Final Fantasy 8: Shattered - Chapter 6
Music: Jonatha Brooks - I Try
The hum of the engines was deafening in her ears. She pressed her hands flat against them to block out the sound in her head but couldn't get the sound to shut up. She was clenching her eyes tightly shut and was crying out loud as the roar got louder. Hollaring in the confines of her small quarters on the Ragnarok, she managed to squeek out in between her tears "Stop! Please stop!!" Tears were streaming freely from her eyes on the pillow and she felt as if she were going insane.
Banging on the door followed by her name being yelled through the bulkhead caused her to snap out of whatever it was that was invading her mind. The room was deathly silent save for the barely audible rumbling of the engines far below this deck. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Was she dreaming? Her head felt fuzzy like she had just woken up from a dream but...she was awake, wasn't she?
There was the knock again at the door. Startled, she got up and opened the door. Selphie walked in with a cautious expression. She still looked so much like a child. You could easily mistake her for twelve or thirteen years old if you didn't know her personally. "Quisty...your eyes..." she said with genuine fear in her voice.
'Oh No...!' Quistis thought to herself... she had taken out the contacts and forgotten to put them back in when she had laid down. She turned around really quickly and went over to her contacts. The case was left open with the contacts floating in the solution. As much as she hated it she tried to put them in really quickly, but Selphie gently put her hand on Quistis' arm and stopped her. "...What happened?"
Quistis slumped on the bed trying to make sense of what was going on. "I don't know...I feel like I am fighting something...something's trying to take over my mind, my head just hurts so MUCH! I CAN'T...!" The rumbling was back in her head again and she couldn't fight it. it was so loud that she couldn't think anymore.
Almost like clockwork, Zell was in the room with a needle putting it in her arm. She calmed down over the next few seconds as the liquid got into her bloodstream and she became quite dizzy and fell over sideways towards the bed. Selphie caught her and helped her up on the bed into a comfortable position. Zell took off her boots and gloves, and nodded to Selphie to do the rest. Even though he had dated Quistis, he was quite the gentleman now and didn't want to disrespect a woman's right to privacy. Heading back to the bridge of the ship, he sat in the helm seat, propped his right foot on the edge of the reinforced plexiglass dome and checked the readout to see how far they were from the orphanage. He crinkled his brow and his mood became very serious. His fingers danced over the controls for a few seconds and the ship made a slight course correction. He smiled evily to himself as his eyes swirled blood red.
Squall stood in the doorway watching her sleeping. He had pretended to sleep for three hours before she finally fell asleep herself. He waited another hour to make sure she was dreaming before he gently took his leave from her. He didn't like leaving like this, but it would be much harder leaving in the morning and having to say goodbye. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't still have some feelings for her, but he didn't want the drama that came with Rinoa Heartily. She was a General's daughter, a little older but still spoiled, and although he didn't know what she had been up to since they broke up, she suspected that when they broke up, she persued the relationship with Seifer. She said herself that she saw traits in Seifer that reminded her of him, which in turn made him sick to his stomach. Seifer had left the Garden shortly after he was readmitted as a student. It was his last year to become a Seed and he doubled up on his work to take the test which he passed this time. When he had graduated, he transferred to Galbadia Garden, which was now situated off the coast of Dollet making it much more convenient to follow a relationshup with Rinoa. The long distance was making it hard on her and Squall and they both knew it, but they still were quite close until the kiss.
He gave her a final glance before he picked up his coat that had been neatly folded on a chair by the door. It was still raining and probably would be for the rest of the night so he figured now would be the best time to leave.
Music: SR-71 - Tomorrow
"Get a good lay and then run, eh?" He heard coming from a shadowed figure standing outside in the side of the darkened porch. Squall closed the door behind him after pausing for a moment. "After all...that's all she was to you, right?" Squall ignored the comment and started to walk out into the rain. "Don't you walk away from me, bitch!" the voice yelled as Squall stopped dead in his tracks. Rain was drenching him already as he tucked his hair behind his ear.
