Note: Sorry everyone, I have been... to be honest, being a lazy ass for months now and I haven't done anything to continue with my stories. Sometimes too, I ran out of ideas and it usually does take me weeks to finalize my thoughts into a good story. Anyway, I hope you all didn't get impatient and forgot about this story. Thanks to those who continued reviewing this. In the beginning of this chapter, there are familiar scenes and you can all guess what it is, but with a twist! :D Warning: there are some graphic scenes so beware! And my grammar sucks! Heh heh. o_O
Chapter 15 - Return to Thunder Village
Ears begun to wage war against each other. They could both hear the drums rumbling in the distance... a sign of the beginning of battle. However, neither of them cared to avoid confrontation of swords clashing against each other. Metal versus metal, seemed to echo in the distance. Once again, they heard the same rolling of drums, but none of the two combatants paused to wonder what was going on or who was winning. Instead, both of them stared at each other, as if they have known each other all their lives and once again charged each other at full speed. One successfully slashed the other ruthlessly across the top of his nose, from right to left. Startled by the attack, the taller combatant backed away for a moment, gasping for breath, hoping that the other would show him mercy. However, his cold, blue eyes just penetrated through his green ones and he charged quicker than he had attacked the first time. He raised his sword high, ready to cut open the top of his skull with his sword, imagining the head splitting open while blood spilled everywhere. Fortunately, he was quicker and Calik raised his sword high in the air to keep the sword away from him. With all his strength he pushed the younger man off of him and regained his composure on his legs. He hadn't realized that he was shaking in his knees, until he began to think about it.
The younger man, surprisingly, stepped a couple steps back and smirked. "You think you can just walk in here and be a hero? I don't know who you are, but you're in the way."
Calik said nothing. With one swift move, he raised his sword and slashed his enemy at the same spot where the man had done the job, yet completely opposite. He did not have time to react as Calik's sword made contact with the bones of the bridge of Squall's nose. The blond backed away, giving the brunette time to surrender himself.
Despite it all, Squall was determined to kill the blond. With pride and stubbornness, the Duke of Esthar was a man difficult to deal with. He wanted to finish off what he started. With another quick hand, he surprised Calik by aiming his sword at his head, but Calik was much faster. The blond dodged it quickly and Squall's sword ended up cutting a strand of Calik's bangs from his eyes.
Thunder roared and a wave of screaming soldiers and clashing of swords in the distance delayed their battle for a moment, until Squall made another attempt to slash at the blond while he was preoccupied. However, as usual, Calik dodges that attack. Irritated, Squall kept at it, moving his sword from side to side, the noise of sword cutting through nothing but air, made him even more upset. Calik dodged every attack he could muster and nothing, other than the scar he gave him, could penetrate the fast moving, colours of gold from Calik's head. Squall wished his sword could cut his head in two, but what was the fun in that? He could injure him, bring him back to his castle and torture him some more, then maybe Balbadia and the rest of the world can hear his screams and the wrath of Duke Squall Leonhart.
After a couple more tries of giving no chance for Calik to attack, Squall finally had him cornered to a nearby tree, his sword pressed hard against Calik's identical blade. He could tell that the blond was getting tired the way he was breathing and Squall now knew, this was his chance. With his might, Squall swiped Calik's sword away with his own blade and the sword flew in the air and fell on the ground with a loud, 'thunk!'
"Now you will learn what it's like to face me!" Squall yelled, putting his sword over the blonde's head, ready to finish him off. However, before he could, he felt something cut through his skin. For a moment, he could feel his gut clenching as if the pain was just nothing, until he looked at himself. There was a sword through his stomach, struck from his back, his royal shirt now torn and wet from the blood that soaked through his skin. Squall gulped, his arms shaking, forcing him to drop his sword. He placed a hand on the blood, still unable to believe that he was stabbed. Squall got up and turned around slowly and couldn't believe what he was seeing. A figure approached him slowly and as Squall adjusted his eyes through the dark, he knew who it was the moment he noticed the figure's hand on the side of his stomach. It was the same wound he gave him as the sword slashed through it. Squall could not believe his eyes... then again, he was not surprised. Zell Dincht was a good soldier after all. For all the years he's been trained in Esthar, Zell knew how to handle situations such as surviving a deadly wound. Zell could have been a great Commander for his army. "Zell... how could you? How could you betray me?"
Zell's leaned his head back and laughed. A laugh that was so terrifying and contagious to Squall at the same time. He noticed Zell take another step towards him, his face now changed from a bitter smirk into a serious frown. "You're wrong, your highness. You're the one who betrayed me... your people and the rest of the world. I couldn't just stand by and watch you slaughter the innocence of children, of women and of men!"
Squall staggered towards him. Zell couldn't believe he was still standing and speaking. "You wretched boy! Aren't I your dear friend? Did not I trust you? Did not I feed you when you were living in the cold? I brought you in, trained you as a soldier and this is how you repay me?"
"I thank you for all that, your highness, however, that was not YOU. That was Squall- the real Squall. The one who would never kill anyone for a purpose to dominate the world. Squall would never destroy innocent lives for his own benefit. He did everything for his people and finished the works of his father that he could not finish."
"Zell..."
Zell gasped. He could hear Squall's voice. His REAL voice for the first time in months. He took a step forward, his own wound making him weak and vulnerable. Squall said his name once more and told him to come to him and hug him like they used to as kids. Zell took another step forward, until a voice snapped him out of his reverie.
It was Squall's voice. The voice that sounded like his real self, speaking somewhere in his mind. Now he understood. Now he knew where Squall was. He was gone. He has been dead all this time. The person speaking inside Squall's body had completely destroyed the real Squall and took over. Now he understood that Squall wanted him to kill his body.
Squall took a step towards the short blond, producing a small blade hidden from the side of his pants. Zell stood there, hesitant to finish him off. The brunette took another step. Then another and another, until he broke into a run towards the blond.
Calik shouted a warning, but it would be too late for that as Squall approached him. The tall blond stood up as fast as he could, grabbed his sword from the ground and launched towards the charging Duke. Like slow motion, Calik's sword cut through the same wound Zell had inflicted on Squall, Zell's sword cutting deeper into his chest. Squall screamed, blood pouring out of his mouth. Zell blinked, backing away from the scene that began to unfold in front of him.
