Notes: Sorry for the long wait in updating this story. For awhile I couldn't write anything at all... MAJOR writer's block. But things are slowly turning back to normal, so you should see this story finished sooner than later. Two people speaking to Squall now. When the woman is speaking it'll be between // here //. And when the guy is speaking it'll look //~like this~//. Hope things don't get too confusing. Warnings: I cannot write fight scenes.

This will become painfully obvious in this chapter.

Some not very pretty imagery in this one as someone goes on a killing spree

Warnings: Just your general weirdness

Slipping Away

Chapter Six

By Sniffles

Irvine moved with dizzying speed, and it was that which finally made Laguna realize they weren't fighting a human boy. Up until the moment he felt cold steel cutting into his arm, and Kiros yelling out in anger, part of him hadn't realized just how serious and dangerous a position he was in. Because this decidedly un-human creature wanted -him- dead. He yelped, jumping back belatedly and grabbing his cut arm. Irvine was surging towards him, even now, and it was only the fact that Seifer had grabbed his hair that stopped him from reaching Laguna.

"GET OUT OF HERE LAGUNA!" Kiros yelled, watching tensely as Seifer viciously yanked Irvine's long hair.

Laguna stumbled back a few more feet, "I..."

"He wants you! SO RUN YOU IDIOT!"

Laguna flinched. Then nodded. He felt like a coward for doing it, but he ran. As fast as he could. /Shitshitshitshitshit.../

"Wake up."

He didn't want to obey, but he couldn't do anything -but- obey. His body awoke, completely bent to her will. His eyes opened, focusing on her face. She smiled down at him, and suddenly he wasn't angry that she'd forced him to wake from the silence of his sleep. A silence where he couldn't feel the pain currently ripping at his brain.

"I have a mission for you."

He stared at her, wanting to ask her what it was, but without her orders his mouth wouldn't obey and his throat wouldn't work to say the words. So he just stared at her, trying to convey with his eyes what his mind wouldn't let him ask. She was his mistress.. his lady.. and he had to do whatever she told him.

"But you must be very careful. It's unsafe beyond these walls and there are those who will try to trick you."

He wanted to nod, to let her know he understood, but she hadn't ordered him to.

He continued to stare, mildly awed by her beauty and her silky smooth voice.

"So if you get confused, just call my name. I promise I'll come and take you home."

The body was weakening. Irvine lashed out at the Knight again, frustrated that no matter what he did the Knight would not die. And the other, the one who fought with the Knight, he was strong also. Surpisingly fast for an ungifted human. It was making things harder. How could he concentrate on slaying the Knight, when the Darkone kept attacking him whenever he turned his back?

The Knight's gunblade rushed for his head, he was so focused on his anger that he almost missed it. He reached up, barely managing to block the blow with the rifle. The jolt from the block made his shoulder ache. He cursed the frailty of human bodies. Cursed his own body for being too trapped in the ladies magic to survive in the human world.

He shouldn't have focused on the Knight so long, he realized as he felt cold steel sliding into his side. It had left him wide open to attack. He turned his head enough to look back and then down. The Darkone had come up behind him while he blocked the Knight and stabbed him.

Did he have no honor?

No code...

A warrior.. did not resort to such backhanded tactics...

Seifer was surprised when Kiros stabbed Irvine. He was probably as surprised as Kage. He looked down, smirking a little as he stepped back. He watched Kiros twist the daggers, then pull them out of Irvine's body. As a Knight, Seifer fought with a certain code. One of those codes was never stabbing someone in the back. Obviously Kiros didn't fight with the same code. But it didn't matter.

Anything to defeat Kage. Even methods he wouldn't normally use. Methods he thought of as under handed.

Irvine looked surprised. As if he couldn't quite believe one little stab in the side was causing so much pain. He stumbled back. Then snarled. "I.. won't be defeated so easily."

"Of course not." Seifer and Kiros moved. They didn't even look at each other, just shifted positions until they were standing shoulder to shoulder.

