Discomfort
endlessly has pulled
itself upon me
Distracting/reacting
I've felt this way before
So insecure...
--from "Crawling"
"For When You Return"
Part V
Squall flopped down into one of the seats that lined the window. Everyone knew what was going
through his head, and because of this they had allowed him his space for a while. However, they
were nearing their landing point and knew that the situation--especially one that wasn't supposed
to be dangerous--shouldn't be dampening the mood to -that- degree. No one was foolish enough
to tell him that openly, but Zell still cast Squall a discrete glare, and Quistis kept her arms
folded as she looked out the window.
The sea rushed by beneath them.
"Woo!" Selphie cried. "We're almost there!"
"Don't throw your arms up like that!" Irvine cried immediately. "Watch the wheel! The wheel,
Selphie!"
The Ragnarok jerked a little.
"Geez," Irvine said, holding his hat and waiting for the machine to get back in line. "You, of
all people, have to be the only one of us who can fly this thing."
"What's -that- supposed to mean," Selphie asked indignantly.
"Don't look at me!" Irvine said. "Look at the controls."
"Oh!"
Quistis pushed herself away from the window. "Okay. We've hit land."
"The way Selphie is driving, I'm not surprised that we haven't literally -hit- land."
"Will you just stop it already," Selphie snapped.
Quistis was unfazed. "As I was saying, we've hit land. That means that we'll be landing
momentarily." She raised a hand to silence Irvine, who was already two steps ahead in a quip.
He frowned and slouched, as Quistis had cut him off. "We should plan this out a little,
shouldn't we?"
"Definitely!" Zell said.
"We should probably divide up into two groups." Quistis said.
Uneven groups, Squall thought. We're missing a person.
"...This is an easier opponent, so the smaller group should probably go in at the front and the
larger should simply attack from behind. Hit it head on."
"Um..." Zell was obviously uncomfortable on account that Quistis had pressed the 'easy' concept.
He would have retorted, but something much heavier--and shameful--was obviously weighing on his
mind. His hand rose a little and his head curled in a tense manner, as if he were trying to hide
himself somehow. "...One problem with that."
No one questioned Quistis' plans. Stiffening and perking up one eyebrow, she slowly turned her
head to look at him. Her blue eyes were like ice. "What?"
"...I kinda...um... don't know -exactly- where this thing is?"
"Huh?" Irvine said.
"You mean..."
"...We have to just 'luckily stumble' onto this thing?"
"I -said- that it was going to be a challenge," Zell replied indignantly. "I've got a map of the
cave, though. Sort of. I had to copy it down, I was kind of in a rush."
"Great. Just great. Do you know how many caves there are in Centra?!"
Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We've dealt with worse. This is supposed to be fun,
remember?" He didn't sound like he was having much fun, but everyone turned to look at him in
surprise anyway.
"What?" He asked.
"What...ever?" Zell tried.
"Sure." Squall said. "Whatever."
Even Quistis smiled a little at that one, although her tongue was still in her cheek, a gesture
of annoyance. Zell cast her a few wary glances until Squall spoke up in his defense with a
casual shrug and uplift of his hands.
"I think we've dealt with worse," Squall said, hating the way that everyone was looking at him,
how the area had gotten so quiet. For that reason, he didn't look at anyone but the wild-haired
blonde. "You have an -idea- of where to go, don't you Zell?"
"Of course!" Zell exclaimed, shooting everyone an indignant little glare. And, before Quistis'
eyes could make a full rotation, he was lifting his chin in order to explain. "You know the
coast we just passed?"
"Uh-huh." Irvine said.
"And the coast over that way?" Zell pointed in the direction that they were going with the
casual cock of one thumb.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I have reason to believe that our Guardian Force is somewhere between the two."
"Cute." Quistis said dully from her corner. "Very, very cute."
"I was kidding!" Zell cried, throwing up his hands.
"Can I hit him?" Irvine asked, ignoring Zell's last comment. "Really, now? I'm serious, here."
"Oh, bring it on, John Wayne." Zell hissed, bringing up his fists and leaning over in an
intimidating and yet almost twittery manner. He gave a little punch in the air and glared,
almost spasming visibly as all of his muscles tightened and prepped. "I'm going to get medieval
on your My Little Pony-tailed as--"
Suddenly, the Ragnorak jerked sharply to one side. Zell's narrowed eyes flew wide and his arms
flapped about, as his feet came off the floor and he was sent hurtling into the other side of
the cockpit. Irvine, who had already been there, let out a little wail as Zell came barreling
toward him due to gravity rather than anger. Quistis pressed her hands into both sides of the
corner and Squall grabbed onto a seat--flipping sideways and onto the window behind him.
And then, suddenly, the aircraft righted itself.
"Sorry," Selphie said pointedly. "Grown people fighting like two-year olds seems to make me
nervous for some crazy reason. Funny, didn't think it would affect my flyin--" She demonstrated
another little shake. "Oops! There I go again!"
