Disclaimer: I do not own or make any money from this fanfiction.
Warnings: Not much really
A/N: I'm gonna chat as not many people read the Authors notes, just Review at the end and tell me what you think
ENJOY
Seifer groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, his head was pounding and his chest felt stiff but other than that he was fine. He was a little unsure as to why his chest was hurting though, the headache was probably from drinking too much with Raijin- wait… Seifer bolted up right, ignoring the shocked scream a nurse gave out and glanced round the room, looking for any signs of danger. He relaxed when he found only the disgruntled nurse who was giving him a very worthy death glare. He moved the thin blanket aside and moved to get out of bed when a firm hand grabbed his shoulder.
The disgruntled nurse's stare was fierce and she was surprisingly strong as she tried to wrestle Seifer back into bed. "I'm sorry Mr Almasy but you're in no position in to get out of this bed, it was only yesterday that you were brought to us near dead." The nurse said her voice calm but left no room for arguments. Seifer raised a brow in question and then furrowed them in a frown when he realised that by all rights he should be dead after getting hit with that spear of ice. Raising a hand to his chest he was shocked to feel smooth, if not slightly hot to the touch, skin around where he had been pierced. It was like the wound had never happened.
"What happened?" Seifer questioned while trying to remove the nurses hands which were still trying to get him to lie down. The nurse sighed after a couple of minutes and stepped back, her face pale and tired, and full of sympathy as she tidied the covered on the bed.
"Yesterday you were brought to us by Commander Leonhart with severe curse poisoning to the nervous system. The curse had spread to all of your internal organs and it was a miracle that one of your friends knew how to combine spells with potions or you would have been dead. Dr Odine and several nurses brought you into theatre where we attempted to flush your body of the curse."
The nurse stopped and Seifer blinked when he spotted tears in the womans eyes. She took a deep breath and continued though her voice wavered with every word.
"It was mid operation when your heart began to fail and also when Commander Leonhart stormed into the theatre. I don't know how he did it but you owe that man your life, it is a shame that you won't be able to thank him-" Instantly Seifer was off the bed and gripping the nurse by the shoulders tightly, one second away from shaking her.
"What do you mean? Why won't I be able to thank him?" The nurse took a shuddering breath and stared into Seifer's confused eyes before she found the courage to answer.
"Commander Leonhart has been in a coma since yesterday."
Selphie hummed as she calmly brushed Squall's hair, smiling sadly at the thought that the man had to be in a coma for her to do it. If Squall had been awake he would have surely sent a death glare her way but as it was, he kept on sleeping soundly, the only noise in the room was the various monitors and machines surrounding the bed.
She had stayed up all night, watching the brunette sleep, praying that Dr Odine was wrong and that Squall really was sleeping and that he would wake up at any minutes, blinking sleepily before the realisation that someone was in the room would cause him to be alert and glare. However nothing happened, no change is Squall's vitals, not even an eyelid flutter. Squall was dead to the world, locked somewhere far far away in his own mind. Dr Odine assured her that Squall didn't have any permanent damage to the brain, and that his brain would heal, but it was up to Squall if he awoke and when he did there was a high chance that he would have amnesia, how bad even Dr Odine didn't know, all the doctor knew was that someone had forced their way into Squall's memories with no finesse whatsoever and dug around until Squall's memories were in shambles.
'It is like someone had taken a finished Jigsaw puzzle and took all the pieces and moved them round' or so Dr Odine had said, 'it will take time to fit the pieces back the right way again, this is why Squall is in a coma with the damage and the magic exhaustion as well, Squall's body has done the only thing it can and shut down.' Selphie had hardly believed it when Dr Odine had told her that, it was hard to believe that Squall, the impenetrable, cold hearted, death glaring, sword wielding, stubborn leader, could be in a coma. It just didn't add up and it left Selphie in a panic. She hadn't realised how she, and probably the others, relied on Squall to be there, to guide them, to support them. When she looked back, every problem she had, every time she felt unsure about something, Squall had been there like a guardian angel.
"Oh Squall, please wake up soon. I miss you already." Selphie sighed, giggling when a stubborn lock of hair refused to lie flat on Squall's head. "Even your hair is stubborn, Squall. I know you can wake up. You never were one for sleeping." She put the brush to the side and began tidying Squall's covered like a doting mother, being careful not to knock any of the wires.
SMASH!
Selphie jumped at the sound, spinning round and grabbing her nunchucks, glaring at the door. Shouting could be heard from beyond the closed door, things being smashed and broken though Selphie couldn't make out the voice. She prepared herself just in case it was an enemy and when the door flew off the hinges she swung her nunchucks in a wide arch.
