No rest for the wicked. Year isn't over yet, so have an update!
Remembrance
A slight chill overcame her as fresh, cold air wafted in through the windows, telling her that Winter had well and truly arrived. Way colder than in the past two years. It gave her a slight feeling of nostalgia, reminding her of Winters long past, when Nibelheim would sometimes be covered in snow and all the kids would spend their time playing outside while the adults kept themselves warm with a cup of mulled wine.
Maybe she should offer some?
It would make for a nice treat for the nearing Yuletide.
Swiping the counter with a cleaning rag while humming along a tune from the radio, she looked around the empty bar. One of those slow days today. Even with 7th Heaven being a relatively successful bar, slow days would still happen. Especially when people were busy trying to get presents for their loved ones. Cloud and her needed to do that soon, too, before it would get especially bad. Nothing was worse than buying presents a day before the festivities.
She put a hand on her hip, tapping her foot on the floor in thought for a moment before sighing through her nose and walking to the front door. Opening it, she turned the sign to read 'Closed' and shut it again.
A shiver went through her and she headed upstairs to put on something warmer to wear. She decided on the comfy looking sweater that Cloud had brought with him a couple of months ago, and a pair of tights.
As she returned downstairs she could hear the radio announcer talking about the local news.
"—Mr. Tuesti has yet to make a formal statement in regards to the new project. And with that out of the way, let's return to the music!"
Tifa halted in her tracks when the next song started to play and simply stared at the radio while the upbeat song echoed through the bar. She hadn't heard this one in, what was it now? Three years?
It was only once, yet she still remembered it clearly. Walking over to the radio, Tifa sat down and closed her eyes as she started a trip down memory lane while she listened.
Hmm, looking good on this front, Tifa thought as she inspected her supplies, tapping her pen against the small clipboard she was holding. Writing something down, she moved to the other side of the storage to inspect their stock over there.
"Tifa?" a voice called out. Jessie.
"In here!" she called back and a moment later, the tech whiz joined her.
"Pretty dead today, huh?" Jessie asked.
"Can't be busy all the time." Tifa shrugged.
"Wanna hang out, then?"
She gave Jessie an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I wanted to use the time to do inventory and clean up the place."
"Oh, well, then let me help. That way you're done faster and we can hang after, how's that sound?" Jessie asked.
Tifa thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Sure, sounds good. Can you check how many barrels of beer we still have?"
"Gotcha!"
The two of them spent the next 30 minutes checking their entire stock and writing down everything that needed to be resupplied. Afterwards, they returned to the bar to start cleaning the place.
Tifa was just scrubbing one of the tables, when she saw Jessie walk over to the jukebox.
"Let's get some music in here," she said and pressed one of the buttons. But nothing happened. "What the—?"
She pressed another one with the same result, and Tifa had to force herself not to grin.
"Why aren't you working?" Jessie asked the machine, then pressed a multitude of buttons, before letting out a frustrated groan and slapping her hand on top of it. Not being able to hold back anymore, Tifa burst into laughter, making her friend look at her.
"Sorry!" Tifa said in between laughter. "The jukebox's been out of order for a couple of days now. I actually wanted to talk to you about it. Must've slipped my mind."
"Huh...Well, that sucks. Hmm." Jessie rubbed the back of her head. Her face brightened all of a sudden and she tapped a finger against her temple before wandering off, leaving Tifa standing there with a confused look on her face.
It didn't take long for Jessie to return, holding what looked like a radio under her arm. She placed it on the bar counter and extended the awfully long antenna.
"I've been tinkering with this little girl for a couple of weeks. Wanted to see if I could tap into Shinra's radio communications," Jessie explained as she turned it on, causing Tifa to grimace at the loud static sound it emitted. "Doesn't work so far, but what did work—"
She turned the adjuster a little until the static gave way to music.
"—was tapping into the radio stations above."
"Wow..." Tifa looked at Jessie. "That's pretty amazing."
"Hehe, I know, right?" Jessie grinned. "The real hard part was to get through the damn plate, but I won't bore you with the details. Let's get cleanin' instead."
After picking out a channel that suited her tastes, Jessie went back behind the bar to clean. Having some music on while cleaning helped take the monotony out of the task, and the two of them had the bar cleaned up in no time.
"Whew." Jessie wiped some sweat off her brow and looked at her, placing her hand on her hips. "There you go, all clean."
Tifa looked around and nodded with satisfaction. "Thanks," she said. "Without you this would've taken much longer."
Putting the cleaning rag into the sink, Tifa gave her friend a smile. "Guess I'm free now. So what did ya wanna do?"
Jessie opened her mouth to say something, when another song started playing and the corners of her friends lips curved up into another grin. "First you're gonna dance with me!"
"Huh?" Not leaving any room for debate, Jessie grabbed her hand and dragged her out from behind the counter and into the middle of the bar, where her friend immediately began to dance to the upbeat pop song.
"Come on, shake a leg, Lockhart!" Jessie urged her on.
Tifa let out a huff and shook her head, but still started to dance, falling slowly into rhythm with the song.
"That's it. Rock those hips," Jessie said before starting to sing along.
"You know this song?"
"Yeah." Her friend nodded with a grin. "Heard it a few days ago in a club. It's pretty popular right now."
It was a nice song, Tifa had to admit. Easy to dance to as well.
In the middle of their dance, Jessie grabbed both of her hands and led her around, which quickly devolved into them jumping around to the music like two kids. It was silly, but Tifa couldn't help but laugh, and neither could Jessie.
