A Second Chance

by Viginti Duo

Odd mix of post game, what if story. The imminent execution of one Seifer Almasy brings Quistis Trepe not only in tears, but in contemplation of how he marked her life. At night, she gets an unexpected visitor who grants her unspoken wish. Seiftis

42. Chapter 41: The castle amidst the barren...

A/N:Peeks into Erm… Hey guys… Heh, remember me? Or this story:insert awkward grin here:

There is absolutely no excuse for such a long delay. I mean, there is excuse for part of it, but I can't hide the fact that another part was due to laziness. And for that, I'm terribly sorry. I suppose that in between a horrible semester, protesting (don't ask, seriously…), and exams catching up with me, I made an effort to have a life outside of the Internet and I marginally succeeded, but I then forgot about my 'on-line life'. Heh, figures…

Anyway, I'm mostly sorry for the delay since this isn't a chapter with anything new. The poor gang has been trapped in that fucking castle for months now, heh… Ah, well… I tried to change a lot to make this as interesting a read as possible. I really hope I succeeded even in the least bit. This chapter is… massive, to put it simply. It stands in 21k words or so and it would have been almost 25, but I decided to get on with it and post this; I'd stalled long enough. Surprisingly enough, I only managed to cover two fights in this monstrous installment, since there were other things that needed to be taken care of. I'd promised another two, but they had to be moved to the next chapter as well. Fans of the characters in Squall's team, sorry but you won't see them in battle in this chapter, because of the sequence I decided to follow. I ask for your patience once again, cause our favorite brown-haired Commander and co have a lot more to show in future fights.

My very warm thanks to Chris for his always valuable help, and a very big welcome to new readers. As always, my LJ (URL to which can be found in my profile) will provide a bit more insight on this chapter, as well as my proper thanks to all of you who were kind enough to review.

All that having been said, I hope you enjoy this one. I think one of the best battle scenes I've written is in here. Which made me realize I've been watching too much Naruto for my own good…

Enjoy!

Last chapter summary: Finally reaching Ultimecia's whereabouts, our heroes find themselves trapped inside her medieval-looking castle, with their powers crippled and their fears greater than ever…

---

A second chance

By: Sickness in Salvation

Chapter 41: The castle amidst the barren flower field – Part 2

---

Zell let the doors swing closed behind him, bringing the rear of Seifer's team.

The room they entered this time was much less well-lit than the gallery room. He descended the few steps before him, approaching her peers, who were looking around the new environment. A small stairway right ahead of them led one level below, while four rusty-looking armors wielding axes stood in pairs on either side of the stairway, silent guards of what was hidden below. Two other sets of staircases unfolded on the sides of the lower entry, leading to the upper floor, where the threshold of an archway could be seen. A gorgeous vitro of stained glass colored in shades of maroon, sky blue and white stood in the very middle of the wall on the topmost floor, while two smaller ones stood on either side of the threshold.

"Up or down?" Quistis asked.

Seifer examined the room for a couple seconds more in silence before replying.

"I'd say down, but I want to take a look at what's behind the archway up there." he said, pointing towards the upper floor "Let's just check it out for a sec and then take the path down."

With those words, he walked over to the bottom of the leftmost stairway and ascended it, closely followed by the rest of his teammates. Subconsciously, he tightened his trench coat around him the moment he stepped through the threshold; a strong wind had blown upon his face. It was obvious that this was an open area and they soon came to confirm it with their own eyes. A long passageway lay ahead for many a foot. A great portion of what used to be the ceiling was missing, while small piles of debris were scattered along the way. A solitary candle, resting upon a candlestick embedded on the wall was flickering madly, but somehow managed to remain lit.

Selphie jogged a bit ahead and climbed upon one of those piles, resting her palm upon the crumbled wall of the passageway.

"Oh wow…" she whispered, letting out a low whistle.

The rest soon joined her, curious as to what it was that she had seen.

Quistis looked over the shorter girl's shoulder, her lips parting in awe. Through the murky clouds of fog, a tall tower stood out, plunging through the dimness to non-visible heights above. The distant noise of a clock chiming was heard, and the blonde instructor was more than certain that it came from that tower far ahead. The echo of the sound brought chills down her spine. The breeze blowing her locks away, creating howling noises when reflected upon the walls did nothing to help ease her apprehension either. Standing on tiptoes, she tried to make out what rested below the clouds of fog. No matter how much she squinted, she came across nothing.

She was suddenly struck by the magnitude of it all; the castle, the powers of the enemy they were going up against… Had they been foolish and overly confident to believe they stood the slightest chance against Ultimecia? This day had already been too tiring and full of distress, to give her the least bit of incentive to go on. And it was only the beginning… What would become of Xu and everyone else who had stayed behind in order for them to move on ahead? What more was in store for them behind the walls of this cold castle? Would they ever make it in time to save everyone, or were they already too late?

Her thoughts were interrupted by their pair of arms that wrapped around her waist and lowered her down. She hadn't even noticed that Selphie and Zell had moved on ahead. Seifer slowly let her back on the ground, sliding his palms up her hands.

"Are you OK?" he asked her in concern.

"Yes." Quistis replied, nodding "I just got lost in my thoughts…"

"Are you cold?" Seifer asked, rubbing her loosely gloved arms in warmth "Do you want my coat?"

"No, I'm fine." she replied with a small smile.

She rested her palms upon his shoulders and looked deep into his eyes for a few seconds in silence.

"What? What's wrong?" Seifer asked again, cradling her hands with his own.

"Nothing." Quistis replied, shaking her head in negation "Just… Don't… Don't leave me, OK?"

"Leave you?" Seifer said, frowning.

"I mean… I just…" She sighed "I want to be close to you now, that's all. I don't feel safe here."

Seifer nodded and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, embracing her tightly. When he pulled away, he kissed her forehead and gave her one more soft kiss on the lips, raking a hand through her hair.

"It'll be OK." he said, in what he hoped was a reassuring tone "We'll make it. Xu will make it, too. You know better than I do that she doesn't give up easily…" Quistis nodded feebly and sighed "Now come on," Seifer said, taking her hand "Zell and Selphie have already moved ahead."

The two blondes crossed the rest of the passageway and ducked under the threshold of the archway before them. They found Zell and Selphie already inside, checking out the room.

It was in much better condition that the path outside; at least this one was covered from the cold outside by a ceiling. The small balcony they were standing upon led over to what was unmistakably the top part of a lift, while the bottom part of it lay on the floor below. Right across them, as open doorway was visible, obviously leading to yet another room. Seifer's brows knitted as something that Irvine had spoken of earlier dawned on him.

Apparently, everyone seemed to be thinking the exact same, but Zell voiced it first.

"Do you think this is the elevator the others talked about?" he asked out loud.

"Seems like it is." Selphie said, nodding "I mean… How many of those can there be inside the castle?"

"Should we call them?" Quistis asked, looking up at Seifer.

"Obviously…" Seifer said, letting go of her hand and reaching down for his cell phone "Hopefully, this will be the only one…" he added, dialing Squall's number.

---

Squall was the first one to emerge from the open hatch leading down to the cellar, closely followed by Irvine and Rinoa. When all three of them had stepped outside, they placed the lid of the hatch back on. Irvine let out a weary sigh and scanned the dim-lit room once again. His eyes fell upon an object none of them had noticed the first time around.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, pointing towards the object.

"Looks like…" Squall said, frowning and approached it "A lever." he said.

He bent down on one knee and ran his gloved fingers over the handle. His hands left a black trail behind, seeping the dust off the lever.

"What do you think it does?" Rinoa asked, approaching Squall, bending right above him.

"No idea." Squall replied "Let's try it out."

They all grasped the handle firmly at Squall's command.

"On three." Squall said "One, two… three!"

The lever moved with tremendous ease, making it clear that even a single person would have been able to move it. The moment it shifted to the other edge, a clicking sound was heard form above them. Irvine's eyes rolled upwards and stared at the chandelier.

"Don't tell me all we had to do was push this damned lever in order for that thing to stay in place…" he muttered between gritted teeth.

Rinoa groaned and clutched her still numbly aching back.

"At least we can cross it now…" Squall said, shrugging "Come on, let's g-" he began to say, letting go of the lever.

The moment it was set free, however, the lever sprang back to its original place and the clicking sound was heard again. Irvine frowned.

"What the…?" he mumbled and pushed the lever back.

Just like before, it budged with very little amount of force. And then the click one again. But when he experimentally let go, it immediately swooshed back in place. Pursing his lips, Irvine gripped it with both hands tightly and shoved it backwards with all the strength it could muster. And, as expected, the same thing happened once again. The cowboy was beginning to get royally pissed off and took it out on the lever, thrusting the lever to the other side again, and again, and again, and-

"Stop it, will you!" Squall snapped, getting a hold of the lever "It's obviously either broken or it won't work that way." he spat at him "We need to think of something else."

Irvine finally let go and let out a low growl in frustration.

"So now what?" he asked.

"Maybe we should move on ahead and come back to try again later." Rinoa suggested.

"I guess so." said Squall "Let's try the back d-"

Ring-Ring

Squall looked at his jacket pocket. His cell-phone was ringing.

"The others." said Rinoa.

"They got to beat another Guardian so fast?" Irvine wondered out loud.

"You don't think something's happened, do you?" Rinoa asked, anxiety obvious in her voice.

Not stalling another second, Squall reached into his pocket and answered the call.

"Yes?"

"Seifer here." came the blond's voice through the other end.

"Anything wrong?" Squall asked, frowning.

"No everything's fine," Seifer said "But I think you should come and check this out. We're at this elevator thing you mentioned before. Provided that this is the only one, of course…"

"Small room?" Squall said "With a high ceiling, two balconies with golden railing?"

"That's the one."

"We'll be right over." said Squall, terminating the call.

He turned and faced Irvine and Rinoa.

"They've found the elevator room."

---

Seifer was leaning against the railing, head buried in between the cleft of his crossed arms, while Quistis rested her head against his shoulder. Zell and Selphie were sprawled on the red carpet of the second floor balcony, backs leaning against the railing, both yawning. Soon, footsteps were heard from the distance. Seifer's head perked up. He watched as the figures of Squall, Irvine and Rinoa stepped through the threshold and looked around in search of them.

"Up here." Quistis called.

All three heads of the smaller group looked up to the balcony.

"Finally found your way over here?" Seifer sneered, rising up to full height.

"What did you think we were going to do?" Squall retorted "Fly here?"

"Would've spared us of a few moments of dire boredom…" the blond replied, shrugging.

"Irvyyyyyy!"

Seifer grimaced and plunged one finger inside his ringing ear to stir it clear, when Selphie rushed to the balcony to take a better look at her favorite cowboy.

"Hey darlin'…" Irvine reciprocated with a smile and a tip of his hat.

"Time to reunite the couple, I guess…" Rinoa said from below, grinning.

"Yeah. I bet Commander Puberty could use the extra help, eh?" Seifer said, smirking.

"Maybe we could concentrate on how to work the elevator first?" Squall said, sarcasm dripping from his own voice as well.

"What's there to think about?" Seifer said "You just get into the bottom booth, we get into the other one and it moves. Doesn't require a tremendous amount of brain cells to crack that code…"

"Then go ahead and get in!" Squall snapped, moving towards the lower booth with his team.

When all three of them had stepped inside, Seifer's team took their cue in entering the top booth. The counterweight of the heavier team moved the top booth to the first floor and the lower one to the second. The smaller group moved inside the next room through the ajar door immediately.

Rinoa entered first, coming face to face with a rather claustrophobic round room. Its whole interior was covered with decaying wooden selves, filled in their entirety by books that seemed to be beyond plain ancient. Rinoa had the feeling that a mere touch at the pages would send them scattering in the air in tiny particles. But apart from the book-swarming selves the room was empty.

"That's it?" Rinoa asked in disappointment "We went through all this trouble just for an empty room?"

"I dunno, Rin…" Irvine said, entering the room while scratching the back of his head "I don't think ol' Ultimecia would've left that room here hangin'… There's gotta be something to be done here."

"I agree." said Squall "We should just look around and see if we find anything useful. Like a hint or something."

"There's nothing in here but books…" Rinoa said, shaking her head.

"Then that's where we should look at." Squall said, shrugging.

"Alright…" said Irvine, glancing around him.

His eyes fell upon a ladder leaning against the side of one of the bookcases. It led up to a second floor with very low ceiling. And to no-one's surprise, more nooks lay up there in selves. Doing a few quick calculations, Irvine counted twelve different compartments on both floors. Each compartment was divided into twenty five more; five across and five up. And there were about six books in each one. Which measured up to…

"…Approximately one thousand eight hundred books…" Irvine mumbled.

Squall and Rinoa paused for a moment, both looking around the numerous bookcases as well, only now realizing the magnitude of the work that had to be done.

"So…" Irvine said, in a forced nonchalant tone "Where do we start?"

---

Seifer was leaning against a wall, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently. He glanced at his watch. They had been inside that room for more than a quarter of an hour and all that could be heard were quiet flipping noises 'What the hell are they doing in there for so long!'

