Assault.
The driver nodded ahead when Squall asked him what was wrong.
"It's just sitting there..." was all he said. The train had stopped, and the driver was obviously rooted to the spot with fear. Ahead a three headed dog lay in waiting, not advancing towards the train, but barring its passage through the ruins of Timber at its back. Three sets of sharp teeth dripped with saliva as the monster eyed the train cautiously. No, maniacly.
The white of its eyes were bloodshot and swollen, the pupils, dilated. It's skin, normally a purplish, fleshy colour, was cracking, taking on a grey lustre that made it look old, unhealthy, insane. Squall squinted slightly, hardly believing his eyes. It definitely was him, but something was off...
"Cerberus...?" Zell asked, a note of fear creeping into his voice. He had folded his arms and was glaring in the direction of their adversary, confused because he knew he had junctioned Cerberus just a moment ago.
"Cerberus." Squall stated. There was no doubting it, the three headed guardian of hell was before them. His mind was in overdrive as he tried to fathom what their ally was doing facing them, in such an aggressive pose. "Zell, try summoning Cerberus."
The blond loosened up a little as he nodded, bouncing slightly on the spot as he did in battle. Squall smiled ever so slightly, before the severity of the situation crashed his thoughts back to earth. Zell lifted his hand to his forehead, his face contorting in concentration. Muttering something under his breath, he pushed his hand forward. Nothing happened. No mana glow that usually came with summoning. No invincibility that usually came whilst summoning. "He's...He's not there!" Zell exclaimed.
Squall frowned. He knew that if Zell couldn't feel Cerberus in his head, that it was clearly Cerberus in their way. HE took a deep breath and tightened one of his belts, so that the lionheart was closer at hand. "Well...All we can do is...Go outside..."
He glanced at Zell, who nodded, but the blond was clearly apprehensive. Would he have to fight his own GF? He patted his blond friend on the back, and mustered the most compassionate smile that Zell thought the scarred teen had ever smiled. He smiled back.
The two ordered the driver back into one of the cabins, and let themselves off the train. Squall had lionheart in hand, and insisted on going before Zell. He walked forward cautiously and deliberately made his weapon visible to the GF, though he didn't adopt a fighting stance. Zell stayed closer to the train than Cerberus, and tried to cast Protect.
Nothing.
"YOU MEAN TO PASS THROUGH, HUMAN. I MEAN TO STOP YOU!"
Cerberus' voice boomed, the wind kicking up sand and grit into the two SeeD's eyes; a quickly cast Protect spell on Squall's part let the grains bounce harmlessly back onto the ground before them to save either of them from being blinded.
"Cerberus; why do you want to stop us? You agreed to help us!" Squall asked, raising his sword into a more intimidating stance.
"I AM NOT A MERE TOOL FOR YOU TO USE AT WILL. I AM THE MIGHTY CERBERUS AND I WILL BAR YOUR PATH!"
The demon dog lunged forward, his teeth snapping as his clawed arms were deflected time and again by quick hits from Squall and his trusty lionheart. Not once did the monster target Zell. Again and again, his powerful arms thrust painfully sharp claws at Squall, who managed to deflect them, just, but was nonetheless taken aback by the fury of the assault.
"Cerberus!" Zell cried, as Squall was forced onto his back and his gunblade was tossed high into the air to land a few feet away, behind Cerberus. "No! Stop!"
"AND YOU..." Cerberus turned to face Zell, his eyes taking on a purplish tinge "...YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WAS MEANT FOR YOU. YOU NO LONGER DESERVE MY AID; NO LONGER HAVE IT!"
The hell hound howled, sending shivers up and down the blond's spine; louder and higher the other two heads joined in with their brother, a dissonant harmony reverberating around Zell's mind as he lost control of his senses and felt a part of himself be ripped apart. His eyes started watering and his ears popped; his nose bled and his mouth and throat dried up. He put his hands to his neck as he felt it constrict and found it harder to breathe. He managed to scream as he collapsed into a quivering wreck, but the hound didn't stop howling.
The scarred Squall had managed to creep around Cerberus as his three heads pointed upwards in their sickening chorus; the howl seemed not to have the same effect on Squall as it had on Zell, but he nonetheless felt sick as the cries of hell seeped from the dogs' throats. He stood slowly and quietly, not wanting to distract the GF, but just as he jumped high into the air, the middle head caught sight of the brunette and stopped howling just long enough to focus on swatting him back to earth with his magnificent tail.
A bone cracked somewhere under the force of the blow; writhing in pain Squall had once again lost the lionheart as it fell through the air; this time finding a more fortunate landing place as it landed square in Cerberus' back.
The howl of hell was replaced by a howl of agony.