"What do you want, Almasy?" Squall said icily as he heard a cigarette lighter flick out a flame.
Seifer took his time to light a cigarette before continuing, "Rumor has it you went AWOL from Balamb. Little SeeDs are running to all points of the world to find you, and somehow none of them expected you to come here, but I did." Squall stood in silence waiting for Seifer to explain. "Ok, fine, I'll tell you if you won't ask me! I knew you'd come here because it's what I'd do if I were that weak."
Squall's brow stiffened but he held his tongue. Seifer went on, "You're like a shadow of me, ya know. You've always been following in my footsteps, always trying to live up to what I am, and trying to best me. You've beaten me with sheer luck, and in three on one fights, but you could never beat me for real. You're just a shadow and I will always be better than you."
"I've never looked up to you." Squall responded dryly.
"Oh, is that so? I've always been that year older than you, it only makes sense that you would look up to me." Seifer responded with a smile as he tried to provoke his shadow.
"A year older and a year closer to dying." Squall retorted with no emotion.
"A threat?" Seifer was itching to get into it now, and Squall knew it. He always had trouble backing down to Seifer in the past, but he didn't want this right now. He had too much on his mind and just wanted to leave. He started to walk away and Seifer yelled again, "I said not to walk away from me!"
Before Squall could respond, he heard the hum of Seifer's Hyperion grade gunblade swinging through the air. He ducked forward and rolled out of the way to avoid getting his back slit open from the blade that even sounded sharp. Squall had a run in with the blade once and it left a mark on not only his face but his soul and every time he looked in the mirror he saw that scar. That reflection of Seifer staring back at him... To everyone else it looked different, but he saw a reflection. A reversed image. He saw Seifer watching him, laughing.
"Quick, but not quick enough!" Seifer yelled out. His blade had circled around and was coming back for another pass. Squall rolled again and sprung himself to his feet. No emotion on his face, but definate determination. Seifer's blade whirled inches from Squall's face, but he reared back to dodge another scar and pushed the blade up with his left arm. The gunblade went high and gave him a second to breathe. The second was cut short when Seifer swung it around a third time; this time aiming for his legs. Everything went in slow motion as the black figure of Squall flipped backwards, landing on his hands and pushing himself back again with all his strength to land on his feet again. "Nice." Seifer smirked.
The smirk made Squall react as he knew Seifer was about to pull something. Every time he smirked, he pulled a dirty move. Sure enough, he attacked at Squall with a forward thrust that was apparently filled with all the rage Seifer could muster. With the easiest motion, Squall pushed the blade to the right with his right arm and slammed his left arm on the top of the blade. He felt the pain of the hard edge bruise his forearm but the plan had the right reaction. The blade went down hard and buried the tip in the concrete walkway in Rinoa's yard. With hardly any thought, Squall's foot kicked the side of the blade hard enough to shatter the thick metal and send an emotional shock through Seifer that gave him just enough time to react. He kicked Seifer hard in the breadbox knocking him back and winding him at the same time. Squall had enough at this point. He worked the blade out with his right boot and forced it to roll back on the top of his steel-toe. He kicked the tip of the blade in the air, swung around at breakneck speed and roundhoused the blade in Seifer's direction.
Seifer saw the blade coming at him and tried to duck it by turning his head back and to the right causing it to slice neatly across the bridge of his nose in the opposite direction of his other scar. The blade angrily dinked off his skull and embedded itself in the wall of Rinoa's house just above the doorway. He was seeing red at this point and didn't know what just happened but couldn't think straight.
"I'm not your reflection any longer." Seifer heard Squall calmly tell him as he looked up and saw Squall's boot coming around for another roundhouse that cracked loud against Seifer's head. Then all he saw was black. He fell backwards into the grass on the sides of the concrete path and splashed as his back hit the waterlogged lawn. Blood was freely flowing from the new gash in his face that perfectly reflected his old one.
"And that's for messing up my life." Squall said with a hint of spite in his voice as thunder gently rumbled overhead. He turned his stare from Seifer's unconscious body and continued on his way out into the street.
