A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! This one's a little bit long so I hope I don't scare any of you away. The plot begins to thicken and I throw in a little twist! I hope you enjoy it!
The demon angrily shoved the door to his chamber open making it crash against the wall. He sent a small wooden chair flying out of his way into the wall where it splintered into a thousand pieces.
He mumbled angrily to himself. "I try and keep my temper under control. I ask her nicely, all she does is refuse." Stopping and leaning over a small table, he stares at a black rose emanating an eerie purple glow contained in a glass bell jar. "What do I need to do? Grovel at her feet?" He picked up a black handled mirror and held it up. "Show me the girl...." He said, as the mirror activated, red lightning coiled around the handle and around the circular piece of glass revealing Tifa standing defiantly in front of her window. Aeris had apparently gone back into her room to talk to her.
"Please, Tifa, give the Master a chance! At least get to know him a little." Aeris' pleas only fell on deaf ears.
"What should I get to know him?" Tifa yelled, hatred flaring in her wine colored irises. "He treats me like I'm one of his slaves! I don't want anything to do with him!" She crossed her arms and turned her back, staring out the window.
Aeris looked helplessly at Tifa, arms hanging limply at her sides, before turning and leaving her room.
The demon placed his hand over the mirror. "I'm fooling myself." He set the mirror down next to the bell jar. "I'm just a demon to her." He looked again at the black rose as a petal withered and fell to the table's surface to join the three others that were already there. "It's hopeless," he whispered, covering his eyes with a scale-covered hand.
A few hours later, Tifa slowly opened the door, not able to sleep, and looked around the hallway only to find it empty. She gently crept out and, as she shut her door, noticed a small white box lying on the floor next to her door. The top half was white while the bottom half was a sickly orange.
She frowned. They were Reno's cigarettes.
Reno must have dropped them.
She began to bend down to pick them up so she could return them to their rightful owner but she stopped short. If Reno noticed them missing and returned for them she thought it best that they remained where they were so he could find them easily. She shrugged her shoulders and turned around and began to walk away.
The cigarette box mysteriously came to life as Tifa was walking down the hallway. It hopped up from its place on the floor and watched as Tifa turned the corner.
"Shit!" The cigarette box cursed, sounding very much like Reno, and began hopping the opposite direction.
Tifa wandered down the empty halls, taking in the sights that she hadn't earlier. She descended the stairs and heard some commotion off to the left somewhere. She began to walk toward the sound when the same cigarette box that had been lying on the floor next to her door came hopping past her and through a swinging door. Tifa's eyes grew wide as saucers and she pinched her right wrist to make sure what she had just seen was real. She shook it off and walked to the door that the box had run into.
She pushed it open and peered inside, almost fainting right where she stood. A wrench, a box of cigarettes, a basket of flowers and a ninja's throwing star stood in a circle. The wrench spoke after the box of cigarettes was finished talking.
"What do ya mean 'she's out'? Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" The wrench yelled, the gruff voice of Cid unmistakable.
"Well, it's kinda hard!" The box of cigarettes yelled back. "I go from a human being to a box of cigarettes before I even have a chance to blink! All I can do is hop down the hallway!"
"You think you got it rough!?" The wrench retorted. "I'm a damned wrench! I can't get anything done around here from midnight to noon all account to this damned curse! None of us can!"
"You should be the one to talk!" The throwing star yelled, sounding a lot like Yuffie. "At least you're not one of your own weapons! I never asked for this!"
"Guys, come on!" The flower basket spoke up, sounding like Aeris. "We've been like this for years and now you decide to bicker about it? You guys need to grow up!"
"Well, hey, it's not our fault we're like this!" The box of cigarettes shouted. "If the Master would stop thinking about himself all the time then maybe we wouldn't have to go through this every single night for the rest of our godforsaken lives!"
Tifa pushed the door open a little farther and jumped when it made a high-pitched squeak. The four objects looked back and the flower basket hopped towards her. "Are you okay, Tifa?"
