Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The aftermath ❯ The Aftermath: Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 3

While everyone was watching the lifestream battle the meteor, Barret
slipped out of the Highwind, eager to see his daughter, Marle. He
headed for Wutai, Mainly because it was the most out-of-the-way town
he could think of.

`There better be someplace to rest,' he mumbled to himself. `or else
someone's gunna get it. I'm tired, dirty, and black.' He chuckled to
himself at that last thought. `Maybe if I just bust into someone's
house, I can scare `em out. I do have a gun attached to my arm.' He
looked down at the gun, then looked up. He had arrived at the bar in
Wutai. He pushed open the paper thin sliding door, and stepped inside,
overwhelmed by the clouds of cigarette smoke that pooled around his
head. He spun the barrel on his gun, a habit he had whenever he was
uncomfortable. He slowly walked forward to the bar, sitting down next
to a brown haired man, a bald man, and a blonde women, all wearing
suits and smelling of stale whiskey. They all had their heads down and
where talking quietly to each other, so, he took no notice as the
blonde facing him glanced up and gasped. She quickly put her head
down, right as the bar tender was addressed Barret.

`What can I do you for?'

`Anything hard. Been a long day.' Barret turned around and rested his
elbows against the bar, leaning his back against the rough wood. He
scanned the room as the tender walked in the back and dusted off a
very old bottle of scotch. He dropped a napkin on the bar and set the
small bottle down.

`There you go, been saving that one for about 20 years now. I was
gunna open it on son's wedding, but...Well. He was at Junon harbor
when the Weapon attacked. I havn't heard from him.' At this, the man
opened it and took a drink. `Sorry, I really shouldn't drink on the
job but...'

Barret waved his only hand `No, I understand.' He dropped a few
hundred gil on the counter. `That should about cover it.' The bar
tender was astounded.

`What are you, a millionare?! That bottle wasn't worth much more than
300gil...and this is...' he counted the money. `1,000gil!?' Barret
nodded to him, taking his drink and turning back around. `Speaking of
lost family...I really need to find Marle.' Barret thought to himself
as he took a sip. The liquor burned as it ran down his throat, but he
hardly noticed. Years of drinking lessened the effect of the drink.
Just then the bald man stood up from next to him, and he could clearly
see who the brown haired man was. Barret chuckled to himself as Reno,
too stood up with Elena. They walked over to him stood there while
Barret took yet another drink, and slipped the glass bottle into his
jacket.

`Heh, You guys are still alive eh?' Barret asked.

`...' Rude stood staring at him.

`Of course we are!' Elena pointed out raising one hand.

Reno brushed aside a few strands of his hair from his eyes and tucked
them behind his ear, but they only fell back out. `We noticed the same
about you. Cloud and the others weren't as lucky eh?'

`Psshh. They're fine. I just left without em.' Reno cocked his head a
little to the side at this, as if he was interested.

`Well, Now that Shinra has gone under, and Midgar is destroyed, we
have no bout against you and your friends. In fact, we've decided we
would like to join your group, AVALANCHE.'

Barret laughed loudly about this for quite a while. He forced himself
to stop, breathing heavily from the lack of oxygen.

`You're the funniest group of sissy's I've ever met. We'd love to have
you aboard! `Sides, Cloud and the rest of them are prolly gunna go
find some quiet place to live. But, I'm here to look for Marle.'

`She's staying the night at the hotel. A women came to us with her,
asked us to keep her safe. Said she had to go back to Midgar, That she
wouldn't feel right if she didn't water her daughter's flowers or
something.'

`That was just a few hours ago,' added Elena.

Barret stood up and stretched his arm above his head, his barrel chest
bulging and nearly knocking Rude down.

`Seems that I can trust you then.' Barret then gave them a
event-bye-event recall of everything that had happened with them in
the crater, about the fight with Sephiroth, and how Holy and
Lifestream were working together at this very moment to drive off the
meteor. The Turks, er, rookie AVALANCHE members sat quietly and
listened, only speaking to ask a question.

`These guys aren't as dumb as I figured they were. Heh, learn new
things every day.' Barret thought to himself as he finished up.

Just then, the TV in the corner of the counter flickered on, and a
young women stood on the screen.

`Are we on? Ahem,' She smoothed her blouse down. `Ladies and gentlemen
there has been breaking news on the disaster known as `meteor'. It
seems that there is a force, and I only say force because I have a
lack of better descriptive words, that seems to have stopped meteor,
and seemingly, is moving it backwards. It began just a few hours ago,
there were eruptions all over the earth, and the, energy, flowed into
Midgar. Specialist have been trying to find out if this is Mako,
although some radical groups have been claiming its something they
call, `lifestream'. People have been flooding out of Midgar with
reports of near death experiences, and several have claimed to have
been resurected from dreams of green mist. Details are hard to come
by, as many of the victems have been rushed away, and most are being
treated for Mako poisoning.' She continued on, interviewing a few of
the witnesses that they could find.

`So Aeris..That's the true power of Holy eh? Reviving the dead...'
Barret thought. `What a sneaky little bitch. Heh.' He mumbled gruffly.
`I wonder...'

Reno had heard him.

`Do you think the lady taking care of Marle was one of the
`resurrected' victims?'

Barret only stared of into space, in a deep thought. Finally he spoke.
`Let's head back to the hotel and get some sleep. It's gunna be a
tough day tomorrow, diggin through the rubble o' Midgar.'