Chapter 50: Everybody's Fool

Look here she comes now

Bow down and stare in wonder

Oh how we love you

No flaws when you're pretending

But now I know she

Never was and never will be

You don't know how you've betrayed me

And somehow now you've got everybody fooled

Everybody's Fool – Evanescence

Three weeks passed peacefully and Saturday arrived. The day came for Aeris to have the cast removed from her legs and as she left the office in the hospital she couldn't help smiling at Tifa, who had accompanied her.

"It feels so weird!"

"Well, it's bound to! Come on." Aeris followed her and then paused.

"Tifa, where…?" Then she realised and shook her head.

Tifa stopped and faced her in the corridor.

"Aeris… I'm not asking you to go and see him. Let's just go and look through the window. I'm not going to force you to speak to him."

"Tifa, I can't…" Aeris said, her voice breaking.

"Aeris… do you want to live the rest of your life in fear of him? Fear that he might come back? Don't you want to prove to yourself that you can do this, that you can look at him and not have to run away?"

Aeris licked her dry lips. Tifa reached out and took her friend's hand.

"I'll be right here. And we can go straight away, if you want. But you need to do this."

Ten minutes later they were walking towards the room where Eric Gainsborough was. With every step, Aeris felt less sure about her decision. Her leg was aching, not used to being walked on. Tifa stopped outside a window.

"I think… this is it." She looked at Aeris. Aeris closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped forward, looking through the pane of glass.

In the bed lay her father. His face was… unrecognisable. He had beaten to within an inch of death and looked as if that inch was barely worth hanging onto. His body was hidden beneath sheets but his face was black and blue and red. His lip was split, there were stitches going up one side of his face and both his eyes were swollen. A nurse was talking to him but he didn't appear to be listening. The nurse caught sight of the two girls and spoke to Eric. Slowly he turned his head, looking as if every movement was agony, and looked through the window. His eyes widened. Aeris swallowed hard, her hand on the glass. Eric carried on watching her until it became too painful for Aeris. She shook her head sadly and stepped away from the window.

When they arrived at the café, Aeris excused herself to go to the bathroom. Tifa sat down with the others.

"She went to see him." She said. She didn't need to explain herself further. Vincent frowned.

"How was…?"

"He's bad. God, you wouldn't even be able to recognise him." Tifa said, shaking her head in disbelief at what she had witnessed. Yuffie looked at Reeve, who had returned to the previous day.

"Do you think I should go and see if she's OK?"

"No… I will." Cloud said, standing. Tifa frowned.

"Cloud, it's a women's bathroom."

"There's no other customers."

"Maybe I should…" Tifa said. Vincent shook his head.

"No. Cloud should go. He's known her longest."

Cloud pushed open the door to the women's bathroom and raised his eyebrows.

"Nice…"

"Cloud? What are you doing in here?" Aeris said, looking up from a couch at the other end of the bathroom. Cloud gaped.

"You guys get a couch? No fair!"

Aeris smiled. Cloud joined her on the couch and said,

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah… it was so weird. Seeing him there? It was like I didn't even know him." Cloud put an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, don't worry about it. They wouldn't have moved him unless he was gonna be OK, right?"

"I guess. I don't know what to think, truthfully."

"Then don't bother and come and drink some coffee, OK?"

"Sounds good to me." Aeris laughed.

They sat in the café for a good four hours before they realised that they actually had things to do. Cloud wanted to go and work on his Media project. Tifa was working. Yuffie had One-on-One and Reeve still had to unpack. Aeris and Vincent were going back to the flat. They said goodbye to each other and set off on their different paths.

Yuffie whistled happily as she walked towards the Music Building. Music was going well and she felt happy to have seen Reeve again. She walked up the steps to the building and then paused. Someone was standing down the path, watching her. She couldn't see who it was but pushed the door to the building, hurrying inside.

Tifa wiped the surfaces of the café with a damp cloth and looked up as someone entered. It was a man, wearing a dark suit. His hair was slicked back over his skull and he looked irritable. He looked at her tersely and she hurried behind the counter.

"What can I get you?" She asked pleasantly.

"Black coffee, one sugar. To go." He said, looking pointedly at his watch. Tifa poured the coffee into a cup and stirred in a sugar. The man held out a note and then paused. Tifa followed his eye line and caught him looking at the nametag on her shirt. She went to the till, counted hi change and handed it to him, snapping a lid onto the cup.

"Thanks for coming." She said cheerfully. He eyed her carefully, nodded and then left.

Tifa watched him leave without a word. Barret looked around the door to the kitchen.

"Who was that?"

"Don't know…" She murmured.

Reeve walked towards the Shinra building, looking over a piece of paper that Yuffie had given him. It was a newspaper article she thought he might find interesting and he was already fascinated. He walked up the steps and bumped into somebody.

"Sorry." He said, looking up. The man pushed past without another word. Reeve didn't pay it a second thought but carried on into the building.

Aeris looked around the apartment.

"You can tell Cloud's been here." She said. Vincent looked around. Everything looked the same to him.

"You can?"

"Yes! He de-alphabetised the CD's!" She said, shaking her head at the CD rack. Vincent smiled and wheeled himself over to her.

"Aeris… this is the first chance we've had to be alone in the apartment. Do you really want to sort CD's?"

