Chapter VII: At The Ceremony
"What in the hell is THAT?!" Cid bellowed, staring at Nox Seran. The snake demon grinned evilly.
"What would you prefer?" It hissed.
Vincent hushed the demon, and looked at Cid.
"A demon." He said simply. Cid cursed and began reaching for his spear. "But he is quite harmless. Just a little, uhm, eccentric." Vincent assured.
Nox Seran turned his head to Vincent.
"Eccentric?"
Vincent looked at the demon warningly. Nox Seran returned the look. And then burst into laughter.
"Eeheehee, Humans are so funny!" He giggled.
Vincent gestured to the laughing demon.
"See?"
Cid approached Nox Seran carefully.
"Do you like to kill things?" He asked.
"Do you?" He countered between giggle fits. Cid shook his head, muttering something about a 'basket case'.
"What do you want to do in Midgar?"
Nox Seran tensed up slightly, actually stopping his laughter.
"That, my human friend, is not for you to know. But I CAN say that I'm going to stop something very unpleasant."
Cid gave the demon an odd look, realising that the demon had skilfully NOT answered any of his questions. He sighed.
"How much damage can you cause?" He asked wearily, putting a hand to his forehead. He had been struck down with a headache somewhere along the lines of this conversation.
Nox Seran laughed evilly.
"I can become your conscience." He said insanely.
Cid sighed again.
"He's your responsibility, Vincent. If he blows up Midgar behind everyone's back then I'm pointing the finger at you." He warned, and began steering towards Midgar.
Nox Seran frowned as Cid closed the door to the deck.
"He wasn't very fun, was he, Valentine?"
Vincent shook his head.
"Your not supposed to be here, Nox. It's breaking demon lore. I know, Kahn told me." Vincent said. "If you want MY trust you will have to tell me your mission." Vincent ruffled his black wings against something. He looked behind him to see a very sick Yuffie.
"Ooohh. . ." She moaned.
Vincent circled a claw around Yuffie, and put his other hand under her so that he could lift her.
"IT'S THE KISARAGI!" Nox Seran said with a ecstatic look on his face. "CAN I HAVE HER AUTOGRAPH?!" The demon asked, magically conjuring a pen and a piece of paper.
"What?" Vincent said with a bemused look on his face. "What are you talking about?"
"THE KISARAGI!" Nox Seran repeated, pointing at Yuffie, who was looking at the snake-demon very curiously. "She's my idol, next to Jarred, that is! Can I PLEASE have her autograph?! The others will be SO jealous when I get back!" The demon ranted, eagerly pushing the pen into Yuffie's hands. "Please?" He pleaded.
Yuffie looked at the demon, who was quickly assuming 'puppy dog' eyes and a quivering lip. She moaned.
"Vinnie?" She asked.
"Yes dear?"
"Why is the snake-thing asking for my autograph?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It stood at the gates of Midgar. It is an 'It' because, despite having the FORM of a human, you could tell almost immediately that it wasn't. It was. . . Different. You just KNEW it wasn't human.
It wore a long, flowing black trench coat, which blew even at the slightest change of wind. On top of its head, it wore a smooth, circular hat, which viewed from above blocked off a view of its face. On it left shoulder it wore a platinum shoulder guard, with a long cape flowing out from underneath. Long, blue hair streaked out from the hat, blowing along with the trench coat. But the most noticeable feature about it was the burning red eyes it bore, shrouded by the long clothing it wore. A fiery red that seemed to burn with fury.
It was joined by two others, similarly dressed, but each with its own unique difference.
One had glowing blue eyes, and its trench coat was ragged and torn. Its hands were slender, and clawed. The coat barely touched the ground, but it really wasn't necessary anyway. The wearer's feet weren't even touching the ground. Its face was a mass of scars, all having probably acquired in battle long ago. The terrible face twisted into a cruel smile, where its terrible, fang-like teeth could be seen. A spiky mass of indigo served as hair for this apparition, who obviously didn't care much for appearances.
