Final Fantasy VIII 1. Centra

_Sins of the Father_ Centra 

* * *

  
  
Balamb, now

It was raining heavily on the meadows of Balamb; dark grey clouds hung deep in the sky and poured their raindrops down on the earth. It seemed that the ocean wanted to claim the land back as his own. Through this chaos of water not even a good observer would have spotted the figure standing in the middle of the rain, smiling at a joke only it could understand.

The person was male, standing roughly 6 feet tall and was clothed in an ancient looking cloak to protect him from the rain as well as from interested observers. He didn't even to acknowledge the pouring rain, he just stood there, waiting in silence for a sign only he could recognize.

Suddenly he spoke to himself: "Soon, very soon now…"

* * *

The Centran Badlands, six weeks ago

The sun rose high over Centra, it was still 1 hour to midday, but the heat had built up already. Some dusty figures climbed a low, rugged hill. There were 5 of them, 3 males, and 2 females.

Zell took the binoculars from his belt, breathing heavily, even for him, an accomplished SeeD; this field training was tiring. The candidates in his squad did their best, but he could see that they where close to a breakdown. He scanned the horizon and finally found what he was searching for, the beacon of Nida's Squad.

"Ok people," he said to his 4 recruits. "We have almost managed it, Nida is over there, and once we reach him, we hail the Ragnarok, and we all can enjoy a nice hotdog and a coke in the cafeteria, my treat." The younger people murmured in agreement "Well, I am really proud of you all, you did really fine in this mission." He smiled at them. "Okay, we move in ten."

He sat down and tried to relax, this mission had been bad from the start. First the helicopter had dropped them at the wrong coordinates, about 50 mile from their actual starting point, then the very first attack of the very first monster had smashed their radio, and things seemed to go downhill from there. He was very proud of the 4 they had taken up the situation and did their best. Zell made a mental note to talk to Squall when grading them, Mr Whatever should be gracious with them.

"Hey Zell, you know what hot dogs are made of?" mockingly asked one of them, a 16 year old girl from Trabia named Hetha, "Yeah," he replied, "All of Hyne's creations, and every part of them goes into…" Everyone laughed.

Zell stood up "Okay, let's hit it." The other stood up without hesitation, they were eager to end this mission without slacking off.

* * *

Balamb

The person began slowly to walk; a sudden gust of wind blew the hood from his head revealing his face. It could be called beautiful if it wasn't for the eyes, the eyes seemed to say to the world, "Whatever you want from me make it better for my pleasure." The person walked through the rain as if it wasn't there, completely ignoring the water that ran down his forehead to his chin. 

His slow, but determined steps carried him slowly in the direction of Balamb Garden.

* * *

Centra

After 3 more exhausting hours, Zell's little Squad finally reached the beacon. It was right on a small hill, to provide a good viewing point and just consisted of 3 tents and a campfire.

Zell came into view, apart from him and his Cadets, no one was to be seen. "Okay Nida, this is not funny, you can come out," he said in a wary tone. He looked around, the fire was burned down to cinders, and a few parts of equipment were strewn on the ground. "Everyone on guard, something is wrong… You." He chose one of the cadets, a boy named Vince, "I will check the tents, you guard me." Zell went close to the nearest tent, a strange sweet smell in his nose.

Choosing to be careful he drew a standard combat knife and slit the side of the tent open, the smell grew into a choking stench. He peeked into the tent and instantly had to fight the urge of being sick. One of Nida's cadets lay in there; a girl named Kyra, aged 15. She was ripped nearly in half by some unknown force.

He closed the hole in the tent as best as he could, and looked at the others "I found Kyra, she's dead…" He saw the shock on their faces, they weren't SeeDs yet, and not one of them had killed a fellow human yet, but they kept their concentration nevertheless. After all, SeeDs still were trained killers.

Luckily the other tents where empty, except for some smashed equipment, unfortunately, the radio of Nida's team was smashed too, and the other Seeds were missing.

* * *

Balamb

A car drove past the stranger spraying him with water, but he barely noticed it. The car stopped and the worried face of a young, brown-haired woman looked out the window.

"Sorry mister, I didn't see you. I didn't do it on purpose, I promise, are you soaked badly, it was my fault really…" The woman stopped, the stare of the stranger seemed to drain the words out of her.

"No harm done," the stranger said in a monotone voice, as if he wasn't used to speaking. "Let me at least give you a ride or something… Okay?" the young woman asked, trying to warm up the situation. The stranger nodded.

"To Garden if you please…"

"No problem mister," the woman said. "I live there, my name by the way is Selphie, what's yours?" The men hesitated.

"Khan…" Selphie smiled.

"It's a nice name, if a bit strange. How did your parents come up with it?" The man climbed silently into the car.

* * *

Centra

It was night now; the SeeDs had made a camp with improvised defences. Zell had vetoed the notion of searching for the missing SeeDs, knowing that it was more important to inform Garden of the situation. He was working on the two smashed radios, quite optimistic to jury-rig something up to call the Garden. The others were on guard, or making an improvised meal. They had wrapped the body of Kyra in one of the tents, to keep it from exposition of the vultures.

Zell was feeling sick. He hadn't seen such a badly mutilated body in his life, not even during the sorceress war two years back. What ever had attacked the poor girl must have had gigantic strength, and it must have caught her completely off guard, since no sign of struggle and no trail of blood outside the tent was to be found.

He sighed and went back to the parts in front of him. He knew even when he managed to send he wouldn't be able to receive, so he just had to hope that Garden would get the message before the batteries were drained.

Something made a noise in the distance, Vince, the boy who earlier guarded Zell, turned around and emptied the clip of his assault weapon into the night. "Hold your fire," Zell barked out. "I will check this out, and I would appreciate not being killed by friendly fire"

With this he stepped out in the darkness. Soon he found a fresh trail of blood. The light of the full moon was enough to follow it. After a couple of hundred yards he heard heavy breathing. Zell got ready to fight and stepped around the next rock.

He saw a Centran antelope lying there mortally wounded by the bullets, the blood flowing from its body. Zell looked at the poor animal for a moment, and then he stepped closer, took its head and broke its neck to end its suffering.

* * *

Balamb

Selphie was going to get frustrated, the man who called himself Khan was grating on her nerves, a feat not easy to accomplish. His attitude was to answer her questions with just one word or ignoring them was matching that of Squall, if not even exceeding it. The fact that she only could drive very slowly due to the weather conditions wasn't helping her temper at all.

Khan looked straight ahead completely unimpressed by the rain or the questions of the young woman. He sat completely relaxed on the front seat. Every now and then he would make a small nod, but nothing more.

Selphie decided to make another try at starting a conversation. "What is your business with SeeD?" she asked "I am a quite high ranking member of the group and I can surely help you."

For the first time since entering the car, the stranger looked direct at her: "It's a private matter," he said. "I am searching for a man called Dincht, Zell Dincht…"

* * *

Centra

The moon had traveled a far distance over the sky, silence lay over the land, and Zell stood on the edge of their little camp. He stood at guard and on the other side of the camp, clearly visible from his position, stood Hetha, and he could make out her quite clearly. He had broadcasted the whole night till the batteries had run out of juice. All he could do now was hope that Garden had picked it up.

He turned around once more and scanned the nightly savanna, looking like a predator, not trying to make out shapes, but movements. The silence was unnerving, the nightly savanna should be full of life, but not a living thing other than them seemed to be there.

He listened closely, he could make out the silent breaths of the sleeping cadets, the fire as it burned down slowly, the silent steps of Hetha on the other side, but nothing more. He seemed to be stuck in a silent nightmare, never before he had found a night to be so alien. 

Suddenly a muffled scream pierced the night, he turned, Hetha was gone. He cried out an all alarm, checked his back for another attacker, but found nothing. Then he ran to the place where Hetha had last stood. The place was empty; no sign of a struggle or blood was to be found.

He assembled the cadets into two teams and sent them out to search for Hetha while he searched alone.

They met again after an hour, not one of them had found any hint of Hetha or their mysterious attacker, Zell sighed, his shoulders sagged, he had a feeling odd uselessness he never encountered before. He was there to protect them and he had failed. Suddenly Vince looked to a spot behind him: "Hey Zell, look it's…"

The world darkened around Zell as something heavy hit him brutally on the back of the head…

* * *

Balamb

Selphie looked interested at the man: "Hey Mister Khan, what do you want with Zell? He's a close personal friend of mine, is anything wrong with him?" she asked, the man just said:

"It's between him and me." Selphie frowned and decided to turn the radio on, just to have at least a bit entertainment.

On the radio an old song was being broadcast…

… You are mine I possess you Belong to you forever

Storm the master marathon I'll fly through By flash and thunder fire I'll survive I'll survive I'll survive Then I'll defy the laws of nature And come out alive

Selphie wondered, had she just imagined it, or had the man smiled slightly at the lyrics…

* * *

Centra

The Sun stood high on the horizon as Zell awoke, his head hurt, and he could see that he was lying in a dried pool of his own blood. With his right hand he touched the back of his head, it hurt a lot. He concentrated and tried to cast a Curaga on himself, but it fizzled. He dared to sit up, and everything turned around him. He got a potion out of his Belt pouch and drank it; the pain went back to a manageable level. He stood up and nearly fainted. Zell managed to get a hold on one of the tent posts. He concentrated again and cast Curaga. The spell worked this time and his vision cleared.

Zell wished immediately that he still had the blessing of seeing nothing. Vince lay before him, mauled as badly as poor Kyra had before him, from the traces the cadets had put up quite a fight. And they had lost it. Zell searched the camp, he found another body, it was burned beyond recognition, Zell found its dog tags, it was Vernon, age 14, a silent but willing boy, now just a corpse.

Zell felt a rage burning in him like never before, whoever had done this; he would find him... He would find him and kill him, kill him with his own hands, choking the life out of him and enjoying every single moment of it, even if it meant to throw his own life away.

Zell traveled a path down the hillside, following a trail of blood, stopping only when he reached a huge rock. The trail went down under the rock. Zell called Bahamut, and the King of the Guardian Forces destroyed the obstacle like cardboard, feeling Zell's rage. Without a moment of hesitation Zell entered the cave.

The cave was illuminated by an eerie light, Sorceress light, Zell recognized in the little, sane edge of his mind. But where Rinoa brought forth a clear, white light, like moonlight, this light was of a sickening greenish color that hurt your eyes after a while.

After a few hundred steps, Zell reached a cavern, in the middle the bodies of the missing SeeDs were piled up, all dismembered and mutilated, but the worst shock for Zell was Hetha. She lay against the heap, clutching the stump of her left arm, splashed over and over with her blood, but still alive. She looked straight at him, her face clouded in pain and shock.

Zell rushed over to her, wanting to help or at least comfort her. He knelt down casting another Curaga, the healing power of the spell could give her a little more time, but to survive she would need surgery and quick. Zell wanted to comfort her somehow; he stumbled over the words. She suddenly grabbed him, managing to spit e few words out between the waves of agony flooding trough her: "Zell…I have clutched to…this life to…tell you" she spat out some blood and coughed "He fears the… firstborn…" She coughed again.

Zell now saw that her torturer had driven a piece of metal through her stomach, nailing her to the ground in a half sitting, half-lying position. "Zell, please… end it" she finally managed to spit out. Zell reached for a SeeD standard issue pistol on her belt, just before he pulled the trigger; he saw her face turn from agony into a smiling expression of eternal gratefulness.

* * *

Balamb

Selphie pulled the car into the parking lot. A couple of people where doing various tasks there, or maybe just hanging around. With a risky combination of gas pedal and handbrake she drove the car into a free parking space, tires screaming.

She grinned to herself as she stopped the ignition: "Now anyone dare to say woman can't drive or park." Quite a lot of the people on the lot looked at her stunt. She turned to the stranger but he had already left the car and was closing the door. She jumped out too.

Without looking back to her the stranger said, "Thanks." With that he left the lot.

Khan walked trough the Garden, cruising like a shark trough the water, he passed a guy with a cowboy hat, and a young woman with white hair, without even giving them a look, a younger boy jogged around him, but the man didn't react.

His steady steps were carrying him straight into the infirmary

* * *

Centra

Zell had no longer a feeling of time or place, all of him was tuned just for one thing, revenge, revenge for every sickening deed this thing, he couldn't even bring himself to call it a monster, had done. But his mind wasn't clouded in red rage, he had passed this stage, now it was working with frightening clearness, just working on how he could make the thing pay, how he could make it suffer, how he could kill it.

A noise made him look up and he saw two persons battling in the distance. He got up and ran in their direction. He saw Nida in the clutches of a bigger man, the man was about six feet in height, and very muscular and clothed just in baggy trousers, choking the life out of Nida. Zell run, jumped and hit the wrist of the bigger man, noticing with satisfaction how the bones broke. Nida fell lifeless to the ground.

Zell spun around kicking high, but the man ducked and grabbed him with his uninjured hand at the chest, ready to deliver a head butt, but Zell never let him have a chance to do so. He delivered a mighty roundhouse kick to the Tiger-tattooed chest of the man, breaking some of his ribs. The man still clutching the uniform shirt flew back a few feet, a torn strip of Zells clothing in the hand. Zell raised the handgun he still clutched, pulling the trigger as often as possible, he pierced the body of his enemy with the remaining 7 bullets, then let the useless weapon fall to the ground.

In the meantime, Nida had managed to get up. He looked at Zell with an unreadable look of joy and disbelief, "Let's get out of here, I set up some explosives and they could go bang any minute now." Zell stared for another minute at his enemy, then nodded and turned to follow Nida.

They could already see the daylight as suddenly Zell was pushed aside. He hit the cave wall, and could see that his enemy had attacked Nida, hitting him with a couple of bone breaking strikes in the chest and abdomen, and then smashing his head with a 360° kick. Zell got up to help Nida, but this time the other man was ready for him.

To Zell's surprise, the other one seemed to be unhurt, none of the wound Zell inflicted to him earlier showed. They exchanged a series of blows, parrying each other's attacks. Zell jumped back and cast an ultima spell, willing to end this as quickly as possible, but the other one just shrugged it off and hit him on the shoulder, dislodging it.

Zell fell to the ground, prepared to meet death without begging for his life, as a series of greenblue streaks hit his opponent who fell to the ground and lay still. "Eat this son of a-" said the voice of Irvine.

Zell managed to get into the Ragnarok while Irvine carried Nida, as they took off the charges exploded burying the dead cadets in the cave. Nida died shortly afterwards.

* * *

Balamb

The stranger opened the door of the infirmary, letting his cloak falling to the ground. Revealing a chest with the tattoo of a tiger. He looked straight a Zell, who was lying in one of the beds, and said, "Now we will end this once and for all…"

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this. 


	2. Garden

_Sins of the Father_ Garden 

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Chapter 2

Zell was lying on a bed in the Infirmary, the bed he had seldom left since he returned from Centra six weeks ago. He stared at the walls without really seeing them. His mind wandered back to the scenes in the mysterious cave under Centra again. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see the look on Hetha's face as he pulled the trigger. "He fears the firstborn," she had said to him, what did she mean by that?

