Final Fantasy: Darkness Descends

[Weasel Overlord]

*DOES THE PAGE 5 JIG*

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn
[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]
sworn through swords

The madly waving arms of Temzi stood out to Sirius like a sore thumb, or in this case, a bloody thrice-and-more broken nose. No-one could manage in water that deep, and especially not Temzi the Guado, so attached to his armour that nothing and no-one could make him remove it. Sirius had supposed, back when they hardly knew the Dragoon, that underneath that overlarge helmet was a spotty, ugly youth who daren't show his face to the ladies. He'd also supposed that this was the reason for the man's reticence around the aforementioned ladies. Upon actually getting to know Temzi, he had been almost shamed by these assumptions. The man was kindred spirit with Sirius, really. Grown up on history and tales, secret novels about damsels in distress and epic adventures. They just dealt with the outside world differently; Sirius, he put on a face (although these days, it was much less of a face and more a personality he'd grown into), whereas Temzi simply hid his away. In, as it happened, the armour that was the least likely to float.

His arms thrashed and water went everywhere as Sirius splashed in to help him out. He had a flash of pride as he realised that he hadn't even had to ask Selene to help him – she was just a step behind, a concerned expression on her face. “Do you think we can manage to get him out?” she said, biting her lip, and obviously unconcerned at getting soaking wet.

Sirius placed a hand firmly under Temzi's right armpit, and the other on his shoulder, nodding towards the left for Selene. She took her position willingly, and Sirius bent his legs, bracing for the effort. “On one,” he said, and stood upright sharply, pulling the still thrashing Temzi with him.

Temzi gasped in some air, before falling backwards again, this time pulling Selene with him, her arm caught in a gap in his armour. “Shi-” she yelled, the word cut off with a splutter as her mouth filled with water. Sirius gaped, was thankful for a second that quick-thinking was something that came naturally to him and immediately dived under the water. It was cloudy, but he managed to take in the situation: Selene's arm was stuck fast, Temzi's leg was clogged around with mud and both their air was running out, fast. He directed himself downwards, and scraped away a good quantity of the mud with his hands, but it wasn't enough. Selene was struggling, her free hand desperately tugging at the armour, and Temzi seemed to have gone still, his limbs limp and unresponsive. Sirius, now frantic, dug away more clumps of the mud, mentally cursing it very loudly as yet more flowed into the gap he'd made.

After what seemed like an age, he seemed to make some purchase, and tugging at Temzi's leg he managed to get it free of the cloying mud. Selene's actions were becoming sluggish, and desperation fuelled Sirius' last bid as he pushed off the floor, a chunk of concrete providing a hard push-off surface, and broke the surface of the water. He took quick hold of Temzi's shoulders and, using the concrete (thank god for that fallen bridge), he levered the three of them onto the nearby water's edge.

Selene, her arm still trapped, slid out of the water after Temzi and lay on the ground like a still doll, her lips slightly blue-tinged and, in that second, Sirius realised he had to make a choice. Luckily, it sort of made itself as the Behemoth chose that moment to send a chunk of rock flying through the air. That lucky rock landed right on Temzi's breastplate, acting as the perfect jolt to bring him coughing and spluttering back into the world of the conscious.

Sirius sent a prayer of thanks to whoever was listening, and immediately clamped his lips around Selene's. He pinched her nostrils together and blew, hard – satisfied when her chest inflated from his air. He did this once more, made a fist with both hands and then brought them down, hard, where he approximated that Selene's heart was.

Where he approximated that Selene's heart was, however, was perilously close to her breasts, and fortune chose that moment for her to sputter awake, nearly bent in two from the coughs racking her diaphragm. Her first conscious thoughts sprang to Sirius, looking like a swamp monster all covered in mud and wet, with his hands caught, well, red-handed on her chest.

She shot him a tired glare and coughed up some more of the foul water. “Those had better be there because you were saving my ass,” she said, hoarsely.

Sirius snatched his hands away like a child caught stealing a fresh-baked cake. “Of course, my dearest Lady!” He didn't even have the heart to sound affronted, nor the time, since the Behemoth, always on fortune's side, chose that moment to interrupt with a thrashing tail coming to land a hair's breadth from Sirius' bent head.

“Argh,” he spluttered, springing to his feet. He held out a hand for Selene, and tugged Temzi upright with the other one. He narrowed his eyes at the big purple, and placed a hand on his sword pommel. “It may be time to kick some furry purple arse, my darling.”

“Couldn't agree more,” Selene said, her face the picture of someone who'd just near-drowned and was not happy about it.

Sirius felt the years of training with Durrendal spring to the forefront of his mind and he drew the longsword, bringing it up in a soldier's salute to kiss the crosshilt. His vision tunnelled, until just the Behemoth remained, rampaging around their makeshift battle arena. He was vaguely aware of the presences of the crew, but they moved at his peripheral, flickering like ghosts. Tangible enough that he could avoid them, but nothing else.

Trailing his free hand out behind him, he set off at a spiralling, seemingly-random run. He avoided the target at first, but never took his eyes off it as his speed increased and he seemed to gain a shadow that followed him as if stuck to his back, growing ever taller. The ghost of his longsword sprang outwards from the shadow's hand, and Sirius let out a blood-curdling yell. He brought his hands together as his spiral converged on the Behemoth – the ghostly shadow became an extension of himself, working with his movements in perfect unison as he brought Durrendal down on the target's weak-spot, the great, thrashing tail.

The combined power of shadow and Sirius sliced through the thick tail near at the base, severing it clean off. Pyreflies streamed out, flashing brightest white, purple and pink, and Sirius fell to his knees, exhausted.

Selene put her hand firmly on his back, just as he was about to sway and collapse backwards, and he blinked as his vision returned to normal.

“That'll teach it to interrupt our precious moments of fairytale gratitude,” he grinned. Water dripped from his hair and rolled down his nose, and he blew upwards indignantly, dislodging the droplets.

“You look a mess,” Selene smirked.

“And I suppose that's all the gratitude I get for hacking off that beastie's tail.”

#16 // 1237~

will explain his overdrive in the Lounge topic at a later date.