Diamond in the Rough
Chapter Two
It had been three days since Reeve Tuesti had been imprisoned by the demon known as Chaos. His phone was now thoroughly dead from having tried to use it so many times, the battery had just given out. Now he sat in utter silence, locked in a small room in the mansion's west wing. He'd not come in contact with Chaos since his first day, but the housekeeper had visited him plenty of times with tea and small meals.
Reeve often worried about his comrades; wearing himself out with anxiety. Was Shalua holding out okay? Had Yuffie set out on some fruitless search for him yet? What about Deepground and the WRO? How were his troops managing without him?
There came a gentle tap at the door and Tifa entered, bearing a platter of turkey sandwiches. She smiled lightly at Reeve and set the plate before him on a table; Reeve returned the smile with his own appreciative one.
"Is there anything else I can get you?" asked Tifa politely.
"A way home would be lovely," replied Reeve, half-heartedly teasing and lifting a sandwich to his lips.
Tifa sighed. "I'm afraid that's just not possible, I'm very sorry Reeve. We've all tried to talk to the Master, but he just won't hear it! He's too wrapped up in his own affairs, too scared of what happened last time to have anything to do with you. In his mind, it's best to keep you locked up and out of his way than to have to deal with you any other way."
Reeve sighed sadly. "I just wish I could see my friends one last time, just to see how they are faring…"
Tifa gazed at the man sympathetically and felt the sudden urge to do something for him. She new the Master wouldn't be happy, but she at least wanted to get him out of this dark room for a little while.
"Come with me," she said quickly, "I'll show you around the mansion."
"Are you sure…? You're demon of a Master—"
"Chaos is the demon's name," interrupted the housekeeper, she was oddly particular about names. "And I doubt Chaos could care less if you wandered around, but Master Valentine would mind terribly. We just have to hope that Master Valentine stays in the basement and if he's not down there, then we pray that it's Chaos who's up and about."
Reeve shook his head. He never quite understood the difference between Chaos and Master Valentine. Weren't they the same person…er, demon? Tifa insisted that they were different, but Reeve couldn't quite see it.
"Come on," urged Tifa, pulling the man to his feet. "You need to get out of that stuffy room for a little while."
The tour of the mansion went smoothly. The only others Tifa and Reeve bumped into were Cloud on his way to the kitchens to fetch a meal for the Master and a young boy named Denzel. Denzel had been ten the curse was set upon the Nibelheim Mansion and so the lad was still a mere decade old, but was only slightly put off by it. Somehow he managed to remain optimistic despite being cursed and doomed to live forever in a mansion suspended in time and space. Denzel was Tifa's adopted son and before the curse, he'd assisted Mr. Highwind in the kitchen and looked after the guard dog that wasn't so much a dog as he was a wolfish creature from Cosmo Canyon.
Denzel had greeted Reeve enthusiastically, shaking his hand vigorously and warning them in a low tone that Chaos was drifting around the ballroom and it'd be best if they stayed away. Lately, he'd been liable to switch between Chaos and Master Valentine in mere seconds; the sudden changes were downright terrifying.
Tifa then decided that Reeve wasn't required to see the ballroom, despite the fact that she'd been itching to visit the elegant room.
The tour went on. Reeve was introduced to the cook and his sprawling kitchen; he was shown the gardens and formally met the crimson beast that watched over the gates; and he viewed the armory and admired the bountiful collection of gleaming firearms and glinting steel. Reeve was most impressed. He toured the drawing room, peeked in on some of the fanciful bedrooms now in disuse, and previewed a gallery of paintings featuring Master Grimoire Valentine and his predecessors. However, the painting that bore a plaque embellished with the name 'Vincent Valentine' had long claw marks streaking across its face, the canvas hung in shreds, and the portrait indecipherable. Tifa sadly explained how the Master had destroyed his own portrait shortly after being cursed in a bought of utter self-loathing.
The gallery was a long corridor with no doors and a dead end, only one access point. The dead end of the corridor had a heavy, burgundy curtain drawn over it as if it were hiding an artifact of sorts. Or at least something of great importance. Reeve's curiosity was piqued, but Tifa had hurriedly stepped in his path before he could take so much as three steps towards the curtain. Stuttering slightly, she tried to peel away his interest and suggested they view a different room. Now Reeve was no fool, he knew right away that Tifa was hiding something. Whatever that curtain concealed was of a high value to not Tifa, per se, but Master Valentine and the demon called Chaos. Reeve's interest was captured, he wanted to see this valuable item, he was ever so curious…but he also knew better. From what he'd been told by Tifa, Cloud, and Denzel, Chaos and Master Valentine were not ones to mess with. And though he still could not derive as to why the Master was referred to as two separate beings, Reeve had gleaned enough information that neither of the Master's personalities were at all pleasant. He'd just have to forget about that silly curtain and the mystery it concealed.