Tifa swallowed hard and entered the kitchen. "Well, I, ah...weren't you all human a little while ago?" She said, her voice quavering a small amount.
"Yes," Aeris replied.
"Then why are you....?" She said, stopping.
"Oh, we've been like this for a long time. None of us even remember how it happened," Aeris lied, hoping Tifa wouldn't pry too much. "Anyways, away from the bad stuff. What's wrong?"
"Well," Tifa said, biting her bottom lip. "I'm a little hungry."
"Well, I think we have some dinner left over," Aeris said, hopping past Cid, Reno and Yuffie and over to the cupboard. She stopped short though and looked back at Tifa. "Could you help me?"
Tifa walked towards Aeris and looked down at her. "There are some plates in the first cupboard there."
Tifa nodded and opened the cupboard, grabbing a plate. She looked back down at Aeris. "The silver ware is right there in that drawer."
Tifa opened the drawer and grabbed a knife, fork, and spoon then followed Aeris over to a large, and when I say large I mean LARGE, refrigerator. Tifa pulled it open then looked down at Aeris again.
"Get the Tupperware bowl with the blue lid."
Tifa nodded and looked inside, spotting a small bowl with a blue lid. She pulled it out and set it on the counter along with her plate and silver ware.
"You can warm that up in the microwave if you'd like," Aeris said, hopping back over to where Reno, Cid and Yuffie were. "There are some glasses in the cupboard next where you got the plate and there's milk, juice and water to choose from."
"Thank you," Tifa said, opening the Tupperware bowl. She smiled as she noticed that it was chicken cordon bleu. She grabbed her fork and placed some on her dish then put it in the microwave. She set the timer for forty-five seconds then walked over to the cupboard to grab herself a glass. She opened the fridge again and looked around at all the different choices of drinks. She finally settled on orange juice and poured herself a glass.
The microwave's timer went off and she took her plate out of it and set it on the counter, beginning to eat quietly.
"Oh, do you want to go sit at the table?" Aeris offered, hopping over to door opposite the one Tifa came through.
"No, it's alright. I'll eat here," Tifa said, taking a sip of her orange juice.
"Okay," Aeris said, moving away from the door.
Once Tifa was finished, she washed her dish and silver ware off and set them in the bottom of the sink. After downing all her orange juice she also washed the glass out and set that in the sink as well.
She walked over to the four objects and stopped next to them. Cid looked up at her.
"Okay, young lady, off to bed with you," he said, hopping behind her and tapping her in the ankle.
Tifa laughed as she stepped away from Cid. "I can't fall asleep now! This is the first time I've ever been in a castle!"
"Oh, would you like us to give you a tour?" Reno asked.
Tifa's face lit up. "Of course! I'd love that!"
"Follow us," Cid said, hopping out the door after Reno.
Cid and Reno showed Tifa around the castle until almost the wee hours of the morning. Cid was illustrating a few of the paintings on the walls when something caught Tifa's eye. She walked away from Cid and Reno venturing toward a grand staircase. She was about to ascend them when Cid and Reno jumped in front of her path. She looked at them then looked back up. "What is this place?"
"Uh, nothing!" Reno said, quickly. "Nothing. Nothing at all of interest in the West Wing."
"Oh, so that's the West Wing," Tifa said, beginning to walk around Reno.
"Good job," Cid muttered before they jumped back in front of Tifa, obscuring her passage.
"I wonder what's up there..." Tifa mumbled to herself, stepping around Reno once again.
Both the wrench and cigarettes jumped in front of her path once again. "Nothing, absolutely nothing!" Reno said, reiterating.
"Well, if there's nothing up there then why can't I look around?" Tifa said, once again beginning to step around them.
"Well, uh," Cid said, scrambling for something to say. "Maybe we can show you something else!"
Tifa looked down and placed her hands on her hips. "Like what?"
