Long Live the King
A/N: Losing... Interest in... 'Long Live the King'!! No... I must finish this! For the fans if not my own sense of... Well, hell, I don't know. These chapters are slowly becoming shorter and shorter. ::reads other stories:: Other people get millions of reviews! ::jealousy:: Oh well. On with the show, right?
Chapter 9: Into Your Unknown Land III
Selphie couldn't stand. Her right leg sported a long gash from her thigh to the shin and her left was spotted with bruises, matching both arms. Small cuts decorated her hands, blood falling in rivulets and dripping from the handles of the Strange Vision. Her face was remarkably saved from damage, but the fatigue was apparent in her features.
Irvine had his own fair share of cuts and bruises along his body. Even his coat had been torn into far too many shreds to be wearable. "Selphie..? Are you alright?" he gently lifted her up, pulling her left arm over his shoulders and leaning her against his body. Bahamut hovered dangerously before them, its only damage being the hole in its wing and a cut that mirrored Selphie's down its hind leg.
The girl sagged against him and let out a groan. "It's too tough. We can't win..." she was on the verge of tears. Bahamut stared the two down and let out a snarl.
"You brought this upon yourselves," as if it were their fault for ending up where they did. Another roar and Tiamat, along with the colored dragons, jumped for them. "You may play with them."
Irvine dropped the Exeter and wrapped both his arms around Selphie in an attempt to protect her from the oncoming thrashing.
"You will stop!"
Everything went quiet and Irvine chanced a look around. Selphie let out a gasp and tightened her grip on Irvine. "What happened to them?"
The dragons all stood quietly, each frozen over in ice. Shiva stood before the two cowering behind her. "Bahamut! As humans, you know that they're weaker than you! This is an unfair battle," she spoke softly.
Bahamut glared down at her, talons twitching at its encased frustration. "Why do you interfere?" The dragon king charged towards her, only to be stopped as she raised a small hand. Her fingers came together and, with a quiet snap, Tiamat shattered into bits and pieces on the floor. This action seemed to both enrage and calm the dragon king greatly. "You are protecting them. Why do you care for the humans?"
Shiva shook her head and waved a hand. The remaining dragons were released from their ice prisons and immediately they whimpered and cowered in the darkness of the caves. It was at this moment that Quistis was allowed entrance.
"Quistis!" Selphie cried out and left Irvine's protective embrace to half- limp, half-run to the instructor. She leapt as well as she could into the blonde and hugged her tightly. "It was scary! First, I didn't know where I was, then Bahamut showed up, and then Irvine showed up to save me, and then we had to fight, and then Bahamut attacked, and then Irvine got hurt, and then it attacked me, and I thought we were going to die!" she cried out in a rush between sobs and hiccups.
Irvine cautiously made his way over to Quistis and Selphie, watching as Quistis sympathetically patted the younger girl on the back. "How did you get here?" he asked her thoughtfully, his own hands resting lightly on the shoulders of the sobbing girl.
Quistis shrugged and looked around the cave before settling her gaze on the cowboy. "Truthfully, I don't know. First, Shiva found me once I was off the train, and then all I knew was my friends were in danger and we showed up here." And it was the truth.
The cowboy nodded as Selphie untangled herself from Quistis and leaned herself against Irvine for support. "Why isn't Shiva trying to kill us?" she asked softly while trying to dry her eyes. The three looked to the Guardian Force in question, then to Bahamut. The heated argument could no longer be heard to the three humans, but the angered expressions proved that a battle of words was still continuing.
"They do not mean us any harm! You will not come near these children ever again, Bahamut!" Shiva finished and waved a hand in the air. The three were encased in a bubble of ice and, with a simple snap, were gone.
The goddess gave the dragon king one more glare before fading away into the darkness, leaving the enraged Guardian Force to take its anger out on its own misfits that shared the cave with it.
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Selphie opened one eye, then the other. "Where are we?" she questioned aloud. Slowly, she sat up from her place on the jagged ground, emeralds glancing over her two comrades. Quistis sat quietly some ways behind her, arms wrapped lightly around her knees and Irvine lay quietly in front of her, arms folded behind his head.
"Maybe another Guardian Force's lair. Shiva isn't coming back to us, and seeing as this isn't any sort of cave, Bahamut won't be anywhere near us either," Quistis replied softly. She stood up slowly and dusted herself off before making her way to Selphie. "You two look pretty beat up. I think we should stay here till the two of you start feeling better."
Selphie nodded and shifted herself to lie back down, wincing at the pain that shot through her leg from the cut. Suddenly, there was a tingling warmth and she let out a sigh. "Thanks, Quistis..." she murmured, eyelids becoming heavy.
The instructor nodded before counting through her remaining Cure spells. She let out a deep breath then sat once again beside Selphie, watching as the girl fell into a quiet slumber.
