"We'll be in touch."
"Thank you, Mr. President."
Rufus climbs up into the helicopter. Tseng extends a hand for Charlie as she moves to follow, the corners of his lips ticking upward. Charlie puts her hand in his gloved one, wanting to squeeze so hard that his hand breaks.
"Have a safe flight, Madam Vice President," he tells her, looking at her for a long while and squeezing her hand gently. "I look forward to seeing you upon your return."
She wants to spit in his face, to hit him until he feels the same pain that he caused her. She wants to break his heart and leave him to pick up the pieces alone.
"Good luck," she manages to choke out, and it sounds confident enough that no one really seems to notice anything is off.
She wants him to know how it feels to cry himself to sleep for months. She wants him to feel the sting of abandonment. She wants him to know the sting of betrayal by someone he loves.
She wants to throw him into a cell and threaten to restrain and force feed him, just to see how he likes it.
"You can let go of my sister's hand now," Rufus snaps suddenly.
Charlie has no recollection of climbing into the helicopter, only coming back to her senses when she feels Tseng's hand release her own.
She scowls upon noticing Palmer sitting in a seat across from Rufus, squeezed in between two guards. He looks very flustered, and very anxious to be joining them on the way to Nibelheim.
"What is he doing here?" she asks, settling down beside her brother.
"It was either him, Scarlet, or Heidegger." Rufus passes her an extra headset as Tseng closes the hatch and walks around to signal them off. "And you can thank Heidegger for forcing us to use a helicopter. With all the upgrades he's been making to the Highwind, the ship isn't even fit for flying as of right now, and the airplanes we still have seem to have fallen into disrepair."
Charlie sighs, feeling the helicopter lift off the ground shakily. Whoever is flying is certainly not as practiced as she would like.
"You know," Rufus continues, looking right at Palmer, "sometimes I don't know which of you three I hate more."
Palmer flushes.
"I've sent Scarlet and Heidegger ahead," he explains through his headset. Charlie watches his mouth move. She had kissed that mouth only yesterday, upon waking in the cell he put her in. "They're going to be flying past Mount Nibel. We are going to make a detour through Nibelheim. I want to see it with my own eyes."
"What's in Nibelheim?" Charlie asks again.
Rufus's eyes flit around the helicopter before settling on her again. "We'll talk more when we land."
Charlie looks out the window of the helicopter, watching Midgar grow smaller and smaller. No matter how high up they go, the Shinra Building always seems to tower over the city
The sky is gray. It's not really ideal weather to fly in, but Rufus wouldn't hear it. He intended to go today, no matter what.
"Isn't Nibelheim where Sephiroth supposedly died?" Charlie asks suddenly. "I remember the report saying there had been an accident. Wasn't that in Nibelheim?"
"Supposedly, yes," Rufus answers. He strokes his chin for a moment. "Palmer, you look nervous. Does the idea of meeting Sephiroth again frighten you?"
Palmer exhales through his nose, pursing his lips.
"Look at my brave sister, Palmer. She shows no fear, and she witnessed the very same thing you did, didn't she?" Rufus turns away, folding his arms over his chest and looking out the window.
Charlie shoots daggers at Palmer. She supposes he's the lesser evil when compared to Scarlet or Heidegger, but still . . .
"What have you done with Reeve?" she asks Rufus again. "Isn't he coming with us, too?"
"No, I've left him behind to look after the city," Rufus replies, smiling smugly at Charlie for a moment before returning to the window. "It's not like any of the other directors are capable. Palmer, you could stand to learn a thing or two from Director Tuesti. At the very least, he could teach you to say 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir' without stuttering."
Rufus looks Palmer up and down, scrunching his nose.
"And maybe he could teach you how to dress, as well. Have you ever been to a tailor in your life?"
Charlie can't say she has any sympathy for Palmer. It's nice to see him squirm, growing red around the collar.
Rufus is petty when he's nervous. He chews anxiously on his bottom lip, and Charlie very much wishes they were alone so she could twine their fingers together to let him know it will be all right.
She can't help but feel it will be a very long flight.
In a village on the other side of Mount Nibel, they all decide to take a long rest. The sky is turning grayer by the moment, threatening rain, and it's been a very long journey for everyone. There's going to be a bad storm tonight, and he's glad they've found shelter instead of having to camp out in a tent.