Reeve was about to allow Tifa to cart him off to some other part of the mansion when fate decided to intervene. Denzel came sprinting down the corridor, skidding to a haphazard halt in front of his adoptive mother, and clutched to her skirt in a desperate quest for balance. He panted and struggled to regain his breath, during which time Tifa pried him off her apron and kneeled worriedly before him.
"Tifa!" he gasped. "Tifa, we need your help!"
"What happened?" asked Tifa urgently, brows knit in concern.
"Cid found out that Red has a secret passage way from the mansion to the yard through the kitchens. He went off on a hissy-fit and threw a butcher knife at Red!" Denzel explained in a panicked rush, eyes wide with horror as he retold the bloody scene he'd just witnessed.
"Oh, my gosh!" gasped the housekeeper, aghast. "Is Nanaki okay?"
"I…I think so…" Denzel stumbled over his words. "He managed to dodge the full-on blow but he still got cut pretty bad…"
Tifa rose swiftly and started to rush down the hall, she paused for only a brief second to call over her shoulder, "Reeve, stay here and don't touch anything!"
And then she and Denzel vanished around the corner. Reeve was left standing awkwardly in the gallery corridor, the faces of the previous Masters of the mansion gazing down on him. He cleared his throat quietly and fidgeted slightly before turning slowly on his heel to stare at that burgundy curtain. It was…so tempting…so very tempting… But Reeve knew that he shouldn't. Tifa obviously didn't want him looking back there and he was in enough trouble in this mansion as is, he really shouldn't be pushing his luck by snooping around in other peoples' business. Especially not the Master's business; Chaos or Master Valentine, neither were someone he wanted to be on the bad side of.
But by some otherworldly force –perhaps the same that had urged Reeve to run away from his transit vehicles– the WRO commissioner found himself walking slowly towards that burgundy curtain. Without a solid thought running through his questionably blank mind, Reeve approached the curtain and raised a tentative hand to sweep the heavy material out of the way…
His eyes widened in awe as his gaze fell upon the most remarkable thing he'd ever seen in his life. It was…materia. But not just that…he sensed it was something more that just materia. It glowed a pearly white, with alabaster-colored wisps swirling beneath its glassy surface. Hues of periwinkle and lavender mingled within its glistening core like a miniature nebula straight from deep space. It was also much larger than normal materia and seemed much more powerful. It…it was beautiful. And yet, something about just didn't sit well with Reeve. By all means, it looked like some rare form of materia…but it seemed to emit vibes of omnipotence and there was an almost dangerous gleam to its pearly surface.
Reeve was both repelled from and drawn to it. While a more sensible part of his mind screamed at him to pull the curtain shut and pretend he'd never set eyes upon this materia, an unfortunately stronger part of his mind encouraged him to touch it. His gaze was glued to the sparkling materia, a faint glimmer of greed shining through, and his hand hovered tentatively over the precious orb. He was mere millimeters away from touching the materia…
A blood-curdling shriek echoed throughout the mansion.
Reeve drew back, horrified with both himself and beast that loomed in the corridor not ten feet away.
Snarling, the demonic Master of the Nibelheim Mansion swooped forth and wrapped his claws around the gleaming materia. He cradled it to his chest, his shoulders curling inward as he did so. He directed his fiery crimson eyes to Reeve in a glare so full of hate and rage that it seemed the planet had suddenly stopped spinning.
"Do you realize what you could have done?" demanded the demon, fangs bared in unbridled fury. He didn't wait for a response –not that Reeve was currently capable of forming one– and pressed on. "You have disturbed the one thing still precious to me! You were tried to steal my materia, my Protomateria! Thief!" the demon roared. At this point Reeve noticed how the beast's eyes were phasing between red and yellow, and a small voice at the back of his mind muttered something about that not being good. "A thief is what you are, and thieves must be punished!"
Reeve jerked out his terrified stupor in time to see the demon raised a clawed fist, fully prepared to strike him down on the spot.
"No!" shouted Reeve, eyes wide with panic. "Please, show mercy!"
"Death! That is my sentence and it will be your fate!" growled the demon, fist unfurling and razor sharp claws itching to plunge into the commissioner's flesh.
"You can't mean it!" Reeve cried, stumbling back.
The demon advanced, snarling. "Watch!"
"Just grant me one last wish, sir, please!" Reeve loathed to admit that he was begging outright.
The demon paused, stepped back slightly, and glared at the man expectantly. "Well?"
