A\N: Sorry this one took so long, I was trying to update my other fics, but
found I like this one better. I'll write this one for while, then I'll
write on the other one for a while, and so on.
Also, I just noticed a frightening resemblance between the saiyans in DBZ and Jarred, so I might poke some fun at that later. Heh, Jarred with blonde hair, hehehe. . .
Chapter V: The knighting approaches
Nox Seran had made it to the coast, near Costa Del Sol. He could even see a few humans splashing around in the water. The snake demon resisted the terrible urge to terrify them with his insanity.
The demon sighed, and slithered out onto the strangely still coastal waters. He muttered a few words in the tongue of demons, and found that the water no longer tried to pull him down. Quite the opposite. Nox Seran found himself that resembled land under a permanent quake spell. The demon struggled to stay upright, but without any feet he soon found that it was REALLY easy for a snake man to fall. The demon's head cracked painfully against the magically stable water.
"I hate the real world." Nox Seran cursed, and pushed himself upwards again.
Above him, he caught a quick glance at a group of dragons flying south. The demon immediately sensed Kahn's magic around them, and put extra effort to follow them.
To follow them straight to Midgar.
Until Nox Seran fell down once again.
"How in the fieriest of hells do those blasted humans live in such a cursed place?!" Nox Seran shouted, and decided just to swim.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cloud donned the final piece of clothing that made up his formal attire. It was a smooth tuxedo, carefully selected from the local clothes shop in Kalm. For some odd reason, Tifa had insisted on braiding his hair into a single ponytail. It looked frighteningly awkward, but Tifa was pleased. Whenever the hero tried taking the braid out, she always stopped him just in time.
"Uhm, when are we goings, Tiffs?" Cloud asked
"When Jarred decides that its about time to get on with the system. We should have been in Midgar by now!" Tifa yelled from the bathroom, where she was hastily STILL putting the finishing touches into her dress. Even after an hour from the time Jarred was SUPPOSED to have come, she was still touching up. Sometimes Cloud really wondered what exactly she was doing in there. . .
"Well, if he isn't here in fifteen minutes we're leaving without him. The Buggy is warmed up and the ceremony is about ready to start, so Reeve says. But I swear to the gods if I end up waiting an hour I'm gonna wring BOTH their necks, Jarred and Reeves!" Cloud said, and began walking downstairs.
As if to defy his threats, there came a loud knock from the door downstairs. Soon after came the familiar voice of Jarred.
"Hallooooooo?! Anybody hoooooommee?"
Cloud suddenly bolted into action, and ran down the stairs.
"'Bout time ya got here." He mumbled, and opened the door. There stood Jarred, with a huge grin plastered on his face, with something that didn't really resemble any formal attire Cloud had seen. It involved a shoulder pad with three spikes on it, a loose blue shirt and pants. Around his middle ran a blue belt, with his hand axe tucked behind him and his crystal dagger jammed through it in front. Cloud didn't quite see the little girl that was hiding behind Jarred, and staring at him with an amazed look on her face.
"Hi!" Jarred said cheerfully, and offered Cloud a hand to shake.
Cloud frowned.
"You DO know we're going to a ceremony, right? Formal clothes?" He asked, looking Jarred up and down once more.
Jarred grinned all the more.
"I can claim racial significance if it helps. I'm technically entitled to that, aren't I? So I can wear whatever I like." He said, and took a step inside the house. Cloud suddenly became aware of the little girl hiding behind Jarred as she just about ran past him. Cloud raised an eyebrow.
~Where'd he get one o' those?~ The hero wondered, and closed the door behind him.
"Feel free to sit down, both of you." He said, and plopped himself down on an armchair. Jarred and his shy little friend sat down on the couch.
There was an awkward silence, and then Cloud hazarded a question.
"Uhm, is she, erm, yours?"
Jarred gave Cloud an inquisitive, completely unknowing look.
"Mine? What do you mean by that?" The black skinned warrior asked, absent- mindedly running a hand through the young girl's hair.
Cloud fidgeted.
"Well, erm, its nothing. . ." He said, immediately breaking off. It was the look of pure questioning on Jarred's face that made Cloud retract his question. It looked like Jarred didn't even know the difference between boys and girls. . .
"No, tell me!" Jarred said, with a grin widening on his face, like a child eagerly trying to find out a secret about one of his elder siblings.
