Okay, this started off as a Nightmare Before Christmas fic, but I have a feeling the readers were getting a little uncomfortable with the FF7-ness of the fic. I hope you can all handle it!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas…curse that Tim Burton…he could give it to me…And I don't own the FF7 characters either, Squaresoft owns them!
Chapter One: Where Halloween Never Ends...
Cloud Strife studied the Key of the Ancients on his desk in his current home in Nibelheim, his aquamarine eyes serious and narrow as he examined it. He had been having some odd dreams lately about this key…unlocking some sort of door. Whenever he opened the door in the dream, he saw a flash of Mako-green eyes and then heard the voice of an innocent friend who was killed…
"Cloud?"
The ex-SOLDIER practically jumped out of his skin as he heard a voice call him softly. He turned and saw his best friend since childhood, Tifa Lockeheart, peeking around the doorframe, her chocolate brown hair falling in her position. Smiling beautifully to match the rest of her, the woman spoke as she stepped into the room, "If you stare at that key too long you'll turn into a key yourself." She brushed a strand of hair out of her ruby red eyes and sat on a chair across from Cloud. He half smiled at her.
"I've been drawn to this key for a while now," his voice soft and low. "I mean, who knows…there could be something more to this key than Bugenhagen thought."
Tifa shrugged, remembering the astrologist from Cosmo Canyon--a village not too far from Nibelheim--and carefully picked up the Key of the Ancients. It wasn't incredibly heavy, which didn't match its size of almost four feet long. It certainly didn't look like a regular door key…which added to its mystery. This key helped unlock some of the mysteries in the City of Ancients, where the innocent flower girl Aeris Gainsborough was murdered by--
"Sephiroth?"
"Who's he?"
"I dunno. I heard the wind speaking about someone named Sephiroth."
"What a dumb name."
"Shut up Barrel."
"You shut up Shock!"
"Both of you be quiet!"
"Who says I'm gonna listen to you?"
"Yeah, yeah! You don't tell me what to do Lock!"
The three undead children soon quieted down however, as they heard the clicking of boots echoing through the cobblestone alleyway they were in. They hid behind a dead tree, scared of whoever was making the nerve-racking sound. Through the eye holes of their masks they saw a man with waist-length gray-white hair that heavily contrasted his black trench coat that ended like demonic wings reaching outward. And almost directly on his right shoulder blade grew a long, black wing, folded limply. His sinister, almost glowing green eyes scanned his surroundings carefully. On his black belt at his waist was a sheath of a very long sword, and something told the three hiding trick-or-treaters that he was more demonic than Oogie Boogie, destroyed by the Pumpkin King only a few months ago.
It was him. The killer of Aeris. The master of destruction.
Sephiroth.
The door…A plain wooden door with an orange shape in the center of it. Cloud couldn't quite make the shape out--this dream was always blurry. He looked down at the Key of the Ancients in his hand, then looked at the door again. He noticed a keyhole and as he always did in this dream, thrust the key into the hole, then turned it. After hearing a satisfying click, Cloud pulled back the key and turned the doorknob slowly.
Through the door was darkness…then in a flash, there were eyes…green Mako eyes…and then a soft, feminine voice…contrary to the one he was about to hear.
"Strife!"
Cloud popped his eyes open to find Cid Highwind, owner, builder, and pilot of an airship named Highwind, frowning at him. Yawning as he brushed some spiky blonde bangs out of his eyes, Cloud replied, "I'm awake."
"It's about @#$&!%# time! We're about to land near the excavation site. Do ya wanna get off or do ya wanna just keep sleeping?!"
Cloud peered out the nearest window and saw the forests surrounding a fairly large cleared out patch with tents littered here and there. It was Bone Village, grown a little since the last time that Cloud had been there. Some of the workers there had contacted Tifa and Cloud about some sort of a hidden passage in the Sleeping Forest, which lies beyond Bone Village. Cloud felt that somehow, this new passage was connected to his dream.