"Look, Cait! It's Charlie!"
Cait Sith turns to find Aerith looking through a gossip magazine that she's picked up from a cart with an uninterested-looking vendor. She pays five gil for it, walking away from the magazine stand to show Cait the cover.
Sure enough, Charlotte is on the cover, a candid picture of her and Rufus, hand-in-hand and leaving a restaurant together. The magazine claims to have all the delicious news from Midgar, not that Reeve really needs to read it.
He's plenty aware of what's going on in Midgar, though Charlie isn't in the city anymore. Rufus had packed her onto a helicopter first thing in the morning, leaving with the rest of the executives for an impulsive trip to Nibelheim.
The two of them had pored over classified and confidential information for hours last night, looking for anything that might explain how Nibelheim survived a supposed fire. They search the bowels of the Shinra Building, find secret doorways in the archives that lead to more sensitive information pertaining primarily to war crimes committed by Shinra during the war, and Rufus even goes through all of Hojo's old things in the hopes of finding some clue as to what he might be up to.
Despite searching for hours, looking feverishly through the online databases, and hacking into the late president's old files, neither Reeve nor Rufus can find an explanation for the state that Nibelheim is in. Every report they come across is filled with the same information.
The mako reactor had malfunctioned, causing a freak explosion that killed Sephiroth, the other SOLDIER that had been dispatched with him (along with two other infantrymen), and set fire to the small village of Nibelheim.
Rufus had found a report dated a few years later, written by a scientist who had moved into the Shinra Manor, but it contained nothing of importance, only a plea to President Shinra for more supplies.
But reports are missing, and there's no denying it. If the reactor had indeed caused the village to burn, Reeve knows there should have been damage assessments and information gathering. It seems no one had gone to inspect how much monetary damage the fire had done, there are no plans to rebuild, nothing that suggests anyone went to Nibelheim at all afterwards, no casualties are mentioned except for Sephiroth, and even that information is sketchy, knowing what they know now.
There is nothing to support Cloud and Tifa's claims, and Reeve isn't quite sure whether he should make that information known to his group or not.
No, not his group, Cait Sith's group. No, not Cait Sith's group. Cloud's group. He has to remember that these people aren't his friends.
Lingering behind their other friends, Aerith and Cait Sith look through the magazine for a minute, just to see if there's anything important or interesting that might catch their eye.
The center of the magazine has a spread of pictures, however, all of them involving Charlie. Some of them are pictures from previous photo shoots she's done in the past, while others are candid shots of Charlie and Rufus, or Charlie and a Turk, or Charlie and him.
The photo on the cover of the magazine is featured at the top of an article, as well, and a headline that reads:
DITCHED DIRECTOR!
Reeve grumbles to himself, reading the additional print below the headline.
Vice President Charlotte Shinra spotted outside The Gallery Cuisine without her beau or engagement ring upon returning to Midgar after being away on what inside sources call an "extended business trip."
"Well . . ." Aerith sighs, eyes flicking across the pages. "It looks like she's all right, doesn't it? Oh, look! There's Tseng, too."
Cait Sith looks to where she points with her index finger, to a picture that must have been taken recently, taken at the market in Costa del Sol, the photographer clearly having been hiding and waiting for this moment. It's taken at an awkward angle, but Reeve is able to see the dumbapple in Charlie's hand, even through Cait Sith's eyes, and Tseng's hand on her lower back, as if very eager to be gone.
DANGEROUS ROMANCE!
Vice President Charlotte Shinra spotted in the famous resort town Costa del Sol, with a member of Shinra Inc.'s infamous Turks. Sources say the two are "very close" and locals confirm they've spent much time together in Costa del Sol over the years.
"Hey! What'cha got your hands on, Aerith?" Barret calls from ahead of them.
Cloud and Tifa have already gone ahead to the inn. No one had stopped them. Surely their experience in Nibelheim has left them emotionally drained, and Reeve certainly wasn't going to insist they continue their journey.
"Don't tell me you spent your hard earned money on a gossip rag?" Barret scoffs, walking over to Aerith and Cait Sith, flanked by a curious Yuffie, a bored-looking and severely out of place Vincent, and a panting Nanaki.
"But it had Charlie on the front," Aerith pouts, holding up the magazine for them all to see it. "I wanted to see if there was any information inside."
