"We'll have to make the rest of the trip on foot," Cloud says, putting the buggy into park in a nice secluded space of the dense forest that surrounds Gongaga. "We should bring our gear, just in case."
The small, backwater village of Gongaga is nestled in the shadow of the ruins of the reactor that once breathed life into the quiet and somber atmosphere that awaits them now.
So near to the coast, and with the canopy trees trapping the heat in with them, the air is sticky and thick with humidity. Even the ground is sticky, her boots making a vulgar sucking sound whenever she takes a step forward. Red's paws get stuck often, and the bottom half of Cait Sith's moogle is soon turned from white to brown, splashing up mud in every direction each time his fat feet land.
Cloud warns them of poisonous frogs that may dart out to surprise them, and the sleeve of Charlie's jacket tears when it gets caught on a thornbush, but no monsters leap out to disturb them, probably because of all the noise they make while traversing the forest. They probably sound like a pack of monsters themselves with all the groaning they're doing.
Charlie isn't sure how long they've been walking when they all freeze at the sound of a helicopter nearby. Her heart stops, and she looks up at the sky with a sharp intake of breath, able to make out a black helicopter buzzing towards their end goal.
"That's a Shinra chopper," she tells her party, wondering if it's still a good idea to continue. Anyone could be aboard that helicopter—it could be a Turk, or several of them, but it could be someone who really hates her, too, like Heidegger or Scarlet. It could be Rufus. "Do you think they know we're here? Do you think they saw the buggy?"
"A Shinra chopper?" Barret snaps, looking up to follow its progress, but it quickly is swallowed by the tree leaves, and eventually, the sound dies out, as well. "The hell is a Shinra chopper doin' here? What'd you tell them?"
"I didn't tell them anything! How would I?" Charlie protests. "I'm the one hiding from Shinra, remember? Maybe we should stop here and make for Gongaga under the cover of darkness."
"It could just be a coincidence," Cait Sith suggests, his moogle hopping up to Charlie's side. "Or it could be possible they heard about the events at the Gold Saucer, and Dio told them Sephiroth was headed this way."
"Well, it doesn't seem like they saw us," Tifa says, shielding her eyes from the blazing and burning sun. "Let's keep going for now. There's no use turning back, not when we're this close, and we can't rest here. It's too dangerous."
"We can take 'em," Yuffie adds confidently, looking too eager for a fight. "Monsters or Shinra. Especially Shinra."
"If it comes down to that," Cloud says, putting his hands on his hips. The Buster Sword rests at his back, mocking her as the sun hits it just right and makes it shine. "We don't want a repeat of the Gold Saucer. Let's just get in, ask around, and get out."
"Maybe only a few of us should go into the village, then," Aerith says, looking around at her friends. Her mousy brown hair sticks to her cheeks, and she's breathing rather heavily. "If we all show up at once, it might seem suspicious."
Cloud nods in agreement. "All right. Let's keep going. We might get lucky, and the chopper might leave without realizing we're here."
Cloud leads them without complaint. Barret is starting to slow his pace, muttering under his breath to himself, and Red XIII pants and drags his feet. Even Yuffie is too tired to complain, picking up her feet after having tripped over a root and skinned her knee earlier.
It's another mile until they reach a dirt road—one of the twisting pathways leads towards the reactor, what's left of it peeking up above the treeline, and the other pathway leads, presumably, towards the village. The tall grass on either side of the pathway sways in the breeze, though the gentle wind does little to cool her. It's like being hit in the face with hot air from an oven, uncomfortable and suffocating.
"Stop," Cloud suddenly says, before picking a pathway. He holds up a hand to stop them, then places a finger to his lips to shush them.
Charlie, her curiosity piqued and slightly nervous, shuffles up to his side and listens. She can feel Aerith and Tifa hovering behind them, and Red's fur tickles her exposed ankle, making her think there's insects crawling on her skin.
". . . who do you like?"
Charlie stops brushing at her ankle and gives Cloud a bewildered look, lowering her foot back to the ground. She knows that voice, could place that voice anywhere, has lived the last decade of her life hearing that voice flirt with her and tease her and snap at her.
No, no, no, no, no, no, she thinks, not now, not yet, not before I get to Cosmo Canyon.
"What are you getting so embarrassed about?" Reno laughs, and Charlie can hardly breathe. She was so close. They were going to go to Cosmo Canyon after leaving here. She was going to see her mother again. Why is her heart beating so fast again? Why can't she breathe? "C'mon, just tell me. Tell me who you like."
"Tifa," comes Rude's voice after a moment.
