Hey all! Welcome to another big project. This is my first venture into the newest fandom that my forever-wandering muse has decided to take up residence in. I plan to start by testing the waters here, so I'll post the first three chapters of this story over the course of the weekend to see what reception it gets, while continuing to push onward with my ongoing WIPs in other fandoms.
This story novelizes chunks of Remake before diverging into its own territory. The first two chapters therefore alternate between Jessie's POV and Cloud's POV, reintroducing concepts and philosophies in the game as well as the slow burn mutual pining and sexual tension of Cloti. From there, we'll mostly be getting Jessie's POV, with additions from Zack and Elena.
Starting from Chapter 2, this story will have major spoilers for Crisis Core, so if you haven't played that game and want to, feel free to bookmark this and come back to it later. I won't be offended (so long as you remember to come back later ;D).
Disclaimer: All of the canon intellectual property here belongs to Square Enix. The divergent elements and OCs are products of my own imagination. I have no financial benefit nor incentive for writing or posting this story, and this venture is purely for fun.
Enjoy!
In hindsight, she shouldn't have been simply standing there watching Barret and Cloud climb. But there she was, seemingly high above the danger, or so she had thought. And then there was a terrifying noise from above, and a giant pipe falling. The pipe missed her, but the debris that came down with it didn't.
The giant slab of stone should have snapped her leg, but she felt the shield appear just before it struck, protecting her body from any real damage. Her shield.
"You okay?" Cloud asked as he reached her.
"Do I look okay? Help a girl out, would ya?"
He lifted the slab off of her, and she got to her feet. "My hero."
Thanks.
Shut up, I didn't mean you.
"Look after Jessie!" Barret shouted to Cloud after directing them towards the exit.
Of course, he's the hero.
She ignored the voice that only she could hear and lead the way to the ladder, glancing down to make sure the way was clear of fire or debris. "Come this way! This route should lead us straight to Barret... probably."
She lead him onward, down and around and then up another ladder, urging him on as she went.
"Shut up and climb. You're not helping."
Rude. "Sorry, it just... It keeps me focused! I'll freak out if I don't talk!"
You mean you'll hear me.
Shut up!
"Have it your way," Cloud grumbled.
They met up with Barret, and she went on ahead while the boys covered her back. She felt the moment her bomb went off, shaking the whole building.
"Nicely done."
"Shut up!" She reached a locked door and scrambled to the console. "Come on, come on, come on."
"You got this."
"Shut up!"
She got the door open just as Barret and Cloud caught up to her, and then they were running again. Fire was everywhere now, and more debris was falling. She was knocked down again, although her shield reappeared to protect her from any real damage.
Cloud, oblivious to her invisible protection, knelt down beside her. "Can you walk?"
"If I couldn't, believe me, you'd be the first to know."
"I'll take that as a yes." He helped her back to her feet, and then they were running again, until another falling pipe landed between them and collapsed the stretch of catwalk he was on.
"Cloud!"
With a pair of impressive leaps, he got back up to where she was standing.
"Okay, that was pretty cool."
Sure.
"Alright, come on!"
They finally got out and reached Biggs and Wedge, and then the entire building erupted behind them. The whole group scrambled for cover as debris fell around them.
"Think you might've overdone it?" Barret asked her.
"I followed the instructions to the letter," she protested. "Maybe it triggered a reaction with the mako?"
"Well, let's hope this city's still in one piece."
"But the planet's what matters, right?" said Biggs. As if to promptly disprove his point, another piece of debris struck their makeshift shelter. "I mean, this must have helped some."
"After all that, it'd better have," she replied. "Anyway, let's get going. We in Sector Eight?"
"That'd be just down there!" Wedge pointed out their tunnel escape route.
"Alright then, lead the way," Barret instructed him.
"You got it!" He took the lead, and the others followed. "Watch out for live wires, they're everywhere."
"Ugh, the air in here reeks. Can't wait to get out in the open," Biggs grumbled. "Man, what is that? I've never smelled anything so foul... Aw, it's me! Gotta do something about that, and soon."
Good thing I can't smell him.
Jessie ignored both voices and stayed ahead of Biggs so she wouldn't smell him.
