A/N: 'Phoenix Down' is not based on a word, this time. It's based on a picture of an outstretched hand, much like the image I tried to paint in the fic.

Phoenix Down


A hand lay on a dusty surface. Concrete, probably.

The fingers were long, the hand was callused at some places - the right places, he thought hazily. This hand belonged to a sniper - the telltale signs were everywhere on that hand.

It took him a while before he realized that the hand he was staring at was his own. Somehow that made it all the more fascinating. What was his hand doing there? Wait, what was *he* doing there?

"Irvine, are you alright?" He turned his head and saw a worried face hovering above him. Blue eyes, big black tattoo. Zell.

"What happened?" His memory was returning, albeit a little hazy. They were in the Tomb of the Unknown King... there were monsters...

Zell scratched the back of his neck in the way that Irvine had come to recognize as a trademark gesture. "You took a nasty hit on the head while you were still recovering from summoning a GF. You probably feel a bit woozy now, do you?"

"Yeah." Slowly, he turned over on his stomach to sit up again. The world swam. He had to fight back nausea. "So did we win?" he asked hoarsely.

Squall came to stand next to Irvine. He had an empty bottle in his hand. Irvine recognized it as a Phoenix Down. "We did. The Brothers have joined us. I was thinking about junctioning them to you, since you and Ifrit don't really match up."

Irvine cradled his head in his hands. His head began to throb like the mother of all migraines. "I'd rather have that you don't plug anything into my head for a while."

"We need to have you junctioned to full strength, Irvine. Otherwise you'll be a liability while we get out of this hellhole," Squall said, his grey eyes observing the dusty hallway. "Fact is that we can't have any weaknesses in our party, and you're not a full SeeD and a little behind in strength."

"Why the hell didn't you take Quistis or Selphie with you, then?"

Squall shrugged. "Figured you needed the experience."

"Thanks," Irvine retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. But he did try to get up - he wouldn't want to be a liability. Damn, he had grown up with them, he was even older than Squall was by a few months - he wouldn't be a weakness. Leaning on Zell, he found his way up again. The world gradually stopped spinning, and he could look around again without feeling the urge to throw up.

"You can have Siren if you want to," Zell offered, his babyblue eyes large and serious. "I'll take the Brothers for now."

Irvine nodded. "Maybe that's for the best. We'll re-evaluate our junctions once we're out of the Tomb and I got rid of this damned headache."

"That'll be in no time," Squall reported, looking at the map in his hands. "We'll just walk straight ahead."

"Thank Hyne," Zell and Irvine sighed in unison.

And Irvine looked at his hands for a second, and then clenched them around his gun.

Only a little while and they'd be out of here.