Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Lightning. ❯ Chapter, The Seventh: In Which the Girls Offer Some Home Truths. ( Chapter 7 )

Eoko: Yea, yea I know I forgot to update on the Thursday again. -_- At least you’re getting it before the next Thursday and for everyone reading after this has been updated a few more times you won’t even notice, will you?

Anyway, here you go, enjoy, and if this is going to be a dumb thing and post with double spaces on AFF.net then you guys can all deal until Kit comes around to fix it. I’m too busy editing hundreds of chat logs to post on our website. Check out our profiles for the link.

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Chapter, The Seventh: In Which the Girls Offer Some Home Truths.

Zell lay on Seifer’s bed throwing a ball up against the roof and catching it when it came back down. He was singing between thuds, using them to keep the beat.

"Last night, I was inside of you. Last night, while making love to you. I saw the sun - the sun! - the moon - the moon! - the mountains and the rivers. I saw heaven while I made sweet love to you!"

"I don't think you're supposed to sing the echos yourself..." Seifer said through gritted teeth. The thudding was pissing him off.

Zell looked at him.

"Well, who's gonna sing them? You?" The fighter snorted as though the idea were particularly ludicrous.

It was three days since they had... politely warned Rikan, and so far as they could tell, he was afraid to even go near Irvine - at least by himself. But the sharpshooter was spending more and more time with the group he had gone out with that evening, making it harder and harder for either blonde to catch him alone. And the one time Seifer had said anything, one of the group had floored him with a Water spell, then they'd all pointed and laid blame on each other until Seifer couldn't tell which had done it. Irvine had lurked behind the group the whole time, snickering.

The fucker.

"I can sing," Seifer muttered.

Thud.

"Sure."

Thud.

"I can."

Thud.

"I believe you." But it was plain he didn't.

Thud.

"I can!"

Thud.

"I said I believe you!"

Seifer shot out of his seat and moved like a striking snake, hand lashing out to snatch the ball out of mid-air. He tossed the ball in the waste-paper basket and dared Zell to even try and get it back with a glare. Then, he sang.

"I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter. I had to fall, to lose it all, but in the end, it doesn't even matter."

Zell blinked. Seifer's voice was warm and clear, deepened another half-octave when he sang, and very in-tune.

"Wow... You can sing."

"I told you so."

Zell snorted and shook his head a little.

"Telling me and it being true are two different things, especially with you, Seifer."

It was Seifer's turn to snort.

They fell silent a moment, then suddenly Zell groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, propping his cheeks in both hands.

"This sucks!"

"I didn't think my company was that bad..." Seifer drawled, flipping Hyperion into his lap and taking a rag to the blood-dulled metal. They'd spent an hour in the Training Center before retiring to the gunbladist's room.

Zell just looked long-sufferingly at him.

"Not that. Irvine."

"Don't know if he sucks either. He still thinks he's straight."

"Seifer! Can you be serious for just one second, please?!"

Seifer just smirked.

"We can't get near him. The Cadets flock 'round him like they know we're coming!" Zell whined.

"They probably do. We always are."

Zell growled, hands fisting like he'd enjoy smacking down every single member of "The Cadets" as he'd dubbed them, which wasn't really all that inventive.

"Have you seen the way Rikan takes every opportunity to touch him?!"

"Yes."

"And the way he's starting to relax about it all?!"

"Yes."

"And how Rikan looks at him?!"

"Yes."

"And how-"

"Yes, Hynedammit! Will you shut up?!"

Zell lapsed into silence, jaw set, and picked at the burgundy duvet cover, quite obviously in a snit now.

Seifer grumbled and jerked his fingers through his hair, glaring at Zell's tense shoulders. The little shit still irritated him, even if they were friends. He was sure the fighter did it on purpose. He swore inwardly, then relented and said something he rarely said to anyone.

"I'm sorry."

Zell looked at him petulantly, lower lip stuck out.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Seifer said more sincerely. "I know."

Zell sighed and sat up.

"'Sokay. It's not your fault. We just need to get him away from that damn group."

"Evidently, Chickie, but how?"

"...I don't know..."

- - -

Irvine held a pencil between his fingers, tapping it repeatedly against the pages of the book he was taking notes from.

"Irvy," Harada muttered suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Stop it!"

Irvine blinked owlishly at her, then looked sheepish and he, she, Rikan and Anasha all tried to muffle their laughter, since they were in the library. It was about the twentieth time one or other of them had asked him to stop the tapping.

"Sorry, guys. I just can't concentrate properly. I think I might call it a day."

"Want an escort?" Rikan wondered.

"Nah," Irvine said, laughing a little. "I think I can handle it."

"Okay," Harada said with a smile, then turned her attention back to her books. Anasha leaned over, head close to the other girl's to ask a question about a diagram.

Rikan watched Irvine go, cheek propped in hand, and smiled stupidly. He became aware of the girls' silence and looked over at them.

"What?"

"Give it up, Rikan," Harada said.

"Give what up?"

"Mooning over Irvine," Anasha said flatly. "It's so obvious."

"I'm not m-"

"Oh, you so are!"

