Disclaimer: Tis nae mine! Its his! points at Squaresoft/SquareEnix
Zell blinked his eyes open once, then closed them quickly, preferring the darkness reminding him of sleep, to the slightly brighter room.
It was a little while before sunrise, and only the faint early morning glow filled the room, putting everything into a hazy chill light. Wrapped around his chest, were a set of strong arms, Zell's head resting against Seifer's slowly rising and falling chest, Zell's eyes just absently opening, and between long blinks, looking at the fine hairs dusting Seifer's arm.
Zell sighed, trying to shake off the remnants of his bad dream, his body aching in protest from its exhaustion from the day (and especially night) before. Try as he might, he couldn't throw off the uncomfortable itch in the back of his mind, reminding him of the dream, even as he tried focusing on more pleasant things.
"What if I –don't- mean anything to him?" "What if all I am is something for him to pity, and get some pleasure out of?" Zell shook his head, he didn't want to focus on the thoughts that kept ringing through his mind all night as slept, that he was just another conquest for Seifer, that he was just kept around out of pity, so he wouldn't do something stupid like the balcony again.
Seifer could feel Zell squirming, awake in his arms, and immediately wanted to one of two things; hold Zell close, and enjoy the early morn, or find something to make the headache starting up again to go away. He knew he'd been irritable, especially for himself, lately, and he also knew it was the damn headaches that kept pounding in his skull day after day, after night after night.
Choosing the first option, at least for a time, he kept himself still, eyes closed, and breathing steady, mimicking sleep, just holding Zell as the younger man tried to make himself more comfortable.
After a while of grumbling, and shifting, Zell just turned entirely, and placed his head, cheek down, on Seifer's chest, left arm snaking up under Seifer's, coming to rest under Seifer's shoulder blade, right arm on Seifer's chest just above his head, then Zell gave a sigh, closed his eyes, and found his way back to sleep. Watching him, Seifer gave a half-smile, and then went to sleep himself.
Seifer shuddered.
Shiva sat upon her throne, the once flawless chair now holding several air bubbles, a crack running from its base, up to the left armrest, and only spider webbed into more each night that Shiva exerted herself so.
Shiva sat upon her throne, arms upon armrests, with her hands coming to rest one over the other in her lap, as she focused upon her task, her obsession.
Shiva sat upon her throne, and even as she worked upon encroaching into Seifer's mind, she was aware she was neglecting her duties inside Zell's, but, after a moment would squelch that nagging voice, with the justification that she would see to it all once she finished with this.
Shiva sat upon her throne, and Seifer shuddered.
Seifer's mindscape lay in disarray, halfway between its natural chaos, and the imposed order of the ice creeping along its depths, a place where shadows seemed to grow larger, ice creating shadows of shapes, rather than brightening by refracting light.
Diablos was enjoying himself.
He knew what he was, and he enjoyed that status, the puppet master. Everyone danced to the tune he set, and they never even knew they did. Diablos was proud of himself, and sensing Shiva end her work for the night, he threw back his head, and let his laughter ring out through Seifer's mind.
Diablos laughed, Shiva sat upon her throne, and Seifer shuddered.
It has been a simple plan to enact; Seifer had junctioned the dark GF before a mission for SeeD, and had entered into much combat that day, calling upon the GF's magic sorting abilities, and Diablos took his chance. As Seifer overextended himself, calling upon more power than he had stored, Diablos obliged, and converted a section of memory into raw magic, refining it into Demi spells as he did so, "handing" them to his 'master'. Over and over again, the process repeated, until Diablos was ready. Seifer called for power, and Diablos took the final two memories for his plan, and converted them. Seifer received his power, and all it cost him were the memories Diablos had chosen.
Memories of junctioning and using Diablos turned into magic, and Diablos laughed, having free reign, without Seifer ever knowing he was even there, all traces drawn and used.
One night, as Diablos pondered what to do with his newfound measures of freedom, he experienced, through Seifer, the warning of an Elemental Guardian of Ice, and found a highly appealing prospect; corrupting a GF, and two humans without any ever knowing he was there.
Diablos loved challenges.
Each night, he would, through a method he would leave enough clues for Shiva to figure out, send his influence to her, and offer a whisper of doubt, fuel a jealousy there, and agree with a point made in anger there. It took time, but he convinced her that Seifer was a threat to her host, and she must act as her hosts Guardian Force, and eliminate it. So she began.
Watching Shiva work grew boring, and so Diablos decided to amuse himself another way, and began to take advantage of Shiva's pre-occupied nights, and send seeds of doubt, and misery into Zell's dreams. It was all so…delightfully amusing, as it worked out exactly as Diablos wished, reveling in the chaos he could cause.
AN: …Wow. Its been over a year since this fic started, and its still….well, going strong is a joke, but…I suppose…'going so weekly it barely counts as alive' fits.