FIVE
And now, my dear reader, it's time for Wutai's famous white rose to take you further along in this incredible story of ours. That's right! You now have the honor of listening to me, the one and only Yuffie, tell you more about how my friends and I ended up saving the world from that crazy psycho Sephiroth. But that's still a bit further on. So, um… where were we? Oh, right! I'd just met Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, and Lena and had graciously allowed them to join up with me.
Well, okay… I agreed to help them protect Fort Condor after Jessie beat me in a fight. I hate to admit it, but it's true. And I guess that's why we're here. To tell you all what really happened back then. Still, what's a good story without a little embellishment? But I guess Cloud does have a point. So I'll try not to get too carried away.
Ahem! So me, Jessie, and the rest of her little group were all in that wooded clearing that day, getting ready to head out. She and I drank a potion or two—those things are seriously gross, especially the stronger ones—as we saw to the cuts and scratches we'd given each other in our fight. She wasn't so bad, really, now that I was getting to know her. And her friends were okay, too. As they packed up their things, I realized I'd actually seen them before, back in Midgar.
"Hey, Jessie…" I said. "Been a long time, hasn't it?"
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
I grinned, hands on my hips. "Don't you remember? From that day in Midgar? We talked in front of that bar."
"I don't think…" Jessie started. Then her eyes widened. "Wait just a minute! That girl in the moogle cloak… that was you? I never did get a good look at your face until today. Wow!"
"Yep! Yours truly!" I bowed.
She laughed. "Small world, isn't it?"
"Sure is!" I agreed. "So, anyway… did that guy you were waiting for ever come over to see you? If he did stand you up, I'll be happy to help you kick his ass the next time we're in Midgar."
"Oh, he did, alright," Jessie smiled, blushing a little.
I admit, I did tease her about it a little that day. I'd been wandering around town, getting the feel of the place—I still didn't get how people couldn't stand that terrible mako smell—and had spotted her sitting on the porch of this big bar. Jessie had been working on some kinda tablet, and she'd had a cloth and a bottle of what looked like wax or cleaner on the table next to her, probably for that nifty motorcycle I'd seen parked nearby. She'd seemed really worried about something, looking up every now and then to gaze expectantly across the slums.
And so, like any self-respecting heroic young ninja would do, I had decided to see what I could do to cheer her up a bit. She hadn't been in the mood to take my jokes about her being stood up, so I'd had to take a different approach. I'd noticed the pack of cards on the table with the rest of her stuff and had challenged Jessie to a game. I'd had time to kill anyway since my partner hadn't shown up yet, so she and I had played a round, and I'd made sure to let her win.
That had definitely improved Jessie's mood, so we had played a few more hands together, and I'd done my best to keep on losing. But I did win eventually, and I hadn't been able to resist boasting about it when I did. I'd just been having fun with her, but I'd forgotten how worried she was about whoever she'd been waiting for, so it hadn't gone over all that well. Losing to her some more had cheered her up again soon enough, though. I hadn't wanted to leave her feeling sour.
Eventually, I'd had to move on, and she'd walked down the stairs in front of the bar with me. I'd waved at her, wondering if I'd see her again before I finished my mission and left town, and she'd done the same as she'd started polishing that cool motorcycle.
I giggled as we all got ready to leave. "Good! I hope you guys had a good time, Jessie. No need to go into details, though. All that grownup stuff just makes me wanna gag, you know?"
"Maybe for now, Yuffie, but someday you might just feel differently about it," she chuckled. Then she got serious. "But anyway, he did show up, and right when I needed him, too. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. I just wish… well, nevermind. What's done is done, and there's no changing it. And we've gotta get going."
I blinked. "Huh? I don't get it. What's wrong?"
Jessie patted my shoulder. "Nothing for you to worry about. I'll tell you later, okay? I think we all will. What happened that night… it's still hard to think about. I think it'll be good to talk about it, though. After we've put some more miles behind us."
