Not much to say today...
DISCLAIMER: Okay, you all know I don't own it

Chapter Three: Lockheart




Tifa frowned. This was getting ridiculous. She and Cid had been searching the Sleeping Forest for a while now, but of course, without the Lunar Harp, it was hard to get very far. They now sat in Bone Village, exhausted, but still worried. Cloud had been missing since he left Tifa behind in Bone Village to go into the Sleeping Forest. She was still angry about that, but could do nothing about the past.
Cid, sitting next to Tifa, sighed.
"This is stupid. I'm going to bed. You coming?"
Tifa looked up to him as he stood.
"Nah…I'm going back in to look for him."
"Oh c'mon…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Swearing as he saw that it was empty, he shoved it back into his pocket as a reminder to buy another pack. He looked back to Tifa. "We already looked for him enough! He'll turn up soon…I'm sure he found something interesting. Maybe he found enough money to pay for the damn repairs for the Highwind. It's nighttime anyway. It's too dangerous for you to be out and about in the forest."
Tifa's ruby eyes trailed over to the entrance of the forest, thinking of Cloud. She also thought of Aeris for a quick second as she peered further into the forest. She felt drowsy for a moment before she heard Cid yell, "Hey Tifa! Move it!"
Tifa snapped back into reality and looked down at her legs. She shrieked as she saw shadows climbing up her legs. She swatted at them but as she did, the shadows grabbed at her hands, eating her up faster. Cid looked around for something to pull her away with, but found nothing, so he bravely grabbed her arms and tried his best to pull her away. The shadows also pulled, and Tifa thought she was going to be ripped in half, but soon, she would feel nothing. For the shadows retaliated against Cid, knocking him back. Tifa yelled his name to make sure that he was all right but she wasn't sure he could hear her–she couldn't hear herself. The shadows had already crawled up to her neck.
"Cloud!!" she yelled as loud as she could. She wanted him to hear her, wherever he was. She yelled his name again before the shadows came up and over her eyes.
Please don't worry Tifa…I only want you to help him, came a voice inside of Tifa's head. It was a familiar voice…feminine and pretty. The voice cooed again and Tifa closed her eyes–that is, if they were open in the first place.
As far as she was concerned, she was simply floating. She felt weightless and there was darkness all around her, but with her comforting words, Tifa felt no worries. However, the soft voice was soon cut out as Tifa heard a sinister, familiar laugh.
"Still trying to reach him?"
Tifa whirled around but saw nothing. She looked all around, wanting to know if that voice really belonged to who she thought it was.
"I can't have you interfering," continued the voice. "And even if you do help him, you'll only delay the inevitable."
And he appeared before her. She gasped as she looked into the face of the man who killed her father, burned her hometown, and killed Aeris.
Sephiroth.
"You're…you're dead!" Tifa yelled, confused as to what the hell was going on. Sephiroth simply nodded. She yelled in continuance, "So how the hell can you be speaking to me?"
He laughed coldly and answered, "Where do you think you are?"
Tifa was at first confused at that but then she felt something under her feet. She looked down to see her feet on a tombstone and then gasped as scenery appeared around her–a graveyard with a huge full moon looming overhead and off to her right was a hill that curled over like an abnormally long fingernail. She gasped as Sephiroth grinned and put his hand to her face.
"Welcome…to hell."

Cloud sat on the wooden fence that separated one part of the large cemetery from another, thinking. What could Sephiroth possibly be looking for? he thought over and over in his mind. He looked up toward the east for a quick second where he thought he felt a strange presence. He never was able to look into it, for Jack walked to him.
"Well, according to the ghosts keeping an eye on the manor, he's not inside. That means he could be around any of the graveyards…Shall we look?" he asked, gazing out toward all of the many graveyards. Cloud nodded.
"The faster I can kill him, the faster I can go home, right?"
Jack nodded.
"I believe so."
Cloud jumped off of the fence and landed softly, his wing losing one feather. He watched as it floated to the ground, remembering something.
"You're sure I can go home?" he asked, his mind on his friends. Jack put one bony finger to his chin.
"I'm pretty sure. Sally wouldn't have asked for your help if she couldn't bring you back."
"Let's hope so…I've got–"
Cloud was interrupted by a holler of disgust to his and Jack's left. The two looked on as four vampires sped to Jack, each one holding a beautiful red rose in their tiny hands like it was a dirty diaper. Jack looked from them to the roses, then back up to their faces.
"What's the problem?" he asked. They shook the flowers in his face.
"This! It's…hiiiiiiiideous!!!" yelled the tallest.
"The rose?" asked Cloud, confused. The widest shuddered.
"These things have names?!"
"Why don't you just leave them with me?" replied Jack, trying to calm them down. "I'll give them to the doctor to analyze."
They seemed fine with that idea, so they each dropped the flowers into Jack's awaiting hands and then glided off, each one chattering about the roses. Jack looked to Cloud, offering them to him. Cloud picked one and looked at it.
"What's their problem?" he asked, looking to Jack. Jack sighed and twirled one of the roses, gazing at it.
"Though Sally and I don't mind it, the other citizens hate these flowers and rather the weeds or dead flowers around…that's why that other ghost is a problem…"
Cloud shrugged, tucked the flower into the deep pocket of his pants, and looked to Jack. Jack nodded and they headed off into the cemetery.

