//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing
// yaoi hints
//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.
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Cargo had been shoved against the door and walls. The survivors were desperately gathering around Zell's handlight. Stephen…tough, little Stephen, had been reduced to nothing but a shivering lump of mush. He was terrified. Those beasts were nothing to laugh at. They'd already killed Irvine, Rinoa, and two of the Trepies. Who was going to drop next?
"…Dere's one cutting torch…and one handlight here…Ah, and there's two more in the cabin," Zell declared. "I think two more, anyway."
"Spirits," Nida declared. "Anything over 45 proof burns rather well."
"How many bottles are dere?" Zell questioned, cocking his neck to the side.
"I'm not really sure," Nida replied. "Ten, perhaps?"
"Those umbrellas," Zell began. "Those…things in that mist. Would they burn?"
Zell noticed the particularly disappointed look on Nida's face.
"…If ya' got a receipt?" he finished.
"Possibly," Nida said shortly.
"Aright," Zell stated. "So maybe…just maybe, we'll have enough light."
"Enough for what?" Seifer asked.
Zell just gave the sky-eyed blonde a dirty look.
He was challenging him to be the mind-reader this time around.
"Oh, man. If you're in your right mind, I pray to Hyne you go insane." Seifer distributed his attention fully to the other survivors.
"We can just stick to the plan. If we get four cells back to that skiff, we're off this damn rock." Zell kept his eyes locked on Seifer.
"I hate to kill a beautiful theory with an ugly fact," Nida replied. "But…that sand-cat is solar... won't run at night."
"We'll have to carry the cells," Zell realized. "…Drag them, whatever it takes…"
Zell looked up, glancing from troubled face to troubled face. They were truly afraid. Uncomfortable in such a situation.
Yet they were all too deep in though to realize that the light on the floor seemed to be growing even dimmer…
"You mean…tonight?" Stephen asked. "With all those…things still out there?!"
"Oh, of course!" Nida cried, his voice rich with sarcasm. "Why not? It sounds like a hoot."
"Back it up," Seifer replied. "How long can this last, anyway? A few minutes? Couple hours?"
No one knew for sure.
"I had the impression…from the model," Quistis began. "That…the two planets seemed as if they were moving as one. That there would be a…lasting darkness.
"The suns gotta' come back sometime," Seifer muttered. "And if these damn animals really are phobic about light, we just sit tight till then."
"I'm sure that's what someone else said," Zell mumbled.
They were all locked inside that coring room.
It was a persuasive though.
Eager eyes all turned to Stephen.
"…Look," Seifer began, breaking the silence that had fallen. "We gotta' think about everyone now. The kid, especially. How scared is he gonna' be out there?"
"Oh don't use him like that," Zell said loudly, his voice loud for Seifer alone. "Don't use him for a damn smoke screen."
"Smoke screen for what?" Seifer inquired.
"You deal with your own fear," Zell replied.
Seifer glared at Zell, his sky blue eyes narrowing as he stared at the blue-eyed blonde.
"Hey, why don't you shut the fuck up for two fucking seconds and let me come up with a plan that doesn't involve mass suicide?!" he snapped.
Two seconds passed, a premature silence having taken the room over.
"How much you weigh, Seif?" Zell asked, his voice softer than before.
"What the hell's it matter?" Seifer questioned.
"How much?" Zell echoed.
"…79 kilos," Seifer replied.
"Because you're79 kilos of gutless white meat, and that's why you can't come up with a better plan," Zell growled.
Seifer's eyes flashed with anger, and he made a move at the tattooed blonde. But then Squall came in, blocking Seifer from reaching Zell.
Seifer's shotgun bumped the underside of Squall's chin.
"Think about that reward, Seifer," Squall said.
"I'm more than willing to take a cut in pay," Seifer stated.
"How 'bout a cut in your gut?" Squall inquired.
Seifer looked down, wincing at the sight of Squall's shiv, the razor-sharp blade poised near his groin, ready for evisceration.
"Oh, Trash Baby," Seifer muttered. "You're gonna' regret this…"
"Please," Quistis began. "This solves nothing. Please…"
Seifer backed off first. The light grew even dimmer.
