Chapter 11
Ifrit let out a menacing holler and fixed Avatar Fenis with a stony glare. The ninja smiled as he returned his sword to his sheath after which he dashed towards the beast in tremendous speed. Ifrit took a wild swipe at his adversary but Avatar ducked and launched himself into the air. He used Ifrit's knee as a foothold to double his jump. He shot out his hand and by using Ifrit's neck as a pivot, he swung around in an arc and sat on Ifrit's shoulders, his legs hanging down either side of the guardian force's neck. The beast screamed in anger and fastened a quick but tight grip around Avatar's ankle. The ninja was violently flung to the ground but he managed to land on his feet, the momentum of the throw making him skid backwards. In a second, Avatar darted towards the monster again. A fire spell headed straight for him but he swayed to the left to avoid it. Running and ducking a chain of high velocity fire spells was something the SeeD pulled off easily and soon, he found himself near the beast again. This time however, he dove into the space between Ifrit's legs and came up behind him. Ifrit turned around only to have Avatar's katana plunged into his stomach. The fire monster tried an angry swipe but Avatar stepped out of its way before rushing in to bury the other sword right next to its twin. In another swift motion, he mercilessly pulled both his weapons out and spun kick his opponent hard on the wounded spot. Ifrit roared in pain and backed away, blood oozing from his stomach.
The monster panted for a while before shaking the ground with another loud roar and then, he ascended into the air, forming a magic ball of fire with his hands. The huge orb of fire grew larger, the higher he rose into the air. Soon, Ifrit sent the flaming sphere straight at the young Fenis.
Avatar quickly cast a shell spell, hoping to reduce the magnitude of the damage. The shell took the full brunt of the fireball but the impact of the collision pushed the SeeD a few feet backward but he managed to stay on his feet. Ifrit repeatedly flung smaller fireballs at the ninja from the air but the young Fenis dashed and ducked, moving in a zig-zag manner, avoiding the pellets of fire elegantly. As soon as he was close to his giant adversary, he flung his sword at the beast, which went spinning straight at Ifrit's neck. The beast shot out a hand and caught the sword only to be struck by the other sword in the following second, right in the middle of his heart. The aeon fell to the ground in front of Avatar and soon, the ninja retrieved his weapons and jumped away from the guardian force. Avatar used Ifrit's recovery time to cast a freeze spell on his swords, covering the blades with a thick coating of ice. He slowly circled Ifrit as the beast stood to his feet clenching its bleeding chest.
Using Ifrit's knee as a pedestal again, the ninja was on Ifrit's shoulders once more but this time, when the beast tried to straighten his torso, the bleeding stomach muscles suffered a violent stretch leaving the monster in too much pain to move. Avatar buried the ice sword into the beast's left shoulder, jumped to the ground and planted the other frozen katana into the already wounded heart. He stepped back calmly and watched as Ifrit fell to his knees and slowly turned a shiny silver and returned to his world in defeat, leaving Avatar's katanas to clatter to the ground. The young Fenis picked up his weapons and sheathed them as Relafen Almasy reappeared slowly in front of him, his gunblade lazily hanging from his hand.
"Okay Okay... You win Fenis..." Relafen blurted out in shock, signaling his surrender to the ring announcer, "I wasn't...er...planning on winning this thing anyway..."
The only reply the commander received was a nonchalant stare.
As Avatar slowly walked away to the exit, for a brief moment, his eyes strayed on to the spectator stand and met Sifan Leonhart's. A dry smile formed at the corner of the ninja's lips as he walked out of the arena, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.
"So..." little Fiona looked at Lethan Jabez, "Yoo want me ta give this glass of milk to unca Sephiroth?"
"Yes..." Lethan replied, placing his hands on the child's shoulders, "Don't spill anything and tell uncle Sephiroth the cook just added a little bit of er... extra sugar... so it... might... er... never mind... just give it to uncle Sephy okay?"
"Ookie..." the girl replied cheerfully and made her way to Sephiroth's room carefully carrying the glass of milk as Lethan watched from the window.
"Today... will be the day..." he whispered to himself, "Today will be the end of Sephiroth... once and for all..."
