The bar was dimly lit. A small light hung overhead of the bartender as he poured
out a beer for the woman. The bar didn't get a lot of women, but when it did, they
were usually out of town or some of the older people looking to drink their problems
away. But this woman caught the bar tendor's attention, he eyed her quickly when she
walked in and eyed her more respectively when she sat down. She was clearly large
chested, wearing a small white shirt. Her pants were very short, a little bit higher then
mid thigh length, but not enoug hso that her ass would be hanging out. Her pants were
a normal shade of brown, and they were held by a button pushed through a small hole
in the front. She wore brown boots and had short white socks on. He hair was kind of
a mix of black and brown, and it came down very long, maybe about to her mid back.
She had a cute face, in which the bar tendor was fascinated by. Pretty women like
this don't come along often, he thought.
"Five Gil" the bar tendor said as he slid the mug of beer over to her. She reached in
her pocket and pulled out exactly five gil, and slid it to him. He picked it up greatfully
and put it in the cash register. The bar didn't have many people in it, as it never usually
did, but it had a bit more than usual. Maybe about ten people if you were to count
everyone including the bar tendor. The bar tendor was a small, older man whose hair
began to turn white a while ago. He wore blue overalls and a red shirt. You could see
he was cleary a bit over weight, as the bulge in his overalls was rounded like a
basketball or a beach ball. His hair line was starting to move back, and he was clearly
beginning to go bald. He looked at the woman as she took her first sip of the beer. "So,
what's a pretty woman like you doin in a place like this?" the bar tendor said nervously.
He didn't want to say anything, but he just couldn't pass on this. The woman looked at
him strangely, and replied "Just visiting a friend, you know him as Nanaki." The man
stared for a moment, then remembered her. She was here about a year or two ago,
with a bunch of people. He remembered her a lot more clearly now. "Weren't you here
about a year or two ago? With those guys and that girl?" She looked up at him, and
gave a faint smile, and gave a small reply "Yes." and looked up at the dimly lit light.
"Yes, I remember you now. The name's Joe, nice to meet you!" he held out his hand
in a handshake, but she ignored it. "Tifa" she said faintly and continued to look around the
bar. The bar tendor put his hand down slowly, and turned back to get to work. He could
tell she was either in a bad mood or didn't like being came onto by strangers with white
hair and big stomaches. He went into the back to get more beer for the night. Across
the bar, on the end of the counter, a man sat in, drinking a beer, and observing Tifa. He
was a big man, short black hair, and black clothing. He looked down at his watch for
a moment, and then straight back at Tifa. He seen her turn when the news came on the
TV. "Shinra still stumped on murders around the world" the news reporters said. Tifa
gripped the handle of her mug tightly. The urge to throw it straight at the TV rising. She
had to resist it though, she didn't have the money on her to pay for anything damaged
and she didn't want to give herself a bad reputation in the canyon. But the urge kept
coming, she knew it was probably all lies, as that was all Shinra ever was. A company
set to lie to the public and make themselves look good. Headager and Scarlett were
among of the ones killed. Tifa thought that the new president, who was a fine friend of
Rufus before his death, was behind the killings. He knew all the dirt on Shinra and fed
into it greatly, as he would someday come to control it. Jack Reid was his name, but
he was referred to by everyone as "Dagger", and he had always carried a dagger
with him and was rumored to have killed lots of animals hunting with it. Dagger met
Rufus when they were young, so they grew up together and learned about Shinra
together. Dagger hadn't the least bit interest in Rufus' death, as he knew Rufus
had written that he was to become president if anything ever happened to him,
which Rufus highly doubted would.
Tifa drank the rest of her beer and slowly got up. The man observed her and drank
the rest of his beer too. She walked through the door and closed it. The man quickly
got up and also went through the door. The bar tendor came out with more beer, and
seen Tifa was gone. "Damnit" he said, he wanted to eye her up more, but that
opportunity was gone now. Tifa walked through the main part of Cosmo Canyon,
by the fire place and towards the steps. The man followed slowly behind her, staying
on the edge so he wouldn't be seen by her. But walking very normally so he wouldn't
by suspected of anything. Tifa said goodbye to the gatekeeper as she walked down
the stairs and out of the canyon. The man followed about thirty seconds afterward.