"Whoa!" Selphie gaped as the one pointed end of her nunchucks flew past a bright blond head and carved a deep groove into the wall.
"Hey watch it bouncy! You nearly took my head off!" Seifer fumed, watching as Selphie stared at him with an open mouth and until she threw the weapons on the floor and flew at him. Seifer grunted at the force Selphie flew into him with and grimaced when he noticed her thin shoulders shaking.
"Hey, no getting snot on my hospital greys! Stop with the snivelling!" Seifer exclaimed, feeling rather uncomfortable as he failed to pry Selphie off him as she sobbed into his chest and clung to him.
"Oh Seifer!" Selphie wailed, blinking up at Seifer with watery eyes, looking years younger and reminding Seifer of when they used to be children, how Selphie used to cling to Irvine's arm and stare at him with watery eyes when the cowboy tried to go somewhere without her. Seifer sighed, raising a hand and patting Selphie on the head like a dog.
"There there bouncy, all is alright now. I'm here." He assured, blinking when Selphie broke out in a beaming smile, her whole face lighting up.
"Yes! Maybe you can wake Squall up! Maybe a ki-oomph." Seifer slapped a hand over Selphie's mouth and gave her the most intimidating look he could while dressed in hospital greys.
"Selphie, go and get me a cup of coffee and stop referring to Squall as Sleeping Beauty."Seifer ordered, feeling a shudder run down his back at the thought of Squall and his fury when he woke up because even if the brunette was asleep, he would have heard what Selphie was going to say. Selphie glanced at the bed and shuddered as well, obviously having the same thoughts. She nodded her head and when Seifer removed his hand she was off like a shot.
Seifer looked at the bed, ignoring the various nurses trying to fix the door. He walked up to the bed and frowned at what he saw. Squall was pale, paler then the white sheets he lay on, he had a oxygen mask on and had drips going into his left hand and arm. Dark rings lay under his eyes which barely moved. It was horrible to see and Seifer felt his chest ache more at the sight.
He slumped into the chair and ran a hand through his hair to push it out of his face, trying to gather his thoughts. After the disgruntled nurse had told him that Squall was in a coma, he had literally ran from the room, demanding to see Squall however the nurses were determined to herd him back to bed, worried that he might collapse, but Seifer felt fine, better then fine in fact he felt fantastic. He felt like he had drunk about several cups of coffee in one go.
He glanced round the bare room; it was just white walls, no pictures, no flowers, nothing. He looked at the machines watching as they all beeped so quietly it was hard to hear. There was a hologram device that showed a picture of Squall's bran activity, most parts were a healthy green colour however the area that were supposedly Squall's memory cortex was an alarming shade of red, ringed with purple and it didn't seem to be disappearing either.
He looked back at Squall, his eyes flicking to his free hand and felt the urge to hold Squall's hand which looked so fragile against the sheets but he didn't dare. The last time he could remember being close to Squall while he was injured, he had made a joke about holding Squall's hand and went to do so and found himself a getting a nasty kick to his privates. Even now after all these years, it made him hesitant to go near Squall while the man vulnerable. Squall had always been a wildcat when he was at his most vulnerable; lashing out with cold looks, harsh words-sometimes- and devastating attacks but Seifer couldn't blame him for that. Growing up in an orphanage is hard, you have to be strong all the time, watch your back all the time just in case an older, vindictive child decided to go for you because you had a pen they wanted or something stupid like they didn't like your hair.
Seifer had been lucky, he had grown up big, with wide shoulders and a strong build even as a child while Squall had been lean, lithe almost and easily mistaken for a girl as a child. It was why Seifer had begun to bully Squall even as a child. In a twisted way it was to protect him against the other older children; no one went near Squall without Seifer finding out and when he did, oh boy were they in for it.
But looking at Squall now, Seifer felt helpless; there was nothing he could do to help Squall now. He couldn't bully him out of a coma though he wished he could. The only thing he could do was sit there and be a silent guardian to the brunette. Ah screw it, he'll kick me anyway. Seifer reached out and held Squall's hand, feeling the cold clammy skin and frowning before barking out a laugh. "Even in a coma, you're still an ice prince!" Seifer glanced at the heart monitor when the steady slow beep, became a little faster before settling again. Looking back at Squall, he decided to test a theory; well people always said that patients in a coma can hear everything.
"I know you can hear me Squally so don't even try to ignore me," The heart monitor gave another set of fast beeps. "How dare you take the heroism away from me, there I was being the hero for once and you have to go and do something like this. Typical, always the drama queen." Seifer gave a suffering sigh even as he unconsciously began to stroke his thumb across Squall's knuckles, his lips quirking when the heart monitor beeped a little faster at his words. The holographic project wavered as it updated with the recent data, the picture seemingly looking the same as before but Seifer squinted at it, he was sure something was different.
