Intro; HIIII sorry it's been so long since I updated I finished this chapter two weeks ago but I had an accident and was in hospital XP Gave me a chance to play crisis core though :D
Warnings; This chapter has slight gore and crazyness... you'll see.
Chapter 3; Impish behaviour
The blood palace
Jenova, the lady of Calamity sat on her throne staring at the injured behemoth.
"You failed me..." the behemoth winced despite her calm tone. The demon that stood to close to the behemoth took a step back. "You... failed me" Jenova stood and walked to wards the window. The behemoth spoke in its own tongue
"Please mistress, we were outnumbered and they had help! Please just give me another chance... I will never fail you again-"
"No," Jenova turned to the behemoth "you won't." Her eyes shone red as behemoth combust. The other demon all stood in silence as the creature roared in agony. Finally the behemoth fell silent and the flames died down. A few of the Gremlin's ran forward and started fighting over the remains.
Rosso the crimson slandered towards Jenova. She was a powerful Adimarchus, demons who tortures souls, driving them to madness. She was also one of Jenova favoured servants.
"Mistress there is nothing to worry about. Sephiroth is still in hell is he not? It is a simple case of finding him and dragging him here..." Scarlet, a succubus laughed causing Rosso to hiss. Succubi were rear and powerful demons with the ability to draw others to them. They could also, consume the souls of those who they have sex with.
"If it's such a simple thing to do then why don't you go do it? Of course that would mean facing Valentine again... But don't worry I'm sure he won't hurt you as much this time." Rosso hissed, her reptilian tongue flicking out. "Why not send your new pet's mistress. They must certainly be more than capable of defeating one measly fiend,"
"They are not yet ready... soon perhaps, but for now I think that the Galian Beast should be able to track down the celestials..." Jenova said, wearing a smirk that would curdle milk. As she grinned, a massive purple hound with yellow eyes and razor sharp horns, walked up to Jenova. "Go... find Sephiroth and bring him to me, do what you wish with the others." Galian let out a snarl before charging out the door to find it's pray...
Vincent
Vincent sighed as he walked back towards the cave with some bread. The behemoths that attacked Zack were servants of Jenova. but what would she want with these three. 'What are you planning Jenova?' Vincent suddenly felt an all too familiar presence entre him. A deep voice rumbled through his mind,
"She always was an ambitious one..." Vincent felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end,
"Lord Chaos..." the voice chuckled,
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice you, Vincent Valentine?" Vincent internally flinched. Of course Chaos would notice him. He just hoped that he could at least set the angels on their path before he stopped him. "Stopped you, HA, why would you think I would stop you?" Vincent coked his head.
"You... want me to help them?"
"This could prove useful to me, that foolish bitch has become a thorn in my side and this may be a perfect way to be rid of her,"
"But my lord, if she has become such a problem to you, why have you not simply stopped her?" Chaos hissed,
"Are you questioning my power Valentine?"
"N... no I just..." Chaos snorted and for a moment was silent.
"...something in that palace of hers... blocks my power, it even expands as far as the great gate," that was troubling. What could Jenova have that would be strong enough to block the power of the lord of hell in his own domain?
"Very little. Few things are capable of stopping my power. And the things that can usually don't last long," Vincent lowered his gaze. He remembered when a young girl was born in the mortal realm, with the power to absorb magic, even magic as strong as the Demon king's. Chaos commanded that Vincent get rid of her... he could still hear her screams, even over the countless others he had killed for his lord... "She has taken an interest in the silver haired arch-angel. That is why I will let you aid them... for now. Find out what she wants with him."
"Yes, my lord." Vincent stood for a moment in silence. He was pleased that chaos had let him aid the angels but Sephiroth the greatest of the Arch-Angels, Chaos' enemies. He was not likely to let him go so easily. Vincent sighed, he couldn't think about that now he would have to deal with that later on. With that, Vincent continued up towards the cave.
When he reached the cave the three angels were already awake. Zack was closest to the entrance doing squats while Sephiroth and Cloud were deeper in talking to each other. Zack noticed him and grinned.
"Heya Vin. Where've ya been?"
"I thought you might be hungry." Vincent held out the bread. Zack face lit up and he grabbed two chunks of the bread. The first he started to eat the second he ran over and gave to Cloud.
"Ever the excitable puppy," Vincent turned to look at a smiling Sephiroth who had moved to stand beside him. Vincent blinked. Even with his enhanced hearing, he hadn't even heard him move. 'Fast, strong and stealthy.' Vincent was starting to see why so many of his kind feared and respected the General. He was truly a marvel. "What's wrong?" Caught staring, Vincent almost blushed, Almost.
"Nothing... are you all ready to go?" Vincent said while he handed him the last piece. Sephiroth nodded and handed Vincent his cape.
Later that day
They had been walking through the dark forest for a while now without much trouble. They had been attacked by a Malboro but Sephiroth and Zack had made short work of it. Vincent was walking ahead with Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud following closely behind,
"Hey Seph," Cloud said walking next to the Arch-Angel. "How far are the marshes?"
"Vincent said that we must pass through some caves through those mountains." Sephiroth pointed to the mountains in the distance. Cloud sighed. It would take at lest a day to reach them on foot. Suddenly Vincent stopped putting his arm out to stop the others making Cloud and Zack bump into Sephiroth.