Selphie sighed and allowed her body to slip down the fall and onto the floor. Bored to no end, Seifer stood back up and looked up at the balcony of the second floor.

"HEY!" he yelled "ANY CHANCE YOU'LL BE OUTTA THERE BEFORE WE ALL GROW WHITE HAIR!"

There was a minute's silence, right before Rinoa emerged to the balcony, rubbing her eyes.

"What?" she said with a sigh.

"What the hall have you been doing up there all this time!" Seifer growled.

"Searching…" Rinoa replied wearily.

"For what?" Zell asked.

"Something…" Rinoa said, shrugging "Anything…"

"Are you fucking kidding me!" Seifer hissed at her "If there's nothing up there then get the hell back down!"

"There are tons of books inside and nothing else." Rinoa replied "But we figured this room wouldn't be up there for nothing. There has to be something important inside."

"No, the room's not up here for nothing…" Seifer said, shaking his head "IT'S UP THERE TO STALL IDIOTS LIKE YOU THREE AND MAKE THEM LOSE THE BIG PICTURE!"

"Why don't you stop yelling and sneering and make yourself helpful for once!" Rinoa snapped "We could use some help, you know…"

"Erm… How many books exactly we talkin' about?" Zell asked.

"Well…" Rinoa grimaced, hesitating "About… Eighteen hundred…?" she said, biting her bottom lip.

Everyone's eyebrows arched up skywards. Seifer scoffed.

"Good luck going through them all…" he said, grabbing Quistis's arm and making a move to leave the room "We're gonna go monster huntin'…"

"Seifer…" Quistis scolded, getting free from his grip. She turned and looked back at Rinoa "Is there some sort of… Pattern? Or anything that connects groups of books?"

"I don't think so…" Rinoa replied, shaking her head in negation "Why?"

"I just don't think that Ultimecia would want us to go through each and every book." the blonde replied "It's too time consuming. And she's shown her will to fight us. I believe there's something we have to figure out before going through any books."

"Like what?" Selphie asked.

"I don't know…" Quistis replied, shrugging.

"I don't know if it helps at all," Rinoa began "But… All the books have titles written in Centraic."

Quistis's fair eyebrows cocked at the sound of that.

"All of them?" Quistis asked.

"Well… All the ones I've scanned, yes." Rinoa replied.

The blonde Instructor shared a look of understanding with her peers.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Zell said.

"That it's connected with the gallery puzzle?" Selphie piped in.

"Might be." Seifer said, shrugging.

"We'd better go up and take a look as well." Quistis suggested.

"No can do." Seifer said "We won't all be able to get back down."

"Alright, then I'll go." Quistis stated.

"OK." Seifer said shrugging.

Both blondes walked towards the balcony, standing right below it.

"What? What's going on?" Rinoa asked "Do you know something?"

"We might." Quistis replied "I'm coming up to take a look as well. Seifer?" she turned and looked at him, asking for some help up to the balcony.

Seifer leaned in to her ear.

"Spread your legs…" he whispered, grinning mischievously.

Quistis shot him a semi-poisonous glare and rolled her eyes, spreading the opening of her legs. The tall blond kneeled down to the floor and ducked under her skirt, then rose up to full height with ease, Quistis now sitting on top of his shoulders. Seifer walked close to the railing securing the booth that was now on top and held both his hands up.

"Hold on to me and try to get up." he said.

Quistis held his gloved palms tightly and, carefully, placed one foot upon his left shoulder. She wobbled a bit on the spot.

"C'mon, Quis." Seifer urged her "I'm not gonna drop ya."

"Promise?" Quistis said, a bit sarcastically.

She placed her other foot on his right shoulder and slowly, tried to rise up to her feet. She made it, and immediately made a grab for the railing. Seifer grabbed her calves.

"OK, now I'm gonna hoist you up. Read-?" he began.

"What?" Quistis said, looking down at him "What are you grinning at?"

"Just enjoying the view…" Seifer said chuckling.

Quistis pursed her lips and stepped upon his head, earning a protest from the blond. She pulled herself up from the railing and climbed it with ease. Seifer rubbed his soiled hair grimacing and watched her as she made her way towards the balcony railing.

"Careful…" he warned "Careful!" he snapped when he saw her momentarily slip.

"I'm fine." Quistis said dignified, crossing over the side and onto the balcony.

She followed Rinoa inside the room, where Irvine and Squall already were, skimming through books in boredom. Quistis took a moment to look around the room.

"Oh my…" she mumbled "You really weren't kidding when you said about eighteen hundred books…"

"Nope." said Rinoa, sighing.

Quistis approached one of the dozen bookcases and leaned down to read the titles of the books. Rinoa was right; all of them had titles in Centraic.

"There is a gallery inside the castle…" Quistis mumbled, while looking at more titles "All the names of the paintings were in Centraic, so we thought there might be a connection…"

Irvine let out a sigh and closed the book he was so far trying to read.

"This is no use…" he said, shaking his head in disbelief "I can't understand a word of this…"

"Don't open them." Quistis said "Just look at the titles for now."

"And do what?" Squall asked.

"I don't know…" Quistis shrugged, looking at the ladder "See if they ring any bells… Me and Rinoa will take the top selves."

The two girls ascended the small wooden ladder and began searching among the clouds of dust that rose every time they tried to clear off the spine of a book. They had been searching for more than ten minutes, when Quistis noticed something 'Infinitas… Lunaris Copiae… Cado Magnus… Inundantia… Wait. Inundantia? Where have I heard this before… ? Inundantia… Inundantia… Ignus, Inundantia, Iudicum… The paintings! There was a painting called Inundantia in the gallery!'

Quickly, the girl pulled the book out of the compartment.

"What?" said Rinoa, eagerly "Did you find something!"

"I might have…" Quistis said, grinning, taking the large book in her arms.

The title 'Inundantia' was written across the top half, in rusty bronze letters. Quistis pulled the large grey cover open. But instead of finding what should be the front page, the book split open in two. It had no pages. It was completely hollow inside. Rinoa squeezed Quistis's shoulders in anticipation and bit her bottom lip, as the blonde dipped her gloved fingers into the small dune of grey dust that lay inside. Suddenly, her eyes snapped wide; her fingers had closed around something. She pulled it out and shook the dust away, revealing what appeared to be a heavy, silver key.

Rinoa let out a delighted shriek and gripped Quistis around the neck in a death squeeze.

"You did it!" she squealed.

"Did what!" Irvine called form below.

"She found something!" Rinoa exclaimed in glee "A key!"

"Bring it down." Squall called.

Both girls climbed down the ladder, Quistis still holding the key she'd just discovered inside the book. She held it out in front of the expectant faces of Irvine and Squall and saw delight paint itself upon their faces as well. Well… In Squall's case, it was a smile rather wide for his own standards.

"Thank Hyne!" Irvine breathed out "I don't think I could've handled another minute in here…"

"Are we sure that's all we're looking for?" the ever-so-practical Squall asked.

"Hopefully." Quistis said, shrugging "But I honestly don't think it's worth staying here any longer. If we get stuck, we can always come back."

"I second that." Rinoa piped in over Quistis's shoulder.

"Alright then." Squall said, nodding "Let's get a move on."

They exited the room and headed towards the elevator booth, where they all got in. It descended and brought them all back on the first floor.

"Well!" Selphie said eagerly.

"We found what we were looking for." Squall said "Most likely."

"You mean she found what we were looking for." Irvine corrected, motioning towards Quistis's direction.

"Quistis saved the day?" Seifer asked, smirking "Why am I not surprised?" he said, grinning at her, once she approached. Quistis beamed at him.

"So whaddya find?" Zell asked.

"This." Quistis said, holding up the key for everyone to see "A key. But no idea whatsoever about what it unlocks."

"Who's gonna hold on to it?" Rinoa asked the entire group.

Squall and Seifer looked at each other. The blond shrugged first.

"Be my guest." he said "If we come across a door that we can't unlock we'll give you a call and test it out."

"Alright then." Squall said, taking the key Quistis handed him.

He examined it briefly, noticing an elegant 'I' carved upon the head of the key.

"There's a letter carved on the head." Squall said, looking up to meet Quistis's gaze "An 'I'."

"An 'I'?" Quistis repeated "Well, I did find it inside a book called 'Inundantia'." she said.

"Inundantia?" Squall said, arching an eyebrow "What does the mean?"

"Flood." Rinoa piped in.

"Flood, eh?" Squall said, taking one last look at the keyand placing it into his jacket pocket "So… Do we split again?"

"Yeah. Take Selphie with you this time." Seifer replied "I get the feeling she'd like to come." he said, grinning at the petite brunette.

Selphie grinned and hugged Irvine, who gave her a peck on the forehead. Zell, however, didn't seem much too eager to follow this plan.

"Can't I come instead of Selphie?" he asked Squall, throwing Seifer a quick glance.

"Ohhhhh no." Seifer said before Squall could answer, wrapping an arm around Zell's neck in a headlock "Zelly is staying with me." he added, winking at him.

Everyone chuckled, and even Squall couldn't suppress a grin.

"You heard the man." he addressed Zell "Let's get going." he said, and moved ahead with his team towards the exit.

Zell's eyes snapped open.

"Squall! YO! SQUALL!" he yelled at the slowly disappearing from sight Commander "Don't leave me with him, man! SQUALL! C'MON, MAN! SQUAAAAALL! DAMN YOU!I'M NOT GONNA FORGET THIS!"

---

Squall's team exited the room below the chandelier through the northern door.

They came across the first outdoors region of Ultimecia's Castle that they'd seen. A circular fountain stood in the middle of a patio, a cool spray of water surging upwards from its middle. The tiled pathway split into two different ones, the first leading straight ahead and through a pair of closed doors upon the main building, while the other span out to the side, leading under a small gazebo of sorts. Squall followed the curving path first without voicing his decision to anyone, but they followed him without questions. The path led to a dead-end and was so far the only location inside the castle with no apparent purpose. There was nothing under the gazebo, aside from a broken cart and a hole sealed with bars, a creepy gargoyle sculpted on the wall right above it, striking a rather menacing pose.

"Nothing here then…" Squall spoke "Let's try the other route."

All four of them left the empty area and retraced their steps back in front of the fountain. Selphie, who was temporarily leading the group, pushed the doors that led into the main building again open. No sooner had she taken a step inside, than she let out a shrill shriek and backtracked in tremendous speed.

"Selphie, wha-?" Zell began, bewildered.

But the girl didn't seem eager to stop. She didn't even look behind her, until her calves collided with the stone fountain and she lost her balance, falling inside the chilling water. It did manage to bring her back to her senses, however…

"And now I'm wet…" she said, sulking.

"Selphie, what did you see in there?" Squall asked her, arching an eyebrow. The girl swallowed audibly.

"A… thing." she muttered.

"Not very illuminating, honey." Rinoa said, grinning awkwardly.

"It's this… murky… moving… purple… cloud of something!" Selphie said, struggling to find the words "Look, I know what I saw!" she protested, once seeing the look on everyone's faces.

She tried to steady her hands onto the slippery surface of the fountain under the water, while the rest exchanged puzzled glances. Her fingers suddenly closed around something. She screwed her face into a curious grimace and picked up the slightly heavy object. Thick droplets of water trickled from it the moment she brought it out of the fountain and the moonlight made it gleam as it reflected on its metal golden surface.

"Hey, it's a key!" Selphie said gleefully, momentarily forgetting her soaked state and the dark cloud inside the room.

"Another one?" Squall asked, frowning "Oh well… Just make sure it stays in your pocket at all times. We may need it later on."

"Alrighty…" Selphie said, letting out a slight groan as she pushed herself up to her feet.

Irvine took off his coat and placed it around her shoulders as she wrung her drenched sundress damp.

"You OK Sefie?" he asked gently.

"Oh, thanks Irvy!" she said grinning, slipping her arms through the overlarge coat "I'm fine."

"Let's go check out that…thing then." Squall somewhat quipped.

The quartet moved towards the double doors once again and their leader was the first to push them open and step inside, always alert for what could be hiding behind them. His brows knitted together once he got a full view of the room.

The 'shadow' Selphie had spoken of was indeed there. It appeared to be a cloud of concentrated darkness, colored in black and purple, swaying in mid-air like a living entity. It was positioned in the center of the room, which resembled an altar. Murals covered the walls and stained-glass windows, traveling all the way up to the high ceiling. A stairway on the right side led up to the floor above, and an organ was placed in the very back.

"What is that?" Rinoa whispered over Squall's shoulder, frowning at the sight of the murky cloud as well.

"See!" Selphie hissed behind them "I told you I knew what I saw!"

"I'm not going anywhere near that thing." Rinoa stated firmly.

"We have to, if we want to move further within the castle…" Irvine said, shrugging "Four more guardians to go and we haven't found them yet… There has to be at least one further inside…"

"If we haven't already found it…" Selphie added with a slight shudder.

"They're right." Squall addressed Rinoa "We have to move ahead."