"Ugh," Yuffie says, scrunching her nose. "I can't stand lookin' at that guy." She means Rufus.
Vincent looks at the photograph for a long time, finally lifting his golden claw to gesture at the cover with his finger. "Who is that girl?"
"That's Charlotte Shinra, the late president's daughter and vice president," Aerith explains, pointing her out before touching Rufus's face with an index finger. "And that's her brother, Rufus, the president. She was traveling with us for a little bit, not too long ago."
"Why?"
"In the end, she wanted to get to Cosmo Canyon," Aerith sighs. "But she never made it. The Turks found her in Gongaga and brought her back to Midgar. We haven't heard from her since."
Reeve still feels guilty about that. After all, isn't it his fault that Charlie had been locked in a cell within the Shinra Building? If he hadn't told Tseng where to find Charlie, would she have made it to Cosmo Canyon with the rest of them?
"Good riddance," Barret interjects, putting a hand on his hip. "You know what they say about her in the slums, don't you?" He looks very seriously at Vincent, as if it's imperative that Vincent understands what he's going to say. "Rumor has it that she and her brother are a lot closer than regular siblings. A lot closer."
Aerith flashes him a dubious look, stuffing the magazine away into her satchel. "I don't think that's true. She was engaged to be married, and it definitely wasn't to her brother."
"I didn't know Charlie was engaged," Yuffie muses, looking rather impressed.
"Doesn't matter. It was just to cover up what was really goin' on between her and the president," Barret continues.
"Those are just rumors," Cait Sith supplies helpfully, but Barret doesn't seem thrilled to be meeting some pushback from another ally. "You shouldn't put stock into something so horrible!"
Yuffie makes a loud noise of disgust. "Wait a minute! You mean they're . . . you know . . . ?"
"They're fucking." Barret seems to realize too late that he probably shouldn't have said that, but he doesn't apologize for it. "Anyway, at least now we can tell Tifa that Charlie looks perfectly fine in those pictures. No bruises, no broken bones, no burns or scars or cuts or bullet holes. She got off easy, if you ask me."
"Who was she engaged to?" Vincent asks again.
Reeve can't help but feel his chest tighten in the office he's made himself in the house at Kalm. Vincent has hardly shown interest in getting to know anyone so far, and the fact that his first questions are in regards to Charlie doesn't sit well with him.
Barret answers while Aerith pulls the magazine back out, flipping through the pages again. "Doesn't matter what his name is. All those suits are the damn same."
"Here," Aerith says, and Cait Sith looks down to find a picture of Charlie and Reeve looking back at him. "Reeve Tuesti, Director of Urban Development."
Despite no one being able to see him, Reeve finds himself blushing as Aerith puts his picture on display for everyone to see.
"Look at that million gil suit he's wearin'," Barret complains, growing to himself. "He ain't no different than the rest."
"I have a hard time believing Charlie would agree to marry someone like Heidegger," Aerith chides him, giving Barret a playful whack! on the arm with the magazine. "Besides, as it happens, I've heard wonderful things about him before."
"Well don't keep us hanging on the edge of our seats," Yuffie snorts. "I gotta know what you've heard. Nothing good comes out of Shinra, Aerith, and that includes Charlie and her boy toy."
Aerith gives Yuffie a disappointed look, but still smiles weakly. "He and Charlie frequented the Leaf House." She looks at Vincent, Yuffie, and Nanaki for a moment. "It's the orphanage by my house in the Midgar slums. The children there absolutely adore the two of them."
"It's not hard to buy affection when you have more money than all the people of Midgar combined," Barret says, shaking his head. Yuffie nods her agreement very dramatically. "And I thought we were going to see twenty-thousand more gil when she got back to Midgar. She cheated us."
"I don't think she cheated us," Aerith insists, tucking the magazine away one more time. "I think something's wrong."
"Too late to go back for her now. Let's go, Nanaki," Barret says, and Nanaki seems surprised as being addressed so suddenly, but follows behind Barret as they make their way towards the inn.
Yuffie and Vincent leave Aerith and Cait Sith standing in the village square. "I'm sure Charlie's okay," Cait Sith reassures her, offering her a small smile. "She's probably just been busy with her duties. Don't forget, they're still dealing with the aftermath of Sector Seven."
"You're right," she says, smiling back at him. "I know I shouldn't be so worried, it's just . . ." Aerith hums and gives her head a little shake, but doesn't finish her thought, leaving Cait Sith behind as she catches up to her friends.