All the heads tried to turn and see what had hit their back, and the collided, forcing more howling on each head's part, and as the heads became more confused, so too did the body; the tail flailed brutally but uncontrollably as the dog reared on its hind legs and started to claw at thin air; the heads collided again and the dog's cries heightened.
Squall took advantage of the situation and rushed to Zell's side. The blond was shaken up, but after a Cura spell he seemed to snap out of his stupor. He stood beside Squall, but still needed supporting; the scarred SeeD rested his blond friend against the side of the train (where Squall felt it necessary to hug his friend and say, reassuringly "don't worry" – Zell's face lit up), out of Cerberus' way, and turned his attention once again to his wounded opponent.
Cerberus was trying to reach round and un-hinge the lionheart from its back, but it's hands were too short, and it's claws were slashing it's own flesh. A mutated form of blood hit the ground in pools of red and purple, as the screams of Cerberus hit sickening heights.
Weaponless, and too cautious to get too close, Squall called for help.
His scar stung slightly as he reached the deepest recesses of his mind, but he was used to this pang. Shiva erupted from the earth in a beautiful icicle as Squall finished summoning his favourite of all, and she slowly began to wake from her icy slumber. Cerberus, oblivious to Shiva's appearance, did nothing but howl and scratch itself, the sword slowly sinking further into its back as it writhed and squirmed.
Squall went back to Zell's side as Shiva burst forth from her icy tomb, the shards gathering and floating around her, drawn like magnets as she began her dance of ice. The shards swarmed in the air like locusts, occasionally swiping at Cerberus, who by now realised that a new adversary had appeared, but who still could do nothing but writhe in pain and anger. Shiva moved slowly around her prey, the ground frosting over were she stepped. She glanced back towards Squall and Zell, catching the gunblade artist's eye. She smiled and nodded. Squall returned the gesture.
"NO...SHIVA, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND..."
"I understand, perfectly, Cerberus." came her short reply. Her voice was as icy as her touch, but an odd sort of warmth comforted both Squall and Zell. In Shiva, Squall had a formidable and unwavering ally.
The shards stopped circling and swarming and gathered just above Shiva's palm as she began to float slightly on the spot, the ground beneath her freezing over and hardening as she emanated cold and ice. The shards began to join together, and culminated, like a magnificent diamond, while Shiva's hands shot out at either side. The shards gathered before her, she shrieked as she let the full force of her magic outwards, and the magnificent diamond shattered on the ground, sending out in all directions a tremendous ice blast that contained Cerberus, the train, the lionheart, and Shiva.
Squall, protected from the Diamond Dust by some unexplainable link with the GF, held Zell close as he watched the Ice Goddess vanish and her ice fields retreat back to the spot she had appeared from. His scar twinged uncomfortably again as Shiva found herself back in his subconscious, but again, this was normal.
"Thank you..." he thought silently, as the last of the ice vanished and Squall found Cerberus, still breathing but injured, lying where Shiva had frozen him. All three sets of fangs were chattering, and every breath formed a brilliant cloud of frost as the dogs insides slowly froze over.
"SHIVA...SHE C-C-CANNOT...DEFEAT..."
Squall set Zell down again and cautiously approached the demon dog, who made no attempt to thwart his progress. Once he was close enough to touch the hound, Squall leaped high and forward and pulled the lionheart from the creatures back. He took advantage of his position and struck; blow after blow, his renzokuken hit Cerberus everywhere and everywhere, the sounds of blood splattering, steel on bone and the dog's howling coming together in a horrible dischord.
With one final swipe of his sword, Squall landed in front of Cerberus again.
The dog tried to speak, but instead blood poured from all three of it's mouths as it's body collapsed and it flopped to the ground, almost dead.
"H-H-HYNE..." and then it died. A purple mist left it's mouths, and the body began to decompose at a horrifically fast rate. Skin disappeared and bone thinned, the eyes melted in on themselves and the teeth all fell out and shattered.
In a few short moments, all that remained of the mighty hound was a thin, decrepit carcass. Squall easily beat them out of the way of the train tracks with the lionheart, sending the remains into the ruins of Timber; somehow he felt this was appropriate.
As he turned his back on Timber and walked back towards Zell and the train, he prayed silently to whatever higher power there was, regretting having to kill such a powerful ally, but not regretting easing Zell's suffering.
"Y...you killed a GF, Squall..." Zell said as he stood, his strength seeming to come back to him now. "I didn't know you could do that..."
"I didn't. Shiva did." He put his arm around Zell and helped him back aboard the train.
Thoughts flew through both their minds; why had Cerberus attacked? Why had Shiva unquestioningly fought an ally? Why had Cerberus said Hyne before his death...? Why had Cerberus been able to die?
The two found themselves back in their cabin as the driver started the engine again, and without a word, they undressed again and made their way back into their beds; no smiles. No glances. No butterflies.
Only confusion. And questions.