"Uh, the, uh...." Reno said, trying to stall. "How about the courtyard? Or maybe the library?"
"You have a library?" Tifa asked excitedly, placing her hands on her knees.
"Yes! Yes, we do!" Reno exclaimed, surprised he actually said something right. "There are hundreds of books in the library!
"Yeah, thousands of books," Cid said, hoping that she'd take her attention away from the West Wing.
"I wanna see!" Tifa said, beginning to follow them the other way down the hall. She stopped a little while later and looked back at the staircase then back at the diminishing forms of Cid and Reno. "Oh, he won't mind if I do a little exploring."
She turned back around and ascended the stairs quickly and turned a corner so Cid and Reno wouldn't see her if they figured out that they had lost her. She slowly made her way down the disserted hallway. Chunks of stone and broken wood furniture were strewn about making it hard for her to walk. There were broken and rusted sconces hanging about the walls and some had fallen off and were lying on the ground. Something crunched under her foot, making her jump. She looked down and found hundreds of pieces of shattered glass. She looked up and saw that a mirror had been hanging on the wall but there were only a few jagged pieces still left in the frame.
She walked towards the large double doors at the end of the hallway and reached her hands up to open it. She pulled back and bit her lip wondering if she should go as far as shattering the privacy of the Master's own room.
"Well, I've come this far," she mumbled to herself, placing her hands on the door handles. "Might as well go all the way."
She pulled the door open and slid inside taking in the surrounding room. Ripped curtains hung about the walls in tatters, pieces of furniture broken and lying about. A lone picture hung on the wall, ripped, obscuring the view of the person portrayed. Tifa curiously walked to the painting and tried to lift the ripped pieces of canvas into place so she could see what the person looked like. But to no avail, the painting was much too damaged.
The only feature that could be seen was the piercing blood red eyes.
Voices in the background made Tifa jump slightly. She walked over to the balcony and peeked her head around. The demon was standing on the balcony in front of a beautiful young woman with flowing dark brown hair and pure white eyes that seemed to glow. She wore an elegant blue gown and hovered a few feet off the ground.
The young woman spoke and her voice was like a sweet melody, resonating through the castle walls.
"You are running out of time, young prince. You only have a week left before your 21st year. Have you heeded my warning or are you going to ignore me?" She said, her voice growing louder and stronger.
"No, miss," he said, bowing his head. "I've found a girl, just give me a little more time!" He said, his voice growing desperate.
"You've had enough time!" She said, her voice booming. "If you weren't the cold hearted brat that wouldn't lend me shelter five years ago then you wouldn't be in this situation right now!"
Tifa bit her lip, wondering what they could be talking about. She looked to the side and saw a black rose suspended in a glass bell jar. She suddenly felt the need to get closer and look at it when the demon's voice sounded.
"Please, give me more time!" He pleaded.
"No," she said, her voice growing softer. "If you wish for this girl's affections then you must change your ways or you will remain like this forever! This is your last warning!" She said, before vanishing.
"No! Wait!" He said, holding out his arms. He growled and placed his hands on the balcony railing then slammed his fist onto it. "Damn it!"
Tifa carefully walked over to the bell jar and lifted it from its place around the rose. She looked up to make sure that he was still facing away from her but jumped as her blood ran cold when she found him staring right back at her with a death glare on his face.
He opened his wings and flew toward her surprisingly fast and grabbed the bell jar slamming it back over the rose, wrapping his arms around it protectively. Tifa backed up against a broken dresser.
"What are you doing here?" The demon growled, advancing on her.
"I-I'm sorry," she whispered, pressing herself against the dresser.
"Didn't I tell you not to come here?" He yelled, standing right in front of her.
"Please," Tifa pleaded, moving away from the dresser, backing up slowly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any harm."
"I thought I told you never to trespass here!" He shouted, slamming his fist into the rotting boards of the dresser that Tifa had been standing in front of.
