Disclaimer: For the last time, NO!! I don't own Final Fantasy VIII!
*I dedicate this chapter to my best (and life-long) friend, Ashley Johnson. You inspired me to write this cursed thing in the first place! Love ya!*
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Chapter 4: His Majesty's Royal Guards
His thoughts billowed over each other in a futile effort to gain control of the demanding mind they swam throughout. Each clasped onto a new concept and tore into the apprehensive possibilities the future held secret. Doubts consumed all hope and writhed with unseen fears. And sometimes, in the dead of sleep, his thoughts would dim to a near nothing, almost as if suffocating from too thick of air...or was it too thin? He couldn't tell.
Along with these same incidents, he often experienced moments in which his chest would tighten, similar to having all the world pilled onto him, cushing his lungs and constricting his heart. And even though his mind was clouded with darkness, Squall still rose each day into the new dawn, ready to face even the most burdensome of challenges.
Today, however, he woke with more eagerness than usual. The past nights' dreams were filled with uncanny and disturbing aspects. He had seen his sister twice in these dreams... and rather wished he hadn't. He had seen her in an unnatural, almost twisted form - as if bred out of darkness itself. By the way her mutated lips moved, Squall could tell she was trying to speak to him, but he couldn't hear her beyond the bloodcurdling screams that began filling his head. And as suddenly as the screams began, they ended, along with the appalling dream. He awoke to find his palms filled with sweat and his heart racing. Often times he would attempt to fall back into sleep, only to continue the horrendous dream and wake only minutes after.
Squall threw the sheets off of him, as if they had been the darkness that strangled him in the night. He walked stiffly to the bathroom and quietly washed off his hands and face, lost in thought.
I should really see someone...' he thought distantly to himself. No...I wouldn't feel comfortable talking to someone about my sister that way. Besides, they would never understand me. They'd most likely just throw me in some institute....'
The phone suddenly rang, starling Squall as the eerie tone echoed throughout the room. He stumbled over to it, taking a moment to suspiciously inspect it before answering.
"Yeah?" he asked shakily.
"Squall? This is Quistis. I just got a call from Mr. Kinneas stating that the bus will be here in an hour to pick us up. I trust you'll be ready to meet us in the lobby 45 minutes from now."
"Whatever.."
"Good, I'll see you then," Quistis concluded before hanging up.
Sighing deeply, Squall dressed in his SeeD uniform and prepared for departure with silent thoughts.
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With much apathy etched upon the solid features of Squall's face, he looked upon his companions with disgust. Much to his dismay, he observed all of them idly passing the time. Selphie was standing near the lobby's gift shop, drooling unchecked over a plush doll, all the while avoiding aimlessly thrown swings of Zell's air' punches. Quistis was socializing with some city native, probably relating her innermost emotions and problems.
Poor guy,' Squall thought with a hint of pity. Whatever she was telling him Squall had probably already heard before. He reminded himself to have a talk with Quistis later about her choice of conversations.
Seifer, Squall noticed without much surprise, was coquetting with a strange girl, teasing her mercilessly until she was flushed with crimson up to her ears. How many women he's already had in his room was beyond Squall.
Seconds lurched by, prolonging the agony Squall dwelled within. And finally the heavens split, pouring all their mercy and compassion down onto the burden souls of mortals. The bus arrived. The SeeDs piled onto the bus without much emotion or enthusiasm. It was after they all sat down and rearranged themselves that they noticed Irvine sitting comfortably in the front seat.
" 'Morning y'all!" Irvine greeted happily. "Hope you had a good nights' rest. It looks like most of you did," his gaze lingered upon Squall's sunken face.
"We've a long day ahead of us and I wouldn't want to report any of ya sleepin' on the job!" Irvine chuckled a bit, sighing at the sight of his dead crowd. Then he continued, "Well, you're all a lively bunch. Anyway, I'll be glad to inform you of our current status and destination.
"Currently," he gestured to the window as the bus pulled out of the emerging city and into a vast landscape of grass and weeds. "We're in the northern plains of Galbadia's border lines. From here," he pulled out a map and spread it out on a nearby seat. "You see, from here, we're headed north...to here," he dragged his finger from two points on the map. "Up here, near the far end of this peninsula, lies the Tomb of the Unknown King. This is where my team is stationed at the moment. I'll introduce them to you when we arrive.
"Now, to the fun facts. When we arrive, you'll most likely be doing absolutely nothing for pretty much all of the time. I have a tent located outside the tomb's perimeter and you're welcome to stay there.