It's starting to rain.
"It's getting dark," Charlie protests, looking out the window at the sky again. The further they get from Midgar, the darker the sky gets, and she's sure that it will begin to storm soon. "We should find a town and settle down for a little bit. Once the sky clears up, we can continue on."
"We can't stop now," Rufus replies through his headset. "Time is of the essence. We'll be fine. The storm will pass. We'll be there shortly. I think we've just passed the Gold Saucer . . . or at least, I know it must be around here somewhere."
But the storm doesn't pass, and through the windshield, it's getting harder and harder to see as rain begins to tap-tap-tap against the glass. Even the pilot suggests they find a place to land, but Rufus forces him onward, even with the wind causing the helicopter to sway violently from side to side.
"We'll be fine," Rufus repeats to everyone within the helicopter, ignoring the sounds of Palmer vomiting into a paper bag. "It's just a little rain."
"Rufus, this land is covered with mountain ranges," Charlie sighs, gripping the side of the helicopter. "If we clip one because of the storm—"
"We'll be fine," Rufus hisses at her, and then, to the pilot, he says, "Keep going. We need to get to Nibelheim."
But the rain, wind, and storm doesn't let up.
It continues to grow darker, so dark that Charlie isn't certain how the pilot is able to see where he's flying. Palmer continues to vomit, sweating heavily and paling whenever he glances at the window, and the two guards on either side of him look a little green, as well.
Rufus touches her forearm, and Charlie jumps. "Put your seatbelt on," he instructs her, gentle and firm at the same time.
She wastes no time in obeying his command, buckling herself into the helicopter and trying to force herself to keep breathing. The chopper jerks, jostling everyone around.
Rufus moves closer to her, as if sensing her fear. "It'll be fine," he tells her, and Charlie nods. She's afraid, terribly frightened. The sky is growing darker and the rain falls in sheets. His voice is much kinder when he next speaks. "Charlotte, it's all right."
She nods again, grateful when Rufus takes her hand in his own, squeezing tight and bringing her fingers to his lips for a moment.
The wind rocks the helicopter again, and Charlie squeezes her brother's hand so tightly that her knuckles turn white.
For a few minutes, Charlie thinks they're in the clear. The pilot seemingly has a good grip on the helicopter again, and though the rain drives down and nearly blinds them all to their surroundings, the flight begins to steady despite the wind.
Rufus's hand is clammy and shaky in hers, but she has the grace to pretend not to notice. It may very well be her own hand that's so sweaty and trembling.
And then, the wind blows them once again, and from the front of the helicopter, a high-pitched alarm squeals over the sound of the pouring rain. Charlie screams as the helicopter is jerked to one side, and there's a sudden crash! that certainly would have thrown her out of the chopper if the hatch was open.
Within seconds, the chopper rumbles and is suddenly spinning in circles as everyone shouts at each other. The tail has clipped a mountain, just as she predicted, and Charlie's heart is hammering against her chest as Palmer's vomit misses the bag and coats his shined shoes.
I'm going to die here, she thinks to herself, squeezing her eyes shut tight as the spinning makes her nauseous. I'm going to die before I see Mother. I'm going to die before I even get to Nibelheim.
"Charlie!"
Charlie's eyes snap open and Rufus's hand takes hold of her chin. It is not violent or painful, but firm. He turns her face to look at him.
"Look at me, Charlie," he says, and she's amazed that he's able to be so calm right now. "We're going to be all right. Just hang in there—"
This is how the Shinra line ends. The remaining Shinras holding hands in a spinning helicopter.
"Brace yourselves!" calls the pilot.
Charlie seeks out Rufus's hand this time, gripping it as tight as she can. If she's going to die, at least she's going to die with her brother, with Rufus, with this man she loves so much. At least she doesn't have to die alone.
Rufus is looking at her, and there's fear in his eyes now that she looks closer. The alarms going off and the small explosion that sounds from the rear of the chopper as the tail falls to the ground, which is quickly approaching.
"It's all right, Charlie, don't worry—" Rufus says, and she can hardly hear him over all the screaming that's coming through her headset. The guards are beginning to panic now, but there's nothing they can do as they—"Hold on, Charlie—"
"Rufus—"
"I know," he replies, and she's sure that he does, "I know, Charlie."
