An Unlikely Meeting- Part XIV
Why was it so dark? Quistis couldn't see anything in front of her besides her self. It seems as though there was no light at all, but she was able to see her hands when she put them in front of her. How strange.
She turned around to look around her, and her eyes fell on a lone figure with his hands clasped behind his back. He was in a gray coat and was walking away from her.
Seifer.
Quistis smiled. A familiar figure at least. She called his name. He did not turn around or show any sign that he had heard her. He just continued to walk. Quistis tried again, but again to no avail. Frowning, she decided to go up to him.
She began to jog to catch up, calling his name once again. But no matter how much she tried to catch up to Seifer, the distance between them never closed, nor did they get farther apart. They weren't even that far from each other. How could he not hear her? And why does he seem to be moving faster than his feet are taking him? What is going on?
Quistis became increasingly agitated. She stopped. Seifer's feet continued to move, but he never got farther away. She tried moving backwards. The distance still did not change. Frustrated and angry that she could not communicate with him, meet his eyes, see his smirk, she called his name one last time and ran as fast as her body could possibly take her. Just when she thought she was closing the distance between them, the ground suddenly crumbled under her, and she fell. Her back was to the bottomless pit, and above her she saw light. Silhouetted against the light was a figure, who was falling headfirst, arms reaching out to save her. She stretched her hand for the figure's, observing from his muscular form that it was a male. She saw a flash of golden hair and a brief flicker of green and gold light from his eyes, and observed in wide eyed shock as wings unfolded from his back.
An angel.
His wings were so large and magnificent! The pure white feathers seemed to have a glow of its own. The wingspan was easily twice his height and a few stray feathers happened to shed away from his wings. As they floated down, Quistis noted the ethereal glowing of the angel's feathers.
He was coming closer. He will save her. Quistis smiled unconsciously. Both were falling at such great speeds, but she wasn't bothered. The angel will save her. She reached out farther, and their fingers grazed each other's...
Quistis's eyes opened wide and found herself in her hotel bed. She suddenly felt incredibly sad. She was never able to reach Seifer or the angel in the dream. The angel never quite saved her. She felt lost and confused.
Quistis looked to see Seifer laying next to her, his body turned toward her. She blinked a couple of times and knit her eyebrows together. Yes, he had indeed fallen asleep beside her. She listened to his soft, slow, rhythmic breathing for a while. It was so strange seeing him so at peace, when he wasn't smirking arrogantly, when he wasn't battling a monster. Quistis had never seen this side of Seifer. It was almost as though he wasn't alive. She smiled, feeling much better now that Seifer was back at her side. Without thinking, her fingers ran through his surprisingly soft hair, and his eyes fluttered open. Although heavy lidded from just having woken up, his eyes still sparkled with mischief. The green and gold flashed in the morning sunlight that peeked out through the curtains behind her back.
Quistis remembered how the angel's eyes seemed to flash in the same color.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Good morning," he greeted her.
"Good morning." Quistis raised her body which she supported with her arm. She continued to study him. "Were you trying to protect me throughout the night, like a good and noble knight should?," she asked teasingly.
"Anything for you, my Lady," Seifer returned in good humor. His smile disappeared when he saw Quistis's sudden change in mood. Her expression turned very somber. "Hey, hey. Are you OK? What's wrong?"
Quistis sat up from her bed, and Seifer followed suit. She hesitated before she took a deep breath and finally spoke. "Celeste is a very powerful sorceress. Even more powerful than all the others because she was born with special powers before the sorceress powers were passed down to her. She has the ability to control the elements, change shape, read peoples minds, and even take over their actions. There is a very good chance that she will take over my body. If she does that, she will make sure that her own body is hidden, because when she goes into someone else's mind, she is not in control of her body. Her body would become very vulnerable, and if she happens to die physically, she will die mentally as well, and vice-versa. If she decides to use my own body for her own purposes and her body isn't found, the only way to kill her is to kill me."
Seifer was staring at her in open-mouthed shock. "Quistis..."
"No, I'm not finished yet," she interrupted, her voice beginning to tremble. She waited a few seconds to try to compose herself by closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths. She opened her eyes and continued. "I want you to promise me, to *swear* to me, that when the time comes, you will kill me."
Seifer grabbed Quistis by the shoulders and tried to shake her out of her current state. "Quistis, why are you being so stupid? You never ask people to do things like that for you."
