Two: Confirmation
December 13; 3:04 am
Tifa sighed wistfully as she ended her conversation with Lord Godo and hung up the phone. Vincent just finished giving tea to the shaken Cid. He turned to her and gave her a questioning glance. "Well?"
Tifa shook her head as tears fell down from her eyes. "They did a search for her body… and they concluded that her body was shredded apart by the turbine of the ship… Lord Godo can barely speak, but he invited us to attend a ritual in Wutai to properly put her soul to rest…" she explained with a cracking voice.
The three of them fell silent. Nobody really knew what to say at that point… first Barret died, and Yuffie died the next day… it was too much for them to take. Who would have thought of attending 2 funerals in 2 days…?
Or maybe, Cid was thinking, 3 funerals in 3 days. "Fuck this," he muttered, crushing the tea cup in his grasp. "Fuck this. Fuck. Fuck!" he yelled, throwing the tea cup to the ground. The others in the room stared at him as if he were a madman. "Cid! Calm down!" Tifa gasped out in shock.
"Calm down? CALM DOWN? How the fuck do you expect me to calm the shit up! I'm going to fucking DIE tomorrow, and you're expecting me to fucking CALM DOWN!" he yelled. His breathing was getting more rapid by the second.
"Cid… how can you be so sure that—" Vincent began, but Cid interrupted, "Look, pretty boy, you haven't received your call yet, but once Aerith calls on your fucking mobile and leaves you a fucking message in form of that fucking love song, the message is pretty fucking clear, you hear me!"
"Cid—…"
"You shut up!" Cid growled, pushing Vincent away. "Shut the hell up! I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I'm pretty damn sure that Aerith's gonna come prancing here at 11:13 at night and then, you know what's gonna happen? Huh? HUH!" He continued pushing him away, and didn't stop even though Vincent looked pretty bewildered already.
"CID! Listen to yourself!" Tifa exclaimed, stomping her way towards him and stopping him from harassing Vincent any further. "You're accusing Aerith of doing something like that from beyond the grave! In the first place, why would she even do that!"
Another moment of silence. Cid's tensed face gradually relaxed. He emitted a long-suffering sigh. "Yeah… you're right, Teef…." He sighed again and collapsed on a couch. "I'm not making any goddamn sense… I'm going crazy…" he muttered more to himself than to them.
"No, Cid… I guess… all these deaths are just going to our heads and making us crazy…" said Tifa, sitting down next to him.
"Yes… we're just tired… and slightly disturbed," added Vincent as he straightened out his outfit before sitting down on a lounge chair opposite them. "I think we all need some rest…"
Tifa nodded. "Yeah… we have to rest if we want to go to Wutai later on when the sun rises…"
Cid suddenly shook his head. "No… I'm not going to Wutai," he said.
"What? Why not?" Tifa asked, frowning. "It's for Yuffie…"
"No… I think I'll go to Rocket Town…" Cid muttered again to himself as he stood up. "Yeah… Have to get to Rocket Town... have to see Shera…" he mumbled, and without further explanation, he sped upstairs.
Tifa followed him with her gaze, her mouth agape. She turned to Vincent in confusion.
Vincent shrugged. "Let him be… he took all of this worse than we did… and it's 3 in the morning. Maybe we'll all be less troubled by sunrise," he answered as he stood up and began walking to his room.
Tifa found herself all alone in the living room. She looked left and right first just to make sure that she is alone before she cried all-out for Yuffie—another close friend lost.
oOoOo
Just before the sun rose, Cid scribbled a note and left it at the bar, and then taking a few stuff with him, left Sector 7. He calculated his itinerary in his mind; he has to take public transportation towards Junon, and then take a boat to Costa del Sol, and then maybe take a train to Nibelheim, and then take a car to Rocket Town—
It's going to be hard traveling without reservations… but he has a lot of money. It's going to take a long time though… If he's lucky, he'll make it to Rocket Town by evening.
oOoOo
"Tifa…"
Tifa slowly opened her eyes and with a blurry vision, stared up at the person who was looking down at her. She gasped and fell off the couch because she thought she had seen Aerith staring down at her with a sweet smile on her face… but when her vision finally cleared, she realized that it was only Marlene. "M…Marlene! You… you gave me a fright!" she said, clutching her upper left chest and feeling her heart thumping hard. Marlene blinked curiously. "Why are you sleeping on the couch, Tifa?" she asked.