"Allow me to see my friends one last time. There's a war going on and I'm needed; if I disappear, they'll think the enemy has me and cause unnecessary drama. They might be killed trying to rescue me and I'd never forgive myself knowing I was the cause of their deaths! So please allow to visit them, just to explain was has become of me…I-I promise I'll return."
"To death?" The demon narrowed his red and yellow eyes.
Reeve swallowed hard. "Yes. Death."
"You swear it?"
"I swear it."
The demon glowered down at the man for a good five minutes, contemplating, the Protomateria still cradled to his chest.
"Very well," he growled. "You have three days; no more, do you understand?"
"I do," assured Reeve, then he faltered. "But I do not know how to get to Midgar…"
The demon gave a short bark of laughter, cold and cruel. "That is not my problem, I only care that you receive punishment."
And with that said, the demon turned sharply and swept away; leathery wings partly unfurled as he more drifted than actually walked down the hall and round the corner. Reeve was left standing near that infernal burgundy curtain, his knees weak with fright and his heart constricting within his chest. Oh what terrible tragedy had befallen him, he was surely doomed; his fate set in stone.
Dejectedly, he started off down the hall, his steps uneven and heavy. His downcast eyes narrowed slightly in his sorrow. He didn't notice the sleek red form falling in step beside him until the beast spoke up.
"So you need help getting to Midgar?" asked Nanaki, he was limping noticeably on his right hind leg. That same leg bore a large white bandage, tinted slightly red along the center; Reeve assumed that was the resulting injury of Mr. Highwind's tantrum.
"Yes," murmured Reeve, nodding somberly. "I was lost when I found this place. Even though I do know I'm in Nibelheim, that's as far as my knowledge goes…I've never been here before."
Nanaki dipped his head in understanding. "I think I can be of assistance. Follow me."
With that, the great red beast trotted awkwardly ahead, his fiery tail wishing about Reeve's ankles as he passed. The WRO commissioner hesitated for a moment before jogging after the beast, curious. Nanaki led him to the iron wrought gates of the Nibelheim Mansion, stopping short in front of the unkempt yard's boundary.
"I do not dare go further than this point," confessed Nanaki regretfully. "But, I can call upon my brothers to guide you."
"Brothers?" questioned Reeve.
"Not by blood," Nanaki murmured, a tinge of sorrow coloring his low voice. "It's been so long, my true brothers will be very old now…the beats of their hearts numbered. No," Nanaki shook his head, his voice hardening slightly. "It would be sons and daughters of my brothers that I would be calling now. If I ask it, they will guide you to Midgar."
"Really? Why, thank you, so very much!"
Nanaki gave a curt nod before throwing back his head, face uplifted to the rising sun. A howl was released from his throat, breaking free of his maw and shattering the eerie still of Nibelheim. The bone-chilling sound reverberated off the hollow sides of the empty houses, danced between the peaks of Mt. Nibel, and slipped like liquid across the valley and into Cosmo Canyon. The melodious howl resounded for no more than a minute before Nanaki snapped his jaws together and lowered his head, cocked it slightly, and listened. The last strains of his song were just whispering away when another came forth. This one was just as chillingly beautiful, but seemed much more bittersweet than Nanaki's.
The red beast nodded once. "They are waiting for you. Bear east –towards the sunrise– that will take you to the heart of Cosmo Canyon where two of my sisters will be waiting. But hurry, they will not wait forever."
"Thank you, very much," murmured Reeve, moving towards the gates.
"Do not thank me," mumbled Nanaki. "I have only prolonged your death. The next time we meet, it will be under dreadful circumstance… Farewell, Reeve, you would have been a good friend."
Biting his lip, Reeve could only nod mutely to the crimson beast and then pushed through the iron wrought gates and into the hollow town. Nanaki did not linger to watch the man's disappearing form, instead he turned sharply and trudged to the mansion's front door. He stopped suddenly and threw back his head in one last mournful howl. Miles away in Cosmo Canyon, his sisters heard the faint strains of his voice and strengthened with their own. Together, they spun a tale of tragedy and hardship; life could be so very cruel…
A/N: telling someone not to touch anything is the kiss of death (in this case, literally). silly Tifa, what were you thinking?
i warned you that it might be while until my next update! sadly, it'll be a little while longer until i update again. it's summer and i'm leaving for a better part of the month... sorry!
another thing: this story is NOT yaoi and while i have no problem with yaoi, it's just not in this story. so to sooth the worries of Black Samurai, i'll repeat: not yaoi. what would the pairing be, anyway? Reeve/Vincent? no, that's a little too weird for me. Sorry if i come off at rude, it's totally unintentional. anyway, the pairing in this story should be pretty obvious, just look at two i put down for key characters!
again, i apologize for the delay and i apologize ahead of time for the even longer delay that is fast approaching. thanks for reviewing!