Fire began to burn through Squall's body and at the same time, blood dripped on the ground like rain. A ray of light shone from Squall's eyes and before Zell and Calik could find their feet to run, Squall's body exploded and like magic, blood disappeared out of sight from where he had been destroyed, leaving only specks of dust on the floor. The swords they cut through the body fell on the ground together and at the same time, Zell and Calik collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath.
Zell sat on the opposite side of Calik and after relief flew through him, he glanced at the blond across from him. He was sure he had seen the man before, but he chose not to question him. Right now, the man needed time to rest.
Calik sighed, his breathing hard and his head spinning from everything that had happened. It took him a moment until he realized, that this man across from him could be the answer to his past, along with the woman who had called him, 'Seifer.' Maybe he was 'Seifer.' Without thinking, Calik glanced at the man and opened his mouth to speak. "Do you know who I am?" he asked, his eyes flooded with blood from the scar left on him by Squall.
Zell winced, the pain getting deeper and deeper into his gut. He could not answer. He was too tired to answer. He knew the man, but there was no memory of him inside of his head at the moment. He closed his eyes wearily, but the same question from the man's lips brought him back again. This time, after another patient wait, Zell nodded. "I might. I cannot see you in the dark, so it is difficult for me to see who you are."
"I believe you might know those two women who ran by here and rode off with my chocobbo with two children. One of them called me, 'Seifer...' Who is he? Is that I?" Calik did not understand why he was asking the other man this question. His instincts were catching up on him again. There was a possibility that this man knew those two women or might not, but he took the chance anyway.
The other man stood up quickly... too quickly, however, moaning when the pain got worst. He shook the thought away and focused more on who this man was. He was asking rather strange questions. Seifer... Seifer... I thought he was dead? He thought. Then, as he peered closer, he noticed blond hair and piercing green eyes and the same features as the Seifer long ago. "Who would have thought," he spoke, thinking he was talking to himself rather than the other blond man.
"Pardon me?" Calik spoke, furrowing his eyebrows in curiosity.
Zell shook his head and smiled. "I did not believe it at first that you were alive, but she kept on insisting that you were, kept on insisting the guards to search for you. I guess her hopes and prayers were answered after all. She must have been so happy when she saw you. You must have been too, Seifer."
Calik shook his head in the dark. "So, my name is Seifer... how can I be? My name is Calik. Maybe the man you are looking for IS dead."
The younger blond stared at him, puzzled by his words. He wanted to ask him what he meant by it, when another pain hit its mark. Zell winced and he heard himself moan from it.
"Your wound... how bad is it?" Zell heard the other man say. He could hear the man get up from the ground and walking towards him, hesitantly, yet sure that it was safe for him to come nearer to the unknown man.
The former soldier placed a hand over the wound and although he knew it did not stop the bleeding, he kept it there anyway and slowly stood up, the wound drowning him of his energy. "It seems Squall has hit me where it will bleed forever," was his only answer, before his knees buckled. Zell hit the ground once more and winced at the pain. He closed his eyes, hearing someone rip something. He looked up and noticed 'Calik' was ripping the bottom part of his shirt, and then putting it around Zell gently, like a mother rocking his baby. Zell was stunned. He assumed the Seifer he knew would never do such a thing to save him by sacrificing something to him. He never knew Seifer that well anyway.
Once finished, Calik leaned back on his knees and looked at the cloth around Zell's waist, as if an artist staring at his work of art. The blood continued to soak through his clothes and then through the cloth. "It will not stop the bleeding, but I know someone who can."
Zell was getting tired. He tired to close his eyes, but Calik's voice brought him back again to the living. Calik was telling him not to close his eyes and to keep focusing on him. The blond obeyed and he opened his eyes again, no matter how tired he was. He felt himself being lifted off the ground like paper, his arms being wrapped around someone's strong neck and his legs being forced to walk beside another set of feet. Zell looked and noticed Calik was helping him, lifting up both their swords on his shoulder as if they were nothing, but the weight of two feathers. He closed his eyes again, but this time, Zell did not wake up from Calik's voice, but by a sound he has never heard before.
It was a whistle.
"What- are you doing?" he spoke, finding his voice still. He was dragged along slowly towards the edge of the forest, but Zell could not tell exactly where they were.
He heard Calik speak, but his mind was too wounded from the previous fight and his thoughts were on Selphie, thinking what she would do now that he was going to die for good? She might have thought he died before, from the first fight he had with Squall, but Zell did not want to know the truth.
****************
"Heel! Heel!" she yelped. The yellow creature squawked and squealed, lifting up one leg to emphasize that he wanted to turn around and return to his owner. She didn't know what was wrong with it, but her son and Nadia could get hurt. She held on tightly to the reigns, placing a soft hand on the side of its neck to calm it down. It paused for a calm moment, and then came back to wildly kicking and screaming again. Another hand came around the chocobbo's neck, the two children still on top of the chocobo, Nadia's big round eyes, staring at the two women in fright. She was holding the baby in her arms so tightly, that Quistis was unsure whether to protect Russell from the Chocobo or from the death grip Nadia was giving him.
Selphie grasped tightly around the neck of the creature, whispering some words of gentleness towards it, but it kept on kicking and squawking stubbornly, telling them that he needed to get back to its owner. "Don't be stubborn!" Selphie screamed, her patience running away from her.
The chocobo would not obey. With one strong movement, the chocobo jumped up, the two children flying high in the air as Nadia screamed in terror. Selphie caught Nadia just before she could fall on the ground, the little girl's hands still around Russell. Without showing any kind of sympathy, the chocobo fled from the two women, leaving them both alone with the children. Quistis frantically ran to her baby, making sure her baby was all right and to her relief, he was still breathing and giggling. He thought that whole thing was funny, she thought. She could not help but smile to herself of that thought. He was just a baby, so of course he wouldn't understand anything...yet. Quistis could not comprehend on the chocobo's sudden change in mood. It seemed something was calling it. She had a feeling that they need not run anymore from whatever they were running from.
"Quistis? Shall we go on?" Selphie spoke. She took Nadia's hand and led her towards Quistis.
