Demons, Gods and Men-REBORN
Why, hello there! I came back to finish what I started...Or at least get a bit farther than I did last time! I actually almost came out with a third chapter, but I did not add it because I felt it was not of a high enough quality. My chapters were much too short, perhaps because of a love for the juicy bits. I hope that I can revitalize FF7/FF8 crossovers a little bit with this. Please, enjoy a reborn fanfiction that died way too fast. Perhaps Phoenix should make an important scene somewhere, later? I will be revising and lengthening as I feel proper, and probably quite often, not being totally satisfied with the length of the chapters. This is slightly AU, of course; The worlds and their events haven't changed that much, but obviously I had to make a little room for plot. The stories for the games are unchanged. Please, leave a review so I get some opinions on it, and what to improve.
Chapter 1: Knocking on Death's Door
What could have been a wonderful afternoon on this balmy, large island in the middle of the ocean! The scene was deceptively serene, belied by three tense figures trapped upon a cliff end, a somewhat bare stony terrain in contrast to the lush, emerald forest that it opened up from. Beneath the seemingly lifeless grey and brown cliff face, the sun reflected brightly off a still and crystal blue pond, the slight angle of the afternoon light making any disturbance upon its mirror surface glimmer blinding gold. A hundred feet above this tranquil scenery, the mercenaries waited for their quarry.
Perhaps a year ago, this idyllic land would have been a place to visit after a long day of studying and training for SeeD cadets at the Garden to the west, but as recently as a month ago such forays into the wilds have since halted. Powerful monsters, far more deathly than those on the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell, had begun to prowl the normally peaceful island. Certainly, there had always been monsters and aggressive wildlife, but they were always easily dispatched. Coincidentally, this new trouble began a year after the defeat of the Sorceress Ultimecia. Was it only a coincidence, though?
Squall remembered the gravity in Headmaster Cid's voice when he had dispatched he and his friends, to hunt down whatever monsters were running rampant across Balamb. There had, at first, been an uptick in missing people from the city of Balamb. Then, SeeD cadets had started to go missing if they had wandered too far into the country. The mystery was partially solved in the week that followed this with the discovery of human remains scattered about the patches of forest that lined the Gaulg Mountains. Cid had no choice but to send the best to flush out this particular devil out of many, for the safety of the entire island.
"As you may have heard, there have been...occurrences on Balamb. We're missing cadets, and some have turned up dead." Cid took a heavy breath. "You six will look for the creature responsible, of which we have little information; however, descriptions of a large, black beast with some intelligence. I feel I have no choice but to give this assignment to you all, but please stay safe." His face was grave.
The six had looked about at each other, unsure where to start at first. A monster killing students like they were nothing? There were very rare monsters on the island that could do that, but they generally stayed far out in the wilds; it was very rare for a student to be killed on Balamb. Would it prefer the fields or the forest? What about the mountains? It had to come from somewhere. Eventually the friends split into two groups of three, one on either side of the island, to hunt down whatever had been hunting the humans inhabiting the area. Squall's group had taken the eastern side, while Irvine, Selphie and Zell took the western side, near the city. It took nearly three days for Squall's trio to track it down.
The night before, they had stayed at a fortified SeeD bunker at the edge of the forest, these buildings scattered about the island for any cadet or SeeD stuck outside for whatever reason. They slept in shifts, having heard movement outside after retiring for the night, and the thing began tapping upon the reinforced metal covering them. While Squall was mostly confident of the strength of the bunker, he decided it best that someone always stay awake in case whatever was testing their safety finally found a way in. Quistis took the first shift, the thing outside coming and going as the night went on, rapping here and there, looking for a weakness to the metal bunker. Quistis stayed composed, expecting the company, considering the being had been most wily during their hunt. In fact, she thought, it may just be hunting them instead, dragging them further into the wilderness. The thought stayed with her through her stand, a shiver she couldn't pin down on either the temperature of the shelter or the thought of this thing leading them on. When her shift ended, she softly nudged Squall awake, who hesitantly left Rinoa's side.
