Chapter 4, Abuse the Power
Meanwhile, on the train to Deling City, Irvine and Zell sat on the sofa of the SeeD wagon while Quistis laid in the bed to their left, trashing back and forth in nightmares caused by her memories' attempts to break free from the fog. She wasn't mumbling and screaming however, as Irvine had cast a Mute spell on her half an hour ago out of sheer irritation. He had heard the same stuff a hundred or so times too many already, and after a while there was no drama left to be heard in the desperate, broken cries.
"Nothing here to see!" Zell called at the roof, pleadingly raising his arms in the same direction, "can't we just arrive already?"
And so they eventually arrived to the great capital of the holy land of all conspiracies.
"Thank you!" the fist-fighter yelled at the sky as he stepped off the train, getting fleeting but not too surprised looks from bypassers.
No problem.
And with that we also managed to kill the good ol' "breaking the fourth wall" joke. Don't you feel relieved now that it's over? Or is it?!
Anyway…
"Alright, now to find Seifer and his goons," Irvine nodded as he too stepped down on the concrete platform of the crowded station, turning around to help Quistis get out of the train.
He sighed as he saw her stand paralyzed on the short stair's highest step, leaning on the train car's wall and staring at the hundreds of people moving about before her with fear in her wide eyes.
Irvine added a Blind spell to her Mute and Amnesia affliction and dragged the fumbling woman onto the station and through the crowd.
"I hate these kind of plot devices!" he shouted along the way to nobody in particular.
"Me too," Zell called while he pushed his way after Irvine – the people didn't seem to move aside for the one not leading one of the main-main-romance characters in this particular plot, "but personally I hate those Second Generation fics where our kids are the worst brats alive and we have to act as if we're proud of them even when they break SeeD regulations and stuff just for kicks!"
Irvine didn't stop for a moment, because he knew that if he did his mind would start to remember all the kids he had "had" with Selphie and various other strange women. He'd admit that some of them had been lovable… most had been fake saints thinking that nobody saw what they were really up to, though. Ick. Then again, Squall and Rinoa were the couple who were mostly under the "new hero child" curse… and if their kid picked up a weapon below the age of twelve everybody knew what to expect…
The cowboy's thoughts were cut short as he was hit straight in the face with a blast of sunlight. Blinking, he looked up to see a thin figure standing on top of the stair leading out of the station. The idea was probably that whoever it was should look cool and dramatic up there, but in the current light Irvine only saw a stick-figure.
"FOUND," a rather hoarse female voice announced.
"Heya, Fujin," Zell grunted and almost fell flat on his face beside Irvine's boots as he finally broke through the crowd.
"FOLLOW," the silver-haired woman announced, turned around and froze in mid-run.
"I will not hunt you through half of Deling!" the blond fist-fighter snarled as he and Irvine led a stumbling Quistis up the stair.
They reached ground level and shooed away the small crowd that had assembled to drop art critique about the human statue.
Fujin fell to the ground as Zell dispelled the Stop spell he had cast on her, since she had been frozen with only the tip of her right foot still on the pavement.
"MEAN."
"Not at all. Now none of us will have to run like idiots, and we'll probably get to where we're going quicker if you just lead us there in a straight line," Irvine said, handing Quistis over to Zell to give their former enemy a hand.
For a moment Fujin looked like she'd protest, but then she got stuck considering which would create the greatest risk of later-plot romance; to take Irvine's hand or slap it aside. To be or not to be…
"BAH," she finally said, getting up on her own without letting her one-eyed gaze touch the offered help again. And she definitely didn't allow herself to consider how the hand looked, because that would have guaranteed sappiness later on.
Following Fujin, the three SeeDs made their way through Deling, towards the fabled Arc the Triumphe copy under which the great last battle of Disc 1 had been fought.
"You could have just told us it was here we were going and saved us all some trouble, you know," Zell casually said.
Fujin turned her head and gave him a meaningful look with her single eye. Zell considered it for a moment, then shrugged.
"Oh well, wrote a note or something then. That should have been possible..."
"IRRITATED."
"Okay, okay, don't give me that kick-in-the-shin look... to change the subject, isn't it irritating that it seems that no author ever seem to remember that you actually can speak normally."
Fujin seemed to consider a simple yet expressive word that could show the world her anger over the fact that her heartfelt speech to Seifer in Lunatic Pandora ever was forgotten in the whirlpool of fanfic authors. Finally she gave up and heavily sighed, bowing her head in a nod.
"PISSED."
"I hear ya," Zell compassionately said.
Their discussion was halted by Irvine's - fifth - stumbling on Quistis as her worsened state caused her to fall forwards and drag him with her all the time. Some swearing and a casting of Float later the cowboy felt a little better. After all it also got much easier to drag the amnesiac along when she wasn't touching the ground.
Fujin, who had politely stopped to wait together with Zell in the shadow of the huge construction, drew a Scan spell from a random passer-by and cast it upon the flailing instructor. As she got the other woman's full situation cleared out, the albino turned to Irvine and pointed at the silently struggling Quistis.
"LEGAL?"
"Probably not, but who ever heard of a fic where the heroes sued each other for status effects?" Irvine shrugged, "besides, she probably won't remember anything of this after Seifer cures her."
Fujin shook her head and wandered off, raising her palms to the darkening heavens.
"MEN."
Half a minute later she shoved the heroes through the door leading to the Arc's enterior, pointing at the ladder leading into the darkness of the...
"Not the sewers again!" Zell groaned.
"BABY."
But Fujin then dug out a set of four noseclips from her pocket, which she handed out. Getting Quistis to hold still long enough to get the clip on her nose was hardly worth the trouble. She was silent and couldn't see, but her motions with arms, legs and grimaces showed that she was not feeling very pleased.
