Woooooo for quickness! We are aiming for one a week now D. Hopefully the story is getting better too P. Anyways enjoy chapter 5!
Chapter 5- Beneath the Skin
"I think it looks cool!"
"Bit plain…couldn't you get any better designs?"
"Where did you get it done!?"
"How much did it cost? I want one!"
Unanswerable questions were all that seemed to be heading in the direction of Shaun right now. He did not know how it got there…nor did he know why it had got here. All he wanted was for everyone to shut up right now and let him think.
Maybe he was just drunk one night at a party, and some friends tricked him into getting it done. Then again, he couldn't remember going to any party's recently, and therefore discarded this thought as a very very unlikely possibility. It was as though it had just appeared there, on his arm over night. As if it had been waiting to just rise out of nowhere and for no reason.
When he first saw it, he thought he must have been hallucinating. After all he had been having very odd thoughts recently…and the stress of these thoughts might have got to his mind. After several long hours of staring at it however, it was plain that it was real, and now he was regretting showing his closest friend it, as now everyone was asking about it.
Tattoos weren't exactly uncommon however around college, it was more because of the unusual design that it attracted more attention than any tattoo normally would.
"Don't know, don't know and don't know… Anyways I've gotta go to class." He pushed passed everyone who was blocking his way, and headed off in the direction of his next lesson.
"Hey Shaun…wait up!" He did not really feel like waiting up for anyone at this moment in time. Half annoyed at himself, half scared, he just kept walking.
A few seconds later however, the person to whom the voice belonged to appeared. It was Alex, and unsurprisingly, the first thing that she said was.
"What were all of those people so interested in then?" This sounded genuine…so it did mean that Shaun could lie if he wanted. Alex had been a good friend to him over the years though…and lying to her did not seem like the right thing to do.
He pulled up his sleeve.
Alex's head tilted slightly. "It's kinda ugly…" She then continued to walk with him. They both had next lesson together.
Shaun was so grateful that she had not continued on the subject that his face broke into a very wide smile. It was nice for something normal to happen.
"You could tell me why everyone is so interested in it though…I mean what does it do…make you unlucky for the rest of your life?" She chuckled to herself at her bad joke. "And what's with the numerals? I mean come on…why not just a rose or something?"
Shaun did not feel like answering. He knew perfectly well why people were so interested in it, though it did not interest him in the slightest.
Of course you know what this means don't you!!!??? Tifa yelled at Alex. To be perfectly honest, she did not have a clue what this meant. She was just so tired at the moment to really care. Oh my god you are so oblivious girl…
-
More difficult than you thought it would be right? Josh was in drama at the moment. Listening to his teacher drone on and on about the same play for their upcoming exam. He knew it was not wise…but he continued to attempt to tap into the material embedded in his arm. It was only on the very rare occasion that he managed to make it work however, and if ever it did work in class, he doubted anybody would notice. He was sitting at the back of the room only in sight of about two people, and they both looked ready to fall asleep.
You know I think you are developing some sort of addiction to this… that can be quite a nasty little side effect for first time users, but it won't last for long. I can assure you the novelty will wear off after a while. He wasn't listening, he was too busy concentrating.
Without warning, the same euphoric feeling engulfed his right hand. He quickly shoved his hand in his pocked so that nobody saw the green aura, and if they saw the glow through the pocket he could say it was his phone.
For god sakes try and target somewhere other than your hand! Lot of good that would be in a battle…you get a broken foot and the most you can do is heal your hand. Bravo…
That would be something he would have to try later. Right now he wanted to perfect actually using the materia itself, not where he targets it… then the thought occurred to him on using it on other people…this thought amused him at what the looks might be on people's faces.
"Which in conclusion means that the influence of brecht on this play is quite apparent, but you should not forget to mention Arteaud, as he was also a big influence on the style on this play… Ok well we can leave it there for now. See you all tomorrow."
Nobody hesitated to get out of the room. Drama was fine when they were actually acting, which was what Josh thought Drama was all about…but learning the theory was just to tedious.
Something Josh never thought he would do…and yet he did it. He actually deliberately spoke to Sephiroth. So where can we find more material? Would be cool to be able to do more than just cure…
Josh did not know what the feeling was…but a sudden happiness came over him, though it did not feel like his emotion. Could this mean that Sephiroth was happy about something?