Cloud gives her a rather unamused look, but it's not like she forced Rude to give that answer. She shrugs, widening her eyes at him before listening again.
"Poor Elena," Reno says again, and there's something mocking about the way he chuckles afterwards. "I thought you guys liked each other."
Is this what Turks talk about when they can spare time to gossip? All right, she's not really surprised that Reno and Rude are gossiping. Charlie's just as guilty as they are, but at least she knows there's a time and place for it.
"No, Elena likes Tseng."
Reno hums. "Huh. I thought Tseng liked that Ancient."
"I think Tseng likes Charlie."
"Charlie!" Reno scoffs, as if the idea is too ridiculous for him to consider. Is it so unbelievable that someone might have a crush on her?
Charlie blushes heatedly as everyone turns to look at her. She purses her lips and tries to pretend she doesn't feel everyone's eyes on the back of her neck.
"She's all right, I guess," Reno continues, only causing Charlie to blush harder. "She's got a good body and her face is cute, but she looks too much like her brother. I don't know that I could fuck her while looking at her face."
Tears borne of pure humiliation well up painfully in her eyes. Her face feels like it's on fire. She could wring Reno's neck right now.
"And she's always yammering on about somethin' or other. Dunno what there is for Tseng to like about her other than her looks, honestly. She's a spoiled brat that doesn't know when to shut up." Charlie can almost picture him digging his hands into his pockets, trying to act casual.
"She's smart," Rude supplies after needing a minute to think about it.
Is that my redeeming quality? she thinks bitterly. I'm smart?
"She ain't that special. People overuse the word 'genius' today, you know? Anyway, it's pretty obvious the both of them are just projecting onto each other."
"Projecting?" Rude asks, sounding almost skeptical.
"Come on, man," Reno snorts, lowering his voice, but not low enough that Charlie can't hear every word just fine. "You know how close the both of them were to Veld."
Charlie looks down at her feet, feeling hot tears of frustration running down her cheeks. She wipes angrily at them, furious that Reno would even suggest something so insulting, not to mention everything else he said about her. How dare he bring up Veld?
"I think she's all right," Rude says again after a minute. "She doesn't talk as much as she used to."
"I don't think you talk too much," Cait Sith whispers from directly over her right shoulder.
"Shut up," Charlie snaps quietly. "I don't need validation from a toy cat."
"What the hell are they talking about?" Barret asks, trying to peek around the corner, his progress blocked by the rest of his friends. "What's goin' on? We moving or what?"
"It's me they're after," Charlie tells Cloud, making her decision right then and there. "If I go with them, they'll leave you alone, and you can continue on to Gongaga."
"That wasn't the deal," Cloud reminds her firmly, reaching behind him to take hold of his sword. "The deal was Cosmo Canyon."
"Don't you want to find Sephiroth?" she asks, hating herself for looking so vulnerable and tearful. It's embarrassing, painfully so. She can't remember the last time she's felt this way. "I'll chase them off, don't worry. And if I manage to shake them off, I'll meet you guys at the buggy, okay? And if I don't, then just leave without me."
"We're not going to let you give yourself up," Aerith insists, and when Charlie turns around to face her, she's holding her staff in both hands, as ready as Yuffie is for a fight. "Someone's waiting for you in Cosmo Canyon, Charlie."
"I . . ." As touched as she is by their willingness to defend her, Charlie doesn't want to make this any harder than it has to be. Plus, she can outrun the Turks, can't she? How hard could it be to lose them in such a thick forest? If she could climb a tree and wait it out, she might be able to make it back to the buggy in time . . . if she can find her way again without help. "I don't want anyone to get hurt. Not them, and not you."
"What's going on?" Barret asks again, unable to hear their whispering. He sounds irritable now. "Who's over there? The Turks? What're they talkin' 'bout?"
"It's stupid," comes another voice from behind them, not one of their companions voices. "They're always talking about the girls they like or don't like, but Tseng is different." Charlie and Elena meet eyes for a split second, and Elena nearly jumps six feet off the ground. "Charlie! You're here!"
She darts off, and Cloud pulls the sword off his back, running after her. Charlie calls after him, but follows all the same, her hands trembling. Is she going to allow herself to be brought back to Midgar just to buy Avalanche some time?
"Elena, go tell the director," Reno instructs her as Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa step in front of Charlie.
Yuffie, Red, and Barret back them up, while Cait Sith wraps tiny fingers around her arm, pulling her away from the fresh battleground. Charlie doesn't like the way Cloud holds Angeal's sword to Reno. If Reno and Rude are anything, it's overconfident, and that overconfidence will certainly destroy them among Charlie's new partners.