Tifa just shrugged. "Well… I don't know… I must've sleepwalked or something…" she replied as she got up and dusted herself and then took a quick glance at the time on the wall clock. She felt her knees get weak. "Oh no… Where are Vincent and Cid?" she asked Marlene before rushing to the bar. It was already 2 in the afternoon… and they were supposed to go to Wutai.
Vincent was in the bar reading a tabloid newspaper that was a day old. "You're awake." He pointed out.
She stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry… I overslept. I was so tired I…" she began in panic, but Vincent just nodded. "I understand. You fell asleep in the living room at around 4 in the morning, I guess." He replied.
"How did you know?" she asked as she walked to the refrigerator with a strange look on her face.
"I couldn't hear you sobbing when it was already past 4." He answered.
"Sobbing? Why? Were you crying, Tifa?" Marlene asked curiously as she sat down beside Vincent.
Tifa got herself a glass of water and looked at her reflection on the glass. Her eyes still looked puffy from crying, but she doesn't want to talk about it anymore. "So, you've had your breakfast and lunch already, Marlene? What about Denzel, did you feed him too?" she asked.
"Uncle Vincent cooked breakfast and lunch for me and Denzel." Marlene said proudly.
Tifa took a quick gulp of water before turning to Vincent. "Thanks, Vincent." She replied.
Vincent just bowed down his head, staring at the tabloid that he was holding before turning back to Tifa. "I… was thinking last night, Tifa… I…" he began hesitantly.
"What is it?" she asked before finishing the contents of her glass.
"If you don't have a mobile phone, is there a chance that you can die too?" he asked.
Silence.
Marlene blinked. "What's going on?" she asked.
Tifa turned to Marlene, realizing that she was still there. "It's… nothing, Marlene. Just an urban legend." She replied before approaching her, "Why don't you go upstairs and check on Denzel for a while?" she asked.
Marlene smiled happily and nodded before running upstairs, leaving Vincent and Tifa in the bar with disturbed looks on their faces.
"Do you have the intention to tell Marlene about Yuffie's death?" Vincent asked softly.
Tifa bowed down her head and shuddered. "I'm… not… ready to tell her as of now…" she replied with a voice that seemed to falter as she saw the note that Cid had left for her and began reading it.
Vincent turned back to the tabloid and then motioned for her to come closer. "Take a look at this." He told her. She swallowed hard and frowned slightly before approaching him and looked at what he had been reading. "Two Turks Dead on Consecutive Days." She read out loud.
Silence.
"It's Reno and Elena. First it's Reno, then it's Elena. Reno fell into an open manhole and cracked his skull. The next day, Elena… uhm… well, nobody is sure whether she jumped off or fell outside the window of the President's room in the Healin Lodge. But the President was the only witness to her death. Also, Materia had been found in their mouths when they died." He explained.
Tifa was just quiet, mortifyingly reading the news article.
"I was just thinking… these two had mobile phones; Barret had a mobile phone; Cid and Yuffie both have mobile phones. You think only those with mobile phones can become victims to this madness we're experiencing now?" he asked.
She just turned away from the newspaper with a frustrated look on her face, "I don't wanna think about it right now. I'm just… too tired and I want to rest and forget about these problems we're all having right now." She told him.
"Tifa, we have to do something if we want to survive." Vincent told her.
"Look, I'm worried about Cid, alright? As far as I'm concerned, I wanted him to stay here with us so that… maybe we could protect him tonight and prevent him from suffering the same fate that Barret, Yuffie, Elena and Reno had experienced!" she told him.
