Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Darker Shade of Night ❯ Tainted Butterflies ( Chapter 5 )

Author's Note: Just a snippin before we get started. This chapter is dedicated to my friend Miyu, who gave me the idea for the title. I wuff you, babes! There's also a nice little Waffy part in here for you Sefistis fans.

Chapter 5

Tainted Butterflies

For the first time in his life, Squall was ready to admit defeat.

He stopped thinking that after each event, the worse was over, because low and behold, there was always something more shocking at around every corner. Since that horrible night, they had all given up on the fancy that maybe this whole thing would blow over and become resolved on its own, because that was the last thing that was going to happen. When they had come to the following dark morning, after nearly freezing to death the night before, they found that they were still in the quad, but now they were…completely alone.

Every other SeeD candidate, every single SeeD member and Garden staff, was completely gone from where they had lain unconscious the night before from Diablos' Dark Messenger attack. Taking away, disappearing into the darkness of the world without a single trace. As of that moment, along with the doctor, they were the only ones left in the entire Garden.

And now…

It seemed that with their GFs gone - the most powerful known GFs in the world, his mind added bleakly - they seemed to become more vulnerable to the darkness. Had that been their means of defense? Was that why they had come this far? Whatever it was, it had disappeared along with the entire population of Garden.

Exposed…defenseless…

And now Irvine was telling him that Selphie had not been out of her room since they had awoke that morning, which was almost two days ago?

Rinoa had almost given up trying to say things to make the situation seem not as bad as it truly was, because obviously, it was much worse than any of them had thought had it would be when it all first began. Now she just remained by his side all the time, her arm woven through his, as if she was afraid that if she were to let go, even for a second, than he would fade away into the darkness.

The only question was now, how much time did they have before they to fell to the shadow?

* * *

For the umpteenth time that day, Irvine stood outside of Selphie's dorms, praying feverishly that this time, she would answer her door when he knocked. The already shadowed sky, darker than ever since that fateful night, was fading even more deeply into black beyond black, and the cold air was just slightly above freezing. None of that mattered to the Galbadian cowboy; not now, anyway. The only thing that concerned him now was the woman whom, he still assumed, was on the other side of the door, and who had not been out of her room since the riot in the Quad. At first he figured that the whole event had her upset - hell, who didn't find it disturbing? - but after a day, he realized that Selphie, no matter how bad things got, would never stay depressed for such a lengthy period of time. And, even though he fought against what looked to be inevitable, he hoped that it being night did not influence Selphie's already unorthodox behavior.

He wished that he still had his two Guardian Forces, Diablos and Doomtrain, with him to confide with. As much as he was against Junctioning at first, he sometimes found that on long and trying missions, their company and judgment were somewhat of a comfort… They had also done their part in getting him out of a tight fix every now and then. But now, with them gone…he had never felt so alone in his own head, nor so physically weak in his life. As much of a pain Diablos was at times, and the fact that Doomtrain was something of a worrywart, he really missed their company. That, and they helped in making him feel less alone and helpless in this time.

But the loneliness he felt with the absence of his GFs was nothing compared to what he felt when he was apart from Selphie, regardless of if she was on the other side of the door or not.

They had run out of time for Irvine to simply knock and wait to see if Selphie would let him in. Reaching into the pocket of his duster, Irvine drew out the Access Card that Squall had lent him, the "skeleton key" of the Garden that would allow him into any room that he might have needed into, including the dorm rooms. Fingers trembling slightly, the cowboy slid the card through the key slot on the side of Selphie's door, and with a click, the little light changed from red to green, allowing him access into her room.

A walk-in freezer would have been considered comfortable compared to Selphie's room; looking back on it, he could never remember feeling more cold in his entire life. And it was dark; as black as the night outside, making Irvine feel detached and separated from his body. He could hardly see anything, but the dim light that filtered in from outside her room was enough to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and he knew that he was not alone.

"Selphie?"