"It's nothing!" Cloud repeated, and swiftly tried to change the subject. "So, what's her name?" He asked, and flashed the little girl a smile. The child cringed, and tried to hide behind Jarred once again. Jarred merely set her down on his lap, and calmly began stroking her hair.
"Go on, Joan, tell him your name." He said calmly, with a somewhat pleading look.
The little girl forced a smile, hopped off Jarred's lap and curtsied.
"Hi! I'm Joan." She said politely.
Now that she was in full view, Cloud got a good look at what she was wearing. It similar to Jarred's attire, but without the shoulder pad and weapons, and her clothes were a light green.
Cloud smiled kindly.
"Hey, Joan!" He said cheerfully, like Jarred had before. "You want some candy?" Joan's attitude immediately changed as Cloud head over to the bar to find what he could for the child.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Jarred said, immediately abandoning his spot, and eagerly swarmed to the bar. "I want candy!"
Cloud grinned.
"Aren't you a bit too old for this stuff?" He asked, handing Joan a small bowl filled with candy.
Jarred glared at Cloud.
"I can blow this place to pieces, y'know." He said menacingly.
Cloud laughed at this.
"You really need the sugar, don't you?" Cloud looked around for another bowl, and eventually came back without anything a few minutes later. "Sorry, no more."
A horrified look spread across Jarred's face.
"N,n,no more?" He asked, slumping forward.
Cloud put a reassuring hand on Jarred's shoulder.
"There'll probably be plenty at the party." Cloud said.
Jarred moved so fast that Cloud found that he was reassuring air as Jarred leapt to get Tifa.
"TIFA!" He yelled. "WE'RE LEAVING NOW!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vincent sat in the cargo hold, along with Yuffie, who was suffering a combined effect of morning AND air sickness. Things were at the very least unpleasant.
"Urrrrgh." Yuffie moaned. "I KNEW we should've taken chocobos."
Vincent put a comforting claw on Yuffie's shoulder.
"It's alright, we'll be in Midgar soon. Besides, we couldn't have taken the Chocobos because it would be bad for the children." He reassured comfortingly.
Yuffie frowned.
"About that, you DO know your never going to touch me ever again, right? There's no way in hell your gonna get me in this condition again."
Vincent almost waited for Chaos's remark, but remembered that the big ebony demon had long ago rejoined its kin.
A mental image of Hate, Malice and Mech-Head came into his mind, and Vincent shuddered. It was a sobering thought to think that the trio of demons were still alive in the demon realm, silently waiting to be returned to the living realms. Vincent shuddered again. He would hate to see what would happen should The Council realize that they could out-vote the Shadowlord. Then again, demons aren't exactly famous for their mind staggering ability to cooperate. They would probably STILL be trying to find out whose fault it was that the demons had become extinct.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Yuffie," Vincent said. "For both our sakes." He added silently to himself.
Yuffie pushed herself upwards, valiantly trying to keep her breakfast down while at the same time fighting to stay up. It was only a matter of time before Vincent had to help her stand.
"Now I know how you felt when you were drunk, minus the drunkenness." The ninja groaned, as they made they're way to the deck.
Vincent pushed the door open, and was greeted immediately by Shera.
"Hey there," The woman said, and smiled at the pair. "Not in the best of moods, hmm?"
Yuffie moaned in response.
Cid turned away from piloting the Highwind for a minute.
"Eh, Get the )&/Q#¤ & off the deck if your sick! I don't wanna have to clean it up again because you found out it's a lot further to the bathroom than you first thought!" The old pilot ordered sternly.
Yuffie reached into a pocket, and pulled out a yellow Materia stone. She reluctantly clutched it in her hand for a minute, then chucked it at Cid with great force.
"O &%&(!!!" Cid cursed, rubbing his arm, where the stone had hit him. "Little "#%/#¤%¤#!"
Yuffie grinned.
"Tch tch, such lanuguge!" She scolded, and hid behind Vincent as it looked like Cid might throw the Materia stone back.
Vincent cast a nervous look behind him.
"Uhm, is that a loose chocobo out there in the cargo hold?" He said conversationally, and carefully began his retreat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seph X walked calmly through the snow village, with his thick cloak and hood draped carefully over him to prevent anyone from identifying him. The Masamune was strapped to his back, an inconvenient place should a battle occur, but necessary to avoid identification. Everyone knew about the Masamune, and their current wielder. People were still distrustful of Seph X, even after the fact became known that he had led many defensive excursions in Midgar. You really couldn't trust the mechanic clone of someone who tried to become a god at everyone else's expense. It was simply unthinkable.