"Yeah…" Biggs agreed.
Wedge and Lena didn't say anything, but the way they both looked so subdued all of a sudden told me something was bothering them. At first, I didn't understand. But then, as I thought about my own time in Midgar and how it had ended, I knew. I'd seen it myself, sinking to my knees as a huge chunk of the city had just fallen onto the slums, flames everywhere. I'd never felt so helpless in my life.
Jessie was right, though. Talking about it would be good for them, for us. "It's okay, guys. I'll be all ears for ya!"
"Thanks, Yuffie," she said. "So, where's your ride?"
I did a quick little bow and smiled. "Anytime! I got here on foot, by the way. Well, after hitching a ride on a pickup truck. Not that the guy actually knew, though. I just kinda hopped in the back when he wasn't looking and got out not too far from here."
Jessie nodded. "Okay. Why don't you ride behind me on the Hardy then? Lena, you good to be in the sidecar?"
"Sure," she replied. "I'll be closer to Wedge, anyway."
"Works for me!" he grinned.
That seemed to have cheered them up a bit, and so we all got ready to head out. Jessie's motorcycle was pretty neat—it was the same one I'd seen her polishing in Midgar when we'd finished playing cards—but as I hopped on behind her, I couldn't help feeling a little queasy. I'd always been that way, and trust me, it totally sucks.
Jessie glanced over her shoulder at me. "Ready?"
"I guess so…" I groaned, holding my stomach with one hand. "Just do me a favor, okay? Try not to hit too many bumps."
"Motion sickness?" Jessie asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. It's a real pain in the ass…"
"I don't doubt it," she agreed. "No promises, but I'll do my best. So just hold on and try not to hurl, alright?"
"Will do," I told her.
Biggs got on the other bike behind Wedge, with Lena in the sidecar attached to it, and we headed out, driving carefully through the trees as we made our way toward the road. It was almost dark now, but I didn't think we'd be stopping for a while. Jessie seemed be set on getting over to Fort Condor as soon as she could. I liked her and rest of the friends I'd made today, but I hadn't forgotten about the materia, either. And as I rode, I wondered if I could still get them. Maybe I'd just borrow them for a while when my friends weren't looking.
"Yeah…" I thought aloud. "That's the ticket. A little of this… a little of that… all for the glory of Wutai."
"Hmm? What was that?" Jessie wondered.
I held on as we sped onto the road. "Nothing! Say, uh, how far is it to Fort Condor from here? We driving all night?"
"A day at the most," she answered. "We oughta get there sometime tomorrow afternoon. So no need to pull an all-nighter. We'll drive for a few hours, then stop and get some sleep."
So that's what we did. There wasn't too much traffic on the road, so we made good time and didn't see anyone from Shinra. As we drove on into the night, the engine roaring in my ears, I had to hold on as much to Jessie as to the bike to keep my lunch down. She didn't seem to mind me doing that, though, and she did try to make the ride as easy for me as she could. I also kept my eyes closed most of the time, knowing that if I didn't, I'd feel worse than I already did.
When we finally stopped close to midnight and pulled off the road into another cluster of trees past an open field with tall grass, I hopped off the bike right away and just stood there clutching my stomach until everything had quit spinning around me. Jessie looked sympathetically at me as she switched off the Hardy, and after she got off, she patted me on the shoulder. I gave her a little thumbs up in return once I felt like I wasn't gonna gag and my stomach settled.
It didn't take long to get the tents up and a small fire made, and we all settled in for the night. Just like she'd promised, Lena shared a snack with Wedge as they sat next to each other right across from me, and we all talked for a while. Little things at first, nothing important. Just stuff to help me get to know them better. I shared a little, too, but not about my mission to Midgar. I wasn't ready to talk about that yet, or just how badly it had turned out. It still hurt too much. And after a while, Jessie brought up what I'd known she would.
