Cowboy
Cowboy
By NightsDawne


Chapter 12: Have a Mint.. Or Twenty

They trudged through the sand in two columns, Quistis and Selphie in the lead, Fujin and Raijin in the middle, and Seifer and Irvine taking up the rear guard. Talking was kept to a minimum, even by gregarious Selphie. It was simply too hot and talking would force them to use up their water too quickly. The shadows lengthened around them, the air cooling slightly, but the bluffs remained another hour's hike away. The persistant stinging on his cheeks and the back of his neck assured Irvine that he was developing a magnificent sunburn.

"Did anyone just feel the ground move?" Selphie's voice lacked its usual over-the-top spark, although she still sounded perkier than Irvine felt.

Quistis stopped, holding her hand up. "I did."

"I didn't feel anything." Seifer looked around him, brow furrowed.

"Shhh." Irvine looked down, feeling the slightest of tremors below him. He slowly slid his rifle out from where he had it laid across the top of his pack. Seifer frowned, but drew his gunblade upon seeing Irvine's reaction. Selphie and Quistis seemed to be equally wary, readying nunchukas and whip respectively.

"What is it?" Seifer whispered. He'd never traversed this desert before except in the protected company of the sorceress. Raijin and Fujin turned back to back, weapons at the ready as the sand shifted again.

Irvine chewed his lip. "Probably what I'm hopin' like hell it's not."

"Which is?"

Before Irvine could answer, the sand erupted five feet in front of Quistis and Selphie, a giant creature of hideous appearance looming and shaking the sand from its long green tentacles, it's single huge eye opening and fixing on the group. All six fell back quickly.

"Marlboro." Irvine grimaced, then spun as another eruption occured behind him and Seifer. "Shit. Two of 'em!"

The fighters quickly spread apart into a circle, Quistis, Selphie, and Fujin facing the beast ahead, while Irvine, Seifer, and Raijin prepared to battle the one behind. The rear Marlboro seemed to swell slightly, then opened a slimy mouth cavity, exhaling a noxious green cloud that surrounded the entire group.

Irvine heard the others gagging, unable to stop himself from the same reflex as the fumes penetrated. He staggered, falling against Raijin, a wave of nausea washing over him, the world going out of focus. His throat constricted, preventing him from calling out for help from his GFs. His vision steadied, although it was hard to see through the green gas. All around him were Marlboros, his friends nowhere to be seen. Adrenaline pumped uncontrolled through his body, his mind fogging with flight or fight instinct. A tentacle slashed at him and he spun away, knocking it aside with the butt of the rifle, only to find himself backing into another of the monsters. It whipped one of its appendages at him, catching his leg and slicing through his chaps, barely missing his flesh.

Selphie's eyes widened as she waved at the green fumes, watching her friends fall to attacking each other in slow motion. "Oh no! Guys! Stop!" The two marlboros sat back, tentacles waving slowly as they waited for their prey to weaken each other in their confusion. Protected by a magic-infused ribbon, Selphie alone had avoided the effects of their bad breath. She whirled, forced to block Quistis's whip with her nunchukas. "Quisty! It's me! Selphie!" She groaned as she realized Quistis was too far gone to hear her and danced around another slow motion whip snap. "Stop it! Snap out of it!" She bumped into Seifer, realizing he was about to take a second swipe at Irvine's leg, and grabbed his arm. "Seifer, no! That's Irvine! Listen to me!" Raijin's naginata passed over her head on the way towards colliding with Fujin's shoulder. Selphie jumped away from Seifer and with a quick twist wrapped her nunchukas around the naginata, yanking it aside just enough to force it to miss. "This is just totally out of hand!" Selphie spun towards Irvine as he raised his rifle, aiming at Seifer's face. "NO!" She reached up and slapped Irvine across the cheek as hard as she could. "STOP!"

Irvine blinked as the pain brought his mind into suddenly sharp focus. He dropped the rifle as the wild tentacles and grotesque eye of a marlboro resolved into Seifer. He looked to the side and saw Selphie, yelling at him but talking so quickly he couldn't quite make out what she said. "What?" he mouthed.

