Chapter 2
The Memorial
"A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own."
-Thomas Mann
Cosmo Canyon, 7 days after Meteor
Barret Wallace was kneeling by Tifa's bed in silence, having long since run out of comforting words. Comfort was not his strong suit by any means, but a strange paralysis had fallen over the group since the destruction of Meteor and Cloud's supernatural death.
Tifa was facing the wall, with her back to him, and didn't even seem to be aware that he was there. It had been a week since Cid had flown them all to Cosmo Canyon. Barret's long sought after victory party had become nothing more than an drawn-out funeral. He and Yuffie were the only two who seemed relatively unaffected by the pall of despair that had fallen over the group. Nanaki had stayed by Tifa's side during the first night, when she was still sobbing her eyes out, unable to speak to any of them, or hear any of them trying to speak to her. He had laid beside her bed all night, and listening to her sobbing gradually fade away and transform into the numb depression had now endured for six straight days. However, after that night, Nanaki had grown increasingly reclusive, complaining of headaches and preferring to stay locked up inside in grandfather's laboratory. Vincent had suggested that it was his way of mourning Bugenhagen's death, which was still quite recent. Barret would have even welcomed Vincent's support, but like Nanaki, Vincent was becoming increasingly anti-social. Of course, it wasn't unusual for Vincent to shy away from people, but Barret hadn't caught sight of him for two days. He guessed that he returned to his coffin in the Nibelheim mansion, and was starting to doubt whether he would ever see the man again.
The was a knock at the door. Barret stood up and opened it to reveal Yuffie, holding a glass of water and looking worried.
"Thanks," Barret said gruffly. He was actually grateful for Yuffie's help, but that wasn't something he would ever admit to her. Yuffie was likewise grateful for the company, or at least for having someone to bicker with so she could cheer herself up.
"Tifa, you've gotta drink somethin'," Barret said, taking the water from the little ninja and turning back to Tifa's prone form on the bed. The only response he got was a small sniffle. Barret sighed. He had been through this routine before. He handed the glass back to Yuffie, and returned to Tifa's bedside. Sliding his good arm under her shoulders, he eased her into a sitting position. She opened her eyes and moaned slightly in protest. Barret almost wished she would put up more of a fight. At least that would be reminiscent of the tough girl he knew.
Yuffie walked over and held the glass to Tifa's lips. She stared at the ninja blankly, her eyes frighteningly bloodshot, with deep gray circle underneath as if in tribute to her unhappiness.
"If I drink it, will you both leave me alone?" she asked hoarsely.
"Yeah, girl, we'll get lost," Barret said. "But you have to drink all of it."
Tifa drank the water down in one gulp and wordlessly handed the glass back to Yuffie. She only ate and drank when she was forced too, and both Barret and Yuffie were at a loss for what to do. The elders of Cosmo Canyon sympathized, but they were more concerned with Nanaki's strange affliction than with Tifa's depression.
"Come on," Barret said to Yuffie. "She held up her end."
Yuffie nodded and followed after him as he shut the door. The two of them walked down the long corridor of the inn, and only stopped when the left the building and were standing on the wooden platform outside.
"Who's watchin' Marlene?" Barret asked, glaring at Yuffie. "If you're gonna be actin' like a damn babysitter, then you shouldn't be just up and leavin' her behind."
Yuffie smirked at him, the solemnity of Tifa's room now left behind. "God, you're overprotective. 'Course, my dad was just as big a prick as you, and look how good I turned out!" She laughed out loud at the horrified expression that flickered over Barret's features. "Don't worry so much, old man! She's down by the Candle. Nothing's going to happen to her there. The whole freakin' village can see her."
Barret's expression told Yuffie that she may have crossed the line slightly, which wasn't very hard to do given the current circumstances. She turned away and scampered down the ladder, running towards the Candle to join the little girl.
