Blue Magic: Chapter 3- SeeD Elite
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Read 'Only the Lonely' before reading this, then the Prelude. Other then that- enjoy!
Swaying in her lover's arms, Riona Leonhart giggled softly as the wind danced across her skin. Though she was in the building, the power of Wind still made itself known to her, singing softly. With bright eyes filled with love and adoration for her husband, Riona's eyes also held something much older then humans... The Power of the Sorceress.
"The Darkness is approaching, my love... It called to me, even when I was Sleeping," the Sorceress in Riona purred softly, while pressing her body close to his and nuzzling his neck. Brushing her lips to his ear, she whispered, "it woke me up... And I grew jealous that Human Self had so much time with you when she forced me to Sleep... You're MY Knight, not hers!"
Holding the Sorceress close, Squall Leonhart replied softly, "I'm a Knight for you both. You know people fear you and the Power you hold, so Riona had to put you to Sleep for a while... until it was safe for you both."
Pulling back slightly, the Sorceress bared her pearl white teeth in a cruel smile. She knew her Knight was right... because her Knight knew what was best for her and her human self. That's why she loved him so much. He protected her from others and from destroying herself. Yes, Squall was the prefect Knight for any Sorceress.
"I know... but still," the Sorceress pouted, before completely pulling away and looking out a window on the deck of Garden. Her brown eyes misted slightly as the sting of sea breeze came through the window again, murmuring warnings to her and calling to its unknown Mistress. Cocking her head sideways, she hissed, "your friends approach..."
Squall turned to the doorway to see Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht, Selphie, Quistis and Seifer enter rather cautiously and gather around the center of the room. He could feel the tense feeling and curiosity behind their eyes and postures as they remained silent and waited for him to speak.
"Esthar has contacted and contracted with Garden for the Retrieval- dead or alive- of the former Sorceress Adel. Apparently over the years she had alluded Authority of Esthar's army and disappeared for several years," Squall announced to the now angry and outraged SeeD Members.
"Apparently she was presumed dead until several months ago when activities in Areas of the Island Closest to Hell and Desert Area of the Centra Continent started up, rumored to be lead by that certain red headed Sorceress." Squall folded his arms over his uniformed chest. Narrowing his blue eyes, he began his conclusion, "since it is out of Esthar's domain and have failed several times already, we are needed to fulfill our duty as SeeD to see if this rumor is true. If is true, we are to exterminate the threat of corrupted Sorceress."
Arching an eyebrow rather cocky, Quistis spoke up, "why weren't we the ones to originally to make sure she was destroyed after the Time Compression? I know she had time to escape from Lunatic Pandora when Ellone brought her back from the Past."
Slightly annoyed, Squall replied, "because we had other things on Garden's mind. Such as rebuilding Trabia and help Galbadia Garden get back on its feet after being under Seifer's control."
Seifer almost physically flinched from that remark.
Her cobalt blue eyes darkening from the uncalled insult to Seifer, she folded her own arms and spoke smoothly, "well, I thought SeeD's first duty was the control and suppression of the Sorceress. I thought you that, Commander, and apparently you have forgotten or-"
"THAT IS ENOUGH, Instructor #14 Quistis Trepe! You forget you speak to!" Squall snarled, shouting now and angered by her indirectly suggesting Riona was the cause of why Adel might be free. Narrowing his eyes, he stepped up and glared into Quistis' eyes, "you, my friend, have changed... We have all changed... but that doesn't give you the right to challenge my authority, let alone question it."
Riona the Sorceress' brown eyes tinged with gold, stepped forward. Tossing her ebony hair, she laid a small, child-like hand on Squall's shoulder to sooth him. She didn't want him to be upset over trivial things, especially with supposed Adel on the loose with no true leads.
Sighing, Squall stepped back and put breathing room between him and his sister figure. Shaking his head, he suddenly looked very old and very tried. Why did he have to play the bad guy most of the time? Turning partly away from the group of childhood friends, he finally concluded with, "Quistis you will lead Seifer and Selphie to explorer and search for any leads on the Island Closet to hell with the new ship, Ramuh, while I lead Irvine and Zell on a mission to Desert in Centra, understood?"
A small sadistic smile played on Seifer lips as he almost hissed, 'I see you leave the Sorceress with the ones who killed her two out of the three predecessors. Yes, Squall, you have completely lost yourself to her... Worse then me.' But he didn't. Instead, he met Quistis' eyes, walked out the door, and knew Quistis was on his heels.
