a bell tolls for my heart/and now my lonesome song begins It rarely rained in Midgar, but when it did, the plate above creaked and groaned, and the patter of water droplets against it made it sound as if the entire city was enveloped in a large, tin roof. Why anyone would venture out on this gloomy day was beyond Jessie, and Barret had warned all of them to stay inside, "Or else one of ya'll is gonna get your head busted by yours truly," but watching Tifa idly and sullenly flip through a magazine whilst punctuating each turn of the page with an exaggerated groan, she supposed that sitting inside during a rainy day didn't suit everyone. "Are you bored?" Jessie asked, trying to catch a glance of Tifa's face, which was partially obscured by a waterfall of sleek, dark hair. Jessie gave her own dark brown hair a disdainful glance. She wasn't particularly into her looks, but she couldn't help but be envious of the way the other girl's hair cascaded down her back in perfect waves, and there were other things too, that she noticed, the way that muscles rippled under her pale skin when she so much as shifted slightly to turn a page, or how the deep, brownish red of her eyes seemed to flicker whenever she read something interesting. She realized now that those same eyes were on her, studying her carefully, and she felt a faint blush wash across her cheeks immediately. What was she doing, staring like that? "A little bit, I guess. We can't go to visit Aeris today, because of the head busting threats and all." Tifa laughed sardonically and absentmindedly turned another page in the glossy magazine, and Jessie found herself smiling. "Biggs and Wedge snuck out." "Probably to Wall Market." Tifa made a face and scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Whenever they go there, Barret doesn't say anything, but if we so much as breathe the words 'wall' or 'market,' he goes ballistic." "Because Wall Market is..." Jessie paused and considered her phrasing, watching Tifa's suddenly interested expression. "It's not a place for girls." Even though they were both around the same age, Jessie couldn't help but feel a bit protective toward Tifa, perhaps because she knew very little about Midgar and its dangers. "But it's a place for boys? That's sexist." Another huff, another eye roll, and Jessie wondered when Tifa had become so obstinate. Maybe Aeris was the reason; the flower girl was a little mischievous, and they did hang out all the time. She couldn't help but feel a little envious of that too. At first, she would accompany Tifa on her weekly, and then daily visits, but over time she started to feel left out. She liked the both of them separately, but together... "It's just not a place for women," Jessie explained, "because it's dangerous. There are lots of thugs there, and the Don-" she caught herself. She had said too much, but now Tifa was interested. She set her magazine to the side and leaned forward in her seat, her boredom momentarily forgotten. "The Don? Who's that?" Jessie sighed, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "The Don is a really gross guy who likes...women. A lot. And he has a...place for these women, and there are a lot of guys there, working for him and if they see you walking around, they might take you there...and well, you don't want to go there." Tifa's brow furrowed. "You mean...prostitution?" Jessie blushed again, shifting in her chair. "Yeah, I mean...that's what I mean. So...you don't want to go there, okay? It's really seedy and there are lots of really bad people running around. The guys are safe, for the most part, but we might not be." "Oh..." Tifa glanced down, and for a moment there was an awkward silence before she spoke again, now blushing herself. "Have...have you ever been there? I mean, not to, not to do that, just...to visit..." she finished lamely, glancing down at her hands. "Yeah." Jessie sighed and closed her eyes. "With my mother. She worked there for a while, before she left." "Worked? Oh...what happened to her?" "Don't know. Haven't seen her in years." Tifa was suddenly struck by how casual that statement was, how Jessie simply remarked on her mother's disappearance as if it was as common as the weather changing. And maybe it was. When Tifa quietly questioned Biggs on the whereabouts of his parents, he had simply said, "Died in the war," and similarly Wedge had cheerfully remarked that he had no idea where his parents were, with the same exuberance that he usually had. She wondered, briefly, how many people would say the same thing if questioned, if she too would one day speak of her parents in the same, offhand manner. It seemed like an especially depressing thought. "Oh. I'm...sorry." "It's okay. She wasn't around much anyway." Jessie shrugged and yawned, smiling weakly. "But anyway, you said you were bored, so what should we do?" "Oh, I hadn't thought about it much..." Tifa lifted a finger to her chin and considered their options. "I really want to visit Aeris, but you know Barret." She puffed up her chest and exclaimed in a deep, boisterous voice, "You damn kids better not be sneakin' around!" She laughed and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "So I guess we shouldn't sneak out." "I-I guess not." Jessie sighed and pushed her glasses up with her index finger. "We could maybe do something here, together, I guess. If you want." "Sure I do! But...there's nothing to do." Tifa gazed