I Never Let Her Die! (Aerith x Male Gamer Reader)

Disk 01: Chapter 10: Angry Birds

At dusk, we found the entrance to an abandoned coal mine and set up camp for the night. The winds echoed through the mountain passes, creating a hollow sound that made you think of cold winter nights, though in fact the temperature was mild. We were all seated around the campfire, when Red asked "How far to North Corel?"

"Not too far." Barrett answered. "Less than ten miles as the crow flies. 'O course, we'll have a lot further to go than that, what with all the climbing up and down, and going around mountains in the way. Plus, that guy Teef scared back on the road was right: we've got to go slow, to avoid the risk of avalanches and cave-ins."

"How long will it take to get there, then?" Tifa asked.

Barrett replied "Hard to say for sure. A few days, at least. Longer if we actually get caught in something bad."

"Aw man..." Yuffie complained. "Let's just plow through full speed and cross our fingers nothing happens."

"Would you actually risk dying in a cave-in just to maybe save a couple days?" Aerith asked her. "Safe and slow is the way to do this."

Cloud agreed. "Absolutely. We need all the help we can get when we finally catch up to Sephiroth again. It's better to delay that encounter and have everyone ready to fight than run into him with people hurt or missing."

There was silence for a time, then I said "So... Barrett... This North Corel is your hometown?"

"Yeah."

"You don't seem happy about it." Yuffie said. "If I was almost home to Wutai, I'd be ecstatic."

"I ain't you and this ain't Wutai." Barrett grumbled.

"Yikes." Yuffie mumbled. "I was just making conversation..."

Barrett didn't answer. He simply got up and walked away, into the night. Tifa followed.

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=== Begin Third-Person P.O.V. - Tifa ===

Barrett hadn't gone far. Tifa found him less than a hundred feet away, around the corner of a ledge, fuming silently. "You alright?" she asked.

"Hell no I'm not alright! Bad enough I've gotta come back here... Now I got ninja-girl bugging me for personal stuff..."

"As obnoxious as I find her too, I don't think you can fault Yuffie on this one." Tifa said. "She really was just making conversation. Look, Barrett... You know everyone else is going to find out the whole story of what happened in Corel. Why not just tell them yourself?"

"I don't talk about this stuff." Barrett almost shouted.

"Not even to Marlene?" Tifa asked. Barrett stared at her, but she continued "She's going to want to know sooner or later. And she has a right to know. Are you just going to blow off her questions too?"

Sighing, Barrett finally admitted "No... No, you're right... But that's still different. Marlene's from Corel, same as me. She's a part of it, even if she's too young to remember..."

"Exactly." Tifa insisted. "You and Marlene are a part of Corel. And Corel is a part of what's happening to the entire world. And everyone sitting around that fire is a part of the world and has their own story, like Corel's story, that's a part of the bigger whole... Cloud and I have Nibelheim. Aerith has what happened to the Cetra and she and Red have what Hojo tried to do to them. Even Yuffie has what Shinra and Soldier did to Wutai in the war, and Y/N has... well... something to do with Sephiroth killing someone he cared about... I don't know the details..."

"I still don't trust that guy." Barrett grumbled. "But, I understand your point... We all on the same train... and there ain't no getting' off, so we might as well be honest with each other and work together..."