The monster looked at the scared people all around, its claws out and ready to snatch something.
"Holy shit!" Cody yelled, "Holy shit it's the end!" Seifer looked nervously around, Rachel crying harder with every second.
"STOP CRYING RACHEL!" Diehard yelled, "IT CAN SENSE YOUR SADNESS! IT WILL TRY TO KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T STOP!"
"FIGHT!" Seifer yelled, summoning a thundaga and using it to zap the Transdekka. The Transdekka let out a horrible roar of pain. Since it was using water as its main basis of fighting, its body's constitution was made of water at the moment. The thunder spread though the monster, temporarily paralyzing it.
"These thundagas will help stall the monster, but not for long," Seifer said loudly, "Cody, get these people to safety!" Cody nodded, starting to round up the workers from the office that had survived to go to a rumored safety cellar not far from the town.
"Let's go peoples, we've got our lives to save!" he yelled. He winked at Seifer on the way out.
"Diehard, keep researching as long as the internet upholds!" Seifer yelled across. As the monster began to regain its strength, Seifer cast another thundaga.
"Can do!" Diehard yelled, typing harshly on the keyboard. Seifer then looked at Rachel, who was trying desperately to keep her tears in. The rain beat down hard on the people in the building and there was a large amount of dust from the crashing on the top of the building that the monster dropped on the ground. Seifer moved to Rachel and held her close.
"I'm running out of magic power!" Seifer exclaimed as he had to increase his casting to pacify the monster. Rachel placed her hands on Seifer's shoulders, magically replenishing his magic supply. Seifer looked at her with soft eyes.
"It only lasts a while," she said softly. She then turned to Diehard, her hands still replenishing Seifer's supply.
"Find anything, Diehard?" Seifer yelled.
"I've made mental matches of two of the spells, but there is still one more conjunction spell, not to mention the main spell." Diehard explained.
"HURRY!" Rachel yelled, closing her eyes tightly. The monster seemed to be getting rid of its water content in order to not be so heavily fazed by the electric power that Seifer was summoning. Diehard then activated a forcefield around himself.
"It will last for 30 minutes. Hopefully I can do mental matches of the spells by then." Diehard shouted across. At his table where the computer was set up was a pad, where Diehard did probability tests about which mythical spell matched the best with the existing spells he knew.
Suddenly, the monster had gotten rid of enough water to cause the thundagas to no longer hurt it. The Transdekka took a swipe at the building, digging up the ground underneath them, giving way to a storage basement. Rachel nearly fell into the basement and was hanging on to the edge of the floor by her hands.
"HELP ME!" she shouted to Seifer. Seifer ran to lift her up, but the monster swiped again, causing Rachel to fall into the basement. Seifer looked in horror, knowing that if the monster had replenished its water supply that it could drown Rachel out in a few seconds with the power of the water.
"Hurry up, Diehard!" Seifer yelled.
"I got the third conjunctive spell, I think!" Diehard yelled, "Just need to make sense of the last one."
"What are the details, maybe I can help!" Seifer yelled. Rachel had located a ladder and was in the process of setting it up to climb up. The monster opened it mouth, trying to send a flow of water, but it had already shed it in attempts to top the magic. It let out a loud grunt, and then began to trudge over to the hospital, which was still very much flooded. The water from outside had began to pour into the building, also filling up the basement.
"Seifer grab the edge of the ladder!" Rachel yelled. Just as Seifer went to grab the ladder, the monster's large, spiked tail turned and smacked him right in the chest, sending Seifer flying into a remaining wall in the room.
"SEIFER!" Rachel shouted in fear. Diehard looked in horror, abandoning his computer. He ran to Seifer's side, seeing that one of the spikes had cut into his side. Seifer grunted, getting off the ground. Blood trailed from his lip and his body was bruised in some areas. Diehard tried to sit him up, but the pain was too strong. Seifer let out a loud cry in pain.
"We have to get out of here!" Rachel exclaimed, "That monster is going to be back any minute! We can't fight that sort of thing!"
The monster was on its way back, its body wet and slimy from the water it had sucked up into its body. The Transdekka had the ability to suck up elemental compounds or molecules through its feet or its hands, then changing its atomic structure into that element. Since it happened to be raining in Dollet, that molecule was water.
"Seifer, you've got to try!" Rachel exclaimed. Seifer tried to get up, but the pain was too great. Blood was pouring onto his body, mixing with the water and turning it red."