"At this time, my team and I will be performing the final stages of the investigation. What more information we find will be cleaned and preserved, so we can further study it when we reach the Deep Research Center." Irvine looked up from the map, grinning.
Everyone stared back blankly at him, but Selphie. Her grin was wide as ever, her joy never touched by the grim atmosphere. Irvine found himself smiling back at her pleasantly and, after looking around for any disdainful looks, sat himself next to her.
The rest of the ride passed in a peaceful silence, everyone lost in deep thoughts...except Irvine, who pointed outside the window and explained certain landmarks to the cheerful girl at his side. When they arrived, Selphie had to shake everyone out of their trance and explain to them where they were.
The site looked as thought time had pressed its weight upon its ancient walls. Stones were cracked and split, barely supporting the archways and barriers. Various brush pushed up and out from between the sundered ground, while untame vined slithered and crawled along the temple's barricades, seemingly holding the structure together.
Squall could see, though dimly through the foliage, a rock ledge, jutted out and apart from the rest of the wall. Below it was a very diminutive opening, which Squall figured was the door.
Where people really that small long ago?' Squall snickered to himself. Good thing I get to wait out here.'
"Well," the SeeDs heard Irvine shout as he approached them. "Feel free to make yourselves at home! My tent's over there," he gestured to a small cove resting against one of the outer walls. A small tent stood beneath the protective ledge, hidden behind draped vines. "We'll be done in no more than 3 hours." And with that, he headed over and through to the small temple opening, taking down some of the archaic wall in his wake.
It had been only and hour and a half before the bored SeeDs saw the first of the terrorized archaeologists scramble desperately out of the temple and into the nearby forest. More and more began to follow until Irvine himself came skidding out, flailing panic-stricken over to Squall.
"Hurry!" Irvine puffed in between breaths, "there's something....down there. We've...got to go save the....remaining documents before.... they're all destroyed!"
With incredible haste, Zell, Seifer, Squall, Quistis, and Selphie managed to equip their weapons and squeeze through the doorway all in minimum time. However, once inside, all 6 of them stopped in their tracks, paralyzed beyond any fear. Darkness engulfed them all, swallowing and sending them straight into the belly of the beast. Nobody could see 2 feet in front of them, yet the presence of ever watchful eyes didn't need to be seen to be felt. A convulsive shudder ran through each of them.
"Come, its this way," Irvine whispered hoarsely, yet hurriedly. "Torches have been lit farther down."
By the time they all reached the room bearing the torches, the fear had subsided slightly, leaving them with only a creepy enough feeling to leave the hair standing straight on their necks. Seifer was the first to speak.
"How much farther is it?" he demanded in a nonchalant tone.
Irvine whipped around at hearing the voice behind him. He studied the tall blond with shrewd eyes, then replied, "Only a little east of here..."
"Good," shot Seifer with a smirk, "I'm becoming a little chafed."
Irvine's eyes narrowed slightly, then he turned around and stalked off to the right (east).
Only one turn they had made before the darkness took them again. Fear choked them, closing off air and swelling their tongues. Squall unsheathed his gunblade, looking around with grim, yet fearful eyes. Whatever it was, was here. Each of them could feel it one way or another, whether it was the deathly presence piercing their courage, or the feeling in their stomachs, crumbling just as the walls outside.
Breathing by the companions seized, leaving them to a paralyzing silence, only to be replaced by an even more frightful breathing. It was soft at first, as a sleeping child breathes, but slowly mounted to salvage intakes of breath. It was shortly accompanied by heavy footfalls. At once, they were recognized as hooves....though only two feet.
Instinctively, the SeeDs, including Irvine, crowded around, creating a circle of defense. Quistis faced closest to the approaching footsteps. She breathed shallow, studying the enemy's distance. Only five more steps. She unraveled her metal crested whip from her belt loop and swept her hand across her sweat beaded forehead, preparing. Two more steps...
All of a sudden, Quistis heard a choked cry come from Zell, who was behind her. She turned her head to see, but knew once she did, she had just made the most fatal mistake possible. The beast in front of her charged, knocking her with such force that she slammed into Squall, who was stationed next to her. Blood flowed freely from a deep cut gouged into her forehead, causing her to take time to wipe the sticky fluid out of her eye.
Squall, having already pushed Quistis off and gotten up, charged in the direction of Zell's horrible screams. Irvine had tossed the torch to the ground, which now only faintly lit the clammy chamber. As Squall advanced swiftly upon the beast he could clearly see its bottom half. Two monstrous legs, each being hooved, stood crouched on the ground. Supporting the upper half, which Squall couldn't make out through the shadows, was grasping Zell, and by the sounds, was tearing him to shreds.