The blond woman looked up, smiled and nodded, taking the baby from Nadia's arms and wrapped her own arms around Russell. "Let's continue," she spoke.
"Hold on..." Startled, the two women turned around. The same chocobo that had run out on them, appeared from the darkness and on top of him sat two men, one holding his reigns, while the other...
"Zell?" Selphie's voice broke the air before she could figure out whom it was. She could recognize her lover even from a distance. Quistis understood that it was how love made them feel. Love made them feel connected and never separated.
Selphie let go of Nadia's hand and ran to her lover. She could not believe it. She knew he was alive. Happiness overclouded her judgment, as she ran to the two men. Zell had his head on the chocobo's head, as he sat legs apart on the creature. Seifer was straddled behind him, taking over the reigns. Selphie paused in her tracks and stared at the bloody figure sitting on front of Seifer. At first, she did not believe it was he from all the blood that soaked his face, but when she noticed the black tattoo at the side of his face, she realized it was he after all. She could no longer contain the emotions inside as she began to weep, burying her face in her hands. She could not look at him. He looked pained and hurt. He did no need this kind of torture. How has the Gods punished her? By almost losing the only person she loves the most twice! Maybe, this was his last day on Earth.
"If you wish to save his life, then I suggest you move aside so we can continue," came Seifer's voice. Selphie was startled by his choice of words, unsure how to respond to that. She was still in shock to see him, believing that he had died to what Squall had said. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Selphie looked up into the eyes of Quistis and nodded, taking a step to one side, followed by Quistis with Russell and Nadia.
Seifer clicked his tongue against the side of his cheek and the chocobo slowly made its trek through the dry grass of the empty plains. Quistis, Russell and Selphie, along with Nadia, followed behind, all trying to catch up with the speed of the chocobo, no matter how slow it was going.
Quistis looked up, her eye suddenly glazed over at the scar on Seifer's wound, bleeding. "Seifer! What has happened to your face?"
Calik said nothing, not caring whether it hurt the woman that he did not acknowledge her concern. He continued onward on the chocobo, without taking another look back at the scene that he dreaded to see again.
The blond woman sighed. She was never able to speak with Seifer about male pride and she certainly would not be able to break the wall through Calik's mind as well.
After a moment of silence, Calik was the first one to speak, breaking the cold, quiet air surrounding them. "The village is just ahead." He shook the wounded man out of his reverie and frowned. "You must stay awake for a few more steps, Zell. It would be a waste of time to come here with you dead."
Quistis looked up at Seifer's choice of words. Despite his identity as 'Calik,' she could not shake the feeling of the pain he must have gone through while trying to find out who he was. It was her fault she did not try hard enough to search for him. He was trying to deny his own identity of the man whom they say he was, but why? He did not believe them. He did not believe that he was Seifer? Why would he turn his own identity down? Did he know who he was, but just pretended that he had forgotten that he was Seifer? If he was just pretending, then what was his reason? To hurt her, or to make the pain in his heart go away by his guilt over betraying his best friend?
"Here we are," Seifer spoke, snapping Quistis out of her reverie. She must have stared at him for so long, because Seifer gave her a strange, meaningful look, before he had to turn his attention on a large, brown door, opening. Quistis watched as two men, dressed in all types of tunics and pants, approached them, and followed by a beautiful young woman her age, with short blond hair. Her eyes met Seifer's for a moment, then traveled as far as Zell's face, covered in blood. "Terris," Seifer spoke, as if she knew the woman for a long time.
"Calik..." They stared at each other for a moment.
They DID know each other for a long time, she thought to herself. She felt a pang of envy and sadness, thinking that they might have become lovers.
The women glanced at Quistis, at Selphie, the two children, and then back at Seifer again. "What is going on here?"
"Terris, please let us in. We need to bring this man inside to be treated. He is badly injured."
Terris glanced at the wounded man, then towards the two women. She gave Quistis a glance as if she wanted to say something to her. "We may be able to treat the wounded man, but we have never invited strangers in before," she spoke, looking back up at Seifer.
"What is going on here? What is all the ruckus?" Terris looked behind her, then stepped aside to let her father through the door. She glanced at the two men guarding the gate and nodded her head. The two men immediately opened the door wider.
"Father, we must bring a wounded man inside. He need help," she explained, nodding her head towards Zell.
Nero squinted his eyes, noticing the blond and his many wounds on the side of his stomach. Suddenly, his eyes grew round and wide in fear, and then motioned for his hand to bring the chocobo inside. "Quickly! He needs treatment right away."
Like magic, two men appeared, carrying with them some kind of bed made of buffalo skins and willow tree barks. It was fit to have a full-grown man on it, by the size of the bed, the handle thick and strong enough so the two men could lift someone up with no dilemma. Selphie watched as the tall blond man gently put her beloved down on the bed, Zell wincing and moaning in pain. Upon being placed on the buffalo skin bed, Selphie ran to him immediately, grasping her hands in between Zell's own.
"Zell, please be well for me," she whispered, resting her head to his heart. She felt his hand on her head, stroking it like a mother would and she sighed at his touch, knowing that he was still warm.
The blond opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he was being carried away. Selphie hung on to his hands, but the tall, large man had told her to let go so they could take him inside. Inside? Where? Zell began to panic. He did not know what the man was talking about? "Selphie...?"
Selphie nodded and smiled reassuringly. "It will be fine, Zell. You will be well for me." The blond watched her getting smaller in the distance as he was led inside a dark place, except for the one that they came through. As soon as they were all safely inside, followed by the large man wearing a mammoth hat, darkness completely surrounded them.
Quistis held tightly to her child, but was startled when she felt cold hands touching her arm. She looked up and noticed a woman taking her child away from her. She gasped, grasping much tighter than she intended to and looked at the woman strangely. "What are you doing?"
"It's okay, Quistis. She is a friend of mine. She will treat your child as your own. He needs to be checked in order to be safe," Seifer replied.
"Safe from what?" Quistis asked. The same woman took Nadia's hand, but, like Quistis, Selphie grasped on Nadia's tiny hand, shaking her head. The woman looked up and smiled, showing Selphie that she meant no harm. Nadia looked up at Selphie and smiled, as if she knew that this woman was telling the truth. Hesitantly, Selphie let go and the two children were led inside a small hut made of the same fabric from the bed the two men were carrying Zell on.