Red XIII sat on the ledge of the first stairs leading up as he looked straight down
towards the entrance of the canyon, and how the man walked out after her. He
didn't like the look of it one bit, but he sat there for a minute, and finally walked
slowly down the stairs onto ground level.
Tifa walked in the direction of NibelHeim. Some activists planted a lot of trees
near the river, and they seemed to grow at the speed of light because there was
now a forest there. Tifa walked toward it, and BAM! Tifa felt a large hit in her back
and she was now on her knees and falling forward onto her face in the mud. She
gave a small screamn and quickly rolled through the mud forward and hoisted
herself up. It was the man from the bar that had followed her, she hadn't even
seen him in the bar, let alone seeing him following her. She put her fists up
and punched him in the face. He stumbled back a bit and then drew his fist
back and drove it straight into her left cheek. The pain was atrocius, and she fell
backwards back into the mud, which was now all over her pants, shirt, face, hair,
and all over her legs. It had rained earlier and was starting to pick up again. Tifa
gave out a loud howl and got herself up. She looked at the man who was now
advancing on her quick and began to run. She usually never ran from a fight but
never in her life had she ever been hit as hard as that! The forest was the only place
left, as she started into it, the man not far behind her. Lucky for her, she could run
really fast due to her long legs, so she was clearly advancing ahead of the man.
Who is he!? Tifa thought quickly as she jumped over a small tree trunk. What does
he want? She was getting carried away in thoughts other than getting away and that
would cost her dearly. She tripped over a small branch that was sticking out and fell.
She scrambled to get back up but slipped in the mud. The moon was brightly seen
through the trees, and she hadn't been this scared since she went up against
Sephiroth with the rest of her crew.
As she slipped again, she felt herself rising now, and a horrible pain in her head. She
was being lifted up backwards by her hair. She screamed but no one was around to hear
it now, as they were deep in the forest. Now it was pouring, and the rain splashed loudly
on the forest. Tifa looked into the man's eyes and seen what looked like an almost
inhuman stare. He looked at her and punched her down. She rolled over and leaned back
on both of her elbows and looked up at him. He looked straight at her and started to come
down on her, but right to Tifa's rescue was Red XIII! She heard a small snarling noise to
the right and saw the man turn. At that moment, the man's head turned, Red XIII was up
in the air, front legs stretched out forward, and his mouth open in a fit of rage. The man
quickly put his head down and ducked a bit, which exposed the back of his neck. But
that was it, as Red XIII went over the man, he managed to get his head down and dig
into the back of the man's neck. Red XIII was still going forward though, and the man's
head came off in a bone chilling RRRIIIIPPP. Red XIII dropped it was fast as he had
torn it off, and it rolled a bit and then stopped, an expression of pain on it. The body
simply fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the hole like a faucet. Red XIII looked
at Tifa, who was now half way up. He walked to her and she simply dropped to her
knees and hugged him around his neck. "Thank You Red XIII!" she exclaimed, just
about crying now, she was very dirty. "Anytime" he said roughly, and she let go of
him and looked at him. "But, you killed him, what are we going to do?" she asked
nervously. Red XIII only looked at her, as a sound was heard behind them. Tifa
got up quickly and Red XIII turned around. The body was now moving, almost
twitching a bit as two long claw looking things came out of the hole where the
head was. The bent down towards the arm and out plummeted a little creature,
about four feet high, long legs, and it has a small head that didn't come above its
shoulders. It's claws were big and very sharp looking, they came out forward and
then bent down again, like an elbow. The creature was mostly black but was very
bloody from the body. The creature looked at Red XIII and Tifa, and gave out a
high, inhuman wail, then strode off very quickly into the forest, away from the two
who had just seen it. Tifa put her hands over her mouth and gave out a loud
shriek. Red XIII was also stunned and instead of a shriek let out a large roar.