Professor Lorenz had ordered him to increase the dosage by a single tablet but Lethan had grown too sick of waiting. He tossed the small, empty drug container into the trash can and watched as the the silver-haired man smiled and took the glass from the girl. Lethan could hardly contain his glee.
Surely, he thought to himself, A half a dozen tablets ought to do the job...
"Hey, check this out..." Trex remarked, picking up a burnt SeeD coat from the corner of the locker room, "Isn't this..?"
"Sifan's..." Marlene confirmed, walking to Trex, "Oh my..."
"I'd say this hole wasn't really made by any normal spell..." Trex observed, "Look at the damaged threads, they are blackened at the ends.. still, they don't smell burnt... so what's a spell that can burn but is not exactly fire...?"
"Flare..." Marlene replied, "Sifan did fight Bahamut...So Phillona was not crazy after all..."
"Could be..." Trex muttered tossing the coat back into the corner and stretching his hands, "Then again, anybody could've cast a flare spell... but not so intense as to burn hole in leather... but of course, if a really powerful mage or-"
"Too many detective novels, Trex..." the black-haired girl sighed, "Why can't you just believe what Phillona said?"
"Hey... I have never heard of guardian forces showing up without being called and then turning on their own summoners..." Trex argued, "Sounds cuckoo to me... Phillona was probably saying that to get me here so I could drool over that 'Ragnarok' materia that Sifan supposedly collected..."
"Yeah... maybe, but the point is, it worked..." Marlene replied gazing out of the window, "Hey, check out these lights..."
"Bah... I hate it when people make such a big deal out of these lights..." Trex complained walking up to the window, "I mean they're just lights for Go- Whoa, hey... these are pretty neat.."
Soon both Marlene Wallace and Trex Denver were staring at the golden saucer lights out of the window, lost in the glowing hue of colors outside. They were so wrapped up in its splendor that they failed to notice Sifan Leonhart walk into the locker room. Soon he stood behind them but the only thing Trex and Marlene were interested was the giant chocobo-shaped blip slowly floating into the swaying beams of light outside.
"You know..." Marlene said, unaware of Sifan's presence, "I miss Dad... When I was little, he always used to carry me around on his shoulders... He said he'd take me to the wonder square ride the day before it happened..."
"...Hey..." Trex placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, "I am sure they're happy in the lifestream world... think about it... If they were here... they woulda still had to fight Shin-Ra all over again... after they worked so hard in stopping METEOR in the first place... I think they deserve to rest..."
"Yeah... Maybe you're right... " Marlene sighed, "But Phillona never even got to see or talk to her parents... atleast I was a child... atleast I got to know how much they cared... Phillona..."
"Hey..." Trex cut in again, "If she hears you're talking about her.. pitying her and stuff... she's gonna be mad... you know that..."
"She's okay these days though..." Marlene pointed out, "Ever since she's been busy running around with Sifan and stuff..."
Hey... Leave me outta this...
"Oh yeah that..." Trex snickered, "She's liked him from the day they met..."
It had to be me...
"If you ask me..." Marlene quipped, "I think she should've gone for Avatar... he's way too cute..."
But it had to be me...
"Don't know..." the gunner replied, "but I do recall her saying Sifan is as charming as an old barrel of olives..."
Hey...
"Nah... " Marlene insisted, "Olives can be more appealing than Mr. Leonhart anyday..."
How nice...
"But you know..." Trex joked, "He does make a neat first-time target for me sniping practice..."
"What?" Sifan Leonhart interrupted abruptly, startling both Trex and Marlene, "You mean I was the first thing you've ever sniped at?"
"Sifan!" Trex smiled sheepishly, "Nice to meet you too..."
"Seefoo poo!" Marlene grinned, "What took you?"
"Yeah..." Trex added, "Where were you, er... Mr. Um...Seefoo poo?"
I am regretting agreeing with Phillona already...
"Relafen-Avatar fight..." Sifan said, "It wasn't long but the crowd was huge.. took some time to push through all of them..."
Marlene insisted that she was hungry and hurried away to have something to fill her rumbling stomach. Trex decided to stay with Sifan since he wasn't as hungry. Mainly because, he had emptied a whole carton of fresh milk on the way to the golden saucer while Marlene was asleep. He dragged Sifan to the balcony, insisting that he wanted to see the lights that he had earlier considered not to be that much of a big deal. Soon as they reached the balcony, Trex was ooh-ing and aah-ing while Sifan stood against the railing lost in thought and once, the cheerful young gunslinger decided to pry on his thoughts.