Suddenly, a piece of debris came crashing through the ceiling of the tunnel just behind them.
"I felt that one in my guts," said Wedge.
"They just keep on coming," muttered Biggs.
"We need to get out of this place," Barret urged.
Jessie mulled over the problem as they began running. Was this really all from her bomb? "Was it the mako density? The primary explosive? The blasting agent?"
"Hey, we can figure that out later," said Biggs.
Wedge was already getting tired. "I'm running on empty here."
"You can refuel at the base," Barret replied, the urgency of the situation adding to the frustration in his tone.
"Next time, I'll have to bring a little pick-me-up."
"How much farther do we have to go?" Jessie asked him.
"Not far!" They reached a sealed door. "That's about as good a place as any."
"Stand back then, I'll set the bomb." She set about doing just that.
I hope this explosion isn't as... enthusiastic as the other one.
Shut up! She finished her task. "She's good to go." She stood back up and trotted back to the others with false enthusiasm, her thoughts echoing her phantom's taunt. "Fire in the hole!" She ducked and covered her ears as the explosion went off.
Fortunately, this explosion was no larger than it should have been. She stood back up in relief, ignoring the smoke that made her cough a few times.
"You sure told those doors," said Biggs.
"Let that be a lesson to anything that gets in my way!" Her sense of victory evaporated in a moment, however, as she got her first look at the devastation outside.
"Attention all citizens! Attention all citizens! This is an alert from the Shinra Emergency Operations Center! Unidentified intruders have detonated a bomb inside Mako Reactor One! Multiple explosions have been confirmed, as well as ongoing fires! In response, a disaster warning has been issued in Sectors One and Eight! Structures in the area are at high risk of collapse, rendering the entire sector hazardous!..."
"No," Jessie murmured, "no way."
"This couldn't have been us... could it?" Biggs mused.
"But what if it was?" Wedge asked. His words struck her in the gut as she desperately tried to deny them to herself.
"What's done is done," Cloud said coldly.
She gasped and turned to him, but before she could respond, Barret spoke up. "Merc's right." He turned to the team. "It ain't pretty, but we can't stop now. This was just the first reactor. And the planet won't be safe 'til we get the rest."
"Yeah," Biggs's reply was half-sighed out, but his resolve strengthened as he continued. "We always knew this was gonna get messy."
"And this is only the beginning," Wedge agreed.
"Y'all gotta look at the bigger picture here," Barret went on. "Nothing worth fighting for was ever won without sacrifice. Though you may not be crying out, I know you're in pain, just like the planet. But it's okay, 'cause I'm here for you, to help take the load off your shoulders!" He focused on her. "Your fears..." He looked at Biggs. "...your worries..." He turned to Wedge. "...your concerns..." And then he turned to Cloud. "...and yes, your fees. Whatever your problem, I got you."
Wedge and Biggs both looked encouraged by his little speech, and she tried to force the words to ward away her doubts.
"So, what's our next move, boss?" Biggs asked.
"That's easy enough, we get our asses home!"
He was right, of course, she couldn't think too much on this now. She exchanged nods with the other members of the team, and they hurried on.
"We'll split up and shoot for the last train home," Barret instructed. "Regroup in the freight car. Got it?"
"Later then!" said Wedge, and they ran on.
She paused, not eager to wind up alone with her thoughts, and decided to do something nice to clear her conscience a bit first. She waited for Cloud, and tapped him on the shoulder as he passed her. "Yoo-hoo."
He turned, and she held up an orb of green materia.
"I don't need to tell you what this is, right?"
"Of course not, it's healing materia."
"You can have it, for saving my life."
He's not the one who saved your life.
"Just doing my job, nothing more," Cloud replied.
"Yeah yeah." She physically lifted his hand and placed the materia in it. "Fact is, I'm lucky you were there." She ignored the scoff that he couldn't hear.
"Survival can be a matter of luck or skill, and you can't rely on luck."
"Words to live by!"
Are you flirting with him?
"Yeah, well, thanks."
"You do know how to use it, right?"
"You do know what I was, right?"
Of course she did. He had been a member of SOLDIER, Shinra's elite squad of enhanced fighters. How exactly they were 'enhanced' was something that the corrupt megacorporation kept secret, but Avalanche had its theories about the experiments they put these people through.