Even his own voice bore a hint of apprehension, and he stepped forward cautiously.

He took in a sharp breath, as he stretched one arm out hesitantly, the tips of his gloved fingers inching closer to the shadow.

"Squall… I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Rinoa warned, biting her fingernails "Could be very dangerous…"

"What we've set out to do is already very dangerous." Squall said, his eyes set to the dark cloud before him "Might as well take a few chances while we're at it…"

The rest held their breaths in, watching in anxiety as his palm steadily moved closer.

Squall felt a chill run down his spine and a bead of sweat forming on his brow right before he made contact, his teeth clenched. His fingers touched the shadow and bravely plunged deeper within…

And nothing happened.

He arched both eyebrows in surprise. He had expected something to happen, half-dreaded about what might occur the moment he'd touched it. Hell, he at least expected to feel something when he plunged his palm inside the cloud… Feeling a whole lot braver, he swung his arm and moved his fingers about, as if trying to grasp something.

Still nothing.

"Nothing…" he voiced his inner thoughts "It's like touching plain air…" he said, shrugging.

"Nothing?" Irvine said, cocking an eyebrow "That's odd…"

"Well… I for one am relieved…" Rinoa said, letting go of the breath she'd been holding in "Odd or not, bottom line is that nothing dreadful happened."

"It doesn't make sense though, does it?" Selphie said "Why… 'leave' it there if it does nothing?"

"I suppose it could be some malfunction of sorts." Squall said "Maybe a place where time got already compressed."

"Maybe it's an indication we should hurry…" Irvine suggested.

Squall turned and faced him, nodding. He was about to pull his hand out, when an alarming thought suddenly crossed his mind. What if he couldn't draw his hand out? What if this had been the trap all along and he'd fallen for it?

He remained still for a fair few seconds, frowning, only faintly aware of the others staring at him expectantly 'Not much I can do now…' he thought 'Just try to pull it out and if it doesn't work- Fuck, just do it…' He bit into his bottom lip as he pulled his arm back and… it flew right through the cloud and back out. Completely unharmed.

"It must really do nothing, I guess…" he said, still somewhat puzzled and suspicious though.

"I don't mean to push our luck," Rinoa began, her gaze traveling to the back of the room "But do you think that organ over there has something to do with it?"

All three pairs of eyes followed her lead, breaking into a frown once again. Yet another complication…

"Gah… Enough with the puzzles already…" Selphie said, in a worn out voice "Why can't that Ultimecia bitch come out and fight us already?"

But Rinoa was already walking towards the organ, curiosity fueling her every step. It was almost as if she was being drawn to it by an invisible force… Her eyes fell on the long series of keys, all covered by a thick blanket of dust. She made a move to touch them, her fingertips barely brushing over their surface.

"Don't tell me you know how to play that…?" Irvine asked in disbelief.

"It's not that different form playing the piano." Rinoa said matter-of-factly, her gaze still locked onto the archaic instrument "The real question is: What do I play?"

"Just give it a shot." Squall said "Play anything. If nothing happens, then I say we get on with our way. We've wasted enough time here already."

"OK." Rinoa said, nodding.

She tentatively swept the layer of dust away from the tool, a grimace of disgust on her face. She settled down and cracked her knuckles, then interlocked her fingers and started fidgeting, quite at loss with what on earth to play. She eventually decided to get going and try anything that came in mind first. She wasn't really thinking when her fingertips started pressing the keys to a tune she had never heard before in her life. It was as if she just knew that this was the song that had to be played.

The organ had obviously not been used in many, many years, but it was still functioning quite well. With every stroke of Rinoa's fingers, the keys generated an overpowering note, suitable to the instrument's nature. Before she knew it, she was drawn into her performance bit by bit, the tune filling her to the core, inducing a feeling that strangely –but also frighteningly- enough appeared to consume her. The usual subtle breeze that crept its way through the cracks on the stone walls suddenly became somewhat fiercer, just as Rinoa's breathing became faster and harder.

"Rinoa…"

She wasn't aware of her peers approaching her, speaking to her, trying to gain her attention.

The ancient tongue… The 'voice' was reaching to her again…

Pain fuels my moves tonight…

As the empty halls close upon me, suffocating me…

And I remember you.

"Rinoa… What-?"

You were my Alpha…

But all that mattered right now, was that she continued to play. Because if she didn't, terrible things would happen…

And my Omega…

"Rinoa, can you hear us?"

She couldn't stop now; if she did, she wouldn't be able to breathe or think anymore, it seemed.

My Omega…

The howling of the wind mingled with the bizarre cries emanating from the floor above. Strange… They sounded like a person crying, with a hollow sort of pain. As if that person's grief was well beyond tears by now… As if all their tears had been drained and all that was left was a burning ache within their heart…

The culmination of my sorrow…

"Rinoa, stop it."

Warmth spread on her cheeks, as the person's tears became her own. The dull ache became soaked in from the tears, sponged dry by her cells. And it drove her fingers faster, harder on the organ's keys, as if punishing them for her own feelings, taking it out on them.

And this song is for you…

"RINOA!"

Rinoa's fingers banged on many keys together, abruptly ending the song, as Squall's palms clenched tight onto her shoulders. All of a sudden, she felt as if the organ keys were venomous and stung her fingertips. His voice brought her out of her reverie, her eyes wide as the last few tears trickled from the edges. Trembling, she got up on her feet and took a step back from the stool and the organ, the eerie sound of the 'voice' still resonating in the walls of her head.

"Don't let me near that thing again." she whispered in a shaky voice.

Squall's grip on her loosened, but his hands rubbed on her skin comfortingly.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

"I don't know…" Rinoa said, shaking her head, eyes always round and never leaving the instrument "I don't want to know."

"Why don't we just move on?" Selphie offered, her voice carrying a slight hesitant edge.

"Yeah…" Rinoa said, her eyes still not moving from the organ "Let's go… Please." she finished, only now tearing her gaze away from their former place.

---

Zell's brooding took a long time to subsidize. Even when they'd reached the crossing that led to the long pathway above and over to the elevator room or down below, he was still moody.

This time, the now smaller team, took the alternate route and pushed the double door leading one level below open. Brushing a spider-web aside, Seifer walked down the steps first. As expected, there was still very little light inside the room they'd entered, but its small space made it rather easier to get a clear view of its entirety. There was something distinctively different about it, though, and Seifer realized what that 'something' was the moment he took the first step inside.

"Eurghhhh!" Seifer exclaimed in disgust, covering his nose and mouth with his gloved palm "It smells like ass in here!"

"You would know…" came Zell's muffled voice, right underneath the shirt he'd covered his nose with.

Seifer shot Zell a deadly glare and was about to retort, when Quistis –once again taking up her wearisome role of the group's 'mother hen'- grabbed Seifer from the arm and yanked him ahead, all the same covering her nose as well.

The room consisted of two doors, probably leading to different routes each. One of them was situated on their left, once entering, while the second was separated from the other one by a sealed narrow pathway with a lever and a barred hole. Two trails built in a bit deeper than the room's floor level crossed the surface, filled with water. One of them joined the built in pathway and lined all the way to the top left corner of the room. The other one originated from the barred hole and reached down to the lower right corner. Two small bridges were built to allow one to pass over the trails and into the two doors. The structure of the room left no doubts about where they'd ended up; Ultimecia's Dungeons. As to what they were used for… neither of the three really wanted to know.

"What the heck is this smell!" Zell wondered out loud, coughing.

"Decaying matter," Quistis began speculating "Or even flesh," At this, Zell gave an audible shudder "And… stagnant water." she said, pointing at one of the trails, where the dirty, prehistoric-looking water lay.

"Let's make this a short visit then, shall we?" Seifer said, scanning the room "This smell won't get any fresher…"

---

Selphie wrapped Irvine's long coat around her tighter, as she felt the wind blow strong on her face.

The wolf-like howling of the breeze as it whipped against the stone walls, along with the fog hindering their sight, intensified the eeriness of the castle and it made crossing the wobbly, wooden bridge even more dreadful. They had come across the slight obstacle the moment they had ascended the stairway inside the organ room and it seemed like they had no choice but to cross it.

"Well…" Selphie mumbled "Come on; let's cross it."

"Be my guest." Rinoa said, shivering the slightest bit.

"I'll take the lead." Squall said with a sigh, stepping up.

Carefully, he took the first step onto the bridge. Trying to bring one foot after the other in front and remain steady, he slowly but gradually began to make his way across.

"It's not that hard." he called out to the others "Just try to match my footing so that it won't tremble around too much."

Nodding, Irvine offered his hand to Rinoa first, helping her take the initial steps. Selphie followed suit, with him leading the tail in the end.

"Careful now…" Squall muttered, arms extended and eyes set to the barely visible side across.

Rinoa shifted her gaze from Squall's feet to the dimness across, biting her lips in slight anxiety. Just like everyone, she kept her arms extended on her sides to keep her balance. All of a sudden, she felt a slight tingling on the tip of her nose 'Oh no…' she thought, a terrible sense of foreboding taking over her.

"Erm… Guys?" she mumbled, taking another step forward.

"What?" Selphie asked, her tongue sticking out as she moved along perfectly balanced.

"I uhh…" Rinoa sniffed "I think I-I-I gotta," She sniffed again "Sneeze."

"What!" came from all three mouths in unison.

"I can't help it!" she whined, biting her bottom lip, the tingling on her nose getting fiercer.

"Well, hold it in!" Irvine called from the back.

"Try wiggling your nose around!" Selphie offered "It helps!"

Sighing, Rinoa followed Selphie's advice. It took a while, and it slowed her attempts to step ahead down, but it actually worked.

"Hey…" Rinoa said, delighted "It does help! Thanks, Selphie!"

"Don't mention it!" the brunette replied, grinning.

"Oh thank Hyne…" Irvine said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Rinoa kept on moving forward, following Squall's lead. Within seconds, she felt the familiar tingling on her nose once again 'Oh Hyne, not ag-'

"ACHOO!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Rinoa stood on the spot, frozen still, her palms around her nose, her eyes wide and slightly watery, her knees bent. She hesitantly moved her gaze around; Squall was standing up stiff, his shoulders heaving up and down as he took in deep breaths, while Selphie had fallen back and was being held by Irvine, both of them looking incredibly pale.

"Sorry…" Rinoa muttered, her voice barely audible.

CLANK

Relaxing the slightest bit, Squall shifted his head and looked down into the fog below, where the sound had just come from.

"What was that?" Irvine asked, frowning.

"Something fell down." Selphie said, getting back up on her feet.

"From where?" Squall asked, looking up and around.

"I…" Rinoa began meekly "I think it fell from up here; from the bridge…"

"What was it?" Squall asked, turning around to face her.

"No idea." she replied, shrugging "This is my fault… Sorry."

"Don't be silly." Selphie said "We'll just have to get back down and look for whatever that thing was."

"Why don't we cross the bridge and check things out across first?" Irvine suggested.

"I agree." Squall said "While we're all the way here, let's just do it and check that out later."

"OK, let's d-d-d-d-" Rinoa started to say, taking in short breaths and holding a finger under her nose.

Squall looked back and forth quickly. They were closer to the side they'd started from. Turning around on the spot, he walked right over to Rinoa and nudged her ahead.

"On second thought…" he said, just as they all hurried back to the stairway.

---

Selphie sprinted out of the room containing the organ, looking around her carefully. She looked up once and spotted through the dim fog the bridge above. Whatever had fallen down from up there should certainly be around that area. Soon followed by the rest of her peers, they all spread out and began looking for the fallen object thoroughly.

"We should follow the bridge's trail." Selphie said, pointing up "If it fell from up there then it should be somewhere along the length of the bridge."

Following her own advice, the girl walked along the path right below the bridge. She found her steps leading her right underneath the gazebo leading into the dead-end they had come across before. Frowning, she thought her initial theory was most likely wrong, until she noticed a slight gleam coming right from the barred hole. Getting down to her knees, she tried to look through. The object didn't seem to be too far away, but her arm was a bit too short to reach it.

"Found something?" Squall asked from above her.

"Yup." Selphie said, stretching her arm "But I can't quite," She groaned "Reach it."

"Let me try." Squall offered.

"Nah." Selphie said, pulling her arm out "Your arms are longer but they won't fit through the bars." she added, pulling her nunchakus out.

She plunged the weapon through the bars and tried to reach the gleaming object, whatever it was. For a second, she thought she had made it; the tip touched the metallic item, but she accidentally pushed it further inside. It immediately disappeared from sight and another clank was heard, followed by a splash.

Squall let out a huge sigh and his shoulders drooped down.

"Oh Hyne…" he mumbled.

"It's gone?" Rinoa asked.

"I don't think so." Selphie said "It just fell further below."

---

- "Let's make this a short visit then, shall we?" Seifer said, scanning the room "This smell won't get any fresher…"

PLOP

All three heads turned towards the slight splashing sound that was heard. It originated from one of the water trails crossing the room's midst. Pulled forward by curiosity, Seifer arched an eyebrow and walked towards source of the sound. He crossed the small bridge, kneeling in front of the water trail. He looked up at Quistis who was standing right beside him, looking at him expectantly.

