Chapter 12: Seifer, meet my Darker half, I haven't name him yet though

"I heard the Garden was at Esther Now." Zell sat idly in his living room in Balamb, the only place not full of Garden students. The whole town was overrun, having more sudden arrivals then it could handle. Some of them already were starting to relocate to other cities.

(Ok. Now how are we going to get over there?) Carbuncle asked.

Zell laid back on his bed, letting his hands rest behind his head while he thought. They had no airship at they could use, every outgoing ship was being packed with outsourcing students all going in the opposite direction...Wait! Boat...water...Zell was getting an idea. 'Hey Carbuncle, you make shields right?'

(More or less. Why?)

'I think I know I way we can get over there.

! - ! - !

"What the hell?" Seifer leaned forward, looking over Cho's face more carefully, taking special notice of the glowing eyes. "What's going on." Seifer curiously waved a hand in front of the boy's face, wondering if he could really see out of the new, chrisom pupils he now was wearing.

Cho lifted his arm and knocked it forcefully out of his line of vision wordlessly before clinching the throttle in a grip Seifer was sure would make it break.

"Ok, who are you? No... I mean what are you?" Seifer asked, he still didn't get a response and if he was potentially being lead to his death he sure as hell wouldn't settle for that. He watched as the Ragnaork flew over the Garden, narrowly avoiding a line of spikes that trailed after them when they got in range, and dropped a missile over the cockpit at the head of the Garden. Just as Nida had told him Squall was.

"Give me an answer Damnit!" Seifer growled in frustration, lifting out of his seat and moving so close that he was inches from Cho's ears when he yelled.

The Shadow's sensitive hearing made him flinch violently, Cho immediately clasped a hand over his ear.

And Seifer had just found a sensitive spot. "Oh, don't like that huh? How about I keep doing this UNTIL I GET OFF THIS DAMN SHIP!" Seifer screamed in to his ear even louder, making Cho jump more forcefully then last, which in turn made the ship tilled to the side slightly off of balance.

"You'll get us all killed." Cho finally spoke, but his voice was in low, dangerous tones that really meant 'Stop before I kill you.'

"Now we're getting somewhere." Happy with the response, Seifer sat back down in his seat, running a hand through his golden strands of short hair. "Now what's with the eyes?"

Cho only let out a low, in-human growl in response, Seifer wasn't detoured by this at all. Like he was going to be scared of this, he just couldn't think of Cho as someone that would hurt him. Not say he couldn't, it just didn't seem like he was the type of person that would try.

Nope, his only image of Cho was a smart-mouth brat that was extremely persistence to the point it was a weakness. Cho was generally a good kid,…who knew how to do just about everything illegal, but still.

"Oh, your trying to be scary and intimidating because your mad. Do you know who I am? I was doing the scary intimidating thing a lot better when I was calm before you were even born."

Cho smirked at this, not the usual child like one he usually wore, but a more menacing one. It was surreal. "The thought that someone as immature as you being older then me is laughable."

Seifer raised an eyebrow, he still had the thought in his mind that the glowing eyes and everything were all just some spell or trick. No...this couldn't be that, he thought more so that this kid wasn't really a kid at all. "Ok, I give up. What are you Cho? What are you really?"

"I insist that you don't call me by my host's name." The GF said, thinking about it 'host' wasn't the right word. What was? Lover, uke, mate, partner…Cho had used partner before, but what's said is said. He'd probably changed the wording next time.

"Uh…could you be more specific?" Seifer asked.

"I have no name. That's why you humans are so weak, you constantly name things and it holds power over you." Cho snorted with distaste.

"I'll keep that in mind. Mental memo: Don't use names, preferably use "Hey you!" or "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to that other person over there. You know we don't have something as mundane as names to distinguish one person from the other" Dually Noted." Seifer shot back sarcastically.

"Let me explain this in terms even your mind can comprehend. I am not Cho and don't speak to as if I was." Cho growled, literally, a growl came out at the same time as the words.

"Right, whatever Dogboy, you still didn't answer my question though. What. Are. Yooouuuu?"

It became clear to the shadow that Seifer wouldn't leave him alone until he got answer, but he couldn't help but think that if he wasn't in Cho's body piloting this ship, he would have kill the human by now.

"It'd be easier just to think of me as I one of those that control your "Garden"." he said.

