Sorry for taking so long, college got in the way. We are going to take a break on this fanfic as we are starting a new guild wars one, which is currently going very well in the writing. It is called 'Retribution of Tyria', even if you have never played guild wars we suggest you give it a look D. Enjoy the chapter...
Chapter 6- Free for Now
It was midnight, and hardly anybody was around on the streets at this time, indeed the only people that were around now were trouble making teenagers, which would not be of any problem whatsoever.
The dark figure that emerged from the nearest household walked briskly and confidently down the lamp-lit street, not really sure where it was that they were going, yet sure that there aim would become clear in a few moments time. They continued to walk towards the center of town, which was not too far from the house of which they had just left. Fortunately for the figure, there was nobody at all around, and there was therefore no need to defend themselves from a pointless mugger.
What did scare Tifa on this dark night however, was something far more sinister that could very well be lurking in the darkness...if she ever encountered him, even when she had managed to get back to her own form, it would surely be the end of her.
She paused for a moment, contemplating the thought that he might actually have stayed and it was only her and her friends that got sent on to this strange world. She thought this an extremely hopeful thought, as after all, being stuck in this place was bad enough. Surely it would have been better for him to have come as well, his powers diminished in this strange place.
The weeks that she had spent here inside her host however had taught Tifa a lot about this world. As far as technology went they seemed lacking behind, and the lack of materia made her amazed that they could live, after all a world without materia would just be such a difficult one to live in, or so she thought.
Tifa continued to walk, as if a sudden impulse had told her the direction of her unknown goal. If only she knew where this 'Shaun' person lived, and then she would have been able to easily walk to his house. She wracked her mind, but Alex's thoughts and memories seemed to be dormant at the moment. This was a good thing in her opinion though, as if she was awake, Tifa would surely not hear the end of her moaning.
There was a rustling of leaves somewhere nearby. Tifa swirled around, half expecting this, although ready for a fight if it was not what she wanted to appear. It was only a stray cat however, its eyes wide, looking straight into Tifa's. She walked over to it, she was very fond of cats after all. She sat down on a bench next to the bush that the cat was in.
The cat slowly walked over, sensing the kindness of the apparent stranger it was confronted with. Tifa stretched out a hand and gently tickled the cats chin.
Then, out of nowhere, came an ear splitting roar! The cat jumped into Tifa's lap in fright, where as Tifa herself was sitting there shocked, heart racing half from the fright, the other from excitement.
Prowling out from between the branches of the same bush that the cat was in, was none other than Red XIII. Tifa smiled very widely as the red beast walked slowly over to her, eyes fixed on the cat that was in her lap.
"That's the same one that I see round that 'College' or whatever they call it...you don't know just how difficult it has been not to make my host spontaneously chase after it..." The cat did not move, it seemed to feel safe under Tifa's protection.
"How long have you been here?" She asked, it was the first question that came to her mind.
"Erm..." Red started, "...3 minutes? Thought I would wait for the cat to..."
"Not here as in right here you idiot!" Tifa started, jokingly, "I meant, how long have you been in the world? I thought it might be different...or maybe we got here at the same time."
"About 2 months..." Red now proceeded to jump onto the bench next to Tifa, surprising the cat still did not move, "...worst two months of my life I can tell you."
"You're only 16..."
"That is not the point." Red cut her off, he did not want to remind her that he was only 16 in human years, and that he was a lot older and wiser in his species, "...point is I think that now we are both together we should be able to work out a way to get back." Tifa winced. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing as such... Alex is just having a very bad dream..." She paused, wondering if Alex might wake up if the dream was bad enough.
"Dreamdropping?"
"It's not as though I can help it." Tifa brushed his comment aside. She was surprised at both herself and Red at how calm their reuniting had been, though she felt it was something that was so obvious, something that was just so inevitable that it did not need a fuss made over it.
"Any word on the others?" Red hopped off of the seat at this point, clearly sitting so close to a feline was not doing his nerves any favors when it was clear that he just wanted to eat it.
"Nothing." Tifa replied bluntly, but then thought of something. "Although, I did manage to find this...something that must have slipped through to this world the same time as we did."
Tifa then produced from her pocked a bright purple orb. "Where did you get that!?"
"At the college..." Tifa replied, "...it was in their props cupboard in the drama department...at first I thought it might have only been a prop...but no, it actually is a proper piece of working materia!"
Red looked at it, trying to figure out what it was, which he must have, as the next thing he said was. "Kind of a useless materia to have in a place like this is'nt it?"
"Better than nothing, and who knows, if we have this then it must mean that there are other pieces of materia around as well, surely?" She was half trying to convince herself this, but thought that her statement had some kind of logic in it.
