Author's note ~ Sorry about the GF's fighting, I couldn't resist. Remember to say what kind of ending you want. The email addy is meekychunky@talk21.com
Selphie moaned low in her throat. The lower half of her body had started to numb itself, which in a way was a blessing. If you live with pain for long enough your pain threshold had to increase or you'd continually be collapsing. But Selphie had never had to deal with this kind of anguish before and the fact that her body was adjusting to it frightened her more than the fear of death. She felt half out of her mind already, she begged some unknown deity for her friends to find her and make her safe so she could pass out until she was better. But while they remained in danger she couldn't give herself up to the peaceful oblivion that threatened her, because if she could have experienced something that had any kind of potential to save them and she missed it... she couldn't even let herself think of that. Bahumut swished around in her mind like some bad fever dream, his concern for her made her feel claustrophobic inside her own head. She slid her arms around her body and began to rock back and forth, there is only so long you can stand some pain for.
Her eyes followed Badier's every action without her even having to think about it. Selphie had never hated anybody in her life, it just wasn't in her nature. She hadn't even been able to bring herself to truely hate Ultimecia, she had only ever pitied her. But Badier, she couldn't seperate Bahumut's loathing from her own, it was so strong. She knew objectively that the pain was making her emotions stronger than they would otherwise have been, but her anger still raged. If she ever survived this experience her whole outlook on life would change, she had always made herself seem happier than she actually was, the whole 'I'm alright Jack' image she had projected to her friends was false. There would be no more of that, no more pretending she was okay when she was breaking on the inside. If she survived this... only if.
*
Rinoa frowned at Quistis. 'Me, why me?' She asked the blonde, who smiled apologetically. Rinoa took in her friends quietly, Squall and Seifer were conferring quietly at the computer, that in itself was a shock, both were serious and neither had made the slightest jibe at each other. Irvine had several shots of whisky in a single glass, the ice clinked against the rim as he took a swig.
'Before I was sent to Galbadia I was exploring status changes so I summoned Siren and Cerberus several times, my affinity with Shiva is no longer as high as yours... You know how fickle GF's can be.' Rinoa nodded, Squall looked over at her questioningly and she shrugged her assent, a small smile tugged his lips and pride shone in his eyes.
'Okay I'm ready.' She told them as she sat down. Closing her eyes she searched for that small place within herself where Guardian forces could be junctioned. She didn't know how it felt for everybody else, becuase everybody explained the junctioning process differently, but she reached out and caught the distinctive smell of Shiva, then the GF seemed to click into place.
*It is about time.* The normally sanguine Guardian Force snapped at her. *We all have been trying to get hold of you for the past three hours.* Rinoa swallowed hard, she flicked her eyes at Squall who was watching her intently. She shook herself, Rinoa had never liked the feeling of a GF talking to her, she felt dwarfed by them, but conversely, she and Shiva had always felt a bond. She could deal with this, if her friends believed she could.
*I'm sorry Shiva.* She said silently. *Can you tell me what the problem is?*
*I have been chosen, along with Diablos, to talk to you. This situation affects our kind as much as yours, if not more. We need to corporealise.* Rinoa blinked.
*I don't know how to help you with that.* She said honestly.
*Ice helps, I need it to come into your world, then you will need to concetrate on it.* Rinoa bit her lower lip and looked around.
'Irvine give me your drink.' She said to him, he handed it across with a curious look.
'I asked you if you wanted one.' He said admonishingly, she grinned flatly as she stuck her fingers in the brown liquid. 'Eww gross.' He cried as she fished an ice cube out.
'It's time you stop drinking anyway, how can you, it smells like paint stripper.' She flung the cube down on the table.
'Umm Rinoa what are you doing?' Squall asked her, she waved his question away and concentrated on the ice cube.
*Harder.* Shiva said and Rinoa responded. *Good girl* Rinoa felt the GF move within her and the cube of ice began to grow, Rinoa felt the water droplets in the air coalescing to form this giant structure. She felt the force transfer to the ice with a jolt and before she recovered Shiva was sitting cross legged on the table checking her body over, she nodded, obviously satisfied.
