Ripples in a Pond
Chapter 12
Rating: PG for this chapter
Warnings: Crazies on the rampage.
Pairings: Seifer/Zell, light Irvine/Selphie and implied Squall/Riona. The chosen threesome isn't named to avoid spoilers.
Summary: All bearings are lost when SeeDs experience an unfortunate crash that sends them on a planet where technology is at its beginning and monarchs stillrule. The only thing they can do is try and keep their heads over the water and go with the flow, less they drown.ff8-ff9
Notes: N/A
Vivi stopped in a small clearing a few hours after it had stopped being safe –the term safe being highly particular to the forest— and gathered dry wood to light himself a fire. The night was pitch black, the moon overhead hidden by thick clouds. If Vivi hadn't known better, he might have pushed his luck and tried reaching the village during the night, since he only had an hour or so left before him, but he did know better. Regretting the lack of a tent and its magical properties, he settled before his small fire with his staff across his knees, not quite ready yet to go to sleep, or as much sleep as he could get in here.
Still, if his luck held, his light sleep wouldn't be troubled by monsters. He'd been unchallenged the whole time he'd been in the forest, the trees looming perfectly silent and still. Vivi had never seen it like this, and it was more unsettling than when he'd crossed it while it bristled with pent up aggression. Monsters he could deal with; this feeling as if everything was holding its breath, waiting for the hammer to fall, grated directly on his nerves.
Vivi smiled wryly; chances were that that hammer would come in the shape of a large, colorful ball of mass destruction. So far Ozma had yet to do anything against the forest or the hidden village. In fact, it had been surprisingly easy to avoid while staying in the protective shadows at the mountains' feet. Its attention had looked to be solely concentrated between one crashed ship and the other.
With a deep sigh Vivi reached in his pockets for that single, small piece of dried meat and tried loosening the knot of worry clenched tight in his stomach. Thinking of his children safe in Alexandria helped, even though he felt sorry to be causing them worry. No doubt they were relentlessly pestering moogles for news of the Invincible, making perfect nuisances of themselves, but Vivi couldn't begrudge them that. He smiled to himself as he thought of them, and then nearly missed that single sound of a crumpled leaf coming from across the fire.
There was magic channeled through his staff faster than he blinked and he focused it on the area before him, squinting as he tried deciphering the silhouette of whatever was approaching. The glare of the fire worked against his night vision, but he'd rather have that small protection than be caught completely unawares.
Finally Vivi heard the sounds again, muffled and near-silent steps he realized could never belong to the heavy Zemzelett. He let his magic abate slightly and stood, craning his neck over the flames to better see.
"Who's there?" he finally spoke, because he might not know who or what was coming, but they were clearly aiming for him.
There was a silence, and then, "Mister Vivi?"
All the magic left his staff as Vivi recognized that even, calm voice speaking with the clipped accent of one not speaking his mother tongue. He couldn't help a smile as he moved around the fire to go and meet those newcomers.
"It is!" he answered, and suddenly the fire illuminated two figures, one tall and broad and pointy, the other small and lithe. Vivi knew he was beaming up at the black mage and genome, but he couldn't stop himself. Just seeing them there, unharmed and normal, confirmed that the village was still safe after all.
Mister 110 stepped out of the trees, peering around Vivi's makeshift camp curiously before looking back at his fellow mage. "I'm relieved to see you and not a monster, though both would have surprised me equally. I thought you were in Alexandria?"
Vivi nodded his head towards the fire in invitation. Ichiro moved towards it silently, squatting down and studying the flames blankly. He looked as much at home as if he was back on Terra.
"I was supposed to be, but things happened," Vivi grimaced, and he moved to sit beside Ichiro as Mister 110 settled on the other side of the fire.
"What kind of things?" the black mage inquired politely.
Vivi shook his head. "It's a long story. Tell me first, what are you two doing out here, in the middle of the night?"
There was something like a smile in Mr. 110's voice. "Things have happened here as well. The village has decided to keep patrols and sentries in the forest."
