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Revenant	By : RaceUlfson Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1744 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
rev�e�nant (rv-nnt) n.
1) One that returns after a lengthy absence. 2) One who returns after death.

Chapter 6

{Irvine}

Well, they were dead and covered with blood but never let
it be said that Irvine Kinneas couldn�t handle two naked women smiling at him.
Even if those smiles were a mite� hungry.

�Ladies!� I tried. �Fancy meeting you here.� I leered and
hoped I didn�t look too much like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.

�Poor Pretty Boy,� One said. Her voice bubbled like
Norg�s. Or someone�s with terminal pneumonia.

�Not poor with the riches of femininity that just happened
along�� Good fucking Hyne, Kinneas, the sweetened bullshit that comes out of
your mouth would gag a chocobo botfly.
Habit. Sheer habit and nothing
else kept the syrup of my words flowing.

�Such a pretty boy.� She was painted in blood and there were thumbprints on her
eyelids, nail marks. �Play with us �
all men fancy two ladies.� She rubbed
one hand over her lacerated breast. The flesh was cut and the skin opened like
tiny mouths slobbering blood. �Don�t
you want to touch us?�

The other one moved behind her and looked at me while
caressing the other girl. �Taste us�
you know you want to,� she bubbled from her cut windpipe.

I have never been gay.
I just like sex. Suddenly, Gay
was Good. Good good good, never touch
another woman, I�ll go celibate, never do anything as long as I didn�t have to
touch those women. Please let a big strong man come and take all this
away from me. A big, strong, living man. Or, shit, a Chihuahua dog,
anything, I�m not proud. Just make them go the fuck away.

�He�s shy.�

Great. While I�m
fantasizing a savior, they got to either side of me, moving too fast, like a
sped up camera. The smell was
horrible. Blood. Old blood.
And that smell of rot, where you know if you look too close,
you�re going to see maggots; it was a special smell only they make with their
soft, busy bodies.

The one with the shorter hair leaned in close and I fought
not to vomit. Don�t look don�t look
don�t look you know her mouth is full of them don�t fucking look�

I looked. There
were no maggots, but she had a razorblade imbedded deep in her tongue.

�Kiss me, Cowboy.� She gurgled. �Kiss me.�

The other one stroked up my arm, leaving bloody trails. My
vest parted at the shoulder seam and fell open. She coiled her self around my
body, making little slices in me and my clothes. I felt exposed and vulnerable
when the last of my top fell away in tatters.

I felt cold hands suddenly tugging at my pants and that
did it � no way were they touching the Center of Kinneasness, no fucking
way. I stumbled back; Exeter was cold
like ice in my hands. I could not
fire that weapon in the engine room, no matter how hysterical I got, not
without being very sure of my target.
The barrel looked inviting. One
way to get away from them with their razorblade tipped fingers. How had I not noticed that before?

They were whispering empty words of love, parroting back
to me all the things I�d told countless women and didn�t mean. My heart was
heavy with words I did mean to tell certain, special people; words I never had the
courage to say aloud. All my love was a lie, why would anyone ever want me,
love me?

�Don�t love you, will never love you, can�t love someone
like you,� the voices purred.

I felt faint for a long moment, everything grayed out and
I found myself with the barrel of my gun under my chin. I gathered up some will
power and swung Exeter out and into the ritual kata that summoned Siren, the
one lovely lady I knew would not fuck me over.

And Zell Dincht fell on me.

I was surprised but he wasn�t. Zell rolled to his feet and
did that three bounce step that meant it was ass kicking time.

�Lets Rock!� he crowed.
He did a sweeping circle kick while twisting in the air, starting the
kata for casting. The girls didn�t seem
particularly afraid � what c could hurt the dead?

I called Siren and she dove into place, gathering herself
to silence those obscene, bitter, heart crushing whispers. Zell gathered himself and flung the magic,
faster than I thought was humanly possible � he must have already had haste
cast on himself when he popped out of �where ever the hells he came from.

I yelped �Zell! The engines!� thinking gods, what could he
be casting that won�t blow us to kingdom come?
He packs lighting, fire, Demi�

Holy.

