Chapter 17

Sweat poured from her brow as she lunged forward, her fists colliding with the sandbag hung in the center of the room. Regulating her breathing, her eyes locked onto her target, Tifa could feel a pressure building up inside of her as she continued to beat the punching bag into submission. Something inside of her suddenly felt like it was spilling over, and Tifa paused for a moment before initiating a combo onto the bag. A series of punches was followed by a quick dash in and her landing a kick on the bag, causing her to somersault backwards, the end of her ponytail brushing the floor in mid-arc. Landing, she then darted her leg out in a sweeping kick and hit the bottom side of the bag, sending it into a swing. Her other leg came up and hit the bottom of the bag as it swung back at her, launching it into the air. With heavy breath, Tifa then leaned in and gave the bag an uppercut, launching the bag into the air. She went in to grapple the falling bag and launch it into a suplex, however it hit her with too much force and sent her to the ground.

The bag slowly swung back into place above her as Tifa just laid on the ground. Blowing a loose tuft of hair out of her face, she decided to just rest there as her breathing slowly returned to normal.

"You almost had it," a voice came from the door. Tifa cranked her neck to look behind her to find Astasia in the doorway. Grinning, the brunette shifted back so she was laying comfortably on the floor. Her new training clothes were great and ensured the best movement whenever she worked out. While Rufus toiled in his tower in Junon, Tifa had a constant guard of Astasia as she worked out in her home gym, met with other socialites, and studied what was going on in order to best put forth a plan of action moving forward. What Rufus had said during the parade was correct. There were a lot more Reactors leaking pollution into the surrounding areas than they thought, and there was currently a group of scientists paired with a few 3rd Class Soldiers scouring the land around Midgar to research the long term effects of the Reactor sucking up the Mako. That was one of her personal projects that Rufus greenlit almost immediately. If she could prove that the Reactors were bad, they could take that first step into creating alternate energy sources. She had high hopes for it, and this way their little cell of AVALANCHE could become legitimate, it could prove the headquarters wrong that their cell was too radical-

"Gil for your thoughts?" Astasia interrupted, an eyebrow raised as she stared down at her boss. Tifa grinned up at the 1st Class Soldier.

"Just thinking about my projects going on," she replied easily. "Just imagine, cleaning up Midgar and either building it better to eliminate the slums, or even securing the land outside of it so another Sector 7 Plate fall won't happen, won't destroy thousands of lives! I'm hoping this new foray into energy will benefit the entire planet, not just the immediate citizens. Imagine protecting generations down the line!" Astasia managed a small smile as she nodded.

"It certainly is a lofty goal, Lady Shinra," she replied curtly. Tifa frowned up at her as she sat up.

"How many times have I told you? Call me Tifa. I had hoped by now we were some sort of friends, due to you literally being one of the people who not only helped facilitate my safety against Corneo but helped find my real husband and reunite me with him. We can let the formalities go," she gently reprimanded. Astasia grimaced.

"I...I am not good at being friends. My upbringing did not allow me to make many. It is a miracle that Kiani has stuck by me for so long," the blonde admitted. Seeing that there was much Astasia had to say, Tifa merely nodded.

"Kiani is a good person," was all the brunette had to say. Astasia looked down and nodded.

"Far too good...did you know we met when we were only 16? She had just gotten into Midgar nearly 7 years ago. The war had just ended, and several Wutaiians had ventured forth, looking to improve their lives. Kiani had applied to be a front desk secretary and was barely in the interview for more than 5 minutes before she was offered the job. She's just organized like that, you know? Apparently, her Common was good enough that she didn't even have to go through any of the language competency classes that were set up for the new immigrants. When she got hired, she was introduced to all of the people working in the building at the time. Midgar had just finished construction so the staff there were either new hires, or migrated upper management from the headquarters in Junon. Half of the military was brought over, and at first, the infantrymen were used as a simple police force before Heidegger restructured us. I was merely a 3rd Class at the time, and so was stuck on general monster clearing missions and the like." Astasia paused, as if gathering her thoughts.

"What made you do it? Join Soldier?" Tifa asked, her curiosity piqued. She knew that Cloud had joined because of his hero, Sephiroth, but…

"I didn't," Astasia replied flatly, staring at the pullup bar on the other side of the room, slightly distracted.

"What do you mean?" came Tifa's quiet reply. Astasia eyed her as if contemplating something and then must have come to a decision.

"I've been a ward of Shinra for as long as I can remember. It was just...expected that I join." The warrior chewed on her bottom lip, as if unsure how to continue.