Those words twisted Vivi's heart in his chest for a moment, but if something had been wrong, these two, they wouldn't have been so calm. They would've said something about it. As it was, Vivi leaned forward intently.
"What things?"
Now there definitively was a smile in Mr. 110's voice. "It is a shorter story than yours, I think, so it might be better to save it for last. What brings you in the forest in the middle of the night, Mister Vivi? Surely it isn't to patrol."
"I came to warn the village," he answered. "A dangerous monster is on the prowl, just outside the forest. I don't know if it'll attack the village, but I'm not taking chances."
Mr. 110 didn't openly react, silently taking in what Vivi was saying. "Ah. And what manner of monster is it?"
"It's called Ozma, and it's one of the most powerful monsters I know. It used to sleep quietly up in the clouds, but for some reason it came down and attacked the Invincible." Vivi grimaced despite himself as he recalled the unfettered aggression and power Ozma had unleashed on the ship, bringing it down in a matter of seconds. "I think that's what the Ladybug was fleeing from."
Mr. 110 hummed quietly under his breath, but there was a new tension to his shoulders. "It would explain a lot of things. What happened to the ship?" he demanded, his voice sharper from the possible answers he might receive.
Vivi sighed as he shook his head. At least he had some good news. "Crashed, but Zidane is taking the others through Fossil Roo back to Lindblum, then Alexandria. They're all ok."
"They are safe; that's good," Mr. 110 said, and he looked up at the veil of cloud as if expecting to see something swooping down on them. "Still, these are dreadful news."
At the mention of safety, Vivi couldn't help thinking of the attack in the entrance of Fossil Roo, of the heavy air and half-flooded state. "They're alright, but I don't know if they're safe," he said miserably. They could all defend themselves, of course, but it didn't alleviate his worry. "Fossil Roo was strange."
Ichiro looked up at those words, his eyes intent and piercing. For some reason, Vivi found himself deeply unsettled by the intensity of the scrutiny. "How so?" the genome asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"First, the water level is higher, but I guess that can be explained easily," Vivi started, leaning back as he tried marshalling his thoughts around what exactly made him uncomfortable about Fossil Roo. "Second, we were attacked right away, and the monster managed to effortlessly knock out Freya and Eiko, though they weren't harmed in any way."
Ichiro frowned minutely. "That is surprising?"
Knowing the genome wasn't being mean towards the girls' abilities, Vivi only shook his head. "It shouldn't be, but there's something in the air I can't pin down, and it makes me uneasy."
Mr. 110 considered that explanation carefully as Ichiro returned his attention to the fire. Finally he spoke, starting carefully, as if afraid to offend Vivi.
"It is an underwater tunnel; maybe an entrance has been eroded deep in the sea bed to allow more water inside. More water would give more monsters room to live and multiply. Maybe that could explain it?" he finally said.
"I guess it can," Vivi ground out, but somehow that answer was not satisfying in the least. He felt like something more sinister was afoot, even if Mr. 110's explanation did make a lot of sense.
"You are still worried," Mr. 110 pointed out, and he sounded like he blamed himself for not comforting his friend properly. Vivi forced himself to at least look more at ease.
"Of course I am," he admitted truthfully. "But now that you said that, I'm more worried about you. You said things happened. What things?"
Mr. 110 raised his hands and made a diminishing gesture. "Nothing so dreadful you need to worry about. We have had a few monster uprisings, but we have brought them under control without casualties," the black mage explained easily. "We are merely being wary," he added, motioning at himself and Ichiro.
"Monster uprisings?" Vivi repeated incredulously.
Mr. 110 nodded. "Yes. Coming in and out of the forest, but now it has been so quiet we believe they have either all gone from the trees, or found deep places of hiding. We were baffled by their behavior, but your story might explain it all. I think Ozma has been scaring them senseless."
He had said no casualties. Vivi exhaled a deep breath of relief, and for the first time the weight against his heart wasn't so heavy. "So you're keeping patrol," Vivi finished, but a thought had him looking at pensive Ichiro strangely. "As for that, I can understand sending out black mages, but…" he hesitated, sensing the touchy subject, especially if spoken right before Ichiro, but Mr. 110 understood the unspoken question.