"So..." Trex mumbled chewing some gum, "Whatcha thinkin' about...?"
"Nothing..."
"Aw shuddup man..." Trex replied, "C'mon tell me... Ya thinkin' about the Avatar fight right?"
"No..." Sifan said slowly, "Not that..."
"Aw C'mon.. Don't kid me. What else are you gonna think about? Phillona?" Trex said sarcastically.
"No..." he lied.
Lethan Jabez eagerly punched the buttons on the cell phone and called to report as usual, "Lorenz... Are six tablets heavy enough...?"
"Yer kiddin, right kid?" the voice at the other line replied at once, "Tell me yer pullin my leg..."
"No, I-"
"You fucking nuts, kid?" the voice at the other end exploded, "Didn't I tell you to increase the dosage by one till you see any changes in behavior?"
"Yeah but-"
"Dammit! Listen kid!" Lorenz bawled, "You have no fucking idea what you've done! So put the damn phone down and pray that the drug doesn't work till I get there!"
Lorenz flapped his cellphone shut and turned on his laptop. He accessed Shin-Ra's medical database and quickly double checked the contents of the drug that Lethan had delivered an overdose of.
TerraAzidine
Contents:
PhenoTryAphredine 92.5
Azithromycin Dinitrate- 7.5
Artifical colouring: Titanium di-oxide.
WARNING:SCHEDULE ALPHA DRUG. USE UNDER STRICT MEDICAL SUPERVISION. IMPROPER USE MIGHT RESULT IN HEART FAILURE, SWELLING AND OTHER ABNOEMALITIES. For more details, read section 5.4.4.1.
"Six isn't 'Improper use'..." Lorenz cried to himself, as he scrolled to section 5.4.4.1, "Six is a frickin' overdose!"
He read through the hundreds of abnormalities and consequences that may result in the over use of the drug but the only one Lorenz was worried about was not listed. He heaved a sigh of relief but almost at once, he stopped short. At the end of the long list of sentences were the words he had dreaded the most.
HIGH MAGNITUDE OVERDOSAGE CAN CAUSE HALLUCINATION/PARANOIA/MEMORY DISFUNCTION/MEMORY ABNORMALITES or ANTI/UN-SUPRESSING ACTIVITIES
The professor jumped to his feet, picked up the intercom phone and yelled as loud as he could, "We're leaving to Gondola village in another 12 hours... Get me a damn airship ready!"
He slammed the phone down harder than ever as beads of sweat formed on the professor's forehead. His mouth twisted in disbelief over what Lethan had done. The chances of it happening were now more than ever. If the data in the medical database was accurate, in another 24 to 48 hours, Sephiroth's memory could return to him... Once and for all...
Sifan Leonhart walked to the locker room alone. Despite repeated attempts by Marlene and Trex at convincing the SeeD, Sifan had refused to let them accompany him to the locker room. He had told them he needed time alone to prepare. Fortunately for him, they had decided to respect his decision. He opened the locker room to see a rather unexpected person waiting for him.
"I thought you were leaving to Cosmo Canyon..." Sifan looked at Phillona Strife, "The airship's going to leave in a few minutes..."
"Nope..." She sighed as she walked to him, "I c-changed my mind... I thought I'll go after your fight..."
"It's not going to be pretty..." he replied, readying his gunblade, "If you run, you can still catch that airship to Cosmo can-"
"No..." Phillona repeated, "I'll take another one later... even if it does get late..."
"..."
Phillona walked up to him and held his fingers in her palm, "Promise me..."
"What...?" he replied, looking into her eyes.
"Promise me, y-you'll surrender if things get too-"
"bloody...?" he suggested, "unbearable? If it hurts too much? If I suffer lethal wounds?"
"..."
"I don't think so..." Sifan replied, "He can kill me if he has to... I won't do that..."
"Dammit, I want you back in one piece!" Phillona yelled, "It's bad enough you're doing this, now you can't even promise me you'll do whatever it takes to stay unhurt..."
