It Came from the Cellar

By RenzokukenZ

It was another busy day in the Seventh Heaven. Tifa was busy mixing drinks while Cloud served them to table customers. Denzel and Marlene cleaned the dishes and cups. Everyone had a part when the bar was filled. When the day was over, the children were in their rooms preparing to go to sleep while the adults cleaned up. Tifa washed the remaining cups while Cloud collected the trash. After that was done, the swordsman headed towards the cellar in the basement to restock the supply of alcohol beverages.

That's when the noises came.

Cloud just barely opened the cellar door when the most wicked and vile noise escaped. It was enough to make the swordsman shut the door and look at it with a confused face. At first he thought he was imagining things, that he was just tired from the long day, but when he opened the door and the noise came back, he was sure there was something down there.

"Cloud, what are you doing? The beer won't restock itself." Tifa scowled at the blond. He ignored, and when she was about to give him another warning, he placed a finger on her lips in an act to silence the barmaid.

"Listen. Do you hear anything strange?" he proceeded to open the cellar door again to see if Tifa will hear the noise as well, but nothing happened.

"…No, Cloud, I don't hear anything. What are you trying to say?"

"There's something down there. I don't know what but it sounded…demonic." Cloud thought about possible conclusions when one hit hard. "I know! It's a portal to hell!"

Tifa sighed and looked at her swordsman friend. Surely he can't be that stupid. "Ok, Cloud. It's official. You are hopelessly retar-"

It seems that Cloud forgot to close the door, since the vile noise came back. This time it was Tifa who shut the door.

"You were saying?" Cloud said in a smug fashion.

"I-I was saying that you need to check it out. See what's down there and get rid of it." With that, the barmaid left, leaving behind a smug Cloud.

"Alright, let me just get a few things and I'll get to it."

xxx

The cellar door was opened all the way and Cloud descended down the stairs, his trusty giant sword in hand. As he went down, the noises were much fiercer and louder than before. Cloud had heard much worse, and wasn't intimidated at all, though he still kept that 'portal to hell' theory open. He finally reached the bottom and scanned the cellar for anything unusual. So far the only thing he could find were a few empty wine bottles and a sleeping man in a bed.

…Wait a minute.

"Hey!" Cloud kicked the man on the bed with a strong foot that the poor bastard fell to the floor. "Who the hell are you?"

"Cloud, not so loud. I still have the hangover from last night so keep it down." responded the man in a low and grouchy tone. Cloud recognized the voice instantly.

"…Vincent?"

Said ex-Turk rose up from the floor and shook the dirt off his red cape. "Yeah, it's me."

"What are you doing here?" Cloud seriously had no idea what was going on. He didn't know if he was just drunk off the cellar's wine fumes, or if this was the real deal. The hard punch from Vincent's metal hand proved it real. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Waking me up, and I live here. Been living here for 3 months."

"Really?"

"Yes. I even pay rent."

"Oh. Hey, since you've been down here, have you heard any strange noises?"

"No, why?"

"Just now I heard some wicked noises coming from here."

"Must have been me. I snore after all."

"Oh, ok. I actually thought there was some kind of portal to hell or something."

"You mean like that one?" Vincent pointed to a nearby wall that currently housed a spinning crimson vortex with howling cries of pain and agony escaping and demonic hands reaching out. Cloud's eyes widen with both fear and amazement. For once he was right! "Before you say anything, it was here when I moved in."