"I'm not putting my hands in there." Seifer said resolutely.

"You're the one wearing gloves." Quistis retorted.

"The Wuss is wearing gloves, too!" Seifer protested, pointing at Zell.

"Fingertips free." Zell said, wiggling his bare fingers around, grinning smugly.

"And wait a sec," Seifer addressed Quistis again "You are wearing gloves as well!"

"Come on Seifer, just do it…" Quistis urged him.

The young Commander gave a round of venomous glares around, before sighing and accepting defeat. Turning his head away in disgust, he plunged his palm into the dirty water puddle and pulled the shiny object out.

"Good Hyne, not another one…" Zell mumbled at the sight of yet another key.

"Great." Seifer said, shaking his head in disbelief "I get to carry around another useless key. A dirty one, to add disgust to insult…"

"Well, at least we found it." Quistis said, shrugging "Let me have a look at it."

The blonde Instructor took the slightly cleansed key in her palms, examining it. It was rather heavy and somewhat rusty, the silver material stained with brown marks along its span. It brandished a shape which resembled that of a spinal cord, with thin metal limbs branching away from the cylindrical part. An axe was embellished on the head of the key.

"This is very peculiar…" Quistis said, squinting "I've never seen a key like this one before…"

"Where did it fall from?" Zell wondered out loud, glancing at the ceiling above.

"Hmmm…" Seifer hummed, checking the roof as well "The only opening is that hole up there." he said, pointing at the spot his gaze was set upon.

The ceiling was completely sealed and there were no windows on the walls, save from a hole positioned on the top left corner, obviously connecting with the rest of the castle from the floor above. It was the only opening the key could have possibly fallen from.

"From all the way up there?" Zell said, frowning "And what the heck was it doing up there anyway?"

"No idea…" said Seifer, shrugging "But I guess we should keep it."

And with those words, he glanced around the chamber and moved towards the rightmost door, taking out his Hyperion. He gave the door a push, but saw that it refused to slide open.

"Locked." he said, digging a hand into his pocket "Very long shot," he said, frowning at the key they'd just found "But…"

He slid it through the keyhole onto the lock and saw to his immense surprise that it fit perfectly. As he twisted it around, he heard the sound of many consecutive clicks and the door gave a gentle creak. Seifer arched a pair of blond eyebrows.

"I can't believe it… It was the right one…" he muttered.

"Slightly convenient, don't you think?" Zell asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Very convenient…" Quistis agreed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Nevertheless…" Seifer said, placing both palms on the door "It unlocked. So let's go." he added with a grunt, pushing the heavy door open.

With a shrill howling sound, the wooden barricade fell back and granted them entrance.

The crackling sound of fire filled Quistis's ears the moment she entered and she realized that this room was lit by four grand torches located on every corner. Tall, solid armors stood on either side of the chamber. They somehow reminded Quistis of giant chess pawns, expectantly standing in line for the next move. The stone floor stopped before her feet and large, wooden slabs spread in between the armors. They ended at the exact same spot the armors did, while a pair of stone steps led up to a small stone platform.

Quistis took the first steps ahead, the sound of her boots against the floor changing as it shifted from stone to wood and to stone back again. She went up the few steps and approached the wall. A silvery-blue wall-carpet cascaded down from the ceiling. It appeared to be made of very fine material, save from the moth holes tainting the edges, leaving it tattered and worthless-looking. The carpet was positioned right in the middle of the wall, among spears and tall, deadly-looking axes, the image of a peculiar monster carefully sewn upon it.

But it wasn't the picture of the beast that had triggered Quistis's curiosity.

It was the sword that was plunged through the carpet and into the stone wall, piercing the thin fabric right onto what appeared to be the monster's throat. But it was also the pool of green, liquid material that was now concentrated right under her feet, dripping onto the side of the steps, originating from the crack on the wall, where the sword was plunged. Quistis could have sworn the smell was identical to that of blood; she had become familiar with the scent of it ages ago. But blood couldn't possibly be green 'Not human blood' she reminded herself.

However, the thing that puzzled her the most, was the fact that the puddle appeared to be consisted of very fresh liquid. Just as if it had only now been shed. Could the others have already been there and have beaten a Guardian? But they had made it clear that each group would immediately notify the other. The sudden thought that something terrible had happened crossed her mind fleetingly, but –she swallowed- there were no bodies around.

"This is very bizarre…" Quistis said, frowning.

"What is?" asked Zell, studying on of the armors carrying a very sharp-looking spear.

"This… Liquid substance." she replied, carefully touching some of the trickling material from the wall. It definitely didn't sting. She rubbed her index finger and thumb together. Definitely 100 liquid. She sniffed it. And it smelled like blood, yes "It appears to have a consistency very similar to that of blood. And they smell very much alike. But it's green. That doesn't puzzle me the most though. It's the fact that it is inexplicably… fresh."

"Fresh?" Seifer inquired, eyebrow arched, and he approached her.

"Yes, fresh. As in… freshly shed." Quistis clarified.

"Ah. So we've established it's blood?" he asked, squinting at the carpet on the wall.

"Blood?" Zell snapped, his head perking up.

"It's positively green," Quistis said, making a face "But I'm almost certain it's blood. Just not human."

"What kind of a monster has green blood?" Seifer said, somewhat in disbelief.

"Most lizard-like monsters do." Zell piped in, just as Quistis opened her mouth to answer "Like Geezards, Grendels… That also includes certain types of dragons. Such as Blue Dragons and Ruby. But not Hexadragons. They shed normal red blood." Zell added matter-of-factly, receiving a beaming smile from Quistis and a disdainful glare from Seifer "And there are also said to be some undead monsters that are the exception to the rule which states that no undead beast bleeds. But I've only come across one of them so far. The Gerogero." Zell finished.

Quistis's smile had now turned from plain beaming to admiring, while Seifer's expression was now an unmistakable glare.

"Well now," Quistis began "That would have most definitely been an A+ answer in a SeeD-level exam question." she said to a glowing Zell. She then turned to Seifer "Seems to me like our Commander has some serious revising to do if he wants to be taken seriously…"

She returned to examining the green blood-like substance, while Seifer glared at her and back at Zell again, the latter by now grinning at Seifer in a mocking manner.

"I think you'll find that Cid had his reasons for choosing me over the wuss for the Commander position." he said to Quistis, his gaze still locked upon Zell "Obviously, one must posses certain traits and being a Hynedamned smart-ass definitely isn't one of them…"

Zell reciprocated with a rather rude gesture and continued to scrutinize the various armors. He tapped upon one of the chest pieces with his knuckle. By the hollow sound it made, he realized they were completely empty.

Meanwhile, Seifer inspected the fine blue carpet on the wall, shifting his gaze up and down vertically. His eyes came to a halt right onto the bottom right corner. A single word of writing belonging to a language unknown to him, but somehow familiar, was stitched in black thread.

"Hey," he said to Quistis, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and guiding her head down to the corner he had spotted "Look at that. More Centranean?"

"Hmm? Where?" Quistis asked, suddenly much more interested in the rug than before.

"Right down there." Seifer said, pointing at the spot "Ga… Gar… Ah, hell. You're the expert. You read it."

Quistis fell down to her knees and squinted, her face so close to the carpet that her nose was almost touching it. It was indeed Centranean, but the writing was flowing and calligraphic, giving her some difficulty to make it out.

"Gargantua." she said eventually.

The moment the words slipped out of her mouth, she felt as if everything inside the room was being rendered in rewind mode.

The double doors swung closed, and with a slithering sound, the green liquid began to shift and trickled towards the wall, then up against it, as if drawn back into the hole by an invisible force. The last drop of the substance seeped back inside the crack, somehow causing the sword to fall down to the floor with a clatter, right in front of Seifer and Quistis's bewildered eyes. Zell soon joined them, stepping up right behind them, he too utterly confused at what exactly was going on.

It was only then, that Quistis realized that what had appeared to be stone on the walls, was in fact something completely different. As the green liquid concentrated back into the crack, a huge bulge began to form behind the carpet, the material on the wall stretching like…

"Skin…" Quistis breathed out faintly.

Right on cue, the bulge began to lessen in magnitude and thin, vein-like threads branched away from it and through the walls. All three blondes watched in horrified fascination as the liquid trickled right under the walls and made its way over to the ceiling, still moving in the same serpentine manner.

"The entire fucking room is alive…" Seifer whispered, pulling Quistis backwards as he took many steps away from the wall and onto the wooden floor. Zell followed as well.

All three pairs of eyes still locked onto the ceiling, they stood with their backs against one another. The thin, vein-like trickles came to a halt on four spots upon the ceiling. A single drop of green liquid fell from the roof and back inside the room, hitting the exact center of one armor's helmet each.

The substance appeared to seep right into the metal, rather than slide away. The room was rendered in heated silence for a fair few seconds, right before the visors of the four helmets flew open. Slender, bright green slits shone in the place where eyes should have been. The four hollow armors moved together with mathematical precision, raising their tall, heavy double axes and dropping them forward in a thunder of loud thuds, creating a barricaded arena.

On the ceiling above the thin threads slithered towards the center, where they once again formed three separate bulges. One greater than the other two and two identical ones. Green liquid oozed through thin cracks and fell to the floor this time. The wood sponged the substance dry within seconds. The floor began to vibrate greatly, while small cracks began to appear on its span. The cracks grew deeper with each passing second, until the wood boards gave in and smashed.

A pair of what were unmistakably hands now protruded from the floor, long, gigantic fingers swaying about. Thick threads of gauzes were dangling from certain fingers, torn, dirty and tattered. They were only too soon followed by a third crack, and the top of a bald, equally sized, mummified head with empty sockets for eyes made its appearance.

I am Gargantua…

Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power…

Zell took a step back, preparing to assume a battle stance. The moment his foot hit the wooden floor, however, the pair of armors standing on the very edge raised their double axes and prepared to take a swipe at him. Luckily, he was able to notice it soon enough to dive forward and avoid the blow.

"What the hell!" he hissed.

"They're blocking our way…" Quistis said, tightening Save the Queen in her hands "Making sure there's no escape…"

"No choice but to kick some undead ass, then." Seifer added, looking determined "It is undead, right?"

"Only one way to find out…" Zell said, the bright glow of a spell beginning to spread in his palm.

With narrowed eyes, he stepped forward and extended his arm.

"Holy!"

The dazzling golden spell quickly enveloped the head of the monster, its silk-like threads delving into the gauzed scalp. The monstrous scream that escaped the creature's hollow orifice of a mouth was so shrill, that it made the flexible walls vibrate in wave-like manner.

"OK, so we know it's undead… It obviously didn't like that…" Seifer yelled, grimacing, in order to be heard above the noise and the blocked ears of his two peers.

Immediately, the left hand of Gargantua stretched and sped away towards Zell, who had dealt the first -and obviously painful- blow. Zell was already prepared to attempt to block it, but Quistis, knowing that the spell had left him temporarily vulnerable, made her move. Her whip gave a crack above her head and swung forward to coil around the left hand's wrist. Mustering all the force she could, she pulled it back with both her hands and managed to render it somewhat motionless with great difficulty.

Seifer took this as his cue to move next. Dashing forward, he performed one of his most rare moves; he grabbed Hyperion with both palms and brought it down on the hand forcefully. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that the blow didn't feel powerful enough; they were up against a seemingly tough foe and he knew that he only took advantage of his power's full potential when performing a Limit Break. However, Ultimecia's seals prevented that option for the time being.

The left hand pulled back and a grimace of pain appeared on the head's face 'They're connected…' Quistis thought, pulling her weapon back 'It's not just a severed head and limbs, there's a full grown monster beneath the floor!'

"Hurt one part and you hurt all of them!" she yelled to the other two "They're connected."

No sooner had she finished her sentence, than the right hand flew towards Seifer this time. With a flick of Quistis's wrist, the barbed tip of Save the Queen punctured the hand, forcing it to halt in mid-movement 'Now!' Zell thought, his eyes widening.

"Firaga!" he shouted, and the advanced Fire spell slithered its way through the air and right onto the right hand.

The gauzes covering the mummified limb helped set the hand ablaze and another shriek escaped the head's mouth. By the time the limb had managed to extinguish the fire, the majority of the gauzes had smoldered away, leaving a trail of long burn marks upon the rotten, green-gray skin below. It gave Zell the impression of a being that had spent its days buried under the stagnant water of a swamp, its skin now covered in slime that provided a faster decay.

The monster set its vacant eyes onto Zell and the blond was certain that now things were going to get serious. And rather ugly.

He was right.

The hollowness of the Gargantua's sockets was all of a sudden illuminated by a sizzling stream of bright green light that grew thicker and more ominous within the matter of a second. The eyes narrowed for a split moment, peering right through Zell's own. An abrupt pounding in his head, and it was all over.

"Zell?"

Zell blinked once, and the second he re-opened his eyes, he felt an inexplicable surge of vertigo overtake him, his vision hazy.

