The Bloodcross Key : Reversals
by Lady Tempest

Part 17:

Blood gushed from Jake's nose, the same blood which stained Squall's fist. Red and sticky, it soothed the helpless feeling in his soul like a balm. But Squall and his rage craved more.

Before Jake had time to recover from the shock of the first blow, another followed, with a crack against his jaw.

Jake stumbled back, clutching his nose, red oozing through his fingers. "What the hell?" he screamed, his smooth cool shattered.

Shattered like Seifer...

"You fucking bastard!" Squall lunged for him, his thirst for blood and retribution driving him into a frenzy.

Jake barely dodged Squall's third attack. "What's your problem?" Even dazed and bloodied, he managed to be maddeningly smug.

"Squall!" Hands grabbed both his arms, holding him back like iron chains. He struggled against them. Although not easily, he freed his right arm, but his other was gripped strong enough to restrain him. Damn Zell!

He wanted loose. Now! His blood-crusted shirt scratched against the skin of his chest like sandpaper as he continued to struggle. The bastard hurt Seifer, and Squall intended to make him pay. Didn't they understand?

"Let me go!" Squall jerked within Zell's grasp.

Why didn't they understand?

"Squall. Calm down! Maybe he..."

Maybe? It was written all over the asshole's face. "No. It's him." Squall glared directly into Jake's darkened eyes.

The tall boy lifted a dark brow, perhaps to feign innocence or curiosity or both, but still too damn smug. Squall could care less for the bastard's little act. It only infuriated him further.

"You know what you did," Squall snarled, a low, cold sound, like a wolf, feral and dangerous. His struggles against Zell's hold hadn't ceased; they just became more erratic and wild.

"I do?"

"Fucking asshole son-of-a-bitch fucking bastard!"

Jake smirked.

That did it! Squall was raving. His eyes were so tensed and narrowed with rage they twitched. The squeak of sneakers against marble trailed behind him as he lumbered forward, dragging Zell with him while still trying to throw him off.

Cursing and grunting from the exertion of clinging to Squall like an extra limb, Zell resisted Squall's attempts to break free and held on. "Dude, if you're smart you'll wipe that stupid grin off your face and cooperate. Or he's going to kill ya..." A dark imitation of Zell's friendly voice huffed past the fury pounding in Squall's ears.

Going to kill him? As soon as Squall got his hands on the bastard, there would be no 'going to' about it.

"...And if he's right about you, I might let him."

Might? Like Zell could stop him.

"Oh?"

How could the bastard be so fucking flippant? Death wish? Squall was more than willing to make the asshole's wish reality. If only Zell would fucking let him go!

Brow arched, Jake stepped back, wiping the blood from his nose with a disgusted scowl. "Just because you're SeeD and acting Headmaster doesn't mean you can violate Garden rules, Commander." Blood trickling down his chin, he spat to the side, and a splat of red stained the pale marble. "I had more respect for you than to think you would behave like that homicidal bastard Almasy."

"Don't you dare talk about him like that," Squall hissed. "After what you did to him, you don't deserve to even speak his name!"

Another step back and Jake was flanked protectively by his two lackeys. "Ah," He sighed, shaking his head in amused disinterest. "...So, the bitch told."

Squall froze, quaking. Zell's fingers clutching his arm twitched. Quistis gasped, the most inelegant sound he ever heard from her. But, all details, all sensation, everything, faded to red, narrowing to a single, focused point... Jake.

Whether by finding an untapped strength, or Zell deliberately releasing him, or both, Squall was suddenly free. And his body immediately sought what it craved. Squall surged forward, but Jake's protectors blocked him, arms and bodies and elbows jabbing and tangling in a fierce struggle to rip Jake to pieces or to prevent it.

"Let. Me. Go," Squall seethed with cold fire, his darkened eyes narrowed to threatening slits. "Now!"

"Sorry, Commander," the small redhead replied, narrowly dodging an elbow to his ribs.

"Whatever he told you was a lie," Jake said calmly, his eyes roaming the walls like they were far more worth his attention, and took several more steps back, each bit of distance renewing the arrogance in his stance and the smugness on his face. It was as though Jake thought he was accused of not returning a library book instead of attacking, raping, Seifer, the ex-Sorceress' Knight, Squall's best friend,... Squall's soul; Instead of calling one of the most honest people Squall knew a liar.

"According to Garden Rules Section 3, paragraph 5: Students who engage in violent acts, sexual promiscuity, or who fall behind in their curriculum, etc. may be expelled from Garden. Also, Section 4, paragraph 2 states 'Students should refrain from committing any acts that may damage the Garden's reputation.' I have evidence that Almasy has engaged numerous times in conduct that violates both rules. "

"You..."

