"Fujin, I warn you. Talk. I won't like doing this and even if you manage to make us give up, we'll find Ellone anyway. It'll only cost more time."
"NO" Squall brought down his gunblade. Sparks flew from the metal floor. Fujin closed her eye.
"That was to test. If you haven't started talking on the count of three... well, it'll hurt you more than me." Quistis looked shocked at him, Rinoa, who had joined them red-eyed, sobbed.
"One..."
Fujin gulped, her lips were dry and she licked them. Had she been breathing it would have been short gasps.
"Two..." Fujin's mouth started to open but she shut it and closed her eye in painfull expectation.
"Three..." Squall waited just a moment for her to tense, when she relaxed, shocked with surprise, he brought the sword down. Fujin's smallest finger left her body. Quistis let go of her hand. Rinoa yelled something. Fujin screamed and looked at her mutilated member. Blood streamed down from it.
"You've got nine fingers left. Is Seifer worth them all?" Fujin cried.
"YES" she sobbed. "MORE"
"He doesn't deserve what you give him." Squall said, and squeezed in the wound, making her scream. "And he probably wouldn't want you to get all mangled up for some girl anyway. He'd say "Fujin, You don't have to worry about me, I could have handled Squall."" Fujin didn't answer. Squall shook his head. She and Rajin had recognized Seifer as their leader the first time they saw him. He always was the one that did things first, and since they went with him, they'd do things second. But Seifer always seemed to get away with it. The headmaster was shielding him from to severe punishment, because Seifer had shown much interest in the gunblade, and unlike Squall, had trumpeted around that he'd be a master with it. It seemed to be a choice that Squall and he had made together. Skill with a gunblade was where they challenged each other about. Seifer would often extend his special protection on Fujin and Rajin, and they would follow him, doing things no other Garden student did. He was their Cheshire cat in Wonderland. Their Gandalf in the Middle Earth. Their general, their king. So when he pledged fealty, they followed him. Squall remembered that day.
They had been 14. Seifer had gone walking to Balamb, followed by his posse. Than he had decided that he'd stop walking on the roads, since it was to long. For him to walk to Balamb. For children under 16, it was strictly forbidden, since they could hardly defend themselves. Rajin probably had uttered doubts, and Fujin had probably gave him a good tongue lashing. She could make even a sailor blush back than. They hadn't even been so far away from Baamb, when they were beset by a monster. It was one of those mosquito beings. Seifer had laughed and said he could take that one on by hand. He couldn't have used the sword had he wanted since they weren't allowed to exit the Gym with it. He flew at the beast and started clobbering it to death. Fujin and Rajin had followed, angrily beating up the monster. Seifer was having the time of his life, he'd say later, untill disaster stuck. Rajin had said it had happened before he had realized it, Seifer had said it was destiny that had decided, Fujin never talked about it. The creature looked scared and, instead of trying to bite, he suddenly stung. Squall could imagine how Fujin had felt. The day before the exam, Seifer had almost cut out his eye. The steel that was coming rapidly and the thought 'left or right?' that absurdly seemed to form in his mind. Only for him, the following had been pain, relief ,anger and unconsciousness. For Fujin it had been merely pain and unconsciousness. He imagined how it had to be for her. Feeling the sharp sting pierce the eyelid, weakly trying to protect it's precious treasure, and than the treasure itself. Fujin had moaned, Rajin said, softly, than she had fallen. The bug had escaped. Seifer and Rajin had carried the unconscious girl to doctor Kadawoki, hurrying past teachers. Seifer had entered the infirmary, demanding that the doctor would heal Fujin now , or else! The docter had taken her, put her on the bed and had friendly assured Seifer and Rajin that everything would be allright. Seifer had gone to his room, that he shared with many other students, among them Squall. Squall had seen Seifer falling on the bed and crying, cursing and making promisses. He had calmly risen and started walking out of the room. Seifer had said, in a broken voice
"Squal?" Squall had answered coolly
"Yes, what?" Seifer had hesitated, a rare occurence. Squall had walked out of the room, leaving Seifer behind to deal with his problems. It had been the last time he had seen Seifer cry
Fujin had drifted one week between life and death. Her frail 14 year old body had a hard time resisting the poison. The antidote should have been given sooner. She recovered however, but as a side effect, her hair had grayed. And despite many threats and promises made by Seifer to docter Kadawoki, her left eye was lost. After all the troubles were done, Seifer nearly got expelled. Squall had happened to be at the infirmary for a nasty scratch in training when Seifer told her. She had said "SORRY" dozens of times. Since Fujin had realized she would only see the world trough one eye anymore, she had only expressed her feelings with one, or two word sentences. Seifer had comforted her, saying that she shouldn't worry about it, and that they'd soon be prowling the halls again. As far as Squall knew, he had never given his apologies for the whole affaire, nor had she asked for it.
