Chapter 21: Never too Busy Finale

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Never too Busyby Kenny Lattimore

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Nida slid easily down the frozen hill, grabbing on to anything he could to slow his decent before his fall grew to fast. His crutches helped, he used them skillfully to guide himself away from obstructions, it wasn't at all difficult for him, except for the fact he was freezing cold. But it was clear that Cho wouldn't leave this place unless he convinced Shadow that they weren't trying to kill him so if Nida could get to Shadow and get this whole thing over with now, Cho wouldn't injure himself more by attempting to peruse Shadow farther.

'Damn Cho, why are you so persistent? Sometimes it's just not good for you.'

He was doing this alone because that look he saw on Shadow's face, he'd regretted what he did to Cho. Meaning he really didn't want to kill them, all of his attacks were just to keep them at bay, which is why they were able to evade them all. If he was right about this then he'd be fine, if he wasn't…Well...uh...hmm...He had a... good life, the later years of it at lest.

Girl when we first started we were spending all our time together in love
Now we're growning on and you're afraid of losing me, don't be

Crazy, spontaneous things weren't usually in Nida's personality, it was Cho's area. He was the safe type, the person who usually stopped Cho from doing those crazy spontaneous things which usual would end in personal harm, theft or property damage. Though this action was crazy it wasn't completely spontaneous, he went alone because if he stayed behind with Cho there was no way he'd be able to protect Cho from fiends. And it was too dangerous for Cho to try and make it down this cliff if Seifer had came with him

Nida held on to a protruding icicle, easing himself to the bottom of the frozen lake bed. It was littered with large bones scatted around, giving an eerie, grave yard feeling. A head he could see shadow with his back turned, stalled, apparently tired from all of the running he was doing. Running through the Garden, through FH, all the way to the continent of Esther and through this frozen region. It was amazing he'd gotten this far without stopping, plus when he'd fallen down this cliff it had to be painful even for him.

I've got a heart full of love even though I might not show it
Girl it's you I dream of and just so you know it

Shadow didn't seem to notice him, or just didn't care. "Shadow!" Nida called out to him as he shifted the crutches under his arms comfortably, watching the wolf turn around and growl at him with bared fangs. "Stop it! I'm not trying to hurt you. Someone like you should realize that by now."

"It's not hurting me you should be worried about." Shadow spoke with pants, he was more fatigued then it appeared at first glance. His stance was slightly limped from some injury he'd sustained in his fall, he was also bleeding from someplace on his side hidden by his fur. It was a blackish liquid instead of a normal red.

Shadow seemed to have paused for the moment, Nida was able to finally talk to him."Why do you think we tried to poison you?"

Shadow snorted, "I woke up with all of signs of it, who else could have done it if not you?"

"How should I know? There are a million other things that could have caused it."

"Name one."

Nida thought about it, naming the first things that came to mind, saying 'Maybe something you ate' sounded even more like they tried to poison him so he had to think of something else. "I... I don't know, but why would we try to kill you?"

You have my attention, anything you need at all
I'll be there when you call me

"You killed all of the others that look like me, why not me also?" Shadow asked bitterly. "Am I not the same threat to you they are?"

"I'm not sure why Cho brought you back with him." Nida managed to keep his voice as calm and normal as he could, though unable to hide the chill that shook through him. A frozen, snow saturated wind blew across the lake bed, sweeping Nida's hair to the side already filled with snow. "All I know is that you helped me."

Shadow became solemn, delaying a response. "…"

"I was about to drown when the Ragnarok exploded, but you helped Cho save me. If you did that, the why would I try to kill you?"

"The way you humans look at me, you see me as only a common monster that needs to be exterminated. Yet no one is strong enough to do it themselves, not you, not Cho, not Seifer."

Nida sighed, this wasn't going to be easy. "So that's why you think we're trying to kill you, because other people see you as a threat? In this world you'll always be seen differently, no matter where you go, or what you do, you'll just have to get use to it…. You have strong feelings for Seifer right?"

Shadow was reluctant on the subjected, he didn't understand any of it himself. "…How--"

Nida always was observant. "It doesn't matter how I know." He moved closer, taking careful steps on the icy ground with his crutches. "Let me tell you something about Seifer, everyone sees him differently also because of what he did. For whatever reason, Seifer helped a sorceress from the future that was trying to compress all of time and existence so she could control everything. Seifer knew what she was doing and helped her any way, the Sorceress failed and died but Seifer is still here.

