Chapter Four: Strong Independence
Tifa Lockhart got up in the best mood she'd been in weeks.
Going downstairs, she immediately set about beginning the process of scrubbing the pans. They'd been soaking all night with soap suds after being brought back. Now she worked to get off the extra grim and clean it off. Once done, Tifa put them out by the sun coming in the window. In a few hours, they'd be dry, and she could begin using them.
A lot of these pans were valuable, and she could use them. Tifa had made quite a find out there, though it was a shame the man had died to get it. She found herself humming happily and wondered why she was so happy.
Cloud was back.
But then, when had Cloud been there? They hadn't exactly been close back in Nibelheim. They'd known eachother informally, promises under the starlight aside. But then, Nibelheim was gone, consumed in flames. Tifa remembered the bodies, the carnage, her Father's corpse as he lay in the Mako Reactor.
Cloud had been there, though.
He'd come like he said he would. It was something.
Cloud came down the steps, dressed already, his uniform carefully cleaned and pressed. Last night, he'd folded it and set his sword by his bedside. He'd slept with it in one hand. It was obviously very important to him. "So, how is the cleaning going?"
"Oh, pretty well," said Tifa. "I got some cleaning materials out there, and now I'm using them to fix up some pots and pans. How are the books?"
"I've been brushing up on the history of Furion and Mattaeus," said Cloud. "The Emperor knew how to bring the house down."
Tifa remembered stories of the cyclone that devastated so many towns. Of the Dreadnaught flying across the landscape, bombing whole fortresses to dust. An aerial display that would later be replicated by Baron and other societies. Once, the story had seemed romantic, at least until Tifa had gotten a tiny taste of what it must have been like.
Sephiroth had even looked like the Emperor after a fashion. Though he'd also looked like Firion, too. "Well, that was his specialty.
"Hang on."
There was a phone call ringing in Tifa's head. It seemed a lot louder when she set her ringer and brought her phone out to her ear. Putting it there, she listened;
"Is Cloud there?" asked a voice.
Tifa halted, finding a deep baritone oddly familiar. She could not place it. "Um, who is this?"
"I'd expect him shortly if he isn't already," said the voice.
The phone hung up.
Tifa checked the caller ID and didn't see one. Tifa stared at it and checked the history but didn't see anything in the history.
"Tifa?" asked Cloud. "What's up?"
"Someone just called for you," said Tifa.
"Who?" asked Cloud, coming over. Why did he have his sword on his back already? "Do you have caller ID?"
"I..." Tifa halted. "Odd. There's no record of a call on this phone."
"You're kidding me, right," said Tifa. "Are you sure you're not just going nuts?"
"I'm not going nuts," said Tifa. "I set up my own business out here after walking from Nibelheim; thank you very much."
"Big deal," said Cloud. "I did the same thing when I was fourteen."
Tifa smiled, remembering when Cloud had set out for Midgar unannounced. He'd taken a rainjacket a pocket knife, and not taken any transportation. Nobody had expected to see him again. "You did, didn't you?
"Why didn't you take a plane or a boat?"
Cloud shrugged. "...I don't know.
"Mom didn't mention it."
Claudia Strife had always been eccentric. Nice but eccentric, with a hard work ethic, which infected her aggressive son. Tifa remembered Cloud picking fights with some of the other kids. That made her remember things about them, like Johnny, who had followed her up to the bridge before the lightning scared him.
She'd forgiven him.
That was why she was happy. Tifa meeting Cloud again was like meeting herself. Like a piece of herself had come back to her. "I am going nuts."
Cloud checked the bounty list, moving down it. Then he turned and walked to the door. "Where are you going?"
"To the nearby broken-down factory," said Cloud. "The one who used to manufacture gears/ There's a bounty notice posted there to clear it out. I'm planning to collect."
Tifa remembered she'd listed that one quite a while ago. A few people had tried to take it up and failed. She'd never dared to try it herself. "Oh right, that.