Cid took his cigarette out of his mouth and smothered it in the nearest ash tray, then looked to Cloud with his bright blue eyes, ignoring a strand of pale blonde hair that had creeped under Cid's brown goggles.
"So what're you gonna do once you get to the site?"
"Find that passage and follow it, of course."
"Whatcha think yer gonna find?"
"No clue."
"Tch...well we're here. Get off."
Along with Tifa, who was holding the Lunar Harp in her gloved hands, Cloud headed to the Bone Village. The Lunar Harp had some sort of connection with the Sleeping Forest, allowing the holder of the harp to pass. Upon their arrival, a man in working clothes stepped up to them.
"Would you like me to lead you to the passage in the forest?" he asked eagerly. Just as Cloud was about to answer him, he heard a whisper…
"Go alone..."
Cloud's intense Mako eyes searched around for the voice, but could find no one that could have matched it. It was a somewhat high-pitched feminine voice, but had a mysterious flavor to it. Closing his eyes and seeing the door he wanted to find so badly, he answered the man's question.
"No, thanks. Tifa, hand over the harp. I'm checking this out on my own."
"No way!" protested Tifa, clutching the Lunar Harp tighter to her relatively large bust ((reviwers: relatively?? me: well...I shrunk 'em)). "I wanna check this out too!"
"Tifa…"
Tifa matched his glance with her own eyes. But his eyes, when sad like that, always hypnotized her into doing what he asked. Lazily, she handed over the harp.
"Have it your way. I'll wait here, I guess. Don't take too long, all right?"
Cloud nodded. He had his Buster sword tightly strapped to his back on the baultric he had on reaching from his his right shoulder to his left hip and back again, fully wrapping around his torso. The Key of the Ancients was at his side, and the Lunar Harp was in his left hand. Tifa watched him as if from a great distance a he stepped forward toward the entrance of the forest, his footsteps sounding final, as if he would never return. Once he entered, his eyes wandered all around, looking for wherever the passage was.
"Go left, then right, then straight until you reach your final destination…"
It was the voice again. Cloud, in instinct, gripped the hilt of his sword, but when the voice repeated itself, Cloud felt calm and released his hilt. There never were any monsters in this forest, so he relazed further and walked through a small clearing on his left side. He continued straight until he heard the voice order him to go right. To his right was a small stream, and only a few logs and a large stone here and there to get him across. He succeeded in getting across, but he got his boots and the very bottom of his dark purple pant leg wet. It didn't phase him, of course.
Following the voice's orders, he continued straight, wondering why he saw no sign of the gorge that hid the City of the Ancients. He almost was worried that he was simply going in circles, but his nerves were calmed as he heard the voice humming softly. He then noticed a small box ahead of him, and thinking it were something of great value, he ran toward it, only to find that it rested in front of a dead-end.
Confused and disappointed a bit, Cloud patted the rough mountainside dead-end, thinking that there was the door in his dreams. But there was nothing. Shrugging, Cloud opened the box behind him…
"What the hell is this?!"
The only thing that was in the box was a small, six-inch tall bottle with a cork keeping the black, bubbling substance inside. It wasn't a Potion, nor and Ether, or any sort of curative item he had ever seen before.
"I came all of this way for…whatever the hell this stuff is?"
"Yes…and it is time for you to come to where I am..."
Cloud once again heard the voice, and then the bottle suddenly shattered, spilling the black goo everywhere. Cloud was startled, but before he could even get his hand on the handle of his mighty Buster sword, the shadow goo surrounded him and lifted up from the ground. Then, like a monster's jaws, the strange goo closed over the ex-SOLDIER.
"Open your eyes..."
Cloud squinted his closed eyes a bit, feeling light attack them. He then fluttered them open. Above him were the tops of trees, but bare trees, not the full ones he had just seen in the Sleeping Forest. Sitting up, he realized that he was no longer in the Sleeping Forest at all…
He then stood up, brushing off any dirt that attached to his dark purple clothing or dirty silver armor. He blinked, feeling different. He felt something itching him on his back. Turning his head toward his left shoulder, he saw a black bat-like wing stretched out in alertness. He smirked after he flapped the wing, interested rather than scared.
