These are the Days of our Lives
Chapter 4: Hollow / You’re my best friend
Having just finished her morning routine, Jessie is about to leave her dormitory room. All actors are living in shared rooms within Event Square. These rooms aren't big and grant no privacy at all, but Jessie is used to it, since she had been living in a girl's dormitory in the Slums of Sector 7 as well. She usually goes on a stroll when she needs a little time for herself, and even though Gold Saucer, or rather Corneoland, is buzzing with tourists 24/7 - the number of people visiting hasn't decreased at all, despite the rebranding - the anonymity of the masses grants her enough time in private.
There’s really not much time for doing that this morning though, cause she’s in her full white dress costume already, because she’s scheduled to do a photoshoot for some promo material soon. Worst day ever to do that, she thinks. She’s exhausted and has big black bags under her eyes. She couldn’t sleep well, lying awake for a few hours before she managed to find some rest. The happiness of seeing Biggs again after weeks of worrying about him was quickly overshadowed by the threats that were made against him when Corneo’s right-hand men saw them together. She’s hoping that Biggs understands her behavior, and that she will get the chance to explain herself properly when she gets back to Midgar in a few weeks.
The keys of her room are about to vanish in her purse when her previous thoughts get interrupted.
“Jessie!” A voice out of breath calls her name. A voice she longs to hear so badly, until she realizes the consequences of hearing it. He’s still here? Worry starts to build inside of her, and quickly turns into anger.
“Biggs? What are you still doing here? I told you to go home! What if they see you? I can’t believe…” He had caught up to her by the time she reached this point in her tirade.
“Jess,” She secretly hates when people call her by that nickname. “I know…I know, but not now. I need to tell you something…Immediately!” His expression is urgent and he’s still trying to catch his breath. Did he run all the way up here? She knows that he’s as worrisome as one could get, but he’s also usually one to stay calm and collected no matter the circumstances, so seeing him panic like this, lets her cool down as much as to actually give him the chance to explain what’s going on.
“Okay, okay…but not here. Follow me to the maintenance area, only some staff use it.” She looks around to check if there’s already people around who spotted them, but the hall is empty. At least that’s something.
Biggs is trailing after Jessie, they walk fast but aren’t running. Not a single word is uttered, even though Biggs can’t barely contain the info he needs to desperately tell her.
When they reach the door that leads to the maintenance area, Jessie makes sure that nobody is in sight one last time, before pushing it open. They both slip through quickly. Another hallway greets them, but this one is cluttered with boxes and tools on both sides of the walls. Some doors lead into rooms with words like ‘electricity’, ‘security’, ‘infirmary’ and ‘cleaning’ written on them. At the end of the hallway the description ‘staircase’ can be spotted.
“Alright,it should be safe to talk here. So, what’s going on?” Jessie turns around to face Biggs and crosses her arms in front of her.
Where does he even begin? Does it even matter as long as he tells her the most important part? Biggs mostly fails to come straight to the point, he always needs to make sure that all information surrounding a matter is communicated, it’s very crucial for the part he plays in Avalanche - scouting and figuring out ways to achieve their goals, strategizing and making sure that there’s a backup plan for every possible obstacle that comes their way…Or rather it was the part he played, before their tiny branch of Avalanche fell apart due to Wedge’s loss and departure of Tifa and Barrett…and yeah, maybe he’d include Cloud in there, too, now that he helped them out so many times. Even though Cloud always pointed out that he’s only in there for the Gil, his involvement with them and emotional attachment became quite imminent by the time the plate got dropped by Shinra. Biggs sometimes wondered why he wasn’t more jealous of him, though. A badass SOLDIER like him, who got the attention of everyone he came across, even the men’s, but especially Jessie’s, should make him feel intimidated. In the end, after having had to admit that he harbors certain feelings for Jessie that are something more than just friendship or companionship, he accepted their current status quo as is, though, and decided that it’s best to root for her happiness rather than lose her completely due to jealousy. Anyways, he knows that they probably don’t have much time, so better leave out the unnecessary parts…
“Listen, I overheard a convo of these goons from yesterday…they were talkin’ about ya’...” Biggs is speaking fast, and not in a way he usually speaks to her. And what he’s getting at makes her uncomfortable immediately, too. “They’re planning to…”
“My, my, my, ya’ again, huh?”
