I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters.
Decision
"She was in love with a SOLDIER named Zack," Cody explained, he and Tifa sitting alone in the back room of Seventh Heaven.
"Zack?" Tifa asked. "Zack Fair? The one who fought Sephiroth when he destroyed my home?"
"Yeah," Cody nodded. "After Nibelheim, he and the rest of the survivors were rounded up by Hojo, obviously except you, and experimented on. I'm assuming that was the cause of the condition you found Cloud in. Anyway, after four years, Zack escaped with Cloud, though at the time, we didn't know that. Cissnei and I found them, and Cissnei realized that the love of her life was still alive, but that he was the experiment we were under orders to bring back to Hojo. So, she betrayed Shinra by letting them go. Almost a year later, we received an order to find and capture him before the army could kill him. We failed. Cissnei blamed herself for letting him go when she had the chance to save him before, and she poisoned herself. As she was dying in my arms, she apologized for not falling in love with me instead, then told me to leave Shinra, now that there was nothing to hold me there, and to find a better path. I buried both of them together in a field of flowers that Cissnei always loved, and left without reporting back. I tried to drink myself to death while never going to the same bar twice, so they couldn't track me down. At least, until here. When I got here, I heard someone say AVALANCHE was a better path, and found a flier saying the same. It...felt like Cissnei was still with me, trying to help me. So I joined. I don't care about saving the planet, I just want to make Shinra suffer. After that, I'm going to rejoin the planet. I can't live in a world without Cissnei, not without a purpose."
"Like making Shinra suffer," Tifa said.
Cody nodded mutely and Tifa sighed heavily. She stood, walking over to a window and staring out through it for a moment before turning back to him, studying him.
"Can we trust you?" Tifa asked. "If we let you stay, will you betray us?"
"No," Cody said. "I give you my word that I will never betray you."
Tifa nodded. "Alright. I'll talk to Barret."
Cody nodded. "Thank you. I...I appreciate this. I know I don't generally act like I care, or grateful in any way, but...I appreciate this. And don't worry about Cloud's fee. I'll pay it."
"Thank you," Tifa smiled. "Come on. you look like you need a drink."
"More than you know," Cody sighed, following her out to the bar where she gave him a glass and poured him a drink, then left to talk to Barret, leaving the bottle behind. He sighed. The trip out of the city had been fairly uneventful for them, though Cloud apparently fought dozens of Shinra troops to get their attention away from the station for everyone else, then rejoined them on the train. The reactor's explosion had been massive, doing a massive amount of damage to the city around it. And on the way to the train, they had to pass through it and pretend to not feel guilty. once on the train, however, from the station back to the Sector Seven slums, the trip was smooth.
"Hey, Tifa said she was going to try and convince Barret to let you stay," Jessie said, sitting beside him.
"Yeah," Cody said. "We'll see."
"So, I think I remember promising to let you buy me a drink," Jessie smiled.
"Why don't you have SOLDIER Boy buy you one?" Cody asked.
Jessie's eyes widened. "You are jealous!"
"I'm not jealous," Cody said, reaching over the bar and grabbing a second glass carefully, pouring Jessie a drink. "Here."
"Thank you," Jessie smiled. "You haven't...changed you mind, have you?"
"No," Cody said. "This life has nothing for me."
Jessie stared at her glass for a moment before taking a sip. "Want to play a round of darts?"
Cody glanced at her before sighing and nodding. "Sure."
She smiled, and they walked over to the dart board, Cody handing her the darts. She smiled and threw them, getting a bull's eye and two just outside of it. She stuck her tongue out at him, and Cody rolled his eyes, accepting the darts and throwing three bull's eyes.
"No way!" Jessie gaped. "How'd you do that!?"
"Isn't that how normal people play?" Cody asked.
"Oh, that's it!" Jessie said, narrowing her eyes. "Prepare to be beaten!"
"We'll see about that," Cody said.
A few minutes later, Jessie pretended to weep dramatically as Cody finished off his perfect game, Jessie having been barely halfway done working her score to zero.
"Don't feel bad," Cody said. "We already knew I was better than you at everything."
