Tour de Force
by Soul Hunter
Part 3
Train, train, take me away...
Take me away, Far away...
Train, train...
... ... ...
A sigh of love?
N-No!
... ... ...
???
You're not Irvine...
... ... ...
"Damn right I'm not. Hey Selphie, you okay?"
"... Huhh... wha...?"
"Sounded like you were dreaming." Zell remarks while helping Selphie sit up from being sprawled on the snow bed. "What's this about Irvine?" he furthers, then quickly dismisses it just the same. "Forget it. Why am I asking you about your dream anyway?"
Wiggling her head, Selphie expends a few moments to gather herself before letting Zell's empty question sink into her head. And for a brief moment, she felt like saying something... something that for some reason, made her feel guilty. Quickly reversing her thought, the Trabian SeeD focuses her attention to herself, examining to see if she suffered any serious injuries.
"Well, I didn't seem to have broken any bones or anything..." she remarks. "How about you?"
"I'm okay." he quips. "Just thinking, though..."
"Thinking about what?"
"Well..." Zell starts while looking at the horizon. "... It appears we've been unconscious for at least an hour judging from the difference in the position of the moon. And yet, don't you find it strange that they haven't sent a search party after us yet?"
"That is odd." Selphie agrees. "Well, maybe they thought we were dead."
"Highly unlikely. It's too sloppy for a group of terrorists that can hijack a top-secret bomber." Zell rebuffs his teammate, after which he gestures her to stop talking when he heard a series of crunching sounds and frenetic voices.
"Over here! Those SeeDs should be around here somewhere!" hollers one voice from the search party. Falling to a crouch, Selphie slowly raises her head slightly above a rock pile to get a glimpse of the source of the sounds.
"Okay, there's your search party." she whispers. "What do we do now?"
"Hide!" Zell mumbles while pulling Selphie behind a huge boulder, where they remained still to keep beyond sight of a group of three terrorists searching for them. While observing the search party, Zell's forehead wrinkles in light of the perception of another oddity.
"This is getting freaky." he mutters to his field partner. "Why send only three foot soldiers?"
"Oh, stop complaining, Zell! My body still aches from that fall." Selphie snaps back while unharnessing the Strange Vision. "Let's just take them out and be done with it."
"Okay, I'll take po..." The martial artist was cut short when his nunchaku-armed teammate suddenly charged into the open. "Hey! You stupid... wait for me!"
And before Zell could react, Selphie was already upon the leader of the terrorist who was caught by surprise with her sudden appearance. But even though he was startled, the miscreant was still able to aim his machine gun at her. But Selphie knows exactly what to do. Swiftly pulling herself down, the brown-haired SeeD used her momentum to slide on the snow by her knees. In one split-second, she whirls the nunchaku upward to knock the assault rifle off the terrorist's hands. Another lightning second saw her quickly planting both her feet on the ground, going from crouch to a sudden lunging move in one smooth motion that delivered a devastating double chop on the enemy's neck.
"There! Get her!" yelled the other two terrorists upon spotting her. Selphie had barely a fraction of a second to dive into the icy ground, tumbling for cover to avoid the lethal hail of bullets that peppered her way. Ducking into a rock, she clutches her weapon hard, bracing herself for another offensive.
"HUWAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Came the ear-splitting battlecry that drew the attention of the two remaining terrorists. Selphie then looks up to see Zell soaring into the air from behind their enemies. Displaying impeccable body control, the martial artist twists his body in the air and culminates his attack with a powerful reverse kick that landed on one of the terrorist's chest, sending him crashing against a nearby cliffwall.
Quickly picking up from his last move, Zell swings his left hand to disarm the remaining opponent. He then executes a double pivot, connecting with a blurry backhand on the terrorist's face instantly followed by a solid roundhouse in the midsection. Selphie looks on as the unconscious miscreant rolls limply by her.
"Well..." she sighs. "That was an easy one."