Barret watched from the platform as Marlene jumped up, and Yuffie began chatting animatedly. Much to his chagrin, Marlene had taken a shine to the Wutain girl. He knew the main reason that Yuffie was spending so much time with his daughter was to aggravate him, but there wasn't much he could do. Between keeping Tifa from withering away and trying to figure out why Nanaki was acting so strangely, he couldn't spend as much time with his daughter as he would have liked.
Being reunited with his daughter had been the only silver lining to the situation. Cid had flown them away from Midgar after Cloud's strange goodbye, and Cosmo Canyon had seemed like the best place for them to go. Nanaki had wanted to go home, and with the exception of Yuffie, he was the only one that really had a home to return to. Barret knew that he was going to have to go to Corel soon, but was hesitant to leave Tifa behind. With the shadow of Shinra lifted, Corel could be rebuilt. He wanted to see it become the place for all those drifting aimlessly in the wake of Shinra's downfall to call home. He had high hopes for his old hometown, bordering on the impossible, and watching Avalanche crumble was giving him a lot of doubts. What kind of a leader was he? The last time he had used authority in Corel, the city had been burned to the ground. During his time as the leader of Avalanche, he watched as the original members died off one by one at the hands of the Shinra. Of those first Avalanche members, only he and Tifa remained. And Tifa was now fading away while he dreamed of a New Corel, glorious enough to wash away his guilt over the fate of the old one.
Was that selfish of him? No, he wanted to build the city for others, not for himself... He wanted it for Marlene. The little girl had seen so much tragedy in her four short years, she deserved a real home.
Yuffie was still prattling on, and seemed to have his daughter's undivided attention. He snorted, and thought that it figured, thinking that the two of them had about the same maturity level. Still, there was another worry on his mind, one he certainly didn't need added to the rest of the weight pressing down his shoulders. After Cid had dropped them off, he had left in the Highwind once more, to returned to Rocket Town. Though he didn't actually say it, they all knew he had been going to get Shera. Naturally, Barret had expected him to return in a day or so, all smiles and smoke, with Shera by his side. But that hadn't happened. The days slowly drifted by, and Cid's absence became more and more mysterious. After four days, Barret had called him on the PHS, but there had been no response. He tried getting in touch with the pilot whenever he had a spare moment, but Cid had apparently disappeared off the face of the Planet. At first, Barret had tried rationalizing it by telling himself that Cid just wanted to spend some 'quality time' with Shera, but that theory fell further into doubt as the time passed. After all, one of the main reasons they had come to Cosmo Canyon was because of Nanaki's suggestion that they hold a traditional Cosman Memorial for those that they had lost in their fight to save the Planet. Cid knew that, and he had told them to put off the service until he returned, It wasn't a stretch to assume that he would return as quickly as possible, unless something had really gone wrong...
What in the name of the gods was Yuffie telling his daughter? Barret leaned over the railing, the wood squeaking in protest at his weight, but they were too far away for him to hear. She was probably regaling her with some delightful anecdote about her time as a Materia Hunter. It wasn't exactly the sort of story he wanted his five-year-old to hear. He decided to join them at the Candle to throw in a little fatherly censorship if need be, so he climbed down the ladder, and made his way across the red sands to where Yuffie and Marlene sat silhouetted by the flame.
Yuffie immediately quieted when she heard him approaching, which didn't help his opinion of the stories she had been telling his daughter.
"So, whatever you're sayin' to my little girl can't be said to me, huh?" he asked darkly as he stepped up onto the Candle's miniature plateau.
"I was just telling her..." Yuffie started, though he interrupted her lie without even hearing it.
"Maybe you could tell her about how you stole all our Materia and left us at Shinra gunpoint, you damn brat..."
"Daddy, don't be so mean to Auntie Yuffie!" Marlene said shrilly. Barret couldn't even bring himself to look at the broad smirk that appeared on Yuffie's face at those words.
"Yeah, old man! Listen to your daughter!"
"He's not old..." Marlene said, looking up at Yuffie sweetly, giving Barret opportunity to get in a smirk of his own.
