Chapter III: Demons, Half Breeds, And That Cursed Cetra (Sigh)





Nox Seran sat idly by, only halfway listening to what the Shadowlord and the council were saying. The half he was listening to was the Shadowlord, not The Council. The Council seemed to grow a bit muddled after the random epoch or two. Nox Seran was gazing into a crystal ball, which he had magically produced from behind his back. Inside, he could see his favourite person of present time, getting into no good.

"YEAH, BEAT HIM WITH A STICK!" The insane snake demon shouted suddenly, shocking the rest of The Council, and earning himself a cold glance from the shadowlord.

"Nox Seran," The Shadowlord rebuked loudly. "You will NOT watch the events of the living while there are more important things at hand."

Nox Seran gave a pleading look in the shadowlords general direction.

"But its Jarred Rath, my lord! He's got a kid with him!" He exclaimed.

This set the rest of The Council into excited chatter. They all gathered around Nox Seran's crystal ball, looking at the spectacle Jarred was making, commenting on his actions.

"Oooh, There it is! He DOES have a kid with him! And she's a Half Breed as well!"

"What's he gonna do with that pencil? Oooooh, why didn't I think of that?"

"BEAT HIM! BEAT HIM!"

The Shadowlord endured this for a moment or two, and then bellowed out his anger.

"BACK TO YOUR SPOTS, YOU FOOLISH DEMONS!"

The Council responded immediately, and Nox Seran sadly dropped the crystal ball, and watched as it shattered into thousand of small fragment.

"Good," The Shadowlord said, still casting a disapproving glance at Nox Seran. "Now, lets get back to the matter at hand. Kahn has agreed to help the Cetra girl to regain her life, and I must admit that his decision isn't that misguided. JENOVA doesn't deserve a single kill count, even if it was a cursed Cetra. Now, I propose to hold a vote on our action. All those for stopping the revival, say yea."

Four members of the Council raised their hands and said 'yea', while Nox Seran and two other remained silent.

"Now, will all the members against please say yea."

At this, the remaining two members raised their hands in affirmation, but Nox Seran was apparently preoccupied with something else. The Shadowlord glared at the snake Demon.

"What do you stand for, Nox Seran?" The shadowlord asked patiently. Suddenly something came to his attention. "WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE HAND PUPPETS?!" The Shadowlord shouted.

Nox Seran dropped his hand puppets, and snapped to attention.

"Uhm, what hand puppets?" He asked innocently.

"That's it, Lesser Lord Nox Seran! You have mocked The Council for the last time! YOU, by yourself, will stop the revival of the Cetra girl! And keep the casualty to a minimum!"

Nox Seran twisted around, turning his head upside down.

"But that wouldn't be fair." He said insanely. "Or any fun for me."

The Shadowlord sneered, and flicked his hand. Nox Serna vanished suddenly, having been transported to the realm of the living.

"He's going to have lots of fun. He's not going to want to come back by the end of this." The Shadowlord cast a guilty look at the Council, and whipped out a crystal ball. "Who wants to see what Jarred's up to this time?" He asked, chuckling softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nox Seran was plopped down unceremoniously on a mountain peak, overlooking southern coral. It took a moment for the demon to loosen his coils, but when he did he began cursing. The living world wasn't very fun if he couldn't enjoy some wholesome slaughter now and then. Oh well, atleast he would have fun hunting down that Cetra girl, and then reprimanding Kahn for his disgraceful behaviour.

"Stupid Shadowlord!" Nox Seran hissed before slithering on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jarred in question, was clothe 'shopping' in Junon. He needed some nice clothes for the knighting, and Junon was on his way.

Reeve's boat had picked him up from the isles that made up his own personal country, and brought him to Gonaga. From that point Jarred and his companion had travelled to Costa del Sol, stopping at Golden Saucer for an indefinite amount of time. They spent most of their time carousing, and visited the battle centre once or twice, so that Jarred could elaborate on the child's rudimental magical abilities. He had to admit; the child had extreme potential, and at the height of her power would easily surpass him. After the two had finished having fun they continues on to Costa Del Sol. From there, they took another boat to Junon

Now, he was out 'shopping' for suitable clothes for the knighting ceremony.

