Am I the Devil?

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: You know the drill, Final Fantasy 8 characters are not mine blah, blah, blah. Have a nice day.

After my warm-up killing of chicken-wuss, I decided that my next targets would be Messenger-girl and her cowboy boyfriend. The two were close, so taking hold of one would most likely lead the other to me. After a little consideration on my part, and a few drinks, I decided that it would be best if I kidnapped, or otherwise brought under my control, messenger-girl first and let Irvine come to me. He seemed to be more attached to her than she to him, and would be more willing to do what I say than she would. Besides, she really pissed me off.

The only problem was, where the hell were they? My first thought would be Trabia Garden, that second-rate institution for the lower-rank SeeD's. But then I thought that Squall would obviously know that I'd think that so he'd send them to a location that was much less obvious and harder to determine. So I thought to myself "Where would he send two of his dearest friends so that I'd never think to look for them there?" The answer came to me almost immediately. Edea's house; the orphanage. My next thought was transportation, but that wouldn't be a problem. I'd just borrow a ship from the garage and fly there myself. It wasn't all that far from Balamb and I knew the way, having flown there in Galbadia Garden already just a year ago. It would certainly be heartwarming to return home for a family reunion.

***

I landed a few miles away so I wouldn't draw attention to myself and decided it would be best to walk there; I didn't need them knowing that I was coming to kill them. There were no monsters though, which was odd. The areas outside of civilization were usually full of them, but Centra was unusually devoid of any such creatures entirely. Whatever, not like I cared much. Besides, I needed to concentrate on what I needed to do. I was so preoccupied in my thoughts that I didn't even hear the damn beast until it was on top of me.

God damn it…

It was a Grand Mantis, a huge monstrous bug with javelin-like incisors on the front of its tank-like body. Its legs were easily as big as I was, and the spine growing out of its back had to be at least ten feet long. It had to be the biggest grand mantis out there, and why the hell did it have to pick now to have a snack?

Shit…

It rushed me again; intent on impaling me on its claws, but I was a little quicker. Lucky for me, I wasn't on the menu today. I jumped to the side and jumped into the air, landing on top of the mantis. It stopped and then violently tried to shake me off while reaching back with its forearms, still trying to skewer me. But I was too good to be killed by a monster, especially not now when I was at the peak of my skill. I raised my gunblade and ran it through the thing's head. It roared and dropped to the ground. I still sat on its back, triumphant over my kill.

"Bite me."

I started to stand when something hit my left side and sent me to the ground, slightly dazed from hitting my head on the hard rock. I looked around, looking for the second monster. Then I saw him…

Oh how perfect…

It was Irvine. Apparently he'd heard the cries of the mantis and had come running out to see what was going on. He had his Exeter with him, and it was pointed square at my chest. I stared at him and grinned; he gripped his gun more tightly.

"Irvine, how long has it been? I see your taste in guns has improved," I said, gesturing at the Exeter. "Too bad I can't say the same for your taste in women. Still hanging out with that perky, peace-loving messenger huh? And I thought you could do so much better. You can have any woman you want, so why did you pick her? I mean come on; she's not even that pretty. That damn haircut of hers is ridiculous and yellow definitely is not her color."

I could tell that I was pissing him off, he cocked his shotgun and took a step toward me.

"Shut up you bastard, you SHUT UP ABOUT SELPHIE!" He screamed. Defensive, excellent.

"So you are still attached to her aren't you? Too bad, like I said before, you could have done better." I raised my hand and snapped my fingers, suddenly not wanting to go through with the capture plan. Irvine flinched, probably expecting a Firaga spell or something. No, I had better plans than that; more interesting tactics.

"So tell me, have you two…yet?" That got him, and he opened fire with two rounds. They came at me…and rebounded at him; the idiot didn't even know a Reflect spell when he saw one. The rounds hit him in the right arm and the stomach, and he doubled over in pain and collapsed to the ground. I stalked over to him, picked him up by his hair, and said directly into his ear:

"How does it feel to be helpless, to have your dreams of a happy life with the girl you love taken away from you in an instant of defeat? How does it feel to have your heart pierced by despair and hopelessness, and to have it frozen by grief?" I asked him, taking his hat. It would make a nice gift for messenger-girl when I saw her.

***

I continued up the beach toward Edea's house, leaving Irvine to die on the sand. He wouldn't survive those wounds, so he was as good as dead. My focus was now turned toward his beloved Selphie, who was probably waiting for her man to come back. I put the hat on my head and walked up the stairs to the rear of the orphanage. I could just see over the edge of the wall to where Selphie was sitting on a stone, a fragment of the wall in its former glory. She saw the hat and started to run toward me.

"Irvine! Did you find out what made the thing roar? Did you…" She stopped dead in mid-sentence and gasped as she saw me coming up the stairs at her. I took of the hat and mock-bowed to her.

"Mornin' little lady. I reckon I've got a message for ya. Irvine said to tell you that he was dying ta come back for ya, and that he's now a little down in the dumps." I said, faking Irvine's accent. She stood for a moment with a look of shock on her face, which soon turned to hatred. She shot daggers at me and turned and ran for her strange vision, but I was quicker. I ran up to her and grabbed her, spinning her around to face me. I grasped both her shoulders so that her arms were pinned to her sides. She wasn't going anywhere. I shoved her into the dirt and grabbed my gunblade from under my coat.

"You know what Zell did right before I killed him? Actually, nothing. He was too damn drunk for his own good to even know what was coming. But you know it may not have been the alcohol, probably just his intelligence level to begin with.

"Shut your mouth you son-of-a-bitch!" It was the first time I'd heard her curse; it was the kind of thing that filled you with pride. "Zell was a good man, and you killed him in cold blood. Just like Irvine, you BASTARD!" She tried to reach up and slap me, but I grabbed her wrist and lifted her off the ground, throwing her into a wall. I then walked over to her and pointed the gunblade at her throat.

"Scream for me." I said.

A gun cocked behind me and I spun around. Irvine stood there with his Exeter pointed at my face.

"Touch her and you die. I will blow your head off and feed it to the monsters. You just try and touch her." He snarled, but I noticed that he winced with pain. The wounds were clearly taking their toll on the cowboy; he was still dying even as he tried to defend his girlfriend. Very valiant I had to admit I'd have done the same for Rinoa. I grinned at him.

"Irvine, you just don't know when you're beaten do you? Why don't you just be a good boy and die?" I said.

"You first." He retorted, and began to pull the trigger.

"Irvine, stop!" Came a voice from behind me. Shocked, I turned to see the last person I expected standing there. The same aloof, cold, uncaring person I'd left in Lunatic Pandora. He still wore his black clothes, his hair still stuck out at odd ends, and his gunblade was over his shoulder, gleaming in the sunlight. The scar stood out more than ever in the center of his forehead, going from over his left eye, to just under his right one. At long last, my rival was here.

"Squall, how nice of you to join us!" I said.

"Irvine, don't you dare kill him." Squall said to the man with the gun.