'Good God!' Seifer said, he turned his head to Rinoa. 'How did you do that?' She opened her mouth but Shiva got there first.
*She did not, I did. But now, Diablos requires entry in much the same way I did.* She turned her blue eyes onto Irvine. *Please repeat the process. We will need a heavy gravity object for it to corporialise.*
'It?' Squall asked as he began to fish about in his desk drawer. He slung out a metal orb onto the desk and shrugged in embaressment. 'I was using it as a paper weight.' He explained. Shiva reached out and inspected it.
*It is acceptable, Irvine would you please call Diablos forth.* She looked at Squall. *As for gender, have you ever known a female drop of water, or a male wind? Gender is a human failing, but we will use gender pronouns if it puts you at ease.* Seifer laughed.
'I knew a male wind, it was called hurricane Bob.' He told them and Shiva frowned at him.
'Seifer you aren't helping.' Quistis said softly.
'Hey just trying to lighten the atmosphere... besides, she's gonna help and it was my idea to junction her.' He said smugly.
'You never change do you?' Squall asked him, his voice hard. Seifer turned his face to him and shrugged.
'Depends on how far you go back.' He told Squall. It was then their ears all popped. 'Ow! Ow! What was that?' He yelled, Diablos stood next to Irvine.
*I am sorry.* Diablos told them.
*And so you should be* Shiva said smacking him upside the head. Everybodies mouths fell open.
*You said that there would be no fighting between us.* The Guardian Force growled accusingly.
*I am not fighting, your gravity field is attracting my hand to your head... like so.* She said hitting him again, it was then that Rinoa burst out laughing first.
'I never expected that GF's could be so petty.' She said, Shiva and Diablos reguarded her with blue and red eyes.
*We can argue and fight as much as humans do, Shiva assured me that we would put aside our differences for the duration. But she has never been one to keep a promise.* Shiva frowned at Diablos.
'This isn't helping our friends.' Irvine said.
*No, nor is it my father.* Diablos said and seeing the groups confused looks he explained. *Bahumut was part of the elemental essence that formed me, the only word that comes close to it is mother, but you consider Bahumut to be male, hence father.* Squall felt himself blink slightly. He signalled that everybody should take a seat around the table, Shiva sat down and her chair immediately froze beneath her. Diablos couldn't sit due to his impressive wingspan getting caught on the back of the chair. *You know what, let us not make these meetings a regular occurrance* Squall swore he heard Shiva laughing softly. That was how the wierdest meeting of their lives started.
*
Zell breathed deeply as he opened the hatchway to the store room, the rich spices lifted up through it and he could hear several hungry sighs amongst the children. He looked across at Roo, she was holding an injured SeeD around the waist, amongst sixty there had only been seven injuries. He looked across at Jill who was on her knees across the kitchen, her eyes were introspective, her injured arm had been caught up in a sling. At that moment she reminded him of Squall, her face was passive and her blue eyes glowed from beneath her black fringe. She had tried to give her crossbow to someone who could still use it but nobody apart from two other crossbow users could pull back the string, even then it was slow, nobody else had built up to the pull that was on hers. He indicated that Roo should head down into the store room, the injured children were handed down to her then every other able bodied person either jumped or climbed down. Zell looked around, there was absoloutely no way he could disguise this trapdoor, so he hoped the fact that they hadn't even tried to conceal it would make them think twice. He jumped and landed on the dark tin floor. He shut the door and looked around.
'Okay, we need to try and slow any pursuit.' He told them and grabbed hold of the shelves. 'Take anything heavy and slide it against the door and it's ladder.' A short flurry of activity followed and Zell caught Roo's eyes as she nodded in silent approval. He walked over to her as she tried to make the worst injured more comfortable. 'I think you and me should go on a scout before we lead the others out of here, the five healthy SeeDs can guard this place. Roo nodded and stood. It was the first time he noticed her whip, it had been tied around her waist loosely she snapped it off and cracked it in the air.The silence that followed was only slightly deafening.
