Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII characters along with the rest of the world etc. This will be a multi-chapter story and may possibly hold romance in later chapters.

Chapter 1: The bar dance

It has been six months since the planet was saved from the meteor and the battle against Sephiroth. But she still was weary and scarred, nevertheless she was slowly healing. People could now sleep more peacefully at nights, without being worried about the big rock of black magic covering most of the sky, glowing like a newborn sun.

Midgar lies in shambles but there was still citizens living in the city. Most of the people moved to the towns nearby, and Kalm was now blooming with life. And in Kalm, the saviors of the planet were celebrating on a reunion at the new bar called The Kalmer. The bar was small but big enough for people with different problems to reside in. Several different people bathing in a thick cloud of smoke and alcohol scent.

"PARTY!!!, Woohoo!!!" A young girl shouted while dancing on a table with a beer can in her right hand.

"Hey brat, easy with'e booze!" A middle-aged man shouted back to the girl, but the girl took no notice and continued with her fun.

"Relax Cid, she is 16 almost 17, Yuffie can take care of herself." The woman by the counter in front of him said in a mild voice.

"Hmph, yeah, yeah Tifa, they all say that." The man called Cid grunted and returned to his own drink on the bar-stool.

Tifa sighted and glanced around in the bar. The pilot in front of her, Cid Highwind was enjoying his drink and the spirited little ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi was indeed dancing on the table, with some public shouting and whistling. She smiled and shook her head; the ninja was already on the edge to get drunk. Turning her eyes away from the small event, Tifa looked at a big dark-skinned man talking to a young blonde swordsman with spikes pointing out in every direction. The fighter smiled, Cloud Strife seemed to enjoy himself as he talked to his friend.

'Cloud...' She thought a little sadly. She really loved him but his heart was already captured by another in his life. So there was no chance for her to try, but there is always a possibility. The big man opposite him was Barret Wallace, the founder of AVALANCHE and the original leader. He was not drinking anything that held alcohol, said that his daughter would only get hurt if her father came home drunk. Tifa could understand that, since the girl was just only five years old.

Next on the floor resides a cat-looking animal, Nanaki or Red XIII. He watched Cosmo Canyon from all threat. Bugenhagen's death had torn him greatly, but he made huge progress to protect his people.

Tifa turned her gaze elsewhere and as it soon landed on a darkened corner, her eyes squinted. She could see a faint silhouette leaning against the wall. Tifa smiled, knowing who would stand there, Vincent Valentine. The dark gunslinger who disliked being with public, but she had to admit, after being with AVALANCHE, he had softened a bit.

On the other side of the bar sat three men and one woman, dressed in suites. Tifa was kind of surprised to see the Turks and Reeve sitting in the same bar as AVALANCHE. Even when ShinRa was destroyed along with the city, they still did not quite get along, except for Reeve also known as Cait Sith.

All of her friends in AVALANCHE were there and she was glad to get to meet them all. Her smile grew to a frown when she saw a lone figure by a small table, at the far end of the bar. Tifa eyed the figure with mild interest; 'it' had not even touched the drink that was given. The figure was dressed in a long dark green robe with a hood, covering the upper face section. Tifa felt a chill down her spine, that human gave her the creeps; 'it' had stayed there staring at nothing but its glass.

Suddenly a big crash and cursing drew Tifa's attention to the dancing ninja, only to find her on the floor very angry. A man was looming over her with an impious gaze in his eyes. He was very tall and strong built; he was tanned and dressed in a black leather suit. Light violet eyes glowed with amusement and lust whiles his brown, shoulder-length hair swayed as he walked. The other men around him, wearing similar outfits started to advance on the small shinobi, making Yuffie cry out in fear.

"Oh no, this means trouble...." Tifa said and rushed to the ninja's side.

Tifa helped her up and sent a glare to the tall man, who obviously was the leader. "Leave her alone."

The other men just chuckled and gave them smirks, signifying that they did not care. Tifa narrowed her eyes and started to lead Yuffie away from them. The man's smile replaced with anger and grabbed the older woman's right arm fiercely. Tifa was jerked back by him and immediately, her reflexes kicked in. She hastily placed her left foot behind the leader's left leg, and threw him down the floor. The man let go by surprise and stared at Tifa. He then glared in rage and got up, slowly advancing on the girls. The other costumers stared at the people with interest, waiting for who would give in.

"You little bitch." He said in a low tone, filled with anger. Tifa and Yuffie backed away a little. All of a sudden a young man with a big sword stepped in between the man and the girls.

"Leave her alone." Cloud threatened and clenched his Buster sword tighter. The man blinked by the sword's size dumbfounded, that blade could easily cut anything into two. The other men came to their leader's side in aid. Cloud however, stood unafraid of the sudden number and soon heard other pairs of footsteps behind him. The rest of AVALANCHE stood by Cloud with their own threatening glares. The owner of the bar shouted at them to not to fight but his attempts was futile; his voice was made for deaf ears. All of them took battle positions and the remaining costumers moved away safely from the up-coming fight. Just when the leader of the leather-dressed men was going to make his first move, a young voice was heard far away from the battle.

"....pathetic."

Tifa's eyes darted to the cloaked figure, who was still sitting in the corner paying no notice to the fight. All eyes stared at the figure, waiting to what was going to happen next. The figure however, just sat there like a statue with its head bent down, staring at the glass before it.

The leader's face was red with anger. "What did'ya say?!"

"....pathetic." The figure stated calmly.

