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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - GROWTH
'Hello, my friend, we meet again … It's been awhile … Where should we begin … Feels like forever … Within my heart are memories … Of perfect love that you gave to me … Oh, I remember … When you are with me … I'm free, I'm careless … I believe above all the others … We'll fly … This brings tears to my eyes … My sacrifice … We've seen our share of ups and downs … Oh, how quickly life can turn around in an instant … It feels so good to reunite … Within yourself and within your mind … Let's find peace there … 'Cause when you are with me … I'm free, I'm careless .. I believe above all the others ... We'll fly... This brings tears to my eyes … My sacrifice … I just want to say hello again … (Creed: 'My Sacrifice')'
East of North Corel. Late Morning.
They'd trekked back over the railroad tracks towards the Corel Reactor, this time with Barrett leading them, his voice booming with pride as he greeted the workers repairing the tracks and explained how they had managed to convert the reactor from Mako to coal.
"We've got the best engineer on the Planet working on it." Barrett explained to Reeve. Despite his mistrust of the man during the Meteor crisis, Reeve's honest intentions of reviving Midgar without the use of Mako and of his willingness to negotiate a contract, even if it was for the trade of one raw material for another and not gil, had won Barrett over.
"He says that it's only running at 50% capacity right now, but that when more adjustments are made, we can get up to 100% if we need it, but he doesn't recommend it." The black man was concentrating on his speech, Elmyra kept telling him that it would be easier to do the more he practiced, and Marlene was so proud of her Papa for being so "mayorly".
"Fifty percent already?" Tifa asked in surprise. There wasn't that much in North Corel at this point.
"Dio." Reeve explained. "Corel provides the Gold Saucer with power as well."
Barrett nodded in agreement, confirming Reeve's explanation. Dio's massive power need was providing a good income to help purchase timber from Gongaga. Reeve's exchange of Mythril and other metals would be a welcome addition to the mining town. They were still running on the old mining equipment, most of which was barely safe. Metals meant new and safer equipment. Despite past experience with Reeve during the Meteor crisis, Barrett was looking forward to this new arrangement.
Jessie had been half listening to the conversation in front of her, but soon grew bored as Reeve and Barrett discussed power ratios and output ratios. Normally she loved those sort of things… bombs, monitors, flashy stuff, but right now, that couldn't hold her attention. She hung back until she had fallen into step with her brother who had been trailing far behind the rest of the group.
"Are you going to tell me what happened at the Gold Saucer or not?" Jessie asked him as he caught up with her.
"What's to tell?" Reno asked her in return, slightly irritated at being interrupted from the thoughts that churned through his mind. He was trying to sort out his feelings, and he was finding it difficult. One part of him still wanted to hate her, but the part of him that had kissed her the night before was still in control of his emotions.
"What happened for one!" Jessie looked exasperated. Neither Nathan nor Tifa had said a word to her about the event that had sent Tifa running from the Chocobo Racing room or her brother's intense study of Tifa at breakfast. She doubted the others had noticed it, but no one knew Nathan like she did.
"She kissed me."
Jessie was speechless.
"Don't look so shocked. She was only trying to make Strife jealous." Reno informed his sister, trying to both keep his sister's hopes from rising and to keep his own head level. The latter was proving to be difficult with his heart fighting for control of his emotions.
"Are you sure?" Jessie asked him, glancing towards the rest of the group. Tifa was deep in conversation with Reeve and Barrett and Cloud was walking by himself a short ways behind the three in the lead. Reeve had decided not to retrieve the stuffed moogle from the Gold Saucer before the trip to the reactor.
Reno shrugged. "Why shouldn't I be? She kissed me when he was standing there."
Sometimes Jessie wanted to beat some sense into her brother, but she couldn't tell him what she knew of Tifa's feelings for her brother. Girl talk stayed between them, just as what Nathan told her of his feelings for the martial arts master stayed between brother and sister.
"But you thanked him." Jessie spoke, reminding her brother of his flippant remark to Cloud as he'd departed.
Reno frowned, letting his eyes watch Tifa's form way ahead of them with the mayors of Midgar and North Corel. "You know how I feel about her, Jessie."
That wasn't entirely true. His sister did know that he'd spoken those three words to Tifa only to be rejected, but she didn't know how his skin still burned where the brunette had touched him. He could still feel the imprint of her lips against his, of her knee brushing against his at breakfast. He knew that if he closed his eyes he would be able to evoke even older memories, but those were best left buried.
Jessie sighed. "I wish you'd just tell her, Nathan."
"I can't." Reno paused, trying to find the right words. "She won't let go of Sector Seven. She won't forgive me." His voice was soft and barely audible as he spoke.
'Both sides have blood on their hands.' Jessie remembered the words Tifa had spoken to Barrett the day before. Words that had calmed him down and made him listen to reason.
"She already has."
Hope dared to well in his heart as his sister spoke, but his head squashed the seedling of hope that sprang into his long-neglected heart as he scoffed at his sister's words.
"Hardly. Ms. High and Mighty won't let me forget that I set the bomb that dropped the plate."
"Nathan, you are the most stubborn, impossible, frustrating man that I have ever met." Jessie told him, hardly believing what she was hearing. "She told Barrett that the guilt of Sector Seven was on both sides, not just on the Turks."
That small seedling dared to grow, beginning the difficult process of choking out the weeds of black hatred that he'd carried around for so long. However, hearing what Tifa now felt about the Sector Seven incident from Jessie wasn't enough. He had to hear it from Tifa herself. But, somehow he believed that Sephiroth and Meteor would return before that happened.
Jessie watched her brother's face as it remained nearly impassive, but his eyes betrayed what was going on inside of him. She laughed to herself as she glanced at Reno's sunglasses, perched in his hair, instead of over his eyes.
"Just tell her how you feel, Nathan." Jessie said softly, touching his arm, wanting so badly to tell her brother all that she knew, but she wouldn't betray Tifa's trust like that. Some things were still sacred. "Don't let her get away again. For both of your sakes." She whispered.
Reno frowned. He wasn't ready to bare his heart to her again, and he wondered if he'd ever be ready. The remembrance of the sharp sting of rejection was still too fresh in his scarred heart.
Jessie frowned at his frown, feeling for him, recognizing the hurt she saw in his eyes. She'd seen it when she'd first met Tifa. The bittersweet emotion that was love lost had stained her eyes, hiding behind it even deeper hurts. Hurts that, over time and friendship, Tifa had revealed to her friend, neither suspecting that both knew the man that had left an indelible mark on the younger woman.
"Nathan," Jessie had to bite her lip to keep from saying what her mind screamed to tell him, but she couldn't. She couldn't violate that trust. Instead of continuing, she sighed deeply. She glanced towards the group in front of them to find that they'd entered the caverns leading towards the reactor. "Oh! We're almost there!"
Reno watched as his sister darted off. She'd been about to tell him something. He knew Jessie too well, but something other than the reactor's sudden close proximity stopped her. He wondered what it was, but now was not the time to dwell on his past relationship with the brunette walking in front of him.
Professionalism kicked in as he rejoined the group, his conversation with his sister pushed from his mind. Regardless of what Jessie had said, they were walking into a dangerous reactor with the former leader of Avalanche. He'd planned reactor bombings before. His trained Turk mind ran the possibility of this whole trip to the reactor being a trap as he fell into step with Reeve. Though the chance was slight, it was still a possibility. There was a shantytown of people without power waiting on the outcome of this trip, a motley assortment of Midgar's population who depended on Reeve and himself for security and hope. As a Turk, and as the Mayor's personal bodyguard, he wasn't going to do anything to let them down.