Chapter Text
At the north crater, after the final battle, they’d all promised to keep in touch. Reeve had set them up with a new model of PHS, one that could handle three-way calls and dial-in voice conferencing. It even allowed text messaging, though only Yuffie and Cloud, and sometimes Reeve when he was in a hurry, really used that feature.
For the first few months, Barret could count on hearing familiar voices on the phone on Fridays - always Yuffie, who probably slept with her PHS under her pillow. Sometimes Tifa - and by extension, Cloud, though he was only ever on in the background. That Tifa called in was a measure of her kindness, because she and Cloud had relocated to Edge not far from Barret and Marlene, and they could (and did) see each other at any time.
Reeve and Cid were surprisingly good about calling in every week, even if only for a few minutes, which Barret put down to their ability follow a schedule more than any particular desire to stay in touch. Reeve probably had “call Avalanche” as a recurring appointment in his digital calendar. Cid probably had Shera reminding him.
Nanaki didn’t always call in, but Barret found various excuses to travel to Cosmo Canyon for work. If he was in Cosmo Canyon on a Friday, they would call in together. Nanaki complained that the phones weren’t made for people without thumbs.
Barret had not expected to hear from Vincent at all, so the few cryptic posts he did send to their group chat were welcome.
****
Officially, Barret made his monthly work trips to Cosmo Canyon - with Marlene staying with Elmya, or on rare occasions with Tifa and Cloud - to carry on the work of finding an alternate source of energy. Once the last Shinra mine closed, they had enough mako stored in barrels to power the world for the next decade or so. After that… who knew?
Reeve, as part of his job with the WRO, was overseeing the work of closing the mines anyway. According to him, they’d never have the political clout to do it again.
This made finding an alternate source of energy an urgent problem.... But that wasn’t the real reason he made the trips.
Barret knew he needed to build a new life in Edge, for Marlene’s sake. She’d been his reason to live all those years ago, and that had never changed. She deserved a stable household, good food, nice things, an education, a father who was present and loved her. He loved her more than anything - more than his own life - and he wanted to provide those things for her.
But as much as Barret wanted that to be enough - to live for his daughter, and somehow, for Elmyra too - the two of them weren’t enough for him. He felt guilty, but he needed something more. Another project to work towards.
Another reason to live.
And anyway, who else was as committed as him to ending mako mining forever?
****
It was probably inevitable that the phone calls would eventually stop.
Everyone was busy with the work of rebuilding, and no one lived near each other anymore. Barret still saw Cloud and Tifa, who sometimes dropped in to visit. He and Elmyra had started something, and as fragile as it was - as much as he still missed Myrna - he was indescribably grateful for the company.
But the regular check-ins, the voice conferencing, gradually petered away. He ran out of excuses to visit Nanaki. Now on a typical Friday night, he was lucky to hear from even one person.
It seemed like this might be the end - that after everything that had happened, they’d gradually drift away from each other - not in a dramatic flare up, but a quiet winding down.
Maybe this was just what happened to adults - without a reason to get together, you only really saw your family, your coworkers every day. Sometimes you might see your friends - but only if they lived nearby. Only if you made the effort.
Barret felt it as a loss - another loss, after suffering so much loss already.
But he was the oldest of all of them, and he had his own small family to look after. If everyone else had other things to do, he would accept it - and try to hold on to the connections he did still have.
****
After six months, it was over - Barret, out to dinner with Marlene and Elmyra, forgot to call in - and no one called or texted to remind him.
****
Sent: August 2nd, 2008
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Cid H.; Reeve Tuesti
Re: Re: AVALANCHE MOVIE NIGHT
You guys are all so lame!!!! I can’t believe you are leaving this up to me, a teenage girl, to organize!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, here’s the deal. We’re having a movie night on September 1st at 8pm. And every two months after that at the same time. We’ll have the first one at Tifa’s place because I know you guys are lazy and this way 3/7 of us will not have to travel.
I hope you guys all appreciate the sacrifice I’m making to travel *all* the way there just to hang out with you losers! No one else sacrifices as much for this group as me. YOU’D BETTER ALL BE THERE OR I’LL BE REALLY MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugs and kisses,
Yuffie Kisaragi
P.S. September 1st is a Friday. CALL IN if you can’t be there in person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or I’ll never speak to you again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
****
Yuffie’s message hit the group like a bomb, but in the wreckage, a plan did emerge.
Barret had been planning to be out of town that weekend, but he cancelled his trip. Elmyra, hearing she wouldn’t be needed to watch Marlene, wanted to come too. It was close to Marlene’s bedtime, but she swore she’d stay up for the *whole* movie.
