Chapter 7 – The Duel

Zelda til Rednaxelos

Third-Person Perspective

Disclaimer: Hey, Super Smash Bros. Melee champion here. Once again, every character except Raven, Terra, Luna, and Aris belongs to Squaresoft. Terra belongs to me – YOU MAY NOT USE HER. Ask Vamp Queen if you want any of the others, but my Terra is off-limits. Now that that's cleared up, onward march!

     Raven staggered back to Fujiin's dorm, tired and stressed. Luna was screwed up, and she was deeply concerned, but not only for her friend's health. If memory served her, it would take the power of all three of them to get back home. Hopefully Luna would get better soon.

     As she was getting to the door, a voice behind her called out, "And how are you today, Birdie?"

     Seifer, Raven thought. Great. Just what I needed. She turned and saw him walking confidently towards her, a big grin on his face.

     "Where did you come from?" Raven asked, annoyed. "Don't ever call me Birdie. Ever."

     "Okay, Miss Crow, whatever you say –"

     "It's Raven."

     "Yeah, sure, fine," he said.

     "Don't talk to me right now. I'm still pissed off at you for forcing that kiss on me like that."

     "Just being friendly."

     "Well, apparently your definition of 'friendly' is different from mine. Don't do it again."

     "And if I do?" Seifer challenged her, smirking from ear to ear.

     "If you keep hitting on me like that, I'll make you sore."

     "You were kissing me back, Raven. I assumed you didn't mind."

     "What would you do if a sick bastard jammed his tongue down your throat?"

     "Hey, I'd think you'd be pretty grateful to me right now, considering the fact that only yesterday I saved your life."

     "I would be, if you wouldn't push me away with your 'friendliness'."

     "You should be."

     "Well, right now I don't really feel like being grateful," Raven spat at him. "You're supposed to save somebody's life because you want to, not because you're expecting a favor in return, Seifer."

     "Who says I'm expecting a favor?" Seifer asked playfully.

     "Come on, you make it so very obvious," Raven said, rolling her eyes. "It's so easy to tell with you."

     "Well . . . a little favor would be very nice of you," Seifer answered with a suggestive tone in his voice. "I'm about to go back to my apartment – care to join me?"

     "Don't even go there. There is no way in hell I'm ever going to go to bed with you."

     "We'll see about that," Seifer replied. With that, he swiftly scooped Raven up off the ground and tried to make off with her. He only went a few steps, however, when Raven reached for her whip and cracked it above his head. Alarmed, Seifer dropped her, and Raven quickly scrambled to her feet while Seifer backed up to catch his breath. Even after all that, he smiled.

     "Ah, so you want to play rough, do you? Okay, sure. I'll let you go . . . if you win."

     "If I win what?"

     "A duel. A friendly one, of course. Me against you, gunblade against whip. You seem strong enough – a worthy opponent. You win, I'll let you walk away. If I win . . . well, you know what happens then. You're bound to me for the night. Agreed?"

     Raven sighed. This guy was really pushing it . . . "There's no way I'll get out of this, is there?" she asked. "Fine. I'll fight. But none of your magic shit, got it? Neither one of us uses any spells."

     "Then we're set." Seifer drew out his gunblade and said with a sly grin, "Let the duel commence."

         He came rushing at her, swinging the blade at her. Raven barely stepped away in time – he was so fast. Nevertheless, Raven decided to taunt him. "Is that it? That's the best you can do? Come on, show me a real fight!"

     "As you wish, Milady." He came running back at her, and before Raven could sidestep again, he had landed her a small cut on her leg. She clutched it for a moment; with renewed anger and zeal, she then cracked the whip and coiled it around his leg. She pulled on the whip and Seifer's leg, sending him crashing to the floor. He sat up and rubbed his head while Raven taunted him some more.

     "I thought you could do better than that! What's the deal?"

     "I can do better. I'm not warmed up yet."

     "Ha! Lame excuse."