What the hell had just happened?
"What, the FUCK, was that!?" Tifa exclaimed loudly. Red XIII stayed silent, as he had
no explanation for it. All he could think about was what had just happened, but he had to
say something soon. "C'mon, let's go back to the canyon." That was the only thing that
had come out of his mouth. It sounded stupid to him, but Tifa greatfully said ok. They
walked slowly, as they were both stunned, and they were both keeping their alert up
high, as if that thing came back, they would either try to kill it or run away. But what had
they just seen? There were surely no records of something like that ever living, Tifa
thought to herself, and even though she didn't know, Red XIII was thinking the same
thing. They got back to the canyon around 11:00 P.M. They were both soaked and all
of the residents were in, except the gatekeeper, who was sitting under a small tent. He
stared at Tifa ad Red XIII surprisingly, and wondered what had happened. He didn't
talk because he thought it would better to not bother them or at least wait until another
time. Red XIII and Tifa went to the top house where Bugenhagen used to live. Tifa sat
down at the table, as did Red XIII. "There's a shower upstairs, go wash up." Without a
word, Tifa nodded and climbed the ladder to the middle platform. Red XIII heard the
shower go on, and he got himself something to drink. Whatever that was, it wasn't
human and wasn't anything he had ever seen before. He though about what would
of happened if he hadn't been there. A small chill went through his body, and his tail
wagged back and forth nervously. Although he wasn't human, Red XIII had a good
handle on things, and learned to do things such as sit down or drink. About a half hour
later, Tifa came down the ladder in a blue robe. Her body was now clean and her hair
still wet. "I also washed my clothes, is it alright if I wear this until they dry?" she asked
him with concern. "Go ahead, it's fine, you don't have to ask for things here" Red XIII
replied warmly. Tifa smiled, she was glad she had a friend like him. Even though
Avalanche broke apart, they still kept in touch, well, some of them anyway. Yuffie
hadn't been the type to be all warm heart and keep in touch, some tried, but she
didn't really care.
"Look Tifa, I don't know what that was, and I don't think you do either. I think we should
just keep quiet about a for a while, until we know more" Red XIII said with such a look of
seriousness on his face it was scary. Tifa nodded. "But, do you think it has anything to do
with Shinra? Ya know, the experiments they do" she asked him suspiciously. Red XIII
stared at her for a moment, then regretfully said "Yes." Tifa nodded, then got up and got
a beer. She sat back down.
"I think when we know more we should try to find out about it, like go to Midgar
and get some files."
"Tifa!" Red XIII yelled astonised!
"I know, I know, but that thing is out to kill people, I think we should at least know about it
so if we ever need to fight it" she stopped, then looked at Red XIII.
"Do you think were going to be able to raid their headquarters alone? The security has
been upgraded, the guards are much more strong, I'm not saying we couldn't do it, but
it would be hard."
"Well, I say we call up Barret. He's always hated Shinra, we'll see what he thinks. We'll tell
him about what happened, then if he thinks we should, it will be me, you, and him. I don't
think it's wise to let the whole crew know yet, as if we did we would be caught."
"Yes" Red XIII nodded. "Well, I say we get to sleep, its almost 1:00."
"Yes" Tifa replied.
They both went up the ladder, there were three beds there and a couch. Red XIII jumped
onto one of the bed and curled up in a ball as he layed in the middle of it. Tifa looked at
him for a moment and got under the covers. The lights were turned out and Tifa lay
awake for about an hour. Thinking of what would come the next day. She hadn't been
expecting this, and sort of didn't want to tell anyone, just let it go, but she couldn't.