She looked at me, her voice quiet. "Yuffie… that day we first met, it was the same day that… the plate fell."
"I know…" I sighed. "I saw it from above."
"You were up there?" Biggs asked.
I nodded. "In the city core. On business, you might say. I wanted to help, I really did, but… I was too late."
"We all were," Jessie agreed.
"So where were you guys?" I wondered.
Her eyes lingered on the fire. "In the pillar, trying to save everyone and our home. Didn't work out so good, though."
"I'm sorry," I told her.
"Thanks, Yuffie," Jessie smiled softly.
Then I thought of something. "Hey, um… guys? Don't take this the wrong way, but… you're Avalanche, right?"
"Yeah, we are," she said. "And it's fine, don't worry."
"How'd you know?" Wedge asked.
I went on, excited at the connection I'd made. "You must be part of the splinter cell, then! I knew it was you!"
"Splinter cell?" Jessie blinked, looking at the guys.
"It was before you came along, Jessie," Biggs explained. "Used to be a few more of us, but… they didn't see things the way we did. So Barret left, and me, Wedge, and Tifa followed him."
Wedge nodded. "Yeah. Didn't know they were still active, though. I used to see them every now and then around town, but they never did talk to us very much after the split. They didn't agree with the kinds of things we wanted to do to fight Shinra."
"Thought we were too extreme," Biggs added.
"That's what they told us," I agreed. "I wanted to say hi to you guys while I was there, but Nayo said to stay away. We were walking past the bar when that big guy with the gun on his arm and the dark-haired girl with the huge rack showed up and started talking to Jessie. Nayo made sure we stayed outta sight 'till you went inside."
Jessie barely stifled a sudden fit of giggles. "Yeah, Tifa's pretty-well covered, alright. Biggs has certainly noticed."
"Hey!" he blushed.
"Oh, got the hots for her, do ya?" I teased.
Lena elbowed him playfully in the ribs. "Sure does. Hasn't told her yet, though. But yeah, he's crazy about her."
"Good luck with that, Biggs," I laughed. "But enough about all this yucky grownup stuff. I think you guys have the right idea about Shinra. The others were nice and all, but… a little too timid for my taste. They just didn't have the guts to do what needs doing."
Wedge glanced at me. "Hey, Yuffie… did they get out? You know… before everything came down and all."
"On the last train," I nodded. "Same as we did."
"We?" Biggs wondered.
I sighed and looked away. "Ah, nothing… not really in the mood to talk about it right now, sorry. Maybe later."
"No problem," he said.
We talked for a while longer, the others telling me a little about the night the plate fell and what they'd done, how they'd fought in the pillar to stop Shinra, them and those other guys I'd met back in Kalm and the marshes—Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith. Seemed they hadn't run into my fuzzball friend Red yet at the time.
Eventually, Jessie started in on what had happened up top, sharing with me how her friends had fought the Turks to buy her time to get to the console and lock it out. It was really cool the way Cloud had flown in and saved her before that, right in the nick of time. But in spite of all they'd done, Shinra had beaten them in the end.
Jessie told me how that old, ugly general—Heidegger—had tried to kill her by blowing up the console while she was still there working on it trying to shut it down and stop the collapse. Her own dad. Made me feel a little tighter with her considering how rough things had been for years between me and my own old man. Ever since Mom died. Though at least mine had never gone as far as hers did.
She'd nearly died that night, from what she and the others told me, and had been caught in the collapse. Cloud and the others had escaped and gone back to find her, but she'd been dying and stuck in a coma for days. Jessie looked so tough with that slick black suit of hers and those glowing brown eyes, and it was kinda hard for me to imagine her being so hurt. Luckily, that girl Aerith had saved her, but she still hadn't even been able to walk at first, let alone fight. It had taken a while for her to recover and get back on her feet again.
