This is my first story, and I hope it isn't too badly written. It takes place four years after the ending of FF7. Hope you enjoy it, if you haven't been scared off yet!
Disclaimer: I do not own FF7. I do however think it is one of the best games ever, if that counts for anything.
Demons of the Deep
Chapter 1: Flight
Blood. A brilliant red against the polished wooden foods of the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods. Now fallen were the Gods, their lives cut tragically short. Their bodies were splayed around on each floor, grotesquely disfigured, their lifeblood painting the floors a crimson red. At the very top of the Pagoda lay the last of the Five Mighty Gods, Godo, leader of Wutai. Though left for dead, the moments he had lived to convey his all-important message gave silent testimony to his strength. At his side was his only daughter, the heir to the throne of Wutai, Yuffie Kisaragi. As silent tears slowly streamed down her face, she tightly clenched the Leviathan materia she held in her hand. The shiny red summon materia was the same one that she had during the days she had spent with AVALANCHE. At the end of her adventures, she had returned it to her father, in the hopes that it would help restore Wutai. Now it was her last memento of her father, besides the few cryptically uttered words, spoken with the last of his breath.
"Take this," he had said, pressing the materia in her hands, "Use Leviathan's justice to avenge us. You are our last hope. Be brave, my daughter, the times ahead will be fraught with danger."
Yuffie tensed, her moment of reflection gone, as she caught the faint sounds of footsteps, climbing up to the top of the Pagoda. True, it could just be one of the attendants, but considering the massacre that had just occurred and the unhurried steps of the person climbing up, she highly doubted it. Slipping out of the Pagoda using a secret passageway, known only to a few, she hurriedly raced back to her rooms, praying she remained undetected.
As soon as she reached her room, Yuffie quickly gathered up a few clothes, including her mother's favorite kimono (which she had recently begun to wear), as well as a few treasured possessions, such as the Leviathan Scales. Frantically searching for her PHS, she gave a slight exclamation of surprise as she found it under her bed. As she held it up to her ear, planning to call one of the members of AVALANCHE whose current number she knew, she heard a sound that turned her blood to ice coming from the PHS as soon as she pushed a button.
"You can't escape me. It would be foolish to even try. As you are listening to this message, my guards are surrounding your little hideout. There's no way out. And don't try to bother calling one of your little friends, because as soon you hear this message your PHS will deactivate. Look forward to joining your father in the Lifestream."
Yuffie froze, the voice coming from the PHS sounding very familiar. Henshin, the new high priest of Leviathan. She could hardly believe it was he who had committed such an atrocious act. She had always disliked the man, but she found it hard to believe that he was capable of the murder of the five most powerful warriors in Wutai. 'If he can do that, what powers must he have' she thought.
Shaking off her moment of paralysis, Yuffie knew that she had to leave Wutai. With Henshin and his minions (no one besides Sephiroth or a member of Avalanche could have single-handily slain the Five Mighty Gods) after her, Wutai was no longer a safe haven for her. 'My best bet is to reach Midgar, where Cloud and Tifa most likely are. But to get there, I need a plane or a gold chocobo. With my chocobo at Chocobo Bill's, I had better head to Rocket Town to see if Cid could fly me to Midgar.' Yuffie grinned, the thought of the grumpy old pilot reviving her spirits a bit.
After she had finished stuffing her knapsack full of all it could hold, she quickly gathered up her equipment. Strapping her Conformer onto her shoulder guard, Yuffie then filled its materia slots with some of her best materia. After putting some more materia in her Minerva Band and checking to make sure her ribbon was secure, she stowed the rest of her materia in her knapsack. As she quietly slipped out of her house, Yuffie prayed that she wouldn't be caught. She did have the element of surprise on her side, since Henshin hadn't known she was in the pagoda. He didn't expect her to use her PHS, but he had rigged it just in case. Therefore, he wouldn't have sent guards to capture her yet, since he was checking to make sure her father and the other warriors were dead. 'Hopefully, I'll be long gone before that bastard sends his goons after me' she thought, trying to focus on her escape, but her mind kept returning to the image of her father dying on the bloody floor of the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods.
= = = = = = = = =
"What do you mean to tell me that she's escaped!?" Henshin bellowed at the unfortunate soldier, who had been chosen to tell him the news.
"Master, by the time we reached her hideout, she was gone. We searched everywhere, to no avail." The soldier cringed, his face white with terror and his knees shaking.
"Fools, the whole lot of you. I tell you capture one puny little girl, and yet she eludes you. Pathetic…. Well, don't just stand there, send someone after her." Henshin glared at the soldier, causing his face to get even whiter.
"Who, my lord?"
"Can't you even think for yourself! Send a couple of Hunters and a Tracker. They are only low-level demonic servants, so even you fools should be able to control them. You'd better not fail this time, or I won't be as lenient with you as I was this time."