There was a thump and a groan from Zell and Irvine's side of the cockpit.
They had eventually consulted each-other in a civil manner and brought the Ragnorak to a
landing. Zell had not been lying when he had said that he was kidding earlier, for he had a
much more concise area in mind -- a moderate-sized island to the east of the mainland. It was
namely forest, and thick at that. Squall found it rather uncomfortable, although he did not
complain. Everyone else seemed to be fine, for if they shared his worry over Rinoa, they did
not show it.
...It was nothing to be concerned about, right? That's what Rinoa had said...?
Quistis, who was second in line to Zell, rubbed the small of her back with a twisting wince of
her face. "Remind me never to go to Selphie for therapy."
"I -don't- like it when you guys fight," Selphie said firmly.
"Gee," Irvine replied musingly. "You didn't seem to be flying any different than usual. I mean
I'm only two-thirds bruised, now. I actually think that you're improving."
Eventually the pair fell behind, as Selphie went barreling into the tall man with her fists
beating in flaming half-seriousness. Squall, who had been playing caboose, cast them a sidelong
glance and pushed past then with a little brush of his shoulder. He was ignored, and seemed as
invisible as he felt.
"What do you think, Quisty?" Zell asked over one shoulder.
"Forward seems to be working for now," She replied tiredly, pushing a bit of hair back from her
eyes and letting them swim from side to side with an expression that was as dull as her voice.
She was the embodiment of a sigh.
Squall thrust his hands into his pockets, heaved his shoulders, and wandered after them. The
forest was an array of intermingling greens. He didn't despise nature or anything of the like,
but this environment was stifling. Wrong. It just felt...
"Wrong." Selphie said. She was grooming herself a little, but halfheartedly so. Irvine, who was
tugging to re-arrange his hat as well, found himself nodding in agreement. Both were red-faced
from sprinting to catch up with the rest of them. However, their eyes were not as clear with
exuberance as they had been before.
"Isn't it, though?" Selphie continued. "I mean, it's -creepy-."
"It's not your sanitized bedroom, you mean?" Quistis said.
"Maybe we're getting close," Zell said.
Selphie crossed her arms over herself and shivered dramatically. "If this is what it means to
be getting close, I don't know if I want to go any nearer!"
Zell's face fell a little at her comment, and Selphie found herself struggling to make up for
it. This was, after all, Zell's idea. He'd had worked so hard to organize this for them and had
been so excited about it -- hell, so had she! And, despite the chill running like wet fingers
down her spine, she put on a tense little smile.
"...But wow, it's so thrilling, too!" She said cheerfully.
Zell watched his feet and twiddled them a little.
"We're looking for a cave, right?" Irvine asked. "That's what you said, Zell?"
"Yeah," Zell said, attempting to break free of his hesitation. "That's what Xu's databas--That's
what Xu said, anyway. Some cave on an uninhabited island east of Centra."
Zell had flushed a little when he had corrected himself. No one else gave him much of a glance,
but Squall did. That strange, sinking feeling that had plagued him earlier returned in addition
to the discomfort that he already felt, and he tried to sate it by biting at the corner of one
of his lips.
Zell cast him a shielded glance, but didn't do much more than that. Rather, he scratched the
side of his head and directed his attention to the rest of the group, which had gathered around
him in a mixture of frustration and annoyance.
"Selphie must be right," Quistis finally said. "I feel it too. We must be close."
And sure enough, after hiking for only a quarter of an hour more they found it. It had been a
close call, however, for this wasn't exactly how they pictured a cave. If not for the fact that
Irvine had moved his head to slap an especially burdensome mosquito, no one ever would have
seen it. In that shift of his head he caught a space against the green that was blacker than
most, and upon further inspection they found a crevice so small that it would almost be a
squeeze for Selphie.
"This isn't even a cliff!" Zell said. "I mean, talk about slicing a little hole into the top of
a cherry pie crust!"
Everyone looked at him curiously.
"What," Zell retorted. "I'm hungry, okay?"
Selphie was voted to go first, which seemed to be the most practical thing to do. She was,
after all, the smallest. Growing quite enthusiastic now, she readily agreed. Everyone waited
patiently as she touched her fingertips together and murmured a little spell. With a spread of
her hands she set a small ball of light aglow in the center of her palm.
And, with her face illuminated in the dim forest light, she ducked down in order to squeeze
through the tiny crevice. Everyone watched her and the light disappear with silent
tension -- the sound of her cry made everyone jump at once, although the sound was not fearful
in the least. It was an all-clear.
"That's odd, actually," Quistis said musingly as she pressed her shoulder into the vertical
hole. "I've just realized that we haven't really run into a monster yet..."
And she faded into the black, leaving the comment in the air to swelter and linger.