"I went back, too," I admitted. "Back down to the slums, I mean. To the ruins. That same night. Needed to do something, anything, to help. Might not be strong, but I'm good at getting into places others can't. So I found as many trapped people as I could and pointed the way for the guys that could get them out. And I also told those bodybuilders about the crashed chopper blocking half the town."
Jessie's eyes widened as her jaw fell open. "You did?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Figured that if anyone could move that thing, it'd be them. I'd managed to slip past it earlier and saw all the rubble on the other side. Knew there were probably some people buried in there, so I hurried back, found that big girly-looking guy who was in charge, and told him and his buddies about what I'd found."
"No way…" Wedge breathed.
"Huh?" I looked at them in confusion. "I don't get it."
Jessie, who was on my left, gazed warmly at me and gently took my shoulder. "Yuffie, you helped save me…"
"I did?" I blinked.
She smiled. "Oh, yeah. Cloud and the others, when they came back for me, they couldn't get past the chopper to where I was. Not 'till Jules and his friends showed up. Thanks to you."
I blushed and looked away. "Aw, you're embarrassing me…"
"Tough," she chuckled, hugging me.
I returned it for a moment. "Glad to help, Jessie! You know, finding this out makes me feel a little better about… things. Stuff that went on before, I mean. On the plate. So, um… thanks."
"Anytime," she told me. Then she lowered her voice so only I could hear her. "I think I know what it was."
"You do?" I stared at her.
Jessie's sympathetic gaze told me everything. "Yeah. At least part of it. But we can talk about it later, okay?"
I pushed back the lump in my throat. "Sure…"
"You alright?" she asked.
"Never better!" I smirked, composing myself as I let go of her. Not like I was having a moment of weakness or anything. "I think I'm done being all mushy, though. Ninjas've gotta be tough."
Jessie winked. "Of course."
"But, uh… how come we didn't see you, Yuffie?" Wedge wondered. "We were all there that night looking for Jessie—well, except for Biggs, who'd been pretty hurt too and was resting."
I grinned. "Glad you asked, Wedge! I stayed on the move, trying to find as many other trapped people as I could and letting the search and rescue folks know where they were. And as I was making my way back toward where that chopper was, the ground gave way underneath me. I fell down into this weird place underground."
Jessie shared a startled glance with the others. "Gotta be where you guys and Cloud found Tom a few days later."
"No doubt," Biggs agreed. "You were there too, kid?"
I nodded. "Yeah, the night I went back. It was some kinda lab. Real creepy, if you ask me. Took me a little while to find my way out. I didn't see anyone while I was in there, but I did run into a behemoth that had gotten loose somehow. It probably thought I'd be easy pickings. Not! So I kicked its ass, of course. Wasn't able to kill it, unfortunately, but I gave it a good thrashing before I got outta there."
"Looks like Cloud was right," Jessie said. "He figured someone else must've fought it before he and the others did."
"And that was me!" I chuckled.
She laughed. "Good to know! And thanks so much for helping out in Sector 7 that night. Not just for me, but for everyone else that's alive because of you. Means a lot to all of us here."
I felt another blush coming on as the others voiced their agreement with Jessie, so I took a breath and pushed it away while Wedge gave me a thumbs up. Even Lena offered me a smile as she sat with her left arm wrapped snugly around his right one.
"Anytime!" I grinned. "That's what ninjas do!"
Jessie went on. "You know, we couldn't save Sector 7, but… I think we can save Fort Condor. And we will, guys. Both for them and for us. And for everyone back home who didn't make it."
Biggs pumped his fist. "Right. Not gonna let Shinra do it again. It's gonna be a whole different story this time."
"Yeah!" Wedge agreed.
"For Sector 7," Lena reached out her hand.
Jessie put hers over it. "Sector 7."
I did the same. "Count me in! To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled at first about having to help you guys. But now, after thinking it over and getting to know you better, I'm all for it!"
"Glad to have ya!" Biggs laid his hand over mine.
Wedge put his on last. "What he said!"