Squall thought about this, and suddenly, he knew what to do. His voice was steel. "Instructor, hold her real tight, she must not be able to move her head." Quistis obeyed, expecting that he would hit Fujin in the face again. He than suddenly used his magic and said "Blind" The word alone seemed to scare Fujin, and her face grew pale. As her good eye lost focus, the last thing she saw was Squall's determined face. Than her world grew dark. She than heard the sound of his gunblade being drawn. She shuddered.
"Listen Fujin, I'm getting tired, and I'm going to need my energy fighting Ultimecia and freeing Seifer, so I'm just going to give you three strikes. When the third strike is done, you will never have to worry about darkness spells anymore." Rinoa flew at Squall. She held his swordarm Her voice was so broken and full of sniffles that he could hardly understand her.
"Squall...no....please, I'll do anything, but...don't do that...Can't you see how scared she is...?" Squall removed her hand and answered
"I know, that's the point."
"Squall Lionheart, if you do this I'll nevr speak to you again."
"Life will not be worth living if I cannot hear your voice anymore Rinoa, but I'll happily destroy my lust of life so you can live" She turned to Fujin.
"Fujin, please, please, tell him...don't make him do this, he'll hate himself forever." Fujin said nothing, but just sobbed silently.
"Not going to say anything Fujin?" She didn't answer. "Well, your eye. Strike one." He made a cut somewhere above her eye. The blood flowed into her eye, and Fujin's eyelid blinked like hell. She whispered
"Instructor....please" Quistis cheeks were a waterfall of tears, but somehow her voice sounded cool as crystal glas, and only those who could see her knew it would break as easy.
"The only one who can stop this is you Fujin. Squall has made his decision, I could never change his mind. It's up to you." Fujin still didn't breath, her crying sounding like the cries of a damned soul. Squall asked her.
"She's right Fujin. Help us out here, and give the answer." Fujin silently repeated "nononono" "
"Okay, you're right, test the limits. Strike two" The sword made a gash just beneath her eye. Fujin yelped. Squall talked again, his voice as calm as when they started
"Right, Fujin, now is your last chance. This is a marvelous world we live in, there is so much left to see. Don't throw it all away because of this stubbornness. There's a difference between loyalty and mad stubbornness." She was silent, even her sobs had stopped. Squall sighed. "Very well Fujin, it seems you made your choice, I hope you won't regret it in the future. Strike three." The sword was thrust forward, straight towards Fujin's eye. It wasn't fast. Quistis whimpered, Rinoa screamed, Squall might as well have been picking flowers....
Fujin said "STOP"
The sword stopped so close in front of her eye that she could feel he steel with her whimpers "You go up the stairs, go in the tunnel, take the first right..." Squall nodded, mentally remembering everything. "Than you take elevator number one. At the end of the hallway is a door. There Seifer keeps her...And I hope HE KILLS YOU FUCKING BASTARDS AND THAT WHORE. I HOPE HE RIPS YOUR FUCKING BLACK HEARTS OUT AND FEEDS IT TO THE PIGS THAT YOU ARE TOO." Squall returned the sword to his scabbard.
"Esuna" he said, and Fujin inhaled for the first time in... Squall checked his watch... 34 minutes. She used it to cry hysterically. Quistis bended down to comfort her, to take away her pain, but Fujin pushed her away. Her strength was pathetic compared to Quistis in her current condition, but Quistis backed down as if she was hit by a sledgehammer. Squall turned away to walk at the spaceship. Quistis just stood by the pupil she helped torturing and now wasn't permitted to help. She cried bitterly.
"Curse you Squall...Curse you for making me do this... You... coldhearted MONSTER." Squall inhaled
"Whatever" he answered and kept walking. Rinoa was still too shocked to say anything.
