Final Fantasy

When two worlds collide: Chapter 3

The World of the Ancients

The north crater, Once Sephiroth's domain, was as quiet as it had ever been since Holy erupted from the ground to destroy Meteor. Yet the silence was disturbing. The north crater was normally filled with the sound of the rushing blizzards, the moaning of what lurked down in the lower depths, where the only people who had ventured into it were the heroes of AVALANCHE. But these days, it was silent.
Vincent Valentine was the leader of the group that kept watch on the crater. Ever since Sephiroth came here, the crater was a place of enormous activity, especially as it was an entry point to the lifestream. It was Vincent's job to check whether anything was happening, and if it proved a threat, destroy it.
Right now, Vincent was checking about reports concerning a strange energy reading from the center of the crater. He was heading out to the crater on foot, as there was no other way. The cold didn't really bother him. Thanks to Dr. Hojo, Vincent had always seemed cold.
He had a warm heart though, and his friendship with the other people of the AVALANCHE team that stopped Sephiroth had showed. It was thanks to the person that the former Turk loved, Lucrecia, that made Vincent as strong as he was, no matter how much the experiments of the crazed scientist had changed him physically. Hojo was probably the one more evil and more destructive than Sephiroth would had ever been. Sephiroth never knew his true mother, in the first place.
He reached the crater, meeting up with the scouting party.
"Where is it?"
"Right there sir. Down on that ledge there."
Vincent raised his binoculars and looked down onto the ledge. Sure enough, there was something there, but it wasn't a glow. It was a man.
Pretty strange one at that, he thought.
The man was wearing a long, multi-coloured robe. His face was painted white, and there seemed to be what looked like red stars painted around his eyes.
"Call him. Maybe he just fell down."
"Sir, when we found him he was surrounded by this blue glow, almost like a fire. I'm not sure we can say that."
"So what are you saying?"
"It was like he was….teleported here."
"Call him anyway. He may be in danger."
The person beside him placed a speakerphone to his mouth and called out to the lone figure.

Kefka was woken up by a loud sound, like somebody shouting at him. Still dazed, he looked up to where the sound was, and saw several people standing on the edge of the crater he appeared in.
Damn, I've been spotted!
He checked his hands, they glowed a faint blue, and saw he was still capable of his own means of magic.
Those idiots use this so-called materia to use magic. I guess I'll have to show them what real magic is all about.
He raised his hand, the palm facing the man calling to him.

Vincent looked as he saw the man raise his hand. Was he greeting them? He put down the binoculars and turned his head towards the man with the speakerphone.
"Is he saying anything?"
"Not yet….!"
A blue bolt of energy erupted from the man's hand and pierced the man in the chest. Vincent grabbed the man as he collapsed to the floor, but he was already dead. A second bolt of energy shot past a few inches from Vincent's head. He felt the searing heat blaze past him.
"Return fire!!"
The machine guns of the troops were now aimed at the man. They fired.

Kefka had to switch tactics to a defensive position. These weapons were not around in his world, and he had to raise his delta shield to deflect the bullets that were attacking him. He fire short, rapid bursts of energy to kill the attackers before he placed the shield back up again. But he was a good shot, no mater how rapid the shots were.

Vincent looked on as the man downed three more of his soldiers. Firing his own gun, Death Penalty, he watched, stunned, as the bullets harmlessly bounced of the shield the man was somehow putting up. The shots that the man was firing wasn't as powerful as the one who took out his first agent, barely scratching the ground, but they were enough to kill anyone.
This guy's a maniac. What'd we do?
He reached for the PHS and dialed Clod's number.
"Your friend's gonna be pissed." Said one soldier kneeling next to him.
"That's the problem with evil. It never cares about your personal feelings."

