Chapter 10: Teach me!

"It's a bit far, but we'll make it." Squall carried Rinoa on his back across the only entrance to Esthar, the abandoned railroads bridging adjacent to FH. As Squall said, it was a long walk, but at least he had plenty of time to think. He didn't know if that was a good thing yet, things always seemed worse when he thought about them.

Squall stared ahead, looking at the endless extent of a bridge. '...It's pretty far...Didn't think it would be this far…What am I doing...?'

(What do you mean?) Ifrit asked.

'Go to Esthar... Find Ellone... Talk to Ellone…'

(………) He knew Squall was trying to figure this out, trying to put everything in a simple perspective so he wouldn't have to think about it. So Ifrit reassured him he was right that that was all there was to it, even though he knew it wasn't, so that he didn't start to lose nerve. It didn't work though.

'But there's no guarantee that everything will be resolved if I talk to Ellone.'

(Don't worry about it, things will work out.)

'Even so, I'm……….'

(Squall?) Ifrit inquired.

He was getting tired already, and figuring he had made a decent amount of progress he decided a rest was in order. 'I...sure have changed.' He mused, taking a detour from his strait path to walk over to the edge of the bridge and sit down by the water. Carefully laying Rinoa down beside him.

(Yes, maybe you have. So. What dose that mean?)

Squall didn't seem to hear him, or ignored him. Truthfully he didn't want to think about it...

'I wonder what everyone's doing...? They're probably laughing at me. Or maybe they're angry...? What do you think? To tell you the truth... I worry too much about what others think of me.'

(Yes you've changed...) Ifrit admit with light amusement, (But………I like this side of you.)

'I hate that side of me... That's why I didn't want anyone to get to know me.' Again he noticed how he felt able to tell these things to Ifrit and no one else. He would have been annoyed or embarrassed of he tried, which he wouldn't have. 'I wanted to hide that side of myself.'

(Even from me?)

'At first………But now, I…' Squall titled his head upward, drawing one knee up while his other leg hung carelessly over the edge of the railing-less bridge. He stared up at the sky...'…… Need you, You're the only reason I didn't go insane. Everyone just pushed me one way and expected me to know what to do. I hate it.'

Sure Ifrit knew that, but for Squall just to say it like that. (Squall)

'Squall is an unfriendly, introverted guy.' He smirked, staring at the blue sky and white clouds. 'It made it easy for me when people perceived me that way. That's a secret between you and me. Got that?'

Ifrit laughed a little. (Alright.)

Squall picked up Rinoa and continued. 'Thanks Ifrit, but doesn't bother you that'

(Nothing bothers me, as long as you want to do it. I'm fine with)

'Alright.'

"Rinoa………."

Squall started to see something just ahead, as he got closer, it started to come in view. Zell and Quistis was already there waiting for him, they meet were the rail road bridge convulsed in to ice.

"Is the princess still asleep?" Zell leaned forward to look over Rinoa on Squall's back.

"She might wake up with a kiss from the prince." Quistis joked.

"Is that why you came all the way out here? To tell me that?" Squall snorted cynically.

Quistis looked at him for a moment before speaking seriously. "You're going to Esthar, right? We're coming, too."

Zell pointed behind him "We're Edea's escort."

Edea came from the ice cap of Esther's terrain, Looking around at the group that had assembled. "Let us be on our way, Squall. We shall leave as soon as we're ready."

Edea? Why was she going? "What business do you have in Esthar?" Squall asked.

"I must go see Doctor Odine."

"Dr. Odine. You've heard the name, right?" Zell asked, knowing more about it then most people.

Squall thought about it '...Odine?' No, it didn't ring a bell. "Tell me more."

"You know the famous Odine band, don't you?" Zell asked, referring to a golden bangle that sealed a sorceress's powers. "That's all Dr. Odine's work. When it comes to knowledge about the sorceress, he's number one…"

Squall nodded. "...Thanks. So, why do you need to see this doctor?" Squall directed his question toward Edea.

" Sorceress Ultimecia is alive. She is able to take control of my body at any time. If that were to happen... I would once again bring terror. I, too, value my self-being. I want to protect myself. If it

were possible, I would like to rid myself of the sorceress' power. Doctor Odine may know a way. He may be able to save me."

Seiphie and Irvine came down from the snowy path that awaited them. "Yo, they're back, The two of them went to take a look." Zell notified Squall.

