Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Two Sides of A Coin ❯ Nibelhiem ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN FF-7 IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!!!

Chapter 1: Nibelhiem

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It was fairly late after a long day.  Sephiroth knew this because his eyes were itchy, and he found himself feeling claustrophobic in the small basement of the reactor.  The SOLDIER first class had been sent on a 14 hour helicopter flight followed by tours of both the small mountain town of Nibelheim and it's Mako reactor, now being investigated with his fellow first class SOLDIER Zack Fair, and a couple of MP's after several SOLDIERs had reported some odd occurrences.

Hence the basement.  After getting a slightly more detailed report from the SOLDIERs, he needed to start on the documents left behind by scientists to give him an idea of what he was looking for.

 And there were a lot of them.

Suddenly Sephiroth felt his seat being jerked back, taking him with it, and Sephiroth's jade eyes met the ocean blue of Zack Fair's.

"You. Up." Zack then firmly walked Sephiroth outside the reactor compound, where there was a gathering of some of the locals, after all, Sephiroth was a well known SOLDIER, and with it being such a small town, Nibelheim didn't often get celebrities. Zack searched the crowd before he found the particular person he was looking for, finally pointing towards their Nibelheim guide, an eighteen-year-old local by the name of Tifa Lockhart, who was talking to her dad, a worker at the reactor.
 
"See the pretty girl over there?  The one we've spent all this time with? Yeah, go be social, talk to her."

"Why?  The basement needs my attention more."

"Because one she's been very nice about escorting us around here.  Two she might have heard things people aren't willing to tell us.  And three, you need to get more of a life Seph." A playful shove towards the girl, "Go."

"Enough Zack. I can be social later, now I have a duty to investigate that basement." Was the irritated reply, however Zack was not going to be refused.

"AND you have a duty to encourage good relations between SOLDIER and the general public.  We can always come back if the pods turn out to be trouble."

Sephiroth let out a large put upon sigh, "Very well."  He approached the girl, the back of her head facing him with it's cascade of dark hair. Sephiroth let out a cough to engage her attention, and she turned around, revealing her dark eyes.  She gave him a slightly shy smile.

"Everything alright at the reactor?

"So far. I wish to personally thank you for being our guide"

"No problem!  I had fun with you guys today. I'm sure Ms. Tittly would've preferred I come by her sweet shop, she got in these special Chestnuts today.  Most of them are probably gone by now, but there should be a few left tomorrow."

"... There's a sweet shop here?"  It was a well known, but never openly acknowledged, fact that General Sephiroth had a sweet tooth that could rival that of any child. It was believed by some that it came from an internal need to hold on to something childish, particularly since the general had no childhood at all.

"Yes, of course. Ms. Tittly's!  She babysat me after my mom passed away.  She has all these connections to these rare confectioneries, so her store always has these great treats that has people for MILES flocking because you couldn't get them anywhere else around here.  If you want to see, she might still be open."

"Hmmm... I would like that.  Where is this sweet shop?" 

"I'll take you there!  I want some red licorice, and the chestnuts too." Sephiroth fell into step beside her as they headed down the stairs that led to the reactor.

"Red licorice is good...wait.. did you say chestnuts?" Tifa nodded vigorously, her eyes donning a longing look.

"They only come this time of year, and she only gets one shipment. I can never remember the name, but they are soooo good!"

"Would they be chestnuts dipped in brandied sugar?" His companion thought for a moment as they headed down Nibelheim's main road, until she snapped her fingers.

"Yes!  You know'em?" Now Sephiroth had to control his excitement, because Tifa had unwittingly told him his favorite treat was in the area.

"Yes, I'm rather fond of them."  Tifa let out a laugh.

"Well come on, let's go!" She immediately broke into a jog, "Ms. Tittly won't keep it open that much longer!" Sephiroth easily sped up to match her pace as they hustled their way down several streets with dark store fronts before they arrived the Confectionery, where the proprietress was actually just locking her door.  At seeing Tifa, though, she stopped.

