Lost Within Blood and Tears Characters don't belong to me they belong to Squaresoft. I just "borrowed" some of them. Too bad. It would be fun to own video game characters. Oh, screw the characters I want the whole game! Chapter 14- Evanescent "Don't worry about me I'm gonna make it alright Got my enemies cross haired and in my sight I take a bad situation gonna make it right In the shadows of darkness I stand in the light Ya see it’s my style and I’ll keep true I had a bad year but I got through" - Fall Back Down, Rancid "Where are we?" Kayonna asked Seifer. She knew that the question, or the answer, made no difference out on the brown wasteland but she asked anyway. More out of exhaustion and desperation she was weak to care. "It doesn't matter." Was the answer that came as he stumbled over to her side. He chanced a quick glance at her and turned away, wanting to shut out the sight. She could barely stand and he knew it. She tried so hard to cover it up and be strong but she was only human. She could only withstand so much, and was growing weaker and weaker in her stubborn resistance. And yet, she continued to walk on with determined grudgedness, day after day and night after night as hunger and exhaustion paid ghastly visit and constant vigil over her. The sight broke Seifer's heart and he wanted now, more than anything to ease her pain. Zell looked around and saw what had become of all of them, the empty shadows they had been reduced to, Kayonna practically dead, Seifer exhausted beyond recall, Irvine and Selphie shells of their former selves, Quistis wasting away quietly, Rinoa suffering, Squall losing some battle within himself, and Chani... Chani wearing away into shadows. They were always haunted by the thirst, hunger, exhaustion which never gave refuge or peace to those whom it had cast it's ugly shadow upon. Zell couldn't forgive himself. They had come too far for forgiveness. They were dying because of him... The bringer of death was creeping closer and closer into their fitful dreams, creating images, hallucinations, that couldn't exit their minds. The fabric of sanity was wearing thin just as their life was being gnawed away. If something didn't happen soon they would be lost. They were already lost... The night slowly faded as light with all it's glimmering hope struck it's way into the sky, mocking them with it's optimism as the last day of their trek, and quite possibly the last day of their lives began. They wouldn't be able to survive another night. The sun beat down on the unmercifully as they crawled and inched their way over the miles they had before them and had left behind. Their limbs screamed in protest and their skin scorched with blistering sunburn as the sun inflicted it's rage upon them, perhaps angered that they survived for so long. The white-hot intensity of the spiteful rays ravaged their bodies, desperate to claim the life of a victim as it's prize as the group slowly inched forward determined not to drop. It was at sundown that they reached the ridge they had seen for days stretched out before them. They had no idea what lay beyond that rise but saw it only as a pillar of hope in this godforsaken place that it would hold the answer to a new beginning or a peaceful end. The climb was rough and steep and in their present condition, near impossible. They pushed on however, determined to find the answer to what lie ahead. They crawled on hands and knees up the rise, the body's life source, the blood, slowly dripping in trails off their cut and blistered hands. They reached the top to find themselves looking down upon a city nestled in between two ridges. A slow smile edged across Kayonna's face as she fell into unconsciousness. ***** "Kay-" Kayonna could hear her name being called from somewhere far away. "Kayonna-" She couldn't make out any other words as she lay trapped inside herself. "Kayonna wake-" She could feel life slowly flowing back into her with all its tingling sensation. "Kayonna wake up-" 'I am awake' Kayonna thought to herself as every nerve ending still continued to come alive. "Kayonna wake up. Please" Her eyes fluttered open. "Hey beautiful." Seifer said gently as he watched her blink slowly and nervously trying to decipher something intangible to her. "Seifer?" She asked uncertain if her eyes were betraying her. He nodded gently and reached out to stroke her cheek. 'Everything's alright now.' she thought as she leaned her cheek into his palm. He caressed it tenderly with his fingers as she continued to wake up. Kayonna tried to push herself up into a sitting position only to fall back down instead as a wave of nausea engulfed her. She placed her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes waiting for it to pass. "Where are we?" she asked, turning her attention instead to the soft mattress she was laying on. "Ummm. I don't know where we are. We're in that city that we saw right before you went boom basically." Seifer answered and laughed as she tried to sit up again and fell crashing back down for the second time. " Not so easy huh? You've been out for three days." He said almost tauntingly. "Now you're going to have to let me take care of you." "You!" she groaned as he looked at her tauntingly. " I need someone in here to watch. Knowing you I'd end up taking toilet-bowl cleaner because you thought it was cough medicine. Sorry honey but I'd be dead by morning." "Are you implying something?" He asked, feigning his best