Disclaimer: I would rather eat my own leg in barbecue sauce rather than
lying to you. And I don't own them. Some minor videogame company does.
Kurse them.
(~I~)
Chapter 4: Wing of reunion
Quistis sighed and laid a delicate hand on Seifer's forehead, sitting beside her ex-lover on the dirty bed he had slept on for nearly a month now. Afraid by how thin he had become, she had spread one of her green and red wing over his body to keep him warm. She had been told more than once of the lamentable state he was in. But the reality had hit her harder than any spell. Seifer had once been a tall, muscled warrior, with nothing but strength and willpower emanating from him, but now only the bones and skin remained. His arms, which had killed T-Rexaurs after T-Rexaurs and protected a sorceress, where half as muscled as they used to be, and un- esthetically planted in weak shoulders. Strange wine-colored marks seemed to have grown all over him, thankfully stopping before his face, which was now dug with various, deep marks of past battles and pain. Under his eyes, the flesh had turned a strange mix of garnet and violet.
"You know you might get in real trouble for this." Beth's hard voice cut through her morbid contemplation of the soon-to-be cadaver.
"Not if you keep it private." She replied, a bit of her old instructor tone sneaking in.
"Why would I? We told you to stay the hell out!" Beth's short temper kicked in.
"He was my boyfriend and my lover and I am the reason he ended up this wreck. Plus, I am the key to his redemption, which I don't believe is negligible. I think it is just fair that I can take part in this."
"Oh yes, we might need you again to make him pass out when we're about to tell something important. Want a contract?"
"Beth." Fanny's authoritarian voice rang. Beth gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry. Can't help myself."
"Quistis, you disobeyed but we won't tell anything. Just try not to interfere in what will be coming."
"I thought he would be less aggressive with me around. He always. restrained himself when we were together."
"You thought. Hyne Quis, we're not alone in this mess!"
"Beth." Fanny cut again before her friend went overboard again. "What's done is done. Let's wait for him to wake up and get over with it."
As if summoned by Fanny's sentence, Seifer's body stirred and tensed under Quistis' feathery protection. A small moan escaped his lip when he felt Quistis' hand slide down his forehead to his right cheek, then settle on his shoulder. He opened his eyes briefly, but quickly closed them again when he saw her face just above his, and the bright feathers covering his body, and without any doubt attached to her. As much as he had wished to see her again, he discovered he wanted nothing more than her to go away. Her presence was only a harsh memo of his failure. Helpless, Seifer watched the last restrain of his mind breaks, and the memories flowed back like a spring river.
(~I~)
Flashback#2 Balamb Garden
Shower and clothing later, they had finally gotten around to leaving his dorm, and headed to the cafeteria where the rest of the gang usually hang out when not training or in mission. Since their memories had been partially restored by giving up junctionning, they had learned to know each other and even successfully built a friendship, which was quite easy for some, as for Selphie and Quistis, but harder for others such as Seifer and Zell. The two boys didn't talked a lot to each other, in fact, but when both drunk, they had no particular problems finding common points.
The sunlit hallway was full of chatting students and Instructors, most of them having a significant other near but not allowed as much as Seifer and Quistis to openly display their affection. Being a hero sure helped Quistis get away with breaking the non-dating rule, even though people still dispised her boyfriend. Most people nodded to Quistis, but ignored Seifer. He didn't cared the slightliest bit. Even though his participation in the whole Ultimecia fiasco was no longer held against him, most people in Garden, including the instructors, believed him to be a traitor, and treated him like one. His grades has taken a downward arc since long ago, until Cid himself had to take a stand for Seifer, and decided to give him the SeeD rank 6, not nearly enough and rather insulting considering his long and proven experience with gunblade, war and leadership-he had, after all, led Galbadia Garden's troops to attack Balamb and almost succeeded in taking over the place. But Seifer stopped being the scapegoat as soon as his rank over-lapped any of his detractor's, and he no longer had to attend classes.
In the cafeteria, crowded as always at this time of the day, they immediately spotted the others from the orphanage gang, and joined the always reserved seats, as none of the other kids in Garden dared to join the war heroes. They sat and chatted for a while, Seifer always choosing the most embarrassing moments to slide his hand against her blonde love's butt, or lick at her neck, in the sole purpose of seeing her creamy complexion flush with embarrassment or, even better, to pick a fight with her. He loved to hear her yell at him. She has such a beautiful voice, and she was just more passionate afterwards.