"Yes, Master." The soldier bowed, then quickly scurried out of the room, thankful for his life.
Turning back to the ebony black mirror he had been looking at before the servant's arrival, Henshin took out a small ceremonial dagger and swiftly made a small cut at the tip of his finger. Two drops of blood fell onto the mirror, sizzling as they made contact. As another drop splashed onto the mirror, the priest reverently chanted an incantation.
"Aesir ieth demoniac Azarthacus, morfil ieth sahtiped í llacmor ne fin."
Thick smoke began to arise from the mirror, as a black shadow with huge red eyes slowly uncoiled itself from the depths of the mirror.
"What do you want now, Henshin?" the shadow asked sinisterly, mentally projecting its thoughts into the priest's mind.
"The girl has escaped. Can you find her?" Henshin asked calmly, not betraying any hint of emotion. Only a very observant person would have noticed the faint lines on the priest's brow, indicating how truly nervous he was.
"I shall try my best to remedy your mistake. However, I expected more of you, Henshin. After all, you had the skill to summon me, yet you lost one little girl." The shadow smiled wickedly, clearly enjoying the predicament the human was in.
"She isn't as weak as I expected. But I won't make that same mistake again. Once I get my hands on her, my plans can be fulfilled." Gazing reflectively at the floor, Henshin didn't notice the demon's sly grin.
"Well then, I shall certainly do my best to find her." Only a fool would have missed the mockery and sarcasm in the mental message and Henshin was no fool.
"Don't forget, you are still under my control," the priest said in a hard tone of voice.
"But for how long, that's the question. Now shall we get back to business?"
Henshin knew instinctively that what the demon had just said was no idle threat. 'This is no lower level demon you're dealing with,' he reminded himself. "Certainly" he said in response to the demon's veiled command.
"Then I shall begin." The shadow bent over the mirror, and slowly whispered a few words, in a language known only to a few. The surface of the mirror slowly darkened from a polished glass to an obsidian-black sheen. No reflection was shown in the bottomless depths of the mirror.
"How can this be!" the demon hissed in a menacing tone that also managed to sound very surprised.
"What's wrong?" Henshin asked, shocked at the surprise evident in the demon's tone.
"I cannot even sense the girl. She must be cloaked by a powerful magic, considering that she is not a mage. Of course, the magic blocking me is powered by her own latent abilities. This is an intriguing change of events."
"Are you sure that she is being cloaked? Your own powers might not be at their best. After all you just recently battled the Five Mighty Gods."
"Do you dare doubt my powers. Killing those pathetic warriors was like taking candy from a baby, to use one of your ridiculous human similes. No, I am positive that the girl is somehow being shielded. Of course, since her mother was quite the sorceress, I should have foreseen this turn of events."
"Well, there is nothing we can do but wait, then is there?" Henshin was very frustrated to find that the girl was protected with such powerful magic.
"We know that the girl is most likely running to her little friends, the members of AVALANCHE. Perhaps something to keep them from having their whole focus on the princess's tale of woe?"
"Perfect. I have just the thing. Princess Yuffie Kisaragi has no chance of escaping me this time." The priest smirked at the thought. "Once I force her to marry me, I shall be become the leader of Wutai. And that's just the beginning."
"Don't forget what you promised me."
"I won't. We agreed that you could declare the Northern Continent as your territory, and I shall definitely keep my word. Just out of curiosity, what do you mean to do with the Northern Continent, Azarthacus?"
"Why, become the King of Demons of course. I shall free all my brethren into this world, provided they acknowledge me as their sovereign, of course." With a wicked smile, Azarthacus disappeared in a puff of smoke, silently chuckling at the gullibility of humans.
"Wait, I didn't release you yet!" Henshin glared at the black mirror; furious at the way the demon had made him look foolish. Then he grimaced; realizing just how powerful the demon had become. 'Soon I won't be able to control him' he thought. 'Best use him and then discard him before he can unleash his brethren onto this world. After all, I do want a world that I can rule, not a wasteland.'
= = = = = = = = =
Tifa hummed merrily as she finished wiping the counter. Most of the lunchtime customers had already left the restaurant and only a few stragglers remained. As she glanced at the clock, she noticed that it was already half past one, which meant that it was time to close up until the evening.
"All right guys, time to leave, I'm closing up now. Tifa's Seventh Heaven will open back up at five tonight, if you want to come back for dinner or some drinks."
The few remaining people left grumbled, but slowly made their way out the door. As the last person left, a blonde-haired swordsman strolled in.
"Hey, Tif, how are things going?" Cloud shot the brunette bartender a wide grin as he sat down on one of the stools at the counter.
"Not bad. It was pretty crowded earlier, but it's quiet now, since I've closed up for the afternoon. And, how about yourself, anything exciting happen during training?" Tifa brought a plate over to the counter, depositing it next to the spiky-blonde man, who eagerly started eating.
