Author: This was originally going to be a one shot, but it kind of took off on its own. In the end I had twenty pages of writing and I figured it was a bit much to cram into a one chapter story. This story is going to be shorter then my other ones because it is a prequel to my Final Fantasy story 'Five Years Later'. It basically shows you........well........I guess you're going to read it, so why tell you? This story will be updated faster as well because I already have the next three chapters or so typed up and I just have to add author's notes. Not that you care or anything. lol. Anyway, give me feedback on this chapter and tell me if you like it so far. Thankies. By the way, this will explain chapter five of the Final Fantasy fic........
Stairs: I may not be included in the other Final Fantasy fic but I get to be in this one! Yay! ::mutters to self:: Bloody elevators.
Author: ::looks guiltily at the floor:: Actually.........there are no stairs in this story............
Stairs: WHAT?! NO STAIRS! THAT'S IT! ::goes on an insane rampage to destroy the world:: Join me my brothers! Together the stairs will rule the world!!!! Mwahahahahaha!
Foot stool: ::speaks in a small pitiful voice:: Can I come too?
Stairs: ::smiles evilly:: Sure! Why not! NOW LETS GO!!!! ::thousands of stairs march away::
Author: Well......um......yah.....moving on.
::screams and shouts in the distance:: WAR ON ELEVATORS! THEY WILL PAY!...............
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Tifa wiped down the bar counter and sighed. As the last two customers left she threw her apron on the counter and slumped down onto a bar stool tiredly.
"Max!" she yelled into the back kitchen. A tired looking, attractive blond woman came through the swinging doors and sat next to Tifa.
"It's over," she groaned happily, "they're finally gone." Tifa grinned at her exhausted friend and patted her shoulder.
"That last party of fifteen was unexpected wasn't it? I shouldn't have let Gary go home early. Even if it was fifteen minutes before closing."
"Bloody people can't read a frickin sign," Max muttered, leaning back and grabbing two drinks for her and Tifa, "I mean, for god sakes, the sign says 'closing at 2:00am' not 'closing at 5:30am'." Tifa laughed and accepted her drink gratefully. Max scowled at her watch and jumped up, grabbing her long, black leather jacket in the process.
"Well, I'm off," she smiled and Tifa gave her an evil glare.
"You didn't do the dishes did you?" she asked suspiciously.
"Nope!" Max smiled and strolled out the door. "See ya on Saturday!" Tifa shook her head in amusement and headed into the back to finish tidying up. Her mind wandered as she loaded dishes into the industrial dishwasher and she closed her eyes tiredly, wishing that it wasn't already morning. Sometimes she really hated working in a bar. Even if it was her own. Smiling proudly at her hard earned '7th Heaven'. She put away the now clean dishes and added in another load.
After defeating Sephiroth everyone had gone their separate ways and she had taken all her savings and invested them into building a new bar. It wasn't in the same place anymore of course, considering that the plate had crushed her sector of choice. The only members of Avalanche that she had really kept in touch with were Cid and Vincent. Cid and Shera had gotten married shortly after everything had gone back to normal and she was pleased to see he treated her a little nicer then before. He still lost his temper from time to time, but you could tell he was deeply in love with that woman. He'd never admit it of course.
As for Vincent, he was his quiet and usual self. He had visited the bar numerous times since she opened it and Tifa felt that he was actually warming up to her. At least they were able to have more then one word conversations now. She kept trying, every time he came, to convince him to leave his empty mansion and come live in Midgar. He refused politely each time and explained that he liked his solitude and even though Nibelheim was deserted now, he couldn't bare to leave it. To Tifa it was just a town full of painful memories.
A bell ringing alerted her and she jerked out of her thoughts. "A customer?" she wondered out loud, "who in the hell.....?" Peering through the doors, she didn't see anyone and felt her heart beat faster. Had she locked the door behind Max?
'Stupid girl' she cursed inwardly, 'do you want to get robbed?' Walking quickly to the door, she shivered and her eyes widened in fear when she saw it was open a crack. Max must have forgotten to close the door the entire way. Yah.......that's it....... Tifa kept reassuring herself that nothing was wrong as she closed and locked the door. Rubbing her arms to try and get rid of her chill, Tifa grabbed her unfinished dink and took a swig.
A shrill scream broke out from her throat when rough hands grabbed her from behind and a knife was pressed to her throat. The bottle she had been holding dropped to the floor and shattered.