Zell sighed, a strange sickness had befallen him, leaving Dr. Kadowaki clueless about the nature of it. The sickness began just after they had returned, as he had debriefed Squall and Quistis he suddenly fell unconscious. When he woke up he was here in the Infirmary, feeling as weak as a newborn child. They must have done a thousand tests on him, but nothing seemed to be wrong, except that he was feeling worse from day to day.

And the nightmares, every time he tried to sleep he had visions of slaughter and bloodshed, sometimes there were the dead Cadets in it, sometimes his friends, sometimes strangers, but it was always him who hurt, him who murdered them.

Zell sighed again, he turned his head, and it hurt. Squall stood at the front desk with Doctor Kadowaki, he had visited him every day in the last 6 weeks, and had left nothing undone to help him, but to no avail. Zell reached for a glass of water, feeling parched again, it hurt. He drank it out in little sips, that hurt too.

* * *

Selphie skipped out of the parking lot, still feeling a bit annoyed at her mysterious passenger. She saw the man, who called himself Khan, so mysteriously pass first Irvine, then Fujin. Selphie's face immediately brightened up, she ran a few steps and jumped into Irvine's arms. The bigger man had trouble catching her and keeping the balance, but managed both, barely.

Irvine smiled at the young woman in his arms; he gave her a platonic kiss on the forehead. She pulled herself up to kiss him, but stopped as she felt his left arm crawl down her back in a not so platonic way. She gave him a playful fist in the ribs and said in a mock huff, "Irvine Kinneas, you should learn to behave around a young, innocent girl."

"I will," he replied, "Show me one." She hit him again in the chest, this time hard enough to make the young soldier flinch.

He put his arm around her, while massaging his ribs with the other. As they strolled down the hall they saw the man called Khan walk into the infirmary. "Weird guy," murmured Selphie, "I accidentally sprayed him with water on the road, and to make up for it I gave him a ride here." Irvine chuckled.

"Don't you know that nice little girls don't talk to strangers?" he said; knowing that she could more than just defend herself. Selphie made a face at his comment.

"Well the man could have a nice talk with Squall about saying nothing," she said, looking into the direction the man went.

"What about a nice hot coffee" asked Irvine "you can forget about him and tell me what's new in the theatre"

"Yeah, good idea," Selphie mumbled as the two walked towards the cafeteria, "I still wonder what he wanted with Zell…."

The recognition where he had seen the man before hit Irvine like a train…

* * *

The door to the infirmary opened, Squall looked up, and saw a tall, muscular man standing in the doorway. The man ignored him and stared directly to the bed of Zell, saying: "Now we will end this once and for all, I will make sure that Protera will never happen again." With that he started to walk to Zell's bed. Squall stepped in his way.

"What do you want in here?" he asked casually, but with a menacing undertone, something about the man maked him uneasy, something inside Squall screamed to immediately kill him. The man looked straight into Squall's eyes, looking willing to kill Squall at that moment.

"Get out of my way, boy, this is none of your concern, leave and you will live," he answered. Squall felt a sudden urge of violence, and drew his gunblade.

"You will leave stranger, immediately!" Doctor Kadowaki wanted to say something, but the stranger made a gesture without taking his eyes of Squall, and she fell down to the ground, unconscious. The man took a step back, smiling like a shark.

"Well, I am not disappointed. A lion, indeed, protective of his pride, but are you willing to die for it?" He held up a hand. "With fire and steel I created you, with blood and magic I bonded you, and with your name I call you!" Suddenly a gleaming broadsword appeared in his hand. With a grin the man charged.

* * *

Irvine stared in shock, he couldn't believe it, and it was the same man, without a doubt. Selphie looked up at him, serious concern on her little face.

"What is it Irvine? Is he the father of a lady that you tried to know a little too personally?" she tried to joke, seeing his deathly serious face.

"No," he replied while bolting for his room getting his gun. "He is the man who killed the Cadets in Centra."

* * *

Zell stared at to the two combatants; it was like a scene of a nightmare where the monster suddenly jumped you, after you thought you had already killed it. Squall and the man circled each other, after an initial flight of blades both had become cautious, testing each other's strengths and weaknesses. They circled each other ready to bring a killing blow at the first instance.

Zell stared at them in frightened amazement, the man was without a doubt stronger, and had a longer reach than Squall, but Squall made up for it by being a bit faster.

They exchanged Blows again; neither of them gaining an advantage over the other. They both seemed to be determined to wear the other out to the point where he would make a critical mistake.

Squall suddenly attacked, but seemed to slip on the ground. The man jumped and delivered a mighty blow to the head, but Squall brought his gunblade up at the last second, ending his faint and pulled the trigger. The charge went through the blade, ripping the broadsword out of Khan's hand.

Squall allowed himself a small smile, holding the stranger at bay with his gunblade. A strange gleam was in Khan's eyes as he said, "What an interesting Weapon, young Lion." With this he jumped forward, impaling himself on the gunblade.

The blade stuck deep in his chest as the man grabbed Squall's arm and shoulder pulling them down as he brought his knee up. A sickening sound filled the air as Squall's shoulder broke.

* * *

Rinoa and Quistis were standing in the Cafeteria, supervising the work on the new indoor stage and chatting, both felt very silly and were giggling a lot. "... And then he asked me if he could have an autograph!" Quistis said, and both burst out in laughter again.

"Men," said Rinoa, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, well at least you got a nice, strong and silent type of that species," answered Quistis mocking. Rinoa laughed again.

"At least he uses two word sentences every now and then, that's about 100 percent better than the last count," she replied sarcastically. Quistis looked out of the great windows.

"Well I bet he likes the weather, want another tea or something?" she asked, but Rinoa didn't heard her.

Her eyes where glowing white as she said in a frightened tone, "Squall, he's badly hurt…"

* * *

The man staggered, while pulling the gunblade out of his chest. Even if he can come back from deadly injuries, thought Zell, he isn't immune to pain. Finally the man managed to pull the blade out, falling onto his knees from the pain.

He breathed deeply a few times, while the wound closed. Then he got up, unhurt. He looked down at the unconscious Squall, and had a faint smile on his lips. 

"Great fight young lion, you may yet live," his voice only a whisper. Then he turned to Zell, his face going grim again.

"Finally, Calash, my long wait to kill you is over, after all this time, victory is the sweetest thing," he charged Zell. Zell felt a surge of vitality in his body, strength like he hadn't felt for weeks, he stood up without being able to control his body, he exchanged a series of blows with the man, a name popped up in this mind.

"Khan," he whispered.

Zell found himself in the backseat of his own consciousness, unable to move or speak, some strange force was controlling him. He attacked, blocked, kicked and dodged faster and more precise than he ever thought possible, but the man called Khan was nevertheless getting him more and more into a bad position.

"I have come quickly enough," Zell heard him taunting. "This boy was able to resist you for long enough, you have not gotten your old power back yet brother."

Then a fist struck that Zell wasn't quick enough to parry, and hit him in the stomach, pushing the air out of him. He keeled over, and a terrible kick shattered his spine. Zell felt himself fall into a void, as he crashed to the ground. He had no feeling in his legs and lower body, and his back seemed to be melting.

But as the stranger picked him up and threw him on his bed he felt the strange sensation of his bones tried to rearrange themselves.

* * *

Selphie pounded on the door to the Infirmary in frustration, it wouldn't open. Irvine reloaded his Shotgun again and emptied it into the door, but to no avail, the heavy reinforced door wouldn't let itself be forced open so quickly.

Selphie was in a mix of shame and rage, she had brought the killer of her friends into the Garden, it was her fault that the monster was here. They had heard a scream earlier, it had been Squall's voice. Tears flowed down Selphie's cheeks, her friends were dying in there and it was her fault. She had allowed the Monster to enter their home.

Irvine felt Selphie's pain, it added to his own rage. He reloaded the shotgun again, the last of his ammo, and kicked against the door as a futile gesture to bring it to open.

"Stand aside," they heard Rinoa's voice commanding, she ran down the hallway, her eyes glowing white, the air around her crackling with power and rage. Quistis trailed behind her, nearly unable to keep up the pace.

Selphie and Irvine pressed themselves against the wall as Rinoa blasted the doors open with a mighty bolt of lightning.

Zell felt an unnatural peace as he laid on the bed, his spine nearly healed, and with no control over his body, the whole scene felt so unnatural. Khan, as he knew now the man was called, formed a claw with his hand aiming for his chest.

Suddenly the door blasted open and Rinoa came in like an avenging angel. Khan spun around trying to defend himself, but he was much to slow. A bolt of pure magical energy hit him in the chest throwing him against the opposite wall.

This time he didn't stand up again.

* * *

Rinoa rushed to Squall and cast her cure spells, Quistis entered and looked after Doctor Kadowaki. Then he saw Selphie, she was running straight for him, tears flowing down her cheeks. She hugged him tightly mumbling, "I am so glad you all are alive." over and over again. Zell felt the pain and weakness return to his arms, and finally managed to hug her back, regaining control over himself.

After the mysterious man was locked away into a high security cell, Squall called a meeting. Everyone was there, even Zell, brought in by Doctor Kadowaki in a wheelchair. Thanks to Rinoa healing spells, Squall was once again unhurt, and Doctor Kadowaki had just been stunned by the man.

Squall and Doctor Kadowaki told what happened in the Infirmary up to the moment they had been knocked out, then it was Zell's turn. Zell wanted to tell them about the strange things that had happened, but once more he had no control over himself.

"He just picked me up and wanted to deliver a killing blow, taunting my weakness, he asked me if I first wanted to see my friends die, then you busted in, and saved us all," Zell heard himself saying.

"Has anyone an idea what he meant by, Protera will never happen again?" Squall asked.

"You should read more of the classics," Doctor Kadowaki answered. "'The Fall of Protera' is a classical Centran Drama." Quistis looked up.

"I've read it," she said blushing slightly. "It is the story about the rivalry of two brothers for the love of their father. In it, an entire city is destroyed just because of the hatred those two feel for each other."

"But what has this to do with Zell?" Selphie asked.

"Hey, he is clearly a madman," Zell heard himself say. "Look what he did to the poor Cadets in Centra." Zell heard his voice choke, like in pain. "I say we should kill him immediately for his crimes. Remember what he did…" Zell's voice was so filled with hatred that the others shuddered.

* * *

Quistis and Squall walked along to the holding Cells, "Have you ever seen Zell so enraged?" she asked him.

"No," was his simple answer.

"What shall we do with our prisoner?" she tried again to bring him out of his silent mood.

"I don't know" he answered. They arrived at the holding cell. The man was sitting on the floor, stretched out comfortably.

Before they could do anything he said, "The young Lion, and another person, a woman, quite young, you are here to decide over my fate." Quistis stared at him for a moment but regained her self-control.

"Yes, that's what we are here for. Why did you do it? Killing the people on Centra and trying to kill us today?" She asked, her voice trembling a little. Squall just watched the man in silence, a piece of the rage he felt earlier came up again, but he was confused. This was not the behaviour of a raging lunatic, the Cadets were killed in a kind of bloodlust, but today this man had fought them in a masterly way, taking advantage of the situation, and he didn't kill anyone. Neither himself, nor Doctor Kadowaki, when he had the possibility. Selphie had given him a ride, and he hadn't touched her either.

The man looked straight at Quistis, but his eyes where closed. "If I wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this little chat right now, and I didn't kill your kin,." He said in a silent, matter-of-fact voice. "The only death I planned today, is that of the of the vessel of Calash, and Calash itself. I am quite sorry that your friend will die, but it is a sacrifice that is needed."

"What are you talking about?" Quistis asked, she looked at the man but he didn't answer anymore, he just sat there seemingly at peace with himself and the world. "There is one person who can find out if he murdered the Cadets," Squall said and motioned Quistis to follow.

Ellone was sitting in her seat on board the Ragnarok, Squall's call had sounded really serious, she had of course heard about the massacre of the Cadets and the strange illness that had befallen Zell. Still, the situation must be grave if Squall used the Ragnarok to get her personally, and didn't just wait until she could come in one of the Presidential machines.

* * *

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this. 


	3. In my mind

_Sins of the Father_ In my Mind 

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Chapter 3

The rain was falling less heavily on the plains of Balamb now; the fight between the earth and the water seemed to have come to a draw. The majestic shape of the Ragnarok, descended through the clouds. Heading steadily toward Garden.

Squall sat in the copilot seat, more or less watching as Selphie skillfully maneuvered through the turbulent winds. He was preoccupied with thoughts of his own. Ellone yawned a bit; it has been the middle of the night when she was awakened by Squall's phone call. He had explained her the situation, and, by Hyne, she hadn't seen him this serious since the Sorceress War.

Ellone sighed and closed her eyes, she was willing to help her little brother, and if her talent would show the truth about the murder of the Cadets, and help Zell to get healthy again, then she wouldn't hesitate a moment to do it.

The Ragnarok made a majestic turn, and landed gently on the usual spot in front of Garden, Irvine was already waiting for them with a car.

* * *

Quistis was standing guard in the detention area of Garden, after hearing Squall's description of their fight. She was happy for the energy field that kept the stranger in his cell. The man had stood up earlier not giving her as much as a look and had searched the cell for weaknesses, as he touched the field, he had received a shock, that should have made him helpless for a few minutes, without even flinching. 

She watched him as he stood in his cell, emotionless, eyes open, breathing deeply, not making a movement. He was a handsome man, looking around the age of 30, tall, and well built. His face might have been beautiful, if is wasn't for his eyes, The eyes of a predator, Quistis thought. Something in them told the world that it was just a small furry animal, nothing more than a toy at best, or prey at worst.

"Are you happy with what you see?" the man suddenly addressed her. Quistis felt a slight blush rising up her cheeks. It wasn't polite to stare, not even at a prisoner.

"Sorry I didn't want to be impolite," she answered and looked away, then to her great relief the door opened and Squall and Ellone came in.

Quistis nodded to Ellone, while Squall stood in front of the man and told him to sit down, which the man did without arguing. Ellone gave her a quick smile, sat down on a comfy chair, and entered the mind of the mysterious man.

* * *

Something was different this time, Ellone immediately knew, instead of being able to go through his memories and feelings, she was surrounded by a gray mist, unable to see or hear. Her heart cramped a little, was this a mind that was broken? Would she be able to find her way out again?

Her mental-self started running, panicked, to no avail she looked around, close to tears, nothing to see except the gray mist. She fell to her knees, shaking in fear, but suddenly something began to pull her through the fog like a leaf in a storm.

Ellone felt herself kneeling on a semi-hard floor; she opened her eyes and looked. She knelt in what looked like a tundra, a few spare patches of grass were to be seen poking out between the snow and ice that surrounded her in the vast landscape. She calmed down a little. Rising to her feet, she turned around. 

A man stood behind her, clothed in a suit of splendid armor of ancient design, a mighty broadsword slung to his hip. It was the same man she had seen in the cell Elle realized. Somehow she met him here, in his own mind. The man stepped forward, gripping her wrists tightly, but not hurting her.