The third stood taller than the other two, nearly by five inches. A bang dropped over its right eye, which was an inky black. The rest of the hair was, predictably, blue and long. A massively long sword was strapped onto its back, a slender blade that must have been longer than the user itself. At the base of the sword were intricate runes, shimmering darkly in the evening light.
"He is not here." It thing with the red eyes said simply, flashing an irritated glance northwards.
The one with blue eyes looked around.
"His scent is here. He had been here before, not long ago. Perhaps he will return?"
The third sniffed the air deeply, and thoughtfully looked upwards.
"HE IS HERE." It said into the others minds. The two looked at him with slight surprise, but kept their cool. This type of thing was normal. "HE IS INSIDE MIDGAR."
The first one laughed.
"Why would he be in Midgar? We all know HATES Midgar!" It said.
"SILENCE! DO YOU WISH TO ANSWER TO *HER* WHEN WE RETURN WITH OUT THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS?"
The black eyed drew its blade, and swung it almost carelessly in the general direction of the red eyed thing.
"OR WOULD YOU PREFER TO CONTROL OF THIS OPERATION? I AM *ALWAYS* READY TAKE A CHALLENGE FROM ANYONE."
The other two shivered, and backed off.
"No, master. We do not wish to challenge you." They said in near unison.
There was a nervous silence among the group. Then finally the blue eyed thing spoke.
"Why are we going to capture our own Prince Of Darkness, by the way? Shouldn't we be ENCOURAGING him to destroy this city?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jarred walked into the ball room in with Joan perched on his shoulder. People took a very long time to stop staring at him, and the young warrior was thrilled that he had thrown away those HIDEOUS clothes he had stolen before. He was following Cloud and Tifa for the moment, but once he found something more interesting he was going to abandon them to the weird people in funny clothes that spoke strangely. Yes, the moment when he could cause the most confusion he wouldn't hesitate. Joan was perched on his shoulder, with a broad grin stamped on her face.
"Where's the food?" Jarred whispered secretively, smiling at someone trying to talk to him.
Joan craned her neck upward, searching the room. After a second or to she stopped looking.
"To d' left, daddy." She whispered back.
Jarred imeediatly turned left, and abandoned Cloud and Tifa. Food had presented itself to the pair, and they were going to assault it with a will that few possessed. Jarred put his hand on his daggers hilt, just in case things got ugly, or someone tried sneaking in front of him. The young half- Breed pushed through the crouds, with a smile glued to his face.
He pushed a woman lightly out of his way, and wedged between a conversing pair of women to reach the prize that was now in sight; A monopoly on an entire table of food.
Then, just as it seemed that he would be able to get his hands on a plate and empty the entire table, Reeve appeared.
"Ah, hello Jarred." The president said, smiling politely at the Half-Breed.
Jarred wasn't really in the mood for talking. More like feeding himself with foods that contained as much sugar as possible.
"Hello Reeve, g'bye Reeve." He said swiftly, and tried sneaky around Reeve. But the president of Midgar wasn't so easily deterred.
"What's the rush? Don't you even want to see the date I provided you with tonight?" he asked, with a slightly annoyed look on his face.
Cloud suddenly appeared behind Reeve.
"A date? You fixed Jarred up with somebody?" The hero asked, pulling Tifa away from a conversation so she could listen as well. Jarred felt suddenly very afraid. Like a small fish in a sea of sharks.
"Uhm, yeah, Uh, err. . ." Fear, Jarred realised, was NOT a good thing. "Yes." He said meekly.
Reeve smiled.
"She should be here soon. I'm afraid I surprised her a bit when I asked her to be your female escort." Cloud gasped, Tifa held a hand to her mouth, and if it were possible for people with ark grey skin to blush then Jarred would be flaming red. "I'm soory, did I say something wrong?" Reeve asked.
