To Junction Time
by pinkwhirlwind
Disclaimer:
I don't own Final Fantasy 8 characters. The wizard and the ninja referenced in the story are Fai and Kurogane from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. I don't own clamp characters either. Lucci belongs to Sethron and was used with her permission.
"Shhhh," she said gently. Little light reached them, just enough to touch the dirty blond hair of a small boy. The woman smiled, a faint smile, a trying to be brave smile. "Seifer, you have to be strong. You're my knight, darling, my precious one. You're going to get through this safely. You're going to live and be strong. Don't take any shit, from anyone, Seifer."
"Yes, Mommy," he said, voice strangled with sobs he was too much the knight to give in to.
The ruins around them had been their home. There had been three children. Only the middle child remained.
His mother smiled brighter. "That's my boy, my little knight."
"Is it still my birthday, Mommy?"
"Yes, my darling. It's your birthday."
Blood, cold against her skin, ran down her back.
Above them the battle screamed and tore through their town.
"I'm scared," Seifer whispered. "I want Daddy to come home."
"So do I my love," his mother said. Compression hit the house. What light there was - wasn't.
"Now you stop that!" Edea said, pleading almost with the stubborn green eyed boy. "We're celebrating Zell's birthday today."
Seifer wrinkled his nose, arms across his chest. "He cries too much to have a birthday."
Zell bit his lip, big tears pooling. "I do not! I not cry too much to have a birthday!"
"You do! You're a chicken wuss! That's all you are!" Seifer taunted, making a face.
Tears rolled down Zell's face. They glared at each other. Zell smacked Seifer's arm, not hard, just a little child slap. Seifer was on him before Zell could pull his hand back, fist doubled, hitting Zell's face. Edea had Seifer by the shirt, jerking him up.
"NO! Do not hit each other!"
Zell scrambled away. "Meanie! You're just mean! No one likes you!"
Edea glared at Zell, narrow intimidating glare. "Seifer is part of our family and we do not say such things!"
"It's true!"
"Chicken wuss! Cry baby!"
Edea set Seifer back down on his feet. "Go to your room, Seifer. Think about why it's wrong to hit other people."
"It's not wrong! I'm a knight and knights hit stupid crybaby people!"
"No. They do not." Edea said firmly, pointing towards the stairs to his room.
Seifer made a face, but turned and stomped proudly off towards his room.
On the way up the stairs, he passed Selphie and and Irvine. Irvine had the new kid's stuffed yellow thing balanced on his head.
In a show of dominance, Seifer grabbed it and ran up the stairs. Irvine followed a couple of steps until Edea called them both down. Triumphant, Seifer strode towards his room with the stuffed chocobo in one hand.
Gray eyes watched him.
Seifer stopped and stared at the new kid. Scruffy. Gray eyes. Still a little bruised around the edges and from deep inside.
Seifer stood there a moment.
He held out the stuffed chocobo.
The new boy took a step out his room, which he hadn't left since he got there.
Seifer stopped holding the chocobo by the neck, held it in both hands. "Here. Go on. It's yours, ain't it."
The new boy took it reverently, tenderly, cradling the tattered yellow creature. He looked Seifer right in the eyes. And then he smiled.
Something relaxed in Seifer, something that hadn't let go since his birthday.
There had been a parade. That had been a long time ago.
She stood over him, looking down.
He didn't remember when she'd gotten there. Maybe she'd always been there.
She was slender, dark hair, angry eyes. Wings on her shoulders. She sneered. "Did you really think I didn't know what you did? Why you did it? Did you ever think you could take him? That you could protect him from his LIFE? His LOVE?"
Seifer looked up at her, numb. Fujin was going to speak for him any moment now, give voice to what it was he ought to be feeling. Silence lingered. She poked him with her foot.
It hurt.
Why did it hurt?
He couldn't remember.
Fujin and Raijin had left him. "Why don't you come back and be our friend again!"
"It's too late." He actually said that out loud. The sound of his own voice echoed in the room.
"No. It's not, my knight," she sneered. "It'll never be too late. It'll always come back to this moment, again and again. My real knight will always be mine. You have to understand. I give everything for my real knight. You're nothing. You never, ever were."
Folding.
Edea's voice told him he was loved.
Gray eyes promised something.
Every moment of his life stretched out, distinct, like stacked panes of glass, yet pressed so deeply into each other that was became will be.
Folding.
Bleeding.
"No one wants you!"
Everyday stretched and bled like ink, running one into another.
His father knelt on one knee in front of him. He was five with big green eyes, his heart beating like a flag in the wind.