"TALK YOU BLOODY BASTARD TALK!" Zell was tiring. He had ran out of ideas, and was now back to kicking the crap out of Rajin and yelling, with the occasional use of magic. Rajin slowly took a breath and grinned.
"Not...in this lifetime...ya know..." Zell threw him against the other wall with a snarl of frustration. He HAD to make him talk, he just HAD to. But he had done everything he could. He leaned on the wall, tired after half an hour of 'interrogation'. Maybe he just wasn't up to it. Who was he kidding, he couldn't intimidate a mouse. But Squall had picked him. Because there was nobody else. And now Zell would fail him. Rajin noticed Zell's weakness and grinned.
"What's the matter CHICKENWUSS, are we getting tired?" Zell clenched his fist. "Don't even got what it takes to make me talk? I already thought so ya know. Seifer was right. You are a spineless chickenwuss, you've always have been and you'll always will be. Thinks of nothing but hotdogs Ya know. To busy stuffing his face to notice even the Anna from the library. Should be thankfully ya know. Cause she came to me for comfort. She was reaaal good ya know." Zell clenched his fists, and started shaking. "She said you were such a pile of dogshit. And than I said that everyone knows that ya know. Even Squall does. And your mother probably knew that from the day that you were born. Don't know HOW such a hero like your grandfather could bread a chickenwuss like you. Maybe he just made the whole thing up, or maybe they just found you by the side of the road." Suddenly, Zell stopped shaking. His face, that had looked enraged the whole time, suddenly became calm. Selphie, who knew what weak spot Rajin had hit without knowing it put her hand on Zell's shoulder.
"Zell..." she began.
"silence" the blond haired man said. Selphie opened her mouth to give a snappy response, but Irvine held her shoulder and pointed at Rajin. He was opening his mouth, but no sound came out. Zell had casted silence.
Zell than turned around and calmly grabbed Rajin by his ears and tossed his to the wall on the right. Rajin was crawling up but Zell was there before him and landed with his food on his left arm. A crack was heard as Rajin's arm broke like a twig. Rajin's face contoured in pain, but no sound came out. Zell than grabbed Rajin's hair and tossed him on his back. His right food moved twice. Twice a crack could be heard. Rajin's legs were sprawled in an odd position and he would be screaming if not for the spell. Zell than took Rajin's upper right arm and his lower right arm and than moved clockwise with one hand and counterclockwise with the other. He than rose and calmly looked down on him.
"That's so you won't accidentally hurt yourself" he spoke. He than took a deep breath and screamed. All calmness was gone as Zell seemed to be aflame with a red aura. His eyes were full of pain. All the pain he had felt in his life, all the times he had shaken frustrated but didn't dare to act now washed over him and seemed to wash away reason. Even the GF's in his head seemed to cry with him. Ifrit roared, Cerberus howled, Siren made a long melodious mourning sound and even Tonberry squeaked. He drew magic straight from his own spirit. He opened his mouth, he did not do the usual series of movements, he just pointed at Rajin and said "Painaga"
Rajin's eyes bulged with wonder, even as they were bulging in pain. Selphie and Irvine exchanged surprised looks. The three red Japanese signs started to glow red just above Rajin's chest. Than 6 more signs, two series of the same three, joined them and formed a triangle, with the point downwards. Rajin's mouth opened silently, his jaw started shaking when 18 more signs were again in series of three, two series forming a triangle with one of the sides from the original triangle. This way a triangle made out of triangles made out of series of three signs was fromed. 27 red signs hovered milimeters about Rajin's chest, than they came down like a cattlemark. Rajin started to spasm. Though his members were broken, he succeeded in lifting them pretty high before the weight of the broken parts forced them down. Irvine would have been afraid that Rajin would go mad, or even die, if he didn't know that pain magic doesn't allow that. Evenso, the extreme reaction could cause massive damage to Rajin's heart, not to mention Irvine flinched even THINKING about how much pain a 'painaga' spell could cause. He had felt a pain spell ONCE, and it had taken two hours for him to stop shaking. He took an echo screen from his pocket and held it in front of the screaming man. Rajin's screams, that were not audible because of the magic, COULD be received by the echo screen, that than reconnected the afflicted throat with the normal phisical laws. Irvine backed away when he heard the scream. His ears couldn't hear a thing anymore. He put his hand in front of Rajin's mouth and yelled back at him.