"It's a bit sickening, really."

"And he's not going to give into you."

Rikan's eyes narrowed a little at Anasha.

"What do you mean he's not going to give into me? You're implying he will give into someone else?"

"Zell," Anasha said, at the very same time as Harada said; "Seifer." They giggled at each other while Rikan grumbled to himself.

"Whatever," he said eventually.

"Well, one of them anyway," the girls said together.

"He hates them."

"Yeah, and how many hot and steamy relationships have developed out of hate? It's just a matter of time until one or other of them jumps him," Anasha pointed out.

"Or both," Harada added.

They sighed dreamily, obviously picturing the very thing and Rikan rolled his eyes. What was with girls finding gay men so hot together...? Freaks...

"Maybe I should jump him then," Rikan said fiercely.

"Right. Well, don't expect us to clean up what's left of you on the walls and floor after Seifer and Zell get through with you, 'kay?" Harada muttered, Anasha nodding fervently beside her.

Rikan bristled.

"They don't scare me."

"Then you're an idiot!" a voice piped up, and the three cadets jumped.

It was none other than Selphie Tilmitt. They were being bugged by very high-profile people lately... If it weren't for the fact that they were often scared out of their wits by the aforementioned high-profile people, they'd feel special.

"Er... hi..." Anasha said shyly, going a touch pink.

Selphie beamed at her.

"Hiii! Anyway, as I was saying, guy-with-red-hair, you're an idiot if you're not scared of Zell and Seifer. I'm scared of Zell and Seifer. Well... I'm not really scared of Zell, 'cause he's like a big, muscley teddy-weddy, if you're not on his bad side. But I'm scared of Seifer. And I'd be scared of Zell if I pissed him off, which you will if you jump on Irvy-wervy. And 'sides that, Irvy will run away so fast! You'll never see him again. Ever. You shouldn't scare him like that, 'cause then I'll be pissed at you, and you'd have to be scared of me as well as Seifer and Zell, who you should already be scared of, unless you're an idiot. Okay? Got it? Good! Baibai!"

And she turned and flounced off.

"She's so pretty..." Anasha sighed, while Harada and Rikan just tried to decipher what the hell Selphie had said, and where the hell she had taken a breath.

- - -

Irvine hurried back to his room at a quick trot, hoping to avoid The Blonde Brigade. He really would have liked to have taken Rikan up on his offer of an escort, but the cadet still made him nervous, even around the others.

He usually took a huge detour to avoid both Zell and Seifer's rooms, but he was sure they'd be out having dinner by now, so he needn't worry. Unfortunately, he miscalculated. Just as he was passing Seifer's room, the door hissed open, and out came Zell, Seifer close on his heels.

"...never away from them anymore!" Zell was saying, and he blinked in utter shock when his eyes fell on Irvine.

"You were saying...?" Seifer drawled at the shorter of the two, a smirk of pure evil touching his mouth.

Zell matched it and Irvine's eyes slid away from them as he hugged his armful of books to his chest.

"I was just goin' back to my room," he said softly. Like they cared.

"Can we come with?" Seifer purred.

"We'd make it worth your while," Zell added in the same tone.

Irvine's sky-blue eyes widened and he blushed, ducking his head and giving it a slight shake of negation. But he knew he couldn't stop them if they really wanted to... to...

Hyne, would they?!

And would you truly not enjoy it, Massster?

Irvine winced, backing against the wall, even though neither blonde advanced towards him.

"Pansy..." Seifer muttered. "Hyne, you're a coward."

"Gonna cry...?" Zell teased.

Yes. He was. How utterly pathetic of him. Irvine screwed his eyes shut, swallowing back the urge for tears.

"Of course he's gonna cry," Seifer sneered. "He's a prissy pretty boy."

"I've gotta go..." Irvine whispered, inching along the wall.

They're right though, aren't they? You're goin' to cry, and now you're runnin' away? Coward. Coward, coward, coward!

But he couldn't stand up to them anymore. They'd broken him, and it only took a few words now to bring him to the edge of tears.

"What if we don't want to let you go?" Seifer wondered softly. He went to take a step forward, but Zell put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him, and Irvine bolted.

Seifer turned a furious glare on Zell.

"What the fuck?!" he snarled.

Zell stared at him.

"I... I don't know," he murmured, and he wasn't lying. He didn't know why he'd stopped Seifer. It had never bothered him before...

"Get your act together, Dincht!"

"Yeah... Yeah, I... I'm sorry, Seif. I don't know what got into me."

Seifer forced himself to calm and shook his head.

"C'mon. Let's go get something to eat. Idiot..."

And he walked off. Zell looked where Irvine had gone, then turned and followed Seifer, utterly confused.

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1. To appease… well, me, I, Hicky, will explain why they have Earth music on Gaia, as the singers are obviously on Earth. Radio waves can travel through space. They can get about 100 light years. Therefore, however many 100 light years times X you want Gaia to be behind Earth, then the music has just been received by various planets along the way and re-transmitted until it gets to Gaia, where either the same people are singing, or it’s been re-recorded. I like to think they’re about 300 light years behind Earth, so 100 X three.