around their living space and sighed. "Not even books to read." "There's...something." Jessie all but whispered. "Something downstairs that I've been working on." "Your lab? Ooo!" Tifa squealed and hopped to her feet. "What has the mad scientist been up to?" "I told you guys to stop calling me that." Jessie made a face and stood to her feet. "But you have to promise not to tell Barret that you saw this. It's top secret; I'm not supposed to be sharing it with anyone." "Cross my heart." "Hope to die," Jessie said, more out of reflex than anything, and felt a strange chill run up her spine. She had always hated that saying. "Come with me, then." ---------- Tifa rarely ventured into Jessie's 'lab,' and she never did so without permission. Certain people needed their privacy when they went about certain things: she had her martial arts, Aeris had her silent moments where she would sit and weed and prune her flowers, aware of nothing but her quiet, meticulous work, and Jessie had the lowest level below the small home (or was it a bar? Tifa could never decide and Barret never mentioned where or how they received money), what Biggs and Wedge jokingly referred to as 'the Laboratory.' It was dim here, filled with all sorts of strange devices, and Tifa glanced around, carefully touching things she found interesting. One in particular, a tiny, mechanical bird, no bigger than a sparrow and made of sleek, shiny silver, chirped and sung as they walked past it. Tifa jumped back in surprise as a cat made of the same material ambled past her, rumbling, halting meows sounding from its throat. "That's Mischa. He's a little buggy, I think. I'm going to fix him soon; his sound isn't as clear as some of the others." "He's amazing," Tifa whispered, rubbing the mechanical cat behind the ears and smiling in almost childlike glee when it purred in return. "This is some really fascinating stuff." Jessie shook her head, but her face was flushed with pride. "Thanks, but it's nothing. I have something else to show you." She led Tifa to another, smaller room, using a key to open the door. "Alright. Here it is." The room was sparse, but Tifa supposed that was because of the one, large TV monitor taking up most of the space. It was unlike any other device she had seen, connected by wires to terminals scattered throughout the room, with their own, small monitors. In a far corner of the room was a punching bag, Biggs, Tifa supposed, but she was too fascinated by the screen in front of her to take notice. It was a diagram. And not just any diagram, a map of the entire Midgar system, all eight sectors. Tiny words flashed on the screen, as did smaller images: 'FAILED ATTACK AT SECTOR FIVE REACTOR, NEWS AT NINE.' Tifa glanced at Jessie in confusion. "What is this?" "It's a map. And not only that, it's an information feed. I'm trying to connect it to every communications system in Midgar. It's going to be amazing." Tifa watched the line of text across the screen. "Why?" "Why? Oh..." Jessie shook her head. "I guess...just to prove that I can do it." She watched Tifa carefully, gauging her reaction. Tifa's brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth to say something else, but a loud commotion upstairs startled both the girls. "What was that?" "I don't know..." Jessie glanced up, and another loud bump was heard, followed by what sounded like very familiar yelling. "You goddamn idiots! Didn't I tell ya not to go to that hellhole?" "Sounds like Barret," Tifa murmured, shaking her head. "Yeah, guess he caught Biggs and Wedge...we should probably go up there." "Mmhmm." Tifa took one last glance at the large monitor, gleaming with light, and gave Jessie a brilliant grin. "Thanks for showing me this." She reached to put a hand on the other girl's shoulder, and then apparently thought better of it, turning to exit. "I know this place means a lot to you." Jessie grinned back, and tried to quell a sudden upsurge of uneasiness. "You're welcome, and it's no problem. You're my friend. I trust you." The girls made their way upstairs, and the door to the lab closed with a faint, gentle click. ---------- Days without Tifa were dull, Aeris reflected silently, watching the cascading sheets of water pound against her bedroom window. Especially rainy days. Not that she minded rainy days, of course. She normally loved them, the gentle patter of raindrops against the roof and windowpanes was a natural lullaby, and the water near their home was pure, not the cloying poison of the rest of Midgar. She supposed it had something to do with the Planet. She supposed it had something to do with her. She was never one to enjoy being cooped up in the house however, and while her mother did an admirable job of keeping her entertained; soon she was struck with an odd melancholy, and politely dismissed herself. She stared up at the ceiling and yawned. There was something tugging at the edge of her mind, asking to be heard, but what was it? She decided not to worry just yet, and instead reflected on the day before, with Tifa. Finally, gratefully, the martial artist had begun to open up a bit, and it wasn't a happy story, but it was something. Tifa had quickly succumbed to boredom that afternoon, and so suggested they move deeper inside the church, an idea which made the flower girl balk until she considered who she was with. Besides, it was her church. Nothing could hurt her here. She had never thought to herself