"He wants to hurt me Phillona..." Sifan sighed, "This isn't about glory or honor... This isn't about winning this stupid tournament... For him, this is about vengeance... he wants me to hurt... he wants me to fall to my knees and bleed... the same way his mother suffered... That is all this is, Phillona... good, old-fashioned revenge..."
"But you're not ready, Seef..." she insisted, "You know that..."
Sifan sighed, "I know..."
"Fight him when you're ready..." Phillona whispered, "Walk away now..."
"...No." Sifan pulled his hands out of Phillona's grasp, "I want to see how weak I am first..."
"..."
"I want to see if I can atleast match up to him blow to blow... or atleast survive him..." the SeeD continued, "Even if he beats me, even if he hurts me... and hell, even if he kills me..."
"Yer pathetic, kid..." said a familiar voice from the corner, "I leave you for a few days and look how you're talking... 'I want to see how weak I am first...or atleast survive him.' For Hyne's sake, kid... Avatar Fenis is not a damn God..."
Setzin slowly walked upto Sifan, hopping in his crutches as he did so. His body was covered with bandages and his face was unshaven and rugged. He wore a small smile while smoking a brown cigar in his lips. He set his crutches down on the bench with Phillona's help as he laughed mockingly at the young Leonhart, "Yer getting all pussy on me kid..."
"Its bad enough I have one person here to worry about, now you too?" Phillona sighed, "You should be at home, resting..."
"I am sick o' sitting there like a barrel..." Setzin replied, "Don't worry... I am feelin' way better today... besides, wanted to see Sifan here have a go at Avatar..."
"Okay listen..." Sifan cleared his throat, "Phillona, get Setzin to the spectator stand and help him get a seat near Marlene and Trex... and... uh... meet me near the drawbridge at the ring entrance in ten minutes... fast..."
Despite Setzin insisting on walking by himself, Phillona helped him out of the locker room as Sifan equipped all the materia he had into his gunblade. He was about to return it to its sheath before he paused.
This is going to be me and him...alone...
He removed the Bahamut materia and slipped it into the Blue Phoenix coat that Phillona had bought for him recently. He removed his coat and folded them around his arm and attached the gunblade holder to his belt as he walked out of the locker room towards the ring. The corridor leading up to the entrance was deserted completely as Sifan walked through it nervously. Once he reached the closed drawbridge, he leaned against the wall and anxiously clenched his teeth, a strange of feeling of discomfort settling in his stomach. He knew it was only a matter of few minutes before the drawbridge opened up and the path would lead straight up to Avatar Fenis.
"Phew..." Phillona heaved as she turned around the corner and walked towards the SeeD, "Got here as fast as I could..."
"Here... take this..." Sifan gave Phillona the coat, "I don't want it to get ruined..."
Phillona took the coat from him and comfortably helped herself into it. However, the coat was too big for her and she looked like a little child wearing her father's coat.
Sifan managed a wry smile, "You're swimming in it..."
"I know... " she replied, standing in front of him, "Wipe that grin off your face..."
"You'll look like you escaped from a mental asylum if you walk around in that..."
"Very funny Seef..." She slapped him with the loose end of the right sleeve, "Just like always..."
He smiled at her again. The fact that he was so comfortable when she was around stared him in the face and for once, he accepted it. The difference she made didn't scare him anymore. It was something he was growing accustomed to, and he consciously allowed himself to grow into it.
"What are you thinking...?" she touched the side of his face with the loose sleeve end again, "Me?"
"Yeah..." he replied, "You in a mental asylum..."
"That's you at your romantic best, you know that...?" She smiled, "I'll rather take the cheesiest pick-up line in the world instead of that one, you know..."
"I don't know any..."
"I am sure you do..." Phillona insisted, "Hit me with one of Balamb's best..."
"Er... okay, you asked for it...How would you, uh.. like your eggs...?" Sifan sighed, "Fried, or um...scrambled or... er... uh...fertilized...?"
Phillona burst into laughter, "That was the corniest line I've heard in all my life... and trust me, I get a lot of them... "
"Whatever..." came the quick reply.
