//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure
//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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"Nice to see you're still okay," Seifer mumbled to Squall, seeing the prisoner slowing walking back towards the main group, the chaos of the shadow-creature's attacks ending.
Squall didn't bother with a reply. His eyes had turned back to the site of Nida being eaten.
Zell stood a foot behind Squall. "Do I even wanna know?" he asked, referring to the carnage that was as bright as daylight to Squall.
Squall cocked his head slightly to the side as if saying maybe, but again, didn't bother with a verbal reply.
The creatures were wrestling around, fighting over food, and still staring... at Stephen.
Squall turned his attention to the young boy, looking him over. Stephen's lower lip trembled with fear, even though he couldn't see into the black where the shadow-creature's dwell.
There was something about that boy. Not that Squall hadn't realized it the first moment he'd laid eyes on the young kid, but... it would provide a very annoying problem the further this adventure went...
~*~
Zell moved the flare he'd held down to light one of the booze bottles - which had been prepared with rope to soak the alcohol up, and burn - providing light. The flare quickly died out, Zell picking up the booze bottle and bringing it to eye level, tossing the flare aside.
"Are we getting close?" Stephen asked Zell. The young boy had hardly left Zell's side since the attack.
Zell frowned at Stephen, slightly agreeing that this trek was taking far too long. He turned to the front of the sled, looking at Seifer and Quistis. "Can we pick up the pace.
Growling angrily, Seifer stopped walking, throwing the chains to the ground. He was about to snap something at Zell when Quistis spoke.
"Track..." Quistis mumbled.
Nuvy, the only surviving Trepie, said something in Japanese.
"What the fuck...?" Seifer mumbled, seeing the tracks in the dirt. Sled tracks. Not sand-cat. Which meant...
"We've crossed our own tracks," Zell whispered to Stephen, explaining what had happened.
Seifer approached Squall, who'd stopped walking and was kneeling in the dark - 10 feet ahead of the others.
"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Seifer asked.
"Why have we circled? Are we lost?" Quistis asked, approaching the convict and mercenary.
"Listen," Squall replied softly.
"Do you even know where we are?!" Quistis snapped.
Squall stood and said in a loud firm voice "Listen!"
Everyone went silent.
Shadow-creatures. Calling. Echoing. Howling in hunger. Ahead of them. In the bone canyon.
Seifer held his gun up, reading to fire.
"Canyon ahead," Squall said softly. "I circled once to buy us some time to think."
"I think we should go now," Quistis replied.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Squall disagreed. "That's death row up there... especially with the girl bleeding..."
"What?" Quistis replied.
Everyone turned to look at Nuvy, who just stared blankly at everyone.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Seifer sneered. "She's not cut."
"Not her..." Squall said, with a small smirk. He turned to look at Stephen. "Her."
Zell turned to Stephen, eyes wide.
Stephen's eyes filled with tears immediately. His...Her lower lip trembled, and slow tears started down her cheeks.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Seifer groaned, a disgusted sneer on his face.
"I-I just thought it would be better if people took me for a guy," Stephen said. "I thought they'd leave me alone instead of always messing with me!"
"Hyne, Stephen!" Zell cried, stepping towards the young girl, taking the kid into his arms. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Selphie... my name is Selphie..." Stephen... Selphie, the young girl replied.
Everyone watched Selphie, unsure of what to make of the scene.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Zell whispered, rocking Selphie. "Are you really bleeding?"
"You coulda left me at the ship, Zell," Selphie said. "I was afraid to be left... by myself."
Quistis and Seifer turned from watching the young girl to look at Squall. Squall's eyes were locked on the road ahead.
"They've had a nose open for her ever since we left," Squall said. "In case you didn't notice, they go off blood."
Zell took his arms from Selphie, looking at the leaders of the group.
"Look," Zell said. "This is not gonna work. We're gonna have to go back..."
"What?!" Seifer snapped, turning around to frown angrily at Zell. "What did you say?"
Zell watched Seifer.
"You're the one that got us out here in the first place, Zell," Seifer growled. "Turned us into sled-dogs!"
"I was wrong, I admit it," Zell said, defeated. "Okay? Can we just go back to the ship?"
"I don't know, Zell," Seifer replied. "Nice breeze, wide-open space. I'm starting to enjoy my fuckin' self out here."
"What? Are you high again?" Zell said, leering at Seifer. "Listen to yourself, Almasy."
"No, no!" Seifer said, taking a step towards Zell. "You're right, Zell. What's to be afraid of? My life's just a pile of meaningless shit anyhow. So I say, mush on! The canyon's only a couple hundred meters then its skiff-city."
Zell swallowed, but he was still leering at Seifer.
"So butch-up," Seifer snapped. "Stuff a cork in this fuckin' kid-" he pointed at Selphie "-and let's go!"
"He is the captain!" Quistis defended Zell. "We should listen to him!"
"Listen to him?" Seifer said to the priestess, almost amused. "After he was so willing to sacrifice us all?"
