The New Blood To Be Shed
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from or referring to Angel or Final Fantasy VIII they are both licensed and not mine. I own nothing except the crap that I make up, hooray for me….
Ch.4
Seifer made his way through the darkened woods, his gunblade heavy in tow. He was the first to wake up from the crash, lucky for him, the bar that held his cuffs was broken in the monstrosity of a landing, so when he awoke, his hands were already free.
He went through the rest of the ship and found the four SeeDs in the cockpit, all of them looking worse for wear, but he didn't give a damn about them. They had almost delivered him into the hands of death, twice for now, they weren't going to get another chance. Seifer had contemplated slitting their throats before he left just to teach them a lesson, but he decided that was more cowardly than even what was left of his pride would allow. So he settled for just leaving them.
He jumped down from the broken boarding plank and onto the green grass, nearly collapsing because his strength was so sapped from the crash, but he soldiered on. He found his gunblade among the torn pieces of the wreckage that had flown some twenty feet away from the actual plane. After salvaging that, Seifer started for the woods.
He figured he was lost somewhere in Timber or Galbadia, but he soon found that he was in a different place entirely. His surroundings were completely different and he had no idea where he was at all.
Finally, after an eternity it seemed, the young ex-knight emerged out of the woods and into a clearing, just beyond it was a freeway, and beyond that was a brightly lit city.
Seifer hesitated. What was this place? He had never seen it before in his life, nor heard of it. Was it better if he had just gone back and stayed with the SeeDs?
'Screw that idea,' he thought, 'I've been given a second chance at freedom, I ain't about to waste it.'
Mustering up his resolve, he started for the city.
"So hang on a minute," Spike said.
For the past hour, he and Fred had been getting a full story from the girl Selphie, with a great many interruptions from the one named Zell, and now the girl had just finished her tale.
"So," the vampire continued, "You're from a world where sorceress's reign, magic is common, things called 'GFs' exist, and you guys are 'Seeds' a mercenary force, from a school called 'Balamb Garden'?"
"Yep, that basically sums it up," Selphie told him.
Spike just stared at her for a minute, "That's it, you've gone insane, all of you. I'm positive the crash screwed up your brain cells."
"You've gotta believe us," Selphie said, "Why would we make up all this?"
"We know you wouldn't," Fred said, throwing Spike a glare, "It's just a lot for us to take in."
"Well, I can see why," the girl replied.
"Selphie.." Zell spoke at first, shifting uncomfortably in his bed, "Do you have any Curaga spells at all?"
"Sorry, can't help you Zell, I didn't junction anything before we left."
"Great, I'll just have to rely on Ifrit to help me speed up the healing process…"
"He does that on his own Zell.."
"But it's so damn slow!"
"Um, pardon me," Fred spoke up, "But what is an Ifrit?"
"Ifrit is my Guardian Force," Zell explained, "If I get well fast enough, you might get to see a demo."
"That would be wonderful," Fred replied happily, any chance to see something new was a good one to her that needed to be taken, "As soon as the other two wake up and I can get a chance to dress your wounds better, you guys could probably get up and walk around."
"Well, looks like Squall won't be getting up any time soon," Zell commented, looking over at the unconscious commander, "The sleeps' probably doing him good, it's the longest he's ever slept before I think."
"But Irvy needs to be awake!" Selphie screeched.
"Irvy?" Spike asked, "Who's that?"
Selphie pointed to asleep Irvine.
"Ah," the blond vampire said.
"Irvine Kinneas! Get up!" she yelled as she threw a pillow at the seemingly asleep patient.
"OW!" the cowboy yelled as he got up quickly, "Selphie!"
"It got you up didn't it?" the girl replied with a grin.
"Finally…" Zell remarked.
"Hey! Don't be pickin' on me as soon as I wake up!" the cowboy remarked.
"Please, you've been awake the whole time!" Selphie replied.
Irvine fell silent, "I just wanted to hear you guys talk for awhile that's all."
"Oh shut up! You just wanted to get some sleep!" Zell said, "You always sleep in!"
"Well, aren't you glad you don't have to re-explain everything to me?"
"Not really, you're so dense that you probably didn't grasp whatever we said," Zell remarked.
"That's it chicken-wuss!"
"Shut the hell up cowboy!"
