Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters or concepts within. I do own this storyline.
A/N: In which more bad things happen to Yuffie and AVALANCHE find that they still have a great deal to fight for.
Chapter Three
Yuffie could hardly hide her relief when she finally crawled onto the shore near Midgar. She just lay there for a few minutes, waiting for her nausea to subside, and then rolled over onto her back, squinting up at Cid and Tifa. The dark-haired woman looked down at her sympathetically.
"You'll be all right in a few minutes, Yuffie."
Tifa's eyes focused on the broken city of Midgar. In the same breath she felt seething, burning hatred for the place, and a heart-breaking sorrow. It had been her home for so long that to see it destroyed was a physical blow for her. Her lips tightened as her back twinged resentfully.
Shera ran her fingertips lightly across her neatly tied hair. Wisps had come loose on the way from the north continent, brushing her cheeks and nose softly and tickling her in the breeze. She looked at the rag-tag group they made on the beach, and smiled. She was so glad that Cid had come back alive. She'd been so afraid of losing him. She smiled at the captain's back, a warm glow spreading through her. He was far too stubborn to just lie down and die, anyway.
"Shall we go? Marlene's waiting."
Yuffie rolled to her feet and gave the mechanic a weak sort of smile and a thumbs up. She still looked like she was about to toss her cookies all over their shoes. But when Yuffie said she was good to go, she was generally good to go, even if she was roughly the same colour as the feathers on a green Chocobo.
It only took them about an hour to reach the outskirts of Midgar. It looked much worse up close, and it stank of smoke and poison and old death. Red wrinkled his nose as he prowled the slums, glancing back and forth as though worried by shadows. Yuffie sort of understood how he felt. She ruffled his mane gently and grinned when he scowled at her, as much as giant lion-dog-things could scowl. Red seemed to manage quite admirably.
Barret seemed to feel more at home in the slums. He wasn't quite as unsteady as he had been outside the city, on unfamiliar ground. Here, it was as though he knew the earth beneath his feet well enough to find his way home, drunk, dazed and blindfolded. Under the circumstances, it was just as well. The slums looked as though they had been tipped upside down and shaken. Barret and Shera headed the group's trek to Sector 5, though how they could find their way through the mess was beyond Yuffie. Tifa, too, seemed at the same time happy and annoyed to be back in the slums. Yuffie could understand that as well – in the same breath, she both loved and loathed Wutai. Although, to be fair, she only really hated the changes that her father had wrought in the name of modernisation and accommodating the Shinra, hated that the town had lost so much, and loved what little remained of it. She sighed softly and kicked out at a twisted clump of metal in annoyance. She didn't want to think about what her father would have to say about this.
Losing her voice would be a great battle wound. Something her people would honour her living through. But she could never be a great leader without a voice. It just wasn't possible. And even if she had someone to speak for her... it just wouldn't work. The words could be written down, but never spoken the way she would speak them. There would be no real meaning in words read out by someone else. She observed the seemingly empty slums with a glum expression.
It came as a great relief to all of them when they emerged into the cleaner air of Elmyra's property on the outskirts of Sector 5. Barret paused for a moment to gulp in a lungful of pure, clean air and then made a beeline for the front door, shouting for his daughter. There was a commotion and the sound of thudding feet on the stairs and then the door was thrown wide. Reeve made a small sound of surprise at Barret's scarred face and got hastily out of his way. "Uh! Come on in, I mean, uh…" The sound of the Shinra executive's voice made Barret scowl darkly, but he managed to restrain himself.
"Where's Marlene?" He demanded. Reeve gulped.
"She's upstairs, having a rest." He mumbled. Barret stormed inside, brushing pieces of furniture aside as though they were made of balsa wood. Reeve peered out at the rest of AVALANCHE, who were regarding him with slightly distasteful expressions and Shera, who was smiling slightly. One hand was clamped tightly onto Cid's forearm. Reeve cleared his throat. "Ah… come inside, why doncha?" He said rather nervously. Then he steeled himself. "Marlene's upstairs and she has something she needs to tell you all."
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Five minutes later they were all crammed into the bedroom that had once been Aeris'. Tifa was squeezed next to Marlene on the bed with Barret taking up most of the rest of it. The little girl seemed pale and vague but she had recognised her papa at once and lifted her hands up to him in greeting. Barret pulled her into his lap and held her tightly for a while, then let her lie back on the bed. Tifa's eyes widened and she held Marlene's tiny hand and her breath. Barret couldn't see her eyes, but Tifa sure as hell could.