Another voice sparked the air, which sounded feminine and deep, much like the voice of Quistis' mother. Startled, they all turned to see the same woman with the short blond hair approaching them. "They need to make sure that no one from the outside bring disease here," she replied, not meaning to hurt anyone.
However, it offended Quistis and she gave the woman a hard look. The other woman ignored it and walked pass the two women towards Calik.
"Do not worry too much about him." Selphie turned around and noticed Seifer standing there. She nodded, knowing Seifer was right. "Nero will take care of him. He is a medicine man of this village and the chief. No harm will come to him."
Assured by his words, Selphie decided to find comfort in Quistis' arms, who stood there, confused by where they were. The blond woman wrapped her arms around the younger woman and glanced at Seifer, whose eyes was on the young woman they met earlier.
"Calik, I am glad you are safe. I thought you were harmed by the outsiders." She wrapped her arms around him and sighed; glad to be in the arms of the man she loves.
Seifer did not move, instead, he wrapped his arms around her and Quistis could see the hesitation in his body. Jealousy forced her to turn her head away from the scene, so she turned her attention towards her friend instead.
"Terris, why do you still wear this ring?" she heard Seifer say. Once she heard the word, 'ring,' Quistis looked up curiously, noticing Seifer lifting up Terris' hand, staring at a small, gold band around her middle finger.
"I wear this, for I still love you." The young woman looked up and stared into his eyes, moving closer to kiss him, but to Quistis' shock and surprise, Seifer turned his head away from her and shook his head.
"You may still love me, but my love for you is no longer with me," Seifer replied. He glanced at Quistis; his eyes on her and for a moment, the blond woman noticed the way he looked at her, just like how he gazed at her before he disappeared. She missed that look.
Terris glanced at the woman her beloved was staring at and watched as Seifer's eyes intently gazed into the blue eyes of the taller blond woman. "Calik? Who is that woman?" she spoke.
Calik shrugged. "She claims she knows who I am."
"Who you are?" Terris raised an eyebrow curiously. "You are Calik, of course."
"You found me in the forest, Terris, I am not Calik. Your father chose to call me that when I told him I did not know who I was." He nodded at the other blonde, as she turned her head away from him. "She seems to know who I am." Calik smirked, realizing that she has been watching him all this time.
Terris felt a pang of jealousy towards the blond woman. She gripped her hands tightly on to Calik's shirt, unaware that she was also gripping a part of his skin. Calik jerked his arm away and looked at her strangely. The blond girl looked up with a sorry gaze and Calik just sighed and nodded, accepting her apology. They both turned back towards Quistis.
Quistis sighed. The conversation, as she listened, was getting rather awkward for her. They were both staring at her. She looked down on Selphie's head and stroked her short, brown hair softly, whispering kind words to her ear to ignore the stares towards her.
"I do not know what I would do if I lost him again," Selphie spoke, her voice hollow and shaking as she buried her face close to her friend's heart.
Quistis shook her head. "Do not think of that, Selphie. Thinking like that will only make your feelings worst for him. You must think of him alive and well and in your arms again."
Selphie nodded and looked up with a tear-struck face. "Thank you so much, your highness," she spoke, calling Quistis by her class.
The blond shook her head. "What have I told you by calling me that? I am no longer a ruler of a kingdom still standing, remember?"
The brunette nodded. "I understand." She wiped her tears with her arm and glanced towards the gate. For a moment, she stood there, staring at the front gate to where they had stepped in. Quistis was ready to say something, when Selphie spoke again. "I need to be alone for a while. I will ask someone who knows of a place where I can watch the sunset from here," she said, without looking at Quistis.
Quistis nodded, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Of course," she replied.
Without another word, she left the blond standing there and went to someone close by to ask of a quiet place. Quistis watched worriedly, afraid that something might happen to her, but she need not worry so much. That's right, Quistis, do not worry, she told herself. Sighing, she looked around the place and wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly, it was getting cold.
Calik watched the blond woman curiously. "Terris," he spoke, after a quiet moment. He waited until he felt Terris looking up at him. "Bring her some warm clothing," he spoke, without glancing her way.
Disappointing, Terris sighed and nodded. "I may have some. I will be right back." She left Calik alone, standing in the dark to a small hut just North of the village and came back later with two sets of wolf skin sheets that could warm four people at the same time. She handed them to Calik, knowing full well that he wanted to give them to her.
Taking the wolf skins from Terris' hands, he approached Quistis quietly, opened one wide and placed them around Quistis' shoulders. The blond woman looked up, startled. "Thank you," she whispered, blushing. She need not blush. She knew this was Seifer, but this was not Seifer. This was Calik, a stranger to her and she was a stranger to him. Oh, how she wished she could embrace him again, but not with the woman watching them.
Calik nodded. "You need plenty of rest," he spoke. "Your child will be cleaned and be brought to you by morning and I am certain that Zell and Selphie will be with each other again."
Quistis looked up, waiting for another sentence to escape his lips, such as, "And I will come with you as well, to be with you and our child, forever. We will find a place to live so our son can grow into a good man." However, he turned around quietly, leaving her stunned. She watched him walk pass the other woman and into the tent where Zell was taken inside. She stared at where he disappeared for a moment, then her eyes danced towards the other woman on the other side of the pool of puddle that formed during the rainy days on the land about two days ago. Terris was staring at her intently and Quistis felt overwhelmed by her constant watch. She turned her head away from her and looked around, then glanced at the tent where her child disappeared. She wished Seifer knew of their child. She wished Calik knew of their child. She wished Calik remembered who he was.
Terris eyed her suspiciously. She will not get him, she thought. She clenched her fists at her sides and glanced at tend where the woman's baby was. Terris grinned and nodded. 'I will make you see how much Calik means to me!' her mind spoke.
GoodGurl: Wooh! That was a long one. Heh heh. Oh well, at least I have this chapter done! Wow, Squall's dead, eh? I guess that whole thing explains why he went crazy. It was obvious tho, since I revealed about the red headed woman in the beginning. Anyway, what will happen next? Will Seifer come to Quistis and be 'Seifer' again instead of Calik? Or is there something up Terris' sleeve that will become more deadly than just blond hair and blue eyes? And has Quistis accepted Seifer's new change in his identity, that is why she is no longer pushing Calik that he was Seifer?