All in good time…I will tell you if I see any…it is half luck…but you should be more patient boy…
-
"Ok…so let me get this straight…it just appeared on your arm overnight…?" Alex asked Shaun, whilst developing some photographs.
"Yes." Shaun replied bluntly.
"And you have absolutely no idea how it got there?" Alex seemed to be disbelieving of this. Her theory was that Shaun was just turning into some kind of rebel and wanted to cover it up with a pretty rubbish fake story.
"Nope…and if you are going to keep questioning me in that tone then…" He stopped…he did not much want to get on the wrong side of Alex…from what he had heard she could get very, very nasty.
Alex seemed to be able to sense what Shaun was thinking. Never known him to be like that before… Tifa's voice echoed in her head. Again Alex didn't know, nor did she care what was meant by this, but thought it would be polite to point out… "You don't know him."
Tifa did not answer, something that Alex was thankful for, as she needed to concentrate on what she was doing since there was only a few minutes left of the lesson.
"Not like you to be all silent Tifa…" Alex spun round and looked at who had said this. To her utter shock and surprise, it had come from Shaun.
Shaun, on the other hand, had an extremely blank look on his face. "…what did I just say…?" He laughed. "God I hate it when that happens…mild touch of amnesia there…" He laughed again at his own forgetfulness.
Alex had just opened her mouth to tell him exactly what it was he had said…but then thought better of it. There was no-one else in the darkroom, but all the same maybe she had just been hearing things.
Great…now I am hearing even more voices…life can't get much better than this…
Lesson was over. Alex knew that Josh would have already gone home by now, so she decided to walk with Shaun. Now that she had 'heard' him say this, she had become very intrigued by him. Perhaps she was just being stupid though.
They walked. Neither of them were saying anything to the other. Alex did not know what to say, she was more analysing him to try and confirm the suspicion that had arisen inside her. However…her suspicions could not be right. It was all coincidence after all. The voice inside of her head, everything was complete and utter nonsense, something that her mind had probably decided to make up to entertain her through the monotonous work that was, college.
"I want to go and get some food I think..." Alex said out loud, passing the news agents on the corner of the street, "…might help the headache I got from the damn darkroom."
Shaun simply nodded at her and walked into the shop with her. She bought a chocolate bar and a packet of chewing gum. It was when she walked outside of the shop that something happened so fast she did not really see what happened.
She was putting her change away in her wallet, when a person wearing a hood snatched it and ran off as fast as they could.
"Son of a bitch!" Shaun yelled, and then ran after him. Alex did not know what to do except watch.
She knew Shaun rather well…and never had he been an athlete. Somehow however, he had managed to run after the thief with surprising speed and tackle him to the ground with a sickening crunch.
Shaun snatched back the wallet…but the thief managed to struggle free and run for it. To Alex's horror, the crunch seemed to come from Shaun's wrist, which had hit the pavement when he tackled the hooded man.
"Fu…"
"Don't worry about it." Shaun said, cutting her off. He held out the wallet for her to take. "I don't think it is broken…just…dislocated…"
Alex looked at it in shock. She did not know why he had done that for her. They weren't exactly great mates. Sure they had known each other for years, but in that time they had not got close enough to merit such an act of kindness.
Then Shaun did something that was unexpected and made Alex feel sick. With his free hand, he seized hold of the dislocated wrist and clicked it back into place. It looked like one of the most painful things in the world to do, yet Shaun's expression was blank. It was as though his mind and his body were completely disconnected, so he did not feel any pain at all.
Alex could not take it, she ran to the nearest clump of bushes and heaved. What she had just witnessed just seemed so disgusting to see right before your very eyes. When finally she felt better she returned to where Shaun was standing and looked at him.
"Need all four limbs working I guess Red…" Alex looked shocked. She did not mean to say this, yet the words seemed to have just involuntary come out of her mouth.
"Bad enough having to walk on two legs…" Shaun had the same blank expression on his face, "…what the hell…"
Alex turned and started walking off in the direction of her house, not sure if staying in close proximity with Shaun was a very good idea at this moment in time. Shaun however caught up with her.
"Wait up!"
"I need to get some sleep…sorry Shaun…" She walked off very briskly in a manner that quite clearly said 'leave me alone'.
