King's Heart (part 12 of 31)

Dancing with Death

Xu stopped dead. Her heart felt like it had been ripped to shreds for no apparent reason. She clutched at her chest, struggling to deal with the feeling that had coursed through her body unexpectedly.

“Xu? Are you ok?” Selphie asked as they paused in front of the shrine. She shook her head.

“Yeah. I’m just fine…” She replied. Squall grunted in response and they kept running.

…

…

Rinoa woke up alone. The effects of the spell had finally worn off but she was all alone and in the cold. Somehow, she had managed to end up outside but she had no idea where she was. She didn’t even have her weapons.

“Quistis?” She said aloud, hoping for an answer. Instead, the wind howled with glee at its new prey. “Squall…” she whispered and curled up next to the wall. It was dark and scary and she didn’t want to be alone anymore. She cried softly, frightened like a little child. Then, as if on cue, the memory of Squall brought strength into her and she remembered Quistis’s wise words. Stand up and be strong! She sniffed once more before standing up and looking around. She was stuck somewhere and by the look of the scenery, on Centra. But Centra was huge and dangerous. She didn’t even have any weapons to fight with and if she encountered something now…Squall would rather see you alive! She wiped her eyes and moved forward, clutching her arms in the cold and fright. She wondered where Quistis went and suddenly, the memory of that strange man brought back the horrific scene.

“Quistis!” She hissed. Just as she said it, a monster roared nearby and she hurried along, trying hard not to panic.

…

…

“Rinoa!” Squall yelled. He sprinted through the hallways, screaming her name. It was a prison alright, a dark a musky one at that. “Rinoa!!” Xu and the others followed him closely, yelling just as loudly. Zell ran head first into Squall who stopped at a standstill. He was staring at a broken door.

“Hey, watch it, man!” Zell snapped, getting up after falling. Squall knelt to inspect the door.

“It’s fresh. The door was knocked down recently and I think that it might’ve been Quistis and Rinoa.” Irvine walked ahead and rounded the corner. After a moment, he came back with a whip and a pinwheel.

“No doubt about it. It’s theirs.” He said, tossing the weapons to his teammates. “But they’re not here. The room back there is completely a dead end.”

“Where could they have gone?” Selphie wondered.

“They must’ve escaped. Let’s go back up and check on foot to find them.” Irvine suggested. Xu looked down at the broken door. She had a bad feeling about everything.

…

…

“And?” Xu asked.

“What do you mean ‘and?’” Quistis asked.

“Come on, you know hiding it from me won’t do you any good. You’re much too obvious. You came into the SeeD party glowing with Instructor Mesh at your side. Don’t tell me that you’re not seeing each other. In fact, I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that you’ve been seeing each other for a while.” She smirked devilishly. Quistis was unable to keep a smile off her face.

“Ok, fine, we’ve been seeing each other for a year.”

“A YEAR?? AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!” Xu yelled in surprise.

“Shh!” Quistis hissed. “Yeah.”

“So…um…this might be an awkward question but have you two…ya know…” She scratched her head, trying to put it mildly. “Um…I mean it just seems liked you walked in and…”

“We have.” Quistis giggled. Xu all but choked.

“HYNE! YOU??? PERFECT QUISTY?” She gasped. “I never would’ve thought that you…with and older man at that…I…”

“You make it sound dirtier than it is.” Quistis replied calmly.

“Well yeah! Maybe because it is! He’s an instructor! Kinda older. Also, he was your teacher and you were his student! Can I say scandalous?” Xu blurted.

“Maybe it is but…I mean…I love him thought.” Quistis looked sheepishly at the ground, blushing. “I mean, sure…there’s a lot of stuff that could become potential threats to his career but I don’t know…I love him. I’ve never felt this way before in my life. It’s like he’s opened up a whole other world for me.”

“And me?” Quistis’s head shot up. She was staring at a much older Xu. Her expression was haunted, chilling. “What? You take my love for granted and throw it away at your convenience? Sorry, love, but I love you like it’s the real deal, whether you want me or not. I’ll never let you go.”

“Xu…?”

“Let me waste away then. I know you love me too. You’re just too cowardly to admit it. Voices? HAH! I’ll be you’re just making that up. If you don’t want me, if you’re ashamed then say so, don’t beat around the bush.”

“No, it’s not imaginary.”

“Oh? You’re going to let some voice run your world? You’re even stupider than I thought. You loved Arik even though it could’ve gotten you into trouble, why not me?”

“But your life is on the line…really!”

“If you want to protect me, then love me.” With that, Xu drew a sharp, glistening blade from her pocket and pulled it across her skin. Quistis screamed.