"Uh... I'm going to go check on Red," Yuffie said quickly, before Barret could voice whatever snide comment he had in mind. She jumped to her feet and headed off towards the observatory that towered over the rest of the peaceful village. With her gone, Barret let himself relax a little. He sat down in the dust and leaned back, letting out a deep sigh. Marlene jumped into her father's lap, and he grunted slightly at the sudden weight.
"Daddy, what's wrong with Tifa?"
It wasn't the first time she had asked that difficult question. Barret had no idea how to answer. She had been too young to remember the disaster in Corel or her parent's deaths, so Barret had always avoided that rather touchy issue, but she had certainly seen members of Avalanche come and go, and had never seemed to be able to wrap her mind around why they suddenly disappeared from her life. The innocence of childhood wasn't something Barret wanted to take from her. She certainly knew what death was, but he wasn't sure if she really understood its permanence.
"Well, Tifa's just very sad because Cloud had to leave," Barret said after a long hesitation.
"Why did Cloud leave?"
He knew that question was coming. He couldn't even really answer it for himself.
"I'm sure he had his reasons, girl." Cloud had seen a way out of this life, and he had taken it. He had ended his role in the fight. Barret caught himself feeling a little envious of Cloud's escape a few times that week, but looking down at his daughter, he knew he couldn't just leave the Planet behind.
"He just didn't have anything he wanted to stay for, I guess..." Barret muttered.
"What?" Marlene asked, unable to hear her father's quiet bitterness.
"Um, why don't you go play with Cait?" he said, changing the subject. Marlene had fallen in love with Cait Sith and his giant Mog, which had been lifeless since Meteor's destruction. To the little girl, they were nothing more than big stuffed animals, and Barret had to admit it was difficult imaging the robotic feline fight beside him when he watched his daughter playing with it as she would a giant teddy bear.
"Can I bring him out here?" Marlene pleaded eagerly.
Barret grinned. "'Course you can, girl. Just keep it away from the fire."
Marlene squealed happily and ran off to the inn where Cait Sith stood in the lobby. Barret watched her go, wondering what it would be like to be so happy when all the world seemed to be falling apart. He had been the leader of Avalanche in the beginning, and now the leadership had fallen upon him again as the group neared its end. The circle was complete. He wanted nothing more than the build a life with his daughter in Corel... To see people shake off years of Shinra oppression and help him build a new city...
He stared into the flames. If there was any justice at all flowing through the Lifestream, he would be allowed a normal life.
------
Yuffie finally climbed the last of the stairs leading to the observatory, and knocked on the door.
"Red? You feeling better yet?"
The door opened, and Elder Hargo stepped out into the red light of the setting sun, frowning at Yuffie for creating such a disturbance.
"He is feeling somewhat better," Hargo said solemnly.
"Well, what was wrong with him, anyway?"
Hargo shook his head sadly, a few loose silvery hairs falling down into his eyes. He pushed them aside with long, weathered fingers, and smiled down at Yuffie, a thousand care lines spreading across his ancient face.
"Insatiable, aren't you?" he said, chuckling to himself. "Regrettably, we do not know what ails our Nanaki. The Elders have been reading all of Bugenhagen's studies of Nanaki's kind, and we still do not understand this strange affliction."
"Figures," Yuffie snorted. "You people always try to solve everything by sitting around and reading..."
Hargo raised an eyebrow. "It is only in the most extreme situations that the written word had failed us, young lady. In any case, Nanaki had just informed me that he was feeling well enough to attend the memorial for your friends. I don't suppose Mr. Highwind has arrived yet?"
Yuffie laughed. "Mr. Highwind? Trust me, if you knew him, you wouldn't call him that."
"That may well be," Hargo said agreeably. "How is Miss Lockheart, by the way?"
Now it was Yuffie turn to be solemn, or at least as solemn as she ever was. "She's still in bed. I think having the memorial might get her up though..."
"Yet another reason to have the memorial soon," Hargo said. "Though I suppose Mr. Highwind might be upset when he comes."
Yuffie grinned. "Yet another reason to have the memorial soon, huh?"