"Leave." Seifer said weakly, "Save yourselves."
"NO!" Rachel yelled, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.
"Don't cry!" Diehard yelled, "It attracts the monster!" Rachel then stood up and opened her eyes wide, the tears welling up in them. Then, without warning, she ran in the direction of the dragon.
"GET SEIFER TO SAFETY!" Rachel yelled back at Diehard.
"RACHEL, NO!" Diehard yelled, "She's not doing it! She can't! Oh my God she is!"
"What is she doing?" Seifer asked, his body slumping down against the wall.
"She's using her tears to attract the Transdekka to her," Diehard explained, "If she cried, the dragon will have compassion for her and protect her, but ultimately destroy her because she would remind the woman inside the Transdekka of her broken heart."
"Diehard, if you love me as you say you do you'll do your best to kill that monster before it kills Rachel." Seifer said, looking at Diehard in the eyes. Diehard nodded. The sky had become very dark from the rain, and since the monster was commanding the rain to come down harder, it was almost as if night had fallen.
"I think I can destroy the monster with the spells." Diehard said, "But they may be inaccurate." Seifer let out another cry in pain. Diehard ran to his side, but Seifer pushed him aside with the little power he had."
"Save her," Seifer said, "Because then you'll be saving me." Diehard closed his eyes, kissing Seifer on the lips for the last time, and then running to go save Rachel.
Rachel had gained the Transdekka's attention, and she was running and making the Dragon follow. She cried hard and bitter in attempts to lure the monster away from the town. Suddenly, Rachel reached a dead end against the gates that blocked off Dollet from the other towns. She backed up against the wall, crying as loud as she could. The monster slowly approached her, its eyes looking sincere. In their darkness, they began to look as if they were crying. Diehard had caught up to it, looking at it helplessly.
This is it, he thought, It will look sad now, but then its sadness will turn to rage, and ultimately destroy her.
The monster's eyes still looked sad, and Rachel even saw a small, purple tear cry from the monster's eyes. As soon as the tear hit the monster's cheek, they eyes then turned angry. The monster focused the angry eyes on Rachel, who was screaming her heart out in fear. Her voice had a raspy quality that made it crack every time she screamed, irritating the monster.
"RACHEL STOP!" Diehard yelled helplessly, watching in horror. The monster lifted its large claw up in the air, ready to strike down Rachel. Rachel closed her eyes, waiting for her body to be ripped into shreds. Just as the monster was about to let its large claw rip apart Rachel's body, it received a sharp bullet to the back. Rachel opened her eyes, seeing a large fleet of Balamb soldiers behind the beast.
There was a large ship, followed behind by many small battleships. All of them fired at the monster. The monster turned around its tail started to go right towards Diehard.
"DIEHARD LOOK OUT!" Rachel called. Just in the nick of time, Diehard leaped out of the way and missed the tail by an inch. He looked up and saw Rachel's plastic sandals at his face. She lifted him up off the ground and watched as the fleet attacked the monster. The two of them ran as fast as they could to Seifer. They had to wade at a point to reach the bank building.
When they arrived, they saw that Seifer was up to his neck in water, just getting enough air to breathe. Rachel made a move to go get Seifer', but Diehard pushed his way ahead. He swam his way over to Seifer, who looked like he was in tremendous pain. Seifer was relieved to see Diehard.
"You came back?" Seifer asked in surprise.
"Shut up." Diehard said hastily, scooping Seifer up in his arms and waded his way out of the bank building. Just as Diehard made it out of the building, there was an eruption of fire not far from where they were standing. The group found out later that the Transdekka had struck a natural gas reserve, and when it attacked the fleet by shooting weak flames from its mouth, it ignited the fire. The rain didn't do much to stop it, since it was a gas fire.
"RUN!" Rachel said, helping Diehard as much as she could. They ran until they were behind a building that was a safe distance from the fire. Rachel's clothing stuck tight to her body, as Diehard's did. He put Seifer down on the ground, shedding his jacket, but refastening the belt. Suddenly, a stealthy looking plane landed close to the three.
Out of the plane emerged Quistis and Cody.
"I got the people in a safe place." Cody said, just as you said. Seifer smiled at him, but he was in a great amount of pain. Cody wasted no time in taking Seifer to the plane. Quistis was extremely scared for Seifer, but she was more focused on getting everyone to safety.