"...and the delivery was perfect!" Phillona continued to giggle, "You used 'Um', 'Uh' and 'er' so much that they swept me off my feet at once!"
Phillona continued to laugh as Sifan wondered whatever made him say it. Eventually, the brown-haired girl stopped laughing but she still wore a gentle smile as she calmly slipped her arms around the SeeD's neck.
"Now..." she fixed him in her gaze, "Tell me something nice..."
"Really, Phillona..." Sifan murmured, "You really pick the best time for all this..."
"Shut up and hug me back..."
"It's like those scenes in the movies before the climax or something..."
"Talking your way out of intimacy won't work..." she pointed out, "Even if you are talkative and funny today..."
"..."
"Please?" She said softly, "Just one small, little hug for your girl..."
Sifan sighed as he slipped his hands around Phillona who still had her arms tightly secured around his neck. A minute passed by slowly without either of them saying a word. There was no need for them. Somethings were understood without them. He knew it and he understood it perfectly... He can fight the largest dragon on the planet or the mightiest wizard of them all. She didn't give a damn. All she cared about was having him and holding him like she did then. Nothing else mattered...
The drawbridge opened out to the maddening roar of the crowd. Whistles and hoots rung out, amidst the loud ranting of the announcer over the speakers. Even the sound of trickling water under the drawbridge and the shouts of the popcorn seller fell on his ears. The announcer called out Sifan's name and when Phillona heard it, she slowly let go of Sifan and the moment she did, a cold feeling enveloped him. He swallowed hard as he turned his face to look into her eyes.
He wanted to stay with her. Somehow, for a brief moment, he didn't really care about Avatar Fenis or the rest of the world for that matter. He removed his hands from around her waist, ignoring the part of him that didn't want to let go of her.
"Go..." he said calmly, "I'll come back, I promise..."
She tilted her head and smiled. "I know you will..." She said before placing a quick kiss on his cheek. The rampant spectators and the loud announcer never fell on his ears as he watched her walk away and disappear around the corner.
With a heavy sigh, the SeeD turned around to face reality. The noisy crowd seemed to be craving for his blood even more than Avatar. With another heave, Sifan walked into the bright arena. The moment he walked out on the drawbridge, his eyes went straight to the middle of the ring. Avatar Fenis stood watching him, calm as ever. He continued to stare at him as he made his way to the ring, ignoring Marlene, Trex and Setzin who were worriedly looking on from the sidelines. Soon, the two of them stood in the middle of the wooden square, separated only by the ring of the bell.
Their eyes met for the first time in days. Avatar's stare was emotionless, vacant and void of any expression. Sifan's was one of hurt and anger coupled with bitterness and pain. The ninja smiled as if he was happy to read such negative aura from his one-time friend. The crowd continued to howl and holler. For them, Sifan Leonhart and Avatar Fenis were just two more competitors ready to fight for the tournament's prize and public entertainment but little did they know that it was about much much more...
Words couldn't adequately describe the bond that they shared.. Neither of them had known anything that was more important to them than each other... Neither of them had faced anything separately over the last decade... They were sons of Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly...
You didn't know a father or mother besides Mom and Dad ... or a brother besides me... Every time a question about your past came up, you threw it away... because you had us... you knew no past you could've had would've been better than your present... And to me, You were more than a friend... You were like a damn brother... Everything we did, we did it together... Hell, you even stood up for me against mom and dad when they corrected me... I did the same damn thing... over and over again.. Even when I knew you were wrong... What about all those times Avatar? Every adventure you dragged me to...? All those times skipping garden and going fishing? All those times we decided to make Zell's life miserable by eating his hot dogs? All those times we sat up watching late night nonsense with the muted tv? All those nights we sneaked out with only Angelo to protect us? All those memories? What happened to them? Didn't they mean anything to you? Didn't I mean anything at all to YOU? What happened to your buddy Sifan?
Why...? Where did all that go when you drove your blade through me? Where did it all go when you left me bleeding on that snowy night? You left me to die, dammit? You tried to fucking kill me! What on earth did I ever do to you, you bastard? WHY? How could you...? How COULD YOU?
The bell never sounded. Sifan pulled out his gunblade and swung it straight at Avatar Fenis...
A/N: Long chapter... Sorry for disappearing... Please review...