"COME ON MAN, JUST TELL US WHERE SHE IS! Zell's flipping out but we can't help you until you tell us where Ellone is." Rajin looked at Zell, who was givng angry stares at Irvine and than nodded. Irvine removed his hand. Rajin moaned trough his teeth, suddenly doubting. He than saw Zell taking a bag of silence powder from his bag. He began speaking in a terror-struck voice, laced with agony.
"Stairs up, first right" He hastened as Zell was fumbling with the cord of the bag. "And than trough the door and there she is...Aargh, now please stop the pain..." Irvine started grabbing a remedy bottle but than heard Zell's voice. "Esuna" Everyone looked at Zell as he calmly stopped the pain he had caused. Free from the bonds, Rajin fainted.
"Zell..." Selphie said "You...you were... not berserked? I thought you went completely crackers?"
"I calmed down after the magic, all the rest was pretending." Irvine scratched the back of his head.
"You're a natural than. I was almost afraid you'd have killed me back than"
"Hmmm, yeah, that was mostly faked too" Zell answered sadly. Irvine tried to find irony in Zell's voice. He didn't.
"But how do we know he spoke the truth?" Selphie wondered.
"Because Fujin said the same thing" A voice sounded from a bit farther. Everyone startled as Squall calmly walked into the room.
"Been here for long Squall?" Zell asked.
"Long enough. Good job Zell, I knew I could count on you." He turned at Selphie. "Could you heal those limbs? Than take five, meet at the cockpit in ten minuts." Than Squall walked away. Irvine and Selphie looked at eachother.
"Well.... I guess that's Squall." Selphie sighed. Irvine shrugged
"Some things never change. I'm gonna take a shower I think."
"OOOH good idea" Selphie said. Irvine gave her his usual smile.
"Whow baby, and me thinking you were so shy. If I knew you'd be in for THAT, I'd have suggested it a long time ago." Selphie's face went red.
"No...I mean each in our own shower, not... not..."
"Sure baby, no need to rush things, plenty of time." He blew a kiss at her and walked away. Selphie rolled her eyes and walked after him. Though not to close by. Zell looked at them leaving, and than fell on his knees and started crying.
"NO" Squall brought down his gunblade. Sparks flew from the metal floor. Fujin closed her eye.
"That was to test. If you haven't started talking on the count of three... well, it'll hurt you more than me." Quistis looked shocked at him, Rinoa, who had joined them red-eyed, sobbed.
"One..."
Fujin gulped, her lips were dry and she licked them. Had she been breathing it would have been short gasps.
"Two..." Fujin's mouth started to open but she shut it and closed her eye in painfull expectation.
"Three..." Squall waited just a moment for her to tense, when she relaxed, shocked with surprise, he brought the sword down. Fujin's smallest finger left her body. Quistis let go of her hand. Rinoa yelled something. Fujin screamed and looked at her mutilated member. Blood streamed down from it.
"You've got nine fingers left. Is Seifer worth them all?" Fujin cried.
"YES" she sobbed. "MORE"
"He doesn't deserve what you give him." Squall said, and squeezed in the wound, making her scream. "And he probably wouldn't want you to get all mangled up for some girl anyway. He'd say "Fujin, You don't have to worry about me, I could have handled Squall."" Fujin didn't answer. Squall shook his head. She and Rajin had recognized Seifer as their leader the first time they saw him. He always was the one that did things first, and since they went with him, they'd do things second. But Seifer always seemed to get away with it. The headmaster was shielding him from to severe punishment, because Seifer had shown much interest in the gunblade, and unlike Squall, had trumpeted around that he'd be a master with it. It seemed to be a choice that Squall and he had made together. Skill with a gunblade was where they challenged each other about. Seifer would often extend his special protection on Fujin and Rajin, and they would follow him, doing things no other Garden student did. He was their Cheshire cat in Wonderland. Their Gandalf in the Middle Earth. Their general, their king. So when he pledged fealty, they followed him. Squall remembered that day.