Only silence answered him, but he knew that she was here. A chill ran down his spine as he thought of her sitting in the dark, perfectly quiet, watching him… He had to take a breath to keep his voice from shaking. "Selphie, are you there?"

"What do you want?"

If a shiver had run down his spine before, this time it froze at the sound of her voice. It was absolutely nothing as it usually was; her bright, sunny tone, light and full of life, had gone cold, as hard and unforgiving as iron, with a venomous quality that reminded Irvine of a coiled viper. His heart plummeted as he came to full realization of the inevitable; his little butterfly had fallen to the shadow. Even in the darkness, he forced a very weak smile, trying to quell his fears as much as possible. "I…I came to see how you were doing, you haven't been out of your room for almost two days now. Everyone's worried about you. What have you been doing in here?"

"Waiting."

This was getting worse and worse by the minute. "Waiting…for what?"

"For him to come." There was movement on the other side of the room, coming from the direction her bed was on; at least he knew where she was, but he stood his ground, unmoving, unwilling to let himself give into his fear. This was Selphie he was talking to right now, not some demonic monster… But for some reason, he had a very hard time convincing himself of that.

"For…who to come, Sefie?"

She laughed, a cold and merciless chuckle that could have rivaled Ultimacia. "For the Dark One, of course. He who has the world in his very bidding, in his grasp…He who rules and night, and everything in it." He had been so caught up in her words that he hardly noticed when she reached up to take his collar in her hands, nearly making him jump in surprise as she pulled him closer to her. "When the true night falls, the one who offers eternal sleep…doesn't that sound nice?"

Irvine refused to break contact with her eyes, as hard as that was. Up until a few seconds ago, he knew that he could loose himself forever in those vibrant green orbs and nothing else in the world would matter, but now he wanted nothing more than to look away. Whatever this… this thing was that had his cornered…was not Selphie. "Sure…sounds great…" He complied, not wanting to turn this into something that he could not get out of. Keep your cool cowboy… for her sake, and for your own… He fought to control his rapidly accelerating pulse as he moved his fingers slowly downward to finger the small vile in his pocket, a special item that he had brought with him as an absolute last resort. "But I need to ask you something, first. If you know who this… Dark One is… then do you know what happened to the other SeeD cadets? If so, then you have to tell me…"

"Taken…" Selphie laughed again in that same chilling manner. "Already taken, the lucky bastards… and it will not be long before it is our turn as well…" By now she had moved so close to him that he could feel her breath, warm and caressing on his face, and Irvine wanted nothing more than to pull away.

"But where?" He softly demanded, moving to place his hands on Selphie's slender shoulders and pushed her away from him, which turned out to be more difficult than he thought. "Can you tell me where they went?" In the darkness, Irvine could see the small girl grin, which looked more like a wolf baring its fangs before the kill, before she lunged forward and pressed her lips hard against his. This was something that Irvine was hardly expected, and had the situation been any different there would have been no complaints, but this was all wrong. Before he could respond, Selphie had managed to turn them so they were facing opposite ways than they had started from, and shoved him backwards with surprising strength, causing the cowboy to trip over his own long legs and crash against the hard frame of her bed. He had very little time to recover from his initial shock as he felt Selphie move on top of him, pinning him down even more effectively and once again kissing him in that same forceful manner, her tongue plunging deep into his mouth as her teeth and lips were pressed against him so hard that it hurt.

"Do you want this?" She whispered huskily against his mouth, just pulling back barely to allow the words to take form.

"No." Irvine gasped, finally regaining control of his body enough to take her shoulders and push her back. "No, it's not what I want. What I do want to do is talk to Selphie." Still maintaining a firm grip on her shoulders, he pushed himself so he was not sitting on his knees and effectively looming over her. "Selphie, I know you're in there! Talk to me, please!"

