Chapter Eleven

AN – A chapter! I haven't made as much progress as I'd wanted to with this story, partly because of FFXVI and partly because I've been taking part in a fanworks exchange that has been my creative focus, but I wanted to get something out for you all. I have been worrying about this chapter – I feel like there are elements that may be a bit unpopular in it, so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Taking the first breath of fresh air after the time spent traversing the mines was akin to inhaling deeply after emerging from water. The mines were stale and claustrophobic, whereas the grasslands they had stepped out onto were fresh and crisp. Judging by the position of the sun it was mid-afternoon, meaning that they had spent more than twenty-four hours navigating the mines. They had made quicker progress than Angeal had expected but they had kept moving all the time without resting and they were all suffering for it now.

The afternoon sun lit up the grassland that stretched in front of them. The green foliage seemed to sparkle, an earlier rain shower leaving gleaming droplets on every surface. Lush trees and hedges divided the scenery into fields, all overgrown and teeming with wildlife. Behind them rose the mountain range that bisected the Eastern Continent, now navigated successfully. The mountains stretched out to both the north and south, the northern range curving towards the west. Angeal knew that the mountains would run all the way to the western side of the continent, forming a large natural barrier between the capital of Midgar and the principal port of Junon. The deep ocean that separated the eastern and western continents lay ahead of them, but so distant that there was no sign of it yet. It would be a long journey on foot to reach it.

Having thought that, Angeal glanced surreptitiously at his companions. With the exception of Sephiroth and Cloud, all were showing clear signs of fatigue. Genesis was favouring his left side again and clearly in the worst condition of anyone, almost stumbling along as his body fought hard to repair the injuries received fighting the giant snake. The girls weren't far behind him, both flagging though determined to keep going. Barret was stubbornly trying to keep upright, but the fatigue showed in his tense muscles and bowing head. Red was licking his right front paw, bleeding after encountering the sharp rocks within the mines.

"Wow… just look at it all." Aerith shook off her tiredness to skip forwards a couple of steps. "It's so green! Even after everything we've done to it, it's still going strong."

"It may look that way," Red limped up beside her and gazed out with his one eye. "But in reality it's barely hanging on." Aerith's face fell, her hands clasped in front of her.

"So which way is Junon from here?" Tifa asked, swiftly changing the topic as she stood with her hands on her hips. Her white top was now grey and streaked with dirt and sweat, wisps of hair that escaped her fishtail plastered to her face.

"First, we need to rest." Angeal said firmly. Tifa was obviously about to protest, when Aerith chirped up.

"That's a good idea! I know that I'm dead on my feet." From the glance she stole at Genesis, Angeal knew he wasn't the only one worried about the stubborn redhead.

Tifa nodded in capitulation, her red eyes also flicking towards Genesis before returning to Angeal. "I don't suppose you'd know where we can find somewhere to rest up? Maybe get some supplies?" She grimaced as she looked down at her clothes. "I'm not sure anyone would take us in right now."

"If we follow the road we can put some distance from the mine entrance and look for shelter along the way." Red spoke up again, placing his paw on the ground with a wince. Aerith immediately went over to him and directed a cure at it, receiving a toothy smile in return. Barret grunted, which was close enough to agreement for Angeal. Rolling his shoulders, he led the way from the exit of the mines and began to wind his way north.

There had once been a well-travelled road leading from the mines, but now it was overgrown and rutted. Still, it was in much better condition that the route they had taken from Kalm as this one hadn't been subjected to rockfalls or subsidence. The mountains stayed on their right as they walked westward, following the road that Angeal thought might lead them towards Junon.

The sun was beginning to drop low in the sky ahead of them, turning the grassland golden and casting long shadows, when Tifa suddenly let out a shout. She grabbed Cloud's arm and stopped him, twisting him slightly so that he faced the mountains.

"Look! What's that over there?"

Angeal looked in the direction she was pointing in, struggling for a moment to see what she had spotted. But then in the distance against the grey rocks of the mountainside he began to make out the shape of a building. Nestled into the cliffs behind it and built of the same rock, it blended into the scenery around it. But it was a welcome sign of habitation, the first they had seen since leaving the mines.