Biggs and Jessie freeze instantly when they hear Kotch’s voice, much like the day before, the worst kind of deja-vu imaginable. Of course he’s not alone, Scotch would practically be sewn to his hip, if that were possible…but worse, framed by them from both sides, is Corneo, standing in the center, not looking pleased at all.
“Ah yeah, how unfortunate…seems you guys were right and our cute little birdie, Rosie, is about to take flight.” Birdie. What a creepy nickname, Jessie despised it from the start, but has bore with it ever since. But then, Corneo even addresses her by her role’s name now. She really is just property to him, much like how she was objectified by Kotch and Scotch last night.
“Glad we got some Shinra sponsorship for surveillance recently, or they could’ve slipped out easily.” Scotch remarked. So that’s how they got spotted…Damn, she wished she would’ve known. She wished she would’ve been more careful. She wished she would’ve scouted everything thoroughly, like Biggs does. If they had had more time, they would’ve come up with a plan together - rather, Biggs would’ve and she would have provided the physical means to escape.
While Jessie is overwhelmed with regret, Corneo calmly gives his men an order, “Get him.”
There’s barely any time to react before Kotch and Scotch jump right at Biggs and each of them grabs one of his arms, holding Biggs tight in their grip. He’s struggling, of course, but doesn’t hold a chance against them, despite being fit and well trained. Jessie recognized earlier that Biggs was still not fully recovered, he usually wouldn’t have been out of breath running that easily. Is there anything she can say? Or do? She feels helpless. If only I had taken them with me, she thinks for a second. Panic starts to rise.
In the very same moment Corneo steps in front of Biggs, though, presents a knife in his right hand and rams it into the side of his left abdomen, saying calmly, “Always loved the ways of Tomberrys, they can do so much damage with just a mere kitchen knife.”
A sharp pain ripples through Biggs’ body. He remembers this pain all too well. It hadn’t been too long since he got ripped apart internally by the bullets of Shinra men. The world around him comes to a stop, yet again, he thinks. There’s a scream in the distance. Or maybe it’s rather close…
“Nooooo!!!! Biggs!!” Jessie can’t grasp what she just witnessed. Corneo moves away, the knife makes a clinking sound when he throws it away in the distance, his men let go of Biggs and he slumps to the ground, caught by Jessie’s embrace, who manages to catch him from falling hard on the floor just in time.
“That’s what you get for messing with my business.” Corneo says before leaving with his posse.
The hallway is empty again. Jessie kneels on the floor cradling Biggs’ head and upper body in her arms. Blood spills out of his wound, tainting his upper khaki green shirt in the same shade of red as Wedge’s bandana she put around his neck last evening…it’s so much blood, though. Too much already, Jessie panics.
Her white Rosa dress slowly changes color, too. She doesn’t know much about first aid, but stopping a bleeding by putting pressure on it, is one thing she could manage to do, so she takes one end of her dress’ skirt and rips it apart, forms a ball and presses it onto Biggs’ wound. He screams out in pain and she wonders for a second, if she shouldn’t have done that.
When she meets his eyes, though, to check his condition, he wears a slight smile. “Owww…Ya’ shouldn’t have destroyed that pretty dress, ya’ know.” How the hell can he still be lecturing her?
Jessie’s shaking her head, tears are already forming in her eyes, “Whatever…stop worrying about nonsense.”
He senses that maybe he again will not have much time left before unconsciousness, or worse, takes a hold of him, so he wants to make sure she gets to know what he wanted to tell her the whole time. Obviously not what he feels for her, but what he knows about Corneo’s plan.
“Jess,” the first time she’s not bothered by this name at all. “They won’t let you go…even after your contract ends…” He coughs. “Corneo wants you as his plaything, and if you refuse, they’ll make you a prize in the Dustbowl’s ‘Beast Battlegrounds’.”
She listens carefully, yet, she can’t help but not care at all at this very moment. “Yeah, okay…” a pause, “Look, I’ll go get help now.”
“No! You need to leave.” Biggs’ voice is hoarse.
She shakes her head in disagreement, “I can’t! …I can’t just leave you like this.”
