Chapter 4

Irvine and Selphie stood surrounded not knowing when the monsters were going to attack. The largest monster was holding a woman; it must have been the person Selphie heard before. The woman's scream was what had led Selphie and Irvine into that hell whole to begin with. Now that same woman was nothing but a bloody figure hanging from jagged claws of the biggest black dragon they had ever seen. Irvine and Selphie couldn't think speak or even move. Then it talked. It's voice so dark and vicious the ground shook with every syllable. "There will be more deaths, what you have seen is only the beginning and neither you nor Doctor Odine can stop me! " It's wings flared up and it flew through the roof. Steel and rock came raining down upon Irvine and Selphie, they both ducked out of the way. Once they looked up all they saw were clouds of smoke only one of the clouds wasn't a cloud at all. It was an endless army of monsters all grouped together following the biggest monster they had ever seen. It took them a while to compose themselves and think about what they had just seen; it was just so hard to believe. Something the size of twenty men and it had been loose in the city long enough to torture and kill a large group of people. Worst off all it could talk, think, hell it was even smart enough set up an ambush for them. They had no idea what they were getting into when they arrived, they should have been told from the begging. "What did Laguna think would happen?" Irvine thought. "We just show up to clean up his mess not telling us that there was something loose in the city that had enough monsters behind it to make up it's own army! Why weren't we told?" Selphie came next to him, "How did it know Dr. Odine?" she asked. "I don't know," Irvine replied. "But we should find the others. Let's head back to the other side of the city to our hotel and wait for them there."

Soon the sun had set and darkness covered the city, hours have passed since Selphie and Irvine had met with the talking monster and the rest of the team had yet to return from their posts. When Zell and Quistis arrived at the hotel they were met by Irvine and Selphie at the door of Quistis' room, they never expected to hear this kind of story. If anything Zell was the kind of person would come up with this sort of thing, but even he couldn't believe it. After about two hours and half a million unanswerable questions later plus a quick shower for Zell and Quistis, Squall and Rinoa finally arrived. Once the shock wore off and they were able to speak again, three questions still haunted them; how did that thing know Dr. Odine and why did it torture and kill all those people? Most importantly why the hell didn't Laguna tell any of them about it!! Squall left in a blind furry as soon as the others were settled in their rooms, he would make sure Laguna wouldn't pull a stunt like this again. The rest followed him in a separate car, they knew better than to try and talk to Squall when he was this angry. Rinoa was just thinking about how much harder it was going to be getting Squall to forgive Laguna. Once they arrived they thought it would be best if they just waited in the small waiting room for Squall to come out.

Squall burst into Laguna's office the guards that stood in front knew better than to try and stop him. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!" Squall screamed. "You could have gotten me and all of my friends killed!" Laguna just stood up from behind his desk and walked to the window to Squalls left his hands cupped behind his back. "I didn't tell you because I honestly didn't know it was still in the city. After it escaped out of Dr. Odine's lab it killed a few of our soldiers and left. Then people started disappearing all over the city, and when I came back from your Garden all these monsters showed up out of nowhere, we just assumed that it was attacking us from the outside. Had I known what was really going on, that it was really hiding and calling these monsters into the city I would have told you. But my city is low on militia and I was desperate to get these things out. I only told you what I thought would let you get the job done." Eventually the rest of Squall's team got sick of waiting outside and stepped into Laguna's office. Irvine was the first one of them to speak. "That's a fine story and all but that still doesn't explain where that thing came from or what it wants." Laguna limped back to his desk and sat down in his chair, he really didn't want to explain this part of the story but they had a right to know. "Dr. Odine created it, he came to me with the idea to his project and I approved it. Since the first Lunar Cry all those years ago he's been trying to create a monster that would for once be on our side. When the Lunar Cry happened again it sent his project's results through the roof. He then had more than enough monsters to get an accurate reading of our own monster's abilities. You see we wanted a monster that was stronger, faster and bigger than any of the others. And one that could make them all do whatever we wanted them to do. The monster to control all monsters so to speak, the problem is that we made it too smart for it's own good, we tried to lock it up but it was too strong made it's way past our defenses and escaped." He looked around the room and saw everyone with a look of shock on their face, everyone but Squall who just had a look of hatred and disgust on his face. But he didn't say anything; he knew Laguna was done with his explanation but he didn't say anything he just walked out with Rinoa. Irvine and Selphie left the room with Zell, but as they walked out Zell noticed that Quistis stayed behind. He looked at the other two, "You guys go on ahead we'll catch up." As they walked away Zell stepped up next to Quistis, "At this point Squall's pissed and isn't thinking straight Selphie and Irvine don't know what to do and let's face it neither do I. Might as well stick with someone that has a good head on their shoulders," Zell thought. Quistis stood in front of Laguna looking down at the floor thinking to herself. She raised her head and asked, "Can it be killed?" Laguna nodded with a frown, "Yes but it won't be easy." When Dr. Odine made him he made sure that he would be strong. It's not weak against fire, ice, earth or poison. It will be hard, damn near impossible but it can be done. But with all those monsters at his command it won't be easy to get close to him. "Oh yeah I just have one question, Does it have a name? Or do we just call it black dragon?" Zell asked with kind of a smart-ass smirk on his face. "His name is Dameon" Laguna replied as he sat back into his chair and turned it so he was no longer facing the two, he obviously wasn't in the mood to talk. Quistis and Zell looked at each other shrugged their shoulders and left.