Jessie's head snapped up as her eye glinted with challenge. "Is that right?"
"Can you think of something you're better at?" Cody asked.
"Oh, I know exactly what I'm better at," Jessie grinned. "Follow me."
She led him out of the bar and through the slum. After a few minutes, they reached scrap boulevard and she set several cans up before holding out her gun.
"I'll even let the challenger have the first shot," Jessie said.
"Then why aren't you shooting?" Cody asked, accepting the gun. "Really, though. A shooting competition? Against a former Turk?"
Jessie smirked and Cody shrugged, turning and quickly shooting half the cans, then handed the gun back. She shot the other half, but when they checked them, his each had a short burst close together while her own bursts were more spread out. She groaned. "Alright. I've got another idea."
She led him back into town to find something else to challenge him at. As the challenges continued, it was everything from a foot race to getting cats to go to one over the other. Each time, Cody beat her, no matter what the challenge. Finally, she seemed to actually be getting a little mad and brought him to one of the buildings in the town, opening the door with a key. Several girls inside turned to them and raised an eyebrow, seeing him.
"What's going on?" one of them asked.
"We need you to judge an improve acting competition," Jessie said.
"Wait, what?" Cody asked. "That's the next competition?"
Jessie smirked at him. "You can surrender if you want."
"Oh, no, I can do it," Cody said. "I'm just wondering if you really want me to beat you at this too."
Jessie's eyes narrowed at him, and he shrugged, seeing a hint of offense in her eyes. But, they headed to a small stage in the back of the building and Jessie started, acting like he was the man who murdered her parents. He stood there, silently, and with his arms crossed as she ranted about him murdering her family and everything she'd gone through since.
"So?" He finally asked after she'd finished.
"What do you mean so!?" she shrieked. "You killed my family!?"
"And I say again, so?"
"I'm going to kill you!" she said.
He raised an eyebrow, looking around. "I'm waiting."
She faltered, glancing around before grabbing a foam sword from off to the side, acting as though it was heavy. "Prepare...to...die!" Her face contorted in mock effort as she made the sword shake and tremble as she lifted it, but he snatched it away.
"I don't have time for this," he said. "I have places to be. You want me dead, fine. Here. let me help."
He slid the sword under the arm facing away from the audience several times, using a packet of fake blood he'd grabbed earlier to coat the end of the blade before tossing the sword aside. "Are you content now?"
She stared between him and the sword, both as an act and actually. He could see the doubt in her eyes. The fake blood and interrupting her had broken her concentration. She wasn't sure what to do next, and it was frustrating her. So, he sighed, turning and tripping himself, falling off the stage and landing hard, groaning.
"Ow," he wheezed, having landed on his back. "Dammit. That was humiliating."
His eyes flicked to her. All she had to do was act and she'd win by default. All she had to do was something.
"Are you alright?" she asked, squatting down at the edge of the stage to look at him. "It'd be a shame if you died before I could figure out how to get revenge."
"Revenge?" he blinked and furrowed his brow before raising them. "Oh shit. Right. The competition. Oops."
"Well, that's pretty clearly the end of that," one of the girls said.
"You were pretty good," another said.
He rolled his eyes, pushing himself up and dusting himself off. "Yeah well, no one's perfect at everything, I suppose."
"Come on," Jessie smiled. "Let's go see if Tifa's ready for us."
Cody nodded and Jessie said goodbye to the other women before they left. As soon as they were outside, Jessie hugged him.
"Thank you," Jessie said. "I know you did it on purpose, so...thank you."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Cody said. "That was an honest mistake. I got distracted by how amazing an actress you were and forgot we were on a stage."
Jessie laughed. "Sure you did, flatterer. I'm not really that good."
"What are you babbling about?" Cody asked. "You're an amazing actress, Jessie. And whenever this whole thing is over, you'll make an incredible actress."
She smiled, hugging him again as they continued to walk. "Thank you."
He groaned dramatically, rolling his eyes when she looked up at him, but wrapped an arm around her, giving her a light squeeze. After a couple more minutes, they reached the bar and found Marlene waiting outside.
