Everything is Black

Reno Strife

Passing Happiness

Barret Wallace had a one of his rare big goofy smiles upon his face. The reconstruction of North Corel was finally finished.

"Oh yeh, we're gunna throw a party!" the big man bellowed.

It was weird to see Barret even talking about parties.

Tifa Lockheart just looked up at him with her big dark eyes. "Are you sure, Barret... don't you remember the last time you got yourself drunk?" Tifa half joked, half worried. She was always the one that had to do the worrying. Even in the old days of Avalanche and Midgar. She was always the one there as support, the most mature.

While Tifa was in her own little world, Barret was in flashback mode. He remembered being at the new bar here in North Corel. He only wanted one drink... and then another. And another. The last thing could recall was being on his 11th beer, then it was morning, he had a splitting headache, and his clothes were gone.

"Yeh..." Barret said, possibly to himself.

Things had changed a lot since the old team had all been together down in the North Crater. They beat Sephiroth, slayed hordes of monsters, went against all odds, and it was now six months later. It wasn't really a long time. But it was long enough for things to change

Cid went back home to Rocket Town to be with Shera, and of course, he finally married the woman. It sure as hell took him long enough. Yuffie went about her Materia hunting ways, but stationed herself in the Wutai area. Vincent just disappeared, being the sneaky, deadly bastard he is. Red now spends his time in Cosmo Canyon, defending it as his people have done for longer than we know.

And then there was cloud. He seemed to have gone a little insane... or rather more insane. Rumor had it that he was stalking around the forests and villages of the Northern Crater. It was possible he felt Sephiroth might return or some crazy idea like that. It was obvious that Tifa was pained by the blonde headed mercenary's absence.

In unison, Tifa and Barret came out of their dream-like states. Still, both of them had a lot of work that needed to be attended to even with the construction being done with. Barret was named the Mayor of North Corel and there was no way in hell Barret could run a town without the help of Tifa. He could barely take care of himself as it was.

"Well... I need a shower," Barret grunted.

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Draven made long strides across one of the many paths out in the grasslands in the Corel Area. He knew his way around these parts, as he'd soon be moving up into the mountains and closer to North Corel. Last time he was there, the place was a complete dump. Man, was he looking forward to hiring the help of someone that was probably wearing a trash bag as a coat.

Slowly but surely, Draven was getting closer and closer to his destination. His recent battle was still fresh in his mind. The rain, the blood, the death... it all filled his senses and camped out there. It was always like that afterwards. He wasn't sure who the two men were, although he had his suspicions, and why they wanted to stop him... but it was their mistake. When he had a mission, no matter how lame it seemed, he carried it out proficiently.

And this job was one of the more boring ones he received in a while. He was to meet up with a man named Barret, who happened to be an old friend of his boss, and bring him and the legendary group Avalanche back to Midgar. This could have been done over the phone, but instead he was battling his way here. He could have at least got money for a chocobo.

Draven couldn't recall the days when the world was threatened by Meteor. He really couldn't remember much at all during the time he was being experimented on by a well-known psychotic scientist. So, it might be hard to recognize this Barret character, but at least he had a description of him.

As Draven walked and thought about why he even bothered coming all this way, he didn't notice something looming up ahead.

Of course those hunter instincts of his kicked in and he glanced up, noticing the shadow of some long formation. Breaking his train of thought, he stared over at one of the many crazy creations Shinra had come up with when they were in power.

"Hojo was such a crazy fuck." Draven was the master of stating the obvious.

It looked like today's menu had a 9 foot worm with tiny legs and eight eyes for us today.

'Wonderful', Draven thought to himself.

He wouldn't have a problem with killing this creature. It was far from human. It was nothing but a reminder of the pain filled past, like an old wound being reopened.

Draven shrugged, outstretched his arm, and a bolt of lightning came raining down towards this worm shaped fiend. Sadly, he missed by about 10 feet. And he only managed to piss off this creature.

"Damn... that's why they said I should practice," Draven realized.

The creature was faster than he would have imagined it could be. Its tiny legs must have had some real power in them as it scurrying over and stopped just a few feet away from Draven. When he first saw this creature, he didn't notice the stinger protruding from its backside. Now it was very apparent. This was going to be a good fight.

The stinger came down quickly and if it was not for Draven's excellent reflexes, he would have been gutted and served as dinner for the Worm family. Draven rolled out of the way and moved into a one knee position. He then reached behind his back, and withdrew a gun that had already killed one living being this journey. As he aimed, however, the creature reacted quicker than Draven thought possible, and knocked the gun out of his hand with its tail.

Just as things were about to get messy, a loud bang echoed out and suddenly the worm with eight eyes and its cute little legs exploded into a gooey gravy-like substance. Things got messy anyway. Draven was now covered in worm goo, and was more than a little pissed off. He peered over his should and staring back at him was a... interesting character.

This fellow was dressed in a black robe, wore a red cape, and had jet black hair held back with a red bandana. Just by looking at him, Draven could just feel how dangerous this man was. But the most striking thing about this gunman, which he must be... carrying a gun and all, was his brilliant cold red eyes and metallic claw.

"You should be careful around here," the man stated, without any emotion.

"I try," was the reply. "Draven." He offered his hand.

The man, clad in black and red, simply nodded. "Vincent. Vincent Valentine."

The name seemed familiar to Draven, but he shrugged it off. He had places to be, things to do, and most likely more people to kill. "I'd love to stay and chat but I have business elsewhere."

"Likewise," Vincent replied, once more without any feeling showing in his cold stare.