"You have good eyes," Genesis commented, reflecting Angeal's own thoughts. Tifa gave an embarrassed smile and shrugged off the praise. Barret immediately headed towards it.

"At last! It's been quieter than the wastes out here."

"I wonder if they'll mind us dropping in?" Aerith mused as they changed direction to climb towards the building.

Tifa looked around at the group with a worried expression. "We are an unusual lot…"

"I do not believe our appearance will be a concern." Sephiroth cut over her. "It seems to be abandoned."

Angeal looked closer, using his enhanced eyesight to look for the signs Sephiroth had seen. He picked out broken windows, some with shutters hanging off. As they walked closer still, it became clear that the roof on the right-hand side of the building had collapsed in, leaving the rooms below open to the elements.

The group visibly wilted as they realised that the building was a ruin. But it was Barret who picked himself up to stomp up to it. "It's better'n sleepin' out in the open," he called back to them when they didn't immediately follow. At his words, the ever-cheerful Aerith shrugged and began to follow him.

"He has a point!"

Up close, the building didn't looked much better than it had from a distance. In fact, if anything it looked even more rundown. However, the half that still had the protection of a roof had fared better than the rest of it. Barret wrenched the old door open, tossing it aside when it came off into his hands.

"What do ya reckon?" He asked Cloud, who had come close to investigate. The blonde walked into the building, casting a wary eye at the ceiling.

"It looks ok," he said eventually, turning back to the door. "Not that I know much about it."

Sephiroth brushed past Barret to approach Cloud. "I've slept in worse." He said dryly. Genesis rolled his eyes at Angeal.

"Well, if our glorious leader approves." Angeal caught the flash of hurt that swept quickly across Sephiroth's face at the sarcastic tone and frowned at Genesis, but the redhead was peering around the room and didn't pay any attention to him.

"What do you think this place was?" Aerith asked, taking in the carved wooden panels on the wall that were now darkened due to damp and mould.

"An inn, probably." Tifa responded, stepping over to a long wooden table. "Look, this would have been the bar." She stepped behind it, boots crunching across the debris and leant on the worktop, arms spread wide. "Just like home, right?"

Angeal remembered then that Tifa had run a bar, now crushed under the fallen sector seven plate. Barret barked out a loud laugh and slammed his gun arm down on the wooden surface, sending a cloud of dust into the air. "Now you just need to make one of your famous Cosmo Canyon cocktails and it'll be like being back at Seventh Heaven!"

Red coughed and flicked an ear in irritation at the dust. "There is a door to the rear."

"Good spot." Tifa praised as she walked over to the door, barely discernible from the panelling around it. The handle turned but the door itself jammed as she tried to open it. "Locked."

"Please, allow me." Genesis swept in next to her and contemplated the door for a moment. Angeal suddenly had a premonition of what might happen next.

"Genesis, don't-" The door exploded, covering them all with small pieces of powdered wood. Genesis, standing in the middle with his hand still outstretched, blinked in surprise.

"I'd only intended to remove the locking mechanism," he explained, sounding slightly shellshocked.

"With wood in such poor condition, it is unsurprising that the door could not withstand the energy you put into it." Sephiroth said calmly. He reached up with one hand and brushed some dirt away from Cloud's shoulder. The blonde flinched and stepped away to the side, leaving Sephiroth to drop his hand awkwardly.

"Well," Aerith coughed out, waving her hand to try to dispel the dust. "Do we go and see what is back there?"

"We'll need a light." Tifa peering into the darkness. "I think it goes into the cliff itself."

"I'll take a look," Angeal offered, knowing that he'd have much better vision. Tifa stepped back to allow him through and he ducked his head as he squeezed his tall and broad frame through the narrow door.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. The room looked more like a cave than anything else, the roughly hewn walls gleaming with moisture. Tifa was right, it had been carved out of the rock. The whole room was cool and slightly damp.

At the far end, about ten metres from the door, were a stack of crates. Angeal made his way over to them and pried the lid from the first one he reached. His eyes widened as he saw the contents and he lifted the whole crate into his arms to bring it out into the light.

"It's tinned goods," he explained to the others, dropping the crate amongst the debris strewn floor.

"Look! Peas, corn, beans. Oh – spam!" Aerith pulled out the tin, cradling it to her chest. Red tilted his head to look at her.