"Jessie!" Marlene smiled. "Daddy's waiting for you. but he said you had to stay upstairs with the other guy." She looked at Cody who shrugged and nodded.
Jessie shrugged and headed over to the pinball lift, riding it down to the basement as Cody walked over to the bar, grabbing himself a bottle and a pair of glasses, sitting down and pouring himself a drink. As he drank, Cloud went to play darts, then returned, sipping at his drink, something red. Finally, almost an hour later, the pinball machine sank, then rose again, Tifa coming up with it. She immediately walked behind the bar and poured herself a glass of water, instantly draining it. then sighed heavily, pouring a second before walking out to sit at the bar on the other side of Cloud from Cody, who suddenly felt like he shouldn't be there.
"I heard you're having second thoughts," Cloud said, sounding slightly concerned.
"I know we have to think big if we're going to make a difference," Tifa said. "But not like this. I just...I feel trapped." She looked over at Cloud, both ignoring Cody, who had his head turned away from them in silence.
"If it feels wrong, don't do it," Cloud said.
Tifa shook her head, letting out something of a half-hearts laugh, before seeming to try to decide what to say, staring at the wall ahead of her. After another moment, the lift rose again, bringing Jessie this time.
"Guess that's that, then," Tifa said as Jessie walked over to Cody, accepting the glass he offered her.
"So, what's the word?" Cody asked.
"Barret has agreed to allow you to stay, but you're not allowed at any of the planning sessions," Jessie said. "Aside from that, the plan's the same."
Cody nodded, sipping his drink. "Can't-"
"Tifa!" Barret grinned. "Time to celebrate! Break out all the good stuff!"
"Oh, sure," Tifa said, heading behind the bar again to grab alcohol.
"We won't be needing you for this next job," Barret said to Cloud. "Feel free to look for work elsewhere."
"That's fine," Cloud said. "That's how I like it. No contract. No obligations."
Barret huffed. "And thus concludes our business together. Gonna have to ask you to leave now. This here's a private affair. You too, rat." He looked to Cody, who'd been watching their exchange, and Cody rolled his eyes.
"Not a rat," Cody said, setting money on the bar for the bottle. "But that's fine. You're not a very pleasant person to be around anyway."
Barret glared at him before turning to find a seat and Cody walked out of the bar, Jessie following.
"I'm sorry about him," Jessie said.
"It's fine," Cody said. "Go enjoy your party. I'll see you tomorrow."
"No, it's alright," Jessie said. "I'd rather know you're not miserable from drinking alone."
Cody stopped, eyeing four men who were clearly gangsters, and also weren't as dirty or wearing as worn clothing as everyone else.
"Word is he lives in this town," one of the men was saying, this one with a black beard under his chin, the sides and back of his black hair shaved, the rest long and pinned up at the back. "Just shut up and wait. We'll find him soon enough."
Cody narrowed his eyes, quickly taking the four in. The one who had spoken wore a black leather biker jacket with the sleeves ripped off and a red chocobo on the back, tight red leather pants, and black boots. Another had a dark blue muscle shirt and jeans, a bald head, a pair of goggles, a black leather wristband on his left wrist studded with silver spikes, and a fingerless, elbow-length glove on his right arm that was likewise studded with silver spikes. A third had black hair swept back, a black muscle shirt with gold chocobo designs on the sight side of the front, and bright red pants. The last was also wearing a leather jacket but with dark blue jeans, and a blue baseball cap worn backward. Cody's eyes swept around the circle for weapons and saw the bald one and the one with the black muscle shirt both had orange holsters with Uzis in them, the one with his hair pinned up had a knife on the back of his belt, and the other he couldn't see well enough to tell.
"Hey, who's that?" the one with the hat asked, looking at Cody, who turned to him.
The one with his hair pinned up walked over sighing heavily and smiling somewhere between exasperatedly, annoyedly, and condescendingly at him. "Hey brother, you from around the way?"
"You could say that?" Cody said.
"Know a big man with a big gun strapped to his right arm?" the man asked. "heard he's set up shop somewhere in the neighborhood."
"That depends," Cody said, tapping Jessie subtly with his bottle to tell her not to say anything.