"I and my fellow Committee members confronted him on his behavior, giving him a warning before we took the matter to higher authority. He became violent, as was expected. He brought his punishment upon himself."

"Fucking lair!" Squall kicked and snarled at the two boys hindering him from the asshole who had hurt his Seifer. Both were about the same height as Squall, while one was twice as muscled. But, although Squall was twice as quick, their living blockade held, the momentary breaches from knees and boots and fists not enough for him to break through.

Jake shook his head, chuckling smugly. "It's the truth. I have witnesses."

"Fuck your witnesses. You raped him! You..." Squall couldn't finish, his throat closing on any sound but the choke of his anger, his pain, his...

"What?" Zell screamed from behind Squall with a faint feminine undertone of Quistis' voice trailing in an almost duet.

Jake ignored them, shaking his head like an adult suffering a child's fantasy of monsters under the bed. "Not rape, Commander. He was perfectly willing enough."

"Liar! He wouldn't....He..."

Jake shrugged. "He did."

"Fuck you! He wouldn't!"

"Ah. You're just upset 'cause you want his sweet ass for yourself. Sorry, Commander, but he was more than broken in when he offered his 'services'."

The string of curses frothing from Squall's lips were beyond comprehensible, not even recognizable words to anyone but himself. Mindless of any obstacle, he lunged at Jake, halted in mid-flight by what in his frenzy he could care less. His focus was centered on Jake and the fact no amount of kicking and clawing brought his blood-thirsting hands any closer to what they craved.

A crack of thunder shot past his ear, and suddenly he was at Jake's throat, fingers clawing around his neck, and knocking them both to the ground. Straddled across Jake's stomach, knees digging into the taller boy's sides, a body jarring, breath-catching shove impacted on his chest, but the pure primal rage possessing him gave him a strength he had never known even while merged with the King of Dragons himself, and he resisted being dislodged.

He punched Jake solidly in the jaw, his fist throbbing with sweet pain and animal anger, and hot with blood and adrenaline. Another blow, and another. And another. Again and again and again, his fists flew like his father's machine gun, careless of accuracy, but rapid and relentless.

"Squall! Stop! You're going to kill him!"

Well, that was the plan. Not that the bastard deserved anything so pleasant. Not with what he did to Seifer. What he caused...

Any other sounds around him became faint murmurs in his ears, the pounding of blood and rage louder than the fiercest storm. All that existed was him and the bastard who nearly killed the one he loved.

Heavy hands grabbed him, by shoulders, arms, around his waist, yanking him away from his one purpose. His body quaked, his breath heaved, as he fought against whatever dared interrupt vengeance. But soothing whispers slowly tried to calm him. And one word, the only one he understood, drained him of all fight, all energy, everything, until the world around him suddenly appeared from the red haze: Seifer.

Gasping, he fell limply into comforting arms and a familiar scent of leather, spring, and hot dogs. He watched Garden Security swarm over Jake, whose face was bloodied beyond recognition, and the two other bastards, one with a cut dripping red down his cheek. Squall's mind and blood gradually quieted enough to hear and understand Zell's words.

"Calm down. Seifer needs you."

Seifer. Seifer needed him. Seifer... was all that mattered. Seifer...

He turned, peering over Zell's shoulder, and saw Quistis standing silently, her whip trembling in her hand and tears streaming down her pretty face. His own cheeks were wet and chilled by the movement around him stirring the air. But a splatter against his face, different than the crystal trickle down his cheek, drew his dazed eyes upward to find the tears were more than his own.

Zell smiled weakly, but it didn't reach his sad, tear-bright blue eyes. For once, the blond was silent.

"You should have told us," Quistis sobbed quietly, as Jake and his cronies were taken away by Garden Security.

He should have wondered what she meant, but he knew. He should have wondered how she found out, if he had betrayed Seifer's pride and unspoken trust. But she knew and she cared and Squall was too exhausted to think of what any of it meant.

"You should have..."

(End Part 17)
(tbc)

Author's Notes: If anyone's curious as to Jake and his behavior, I modeled him after the many bastardizations of Seifer. He's not a copy of the ones I've seen, but, rather, inspired by them. And basically, he is far more arrogant than even bastardized Seifers, thinking his cleverness, Garden rules, and the general dislike/hatred of Seifer would protect him from any charges laid against him. An 'ass-whooping' he didn't even think there was potential for, certainly not from Commander 'Leonheartless'. I'm not done with Jake, but any more from him won't be until Arc 3. There's plot points still to be developed, and he's tied to a few.