A grin climbed up Cloud's face.
"So, Jarred, you HAVE discovered women?" He said slyly.
Jarred in question, who was trying for all he was worth to run away, didn't have the foggiest idea what Cloud was talking about.
"Discovered what? They aren't that different from guys." This earned him a funny glance from every woman in hearing range. Jarred cringed. He knew he should've just stayed on his islands. They were nice and warm, and no blasted humans were there.
Cloud saw that questioning look in Jarred's eyes again, and was thrown into doubt once again. Did or didn't Jarred know about the birds and the bees?
"Reeve! Why didn't you tell me earlier that you wanted me to go out- oh!" A female voice said through the seething masses of people. Elena suddenly appeared in a dress next to Jarred.
Reeve smiled, and politely gestured to Elena.
"Jarred, your date for tonight." Jarred's eyes went wide, and a slight choking sound escaped his mouth. During his brief, usually rushed encounters with Elena, he had never had the chance to get a good look at her. Now he could, and it was a little unnerving.
"H, h, hello." He stammered nervously.
Cloud was trying his best to strop himself from laughing. Tifa smacked the spiky headed swordsman soundly, and smiled at Elena and Jarred. Reeve smiled as well.
"Well, we're going to go prepare the final touches of the ceremony, so have a nice time!" Tifa said, abandoning Jarred with Elena.
A fearful whimper escaped Jarred as Elena wrapped an arm around his, and he became suddenly aware that wasn't going to be able to have as much fun as he had hoped. Not with a GIRL to hold him down. No he would have to be polite, and stuff. . .
Jarred whimpered again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kahn!" Aeris yelled, shaking the demon's shoulder. The spectral girl was beginning to become anxious for her demonic help, as he seemed to be inert for hours. It was unnerving to stare at a non-breathing demon for great lengths. The demon shot forward and pushed Aeris away.
"Back off, planet wench!" He cursed, brushing away were the young girl had touched him.
Aeris sighed, and poked Kahn on the shoulder, purposely annoying him.
"How are things going?" She asked.
Kahn grumbled, and pushed himself to his feet. After a moment or two of walking funny he realized his foot was asleep. The demon cursed, being unused to this sort of thing. It had been eons since he had felt the force gravity, and his body wasn't taking to it very well yet. Oh well, in twenty years he would be able to leave this crater, and use his knowledge of magic amongst humans.
"The dragons are in place. They know they have to wait for me to coordinate them, but dragons aren't renowned for their intelligence. I might have to return shortly to make sure they aren't provoked by a child making faces at them."
Aeris giggled. Kahn regarded her with what he guessed to be a funny look.
"What's so funny?" He asked, shaking life back into his leg. He sighed contentedly as the blood began coursing again.
Aeris giggled gain.
Kahn was beginning to get a little angry now. He hadn't been raised to be laughed at, especially not by a Cetra.
"WHAT'S SO BLASTED FUNNY, YOU FOOLISH CETRA GIRL?!" The demon roared, making nearby rocks shudder. Aeris, naturally stopped laughing. "This is deathly serious business, Cetra. By contacting me you have risked your immortal soul. Should the Council act and send an agent, and should that agent get his hands on you then you will be unable to return to the planet." Kahn warned. "The best you could hope for would be assimilation. Immediate death for me."
Aeris suddenly went very serious.
"What do you mean, 'unable to return to planet'? I'm a CETRA! I'm SUPPOSED to return!"
"Exactly!" Kahn spat, and flapped his wings. "You were supposed to return to the planet! Yuffie was supposed to be caught by Jazac Na! Hate was supposed to take over!"
Aeris frowned.
"That doesn't make sense." She said. "They're AVALANCHE, the warriors of the planet. They're supposed to live."
Kahn sneered.
"Come back to me when you're alive. I'm going to have fun teaching you a few things about the planet. . ." He muttered darkly, and went back to monitoring his dragons.
