Chapter 31-
Tifa's Triumph
"There's one thing I can see…"
"What? Out with it!"
"I don't know, but I think, just like that, I can see it. But if I try to tell you, I'll make a hash of it. One day, when I'm in good form, I'll dance it for you."
~Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
Zack fled through the jungle as fast as his legs could carry him. He fell once, a gnarled root snatching him before he could dodge. The ground was muddy and moist, and he skipped trying to rise up, casting a terrified glance behind him. They were still in front of his eyes. People, his people, scattered in the mud, staring sightlessly at a dirt-colored sky…
Up again, head shaking away darkness and tears. He didn't know why there should be tears. He'd been gone from Gongaga for ten years, nearly eleven. A quick visit to his parents, after he'd escaped Professor Hojo's clutches, was all. He'd always hated the place anyway. Miserable little town…
He stopped short, gasping for breath. He hadn't been able to stop himself from searching the faces of the decomposing bodies, looking for Tifa. She hadn't been among them, a fact for which he would always be grateful. His home was destroyed. She was the last thread that kept him from falling into despair.
He passed a hand quickly over his eyes, willing himself not to sink into defeat. His body, though completely healed- he shuddered to remember the circumstances- was exhausted. He hadn't slept for two days, and he hadn't stopped moving for more than a few hours at a time. He needed rest, but he would not. Not until he found her.
As he wearily staggered into motion once more, a far-off sound caught his attention. At first he couldn't make the connection, couldn't figure out what it was. Then all at once he understood and he knew, knew she was involved. Tifa needed him.
The sounds were the blasts from Sufur's shotgun.
* * * * * *
Disembodied voices were jeering, coasting along a ribbon of hate that stretched from Hunter to Hunter. Men who had lost everything, they had forged a new place for themselves in a dying world- proof that they could still sustain control. There are different types of men when the world around them shuts down. Some, like Cloud, give themselves up to fate and allow themselves to be swallowed by its ravenous tide. Some fight against fate with every ounce of stubborn will their self-preservation can dredge up, regardless- or perhaps because of- how futile the struggle is. The Hunters, then, are this latter type of men.
And then there are women like Tifa Lockheart, who fight not for the sake of fighting, but for something else. Someone else. Futility has nothing to do with it. It is the trying that brings them fulfillment, the comfort it is for them. Tifa was a fighter, but she was also a thinker. And she thought before acting on that sunny morning in the forests outside Gongaga.
She woke slowly. She had been knocked out by a blow to the head, and she would have slept for longer had not some heedless sense of urgency been pressing inside her skull. Her energy had depleted; she was completely fatigued, but she could not sink into sleep again now. Not with the jumbled thoughts in her head clamoring for her to arise and act.
First, there were the others to think about. Zack was…Zack was hurt badly, but surely with them. Cloud and he had been at odds, but that was over now, wasn't it? And Aeris was trapped…n o of course she was fine she was with the others for sure. Zack. He was the one she had to worry about.
No he wasn't. It came to her as she finally shook the oppressive curtain that clouded her memory. Sufur was the one to worry about, because he was an imposter. Or something. Rufus Shinra, still alive!
Or maybe not. Maybe the vengeful man with the wild guffaw had killed the last Shinra already.
Tifa twisted the edge of her shoulder in contact with frost-ridden earth. She was lying on her stomach on the ground, her wrists bound together behind her. The laughter and jeering of the course men was beginning to annoy her. She could taste gritty dirt in her mouth.
A faceless voice from above called to her gently. "Hey. Lie still."
She twisted her face up and focused blearily on the Hunter speaking. He was young, young and not bad-looking. A scar ran across one cheek, bright white lacerating tanned skin. He smiled at her.
"Tifa Lockheart, isn't it."
She twisted again; she could feel the rough rope at her wrists straining, but it didn't give. "Why?" she asked apprehensively. "What's it to you?"
He knelt down close beside her, thumb running along the smooth blade of a dagger in his right hand. "You used to know my big brother," he told her quietly, a misplaced smile softening his eyes. "'Big' as in Biggs."
She felt terrible she had to struggle to remember. "Biggs…from the original AVALANCHE?" Her voice was a creaky whisper.