Seph X was in search of something a little less conspicuous than the Massamune, but the weapon store sold neither katanas nor long swords, which was really strange. Eventually he just bought a broadsword, thinking tat he might as well add it to his pathetically small list of weapon proficiencies.
"Only in a backwards country like this." Seph X grumbled angrily, walking away angrily.
The sword he had bought was, in a very literal sense, a VERY broad sword. It stood no hope whatsoever at fitting into a sheath, as it had many sticky- outy bits, which generally added to the damage it gave, but took a GIANT point away for its mobility. There was only two ways it could be carried, in his hands, or strapped to his back.
Cloud's choice of weapons was indeed, VERY confusing. No, that was an overstatement, one that insulted all things that were confusing. It was a freakish choice of weapons.
As Seph X passed the tavern, he caught a glance at something that made him pause.
It was a newspaper stand.
But that wasn't what made him stop. It was a particular picture that made him pause.
It was a picture of all the AVALANCHE, himself and Jarred included, standing in front of the gates of Midgar. Behind them was the trademark pile of metal bodies of the siege, and the Turks and LoS riders. On a side picture was the fractured skull of Mech-Head on a spearhead. Above both were the words 'Knights Of Midgar' in bold letters, with what looked like a lengthily article about the excursions of each hero involved in the siege, except the people who didn't stay around long enough to be interviewed, which included Jarred, Seph X, Yuffie and Vincent.
Seph X hastily reached into a pocket and bought a newspaper. His metallic eyes roamed across the paper with mechanic speed, and it was only a matter of minute before he had read through the entire thing.
Everyone who played a significant role in the Midgar siege was to be knighted. Except, of course, Seph X himself.
The machince angrily crumpled the paper, and set off in the opposite direction.
Towards the south.
Sorry the updates have been slow, but I DO have to do other things than write. AND I have other stories in progress than this one, so creativity is at an all time low.
Uhm, I'd hate to sound whiney, but could someone draw a picture of Jarred of Seph X? Preferably Seph X. I can't draw him to save my life. Thanx!
Also, I just noticed a frightening resemblance between the saiyans in DBZ and Jarred, so I might poke some fun at that later. Heh, Jarred with blonde hair, hehehe. . .
Chapter V: The knighting approaches
Nox Seran had made it to the coast, near Costa Del Sol. He could even see a few humans splashing around in the water. The snake demon resisted the terrible urge to terrify them with his insanity.
The demon sighed, and slithered out onto the strangely still coastal waters. He muttered a few words in the tongue of demons, and found that the water no longer tried to pull him down. Quite the opposite. Nox Seran found himself that resembled land under a permanent quake spell. The demon struggled to stay upright, but without any feet he soon found that it was REALLY easy for a snake man to fall. The demon's head cracked painfully against the magically stable water.
"I hate the real world." Nox Seran cursed, and pushed himself upwards again.
Above him, he caught a quick glance at a group of dragons flying south. The demon immediately sensed Kahn's magic around them, and put extra effort to follow them.
To follow them straight to Midgar.
Until Nox Seran fell down once again.
"How in the fieriest of hells do those blasted humans live in such a cursed place?!" Nox Seran shouted, and decided just to swim.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cloud donned the final piece of clothing that made up his formal attire. It was a smooth tuxedo, carefully selected from the local clothes shop in Kalm. For some odd reason, Tifa had insisted on braiding his hair into a single ponytail. It looked frighteningly awkward, but Tifa was pleased. Whenever the hero tried taking the braid out, she always stopped him just in time.
"Uhm, when are we goings, Tiffs?" Cloud asked
"When Jarred decides that its about time to get on with the system. We should have been in Midgar by now!" Tifa yelled from the bathroom, where she was hastily STILL putting the finishing touches into her dress. Even after an hour from the time Jarred was SUPPOSED to have come, she was still touching up. Sometimes Cloud really wondered what exactly she was doing in there. . .
"Well, if he isn't here in fifteen minutes we're leaving without him. The Buggy is warmed up and the ceremony is about ready to start, so Reeve says. But I swear to the gods if I end up waiting an hour I'm gonna wring BOTH their necks, Jarred and Reeves!" Cloud said, and began walking downstairs.