I've got things on my mind, takin' my time, but I'm...
I'm not too busy for you, I'm not too busy

People still think of him as a threat because of what he did, and people will probably never see him otherwise."

"…"

"I know you've done things, with out a doubt you've killed people, humans in particular. I might be making things worse by saying this but why wouldn't they looked at you like the way they do? "

"So if you seem me as a threat, why would you deny trying to get rid of me?"

And this is what Nida was trying to make him understand all along. "We don't think you're a threat, and no offense here but the only other people you've met are people from Fishermen's Horizon. They think anyone who's fought before is a threat, they give all of us that look because they don't like SeeDs."

Shadow growled offensively, growing angry again. "That doesn't change the fact that you tried to kill me, you betrayed me."

Nida shook his head discerning, "You said that where you come from betrayal was common and that our betrayal doesn't surprise you. If it doesn't then why are you acting this way at all?"

If you're feeling alone, just pick up the phone, 'cause I...
I'm not too busy for you, I'm not too busy

Shadow roared, shooting spikes from below him, up through the ground beneath Nida. With a surprised gasp he was forced to stumble back out of the way barely managing to keep his balance. "Stop following me or I will kill you."

Nida ignored his threat, he didn't come down here just to give up. "I'm sure you've experience betrayal yourself, and if you had as much power as you say you did then you must be able to recognize when someone would do it too you…Why not this time? You said you should have expected this, but you didn't. It's because you knew we weren't trying to kill you!" Nida shouted. "And we're still not!"

"Don't lie to me!" Shadow roared loud, so fiercely that the ground quaked in it's wake.

Nida was silent for a moment, staring at him before speaking. "Why are you still fighting me, you trusted us before, why not now."

"….It's because of what you did to me…" Shadow dropped his head and narrowed his eyes angrily, angry at himself, angry at them. "All of these things began happening to me that never happened before when I met all of you. I never felt like this before, I don't know what you did but you took advantage of it and tried to kill me while I was still confused about it."

"…" Nida wasn't sure what he meant by that...

We used to dream that one day we'd have everything we want
But now that things are movin', I hope that we don't move apart

"If you follow me, I'll kill you." Shadow turned and began walking away.

"We didn't poison you, your just too afraid to let down your guard after coming from where ever you came from. We're not like who they were you dealt with in the past, we don't want you dead or want to get what ever power you held. But your just scared to believe it because you think the moment you relax we'll try to."

You still have my heart
I've got so much to do, but girl it doesn't matter

Shadow growled, tensing as if he was about to pounce. "You did try to!" He yelled, sending more spikes shooting rapidly up from the ground at Nida.

He jumped back, getting a little pain from his injured leg on landing. '!'

The ground began shaking slightly when Shadow roared again but Nida didn't move an inch, he wasn't scared. "Or maybe your just to afraid to let go of your pride and accept the fact that you like us." the only response he got was another roar, right before the ice under him suddenly fractured. A huge split ran through the ice in front of him.

Nida fell backwards, landing painfully at the edge of the split separating him from shadow. 'Huh?' To his surprise there was water at the bottom of the lake, only it was frozen over by a thick sheet of ice. It didn't help him at all.

Nida grabbed on to the cliff wall and pulled himself on to his feet, but by the time he did that he could see Shadow running in the opposite direction. 'Damnit...'

"Are you ok?"

You still have my heart
I've got so much to do, but girl it doesn't matter

Nida looked up when he heard the familiar voice, he wasn't expecting to see Seifer climbing down with Cho on his back, the boy's arms wrapped around Seifer's neck in a very tight, almost strangling grip. "I'm fine, but Shadow's really pissed."

Seifer jumped down, tensing when he heard the grimacing moan when he did. He pulled Seifer off of his back and gently laid Cho down next to Nida against the snowy wall. "You made things worse huh?" Seifer said expectantly.

"No, I made things better." Nida still knew exactly what he was doing, and Shadow (as complexly moody as he was) could easily be read by him. "All he needs is for one of you to talk to him, if will sound better coming from one of you two."He was clearly indicating Cho and Seifer.

If it came down to it, then the chose was simple, Seifer elected himself. Besides, Cho was half out of it and was barely coherent, Seifer didn't want to even give him the chance. "I'll go, maybe I can knock some sense in to him." Seifer smirked, drawing his gun blade off of his waist and resting it over his shoulder.