"Gil! Now! Or else!" a harsh voice barked in her ear. Her breathing became shallow to keep the blade from drawing blood and the person led her over to the register. "Open it," the voice commanded. Tifa decided that the voice was definitely male. Entering her code, she pushed the 'no sale' button and the man used his free hand to pass her a bag and order her to fill it with gil. Tears began to run down her cheeks as she filled the cloth pillowcase with all her hard earned profits from the previous night. It had been her busiest day in quite awhile. The idea of losing it all was awful, but the idea of getting her neck sliced open was slightly worse.
The man grabbed the bag from Tifa and shoved her against the bar, causing the back of her head to crack against a sharp part of the counter. Dazed and in pain, she tried to see what the man looked like. His face was shadowed and covered by a black cloth. He left her there and went into the back kitchen, banging crashing around, looking for anything of value. Tifa noted in her painful state that the phone was ripped off the wall. She dragged herself around the front of the counter, near the door and tried to stand. She felt someone roughly push her back down.
Crying out, Tifa could feel a small trickle of blood running down her back and there were pieces of glass embedded in her legs and palms from the bottle she had dropped before.
"Where do you think you're going little lady?" a cruel, mocking voice spoke down at her. 'Oh God,' she thought, 'please don't let him be one of "those" kind of guys.' Money she would give, but herself was a whole other story. The man stood above her for a moment, then laughed.
"You're just a slum whore. Too bad you aren't a better looking slut or I'd have found me more then just a crap load of gil." Tifa whimpered and watched the man walk away. He unlocked the door and she wished she weren't so dizzy and sick feeling so she could get up and kick this jerk's ass. Her hair was all matted on the back of her head and when she touched her fingers to the wound they came away covered in dark red. She could feel herself slipping from consciousness and fought to stay awake.
Opening the door, the man found himself face to face with a red-eyed demon. A clawed hand grabbed him by the throat and the other hand held a wicked looking weapon pressed against the man's chest. The demon gritted its teeth and angrily squeezed the man's neck when it saw Tifa slumped on the floor.
"Bastard," it muttered under its breath. With a quick snap to the neck, the man fell to the ground unconscious and the mystery saviour (A/N: As if we don't know who it is :P) tied him up to turn into the proper authorities later. He knelt down and picked Tifa up in his arms, carrying her over to a couch and laid her down.
Tifa's eyes fluttered open and she winced away from the person, thinking they were still her attacker. A gentle voice reached her ears. "What kind of welcome is this for a friend? Especially one who's going to make sure that the rest of your blood stays in your body." Tifa jerked upright and breathed sharply in pain.
"Vincent?!" she choked. Reaching out a bloodied hand, she ran it down the edge of the cloak and felt the soft material that only belonged to one person. "It's you," she whispered in awe. Vincent was about to reply when he saw the young woman's body go limp. Vincent frowned in concern and gently turned her onto her side, inspecting the gash on her head. Standing, he went and found the necessary supplies and returned, placing them all beside the couch.
Vincent had another thought and made sure that all the doors were closed and securely locked. That asshole could spend the night outside, since the gil and Tifa were both safely inside. Unsure what to do, he kneeled down next to the couch and began removing the glass shards from Tifa's legs. Placing each new piece onto a nearby towel, he inspected the rest of her to make sure that nothing else was damaged. Besides the painful looking injury on her head and a few glass shard in her hands she was okay.
Vincent cleaned the dried blood out of Tifa's hair and laid her head on a soft towel to pillow her face. A small sigh escaped his lips as he finished bandaging her wounds and Vincent gently tucked her hair behind her ears and smoothed it down. A small smile played on his lips. This poor woman was so brave. He had grown closer to her in the past while, but still felt that he didn't deserve her friendship. He knew her true strength was nothing to be trifled with. If this man hadn't caught her by surprise he would be lucky to alive at the moment.
Tifa was normally very gentle and loving. All she seemed to want was to make others happy. That way she wouldn't have to face the fact that Cloud had chosen Aeris over her and all she had left was a junky bar and no life of her own. She hid her pain so well. Vincent watched her pale face for any sign of life, but Tifa seemed to be sleeping like the dead. He yawned and began to feel the effects of his long journey to get here. Glancing around the room his eyes settled on the only couch in the place. Tifa was lying on it. Laying his head back against the couch, he closed his eyes and drifted off.