"You tried it once. Why can't you do it again?," she said bitterly as she looked away from his face.
Seifer's eyes widened in anger and in hurt, then narrowed to tiny slits. His grip on her shoulder tightened. "I was under Ultimecia's control. And don't ever say anything like that again," he said in a dangerously quiet tone. He let her go and began to get up from the bed, but Quistis put her arms around his waist and drew herself closer to him so that her head rested on his chest. She wept.
"Seifer, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, that was inappropriate. I just wanted to know that I can really trust you on this. I don't want us to fail. I don't want others to get hurt because of us." She held him tightly, not wanting to let go of her only source of security. She had felt so safe during the last couple of days, and they have become so close, almost inseparable. She had trouble imagining him not by her side.
Seifer put his arms around her and held her there, his head resting on hers. He sighed. "I know. I know. I just hate the idea of having to lose you. And by my own gunblade for that matter. It's better not to think about things like that." He continued on when Quistis remained silent. "Let's just do things spontaneously. It's better to live in the present than think about the future." He realized then just how future-oriented Quistis was. So meticulous and careful. Every moved planned ahead. He wondered what she had written down on her mental plan book for her life.
Quistis merely nodded.
Seifer suddenly got an idea. He pulled apart from her and took off his chain necklace. He put it around Quistis's slender neck. "Hey, it looks good on you," he observed.
Quistis fingered the chain and looked at him quizzically.
"Think of it as a good luck charm. It'll prevent Celeste from getting into your head."
She smiled. She reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"OK, so where's Celeste's place again?"
"Down south," Quistis responded. "I don't think it's too far away from the Deep Sea Research Center, but I may be wrong. I'm just letting the feeling lead me."
They were in the Ragnarok, with Quistis flying the aircraft. They have been flying for three hours. As Quistis concentrated on flying the Ragnarok, Seifer sat in a laid back position with his feet up on the upholstery, polishing his Dragonslayer to a sparkling sheen. He studied it from different angles.
"You know," he started, "I really don't think this gunblade is me." The golden blade caught the sunlight and reflected many pinpoints of red, orange, yellow, and white from deep within. The handle of the gunblade was of the highest quality as well. The weapon seemed more fit for a noble and just person, not your average bad boy, as Seifer was.
Quistis smiled crookedly as she gave him a sideways glance. She knew what he meant.
"Maybe someday it will be."
Seifer rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." He tested the sharpness of the blade's edge. He nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Quistis with a curious look about his face. "Hey, I meant to ask you before, but I kept forgetting- Do you think these weapons would actually do some damage on her? You know, Celeste?"
Quistis's expression turned serious. "I actually don't know. If physical attacks don't do anything, we might as well try attacking her with magic. If that doesn't work, well..." She turned to him with an encouraging, albeit fake, smile. "We'll find a way."
He raised his head to the ceiling. "Dear Hyne, please don't let this turn out to be a suicide mission," he muttered quietly.
If only he knew.
"Hey! I think they're heading near the Deep Sea Research Center!," Irvine cried from his computer terminal. Squall came over and observed the screen. "I don't think it's the Research Center they're going to, though."
"Yeah," Squall agreed. "They're shying away from it. They must be going to one of the small islands in that area, east of the Research Center."
Irvine nodded.
"I want you to call the others up here. We'll be leaving soon."
In twenty minutes, they were on their way to Quistis and Seifer's destination: Celeste's Island.
Seifer and Quistis landed on the sandy beach near Celeste's home one hour later. As they disembarked, they barely had any time to study their surroundings when Celeste appeared before them. Both were taken aback by her sudden appearance out of thin air. A small gasp escaped Seifer's lips. Quistis had described her to him in detail, but he never imagined she could be so beautiful. He found her long, stormy black hair parted to one side and smoky, cloudy eyes alluring and exotic. Her charcoal gray eyeshadow, deep red lips, and slightly rosy cheekbones enhanced her features even further. For that brief second, he completely forgot the powers that lay within her.
Celeste's hands were clasped neatly in front of her. The top half of her hair was held up with many decorative ornaments while the rest stayed down. She was wearing a clingy, sleeveless décolleté gown boasting her curves. The gown was of the deepest purple with gold trimming. A long black cape fluttered lightly behind her. She smiled at them.