"What's he talking about?" Selphie asked, her voice still weak from tears.
"This does not help us," Zell said, trying to sound calm.
"During the crash, he tired to blow the whole passenger cabin," Seifer said, smirking at Zell. "Tired to kill us in our sleep."
Quistis look at Zell, her eyes wide.
"Shut your mouth!" Zell snapped, taking a step forward.
"We are fuckin' disposable," Seifer taunted.
"Shut your mouth!" Zell repeated, taking a step forward.
"We're just walking ghosts to you, aren't we Zell?" Seifer finished.
Zell lunged at Seifer yelling "Shut your fuckin' blowhole!"
Seifer grabbed a hold of Zell's wrists, tossing the small blonde to the ground.
"Fine, fine!" Quistis yelled at Seifer, stepping in between him and Zell.
Zell fought off his tears of guilt for what he'd tried to do. What he had almost done.
"You made your point," Quistis said to Seifer. "We've all been scared."
Zell didn't want to stand yet. His chest ached from guilt.
"Oh Zell," Seifer purred. "How much do you weight now...?" Seifer picked up a flare, hitting the butt end on his thigh, the green light bursting in the darkness. "Verdicts in," Seifer said to the others. "Light moves forward..."
~*~
Seifer stood 10 feet from the others, letting them deal with the sled now. He was fed-up with this bullshit.
He nodded for Squall to approach.
Squall walked to Seifer, holding his hand up to block the green-flare light from his jeweled eyes.
"Ain't none of us gonna make it," Seifer said, clearly amused.
"You just realized that?" Squall said, slowly walking towards the canyon.
Seifer took up step next to his pay-day.
"Six of us left," Seifer purred. "If we could make it through the canyon and lose just one that would be quiet a feat, ne?"
"Not if I'm the one," Squall replied.
"What if you're one of five?" Seifer asked.
Echoes of shadow-creatures close by took both men's attention away from the conversation for a short moment.
"... I'm listening," Squall said, pulling Seifer back from the sounds.
Zell and Quistis pulled the sled themselves, Nuvy and Selphie as close as possible. The four were a good 15 paces behind the two talking men, but Zell wanted them to be further apart. He didn't trust Squall that much, though he wanted to. And Seifer... well, Seifer Zell didn't even like let alone trust.
"What are they doing up there?" Selphie asked.
"They're talking about the canyon I suppose... how to get us through it," Quistis answered.
Seifer took a slow glance back at the group that followed them. "Battlefield doctors decide who lives and dies," Seifer said, looking back to the road head. "Its called Triage."
Squall shook his head, disappointed. "Kept calling it murder when I did it."
Seifer smirked, laughing softly. "Either way, I figure its something you can grab onto."
"Sacrifice play? You want me to hack up a body?" Squall asked. "We can leave it at the start of the canyon...like a bucket of bait."
"Trawl with it," Seifer replied. "You've got extra cable on the sled. We drag the body 40, 50 feet behind us-"
"Nice embellishment," Squall replied.
"Yeah, well," Seifer said with a sigh. "I don't wanna feed them, I just wanna keep them off our scent."
"So which one caught your eye," Squall said, starting to turn back to look at the 4 who still followed.
"No- don't look!" Seifer snapped quietly.
Squall turned back to the road.
"Hyne," Seifer said. "What the hell's wrong with you?"
"Quistis," Zell said. "Slow down... just a little more space between us and them."
The sled crew slowed down. A few moments later they were 30 feet behind the two talking men.
"All right, enough of this shit," Seifer said, no longer amused with the conversation. "You do Selphie, and I'll keep the others off your back."
Squall stopped walking and slowly turned to look at Seifer.
Seifer raised his eyebrows. "Not too big of a job for you, is it?" He smirked at the convict.
"I'm just wondering if we don't need a bigger piece of bait," Squall replied, his jeweled eyes burning into Seifer's sky-blue ones.
"Like who?" Seifer said, oblivious of the threat at first.
Squall's jeweled eyes sparkled at Seifer, the air around them seemed frozen. Time was frozen.
In a simple, quiet movement, Squall knocked the green flare from Seifer's hand - the light flinging 10 feet away.
Seifer moved to pull his gun out, but Squall was faster, grabbing the gun from the sheath, firing.
Seifer, luckily was able to grab a hold of the gun, pushing its direction away from him before any bullets were fired in his direction.
"Leave the sled!" Zell cried, seeing the two men fighting ahead. "Let's move!"
He turned, grabbing Selphie's hand, holding a booze-light-bottle in the other, starting to run back towards the far, far off crash site.
Quistis, taking Nuvy's hand, followed Zell's instructions and ran after the blonde pilot.
Seifer pounded his fist into Squall's chest, trying to pull the gun away. Squall kept firing the gun, more trying to empty it of its bullets then really hit Seifer. After a few punches, Seifer kicked Squall's legs, the gun flinging across into the dirt 8 feet away.