"The town has been evacuated for the most part, that monster was very much obsessed with you four," Quistis said hastily, "Cody informed me you knew of spells that could destroy the monster, what were they?"
"I don't know the spells, just fanciful references to actual spells." Diehard said.
"What are they; I can make sense of them." Quistis said in haste.
"The spells were described as the first shimmers like diamonds, the second collapses like the weight of the world, the third is the violence by word of mouth, and the fourth is the crushed form of love. All of these together should kill it." Diehard explained. Quistis looked nervously at the planes, some of which had crashed down by the hands of the monster.
"'Shimmers like diamonds' is most definitely a snow magic, the collapses like the weight of the world is a paralyzing spell," Quistis brainstormed, "violence by word of mouth could be the highest level of fire blasts, for insults are flames." Diehard nodded in agreement, surprised at Quistis' stunning ability to examine literature.
"The last one could only be the spell Angel Blast, but I've yet to meet someone who can do it." Quistis said. Rachel, listening, ran over to Quistis and Diehard, the rain pouring down hard.
"I can do it." She said hastily.
"You?" Quistis asked in surprise, "But how?"
"I just can, trust me." Rachel said.
"We can power the three conjunction spells into her, so when she sends out the last one the monster will have died." Diehard said. Rachel looked at Quistis, biting her bottom lip.
"Ok," Quistis said solemnly. Diehard was the first to summon the snow spell, placing his hands on Rachel's shoulders and powering her up. She glowed a light blue for a moment, but then returned to normal. Then Quistis powered her up with the paralyzing spell, that made Rachel glow a yellowish color for a while, but then again, she returned to normal. Quistis also powered her with the fire spell that caused Rachel's skin to become slightly burnt.
"Ok, go out there," Diehard said, "We're depending on you."
Rachel ran up to the monster as close as she could get with the fire blocking her way. She inhaled deeply, praying to herself that she could successfully summon the Angel Blast. She lifted her hands up in the air, shouting the incantation to summon the Angel Blast. With the words, the sky went to darkness around her. The monster turned around, staring at Rachel.
First, a blue spell exited Rachel's body, then the yellow spell, and then the red spell. The spells, which looked like light beams, spun around Rachel's head until she was fully illuminated in bright, blinding light. Rachel's hair moved wildly in response to the light. The light around her slowly began to turn pink, until it shown a light pink around her body. Soon the spells stopped moving around her body. The monster was about to attack Rachel, but before it could move the blue ice attack was sent out at the monster, freezing it solid. The second paralyzing attack broke through the ice, causing the ice that had frozen the monster to crack, and badly paralyze the monster. The fire magic was then cast, burning the monster so that it let out a loud, horrifying scream
Quistis and Diehard watched in awe as this event went on. It was only rumored that the spells existed, and only those of superior knowledge of spells and magic could accomplish it. Rachel was known to not be a very concentrated student at Balamb garden and was by no means a scholar in the spells or magic fields. Seifer and Cody watched from the inside of plane. Seifer couldn't see much because he was so weak from the injury, but Cody's light blue eyes stared in amazement and disbelief.
Finally, Rachel spread her arms and legs out, causing a bright light to engulf the whole area, making the day bright as the morning. The monster screamed its loud, high pitched screech as it was slowly defeated by the Angel Blast beam that Rachel had shot. Flowers surrounded the monster until it was diminished into a woman, on her knees and covered in rags, crying into her hands. Her long brownish-blonde hair was to the side of her body, reaching down to her waist.
Diehard ran over to the young woman, seeing that she was just as the book had described. Diehard scooped the woman up in his arms and held her close
"All I wanted was for him to love me," the woman cried, "And he had to go break my heart." The woman looked at Diehard with sad eyes and caused tears to come to his.
"It's all I wanted." She whispered, and with those words, her body turns slowly into a light pink powder until she blew away in the wind. Diehard looked around at the destruction and the battle fighters, who were being told to retreat back to Garden. He noticed Rachel, who had fainted because of the strong magic she had used. He walked slowly and scooped her in her arms, walking back.
"We've finished here." Diehard said softly to Quistis as he went back into the plane. He laid Rachel next to Seifer, who had also passed out because of the pain. He looked at their two lifeless bodies, and painfully accepted the reality of their love. Cody looked at him with wide eyes, understanding at that instant everything about what Diehard felt about Seifer. The undeniable look of love was in Diehard's eyes, and Cody knew it wasn't for Rachel
"Man," he said, overwhelmed, "I am so sorry." Cody crawled over to Diehard and looked at him.