Hargo sighed and shook his head. "Miss Kisaragi, I believe you might be the only person I've known who would hold a memorial out of spite..."
"Who said anything about spite? I just want to see that old bastard apologize for something once in his sorry life... So anyway, can I see Red?"
Hargo held up his hand for a moment, and disappeared into the observatory. He returned after a few minutes had passed, and nodded, opening the door wider so that Yuffie could pass.
The inside of the observatory was exactly the same as it had been when she had arrived with Avalanche for the first time, over eight months ago. There were papers scattered on every available surface, along with countless little machines whose uses she couldn't even begin to fathom.
"Red?" she called. "Where are you?"
"I'm upstairs." Nanaki's voice drifted down from the opening to the second level. There was a definite note of exhaustion in his voice, which seemed even deeper and raspier than usual. Yuffie climbed the ladder to the second level of Bugenhagen's home, and saw Nanaki lying on the floor, with countless books and papers spread out all around him, covering the threadbare carpeting entirely. Much to Yuffie's surprise, Vincent was sitting on the old couch at the far side of the room with a book in his lap. He didn't bother looking up to acknowledge her entrance.
"Vinnie? I thought you went back to that creepy mansion we found you in..." Yuffie said tactlessly. Vincent slowly looked up from his reading, and she immediately noticed the dark circles under his eyes. It struck her that throughout all of their travels, trudging endless miles on foot with animals rabid with Mako poisoning often snapping at them, she had never seen Vincent look tired. It was disconcerting to see him looking so... human.
"I have matters to attend to here," Vincent said darkly, before turning back to his book. If there was one thing Yuffie could never stand, it was being ignored. She was very good at making herself impossible to ignore, but Vincent's capacity for shutting out the entire world almost always trumped her persistence.
Nanaki slowly got to his feet and walked through the piles of books until he was standing right in front of Yuffie. She couldn't help but notice how he seemed to have trouble holding his head up, and that his fiery tail was dragging along the ground instead of waving aimlessly through the air like it usually did. If he had been human, he would have looked just as worn out as Vincent, if not more so.
"Did Barret send you up?" Nanaki asked.
Yuffie shook her head. "Nah, I just came up here to get away from that old fart. And, well, I was wondering how you were doing?"
"Very eloquent," Vincent muttered, without looking up. So he was paying attention to her...
"I heard Hargo telling you that I was feeling somewhat better," Nanaki said. "Sadly, I don't know if the headaches are fading, or if I am just getting used to them."
Yuffie's eyes scanned over the floor literate carpeting once more. "So you're looking for an old family recipe for painkillers, or what?"
Nanaki laughed softly, and turned his head, following her gaze with his one good eye. "It's not quite that simple, I'm afraid. We have been looking through all of Grandfather's writing on my people's physiology, in an attempt to learn what this sickness is, and whether or not there's a cure."
"Hey, maybe it's stress!" Yuffie exclaimed, refusing to fall victim to the room's depressive atmosphere. "I've been around a lot of people who get headaches from stress, I don't know if it'd be different with you or what..."
Vincent lowered the book and glared at her. "Do you listen to yourself when you speak?"
Yuffie shrugged. "Nah, I always figure someone'll fill me in if it's important," she said with a smirk that she has always considered so endearing.
"I believe we should hold the memorial as soon as possible," Nanaki said. "Though this may sound terrible, I really must get it done so that I can concentrate on my work. Has Cid arrived yet?"
"The old bastard's probably still off with Shera," Yuffie said, her lip curling slightly at the mental image that suddenly permeated her mind. "Dunno 'bout you, but I feel pretty bad for her."
"Well, I suppose there's no time like the present," Nanaki said. "Do you suppose you'll be able to get Tifa out of the Inn?"
Yuffie nodded. "She'd better get up for this. I can't stand seeing her all wastin' away like that. It's not like her at all..."
"Be kind," Nanaki said. "Cloud was one constant in her life when she lost so much else. It will take her some time before she can face the fact that her anchor is gone."