"Welcome to my home," Celeste said. She motioned to her side, as though she were one of the women on game shows who introduce to the likely winners their prizes. As she did so, a portal opened up by her side. Quistis tried peering in, but she could only see an endless blue. She turned her attention back to Celeste.
"This is no place for a battle to be fought. I don't like the idea of having my little island destroyed during the fight, so I figured things would be much better off if we fought somewhere else," she explained. "Follow me." And she disappeared through the portal. The surface of the portal rippled like water. Seifer and Quistis looked at each other, then Quistis decided to go in next. Seifer followed.
They found that the portal led to a stone staircase spiraling downward. There were no railings and it was very dark. It reminded her very much of the lair in the Deep Sea Research Center where she, Squall, and Zell fought Ultima Weapon. The staircase finally ended at a large, open space. The sky was red and tiny islands floated in the air. Everthing seemed surreal.
"This is the Other Dimension," Celeste stated. "It is where the impossible can happen. Someone might just suddenly combust, the air could catch on fire, killing us all, or the islands that we're on now can crumble. Things can happen very randomly, so you can never tell. We might all die, but what's life without a little risk taking?" She smiled at them maliciously. "I hope you have everything junctioned. You might need it." She jumped away from them to the nearest island and stretched her arm toward them. The ground between Seifer and Quistis cracked in half and fell apart. They jumped away in opposite directions as the two halves fell into oblivion, so that the three were each on different islands, forming a triangle.
Quistis cast Aura on her self, and she felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She felt the warmth as the golden aura engulfed her, so that she was now glowing. She then took the chance to cast Mighty Guard on herself and Seifer. All beneficial magic had been cast upon them with the exception of Reflect, since it wouldn't help much. Celeste would've cast Reflect on herself right away to mirror the attacks off of her to her opponents.
Celeste smirked. "Catch me if you can," she said, and leapt away from one island to another. Quistis and Seifer followed suit, the effects of Float helping them to jump much higher and farther in addition to immunity to ground attacks.
They finally caught up to her on a large island, probably the largest in the strange dimension.
"I think this one's solid enough, don't you think?," she said, but didn't wait for an answer. Nobody did, and Seifer and Quistis lunged toward her. Quistis's whip was the one to crack first, but Celeste dodged that easily. Seifer came next with his Dragonslayer and executed a quick series of strikes, most of which Celeste was able to avoid. The few that did manage to get her only caused minor cuts on her arms- which quickly healed in front of their eyes.
*Hyne! That's crazy!,* Seifer thought, amazed. *She's gonna be impossible to defeat!*
Quistis interrupted his thoughts when Quistis lashed in with her North Star. The poisoned tip opened up a wound in her back, but again, the gash knit itself, and was smooth as it had been earlier. But the poison still stayed in her bloodstream. Quistis allowed a triumphant smile on her face, but it was short-lived. Celeste smiled back, but dryly. "Honey, I'm practially invincible. I don't care how deadly that poison is. It's nothing to me."
The smile from Quistis's face fell away and a frown set in. She threw down her weapon. So much for the hard work she put in upgrading it. "Fine. If physical attacks won't do anything to you, let's fight. You're powers against mine."
"Say what?!," Seifer burst out.
Celeste laughed derisively. "I knew you were crazy, but I didn't know you were suicidal!" She laughed heartily once again, then yawned. "Hmmm, this is getting to be a bore. Before I take over the world, you might want to come and visit me again so we can renew our battle- if you happen to still be alive. *Ciao* (a/n: pronounced *chow*) babes." And with that, Celeste slowly faded away, but not before she gave Seifer a suggestive wink.
Seifer blinked and shook his head. *Did she just wink at me?* he thought, baffled. Whatever. That didn't matter. What mattered right now was the splitting headache he was having at the moment. He rubbed his temple. Dammit, and he hadn't fought for that long either.
Quistis looked around, searching in vain for the disappeared sorceress. "Dammit!," she said in frustration. Mission failure. All the training and hard work for nothing. She was still searching the other islands with her back toward Seifer when she heard the strange dragging of a metal on the ground. She turned around and saw Seifer, the tip of the Dragonslayer dragging on the hard ground as he made his way toward her. Quistis cocked her head to the side. "Do you know where she went? I can't sense her presence anywhere."
