Ok this is one of my longer chapters...disclaimer: see my profile...anyways...enjoy!
He gazed down at the group crowded around Aerith's front door; the wind blew through his long silver-white hair as it reflected the full moon, at a height of 6 feet, wearing a suit of pure white with a black silk dress shirt, he looked like an angel, an angel of death standing there on thin air. He turned his ice-blue eyes towards a dark figure across from him, the figure; turned his head, causing the silver drawstrings on his black hooded cloak to clink together.
"I never would have expected to find you here…Eryx" said the silver-haired man
The figure in black lowered his hood, revealing a handsome face with long black hair tied back with a black ribbon, he then turned his blood-red eyes toward the man, and calmly said: "What are you doing here, Weiss? You came to destroy this world too?"
"Me? Destroy this world? Just when I found her, I think not…what makes you think that I would do that?" Weiss then looked back down at the group, "Besides look how happy everyone is, even Cloud is smiling and look at how Sora is just grinning." He then pointed down at the group.
"I only came to see her, that's all, though she may have forgotten me, I think it's time that she knows the truth about herself." added Weiss as he turned back to look at Eryx who narrowed his eyes at him, at the mention of 'her'.
"She doesn't know herself because you made her like that. Do you even know how much she looked up to you? If you hurt her anymore, I will kill you." Eryx then put his hood back on and disappeared into the black portal he formed with the lift of his hand.
"Eryx, you should know that you cannot kill me without killing yourself." Said Weiss to thin air, he then chuckled to himself and disappeared into a white portal.
"Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie! C'mon you three, we're going to be late for the opening of the ball!" Called River from the bottom of the stairs, she then lifted her dress to start up the stairs and muttered: "I should have gotten the black one…I'm going to trip over this dress for sure tonight."
"No, you won't."
"Yuffie! You scared me." Yuffie then grinned, and spun around, and said: "What do you think?"
"You look amazing, as do you two do." said River has she looked at Yuffie's black spaghetti-strap dress, Tifa's burgundy vee-cut dress and Aerith's elegant pink rose coloured dress.
The door bell then rang and Aerith opened the door to Cloud, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cid and Merlin all of them wearing their best suits and wizard robes that they had or purchased.
"Wow Cid, you sure cleaned up well." said Yuffie with a grin as she pinned a flower to the lapel of his suit.
"Ah, yer not so bad yourself." said Cid gruffly, he then turned to a black suited Cloud who was having his flower pinned by Aerith and his tie being fixed by Tifa. "Where's Leon?"
"He said that he'll meet us there." said Cloud, who was starting to feel uncomfortable standing there being fussed upon like a child.
"Thank you Donald, I appreciate your compliments, but can you please hold still, I still haven't pinned your flower on." said River as she struggled with Donald who was animatedly complimenting on River's appearance. Goofy then walked over and held a grumbling Donald still. "Thank you Goofy and the three of you look dashing tonight." said River as she straightened herself up and examined the three of them with a critical eye.
Sora then turned slightly pink and mumbled: "You look nice too, River." She then walked over to Sora and fixed his tie and then ruffled his hair with a smile, "thank you."
"Alright, is everyone set?" Announced Aerith as she picked up an extra white rose corsage and headed towards the door.
As music played softly people drifted about the ballroom speaking to others or sitting at tables enjoying the dinner buffet that was placed along one side of the ballroom.
"Simply stunning, the three of you have done an amazing job with the ballroom and with no magic at that too!" said a cheerful Merlin as he spoke with the Triple Threat.
"So Leon, are you going to put your eyes back into their sockets and ask River for a dance or two?" said Cloud as he came up to Leon with a glass of punch.
Leon then narrowed his eyes and said: "Very funny." Cloud then smirked and continued on with this line of conversation: "Well, you were or should I say still staring at her since the moment she came through those doors."
Leon then glared at Cloud and walked over to the balcony with his glass of punch.
"River!"
"Tifa is there something wrong?" said River as she turned towards Tifa who was holding the extra corsage that Aerith brought with her.
"River, I was wondering if you seen Leon?"