Even through the possession of the shadow, Selphie had still maintained her seemingly playful, innocent attitude, although now it was about as harmless as playing with a pack of Torama cubs in their own den. But what had remained of that disappeared within the space of a heartbeat, and was replaced by the snarling face of some wild beast. With an inhuman cry, Selphie lunged at him, one hand outstretched like a curved talon of a wild animal. The sudden movement broke Irvine's stronghold on her, and he did not have enough time to react as searing pain flamed along the side of his face as Selphie's untrimmed fingernails raked across his left cheek before she slammed at him at almost full force. Collecting his sense in a hurry, Irvine took hold of her wrists and turned her around, pinning her against him with both arms trapped effectively between their bodies, with one of his arms firmly holding her in place while the other searched for the vile he had brought with him. Selphie writhed and howled like some wounded beast, and Irvine did his damned hardest to block out the horrible sound as he found what he was looking for. Popping the cork of the Sleeping Powered off with his thumb, he took a breath and poured its entire contents over the struggling girl's head while at the same time avoiding getting any on himself.

The powder wafted over Selphie, and she coughed, shuddered, and went limp in Irvine's arms.

For several long moments, Irvine remained motionless, cradling Selphie's sleeping form against him, letting the events of what just occurred catch up with him, totally oblivious to the blood that was dripping down his face, staining the carpets below him.

* * *

"It's so bloody cold out here!"

"If you don't like it, then you can go. I just thought that the infamous Sorceress' Knight would have a little more tolerance to the chill."

"This is a little more than a 'chill', Quisty. I call it hell frozen over."

"Oh…why so bitter, Seifer?"

"I'm only out here because you wanted the company. What ever happened to barricading ourselves in the bridge?"

The blonde woman shrugged, absently fingering the golden coils of Save the Queen between her long, slender fingers. "I needed the fresh air; it was getting stuffy up there. Besides, I needed to think."

Four years ago, never, not in a million years, would Quistis had even considered that she would be in the training center's fabled Secret Area, talking to, much less dating Seifer Almasy. If someone had told her that then, she probably would have laughed and considered it to be one very clever, if not very, very odd, joke. And yet, here she was, standing next to the former Sorceress' Knight, the man she could swear up and down that she would be spending the rest of her life with. And it idea made her happy, through and through, to an extent that she had never thought possible. She recalled briefly the time she had come here with Squall, just hours after her teacher license had been revoked. The memory of her wishful thinking flashed through her mind, hoping that maybe the events of that night had been a little different, only to receive the cold shoulder on the other end. It had bothered her for a while, but now she could not be more pleased that the "maybe" had never occurred…

"What did you need to think about?"

Seifer's sudden question jarred her back to reality. Or what was left of it, anyway. "About a lot of things. But mostly…what do you think those things were that were flying overhead last night? They weren't like any monster that I've ever seen before."

Seifer turned so his back was leaning against the railing, the light of the long lantern that had brought with them highlighting the features of his handsome face. "Concentrated darkness. True evil."

The tone of his voice sent a shiver crawling down Quistis' spine as she turned to stare disbelieving at her lover. "What do you mean?"

"The blonde man shook his head slowly. "I saw a lot of weird stuff when I was in the Sorceress' servitude, Quistis." Not control, she noted to herself. Servitude. Even through all the events that took place, he still prides himself in being the Sorceress' Knight. "And even though they did some pretty messed-up shit, they were still human. When people say that no one is one-hundred-percent evil, they're speaking the truth. Even people like Ultimacia was fighting for what she thought was right; she had her passions, her sadness, her fears. Human emotions. But those things we saw last night….those were all the negative emotions a person can feel in their life time all rolled up and put into the form of flying snakes." He shrugged. "Sounds absurd, I know, but it's the best damn excuse I can think of."

For a moment, Quistis could only stare at him, turning the words over in her mind. Crazy, yes, but oddly logical. Creatures that became present at the sight of hatred, violence, and, given the chance, death; it almost made perfect sense.

For several long moments, silence hung thickly between the couple. Seifer had his head bowed at an angle so his eyes were clocked in shadow where the light of their lantern could not reach. Finally, he spoke in a voice that held none of its usual confidence. "Quistis…can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"What was it that you saw in me?"

