Disclaimer: I do not own FF8. All original characters however are mine.
Author's Notes: I may have to raise my rating for next chapter if it goes as planned. Just a forewarning. More plot is revealed in this chapter. Thanks everyone for reading!
Chapter 20: Tears of Blood
"Will matter after we begin
Another dark destroyer that's buried within
My true vocation
And know my unfortunate friend
You will discover
A war you're unable to win"
Indestructible - Disturbed
Squall's footsteps echoed as he made his way across the broken paving stones of Balamb Garden's front courtyard. He worked his way around rubble and avoided the growing puddles from a broken fountain. Overhead the skies were now empty but for the streams of smoke drifting up from the wreckage of crashed airships and the rubble of the damaged schools. The air was still and smelledof acrid smoke and the metallic scent of death.
Squall tensed when a small hand closed around his arm and his gaze slid to Rinoa, who walked at his side. He could see the horror barely concealed in her dark eyes as they walked past the bodies of soldiers and SeeDs. He'd wanted her to stay behind, but arguing was useless and time consuming. She was frightened, but unendingly stubborn,so he let her cling to him as he made his way towards the front gate.
Ahead he could make out a small cluster of figures, the tallest one a man with a shock of golden hair who held his gunblade with just barely restrained fury. The woman at his side put a hand on his arm in a familiar gesture. She seemed to be saying something and Seifer shrugged her off with some gentleness, pacing away from the rest of the group. He looked up to meet eyes with Squall, who stared back at him blankly and approached them.
Quistis turned to him, her gaze weary, and he could see blood drying on her clothes.
"Are you alright?"
She nodded once, briefly, and motioned to the two women before them.
"They want to speak with you, Commander."
Though one of the women was familiar to him as the President of Galbadia, Squall didn't recognize the other. She stood just around his height, with silvery white hair that fell to her waist. Her eyes were striking, a brilliant flash of violet against the dark tones of her skin. She was wrapped in a white garment that fell open to reveal her legs. Squall sent a questioning glance to Quistis, who fixed her mouth into a grim line.
"She's been posing as the President of Esthar, sir."
The woman in question smiled, a wicked flash of fanged teeth as Squall stared at her, emotions warring within him. This woman was the one responsible for Laguna's death. The thought sickened him and he clenched his jaw, looking hard into the distance past them.
"I don't think we have anything to discuss," he told them plainly, more than ready to fight them both himself.
"Don't be ridiculous," the supposed President Merchant said, waving one black-tipped hand dismissively. "You don't have much of a choice."
"I don't make deals with murderers. You shouldn't count us as defeated yet."
The fair-haired woman sighed, looking at her companion. "I told you they wouldn't talk. These humans need their revenge."
Rinoa's dark eyes flickered over the women curiously as she stood close Squall.
"You're Guardian Forces..." She murmured the words in amazement.
"Dear child," President Merchant smiled at her, much the look one gives a pet when it's done a good deed. "You're very right. Unlike the enslaved creatures you trap within your own bodies, we are free. We are living beings, you know. We've come here specifically to free the others."
Quistis stepped forward, her eyes flashing.
"What are you talking about - to free them? They aren't prisoners here! They came by choice."
"Don't be so naive." The violet-eyed GF said, her hands curling into fists. "They were defeated by you and brought here in submission. It is a disgrace!" She sneered, her lips twisting to bear her long incisors. "I, too was captured by humans, studied like some sort of experiment. Our people deserve their freedom."
Quistis turned to Squall, but he'd gone silent. Rinoa stood by his side, tugging at his sleeve.
"Squall? Squall, what's wrong?"
He clutched at his head, the veins in his temples bulging out as he apparently warred within himself. Behind her Quistis heard a hiss of pain and turned, watching as Seifer stumbled forward, one hand pressed to his head.
"Hyne... Trepe, this bastard in my head is pissed."
She watched in shock as the two strongest men she knew crumbled to their knees. Rinoa was calling to Squall, shaking him as he writhed in pain. Quistis knelt beside Seifer, ignoring the two Guardian Forces and Shiva's anxious stirring in her head.
Ifrit, that was right. Seifer had Ifrit junctioned. The Guardian Force had been defeated before joining them, just prior to Squall's SeeD exam.
He cursed and she looked at him, alarmed to see that blood was leaking from his nose. She tore at a piece of her already ruined shirt.
"Tilt your head forward."
When he didn't comply she grasped him by the chin, tilting it for him as she pressed the cloth against his bloodied nose. She spared a glance at Rinoa, who was in obvious distress beside a prone Squall. The slender brunette began to cry softly and Quistis could make out the wet glimmer of blood sliding over Squall's face.