The Girls were lunging for him and the bright, clean spell
hit them both and left a negative image of those razor taloned mutilated corpse
hanging on my retinas. The screams faded, not as if cut off, but like someone
had dropped both ghouls in a long, deep hole and they were falling away.

And then they were gone, just that fast.

Zell turned and beamed at me. �Thanks, Baby. I was stuck.�

I pulled Zell into my arms and just held on a while, my
face buried in his hair. He smelled like sunshine and salt water and the sharp
tang of ozone. There was even a faint after scent of orchids, earthy and sweet.
He smelled alive and he felt good, all smooth muscles and quivering
energy. He hugged me back, a bit too tight, but even the loss of breath felt
good.

�Not that I�m complaining, mind, but how in the Seven
Sandy Hells did you survive� whatever the fuck that was?� Now that I looked at
him good, his earlobe was torn. It looked bitten, and there was dried blood
down his neck and onto his shirt.

Zell flashed a delighted, sharp-toothed grin. �I ended up
in GF space, Baby, with Quezacotal herself. It was awesome! Like this primal
forest, all full of flowers and green growing things. And death, too, and
decay, but not gross like here, more natural, normal. She�s old, Quez is, old,
and way powerful � they only manifest a teeny portion of themselves, here. And
she likes me!� He bounced. �She liked that I studied the old languages, you
know? She said we�re all special, the Guardian Forces haven�t found anyone they
really liked in eons and now everyone�s got a favorite.�

�I thought you were dead and it was just Quez
inviting you back to her place?� I didn�t mean to sound so outraged, I mean, I
had no room to talk.

�No, that was Carlos.� Zell looked sad.

�Carlos? Who the hells is he? The GF of blind
dates?�

�No, no, Baby, listen. Carlos is the guy Seifer knew who
hung himself. Quez summoned him and the Shumite so they could explain what was
going on.�

�Thank Hyne someone knows,� I grumbled. �Even if
it�s dead folk and GFs.�

Zell rubbed my shoulders. �See, the Shumite worker who was
vaporized had Iblis and-�

�Iblis?�

�That�s It, Iblis. It�s an evil GF. It feeds on suicide.
Its big attack is �despair� and it�s a killer, according to Carlos and Quez.�
At my nod, Zell continued. �When he was vaporized, Iblis� key was trapped
between the walls, literally, here in B-Garden and also metaphorically, between
life and death with the Shumite. It held the Shumite guy here and that�s how
the ghost rumors started.�

�Makes sense, I guess. Shumites are very powerful.�

�Yeah. So along comes Carlos, and Iblis tries his
damnedest to get him. He works best in dreams, so it�s a good thing none of us
slept there. Anyway, Carlos folded and basically sold his soul to Iblis,
promising to commit suicide to feed him.�

I shuddered. I�m not a deeply religious person, but� I
shivered again and Zell hugged me.

�At the last minute, Carlos got some balls, maybe some
help from the Shumite, who knows? He couldn�t renege, but he left the note-�

��Fuck it��, I quoted. Zell nodded, his crest bobbing like
a rooster�s comb.

�And he hung himself, see? No blood to feed Iblis. That
really really pissed Iblis off and he used a lot of his energy to get the SeeD
investigators to do him up proud.�

�The girls.� I waved my hand in the vague direction I�d
last seen them.

�Right, and with that power and blood, he managed to leave
his key and take over a person. He can�t posses just anyone; it has to be
someone who can channel a GF.�

�Seifer.� I shut my eyes. �Hyne, Zell, he told me he was
only 10 years old at the time!�

�Yeah, but he was tough. Seifer was always tough and he�d
never, ever, give up and commit suicide. Carlos and the Shumite acted like a
sort of poltergeist, trying to scare people away from the area, to keep Iblis
trapped with Seifer. The best Iblis could hope for was to get into a nice
bloody battle with Seif and skip to another body. That�s a reason he was always
so reckless, Iblis wanted out.� Zell shook his head, admiring his one
time adversary. �Iblis can�t stray too far from his key. When Ultimecia took
over Seifer, she booted Iblis out, and he had to zing back here. Carlos and the
Shumite were waiting for him. He was too weak from fighting Seifer for years
and this section was closed off by then, so Iblis was Ess-oh-ell. Until we started
moving kids into the area again.�

�We came along, it moved back into Seifer, and forced
Seifer to pass it to Squall?� I stood up, feeling a little better. Getting
ticked off on Seifer and Squall�s behalf helped, too.