Chapter 15 - Return to Thunder Village
Ears begun to wage war against each other. They could both hear the drums rumbling in the distance... a sign of the beginning of battle. However, neither of them cared to avoid confrontation of swords clashing against each other. Metal versus metal, seemed to echo in the distance. Once again, they heard the same rolling of drums, but none of the two combatants paused to wonder what was going on or who was winning. Instead, both of them stared at each other, as if they have known each other all their lives and once again charged each other at full speed. One successfully slashed the other ruthlessly across the top of his nose, from right to left. Startled by the attack, the taller combatant backed away for a moment, gasping for breath, hoping that the other would show him mercy. However, his cold, blue eyes just penetrated through his green ones and he charged quicker than he had attacked the first time. He raised his sword high, ready to cut open the top of his skull with his sword, imagining the head splitting open while blood spilled everywhere. Fortunately, he was quicker and Calik raised his sword high in the air to keep the sword away from him. With all his strength he pushed the younger man off of him and regained his composure on his legs. He hadn't realized that he was shaking in his knees, until he began to think about it.
The younger man, surprisingly, stepped a couple steps back and smirked. "You think you can just walk in here and be a hero? I don't know who you are, but you're in the way."
Calik said nothing. With one swift move, he raised his sword and slashed his enemy at the same spot where the man had done the job, yet completely opposite. He did not have time to react as Calik's sword made contact with the bones of the bridge of Squall's nose. The blond backed away, giving the brunette time to surrender himself.
Despite it all, Squall was determined to kill the blond. With pride and stubbornness, the Duke of Esthar was a man difficult to deal with. He wanted to finish off what he started. With another quick hand, he surprised Calik by aiming his sword at his head, but Calik was much faster. The blond dodged it quickly and Squall's sword ended up cutting a strand of Calik's bangs from his eyes.
Thunder roared and a wave of screaming soldiers and clashing of swords in the distance delayed their battle for a moment, until Squall made another attempt to slash at the blond while he was preoccupied. However, as usual, Calik dodges that attack. Irritated, Squall kept at it, moving his sword from side to side, the noise of sword cutting through nothing but air, made him even more upset. Calik dodged every attack he could muster and nothing, other than the scar he gave him, could penetrate the fast moving, colours of gold from Calik's head. Squall wished his sword could cut his head in two, but what was the fun in that? He could injure him, bring him back to his castle and torture him some more, then maybe Balbadia and the rest of the world can hear his screams and the wrath of Duke Squall Leonhart.
After a couple more tries of giving no chance for Calik to attack, Squall finally had him cornered to a nearby tree, his sword pressed hard against Calik's identical blade. He could tell that the blond was getting tired the way he was breathing and Squall now knew, this was his chance. With his might, Squall swiped Calik's sword away with his own blade and the sword flew in the air and fell on the ground with a loud, 'thunk!'
"Now you will learn what it's like to face me!" Squall yelled, putting his sword over the blonde's head, ready to finish him off. However, before he could, he felt something cut through his skin. For a moment, he could feel his gut clenching as if the pain was just nothing, until he looked at himself. There was a sword through his stomach, struck from his back, his royal shirt now torn and wet from the blood that soaked through his skin. Squall gulped, his arms shaking, forcing him to drop his sword. He placed a hand on the blood, still unable to believe that he was stabbed. Squall got up and turned around slowly and couldn't believe what he was seeing. A figure approached him slowly and as Squall adjusted his eyes through the dark, he knew who it was the moment he noticed the figure's hand on the side of his stomach. It was the same wound he gave him as the sword slashed through it. Squall could not believe his eyes... then again, he was not surprised. Zell Dincht was a good soldier after all. For all the years he's been trained in Esthar, Zell knew how to handle situations such as surviving a deadly wound. Zell could have been a great Commander for his army. "Zell... how could you? How could you betray me?"
Zell's leaned his head back and laughed. A laugh that was so terrifying and contagious to Squall at the same time. He noticed Zell take another step towards him, his face now changed from a bitter smirk into a serious frown. "You're wrong, your highness. You're the one who betrayed me... your people and the rest of the world. I couldn't just stand by and watch you slaughter the innocence of children, of women and of men!"
Squall staggered towards him. Zell couldn't believe he was still standing and speaking. "You wretched boy! Aren't I your dear friend? Did not I trust you? Did not I feed you when you were living in the cold? I brought you in, trained you as a soldier and this is how you repay me?"
"I thank you for all that, your highness, however, that was not YOU. That was Squall- the real Squall. The one who would never kill anyone for a purpose to dominate the world. Squall would never destroy innocent lives for his own benefit. He did everything for his people and finished the works of his father that he could not finish."
"Zell..."
Zell gasped. He could hear Squall's voice. His REAL voice for the first time in months. He took a step forward, his own wound making him weak and vulnerable. Squall said his name once more and told him to come to him and hug him like they used to as kids. Zell took another step forward, until a voice snapped him out of his reverie.
It was Squall's voice. The voice that sounded like his real self, speaking somewhere in his mind. Now he understood. Now he knew where Squall was. He was gone. He has been dead all this time. The person speaking inside Squall's body had completely destroyed the real Squall and took over. Now he understood that Squall wanted him to kill his body.
Squall took a step towards the short blond, producing a small blade hidden from the side of his pants. Zell stood there, hesitant to finish him off. The brunette took another step. Then another and another, until he broke into a run towards the blond.
Calik shouted a warning, but it would be too late for that as Squall approached him. The tall blond stood up as fast as he could, grabbed his sword from the ground and launched towards the charging Duke. Like slow motion, Calik's sword cut through the same wound Zell had inflicted on Squall, Zell's sword cutting deeper into his chest. Squall screamed, blood pouring out of his mouth. Zell blinked, backing away from the scene that began to unfold in front of him.