"Are you sure you want to go alone?"
"You have to run the bar, don't you?" asked Cloud, going to the door.
"I guess so," said Tifa.
The door opened, and Cloud walked out. Tifa sighed, remembering how things had come to this. Now Cloud was walking out again, spiky-haired, all grown up, and armed to the teeth. What if he died out there? Tifa knew he could care for himself, but that didn't mean going out alone was a good idea.
There was a tap on the window.
Tifa looked up and saw Nayo nearby from the other cell. Wonderful, not them again. With a sigh, Tifa got down behind the bar to where the safe was nailed to the bottom of the bar. Running the dial until she got the number, she opened it and slid it open. Beyond, she found two large boxes, one of her savings. And one of the savings for Avalanche.
Grasping it, she took it out and walked out to the door.
Great, the fake resistance cell.
Tifa knew she shouldn't be so hard on them. She shouldn't, but her experience with Nayo and her people had been... less than impressive. Even so, they were the couriers for Fort Condor. So Tifa went out to meet her and opened the door. Nayo entered, brown-haired in a miniskirt and brown outfit. She had glasses, which made her appear cute to look at as she sat down.
"So, I guess you're doing well," said Nayo. "New boyfriend, huh?" Was she seriously trying to make conversation? Even being identified as friends could compromise either of them like this.
"Nothing like that yet," said Tifa truthfully, opening the box. Within, she took out a satchel of cash she'd made from her earnings waiting tables the past few weeks. "I have the money, so just give me a minute."
Nayo took it. "Wow, uh, you made a lot here. I'm sure this will help Fort Condor's finances."
"Well, that is my job," said Tifa. She had no intention of telling Nayo about her 'other' job.
Maybe she knew, maybe she didn't. If she didn't, Tifa wasn't giving her the chance to slip it.
"I guess," said Nayo. "There was a real firefight out there, you know, in the wastes. The Turks are crawling all over it, and they pick up a body.
"Your friend must be pretty dangerous."
So Nayo was keeping an eye on her. How nice.
"Cloud knows a thing or two about what he's doing," said Tifa in irritation. "He is a veteran." Which was more than could be said for Nayo's group.
"And where is he off to now?" asked Nayo.
"Hunting monsters, obviously," said Tifa.
"Huh, and here I thought he might be going out to get you flowers," said Nayo.
"Does Zhijie want the cash delivery or not?" asked Tifa flatly. "Because this is actually a significant investment in my time and money. And I don't have to be doing this; it's a risk. Believe me, there are other things I could spend my money on."
"Alright, alright, already," said Nayo. "We'll get this to the courier. We do appreciate what you're doing for the organization."
"Good," said Tifa. "See yourself out."
Nayo walked out.
Tifa could not believe that a woman was technically counted as her superior. As if they were the splinter group. Mostly by virtue of having lived here before Tifa did and having seniority. Well, that was going to change after Barret got here. Nobody was going to be able to call Zhijie's superior after they were done.
Tifa watched her go and walked through the door. Looking out over the slums around her, she remembered getting here with nothing to her name at all. Nothing but the clothes on her back and the martial arts she'd picked up. That and her looks and the knowledge of how to keep them. A lot of other people had more when they came here.
All these people had come to Midgar thinking they would be Captains of industry. Tifa, though, had known enough to start small. She'd seen all the good jobs everyone else went to and went the other way. She cleaned toilets, waited tables, and worked with her hands. She slept alone without any of the luxuries. It had added up, and she'd made something of herself.
Now, she made even more, enough to provide funding for weapons shipped out to Fort Condor. Anti-Shinra groups benefitted from her earnings, and she made even more. Tifa Lockhart made a lot of money for the resistance. Not to mention funded bounties that hunted dangerous monsters. And she was known as the Angel of the Slums because of it.
It was all so meaningless.
