Chapter 65: Shinra Mansion

It wasn't as easy as that of course. Not by a long shot. No one wanted to leave her and she had to finally resort to The Glare to motivate people. In the end though, it was only her and Aerith and some lukewarm water that Tifa couldn't even get in a tub with because she wasn't supposed to get her chest wet. She couldn't bend over well either, so Aerith had to help her from the knees down and her back and shoulders. Basically anywhere she had to twist the muscles in her torso to reach. Aerith also washed her hair for her, understanding what a huge difference that made mentally to Tifa. Aerith didn't… hover the way Cloud and her siblings did. It made it easier for Tifa to pretend things were normal with her.

"It's getting so long," Aerith commented as she slowly rinsed her friend's hair out. "Really. I've always been jealous of your hair but you're really trying to turn me green, aren't you?"

"Just haven't found time to get it cut," Tifa admitted, relaxing as her friend took care of her. Without pausing, so she didn't lose her nerve while she was still feeling brave thanks to Aerith's casual conversation, she simply asked:

"How bad is it?"

Aerith went quiet, which said a lot right there.

"It's going to scar. We tried everything. Materia. Potions. Nothing seemed to really work. Cloud says it's Sephiroth's sword. That it's mako engraved or something and so other forms of mako don't work against it."

Reaching up, Tifa gingerly traced a hand down over her bandaged chest. Stupidly relieved that she wasn't… lopsided at least. As much as her chest got in the way sometimes – and drew unwanted attention at times – she'd gotten used to it. She could have adjusted… she was just glad she hadn't had to. For a long moment she pressed her lips together.

"What were they doing to me? I woke up and Cloud was telling Leon that it made me scream. I – don't remember that."

Aerith made a noise that sounded pained and her hands began to gently twist Tifa's hair to wring the moisture out of it.

"We – there's – oh, fine. I don't even know where to start. They found the 'beast' in the Shinra mansion and he has some kind of flame he can create. Your wound… Tifa, it wasn't closing up. They had to sear it shut. It – it was the only thing that seemed to burn the mako poison out of the wound. When you didn't wake up afterward, they were afraid they hadn't gotten it all and might have to do it again."

"They… burned me shut?" Tifa asked, feeling suddenly sick and shaky.

"…oh…" Aerith sounded like she was going to cry and she laid her hand over Tifa's where Tifa had instinctively laid it over her chest. "I fixed it as best as I could. And the materia worked on it as well after that. It doesn't look bad, it really doesn't."

Tifa made a quiet sound and reached up with her other hand to peel the bandage away just a little. She smelled sharp ointment and fever and – burned skin… An angry red line started just above the curve of her left breast. Something in Tifa's mind automatically rejected the idea that it was a part of her. That it was her. Quick, she smoothed the bandage back into place. But she knew she wouldn't be all right until she saw all of it.

Idiot. She'd survived. Why was she worried about a scar?

She didn't ask about Zack and Red. Aerith hadn't mentioned them and she thought… she thought she'd rather think they were all right than hear otherwise just now.

Aerith helped her back into another set of Cloud's clothes and Tifa lowered her head to inhale the familiar scent of him on them. Then Aerith went and opened the door to let a bedraggled looking Marlene in to comb Tifa's hair while Aerith collected the sheets from the bed and put new ones on it. Tifa sat in the chair near it and shut her eyes as her little sister almost put her to sleep with her smooth brushing. Until the door opened and the men started to file in. And the first one she saw was –

"Red!" She was so relieved to see him that she almost got up to hug him before remembering how much it hurt to pull the skin that was tight across her chest. Aerith made a noise and gestured at the beast.

"He talks, Tifa," she stated and Tifa turned her head to look at her friend as if she was the one on medication. "He's been able to talk all along. He's the one that got us to take you here."

"Whoa," Tifa held up a hand as Denzel came in, as bedraggled looking as Marlene and moved silently over to take up a spot on the other side of his oldest sister. "Red talks? You talk?"

The giant furred head lowered and the golden eyes peered up at her, looking young and ashamed.