to venture further though; she knew that the wood of the church had suffered a great deal of water damage throughout the years, and as things tend to do, had rotted with age and lack of care, so when Tifa's foot suddenly caught in an old floorboard throughout their exploration, Aeris suggested they go back to the flowers. "We just started looking!" was Tifa's response, and she carefully removed her foot. "Don't be a wuss." "I'm not a wuss," Aeris retorted, playfully nudging Tifa with her shoulder. "I'm just...I don't really venture too far into the church. The wood is weak, and-" "Don't worry. I'll keep you from falling through the floor." Tifa winked, and Aeris felt a flutter of...something, in the pit of her stomach. "Don't I keep those stupid Turks from taking you away?" "That's true..." Aeris smiled and glanced down, so as to hide her expression. Tifa protected her just fine, alright, but she knew better. Those Turks were playing; she knew the big one, Rude was fond of Tifa for whatever reason, and the smaller one with the red hair seemed to humor him. But if Tseng ever found out they were playing around...she shivered. Tseng was nice enough to her, had always been, but she knew what the Turks were. They were little more than hired killers, and he would think nothing of snapping Tifa's neck if it meant they could take her back to Shinra. The thought made her sick to her stomach. "Are you alright? You're not that worried about falling through the floor, are you?" Tifa was smiling, but her eyes were dark with concern. "If it bothers you that much, we can go back..." "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just...a little cold." "Mm." Tifa gracefully maneuvered her body through a series of fallen wooden beams, and reached out for Aeris. "You're very mysterious, Gainsborough." Aeris smiled and took Tifa's hand. She only called her that when she was about to make fun of her. "You're pretty mysterious yourself, Lockheart." Her breath caught when she stumbled on a beam, but Tifa held her steady. Her grip was surprisingly strong. "I barely know anything about you." "Of course you do. You know I fight," she ignored the eye roll she received as a response. "You know I live with Barret and the others. You know how old I am." "That's not much." Tifa suddenly fell silent, and Aeris wondered if she had struck a nerve. "I know just as much about you." She backtracked quickly. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me. The pot calling the kettle black. Okay, so..." They finally stopped their trek throughout the old, dusty church, and Aeris settled down on the floor, motioning for Tifa to join her. After a moment, the younger girl did. "What do you want to know?" "I don't know." Tifa shrugged. "What about your dad? What happened to him?" "He died a long time ago." That much was true, as far as she knew it, her real father was dead, according to Ilfalna, and Elmyra's husband had died years ago, in the war. "I never met him." "I'm sorry." "What about you? I don't know much about your family. Where are you from, anyway?" It's gone now, though. "You're not from Midgar originally, are you?" "Are you?" Tifa shot back. She shifted irritably, angrily swiping her dark hair behind her ear, but Aeris pretended not to notice. "You sure don't act like it." "As far as I know. I may've come from somewhere else; you're right. But I don't really remember. But where are you from?" "Nibelheim." Her voice was almost a whisper, and Aeris moved closer. "I came from Nibelheim. It was a little village in the mountains. I lived there my whole life." It was? "What happened?" "An accident." She lowered her head, and her dark hair obscured her face. "There was a fire." "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have asked." But Tifa continued on, as if Aeris had never spoken. "No, not an accident. Shinra came. The reactor...something was wrong with it. And the smell...it was all over the place. Raw energy, Lifestream, it doesn't have a smell, did you know that? But Mako is different. It's like chemicals, and something rotting. Like sulfur. The monsters were attacking left and right. Papa...he, he told me not to leave the village anymore. He said it was too dangerous. I listened, for once. I was scared. We all were. Then Shinra came. Some SOLDIERs, and most importantly...Sephiroth. Everyone was so excited, and so was I, but then I met him, and he..." "He what?" "He was...different. He felt different. Master Zangan always said everyone has a different type of energy, life energy. A wellspring. He said everyone has it, and everyone does. It's what we use to make Materia work. It's what we use to move, to fight, to breathe. And for the most part, normal people usually have the same amount. Sometimes it feels a little different, looks a little different. Mine is different because I've undergone special training. It looks different." She paused. "So does Rude's. And that Turk, the one with the big mouth. But SOLDIERs are exposed to a different sort of training, I guess, so there's a big spike in their life energy. That's why they're so strong. The Mako glow, you know? You've seen it right?" Aeris nodded. "That's what it is. The Mako makes them stronger. But Sephiroth, he..." "What?" "He was...saturated in it. That's the best way I can put it." She shuddered. "His energy was...wrong. There was so much of it, so much. He was so strong, Aeris. I've never felt