Turning, and on a whim, Tifa saw Cloud speaking with someone. As if asking for directions. Shutting the door, Tifa drew her key out of her cleavage and locked it. Once done, she put it away and set up the closed sign. Once done, she hurried over to Cloud. "...Hey, Cloud!"
This time, she'd follow him.
"Tifa?" asked Cloud.
"I can give you some help if we split the bounty," said Tifa.
"Cutting costs?" asked Cloud, ruefully. Didn't his expression ever change?
"You've got to do it whenever possible," said Tifa. "And I don't think you should go out alone like this in unfamiliar territory."
"It's not unfamiliar," said Cloud. "I know this place. I used to work here, you know."
"You could die here, you know," said Tifa with a shrug. "Not exactly convenient."
"Fatalistic, huh?" asked Cloud as he walked.
Tifa smiled and put her hands behind her head. "You get this way after a few years."
"Right," said Cloud, tone level.
The factory was a square building which had long since been broken down. The chainlink fence was broken open, and walking in, you could see a lot of boarded-up windows. Tifa drew out a flashlight as they came to the doors. Walking to them, Cloud looked around the halls, which had been gutted by machinery. Now, all you had out here were a lot of broken boxes and scrap.
That and other things.
"What was it like out here?" asked Tifa. "Back during the war."
"I used to work out there, pulling a lever all day, every day, for minimum wage," said Cloud. "Eventually, they lowered wages and ordered no more talking. Work became harder every day. It was not what you could call fund."
"Why don't we discuss that later," said Tifa with a shrug, checking a closed door. "One moment;
"You know, there's a saying that monsters are a manifestation of the planet's anger. Some people believe they are impurities in the planet's given physical form. Taking them down might be purifying them."
"I doubt it," said Cloud.
And then you got the scuttling in the darkness. Tifa checked with her flashlight and went over to one of the boards. Bringing around a fist, she smashed the boards open, letting the light into the main room. It illuminated a lot of twisted serpent-like creatures with savage claws and beady red eyes. Webs were hanging from the ceiling with bundles in them.
"Webs..." said Tifa. "What are these things?"
"Grashstrike," said Cloud as they clustered in. "They live on the underside of the plate. I didn't know they had any colonies down here.
"Well, they aren't going to be forming any more out here.
"How much are they worth?"
"We've had some scattered sightings," said Tifa. "Um, Cloud..."
"What?" said Cloud.
"Would you kindly focus," said Tifa.
"As you wish," said Cloud.
The grashtrike rushed them from all sides. Tifa kicked off the ground and spun over a scythe. Bringing around a leg, she found the blow blocked by a chitonous tail. Drawing back, she grabbed the creature by the tail and spun it around to crash into another one. By now, Cloud had hit one in the face, only for the blade to hit shallow. The chiton cracked, and it fell back, only to coil around and slash at him. A scythe hit his shoulder pad right before there was a flash, and it was thrown back.
Tifa spun away from several slashes, only to see webs shooting at her. Summersaulting away, she kicked off the wall. Spunning twice, she brought down a double-whammy. She smashed the creature into the ground. The blow smashed into the broken floor, creating a crater as the walls shook. A moment later, the head of another grashstrike landed at her feet as Cloud finished.
More were coming, though.
The two took stances together and fought. They were slashing and hacking as the creatures screeched. They came from all over. Tifa felt sweat dripping down her form as she smiled, punching and kicking them down. Now, this was what she called fun.
Being a damsel in distress.
Tifa wanted to experience that at least once.
Then it was over.
"How much is that worth?" asked Cloud.
"I'll confirm our kills, and we'll call it a fifty-fifty split," said Tifa. "That sound fair?"
"Fine by me," said Cloud.
Tifa did, taking out a notebook and marking down each kill as she did. As they did, they moved through several floors. Coming across several nesting grounds, Tifa considered what to do. A moment later, Cloud fried them with lightning from his sword. A memory came to her of Sephiroth doing the same to some villages.