The guy laughed, beginning to circle them. "Clever. Smell an opportunity to make some scratch, do ya?"
"Five hundred," Cody said.
"Two hundred," the man said.
"Two fifty, and I want to know what you want him for," Cody said.
Thee man narrowed his eyes slightly before smirking. "Let's find somewhere quieter to talk. And bring your beautiful little dime-piece, there. It's be a shame for her to get left here all alone an unprotected."
"She can handle herself," Cody said. "But sure. After you."
The man smirked, he and his three lackies forming a box around Cody and Jessie before leading them away. Cody glanced back as the door opened again and Cloud stepped out. Cloud reached for his sword, but Cody shook his head, turning back to the front. Jessie slipped her hand into his, gripping it tightly as the leader stopped beside a small hole in the wall, smirking at them.
"After you, brother," he said. "And don't worry, I ain't the backstabbin' type...most days."
Cody glanced at Jessie, who ducked through first. Then, Cody followed, preparing himself to blast them with materia if they made a move, but they allowed him through without trouble. He and Jessie put some distance between themselves and the hole instantly.
"You're not really going to tell them, right?" Jessie hissed.
"Of course not," Cody whispered. "But free money before I beat them bloody won't hurt."
Jessie shook her head, smirking, and Cody turned to the hole as the goons all ducked through it, moving to form a semicircle around them, Jessie stepping behind Cody.
"Alright, spill it," the leader said. "You know where the bastard's hiding, don't you?"
Cody surveyed the four of them in silence.
"You wasting my time?" the guy asked. "You'd better start talking before something bad happens to your girl there. I mean, I assume it would be bad. Who knows, though. She might like it."
Cody's eyes narrowed slightly and he pulled his mask down, tipping the bottle back for a couple swallows before handing it to Jessie, leaving the mask down. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
The leader smirked, pulling his knife as the other three all drew guns. "You're about to wish you'd just told us. Shoot him!"
Cody was off in an instant, darting to the bald one and shoving his gun hand inward, then twisted the gun out an around, breaking his fingers and stripping the gun from him before ejecting the magazine, firing the only bullet still in it into the hat-wearing thug's knee, dropping him. Then, he slammed the Uzi down onto the bald guy's head and knocked him out before diving aside from a spray of bullets from the other guy with a gun. The leader lunged, stabbing at Cody as he stood, but he swept the knife out to the side before slamming a knee into his groin, then drove the knife, still in the thug's hand, down into the thug's thigh.
"What are you doing?" Cody asked, holding him up as he screamed. "Why would you stab yourself in the middle of a fight? Here, let me give you something for the pain."
He smashed his knee into the thug's face, breaking his nose and knocking him out before diving forward and rolling, the final thug's bullets flying over him into a brick wall taking up one side of the area they were in, before Cody rolled to his feet and slammed a chop into the side of the thug's neck, the thug's entire body going limp and dropping him to the ground. Cody pulled his mask back up and collected the guns, removing the mags from the other two and racked them to take the other bullets out, then tossed the guns aside, handing the mags to Jessie, since her gun used the same kind of ammo. As he turned back to the four thugs, Cloud ducked through the hole, kicking the one thug Cody hadn't knocked out in the face and silencing his screams of pain from having been shot in the knee.
"Mind giving me a hand dumping them at the station?" Cody asked.
Cloud nodded, picking up two of them as Cody dragged two to the hole, shoving them through, then lay them on a board, outside of the hole and dragging it through the street, Jessie following as Cloud walked ahead of them. Once they reached the station, Cloud dropped his two unceremoniously and Cody dropped the board before walking back toward town with the other two. Jessie handed him back his bottle and he thanked her, taking a drink and pulling the mask back up before handing it back so she could take a drink.
"Why'd you have your mask off?" Jessie asked.
"It's easier to breathe during a fight with it off, as long as I ignore the pain from my allergy," Cody said. "Makes it easier to fight."
Jessie nodded as they reached his apartment, Cloud having split off a ways back. "I'm sorry again about Barret. Thank you for defending him."
Cody nodded. "No problem. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"You're not going to drink with me?" Jessie asked.
"Do I have to?" Cody asked, opening his door for her.