"See the doors on the trees?"
Cloud focused his attention to the six thick trees that surrounded him. All of the trees had doors that were shaped oddly. One was shaped like an egg, another like a large, fat bird--not a Chocobo however, another like a big heart, another like a leaf, or a shamrock as Cloud remembered the name of the petal design. The other door was shaped like a tree and the final door that Cloud spotted was shaped like a pumpkin. All of these doors had a lock on the side…
Cloud felt the Key of the Ancients become heavy at his side.
"You know what to do, don't you?"
"Open…" Cloud said in a quiet voice. He looked to the door shaped like a pumpkin and untied the key from his belt. "Open this one…" He lifted the key and then did as he did in the numerous dreams. The familiar sound of the key turning…The familiar click…
The key shattered in Cloud's hand as the door opened. He felt himself being sucked in toward the darkness the door once hid. He tried to resist being pulled in…
"Don't be afraid!"
"Shut up already!" yelled Cloud in fury. He had no idea what exactly was going on…how dare whoever was speaking to him tell him not to be afraid!
"Please listen…Jack and I need your help…It's--"
The voice was replaced by a different voice…
"Enter if you dare…worthless puppet…"
Cloud's eyes widened. He knew that deep, sinister voice…Was…Was he inside this door? Inside this darkness?
"COME AND GET ME!"
Cloud needed no other invitation. He finally let himself be drawn into the void…
Cloud was awakened this time by someone humming softly. It was the same tune that the feminine voice was humming back in the Sleeping Forest. Cloud sat up as he ran a hand through his spiky blonde and saw a girl around his age sitting on a chair, cross-legged, twirling a flower, humming softly. Upon closer inspection, Cloud could see stitches running along her flesh…if you could call it flesh. Cloud blinked and shook his head a bit, but the girl looked the same, her limbs tightly sewn together and her yarn hair reaching down to her backside.
Sensing that Cloud was awake, the doll-like girl turned to him, putting down the flower she held.
"Oh, you're awake," she spoke. It was the voice that had been speaking to him since Bone Village. "My name is Sally…I'd like to welcome you to Halloween Town."
"Halloween Town?" repeated Cloud softly. Sally nodded, then turned towards a window next to the bed Cloud was sitting on. She gestured for him to look, so he did. His eyes widened once again as he saw ghosts, demons, and many other spooky looking creatures in the small patch of the town below him. He then saw a fairly big guillotine fairly near to the window he was looking out of. There was a well with oddly colored water boiling in it in the center of the town. There were small children playing around it and the large guillotine as well.
Sally and Cloud both turned around as they heard a knock at the door.
"Sally, it's me, Jack!" exclaimed a voice enthusiastically. Sally smiled and headed to the dark door (that Cloud almost didn't notice, thanks to the matching dark colors around the door) and opened it. Cloud blinked as a tall and skinny…skeleton walked into the room, crouching a bit to get inside the room without bumping his head on the door board. He had a wide grin on his face and empty sockets where his eyes should be. But he wasn't spooky. Especially not to Cloud. He looked very kind and obviously got the fancy of the smiling Sally. He wore a black tuxedo with white stripes going up and down throughout the entire outfit that hugged his skinny frame. His bowtie was a decorative bat--or maybe it was once a real, living bat. Cloud couldn't be sure in this place; this skeleton was a very interesting skeleton indeed.
Turning his head toward the very confused human still sitting on the plain white bed, the well dressed skeleton said in a kind voice, "Ah, you must be Cloud." With an odd smile almost reaching around his circular head, he introduced himself with a slight, lanky bow. "I am Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. I hope you enjoy your stay here…"
Well, I hope you all liked it. If you've never played Final Fantasy 7, then contact me with any questions you have at [email protected]. Please review, that would be very nice and it would tell me where this story should be on my list of priorities. Bai bai now! ::bows and runs away::
DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas…curse that Tim Burton…he could give it to me…And I don't own the FF7 characters either, Squaresoft owns them!
