The sun shined on Cloud's and Tifa's face as he rode his motorcycle through the forest. It had been a month since he defeated Sephiroth, and he was looking for some place to relax for awhile and enjoy life for a change. As they came upon a clearing he stopped and got off the bike. Looking around he stretched his arms and legs and helped Tifa off the bike.
"Why did we come here?" Tifa asked with a smile.
"I wanted this to be a worry free day, so I figured we find a nice place and just....hang out." he said with a small smirk.
There was a sudden chill in the air. A cold wind blew with an unnatural fierceness, bending the trees as though they were corn stalks. Tifa hugged herself and moved closer to Cloud, who suddenly felt as if they were being watched. Suddenly he looked in front of him and saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes, followed by a low growl that grew to a snarl.
As he unsheathed his fusion sword the creature slowly emerged from the shadows. It was a large, black silhouette in the shape of what would appear to be a minotaur. I gave a low growl and charged at them. Cloud and Tifa easily dodged it; Cloud ran and sliced it in half with his sword. They both saw his sword cut it, but there was no indication that the creature even felt it. It turned towards them and charged again. This time, jumped on top of it and delivered a series of punches that sent it to the ground. Cloud chose this change to impale the creature multiple times before it gave an angry roar that knocked them both back. It got up, seemingly unharmed, and growled at them again as its yellow eyes widened.
"Something's wrong...none of our attacks are working." Cloud said bewildered.
"What is this thing?" Tifa asked, not very worried.
"Something your weapons won't work on." They heard someone behind them say.
They both turned to see a dark-skinned, bald man walking up to them. He wore a black, sleeveless shirt with three straps going from his left shoulder to the right side of his stomach. He wore a silver belt with baggy, black pants that were tucked into knee high, silver boots. He wore black gloves that both had crosses on them. His eyes were dark gold and he had a large sword on his back that had a split down the middle ending a quarter from the hilt. The blade itself was black with with white inscriptions carved into it. He had a large, golden cross in his hand.
The creature recognized the cross, and immediately snarled at him.
"Who are you?" Cloud asked.
"There'll be time for that later." he said charging at the creature.
As he got closer, the cross got brighter, and the creature jumped away from him. The man threw the cross on the ground right in front of the creature, which have of a shriek of pain from the intense light now emitting from it. The man pulled out a small bottle full of water and threw some on the demon, which shrieked even louder and clutched its right arm, which was now giving off steam and making what sounded like a sizzling noise.
"Now! Cut off its head!" he yelled at Cloud, who quickly complied by decapitating the beast in mid-scream.
Still clutching it's arm, its body fell to the ground, sizzled for a moment, the disintegrated.
"Good work. For a second there I thought I might've been too late." the man said picking up his cross.
"So are you gonna answer my question now?" Cloud asked.
"My name is Nori."
"Pretty lucky that you showed up when you did. Thank you." Tifa said with a smile.
"It was my pleasure. Strange though that it would attack you guys...especially when I was so near." Nori said.
"Why? Could it tell you were close?" Cloud asked.
"I bet it did...which is why I thought it was strange that it chose to attack you two knowing that I would most likely hear the commotion and come to help. This isn't adding up." Nori said now scratching his head.
"Well I think we should get out of here. If that one was bold enough to attack with you around I'm guessing he's got some friends around that'll do the same." Tifa said.
"I don't think so. That demon was killed far too easily to be of any real concern." Nori said.
"Demon?" Cloud asked.
"Yes, demon; that's why your attacks didn't do anything to it. In this realm, demons are immune to anything short of holy power or incredibly powerful magic." Nori said.
"Why's that?" Cloud asked.
"They don't belong here. Think of them as a sort of black hole in this reality, sucking in everything unless something powerful stops them. All your punching and slashing did was amuse it. This cross on the other hand," he said holding it up,"is a holy relic blessed by the priests of my temple. Along with that it used to belong to an incredibly powerful paladin back in the old days, so it's pretty strong."
"What about that sword?" Cloud asked.
"This? This is a combination of two swords: The sword of virtues, and the sword of sins."
"Swords of virtue and sins?" Tifa asked quietly.
"The sword of sins is a dark blade that usually recquires you to feel some form of hate or lust, greed, any of the seven deadly sins. It feeds off the negative energy of everything around it to make it strong, which also makes it dangerous. Many who've tried to wield it usually go mad from all the darkness this thing has harnessed over the years. The sword if virtue is a polar of the sword of sins, feeding off the positive energy of everything around it. The trouble with wielding that sword is that if you're going to kill with it, it'll basically reject you as its wielder. When put together they make the soul sword, a weapon that only someone showing incredible control over both sets of emotions can weild."
"Would that someon be you?" Cloud asked.
"Yeah. The priests where I was raised taught me extensively how to truly control my emotions so that I can think and make sound and timely decisions. I admit though, there are times when I've let them get the better of me, but luckily it's not too extreme."
There was another chilly wind and all three looked at each other.
"You two should get out of here stat." Nori said walking off.
"Leaving so soon? My my Nori, aren't we in a hurry." they heard a voice say.
Nori stopped and turned around, his eyes full of anger.
"You..." he said in quiet anger.
They were looking at another silhouette, but in the shape of a man with no eyes.
"Who's that?" Cloud asked ready to attack.
"Lucifer." Nori said unsheathing the soul sword.
"So ready to fight, like the rest of the vermin in your accursed order; but I have something for you, and your new friend...Cloud." Lucifer said with a soft chuckle.
"And what's that?" Cloud asked.
"It's...an old friend of yours. You two have already met before many times; maybe not on the best of terms, but I think you can both find it in your hearts to be....friends." he said with a mad cackle.
Lucifer held a hand in front of him as the ground in front of him opened up. Fire shot up as they saw a figure rise from the flames. Cloud and Tifa looked on in horror as they saw the familiar white hair, hateful green eyes, and long sword as Sephiroth slowly floated for a moment before the ground underneath him closed up.
"No...." Cloud said in horror.
"Cloud, it's been too long." Sephiroth said with a sinister chuckle.
"Who's this?" Nori asked looking at Cloud.
"Ah, it seems you've made a new friend." Sephiroth said looking at Nori.
"Not someone you'd want to know." Cloud replied.
Sephiroth charged at Cloud and they locked swords after a couple of swings Sephiroth knocked Cloud back. Nori charged, locking swords with a smirking Sephiroth.
"Oh, you're a strong one." he smiled before throwing him aside.
"Cloud! Nori!" Tifa said said running up before giving a cry of pain.
"Look what we have here," Lucifer said, his hand in her back,"such a pretty little face, and it's all for me."
"Lucifer! Release her at once!" Nori yelled.
"Or what? As I recall you still have a more pressing opponent to deal with." Lucifer laughed pointing at Sephiroth,"But don't worry, I'll take good care of her." he said before the ground beneath them opened up. A paralyzed Tifa and a horrified Nori and Cloud looked on as Lucifer slowly decended into the earth with Tifa before the ground once again closed up.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!TIIIIIFAAAAAAAAAAA!" Cloud yelled in anger.
"Pay attention Cloud, or you'll lose your head!" Sephiroth said charging.