Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Protector of Worlds ❯ Return of An Enemy ( Chapter 1 )

Author: Sataki Eickiko
Email: raditzweirdo13@yahoo.com OR gunman_teisuke@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.xanga.com/sephaditz4
Rating: T
Warnings: Detailed mutilation scenes, swearing, sexual references
Pairings: Sephiroth/Tifa
Summary: Years ago, a prophecy was made that foretold a fork in the road of mankind. A child would be born that had the power to save the world…or destroy it. Sephiroth found a child that seemed out of place in the human world. After Cloud stole the child and sent Sephiroth into a coma, everyone thought that all was safe. But Sephiroth's back…and he wants the child back.
Credits: Sephiroth, Tifa, Cloud, Barret, and the rest of the Final Fantasy crew is owned by Squaresoft. Mari/ Demile Yehtosi ©is my own creation.

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any Final Fantasy characters, or the world in which the story takes place, Squaresoft does. I do own Mari/Demile however.

 

RETURN OF AN ENEMY

 

Mari pressed herself against the wall of AVALACHE headquarters as far as she could go. There was nowhere else to run to, and she was cornered, cornered by the Death Deceiver himself. A cruel shadow threw itself upon her own and moved ever closer to her vulnerable position. A silver-haired warrior with a face of a god and the body of Adonis stood before her, smirking. He had came here to find her, and here she was, a mere trophy in his hands. She melted into the floor.

“May the Planet protect me …”

 

Behind him, lay the fallen members of AVALANCHE, strewn about like rag dolls. On the back wall, hung up like a trophy, was Yuffie Kisaragi. Her form hung limply from a steel beam that had snapped her spine in two. Her Wutaiese uniform was an indistinguishable blood-red. All about her, Materia balls were scattered, as though mourning their lost protector. In the left hand corner, Vincent had been thrown through a desk and his body had made a lasting imprint on the steel wall behind him. His body sprawled out on the war-torn floor, blood seeping from his head. His Cerberus gun lay less than a foot from him. His cape was shredded into several strips of cloth and was tucked into Sephiroth's belt. Obviously, it was of some marketable value to him, otherwise he would have left it to rot. Tifa had been smashed through the floor and her body, although not visible, was in the wine cellar somewhere; her beautiful Zangan skin being ripped by the cragged glass from the smashed bottles of wine. Barret, Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge had been in the garage when Sephiroth had arrived. Not wanting to disturb the others, he had slit the three henchmen's throats and left them for carrion in the back alley. Barret he had first used Sleep Materia on, and then…disassembled the rest of him as he slept. Cid had been harder. Cid was upstairs, trying to romance Shera with a few tips he had picked up from Aeris a while back. Sephiroth has used his Silent Materia to render himself invisible and sneak upstairs. Cid had noticed him, and picked up his Venus Gospel to fight. Sephiroth struggled only for a moment, before back handing Cid through the house, and out on the streets. Shera had tried to scream, but not before Sephiroth had rushed behind her and grabbed her throat. With a slow, steady pressure, he slowly squeezed the life out of her. Her crushed windpipe now jutted out of her soft neck. The once golden eyes that has surveyed all around her were now pale white orbs that rolled to the back of her skull. When she was dead, Sephiroth snorted, and tossed her out of the hole in the wall to lie beside Cid. `What a cruel fate' Sephiroth thought as he strode downstairs to take up matters with Strife. Cloud, for some reason, proved to be less of a problem than Sephiroth had first anticipated. When Sephiroth came downstairs, Cloud was sleeping on the couch, and Cait Sith was leaning back in a chair, reading a book. Sephiroth sneered at their lax behavior, and quietly, almost daintily, drew his sword. He shifted to Cait Sith's front and got up in his face. Cait Sith didn't even have time to recognize who was in front of him as Sephiroth sliced his head neatly off of his body. The moogle he was on ran away. Silently, the two pieces of Cait Sith fell to the floor and secreted oozing blood on the floor. Walking over to Cloud, he grimaced. What scum these earthlings were. Why had he proved more of a challenge five years ago than now? This revolting human had actually BEATEN him all those years ago. Indeed…this would be sweet revenge, a revenge Sephiroth would savor every second of. With a sweep of his arm, he shoved an unsuspecting Strife up against the back wall.

“Hello, Strife”, he chuckled, “I'm sure you missed me.” Cloud's eyes widened as he realized who was in front of him. Desperately, Cloud clawed at Sephiroth's unwavering hands.

“Se-phiroth…y-you B-BASTARD!” Cloud gasped.

“I'll ask you once more, Strife. Answer me, and I'll let you live. Don't, and it'll only be a few more minutes until I find her anyways. WHERE IS SHE?” Sephiroth's grip only got tighter as Cloud began to fade from consciousness.

“A-A-As if I'd t-tell the likes o-o-of YOU!” Cloud attempted to spit in Sephiroth's face. “S-She's not going to come with you! We've taught her to go against you!” Sephiroth `s eyebrow raised slightly, and he dropped Cloud. Cloud's body thudded against the floor and he glanced up. The dead body of Cait Sith was cleaved in half in the space in front of him. A sad smile was on his face. The faithful dice he had used in so many battles were thrown halfway across the room. “What did YOU DO?!” screamed Cloud, grabbing his Buster Sword from beside the couch. Sephiroth waved his hand simply.

“I…disposed of them. It would make my job a whole lot easier.” He shrugged. Then, he stared off into the street, where Cid and Shera were resting peacefully against one another. `What a cruel fate…' he thought once more. Then, his mind went black. The emptiness cocooned him in a shell of peaceful darkness. He had been here many times before. Out of the darkness, a soft voice was heard. It was Jenova.

