Chapter IX

Tifa's First Haircut
"Especially when the man in question has all the emotional responses of a stapler." - Tifa

"Ow. My head," Tifa said. "How am I, still alive?"

A woman answered. "Rest. You'll feel better soon."

Tifa lay still, eyes closed. She heard Vincent say, "She was injured worse than any of us."

"I feel awful, too," Cloud said. "Not to mention embarrassed. Beaten by a fashion model and her two gorillas? I'll never hear the end of it from Yuffie."

"In Cid's words," Vincent said, "We just got our asses whupped back there."

"There now." The woman's voice came again. Tifa felt a wet cloth on her forehead. She breathed a minty perfume that send waves of coolness flowing up her sinuses into her brain. The pain immediately blunted. She drew long breaths before finally opening her eyes.

"First time I ever enjoyed a brain freeze."

She lay on a soft cot in a shaded room. Nearby, Vincent sat by another bed, talking to Cloud. Bending over her she saw a young, blue-haired woman with pale skin that gleamed - a contrast to the orange to brown complexions of most folks in this sunny climate. This woman's hair grew almost as long as Tifa's own. (Well, before that creep had set it on fire. Sigh.)

"Welcome back to the living." Ms. Blue Hair smiled down at her. "I'm Ryanne, by the way, the local healer."

"I feel like, I know you."

"If you bet on the chocobo races in the Golden Saucer, you probably met my cousins. Except they cut their hair." Ryanne giggled and fluffed a handful. "Since we stand out in a crowd, why not work in a crowd? So they say."

"I feel like I've been dead."

"Close. You had a nasty concussion. It took a few miracles to wake you from your coma. I worried for a bit but I rarely lose any patients."

"Teef." Cloud turned his blue eyes on her. "Just go for the knockout blow next time. Why mess around with the leg stuff? We could have studied that lavender materia."

"I know but she really ticked me off and I wanted to hurt her." She blinked at the ceiling. "Guess I blew it for us. I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you for getting mad. Just don't let her bait you next time we fight."

Tifa did not look forward to another round.

"Torture only works in the movies, Teef."

"I - never mind." Then Tifa had a thought. "Say Ryanne. Are you, by any chance, an Ancient? Or maybe part Ancient?"

Ryanne smiled again. "Alas, no. My grandmother, Selani, did tell me stories of the Stone house. Up on the hill. Her husband, my grandfather, died in a mining accident, so to support herself and my mother, Gran got a housekeeping job up there. The Stones - their names - were kind to her and taught her about healing herbs and rituals."

"They taught you well."

"I do use materia like you do but I don't find it, comforting." She tapped a pair of green orbs. "Gran told me the Stone family could speak to the land itself. Farmers would ask them for crop advice or to help a cow give birth. And the crops were plentiful in those days."

"I hate to ask, but what happened to the Stone Family?"

"About the time I was born, Shinra came to town. They wanted to put up one of those fancy reactors of theirs. The Stones warned us that burning the Planet's mako would poison the Lifestream, so our town refused. Shinra beat up a few folks and shot out some windows but eventually they went elsewhere to build their reactor. But soon, one night the Stone House exploded in a big fireball and no one heard from the family again. Then the crops started to fail."

"That's dreadful," Tifa said.

"My mother never took to healing and herbs. She runs a shop for tourists. She'll sell you some painted pottery if you like. Her brother and my cousins moved to work in the Gold Saucer. But I stayed and asked Gran to teach me the healing arts."

"I'm lucky you did."

"Mum painted this pot. See?"

Ryanne picked up a water jug, on which someone had painted a pastoral scene. The intricate brushwork beckoned Tifa to step through to that other world.

"It grows on you, doesn't it?" Ryanne said.

Tifa nodded.

"Some say the Stone family may have survived. When I was a girl, I went exploring the ruins up there. I found what looked like a tunnel opening. I wanted to explore it but the darkness scared me. Good thing, too, since the opening collapsed later that year."

"Maybe they did escape through the tunnel?"

"If so, where are they? The land is dying. Except up there. I grow my herbs near their wellspring just like Gran did."

Tifa considered. "Every time I hear about the Ancients it comes down to the same sad story."

Cloud said, "It comes down to Shinra. They destroy everything they touch. They only create monsters, like Sephiroth."

Vincent spoke up. "John spoke of an old Xee leader named Gregor Granth. I remember the man. Arrogant, ambitious, rising through the ranks. He had a real cruel streak. He and Hojo could have been soul brothers."

"What does that tell us?" Cloud said.

"Aeris told me how Shinra once enlisted the help of Gregor in something called Operation Black Wind. I had never heard of the project. Then again, I was out of the loop for some time."

One way of putting it, Tifa thought. Sleeping in a coffin for twenty-seven years will put you behind the latest trends.

