Drabbles and fandom!squee!
Title: Lucky
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Claim: Tifa Lockhart
Prompt: #5, Lucky
Characters/Pairings: (mostly one-sided) Tifa/Shotgun (f)
Rating: G
Summary: Tifa had always dreamed of adventures. Now, she’s about to get one.
Author’s Notes: I wanted to write young Tifa.
Spoilers for Episode 12 of Before Crisis, if that’s something that can even really be spoiled.
The name for Tifa’s cat, is, of course, made up. So is my name for Shotgun (f). I know most people use the names from Gunshot Romance, but I’m really not overly fond of those, so I’m gradually coming up with my own.
“Here, Snowball! Here Kitty!” Tifa called, dashing up a few paces, long dark ponytail bouncing against her shoulders. She paused, trying again to mollify the little white kitten perched on a gnarled tree route further ahead of her. “Snowball! I know you want to run outside, but you’re still sick! Come back please!”
The kitten seemed to consider her for a second, tilting its head to the side and giving a little mewl. Tifa took this as a good sign and picked her way up the trail, ready to snatch up the stationary kitten once she got to her, and haul the little creature back home before Snowball put herself in harm’s way. But as soon as Snowball caught sight of Tifa’s movement, it leapt just out of reach before speeding off up the mountain.
“Snowball!” Tifa shouted in frustration. “Come back! The mountain’s dangerous!” She glanced around reluctantly at the dappled shadows created by trees and ferns growing out of the rough soil, at the craggy cliff face that stretched up and up beside her, and the winding deer trail tapering off ahead of her. Who knew what lurked in that forest? She had beginning training in martial arts and self defense, but she was just a girl. Even the strongest men in Nibelheim knew better than to venture too far from Mt. Nibel’s base. But as she saw the tip of a white tail disappear from view, she realized she really didn’t have much of a choice.
“Here Snowball! Here kitty! Come back!” Tifa crashed forward into the underbrush, gravelly soil shifting under her boots. She trotted several feet up, but still no sign of Snowball. She called again and thought she heard a distant meow, maybe a little farther up… …She swore Snowball had gone this way…
And so her trek continued. She felt like cursing the kitten, but really it wasn’t Snowball’s fault. She couldn’t blame a kitten for being frisky. Snowball didn’t know any better. But if Snowball got them lost, that kitten would never hear the end of it.
The air was already getting cooler, she noted after a while, rubbing her arms. She must be getting close to the top, where Shin-Ra Electric Power Company had built a Mako Reactor. She’d have to find Snowball before the kitten got much farther. Some of the elders in Nibelheim had told the children about what it was like when the Reactor was being built, and her parents had told her all about the kind of people who worked for Shin-Ra in Midgar. Big city people, she remembered as she walked. Scientists, executives, secretaries, and good-for-nothings, her father always said. Real work was done with your hands. The soldiers that frequented the bar and inn in Nibelheim and frequently headed up the mountain in convoys were fine - that was an honorable job, and Tifa knew that, had she been born a boy, her father would have been proud to let her leave town and enlist.
But there were other people who lurked around the Reactor on Mt. Nibel. Turks, Tifa’s mother had called them. Neither Tifa nor any of the other children had ever seen one, but they supposedly wore black suits and ties, like big-city businessmen. They were worse to run into than monsters, and they kidnapped children. Especially bad ones, her mother had warned the boys who lived next door. Of course, now Tifa knew better; that her mother had just been trying to scare the boys to stop them from always digging up her tomato plants, but Tifa was pretty sure Turks-or something like them-really existed, judging by the hushed tones the elders always used to talk about them. Either way, she’d better find Snowball soon. Neither a Turk nor a monster was a good thing for a sick kitty to run into in the middle of the mountains.
Just then, a distinctive feline yowl ripped through the silence, followed by hissing.
“Snowball?!” Tifa gasped, and ran forward, bursting into a clearing. There she saw Snowball, crouched in the underbrush, fur bristling. But she didn’t see anything else around. So she scooped up Snowball, ready to head back down the mountain, but the kitten kept writhing out of her grip, claws catching on her shirt and vest.
“Oh, come here, you,” she murmured soothingly, and turned around to go back the way she’d come -
--only to find herself face to face with a pair of giant, multi-faceted eyes, and clicking pincers. At first, Tifa blinked. The pincers clicked. And then they lunged.
Tifa couldn’t help it: she screamed. Snowball clawed out of her grip and sped up a tree, and the giant bug motored towards Tifa, waving its outsized front limbs. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears and she did her best to run backward, unable to take her eyes off of the hideous creature, but the heel of her boot snagged on what must have been a tree root, and she tumbled backwards, sprawled painfully on the rocky soil. And the bug kept advancing, antenna swiping back and forth searchingly. It gave a click and two more of its kind burst from the trees, closing in on Tifa from either side. She tried to scoot back further, but they were going to overtake her and her shirt was caught on something and the folded front limbs lunged down and she shut her eyes, bracing herself for the impact-
--but none came.
Her eyes blinked open. A dark blur stood between her and the bug.
“Get back, okay!” it told her, using itself to distract the monster bugs from Tifa. Tifa didn’t need to be told twice. She clawed at the bramble holding her back and scrabbled back to the fringes of the clearing. From there, she breathlessly watched her rescuer.
The authoritative voice she’d heard sounded older than her, despite its high pitch… What a fantastic happening, her adrenaline-fogged brain told her. Someone coming to save you when you’re in a pinch, just like a prince in a fairytale…! She watched her savior as he dodged the bug monsters’ next lunge, weaving away from pincers and flailing claws. He sure was smaller than any of the young men of Nibelheim, and as her eyes adjusted to the pace of his movements, she noticed telltale roundness around his chest and hips. …Her savior-prince was a woman? She’d ignored the figure’s long hair - tied up in a high ponytail - before, but now it made sense. And that voice had sounded decidedly feminine…
Just then, her prince-turned-woman whipped out a materia-equipped shotgun and fired a single burst of shot, and all three bugs crumpled, spurting murky violet goo. Snowball hissed, but scurried back down the tree to rub against her mistress. Tifa’s savior let out a triumphant “hmph,” and slid her weapon’s strap back over her shoulder, before grimacing as she flicked a stray chunk of bug goo off of her cheek.