Zell went next, and was by far the hardest to squeeze. Irvine and Squall worked to help him out
from their side, and Quistis and Selphie did their work from within the hole. Eventually, with
an animated and relieved groan, Zell managed his way through, muttering something or another to
himself about damn-well finding a bigger hole.
"No monsters? Yeah. Right. Look at this mosquito bite, Squall." Irvine went next with not much
more ease. The hole--which was more of a crack than anything--was just as small as it was
narrow. Squall looked upon it warily as he advanced, and with a slow motion he set his foot in
the bottom and his hand on the stone, before sliding his left shoulder into the cave.
It was cold, colder than he thought this continent could ever get. The chill snaked through his
leather coat like needles and into the pits of his flesh like vapor, instantly setting him into
a clammy freeze. He had to arch his head back to get through, and his neck was struck with the
worst of it.
And the smell! It was so dry and dank. Like claws it dug deep down into his lungs, grated
against the bottoms of them, and drew every trace of clean air away from him in a single gasp.
And then he fell in sideways with the scrape of his spine, a one-foot drop. The floor was wet
beneath his boots -- he knew this, because somehow he could feel it.
Selphie stood with her orb of light among the rest of them. They were in a cozy little space,
ten paces wide and eight short. The ceiling was low and just barely enough for Irvine to stand
straight. When Squall adjusted himself Selphie quietly turned her pale and outstretched arm off
to one side. Like an explosion the glow spread down a narrow and intestine-like corridor.
Somehow, the brightness seemed to only enhance the dark. It was radiant where Squall stood, but
the hole looked endless.
They all exchanged glances. Squall had felt small and insignificant outside, as if he were of
little worth and invisible to the eye... but now, here, in this crowded little hollow in the
earth... They were a unit. They were one.
"Do you feel it?" Zell whispered.
"What?" Quistis replied, just as low and quiet.
"...The butterflies in your stomach."
Everyone in the group couldn't help it from coming -- the anxious flicker of a smile.
Selphie had to duck in order to get through the corridor, which seemed to only get smaller and
smaller. Zell crowded in right next to her, holding the map in both hands and shuffling in
order to keep himself steady. However, he couldn't tell the top from the bottom, and kept
flipping it whenever he thought that no one was looking.
"Our map is eyeliner on a cafeteria napkin," Irvine said bleakly. "We're doomed."
Quistis elbowed him in the side. "Anything, yet?"
Zell looked from side to side. The corridor was smooth and circular, and although it seemed to
slope and narrow a little, it didn't seem to curve that much. After a moment of considering
this, he said, "Forward, still." As if they actually could go in any other direction.
"And why on earth would you be carrying around eyeliner, anyway?" Irvine asked.
"Can I see the map?" Selphie hardly had time to inquire, before Zell clutched the napkin to his
chest in an indignant manner. His eyes flashed madly, and with a rolling of her head she let
out a little exasperated, "Okay, okay. Keep it."
Ruffling himself out a bit, Zell un-crinkled the map and eyed her before examining it again.
Squall, who was last in line--and had the hardest time seeing, especially with the tunnel
getting so narrow--watched this display with the wetting of his lips. He had gotten into the
habit of bracing himself on the side of the wall, but the stone was clammy
and...strange...feeling, even with his gloves it sickened him. Even then, he reflexively put
his hand there, and again he drew it back into a fist to his chest in disgusted response.
"What is this thing, anyway?" He asked.
"It's called Zenkamuka in the records," Zell said.
"...And?"
"She likes classical music and long walks on the beach?" Zell tried.
"No, seriously. What is it?" Quistis asked.
Zell was slower to respond this time. Perhaps it was because he was still studying the map, but
he let out a little ~nnng~ sound that suggested that he just didn't want to answer the question.
"Um... you ever find little slugs stuck to the outside of your window...?"
Quistis groaned. "This just gets better and better."
"What? It doesn't make this thing any less spooky, guys!"
That was true, actually. Everyone--even Quistis--could feel their bellies knotting tighter and
tighter with fear. That sensation that had been plaguing them in the forest had gotten stronger,
and when Irvine tried to laugh off Zell's comment he found himself choking a little. Squall's
hand rest reassuringly on his shoulder from behind for a moment, although neither man felt
comforted. They knew fear, but this was something altogether different. The sensation was so
strange that their bodies had difficult times reacting to it. Squall was in a state where he
didn't quite know -how- he felt, or how he should feel. And those nervous twitters remained.
Just when they thought that they had to go on their hands and knees, the tunnel opened up
again. Zell threw up a finger and exclaimed, "I'll check the map!" Much to everyone's groans
and sighs. Zell, however, purposefully ignored their laments and consulted the eyeliner. He
wished that he had chosen a darker color, but didn't say anything about that lest he draw
attention to the poorly-drawn map again.
After a thoughtful ~hmm~, he declared, "We're still in the cave."