Quistis was simultaneously surprised and touched by his unexpected question. It was very rare when Seifer let down his guard of the strong, independent man who was in complete control of his life, as if he was always assuming that there was someone watching over his shoulder, waiting for him to slip up so they could tell the rest of the world. The only time when he was somewhat relaxed was when they were alone, but even then the times were few and far between. But right now, it seemed as if the events of the pass few days were catching up to him, and he sounded very much like a small and frightened boy. Her blue eyes softened as she gave her answer. "I really wasn't sure, at first. There was just something that…drew me towards you, but it took me years to figure out. And it bothered me too…because there were times that I just really wanted to strangle you. And don't deny that you felt the same way." She added quickly before he could get a word in. "We were always butting heads so much that there were times that I truly thought that you were the person I could stand less in this life. But, after a while…I realized that what I was really feeling the opposite of what I thought I was. Maybe it was because you were the first person, almost ever, to critique my ways, to not either fawn all over me or treat me with unnecessary amounts of respect because of how I lived my life. There are some people here who truly are afraid to treat me like a real person, but you did so without a second thought. And that turned out to be really…really saying something about you. Seifer…" She reached over and gently took his gloved hand in one of her own. "Thank you…I never got a chance to tell you that before. It means more to me than anyone else could know."

Seifer was looking back up now, and a small smile had appeared on his face as he drew Quistis towards him to kiss her softly. Compared to the cold that surrounded him, her lips felt as warm and as comforting as a gentle flame, giving him a light that only he could detect. When they finally broke, Quistis gave him a smile of her own and a little wink. "Besides, I kind of liked the challenge that you gave me in the process."

Seifer shrugged, immediately gaining back that air of confidence. "Hey, what can I say, I'm an all-in-one kind of guy."

Quistis laughed at this, for the first time in what felt like years. "That you are." She pulled his head back down for another kiss, and relished in the feeling of forgetting all their worried for those few precious seconds.

* * *

Fighting his rapidly blurring vision, Zell made his way almost shakily towards the Balamb Garden training center, surprisingly making his way easily through the darkness; much more than the last few days had allowed. Had he been a little more focused, maybe he would have found it a little disturbing that he could see so well in the darkness of the first floor hallways, whose lights were no more luminous than those of a firefly. But he was more at tentative on his own distaste from being outside of the safety of the third floor control room, heading down to the treacherous training center to retrieve two of their own. Why Quistis and Seifer suddenly decided to go down to the secret area of the training center in the middle of the night was beyond him, but Squall wanted to keep everyone within his site. Irvine had gone to retrieve Selphie over and hour ago, but there had been no word back from either of them as of yet.

The already quiet training center was even more silent that normal, sending a chill up Zell's spine as he made his way through the heavy medal doors and into the overgrown paddock. The only sound that could be heard was that of running water, but even then it was thinner than normal, as most of it was frozen over. Other than that, the usual noises of Grat rustling in the undergrowth, or the hungry rumbling growl of a T-Rexaur lying in wait, were completely absent. The most prominent sounds were Zell's own heartbeat thundering in his ears and the incessant buzzing resonating in his head that had been steadily growing the last few days. But he shook it off, only wanting to collect Seifer and Quistis and get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

The imposing cold and darkness had taken its toll on the foliage of the training center; most of the greenery was brown, rotting and limp, and the scent of earthen decay filled his nostrils. It looked so much different than its usual lush, green scenery, but Zell was nonetheless able to find his way to the Secret Area. He had been here many times before on several occasions, each one of them special…but why? And with who…? Why did his mind suddenly feel so…empty?

The static in his head intensified from a dim hum to a shrilling wail, making the young martial artist stumble and clutch at his eye. Temporarily he forgot where he was, forgot who he was, but it only lasted for the space of a few seconds before he regained control of himself. He had no idea what the heck just happened, but it had been the single most frightening experience of his life. It felt as if he had no control over his body…

In fact, it felt as if something had control of his entire being entirely.