Neither could Red XIII, after seeing that creature, people aren't safe with it running
around free. Eventually, she thought herself to sleep, not knowing about the next
day, not really wanting to know.
out a beer for the woman. The bar didn't get a lot of women, but when it did, they
were usually out of town or some of the older people looking to drink their problems
away. But this woman caught the bar tendor's attention, he eyed her quickly when she
walked in and eyed her more respectively when she sat down. She was clearly large
chested, wearing a small white shirt. Her pants were very short, a little bit higher then
mid thigh length, but not enoug hso that her ass would be hanging out. Her pants were
a normal shade of brown, and they were held by a button pushed through a small hole
in the front. She wore brown boots and had short white socks on. He hair was kind of
a mix of black and brown, and it came down very long, maybe about to her mid back.
She had a cute face, in which the bar tendor was fascinated by. Pretty women like
this don't come along often, he thought.
"Five Gil" the bar tendor said as he slid the mug of beer over to her. She reached in
her pocket and pulled out exactly five gil, and slid it to him. He picked it up greatfully
and put it in the cash register. The bar didn't have many people in it, as it never usually
did, but it had a bit more than usual. Maybe about ten people if you were to count
everyone including the bar tendor. The bar tendor was a small, older man whose hair
began to turn white a while ago. He wore blue overalls and a red shirt. You could see
he was cleary a bit over weight, as the bulge in his overalls was rounded like a
basketball or a beach ball. His hair line was starting to move back, and he was clearly
beginning to go bald. He looked at the woman as she took her first sip of the beer. "So,
what's a pretty woman like you doin in a place like this?" the bar tendor said nervously.
He didn't want to say anything, but he just couldn't pass on this. The woman looked at
him strangely, and replied "Just visiting a friend, you know him as Nanaki." The man
stared for a moment, then remembered her. She was here about a year or two ago,
with a bunch of people. He remembered her a lot more clearly now. "Weren't you here
about a year or two ago? With those guys and that girl?" She looked up at him, and
gave a faint smile, and gave a small reply "Yes." and looked up at the dimly lit light.
"Yes, I remember you now. The name's Joe, nice to meet you!" he held out his hand
in a handshake, but she ignored it. "Tifa" she said faintly and continued to look around the
bar. The bar tendor put his hand down slowly, and turned back to get to work. He could
tell she was either in a bad mood or didn't like being came onto by strangers with white
hair and big stomaches. He went into the back to get more beer for the night. Across
the bar, on the end of the counter, a man sat in, drinking a beer, and observing Tifa. He
was a big man, short black hair, and black clothing. He looked down at his watch for
a moment, and then straight back at Tifa. He seen her turn when the news came on the
TV. "Shinra still stumped on murders around the world" the news reporters said. Tifa
gripped the handle of her mug tightly. The urge to throw it straight at the TV rising. She
had to resist it though, she didn't have the money on her to pay for anything damaged
and she didn't want to give herself a bad reputation in the canyon. But the urge kept
coming, she knew it was probably all lies, as that was all Shinra ever was. A company
set to lie to the public and make themselves look good. Headager and Scarlett were
among of the ones killed. Tifa thought that the new president, who was a fine friend of
Rufus before his death, was behind the killings. He knew all the dirt on Shinra and fed
into it greatly, as he would someday come to control it. Jack Reid was his name, but
he was referred to by everyone as "Dagger", and he had always carried a dagger
with him and was rumored to have killed lots of animals hunting with it. Dagger met
Rufus when they were young, so they grew up together and learned about Shinra
together. Dagger hadn't the least bit interest in Rufus' death, as he knew Rufus
had written that he was to become president if anything ever happened to him,
which Rufus highly doubted would.
Tifa drank the rest of her beer and slowly got up. The man observed her and drank
the rest of his beer too. She walked through the door and closed it. The man quickly
got up and also went through the door. The bar tendor came out with more beer, and
seen Tifa was gone. "Damnit" he said, he wanted to eye her up more, but that
opportunity was gone now. Tifa walked through the main part of Cosmo Canyon,
by the fire place and towards the steps. The man followed slowly behind her, staying
on the edge so he wouldn't be seen by her. But walking very normally so he wouldn't
by suspected of anything. Tifa said goodbye to the gatekeeper as she walked down
the stairs and out of the canyon. The man followed about thirty seconds afterward.