Irvine gave him a playful little thumbs-up when he turned around to grin at them all. Despite
the fact that Quistis sighed and Squall was unresponsive, they all felt the mood lighten
considerably at the comment, nevermind the fact that their flesh still felt as if it had been
peeled away from a corpse, that they were in an air-locked and shallow crypt.
Zell turned his face ahead again and started to move. However, with a sudden gasp he came to a
halt and spread his arms out in order to catch Selphie with an elbow. His map, which had been
dropped in the motion, fluttered down onto the stony ground and tossed lightly like a feather
down the slight incline. It was sucked into the darkness.
"What did you see?" Selphie whispered.
"Hold out your arm again," Zell hissed.
Squall, who crowded in from behind, couldn't see anything from behind the silhouettes of the
rest of them. Growing inwardly frustrated, he stood on his toes and jabbed the top of his skull
into the ceiling of the tunnel. Rubbing at the ache, he lowered flat on his feet and managed to
find a window between Irvine's shoulder and Quistis' arched neck.
Selphie, after casting Zell a curious glance, lifted her arm and stretched the light out as far
as it could go. Zell dropped his arm in order to allow her to take a step forward, and with an
increasing feeling of dread the girl saw the shadows shift and snake away from the light--never
fading, but simply running a few steps back, taunting them. There were two posts at the far end
of the tunnel, wound with rope... although this is not what Selphie saw, or at least not what
she remembered.
There, just at the edge of what her light allowed, was the play of two white cheekbones. Human
cheekbones, stretched beneath the flesh of human cheeks. And then there was a heavy, sloshing
rush as the blood flowed out from her head and into her feet. Everything tingled, every
muscle... as if they had all began to doze at once.
Squall narrowed his eyes. Two posts. It was a bridge of some sort. Someone had built a bridge
here... This must have been where they were to find it. This is where the Guardian Force
Zenkamuka was held... Somewhere across that bridge. Finally, they were nearing something other
than the tunnel itself.
And then suddenly everything shattered. Selphie went barreling back into Zell, who sent everyone
behind him askew. Squall felt himself flailing backwards. The wall, which he had been scorning
bitterly for the whole trip, did nothing to help him. His arm, elbow, and hip slid against it
until he thumped onto the floor with a crack. Irvine's bottom smashed down onto his left knee,
and Squall's face contorted with the pain.
It was then when he heard it -- Selphie. She was stammering.
With a flash of her eyes her mind apparently had snapped into a million different pieces. Her
chest heaved and fell and her gaze was bugged and glazed in the nature of a confined animal.
Zell tried to keep her on her feet, but she kept spiraling backwards, her skinny arms flailing
wildly. From within her rattling breaths came the ghosts of wails, and within those wails there
were words. Squall could not make out a single one of them, but he didn't need to. What she
tried to express was impossible to put into any language.
Zell had managed to get his arms looped beneath her own; he hooked her and held her tight.
Selphie, having thoroughly gone mad at this point, thrashed with almost inhuman strength beneath
his hold, beating her back against his chest and breaking into a shriek. The sound was
high-pitched and loud enough to split Squall's ear-drums, and through the flickering
darkness--Selphie was waving the light around--he saw both Irvine and Quistis hunch over and
cover their ears. The whole cave echoed with the sound, and Selphie kept feeding it with her
screams.
And then, suddenly, it was all too much for Zell. She broke free and fell backwards with a crash.
Squall saw her then, as she scurried back and out of both Quistis and Irvine's reach. As she
passed him he saw her face, the way that her flesh had gone two shades paler and her eyes had
gone almost eerily wide, so that her irises were covered by white on all sides. Although the
caves still vibrated, he realized that she had gone silent.
Selphie had stopped breathing, and was too afraid to realize it. She had gashed her knee on a
rock when she fell, Squall saw, and blood ran down one leg in a web-work of black. It smelled
strong, and that metallic scent joined the dank odor of the crypt. Hastily Squall overcame
himself enough to get a hold of her, and before Selphie could react Irvine had leaped as well.
They managed to pin her down on both sides.
Her legs kicked wildly and her head cracked flat against the floor. Squall watched her chest
rise, tighten... and then she let out a bone-shattering scream that nearly turned Irvine's hair
white -- he tensed and closed his eyes, and then exchanged a look with Squall that displayed
both terror, pain, and bewilderment.
Quistis managed to finally join them, and she caught Selphie's legs. Thus properly pinned, the
girl thrashed her hips and continued to screech and sob at the top of her lungs. Her eyes,
Squall realized with a pang, were still wide and fixated... On what, he did not know.
Zell took a step backwards and put a fist to his mouth. He whispered against his flesh and felt
the glow erupt from the center of his palm. Staring at the scene in front of him for a moment
longer, he finally brought himself around to face the bridge again. Extending his hand as if in
attempt to ward off evil spirits, he set the first half of the bridge aglow.
There was nothing there.
...At least, not that he could see.
End Part 5/?
