Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm glad you found the chapter as creepy as I had intended. I should mention that the evil raping ghost was Xineko's idea, bless her twisted little heart. Many thanks to Yaoimongers and my own, private Seifer for advice and inspirations.
Short chapter this time, but things are starting to warm up. Hints of yaoi and violence and a lot of cussing.
Revenant: Chapter 6
Irvine
I was having hellacious nightmares, the kind where the chocobo droppings fly straight into the whirling blades and I was helpless to stop it. Wait, this was reality. The nightmare had been about Seifer turning cannibal and eating us all. And not in the fun way. I was starting to feel certain nostalgia for it; at least in the dream I knew what the hells was going on.
I forget, sometimes, that we have weapons, but Zell is a weapon, and I guess Squall pulled his trigger. And again, not in the fun way.
Seifer dropped like a sack of wet shit. I looked over at him, to see if he was still breathing, and then up at Zell and Squall. "Tell me one of you knows what just happened. Lie to me if you must."
Zell turned to Squall. "You ok, Baby? Shit, you're bleeding!" His eyes cut back to Seifer, ready to hit him again. Another thing people forget about Zell – he's got a temper and when he focuses it, once he gets started, he's damn near unstoppable. So I got in the way just in case Zell decided to mash Seifer's melon into a pancake with one of his axe kicks, and took the opportunity to make sure Seifer wasn't going to die on us. After all, we could always kill him later, but I wasn't carrying any Phoenix down.
Squall slithered into his still damp leather pants, a sight under normal circumstances I would buy tickets to see. "It's almost midnight," he said, like nothing had happened. "Get ready."
We scrambled for our clothes and gear, had we really slept that long? I could see Zell waking up, becoming more alert, although how he does that without coffee is a mystery to me.
"What about Seifer?" I asked.
"He was acting funny all night," Zell said hesitantly, like he was ashamed to excuse what had no excuse, but fairness forced it out. "Stay with him, but tie him up. Just in case."
"Whatever," Squall shrugged. He turned and did that weird spell-snatching thing on Seifer. I guess I should have thought of that, a lot of spells can be cast even if your arms are tied. Squall threw a few of his extra belts at me. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere." He gathered up the last of the lightsticks and swept out into the hall.
Zell hesitated at the door. "Something's not right," he offered.
"I know," I said. "Watch him. Watch yourself."
I got a sharp-toothed grin. "Always a pleasure to watch him, Baby!" Zell bounced out to join Squall.
As soon as they were gone I trussed Seifer up like a Yule turkey. Then I poured a potion over his head to wake him up.
Seifer
"Fuck," I said. I must have liked the sound of it, because I found myself repeating it a few more times. I tried to sit up and found I couldn't. "Is it Bondage Night again already?"
"You just stay where you are. I have a headache and the noise from shootin' you will just piss me off."
Sure, I get kicked in the bean by the Chocobo Kid and Irvine has a headache? I spent a few moments considering the injustice of it all. And trying, subtly, to get away. No luck there and a quick inner scan told me I was spell free, too. Peachy. To cap my night off, maybe I'll have an aneurysm or something. All things considered, it sounded better than what probably really was going to happen.
I looked around, hunting for options. Puke green light trickled in from the hall and with a little judicious wiggling, I could see Irvine crouched by the open door, Exeter across his knees.
"I don't know what the seven sandy hells is going on, Seifer, but if you have an explanation, I'd love to hear it."
Reluctantly, I admitted, "It got him. Irv, Zell is in danger. Get his ass back in here, away from Squall."
"It what? Seif, no offense, but you've been acting crazier than a cat at a catnip convention." He tipped his head, listening to Squall and Zell converse softly outside. Irvine pouted beautifully and grumbled something about some people having all the luck, which meant Squall was hitting on Zell or vice versa and neither was good news right now.
"It! The ghost! Hynedammit, it used me to transfer itself to Squall. It wants its sacrifice! It needs blood for power!" I hissed at Irvine, afraid of what would happen if Squall overheard and realized I was awake.
Irvine took the hint and lowered his voice, although his eyes kept straying once we heard the pop of a snap and a soft nervous chickewuss laugh drift in from the hall. . "Used you? How did it get you?" One thing I loved about Irvine, he may not believe you, but he was always willing to play along. Or around. Actually, that was most of what I loved about Irvine, that and those long legs.
"It's had me since I was 10 years old! I thought I had it under control, but when Ulti summoned me, I lost it and it went back here, to its dormant spot. I think its key is in the walls of that bathroom. When it got the kid to cut his wrists, that fed it enough so it could reach out and grab me again. Now it has Squall." I rolled to my back, the picture of defeat, and tried to get leverage to stretch the belts holding me enough to escape. That also put me in good position to see what had been distracting Irvine, namely, a mirror. I met his reflection's eyes, trying to convince him of the importance of what I had to say. "Think of it, Kinneas. It feeds on blood. Squall is the commander of SeeD. B-Garden is totally mobile. Do the math."
"Hyne… I hate this! Give me something I can shoot!" Irvine got to his feet but stumbled away from the wall when something solid hit it with a whump.
The mirror was angled so the Irvine could watch me and the boys in the hall at the same time. I squirmed over so I could better share the view, catching just the edge of Zell's arm as he gestured. The whump must have been Squall.
"Shit! That hurt, Squall! Shit! I'm bleeding! What's gotten into you?"
Squall's answer was to cast firaga, which Zell just barely dodged.
Irvine yelped and charged for the door, Exeter in hand.
"Kinneas! No!"
Irvine hesitated and I pressed my advantage. "What are you going to do? Shoot him? Untie me."
In the hallway, Squall cast Blizaga. Zell sucked damage and retaliated with Stop. That never works, Squall is junctioned to the max against status effects. I guess the Chickie just doesn't have my experience and expertise with attacking Our Fearless Leader.
Irvine made a frustrated noise and flattened against the wall. With his ass out of the doorway, we both had a clear view of what was going on out in the hall.
Barely stunned by the Stop spell, Squall stepped forward and cast Aero, blowing Zell back against the wall. His shoulder hit the lighting control panel and hands made from blue sparks reached out and grabbed him. Zell thrashed in a disturbingly familiar way. St.Elmo's fire licked and danced all over the Chickie and spread like a bad smell up the hall towards Squall, who just stood, his calculating cold eyes silver in the crackling light He was smiling again, that faint, blood smeared smile of satisfaction.
Quez can protect from electrical attacks, since it's her element. I guess that's why Zell decided to summon her.
"Oh, fuck, no," I moaned. Irvine glanced at me, anguish in his pansy colored eyes. He didn't know which one to shoot. I shook my head. "Cut me loose, Irvy." We had to get out of there before anguish became despair and brought Its attention back to us.
Warm yellow and green light flowed and formed into Quezacotl. She spread her flowery wings and the sparks reversed their flow, tumbling back like water towards her. With a flash, Quez and the electrical hands vanished.
Blinking away the afterglow of the flash and trying to peer into the darkness, I managed to confirm my worst fears.
Zell was gone.