"Don't screw up Seifer." Cho told him, the normal playful hostility was back in his voice that he had when he usually talked to Seifer, though lightly dazed.

But when it comes down to you I can't think of nothing better
Every time I'm stressin', I find that it's a blessin' to

"You'd like to see me screw up wouldn't you." Seifer turned around and threw back a careless wave before jumping over the large, water filled fissure and going after Shadow. "Are you going to be alright Nida?" Seifer sounded as if he didn't want to be bothered with everything.

Nida was surprised at the show of concern. "Just bring Shadow back, I'd hate to leave things like this."

"Right."

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To be hearin' from you

Zell looked around his new location, being surrounded by nothing, literally nothing, but a void similar to the one that lead to Omega Weapon in Ultimecia's castle. He could fell the pull of it from the source, it was in front of him a distance off. Everything else was just a dull white light, the complete weightlessness made it seem like being in space. "So this is what it's like to be junctioned."

"Not usually." Bahamut flew down just above him and came to a stop directly beside him. "Junctions aren't usually this strong or this easy to do, if we Junctioned anymore of ourselves we'll have the same body...it's just odd that it was so easy to get this deep, there was no mental defense or resistance at all."

Zell looked up at him questioningly, this seemed unusual. "How do you know so much about Junctions if I'm the first person you've junctioned with?"

"Carbuncle and I junction to you, it's on a much smaller scale, only enough to talk to you and get a sense of what's in your mind." Bahamut explained to him.

I've got things on my mind, takin' my time, but I'm...
I'm not too busy for you, I'm not too busy

"Well we're getting a hell of a lot more then a sense of what's in Carbuncle's head. When he said something was hollowing him out I had no idea it would be like... this." Zell sounded horrified what he saw, it was just so... empty. "I can't even see if anything's left of him…we may be ...we maybe too late."

"We can't give up now, we've come too far and we didn't do it just to get here and leave Carbuncle." Bahamut said determinedly, spreading his wings out to full length. He was not willing to give this up, Carbuncle was his friend too. Bahamut knelt down in front of him, finding it hard to do anything in this weightless environment.

Empty, no forwards or backwards, no up or down. And with nothing behind, their was no way to tell which way was forward, this place was aimless with nothing to hold it down, no gravity. No path, no roots, not even a sense of direction. All there was was a gaping void, the only forwards or backwards, the only up or down, the only roots, the only gravity.

"Your right." Zell could easily tell what Bahamut wanted him to do, so he climbed on to Bahamut's back and wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck. "Let's go!"

If you're feeling alone, pick up the phone and call me, 'cause I...
I'm not too busy for you, I'm not too busy

With a small flap of his wings Bahamut lifted in to the air, more accurately a higher plane. and soared toward the center of the dark void. His flight speed was so fast that it almost peeled Zell off of him.

The distance was much longer the it looked, a track strait to a black hole that pulled everything in. It took a minute to get to their destination, it was faster because of the pull, but it was worth it. When Carbuncle said he felt like he was slipping deeper into himself, it was literally happening. Carbuncle's whole conciseness was trapped inside his mind, and they could see him being pulled in to it.

Whenever you need me

"Carbuncle!" Zell tapped Bahamut on the shoulder to give some warning before he jumped off of the dragon's back and dived head first towards the center of the void. He could see it, there was a green ball that was slowly being pulled deeper... and deeper inside.

Carbuncle had actually been forced in to a ball and was about to be pulled in to the darkness just as he had hallucinated before.

"I got you, don't worry!" Zell wrapped his arms grabbed Carbuncle and began moving backwards in the only motion he could think about doing, trying to swim against the strong suction, but it seemed in vain because the black whole they was being pulling him in was too strong to fight against. Zell looked up. "Bahamut! What is this thing!"

Bahamut was flying backwards to avoid being pulled in himself, it was hard, epically since he was still so injured after the fight. "It must be the Shadow. Hold on I'll try to get rid of it." Bahamut let himself with a moderate pace, cradling his pained left arm and he inhaled deeply. Energy formed in his mouth from a charging a Mega flare, he spewed the excess energy fourth in the several smaller blast in to the void, all pulled with no response.

'Damnit...I won't let this thing do this!' He allowed himself to be pulled in faster, just as soon as he'd passed Zell he fired the silver beam of the Mega Flare in to the black hole. The chrome beam was engulfed completely, disappearing in the void and all traces of it's light with it….

After that it was all silent...