"A young girl with the ability to sneak into the minds of people uninvited," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I bet its fun, knowing your opposite, isn't it? Taking a peek into the minds of others, mostly for what you consider a good cause, sometimes for your own enjoyment." The man looked her straight into the eyes, unblinking.

Ellone wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't. His silent tone scared her more than she ever thought possible. "Know that in my time, what you do was considered a crime, and to one as high born as myself, a deadly sin, that would enable me to do anything with you that I wanted. And know also that you body here is a mirror of your physical body, so what happens to you here becomes real." 

His words send shivers of fear down Ellone spine, she struggled against his grip, just wanting to escape, suddenly the man let her go and she felt down to the ground again, lying on her back. 

The man knelt down beside her, and she tried to crawl away, but he took her softly, but firmly, by the shoulder, and looked into her eyes again. He gave her a small smile, which reached his eyes, softening his entire face. "Have no fear," he said, "I do not intend to hurt you, and I never force myself upon a woman that did not wish me to. I just told you that, so you could maybe begin to understand." 

Ellone felt the grip of fear around her heart lessening, but not vanishing completely. He stood up, smiling again, than he offered her a hand. Ellone hesitated for a moment and then took it.

Ellone sat down on a tree trunk shivering from the cold, now that most of her fear had left her. Without saying a word the man laid his cloak around her shoulders, and started to build a fire.

"Thank you…" said Ellone, still unsure about the stranger.

"Khan is appropriate." Came the reply. "You are a sibling to the young lion, aren't you?" he asked. "He asked you to use your special talent on me to find out the truth, or at least something quite close to it." Ellone just nodded, twice, staring at Khan in fascination. Khan started the fire with a flick of his hand, fire burning in his eyes as he did so.

"Sorceress magic," whispered Ellone under her breath.

"No, but something closely related," Khan answered as he sat down, facing her. "Of course you now have realized that I could show you whatever in my mind I want to show you, letting you see the version of truth that fits me the best," Khan said to her, Ellone only nodded.

"So, what? Are you talking of proving your innocence in the slaughter of the cadets, and your attack on my family and friends?" she replied. 

Khan laughed silently. "Prove?" he asked "I can give you no proof, look around you, it seems to be real, doesn't it? Well real enough at least. Remember all you see may just be a dream within a dream." He looked at her and smiled again, Ellone felt unsure of what to say or to do. "All I can offer you," Khan said again, "Is a chance for understanding, or if you want, my version of the story." He fell silent for a while, but when Ellone tried to speak he said, "But I warn you, what I will show you won't be pleasurable for the most part, if you don't possess the strengths and fortitude it will destroy you like the Void I drew you from."

Ellone shuddered; she remembered too clearly the fear she had felt in the gray mist. After a while she said, "I am ready, how will you begin?" the man grinned, but there was no humor in it.

"At the very beginning of course…"

* * *

Warmth…

Silence…

Peace…

Floating…

Ellone was floating though a mix of emotions, all feelings were good, she felt protected…

Warmth…

Peace…

Protection…

Silence… No wait, there was a noise, so soft that it wasn't really audible…

Peace…

Warmth…

The noise was a kind of pumping… incredibly soothing, and showering her with affection…

Warmth…

Protection…

Peace…

Floating…

This must be the feeling a baby has in its mother's womb, Ellone thought dreamily… 

Warmth…

Floating…

…A baby in a mother's womb… Suddenly Ellone realized what she just had thought, "Oh Hyne, this cannot be, he cannot remember that! Being in his mothers womb…"

Peace…

Protection…

Suddenly she felt a violent movement, she was pulled out of this atmosphere of peace and protection. She felt herself landing on something hard, feeling pain for the first time in her life. Bright light, noise, movement all around. She felt herself trying to protect her senses from this. She cough up a lot of fluid, her lungs seemed to be full of it.

Breathing heavily she stood up and looked around her. Everything was strange, hostile, Ellone's mind started working again, she recognized walls, some strange devices hanging from them, and finally a kind of steel casket hanging from the ceiling by a net of steel wires, wide open, and still wet, a strange fluid dripping out of it. She felt that her body, no, the body of a man was covered in the same fluid.

She looked down at herself, himself she corrected. It was the body of a full-grown man, well muscled and completely naked. He was covered completely in the strange fluid.

She was just flexing her fingers and muscles for what felt like the first time, It is the first time, she thought as she heard a low growl. She turned and saw that a door in one of the walls had just opened, and a wendigo was looking straight at her. Ellone would have feared, but in the mind she occupied, the ferocious monster before her just managed to wake a kind of rage.

The wendigo charged and tackled her, throwing her against a wall, she saw a clawed paw swinging in her direction and wanted to pull her hands up in a defensive gesture. Instead she felt herself ducking under the swing and landing a hit herself with her elbow in the midsection of the monster, all on pure instinct. The wendigo took a step back, being thrown off guard.

Ellone spun around, and swept the legs of the monster away under its body with a bone crushing kick. Without hesitating she leapt onto the back of the thing, grabbed the neck of it, setting her knee on its back and started pulling.

Time seemed to freeze, no it lost its meaning entirely, all that mattered now was her deadly grip on her opponent. The wendigo screamed, first in anger, then in pain, its movements grew weaker and weaker, till she heard the neck of the creature break, and an incredible satisfaction swept over her…

* * *

Quistis sat down, looking at Ellone, her face was uneasy, twitching, she had gone through all kinds of emotions in the last hours. Squall was sitting next to Ellone, holding the hand of his sister and whispering comforting words to her. Quistis knew that he was very concerned for the security of his sister, she had been gone for almost six hours now, no trip into the "Dream World" had ever taken this much time. Ellone smiled suddenly, a feeling of peace lied on her face.

Suddenly her expression changed, it was confused, then afraid, finally angry. Tear ran down her cheeks and her body seemed to stand under an enormous stress, every muscle seemed to contract. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Wordlessly Quistis gave Squall a damp towel. He wiped the tears and sweat from Ellone's face. "Sis, what have I done to you?" he whispered, still holding her hand.

Quistis took the towel back as quietly as she had given it; she too was deeply concerned about Ellone. Never before she had seen an emotion on her face while in the "Dream World," but this time she seemed to be stressed nearly to death.

Squall looked at the floor. "Oh Sis, I hope you are okay, wherever you are now. Please forgive me for what I have done to you…"

* * *

Ellone opened her eyes again, she was back in her own body, feeling parched. Khan sat next to her, holding her in a sitting position, he grabbed a wooden bowl, and held it to her lips. She drank the fluid, it was pure spring water, but it tasted to her like the best wine she had ever drank.

He refilled the bowl from a flask, and gave it to her again, she drank, feeling already strong enough to sit upright and hold the bowl again. Khan moved back to his old seat, the fire burning and sending a nice warmth into their direction. He looked at her waiting patiently for her to speak.

"That was your…" Ellone hesitated, then spoke again. "Your birth, wasn't it?" Khan nodded.

"The very first thing I remember."

"It was…" Ellone couldn't find the right words, "It was shocking…" Her voice silenced again.

"Let's call it a very important step to understanding," Khan said. "I am what we called an 'Unborn', a creature not human, but looking human. Made by a sorcerer to be his bodyguard, his assassin, and his slave." He took a deep breath before he went on. "You saw it through my own eyes, I was thrown into this world, and the first thing I did was fight and kill. I could show you more, my training, the wars I fought in, the people I killed, but that is pointless. I think you know now what ecstasy the act of killing brought me." Ellone just nodded; still she trembled at the thought of the joy she'd had as the wendigo's neck broke.

Khan spoke again, "But there is more. The man who made me, my Father, wanted me to be more than just a mindless killer, he spent ages teaching me philosophy and morals. Many a time he was awake with me till deep in the night, talking to me, reciting a great poem," Khan fell silent for a moment. "Or we would visit some place, sometimes the grand theatres, sometimes a smoky tavern in the middle of the Thief's Quarters, but I always learned something about the nature of humans on our trips."

He looked lost for a moment in his memories, Ellone said nothing she knew when it was better to let someone sort out his thoughts alone. The ability to see a person's mind had given her a deep empathy about people.

He looked up to her again and spoke. "The whole situation you and your friends are in started many years later, as my Father, thrilled by the knowledge he had discovered, then decided to make another like me, my brother. My Father tried to instill the moral virtues I only received through a long and hard learning process into him at birth. He failed horribly. I will show you know how the whole affair started, I will try to make the memory less personal, and so you won't suffer this time…"

Ellone felt the scene changing, this time she saw the world not through the eyes of Khan, but in a kind of third person view.

* * *

The night moon looked down on the sleepy streets on Enkuar, the capital of the great nation of Centra. Only a few people bustled through the streets, most of them preoccupied with their own illicit business. No one took any notice of the 6-foot tall man who walked down the street to the Council Building. Not even the most ambitious of thugs and crooks tried anything; something about the figure was scary. The fear was not entirely unfounded, with the well-muscled appearance, or the worn handle of the broadsword that hung from the belt of the man, but there was something in his moves that suggested that there were much easier ways to earn money, like wrestling Ruby Dragons.

A hundred human-sized torches lit the Great Hall of the Council. The Council, consisting of the 61 greatest magic users of the Empire, were holding a trial. In the middle of the semicircle stood an old man wearing jewelled robes. He had the look of a man who had seen into his own private Hell and knows that he has to spend an eternity in there. He spoke to them slowly, in a tired voice:

"…And this my fellow Guild members, and friends, is the whole terrible truth of an old fool, who tried to unwrap the secrets of creation itself and just managed to bring evil, evil in the purest sense, into this, our world." He fell silent.

The armed man reached the gate of the Great Council Building, one of the guards stood in his way.

"State your business," he ordered, his voice trembling with fear. The armed man looked at him, seeming to decide if to answer the question or just kill the imbecile. "Warlord Ranthor, the Khan of Trabinatuar and Slayer of the Dragon of Esturah. I am here to speak on the behalf of my maker, Lordmagician Duanon Tres Trekel, leader of the Holy Council of Sorcery." The Guard stood aside.

"You may pass of course, the council is debating." The man walked into the building without a further look to the guard.

The council was silent, they all were shocked about the news he had given them, but at the same time they were exited about the incredible new ways Lord Trekel's brilliant mind had opened up. He, the undisputed greatest thinker of them all, had a mind so sharp that even he had cut himself this time. Finally the Sorceress Anea spoke, "This is a critical situation, Lords and Ladies, and we cannot allow Duanon's last creation to roam the Land…"

The man who addressed himself as Ranthor walked through the Council Building, everyone who met him stood aside, even the lesser Lord magicians, his temper was feared, and everyone knew that the only person he respected, the only person he feared, the only person he loved, was on trial. He reached the Outer Council Chambers, and again, a guard stood in his way. This time a young sword master called Berinar, who towered over Ranthor by nearly a foot, and outweighed him by 70 pounds.

"No one may enter the chambers, especially not you, son of the criminal." Not a muscle twitched in Ranthors face.

"… And so fellow masters of the Art, the question remains: who can possible stop a thing as mighty, as ruthless, as terrible as Ranthors second child?" Again, silence filled the chamber, as not one of the Lord and Ladies could give a satisfying answer.

"I can" boomed a voice through the Halls. Ranthor stood before the council, his cape slung back, showing his well-muscled arms and chest, where there was a tattoo of a tiger.

"How could you pass Berinar, the greatest of my constructs?" asked Manarus, a middle-aged Sorcerer with a cruel face. Ranthor held up his right hand, it was blood smeared, and was clutching a still-beating heart. He let the shock sink in for a moment, and then devoured the heart whole.

A stunned silence had befallen the Council. Everyone knew of the brutality and ruthlessness of Ranthor, mixed with his sharp mind and his natural instincts for battle; this made out his usefulness as a Warlord, but at a moment like this everyone was reminded of the fact that the man in front of them was one of the unborn. Probably the greatest that had ever had roamed this land. He was an unmatched warrior, and a mage of great power, very nearly matching their own power. The only way to kill an unborn was the way he just had so impressively showed to them. To rip their still-beating hearts out of their chests and to devour them.

Ranthor began to speak; "I don't hear any objections to my pledge. I swear to the mighty Hyne to make up for the sins of my father, for I am darkness and light, my feet touch the ground, my head tastes the sky. No virgin is so pure, no priest so holy and no warrior so fierce that they wouldn't tremble in my presence. Look at me before me you are as nothing. I will destroy my sibling, or if that is not possible, I will guard him to the end of time." With the recitation of this ancient, sacred oath he turned and left the hall.

* * *

Rinoa silently entered the room; she was carrying a tray of food. Quistis rose and walked towards the door, as the women passed each other they exchanged short, silent smiles. Quistis left and Rinoa sat next to Squall, putting the tray down in front of him.

"I brought you something to eat, Squall," she said, smiling at him. He nodded, never taking his eyes from his sister. The figure of Ellone had calmed down now, but still showed no signs of waking up. 

"Squall, you must eat" Rinoa said again. This time he looked shortly at her, giving her a small smile and looked at the tray, he took a slice of bread from it, and looked back at Ellone.

Several minutes passed, Squall still held the bread in his hand. Finally Rinoa said, "Bread, in your hand, remember? You should eat." He looked at her again, taking a bite from the bread and reaching for the soup that had already grown cold on the tray. He took a few spoonful's of it and ate some more of the bread, never looking away from Ellone for long. Then he shoved the tray away from him, smiling apologetically at Rinoa.

"I am not hungry," he said. Rinoa sighed but didn't reply, he was already looking at Ellone again. Rinoa looked around at Khan, his body hadn't moved for the last couple of hours, never making any kind of response to whatever it was that he was feeling.

* * *

Ellone opened her eyes again, this time she wasn't feeling drained by the experience. Khan sat in his usual spot, looking at her in silence.

"What are you wanting to show me?" she asked "what does this have to do with the dead SeeDs and your attack on my brother and my friends?" 

"Everything," replied Khan. "This was just the beginning of my story, there is still more to come. After I took the sacred oath, I hunted down my escaped sibling, who committed many cruel crimes in his path. Being immortal and as strong as myself, no one in his path had a chance to stop him." 

Ellone shuddered as she remembered the only way one of the "unborn" could be killed; she silently thanked Hyne that she didn't had to feel it firsthand.

"Finally," Khan continued: "I was able to track him in Protera, the capital of my own province, Trabinatur, where I thought I could force him into a final confrontation."

* * *

Zell looked up as Selphie entered the room, she smiled at him. Sitting down on his bed, which sends waves of pain through his body, she touched his hand gently.

"Nothing to fear anymore," she said smiling. "Ellone is here, she will go into the mind of the madman, and then we will know the truth, and, hopefully, how to cure you." Selphie gave him a bright smile. "You will up again, eating hotdogs and working out in no time."

Zell felt himself smile, and his voice said, "Oh the doctor wants something…" Selphie turned around to see what he meant.

"I must check out the medical supplies in the storerooms, can you look after my desk while I am gone?" the older woman asked her.

"Of course," replied Selphie smiling, she wanted to stay anyway to cheer Zell up a bit. Selphie looked after Doctor Kadowaki as she left the room. Behind her, Zell grabbed for the bottle on the night desk.