The AVALANCHE members were somewhat stunned about the figure, which did not even seem to flinch at the man's aggressiveness. The leader, made it to the end of the bar in just a few steps, over to the cloaked being. Once the man was there, he banged his fist on the table, making the liquid in the glass stir.

"Care to say it again?!" The man roared, feeling his blood boil. Who was this stranger to barge in and especially calling him pathetic, he thought.

Silence crept in the room and the leader waited for the reply, before he could hit the figure. The silence was again broken by the simple reply from cloaked one.

"....pathetic." It said again with a little louder voice.

Now the leader was furious and prepared a fist, striking it towards the nose. By just mere inches from the face, something happened. With lightening fast reflexes, the figure grabbed the man's wrist and spun the leader around, making him fall to his knees with his back against the defender. The other arm snaked its way around the leader throat, pulling his grabbed arm against his back. When he started to struggle, he yelled in pain when the cloaked one pulled his arm up, meaning to break the arm.

"P-p-please s-s-s-stop!" The man whimpered in both fear and pain. He may have seen fearless at first glance but noticing that this person could with ease break limbs if it intend to, his confident facade broke. He stopped struggle and was held in an iron grip.

Tifa was stunned by the figures reflexes, while Vincent's eyes narrowed, not in admiration but in suspicion. It was inhuman fast speed; no human could have handled that. Vincent searched the figures body, in sign of any things that could declare if it was human or not. Though he could not see the eyes, he could see its mouth and was surprised to see it smiling.

"....I could snap your arm and twist your throat, you know that. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." The clothed figure stated silently, enjoying every minute of this.

"P-please I-I beg." He stuttered.

"....you will leave the girls alone and keep yourself out of this bar, understood?" The figure continued while tightening the grip as a warning.

The man was silent, considering the options he had if did not do what he was told. It was hard to think when his life could end at this very moment.

"Did I make myself clear?"

"....yes, yes I understand! Just let me go!" The man screamed in panic with tears welling up in his eyes.

The figure smirked and let go at the trembling man. The leader fell to the ground with a thud and stared at the other one in horror. All the other people stared wide-eyed over what happened, even AVALANCHE held their gazes towards the two. Suddenly the leader got up and sprinted towards the exit, disappeared into the night. The figure turned its face to the other men and smiled evilly, in just seconds they were all gone. Taking this as a warning the rest of the costumers went back to their interest, like nothing had happen. All except AVALANCHE, who was still in shock over the scene just seconds ago. How could that figure scare away people almost twice its size and not to mention that scare away a whole gang?

Like the rest of the costumers, the figure returned to its seat and continued to stare at the drink. Tifa was the first one to break the trance of the group; she walked a few steps closer to the figure uneasy of what might happen. After finding her voice, she coughs a little to get the attention. The figure nodded its head in acknowledgement.

"Um......I thank you for your help." She said with a smile, but it was hard. Smiling after a witnessing to an almost-murdering-scene.....was not very simple.

"......."

"Um....excuse me?" Tifa asked while reached her right hand to touch the figures shoulder. Breaking from the reverie, the figure sensed the hand coming and within a second the figure snatched Tifa's wrist with an iron grip. Tifa yelped in surprise and pain. The figure tightened the grip and Tifa fell to her knees. Then it sensed something else, a great force of a presence not far away. The thought broke when the figure felt a cold, hard pipe against its head. Tifa felt the grip had loosened around her wrist and glanced up, to her relief she found Vincent behind the mysterious creature with his Death Penalty, the barrel held its position on the head.

"Let her go." He said calmly but with a deadly voice.

The figure hesitated a moment before releasing Tifa. She massaged her numb wrist, trying to get the circulation going.

"Are you alright?" Cloud asked in concern as he knelt down next to her.

"I-I'm fine...." She said in a whisper. Both she and Cloud stared up at the figure, which was now at Vincent's mercy. Cloud glared angrily along with his friends.

"And who the %&#(/ are you!" Cid yelled with his spear in his hand. Barret, Nanaki and Yuffie stayed ready while Reeve kept himself a little far away from the battle, alongside the Turks.

The figure did not say anything and the pressure increased at the back of the head, by the barrel.

"Answer." Vincent demanded sternly.

The figure still kept its eyes on Tifa, staring at her.

"......I apologies for my behavior, but it was an instinct of mine. But I can't tell you my name."

"And why is that?" Cloud asked narrowing his eyes.

"....please, I mean no harm but your friend risked it."

"What?!"

".....would you be so kind to lower your gun? I'll take my leave."

Vincent did not trust this person over the world. He sensed a dark aura emitting from the person. He glanced at Cloud for an answer and received a nod. Vincent lowered his gun but kept his space between him and the other one.

"Before you leave I demand your name." Cloud stated standing up with Tifa's shaking form.

"My name is none of your concern human!" The figure snapped back in annoyance. By realizing its mistake, it took a step back but was stopped when a golden claw grabbed the shoulder, holding the being right were it was. The figure felt a shiver in its spine, this man with the claw was the one it sensed earlier. A strange force was being held in this man's mind. When glancing up at the face, it noticed two crimson colored eyes, filled with pain and anger. But the figure saw something else that was impossible for the naked eye....another being was also looking back. At this, the person's eyes widened a bit and made the decision.

".....alright I'll tell you."

To be continued...

Okay chapter one completed with arrangements. I just completed an overlook on my story and I gasped over the length of chapters. It's longer than I thought it would be. The thing is though, I'm a little skeptical if I should continue with it or not. Knowing that Advent Children is on its way, it changed my mood of writing.