They moved like partners who'd been fighting together for years. Every move by the one, complimenting the other. Defending ones back, while the other attacked. It was if they had rehearsed.

Irvine looked at them warily. "You.. tricked me." He didn't know how, but there could be no other explanation for his continued defeat.

"You tricked yourself, if you thought for one moment I'd roll over and die." Seifer responded, lip curling in a sneer.

"That's enough Kage. I can take over from here." A soft, feminine voice whispered.

Irvine jerked, head whirling around so he could look in the direction of the voice. "Mil.. milady..?"

"Go. Oh, and leave the damaged body behind. I'll find you a new, better and stronger one."

Seifer stiffened, recognizing the woman's voice immediately. "Whatever happens," He hissed under his breath to Kiros, "don't listen."

"Listen to what?" Kiros whispered back, watching the shadows warily. He could see no one, and yet the voice was so clear.

"To the voices ... in your head."

Kiros shot Seifer a sharp, disbelieving look, then looked back at Irvine.

He stared at his hands, fascinated by the red liquid staining his fingers. /Where did it come from?/ Then he looked down at his feet and remembered. He stepped over the body of the girl he'd just killed. He could hear them screaming, in fear. Feel the magic blasting into his body as they tried to stop him. But he had his orders. He had to obey his lady.

The girl had gone down easily. She hadn't made a sound as his fist had ripped straight through her chest. She'd just stared at him with shock, then fallen at his feet. The second one, the one writhing in his old right now, died just as easily. He dropped the boy, walking around the body and heading for the next person in his line of sight.

/Kill them all.../

/Purge the earth of their sickness./

It felt so good to do her will. He let out a harsh laugh, feeling 'it' burning inside him. That strange presence that had been with him since he woke. It felt like it was pure fire. It hurt and yet it felt wonderful. It made him feel strong.

"Squall, that's enough."

/Don't make me stop.. please.../

"Wake up."

He turned his head away, trying to ignore her voice. But she persisted, "Now!"

With a soft sigh he opened his eyes, staring at her. She leaned over him, her expression grim. "You must obey me immediately. Do you understand?"

He nodded, but she grabbed his chin, leaning close. "Do you -understand?"

"Yes.."

She arched her eyebrow and he knew immediately what caused her displeasure. He quickly amended his mistake, "Yes, milady."

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want. But now isn't the time to get it... Enjoy your life while you still have it knight. I will be back."

Seifer lowered Hyperion, cursing under his breath. She was gone. He could feel in the air that she was. He watched as Irvine's body slumped to the ground. The poor kid would probably have a killer headache when he woke. Kage was gone too. Kiros felt Seifer's body relax and he too straightened, moving away from Seifer. "What.. was that?"

Seifer sighed, running a hand through his hair and getting grease on his silky blonde locks. "It's complicated."

"Do I look like an idiot?"

Seifer smirked, "Nah... guess not."

"Then explain it."

"Laguna..."

Laguna looked up, abruptly stopping his pacing as the soft voice called his name. He looked around, then smiled when he saw who had called him. "Rinoa.."

Rinoa smiled as she walked over. She held her hands out and he took them. "Hi."

"Wow, it's great to see you again. How are you? How.. How is your mother?" Laguna asked, looking at her he wondered how anyone could not see she was Julia's daughter. He'd known it the moment he first met her. They had, as a result, become quick friends. He took special interest in her, if only because she reminded him of his first love.

"That's actually why I'm here..." Rinoa said softly, she looked down the hall quickly to be sure no one would overhear, "I need to speak to you about my mother."

"Is she ill?" Laguna asked in a hushed voice.

"No, is there somewhere private we can talk? Laguna? Please?"

"Of course." Laguna took her hand in his and began to lead her to the room where he, Ward and Kiros were staying while at Garden.