-
Of all the hosts I could have got and I had to get one that can't ever master a simple spell!! Josh was getting better, but the constant stream of moaning was enough to drive him insane.
He tried and tried to make the spell more natural to cast…but it was still rare when it actually worked.
Imagine you trying to help someone dying… 'Oh help I have ten seconds to live'… 'Hang on…just give me a couple of hours…'
"Will you just shut up!" He shouted. Josh did not know what he expected though, Sephiroth wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world, so he could hardly expect to get any praise from him…then again for all the good he had done there was nothing to be praised for.
Josh was at home now, in his room…and yet again, he was the only person in the house. This was one of the problems with his timetable in his opinion, even though he had a lot of time off, it did mean he was on his own an awful lot. However he could hardly say he was alone now, with Sephiroth always with him.
He looked over at the mirror. Sure enough the horrible pale eyes were staring right back at him, a look of disgust on his face.
"You know it is not going to be much longer before I can break free of this…my power over you…" Sephiroth began.
"Is growing stronger and stronger with each passing day…" Josh finished…unable to stop himself from saying these words, "…even now I am able to control…"
"…your speech." Sephiroth finished.
"Why are you saying all of this again?" Josh was not sure why he would repeat himself.
"Well…maybe the force that put me into this situation is listening…and the idea of me killing my host might be enough for them to reverse it." Sephiroth seemed to be trying to convince himself of this more than anything.
"And you really believe that do you? You are stuck with me, so deal with it, and besides, you know as well as I do that if you kill me, you will kill yourself as well…" There was a quiver in Josh's voice, evidently he was still scared of Sephiroth.
Josh's hand then involuntary flung up and grasped his throat. "But then again…maybe death will be the escape back into my world…maybe that is the connection between your world and my world…" Sephiroth's voice sounded constricted, as though he too had a hand around his throat, "…and all I need to do is squeeze…"
"Are you willing to take that chance…?" Josh's hand tightened on his throat…he could not breath at all…all he could see was Sephiroth's face in the mirror…looking if possible…scared.
His hand released its grip. Josh was gasping for breath, unable to believe what had just happened.
"Keeping a cool head in a situation like that…you might not be as useless as I thought after all…it is just going to take me a lot of patience…" Sephiroth looked as though patience was the last thing that he wanted to have.
Josh could feel Sephiroth's emotions after all. When he looked in the mirror at him, he could see a man trying to put on a calm façade, but inside he knew that he was screaming for release.
This connection was something that seemed to be forging as Sephiroth gained more 'Power' over him. This did make Josh wonder if it was possible for him to have power over Sephiroth…but he doubted it, as he was not in the same league.
"God I need to get out of here…and I swear when I find out what. or who, did this to me…I will destroy them…"
-
"Ah someone I know! Honestly I could sing!" Seeing Tifa's form in the television as soon as Alex got home, was not what she considered to be a great thing to happen on top of everything else.
This did have its comic value however, seeing Tifa look so out of place in the middle of Deal or no Deal, where all the contestants just ignored her there, as they could not see her.
Alex did not feel like answering her. After all, Tifa had taken control of her voice, and if she had been wrong in guessing who Shaun was, would have made her look like an insane person…
"You know what…it is tonight I think…" Alex looked at her as the £250,000 was discovered in box twelve, "…everything will change after tonight…well…more than things have changed in the last few weeks anyway."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, forgetting the vow of silence that she was trying to take against her.
"Oh, don't worry." Tifa seemed to enjoy knowing something that Alex didn't.
Maybe she is going to kill…
"I am not going to kill you! And don't forget I am inside your head…you seem to forget that all the time…I can 'read your mind' you know?"
Alex went up to her room…forgetting that she would not be able to just leave Tifa in the T.V, which at this moment in time would have been something she would very much like to have done.
Maybe Red will have an idea of how to get back…he does come out with some smart ideas…at times…when he feels like it…occasionally…well…more than Barret…which isn't saying much…but still…
Alex just wanted to get to sleep, though it was a very uneasy sleep that she drifted off into after she had heard all of this. What was it that Tifa was going to attempt tonight, was it going to be dangerous, would Alex even be conscious of what she was doing, or would she forget, just like Shaun did when his speech was taken over? These definitely were not comforting thoughts, as her eyes grew very heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.
Authors Notes: Con crit please if you have any, and please review to let us know what you think!
R&A