Smirking at them all, Reno holds his arms out in a very welcoming way. "Don't be stupid. Just give us the vice president, and we'll be on our way."
"Charlie's with us," Aerith tells him.
"Is that how it is, Charlie?" Reno calls out to her, tapping his fancy new Electro-Mag rod against his shoulder. He looks at her through the crowd of people. "Gonna introduce me to your new cat friend, princess? Kinda cute, don't you think?"
"Leave us alone," she shouts back, tearing her arm out of Cait Sith's grip. "Let us pass, Reno, or it'll mean trouble for you. I don't want anyone to get hurt."
"No can do, Charlie," he sighs, as if a fight isn't the very thing he wants. "We have orders to bring you back to Midgar, and you're comin' with us one way or another, so we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way."
Aerith shrugs her shoulders. "Guess we choose the hard way, then."
"Don't go easy on 'em, partner," Reno grips the rod tighter, glancing sideways at his friend. "Not even the girls."
"I'll do my job," Rude says.
"Good. Charlie loves a hero." Reno snickers. "Don't you, princess?"
Charlie screams as Reno and Rude dash towards Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa. It all happens so quickly, and soon the air is filled with taunts and grunts and the sharp smacking of skin hitting skin and the ringing clangs of Cloud's sword against Reno's rod. The very air seems to vibrate with the power surging from Aerith's staff, and even with her visible chest wound, Tifa's bottom half moves as quick as ever, kicking hard at their lower legs and stomach.
Dust is kicked up underneath their feet, and in all of the confusion, Charlie breaks free of her protectors and darts off into the trees while Reno and Rude are disoriented, receiving a smackdown from her replacement bodyguards.
"Charlie, no!" Cait Sith shouts, and Charlie can hear Barret, Yuffie, and Red calling her back, as well, but it's too late.
Panting, she barrels through the forest, her clothes catching on branches and brambles, sprinting through the foliage with no idea where her route will take her. But she can hear Reno shouting from behind her, and soon the heavy footfalls of he and Rude can be heard gaining on her from behind.
"Charlie!" Reno shouts, his echo causing several birds to fly away, cawing. He sounds angry now, and there's nothing good about an angry Turk. "Don't make me hurt you!"
She continues to run, unable to see through the growth ahead of her, Charlie fears that every step she takes will cause her pain or harm. She fears that she'll misstep and go tumbling off the side of a cliff, or that she'll run right into a thick tree trunk. She can hear the rumbling of a helicopter nearby.
She runs until her legs are burning (it happens quickly, given all the walking she'd been doing earlier), and it's painful to continue, and the wind whistles in her ears and her shirt clings to her sweaty skin, the hair at the back of her neck completely soaked.
If she could just find her way back to the buggy. It's far enough away that Reno and Rude might give up the search and try again another time. How had they known she was here? How had they known they were headed to Gongaga?
She should have given Red a message for him to pass onto her mother.
"Charlie, let's go!" Reno shouts again, but this time, she can't quite tell where his voice is coming from. "I'm not in the mood to dick around today!"
Her heart feels like it's going to burst out of her chest, and she leaps gracefully over a fallen branch she notices at the last second, only to leap right into someone, her leg getting tangled with another leg to impede her next step. Her momentum sends them both crashing to the ground.
She lands on top of him, and the moment she hears the breath leave him painfully, Charlie springs to her feet, intending to keep running. Tseng reaches out quickly enough to grab her ankle, and she falls face forward again, landing hard with a grunt.
"No!" she screams, kicking him off and crawling away. "Get away from me!"
"Charlotte—" He's suddenly on top of her, pressing her into the soft earth, his knee digging painfully into her back—"I'm trying to help you—"
"Get off of me!"
"Stop struggling, or I'm going to have to tie your hands."
"Fine, fine," Charlie huffs, unsure if she's even able to run any further. With her cheek against the muddy ground, she feels the pressure leave her back, and Tseng pulls her to her feet by her upper arms.
Tseng releases her to brush the front of his muddy pants off, and Charlie takes advantage of his temporary distraction. She sprints away from him once more, but only goes a few feet until she's faced with a rock cliff. She curses quietly, pressing her back flat to the sheet rock and drawing the gun from her holster.
"Stop!" she warns Tseng as he approaches. He doesn't even look surprised when she aims it at him, cocked and ready. "I'll shoot!"
He must be either suicidal or overconfident to not even bat an eye at her warning. There's a slight scowl on Tseng's face (she's really done it now), and he snatches the gun right out of her trembling hand, letting the clip fall dramatically to the ground before tossing the gun aside.
"Are you finished?" he asks flatly. "There's nowhere for you to run now, Charlotte. I'm taking you back to Midgar."
