"Hi again," she said.
Zack looked up from where he was sitting.
"Oh, hi. What are you doing here?"
He was sitting on the side of the road, staring ahead. Tifa went to sit next to him. "You seemed upset," she said.
"Yeah well, soldier's not something I really wanna be reminded of."
Tifa put an a hand on his shoulder. "I understand."
"Where's Aeris?" He asked.
"Uh....she went home I think," Tifa lied.
"Oh," Zack replied.
"So, are you two serious?" She asked.
"Me and Aeris? Nah. We're just together."
"How long have you been going together?"
"A while."
"And you're not serious?"
"Well...me and Aeris...she's...we're mostly just good friends, nothing more. I don't think we'll ever get married or anything, we're just together."
Tifa nodded.
Zack looked at her. "So, what's the story with you Tifa?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've heard about Nibelheim. It's meant to be this really nice town right?"
"Yeah..." Tifa said, a bit reluctantly.
"So why do you leave? Why do you come to this dump?"
Tifa bowed her head, and got up. "I...er have to go."
Zack got up as well. "Oh... did I say something?"
Tifa shook her head, beginning to walk quickly away. "Bye."
Soon she was out of sight.
"Tifa!" Little Marlene shouted.
"Hey Squirt, what's up?" The diminutive little girl ran up to the older
girl form behind the tilt and hugged
her leg tight. Tifa bent down and stroked the young girls' silky dark
hair.
"Daddy wants to see you right away!"
"Right now?"
"Yep!"
"Oh... ok. I'll be right back."
Marlene released her grip around Tifa's leg and let the older girl go. Tifa walked up to the right corner of the bar and pushed a switch, making the floor board elevate down. She was at the rat's nest, a secret little room a couple of seconds later and was greeted by the large man Barret Wallace who was sitting at a table writing with his free hand.
"Hey Teef! How was your first day at school?"
"Ok...Marlene said you wanted to see me? Is it about the plan?"
"Right. We've decided we will go tomorrow. Jesse heard Shinra's got an important meeting, meaning most of them will be in the building and giving us a better chance to bomb the reactor in sector seven."
"Good. I can't wait." Tifa's eyes glimmered with excitement.
"Uh... Tifa,"
"Is there something wrong?" The young girl asked anxiously.
"You're not goin'."
"What?! Why?!"
"Tifa this is a dangerous mission!"
"So! I went along with the burning down the floor one of the Shinra building! Wasn't that dangerous?"
"Tifa, that was nothing. This is far more dangerous."
"Barret I'm a big girl!"
"Bloody hell you're only sixteen!"
"Barret please?"
"No."
Tifa was so frustrated. She needed to go on this mission. She looked around the room for support. Jessie was possessed by the computer keys, Biggs was writing something at a desk and Wedge was pretending to be reading, obviously trying to avoid getting in the middle of the row. This made Tifa even angrier.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE BARRET! SHINRA BURNT DOWN MY HOME TOWN! KILLED MY FATHER! DESTROYED EVERYTHING I EVER HAD! EVERYTHING! GONE! EVEN MOST OF MY BLOODY MEMORY!" This outrage made Jesse look up, Biggs drop his pen, Wedge stop reading and tears stream out of Tifa's eyes.
"I'm... sorry..." Barret began. He pulled Tifa towards him and embraced her in a hug. Tifa began sobbing now uncontrollably.
"But can you see where I'm coming from?"
"Yeah...I know it's like asking Marlene to come along but...I don't care if my life is at stake, I just wanna hurt shinra in every way possible."
"Yeah... I know kid."
Tifa had stopped sobbing now and let go of Barret's embrace before he suffocated her. She drew in a deep breath and swallowed hard, then began blushing from her outburst, and giggling stupidly.
"So..." She put her arms behind her back, and swung her legs one at a time. "Any more news Barret?"
"We got a new member joining our team."
"Yeah? Who?"
"You'll meet him tomorrow?"
"Him eh?" Tifa's eyes lit up.
"I'm sure he's a little old for ya Teef."
"We'll see tomorrow. I'm gonna go upstairs and do my shift- Barret, will you at least think about it?"
"...Yeah... sure kid."
"Thanks."