"We do not ask the genomes, or only few of them. Ichiro has become stronger while you were gone," the black mage explained.
"Stronger?"
Mr. 110 nodded. "Yes. His magical abilities have grown."
Ichiro, small, silent and content with staring into the fire while they spoke of him, didn't look like he was any different than before.
"How much?" Vivi asked, curious. It was the first time he heard of a genome who succeeded enough in the magical arts as to be truly noticed and known for it.
"I do not really know." Mr. 110 leaned his head to the side pensively. "It is constantly evolving now."
"Maybe it's an ability inherent in all genomes, but they just didn't have the chance to develop it before," Vivi suggested. "It'd be nice."
Mr. 110 nodded, but there was an odd tension in his shoulders. "It would be," he agreed noncommittally.
Vivi hummed under his breath; it was strange to think of, but for once it was an appreciable strangeness. Maybe now black mages wouldn't be the sole holders of black magic, and it would only be one more thing to share with genomes.
"The moon is moving down," Ichiro suddenly said as his gaze moved from the fire to the cloud-hidden sky. How he could tell where the moon was, Vivi didn't know.
"We should sleep, then," Mr. 110 said. "Let's stand guard and sleep in turns."
After the sentry order was decided, Vivi rolled down on the barren floor with too many thoughts tumbling around his skull to let him properly rest.
---
"I don't believe anyone will abandon the village willingly."
Vivi had found Mr. 288 in the cemetery. The black mage had become the unofficial leader of the village, but in the sense that people went to him for advice and guidance, but he held no real authority over his peers. Vivi had told him all about Ozma, Mr. 110 had reported the continuing changes –or lack thereof-- in the Zemzeletts' behavior, and Mr. 288 had listened silently, his eyes straying to the tombs spread before him. When the reports were finished and Vivi had halfheartedly recommended evacuation, he'd taken a moment to consider his words. His answer hadn't been surprising.
"It would be safer," Vivi answered, but he understood the black mages' feelings and shared them.
"Would it? Ozma might never bother us. We would be leaving the village for nothing."
Vivi sighed and fingered his hat, prey to dual motivations. "I know. But what if it does come?"
Mr. 288 looked at him intently, his face open yet unreadable. "We fight."
"But—"
"Tell me, what would you do in our stead? What would you do if you weren't going back to your friends?"
Vivi looked at the graves, didn't have to look back to see the village's rooftops, and knew what his answer would be. He'd known before he even suggested evacuating the village.
"I'd stay."
Mr. 288 nodded, seeming to have expected that answer.
"It's our home, the first we've had since we fled. We won't flee from possible dangers only to be homeless again."
"I know."
"But you want to go."
Vivi nodded in turn and straightened resolutely. He wanted to be with the black mages in case something happened, but the same was true with Zidane and the others.
"I want to be with my friends in case they need help, and I also want to go back to my kids, even if I have to cross Fossil Roo alone. Besides," Vivi added with a little smile, "you are all powerful enough. I won't make much of a difference by myself if Ozma attacks."
Mr. 288 returned his amusement with a quiet laugh.
"Good luck."
"You might need it more than me."
The two black mages exchanged farewells and Vivi left, Mr. 110 in tow. They were silent as they made their way over wooden bridges and planks towards the shops, but before Vivi could push open the door to the first, Mr. 110 put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
"Is something wrong?" Vivi asked, looking up at his friend, and the tilt of the other black mage's hat was sheepish.
"Technically, no, but I was wondering if you would care for some company during your travels?"
Vivi stared in surprise. "Of course, but—why?"
Mr. 110 looked to the side, embarrassed, but his eyes still held a faraway gleam.
"I think I want to see the world, have adventures. I am not satisfied with living in hiding."
"It's going to be dangerous," Vivi pointed out, because even though he would welcome the company and help, he wanted to make sure Mr. 110 knew what he was 'adventuring' in.
