Chapter Four
Monsters in the Shadows
Seifer typed in the access code to his new, much larger, shared dormitory, and shrugged his way inside. It had been another long day of endless meeting. Being in the uppermost ranks of Blamb made for some of the most mind-blowing missions and some of the most boring meetings…. Needless to say he was exceptionally glad to be home. More so today than any other day. Today he had a very special mission in mind. One that he'd been looking forward to with earnest anticipation. He prowled his way through the entrance hall into the living room to hunt down his prey…
A loud crashing sound that could only be the falling of many pots, pans, and other various cooking paraphernalia, signaled that Squall must be cooking again. Seifer had to bite back a chuckle as he rounded the glass toped coffee table. Squall was a great cook, really, but for someone so skilled in weaponry he'd never seen anyone more clumsy.
Creeping his way into the kitchen as silently as possible Seifer found his fellow gun blade master on his hands and knees in a pool of cookery supplies, half eaten large strawberry held firmly between his teeth and lips and he scrambled to pick up the mess, not giving Seifer the slightest notice. That is… until his looming presence made itself known with a grunted, "Hello Squall." Without bothering to look up Squall mumbled some sort of greeting through the strawberry and continued to clean. Seifer stood their patiently waiting for Squall to look up at him, and five minutes or so latter when every pot was back in place the brunet, still on hands and knees with strawberry firmly in mouth, glanced up at Seifer with a somewhat questioning look.
Seifer shook his head and walked over to Squall, cupping his fingers under Squalls chin and gently lifting him upward. Once they were eye to eye, or as close as they could get to it Seifer took one menacing step towards Squall. Stormy blue eyes narrowed just a bit in suspicion and he gulped a little at the obviously forgotten strawberry. He was about to just sallow it and ask what Seifer wanted when he was swooped from the floor onto the counter and practically devoured by a hungry kiss and crushing embrace. Squall happily surrendered to the attack, but not before making a mental note to plan some serious revenge latter.
When they did finally pull, slowly and breathlessly apart, resting their foreheads against each other, Squall managed to speak just on the edge of a whisper, "And to what do I owe this rather warm hello?"
Seifer smirked dangerously and threw Squall over his shoulder casually throwing out the comment, "Oh you'll see."
~~~
They were not entirely unnoticed as they struggled their way down the hall and out a back entrance into the courtyards. A lone pair of visiting brown eyes watched over them with a contented satisfaction. Maybe it had stung just a little bit that she and Squall weren't right for each other, but it was for the best. They were both much happier this way. Her place was never in military organizations, but more towards the peaceful and helpful life Ellone lead. That way she got the best of both worlds.
Chuckling to herself as she passed down the scenic hallway she knew that both Zell and/or Selphie would personally tare the entire Garden apart if they needed to find the two commanders latter, and they almost always did, because some little thing or another almost always went wrong. It would be quite a sight watching Quistis and Irvine try to calm them down. It was definitely locked in her agenda, a fight not to be missed. Those four put on better shows than some of the highest ranking Oscar winners.
A sudden crack of a whip snapper her out of her deep reflection. She stopped walking, seeing Selphie and Quistis just up ahead. Selphie was quickly being backed up into a wall with her hands held outwards in a surrender position as Quistis advanced, hair more than frazzled and whip out ready to do business. From her position down the hall she could just make out what they were saying.
"Now-now Quistis… this is no reason to get upset! It's a perfectly reasonable expense…" Selphie pleaded in fear her high pitched voice growing louder and more shrill every time she spoke.
"Two thousand gill! On HAIR SPRAY!!!!!" Quistis roared angrily shoving a paper, obviously a bill, under Selphies nose.
"Well honestly! How else do you expect me to keep this hair style in place and go out fighting every two minutes!"
Quistis only growled in response causing everyone in the near vicinity to sweat drop at the more aggressive side of their favorite instructor. Selphie began t scream for help and it wasn't long after that before Zell and Irvine came to offer their assistance to the madness.
"Looks like this little fight is gonna start earlier than I would've thought." mused Rinoa going over her little black book of bets while leaning against the railing in the hall. She was just getting comfortable to watch the inevitable chose with a deep wracking, piercing pain in the dead center of her chest caused her to kneel over the side of the railing and drop her book. Confused a little scared Rinoa calmly waited for it to stop, but it only got worse and more pounding as sweat began to form on her forehead. Like some intense powerful energy was beating on her body from every angle. She'd only felt something like this once before. During their final battle against Ultimacia… when the attacks blasted against her… and her sorceries powers bubbled up inside near out of all control. Something had to be going horrible wrong with them again… but… what the hell could it possible mean?! Rinoa clutched her chest with one fist as the other vainly tried to support her against the railing in the hall. With a small cry of pain she crumpled to the floor and was swallowed up in a void of blackness.
~~~
By this time Squall and Seifer had endured a small wrestling match of their own before finally settling down on one of gardens courtyard benches to watch the sun set and get a little peace. They sat curled up against each other in a nice comfortable embrace, Squall's head resting on Seifers left shoulder, listening to his heart beat. Squall was actually pretty near asleep exhausted from meetings, miserably failed cooking attempts, and their earlier wrestling match, when Seifer spoke up again.
"Squall… there's been something I've been meaning to tell…ask you… for some time now…"
Squall moved to sit facing his Seifer, still just faintly wrapped in his arms. "Yes?" he mumbled still a little drowsy, but trying very hard to give Seifer his full attention. He had to struggle not to smirk when he noticed how red Seifer was getting. Seifer never blushed… This had to be good. Just as Seifer was opening his mouth to finish whatever he'd just started….
"GUYS! GUYS!" echoed throughout the courtyard in a rouge strained, and all too familiar chicken-wuss tone.
Seifer shot Zell a very annoyed look as he turned to face him and would've said some not very nice things that would've increased the rating of this fan fiction if he had not noticed the desperate look on his friends face.
"I know you're busy," he started when he finally caught up to where they'd been cuddling peaceful a few moments before, "But this is really important! Something is majorly wrong with Rinoa! She came here to visit for the long weekend and she just collapsed right in front of us! Quistis thinks it might have something to do with her powers going on the fritz! You have to come check this out right now!!"
While Zell proceeded to engage in some shadow boxing Squall and Seifer looked at each other in an unspoken agreement. This was definitely not good. "Let's go!" they said in unison.
As the trio speed off towards the infirmary they had very little clue of the fresh new hells an old evil was about to unleash before them.