Fire began to burn through Squall's body and at the same time, blood dripped on the ground like rain. A ray of light shone from Squall's eyes and before Zell and Calik could find their feet to run, Squall's body exploded and like magic, blood disappeared out of sight from where he had been destroyed, leaving only specks of dust on the floor. The swords they cut through the body fell on the ground together and at the same time, Zell and Calik collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath.
Zell sat on the opposite side of Calik and after relief flew through him, he glanced at the blond across from him. He was sure he had seen the man before, but he chose not to question him. Right now, the man needed time to rest.
Calik sighed, his breathing hard and his head spinning from everything that had happened. It took him a moment until he realized, that this man across from him could be the answer to his past, along with the woman who had called him, 'Seifer.' Maybe he was 'Seifer.' Without thinking, Calik glanced at the man and opened his mouth to speak. "Do you know who I am?" he asked, his eyes flooded with blood from the scar left on him by Squall.
Zell winced, the pain getting deeper and deeper into his gut. He could not answer. He was too tired to answer. He knew the man, but there was no memory of him inside of his head at the moment. He closed his eyes wearily, but the same question from the man's lips brought him back again. This time, after another patient wait, Zell nodded. "I might. I cannot see you in the dark, so it is difficult for me to see who you are."
"I believe you might know those two women who ran by here and rode off with my chocobbo with two children. One of them called me, 'Seifer...' Who is he? Is that I?" Calik did not understand why he was asking the other man this question. His instincts were catching up on him again. There was a possibility that this man knew those two women or might not, but he took the chance anyway.
The other man stood up quickly... too quickly, however, moaning when the pain got worst. He shook the thought away and focused more on who this man was. He was asking rather strange questions. Seifer... Seifer... I thought he was dead? He thought. Then, as he peered closer, he noticed blond hair and piercing green eyes and the same features as the Seifer long ago. "Who would have thought," he spoke, thinking he was talking to himself rather than the other blond man.
"Pardon me?" Calik spoke, furrowing his eyebrows in curiosity.
Zell shook his head and smiled. "I did not believe it at first that you were alive, but she kept on insisting that you were, kept on insisting the guards to search for you. I guess her hopes and prayers were answered after all. She must have been so happy when she saw you. You must have been too, Seifer."
Calik shook his head in the dark. "So, my name is Seifer... how can I be? My name is Calik. Maybe the man you are looking for IS dead."
The younger blond stared at him, puzzled by his words. He wanted to ask him what he meant by it, when another pain hit its mark. Zell winced and he heard himself moan from it.
"Your wound... how bad is it?" Zell heard the other man say. He could hear the man get up from the ground and walking towards him, hesitantly, yet sure that it was safe for him to come nearer to the unknown man.
The former soldier placed a hand over the wound and although he knew it did not stop the bleeding, he kept it there anyway and slowly stood up, the wound drowning him of his energy. "It seems Squall has hit me where it will bleed forever," was his only answer, before his knees buckled. Zell hit the ground once more and winced at the pain. He closed his eyes, hearing someone rip something. He looked up and noticed 'Calik' was ripping the bottom part of his shirt, and then putting it around Zell gently, like a mother rocking his baby. Zell was stunned. He assumed the Seifer he knew would never do such a thing to save him by sacrificing something to him. He never knew Seifer that well anyway.
Once finished, Calik leaned back on his knees and looked at the cloth around Zell's waist, as if an artist staring at his work of art. The blood continued to soak through his clothes and then through the cloth. "It will not stop the bleeding, but I know someone who can."
Zell was getting tired. He tired to close his eyes, but Calik's voice brought him back again to the living. Calik was telling him not to close his eyes and to keep focusing on him. The blond obeyed and he opened his eyes again, no matter how tired he was. He felt himself being lifted off the ground like paper, his arms being wrapped around someone's strong neck and his legs being forced to walk beside another set of feet. Zell looked and noticed Calik was helping him, lifting up both their swords on his shoulder as if they were nothing, but the weight of two feathers. He closed his eyes again, but this time, Zell did not wake up from Calik's voice, but by a sound he has never heard before.
It was a whistle.
"What- are you doing?" he spoke, finding his voice still. He was dragged along slowly towards the edge of the forest, but Zell could not tell exactly where they were.
He heard Calik speak, but his mind was too wounded from the previous fight and his thoughts were on Selphie, thinking what she would do now that he was going to die for good? She might have thought he died before, from the first fight he had with Squall, but Zell did not want to know the truth.
****************
"Heel! Heel!" she yelped. The yellow creature squawked and squealed, lifting up one leg to emphasize that he wanted to turn around and return to his owner. She didn't know what was wrong with it, but her son and Nadia could get hurt. She held on tightly to the reigns, placing a soft hand on the side of its neck to calm it down. It paused for a calm moment, and then came back to wildly kicking and screaming again. Another hand came around the chocobbo's neck, the two children still on top of the chocobo, Nadia's big round eyes, staring at the two women in fright. She was holding the baby in her arms so tightly, that Quistis was unsure whether to protect Russell from the Chocobo or from the death grip Nadia was giving him.
Selphie grasped tightly around the neck of the creature, whispering some words of gentleness towards it, but it kept on kicking and squawking stubbornly, telling them that he needed to get back to its owner. "Don't be stubborn!" Selphie screamed, her patience running away from her.
The chocobo would not obey. With one strong movement, the chocobo jumped up, the two children flying high in the air as Nadia screamed in terror. Selphie caught Nadia just before she could fall on the ground, the little girl's hands still around Russell. Without showing any kind of sympathy, the chocobo fled from the two women, leaving them both alone with the children. Quistis frantically ran to her baby, making sure her baby was all right and to her relief, he was still breathing and giggling. He thought that whole thing was funny, she thought. She could not help but smile to herself of that thought. He was just a baby, so of course he wouldn't understand anything...yet. Quistis could not comprehend on the chocobo's sudden change in mood. It seemed something was calling it. She had a feeling that they need not run anymore from whatever they were running from.
"Quistis? Shall we go on?" Selphie spoke. She took Nadia's hand and led her towards Quistis.
The blond woman looked up, smiled and nodded, taking the baby from Nadia's arms and wrapped her own arms around Russell. "Let's continue," she spoke.
"Hold on..." Startled, the two women turned around. The same chocobo that had run out on them, appeared from the darkness and on top of him sat two men, one holding his reigns, while the other...