Cloud Strife studied the Key of the Ancients on his desk in his current home in Nibelheim, his aquamarine eyes serious and narrow as he examined it. He had been having some odd dreams lately about this key…unlocking some sort of door. Whenever he opened the door in the dream, he saw a flash of Mako-green eyes and then heard the voice of an innocent friend who was killed…
"Cloud?"
The ex-SOLDIER practically jumped out of his skin as he heard a voice call him softly. He turned and saw his best friend since childhood, Tifa Lockeheart, peeking around the doorframe, her chocolate brown hair falling in her position. Smiling beautifully to match the rest of her, the woman spoke as she stepped into the room, "If you stare at that key too long you'll turn into a key yourself." She brushed a strand of hair out of her ruby red eyes and sat on a chair across from Cloud. He half smiled at her.
"I've been drawn to this key for a while now," his voice soft and low. "I mean, who knows…there could be something more to this key than Bugenhagen thought."
Tifa shrugged, remembering the astrologist from Cosmo Canyon--a village not too far from Nibelheim--and carefully picked up the Key of the Ancients. It wasn't incredibly heavy, which didn't match its size of almost four feet long. It certainly didn't look like a regular door key…which added to its mystery. This key helped unlock some of the mysteries in the City of Ancients, where the innocent flower girl Aeris Gainsborough was murdered by--
"Sephiroth?"
"Who's he?"
"I dunno. I heard the wind speaking about someone named Sephiroth."
"What a dumb name."
"Shut up Barrel."
"You shut up Shock!"
"Both of you be quiet!"
"Who says I'm gonna listen to you?"
"Yeah, yeah! You don't tell me what to do Lock!"
The three undead children soon quieted down however, as they heard the clicking of boots echoing through the cobblestone alleyway they were in. They hid behind a dead tree, scared of whoever was making the nerve-racking sound. Through the eye holes of their masks they saw a man with waist-length gray-white hair that heavily contrasted his black trench coat that ended like demonic wings reaching outward. And almost directly on his right shoulder blade grew a long, black wing, folded limply. His sinister, almost glowing green eyes scanned his surroundings carefully. On his black belt at his waist was a sheath of a very long sword, and something told the three hiding trick-or-treaters that he was more demonic than Oogie Boogie, destroyed by the Pumpkin King only a few months ago.
It was him. The killer of Aeris. The master of destruction.
Sephiroth.
The door…A plain wooden door with an orange shape in the center of it. Cloud couldn't quite make the shape out--this dream was always blurry. He looked down at the Key of the Ancients in his hand, then looked at the door again. He noticed a keyhole and as he always did in this dream, thrust the key into the hole, then turned it. After hearing a satisfying click, Cloud pulled back the key and turned the doorknob slowly.
Through the door was darkness…then in a flash, there were eyes…green Mako eyes…and then a soft, feminine voice…contrary to the one he was about to hear.
"Strife!"
Cloud popped his eyes open to find Cid Highwind, owner, builder, and pilot of an airship named Highwind, frowning at him. Yawning as he brushed some spiky blonde bangs out of his eyes, Cloud replied, "I'm awake."
"It's about @#$&!%# time! We're about to land near the excavation site. Do ya wanna get off or do ya wanna just keep sleeping?!"
Cloud peered out the nearest window and saw the forests surrounding a fairly large cleared out patch with tents littered here and there. It was Bone Village, grown a little since the last time that Cloud had been there. Some of the workers there had contacted Tifa and Cloud about some sort of a hidden passage in the Sleeping Forest, which lies beyond Bone Village. Cloud felt that somehow, this new passage was connected to his dream.
Cid took his cigarette out of his mouth and smothered it in the nearest ash tray, then looked to Cloud with his bright blue eyes, ignoring a strand of pale blonde hair that had creeped under Cid's brown goggles.