 

Sephiroth…Sephiroth, my son…do you have her?

Almost Mother. She is within my grasp.

That's good, son…now, we will once again rule the world. Shangri-La…I see it! The perfect world for the perfect ruler! Sephiroth, can you feel it? You mustsucceed. Tell me, has Strife gotten in your way?

As he always does, Mother. I am disposing of him as we speak. There is no concern there.

That's a good boy, a very good boy…and what about his little childhood friend? The Zangan?

She was a pitiful opponent, I'm afraid.

Oh, Sephiroth, you mother is very proud of you…but you must hurry and get the child! She is the key to Shangri-La, and our world domination! You MUST absolutely get her!

…

What is it, Sephiroth?

Mother, I must repeat, that a long time ago this girl was taken from us. There is no telling what these AVALANCHE dogs might have taught her. They might have already told her about her destiny.

Nonsense; Strife's stupid but he's not that stupid. He knows as well as you and I that if he had told the girl about her powers and her destiny that she would have panicked. She would've run away, we would have sensed her, and he would have no control over it.

He didn't know that for sure. And anyways, we don't have to take her, Mother! She still has a chance at a normal life! A normal childhood! I don't see why her!

You know perfectly well `why her', Sephiroth. But do I sense… are you actually-dare I say it- trying to PROTECT this girl? Didn't I warn you all of those years ago about getting too close to her?

But Mother, she's not yours! By all rights, she's MINE! I found her! Alone, with no help from you! She's MINE! MINE! YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!

 

Sephiroth blinked. His eyes narrowed. Mother was wrong. She was his. And Strife dared intervene with them? How dare he. HOW DARE HE. “She's MINE, Strife! You can't keep her forever; she rightfully belongs to ME!”

“SHE'S NOT PROPERTY; SHE'S A HUMAN BEING, SEPHIROTH!” snapped Cloud angrily, swinging his sword. Sephiroth blocked it easily with the Masamune.

“She was always mine, you see” he hissed, “She is MINE and MINE ALONE. No one else can have her!”

“That's no excuse!” shouted Cloud, jumping up eight feet and unleashing an Omnislash. But Sephiroth has disappeared. His cruel laughter echoed throughout the room.

“You're getting sleepy, Cloud” whispered Sephiroth, jokingly. Then with a flick of his wrist, Sephiroth popped back in reality, and plunged the Masamune deep into Cloud's heart. His arteries and nerve-ways were immediately severed by the fabled blade. Blood spurted out of Cloud's chest, escaping the confines of his doomed body. Cloud gasped and tried to look down. His vision…everything…was going dark…Aeris…was that…her? He fell to his knees, and then slumped to the floor, holding the blade where it jutted out of his chest. He closed his eyes tight.

“Aeris…where did I…go…wrong…” Cloud murmured, and suddenly convulsed violently. Blue sparks delicately flew from his head, and he screamed in agony. The Mako was leaving his body, returning his body to a normal state. `Damn that Sephiroth, he must have put a Mako toxin on the blade before their fight. DAMN HIM.' Cloud's angry thoughts proclaimed. With a heave, his body came to rest, blood leaking sadly from the warrior's mouth. His hands fell limply to the ground.

“Mari….run…” Cloud murmured with his final breath. As he sighed, he realized he had never felt so relaxed. As he drifted off, he saw a maiden, distantly outstretching her hand.

 

Cloud…come on home, Cloud. Your work is done…and you did a good job.

…................Aeris?

 

Cloud Strife, was dead.

 

Sephiroth, meanwhile, had watched this spectacle with much delight. Cloud's last hope to save his precious Planet was now gone. Gone from his grasp, gone from his dreams, and gone forever. Sephiroth now could not be stopped.

 

Sephiroth looked around. She should be here somewhere…

 

Mari gulped and shrank back even further as the black-clad figure came ever-closer to her. His soft hands reached out, and slowly stroked her hair, gently, oh so gently. She whimpered. The shadow laughed.

“There's no reason to be scared of me, you know. Just do what I ask and all we be well!” he said, commandingly. Mari felt an almost upsetting urge to obey. “Come here, my child” it whispered. Mari took one step towards him. His Mako-green eyes flared. “That's it” he purred, “That's right, come to me, Mari. It'll all be fine. You're mine, now” Mari took one more step towards the figure. She was barely touching his leather uniform. He knelt down to her eye-level. Where was her strength?

“Hello Mari…” he smiled. “Do you know who I am?” Mari looked directly into his petrifying eyes. The dancing figure of Mephistopheles met her. She remembered…his voice.

“Sephiroth…” she whispered. He stroked her dark hair.

“That's right…”, he said, taking in her features. She was fairly short, and average-sized, not fat, but not that thin either, although she was well proportioned by any man's standards. Her glowing brown eyes gave away nothing about her real inner self, something he assumed he would soon have to show her. She was so pretty…and still not too much younger than himself. He leaned towards her, and stood up suddenly. Unbuckling his sword, he let it drop to the floor. He turned around and threw his leather coat and silver armor on a desk. He turned back around. Mari gasped. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her life. She has seen Cloud and Vincent half-undressed so many times…but there was something so different about this man. Something…familiar?

Sephiroth strode back over to her and put one arm around her. The other arm he put on the back of her head. This was what he had come for. It was now or never. Mari felt her skin freeze as Sephiroth drew her close, and slowly but firmly, pressed his lips to hers.