During Squall's shift the being began slamming upon the door of the bunker, punctuated by roars and skittering claws against metal. Squall felt uneasy at the activity, taking a look back at the two he watched over during the dead of night. Quistis, who looked to not yet be sleeping, her face strained, and Rinoa, who was covered by Squall's bomber jacket to keep warm. The blankets available had been rather thin, and the night unusually cold; Squall stood by the front of the shelter shivering slightly despite his mental focus on the predator beyond the metal barrier. Towards the end of his watch, the creature decided to bum rush the door as hard as it could, denting the middle of the sealed door by the end of it, setting Squall on the edge of panic, waiting for another try. The being relented, and Squall was left wondering if the door could still be opened, or if they would have to find another exit, perhaps from the escape hatch on the top of the building. It would leave the party exposed, however. 'What if that was its plan?' he thought to himself. He looked back at the two women; Quistis had jolted up, whip in her hand, and Rinoa clutched onto Squall's jacket, her eyes big, brown saucers as she laid still on her back.
Rinoa had been in a deep sleep until the last big thud occurred, watching visions as if scenes from a movie. Blood and falling, a woman's scream and some blue animal leaping. She woke up with a feeling of trepidation; dreams like this foretold of something important in her experiences from the last year. Squall had put a hand to her shoulder to silently inform her it was her turn, his tired, fearful eyes set on a stony face. She was already awake, but had just laid quietly, listening, fearing. The banging had stopped for now, and Rinoa prayed her turn would be a peaceful one. She kissed Squall to soothe him before he went back to sleep and she sat waiting, but the being was gone for the time being. Looking back at Squall several times during the early morning hours, she noticed he did not sleep until half way through her watch, his usual gentle snore resuming. In the morning, they drank the instant coffee stocked on the supply shelf and some dried fruit in silence, relieved the night was over despite the lack of sleep, though Rinoa was obviously the most refreshed of the three. Quistis checked the damaged front entrance, and after some coaxing it went upwards, freeing them. Cautiously, they left after confirming the coast was clear, and headed into the forest where the trail of the beast led them.
The three had spent most of the morning stalking the beast, getting quick looks at their prey here and there. Or, at least, was hoped to be prey; Squall couldn't tell at times if they were chasing it or if it was manipulating them into a more favorable position for itself. Several times, they came across human remains in the forest, haphazardly spilled on the ground. Squall noticed that the thing was trying to intimidate its hunters. Rinoa attempted to stay stoic, but he could see it in her eyes, the fear, the upset. One of the corpses they found mutilated was a SeeD cadet that she had just made acquaintance with a week ago. Her dead eyes stared at them, the waxy skin revealing the cadet had been dead for the last two days, sliced in half. Dried blood stained the earth black where her torso laid. Quistis somberly reminded Squall they would have to return for her body after they had dispatched the monster that did this. He nodded grimly, the dark circles under his eyes giving him a more menacing look than intended. Walking over to Rinoa, he put an arm around her in comfort. She looked up at him, and tried to give a reassuring smile, his eyes softening.
"I know I'm not a SeeD, but...I guess we gotta get revenge for her, right?" She tapped her fingers together.
Squall nodded and gave her a squeeze. "Yeah. In the meantime, just stay close to me." He didn't want the same fate to fall on Rinoa. He was her knight, after all. They drudged on through the forest, a clear path forming in front of them in time.
"It's right behind the treeline." The voice of the former instructor was low and deceptively calm. The other two searched for movement within the sea of green and brown, perhaps getting a glimpse here and there of some dark nightmare that hunted them instead of the other way around. Quistis wondered if some magic might draw it out of hiding, as it had been toying with them for the last half hour as they laid trapped upon their perch, out in the open. She touched her whip, loosening it up for the inevitable battle. The rustle of the underbrush mingled with the sounds from the breeze. Rinoa remembered her dream from last night; the terrain was awfully familiar to her. She looked around, her heart full of dread at the battle they were to join in, a nervous warning on her lips. Then, at once, all became still. Squall and Quistis nodded to each other, then the three of them tensed up, ready for battle.
"Here it comes!" Squall yelled.
The demonic beast crashed from the shade of the trees and into the light, screeching, finally revealing its hideous and hulking form. A twelve foot beast with a blackish-red leathery, ropy hide and a spine full of razor sharp quills, a gaping maw with slobbering tongue, and three-clawed hands charged the group. Four blood red eyes stared with pure hatred from the sides of it's head, it readied its venomous, prehensile tail to stab one of the fleshy humans it had trapped upon the cliff, giving them no way to retreat. Quistis lashed out with her whip, seizing the creature by the lower jaw and yanking hard to force it open. Its readied tail strike missed her by inches as the whip attack unbalanced the monster, a droplet of vile, yellow-green venom splashing by her feet. Rinoa, the powerful sorceress she was, focused her crackling power through her arms and shot a bolt of energy down the beast's throat. Its momentum stopped briefly as it choked on the magic, Squall went in to pierce his gunblade into its chest.