Selphie rolled her eyes. "Ssllaaaaaapp ooooootheeeeeerrrrs!" she said with exaggerated slowness so Irvine could understand. Irvine furrowed his brow, then nodded his understanding slowly. Selphie let go of his arm and skipped over Raijin's backswing with the naginata, pushing down on Seifer's gunblade to keep it from hitting Quistis in the back. She hauled back her hand, biting her lip. "Sorry, Seifer." She closed her eyes as she slapped him hard enough to raise a red palmprint. Seifer's head rolled away from her hand, then turned to glare at her. She grabbed his hand to keep him from raising the gunblade. He shook his head slowly as it cleared, his lips forming her name. She nodded, trying to keep it slow to match Seifer's time frame, repeating her slowed instruction and pushing him towards Quistis. She turned to find that Irvine had just reached Raijin from behind and was in the act of giving him a sharp whack to the back of the head. She skipped over Quistis's whip and threw her nunchuckas up, smacking aside Fujin's thrown ring to prevent it from hitting Seifer. Pursing her lips, she ducked under Fujin's outstretched arm and slapped her. Fujin's eye widened slowly as Selphie came back into focus, her mouth opening in a silent shout. Selphie wasn't quite sure, but it looked like a less than happy curse. She ran to retreive Fujin's ring, tossing it back to her feet and pointing at a real marlboro. "Aaaaaaatttaaaaaackk!" She looked back to see Irvine pointing Raijin towards the same marlboro. To her right she glimpsed Seifer laying a hard one to Quistis and winced, wondering if he might be enjoying that, but she had no time to do anything about it. The marlboros, sensing that something was going wrong, were starting to move slowly in to finish off the group with their barb-tipped tentacles.

"JUMBO CACTUAR!" Selphie held up her wrist, the charm that resembled a saguaro cactus flashing. Selphie vanished, almost instantly replaced by her faithful GF. The overgrown cactuar waved his stubbed arms, shooting into the air. He erupted in flying needles, thousands of tiny but deadly sharp projectiles flying in a seemingly ceaseless wave at the other marlboro. The marlboro snapped its eye shut defensively and attempted a retreat, a tentacle dragging, nearly severed. With a high-pitched keen it shook its remaining tentacles, creating a small tremor as it hurriedly buried itself in the sand again. The cactuar vanished into its void, dropping Selphie back into the battle. She spun around in time to see Fujin's ring and Raijin's naginata strike the remaining marlboro at the same time, two tentacles falling away. Behind her the report of Irvine's rifle sounded, causing her to clamp her hands over her ears reflexively. The bullet struck the monster in the eye. Keening, it snapped the eye shut, waving its surviving tentacles in vicious arcs. Quistis's whip snapped out, ripping off another of the dangerous appendages. Seifer came in from the side, gunblade cutting expertly into the bulbous head of the marlboro, a flash indicating that he pulled the trigger at the same time, releasing the explosive power of his rare weapon. The marlboro's head exploded, sending a spray of green slime to splatter all of them.

"Ewwwwwwwww! Gross!" Selphie wiped goo from her face, wrinkling her nose. Attempting to shake it from her hand, she walked out of the cloud, pulling Quistis along with her. One by one she retreived her friends, getting them to sit down away from the slowly dissipating poison cloud. "Well, thank God nobody's too hurt," she quipped, trying to cheer the silent and nauseated group up. Seifer raised a brow and tapped his red cheek, his motions returning to real time as the effects wore off. "Oh, Seifer." Selphie sat down next to him and gave him a little hug. "Sorry. Forgive me?" He tilted his head in consideration, then nodded, putting his arm around her.

Irvine looked down, feeling a touch of jealousy. Within a day Seifer was to the point of affectionate contact with the girl he wanted, but he was as far from Quistis as ever. What was it about him that made her so resistant? Did he really even deserve someone so beautiful, so special? He looked over to Quistis and was surprised to see her gazing at him, her face as full of self-doubt as his thoughts were. He shifted, reaching his hand out to her, but she looked away, taking a sip out of her water bottle.