“Eww, Kimara Bugs,” she said aloud, and now there was no doubt in Tifa’s mind that her prince was indeed female. Said “prince” walked over to Tifa and extended a hand - the one she hadn’t used to flick away the bug goo. “Are you all right?” she asked.
Tifa thought about this as she stared at her rescuer. She was a young woman, but still several years older than Tifa, with long golden-brown hair that shone in the patches of sunlight. Tifa was surprised to note that the woman was wearing a man’s crisp black suit and tie, but cut to flatter her curves. Tifa had never seen a woman dressed in such a way before. Some of the older men still frowned on Nibelheim’s women for wearing pants to do chores like gardening. For the most part, Nibelheim’s women wore skirts. Blatantly wearing men’s clothes like this would cause a scandal. …Tifa decided she liked it.
She caught the expectant look on the woman’s face. Oh, right. Was she okay? …The woman didn’t wear makeup like most of the women in Nibelheim, either, --just a hint of pink lip gloss -- but she didn’t need it. She had perfect skin and sparkling eyes with full lashes. Tifa felt her face flush when she realized she was staring - probably because of the mistake she’d made earlier.
Was she okay? With the way her heart was beating, Tifa wasn’t sure, but she figured she must be. She nodded, and took the woman’s hand, scooping up Snowball with her other. The woman helped Tifa to her feet, and Tifa took a small amount of pride in noting that they were almost the same height: she’d always been tall for her age.
“Good,” the woman told her. “That was a close one! What are you doing here? Don’t you know what’s in these mountains?” she scolded.
“Of course I do!” Tifa retorted, pride taking over. She wouldn’t let this woman think she was some ignorant little girl. “Everyone who lives here does. They say no one’s ever made it all the way up alive…”
The woman nodded, smiling. Tifa thought it was almost like she thought she knew something that Tifa didn’t. “Well, this mountain is also an important place for Shin-Ra,” she told her. “I’ve got to investigate something. You’re coming with me.” Tifa must have looked stupid because the woman laughed. But it was a friendly bubbling laugh, not a mocking one. “Wouldn’t want me to have to save you again, would you?” She giggled again - Tifa couldn’t figure out what about her face was so funny. “Don’t worry; we’ll head back down once I’m done. And,” the woman said with a showy wink, “I’ll protect you.”
And all Tifa could think of to say to that was, “I’m Tifa.”
“Call me Gwen,” the shotgun-wielder replied with a glowing grin, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder.
And then it hit Tifa. Shin-Ra? Black suits? Could she be… a Turk?
No, that was impossible, Tifa decided. There was no way her savior could be a kidnapper. After all, she was much too nice. And pretty.
And so the two women and the cat made their way up the mountain. Gwen seemed to know where she was going, but Tifa took careful note of their surroundings as they progressed. She chalked it up to nerves: she really didn’t want to be caught off guard by any more monsters, and it wouldn’t do to be lost in the mountains alone - well, except for Snowball-if she and Gwen got separated. It was only prudent to keep an eye on the scenery, instead of, for example, the way Gwen’s suit clung only in just the right places. (She’d never been so lucky with clothes herself. Tall and gawky, and with her unfortunate - and growing - breast size, she was fast-becoming a tailor’s worst nightmare: inhuman proportions… Now, in Gwen, there was something to be envied, or at least appreciated.) …And there she went again. Back to the mountain, Tifa. You don’t want to get lost, do you?
As if sensing her distraction, Snowball meowed irritably in her arms.
“We’re here!” Gwen exclaimed, stepping out of the trees. Tifa followed, and was awestruck by what she saw. “Shin-Ra’s oldest Reactor,” Gwen told her with pride, and Tifa wondered once gain what exactly Gwen’s business there entailed. Unheeding of their presence, the Mako Reactor loomed above them, a cold metal monolith, twisted and corroded by decades of existence.
Mt. Nibel was short, as mountains went: far below the snow line. But goose bumps prickled up and down Tifa’s arms, and she couldn’t say whether it had more to do with the chill wind blowing or the blue green glow seeping up and out of the Reactor before her. It gave her a bad feeling, as if there was something small and sinister crawling down her spine.
And then she spotted the dragon. Thinking back, Tifa wasn’t entirely sure how she’d missed it: a giant, green, ugly brute, basking on a rock directly in front of the entrance to the Mako Reactor. Glancing around, Tifa noticed several other sets of folded leathery wings and curled scaly tails lounging around the Reactor’s perimeter. She swallowed nervously, wondering if they’d have to go through the dragons, and if so, how worried she should be.
Beside her, Gwen gasped. That wasn’t a good sign.
Tifa watched as Gwen reached insider her suit jacket and pulled out a PHS, hit a speed dial, and pressed it to her ear. A cell phone call at a time like this?! Tifa’s ears perked up in curiosity at Gwen’s conversation, but she kept her eyes trained on the dragons. She didn’t want to be caught listening too intently…
“Tseng, sir, we’ve got a problem. Dragons. At the Reactor.” A pause. “Dra-gons. I’ve never seen this many!” “No, with all of them there, I don’t think I could get in.” Oh good, Gwen wasn’t planning on storming past them or anything. The phone conversation continued: “Yes, sir. But what are we going to do? The investigation can’t wait forever!” Tifa was intrigued. What was Gwen investigating? It sure must have been important. “He’s been sent out somewhere, sir! No one’s been able to reach him!” Gwen’s tone was approaching a frustrated whine. Whoever was on the other line gave her some directions. A final “Yes sir,” and then Gwen hung up, returning the phone to its proper location.
She sighed, but then grinned at Tifa, as if to cover her frustration. “Well, looks like you and your kitty will be getting home sooner than expected. I’ve got orders to go back to town.”
Tifa nodded. “Oh… really?” Nice job, Tifa. That sure sounded intelligent. She must look like a silly country girl without a thought in her head…
“Yep,” Gwen told her. “Come on, there’s a ropeway we can take over here.”