Kalm was a relatively quiet town near Midgar, with few claims to fame. The only claim to fame that they had was that it was now the home of two of the heroes, Cloud and Tifa.
Right now they were uninterested in Kalm's fame. They were too busy making love.
Tifa, her clothes completely removed save for her panties which were hanging down her leg, sat on top of Cloud, moving herself backwards and forwards, her eyes closed and her mouth open in ecstasy. Cloud was holding her waist with both hands looking at her naked body with a hell of a lot of gratitude.
"Oh…yeah." Tifa sighed.
"Well, uh, this is something good." Cloud spoke, smirking his way through the so-called 'ordeal'.
"I'm…glad…you……feel it that …way." Tifa replied.
Suddenly, the PHS on the bedside table rang.
"Oh, what?" Tifa opened her eyes towards the phone.
"This is not happening."
"Just ignore it."
"This is not happening!" Cloud repeated.
"Just ignore it."
"I can't Tifa, it's Vincent. He's probably got a report on the Crater."
He reached for the PHS and pressed receive. Tifa moaned.
"Yeah? Hey Vincent."
Cloud suddenly sat upright. Tifa would have toppled over onto the floor if Cloud hadn't grabbed her by the arm at that moment.
"What? We'll get there, just hold him back till we arrive."
He put the phone down.
"Vincent's in trouble!"

Vincent saw a boulder he could use for cover and get a clearer shot. When his last man fell, Vincent ran down the spiral ledge that was the entrance to the crater, and dived for the boulder. A few shots hit the wall behind him as he leapt, but he reached the safety of the boulder. A few shots hit the boulder, but did nothing to it. He turned and fired Death Penalty periodically at the man. Still the bullets bounced off the shield. Suddenly, the next time he fired, there was a click.
Shit. I'm out of ammo!
He released the empty magazine, and moved his claw to his belt for a new one.

Kefka noticed that the last man had paused for a while. He also saw a ledge above the man. Perfect!
He raised his arms and charged up enough energy to dislodge the platform.

He placed the clip into the gun slot and pulled the slide back to load a round into the chamber.
"One…two…three!"
He turned and fired a round at the man. At the same time, the man fired a bolt upwards sending it way above his head.
The bullet struck the man in the shoulder, but the bolt hit the ledge directly above Vincent. Vincent looked up and saw a hail of rubble coming straight down on top of him.
"You clever bastard!"
He covered his head with his claw as the rocks fell directly on top of him and covered him completely.

Kefka grimaced. The last shot that man had made had hit him in the shoulder. But at least he had the last laugh.
He placed his hand to the wound on his shoulder and cast a cure spell. The wound healed quickly as the bullet was popped out of his shoulder, although some of the blood dropped onto the ledge. He then climbed out of the crater and walked straight down the outside, looking for the place that was the burial ground of the person he sought.
Aeris Gainsborough.

The single-engine Highwind touched down on the ground about half an hour after the battle. Cid had given the Highwind to Cloud and Tifa after Meteor was destroyed. Since Reeve allowed the construction of airships again, Cid would start work on a new, greatly improved version of the Highwind.
Cloud ran out of the Highwind and saw the devastation. Tifa followed him and put a hand over her mouth in shock.
The whole field, which was once pure white from snow, was now stained with blood-red. There were twenty bodies, each one a member of Vincent's scouting party. One of the soldiers had a charred hole the size of his torso. Another had his body completely separated in half. The others, on closer inspection, had small impact around their chests and heads.
"I've never seen anything like it since Sephiroth destroyed Nibelheim." Cloud remarked.
Tifa noticed that Vincent wasn't among them, so she ran down to the crater.
She called Vincent's name down the crater, but heard no reply. Tifa ran down the spiral stairway down the side of the crater. Cloud followed her, jumping over a large hole. He noticed that a large pile of rocks was directly beneath the gap.
Tifa noticed a couple of drops of blood on the floor and called to Cloud. Cloud ran up to where Tifa was, and saw the blood.
"I'd say this is where the enemy was. You can see the bullet holes on the wall here." said Cloud.
"But there's a triangular gap between them…..wait." There was the sound of rocks crumbling on the other side. Cloud looked and saw that the pile of rubble he saw earlier was starting to move.
"What the hell?"
Suddenly, the rocks were thrown in all directions as a beast appeared. Cloud and Tifa recognised it immediately.
It was Chaos, one of the forms that Vincent could transform into.
Cloud reached for his sword as Chaos roared as he emerged. He was about to run to face the beast when Chaos took a few steps, then toppled over, unconscious. It morphed back into Vincent.
"Vincent!" Tifa cried, running up to him. Cloud followed. Tifa knelt beside the unconscious Vincent, resting his head on her knee.
"We have to help him somehow."
"The nearest place I can think of is Icicle Inn."
They hauled Vincent into the Highwind, and set off for Icicle Inn.

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