They had been 14. Seifer had gone walking to Balamb, followed by his posse. Than he had decided that he'd stop walking on the roads, since it was to long. For him to walk to Balamb. For children under 16, it was strictly forbidden, since they could hardly defend themselves. Rajin probably had uttered doubts, and Fujin had probably gave him a good tongue lashing. She could make even a sailor blush back than. They hadn't even been so far away from Baamb, when they were beset by a monster. It was one of those mosquito beings. Seifer had laughed and said he could take that one on by hand. He couldn't have used the sword had he wanted since they weren't allowed to exit the Gym with it. He flew at the beast and started clobbering it to death. Fujin and Rajin had followed, angrily beating up the monster. Seifer was having the time of his life, he'd say later, untill disaster stuck. Rajin had said it had happened before he had realized it, Seifer had said it was destiny that had decided, Fujin never talked about it. The creature looked scared and, instead of trying to bite, he suddenly stung. Squall could imagine how Fujin had felt. The day before the exam, Seifer had almost cut out his eye. The steel that was coming rapidly and the thought 'left or right?' that absurdly seemed to form in his mind. Only for him, the following had been pain, relief ,anger and unconsciousness. For Fujin it had been merely pain and unconsciousness. He imagined how it had to be for her. Feeling the sharp sting pierce the eyelid, weakly trying to protect it's precious treasure, and than the treasure itself. Fujin had moaned, Rajin said, softly, than she had fallen. The bug had escaped. Seifer and Rajin had carried the unconscious girl to doctor Kadawoki, hurrying past teachers. Seifer had entered the infirmary, demanding that the doctor would heal Fujin now , or else! The docter had taken her, put her on the bed and had friendly assured Seifer and Rajin that everything would be allright. Seifer had gone to his room, that he shared with many other students, among them Squall. Squall had seen Seifer falling on the bed and crying, cursing and making promisses. He had calmly risen and started walking out of the room. Seifer had said, in a broken voice
"Squal?" Squall had answered coolly
"Yes, what?" Seifer had hesitated, a rare occurence. Squall had walked out of the room, leaving Seifer behind to deal with his problems. It had been the last time he had seen Seifer cry
Fujin had drifted one week between life and death. Her frail 14 year old body had a hard time resisting the poison. The antidote should have been given sooner. She recovered however, but as a side effect, her hair had grayed. And despite many threats and promises made by Seifer to docter Kadawoki, her left eye was lost. After all the troubles were done, Seifer nearly got expelled. Squall had happened to be at the infirmary for a nasty scratch in training when Seifer told her. She had said "SORRY" dozens of times. Since Fujin had realized she would only see the world trough one eye anymore, she had only expressed her feelings with one, or two word sentences. Seifer had comforted her, saying that she shouldn't worry about it, and that they'd soon be prowling the halls again. As far as Squall knew, he had never given his apologies for the whole affaire, nor had she asked for it.
Squall thought about this, and suddenly, he knew what to do. His voice was steel. "Instructor, hold her real tight, she must not be able to move her head." Quistis obeyed, expecting that he would hit Fujin in the face again. He than suddenly used his magic and said "Blind" The word alone seemed to scare Fujin, and her face grew pale. As her good eye lost focus, the last thing she saw was Squall's determined face. Than her world grew dark. She than heard the sound of his gunblade being drawn. She shuddered.
"Listen Fujin, I'm getting tired, and I'm going to need my energy fighting Ultimecia and freeing Seifer, so I'm just going to give you three strikes. When the third strike is done, you will never have to worry about darkness spells anymore." Rinoa flew at Squall. She held his swordarm Her voice was so broken and full of sniffles that he could hardly understand her.
"Squall...no....please, I'll do anything, but...don't do that...Can't you see how scared she is...?" Squall removed her hand and answered
"I know, that's the point."
"Squall Lionheart, if you do this I'll nevr speak to you again."
"Life will not be worth living if I cannot hear your voice anymore Rinoa, but I'll happily destroy my lust of life so you can live" She turned to Fujin.
"Fujin, please, please, tell him...don't make him do this, he'll hate himself forever." Fujin said nothing, but just sobbed silently.
"Not going to say anything Fujin?" She didn't answer. "Well, your eye. Strike one." He made a cut somewhere above her eye. The blood flowed into her eye, and Fujin's eyelid blinked like hell. She whispered
"Instructor....please" Quistis cheeks were a waterfall of tears, but somehow her voice sounded cool as crystal glas, and only those who could see her knew it would break as easy.