"She says Black Wind was an attempt by Shinra to exterminate the Ancients."

"Oh my God," Ryanne said. "You mean, this happened all over?"

"It would explain why, if they survived, your Stone family went into hiding."

They remained silent for several minutes. Ryanne made up another herbal poultice and lay it on Tifa's neck, just above the collarbone. Tifa smiled as the tingling warmth moved down her body.

"What happened back at the wayside, Vincent?" Cloud asked. "One moment I was charging at Carmine, and next I woke up feeling like my head was splitting open."

"Yes," Tifa said. "What kind of magic did she use on us?"

"I don't know. When I appeared, both you and Tifa were down. I took a vicious blow, barely staying conscious after changing back from my, my other form. Anyway, when Rufus called her away, I guess to deal with the creature, she left Hamm to clean up, thinking us helpless. I cast a Remove spell on him, which gave me time to load you two into a truck and drive you here.

"After finding Ryanne, I left you in her care and returned to the battlefield. I tracked down our chocobo carriage and cleaned up."

"What was that green mako fire?" Tifa said. "It was obscene."

Cloud said, "Carmine called it invert mako. Anyone ever hear of that?"

Ryanne said, "It sounds just like something Shinra would develop."

"We need to ask Nanaki about it," Cloud said.

"I collected the vials," Vincent said.

"Whoa. Is that safe?" Tifa felt a jolt of adrenaline.

"Safer with us than with Shinra. I took their launching tube as well."

"You're not thinking we'll actually use them as a weapon."

"No, but Carmine won't know that."

"Even to think of using - "

"We don't want it used on us."

"Vincent has a point," Cloud said. "But I see your point too, Tifa. Under no circumstances should we consider using that weapon."

Tifa had a thought. "Ryanne, where is this Stone House you talked about?"

"On the hillside above Shady Creek. I use its well water." She tapped the painted jug.

"As soon as I'm able to move," and Tifa had to admit that she felt much better, "Let's go up and take a look. I have a hunch."

"Regarding?" Cloud said.

"Your mother. Raine. She may be attracted there."

"Any particular reason?"

"The whole Cetra-Jenova thing. While they are mortal enemies, they seem to seek each other out. You sensed Jenova on her, right Vincent?"

"If she is seeking sites imbued with Cetra energy, she may attempt to defile them."

Ryanne drew in a sharp breath.

"I don't think so," Tifa said. "When she passed by our battle with Carmine she did not attack. In fact, she may even - "

"You saw her?" Cloud said. "At the wayside?"

"A glimpse. Though she may have been standing there longer."

Vincent said, "Perhaps her presence inflamed the fight, a mental influence. Jenova are known for that."

"I don't think so. That mako fire thing, I think that juiced us up." Tifa felt a shade of shame. "But from her? I felt nothing. She wasn't unfriendly, just sad, vacant."

Ryanne said, "Is she dangerous? I mean, is she out to harm people?"

"She has shown herself to be dangerous," Vincent said, "Perhaps by accident but look at her victims. She drains their life force, though usually not to the point of death."

"A vampire then?"

All eyes swiveled to Vincent.

"Of, sorts," Cloud stammered. "Without the, ahem, trappings."

Tifa barely suppressed a grin. "Are you thinking of John in the Shinra mansion, when we first met Vincent?"

Cloud did grin. "What a freaking disaster. But I can't help wondering if our friend John isn't somehow mixed up in this."

"How so?"

"One, he always seems to be in our way. Two, disaster follows him around like a lost puppy. Three, he just happens to have his own life force drained, when lo and behold, my dead mother pops up and starts wandering around, sapping the life force from everything she meets. Then when Nanaki performed that ritual of whatever on him, my mother stopped her rampage, content to wander about confused, like John with that broken antenna he calls a brain." Cloud cracked a wry smile. "Not that I'm one to talk."

"Hmm," Tifa said. "You know . . ."

"Tifa, call Cosmo Canyon. Find out if that ritual worked."

"Lots of people are born and die every day. It doesn't mean they're linked."

"John said he talked with my mother in Nibelheim."

Tifa paused. "Yes, but how - do you really think he, also, summoned your mother back from the dead? Maybe with Aeris' white materia?"

"Or the black materia," Vincent said. "We never did find out what happened to that."

Cloud said, "John fumbled it out of his hands at the North Crater. Aeris backs him up on that story."

"Better than handing it to Sephiroth."

"Yes. Well. Ah."

Tifa sat up, pulling the blanket with her.

Ryanne tut-tutted. "I'll have to do something about your hair. Hang on. I'll get my scissors."

Tifa lifted the end of her hair and moaned. The ends looked ragged and smelled of burnt nylon.

