Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Insanity ❯ Childhood ( Chapter 10 )

This is a SeiferxZell yaoi and if you don't like it don't read it.

Disclaimer: I own what they do and what they say, but the details elude me.

"…"talking

~…~thoughts

{…}memories

Italics Zell's self-preservation

Constant rusty drips fall into a bucket. Slivers of water forced themselves through a crack in the ceiling. An easy repair with a little plaster and a ladder, but it's doubtful that the occupant of the rickety building would fix it today. He sits on an old and withered sofa staring at the drops and focusing on their rhythmic beat. Anything is better than the nagging sensation of losing your mind.

"I have to fix that soon." His arms folded and head tilted casually, he exhaled slowly. "Raijin would probably slip on a puddle and break something."

"Seifer, Seifer, don't ignore me. Seifeeeer." A juvenile voice and a soft giggle resounded in the dank room. Golden-brown eyes pleadingly focused on a cursed man. "Kome on. I want to play."

"The floor can't hold his ass, if he crashes into it." He stretched his arms lazily making his back crack several times. "The whole shitty place would fall down."

"Seifer, won't you play?...we'll be here all day." A childish rhyme escaped red lips, hiding a promise. Flickers of sliver danced from side to side as the sofa was relentlessly jumped on. "We can play hide and seek…if you promise not to peek."

"Be an improvement to this shithole…but it's still better than nothing." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and covered his face with calloused hands. "Stop jumping."

"He kan jump if he wants to. Now lets play something. I'm bored." The small fingers wrapped themselves on his hands and forced them to open. His arms pulled along, showcasing countless scars on its inner side. "Pretty. It looks like letters. Are you writing something?"

"No, I'm not writing something, you ignorant bitch." He snarled and tried to pull away, but couldn't. A small punch banged his skull senseless as the boy continued to hop annoyingly. He saw flashes of lights as the room spun until he recuperated from the blow.

"Don't call her that…she isn't a brat." The child leaped down and stood next to his friend. His fingers traced slowly the scars as if it was Braille "What does it say there?...won't you please share."

"I…called her something a lot worse…than brat." He glared at both children with hatred. They pestered him tirelessly, but not always with little kid's games. ~Great…I'm fighting with a baby. How low will I go before they're done with me? I'm not even sure they're there. Probably the witch's last mind-fuck.~

They looked so innocent and unassuming standing there with wide eyes and curious fingers. Soft giggles and amazed gasps after discovering what looked like a T and a crippled K made them seem endearing. Her hair was raven-black and long, her eyes deep pools of auburn; she was wearing a simple white dress without sleeves. She appeared timeless like a porcelain doll. The boy was a little bit shorter, but more robust than his friend. A simple white shirt and blue jeans was all he wore. An unnatural shade of silvery hair and prismatic pure gold eyes; he looked like a marble statue made for a temple. They were gorgeous children, like a prince and a princess, but Seifer knew the truth behind such beauty. These children can be crueler than any man.

A small racket erupted at the door, calling his attention away. The door banged open and in came a large bear of a man carrying several bags. He reeked of sweat and fish; his clothes impregnated of a hard day's work.

"Hey, Seifer! Mind helping out a little. These things are heavy, ya know?" Carrying several bags and balancing precariously on the doorstep Raijin, once again, appeared comical.

The children were gone, not a trace to be seen. In that moment he looked away they vanished; what should have made him relieved actually deepened his fears. ~Disappeared in a flash. Those punks are either really good at magic or I'm crazier than I thought…Imagining letters on my arms and stupid rhymes…Just a fucked-up daydream…~ He stood robotically and grabbed some bags, carrying them to the kitchen, his eyes slightly glazed over. His body reacting to commands, while his mind was lost. He returned again to continue with the task, but his dark-skinned friend shook his shoulder.

"Seifer, wake up." His tone was sorrowful and repentant. "I didn't mean to do that to you, ya know?"

"Huh?...Wha…" Blinking lazily, Seifer looked down at his hands holding a bag. He didn't remember picking it up in the first place or even standing up for that matter. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"It's not your fault, I got to watch my mouth, ya know?" Taking the rest of the plastic bags to the kitchen, he casually took out some cans and boxes which contained cheap food. "Fujin's coming by in a bit. She said she went to get something special for tonight."