He nodded. "I doubt he mentioned me. I worked for Shinra. Only way to make money, you know, back then." His face turned hopeful. "Did he mention me? Little brother Stephen?"
She shook her head back and forth wordlessly, the back of her head scarping the ground.
He sighed. "Guess he never forgave me. He wrote me once, about you. Described you as tough and beautiful with great legs." Teeth flashed in a grin. "Sorry."
"How did you know- who I am?"
The smile stayed, but the intonation altered a bit. "Rufus told us. He's told us a lot." A shrug. "I would too, if they were doing that to me."
"Doing-?" She repeated slowly, like a dull child. She tried to raise herself up on her elbows, but slipped and had to try a second time. A tight circle of Hunters ringed around Darryn, who laughed the loudest. In their midst she could catch a glimpse of a familiar figure…
"On the airship they called the group AVALANCHE, so I knew you were connected, though I didn't see you. That's why I helped Elena escape." Smiled again. "You want help, too?"
This offer, made so charmingly and in all innocence from a boyishly young face, made her suspicious. "Can I trust you?"
He laughed. "If it was an everyday situation and you ran into me at the supermarket, hell no, you couldn't trust me. But for now, what other choice you got?"
Very true. "Come on then," she said impatiently, realizing she might not get another chance to catch them by surprise. "Cut these ropes."
He complied, jerking the knife swiftly through the bonds and silently squeezing her hand- for encouragement, she supposed. As she stood he whistled with suppressed amusement.
"He was right. Great legs."
She cast him an irritated glare and knew he would not be much help. He had been with this band of crackpots for too long. He said he would help her escape, but he felt, as a human being, irrevocably gone.
Still, he was all she had to rely on. "Do you have a weapon I could use?" Sure she had the pride of any martial artist, but attacking four men barehanded was freakin' nuts.
He tossed her another, lighter dagger silently. She caught it by the dull edge of the blade and flipped it with a practiced twist of her fingers. A glimmer of anticipation lit her dark eyes, a gleam of bestial cunning. Days of frustrated helplessness had finally discovered a vent. Crouching low, she darted through the trees, her footfalls a whisper of sound.
As she neared the crowd of men her pace slowed. Panting slightly with far more trepidation than exertion, she drew herself tightly against the trunk of a tree. Now that she was close enough, she was beginning to see what was really going on with Sufur- Rufus- and the Hunters.
Long mid-morning shadows fell across the tight cluster of laughing men. Rufus was on his knees in their midst, facing away from her. Towering above him sneered Darryn, the leader, hunched over as he gripped Rufus by the hair. Tifa was at the perfect angle to see his blissful smile while he clouted Rufus over and over in the face. The victim, a perfect martyr for Jenova's cause, did not cry out. Tifa didn't know if it was because he'd screamed himself hoarse or if he'd blacked out. She had no idea how long they'd been at this.
Long enough. She poised the knife in her hand, sucked in a breath and threw it as hard as she could. Every ounce of hatred and rage she'd been holding in went into the shot.
She saw a flash of steel skim past the top of Rufus' head; she hadn't meant to hit him anyway, but perhaps she unconsciously felt justified for all he'd done to her. She lost sight of it then, and for a moment she was certain she had missed. Darryn's grin never faded, until a brief millennium later he released Rufus and stumbled backwards a few steps. His hands fell to his stomach, where a widening splotch of blood was beginning to blossom. Before collapsing, a floating expression of absolute terror shadowed his face, and then he fell.
The Hunters were on their feet in panic. Tifa was about to rush them in their state of confusion when Stephen spoke by her ear.
"You're insane."
Her wrathful tone caught him by surprise. "Are you going to help me or not?"
He recovered quickly and smiled, shrugging helplessly. "You're a vengeful lady."
Without waiting for him, Tifa leapt into the fray. She caught one of the three Hunters from behind and used a sweeping kick to knock him off his feet. Moving quickly, she crawled on top of him and dealt him four powerful blows in the face. He struggled, and she rolled off of him and fled to the safety of the trees again.