"Yes," his voice was a rumble, purr sound with a surprisingly refined edge to it. As if he pronounced his words very intentionally and concentrated on each sound. "I am sorry for deceiving you. It was for my own safety at first when I did not know you and after – it had just become a habit."

"Oh…" Tifa managed weakly. Searching frantically through her mind to figure out what she might have said in front of him that she hadn't thought could be repeated. Red looked as if he was expecting a scolding.

"We're in Cosmo Canyon, Teef," Aerith informed her. "Apparently it's where Red's people have always lived even though he's the only one left of them now. There's an old man here he calls 'grandfather' who did a lot to keep you alive until we could figure out how to heal you."

"I… thank you," Tifa managed and Red bowed his head low.

"You saved my life when you freed me from the Shinra cell. I was following you to try to repay the debt to you and Cloud Strife."

Tifa gave him a weak smile but meant it.

"I guess we're even now. Or I owe you."

Red shook his head, a human gesture that looked odd on him.

"No. They would have used me for experiments. And I have deceived you and taken advantage of your hospitality – I owe you a great deal still."

"I don't think – " Tifa started but he sat down on his haunches and looked very determined. She'd seen him with that look before.

"I insist."

"Okay?" Tifa asked and he looked satisfied and moved over to lie down near her.

"His first words were instructions on where to take you. You can imagine what that did to our already shot nerves," Leon said as he came the rest of the way into the room. He looked unsure as to how to approach her. Tifa held up her arms and told him.

"Hug. But gently."

He gave her an almost invisible smile that spoke volumes and moved quickly across the room to wrap her in his arms and press his face into her hair.

"Gaia… you scare me so bad, Tifa" his voice was rough and shaken. "All the time."

She tightened her hug.

"Sorry," she managed.

He held her for a long moment more and then drew away to cup her face in his hands and shake his head.

"I know – you don't do it on purpose." It was weakly teasing but it made her manage a smile for him all the same and he let go of her to walk over and lean on the wall near one of the wide windows.

Tifa didn't recognize the man that came into the room next and she just looked blankly at him. Thinking… she certainly hadn't met him before. It would be impossible to forget a man with long black hair and a nose high red ratty cape who moved like a shadow.

"This is Vincent," Leon introduced the man and it was obvious he hadn't decided on his opinion of the man yet. "He's the 'beast' we found at the mansion in Nibelheim."

Vincent swept an old fashioned courtly bow.

"I am glad you are feeling improved."

"Aerith told me that I have you to thank for that," Tifa managed. "So – thank you."

He lowered his head slightly again and said nothing else, moving over to stand near the door. He was even less talkative than Cloud apparently. That would be an interesting team.

Shera came in next and shut the door behind her. She didn't hesitate in going over to wrap her arms carefully around Tifa and hanging on. Tifa relaxed in the little woman's arms.

"We match now," Shera managed to joke weakly and Tifa exhaled a chuckle but it made her smile, really smile, and she touched the other woman's cheek.

"We do, don't we?" she managed. That's right, Shera had her own scar too. Somehow that made things feel better. She laughed quietly and hugged the other woman tighter even though it hurt a little. That was right. Scars happened in this line of work. And Shera was fine with hers. Tifa could be fine too.

"The Captain said to drink lots of tea," Shera instructed. "He doesn't do well in emotional situations so he's puttering around the airship acting busy."

Tifa thought Cid had probably phrased it a bit differently but that thought brought another smile of its own. She looked toward the door – but no one else was coming in. Feeling her heart starting to drop she asked carefully:

"Where's Zack?"

"On the Highwind," Aerith supplied but something in the way she said it had Tifa's stomach dropping horribly. She pressed her lips together and laid her hand over Marlene's where it was on the arm of her chair.

"Dead?" she finally managed to get out.

"No," Aerith said it and again, the way she said it didn't reassure the way the words should have. Tifa swallowed.

"How bad is he hurt?"

Sephiroth? Or her and her explosion? Aerith made a sound and seemed to be struggling to find the right words.

