Author's note: Okay, now again we're getting a little (and I mean very little) forward with the story in this chapter… As you may remember, I said that this fic is going to have 22 chapters, well now I think it will become 23, so we are really getting into the last moments of this story right now… I just hope you enjoy the ride, no matter how little there is left, I think the ending is the highlight of this story…
Shared Feelings
Written by Terra Trepe
Chapter 19: Steps Ahead
The air was filled with trembling atmosphere between the two men who were still walking around the big and so empty corridors of this Garden. There was no noise at all heard here, even the battle noise outside on the battlefield was all gone now, and Squall knew it could mean only one thing.
The war had moved itself into the place that meant to him very much. To the Garden, their home and their place of save, Balamb was now filled with suffering and lost as the full-equipped Galbadian forces had gone there to plant the seed of never-ending battles. This all was because of Ultimecia and it made him even angrier. Squall knew that the only way to end all this was to destroy the dark sorceress from the future and this time make it final. But even under this glowing determination that gave him strength and under this angriness, there was a hint of uncertainty that didn't unloosen its tight grasp from him.
The problem he had once confronted was again before him, but this time he couldn't decide what path to take… Rinoa… She was somewhere here and Ultimecia possessed her. Squall was still the leader of SeeDs, the ones that were destined to kill sorceresses, and this time he was also her knight.
If there would be any option that could save Rinoa, he would gladly take it, ready to give anything, even his own life and perhaps even his close ones. But the only thing he could do now was to hope that something, something that could kill Ultimecia and still save Rinoa's life, would come up… But he knew it was something very daring to hope for, so he decided to silence up for now.
"Damn it…"
Squall changed his gaze up to the man walking next to him, seeing his walk being unsteady as he continued to take the steps that seemed to create some pain between his ribs that he was now covering up with his hand, a look of pain written across his firm face.
As Seifer continued to groan these selected words that could only describe the challenge he was going inside himself, Squall could see he was going through something. He was still hurt and wasn't in any condition to keep on walking, but still he managed to gather the strength from somewhere inside him as he kept taking the steady strides on his walk.
"Are you alright…?" Seifer changed his gaze pretty quickly back to Squall and he could hear his question wasn't very concerned, just cold and stern.
"Yeah, whatever…" Replying this with a sneer, Seifer moved his stern gaze away from the ebony haired man. There was definitely something hanging on the air between them. And it was called rotten past.
A silent moment encountered them again, this time more persistently than before. They walked and walked, and when they finally entered to the slim hall that had stairs leading up to the upper floors, they stopped, staring the dark stairs with their eyes filled with silent determination.
"I think we should go up here…" The two men, dark and blond, stated this at the very same time and stopped too when realising the spookiness of the same brain progress they were both going through.
They kept staring up to the stairs and this time they were both out of words. There were no words to describe the emotions they were going through inside themselves right now. But one thing was sure… They were both scared…Scared that they wouldn't win and that they would fail their loved ones…Scared to face the enemy that was looming somewhere on the upper floors, waiting them to come.
Liberi Fatali … Come and seal your past and destiny… Come… I am waiting…
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The voices echoed ghostly on the background of this never-ending darkness that were embracing her tightly, sealing her breath away.
She struggled for awhile, trying to take an inhale of air that she now desperately needed, as she felt her lungs squeezing, begging for even an ounce of air.
No… Was all that she could stutter with her ragging voice that started to disappear away to the darkness that sill loomed around her.
Then her body stiffened up on the floor and she opened her eyes up in a flash. She felt her whole body trembling from shock and fear as she stared out to the faraway wall before her sight. She closed her eyes up once again, trying to take the grip of herself. When she finally realised she was able to take an inhale, first trembling and unsure then relaxing and steady, she opened her eyes up again, now starting to sit up on this floor she had suddenly appeared on.
"W-Where…?" Her body still trembling slowly, she raised her eyes, which were still filled with haziness, up to the dark form that were two metres away from her. Her sight was blurred up with layers of fog, but it started to become clearer as she made more effort to stare up to the unmoving figure that already gave her the creeps.
Whoever it was- or whatever it was- the figure was having its back toward her, seeming to look at something that she couldn't see.
Now her sight completely back, her troubled breathing caught up on her dry throat, when the figure started to turn to face her.
A wicked smile spread over her cold-looking lips, when she laid her dark gaze of suffering and violence down to the blond woman laying on the floor, who was now completely still, when she realised who this very threatening woman clad in dark and elegant pieces of clothes were. The dark eyed woman found her voice first, hissing the words that confused the blond woman who now felt more scared than ever before on her life.
"You finally woke up… My dear fellow sorceress… My dear, dear Quistis…"
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Author's note: Well this was short… Too short in fact, but well, I will write more on the following chapters… Or I try, that is…
Well, okay, I thought to ask one thing from you, my dear readers… Do you want me to write what the rest of our gang, Selphie, Zell, Irvine, Edea and Cid are up to, or should I just skip it… Well, perhaps I should write it, I mean, it's part of the story… Still, tell me your opinions about it… THANKS A LOT!!!! *_*