Charlie refuses to move. She digs her heels into the ground, lifts her chin into the air, and watches anger flash in Tseng's dark eyes. He's never been angry with her before, not really. It frightens her more than she would ever admit. She knows very well what he's capable of.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be."
She knows that Tseng has her cornered, and with three other Turks lingering nearby, Charlie knows escape is futile.
I was so close, she thinks.
"How did you know I was here?" she asks, his hand resting between her shoulder blades to give her a gentle push forward, just to get her moving. "Did Dio tell you?"
"Dio?"
Charlie frowns, glancing up at him. His eyebrows are knitted together, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Never mind," she mutters. She considers making another run for it, but doesn't want to end up with her hands tied behind her back like some common criminal.
"You won't make it ten feet if you try to run again," Tseng suddenly says, and Charlie blushes, wondering if she said the words out loud instead of in her head. "I'm going to bring you to Reno. He's going to take you back to Midgar."
"No," she snaps. "I'm not going anywhere with Reno."
"You're not coming with me. I'm escorting one of the directors today."
Her breath hitches. He's left it vague on purpose. He knows what he's doing. "Is Reeve here? Is he okay? Has anything happened to him?"
"Director Tuesti is perfectly fine, but it is not him that is with me today. I'll speak with Reno before you leave. Stop here." Tseng catches her by the wrist to stop her, holding both hands behind her back and wrapping rope around them.
"Scared I'll jump out of the helicopter?" The rope is loose around her wrists. She could probably slip out of it if she tried.
"It's solely for appearances, in case the madam director is waiting."
She almost cries at this revelation. It would have been sweet to see Reeve again.
Tifa is the first to speak up about it, while they're all seated around a campfire on the outskirts of the Gongaga forest, or so they've named it. "Someone should go back for her. She might be in danger."
"She left of her own damn accord," Barret reminds her firmly. "If she had just stuck around, those suits wouldn't have gotten hold of her."
"She tried to draw them off us," Aerith chides them. "She only wanted to help, and she did get us out of Corel Prison."
"We could have gotten out without her, too." Barret scoffs, leaning back against the trunk of a tree and closing his eyes, staring up at the night sky. "She ain't a priority. She's back where she belongs, and we only wasted time bringin' her along."
"We never should have brought on the vice president of Shinra in the first place!" Yuffie argues, completely unbothered by Charlie's presence. "She was probably the one who told the Turks to come to Gongaga, anyway. Who else would have done that?"
"She wanted to go to Cosmo Canyon," Cloud says, shushing Yuffie with a look that brooks no further argument. "She was scared. She didn't want to go back to Midgar."
"You sure that her mom is at Cosmo Canyon?" he asks Red through Cait Sith, his eyes burning from staring through a screen, but it's better than screwing up his face and feeling his brain throb painfully as he does it that way. "I mean, are you sure it was the same woman in the picture Charlie showed you?"
"Positive," Red replies, slightly defensively. "I would recognize that woman anywhere."
"Is she alive?"
Red turns to look Cait Sith full in the face. "She was alive when I was captured, if you could call it that. Her mind was gone by that point." He pauses, lowering his head to the ground and waving his flaming tail back and forth. "That was one year ago, or close enough. If she isn't returned to the planet by now, then I would think it might be kinder to give her the gift of mercy soon, or at least, before Charlotte is forced to see what her mother has become."
Tifa touches the bandage over her chest. "It doesn't feel right," she says, "leaving her behind."
"She didn't give a damn 'bout the planet, and she didn't give a damn 'bout Sephiroth, even after he murdered her daddy," Barret continues, still resting with his eyes closed, but certainly not any closer to sleep. "Let her go, Tifa. She didn't care 'bout you. She wouldn't go back for you, if you were in her place."
"You don't know that," Aerith counters, jumping quickly to Charlie's defense. "She might."
"She might isn't the same as she would."
Reeve wants to tell them that, in all seriousness, Charlie would very probably go back for any of them. After all, she had saved them from rotting in Corel Prison, and she had run away to save them trouble with the Turks.
She had run down to the Sector Seven slums to save those people, as well, people she didn't even know, people who hated her, people who didn't care if she lived or died that night.
But he doesn't say it, because he doesn't want to bring any undue attention to Cait Sith's affectionate nature towards Charlie. He can't afford to slip up now, before they reach Cosmo Canyon.
He has to see Charlie's mother for himself, even if it is through the eyes of a toy.
He looks up into the rearview mirror, adjusting it slightly so he's able to see Marlene's face. She's been looking down into her lap the entire ride, holding a stuffed bear to her chest with all the strength in her little arms.