Kindly changing the subject the two long-time friends put away their supplies leaving the unnerving occurrence to rest. It had only been little more than a week since the world was nearly destroyed or reborn depending on how you want to see it. People, instead of panicking and causing chaos in their fear, have chosen to live as if the event never happened. Stores sold their wares, schools taught their classes, churches gave their sermons; just like before, because before was safe, before was known, before had Sorceresses and knights and bloodshed but in the far-gone history, not in the now. To the world Seifer didn't exist because if he did then the Sorceress Ultimecia existed and then the Time Compression existed and then that close-call with oblivion also existed. So for now the world was content to leave him be, not for his sake, but for the sake of their group denial and sanity. You can't punish a killer without admitting someone died and sometimes a lie that your love-one is only lost instead of mangled and burned is more appealing than the cold hard truth.

A nameless can fell and rolled on the floor. "Sorry about that." Slowly the tall blonde picked up the container, his hands shaking. "Kinda nervous over nothing."

Seifer couldn't hide in that lie like the others, because that lie means he was never born and as much as he wished that was true, it wasn't. As much as he wanted to forget his entire life, he couldn't. The nightmares and scars and occasional sleepwalks he did whenever someone ordered him to do something when he was a little dazed constantly reminded him of his reality. The puppeteer's dead but the strings are still attached. Someone with only a fraction of Ultimecia's power could control him, if they knew that the puppet worked perfectly. Maybe in time the strings would rot and fall off, but not now, they're still fresh and strong. The thought of being a puppet again terrified the Cursed Knight; anyone could be his master if they only knew how easy it could be. He could fight off control before, but now he's tired and wasted. He used to have hopes and dreams even while torturing his rival in a prison, even while ordering executions of teenage rebels; it took a carefully planned and beautifully executed masterpiece of mental torture to finally kill this defiant nature.

"Did some asshole come by today? You seem kinda spooked when I got here." The balled-up fists and worried eyes showed how protective he was of his posse. "Was it those rock-throwing punks?"

"No…it was…" ~I shouldn't tell him, he has too much to deal with already. What was I thinking of saying anyway? 'Your mighty leader is being bullied by kids that might just be part of his craziness. You see he killed these kids in Time Compression, even though he's never seen them before, and now they pop up and fuck with what's left of his mind. Your great boss isn't even sure whether or not these little devils are really there or just a realistic hallucination, proving he's nuts.~ Instead of saying his thoughts, he shrugged. "…just bad dreams."

Raijin and Fujin work in a dock packaging Balamb fish and moving cargo from one ship to another; breaking their backs for less than minimum pay. They were still remembered has the Captain and Commander of the Galbadian forces not so long ago, but for the Balambians admitting that was like admitting Seifer. Best to leave them alone until they disappear on their own. They made enough money for food and saved the rest for a voyage to Fisherman's Horizon. An outcast's paradise with the perfect pastime. But it would take months to have enough for all three, so until then the evil eyes and hushed whispers and closed doors would be ignored. Selective perception can work both ways. Don't want to see me, then I don't have to see you.

The door reopened, this time with a petite woman with striking features on its doorway. The sun was setting slowly outside, giving an orange colored glow to everything, but her. She remained silvered and mysterious as if she was a celestial messenger with a prophecy to say, which was: "You going to stand there and stare at me or are you going to grow up and grab a bag?"

She was holding three large paper bags which were heavier than they seemed. After setting them down and revealing the surprise she went out to get, Seifer stood with an amused grin. "Beer, chips and rum."

"I won it from a guy going to a bachelor party. He and his friends were already piss-drunk when we saw them at the market." She sat down on the couch and stretched her arms towards the ceiling. "So I bet my pay that I could beat them at Triple Triad. Guess who won?" An unusual smile crept up her face, reserved for only two people in the world.

"You mean those shits that called you a freak and started acting like idiots." Raijin picked up the two cases of beer and put them in the fridge, he was also smiling, not the one that people thought made him look goofy, but one of proud knowledge.

