Chapter 8: The Humanoid Guardian

(A/n: Warning: This chapter is pretty violent. It's not too bad but it's a lot worse than any other chapter in this story. I use the violence only for the effect but it's not gory stuff or anything so… yeah…. Just wanted to let y'all know. Enjoy the next chapter of Bathwater!)

He never strayed too far from her while the battle ensued. He always stayed one stride away from her. Now that he knew that she was there for him and she was finally ready to surrender her heart to him, he didn't want to lose her. Every time a magick was flung in her general direction, Seifer suffered his own safety to make sure she was okay.

While battling the group, Neero kept his narrowed eyes on this blonde man with fury. He recognized him as the man who tried to claim his position as Ultimecia's knight when she had captured Edea's body. The dragon tilted his head back and roared. Why was it that he had been able to capture Ultimecia's trust and still find someone to love him? And Neero had been fighting for years for Ultimecia and how did she repay him?

She turned him into a guardian force and locked him away in Terra after he had failed to save her from those in front of him. But not again… I will save her this time… And if she used him as a puppet, then he will be used again. Neero turned his full attention to Seifer and opened his mouth. Between his fangs a golden orb of energy began to collect.

xxx

"Seifer!" He spun around, hearing Quistis's cry. Was she hurt? That bastard! If he hurts her, I swear… Seifer's head whipped around looking for Quistis. He didn't find her but he did find Neero with a large orb of golden magick in his mouth, snug between two fangs. Seifer's eyes widened when he realized that the attack of magick was directed towards him. But before he could move, Neero launched the attack forward and struck Seifer square in the chest. Everything went black.

xxx

When he opened his eyes, everything was still pretty black. Panic spread through him for a couple of seconds when he thought that he might be blind. But then a solitary emerged from the darkness in front of him. It was Neero, still stuck in his form halfway between human and dragon. Seifer reached for the gunblade, ready to take care of this freak once and for all but found that his newly acquired weapon was newly gone. So he raised his fists instead, hopping around, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He stood no where near Zell in dueling ability but he had seen that little chicken-wuss air-box enough to get the general idea of it. "Fight me, bastard!" He yelled.

Neero smiled, shaking his head. "You fool. I don't wish to fight you."

Seifer lowered his fists. "Then what the hell did you bring me…here for?" He looked around briefly, wondering where 'here' was.

"'Here' is a dimension halfway between your dying world of Gaia and my – well not 'mine' for long - Terra."

The hell? Can he read my thoughts!

"The answer is yes. How do you think I knew how to capture Rinoa's heart and so easily and freely? I can delve into the deep confines of peoples' minds, find things that make them so weak, so helpless that they crumble under my grasp on their fragile minds. " Neero's ever-calm and monotonous voice was driving Seifer insane. So was his talk of Rinoa falling in love with him…

"Just shut the hell up and tell me what you want!" He yelled, slicing the air with his arm. He stared at his arm after he did it, trying to figure out why the movement seemed so familiar. Who had done that before? He didn't have time to ponder as Neero started explaining himself.

"I need your help."

Seifer spat at Neero. "Ha, like I'd help you."

"You will when you hear my story." Neero's ice eyes stared hard and deep in Seifer's eyes so that the blonde man had no choice but to nod his head sullenly. "I come from the era of the woman you know as Ultimecia – " He started.

"That would explain the ugly horns and your friggin' accent." Seifer mumbled. The humanoid dragon continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"I fell in love with Ultimecia soon after she took power. She had just begun slaying SeeDs by the millions, claiming that she was protecting 'him'." Neero snarled, apparently disgusted by the thought of 'him'. I thought that if I helped her fight, she would diskard him as her knight and I would take his place by her side. One day, the SeeD from all three Gardens gathered to attack her one final time. Squall, choosing to head Balamb Garden instead of protect her was killed when she massacred the soldiers. When she realized her mistake, her heart turned black and kold. She kompressed time to try and save him." Neero growled.

"She tried to get him to fall under her kontrol. But he was too koncerned with Ultimecia's earlier form that he killed her. When I failed to protect her, she imprisoned me in the form of a guardian force. I was trapped in Terra, the world aligned with Gaia. Terra is where all guardians reside until they are summoned. When Rinoa found Bahamut, which is my guardian form, she unwittingly unlocked me from Terra. Every battle in which she used me, I could feel her heart weakening and growing closer to the dark."

Seifer sat down, sighing. "Wow, you are a great storyteller." He smirked. Neero didn't hesitate in catching the blonde man's shirt on fire so that he busied himself with putting it out – and didn't busy himself with making smart remarks.