They had shifted subtly to a bright green. Marlene had never once in her life had green eyes – they'd always been a warm, gorgeous cinnamon brown. Now they were a cool, soothing green as though the Lifestream had washed into her skull through her ears. She heard the rustle of worry and discontent sweep around the room as Marlene sat up calmly.
"Hi everyone. I don't have much time, so I need to explain this to you quickly. Questions can wait."
The little girl's voice did not match the words and Barret stiffened immediately, his fist clenching in his lap. Marlene settled herself comfortably with both hands resting demurely in her lap.
"First of all, the Planet is still in danger. Holy took care of Meteor, but since Jenova was enveloped by the Lifestream when it erupted, she merged with it and is now in the process of taking over the Planet's functions through the Lifestream." Marlene's voice was quick and breathy, as though she was trying to get as much out as possible in a set time limit. "Jenova did not infect you when the Lifestream pushed you out of the Crater because she hadn't merged with the Lifestream at that time. But you'll need to get Marlene to the City of the Ancients as fast as you can because she might have a chance of activating the Cetra's secret weapon against Jenova."
Barret's jaw had slackened and his face had paled. "How are you doing this? Who are you?"
Marlene's face smiled sympathetically and she touched a hand to his shoulder. "Barret, it's me – it's Aeris. Do you remember when Dyne said that he could hear Eleanor? Remember? It was because Eleanor was an Ancient, too. I can speak through Marlene like this because of that."
Tifa's breath caught in her throat. She twisted too quickly and let out a gasp of pain, tears stinging her eyes, but she couldn't keep silent. "Aeris! Aeris, what about Cloud? What happened to Cloud?" Her voice tore at her throat. Those calm green eyes turned to her slowly.
"Cloud… Cloud is…" Marlene's body took a shaky breath. "Cloud isn't here with me. He can't rest because Jenova will not allow it. He isn't here." Tifa let out a low sound of despair and sagged against the bed head.
"No…"
From the corner of the room, Vincent looked up from his claw. "Aeris… how are we supposed to defeat Jenova now? We are at a grave disadvantage."
Marlene nodded once sadly. "More than you know. The Planet can no longer support the use of materia. Humans can no longer use them. But Jenova doesn't want their power to fade. She wants to take back the power of the materia and use it to obliterate this planet and the work of the Cetra." Marlene's high, girlish voice shook with barely suppressed rage. "Her most powerful child has been unleashed upon the world to collect materia and it will stop at nothing to serve her will."
Marlene's eyes widened suddenly and brown overtook the green. She fell back into the pillow as Tifa exclaimed, "Aeris!" and Barret immediately countered with "Marlene!"
Yuffie's eyes had widened and she exhaled in a sharp rush of air, clutching at her throat as though willing words to come out. Vincent's eyes flicked to her at once but only Reeve seemed to understand the source of her concern.
"Ah… Yuffie, I should have… should've told you earlier." He mumbled. "I got reports… that monster she's talking about… it took out Wutai early yesterday morning. No survivors. I'm sorry…"
Yuffie didn't seem to be hearing him any more. She had gone dreadfully still, all colour draining slowly from her face as though the life had gone from her. She raised both hands to cover her face and collapsed suddenly to her knees, shaking convulsively. She was making a disturbing hissing sound. Tifa stared at her blankly trying to work out what it was until part of her mind finally registered that this was what screaming was like without sound.
Reeve shifted uncomfortably as Cid glared at him, but there had been no better way to say it and they all knew that. There was no point in trying to comfort the ninja, either – nothing they could do or say would help anyone. Still, Shera knelt beside the girl and put one hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
Yuffie had stopped screaming by this point and was staring blankly into the distance, her hands having fallen from her face to clutch at the neck of her green shirt. She took several deep breaths and a change was wrought in her. Her eyes practically flamed with wrath despite the tears still coursing down her cheeks and her mouth was tugged savagely downward in a grimace they all knew too well as a very bad sign. She brushed Shera away impatiently, her breathing still harsh, and took a small dagger from her belt. Vincent made a small sound of protest and darted forward to snatch it from her hand. "No!"
She fended him off easily and glared at him, eyes brimming with tears not yet shed. Vincent seemed to slow suddenly mid-step. He sank quietly to kneel next to her, frowning at her intently. "What are you…?"
Yuffie calmly held out the knife and savagely carved a series of symbols into the wooden floor. Vincent's lips moved and his brows dipped to become briefly visible before retreating to their hiding place behind his bandanna. Yuffie sheathed her knife calmly and stood, fists clenched at her sides. Tifa stared at the markings intently and deciphering no meaning turned to Vincent.