"What in the hell is THAT?!" Cid bellowed, staring at Nox Seran. The snake demon grinned evilly.
"What would you prefer?" It hissed.
Vincent hushed the demon, and looked at Cid.
"A demon." He said simply. Cid cursed and began reaching for his spear. "But he is quite harmless. Just a little, uhm, eccentric." Vincent assured.
Nox Seran turned his head to Vincent.
"Eccentric?"
Vincent looked at the demon warningly. Nox Seran returned the look. And then burst into laughter.
"Eeheehee, Humans are so funny!" He giggled.
Vincent gestured to the laughing demon.
"See?"
Cid approached Nox Seran carefully.
"Do you like to kill things?" He asked.
"Do you?" He countered between giggle fits. Cid shook his head, muttering something about a 'basket case'.
"What do you want to do in Midgar?"
Nox Seran tensed up slightly, actually stopping his laughter.
"That, my human friend, is not for you to know. But I CAN say that I'm going to stop something very unpleasant."
Cid gave the demon an odd look, realising that the demon had skilfully NOT answered any of his questions. He sighed.
"How much damage can you cause?" He asked wearily, putting a hand to his forehead. He had been struck down with a headache somewhere along the lines of this conversation.
Nox Seran laughed evilly.
"I can become your conscience." He said insanely.
Cid sighed again.
"He's your responsibility, Vincent. If he blows up Midgar behind everyone's back then I'm pointing the finger at you." He warned, and began steering towards Midgar.
Nox Seran frowned as Cid closed the door to the deck.
"He wasn't very fun, was he, Valentine?"
Vincent shook his head.
"Your not supposed to be here, Nox. It's breaking demon lore. I know, Kahn told me." Vincent said. "If you want MY trust you will have to tell me your mission." Vincent ruffled his black wings against something. He looked behind him to see a very sick Yuffie.
"Ooohh. . ." She moaned.
Vincent circled a claw around Yuffie, and put his other hand under her so that he could lift her.
"IT'S THE KISARAGI!" Nox Seran said with a ecstatic look on his face. "CAN I HAVE HER AUTOGRAPH?!" The demon asked, magically conjuring a pen and a piece of paper.
"What?" Vincent said with a bemused look on his face. "What are you talking about?"
"THE KISARAGI!" Nox Seran repeated, pointing at Yuffie, who was looking at the snake-demon very curiously. "She's my idol, next to Jarred, that is! Can I PLEASE have her autograph?! The others will be SO jealous when I get back!" The demon ranted, eagerly pushing the pen into Yuffie's hands. "Please?" He pleaded.
Yuffie looked at the demon, who was quickly assuming 'puppy dog' eyes and a quivering lip. She moaned.
"Vinnie?" She asked.
"Yes dear?"
"Why is the snake-thing asking for my autograph?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It stood at the gates of Midgar. It is an 'It' because, despite having the FORM of a human, you could tell almost immediately that it wasn't. It was. . . Different. You just KNEW it wasn't human.
It wore a long, flowing black trench coat, which blew even at the slightest change of wind. On top of its head, it wore a smooth, circular hat, which viewed from above blocked off a view of its face. On it left shoulder it wore a platinum shoulder guard, with a long cape flowing out from underneath. Long, blue hair streaked out from the hat, blowing along with the trench coat. But the most noticeable feature about it was the burning red eyes it bore, shrouded by the long clothing it wore. A fiery red that seemed to burn with fury.
It was joined by two others, similarly dressed, but each with its own unique difference.
One had glowing blue eyes, and its trench coat was ragged and torn. Its hands were slender, and clawed. The coat barely touched the ground, but it really wasn't necessary anyway. The wearer's feet weren't even touching the ground. Its face was a mass of scars, all having probably acquired in battle long ago. The terrible face twisted into a cruel smile, where its terrible, fang-like teeth could be seen. A spiky mass of indigo served as hair for this apparition, who obviously didn't care much for appearances.