"Zell!"

Staggering backwards, he held his forehead with one palm, blinking furiously. Tears were now streaming down from his eyes.

"Zell, what's wrong!"

"I… I can't see!" he spoke up, in reply to Quistis's persistent voice "Everything's blurry!"

"Hold on." Quistis said calmly, digging a hand into her pocket.

She took out a vial of Eye Drops, hastily uncorking it with her teeth. However, the beast was faster than her. She barely managed to see the left hand extending forward.

"Quistis!" Seifer yelled, making a run for her.

The hand came to an abrupt halt, but a long strand of gauze spiraled away and wrapped itself tightly around Quistis's angle. Seifer's palm had just barely closed around hers and he was about to pull her out of harm's way, but her fingers slipped from his grasp as the left hand gave a hard pull and brought the girl down on the floor, dragging her away. The vial fell from her hands and smashed along with her entire stack of medicine provisions. The shards of glass dug into her hip as she got yanked towards the head, digging deeper under her skin and towards the bone. It was only too late that she realized Potions and medicine would have proved useless anyway, since they were unable to use any items yet. She inwardly cursed at herself for her lack of judgment, which had now led to her injury.

Seifer swore and made a dive to the floor, grabbing her wrist on the last second. He held back as best as he could, feeling the burning sensation of his exposed skin rubbing against the wooden floor as well, and raised his armed hand. He shot the creature's limb once, forcing it to release Quistis and pull back. The tall blond quickly got back onto his feet, pulling Quistis up as well. She made an effort to stand up straight, but let out a hiss and clutched her injured hip.

"What's wrong?" Seifer said worriedly, keeping one eye onto the swiftly recovering Gargantua.

"My hip…" Quistis replied with a wince "The vials broke and the glass dug into the muscle…"

She didn't have time to utter another word, as the left hand retaliated and stretched forward, fingers clenching into a fist. Seifer wrapped his arms around her shoulders and leapt backwards, just as the gigantic fist struck the floor, creating a notable crack where the two blondes had been standing only a second before. Once standing a safe distance behind, Seifer released Quistis, but he had made his mistake from the moment he concentrated his eyes onto the left hand and forgot all about the right one.

In whip-like movement, one half-burnt gauze from the still operational right hand shot ahead and got a hold of Seifer's leg. The blond immediately lost his footing and fell down to the floor with a thud, stomach-first. Quickly, he rolled around and onto his back, bringing Hyperion up and aiming. Clenching his teeth, he fired the remaining five bullets of the gun onto the Gargantua's head. But the gauze never uncoiled and kept dragging him closer and closer, until he was less than ten feet away.

Seeing a mass of blonde hair below him, Zell deduced Quistis was close, although incapable of much movement. But Seifer's yell gave him a good idea that the latter was in deep trouble. With tears still trickling from his eyes and impaired vision, Zell squinted, trying to make out the outline of the Gargantua. He decided to risk it and raised his hand.

"Thundaga!"

The silvery-blue spell flew right from his palm, but missed its main target for a good few feet. This streams of energy ricocheted on the walls behind the monsters, only a few of them finding their way onto Gargantua. Still, they were enough for even a minor shock. What Zell had not however calculated, was Seifer's body, still connected to the monster.

The tall blond gave a scream, his head falling back from the intensity. He only barely felt the gauze releasing his leg and retreating back to the right hand. Seifer unconsciously allowed his body to lay spread-eagled onto the wooden floor, his eyes only half-open, watching the Gargantua before him try to recuperate 'Get up…' Seifer tried to urge himself. Their enemy didn't take long before regaining focus of its targets and realized that one of them was standing right before it, completely helpless 'Get up…' It seemed to leer upon him like an insect. An insect it intended to crush into a pulp right then and there, while it was still vulnerable 'Get up.' Out of the corner of his eyes, Seifer saw the left hand clench into a tight fist, vibrating with the energy of a spell 'Get up!'

It all appeared before his eyes in slow-motion.

The hand rose up 'Get the fuck up!' Seifer's right hand fingers began to twitch slightly 'Get UP!' The monster's fist began to hurtle down, the palm now spreading, waiting to release the spell. Seifer parted his lips open 'Getupgetupgetupgetup!' The widespread palm inched closer to him. He touched his bottom lip with his teeth 'GET. UP! NOW!' He bit into his skin as hard as he could, until her felt the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. The sting of pain seemed to awaken his numb body and he rolled out of the way at once.

The fist hit the floor, sending a frenzy of broken wood and splinters on its wake. Seifer covered his eyes and face and made a backwards roll, getting onto his knees. He began to leap backwards before the monster could recover, quickly reloading Hyperion; this was not a battle they could win from close combat tactics.

Quistis slapped one palm onto the floor and aided herself up to her knees, her other hand still clutching her aching hip. Once her other was free again, she raised it up and yelled.

"Holy!"

The spell found the beast just as Seifer began backtracking, offering him some cover and a bit of time to regroup before the Gargantua attacked again. He soon rejoined Quistis and Zell, looking positively determined.

"This damned thing is starting to piss me off." he growled, pushing the ammo clip into Hyperion and swinging it in one arm.

"Time to get serious." Zell agreed, wiping his furiously blinking eyes "Esuna." he mumbled, and the green aura of the curative spell engulfed him.

Quistis nodded, getting up onto her feet, supporting her weight onto her still good leg. She closed her eyes and pressed her palms together.

"Triple!" she yelled and extended her arms towards Seifer and Zell "Haste!"

"Game on." Seifer said, and darted forward.

Quistis knew that Haste had a tremendous effect on a soldier's speed, but what she was witnessing before her very eyes right now was out of this world. Seifer seemed to move like a blur of grey and black. It was right then, witnessing him in real battle that she truly realized why he had been made a Commander.

A flash of steel shone as Seifer pulled Hyperion up to a great arc, and the creature only realized he had moved when it felt a sharp pain right across its throat. Within its panic, the Gargantua made a grab for him blindly, only to catch nothing but air. The blonde followed the movement of his sword and whirled like a feline in mid-air, sending a kick straight onto the Gargantua's head. He landed onto one knee and shot twice, aiming right for the center of the beast's scalp. Taking advantage of his momentarily motionless stance, the monster brought its limbs together closing them around Seifer's waist and raised him up as if he were weightless. A smirk crossed the blond's lips and before the Gargantua had even time to draw breath, an 'X' shaped cut was crossing its forehead by the double slash of Hyperion. Its head fell back just as Seifer was coming up from the second swipe. He twisted the heavy weapon in one arm with ease and grabbed it with both hands, plunging it deep into one of the beast's hollow sockets of eyes.

A spurt of green, thick liquid, identical to the one dripping from the hole in the wall behind, sprayed onto his face and he clenched his teeth as a drum-breaking shriek escaped the monster's mouth. But before he had time to react, Gargantua released one hand, tightened its grip on him with its left one and threw him into the air with tremendous force.

Quistis and Zell watched horrified as Seifer flew backwards, heading straight for the back of the room. However, his trajectory came to an abrupt halt the moment the same pair of armor suits that had tried to behead Zell raised their axes. Seifer hit the rigid steel back first with a loud thud and fell onto the floor on all fours. Wheezing, he let out a cough of mixed air and blood.

"SEIFER!" Quistis shrieked, making a move to run towards him.

"I'M FINE!" he roared and glared at her a bit more harshly than he had intended "Don't turn your eyes away from our target!"

Nodding half-heartedly, Quistis turned back around.

"Zell, cast Holy with me on the count of three. Aim for the center of the head." she said to him "One," she began counting, preparing the spell quickly as Zell complied "Two… Three!"

"HOLY!"

The two jets of golden light hurtled forward, uniting into one greater streak of energy and found their target on the monster's forehead. The intensity of the combined spell threw the undead scalp backwards, obviously dealing a great amount of damage. However, the Gargantua was very quick to retaliate. All of a sudden, the room appeared to grow colder, while a strong breeze of wind began to blow their hair away, getting fiercer and fiercer.

'Tornado…' Seifer thought, recognizing it immediately from their previous fight with the Trauma. Diving forward, he fell onto Zell and Quistis and forced them down to the ground, yelling.

"It's a Tornado spell! Take cover!"

He buried his head under the cleft of his right arm, as every object not nailed to the floor began hurtling towards them, crashing against the walls or scraping their backs. The moment he sensed the wind calming down, Seifer quickly shot up, spat a mouthful of blood on the floor and fired a spell, aiming for the monster's right hand.

"Blizzaga!"

The light blue ray of light hit the stray limb and a thick layer of ice began to form upon it immediately. Wasting no time, Seifer aimed and fired at it, before the ice melted. The bullet hit the frosted hand and it shattered into a myriad of pieces, scattering away on the floor. The Gargantua let out a howl in pain, giving Zell a distraction to make his next move.

"Quistis, cover me with a Cura!" he yelled and got up to his feet, dashing towards the beast.

Quistis stood up, aided by Seifer, and did as Zell told her to. With speed matching that of Seifer's just before, Zell chose to do what he did best; fight in hand-to-hand combat. So to speak… In reflex, the Gargantua's only remaining limb made a move to thrust him away. But to both Quistis and Seifer's utter surprise, Zell brought one fist up in defense and halted its movement.

Seifer's eyes widened as he noticed the muscles visible from Zell's short-sleeved shirt tighten; his left arm was shaking by the struggle he was putting up. It was giving Seifer the impression that his muscles were going to shatter right then and there. And only then did it occur to him that Zell's power and skill in martial arts was indeed one of the best –if not the best- globally.

Zell had to grin at the obvious surprise that had painted itself even upon the monster's almost expressionless face. He threw his body into a backward flip, bringing one leg up, hitting the monster square on the jaw. He landed neatly onto his two feet, kneeling down. He grabbed the loose gauze from the left limb and stepped right onto the palm with one foot, while swinging the other leg into a powerful kick. He twisted back in place within a flash and performed a triple punch combo, feeling the flexible skin of the face stretch inwards with every hit.

He withdrew his fists and took a step back. And that was his mistake.

With thunderous speed, the Gargantua raised its now free hand and brought it slamming against Zell's stomach, while a sudden flash of light appeared with the impact.

Quistis stood still and wide-eyed as Zell flew backwards 'A Flare spell… Oh no… Oh, Hyne no…'

Seifer stepped up and caught Zell before he fell out of the arena and into the mercy of the living armor suits. His eyes flew from the very nasty burn on his peer's stomach and his smoldering clothes, to the sinking form of Gargantua, which slowly retreated into the floor.

"ZELL!" Quistis screamed, and rushed over to his side.

Seifer knelt down, Zell's back resting onto his lap, as the shorter blonde hissed in overwhelming pain. Quistis knelt down next to them, cupping her mouth with her palms at the sight of him. The front part of his garments had burnt away and into a perfect circle, the edge of his clothing still smoldering from the blazing Flare spell. The skin on his now exposed stomach was a furious shade of deep crimson 'Oh thank Hyne the spell hit him before it could be fully formed… Had it been completely developed, he'd be dead before hitting the floor…' Quistis thought as she got a hold of herself and thought quickly of a way to help her friend.

With hands as steady as she could, she grabbed the sides of his shirt and looked up at Seifer.

"Hold him tight." she said.

Seifer immediately realized what she was about to do, and wrapped his arms as firmly as he could around Zell's shoulders. Quistis gripped the shirt tightly, biting her bottom lip and yanked it upwards. The fabric had to be pulled away before it permanently stuck on Zell's skin, otherwise it would only be surgically removed. Zell let out a shrill scream at the stinging pain, his head banging against Seifer's chest, his teeth clenched.

"I'm so sorry, Zell…" Quistis mumbled "But I have to do this now."

Zell closed his eyes, breathing heavily as Quistis's palms pressed lightly onto his stomach.

"Curaga." she said quietly.

Knowing that this spell was only meant for emergencies and caused a tremendous rush of blood, she tried to perform as mild a Curaga as possible.

"I'm no Rinoa when it comes to spells," she said apologetically "But I'm doing my best…"

Seifer felt Zell tense up under his grip dangerously; he began to struggle to get free.

"Let him go." Quistis said hastily "He needs to let out the excess energy."

Seifer reluctantly complied and let go, allowing Zell to spring up to his knees within a second. He curled down, clutching his stomach and let out a loud growl, turning around swiftly and connecting his fist with… Seifer's cheek.

The taller blond felt his head unscrew itself to the left and fell onto the floor with a thud, hissing. Meanwhile, Zell seemed to calm down a bit, the sound of his heavy breath becoming calmer and calmer. Quistis grinned awkwardly; on one hand, Zell seemed to be OK for now, but she'd bet anything Seifer wasn't very happy right now… Indeed, the young Commander struggled his way back up, with a deadly frown crossing his features.

"What the FUCK was that for!" he hissed "Where you trying to break my fucking JAW!"

Zell let out a grin that was frighteningly close to one of Seifer's most devious ones.

"If I were trying, now you wouldn't have a jaw… Commander." he said, chuckling.