"AFFIRMATIVE" Her smile widened after seeing Seifer's grateful grin. ~Just like old days.~

Raijin laughed so hard it seemed he would suffocate before stopping. Seifer started to chuckle first softly, but then it grew stronger until he was laughing too. Still sitting down and watching the spectacle Fujin continued to smile, the other two laughed enough for all of them. ~The good old days…not even a year ago.~ This last thought darkened her mood a little but it dissipated when Raijin actually did start to choke from laughing so hard. It's like as if the gates that held his joy inside broke out letting everything out at once.

After catching his breath he sighed contently. "I need to wash up a little. I stink more than Badamb fish, ya know?"

"I remember when you ate one." She cocked an eyebrow and pointed accusingly. "Your breath stank for days afterward. The poor soldiers you gave some to had food poisoning and visions of dead grandmothers." This caused the laughter to come back full force.

They enjoyed the moment, for it was precious and rare. Fujin's victory seemed infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things, but to them it was a great event. They still had dignity, marred and beaten but still there.

They didn't have a shower or a tub inside so the posse had resorted to a barrel and a bed sheet as a makeshift bathroom. Just carry some buckets full of water from the kitchen to the miniscule backyard and presto, a bath. No one was to use it alone. Being unarmed was vulnerable enough, but naked was too much of a risk. While Raijin and Fujin washed away the day, Seifer sat along with them. The moment of happiness could die easily if he was left alone, so he had to make it last as long as possible.

Once clean enough and inside their humble abode, the trio tossed each other some beers and lounged on the seedy furniture. Seifer sat on the floor with his back propped on the wall and his feet on the couch so he could face his comrades. Rajin sat on one side with Fujin's feet on his lap, while she laid her head on the armrest. This was how they normally spent their afternoons, reminiscing of the days past now that the GF memory loss was receding.

"Hmph…Raijin, do you remember how we met?" She sat up and fiddled with her eye patch. "I've been with you for so long, it seems we were born together…but how we really met…it's starting to come back."

"Back in the old orphanage near Dollet, right? I completely forgot about that place, ya know?" He drank half a can and wiped his mouth. "Old lady in charge, she must have been 100 back then…some people at the Garden from there, too. Xu and that guy I use to call Nada…he's the pilot now, ya know?"

"Yeah, he is. Our bunch was a mix group. Nearly nobody looked like anybody else." She leaned forward, grabbed the half-empty beer can and drank what was left. "But that day with the dog…do you remember it?"

"I do. Miserable shits those bastards." He took his drink back from his silver-haired companion and shook it. Noticing it was empty, Seifer threw him another one. "Want me to tell it?"

"Go ahead." She lowered her head again and stared at the ceiling. "Seifer would like to hear it." All memories, good or bad, were shared between them. It was a way to pass the time and strengthen their bond. Good memories for a laugh and bad memories for a lesson.

"Okay…Um…Uh…I better start from the beginning. The Mayor's kid got bit by a dog and got rabies or something like that…whatever the fuck it was, the kid wouldn't get better." He opened the beer and drank a couple of gulps. "The witnesses said the mutt was silver with glowing red eyes and since they hadn't caught it…"

{A medium sized crowd approached a well-kept building with a decent flowerbed and a large front yard where several kids ran around in circles like children tend to do. The orphanage was near the outskirts of Dollet, peaceful enough to raise children without being isolated from civilization. Today the peace was broken by shouts and curses.

"Where is that red-eyed devil?" A bodiless, sexless voice rose from the mob. It could have been anyone.

"She's a doppelganger I tell you. In the night she'll bite you and your family spreading disease." Full of fear, but morbid excitement, this voice spread rumors. "I saw a silver bird near Mr. Muerto when he died of clutching his chest and the silver snake skin near the Pobres twins when they fell in the well. It was her I tell you."

"Bring out the demon, old woman." This voice had an owner. It was a stoutly man, who could only be a politician. His looks just screamed elected official. "My boy will die before another sunrise. That's what the doctor says. Slaying that she-beast is my boy's only hope."