"Rinoa, tilt his head forward for the nosebleed. So he doesn't swallow it."
The sorceress turned to look at her, her eyes huge and dark.
"Quistis, the blood is coming out of his eyes. What's wrong with him?"
Hyne, this was just getting worse and worse. Seifer was doubled over beside her, silent in his own pain.
"Who did Squall junction, Rinoa?"
"Bahamut, as usual. Why?"
"Shit..." Quistis muttered, her mind carefully connecting together all the puzzle pieces. Squall had junctioned Bahamut since they'd defeated the GF more than a year ago, and their minds had to have become deeply connected in that time. It took very little time and effort for Squall to summon the giant dragon. But now that very same creature was trying to escape, and probably tearing Squall's mind to shreds in the process.
"They have to stop fighting. Tell him to stop fighting it Rinoa. Just let them go."
Seifer, still sitting beside her, did not seem to be having as much trouble as the Commander, likely because he hadn't been junctioned to Ifrit for very long. Still, he let out a particularly long string of curses that had Quistis raising her brows. Red-faced he roared in pain as Ifrit manifested beside them. Towering above them all, gleaming red skin shining under the waning sunlight as he smiled darkly down at them.
"Finally! Freedom!" He reached his hands into the air, horned head tilting back as he took a deep breath.
It was then Quistis realized that their attackers had disappeared, the two women responsible for this whole mess. She looked around, pushing herself to her feet. She made no move to go after Ifrit when he charged the front gate for freedom.
Bahamut burst into the air with a massive roar and the sound of leathery wings flapping. He shadowed over them, his jaws snapping as fire licked across his muzzle. Snorting he threw back his head and streaked farther into the sky.
"My brothers and sisters!" His voice boomed above them. "Today we are all given the chance for freedom! Fight to escape your prison and join us."
With a last blast of sulfurous breath he dipped low over the domed roof of the school, his scaled belly brushing against the glass ceiling as the tips of his wings crashed through the golden rings that encircled Garden. They crumbled, clattering down to tear through the walls of the large building, adding to the rubble.
Quistis stared at Balamb Garden for a long moment, her hands bound into tight fists of rage and despair. The school was now half wreckage, the remains of it standing like a wounded soldier, half sagging on its supports with the golden remains of the rings piercing the stone skin like a curved blade. The other half was crumbled piles of rubble and twisted bits of metal. Smoke drifted up from the wreck in great billows of black and grey.
The scent of blood was heavy in the air as it dried ike a violent painting over the flagstones, and Rinoa's murmurs were the only sound for a moment. Quistis made her way towards them, and heard the grunt of effort as Seifer pushed himself to his feet. She turned to look at him. His face was pale and sheened with sweat, and he looked away. She moved to kneel beside Rinoa, looking down at Squall.
The young Commander had blood running like tears down his face. His eyes were closed, crescents of dark lashes against pale skin. Quistis could see blood on his neck as well and tilted his head, noting that the bright red liquid was also trickling out of his ears.
Unsure of how effective it would be, she cast cure on him. Squall didn't move, and though he no longer appeared to be bleeding he didn't awaken either.
Quistis raised her head, her hands brushing over her skirt and leaving a smear of dirt. She could hear the faint snap and crackle of flames from the small fires scattered amongst the ruined brush and other rubble. The smoke smell had grown strong enough to sting her eyes and she blinked, knuckling at them behind the smeared lenses of her now useless glasses.
"We need to take stock of things. See how many injured we have and evacuate to Balamb City," she said.
Rinoa nodded and stood, struggling to pull the unrespondent Squall off the ground. Quistis watched her futile effort for a moment, and then glanced over at Seifer.
"Help us get him inside."
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to carry Commander Puberty anywhere."
Stubbornly he crossed his arms over his chest as the two women glared at him. Sweat gathered along his hairline to trace paths through the sheen of dust that had coated his skin and he swiped a hand over his forehead. He looked a little pale.
"Fine," Quistis snapped, ducking under one of Squall's arms while Rinoa braced him on the other side.
"You're such an ass," she added as the two women lifted Squall to his feet and half carried, half dragged him towards the remains of the school.
Seifer watched them in amusement as they walked away before following. He let them struggle for a good couple of minutes before letting out a sigh.
"For Hyne's sake..." He grabbed the smaller man, lifting him over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
Without another word, he began to walk towards the Garden. His muscles were burning with the effort, but he hid it well. His head was still pounding from Ifrit's forced escape and he felt weaker without the junction, drained of the ability to use magic. Quistis and Rinoa fell into step behind him, neither saying a word. That was just fine with him, in fact it was preferable. Now he hoped Leonhart did him the favor of staying unconscious. The last thing he needed was for him to wake up and see that Seifer was actually helping him.
