X – Cage

Disclaimer: i don't own any FF 8 character nor the game itself. But I own all Temera characters (Damon, Kyte, Aresa)

A.N.: Sorry it took me so long to go on again. Hope you like the chapter.

Filthy air slapped them right in their faces when they finally entered the hut. It was obvious it had stayed abandoned for the last ten years. Layers of dust and cobwebs covered the broken furniture like the snow the hills around. Through the broken windows, cold had made its way through all of the rooms.

"Holy God Almighty! Didn't think it had changed like that." Shocked by the sight, the priest stepped into what had once been a living room. "If Aresa saw that… God, she'd scream until the whole mountain shatters." Inside his head, pictures of the old days kept popping up. The fireplace with its warmth, the colourful pictures Aresa had hung into every corner of the house. The flowers. "May he fry in hell forever. Worse than the plague."

"Kyte?"

"Who else?"

A slight smile on his lips, Seifer glanced at his second in command. She was still standing next to him like a statue of stone, glaring into the vandalized room. "Fujin? Everything alright?" He knew it wasn't, but nevertheless he wanted her to say the one word. Fine.

"Upstairs." She didn't know why, but she knew there was something. Careful not to look at the various types of insects and spiders to her feet, she made her way to the stairs. Something was up there. And she had a feeling she didn't really want to know what exactly it was. Still, it had to be done. Besides, her knight and her guardian were right behind her, so why worry?

She knew immediately when she reached the upper floor. Within seconds the picture changed in her head. No dust anymore, no spiders. In front of her, a small white-haired girl kept jumping through the floor, her read eyes sparkling with a mix of excitement and distrust when she turned to the stairs.

"Me?" It took her a moment to realize that she had been that child once. After all, it had been some years since she had seen herself without an eye patch for the last time. "Wait!" Pure panic set in, as her past self jumped into one of the rooms and locked it. Unsure if she'd better follow or run away, she reached for the door and felt her hands tremble from fear. Like a second Ultimecia was waiting behind there…

"It's alright, Fujin." Alarmed by her sudden fear, Seifer put a hand on her shoulder. "We're here with you, ya know. You don't have to be afraid." When she nodded absently, he took a step back. Only seconds later, the door had shattered into pieces from one of the notorious Fujin-boots-kicks.

"Holy…." It was all he managed. With the blood spilled all over it, the room in front of them looked like a battle field, rather than a child's room. "What the hell…" But his words were choked by the picture. Shattered furniture everywhere, blood dying the wood read. It was obvious WHAT had happened there.

In her eyes, the child was still there, hiding in the farthest corner of the room, her eyes showing pure fear, horror and fatigue.

"I can't sleep." The girl wept. "I mustn't. He'll find me, if I stay longer. Mustn't sleep. The necklace." As if she knew Fujin was staring at her in confusion, the girl pointed at the middle of the floor. "You've gotta take it. Go, wake Raijin. Wake him up and go. You gotta go, both of you. He'll find us if we stay longer. I can't go. No escape. You can. Go!"

In the back of Fujin's head, footsteps on wooden ground kept echoing through her head. Immediately, the girl stared at the door in shock. "There he is. Go! You've gotta go. Take Raijin and go, damn it!"

As the picture dissolved, pain run through her body like fire. Trying to get her head clear again, she sank to her knees slowly. "Go. Go, go, go."

"Fujin…" Shocked by her sudden exhaustion, Raijin knelt down, too. "You're alright? What… what has happened, Fujin?" When she shook her head only, helplessness came back. Then, he spotted the chain on the floor. "Hey, what's that, ya know?"

In an instant, her pale hands grabbed for the silver. Brushing the dust off the small pendant, she turned the blood soiled necklace in her hands. When she opened the locket, another shiver went through her body. "Look." Slowly, she got back on her feet and turned to the others again. Keeping the necklace firmly in her hands, she showed the locket to Damon. "Signature. Here."

As he took a closer look at it, his eyes widened. "Good lord, that's… that's your father's necklace. That's the locket Aresa gave him on their tenth wedding day. It's her signature. We had never found it, although he had always kept it with him. And we had found his body."

"How died?"

"What?" Again, she surprised him. Surprised him by just getting back to her usual manner. "Sapphire Lake. We found him at Sapphire lake. He had probably been slain by a wild –"

"Beast?"

The world filled Seifer's mind immediately. "Beast. Foda. So you think Foda killed… your father?" When she stared at him blankly, embarrassment started to rise inside him. "Don't get me wrong, Fuu. It might be an explanation. But why-"

"Sapphire Lake." For the first time in her life, she had the feeling it wasn't such a bad thing at all to interrupt Seifer. She knew it would hurt him, but there was no alternative with that footsteps echoing inside her head. And they grew louder. "Raijin." Without even waiting for his reaction, she grabbed him by the lapels and drew him with her. "Gotta go. Now. Sapphire Lake."

"Can't ya just be a little nicer, ya know?" Raijin cried out as he stumbled behind her. "I can walk on my own, ya know. And you could at least say what you're up to."

"Flash back." With fresh anger burning in her eye, she turned around to him immediately. "One here. Maybe at lake, too. Gotta go. Now."

"Fujin." As she kept running down the stairs, dragging Raijin with her, Seifer finally found his way out of his trance. "Fujin why do you hurry like that? What's wrong? Anything happened? Goddamn it, Fujin talk to me!"

"Foda. Coming here."

"What? But how… why…"

"Don't know." And she had to admit it was the biggest problem she got at the moment. The feeling of knowing it would happen, without knowing when, where and how. An inevitable clash. No escape.

A.N.: So, guess that explains at least some things. Hopefully, I'll have more time during my holidays to continue writing. I got a whole pile of ideas, but unfortunately an equal pile of homework to do. Bad luck. Thanks to everyone who read chapter one to ten and reviewed at least some times. You guys are great.