Power Of Pain

Chapter Nine

At Garden Quistis had written down all the towns and now SeeD's were goint to be sent out to each town in the morning. The train stations were closed so they had to wait for now. Nida, Zell and Xu were to go to Timber, Selphie and Irvine were to go to Deling City. With enough demanding and whining Seifer was able to go with. Rinoa was to stay in Garden for the time being. Laguna was still there but wanted to be left alone, only occasionly going out to talk with them about the plan. They tried to sleep through the night, but it ended up being full of toss, turns and just plain staying up.

When morning finally came, they groggily got up and ready for the train station to open. They had their weopons, but not intending to use them on the drugged out Commander. Zell didn't tell anyone about his sexual incounter with him and Xu has yet to say anything about her time with him. The students watched in curiousity as they saw the two teams head out, neither taking a car for they knew not when they were going to be back.

Seifer sighed as they walked toward the town. "Why are we hunting him down like an animal?" He asked them. "We're not. He needs help." Nida said. "Well yeah, but why does it take all of us? I want to come with so I can kick his scrawny ass for all this bullshit!" Seifer growled. "Yeah, we know you care for him." Selphie said and Seifer's shoulders drooped a little. They walked the rest of the way in silence and finally made it. They purchased their tickets and boarded the train. Zell, Nida and Xu's stop was first then the others. They didn't know why it worked out like that but didn't put too much thought into it.

Meanwhile in Deling Squall woke up to a queasy stomach and laid still until it passed. With a groan he sat up and looked at his arm that he cut the night before. The blood dried in the wavy patterns he had formed and he decided to shower. Stripping off his cloths he went to the bathroom and started the water. He got in and washed off the blood and stood there after getting clean, letting the hot water turn his skin a blazing red.

Sighing he shut it off and got out, toweling dry. Squall walked back to the bed with just the towel around his waist and sat down on the frilly looking comforter. He took out the pill crusher and some pills. After getting them into a powder he looked around for something to use. Grabbing a pen from the night stand,he took out everything and the cap. He snorted the unknown pills through the gutted pen and groaned as it burned. He wiped his nose and noticed blood on his fingers.

"Oh fucking great." He said and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He grabbed some kleenex's from the box and held his nose. "Must have had one too many." He nearly giggled and threw away the bloodied rag. After his nose stopped bleeding he dressed and was ready to go again. Swaying somewhat he stood, and put all his things into the brown bag again. He took out a small cube looking thing from a small baggie and decided to try it. He quickly chewed it and left the room, swallowing it on the way down the stairs.

Squall gave the front desk woman the key back and left the Hotel. The sun outside seemed extra bright as did everything else. He shielded his sensitive blues and walked with his back against the sun. After a bit of wondering aimlessly Squall looked around and noticed something wrong with his hand. Sliding into a alley he looked closer and seen a large worm rip through the back. It slithered out and Squall managed a weak yelp. His pupils large, watched as his skin rippled like an army was ready to pour out.

"Their eating me alive!" Squall yelled and drew a blade out. He slashed all over, trying to get the bugs out of his skin. Blood spattered as he tore deeper, and deeper, watching the wiggly creatures fall out of his torn flesh and sizzle on the pavement. "Squall? Jesus Christ!" A large figure ran over to him, the trench coat getting stained. "Seifer! They won't stop coming!" Squall yelled and the blonde yanked the blade away from him.

Selphie and Irvine came rushing over and cringed at him. "Sssh. It's okay Squall." Seifer cooed. "Make them go away." Squall sqeaked. "Make what go away?" Irvine asked. "The fucking bugs under my skin! Their eating my from the inside out!" He yelled and they didn't see anything but blood. Squall's blue eyes were mostly pupil at the moment and Selphie gulped. "It's okay, their gone Squall. If you come with us we'll make sure they'll never come back." She said and Squall clung to Seifer with scared eyes. "Promise?" He asked and they nodded.

They walked him out and through the gathering crowd. Irvine left the little brown bag on the ground and they headed to the train station once again. Selphie used a Cura spell on him for the blood to stop and people watched as they boarded the train, going straight to the SeeD car. Squall shivered and sat down, clawing his knees. Selphie took his hands into hers and he looked at her. "Don't hurt yourself anymore Squall." She whispered and he stared at her with large eyes.

"Why? You guys don't really care about me." Squall said and Seifer shook his head. "You got it wrong. We care, we care a fucking whole lot. You could even say we love your crazy ass." Seifer said and Squall looked at all of them. "Yepper Squall. We love the living shit out of you." Selphie said with a smile and Squall felt dizzy. 'They...love me? Really? Could it be true?' He thought and Seifer kneeled next to Selphie. "Squall...." He began but the burnette man lurched forward and Seifer caught him. Squall had blacked out.

"Well, at least we got him now." Irvine said and Seifer laid Squall on the couch. Selphie checked to make sure his vitals were okay and gave a thumbs up when they checked fine. "We need to call the Garden, tell them we have him now." Seifer said and Irvine went to the newly installed phone, dialing and telling them what happened. "The other team is going to be informed, how I don't know." Irvine said. Selphie sat at Squall's head and started to smooth his hair down while the train continued.

TBC

@_@' Kinda strange chapter, eh?