Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Who's John ShinRa? ❯ Between Heaven and Hell ( Chapter 35 )

Chapter 35: Between Heaven and Hell

She never understood her father. He made decisions that she disagreed with and acted more like a coward than the brave man she admired as a child. She still kept that eternal adoration for him; she would never lose that, but she hated seeing him buckle under the pressures of his role. He would always chide her saying that she would understand when she got older. And that was what motivated her to travel the world. The search for materia on the side was an added bonus. Now that Yuffie had seen the world and gone through the things she had, she thought she could understand her father a bit more. There are lessons that you cannot learn until you live them. It gave the young Wutian princess one conclusion: it sucked to be an adult.

“Yuffie!”

“What’s up Tifa?”

Tifa held out a newspaper and pointed at the headlines. “We have a problem.”

The article detailing the massacre on the Kalm plains drew a chill down the ninja’s spine. Her blood boiled in anger over hearing that one of her fallen comrades had been disrespected. “Tifa, this bites! I can’t believe someone would do such a thing. Where are those thugs, we should totally find them and teach them a lesson!”

“I don’t know where they are now. This paper is a few days old. The paper service is a little slow up here in the mountains; satellite service as well. I just got a message about this on the PHS from Barret and Cid that they left a few days ago.”

Yuffie scanned the article. “So they could be anywhere by now. What are we gonna do Tifa?”

The pained look in Tifa’s eyes said everything. “We look for them. Lucretia is still working on her research and it might take days before she’s done. In the meantime, we go search for these gang members and pay them back for what they did to Cloud’s grave and to those poor people on the plains.”

“We’ll get them Tifa. That’s a promise,” Yuffie said seriously. “We should get John and then try to figure out where that biker gang is. Oh! I know! We should go to Cosmo Canyon. I bet we could use Bugenhagen’s telescope to find them.”

“That’s a great idea Yuffie. I’ll go get John if you could let Lucretia know that we’ll be gone for a few days. Hopefully that will give her enough time to find a way to destroy Chaos.”

Yuffie nodded and started to make her way to the ShinRa mansion before she paused. “Tifa, I just wanted to let you know that you’re doing a great job. I’ve always looked up to you and think that when I become an adult, I want to be one just like you.”

Tifa smiled. “Thanks Yuffie, that means a lot.”

The martial artist was glad that she appeared to be doing well as the de facto AVALANCHE leader. Honestly, Tifa felt like she wasn’t fit to be leading. Her life had been a constant whirlwind ever since that fateful day when General Sephiroth came to her hometown. And now here she was back at the beginning, still feeling like the insecure teenager in the cowboy hat and boots. It didn’t help that she had heard the news about the biker gang desecrating Cloud’s grave. She hadn’t even had time to heal from his death and now that wound was left to fester into a blistering sore. She thought she was going to be in a funk for the rest of the day, but the scene she came upon helped lighten her mood.

To phrase it bluntly: it was adorable. Never in a million years would Tifa have expected to see her male teammate conversing with a child in her backyard. She always thought of John as the type of person who would become completely clueless in how to deal with children, but he was proving her wrong. Watching the young boy brought back memories of seeing Cloud when they were both kids. Cloud had always been a shy child, but whenever someone had his attention on him, his eyes would light up in amazed wonderment.

The two were bonding like a father would bond with his son. John carefully guided the boy’s hand and watched closely as the boy was trying to figure out how to use a slingshot. The boy carefully concentrated on what he was doing nodding in acknowledgement to John’s comments. If Tifa didn’t know any better, she would have thought that John had known the boy for all of his life. As sweet as the scene was, Tifa had to interrupt the pair as she cleared her throat loudly.

“Tifa!” John looked over in surprise. “Um, I’d like you to meet Haru. Haru, this is Tifa.”

Tifa held her hand out to the little boy, “Pleased to meet you Haru.”

Haru blushed as he shook Tifa’s hand. “Nice to meet you Ms. Tifa.”

“I hate to have to take Mr. John away from you, but he and I have some business to take care of,” Tifa said to Haru before giving John a meaningful look.

John caught the grave look on Tifa’s face and knew that whatever ‘business’ they had to attend to, it wasn’t good. “Okay squirt, start practicing everything I taught you with that slingshot,” John said as he ruffled Haru’s hair.

“Yes, sir!”

Once John and Tifa were a good distance away from the young boy, they both dropped the cheerful faces and got serious.

“What’s up?”