At any rate, she was very glad to have one on her side. "Okay, I was only trying to help." She threw in an ether and a pair of potions, "for being so brave," and to spite her grumbling phantom. "That really was the ride of a lifetime. Well, see you on the train!"
She ran on, focusing on her amusement at her phantom's annoyance rather than her concerns about the explosion.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"He's cute, too, isn't he?"
"He's cold."
"Nobody's perfect."
"He kills without conscience."
"And if he didn't, we would have been swarmed by Shinra guards. That's more than you can do."
"I can only protect you. I can't attack anything."
"Exactly."
She reached the train, finding Barret, Biggs, and Wedge already waiting in the rear freight car. She leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as they waited for the merc.
They were still waiting when the train left the station, and her spirits fell. "Guess Cloud won't be joining us after all," Wedge said from where he'd sat on the floor.
"No need to assume the worst," said Biggs. "I'm sure he's fine. You saw him in action, didn't you? Guy's a SOLDIER, goddamn one-man army."
"You think he's a keeper?" Jessie asked, looking at him and then the boss.
Barret made a non-committal gesture, but his response was cut off by banging on the door of the car. Immediately, they were all on guard, and Barret opened the door with gun-arm raised only for Cloud to come flipping inside, landing right at Jessie's feet.
"Ugh, you had me worried for a minute," said Barret, and then he caught himself. "Uh, what the hell you been up to, huh?"
"Giving Public Security the runaround, that's what. Had to draw them away from the station somehow."
Jessie briefly fixated on the yellow flower that was now tucked into the strap over his chest. That hadn't been there before. Had he rescued some other girl?
She ignored it. "Nicely done."
Biggs clapped Barret's arm. "Well, can't argue with results, huh?"
Barret grumpily knocked off his hand and shut the door, then turned towards the rest of the train.
"Wait," said Cloud, "got a question for you all."
"What?"
"Ever been attacked by an invisible enemy?"
"What?"
"Wearing robes. Came and went like the wind."
Oh no.
"Thought they were invisible," said Biggs.
"They were, at first. Only saw them after she grabbed me."
Oh no.
Her phantom's apparent concern was increasing her own. "A new Shinra weapon, maybe?"
If only.
"Ha, more like a panic-induced hallucination," Barret asserted skeptically.
Cloud sighed. "Never mind, forget I said anything."
"Suit yourself. Come on, let's move up." Barret turned away and exited into the next car, and the others followed.
What are they?
You don't want to know.
"Lotta people here," Wedge observed.
"And in the freight car, too," Jessie added, focusing on the more immediate problem than whatever her phantom didn't want to tell her.
"'Cause of the evacuation order, maybe?" Biggs mused.
"Lucky us," said Barret, "we've got a crowd to hide in. Head for the front of the train and hold there."
"Due to an explosion at Mako Reactor One, an emergency schedule is now in effect. Your understanding and cooperation is appreciated."
Jessie glared at the speaker that the automated announcement came through. It wasn't as though she could forget about the explosion, but she didn't want to be reminded of it so soon.
She found space in an empty corner of the first passenger car, turning her back to the wall and crossing her arms, and letting her thoughts go to the place she wanted to avoid. How did it happen?
"You do know that you got the specs right." He shimmered into the air in front of her, a thin, purple glow outlining his form. "The different blasting agent was not enough to cause that."
His eyes were a vibrant purple, and were far more striking than the rest of him. His hair was a mess of brown curls that framed an angular face, and his build was average at best. He was an inch taller than her at most, although that was one aspect in which Cloud didn't beat him by much.
"Whatever happened was something you couldn't have accounted for." His tone and words were more serious and assuring than they had been before, which she appreciated.
She couldn't help the doubt. Was he right about the blasting agent? She should have just stuck to the stupid instructions, efficiency be damned.
"You know what you're doing with these weapons. You're the best Avalanche has, and you have me to help you."
She sighed and looked away from him. "You're just in my head."
"You know there's more to it than that."
"But you won't tell me what you are."
"I'm your protector."
"That doesn't answer the question at all. What are you?"