To be Continued.
endlessly has pulled
itself upon me
Distracting/reacting
I've felt this way before
So insecure...
--from "Crawling"
"For When You Return"
Part V
Squall flopped down into one of the seats that lined the window. Everyone knew what was going
through his head, and because of this they had allowed him his space for a while. However, they
were nearing their landing point and knew that the situation--especially one that wasn't supposed
to be dangerous--shouldn't be dampening the mood to -that- degree. No one was foolish enough
to tell him that openly, but Zell still cast Squall a discrete glare, and Quistis kept her arms
folded as she looked out the window.
The sea rushed by beneath them.
"Woo!" Selphie cried. "We're almost there!"
"Don't throw your arms up like that!" Irvine cried immediately. "Watch the wheel! The wheel,
Selphie!"
The Ragnarok jerked a little.
"Geez," Irvine said, holding his hat and waiting for the machine to get back in line. "You, of
all people, have to be the only one of us who can fly this thing."
"What's -that- supposed to mean," Selphie asked indignantly.
"Don't look at me!" Irvine said. "Look at the controls."
"Oh!"
Quistis pushed herself away from the window. "Okay. We've hit land."
"The way Selphie is driving, I'm not surprised that we haven't literally -hit- land."
"Will you just stop it already," Selphie snapped.
Quistis was unfazed. "As I was saying, we've hit land. That means that we'll be landing
momentarily." She raised a hand to silence Irvine, who was already two steps ahead in a quip.
He frowned and slouched, as Quistis had cut him off. "We should plan this out a little,
shouldn't we?"
"Definitely!" Zell said.
"We should probably divide up into two groups." Quistis said.
Uneven groups, Squall thought. We're missing a person.
"...This is an easier opponent, so the smaller group should probably go in at the front and the
larger should simply attack from behind. Hit it head on."
"Um..." Zell was obviously uncomfortable on account that Quistis had pressed the 'easy' concept.
He would have retorted, but something much heavier--and shameful--was obviously weighing on his
mind. His hand rose a little and his head curled in a tense manner, as if he were trying to hide
himself somehow. "...One problem with that."
No one questioned Quistis' plans. Stiffening and perking up one eyebrow, she slowly turned her
head to look at him. Her blue eyes were like ice. "What?"
"...I kinda...um... don't know -exactly- where this thing is?"
"Huh?" Irvine said.
"You mean..."
"...We have to just 'luckily stumble' onto this thing?"
"I -said- that it was going to be a challenge," Zell replied indignantly. "I've got a map of the
cave, though. Sort of. I had to copy it down, I was kind of in a rush."
"Great. Just great. Do you know how many caves there are in Centra?!"
Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We've dealt with worse. This is supposed to be fun,
remember?" He didn't sound like he was having much fun, but everyone turned to look at him in
surprise anyway.
"What?" He asked.
"What...ever?" Zell tried.
"Sure." Squall said. "Whatever."
Even Quistis smiled a little at that one, although her tongue was still in her cheek, a gesture
of annoyance. Zell cast her a few wary glances until Squall spoke up in his defense with a
casual shrug and uplift of his hands.
"I think we've dealt with worse," Squall said, hating the way that everyone was looking at him,
how the area had gotten so quiet. For that reason, he didn't look at anyone but the wild-haired
blonde. "You have an -idea- of where to go, don't you Zell?"
"Of course!" Zell exclaimed, shooting everyone an indignant little glare. And, before Quistis'
eyes could make a full rotation, he was lifting his chin in order to explain. "You know the
coast we just passed?"
"Uh-huh." Irvine said.
"And the coast over that way?" Zell pointed in the direction that they were going with the
casual cock of one thumb.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I have reason to believe that our Guardian Force is somewhere between the two."
"Cute." Quistis said dully from her corner. "Very, very cute."
"I was kidding!" Zell cried, throwing up his hands.
"Can I hit him?" Irvine asked, ignoring Zell's last comment. "Really, now? I'm serious, here."
"Oh, bring it on, John Wayne." Zell hissed, bringing up his fists and leaning over in an
intimidating and yet almost twittery manner. He gave a little punch in the air and glared,
almost spasming visibly as all of his muscles tightened and prepped. "I'm going to get medieval
on your My Little Pony-tailed as--"
Suddenly, the Ragnorak jerked sharply to one side. Zell's narrowed eyes flew wide and his arms
flapped about, as his feet came off the floor and he was sent hurtling into the other side of
the cockpit. Irvine, who had already been there, let out a little wail as Zell came barreling
toward him due to gravity rather than anger. Quistis pressed her hands into both sides of the
corner and Squall grabbed onto a seat--flipping sideways and onto the window behind him.
And then, suddenly, the aircraft righted itself.
"Sorry," Selphie said pointedly. "Grown people fighting like two-year olds seems to make me
nervous for some crazy reason. Funny, didn't think it would affect my flyin--" She demonstrated
another little shake. "Oops! There I go again!"