"Zell? Are you alright?" In his moment of confusion, he was unaware that he had already made it to the Secret Area. Both Quistis and Seifer, their faces illuminated dimly by the single lantern they had brought with them, were giving him peculiar looks, questioning his behavior. He did not give their expressions a second thought - a sudden change in a person's attitude was never a good sign - but even he knew that he was not feeling like himself. Straightening a bit, Zell rubbed at his eye with the palm of his hand and lied, "Yeah, I'm good. The sudden light just caught me off-guard, I guess. Squall wants you both back at the bridge, pronto. It really freaked him out when you two just disappeared like that."

"Guess we can't leave Mr. Commander hanging, then." Seifer said flatly, gathering up his Hyperion blade. It was also then that Zell noticed that Quistis was clutching Save the Queen in a near death grip, but it was to be expected. Now that the Guardian Forces were gone, and items were running low, brute force was their only real means in which they could defend themselves. "Lead the way, Chicken-Wuss."

Had it been any other time, Zell might have shot a warning look over his shoulder at the bigger blonde man before shrugging off the name entirely. Over the course of the last few years since Seifer and the posse had been allowed back into Balamb Garden and the tensions began to ease, the former knight still insisted on calling Zell the nick-name he had been dubbed back on their mission to Dollet. Of course, Zell had thrown a huge fuss over it, but seeing as Seifer was relentless and not going to stop any time soon, he eventually (and somewhat surprisingly) stopped fighting it. Maybe it was a sign of all their impending maturity, or maybe it was due to the fact that someone close to him (but who the hell was it?!) had said it was cute. But whatever the reason, it did not matter now. He only wanted to get out of there.

Nursing his knuckles as they left the Secret Area, Zell walked ahead of the couple at a quicker pace than what was even normal for him. There was something tingling up his spine, something that made him want to keep looking over his shoulder for something that was not there. But the only problem that there was something there, something just out of eye reach, watching, waiting, ready to pounce…

How he knew that the ambush came from behind, he would never know…

"Look out!" Zell shouted suddenly, making Seifer and Quistis jump more from the surprise of his outburst more than the realization that something else was happening. But they were reminded soon enough as a T-Rexaur came crashing through the brown foliage, jaws snapping and skin hanging loosely from its bones. With a cry of surprise, the group was just barely able to dodge its razor-sharp teeth.

"Oh, Hyne!" Quistis swore as she picked herself up from where she had fallen. "It must have been weeks since any of these things were fed! Best to just run!" There was no arguing there; a T-Rexaur was dangerous by itself, but when they were starving…

Something long and gold lashed over them and struck the monster in the eye, following closely by an arching slash of Seifer's Hyperion, making it howl and recoil. It might be more dangerous, but it was a lot weaker. The simultaneous attacks were enough to drive the beast back, giving two SeeDs enough time to escape from its closer range attacks. Hunger was driving it hard, though; the T-Rexaur recovered quickly and charged, gaining speed of them quickly.

"Keep running!" Zell shouted at his companions, falling back to attack the T-Rexaur so they had a better chance to escape. He fumbled around in his pocket for the item he had brought with him; a Flare Stone, the strongest item he could find in case something like this happened. He drew it out; a tiny marble glowing red-hot with its sealed magic, tiny golden sparks shooting out from its glassy surface. Daring the risk to stop, Zell drew his arm back, ready to throw the stone at the monster when the T-Rexaur halted itself, staring at Zell through its acid-green orbs. For a few seconds, they only stared at each other… The sudden silence of the noise made Quistis and Seifer stop, wanting to see what the sudden silence was…

Then the T-Rexaur bowed low, as if it were physically shrinking - and was that a trace of fear that Quistis saw in its eyes? - before it turned tail and ran back into the dense foliage of the training center, howling like a frightened dog. They could only stare after it for a few moments, wondering if they had seen what they had saw. Never, not in all of their years of experience, had a T-Rexaur been the one running from a potential meal.

Their concentration was broken when Zell suddenly collapsed, holding his head in his hands.

"Zell!" Quistis exclaimed, running over to their fallen friend. "Are you alright?"