puppy-dog face. "Ya think?" She said causing him to smile with her sarcasm, a trait she had picked up from him. "Well you're just going to have to take your chances with me." He countered giving her a playful shove on the shoulder. "Ya see! You're supposed to be taking care of me not hitting me! That's abuse thats what it is!" She playfully chided, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. "Oh shut up will ya." Seifer retaliated with another light shove. She was about to utter a strong rebuttal when he took her hand and kissed her fingers. She surrendered. ***** What's wrong with you Quistis Trepe? The young woman asked herself. Why are you the one that is alone? What did you do that screwed up so badly? Why are you so alone? Squall has Rinoa, Irvine and Selphie have each other, Zell found Chani, and even Seifer, the least likely person ever to have a soft side, is in love. Why? Why did this happen to you? Quistis Trepe walked through the hidden city locked in silent torment. The beautiful atmosphere within the city walls was no comfort to her as she wandered along meandering paths through the streets. What is wrong with me? She began running all the possibilities through her head. It wasn't because she was strong, they all were strong. It wasn't because she was quiet; Kayonna was like that too. She wasn't ugly by any means, but she was one thing... she was a teacher. Everyone would always see her as Instructor Quistis Trepe. Damn it! she thought bitterly. I'm so much more than that! It's just no one ever sees it... "I'm screwed." Quistis muttered as she walked through an empty garden. She couldn't even bring herself to enjoy the scenery as she wandered lost in thought. "I'm screwed!" She screamed out in anguish, relieving her frustration by kicking a stone that lie in her path. "Damn." She resigned with a sigh as she sat down on a large wooden bench that lined the path. She hung her head in her hands and let out another depressed sigh, "Damn." "Hey you alright?" A voice came from behind one of the rose bushes of which the garden was composed. "What?" Quistis asked in shock. She stood up and turned in frantic circles searching for the source of the voice but saw no one. "It sounded like you need some help." The voice came again. Quistis continued her search to no avail. "Where are you?" "Over here." The voice came again, calm and reassuring, something Quistis wasn't too used to. She listened carefully, ears straining to key into that therapeutic voice and followed it around a large clump of red rose bushes to find her quarry sitting mellowly on the thick grass. "Hi." Quistis shook herself out of her dumbfounded delirium and came back to reality to answer. "Hi..." She said softly, almost to herself. The young man smiled encouragingly, the corners of his mouth crinkling with a crooked grin. "Sit. Sounds like you're having a bad day huh?" "Yeah-" She said thoughtfully as she sat down on the grass. Shyness was beginning to take its hold on her. "So what's up?" He asked gently, eyes burning holes of embarrassment into Quistis. "Ummm....Nothing. Just thinking." Her voice trailed off in its answer as she stared at the grass, wishing she could melt into it, melt through it, just to be anywhere than she was with her embarrassment. He sat and gazed gently at her. "Just thinking?" Quistis lifted her eyes to see the look that accompanied the question. What she found instead of the criticism she expected, were steady brown eyes staring straight into her own. She looked past those eyes to find a sun-tanned face accented by slight freckles and messy spiked brown hair. He saw her curious pensiveness, "Don't worry I come here to think a lot too. I need some place to think. I'm a writer." "Oh. Alright" Quistis answered slowly, paranoia making her painfully aware of how self-conscious she was not to make a fool of herself. "Yup. Not much to do around here anyway. You probably found that out already." He got to his feet and it was only then that Quistis realized how tall he really was. He was thin, a muscular thin and tall, about 6'2". His teeshirt was a plain black color with green kacki shorts that reached halfway down his calves. "Come on. Walk with me." He said reassuringly as he offered her his hand. She bit her lip in shy cautiousness as she moved to her feet, careful to avoid his hand which he drew back in slight disappointment. "You're with that group that came in a few days ago aren't you?" "Yeah." She answered, unsure whether he thought that a good thing or bad. "You're lucky then." "Why?" "If you had gone in any other direction out there you would be dead by now." He answered matter-of-factly. I'll have to tell Zell that. She thought, making a mental note to herself. "Where are we anyway?" "You're here." He replied simply, a note of humor in his voice. "It doesn't really have a name. The city is just 'here' ". "Alright..." She said, thoroughly confused by the name. "How did we get 'here'?" "Ummm. It's hard to explain. You went into the crater and then came out again right?" He asked casting her a glance as they walked. She nodded, fully absorbed in thought. " Well you can't just walk into and out of this crater. The place you ended up, that barren wasteland place, is called the Brownlands. Its hard to explain but basically you didn't come out of the crater in the same place you went in." She shook her head and opened her mouth to argue but he stopped her before she could