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Author: ::yawns:: It's ten minutes to midnight and I'm kind of tired now so I'll make this short and sweet. Please review and tell me whether or not you liked it. A bit corny, I know, but I enjoyed writing it. The fluff is coming. BELIEVE ME. It's coming. I'll see you all next chapter. ::huggles::
subliminalmessage:eat pie
Stairs: I may not be included in the other Final Fantasy fic but I get to be in this one! Yay! ::mutters to self:: Bloody elevators.
Author: ::looks guiltily at the floor:: Actually.........there are no stairs in this story............
Stairs: WHAT?! NO STAIRS! THAT'S IT! ::goes on an insane rampage to destroy the world:: Join me my brothers! Together the stairs will rule the world!!!! Mwahahahahaha!
Foot stool: ::speaks in a small pitiful voice:: Can I come too?
Stairs: ::smiles evilly:: Sure! Why not! NOW LETS GO!!!! ::thousands of stairs march away::
Author: Well......um......yah.....moving on.
::screams and shouts in the distance:: WAR ON ELEVATORS! THEY WILL PAY!...............
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Tifa wiped down the bar counter and sighed. As the last two customers left she threw her apron on the counter and slumped down onto a bar stool tiredly.
"Max!" she yelled into the back kitchen. A tired looking, attractive blond woman came through the swinging doors and sat next to Tifa.
"It's over," she groaned happily, "they're finally gone." Tifa grinned at her exhausted friend and patted her shoulder.
"That last party of fifteen was unexpected wasn't it? I shouldn't have let Gary go home early. Even if it was fifteen minutes before closing."
"Bloody people can't read a frickin sign," Max muttered, leaning back and grabbing two drinks for her and Tifa, "I mean, for god sakes, the sign says 'closing at 2:00am' not 'closing at 5:30am'." Tifa laughed and accepted her drink gratefully. Max scowled at her watch and jumped up, grabbing her long, black leather jacket in the process.
"Well, I'm off," she smiled and Tifa gave her an evil glare.
"You didn't do the dishes did you?" she asked suspiciously.
"Nope!" Max smiled and strolled out the door. "See ya on Saturday!" Tifa shook her head in amusement and headed into the back to finish tidying up. Her mind wandered as she loaded dishes into the industrial dishwasher and she closed her eyes tiredly, wishing that it wasn't already morning. Sometimes she really hated working in a bar. Even if it was her own. Smiling proudly at her hard earned '7th Heaven'. She put away the now clean dishes and added in another load.
After defeating Sephiroth everyone had gone their separate ways and she had taken all her savings and invested them into building a new bar. It wasn't in the same place anymore of course, considering that the plate had crushed her sector of choice. The only members of Avalanche that she had really kept in touch with were Cid and Vincent. Cid and Shera had gotten married shortly after everything had gone back to normal and she was pleased to see he treated her a little nicer then before. He still lost his temper from time to time, but you could tell he was deeply in love with that woman. He'd never admit it of course.
As for Vincent, he was his quiet and usual self. He had visited the bar numerous times since she opened it and Tifa felt that he was actually warming up to her. At least they were able to have more then one word conversations now. She kept trying, every time he came, to convince him to leave his empty mansion and come live in Midgar. He refused politely each time and explained that he liked his solitude and even though Nibelheim was deserted now, he couldn't bare to leave it. To Tifa it was just a town full of painful memories.
A bell ringing alerted her and she jerked out of her thoughts. "A customer?" she wondered out loud, "who in the hell.....?" Peering through the doors, she didn't see anyone and felt her heart beat faster. Had she locked the door behind Max?
'Stupid girl' she cursed inwardly, 'do you want to get robbed?' Walking quickly to the door, she shivered and her eyes widened in fear when she saw it was open a crack. Max must have forgotten to close the door the entire way. Yah.......that's it....... Tifa kept reassuring herself that nothing was wrong as she closed and locked the door. Rubbing her arms to try and get rid of her chill, Tifa grabbed her unfinished dink and took a swig.
A shrill scream broke out from her throat when rough hands grabbed her from behind and a knife was pressed to her throat. The bottle she had been holding dropped to the floor and shattered.
"Gil! Now! Or else!" a harsh voice barked in her ear. Her breathing became shallow to keep the blade from drawing blood and the person led her over to the register. "Open it," the voice commanded. Tifa decided that the voice was definitely male. Entering her code, she pushed the 'no sale' button and the man used his free hand to pass her a bag and order her to fill it with gil. Tears began to run down her cheeks as she filled the cloth pillowcase with all her hard earned profits from the previous night. It had been her busiest day in quite awhile. The idea of losing it all was awful, but the idea of getting her neck sliced open was slightly worse.