"She's a sorceress... sort of." Seifer paced back and forth in front of the window. Ward and Kiros were both in the room, watching him warily. /Even after I saved their asses they still look at me like I'm some unstable freak.../ He laughed at his line of thought, /Well, of course they do. I -am- an unstable freak./

"Sort of?" Kiros repeated, eyes narrowed. He was quick, a strong fighter, Seifer could easily learn to respect. Even if initially Kiros had irritated him to no end.

"She wasn't born with the magic in her, like some are. Rather, she created the magic that she now uses to control and manipulate the world around her." Seifer stopped his pacing, leaning against the window sill and watching Kiros and Ward to gauge their reactions.

"Created the magic?" Kiros glanced at Ward, who was signing to him. He watched Ward's hands closely. Though Ward had never taken any real sign language training he got his point across well to his friends. Sometimes without using hands, just by using his expressions and eyes. "Yes," Kiros nodded, agreeing with Ward.

"Care to translate?" Seifer said wryly, noting the exchange between the two.

"Ward agrees with me. He wanted to point out that sorceress' cannot exist unless they were born with the abil-"

Seifer waved his hand, cutting Kiros off with a derisive laugh, "You really believe that? Huh? You're an idiot then."

Kiros stiffened, as did Ward.The big man met Kiros' gaze, a furious look in his eyes. Kiros shook his head slowly, ::Don't kill him yet,:: was what he was trying to convey to his old friend, ::We might still need him.::

"The world isn't bound by what you know to be true." Seifer commented idly, turning so he could gaze out the window, "The world is what you -believe- to be true. And some people got pretty screwed up ideas about what's true. What's right."

"So, she's a sorceress, who's not really a sorceress.." Kiros prompted, trying to get Seifer going so he could get his answers. He really didn't believe for one moment that a sorceress could be born without the magic already in her, but he didn't feel like arguing about that. Right now his chief concerns were Squall and Laguna.

"Right. A sorceress not born in the magic. Did I mention she's undead? So you can't kill her."

"Oh.. and undead sorceress who's not really a sorceress." Kiros said sarcastically.

Seifer smirked, "It gets better. So just shut up and let me speak."

Kiros nodded, "By all means. Continue."

"So.. I'm not sure how she ended up the way she is now. I only got a few glimpses when I became her Knight. But what she is, and where she came from... none of that matters. Her purpose, and what she -can- do is what does matter." Seifer rubbed his hand against the window's sill. "She calls herself Lady. She has.. this weird obsession with Laguna. For the past two years she has been quite adamant that he must die."

"Two years? She's been after him two years? Then why has she just shown her face now?" Kiros asked, believing Seifer even if it just didn't feel right.

"She.. is hard to understand. Even for me, who worked intimately under her for.. awhile now." Seifer licked his lower lip, frowning as he tried to think of the right words to say. This was tricky. If he said too little he wouldn't be believed, if he said too much he wouldn't be believed. So he had to find some sort of happy medium. "I believe she was waiting for.. someone."

"Someone?" Kiros repeated, irritated with Seifer, who had stopped speaking and was staring out the window.

"'A savior...'." Seifer lowered his gaze, smiling.

"A what?"

"She's waiting... for someone who's real only in fables. She won't find him."

His legs felt like rubber. He stood before her awkwardly, hoping he wouldn't fall and let her down with his weakness. She was smiling at him, and he suddenly felt just a little bit stronger. "Do you know what I am?" She asked softly.

He nodded, "My Lady."

She laughed lightly, her laughter like soft bells to his ears. "No.. I mean.. -what- am I?"

"A sorceress.." Squall responded after a moment's thought.

"Right... and what are you?"

"... I..." He frowned. He didn't know.

"What am I going to -make- you?"

He thought for a moment, then slowly smiled, "A sorcerer..."

"Not just -a- sorcerer. I'm going to make you MY sorcerer."

"But... men can't be sorcerer..."

She waved her hand, "oh? That myth about the magic being too much and driving them insane? It's just that.. a myth. So you needn't worry."

He nodded quickly, trusting her completely.

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