Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Revelations ❯ From Midgar to Junon ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer; I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters, etc.

Again I just want to thank you all for your support. This is only my second ever piece of fanfiction, so I am truly grateful. Thanks to Flaming Inferno and Karategal who reviewed last chapter with very helpful comments.

This chapter is dedicated to Flaming Inferno, a.k.a Hana. Thanks for sticking with this story.

Chapter 4: Midgar to Junon

1

“Mum!”

Tifa had sat up without realising, and Vincent's cloak slipped to her lap in a pool of crimson. Looking round frantically for her mother and then realising it had been nothing more than a bad dream, she drew her hands up to wipe the sweat from her face.

“What time is it?” Walking to the shutter enclosed window she realised she had slept right through until the evening. It was dark outside, and when she looked between the wooden, dusty louvers she could make out a starry sky, but no moon tonight. Not that it mattered, the moon would be no use in the underground tunnel.

Immediately searching for Vincent, for she knew he wouldn't be pleased she had slept the day away, Tifa looked around the room. It was littered with small clusters of boxes and barrels here and there. And Judging by the dust, no one had been through this way in years, maybe even centuries. She had never even heard of a train running through these mountains, so it had possibly remained derelict since before her lifetime.

Each step creaked with the ancient, cement-dusted planks that ran the length of the room. There was the horrible squeak of leather boots against rough wood that made her shiver. The wary brunette could hardly make out anything due to the lightless night and she couldn't remember what it looked like when she came in either.

“Vincent.” She whispered, though she didn't know why, the atmosphere reminded her of edge library. So quiet.

I'm in a square room, with one window and one door, where could he hide?

“Vincent!” She hissed.

There was an obscure shadow in the right corner, at the back of the room, but she could make out a misplaced shape. So she moved towards it, hands up and balled into fists. Cautiously edging forward, she winced when the weight of her arm became painful. She was lucky the bullet had passed right through, because there was no going to hospitals when ShinRa were chasing her.

It still managed to hurt like a bitch, though.

There had been times when Tifa stitched one of Cloud's bullet wounds during the time of Sephiroth. Now she knew how painful it was. She knew it had to hurt, but she never guessed how much.

Cloud, however, would always throw on the bravado like an overused musk not realising she had known him long enough to see he was in pain.

“Cloud if it hurts so much take this potion and we`ll rest for a while.” She would say.

And he would always reply, “It's fine Teef, honest. I've had worse, and I'd actually forgotten it was there `til you mentioned it.”

And so he would go on pretending, and she would watch him wince in pain when he moved it or touched it. She would even catch him poking at it like a child every now and then. But since he'd forgotten the wound was even there, she thought it best not to mention it.

2

“Vi-, there you are.” She had only made out the faint glow of red as his eyes flicked up when it was gone again. Tifa walked closer, wondering how the hell he always managed to disappear like that.

A hand landed on her shoulder.

“Ah!” She jumped round to see Vincent before her.

“Good God Vincent! Didn't you learn not to do that from last time! Stop scaring me like that.”

“My apologies.”

Vincent's deep voice never stopped unnerving Tifa and its roughness made her shiver. Although, it sounded questionably groggy at the moment, suggesting he had been asleep until recently.

“Vincent why did you let me sleep so long?” She asked suspiciously.

He looked up from examining the floor, “You were tired. We need to go now, before we are discovered.”

It was then she noticed he wasn't wearing his cape and remembered it had been draped around her when she woke. He disappeared into the darkness again as she walked over to retrieve the blood-coloured tatter from where it had fallen on the floor. Beating off the dust with her good arm, Tifa thought she should probably change into drier socks before setting off. She looked around a bit for her bag and decided maybe Vincent had lifted it.

“Vincent?”

Vincent heard her nearing footsteps as he inspected a nearby box. He was looking for a bottle of kerosene oil to use in a lantern he had scavenged. He had looked for one for Tifa but there were no more. He wasn't very confident in the battered lump of metal (For it looked as though it had been half-chewed and spat back out again) that sat at his feet, but it would have to do.

The gunman turned only to have his cloak fisted into his chest. He took it and wrapped it around his shoulders once more, fixing the straps with one hand and now clutching a bottle of kerosene in the other. He took his time doing up the buckles.

“Thank you for the cloak Vincent, it was sweet of you.” He looked up to see her smiling gratefully and paused with the buckles.