"You'll know when the time is right."
That was the response he had given her each time in the nine weeks since he first started appearing to her. If it weren't for the invisible shields that appeared to protect her from serious harm, she would be certain she was losing her mind.
"Anyway, what happened tonight was not your fault. I know it, Jessie. You don't need to feel guilty about it."
"But I don't know it for sure." Jessie looked up and saw Cloud approach. "Little help, Cloud? Please?"
Her phantom looked unhappy, but faded as Cloud unwittingly stepped into his space.
"I can't stop thinking about it. The bomb I made shouldn't have produced an explosion that big. It doesn't make any sense."
"The explosion triggered a reaction with the mako, you said so yourself."
"That was my first guess, but shouldn't a reactor have failsafes to prevent that kinda thing?" She paused. "You mentioned 'invisible enemies' back there, right?"
"Right."
This didn't involve them.
She sighed. "No, I'm just looking for excuses for something that was clearly my own fault."
That isn't true.
She ignored her phantom. "Gotta own up to it if I'm gonna learn from this and move on. Thanks Cloud, you're a good listener." She watched as he moved on into the next car.
Her phantom reappeared. "You don't know any of this for sure. Are you just looking for sympathy from him?"
She shot him a dirty look. "No. And you're rather pathetic when you're jealous." Stepping right through him, she followed Cloud, in time to see Barret sit down in a huff as some Shinra suits ran out of the car.
"You hear that suit? Shinra creed my ass," he grumbled as Cloud approached him.
Jessie passed them, going up to a monitor that was showing the news. An image showed fire and smoke over the reactor, delivering a fresh punch to her gut. When Cloud came up beside her, she decided to distract herself by explaining the ID situation to him.
"If it helps, think of it as an initiation rite."
"How many times do I have to tell you people, I'm not—"
She placed her finger over his lips. "Shh, there's such a thing as playing too hard to get." She added a wink for good measure as her phantom groaned.
Then she launched into her explanation, using the screen as a visual aid. This had the added benefit of giving her an excuse to shut off the news as she brought up a wire-frame model of the city that showed their route and the fast-approaching ID checkpoint. The eight sector plates that supported the upper city circled the main pillar like pizza slices.
"Take a good look," Barret grumbled after they passed through the checkpoint without issue. "It's because of that great big pizza in the sky that people down there gotta struggle to survive." He was referring to the slums that were on the ground below the sector plates, forever blocked from the sky and from the view of the carefree upper classes of the city's populace. "Shinra sucks up mako while the soil turns to dust, the air fills with smog, and the flowers die."
"Then leave and don't look back," Cloud suggested. "That's what's always worked for me."
"That's all well and good if you're only out for yourself. But the folks down there don't have the luxury of choice, you know?"
Jessie really hoped that Cloud didn't argue against that, no matter how aloof he was. Fortunately, he didn't, and instead walked over to the window. "Like this train, I suppose. There's only one way it can go."
Oh, he philosophizes, too.
Shut up!
"Huh. Mako is the lifeblood of the planet? The hell it is." The man tore down Avalanche's poster. "Goddamn eco-warriors with their dumbass posters. I tear 'em down and they're back up inside of an hour. Like I've got nothing better to do." He glanced over his shoulder at Cloud, and then up at the giant ceiling of steel three hundred meters above them. "I mean, look at all that steelwork. You're trying to tell me that's not progress?"
Cloud was surprised to hear such an attitude from a man who lived every day beneath the plate and never got to see the sky. Perhaps he didn't know what the sky looked like.
He looked up, and was struck by a sudden, sharp headache. There was an explosion above, and metal scrap plummeted down straight at him. He ducked down, trying to brace himself for an impact that he knew would smash every bone in his body.
But the impact never came.
"What the... You okay, buddy?"
He lowered his arms, looking up at the perfectly intact and undamaged plate. "Huh?" he gasped out.
"Mako junkie, huh? Figures."
As the man insulted him, two of the empty, spectral robes appeared on either side of him. They swirled around Cloud and then moved further into the slums, passing right by Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, who were perfectly oblivious to them. "You again."
The three Avalanche members continued onwards. "That hot shower can't come soon enough," said Biggs. "I can barely tell my skin from all the ash and sweat."