Ok, that was a surprise, he definitely didn't expect that. "Oh crap! How in the hell did Cho managed to get controlled by one of those?" Seifer was more surprised at the fact that Cho was possessed by one, then that one was sitting next to him and flying the ship.

"I am not 'controlling' him idiot. This was willing…I think he used the term junction."

Seifer sighed in relief internally. "Really, good thing I thought I was going to have to kill you." Now that he didn't have to worry about this so much he lifting his feet to the dashboard and resting his hands behind his head.

"You kill me? A weakling like you couldn't come close." Cho roared, glaring at him.

"If I can take down Odin, I can kick your ass." Seifer shot back.

"If I--" The Shadow was suddenly cut off in the middle of his sentence, when he felt something odd, something he'd never experienced, it was Seifer scratching behind his ear. It felt unexpectedly good, his mouth open with a small pant, he almost found himself curling against his hand. But he quickly growled and knocked his hand back, then pushed Seifer's feet off the control panel and flipped a switch that resided there.

Seifer promptly placed his legs back in the same position when Cho was finished.

"Hmm…what should I call you?" Seifer said teasingly, scratching behind his ear again with an amused smile on his face.

Cho tilted his head out of range more reluctantly then last time, Seifer had noticed it. The truth was that no one who saw him stayed alive long enough to give him a name. It was always something like "What's that black thing?--"…and then a painful looking death.

Seifer on the other hand showed no fear even though he knew what a shadow could do, and he was considerably more dangerous then the regular ones. Still Seifer went as far as to taunt him, verbally and physically. Either this human was extremely powerful, or a completely stupid. This behavior intrigued him somewhat and he found himself actually enjoying arguing with him.

"Mental Memo: "Play with Human later". Side Note: "Hurt him first." Dually Noted." Cho said sarcastically, obviously mocking Seifer.

He rolled his eyes, "I'll kick your ass for that later." Seifer shot back.

Cho only smirked with that same menacing look. "I can see why the boy likes you so much."

Seifer looked down at him, petting his head teasingly as if he was a dog. "I think I'll stick to the basics and call you Shadow. You look like some thing that would be called Shadow."

"That's exactly what he calls me…Don't call me that. Neither of you should be naming me anything." Cho barked, pushing the ship forward, peering at the possessed Garden as if he was sizing his chances. He had enough Cho in his mind, or was it the other way around, to remember what happened to Nida. Nida was a better pilot then he was and he ended up being shot down. The Shadow thought it would be better to let Cho decide on the next course of action before he proceed.

! - ! - !

Ifrit stared at the Garden, a small growl escaping involuntarily. The ship had risen on to Esther's coast some how and was heading east away from the city, It's destination was unknown but Ifrit found it easier to fight now that he wasn't over water. An almost devilish smirk appeared on his face, it wouldn't have appeared that way if he wasn't so angry.

Griever glanced over in Ifrit's direction and on the sight knew what he was planning, he also knew Ifrit was just waiting to get away from the water through it might have been safer if he did was he was about to do when they were still in the ocean. But Ifrit was right, it was time Griever showed this shadow why he was the strongest GF.

"Damned Beasts..." Bahamut sighed in annoyment, if those two were planning to use their most powerful attacks then he should probably help. He was already feeling frustrated and extremely angry, already much more needed to execute a simple limit break. But it was just enough required for an attack that was superior his limit break.

He only used this once and it didn't have good results, maybe it was from inexperience but some of it backfired and it all went downhill from here. Bahamut just hoped he didn't make a mistake this time, he'd have time to think about it.

Ifrit roared, the reality around him seemed to jump out of place momentarily from the energy and heat that flared around him. This was about to become a test of every bit of the strength he'd gained, and he was already feeling the strain from pulling Bahamut, Griever and the whole city of Esther into the sub-dimension. Once they were safety out of range, Ifrit used his ultimate limit break Meto.

The blue sky violently shifted hue to blood red, the clear, white clouds in the distance became black as the ones over Esther were incinerated from the heat before the attack even reached them. He roared again, lifting his hands above his head and then thrusting them toward the ground. A thunderous explosion burst forth from the sky, turning the odd red into a raging inferno of t intense flames, the sky was actually on fire, raining embers. Everything was covered in a orangeish-red haze, the super heated air wavered and distorted.