“You where shivering loudly.” Her smile dropped, and she glared knowingly at him. She shrugged when looked he expectantly at her. It may have sounded like an accusation, but Tifa knew he was trying to play off the gesture.

“What I meant to ask was, if you'd maybe lifted my bag?” She asked hopefully.

In reply he just shook his head.

“Crap.”

“What?”

“I've lost my bag. I definitely had it when we left and then…” She growled angrily. “I must have dropped it when I got shot. Didn`t you think to lift it?”

He lifted his head in surprise. “Sorry.”

“No, never mind. It wasn't your fault, I`m not angry at you. I just, I mean, I left my clothes and things in it. They would have been useful.”

“I am sure Cid and Shera will be able to spare you some clean clothing.”

“Yeah, I know, it's not really that I was worried about. My purse is in it, with my I.D. and stuff, if someone finds it they might think the worst and phone Barret and the kids. They'll be really worried.”

“We can call them in Junon.”

Tifa though about this for a moment, then replied, “Yeah, I suppose your right. What's that?” She was pointing to his feet.

“A lantern.”

“That's great Vincent, but why do you have it?” The brunette picked it up and looked completely unimpressed. “Are you sure it even works? I mean, it looks knackered.”

“We'll soon find out. This trade railway was made before the expansion of mako energy from Midgar to the rest of the globe. So there is no electricity and no lights. Workers used these. ” He plucked the lantern carefully from her grasp and set it atop a box. Once it was filled with kerosene, he walked to another stack of boxes and slid them across the floor to reveal a trap door.

Tifa eyed it warily and then helped to lift it open, for Vincent seemed to be having trouble. She glared at him. Why didn't he just ask? Sighing because she already knew the answer, the brunette just looked at the dark hole in the floor, squinting to make out the beginnings of metal ladders leading into the darkness.

“Where was the main entrance?”

“Hmm?” He went to lift the lantern and some supplies he had fished out of a few boxes earlier.

Tifa eyed the small hole. “Well, surely they didn't bring boxes of supplies through this way. Where was the main entrance located?”

“Midgar. It travels underground from Midgar to Junon. This was just a service point.” Vincent was fixing the last few buckles of his cape which were jangling madly with the slightest movement.

She nodded still staring into the hole. “Why didn't we use it? The main entrance I mean. Why come all the way out here?”

He wasn't expecting to be interrogated, but smiled grimly and explained. “The main entrance in Midgar is located in the basements of the old ShinRa headquarters. I didn't think under the circumstances that going there was advisable, if ShinRa are still active you can be sure there will be soldiers lingering.”

“Besides, the tunnel collapsed a few metres behind this point.” He added.

“How-”

“Avalanche where not the first to oppose ShinRa's corruptions, so the explosion may have been intentional… or lack of maintenance has made the structure unstable over the years. I don't know the history but either way it is impassable now.” She was pleased he was answering her questions, but pre-empting them and answering before she had finished asking was getting irritating.

He jumped down the hole in one swift swoop of cloth, leaving Tifa gaping where he just disappeared. Having not travelled this way before, and unsure what to expect she clambered down the ladder awkwardly with one arm. A broken leg or ankle would only add to her growing list of injuries, and as they were adding up on their own, there was no need to be reckless.

3

“Show off,” she uttered as she reached the bottom.

Vincent had got the lantern working, and although it looked like no more than old junk that once resembled something usable, it gave off an astonishing amount of light. The tunnel was unlike any train way she had seen before. Instead of the modern circular tunnels this was like an old mine shaft with its' jagged square walls of bare stone.

The walls stood about three metres apart which was a relief to Tifa`s claustrophobia. And although the low ceiling made it difficult for Vincent to stand at his full height, Tifa was small enough to stand without bending her head down.

“Vincent, how long is this tunnel?”

He surveyed the area a bit before answering and knelt down to look at the dirty, iron railway tracks that ran beneath their feet. “About five miles to Junon from here. There is another service station on the other side of the mountains but I arrived this way, getting out in Junon should be no problem. And we are less likely to run into any… obstacles.”

Tifa looked closer at what Vincent was now studying intently on the ground.

Footprints.

Footprints that definitely did not belong to Vincent's eccentric footwear. She looked up at Vincent again with a grim expression. “We're not alone are we? Someone passed this way recently.”

He just grunted and shrugged, “Maybe. We'll see.”

“I'd rather not, but it looks like we don't have a choice.” She was talking to herself now for her voice had dropped to a mutter. “I suppose the footprints could be really old, it's not like there's anything to disturb them down here.”

