Lovers Trust

Beta: CalliopePurple
Notes: Well, chapter 18 ready.

Originally I wrote chapter 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 on my vacation. The idea was to post them as fast as my beta could read them but… well time went by and nothing happened on my side.
I was to lazy to send and write and so on. But here it is anyway…


18

[Seifer]
It wasn’t as cold as he’d thought it would be. The bench was nice and the robe was soft. He still shivered, though.

He glanced at the machine two Shumis were working on and then stared at the syringe the Elder held.

“What was that now again?” he asked and couldn’t quite hide his anguish.

“It’ll help you relax and free your mind enough so that it won’t be to much of a shock for you entering the pool,” the Elder patiently explained again. Seifer nodded.

The two small Shumis connected him to the machine. It stung in a strange way.

“Let go of youre magic,” the Elder said softly.

“Yeah…” Words were really not necessary.

They had talked about this short process many times. Seifer knew what was happening, but he couldn’t squash his nervousness. It stung to leave all his magic to that machine. When he started it, it felt as if his magic was sucked out of him with a vacuum cleaner.

When it was done, he was shivering and he felt exhausted. The Elder gave him no chance to stop and breathe, but plunged the syringe in his arm and injected the thing.

Seifer had believed it would take a while for it to work. He’d never been very sensitive to Sleep or other abnormal statuses. But it took only a few seconds before he felt sleepy and warm.

It felt as if he was gently spinning around and nothing seemed to bother him any longer. It felt nice. It felt safe. Seifer had a vague sense of being lifted and moved. Somewhere, his brain noted that the Elder had to be pretty strong to be able to carry Seifer like a child.

Then he was in the pool.

A strange painful and pleasurable sensation of extreme heat and coldness hit him. He couldn’t do anything. He wanted to scream in pain and moan in pleasure, but could do neither. Then his body was disconnected.

Seifer was surging forth in a raging stream. Fear clawed its way inside of him. His mind was going to break and separate in all directions. He felt faint. He didn’t know where he was or who he was. He would die.

A red inferno suddenly enveloped him. Something like big hands gathered him and held him like a little ball.

*****

It felt like waking up with the help of a Phoenix Down. Still it felt oddly… odd. He was laying on something warm and at the same time not. A purring made him open his eyes.

Everywhere he saw was green. Green and yellow-green. Looking down on what he was laying on, Seifer inhaled sharply. Red-brown fur, packs of muscle under brown smooth skin. Looking up, he met burning red eyes and a big animal nose.

: : Ifrit? : : his voice was faint even if he knew it was only in his head.

The beast purred in something like a chuckle. Seifer jerked when raw hands stroked his back. Deadly black claws gently traced his naked skin. Naked? Hadn’t he had a robe just now?

: : Where am I? : : he wondered and Ifrit continued to stroke him as if trying to sooth him.

: : In the pool : : was the simple answer.

He’d forgotten how deep and vibrating Ifrit’s voice was. Seifer looked around them, but saw nothing other than green and yellow.

: : I don’t see the surface : : Ifrit chuckled deeply.

: : Of course not, this is the pool for souls, not your body : : the GF explained amused.

Seifer didn’t say anything but tried to get his head to remember why “pool” sounded so familiar and why he wasn’t more shocked to this than he should be.

: : Squall. I’m here to help Squall : : He suddenly remembered everything.

Ifrit nodded and the burning red eyes looked at something far off in the distance.

: : I know, I am your guide as Shiva is Squall’s : : Ifrit answered.

Seifer tried getting up, but was held down against the spirit’s stomach.

: : Then lets go : : Seifer said impatiently when he didn’t get loose.

Ifrit chuckled.

: : We are on our way, child : :

: : I’m not…! : : Seifer glared up in the red eyes and fell silent.

He resented and lay still. Meeting those fatherly eyes, he felt more like a child than he had earlier.

: : Why do you all call us children? : : he asked after a while.

Ifrit purred and continued stroking him.

: : Because you are : : Seifer frowned.

: : Why call me “Child of Ifrit”? Or call Squall “Child of Shiva”? : : Seifer pointed out and Ifrit chuckled.

: : Because you are : :

: : What? You’re going on repeat or something? : :

That only made the spirit chuckle and swirl around.

Without letting go of Seifer, Ifrit turned around so that Seifer was hanging instead. They sort of descended and Seifer soon saw shadows in the green. Getting closer, he could make out two large Gestalts. Seifer almost struggled to get loose when he saw Shiva and Squall and a second cat looking thing.

The big cat thing was bigger than Ifrit, but very much like him, with horns and a cat body. But it was almost totally black, with wings and sharp looking things sticking out from its arms. It also had a tail and five horns instead of two.

On its chest, Squall was curled up. Shiva was lying behind him and holding him, both were held by the third. They seamed to be asleep even if the cat thing stroked them with clawed hands. Seifer swallowed.

: : Is that…? : :

: : Griever : : Ifrit filled in, his voice sounding stern and not at all happy.

