"Be a dear, don't kill her..." Robed Women
"Hands on the mirror
Can't get much clearer,
Can't make this all go away,
Now that you're bleeding
You stare at the ceiling
And watch as it all fades away."
Nickleback "Because of You"
Wet. Moist. Cold. Slightly moss-covered. Hard. Dark. That was what the narrow torchlit corridor was. Streching on forever into the depths of a living hell for all those lucky enough to get to experience the god forsaken trip that a young brunette boy now took. Still, he seemed oblivious to the cold, to the darks haunting presence, or to the spider webs that hid along the roof of the old rock tunnel. A youthful innocence showed in his boyish smile as he walked carelessly into the deeper depths. Closer to hell with every step. Hell, the young boy couldn't be more then 14, yet his obsidien eyes seemed to hold many secrets.
Humming a soft, comforting melody to himself he ran a hair through his unruly hair, that spine tingling feeling that he was being watched dawned upon him, and yet, he didn't care. Hell, he barely even showed an signs that he had noticed the tickle of his spine. Still, he knew they were there. A pair of eyes, watching from the darkness. Guess he wouldn't be making it down to hell today. As if on cue a feminine voice called out through the darkness, her voice a soft purring sound.
"Stop."
He obeyed immediately. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of the blue silk pants he wore. His appearance seemingly careless as he stood there, surrounded by shadows on all sides, but still. He was completely confident in himself. Staring straight ahead into the darkness. He could just make out the figure of a short women in front of him. Dressed in dark robes that seemed to blend in with the shadows. If he hadn't known what he was looking for he probably would have skipped over it.
Okay... so I would have still sensed her... he corrected himself.
"Bring me Quistis Trepe of Balamb Garden." The dark robed female ordered.
Not a word excaped the young brunette as he simply nodded his head. Accepting his task without a seconds hesitation. It would be too easy to get the blonde ex-instructor of Balamb Garden. After a moment without anything spoken between the two the young boy turned on his heel to begin his journey to the world above. A world that the shone beat down, warming the air and setting false hope in the foolish hearts. However, he had barely taken a step before the women called out after him.
"Oh and Mandar, be a dear..." the smile on his youthful face seemed to grow slightly. "Don't kill her, though feel free to kill any interferences along the way." Her tone was that of carefreeness. As if the subject of kidnapping and murder were everyday trivial things to speak about.
The boy, Mandar, nodded his head once more hearing her words before starting up his walk again.
----
The cars radio was on a level higher then what Quistis usually would have preferred when she was driving by herself, and the drivers side window down instead of using the cars built in A/C. Her posture was even a bit more stiff then usual as she drove down the seemingly abandoned road. The radio and window were to help keep her attention where it belonged... on the road ahead. Not on how she would break the news to her former student. She had already ran through what she would say a hundred and one times in her head, and yet, nothing seemed right. And so, she began again on the fruitless task of figuring out what she would say...
Nope. Sorry, you can't return. Don't want you to be jumped in the hallways by the angry students. Coffee?
She let out a slightly fustrated sigh, Okay... no.. Up ahead, barely a 10 metres infront of her it appeared some large beast had decided to take up napping on the old dirt road. Blue eyes grew wide as she hit the break hard and skidded to a stop. Her body being thrown forwards by the sudden stop. She hadn't spotted the thing up until now. Lifting a head, the large, t-rex, type creature, stood to its full height, and tramped off the road. Luckily it hadn't decided to take out its annoyance on Quistis for waking it up.
Hey, I've got a wild idea... how 'bout you just stop trying to find the perfect way to pass on bad news and concentrate on getting there in one piece!
It simply wasn't like Quistis Trepe to be this irresponisble. She was a smart women. A confident women. She wasn't someone whom was taken advantage of, and for goodness sake, she was once one of the youngest instructor's in Balamb Garden. Not that I was that great... or else I still would be one. She added thoughtfully to herself.
She missed it. Missed students coming to her after class asking for help with class problems. Now she was back to being a member of SeeD. Not that it was a bad thing, just it didn't hold the gratifaction that being an instructor had held.
The past year had brought her, Squall and Zell that much closer, and given her a chance to meet 3 wonderful people. Irvine, Selphie and Rinoa. And yet... as with any good thing, there was some sacrifices that had to be made. Her job was one of those. And Seifer wad another. Wonder how he'll take it.
It was another half an hour of driving and worrying until Quistis was brought back to the real world upon arriving at Balamb. Actually, she had been within the small city for a few minutes, but hadn't completely noticed that small fact, the thing that go her attention was the wind. It had picked up and now the roads were demanding her full attention to be on steering and driving the car safely through the streets. Still, nothing could have prepared her for what was to happen next. The car felt almost as if it had been rammed by a brick wall at the rear of the drivers side, the sudden force sent the car sliding off the road, and then it hit again. Her grip tightened on the steering wheel as yet another demonic wind seemed to hit the car, panic was setting it.
This wasn't no ordinary wind. It was all too clear now, but she couldn't fight it, and she hadn't a clue of what was causing it, she had completely lost control of the car, it was like driving on ice, the car was spinning out of control and smashing into the side of a large brick building, hard, nose first. The sudden stop sent Quistis flying forwards, before the seatbelts anti-lock system kicked in and pulled her to a halt. The strap of the seatbelt cut into her chest and her head had hit the steering wheel.
She closed her blue eyes for a second, a headache was pounding at her temples do to the scene that had just unfolded. She rubbed her eyes with a shakey hand before she noticed the presence of a thick and warm liquid like substance running down the side of her face, mixing in with her blonde bangs, dying her hair a deep crimson colour. Blood... Her mind screamed as she looked at her pale, shaking hand that was stained now with the red substance. Must... have... hit my head harder then I thought.