"Whatever," Yuffie said, following her usual habit of shrugging off the depth that others sometimes spoke with. "I'll go tell her, alright?"
Nanaki nodded. "Now, I must prepare."
Without bothering to ask what kind of preparations he needed, Yuffie climbed back down the ladder and began the long winding decent down the stairs and tunnels that lead back to the ground. She noticed that Barret was still sitting with Marlene, and that the little girl was clinging to Cait Sith. It was strange seeing the little black cat without its trademark Mog, but the Mog was too heavy for Marlene to move by herself. She usually got her father to do it for her. On several occasions, Marlene had asked her to get the Mog and bring it outside, but Yuffie had always had to make up some excuse to avoid admitting that she found the giant white robot rather difficult to move as well.
Her temper had flared slightly at Vincent's snide comments. She tried to tell herself that he was just tired, and that in order for him to be tired it probably meant he hadn't slept since they arrived. She couldn't honestly say that she wouldn't be irritable after going a week without sleep. She usually got irritable if she didn't get eight hours a night. Still, it irked her that he thought she didn't care about Nanaki. And Nanaki hadn't said anything to contradict him, he had just changed the subject. Why did everyone always think that she didn't care? Wasn't the fact that she climbed down into the Crater with them to fight Sephiroth proof enough that she cared? She had openly cried when Aeris was killed, something she hadn't done since she was a small child and her mother had died during Shinra's war on Wutai. Why would she fake something like that? Just to embarrass herself?
Walking across the sand and watching Barret play with his daughter by the Candle, she thought that even if nothing else was proof enough that she actually did care about the other members of Avalanche, the fact that she was staying in Cosmo Canyon, a place she had always found terribly boring, with her only source of amusement picking fights with Barret, well... that should be proof enough for anyone. She could have just as easily gone home to Wutai.
Climbing the ladder that lead to the inn, she began wondering what she was going to say to Tifa to get her out of bed. Hopefully, just telling her that they were going to go ahead with the service even though Cid hadn't shown up would be enough, but somehow, Yuffie doubted that. She had never credited herself as being tactful, a trait she had often envied in some of her comrades, particularly Aeris and Tifa. Not that she would ever dare to admit such a thing openly. If everyone thought that she believed herself to be perfect, it was fine with her. But in truth, she knew that even big, clumsy Barret was better at cheering people up than she was, despite his cursing and bad breath.
She was jolted out of her thoughts when she found herself standing at Tifa's door, staring at the tarnished number 13 screwed into the wood. Let no one say the innkeeper didn't have a sense of humor, twisted though it might be. She knocked lightly and pressed her ear to the door, assuming that Tifa's response would be soft-spoken.
"Go away. I drank the water, okay?"
"Tifa, it's me," Yuffie said, hesitantly. She could count the number of times she came to visit Tifa the past week without Barret already being there on one hand. She actually admired Tifa, something that couldn't be said of many other people, and she really disliked seeing her in such a state of perpetual despair.
"What do you want?"
Sighing, Yuffie slowly opened the door and peered inside. Nothing ever changed in that room. Time seemed to stand still. A small lamp on the bedside table was the only light. The empty water glass stood beside the lamp. At least she had been honest about that. Could that be a good sign? Earlier in the week, Barret discovered she had been lying about the amount of food she had been eating when he began to notice a foul smell in the room. After a quick search, he had found that Tifa had been shoving most of the meals they gave her under the bed.
"Um... Tifa? Red's ready to start the Memorial. He really wants you to be there, and so does Barret, and... well, so do I."
Tifa actually sat up at those words, something she hadn't done without coaxing all week. Yuffie looked at her feet awkwardly. Seeing Tifa's eyes so bloodshot, and her face so unnervingly pale made her uncomfortable. If she kept this up, she was going to be as pale as Vincent within days.
"Did Cid come back?" she asked weakly.
Yuffie shook her head, still pretending to have taken an unnatural interest in her own feet. "Red wants to go ahead with it anyway."