We all kept our hands out there for a moment as we looked at each other, determined not to let Shinra win. And give them a big black eye while we were at it. I had a lot of reasons, and I was sure my friends did too. Even though I didn't know the first thing about Fort Condor, I was gonna do all I could to help protect it.
Eventually, we let go, and Jessie gazed at us. "Alright, guys. Time to turn in. We've got a long road tomorrow, and more to do after that. So we'd better get some sleep while we can."
She volunteered to take the first watch, which was fine by me since I was definitely beat. But halfway to the tent I was sharing with her and Lena, I stopped, thinking about what she'd said to me earlier. Once the others had all gone inside, I went back to the fire and plopped down on the ground next her again, not sure where to start but needing to talk a little about what had happened on the plate.
"Hey, there," Jessie smiled. "Something on your mind?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose. What you said before… I'm not sure if I'm ready to spill it all yet, but… I should probably get some of it out, at least. I'll sleep a little better for it, I think."
She nodded. "Go ahead."
"Well… his name was Sonon," I replied. "My partner. He was older than me, studied under my dad, but for our mission, I was actually the one in charge. We came to Midgar for a reason."
"Something about an ultimate materia, right?" Jessie asked.
I blinked. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
She tapped the front of her hi-tech suit. "I went in there too, Yuffie. Advanced Weapons Research. It was a couple weeks after you guys did. That's where I got this from, you know. Stole it, actually. Then I had to fight to escape. I barely got outta there alive."
"That's kinda like what happened with us, only what we were after wasn't there," I said. "It turned out our information was wrong, you see. Shinra is working on the materia, but it's not ready yet and won't be for a while. They want it really bad, though."
"I'll bet," Jessie frowned, gazing into the fire. "Scarlet's never met a weapon she didn't like. Trust me on that."
"She's screwed with you too?" I grimaced.
Jessie sighed. "Oh, yeah. Too much. I used to work for her, you see. A long time ago. I was her assistant."
I shot to my feet. "What!? You mean you…?"
"Not during the war with Wutai," she insisted, shaking her head. "I didn't start until just after it ended."
"You're sure?" I demanded, needing to know.
Jessie's eyes locked onto mine. "Positive. My work… it caused a lot of damage back home, but… never to yours."
Slowly, I sat back down. "Okay. I… I believe you."
"Thanks," she said, relaxing.
I listened as Jessie told me a bit about her ugly history with Scarlet, how that bitch had gone behind her back and turned the weapons she'd designed to keep people safe into killing machines. And although I felt bad for her, I also couldn't forget how much I hated Shinra myself, and I gave her a pointed little reminder of that.
"I really hate to say it, but that's what you get for trusting Scarlet," I told her. "You should've known better."
"Can't argue with ya there," Jessie admitted.
I nodded. "Shinra's nothing but trouble, Jessie. Believe me, I know. They totally wrecked Wutai, and now it's just a tourist trap that's all but forgotten about its traditions as it tries to become more modern. If my mom were alive, she'd have kicked my dad's ass for letting that happen. I'll do it myself someday if he doesn't shape up."
"I know what you mean," she smiled.
I returned it. "Well, lesson learned, I hope?"
Jessie sighed. "Yeah. Too well, I'm afraid. But anyway, you and… it was Sonon, right? You guys snuck into Advanced Weapons Research to steal the ultimate materia. Scarlet told me about it when I went in there later. And that… only one of you got out."
"Sonon… that idiot… he pushed me into the elevator," I choked, a hard lump forming in my throat. "And that's when that… that shadowy freak… ran him through from behind. Sonon never moved. He just… stayed between us until the doors closed."
She gently slid an arm around me. "I'm sorry, Yuffie."
I dabbed at my eye. Just to get a speck out, of course. Not like I was actually crying. "Thanks, Jessie. He was my friend, even though I didn't get to be with him for very long. Said I reminded him of his little sister. But I'm not her! I'm not! I'm just not!"