Then with a loud screech of air being pried apart, a rain of burning meteors fell from the sky, all of them the same ones Ifrit used in his limit break Hell Fire.10 of them came down at about 3 at a time all consecutively, a hard force for Ifrit to control. But in a display of power he turned all of them towards the possessed Garden.

As soon as the first one struck, a flash of red expelled forth and covered everything, blinding Ifrit from the sight of other's striking the Garden. The outward force almost sent Ifrit flying, but he still managed to stand his ground.

At the attack's end everything reappeared back in place, the raging inferno that was the sky had returned to the normal blue, all except for the fact that the city of Esther was 20 feet lower in the ground from the craters Ifrit's attack had caused, he hadn't been entirely accurate after that flash. Though only about half of them The Shadows were incinerated, every one of them. And luckily they had managed to absorb most of the damage from the attack and left the Garden with minimum damages.

"Ifrit..." Griever was astounded by Ifrit's power, he had no idea Ifrit had grown so strong as to be able to use something that strong. Ifrit looked up at him with a dazed look, he faltered slightly, nearly falling out of the air. Griever immediately flew over to him at full speed, his arms wrapping tightly around Ifrit's body and catching him before he fell. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little tired, that's all..."

It appeared to be over, at first glance at lest.

Bahamut scanned over the area unsurely, having the superior eyesight of all three of them, he was the first one to spot it. A shadow crept out from under the dormant Garden, running at full sprint East away from the city. "Wait, there's another one." He called out, also the first to figure out why the shadows where heading for the continent of Esther. "I think we have a hard task ahead of us..."

The Lunatic Paradona, which previously had stood dormant at Tear's Point, had also been possessed by a larger number of Shadows. Even though the Shadow GF had taken out most of them, there were still more remaining their then the number of those that had been in the Garden. And now the large structure was currently floating towards them.

Griever landed softly on the ground, laying Ifrit down nearby. "Stay here."

"No..." Ifrit clinched his chest, panting heavily. He'd expended all his energy on Meto, more then he could really spare. "I was hell killing off the ones from the Garden, and their were three of us."

Griever glared at him, giving him a hard punch to the chest that made the flame GF gasp loudly. "Stop being foolish. Stay here."

"No, I--"

"Ifrit." Griever knelt down on to one knee, leaning forward to look Ifrit in the eye...that's when he finally noticed that they had the same ones, there eyes were exactly the same. It was almost like staring into a mirror of himself. "Don't be difficult. It's my turn to protect you."

"P-Protect me?" This was different, he'd never heard Griever speak to him like this...he was actually being...protective? "Griever?"

"Don't move." Griever stood up with outstretched wings and then rose abruptly into the air before Ifrit could get into a second word. He knew Ifrit would listen to him even if he didn't want to, Ifrit was always easy to manipulate.

'I will protect him...' Griever took this one on himself instead, being the most powerful out of the three he was better suited for taking on a larger force. 'Those things won't get close to him.' Using the same tactic Ifrit used, he sent everything surrounding him in to the sub-dimension since his attack would be considerably larger then Ifrit's. In with a general assessment, he knew he'd end up in the same condition as Ifrit when this was over so he had to make it count.

A strong energy surrounded him, it was invisible but it made reality distort around him like ripples in water. With a low, dangerous growl Griever used his strongest limit break, Shockwave Laser. The metallic orb that lay in the center of his Shockwave Pulsar attack, floated in front of him. 5 more appeared, forming a circle in front of his chest, linked into a chain.

Everything became still, not a sound could be heard, it was like the calm before the storm. All of that changed when the 6 orbs fired out surprisingly small laser. It was extremely thin, but highly concentrated beam, those orbs were siphoning and compressing his energy, his power, everything into the chrome beam. He closed his eyes and held his head down, mentally controlling the beam that swept across and sliced through the Lunatic Pandora from the side in the directly in the center easily. The shadows that covered the black walls of the machine were destroyed from the center of it outward.

What really made the attack so dangerous was that the beam could go right through you but it was the shockwaves that did the damage just as the name implied. Silent and invisible, the beam struck the ground behind the Pandora, drilling into the ground and going as far as it would go. That's when the shockwaves began sweeping outward from the stalled beam. In a surreal effect the ground was distorted in a ripple from the center, making the crater about 40 feet deep as if a veil was being pulled off. Also reveling a black liquid that lay beneath.