Vincent raised an eyebrow at her reasoning. He had the sharp eyes of a hawk, if they had been there previously he would have noticed. But if she wanted to play delusional he would let her be. “Come.”

He started off down the tracks, his steel toes clipping against the iron rails every so often. Tifa trailed along behind, warily watching the flicker of light from the lantern as he led a path through the darkness.

4

Three hours of solid walking led Tifa to some new conclusions.

Firstly, that walking on uneven ground, divided jaggedly by a frame of iron, hurt like hell. Her feet where on fire and the only saving grace was that she was wearing leathery walking boots. God help anyone who tries this trek in trainers.

Secondly, losing her backpack was more catastrophic than she had imagined. For in that backpack were several energy bars, cling-film wrapped sandwiches and a bar of Choco-milk Chocolate that she was now willing to sell her soul for. She was so ravenously hungry that even Vincent was looking like a tempting meal.

And lastly, that five miles on foot was a bloody long walk when you really needed the bathroom.

The journey so far had been silent, if one could ignore the dangerous creak of overhead rafters and occasional squeal and scuffle of rats. Vincent Valentine was not the best conversationalist, which left Tifa plenty of time to her thoughts. Some things never change.

He hadn't slowed down from their starting pace, he probably wanted out of this stifling tunnel as much as she did. But Tifa knew if she had spent thirty years trapped in a coffin she wouldn't be all that comfortable in enclosed spaces either.

“Vincent.” He stopped abruptly at the first sound in three hours.

Noise was strangely foreign even to her own ears, and she lowered her voice. “Vincent, I…is there anywhere… are there any bathrooms around?”

Slightly embarrassed but used to having this problem, she smiled awkwardly and chewed her lip. Being an outdoor girl she had no qualms about using a bush or anything similar, the trouble, they both knew, was that there was nowhere to hide behind in these desolate tunnels.

Vincent looked at the floor for a moment and then continued on again, the lantern's halo following. Annoyed that he would just ignore her, Tifa hopped after, “Hey! Vincent! I really need to-”

“We're almost there.”

“Junon?” She asked hopefully, peering round at him.

“No, the second service shack. Junon will be an hour from there.” For the next ten minutes Vincent just kept walking, completely unaffected by Tifa's pestering questions of how much longer it was going to be.

By the time Tifa was sure her bladder was going to burst, Vincent stopped. “Thank god.”

She was about to dash up the ladder when she realised it would be impossible with only one good arm. Vincent who seemed to have noticed as well, had stepped up to the metal frame with his back to her. “Climb onto my back.”

“What?”

“Climb onto my back.”

“But I-” He looked sharply at her. “Nevermind.” And without further argument Tifa climbed onto his back, hooking her legs awkwardly about his waist, whilst trying not to snuggle her chin into his neck.

When he finally let her down at the top she coughed awkwardly and dashed out the door, muttering “Thanks, Vincent.”

Vincent took this time to look around for some more kerosene oil, for they hadn't much left. Maybe there would be another lantern as well, one that looked slightly more reliable than the heap of junk he left in the underground tunnel.

When Tifa returned a few minutes later, she looked both windswept and panicked. Her long hair had mostly broken free from the tie that had kept it swept back, and dangled in wispy, straggly lengths around her face. The bruises on her face, which were now darker than when they had left Edge, where yellowing and her nose seemed less swollen. All in all, she was dishevelled mess, but what surprised Vincent was that there was something quite attractive about her in this state.

“We have to hide, or move, or something. Outside, there's about ten armed soldiers poking around.” Tifa's words were rushed and she looked expectantly at Vincent for instructions. She would have loved nothing more than to go out and find out just why the hell they were after her, but she was no fool, the odds where not in their favour.

For one, the gunshot wound to her good arm had greatly decreased her chances of being able to take down ten armed and well trained men. And for another, if Vincent went out, guns blazing, to decorate them with a few bullet holes in her honour, ShinRa would surely learn of their whereabouts. Tifa was not so unaware to the consequences of immediate offensive action, but it was sorely tempting.

“We will continue on, but quietly. We will have to progress without the use of the lantern though.” And with that final bombshell he leapt back down the hole. Once again, Tifa gaped after.

No light? This is going to be interesting.

5

When she reached the bottom, her left arm was a mass of throbbing dull heat and she once again cursed herself for dropping the bag. Aspirin would have seemed like a miracle at this moment.