* * *

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this. 


	4. Secrets Revealed

_Sins of the Father_ Secrets Revealed 

* * *

  
  


Chapter 4 

Pain flooded through Selphie's head as she hit the ground; the back of her head seemed to be on fire. She hit the ground hard, unable to stop herself with her hands. She felt the sharp pain as her nose broke at the impact. Selphie was pulled back to her feet, still unable to move her hands. Zell hit her again, this time with his fist, in the stomach. She coughed in pain and was thrown against a wall.

Selphie felt the warm blood poured down her face, she was dizzy, but the long years of training finally took over. She managed to block Zell's next attack and kicked high in retaliation, hitting his cheek. Zell stumbled back a step, touching the small cut he got on his cheek.

"How dare you!?" he hissed, with pure hatred in his voice. Selphie threw herself forward trying to use a disabling blow on his throat before he could finish her, but this time she didn't had the element of surprise on her side.

Zell grabbed her hand out of the air with childlike ease, bringing his foot up at the same time, smashing her head in a mirrored version of the kick she had given him. Her head seemed to explode again, her eye was swollen shut immediately, and she was once again fighting for her consciousness. Zell hit her again with his fist, sending her crashing against the bed. Selphie tried to get up by grabbing onto the rail of the bed, but with a cruel smile on his face Zell kicked brutally against her wrist, breaking the bones like twigs.

Selphie was lying there, only half-conscious, this had to be a bad dream. Zell would never hurt her this way, it had to be a bad dream she told herself over and over again. The sharp sound of stressed metal ready to break was heard, then Selphie felt herself pulled up by her hair, feeling strangely detached from the world. With her uninjured eye she saw Zell in front of her, clutching a 3 feet long pole of metal in his other hand.

"This is your reward for bringing my beloved brother to me," Zell hissed, his voice filled with hate, and thrust the metal pole forward, pinning the petite girl to the wall. Selphie smiled, she felt no pain, this was just some stupid nightmare, Zell was her friend, he saved her live many times during the sorceress war. This was just a stupid nightmare…

* * *

Ellone felt herself once again floating over a nightly city, this time it was covered in snow. She saw Khan, now clothed in warm furs, walk into the direction a half-open building. A figure clothed in rags muttered something to him, he turned, answered it, and handed the figure something, and it scurried away.

As Khan entered the building, Ellone's view changed, she was looking into the room and the smells of spices and human bodies embraced her. The building was part bazaar, part taverns and part open forum. Some enormous coal fires heated the place.

Khan walked up to one of the tables, again prowling the place like a predator on its own turf. A single person sat near it, clothed in a wide coat the face covered by a hood. The person seemed to have the respect of the people there too, not one of the gathered thieves, thugs, crooks and general half-lives bothered it.

Khan sat down, facing the person only partially, one of the waitresses wearing only several feet of cloth slung around her walked up and silently gave them two cups and a skin full of wine. She left them rather hurriedly, as if she was lucky to get away. After a while, Khan filled both cups and drank from one of them. A few more minutes passed, and then finally the figure spoke.

"How are the profits?" it asked.

"Going as always," Khan replied, without taking his eyes from the dancers on a small stage nearby.

"Good thing to hear," came the reply.

"Yes, indeed, how is your own illicit business going?" Khan suddenly said. Both of them seemed to follow an invisible script.

This went on for a while, when finally Khan said in a different tone.

"Where is he?" The figure looked at him, for the first time.

"I will show you, but you know the price."

"No, not this time, you will tell me where he is, he is far to dangerous!" Khan snarled. The person turned to him throwing the hood back.

"I am no damsel in distress you have to protect, I can take care of myself," she snarled back. It the face of a woman, aged in her mid-twenties, some strands of blonde hair hanging down in her face. Her eyes were an icy blue, seeming to stare directly into the soul of a being. The face was not exactly beautiful, her nose had been broken and not healed correctly, and a scar ran down her left cheek to her throat, but it was bustling with life, and gave the striking impression of personality.

"I know," Khan's voice was just a growl now. "But this time it is too dangerous. I will face him on my own."

"Not yours to decide," she said, in the same dangerous tone of voice. Khan breathed in deeply.

"I could just take the information I want," he said a matter-of-factly.

"Yes you could," the woman answered, nodding "You could break my mind like a matchstick, leaving me mentally raped and beaten…" A painful silence descended. The woman finally broke it. "But you wouldn't, I know you can see right from wrong and you won't do wrong because of it." Khan just nodded. With a smile the woman continued. "And still, you have to pay the price for my services." Khan smiled back and stood up in silence. As they both walked to the exit the woman suddenly threw her arms around Khan and hugged him deeply. "I have missed you dearly…"

* * *

Squall had fallen asleep next to his sister; Rinoa smiled at him and pulled a blanket over them both. Ellone had been gone for almost 24 hours now, and Squall hadn't slept for at least 60 hours, ever since the stranger had come into Garden. Her eyes moved to the stranger, he hadn't moved all the time, he didn't even looked asleep, more like he was waiting to burst into action at any moment.

Rinoa shuddered as she remembered how they had brought him into the cell, the heavy wound on his chest had begun to heal up quickly, and he had awoken minutes after the force field had been turned on. She shuddered a bit at the memory; he just sat up, as if nothing had happened and looked around, then he searched the cell, never making a noise, not even as he touched the force field. Rinoa sighed silently and looked back at the siblings.

"Ellone, " she whispered. "Wherever you are now, I hope you are all right."

* * *

Ellone woke up again, the sun of the strange landscape was already setting, she looked to Khan and for the first time something like an emotion showed up on his face; a strange look of loss and sadness was lying in his mind. Ellone felt that this was her time to speak.

"She was your…" she hesitated.

"A very good friend," Khan closed for her. Ellone hesitated again, the she rallied herself and decided to take this risk.

"She was more than that, you loved her!" she said with a strength in her voice that she didn't really feel. Khan jumped up, he snorted and turned to the fire. He knelt before it and shoved his hand directly into the flames. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, sickening Ellone. Khan turned around again holding up his scorched hand that already began to heal.

"Love," he snorted. "What do I know about Love? Look at my hand, I am not human, I am an unborn, I do not know about Love…" Silence filled the place.

"But yes, you could say I loved her, if I was able to feel Love, that would be the feeling I had for her. I met her when she was 17, she was already an accomplished thief, but she was too careless and ambitious. She didn't heed the warnings of the older thieves and broke into my palace. She even tried to steal some of my personal jewelry, stored in my bedroom." He chuckled slightly at the memory. "I could see the fire of ambition burning in her, unquenchable, even by the hardships she had already endured in her young life, so I became her mentor, and later her lover."

He held up his hand again, it was unhurt again. "See?" he told Ellone. "I am not Human I only look like it. I am out of Death's reach forever, the only thing that can kill me… well you already know that."

Ellone nodded, she was thrilled by the story the stranger told her, a strange fascination had gripped her. She craved to hear the rest of it, even if she was aware that the whole thing was just his point of view, and had until now had cleared nothing to do with the current events.

* * *

Zell cringed as he looked at the beaten figure of Selphie on the wall; he couldn't believe what he had just done. The hope he had felt as she told him about Ellone had turned into icy horror; he must have gone insane. She was one of his closest friends, if not the closest; she had saved his life many times.

Zell felt hot tears run down his cheeks; the guilt over what he had done was overpowering. He wanted to hide himself from the world, more, he wanted to go back to Selphie and help her; undoing the damage he had done, but he couldn't. He couldn't move even a single muscle in his body, the only thing he was being able to do was let the tears run down his face, burning guiltily, like acid.

He felt himself moving to the desk, he saw himself check the medical database of Dr. Kadowaki, and find a picture of Ellone. His face twisted into a cruel grin and he searched some of the chemical/biological databases of the Garden Network, nodding in grim satisfaction. He walked to a wall climbing it and pulled himself into the airshaft.

* * *

The scene changed for Ellone, she felt a bit dizzy, and then she realized she was looking to a bedroom. It was barely lit by an enormous fireplace in the wall. Luxurious tapestries hung from the wall, and the floors were covered with animal skins. She saw Khan, he was just pulling his shirt over his head to get dressed again, and then she saw the silhouette of the woman. She was lying in the bed, her naked body covered only partially by the sheets. Khan got his weapons from the pile of clothes on the floor. He went to the door, but turned back to the woman on the bed again, whispering silently.

"I know you will hate me for that in the morning, but I had too I will rather have you alive and hating me than have the knowledge that your blood is on my hands." He looked at the figure for a moment longer and left. As soon as the sound of his steps was gone in the distance the woman suddenly got up, walking naked over to the pile of clothes, as she started to dress, and chuckled in silence. 

"Oh Ranthor, your vice, maybe your only vice is that you know too much about people, and tend to forget that other people know a thing or two about people also." She pulled up her trousers and continued. "Trying to give me a sleeping potion, you really should have known that I will never fall for that, I know you far too well. I knew the look on your face and I knew what you were planning since we left the tavern." She put on her shirt and grabbed her boots.

"So I played along with your game, telling you where to find your enemy, why not? No harm in that, you would never have let me come with you, so I will follow." She grabbed her weapons-belt and moved back to the bed. She pulled a cup out from behind it and poured it into the great fire. She turned to leave, but was intending to use the window. "Oh Ranthor, I know you are the biggest, baddest, scariest SoB in this part of the world, maybe in the whole world, but you told me that your brother was as powerful as you, and completely ruthless. So you will need some help on this. I love you, I would die lucky if I could give my life for you." She slid out of the window and the room fell silent.

* * *

Calash climbed through the air shaft, tears still running down the face of his vessel. He was furious, but he couldn't stop it. The puny mortal was far more powerful then he had ever imagined possible, his mind had remained there all the time, fighting his own for the control over the body.

He had spent the last 6 weeks just fighting for the control of this body, to almost no avail. The thing that had possessed it before, the mind and soul of his vessel just refused to be destroyed, and now his brother had come to here. He wasn't ready to fight him yet, not in this body; the resisting mind just cost him too much power to face Khan.

He chuckled lightly as he remembered that the pathetic friends of his body had saved him. Killing them would be really fun, or maybe just crippling them, like that girl… that had been fun. She had to live in a crippled body for the rest of her pathetic life, not that it would be very long. When he finally managed to get rid of the resisting mind he would make sure that only the worthy survived.

Calash grinned to himself, what a magical age this was. The wonders of technology, as they called it, it would make everything so much easier this time. Only after a brief search, he had found the information on where to look for the ingredients needed to brew the godly potion that would separate the congregation. The mystical brew that enabled him to divide those that are worthy to live and those that should die, the same that he used in Protera.

Calash slid out of the airshaft into the bedroom of his host-body, here he could find what he was looking for, and the keys to the weapons he would need to accomplish his plan.

* * *

Ellone woke up slowly; she was being shaken softly by the shoulders. She opened her eyes and saw Khan's face, looking worriedly at her. She nodded to him.

"I am ok." He still looked concerned.

"You were gone for much longer now, are you sure you are all right? You have no training in this, only a wild talent, so it could be too much for your mind to take." She smiled at him.

"Thanks for your concern, but I am ok." Suddenly she saw a third figure, standing behind Khan. It was the woman from the visions; she smiled benevolently at Ellone and winked.

"He doesn't know that I am here, I thought you should see the whole story to really understand him. He is a tortured creature, and has never forgiven himself." She smiled again. "You will understand it when you know the whole story, fear him not, he means no harm to you." With that, the woman vanished. Khan looked around trying to see what Ellone looked at, he turned back to her, looking even more concerned. 

"Are you sure you are okay? I will send you back into your body, its better for you, you will need your rest." Ellone shook her head.

"No, I am ok, please show me the rest of your story, I will need to know."

Khan looked at her again with great concern; then he spoke. "That morning I found my brother in a cavern not too far from the city. There, I discovered his dark schemes and thought I could confront him, to end his threat to the world once and for all."

Ellone felt sleepy again…

* * *

Ellone felt herself entering a cavern, trailing behind the lumbering shape of Khan. He had his broadsword drawn and looked even more determined than ever. The caverns were lit by green Sorcerer's Light. Khan walked through the corridors and reached a large room.

The room was filled with a mixture of alchemical equipment and tools of torture. Some mutilated bodies hung from the ceiling, but there was no sign of Calash. One of the figures moaned in pain, Kahn looked at it and saw that the wounds were beyond help, there was just too much damage done. Even magic couldn't bring the person back. With a quick swing of his sword, Khan freed the poor creature from its misery.

"You are always so kind hearted to these animals, my dear brother." Calash's voice sounded from behind him. Khan turned around slowly and looked at his brother. The figure stood about 6 feet and 1 inch tall, slightly taller than himself, and showed the same well-muscled appearance. Their faces were mirror images of each other, but it was a fractured mirror image in Calash's case, something beautiful and brilliant, but ultimately broken.

"These creatures, no, I will not even call them animals, because they are much lower, this things, they are nothing. What is your interest in them? We are created to rule them. Our father, the greatest Sorcerer of all time, greater than anyone else in this age, created us to rule. You and me, we will sort out the weak, the slow, the sick and the unable. We will create beings from our image that are worthy to live in this, our world."

Khan just shook his head. "You never learned, brother. Our father made a critical mistake; you cannot instill wisdom and understanding into someone like he did with our skills at battle. You never learned, you don't see the fine distinctions in human life, your poor tortured mind cannot take hold of the brilliant structure of the human nature."

Calash's Face turned into a visage of rage. "Fine brother, let's have it your way, I will slay you then, for the crime of defying your destiny." He made a sudden gesture with his hand; a magical circle that had been hidden under the blood of the victims flared brightly, imprisoning Khan. "Oh dear brother, I know you are powerful enough to come out of the circle, but first it will give me time to finish my destiny; and second, much more importantly, you will not make it out in time to be able to escape the wrath of my new ally."

As the shape of an elder demon came into view, Calash went into a fit of maniacal laughter.

* * *

Calash arrived in the airshaft above the weapon chambers, he knows what he was after, and the weapons-maker of this age had built so many funny weapons of destruction. He had just stopped at the room of his host body to gather the needed access-card and a bag to transport the weapons in.

He slid into the room and looked with delight over the assembled tools of death and destruction. After a short while he had found what he looked for. He packed the bag he was carrying with a wide assortment of arms and ammunition. Then he added some more field equipment and finally explosives. With a cruel smile, he climbed up to the airshaft again. Time to look after this Ellone woman.

* * *

The demon walked towards Khan, grinning slightly, the figure was beautiful, over 7 feet tall, lean and well muscled, the face of a fallen angel. It had feathered wings on its back. The slender, delicate fingers were holding a sleek dagger. It walked up to Khan, ready to devour the heart of the unborn.

Khan concentrated, he knew that he could beat the demon, but not while trapped in here. He fought with all his might, and managed to gain a little control of his arms again. The demon drew closer and raised the dagger. Khan knew that he was lost; he would never manage to break the spell of his brother quickly enough. The demon grinned and brought the dagger down, to slice his chest open.

