Chapter 22

"Okay, so, get on with it." Cid pulled up a chair for himself and sat down in front of the stage. Danny and Jim were both perched on the edge of the stage, Danny had his guitar back in his grasp and was strumming it nervously. Jim sat with a slightly nervous look on his face, but he had a smile as well, which made them wonder what he really thought of the whole situation. Danny turned to Jim and shrugged. He looked over to Aeris and Jerad, who were looking at him just as intently. Though he had told Aeris some things about his past, he had not mentioned a thing to Jerad.

"You want me to start from the beginning? Alright…" Danny dared a glance at Tifa, who was not looking at him; she had her head purposefully turned away from both himself and Jim. Though he was sure she was carefully listening to every word.

"That's right." Barrett nodded and moved his stool closer to the front of the stage, seemingly not wanting to miss a word either. Tifa was sitting further behind them and made no attempt to move forward. Aeris and Jerad were to the side of the stage, close enough to hear without difficulty. Danny put down his guitar and cleared his throat.

"Okay… well, it started with the battle of Kalm…" Danny slowly went through the events that had happened since Kalm. He described the trip to Midgcar, and through the old shop owner their discovery of Jim's parents' possible survival. He looked over at Tifa whilst explaining this; her face was a mask of ice. He continued, detailing the slaying of the Guards, their subsequent capture and second near-death experience. Danny went on to explain that Aeris and Jerad had taken them in, and that eventually the Turks had shown up to dispose of them. He told for the first time the story of how he and Jim had been saved by a silver-haired warrior called Sephiroth. The mention of this name induced gasps from all over the room. Danny continued with the journey's details regardless, telling of their trip through the tunnel in the wall, and their emergence in this sector. When he had finished, everybody looked shell-shocked. He looked a little confused and shrugged. "So, that's pretty much it. I guess the Turks will redouble their efforts now we've escaped twice, and they will assume we have a connection with Sephiroth. Our basic plan so far is to get to the ALIEN headquarters… if we somehow accomplish that… we shall probably end our lives causing as much damage as possible. If you're going to report us to the police… we won't stop you."

Cid and Barrett both laughed, causing Danny and Jim to look at each other oddly. The two men continued laughing for quite a while until they calmed down and Barrett waved his hand.

"Turn ya in to them? Never. You're one of us. We got rebel blood flowin' in our veins too, just ain't got as much guts as you. You guys are damn crazy! Damn… Sephiroth!" Barrett shook his head.

"I see…" Danny nodded. "Good. We won't be a burden to you much longer… and we're going to have to call it quits on the band thing… sorry about that."

"Hey man, it's cool. We're gonna have to call it quits on the bar now I guess." Barrett shrugged, not looking very upset about it. Cid lit up a cigarette and leaned back on his stool.

"Had some good times here… but we've gotta follow the path we want now. We gotta have some guts ourselves."

"Well you won't learn anything from THESE TWO!" Tifa yelled, her first words since she had screamed at Danny outside the bar. She still looked on the verge of tears but this time she was facing Danny with a face full of rage. Danny tried to smile at her but could barely find the energy to. He seemed almost exhausted by Tifa's constant outbursts, and was in fact coming to expect them. They didn't have much effect on him anymore.

"Count us in!" Cid grinned, holding his hand out to Danny, who looked a little surprised.

"You wanna come with us too?" He asked, looking at Jim and then at Tifa, who was now staring a hole through Cid.

"No we don't!" She yelled, getting over and smacking Cid's hand away from Danny. "You moron! If these idiots want to go and get themselves killed then they can! But we are not going to do something so stupid!"

"It ain't stupid!" Barrett replied, folding his arms. "Cid's got the right idea. I say we go for it."

"No! No! No!" Tifa growled and slammed her foot down on Cid's. Cid jumped up, grabbing his foot and howling in pain. "I have to listen to you idiots overrule me half the time! Not this time! We're not going off to die!"

"Jeez Tifa!" Cid sat back down, rubbing his foot and glaring at her. "You ain't my mother. If I wanna go off and do my own thing I damn well will. You can stay here if you want! But just 'cause you got problems with this guy for whatever reason, it don't mean we got any problems with him!"

"For whatever reason!? You don't know what he's done to me!"

"I've done nothing to you!" Danny replied, sighing. "You just mistook…"

"Mistook!? I did not mistake anything!" He walked over to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him off the stage so that he was standing right in front of her. He yanked his arm back and tried to look disgruntled, but he felt more embarrassed, why did she always have to make a scene like this? "You told me you'd support me through anything! You told me you understood me! You said you'd protect me if I got in trouble!"

"Yeah, well, that was then… and I was younger… things have changed. Besides, I had no idea you were going to run off like that."

"Sounds like you two were pretty… close." Aeris said, looking at them both with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah, damn Danny, you said you knew her but you didn't say you guys were, y'know, that close." Barrett added.

"We weren't!" Danny protested.

"How can you..?" Tifa looked a little surprised then growled. "Oh, I shouldn't expect anything less from you! As far as you're concerned you don't care for anybody and never have, right?"