"Here we are," Ryanne said. "I'll fix you up in no time. Don't worry. I won't give you a buzz cut."

Cloud stood up. "Not even a Yuffie style bob cut."

Vincent took his arm and led him from the room. Their footsteps echoed down the wooden hallway.

Tifa allowed her mind to wander as Ryanne snipped away, wondering how long ago since anyone had last paid this much attention to her.

"You have gorgeous hair," Ryanne said.

Had Cloud ever said that? She could not recall.

"Thick and black. Most dark hair turns reddish in the sun. So does mine, by the way. A shade of lavender." She giggled.

"Just, leave enough to brush," Tifa said.

"Silly. I doubt you'll lose ten centimeters of it. You might, however, notice you aren't sitting on it as often."

She could learn to love that improvement.

"Nothing worse than split ends, right? Here." The healer handed Tifa a hand mirror. "You like?"

She expected a scene of devastation but when she swished her head left and right, she smiled at the way the loose strands flowed like a cascade. She smiled.

"Maybe you'll have fewer headaches?" Ryanne inserted her hands underneath Tifa's mane and began to massage her scalp. Tifa moaned, closing her eyes and leaning back.

"I wish I could teach Cloud to do this."

"You mean, he doesn't run his hands through your all this hair?"

"I wish."

"How long have you known him?"

"We grew up together."

"Ah. So you're Platonic."

"He, did go on a date with me at the Gold Saucer."

"Oh?"

"Except I had to force him."

"At least he went."

"It was either me or Aeris."

"Oh, the Ancient? I heard about her."

"Then, at the Temple of the Ancients, Cait Sith read his stupid fortune. It said Cloud and Aeris were a perfect match. I wanted to punch someone."

"Did you?"

"Wouldn't you know it, next thing, the wall attacked us. A freaking wall. So yea, I punched the Demon wall. I bruised my knuckles something awful and that made me even madder. Aeris did her Great Gospel and healed me up, but I thought, oh just leave me alone, and that made me madder than ever. So I nearly tore that stupid Demon Gate to shreds. Afterwards, when Cloud was talking with that stupid Cait Sith about his stupid plan to shrink the stupid temple into that stupid black materia, I sat down and cried my eyes out. Aeris came by and put her arms around me, told me she was sorry, that she never wanted to see me hurt. She asked what she could do for me. And you know what I said?"

"To leave Cloud to you?"

"I didn't think. Just out and said it." Her face flushed with the memory. "I wanted to take it back but I knew I couldn't. I couldn't look at her. And all she did was hold me. It made me start bawling again. My God, I was having a breakdown. Finally she told me I was the kindest person she had ever been honored to know and she would be my friend forever. Then she stared into space and said it had been a day for sacrifices. She gave me a kiss on my forehead and said she would never forget me." Tifa shuddered. "Of course, I had to start bawling again." She shivered again.

"After the temple, when Aeris ran off, I thought she had run away from Cloud and me. I felt really rotten, especially with Cloud all messed up. But then, when I saw her at the Forgotten Capital - Oh God!" Tifa broke off in sobs. Ryanne held her this time.

"You're probably afraid to tell him how you feel," Ryanne said.

Tifa started to reply, then nodded.

"No shame in that."

Tifa sniffed. "Especially when the man in question has all the emotional responses of a stapler."

Ryanne chuckled. "He does seem, repressed?"

"I think John made that stapler comment about him. I'll say one thing about that Jenova kid. He doesn't mince words. When we were facing Sephiroth in the North Crater, while the rest of us went diving for our weapons, John just stood there and taunted him about his split ends." Tifa flipped her own hair and laughed. "Sephiroth's hair was even longer than mine."

"I can see you're feeling better. Get dressed. I'll tidy up." With that, Ryanne patted Tifa's shoulder and gathered some loose implements. "Never be ashamed of your feelings, Tifa. As for Cloud, I haven't known him long but I'm sure he cares about you. He begged me to save you, when he could barely talk himself." She winked. "Good luck." She took her bundle and left the room.

Tifa had just pulled on her boots when she heard Cloud come in. She looked up but her smile faded when she saw his expression.

"What's, what's wrong?"

Cloud took a breath. "I just talked to Aeris at Cosmo Canyon."

"Is she all right?"

Cloud nodded. "John is better too, by the way. But it's Bugenhagen. He, he died today."

"Oh no! What - "

"Natural causes. Aeris says Nanaki is heartbroken."

They stared at each other. Tifa felt fresh tears in her eyes. "Poor Bugenhagen," she sniffed. I really loved that weird old guy."

"I did too. I'll miss him."

Tifa stood and hugged Cloud. With an awkward movement, he returned her embrace. Neither of them spoke. They stood, unmoving. Tifa cried some more, but the hurt felt tempered by the feeling of his arms around her.