"Would it be worse than fighting Ozma?"
Vivi had to laugh at the irony of it even as a shudder ghosted up his spine at the sheer physical memory of the pain of his first encounter with the monster. "I guess not."
---
Zell knew he didn't know Seifer all that much. Sure, after having fought against the guy for so long, he'd gotten better at guessing his moods, but not his thoughts, not the way Squall sometimes managed it. That's how he explained not noticing sooner how…strange Seifer had gotten.
Walking closely behind the taller man, Zell didn't take his eyes off that red-crossed coat, and kept especially careful watch on his sword arm. At least now he seemed relatively sane, if you didn't count the random crap the man was steadily spouting.
"Hot-dogs are disgusting," Seifer presently stated, voice steady as could be, empty of the possible scorn he might have used before.
Zell rolled his eyes. "They aren't."
"Look at what they're made of. It's disgusting," Seifer retorted, absolutely serious, and shooting Zell a 'don't you see how obvious it is?' look over his shoulder.
"If people can eat animal brains and guts, I don't see what's so wrong with hot-dogs."
The first outburst had happened two days ago, but reflecting back, Zell realized Seifer had been on the downward slope for a while now. If anyone had noticed something was wrong then, maybe they could have avoided the whole thing; as it was, Irvine still hadn't forgiven Seifer for the damage to his hat. As for his badly sliced arm, he'd dismissed it already.
Zell stopped when Seifer did, resisting the urge to swear at the man. Last time Zidane had, it had nearly made more victims.
"Keep moving, man," he said, and chanced a firm but wary push on Seifer's shoulder.
The taller man didn't budge. He was looking at Zell scornfully, his eyes bright with the fever that hadn't broken in two days. "You eat animal brains?"
No swearing. Or insulting. Right. It wasn't really Seifer's fault if he was being lunatic anyways. "Doesn't matter if I do, just keep walking, ok?"
Seifer sneered at him –alright, that was pure normal Seifer-sneer, that was—and disdainfully started walking again. Zell was happy as long as Seifer was busy walking and not being violent.
He should've known it wouldn't last, though. Not one minute later Seifer was slowing down again, considering Zell out of the corner of his eye.
"Animal brains..? Really?"
Zell couldn't help smiling a little evilly. "Yeah. They're pretty good, actually. You should try them out sometimes." He'd never eaten animal brains in his life, and he didn't think he'd ever want to try.
Seifer hummed quietly, looking ahead as he considered the wisdom of Zell's words. "Are you sure? Maybe that's why you never grew taller…"
Zell felt his cheeks burn, and sick Seifer or not, he wasn't going to let that one slide. "Fuck you, Almasy, I'm not short!"
And he really should've thought twice before saying that. Swearing in general didn't really make Seifer snap. It was swearing at him, personally. It was like pushing the big, red, don't touch button. Seifer was even more a prickly bastard when he was raving.
As it was, Zell saw Seifer move quickly enough, and he had his sword arm locked behind his back before he could draw Hyperion. The man still fought, cursing Zell up and down for insulting him, but unless he was ready to pop a socket –and Zell had no qualms about doing it, not anymore— he'd have to give. Writhing like an eel for a few more moments, during which Zell had to manhandle Seifer's other arm in a deadlock, Seifer finally subsided, his back stiff with wounded pride.
"Ok now?" Zell asked, a little out of breath, because he might have the upper hand in sheer strength and hand-to-hand techniques, but Seifer was still pretty damn tall.
"Let me go," Seifer answered, and it was the sanest Zell had heard him in a while. He hesitated only a second before letting go.
"What's wrong, man?" he asked, because Seifer really had sounded normal for once. They had yet to have any answer to that question, but he could always try, right?
The taller man looked at him seriously, and though the feverish light in his eyes was still strong, Seifer's stare was intent and guarded.
"I don't know."
Zell was taken aback by the sheer fact that he'd received an actual answer. He blinked at Seifer, who turned back and started walking again, following the others' torches up ahead. Seifer didn't know, and he'd admitted to it. That fact gave a new level of significance to Seifer's unknown sickness.