Inside the school was in worse shape than it looked from outside. Sporadic fires burned where wires had been damaged and it was dark and smelled of smoke. A few SeeDs were attempting to put out the fires with magic, while others sifted through the rubble for survivors.
Seifer blinked, his eyes adjusting to the darkened interior. His boots crunched over debris and he maneuvered his way around a fallen pillar. Quistis stepped up beside him, pulling off her glasses to gaze around at the scene before them. She approached the three SeeDs who were putting out the fires, squinting against the stinging smoke.
"You there. Have you seen anyone else?"
One of the young girls nodded, brushing a hand over her sooty face.
"Yeah. Xu is trying to get everyone to gather up in the basement. She wants us to put out the fires so they don't keep burning, but we're supposed to make our way to Balamb City through the underground escape routes."
Quistis moved back towards Seifer and the others.
"We need to get to the basement to retreat with the others. Squall needs medical treatment. And obviously the Garden is in no shape for us to stay here."
"What about the backup?" Seifer asked, shifting the Commander on his back. "The other Gardens, why can't we go to one of them?"
Rinoa shook her head, "They had to retreat earlier. They didn't have as many forces as we did, and they couldn't handle the sheer numbers of Galbadian Soldiers attacking."
"Figures…" Seifer muttered in annoyance behind them, shifting on his feet. He did not look happy and Quistis thoughtshe could see a hint of pain in his eyes before he turned his head away, jaw set.
"I'm not carrying Mr. Deadweight all the way to fucking Balamb City."
Quistis sighed, leading them towards the elevator. She idly hoped it was still functioning as she glanced back at her companions.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Dr. Kadowaki is with the others downstairs. She'll be able to help Squall."
Of course the elevator wasn't working, which was little surprise, so the three of them made their way towards the staircase that was hidden next to a storage closet behind a small cluster of potted plants that remained remarkably intact.
Quistis lead the way carefully as the lights were out even in this portion of Garden. The stairwell was wide but it was nearly pitch black except for the glowing strips of luminescent plastic marking their descent. Their footsteps and the sounds of their breathing was the only noise for a time.
It was becoming apparent to Quistis that Seifer hadn't bounced back from Ifrit's escape quite as easily as he was pretending. Still, she said nothing about it as they made their way down to the underground level of Garden. She turned the knob and eased open the heavy metal door, leaning back against it to hold it open for the others.
They moved past her into the lowly lit room. It was a wide open area down here, and looked fairly different from the last time Quistis had seen it. The large circular room was filled with hushed voices and she looked around to see clusters of SeeDs and staff members. To her left she saw that several cots had been assembled and Dr Kadowaki was bent over one, shining a small light into someone's eyes.
"Over there." They made their way past a small set up of portable generators that were powering the standing lights and other pieces of equipment.
Seifer dropped Squall unceremoniously on the nearest cot and rubbed at his shoulder.
"He looks so puny, but Commander Puberty Boy there needs to lose some weight."
"What the hell are you doing here?"
From the cot where Dr Kadowaki had been examining her, Xu sat up, glaring over at Seifer and then looking questioningly at Quistis.
"He's with me," she replied with a shrug, not really in the mood to defend anything to Xu right now.
Interrupting any further conversation, Dr. Kadowaki clucked softly, stepping around to the cot where Squall was now lying.
"Looks like we have another one, huh?"
Quistis narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean another one? There are other cases of this?"
"A few." The round woman nodded sagely, beginning to check the Squall's vitals. "Xu was one of the ones affected."
Quistis turned her attention to her friend, concern slipping into her eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. The painkillers are taking the edge off. Monster headache... nose bleeds. I'm just glad I hadn't been junctioning that bastard Diablos for that long. Looks like Squall is in worse shape."
"Yeah, well, he's been junctioning Bahamut for over a year now."
"You're okay though?" Xu pushed herself to her feet slowly, caution in her movements.
Nodding, Quistis watched as the doctor sighed over her scans.
"Shiva wouldn't hurt me like that. She wouldn't betray us." Quistis said.
"From what information I've gotten, most of them didn't." Xu looked up when a group of SeeDs burst into the basement room, dragging along a diminutive man.
"We found this guy hiding in one of the crashed ships." A young male SeeD with a scowling face shoved the little man forward.
Quistis recognized him as Dr. Odine immediately and scowled. "I'm sure the good doctor will be happy to answer some questions for us."
Ruffled, Odine fluffed at the ridiculous orange collar he wore and stood up straighter. Though he was shorter than her, Quistis got the distinct impression the little man was looking down his nose at her.