Quistis screamed when she woke up. She couldn’t feel her body, she couldn’t think. All she saw was white and all she could do was scream.

“Silence her!” A voice ordered. By pure reaction, she bit down on the hand that tried to cover her mouth.

“Fuck!” The voice yelled, pulling his bleeding hand away. Quistis struggled with all her might but she had been strapped down. There were people dressed in white coats but had not bothered to cover their face. She couldn’t recognize a single one of them though. She was strapped to a sheet of metal and her feet could’ve touched the ground. They hadn’t laid her down, instead, she was upright. There were scientists in front, typing stuff on massive computers. There were other scientists standing beside her and behind her with notepads, studying her as if she were some fascinating creature. Wires hung from her body.

“Where the fuck am I?!” She screamed. Quistis was not one for cursing but the pain that was going through her body, combined with the fact that people were studying her, experimenting on her and her obliviousness to what was going on added to the pressure. “Get me out of here!”

“Restrain her!” The voice yelled again. She thrashed wildly, trying to get free. Suddenly, she felt something poke her in the shoulder. At first, she kept trying to break free but gradually, she realized that it was a sedative. Not a very strong one but enough to stop her limbs from moving. But she was still awake.

“That’s better. Alright, send shockwave one.” A sudden jolt ran through her and it felt like everything in her body was electrified. She screamed loudly, the pain just too much to bear. Luckily, it was short. The scientists were scribbling madly.

“Interesting…” one of the scientists at the computer said. “Very, very interesting. Her brain waves are unbelievable…they’re absolutely fascinating.”

“Stop it…” Quistis whispered, her head hung down.

“Shockwave 2.” He commanded and another one coursed through her body. This time, she couldn’t scream anymore. She didn’t want to either. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction.

“See?” He pointed to the monitor. “They just keep getting more and more erratic when they should be dying out.” Quistis could’ve scoffed if she had the strength to. She was dying if they hadn’t noticed. “You think one more will trigger it?” No more…Quistis thought. It hurts…

“Shockwave 3!” And suddenly, Quistis lost herself. Before she knew what happened, her body reacted on its own. A purple pulse radiated from her body, slamming all the scientists into the wall and frying the computers and their systems. With strength she did not know that she possessed, she broke free of her restrains and dashed up to the one who had been giving the commands. She grabbed him by the head and dragged him all the way over to the metal wall. She rammed his head against it, sending electricity to the tips of her fingers, frying the man.

“HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!” She roared. “Like that do ya? Want me to check your brainwaves?!” The man whimpered and she electrocuted him to death on the spot. The other scientists scrambled to get away. Quistis turned around, but she wasn’t herself anymore. Somewhere, a demon had awoken within her and it wanted to destroy them all.

“Where do you think you’re going?” She hissed, her lip curling in anger.

…

…

Rinoa stumbled backwards, having been flung into the ground by a Death Claw. She remembered how easy it was to dispatch them with her weapon but considering that she had nothing and had forgotten to stock up on magic, she wasn’t faring too well. Maybe they’re right…maybe I’m not fit for fighting. I’m just a weak little girl who depends on others…she said quietly as the Death Claw sliced at her. I want to see Squall again…She stood up and summoned the strongest spell to mind.

I want to see you again…

Squall felt it. They were close. He just knew that Rinoa was close. He stopped and looked around.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Irvine asked. “Weren’t you the one scrambling to find Rinoa?” Squall said nothing. It was still too foggy to see much. Centra was always like that. But he felt it in his heart that he wasn’t to move. After a few moments, a figure in blue made their way towards them, half dragging herself.

“RINOA!” Squall shouted. He ran past all of them and embraced her tightly.

“Squall…it hurts…” She whimpered. Squall let go immediately. She was scratched up in many places from her encounter and weak.

“Rin!” Selphie almost tackled her when Squall intercepted and stopped her. Selphie sighed and slumped her shoulders.

“It’s really great to see you again!” She yelped. “We thought we’d never see you again!”

“No we didn’t.” Squall said dangerously. Selphie squeaked and moved away cautiously. Rinoa tugged on Squall’s sleeve.

“I knew I could find you again…” She whispered. Xu looked around but couldn’t see anyone else.

“Rinoa…where’s Quistis?” She asked.

“Yeah!” Zell agreed. “Where’s our favorite instructor?”

“It was horrible…” Rinoa said softly. “We were running through the dungeon that the Galbadians kept us in and we ran into this freaky guy…he knocked Quistis unconscious with this beam of light…he wanted to kill her! Squall I’m scared for her!”

“She’s not with you?” Selphie asked, concerned. Rinoa shook her head and fell into Squall’s arms.