Tifa promised that she and Cloud would be there. Yuffie was swinging by Cosmo Canyon, to pick up Nanaki.
Cid and Reeve, having fairly booked schedules, were the biggest question marks.
No - Vincent was the biggest question mark. No one even knew if he checked his email.
Reeve had a million other things to do, but he swore he’d ask the engineers to add a feature, that would at least show which messages had been read.
****
Friday night was Tifa’s biggest tip night, but she closed the bar early and sent all the customers home.
Cloud, though he was spending more and more time out of town on errands - or whatever he did when he got too much in his own head - stayed behind to help wipe down the counter and sweep the floor while Tifa ran out for more ice and popcorn, and some fresh fruit for cocktails.
The most important question - what to watch. Barret let Marlene pick the first movie. After she went to bed, the grown ups would watch another one.
Elmyra wanted to decorate the bar. Marlene wanted to help. Cloud did most of the standing on tables, and hanging streamers from the ceiling while the two of them directed him.
The new Seventh Heaven couldn’t be mistaken for the old one - it was smaller and shabbier, and they’d never recovered the pinball machine. But Cloud had once, on an errand, found an ancient dart machine - probably not the original one, but another one from the same series. It still worked and stood proudly in the corner, the bar’s best-known feature.
Tifa was busy making popcorn and crushed ice smoothies with fruit garnishes, so Barret mixed the punch.
****
Yuffie and Nanaki came early, and dragged Cloud away to dinner to catch up. On her insistence - and with Barret’s reluctant Okay - they took Marlene too.
Barret, Tifa and Elmyra stayed behind to watch the bar. After Elmyra, Barret probably saw Tifa the most. Tifa was always looking after other people, and especially, after Cloud and her bar. Shouldn’t she be out with the teenagers, enjoying herself on a Friday night, free of all her responsibilities, for once?
She didn’t want to leave the bar. In the end, Barret and Elmyra pushed her out and locked the door behind her.
In the quiet bar, with streamers hanging from the ceiling, they ordered takeout and enjoyed a quiet meal together in the semi-darkness.
When Reeve and Cid knocked on the door, they turned on the lights.
****
Marlene was beside herself all evening - this was more of her favorite people in one room than she’d seen in a long time.
She’d had dessert after dinner and was bouncing off the walls, demanding rides from Nanaki - and from uncle Cid and uncle Reeve too. They carried her around the room on their shoulders, while her movie - some animated feature about a dragon that was also a river - played in the background, ignored by everyone.
At some point, the popcorn bowl was overturned and popcorn spread all over the floor - at which point Elmyra stepped in, and carried Marlene off to bed.
****
The original, remaining crew of Avalanche settled down to watch the second movie.
Yuffie and Nanaki, who hadn’t seen each other at all since the whole group split up, offered running commentary on the plot - a nature documentary. Cid and Reeve sipped their punch, and occasionally snuck glances at their phones, checking their messages, until Yuffie scolded them and they turned them off. Cid ducked out every 30 minutes to smoke another cigarette, Reeve added extra alcohol to his punch and proceeded to get drunk. No one talked about work - that could happen in the morning.
Barret, Cloud and Tifa sat together quietly. They saw each other often, and knew each other well.
Barret had learned, once, at school, that the stablest geometric figure was a triangle. That a table, even if one leg was a little too short, might wobble but would always balance on three legs on the floor.
But their table was missing an entire leg - it always seemed to fall over.
Their triangle, when it was just the three of them, always seemed a little sad and lacking.
Everyone together reminded Barret of everyone who was not there.
“I wish Jessie and Biggs and Wedge were here,” Tifa said softly. “And…”
“Yeah,” Barret said roughly. Cloud looked uncertain, until she leaned against him. He knew enough to put an arm around her then.
“I miss all of ‘em,” Barret said. “Biggs and Wedge and Jessie.. the rest of them from Seven…”
“And Nibelheim…”
“And Corel…”
“And also… “
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“...Yeah.”
What else was there to say? They’d all lost so many people.
Barret, Tifa and Cloud most of all.
But it was good. It was still so good to be together.
****
With five minutes left on their nature documentary, Tifa lay slumped, exhausted and asleep, against Cloud, while Barret made the case to Cid and Reeve that they were welcome to stay the night with him, and did *not* need to find a room at an inn.
Then Vincent turned up.
Which was good, because otherwise Yuffie would never have spoken to him again.