Cloud did it so matter of factly. Obviously, he'd done this before.
But his path took them up a set of broken downstairs to an overhead view. You had a former glass panel, now boarded up. Just through it, you could look down at the factory grounds. Cloud stood there for a moment, eyes distant. "This was the overseer's floor.
"They used to look down from here and ensure no one was slacking off below. If you did, you could get fired for it. That or anything.
"No talking. And meeting after work was discouraged."
"Sounds unpleasant," said Tifa. "Why did they close this place down?"
"The army started downsizing after the war ended," said Cloud. "Everything got moved to Junon. Closer to the areas they were transporting to. Midgar became obsolete. What's our score?"
"Enough," said Tifa. "I've got the list here if you want." She offered him the numbers.
Cloud looked at it. "Good for a morning's work. Why'd you come after me?"
"Most of my business happens late, not early," said Tifa. "And I've got a couple of errands to run out here anyway." She paused. "What was this place? Down there, I mean."
"This used to be where they kept all the heavy machinery. We manufactured a single part here, over and over again. Each person had one job they did all day with no variants, no talking or anything. We got minimum wage, and when we finished, the part got shipped to another factory for assembly," said Cloud. "Other factories made the other parts, and they all met up in special doors."
"Sounds efficient," said Tifa with a smile.
"Yeah," said Cloud. "So efficient they decided to remove the people. Fewer jobs, more people coming in from the countryside. Pretty soon, they could drop the wages and benefits even more.
"Now there isn't even a factory."
"People say the slums used to be a bit better," murmured Tifa. "Maybe what we're doing here can make them better again." The idea of the sunny, heartwarming slums where everybody was a wonderful poor person was just silly. The slums were dangerous and unpleasant, and everyone in them wanted out.
That was why they were called the slums.
Tifa didn't get this idea of hardworking, honest, poor people. Most people who were poor were poor because they made bad choices. If you were smart, you could economize and save and get at least a decent standard of living. Of course, some people were poor for things that weren't their fault. But if you wanted to know why many people were in debt. They had no savings; it was because they spent their time boozing and whoring.
Tifa spent her time working.
"So the walls rot a little less quickly?" asked Cloud as they walked out.
"I try to look on the bright side, Cloud," said Tifa. "You must find reasons to hope and be optimistic, or you just get dragged down by it all."
"I hope we can get back to the bar before any more of these things show up," muttered Cloud.
"Good point," said Tifa, brushing her hair. She'd have to take a shower under the hose later today. Maybe use some of her shampoo; looking nice was important in this business. And Tifa liked being clean. "One second, as long as we're out here, I want to stop by the community garden."
"Community garden?" asked Cloud.
"I grow vegetables out there," said Tifa. "I cook meals with them. It's one of the reasons I have a better service than Wall Market. Though the organic food costs extra, and I can't make an exception for you."
"Beats MRIs," said Cloud.
It sure did.
Today was going pretty well. Tifa led Cloud by several side streets, carefully staying five feet away from everyone she saw. Never let someone get in close. Most of them wouldn't be holding a knife. And some wouldn't pick your pocket. But the one time you ran into an exception would really ruin your day.
At last, they came to another chainlink fence. Inside, you had a lot of wooden squares with plots of land inside. Lots of vegetables and such were being grown, each one marked out. Tifa moved out, recalling that she'd always trusted gardeners more. Arriving at her plot, she drew up the hose and turned it on. As the water poured out, she sipped from it to hydrate and then began to water her garden.
"What is this place?" asked Cloud.
"Oh, this is one of the more fertile areas in the slums," said Tifa. "You get more sunlight closer to the edge of the plate, and the water runs down here more. So you can grow herbs and community gardens and such. I do some of it myself.
"I actually was going to pick up some vegetables I was growing here.
"Want to help me out?"
"I guess," said Cloud. "What stops people from robbing it?"