Of course, with Jarred nothing is hardly the same to normal standards. Jarred's idea of shopping was grabbing everything he could grab, and beat anyone who got in his way into submission with anything handy. It had first come to his attention to do so when he tried to pay for a shirt without any money. After thoroughly denying to give up the shirt, he had been chased outside, leaving a few unconscious security guards behind. It had been great fun, and the young Half Breed solemnly vowed never to pay for anything ever again.

Now, he was running through some shop called 'suits', with the little girl on his shoulder, throwing shoes at anyone who tried stopping them. In his hand was a bag containing a suit for him, a pink dress for his little friend, several other things that they really didn't know was for. The girl flung another shoe at a group of guards. One particular person took a bit longer than the others to react to the little girl's missile, and was struck down by a tennis shoe.

"Good shot!" Jarred complemented, and dashed out the open doors into the streets of Junon.

The little girl beamed.

The two continued down the street for moment, and then ducked into an alley to check out their haul.

"Lesse here," Jarred murmured, rummaging through the bag. "Here's a dress for you. And here's my suit. "

The two looked at their stolen attire, both with a look of certain distaste. Jarred addressed the little girl.

"Do you wanna wear that?" He asked. She shook her head. "Good." And with that he tossed his suit over his shoulder. "C'mon, kid, lets go for another run!"

"Yeah!" The girl shouted, and hopped onto Jarred's shoulder.

"Erm, you have a name, right?"

The child giggled.

"Of course I do, daddy! It's Joan, remember?"

Jarred laughed along with his adopted offspring.

"Ah, yes! Joan, how could I forget!" He laughed, and set off in the direction of a store that looked like it might contain something of his style.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cloud sighed. A week until the ceremony. The hero groaned internally at casting aside his past of blissful fading fame. It had been so nice when he could walk across the street without being met by a crowd. The knighting would set all that off again.

Sigh.

Cid and Barret returned to their hometowns, each to get something or someone to bring to the ceremony.

Tifa sat downstairs, attending the bar. Cloud would be helping her, but his considerate wife had set off a rumour that he was down in Junon escorting Jarred to Midgar. It was smoothly done, and everyone believed it, automatically reasoning that the Half Breed probably wasn't familiar with the territory. It was plausible, and Cloud's immediate absence supported it.

Cloud smiled. Sometimes he was really glad to have Tifa around. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, watcha gonna do, oh great demon lord Kahn?" Aeris asked.

Kahn scowled.

"Don't get smart with me, Cetra. I might decide not to help after all."

Aeris regarded the demon with those innocent eyes of hers.

"Oh, you wouldn't do that! You wanna talk with Vincent too much!" She hugged Kahn.

The demon lord immediately reacted, first by screaming out pitifully in shock, then by wriggling out of her grasp and becoming airborne.

"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU CURSED CETRA!" The demon raged.

Aeris floated to the demon's level.

"But that wouldn't be any fun for either of us, would it?" She said, poking Kahn in the shoulder. The demon hissed in response.

"Don't touch me!" He commanded.

Aeris poked him again.

Kahn scowled.

Poke poke.

"Please stop?" The demon said, obviously trying his level best NOT to destroy anything that had the colour pink on it.

Aeris smiled, and patted him on the head.

"Nope."

Kahn grumbled evil curses in demonic.

"Kahn! You shouldn't say those type of words in front of a woman!"

Kahn Grumbled some more.

"I am NOT!" Aeris said indignantly. Suddenly she shot Kahn a piercing glance. "Oh, your slick. I never saw that coming until now. C'mon, tell me. What are you going to do to help me?"

Kahn laid his clawed hands behind his head, and lay down against a rock.

"Absolutely nothing for the moment." He said, closing his eyes.