Selphie on the other hand, bounced up to Squall and Irvine and piped in quietly, "do you think it's wise to put Quistis and Seifer in the same party together?"
Chuckling, Irvine said, "Why? Rather have Commander and his arch-Nemesis in the same party together? Name one person, besides Cid, Edea, and Quistis, Seifer obeys through and through now?"
Frowning slightly, Squall frowned, "what do you mean, Selphie?"
"Lately Quistis has been acting more meaner then normal! And I caught her eating breakfast with the Disciplinary Committee today!" Selphie hopped up and down. "I think Seifer is corrupting her or something!"
Smiling faintly, Squall replied, "Well, that can be your secret mission then, Selphie. To see what is up with Quistis and if Seifer really is corrupting her."
Knowing that the Commander was humoring her, Selphie still took the mission he gave her to heart and saluted him. Running from the room to catch up with her mission, she only hoped she found out what was wrong with Quistis before something did happen that was super-duper bad.
"This is lovely," snickered Seifer as he swung his Hyperion Gunblade through the tall grass as he followed Quistis. His black pants and white tee-shirt made him look almost like a normal adult, but when someone saw the scar or watched the way he moved, they knew he was a SeeD. But, he was trying to look inconspicuous as they checked out the island and not attract attention. Looking about, his blue eyes glittered with deadly interests as he watched a Dragon fly over, covering him and his friends with its dark shadow.
Quistis smiled faintly, watching the Dragon also. Her mind, however, was not on battling it. Instead she wanted to try to communicate, but she knew now was not the time since they were on a mission. Gathering her wits about her, Quistis' grip tightened slightly on her Save the Queen, and she led the way towards a slightly hilly area of the island.
With energetic strides, a green sun-dress clad Selphie bounced past Seifer and Quistis' side. Her new leaf coloured eyes glowed with eagerness for something besides the mission, but she remained silent as the made their way around a hill for speaking up, "how have you been, Quistis? I never see you anymore! Any new juicy rumors floating around in the classrooms or Teacher's lounge?"
Even though caught slightly off-guard by Selphie's questions, Instructor Trepe' face remained cool and impassive. Looking down at the smaller woman, she replied, "what do you mean?"
Tapping her Strange Vision on her shoulder, Selphie's eyes hid behind her hair as she found something interesting on the ground to look at, and giggled innocently, "well, I never see you anymore! Only passing you in the halls or when you're going into your dorm do I see ya! You don't even eat with us anymore, cause of it. You seem so super-duper busy!"
With a slightly guarded expression, the SeeD member looked at her childhood friend, and spoke softly, "because I have been busy lately. SeeD exams, SeeD field testing, grading, and teaching, Selphie. Even before you came to Garden, I was like this."
Seifer snickered and joined the two women, "well, not as busy. But busy enough for a 17-year-old girl could be! Not even time for a BOYFRIEND."
Staring slightly at Seifer, Selphie added suggestively, "well, honestly, Quisty... We all thought you got a boyfriend and were too involved with him to make time for us."
Emotions too fast for Selphie passed over Quistis' face as she looked over her shoulder to see that they were completely out of the ship's view. Sighing, she shook her head and laughed ruefully, "Sefie, where did you get an idea like that? I think Irvine's interesting in 'love' has finally worn on to you."
Grinning sheepishly, Selphie was surprise to see Quistis so nice and friendly since they left the Garden. Her entire hostile attitude seemed to vanish as she watched the gold and silver woman crouch down to examine several marks around a boulder. Cocking her head sideways, Selphie chirped, "what did you find?"
Climbing to her feet, she brushed off her black pants and straightening her red shirt, Quistis looked back to her team and replied, "tracks of some sort. Don't know of what, however. Wait here and I'm going to go a head, look about, then come back here if it's all clear."
Frowning, Selphie said, "isn't that not super safe! Right, Seifer?"
Chuckling softly, Quistis watched Seifer shake his head in agreement, before adding, "well if it's clues to Adel, it might be best, because there is less likely of a chance that I'll get caught. And if I do get help, you'll guys will be able to get help and backup to rescue me."
The two teammates looked at one another nervously, but had to agree and gave in. Standing together, they watch Quistis disappear around the other end of the boulder and the sounds of her combat boots on the dried ground around fade.