End Chapter 6.
Music: Jonatha Brooks - I Try
The hum of the engines was deafening in her ears. She pressed her hands flat against them to block out the sound in her head but couldn't get the sound to shut up. She was clenching her eyes tightly shut and was crying out loud as the roar got louder. Hollaring in the confines of her small quarters on the Ragnarok, she managed to squeek out in between her tears "Stop! Please stop!!" Tears were streaming freely from her eyes on the pillow and she felt as if she were going insane.
Banging on the door followed by her name being yelled through the bulkhead caused her to snap out of whatever it was that was invading her mind. The room was deathly silent save for the barely audible rumbling of the engines far below this deck. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Was she dreaming? Her head felt fuzzy like she had just woken up from a dream but...she was awake, wasn't she?
There was the knock again at the door. Startled, she got up and opened the door. Selphie walked in with a cautious expression. She still looked so much like a child. You could easily mistake her for twelve or thirteen years old if you didn't know her personally. "Quisty...your eyes..." she said with genuine fear in her voice.
'Oh No...!' Quistis thought to herself... she had taken out the contacts and forgotten to put them back in when she had laid down. She turned around really quickly and went over to her contacts. The case was left open with the contacts floating in the solution. As much as she hated it she tried to put them in really quickly, but Selphie gently put her hand on Quistis' arm and stopped her. "...What happened?"
Quistis slumped on the bed trying to make sense of what was going on. "I don't know...I feel like I am fighting something...something's trying to take over my mind, my head just hurts so MUCH! I CAN'T...!" The rumbling was back in her head again and she couldn't fight it. it was so loud that she couldn't think anymore.
Almost like clockwork, Zell was in the room with a needle putting it in her arm. She calmed down over the next few seconds as the liquid got into her bloodstream and she became quite dizzy and fell over sideways towards the bed. Selphie caught her and helped her up on the bed into a comfortable position. Zell took off her boots and gloves, and nodded to Selphie to do the rest. Even though he had dated Quistis, he was quite the gentleman now and didn't want to disrespect a woman's right to privacy. Heading back to the bridge of the ship, he sat in the helm seat, propped his right foot on the edge of the reinforced plexiglass dome and checked the readout to see how far they were from the orphanage. He crinkled his brow and his mood became very serious. His fingers danced over the controls for a few seconds and the ship made a slight course correction. He smiled evily to himself as his eyes swirled blood red.
Squall stood in the doorway watching her sleeping. He had pretended to sleep for three hours before she finally fell asleep herself. He waited another hour to make sure she was dreaming before he gently took his leave from her. He didn't like leaving like this, but it would be much harder leaving in the morning and having to say goodbye. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't still have some feelings for her, but he didn't want the drama that came with Rinoa Heartily. She was a General's daughter, a little older but still spoiled, and although he didn't know what she had been up to since they broke up, she suspected that when they broke up, she persued the relationship with Seifer. She said herself that she saw traits in Seifer that reminded her of him, which in turn made him sick to his stomach. Seifer had left the Garden shortly after he was readmitted as a student. It was his last year to become a Seed and he doubled up on his work to take the test which he passed this time. When he had graduated, he transferred to Galbadia Garden, which was now situated off the coast of Dollet making it much more convenient to follow a relationshup with Rinoa. The long distance was making it hard on her and Squall and they both knew it, but they still were quite close until the kiss.
He gave her a final glance before he picked up his coat that had been neatly folded on a chair by the door. It was still raining and probably would be for the rest of the night so he figured now would be the best time to leave.
Music: SR-71 - Tomorrow
"Get a good lay and then run, eh?" He heard coming from a shadowed figure standing outside in the side of the darkened porch. Squall closed the door behind him after pausing for a moment. "After all...that's all she was to you, right?" Squall ignored the comment and started to walk out into the rain. "Don't you walk away from me, bitch!" the voice yelled as Squall stopped dead in his tracks. Rain was drenching him already as he tucked his hair behind his ear.
"What do you want, Almasy?" Squall said icily as he heard a cigarette lighter flick out a flame.