"Why couldn't you just tell me?" Cody asked softly, "You didn't think I'd understand?"
"No." Diehard said coldly. Cody returned back to Seifer's body, keeping his head down and not saying anything.
"How can you blame me?" Diehard asked angrily, "You are the most homophobic kid I've ever met."
"But not for my friends!" Cody yelled back. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Not for my brothers."
Back at Garden, Seifer and Rachel were placed in the infirmary. Seifer's injury wasn't serious, but he did need to have more than 50 stitches in order to seal up the wound the monster inflicted on him. Rachel didn't suffer any actual damage, but her body had a breakdown from the awesome use of magic. Diehard stayed in the hospital with them the entire night, studying Seifer's listless expression along with Rachel's.
Rachel awoke the next morning at about seven A.M., thinking it was all a bad dream. She lifted her head up, expecting to find a dormitory, but instead, finding the infirmary.
"What am I doing here?" She asked drowsily, looking at Diehard, "And what are you doing here?"
"You don't remember what happened?" Diehard asked in shock, thinking maybe Rachel suffered amnesia. Rachel said nothing, her face going white. She looked across at a shade covering another hospital bed. She jumped off her bed, running and pulling the curtain aside. She cried instantly when she saw Seifer sleeping.
"He's dead?" She asked in horror. Diehard approached her, tapping her on the shoulders to comfort her.
"He's just sleeping. He had to get some work done on him, but he's ok." Diehard reassured. Rachel looked at him with sad eyes.
"I remember the whole thing," She confessed, "I just wished so badly it was a dream that I think I began to believe it for a minute." She looked down at her plastic sandals.
"Is that wrong?" She asked Diehard, looking up at him.
"No," Diehard said, "We wish things sometimes, but we can't hate ourselves for things we wish...or think." He closed his eyes, thinking about how he had hated himself for being in love with Seifer. He looked at Seifer's body and then at Rachel.
"I do love him," Rachel said, moving back from Diehard, "I will always love him until the day that I die. Never again will I put his life in danger."
"I don't think you're putting him in danger at all," Diehard said, "In fact, if it weren't for you, Seifer, and Cody, I would have been dead right now. You came just at the right time to save my sorry ass."
"I acted out," Rachel said, "I could have died if those Balamb guys didn't arrive."
"Seifer said that if I saved you I'd be saving him," Diehard said, "He loves you, and you love him." His lip quivered softy. He bit it, his eyes welling up.
"Be happy." He managed to get out, before his tears came streaming down his face. He rushed out of the infirmary in shame.
Seifer awoke to see Rachel hovering before him. He smiled at her, happy to see that she was alive and well.
"Seifer," she said softly, "Do you feel alright?"
"I'm feeling fine." Seifer said, even though his stomach hurt because of the stitches. He looked up at the ceiling and let everything in his life culminate. He thought of the night after the whole ultimecia incident had occurred and how bad he felt. He thought about Selphie, Summer, and Quistis, especially, and how they all worked their ways in and out of his life for better or for worse. He thought of how he had once envied Squall and Rinoa for their love, but once he had experienced love wished that it was as easy as Rinoa and Squall made it seem. He had not been there through their emotional journey, just as they had not been through his. Seifer figured it took a large monster and a perilous situation to show who truly loved you and who you truly loved back. He thought of Diehard, and how strong his love for him was. He respected Diehard more than any other individual he knew, and he would have willingly died for him. He knew that Diehard hurt about Seifer not loving him back, but he could not lead Diehard on if he did not truly love him as a lover. Seifer wished so bad that he could make Diehard happy, but his heart was not in the position to be a lover to Diehard, which pained him for the rest of his life. He thought of Cody, his comical brother who had helped him through his hard times even when Seifer wasn't willing to listen to him. All these people culminated in Seifer's mind, finally striking him with all the events that had happened within the past month since he had helped Edea try to take over the world. He had been dramatically changed by it, and the change was something that he could not just simply revert back from. The change was permanent, and he had people and events to keep him in check if he ever was to turn back. He thought of the musical box that he had given Quistis, which played the song he knew all too well. Seifer thought of the song and smiled.
"Can you open the shades? It's kind of dark in here."