Yes, yes, I know this one's late too, but only a day this time, so not as bad. I'm horrible at meeting deadlines. I get so distracted by a bunch of things and whatnot. Anywho, here's the chapter I'm sure you've been looking froward to.
I no own FFVII.
I swung my body out of the way, just barely getting out of the reach of the large, serrated pincers. Without wasting a second, I dropped into a crouch and sprung forward at the Glabrezu's face, pulling out an engraved, black short sword. Dealing three lightning fast hits with it, that enraged the beast more than anything, I then shifted my momentum by driving the sword deep into foot of the thing, then brang my shuriken around, ebbing it in it's stomach. Shifting my grip, I sprung up, dragging my weapon up through it's thick, partially scaled hide, stepping on its swinging hand to boost myself up more. Quickly planting my feet on one of it's shoulders, I sent a wave of energy through my shuriken as I kicked off and flipped backwards, my charged and still ebbed weapon ripping the things head nearly in half.
I hissed as some of it's acidic blood splashed on me. I was quick but not fast enough. Tifa came from the side, her fist enveloped by flame, as she inflicted a devastating downward punch, incinerating the beast, before springing back, wary of any counterattack. Any other creature would be way overkill by now, but the reason these demons were such bastards, was that their regenerative powers are near unrivaled. Not wanting to waste any time, I ran around checking to make sure that all five enchanted blades where planted firmly, then materialized shadow wire. I linked it to my kunai and began to loop it around the beast, connecting the five blades in a pentagram, then simply chucking a bunch of kunai with the strong, light substance all around the thing. The more it was tied down it was the better for us.
The beast stirred with a mighty roar, attempting to get up. Several stings snapped, but most held, sapping the creature's strength. An insanely hot jet of fire hit the creature from the left, Aerith letting the flames dance from her plam. She halted the flow, quickly switching to a stream of ice. I crouched at the ready with the many strings attached to one kunai.
Then second she let up, I sprung, jumping off of it's head, and throwing the dagger to sink into it's back as I flipped away. Not sparing a second, Aerith let loose lightning that caught the strings and continued to flash around the beast effectively containing it, giving Tifa and I time to start putting up a barrier around the demon. I heard Aerith start chanting to my left, and began throwing more energy into the energy field. The circle of light and shadow spun around the beast, springing up to form a globe of glowing energy. Tifa and I moved in on opposite sides, each planting a hand in the barrier.
I turned to look at Aerith over my shoulder. Many different streams of light surrounded her, swirling up from the ground to add to her power. The Galbrezu flung itself against the barrier, sending a light shock up my arm. I gritted my teeth against the sting as it repeatedly tried to get out of it's cage, hurling fireballs and acid-breath-attack-thingies at the barrier, but Tifa and I had it held fast. It wasn't going to get out of there anytime soon.
Aerith continued her spell, gathering strength before she unleashed it at the thing, the stream of light passing right through the barrier. It swirled and crackled around the Glabrezu which roared in pain and anger. The light gathered at a center point in it's chest and began to pull the creature into it, as if there was a mini black hole right there, which there more or less was. More and more of the light came at the thing, effectively banishing it from the space it occupied, sending it back to the abyss. No matter how many times I saw Aerith do that it took my breath away. Tifa and I held the barrier until the very last possible moment, when the last of the giant Glabrezu was sucked up, and removed our hands and jumped back, expecting the huge shockwave as the portal to the Abyss closed in on itself. It ripped through the barrier, but most of the energy was used up there, so all us three girls felt was an insanely strong gust of wind that nearly knocked us flat on our buts.
After it had subsided, I heard a yell, and snapped my head around to see Aerith tripping over a rock and falling flat on her butt. Unable to contain myself I burst out laughing, Tifa following right behind me. Aerith pouted for a second before joining in. Relief flooded through us. No matter how many times us three took on demons as dangerous or more dangerous than that Glabrezu, we were risking our lives. More than that, really. There was always a chance that the portal to the Abyss would backlash more than usual and suck us into it as well, which would be extremely bad. That equaled eternal torment of your soul at the hands of a countless number of ridiculously sadistic demons.
Why would we choose to do this? Because we were born with very large auras. With training, we were able to harness it into energy that we used to fight, putting us on more or less an even playing field with the demons that hoped dimensions here. Tifa specialized in using her aura through her fists, and was able to call up things like fire to add a ridiculously huge extra oomph to a punch or kick, which made her hand to hand style that much more deadly. Aerith flowed her aura out of her hands or through her staff, specializing in more ranged attacks, like she'd used in the fight, but she could also charge her staff with auric power and whoop your butt with some epic skills that way. I had a little of both skills. I could fling a fireball or lightning bolt, or just slam a bunch of energy into my weapon or hand to add in a bunch of extra kick. Unlike the other two, I had fully mastered using my aura inside my body as well, giving myself a really big speed and strength boost. Teef could do that also, but not to the extent that I could. Since I was the only one out of us three that was an actual assassin for the clan of Black Sun, I had some extra training that was a lot more rigorous.