She let out a small groan, going to open her door. It didn't budge even an inch. "Sht!" She glanced to her side to see that the wall of the building she had hit just happened to be pressed up against the driver's door, which meant, the door was useless. She sighed, and resorted to unbuckling her seatbelt. Lifting herself up to lean against the top half of her seat (which was fairly cramped) and resorted to kicking at the windsheild which was already cracked. The glass didn't put up much of a fight as it shattered, a few wayward shards cutting into her leg but nothing too serious.
Climbing out of the car she glanced at the damage done. The car looked like hell, no windsheild, both left and right dented, scratched and smashed, and the nose of the the car bent up, a thin line of smoke came from the engine. She sighed softly, fustrated she threw one, not too hard kick at the back wheel, the car jumped slightly and the two airbags suddenly shot out, filling up the front, and empty seats now.
"Great timing!"
"Miss, are you okay?"
"Don't be a fool, she's bleeding, she needs a doctor!"
"Is she drunk?"
Quistis turned to glance at the growing crowd, an embarrassed shade of red filled her cheeks as she eyed them. "I-I'm fine. The winds..." Stopping abruntly at the confused look in everyones eyes and blank expressions upon their faces she suddenly realized that something was ioff/i about this whole situation. There was barely even a light breeze at the moment, and no one seemed to be talking about how quickly the winds had died down. Then again, when she thought about it, the winds that had hit her car were far from normal. It felt almost like driving through a hurricane - at top notch. "Nevermind." she finished lamely, but there really was nothing else to say.
What just happened then?
She stayed standing around, looking at the ruined car and wall, frowning slightly, when a voice caught her attention. "That was a pretty nasty crash."
Turning to face the boy whom had said it she smiled. He carried at sword at his side, but she doubted he'd be very skilled with it. He looked to be 13, maybe 14, dark, unruly hair which fell into his black as night eyes and an innocent boyish smile present. "Yeah... wasn't too fun either!" she replied with a soft laugh.
The boy's grin grew as he possed a seemingly innocent question. "Your from Balamb Garden... are you not? Instructor Quistis Trepe?"
She couldn't help but laugh at his eagerness. "Yes, in answer to both your questions... though I'm not an instructor anymore... only SeeD."
The boy shrugged his shoulders, his feet sliding slightly into a fighting stance as his right hand drifted to the hilt of his sword, a Katana blade, "Then it is you whom I've come to kidnap today." He said, innocence seemed to bounce off this seemingly harmless boy. Yet, the stance, and the look that now showed with in the hidden abyss behind his boyish features showed he was a threat. The crowd of people that had been all bedazzled at the sight of the car accident didn't seem present now. A hand of his floated gracefully over his Katana, not yet even touching it.
Quistis was on full alert, ready for almost anything to happen... almost anything anyways... no matter how much training she had, had in the past, nothing could have prepaired her for the boy's attack. As he slightly narrowed his obsidien eyes, that demon wind returned with a vengance, lifting Quistis' feet off of sturdy ground and sending her flying backwards in space and time. Everything seemed in slow motion as blonde strands, dyed crimson floated passed her, the world a mere blur of motion... she knew what was coming and yet, she had nothing she could do to prevent it.
Not like this...
Pain. Unbearable pain was what awaited Quistis, starting from the point of impact, the back of her head, and soaring down in tidal waves down her spine, she had collided with the brick wall of the building she had driven into. Darkness threatened to consume her, and yet, she struggled to remain awake. She would fight it.
I can't die like this...
Yet, despite her morbid thoughts she didn't feel panic. No, she was calm, tired, heavy, weak... but not afraid, as if she had already fully accepted her death at the hands of this boy. Yet, the end was far from near for Quistis Trepe, once again she began to soar, actually, fall... as she had what seemed like been suspended in mid-air forever, after her impact with the wall, though in reality it was merely a few seconds, she began her decent downwards. Towards the paved ground below... her body hit, though this time, in her sore body as is, she didn't register the fact that it hurt. Her body was thrown upwards from the impact and she bounced into the air, before landing again... her vision was further clouded and further shrouded in darkness, the sounds of the reality were hidden behind the pulsing of her heart.
Footsteps...
And sure enough, there were footsteps, slow steady ones. Like a lion sneaking up upon his prey. The boy was the lion in this case, and she, Quistis Trepe, was the prey.
My murderer approaches...
The boy was walking slowly towards her. Each step he took brought him that much closer to achieving his unknown goals. Why was Quistis Trepe his prey? She didn't know, he hardly knew himself the reasons. He was merely full-filling his task. A task of which he felt no regret over. He had seen and done far worse, despite his young age.
A knight clad in a white trenchcoat, armed with a large Gunblade and whom possessed stunning blonde hair and emerald eyes stepped in front of the boy, he uttered some words, though Quistis was to far in the darkness to make out what it was they knight had said. Strangely enough, he looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't place him in her weary, dark ridden mind. Her voice, however, answered for her...
"Seifer..."
And with that, the world gave way to the endless void.
----
Chapter Dedication: Kat (Katana Sidhe) for not beating or eating or torturing me while I took sooo long to get this chapter out!
Next Chapter: A Chance Encounter
Authors Note: Mucho Gracias CWolf2. I have actually a few chapters already written (okay, 1 more and half of 4) but your comment means a lot to me and as such, Chapter 4 is going to be officialy dedicated to you. Also... now that I have a reader I can start posting new chappies! :D