Following the tracks, Quistis soon found herself in front of a slightly hidden cave. A frown came upon her lovely feature as she studied it, looking to see if there was any other tracks leaving or going to it... only to discover none. Pressing a hand to the stone, she shivered, walked into the cave and began to lose her sight as she went deeper.
Pressing her body against the darkness of a cave wall suddenly, Quistis' eyes stared at the tracks to double check that they didn't double back and out of the cryptic cave. Surprising another shiver as a chill raced through her body, Quistis fought the urge to run from the cave, and moved forward and deeper into the abyss.
Zell was hot, tried and he wanted a hot dog. Wandering the desert with a guy who was hornier then a Horn Toad and a Commander with a sense a humor of a Pit-Bull with a toothache wasn't helping either. Nope, poor Zell was finally in Hell. A Hell with no Hot Dogs, too.
Wiping his forehead with the back of his fighting gloves, Zell whimpered incoherently, and stumbled over a rock in the sand, causing him to stumble. Falling into the sand, Zell cursed, before standing back up and going after a moody Squall and a 'sure shot' Irvine.
Leaping from the depths of the sand, a man dressed in brown lunged at the worn blonde and knocked him into the sand, straddled him as he began to choke the shocked and surprised SeeD member.
"Zell!" Squall hissed, pulling his Lionheart from its confinements and rushed to aid his friend. His black boots, however, was caught and kept place, sending the Commander to stumble to his knees.
"Fuck! It's a fucking trap!" Irvine snarled, blasting his rifle at a brown clad Warrior that came at him. Ducking a frontal lunge attack, Irvine brought the gun's butt into the Warrior's stomach, swung up and smashed the man in the face. Grinning, he moved from the falling body and shot his Rapid Fire Ammo at several attackers, including the one who held down Zell.
Leaping up, ignoring a bloody nose, Zell rushed forward and brought his fist into lower chest, bringing it into a guy's gut to free Squall before jumping back to move out of the way as someone brought a staff down for an attack. Pivoting off his left foot and darting around the figure, Zell stood ready to fight.
Climbing to his feet and slicing an ambusher through the chest turned to face man in black. Meeting the man's eye, he knew that he was the leader of the party. Something told Squall the man before him would go to disarming him first, if he was smart, and the simplest way to do that was to break his wrist of his dominant hand. After that he would aim for the critical points and nerve centers with that ugly staff of his
A second later, the change in Man's posture alerted him: then they were both moving. He swung his Gunblade in a vertical arc, aiming for the man's right wrist to disarm him first. The man blocked it easily with his staff and felt the shock as wood clashed with the strange metal of the Lionheart. The man insistently changed his grip and went for a trap, but Squall whipped his Gunblade out of the way and was facing the man again as if he never moved in the first place.
Squall just smiled at him and brought his blade through the leader's chest. The song of the battle consumed him as he ripped the Blue stained crimson Blade and rushed to aid his comrades. He was moving, as something possessed him, making him dance the deadly dance of the Revolution...
A woman walked into the Timber bar with unnatural grace. Everything about her was unnatural. The way she seemed to breathe, the way she walked, even the curve of her lips were seemed to be unreal; the crimson hair and yellow eyes seemed natural on her, however. She surveyed the seen and noted that only two people were there- good. She sat down next to the man at the bar and smiled. The man smiled back as on her eyes went to bartender who heading towards the back.
She stood up, looking him over shyly and walked towards the middle of the bar. She turned her back, her teeth lengthening, claws lengthening, also, and was very sharp. She gave a little cry, putting her face in her hands and the man came over. Hissing, she plunged her claws into the irises and pupils, ripping them from their sockets, then sliced his face wildly.
Leaping onto the bar as the man fell away, screaming and blood pouring from his face, the Woman laughed insanely. Dancing lightly across, she looked at the scared and pissed bartender who held a nasty looking knife that rushed back to see what was going on. Stretching her clawed hands to him, a bolt of black energy leapt from her hands and slammed into the Bartender hungrily. Turning back to her original victim the woman smiled, jumped down from her perch, crouched and tapped her claws lightly.
The man looked towards her, hands covering his ruined face as he slowly backed away from the witch who crackled. The Witch, however, stabbed forwards with her claws from a lower position directly up into the man's belly. The claws met only soft tissue and plunged smoothly, deep in the man's abdomen. The Witch, staring into the man's eye sockets, twisted her claws hard and pulled them out with an upward movement, ripping the man's belly open and drawing out part of a loop of his lower intestine, laughing gleefully as she did so.