anyone like that. And it was wrong." "How?" "It just...it just felt like there was a bunch of it, but it wasn't all...his. It was pulling in two different directions. And it...it got stronger as we went up the mountain, and that's impossible. His power grew as he moved. Only a little bit, but most...no one can do that. You have to work to get that strong. He didn't seem to have any problem at all. It was as simple as breathing." Aeris moved closer, resting her head on Tifa's shoulder. She felt cold all of a sudden, and frightened. "Up the mountain?" "Mount Nibel. It's this huge mountain a little ways away from where the town was. It used to be beautiful, covered with wildflowers. That's what my dad used to say. On a good day you'd see chocobo climbing up it. But when Shinra moved in, everything changed. The reactor dried everything up. The monsters came, the flowers died. You'd be lucky to see any kind of bird at all. I was...their guide. I had a new outfit and everything; I wanted to impress Sephiroth and the others, and most of all...I wanted to show my dad I was an adult. He always treated me like I was a little kid. Anyway, they got there, Sephiroth and the others, and we went up the mountain." She frowned, as if trying to remember. "Once they got up there, they told me I couldn't go in the reactor. I didn't want to, not with Sephiroth anyway, but you know how people are when you tell them they can't do something. That poor guard..." She frowned again. "I gave him hell." "What happened?" "When they got out, Sephiroth was...different. He had been quiet before, but he didn't say anything at all once he got out of there. I didn't talk either; no one did. We were all a little worried, I guess. When we got back to the town, Sephiroth holed himself up in the old Shinra mansion. Everyone said it was haunted, and God knows no one wanted anything to do with Shinra, so most of the people in the town stayed away from it. I remember Papa...Papa telling me that Sephiroth going up that mountain was a bad idea. And he was right. He was right." She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "Then there was the fire..." "It's okay," Aeris whispered, pulling Tifa into an embrace. "You don't have to talk anymore." She stared up at the ceiling, and light filtered in through the broken roof, bathing the two girls in its glow. ---------- When everyone fell asleep, Tifa quietly slipped out of her bed, careful to gently close the door behind her. Jessie shifted, but did not awaken, and Tifa moved down the stairs, graceful as a cat and as silent as one. She had learned to move this way from Zangan, and smiled sardonically at the thought of her old teacher. Certainly he wouldn't approve of the way his prized student was using his teachings, but she was also certain he wouldn't particularly care for Rude's choice in profession. She had known his fighting style right off, part of why he was so predictable in their encounters. She wasn't Zangan's favorite pupil for nothing. The door to the lab was locked, but Tifa knew her way around that. She felt bad about lifting the keys from Jessie; she had never been a thief, but she intended to put them back where she found them. No harm, no foul. The door opened, and the mechanical hum of the enormous monitor greeted her. Jessie's pets were silent, and Tifa was grateful. The last thing she needed was someone waking up and finding her in here. She made her way to the monitor, and for a while simply stared. There was something else that caught her attention, something besides the machine. Things rarely escaped her notice, and her father always said she had an excellent memory. She smiled sadly. She missed her Papa. Hesitantly, she flicked the monitor on, and the room suddenly burst into light. She couldn't here much, but she didn't really need to hear anything. Her gaze went straight to the line of marquee along the bottom of the screen: Attack on reactor. Who would destroy a reactor? And how? She searched around in an attempt to find a volume switch, and finally did, turning it up just enough so that she could listen. "..Authorities report the terrorist group AVALANCHE has struck again, this time making an attempt on the Sector Five reactor. No suspects have been captured, although Shinra Incorporated has commented that the problem is under control, and that security has been tightened in all eight sectors...more after weather..." Tifa turned down the volume once more and turned the monitor off. She took a closer look around Jessie's workplace, noticing for the second time the smaller monitors. Train schedules, maps. Suddenly, she understood. Barret's late night ventures, the money that came from nowhere. Supporters for the cause. And Jessie's lab. Jessie is a genius, remember? It would take nothing at all for her to build a bomb, to forge an ID. They all hated Shinra, everyone did. Even Aeris, with her soft voice and her gentle nature. Shinra destroyed everything; why not destroy something of theirs? She smiled and exited the room just as quietly as she had entered it. She liked the idea of AVALANCHE, she thought to herself as she climbed the stairs, returning Jessie's keys where she had found them. She liked it a lot, and she wanted to be a part of it, whatever it took. That would be the way she'd protect Aeris; she'd help hit Shinra right where it would hurt the most.
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