“A ropeway?” Tifa exclaimed, a little skeptical. “Where?” Surely if there was something like that up here, she would have known about it. Someone in town would have told her. In Nibelheim, they knew the mountain better than anyone, didn’t they? But she followed Gwen anyway. The woman had proven faithful so far, hadn’t she?
And sure enough, Gwen led her down a well-trodden path at the edge of the clearing, and before long, they stood in front of the ropeway, a single car hanging from its system of pulleys and cables. Tifa gasped in surprise.
“I never knew…” Why didn’t any of the lumberjacks in town know about this? It would make their work so much easier.
“Don’t worry about it,” Gwen assured her, spotting her concerned look. “It’s only for Reactor employees, so not many people know it’s here.” She hopped up into the car and it wobbled a little. Tifa eyed it with some kind of nervous excitement. This was just like an adventure in a book! Two strangers meet by chance and discover hidden secrets in inhospitable environments… Where would this take her next?
“Come on,” Gwen said with a comforting wink. “It’s a quick ride down. And totally safe. Here,” she thrust out a hand to help Tifa, who took it, feeling her face flush. Gwen probably thought she was scared! She wasn’t. This was just like the adventures she would play at with Cloud when they were kids. Cloud… She wondered where he could possibly be right now… Maybe halfway across the world, fighting evil. But thinking of her, surely. She knew he’d be here if he could be.
…Now, there was a thought. A long shot, to be sure, but Gwen had mentioned Shin-Ra…
“You don’t happen to know a soldier named Cloud, do you?” she queried after she’d seated herself and the cable car had started to move. Across from her, Gwen inclined her head in curiosity. “He’s my friend,” Tifa explained. “He left home to become a SOLDIER two years ago…”
Gwen seemed to consider it. “Hmm… I met a soldier named Cloud once, on a mission. But I can’t be sure if it was the same Cloud you know…”
Tifa felt warmth bubble up inside of her. How many boys named Cloud could there possibly be in SOLDIER? It had to be Cloud! Gwen knew Cloud! It all made sense now!
“If you get really famous and I’m ever in a pinch… You come save me, all right?”
She’d definitely been in a pinch today! And look what had happened! Somehow, somewhere, Cloud hadn’t forsaken her. She knew she’d been right about him!
Suddenly Tifa heard a loud thunk and screamed as she felt herself thrown violently sideways. The car rocked back in place, and she looked up in shock. A large dent had been punched into the cable car wall.
Then the car gave a great shudder and sunk markedly on its cable. She felt her stomach leap up into her throat. Then another slamming noise and the car rocked again. This time it didn’t right itself, and the floor remained tilted almost perpendicular to the ground far below.
Gwen was somewhere - where was she?-shouting: “A dragon’s ramming the car!” The car dropped another foot-Tifa could feel the cables straining-“Tifa! Tifa grab onto me!” She tried, but she was afraid to move-the car kept rocking!--and she couldn’t leave Snowball!
Finally, Gwen ripped off her suit jacked to reveal the shirt and tie underneath, and then crawled across the cable car to Tifa and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her over to the now-open door. Tifa’s mind was blank except for the sound of her rapidly beating heart. She clutched Snowball to her chest. The kitten yowled.
“Okay,” Gwen told her as they teetered on the edge of oblivion. “We’re going to jump.”
Tifa choked. “We’re going to what?!”
“Just hang on to me,” Gwen told her, wind whipping at her ponytail. “You’ll be fine.”
And then the cable snapped.
Tifa was instantly frozen with terror. But as the car fell, Gwen propelled herself and Tifa as far away from the wreckage as she could. Tifa clung to her as tightly as possible; her eyes squeezed shut as they dropped out of the sky. She swore she screamed the entire time, but she couldn’t hear a sound above the rush of air. At some point Gwen unfurled her suit jacket, grasping the corners in some kind of makeshift parachute. It wasn’t very effective, but it slowed their descent a little. Tifa squeezed her eyes shut tighter. How much time had passed? Each second felt like an hour. When would it be over? She panicked. Would it hurt, to die like this? Her grip was slipping on Gwen’s shirt. And then her eyes snapped open. She was missing something. Snowball! Where was Snowball?! In a panic, she grasped at the open air with both hands, a desperate move to catch a falling kitten, but then realized her mistake. She lunged back at Gwen, her lifeline, only to slam down, shoulder-first, her fall broken by a mess of leaves and branches.
The shrub’s limbs snapped off as she hit it, twigs snagging in her clothes and hair. She lay there, trying to get her heart to stop racing, eyes wide with panic, staring up at the cable from where she had fallen.
Then she heard a thud and the scrabbling of sliding gravel. She jerked herself out of the bush at the noise and gasped as she watched Gwen come to a landing, rolling until she lost momentum, finally stopping right on the edge of the cliff face the car had dropped them on. As Gwen climbed to her feet, Tifa realized she was safe and calmed down enough to survey their surroundings. They’d landed on a sharp rock outcropping that led back into the forest behind them. Ahead of them stretched an ancient plank bridge Tifa was pretty sure she recognized. Then she peeked over the side of the cliff, and instantly wished she hadn’t when she was struck with a wave of dizziness. The town was still far below…
“Whew, what a rush…” Gwen breathed, pulling her jacket back on and adjusting her hair. She appeared unharmed, though Tifa imagined she’d have plenty of bruises from her fall before long. “Are you okay?” Gwen asked her. Tifa nodded. A few scrapes from the bush, but otherwise…
“Snowball?!” she yelped. Gwen’s head whipped around in confusion. “My cat! I can’t find my cat!”
What had happened? She’d been holding Snowball when she and Gwen had jumped from the cable car. She couldn’t have dropped her… Could she? Tears welled up in her eyes, anxiety finally catching up to her. She couldn’t have thrown her cat to her death! Cats always landed on their feet… didn’t they? She’d heard that somewhere. So maybe Snowball had landed close by. She squinted across the bridge ahead of her, searching for a sign of snow-white fur on the other side. No sign of Snowball. But she did see something else.
“…Gwen…” she mumbled, slowly pointing a quivering finger to the hulking creature across the bridge.
