Lost Within Blood and Tears Characters are Squaresoft's Chapter 11- The Hunter and the Hunted "Venne Veidie Vecchie I came. I saw. I conquered." -William Shakespear's Julius Caesar "Oh fun." Zell announced sarcastically in response to Seifer's jumping down into the abyss. Kayonna immediately followed her man by jumping down onto the ledge in the titanic hole. Squall and Rinoa followed them with weapons easily accessable. "Instead of going up we're going down. I need to find a new job." Irvine said as Selphie grabbed his hand and pulled down into the crater with her. Chani came up behind Zell and slipped her palm into his as he continued to stare off into the darkness. He entwined his fingers in hers as he brought her hand up to his lips giving it a sweet kiss as he announced," I bid thee well my fair lady." With a smile he jumped down the fifteen feet onto the ledge. Chani laughed with pleasure at the cute scene and she jumped after him. "We've got a long way to go" Seifer said with a click of his tongue as he looked down. He was about to make a vicious comment looking at Zell but he bit his tongue and stopped himself. He was too fond of the little blonde girl to let that comment seep out. He would be good for both her and Kayonna's sake. "Hey Chani get over here will ya!" He said pulling the girl up to the front with himself and Kayonna. "Yeah, what ya need?" She said allowing herself to be pulled along. She could see Zell tense up protectively as Seifer drew her away from her man and placed his arm around her shoulder as she walked with him. "I love you" she mouthed silently to Zell and smiled as she saw him relax. "You stay up here with us for a little while. It's not good to be hanging around with only one person for an extended period of time. Especially someone like that." He jerked his thumb at Zell. "It does things to you." He added softly in her ear. Chani laughed at Seifer's interpretation of Zell. "I'll remember that." She laughed. She smiled back at Zell simpathetically. "I'll be back later." She told him and blew him a kiss. Seifer found himself smiling at the girl as he drew her closer to him. He smiled wider as he thought of of few people he actually liked and the fact that she was one of them. He liked Chani. He liked her a lot. He wondered how he could like the girlfriend of that wimpy chickenwuss. Then the thought struck him; the answer that had been elluding him and driving him crazy. She reminded him of Malli, his dear sweet sister Malli. The thought made him smile all the more. ***** "What do you think?" Kayonna asked Rinoa as they gazed across the impassable gap. So far they had climbed down deeper and deeper into the crater with only slightly more or less trouble as they had the first initial jump. Now they hit a snag. The only way down was across an impassable gap of at least thirty feet. "Ummm..." Rinoa thought biting her lip and fingering the rings at her neck. "Rope." Squall answered looking across the gap. "Okay rope we have." Kayonna said lifting her pack off her shoulder and pulling out a thick coil of the strong rope. "So we got the rope but how do we get it across?" Irvine said taking a peek at the blackness of the abyss before turning quickly around and shuddering at the thoughts of the drop. "Chani would you like to do the honors? I can't throw that far." Kayonna said handing her the rope. "Aye aye Captain." She said with a smile and a fake salute. Chani selected her thickest arrow of about two inches in diameter and fastened the rope to the end of it. Zell tied the other end securely to a boulder. "Better check this out first. You can't trust the chickenwuss with even the simple job of tying a knot without messing up. Did you tell Miss Chani over there about still having your mommy tie your shoes for you? Ever notice how you don't untie them when you take them off? She must find you terribly impressive huh?" Seifer said smiling at the reaction he was getting out of his favorite person to taunt. Zell turned red and clenched his fists as Chani held him back. "It's tied perfectly fine." Chani said to Seifer warningly. She shot the arrow across the gap lodging it in the rocks on the other side. "Oh no. You're not planning on- oh shit." Irvine stammered as he watched Chani shoot another arrow a few feet above the first after tying it like the first one. "Okay I'll go first." Chani announced shouldering her bow and spitting on her hands she grabbed the top rope and stepped onto the lower one. "Chani!" They yelled jumping towards her. They were too late. She was already scurrying across the ropes. "I need to trust my own arrows before I can let any of you trust them." she called back to them from halfway out over the abyss. They all held their breath as they watched her walk across the ropes with ease, especially Zell. Chani told him on the Ragnorok to never question, never doubt, and always have faith as was written under her eye. He remembered this now and repeated to himself "Always have faith" almost chanting it now under his breath. "Ta-da" She said out loud to herself after taking a deep breath and allowing her feet to touch the stone instead the slender ropes. "It'll hold." Chani yelled across the canyon as she wiped her sweaty palms on her shorts. Zell couldn't help but feel filled with pride as Chani called back from the safety of the otherside. Damn what a woman! he thought to himself as he stepped out onto the ropes. They could only cross one at a time and were all safely on the other side of the gap when Irvine began across. He always seemed to go last when it came to heights, as if he could just put it off as long as possible then it wouldn't be so bad. He closed his eyes tightly and and held the rope in a white-knuckled grip as he inched his way across. " Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" he repeated over and over through gritted teeth. It seemed like hours to the others as they watched Irvine anxiously. He didn't stop though. He just came very very slowly. He didn't realize he had reached the end of the rope until he stumbled forward screaming when his foot only hit air. They couldn't hold back their laughter as the man tumbled to the stone in front of their feet. Seifer was the only one brave enough to bring their thoughts to words with, " I thought the chickenwuss was bad but you man.