Oh! I'm feared!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story except for four and I don't own the places except for one that I made up. Maybe one more, too. I haven't decided.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Squall, Rinoa, and Quistis whirled around. There, right before them, was none other than Seifer Almasy. He had a strange look on his face. It was mixture between his blood-thirsty grin, a cocky smirk, and a "You people are stupid" look.
"Well, are you losers going to come or not?" He walked in all the way and moved his hands towards the door as an invitation.
"How do we know if we can trust you?" Squall stepped partly in front of Rinoa protectively.
"Relax, Leonhart. I'm not going to kidnap her and screw her brains out or anything. I think I'll let you do that." Seifer rolled his eyes. "Now, are you coming or not?"
"Seifer, as wonderful as it is to see you, we're not sure if we can trust you." Quistis crossed her arms.
"Listen, do you want out of here or not? I can help you. I don't give a rip if you don't trust me. I just want to help. I'm sick of being Ultimecia's puppet. Do you have any idea how if feels to be fed lie after lie? Do you know how it feels to know that you need to leave, to get away, but can't? Have you any idea! I'm sick of doing all the dirty work." Seifer did his best to convince them, but his best was usually never good enough.
"How did you know that we were here?" Squall asked, not completely convinced. He did not, in any way, trust Seifer. He wasn't sure if this was some sort of trick or if Seifer really wanted to help. There had to be a catch somewhere.
"I have my ways, don't worry about it." Seifer started to get uneasy. They might not like the truth. "Do you want out of here or not? I can easily just lock you back up. It would be in your best interest to let me help. Now, do you trust me or not?"
"Squall, we do have a job to do and if he really is trying to help us, maybe he has some info on Ultimecia and Cid." Quistis did her best to convince the stubborn and protective Commander. She just really wanted out of that horrible place.
"Fine. But I'm warning you now," Squall said icily, "one wrong move and I can guarantee you won't have much head left." Seifer laughed at this but took Squall's word. He didn't want to get on the bad side of Squall Leonhart after all that's happened between them. Oh, no. That would be bad. Squall had gotten close to killing him before and wouldn't hesitate to finish the job.
"Well, are we going or not?" Seifer asked. He motioned for them to follow him. He led them out of the dungeons and to the main part of the castle.
"For some reason, this place doesn't look the same from when we last visited," Quistis whispered to Squall and Rinoa who nodded.
"That's because it is different. This is the closest material form of this castle in our original time," Seifer informed them.
"What? You mean that we are still in our same time?" A nod from Seifer. "Then how did this castle get here?" Quistis asked.
"I don't know! Why don't you ask that witch next time you see her!" Seifer threw his hands up in frustration as he led them down a long corridor. "And would you mind keeping your voices down!"
"Oh, trust me. When I see Ultimecia, I don't plan on asking questions. I plan on ripping her throat for good." Squall spat in a low whisper that made Seifer just a little bit nervous.
"Hehe, yeah, I bet." Seifer replied, his voice wavered just a smidged.
They went on in silence. The castle was dark and gloomy. As they ran down the halls, their footsteps echoed through the large corridors. The black stone walls were covered in dirt and grime and a single torch here and there. The stony floors seemed to make the clamp-clamp of their feet magnified in an out-placed blast. Seifer kept retracing and taking secret passages, obviously trying to confuse someone - or something - possibly was following them. Maybe Seifer really was on their side. Then again, it could be too early to tell.
"Where are we going?" Quistis asked minutes later.
"Out of here, that's where," Seifer answered.
"I know that, but why are we going this way?" she restated her question, losing what little patience she had left.
"Because all of the stupid witch's 'little spies' are towards the front and would warn her in a heartbeat that you've been released. Plus, the only thing we have to worry about back here is Omega Weapon, and it's not fully together if you know what I mean," Seifer answered, shooting Squall an interesting look. Squall just shook his head, and Rinoa, who had been extremely quiet since this whole strange turn of events began under the most obscure conditions, moved closer to Squall. Once again, Seifer rolled his eyes, and they started off again.
"Now when you say not fully together, you mean it's preoccupied, correct?" Quistis wondered to the man in the gray trench coat.
He looked back at her. "Something like that."
"Oh." She shuddered in an unwanted fear.
As they were going down a small, cramped staircase, Quistis spoke again. "What? Is there a back way out of this accursed place?"
"Yes. Now will you SHUT UP!" Seifer groaned harshly. "Do not wake Omega Weapon unless, of course, you want to die. If that's the case, then by all means, make as much noise as you please, just leave me out of it." Quistis quickly shut her mouth, and they proceeded. Once they came to an immensely huge corridor. The ceiling was so high that the CN Tower could probably fit in there.
Seifer motioned for them to get up against the wall, and he silently creeped to the end, looked around the corner, and made a motion that told them to come up to him.