Seifer said nothing. Quistis frowned, noting the strange expression on his face. "Seifer? What's wrong?" Something was definitely strange about this whole scenario. There was a dangerous crooked smile on his face, and his eyes lacked their usual sparkle.
"You know Quistis," he began, "I always wondered how you would react if you had to fight someone you truly cared for to the death. I guess today will be the day we find out, hmm?"
Quistis eyebrows knit together. "Seifer?," she said somewhat cautiously.
He chuckled as he shook his head. "Honey, Seifer's gone. He's as good as dead. Too bad. You really loved him, didn't you?"
"Celeste." So Seifer's chain had worked. Celeste hadn't taken over her mind. Instead, she took Seifer's. "Seifer... that can't be. He can't be gone."
Celeste, in Seifer's body, chose to ignore her. She raised the gunblade in Seifer's fighting position. "Come on, let's see what you can do," she said.
Quistis did not move. She barely even heard what was just said to her. She couldn't believe that Seifer was no more. How could that be? He was himself just a few seconds ago. Why did this have to happen? Why? Tears filled her eyes, and she was so ashamed of it all of a sudden. She had been too emotionally weak these days. She had allowed Seifer to get too close to her heart. She should've never allowed that. She should've known better. Hyne, why was she so stupid?
Quistis took a step back. "Stay away from me."
"Oh, so you're just going to let a sorceress run rampant in the world and destroy everything? All that, just so you can save the image of your true love? Hmm? You're even weaker than I thought." She smirked condescendingly as she brandished the Dragonslayer a couple of times. She stepped closer to where Quistis stood. "You're below me. I should never have contemplated even taking your powers. They are nothing compared to what I always had. You're just another one of my many victims to come." Celeste raised the gunblade high, preparing to bring it down to slice of Quistis's head. As Quistis fell on her knees in hopeless defeat, Celeste saw the winking of metal of Seifer's chain.
As Quistis looked up from her vantage point, she saw a flicker of recognition come over his face. "Seifer...?"
Seifer, who still retained a part of himself, hesitated, and the sword stayed suspended above his head. He knew that Celeste still had control over him, and that this current state is only temporary, that Celeste will kill her by his own blade. He remembered what Quistis had told him about the two ways that would definitely kill her: destroy her body or the body she happened to be in possession of.
"Seifer? Are you OK?" Quistis got up from her knees. An innocent and pure smile lit up her face, and Seifer couldn't help but to smile weakly. This is how he will always remember her. "Oh Hyne, I'm so happy that..." Quistis's voice trailed away as she observed the sad expression on his face. Her heart beat so hard and fast at that moment that her chest hurt. He wasn't thinking what she was thinking, was he? Please...
"Seifer, what... what are you doing?" Her voice was trembling. No. No no no no, please don't do it.
Seifer remained silent. He lowered the golden, regal blade of the Dragonslayer to his own throat, and in one quick move ran the length of the blade through it. Quistis heard Celeste's pained cry of death and defeat ringing through the air, and at the same moment Quistis shrieked in horror and disbelief at what just happened before her eyes, her hands covering her mouth, the tears flowing down her cheeks, leaving her cheeks stinging from the hot, bitter tears. She watched as Seifer's body slumped to the floor, and the gunblade, now tainted with the color of his own blood, slipped out of his gloved hands and clanged on the ground.
Quistis rushed to where his body lay and cradled his head in her lap. Unbelievably, Seifer was still alive, although very weak from the loss of blood. Quistis was openly crying, about to lose her true love. She admitted it to herself then. She loved him.
She refused to look at the grotesque wound at his throat. She knew that no magic would heal it, and that he wouldn't be able to be rivived.
Seifer, mustering up the remains of his strength, reached up to wipe away Quistis's tears. It was then that she remembered the dream. She was falling to her death, and the angel came, with his golden hair and sparkling emerald eyes, never quite saved her. The angel's face became clear, and she realized that the blond hair and green eyes belonged to Seifer, that he was the angel. He never quite saved her though. Although her body had been saved, a part of her will die along with Seifer's death.
When she looked down, she saw him manage a small, pained smile. "I love you, you know that?," he choked out, then, as though time had slowed down, she saw his hands drop away from her face and his eyes close. His body became limp and lifeless.
Quistis's mournful wail echoed throughout the Other Dimension.