Squall quickly, smoothly moved towards the temporarily incapacitated demon, ready to strike it down with his gunblade. 'This all seems so easy, too easy,' he thought. He hesitated a moment, and that's all that was needed by the large beast. It lunged forward, grasping Squall by the abdomen and pushing their position several yards closer to the edge of the cliff. Claws pierced flesh and drew blood from the teenager, and he grunted in pain, his teeth clenched. A claw went through one of his shoulders, catching under his jacket. A raspy laugh exited the mouth of the monster, even while Rinoa and Quistis attacked from the back and sides. It did not matter to it. The hide everywhere but on its front was extraordinarily tough. The venomous tail knocked Rinoa and Quistis to their feet, then poised to strike Squall chest, under the heart. It had merely pretended to be incapacitated!
'The world will exist in the Void, mortal. But you will not exist.' The demon talked! 'Three souls today, do I feast upon!' It opened its maw, exposing crushing teeth and a throat ringed with spines, laughing. It's tail flinched, about to pierce into the organs of the demon's prey. 'I do like to season my meal, fool.'
"Not today, you son of a bitch!" Squall roared. He grimaced as he lifted his gunblade up, the claw in his shoulder impairing his movement somewhat, his wound was torn open by his frantic attempt to slay the beast. Downward he plunged the tip of the Lionheart into the demon's chest, into its black heart, the evil core skipping a beat as magical metal sliced into it. Squall dug deeper and pulled the trigger, sending a shock wave through the demon's chest, rupturing any organ near the blade. Thick, dark ichor spilled from the entrance wound, the demon's tail lashing almost into and then away from the teen and twitched this way and that, coming too close for Squall's comfort at times. An unholy scream was let out of its maw, the sound like a thousand train brakes, and then it fell forward, releasing an injured and bloody Squall off the cliff, the claws releasing him with a wet sound to his ears towards the blue waters below. For a brief moment, Squall and Rinoa locked eyes, before his despairing face disappeared over the horizon of lifeless stone and dirt, an arm held out by him. The two women were horrified by the turn of events, and picked themselves up and ran towards the rocky cliff in the hopes that Squall was hanging from the jagged edge, but no such luck. To their bewilderment, there was not the sound of a splash or a thud from far below. Rinoa looked over the cliff edge further, despite her trepidation.
She could see no body on the lake's shore nor dark shadow in the water. Surely, he was either hanging somewhere hard to see, or he was deeper in the water where his figure would be harder to see. She scanned the scene below her; the large pond, surrounded by deep and green forest, and a slightly dimming light illuminating it all with hues of yellow. Nothing. Rinoa blinked back tears, and screamed his name, hoping for a response.
"Squall!"
No answer but the howling of the wind below.
Falling...the sensation of falling, and burning, exposed wounds in his torn flesh; hot blood cooled on his chest from the wind chill. The sound of rushing air filled his ears as he rushed to meet the ground. Squall closed his eyes, Rinoa's face burned into his memory. If he fell into the water, there was a chance he could survive, he thought. Or, he could drown before rescuers found him. He might instead just break upon the shore of the tranquil pool, a sad end to the famous SeeD commander. Before he had gone over the edge, he noticed the demon had rolled over the cliff edge, splattering against the stones, Squall assumed. His turn would be next. He took in his final breath of air before the doomed fall ended, crisp and cool, a play of sunlight over his closed lids as he finished the distance.
He released his breath quickly as he hit something soft and warm, catching him midway through his fall. He was already woozy from blood loss, unable to question the strange turn of events, perhaps riding on something that wished to eat him later. He let out a short grunt, not able to properly speak. His eyes still closed, he heard whatever had caught him land on the shore, and after a short pause, it moved into the forest, crunching leaves and sticks under him. Squall was barely aware, and blood leaked from his body, his lungs quivering in an effort to breathe. He was on his back, an arm wet from blood dripping over the edge of whatever he rode. He opened his eyes once, observing the dancing sunlight in the trees above him, the serene scene soothing him, and then closing them again, unable to keep them open. He gave a ragged gasp for air, a wheeze leaving his lips when he finally exhaled. He thought he heard some quiet chattering of a very soft voice, though his thoughts immediately went back to breathing.