speak, "Just listen okay? As you know Bombey lived there but before him another sorcerer lived there, the sorcerer Bombey inherited his powers from. His name was Ketzel and he was basically the greatest and most powerful sorcerer of all time, known as the Father of the Sorceresses and all that crap. Well anyway, it was him who bewitched the crater, his home. He made it so that it reflected the mirror image of the entrance. So the real way out looks like another passageway and the way here looks like the real way out. You get it?" "Not really." "Okay. What happens when you look in the mirror?" He asked. "You see yourself..." She responded, clueless as to where this was going. "Right. So he bewitched the two walls to act as mirrors of each other. They take on the appearance of the other and so forth. He made it so that it looked identical to the other way. You think you're going back the way you came in but in reality you're going the opposite direction." "I understand that but then why did the crater disappear?" "He also put a spell on that. He made it so that the crater was sealed once you went through it. A one-way ticket you know? Well somehow he was able to move the way back to the rest of the world to the middle of the wasteland. This city sprang up around that exit." "How do you move a crater? You can't just move a crater! It doesn't work that way!" "Well he did it as you can see. And we have no idea how he did it. Thats why we're all here and have never been able to change it back to the way things were." "I guess this guy was pretty smart huh?" Quistis asked shyly, carefully rethinking all the things she had been told. "Yup." He said with a smile, which Quistis turned away from, blushing. As she stared at her feet she gradually began to realize that the terrain had changed from the gravel path to a soft grassy clearing. She looked up and gazed around the clearing. It was pretty, flowers, grass, everything green, but the thing that interested Quistis the most was what was going on in the distance. "What are they playing?" Quistis asked quietly, her eyes fixed on the sight of people kicking a ball. Her eyes grew round as she continued to watch. "Who them? They're playing soccer." He answered with a smile. He cast a sideways glance at her and realized that she had no idea what that meant. She scuffed her foot along the ground. His eyes widened in comprehension. "You've never heard of soccer have you?" He asked gently in amazement. Quistis could sense the slight disappointment hidden in his voice. "No." She answered her eyes downcast in silent anguish. "Well you know we can't have that. Come on I'm gunna teach you." He took her hand before she could slip away and pulled her onto the field and into the fray. It took her awhile, a long while, but she eventually got the idea. "See I told you it was easy enough. You got it now." He commended her as she went crashing down onto her butt laughing as she tripped over the ball. "Well, maybe you don't got it but close enough." He laughed helping her up. "I can dream can't I?" "Not about being a soccer player." He hadn't yet released her hand from helping her up and made sure she was aware of it. "Ummm you wanna let go now?" Quistis asked with a shy bite of her lip. "Nope. Not yet-" "Ben! BEN! B-E-N!" A woman screeched coming down the slope to the field. "Oh fun. Here comes Grandma. As always." He sighed clearly annoyed by the interruption. The woman came huffing and puffing down the slope, nearly tripping on her skirts as her face became slowly red from the exercise. "BEN! Your mother wishes to speak to you!" She screeched again. He turned back to the older woman, "Tell my mom I'm twenty and I can take care of myself without her worrying about me all the time." The woman grabbed her heart in a classic melodramatic moment, " Is that any way to treat your mother, the woman who raised you, the one you owe your life to? She loves you and the one time when she needs you you blow her off. Why she'll be heartbroken! She doesn't care how old you are you're still her son and you owe it to her after all these years! You don't have much time left-" "Alright I'll go." He said, cutting her words off quickly. He turned back to Quistis. "So I'm Ben and you are...?" "Quistis. Quistis Trepe." "I gotta go now." He said sulkily. "I'm going to find you Quistis Trepe." She watched his back unsure as he began to walk away. He stopped midstride and turned back to her as if he had forgotten something. He walked up to the girl and gave her a shy smile before placing a quick kiss on her cheek. "Until we meet again. And that will be soon." He called back to her as he disappeared after the trail the old woman had taken. Maybe I should start feeling sorry for myself more often. Quistis thought as she turned her mind back to the mission. ***** Zell leaned back in his chair finally satisfied. He had filled his stomach with one of his favorite things, food. He looked over at Chani who was curled up in her chair, content and tired. "I'm impressed. I never saw a girl eat that much." He said still looking at her as her eyes closed slowly. She looked back at him and smiled, "I'm a warrior remember? An army marches on its stomach." She said happily with a sigh. "Damn Straight. I'm full." Chani sat up slowly and reached for a pie that had been left on the table. " But its time for dessert. After days of trampsing about the desert these people made us all this food, it