"What – what does it feel like?" Zell hazarded after a while, hoping for Seifer's moment of clarity to hold. They'd tried Treatment, but it had slid off Seifer's skin without healing a thing.
Seifer tilted his head like he was considering the question. "Cerberus did warn me something would happen," he said in lieu of answer, and Zell felt his shoulders slump with a sigh of disappointment. He should've known he wouldn't be so lucky.
"Cerberus? The GF Cerberus?"
Seifer nodded. "I remember it saying that outside wouldn't be safer than inside."
Zell had stopped understanding what Seifer was saying a while ago, but he decided to keep him talking. He might be talking weird, but the tone of his voice was so honest, that it was hard not to believe, at least a little, that what he said might be true.
"Outside and inside what?"
"My mind."
Zell's eyes widened in dubious surprise. "You met Cerberus in your own mind? I thought we couldn't communicate like that with our GFs."
Smirking openly, Seifer shrugged arrogantly. "You don't know a lot of things."
"Da—" Zell caught himself before the word got out. The idiot could be as infuriating when he was sick as when he was healthy. "Meeting up with a GF doesn't make you that much wiser."
"Have you ever talked to Ifrit? Or whoever else you've got junctionned?"
"No, and so long as they come when asked, I don't mind if I don't."
Seifer didn't reply to that, walking on silently, but Zell didn't like how he casually rested his hand on Hyperion's hilt. At least the others knew to keep a small, cautious distance in front of the swordsman. Monsters were bad enough without having to add him to the enemy list.
Suddenly Seifer stopped again, but this time his entire balance shifted, his gravity lowering and his legs spreading, ready to leap into battle, or react to an attack. Zell froze and mimicked that move, but if there was any danger he was expecting it from another source entirely.
"What's that sound?" the taller man asked, looking to the right into a small depression in the rock everyone else had passed by without noticing anything. It was dark and silent, but Seifer leaned closer, eyes sharp with concentration.
"What sound?" Zell asked cautiously, and he moved forward to stand beside Seifer so he could peer in the darkness as well. With the others steadily bearing the torches away, it was hard seeing anything at all, but eventually Zell managed to make out a deeper darkness from the rest of the shadows.
There was a hole too small to fit a moogle in the rocky ground, deep enough in the shadows that it was easy to miss even by torchlight. Seifer angrily motioned for silence, then pointed down that tiny hole.
Zell raised eyebrows at him and mouthed, very clearly, "Are you mad?" because there was no way going near that hole or putting his hand or foot in it was in any way a good idea.
Seifer glowered at him, but seemed content enough to have Zell's silence as he returned his attention to the object of his curiosity.
Zell first considered wrestling Seifer away, but he didn't know how to approach it without sparking another madness spell in Seifer. He liked his limbs intact, thank you very much, and the gunblade master was more moody than a Mesmerize with its blade cut. Still, there had to be something there to distract Seifer, so Zell found himself unwittingly leaning closer –though he remained a reasonable distance away, he wasn't stupid—and listened.
At first there was nothing. Just the echoes of the others' dying footsteps as they realized Seifer and Zell weren't following, then their soft whispers as they wondered why. There was the crackling of a torch, the creak of leather and the rustle of clothing. Zell was about to give up when something he couldn't quite identify caught his attention, and he stepped closer despite his better judgment to listen.
It sounded like something was breathing, but with difficulty. It inhaled with the high whistle of a clogged throat but exhaled in a ragged, choking growl. Zell's first reaction was to back away, but then a spark of familiarity froze his steps. He listened harder, then looked aside at Seifer. He was looking at him intently, his pupils dilated in the dark, and that stare was telling him he knew what was down there as well, and that he knew Zell had guessed as well. Overall it was unnerving, and Zell swallowed hard before straightening back up.
"It sounds like the dying gargant we found earlier," Zell finally said, and though he couldn't hear the sound of the breathing over his own voice, he was sure of it. That tiny hole must connect with an underlying tunnel, where, by the sounds of it, the giant insect had decided to die.