Tifa handed John the paper showing him the article, “Some biker gang murdered a bunch of innocent people in the Kalm plains. They destroyed Cloud’s grave and stole his sword.”

John pursed his lips in anger. “Any clue as to where they are?”

“No, but Yuffie thinks that we might be able to spot them if we head to Cosmo Canyon and use the telescope there. We have to find these people John. We have to.”

“I know Tifa. We’ll find them,” John paused. “I know Cloud would probably be proud of you if he were to see you today.”

A small smile graced her lips as she listened to John. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

Tifa breathed deeply gracious for the support of her teammates. She couldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for Yuffie and John. She may not be as great a leader as Cloud was, but she was doing her best. Cloud would be proud of her and that was enough.

* * *

She did it. She finally did it. Lucretia didn’t know how long it had taken her or how long she had been working, but none of that mattered because she had finished her project. Her hands shook with a mixture of excitement and fatigue as she held the syringes of purified mako. She marveled at how the solution to the problem was the simplest and purest form of matter on the planet. The very same substance that she and many scientists like her had been researching. It was almost laughable. Chaos was a being born from the planet and yet the only thing to destroy it was the essence of the planet that birthed him.

She knew that she probably should bring the syringes of purified mako to Tifa, but Lucretia was so exhausted. She should have listened to the younger woman and slept a little more or ate some of the food that they brought down. It was so hard to take a break when she became immersed in her work. It was hard to think of anything else but how to help Vincent. Lucretia regretted what she did to him. If only she knew what she did now, but as she learned, there was no use lingering on the past thinking of the ‘what ifs.’ Hiding in the waterfall cave had done nothing but age her. It was a welcome reprieve to delve into her research again.

Yuffie ran into the laboratory in a rush. “Lucretia, just wanted to let you know that we’re going to need to head out of Nibelheim for a few days.”

“Oh, Yuffie. Thanks for letting me know. Looks like you saved me the trouble of having to find you. I finally did it,” Lucretia gave the girl a tired smile.

“You did it?” Yuffie asked confused.

Lucretia held out the syringes. “The weapon against Chaos. I figured it out. It’s purified mako. I was able to make three syringes for you to use against him. You simply need to find a way to inject it into him and that should do it.”

Yuffie took the syringes that Lucretia made in awe and wonderment. “This is it, isn’t it?”

“Yes, this is it,” Lucretia smiled wistfully. “It took all of my effort, but I’m so glad that I could do it.”

“Thanks so much Ms. Lucretia. I’ll be sure that we take care of Chaos. Hopefully we’ll be back in a few days,” Yuffie clutched the syringes tightly to her chest as she bowed respectfully to the older woman.

“Good luck. Be safe, all of you.”

Lucretia watched Yuffie leave the laboratory for the last time. Smoothing her hands over the computer, she slowly turned the machines off, watching the screen as it faded to black. One by one, she shuffled around the lab shutting off valves, switches and unplugging cords. The only equipment she left was a single Bunsen burner heating an opaque liquid. Lucretia inspected the liquid, scrutinizing its color and viscosity before turning the valve on a dropper that slowly started to drip a clear liquid into the heated substance.

She had completed her final project and now she was tired. Her muscles and joints weren’t used to her aged body. Her heart felt lighter now, but her body felt heavy as Lucretia staggered through the hall. She needed rest. Her aimless walking finally brought her to a crypt where an open coffin lay in the middle of the floor. It was conveniently fitting. Her breathing grew labored as she lifted herself into the coffin with the last of her strength.

The interior of the coffin smelled of mold and gunpowder, an odd combination that surprisingly soothed her. Lucretia closed her weary eyes and sighed as her body gave into fatigue: a fatigue that had been plaguing her for decades. Lucretia wheezed with each breath that she took, but she wasn’t in any discomfort or pain. And so she slept in eternal bliss.

It would be a few hours before the wheezing breaths would fade and the crypt would be met with silence. It would also be a few hours when the constant drip of the liquid into the heated beaker would eventually start a catalyst that would bring the ShinRa Mansion down to the ground. The incident would waken the town of Nibelheim in the middle of the night as townsfolk scrambled to unearth the rubble for any survivors. There would be only one body that they found and many would say it was tragic for the poor woman to have died horrifically in the old mansion. But the truth was, Lucretia died a peaceful death finally atoning for sins long overdue.

