~ Happiness is always short lived ~
Zell opened his eyes, groaning at the pain in his head. He tried lifting an arm, but cried out when a horrible ache seared through it. The blonde
turned his head to the side. The only part of him that didn't hurt extremely. All he could see were steel walls and steel ceilings. He could also hear a deep whirring
coming from an exhaust fan somewhere nearby. A shadow suddenly blocked the light streaming down on Zell.
"You're finally awake. Good for me, bad for you." Seifer's voice filled Zell's head, that damn, soft mocking tone that had taunted him for years.
"Fuck off." Zell whispered, his arms falling asleep, sending painful tingles up his already hurting body.
"No, Zell. You're going to wish you'd never said that."
"What are you going to do?"
"What I'm best at, of course."
"Where's Irvine?"
"That queer? Long gone, too bad you hadn't woken up sooner." Seifer slowly crushed one of Zell's hands under his heavy, black boot. He smirked when Zell cried out.
"S, Seifer. Stop. Ple-" He yelped when the boot stamped down hard.
"It makes me sick to hear you. Go ahead, plead all that you want. But, it sure as hell ain't gonna sway me." He sneered and picked up the blonde by the front of his shirt.
Zell whimpered very softly, biting his lower lip in pain. He closed his eyes and let the older man drag him away. The sound of the exhaust fan grew closer, the big blades rotating slowly, their sharp
edges glinting in the light. His dull blue eyes opened and he desperately tried to focus on the fan that Seifer had led him to.
"Pretty soon, this will be your fate."
Seifer gestured to the space behind the blades where many body parts were strewn about. Blood splattered the walls and the stench of rotting was suffocating Zell as Seifer shoved his head closer.
"Do you wonder what happened to Kinneas? Why don't you take a closer look?"
Sure enough, when Zell squinted his eyes despite the pain from the magical attack, Arvin's trusty cowboy hat was lying amidst a pile of bloody chunks of human flesh.
"No! Oh God, I, Irvine! Please, come back!" Zell began to cry the tears of loss streaming down his pale cheeks. Seifer laughed, but was cut short by a different set of laughter.
"Hello, Seifer." a voice from above said. Seifer his eyes widened in horror as he raised his head.
"No!"