Why was it so dark? Quistis couldn't see anything in front of her besides her self. It seems as though there was no light at all, but she was able to see her hands when she put them in front of her. How strange.
She turned around to look around her, and her eyes fell on a lone figure with his hands clasped behind his back. He was in a gray coat and was walking away from her.
Seifer.
Quistis smiled. A familiar figure at least. She called his name. He did not turn around or show any sign that he had heard her. He just continued to walk. Quistis tried again, but again to no avail. Frowning, she decided to go up to him.
She began to jog to catch up, calling his name once again. But no matter how much she tried to catch up to Seifer, the distance between them never closed, nor did they get farther apart. They weren't even that far from each other. How could he not hear her? And why does he seem to be moving faster than his feet are taking him? What is going on?
Quistis became increasingly agitated. She stopped. Seifer's feet continued to move, but he never got farther away. She tried moving backwards. The distance still did not change. Frustrated and angry that she could not communicate with him, meet his eyes, see his smirk, she called his name one last time and ran as fast as her body could possibly take her. Just when she thought she was closing the distance between them, the ground suddenly crumbled under her, and she fell. Her back was to the bottomless pit, and above her she saw light. Silhouetted against the light was a figure, who was falling headfirst, arms reaching out to save her. She stretched her hand for the figure's, observing from his muscular form that it was a male. She saw a flash of golden hair and a brief flicker of green and gold light from his eyes, and observed in wide eyed shock as wings unfolded from his back.
An angel.
His wings were so large and magnificent! The pure white feathers seemed to have a glow of its own. The wingspan was easily twice his height and a few stray feathers happened to shed away from his wings. As they floated down, Quistis noted the ethereal glowing of the angel's feathers.
He was coming closer. He will save her. Quistis smiled unconsciously. Both were falling at such great speeds, but she wasn't bothered. The angel will save her. She reached out farther, and their fingers grazed each other's...
Quistis's eyes opened wide and found herself in her hotel bed. She suddenly felt incredibly sad. She was never able to reach Seifer or the angel in the dream. The angel never quite saved her. She felt lost and confused.
Quistis looked to see Seifer laying next to her, his body turned toward her. She blinked a couple of times and knit her eyebrows together. Yes, he had indeed fallen asleep beside her. She listened to his soft, slow, rhythmic breathing for a while. It was so strange seeing him so at peace, when he wasn't smirking arrogantly, when he wasn't battling a monster. Quistis had never seen this side of Seifer. It was almost as though he wasn't alive. She smiled, feeling much better now that Seifer was back at her side. Without thinking, her fingers ran through his surprisingly soft hair, and his eyes fluttered open. Although heavy lidded from just having woken up, his eyes still sparkled with mischief. The green and gold flashed in the morning sunlight that peeked out through the curtains behind her back.
Quistis remembered how the angel's eyes seemed to flash in the same color.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Good morning," he greeted her.
"Good morning." Quistis raised her body which she supported with her arm. She continued to study him. "Were you trying to protect me throughout the night, like a good and noble knight should?," she asked teasingly.
"Anything for you, my Lady," Seifer returned in good humor. His smile disappeared when he saw Quistis's sudden change in mood. Her expression turned very somber. "Hey, hey. Are you OK? What's wrong?"
Quistis sat up from her bed, and Seifer followed suit. She hesitated before she took a deep breath and finally spoke. "Celeste is a very powerful sorceress. Even more powerful than all the others because she was born with special powers before the sorceress powers were passed down to her. She has the ability to control the elements, change shape, read peoples minds, and even take over their actions. There is a very good chance that she will take over my body. If she does that, she will make sure that her own body is hidden, because when she goes into someone else's mind, she is not in control of her body. Her body would become very vulnerable, and if she happens to die physically, she will die mentally as well, and vice-versa. If she decides to use my own body for her own purposes and her body isn't found, the only way to kill her is to kill me."
Seifer was staring at her in open-mouthed shock. "Quistis..."
"No, I'm not finished yet," she interrupted, her voice beginning to tremble. She waited a few seconds to try to compose herself by closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths. She opened her eyes and continued. "I want you to promise me, to *swear* to me, that when the time comes, you will kill me."
Seifer grabbed Quistis by the shoulders and tried to shake her out of her current state. "Quistis, why are you being so stupid? You never ask people to do things like that for you."