"But I was still trapped. But unknowing to me at the time, Ultimecia from my time came to Rinoa in a dream, trying to convince her to stay away from me so that she wouldn't have to deal with my failure. Ultimecia was konvinced that if she told Rinoa to stay away from me, that she would never accidentally murder Squall. But her plan backfired." Neero grinned, crossing his arms over his chest smugly.

"Rinoa was so koncerned with Squall's safety that she ran from his side when she realized what her fate was. And she ran right into my arms."

Seifer shook his head. Even though his main concern was now Quistis, it still bugged him to hear that this man had used Rinoa from before she became a witch, and even afterwards. But Seifer kept his mouth shut. The sooner the freak told his story, the sooner Seifer could kill him. At least that was Seifer's mindset.

"When she finally told me she loved me and opened her heart and mind to me, I enslaved her body and used her to destroy Garden in attempt to kill Squall so that Ultimecia would be mine and I could serve as her knight. I was also able to force her to break my seal from Terra. Before I could only emerge from Terra when I was summoned. But now I was free to kill him and to love and protect her."

"Since I knew that that idiot Squall would eventually kill her, I tried to kill him but I failed each time. That stupid guardian Griever saved him. When I broke myself free from Terra, I also let that lion escape on accident."

Seifer shrugged. "It happens. But I want to know what you are doing with Squall's sister Elle and Matron if your only concern is Rinoa, or Ultimecia, or whoever."

"If I combine all three sorceresses, then Ultimecia will be invincible and Squall will be unable to defeat her. But I kan't do it…." He roared. "Because Squall is still alive, the bond remains between him and Rinoa as sorceress and knight. So I kan't do anything for her!" Flames shot from his roaring mouth and Seifer scrambled to his feet and out of the way before he was incinerated. He stared at Neero with wide eyes. "The only way for her to be mine is to kill Squall Lionheart… But if she knows that I killed him, she will want nothing to do with me… " He turned his eyes on Seifer, smiling.

Seifer shook his head. "Hell no."

"You were her puppet before, Seifer. Her favorite little boy…" He sneered. "Be a good boy and do her one last favor: slay the man before he can slay her again." He outstretched his clawed hand to Seifer, his eyes tormenting him. Seifer broke the gaze and shook his head.

"No friggin' way! I'm not a little boy! I've grown up. I can handle myself. Ultimecia only served to ruin my life. She offered me a chance to be better than Squall but look at what I turned out to be…" Seifer bowed his head. "I was a wanted man. I starved and struggled to survive. I had to beg to be forgiven. I got down on my knees and begged to be allowed to come home… Do you know what it feels like to beg?"

Neero shrugged, mocking Seifer. "Only little boys beg to get what they want."

Seifer shook his head. "Anyone can beg, when they want something bad enough. I've changed. I'm not that same weak person that she knew. I know that I can be strong on my own. Look at who I am know, look at what I have!"

Neero glared at him. "What do you have?" Before Seifer could reply, he blacked out and then the nightmares filled his mind…

xxx

Quistis fell to her knees. "Where… Where did they go?" Zell came over and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes. "What happened to Seifer? Is he… " She couldn't finish her thought. She refused to believe that he was… dead…

Selphie whimpered and once again, Irvine pulled her close. Squall climbed to his feet and lifted the gunblade up to rest it on his shoulder. He looked back at Quistis, his stormy eyes narrowed at her. He stared at her, furious.

"Neero knows Seifer." He spat out at her. Quistis turned her head to stare at him, confused. "He knows that Seifer helped Ultimecia rise to power. It's all his fault… We are here all because of Seifer Almasy, Quistis…"

She climbed to her feet, tears streaming down her cheeks. "No, that's not true… There's got to be another reason… What happened, happened… Seifer was tricked by Ultimecia, it's not his fault…" Squall acted like he didn't hear a word of what she said. He strode forward, dropping his arm and gunblade to his side so that the blade slid against the ground, slicing the few remaining flowers in the fiery circle.

"Because of him, this whole mess started. Because of him, Rinoa is becoming Ultimecia. Don't you see it, Quistis? It's all his fault!" He yelled, shoving her down to the ground. She cried out in pain and Zell, Selphie, and Irvine gasped but stood there, dumbstruck. They made no move to stop him. "If he is dead, that is what he deserves. Because of him, I've lost her… She is the only person who ever acted like they really cared about me… You just tried to be a replacement for Sis… But Rinoa… She loved me…" His eyes were as dark and cold as the gathering storm clouds over head.

He knelt down beside her as the rain began to pour. She was drenched in seconds. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully. She screamed in pain when she heard the awful cracking and snapping of breaking bones. The others started to run forward. "Stay the hell back!" Squall yelled at them. They hesitated but stopped when he shouted, "That's an order!" Selphie lowered her head as she watched the scene with terror.

