked.
Jessie smiled, kissing him on the cheek, then whispered, "Maybe we can get our own room for free."
Cody grinned and gave her a masked kiss before they all headed through the door into the Gold Saucer.
"Wow!" Aerith gushed as soon as they had entered the next room, which had tubes to go to the rest of the the various areas of the Gold Saucer. "Let's have fun!"
Cody glanced around at the names. Event Square, Speed Square, Round Square, Ghost Square, Battle Square, Wonder Square, and Chocobo Square.
"I hear that Battle Square calling our name, my friend," Roche said, setting a hand on Cody's shoulder.
"Later," Cody said. "But you need to remember there's no killing in the tournament."
"Oh, I know," Roche said. "We'll save that for our next real dance."
"I know this isn't the right time to do this," Aerith said, stepping around in front of Cloud, who was scowling at the floor, Aerith bending down to get into his line of sight. "But it could be good for us." She looked over at Barret, who looked as unhappy as Cloud. "Hey, come on, Barret. Cheer up! Please?"
"I ain't in a cheery mood," Barret grumbled. "Just leave me alone."
"Aw," Aerith pouted. "That's too bad." She turned back to Cloud, taking his hand and smiling brightly. "Let's go!"
Tifa stepped up beside her, leaning in to whisper. "Aerith, wasn't that a little harsh?"
"The best way to cheer someone up is to act normal," Aerith whispered back.
"You think so?" Tifa whispered.
"Of course!" Aerith beamed, skipping over to Barret. "We're going to go play."
"So go play!" Barret snapped. "Mess around all you want! Don't forget, we're after Sephiroth!"
He turned, running to the Wonder Square tube and jumped in. Cody sighed, shrugging.
"I think he's mad," Aerith said.
"He's mad at himself, not us," Jessie said. "We need to get some Gold Saucer Points in order to rent our rooms."
"I think the two best places for that are the Chocobo Square and the Battle Square," Cody said.
"You're singing my song," Roche said.
Boco cooed loudly, pawing at the ground excitedly.
"I think Boco could win any chocobo races we enter him into," Jessie suggested.
Cody grinned. "Definitely. Roche, head to the Battle Square and start making some money. We'll head tot he Chocobo Square and rig some races. Then I'll meet you for a dance."
Roche grinned and nodded, heading to the Battle Square tunnel and jumping in.
"Come on Cloud," Aerith said, tugging his arm again. "Let's go have some fun while we look for leads."
"This isn't the time," Cloud said.
Aerith glanced at Tifa and tilted her head toward Cloud. Tifa sighed and stepped forward, taking Cloud's other hand, helping Aerith tug him toward one of the other tubes at random.
"Come on," Tifa said. "You're coming with us."
Red XIII followed after Barret, and Jessie and Cody took Boco to the Chocobo Square tube, all three jumping in together.
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