Chapter XVII: She's A Maniac

Seifer sighed loudly and his eyes fluttered open. He was alone. He figured Zell must be at the hotel by now, hopefully getting some much needed rest. Hopefully soon he would be well enough to join the smaller man and they would never have to part ever again.

These last few days… Had it only been just a few days? It felt like a lifetime ago that Seifer ran into a broken and disheveled Zell selling himself to the scum of the earth for only a crust of bread and a leaky roof. So much had changed since that moment. The anger, confusion, and the sheer joy that made up his time with Zell had brought so many new questions. Before that chance reunion, Seifer had only known himself as a cocky, arrogant, and relatively straight man.

Well, that's changed, he thought with a smile. His famous self-possession vanished from his repertoire the moment Zell returned into his life.

Now, for the first time in his life, Seifer felt like he was where he belonged. No more need to chase empty romantic dreams. No more need to give himself away to powerful women in the hope of feeling whole. No, they never gave him that fulfillment that he had craved for so long. In the end, he was a prostitute as Zell was, although while Zell was struggling to survive, Seifer was chasing impossible goals.

Never again, he told himself. He knew where he needed to be. He needed to be there for Zell, to protect him, to hold him, and to love him no matter how cruel the world's hatred bared its wrath upon him. He needed to be Zell's light in the darkness, as Zell had become for him. He needed to wake up in the morning and see Zell's face sleeping peacefully next to his own.

With a gentle tug, Seifer pulled Rinoa's ring from his finger and placed it on the table next to him.

He knew in his heart that he would get better. His wounds would heal, and the cancer would be cured. God wouldn't be so cruel as to take him away before he and Zell finally got their shot at happiness. Would he?

Zell groaned. He knew at least several ribs were broken upon the impact of the car. Who knew if there were internal injuries as well. He looked up through the windshield at Rinoa, who was laughing hysterically, eyes blazing like a wildfire out of control.

"Never again can you take anyone away from me!" she screamed madly.

"Rinoa, please!" Zell begged. "Don't do this. You don't want my death on your conscious, do you?"

"Fuck you, Zell," the girl spat. "Fuck you and your pretentious concern for my conscious. You seem to have no problem sleeping at night after stealing my men. Although you probably don't sleep a whole lot, if you catch my meaning."

"Rinoa, please, stop…"

"Let me just ask you this," the demented bride screeched. "When did Seifer first fuck you? Was it before he brought you to our apartment or after?"

"Rinoa, don't do this—"

"Answer the goddamn question!"

"Rinoa, it doesn't matter," Zell said. "You're going to kill me no matter what I answer."

"You're right," she screamed. "The only way you'll return to Seifer is in a managed lifeless heap, you fucking whore!"

Staring at that face so full of murderous rage and hatred, Zell wondered how anyone could have ever thought that Rinoa was almost angelic. She was evil, pure evil. She wasn't going to listen to reason. She was determined to separate him from Seifer forever.

Zell…

Zell wondered momentarily if the fear had caused him to begin hallucinating, but he could have sworn that he had heard Squall's voice. He looked to the windshield again. He felt as though a time warp had formed around him. The car seemed to be moving in slow motion. Rinoa's wild visage faded from view and Squall's beautiful face appeared in the reflection of the glass.

"She's going to win, isn't she?" Zell asked despondently. "You're here to take me, aren't you?"

I'm not coming for you just yet, Zell. Squall's face was as serious as it had been when he was alive. Someone still needs you on this plane. Don't give up.

"How can I stop her?"

You were a hero, Zell. You saved the world. Don't forget your strength. Now you have to be your own hero. Fight, and you will win.

"Fight," Zell repeated, "but it's been so long since I last fought. I've lost all my skills."

Fight, and you will win. Squall said once more. Seifer is waiting for you. He took off the ring. Come back to him so that he can give it to you.

"He took off the ring?" Zell asked hopefully. Squall smiled and faded away. The car sped up and Rinoa's psychotic face reappeared through the windshield. Zell clutched himself harder against the hood, digging his fingers into the space where the windshield wipers were hibernating.

He couldn't let Rinoa succeed in her sick plan. Maybe he wasn't as strong as he had been when he was a SeeD, but he had to try. Mustering all his strength, Zell thrust his fist forward through the windshield and smashed the glass, shattering it into millions of tiny shards.

Rinoa cried out in surprise and swerved the car violently, scraping it again the barriers of the highway. Zell realized that she had driven them both onto the new bridge being built between Timber and Balamb. Zell knew that the bridge had yet to be completed and it was only a matter of time before Rinoa drove them both straight into the deep ocean water below.