He grabs her hand then, the only thing he really cares about is her safety and to be honest he has struggled a lot with certain things since he woke up anyway.
“Ya’ know, I kinda wondered why I got spared? When the plate fell, I mean…so many died.” He smiles ruefully, “ I’m so glad you didn’t, though.”
She can barely take this. It feels like a farewell, an irrevocable one. “Yeah, and you won’t die either.” She explains.
He huffs a little at this point, then says, “Maybe, THIS is the reason why I survived? To be able to make sure you’re safe one last time?”
The blood loss makes him feel dizzy at this point, he knows he hasn’t much time left, so he wants her to stay with him, “Don’t leave, okay?” His right hand reaches for her left cheek, catching a tear that has been escaping her eye. “Hey, I’ll be going to where Wedge is… and your parents… I’ll be greeting them from ya’...”
It’s too much now. Too much silent longing. Too much of containing the truth. Too much to bottle up everything she couldn’t tell him before.
So she rushes in and meets his lips with hers. If that’s the last thing he’ll ever remember, the last thing he’ll ever feel, the only thing he will carry into the Lifestream, then it should be this kiss.
Step after step takes Tifa higher up the pillar. Nothing but noise. Her steps clang on the metal stairs. Gunshots. The constant whirring of helicopter blades. Small explosions. Then there’s Cloud - finally! And then, a much bigger explosion on the floor right above.
Meanwhile, there’s been nothing else but fighting back against Shinra’s men, and she soon ran out of bombs…this last one really needs to make a difference, she thinks before letting it detonate - no matter her own life.
When Cloud and Tifa reach her, she’s buried underneath a big chunk of debris from her bomb. Doesn’t matter, maybe she bought some time to help others. She’s responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people anyway, there’s no need to hold back anymore. Instant karma, she thinks. And then, she’s hoping to meet her father again within the Lifestream. They get her out and move her to a safer spot in the meantime.
She talks to Cloud holding his hands - he’s still good looking, and flustered by every compliment he gets. It’s cute. It’s fun. It makes her smile. She slips away, seeing Tifa’s tears…
“Jessie!” There is a voice again. Where does it come from? The Lifestream?
And then there’s more than the black from before. More than just silence. There’s headlights, and noise and people running up and down not wearing Shinra-gear.
“Jessie. It's me, Tifa. Can you hear me?” Barely, considering the surrounding noises…Ah yeah, best time for inside jokes - literally
“Tifa?...Haven’t you gone ahead with Cloud?”
“I’ll catch up with him soon enough.” she smiles ruefully.
“You should go - the pillar is more important than me.” Jessie sees tears forming again in Tifa’s eyes.
“Okay, but try to hold on…they’re coming for you. I told them, Okay? Your location and all.”
Something starts ringing in Jessie’s ear. Tifa’s voice starts to become distant again. Jessie knows that she’ll lose consciousness soon enough again. One last message she could probably muster up...
“Could you tell Biggs what he really meant to me? You were right, I should…have…told…him.” Tifa barely manages to keep her face straight. When she ran up the pillar, she came across a severely injured and unconscious Biggs. She checked on him of course and sent help, but she also knew that it might have meant no difference considering the situation.
So Tifa lies instead. “I will do that. Hang in there for now.” - “Thanks.” Jessie mumbles and she falls unconscious again.
—----------------------------
His hand leaves her cheek at this very moment. There’s no strength left in his body. Jessie still holds him tight though, not being able to understand the current situation.
“No!! No! Please!! …Biggs, open your eyes…please!! I didn't even get the chance to tell you…please, Biggs, come back to me.”
The amount of tears clouded her vision. His face is nothing more than a blur of different colors by now. Yet, she can't stop sobbing uncontrollably.
I don't even know how many tears I shed while writing this...
The flashback scene is inspired by chapter 12 of Remake, when Biggs and Jessie are basically both at the brink of their deaths on the pillar.
Slight spoiler for Rebirth too:
When you need to face Corneo for Dio there's actually a Corneo-fied Tomberry you need to fight, so I kinda got inspired by that when Corneo uses the line about liking them here. (The fight sucks though, but actually doesn't if you use items/materia that decline instant death)
Also, just one more chapter to go, and I still can't stop sobbing...just like Jessie