"Where is it?" Squall asked. He was starting to feel unsure about this route. He for one, did not want to meet up with Omega Weapon. He barely got away with his skin last time.
"I don't know. It was here earlier. I made sure of that before I came and got you guys. This is definitely not a good sign." Seifer suddenly felt scared. A feeling that he was not quite used to having. He attempted to shrug it off. "Come on, let's just keep going. If Omega Weapon is out prowling around, maybe we won't run into it if we don't stay here and wait around for it to come creeping up on us." They went off down the corridor, stopping occasionally so that Seifer and Squall could scout around. So far, Omega Weapon wasn't anywhere nearby.
"Come on. Keep going. We're almost out of here," Seifer encouraged them.
"Seifer, is there a chance that Omega Weapon may be guarding the exit? Is that possible?" Squall asked, keeping Rinoa in a close distance near him. Seifer's face went paler than it had been. He hadn't thought of that. What if Omega Weapon was guarding the exit? They'd never make it out alive!
"I don't know. It's possible." Seifer was quickly losing his cool.
"Well, if that's the case, then maybe we should come up with some sort of diversion so we can get out, because I certainly don't want to fight it!" Quistis exclaimed.
"Relax, Quistis. Omega Weapon may not even be there," Seifer reasoned.
"No, it's right there!" Rinoa cried out from behind. The others whirled around. At the end of the great hall stood Omega Weapon. A strong, powerful, huge, vile monster that was a butt to defeat. Things would get pretty ugly if they didn't do something, and fast.
Apparently it hadn't seen them. Seifer grabbed Quistis' arm and pulled her into the shadows, and Squall followed his lead.
The monster started down the corridor. It's feet pounded the floor and made the entire area shake and tremble. They stayed up as close to the wall as they could. They prayed that Omega Weapon wouldn't see them or they would end up as minced doggie meat. Not to mention lunch. They dared not to breath as its blood-red eyes pierced through the darkness. The thing was scary, and bloody huge.
The creature continued down the corridor, coming too close with every pounding step. The muscles in its limbs expanded with every move. Still, it had not noticed them, but it was only a matter of time.
Next to Squall, Rinoa grabbed his hand. He skin was hot and he knew what she was trying to do. But even her strongest spells wouldn't work against this thing's immune system. He watched her begin to shake and slowly moved an arm around her. Quistis took her hand. They tried to steady her. Omega Weapon was now right in front of them. It had suddenly stopped and raised its head to the air. The shimmering blade began to vibrate. The thing on top of the main body began to twitch its head left and right. It's back feet ground into the stone, causing it to crack all along to both sides of the corridor.
It was sensing them!
"Move! Come on! Move!" Seifer was muttering under his breath, glaring at the creature. Squall slowly slid down the wall, keeping every muscle stiff against the cold stone. He grabbed the nearest thing that touched his fingers. He threw it down the corridor behind Omega Weapon and remained motionless. The giant creature turned around at the bounce and clatter of the object. It started to move towards the sound, prowling away from them. Seifer grabbed Quistis' wrist again, and they ran down the hall opposite of Death and Danger itself with Squall and Rinoa close behind. Once around the corner, they stopped.
"That thing was too dang close!" Seifer exclaimed. He was pale and twitchy. Squall put an arm around Rinoa's shaking shoulders tentatively.
"Now, let's get out of here before that thing come back. In case you haven't noticed, it's rather bigger than us!" Quistis was edgy now too. Seifer nodded.
"The exit's not far. Let's go." Seifer kept going. They followed him down the next corridor and down a flight of stairs that were cracked and slippery.
"Where are we?" Squall asked once they reached the bottom.
"We're almost out, chill. Put a little trust in me for once," Seifer replied. Squall gave him a look of disgust which he returned.
Yeah right. Whatever. Squall thought but decided not to voice. Seifer was their only means of escaping at the moment.
They finally reached a dark hall with a wooden door at the end. And low and behold, it was locked…
A/N: Hi! I think I could enlighten you all on a few things, shouldn't I? I wanted to have Omega Weapon in here at least once. That stupid thing gave me a lot of trouble in the game, so this is my payback. Don't worry, this isn't the last that you will be seeing of Omega Weapon. Also, there will be another two people who don't get along. Squall and Quistis. Don't ask me why. I have no idea. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time. You all have to remember. There are some things in this story that I have not touched in a year so I'm going back and rereading it and I'm like, "WHOA! What was I thinking there!" So yeah. I am trying to make corrections, but there are just too many to be made. Oh, well. I guess there really is no rest for the weary. (Whoops! Almost forgot!) Later Days, guys!
E/N: Argh! I want to edit your A/N so bad... Sheesh! No rest, no rest at all... Tsk tsk. And everybody was kung-fu fighting...
A/N: I'm not going to say a word...