The third stood taller than the other two, nearly by five inches. A bang dropped over its right eye, which was an inky black. The rest of the hair was, predictably, blue and long. A massively long sword was strapped onto its back, a slender blade that must have been longer than the user itself. At the base of the sword were intricate runes, shimmering darkly in the evening light.
"He is not here." It thing with the red eyes said simply, flashing an irritated glance northwards.
The one with blue eyes looked around.
"His scent is here. He had been here before, not long ago. Perhaps he will return?"
The third sniffed the air deeply, and thoughtfully looked upwards.
"HE IS HERE." It said into the others minds. The two looked at him with slight surprise, but kept their cool. This type of thing was normal. "HE IS INSIDE MIDGAR."
The first one laughed.
"Why would he be in Midgar? We all know HATES Midgar!" It said.
"SILENCE! DO YOU WISH TO ANSWER TO *HER* WHEN WE RETURN WITH OUT THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS?"
The black eyed drew its blade, and swung it almost carelessly in the general direction of the red eyed thing.
"OR WOULD YOU PREFER TO CONTROL OF THIS OPERATION? I AM *ALWAYS* READY TAKE A CHALLENGE FROM ANYONE."
The other two shivered, and backed off.
"No, master. We do not wish to challenge you." They said in near unison.
There was a nervous silence among the group. Then finally the blue eyed thing spoke.
"Why are we going to capture our own Prince Of Darkness, by the way? Shouldn't we be ENCOURAGING him to destroy this city?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jarred walked into the ball room in with Joan perched on his shoulder. People took a very long time to stop staring at him, and the young warrior was thrilled that he had thrown away those HIDEOUS clothes he had stolen before. He was following Cloud and Tifa for the moment, but once he found something more interesting he was going to abandon them to the weird people in funny clothes that spoke strangely. Yes, the moment when he could cause the most confusion he wouldn't hesitate. Joan was perched on his shoulder, with a broad grin stamped on her face.
"Where's the food?" Jarred whispered secretively, smiling at someone trying to talk to him.
Joan craned her neck upward, searching the room. After a second or to she stopped looking.
"To d' left, daddy." She whispered back.
Jarred imeediatly turned left, and abandoned Cloud and Tifa. Food had presented itself to the pair, and they were going to assault it with a will that few possessed. Jarred put his hand on his daggers hilt, just in case things got ugly, or someone tried sneaking in front of him. The young half- Breed pushed through the crouds, with a smile glued to his face.
He pushed a woman lightly out of his way, and wedged between a conversing pair of women to reach the prize that was now in sight; A monopoly on an entire table of food.
Then, just as it seemed that he would be able to get his hands on a plate and empty the entire table, Reeve appeared.
"Ah, hello Jarred." The president said, smiling politely at the Half-Breed.
Jarred wasn't really in the mood for talking. More like feeding himself with foods that contained as much sugar as possible.
"Hello Reeve, g'bye Reeve." He said swiftly, and tried sneaky around Reeve. But the president of Midgar wasn't so easily deterred.
"What's the rush? Don't you even want to see the date I provided you with tonight?" he asked, with a slightly annoyed look on his face.
Cloud suddenly appeared behind Reeve.
"A date? You fixed Jarred up with somebody?" The hero asked, pulling Tifa away from a conversation so she could listen as well. Jarred felt suddenly very afraid. Like a small fish in a sea of sharks.
"Uhm, yeah, Uh, err. . ." Fear, Jarred realised, was NOT a good thing. "Yes." He said meekly.
Reeve smiled.
"She should be here soon. I'm afraid I surprised her a bit when I asked her to be your female escort." Cloud gasped, Tifa held a hand to her mouth, and if it were possible for people with ark grey skin to blush then Jarred would be flaming red. "I'm soory, did I say something wrong?" Reeve asked.