An elderly woman sat in a rocking chair on the porch, behind her was several 7 and 8 year-olds looking for some protection from the thin, decrepit matron. "You're scaring my children, Mayor." She grabbed a wooden cane and used it to stand up. "I don't house demons here. Why don't you go back to your boy and stay with him? I'm sure he wants his daddy, not a stranger, taking care of him."

"I'm doing what's best for my son. I should have exiled that demon when I first caught sight of her. No normal humans look like that." The crowed screamed in approval, at first the crowd seemed like 15 people, but it grew to three dozens when that shout sounded. "You do good with these orphans and I wouldn't want to spoil that, but I will tear this house apart to find the monster. Best to show me where she's crawling."

"She's only a little girl, can't be more than 5 when I found her. If you had sentenced her to death in the wilds, the only monster here would be you." Leaning heavily on the cane she walked towards the leader of the pack. "There has been a lot of death in these days, we don't need more."

The Mayor's frown turned into a scowl and when he was about to respond, another anonymous voice shadowed over the racket. "OVER THERE, ON THE LEFT." Everyone's eyes shifted towards that direction. Huddled against the side of the house and half-hidden behind some flowers, two crimson eyes filled with tears stared at the crowd.}

"I'm not sure why I got out of my hiding space. When our matron saw the mob come up the road, she told me to hide and stay put until she called me out." Fujin took a lock of her hair and examined it. "She knew what was going to happen…she had lived through so many angry mobs that she recognized the pattern."

"I would have loved to meet her." Seifer still sat on the floor. His eyes closed but his ears catching every inflection and detail to create a mental image.

"She would have liked that, ya know?" During the story-telling Raijin and Fujin switched from one to another, filling in gaps and corroborating facts.

"Yeah…she told me to stay put, if I only listened to her…"

{For an eternity the matron looked at her in dismay, the other orphans in a mix of relief and dread, the mob in greedy hatred and the Mayor in superstitious disgust. The first to move was dark tanned boy who looked 12 but was only 8. He ran down the steps and grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her away. This action awoke everyone from their stasis and they ran after them.

"Come back, hell-spawn" The same voices screamed out, as they always do in incoherent gatherings. "The boy's possessed I tell you. She controls minds I tell you."

In honest truth, the boy was possessed but not by evil spirits. He acted on deep-rooted human emotions that are one of the reasons humanity lasted so long: compassion and protection. He never spoke with the silver girl or even acknowledge her since no one else seemed to do so. He doesn't have any idea why he would stick his neck out.

The small girl tried to keep up as they rounded the house. She wouldn't look back anymore; the sight of all that anger aimed at her killed any curiosity she had about what was going on. Instead she stared at the back of the boy's head, wondering what the front looked like. A loud thud sounded to her right as a rock hit the siding. Turning her head to look, she heard a softer thud right next to her temple as a stone collided between the boy's shoulder blades. Her savior staggered for a second and then continues to run, pulling her behind him.

They turned another corner going in a circle around the house; soon they would be in the front again. Another soft thud and this time she saw it hit him in the shoulder. Seeing it happen made her want to scream at them to stop and when she twisted her torso to glare at the persecutors she saw a rock grow bigger until it struck her left eye. Shocked, she stumbled and nearly fell when wiry arms caught her and continued to run to the porch, entering the orphanage.

Most of the orphans had ran up to their rooms or cowered behind the matron as she hollered at the Mayor to stop this savagery. Inside the lobby was a lonely boy with a cast on his right leg. He sat next to a suitcase and folded papers into planes ignoring the screams and swearing outside. Whatever happened in the orphanage wasn't going to be his business for long, so why bother getting involved? The door slammed open and in came a strong boy dragging a smaller girl. He quickly turned around and shoved a desk in front of the door. Her silver hair was matted on her left cheek and red dripped onto her t-shirt, it looked like her eyes must have overflowed for that ruby liquid to be there, it couldn't be blood, she's only a kid.