Tifa began to back peddle, but tripped and landed in a chair. She looked up at the demon, fear evident in her eyes. "Please, don't!" She cried, shielding her face as he slammed a small table out of his way.
"Get out of here!" He bellowed, advancing on her once again.
Tifa shot out of the chair and began to run from the room, covering her head just in case he decided to launch the chair she had just been sitting in at her.
"Get out!!" He roared, anger and rage flowing from his throat. "GET OUT!!!!!!"
As Tifa vanished from the room, he realized what he had just done. He began to walk out of the room but stopped and stared at the rose.
Tifa flew down the stairs and ran through the castle, grabbing her cloak from the coat rack. She ran by Aeris and Cid on her way out. They began hopping after her.
"Tifa!" Aeris called, trying to catch up. "Tifa, please wait! Where are you going?"
"I'm getting out of here!" She exclaimed, clamping her hand around the door handle. "I can't stay here anymore!" She threw the door open and ran out leaving Cid and Aeris behind.
They stood in the doorway, watching her mount her chocobo and begin to ride off. "Tifa, wait!" Aeris called, hoping she could stop her. "Please, come back, Tifa! Tifa!"
But she was already to far away to hear Aeris' pleas. She shot past the gates and ran down the cobblestone path away from the castle. She turned down a narrow forest path and gasped when she saw that a pack of Nibel wolves were there eating a kill they had made recently. Dante warked in surprise and began back peddling as the wolves left their kill and began to chase after them.
Tifa turned Dante down a different path and looked behind her. The wolves were gaining and Dante was getting tired. A lone wolf came up beside Dante and began nipping at the large birds ankles. The black bird stopped quickly throwing Tifa over its head. Dante began to run away but his reigns had gotten tangled in some branches and he couldn't get them loose.
Tifa regained herself and began looking around for something in which to defend her chocobo. She saw a pile of large stones and picked some of them up. She turned and began hurling them at the wolves trying to drive their attention away from Dante.
A few hit their mark, knocking some wolves out of the way but the few left turned and began advancing on her. She dropped the remaining stones and began to run but was hit square in the back by one of the wolves. She hit the snowy ground an immediately covered her head. One wolf grabbed onto her cloak and began to drag her. She rolled over and gasped when one wolf jumped at her, his jaws wide open, claws finding their mark.
She closed her eyes waiting for the sick feeling of the wolves' claws to sink into her flesh but just about had a heart attack when a blood-curdling roar made her eyes fly open.
The demon had grabbed the wolf before it landed on her and threw it into the side of a tree. The four remaining wolves surrounded him and bared their yellow fangs. One jumped at him and clamped its jaws down on his arm making him roar in pain. Then the three others jumped on his back biting him in different places. He crouched over and balled himself up before throwing his wings and arms open flinging all four wolves off of him. He turned around to find three still remaining.
His eyes began to glow as he looked up at the sky and roared, throwing his arms up to the heavens. Seconds later, balls of flame fell down from the sky onto the wolves setting them ablaze. The wolves ran about yelping before falling to the ground, dead.
While all this was happening Tifa had fled to her chocobo's side, freeing him. She stared at the demon as he turned to look at her, breathing deeply, blood oozing from the bite and claw marks all over his body. He took a few staggering steps towards her before his eyes rolled over into his head then collapsed to the ground.
Tifa turned to Dante and began to climb on his back, still determined to leave but she stopped short and looked over at the collapsed demon, laying face down in the snow. She sighed and walked towards him, making sure he was all right before going and getting Dante.
She had Dante lay down so she could lift him up onto his back. She gently put her arms around his chest and began to drag him towards Dante. She had to stop and rest for he was quite heavy but eventually she got him onto Dante's back and began the long walk to the castle.
Once she got back Aeris, Cid, Yuffie and Reno were glad that she had come back but they were also worried about their Master.