He squeezes her hand again, and they don't look away from each other as the helicopter crashes to the ground, knocking her unconscious.
She isn't sure how long she's been out, but she wakes with a splitting headache and the wind completely knocked out of her, with Rufus's fingers gently tapping her cheek, his voice calling out to her over and over and over again, louder and louder and louder until he's nearly screaming, "Charlie!"
It takes her eyes a moment to focus, and when they do, she notices the blood running down the right side of her brother's face. Her seatbelt is still on, holding her in place as she slumps forward, the belts pressing tight against her chest.
"Come on," Rufus says gently, a note of panic in his voice. He unbuckles her seat belt and she falls forward into his arms, closing her eyes as his comforting arms envelope around her for a moment. "Don't do that, Charlie. It's not funny. I thought you were dead."
He presses a lingering and crushing kiss to her forehead.
"We have to go," he says again, throwing one of her arms around his shoulders before sweeping her off her feet and carrying her out of the helicopter.
It's still pouring rain, causing her hair to stick right to her face. It's cold rain, sending a chill rippling throughout her entire body, drenching her clothes.
She doesn't really think she can walk right now. Her knees feel weak and her legs are shaking violently. Charlie smiles at Rufus, patting his chest. The rain is washing off some blood from his face, turning it pink against his milky skin.
"My hero," she croaks, watching a genuine smile spread across her brother's face.
Rufus sets her down when they're a safe distance away from the helicopter. He kneels at her side as they watch flames engulf the helicopter, and Charlie looks around to find the pilot missing, only to see him slumped over the dashboard before the fire takes him.
Palmer and the two guards have survived, but Palmer is complaining loudly of his foot, which had been injured again in the crash, and the two guards are waved away by Rufus when they attempt to come near Charlie.
"Are you all right?" Rufus asks quietly, fussing over her hair and clothes, removing his jacket to wrap it around her shoulders. "Can you walk?"
"I think so." Charlie brushes some of his hair out of his eyes. His jacket doesn't warm her very much, given that it's waterlogged now, but it's the gesture that counts. "Oh! My backpack!"
"It's gone now," he murmurs, sighing frustratedly. "Along with my things, as well. It doesn't matter, though—you're safe." He seems slightly distant, glancing over his shoulder at the wreckage. Almost as an afterthought, he adds, "And I'm fine."
"That was terrifying," she confesses, holding the jacket tighter around her shoulders. "I thought we were all going to die."
Her heart is still racing. The adrenaline hasn't yet faded. While she pushes herself slowly to her feet, Rufus pulls out his phone and checks for service. He lifts it to his ear for a minute before dialing another number and waiting another minute.
"Scarlet and Heidegger aren't answering," he grumbles, pushing his hair out of his face.
"You don't think the storm got them, too?" Charlie asks breathlessly, shivering. Truthfully, she wouldn't shed many tears, if any at all, if she learned that they hadn't survived a helicopter accident.
Rufus purses his lips, lowering his voice. "I'm sorry. I could kiss you right now, I'm so happy. I really thought you were dead, Charlie."
"I'm okay," she answers, pecking him on the cheek. His skin is ice cold. "We need to get out of this rain. Is everyone all right?"
No one is seriously injured, but Palmer is going to have to hobble with the thick cast around his foot.
"Mr. President, I think I know where we are," says one of the guards, removing his helmet so show off a deathly pale face, his dark and curly hair stuck to his forehead. "I think we've overshot our course. This is Mount Nibel, but I think Nibelheim is on the other side."
"We can't climb Mount Nibel tonight," Charlie tells Rufus. "And until the storm stops, we can't, in good conscience, call for another helicopter."
"Well, we need some form of transportation," Rufus hisses, slicking his hair back and chewing on his lip. And then, he narrows his eyes, turning to face Charlie and grinning very slowly. "Hold on. If this is the other side of Mount Nibel, then we're awfully close to Rocket Town, aren't we, sister?"
Charlie falters. The last place she wants to go with Rufus is Rocket Town. "It'll be a few days on foot."
"There's a village nearby," says the bare-faced guard again. "A few hours on foot, but we might be able to find a car there."
Rufus and Charlie look at each for a moment. "We could take that plane of his," he pants, raising his eyebrows at her. "You and me."
Charlie grits her teeth and shakes her head. "Leave him alone, Rufus."