Shotgun blasts followed her path. She threw herself into the underbrush and saw one of the other Hunters holding Sufur's shotgun. He fired frantically at her hiding-place while Stephen grappled with the third Hunter.
The one she'd attacked was sluggishly starting to get up. Tifa waited until the man with the shotgun turned his attention on Stephen before creeping out again. She tackled the man she'd knocked down before and wrapped her arm around his neck in a twisted headlock. With her other fist she punched him in the face repeatedly.
When he finally stopped moving she pushed him of her. He lay on the ground, groaning, but she paid him no more mind and searched out the trees for Stephen. Before she found him another blast from the shotgun struck nearby. She jumped up and ran behind a few trees, scanning the scene.
She finally saw him on the ground some distance from the other Hunter he'd killed. Half of Stephen's head had been torn away by the shotgun blasts.
She looked away quickly and tried not to be sick. There was, then, only one Hunter left- the one with the shotgun. And she had no chance against him. Rufus wasn't moving at all- she did not know if he was even alive. The only usable weapon was embedded in the stomach of Darryn- and he was still alive, she could tell by his feeble moans.
She tried to leave her hiding place to get to him, but jumped back after nearly being hit by an erratic shot. If only she could leave the Hunter away so she could grab the knife!
"Hey!" she yelled desperately. "You want me? Come get me!"
The man- in the sun's blinding glare she couldn't see his features clearly, just knew he was a man- edged forward. Tifa jumped back a few steps, ducking behind a tree just as he fired again. Not bothering to brush woodchips from her hair, she laughingly called out a challenge.
"Is that your best shot? You've got to be kidding."
This time, when he fired again, she turned and began running as fast as she could. More shots followed her, but she trusted to luck and didn't look behind, twisting among the trees for protection. She edged to the right as she went, forming a wide circle and slowly doubling back behind where she'd left the bodies. She kept running, although she could no longer hear shots and wasn't sure if she had already lost the Hunter.
Finally, spent, she spotted the clearing she'd just abandoned. Sufur lay on his stomach among them. Deciding to let him be for now, she crept over to the still-breathing form of Darryn.
His sunken eyes followed her approach. As she knelt down to grasp the dagger that protruded from his middle, his hand snaked out and grasped her wrist.
"Whose side are you on?" he croaked in a whisper, eyes glittering feverishly. "You can't be on his?" She saw by his gaze that he meant Rufus.
"I'm on my own side," she said curtly, trying not to feel sickened. "And it looks like I won."
He released her then, with frightened eyes. She dug the knife out quickly and turned her back on his scream of pain.
As she turned, she caught sight of her Hunter trudging wearily back into the clearing. Gripping the slippery knife, she ducked out of view and waited.
As she watched, the man looked around at the bodies surrounding him and shook his head. Hefting the gun, he fired a few cursory shots into the trees before he was clicking on empty air. The gun had run out of ammunition.
Swearing, the man turned his back and rifled through Rufus' coat, searching for more ammunition. Seizing the moment, Tifa leapt out of the trees and rushed him.
He whirled around just as she fell on him, stabbing him in the shoulder. He cried out and tore from her grasp, catching her on the side of the head with the shotgun. She fell to the ground, trying to regain her senses.
As he raised the gun again to finish the job, a new form reared up behind him. Tifa looked up to see a huge sword cutting the man down.
"Zack?" she whispered tremulously.
He turned to her with a smile, wiping the blade clean on the grass. "I was supposed to stay with the others, I know," he said, almost sheepishly. "But I guess I wanted to see you."
She threw her arms around him, unable to comprehend his being real. His voice, his touch had been all she'd wished for, and now he was here. He was hers again.
"I'm sorry I took so long," he whispered softly, stroking her matted hair.
She drew back just enough to wipe her eyes with shaking fingers. "I thought…it seems like a dream now…weren't you hurt?"
He nodded. "It's a long story. The reactor was- pretty heavy."
Her throat caught and her arms tightened around him, unwilling to remember that horrible place. It had been there she had been confronted by her conflicted feelings for Zack and Cloud- but she wouldn't think about that. Cloud was not here. It was just she and Zack.
"Looks like you were doing pretty well on your own, though," he said, laughing a little. "Who were these guys?"