“Another dragon?!” Tifa nodded slowly, as if the dragon would attack if it saw any sudden movements. She could see the gears turning in Gwen’s mind. “I’ll take care of it,” Gwen told her with a small grimace, sliding the shotgun-which she’d somehow kept a hold on-from her shoulder and raising it to eye level. Before Tifa could protest, Gwen had darted across the bridge. A burst of magic-enhanced shot flew from the muzzle of the gun, embedding into several points on the dragon’s flank. It snarled in pain, lunging for Gwen, who danced out of reach of its sharp jaws. She fired again, the shot scattered, and the dragon snapped at her in irritation. This pattern continued, Gwen firing a shell and the dragon countering, Gwen dodging and pumping the barrel to reload. But from Tifa’s vantage point across the bridge, Gwen’s shots weren’t having any effect. They barely slowed the dragon, though it did seem to be getting angrier. It snapped at Gwen with more fervor than ever. Gwen seemed to notice this as well, because she jumped back even farther out of range. Tifa couldn’t see exactly what she was doing, but assumed she was planning to use a different kind of ammunition.
But while Gwen was distracted, the dragon swung out with its massive tail, knocking her to the ground. It lumbered over to her sprawled form, gathering a fireball in its putrid throat. Gwen visibly recoiled, attempting to roll out of the way, but the dragon stomped a talon down just inches from her head, stopping her from moving. Tifa gasped in horror, wishing she could do something, but she was no match for a dragon!
The dragon hissed at Gwen, snuffling at her as if trying to decide what to do next. Tifa was frozen in morbid fascination. She had to do something! But what? Finally she tore herself away from where she stood, picked up a rock from the cliff. “HYAA!” she screamed, and made a futile dash toward the bridge, lobbing the rock at the dragon. It bounced uselessly off the dragon’s shoulder. The dragon glanced at it for a second, before turning back to its prey. Tifa ran across the bridge, screaming and waving her arms to try to distract its attention from Gwen, but was stopped in her tracks when she heard another shot.
She looked up in time to see the slug punch through the dragon’s skull, right between its eyes. A blood-splattered Gwen lunged out from under the dragon, which collapsed, shaking the ground beneath it. Tifa ran towards her. Gwen heaved herself to her feet, breathing shallowly as she dragged herself back across the bridge. Tifa met her halfway, and hefted Gwen’s arm around her own shoulder.
“Are you all right?!” she gasped.
“Somehow,” Gwen sighed, giving her a smile and a tired wink. “Thanks… for the…distraction. …We’re going to… have to walk… the rest of the way…”
“Catch your breath,” Tifa scolded gently, setting Gwen down on a rock once they were back on the other side of the bridge. Gwen nodded and took her advice.
Suddenly, Tifa’s ears perked up. She thought she’d heard… Yes! There it was again! A distinctive “Mew.”
A white kitten with a red collar rounded the corner created by the rock face and slunk over to twine around her feet, purring.
“Snowball?!” She exclaimed, scooping up the little furry bundle. “You’re all right!” She hugged the kitten to herself and Gwen chuckled weakly.
They rested in companionable silence for a few minutes before Gwen got to her feet, signaling she was ready.
“All right,” she said, glancing around. Probably taking in her surroundings for the first time, Tifa thought, as she did so once more. That bridge was definitely familiar…
“I know where we are!” Tifa realized. “There’s a trail over here. We’re not far from town after all!” She set off towards the bridge.
Gwen seemed relieved. “Good! …Wait a minute, would you, Tifa?” she said, fishing her PHS out of her jacket again. Tifa paused in her stride and waited, curious.
“Tseng, sir,” Gwen began gain. Tifa wondered who this “Tseng” was. His name sounded Wutain. But weren’t they on the opposite side as Shin-Ra? “A dragon attacked the ropeway,” Gwen reported. “We can’t use it anymore.” She listened to the reply before gasping. “Sephiroth has?!” Tifa didn’t know what to make of this. Surely she’d misheard. Gwen couldn’t be talking about the Sephiroth. “Well, I guess so,” Gwen was continuing. “I’m sure he can deal with the monsters.” She listened, and then replied with an affirmative, before removing the phone from her ear. She seemed to think something over. Then, “Tifa…?”
Tifa jumped to attention, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. “…Yes…?” she replied, a little nervously.
“Do you remember the route you took to get up the mountain earlier?” Gwen asked her, all business.
“Yes…” Tifa told her, wondering where this question was going.
“Would you be willing to help lead an investigation team up to the Reactor?”
Tifa gaped. “Forget it!” she exclaimed. “There’re too many monsters!” She’d gotten too close to dying too many times today already, and if Gwen could barely handle a dragon, there was no way she and some Shin-Ra tech people would be able to! She’d been lucky enough to be found by Gwen in the first place. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have made it past the Kimara Bugs.
“You wouldn’t have to worry about that,” Gwen told her with a conspiratorial wink. “You’ll be traveling with Sephiroth.”
So she had heard right. “The Legendary SOLDIER, Sephiroth?!” The Hero of the Wutai War? Cloud’s idol was here? In Nibelheim? Then maybe…
“…I’ll do it,” Tifa decided.
“Yay! Thanks!” Gwen told her, leaning in and giving her a little squeeze before returning the phone to her ear. “I’ve found someone, sir,” she said, as Tifa tried to figure out why her own heart was beating so fast.
Then Gwen hung up, pocketed the phone, and flung herself at Tifa once more. “Boy am I ever lucky to have found you!” she exclaimed, giving Tifa a quick peck on the cheek.
“A-Anytime,” Tifa stuttered, blush rushing back in full force.
Gwen giggled, brushing past her to dash off ahead.
Tifa touched the hand that wasn’t holding Snowball to her cheek, wondering where that had come from.
By then Gwen was halfway across the bridge, so Tifa ran to catch up.
Thinking back over the day’s events, Tifa decided that Gwen was wrong.
Really, I’m the lucky one.
x-posted to
10lilies , obviously.
Yay, only seven more to go. Unfortunately, I only have an idea right now for one of those. And it's going to be angsty, so I don't really want to work on it... I need to write some TifaxElena fluff or something first to serve as an ..."angst buffer." ...But I just don't know what to do with it...
Maybe I'll take a little break and do the whole Genesis x Angeal thing for
1sentence , even though I haven't technically claimed that yet...