The two tried to lunge at each other from their hospital beds, but Spike went in between them.
"Stop it! You're getting bloody annoying!" the vampire yelled.
Both of them were silenced.
"Hey!" Selphie said as she pointed to the table their commander was lying on, "I think he's waking up!"
Seifer finally made his way into the city. He had regained some of his strength, but he was still a bit weak, but better for the most part. The ex-Knight strolled along the sidewalk that was busy with the pending nightlife easily, but wary of his surroundings.
'Just where the hell am I?' he thought as he looked around.
The buildings were different, more archaic. The people around him didn't dress in the vibrant colors he was used too, rather they were draped in darker, more casual looking clothing. And the cars were different too, more sleek and stylish, not bulky like the ones he was used to driving. But one thing that stuck out to him the most, was the mood of these people.
They were all crowded in their feelings, bottled. All of them looked extremely pissed off or angry, very accepting of the fact that the world around them was crumbling. Not in any way near the cheery mood of anyone he ever crossed paths with before.
'I need some new clothes,' Seifer thought, his SeeD and also instinct kicking in, 'Food, and someplace to stay till I figure out just where in the blue hell we landed.'
Luckily, back at the ship, he had pick pocketed Zell and stolen three-hundred Gil, more than enough.
As the ex-Knight walked, he was slightly worried that everyone might recognize him and start a riot demanding his death, but to his surprise, they passed by him, indifferent to his existence.
Finally, he found a small store to the side where he could get some new clothes to replace his ripped up and blood stained ones. Opening the door, a small bell clinked above to announce his entry. A girl dressed in all black and pale as ever was standing at the corner idly, looking through a magazine. Seemingly not to notice him, Seifer moved towards the back of the small store and looked at what it had to offer.
Not much by his standards, mostly dark and draping crap that he hated. He moved over to see the sign that was above the door he entered, the store sign said, "Dark Dreams."
'Damn gothic store,' Seifer thought. There were a few of them in Galbadia, but not too many that he was aware of, but seeing as this was the only store for a few more miles, Seifer settled.
He moved over to another rack and found a pair of black denim jeans that were loose fitting, good enough. As he took those down, he saw a white tank top that had a stenciled and simple dragon symbol on it, he took one down. Finally, he got a jean jacket of the same denim of his pants for the cold outside, it was pretty ill fitting and bagged pretty low on him. And then he got some boxers for obvious reasons.
Going up to the counter with his items, the girl rang him up without giving him a glance. As she finished, she looked at him.
"That'll be sixty-eight thirty," she told him, patiently waiting for him to produce the money.
Seifer shuffled through his pocket and laid out a few coins with a loud "thunk" on the counter as he dropped them. The girl looked at the few coins long and hard, finally testing one in her palm, a look of surprise crossed her face.
"You're paying in gold?!" she exclaimed.
"Uh, sure," Seifer said unsure of what she was talking about. Gil wasn't gold, gold was a lot harder to come by in Balamb, practically unavailable, and it was a lot more extravagant than Gil. Gil was a simple look-alike to gold.
"Is that gonna be enough?" Seifer asked the gawking girl.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. More than enough. Thanks!" she said as she bagged his clothes carefully, apparently appreciative of his money.
"Right," Seifer said as he got his bag from her and went to the bathroom at the back of the store.
He changed, careful of his wounds, into the clothing he bought and looked into the mirror. Not too bad. He had kept his boots and necklace, obviously his Hyperion as well, but tucked his gloves away in his pocket. He didn't look half bad.
Finding his appearance satisfactory, Seifer set out for a place to stay. Walking along the sidewalk once again, but this time much more comfortable, he looked for signs to possibly show him where he should go. Finally, after asking two complete strangers where he could find places, he finally arrived at the doors of a hotel called, "The Four Seasons."
'Hm,' Seifer thought, 'Never heard of that one before.'
Walking through the door, held open by a snobby looking bell hop who made the mistake of giving Seifer a sneer, only rewarding him with a melting glare that almost made him wet his pants in fear. Seifer walked through the lavishly decorated lobby and made his way to the front desk.
"Hey, you run this place?" the ex-Knight asked.
"I'm the manager," the man behind the counter stated proudly.
"Well that's great. You got a room I can stay in?"