"You don't think that Cid... that something happened to him...?"
If there was subject that she wanted to avoid, it was the thought of another one of their comrades getting hurt or killed.
"Cid? Nah, he's too much of a bastard to die," Yuffie said, though her usual perky voice sounded strangely flat. "You really need to get out of this room," she added. After all, she was feeling the unhappiness weighing her down, and she had only been in the room for a couple of minutes. She couldn't even imagine how the atmosphere must be weighing on Tifa.
After painfully long pause, Tifa finally spoke up.
"Okay. Just... just don't start until I get there, alright?"
Yuffie nodded, feeling tremendously relieved. She gratefully backed out of the room and closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief. Even the air outside that depressing room seemed to taste better.
She left the hotel, and joined Barret once again at the fire.
"So, how's the big cat holdin' up?" he asked when she sat down next to him.
Yuffie shrugged. "I guess he's doing a bit better. He's coming out to do the service soon."
"What?" Barret jumped to his feet. "Now I gotta go drag Tifa outta that bed..."
"Would you just relax, old man!" Yuffie snapped. "I already told her, and she's on her way."
Barret looked a bit stunned. "Oh..." he said lamely, before sitting back down. "Well, aren't you on top o' things tonight?"
Yuffie turned to face him and smiled sweetly. "You say that like it's a big surprise."
"'Cause it is," Barret said abruptly not bothering to meet Yuffie's gaze. He turned his attention back to where his daughter was playing with Cait Sith a few feet away, on the edge of the stone plateau.
While Yuffie was considering the best way to reply to that comment, she noticed that Vincent was stepping off the bottom stair that led up to the observatory. Barret was still ignoring her, so he didn't bother to follow her gaze. It wasn't until Vincent was standing right beside the fire that Barret noticed him, but Vincent had always had a way moving in complete silently. Yuffie knew that it was from years of Turk training, but she preferred to tell herself that it was because he was a vampire. It was just more interesting that way...
Marlene caught sight of Vincent before her father, and she dropped the little black cat and ran and jumped in Barret's lap, whispering in his ear that the scary man was back. If Vincent was perturbed by the reaction he received, he didn't show it.
Barret turned to face the fire, and saw Vincent standing above him, looking larger than life with the red cape billowing in the evening breeze. As per his nature, Barret tried to cover the fact that he was startled by getting angry.
"Where the hell have you been, you damn spook!?" he demanded.
"Reading," Vincent said coldly. With an almost imperceptible sigh, he sat down, taking care to keep himself at least ten feet away from both Barret and Yuffie. He drew his long legs up to his chest, and somehow managed to sit just as rigidly as he stood.
What was it about Vincent Valentine that made the silence so thick? Fortunately, they didn't have to worry about it much longer, because Nanaki strode slowly into the light of the flames and sat down on his hind legs.
"I regret that I will not be able to perform the service," he said sadly. "Tradition requires the speaker to free his mind of all harmful thought, so as to provide a guide for the mourners. I cannot achieve such a state, given the current circumstances."
"Geez, Red," Yuffie said, surprised at Nanaki's sudden wave of self-deprecation. The fiery lion rarely spoke of himself at all, so it was strange to hear him refer to himself in such a negative light. "Don't be so hard on yourself."
Marlene jumped off her father's lap to retrieve Cait, hugging him close and looking at Vincent nervously.
Much to everyone's relief, Tifa was walking towards them as well. The relief became somewhat hesitant when they saw the way she was walking, with her shoulders slumped and her eyes cast firmly at the sand directly in front of her feet. She had always been so alert, taking in every detail of her environment, a habit learned from both her training as a martial artist and all the time she had spent in the Nibelheim mountains. Comparing the Tifa they knew to they Tifa they were now looking at, she seemed lost.
Without saying a word, she sat down in front of the flames and stared into them with an unwavering gaze. Everything about her posture made it clear she wanted no one to speak with her. She had also sat down next to Vincent, largely because he was the person least likely to begin to ask her questions.
