Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII is owned by Squaresoft .......

Author's notes- Bet you guys thought you'd never hear from me again. Haha...Sorry about the insane delay...not only did classes start, but I couldn't upload my msworks converted files anymore. Whether it be because of the recent changes went through or the fact that there's something wrong with my ghetto computer, it doesn't matter. After hours of fighting with it, I finally found something to type in. And I feel like a fool. Who knew I had notepad....

element6- Haha, you know you like this story....I hope you do anyways. lol Sorry for the delay...there were um, technical problems...and I'm technologically ignorant.

Aratcorien- Glad you liked it. Hope you like this one just as much.

Crescent Pearl- Thank you. I'm really glad you liked it so much. How can people forget Angelo? He's so cute and all...

Sulou- Glad you found my story. Finally, the cliffhanger will be added onto. It was supposed to be updated about a month ago, but if you've read above I think you know why it wasn't. lol

Sleepless Nights Part 3

She groped around desperately in the darkness. It had to be somewhere. Bending down, she hit her cheek on the corner of his dresser. Wincing, she quickly clasped a hand over the now tender cheek and ran her other hand along the dresser's top. It had to be somewhere. At last her fingers brushed the leather of his phone's protective case. Grasping the item, she quickly flipped it open and smiled at the low light it emitted in the dark room. There wasn't much of a signal, but she dialed anyway. To her relief, the phone began ringing. A gunshot echoed through the building causing her to jump in surprise. She hurried over to where the crib was and knelt down. The phone beeped at her as it lost signal. She looked down at it with horror. They needed help and she couldn't call out.

Becoming increasingly worried, her thoughts began drifting back to the day she and Ward had taken Seifer from D-District. The drive was long, especially when one rode in the back seat while holding someone else. Seifer'd passed out just outside the truck. 'At least he had the strength to walk out of D-District,' She thought. At least he had that little bit to spite the guards that had tried to break him. A bump drew her from her thoughts. The road was bumpy. More so than she really cared for. It had to be jarring him. She looked down at him. He was so pale, so different than from before. He looked so weak and fragile. She looked upon the battered and bruised soldier before her with caring eyes. He wasn't evil. She never doubted that for an instant. Gently she dabbed a damp cloth just under and around his nose. Pulling the cloth away she studied his pinkish skin where the blood had just been. She frowned, his nose was broken. He exhaled loudly as he began to come to.

In the rear view mirror, she saw Ward looking back at her. She looked down to where Seifer's head lay resting in her lap, to see him staring back up at her. He was awake but didn't put in an effort to move. Much to her surprise, he just lay there, limply and silently. He reminded her of a mangled ragdoll and it scared her. The years they'd had at the orphanage, under Cid and Edea's protection, were gone now. They weren't protected children anymore. They were very much a part of a harsh reality. Especially him. He'd shouldered the brunt of the consequences. Looking at the broken man laying across her lap, she still couldn't help but to see the little boy who used to spend his days climbing trees in Centra with his best friend.

Gently dabbing the cloth along his temple and forehead she remained silent. He winced at her actions and weakly took hold of her arm. She looked down at him in surprise. He stared at her with a dazed expression on his face. Watching him intently,
she offered him a smile while continuing to dab at the blood matted in his hair and caked on his skin. To her surprise, he smiled in response.

"So where am I going now?" His voice caught her off guard. In the rear view mirror, Ward watched them.

"Esthar," She answered. "You're free now."

"Free?" His voice was barely audible over the truck's engine. She nodded with a smile as she continued trying to clean him up. He smiled faintly and she couldn't help but notice the severe cracking in his lips. "Why'd you come?"

Ellone studied his swollen facial features for a moment. "Because you deserve so much more. You're not a bad person." His grip on her arm tightened as he pulled himself up and gave her a weak hug.

"You're an angel," He said hoarsely. "I didn't mean to do any of it," His voice grew lower. "I couldn't stop her or disobey her. I couldn't...."

Leaning her head against the side of the crib, she pulled her legs up to her chest. He had cried on her shoulder during that ride. He had told her everything she already knew that had happened. If anything happened to him.... She willed the thoughts away but found she couldn't control her tears. Sitting on the cold floor she fell victim to her own worry and nervousness as she began to grow sick at her stomach. In the crib just behind her, a low cry began. Quickly wiping her tears and rising to her feet she lifted her smallest baby up and began rocking him.

"You know something's going on don't you," She whispered to him. "I do believe you have my gift." As she slowly manage to calm down, so did Blaine.

&&&&&

The landscape flew by them outside the window of the Ragnarok's cabin. By the time Ward had found his phone in his travel bag it'd stopped ringing. Behind him Raijin stared at him dumbfoundedly. Ward sent him a curious glance as he checked to see who had called. When he saw Seifer's number he paled.

"Um, this may be a stupid question, but uh....why do you have a phone if you can't talk ya know?" Raijin scratched his head. Ward crossed his arms and stared at the younger man. Raijin paused as he realized Ward couldn't verbally answer his question. "Nevermind." Ward quickly pushed past him and stepped onto the lift.