"One would have thought a Cetra would be more interested in vegetables than… meat products of dubious origin."

In response she stuck her tongue out. "Mom always used to treat us to spam sandwiches at the weekends. It brings back memories!"

"Indeed." The corner of the creature's lips tilted up in amusement and his tail swished. Angeal hid his own smile as he went back for another box.

"Are there any dry ingredients in there?" Tifa called to him. Ripping the lid from the next crate, he just found bottles of spirits and wine. But a third revealed packets of rice, which he carried out triumphantly.

"I can work with this," Tifa said with a smile, rummaging around. She laughed as Barret snagged a packet of biscuits.

"What? I ain't had food all day!" He opened the packet with his teeth and happily bit into one, only to spit it out a moment later. "Stale," he replied mournfully.

Tifa paused in her collection of ingredients. "Do you think we are ok to use this? I feel kinda bad stealing someone else's supplies."

"This place is long deserted," Angeal reassured her. "No one will be coming back for them."

"Why do you think it was abandoned?" Aerith, still clutching her tin of luncheon meat, trailed fingers along the old wooden panels.

"Probably because the mines shut down," Cloud replied. He'd been standing back, watching on whilst the others investigated the crates.

"Without clientele, there is little incentive to operate a hostelry in this location." Sephiroth agreed.

"Oh, look! Cloud, can you come and help me?" Aerith was pushing against a large wooden board that was leaning against the wall. With Cloud's added strength it was soon moved out of the way, revealing yet another door. Cloud tested it gently, before pushing against it with his shoulder. With a dull creak due to the rotten wood, it opened outwards to reveal a small, enclosed courtyard. In the centre was a fire pit, blackened rocks with a rusty spit hanging above. An old stone well was situated near the far wall, a bucket lying close by attached to a metal chain.

Aerith stepped out into it, the evening light catching in her hair and causing it to shine with chestnut highlights. "Oh, how pretty." She moved immediately to a small plant that was nestled amongst the crevices of the cobbles on the floor, gently lifting a small white flower.

Angeal stepped out, carefully negotiating his way between the plants. "This might be a good place to camp." He eyed the walls critically. On one side the courtyard was bordered by the cliff and on a second the inn, but the other two walls were made of the same stone and seemed sturdy enough. They were in better condition than the actual building, likely due to the fact that monsters hadn't been trying to rip them apart to get inside.

"It's secure," he said eventually, turning back to face the others who were just beginning to emerge from the inn. "Not a lot will get over those walls, but we won't have to worry about a ceiling collapsing in on top of us."

Aerith looked up at the cloudless sky, green eyes open wide. "I guess we'll be sleeping under the stars then."

"You haven't camped much?" Angeal asked her curiously.

"Nu-uh." She shook her head. "And Midgar always had a plate. Even when I went up top, the smog obstructed the view." She shivered a little, wrapping her arms around herself. "All that empty sky…" Angeal wasn't sure how to reassure her, but he placed one hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

After a brief investigation the well turned out to be functional, relieving their biggest immediate concern. Barret and Cloud set up a single tent for the girls whilst Genesis started the fire going in the centre of the courtyard. Immediately, he sat down next to his creation and sighed in relief.

"How are you feeling?" Angeal asked him when he saw the redhead rolling his shoulder gingerly. Genesis grimaced.

"I am fine, Angeal. You worry too much, old friend."

Angeal rolled his eyes at the respone but decided to leave Genesis to it and instead walked over to where Tifa was preparing a meal. "Can I assist you?"

"Oh," Tifa looked up at him with a surprised smile. "No, I'm fine thanks. It will be a little while though, why don't you rest for a bit?"

But instead of settling down, Angeal noticed Aerith slipping back into the inside of the inn. No one else seemed to see her go – Barret and Cloud were still wrestling with the tent, Sephiroth and Red were watching on with sharp eyes whilst engaged in a quiet discussion, Genesis rested by the fire and Tifa was prepping the food. Wary of the monsters that would prowl these mountains now that the sun was setting, Angeal discreetly followed Aerith out of the building.

She hadn't gone far, sitting out on the cracked steps that led down to the road below. The sky had reached a deep blue colour, the stars beginning to twinkle brightly. This far from the lights and the smog of Midgar the galaxy could be seen clearly, a great streak across the sky.