The dark boy dragged her to an armoire with old carvings on it. The carvings were misspelled names and funny faces which generations of kids had cut into the wood. It must have been valuable at one point, but now it was a plaything. Only the cool kids knew about the secret compartment under one of the boards. Two could fit in tightly and if they held their breath. Carefully he put inside her inside and was about to fit himself in when he saw the other kid. Outside he could hear the old lady screaming at the crowd, sounding fierce and stronger than the whole lot combined. But the boy with the cast had a grudge against him and if the people outside got in, the boy could tell on him. If he could only remember the name, he could beg for silence, but all that came up was. "…Nada…keep quiet…please…I'm sorry for bullying you…just keep quiet, ya know?...not for me…for her, ya know?"

Silent, calm, indifferent; the Asian boy didn't show his opinion on the other's situation. There wasn't any time left to convince him to keep quiet, so the darker boy ran to the armoire wincing as he positioned his body and closed the board over the girl and him. Outside the screams grew louder and the door banged nearly coming out of its hinges. The boy in the cast looked on unconcerned but his paper plane was a wrinkled mess. He glanced at the floor and the armoire and saw that none of that red stuff got on it. The grown-ups would only find his bully if he told them and part of him wanted to tattletale as payback for his broken leg and that stupid nickname everyone remembered instead of his real name, but another part saw the fear in his black eyes and the way the girl's body seemed so limp.

The door burst open flinging the desk to a side and several men started rummaging through the curtains and clawing under tables. It was funny how the boy called Nada wasn't noticed first by anyone entering the lobby, but eventually he caught one of the men's eyes. "You, kid! Where did that monster go?"

Looking at the tattered paper that should have been a good flyer, the boy replied calmly. "What monster?"

The man, infuriated, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him a couple of feet off the suitcase. "You know damn well what I'm talking about. Where is it? Tell me or I'll break your other leg." He shook the boy for good measure.

"Out the back door, through the kitchen." He pointed in that direction, still calm and serene. His airplane fell to the floor and mocked him by how poorly it floated down. It should have been a good flyer.

"Come on! They're outside." He flung the poor boy to the floor. "We can catch up to some pint-sized devils." He and the other men ran out, knocking down a vase full of flowers and overturning a table with finger-paints for the smaller kids.}

"I wish I could remember his name, ya know?" He finished up his beer and crushed the can in his fist. "I know it sounds like Nada, but that's not it."

"Nobody remembers his name, Raijin. It's like one of those customs that everyone follows, even if they don't know why." Fujin sighed softly and turned onto her side. "He saved us though. They would have lynched you with me if they caught us."

"How did you get out of there?" Seifer didn't like to pry into personal matters, but hearing how Fujin and Raijin met made him glad to be friends with them. He wanted to know the whole story.

"We stayed in that armoire for nearly a day. Every once in a while we would hear demands from the Mayor and matron declining to help him in any way…I can't remember their names…I remember that person saying Mr. Muerto and the Pobres twins, but the person that took care of me and the person that hunted me… I can't remember." Her lip curled slightly in a disappointing smile. "Talk about selective memory."

"That kid was waiting for Garden officials to pick him up. Garden supported that orphanage, but wasn't directly linked to it. Any kid that didn't get adopted before 9 years-old could be sent to Garden to study if they were smart enough, ya know?" Aiming the crushed can to a trash can, he threw half-heartedly and made the shot. "When the officials got there they did crowd control, found that mangy mutt…it was a dirty gray street dog with bloodshot eyes from whatever made it sick…and gave the mayor's kid a shot to make him all better."

"After everyone calmed down, matron called us out. Said everything was safe…she didn't know that Raijin had a fractured shoulder and my eye had ruptured." She smiled softly while caressing the patch over her left eye. "The doctors said it could have been saved if I had gotten treatment earlier, but by that time the flesh had atrophied."

"Then we were sent to Garden once we got better, they wanted to send me ahead since I only had a hairline fracture, but I kicked and screamed whenever they tried to separate us, ya know?" He smiled too, but it was noticeably weaker to the one he had at sunset. "We've stuck together since then. Fujin here got that trademark way of speaking responding to doctors' questions. She wanted to intimidate everyone away. Once in Garden she practiced some more."

Listening to that last remark, Fujin kicked him playfully in the ribs. "You weren't no saint either."

They all laughed at this, but it died down quick enough. "That's about the time I teamed up with you. You did the big bad act for a while, but you needed big bad Seifer to pull it off." He grinned remembering how it took him months before they trusted him completely. "We made quite the terror team, kept everyone in line once we were old enough."