* * *

Rufus carefully twisted the metal around the syringe manipulating the device so he could load it into the Death Penalty. He knew that there was no room for error as they only got one syringe of purified mako each. Their mission was now two separate tasks. First, find and stop the bloody biker gang and second, find and destroy Chaos.

“Everyone rested up?” Tifa asked the group.

Yuffie stretched her arms up in the air with a content sigh. “Yeah, so did you hear anything from Barret or Cid?”

“No, no word. It’s odd, they’re not answering their PHS. I’m guessing they’re probably busy right now or the satellite signal is still really bad.”

“So the only clue we have is to try the telescope in Cosmo Canyon, correct?” Rufus interjected.

“Yes.”

Rufus inserted the syringe into Vincent’s rifle and snapped it shut. “Well, I think break time’s over. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“A hero’s work is never done,” Yuffie sighed as she mounted her chocobo. “AVALANCHE, we need you to fight Sephiroth, AVALANCHE, we need you to save the planet from imminent doom, AVALANCHE, we need you to find some crazy psycho biker gang and by the way, while you’re at it why don’t you destroy a flying purple demon.”

“Well, somebody’s got to do it. Besides, didn’t you tell me once that you left Wutai so you could have some adventures,” Rufus shrugged.

“You forgot the part about collecting materia!”

Tifa smiled. “How could we forget that.”

“Speaking of materia, I’ve been meaning to ask you Tifa, have you noticed that sometimes a summoning materia changes colors?”

“Changes colors? I haven’t noticed that. What colors do they change to?”

“Kind of a deep burgundy to purple.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that happening before. Do you recall when it would happen?” Rufus asked.

Yuffie pursed her lips in thought. “You know, now that I think about it. I only started noticing it when we first came to Nibelheim. Back when we found Vincent.”

Rufus gave Tifa and Yuffie a puzzled look. “You don’t suppose that they’re related in any way, do you?”

“It might. Yuffie, when’s the last time you noticed them changing color?” Tifa asked.

“When we were at Gold Saucer. That was when we were trying to bait Chaos. Hey! Maybe it has something to do with Chaos!”

Rufus ran a hand though his hair. “That would certainly make searching for Chaos a bit easier. What color is your summon materia now?”

Yuffie pulled out her weapon and looked slightly started at her summon materia. “It’s burgundy.”

“If we all think that the color change in the materia is what we think it is, then we’re probably getting close. Yuffie, keep an eye on that materia and let us where to go to make it turn purple,” Rufus ordered.

Yuffie glanced between the ground and her materia checking to see what course would turn the materia a darker shade. “Left guys, turn left!”

Tifa and Rufus followed closely behind matching the ninja’s erratic movement step-by-step.

“Right! Now right!”

Soon, the trio didn’t need to follow the materia as the air around them grew heavy. An ominous swirl of grey clouds circled the sky behind a large red rock. The clashing sounds of battle echoed off the dusty rocks. A guttural roar that shook the very foundations of the earth was enough to let the warriors know that they had found their quarry. And if that wasn’t enough evidence, then the deep purple color of Yuffie’s summoning materia was another dead giveaway.

The sight they came upon shocked them to no end. The drunken biker, Jagger Grens, who they had fought briefly on their way to Junon was wildly swinging the Ultima Blade. But there was something different about the sword. Instead of the brilliant blue, the sword was now a deep blood red that emitted a dull blackness. Before the biker was a creature that could be considered the evil itself. Jaws taut in ravenous glory, wings slick with fresh blood, Chaos roared his ire along the dusty rocks and aimed his hunger at the lone man daring to challenge him. It was a battle of two evils, one trying to outdo the other. For only the last one standing could truly be called the greatest threat on the planet.

“Tifa! What do we do?” Yuffie shouted over the roars of Chaos and Jagger’s cursing.

“It’s too dangerous for either one of us to get between them,” Tifa said to Yuffie. “John, do you think you have a clear shot at either target?”

“Negative. They’re moving around too much for me to get one in,” Rufus said as he tried to follow one of the targets with his shotgun.

Yuffie clutched her shuriken tighter. “Should we let them duke it out until one of them dies? I mean, they’re so busy that they haven’t spotted us yet?”

“Tempting, but we need to formulate a plan in case they decide that we’re much more fun to fight than each other. John, any ideas?”

“I like Yuffie’s idea personally, but you’re right. We need a plan. Best I can think of is find a way to inject the purified mako into Chaos while he’s preoccupied with the crazy biker. Once our strongest enemy is out of the way, then we take out the biker.”