would be a shame not to eat it right?" She said innocently. He didn't pick up on the slyness in her voice. "Fine give me a piece." He said forgetting his fullness and letting his appetite return. "You sure you want it?" She asked, a cunning smile edging onto her face. "Yeah." "Here." She said as she pushed the pie into his face letting it smear and drip all down his face and shirt. "Why you little-" Zell exclaimed as he dumped his cup of water over her head. "This is war!" She yelled ducking under the table as he flung whip cream in her direction. Pretty soon they had a good and rather aggressive food fight going. She was armed with a can of whipped cream and his with pudding. The dessert theme remained prevalent as they fought, food flying everywhere. "I surrender!" Chani yelled laughing as she jumped out from behind the overturned table she had been using for cover. "I'm out of ammo." She said carefully stepping out into the open.She held two empty hands above her head as she slowly walked towards Zell. "Do I believe you?" He asked her doubtfully while trying to hold back a laugh. She was covered from head to toe in a motley mess of foods and various colors. Damn she even looks good in what she eats He thought as he looked her up and down. "Of course you believe me." She said, slowly turning circle with her hands still raised. She walked up to him and stopped. "You're cute you know that?" She laughed as he put down the icing he was holding in defense. "You're not bad yourself but compared to me you know-" he began with a smile as she interrupted him. "You are so not cuter than me." She said back to him. "Oh yeah?" "Yeah" She rebutted as she reached into her pocket. She pulled out a tomato and smashed it over his head. "HA! Gottchya!" She yelled with taunting joy. "You're gunna pay for that!" Zell yelled as he jumped towards her. "Oh shit-" She attempted to run but was caught around the waist. "No! Let go!" She attempted to yell, limbs flailing wildly as he tickled her. "Who's winning now?" He asked as she doubled over in his arms squirming wildly to get away from her torture. "Unfair! This is cheating!" She gasped out through laughter. "You cheated first!" He stopped tickling her and she laid limp in his arms panting for breathe. "I may have cheated but this is worse than what I did! You were already covered with crap I just added to it a little." She smiled as she pulled herself away from him. He refused to let go of her hand and turned her around to face him. She tried to back off, a little nervous of any of his tricks. She sobered as she saw the serious look in his eyes. "Hey Chani," He began as she settled down, "Thank you." "For what?" "For everything. For this." He wiped away the pudding from her tattoo and kissed it softly. "I have faith." "I didn't do that, you did. I did nothing." She said softly. "But you did." She shook her head. "No. You were the one who brought me back to faith. You were the one who got me to trust people, you, again. I was scared, alone, bitter, and in a sense dying before you found me. Hell I don't even know what I'm saying but you know what, its the truth. In the beginning I was in love, but now I don't know what it is anymore, but whatever it is you did it. It was you Zell. I did nothing. So thank you. I owe you more than you can ever imagine." ***** "Squall-" "Yeah" "Stop it." "Stop what Rin?" Squall asked her as she came up behind him where he sat on the ridge looking out onto the wasteland. "You know what I'm talking about. I went to that asteroid and I found you. I found you Squall. You're alright. You're here with me now. I know it was bad out there but you know what? This place isn't that one. It isn't that one; we're somewhere else. Stop struggling with yourself." She sat down behind him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Lets go do something." She suggested. "I don't know Rin..." Squall answered, his voice seeming to come from miles away, over unpassable grounds, as he sat staring spellbound at the wasteland. "Dammit Squall you're going to make me do it again!" She threatened through gritted teeth. He didn't seem to acknowledge her words. 'Squall...' The voice came inside his head, clear and strong. 'Squall you're driving yourself crazy. Stop pushing yourself towards insanity.' He turned towards her, hearing her words. "Rin I can't stop it. It just keeps on coming. It won't stop." 'You can. I know you can.' She leaned farther over his shoulder so that she could kiss him. He lost himself in the contours of her mouth as he felt her gently probing the far corners of his mind. His mind was easing and the tension decreasing as she continued. He could fell himself beginning to win the battle that he was struggling with since they had stepped out of the crater. He could see the surface; he was no longer drowning. "Rinoa" "Un huh" She asked relieved that he was coming around. "How do you get inside my head?" He looked at her, his eyes glowing with the intensity she remembered and loved. He was back with her. "Why can I get into yours?" She smiled as he strived to get the answers to all the things he didn't understand. "Its a privilege of a sorcerer and he knight." His brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't understand it either." "Why couldn't we do it before?" "Never knew we could. I discovered it by accident." "Okay," Squall said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Whatev-" "Don't say it! I will sooner or later cure you of this speech impediment thing." "Yes ma'am" Squall said saluting her. "Come on I'm going to take you somewhere to eat." Rinoa jumped to her feet happily. 