------'-----,--- Busted------'-----,---
"And last but certainly not least, we commemorate Quistis Trepe" The representative from Deling City's voice was loud as it rang out over the crowd. There was a small sound feedback as a drop of rain hit the silver microphone. There was chaos as the rain started to pour down on the party.
"Everyone inside!" Irvine shouted into the microphone much to the horror of the Deling City Rep. Irvine flashed him a smile and then hopped off the stage to help usher the ladies indoors.
It didn't take long for the party to move inside, along with some of the tables and the supply of food and fruit punch. Of course Zell had risked his gravity defying do to rescue the platter of hot dogs, it being one of the first things to make it inside.
Delegates were scattered all over talking loudly, the sound echoing off the walls. The microphone as being set up as the front of the room. Milling about people were trying to dry off in the large council room.
"Can we continue with the announcements, ladies and gentlemen?" the Deling Rep said into the microphone, waiting for all of their attention. As the crowd turned to look at him as he smiled congenially.
"It is time now, for all of us to lower our heads in tribute to one of the greatest commanders of all time. Now, let us have a moment of silence for the great Squall Lionheart" the Deling Representative said lowering his head in reverence. For a few seconds the hall remained silent.
Then the double doors flew open, a shower of rain pouring over all of them. There in the doorway, none other then Seifer Almasy stood tall and proud. His strong form outlined by the dark door way. The whirlwind of rain and the sound of thunder were the perfect setting for such an entrance. Lying limp in his arms was Quistis.
The blond woman's beaten form covered by his grey trench coat. Her legs dangled over his arm, her feet swinging limply with each stride he took. Eyes closed her head was resting against his chest.
"The great Squall Lionheart? Oh you mean the dead Squall Lionheart" Seifer yelled as he sneered and chuckled shaking his head.
"The one that died and left you all here to fend for yourselves" his voice was full of rage, filling the room with his demanding presence.
"What the hell did you do to her!" Zell's voice boomed over the crowd, he rushed forward a blur of red and blue. Seifer turned his gaze to the martial artist his green eyes glittering dangerously.
"I saved her" Seifer said his voice deadly.
It was such a beautiful place. Darkness, its shadows embracing her gently like a lover. Its soft touch curling its fingers in her hair. Kissing her bruised broken lips softly. Quistis barely felt as her panties were torn away.
A scream.
The world came crashing down around her.
Her eyes snapped open as a great weight was lifted from her body. There looking down at her was a set of familiar flaming green eyes. She longed to cry out to him, for her voice to work.
Quistis watched in horrid fascination as Seifer beat the men with his bare hands. One of their heads slammed into the wall leaving a streak of gore. Another one met its blood demise at the side of a dumpster, the rusted metal piercing through his neck. Seifer grabbed a discarded brick from the ground and slammed it hard into the next man's head, a nauseating crack sounding through the alley.
The original screamer lay just beside her, his neck sickly twisted.
The last one was dealt with as easily as the others. Seifer tackling him to the ground then driving his fists over and over into the man's face over and over.
Elation poured through Quistis as he stood. The light high above him on the wall spilling on his dark form. The grey trench coat hugging close to his rain soaked body, his hair plastered back away from his face. Hands held in front of him dripping with the blood of the dead men. He looked tall, statuesque, almost angelic.
He turned his head slowly and looked at her, and animalistic rage dominating his eyes. She would have shuddered if she could, but her only response was more tears.
Seifer leaned over one of the men and yanked the left arm of their shirt up. With a dark look on his face he released his Hyperion from its entrapment at his side. The with out a second thought her drug the blade along the other man's skin. Then with his bare hands he pulled it apart revealing the metal wires running along the bone.
Quistis wanted to scream, to cry, to shout. Would these strange faceless men ever leave her alone?
Seifer took his time whipping his hands free of blood on her assailant's clothes. Then at last he turned and looked down at her, the hunger gone from his eyes. Carefully he shrug out of his trench coat revealing his bare arms to the elements. She couldn't help but notice the dirty, bloody bandages still wrapped around his left arm. The memory of the wires bursting from his flesh haunted her.
With gentle hands her leaned her forward slipping her arms into the coat. The smell of his clogged her sense even in the relentless rain. His warmth lingered in the fabric, adding to the haziness of the drug still pulsing through her.
Their eyes met and he stared at her for a long time, before carefully tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Then he lifted her from the ground into his strong arms. Her feet dangled uselessly as he carried her towards the noise of the party.
"I couldn't let them hurt you" he whispered softly to her, the words the only explanation she would ever need from him.
"I saved her" Seifer's voice rang through her skull. Everything was so dull and colorless. All she knew were the black depths of his coat and his arms around her.
"Saved her from what!?" Zell shouted his voice of rage seeming pathetic next to Seifer's deadliness.
"More metal wired men attacking her" Seifer responded moving past the blond man towards Rinoa on the makeshift stage. Rinoa looked down at him raising a single delicate eyebrow.
"Heal her, Rin" Seifer said lying the woman at the feel of the sorceress. He took care to make sure the trench coat covered her at all times. There was no way he was letting these men gaze at her bare flesh. Seifer folded his arms and looked up at Rinoa expectantly.
The brunette shrugged and with an uncaring look on her face she waved her hand. Healing magic dripped down from her fingers, covering Quistis in a blanket of light. For a few moments she didn't move, then she blinked carefully a few times.
With a gasping breath she lurched up.
Quistis' eyes immediately found Seifer, reaching out to touch his hand. Then her lips opened in a scream that had been dying to escape. Sobs tore from her throat as she turned from them all, burying her face in the cuffs of the coat.
"You say it was more of the men that attacked her in Shumi?" Xu asked walking up as Selphie rushed forward to put a comforting arm around Quistis.
"Yes" Seifer said his eyes looking past Xu to the distraught Quistis. He tried to move around Xu to get to Quistis, to try and help comfort her. The commander stepped in front of him blocking his path.
"How do you know, are you sure?" Xu asked placing both of her hands on her hips. Seifer sneered down at her waiting a moment before answering the question.
"You think I don't know my own kind?" he growled at last in response. His fists tensed in for a moment the wires writhing visibly under his skin. Xu eyes stayed on his muscular bare arms for a moment before snapping out her next question.
"Where do these men come from?" she asked folding her arms.
"Perhaps I can answer that better" a voice sounded from the back of the room. Three men stood in the open doorway one slightly ahead of the other two. The crowd turned to look at them all noise stopping in the hall. All eyes were on these three.
The largest of them wore a thick black cloth around his eyes. He was a towering seven feet tall. Clothes fitting loosely over his muscular form he appeared unbothered by the chill of the rain. In one hand he leaned on a great black anchor, his only weapon in battle.
The second man was tall and thin, his dark hair pulled back into a tight pony tail. His dark skin contrasted with the white flowing clothes he wore. Gracing his hands were two deadly blades. They glistened with the rain water clinging to them.
The final man the one in front, who had spoke was the one in the lead. His blue eyes were sharp as he surveyed his surroundings. His brown hair pulled back, a smile gracing his useful face. Holding almost lovingly in his hands was a sleek black machine gun.
Quistis stared at them in shock.
May she had been wrong.
It looked like Esthar had sent a Representative after all.
------'-----,---------'-----,---
Author's Notes:
I just really wanted to say thank you to some of more regular reviewers. It means a lot to me that you are still with me after the big break I took from this fic.