Seifer's hand was roughly slapped away from the cleavage he was slowly but surely getting to, and a delicate but steely grasp closed around his returning hard-on. The girly squeak resulting made the friends laugh harder, and the curious glances of hundreds of young virgin eyes turn over to him. This time, he blushed, and hard. He finished his breakfast in a run, and fled from the cafeteria to hide his shame in the training center. Quistis watched him disappear with a slight smile, knowing her hot-headed boyfriend would need to vent his humiliation for a good hour before returning to her in 'Teddy bear' mode. She and Selphie refilled their coffee mug and went on chatting about the neverending trails of rumors around Garden.
Meanwhile, Seifer had ran to the deserted training center-it was Saturday morning, after all- and quickly changed before dumping his body in the grassy mudpit, in search of a group of grats or- if he had any luck- a T- Rexaur. His GF, Doomtrain, was trained enough and rarely missed his attacks. Besides, Seifer needed the biggest challenge he could find. His manliness had been scratched, after all. He trekked the area for a good hour and a half, killing everything that standed in his way with relative easy, growing more and more annoyed of only getting stupid grats and their totally inefficient sleep spells.
That's why went the reverberation of a loud growl came from his right, from deep inside a patch of overgrown water grass that was beginning to look like a forest, the ex-knight merely smiled his most evil smile and dove through the hostile vegetation, his high boots diving in the soft, tricky ground with a sucking sound. With a hand, he pushed aside the thick layer of grass masking his vision, while he kept Hyperion straight with the other, in the 'ready' position he liked to display in combat. Adrenaline flooded his every muscles as another growl came from ahead, this time a lot louder, and seeming distorted. Scratching and breathing noises followed, and then Seifer noticed what, aside from the strange growling sound, wasn't exactly right. The air around him had started to heat up quickly, like a fire had been lit and a strong wind-impossible in the closed building- swept it to him. And the so-called wind smelled like burnt hair and sulphur. Definitely wrong, and Seifer's senses were now screaming at him to turn his feet in the opposite direction, get away from the center quick and alarm the SeeDs.
As always, ego won over logic, and the blonde man pushed aside the annoying thoughts to focus on the main act-that creature that needed to be destroyed, and by him, only him, of course. His heart leapt with mixed fear and joy when the breathing sound actually blew a puff of the acrid smell directly in his face, shoving his hair back. The warrior in him made his pace increase, and cut short the last high plants that hid the enemy.
But only the man in him faced, wide-eyed, the enormous Ruby Dragon that feasted on the remains of a T-Rexaur. The monster was truly huge, a lot bigger than any other Ruby Dragons he had seen. How such a monster could have entered the training center was a complete mystery, and Seifer couldn't care less about hypothesis. The beast had lifted his beautiful, ferocious head from his victim, dripping with a river of crimson. His yellow eyes flared with uncontrolled hate. Seifer's body instantly drenched with cold sweat. He lifted his weapon in a defensive position, summoned his GF and prepared his reflexes, ready to dodge any low blows from the monster. Doomtrain's strength filled him with confidence. He would win this battle.
The couples first blows were easy to dodge, the monster trying to use its tail as a whip to take him down. Of course, Seifer has more than a little experienced with whips. Doomtrain roared and unleashed his first attack, and successfully knocked the crimson beast unconscious. The huge body fell forward. Knowing any physical attack would wake it up, Seifer concentrated and cast blizzagas after blizzagas and even used his last aura spell on himself before unleashing Bloodfest, almost sure the extremely powerful blow would kill the dragon on the spot.
Surprisingly, it only woke him up, and made him furious from the pain of the countless gashes on his scaly body. Just how much HP this beast had, Seifer had no idea. While dodging several infuriated blows, the blonde man found the time and will-power to cast a scan spell on his opponent, and almost fainted in shock when he found out his attacks had taken a stupidly small amount of HP from the monster. He had to run, his conscience screamed at him. But he stayed. Just as he regained his bearings, he heard the familiar sniffing noise echoing through the place- the dragon casting 'breath' with all his lungs' power, and he was all alone against it. He stood waiting for the burning wave to hit him, fell back screaming from pain and casted curaga on himself, then called Doomtrain again.
That's when he heard the high-pitched shriek coming from behind him.
(~I~)
Quistis had been worried seeing that his lover wasn't back from the training center after 2 hours, so she did the only thing that made sense for her: she took Save the Queen and headed for the large battle area. Following Seifer's path wasn't hard at all, considering the emptiness of the place and the close noises of fighting to her right. Without an afterthought, she launched herself.