The man grabbed the bag from Tifa and shoved her against the bar, causing the back of her head to crack against a sharp part of the counter. Dazed and in pain, she tried to see what the man looked like. His face was shadowed and covered by a black cloth. He left her there and went into the back kitchen, banging crashing around, looking for anything of value. Tifa noted in her painful state that the phone was ripped off the wall. She dragged herself around the front of the counter, near the door and tried to stand. She felt someone roughly push her back down.
Crying out, Tifa could feel a small trickle of blood running down her back and there were pieces of glass embedded in her legs and palms from the bottle she had dropped before.
"Where do you think you're going little lady?" a cruel, mocking voice spoke down at her. 'Oh God,' she thought, 'please don't let him be one of "those" kind of guys.' Money she would give, but herself was a whole other story. The man stood above her for a moment, then laughed.
"You're just a slum whore. Too bad you aren't a better looking slut or I'd have found me more then just a crap load of gil." Tifa whimpered and watched the man walk away. He unlocked the door and she wished she weren't so dizzy and sick feeling so she could get up and kick this jerk's ass. Her hair was all matted on the back of her head and when she touched her fingers to the wound they came away covered in dark red. She could feel herself slipping from consciousness and fought to stay awake.
Opening the door, the man found himself face to face with a red-eyed demon. A clawed hand grabbed him by the throat and the other hand held a wicked looking weapon pressed against the man's chest. The demon gritted its teeth and angrily squeezed the man's neck when it saw Tifa slumped on the floor.
"Bastard," it muttered under its breath. With a quick snap to the neck, the man fell to the ground unconscious and the mystery saviour (A/N: As if we don't know who it is :P) tied him up to turn into the proper authorities later. He knelt down and picked Tifa up in his arms, carrying her over to a couch and laid her down.
Tifa's eyes fluttered open and she winced away from the person, thinking they were still her attacker. A gentle voice reached her ears. "What kind of welcome is this for a friend? Especially one who's going to make sure that the rest of your blood stays in your body." Tifa jerked upright and breathed sharply in pain.
"Vincent?!" she choked. Reaching out a bloodied hand, she ran it down the edge of the cloak and felt the soft material that only belonged to one person. "It's you," she whispered in awe. Vincent was about to reply when he saw the young woman's body go limp. Vincent frowned in concern and gently turned her onto her side, inspecting the gash on her head. Standing, he went and found the necessary supplies and returned, placing them all beside the couch.
Vincent had another thought and made sure that all the doors were closed and securely locked. That asshole could spend the night outside, since the gil and Tifa were both safely inside. Unsure what to do, he kneeled down next to the couch and began removing the glass shards from Tifa's legs. Placing each new piece onto a nearby towel, he inspected the rest of her to make sure that nothing else was damaged. Besides the painful looking injury on her head and a few glass shard in her hands she was okay.
Vincent cleaned the dried blood out of Tifa's hair and laid her head on a soft towel to pillow her face. A small sigh escaped his lips as he finished bandaging her wounds and Vincent gently tucked her hair behind her ears and smoothed it down. A small smile played on his lips. This poor woman was so brave. He had grown closer to her in the past while, but still felt that he didn't deserve her friendship. He knew her true strength was nothing to be trifled with. If this man hadn't caught her by surprise he would be lucky to alive at the moment.
Tifa was normally very gentle and loving. All she seemed to want was to make others happy. That way she wouldn't have to face the fact that Cloud had chosen Aeris over her and all she had left was a junky bar and no life of her own. She hid her pain so well. Vincent watched her pale face for any sign of life, but Tifa seemed to be sleeping like the dead. He yawned and began to feel the effects of his long journey to get here. Glancing around the room his eyes settled on the only couch in the place. Tifa was lying on it. Laying his head back against the couch, he closed his eyes and drifted off.
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Author: ::yawns:: It's ten minutes to midnight and I'm kind of tired now so I'll make this short and sweet. Please review and tell me whether or not you liked it. A bit corny, I know, but I enjoyed writing it. The fluff is coming. BELIEVE ME. It's coming. I'll see you all next chapter. ::huggles::
subliminalmessage:eat pie