Squall pushed Seifer back, the blonde sliding into the dirt three feet from the brunette convict.
Seifer stood, breathing heavily. He pulled a knife from his vest, licking his lips.
Squall looked at Seifer calmly. The convict pulled out his bone-knife, eyes blank - like doll's eyes. They glistened in the green flare slight, daring Seifer to attack.
Slowly the two men circled each other, Squall - calmly, Seifer - tired and strung out (he's a druggie, after all).
The green flare light dimmed slightly, signaling it was near ready to give out.
Seifer lunged towards Squall, knife up and ready to attack. He tried to push it into Squall's chest, but Squall was able to hold Seifer back.
"Stay in the light," Squall purred at Seifer, the green flare flickering again.
Seifer breathed heavily, both men grunting. Seifer kicked Squall's feet from under him, Squall falling onto his back. Seifer jumped down onto Squall, bringing the knife down hard.
But Squall caught Seifer's wrist, holding the large blonde's arm up.
"Remember that moment..." Squall said, then he kicked Seifer away, slicing Seifer's chest with a deep wound that would bleed heavily.
Seifer found his gun as he hit the dirt. But it was empty.
"Never should have taken the chains off, Almasy!" Squall called.
Groaning, Seifer rolled onto his back, loading the gun slowly.
The green flare light flicked again, then it when out. The only light now came from Seifer's gun-flashlight.
"You were one brave fuck before," Squall continued.
Seifer clicked a bullet into the gun, then another; tired and hurt.
"You were really bad-ass," Squall said, sneering over at Seifer from his spot 10 feet away. He shook his head, disappointed. "With the chains..."
Seifer loaded another bullet.
"The gauge," Squall purred, stepping back.
Another bullet into the gun.
"The badge," Squall said. "... I told you to ghost me..."
Seifer pushed himself up, holding the gun ready. But Squall wasn't anywhere in sight. The light-beam from Seifer's gun burned brightly in the darkness, searching around for the convict. But no Squall...
Echoes of hungry shadow-creatures called from all around Seifer. He fired rounds in random directions, but then he saw a large shadow-creature. With his hammer-head shark shaped like skull, and its large wings that weren't strong enough to pick the large beast off the ground except a few feet. And the mouth, full of razor-sharp fangs.
It hissed at Seifer, then burst into an all-out run.
What a time for Seifer's gun to jam.
With a large cracking sound, and an echo of flesh being thorn open, Seifer's stomach had a shadow-creature's tail driven through it.
Squall's jewel eyes sparkled over. He could see Seifer's body handing on the tail of a shadow-creature. And Seifer was still alive, for the most part.
The creature purred then lifted its head, opening his mouth. Then it chomped down on Seifer's head, blood splattering everywhere.
~*~
Squall looked at the abandoned power cells. He could just take the cells himself. It was easy enough. Easier actually.
Sure he'd have to drag them, but he wouldn't have to bother helping those four others. And they were as good as dead anyways, even if he went back to find them.
Squall looked away from the sled, into the darkness. He could see lights flickering in the distance.
Zell...
~*~
The four were still running. But a scream in the distance stopped them.
Zell turned to look back, but it was futile.
Oh fuck. What had he done? He'd left those power cells behind. Squall would just take them, and the skiff, and leave. Leave them here to die. Just like Seifer said.
Zell turned back to start to head to the crash site again. He screamed, something standing in front of him. The three girls with him also yelled in surprised.
It was Squall.
"Back to the ship, huh?" Squall asked. "Just huddle together until the lights burn out?"
"Get away from us," Zell said.
"Till you can't see what's eating you? That the big plan?" Squall continued his questioning.
"Where's Almasy?" Quistis asked in a stern voice.
Squall turned to the priestess. "Which part?"
"We're gonna loose everybody out here," Selphie said in a small, weak voice. "We shoulda stayed at the ship."
"He died fast," Squall said, stepping towards Zell, eyes locking with the young pilots briefly, before continuing to step forward. He moved past the blonde boy to the young girl. "And if we have any choice about it, that's the way we should all go."
Selphie's eyes started to fill with tears.
"Don't you cry for Almasy," Squall said in a soft voice. "Don't you dare..."
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// Ah! Seifer died! I know!! ... I'm such a mean person! ... but that's how the movie went. Johns (Seifer's movie double) died. And actually, I'm surprised none of you saw it coming. Seifer was the 'bad guy' character in this... but I guess Seifer is such a fucking jerk all the time, everyone just brushes that aside when people write him that way? ... We can forgive Seifer's asshole-ness b/c he's so hot, ne? ...lol...
// And to reinforce.... Stephen, the 12 year old boy, is actually SELPHIE! ... yes, Jack (Selphie/Stephen's movie double) turned out to be a girl. But it was a little more obvious in the movie b/c well... Jack was very feminine looking... long eyelashes, slender body, voice. -- Sorry if that confused anyone... I tried to write it the best I could...
// ~*Julie, xoxo