Red XIII sat on the ledge of the first stairs leading up as he looked straight down
towards the entrance of the canyon, and how the man walked out after her. He
didn't like the look of it one bit, but he sat there for a minute, and finally walked
slowly down the stairs onto ground level.
Tifa walked in the direction of NibelHeim. Some activists planted a lot of trees
near the river, and they seemed to grow at the speed of light because there was
now a forest there. Tifa walked toward it, and BAM! Tifa felt a large hit in her back
and she was now on her knees and falling forward onto her face in the mud. She
gave a small screamn and quickly rolled through the mud forward and hoisted
herself up. It was the man from the bar that had followed her, she hadn't even
seen him in the bar, let alone seeing him following her. She put her fists up
and punched him in the face. He stumbled back a bit and then drew his fist
back and drove it straight into her left cheek. The pain was atrocius, and she fell
backwards back into the mud, which was now all over her pants, shirt, face, hair,
and all over her legs. It had rained earlier and was starting to pick up again. Tifa
gave out a loud howl and got herself up. She looked at the man who was now
advancing on her quick and began to run. She usually never ran from a fight but
never in her life had she ever been hit as hard as that! The forest was the only place
left, as she started into it, the man not far behind her. Lucky for her, she could run
really fast due to her long legs, so she was clearly advancing ahead of the man.
Who is he!? Tifa thought quickly as she jumped over a small tree trunk. What does
he want? She was getting carried away in thoughts other than getting away and that
would cost her dearly. She tripped over a small branch that was sticking out and fell.
She scrambled to get back up but slipped in the mud. The moon was brightly seen
through the trees, and she hadn't been this scared since she went up against
Sephiroth with the rest of her crew.
As she slipped again, she felt herself rising now, and a horrible pain in her head. She
was being lifted up backwards by her hair. She screamed but no one was around to hear
it now, as they were deep in the forest. Now it was pouring, and the rain splashed loudly
on the forest. Tifa looked into the man's eyes and seen what looked like an almost
inhuman stare. He looked at her and punched her down. She rolled over and leaned back
on both of her elbows and looked up at him. He looked straight at her and started to come
down on her, but right to Tifa's rescue was Red XIII! She heard a small snarling noise to
the right and saw the man turn. At that moment, the man's head turned, Red XIII was up
in the air, front legs stretched out forward, and his mouth open in a fit of rage. The man
quickly put his head down and ducked a bit, which exposed the back of his neck. But
that was it, as Red XIII went over the man, he managed to get his head down and dig
into the back of the man's neck. Red XIII was still going forward though, and the man's
head came off in a bone chilling RRRIIIIPPP. Red XIII dropped it was fast as he had
torn it off, and it rolled a bit and then stopped, an expression of pain on it. The body
simply fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the hole like a faucet. Red XIII looked
at Tifa, who was now half way up. He walked to her and she simply dropped to her
knees and hugged him around his neck. "Thank You Red XIII!" she exclaimed, just
about crying now, she was very dirty. "Anytime" he said roughly, and she let go of
him and looked at him. "But, you killed him, what are we going to do?" she asked
nervously. Red XIII only looked at her, as a sound was heard behind them. Tifa
got up quickly and Red XIII turned around. The body was now moving, almost
twitching a bit as two long claw looking things came out of the hole where the
head was. The bent down towards the arm and out plummeted a little creature,
about four feet high, long legs, and it has a small head that didn't come above its
shoulders. It's claws were big and very sharp looking, they came out forward and
then bent down again, like an elbow. The creature was mostly black but was very
bloody from the body. The creature looked at Red XIII and Tifa, and gave out a
high, inhuman wail, then strode off very quickly into the forest, away from the two
who had just seen it. Tifa put her hands over her mouth and gave out a loud
shriek. Red XIII was also stunned and instead of a shriek let out a large roar.