With all of these abilities, we could kick some serious demon ass, or at the very least we could contain them until a Shade, some other type of greater demon(The demons with souls, not like kind we had just fought-a lesser demon. Some greater demons were actually really decent people.) or an Ancient like Aerith banished them back to the Abyss.
When I finally got over my fit of laughter, I walked over and help Aerith up, still chuckling slightly. "Let's head back, okay? I gotta wash all of this gunk off of me." I motioned to my half dissolved clothing that was splattered with the dried demonic blood. Once it dryed it was harmless, but it was still gross looking slop and smelled really bad. Teef and I were covered in it.
"No kidding! You reek." Aerith nudged me as she picked up her staff, and dusted herself off. Tifa came over to us, walking around the decent sized crater where the Glabrezu had been.
I glanced up at the sky, noting the time by the position of the sun. "It's right around 3-ish. If we head back now, we should be back at HQ in fifteen minutes or so."
Tifa sank to the ground next to us. "Can we take a little breather first though? My ribs are killing me." I frowned and Aerith bent down to examine Tifa, making sure nothing was seriously damaged or broken. Earlier in the fight, the Glabrezu spun and it's hard armored tail blindsided Tifa, flinging the martial artist into a tree, breaking the tree in the process. It was a nasty hit, but thankfully she'd put up an auric shield to avoid most of the damage.
"You just have a bit of a crack in a rib. Just lemme take care of it really quick." Aerith's hand glowed a warm goldeny color and when she touched it to Tifa's ribs, she let out a breath of relief. Becasue Aerith was an ancient, she could pull a bunch of fun tricks like healing people. I could heal myself and Gray because of his powers, but when it came to others, I couldn't do jack squat unless I had really close auric bonds. Which only applied to my uncle. "Better?"
"Much!" Tifa rolled back and jumped up to her feet. "Lets get going. I hate having demon blood on me." We walked turned and walked away from the site of the battle, heading back into town.
Gray's POV
I heard the door ding open and called out, "Just a minute!" as I finished washing the puppy I had in my hands. I grabbed a towel and wrapped the little shivering creature in it, then stepped out of the back. The second I was past the doorway, I recognized the presence, my eyes widening in alarm. Shit! I backpeddled and pulled a hand mirror out of the shadows inspecting my appearance. With a sigh of relief I nodded. I let the mirror disolve as I let it go and walked out forward again, letting my eyes widen in 'surprise' as I rounded the corner and saw who was waiting for me.
"Vinnie! What're you doing here? I thought you said you had that meeting thing-a-ma-jig to go to." I gave Vincent a big smile.
"Hello Yuffie. Yes, I did, but it got out earlier than expected so I figured I should pop in and come see you." Vince looked away slightly, scratching the back of his neck with a hand. I took notice of the bag in his hand, while mentally thanking the goddess that he hadn't realized yet that I wasn't Yuffie.
As a Shade, I could shape-shift. Currently, I was wearing Yuffie's form, since just in case something like his happened, she wouldn't be oddly missing where no-one knew where she was. So, on normal days I would wear the form of gentle aunt Selena, and when Yuffie was gone on a mission, we'd discretely switch appearances -Yuffie was my shadow-kissed, so she could also shapeshift- and Selena would go out on some errands leaving 'Yuffie' to man the shop.
"Aww! That's so sweet! What's in the bag? Something for me?" I tipped my head to the side in typical Yuffie fashion.
"Yeah, I picked you up some sunflowers seed and a few Kit-Kats." I let my eyes widen and I took a step forward before looking down and remembering the puppy in my arms.
"Hold onto those for a moment Vinnie. Just set that over there. I gotta take care of this little fella first. He just got out of the bath." I gently rubbed the puppy, trying to dry him off as slowly as possible. Vince set the bag down on the counter, then approached me. Shit, shit, shit! He was probably going to greet me with a kiss or something! I can't kiss Vincent! I mean, I would love to, he was a one hot turkey, but he was Yuffie's turkey! And Yuffie being like a sister to me, it would not be right for me to kiss her man, even if it was to keep up a cover.