Red walked up to Tifa so as to examine the purple materia closer, trying to ignore the soft purring of the cat which had now moved to the place where he had previously sat. "We can only hope... I mean if it is only junk materia like this that came through then we are no better off with or without it."
Tifa looked fondly at the materia, then realised with a horrible feeling in her gut the only way in which they would be able to wear it for now. "The old fashioned way..." She muttered to herself, so quietly that Red did not hear her.
"What?" He said, growling slightly as the cat moved closer to him, as if to see how close it could get without Red snapping.
Tifa did not answer, she had never actually thought about how she was going to wear the materia when she first found it, now however it was all too clear. She held out her right arm, trying to decide which side she was going to place the materia.
"What are you..." Red began, but his question was answered before he could finish saying it. Tifa had started to push the materia with what seemed to be great difficulty into the underside of her arm. Purple fumes where rising from where the orb was penetrating the skin, and although Tifa was not showing any signs of pain, Red was sure that if he wasn't there, she would be screaming.
The last of the orb finally vanished beneath her skin, and the part of her arm at which it had been placed showed no signs that anything at all was there. Tifa looked over at Red, "Well...remind me not to make a habit of that once we get out of this place."
Red did not want to point out that there was every possibility that they would not get back, but felt that it would be a tiny bit mean to point this out. "So do you feel any different?" He was a little bit concerned that the materia would not have this effect due to the savage way in which it was being worn.
"More alert...more aware of my surroundings...that is about it." To be fair thought, this was all that this particular piece of materia was meant to do, which would probably come in useful somehow...maybe...
"There must be some better way of locating these things...or even just a logical place to find them..." Red was trying to shed a positive light on things, as if they had a materia like knights of the round.
"Well...I don't see any logical reasoning for this to be in a props cupboard, and I just found it by chance." She looked down at her arm as if looking straight at the materia, "...but I have a feeling now that we have got one of them, finding the rest should be a piece of cake."
"Let's hope so..." Red muttered...then he lunged straight at the cat which was now only mere inches away from him. Amazingly however, Tifa managed to stop him not long after he had moved. "I was just testing...just testing..." His eyes however, were still looking right at the cat, who's eyes were wide, staring straight back at him.
"Well thank you for that assessment but I'm sure we would have found out sooner or later." Tifa said, bluntly. She got up and started to pace, noticing that the side effect of the materia made her feel slightly weaker, yet more nimble and speedy.
They heard footsteps approching. Tifa turned her head to look in the direction of the noise, Red however slipped back into the bushes out of sight, even though it was dark, the sight of a flaming red beast would surely draw a little bit of attention.
A dark figure was now walking slowly towards Tifa, who was standing at the edge of a set of stairs, leaning on a banister near it. She could tell, even without the effect of the materia she was wearing, that this person did not wish her well at all.
Then, without any warning from the materia that she was wearing, Tifa felt cold steel being pressed against her neck. She did not dare move her head, but instead moved her eyes so that she was looking right into the face of this man.
She could tell that this was something more sinister than someone threatening her for all the money she had on her...
The man then muttered something into her ear, and Tifa could not believe what it was that she was hearing. She was trying desperatly to think of a way out of this, but any second now the man was going to cut her throat.
In a whirl of flaming red colour, Tifa saw the mans arm thrown away from her, and the knife that he had been holding fall to the floor. Tifa wasted no time in seizing the knife and stepping back away from the man. Red had clamped his jaws around the mans arm, the man himself had fallen to the floor with the pain.
"Red, let him go!" Tifa shouted.
To her surprise Red did not object to this. He let go and moved swiftly over to join Tifa, who was standing a few feet away from the man, knife pointing straight at him. "Who are you?" She asked, quite simply, for she did not recognise his face, which had now been thrown into the light from the nearest street lamp. He did not answer, so Tifa decided to ask something else, "What do you want?"
The man merely smiled, then said in a very sinister tone. "I'm just doing my job..."
He then reached for something in his inside jacket. Tifa, seeing what was coming, threw the knife as hard as she could at his hand, which had only just emerged from his jacket, holding a gun. Before he had chance to act, the gun had dropped out of his hand, and Tifa had moved over and kicked it away.
"What should we do with him?" Red asked, teeth bared. "If only we had fire magic we could give him his own crematorium right here..."
"Well..." Tifa said, looking down at him, "...if we had something to manipulate his memory we could send him back with tales that he has killed us...but for now..." She kicked him hard in the side of the face, "...concussion will have to do. If we kill him they will only come back with more...he will only send more..."
Red looked up at her questioningly, he had not heard what the man had muttered to her. "He? Who is 'he'?"
Tifa looked down at Red, and said, very seriously. "The president..."
Authors Notes: Reviews please please please please please, we want to know if this new take on FF7 is going good in your opinion! P.
R&A (And the return of M for the guild wars fanfic 0)