“Guess you’ll need more than one syringe to shot at Chaos then, right?” Tifa said as she took out her syringe and started working the metal so it could be loaded into the Death Penalty.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Rufus smirked.

Yuffie quickly worked alongside Tifa in fixing her syringe of purifed mako. The women worked as quietly and efficiently as they could. Rufus kept his eyes on the pair fighting in the open plains. Neither side looked like they were gaining any ground on the other. He was slightly shocked to discover that the drunken biker named Jagger Grens was lethal with a sword. Rufus had initially written the man off as neither a threat nor nuisance. Too bad he had to have been proven wrong.

“John, here are the syringes,” Tifa handed Rufus the two containers of purified mako.

Yuffie looked Rufus in the eye. “John, I have two words for you: don’t miss.”

Rufus brushed the hair out of his eyes before taking aim through the scope. “I don’t miss Yuffie.”

With Chaos in his sight, Rufus steadied the rifle and squeezed the trigger, aiming for the demon’s heart. The shot met its mark as Chaos reeled back in pain, pulling out the syringe that had embedding itself into his chest. Unfortunately, the shot didn’t take the demon down as Chaos roared at the AVALANCHE members in anger.

“Why isn’t Chaos dead yet?” Tifa asked.

“Maybe he needs another dose?” Yuffie shouted.

Through all of the commotion, Jagger Grens finally noticed the trio standing several yards away. His eyes widened as he saw the familiar brown-haired man from his past. Madness flooded his senses as the Ultima Blade pulsed in a red haze of anger. “Johnny boy! I finally found you Johnny boy!”

Rufus took in the scene with alarm. Chaos had not been taken down and now Jagger was running towards him with killer intent. “Tifa, Yuffie! Keep the crazy biker occupied; I’ll hit Chaos with another dose!”

“One step ahead of you,” Tifa quickly ran to intercept Jagger with Yuffie not far behind.

Keeping Chaos in his sights, Rufus hopped onto his chocobo and trotted away from the area, baiting Chaos into following him. Luckily for him, Chaos took the bait and followed behind, sluggishly flapping his wings.

Jagger hardly paid attention to the two women fighting him. He blocked and parried on instinct, but most of his attention was focused on the lone male riding away on a chocobo. He didn’t even care that the purple demon he had been fighting earlier was following the man. With a large arcing swing, Jagger forced both Tifa and Yuffie to jump back. This gave him enough time to run to his bike where he quickly rode in the direction of his target. Tifa and Yuffie wasted no time in mounting their chocobos and giving chase.

Rufus rode Mortius weaving between boulders and rocky crevices to try and wear Chaos down. The demon was carelessly following Rufus, occasionally flying into rocks. He loaded the second round into the rifle and quickly turned around a boulder before stopping and aiming in front of the boulder where he expected Chaos to emerge behind. Sure enough, Chaos came crashing around the bend, which was Rufus’s signal to fire. The shot struck Chaos in the right leg. It was enough to do damage and slow Chaos down, but not enough to kill the demon. Chaos now hobbled on the ground, unable to keep himself in the air.

“Third time’s the charm,” Rufus muttered as he quickly reloaded the rifle with the last syringe. What Rufus didn’t foresee was something or someone getting in the way of the shot. He didn’t know that Jagger Grens was following him and Chaos on his bike, not too far off his tail. He didn’t know how completely consumed by bloodlust and hatred Jagger had become or that the man would abandon all logic and reasoning. And Rufus would never know of the wrong that his late half-brother had befallen the deranged biker to drive him to such lengths.

But those weren’t the thoughts running through Rufus’s mind. He was more concerned about the fact that instead of shooting Chaos with the last syringe or purified mako, he had just killed Jagger Grens as the syringe sunk into Jagger’s brain, landing straight between the eyes. Jagger fell to the ground as his bike skidded into a rock. The Ultima Blade clanked loudly on the ground as the reddish hue slowly faded until the sword was nothing more than a dull metallic grey. Rufus was so shocked at the situation; he hardly noticed when Tifa and Yuffie had come around to flank him as they faced down Chaos.

“Do you have anymore syringes left?” Tifa asked.

“No, the biker took that last one. The second shot met its mark. Looks like we needed all three doses.”

Yuffie eyed Chaos warily as the demon staggered, getting closer to the trio. “Well, what do we do now? I don’t think we can just go back to Nibelheim and hope that Lucretia has a few more of those syringes, right? And it’s not like mako just pops out of the ground randomly.”