Later on in the evening when the demon had woken up, Tifa tended to his wounds. She soaked some cotton swabs in some alcohol and went to wash them. She stopped and put a disgusted look on her face when she found him sitting there licking the wound on his arm. She walked towards him and put her hand out.
"Don't do that," she said, chiding him. "That'll only make it worse."
He looked up at her and gave her a nasty growl before returning to his business. Tifa grabbed his arm by the wrist and applied the cotton swab. The demon roared in pain and wrenched his arm away from her grasp.
"THAT HURTS!!!" He bellowed.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt so much if you would stop moving!" Tifa yelled back in protest.
"This would have never happened if you wouldn't have run away," the demon said, prone to starting an argument with her.
"Well, if you hadn't scared me death I wouldn't have run away!" Tifa protested once again.
The demon opened his mouth to say something else, but had to stop and think of good come back. "Well, you should have obeyed me and stayed out of the West Wing!"
"Well, you need to stop hiding things and control your temper!" Tifa said, looking right into his eyes.
He opened his mouth yet again to prove another point but realized she had hit the nail right on the head. He looked away from her with a defeated look on his face, submitting to her.
"Now brace yourself," she said, raising the cotton swab over his wound. "This is gonna sting."
He closed his eyes tightly and balled up his fist as Tifa wiped the crusted blood off the scales and the wound, put anesthetic on it then wrapped it. She then moved to the cuts on his right shoulder and side. She cleaned and wrapped his shoulder then moved to the cuts on his side. She stopped and looked at him for a second before continuing to clean it.
"By the way," she said, causing him to look at her. "Thank you for saving my life today."
The demon frowned; surprised that she had thanked him. He stammered slightly before finding the right thing to say. "You're welcome," he said, his voice soft.
Back in town, Cloud and his brother, Zack, were putting their plan into action. They had called Hojo from the Nibelheim Hospital of Lunatics to come meet them at the bar. Hojo was sitting at one end of the table tapping a gnarled finger on the table.
"You said you'd make it worth my while..." Hojo said, reaching out a hand.
Cloud rolled his eyes and tossed him a large bag of gil. Hojo smiled and grabbed one of the gil coins. "I'm listening."
"Well, I have my sights set on marrying Tifa Lockheart, but she needs a little.... persuasion," Cloud said, an evil look in his eye.
"I think she'll need more than a little persuasion..." Zack mumbled.
Cloud looked at him and smacked him in the back of the head. "Ouch!" Zack cried, grabbing his head.
"The whole town knows that her father is crazy," Cloud said, leaning back in his chair. "He was in here tonight going on and on about the Nibel Demon and how he has Tifa locked up."
Hojo shook his head. "Paul is harmless."
"Yes, but Tifa would do anything to keep her father from being thrown into your loony bin. Know what I mean?"
"So what you're trying to say is that you want me to throw her father the 'hospital' if she doesn't agree to marry you?" Hojo said, twirling a gil coin around in his fingers. He began laughing. "Your plan may be crazy enough to work."
Hojo got up and left the bar with his sack of money, leaving Cloud and Zack there. Cloud tapped Zack on the shoulder. "Come on," he said, getting up from the table. "Let's go check Tifa's house."
While Cloud and Zack were heading towards Tifa's home, Mr. Lockheart was inside gathering as many maps together that he could find so he could go save his daughter. As he gathered his things he mumbled to himself.
"If no one will help me then I'll go back alone," he said, stuffing a compass into his pack. "I'll find that castle if it's the last thing I do!"
He left his house and began the long journey through the mountains. Moments later, Cloud and Zack showed up and walked inside.
"Tifa?" Cloud called, hoping that one of the residents was home.
"Guess no one's home," Zack said, leaning against the door jam.
Cloud sighed and walked out, shutting the door behind him. He looked at his brother.
"Zack, I want you to stay here until they get back. They're bound to come home sometime," Cloud said, turning to leave.
Zack was about to open his mouth to protest but decided not to. He leaned up against the side of the house. "Dang it," he said, punching a wall.