"So what're you gonna do once you get to the site?"
"Find that passage and follow it, of course."
"Whatcha think yer gonna find?"
"No clue."
"Tch...well we're here. Get off."
Along with Tifa, who was holding the Lunar Harp in her gloved hands, Cloud headed to the Bone Village. The Lunar Harp had some sort of connection with the Sleeping Forest, allowing the holder of the harp to pass. Upon their arrival, a man in working clothes stepped up to them.
"Would you like me to lead you to the passage in the forest?" he asked eagerly. Just as Cloud was about to answer him, he heard a whisper…
"Go alone..."
Cloud's intense Mako eyes searched around for the voice, but could find no one that could have matched it. It was a somewhat high-pitched feminine voice, but had a mysterious flavor to it. Closing his eyes and seeing the door he wanted to find so badly, he answered the man's question.
"No, thanks. Tifa, hand over the harp. I'm checking this out on my own."
"No way!" protested Tifa, clutching the Lunar Harp tighter to her relatively large bust ((reviwers: relatively?? me: well...I shrunk 'em)). "I wanna check this out too!"
"Tifa…"
Tifa matched his glance with her own eyes. But his eyes, when sad like that, always hypnotized her into doing what he asked. Lazily, she handed over the harp.
"Have it your way. I'll wait here, I guess. Don't take too long, all right?"
Cloud nodded. He had his Buster sword tightly strapped to his back on the baultric he had on reaching from his his right shoulder to his left hip and back again, fully wrapping around his torso. The Key of the Ancients was at his side, and the Lunar Harp was in his left hand. Tifa watched him as if from a great distance a he stepped forward toward the entrance of the forest, his footsteps sounding final, as if he would never return. Once he entered, his eyes wandered all around, looking for wherever the passage was.
"Go left, then right, then straight until you reach your final destination…"
It was the voice again. Cloud, in instinct, gripped the hilt of his sword, but when the voice repeated itself, Cloud felt calm and released his hilt. There never were any monsters in this forest, so he relazed further and walked through a small clearing on his left side. He continued straight until he heard the voice order him to go right. To his right was a small stream, and only a few logs and a large stone here and there to get him across. He succeeded in getting across, but he got his boots and the very bottom of his dark purple pant leg wet. It didn't phase him, of course.
Following the voice's orders, he continued straight, wondering why he saw no sign of the gorge that hid the City of the Ancients. He almost was worried that he was simply going in circles, but his nerves were calmed as he heard the voice humming softly. He then noticed a small box ahead of him, and thinking it were something of great value, he ran toward it, only to find that it rested in front of a dead-end.
Confused and disappointed a bit, Cloud patted the rough mountainside dead-end, thinking that there was the door in his dreams. But there was nothing. Shrugging, Cloud opened the box behind him…
"What the hell is this?!"
The only thing that was in the box was a small, six-inch tall bottle with a cork keeping the black, bubbling substance inside. It wasn't a Potion, nor and Ether, or any sort of curative item he had ever seen before.
"I came all of this way for…whatever the hell this stuff is?"
"Yes…and it is time for you to come to where I am..."
Cloud once again heard the voice, and then the bottle suddenly shattered, spilling the black goo everywhere. Cloud was startled, but before he could even get his hand on the handle of his mighty Buster sword, the shadow goo surrounded him and lifted up from the ground. Then, like a monster's jaws, the strange goo closed over the ex-SOLDIER.
"Open your eyes..."
Cloud squinted his closed eyes a bit, feeling light attack them. He then fluttered them open. Above him were the tops of trees, but bare trees, not the full ones he had just seen in the Sleeping Forest. Sitting up, he realized that he was no longer in the Sleeping Forest at all…
He then stood up, brushing off any dirt that attached to his dark purple clothing or dirty silver armor. He blinked, feeling different. He felt something itching him on his back. Turning his head toward his left shoulder, he saw a black bat-like wing stretched out in alertness. He smirked after he flapped the wing, interested rather than scared.