The bartender was back and was on the woman like a jackal, hacking and stabbing her two times in the back but failing to even touch the woman. The Woman turned toward the bartender as if she was in slow motion. The bartender hacked at her face in desperation as he so and her eyes narrow. The knife made a glancing slice across her scalp.
Seething in rage that the man had drawn blood, the Witch exploded and threw the bartender deep into the wall, and went back to the man who curled up in ball, unable to see where and what was going on. Straddling the man's broad chest with her knees on his upper arms, pinning him down. The man was weakened but still struggling, imploring her to spare him.
Reaching forward, the woman grabbed the man's head by the hair with her left hand, and slammed his head back so hard against the floor that she fractured one of the vertebrae in the man's neck. Still holding the man's hair, she brought the neck and head towards her and bit... her fangs slide deep within the neck with easy. She felt herself sexually arouses from drinking the man's blood in tiny slurp noise. She threw head back, a drop of blood running from her lips down her vest. She shivered in pleasure, but she was no vampire.
She licked her lips and stood. Her leather creaking as she walked towards the bartender. She bent over and picked the knife, she licked it clean and stood above the man. Her eyes were cruel as her eyes peered over the blade, but something that looked like amusement danced in her eyes.
The Witch brought the sharp edge of the knife down the bartender's throat and began to saw back and forth, opening the throat from one side to the other. She pushed down so hard with the blade that she crushed the bartender's voice box, ending his hideous and loud screaming.
Dropping the knife and lifted her right hand high in the air and bringing her claws down hard, plunging it into bartender's upper left chest, through the ribs, all the way through his heart and through the back of the upper chest cavity and the back of the rib cage. Just below the bartender's uplifted shoulder blades, so that the tip of her claws dimpled but barely missed breaking through the skin of bartender's back.
Standing up, the Woman looked at her handy work and smiled. A Mother would be please... She licked her claws, walking towards the back of the bar. Water poured from a sink in the kitchen and the Witch placed her pale hands into the water and clean them. Turning off the water, she went to the back door and opens it up. They were still there.
She picked up the gasoline tanks and threw them around the bar, breaking bottles and laughing, turning on the gas for the stoves... She smiled; broken chairs, broken liquor bottles gasoline all over the 'local joint'. She walked out the door; half way into the street, she turned and launched a fireball at the place.
As the place exploded, she laughed insanely and walked down the street. Crimson hair flapping behind her like a banner, she walked off to her next target.
'What's a light doing in the middle of a cave?' Quistis thought suspiciously, tightening her grip on her whip and putting more of a creeping affect to her walk. Her body tensing and switching to battle mode, the SeeD member came closer to the light that came from a tunnel that spilt off from the cave in the back.
Swinging her body to the other side of the cave and outside the tunnel like door, she peered in cautiously. Position her right leg underneath her to get leverage to leap in or out of the tunnel, the teacher dared to peer around the rock wall even more when she didn't see anything the first time. Golden mane tied back, she stuck her head around even more, gasped, and stumbled back.
Falling onto her butt, Quistis shrieked as she realized it saw her. Kicking and moving herself backward to get away, the teacher backed herself against the stone wall across from the tunnel. Regretting she had to even investigate the tracks, Instructor #14 watched as the beast pulled himself from the tunnel after her.
With a head bigger then her and teeth big as her forearm, a dark ebony Dragon with piercing crimson eyes stared and growled at the Teacher. Its huge nose and tongue testing the air, the Dragon pulled its head closer to Quistis and snarling, slammed its deadly jaws shut...
Author Notes:
Whew, I think this Chapter didn't take as long as the others! What do you think so far? Is Adel REALLY behind the ambush of Squall and team? Who is the red-headed Witch who killed and blew up that bar? Is it Adel? Did Quistis get eaten?! I'm not sure myself...
I'm going to put another Chapter of 'Last of the Cetra' before I even start typing up Chapter 4, Dragon's Bane. Tee-hee, so expect two weeks for it.
Sorry for the spelling and sentence errors in it. I plan to have a better version of it up when I find an editor, but this is for the people who wait patiently for a Chapter, once more. No flamers, but reviewers are welcomed!
~Akira