"Mrs. Tittley!  This is Sephiroth, and we've come to beg some treats!" Tifa explained after giving the elderly lady a hug.

"Most definitely sugar-drop!  I got some fresh licorice sticks right here."

"What about those chestnuts you get around this time of year?" Tifa inquired hopefully as she and Sephiroth entered the warm and sweet smelling shop bathed in the soft light of a single lamp.  Ms. Tittly turned faced them, looking vaguely amused.

"I don't love you THAT much sugar-drop.  I got enough for two small bags, and that'll be 2.50 for each of you."  She stated.  Tifa nodded and produced 5 gils for the woman, however Sephiroth held up a hand and paid for both bags himself.  There was the usual chatting, catching up, and then Ms. Tittly sent them on their way, both extremely happy as Sephiroth ate his chestnuts while Tifa worked on her licorice.

"Not to offend you but I didn't think you'd like sweets?" Tifa finally spoke up around her mouth of licorice.

"A common perception. I tend to try not to broadcast such things about myself." Sephiroth stated rather pointedly before popping another chestnut. Thankfully, Tifa was as smart as he thought, and nodded, removing the licorice from her mouth long enough to make a "lips zipped" gesture.

"Good girl." They lapsed back into silence as the pair continued towards the reactor, only to meet up with Zack as they returned.

"Hey guys, get there in time?" The raven-haired SOLDIER inquired.  Tifa answered him by showing him the bag of chestnuts and the licorice in her hand

"Oooh! Licorice!" Zack cried, looking like a kid on Solstice morning.

"No! My Licorice!" Tifa pulled her bag to her chest.  Meanwhile, Sephiroth skillfully hid his own bag of sweets, not wanting to be coerced into sharing by Zack turning on his puppy dog eyes.

"Oh come on, just one? Red's my favorite." there came the puppy dog eyes. The young woman looked thoughtful for a moment, even as she chewed some more on her licorice.  Finally she pulled it out of her mouth.

"Only if I get a photo with you and," she pointed to Sephiroth, "him."

"Deal!" Zack cried, then hollered out to the still assembled crowd, "Hey! Anybody got a camera?"

"Zack..." Seph stated, giving Zack a look,even as everyone scrambled to find a camera.

"Please General?!" Tifa asked, looking at him with those big dark eyes. Of course they were nothing to Zack's infamous "puppy pout" so the General was about to refuse again-

"Yeah please....?!" Zack begged shamelessly, giving his commander said puppy pout.  Said commander let out a sigh.

"All right, I'll humor you. I'm too tired to fight you both."

"Yeah!" Cried Tifa, just in time to for one of the townspeople to run up waving something.

"Here, I have a camera!"  Tifa immediately pulled the two first class SOLDIERS to her, grinning.

"Smile guys!" A flash, then a whir as a full scale 5x7 picture came out. Tifa gave them a grin, handing Zack his promised Licorice as well promising a copy of the picture, and slipping a few chestnuts into Sephiroth's hand for his humor.

After that the two SOLDIER talked to their guide. True to Zack's word, Sephiroth gleaned few more details about the occurrences from Tifa that his SOLDIERs had not mentioned.

"I should go make sure my father gets dinner.  Will you two be up here tomorrow?" Tifa asked as she closed her chestnut bag and finished off her licorice.

"We should investigate the basement now-" Sephiroth began, however Zack was quick to jump in.

"But we're both really tired from the 14 hour helicopter flight, so we're probably going to call it a night."

"Zack..."

"It's probably a better idea to go tomorrow.  More light, more people focused on their jobs not on bugging you." Tifa offered, to which Sephiroth hummed thoughtfully, "Fair point."

"Plus tomorrow you'll be refreshed and we can both give it our full focus." Zack nudged.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure my father knows to keep everybody out of there so stuff won't get moved around." Tifa assured, "So go, get a good night's sleep!"