Cloud appreciated that Biggs was comfortable enough in his own skin to make remarks like that. He had no qualms about seeming unattractive in front of his friends, and his sardonic sense of humor was refreshing compared to Barret's no-nonsense attitude.
Wedge was similarly likable. He was simple and plainspoken, if perhaps a bit too easygoing in the face of danger.
Jessie was far more of a mystery than the other two. She was certainly likable, but the speed and ease with which she could switch between sophisticated and shallow told Cloud that there was a lot more to her beneath the surface. Her flirtatious remarks felt like a cover, although he couldn't begin to guess at what. Or, in any event, he wasn't interested in guessing at what.
The slums were hardly picturesque. They were dark and smoggy and ill-maintained. There was trash everywhere and very little comfort of any kind to be found in even the few single-family houses that existed here.
"Daddy, you're home!" The voice of a four-year-old drew Cloud's attention, and he turned towards the entrance to Seventh Heaven in time to see Barret sweep his daughter up with his good arm.
"That's right, angel, I am!" The way that the Avalanche leader doted on his daughter was a shockingly sharp contrast from his usual, imposing persona.
"Welcome back!" Cloud's gaze caught on the woman who was watching Barret and Marlene's reunion fondly. She seemed to glow in the light of the bar behind her, standing out in such sharp contrast to the darkness and squalor of the surrounding neighborhood.
Tifa.
His childhood crush had reappeared in his life when he arrived in Midgar, and recruited him for the Avalanche mission. That had been fortunate for Avalanche, as she was the one person who could persuade him to do just about anything.
Especially considering she was even more beautiful now than she had been when he last saw her five years ago.
She was still every bit as compassionate as she had always been, although she was more reserved now, which stood to reason. She had suffered tragedy the same night that he did, that awful night in Nibelheim that left both of them without any surviving family. A righteous anger simmered beneath her compassionate exterior, anger which had brought her into the fold of the extremist Avalanche cell, even if all she currently did for them was manage Seventh Heaven, the bar that served as the front for their operation.
She smiled at him before following Barret and Marlene up the stairs to the bar, and he went after her. She paused at the door and turned to him. "You made it."
Her gaze lingered on the flower that the strange girl in Sector Eight had tucked into his uniform. "Where'd you get that? I can't remember the last time I saw a real one."
He gave a small laugh as he plucked the flower off his chest and offered it to her.
She looked flustered for a moment before taking it. "How sweet. When did you get so thoughtful?"
"A guy can change. Has been five years." He looked away from her lovely eyes as he said this. As if he hadn't just randomly received the flower and had nothing better to do with it.
"Huh?"
Now flustered himself, he quickly changed the subject. "I need to talk to Barret."
She barely missed a beat at the quick change. "Right, come on in." She let him pass her, and then passed him in turn to move behind the bar.
"Daddy, the mako place blew up. Everyone on TV's talking about it." Marlene looked tiny beside her father, her head barely sticking up above the bar.
"Don't you worry about all that silliness. Daddy's here, and he's not going anywhere tonight. Now turn that thing off and let's get you to bed, huh?"
Marlene turned around and saw Cloud, and immediately darted from her stool and hid around the side of the bar.
In a flash, Barret's intimidating side was back. "Hey!"
"Barret!" Tifa urged.
But Barret was storming towards Cloud. "The hell you think you're doing, scaring my daughter like that?" He shoved Cloud back.
"Daddy says never talk to strangers," Marlene said from her hiding place.
Barret turned to her, again switching personas just as quickly. "That's right, honey, I do say that. What a good girl you are, remembering Daddy's lessons."
She emerged from her spot, giggling at his flattery.
"You know what else good girls do? They go to bed on time. Come on." He swept her up on his arm again.
"But I'm not tired. I wanna talk some more, Daddy."
"Alright, but just this once."
Tifa smiled fondly at them, then leaned over the bar towards Cloud. "So then, what can I get you?"
"My money. I'm still waiting on it."
"Uh, right..." She returned from behind the bar. "About that..." She approached him and lowered her voice as Barret returned to his stool. "We should talk, outside."
With a sinking certainty that he wasn't getting paid tonight, he followed her outside.