"So you believe that mobile phones have something to do with these deaths?" Vincent asked.
"I don't want to believe in it, but something's making me because it's all happening around me!" Tifa replied with a confused look on her face before covering her face with her hands and she just started to cry. "I'm… I'm so confused, Vincent! I don't know what to do! I mean, who would even think of doing such things! Why is everyone just… dying for no reason at all? Are we being punished for something that we have failed to do?" she wailed.
Vincent could feel the hysteria that was forming in Tifa's emotions, but he just sat still, staring at the pictures of Reno and Elena on the tabloid. He could tell that she was afraid… afraid to die… afraid of suffering the same fate as Barret's and the others who have died already. But then again…
He looked up at her from where he was seated and said, "Do you even have a mobile phone?" he asked.
She turned away from him and wiped her tears away with a bitter look on her face. "Yes but the line got deactivated because I ran out of prepaid and wasn't able to load for two straight months. It's just in my room now. I don't use it anymore." She told him.
"You mean if I call your number, I'll just get an error?" he asked.
"Yeah. That's why I just contact Cloud through landline." She replied before pouring herself another glass of water to help ease herself up.
Vincent turned to the clock and then back to the tabloid again. "Looks like we'll have to wait for tonight… the only way that we can confirm our thoughts about this matter is when Cid…" he stopped himself. He didn't want to be morbid in front of Tifa anymore because he could tell that she has had enough… and he isn't really that mean to make her suffer further. "We'll stay up late and call Cid tonight, alright?" he just decided.
Tifa just nodded slightly, feeling so dazed as she went to the phone and picked up the receiver, dialing Cloud's mobile phone number and then waiting for him to answer.
"Can't pick up. Leave your message." She heard his recorded voice followed by a beep.
She was quiet for a while before speaking up with an annoyed tone, "Busy. You're always busy. I don't know what you're doing but I hope that you're aware that Yuffie is dead!" and hung up.
Vincent was surprised at her sudden actions. "Tifa, calm down!" he told her.
She did not answer. Then they both turned to the doorway leading to the stairs when they noticed that Marlene was coming. Tifa just sniffed and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall with a casual look on her face.
Marlene was smiling happily at them. "Denzel is okay but he's hungry." She told them.
Tifa smiled kindly at her. "Well then, I'll cook something for him. What do you think he'd like to have?" she asked before going to the refrigerator.
oOoOo
11:00pm…
Cid sat restlessly on the sofa in the living room area of his house in Rocket Town. He had arrived in Rocket town three hours earlier after a long tiresome trip from Midgar, but he still did not feel tired… not when he's too restless about the time.
He kept glancing at his mobile phone that was just resting on the coffee table facing the sofa where he was seated while watching the news on TV.
Shera was there when he arrived, washing the dishes that she used for dinner, and he was so happy to see her. They talked for a while and he just focused all of his attention on her. Shera wondered why he suddenly seemed to be so concerned about her; asking if she was fine or if she needs anything else. But she was already tired by 10 so he accompanied her to her room and even tucked her in like she was a child, and she felt ridiculous by this kind of action from him. He waited until she drifted off to sleep, watching her with a bitter smile on his face like he wanted to cry or something. He gently touched her cheek, caressing it carefully and gave her a soft kiss on her lips before leaving the room at around 10:45 and proceeded downstairs.
The next time he looked at the clock, he found that it was still 11:00pm… and he was beginning to get nervous by the moment. "Is this clock ruined or what?" he thought before turning back to the TV again. He got the remote control to start surfing for other channels, but once he did, the other channels turned into static. "Damn reception…" he muttered as he continued to look for channels. But there was none. He even flipped back to the news channel but it was also gone. "What the…" he began. Then his mobile phone made a sound. His message alert tone. He froze. He turned to the clock. It still read 11:00pm. With a trembling hand, he reached for his mobile phone and flipped the screen over.
Multimedia Message Received.