"The only one who can stop this is you Fujin. Squall has made his decision, I could never change his mind. It's up to you." Fujin still didn't breath, her crying sounding like the cries of a damned soul. Squall asked her.
"She's right Fujin. Help us out here, and give the answer." Fujin silently repeated "nononono" "
"Okay, you're right, test the limits. Strike two" The sword made a gash just beneath her eye. Fujin yelped. Squall talked again, his voice as calm as when they started
"Right, Fujin, now is your last chance. This is a marvelous world we live in, there is so much left to see. Don't throw it all away because of this stubbornness. There's a difference between loyalty and mad stubbornness." She was silent, even her sobs had stopped. Squall sighed. "Very well Fujin, it seems you made your choice, I hope you won't regret it in the future. Strike three." The sword was thrust forward, straight towards Fujin's eye. It wasn't fast. Quistis whimpered, Rinoa screamed, Squall might as well have been picking flowers....
Fujin said "STOP"
The sword stopped so close in front of her eye that she could feel he steel with her whimpers "You go up the stairs, go in the tunnel, take the first right..." Squall nodded, mentally remembering everything. "Than you take elevator number one. At the end of the hallway is a door. There Seifer keeps her...And I hope HE KILLS YOU FUCKING BASTARDS AND THAT WHORE. I HOPE HE RIPS YOUR FUCKING BLACK HEARTS OUT AND FEEDS IT TO THE PIGS THAT YOU ARE TOO." Squall returned the sword to his scabbard.
"Esuna" he said, and Fujin inhaled for the first time in... Squall checked his watch... 34 minutes. She used it to cry hysterically. Quistis bended down to comfort her, to take away her pain, but Fujin pushed her away. Her strength was pathetic compared to Quistis in her current condition, but Quistis backed down as if she was hit by a sledgehammer. Squall turned away to walk at the spaceship. Quistis just stood by the pupil she helped torturing and now wasn't permitted to help. She cried bitterly.
"Curse you Squall...Curse you for making me do this... You... coldhearted MONSTER." Squall inhaled
"Whatever" he answered and kept walking. Rinoa was still too shocked to say anything.
"TALK YOU BLOODY BASTARD TALK!" Zell was tiring. He had ran out of ideas, and was now back to kicking the crap out of Rajin and yelling, with the occasional use of magic. Rajin slowly took a breath and grinned.
"Not...in this lifetime...ya know..." Zell threw him against the other wall with a snarl of frustration. He HAD to make him talk, he just HAD to. But he had done everything he could. He leaned on the wall, tired after half an hour of 'interrogation'. Maybe he just wasn't up to it. Who was he kidding, he couldn't intimidate a mouse. But Squall had picked him. Because there was nobody else. And now Zell would fail him. Rajin noticed Zell's weakness and grinned.
"What's the matter CHICKENWUSS, are we getting tired?" Zell clenched his fist. "Don't even got what it takes to make me talk? I already thought so ya know. Seifer was right. You are a spineless chickenwuss, you've always have been and you'll always will be. Thinks of nothing but hotdogs Ya know. To busy stuffing his face to notice even the Anna from the library. Should be thankfully ya know. Cause she came to me for comfort. She was reaaal good ya know." Zell clenched his fists, and started shaking. "She said you were such a pile of dogshit. And than I said that everyone knows that ya know. Even Squall does. And your mother probably knew that from the day that you were born. Don't know HOW such a hero like your grandfather could bread a chickenwuss like you. Maybe he just made the whole thing up, or maybe they just found you by the side of the road." Suddenly, Zell stopped shaking. His face, that had looked enraged the whole time, suddenly became calm. Selphie, who knew what weak spot Rajin had hit without knowing it put her hand on Zell's shoulder.
"Zell..." she began.
"silence" the blond haired man said. Selphie opened her mouth to give a snappy response, but Irvine held her shoulder and pointed at Rajin. He was opening his mouth, but no sound came out. Zell had casted silence.
Zell than turned around and calmly grabbed Rajin by his ears and tossed his to the wall on the right. Rajin was crawling up but Zell was there before him and landed with his food on his left arm. A crack was heard as Rajin's arm broke like a twig. Rajin's face contoured in pain, but no sound came out. Zell than grabbed Rajin's hair and tossed him on his back. His right food moved twice. Twice a crack could be heard. Rajin's legs were sprawled in an odd position and he would be screaming if not for the spell. Zell than took Rajin's upper right arm and his lower right arm and than moved clockwise with one hand and counterclockwise with the other. He than rose and calmly looked down on him.