"You tried it once. Why can't you do it again?," she said bitterly as she looked away from his face.
Seifer's eyes widened in anger and in hurt, then narrowed to tiny slits. His grip on her shoulder tightened. "I was under Ultimecia's control. And don't ever say anything like that again," he said in a dangerously quiet tone. He let her go and began to get up from the bed, but Quistis put her arms around his waist and drew herself closer to him so that her head rested on his chest. She wept.
"Seifer, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, that was inappropriate. I just wanted to know that I can really trust you on this. I don't want us to fail. I don't want others to get hurt because of us." She held him tightly, not wanting to let go of her only source of security. She had felt so safe during the last couple of days, and they have become so close, almost inseparable. She had trouble imagining him not by her side.
Seifer put his arms around her and held her there, his head resting on hers. He sighed. "I know. I know. I just hate the idea of having to lose you. And by my own gunblade for that matter. It's better not to think about things like that." He continued on when Quistis remained silent. "Let's just do things spontaneously. It's better to live in the present than think about the future." He realized then just how future-oriented Quistis was. So meticulous and careful. Every moved planned ahead. He wondered what she had written down on her mental plan book for her life.
Quistis merely nodded.
Seifer suddenly got an idea. He pulled apart from her and took off his chain necklace. He put it around Quistis's slender neck. "Hey, it looks good on you," he observed.
Quistis fingered the chain and looked at him quizzically.
"Think of it as a good luck charm. It'll prevent Celeste from getting into your head."
She smiled. She reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"OK, so where's Celeste's place again?"
"Down south," Quistis responded. "I don't think it's too far away from the Deep Sea Research Center, but I may be wrong. I'm just letting the feeling lead me."
They were in the Ragnarok, with Quistis flying the aircraft. They have been flying for three hours. As Quistis concentrated on flying the Ragnarok, Seifer sat in a laid back position with his feet up on the upholstery, polishing his Dragonslayer to a sparkling sheen. He studied it from different angles.
"You know," he started, "I really don't think this gunblade is me." The golden blade caught the sunlight and reflected many pinpoints of red, orange, yellow, and white from deep within. The handle of the gunblade was of the highest quality as well. The weapon seemed more fit for a noble and just person, not your average bad boy, as Seifer was.
Quistis smiled crookedly as she gave him a sideways glance. She knew what he meant.
"Maybe someday it will be."
Seifer rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." He tested the sharpness of the blade's edge. He nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Quistis with a curious look about his face. "Hey, I meant to ask you before, but I kept forgetting- Do you think these weapons would actually do some damage on her? You know, Celeste?"
Quistis's expression turned serious. "I actually don't know. If physical attacks don't do anything, we might as well try attacking her with magic. If that doesn't work, well..." She turned to him with an encouraging, albeit fake, smile. "We'll find a way."
He raised his head to the ceiling. "Dear Hyne, please don't let this turn out to be a suicide mission," he muttered quietly.
If only he knew.
"Hey! I think they're heading near the Deep Sea Research Center!," Irvine cried from his computer terminal. Squall came over and observed the screen. "I don't think it's the Research Center they're going to, though."
"Yeah," Squall agreed. "They're shying away from it. They must be going to one of the small islands in that area, east of the Research Center."
Irvine nodded.
"I want you to call the others up here. We'll be leaving soon."
In twenty minutes, they were on their way to Quistis and Seifer's destination: Celeste's Island.
Seifer and Quistis landed on the sandy beach near Celeste's home one hour later. As they disembarked, they barely had any time to study their surroundings when Celeste appeared before them. Both were taken aback by her sudden appearance out of thin air. A small gasp escaped Seifer's lips. Quistis had described her to him in detail, but he never imagined she could be so beautiful. He found her long, stormy black hair parted to one side and smoky, cloudy eyes alluring and exotic. Her charcoal gray eyeshadow, deep red lips, and slightly rosy cheekbones enhanced her features even further. For that brief second, he completely forgot the powers that lay within her.
Celeste's hands were clasped neatly in front of her. The top half of her hair was held up with many decorative ornaments while the rest stayed down. She was wearing a clingy, sleeveless décolleté gown boasting her curves. The gown was of the deepest purple with gold trimming. A long black cape fluttered lightly behind her. She smiled at them.