The blade never reached him, the demon wailed in pain and rage as a throwing dagger stuck out of his palm. It whirled around and looked at the woman who had dared to do this to him. The woman from the bedroom stood there and grabbed for another dagger. Her hands flicked, and two daggers stuck from the chest of the demon. It howled again in rage and charged at her.

She dodged it skillfully and drew a scimitar from her belt. Khan in the meantime had closed his eyes as he concentrated to break the magic circle. The woman managed to stand her own ground quite well. The demon had drawn a saw-toothed blade and swung at her with incredible speed and accuracy. She managed to defend herself and even landed some hits that would have slowed and handicapped a mortal opponent. 

But the battle was hopeless for her as the unnatural strength and unending constitution of her immortal enemy wore her down, but she stood her ground and tried not to flinch. Khan began to feel the magical barrier around him grow weaker, if she could only manage to hold against the demon for a few minutes longer.

The demon suddenly doubled the ferocity of his attacks, he could sense that his prey would manage to free itself soon now, and then he would have to face an opponent that was much more dangerous than the puny mortal woman in front of him. The fiend let fly a faint to the right side of her body, only to pull the blade downwards at the last moment. He managed to slice the leg of the woman to the bone.

The woman screamed in pain, she tried to bring her blade up again in a defensive motion, but it was to late, the heavier blade of the demon broke again through her defenses and severed her weapon arm, directly over the elbow. Everything grew unreal, as she realized, in shock, what had occurred and nearly laughed at herself. She barely felt a thing as the fiend drove the blade through her chest, lifted her from the ground with it and flung her into the wall like a rag doll.

A wave of rage boiled up in Khan like he had never felt before, the barrier around him shattered and he threw himself against the demon. A series of mighty swings brought the enemy's back up against a wall. With a mighty, double-handed strike, Khan managed to unarm his opponent, the demon shrieked in fear. Khan brought the weapon back up in a swift motion and without a single instant of hesitation beheaded the fiend.

Then he looked at the broken body of the woman, and knelt next to it, taking her into her arms. She breathed, barely, but the damage was far to great to be cured, even by his magic. As she felt it, her blood smeared lips turned into a light smile.

"I knew… you would need…my help," she managed to cough. Khan just smiled at her, unable to speak. "Not even death…can keep me from… loving you. We will… always be… together." She closed her eyes, a spasm going through her body. "I… love… you!" Khan felt her body grew weak.

"I love you too, Seraphim, my guardian angel," he whispered.

* * *

Khan softly let the body slip to the ground. He stood up and ran into the direction that Calash had left. Tears ran down his face, couldn't see clearly, he stumbled, hit the wall and ran again. He ran up a path and emerged to a cliff. Calash stood there, smiling, holding a clear vial with a gray substance in his right hand. Calash smiled at the sight of Khan.

"Oh brother, my faith in you was not false, but," he made a dramatic pause and continued in a singsong voice. "You are too late, now the scum will be separated from the jewels, now the weak will be washed away by the hand of the judge, my hand." 

Khan looked at him, his cheeks burning from the few tears he had shed. "Don't do it brother, even now you can be forgiven, even now you can come back into the light, even now, none of your sins rate so much that you could not make up for them." Is what he wanted to say, but he could not. All he could think of was the broken shape of Seraphim lying in a pool of her own blood, dead and gone. Instead he opened his mouth and screamed.

"If there is someone to be judged today, it is you, Calash. I will end your pitiful existence now and forever. The clean air of this land shall not be poisoned by your breath."

Calash answered with maniacal laugher. "Oh brother, do you miss you little whore? We will find you a better one, damn, we will build you a better one; but first let me take care of a minor matter before I will help you with that." He made a violent gesture with his arm and then poured the vial in the wind, a silvery fog built up and drifted slowly towards the city of Protera.

Khan was beyond rage, he charged his sibling and thrust out his hand, Calash didn't even make a gesture of defense as the hand entered his chest, breaking his ribs like twigs. Khan pulled and froze at the sight; he didn't pull out a beating heart, but a pulsating crystal of blood red color. 

* * *

Ellone woke up, she felt drained, physically and emotionally, what she had just witnessed was nearly more than she could withstand. Khan looked at her.

"It is nearly over now. Protera was destroyed, ninety-nine from hundred people died that day, all those that my brother deemed unworthy of life. I went back to the council, and our father studied the strange crystal." He paused. "Calash had transferred his life into it, making it impossible to destroy him. So I took on my oath and guarded him till the end of time, the cavern your friends died in was made for that purpose. Our father and the other Sorcerers of the Council laid a mighty spell on the cavern that stopped time in there. This spell was recently broken by a disturbance in the very fabric of time, that I cannot explain.

"Time Compression," mumbled Ellone.

"Time Compression?" echoed Khan, the dawning of understanding on his face.

"Yes about 2 years ago a mighty sorceress from the future tried to compress time and rule everything in it." Ellone explained. Khan nodded.

"Anyway, the spell was broken and our minds where free again to roam. But Centra is an abandoned continent now, barely a living soul is there. So it was a long time before Calash could draw a living soul near enough to possess him." Khan took a breath and continued. "My brother possessed one of your comrades, a weak-minded individual called Nida. He used Nida to capture the other cadets and perform forbidden rituals on them to amass power; their suffering let him grow stronger. I will show you know what happened, as I finally was able to shake off the effects of the long sleep the Council had put me under.

* * *

Ellone found herself in another cavern, this time it was lit up by a sick-looking green light. She saw the familiar figure of Nida, setting up packages of explosives in the chamber, and another steel cocoon, not unlike the one Khan had occupied before he was born, was hanging from the wall. She also saw a heap of mutilated bodies, clothed in the remains of Seed Cadet uniforms. 

Ellone shivered, this was frightening her more than anything before, this was no long-lost picture of a forgotten age, this was nearly the present, and she might have known some of them even. Then she saw something else, Zell, who stumbled into the main chamber. He kneeled down next to the bodies, his face frozen in pure terror.

She heard Zell whisper with another person; she could make out single words… "Zell," "life," "firstborn," and "end it." She saw Zell's face grow extremely serious as he pulled out a handgun and pulled the trigger once. After that, Zell just sagged to the floor.

Nida, no Calash, she corrected herself, the figure that looked like Nida but moved like Calash, had finished setting up the charges. Suddenly the metal cocoon burst open and Khan jumped out. He charged his brother, but Calash dodged and activated the timer on the bombs.

Both men got into battle positions; Khan had slight problems with his coordinating his movements, the long rest seemed to have slowed him down. Calash couldn't take advantage of this; however, he too was unused to Nida's body. They attacked at the same time, landing some minor hits that healed almost as quickly as the two could hurt each other.

Khan and Calash circled each other, each waiting for a chance to deliver a disabling blow. In the background the timer slowly ticked towards zero. Calash attacked again, fainted to the left, and brought up his leg to Khan's midsection, but to no avail. Khan dodged and spun around, landing a bone breaking kick to the back of Calash, the smaller figure was thrown into the main chambers of the cavern.

Khan rushed to the figure and picked it up by the throat, ready to rip the heart out of the chest, but suddenly Zell attacked him in the belief he was saving Nida. Zell landed some hits, then raised his hand with a gun and shot Khan at point blank range.

Khan fell down, unmoving, Zell picked up Nida, trying to escape the cavern. Khan got up again, following them; he caught them near to the entrance, pushed Zell away and again landing some heavy hits on Calash. Again Zell tried to stop him, but this time Khan was ready. He fought Zell back and was about to knock him out when the figure of Irvine appeared. The Cowboy aimed his Exeter Gun, and put Khan down again. He helped carry the unconscious figure of Nida onto the Ragnarok. Khan got up and managed to leave the cavern just before the bombs exploded. He stood in the night, clutching a piece of Zell's uniform. He looked at it and said, "Z. Dincht Balamb Garden. There I will find my brother."

* * *

Ellone awoke once again; Khan stood there and looked at her.

"You know my side of the story. You should go now and tell your brother and the others what you have seen, so they can judge by themselves which course of action they want to choose." Khan helped her stand up, he waved with his hand and a portal appeared. "This is to help your mind find its way through the void, you will arrive back in your own body safely." Ellone nodded, she was unsure what to say now. Khan smiled at her.

"Don't say anything, it's best." Ellone just nodded again and stepped towards the portal, the moment she stepped through it, she saw the figure of the woman winking at her.

* * *

Quistis burst into the room. Squall looked at her; she was out of breath as she explained what had happened in the Infirmary. He looked at her, trying to reach a decision. He was torn apart by the wish to guard his sister and the duty as Commander of SeeD. Quistis looked at him.

"Go and do what you must do; I will take care of Sis."

He nodded at her and left the room. Quistis and Ellone were left alone in it. Quistis sat down and looked at Ellone, a few minutes passed, and then Quistis saw that Ellone was breathing faster. Her eyelids moved, like she was having an intense dream. Ellone suddenly opened her eyes, unfocused. Quistis leaned over her and hugged her, feeling relief in every cell of her body.

"Are you alright?" she asked the older woman with concern in her voice.

"Yes… I need to talk to Squall, Zell is not…" Ellone answered her voice sounding weak. She didn't get to finish her sentence. The airshaft flew open and Zell landed crashing on the floor of the room.

"So you ladies are talking about me?" he asked in a mocking tone. "Well whatever you have to say, say it to my face." He walked towards them, Ellone rose and tried to get to the control panel to release Khan, but Zell just hit her without even looking. She crashed unconsciously to the floor, a small line of blood pouring from her nose, down her chin.

Quistis reached for Save the Queen, but Zell moved like a snake, hitting her wrist before she could get a hold on it. Then he picked her up by the throat and pushed her against a wall. Quistis tried to blink away the pain, her wrist was pulsating with pain and her head hurt. She saw Zell's face up close as he brutally grabbed her breast, and whispered menacingly in her ear.

"You are really beautiful, unfortunally I don't have the time. We could really have some fun with each other, but unfortunally my only pleasure with you will be your death." His hand grabbed a gun from his belt and set it on her stomach, a cruel smile on his face as he pulled the trigger twice.

Pain beyond pain filled Quistis's body, the bullets exploded in her abdomen, ripping away muscles, organs, and tissue. The last thing she felt was the floor, as Zell let her fall to the ground like a piece of trash.

* * *

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this. 


	5. Dragon Attack

_Sins of the Father_ Dragon Attack 

* * *

  
  


Chapter 5

Calash grinned for a moment as he looked down on the mangled body of Quistis; a pool of her own blood was spreading out quickly under her. He put the gun back into his belt and walked over to the unconscious Ellone, picked her up and threw her lazily over his left shoulder. Then he looked at Khan, gave him a mocking salute and left the room, but not without kicking the dying body of Quistis, sending her crashing against the wall.

Khan breathed a few times, he fought the rage inside of himself and tried to concentrate. He had to get out of this cell and stop his brother. He looked at the fallen Woman in the corner, life was pouring out of her and there was no one here to safe her in time. He could do nothing for her while he was in that cell, except…

Khan himself was uneasy about that option. All he could do was to try to pour some of his immortal life into the body of the woman, enough for her to survive and turn off the field that hold him, but not too much; she would be burned like a candle in a firestorm. Khan forced himself to relax, the end never justified the means but he could not let his brother roam free and kill more people. And more than that he had to rescue the Sister of the Lion, no one should be at his brother's mercy and he would surely enjoy torturing her to death.

He drew a deep breath again, looked once more at the woman, keeping an image of her in his mind, and then he closed his eyes and concentrated. 

* * *

PAIN…

THE WHOLE WORLD JUST CONSISTS OF PAIN…

Quistis felt herself being washed away by the pain, she had barely felt it when Zell kicked her against the wall. Everything was pain, the raging pain in her stomach. She could feel the hot blood pour out of her body; she just waited for the merciful embrace of darkness to relieve her from this world of pain.

It never came.

Instead she felt a sudden rush of energy go through her body, it raged with fury in her and for a moment she was sure her mind would be lost in it.

Then the pain ebbed down to a level where it just was nearly unbearable. The strange energy that poured into her body replenished her strength almost as fast as the blood pouring out of her body could take it away.

She heard a voice in her mind; no, more the urge to do something. She had to turn of the force field and release the stranger, and then the pain would stop. 

She looked at the stranger, her vision blurred and unfocused, the stranger was standing next to the force field, his face turned to her but his eyes closed.

The urge in her grew stronger, she somehow knew that the borrowed strength she felt would consume her in a matter of minutes and knew that she had to act to survive. She began to crawl into the direction of the control panel.

It was much harder than she would ever have imagined, even with the pain on a lower level she was still mortally wounded, her right wrist shattered, and most of her abdominal muscles gone. 

She managed to pull herself forward, using only her left arm and some minor movements of her feet. She was terribly slow and drew a path of blood behind her like the trail of a slug.

She slowly came closer to the panel, feeling more and more tired, she knew that she would not be able to stay alive for much longer. Finally, she managed to pull herself right below the panel and reached up, her bloody fingers trailed over the panel, finally finding the needed switch.

With a last effort of will she flipped the switch and heard the field vanish. Suddenly, the warm stream of force in her body vanished and she once more fell into a dark void.

* * *

Calash hurried along the hallways of Garden, the weapon bag and the unconscious figure of Ellone on his left shoulder, leaving his right arm unencumbered and free to aim with the gun he had drawn again.

The halls where almost empty, most of the students were at class at the moment. Calash hurried towards the parking lot, just as he was about to enter, two SeeDs, both male, came his way. One them saw him and wanted to say something at the look of the instructor who had an unconscious body on his shoulder, but Calash just raised his hand and pulled the trigger.

The first SeeD was hurled against the wall, his chest ripped in shreds from the Glaser Round. The other Seed tried to grab his own sidearm, but he was too slow, Calash shot again, this time aiming for the leg.

The round hit again and the leg was severed at the knee, the Seed fell over in shock, his breathing was quick and shallow. Calash put away the gun and took the keys to a car from the cooling hands of the first SeeD.

Calash opened the door and placed Ellone on the front seat, tying her hands behind the seat with plastic handcuffs, and then with a slight smirk he even fastened the seatbelt around her. Shouts and quick steps where heard from the entrance to the lot. 

He slammed the door shut, jumped over the car while pulling out his gun again and emptied the rest of the clip in the direction of the entrance as he got into the car. A cry of pain said him that he had at least gotten another hit. 

He turned the ignition and let the car make a jump forward, nice thing that his host body was able to work the toys of this bright new age he thought with a smile.

* * *

Khan jumped forward out of the cell and cast the first series of curaga spells, even before he reached the mangled body of the woman. Something in his mind screamed to just let her die and get his brother before he could escape once again, but he could not do that, it just was not right.

He reached out and put the woman on her back, pressing his hands on her wounded stomach and abdomen, he concentrated and felt the warm flow of healing magic through his hands. Slowly he felt the tissue healing back, muscles and organs reforming themselves, the sharp bullet fragment's piercing the skin for a second as he drew them out of the wound magically.

Khan concentrated further and the warmth from his hands reached the ribs that were shattered when Calash had kicked the woman against the wall like a piece of trash. Soon her heart started to pump powerfully and regularly again. Then he concentrated on the shattered wrist, the least dire of the wounds. The bones in it obediently grew back together and the hand was healed.