Zell looked down at Stephen, his blue eyes looking down upon the small boy.
"They're afraid of our light. That means we don't have to be so afraid of them," he soothed.
"And you're certain you can find the way back?" Quistis asked. "Even in the great darkness?"
"No, I'm not," Zell admitted. "But he can."
Zell pointed at Squall, the ex convict they had once feared greater than any hatchling. Yet now they depended on him more than they did themselves.
*******
They prepared to leave the cargo room, venturing out into the vast blackness. The eclipsing planet dominated half of the sky. In the little coronal light that remained, clouds were forming.
The cargo doors cracked open. Mixed for a maximum flame, the cutter was pushed outside and swept around. Zell appears behind it.
The survivors all moved like hostages, crossing over open ground, trying to heed the wicked primal sounds that sounded just beyond their light.
Soon they reached the main cabin. There was a vast darkness inside.
"Squall," Zell breathed.
The brunette lifted his goggles.
Squall looked out to the shadowy abyss, finding nothing but wreckage.
No life.
"Looks clear," Squall declared.
Seifer shouldered ahead and crawled in first. Just as he stood up, a predator buzz sawed just inches over his head. It flew from the darkness, screaming out into the great night.
"Fuck me," Seifer growled, his voice furious yet horrified. "You said clear."
"I said looks clear," Squall corrected.
"Well, what's it look like now?" Seifer inquired, a bit calmer this time.
Squall rechecked the blackness.
"Looks clear," he said.
"Just get the damn lights on," Zell demanded.
They all scrambled aboard.
Squall tongue clicked behind Seifer, smiling to himself when he realized the sky-eyed blonde wasn't amused.
******
The survivors tried their damnedest to power up on cabin lights, yanking three more cells from the battery bay. They threaded nylon cord through Nida's misting umbrellas, filling the useful reservoirs with high-octane liquor. They swapped out O2 canisters, ready for the journey that lie ahead.
Seifer reloaded his shotgun, finding himself shaking once again.
He unpocketed a shell, a red morphine shell, and gave it a lover's look.
Zell appeared behind the misleading blonde.
"Ready, Seif?" he asked.
Seifer palmed the shell, wondering if Zell had seen it.
"He'll lead you over the first cliff," Seifer muttered. "You know that, don't you?"
"We're just burning light here," Zell replied.
"You give him the cells and the ship, and then he'll leave you," Seifer said. "He'll leave you all out there to die."
"I don't get it, Seif…" Zell trailed off. "What is so fucking valuable in your life that you're worried about losing? Huh? Is there anything at all? Besides your next hype?"
Seifer said nothing.
"…Got no right to be so scared," Zell finished. "Neither one of us."
*******
Back in the battery bay, hands yanked out the final power cell. Yet in the main cabin at the crashed ship, the cabin lights died.
Still brooding, Seifer finished loading his shotgun in the darkness.
And then they were off.
All of them, traveling through the darkness.
The lights around them would have to suffice, as it was their only hope of survival.
Quistis was chained into the first harness of the drag-sled, and Seifer fumbled with the second harness beside her. Hands helped him into the chains. The hands belonged to…Squall.
Both men recognized the irony of the prisoner helping his captor into chains.
"Keep the light going!" Zell cried. "That's all we have to do to live through this. Just keep your light burning!"
Squall looped a handlight over his neck, placing it to shine light down his back. It was a beacon of sorts.
"Be runnin' about 10 paces ahead," Squall said to Zell. "I want light on my back, but not in my eyes. And check your cuts. These damn things know our blood now."
Stephen swallowed, obviously afraid. Overhearing Squall's message, he went stone-faced.
"Squall…" Zell began. "I was…thinkin' we should make some kind of deal. Just in case, you know…this actually…"
Squall shook his head. "Had it with deals."
"But I just wanted to say-" Zell tried.
Squall cut him off.
"Nobody's gonna' turn a murderer lose. I fuckin' knew better."
Zell was worried.
If he doesn't expect to go free…
"…Been a long time since anyone's trusted me," Squall continued. "That's somethin' right there.
"We can, can't we?" Zell asked. "Trust you, I mean."