"Zell?" Selphie's voice broke the air before she could figure out whom it was. She could recognize her lover even from a distance. Quistis understood that it was how love made them feel. Love made them feel connected and never separated.
Selphie let go of Nadia's hand and ran to her lover. She could not believe it. She knew he was alive. Happiness overclouded her judgment, as she ran to the two men. Zell had his head on the chocobo's head, as he sat legs apart on the creature. Seifer was straddled behind him, taking over the reigns. Selphie paused in her tracks and stared at the bloody figure sitting on front of Seifer. At first, she did not believe it was he from all the blood that soaked his face, but when she noticed the black tattoo at the side of his face, she realized it was he after all. She could no longer contain the emotions inside as she began to weep, burying her face in her hands. She could not look at him. He looked pained and hurt. He did no need this kind of torture. How has the Gods punished her? By almost losing the only person she loves the most twice! Maybe, this was his last day on Earth.
"If you wish to save his life, then I suggest you move aside so we can continue," came Seifer's voice. Selphie was startled by his choice of words, unsure how to respond to that. She was still in shock to see him, believing that he had died to what Squall had said. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Selphie looked up into the eyes of Quistis and nodded, taking a step to one side, followed by Quistis with Russell and Nadia.
Seifer clicked his tongue against the side of his cheek and the chocobo slowly made its trek through the dry grass of the empty plains. Quistis, Russell and Selphie, along with Nadia, followed behind, all trying to catch up with the speed of the chocobo, no matter how slow it was going.
Quistis looked up, her eye suddenly glazed over at the scar on Seifer's wound, bleeding. "Seifer! What has happened to your face?"
Calik said nothing, not caring whether it hurt the woman that he did not acknowledge her concern. He continued onward on the chocobo, without taking another look back at the scene that he dreaded to see again.
The blond woman sighed. She was never able to speak with Seifer about male pride and she certainly would not be able to break the wall through Calik's mind as well.
After a moment of silence, Calik was the first one to speak, breaking the cold, quiet air surrounding them. "The village is just ahead." He shook the wounded man out of his reverie and frowned. "You must stay awake for a few more steps, Zell. It would be a waste of time to come here with you dead."
Quistis looked up at Seifer's choice of words. Despite his identity as 'Calik,' she could not shake the feeling of the pain he must have gone through while trying to find out who he was. It was her fault she did not try hard enough to search for him. He was trying to deny his own identity of the man whom they say he was, but why? He did not believe them. He did not believe that he was Seifer? Why would he turn his own identity down? Did he know who he was, but just pretended that he had forgotten that he was Seifer? If he was just pretending, then what was his reason? To hurt her, or to make the pain in his heart go away by his guilt over betraying his best friend?
"Here we are," Seifer spoke, snapping Quistis out of her reverie. She must have stared at him for so long, because Seifer gave her a strange, meaningful look, before he had to turn his attention on a large, brown door, opening. Quistis watched as two men, dressed in all types of tunics and pants, approached them, and followed by a beautiful young woman her age, with short blond hair. Her eyes met Seifer's for a moment, then traveled as far as Zell's face, covered in blood. "Terris," Seifer spoke, as if she knew the woman for a long time.
"Calik..." They stared at each other for a moment.
They DID know each other for a long time, she thought to herself. She felt a pang of envy and sadness, thinking that they might have become lovers.
The women glanced at Quistis, at Selphie, the two children, and then back at Seifer again. "What is going on here?"
"Terris, please let us in. We need to bring this man inside to be treated. He is badly injured."
Terris glanced at the wounded man, then towards the two women. She gave Quistis a glance as if she wanted to say something to her. "We may be able to treat the wounded man, but we have never invited strangers in before," she spoke, looking back up at Seifer.
"What is going on here? What is all the ruckus?" Terris looked behind her, then stepped aside to let her father through the door. She glanced at the two men guarding the gate and nodded her head. The two men immediately opened the door wider.
"Father, we must bring a wounded man inside. He need help," she explained, nodding her head towards Zell.
Nero squinted his eyes, noticing the blond and his many wounds on the side of his stomach. Suddenly, his eyes grew round and wide in fear, and then motioned for his hand to bring the chocobo inside. "Quickly! He needs treatment right away."
Like magic, two men appeared, carrying with them some kind of bed made of buffalo skins and willow tree barks. It was fit to have a full-grown man on it, by the size of the bed, the handle thick and strong enough so the two men could lift someone up with no dilemma. Selphie watched as the tall blond man gently put her beloved down on the bed, Zell wincing and moaning in pain. Upon being placed on the buffalo skin bed, Selphie ran to him immediately, grasping her hands in between Zell's own.
"Zell, please be well for me," she whispered, resting her head to his heart. She felt his hand on her head, stroking it like a mother would and she sighed at his touch, knowing that he was still warm.
The blond opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he was being carried away. Selphie hung on to his hands, but the tall, large man had told her to let go so they could take him inside. Inside? Where? Zell began to panic. He did not know what the man was talking about? "Selphie...?"
Selphie nodded and smiled reassuringly. "It will be fine, Zell. You will be well for me." The blond watched her getting smaller in the distance as he was led inside a dark place, except for the one that they came through. As soon as they were all safely inside, followed by the large man wearing a mammoth hat, darkness completely surrounded them.
Quistis held tightly to her child, but was startled when she felt cold hands touching her arm. She looked up and noticed a woman taking her child away from her. She gasped, grasping much tighter than she intended to and looked at the woman strangely. "What are you doing?"
"It's okay, Quistis. She is a friend of mine. She will treat your child as your own. He needs to be checked in order to be safe," Seifer replied.
"Safe from what?" Quistis asked. The same woman took Nadia's hand, but, like Quistis, Selphie grasped on Nadia's tiny hand, shaking her head. The woman looked up and smiled, showing Selphie that she meant no harm. Nadia looked up at Selphie and smiled, as if she knew that this woman was telling the truth. Hesitantly, Selphie let go and the two children were led inside a small hut made of the same fabric from the bed the two men were carrying Zell on.