There was a thump and a groan from Zell and Irvine's side of the cockpit.
They had eventually consulted each-other in a civil manner and brought the Ragnorak to a
landing. Zell had not been lying when he had said that he was kidding earlier, for he had a
much more concise area in mind -- a moderate-sized island to the east of the mainland. It was
namely forest, and thick at that. Squall found it rather uncomfortable, although he did not
complain. Everyone else seemed to be fine, for if they shared his worry over Rinoa, they did
not show it.
...It was nothing to be concerned about, right? That's what Rinoa had said...?
Quistis, who was second in line to Zell, rubbed the small of her back with a twisting wince of
her face. "Remind me never to go to Selphie for therapy."
"I -don't- like it when you guys fight," Selphie said firmly.
"Gee," Irvine replied musingly. "You didn't seem to be flying any different than usual. I mean
I'm only two-thirds bruised, now. I actually think that you're improving."
Eventually the pair fell behind, as Selphie went barreling into the tall man with her fists
beating in flaming half-seriousness. Squall, who had been playing caboose, cast them a sidelong
glance and pushed past then with a little brush of his shoulder. He was ignored, and seemed as
invisible as he felt.
"What do you think, Quisty?" Zell asked over one shoulder.
"Forward seems to be working for now," She replied tiredly, pushing a bit of hair back from her
eyes and letting them swim from side to side with an expression that was as dull as her voice.
She was the embodiment of a sigh.
Squall thrust his hands into his pockets, heaved his shoulders, and wandered after them. The
forest was an array of intermingling greens. He didn't despise nature or anything of the like,
but this environment was stifling. Wrong. It just felt...
"Wrong." Selphie said. She was grooming herself a little, but halfheartedly so. Irvine, who was
tugging to re-arrange his hat as well, found himself nodding in agreement. Both were red-faced
from sprinting to catch up with the rest of them. However, their eyes were not as clear with
exuberance as they had been before.
"Isn't it, though?" Selphie continued. "I mean, it's -creepy-."
"It's not your sanitized bedroom, you mean?" Quistis said.
"Maybe we're getting close," Zell said.
Selphie crossed her arms over herself and shivered dramatically. "If this is what it means to
be getting close, I don't know if I want to go any nearer!"
Zell's face fell a little at her comment, and Selphie found herself struggling to make up for
it. This was, after all, Zell's idea. He'd had worked so hard to organize this for them and had
been so excited about it -- hell, so had she! And, despite the chill running like wet fingers
down her spine, she put on a tense little smile.
"...But wow, it's so thrilling, too!" She said cheerfully.
Zell watched his feet and twiddled them a little.
"We're looking for a cave, right?" Irvine asked. "That's what you said, Zell?"
"Yeah," Zell said, attempting to break free of his hesitation. "That's what Xu's databas--That's
what Xu said, anyway. Some cave on an uninhabited island east of Centra."
Zell had flushed a little when he had corrected himself. No one else gave him much of a glance,
but Squall did. That strange, sinking feeling that had plagued him earlier returned in addition
to the discomfort that he already felt, and he tried to sate it by biting at the corner of one
of his lips.
Zell cast him a shielded glance, but didn't do much more than that. Rather, he scratched the
side of his head and directed his attention to the rest of the group, which had gathered around
him in a mixture of frustration and annoyance.
"Selphie must be right," Quistis finally said. "I feel it too. We must be close."
And sure enough, after hiking for only a quarter of an hour more they found it. It had been a
close call, however, for this wasn't exactly how they pictured a cave. If not for the fact that
Irvine had moved his head to slap an especially burdensome mosquito, no one ever would have
seen it. In that shift of his head he caught a space against the green that was blacker than
most, and upon further inspection they found a crevice so small that it would almost be a
squeeze for Selphie.
"This isn't even a cliff!" Zell said. "I mean, talk about slicing a little hole into the top of
a cherry pie crust!"
Everyone looked at him curiously.
"What," Zell retorted. "I'm hungry, okay?"
Selphie was voted to go first, which seemed to be the most practical thing to do. She was,
after all, the smallest. Growing quite enthusiastic now, she readily agreed. Everyone waited
patiently as she touched her fingertips together and murmured a little spell. With a spread of
her hands she set a small ball of light aglow in the center of her palm.
And, with her face illuminated in the dim forest light, she ducked down in order to squeeze
through the tiny crevice. Everyone watched her and the light disappear with silent
tension -- the sound of her cry made everyone jump at once, although the sound was not fearful
in the least. It was an all-clear.
"That's odd, actually," Quistis said musingly as she pressed her shoulder into the vertical
hole. "I've just realized that we haven't really run into a monster yet..."
And she faded into the black, leaving the comment in the air to swelter and linger.