"Couldn't find it up north or down south... Let's try going East next!" Seiphie pointed to the east excitedly, where more ice resided only this time the ground grew into an incline.

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Squall, Zell and Quistis proceed ahead together, while Irvine, Seiphie and Edea took a different path since the east direction had two paths. After 20 minutes, they reached an area that used to be the Great Salt Lake. It had dried up long ago, leaving only a frozen graveyard and plenty of monsters.

From there it was a short hike up a cliff. At the edge they could see nothing but more ice and snow scattered around by frozen winds.

(Zell!) Carbuncle and Bahamut called at the same time (There's something here.)

Zell immediately stopped, seeing Squall got the same warning Ifrit just ahead. 'What is iWhaaaaa!'

A large monster jumped up from the bottom of the lake on the edge of the cliff with a loud crash and a rumble that almost made them think some of the ice beneath them would break off and send all of them plummeting into the dried lake. Something created out of nothing but the bones at the bottom of the lake. It's head was that of a mammoth, complete with red tusks and everything. From the spinal bones that made up it's back came what seemed to be the remains of wings. This was the fiend Abandon and it was nothing but a skeleton, a large one.

"What the hell is that!" Zell jumped back out of reach of the monster.

(Squall, this is an undead monster. Use holy magic) Ifrit warned, Squall nodded, junctioning Holy to his attack. Making his sword glow with a faint white light.

(Zell, it's undead.) Bahamut told him.

(He's right, use healing magic.) Carbuncle advised.

Zell nodded. "Alright, I'm ready."

The tall monster dropped down on to all fours, charging with more quakes and tried to ram Squall with it's tusks, Squall lifted his sword, stepping in-between the tucks and thrusting the gunblade into it when it came in range. Abandon quickly retreated back from the light.

Quistis clinched her whip, holding the weapon outward with junctioned fire, another weakness to undead. Then she lashed the undead with the burning whip while Zell cast a Cureaga spell. A strong glow and a bright sparkle surrounded the zombie, giving more damage then healing.

Abandon opened it's decaying mouth, blowing out a brown spray of it's musty breath. Easily avoided by everyone, the monster was weaker then it looked.

Squall lowered his sword, holding out his free hand and casting a holy spell. Thick orbs circled the undead monster, pulling in rays of white light from the sky that covered the monster, burning profusely.

With a loud howl, Abandon was flung backwards, seemingly crashing in to some invisible wall before it could go too far and slid down some invisible surface in to the dried up lake below.

Upward to the right, static started to form, like on a screen, but...that was...

(...?) Ifrit looked up questingly, there were a lot of things he hadn't seen, but this just seemed to odd.

"...There's something here." Squall looked at it carefully while an impulsive Zell ran to the edge of the canyon and confidently reached out, his hand bumped against something solid when it shouldn't have. "WHOA! What the hell is that?" When he did the static in on that one particular fight hanging in midair slid open like a panel, a ladder sliding down from the open hole sitting in mid air about them. "It's some kinda hole or tunnel………." Gaining no objections form any one, Zell climbed up, being used as a support tester for everyone else who was reluctant to go first, and peered into the revealed passage way, a vent or tunnel of some sort.

Zell looked back at Squall with a silent question, seeing that this mystery tunnel was facing in the direction of the city they were trying to reach.

Squall apparently thought the same thing. "This looks like the only way." He replied.

With approval Zell climbed into the tunnel, waiting for the other two following before proceeding. It was a short walk to a lift, which then got stuck on the way up. Luckily, Squall found a door that led to another lift, one that took them to the surface.

Panels that blocked the city from sight exposed themselves, revealing the city of Esther to it's surroundings. A vast city full of technology and colorful roads and tall building. It was almost unreal. "THE HELL IS THIS?" Zell shouted, looking around at the town, previously hidden, in astonishment. The view was substantial, making him wonder what it would look like at night.

(It's amazing………..) Bahamut and Ifrit said the same thing at the same time to different people, both looked breathlessly at what was around them.

Squall seemed to be the only one that didn't get distracted. "...Judging from their technology, they must know we're here. It's possible we might encounter some hostility, so stay alert." He warned, but before he could finish all of his thoughts, a weird feeling washed over him, one strange enough to make him stop in the middle of his sentence. 'I...Feel strange, Ifrit...do you feel that?'

Ifrit didn't, which was what made him so worried. (Squall, what's wrong? Is it happening again?)