�Yeah, I think maybe Seifer thought he could fight it
again, but it had learned some tricks according to Carlos, like to disjunction
Seifer�s other GF�s right away. And, of course, it had just fed � on little
Bradley Butterfield.�

�But it didn�t finish him off. He�s still alive.�

Zell looked up at me, his eyes dark with worry. �If Iblis
is loose, he�ll want to finish his sacrifice off. Then he�ll start demanding
more and more blood.�

I ran my hand through my hair. �You have any idea how to
take the engines off line?�

�You betcha, Baby.�

Zell was clearly the right man for the job, although once
he lead me through the maze of pipes and conduits to the actual engine
controls, I think I could have worked it out for myself. In true military
fashion, there was a large, shiny, red, candy like button that was labeled �Do
not push, will instigate emergency shut down of engines. Once protocols begin,
engines must stay idle for minimum 48 hours.�

I let him push the button.
.
.
.
.
.
{Zell}

We shut down the engines and then headed up to the Infirmary.
I was still totally chuffed from my meeting with Quezacotal. I mean, come on,
how many guys have a goddess flirt with them? Not that it could go
anywhere, her being a sort of flower bird thing and, me being, well, gay as
hell.

Irvy was freaked. Ok, I definitely scored better in the
blind date department, since his mystery dates were blood seeking dead SeeDs
and mine was an immortal lightening elemental, but still�

I know the ghost girlies were creepy, but Irv was actually
more weirded out by Squall and Seifer. I knew Squall was acting strange � he�d
bitten the crap out of me, right? And Seifer wouldn�t have hurt Squall like
that if he�d been in his right mind. If Seifer wanted to hurt Squall he�d just
punch his lights out or turn that vicious tongue of his loose. Not rape
him.

We burst into the Infirmary at a dead run. I think we
startled the shit out of the medical aid gal, because she dropped her clipboard
and papers went everywhere. Irvine the gentleman stooped to gather them up; I
scanned for Kadowaki.

The Doc whipped around the curtain of one of the little
cubicles like Ma on a butt beating tear. �Quiet! We have a very sick little boy
in here!�

�You need to get him out of here, pronto,� Irvine said.

�He�s right, Doc,� I confirmed. �You are hereby given the
direct order from the ranking officer at Balamb Garden. Evac immediately.� I
out rank the doc, how freaky is that?

The little aid gasped and grabbed her papers back from
Irvine, looking at him like he was sprouting malboro tentacles. I guess he did
look a little wooly, all wild eyed and half naked and covered with razor thin
scratches. Irv didn�t even bother to smooze her; poor guy was still that shook
up from his too close encounter with the not-so dead.

Kadowaki pushed her glasses up her nose. �Squall?�

�He�s gone off the deep end,� Irvine explained, �with not
nearly enough water in the pool, if you get my drift.�

I rolled my eyes. �Squall is currently unable to command.
That is based on the observations of three senior ranking SeeDs.� Namely, me,
Irv, and Seifer. Who thought mutiny would be so easy? �How many patients do you
have?�

�Here? Just one. I can�t move him, Zell, er, Capt. Dincht.
We weren�t anticipating maneuvers or attacks and I�m deeply concerned about
aberrations in his brain wave patterns.�

�If we move him, he could die?�

Kadowaki nodded in answer to my question.

Irvine snorted. �Doc, if we don�t move him, he�s
certainly gunna die.�

�Chye, go and get current vitals on Bradley.� The little
aid gal ran off, glad to get away from us, I think, even if she was only
protected by a curtain. Kadowaki focused her eagle eye on me. �Now, what�s
wrong with Squall?�

�Nothing at all.�

I spun around at the sound of Squall�s voice. He sure
didn�t look like there was nothing wrong. Squall looked like a ruby
dragon had been using him as a chew toy. I�d seen Squall look a lot worse,
though, during the war, and his stance was familiar�

I pushed Kadowaki down just as Squall cast Blizaga. The
skitters of light behind me told me that Irv had cast Shell over Bradley and
the aid. He took the hit and went down on one knee.