As if to defy his threats, there came a loud knock from the door downstairs. Soon after came the familiar voice of Jarred.
"Hallooooooo?! Anybody hoooooommee?"
Cloud suddenly bolted into action, and ran down the stairs.
"'Bout time ya got here." He mumbled, and opened the door. There stood Jarred, with a huge grin plastered on his face, with something that didn't really resemble any formal attire Cloud had seen. It involved a shoulder pad with three spikes on it, a loose blue shirt and pants. Around his middle ran a blue belt, with his hand axe tucked behind him and his crystal dagger jammed through it in front. Cloud didn't quite see the little girl that was hiding behind Jarred, and staring at him with an amazed look on her face.
"Hi!" Jarred said cheerfully, and offered Cloud a hand to shake.
Cloud frowned.
"You DO know we're going to a ceremony, right? Formal clothes?" He asked, looking Jarred up and down once more.
Jarred grinned all the more.
"I can claim racial significance if it helps. I'm technically entitled to that, aren't I? So I can wear whatever I like." He said, and took a step inside the house. Cloud suddenly became aware of the little girl hiding behind Jarred as she just about ran past him. Cloud raised an eyebrow.
~Where'd he get one o' those?~ The hero wondered, and closed the door behind him.
"Feel free to sit down, both of you." He said, and plopped himself down on an armchair. Jarred and his shy little friend sat down on the couch.
There was an awkward silence, and then Cloud hazarded a question.
"Uhm, is she, erm, yours?"
Jarred gave Cloud an inquisitive, completely unknowing look.
"Mine? What do you mean by that?" The black skinned warrior asked, absent- mindedly running a hand through the young girl's hair.
Cloud fidgeted.
"Well, erm, its nothing. . ." He said, immediately breaking off. It was the look of pure questioning on Jarred's face that made Cloud retract his question. It looked like Jarred didn't even know the difference between boys and girls. . .
"No, tell me!" Jarred said, with a grin widening on his face, like a child eagerly trying to find out a secret about one of his elder siblings.
"It's nothing!" Cloud repeated, and swiftly tried to change the subject. "So, what's her name?" He asked, and flashed the little girl a smile. The child cringed, and tried to hide behind Jarred once again. Jarred merely set her down on his lap, and calmly began stroking her hair.
"Go on, Joan, tell him your name." He said calmly, with a somewhat pleading look.
The little girl forced a smile, hopped off Jarred's lap and curtsied.
"Hi! I'm Joan." She said politely.
Now that she was in full view, Cloud got a good look at what she was wearing. It similar to Jarred's attire, but without the shoulder pad and weapons, and her clothes were a light green.
Cloud smiled kindly.
"Hey, Joan!" He said cheerfully, like Jarred had before. "You want some candy?" Joan's attitude immediately changed as Cloud head over to the bar to find what he could for the child.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Jarred said, immediately abandoning his spot, and eagerly swarmed to the bar. "I want candy!"
Cloud grinned.
"Aren't you a bit too old for this stuff?" He asked, handing Joan a small bowl filled with candy.
Jarred glared at Cloud.
"I can blow this place to pieces, y'know." He said menacingly.
Cloud laughed at this.
"You really need the sugar, don't you?" Cloud looked around for another bowl, and eventually came back without anything a few minutes later. "Sorry, no more."
A horrified look spread across Jarred's face.
"N,n,no more?" He asked, slumping forward.
Cloud put a reassuring hand on Jarred's shoulder.
"There'll probably be plenty at the party." Cloud said.
Jarred moved so fast that Cloud found that he was reassuring air as Jarred leapt to get Tifa.
"TIFA!" He yelled. "WE'RE LEAVING NOW!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vincent sat in the cargo hold, along with Yuffie, who was suffering a combined effect of morning AND air sickness. Things were at the very least unpleasant.
"Urrrrgh." Yuffie moaned. "I KNEW we should've taken chocobos."
Vincent put a comforting claw on Yuffie's shoulder.
"It's alright, we'll be in Midgar soon. Besides, we couldn't have taken the Chocobos because it would be bad for the children." He reassured comfortingly.
Yuffie frowned.
"About that, you DO know your never going to touch me ever again, right? There's no way in hell your gonna get me in this condition again."
Vincent almost waited for Chaos's remark, but remembered that the big ebony demon had long ago rejoined its kin.
