Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 2: Aftermath

FORTY-FOUR

"Lydia?" Wedge blinked. "What're you doing here?"

Seemed he'd only just noticed she was with us. We were still in the tunnel, the stink of the sewers hanging in the air all around us as Lydia and I stood up. She ran a hand shyly through her wet, dripping hair as everyone looked curiously at her.

"Um..." she swallowed, a little overwhelmed.

I smiled encouragingly. "It's okay. Why'd you follow us?"

"My mom," Lydia replied. "If it was yours that was locked up down here, could you have stayed behind?"

I laid a hand on her shoulder. "No. Not a chance."

She nodded. "Neither could I. And, um... I also wanted to see you in action. Even help if I could. But I guess I was the one who needed to be saved. Some hero I turned out to be."

"Hey, now, don't be putting yourself down," I told her. "Took a lotta guts to follow us in here, you know. And you did help, Lydia. Kept that sahagin from skewering me, remember?"

"I... I did?" Lydia stared.

I winked at her as we all got moving. "Oh, you bet! I've been on the pointy end of those things before, and it wasn't fun, believe me. So I'm really grateful to ya for sparing me an encore."

She grinned. "Thanks! I'm so glad I could help you!"

"Your dad know you're here?" Biggs asked.

"No, he thinks I'm visiting with a friend," Lydia said as we came to another room, smaller than the last one. "I'll be in for an earful when I get home, though. But if Mom's with me, I won't mind."

"She will be," I promised.

I motioned to the others, and we stopped to rest for a few minutes, needing the break after the intense battle we'd just fought. And I'd also noticed that Lydia was still shivering a bit, her skin and clothes soaked from when she'd been thrown into the water. I wasn't sure what I could do for her at first, but then I saw a small pile of debris in one corner. A bunch of old, discarded junk that had been left there, probably by a few maintenance workers who hadn't wanted to bring it back to the surface with them. It wasn't much, but it would do.

Drawing one of my blaze talons, I concentrated on the Fire materia and directed the magic toward the junk pile. Only seconds later, flames burst up from it in a searing pillar of fire that rose up all the way to the ceiling for a moment before subsiding into a smaller blaze. Lydia stood near it with her arms stretched out in front of her while the heat slowly dried her off and began warming her up.

"Better?" I asked, joining her.

"Much," she said, smiling gratefully at me. "Didn't know you could use materia outside a fight like that."

I holstered my blade. "Yeah, sometimes you can. Believe it or not, I didn't know much about it myself until recently. But Cloud and Kunsel have taught me a lot. Just takes practice."

Kunsel glanced at Kotch and Scotch, who were leaning against one wall. "How much farther 'till we get to the cells?"

"Almost there," Kotch said. "Just a few more turns."

Scotch nodded. "Yeah. Big room with a row of locked doors along one side. Those are the cells. A few other tunnels lead out of it, and the boss' second bedroom is on the far end."

Biggs frowned. "Just remember you're with us."

"We ain't forgotten," Kotch said. "Got us outta that dungeon, so we owe ya for that. Got no future with the Don, anyway. Not after what he let those Shinra assholes do to us back there."