In the cockpit, Selphie, Irvine, and a SeeD candidate piloted the Ragnarok. When Ward rushed in, the candidate looked up quickly at the monster of a man behind him.

"Somethin' wrong?" Irvine asked. Selphie turned around quickly in her seat. Irvine scanned Ward's expression for only a moment longer before he turned to Selphie. "Get us back to Seifer's!" Taking the controls from the candidate, she pulled the airship into a tight turn, causing everyone on board to stumble to the side.

"ETA fifty-three minutes," Selphie announced. Ward looked deeply perturbed.

"Adam, contact Garden. Tell em ta get ta the Commander's position now!" Irvine ordered. The candidate nodded quickly and put his headset on. "You sure there's no way you can get us there any faster?" Irvine asked his wife as he leaned on the back of her chair and massaged her shoulders.

"Well..." She thought aloud.

Dazed, he lay on his stomach unable to push himself up off of the ground. He wasn't ready to give up despite his inability to stand. In the pouring rain he was able to make out three very distinct sounds. The first of which was nervous breathing. He focused on the sound off to his right. Whoever he'd been chasing still didn't want anything to do with him. The second sound was a very distinct click. Seifer opened his eyes to see darkness and the cobblestones immediately before him. Trying to turn his head to the left to see his attacker, a sharp pain shot out from his shoulder and up the side of his neck. His body locked up instinctively as he tried to gingerly turn his head back to where it had been. The third and most important sound was that of a voice. A voice that upon hearing it for the second time, he realized he recognized. One of Fujin's brothers....Ross....

"I said kill him Lucas!" Ross watched the man lying before him with amusement as he tossed his gun to his brother. Lucas caught the weapon deftly and examined it for just a moment. "Now!"

No sooner than he'd shouted the order did a large blade swing up and send the gun flying out of Lucas' hand. Lucas' attacker dropped to his left knee and kicked across the backs of his knees. Falling abruptly on his upper back and shoulders, all breath was knocked from Lucas. Jumping from the left side of Seifer over to the right, Squall brought his gunblade down less than an inch away from Ross' body.

Rolling out of the way, Ross stared at his attacker in disbelief. Where had he come from? A stray bolt of lightening lit up the area as Squall turned to face him. He watched in slow motion as Squall drew up Lionheart and started towards him. Every rain drop that splashed down, into the already standing puddles on the slightly uneven cobblestone, echoed through his mind. Diving frantically to the side, Ross searched the area for his gun, the same one Squall's knocked from Lucas' hand. Seeing it just on the edge of the patio, he made a run for it. Finally regaining his breath, Lucas found his feet and his pistol, tucked under his gear. Out of the corner of his eye, Seifer was able to catch Lucas' movement.

"Lucas!" He shouted. At his words, both Lucas and Squall turned to him. Raising his weapon, Lucas disregarded everyone else and set his sights on Seifer. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Squall coming closer. Panicking he quickly turned and swung his weapon in Squall's direction. Seifer waited for the shot that never came.

There was only rain.

Ross watched in shock as his enemy's gunblade cut across his brother's throat. A sickening sensation erupted from the pit of his stomach as he watched Lucas stand in a dazed shock and then tumble backwards, his head coming almost completely off of his body. He narrowed his eyes at the gunblade artist before him.

Reaching down and deftly pulling his gun up, Ross hesitated and grinned. Squall narrowed his eyes and turned to see a man, just a little older than his father, holding him at point blank range. All he could do was stare in surprise.
Finally finding where the action was, Zell stood slightly dumbfoundedly at how well Squall had been handling the situation. That was until Audley had stepped into the equation. Time seemed to stand still as he watched Squall stare at Audley in pure shock. Behind them, Ross was slowly making his way towards them. He stopped walking just to the side of Squall and nodded to his boss.

Taking a deep breath, Zell quickly lunged foreword and tackled his father from the side. As both men fell to the ground, Squall ducked the opposite direction, causing the stray bullet Audley fired to hit Ross.

Squall watched as Ross fell to the ground and then somehow managed to regain his balance in the same instant. However, Ross was now unarmed and wounded. Squall took note of the leg he was favoring as he began approaching him.

"You can still surrender," Squall said in a monotone voice. Ross shook his head as he continued backing up and bumped into something heavy. Both he and Squall looked down at the object simultaneously and it took them the same amount of time to realize what it was. "I'm warning you," Squall's voice still held the same tone. "Pick that up and I'll be forced to kill you."

"That being said, you'll have to kill me then," Ross countered as he dropped to one knee, swiftly picked up Hyperion and fell into a defensive position. "Because only one of us is leaving this platform alive." Squall narrowed his eyes as he fell into position,
Lionheart poised dangerously in front of him. Waiting no longer than a brief moment,
Squall let Lionheart fall away to his side as he began charging.

