Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome.
Warnings: Yaoi (SefierXZell)
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all it's characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents.
Tainted – Part 1
Quistis let out a shivering breath as she pulled her too-thin SeeD jacket tighter to her skin. A cloud of breath blinded her for a moment as she pushed the door open to the commander's office. Thick layers of ice covered every surface in the Ice Prince's room. The walls reflected the little sun light that made it into the frozen cavern. The ceiling creaked with every sound echoed through the garden, threatening with the giant icicles that hung from it. No wooden, or metal, or glass furniture dawned the room, all of it quickly destroyed and replaced by the ice that dominated the room for the past few years.
The blonde instructor took careful steps so not to slip on the slick floor, approaching the pale figure seated on his frigid throne.
"Commander."
Ice blue eyes glanced up from the paperwork, a new set of chills coming over her as they settled on her.
'Instructor Trepe.'
She gave a hard shiver.
"We caught him."
1 1 1
Zell stared down at the unconscious form of his archenemy. Two and a half years since the defeat of Ultimicia. Two and a half years of dealing with unknown magics. Two and a half years of becoming mortal Gods. Two and a half years since the large blond disappeared. Two and a half years that have not been good on Seifer Almasy.
The scarred blonde looked… horrendous. Like he had aged 30 years instead of just 30 months. Age lines and wrinkles reached the edges of his eyes, mouth and forehead. His hair hung limp and broken around his pale and far too baggy face. Deep circles hung low onto his cheeks, his lips cracked, his eyes hollow, and his entire body structure seemed to lack its strength and demand for dominance that it once held.
Zell's thoughts were scattered as he heard the door to the informatory wizz open, the room suddenly plunging 20 degrees colder.
"Commander Leonhart! This is the informatory, and it would be best if all of my patients did not die of pneumonia." Dr. Kadowaki jeered, moving to turn up the heat.
Pretending to ignore the doctor, but the gentle rise in temperature proved otherwise, he and Quistis, who had walked in behind him, moved over to the side of the bed that the missing blond now laid on.
"Where was he?" The commander's monotone voice sounded, his voice as cold and unfeeling as his the ice that his eyes reflected.
"Deling." Zell replied, "Apparently he's been playing escort for some excavators throughout the Tomb of the Unknown King. After trailing him for a few hours throughout the tomb Irvine and I finally cornered him. He was a bit—ah… extremely hard to finally catch."
Squall's attention quickly turned up to Zell before falling back down and focusing for closely onto Seifer. "Why is that?"
Quistis continued, "Commander… we believe he might have been tainted by the time compression as well."
"He can move incredibly fast," Zell continued, relating all the wonders he saw not hours before, "even Irvine had a tough time keeping track of him. He could even cause a person to become completely immobile, and has the ability to fly… well… float. We managed to corner him and knock him out."
Quistis cleared her throat, stern eyes giving the blond a look.
Zell's face fell slightly, a gloved hand reacting up to scratch the back of his head. "But… I kinda… went berserk and started striking everything."
Squall's eyes narrowed, the small blond's reaction not at all to his liking. "What else did you hit?"
His head dropped lower, "Uh… Irvine's in the next room."
Squall's eye's hardened over, the temperature slowly starting to drop again. "You put another teammate in the informatory…" It was a statement, not a question. "You've been warned about the consequences if you got out of control aga—"
"Commander!" Dr. Kadowaki flitted into the room, "If you would please," clouds of breath escaping from her, "leave before everyone here gets frost bite." Then exiting the room again to crank the temperature. It wasn't a request, it was an order. When in the informatory, the title of commander had no more meaning to her than 'cadet', she was the one in charge.
Turning to the tattooed blond, he stared coldly at the shivering man, "Come to my office." Then turned on his heals and stalked out the door, it closing behind him with a wizz.
"Shit!" Zell cursed, before following behind the angered Ice Prince at a much slower pace.
1 1 1
The first thing he noticed as he woke was that his entire body ached. The second being that he was lying in a bed… that had sheets on it no less. The third was a voice that was whispering above him.
"… suspend… violated probati-… vine!"
"… Kadowaki…" It was a second voice, now coming in a little louder, "… just fine… tomorrow…"
"I'll talk…" A third voice… is that… Trepe? "…Squall later." Squall? Leonhart? There was a moment of silence, "He's awake."
"Seifer?" Rin?
"Almasy…?"
"….chicken wuss…?"
1 1 1
Zell let out a scowl as the blond muttered his taunt. It figured… the blond wakes up and the first thing he has to say is that god damned nick-name. Like my day could get any worse.