"You FUCKING Chicken-Wuss! You're in for a…"

Quistis shook her head in amusement, the sound of their bickering ringing in her ears. She sat down on the floor and let out a sigh, only to soon realize something. The next seal. Why hadn't they been asked to release another seal? After each battle was over, Ultimecia's guards were supposed to allow them to release one of their sealed powers. So, either Ultimecia was 'cheating' or…

"This battle isn't over…" Quistis breathed out.

"You better fucking run, before I get my hands on you-"

"Stop it; the battle isn't over." Quistis repeated firmly.

"NO-ONE hits Seifer Almasy and lives to tell the t-"

"SEIFER!" Quistis snapped.

"What!" the blond growled, turning around.

"The battle isn't over." Quistis repeated for the third time.

"What are you on about?" Seifer said incredulously "Of course it's over. That fucking beas-"

But he never had time to complete this sentence, as the floor began to vibrate once more. Quistis barely felt Seifer's arms wrap around her and help her up, as her eyes were concentrated on the hole through which Gargantua had disappeared. The rumbling and the vibrations got more violent with every passing second, until the floor gave an almighty crash that brought them all to their knees, trying to take cover from rogue floor particles.

When the dust and debris began to clear out, Seifer opened his eyes slowly, only to find Gargantua in front of them once again, this time in full-bodied form. The monster stood before them ten feet high, looking even more ominous that before. Its eyes still as vacant as always, a torso swelled and powerful and limbs that connected fully with the rest of the body now. Except for the severed right hand.

"Oh you have got to be shitting me…" Seifer mumbled wearily.

Taking full advantage of the element of surprise, Gargantua threw its body backwards as if taking in a deep breath and sprang back forward, opening its void mouth widely. A green cloud of smoke emitted from the mouth surrounded the trio completely and despite their efforts to prevent from inhaling it, it took effect. Zell felt the insides of his head spin around, his vision once again hazy, and that heated feeling of rush getting swept away from him 'This attack must have affected our speed status.' he thought 'If we were under Haste before, now we're back to normal…'

Seifer staggered his way up to his feet and extended his arm, aiming to stall the beast before they regrouped and came up with a new tactic.

"Holy!" he yelled "Fuck…" he added to the rest "We have to think up of a plan… Fast! This thing doesn't seem eager to die any time soon."

Quistis frowned, her mind racing; Gargantua was already recovering from the initial blow and they were running out of time. They were all exhausted and, at this rate, wouldn't be able to go on for much longer. Besides, they needed to reserve their spell sources for latter fights; they couldn't afford to use them carelessly…

Her eyes traveled around the room in search of a possible solution until they fell onto the wall behind the monster. And then she remembered… That rug on the wall.

The monster on the carpet was the one they were facing right now; even its name was sewn upon it. And in the picture, it had been slain by a sword that went through its throat… Suddenly, all the pieces started to fall in place within her mind… The green blood, the sword plunged on the wall, the peculiar walls…

The entire fucking room is alive…

And then it all clicked together.

Standing up, she turned to face Seifer and Zell.

"I have an idea. Cover me; I need to get past the monster." she said determinedly "Seifer," she addressed him "I know I'm asking for quite a lot, but you have to take on Gargantua. Remember the rug on the wall?"

Seifer screwed his face into a puzzled frown, then parted his lips open and nodded, beginning to follow her train of thought.

"I got it. Go. And be careful." he said, and stood up as well "Zell, you'll need to take care of the 'distraction' part."

"Alright…" Zell said uncertainly "…Here I go."

The latter was the last to get back on his feet and did the first thing that came in mind; he dashed right for it, trying to steady his pace as the vertigo began to take him over. Gargantua appeared to be ready for Zell's attack, leveling its gaze with him, scrutinizing him. The moment he got close enough, it raised one gigantic arm and brought it down. Zell barely had time to shield himself and block it and then he did something utterly unexpected; he made a grab for it. Wrapping his arms and legs around it, he tried to keep it as motionless as possible, which proved quite futile, since the monster raised it up with ease and tried to shake Zell off.

"What the fuck are you doing!" Seifer yelled from behind, flabbergasted.

"I don't KNOW!" Zell shouted back, holding onto the arm for dear life.

Quistis shook her head in disbelief; this wasn't exactly what she'd been hoping for, but it had to do. Taking her chance, she hurried forward, running as fast as she could with her injured hip 'I'm not going fast enough…' she realized 'My leg's hindering me. But I can't risk this. It might be the only shot we get…' Closing her eyes, she mumbled a Haste spell under her breath. When she re-opened her eyes, her surroundings seemed to fly past her like nothing, her form slicing the air as it dashed ahead.

By the time Gargantua managed to notice her and forget all about Zell for a split second, she had already darted past it and was heading for the armor suits guarding the wooden arena 'I need a new distraction…' she thought and uncoiled her whip, tossing it into the air ahead of her. The suits immediately raised their axes high, but she was already diving down to the floor. Their axes sped downwards within a split second; however, she had just rolled onto the floor and was now speeding up the stairs.

"Alright… My turn…" Seifer mumbled, tightening his grip on Hyperion.

Gargantua finally managed to shake Zell off, sending him hurtling onto the floor and made a move to reach for Quistis. Its left arm elongated, making a grab for her, but it was too late; Seifer had already caught up with it.

Deciding to take a risk, the moment he reached the beast he leapt up and stepped on its back once. It took him less than a second to realize just how slippery the monster's skin was, as his foot flew backwards from the lack of friction. But his aim was already fulfilled; he grabbed Hyperion with both palms and brought it down with as much force as he could muster.

Quistis's head snapped back as she realized that Gargantua was trying to stop her, but to her utmost relief, the outstretched arm came to a halt the moment Seifer plunged Hyperion right through its throat. It appeared to have immobilized the monster, which was now struggling to remove the lodged gunblade, a sound very familiar to gagging coming out of its mouth in strangled gasps. Quistis knelt down and took the fallen sword into her hands 'Here goes nothing…' she thought and pulled it up, thrusting it right through the crack on the wall.

A great spray of green liquid surged out of the crack just then, followed by the shrill scream of Gargantua. Wincing, Quistis realized that the trickle of green blood was beginning to take its original shape into a puddle. Seifer shut his eyes to the piercing sound and rolled back onto the floor to join Zell, as the beast continued to scream and slowly sank into the floor once more.

Seifer buried his head into the cleft of his crossed arms, breathing heavily. When he forced himself to stand back up to his knees and look up again, the last trace of the monster was now visible, disappearing underneath the surface of the floor, while the destructed wooden particles of the board were magically mending themselves back in place. The tip of Gargantua's head vanished below, and all that was left was Hyperion, lying onto the floor, stainless.

You have fought well…

And it is my duty to unseal one of your powers…

Choose wisely…

"We choose… to unlock… the Defensive Magic… seal." Seifer said.

Very well…

"Don't… tell me…" Seifer wheezed "We could've… done this… from the beginning…"

"No…" Quistis said, shaking her head "We had… to force it… to assume its full form…"

"Right…" Seifer said, nodding.

And with that, Quistis fell to her knees, her hands still clutching the grip of the sword tightly, her breath sallow. The rest seemed to follow her lead, falling unceremoniously onto the floor in exhaustion, sweat trickling from their foreheads in rivulets.

Seifer raked a gloved palm through his damp hair, exhaling audibly.

"Wuss, you OK?" he asked Zell, rolling his head to the side to face him.

"Uh-huh…" Zell mumbled, apparently too tired to be angered by Seifer's remark.

"Quis …" Seifer called out "Are you hurt?"

"Nuh-uh…" Quistis managed, shaking her head in negation, leaning against the wall behind her.

"Good." Seifer said, closing his eyes "Take five, cast a Cura and we're off."

Quistis nodded in agreement and looked down at the bloodied patch on the side of her skirt. Wincing, she raised the hem all the way up to her hip. She bit her lip as her fingers closed around one protruding piece of glass, closed her eyes and pulled it out. She let out a hiss and a moan of protest which made Seifer look up, but she reassured him she was alright, despite his persistence. They couldn't afford having her crippled right now; she'd do her damndest to recover as much as possible and be ready for the next fight. She pulled another piece out, a trickle of blood following on its wake. She swallowed with difficulty and kept going, then cast a Cura and allowed herself a few moments of rest.

---

- "I don't think so." Selphie said "It just fell further below."

"Let's just leave it be, shall we?" Irvine said wearily "For all we know, it could be absolutely nothing and we're busting our asses over it for no reason at all."

"Oh come on!" Selphie insisted "We've come this far! Besides, I think it fell down to the dungeon. I know the way down there. I think…"

"You do?" Squall asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Right before we found the elevator we came across a stairway that led one level below floor one. Has to be it." Selphie replied.

The rest shared a weary gaze, sighing.

"Come ooooon! I'll show you the way."

---

Zell groggily stepped out of the armory chamber.

The Cura he'd just cast on himself had helped a great deal, but it couldn't possibly work wonders. A great portion of the exhaustion after the battle was still there. He wanted nothing more than to just lie down and sleep right now, but this was no time to fool around. Besides, this Hynedamned rotting smell was driving him insane and he wanted to leave the Dungeons as soon as possible. There was only one more room to explore. Hopefully, it would be empty…

Seifer stepped forward, his eyes as tired-looking as everyone's. His gaze fell first upon the lever next to the floodgate separating the two doors. He tried to pull it, but realized that there was a lock, keeping it tightly in place. And no key around… With a weary sigh, he decided to forget about it for the moment and placed both palms on the wooden slab in front of them. The heavy wooden door gave out a squeak and slowly creaked open. Dust that had collected upon the top of it fell down into a rain of particles the moment Seifer pushed it aside. Coughing, he cleared it away and entered the new room.

For a change, this room wasn't at all lit by candles. But it was rather luminous, due to a grid on the ceiling that allowed the moonlight to creep in and color everything in bluish-silver shades. On the far side of the room, what at first sight might have appeared to be a cloaked man, turned out to be a rotting corpse. Hands outstretched and rigid, the carcass's stature suggested that it had found its death abruptly and could have been calling out for help. Its brown cloak, matched the color its skin had by now taken, after what was probably months of decay and humidity.

The smell inside that room had just gotten a notch closer to becoming unbearable and Seifer found himself grasping his stomach next.

"Oh my Hyne…" Quistis said in weariness and disgust, once she'd gotten a full view of the room.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Zell muttered, his cheeks suddenly inflated.

"Can we just get out of here, Seifer…?" Quistis mumbled, upon giving the room a bit more inspection.

On the right wall next to them, a pair of chains hung from the wall, rusty and heavy-looking, and a rather grotesque bust of a bull-like creature stood right above the threshold. There was a door in the far back of the room, wooden and heavy just like any other one else inside the castle.

"Just a second…" Seifer said, narrowing his eyes at an object onto the floor.

He had just caught sight of a tiny gleam of moonlight, as it had gotten reflected upon a marginally shiny surface, right on the dead body. He approached it and kneeled down, examining the dead body's extended hand. Upon its hooked fingers, hung what was unmistakably a key. A rusty, tainted one to be exact. But nonetheless, a key. He unhooked it and lifted it up into the beams of moonlight to examine it a bit better. This one was bronze and bigger than the one they'd found inside the book, and heavier as expected. Seifer had the impression that this could very well be the reason why the corpse had ceased to be a living person.

He lifted his eyes and took a look at the carcass that was now so close to him. The skin that had once upon a time existed onto its face was leathery and wrinkly, hints of bone apparent below its cracks. There was no sign of eyeballs. Seifer turned away and stood up.

"Hey look…" he said to Quistis and Zell "It's another-"

He stopped in mid-sentence, upon looking at the expression on both faces. It was a mixture of alarm, slight panic and surprise. Knitting his brow, Seifer made a move to turn around again to follow their object of distraction, when-

I am Red Giant…

Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power…

Stiffing in place, Seifer shut his eyes momentarily and swore 'Not NOW, dammit… It's too fucking soon! I can't fight NOW!'' he whined in his head.

And this time, things appeared to be a lot worse than before…

What the tall blond was facing right now, was twelve foot high iron giant, very muscular, protected by deep burgundy armor with golden details on the shoulder and knees, with tiny, gleaming green eyes and on its right hand… 'A FUCKING huge-ass sword…'

But he really had not time to ponder anymore, as said 'huge-ass' sword came speeding down to them, threatening to cut them in half with a mere swipe. Quistis, who was standing in the middle, dove away immediately, as did the other two. The sword came down tearing the floor apart with a heavy clunk. When the beast withdrew its weapon, the stone floor was marred with a deep crack…

"Holy shit…" Zell breathed out.

But the Red Giant was nowhere nearly done with them, and once again attempted to smite them with its sword. It was Seifer's turn to roll away while still on the floor, the sword slashing down inches away from him. Before the Red Giant had time to pick it up again, he got up to his feet and yanked Quistis up as well. On their right, Zell rolled backwards on the floor and stood up.

"OK, this is bad…" he mumbled.

"Gee, you think!" Seifer sneered and shoved Quistis away, as another swipe came directed at them.