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Claim: Tifa Lockhart
Prompt: #5, Lucky
Characters/Pairings: (mostly one-sided) Tifa/Shotgun (f)
Rating: G
Summary: Tifa had always dreamed of adventures. Now, she’s about to get one.
Author’s Notes: I wanted to write young Tifa.
Spoilers for Episode 12 of Before Crisis, if that’s something that can even really be spoiled.
The name for Tifa’s cat, is, of course, made up. So is my name for Shotgun (f). I know most people use the names from Gunshot Romance, but I’m really not overly fond of those, so I’m gradually coming up with my own.
“Here, Snowball! Here Kitty!” Tifa called, dashing up a few paces, long dark ponytail bouncing against her shoulders. She paused, trying again to mollify the little white kitten perched on a gnarled tree route further ahead of her. “Snowball! I know you want to run outside, but you’re still sick! Come back please!”
The kitten seemed to consider her for a second, tilting its head to the side and giving a little mewl. Tifa took this as a good sign and picked her way up the trail, ready to snatch up the stationary kitten once she got to her, and haul the little creature back home before Snowball put herself in harm’s way. But as soon as Snowball caught sight of Tifa’s movement, it leapt just out of reach before speeding off up the mountain.
“Snowball!” Tifa shouted in frustration. “Come back! The mountain’s dangerous!” She glanced around reluctantly at the dappled shadows created by trees and ferns growing out of the rough soil, at the craggy cliff face that stretched up and up beside her, and the winding deer trail tapering off ahead of her. Who knew what lurked in that forest? She had beginning training in martial arts and self defense, but she was just a girl. Even the strongest men in Nibelheim knew better than to venture too far from Mt. Nibel’s base. But as she saw the tip of a white tail disappear from view, she realized she really didn’t have much of a choice.
“Here Snowball! Here kitty! Come back!” Tifa crashed forward into the underbrush, gravelly soil shifting under her boots. She trotted several feet up, but still no sign of Snowball. She called again and thought she heard a distant meow, maybe a little farther up… …She swore Snowball had gone this way…
And so her trek continued. She felt like cursing the kitten, but really it wasn’t Snowball’s fault. She couldn’t blame a kitten for being frisky. Snowball didn’t know any better. But if Snowball got them lost, that kitten would never hear the end of it.
The air was already getting cooler, she noted after a while, rubbing her arms. She must be getting close to the top, where Shin-Ra Electric Power Company had built a Mako Reactor. She’d have to find Snowball before the kitten got much farther. Some of the elders in Nibelheim had told the children about what it was like when the Reactor was being built, and her parents had told her all about the kind of people who worked for Shin-Ra in Midgar. Big city people, she remembered as she walked. Scientists, executives, secretaries, and good-for-nothings, her father always said. Real work was done with your hands. The soldiers that frequented the bar and inn in Nibelheim and frequently headed up the mountain in convoys were fine - that was an honorable job, and Tifa knew that, had she been born a boy, her father would have been proud to let her leave town and enlist.
But there were other people who lurked around the Reactor on Mt. Nibel. Turks, Tifa’s mother had called them. Neither Tifa nor any of the other children had ever seen one, but they supposedly wore black suits and ties, like big-city businessmen. They were worse to run into than monsters, and they kidnapped children. Especially bad ones, her mother had warned the boys who lived next door. Of course, now Tifa knew better; that her mother had just been trying to scare the boys to stop them from always digging up her tomato plants, but Tifa was pretty sure Turks-or something like them-really existed, judging by the hushed tones the elders always used to talk about them. Either way, she’d better find Snowball soon. Neither a Turk nor a monster was a good thing for a sick kitty to run into in the middle of the mountains.
Just then, a distinctive feline yowl ripped through the silence, followed by hissing.
“Snowball?!” Tifa gasped, and ran forward, bursting into a clearing. There she saw Snowball, crouched in the underbrush, fur bristling. But she didn’t see anything else around. So she scooped up Snowball, ready to head back down the mountain, but the kitten kept writhing out of her grip, claws catching on her shirt and vest.
“Oh, come here, you,” she murmured soothingly, and turned around to go back the way she’d come -
--only to find herself face to face with a pair of giant, multi-faceted eyes, and clicking pincers. At first, Tifa blinked. The pincers clicked. And then they lunged.
Tifa couldn’t help it: she screamed. Snowball clawed out of her grip and sped up a tree, and the giant bug motored towards Tifa, waving its outsized front limbs. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears and she did her best to run backward, unable to take her eyes off of the hideous creature, but the heel of her boot snagged on what must have been a tree root, and she tumbled backwards, sprawled painfully on the rocky soil. And the bug kept advancing, antenna swiping back and forth searchingly. It gave a click and two more of its kind burst from the trees, closing in on Tifa from either side. She tried to scoot back further, but they were going to overtake her and her shirt was caught on something and the folded front limbs lunged down and she shut her eyes, bracing herself for the impact-
--but none came.
Her eyes blinked open. A dark blur stood between her and the bug.
“Get back, okay!” it told her, using itself to distract the monster bugs from Tifa. Tifa didn’t need to be told twice. She clawed at the bramble holding her back and scrabbled back to the fringes of the clearing. From there, she breathlessly watched her rescuer.
The authoritative voice she’d heard sounded older than her, despite its high pitch… What a fantastic happening, her adrenaline-fogged brain told her. Someone coming to save you when you’re in a pinch, just like a prince in a fairytale…! She watched her savior as he dodged the bug monsters’ next lunge, weaving away from pincers and flailing claws. He sure was smaller than any of the young men of Nibelheim, and as her eyes adjusted to the pace of his movements, she noticed telltale roundness around his chest and hips. …Her savior-prince was a woman? She’d ignored the figure’s long hair - tied up in a high ponytail - before, but now it made sense. And that voice had sounded decidedly feminine…
Just then, her prince-turned-woman whipped out a materia-equipped shotgun and fired a single burst of shot, and all three bugs crumpled, spurting murky violet goo. Snowball hissed, but scurried back down the tree to rub against her mistress. Tifa’s savior let out a triumphant “hmph,” and slid her weapon’s strap back over her shoulder, before grimacing as she flicked a stray chunk of bug goo off of her cheek.