(~I~)
Seifer couldn't believe his own eyes when he saw his blonde love jump out of the grass and join him just as Doomtrain finished his attack-only succeeding on casting poison on the beast. Quistis' eyes widened at the sight of the opponent, and she quickly cast aura on herself before attempting Degenerator on him. As Seifer expected, the powerful magic missed the even more powerful monster. Distantly, he heard Quistis yelling at him, telling him to just give up and run away, and alert the others. Even more distantly, he heard himself replying her not to worry about him, to run away herself. At that exact moment, the huge tail hit the roof and shattered it like a sand castle, blocks of cement and steel bars falling down on them both. Quistis cried in pain as a block hit her shoulder, but didn't leave. All the snow gathered on the roof fell on them, creating an eerie sight of fiery red shrouded in white, something like a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
Seifer now knew he had been unforgivably stupid not to run on the first place. But it was too late. The monster was angry enough to run after him if he did, and would endanger the whole Garden if Seifer led him out of the training center.
He heard his girlfriend talk and saw in the corner of his eyes the walkie- talkie she carried everywhere, just in case. She was calling the SeeDs for help. Meanwhile, the claws and tail were flying at him. Seifer got Quistis out of his mind and focused on avoiding the blows, and preparing Doomtrain's next attack.
That's when it happened.
Between the still falling blocks, and the cries of Quistis trying to get him to retreat and wait for the other SeeDs, the dragon roared it's madness and threw it's large head at him, intending to rip him in two. Seifer's heart stopped beating, everything went slow motion. In a desperate move, he swept his gunblade at the nearing open mouth, staring wide-eyed at the enormous, blood-splattered teeth. The blade sliced through the unprotected skin of his mouth, the beast jumped back in pain, the primal roar quickly fading into another one, as loud but high-pitched, human, feminine.
Turning toward the voice he saw what he had done, his gunblade embedded in her narrow throat, milky delicate skin sliced open and splattered with blood. Her head had been almost severed from the blow. The blade fell to the floor, followed by her. She died within seconds, but her eyes kept blinking for a while, staring at his own.
Somewhere behind us, the stomping of several feet turned the dragon's attention from them both. Quistis laid on the melting snow, his face cradled in his large hand. Seifer cast curaga after curaga on her, not believing a second she could be already dead. Once dry of the curative magic, he proceeded to throw every piece of medicine he had on him, including phoenix down, and the two phoenix pinions he had. But the reviving items couldn't repair severed members, and her head was almost detached from her spine.
He got up and ran. He left her lifeless form and ran, out of the training center, out of the main gate, out of Balamb Garden.
(~I~)
"I remember that day." He muttered under his breath. "I worked so hard to forget it. I don't want to have you near, Quis. Not unless I can hold you."
Quistis sighed and looked at the two other angels. "You can hold me."
"And then you will disappear. Don't think I am stupid, Quis. You're dead. I killed you. This is not you."
"He's right about it, sadly." Fanny said. "But you will have to endure each other's presence for a while. The reason why we kept Quistis away from it all was to prevent you from losing your control. I have to admit fainting was far from what we had expected."
"Blame it on the tumor then." Seifer replied bitterly. "Beside, I refuse to stay in her company. I-"
"You will have to, sweetheart." Beth cut. "She is the key to your future freedom in death. You and her will have to lay down a bit."
"The days Quistis died, she was pregnant." Fanny took over. "Pregnant with a child that was destined to have quite an incredible fate."
Seifer thought he would explode from the sheer shock. Quistis couldn't have been pregnant! She had, like every other SeeD, to receive a contraceptive shot every month to prevent such things. They had decided not to have kids, feeling their lives would never be stable enough to allow a kid to grow up happily and securely.
"We know about the contraceptive." Fanny explained his thoughts, smiling. "They were quite annoyed when you decided not to have children. Time was not on our side. So they had to perform a little biologic trick. Nothing hard when you rule the world, you know?"
"So you can imagine their high annoyance when she died." Beth continued. "Some people think deaths are planned by Fate. In fact, that's the only thing nobody up there can plan. We plan your life and your afterlife, but the portal between them is the only place left to chaos. Isn't it strange?"
"Indeed." Quistis smiled weakly, but Seifer stayed frozen.
"Anyway." Fanny took back the lead. "We needed the child. He was to inherit his mother magical abilities, and his father hot-headed power. Eventually, he was to lead Balamb and Eshtar Gardens reunited and defeat Shumi insurrection."