As I said the last word, my voice finally broke, and I quickly turned away, too embarrassed to let Jessie see me like this. I'd thought I was all done being emotional, but talking about what had happened in Midgar brought it all back. For a moment, I just sat there, my chest hitching as the memories ran through my mind. But eventually, I managed to take a deep breath or two and compose myself.
"Sorry," I said as I wiped the wetness from my face.
"Don't be," Jessie told me.
I smiled gratefully at her. "I gotta admit, it sure feels good to have a friend again. I was getting kinda lonely."
"Not anymore," she said. "You've got us now."
"And you've got me, too!" I pointed my thumb at myself.
Jessie laughed. "What a team, right? Just don't go after my materia again or I'll give you another good thrashing."
"You wish!" I giggled. "I'm just dying for a rematch!"
"Well, if you wanna get your ass kicked that bad…" she teased, her hand drifting playfully to her weapon.
I yawned. "Nah, not tonight. Too tired."
"Suit yourself," she chuckled.
Then I thought of something. "Anyway, speaking of ass kicking, we are gonna take Scarlet down, right?"
Jessie took my shoulder. "Together. Count on it."
"Good," I growled, clenching my fist. "Because that bitch has a date with my shuriken, and she's not gonna miss it."
"She won't, Yuffie," Jessie agreed. "We'll see to it."
I grinned as we did a fist bump. "Yeah!"
"So, you gonna go crash now?" she wondered.
"I think so," I answered. "But there's something else I wanted to ask you first. There's another reason I left home, you see. To find someone. His name's Hiroshi. He's a bit older than me, like your age now, but still a friend, a big brother type like Sonon."
Jessie nodded. "Did he leave Wutai, too?"
I stood up and slowly paced around the fire. "Yeah. He's part of the Wusheng's covert ops division. My dad sent him out on an undercover mission to infiltrate Shinra, grab as much information as he could, and come back home. That was five years ago."
"And nobody's heard from him since then?" she asked.
"Right," I sighed. "He's missing, and since you used to be in Shinra and are in Avalanche now, I was wondering if you'd heard anything. He would've been disguised as one of you so nobody'd know where he was from. Dyed hair, contacts, that kinda thing."
Jessie thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I haven't. I do have a few friends inside Shinra, though, and I could have them look into this if you want, Yuffie."
I stopped my pacing. "Do you trust them?"
"With my life," she answered.
"Alright," I decided. "Thanks, Jessie."
She smiled. "No problem. But let's take things a step at a time. First we gotta protect Fort Condor. Then I'll get in touch with my friends in Shinra and tell them to look for Hiroshi."
"Fair enough," I agreed. Then I yawned again. "Well, I think I'll go get some shut-eye now. Goodnight!"
"Yuffie!" she called as I headed toward our tent.
I looked innocently at her. "Hmm?"
She smirked and held out her right hand. "Give it back."
"Busted…" I sighed dramatically.
Looked like Jessie had a sharper eye than I'd thought. I'd only been playing around anyway, so I took that beautiful glowing green materia orb outta my pocket and handed it to her. I'd swiped it from her armlet when I'd passed her during my pacing, but as she fitted it back into the slot, I wondered if she'd known all along.
Jessie laughed. "Bet your ass you are. Don't try that again."
"Just staying in practice," I giggled.
"I'll bet," she grinned. "And just for that little stunt, you get to take the next watch. See you in a few hours, kid."
I chuckled as I went to bed. "Yeah, yeah. Night, Jessie."
"Night, Yuffie," she said.
Lena was already out by the time I slipped inside our tent, so I put my shuriken aside—still well within reach, though—then curled up in my sleeping bag. What an exciting day it had been! And tomorrow was looking to be even better. I was really glad to have my new friends, and as I finally fell asleep, I thought of Sonon like I had every night since I'd left Midgar. But this time, it didn't hurt so much.