“Eww, Kimara Bugs,” she said aloud, and now there was no doubt in Tifa’s mind that her prince was indeed female. Said “prince” walked over to Tifa and extended a hand - the one she hadn’t used to flick away the bug goo. “Are you all right?” she asked.
Tifa thought about this as she stared at her rescuer. She was a young woman, but still several years older than Tifa, with long golden-brown hair that shone in the patches of sunlight. Tifa was surprised to note that the woman was wearing a man’s crisp black suit and tie, but cut to flatter her curves. Tifa had never seen a woman dressed in such a way before. Some of the older men still frowned on Nibelheim’s women for wearing pants to do chores like gardening. For the most part, Nibelheim’s women wore skirts. Blatantly wearing men’s clothes like this would cause a scandal. …Tifa decided she liked it.
She caught the expectant look on the woman’s face. Oh, right. Was she okay? …The woman didn’t wear makeup like most of the women in Nibelheim, either, --just a hint of pink lip gloss -- but she didn’t need it. She had perfect skin and sparkling eyes with full lashes. Tifa felt her face flush when she realized she was staring - probably because of the mistake she’d made earlier.
Was she okay? With the way her heart was beating, Tifa wasn’t sure, but she figured she must be. She nodded, and took the woman’s hand, scooping up Snowball with her other. The woman helped Tifa to her feet, and Tifa took a small amount of pride in noting that they were almost the same height: she’d always been tall for her age.
“Good,” the woman told her. “That was a close one! What are you doing here? Don’t you know what’s in these mountains?” she scolded.
“Of course I do!” Tifa retorted, pride taking over. She wouldn’t let this woman think she was some ignorant little girl. “Everyone who lives here does. They say no one’s ever made it all the way up alive…”
The woman nodded, smiling. Tifa thought it was almost like she thought she knew something that Tifa didn’t. “Well, this mountain is also an important place for Shin-Ra,” she told her. “I’ve got to investigate something. You’re coming with me.” Tifa must have looked stupid because the woman laughed. But it was a friendly bubbling laugh, not a mocking one. “Wouldn’t want me to have to save you again, would you?” She giggled again - Tifa couldn’t figure out what about her face was so funny. “Don’t worry; we’ll head back down once I’m done. And,” the woman said with a showy wink, “I’ll protect you.”
And all Tifa could think of to say to that was, “I’m Tifa.”
“Call me Gwen,” the shotgun-wielder replied with a glowing grin, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder.
And then it hit Tifa. Shin-Ra? Black suits? Could she be… a Turk?
No, that was impossible, Tifa decided. There was no way her savior could be a kidnapper. After all, she was much too nice. And pretty.
And so the two women and the cat made their way up the mountain. Gwen seemed to know where she was going, but Tifa took careful note of their surroundings as they progressed. She chalked it up to nerves: she really didn’t want to be caught off guard by any more monsters, and it wouldn’t do to be lost in the mountains alone - well, except for Snowball-if she and Gwen got separated. It was only prudent to keep an eye on the scenery, instead of, for example, the way Gwen’s suit clung only in just the right places. (She’d never been so lucky with clothes herself. Tall and gawky, and with her unfortunate - and growing - breast size, she was fast-becoming a tailor’s worst nightmare: inhuman proportions… Now, in Gwen, there was something to be envied, or at least appreciated.) …And there she went again. Back to the mountain, Tifa. You don’t want to get lost, do you?
As if sensing her distraction, Snowball meowed irritably in her arms.
“We’re here!” Gwen exclaimed, stepping out of the trees. Tifa followed, and was awestruck by what she saw. “Shin-Ra’s oldest Reactor,” Gwen told her with pride, and Tifa wondered once gain what exactly Gwen’s business there entailed. Unheeding of their presence, the Mako Reactor loomed above them, a cold metal monolith, twisted and corroded by decades of existence.
Mt. Nibel was short, as mountains went: far below the snow line. But goose bumps prickled up and down Tifa’s arms, and she couldn’t say whether it had more to do with the chill wind blowing or the blue green glow seeping up and out of the Reactor before her. It gave her a bad feeling, as if there was something small and sinister crawling down her spine.
And then she spotted the dragon. Thinking back, Tifa wasn’t entirely sure how she’d missed it: a giant, green, ugly brute, basking on a rock directly in front of the entrance to the Mako Reactor. Glancing around, Tifa noticed several other sets of folded leathery wings and curled scaly tails lounging around the Reactor’s perimeter. She swallowed nervously, wondering if they’d have to go through the dragons, and if so, how worried she should be.
Beside her, Gwen gasped. That wasn’t a good sign.
Tifa watched as Gwen reached insider her suit jacket and pulled out a PHS, hit a speed dial, and pressed it to her ear. A cell phone call at a time like this?! Tifa’s ears perked up in curiosity at Gwen’s conversation, but she kept her eyes trained on the dragons. She didn’t want to be caught listening too intently…
“Tseng, sir, we’ve got a problem. Dragons. At the Reactor.” A pause. “Dra-gons. I’ve never seen this many!” “No, with all of them there, I don’t think I could get in.” Oh good, Gwen wasn’t planning on storming past them or anything. The phone conversation continued: “Yes, sir. But what are we going to do? The investigation can’t wait forever!” Tifa was intrigued. What was Gwen investigating? It sure must have been important. “He’s been sent out somewhere, sir! No one’s been able to reach him!” Gwen’s tone was approaching a frustrated whine. Whoever was on the other line gave her some directions. A final “Yes sir,” and then Gwen hung up, returning the phone to its proper location.
She sighed, but then grinned at Tifa, as if to cover her frustration. “Well, looks like you and your kitty will be getting home sooner than expected. I’ve got orders to go back to town.”
Tifa nodded. “Oh… really?” Nice job, Tifa. That sure sounded intelligent. She must look like a silly country girl without a thought in her head…
“Yep,” Gwen told her. “Come on, there’s a ropeway we can take over here.”