Squall clinched his chest, his breathing growing into loud pants " ...Aaahh! No...not now!... This...isn't good...…" He collapsed, falling to the hard steel floors.

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When he awoke, Quistis and Zell was standing over him, the others scattered around after having caught up when he had passed out.

(Squall!)

'I'm alright.' Squall didn't need to explain it to Ifrit, Ifrit was there.

Zell on the other hand didn't. "What did you see?"

Squall rubbed his head, a pounding headache was forming and he just knew it would be a bad one already. "He found Ellone…"

Quistis interrupted before Squall could divulge any farther. "Something's coming."

A car approached them from inside the city, easing to a stop off the road and directly in front of them. A man with official's clothing on emerged, looking over the three with his hands on his waist. "Sorceress Edea?" He assumed correctly that she was Edea

Edea nodded affirming, "Yes. WE came here to see Dr. Odine." Edea made it clear that she was here with everyone.

The man took a second look over the suspicious group. " ...Please explain what this is regarding."

"Yes, of course."

Squall interrupted before she could go into detail, getting strait to the point with Rinoa in the balance. "I want to see Ellone. Where is she?"

The man seemed reluctant when he asked. "...Ellone?"

"Squall, calm down. Trust me. Let me handle this." Edea told him teasingly.

He nodded and steeped back while the man, after a few seconds delay, pointed them toward the car he'd traveled on. "Please come with us."

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They headed to the Presidential Palace where they met the surprisingly odd Dr. Odine. Who observed Rinoa until they could prepare to take them to Ellone. They found out why they needed preparation when Dr. Odine told them to go to the Lunar Gate.

Until then, they had time to look around the city.

Completely tired from getting little, practically no sleep last night, Seiphie, Irvine and Zell checked in to a hotel for rest. All expense paid by Esther of course. There was a lot of thing you could do in a free hotel. To bad they had been too sleepy enjoy it, a good thing for Esther who would have had to pay an excess of room serves.

Carbuncle and Bahamut un-junctioned themselves, Carbuncle looking around the room with a child like excitement. Examining everything to the fullest detail before moving to the next.

"Look at this place!" He scrambled in to the bathroom with that same excitement ... and didn't come back out.

Zell closed the room's door, making sure it was locked so he wouldn't be disturbed. "You alright in there?"

He got a quick "Fine!" in response and decided to leave him alone, in fact when he thought about it Carbuncle was probably finding a place to sleep. Which was odd...But Zell didn't really care.

Zell jumped backwards on to the king sized bed, laying back and resting his hands behind his head. This bed was soft, so soft he thought he'd sink into it, and it was cool against his skin, completely perfect right now. Perfect... "Tired?" Zell waved Bahamut over to the bed, who walked over to the side of the soft bed contently.

The boy pushed himself off the bed with a small jump, landing behind the dragon, a smirk growing across his lips. With a firm hold on his shoulders, Zell pushed him down on to the bed. "Tired?"

"Not really" Bahamut allowed himself to land on his back, noting that the bed was pretty soft...

Zell looked down at the green eyes below him, the smirk growing into a quaint smile. "Thanks"

"For what?"

"The other night." He left his body fall back to the bed just above Bahamut.

"I didn't do anything."

"Yeah, you did a lot." Zell ran his left hand through his hair, a nervous habit he'd developed. "I don't usually act like that. Thinking too much I guess."

Bahamut only nodded. "Hn.. .."

"You didn't have to you know."

"I wanted to."

"Really. Why? I thought you didn't like humans"

"We're partners, remember?"

Zell ginned when he heard his own words being mirrored back, a small sense of pride coming over him when he heard that and knew for sure that Bahamut had finally started to like him. Not that he didn't already know that since a junction did go both ways and Bahamut didn't exactly know how to hide things from Zell mentally yet.

Zell sat up and looked down at Bahamut, who looked back at him casually, a calmness Zell had never seen before on him. Again the boy pushed off the soft support, noticing Carbuncle was asleep from the lack of sound, and walking down to the end of the bed.

"Huh?"

He jumped on the blue dragon, kissing him abruptly before he had time to question. Bahamut only lay their with his mouth open and his eyes looking up curiously, it was unfamiliar to him, but he liked It.

"What was that?" The dragon looked confused, something completely rare.

"You seriously don't know?" When Bahamut shook his head Zell realized that no Bahamut hadn't seen this coming, so what was that he was reading out of their junction? Normally he would have felt like an idiot, if not for the fact that even Bahamut didn't know what he wanted. Too many mixed signals! "A kiss." Zell explained

"Why?"