"Um…actually I have, he's outside at the balcony."
"Oh! Good! Here, can you give this too him…um…I need to bake the ice cream, bye." Tifa then quickly shoved the corsage into River's hands and disappeared into the crowd around the buffet table.
"But- 'bake the ice cream'?" River then smiled and shook her head and walked over to the balcony.
"Yes, it worked, good job Tifa." said Yuffie as she watched River head over to the balcony.
"Yeah, but I said: 'bake the ice cream', I can't believe that I said that."
"Oh, don't worry about that Tifa, at least she's going to be the one that is pinning it on him." said Aerith with a smile.
"Leon? Leon are you out here?" Leon then turned around at the call of his name and suddenly stiffened at the sight of River who looked breathtaking in her white dress, standing by the doors holding a white rose corsage. He then stepped into the light that was pouring out of the ballroom, and walked over to River.
"Yes? Is there something wrong?" I must be dreaming this is River right? She looks exactly how Rinoa did at that dance.
"No, it's just that Tifa wanted me to give this to you." River then lifted the corsage, and added: "May I?" she then pointed it in the direction of his lapel. Leon nodded and swallowed nervously, he then stepped closer to River and said in a low voice: "You look amazing tonight." She then looked up from pinning the corsage and smiled, "thank you, as do you. Why don't you come inside, the band is about to start. C'mon." She then grabbed his hand and dragged him back inside.
"It's amazing how you integrated yourself into this group, River" said Weiss as he appeared on the balcony and watched as River lead Leon towards the table where Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Merlin and Sora were seated.
"She doesn't need your help to make friends, after all the things you did to her, the least you could do is let her enjoy this night."
"Eryx, so glad of you to make it." Weiss then turned around to Eryx who had his arms folded and was scowling at him. "Now, don't give me that look, you know that she is important to the both of us, let's play fair, you'll get your chance at playing hero. After all, Leon here is becoming…what's the right word…attached…."
"Weiss, I warned you before and I'll warn you again, you do anything to hurt- "Yes, yes, you're going to hurt me, blah blah blah, wait, do I sense jealousy coming from you? Are you jealous of Leon?" Weiss then appeared in front of Eryx and had his face so close that Eryx could see specks of pale blue in Weiss' eyes.
"What are you talking about?" said Eryx calmly as he stepped back from the taller man.
"You are." said Weiss knowingly, he then spun around and watched as a young man approached River and asked her to dance. "You have feelings for her. I can tell, even though you act all 'I'm Mr. Don't give a damn', you still care for her."
"What? No smart come back?" Weiss then turned his head to look at Eryx who still had his arms crossed, but with an annoyed look on his face.
"I could say the same to you." Eryx then walked past Weiss, as he did, his black hooded cloak shifted into a black suit, he then pulled a blood red long stem rose out of his pocket, and walked into the ballroom.
"Touché, so you want to play it that way huh?" Weiss then smirked and ran his hand through his hair, and his own clothes shifted into an extravagant suit that would shame even the richest in Port Royal. He then headed toward ballroom.
The chatter in the whole ballroom went silent when a handsome stranger approached River with a long stem rose in his hands. "May I have this dance?" said the stranger as he placed the rose on the table in front of a surprised River.
"Oh, um sure." River then carefully got up and the stranger led her towards the dance floor, as the music began to start up, she then turned back to see the Triple Threat, Sora, Goofy and Donald looking as bewildered as she was to who this person was.
"Um, excuse me…I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" asked River as the stranger spun her around. "I'm- "My lady, you simply are breathtaking." said an angelic faced silver haired man as he deftly moved so that River was in his arms, he then quickly turned away, leading River toward the center of the dance floor. She turned her head quickly to find the dark haired stranger but he was gone.
"Whoa, um…ok hold it. Before there are any more appearing and disappearing acts, I want you to tell me who you are." said River as she stood in front of the man with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. The man smiled, leaned in towards her and said in a conspiratorial tone: "You'll find out, my dear Adria." He then winked and walked off leaving a stunned River standing alone in the middle of the dance floor.