"A chainlink fence and the honor system, I guess," said Tifa. "Also, everyone owns a gun, and there isn't a lot of money in stealing vegetables. Or herbs. Even people in the slums have hearts, you know."
"I'll bet," said Cloud with obvious sarcasm. "So you grow herbs?"
"A lot of things," said Tifa. "You can buy imported vegetables, but they don't taste as good as homegrown. I've been working on improving patches of soil out here by bringing in dirt and such. Other people do as well.
"I do canning and such.
"Hey, keep an eye out for me, will you?"
Cloud nodded. "Right."
Tifa felt a lot safer with Cloud around. Having a six-foot-tall blonde guy with a huge sword was one hell of a deterrent. They could go far together if she could get him to stick around. And it wasn't like either of them had anywhere else to go.
Of course, once Barret arrived, all that would change. He had plans, and those plans would make major changes around here. Shinra Corporation would find out how much Tifa Lockhart was willing to tolerate. They'd see if she'd settle for having her home burned down. They'd see how they liked getting a taste of their own medicine.
Cloud tensed.
Tifa looked up and saw the flower girl. She had long brown hair, wore a pink ribbon, and was working on vegetables. Tifa had seen her around here before but had never spoken with her. She was harvesting potatoes with an obvious concentration. But she looked oddly sad today.
"Is that..." Cloud halted.
"What is it?" asked Tifa, not liking the way his gaze was drawn to the girl.
"I've seen her before," said Cloud. "Zack showed me a picture once."
"Oh, really?" asked Tifa.
She remembered when she'd had a picture taken of her, Zack, and Sephiroth. Had that been Cloud with the camera? That was pretty awkward, now that she thought of it. But it's kind of funny, in retrospect.
Cloud was moving over to her, and Tifa immediately began eavesdropping. Not polite, but smart. "Excuse me, are you...
"Aerith?"
Aerith, if that was her, looked up to him. "Hmm, what if I am?"
"I'm here on behalf of Zack," said Cloud.
"Zack?" asked Aerith, standing up. "How do you know Zack?"
"I was a comrade of his," said Cloud. "We were... war buddies. I went with him to his mission to Nibelheim. Did he tell you about that?"
"Zack said something about it, yes," said Aerith. Her tone was hopeful, but it was a sad kind of hope. "Is he with you?"
"There isn't any easy way to say this, Ms. Aerith," said Cloud, looking down. "Zack is dead."
Aerith halted. "...I see.
"I was afraid it was so."
"We were heading to Midgar together to see you," said Cloud. "However, we were ambushed, and he was cornered. He died well, if it helps. When he realized he was cornered, he just said, "The price for freedom is steep. Embrace your dreams, and protect your honor as a SOLDIER.
"It was a code he lived by."
"How did you survive?" asked Aerith.
"Zack died defending me," said Cloud. "I was never as strong as him. I barely made it here in one piece."
"Who was it who killed him?" asked Aerith. "Who attacked you?"
"I don't want to give you the details, Ms. Aerith," said Cloud sadly. "The more I tell you, the more likely you could become involved. Zack wouldn't want you endangered, and I probably shouldn't stay long. I wasn't even sure I would be able to seek you out, but when I recognized you from a picture...
"I felt I owed him this much. I'd give you his sword, but I'm going to need it."
Aerith nodded. "I see. That's alright; I'm not fond of weapons.
"What is your name?"
"I am Cloud," said Cloud.
Aerith turned to him and smiled. "Thank you, Cloud."
Tifa thought it was an oddly warm smile for someone who'd heard their boyfriend of years was dead. "I appreciate you telling me. I wish he'd gotten here."
"So do I," said Cloud. "Goodbye, and good luck." He turned and moved over to Tifa, who hid her eavesdropping by switching off the pump. "Tifa, we should finish up here quickly."
Tifa was only too happy to agree.
The last thing she needed was more complexity in her life.