Zell went next, and was by far the hardest to squeeze. Irvine and Squall worked to help him out
from their side, and Quistis and Selphie did their work from within the hole. Eventually, with
an animated and relieved groan, Zell managed his way through, muttering something or another to
himself about damn-well finding a bigger hole.
"No monsters? Yeah. Right. Look at this mosquito bite, Squall." Irvine went next with not much
more ease. The hole--which was more of a crack than anything--was just as small as it was
narrow. Squall looked upon it warily as he advanced, and with a slow motion he set his foot in
the bottom and his hand on the stone, before sliding his left shoulder into the cave.
It was cold, colder than he thought this continent could ever get. The chill snaked through his
leather coat like needles and into the pits of his flesh like vapor, instantly setting him into
a clammy freeze. He had to arch his head back to get through, and his neck was struck with the
worst of it.
And the smell! It was so dry and dank. Like claws it dug deep down into his lungs, grated
against the bottoms of them, and drew every trace of clean air away from him in a single gasp.
And then he fell in sideways with the scrape of his spine, a one-foot drop. The floor was wet
beneath his boots -- he knew this, because somehow he could feel it.
Selphie stood with her orb of light among the rest of them. They were in a cozy little space,
ten paces wide and eight short. The ceiling was low and just barely enough for Irvine to stand
straight. When Squall adjusted himself Selphie quietly turned her pale and outstretched arm off
to one side. Like an explosion the glow spread down a narrow and intestine-like corridor.
Somehow, the brightness seemed to only enhance the dark. It was radiant where Squall stood, but
the hole looked endless.
They all exchanged glances. Squall had felt small and insignificant outside, as if he were of
little worth and invisible to the eye... but now, here, in this crowded little hollow in the
earth... They were a unit. They were one.
"Do you feel it?" Zell whispered.
"What?" Quistis replied, just as low and quiet.
"...The butterflies in your stomach."
Everyone in the group couldn't help it from coming -- the anxious flicker of a smile.
Selphie had to duck in order to get through the corridor, which seemed to only get smaller and
smaller. Zell crowded in right next to her, holding the map in both hands and shuffling in
order to keep himself steady. However, he couldn't tell the top from the bottom, and kept
flipping it whenever he thought that no one was looking.
"Our map is eyeliner on a cafeteria napkin," Irvine said bleakly. "We're doomed."
Quistis elbowed him in the side. "Anything, yet?"
Zell looked from side to side. The corridor was smooth and circular, and although it seemed to
slope and narrow a little, it didn't seem to curve that much. After a moment of considering
this, he said, "Forward, still." As if they actually could go in any other direction.
"And why on earth would you be carrying around eyeliner, anyway?" Irvine asked.
"Can I see the map?" Selphie hardly had time to inquire, before Zell clutched the napkin to his
chest in an indignant manner. His eyes flashed madly, and with a rolling of her head she let
out a little exasperated, "Okay, okay. Keep it."
Ruffling himself out a bit, Zell un-crinkled the map and eyed her before examining it again.
Squall, who was last in line--and had the hardest time seeing, especially with the tunnel
getting so narrow--watched this display with the wetting of his lips. He had gotten into the
habit of bracing himself on the side of the wall, but the stone was clammy
and...strange...feeling, even with his gloves it sickened him. Even then, he reflexively put
his hand there, and again he drew it back into a fist to his chest in disgusted response.
"What is this thing, anyway?" He asked.
"It's called Zenkamuka in the records," Zell said.
"...And?"
"She likes classical music and long walks on the beach?" Zell tried.
"No, seriously. What is it?" Quistis asked.
Zell was slower to respond this time. Perhaps it was because he was still studying the map, but
he let out a little ~nnng~ sound that suggested that he just didn't want to answer the question.
"Um... you ever find little slugs stuck to the outside of your window...?"
Quistis groaned. "This just gets better and better."
"What? It doesn't make this thing any less spooky, guys!"
That was true, actually. Everyone--even Quistis--could feel their bellies knotting tighter and
tighter with fear. That sensation that had been plaguing them in the forest had gotten stronger,
and when Irvine tried to laugh off Zell's comment he found himself choking a little. Squall's
hand rest reassuringly on his shoulder from behind for a moment, although neither man felt
comforted. They knew fear, but this was something altogether different. The sensation was so
strange that their bodies had difficult times reacting to it. Squall was in a state where he
didn't quite know -how- he felt, or how he should feel. And those nervous twitters remained.
Just when they thought that they had to go on their hands and knees, the tunnel opened up
again. Zell threw up a finger and exclaimed, "I'll check the map!" Much to everyone's groans
and sighs. Zell, however, purposefully ignored their laments and consulted the eyeliner. He
wished that he had chosen a darker color, but didn't say anything about that lest he draw
attention to the poorly-drawn map again.
After a thoughtful ~hmm~, he declared, "We're still in the cave."