“We fight him, what else can we do. Let’s just hope that the two shots that John already got in are enough to weaken him.”

“They will be enough. We’re strong enough to take him down. After all, we have two people who helped destroy Sephiroth and saved the world on our side, right?” Rufus answered as he aimed the rifle at the approaching demon.

Tifa and Yuffie both smiled at the encouraging words. That was enough to give them the motivation for the fight. Yuffie smirked as she crouched ready to throw her shuriken. Tifa tightened her fists tensing her muscles in anticipation of the fight. The trio was ready to destroy Chaos, but something unexpected happened. The ground rumbled as the earth cracked and shook until a rift formed. Green tendrils of mako seeped out of a newly formed fissure heading towards Chaos who tried to hobble away from the lifestream.

The AVALANCHE members watched in awe as the glowing green mako caught up to Chaos and wrapped itself around the demon. Chaos roared and struggled against the tendrils, but the lifestream won out, dragging the purple demon back into the fissure of lifestream where it belonged. The rift still pulsed with an iridescent green as the trio looked at each other in shock.

Yuffie looked at the fissure of mako, and then looked at the spot where Chaos once stood. “What just happened?”

“I think I can answer that,” a familiar voice answered.

Tifa and Yuffie both gasped in surprise at who they saw. Floating above the mako fissure wearing a blue suit and sporting short hair was Vincent. He no longer had the metal gauntlets on his feet and arm. Another startling feature was the wry smile he wore on his face. It was almost as if they were seeing Vincent at the time when he was the happiest.

“Vinny, is it really you?” Yuffie started to tear up.

“Yes, Yuffie and no I don’t have any materia for you.”

Yuffie smiled as she wiped away a tear. “Yep, that Vincent alright.”

“Vincent, what just happened?” Tifa asked.

“There was one last duty I had to fulfill. I couldn’t do it when I was alive. But with the help of the lifestream, I can finally bring Chaos back to where he belonged.”

“So you’re gone then.” Tifa closed her eyes as she heard the final confirmation about Vincent’s fate. She wanted to ask about Cloud, but couldn’t muster the strength. “Are things peaceful where you are? I mean, you seem different now.”

“I’ve finally made peace with myself.”

“Oh, Vincent, did you know that Lucretia helped us try to defeat Chaos?” Yuffie chimed in.

“I know Yuffie. She did well,” Vincent said with a melancholy look.

“I think she did this so she could redeem herself for what she did to you,” Tifa said. “She told me how much she regretted what she did. I don’t think she ever blamed you for what happened.”

Vincent nodded. “We both have atoned for our sins. I’m glad you all told me. It will make seeing her again a little less awkward.”

Tifa’s eyes widened as she took in Vincent’s words. She bowed her head solemnly. “I see.” She wondered if she would someday meet Cloud in the lifestream as Vincent would meet Lucretia.

“Something’s bothering you Tifa. Something that doesn’t involve Lucretia or me. What’s wrong?” Vincent asked, almost knowing the answer.

“I was kinda hoping to see Cloud.”

Vincent shook his head. “You won’t see him here because he’s been with you all along. He’s always watching over you.”

“He is? That’s good,” Tifa smiled as tears ran down her face. “I’m doing my best here. It’s been hard, but I’m doing my best.”

“He knows. He thinks you make a better leader than he did.”

Tifa giggled. She knew that Cloud was a far better leader. It was amusing to see that even in death, he was still shy and self-conscious about his skills. But that was one of the things that made her fall in love with him: he was himself.

“Vincent? Did he know I loved him?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And did . . . did he love me back?” Tifa asked hopeful.

“I can’t answer that. Only Cloud can,” Vincent said giving Tifa a rare smile before he faded away.

“Only Cloud? But . .” Tifa tried to ask.

She was silenced by a warm gentle breeze gently caressing her face. She closed her eyes and thought she could feel Cloud’s hand tenderly stroking her cheek. It felt like his breath was blowing sweet kisses across her lips as the affection made her smile unconsciously. And then she heard him. It was the faintest of whispers that could have been mistaken for the wind blowing, but Tifa knew it was Cloud. Tifa sensed the soft breeze fade away as she opened her eyes and felt her heart soar.

Yes, she heard him and Tifa smiled as she remembered the words he whispered into her ears: I’ve always loved you Tifa, since the day we first met. Good-bye Tifa Lockheart, Princess of Nibelheim.