“A ropeway?” Tifa exclaimed, a little skeptical. “Where?” Surely if there was something like that up here, she would have known about it. Someone in town would have told her. In Nibelheim, they knew the mountain better than anyone, didn’t they? But she followed Gwen anyway. The woman had proven faithful so far, hadn’t she?
And sure enough, Gwen led her down a well-trodden path at the edge of the clearing, and before long, they stood in front of the ropeway, a single car hanging from its system of pulleys and cables. Tifa gasped in surprise.
“I never knew…” Why didn’t any of the lumberjacks in town know about this? It would make their work so much easier.
“Don’t worry about it,” Gwen assured her, spotting her concerned look. “It’s only for Reactor employees, so not many people know it’s here.” She hopped up into the car and it wobbled a little. Tifa eyed it with some kind of nervous excitement. This was just like an adventure in a book! Two strangers meet by chance and discover hidden secrets in inhospitable environments… Where would this take her next?
“Come on,” Gwen said with a comforting wink. “It’s a quick ride down. And totally safe. Here,” she thrust out a hand to help Tifa, who took it, feeling her face flush. Gwen probably thought she was scared! She wasn’t. This was just like the adventures she would play at with Cloud when they were kids. Cloud… She wondered where he could possibly be right now… Maybe halfway across the world, fighting evil. But thinking of her, surely. She knew he’d be here if he could be.
…Now, there was a thought. A long shot, to be sure, but Gwen had mentioned Shin-Ra…
“You don’t happen to know a soldier named Cloud, do you?” she queried after she’d seated herself and the cable car had started to move. Across from her, Gwen inclined her head in curiosity. “He’s my friend,” Tifa explained. “He left home to become a SOLDIER two years ago…”
Gwen seemed to consider it. “Hmm… I met a soldier named Cloud once, on a mission. But I can’t be sure if it was the same Cloud you know…”
Tifa felt warmth bubble up inside of her. How many boys named Cloud could there possibly be in SOLDIER? It had to be Cloud! Gwen knew Cloud! It all made sense now!
“If you get really famous and I’m ever in a pinch… You come save me, all right?”
She’d definitely been in a pinch today! And look what had happened! Somehow, somewhere, Cloud hadn’t forsaken her. She knew she’d been right about him!
Suddenly Tifa heard a loud thunk and screamed as she felt herself thrown violently sideways. The car rocked back in place, and she looked up in shock. A large dent had been punched into the cable car wall.
Then the car gave a great shudder and sunk markedly on its cable. She felt her stomach leap up into her throat. Then another slamming noise and the car rocked again. This time it didn’t right itself, and the floor remained tilted almost perpendicular to the ground far below.
Gwen was somewhere - where was she?-shouting: “A dragon’s ramming the car!” The car dropped another foot-Tifa could feel the cables straining-“Tifa! Tifa grab onto me!” She tried, but she was afraid to move-the car kept rocking!--and she couldn’t leave Snowball!
Finally, Gwen ripped off her suit jacked to reveal the shirt and tie underneath, and then crawled across the cable car to Tifa and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her over to the now-open door. Tifa’s mind was blank except for the sound of her rapidly beating heart. She clutched Snowball to her chest. The kitten yowled.
“Okay,” Gwen told her as they teetered on the edge of oblivion. “We’re going to jump.”
Tifa choked. “We’re going to what?!”
“Just hang on to me,” Gwen told her, wind whipping at her ponytail. “You’ll be fine.”
And then the cable snapped.
Tifa was instantly frozen with terror. But as the car fell, Gwen propelled herself and Tifa as far away from the wreckage as she could. Tifa clung to her as tightly as possible; her eyes squeezed shut as they dropped out of the sky. She swore she screamed the entire time, but she couldn’t hear a sound above the rush of air. At some point Gwen unfurled her suit jacket, grasping the corners in some kind of makeshift parachute. It wasn’t very effective, but it slowed their descent a little. Tifa squeezed her eyes shut tighter. How much time had passed? Each second felt like an hour. When would it be over? She panicked. Would it hurt, to die like this? Her grip was slipping on Gwen’s shirt. And then her eyes snapped open. She was missing something. Snowball! Where was Snowball?! In a panic, she grasped at the open air with both hands, a desperate move to catch a falling kitten, but then realized her mistake. She lunged back at Gwen, her lifeline, only to slam down, shoulder-first, her fall broken by a mess of leaves and branches.
The shrub’s limbs snapped off as she hit it, twigs snagging in her clothes and hair. She lay there, trying to get her heart to stop racing, eyes wide with panic, staring up at the cable from where she had fallen.
Then she heard a thud and the scrabbling of sliding gravel. She jerked herself out of the bush at the noise and gasped as she watched Gwen come to a landing, rolling until she lost momentum, finally stopping right on the edge of the cliff face the car had dropped them on. As Gwen climbed to her feet, Tifa realized she was safe and calmed down enough to survey their surroundings. They’d landed on a sharp rock outcropping that led back into the forest behind them. Ahead of them stretched an ancient plank bridge Tifa was pretty sure she recognized. Then she peeked over the side of the cliff, and instantly wished she hadn’t when she was struck with a wave of dizziness. The town was still far below…
“Whew, what a rush…” Gwen breathed, pulling her jacket back on and adjusting her hair. She appeared unharmed, though Tifa imagined she’d have plenty of bruises from her fall before long. “Are you okay?” Gwen asked her. Tifa nodded. A few scrapes from the bush, but otherwise…
“Snowball?!” she yelped. Gwen’s head whipped around in confusion. “My cat! I can’t find my cat!”
What had happened? She’d been holding Snowball when she and Gwen had jumped from the cable car. She couldn’t have dropped her… Could she? Tears welled up in her eyes, anxiety finally catching up to her. She couldn’t have thrown her cat to her death! Cats always landed on their feet… didn’t they? She’d heard that somewhere. So maybe Snowball had landed close by. She squinted across the bridge ahead of her, searching for a sign of snow-white fur on the other side. No sign of Snowball. But she did see something else.
“…Gwen…” she mumbled, slowly pointing a quivering finger to the hulking creature across the bridge.