"What kind of room would you like?"
"What?" Seifer was confused, what was he talking about?
"We have a few standards open, I'll just book you for one of those.." the manager replied snobbily.
"Hey hang on a second," Seifer stopped him, "What else you got?"
The manager sighed rudely, "We have a penthouse, but it's too expensive for you, I'll just book you for a standard, if you could afford that."
"No, I want the penthouse one," Seifer told him with a grin on his face as he placed six coins on the counter.
He watched satisfactorily as the manager's face went to complete and utter surprise as the coins fell from his hand.
"You think you can do that for me?" Seifer said with a smirk.
"Absolutely sir," the manager said with a smile as he greedily collected the coins, "I'll show you to your room immediately."
"And I'm kinda hungry," Seifer said, rubbing his stomach for the innocent effect, "Do you think you can send some food up?"
"Absolutely sir," the manager said again, his attitude cleaned up as if with a swift brush of a broom as he retrieved a card key from underneath the desk and showed Seifer to the penthouse suite.
'I could get used to this,' Seifer thought as he followed the manager to his room.
"Agh!" Squall grunted out in pain as he was slammed down into the metal exam table for the third time.
He had woken up and saw the guy named Spike that had attacked him earlier and wanted nothing more than to kill him. Spike and another girl were in front of Irvine, Selphie, and Zell, who were on hospital beds. As thankful as he was that they were unharmed, the commander thought that they were going to get hurt by the unknown pair, especially the blond haired one.
So, as sneaky as he could, he retrieved a small scalpel from a tray next to the exam table he was on and gripped it firmly in his hands. He moved a little bit to get ready for his attack and all of a sudden, heard Selphie.
"Hey!" she said, "I think he's waking up!"
'Dammit Selphie!' he thought as he got up quickly. She had just blown the element of surprise for him!
Landing squarely on the ground, a little wavering since his head swam already from multiple hits, Squall charged for the girl in a white lab coat. If he could take her on as a hostage, maybe he could negotiate the release of his friends, but Spike reacted first.
Grabbing his wrist that held the scalpel, the blond twisted his hand away and grabbed his throat. Squall grabbed the wrist to the hand that was choking him, but found that he was no match for the blonds' strength. Being overpowered easily, Squall was slammed down into the exam table, his back meeting the metal painfully.
"Drop the scalpel," Spike sternly ordered him.
The commander said nothing, but just kicked Spike away as he regained his footing. The weapon still in hand, he went to stab the blond in the shoulder, but was too slow. He was caught in the stomach by a gut wrenching punch and his hand burst into pain as Spike kicked the scalpel out of it. Squall fell against the table again, but didn't intend on giving up.
He got up again and managed to land a punch across Spike's face, but was rewarded by being caught by the throat with the blonds' right hand. His grip tightened, slowly suffocating Squall, he tried to wrench the hand away with both of his own but he was helpless. The commander slowly felt his feet leaving the ground and then his back came into contact with the metal table a third and final time.
"Stop it Spike! You're gonna kill him!" the girl in the white lab coat yelled.
"Wouldn't be too much of a loss if you ask me," the blond returned a bit angrily as his grip lessened on the boys' throat.
"Agh!" Squall coughed out as his lungs filled with air.
"Squall! Don't resist them! They mean no harm!" Selphie told her beaten commander.
"Yeah," Spike said, "Now be a good boy and I'll let you go."
Slowly, Squall nodded in acquiescence and the blond let him go.
The commander sat up and rubbed his sore neck, he eyed Spike carefully, wary of any sudden moves.
"Good, you're awake," the girl in the lab coat said, "Now I can better dress your wounds."
She went to a cabinet and retrieved some gauze and other things, and made her way back to him. She brought her hands up to his head to undo the bloody gauze that was now around his head, but Squall stopped her.
"Wait a minute," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"What the hell is going on?"
(Author's note: Okay, so now you got your healthy dose of Seifer and his whereabouts, heehee. I hope you guys liked it! And sorry that it's taken me so long to type this chapter up, I've been really preoccupied with the finale to my other Angel fic. Check it out if you want to see what fine work is hampering my time to work on this one! It's called 'Perfect Imbalance" and I guarantee, no one has complained about it yet! Review please!)