Squall turned his attention back to Quistis. "Rinoa is dead to me now. Seifer is dead. And you will pay for it. It is your fault that both of them are dead. Dead, dead, dead." He whispered to her, his face inches from hers. His eyes were filled with so many emotions, she found herself unable to tear her eyes away. And because she could not look away, she didn't see him lift the gunblade and plunge it into her stomach. She screamed and writhed under the pain, but the blade had gone straight through her body and into the ground, pinning her there.

Squall wrapped his hands around her throat and strangled her. He kept his grip tight until her screams had subsided and she fell limp under his hands and blade. He climbed to his feet and yanked the sword from her stomach and wiped it clean with his hands. With his hands bloodied, he lifted her body and tossed it into the flames. Then he began to laugh, tilting his head upwards to the sky, the rain washing away the blood…

xxx

"QUISTIS!"

Seifer climbed to his feet and looked around him. He was standing in the Quad, under the same tree that Tali had been carving her name in when Quistis had stopped him from playing the prank on her. He glanced at the tree and traced his fingers over the letters, 'T', 'A', and 'L'. He pulled out the pocketknife and set about to carve out the last letter of her name.

"Seifer."

He spun around, looking for Quistis. She stood under the willow tree, a warm smile gracing her face. He grinned back before turning to look back at the tree. The tree had disappeared and Tali stood in its place. She held the pocketknife in her hand and she was turning it this way and that, as if inspecting it. She ran her finger over the edge of the blade and when she pulled it away, a line of blood ran across her fingertip. She smiled up at Seifer. "Payback time."

She slipped around him, grabbing Quistis. Seifer shut his eyes as her scream met his ears. When he opened them again and saw Quistis struggling to fight her off, he tried to jump forward to help her but arms grabbed him from behind and held her in place. "Let me go!" Seifer shouted.

Zephyr shook his head. "Because of her, Tali and I nearly died. If she hadn't ran off to play hero with Lionheart, you would have been there for me and Tali. We have to kill her. Because of her, I'm dead." He whispered in Seifer's ear. Seifer's poisonous green eyes widened and he watched as Quistis fell into the bench when the back of her knees hit it and Tali took the chance to plunge the knife deep in her chest. Quistis arched her back and screamed in pain, trying to dig the knife out. But Tali removed it for her. Before stabbing her in the chest several more times. Seifer closed his eyes and fell to his knees, fighting the tears.

xxx

"QUISTIS!"

Seifer lifted his head from the desk and rubbed at his eyes. Had he fallen asleep during class? He looked towards the front of the classroom. Quistis was seated neatly in her desk, her hands folded in front of her. She was smiling at him, and paid no attention to the other students sitting between them. Seifer looked down at his muddy boots before setting them on the desk in front of him. She shook her head and smiled before pointing behind him.

On the table behind him were the monster books that she had passed out during class, when she taught them about the Anacondaur's Gift. He glanced back at her. She nodded, still smiling warmly. Seifer removed his feet from the desk and climbed to his feet and gathered the books up in his arms. He started walking towards her, grinning back at her.

But he tripped, flinging mud everywhere. The books scattered across the room. Seth climbed to his feet and when he pulled his foot back to kick Seifer, Quistis held up a hand. Seth spun on her. "Why do you always defend him? You should have let me take care of him the first time! He's an idiot! He can't be there like I can be there for you! Just let me take care of him!" Quistis climbed to her feet and reached a hand out to Seifer. He stretched out his arm, reaching for her inviting hand.

Seth grabbed her and yanked her back to the desk. He threw her into the chair and using magick, he bound her to the chair. "I'm sick of this, Instructor Trepe." He growled. "I'm sick of doing everything for you, always being there for you, just to watch you look at him like that!" He pressed his palm over her heart and began to summon magick. Seifer lowered his head, pressing his face into the mud.

He tried to drown out her screams as Seth killed her…

xxx

"QUISTIS!"

"I'm so sorry… It wasn't supposed to be like this… I came back just for you… Please forgive me…"

Seifer was on his knees, his upper body curled forward, his hands clutching his hair as he muttered to Quistis.

"I should have known this would happen… I can't do anything right… Squall broke your heart and I'm no better… I can't give you everything you need… I'm sorry, Quistis… You're better off without me…"

Neero stepped in front of Seifer. "Who are you, Seifer…? What makes you strong…? Was it Quistis? Was she the one who made you a man, and made you put the little boy in the past? She's dead to you now." His voice had dropped to a murmur and Seifer stopped his mumbling. "What do you have now, Seifer?"

Seifer climbed to his feet. He looked at Neero. "I'll do it."

The dragon guardian smiled. "You'll do what, little boy?"

"I'll kill Squall."

(A/n: Thank you for reading! Don't forget to review. )