Draven noticed Vincent's inhuman demeanor. But, he was more worried about finding a shower at the moment as some part of the worm creature fell from his spiked mess of hair. Not that he wasn't grateful for the help; he liked the idea of being dinner even less than the smell now radiating off him.

Plus, he still had his mission to attend to.

The two equally dark men both headed their own way.

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Back in North Corel, day had changed into night, the sunset bringing darkness to settle down upon the modest village. A celebration could be heard throughout the silent, empty night. Sounds of laughter and loud drunken songs were carried up by the slight wind.

A stage had been set up in the middle of town and Barret stood proudly behind a podium, his daughter Marlene perched up upon his shoulders. The crowd that gathered began chanting "Speech! Speech!"

Barret cleared his throat which seemed to get the audiences attention. "It's been a hard six months, reconstructing our houses and our lives... but we did it. Now I never been no good at givin' speeches... so all I can say is enjoy yer selves tonight." Barret thought about giving them a long speech, but he decided to cut himself short.

The crowd erupted in applause, not that they had really been paying attention. The last thing they had to be happy about was when meteor was stopped. Then they went back to their hard, dirt lives. But now that they weren't living in tents and when you walked down the street, you wouldn't get a mouthful of dust and grime. Plus, coal was making a come back with the banning of Mako energy.

Barret stepped down from the stage and started walking back towards his house. It was getting late and Marlene needed her sleep. Barret couldn't help himself from getting another one of his goofy grins on, as he saw Tifa smiling. It had been a long time since he last saw that beautiful expression upon her face.

"Dad... are you okay? Your face looks all weird," Marlene said with some concern in her voice.

"Aw... shaddup... yer not ver'y funny! To bed with ya."

Marlene giggled and ran inside, knowing she got her old man good. Barret stood outside and chuckled. Marlene was the only reason he was still alive today, she kept him fighting to survive. He risked his life to save the planet so he could see her grow up and actually have a life. He had fought for other reasons to, for the planet, for Aeris, for his friends... but it was really Marlene that gave him his strength. Although she wasn't really his daughter, he felt like she was. And her happiness made him happy.

Barret's amusement ended abruptly however, as a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Sir!" a high pitched sound squeaked out from behind.

'Great the annoying assistant,' Barret thought to himself

"WHAT is it Morgan? Go enjoy yourself or something!" The big man half shouted, wanting to get rid of his weasel-like assistant.

"There is someone that needs to see you. He looks mean."

Barret turned all the way around and saw who Morgan was talking about. He did look mean.

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The two men stood outside of the Wallace residence, sizing each other up, for what seemed like a few minutes, but in reality was only a few seconds. Draven found who he was looking for.

"Who are you?" Barret asked first, with some hostility in his voice.

"I'm a male, of the human species, but back home they call me Mr. Mysterious, all powerful superhero. What's yours biggie?"

"Heh, real funy'," Barret deliberately moved his gun arm across his chest and over his shoulder.

Draven just shrugged. "I was looking for the leader, not the bodyguard." The dark warrior knew Barret was the man he was looking for, but he wanted to test this guy's patience after his long journey. Plus he got attitude from him first. He damn well deserved to have a little fun.

"Awright, thaz it!" Barret took a step forward, but as always Tifa came out of no where to stop the confrontation.

"Now Barret, that's no way to treat a guest."

"But...!" Before Barret could finish another word, Tifa raised her hand up for him to stop. It was funny to see someone of Tifa's size compared to Barret silencing him. But people just naturally did what Tifa wanted. And the woman looked like she could do some damage herself.

Draven decided to chime in. "Yeah, that's no way to treat a guest!" He then directed his attention to Tifa. "And who might you be, good lady?" He added in the manners as icing on the cake.

Barret fumed.

Tifa just smiled another one of her lovely smiles and replied with, "Tifa... and you must be Draven, I assume.

Draven hid his look of surprise. Was he wearing a name tag? Was this that chick he hooked up with back in Costa Del Sol on the way here? He was dumb for only making her a one night stand, if that was the case, because 'Tifa' was gorgeous. He shouldn't have got so wasted!

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Draven asked, his cool demeanor not slipping up one bit.

"Oh, no. Reeve called us on the PHS. All he said was he had one of his men, which I still assume is you, was coming with a message. And that his name was Draven." Tifa explained.

Now he did wish she was the one night stand. He could have made up some story to the guys back home. He probably still would, but then none of it would have any truth to it. But, he had an image to keep.

"Ah... yeah the boss likes to think we're doing secret missions, so he won't say much on a phone."

Tifa missed Reeve. Although he worked for Shinra pre-meteor, he was truly a good guy. After all, when it came down to it, he was there for the battle against Sephiroth, as Cait Sith of course. He took over the company since the Shinra family line ended with Rufus. He was doing a good job, reforming the company from the inside. The first thing he did as president was ban the production of Mako.

They were all silent for a couple of seconds.

"Well, wat are ya here fo' then?" Barret finally joined back into the conversation, anger subsided.

Draven opened his mouth to reply, probably with another comment to piss the big fellow off, when it hit.

Something exploded.

Author's note

Wow, okay... not much action for this chapter... sorry. I promise a lot more next installment. Im still setting the story up... kinda... the ideas should come to me, I hope. It's late and I only spent 40 minutes on this so there will most likely be mistakes. I got school tomorrow so it's bed for me. Review... If ya want, this story might suck, but you can tell me so. If it doesn't and you have suggestions, or want some kinda character of yours in it, feel free to tell me.