A grin climbed up Cloud's face.
"So, Jarred, you HAVE discovered women?" He said slyly.
Jarred in question, who was trying for all he was worth to run away, didn't have the foggiest idea what Cloud was talking about.
"Discovered what? They aren't that different from guys." This earned him a funny glance from every woman in hearing range. Jarred cringed. He knew he should've just stayed on his islands. They were nice and warm, and no blasted humans were there.
Cloud saw that questioning look in Jarred's eyes again, and was thrown into doubt once again. Did or didn't Jarred know about the birds and the bees?
"Reeve! Why didn't you tell me earlier that you wanted me to go out- oh!" A female voice said through the seething masses of people. Elena suddenly appeared in a dress next to Jarred.
Reeve smiled, and politely gestured to Elena.
"Jarred, your date for tonight." Jarred's eyes went wide, and a slight choking sound escaped his mouth. During his brief, usually rushed encounters with Elena, he had never had the chance to get a good look at her. Now he could, and it was a little unnerving.
"H, h, hello." He stammered nervously.
Cloud was trying his best to strop himself from laughing. Tifa smacked the spiky headed swordsman soundly, and smiled at Elena and Jarred. Reeve smiled as well.
"Well, we're going to go prepare the final touches of the ceremony, so have a nice time!" Tifa said, abandoning Jarred with Elena.
A fearful whimper escaped Jarred as Elena wrapped an arm around his, and he became suddenly aware that wasn't going to be able to have as much fun as he had hoped. Not with a GIRL to hold him down. No he would have to be polite, and stuff. . .
Jarred whimpered again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kahn!" Aeris yelled, shaking the demon's shoulder. The spectral girl was beginning to become anxious for her demonic help, as he seemed to be inert for hours. It was unnerving to stare at a non-breathing demon for great lengths. The demon shot forward and pushed Aeris away.
"Back off, planet wench!" He cursed, brushing away were the young girl had touched him.
Aeris sighed, and poked Kahn on the shoulder, purposely annoying him.
"How are things going?" She asked.
Kahn grumbled, and pushed himself to his feet. After a moment or two of walking funny he realized his foot was asleep. The demon cursed, being unused to this sort of thing. It had been eons since he had felt the force gravity, and his body wasn't taking to it very well yet. Oh well, in twenty years he would be able to leave this crater, and use his knowledge of magic amongst humans.
"The dragons are in place. They know they have to wait for me to coordinate them, but dragons aren't renowned for their intelligence. I might have to return shortly to make sure they aren't provoked by a child making faces at them."
Aeris giggled. Kahn regarded her with what he guessed to be a funny look.
"What's so funny?" He asked, shaking life back into his leg. He sighed contentedly as the blood began coursing again.
Aeris giggled gain.
Kahn was beginning to get a little angry now. He hadn't been raised to be laughed at, especially not by a Cetra.
"WHAT'S SO BLASTED FUNNY, YOU FOOLISH CETRA GIRL?!" The demon roared, making nearby rocks shudder. Aeris, naturally stopped laughing. "This is deathly serious business, Cetra. By contacting me you have risked your immortal soul. Should the Council act and send an agent, and should that agent get his hands on you then you will be unable to return to the planet." Kahn warned. "The best you could hope for would be assimilation. Immediate death for me."
Aeris suddenly went very serious.
"What do you mean, 'unable to return to planet'? I'm a CETRA! I'm SUPPOSED to return!"
"Exactly!" Kahn spat, and flapped his wings. "You were supposed to return to the planet! Yuffie was supposed to be caught by Jazac Na! Hate was supposed to take over!"
Aeris frowned.
"That doesn't make sense." She said. "They're AVALANCHE, the warriors of the planet. They're supposed to live."
Kahn sneered.
"Come back to me when you're alive. I'm going to have fun teaching you a few things about the planet. . ." He muttered darkly, and went back to monitoring his dragons.