"Marlene, look," Elmyra says cheerfully, pointing out the passenger side window at a small pond in the distance. "Isn't that nice?"
"Yeah," Marlene answers dejectedly, not even bothering to look out the window.
"Do you want to stop for a little bit?" Reeve asks, slowing the car down. The country road that leads to Kalm is a bit rougher than the paved expressway that would bring them there quicker, but he had decided on a subtler route, relying on an old map that was shoved in the glovebox of the Shinra car. They've encountered very little traffic so far. "We could pull over and take a break if you need to stretch your legs."
"No," she says again.
"Would you like to listen to the radio?"
Marlene meets his eyes for a second in the rearview mirror. Her eyes are full of tears, but she nods slightly.
"All right." He flips the radio on and finds a station that isn't complete static.
"Marlene," Elmyra begins again, turning in her seat to face the girl in the back as they pass the pond, "the director said he's going to hire a tutor for you when we get settled in. Would you like that?"
She shrugs her shoulders.
Elmyra smiles warmly, reaching out to pat Marlene on the knee. "Won't your dad be so surprised when he comes home to find out how smart you'd gotten while he was away?"
Reeve glances up again. His eyes have been flicking between the road ahead of him and the rearview mirror every few seconds, making sure no one is following them, making sure Marlene isn't crying, making sure he's taken the right roads.
For the first time, Marlene offers a small smile, nodding her head with a little more enthusiasm. She leans forward to speak to him. "Are there going to be other kids where we go?"
"I'm sure there will be," he assures her, trying to give her his kindest smile. "Kalm is a much quieter town than Midgar. I'm certain you'll come to love it."
"Are you excited to see our new home?" Elmyra asks, facing forward again and looking a bit more tired.
"I . . ." Marlene pauses, leaning back in her seat and holding her bear to her chest again. "I miss my old home. Seventh Heaven."
Her words have a powerful effect on him. Reeve almost crashes the goddamn car at the very thought of the Sector Seven plate dropping, and his knuckles turn white around the steering wheel, cold sweat forming at the back of his neck and hairline. The car swerves, but he's able to snap out of it relatively quickly, and no one asks any questions.
Three days.
It's been three days since Charlie was brought back to Shinra Headquarters, and three times he's been denied the right to see her.
Instead of being released back to her apartment, Rufus had taken it upon himself to keep her locked in the Shinra Building, but had assured Reeve that she was, in no way, being treated like a common prisoner. He promised that Charlie had everything she would require to live comfortably, but had failed to tell Reeve when she would be released at all.
After asking to see her once again this morning and being denied, Reeve didn't trust himself to remain in the city any longer. He was sure to do something stupid, and he could bear to think about what might happen to her because of his own unwillingness to help her, to see her safe to Cosmo Canyon.
So he had ventured to the Sector Five slums, urged Elmyra and Marlene to pack their few possessions, took a car from the Shinra garage, and headed out of Midgar for Kalm, trying not to remember the fear Charlie had shown at the idea of being handled by the Turks, people she normally trusts.
The three of them arrive at Kalm as the sun begins to set, and Reeve finds that the sight of the quaint and quiet mining town leaves him feeling even more guilt-ridden. He thinks of Reno's accusations about Charlie and Tseng, and then he thinks about Veld, and about the arm he had lost because of this town, the town that had been rebuilt after a horrible disaster struck innocent people.
The house is towards the back of town, he's rather pleased that it's so nice, not having seen it before making the deal. The inside is already furnished, as requested, and the kitchen is fully stocked.
There are two stories and three bedrooms, and Elmyra encourages Marlene to take her things upstairs and pick out a bedroom for herself. The sight of the interior seems to have brightened the little girl's spirits somewhat, and she moves quickly up the wooden stairs and out of sight.
"If you have need of anything, please call me," Reeve reminds her. He had bought them both new phones for this very purpose, not wanting anyone to overhear a conversation with the Ancient's mother over his possibly-bugged phone. "I'll try to stop by when I can, just to check-in."
"You're not leaving now, are you? We've just arrived," Elmyra protests, already much kinder towards him than when he first knocked on her door. "At least rest a little, Director. It's not safe to drive the back roads alone at night."
"No, I'm only going to the inn." Reeve gives her a weary smile. "I'm leaving first thing in the morning."
As he goes to leave, the car unloaded and very empty, Elmyra calls for him, his first name. It gives him pause, and he looks over his shoulder at her. "Take care of my daughter," she pleads.
He can't promise that, but he can't walk away without at least offering her some comfort. So he nods, and leaves it at that.