Then it erupted into a massive explosion before another thought could be uttered, like wave the darkness of the void bursting into a whirlpool of flames. It all became a burning red haze as flames ignited and spread over every inch of it simultaneously. Instead of pulling them in as it once was, the three of them were repelled outward by the blast, lost in a sea of red, super heated air and flames.

It seemed like the worst time, but at that moment gravity returned, and Zell landed on a hard, almost indistinguishable surface that was the ground. "Ufff!" A sense of direction returned to this place, something stable, a place to stand on, that seemed to be all that was left.

As soon as he wasn't being compressed by the black hole's gravity, Carbuncle let his body relax in Zell's arms, covered in sweat and panting for starved breaths. "Zell!" Carbuncle looked up with great surprised to find who was holding him. "How-How did you two get here!"

Zell could see it now, with the void not blocking it he noticed that there, thankfully, was still was something left of Carbuncle that the Shadow hadn't destroyed yet. Something, no matter how small, to look back to, so someone could move forward. Even if everything else was gone and empty, not to mention his mind was now like war zone. Things were starting to become visable, black spots that were like bruises, tares like lacerations...

'This place is...it's in bad shape.' "Bahamut brought me here. Are you alright?"

Carbuncle couldn't really describe what he was felling right now, it was confused, he felt so empty... so... so much like he'd been hurt in someway he couldn't explain... like there was nothing left, like nothing had ever been there. It was almost like his whole existence was.. wasn't one at all. "I...I...Hn..." He shook his head frantically, tears coming to his eyes. He couldn't even form a simple thought correctly... "Not...N-Not really."

Zell immediately pulled him closer and curled around him, trying to stop him from moving. At lest to get him to calm down, right now he was frantic and in disarray, he was so confused... 'I...I'm sorry.' "Carbuncle…"

Carbuncle stopped moving, though his voice still held that frantic disorganization that his movements and expressions held before."I'm… glad you guys saved me, I though I was done for." Everything was just so out of place, out of his hands, in complete confusion and he was like a ghost, unable to effect anything, to put it all in order or stop the confusion. It was horrible, even when he knew what was happening at this moment, that his best friend was holding him and that's all he needed to focus on.

He couldn't, he couldn't stop moving, he couldn't stop trying to put it all in order, but he couldn't! Why couldn't he! Why! Who was he! His name was Carbuncle! That's all he needed to focus on, just that! Just that, leave everything else for now, just don't panic!... Why didn't his ,mind seemed to be listening to itself?

"We had to find away, I couldn't stand the thought of losing you. I mean you've been with me through the biggest challenge of my life, I wouldn't have made it with out you."

"Yes you would have…your strong. You even broke through my invincible shield, that's the best I got." Carbuncle's frantic speech halted while his eyes shifted around in an uncontrollable twitching. He knew what he was saying, he knew what he was saying was right, but he didn't understand any of it, he knew all of it was logical, they were his logic. But it just didn't make sense. "I think that's the best I got, I mean it is, I think, yeah, I think, it should be, I know it is, I think I know, I don't know if it is, I do know!-"

Zell had never seen him like this, he'd never seen anyone like this. He'd never seen anyone like this. "Carbuncle!" Zell held him tightly as Carbuncle's rambling turned into wild flailing, Carbuncle was so...

"What's-, My head...!" Carbuncle couldn't stop, he knew he had the will power to contain himself but he couldn't seem to find any of it. His mind was empty, despite as hard as he tried to force a coherent thought into it nothing came but a disoriented blur. It was like he wasn't thinking at all, like it was set on auto pilot and going on it's own without his consent. All he could do was scream as loud as he could.

I've got things on my mind, takin' my time, but I'm...
I'm not too busy for you, I'm not too busy

"Zell." Bahamut reached down and pried the struggling Carbuncle out of his arms. "Give him to me."

"Bahamut--"

"Just let me try." Bahamut spoke firmly, making it clear he would do this whether Zell was finished or not. He held Carbuncle tightly in his right arm, his strength forcing Carbuncle's struggling body to be still.

"Aahhhhh!"

"Carbuncle, listen to me. " Bahamut leaned down slightly to bring his face closer to Carbuncle, a calm, almost understanding expression on his face. "I know this is hard for you, but you have to listen."

Carbuncle's muscles tensed and locked, fighting the unexplained dizzy, claustrophobic feeling that made him fail around and scream. He bit down hard, drawing blood on his tongue, the pain was something that oddly enough held him calm down. "...B-Bahamut... I-I don't know anymore. I know there's something in my head I should remember, it's just not there! Every time I try to think my head just starts..." Carbuncle's body began to tremble, slight whimpers pushing from his pressed lips.