"Yeah... too easy..." Zell ponders, his sullen expression not escaping the notice of the astute Trabian.
"Mind letting me in on your thoughts? I know you're one for some hard action, but all this complaining is becoming ridiculous."
"No, it's not that. But I can't help suspecting that they're taking it too easy on us. And did you hear one of these mooks said before we attacked them?"
"No... I didn't hear... didn't hear... ..."
Selphie wasn't able to continue when all of the sudden, a debilitating dizzy spell gripped her. She didn't even have the time to feel surprised when everything started spinning around her. "... Zell... I don't... feel too g..."
"Selphie? SELPHIE!" Zell quickly runs to her aid, only to find out that she has fallen completely unconscious. Groping her body for any signs of blood, his hand inadvertently felt a huge mass down her left leg. Ripping the lower half of her cold gear open, he was alarmed to see a gruesome, green swelling on her thigh. Recalling his first aid training, Zell carefully examines the enlargement.
"Damn..." he mumbles. "Irradiation wound. These idiots are still using old, Mako-based lasers."
He then looks up to the dimming sky and thickening clouds right above them. "This is not good." Zell assesses, recognizing the potential dangers of an impending night time blizzard. Looking around, the SeeD groans out of frustration when he didn't see anything worthy to be used as shelter.
Securing Selphie's backpack over his own, Zell then gently lifts her up on his arms and starts marching onward to try and find a place that they can use for shelter.
"M-My... My apologies sir. But the mercenaries were able to repulse the strike team we sent to neutralize them."
His voice was trembling, assuming an almost staccato pattern born of his own fear. Magyar Motumba is not one who normally cowers before anyone. Committing hideous perpetrations since the tender age of seven, he emerged from out of the dismal corners of Timber's obscured slum area to become one of the most notorious criminals and freelance muscles-for-hire during the Sorceress War.
Eventually finding himself in command of a group of outcast mercenaries who call themselves the Purple Haze, Motumba cleverly assumed the guise of an eco-terrorist to masquerade their criminal campaigns, often using their false image to shun public outcry while carrying out contracted hit services for various clandestine organizations.
And he couldn't be happier with the arrangement, especially now that an especially generous sponsor offered to build an underground headquarters for them as part of a deal to deliver the VY-1 bomber to his mysterious client.
And though he has indiscriminatetly taken in various mercenary jobs, Motumba has never been one to be intimidated by a client. Yet, for some reason, this one whose name he doesn't even know scares him. He hated that fact, yet he had no choice but to comply if he wishes to snare down the most lucrative contract he has ever laid hands on.
"Have you suffered any loss?" the shadow on his comm screen echoes.
"Not really, sir. Just three scouts." Motumba timidly responds.
"It's minimal, then. No matter. Just make sure to triple your guards. And don't forget to make the preparations I instructed you to do. I don't wish to see all our efforts deteriorate into an exercise in futility." the raspy voice continues. "And for this matter, so do you... if you you wish to reach a ripe old age."
"Y-Yes sir. You don't have to worry, sir." the terrorist leader returns, fear evident in his voice. He then turns around to his right hand man.
"Don't just stand there!" He yells while slapping the hapless aide. "Get the friggin' package from the cargo bay and start the modifications! We're on a schedule here, you moron!"
Motumba falls silent, pondering deeply on why his client would specifically order to send out such a meager contingent to battle what they know to be very formidable opponents. If he only had it his way, he'd send a whole platoon of his most brutal mercenaries to fight those intruders. Though thinking is not exactly one of his strong suits, Motumba is not blind to fail to recognize the capability inherent to operatives from Balamb Garden. If he can help it, he won't even give them an inch.
But his client forced his hand to do something totally opposite to his usual way of dealing with enemies. And he can only wonder why.
It's been a long night, Zell thinks. An incredibly long and frigid night made more serious by the worsening weather condition besieging the remote valley outside. By this time, he estimates, they should have at least made it to the underground base of the terrorists.