"Shumi insurrection??" Seifer half barked, half laughed. "How can these fish-men direct an insurrection? They are the most pacifics people in the world!"
"That's what they pretend. Who can blame big fat men looking like huge trouts? But deep down in their village they are training moombas for war."
"Moombas?" Seifer laughed so hard tears flowed down his face. The image of an army of furry red teddy bears squeaking 'Laguna!' while taking over the world was too funny to resist.
"Moombas are highest forms of Shumi body. They may not look like it because of their child-like innocence and unability to speak human language, but trained properly their learning rate is four times superior to human rate, and their handling of magical abilities, 8 times. They have the unique ability to reverberate a magic spell, making the damages up to ten times higher than the usual spell. Trust me, with enough moombas, Shumi can take over Gaia and turn it into their personal playground. And they will, if nothing stand on their path."
"And it would be our.son's duty?"
"Yep. People tends to believe that several persons can have the same abilities, so they will choose someone else to lead Garden. But only your son would have the unique mix of your life essence, that makes him perfect for the job. All others will fail."
"So.we're doomed?"
"No. They apparently don't want the Shumis to rule Gaia. Apparently Shumi scientists are experimenting cloning and 'enhancing' techniques on humans and Shumis, and that bothers them. They allowed Quistis to return to her old human self, the time to conceive and carry a children again. And that is where you enter the scene, my friend."
Seifer's mood instantly darkened to the point of homicidal ideas. If only they weren't already deads.
"Are you insinuating I will have to play a mere sperm donor to earn my afterlife?"
"Well that's pretty much the idea."
"And I won't even live long enough to see my son?"
"No."
"This is so fucking sick!" Seifer's body sprung out of the bed, but quickly slid down to the ground, his legs no longer supporting his weight.
"Indeed."
"And you, you aren't saying anything?" He yelled to Quistis as she was trying to pull his limp body back on the bed.
"I've accepted my fate long ago." She whispered. "I suggest you do the same."
"I never believed in fate! I never-"
Quistis could tell the exact moment Seifer's mind went overload, when the disconstructed trail of thoughts about life, death and love started spinning. Before she had the time to smack him and break lunatic phase, Seifer was unconscious again.
Beth smacked her forehead. "Damn not again? Hyne forgive me, but I hate this man."
"He's too weak to handle all this." Quistis whispered, still holding the limp body."
"He won't survive fucking in this health state for sure. Well, as long as he gets to co-" Beth grumbled, but quickly cut the end of his sentence with Fanny's death glare.
"Quis, you're going human tomorrow at sunrise. Then we won't be allowed to interfere anymore. Think you can handle the task?"
"Yeah. Of course"
"Great. You know the hotel and the room?"
"Yeah."
"Then good luck." Both angels kissed the blonde goodbye, and flew out of the window, in the sun's direction whose glittering rays soon swallowed them.
"Just like the old days..." She told the walls. Her heavy wings sprang out of their sheath and she gathered Seifer's body in her arms.
(~I~)
Beth and Fanny briefly fled over the crowded streets to find themselves sitting on the rocks just above sea level, their feet dangling in the water although not really registering the feel of it.
Beth sighed loudly and searched through her thin layer of clothes, before pulling out a pack of cigarettes-Ifrit's Choice, her favorites- and a lighter.
"Still can't get over that bad habit, can't you?" Fanny smiled beside her.
"Ah fuck off, will you?" Beth sneered back, cigarette in mouth. She inhaled a long, delightful drag. "Damn it feels good" She murmured holding the smoke in her lungs.
"You can conjure a cig in your fingers just by concentrating on it, why do you still choose to go down on Gaia and buy your packs yourselves?"
"Because smoking it is the last typical human thing I remember how to do." Beth whispered, lovingly eyeing the burning stick.
"Not true," Fanny playfully poked her friend's shoulder and conjured a bottle of deep amber liquid. Beth read the label.
"PuPu's UFO Drink?"
"Yep, 'Will make you see stars wherever you are'!"
"Hyne."
"Come on, you remember how to drink?" Fanny winked.
"Sure."
"Let's celebrate our victory over Seifer Almasy, then."
Beth accepted the large bottle and downed a substancial amount of the burning liquid, grimacing at the forgotten feel or alcohol sliding down her throat.
"Why," She murmured against the bottle's neck, "Do I have the funny feeling we shouldn't celebrate too quickly."