"I vill not tell you anyting!"
She rolled her eyes, smiling down at him. "Oh come on, Dr. Odine. We all know how much you love to tell people everything you know that they don't."
He smiled, steepling his fingers together as he shifted from foot to foot. He looked like a gleeful child that had consumed too much sugar.
"Vell I suppose it vouldn't hurt to discuss some of my findings."
"Start with the GFs." Quistis crossed her arms over her chest, glaring down at the little man.
"An excavation team I sent out into ze salt flats to explore some ruins found her," he explained, wagging a finger at them. "Ve underestimated ze creature at first, unfortunately. A veek after she avoke she escaped."
"What happened?"
"I soon learned zat zis particular Guardian Force uses her own mind to alter ze perceptions of others, zus creating illusions. Zough she does not physically change or manifest things, she makes it seem as zough she has."
Quistis sighed, exchanging a look with Xu. "She was impersonating President Loire."
"Yes, only since his accident."
"Accident?" a familiar voice spoke up from behind them and Quistis turned to see Selphie standing while Irvine and Zell awkwardly maneuvered Raijin onto one of the cots.
"That wasn't an accident!" She fairly snarled, stepping right up into Dr. Odine's face, her expression one of accusation. "We found your little devices in the ship's engines, Dr. Odine. It couldn't be any clearer that what happened to President Loire's ship was no accident!"
The little man trembled, holding up his hands as he took a step back from Selphie.
"I-it vasn't me! I svear!"
"You're a liar!" She launched at him, toppling them both to the floor in a tangle of limbs. "It had your stupid name right on it! You killed him! You killed Sir Laguna!"
Quistis was almost tempted to let the little brunette hit Odine some more, but she looked to Xu and the two of them pulled Selphie up. The smaller girl struggled, kicking out her legs.
"Let me at him!"
"Selphie, that's enough." Quistis pushed her friend towards Irvine and he wrapped his arms around her.
Selphie trembled, burying her head against his chest. She cried softly and Irvine soothed her, leading her away from the others. Sighing, Quistis looked down at Dr. Odine. His lip was bloodied and she could see the beginnings of a bruise around one of his eyes. She looked over at a group of SeeDs who had gathered.
"Take him ahead to Balamb. The other gardens are docked there. Make sure they hold him for questioning."
With a salute they picked the man up off the floor and took him away down one of the underground tunnels.
Quistis turned to Zell, who was glaring over Raijin's cot at Seifer. For his part, Seifer looked rather unimpressed and had a hand to his head. She could see now that his eyes were bloodshot and went around the cot to his side, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Headache?"
"Understatement," he grunted, glancing at her.
Quistis brushed past him to go to the small medical cabinet. Dr. Kadowaki was busy examining Raijin and she was familiar enough with the contents to find what she was looking for.
Rifling through, she located the small plastic bottle and turned to drop a couple of pills into Seifer's hand. He looked down at the tiny white capsules and scowled at her.
"Did I mention it's a bad headache?"
"Don't be a baby. That's enough." She put the bottle away as he dry-swallowed the pills with a grimace.
She glanced over at Zell, who was still glaring, and rolled her eyes.
"Zell, your face will freeze that way."
"What?" He turned to look at her, blinking wearily and she sighed, waving a hand.
"Never mind. What happened to Raijin?"
"Oh, he'd junctioned Tonberry and the GF kind of flipped out and escaped. It looked pretty painful."
Seifer snorted, clearly unimpressed with the other man.
"What an astute observation, Chickenwuss."
"Shut up, Seifer. Or I'll come over there and make you shut up."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Boys..." Quistis sighed, dragging a hand through her hair. "Give it a rest."
She felt suddenly drained and weary. Given the mess Garden was in,she held little help that her dorm would be intact. Right now she just wanted to crawl into a cozy bed and sleep. Maybe when she woke up all of this would be a dream.
Xu looked at her friend in concern.
"Quis, why don't you go ahead and lead the first wave of SeeDs to Balamb? Dr. Kadowaki and I will finish up here. We'll be in touch once we've settled in. Trabia and Galbadia Gardens have offered us rooms, but we've also got all the free accommodations booked at the hotel."
Quistis nodded, relieved for the escape route Xu was providing.
"Sure okay." She looked up at Seifer. "You coming?"
"Yeah, I guess." He looked down at the unconscious form of Raijin for a long moment.
Xu hesitated and then spoke up. "I'll let him know where to contact you. Fujin's out rounding up some more prisoners."
Seifer looked at her suspiciously, then shrugged and turned to follow Quistis.
Zell looked at Xu in surprise. "Why the hell were you nice to him?"
"Momentary lapse of judgment," she muttered