Barret looked around at the remnants of Avalanche. "So this is it, huh?" he asked, speaking to no one in particular. "Last ones standing?" He immediately regretted his phrasing when he saw Tifa visibly flinch at his words. "Uh, what I mean is..." he began, searching his mind for a quick save that wasn't coming.
Luckily, Elder Hargo stepped up onto the Candle's plateau and raised one hand to quiet them, as if he has walked into a lively conservation.
"Nanaki has requested that I perform the ceremony. I informed him I would be honored. Of course, if anyone objects..." He trailed off, seeing Barret and Yuffie shake their heads, and Vincent shrug ever so slightly.
"The service is very simple," Hargo said. "It begins with a prayer to the Planet to allow the deceased safe passage into the Lifestream."
Much to everyone's surprise, except Nanaki, Hargo began singing in a soft baritone. The words were of a language none of them had ever heard before, it was certainly not the Common Tongue, and a moment of listening told them it was not Old Wutain either.
The song carried a great sadness in its melody. The cryptic words seemed to paint the image of all those that had ever been mourned under those notes, sitting by that near-eternal flame. Everyone became hypnotized by Hargo's voice rising and falling, asking the Planet to accept their fallen comrades with it's metaphorical arms wide open.
Only the thinnest ray of the setting sun was visible when Hargo was finished his song. "Now, we will speak the names of those that have fallen, and for one minute, nothing else shall be said, and there shall be no thoughts other than the life and love of the person."
"Cloud," said Nanaki. Tifa flinched again, but it was much less noticeably than she had before the song started. Obviously, the tragic melody was laying as heavily on her as it was on the rest of them.
The entire world seemed to be respecting the silence required by the Cosman Memorial. The creaking of a villager walking across their porch, the sounds of the crickets in the distance, it was all gone. The Planet held its breath as thoughts of Cloud raced through the minds of the five Avalanchers sitting by the great bonfire.
Hargo nodded when the moment was up, and Nanaki spoke again.
"Aeris."
Just as before, the world was silent in waiting. When the moment passed, Barret spoke up.
"Biggs."
The moments passed, and with each of them a new name, a old memory...
"Wedge."
"Jesse."
"Lucrecia," Vincent said softly, forgetting that he was not alone, and announcing his grief publicly as he so rarely did.
"Sephiroth," Vincent said, speaking once more. The others turned and stared at him, but Hargo's gaze kept them all silent. This time, the memories were not pleasant.
"Tseng," a tiny, high pitched voice said, followed immediately by Marlene squealing in fright and accidentally flinging Cait Sith right into the flames. At any other time, the sight of the little robotic cat jumping out of the fire and rolling in the dust to quell the flames would have been amusing, but laughing out loud would have seemed almost inhuman at the time, even when Cait stood up and tried to look indignant even though he was singed and covered in red sand.
After the moment had passed, Barret glared down at Cait. "You damn cat! How long have you been watchin' us?"
Nanaki also took an great interest in Cait's sudden reanimation. "Reeve?" he asked. "Are you alright?"
Cait nodded. "I'm fine, I guess. I just... I checked back in to see how all of you were, and well... I was right in the middle of a funeral..." He seemed much more hesitant than usual. In truth, after they had learned his real identity, Cait had been noticeably subdued.
Hargo raised a hand once more to silence them. He began singing again, but this time the melody was more uplifting. The antithesis of the sadness that the service had begun with. A plea for them to begin moving on with their lives in a language they could not understand.
At the song's end, Hargo smiled. "They are all at peace now," he said simply. He turned, and walked out of the fire's circle of light. The sun had set completely now, the stars winking to life one by one.
"So... what are you all going to do now?" Cait asked, rather sheepishly.
"Where are you, Reeve?" Nanaki asked.
"I'm in Midgar," Cait replied. "I'm getting together some old Shinra people to dismantle all the Mako reactors. I have to go... this place is a disaster... there's a lot I've got to do, and I don't exactly have a lot of people's trust..."