'We are going to have a scout around, most of you know that Delta Wistanley should be out there with as many students as she could get, we're going to find her. You can all fight to a greater or lesser degree. You know what to do to defend yourselves.' She pointed at the five SeeDs. 'Tris, Manny and Alexa, you Guard the door to the Quad. Cetera and Lola, you guard the door we just came through.' She snapped off the orders like she was born to it. Roo looked at him.
'Okay then... let's mosy.' He said opening the door slightly and they both slid out into the darkness of the quad. The night was frigidly cold and Zell saw his breath turning white. He looked at Roo as she shivered, he nodded to her and mouthed silently. 'I'll meet you back here in five minutes.' They grinned at each other and ghosted silently away in opposite directions. As he moved mutely through the shrubbery of the quad his thoughts turned to Selphie, he didn't know quite what to think, didn't know if she was still alive, or if he could do anything to save her if she was. God he hoped Squall would turn up soon.
*They are on their way.* Ifrit muttered to him, Zell froze in surprise until he realised that he was the only one that could hear the GF. *Selphie still lives ofr the moment, Bahumut is making her a proposal.* Zell frowned.
*What kind of proposal?* He asked, Ifrit didn't answer. Zell ducked down when he heard the footsteps, he saw two male figures walking around with weapons raised. The moonlight glinted off of a gunblade, he had to look twice to make sure it wasn't Badier, even though gunblades were now a popular choice of weapon... thank you Squall. The other man carried a metal chain. Rathi. Zell had promised himself that he would squeeze some truth out of the weasel at some point or another, if only Roo was with him, she was good enough to take the lad with the gunblade, he had seen her both teaching and practicing in the training room. He breathed softly, neither knew he was there, but then, they weren't expecting any kind of resistance, they felt safe. As far as they knew all the resistance was locked up in the cafeteria. They both paused right next to him and Zell nearly stopped breathing, he was surprised that they couldn't hear the beat of his heart. The walkie talkie Rathi was holding crackled into life.
'Rathi? How are things progressing?' It was Badier's voice, Zell felt the frown that curled on his face.
'Most of the resistance has been surpressed, only sections in the dorms, the cafeteria and in a few specified corridors remain. We'll move in on them in turn, the largest number is being kept at bay in the dorms. You can move back here at any time after that. Over.' Rathi's face held a grin.
'Any report on the people I ordered dealt with?' Badier asked, the reception going a tad fuzzy.
'Nobody has seen Delta for nearly an hour, let alone killed her, she was last seen with Zell but he led an attack on the people that were holding seige on the cafeteria. Some say it was him on his own, others say he had the company of one hundred students, somehow I get the feeling that they aren't being honest.' Rathi kept looking around, his eyes passing over the top of Zell's head, who was struggling to hear them over the frantic beating of his heart.
'And Roo?'
'Rupell was eating her dinner in the cafeteria when the trouble broke out. We assume she's still in there.' Rathi slung his metal chain around his neck.
'So let me get this straight... out of the three specific people I've ordered you to capture, you don't know where any of them are. What kind of operation are you trying to lead over there? I'll talk to you about this later... remember to keep Roo alive. Delta must die though. Hurry up, you've been trying to capture Trabia for an hour an a half, it was a relatively simple operation.' The anger that raged in Badier's voice made Zell go cold.
'Yes sir, how is the girl holding out?' He asked hesitantly.
'Don't worry about Selphie. She's incapacitated but stable.' Zell shut his eyes and thanked God that he had been around to hear that.
'Yeah, but death is stable.' Rathi pointed out. Zell could have happily punched his fist through Rathi's head right then.
'Don't presume so much Rathi.' Badier warned him.
'I'm sorry sir, it's just that, that weak little girl is our only insurence.' Zell fought down a smile, Selphie had always been anything but weak, if they under estimated her... maybe there was a still a chance for her.
'She's alive Rathi, she's watching me right now, get on with your job and leave me to mine.' Zell watched the two men walk away before he made a noiseless run for the door, he reached it in record time, he didn't even bother looking around before he emerged from the brush to wait for Roo. That proved to be his downfall.
'Going somewhere, Mr Dicht?' The lashing of Rathi's chain whip across his back made him cry out in pain and fall to his knees. He turned his head and looked into the triumphant dark eyes of one of his enemies.