"Wow, that man is gorgeous, I can't believe that we never seen him before, even that man with the silver hair in that 16th century get up is beautiful, River is so lucky." Yuffie then turned to Cloud, Leon, Cid and Merlin who had just came back from taking a breather outside. "Where were you?" Yuffie looked pointedly at Leon and continued "You guys have such bad timing; River just got snagged by two of the most gorgeous guys we have ever seen, see she's talking to one of them right now." Everyone turned to the dance floor and saw that River was just standing there on her own.
"What men, yer talking about, it's just River." Cid then added "Leon, git yer ass over there, you shouldn't leave her standing in the middle of the dance floor on her own." Before Leon could walk over to the dance floor, River was already heading towards them with a confused look on her face.
"River? Is everything alright?" Leon then came up to River and led her to a seat by the table, he then took a seat next to her and watched as she picked up a glass of water and took a sip. River then turned towards the others and said with a smile: "I'm alright; just a bit flustered that's all." She then turned to Leon and looked him in the eye and said: "Really I am fine, there's no need to worry about me, go on Leon, and I think those ladies behind you would like to dance with you. Now if you excuse me." River then got up from her seat and went over to the buffet table with Sora, Donald and Goofy.
"We gotta get them to dance." said Cid once Leon left the table with three giggling girls in tow.
"Well, just about every male here has asked River to a dance except Leon." said Aerith as she fiddled with a cocktail stir stick in her drink. "And it looks like Leon is refusing to dance with those three." Aerith shook her head and smiled "Leon, should have known better than to get up from the table, he mislead those three in thinking that he was going to dance with them."
"I'll be right back." said Yuffie as she ran off towards River at the buffet table, she then 'accidentally' bumped into River who then bumped into Leon who was standing next to her and she spilled the glass of ice water she was holding onto Leon.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry River." said Yuffie as innocently as possible without smirking, "Well, I guess the only way for you to make it up to Leon is to dance with him." Yuffie then bounced off laughing towards their table.
"I'm sorry about that Leon." River then picked up a set of napkins and began to dab at Leon's suit. "It's alright, its just water, no harm done." Leon then bent down and began to pick up the broken pieces of glass, when Merlin came over and magically put the pieces back together again. "There, no need to worry about broken glass, now go enjoy the evening you two." Merlin then walked away with a smile.
"Well, I guess Yuffie and Merlin are right. C'mon you." River then pulled a surprised Leon to the dance floor and then placed his hands onto her in a dance position; she then began to lead him across the dance floor.
I…is this déjà vu? Rinoa did the same too…she also led me to the dance floor…"River, this isn't necessary, you don't have to make it up to me." Leon then took the lead and spun River around."Oh, no your not backing out of this dance, c'mon live a little Leon, after all the hard work you've done, you deserve a break, and besides the point you dance wonderfully." said River with a smile at which Leon smiled back.
"Wow, look at that River made Leon smile, look she even made him laugh." said Sora with surprise as he watched the two of them dance. "Yuffie what did you do?"
"Well, I just put an in a comment and River, decided to use it." Yuffie then looked around the ballroom and noticed that a few of the women were giving River jealous looks, while the others nodded knowingly with smiles of approval. "Well, it looks like part A of my plan worked, now for part B." Yuffie then turned to Aerith and Tifa and the three of them grinned.
Hehe, boy this chapter took a while to write, the number 13 has always been a special number to me (I was born on a 13th, but thats besides the point), I don't know why it's special but it is.
Oh, for those who wonder what exactly Leon and the others are wearing at the ball, well just use your imagingation, I tend to leave out those kinds of details because its better for someone to image what they think would look amazing on a character than someone telling you what they are wearing. I just give the general sense as to what they are wearing and you can add the details.
As to appearances, to be honest I picture Eryx to look like Vincent Valentine from FFVII (Vincent is the epitome of tall, dark, cool and handsome, in my opinion) and I picture Weiss to look like Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood, without the glasses of course (Abel is so silly sometimes and yet he has this darkness to him that just draws people in).
Anyways just an insight to my imagination, please review, I'd like to know if these two characters work, since they are major characters.