"Welcome to my home," Celeste said. She motioned to her side, as though she were one of the women on game shows who introduce to the likely winners their prizes. As she did so, a portal opened up by her side. Quistis tried peering in, but she could only see an endless blue. She turned her attention back to Celeste.
"This is no place for a battle to be fought. I don't like the idea of having my little island destroyed during the fight, so I figured things would be much better off if we fought somewhere else," she explained. "Follow me." And she disappeared through the portal. The surface of the portal rippled like water. Seifer and Quistis looked at each other, then Quistis decided to go in next. Seifer followed.
They found that the portal led to a stone staircase spiraling downward. There were no railings and it was very dark. It reminded her very much of the lair in the Deep Sea Research Center where she, Squall, and Zell fought Ultima Weapon. The staircase finally ended at a large, open space. The sky was red and tiny islands floated in the air. Everthing seemed surreal.
"This is the Other Dimension," Celeste stated. "It is where the impossible can happen. Someone might just suddenly combust, the air could catch on fire, killing us all, or the islands that we're on now can crumble. Things can happen very randomly, so you can never tell. We might all die, but what's life without a little risk taking?" She smiled at them maliciously. "I hope you have everything junctioned. You might need it." She jumped away from them to the nearest island and stretched her arm toward them. The ground between Seifer and Quistis cracked in half and fell apart. They jumped away in opposite directions as the two halves fell into oblivion, so that the three were each on different islands, forming a triangle.
Quistis cast Aura on her self, and she felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She felt the warmth as the golden aura engulfed her, so that she was now glowing. She then took the chance to cast Mighty Guard on herself and Seifer. All beneficial magic had been cast upon them with the exception of Reflect, since it wouldn't help much. Celeste would've cast Reflect on herself right away to mirror the attacks off of her to her opponents.
Celeste smirked. "Catch me if you can," she said, and leapt away from one island to another. Quistis and Seifer followed suit, the effects of Float helping them to jump much higher and farther in addition to immunity to ground attacks.
They finally caught up to her on a large island, probably the largest in the strange dimension.
"I think this one's solid enough, don't you think?," she said, but didn't wait for an answer. Nobody did, and Seifer and Quistis lunged toward her. Quistis's whip was the one to crack first, but Celeste dodged that easily. Seifer came next with his Dragonslayer and executed a quick series of strikes, most of which Celeste was able to avoid. The few that did manage to get her only caused minor cuts on her arms- which quickly healed in front of their eyes.
*Hyne! That's crazy!,* Seifer thought, amazed. *She's gonna be impossible to defeat!*
Quistis interrupted his thoughts when Quistis lashed in with her North Star. The poisoned tip opened up a wound in her back, but again, the gash knit itself, and was smooth as it had been earlier. But the poison still stayed in her bloodstream. Quistis allowed a triumphant smile on her face, but it was short-lived. Celeste smiled back, but dryly. "Honey, I'm practially invincible. I don't care how deadly that poison is. It's nothing to me."
The smile from Quistis's face fell away and a frown set in. She threw down her weapon. So much for the hard work she put in upgrading it. "Fine. If physical attacks won't do anything to you, let's fight. You're powers against mine."
"Say what?!," Seifer burst out.
Celeste laughed derisively. "I knew you were crazy, but I didn't know you were suicidal!" She laughed heartily once again, then yawned. "Hmmm, this is getting to be a bore. Before I take over the world, you might want to come and visit me again so we can renew our battle- if you happen to still be alive. *Ciao* (a/n: pronounced *chow*) babes." And with that, Celeste slowly faded away, but not before she gave Seifer a suggestive wink.
Seifer blinked and shook his head. *Did she just wink at me?* he thought, baffled. Whatever. That didn't matter. What mattered right now was the splitting headache he was having at the moment. He rubbed his temple. Dammit, and he hadn't fought for that long either.
Quistis looked around, searching in vain for the disappeared sorceress. "Dammit!," she said in frustration. Mission failure. All the training and hard work for nothing. She was still searching the other islands with her back toward Seifer when she heard the strange dragging of a metal on the ground. She turned around and saw Seifer, the tip of the Dragonslayer dragging on the hard ground as he made his way toward her. Quistis cocked her head to the side. "Do you know where she went? I can't sense her presence anywhere."
