-Six: Aerith-
Tifa noticed that Eris suddenly looked up at the stars as they sat around the open fire with Red.
"Again," Red pointed out.
Tifa turned to Red. "Again, what?" she asked, wanting him to elaborate.
Eris kept on staring at the stars with a gentle smile on her face.
"Eris keeps on looking up at the stars." He told her before throwing a leaf at Eris to interrupt her "moment". "Hey, clouds don't fall from skies so stop wishing at those stars that they would do so!" he teased.
Eris made a face at him. "You're just jealous." She mocked before she sat down properly and just stared at the fire.
"I can't understand why they didn't let us buy those Chocobos or even lend us one… and now we have to sleep here in the forest grounds and eat sweet potatoes… and that was already a month ago and they still can't let us have one." Red muttered miserably.
"At least we have something to eat," Tifa pointed out with a cheerful look on her face.
"You sound pleased," he told her.
"I should be pleased! There are several other people out there with nothing to eat… at least we have something here to be thankful for… and having companions like you and Eris is also something to be thankful for because it's not good to be alone in the forest at night." She replied.
Red shook his head in disbelief. "How the hell can she still remain optimistic despite our situation right now?" he thought silently.
"Well, we could just head for Junon and ask for a ride to Nibelheim in case we cannot have Chocobos to ride." Eris suggested. She giggled.
"What's so funny?" Red asked with a frown on his face.
"Oh nothing… I just remembered the person whom I love the most… he reminds me so much of a Chocobo because of his hair." She replied while still giggling.
Tifa raised an eyebrow. "Reminds you of a Chocobo?" she asked with a ridiculous look on her face.
Eris nodded happily and dreamily. "Oh, he's the most adorable creature I've ever seen!" she said sweetly as she blushed.
Red rolled his eyes. "Oh God… here we go again…" he muttered miserably.
"Is she always like that?" Tifa whispered as she moved closer to him. He smiled at Tifa. "Not really… she just misses him." He replied.
"Why? What happened to him?" she asked.
"I… I don't know." Red said with a hesitant look on his face.
Eris began to play with her own hair with a gentle smile on her face. She spoke up but she kept her gaze at her own hair as she brushed it with her fingertips. "What about you, Tifa? Don't you miss someone?"
Tifa was surprised by the question.
Red just rolled his eyes before he leaned back against a stump behind him.
"Well… for one thing, I miss my friends…" Tifa replied with a sad smile on her face.
"Why?" Eris asked.
"Well, I haven't seen them for two years already… except for Vincent. He just lives in Nibelheim. Cloud is roaming around. Yuffie's in Wutai. Barret is out there somewhere taking care of his daughter, Marlene… Cid's back in Rocket Town… and Aerith…" she trailed off.
Red examined the look on Tifa's face.
Eris stopped playing with her own hair and her gaze traveled to Tifa's direction. "Who's Aerith?" she asked.
Tifa sighed heavily as she slouched and lowered her gaze to the ground. "I could say that she's my best friend." She said softly.
Red and Eris stared at her for a few moments before the former spoke up, "Best friend?"
Tifa turned to Red but she did not answer immediately. "It was too late when I realized how important she is. She's… gone." She explained.
Red just shrugged and crossed his arms. "Hmf… never had a best friend before…" he said.
"Why?" Eris asked.
"I grew up with a very secured and closed atmosphere around me so I really don't socialize with too much people… besides, my Old Man wouldn't allow it." He explained mindlessly.
"Old Man?" Tifa asked as she looked at him.
"My father." Red elaborated.
Tifa nodded her head. "I see…" she said softly before hugging her knees closer to her and resting her chin on them as she sighed heavily.
Eris looked up at the stars again as a cool gentle breeze began to blow. She smiled gently. "Cloud," she whispered.
Tifa looked up at her. "Huh? You're saying something?" she asked.
Red's eyes were wide as he looked at Eris, as if giving her a warning look.
Eris just shook her head and leaned against a tree trunk behind her before she closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep.
Red eased up a bit before turning his gaze to the fire.