"He's fine," Leon supplied. "He's just dealing with some things we found in the Shinra mansion." After he paused, he added: "Cloud's with him."

Tifa nodded and looked at the group assembled in her room. Very deliberately she folded her hands in her lap.

"So what happened?" she asked cautiously. Leon looked over at Shera and so she pushed her glasses up on her nose. Tifa had a brief flashback to the basement in her old Seventh Heaven where everyone would let Shera do the lecturing on methods and equipment. It felt strangely reassuring.

"After we left you, we arrived at the Shinra mansion without any problems," the smaller woman began. "The place was a mess and full of monsters. Cloud and Leon had a fun time with those," Shera sounded slightly exasperated on the last sentence and it made Tifa smile. Cloud did enjoy his monster fights. It had surprised her too at the beginning – but now she kind of enjoyed them herself.

And she loved watching Cloud when he fought them.

"Cloud led us down into the basement." Shera's eyes went wide and a little horrified and Tifa had to remember that the other woman didn't know about Cloud's past the way the rest of them that had seen the lab in the reactor in Midgar suspected. "Tifa, it was terrible. There were test tubes that were person sized and tables with thick leather straps on them and these tiny little cells that you couldn't stand up straight or lay down flat in. There was a whole row of drawers for dead bodies but they all had locks on the outside of them."

Tifa's heart was starting to hurt again. How long had the man in Wutai said it had been since Cloud had returned to fight their monsters after the end of the Wutai War? Cloud had vanished right after the Wutai War – and Tifa thought that was when they had done – whatever they'd done to him. How many years had that been? Four, five? Had he been trapped in that – that dungeon for five years? Going through…

"And there were notes too. Just books and books of notes in this cramped, spidery handwriting." Shera, eyes still wide, shook her head. "We haven't had time to go through them all but… it was like a horrible mad scientist thing. I got sick reading just a little of it. No one even had names – they were all numbers and letters. And Shinra was paying for all of it!"

Shinra. It always came back to Shinra. Shinra and their horrible ability to ruin lives on a personal level when they were already destroying the entire world. Tifa reached out and took Shera's hand and the other woman squeezed it. Meeting her eyes, Tifa saw that the smaller woman had been thinking about Cloud too. She was surprised to see an angry, protective look behind those glasses as well as the horror of the discovery. If she hadn't adored Shera before, she would have with that. For such a strong, competent man Cloud seemed to have a way of bringing out the protective instinct in women.

"Well, we called the Captain right away," Shera's brows were down. "We decided to take everything with us. I was stacking books while the guys carried them upstairs and outside and I was all alone in the room when all of the sudden one of the dead boxes opened." Even now, Shera's fingers tightened on Tifa's in response and Tifa looked at her with wide eyes.

"I'm afraid I frightened her," Vincent spoke up from his place in the shadows and Tifa turned his head to look at him. He'd been – in one of the drawers for dead bodies? On purpose? His crimson eyes met hers across the room and she saw a challenge in them. It surprised her. Not because she didn't recognize what was in his eyes… but because she did.

"Well, the inn had burned down," she pointed out calmly. She knew that wasn't why he had been sleeping where he had. She had no idea why he'd been sleeping in what sounded like a house of horrors. That wasn't the point at the moment though. He was trying to bait her…

She'd lived with a little boy for most of his life. Having things done to 'shock' her had made her resort to responding calmly in sheer defense. The man across the room looked mildly amused at her answer and didn't offer anything else.

"So I screamed," Shera inserted, getting into her story now. "Cloud and Leon came tearing down the stairs ready to kill everything in the room with me." She broke off suddenly and turned to look hesitantly at Vincent. The man nodded and Shera turned her attention back on Tifa. "And – he – changed. Vincent. He grew horns and claws and this red mane. He turned into this – " She had to pause again trying to find a kind word for it and Leon simply supplied:

"Monster."

Vincent didn't react but Tifa caught the flash of his eyes to her again. And just like that, she thought she understood the strange, silent man just a little bit more. Cloud did his best to hide his 'difference'. Vincent seemed just as quietly intent on making a point of it. Both of reactions were defenses against that difference and Tifa understood it. She also refused to play along with either version. So she just nodded calmly and looked expectantly at Shera. Who was still wrestling with trying to find a better word but kept going anyway.