But instead, Zell finds himself and Selphie trapped in a dark cave, unable to do anything due to the inclement weather. A few hours ago, he was worrying about the condition of his unconscious teammate, who succumbed to a toxic irradiation wound inflicted to her by the earlier barrage of lasers they encountered during their descent from the four thousand foot high cliff.
Fortunately, Zell happened to have emergency first-aid applications as one of his favorite electives back in Garden, which honed his skill in emergency treatment to a level rivaling that of Doctor Kadowaki's herself. Though he knows he applied the proper medical treatment on Selphie's wound, Zell is also aware that in order to be sure of her recovery, she has to survive the night first. Already, the disabled SeeD is showing signs of remission in the form of a high fever, which is aggravated by the chilly air brought about by the blizzard. Zell swiftly gathers about all the wood he found earlier and ignited it with a Flare spell, hoping that the added heat will help alleviate Selphie's condition.
He then lifts his bare right hand and rests it upon Selphie's forehead. And he doesn't know why he did this. The backpacks they have been lugging around contain a complete survival set intended for use in situations like this; from food provisions and portable cold packs to first aid kits. He could have just used the thermometer to get her temperature. But instead, he found himself wanting to use his hands.
Zell moves down to her legs to check the swelling, a smile of relief consequently forming in his lips when all he saw was a faint greenish patch where the unsightly gall used to be. He was just about to call it in when Selphie started moaning profusely.
"Unnh...! Must stop... missile... will slaughter... thousands...!"
She's becoming delirious, he thought. Gripped with a renewed sense of anxiety, Zell felt he had no recourse but to use his own body heat to help his teammate. Without a second thought, he opened the front of his cold gear before doing the same thing to Selphie's. Zell then moves to draw her body towards his. Wiggling their fused forms to try and get her as close to him as possible, he then secures the hems of their cold suits to completely envelope themselves in a makeshift chrysalis. Inside, Zell wraps his arms around Selphie as tight as he can.
Outside, the storm continues to rage hard, with no sign whatsoever of relinquishing anytime soon.
Crunching sounds start to break the silence of the still morning as a pair of wandering Mesmerizes make their way through the fresh layer of snow left over from the previous night's storm. One of the beasts turns abruptly, as if detecting an unfamiliar presence nearby. Gaiting close to the concealed cave opening, the blade-horned beast waves his nose over the pine needles a couple of times, then decides to join its companion who had gone ahead.
Inside the unassuming cavern, a mass of thick cloth and non-organic fiber begins to stir. It was then followed by a tearing resonance as the cucoon opens to reveal an newly-awake Zell. He yawns, stretching his left arm in the process. Zell then fights the urge to do the same thing with his right arm which was still wrapped around Selphie. Bringing his hand once more to her forehead, the martial artist smiles with relief upon feeling that her temperature has gone down to near normal.
"Hmm..." she starts to stir. Zell then begins to remove his right arm from her.
"No..." she suddenly mutters. "Just keep it there, please..."
"Hey... I better get off you or someone might see us. You wouldn't want a Snowlion snitching on us, would you?" Zell comes back with a slightly concerned pitch in his voice.
"To hell with the Snowlion, I just wanna stay here a little while longer."
He didn't know what to think. Zell didn't want to admit it but he does recognize a certain precarious state in the present situation they're in right now. He tries to cope with the expected sense of uneasiness, a not-so-pleasant effort to reconcile with the unexpected feeling of...
He doesn't even want to think about it. He knows he should pry himself off her now. But for some reason...
He doesn't even want to think about it.
"... Zell..."
"Yeah...?"
"Thank you. I may have been out of my wits last night... but I know you saved my life."
"Hell, don't mention it. No big de..."
"It is a big deal..." Selphie suddenly looks up, straight into Zell's eyes.
And their lips closed the gap.
- end of part 3 -