No… Zell thought. I'm not… Cold fear surged through him. Who was it he was talking to? He knew her for years, had been childhood friends with her… they had encountered countless perils together…but her name would not come to mind! "Fine." He said, perhaps a little more harshly than he had intended to, making an effort to stand up. "I think it just hit me, is all."

"I think I might have something…" Seifer said, sticking the point of his Gunblade into the ground where it remained erect. "It's only a potion, but it should hold you over…" Quistis had returned to him, helping him look for it.

Zell did not say anything, but his hand crept back up to clutch at his eye, his own monologue trying to drain out the voices that were rising in his head, but it becoming more and more difficult to drain them out… until finally, exhausted from days of unrest, he gave up, and the constant hum that was in his mind suddenly formed into clear meaning that were commanding him…telling him to do something horrible…

And yet, he had no objections.

Opening one blue eye again, the first thing that he saw was the Hyperion sticking up from the ground. And, without thinking twice, he began to walk over to it, one hand outstretched…

"There it is." Quistis said, looking over the bottle in her hand. "Zell, this should… Zell! What are you doing?!" Seifer, who was taken by surprise at Quistis' sudden outburst, did not even have time to turn around as the blade of his own Hyperion was brought down across his back, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Immediately after the attack, Zell dropped the blade and made a mad dash back towards the direction of the Secret Area. Quistis was torn between two sides; to chase after him or to tend to Seifer. Not wanting to risk loosing someone so important to her, she knelt down next to the fallen Knight and inspected his wound. Had Zell had any idea how to use a Gunblade, it would have been a lot worse, but the wound was shallow, although it was still bleeding sluggishly. "Seifer!" Quistis breathed a sigh of relief to see that he was still conscious. "Seifer! Are you alright?"

"Don't worry…about me!" Seifer hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm…fine! Follow…follow him!"

Quistis was slightly taken aback by Seifer's command, but did not argue as she picked herself up and took off at a dead run back to the Secret Area. By the time she got there, Zell was already inside, and, to Quistis' horror, perched on the ledge of the balcony.

"Zell!"

But it was to late. Without a word, Zell leaped from the railing, and by the time Quistis was over to see if he was hurt, he was completely gone.

* * *

"Great Hyne!" Squall shouted, leaping to his feet as Quistis and Seifer finally reemerged, Seifer leaning heavily on Quistis' shoulder, blood staining the back of his trench coat. "What in the bloody hell happened?"

"Zell is what happened." Seifer said, his teeth still gritted tightly together. "Attacked me with my own Hyperion."

"Zell…" Rinoa whispered in shock. "So he's…he's…"

"Gone." Quistis said sadly, helping Seifer sit down in a chair. Dr. Kadowaki rushed over with a Hi-potion, which she dumped into Seifer's mouth before the blonde man had a chance to protest. If things had not been so serious, it would have almost been funny; almost everyone knew how the doctor liked to get her two cents in when dealing with Seifer Almasy. "Any word from Irvine and Selphie?"

"We got a call from Irvine about an hour ago." Rinoa said. "It's not good. He said Selphie started talking about the arrival of someone called 'The Dark One' just before she attacked him. He had to put her out with a Sleeping Powder, and we haven't heard anything since. Maybe one of us should go check on them?"

"No." Squall said firmly, his voice harder than it had been in days. "No one else is going out there alone. It obvious now that we can't stay here; whatever taint has stained this place, its finally getting to us. We have to leave Garden altogether, find anyone else who may still be unaffected. Maybe the talk of this so called 'Dark One' will give us a lead to what's really going on."

"But where?" Quistis asked, kneeling next to Seifer, who was now looking a little less pale, the blood finally stopping its flow. "Everywhere else is probably under the same darkness, and it's probably not the best idea to go checking every city to look for survivors. We may never learn anything that way."

Squall frowned, taking the instructor's words into account. "You're right. So we go somewhere where there aren't any cities; a place where people can live but not in huge groups. It's our best chance. We're going to Centra."

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To Be Continued…

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