: : Is this bad? : : Seifer wondered. He remembered the gang telling him they had fought the strong GF.

Ifrit was silent.

: : Yes and no. We need someone to watch over us. Griever is as good as anyone : : Ifrit growled.

: : You’re lying : : Seifer said simply, Ifrit snorted.

: : That easy to hear, huh? : :

They didn’t say more because they were beside the trio. Griever was even bigger up close. Some kind of dialogue was exchanged between the two GFs that Seifer didn’t hear. He didn’t really care, either. He wanted to get to Squall.

Griever opened his arms and Ifrit simply floated into them. Shiva opened her eyes to slits and held a little harder around Squall while the four of them were floating without Griever’s support. Ifrit and Shiva curled up around the two humans in a secure embrace.

Seifer held Squall and inhaled the smell of his hair. That was enough for him. He closed his eyes and trusted Ifrit to see to them.

*****
[Irvine]
He’d forgotten how long it took to travel down to the Shumi village. It took even longer this time.

He was freezing and he was too hot. The world was a blurry thing around him and all he wanted to do was sleep. To forget the physical and mental pain that clawed inside of him.

“We’re here, Irv,” Selphie whispered.

He answered by squeezing her hand a little harder. Zell yet again hooked his arm around Irvine’s midsection and almost carried him. The light outside the elevator blinded him and made him sick.

He couldn’t understand what had happened. He’d never felt anything like it before. He had always been very careful with injunction GFs. If he could, he used to draw it out over three days. He hated injunction. And now… Where had Ifrit gone? How had he done it? Irvine moaned pitifully in pain.

What a mess. According to Quistis, it would only take two to three days for him to get well again, if he got lots of sleep and food on regular basics.

“Would you look at that, you’ll get your old room.”

Irvine glazed around, seeing they had somehow gotten inside the inn without him noticing. He almost sighed in relief as he saw the very soft and warm and inviting bed. His sunshine was beside him, snatching of his hat and taking off his coat.

“I’m fine,” he murmured. His throat felt raw and dry.

“No you’re not, honey. We need to take these off before you burn up,” Selphie said calmly.

He thought he whimpered something about being cold and not wanting anything else but going to sleep. Of course, neither of them listened. Zell hauled him up on the bed and helped Selphie take off his boots.

“I’ll go see what Quistis and Rin are doing,” Zell said silently and disappeared.

Irvine closed his eyes and curled up under the blanket. If he relaxed and really, really felt inwards, he could almost sense Ifrit. And Carbuncle that Selphie had. And Quez that Zell had… and Shiva? He snorted.
He had a fever, that’s all.

[Quistis]
She had never really liked the Shumi. She didn’t trust them. Then again, she didn’t trust anyone besides the gang. That included Seifer.

“The Elder isn’t seeing anyone, you have to come back later,” the little Shumi waved them away.

Quistis wanted to scream at the little thing that this was important. That she Had to see the Elder. Both for their mission and for Irvine. She had never heard about a GF suddenly disappearing from its carrier. She didn’t even know GFs could do that.

She turned around to Rinoa and Zell. They both looked at her for some answer.

“We’ll go back to the inn. Maybe he’ll see us tomorrow,” she said slowly, trying to sound calm and not as frustrated as she was.

Zell bounced away to the sculptor’s house and Rinoa followed him. Quistis sighed. They didn’t trust her. She didn’t trust herself. She knew from long ago that she lacked qualifications as a leader. True, she was as capable in fighting as anyone of them. She also knew as much as Squall. But somehow, he had something more.

What, she didn’t know. None of them knew. She guessed they had become lazy and spoiled by fighting with him as their leader. She knew that in other squads, the leader always required the group to make their own decisions on a regular basic. Maybe it was just something Squall had forgotten or ignored, it didn’t matter. It worked, they were the most effective squad Garden had seen for years.

She turned around to go back to the inn. Cerberus suddenly growled and Leviathan joined in. Quistis stopped in her tracks and listened to them. There were something here that disturbed them. Something that made them worried.

: : Cerberus, talk to me : : she ordered the GF.

Cerberus waved its three heads, but said nothing. Leviathan wailed and circled in her mind so much that she started to get a headache.

: : Both of you, what’s going on? : : she asked, this time starting to get worried.

: : The Stream : : Leviathan singed in both joy and… fear?

Quistis frowned and gazed at the Elder’s house.

: : Stream? What do you mean? : : She wondered.

: : Nothing for human ears : : Cerberus growled and settled back down inside her.

Leviathan soon followed his example. Quistis frowned even deeper. She wasn’t one to speak with GFs and didn’t often listen to their mysterious words. But this was different.

She sighed and started walking. She wasn’t going to leave this village until she’d spoken to the Elder. He had to know where Squall and Seifer were and how Ifrit just could disappear from Irvine like that.


Author’s Whining:
Thank you for your continuing support and I whished I could promise that I won’t take so long to update again. But I’m very keen on keeping my promises and don’t want to give any that I’m not sure I could keep.