"I get the ninja for my birthday? I like the ninja." He whispered.
His father smiled gently. Green eyes, long blond hair, dented shoulder plate, he said, "I thought the wizard would be better." The world was at war. Children's toys were not a high priority for anyone other parents of dramatic five year olds on their birthdays.
Seifer chewed his lip. It was the sorcerous war ruining the city. He knew that. No one wanted the wizard. "Thank you!"
Relived, his father pulled him into a hug. "You're a good boy, Seifer."
It wasn't dark.
Too light.
Painful.
Colors
Pretty colors
faces blurred.
Gray.
He liked gray.
Smiling gray eyes.
A storm.
Safe in a storm.
Someone screamed.
Pain.
Words without voice.
I'll hurt you, but
I won't let you
die.
cry
tears so deep
that bones
rain away
Child fingers touched the screen.
Demons attacked both the dark clad ninja and the wizard in black pants and a white shirt. The wizard was blond, like Seifer. Slender, he reminded Seifer of a crane. He checked around him to see that no one was looking then he tried fighting moves of the wizard. It felt so natural. Smooth.
Everyone hates wizards.
No one will ever want you.
The demon's blast hit him in the chest. he flew back into the wall. Stone crumbled around him.
Dizzy.
Pain.
His leg hurt, but he didn't know why.
Time vomited in his brain. If it could have leaked out of his ears, he thought it would have. Images, voices, blood, pain, endless... always endless.
"You know what I hate?" The ninja leaned forward. Their eyes locked. The Wizard looked up, a painful empty behind blue eyes. The ninja grimaced. "I hate people who give up their lives easily!"
"I'm a wizard," he said, his voice sounding... unfamiliar to him.
I
AM
Fai and Seifer stood, facing each other, one hand up, palms pressed together against the infinitely thin time frame. The frame grew thicker. Fai grew taller, leaner. Seifer's knees buckled. He dropped slowly to the ground.
Fai blinked. Both of Fai's fists beat on the barrier between them. Time compression blended, separated them.
Blue eyes watched green fade away, behind a barrier that should never be breached.
His next breath tore through him, ripping an entire life into him, creating a person that never would have existed.
Water pressed him down. He screamed. Water rushed in.
A powerful hand grabbed his shirt, jerking him up, rough strong hands. Those strong hands pressed his stomach, forcing out water. Air, sweet and familiar air rushed in and he gasped, clinging to the powerful arms holding him. "I'm the wizard."
"Yes," Lucci said, confused, impatience in his voice.
"We travel together. Mokana... "
The white creature bounced on Fai's shoulder. "Mokana is here! Fai is going to be okay?"
"What were you doing in the water, you idiot?"
"I don't know," Fai cried. "I didn't.. I didn't go into the water. I had a dream... it was a horrible dream!"
"You're awake now," Lucci pointed out. There was just a very slight edge of concern, fear in Lucci's voice. "Fai...."
"There was another. It was like .... the real Fai, but... and he died."
Lucci's arms went around Fai, holding him close, tenderly. "We're here now. This is the now. We're here together."
Fai looked up and smiled. He shivered from being wet, from the echoes of the dream. It was just a dream, bad, but just a dream. He knew who he was. He was wanted, even if Lucci won't say it in so many words.
Wanted.
Green eyes snapped open.
It was possible....
wanted was possible.
Seifer felt wanted.
Endless ended and he fell.
Rocky ground bit into his knees... achingly real, present, and a single sensation to focus on.
He was .... he knew this place. He didn't know how he knew the dueling ground where he'd gotten his scar, but he did. Slowly both hands rose to his head... which felt so empty. He was supposed to be... he was supposed to be on the dock with... with... but... he didn't know.
All he knew was that he needed to find himself again, find all he'd lost... and he had to find the gray eyes.. beautiful gray eyes. He needed to see them smile again.
Shaking, thin as a rail, he tried to stand.
"Oh my gods," the SeeD yelled. "It's Seifer Almasy! Don't move!"
Seifer turned. The spell hit him hard, throwing him back against the gravel. This, this approaching darkness was better than the endless wash of color and sensation that had been never ending.
For the first time in an eternity, Seifer Almasy slept.
Fai's mind felt as if it had rippled, physically. "Something... Lucci... Magic. Something horrific... it wasn't a dream! I don't want to fade away!"
Fai grabbed Lucci's shirt, holding it tightly. Colors, bright, mixing, a neon sun of events and sensation. The rift pulled Fai towards it, jerking him out of Lucci's arms. "Lucci!"