What the hell had just happened?
"What, the FUCK, was that!?" Tifa exclaimed loudly. Red XIII stayed silent, as he had
no explanation for it. All he could think about was what had just happened, but he had to
say something soon. "C'mon, let's go back to the canyon." That was the only thing that
had come out of his mouth. It sounded stupid to him, but Tifa greatfully said ok. They
walked slowly, as they were both stunned, and they were both keeping their alert up
high, as if that thing came back, they would either try to kill it or run away. But what had
they just seen? There were surely no records of something like that ever living, Tifa
thought to herself, and even though she didn't know, Red XIII was thinking the same
thing. They got back to the canyon around 11:00 P.M. They were both soaked and all
of the residents were in, except the gatekeeper, who was sitting under a small tent. He
stared at Tifa ad Red XIII surprisingly, and wondered what had happened. He didn't
talk because he thought it would better to not bother them or at least wait until another
time. Red XIII and Tifa went to the top house where Bugenhagen used to live. Tifa sat
down at the table, as did Red XIII. "There's a shower upstairs, go wash up." Without a
word, Tifa nodded and climbed the ladder to the middle platform. Red XIII heard the
shower go on, and he got himself something to drink. Whatever that was, it wasn't
human and wasn't anything he had ever seen before. He though about what would
of happened if he hadn't been there. A small chill went through his body, and his tail
wagged back and forth nervously. Although he wasn't human, Red XIII had a good
handle on things, and learned to do things such as sit down or drink. About a half hour
later, Tifa came down the ladder in a blue robe. Her body was now clean and her hair
still wet. "I also washed my clothes, is it alright if I wear this until they dry?" she asked
him with concern. "Go ahead, it's fine, you don't have to ask for things here" Red XIII
replied warmly. Tifa smiled, she was glad she had a friend like him. Even though
Avalanche broke apart, they still kept in touch, well, some of them anyway. Yuffie
hadn't been the type to be all warm heart and keep in touch, some tried, but she
didn't really care.
"Look Tifa, I don't know what that was, and I don't think you do either. I think we should
just keep quiet about a for a while, until we know more" Red XIII said with such a look of
seriousness on his face it was scary. Tifa nodded. "But, do you think it has anything to do
with Shinra? Ya know, the experiments they do" she asked him suspiciously. Red XIII
stared at her for a moment, then regretfully said "Yes." Tifa nodded, then got up and got
a beer. She sat back down.
"I think when we know more we should try to find out about it, like go to Midgar
and get some files."
"Tifa!" Red XIII yelled astonised!
"I know, I know, but that thing is out to kill people, I think we should at least know about it
so if we ever need to fight it" she stopped, then looked at Red XIII.
"Do you think were going to be able to raid their headquarters alone? The security has
been upgraded, the guards are much more strong, I'm not saying we couldn't do it, but
it would be hard."
"Well, I say we call up Barret. He's always hated Shinra, we'll see what he thinks. We'll tell
him about what happened, then if he thinks we should, it will be me, you, and him. I don't
think it's wise to let the whole crew know yet, as if we did we would be caught."
"Yes" Red XIII nodded. "Well, I say we get to sleep, its almost 1:00."
"Yes" Tifa replied.
They both went up the ladder, there were three beds there and a couch. Red XIII jumped
onto one of the bed and curled up in a ball as he layed in the middle of it. Tifa looked at
him for a moment and got under the covers. The lights were turned out and Tifa lay
awake for about an hour. Thinking of what would come the next day. She hadn't been
expecting this, and sort of didn't want to tell anyone, just let it go, but she couldn't.
Neither could Red XIII, after seeing that creature, people aren't safe with it running
around free. Eventually, she thought herself to sleep, not knowing about the next
day, not really wanting to know.