Aerith had brought a small lantern out with her, and in its light Angeal could see that she was holding the small box that Tseng had given her in the mines. While he watched, she lifted the lid tentatively and pulled out a piece of paper.

"It's a letter," Aerith said quietly into the night, as though feeling the weight of his gaze on her. "A letter I wrote to Zack. I used to write to him you see, after he disappeared. I gave the letters to Tseng to deliver. All eighty-eight of them."

"You must have loved him very much." Angeal tentatively walked up and took a seat next to her, wondering if he was intruding. The small, sad smile she sent at him, combined with a gentle touch to his arm, suggested that she might prefer to have company.

"Does it make me sound like a terrible person if I say I don't really know? He was certainly the first boy I fell in love with. But he was very much a boy when we met, and first loves aren't always the last loves are they?"

"You don't think it would have worked out in the long term?"

"I don't know." Aerith sighed deeply. "And I'll never get to know, thanks to Shinra." She looked out over the grassland in front of them, where silvery moonlight picked out a distant forest and a mountain range beyond.

"To write him so many letters, he must have been at the front of your mind for years." Angeal frowned. "I do not think you should doubt your constancy."

Aerith giggled, sending him a warm smile. "You think too much of me. Maybe it started like that, but eventually it became a form of escapism. I could vent my frustrations onto paper and pretend that I was sending news from home to my hero, out fighting monsters to keep me safe. That someone out there really wanted to hear my words about my mundane life under the plate."

"I am sure he did," Angeal reassured her. "He may not have received the letters, but if he had he would have treasured every single one."

"Maybe." Aerith's smile had dropped away again, now she looked worn. "One of the things I loved about him is that he let me be someone else for a change – I could be the princess from the fairytales, waiting for her hero to save her."

"Zack always wanted to be a hero." Angeal smiled fondly at the memory of the enthusiastic boy he had chosen to mentor.

"There was a naivety, an innocence to him. One that I loved being close to. I'm not sure it would have worked out in the end – I think I built him up to something in my head that was more fantasy than real. But it was nice for a while."

"I'm sure it wasn't like that…"

Aerith sighed again. "I didn't even tell him I was Cetra." She looked up at the stars for a moment before shuddering and turning her gaze to Angeal. "I never truly trusted anything that came out of Shinra, you see. Especially SOLDIERs. And I didn't want to ruin this perfect image he had of me." A silence fell for a moment, in which Aerith opened another letter and quickly scanned it in the light of the lantern. Placing it on the ground, she rested her chin in her hand.

"My earliest memory is of that room in the laboratory, and the hours I spent there alone." She leant sideways as she said this, resting her shoulder against Angeal's. "But then when I was seven, I saw my mother killed in front of me during our escape. And in all honesty that probably isn't the worst of it." She looked down at her hands, her voice small. "Zack used to treat me as though I was something pure and innocent, and I let him. I just wanted to pretend for a little while. But I grew up in the slums, I've seen and done things he wouldn't have believed, and if I had told him about it all then the illusion would have been shattered."

Angeal cleared his throat to try to shift the lump that had formed there. "Your life hasn't been easy." He said eventually. "That doesn't mean that you aren't pure, or innocent. Whatever you think you have done, that you have been forced to do to survive, doesn't take that away from you. You have a pure heart, and so much kindness." He was forced to stop, the lump in his throat threatening to choke him and warmth creeping up his neck. He cleared his throat again. "You haven't let any of it take away from your dreams and honour."

Aerith gave him a sceptical look. "Dreams are for children," she said eventually. "And honour is easily lost. But I have tried to remain true to myself." She laughed a little then, her expression turned teasing. "Though I am beginning to think I know where Zack got his naivety from…"

"Hey!" Angeal replied, mock offended. He gently shoved at her arm, causing her to topple over to the side with a giggle. As she righted herself she placed the letters back in the box and tapped the lid thoughtfully.

"I think maybe it's time to let go of the past and look to the future." Aerith said eventually. She placed the box on the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Thank you, for listening." She turned her head to the side and smiled at Angeal, the light from the lantern sparkling in her eyes. Angeal smiled in response, stretching one leg out and propping his arm on the opposite knee as he looked upwards at the starlit sky.