�Irvine,� Squall said in his best field trainer voice, �is
hampered by the fact that his best attack, the pulse ammo, will do ugly things
in this oxygen rich environment. Zell
is reluctant to inflict his bone breaking attacks. As you see-�

Irvine jerked me back and cast Protect about a millisecond
too late. Thundaga shattered around us and the monitors on Bradley started
screaming.

�- I have no such restrictions.�

�Gloves are off, Baby!� I jumped out and landed a
mach kick and a heel drop. Squall brought up Lionheart and nearly parried my
parts off. He pressed his advantage and I hoped Irvine and the Doc were making
good use of my soon to be suicidal attack. I caught the soothing green sparkles
of a healing spell out of the corner of my eye; at least Kinneas wasn�t going
down. Yet.

It�s not fun to parry Lionheart when Squall is in a mood,
but my gloves don�t have metal bits to them just for show. It�s all about focus
and balance anyway. And staying away from that wicked blade. Wicked bloody
blade and suddenly I was very worried about Seifer.

And there went my focus and even though I knew I had
broken Squall�s collarbone and at least one rib, he got Protect up and now I
was doing less than half the damage I�d been doing before. I crowded close,
trying to get Squall caught between the wall and some germ killer machine of
Kadowaki�s. I didn�t want him to have room to swing that gunblade at me one
more time.

He didn�t. Instead he cast Aero and blew my ass the full
length of the Sick Bay. I hit the wall and saw stars and little chicabos. I
know I left a Zell shape imprint on the bulkhead.

Irvine cast, Bio, I think, but it didn�t do more than
slightly slow Squall. He hit me with Demi and I was feeling even worse in a
hurry.

I was trying to get my arms and legs to work together
again but I couldn�t take my eyes off Squall. He was advancing slowly, like a
tiger sure of his kill. He hefted Lionheart and aimed but by some miracle Squall
missed, placing a nice hole in Kadowaki�s calendar that hung over my head.

Better it than me, Baby.

I cast Curaga on myself and willed it to work faster.

Squall was just standing there, looking surprised,
shocked, even. Irvine tried Sleep on him, but it didn�t stick. It seemed more
like a distraction than anything.

When Squall slowly turned to look behind him, I saw why.

Seifer was there, leaning on Hyperion. Blood, black and
bright in the surging, flickering lights, poured down one useless arm. He had
something tied around his middle; it could have been his trench coat, but it
was stained too red to tell. Somehow Seifer had managed to stab Squall in the
back, but no way could he have had enough strength to do much damage.

Seifer smirked at Squall. �Forget something?�

�Fuck you,� Squall snarled. �You are past tense. No one
can stop me; the war proved that.�

I scrambled to my feet. My back wasn�t broken, or the
Curaga was doing its thing. Either way, feeling was coming back to my hands and
feet and with the pins and needles and cramps, it was a true mixed blessing.

It looked like Kadowaki and the aid were trying to shield
Bradley and Irvine was in position to cover them. He held a healing spell of
some sort and seemed to be trying to creep closer to the fight. Oh, of course,
Seifer was out of his range.

�Ah, I was goin� easy on ya back then.� Seifer managed to
make his words sound lazy, but even I could tell he was having trouble staying
on his feet or even breathing. �Since you�d just hit puberty and all.�

Squall rushed Seifer, and Seifer let loose his limit
break. The aid screamed as Squall was engulfed in Firaga and then roar of the
flames faded with the echo of gunshot. It wasn�t enough to take Squall out, but
it hurt him, bad. Squall rolled to feet, the golden glow of his limit
break beginning to coalesce.

Squall didn�t need Renzokuken to finish Seifer off and we
all knew it. Irvine crawled forward, still holding the healing spell. By the
way Irv was moving, it would have been better used on his own broken leg. A
quick, vicious thrust of Lionheart and Seifer was beyond any cures Irvine might
have in hand, anyway.

Irvine the nut cast the cure on Squall. I thought
Iblis had gotten him until I saw the glow fade from around our commander. Smart
move, Baby, Renzokuken is not a pretty thing to be on the receiving side of.

It was my turn, ready or not, and I gathered my forces and
cast aura on myself. I flew at Squall feet first, dolphin blow, then meteor
strike, then booya. I bounced back, grinning, as Squall did what he always did
when on the ropes: summoned.