She smiled, walking past him and he followed, closing the door and retrieving his other bottle and the glass with it, letting her use the glass, ass was usual when she invited herself to have a drink in his room. She accepted her drink with a smile, and he took a swig from the bottle already in his room. They drank in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Cody felt the mood beginning to sour.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," she lied.
He stared at her knowingly and she sighed.
"I messed up at the reactor," she said. "I used a stronger blasting agent than the recipe called for, just in case the normal one wasn't enough, and...you saw how it turned out."
"Jessie, that wasn't your fault," Cody said. "Even if you did use too big a bomb, that wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was," Jessie said. "I can pretend it wasn't all I want, but it was."
"No, it really wasn't," Cody said. "I don't think any of you heard it, but after your bomb went off, I though I heard gunfire going off below us."
"So?" Jessie frowned.
"So, I think the reactor's defenses did extra damage to set off the explosion on the scale we saw," Cody said.
"Why would they do that?" Jessie asked. "That makes no sense."
"Most likely to scare the people of Midgar into hating AVALANCHE," Cody said. "Or maybe something else. Like I told you, liquid mako isn't flammable. It doesn't explode. And no matter how strong the blasting agent in that tiny little bomb you made, it wasn't enough to completely obliterate the reactor."
Jessie sighed. "Even if you're right, I want to do things right next time. So...I want to raid another Shinra munitions depot to get the right blasting agent."
"Okay," Cody said. "When?"
"Just like that?" Jessie asked. "No asking for something in return? No arguing against it? Nothing?"
"It's another way to screw Shinra over," Cody shrugged. "Besides, you've got your mind set on it already, so if I can't talk you out of it, I might as well go with you."
Jessie smiled gratefully and hugged him. "Thank you so much!" She pulled back, finishing her drink. "I'm also going to ask Cloud to come. he'll be useful."
"Alright," Cody nodded. "I'll give him a thousand gil when we meet up."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Jessie said. "I'm just going to give him this." She held up a red summoning materia.
"You've been holding out on me," Cody said. "What's it summon?"
"Ifrit," Jessie said.
"You do realize how useful that would have been at the reactor, right?" Cody asked.
Jessie shrugged. "I don't summon often, and the only materia I use reliably is a Healing materia."
Cody shook his head, smirking. "You've got a pocket-sized nuke and you refuse to use it. Alright. Give it to him. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll use it on Shinra HQ."
"I doubt it," Jessie said. "I'll be back in a few minutes, then once it's dark, we'll head to the station."
"Take your time," Cody said. "More alcohol for me."
She rolled her eyes and left, Cody returning to drinking. However, he didn't drink much. Since he was going to be working later, he needed to be sober, so after a while, he set it back down and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep, only to stir as Jessie lay down beside him, shifting for a few seconds to get comfortable before settling with her head on his shoulder and her arm across him.
"Comfortable?" he asked.
"Fairly," Jessie said. "It'd be better if you were Cloud, but I'll manage."
He grunted, rolling away from her and she giggled.
"You're are so jealous!" She said.
"No," Cody said.
"Jealous!" she sang, pulling him back onto his back. "It's alright to be jealous."
"I'm not jealous," Cody said, looking away. "I'm insecure, alright? Your first reaction to Cloud was to say he's good-looking. Everyone's first reaction to me is to wonder why I'm wearing a mask. And then even after they've known me for a while, all they see is the mask. If I didn't have to wear this stupid thing, maybe..."
"Maybe Cissnei would have fallen for you?" Jessie finished. "Honestly, I really only flirt with Cloud as a sort of game. He's good looking, sure, but he's also kind of a dick. He's not really my type. You're kind of a dick, too."
"At least I don't lead people on, floozy," Cody said.
Jessie laughed, slapping him in the shoulder. "You asshole! As I was saying, Cloud's not my type. It's just fun to flirt with him because he's not really sure how to react."
Cody was silent for a while. "If you're not careful, he might decide he's interested."
Jessie sighed. "I guess."
After a moment, she settled back onto Cody's shoulder and he sighed, closing his eyes and ignoring her presence, allowing himself to drift off to sleep.
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