"Aerith…" Tifa started to say but faltered when Astasia flinched. Tifa continued on. "Aerith told me, when I met her after the late President Shinra passed, to 'take care of her sister', and then she indicated you. But I thought she was a Cetra. Wouldn't that make you one-"

"We share the same father, but have different mothers," Astasia cut in, a sigh huffing through her nose as she sat down to join Tifa on the floor. "Aerith is my younger sister. My father left my mother when I was very young, and he took me and my older brother with so he could start a new life with his assistant. Ifalna," she said, her voice becoming curt as she said the name. "Ifalna was Aerith's mother, and helped my father in some experiments that he was doing for Shinra. We lived in the mountains, and I remember my earliest memories being covered in snow and ice and cold. Then one day, a rival scientist in the same company came for Ifalna and Aerith, and shot my father. They took all of us, but while Aerith and her mother were sent down into Professor Hojo's labs, my brother and I became wards of Shinra. Since our father had worked for the company, and no one knew where my mother was, we were raised to live, eat and breathe the company. It was expected of us to go into the military, and we really didn't have a choice in the matter." Astasia's voice turned bitter as she concluded her tale. "I realize that all of this is my father's fault, and Professor Hojo's fault. But I can't help but be angry at what might have been. What if my father hadn't gotten greedy and left us with our mother? What would I have been like had I not been raised like the perfect little soldier who was never good enough? I'm supposed to love her because she's my family, right? It's not her fault my father cheated on my mother, she wasn't even thought of yet!" She sighed, coughing slightly as she averted her gaze. "But I guess she's my sister. My baby sister. I got to take care of her, right?"

Tifa's gaze warmed and nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! And one day, I'm sure she'll be able to return the favor." Astasia barked out a laugh.

"I suppose one day she might. I'll have to get her away from AVALANCHE first, though. But soon."

"Yes, soon," Tifa echoed. She then nodded again, stood up, brushed her hands off on her workout shorts, and then extended a hand to the Lieutenant General. Astasia looked at her curiously before accepting the hand up, but when she went to let go, Tifa held on tight.

"Hi! I'm Tifa Shinra!" she said with a grin, and Astasia grinned back before letting out a small laugh.

"Hi Tifa. I'm Astasia Nojima. It's nice to meet you."

The morning a few days after their arrival at Costa del Sol, the whole group was preparing to leave the tourist town. The small respite was beneficial, not only physically, but mentally too. Group morale seemed high, and Aerith was even smiling more than she had before they left Midgar. Cloud was still prone to fits of brooding, his mind running circles around that moment in Junon where he saw Tifa at Rufus' side. He agonized over what it meant, what was really going on, and his headaches seemed to be increasing in frequency whenever he thought too hard on it. Once they had headed out of town and already spent an hour on the road, Cloud finally brought up what was on his mind, using a natural lull in the conversation to get everyone's attention.

"In Junon...I saw Tifa," he started, and he noticed that Aerith immediately averted her eyes.

"Wait, who's that?" Yuffie complained, throwing her hands behind her head in a relaxed posture as she turned to walk backwards, giving Cloud her full attention. Barret's attention, however, was immediately on the blond at his words.

"Where?! Was she alright?!" he demanded to know, pausing in his stride to confront him. Cloud scowled at the larger man and brushed past him.

"Yeah, she seemed alright to me," Cloud replied. "She was at President Rufus' side." Barret immediately bristled and Red and Yuffie exclaimed in surprise.

Aerith stayed quiet.

"W-well she must have been on her super secret mission still! I sent her after Don Corneo and she then found a bigger catch! We'll just have to contact her! She can pass information to us!" Barret exclaimed.

"She looked pretty cozy to me, standing next to him and all. How do we know she hasn't flipped? She's always been popular with guys," Cloud retorted bitterly.

"H-hey! This is Tifa we're talking about!" Barret argued, pausing again in his stride to turn on Cloud. "We trust her! She has the best interests of the planet at heart!"

"She told me she was scared," Cloud blurted out, getting unbelievably angry at how easy Barret was defending her. Shouldn't that have been him trying to rationalize why Tifa was with the enemy? Why was he feeling so hurt over this? "She told me she felt trapped, and she couldn't get out. What if this is just her finding her own way out?" As Barret sputtered to try to rationalize everything, Aerith spoke up from the back of the group.

"She looked happy," she said quietly. Cloud looked at her, and it seemed like he was the only one who heard her.

"Believe me," he replied, his voice quiet as he walked up to her, letting the others squabble semantics in the background. His eyes were intense on her and he saw how she shivered and averted her gaze from his. "I bet she's hating every minute, being by his side. She's just biding her time. I'm sure one day, we'll wake up to a news report saying the President had an unfortunate accident…"

"Cloud, that's horrible!" Aerith gasped, her gaze snapping to him in distress, her mouth set in a frown. He frowned right back at her.

"It's the least he deserves. He's a Shinra, after all. They ruin everything they touch. Tifa is miserable right now, I just know it. She'll find a way out." And if she couldn't, he would be right there for her, helping her free herself from whatever pit she got herself trapped in.

A/N: This went up with no editing, so please excuse any mistakes.

Thanks for your patience, guys! My muse for this has been coming and going, but this feels like it's going to build up to the climax in the next 10 chapters or so. I've been trying not to overwhelm everyone with every little detail, and trying to develop these different relationships along the way. I've already started working on the next chapter and hoo boy, my muse is trying to make things super steamy before the plot is ready for it XD Although I doubt you all will complain too much :p

Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and favoriting and following. It means a lot to me. :)

Until Next Time, my Lovelies!

MWAH!