"I had to see something." Zell shifted his weight slightly, pressing his hands on to the bed above Bahamut's shoulders to hold himself up while he leaned forward. A bright smile appeared on his face. "Did you like it?"

Bahamut nodded. "Yes."

"You know, something like that is generally a sign that someone likes you."

Bahamut realized that half way in, but of course he knew that from all the time he'd been junctioned to the boy alone, it was easy to read.

Zell only laughed and kissed him again, slipping his tongue past the docile mouth. Filling the strong urge to become active Bahamut began mimicking the boy's actions, his green eyes drifting closed contentedly.

...Bahamut paused, pushing Zell back enough to break the kiss. The nagging feeling that something came next blaring in his mind. "Zell have you ever"

"Yes."

He felt the Bahamut's erection coming from it's sheath, pressing against him. "Can you... teach me?" Bahamut was reluctant to ask anyone to teach him something, but it was either that or go on instincts. He barely trusted them anymore since his instinct was more to inquire then to actually do an action.

Zell flashed a grin, giving Bahamut another quick kiss before climbing off. "Yeah." Zell pulled shirt over his head and tossed it aside, his hands then slipping into the waist band of his shorts and pulling them down along with his boxer's beneath them letting his own erection free, kicking the clothing aside next to his shirt when he was finished. "I've been waiting for you to ask me that forever."

Bahamut only lay anticipatingly, his tail sliding across the side of the bed unable to be still.

"Ready?"

Bahamut nodded, watching as Zell take hold of his waist and pull him down enough so that his legs were hanging over the side of the bed. Then the boy lifted his legs on to his shoulder though Bahamut didn't ask any questions as to why. Zell knelt down, lowering his mouth to Bahamut's entrance, running his tongue along the outer edges of the small ring muscles.

Bahamut shifted at the new feeling, it was far from unpleasant, just... new. He managed to hold himself still, but he couldn't keep his tail from shifting a little.

'He likes it.' Zell lifted his head, feeling the tip of the blue tail lightly brushing against his leg "Still sure about this?" He asked, standing to his feet with Bahamut's legs still on his shoulder.

"I've never been more sure." Bahamut said, still watching Zell curiously.

He leaned a little into the dragon beneath him, enough to hold his cock in place without entering him.

He reaching up and placed both hands under Bahamut's arms, on his sides, and slowly, slowly, Zell pulled his hands down over Bahamut's sides enjoying the short, quick breathes he was swallowing, before his hands found purchase at Bahamut's waist. In one quick plunge, he pulled Bahamut back as his hips thrust forward. The silver lined tail jump to life with a small flinch from Bahamut, slipping between the boys legs.

Bahamut gasped as he felt his body being penetrated fully for the first time, Zell's breath left him in one long grown as he adjusted to the feel of the body around him. It so tight that it was incredible. "Are you okay?" he thought to ask after another moment.

Bahamut nodded. "Y-yes. ."

Cautiously, he moved, as if teasing out the fit. There was a little pull, but mostly Zell's cock slid easy, in and out of the wet entrance.

Zell instinctively reached down for Bahamut's erection, but remembering the dragons flexibility, he had a better idea. "Hey Bahamut." Zell reached forward, slipping behind Bahamut's neck, and slowly pulling Bahamut's head upward toward his cock. It turned out Bahamut was really flexible. "Open you mouth."

"Like this?"

"Exactly."

With a little prompting from Zell, he wrapped his mouth around his cock, instinctively starting to suck. This was too much...Bahamut moaned, his claws digging into the sheets bellow him with a tense expression coming on to his face. "Zell...!"

The his cock started to twitch, Bahamut opened his mouth felling a rush of pleasure as a jet of cum came spilling out. During which he realized it happened much more quickly he would have liked it to have.

Zell watched the body below him clinch, tightening the narrow entrance mid thrust, and when he saw that Bahamut had just came he decided that he himself could wait and pulled back.

"Tired?"

Bahamut shook his head with light breaths, only giving a small. "Thank you." as he wiped his mouth.

"For what?"

"For that."

Zell laid down next to him, resting his hands behind his head, ignoring the erection making it self known

"Bahamut………" That connection they had grew in to a general attraction. They were basically thinking same thing.

"Hn."

He couldn't find the words he needed, so he just wrapped his arms around him, laying his head on Bahamut's chest.