"Kinda… he really messed them up." She said. Vincent looked at her incredulously and she smiled.

"OK."

They sat on the sofa in each other's arms, neither one speaking. Eventually Aeris said,

"Does it hurt? Your injuries, I mean."

"Not so much when you're here. You distract me." He said, kissing her. She closed her eyes, leaning on his chest, being careful of his back.

"This is nice…" She murmured. Vincent made an agreeing noise, his arm wrapped protectively around her.

It was several hours later when the phone rang. Aeris, who had been making coffee while Vincent watched the news, answered.

"Hello?"

"Aeris, it's me."

"Hey Tifa, what's up?"

"Have you seen Cloud?"

"Not since we were at the café. Why?"

"Because Reeve just called me. Cloud was due for an appointment with Cid Highwind but he never showed up." Tifa said.

"But… he went straight there after we said goodbye."

"That's the thing, he never went there. At least, he never got there. We called the hospital but he hasn't been taken in. I can't find him anywhere."

Aeris was about to answer but her mobile phone rang. Vincent took the phone from her and she answered the mobile as Tifa explained the situation to Vincent.

"Hello?" She said.

"Is that Aeris Gainsborough?" said a smooth voice. Aeris replied,

"Yes. Who is this?"

"You know who I am."

"I don't think so." She replied, turning down the volume on the television.

"Oh, I think so. Tell me, how is dear Eric Gainsborough?"

Aeris froze.

"…Palmer."

"Good. Now, you're going to listen very carefully to me. You know who I am. And you know why I'm calling you."

"Money."

"Exactly. But I didn't think you'd be particularly inclined to pay."

"You've got that right." Aeris muttered.

"I thought so. So I've got a bit of a bargaining chip here."

"I'm hanging up." Aeris said, her heart racing.

"I think Mr Strife would be very disappointed if you did that."

Aeris felt sick. She started to tremble, without her noticing.

"I think you should tell Mr Valentine to hang up the telephone to Miss Tifa Lockheart. Do it now." Aeris licked her lips and turned to Vincent.

"Vincent… hang up the phone." He looked at her confused. "Just do it, Vincent."

"Tifa, I'll call you back." He said, and then put the phone back onto the cradle.

"Good, Aeris. Now, I'm only going to say this once. I want you to go to the bank. I want you to withdraw 500,000 Gil, in cash, and put it into a plain bag. Then you will come to the corner of Millar Street. There be someone waiting. You put down the bag and then you walk away. If you do this, Mr Strife will be safe and will be returned within 24 hours. The delivery will be made at 12 tomorrow."

"Let me talk to Cloud." Palmer laughed.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that. It's been a pleasure, Aeris."

"Wait-!"

But could hear was a dial tone.

"Aeris, what's going on?"

"That was Palmer. He's got Cloud." Aeris whispered. Vincent seized the phone.

"We're calling the police."

"No! No, Vincent, he's watching us!" Vincent stared at her. "At least, I think he is. He knew you were on the phone to Tifa."

"We have to tell someone. What does he want?"

"Money. 500,000 Gil, in cash."

Vincent ran a hand through his hair and then said,

"We're going to see Barret."

Barret wasn't having a particularly good day. His daughter had been making frantic phone calls in hope of tracking down her missing boyfriend, his coffeemaker had broken and he'd burned all the fresh pastries. So he was understandably miffed when Aeris and Vincent burst in, shouting about god-knows-what.

"Hey! Sit down and speak English." He ordered. Aeris took a deep breath and explained slowly, still trembling slightly. Tifa promptly burst into tears.

Barret scratched his head.

"We have to call the police."

"We can't. Palmer will know." Vincent said. Just then, Aeris' phone rang again. She jumped and answered.

"Yes?"

"Hello again, Aeris. Just thought I should tell you something. I have people watching you and your friends. Yes, I know you're in Barret's Café. Please tell Mr Wallace that while he makes a fine cup of coffee, that won't stop me killing him, Mr Valentine and Miss Lockheart in a moments notice if you should call the police. Oh, not to mention Mr Reeve Woodman and Miss Yuffie Kisaragi. I have men stationed near their current locations, should you try and caution them. So why don't you just be a good girl and visit the bank."

"Why are you doing this?" Aeris whispered.

"Money is owed, and I don't care for debtors. I'll be in touch."

Aeris hung up slowly and looked around.

"He's… he's watching us right now. He's got people waiting, here and near Yuffie and Reeve."

"I can't believe this. What can we do?" Tifa wept. Barret's eyes were narrowed.

"We're going to do as he says. We're not endangering anyone, just yet. Aeris, you and Tifa go to the bank. Vincent, you stay here. You're in no state to go wandering around Midgar." Tifa nodded and took off her apron. She and Aeris left straight away. Barret looked at Vincent.

"I need to make a call."

"If he's tapping into the phone lines…"

"I hope he is. If my plan is going to work, he needs to hear what I'm going to say." Barret said, moving towards the telephone.

(A/N: OK, finally something is happening! LOL, I came in from school, sat down and just tapped this off in one sitting. I have no life! Never mind. Because do you know what this chapter is? This is the big Five-Oh. That's right, people, 50 chapters! This is my longest story and one of the ones I am most proud of. So thanks for the support. I mean. You guys rock.)