"Before we get onto money, there's an empty apartment in a place just down the road. It's nothing fancy, but I was thinking you could stay there for now. The landlady's a big friend of the cause, so you wouldn't even have to pay rent! Sound good?"
"Sure does. Thanks."
She gave a little laugh of relief at his assent. "Follow me, then." She started leading him up the road. "How was it up on the plate?"
"It was... chaotic."
"Sorry for dragging you into all this. It was wrong of me to put you in danger like that. I promise I won't do it again."
"Danger's part of the job. Don't worry about me."
"I'll try not to."
"Always happy to help stick it to Shinra."
She gave another little laugh.
They passed by another bar, this one all outdoors.
"Saw some guy from Wall Market was hitting on you earlier," said a man standing outside with two friends. "How'd that go?"
"Not good at all," replied the woman to whom he'd asked the question. "Apparently, he was fishing for info on our sector. Weird, right?"
Tifa drew back Cloud's attention. "So, you make nice with everyone?"
"Much as I could, all things considered. Maybe not enough for them."
"Good. You had me worried. You're not exactly a people person."
"I'll give you that," he readily conceded.
They approached a building with two floors of apartments. A metal stairwell leading up to the second floor was brightly illuminated, or at least looked that way in the surrounding darkness.
"I saw Sector Eight on the news. It was like a warzone."
"The news is just another Shinra mouthpiece. They'll spread whatever lies Shinra tells 'em to."
"So, it wasn't that bad?" Her tone was hopeful.
"It was."
"Oh. Right."
They reached the stairwell, and she began climbing. "And here we are, good ol' Stargazer Heights. You're on the second floor."
Stargazer Heights? It was an unabashedly ironic name for a building that never had a view of the sky, at night or otherwise.
She stopped in front of the first apartment on the second floor. "Room 201 here is where I sleep. Don't have time for much else, what with Seventh Heaven and all. Not even time to decorate."
She moved on to the next apartment, and he felt his heartrate quicken as he realized how close they would be each night for as long as he stayed here.
"Here's your room, 202. Don't worry, I already told the landlady about you."
"You did?"
"Yes?... Oh, I mean I told her I had a friend looking for a place to stay. Was that too much?"
"No, it's fine." He looked at the apartment on the far side of his own. "And this?"
"That one's, uh... Know what, it's getting late. I'll introduce you tomorrow."
He was curious, but let it lie, and instead entered his new flat. It was a bed and a bathroom and not much else.
Tifa entered behind him and shut the door. "It's a little bare, but should be enough to get you through the night. If you want anything else, we can always get it—"
"There is one thing, my money. You guys owe me two thousand, remember?"
Her gaze dropped. "I do, and we'd love to settle up, especially since this is your first job with us, but..." She emptied her pocket and gave him what she had, five hundred gil.
"That's it?"
"Sorry, we spent the rest preparing for the mission. That really is it. But not for long! I'm collecting money for filters tomorrow, so I can pay you after."
He sighed. "And you're sure about that?"
"Of course... as long as you help, that is... Wait, then I'd have to pay you for that, too. Never mind."
"No, two thousand's enough. That's what we agreed on, so that'll be the price. With what you gave me, that leaves fifteen hundred."
"You're the best!" she exclaimed, relieved. She turned towards the door. "I'll see you bright and early at the bar, then." She opened the door and stepped out. "Thanks again for everything. Sleep tight."
He sighed again once the door was between them. There were indubitable perils to doing business with someone he was so attracted to, such as how readily he cut her a break. Only she could have gotten that from him.
He felt like he had barely fallen asleep when he was springing awake at the sound of a crash. It came from next door, not Tifa's apartment but the other one.
Grabbing the Buster Sword, he went to investigate, stopping outside the neighbor's door. "Hey, you okay in there?" There was a loud, unpleasant moan from the far side, which increased his concern. "Coming in."
He opened the door and entered, and froze. The occupant of the apartment was a tall man with long, gray hair.
A very familiar man.
Cloud seized his sword and accidentally smacked it against the door frame. On the second try, he got it in front of him. Sephiroth merely smiled and approached.