Barret found himself nodding his approval at Reeve's comment about the reactors, before he realized who was talking. "If you hadn't have built the damn things in the first place..." he muttered, but Cait had turned lifeless again.
"I must go rest," Nanaki said. "It feels like days since I've had any sleep." He stood up, and slowly walked away from the fire, disappearing into the shadows of the village until only the mysterious flame at the end of his tail was visible. Vincent stood up a moment later and followed wordlessly, melting into the darkness immediately.
"What are you going to do, Tifa?" Yuffie asked.
Tifa let out a ragged and painful sigh. "I have nowhere to go..." she said miserably. "I can't go back to Nibelheim, and there's nothing left for me in Midgar..."
"Hey, why don't you go to Costa del Sol," Barret suggested, pleased with himself for remembering Avalanche's villa there. "Our villa's yours, as far as I'm concerned."
Yuffie nodded vigorously. "Hey, I don't see how you can live in a place like Costa del Sol and not cheer up!"
Tifa nodded slowly and stood up. "I'm going back to bed," she said. "Tomorrow, I promise I'll leave for the coast. What else can I do?" she added softly, speaking only to herself.
Barret and Yuffie alone remained sitting by the fire.
"So..." Yuffie said expectantly.
"So what?" Barret asked, before whispering in his daughter's ear that it was time for her to go to bed. With a last frightened glace at Cait Sith, Marlene scampered off towards the Inn.
"So... what are you doing with all the materia?" Yuffie asked, trying to look as sweet and innocent as possible.
Barret groaned. "Is that all you think about?"
Yuffie's grin broadened. "Well, if you don't want it..."
Barret got to his feet and glared down at the little ninja. "Take it," he said. "But you're not gettin' a shred of the gil. I need it to get Corel up an' runnin' again."
Yuffie jumped up, grinning to broadly that Barret felt slightly ill.
"You're goin' back to Wutai, I guess..." Barret said. He looked over towards the hotel where Tifa was lying in her own misery again, and then over at the observatory where Vincent was most likely still buried in his books while Nanaki tried to get in a little sleep. A glance up at the sky reminded him of Cid, wherever he was, and a little sneer down towards Cait Sith's limp form allowed for a few memories of Reeve.
"And of an era, huh?" Yuffie said. "We're all splitting."
Barret sighed. He had seen the beginning of Avalanche, so it seemed fitting that he would stand to see the ending. He scratched the back of his neck with his good hand while Yuffie scuffed at the ground with one of her feet.
"I ain't givin' you a hug," Barret said.
"Gross! You'd be in a world of pain if you tried, old man!" Yuffie shouted back.
After a few seconds hesitancy, Barret embraced the little ninja in a huge bear hug, and she pressed her head to his chest and reached her thin arms around his broad back. They pulled apart and glared at each other for a moment, before going their separate ways to find a place to sleep. The fight was over. When the sun rose the next morning, it would be the end of Avalanche.
Author's Pointless Monologue: I'm going to start by saying that's not the best chapter that there has ever been. Given the inner monologue style I'm using when writing this, it's rather difficult to pull off when all the characters are together like that. I'll always give attention to some while neglecting others. Don't worry, they'll all get their say! Oh, and a couple of hardcore detail nuts might be jumping down my throat for something I do in the next chapter, so I'll get this out of the way right now. I am going to be adding places that aren't in the game. I look at the game's world map as only showing the places relevant to the game. I mean, this is a whole Planet we're talking about here, I don't like thinking that there's only three big cities and a handful of tiny villages. Most of the major events will take place in game locations though, I'm trying to stay inside the box, though right at the edge. That's the challenge in writing fanfiction that makes it interesting to me. How original can you get using an unoriginal idea?
I'm counting down the days until the Evolve music festival (there's 3 left), which promises to be somewhere in the magical land of mushrooms. Looking at my ticket, I notice it says 'no illegal drugs' right next to 'starts at 4:20pm'. Hmmm... a clue, perhaps? It's just subtle enough to be hilarious.