I kept my face calm while I was inwardly panicking. Vincent loomed closer. i was loosing my composure and I barely noticed when a bit of shadow energy was released from my hands. That happens to us Shades when we're nervous. Thankfully the puppy started barking madly, as that's what happens when any animal comes in contact with my negative energy, they wig out. Vincent took a step back from where he was and I saw my opening. I frowned lightly and backpedled, stopping the flow of shadowy energy. The puppy was instantly soothed.
I shot Vincent and apologetic look, while I was cheering on the inside. "So sorry Vinnie, this little guy's really shy. Happens with everyone he just meets. Took him forever to get warmed up to me. Selena's trying to train him out of it, but it's slow going, and I can't put him down, he might get sick, cause he's still wet!" I did my best at a semi-panicked depressed Yuffie babble.
Vince chuckled. "It's alright."
"Just have a seat over there at the desk in the meanwhile, and talk to me." Vince, nodded walking to the desk and sitting down. And then I saw the thing that would blow my cover to Mars and back. Yuffie.
Oh f*ck, oh f*ck , oh f*ck!
Can't let Vincent see her! I walked closer, 'accidentally' bumping into a rack holding different dog toys, collars, and treats, and used my powers to make sure quite a bit of stuff fell out.
"Shit! Vinnie, can you help me with that?" Vince blinked, then laughed.
"So you're just as much of a clutz here at work, huh?" He came closer when I remember shy puppy, and let out a bit of my panic to dog who started to bark again. I backed up, giving Vince an apologetic look, letting out a breath when I saw Vinnie bend down to pick the stuff up, and Yuffie freeze with her hand on the doorknob, having seen Vincent. Her eyes were wide with alarm.
I gave a discrete flick of my head to the side signaling Yuffie. I mouthed the words, go around back, shift to Selena, at Yuffie. She nodded, and then ran to the side just getting out of view as Vincent turned to look outside.
"What're you looking at?" Vince's deep voice startled me, but thankfully I didn't let it show.
"Huh? Oh, nothing, just thought I saw a cat out there. It was nothing though."
I flashed him a smile, and just barely stopped myself from letting out a sigh of relief as the back door opened with a jingle of keys and a matronly voice sing-songed, "I'm back!"
"Hey Selena! Out front! How on a sec Vin-Vin, I'ma go give this fella to Selena, and be right back out." I gave him a smile before hurrying to the back, waiting until I was out of view and the door shut before I shifted my form from Yuffie to Selena. Yuffie, seeing me shift, let go of her own transformation. Her form was enveloped in shadows for a second before they cleared and Yuffie was standing there. I made sure to switch my clothes to different ones, and that Yuffie's clothing matched what I had been wearing. The two of us started chatting to keep up appearances.
I laughed as we entered the front of the store, Yuffie leaving me to glomp Vincent. I took the puppy that was dry enough now and set him in the cage with the rest of his litter. I smiled at the puppies for a second before turning to Yuffie, who was still kissing Vincent. .
"Yuffie, which puppies did you already wash?" I called across the store.
She broke her lip-lock and looked over at me, a blank expression on her face. "Uhh, what?"
I rolled my eyes, with a smile on my face. "Nevermind. I see you probably aren't going to get any more work done, so why don't you just take the rest of the day off?"
"Wow, you sure?" Her eyes were wide, a a hint of a smile on her lips.
"Yes, yes. It's the least I can do after you came in so early today. I called Tifa in to take care of Marlene, who's out cold now. I was planning on closing up anyways. Go ahead and take off early today." I gave them a warm smile. "Nice seeing you again Vincent, though we really din't talk much." I gave him a wink.
Yuffie giggled as she skiped over to me and gave me a hug goodbye. I covered my mouth, leaned close and whispered, "Don't forget to pick up the goodies Vince got you; behind the counter." I looked up at Vincent, and smirked. I pulled back and said loudly, "And don't forget to use protection!"
Yuffie lightly punched my arm, and I laughed at her expression and at Vincent's blush. I waved to them, letting out a sigh of relief. Disaster averted. Just barely, but isn't that how things always seem to turn out?
So, what do you think? I made it a bit longer as a treat to you guys. There's a good peak at Yuffie's assassin life, too. I hope I explained things pretty well, concerning Tifa, Aeriith, and Yuffie's powers. P.s. Shades can form objects out of shadows, which is what Gray did for the hand mirror and how Yuffie made the shadow wire she used to tie down the Glabrezu. I forgot to mention that, and I'm itchig to go back to me video game, so I don't have the patience ot fix that. Another note; the Galbrezu is not mine, neither really is the Abyss. You can thank Forgotten Realms or Dungeons & Dragons for supplying me with all of the lesser demons I'll use in the story. The greater demons (which you'll meet later) are my own creation though, as are shades.
Anywho, pretty please review and tell me what you think!