Cloud backed up and fell, dropping his sword, and then his enemy was upon him. The green eyes with slit-shaped pupils glared menacingly.
Struggling, Cloud managed to throw him off, grabbing his sword and getting back to his feet. He raised his weapon up to strike.
"Cloud! Stop!" It was Tifa, emerging from her own apartment.
"Get back inside!" he urged her, not wanting her to be confronted with the ex-SOLDIER who killed her father.
Sephiroth grabbed his foot.
"Get off me!"
Suddenly, he was struck by another sharp headache, accompanied by a vision of men in black robes walking through a barren landscape. "Reunion," one of them groaned. "Reunion."
And then he was back in the here and now, and the man grabbing his foot was not Sephiroth, but one of the robed men, groaning.
He lowered his sword and stepped back as Tifa approached. She knelt down and helped the man up. "What are you doing to Marco? This is his apartment. He's got a few problems, but he's not a bad guy. The landlady asked me to check on him now and then to make sure he's okay."
Cloud stowed his sword, staring at the number 49 tattooed on the man's shoulder.
"Can I ask you to do the same?"
"Sure," Cloud replied, at a loss for any other words.
She helped Marco back inside his apartment, then exited and shut the door. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Cloud didn't know how to begin to explain what he had seen.
She stepped close to him, studying his face. "You're sure?"
He blinked at her sudden proximity, feeling an intense pull to move even closer. Catching himself, he backed up. "Yes, I'm fine. Good night."
Her face fell a little, but she nodded. "Good night."
Jessie spent much of the next day doing research, more than she would care to admit, although that didn't become apparent to her until one of her roommates came traipsing in from her lunch date.
"Jessie!" Gladys's voice emerged in song.
Jessie quickly hid her screen. "Hey there, girlie! How was your date?"
Gladys swooned. "It was blissful. He's so charming."
"That's good." Jessie stood, holding her tablet against her chest. "You'll have to give me all the dirty details later." She added a wink for good measure.
"Oh? Do you have places to be?"
"I do, sadly." She entered the little hallway that squeezed between their tiny, makeshift bedrooms, and disappeared into her own. She would have to wait for Gladys to leave their common space before she put on her armor and made for Seventh Heaven, or her nosey roommate might decide to follow.
"I lost track of time," she grumbled, frowning at the data on her tablet.
"You really don't need to worry so much." Her phantom appeared in the narrow space beyond the foot of her bed. "Your bomb was fine, I've told you."
"Still, I need a weaker blasting agent, just in case." She dropped her tablet on the bed and crossed her arms. "I can't let there be so much collateral damage tomorrow night."
"It wasn't your fault."
"It was, though! Chain reactions or not, it was my explosion that started it all. Any civilian casualties last night are my... they're my fault." Her words were daggers in her own gut.
"That isn't true, Jessie."
"Agree to disagree. I have to do this, tonight." She pursed her lips. "I should bring Cloud with me. It's best if the others don't know."
Her phantom's tone turned dry. "Of course."
"Knock it off. Your protection won't do me any good if I get caught, unlike his."
The purple glow around the phantom's form intensified for a moment. "Fine."
"And maybe I'll give him a kiss for his trouble. Or maybe more than that."
The purple glow intensified again.
"It sucks for you, doesn't it, that you can't even touch me? You're not even tangible, barely more than a ghost. I'm so close, and you can't do anything about it. Not that I would let you, of course."
"It's more complicated than that."
"Is it?" She stuck her hand through his chest. "It doesn't feel complicated to me. It doesn't feel like anything, actually."
"I'll explain everything, Jessie, but it isn't time yet."
"You keep saying that!" She clenched her fists and turned away from him. "Just leave me alone! Go protect someone else until I need you!"
"It doesn't work that way. I can only protect you. I can only appear to you."
"Why, because you have some obsession with me?"
There was a knock on her door, and then Gladys's voice. "Jessie, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Jessie called back, then turned to the phantom. "Just go away," she said quietly. "I won't need you until tonight, and maybe not even then if I have Cloud with me. He is a real person, after all."
Her phantom looked somber, but disappeared.
Jessie turned back to her tablet, refusing to feel any remorse for her words. Her conscience could only handle so much at once.