"See the doors on the trees?"
Cloud focused his attention to the six thick trees that surrounded him. All of the trees had doors that were shaped oddly. One was shaped like an egg, another like a large, fat bird--not a Chocobo however, another like a big heart, another like a leaf, or a shamrock as Cloud remembered the name of the petal design. The other door was shaped like a tree and the final door that Cloud spotted was shaped like a pumpkin. All of these doors had a lock on the side…
Cloud felt the Key of the Ancients become heavy at his side.
"You know what to do, don't you?"
"Open…" Cloud said in a quiet voice. He looked to the door shaped like a pumpkin and untied the key from his belt. "Open this one…" He lifted the key and then did as he did in the numerous dreams. The familiar sound of the key turning…The familiar click…
The key shattered in Cloud's hand as the door opened. He felt himself being sucked in toward the darkness the door once hid. He tried to resist being pulled in…
"Don't be afraid!"
"Shut up already!" yelled Cloud in fury. He had no idea what exactly was going on…how dare whoever was speaking to him tell him not to be afraid!
"Please listen…Jack and I need your help…It's--"
The voice was replaced by a different voice…
"Enter if you dare…worthless puppet…"
Cloud's eyes widened. He knew that deep, sinister voice…Was…Was he inside this door? Inside this darkness?
"COME AND GET ME!"
Cloud needed no other invitation. He finally let himself be drawn into the void…
Cloud was awakened this time by someone humming softly. It was the same tune that the feminine voice was humming back in the Sleeping Forest. Cloud sat up as he ran a hand through his spiky blonde and saw a girl around his age sitting on a chair, cross-legged, twirling a flower, humming softly. Upon closer inspection, Cloud could see stitches running along her flesh…if you could call it flesh. Cloud blinked and shook his head a bit, but the girl looked the same, her limbs tightly sewn together and her yarn hair reaching down to her backside.
Sensing that Cloud was awake, the doll-like girl turned to him, putting down the flower she held.
"Oh, you're awake," she spoke. It was the voice that had been speaking to him since Bone Village. "My name is Sally…I'd like to welcome you to Halloween Town."
"Halloween Town?" repeated Cloud softly. Sally nodded, then turned towards a window next to the bed Cloud was sitting on. She gestured for him to look, so he did. His eyes widened once again as he saw ghosts, demons, and many other spooky looking creatures in the small patch of the town below him. He then saw a fairly big guillotine fairly near to the window he was looking out of. There was a well with oddly colored water boiling in it in the center of the town. There were small children playing around it and the large guillotine as well.
Sally and Cloud both turned around as they heard a knock at the door.
"Sally, it's me, Jack!" exclaimed a voice enthusiastically. Sally smiled and headed to the dark door (that Cloud almost didn't notice, thanks to the matching dark colors around the door) and opened it. Cloud blinked as a tall and skinny…skeleton walked into the room, crouching a bit to get inside the room without bumping his head on the door board. He had a wide grin on his face and empty sockets where his eyes should be. But he wasn't spooky. Especially not to Cloud. He looked very kind and obviously got the fancy of the smiling Sally. He wore a black tuxedo with white stripes going up and down throughout the entire outfit that hugged his skinny frame. His bowtie was a decorative bat--or maybe it was once a real, living bat. Cloud couldn't be sure in this place; this skeleton was a very interesting skeleton indeed.
Turning his head toward the very confused human still sitting on the plain white bed, the well dressed skeleton said in a kind voice, "Ah, you must be Cloud." With an odd smile almost reaching around his circular head, he introduced himself with a slight, lanky bow. "I am Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. I hope you enjoy your stay here…"
Well, I hope you all liked it. If you've never played Final Fantasy 7, then contact me with any questions you have at [email protected]. Please review, that would be very nice and it would tell me where this story should be on my list of priorities. Bai bai now! ::bows and runs away::