"Cloud flew into this absolute cold rage" Shera's hands gestured. "And said something about 'hojo'. And just like that Vincent shut off and turned back into – himself."

"I, too, have a debt to pay Hojo back for," the red-cloaked man murmured quietly from his corner.

"Hojo is the scientist that was in charge of the experiments," Shera explained and Tifa nodded slowly. It wasn't the first time she'd heard the name. And – if Aerith's father was right… there wasn't much of the man left to find and have revenge on anymore. She thought she'd keep that to herself for the moment though.

"Well, Vincent changed back," Shera picked up again, "and while Leon was talking to him, Cloud's cell phone rang. I have no idea who it was or what they said – "

"It was Zack. Don't know the rest," Leon supplied from where he was leaning against the wall.

"It was one word," Vincent supplied. "Sephiroth."

Shera looked a bit puzzled by the name. As if it should ring a bell for her but she couldn't quite place it yet. Head in her explosives and machines, Tifa wasn't surprised the other woman might not put martyr SOLDIERs high on her list of things to remember. It made Tifa hide a smile. Shera obviously corralled the name for later thought and went on with her story.

"Cloud went running up the stairs even faster than he came down them and yelling 'come on' to us like the building was going to explode. So we all went after him and he told the Captain to get us to the reactor on Mount Nibel and then he wouldn't say anything at all. Well, the Captain shot the ship forward and we got to Mount Nibel in time to see the entire top of it in flames and the Lifestream pouring out of the ground."

Tifa could only imagine how it must have looked.

"Cloud threw a rope over the side of the ship and dropped down right into the middle of all that chaos. Leon yelled at him that he was crazy – and went down the same rope. And Vincent went too."

That did draw a reaction from Tifa and she raised her head to look at the man. Who just shrugged a shoulder and stated:

"He said 'Sephiroth'." As if that was explanation enough. Maybe it was.

"Well, the Captain couldn't land the ship because there was no real room, so he dropped a ladder and me and Barrett and Aerith all climbed down. There was a guy there – "

"Van," Tifa named him, glad to hear she hadn't caught their guide in the explosion and Shera nodded.

"Yeah, Van. He said you and Zack and Red had gone in a while ago but that was all he really knew before everything just started exploding. Did I really put that much charge in the bombs?" Shera had to stop to ask and Tifa shook her head.

"I don't think so. But the air there was full of mako energy." Shera nodded.

"I was afraid that might short out your trigger. Did it set the bombs off early instead?"

Tifa just blinked at the other woman. And then it occurred to her – oh…

Oh.

Shera didn't seem to know that Tifa had set the explosions off intentionally while she was still in the reactor. It suddenly made Tifa wonder if anyone, other than Zack, knew. It made her wonder how much yelling would go on if they found out.

It wasn't as if she could let Shera feel guilty for what had happened either though…

"It wasn't the mako. I was carrying the trigger in my vest. And I fell down the stairs when…" she reached up and touched the center of her chest before she realized it. Living in the Lockhart house you learned that unless someone told the entire story, it was easy to misunderstand it. Shera's eyes softened and she pressed her glasses back up on her nose.

"Oh. I was so worried it was my fault. That I'd done something wrong again."

Tifa shook her head.

"It saved us, Shera. It wasn't your bomb that did this to me. Or Zack or Red. We wouldn't be alive if the explosions hadn't gone off."

Shera didn't look entirely satisfied but she nodded.

"Well, that's about all there is to tell anyway. The guys came back out with you and the others and then we came here."

Considering what the woman was skipping over – Tifa dying – Tifa wasn't going to press for more details. Instead she just nodded. Both Denzel and Marlene had moved close to rest their arms against hers as the story had gone on and Aerith had her hands on Tifa's shoulder. Tifa exhaled and gave Shera's hand a squeeze before making eye contact with the guys in the room.

"Wow," she finally managed.