When Zell and Quistis met up with the others they were all waiting in the car that would take them to their hotel. Once every one was inside Squall told them his decision, "We'll stay at the hotel for the night but then in the morning we'll go home to our garden get some back up from Cid and maybe every platoon we have. For now though lets just get some rest I have a killer headache and the more I think about Laguna and the mess he's made the more angry I get." They all nodded in unison and settled into their seats, it was kind of hard though since the cab was too small and the girls had to sit on the guys lap, not that they minded but it was still too small for the six of them. Their hotel was on the other side of the enormous city and it would be almost an hour before they got there. There was a good mood in the car on the way to the hotel. Everyone really liked that Squall was more open, that he wasn't afraid to tell them what he was thinking. Whatever Rinoa had been doing to him they liked it. Once they got to the hotel they headed to their rooms, the guys were each given their own room, as were the girls. Some how though they all knew Rinoa and Squall would end up in the same room together. The others just went straight to bed deciding that they should just stay in the rooms they were given.



It was about 3:30 am and Zell after much tossing and turning still couldn't get to sleep so he decided he'd go get some air and maybe see if he couldn't tire himself out. He stepped out onto the balcony thinking, Wow Laguna must really want to get back on Squall's good side, the rooms he gave us were really something." He started punching the air and did several round house and crescent kicks when he heard some one sobbing. He looked at the balcony next to him and saw of all people Selphie. Like a cat he leaped off the rail of his balcony and somersaulted onto the floor of Selphie's balcony without even making a sound. It wasn't till he put his hand on her shoulder that she jumped up in surprise. "Oh! God Zell you scared the hell out me." "Uh sorry about that I heard you crying and came to see if you were ok. So like, what's the matter? I've never seen you this upset before." She stood up and walked to the end of the balcony resting her forearms on the rail. "It's this whole Dameon thing, ever since I saw him and what he did. I can't even close my eyes without seeing that endless pile of bodies, there were so many and all of them had gone through so much pain and suffering before the end came. What was the point? They all died and for what?!" Tears were running down her cheeks now, Zell knew she felt cold. How could he not? She was shivering right in front of him. He took off his robe that his grandfather use to wear and wrapped it around Selphie and then hugged her to keep her warm. Selphie just hugged him back and started to feel better. Things between her and Irvine were getting kind of rocky and she knew they were headed for another breakup. Every time they did they always got back together because she never thought of being with anyone else. But things were different this time; she could feel herself drifting further from Irvine. Even when she first saw the dead bodies and he put his hand on her shoulder she didn't feel comfort in him being there. Now for some reason in Zell's arms she felt warm and safe. She started imagining what it might be like if she were with him instead of Irvine. He looked into her eyes and knew that she wanted him to kiss her, but didn't. "It wouldn't be right," he thought not while she was still with Irvine, even though the area couldn't be more romantic with the moon and city lights illuminating the balcony. Even if she couldn't look more beautiful he just couldn't do it. Instead he took her hand, kissed it and wished to a good night. Selphie knew he did the right thing and watched as he leaped from her balcony to his. Even when he was gone she still didn't know what she was going to do about all these feeling she had. She just hoped she would be able to do something about it in the morning.