"ESUNA?" Fujin casually asked as Zell for the second time landed on the floor by her feet after a lucky straight left from Quistis.
"It's a Love-fix-me-up-fic," Irvine grunted, groaning as he fought to hold his friend still without using any useful but suggestive grips since he wasn't the other part of the romance, "we're too stupid to be helpful.
The albino woman watched the fight for another while, then looked at the small hole leading down into the sewers, and back to the fight.
"SUGGESTION."
"Yes?" Zell squeaked from the floor, where he was curled up in a fetal position after a lucky straight kick.
General Caraway wandered back and forth in his office, glancing at his pocket watch and stopping to sip from the cup of coffee on his desk every once in a while. From the floor below him came sharp clashes, gunshots, and other traditional sounds of battle.
Finally, the hidden door swung open and Fujin hurried out, closely followed by Zell Dincht. After him came Irvine Kinneas, who...
"What in Hyne's name has happened to her?" the general asked with raised eyebrows, pointing at the rigid Quistis who floated peacefully a couple of inches above the ground with her outstretched hand tightly held by Irvine. Her face was frozen in an angry growl, empty eyes fixed on nothing.
"Nothing to worry about, Sir," the cowboy assured while he and Zell saluted, "she's just paralyzed."
"And blinded. And floating. And muted," Zell helpfully added.
Rinoa's father opened his mouth, thought better of it and closed it again. Clearing his throat he straightened up further.
"In any case," he said, pursing his mouth, "my mansion is under attack from the government, who found out that I was supporting the rebels against the purple-green-blue carnivore cannibalistic aliens from outer space - a rebellion set up in record speed, I might add - and now Seifer and Raijin are down in the hall fending off half the army."
"Alone?!" Irvine and Zell exclaimed, getting ready to dash towards the door for a valiant rescue.
"No, some fourteen year old boy with a gunblade was helping them, so I don't think that you need to worry," the general calmed the SeeDs.
"Oh, okay..." Irvine said, leaning Quistis against the wall, "how about you brief us in the meantime then?"
"Certainly, first..."
But of course, Seifer had to dash in right then, his white jacket flying behind him like the cloak of a true knight.
"Steven was killed by a couple of soldiers, funny that, I've never seen any female Galbadian soldiers before, but that's off the subject!" he dramatically called, swinging his gunblade and finally pointing it at Irvine and Zell, "come on, we need backup ya sissies! Fujin, I'm counting on you!"
"FIGHT."
The albino chick pulled out her Pinwheel from a pocket in her pants - thanks to the same powers that let seven teenagers carry around a dozen magazines and a few hundred bottles of medicine without slowing down the slightest - and rushed past her friend out into the corridor to help Raijin fend off the evil squadrons of faceless soldiers.
"Seifer," general Caraway said in a strict voice, "you are dripping blood on my carpet."
"Eh?"
Seifer looked at his gunblade and its red coating. Coughing, he hid the weapon behind his back.
"Right," he said, "now then... what's up with Quistis?"
"Paralyzed, blind, mute, floating and amnesia," Irvine courtly informed.
Seifer gave him an odd look, then sheathed his weapon in the same manner as Fujin had drawn hers.
"Esuna, anyone?" the knight dryly said.
Irvine, Zell and Caraway immediately slammed their palms into their foreheads.
"Oh, why didn't we think of that?" they faithfully chorused.
"Honestly..." Seifer smirked and wandered over the floor, turning Quistis straight and reaching up to touch her cheeks.
"I think I'm gonna puke..." Zell muttered, hurrying towards the door, "excuse me but I'm better off smashing some brains in with my bare hands!"
"Don't leave me here!" Irvine cried, but found his feet stuck on the floor while Zell narrowly escaped the sappy scene.
Glancing at Caraway the sniper saw the general struggle as well, but they were bound by the rule of Witnesses of at least One Healing Step. Sighing they reluctantly resigned themselves to their fate.
"Healing breeze through your veins, Esuna," Seifer spoke, closing his eyes.
Quistis landed and fell into her helper's arms with a small shriek. She straightened up in panic, tightly grasping the shoulders her hands had landed on to stare into the blue eyes where bitterness hid.
"S... Sei..." she stuttered, looking confused as the words slipped past her lips.
"Hey darling, I hear you have amnesia," the knight gently said and kissed her forehead, withdrawing a red rose from a pocket, "don't worry though, I'll cure you, I swear. I love you, Quistis. Here."
And with that he took her hand and folded her fingers around the thin stem of the flower, not needing to be careful with the thorns since he already had removed them to make it simpler.
"Now I have to go save my friends down in the hall, talk to you later hon," he said and rushed off, leaving Quistis standing there, blinking at the flower.
Then she looked up.
"Err, hi?" Irvine nervously said as the instructor's eyes narrowed.
"You..."
The rose hit the floor, its delicate petals being crushed by Quistis boot as she stalked towards her tormentor. Irvine tried desperately to back off, finding that he still couldn't move. The spell of Healing must still have been in the works.
Quistis just came closer, her fingers bending like claws.
"Uhh..." Irvine frantically muttered, searching for any means of escape in his mind and in the room.
He happened to look at the wall which the players never got to see in the game, which due to that was left to imagination. What happened to be there was a collection of weapons, and salvation!
"Look! A convenient plot device!" Irvine called, pointing at something on the middle of the wall.
Quistis had no choice but to look due to those words, her eyes being glued to the coiled, greenish whip hanging on one of the hooks.
As if hypnotized she headed towards the Memory Trigging item, and Irvine took his chance to flee towards the battle.