Quistis opened her eyes and coughed up some blood, the pain was gone and not even a hint of it remained. She could think clearly again, the feverish heat that had filled her before was gone also. She looked down and saw the rest of a faint glow on the hands of the man called Khan, he was kneeling above her and had his hands pressed against her abdomen.

He looked at her, smiled, and got up, offering her a hand as help. She took it and he pulled her to her feet with ease. He let something slip into her hand and turned for the door.

"I need to save the other woman from my brother. You need to inform your Leader of what happened here." Quistis looked down into her hand, it was the bullet-fragments. She froze for a second as she realized that this where the bullets that nearly ended her life, then she hurried out of the room after the man as an alarm was sounded.

* * *

The white-haired woman looked down on the two dead SeeDs; she and 3 other people had barely avoided the rain of bullets that Zell had shot at them. If the two dead bodies in front of her were not so tragic she almost would have chuckled. In her point of view, it had been only a matter of time until Chicken-Wuss burnt a fuse and went postal.

Fujin looked over to the other survivors of the gunshots. Most were unhurt, or sporting only a few scratches, but one woman had gotten a Glaser round into the hip and was bleeding heavily. Two others were casting cure Spells and one was fiddling around with a first aid kit and some potions, the woman would survive and in a few months be fully recovered. 

"YOU. TAKE. INFIRMARY." She barked at the people who nursed the hurt woman. "YOU. CLEAN. BODYS." She barked at another two that where standing around slightly shocked.

"What will you do?" asked one of them back, the woman smiled without any humor. 

"KICK. CHICKEN-WUSS. HARD!" She set out to the parking lot; jumped into the first car that she found and turned the ignition, a manual transmission. She smiled again, suited her fine. She buckled up and ignited the car, putting it into the first. Just as she was about to drive away te door was opened and a man jumped into the front seat, slamming the door shut after him.

"We need to catch the Dincht Guy," he said without hesitating a second. Fujin hit the gas pedal and let the clutch go with a sudden movement, the engine howled and the car make a jump forward with screeching tires.

"AFFIRMATIVE!"

* * *

The motor howled and Fujin tortured the engine and transmission by letting the car accelerate till the needle hit the 20 mph mark, then she kicked the clutch again and slammed the handle of the gear down into second. She just let the clutch go and the car made another jump forward, rocking heavily, the needle hit the 40 mph mark as the car shot out of the Garden garage like a projectile. 

Fujin hit the clutch again and let the gear handle snap back upward giving it another push into the third. Then she let the clutch go again, this time a bit softer, and accelerated further, without taking her eyes from the road, she hit the stereo and immediately music started blaring out.

Take me to the room where the red's all red Take me out of my head-'s what I said yeah Hey take me to the room where the green's all green And from what I've seen it's hot it's mean

"We have to save the woman Ellone," said Khan who looked to the street, a strange gleam in his eyes like a predator when the hunt is on.

"AFFIRMATE," the woman answered. The car made a good 70 miles per hour now on the mud smeared street that lead from the Garden to Balamb. In a good distance the car that Calash/Zell took was visible and it was clear that if the woman had not crashed the car, they would have caught them a few minutes before they came anywhere near Balamb.

-Gonna use my stack -It's gotta be Mack -Gonna get me on the track -Got a dragon on my back

The car literarily flew over the road, once or twice slithering a bit on the wet and muddy ground, but the woman had the complete control over the vehicle. Then a ripped off branch lay on the road and she had to make an emergency maneuver and barely avoided the obstacle. Khan was thrown forward against the windshield. A single drop of blood out of a barely visible wound that closed immediately ran down his forehead. "BUCKLE. UP." was all Fujin.

Take me to the room where the beat's all round Gonna eat that sound - (yeah yeah yeah!) Take me to the room where the black's all white And the white's all black take me back to the shack

The car got closer still, the road took a long straight turn now, and so the woman could put it into fourth and accelerate the car to almost 90 mph, the engine screaming. The distance between the two cars was now less than 300 feet and shrinking. The woman pointed to the compartment on the dashboard. Khan opened it and pulled out a pistol. "STOP. CAR. SHOOT. TIRES!" Fujin commanded him.

"How do you use this?" the man replied.

Get down - I said so Hey hey - All right

Fujin grabbed the gun while she drove. "SAFETY!" she commanded and clicked it off. "LOAD. THROUGH!" she took the other hand from the steering wheel and load the gun through. "POINT. AIM. PULL TRIGGER" she said and gave the gun back to Khan. Suddenly she let out a small scream, Calash had realized that he could not escape and the woman had slammed the brakes of the car to stop.

She's low down -She don't take no prisoners Go down -Gonna give me the business No time -Yeah chained to the rack! Show time -Got a dragon on my back Show down -Go find another customer Slow down -I gotta make my way

Fujin ripped around the steering wheel and slammed the brakes, the car went over the road into the plains, and it turned, hit an obstacle and was thrown into the air, where it turned around itself. It hit the ground and turned again over itself, after nearly 20 turns it miraculously landed again on the wheels and stood still.

Fujin looked around, blood pouring from both her nose holes. The man next to her was grinning with a maniacal gleam in his eyes. "Wasn't that the most fun you can have with your clothes still on?" he asked while laughing. Fujin stared at him in disbelief for a second.

"Hyne, you are right" she said, and then started laughing with him like a mad person.

Khan touched her shoulder and the warm feeling of a healing spell flew through Fujin's body, all the minor cuts and small injuries stopped hurting. The man still grinned. "What happened to the AFFIRMATIVE. TALK?" He asked with a grin. Fujin pressed the gas carefully.

"SCREW YOURSELF!" she answered. Khan laughed hard as the car managed to get back to the road again.

* * *

Ellone woke up in the other car, she opened her eyes and looked around carefully, she saw Calash, she could not any longer think of the figure as her friend Zell, sitting in the driver-seat. Her arms hurt terribly, she wanted to move them, but she could not, her nearly numb fingers tested around and found the plastic strips that held her fast. Her shoulders and arms hurt from the violent movements that had awoken her up she heard Calash laugh in Zell's voice, but she tried to keep her eyes closed.

"Hey faking it is not nice, in bed or outside!" she heard Calash say and was shook violently which sent new waves of pain through her already tortured arms. Ellone opened her eyes and saw that the car she was in was accelerating again, she also saw another Garden car, still spinning around, a short distance in front of them, away from the road. Her heart cramped as she thought of the hurt or maybe even dead SeeDs that where in the car. 

Calash drove the vehicle further down the road, towards Balamb. Ellone risked turning her head so she could look into the mirror and her heart made another jump, this time of joy. The car behind them had started again and drove a bit of a distance behind them.

"My dear brother is really annoying, he just doesn't know when to stop and breathe, don't you agree? He is like a terrier, always on the chase," Calash said with an unfriendly grin on his face. "Well fortunately, like every terrier, it is an easy thing to turn his attention to a decoy," he continued and looked at her. "Right little decoy?"

Ellone felt new waves of fear as Calash drove the car from the road onto the railroad track that lead from Balamb to the deep Sea tunnel.

Khan cursed as he saw Calash jump from the car after he had parked it on the railway, the train was already visibly leaving Balamb and there was no way for the engineer to stop the train in time. The car would get crushed like a soda can by the steel giant.

Calash locked the doors; then he pulled out a machine gun from his bag and sprayed the tires with bullets. He raised the gun and emptied the magazine into their direction, but apart from a few scratches in the hood of the car the distance was to great and the gun sprayed the bullets to far to do any damage. Calash flipped them another mocking salute and ran next to the tracks towards the train.

* * *

"SHIT. WHAT. NOW," shouted Fujin.

"We get the woman," Khan replied without a moment of hesitation. Fujin just nodded and floored the gas to get closer. The other car was parked in as a cross towards the tracks, as she brought the car to an halt next to it Khan had already loosened his seat belt and was out of the car. He ran towards the other vehicle and smashed his arms through the window on the driver's side in a fluent motion.

Fujin was jumping out of the car as Khan ripped both doors open and got into the backseat, the train was just a few hundred feet away and got steadily closer. Khan was working hurriedly to cut through the plastic handcuffs. His arms where covered with cuts from the windows of the car and he used one of the shards to cut the bonds that held Ellone to her seat.

The train was less than a hundred feet away when he managed it; he grabbed Ellone at the shoulder and pulled her out of the car. Less than 50 feet of distance remained, the engineer pulled the emergency break and phoned the horn, but he knew that could never stop the train in time.

Khan got out of the car and in one fluent motion again stood up, turned around, and pushed Ellone towards Fujin who tried to grab the woman as the train was less than 20 feet from the car.

Ellone felt strangely detached from her body as she sailed through the air. She felt herself hitting something soft and felt that she was pulling it to the ground with herself. The last thing she saw before she and Fujin rolled down the hillside arm in arm was Khan; who tried a back flip to get out of the way of the train. Then she heard the screaming of ripping metal as the car she sat in only minutes ago was ripped into shreds.

* * *

A/N: 

The bullets that fragment internally on a body hit are the "Glaser Safety Slug" (Named because it will not ricochet, and breaks apart on most hard surfaces.

The Song is Dragon Attack by Queen, Words and music by Brian May performed by Queen.

* * *

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this. 


	6. Innuendo

_Sins of the Father_ Innuendo 

* * *

  
  


Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Me don't own, no money, square does, don't sue pretty please with sugar on the top.  
  
  


Chapter 6

Balamb Garden, 3 Weeks later.

The sun burned down on the meadows of Balamb, in the distance the Garden shined in the sun. On the grassy plains, there were quite a few people and the streets were bustling with cars. A few patrols of SeeDs, mostly older cadets, ensured that the monsters would not disturb the peace on the plain. Through the great windows of the Garden a person was to be seen, a young man with brown hair.

Squall sat on his chair behind the commanders desk, he read through a stack of papers, and not for the first time. All that SeeD intelligence could have gathered in the last 3 weeks about the whereabouts of Zell, or Calash. He looked up to Xu; she sat opposite to him and was helping him to analyze the situation.

"So he entered the train somehow, as it stopped, hid in a service compartment and after the train started again…" he stopped for a second.

Xu spoke now: "He got out, entered a V.I.P passenger compartment, slaughtered a whole family and took a train ride to Timber where we lost his track." Squall looked at the papers in front of him, a great amount of intelligence information was gathered there, but nothing that was really a lead to the whereabouts of Zell.  
  


Ellone sat on a chair in the library, she had an open book in front of her but her thoughts were wandering. She recalled the events three weeks ago in her mind again. The train had closed in with frightening speed; Khan had knelt behind her and had feverously worked on cutting the bonds that had held her to the seat. In the very moment he cut them he had grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her out of the car, pushing her away from the oncoming train without loosing a beat of an eye.

She had landed on Fujin and the woman had partly caught her, both of them had rolled down the hillside of the railroad tracks. The last thing she saw before the train hit the car was Khan, trying to get away from the engine.

As Fujin had an argument with the engineer about searching the train, Ellone had taken the moment to inspect the remains of the car, there was a good deal of blood, but not more, no signs of Khan were to be found in there. After the train started again, the SeeDs where not allowed to enter it because they had no police rights on board of the trains, they had returned to Garden.

Khan had walked there about two hours later, his clothes in shreds and bloody, but completely unhurt.  
  


Sweat ran down Rinoa's forehead, it ran down between her eyebrows, down her nose. More beads of sweat ran down her cheeks, she felt as if she had run a marathon. She breathed heavily and tried to concentrate again, in herself she amassed the energy to cast a spell, not drawing magic, but real sorceress magic. She thrust out her hand and a light-blue ball of fire shot from her palm.

The ball trailed through the air, straight at the bare chest of Khan, but before the ball hit him it hit a kind of invisible field around him, an eerie glow surrounded him for a second and then faded.

"Not bad this time, you are getting the hang of that Lady, but still not powerful enough by far to break my protections, go again." Rinoa did as he asked and hurled another ball of flame into his direction, he sidestepped it and the ball exploded at the reinforced wall, leaving a chrysanthemum of scorch marks. She waved with her hand and conjured a beam of energy towards her opponent, the man lifted his hands at the last moment and conjured a glittering shield in front of him, the beam wavered against it and Rinoa concentrated hard on it putting as much power in it as she could, this time she wanted to pierce the defenses of Khan.

She seemed to manage, Khan had to take a step back to keep his balance this time, but his shield still stood unwavering against her all out attack, Rinoa felt how her knees began to tremble and knew that she could not uphold the attack for much longer. She decided to set everything onto one card and changed the aim from his chest to his feet to get him in by surprise.

Khan took a quick step to the side and the wave just scorched the floor, he let the magical shield go and drew a symbol into the air, his finger leaving a burning trail. A green mist shot towards Rinoa, catching her off guard and knocking her to the ground.

"Remember what I told you about defense?" asked Khan a hint of mock in his voice. Rinoa cursed under her breath and rose again to her feet, the attack had not hurt her, and if she had concentrated on her own shield it would have bounced off harmless. That was the third time she had been caught off guard today, and they had only been sparring for about 25 minutes. She concentrated again and shot another ball of fire at him, but this time it had only a fraction of the power the last ones had, Khan dispelled it with a glare in the middle between them and made a time out gesture.

"We are overdoing it, you need a break, Lady, five minutes" he said and sat down in a Lotus seat, closing his eyes.

Rinoa limped towards a bench; she grabbed a bottle of water and drank thirstily, seldom before had anything stressed her this hard. But she had to admit that Khan was a good teacher, he had shown her completely new ways to use her sorceress magic. She drained the bottle in a deep sip and breathed, the stranger used a kind of magic that was closely related to her own; he did not need to draw magic, but could create the power he needed in himself, but unlike her, his spells were not really more powerful than normal drawing magic. He surely made up for that with his enormous knowledge and practice in the arts.

Like the way of Spell-battle he was tutoring her in now, he had showed her to directly channel the magic energy through her body as an attack or a defensive act. That was much more effective than the way she, Edea or even Ultimacia had used their power before, she could cast her spells much faster if needed, but it was much more tiring. After an hour training she felt the need to rest as if she had had a full day work out.

She looked at the unmoving figure of Khan, while she was soaked in sweat he did not even breathe faster than normal, he sat there seemingly completely rested. Rinoa grinned a bit mischievous as she gathered the energy for a new attack inside her, and casted a bolt of lightning, stronger than any before towards the resting figure.

Khan stuck up a hand without even looking up and the bolt disappeared again in a harmless cloud of sparks. "Ready when you are," he said and jumped up to his feet.  
  


Quistis stood on a balcony looking over the training rooms. She saw Khan and Rinoa sparring down there and was deeply impressed by both of them. Rinoa's spell casting was full of silent, graceful elegance, Khans actions where full of dash, and he seemed never to tire or slip out of carelessness.