"What do yu mean 'nothing'?! Your supposed to be helping me!" Aeris demanded.

Kahn snapped two clawed fingers behind his head, and muttered a few words.

"Silence, Cetra. My spell is taking effect."

Aeris put her hands on her hips.

"What spell? You not even casting any signs, or saying anything! I don't know what you plan to do without Materia anyway."

Kahn opened his eyes briefly.

"Materia? Has your magic deteriorated so much as that you need Materia? Then you would no nothing of true magic." The demons eyes suddenly closed, and his body went limp.

Aeris poked the still demon.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" A hissing voice said inside the flower girls head.

Aeris spun around, trying to locate the source of the sound.

"PLEASE, DON'T. I'VE LEFT MY PHYSICAL FORM IN SEARCH OF SOMETHING MORE APPROPRIATE. TECHNICALLY I'M STILL IMPRISONED HERE." The hissing voice said.

"Uhm, are you in my head?" Aeris asked.

"GOOD HEAVENS, WHAT WOULD I WANT TO BE IN THERE FOR? PROBABLY FILLED WITH GOODNESS AND LOVE AND SUCH FOUL THINGS."

"Well, what ARE you going to do?" Aeris asked, looking around.

Almost as if to answer her, a shadow passed over the flower girl. She slowly looked upwards, to see the biggest gathering of black dragons ever to exist.

"THIS IS THE MAGIC OF THE DEMONS."

The body of Kahn suddenly jolted forward, and the demon gasped for air. Aeris rushed to his side.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU BLASTED CETRA!" The demon shouted.

Aeris put her hands on her hips once again.

"I have a name, you know!"

Kahn pushed himself to his feet, and flapped his massive wings experimentally.

"I know, I just don't plan to use it. I'm not exactly obliged to be helping you. I just need something to do."

"So what are you going to do about them?" Aeris asked, pointing upwards at the flock of dragons.

Kahn followed her finger upward.

"Oh, them."

He pointed south, and bellowed something in the harsh tongue of demons. Immediately, three dragons set off south, bellowing and howling.

"That's what."

Aeris watched the spectacle, then turned her spectral eyes to the rest of the dragons.

"Uhm, what are you going to do with those?" She asked.

Kahn began doing intricate symbols with his hands, and mumbling the strange words of magic. Suddenly, he shot his hands skyward, and a pillar of fire went up, incinerating the flock of dragons.

"They're no longer needed." The demon said coldly, ignoring the look of pure horror on Aeris's face. He put his claws behind his head, and began mumbling the words of control once again. It would take great control to do what he was planning to do. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vincent sighed out his relief when he saw Cid getting READY to go, but not quite gone yet. He was climbing the rope ladder to the Highwind, with Sheila behind him. Vincent eagerly called out to the old pilot.

"Eh, you old coot!" He cried out, immediately taking to the air once again.

Cid looked downwards, but couldn't see anyone there. He turned his gaze upwards, and saw Vincent rushing through the air, cape and black hair billowing out behind him, and nearly slipped down the ladder in surprise.

"Vincent, I thought you'd be halfway to Midgar by now! What's holdin' ya up?" The old pilot asked as soon as he got his purchase on the ladder.

Vincent flew right up to Cid, and grabbed a hold of the rope ladder.

"Yuffie needs a ride. I don't think its safe to go intercontinental with two people. Could we tag a ride with you?" Vincent asked.

Cid smiled well naturedly.

"No prob, my winged friend. We'll be in Midgar in no-time, and then we get to make official asses of ourselves."

Vincent patted Cid's shoulder with his claw.

"I don't think so. When someone's willing to knight a terrorist organisation, then there's bound to be some sort of trap of some kind." Vincent said, and pushed off the rope ladder. He flapped his wings to keep elevated, and began his slow ascent.

No matter how slow he went, or how well he paid attention, Vincent stood no chance of seeing the three black spots that streaked across the horizon, heading southward towards Midgar.