Seifer ducked, and the sword flew horizontally right over his head. He had the distinct impression that it shaved a few millimeters of hair off… He dared not even consider taking Hyperion out; he took great pride in knowing that his gunblade was crafted by the most potent variety of steel, but against that butcher-knife, he was afraid he'd end up holding the grip of his faithful companion. And only that. He was not willing to risk it.

Quistis made a roll on the floor after Seifer's push and whirled onto one knee, extending one arm forward.

"Blizzaga!" she yelled.

Her spell struck the Red Giant right on the chest, but it didn't appear to affect it the slightest bit.

This magic is useless!

All three pairs of eyes became very round at the sound of that; no Guardian had so far attempted to speak to them, except for the beginning and the end of the battle. And to add insult to injury, the Red Giant's tone was much too mocking. It seemed to affect Seifer most of all, as his eyes flared up in anger and his eyebrows joined into a deep scowl.

"You're fucking dead, you walking can of shit!" he hissed "Firaga!"

If anything, the new spell seemed to add to the Red Giant's amusement. But still no damage inflicted whatsoever.

"Seifer, stop wasting magic," Quistis shouted at him "And think of another strategy!"

She proceeded in letting out a yelp and rolling backwards to avoid another blow of the monster's sword. She felt Zell's hand wrap around her wrist and pull her up, only to shove her down to the floor again, as he dove away from the hurtling weapon as well. Banging her fist against the floor, she yelled.

"STOP picking me up, dammit!" she roared, cursing for one of the very few times in her life.

Her small outburst seemed to amuse Seifer, which only added to her already growing fury for being treated like a damsel-in-distress. Zell scurried up to his feet 'We can't just keep fighting in the blind here… We need to find out what this monster's weakness is…' he thought, extending one arm forward 'This might help a bit…'

"Scan!" he yelled.

Quistis, upon hearing the spell he had cast rose up immediately. He would be able to give them a few bits of information if the spell was cast successfully, but he'd be vulnerable until it was over, since he had to remain still. But the Red Giant seemed to have other plans and began to direct its next hit at him once again. Uncoiling her whip, Quistis swung it once in the air and effectively wrapped the end around the swords grip, pulling the whip with both hands. Her physical power compared to that of the Red Giant seemed puny, to say the least, but it slowed down the sword, even the slightest bit.

While in mid-swipe, the Red Giant apparently had a change of mind, and instead of continuing to aim at Zell, swung the sword around and raised its arm up high, dragging Quistis along the way. The girl let out a shriek as her feet left the floor. With a flick of its wrist, the Red Giant waved the sword once more, forcing Quistis to loop into the air and fly back-first towards the wall. She managed to pull her whip back and free the sword at the last minute, and prepared herself mentally to crash against the wall. To her surprise, she bumped against something much softer, which protested with a groan of pain at the contact and staggered backwards. She looked over her shoulder and saw Seifer smash against the wall, his arms around her shoulders.

"Ouch…" he mumbled, sliding down against the wall, dragging her along.

Meanwhile, Zell took a step back, ready to call at the other two, but the Iron Giant had other plans… While still in mid-movement after flinging Quistis away, it brought its massive sword down towards Zell. The latter, with his attention too preoccupied to Seifer and Quistis failed to see this coming. Seifer opened his eyes with some effort, wincing, and only caught sight of the sword less than a second before it threatened to make contact with Zell. His eyes widened immediately and he made a move to yell.

Reading his worried expression, Zell looked the other way for a split second. His breath dies into his throat at once, but he didn't lose his head and ducked at once. The sword whistled right above his head and he stood back up, readying himself for another attack. Visibly frustrated, the Giant swung the sword back towards its target and Zell once again knelt down to avoid it. He was, however, very taken aback to see the grand weapon stop millimeters away from him. He looked up and barely had time to see a flash of grey steel, before the flat surface of the swords collided with his forehead.

And then everything went black.

Seifer swore under his breath and pushed Quistis away, making a dive for the floor. The beast was ready to attack again and this time it showed no signs to be willing to strike with the blunt part of its sword. He grabbed Zell's left arm and rolled onto the stone floor, dragging him along the way, right before the weapon of their enemy left another deep crack on its wake. Seifer rolled onto his back, ready to get back up on his feet, but wasn't fast enough.

The Iron Giant made a move for him next and Seifer, without thinking, did the only think he could by reflex; he drew Hyperion out.

The two weapons crashed onto one another and Seifer bit his lip, cringing. To his utmost surprise, the monster's sword had only managed to produce a small crack on the sharp edge of Hyperion's blade; he had half expected it to snap in two. Still, his relief was soon clouded by a surge of anger… His most faithful companion had just been marred by that 'Fucking ugly piece of shit!' Extending his free arm up, he all but whispered the spell.

"ULTIMA!"

The small, greenish bundle of light found the Giant square on the chest. It reminded Seifer of a small nuclear explosion. Slowly but steadily, the small sphere began to build up in size, as if a series of cells exploded with energy within a chain reaction, then eventually burst out, a surge of brilliant white light filling the small room instantly.

The Iron Giant took a step back, obviously hurt by the spell, but not quite as much as everyone had hoped for.

In the meantime, Quistis had stealthily made her way over to the two blondes, muttering a Cura spell under her breath while holding Zell's head in her palms. The faint green glow appeared and spread over his forehead, causing the bruise so far apparent there to get swept away in a mere second. Zell fluttered his eyes open, letting out a small moan, quickly remembering that they had no time to waste; he had to inform them about what he's found out just before.

"It's not very powerful…" he croaked "Much less energy than the one we fought before; less than half… Only magic it's got is Demi."

Quistis's eye bulged out at the sound of those words 'Demi! Of COURSE! Why didn't I think of this before!' Lunging up to her feet, she aimed her outspread palm at the Red Giant.

"Demi!" she yelled.

And it finally had the effect she had been hoping for. Seifer and Zell got back up to their feet, as the Red Giant staggered backwards, trying to steady itself.

P-p-please… N-no more D-Demi…

Seifer's smirk couldn't have possibly gone wider.

"I think we hit the jackpot there…" he said, getting up "Demi!"

The gigantic beast received the second spell on the chest, which caused its shoulder to vibrate in an almost shudder-like manner. In a desperate attempt, it swung its sword towards Quistis. However, the Giant's agility was much more lessened this time, and Quistis skillfully avoided the blow with a backward cartwheel. She immediately raised her head back up and brought her arms forwards, shouting almost in unison along with Zell.

"DEMI!"

The two spells hit the Red Giant consecutively, causing it to smash against the wall behind and drop its sword. The three blonds were delighted to see that when making at attempt to pick it up once again, the Giant trembled in a frenzy of clanking metal parts and dropped it once more; it no longer had enough strength to carry it.

Seizing the opportunity of their opponent's momentary vulnerability, Seifer fired another Demi spell, which seemed to bring the Red Giant flat on the floor for good. Their enemy had yet to be beaten, but appeared to be incapable of any movement whatsoever.

Obviously realizing that as well, Zell almost casually raised one arm.

"Fira." he said coolly.

A thick trail of flames rose from the ground and found its way over to its target, setting the Giant ablaze and shrieking. When the spell's effect wore off, the Red Giant let out one last breath and let its shoulders slump down, defeated. A small cloud of dust arose when it finally settled down, immobile, soon to be followed by a distinct cracking sound.

The tips of the monster's feet began to turn from burgundy to grayish-brown, slowly spreading to the ankles, the knees and all the way up the legs until its entire body turn into what was obviously stone and promptly dissolved in tiny, sparkly particles and into the air.

You have fought well…

And it is my duty to unseal one of your powers…

Choose wisely…

"We choose to unlock the Limit Break seal." Zell said.

Very well…

"Well…" Seifer said, letting out a tired sigh "That's one more less…" he added, leaning against a wall and sinking to the floor to join Zell and Quistis, this time only seconds away from falling asleep right then and there…

The blonde Instructor wiped her sweaty brow and rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes.

"That wasn't really that damned hard…" Zell wheezed "But tryin' to keep away from the friggin' sword's way was one wearisome business, let me tell ya…"

"Since when do you know what 'wearisome' means?" Seifer sneered at him, looking at him through the corner of his eye.

"It just so happens that I have a rich vocabulary, thank you very much!" Zell snapped, looking smug at the same time.

"No, it just so happens that the library girl has suggested you borrowed a dictionary from the library from time to time…" Seifer replied, chuckling.

Zell refused to reply to this and just crossed his arms, pouting, tearing his haze away from Seifer 'How did he KNOW!'

Meanwhile, Quistis, not in the mood to listen to yet another petty fight, had dug into Seifer's pocket and was already searching for Squall's number on the blond's cell-phone.

"What are you doing?" Seifer asked her.

"Calling Squall and the others to inform them about our progress." Quistis replied, bringing the phone to her ear "We forgot to call them earlier before."

She waited for an answer for a fair few seconds, before she heard a weird tune coming out of the speaker and the call was terminated. Puzzled, she brought the phone back in front of her and looked at the screen.

"You have no signal." she said "Probably because we're underground."

"Really?" Seifer said, arching an eyebrow, taking the cell phone from Quistis's hands "Hmmm, you're right… It's strange though… This room's open from the ceiling." he added, pointing at the grid on the top of the room.

"I'm actually surprised the phones worked here period." Quistis said matter-of-factly "I'd half expected them to have gone haywire after Time Compression began."

"Perhaps it's cause it's hasn't started yet in this world." Zell said, shrugging.

"Which reminds me," Seifer said, getting up "That we don't have too much free time to wander around. We gotta get going."

"You're right." Quistis said, taking the hand Seifer offered her to get up.

Zell got up as well and walked towards the other door inside the room, aside from the one they'd used to enter. He pressed both palms against it, but it didn't budge.

"This one's locked." Zell said.

"Here," Seifer said, tossing him the key they'd found inside "Try this."

Zell grabbed the key and slid it into the lock of the door. He tried to twist it around, but it became obvious that this key hadn't been crafted for that door.

"Nope. No dice." Zell said, shaking his head in negation.

"Well I guess we have no other option than the door we came in through." Quistis said.

Seifer pushed the door with one hand and realized that this one wouldn't move either. Frowning, he used both hands. Still nothing.

"It's locked." he said, arching an eyebrow.

"Maybe that's what this key is for." Zell said, approaching him.

Seifer leaned against the wall next to the threshold, Quistis next to him, waiting as Zell tried the recently found key on that door. It slid through with ease and with a bit of difficulty –rust had taken its toll on it- Zell twisted it around.

"Yup," he declared "That's the one."

The door didn't unlock with the first turn, so Zell tried one more.

Crack.

All blondes froze on the spot.

"Tell me that was the sound of the door unlocking…" Quistis uttered eagerly.

Wincing, Zell tried to push it open. Nope.

"Ermmm…" he stammered "Errrrr… It… it won't open." he mumbled.

A muscle twitched on Seifer's jaw.

"Try turning it once more." he growled through gritted teeth.

Zell swallowed with difficulty. He twisted the key around once more and strangely found it tremendously easy to do so. Gulping audibly, he bit his lip and pulled the key out. To his chagrin, he saw that the tip was missing and all that was left was the top circular part and the long cylindrical one.

All three of them stared down at the broken key in horror.

Seifer brought his head back up, a furious expression plastered on his face. With mechanical moves, he shoved Zell aside and pushed the door. Still locked. Letting out a growl, he thrust himself upon the door, shoulder-first. Nada. Pressing one booted foot close to the lock, he took out Hyperion and stuck the tip on the wood. He clicked the cock on the gun part and took six shots. Clearing the smoke in front of him, he put Hyperion back in place and tried the door again. Not even that had worked. Still not uttering a single word, he slipped his hand into the pocket of his trench coat. He mumbled a flurry of curses.

"Out of ammo." he spat out.

With a murderous expression crossing his features, he turned and faced Zell.

"You're dead."

---

- "Selphie, darlin'…" Irvine wheezed "Can't we just forget all about that damned thing?"

"NO! I'm TELLING you, it's CLOSE!" Selphie snapped, running down the stairs in front of her.

Rinoa, Irvine and Squall followed lazily right behind her, their faces screwed into identical frowns of growing impatience and weariness.

"If we live through this," Squall began "Remind me to ban her from buying coffee at the cafeteria… For life."

---

- "Damn you, Zell! RUN! Can't you see I'm doing my best to keep him at bay here!"

"Run WHERE!"

"DIE CHICKENWUSS!"

Letting out a yelp, Zell dove to the floor and barely avoided the sharp edge of Hyperion as it sped down to him with the intention to kill. Seifer pulled the gunblade up from the crack it had created on the floor and swung it up once again, running after Zell, Quistis's weight on him almost insignificant right now. The girl had wrapped herself around him from the back, trying with all her might to block his legs and arms, but to no avail. Still, it was quite admirable that after two consecutive and long battles, Seifer had the strength and stamina to chase Zell around, with a full-grown woman hanging from his bag.