Seifer took his time to light a cigarette before continuing, "Rumor has it you went AWOL from Balamb. Little SeeDs are running to all points of the world to find you, and somehow none of them expected you to come here, but I did." Squall stood in silence waiting for Seifer to explain. "Ok, fine, I'll tell you if you won't ask me! I knew you'd come here because it's what I'd do if I were that weak."
Squall's brow stiffened but he held his tongue. Seifer went on, "You're like a shadow of me, ya know. You've always been following in my footsteps, always trying to live up to what I am, and trying to best me. You've beaten me with sheer luck, and in three on one fights, but you could never beat me for real. You're just a shadow and I will always be better than you."
"I've never looked up to you." Squall responded dryly.
"Oh, is that so? I've always been that year older than you, it only makes sense that you would look up to me." Seifer responded with a smile as he tried to provoke his shadow.
"A year older and a year closer to dying." Squall retorted with no emotion.
"A threat?" Seifer was itching to get into it now, and Squall knew it. He always had trouble backing down to Seifer in the past, but he didn't want this right now. He had too much on his mind and just wanted to leave. He started to walk away and Seifer yelled again, "I said not to walk away from me!"
Before Squall could respond, he heard the hum of Seifer's Hyperion grade gunblade swinging through the air. He ducked forward and rolled out of the way to avoid getting his back slit open from the blade that even sounded sharp. Squall had a run in with the blade once and it left a mark on not only his face but his soul and every time he looked in the mirror he saw that scar. That reflection of Seifer staring back at him... To everyone else it looked different, but he saw a reflection. A reversed image. He saw Seifer watching him, laughing.
"Quick, but not quick enough!" Seifer yelled out. His blade had circled around and was coming back for another pass. Squall rolled again and sprung himself to his feet. No emotion on his face, but definate determination. Seifer's blade whirled inches from Squall's face, but he reared back to dodge another scar and pushed the blade up with his left arm. The gunblade went high and gave him a second to breathe. The second was cut short when Seifer swung it around a third time; this time aiming for his legs. Everything went in slow motion as the black figure of Squall flipped backwards, landing on his hands and pushing himself back again with all his strength to land on his feet again. "Nice." Seifer smirked.
The smirk made Squall react as he knew Seifer was about to pull something. Every time he smirked, he pulled a dirty move. Sure enough, he attacked at Squall with a forward thrust that was apparently filled with all the rage Seifer could muster. With the easiest motion, Squall pushed the blade to the right with his right arm and slammed his left arm on the top of the blade. He felt the pain of the hard edge bruise his forearm but the plan had the right reaction. The blade went down hard and buried the tip in the concrete walkway in Rinoa's yard. With hardly any thought, Squall's foot kicked the side of the blade hard enough to shatter the thick metal and send an emotional shock through Seifer that gave him just enough time to react. He kicked Seifer hard in the breadbox knocking him back and winding him at the same time. Squall had enough at this point. He worked the blade out with his right boot and forced it to roll back on the top of his steel-toe. He kicked the tip of the blade in the air, swung around at breakneck speed and roundhoused the blade in Seifer's direction.
Seifer saw the blade coming at him and tried to duck it by turning his head back and to the right causing it to slice neatly across the bridge of his nose in the opposite direction of his other scar. The blade angrily dinked off his skull and embedded itself in the wall of Rinoa's house just above the doorway. He was seeing red at this point and didn't know what just happened but couldn't think straight.
"I'm not your reflection any longer." Seifer heard Squall calmly tell him as he looked up and saw Squall's boot coming around for another roundhouse that cracked loud against Seifer's head. Then all he saw was black. He fell backwards into the grass on the sides of the concrete path and splashed as his back hit the waterlogged lawn. Blood was freely flowing from the new gash in his face that perfectly reflected his old one.
"And that's for messing up my life." Squall said with a hint of spite in his voice as thunder gently rumbled overhead. He turned his stare from Seifer's unconscious body and continued on his way out into the street.
End Chapter 6.