She remembered their situation and reluctantly released him, though every instinct in her body yearned to stay enfolded in Zack's arms forever. "The Hunters," she murmured softly. "Men searching for Rufus Shinra." She paused, then added, "They finally found him."
He blinked. "What are you saying?"
Patiently, knowing he was on the worse side for emotional stress and lack of sleep, she took his hands and led him over to where the unconscious figure of Sufur lay facedown. Rufus Shinra, in Sufur's clothes, at their mercy. Zack sank to his knees and with Tifa's help rolled the limp form over.
Tifa waited for Zack's inevitable violent cursing, but it didn't come. Instead, looked more closely at the figure, scrutinizing, squinting at the face, naked except for caked layer of red. Then she understood.
"It is him," she insisted. "I know it's hard to tell under all the blood, but it's him. The…the man knew and that's why he cut him up. Because he knew it was Rufus…" Her voice trailed off.
Zack shook his head. "No matter who he is. He's dead, or close enough to it."
"He's not dead!" she retorted, shocking herself with her own vehemence. "He didn't die before, and he won't die now!" She dropped to her knees beside Zack and with trembling fingers felt for the pulse at Shinra's throat. As she touched him Rufus' eyes slid open a fraction, brilliant blue against all the red, and he watched her. His breathing labored, he tried to speak, but the effort failed him and he gave up, contenting himself with mere consciousness. Tifa, smiling triumphantly, relaxed her touch on his throat in a gesture that was an unmistakable caress.
Zack knew he was witnessing something he didn't understand, and it angered him. Rufus Shinra was someone they both hated, and here was Tifa acting almost like she wanted him to live.
"What happened here?" he demanded, unable to keep the infuriation from his voice.
Tifa looked up then and placed a fluttering kiss on Zack's brow. "I'll explain it all later," she whispered tenderly. "After we get him somewhere safe."
She seemed different. Even after all the agony, the torment and despair, underneath the sweat and tangled hair she was radiant. In fact, she had never looked more beautiful. Zack couldn't say for sure, but in the days they had been separated, some kind of change had come over her. In fact…she seemed happy, truly happy, for the first time in weeks.
The impact of what she said sank in. "Tifa," he said in horror. "You can't mean that."
She had turned back to Rufus and was speaking softly to him, words Zack couldn't hear. "I won't leave him," she said over her shoulder.
Unable to control himself, Zack grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up, dragged her away a few paces. He couldn't speak privately to her with those blue eyes watching.
"Just what the hell's going on here?" he whispered furiously. "I don't know how or why Rufus is here, but you hate him, remember? We all do! And besides- kidnapping you at gunpoint? Threatening you? Manipulating you?" His eyes searched hers, and what he saw made him pull her closer. "Don't I mean anything to you?" he asked plaintively, hating to humble himself like this.
Tifa softened. She took one of his chaffed hands and kissed it, never letting her eyes leave his face. "You've been through so much," she murmured. "So much for me. You deserve some time to rest. I want you to tell me everything." Her grip tightened on his hand. "But not yet. It's unfair, but we can't rest yet."
He jerked his head toward Rufus. "What about him?"
"I won't leave him," she repeated. "I can't."
"He's dying anyway!" Zack nearly shouted. "You can't save him, Tifa. No one can. And after what he did to you…"
She would not be moved. "I want to try."
Zack sighed; he knew he would refuse her nothing. He didn't understand, and maybe he never would. Maybe he had already lost this beautiful, strong, incredible woman. If he had ever had a chance with her at all.
He swallowed it all back, to be brave, and asked, "Well, how can I help?"
She smiled then, and began to lead him back to Sufur. Then she stopped, looked at him tenderly as though he'd said something, and quietly said, "Don't worry so much, Zack. You know I love you."
~And now, a word from the author!~
Spare me the cruel words. I know, I know I'm late. However- Isn't it about damn time we got this fic off the ground?
Look for more RtP chapters in quick succession, because I think I want this to be a grand monument to my career, not a slovenly project. So, with your ideas and feedback, let's hurry up and finish the final quarter, going out in a melodramatic finale! Don't lose faith yet!
Love and kisses,
Lila