"What did she…?"
Vincent's eyes were serious. "'I'll kill Jenova and all the garbage she's given birth to'," he translated. "'I will go alone if I must'." His mouth curved into what looked suspiciously like a smile then. "Ch'. Of course you won't."
Yuffie nodded, satisfied, but her grey eyes were still like molten metal. Tifa got to her feet carefully and stared around the room determinedly. "Well I'm going." She said firmly. "There's no way that anything could stop me. I won't rest until Cloud does!" She slammed her fist into the opposite palm with a loud smacking sound and her eyes narrowed as her back twinged in complaint.
Barret made a sound of distaste. "That monster's gonna destroy the work of the Cetra, so it's gonna try t' hurt my baby, too. There ain't a thing on this Planet or offa it that could stop me from goin'!"
Red glanced about with his golden eye and said, "I'm not going to let anything hurt Cosmo Canyon." His voice was slow and deliberate. Cid nodded suddenly.
"Damn straight. That #$% thinks she can come and destroy everything, she's got another thing comin' – and that's the Venus Gospel, right where no one wants it!" He declared harshly, punching the air victoriously. Shera nodded, eyes sad but determined.
"I'll do what I can." She whispered.
Reeve nodded in apparent satisfaction and gave a slight cough. "Right, so, shall we let Miss Marlene get some rest? I'd say we need a plan of action."
They filed slowly from the room, leaving Barret on the end of the bed. He sat for a moment, then leaned over to kiss his sleeping daughter's forehead and retreated, turning off the light and closing the door silently behind him.
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"We have to get to the City of the Ancients with Marlene as soon as possible." Reeve said plainly. "But we also have to try and keep Jenova and that monster away from her until we have an advantage."
"So what do we do?" Tifa wondered aloud. "Just head north? And how are we supposed to distract the monster?"
"I've been thinking about that." Reeve said with a slight grin. "Since it hunts materia, the only thing to do is to gather all the materia we can into the one area and try to hurt it badly when it gets there."
Cid nodded approvingly. "Good idea. But you can't use mako-powered weapons any more, so what are you going to do?"
Reeve smiled darkly. "Funny thing is, weapons were a lot more nastily destructive before we discovered mako and put it to use. We've got more than a few old relics sitting around that I'm sure will be very useful in this case."
Cid nodded thoughtfully, eyes narrowing. "If Jenova knows about Marlene, she knows it'll be best for us to take a direct route. So we should probably go cross-country and then head north."
"All right." Reeve agreed, unrolling a map that he had, for reasons best known to himself, stowed in his jacket pocket. "So head south first to Junon then skedaddle over to Costa del Sol and then north from there?"
"Sounds about right." Cid agreed.
Tifa made a slight motion with her hands and gave the pair an exasperated look. "I think you're forgetting about the timeframe we have, here. I say we go east to the Chocobo Ranch and cast off from the north shore. If we really need to, we could go as far as Round Island."
Cid pshawed. "Let's just go to that little stretch north of Kalm and island hop, then." This was met with approval from Reeve and Tifa. "But let's island hop west for a while on Chocobos. Then we'll double back. Shera can meet us in the Tiny Bronco east of Corel and we'll go from there."
"Done." Reeve replied, pleased. "And that means I'll have to keep the materia as far away from you as possible. Which leaves me with…" He puzzled over his map for a few moments, muttering under his breath. Yuffie flung herself across the table and tapped a spot on the map pointedly – Wutai. Reeve grimaced. "Yuffie, you don't want me to do that…"
Yuffie gave him a look and brandished a sheet of paper at him. She scribbled down a whole bunch of characters, and then delivered the thing to Vincent. The red caped man stared for a few minutes, leaned back in his chair and frowned at the paper for a little while. Then he said, "She says that there's no point destroying anywhere else and that because of the tourism there'll be a lot of unused transport, so you can get as much materia there as possible in the shortest amount of time." He gave Yuffie a brief look of exasperation and said, "And she wants you to make the dancing ninja figurines burn. Buuuuuurn." This he somehow managed to say with a completely straight face.
Yuffie made expansive motions with her hands. And held one finger in the air. With a long, eerie whistle, she brought her finger to the tabletop, and then imitated a large explosion. Reeve couldn't help but chuckle.
"Right, well. Ninja figurines – napalm. Gotcha." He made pretence of scribbling it down for consideration. Yuffie gave him an overly cheerful thumbs-up and slid back into her seat.
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A/N: Next chapter, the team gets a move on. I drew a map in Paint the other day of where they were headed – it's a doozy. Please review.