(~I~)
Wohooo! Damn my angels are perverted :)
(~I~)
Chapter 4: Wing of reunion
Quistis sighed and laid a delicate hand on Seifer's forehead, sitting beside her ex-lover on the dirty bed he had slept on for nearly a month now. Afraid by how thin he had become, she had spread one of her green and red wing over his body to keep him warm. She had been told more than once of the lamentable state he was in. But the reality had hit her harder than any spell. Seifer had once been a tall, muscled warrior, with nothing but strength and willpower emanating from him, but now only the bones and skin remained. His arms, which had killed T-Rexaurs after T-Rexaurs and protected a sorceress, where half as muscled as they used to be, and un- esthetically planted in weak shoulders. Strange wine-colored marks seemed to have grown all over him, thankfully stopping before his face, which was now dug with various, deep marks of past battles and pain. Under his eyes, the flesh had turned a strange mix of garnet and violet.
"You know you might get in real trouble for this." Beth's hard voice cut through her morbid contemplation of the soon-to-be cadaver.
"Not if you keep it private." She replied, a bit of her old instructor tone sneaking in.
"Why would I? We told you to stay the hell out!" Beth's short temper kicked in.
"He was my boyfriend and my lover and I am the reason he ended up this wreck. Plus, I am the key to his redemption, which I don't believe is negligible. I think it is just fair that I can take part in this."
"Oh yes, we might need you again to make him pass out when we're about to tell something important. Want a contract?"
"Beth." Fanny's authoritarian voice rang. Beth gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry. Can't help myself."
"Quistis, you disobeyed but we won't tell anything. Just try not to interfere in what will be coming."
"I thought he would be less aggressive with me around. He always. restrained himself when we were together."
"You thought. Hyne Quis, we're not alone in this mess!"
"Beth." Fanny cut again before her friend went overboard again. "What's done is done. Let's wait for him to wake up and get over with it."
As if summoned by Fanny's sentence, Seifer's body stirred and tensed under Quistis' feathery protection. A small moan escaped his lip when he felt Quistis' hand slide down his forehead to his right cheek, then settle on his shoulder. He opened his eyes briefly, but quickly closed them again when he saw her face just above his, and the bright feathers covering his body, and without any doubt attached to her. As much as he had wished to see her again, he discovered he wanted nothing more than her to go away. Her presence was only a harsh memo of his failure. Helpless, Seifer watched the last restrain of his mind breaks, and the memories flowed back like a spring river.
(~I~)
Flashback#2 Balamb Garden
Shower and clothing later, they had finally gotten around to leaving his dorm, and headed to the cafeteria where the rest of the gang usually hang out when not training or in mission. Since their memories had been partially restored by giving up junctionning, they had learned to know each other and even successfully built a friendship, which was quite easy for some, as for Selphie and Quistis, but harder for others such as Seifer and Zell. The two boys didn't talked a lot to each other, in fact, but when both drunk, they had no particular problems finding common points.
The sunlit hallway was full of chatting students and Instructors, most of them having a significant other near but not allowed as much as Seifer and Quistis to openly display their affection. Being a hero sure helped Quistis get away with breaking the non-dating rule, even though people still dispised her boyfriend. Most people nodded to Quistis, but ignored Seifer. He didn't cared the slightliest bit. Even though his participation in the whole Ultimecia fiasco was no longer held against him, most people in Garden, including the instructors, believed him to be a traitor, and treated him like one. His grades has taken a downward arc since long ago, until Cid himself had to take a stand for Seifer, and decided to give him the SeeD rank 6, not nearly enough and rather insulting considering his long and proven experience with gunblade, war and leadership-he had, after all, led Galbadia Garden's troops to attack Balamb and almost succeeded in taking over the place. But Seifer stopped being the scapegoat as soon as his rank over-lapped any of his detractor's, and he no longer had to attend classes.
In the cafeteria, crowded as always at this time of the day, they immediately spotted the others from the orphanage gang, and joined the always reserved seats, as none of the other kids in Garden dared to join the war heroes. They sat and chatted for a while, Seifer always choosing the most embarrassing moments to slide his hand against her blonde love's butt, or lick at her neck, in the sole purpose of seeing her creamy complexion flush with embarrassment or, even better, to pick a fight with her. He loved to hear her yell at him. She has such a beautiful voice, and she was just more passionate afterwards.