'Turn away Squall and don't look back. Never look back.' ***** "Wait. Quistis explain it again. Slowly. How did we get here?" Kayonna asked. She was feeling better and could move around. Her head-ache however could not be surpressed. "Alright. The big powerful sorcerer guy put a spell on the cave walls to make them take on the appearance of the other wall. So we basically went the wrong way. Once we left the crater it sealed itself up. The entrance back to the rest of the world is somewhere in this city. Oh and Zell," She said turning to him. "If went in any other direction we would have been dead. So thank you." Quistis finished and Zell cheered triumphantly to himself. H would never lose faith again. He had Chani to make sure of that. "How do you know all this?" Chani asked perplexed. "A friend told me." "Oh. Whats he like?" She asked, picking up quickly on the fact that Quistis' 'friend' was a boy and potentially, one day, something more. Kayonna stepped roughly on Chani's toe and motioned for her to shut up quickly as Quistis blushed a deep shade of red. "Sorry." Chani said scuffing the dirt with her foot as she stood, infuriated with herself for having let out something that she shouldn't have. The door opened with an eerie squeak which made them all tense up expectantly. Whether it was fear, foreboding, or something entirely different they would never know but in those few instants they couldn't think, move, or even blink. They were paralyzed as they waited, just waited, for the object of their anxiety to enter the room. A sigh of relief and slight disappointment was let out as Irvine and Selphie entered into the room. "You're late." Both Squall and Seifer said simultaneously. They turned and glared at each other with dislike and uneasiness. "Sorry." Irvine muttered not quite feeling it justified to be reprimanding him. "I was caught up with this one." He said jerking his thumb at Selphie. "I'm sure you were." Seifer growled irritated. He sat down on the table. Irvine shrugged his way into the room and sat down grudgingly in a chair that was nearby. I knew i didn't remember anything good about him for a reason Irvine thought angrily. "You alright?" Seifer asked Selphie exasperated. she had been squirming and being restless since she had come in. She looked at him questioning, her brows furrowed in perplexity. She seemed to ponder the question for a minute, he face contorting into her usual thinking positions before she silently smiled and shook her head she was alright. Seifer rolled his eyes and looked around gritting his teeth. "Someone want to tell me what's wrong with her before she hurts herself?" He looked at her who looked exasperated in trying to communicate with gestures. "She can't talk." Irvine said from under his hat in the corner. " We wanna see how long she can go without saying a word." "How long has it been now?" Kayonna asked, glancing at the girl who was smiling at bouncing her head from side to side as if listening to silent music. "Five minutes." Irvine answered. He was actually surprised that she had made it this long. It was a new record for her. "Now that thats settled lets get back to work you think?" Seifer muttered, annoyed with the conversation in general. The sooner they could get this done, the less people that would be killed, and the sooner he and Kayonna would be able to go home and he would never have to see certain people again Seifer reasoned. He pushed to accomplish his goal. "Alright now we plan for the next step. Any ideas? Anybody?" Kayonna asked looking about the room hoping for encouragement. "This guy is more dangerous than the first one right?" Zell asked, aiming his question at Chani. She looked down at the floor and nodded. " We have no idea about him, but all I know is that he's worse, a lot worse." She drew a quick breath. "One of us is going to have to go back to the crater and do some research on Bombey and all that magic crap." "I'll-" She cleared her throat. "I'll stay. I'll go back there and then hang out here for a while and I'll do it." Quistis said speaking up. "You sure?" Chani asked unsure while Selphie stamped her foot in disapproval. "Yeah. I'm positive. I'll be fine." She looked around at all the anxious faces. "i promise I'll be fine. No worrying about me alright?" "Any objections?" Rinoa asked the group. No answer came. The silence sealed it. Rinoa turned back to Quistis, "All right Quistis you got it." She gave her a suspicious smile. Quistis let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she wouldn't have to leave her love interest before anything happened. Maybe... Just maybe... Something could work out after all. "Okay now what about us?" Rinoa posed the question to the group again. They all turned to Chani. "Hey give me time I didn't get a vision thingie yet. Calm yourselves." She said. She felt like she was fighting off a pack of wolves, they stared at her so hungrily. " Damn here it comes!" She fell down onto her knees, "I hate you!" She said through gritted as she rocked back and her eyes glazed over and shut. Authors note: Hope at least one person is reading this. Please if you are e-mail me with something, anything. I'm bored and I need feedback. So please please please please!!!!!! CrazESchmamE@aol.com