“Squall, you take Rinoa back to the Ragnarok. I’m going to go search for Quistis. She’s got to be nearby.” Xu said, walking away from them.

“Hey, Xu! Wait up!” Zell ran up to her. “What’s the big hurry?”

“What’s the big hurry?!” Xu rounded on him and he shrank. “Don’t you even care? Quistis could be out there dying and you tell me not to worry?” She resumed her fast paced walking. Zell slumped.

“She’s our friend too…” he mumbled and then caught up with her. “You’re almost as frantic as Squall.” You don’t know the half of it…Xu thought bitterly as she trudged along. “So, ah…Xu, how did you end up at Balamb Garden?” Xu said nothing. She didn’t want to think about how she ended up there, how her mother used to mistreat her, how her father had left her mother, meaning to take her with him but failed in court. She didn’t want to think about it now.

“Zell, shut it.” She snapped, feeling irritable. Zell quickly became quiet. There were so many emotions that she was trying to keep under control right then. She feared, no feared was not strong enough a word for the feeling that coursed through her body when she thought that they might never find Quistis. She and Zell walked for some time, Irvine, Selphie and Squall all too worried about Rinoa’s condition. Some friends they are…she thought angrily, wanting to pummel them, to tell Quistis all about how they ran off to see how Rinoa was doing when she was safely in Squall’s arms when Quistis could’ve been trapped somewhere and dying…dying…I hate that word…She tried not to think about it. Except Zell, who, even though was a bit of a buffoon at times, followed her, loyal to his Instructor. He had almost a childish giddiness whenever he talked about how cool Quistis was to all the Trepies. He admired her so much, respected her more than the others did obviously. And quite suddenly, Xu felt ashamed. She knew that the others cared as well, even Squall but perhaps they thought that Rinoa was in more danger than Quistis. Maybe they had faith that she was going to be alright, but that still didn’t erase the anger in her from knowing that either way, they didn’t come along.

“Hey, what’s that?” Zell stopped walking and pointed somewhere to their northwest. A man stumbled towards them and Xu’s eyes widened when she saw that he had been horribly mangled and one of his arms had been blown off and burned. His left eyes was missing and instead, he was bleeding from the empty socket. “Oh man!” Zell yelled, running to him. Xu stood, frozen to the spot, she knew something bad was going to happen.

“Zell! Get away from him!” She yelled before she had time to think. Zell jumped away in surprise.

“What’s your problem? The man’s hurt!”

“Witch…killed all of us…back…there…” He whispered. “Unnatural…” He coughed and exploded. Zell gave a guttural noise and backed away.

“What the hell was that?!” He demanded. Xu walked towards the bloody mess carefully.

“He said something about a witch over there. Do you think it could be Quistis?” He asked. Xu didn’t care. This was as good a lead as any. She broke into a run. Something in the pit of her stomach told her to go faster and she broke into a sprint. Even though she fast, Zell caught up easily. “What’s the big idea?”

“I know she’s over there!” Xu hissed. They ran until Xu could feel her lungs burning and she turned to look at Zell. He promptly disappeared. She halted and looked down just in time to see him roll down the rest of the stairs and collide with a wall.

“Mother f-ing…” he muttered, curling up in a ball, holding his head tenderly. Xu walked down the steps.

“Come on.” She said, motioning towards the open door.

“Oh sure…” Zell hissed, “I’m ok, no need to worry.” The two walked in…

And into a nightmare. There were bodies strewn all across the room, some impaled by ice spears that all too resembled the ones that Edea used.

“Holy shit…” Zell cursed, taken aback. Xu wasn’t looking at the bodies. She instead was focusing on the figure that stood in the middle of the room, her eyes glowing black, shoulders slumped like a raging beast.

“Quistis?” Xu whispered. The young woman pitched forward, eyes closing. She gasped and dashed to catch her. “Quistis!”

“Man oh man oh man!” Zell said, hopping from one foot to the other. “I’m gonna go get Squall and the others!” He disappeared out the door.

“Hey, Xu…” Quistis whispered. Her eyes opened and they were normal again.

“What happened?!” Xu hissed.

“Xu…I want you to know that…whatever…”

“Don’t talk now.” She ordered. “The others will be here in a moment.”

“Rinoa?” Quistis asked. Xu scoffed. That was the reason the others didn’t come. But she was still amazed that Quistis could think of others at a time like this. That was part of her personality though.

“She’s ok.” She replied. Quistis let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes.

“Xu…I want you to know that…I still love you.” Xu would’ve been overjoyed if not for the fact that Quistis had stopped breathing.