Once again the Shadows had taken all of the damage, leaving the original Lunatic Pandora in tact. It was just to bad what was left of it fell off into two halves and crashed to the ground.

'...' Just as anticipated Griever had used up nearly all his energy in the attack, leaving him little more then useless for the next few hours along with Ifrit. "Bahamut, you'll have to handle this. Can you?"

Bahamut flapped his wings just enough to keep himself in the air, he was the only one left still standing. "I'll have to." He wasn't really sure he had something powerful enough, well he did but...

Griever plummeted to the ground, straining to flap his wings and slow his decent. He didn't slow as much as he would have liked too before he landed on his feet, hard. He managed to stifle an outcry of pain, he was sure he injured something on the way down, and with balance fading he fell on to his back next to Ifrit.

"Are you alright?" Ifrit turned his head towards him, a worried expression spared across his face.

Griever snorted and turned away, he really didn't like when Ifrit had to ask him that.

Ifrit only laughed.

The black liquid began to stir like a sea during a storm, about half of it drained farther into the ground while the other half took shape in to Shadow.

A Shadow as larger as the Lunatic Pandora itself, this just didn't seem to end.

The giant merged shadow howled as a line of spike became visible alone it's body, ready to strike. It looked like it was Bahamut's turn.

Just like the two before him he expended a large amount of energy to pull everything around him in to the Sub-dimension, it was just as well, the less a mouth of energy he was about to pump out the more he could control. With his mouth open wide he pulled in energy from the air to replace what he had lost, all done in one deep breath.

This was when the weakness of his attack showed itself, it took a little time to charge up. That small amount of time could mean the difference between life and death in a fight. The ground began to quake, the air itself even seemed to shake in the wake of the energy being built up, this was clearly more violent an attack then MegaFlare.

The Shadow tried to take advantage of this, it's head becoming one large spike that speared towards Bahamut like a shot from a gun. But it had taken too long to act, if that was at all possible, and Bahamut ended up having it right where he wanted it. 'Now!' With a loud roar Bahamut fired the Gigaflare, sending a wall of green energy larger then his body forward at the Shadow.

Out of all three attacks, this one was by far the most destructive and if he had been firing toward the ground, the content of Esther would have had a hole large enough to match the destruction of the Centra continent.

The beam devoured the merged shadow in a blare of emerald green and the two halves of the Lunatic Pandora behind it, luckily crashed into the ocean behind him. But it seemed Bahamut still couldn't control the Gigaflare just as the last time he tried it... 'No...No!' it expanded beyond the size he was working to keep it, and the next thing he knew it detonated in his mouth and he was engulfed in his own attack. With out him to power it, the Gigaflare died off with in a few seconds, Bahamut was sent shooting to ground wrapped in green flames, all of them were brushed out and a creator was left behind on impact with the ground.

He'd been screaming and he didn't even realize it.

A little burned and after what felt like he broke his back and dislocated his tail, Bahamut let out another sigh, 'At lest it wasn't as bad as the first time.' Now that he focused on it he could easily handle pain, and he had a growing anger about his tail, he could have tolerated it being his wings instead. It was ironic that his back had been broken but his wings were fine, as if he would be able to fly with back in this condition. 'Damnit…'

"Look's like you two over did it." Squall standing over Griever and Ifrit, managing to come up behind them before either of them could notice he was there. Now that the Garden was no longer possessed he was able to get out with out a problem, though he suffered a substantial amount of injury inside having to fight off the shadows in order to survive until his rescue. "Thank you."

Squall knelt down doing his best to help the two GF's stand to their feet, they found it easier and less painful just to junction themselves to Squall then to try and walk.

(Squall, I almost didn't think you would make it.) Ifrit sighed in relief, Squall could almost see the grin on his face.

'I almost didn't think you two would get me out of there.' Squall said.

...There was a sound that could be hear, a distant one gaining volume. '...Do you hear that?'

Ifrit mentally nodded. (Yeah...it sounds like--)

Their conversation was cut short when the sound of gunfire came from behind them. The Ragnaork swept past them, the usually red metal was covered in black, firing at an unknown target.

! - ! - !