000

It felt like they'd barely closed their eyes when the two SOLDIERS were jolted awake by a sound and a force that literally shook them from their beds, causing a yelp from Zack and two very undignified thumps as they landed on the floor.  There was a moment or two, as they laid blinking, wondering what had just happened...

And then the screaming started, causing Zack and Sephiroth to rush to gather themselves up, hurriedly throwing on their clothes as the tell-tale orange lights of a fire began to light up the room.  Within minutes they were out the door and attempting to see what had been going on... only to be confronted with the grim sight of a town on fire and the roar of a Mako-reactor exploding.

Sephiroth, as was his nature, began marshaling his 'troops' (grabbing the few men fleeing and forcing them into helping put out the fires as best they could) while Zack took over getting the rest of the survivors, mainly women and children, to a safe distance.  Once that was done and the reigns passed over, both men hurried to the reactor, but there was a precious little they could see... or do.  Some of the townsmen were attempting to put the flames out, but it was a futile effort.  So after a while, Sephiroth moved the stunned group back, calling in the events and requesting a med team.  Then he just stood at a distance, watching the flames.

A rather pale Zack approached him, "Seph... I can't find Tifa anywhere. Didn't see her with the other survivors, either." Sephiroth said nothing staring at the orange flames, feeling a pang for the girl who'd been so kind...

"When the flames are out, we'll find her." He murmured reassuringly to his second-in-command, but in truth he didn't hold out much hope for the girl.

000

  A rainstorm arrived in the night, putting out the flames, and then the morning brought a ShinRa Helicopter with Hojo and a few other scientists who took charge of the survivors.  The two SOLDIER 1st went to help the others they began to look through the charred remnant of the Nibelhiem Reactor, looking for anyone that might still be alive.  Several remains were identified, covered, and removed.  None of them, though was their guide.  And then...
 
"HELP!  PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME OVER HERE!  I think we have a survivor!" came the cry, sending every person left to help running.  Sure enough, as they arrived, there was one of the overly large and unbelievably heavy fireproof doors with a hand sticking out, along with some muffled groans.  Working as one, the men heaved, grunted, Sephiroth of course shouting orders.  It took about five minutes... but finally it was off and away.  A familiar head of dark hair came into view. For a moment everything seemed to go still...

"Tifa!" Zack cried, hurrying over and gently turning her over to her stomach, eliciting a gasp as the dark eyes slowly became visible, then she let out a moan.

"L... L... Lieut-t-t." She closed her eyes breathed in and out.

"Zack." He reminded her kindly.

"Z-Zack..." She choked, then whimpered, "H-Hurts..."

"I know... I know." He tried his best to soothe her, but felt his stomach churn at the bruising caused by the door being blown on top of her, to say nothing of the wounds from debris.  And the burns... the door had protected her from the majority of the fire but not all of it.  He held her hand and she gripped it, trying to focus and breathe through the pain.

"What's going on here?" Came Hojo's voice, as always making Zack want to growl.

"Survivor." He snapped.

"... From so close to the core...?" The scientist stared down at the figure and Zack DID NOT like the expression on Hojo's face, or when Hojo flicked his glasses in a way he knew all too well.

"I'll take her from here then. We'll get her treated at Midgar."

"But-!"

"Thank you Lieutenant." This time the voice took on a waspish note.

"...." At the silence, Hojo turned and snapped his fingers, a med team came running over and loaded her onto the stretcher.  Zack refused to let go of her hand right up to the helicopter... when suddenly her picture came fluttering out.  Zack leaned down and looked at it, smiling.  Then sickly pale fingers closed around it.

"This is interesting." came that high voice and Zack had to stop himself from pulling away and ripping the picture from Hojo's fingers.

"It's hers." But the 'good' doctor seemed to be ignoring the Lieutenant as he noticed just how, well, PRETTY the girl and Sephiroth looked together...

"Interesting, very interesting." He murmured again, and without another word slunk off, leaving Zack with a cold feeling his stomach.

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