     "Oh, I'll show you lame –" and with one deft movement he jumped into the air, kicked Raven in the stomach, sending her flying to the ground, and came down beside her, planting his gunblade within inches of her head. "That, Raven, was lame – on your part." He grinned at her and asked, "Now answer me this: from that view down there, don't I look just devastatingly handsome to you?"

     Raven looked up at him, her eyes filled with fire. "Egotistical asshole!" she shouted, immediately kicking him in the shin. While he was momentarily disabled, she jumped to her feet and got a good hold of her whip again; she cracked it in the air above him, and then wrapped it around his arm. She quickly asked the Most Sovereign for her strength, and with incredible force was able to fling Seifer to the other side of the room.

     Feeling proud of herself, she goaded him some more. "Who's got the upper hand now, Scarface?"

     She continued to do so as long as she had the advantage: "And you call yourself a fighter?"

     "No wonder you never made SeeD!"

     "Guess what? My grandmother can run faster than you can! Guess what else? She's dead!"

     This went on for a good while, with Raven still in the lead, until finally, the tables were turned. Frustrated, Seifer wiped the sweat off his brow. He summoned all the vigor he had in him and rushed at her once more, and this time, he knocked the flat of the blade hard against her head. He hit her so hard that she immediately fell to her knees.

     The room began to spin around Raven as she got more light-headed. The lights grew dimmer, her head got number, and soon she was sprawled out on the floor. The last thing she saw was Seifer standing over her triumphantly . . . and then everything dissolved into darkness.

*********************************

     A few minutes later, Raven awoke on a soft leather couch, still faint and dazed from the duel. She sat up, putting a hand to her head. A voice then lifted her out of her disorientation – "Hey, hold still. I'm not finished healing you yet."

     Raven looked around the strange room to see Seifer kneeling beside the couch, sweeping a hand over her cuts and bruises. "Gotta love Curaga," he mused to himself.

     "Whoa, hold up," Raven said. "Where did you take me?"

     "It didn't take you too long to notice – a good sign, they say. Raven, welcome to my apartment."

     "What?!" Raven jumped off the couch and looked around the commodious dwelling. Her blood was beginning to boil. What in hell does this guy think he's doing?

     "Oh, no. No. I'm not doing this, Seifer. I won't!"

     "Hey, a deal's a deal, Birdie. You agreed that if I knocked you out first, you got the privilege of staying here for the night –"

     "On the couch, maybe!"

     "Then I'll have to join you. Come on now, Raven, I will not allow you to be a sore loser."

     "You son of a bitch! Who do you think you are, forcing me into a situation I clearly do not want to be in? I should report you to Cid. Surely this behavior is not tolerated."

     Seifer scoffed. "Cid knows I'm not a virgin. He knows perfectly well I've done this before. He hasn't done squat about it."

     "And you're not going to do squat to me."

     "Well, you need to repay me somehow. Alright, I'll give you another option. There's this big dance coming up to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Balamb Garden –"

     "Yeah, yeah, I know. I heard. And you want me to go with you, right?"

     "Yeah. I need a date."

     "Well, you can stuff that notion into a bottle and throw it into the sea, because I'd sooner burn myself at the stake than date you." Not that it hasn't been tried… she thought.

     "It's either an evening with me or evening, night, and morning with me. Your choice."

     Raven sighed in frustration. "Is this how you get all your dates?"

     "No, not at all. Most girls faint from happiness when I ask them out."

     "Okay, fine, I'll go to the stupid ball with you. I wasn't even planning to go at all, but it's a lot better than spending the whole time here instead."

     "Good. Alright, I'll let you leave now. Don't forget – tomorrow, you're mine for the whole time."

     Raven turned abruptly and headed out the door. "Humph. I'd much rather be with Luna. She needs me more than you do." With that, she entered the hallway and slammed the door behind her.

     She ran off down the hallway to Fujiin's dorm and quickly went in. Seeing that Fujiin wasn't there yet, she decided to let out her anguish right there.

     "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

More R&R please.