"You can sleep too, if you want," she spoke to Irvine. He opened one eye, then the other, and smiled to her.
"I could, but I don't think I can trust you to do whatever you want while I'm sleeping defenselessly." He gave her a playful wink and she smiled at his friendly humor, even at a time like this.
"Just sleep. You two have gone through a lot, you deserve it."
He tipped his hat, which miraculously survived the battle unscathed, and closed his eyes. Selphie whimpered in her sleep and rolled over and into Irvine, head resting lightly against his chest. He pulled one arm around her and held her close, as if to protect her even in her dreams.
Quistis felt something in her chest ache and settled with staring up at the black sky. Those two will make an adorable, albeit hilarious couple one day.
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Flames were being spit at Zell from his left and right, and dodging them was taking more energy from him than he had hoped. Ifrit laughed loudly at the boy and dug his claws into the reddening rock below him.
"You have no chance to survive this! Why do you continue to try and fight me?" He bellowed into Zell's mind. Zell shook his head and raised his fists after dodging another flamethrower.
"Because! I know I can win! I have something to fight for back home, so I won't let you beat me!" Zell shouted back in anger, images of the shy yet loud library girl flashing by his minds eye.
Ifrit let out another laugh and lifted the magma rock out of its place, holding it high above his head. "You are amusing," he growled before tossing the now flaming rock towards the young SeeD.
Zell was tiring quickly, and the sight of the flaming rock sent his stomach down to his feet. I can't lose! He yelled to himself mentally and shot forward, fist breaking into the hard flames. The rock shattered at impact and fell in fire-pebbles at Zell's sides.
The fire beast was in shock. "You still fight me? You are running out of stamina, and you still attempt to win? That is admirable..." he commented gruffly. Zell glared up at the beast and Ifrit could have sworn that the boys' eyes had taken the form of blue flames.
He let out a heavy chuckle and waved a claw in the heated air. "You really do amuse me, boy. Come back to me when you have more spirit," he rumbled into Zell's mind. At first, the comment confused him, but it became clear when suddenly the flames dwindled into nothing and Ifrit was gone. A soft breeze ruffled his spikes and he noticed that everything around him seemed to be moving quickly past him.
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Diablos let out a furious screech and rammed his body into Squall's, sending the young man back into the flat ground. "I've had enough of you!" he snarled, raising a hand to the blackened sky.
A sticky orb of darkness began to form around his talons as Squall struggled to stand. Faded blue eyes stared in approaching horror as the darkness grew in size. Diablos grinned maliciously at him and, with what seemed to be some trouble, threw the darkness into him.
At first, Squall had no idea what to make of it. He didn't feel anything, and all he saw was darkness. Suddenly, everything inside him felt as if it were being torn apart. He let out a cry of pain and surprise as that tearing turned into a suffocation. The darkness faded away, leaving Squall collapsed on the ground.
Diablos felt a joy in the pain of the young man and began to ascend into the oiled clouds above. "Until you have more strength, boy... At this moment, I must deal with more important matters. Our King is being decided upon as we speak." And he was gone.
Squall let out a groan of pain and tried to stand to his feet. A pair of gloved hands closed on his ribs and he let out a hiss between his teeth. Arms pulled him up to his feet and he glared at his comrade.
"Dude, Squall. What happened to you?" Zell asked in concern, releasing his commander at the sudden glare he received.
Squall ignored the question and began limping off. "Diablos said something about the King. We have to find everyone else," he grumbled more to himself. Zell shrugged and trotted after him, grabbing his arm and helping the gunblade wielder along through the darkness.
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Rinoa sat quietly in her solitude, brown almonds glancing around every once in a while as a breeze played through her hair. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and let out a sigh. "You know what would be nice? If I knew where I was. That'd be nice."
She had been talking to herself for the last ten minutes.
It had only been a few more minutes before she heard a soft sound in the distance. She very well couldn't see anything, so she closed her eyes to rely more upon her sense of hearing. Slowly, she stood to her feet and cupped a hand around her ear in hopes of hearing the voices of her friends.
One step, two, three, four steps in one. She opened her eyes and frowned slightly in confusion. More than one person was coming her way. There were three sets of steps being taken and she couldn't quite figure it out.
"Hello?" She ventured timidly, taking a step to where she figured the people were coming from. Another step, then a silhouetted form came from the thickening mist. She gasped and a hand flew up to cover her mouth. "Oh my god! It's you!"
A/N: Bwahahahahaha!!!! 3 I'm horrible, aren't I? Have you guys figured any of it out yet? Have you, have you? And I figured out what ending I'm gonna put in. This is gonna be great! I don't think people will be too happy with it, though. Alright, I'll write the next chapter tomorrow... or maybe tonight! O.O Cool, huh?
Review, Review!! :D