- you take the medal. Hell we'll give you the monument for God's sake!" as he fell forward into fit of histerical laughter. He received a hard smack across the back of his head from Kayonna as a reward for his bravery. "Hey!" Seifer said rubbing the back of his head as pain resonated through it. Kayonna offered her hand to Irvine to help him up. "You know man I don't get it." Squall addressed Irvine. " I mean you're afraid of heights all of a sudden. You were fine when we were climbing up to the clock tower when we were to assassinate Edea and stuff. What happened?" " I don't know. When I'm concentrating on being a sniper and hitting something with one shot I guess I don't have time to think about heights. But there is nothing to fight or anything here so you know whatever..." "Come on Irvine lets go." Selphie said with a sigh. Squall led them the rest of the way down the crater as they bounded from ledge to ledge. "I can see the bottom... finally." Selphie announced much to Irvine's relief. It can't be too much farther now. Irvine thought. He cursed his thinking as he looked down. He could see the ground but they were still a good hundred feet up. Never again will I complain about the fence! Irvine thought bitterly as he looked down again. They slowly and painstakingly shimmied down the last hundred feet, eternally grateful as their feet touched the ground. Chani shivered in the damp coldness as the fear and foreboding the vision had inflicted on her came back with memory. Zell rubbed her arms with his hands messaging away the goosebumps. She began trembling violently as they walked through a tunnel and the only out of the landing except up. "Hey its really not that bad down here." Zell said to Chani as he rubbed her arms. She looked at him with cynical disbelief playing over her face. "I'm not saying I would like to live here or anything but it would make a hell of a place to play hide and go seek." Zell flashed her an innocent smile. She forgot her fear. "We'll have to do that sometime." She said. "Was hoping you would say that. You hide first." He said giving her a playful push. "What!" "You heard me. Go and hide. One..... Two..... Three..... You're still not hiding... Four" Chani ran off laughing. She stopped in front of Seifer and hid behind him. "Chani what the hell are you doing?!" Seifer exclaimed as she held onto the trenchcoat and peered around him. "Shhh. Playing hide and seek. Now shut up or you'll give me away." "What!" He turned around. "Chickenwuss you put her up to this! Get the hell out here! She got a lot better things to be doing then to be putting up with you!" He yelled angrily. He turned back to Chani. " You remember what I said about hanging out with him too much? Yeah. You got a mission. Don't listen to him anymore okay. I'm starting to worry about you. Play after we get rid of this guy alright? And you Chickenwuss leave her alone!" He added into the darkness. "Yes Dad." She muttered. "That's my girl." He gave her a pat on the back and shoved her off ahead. The tunnel came to one last turn revealing a chamber flooded with light. They back-tracked further into the tunnel and around a couple of bends to go over last-minute plans. "Okay do either of you have GFs?" Quistis asked Kayonna and Chani. Both shook their heads. "The rest of you?" They all nodded. "Okay thats okay then. Ummm what do you suggest?" "We need a distraction so as to surprise him." Seifer said slouching down against the wet walls. "I'll go." Chani volunteered and stepped forward. "No." Was the answer from Squall, Seifer, and Zell. "Why not?" She asked difiantly and stepped forward. "It's too dangerous." The boys answered her. "So what do you suggest then? Burst in there guns blazing? Thats not going to work so I'm going to go. I can do it. I'm going to go whether you all give me permission or not. So just let me do this." They turned away avoiding her eyes. "Good." She said taking her bow off her shoulder and the arrows off her back. "What are you doing?" Squall asked shocked as she began walking down the tunnel unarmed. "I can't be armed as bait can I?" She whispered as she released a deep breath and through herself into the lit room. Bright light enveloped her as she blinked letting her eyes adjust. She saw her target in front of her. She now sorely missed her bow as she looked at the back of her enemy... Bombey. She took another step forward before she sensed movement behind her. She turned around on her heels to see and feel the sorceror grab her by the neck. "Now who's the hunter and who's the prey?" he asked her as she realized that the figuer she had been stalking was only a dummy and now the real Bombey had her by the throat. "The hunter becomes the hunted who knew?"