Seifer said nothing. Quistis frowned, noting the strange expression on his face. "Seifer? What's wrong?" Something was definitely strange about this whole scenario. There was a dangerous crooked smile on his face, and his eyes lacked their usual sparkle.
"You know Quistis," he began, "I always wondered how you would react if you had to fight someone you truly cared for to the death. I guess today will be the day we find out, hmm?"
Quistis eyebrows knit together. "Seifer?," she said somewhat cautiously.
He chuckled as he shook his head. "Honey, Seifer's gone. He's as good as dead. Too bad. You really loved him, didn't you?"
"Celeste." So Seifer's chain had worked. Celeste hadn't taken over her mind. Instead, she took Seifer's. "Seifer... that can't be. He can't be gone."
Celeste, in Seifer's body, chose to ignore her. She raised the gunblade in Seifer's fighting position. "Come on, let's see what you can do," she said.
Quistis did not move. She barely even heard what was just said to her. She couldn't believe that Seifer was no more. How could that be? He was himself just a few seconds ago. Why did this have to happen? Why? Tears filled her eyes, and she was so ashamed of it all of a sudden. She had been too emotionally weak these days. She had allowed Seifer to get too close to her heart. She should've never allowed that. She should've known better. Hyne, why was she so stupid?
Quistis took a step back. "Stay away from me."
"Oh, so you're just going to let a sorceress run rampant in the world and destroy everything? All that, just so you can save the image of your true love? Hmm? You're even weaker than I thought." She smirked condescendingly as she brandished the Dragonslayer a couple of times. She stepped closer to where Quistis stood. "You're below me. I should never have contemplated even taking your powers. They are nothing compared to what I always had. You're just another one of my many victims to come." Celeste raised the gunblade high, preparing to bring it down to slice of Quistis's head. As Quistis fell on her knees in hopeless defeat, Celeste saw the winking of metal of Seifer's chain.
As Quistis looked up from her vantage point, she saw a flicker of recognition come over his face. "Seifer...?"
Seifer, who still retained a part of himself, hesitated, and the sword stayed suspended above his head. He knew that Celeste still had control over him, and that this current state is only temporary, that Celeste will kill her by his own blade. He remembered what Quistis had told him about the two ways that would definitely kill her: destroy her body or the body she happened to be in possession of.
"Seifer? Are you OK?" Quistis got up from her knees. An innocent and pure smile lit up her face, and Seifer couldn't help but to smile weakly. This is how he will always remember her. "Oh Hyne, I'm so happy that..." Quistis's voice trailed away as she observed the sad expression on his face. Her heart beat so hard and fast at that moment that her chest hurt. He wasn't thinking what she was thinking, was he? Please...
"Seifer, what... what are you doing?" Her voice was trembling. No. No no no no, please don't do it.
Seifer remained silent. He lowered the golden, regal blade of the Dragonslayer to his own throat, and in one quick move ran the length of the blade through it. Quistis heard Celeste's pained cry of death and defeat ringing through the air, and at the same moment Quistis shrieked in horror and disbelief at what just happened before her eyes, her hands covering her mouth, the tears flowing down her cheeks, leaving her cheeks stinging from the hot, bitter tears. She watched as Seifer's body slumped to the floor, and the gunblade, now tainted with the color of his own blood, slipped out of his gloved hands and clanged on the ground.
Quistis rushed to where his body lay and cradled his head in her lap. Unbelievably, Seifer was still alive, although very weak from the loss of blood. Quistis was openly crying, about to lose her true love. She admitted it to herself then. She loved him.
She refused to look at the grotesque wound at his throat. She knew that no magic would heal it, and that he wouldn't be able to be rivived.
Seifer, mustering up the remains of his strength, reached up to wipe away Quistis's tears. It was then that she remembered the dream. She was falling to her death, and the angel came, with his golden hair and sparkling emerald eyes, never quite saved her. The angel's face became clear, and she realized that the blond hair and green eyes belonged to Seifer, that he was the angel. He never quite saved her though. Although her body had been saved, a part of her will die along with Seifer's death.
When she looked down, she saw him manage a small, pained smile. "I love you, you know that?," he choked out, then, as though time had slowed down, she saw his hands drop away from her face and his eyes close. His body became limp and lifeless.
Quistis's mournful wail echoed throughout the Other Dimension.