"I'll get Kadowaki." He murmured as he stood from his chair and went to find the doctor. Quistis gave him a sad look before turning back to the blond who was attempting to sit up.
"What happened?" Seifer rasped out, husky voice still weak. Finally glancing around at his surroundings, he seemed to wake up, "How the hell did I get back here?"
"Zell and Irvine brought you back." Quistis explained, taking Zell's empty chair.
"Chicken-wuss and Marlboro man…?" Quistis glowered for a moment then nodded.
"So why does it feel like I was used as Quezacotl's target practice?"
A quiet chuckle was heard and Seifer looked to see Rinoa sitting on his other side, a small amused smile playing across her mouth. "You kinda were."
The aching man turned to the raven, who was still chuckling to herself. "…What?"
Before she could explained, the door wizzed open, the doctor and Zell appearing into the room.
"All right ladies, out!" she ushered, taking a seat beside her patient as the two women stood form their chairs.
'Don't go far.'
Quistis turned to Zell as she passed, nodding, "We'll be right outside." She whispered.
"Chicken Wuss!"
The blond went ridged for a moment before turning to the older blond in the bed. His shirt had come off and was currently being harassed by the older women with the stethoscope that seemed to have come right from the freezer.
"Did you're hair get spikier?"
Zell folded his arms, "Did your face get uglier?"
Seifer smirked; even the wrinkles that covered his face didn't make it any less taunting. "Don't worry yourself, chicken. My beautiful face will be back to normal in no time."
"Oh, thank Hyne for that," the smaller blonde retorted, sarcastically.
"I don't know, Mr. Almasy," Dr. Kadowaki spoke, hanging her scope around her neck. "Whatever you've done in the past 2 years has not been good for you. You're vital signs look more like that of a 50 year old than a 20 year old."
Seifer scoffed, "Trust me… I know. I've been trying to fix it since I woke up."
Zell cocked an eyebrow as the doctor shoved a thermometer under her patient's tongue. "Fix it…?"
"Did I shtutter?" Seifer replied around the piece of glass protruding from his mouth. Zell cracked a tiny smirk at the slur, before getting back to the topic at hand.
"What the hell do you mean by 'fix it'?"
"Who would have thought that something good could have come out of that entire war."
Zell's eyes snapped open at that, the lights in the room flickering for a moment as a serge of anger shooting through him. "Good… Good!? Hundreds of people are dead, cities are in ruin, space monsters are running rampant all over the planet, and you think that's good!?"
Seifer barely managed to hide the flinch as he was reminded again of his crimes, "That wasn't what I was referring too."
"Oh you're right… maybe it was how you fed your girl friend to a sorceress, or tortured Squall for god knows how long."
"No."
"Was it the children you murdered?"
"No! Chicken—"
"The elderly then?"
"Chicken! Shu—"
"Or did you just like the pretty colors Trabia made when you ble—"
Zell never got to finish his sentence as he found himself slammed into the far wall, Seifer's hands tightening fatally on his neck. It happened so fast, Zell had never seen the other blond even begin to move, but now he was clear across the room, dangling him from his neck.
"I never found any pleasure in that." Seifer seethed, his voice above a whisper, eyes glowing with this anger held behind them.
As fast as Seifer had attacked, he was torn away, his back slamming into the wall opposite the choking blond. Zell fell to the ground, couching and gripping his bruised neck as the door wizzed open and Quistis and Rinoa rushed in.
Quistis went to stand before Seifer, her hand stretched out in front of her to keep the large blond at bay, who struggled against his invisible bonds. Rinoa stood beside her, eyes closed in concentration for a moment before turning to Quistis, nodding.
Dropping her hand, the large blond was released from his binds, and slumped to the floor. Turning to Zell, who was leaning back against the wall, Dr. Kadowaki carefully looking over the marks on his neck. She knelt down beside him, a moment later joined by Rinoa.
"I'm sorry Zell," the raven apologized, eyes glistening with remorse. "I wasn't expecting his magic to grow jump suddenly like that."
Couching lightly, he smiled painfully at the girl, "It's alright Rin. I sorta provoked it."
Quistis gave him a look before standing. "I'm going to go inform the commander, he'll probably want to move him to the basement."
Nodding as much as he was able to, he stood up and followed the doctor to the other room, were she kept an ointment to use for his neck. Rinoa was left alone with the hard breathing ex-knight. She sat on his bed, watching him silently as he readjusted his position and turned to look out the window, large dark storm clouds just seeming to disperse. It had taken her a moment, but she then realized that the 50 year old face that had adorned the handsome visage not half an hour before was now replaced with the much more familiar one of a 20 year old.
TBC
Ok… R&R please!
If you're confused… it's explained in the next chapter. Promise!