"Yeah, that we did." Fujin shifted again to sit up, she hopped a couple of times on the sofa as if checking its consistency. "Why does this piece of junk seem lumpier than usual?"

That struck the blonde warrior more than he wanted to admit. He watched her hair flop up and down like that kid's hair. ~Just like that punk's silver hair…but Fujin's color is more of a pretty gray; the boy's metallic silver. Like a statue made of silver and gold and marble, not human like Fujin…the sofa's lumpy because I sat in it all day…even if I sat on the other side where Raijin is…it's an old piece of shit anyway, it's always uncomfortable…~ He broke out this train of thought and tried to concentrate on something else, the only images to pop into his mind was playing in his orphanage. "Hey, wanna hear how much of a spoiled brat I was back then?"

"Go ahead. We still have three beers left." Fujin's comment sent a couple of chuckles through them, as the beer was distributed. However, the humor was nearly dead and they all felt it.

"You know where my home as a kid was; in the middle of nowhere with stormy skies in fall and cold-ass winters. Spring and summer were pretty good; it made the bad weather seem worth it." He popped the cap of his drink. "We were a small group, you could say handpicked for this historic fuck-for-all. I mean our Matron Edea ended up as Ultimecia's first possession, her husband the "leader" of the group out to kill her and a bunch of bed-wetters as the future heroes of the planet." He chucked it completely and wiped the sides of his mouth. He definitely needed a buzz to tell this story. "But no good bedtime story doesn't have a bad guy, so…"

{It was a rainy afternoon, but not a downpour, just a light drizzle that wouldn't let up. Inside six kids ran around the furniture and threw pillows at each other, while an older girl tried to calm them down. She was left in charge while the adults went out to get supplies. Misjudging her commanding abilities, Ellone finds herself handling more screams and whines than she thought possible.

"Calm down! Quisty, don't climb the book case, if you want a book just ask. Irvy, leave Sefie alone and stop kissing the girls. Seif, leave Zell alone. Why do you always pick on him?" Standing next to her was a quiet brunette, holding onto the hem of her scarf. "Why can't all little boys and girls be like you, Squall?" The quiet boy just shrugged in a way that would be synonymous with his attitude in coming years, but for now it just looked cute.

In a moment of revelation she thought of the perfect solution to her problem. "Listen up! Do you want cookies?" She clapped her hands and smiled brightly.

"Yeah!!!" A unanimous shout of glee; all eyes fell on the older kid, as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Then you need to calm down, or I can't leave you alone, got that?" She waited for complaints, but got none. Instead the room filled with rumbling stomachs and starving eyes. "All right then…how about you reenact one of your favorite stories? You can change the storyline or add scenes and other fun stuff. Just don't start fighting or I won't bake the cookies, ok?"

She got another resounding approval and left them alone for the tranquility of the kitchen. Once she left, the young Quistis took command and said that they should do one about Knights and princesses and dragons. "I'll be a wizar' and Squally the silen' knigh' and Sefie the princess…"

"Don' wanna be a princess. It boring." The small girl with flips in her hair pouted disappointedly. "Wanna be bard or silly sidekic'. They funny."

"But we need a princess. Som'body to save." The blonde crossed her arms and stared at everyone.

"How 'bout puny Zell? He always need saving, right?" The biggest and oldest of them all placed his arm around the shortest of the lot and it wasn't Selphie.

"No! I'm not a girl. Princesses are girls. Irvy looks mo' like a girl, pick him!" He tried to struggle out of the grip, but only found himself pressed harder against the other boy. "Lemme go, Seif!"}

"Even back then, I liked him. Not in that 'I wanna fuck you' way; it was more like a nice feeling whenever he was around." He rolled the empty can on the floor. "We must have been pretty young for our speech to be so bad. Maybe six… more or less."

{Sitting on top of the couch with a towel wrapped around him like a dress, Zell pouted angrily. "Sefie's right…this boring."

Beneath him Irvy tried wrapping a green blanket around his waist to make a long tail. He had volunteered for the dragon part once Zell said he looked like a girl. Girls are cute, but that part was just sitting around and waiting for someone to rescue you. "Hey Zelly, how do I look?" The other just responded by sticking out his tongue.