See, I knew Shiva wouldn�t come. Quez told me no way would
they cooperate with Iblis, and Shiva was tough enough to keep Squall�s less
affectionate GF�s at bay.

Irv hit me with a cure, Hyne bless him. We both waited,
healing and just catching our breaths, as Squall struggled with Guardian Forces
who refused to obey.

Finally, he got to his last one.

�Iblis!�

Yeah, take that you nasty old blood-drinking bastard. No
one commands GF�s like Squall. If he got it to summon, maybe Irv and I could
hurt it enough to make it let go.

Squall struggled with the summons and Irv hit me with
another cure. Finally, Iblis himself appeared and Squall faded to nullspace.

Iblis was a handsome androgynous youth with huge black
feathered wings. He did look awfully familiar�the arrogance, the cold aloof
gaze � like Seifer and Squall, both, and neither. He would have been painfully
beautiful but the blood stained mouth and hands sort of detracted from the over
all effect.

Irv cast Holy, with less effect than I�d really expected.
I followed with circle kick and chop to the upper thigh, a bone-breaking move
on a human.

Iblis seemed slow and slightly distracted. Maybe it had
never been summoned into combat before. Irvine had time to get a careful shot
in, one of his lesser ammos but still dealing some hefty damage. I went in with
a snap kick punch combo and was starting to feel a little hopeful.

Then Iblis smiled, showing a hint of bloodstained teeth,
and suddenly, that all changed. A wave of black misery washed over me, sticking
like old blood. It was all futile, insane, and I was spending my life soaking
in blood and hurting people. I had sinned against my fellow humans and an
eternity of pain was a small price-

Squall appeared in a blast of cold air. He�d broken free
from Iblis! Now it was three against one and things were definitely looking up.
We were old hands at defeating errant GF�s, after all.

Given our battered state, I hedged my bets a little and cast
triple.

Then I cast aura.

When the smoke and lights cleared away, all that was left
of Iblis was a funky dark heart shaped rock with a flickering red light inside.
I did the victory dance, since Squall and Irvine were both on their asses.

By the noises from the monitors, Kadowaki and her aid were
having their hands full with Bradley. Irv and I convened on Squall. He was a
mess, Hyne, we all were.

�Seifer?� Squall asked.

�I have Life,� Irvine said, and he hitched himself over a
little to get into range. He cast, but nothing happened.

We had blown a couple lights and circuits in the Infirmary
during the fight, and in the sparks I saw, as if through several layers of
smoke and heat and ripply ice, Carlos and the Shumite shaking their heads.

Irvine inched closer to Seifer, like that would help, and
cast again. Seifer didn�t move. He didn�t breathe. I held Squall in my arms and
pretended the tears trickling down his face were all mine. Squall reached out
to Irvine and passed him some Phoenix Down.

Irvine tried again, the pinkish light of the resurrection
spell hiding the blood a little. This time I saw Carlos and the Shumite
clearly, they indicated they were moving on, but still hesitated. With a little
sob, Irvine threw the Phoenix Down. If that doesn�t work, it�s all over, Baby.

Carlos smiled at me and gave me thumbs up. �It�s working!�
I said, but Squall didn�t look like he was even willing to hope at that point.

Or maybe he was looking at the light flickering in the
heart of the stone that was Iblis.

Carlos and the Shumite faded away and in the pink
glitters. I saw a transparent, glassy Seifer made of bright redgold light
coming through the weird hazy curtain of non-existence. He gently nudged a
similarly hazy spirit shape of a scared but hopeful looking kid of about 12 towards the bed where
Kadowaki was doing all sorts of life saving things. Bradley Butterfield slipped
back into his body and the screaming monitors settled down.

I should have known � didn�t I already say it? Seifer
would never give up.

Seifer hovered reluctantly over his battered mortal shell,
obviously disgusted with the mess that was what was left of him, like it was a
dogshit encrusted shoe he was debating throwing away instead of putting back
on. But when he saw us all crying, Seifer rolled his eyes, shook his head and
merged.

�Wusses,� he wheezed, and passed out.
- 5
- 6
- 7
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Revenant