Tifa jumped back, already bleeding from various wounds and weakened by it. Her barriers had long since fallen and she was running out of enough stamina to use any magic. And she was running out of Ethers to replenish her stamina, or MP–Magic Power, and she didn't know how much longer she would last against him–Sephiroth. His blade could reach her from further away and because her fists and feet were her only weapons, she had to get in close, which was very hard with his speed and malice.
"Give it up," Sephiroth commanded as he raised his sword to strike again. She was now hiding from him, sitting low against the tombstone. She had beaten him before–but she wasn't alone. She had Cloud with her…She held back a scream as Sephiroth's Masamune blade cut through one of the gravestones, slicing it right in half. As it felt it crumbled loudly into countless pieces. He spoke once again, "If you continue to hide, I'll eventually find you and slice you in half. Do you want that? You'll never see him again. You should give up and show yourself."
As he sliced through another tombstone, she quickly moved behind a larger one, pressing her back up against it, trying to keep her eyes on his position. She knew that if she showed herself, he'd kill her anyway. She winced as he sliced through three more tombstones in one swing, telling her once again to show herself. She looked at her last Ether and pulled out the top and swallowed it. Maybe she could cast something to keep him busy as she ran away…She hopped up, her finger on a bright green ball in her glove. The ball was called Materia, the very thing that held magic of the Planet within it. Casting this magic took Magic Power, or stamina, and Ethers replenished Magic Power by a bit, thus enabling Tifa to cast a few more spells…
"Ultima!" she yelled as she concentrated on the energy in the Materia. Sephiroth looked to her before a flash of green came before his eyes and he felt his body clench up as the magic of the ultimate spell did its work. Tifa ran as fast as she could away from him, her hair billowing in the rush behind her, having come out of its ponytail. Sephiroth grinned as he brushed off the attack and jumped up, landing in front of her. She tried to run away again but he grabbed her by the hair and held her close to him, grinning at something in the distance as he threatened her with his blade up to her neck.
The 'something in the distance' was, of course, Cloud, who glared forward. Tifa saw him too and yelled his name, fear pouring out of her face, her tears doing the same from her eyes. Jack balled his bony hands into fists as the two ran toward Sephiroth, Cloud drawing his huge sword as they did. He yelled out Sephiroth's name in pure anger and hatred.
"Cloud!!" yelled Tifa before Sephiroth twisted her wrists back. Jack halted and watched as Cloud jumped up, his blade raised as if to strike. The skeleton reached a bony hand out to him.
"You might hit the girl!!!" he warned loudly. Cloud heard him and looked down at Tifa, finally noticing why Sephiroth hadn't killed her. He was using her as a shield so Cloud wouldn't be able to even touch him. Cloud was worried that it would be too late. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as he looked down at her with worry and fear that he was going to slay her thanks to his reckless actions, and she was looking up at him, scared of just about everything that was going on. For a moment, it seemed that Sephiroth would actually get his way…
But almost instinctively, Cloud's long black wing started to flap and he hovered as he stared forward. He realized what was going on and stopped flapping it, dropping to the ground and landing softly on his feet in a crouched position.
Tifa, who hadn't even noticed the wing, was breathless as a feather floated by her pretty face.
"You haven't won yet, Sephiroth," spat Cloud as he stood, his sword ready again. Sephiroth pushed Tifa to the side fiercely, causing the girl to graze against the ground before coming to a stop, her head a mere foot away from hitting a gravestone. Cloud looked to her quick and then back to Sephiroth.
"Why have you come here?" he asked, wanting answers, and wanting them NOW. Sephiroth waved his blade around as Cloud backed up slightly, thanks to the intense madness in Sephiroth's eyes.
"Do you not understand? It is here…"
"What is?!"
Sephiroth simply looked up to the sky, raising his arms, and laughing like the mad man he was. His wing, which had been hanging menacingly, started to flap and glyphs appeared both above him and below his dark boots. The one at his feet slowly started to rise as the one above him lowered, causing whatever part of him they went past to disappear. As the glyphs collided, there was a bright flash, and he was completely gone, yet his horrendous laughter still echoed in their minds.
Cloud, deeming it safe, threw his sword down and ran to Tifa, kneeling at her side. She smiled to him and sat up, looking quickly as Jack ran lankly over.
"Are you all right?" Cloud asked. Tifa nodded and looked at her hand, which had on a glove with blades attached to it, and rubbed one of the green Materia she had equipped to the glove–correctly called a claw, or in this case, her weapon's name was the Premium Heart. She concentrated a bit before saying the name of the spell to cast it.
"Curaga!" ((And I know in FF7 it's simply Cure3 but Curaga sounds cooler >P))
She felt her wounds close up as a soothing green aura wrapped itself around her body. After she felt her strength returning, she looked to Cloud happily.
"I'm so glad I found you!"
Her face then turned into a frown and she grabbed his cheek lightly.
"It's been nearly a day. Let's go home!!"
Cloud swatted at her hand and then rubbed at his now red cheek after she let go. He gestured to Jack and explained, "Well, we can't just leave. These people are in danger because of Sephiroth. I can't just leave them now. And…whatever the hell he's searching for, it can't be good."
"Hell? He said this was hell," replied Tifa dryly. Jack frowned.
"It most certainly is not!"
"Oh, sorry Teef," Cloud said, saying her occasional nickname, "this is Jack. Jack, this is Tifa. We've been…friends since childhood."
Tifa nodded to the skeleton and when he offered his hand to her, she grasped it and shook it happily. Cloud smiled and then looked back toward his sword. He got up and walked toward it, but halted as he was held back. He looked behind him to see Tifa tugging on his wing. She gazed up to him, looking confused.
"Is it real?"
Jack laughed.
"Looks like we have some explaining to do…"



Well I finally got it out. I should throw Vincent in here too 'cause he's all like…vamp-ish. Maybe not… ANYWAY Tifa is kewwwwwwwl so POO on Anti-Tifa people 'cause they piss me off. Oh…and Jack has to be a fighter person thing…what would be his weapon? I know! He could have a…STICK. …I'm kind of in a weird mood, so I'm gonna go. Bai now!! ::bows and runs away::