Seifer's hand was roughly slapped away from the cleavage he was slowly but surely getting to, and a delicate but steely grasp closed around his returning hard-on. The girly squeak resulting made the friends laugh harder, and the curious glances of hundreds of young virgin eyes turn over to him. This time, he blushed, and hard. He finished his breakfast in a run, and fled from the cafeteria to hide his shame in the training center. Quistis watched him disappear with a slight smile, knowing her hot-headed boyfriend would need to vent his humiliation for a good hour before returning to her in 'Teddy bear' mode. She and Selphie refilled their coffee mug and went on chatting about the neverending trails of rumors around Garden.
Meanwhile, Seifer had ran to the deserted training center-it was Saturday morning, after all- and quickly changed before dumping his body in the grassy mudpit, in search of a group of grats or- if he had any luck- a T- Rexaur. His GF, Doomtrain, was trained enough and rarely missed his attacks. Besides, Seifer needed the biggest challenge he could find. His manliness had been scratched, after all. He trekked the area for a good hour and a half, killing everything that standed in his way with relative easy, growing more and more annoyed of only getting stupid grats and their totally inefficient sleep spells.
That's why went the reverberation of a loud growl came from his right, from deep inside a patch of overgrown water grass that was beginning to look like a forest, the ex-knight merely smiled his most evil smile and dove through the hostile vegetation, his high boots diving in the soft, tricky ground with a sucking sound. With a hand, he pushed aside the thick layer of grass masking his vision, while he kept Hyperion straight with the other, in the 'ready' position he liked to display in combat. Adrenaline flooded his every muscles as another growl came from ahead, this time a lot louder, and seeming distorted. Scratching and breathing noises followed, and then Seifer noticed what, aside from the strange growling sound, wasn't exactly right. The air around him had started to heat up quickly, like a fire had been lit and a strong wind-impossible in the closed building- swept it to him. And the so-called wind smelled like burnt hair and sulphur. Definitely wrong, and Seifer's senses were now screaming at him to turn his feet in the opposite direction, get away from the center quick and alarm the SeeDs.
As always, ego won over logic, and the blonde man pushed aside the annoying thoughts to focus on the main act-that creature that needed to be destroyed, and by him, only him, of course. His heart leapt with mixed fear and joy when the breathing sound actually blew a puff of the acrid smell directly in his face, shoving his hair back. The warrior in him made his pace increase, and cut short the last high plants that hid the enemy.
But only the man in him faced, wide-eyed, the enormous Ruby Dragon that feasted on the remains of a T-Rexaur. The monster was truly huge, a lot bigger than any other Ruby Dragons he had seen. How such a monster could have entered the training center was a complete mystery, and Seifer couldn't care less about hypothesis. The beast had lifted his beautiful, ferocious head from his victim, dripping with a river of crimson. His yellow eyes flared with uncontrolled hate. Seifer's body instantly drenched with cold sweat. He lifted his weapon in a defensive position, summoned his GF and prepared his reflexes, ready to dodge any low blows from the monster. Doomtrain's strength filled him with confidence. He would win this battle.
The couples first blows were easy to dodge, the monster trying to use its tail as a whip to take him down. Of course, Seifer has more than a little experienced with whips. Doomtrain roared and unleashed his first attack, and successfully knocked the crimson beast unconscious. The huge body fell forward. Knowing any physical attack would wake it up, Seifer concentrated and cast blizzagas after blizzagas and even used his last aura spell on himself before unleashing Bloodfest, almost sure the extremely powerful blow would kill the dragon on the spot.
Surprisingly, it only woke him up, and made him furious from the pain of the countless gashes on his scaly body. Just how much HP this beast had, Seifer had no idea. While dodging several infuriated blows, the blonde man found the time and will-power to cast a scan spell on his opponent, and almost fainted in shock when he found out his attacks had taken a stupidly small amount of HP from the monster. He had to run, his conscience screamed at him. But he stayed. Just as he regained his bearings, he heard the familiar sniffing noise echoing through the place- the dragon casting 'breath' with all his lungs' power, and he was all alone against it. He stood waiting for the burning wave to hit him, fell back screaming from pain and casted curaga on himself, then called Doomtrain again.
That's when he heard the high-pitched shriek coming from behind him.
(~I~)
Quistis had been worried seeing that his lover wasn't back from the training center after 2 hours, so she did the only thing that made sense for her: she took Save the Queen and headed for the large battle area. Following Seifer's path wasn't hard at all, considering the emptiness of the place and the close noises of fighting to her right. Without an afterthought, she launched herself.