Another voice sparked the air, which sounded feminine and deep, much like the voice of Quistis' mother. Startled, they all turned to see the same woman with the short blond hair approaching them. "They need to make sure that no one from the outside bring disease here," she replied, not meaning to hurt anyone.
However, it offended Quistis and she gave the woman a hard look. The other woman ignored it and walked pass the two women towards Calik.
"Do not worry too much about him." Selphie turned around and noticed Seifer standing there. She nodded, knowing Seifer was right. "Nero will take care of him. He is a medicine man of this village and the chief. No harm will come to him."
Assured by his words, Selphie decided to find comfort in Quistis' arms, who stood there, confused by where they were. The blond woman wrapped her arms around the younger woman and glanced at Seifer, whose eyes was on the young woman they met earlier.
"Calik, I am glad you are safe. I thought you were harmed by the outsiders." She wrapped her arms around him and sighed; glad to be in the arms of the man she loves.
Seifer did not move, instead, he wrapped his arms around her and Quistis could see the hesitation in his body. Jealousy forced her to turn her head away from the scene, so she turned her attention towards her friend instead.
"Terris, why do you still wear this ring?" she heard Seifer say. Once she heard the word, 'ring,' Quistis looked up curiously, noticing Seifer lifting up Terris' hand, staring at a small, gold band around her middle finger.
"I wear this, for I still love you." The young woman looked up and stared into his eyes, moving closer to kiss him, but to Quistis' shock and surprise, Seifer turned his head away from her and shook his head.
"You may still love me, but my love for you is no longer with me," Seifer replied. He glanced at Quistis; his eyes on her and for a moment, the blond woman noticed the way he looked at her, just like how he gazed at her before he disappeared. She missed that look.
Terris glanced at the woman her beloved was staring at and watched as Seifer's eyes intently gazed into the blue eyes of the taller blond woman. "Calik? Who is that woman?" she spoke.
Calik shrugged. "She claims she knows who I am."
"Who you are?" Terris raised an eyebrow curiously. "You are Calik, of course."
"You found me in the forest, Terris, I am not Calik. Your father chose to call me that when I told him I did not know who I was." He nodded at the other blonde, as she turned her head away from him. "She seems to know who I am." Calik smirked, realizing that she has been watching him all this time.
Terris felt a pang of jealousy towards the blond woman. She gripped her hands tightly on to Calik's shirt, unaware that she was also gripping a part of his skin. Calik jerked his arm away and looked at her strangely. The blond girl looked up with a sorry gaze and Calik just sighed and nodded, accepting her apology. They both turned back towards Quistis.
Quistis sighed. The conversation, as she listened, was getting rather awkward for her. They were both staring at her. She looked down on Selphie's head and stroked her short, brown hair softly, whispering kind words to her ear to ignore the stares towards her.
"I do not know what I would do if I lost him again," Selphie spoke, her voice hollow and shaking as she buried her face close to her friend's heart.
Quistis shook her head. "Do not think of that, Selphie. Thinking like that will only make your feelings worst for him. You must think of him alive and well and in your arms again."
Selphie nodded and looked up with a tear-struck face. "Thank you so much, your highness," she spoke, calling Quistis by her class.
The blond shook her head. "What have I told you by calling me that? I am no longer a ruler of a kingdom still standing, remember?"
The brunette nodded. "I understand." She wiped her tears with her arm and glanced towards the gate. For a moment, she stood there, staring at the front gate to where they had stepped in. Quistis was ready to say something, when Selphie spoke again. "I need to be alone for a while. I will ask someone who knows of a place where I can watch the sunset from here," she said, without looking at Quistis.
Quistis nodded, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Of course," she replied.
Without another word, she left the blond standing there and went to someone close by to ask of a quiet place. Quistis watched worriedly, afraid that something might happen to her, but she need not worry so much. That's right, Quistis, do not worry, she told herself. Sighing, she looked around the place and wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly, it was getting cold.
Calik watched the blond woman curiously. "Terris," he spoke, after a quiet moment. He waited until he felt Terris looking up at him. "Bring her some warm clothing," he spoke, without glancing her way.
Disappointing, Terris sighed and nodded. "I may have some. I will be right back." She left Calik alone, standing in the dark to a small hut just North of the village and came back later with two sets of wolf skin sheets that could warm four people at the same time. She handed them to Calik, knowing full well that he wanted to give them to her.
Taking the wolf skins from Terris' hands, he approached Quistis quietly, opened one wide and placed them around Quistis' shoulders. The blond woman looked up, startled. "Thank you," she whispered, blushing. She need not blush. She knew this was Seifer, but this was not Seifer. This was Calik, a stranger to her and she was a stranger to him. Oh, how she wished she could embrace him again, but not with the woman watching them.
Calik nodded. "You need plenty of rest," he spoke. "Your child will be cleaned and be brought to you by morning and I am certain that Zell and Selphie will be with each other again."
Quistis looked up, waiting for another sentence to escape his lips, such as, "And I will come with you as well, to be with you and our child, forever. We will find a place to live so our son can grow into a good man." However, he turned around quietly, leaving her stunned. She watched him walk pass the other woman and into the tent where Zell was taken inside. She stared at where he disappeared for a moment, then her eyes danced towards the other woman on the other side of the pool of puddle that formed during the rainy days on the land about two days ago. Terris was staring at her intently and Quistis felt overwhelmed by her constant watch. She turned her head away from her and looked around, then glanced at the tent where her child disappeared. She wished Seifer knew of their child. She wished Calik knew of their child. She wished Calik remembered who he was.
Terris eyed her suspiciously. She will not get him, she thought. She clenched her fists at her sides and glanced at tend where the woman's baby was. Terris grinned and nodded. 'I will make you see how much Calik means to me!' her mind spoke.
GoodGurl: Wooh! That was a long one. Heh heh. Oh well, at least I have this chapter done! Wow, Squall's dead, eh? I guess that whole thing explains why he went crazy. It was obvious tho, since I revealed about the red headed woman in the beginning. Anyway, what will happen next? Will Seifer come to Quistis and be 'Seifer' again instead of Calik? Or is there something up Terris' sleeve that will become more deadly than just blond hair and blue eyes? And has Quistis accepted Seifer's new change in his identity, that is why she is no longer pushing Calik that he was Seifer?