"Hey Pretty Boy, did you know your brain is pretty lame…?" Seifer carried on looking at the hologram, talking about anything and everything, enjoying the steady but faster beeps of Squall's heart monitor.
Selphie stood in the doorway, a cup of coffee in one hand and Squall's medical notes which she stole of a nurse in the other, she wore a soft smile on her face. She didn't dare move as she didn't want to ruin the moment but knew had to.
"Seifer? Here is your coffee and Squall's medical notes. I thought you'd like to read them." Seifer snorted as he took the offered items
"Sure, I always wondered what Squall's medical history was like," Selphie giggled and quickly grabbed another chair, faintly noticing that Seifer had yet to release Squall's hand. "So are you going to explain to me how I'm still alive?"
"Well, We're not really sure but Dr Odine says that Squall transferred all of his magical energy into your body, forcing it to heal your body and rid you of the curse, however after doing some tests on you, he says that he's found another magical energy that's nothing like what he's seen before. But I do know that it had something to do with Griever and Lionheart." Selphie explained, watching as Seifer's eyesbrows rose and then the blond swore, sending a vicious glare at the soundly sleeping Squall.
"That idiot!"
"What? What is it Seifer?" Selphie asked, feeling the hairs raise on the back of her neck.
"When I was Ultimecia's knight, the crazy witch liked to do experiments and one of them was GF energy transference,"
"Transference?"
"Yes, she sealed some of the pure GF energy into herself, how else do you think she managed to merge herself and the GF Griever into one being. By doing this she was able to draw magic not from just her own energy but also from Griever's, making her spells much more devastating. It was an insane thing to do because it required flooding a certain area in the body with pure, uncontrolled magical energy, especially from a GF." Seifer's grip tightened on Squall's hand and he glared at Squall even harder.
Selphie frowned, "You mean, in order to save your life, Squall flooded your body with his magical essence and then sealed a part of Griever inside you?"
"Yes." Seifer snapped out.
"Oh." Selphie slumped back in her seat, feeling a little overwhelmed. "That's crazy, he could have died!" She cried out when it finally sank in. Seifer nodded his head.
"Yeah he could have but Griever is also sealed with Squall too so that's probably the reason why Squall is in a coma and not dead."
"It's just insane!" Selphie shook her head, her mind going into overdrive.
Seifer laughed, gulping the rest of his coffee. "No, It's Squall, he acts like a cold hearted jerk but he has the heart of gold and cares about everyone." Selphie laughed before she sighed.
"Do you think he'll wake up?" Seifer shrugged.
"I don't know, hell I've never known what's going through Squall's mind, and if these notes are right, at this moment in time, neither does Squall."
Squall looked round, frowning when he spotted half a building floating on the sea, tree's that seemed to be made of golden feathers and a beach made of bones. He looked at the only thing that didn't seem to be from a badly made fantasy movie and that was the ruins of an old building that was vaguely familiar to him. He walked along the beach, ignoring the crunch of bones or how a train flew past upside down, or how a dog with a halo and wings sat just at the edge of the golden feathered forest. It all looked familiar but he just couldn't remember where he'd seen it all.
He made it to the ruins, glancing up at the sky as lightning flashed and danced across the dark clouds. He walked inside, frowning even more when the rain that just began to pour didn't reach him.
"What in the world is this place?" Squall spoke aloud as he glanced at the six half rotten beds, at the toys that lay on the floor. He bent and picked up a plush Tonberry that had one beady eye and one black button for the other. Again it looked familiar.
'…Seify!' Squall swung round, glancing round frantically and just catching the glimpse of someone running past the doorway. He quickly followed and stumbled when he found himself in a desert with a massive building made of sand.
"What?" He turned round and saw the ruined house one the dry dirt land with the rain still pouring but the rain stopped at the edge of the sand, the two never meeting.
He looked between the two buildings and shook his head, confusion and fear making his heart pound.
'bark!' Squall glanced at the angelic dog that sat at the edge of the ruined house, brown eyes staring at him.
He calmly walked towards the dog, clutching the Tonberry plush tightly. "Hey boy," The dog barked again and stood up, its tail wagging happily. Squall smiled and went to stroke the dog only to find his hand passed right through it.
"What?" The dog yelped and jumped back, shaking its head. "What? I don't understand!" Squall asked, looking back the Tonberry toy he held firmly to the dog he couldn't touch. The dog barked and moved to the doorway and barked again.
"You want me to follow you?" The dog nodded its head and walked off, leaving Squall to scramble after it, never noticing a shadow following after him.
A/N: Again review and tell me what you think :)