"We'll only be borrowing it. You'll make sure nothing happens to it, right?" Rufus turns towards the guard again. "All right. Palmer is going to have to stay here, but the rest of us can—"
"You and the other guard can stay here with Palmer," Charlie interrupts, and Rufus frowns deeply. "Stay by the mountain and keep out of the rain. I'll go to the village, too. Unless you have money that hasn't been melted down in the fire?"
Truthfully, Charlie just wants to get away from the crash. The sky overhead is so dark that the flames are their only source of light, the sun completely hidden behind black storm clouds. She knows Rufus will never make it on foot—he'll be complaining within the first thirty minutes.
But she knows what it's like to travel now, and a few hours on foot doesn't seem so bad.
"We'll come back with a car," she promises, and Rufus has no choice but to let them go.
By the time Charlie and the guard (she learns that his name is Benji and that he's only twenty-three-years-old) make it to the village, the rain is beginning to let up, but lightning still brightens the sky every now and then, and a few seconds later, the rumbling of distant thunder accompanies it.
After explaining to a mechanic what's happened (leaving out a few key details such as the helicopter crashing, instead telling him they were forced to make an emergency landing), he's able to point them in the direction of a car that they'll be able to use, very pleased to know that she's unhurt.
Before driving back to get Rufus, however, Charlie enters the inn in the hopes of finding dry clothing. The receptionist lets her keep everything, and is glad to hear that she and Rufus will be staying in their humble village for the night. It's a bit much, but Charlie thanks her all the same, asking for a private place to change.
As she and Benji make their way back to the car, something catches Charlie's eye that makes her stop abruptly in the middle of the roadway, staring at the place where she could have sworn she just saw a cat with a . . .
"Will you excuse me for just a minute?" she says distractedly to Benji, pushing the clothes she bought for Rufus into his arms. "Start the car, would you? I'll only be a moment."
"Yes, Madam Vice President."
Charlie darts towards the side of the shop where she's just seen the flash of black and white. With her heart still pumping courage through her veins, she squeezes in between the buildings and into the shadowy alleyway, trying to quiet her breathing—
"Charlie!"
She gasps, her foot touching something. "Cait Sith? Is that you?"
"Sure is," he replies sweetly, and she can feel small gloved hands patting at her leg. "What a real treat, meeting you here."
Charlie reaches down for him, taking him by the hand and hoisting him up into her arms, moving further down the alleyway until they're graced with some dim yellow lighting from the back of a shop.
"What are you doing here?" she asks him, setting him on the ground underneath a steel awning and kneeling in front of him. "Is everyone else here, too?"
"Aye," Cait Sith replies, glancing around anxiously. "We only arrived earlier today after crossing Mount Nibel. But what are you doing here?"
"Rufus and I, we were on our way to Nibelheim. He wants to join the hunt for Sephiroth," she explains quickly, worried that the guard might come looking for her any moment, only to report back to her brother that she's been talking to someone associated with Avalanche. "Our helicopter crashed a few hours from here—"
"What?"
"Everyone's all right," she reassures him, holding her hands out. "I mean, the pilot did die, but Rufus is still alive, as well as Palmer." Charlie reaches out to touch his shoulders lightly. "Listen, you can't stay here. You have to leave. I came here for a car, and I'm going to bring Rufus back with me to stay the night. You all can't be here when we come back."
Cait Sith is quiet for a moment. He's so still that she isn't sure he's even able to reply, but then he does. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"
She smiles weakly. "That doesn't matter. Tell everyone that you've got to go."
"Are you going to be okay?"
Charlie hesitates, but nods after a few seconds. "Listen, tomorrow, Rufus wants to go to Rocket Town. Someone we know there has a plane that he wants to use to continue after Sephiroth, now that our helicopter is downed." She lowers her hands from Cait Sith's shoulders. "I need you guys to stop him. I need you to stop Rufus from taking the Tiny Bronco."
"I'll bring it up to the others, I promise."
"Okay." She's quiet again, listening to the rain slapping against the cobblestone alley. When she breathes, it puffs out in front of her like smoke. "Cait . . ."
"Yeah?"
Exhaling shakily, she has a feeling that Cait Sith already knows what she wants to ask. "Did you make it to Cosmo Canyon?" she whispers, like it's a secret. Her heart is ready to leap out of her throat, to burst through her chest, to stop completely—
"We did."