Irvine was the first one up, in the morning. Though technically he didn't really sleep not after seeing Selphie and Zell holding each other on the balcony of her room. He just wanted to check up on her, to see if she was ok. After all she did have kind of a traumatizing day. But he didn't think he'd find her in the arms of another man. He silently walked out of the room trying not to make any noise and too filled with anger to do anything at that moment. He just sat in the lobby until the sun rose and waited for Squall, Rinoa and Quistis to show up. After that it was just a matter of who would show up first Selphie or Zell. Or would they show up together? His thoughts were abruptly killed off as he realized that Squall was talking to him. "Hey are you ok? You look like you didn't sleep all night." "Just some bad thoughts keeping me up" He said with a smile, when Selphie walked into the lobby and sat down next to him but didn't say a word. She looked like she didn't get any sleep either. They all sat in the lobby waiting for Zell to show up, the burning hatred rising in Irvine. "What the hell is taking that cocky punk so long, what, does the think he's so much better than us that he has the right to make us wait?" Then Zell entered the room looking fresh as a daisy. Squall gave him an irritated look and he apologized for being late. Selphie came up to him and kissed Zell on the cheek. "Thanks for last night Zell your really sweet." Every one had a puzzled look on their face but Irvine jumped off his seat and charged at Zell. Faster than anyone could see Irvine pulled his arm back and swung hitting Zell right in the face, Irvine's fist mad perfect contact with Zell's cheek. But there was just one problem he was still standing; it was almost too hard to believe. Zell, after being socked right in the face he had only bent to the side about five inches both eyes still open. He straitened himself out, smiled and looked at Irvine. "Now what did you have to go and do that for?" He was just bout to drop kick Irvine in the face when Squall and Quistis restrained him. "Zell what in the hell is going on here!?" "Why don't you ask prince charming here? He's the one who started it." Irvine was about to take advantage of Zell's predicament when Selphie stepped in front of Zell. "Don't hurt him! Irvine we need to talk."

Selphie led Irvine into an empty hallway and looked around to make sure that no one was around to hear them. "Now listen to me carefully Irvine, nothing and I mean nothing happened between me and Zell last night." "Don't tell me what I saw Selphie! Last night I saw you two holding each other on your balcony!" Selphie sharply cut him off, "Whoa, hold on a sec. You were spying on me?" "No I wasn't spying on you! I was worried about you so I came to see if you were ok. But why do I have to do all the explaining why don't you tell me what the hell is going on between you and Zell?" Selphie snapped back, "Fine you wanna know what happened last night fine I'll tell you. I was feeling miserable last night I was sitting on the balcony crying and Zell saw me, he came over and helped me feel a little better. But that's it nothing else happened. But that doesn't mean that I didn't want something to happen." Irvine had a confused look on his face. "What? You mean you wanted something to happen between you and Zell?" Selphie lowered her head and felt ashamed of herself and tried to explain to Irvine what she was feeling. "Look things between you and me aren't what they use to be, I know you really care about me but after everything that's happened after all the fights and breakups I don't know if I feel the same way about you then when we first got together. I mean if we were really meant to be together, then how come we keep breaking up? Every time you and I break up I can never see myself with anyone else but you, however after last night I can't stop thinking about Zell. I don't know why but I don't just see him as a friend anymore." Irvine let go of her hands and started to walk back to the group talking as he left her gesturing with his hand. "Well when you finally figure out what you want, let me know but until then I'd rather not talk to you." When he finished he turned the corner and left.

End Of Chapter 4