“Another dragon?!” Tifa nodded slowly, as if the dragon would attack if it saw any sudden movements. She could see the gears turning in Gwen’s mind. “I’ll take care of it,” Gwen told her with a small grimace, sliding the shotgun-which she’d somehow kept a hold on-from her shoulder and raising it to eye level. Before Tifa could protest, Gwen had darted across the bridge. A burst of magic-enhanced shot flew from the muzzle of the gun, embedding into several points on the dragon’s flank. It snarled in pain, lunging for Gwen, who danced out of reach of its sharp jaws. She fired again, the shot scattered, and the dragon snapped at her in irritation. This pattern continued, Gwen firing a shell and the dragon countering, Gwen dodging and pumping the barrel to reload. But from Tifa’s vantage point across the bridge, Gwen’s shots weren’t having any effect. They barely slowed the dragon, though it did seem to be getting angrier. It snapped at Gwen with more fervor than ever. Gwen seemed to notice this as well, because she jumped back even farther out of range. Tifa couldn’t see exactly what she was doing, but assumed she was planning to use a different kind of ammunition.
But while Gwen was distracted, the dragon swung out with its massive tail, knocking her to the ground. It lumbered over to her sprawled form, gathering a fireball in its putrid throat. Gwen visibly recoiled, attempting to roll out of the way, but the dragon stomped a talon down just inches from her head, stopping her from moving. Tifa gasped in horror, wishing she could do something, but she was no match for a dragon!
The dragon hissed at Gwen, snuffling at her as if trying to decide what to do next. Tifa was frozen in morbid fascination. She had to do something! But what? Finally she tore herself away from where she stood, picked up a rock from the cliff. “HYAA!” she screamed, and made a futile dash toward the bridge, lobbing the rock at the dragon. It bounced uselessly off the dragon’s shoulder. The dragon glanced at it for a second, before turning back to its prey. Tifa ran across the bridge, screaming and waving her arms to try to distract its attention from Gwen, but was stopped in her tracks when she heard another shot.
She looked up in time to see the slug punch through the dragon’s skull, right between its eyes. A blood-splattered Gwen lunged out from under the dragon, which collapsed, shaking the ground beneath it. Tifa ran towards her. Gwen heaved herself to her feet, breathing shallowly as she dragged herself back across the bridge. Tifa met her halfway, and hefted Gwen’s arm around her own shoulder.
“Are you all right?!” she gasped.
“Somehow,” Gwen sighed, giving her a smile and a tired wink. “Thanks… for the…distraction. …We’re going to… have to walk… the rest of the way…”
“Catch your breath,” Tifa scolded gently, setting Gwen down on a rock once they were back on the other side of the bridge. Gwen nodded and took her advice.
Suddenly, Tifa’s ears perked up. She thought she’d heard… Yes! There it was again! A distinctive “Mew.”
A white kitten with a red collar rounded the corner created by the rock face and slunk over to twine around her feet, purring.
“Snowball?!” She exclaimed, scooping up the little furry bundle. “You’re all right!” She hugged the kitten to herself and Gwen chuckled weakly.
They rested in companionable silence for a few minutes before Gwen got to her feet, signaling she was ready.
“All right,” she said, glancing around. Probably taking in her surroundings for the first time, Tifa thought, as she did so once more. That bridge was definitely familiar…
“I know where we are!” Tifa realized. “There’s a trail over here. We’re not far from town after all!” She set off towards the bridge.
Gwen seemed relieved. “Good! …Wait a minute, would you, Tifa?” she said, fishing her PHS out of her jacket again. Tifa paused in her stride and waited, curious.
“Tseng, sir,” Gwen began gain. Tifa wondered who this “Tseng” was. His name sounded Wutain. But weren’t they on the opposite side as Shin-Ra? “A dragon attacked the ropeway,” Gwen reported. “We can’t use it anymore.” She listened to the reply before gasping. “Sephiroth has?!” Tifa didn’t know what to make of this. Surely she’d misheard. Gwen couldn’t be talking about the Sephiroth. “Well, I guess so,” Gwen was continuing. “I’m sure he can deal with the monsters.” She listened, and then replied with an affirmative, before removing the phone from her ear. She seemed to think something over. Then, “Tifa…?”
Tifa jumped to attention, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. “…Yes…?” she replied, a little nervously.
“Do you remember the route you took to get up the mountain earlier?” Gwen asked her, all business.
“Yes…” Tifa told her, wondering where this question was going.
“Would you be willing to help lead an investigation team up to the Reactor?”
Tifa gaped. “Forget it!” she exclaimed. “There’re too many monsters!” She’d gotten too close to dying too many times today already, and if Gwen could barely handle a dragon, there was no way she and some Shin-Ra tech people would be able to! She’d been lucky enough to be found by Gwen in the first place. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have made it past the Kimara Bugs.
“You wouldn’t have to worry about that,” Gwen told her with a conspiratorial wink. “You’ll be traveling with Sephiroth.”
So she had heard right. “The Legendary SOLDIER, Sephiroth?!” The Hero of the Wutai War? Cloud’s idol was here? In Nibelheim? Then maybe…
“…I’ll do it,” Tifa decided.
“Yay! Thanks!” Gwen told her, leaning in and giving her a little squeeze before returning the phone to her ear. “I’ve found someone, sir,” she said, as Tifa tried to figure out why her own heart was beating so fast.
Then Gwen hung up, pocketed the phone, and flung herself at Tifa once more. “Boy am I ever lucky to have found you!” she exclaimed, giving Tifa a quick peck on the cheek.
“A-Anytime,” Tifa stuttered, blush rushing back in full force.
Gwen giggled, brushing past her to dash off ahead.
Tifa touched the hand that wasn’t holding Snowball to her cheek, wondering where that had come from.
By then Gwen was halfway across the bridge, so Tifa ran to catch up.
Thinking back over the day’s events, Tifa decided that Gwen was wrong.
Really, I’m the lucky one.
x-posted to
10lilies , obviously.
Yay, only seven more to go. Unfortunately, I only have an idea right now for one of those. And it's going to be angsty, so I don't really want to work on it... I need to write some TifaxElena fluff or something first to serve as an ..."angst buffer." ...But I just don't know what to do with it...
Maybe I'll take a little break and do the whole Genesis x Angeal thing for
1sentence , even though I haven't technically claimed that yet...