A couple of shouts and feet stomping called everyone's attention to the other side of the room. Quistis and Seifer were about to pounce each other, by the looks of it. "I don' wanna be the black knight. I'm always the bad guy, why can't Squally be the bad guy?"

"B'cause the good knigh' is the stron' silen' type and you havva loud potty mouth." Fearless, she stepped forward. "You always bully Zell, so tha' makes you perfec' for the part."

"I wanna save him. The bad guy always loses and only the winner gets the princess." After saying this, his face became rosy red and he muttered under his breath.

"Wha' did you say?" Quistis backed off. Seifer looked embarrassed and he would probably hit you more if he was embarrassed than if he was angry. She already figured out everyone's behavior, even by that age.

"I don' wanna play." He pushed the other blonde out of the way and ran outside.}

"I didn't go back until nightfall and I was soaking wet. I caught a cold and spent a week in bed. By the time I got better, everyone forgot about what happened…or at least they pretended to." He picked up the can and closed his fist on it, crushing it easily. "Even as a kid in a game, I was the bad guy…because every story needs a villain. Ironic, isn't it?"

Both Fujin and Raijin nodded, but didn't say a word. Now wasn't the time.

"Ultimecia knew this simple fact, just like she knew that every Sorceress needs a Knight. My fate was already picked out the second I walked into that Orphanage. Did I tell you how she used my memories to set up those tortures for the others?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I knew Squall hated to be alone, even when he alienated everyone so she took first Quistis, then Rinoa, then Zell away and sent them to me. Later she sent Squall to these wastelands with literally nothing there."

He shifted on the floor, moving his legs off the couch and sat crossed-legged on the floor. "With Quistis, I knew she feared being careless of others' emotions. She felt responsible for everybody; when her friend died she thought it would be best to keep only strong people as companions since they could take care of themselves and it wouldn't be her fault if something happened. But she still blamed herself and accepted the title ice-bitch because she thought she deserved it. Ultimecia thought that she could control Quistis like she did me, but that girl showed her a thing or two."

He uncrossed his legs and stood up, wobbly at first since his legs fell asleep and the beer wasn't helping. "She used my memory of how I met Rinoa and disfigured it into a horror film. To Rinoa it was real enough, seeing everyone she loves die trying to save her. She must be tearing herself apart for not being able to stop any of it. She's got a big heart, but it bleeds easily."

He picked up a couple of other cans and crushed them too. "Zell…that wasn't his biggest fear…at least not when it happened, I'm not sure now…" His knuckles turned white as he strangled the aluminum. "He didn't deserve that…he never…I never gave him a clue I even liked him, after that time in the Orphanage…He kept fighting back…Trying to stop me and I called him a chicken and I…came in him…but it wasn't Ultimecia that made me do that…I enjoyed holding him down…and…" He took a deep breath and threw away the cans. He turned around slowly, his face still and controlled.

Talking as if the part about Zell was never spoken, he continued. "I only met Selphie a couple of times before the shit hit the fan and Irvine; I didn't remember him for a long time. So nothing happened to them, because I didn't know them. The witch wanted to break everyone into drooling imbeciles so they couldn't get out of Time Compression, but she underestimated all of them." He kept the hard mask on.

He went quiet for a moment, going over the details of what he had said. In a low voice, speaking more towards himself than to his friends, he repeated the truth that would dictate his destiny. "Every story needs a villain."

TBC

A/N

Mr. Muerto = Mr. Dead man

Pobres twins = Poor twins

This chapter is meant as character development, especially for Raijin and Fujin who lack a background story in the game. Also to explain why Nida hates being called Nada and shed some light on his past. In a past chapter he says that he doesn't have a second name because his orphanage didn't give them out and then there's that foreshadowing that him and Raijin and Fujin have a connection.

Seifer's flashback seems a lot like fluff, doesn't it? I think it contrasts nicely with the dark mood of his posse's flashback and then his explanation of why Squall, Quistis, Rinoa and Zell have PTSD problems and Irvine and Selphie seem fine.