Across the balcony from them, Zell held on tightly to Audley's right wrist. The father pushed back against his son's pressure and strength in an effort to reclaim control of his weapon. Zell tightened his grip as he fought to keep Audley's free hand from hitting him in the face. Both men, rolling around in the standing water, now had both hands on the weapon.

"Come now Zell my boy...what's gotten you so upset?" Audley said in-between breaths as he tried pushing Zell off of him with his forearms.

"Oh sure like I'm just gonna warm up to ya!" Zell shouted through clenched teeth. "Ya killed my mother, and tried to kill my wife and daughter......oh yeah...that's the beginning of a very prosperous relationship."

"Zell my boy, you talk to much," Audley said quickly as he slammed his forehead into Zell's face. Falling to the side, Zell landed on the wet cobblestone beside his father. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his nose and around his mouth, he quickly found his wits and kicked his rising father across the midsection, knocking him down again. A gunshot erupted in the midst of the fighting as Audley accidentally hit the trigger on his way back down to the ground. By the time he'd hit the cobblestone, Zell was already back on top of him, reaching for the weapon. Having a better hold of the gun this time, Audley raised it upwards and squeezed the trigger just as Zell took hold of it and began pushing it away.

Across the patio, the clear and crisp clanging of metal sliding across and striking metal rang out above the sound of the rain. Much to Squall's surprise, Ross was quite adept at using gunblades. Too bad he was akward with one as heavy as Hyperion.
The tension in the room had grown thicker than the darkness that seemed to suffocate it. Determined to get Rinoa to see the importance in coming with him, Kiros once again continued his attempts to persuade her as he rubbed his temples gingerly.

"Rin..." He started.

"Kiros," She argued. "I'm not leaving."

"Its dangerous."

"I'm dangerous. Let one of them even think of coming in here and see if I don't blow them into the after life," She stated. "I'm a lot stronger than any of you realize."

"Okay," He tried to compose his thoughts. "For Laguna's sake, can I at least take Tempest?"

"Take him and see what happens," Rinoa threatened. "Look, Squall's expecting me to be here and I'm not leaving. Tempest isn't leaving either. He's safer here with me."

"Rin," Kiros groaned. A gunshot interrupted their argument. Both quieting, they looked towards the wall in the direction in which the shot had come from.
Slowly rolling off of the man beneath him, Zell stared at the entrance wound under Audley's jaw. Lightly kicking the gun away with his boot, Zell took a step back while trying not to notice the pulpy reddish mess around the crown of the man's head. Taking notice of Seifer still on the ground, he trotted over to where he lay and knelt down.

"Why can't you get up?" Zell asked.

"My neck," Seifer answered.

"Oh, well don't move it then."

"No shit Dincht," Seifer teased.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help," Zell said distractedly as he watched the gunblade duel before him.

"You're distracted. What's going on?" Seifer asked.

"You really want to know?"

"I asked didn't I?"

"Well," Zell began as he gave the injury on Seifer's neck and shoulder a quick look. "So far, Squall's decapitated Lucas, I've killed my biological father and Ross has taken Hyperion and engaged Squall in a duel with it."

"You left out the part where someone took a sucker swing at me with a blunt blade."

"It was one of your gunblades from in the house," Zell informed him.

"Whatever," Seifer stated as he listened to the clanging of the two gunblades together.

Squall glanced past Ross' shoulder for an instant, relieved to see Zell on his feet after the shot had been fired. 'Two down one to go,' He thought to himself as he lunged towards Ross. Clumsily blocking Squall's assault and then spinning around to bring Hyperion back up, Ross's injured leg gave as his foot slid on the slick stones. Before him,
Squall leapt up in the air, bringing Lionheart around in a tight arc, and swung down at him fiercely. Barely managing to hold off that attack, Ross stumbled backwards a few feet. Coming back around, Squall swung at him again, knocking Hyperion up. Ross pulled the gunblade back down in time to block Lionheart one last time. Finally seeing a gap in his opponent's defense, Squall struck him in the same manner again only he pulled his blade up, pushing Hyperion to the side.

By the time Ross had realized what Squall was doing it was too late. All he could do was watch as Squall spun around and impaled him while squeezing Lionheart's trigger. A high pitched shot echoed as he felt Squall's gunblade hit him in two places at once. He stood in shock as he stared down at the bleeding wound on his chest and then the thick blade going through his abdomen. As the organs in his chest began to tighten simultaneously, his grip on Hyperion slowly began to fail as his body began to slowly sway. Squall watched the man before him take hold of the top of Lionheart and weakly lean forward on it as he lost his balance. Quickly pulling the gunblade from his enemy's abdomen, Squall watched as he slowly fell to the ground. Hyperion clanged loudly as it came to rest beside him. There was finally silence. No fighting, nor falling rain, just silence, Squall noted as he looked from the still densely clouded sky back down to the crimson that was beginning to swirl in the puddles around where Hyperion lay.