As she thought about Khan a smile crept on her face, but it was not a very amused one. For once he was their new employer, he had walked into Garden after the incidents and had gone straight to the Headmaster's Office and had had a long talk with Squall and Cid. He wanted to employ SeeD to find Zell, and with him the man he searched for, Calash the creature that possessed Zell. When asked about the payment he had wordlessly drawn a small leather bag out of his pocket and emptied an amount of raw diamonds onto the table, more than enough to employ the entire Garden for weeks.

Garden had accepted the Mission out of the old habit never to ask about the reasons of the employer as long as he met the price, and Khan had more than met the price of Garden. Quistis's smile became a bit more friendly and funny as she remembered how she had offered to help him get acquainted with the new age he now lived in, after he saved her life, that was the least she owed him.

It turned out that Khan had indeed a vice and that was vanity, he wanted to shop for new clothes first because the only things he had were some Garden clothes that he had gotten after walking in with his blood-soaked rags the day he saved Ellone. So they set out to a tailor in Balamb. Khan had spent hours discussing with the tailor about the right combination of clothes and materials. After that he had gotten out to get a haircut to match the stile of the time he lived now in. While there he had gotten a manicure and a pedicure. Seeing that Quistis had not really been able to say anything. But that was not the end of the strangely disturbing day, then he had gone shopping, buying about 4 times the body care products Quistis owned.

Still Quistis could not say that his vanity was out of arrogance, he always treated all people in a friendly, if slightly distant manner, he gave generous amount's of tips and never spoke in anything but soft, refined tones. More than that, he was a walking powerhouse of knowledge, he could quote Centran philosophy by heart, and he had a never-ending recourse of anecdotes, ranging from nice towards so kinky that even Squall ended up blushing like hell. Quistis chuckled slightly at the memory of that. All people he met seemed to get caught in the web of his charm, well not all when she thought about it, he and Squall seemed naturally not to get along.

Off course Squall had been nothing but thankful about the rescue of his sister, but the atmosphere between them was cold at best. They kept their distance and even when they managed a few inches more than necessary, they spoke both in respectful voices to each other, but nothing more.

Quistis was drawn away from her thoughts as a young boy walked up to her and presented her a magazine.

"Miss Trepe, I would like to show you an article about an Exhibition of Centran relicts that starts next week in Deling City." Quistis turned around to the boy, smiled and set on to answer as below her Rinoa and Khan once more threw their magic against each other.  
  


Doctor Kadowaki looked at the pitiful shape of Irvine; he once again sat the whole day next to the bed Selphie lay in. She had been able to save the life of the petite girl in the operation, but the damage done to her by Zell had been immense. She shuddered as she remembered it, multiple fractions of bones, her liver and her spleen had been ripped in shreds by the punches, her lungs where pierced from fragments of her rips, the metal rod pieced through her shoulder had smashed her shoulder blade beyond repair, it would need to be replaces by an artificial one in a few months when the girl healed the most serious injuries. Most of that would heal in time, but the girl would never be able to see again on one eye, and the wrist was shattered beyond repair, she would never be able to use it again, and it had been a close call to amputation.

Currently she was in an artificial comatose, sparing her from the pains she would go through in that phase. When that would be so simple with the pains Irvine got through in that time, the cowboy was only a shadow of the man he used to be. He sat next to Selphie for most of the days, talking to her, or only sitting there, looking at her bandaged face.

At first Doctor Kadowski had tried to bring him to leave, and go on, seeking help from his friends, but now she just let him sit by her bed. It was to no avail, the boy was ripped into shreds in the inside and that was the only thing that could actually give him a small measure of peace.

Irvine looked straight at Selphie's face, how peaceful she looked, sleeping her deep and hopefully dreamless and peaceful sleep. Irvine felt the pain within him, he would kill Zell for that what he had done to her, and if that were the last thing the young man would do.  
  


Galbadia, a junkyard 45 driving minutes away from Deling City  
  


It was a hot morning in the desert of Galbadia; the sun burned down mercilessly on the scorched earth. A dusty junkyard was to be overlooked, within a fenced area where some one story buildings and a construction hall or two, some of the windows were broken. Vast amounts of scrap metal lied strewn over the yard and piled up into big heaps. Old battered cars lined up with discarded kitchen equipment and even some destroyed military units from the earlier wars showed up every now and then. A spider web of stairs, flights and ramps connected the various buildings and areas with each other. Other than climbing over 12 foot high fence, with sharp spikes, the only way to enter the compound was through the main gate. A few figures were busy in the area, moving a bit of the trash, or just guarding the junkyard.

Two men sat in front of the entrance to the junkyard, on a bench in the shadows of the fence around the junkyard.

"Hey Boss, how do you put an giraffe in a cooler?" asked a tall, broad shouldered man. He stood about 6'6" tall and weighted the better part of 300 pounds. His face sported a wild growing beard, and had a raw brutal expression. A much shorter man answered, he had a facial tattoo and spiked blonde hair.

"I dunno Leroy, tell me."

Calash grinned to no one in particular, Khan was wrong about him, he knew exactly how the human mind worked, and that had not changed in the last thousands of years. He had been able to recruit some helpers with the old ways, bribery and of course pure force.

"You open the door, put the giraffe in and close the door" the man he called Leroy replied, and grinned. The grin of a stupid dog that just managed to pull of a trick, like sit, Calash thought. Then he looked over the junkyard, a perfect place to hide, out of reach from most civilization, or the part that would be inconvenient. And the metal here made any kind of detection impossible, even for the Estharian Spy Satellites.

"How do you get an elephant into the same cooler boss?" asked Leroy again. Calash looked straight into the sun, and replied.

"I dunno again Leroy, shoot!" he listened to the silence on the junkyard, only broken by the occasional noise of a desert dweller. In the distance a column of dust showed the approach of a car.

"You open the door of the cooler, get the giraffe out of it, put the elephant into it and close the door" said Leroy and got into a laughing fit.

Calash smiled and continued to stare into the distance, finally they had arrived; it had taken a long while for them. He needed the freight they brought to continue with his experiments, he would have preferred to get the needed things himself, but he knew that keeping a low profile was more important than hurrying the things that would come inevitably.

"Ok boss, another one, The lion, the king of the animals holds court and all animals have to attend, which animal is missing from there?" Leroy said, beaming with pride about the jokes he told his boss. Calash looked down, grabbed a bottle from the ground and took a deep sip before he answered, the car had come much closer, and it was the one he was waiting for.

" I dunno again Leroy, just enlighten me." The bottle was empty after another sip and he threw it towards the junk. Leroy took a deep breath and made a gesture like a show magician that just showed a particular spectacular trick.

"The elephant. He's in the cooler, boss" he managed to say before he went into another laughing fit. Calash stood up and went to meet that car it was now only a few hundred feet away from them. "Okay, boss, a final one, you have to cross a river full of crocodiles, how do you do that?" The car came to a halt, it was a blackened van, the doors got open and two more men jumped out, they slit open the door at the side of the van and began to pull out a few people, 2 men and 1 woman, all were bonded and blindfold.

Leroy and the other two got hold of the abducted people and dragged them towards the buildings on the junkyard. As they approached the building Calash said, "That's an easy one Leroy, the fucking crocodiles are all on the court that the Lion holds!" Calash smirked at Leroy as the big man looked at him in surprise.  
  


Balamb Garden  
  


Quistis looked at the magazine the boy had given her; it included a big photo-reportage of an exhibition of Centran artifacts in the Galbadian museum of anthropology. She still attracted her share of fans, the so-called Trepies, even when that had become a bit less in the last year, and Hyne she wasn't unhappy about it.

Below her Khan and Rinoa got their belongings and headed upstairs towards her, Rinoa looked as if she had just done a triathlon. Her clothes were soaked in sweat, and her hair hung in wet strains into her face, even Khan was looking exhausted, it seemed that Rinoa had gotten the hang of what he had shown her. They walked up to her, Rinoa nodded wordlessly and headed for her room to take a shower, Khan gave her a small smile before his eye caught the magazine she was reading.

"Oh, a Centran burial shroud of the third Dynasty." He commented with a small smile, Quistis looked at the picture and the comment said fourth Dynasty, but she did not bother to try and correct him, after all he was a living artifact of that time, not her. She handed the Magazine over and said with a smile.

"Here maybe you find some stuff you owned years ago" He took it and flipped through the sides, given a small chuckle every now and then.

Suddenly he stopped dead, staring on one picture, it was only small, not more than a filler and the comment just read, "Ancient storage compartment" but to him it seemed to be of great importance. Quistis looked into his face with an asking expression.

"Anything you really owned back then?" She asked with a slight grin.

"No," answered Khan with great seriousness, "But you could call it a legacy, this container bears the sign of my maker." Khan looked at her. "We have to inform the young lion about that one, it is the possibility that Calash will see that too, and it is his legacy also, so he might try to acquire it." He gave her the magazine back. "Inform him about the new situation, tell him to make plans accordingly. I will conference with him as soon as I get showered and dressed again." Without waiting for an answer he headed off.  
  


45 minutes later, in the headmasters office  
  


Squall, Rinoa (still looking tired), Quistis, Xu and Khan sat around a table, a stack of papers in front of every one of them.

Squall looked into the round and spoke. "In addition to the fact that the centran artifacts in Deling could be an attraction to Calash, we have just been informed about the fact that there were three kidnappings this morning in Deling City. All seem to be unrelated, but that is the best lead we have of him at the moment. Any suggestions?"

Xu spoke, "I would advise a covert team to the area, the persons in this room to be exact, Garden Intelligence can keep us posted to the current situation and we could surely get more information directly in Deling than through the spy network, no matter how good it is."

Khan took the floor now, "I am for that way of action, we need to be in the vicinity of the possible location where Calash is to act in time to prevent more loss of life. And I want to remember all of you again that the person you will face is just the body of your former friend, his soul is vicious, and he will kill and hurt anyone of you without hesitation. The only way to put him down is to rip the heart out of his body; everyone should make it clear to himself that this is what is needed to do for you. Once done and the heart is in my hands, your job is finished and the affair is no longer your business."

A short silence followed, as Khan had spoken what they all knew but no one had really wanted to admit, when they succeeded on that mission it would mean that Zell had to die. Quistis broke the silence, "We know that Zell, Calash I mean, has a wide variety of guns and ammo from the SeeD weapon chambers, and that he seems to be fond of Glaser rounds. So, I advise that anyone, Khan included will wear a fitted body armor that is impenetrable to Glaser's and most common rounds."

Finally, Rinoa spoke, "And remember that Zell had the security codes to the Ragnarok, so it is not safe to use the spaceship, besides that it is hardly a covered approach when we use the ship. We should go to Deling City in two or three teams, operating separately and keeping in touch per normal means and a new set of codes."

Squall nodded to this. "Okay we move out in 0300. Xu, you get us a complete new set of codes that can be used in everyday conversation. Quistis, you get the equipment for the mission. Rinoa, you will arrange travel for two groups, and I will fit Khan with a suit of armor. Dismissed."  
  


Irvine still sat on Selphie's bed, Doctor Kadowaki had left for the day and only the night nurse, and a fairly new woman, called Francine, manned the desk looking at him in concern. It hurt her to see him like that, and she wanted to draw him from the desperations that seemed to slowly burn his soul leaving only a dead husk of a human body on the outside.

She remembered what she had heard from Xu, as she gave out five standard rations of supplies to her earlier, that news would surely cheer him up. Francine got up and walked over to him, kneeling down next to him looking upwards into his face. He looked down at her, his eyes empty, waiting for her to state what she wanted or maybe even just to vanish again.

"Hey, I tell you what, I will tell you a secret, one that will cheer you up, and you will go to sleep for today, I swear when something happens here you will be the first to know, have we a deal?" Irvine looked towards her with an unchanging expression, and then he shrugged.

"I take that as a yes," she smiled and continued, "Your friends left today, they seem to have a lead to the man that did that to her, they will find him and put him to justice!" she smiled at him, his expression showed that his brain worked. After a short while he managed a smile.

"Yes, that are indeed good news, you are right, maybe I should sleep a bit" Both rose and Irvine went to the door, before he reached it, he turned around and said, "I thank you, you cannot even imagine how much you helped me with that." Francine just smiled back; she was glad that he seemed to be a bit more lighthearted now.

Irvine walked through the halls of the sleeping Garden that was exactly what he needed to know, he still was classified as Garden Master, and could log into all databases, getting the mission specs for the search for Zell. It would be even easier to get the needed equipment to hunt that bastard down.

He gave himself a sacred oath, he would be the last thing the bastard would ever see, for what he did to Selphie he would hunt him down and kill him, rip his blackened heart out of his chest, and feed it to a rabid dog.

A/N:

A/N: My greatest thanks go to Rhyein for patiently proofing this and helping me with useful critic while writing this.


	7. Last Man Standing

_Sins of the Father_ Last Man Standing 

* * *

  
This is the last written chapter of this story, its unproofed and will read a lot worse than the ones before I still up it for now.  


Sins of the Father Last Man Standing

* * *

Chapter 7

The man came out of the doorway; his black coat glittered in the flickering neon-sign over the door. The sign read "Caverns of Eden". He looked over the back street he stood in and lighted a cigarette, He saw some trashcans, and a couple of boxes and two bikes, and his and that of his partner Miguel. Miguel and him where here to pick something up for the new boss, and Miguel was waiting inside till the packet was given to them.

With a deep breath the man drew in smoke from the cigarette and held it for a second in his lungs before he let it out in a long, slow stream of breath. Then he heard a rustling among the boxes, most surely rats, but you did not survive as long in this business when you did not take care of yourself and your surrounding.

A sawed-off, double-barrel shotgun was drawn from a holster of his leg and took a few careful steps towards the boxes, trying to not get an eventual attacker sneaking up his back.

When he reached the boxes the man the gun, pointing it at them, then he kicked the boxes away from him so an eventual hidden person wound get hit by them. The boxes shattered and some rats scrambled away squeaking.

The man took another deep breath from his cigarette and swallowed the smoke satisfactory. "Only rats bah!" he told the world in general and lowered the gun, but not putting it away yet.

As he moved back to the door of the club, breathing out the smoke again, a dark figure rose from the shadows by the bikes, with a few quick and silent steps it reached the man. Metal glittered in the dark and a short silent grunt was heard.

The cigarette fell out of the lifeless lips of the man, the once white paper stained red. It rolled over the asphalt and went out as the body of the man was dragged into the shadows by the trashcans by a 6' tall figure with a cowboy hat.

Irvine reached down into the pocket of the dead man, the man he had just killed, he pulled out the near full packet of cigarettes and a lighter, as he set to clean the knife on the mans shirt he said: "how thoughtful of you, I ran out of smokes about 3 hours ago while waiting here for you, now I don't have to stop to get my own."

The shadows swallowed Irvine once again, only a small wet spot on the asphalt and the now cold rest of the cigarette was left of the scene.

* * *

Miguel pulled up his Zipper and closed the door, that had been relaxing after the stress of the night. He walked up to the counter and got himself another drink. "Where the Hell was Carlos?" he thought as he downed the triple shot at once. Picking up the packet from the bartender that the new Boss, Calash, had told them to get he left the club and stepped outside into the cool refreshing night air.