The crunch of leaves continued and the sound of an animal trotting, Squall barely aware of the world around him now, but for the sounds and the passing of light and shade from beyond his eyelids. He was very near death, and wondered if there would have been anything that could have saved him had he not been flung from the cliff. The injury to his shoulder must have grazed his lung, or he assisted in its creation during his struggle, not that it would matter soon he wagered. It was becoming harder to breathe regardless, s if his chest had a weight upon it, his head becoming lighter and fuzzier from the creeping lack of oxygen. The crunching and movement stopped, and he felt a shifting of limbs beneath him momentarily. A rumble began in front of him, stone against stone. 'Monster lair...' He could barely care nor think at this point. After a few moments, the rumbling sound stopped. Movement began again, he was thrust into total darkness, and the sensation of falling as he entered oblivion.
Selphie and the other two were staking out a fresh area of the island, nearer the Garden now than they were the night before. While they hadn't found the particular beast sighted over the last week or so, they had cleared out several powerful beasts on the grassy plain that had decided they looked like proper snacks. If they didn't find it, at the very least the island would be a little bit safer, regardless. While Zell dusted off his well worn fighting gloves, Irvine looked over the golden green plains in front of them; he admired the view of jade grass peppered with golden stalks, purple mountains far in the distance, and a cerulean sky marred by puffy white clouds. The girl next to him sighed, wondering if they were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, hands on her hips. Her thoughts were interrupted by the jingling sound of a phone going off somewhere; she checked her dress pockets, but to no avail, it was Irvine's phone.
Irvine put his gun down and fiddled with his left pocket, searching for the little device. He lifted the jingling phone, and clicked it on. Rinoa was trying to call him! Did they find the monster? He looked at the other two, a finger up to his lips. "It's Rinoa," he said. Irvine accepted the call and placed the phone up to his ear, waiting for her voice to come to life on his side. A moment later, he heard gentle sobs mixed with hysterical rambling. 'Not good,' Irvine thought, tensing up for whatever bad new awaited his ears. He bit his lower lip as she cried into the speaker. Irvine's body drained of color as she told him what had happened.
"He's gone, he's gone..." Rinoa sniffled.
Irvine furrowed his brow. "Who's gone, Rinny?"
He heard more garbled sobs on the other end. "We found it, and it...Squall killed it...but we can't find Squall."
"Damn..."
Her crying made her plea almost impossible to hear. "We're at the lake...where all the cadets would..." She was gasping a breath.
Irvine interrupted her. "Yeah, we'll be there soon, I promise. Just, try to calm down for now." Shouldn't have said that, he thought. Another bought of crying and hysterics assaulted his ear, and he winced at his choice of words. She calmed down after a moment, and told him what little else there was to say. His frown deepened, and he paced back and forth in front of the tranquil scenery he was admiring moments ago.
"Alright. Quistis called the Garden? Okay. We're going to the car. Bye." Irvine ended the call, dropping his arm and sighing hard. He was about to panic. 'Keep it together, Kinneas,' He thought to himself. 'Stay cool.' He wiped his face with his hand, holding onto his chin as if thinking what to say.
Zell and Selphie looked at Irvine, dreading what happened to make Rinoa call in hysterics so loud that they could hear her incoherently from their distance. Irvine pursed his lips and looked down. "Squall had an incident. They killed the monster, but it took Squall over the cliff it trapped them on. He's disappeared," His comrades faces showed their horror at the news. "We have to head to their location immediately." The other two nodded, quickly beginning their way towards the car.
"He disappeared? Like, poof?" Selphie asked, concerned about friend. her brows knitted together in worry.
"No idea, could be he's down in the pond, but she said there wasn't a splash. We'll know more when we get there," Irvine said.
They practically ran to the car, half a mile from their position on the side of the road. Zell took the driver's side of the dark blue convertible as Selphie sat with Irvine in the back, watching out for stray monsters. Zell floored the car towards the east, hoping to be at their destination in twenty minutes or so, speeding over the peaceful plains of Balamb. They had no time to spare, if Squall was still alive.