(~I~)
Seifer couldn't believe his own eyes when he saw his blonde love jump out of the grass and join him just as Doomtrain finished his attack-only succeeding on casting poison on the beast. Quistis' eyes widened at the sight of the opponent, and she quickly cast aura on herself before attempting Degenerator on him. As Seifer expected, the powerful magic missed the even more powerful monster. Distantly, he heard Quistis yelling at him, telling him to just give up and run away, and alert the others. Even more distantly, he heard himself replying her not to worry about him, to run away herself. At that exact moment, the huge tail hit the roof and shattered it like a sand castle, blocks of cement and steel bars falling down on them both. Quistis cried in pain as a block hit her shoulder, but didn't leave. All the snow gathered on the roof fell on them, creating an eerie sight of fiery red shrouded in white, something like a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
Seifer now knew he had been unforgivably stupid not to run on the first place. But it was too late. The monster was angry enough to run after him if he did, and would endanger the whole Garden if Seifer led him out of the training center.
He heard his girlfriend talk and saw in the corner of his eyes the walkie- talkie she carried everywhere, just in case. She was calling the SeeDs for help. Meanwhile, the claws and tail were flying at him. Seifer got Quistis out of his mind and focused on avoiding the blows, and preparing Doomtrain's next attack.
That's when it happened.
Between the still falling blocks, and the cries of Quistis trying to get him to retreat and wait for the other SeeDs, the dragon roared it's madness and threw it's large head at him, intending to rip him in two. Seifer's heart stopped beating, everything went slow motion. In a desperate move, he swept his gunblade at the nearing open mouth, staring wide-eyed at the enormous, blood-splattered teeth. The blade sliced through the unprotected skin of his mouth, the beast jumped back in pain, the primal roar quickly fading into another one, as loud but high-pitched, human, feminine.
Turning toward the voice he saw what he had done, his gunblade embedded in her narrow throat, milky delicate skin sliced open and splattered with blood. Her head had been almost severed from the blow. The blade fell to the floor, followed by her. She died within seconds, but her eyes kept blinking for a while, staring at his own.
Somewhere behind us, the stomping of several feet turned the dragon's attention from them both. Quistis laid on the melting snow, his face cradled in his large hand. Seifer cast curaga after curaga on her, not believing a second she could be already dead. Once dry of the curative magic, he proceeded to throw every piece of medicine he had on him, including phoenix down, and the two phoenix pinions he had. But the reviving items couldn't repair severed members, and her head was almost detached from her spine.
He got up and ran. He left her lifeless form and ran, out of the training center, out of the main gate, out of Balamb Garden.
(~I~)
"I remember that day." He muttered under his breath. "I worked so hard to forget it. I don't want to have you near, Quis. Not unless I can hold you."
Quistis sighed and looked at the two other angels. "You can hold me."
"And then you will disappear. Don't think I am stupid, Quis. You're dead. I killed you. This is not you."
"He's right about it, sadly." Fanny said. "But you will have to endure each other's presence for a while. The reason why we kept Quistis away from it all was to prevent you from losing your control. I have to admit fainting was far from what we had expected."
"Blame it on the tumor then." Seifer replied bitterly. "Beside, I refuse to stay in her company. I-"
"You will have to, sweetheart." Beth cut. "She is the key to your future freedom in death. You and her will have to lay down a bit."
"The days Quistis died, she was pregnant." Fanny took over. "Pregnant with a child that was destined to have quite an incredible fate."
Seifer thought he would explode from the sheer shock. Quistis couldn't have been pregnant! She had, like every other SeeD, to receive a contraceptive shot every month to prevent such things. They had decided not to have kids, feeling their lives would never be stable enough to allow a kid to grow up happily and securely.
"We know about the contraceptive." Fanny explained his thoughts, smiling. "They were quite annoyed when you decided not to have children. Time was not on our side. So they had to perform a little biologic trick. Nothing hard when you rule the world, you know?"
"So you can imagine their high annoyance when she died." Beth continued. "Some people think deaths are planned by Fate. In fact, that's the only thing nobody up there can plan. We plan your life and your afterlife, but the portal between them is the only place left to chaos. Isn't it strange?"
"Indeed." Quistis smiled weakly, but Seifer stayed frozen.
"Anyway." Fanny took back the lead. "We needed the child. He was to inherit his mother magical abilities, and his father hot-headed power. Eventually, he was to lead Balamb and Eshtar Gardens reunited and defeat Shumi insurrection."