Absentmindedly, Tifa turned her gaze to Red and continued to stare as if adoring him. She has this dreamy look on her face and she did not even notice that he was already looking back at her with a perplexed look on his face. "What are you looking at?" he demanded with a nasty tone.
Her eyes widened in embarrassment when she realized that she had been staring at him for a long time already. She just looked away, her face as red as a tomato. "N…nothing." She replied sheepishly.
He snorted before turning away from her.
"Why are you traveling, Red?" Tifa asked mindlessly, keeping her gaze at the fire.
"I'm looking for some people. I have to gather them again to claim what is rightfully mine." He explained.
"And what's that?" she asked.
Red was silent for a few moments before answering, "My family's honor." Tifa watched quietly as he raked his fingers through his hair, attempting to brush back all the blonde locks falling loosely before his eyes, but they all end up going back to cover some parts of his forehead. "Damn…" he muttered angrily.
Tifa's eyes widened at him. A few glimpses of Red with his hair brushed back for a few seconds made her realize something: "Gods… he looks like Rufus ShinRa…" she thought silently, her heart suddenly beating faster than usual.
Again, Red turned back to her. "You have a gel or something?" he asked.
She blushed again and looked away. "N…no, I don't have any gel." She replied with a weak smile on her face.
Red noticed that she was really blushing. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you sick or something?" he demanded.
She shook her head quickly. "N…no. I'm not." She tried to act casual as she looked at him. "You know, if you're having a hard time with that hair, why don't you sprinkle some water on it and then brush it back?" she suggested.
He thought for a while before replying, "There isn't a stream around here… I think I'll just let it be for now."
She just smiled at him. "It's your choice," she said.
Silence.
"You remind me of someone…" she told him.
"Who?" he asked mindlessly.
She shook her head. She wanted to say out loud, "You remind me of Rufus ShinRa. I've always thought that he's cute but I never really thought of it seriously until this moment when I saw you fixing your hair." But she just shut up, afraid that he might just snap at her impatiently for talking such nonsense.
"Red," she began.
"What?" he muttered. "What's wrong with this girl?!" he thought silently, noticing that she has been bugging him with several questions and saying several things about anything under the sun to him ever since the past few weeks that they had been together.
"What about Eris? What is she looking for?" she asked.
"She's looking for her old boyfriend so that she could be with him again." Red muttered miserably before closing his eyes.
Tifa just kept quiet before deciding to just lie down on the ground and sleep there.
They set out early the next day so that they could arrive in Junon earlier than expected. At around 11 in the morning, in Junon, they were already stuck in the checkpoint.
"What's your business here?" The person in-charge demanded stiffly.
Tifa had recognized the guy easily: it was Reno, one of the former Turks… or maybe he is still a Turk but working at the checkpoint.
Reno stared at the three, examining them from head to toe. "Hmm… these stooges look awfully familiar." He thought mindlessly.
Eris was looking around. "I thought ShinRa's gone… how come Junon still has checkpoints?" she asked out loud.
"ShinRa's still here but not as strong as before… if you know what I mean. And since Midgar's really a big dump now, Lady, we just maintained this old military base." Reno explained with a rather rude tone as he snorted.
Eris took a few steps away from Reno and just stood behind Red.
"Well… we're just wondering if we could get a ride from here to Nibelheim?" Tifa asked with a weak smile on her face.
Reno stared at her for a few seconds before finally realizing who she is. "Hey, aren't you the one from AVALANCHE?"
Silence.
"Formerly from AVALANCHE." Tifa corrected.
Reno turned to Red. "And why are you going to Nibelheim?" he asked.
"We live there." Red replied stiffly. He was still thinking, "Should I just stay behind here or go with Tifa?"
Reno turned to the other guard inside the guardhouse. "Three people to Nibelheim." He mentioned.
The guard checked first on the computer before replying. "Ship's gonna leave in five minutes. It only needs one more passenger."
Reno turned back to the three. "Only one of you can ride. This is the last trip for this month. We won't be having trips to Nibelheim after this because we lack funds." He explained.
"You lack funds?" Red demanded with a frown on his face.
Reno wondered why the blonde guy sounded so concerned about Junon's current state. "Yeah, we do. Why? Gotta problem with that?" he demanded.
