6: Surrender to the Pain

Quistis woke up with a muffled groan. She looked around her and saw Irvine hugging Selphie a few feet from where she laid. Her heart tightened when she saw them. Quickly scrambling to her feet, she ran towards them and examined Selphie's pulse.

"She's alive." She whispered hoarsely and saw Irvine's anguished face cleared slightly. She glanced at the platform and saw that the Sorceress had gone. So was Leads.

"Where's—"

"He took off with the Sorceress." Irvine said before she could finish her sentence. "After she attacked you and Selphie, Leads used Silence on her and dragged her out."

"Hyne, I shouldn't have trusted him! We've got to find them, Irvine! Let's go!"

Collecting Selphie in a bundle, he took off after Quistis, who was running towards the exit. When they emerged, they saw that Leads had taken Ragnarok with him. They were left stranded in the middle of the dense forest with no means of a transport.

Irvine's cursing tirade was suddenly interrupted by a loud roar. A tree fell just before them and a Snow Lion stepped out, glaring at them angrily. It roared again and began charging at them.

"Firaga!" Quistis yelled and the spell hit the Snow Lion in the eye. It howled painfully. Instead of retreating, it seemed to get angrier and with a clean swipe of its massive paw, it sent Quistis flying against a tree.

"Quisty!" Irvine roared and quickly took out his gun. He fired countless Fire Ammos at the Snow Lion until it scampered off in the other way, whimpering. Irvine cursed. He glanced over at where Quistis was lying and saw her stir. He sighed with relief. Quisty was tough.

Quistis stood up with much difficulty and used a Cura on herself. Instantly, she felt the pain receding. She looked over at Irvine and nodded for him to follow her. "We need to get to Trabia Garden a.s.a.p! From there, maybe we can find medical help for Selphie and a transport to get back to Balamb!"

~@~~@~~@~

"How is he?" asked the officer. He was addressing to the lower rank soldier to his right—the one who was staring at the big screen.

"Unconscious." The soldier said.

The officer glanced at his watch. It's almost time. He thought. He nodded to the soldier. "Begin the electrocution."

He watched uneasily as electric currents shot out from the metal prison walls and enveloped the teenage prisoner inside. He shook his head, silently offering an apology. He had no idea what the youth had done. But surely, the punishment was a little extreme. He didn't feel particularly proud doing it. But he had no choice.

This is because you defied the President, Commander Leonhart.

~@~~@~~@~

It was three days later that they finally arrived in Balamb Garden. Selphie had regained consciousness again even though she didn't remember what had happened inside the cave. But she had not talked much and that worried Quistis. It was rare to see Selphie so silent.

Perhaps the Sorceress… no, it can't be. She irascibly waved the thought away. The Sorceress couldn't have possessed her dear friend. She just couldn't.

How can you be so sure? A voice in her head mocked.

No. No Sorceress is ever going to get to any of my friends ever again. I won't allow it.

What can you do? You're powerless to stop her.

Quistis lifted her chin stubbornly, sensing that she was losing the mental war. She glanced at Selphie and saw that the latter had a vacant look in her eyes. The two gloveless hands were hanging limply by her side and Selphie's mouth was moving discreetly—as if she was muttering softly to herself.

"Selphie?" Irvine called out. He was waving a train ticket in front of her face and was smiling faintly at her. It seemed that Selphie's change had not gone unnoticed by the green-eyed SeeD.

Selphie gazed mutely at him. She took the ticket from his hand and headed towards the waiting train, leaving Quistis and Irvine to stare at her retreating back.

"Irvine," Quistis said quietly, "what really happened that time? I couldn't see very clearly then because I was busy trying to pull her away."

Irvine shrugged. "The blue light went through her and she was twisting, jerking in pain and then you reached her and I saw both of you had fallen unconscious. Then the Sorceress sort of slumped and Leads took that opportunity to take her away. That's all."

She was silent for a while and thinking that Quistis was content on his somewhat brisk description, he walked away, shoulders slumped.

"Irvy?"

He turned around.

"She'll be okay. I promise."

He smiled faintly at her. "Thanks."

So they took the newly built underground train that led to the Galbadia Continent. From there, they took a car to Dollet and then a SeeD ship straight to Balamb.

Upon arriving at Balamb Garden, they were greeted by Headmaster Cid, an anxious look on his face. He rushed to their side and in a panicky voice told them, "Squall! He's—he's been arrested and sent—sentenced to d—death!"

Colour drained from Quistis' face and both Selphie and Irvine froze in shock. They stared dumbly at the Headmaster as his words slowly sank in. Irvine recovered first.

"Headmaster! Where is he now? We have to go get him!" he said urgently.

But before anyone could say another word, something like a blue meteor charged towards them, throwing her arms around Quistis' shoulder. She sobbed into the other girl's shoulder pitifully, barely getting any words out.

"Rinoa?" Quistis said softly, regaining her voice.

"Oh, Quisty, I'm so—sorry…I…it was my fault…he…he…only wanted to…p-protect me. I didn't know…they would…and now…he's gone!" Rinoa's words tumbled out in between sobs and her last words were like knives that tore open Quistis' heart.

"Gone? Rinoa, I…we are going there to get him now. Don't worry, everything's going to be-going to be okay." She stammered. She wanted so desperately to believe herself that her heart had leapt when she saw him trudging towards her.

Squall! She thought wildly. He's escaped! He's okay!

But the beautifully messy dark brown hair transformed into a blonde shade as the figure came closer. Sapphire turned to emerald as the pair of eyes bore into hers.

"Quistis…" Seifer said hoarsely. He looked like death, pale and shrunken. The only colourful thing about him was his eyes, which held unmasked pain as his Instructor gazed blankly at him. He wanted so much to take back what he had said to his father—what had caused all this. He didn't mean to kill Squall, only to teach him a lesson.

He'd made a decision in anger. And now someone else had paid for it. paid for his stupid mistake.

And his father had been so glad for an excuse to get rid of a SeeD.

"Filthy scums who think they're so good just because they defeated the Sorceress!"

"He was executed two hours ago. We just knew." Seifer said, turning away from her stricken face.

"No." Quistis said softly. "No! It can't be! Why wasn't he given a trial? What did he do? Who—who did this to him?" her voice began to fail her as her throat closed painfully. She sank slowly to the ground, tears flowing down her face freely. Her heart was squeezed tight and she had difficulty breathing.

How could you! She screamed silently. How could you leave me like this!

"You bastard!" Zell had appeared out of nowhere and had thrown a punch into Seifer's face. His face was tear-stained but he was glaring at Seifer with such hatred that his whole body was shaking with uncontrollable fury. "You were the cause of all this! You've caused Squall's death! You and your freaking father!"

President Almasy. Soren Almasy. He killed the only person I've ever truly loved in this world.

Quistis had sunk into dark oblivion. The only sound she could hear was the wind, blowing hatred, loathing and whispering secrets of death into her ears. Light danced behind her closed eyelids—dancing to the song of evil. She wanted to crush, smash, stomp, tear, rip, and blow apart everything in this world. She wanted to…destroy.

"FoR vEngEaNce…" a silky voice whispered. She recognized that voice. One that had come from distant memories, from a place long forgotten, from a time not known to man. It was beckoning her, calling her into it.

"SuRreNdEr tO tHe PaIn…"

So she did.

AN: *coughs* sorry for the late update. I was thinking of making it up by writing out a really long chapter but ended up splitting it into two. Heh. I'll post the second part later.