Seifer nodded, looking far too wild to Zell's liking. "It is." The gunblade master looked down the hole, and though his intentions were clearly written all over his face, Zell still wasn't fast enough to stop Seifer from reaching down the shaft.
"Hey, don't!"
A thousand scenarios scrambled through Zell's mind, mostly revolving around the possibility that a monster might still have found shelter in that hole somehow. Not waiting to think, Zell stepped forward and firmly yanked Seifer's unharmed arm out of the shaft.
"Be careful, man!" he hissed, and of course he should've expected what was coming. Seifer had become a violent wildcard, but a strangely predictable one.
"Don't come closer," Seifer snapped back, yanking his arm out of Zell's grip, and the martial arts master realized in slow motion that despite the sword arm he was holding, and maybe because of it, Seifer's other fist circled back fast to land a powerful blow to his exposed ribs. Zell twisted to minimize the impact, but he still fell backwards with his breath neatly knocked out of his lungs.
His vision went black for a second, but the second blow he half expected didn't come. Alarmed voices ran nearer, and Zell was aware of someone kneeling before him that carefully reached over to prod his hands off his ribs and evaluate the damage. His vision mostly returned by that time, and a little of his breath, which he figured might be the only reason he couldn't properly yell right now.
Seifer was the bastard checking his ribs, and he wore a completely unreadable look. Zell forced himself to breath deep, blinked the painful black spots from his eyes, and pushed Seifer's hands away.
"The hell was that for, man?" he managed, and fuck if that made the idiot react badly, Zell would be glad to give Seifer a bruise to match what his ribs felt like right now.
Seifer looked up, his feverish eyes a little too wide, his skin clammy and sickly.
"You ribs aren't broken, but they might be bruised."
"No surprise there," Zell ground out and straightened to diminish the strain, but it was already lessening. "Was there even something in that hole?"
"Probably. I don't know."
Zell closed his eyes a moment and forced down the bottled fury and worry and exhaustion that were threatening to explode very violently. Seifer, arrogant, mean and sharp-tongued he could endure. This…sickness or whatever it was, he had more trouble with. He kept telling himself it wasn't really Seifer's fault, but it was hard not to think the man wasn't even trying to fight it. He'd become his caretaker since, amongst those strong enough to restrain Seifer in a fit, he was the one the guy reacted the less violently to, Ifrit knew why.
Still, Zell wasn't a saint, didn't have a lot of patience, and he knew it. He rose to his feet and looked back at the others, waiting, asking if everything was ok, eyeing Seifer distrustfully. He decided he wanted to sleep.
"I'm fine, I'm too tough to get beat up by Almasy!" he first told the others, and true enough, the ache was dulling. "Let's just get out of here."
As everyone started moving with different levels of distrust and confusion, Squall hung back near Seifer and gave Zell a meaningful look that clearly stated he was picking up guard duty for now. Though he wouldn't be sad to drop that task for a while, Zell also felt a little guilty at leaving others to Seifer's tender ministrations. But since when had he become his personal nurse anyways? Chasing the feelings away, Zell firmly left Seifer behind and followed the others.
Not ten paces later he could hear Seifer's longer strides closely matching his own from behind.
"You should take a potion. We might have to fight again, and you're dead weight if you can't defend yourself."
Trust Seifer to be a bastard even after he hit you. Zell shot him a vicious look. "I can still fight! Don't get ideas, that flick of yours just knocked my wind!"
Walking before Seifer, Zell missed how the taller man raised his chin defiantly, ready for a counterattack, when his eyes suddenly lost their sharpness and softened into a strange, startled and guilty look that was entirely puzzled at itself.
"I'm sorry."
Zell almost missed a step. Seifer apologizing to him was even more alien than him admitting he didn't know something. Zell stared over his shoulder, saw Seifer's look, and decided he wasn't going to ask.
"Next time, just warn a guy before you punch him."
A slow, familiar smirk made its way across Seifer's face.
TBC