A couple of minutes later the song ended and both women threw their arms around each other's shoulders in a loose hug, still laughing.
"You're impossible!" Tifa said after she had finally calmed down enough to speak.
"Yeah, but that's why you like me."
Tifa let out an exasperated sigh, before turning her head to look at Jessie. Chuckling, she nodded. "Yeah, I do."
Slowly removing herself from the hug, Tifa locked eyes with Jessie, giving her a smile filled with warm affection that her friend returned with that oh-so-familiar twinkle in those hazel irises.
Her eyes opened again when the song stopped. With a sigh, Tifa reached out her hand and turned the radio off. Getting up from her seat, she headed up the stairs and towards their little storage room.
Once inside, Tifa looked around until she found a certain wooden box in the far right corner.
After their journey, they sold a large quantity of their old gear to make ends meet. But there were some things they just couldn't part with, and those they had placed in this box.
A smile crept on her face when her old arm guard immediately appeared when she opened the lid. Tifa still remembered the day she had gotten it; that bittersweet feeling of leaving home.
It had served her well. Perhaps she should show it to the doctor one of these days?
After rummaging a bit, her fingers clasped a small oval shape, and she pulled her hand out to reveal her old locket. The last present her father had ever given to her.
Opening it, she looked at the empty space inside. The photo of Zack, Sephiroth and her had long since been discarded. She never had found a photo to replace it with.
She dug her hand back in and looked for a few more minutes until she had finally found what she was looking for. Her old phone.
After closing the box once again, Tifa took the phone and headed into their bedroom where she charged it for a moment before turning it on.
With a few taps she opened the photo folder and scrolled through all the 'memories' she had taken throughout their journey. She stopped for a moment to smile fondly at the photo of Aerith and her in front of their newly acquired buggy.
It was only a relatively short time, but it was so much fun, despite it all.
She scrolled down some more, letting out a little laugh at the snapshot of Barret in his sailor suit, until she arrived at the 'memories' that weren't taken by her.
Tifa looked at every last one of them, taking in every little detail to experience the feelings of those days all over again. Eventually she arrived at the photos that were just of Jessie and her.
She ran a finger over the screen as she looked into those hazel colored eyes so full of life and something else that had only ever been present with her around.
It had taken some time, but she knew now that Jessie had loved her more than just a friend. She had realized it on the day Barret, Cloud and her had gone to Sector 7 after Meteorfall to pay their respect to their fallen friends.
Something that Barret had said while they were all getting drunk on the Corel wine he brewed had made her realize it.
"I'm sorry for not realizing it sooner," she said as if Jessie could hear her. But she knew that even if she did, she could have never reciprocated those feelings. She loved Cloud and had done so even unconsciously when they had been separated for all those years. Jessie, or anyone else for that matter, never stood a chance.
Perhaps in another life they might have worked out.
Slowly, the smile crept back on her features. Jessie would be happy for them. They all would be.
Wedge would congratulate them in his own bumbling yet charming way, Biggs would rib them for all it was worth but still he happy and Jessie—
Tifa let out a huff.
—Jessie would try to give her inappropriate advice on how to keep Cloud in line. Letting out a little laugh, she held the phone to her chest.
The sadness was still there. Would always be there, but the happy memories they shared far outweighed that feeling and Tifa would always carry those deep in her heart. Slowly, she turned her eyes to the nightstand where a picture of Cloud, Denzel, Marlene and her was resting. As she looked at it, an idea dawned on her, and she looked back towards the phone.
Tifa turned the phone off and took out the data card inside. With a resolute look, she walked over to their closet and took out a jacket that she put on, followed by a pair of boots. Downstairs, she opened the register to take out some cash before leaving 7th Heaven.
A couple of days later, Tifa smiled at the sight in front of her as she looked at the previously almost empty wall of the right side of their living room, now adorned with a multitude of picture frames, each holding a 'memory'.
It really had been a stroke of luck that a customer had told her about a new print shop having opened up not far from here.
A chuckle escaped her when she heard Marlene burst out in giggles at the sight of the infamous Marshmallow Bear photo of Barret; a little present for her to put up in their room.
"Tifa?" Denzel asked next to her, holding out a photo to her and nodding towards the big one hanging in the middle of the wall. It was the one that Johnny had taken during her birthday party. "Are these your friends, too?"
Tifa gently took the frame from him. Inside it were her and Jessie, lying on their backs and resting their heads close to one another.
"Yeah. Friends we've lost along the way," she said. She ran a finger over the edge and looked towards Cloud, who was putting the photo of Aerith and her on the wall, the smile never once leaving his face. The corners of her lips curled into a smile of her own and she turned to Denzel once more. "But they live on in our hearts."
The boy looked at her for a moment, then nodded in understanding. With a small grin, Tifa ruffled his hair.
With that, she walked to one of the shelves and placed the photo on top of it so that it could overlook the entire room. Adjusting it for a moment, she stepped back and placed a hand on her hip.
I'm doing pretty good, wouldn't you say so, Jessie?
A bittersweet one this time around. I couldn't resist making one that's centered around this topic. It felt appropiate, especially after the whole thing with Jessie evolved in such a different way than I had originally planned when I set out to write all this. Heh, it's probably a bit cheesy, but it's a cheesy time of year too.
Maybe if you're all being nice kiddos Santa will leave something under your Christmas tree. ;)
R&R.