A mental image of Hate, Malice and Mech-Head came into his mind, and Vincent shuddered. It was a sobering thought to think that the trio of demons were still alive in the demon realm, silently waiting to be returned to the living realms. Vincent shuddered again. He would hate to see what would happen should The Council realize that they could out-vote the Shadowlord. Then again, demons aren't exactly famous for their mind staggering ability to cooperate. They would probably STILL be trying to find out whose fault it was that the demons had become extinct.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Yuffie," Vincent said. "For both our sakes." He added silently to himself.
Yuffie pushed herself upwards, valiantly trying to keep her breakfast down while at the same time fighting to stay up. It was only a matter of time before Vincent had to help her stand.
"Now I know how you felt when you were drunk, minus the drunkenness." The ninja groaned, as they made they're way to the deck.
Vincent pushed the door open, and was greeted immediately by Shera.
"Hey there," The woman said, and smiled at the pair. "Not in the best of moods, hmm?"
Yuffie moaned in response.
Cid turned away from piloting the Highwind for a minute.
"Eh, Get the )&/Q#¤ & off the deck if your sick! I don't wanna have to clean it up again because you found out it's a lot further to the bathroom than you first thought!" The old pilot ordered sternly.
Yuffie reached into a pocket, and pulled out a yellow Materia stone. She reluctantly clutched it in her hand for a minute, then chucked it at Cid with great force.
"O &%&(!!!" Cid cursed, rubbing his arm, where the stone had hit him. "Little "#%/#¤%¤#!"
Yuffie grinned.
"Tch tch, such lanuguge!" She scolded, and hid behind Vincent as it looked like Cid might throw the Materia stone back.
Vincent cast a nervous look behind him.
"Uhm, is that a loose chocobo out there in the cargo hold?" He said conversationally, and carefully began his retreat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seph X walked calmly through the snow village, with his thick cloak and hood draped carefully over him to prevent anyone from identifying him. The Masamune was strapped to his back, an inconvenient place should a battle occur, but necessary to avoid identification. Everyone knew about the Masamune, and their current wielder. People were still distrustful of Seph X, even after the fact became known that he had led many defensive excursions in Midgar. You really couldn't trust the mechanic clone of someone who tried to become a god at everyone else's expense. It was simply unthinkable.
Seph X was in search of something a little less conspicuous than the Massamune, but the weapon store sold neither katanas nor long swords, which was really strange. Eventually he just bought a broadsword, thinking tat he might as well add it to his pathetically small list of weapon proficiencies.
"Only in a backwards country like this." Seph X grumbled angrily, walking away angrily.
The sword he had bought was, in a very literal sense, a VERY broad sword. It stood no hope whatsoever at fitting into a sheath, as it had many sticky- outy bits, which generally added to the damage it gave, but took a GIANT point away for its mobility. There was only two ways it could be carried, in his hands, or strapped to his back.
Cloud's choice of weapons was indeed, VERY confusing. No, that was an overstatement, one that insulted all things that were confusing. It was a freakish choice of weapons.
As Seph X passed the tavern, he caught a glance at something that made him pause.
It was a newspaper stand.
But that wasn't what made him stop. It was a particular picture that made him pause.
It was a picture of all the AVALANCHE, himself and Jarred included, standing in front of the gates of Midgar. Behind them was the trademark pile of metal bodies of the siege, and the Turks and LoS riders. On a side picture was the fractured skull of Mech-Head on a spearhead. Above both were the words 'Knights Of Midgar' in bold letters, with what looked like a lengthily article about the excursions of each hero involved in the siege, except the people who didn't stay around long enough to be interviewed, which included Jarred, Seph X, Yuffie and Vincent.
Seph X hastily reached into a pocket and bought a newspaper. His metallic eyes roamed across the paper with mechanic speed, and it was only a matter of minute before he had read through the entire thing.
Everyone who played a significant role in the Midgar siege was to be knighted. Except, of course, Seph X himself.
The machince angrily crumpled the paper, and set off in the opposite direction.
Towards the south.
Sorry the updates have been slow, but I DO have to do other things than write. AND I have other stories in progress than this one, so creativity is at an all time low.
Uhm, I'd hate to sound whiney, but could someone draw a picture of Jarred of Seph X? Preferably Seph X. I can't draw him to save my life. Thanx!