"That's so you won't accidentally hurt yourself" he spoke. He than took a deep breath and screamed. All calmness was gone as Zell seemed to be aflame with a red aura. His eyes were full of pain. All the pain he had felt in his life, all the times he had shaken frustrated but didn't dare to act now washed over him and seemed to wash away reason. Even the GF's in his head seemed to cry with him. Ifrit roared, Cerberus howled, Siren made a long melodious mourning sound and even Tonberry squeaked. He drew magic straight from his own spirit. He opened his mouth, he did not do the usual series of movements, he just pointed at Rajin and said "Painaga"
Rajin's eyes bulged with wonder, even as they were bulging in pain. Selphie and Irvine exchanged surprised looks. The three red Japanese signs started to glow red just above Rajin's chest. Than 6 more signs, two series of the same three, joined them and formed a triangle, with the point downwards. Rajin's mouth opened silently, his jaw started shaking when 18 more signs were again in series of three, two series forming a triangle with one of the sides from the original triangle. This way a triangle made out of triangles made out of series of three signs was fromed. 27 red signs hovered milimeters about Rajin's chest, than they came down like a cattlemark. Rajin started to spasm. Though his members were broken, he succeeded in lifting them pretty high before the weight of the broken parts forced them down. Irvine would have been afraid that Rajin would go mad, or even die, if he didn't know that pain magic doesn't allow that. Evenso, the extreme reaction could cause massive damage to Rajin's heart, not to mention Irvine flinched even THINKING about how much pain a 'painaga' spell could cause. He had felt a pain spell ONCE, and it had taken two hours for him to stop shaking. He took an echo screen from his pocket and held it in front of the screaming man. Rajin's screams, that were not audible because of the magic, COULD be received by the echo screen, that than reconnected the afflicted throat with the normal phisical laws. Irvine backed away when he heard the scream. His ears couldn't hear a thing anymore. He put his hand in front of Rajin's mouth and yelled back at him.
"COME ON MAN, JUST TELL US WHERE SHE IS! Zell's flipping out but we can't help you until you tell us where Ellone is." Rajin looked at Zell, who was givng angry stares at Irvine and than nodded. Irvine removed his hand. Rajin moaned trough his teeth, suddenly doubting. He than saw Zell taking a bag of silence powder from his bag. He began speaking in a terror-struck voice, laced with agony.
"Stairs up, first right" He hastened as Zell was fumbling with the cord of the bag. "And than trough the door and there she is...Aargh, now please stop the pain..." Irvine started grabbing a remedy bottle but than heard Zell's voice. "Esuna" Everyone looked at Zell as he calmly stopped the pain he had caused. Free from the bonds, Rajin fainted.
"Zell..." Selphie said "You...you were... not berserked? I thought you went completely crackers?"
"I calmed down after the magic, all the rest was pretending." Irvine scratched the back of his head.
"You're a natural than. I was almost afraid you'd have killed me back than"
"Hmmm, yeah, that was mostly faked too" Zell answered sadly. Irvine tried to find irony in Zell's voice. He didn't.
"But how do we know he spoke the truth?" Selphie wondered.
"Because Fujin said the same thing" A voice sounded from a bit farther. Everyone startled as Squall calmly walked into the room.
"Been here for long Squall?" Zell asked.
"Long enough. Good job Zell, I knew I could count on you." He turned at Selphie. "Could you heal those limbs? Than take five, meet at the cockpit in ten minuts." Than Squall walked away. Irvine and Selphie looked at eachother.
"Well.... I guess that's Squall." Selphie sighed. Irvine shrugged
"Some things never change. I'm gonna take a shower I think."
"OOOH good idea" Selphie said. Irvine gave her his usual smile.
"Whow baby, and me thinking you were so shy. If I knew you'd be in for THAT, I'd have suggested it a long time ago." Selphie's face went red.
"No...I mean each in our own shower, not... not..."
"Sure baby, no need to rush things, plenty of time." He blew a kiss at her and walked away. Selphie rolled her eyes and walked after him. Though not to close by. Zell looked at them leaving, and than fell on his knees and started crying.