Bahamut was Junctioned to him, he could see, he could tell how Carbuncle felt. He couldn't focus, everything he tried to focus on was now just an indiscriminate white out. Bahamut understood the former weightlessnesses now and the general sense of having no direction, no backwards or forward, up or down. All of it was Carbuncle's in ability to think, any grounds for thought was gone with the weightlessness and space like undirection making thoughts drift away and become unstable.

Everything was gone, his memory, even the basic structure for thought, all that was left was a blank slate. The only thing that kept him from being infantile was the part of his mind the shadow hadn't destroyed, only most of it no longer had bearing. With out other thoughts and memories little of what was there had any logic, so when he tried to think about it... "Ahhhaaa!"

Bahamut tightened his hold, forcing his injured arm to rest on Carbuncle's head in an effort to keep him calm. "I know it's hard, but you have to focus."

"There's NOTHING THERE!" The small GF shouted. Tears started streaming from clinched eyes, pooling and dripping off of his chin. With a weak sob Carbuncle burred his head into Bahamut's arms, trembling harder.

"Well..." Bahamut paused, thinking about what to do, what to say to Carbuncle... What possible advice could he give who'd just had 90 percent of their mind corrupted and discarded. "Then... Focus on us. Me and Zell."

Carbuncle said nothing, he didn't scream, he didn't ramble incoherently, he just cried. It was a relief to Bahamut when he felt the GF's muscles easing and the weak sobs came easily. That was it, that seemed the only thing tat worked. They were here and now, they were junctioned to him, they were nearly physically inside of his head, how could he not. "...Who am I?"

"Your Carbuncle, you know that." Bahamut reassured him. He couldn't help but give a silent look towards Zell who gave a similar one back. "Hmm..."

'He lost his memory...' "I-I don't know if you remember what just happened but... just in case I didn't say it before, Thanks...I wouldn't have..." Zell dropped his head, down casting his eyes. He felt himself starting to cry, he couldn't help it... "I wouldn't have made it through or back from Time compression without you. If you and Bahamut hadn't been there…" Zell rubbed his eyes furiously before the tears could be seen. "And the only reason I got through your shield was because you helped me…When it looked like you made another barrier on top of the first one, you were really weakening it enough to let me through."

Carbuncle forced a smirk to form, a habit that still remained. "You saw that huh? Well I couldn't let that... thing...win with out a fight. " The smirk faded and Carbuncle's voice became serous, he could barely remember what had just happened to him...or anything about himself for that mater. Just that their was Zell, whom he knew nothing about anymore except that he'd he held strong feelings for and that he'd hurt. "Zell…I'm sorry for...what I did. What did I...? What did I..."

"…"

"I don't know...but I know I couldn't control my self-"

Zell shook his head, rubbing away the tears from his eyes again. "It wasn't your fault, the only reason this happened to you was because you went into time compression to save me."

"I… I love you... that's all I remember. I'm Sorry."

Zell pushed himself on to his feet and smiled, still holding his head down reluctantly. "I'm... just glad you don't hate me." Zell felt everything going blank as he junctioned weakened and Carbuncle's consciousness began to take over again.

"Thank you guys."

"You don't have to say that." Bahamut knelt down and released Carbuncle, letting his injured arm fall weakly to his side.

"What kind of friend wouldn't?" Zell nodded, feeling his mind drifting back into his body... Where ever it was.

If you're feeling alone, just pick up the phone, 'cause I...
I'm not too busy for you, I'm not too busy

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This was the chapter before the last one, and I'd figure I put in one of my favorite songs as a good bye to Zell, Carbuncle and Bahamut. This one song fits Zell and Carbuncle, and Zell and Bahamut perfectly, funny it doesn't fit all three of them at the same time.

I'm not sure if they'll be in the Last Chapter so I had to do it I this one. And if you noticed, the first story was mainly about Squall and Ifrit with Zell and Bahamut as a side story. This one was about Zell and Bahamut (and Carbuncle) with Cho and Nida (And Seifer and Shadow) as a side story,

And keeping in tune with the like the last story, I'm finishing Complete Junction with the Side story taking the lead….only the side story seemed more like the main one…whatever. Anyway, I'm doing a sequel, again, and it's gonna be completely different. Trust me.

Thank you to everyone who read.