She doesn't want to know, but something about the way Cait Sith's shoulders are slightly slumped gives her the answer she's been seeking. "Did you see my mother?" she asks again.
There's a moment's hesitation on his end. "I asked about your mother, but . . ."
"She's dead, isn't she?" It doesn't sound like her voice when she asks.
Cait looks down at his feet. "I put flowers at her grave. I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," Charlie says, and she means it.
She wants to cry, but knows that now isn't the time. She's surprised how much more the news about Veld had hurt. It feels just like it did with her father—it had stung at first, the realization of what happened, the shock of it, and then . . . the numbness, the guilt of not grieving enough.
She hardly knew her mother. It's only natural that she should feel conflicted about it.
"Charlie," Cait Sith says, grabbing onto a few of her fingers and squeezing. "It's good to see you again."
She smiles, and perhaps it's the idea that maybe she was missed by these people that brings tears to her eyes. "It's good to see you, too."
"Rufus, please, just leave Cid alone. We can wait here until another helicopter comes."
"We're wasting time!" he snaps, stepping up to the window and looking out into the night. "Every moment we delay, Sephiroth gets further and further away from us. We should have left for Rocket Town the moment we got the car."
"Look at what happened when you were in such a rush," she counters quickly. "We almost died—"
Rufus whirls around, spinning on his heels to face her. He is clearly stricken. "You scared the hell out of me, Charlie."
"I didn't mean to."
"No, I know, I just—" He sighs, combing his fingers through his hair. He's just as anxious as she is, pacing around the room in the clothes Charlie had bought for him from the gift shop. "I'm glad you're all right. I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to you."
"That's very touching," Charlie smiles, lying back on the pillows and resting her hands behind her head. The ceiling fan goes around and around and around, just like the helicopter had. "Listen, you realize that there is no way that Cid will let you touch his plane."
"Well, I'm certain having you around will change his tune," her brother scoffs, pulling his phone out of his pocket again and wiping the screen with a sleeve. "He can't refuse us anything. If the president and the vice president show up together, he's in no position to deny us what is rightfully ours."
Truthfully, the Tiny Bronco belongs one-hundred-percent to Cid. Perhaps some of the parts came from Shinra, but he had put the airplane together himself.
"Besides, I have an idea." Rufus smiles and holds up his index finger to quiet her. He waits for a few seconds and then says, "Captain Cid Highwind! How are you? It's President Rufus Shinra."
Charlie can hear the furious cursing of Cid on the other line, unable to make out just what he's saying, but knowing that it can't be good.
"I wouldn't be so hasty with your judgement, Captain," Rufus continues, examining his fingernails critically, looking far too smug. "I think you might like my proposition. Care to hear it?"
More yelling.
"Actually, my lovely sister has convinced me of something wonderful," he lies, looking up at Charlie again. She scowls at him, wanting nothing to do with this. "She has convinced me to reopen the Space Exploration Department. Doesn't that sound fantastic?"
Less yelling.
"That's what I thought. Now, perhaps we could meet sometime tomorrow afternoon? Say . . . noon? I'm sure my sweet sister can find your house for us."
Another few seconds of silence.
"Oh? I didn't mention that? I'll let her know that you're just delighted to see her again, Captain. See you tomorrow." Rufus hangs up the call and shrugs, far more at ease than he had been a few minutes ago. "That was easy. Gods, he's a nightmare. Someone needs to teach him a little respect. We'll be after Sephiroth again in no time."
The falsely cheerful way he speaks is grating. Charlie can't help but think she's watching him become more and more unhinged by the day, his emotions always ranging from one end of the spectrum to another without warning, his anger becoming more volatile.
She can't help but think about their mother. She wonders if she should tell Rufus, but decides not to, in the end. Charlie isn't quite sure how Rufus feels about their mother, but she knows that she was far closer to their mother than Rufus ever was, not like she remembers anything now.
Maybe it's best to go on letting Rufus believe she died in some gutter a long time ago, penniless and heartbroken.
"Why don't you get some rest?" he suggests, surprisingly soft. "We've had a long day. Are you sure you're not hurt?"
"I'm sure. I had you there to protect me."
Rufus smiles sadly, leaning against the wall to look at her. "I would be good to you, Charlotte."
Charlie blushes. "I know you would."