“Vincent.” She called, trying in vain to see through the thick shroud of darkness for he had already doused the light. She jumped slightly when something grabbed her hand, “Vincent is that you?”

“I should hope so.” She smiled slightly but couldn't help notice the slight shock in his velvety voice. Tifa knew he had been groping for her wrist, to lead her through the rest of the tunnel in the same way he had led her through Edge`s alleyways.

She also knew he wouldn't let go of her hand now, because that would just draw attention to the fact he was uncomfortable with holding her hand. Not that it didn't make her a little anxious either; she was suddenly very glad they both wearing gloves.

6

For the next hour, they continued on to Junon. Both pretending that they were comfortable with holding the others hand. Tifa, after about ten minutes was finding it quite comforting to know that he was always there, because in the silence it would have been quite hard to tell.

When she started to see a faint glow in the distance, she took the chance to tap Vincent's shoulder. By the gruff noise of agreement she knew he had nodded his head, and he let go of her hand. The brunette flexed her hand a few times to rid the lingering tingle of warmth that resided there. Unknown to her, Vincent was doing the exact same thing.

As they neared the grey light, the tunnel stopped, the track continuing on into a larger, rectangular room of neater brown grey brick. The area looked like some kind of loading bay, with crates and boxes and barrels stacked about. Vincent having been here before walked straight to a small stairway concealed, behind some very dusty, wooden frames. When Tifa joined him, still looking curiously about, she sobered up at the sight of Cerberus.

He was quite sure ShinRa soldiers had not made it up this far yet, for there were no footprints in the dirt at the entrance of the tunnel on this end. But it was still better to proceed with caution. He turned the wooden door knob with his claw, Cerberus ready to fire in the other.

“Tifa, wait here.” And with those words he stepped out into the bright light that had momentarily blinded her.

By the time her eyes adjusted Vincent was signalling for her to come through with his claw arm, and carefully studying the surroundings.

Tifa stepped through coughing from the dusty air, and covered her mouth and nose with a sleeve. “Where are we?” Came the muffle as she too looked around. The walls where decorated with some God awful pattern of beige and orange that looked like it was pulled straight from the sixties. There was a second floor balcony, and a grand staircase, that (although it's banister was covered in thick layers of dust and its faded brown carpet in dirt and plaster) still managed maintain an air of majesty.

The walls were dotted with ornate candle-sconces that had long since melted and the only light came in streaks of dusty gold from between the two stories of boarded windows that lined, what Tifa had assumed to be, the front of the building. She had come to this conclusion after noticing the enormous, imposing oak doorway that arched into the wall to their left.

Turning, she noticed that the door they came through had once been boarded over, probably when the place was re-established as a hotel. The wallpaper had been torn away in ragged strips and there was a hole in the plaster wall around the doorway that revealed the brown brickwork beneath.

She noticed claw indentations in the plasterboard and looked at Vincent. He didn't seem to notice, for he was looked intently between the slats of wood on the windows.

“I bet this place was really something in it's day.” She said quietly, seeing a large, half covered painting leaning against what looked like a reception desk.

“It was.” Vincent replied softly. Being in this place brought back fond memories of his Turk days, although, it stung to see what it had been reduced to. It was a sign that things had truly moved on and here he was still stuck in his past. But he was trying, and it was a start.

Tifa looked at him confused. “Did you know this place?”

“No.” When she looked at him suspiciously he added, “Books.”

She nodded slowly, taking it in.

“There doesn't seem to be anyone about. Have you got the time?” Vincent asked, hoping to change the subject.

“It's-” Tifa looked at her watch, and her eyes widened. Good grief. We've been walking all night, no wonder I'm starving. “It's a quarter to eight.”

He seemed to digest this information for a bit, giving Tifa's stomach enough time to rumble loudly. “There will be a boat leaving for Costa Del Sol in fifteen minutes. We can work our way to Cid's from there.”

“Can I call the kids before we leave?”

“Do as you wish. I have something I need to get.” He replied curtly.

Tifa was unexplainably panicked at the thought of walking around without him. She was in no condition to fight off any would-be kidnappers. “Aren't you going to come? How will I know where to find you if we split up?”

Vincent was both surprised and slightly amused by her evident panic. “No, you will be alright on your own. It is market day, so if you stick to the city centre the crowds will make it impossible for ShinRa to try anything without making a scene.”

“And how do I kno-”

“I will find you.” He answered, once again pre-empting Tifa's question.

Vincent opened the door for her, and they both set off along a wide alley towards the noisy city centre.