"Wha-"
"Hush,"
The three angels looked ahead. Under a large black tree there was what looked like a young Wutain girl looking through a large sack, humming to herself. She had short brown hair that was held back by a brown headband. Within the tufts of hair the angels saw two small horns that were the same colour as her skin. She wore a tattered, sleeveless turtleneck jumper that bares her stomach and torn tan shorts. Stretching out the back of her shorts was a long tail with a pointed end that was flicking left and right excitedly. On her back was a large Fūma shuriken that seemed to glow with a yellow light. The girl was undoubtedly an imp. Imps were lesser demon who stole valuables treasures or were spies for greater demons.
Clouds eyes widened when he saw what was resting against the tree,
"THATS MY SWORD!" the imp visibly stiffened then turned towards the sound. When she saw what was shouting at her she glared at cloud.
"No, I found it so it MY sword." She pulled her left lower eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at Cloud. Cloud stepped forward and growled at the imp,
".back!" the imp grabbed First Tsurugi and the sack before turning back to Cloud.
"You wan it, come an get it!" with that, the imp started running at a lighting speed deeper into the forest. Cloud growled and started to run after her, ignoring his friend's cries to stop. "SLOWPOKE, SLOWPOKE, can't catch me feather-head!" the girl chanted as she ran ahead of the fledgling. Cloud growled an increased his pace. After a while they reached a gorge and the imp girl skidded to a stop. Cloud slowed to a stop breathing heavily,
"Got...you...now...gimmi the sword." The girl smiled sheepishly, holding the sword out. Cloud walked over and reached out to take the handle when suddenly the girl threw a smoke bomb on the ground.
"Ha!" the imp, stood in one of the tree's looking down at Cloud who coughed and spluttered in the smoke looking left and right.
"Who are you!"
"Hn, well I'm glad you asked," the girl put her hands on her hips, "I am the champion of the earth and the sky, I am the master ninja, the single white rose of Wutai," the girl thrust her fist into the air, "YUFFIE KISARAGI!" Cloud practically sweat-dropped. "And now, my great escape." Yuffie leapt down from the tree and looked back at Cloud who was still trapped in the smoke and grinned. However, as she turned to walk away, she walked face first into a tattered black shirt. Yuffie gulped and looked up sheepishly. "He He, hi Vinny..."
Zack and Sephiroth both stood with Cloud who was still wheezing from the smoke bomb as Vincent stood looking at Yuffie,
"Yuffie..." Yuffie crossed her arms and looked away from Vincent "Yuffie," his voice was sterner this time.
"But I found it!" Vincent sighed and took a step forward crossing his arms. The imp and the Arch-Fiend stood in a stair off for a while before Yuffie finally groaned and stormed over to Cloud, holding the blade out in towards him. Cloud took it cautiously.
"Thanks..." Yuffie snorted,
"You owe me a sword Vinny," Vincent shook his head. Zack looked from Vincent to Yuffie,
"Wait, you two know each other?" Yuffie looked at Zack,
"Yeh. Vin helped me out when I was in a jam once, we been buddies ever since." Yuffie skipped over to Vincent and linked his crossed arm, smiling up at him. "He's like the big brother that I never had." Sephiroth noticed Vincent's features soften as he looked at the young girl. It was strange. They were always taught that demons were evil, heartless monster that had no compassion. Yet here, before him was an arch-fiend, who were said to be the worst of the demons, that seemed to honestly care for this young imp and was helping them return home. It made him think, were their other demons like this, and alternately, were Angels capable of the cruel things that demons were accused of. Did he have the capability in him to be one of the monsters that he had fought on countless occasions...?
Sephiroth was knocked out of his thoughts when Zack's hand came to rest on his shoulder. He looked up and noticed all eyes were on him.
"Sephiroth, you ok?" Sephiroth blinked,
"I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought," Yuffie giggled,
"It's like I always tell Vinny, thinkin too much causes too much trouble." She skipped towards him,
"You just gotta go with the flow!" Sephiroth looked down at the girl. She grinned up at him, her tail flicking left and right like an excited puppy. Zack smiled his million dollar smile,
"Ha, I like her." Yuffie turned round putting her hands on her hips.
"What's not to like?" Cloud crossed his arms smiling,
"Want a list?"
"HEY!" Sephiroth shook his head, smiling. Maybe Yuffie was right. Maybe he was putting too much thought into it. But the thought kept returning.
Vincent noticed Sephiroth's emerald eyes grow distant again. He stood next to him.
"Sephiroth?" Sephiroth turned to look at Vincent. His gaze softened,
"I'm alright,"
"Are you sure?" Sephiroth nodded.
"Have we gon far of track?" Vincent noticed the quick convocation change but he decided against saying anything. He could tell something was bothering the angel and it concerned him but he felt it best to let it drop... for now. Vincent stepped towards the edge of the gorge,
"If we follow the blood river, we should reach the mountains before night fall."
"Then I guess we have no time to lose."
TBC
YEY YUFFIE.
Cloud is a bit OCC in this ain't he. I tried to make him a similar to how he is in crisis core as I could (cuz we all loved that Cloud) to decrease the level of angst in the story.
Lilice-san; TY. ^_^ Vincent is my fave char. I loved how cute he was as a turk and how cool he is in the original story. ω you will have to w8 and see :P
RedHerring1412; that sounds cool :O Chaos is his own character in this story though...
omgitskirby; ya not gunna believe this but that paragraph was originally four paragraphs X3 I had to cut it down. I'm gessin you are talkin about "a pink dragon doing a river dance" I just had to make Sephiroth say this :3
Anne Voda Hijme; TY I saw this pic of Sephi with one black wing and one white and the story just started forming.
I wanted to say a big thanks to the awesome people who have reviewed this story so far and I really hope I don't disappoint. SEPHI AND VINNY PLUSHIES FOR EVERYONE XD