He frowned slightly and saw the time on his mobile phone's screen: 11:12.
With his eyes wide in anticipation, he clicked on "read" to view his MMS…
To his surprise, it was a video recording. He heard the same song… from the brown haired woman wearing pink on the screen, moving towards him with a heavenly look on her face. "On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true…"
He turned back to the wall clock. He realized that it had stopped working.
Aerith seemed to come closer to him from the screen, but he threw his mobile phone away towards the wall. But it was still working. He could still hear the singing. He backed away but he stopped when he felt someone hold his hand. "Where are you going? The song is not yet over!" he heard someone say.
He felt his hairs rising as he turned to his side to see who was holding his hand. He had expected to see Aerith… but no. It wasn't her.
It was Yuffie. She looked decapitated and all bloody. She grinned horridly at him. And from behind her, Aerith rose up to his view. "Just like me, they long to be close to you…"
Cid screamed.
oOoOo
"Anything?" Tifa asked nervously as she remained seated on the living room sofa, her hands becoming fidgety as she watched Vincent trying to contact Cid's mobile phone with the cordless landline.
Vincent shook his head with a deep frown on his face as he listened to the computer operated voice: "The number you have dialed does not exist."
Silence.
Tifa heard it too.
She turned to the clock. It read 11:12. She got up and snatched the phone from Vincent's grasp and redialed the number. She got the same response.
Then someone started knocking on the door, surprising them…
oOoOo
Rude wheeled the President back to his room from the Doctor's clinic. It was a late-night check-up and Rufus was really tired. He just wanted to sleep.
As soon as they arrived in his room, Rude helped him climb on his bed. It sure felt different without Reno and Elena around. Rude had been too withdrawn and much too quiet than before. As soon as Rufus was settled on his bed, they heard a mobile phone ringing.
It was the same ringing tone that they heard from Reno's mobile phone.
Rufus checked his. It was just on his bedside table and it wasn't ringing.
He heard Rude mumble, "Oh no…" and reached for his own mobile phone to check.
Rufus felt goosebumps all over his body when he realized that it was Rude's mobile phone, but he was frowning. "Answer it." He told him.
Rude was hesitant for a while before deciding to answer it in loud speaker mode.
"Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you…"
Rude hung up.
Silence.
"I don't wanna know…" Rude mumbled as he shook his head, handing the mobile phone to Rufus. Rufus took it with a deep frown on his face as he was the one who checked on the time of call. "00:00. December 15." He read it silently.
Midnight.
"It's only December 14…" he thought before looking up at the bald Turk who had a very stiff look on his face. Rufus wondered if he was afraid, but his face seemed emotionless just like him. Maybe behind those glasses, the truth about his emotions can be seen, but unfortunately, Rufus cannot see through them.
Without thinking things over, he reached for his own mobile phone and began to dial…
oOoOo
Vincent opened the front door and saw Cloud Strife.
"Oh. You." Tifa just said plainly.
Cloud stepped inside. "I… just received your voice message and so I rushed here immediately… where's Yuffie?" he asked with an unsure look on his face.
"You're too late. She's dead." She told him haughtily.
Vincent went to her and gave her a slight push towards the bar area. "Tifa, just go there for a while. You're stressed. I'll handle this." He told her. Tifa obeyed. She didn't want to start yelling at anyone again.
"What's going on?" Cloud asked.
"We… don't know, actually. But… Tifa and I had been trying to investigate the deaths." Vincent told him.
Cloud shrugged with a deep frown on his face. "Need help or anything?" he asked.
Vincent was just quiet for a while before saying, "I think you should just stay out of this." He told him.
Cloud was surprised by his answer. "What?" he asked.
Vincent turned away and got the cordless phone once more. "So far… you haven't received any strange calls?" he asked.
"What strange calls?" Cloud asked.
"Apparently, an old friend keeps calling us one by one… don't know why, but maybe she wants all of us to join her eventually wherever she is?" he asked.