Squall was nearly fully advanced on the beast, with his blade poised, when something excruciatingly cuspate bit into his right leg. He crumpled to the stone floor, letting loose an agonizing cry of pain as his head crashed to the rock. He only had time enough to look up and see the face of a mutated bull staring him in the eye. Dimly, he could see the creature lift its blood caked mace above him, aspiring to the death blow, when it suddenly jerked and gave a ghastly cry. The fiend fell heavily to its knees, cracking the bones within under the tremendous weight of its torso...and with a loathsome grunt, it aimed a last, desperate attempt to destroy the intruder. Squall had barely any time to react, and did so only out of pure horror and instinct.
Having gathered all strength left to him, Squall scarcely managed to grasp his gunblade and swing it up and across the crippled beast's wrists, disembodying the clawed hands and preventing the final swing. Red filled Squall's vision as the creature's mutilated body slumped to a pile on the ground, a bullet hole in its back. The mace and hands crashed harmlessly beside the bleeding carcass, soon becoming soaked in its own blood. The last thing Squall was aware of was the abominable cry of the larger beast and the warm, red stream reach the side of his turned head.
Zell couldn't see, nor think. All he knew was the unbearable pain in his abdomen. Something had him from behind, this much he knew, and was tearing his whole body apart. Though the pain from torn flesh was harrowing, an even deeper pain burrowed in the depths of his haggard spirit. He had never lost in his life - never given up...yet here he was, dying in the hands of the enemy. But then again, dying wasn't so bad, was it? Hell, he'd even be able to finally meet his life - long idle, his legendary grandfather! No, he would now look forward to death and the life it held for him beyond.
Just as Zell's life was beginning to drain from his effete body, sweet oxygen plunged into his lungs as the death grip was released. He fell limply to the ground, comatose.
Selphie, her eyes filled with a foreign rage, had straddled the large fiend's neck with her nunchakus, strangling it to the point where it was forced to release Zell. The creature reached behind its back and missed Selphie by a hair with its razor claws. Selphie was caught by surprise by the flexibility the bulky body contained. She was forced to slide off its back before it had overturned her. The beast, also to Selphie's disdainful surprise, had amazing swiftness - for it had turned to face her before her feet reached solid ground. It gave a wicked roar of defiance and raised its spike-covered mace above its massive head, apparently trying to do the same as its miniature version had tried to do against Squall.
Selphie closed her eyes and gave a shuddered sob as the beast's large hand began to make its descend. But it never hit. Instead, Selphie heard an earsplitting crack and an enraged cry come from the attacking beast. She opened her eyes and saw, through her tears, Quistis standing about 7 feet away, her whip's end entangled around the beast's swinging arm. The mace fell from the trapped arm and landed to the ground with a sparking clash of medal striking stone.
Quistis yanked severely on the handle, dragging the bull a half a step toward her. The barbed end bore painfully into the creatures arms, enraging it further. Quistis knew what this had meant by saving Selphie's life. She would have died anyway, why not guarantee your way into heaven while your at it? She almost smiled to herself and the fiend to another step toward her. She could see its features clearly now in the torch's light. It had the head of the bull, only saber fangs jutted out from the lower jaw, capturing themselves in the smaller fangs of the upper jaw. Two humongous horns were gracefully, yet threateningly placed on either side of its scalp, curving in and framing the whole head. It eyes were captivating, dark and intelligent, having the quality no mere animal could ever possess. They also held rage and true hatred, suggested by its gapping and foaming maw.
The bull came up close to Quistis, close enough to where she could almost feel its aggressive aura - tormented and demanding. And, as if in victory, it made a great intake of breath, open its burly maw, and.....sounded a gunshot. The lifeless body fell brutally to the stone ground, blood trickling steadily from a bullet wound on its back.
Quistis and Selphie, still in the midst of shock, looked up at Irvine with glassy eyes. The cowboy stood near a wall in the chamber, smoke swarming out of his shotgun's barrel. Lowering it to his side, he sighing deeply and looked up at Selphie and Quistis.
"Those," he gestured calmly to the two dead carcasses that littered the ground with their life's blood, "would be the Brothers - two minotaurs serving as this temple's king's Guardian Forces. Even after his death, they loyally serve his Majesty." Irvine looked around and sighed sadly. "Well," he looked up, "shall we be on our way?"
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My first battle scene. Not really that bad, was it? Please, please R+R!!!!! (Thank you to my few, yet faithful reviewers!!)