"Shumi insurrection??" Seifer half barked, half laughed. "How can these fish-men direct an insurrection? They are the most pacifics people in the world!"
"That's what they pretend. Who can blame big fat men looking like huge trouts? But deep down in their village they are training moombas for war."
"Moombas?" Seifer laughed so hard tears flowed down his face. The image of an army of furry red teddy bears squeaking 'Laguna!' while taking over the world was too funny to resist.
"Moombas are highest forms of Shumi body. They may not look like it because of their child-like innocence and unability to speak human language, but trained properly their learning rate is four times superior to human rate, and their handling of magical abilities, 8 times. They have the unique ability to reverberate a magic spell, making the damages up to ten times higher than the usual spell. Trust me, with enough moombas, Shumi can take over Gaia and turn it into their personal playground. And they will, if nothing stand on their path."
"And it would be our.son's duty?"
"Yep. People tends to believe that several persons can have the same abilities, so they will choose someone else to lead Garden. But only your son would have the unique mix of your life essence, that makes him perfect for the job. All others will fail."
"So.we're doomed?"
"No. They apparently don't want the Shumis to rule Gaia. Apparently Shumi scientists are experimenting cloning and 'enhancing' techniques on humans and Shumis, and that bothers them. They allowed Quistis to return to her old human self, the time to conceive and carry a children again. And that is where you enter the scene, my friend."
Seifer's mood instantly darkened to the point of homicidal ideas. If only they weren't already deads.
"Are you insinuating I will have to play a mere sperm donor to earn my afterlife?"
"Well that's pretty much the idea."
"And I won't even live long enough to see my son?"
"No."
"This is so fucking sick!" Seifer's body sprung out of the bed, but quickly slid down to the ground, his legs no longer supporting his weight.
"Indeed."
"And you, you aren't saying anything?" He yelled to Quistis as she was trying to pull his limp body back on the bed.
"I've accepted my fate long ago." She whispered. "I suggest you do the same."
"I never believed in fate! I never-"
Quistis could tell the exact moment Seifer's mind went overload, when the disconstructed trail of thoughts about life, death and love started spinning. Before she had the time to smack him and break lunatic phase, Seifer was unconscious again.
Beth smacked her forehead. "Damn not again? Hyne forgive me, but I hate this man."
"He's too weak to handle all this." Quistis whispered, still holding the limp body."
"He won't survive fucking in this health state for sure. Well, as long as he gets to co-" Beth grumbled, but quickly cut the end of his sentence with Fanny's death glare.
"Quis, you're going human tomorrow at sunrise. Then we won't be allowed to interfere anymore. Think you can handle the task?"
"Yeah. Of course"
"Great. You know the hotel and the room?"
"Yeah."
"Then good luck." Both angels kissed the blonde goodbye, and flew out of the window, in the sun's direction whose glittering rays soon swallowed them.
"Just like the old days..." She told the walls. Her heavy wings sprang out of their sheath and she gathered Seifer's body in her arms.
(~I~)
Beth and Fanny briefly fled over the crowded streets to find themselves sitting on the rocks just above sea level, their feet dangling in the water although not really registering the feel of it.
Beth sighed loudly and searched through her thin layer of clothes, before pulling out a pack of cigarettes-Ifrit's Choice, her favorites- and a lighter.
"Still can't get over that bad habit, can't you?" Fanny smiled beside her.
"Ah fuck off, will you?" Beth sneered back, cigarette in mouth. She inhaled a long, delightful drag. "Damn it feels good" She murmured holding the smoke in her lungs.
"You can conjure a cig in your fingers just by concentrating on it, why do you still choose to go down on Gaia and buy your packs yourselves?"
"Because smoking it is the last typical human thing I remember how to do." Beth whispered, lovingly eyeing the burning stick.
"Not true," Fanny playfully poked her friend's shoulder and conjured a bottle of deep amber liquid. Beth read the label.
"PuPu's UFO Drink?"
"Yep, 'Will make you see stars wherever you are'!"
"Hyne."
"Come on, you remember how to drink?" Fanny winked.
"Sure."
"Let's celebrate our victory over Seifer Almasy, then."
Beth accepted the large bottle and downed a substancial amount of the burning liquid, grimacing at the forgotten feel or alcohol sliding down her throat.
"Why," She murmured against the bottle's neck, "Do I have the funny feeling we shouldn't celebrate too quickly."
(~I~)
Wohooo! Damn my angels are perverted :)