"Nothing much. We got a few new recruits at the academy, but that's all. Vincent thinks we should hire some more teachers, considering the number of students we're receiving. I'm going to wait until the end of month before making a decision."
Cloud smiled as he glanced down at his hand, where a gleaming golden ring glittered. 'I'm so glad I married Tifa. Even though we only got married a few months ago, I've loved her for so much longer. I was confused about Aeris and how I had felt about her, and I know it must have hurt her. After the whole Sephiroth thing I spent a couple months roaming around, trying to figure out how I felt, and she patiently waited for me. After I came back, we decided to wait a while until we both were positive that we wanted to be with each other. That's when I started the academy. At first, it was just me, but Tifa somehow got Vincent to help out. She said he needed something to do, instead of moping around in that gloomy, old mansion. Now we've got four other teachers, and over a hundred students.' Cloud's reflections were interrupted by the shrill ring of his PHS.
"Hello. This is Cloud speaking."
At first, all he could hear was incoherent babbling. Then he slowly began to pick up some fragments. "…tried to get him…injured…Reeve…"
"Hold on a sec. First of all, who is this, and could you please slow down, I can't understand a word you're saying."
"Sorry, Cloud. This is Elena, and something terrible has happened. Someone tried to assassinate Reeve, and Rude was seriously injured while protecting the president. Reeve is safe now, but we think the assassins will try again. Could you, and some other members of AVALANCHE come over to help protect Reeve?"
Cloud knew that whatever had occurred was not just an assassination attempt if the Turks were actually asking for help from AVALANCHE. "I'll be right there."
"Thanks." Elena sounded slightly calmer as she said good-bye and hung up the phone.
"What wrong, Cloud?" Tifa looked worried as she silently waited for an answer.
"There's been an assassination attempt on Reeve. The Turks wants AVALANCHE to get over to Neo Shinra headquarters to help."
"Let's go then. We can call the other members on the way."
Cloud nodded in consent, and the two of them quickly left the restaurant, Tifa only pausing to hang a 'Closed' sign on the door.
= = = = = = = = =
"Ugh" Yuffie clutched her stomach in agony as she fought the waves of nausea passing over her. 'I hate boats' she thought as she staggered to the side and spewed out the remains of her breakfast. 'I can't believe I'm in this predicament anyways. Four years of utter boredom and now I have an evil priest after me. Life can be such a bitch. Things can't get worse than this!'
It seemed as if Fate was determined to prove her wrong, as the skies rumbled ominously and the first drops of rain came down. Luckily, Yuffie managed to reach land before the real downpour began. Trudging along, hoping to reach Nibelheim before dark, it wasn't long before Yuffie was totally drenched. "Great, just great. What a wonderful 21st birthday present for me. Too bad you're too late. My birthday was two weeks ago." Yuffie muttered angrily, glaring at the skies. The downpour increased as if the skies themselves were mocking her.
Yuffie tried to walk more quickly, a tremendous feat considering the thick mud that made it hard to even walk, as the realization that she was already 21 sank into her. 'Hard to believe I'm already 21. Gawd, it seems like yesterday that we kicked Sephiroth's ass. But here I am 21 and soaking wet, trying to reach a ghost town.'
After the fall of Shinra, most of the impostors living in Nibelheim to cover up the fact that the real town had been burnt to the ground by Sephiroth had left, since their source of employment was gone. Only a few remained, leaving Nibelheim almost totally deserted. However, almost no monsters were around due to the efforts of Reeve as well as several other members of AVALANCHE, who had helped him with the monumental task of trying to clear away most monsters in the area, as well as in other dangerous areas around the Planet. Finally, it was safe for an ordinary person to wander outside of the towns and cities without coming to harm.
'Speaking of AVALANCHE, I wonder how everyone's doing…' Yuffie tried to shake off her thoughts about AVALANCHE, but like everything else, her brain wasn't obeying her. 'It's been more than three years since I've seen them. Of course, some of them wrote, especially Tifa, but since I didn't bother to answer them, they soon stopped writing. Can't blame them, they all thought I was always a materia-stealing little brat, even though I've changed. Too late now. After Cid and Shera's wedding, I realized they would never change their opinions, so I left, to go back home. To Wutai.' Even though it still hurt to think of her friends, she knew she had made the best decision. 'They'd never had accepted me.' So she had returned home to Wutai, helped to restore it, and tried to act like a proper heir. Sometimes though, she wondered what would've happened if she'd stayed in touch with AVALANCHE.
Lost in thought, Yuffie failed to notice that she was being followed…
To Be Continued
= = = = = = = = =
Like the cliffhanger? I'll try to update soon, but with school, final exams and everything else I probably won't be able to. Please review, any feedback will be appreciated!