Miguel looked around, Carlos was nowhere to be seen, and he looked over the bikes and the alley not a hint of him. Cursing slightly under his breath as he took the steps down to the bikes, drawing a pistol just to be sure.

Pain flew through his neck as a knife penetrated his jacket and jammed itself into his shoulder. A hard kick hit him in the back and sends him sprawling to the ground. The Pistol was ripped from his hand and flew away into the darkness. Miguel tried to get up but was kicked down again.

He landed flat on his chest, and felt a knee lading on his back, pinning him to the ground. A voice next to his ear whispered: "You want to live right?" Miguel spit out some blood and hissed: "Go away and screw a goat." A metallic hiss was heard as a silenced gun spit out a bullet that ripped away Miguel's pinky finger on the left hand.

"Lets try that again, you want to live." Miguel hesitated a second and then spit out: "Yes." His mysterious assailant chuckled and said: " Where is he, the short blonde that killed the last boss, tell me and I will let you life." Miguel breathed hard: "No, He will kill me if I tell you." A sharp pain went through his neck as the stranger put out a cigarette on his neck: "Whom do you fear more, right at this moment? Him or me?" with the question the stranger pulled the trigger again and Miguel lost another finger.

"I will kill you bastard!" screamed Miguel in pain. "Wrong answer" came back and with a short metallic hiss the stranger blew away Miguel's middle finger. Miguel growled and tried to move, but his injured shoulder mad it impossible to escape the stranger. Then he felt how the gun was pressed between his legs against his private parts: "Ok, I was gracious till now," said the stranger: "but when you don't tell me now where the bastards hides you will be known as the seven fingered Juanita in future!"

Miguel gasped and breathed shallow: " He is on McArdens junkyard." He staggered out. "See, that wasn't to hard," chuckled the stranger: "now give me directions if you are so nice." Miguel breathed deeply and gave directions to the junkyard, as he was finished the pressure against his private parts left. He sighted as the stranger pulled the trigger 3 times and send the bullets through back, neck, and head.

Irvine stood up after he pulled the key of the bike from one of the pocket of the dead man, he lighted a new cigarette and picked up the packet the man he just killed had carried. He ripped it open and inspected the stuff inside, some dyes and one of that gadgets tattoo artists used, what the hell did Zell want to do with that?

The cowboy jumped on the bike, turned the ignition and let the engine roar as he set out into the desert. One thought still in his head: "Whatever the hell did Zell want with the stuff, he would be dead before he could worry about not getting it!"

* * *

Calash and Leroy sat in a dimly lit room; Calash was making some last pencil strokes on the naked chest of the big man. Leroy looked nervous, but still eager to see what happened next. "Hey Boss, why do Elephants don't drink Martini?" he asked looking at the patterns on his chest in anticipation.

"Tell me Leroy" was Khans answer as he got new ink on the pencil and did some more runes on the chest of his henchman. "Ever tried to get an olive out of your nose?" said Leroy and his chest rumbled a bit from laughter. Calash waited patiently till the rumble died down and continued with his work.

"Are you sure this will work boss?" asked Leroy with a hint of fear in his voice. Calash did not bother to look up from his work as he answered: "Sure it will, I mean you saw the last guy, we shoot him eight times, and he bled like a pig from the stabs, but he did not die till we undid the rune-spell I set on him, so it will work on you too." Calash finished the series of runes and looked satisfied with his work.

"Ready!" he proclaimed and stood up. He smiled at Leroy, and with a lightning quick motion he stabbed his underling with a small stiletto he draw from his belt. "Only way to see if it really works" he said in a near apologic tone and looked at the big man that was holding his belly with bloody fingers.

A few seconds went by, and then Leroy looked up, with the delighted grin of a small boy that has just seen Santa Claus. "It works boss, I can feel how the wound is closing," he shouted out happy: "Whoa feels weird when your flesh melts together again." Calash smiled nearly fatherly, or rather like a trainer that gave his most beloved animal a treat.

He grinned and said: "No need to tell me about it, but it is a reassuring feeling, isn't it?" Leroy just nodded grinning in return. Calash lit a cigar and poured himself another drink. "Now when we get the Tattoo stuff I can make a permanent version of that, till then try not to bleed to much or you will weaken the spell to much."

"Sure I will boss" chimed Leroy and got another drink from the cooler on the desk. That had been a good night so far.

* * *

The nightly sky stretched over the galbadian desert, the stars and the moon gave the scene an eerie light. On the horizon a light stretch of red announced the beginning of a new day.

Irvine looked down at the junkyard from a small hilltop, the engine was still running, he saw about 5 lights moving down there, meaning that he would at least encounter 5 adversaries before he could kill that bastard. He grinned, only meant 5 more notches in his gun today. Carefully he loaded the Exeter with explosive rounds, his twin pistols where loaded with depleted uranium rounds, to give a bad surprise to all people that wanted to hide behind body armor.

The cowboy once more checked all his weapons, laid the Exeter in front of him on the bike and started the engine again. He let the bike roar and run down the hill, straight towards the fence. As the needle hit the 30 mph mark he jumped from the bike, clutching his shotgun, rolled himself up in the soft desert sand. He got to his knees aimed out of the hip and shot at the bike just as it hit the fence. The explosion of the gas-tank ripped a hole into the fence.

Irvine dodged the burning degree and ran into the junkyard. A guard looked at him in a state of shock. Irvine tackled him with his shoulder and pointed his gun straight into the face of the man. "How many are you with the boss?" he demanded to know. "Eight" answered the man still to shocked for any reaction. "No seven!" echoed Irvine and shot both barrels into the face of the man.

Two more guards came into his view, guns drawn, Irvine rolled over his shoulder and started firing at them.

* * *

Leroy grabbed his shirt from the floor and began to put it on again, some blood still was encrusting his belly, but the cut had healed in a matter of seconds. Calash poured him another drink and he had to wonder about his new boss once again, the small framed man could drink more than he without even getting as much as a buzz, but then again he had seen how the man had single handed defeated 6 armed bouncers as he had taken over the Club in Deling.

Calash was storing the tools he had used to draw the runes carefully in a velvet bag; he was humming a tune Leroy did not remember.

Suddenly an explosion ripped through the silence. Leroy looked to the security monitor and flipped through the different cameras till he got a clear picture of what happened. He saw a man shooting at two of the lads, and taking them out with a shotgun at a distance that most would not manage with an assault riffle.

Calash looked to the screen and smiled: "I know that guy, he saved my life once, he seems to be pissed for what I did to his little girl." Leroy looked at him but Calash made a dismissing gesture. "Its not so important, but why don't you take your gun and field test that new toy I gave you, it should be fun and I will have something decent to watch at TV.

Leroy grinned at Calash as he grabbed his shotgun from the table: "Sure Boss that will be prime time TV, when I am finished with that son of a bitch." Calash waved at him: "Have fun Leroy, and enjoy your new powers."

* * *

Irvine reloaded his Exeter behind a stack of old cars, six people had jumped him so far and six were down. Sweat ran down his cheeks, he was fighting for breath, but still unhurt. Only one bullet hat hit him so far, and that had been deflected by his body armor. He finished reloading the gun and ran dodged towards the main shack.

He saw a motion in the outmost edge of his view and hit the ground, same instant a burst of three solid slugs ripped through the metal that had been a car formerly. With a mighty leap Irvine took cover but not without looking into the direction of his new enemy and making out a tall broad shouldered man.

Irvine got up and fired blindly into the direction of the man, bringing him to take cover himself, then he jumped to his feet and sprinted up a flight of steel stairs still firing. His rounds ripped through scrap metal and junk showering the scene with shrapnel of splitters and sparks.

Leroy emerged from his hiding the gun raised and shooting, as he send bullet after bullet into Irvine's direction he shouted: " Hey man, How do you shoot a blue elephant?" The metal groaned under the double strain of Irvine weight and the ripping bullets and finally the stair gave way under his feet. The cowboy jumped at the last possible moment while running and managed to get onto the heap of junk before the stair collapsed.

Irvine lay there panting for a few seconds, than he scrambled up to his knees and retaliated the fire again on his enemy. "With a gun for blue elephants" the man shouted as the wild aimed shots of Irvine missed him. He ran across the yard to shorten the distance and giving Irvine a worse angle to hit him while Irvine furiously reloaded his Exeter.

Still reloading Irvine moved along the heap of junk to get a better position to shot, the man asked now: "How do you shoot a red elephant?" And rammed a new magazine into his shotgun as he himself got into cover again. Irvine drew one of his pistols, its ammunition would go through the heap of junk the man had taken cover like a glowing knife through a thin layer of ice. He aimed and emptied the magazine of the gun, spraying the bullets widely.

As he heard a short curse of pain he grinned, so much for that one, all he had to do now was making sure that his enemy would be dead for sure. He rammed a new magazine into the pistol, put it away and grabbed his Exeter holding it ready as he carefully left his cover.

"You choke the red elephant till he is blue and then you take the gun for blue elephants" was the last thing Irvine heard before a solid slug out of the shotgun of his enemy hit him square in the chest and send him sprawling of the heap to the ground 20 feet below.

Irvine hit the ground hard and his chest seemed to burn, the multiplayer Kevlar armor he wore had managed to hold the bullet, but he felt as if a sledgehammer had hit his chest. Worse yet, he could not see his Exeter around. He saw the siluette of the man appear on top of the heap and instinctively grabbed a throwing knife from his wrist and flicked it into the face of the man, all in one fluent motion. He did not waste a second to see if he had hit but scrambled to his knees and ran between the junk cars in search of his weapon.

Leroy saw the motion and barely managed to move his weapon so that the blade struck into it and not his face, then he cursed himself, he could have finished that asshole off instead, the wound as well as the bullet wounds would not have killed him, but his reflexes had instead made him deflect it.

He jumped down to the ground, barely feeling an itch as his ankle sprained and immediately healed again. As he sat out towards the rows of junk cars he asked the man he tried to kill: "And how do you shot a green elephant?"

"Fuck you" cam Irvine's answer as he ran through the lines of old cars, he had spotted his Exeter and wanted to get his gun before the madmen could finish him off, he knew that his armor would not withstand another hit and didn't took any chances.

Leroy grinned and raised his gun as he saw his running victim: "You tell him a naughty joke," He shouted nearly cheerfully as the bullets ripped holes into the junk around his victim: "you wait till he blushes bright red," Irvine tried to double his speed while dodging the projectiles his Exeter lay only a few feet away from him. "And when he turns blue," Leroy chimed along as he gritted his teeth in concentration to get a better aim. "You shot him with the gun for blue elephants" he ended as Irvine took a last big jump over a heap of junk grabbing the Exeter in the progress.

Leroy changed the magazine again and walked slowly towards the pile of rubbish where Irvine was hiding, the sun had risen a bit more and turned the scene into a red light, all around little fire were burning from the explosive shells that Irvine has fired. He advanced the spot where his adversary was and raised the shotgun to finish him off.

"So last one how do you shoot a yellow elephant?" he asked still advancing. Irvine rose from him hiding like an avenging angel, blood and dirt smeared over his face, his coat hanging in shreds. "EVER FUCKING SEEN A FUCKING YELLOW ELEPHANT?" He yelled and pressed the trigger of his gun; both barrels spit their deadly load into Leroy's chest, which was ripped into shreds.

As the body of the tall men fell to the ground Irvine grabbed a crumbled packet of cigarettes from his pocket, the same one he had taken from Carlos. He took a last crumbled cigarette from it and lighted it at the hot barrel of his shotgun, drawing the smoke deeply into his lungs.

* * *

Irvine stepped out of the shadows of the junk-piles still smoking his cigarette. He walked towards the main building, when the shack had earned that title. He held out the Exeter one handed while grabbing for a potion with the other. The cigarette was between his lips.

A metallic buzz ripped through the silence of the environment, a trail of bullets ran up to Irvine and sprayed dust into the air, and then a series of bullets pierced his right hand and the Exeter he was holding in it. Irvine didn't make a noise as the gun fell from his numb fingers and hit the ground; a small trail of blood ran down his hand and splattered to the dust, leaving a wet trail.

With a gasp he coughed up some smoke the cigarette still between his lips, he looked at his trusted gun and saw that it was broken beyond hope. Then he turned around, slowly to face his new attacker, it was Zell. The Bastard held a smoking submachine gun in his hands and grinned at him like a small boy that was about to steal some sweets.

Calash was leaning in a lazy position against a staple of crates, he spoke: "So, the lone Ranger has come to take revenge for what the bad cowboy did to his noble Lady friend, or was the word I looked for Saloon-whore?" Calash spit out with loathing in his voice. He pointed the submachine gun at Irvine's midsection and said: "All could be over now by just about now when I would squeeze that trigger here for the fraction of an inch."

Slowly he wandered out of the shadow of the crates into the yard, his shadow casted incredible long over the ground by the rising sun. "But that would hardly be the ideal ending for a really shootout good against evil in the desert, so I will play by the rules of that kind of thing" he spoke again and threw the submachine gun away from him to the ground, halfway between him and Irvine.

Then he took a broad stand and pulled his gun into an easy draw position. Irvine looked at him with a stoned face, hate was all that was in him at that moment. He pulled back the remains of his coat revealing the gun at his left hip, he drew a deep breath, drawing fresh desert air and smoke into his lungs at the same time, then he spit out the stump of the cigarette. It made a long trail before finally landing in the sand and let a small trail of smoke rising into the air.

Both man stared at each other for seemingly an eternity; the red desert sun illuminated the half of their faces with an eerie red. A soft and warn breeze was blowing a light trail of dust around the place. The only noises to be heard where the slowly outgoing fires of the previous firefight.

The scene was the eye of the storm, the sudden calmness of which everyone know it wont last and the violence would return harder than before. Both man breathed shallow, each seemed to wait for a hint of action, a sign to draw his gun and kill the other.

A last wisp of smoke trailed up from the cigarette then it went out.

Time froze. Irvine saw like in slow motion how Calash's hand went towards the gun on his hip, but more than that he felt how his own hand moved, nearly without his will letting it move. His hand touched the cool steel of the gun an eternal fraction of a second before Calash's hand did. The gun sprang out of the holster and his arm went upwards to aim and deliver the killing shot. The cold steel of the muzzle felt like an extension of its own, destructive will.

He pointed the gun at Calash's Chest….

Time went back to normal as something hit his back with tremendous force and ripped through his back, leaving the chest with a wet sound. Everything grew light and detached as his fingers grew to weak to hold the gun, less press the trigger to deliver his revenge. His knees went weak and a cold darkness engulfed him completely,

Irvine was dead before he hit the ground.

* * *

Calash grinned satisfied: "Splendid job Leroy, you got our Mister Romantic Lone Ranger here right by the balls" he exclaimed.

Leroy breathed hard and leaned on his gun, his chest still hurt like hell, but the spell of his boss had made him survive the hit, and that was all that counted. Well that and that he had killed the bastard that hurt him. He grinned back at the boss: "My pleasure, the Wanker learned that he better called me the same as a ten thousand pound elephant! SIR" he said and spit out some more blood.

Calash bursted in laugher: "To bad he cannot make anything anymore out of that knowledge……….."

* * *


End file.