"Right." Aeris cut in. Danny looked sideways at her, she smiled sweetly at him. "Remember Danny? No close past relationships."

"That's what he told you, is it?" Tifa asked, her anger a dangerous undertone to a calm voice.

"Yes. He didn't even mention you." Aeris replied with a shrug. She stood up and walked over to Tifa. "Listen… these guys don't really… understand things like we do. How about we go and have a chat, and you can talk with me? I understand how frustrated you're feeling."

Tifa looked at her for a few moments and eventually nodded. "I need someone to talk to. Thank you."

"What don't we understand?" Cid grumbled, stubbing out his cigarette.

"Everything!" Tifa shot back at him. She gave another death glance to Danny, then turned to Jim. "Well Jim, you did disappoint me by following this moron's lead… but… it's still nice to see you. We'll find your family, I'm sure. Come with me, Aeris. We can talk in the staff room for a little while. These idiots will probably drink themselves to sleep eventually anyway!" She turned to the bar and made her way to the door behind it. Aeris looked at Danny and smiled again. He looked confused and somewhat annoyed, but that seemed to make her grin wider.

"See you boys later." She said, before following Tifa to the bar.

"Why did she do that?" He said with a shake of his head.

"Because you mistreat everyone you come across!" Jerad yelled, standing up and shoving Danny. He stumbled back and glared at Jerad. The young man was beginning to push him to his limit. "I can't stand you any more!" Jerad rushed forward, aiming a well-placed punch at Danny's cheek. He fell down to the floor this time, sitting up and holding his face.

"What the hell?" Barrett and Cid were now up off their chairs and looking at each other. Jim leapt off stage and ran towards Jerad.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing Jerad?"

"Jerad!" Aeris's exasperated voice made the young man cringe. He looked back to see Aeris storming towards him. Tifa stood behind the bar, watching with an amused curiosity. "Stop it!"

"No, he deserves-" Before Jerad could finish his sentence he had received a fist to his own face and had been sent sprawling to the floor. Danny was now on his feet. His eyes were wide and he had a scowl on his face not even Jim had seen the likes of before. He almost looked like an animal.

"Danny, no!" Aeris cried, trying to hold him back. "Don't!"

"Ashbe' colashko'fru'telmo' mo'hibe'!" Danny replied, earning completely mystified looks from almost everyone. Aeris's face however had gone white, and she had frozen in her tracks. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Danny and slowly backed away from him.

"W-what?"

"Esko'zabe' !" He yelled and shoved her out the way, aiming another punch at Jerad, but this time getting it blocked. Jerad connected with a swift kick to Danny's chest. The force of the kick propelled Danny to the bar entrance, where he landed and gasped, as if he'd just woken up. Groggily, he sat up and looked around.

"What the…?"

"Danny Whise… we know, now. We know." Jerad smirked, turning to Aeris and nodding. "We know who you are! Tomorrow… we fight. If I win, you leave us alone. You leave Midgcar. If you win… I shall leave you alone. How does that sound?"

"How can I trust your word?" Danny slowly stood up, not understanding what Jerad had meant or why his friends were looking at him oddly, but assuming the fight was the cause.

"I never break my word... are you afraid of me?" Jerad gave a confident chuckle which infuriated Danny. He felt another strange urge within him, a primal fury that scared him. He suppressed it as best he could and stared straight at Jerad, smiling as well.

"No way. You're on."

"What? No!" Aeris shook her head and pleaded with the both of them, but neither were prepared to back down, for pride more than anything. Eventually Aeris gave up, cursing the nature of men and disappearing to the staff room with Tifa, looking rather upset. Jerad mumbled something incoherent and moved towards the exit of the bar. By now Danny was on his feet, and ready to defend himself should Jerad attack again. Instead, Jerad turned to him and smiled, whispering something Danny did not understand.

"Hid Gogeko'car." With that, the young man smugly turned and left the bar. Danny shook his head and sat down. Neither Jim, Barrett, nor Cid had said a word since the scuffle. Danny saw them looking at him peculiarly again and shrugged.

"What's the matter?"

The three men looked at each other warily, eventually Barrett and Cid turned to Jim, deciding as he was closest to Danny he should be the one to question the events that had just occurred. He did so with a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face.

"What the hell were you saying, Danny?"

"Huh? Saying? When?" Danny raised his eyebrow.

"When you hit Jerad… and Aeris was trying to stop you… what were you saying?"

"Sure as hell weren't English." Barrett said with a frown.

Danny shook his head. "I didn't hit Jerad!" This comment earned him even more sceptical looks. He shuffled in his chair uncomfortably and shrugged. "I honestly only remember him hitting me… and then getting up near the doorway."

"That… is messed up." Cid said, finding another cigarette and lighting it.

"Damn, man." Barrett looked at Danny and grinned a little. "You and Jerad, eh? Should be good."

"Heh…" Danny looked at Jim, who wore the same expression of anxiety he now felt inside. Not only was he fighting Jerad, a fighter he knew was extremely skilled, but he was apparently also losing his mind. Things were not looking up.