"Actually…" Squall trailed off. "That's what I've been askin' myself…"
And with that, the stormy-eyed brunette walked away.
Zell stood for a moment, but then continued to move along with the others, desperate to keep the light steady.
But deep down, he wondered if he had made a terrible, terrible mistake…
Squall ran ahead, his goggles off, his eyes flashing in the darkness. Seifer and Quistis pulled the drag-sled like malamutes, handlights seeping. Nuvy was at the first side, at a guarding position. Zell and Stephen were at the second, each position carrying an umbrella torch. With fireballs blazing, Nida was stumbling along at rear-point. He swept the cutter back and forth, every shadow a major threat.
They were a train of light through the never-ending darkness.
Zell looked down, his sapphire eyes glimmering as he gazed at the sand-tracks underfoot.
The survivors continued running, the great beasts out in the darkness, fearing the iridescent light that they carried so bravely. Yet they were careful, following the survivors, waiting for their lights to dim. Waiting, hungry for a mistake.
Zell looked down once again, noticing that the sand-cat tracks had vanished.
The hell?
"So you noticed too?" Seifer asked.
"Squall," Zell called out. "Squall."
The procession grinded to a halt.
Everyone sucked hard on breathers as they mustered inside the vivid light.
"Where are the sand-cat tracks? Why aren't we still following them?" Zell asked.
"Saw something I didn't like," Squall said coolly.
"Such as-" Seifer muttered.
"Hard to tell," Squall admitted. "Sometimes, even for me…but it looked like a bunch of those big boys chewin' each other's gonads off. Thought we'd swing wise. Okay by you?"
Nida looked over his shoulder.
We went around what?
A nearby clicking sound broke up the temporary confrontation.
"Let's move," Zell announced.
He turned his attention to Stephen. "Just a detour," Zell replied. "He'll get us there."
"Can we switch?" Nida questioned.
"What? Switch what?" Zell inquired.
"I think I twisted my ankle running backwards like that," Nida complained. "And I'm not really all that sure if I can…"
He looked up, noticing that everyone was staring at him.
"All right," he continued. "That's a lie. I just don't want to alone back there anymore. If you could just give me a few moments up front here…"
"He's the pilot," Seifer said, motioning to Zell. "He should stay close to the cells."
"Oh, so I'm disposable?" Nida asked.
"I'll switch, I'll switch," Zell groaned. Hyne, just get 'dis damn train moving!"
*******
They trundled on, Zell being the new tail-gunner. At side guard, Nida had relaxed a bit. Yet still, the bizarre clicking noise could be heard without strain.
A weak fireball spewed from Nida's torch. He checked the reservoir. It was almost empty.
"Light," Nida replied. "Please, I need light here…"
Still moving, Seifer and Quistis trained lights on Nida while he refueled.
For a brief moment, Stephen strayed out from the light.
Unknowingly, the predators dive-bombed the young boy.
A high-velocity clicking noise sounded out through the air. It was like an incoming missile. Quistis lunges at the last nanosecond, forcing Stephen to the ground.
Scythe blades swung violently, chinking the harness-chains on Quistis' back.
Seifer whirled, blasting gunshots at the deadly creature.
Beams of light leapt around, but the predator was already gone.
"Please…" Quistis murmured, trembling from fear. "Have we been cut? Can someone please, tell me if…"
She found her dropped light, thumbing the switch again and again. It was broken.
In the confusion, Nida had been left in the dark.
Something slashed him from behind. It was as if the night had claws.
"Oh, sweet Hyne," Nida whispered.
His bottle dropped. The blood flowed.
The clicking noise had stopped.
"Oh sweet Hyne, will you get me some light over here?!" Nida yelled, his voice filled with terror.
Faces whipped around. But before their lights could rescue him, Nida was gone, snatched away by a swooping blur of razor-blades.
Nida's blood fell onto the ground, being lapped up hungrily by the deadly creatures.
Light beams jumped fitfully, vainly.
Squall looked out into the abyss, watching as predators fed on Nida. He noticed how they sounded to new prey. He checked their direction and saw how they were looking at what they desired…
Stephen.