"ShinRa is the richest family there is, and you lack funds?" Red demanded rather impatiently.
"Well I'm sorry but we don't know where the other ShinRas are so we had to stick to our own funds to keep it running!" Reno said sarcastically. "Now, who among you's gonna head for Nibelheim?" he asked impatiently.
Red just turned away from him and flipped his hair before facing Tifa and Eris.
Eris had this sad look on her face, her hands clasped together in hopeful prayer. "But… only one of us?" she asked.
"No choice. Two of us can stay behind here and wait until the next opportunity to go there." Red replied.
Eris bowed down her head before turning to Tifa with a gentle smile on her face. "I'm sure you miss your home… you can go." She said.
Tifa's eyes widened in disbelief before turning to Red in case he would protest. He just stared down at her coldly. "You go ahead. I don't care. I'm staying behind to take care of some things here." He told her.
Tifa thought for a while. It was a hard decision to make, but finally, she gave up. She patted Eris's shoulder. "I'm sure someone's waiting for you in Nibelheim. I'll let you go ahead," she said.
Eris's mouth dropped open. "Wh…what?" she asked in disbelief.
Tifa chuckled lightly before embracing Eris. "You remind me so much of my best friend, Aerith… I wish she was still here. I'd do the same for her. As for you, I hope you find your beloved there. I'm sure he's been waiting for a long time for you and he loves you very much," she whispered softly.
Eris smiled softly before hugging Tifa back. "Thank you very much, Tifa…" She turned to Red. He just nodded his head to her as farewell.
Tifa and Eris let go of each other. "Take care," Tifa said.
Eris smiled happily at Tifa before turning back to Red. "Take care of Tifa, you hear?" she said.
Red just rolled his eyes. "Just leave." He muttered miserably.
Eris giggled before embracing Red. "You're being silly again." She said.
"I've found my purpose. It's in here." He told her in a whispery tone.
She just smiled at him before letting go of him and patted his shoulder. "That's what you think." And took a glance at Tifa.
Tifa was wondering why Eris was looking at her, and then back to Red. "We were sent back here to search for real happiness. I'm going to Nibelheim to meet him now. I'm sure Lucrecia is with Vincent right now… and Sephiroth's been happy with his mother… and probably, he finally has someone to call a father: Vincent. What about you?" she asked before she took a few steps backward, still smiling kindly at Red. With that, she turned away from them and went past the gate going to the Pierre, leaving Tifa and Red there.
"Eris!" Tifa called out.
Eris stopped in her tracks and turned back to Tifa with a curious look on her face.
Tifa waved goodbye.
Eris smiled gently at her. "It's Aerith." She corrected before she finally boarded the ship.
Tifa's eyes widened upon hearing the name. "Wh…what?" she stammered. She looked at Red, but he had his gaze focused at the ShinRa logo, so she thought that he wasn't listening. She just bowed down her head. "Must be my imagination… Aerith is dead…" she thought silently.
Reno interrupted the two. "And the two of you, what are you still doing here?" he asked.
Red turned to Reno with a cold look on his face, making him shiver. Reno's mouth was slightly open as he stared in disbelief at Red. "Man… he looks… like… President Rufus…" he thought silently.
They were interrupted when Heidegger suddenly came to them. "Gyah… Reno, go to the Turks' Office." He commanded.
Reno did not say anything more; he just followed the order. Heidegger picked up something from the guardhouse before muttering out loud, "Damn, ShinRa's falling apart!"
Red, upon hearing that, just held Tifa's hand and murmured, "Let's go someplace else," as he led the way.
Tifa was surprised at first, but she just followed, feeling the warmth of his hand against hers. She smiled slightly and blushed, but had managed to just turn her head away so that he wouldn't notice it.
Heidegger stepped out of the guardhouse but he stopped on his tracks upon noticing the two walking away. He stared at the blonde young man. "Rufus?" he asked out loud in awe.
Red heard the name but he did not look back. He just lowered his gaze to the ground as the cool sea breeze began to blow against his face.
"Something wrong, General Heidegger?" the guard asked.
Heidegger just shook his head in disbelief. "Nah… it can't be him…" he thought silently before walking away, back to the main building.