"…what are you talking about?" Cloud asked, taking a step forward to him.
Vincent turned around to face him with a serious look on his face. "Aerith."
Cloud was taken aback by what he had just heard. He felt so speechless and his eyes widened in surprise.
Vincent stared seriously into his blue eyes. "Whoever accepts her call dies a day later." He told him.
Cloud frowned at him. "You're desecrating her memory." He sneered before turning away and then walking out of the house, slamming the door on his way out.
Tifa stepped back inside the living room area with a worried look on her face.
Vincent sighed heavily. "Don't ask." He muttered before redialing.
Tifa just stood still by the doorway, staring at Vincent in fear. Cloud didn't want to believe them so who can help them now?
Vincent still got the same response so he gave up and approached Tifa, handing the cordless phone to her. "We have a different time zone from Rocket Town, right?" Tifa asked softly, realizing only at that moment.
Silence.
Vincent wanted to punch himself when he realized that too. "Shit…" he mumbled.
Tifa was surprised upon hearing him cuss like that… but what else can they do?
She just shuddered and clutched the phone tightly. "I guess… we really have to calm down so that we can think clearly…" she said softly.
And the phone rang, surprising them both. They were both overwhelmed and so she wasn't able to answer until it was already the 7th ring. "…Hello?"
Silence.
"Hello, I would like to speak to Mister Cloud Strife, please."
Tifa's eyes widened. "Who's… this?" she asked.
"It's Rufus. Rufus ShinRa." The person from the other line replied.
Tifa swallowed hard. "I'm sorry but… Cloud doesn't live here anymore… but I can take a message and call him… or maybe you know his mobile number already? You can reach him there." She explained.
"Really now… but I don't have his mobile number. Could you give it to me?" he asked.
Tifa was quite hesitant, "What do you want with Cloud first?" she asked.
"I have to discuss something with him regarding… the deaths occurring around me nowadays." Rufus pointed out.
Tifa frowned slightly. "Deaths?" she asked.
Rufus was silent for a while before proceeding, "Two of my Turks are dead… and I think the last of them is going to follow… tomorrow at midnight, if my estimation is correct." He said.
Tifa's eyes widened before turning to Vincent with a hopeful look in her eyes as she spoke to Rufus, "Mister President, can I see you?"
"What for?" he asked impatiently.
"It seems that Cloud isn't really interested in this matter that you would like to discuss with him… and I deem we have the same concern." She explained before smiling calmly at Vincent. "And I would like to talk with you about it." She continued.
Rufus was quiet for a while before asking, "May I know who is this?"
Tifa could feel that he had somehow taken interest in her offer…or maybe he's desperate for help, but since Cloud isn't around, she would do… She answered, "Tifa Lockheart."
oOoOo
Rufus ShinRa thought for a while before looking at Rude. "I know it's late, Miss Lockheart, but if you don't mind, I'll send Rude over there right now to fetch you."
"N…no, I don't mind. I guess I'll see you later. Thank you, President ShinRa." She told him.
He cringed. "Just call me Rufus." He corrected, not wanting to hear anybody else call him "President ShinRa" if not "President Rufus".
"Alright… Rufus." She repeated.
Silence.
He wondered if he should hang up already, but she was still on the line. She might have something else to say. But she was just quiet.
"So I'll see you later." He told her as he motioned for Rude to go, assuming he had heard the instructions he said to Tifa. Rude just nodded and left.
oOoOo
Tifa blinked. "Oh… okay." She said before hanging up. She felt somewhat embarrassed.
"Rufus?" Vincent asked.
"Yes." She replied uneasily before she sat down on the couch. "He's looking for Cloud. It looks like he's having the same problem." She told him.
"And so you're going there right now?" he asked.
"Yeah. He asked Rude to fetch me." She replied before she got up again. "And I think the bald guy's going to kick the bucket at next midnight." She told him with a nervous look on her face.
"You're going there right now?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah. I want to get this over with. I don't want anyone else to die..." she replied.