"I'M SORRY!" Zell yelled, rolling onto the floor to avoid yet another deadly blow.

"WHY!" Seifer hissed "WHY MUST YOU BE ALIVE AND TORTURE HUMANITY WITH YOUR STUPIDITY!"

"SEIFER, HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HIM THAT WAY!"

"WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO ALL THIS TIME! NOW GET OFF!"

Quistis grabbed Hyperion's blade form behind just as Seifer swung it up. Zell made a run for it towards the door, but was now cornered as Seifer followed right after him.

"OK, fine…" Seifer hissed, letting go of Hyperion.

Quistis tried to hold on to the heavy weapon, but it slipped right out of her hands.

"I don't need a weapon to kill him…" Seifer said, his voice low, green eyes glinting maliciously and set on Zell's.

He cracked his knuckles and lunged towards Zell, Quistis's body still wrapped around him.

"AAAARGHHHHHH!"

---

- "See? I told you it wasn't that far…" Selphie said, stepping down the stairs leading into the dungeons "And I was right! These are the- pewwww!" She stopped in mid-sentence and brought a palm over her mouth and nose.

"Holy Hyne!" Rinoa said, gagging "This must be what evil smells like!"

"Let's just find what we came for and get outta here then…" Irvine said, his hat now covering his nose and mouth.

"I think it's over there." Squall said, pointing at one of the water-filled trails, his voice muffled under his sleeve.

"…don't… weapon… kill…"

Irvine's head perked up. He turned and looked at the others who seemed to be as puzzled and alarmed as he was.

"Did you hear that?" he asked, receiving a round of nods "What-?"

"AAAARGHHHHHH!"

Irvine didn't even have time to finish his sentence, as a near-by door broke by the hinges and fell down with a glorious thud and an enormous amount of dust succeeding its fall. The dust molecules began to slowly set down, and the silhouette of three certain blondes locked in a rather weird position came clearly in view. Four pairs of eyes widened.

With his back right against the door was Zell, a petrified expression plastered on his face. Right on top of him was Seifer, his palms wrapped around the first's throat, squeezing mercilessly. And finally, Quistis lay on top of Seifer's back, her legs and arms curled around his waist and neck respectively.

The moment the three realized what exactly had happened, they looked up to find their comrades staring at them dumbfounded. After a few awkward moments of complete silence, Quistis opened her mouth to explain, but Squall raised his palms up in exasperation, interrupting her.

"I REALLY don't want to know." he said.

"B-b-but it's not-" Zell began.

"I'm serious!" Squall snapped, shaking his head vigorously.

"See if I care…" Seifer said with a groan and let go of Zell's neck, trying to get up as Quistis slipped off his back.

Squall's team watched in silence as the three blondes slowly stood up and began clearing their clothes. Once they were finally done, they looked up at the others, still in complete silence.

"Both rooms are clear, by the way." Quistis eventually said.

"And chicken-wuss is not spending another second in my team, by the way." Seifer grumbled, glaring at Zell.

Letting out a weary sigh, Squall turned and looked at Zell fleetingly. It just now seemed to register to him that a great part of Zell's clothes was burnt away and a nasty wound marred the skin on his stomach. For one of the very few times in his life, Squall's eyes widened.

"Aiiieeee!" Selphie shrieked, obviously thinking along Squall's lines "Zell, what happened to you!"

"Long story…" the blond grumbled "More or less involves a giant frickin' mummy shoving a Flare spell right on my gut…"

It took a few good moments for that fact to register to the minds of those in Squall's team. Apparently, everyone was trying to picture what Zell had just told them.

"And he was a total baby about it, sheesh…" Seifer said, shaking his head in disbelief.

His comment received a round of well-deserved glares, especially from Quistis.

"What?" he said innocently, looking at her.

"I won't even bother to comment on what you just said…" she replied, frowning deeply.

Squall sighed, glancing at his own team. Irvine shrugged.

"I can go." he offered, referring to Seifer's previous request.

"Oh, but I barely got to see you, Irvy…" Selphie complained, pouting.

"You know we have to be tough and be apart if we have to right now, Sefie…" Irvine said in a suave manner, holding her chin up with one crooked finger.

The brunette let out a tiny giggle and nodded. Satisfied, Irvine gave her a wink and turned around to face Seifer.

"You willing to have me?" Irvine asked.

"Anyone but the wuss." Seifer said, putting his hands up.

Zell, who had so far remained quiet, kept shifting his gaze eagerly from Irvine to Seifer, as if witnessing a tennis match. The moment Seifer gave his consent, the shorter blond let out a triumphant shriek and fell to his knees.

"YES! OH, HYNE YES!" he yelled, his eyes shining with tears of happiness.

Seifer watched his outburst with a grimace of disgust plastered on his face. Quistis, in between chuckles, turned and looked at him quizzically.

"What?" she asked him "Why are you grimacing like that?"

"I just realized that the person I want to be least in the planet is that library girl…" he muttered, holding his stomach with one palm.

Following his train of thought, Quistis rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. Deciding it was high time they stopped losing precious moments and got a move on, she interrupted Zell's perpetual cries of joy.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked Squall "Weren't you going to move further on to upper levels?"

"We were." Squall replied "But once we were crossing a bridge upstairs something fell and," he turned to look at Selphie "Selphie insisted that we found it."

"Something?" Seifer said, sharing a glance of understanding with Quistis.

"We couldn't really make it out." Selphie piped in "But it was shiny. Could have been a key, that's why I wanted to go after it."

"And how on earth could it have dropped from a bridge in here?" Seifer inquired, crossing his arms.

"It fell down through a barred hole." Selphie replied "And from my calculations, I figured it should have fallen around here somewhere."

"You wouldn't by any chance," Seifer began, digging into his pocket "Be referring to this," he said, showing them the key resembling a spinal cord which he had retrieved form the water trail "Would you?"

"Certainly looks like it." Rinoa said.

"Where did you find it?" Squall asked.

"Fell inside the water trail as soon as we got here." Seifer replied "Good timing…"

"Did you find out what it opens?" Irvine asked.

"Yes. That door over there." Quistis replied, pointing at the armory.

"And?" Squall asked.

"And we wiped out the two Guardians in here, Pubes, use your brains." Seifer snapped, stretching.

"No wonder all of you look like hell warmed over." Rinoa said.

"You look absolutely lovely yourself, Princess, thank you." Seifer quipped.

"Could be pleeeeeease get out of here now?" Zell said "One more minute in here and I'm definitely throwing up…"

"Alright, alright…" Squall said "Have you checked everything?" he asked Seifer.

"I think so…" the blond replied, glancing around the room "We went through both doors…"

His eyes fell upon the floodgate that stood on the wall between the two doorways.

"Except for that." he said, pointing at the floodgate "That gate over by the lever."

Squall turned around first, soon followed by the rest, all examining the gate from afar.

"It's locked." Seifer added "Try to pull the lever before."

Squall walked over to the lever and scrutinized it thoroughly. The lever was indeed kept back by a lock, connecting it to the barred floodgate behind, hindering any possible movement. Suddenly knitted his brows together.

"There's a letter carved on the head." Squall said, looking up to meet Quistis's gaze "An 'I'."

"An 'I'?" Quistis repeated "Well, I did find it inside a book called 'Inundantia'." she said.

"Inundantia?" Squall said, arching an eyebrow "What does the mean?"

"Flood." Rinoa piped in.

'Hmmm…' Squall dug his hand into his pocket. He took out the key they had found inside the room next to the elevator. His gloved fingers brushed over the 'I' etched onto the key's head.

"Rinoa." Squall called out, still examining the key "What did you say 'Inundantia' meant? Flood?"

"Yes," Rinoa said "Why?"

"Not sure…" Squall replied.

He placed the key into the lock and twisted it. It turned with ease. His lips broke into a tiny smile.

"It fits." he said casually.

The click of the lock opening was heard and Squall removed it, pulling the lever down at the same time.

Cogs turned, a couple of seconds passed and a knob, keeping a wooden plank in place on the floodgate slid away, allowing it to slip down. The plank fell right in front of the main barred hole, covering it completely, thus sealing the water's entry. Slowly but steadily, the water trails began to empty, as the flow was guided out of the dungeons through the other two barred holes.

"Alright…" said Irvine, nodding "So what did that accomplish?" he asked.

Squall frowned. It hadn't really occurred to him what it was exactly he had been trying to do. All he knew was that he'd just done it…

"I don't know really…" he replied, shrugging.

He placed the key back into his pocket and turned to look the others.

"Well… Nothing left to see here." he said "Let's go."

---

- "So that's five down, three to go… Are we certain we've covered everything in the lower levels?" Seifer asked.

"Hmmm…" Squall muttered, his brows knit together "The Dungeons are definitely clear, as well as the entire right side… I trust that you've checked every door, every room, every last corner?" he asked, glancing up at Seifer with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes, Leonhart…" Seifer replied wearily, rolling his eyes "You don't have the monopoly of trust around here. When are you gonna realize that?"

"Fine, fine…" Squall hurried to say, putting his palms up in resignation "Just making sure… So, right side and Dungeons clear, then we've got the left side and center which leads to the upper floors. We still have a couple of things to check there."

"Such as?" Seifer asked.

"There's a lever below that unstable chandelier that we couldn't work out." Squall began, slipping his hands in his pockets "We still have an unused key."

"More fucking keys?" Seifer said, his eyes becoming very round.

"Just this one." Squall replied, but from his tone it was apparent that he, too, was getting rather tired of the entire situation "And," he frowned "Now that I think of it, there is a door we have yet to check out on the west wing."

"Well, why didn't you?"

"We just passed by it on the way from the elevator room. It was locked and we found this key later on. Odds are that's the one it opens…"

Quistis walked a few feet behind, Rinoa and Selphie's arms interlocked with hers as she stood in the middle. Irvine and Zell were right in front of them, discussing in hushed tones what each was going to do first once they left Ultimecia's realm.

Quistis couldn't help but feel that they were all doing their best to keep their spirits up, keep convincing themselves that they would all manage to get back home alive. Home… It seemed so far away right now, like a dream that was hardly feasible. There was, however, a thing that brought a smile to her lips right now. It was the sight of her two former students, having reached a mutual understanding and engaged in civil conversation 'It took them a while…' she thought 'But at least they eventually made it happen.'

"It's that way." Squall voice was heard, snapping Quistis out of her thoughts.

He pointed at a pair of double doors right down the hall and walked through the threshold, the rest following suit. Seifer walked right behind Squall as the latter approached the lever they had been discussing.

"This one?" Seifer said, looking up at Squall, who simply nodded.

The tall blond placed his grip around the mid-section of the lever and pulled it. He arched both eyebrows.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he scoffed at Squall "I barely touched it and it moved."

"I never said we couldn't move it." Squall said wearily "Just that it didn't stay in place. If you release it, you'll hear that same clicking sound and the chandelier above will be unlocked again."

Frowning, Seifer let go of the lever.

And it never moved a single millimeter.

Squall gaped at the lever and glanced from the chandelier and back again, in utter disbelief. He grabbed the lever and pulled it back, then pushed it once again. Once more, it stood right in place when he released it.

"What the…?" he mumbled.

"Is THAT what you dragged us all the way here for?" Seifer said disdainfully.

"I'm telling you, it wouldn't stay still before!" Squall snapped "I don't know why it does now!"

"There's probably a hinge or something in there that keeps it in place." Seifer said, shrugging "But it's most likely rusty. All it needed was for someone stronger to pull it once, so it's loosened now." he added with a smug grin.

"There were three of us pulling it." Squall growled through gritted teeth.

"Thanks, but no need to boost my ego even more." Seifer replied, his grin even more smirk-like "I already know I'm way stronger than some of you combined."

"Take this Hynedamned key-" Squall said, shoving the last remaining one onto Seifer's chest "And go find the Hynedamned door I told you about. We'll go check that door across the chandelier. Then we all meet at the rendezvous point on the second floor after the organ room."

"Hey, you don't have to feel embarrassed." Seifer said, pocketing the key "So what if you don't have the brains or the strength to compare with me? That doesn't make you completely useless, P-"

"WILL YOU JUST FUCKING GO, ALREADY!"

A collective gasp greeted Squall's small outburst, making the vein on his temple throb even more wildly. Seifer let a gigantic grin cross his lips.

"Ahh… That was fun…" he said and turned his heel, walking towards the rest "Quis, cowboy, let's go."

Fuming, Squall cast one last venomous look at the lever, then approached his own team, not uttering a single word.

"You do realize that this whole lever deal had most likely something to do with the floodgate we unlocked, right?" Quistis mumbled at Seifer as they walked away, arching an eyebrow.

"Course I do." Seifer replied, chuckling "But I hadn't had a good laugh in a while and it was way too tempting an opportunity to let go…"

---

A/N:Sighs: And that was it… I can't safely say when the next update will be. I'm sorry, but I need to set my priorities straight, and as much as I'd love my writing endeavors to be on the top of the list, they sadly aren't. But I've said it before and I'll say it again: I will not abandon any story I begin.