Irvine gave him a playful little thumbs-up when he turned around to grin at them all. Despite
the fact that Quistis sighed and Squall was unresponsive, they all felt the mood lighten
considerably at the comment, nevermind the fact that their flesh still felt as if it had been
peeled away from a corpse, that they were in an air-locked and shallow crypt.
Zell turned his face ahead again and started to move. However, with a sudden gasp he came to a
halt and spread his arms out in order to catch Selphie with an elbow. His map, which had been
dropped in the motion, fluttered down onto the stony ground and tossed lightly like a feather
down the slight incline. It was sucked into the darkness.
"What did you see?" Selphie whispered.
"Hold out your arm again," Zell hissed.
Squall, who crowded in from behind, couldn't see anything from behind the silhouettes of the
rest of them. Growing inwardly frustrated, he stood on his toes and jabbed the top of his skull
into the ceiling of the tunnel. Rubbing at the ache, he lowered flat on his feet and managed to
find a window between Irvine's shoulder and Quistis' arched neck.
Selphie, after casting Zell a curious glance, lifted her arm and stretched the light out as far
as it could go. Zell dropped his arm in order to allow her to take a step forward, and with an
increasing feeling of dread the girl saw the shadows shift and snake away from the light--never
fading, but simply running a few steps back, taunting them. There were two posts at the far end
of the tunnel, wound with rope... although this is not what Selphie saw, or at least not what
she remembered.
There, just at the edge of what her light allowed, was the play of two white cheekbones. Human
cheekbones, stretched beneath the flesh of human cheeks. And then there was a heavy, sloshing
rush as the blood flowed out from her head and into her feet. Everything tingled, every
muscle... as if they had all began to doze at once.
Squall narrowed his eyes. Two posts. It was a bridge of some sort. Someone had built a bridge
here... This must have been where they were to find it. This is where the Guardian Force
Zenkamuka was held... Somewhere across that bridge. Finally, they were nearing something other
than the tunnel itself.
And then suddenly everything shattered. Selphie went barreling back into Zell, who sent everyone
behind him askew. Squall felt himself flailing backwards. The wall, which he had been scorning
bitterly for the whole trip, did nothing to help him. His arm, elbow, and hip slid against it
until he thumped onto the floor with a crack. Irvine's bottom smashed down onto his left knee,
and Squall's face contorted with the pain.
It was then when he heard it -- Selphie. She was stammering.
With a flash of her eyes her mind apparently had snapped into a million different pieces. Her
chest heaved and fell and her gaze was bugged and glazed in the nature of a confined animal.
Zell tried to keep her on her feet, but she kept spiraling backwards, her skinny arms flailing
wildly. From within her rattling breaths came the ghosts of wails, and within those wails there
were words. Squall could not make out a single one of them, but he didn't need to. What she
tried to express was impossible to put into any language.
Zell had managed to get his arms looped beneath her own; he hooked her and held her tight.
Selphie, having thoroughly gone mad at this point, thrashed with almost inhuman strength beneath
his hold, beating her back against his chest and breaking into a shriek. The sound was
high-pitched and loud enough to split Squall's ear-drums, and through the flickering
darkness--Selphie was waving the light around--he saw both Irvine and Quistis hunch over and
cover their ears. The whole cave echoed with the sound, and Selphie kept feeding it with her
screams.
And then, suddenly, it was all too much for Zell. She broke free and fell backwards with a crash.
Squall saw her then, as she scurried back and out of both Quistis and Irvine's reach. As she
passed him he saw her face, the way that her flesh had gone two shades paler and her eyes had
gone almost eerily wide, so that her irises were covered by white on all sides. Although the
caves still vibrated, he realized that she had gone silent.
Selphie had stopped breathing, and was too afraid to realize it. She had gashed her knee on a
rock when she fell, Squall saw, and blood ran down one leg in a web-work of black. It smelled
strong, and that metallic scent joined the dank odor of the crypt. Hastily Squall overcame
himself enough to get a hold of her, and before Selphie could react Irvine had leaped as well.
They managed to pin her down on both sides.
Her legs kicked wildly and her head cracked flat against the floor. Squall watched her chest
rise, tighten... and then she let out a bone-shattering scream that nearly turned Irvine's hair
white -- he tensed and closed his eyes, and then exchanged a look with Squall that displayed
both terror, pain, and bewilderment.
Quistis managed to finally join them, and she caught Selphie's legs. Thus properly pinned, the
girl thrashed her hips and continued to screech and sob at the top of her lungs. Her eyes,
Squall realized with a pang, were still wide and fixated... On what, he did not know.
Zell took a step backwards and put a fist to his mouth. He whispered against his flesh and felt
the glow erupt from the center of his palm. Staring at the scene in front of him for a moment
longer, he finally brought himself around to face the bridge again. Extending his hand as if in
attempt to ward off evil spirits, he set the first half of the bridge aglow.
There was nothing there.
...At least, not that he could see.
End Part 5/?
To be Continued.