Pins & Needles Chapter 12

Chose

By Asyria

"Damn it all to hell!" Irvine said loudly, stomping his foot on the ground. Just a minute ago, he was fine. Normal, even! "Fuck!" He cursed again.

"I'll get the doc." Zell told him, backing away from the man sitting in the corner. Seifer sat amongst the broken shards of the mirror, having another outburst. His jade eyes glossed over and distant. One hand clutched his now shorter hair, while the other pounded the broken mirror pieces on the floor. The glass made cracking noises under his bare hands. Blood was dripping from the new cuts on his hands.

This can't be right. It can't be just the drugs doing this! Irvine thought to himself. On the other side of the door, he could hear Zell and Dr. Kadowaki approaching.

"…and that's when he knocked the mirror outta my hand!" Zell had finished his tale as they entered the room.

Tayle peered over at Seifer with concern. "How long has he been like this?"

Irvine rubbed the back of his neck roughly. "About five minutes."

"Non-stop? He didn't try and talk to you, ask for help?"

"Nope." Zell replied.

Irvine let his exasperation out. "Is the withdrawal really doing this to him?"

The doctor shook her head. "No. This…is something else. And I think I've pinpointed it now."

"What?" Zell asked curiously.

She motioned them to wait and left the room. Irvine and Zell watched Seifer closely until she returned. When she did, she brought back with her a bottle of pills and another sedation syringe. "Hold him."

Irvine took off his hat and looked towards Zell, who signaled his readiness. They both began cautiously approaching Seifer. Their advance had begun quietly, but was ceased by the crunching sounds of broken glass under their feet. Both SeeD's stopped dead in their tracks, looking down at Seifer. His fist had stopped pounding the shards. Slowly his head rose to glare up at them. His wicked smirk appeared on his face.

"Now!" Irvine cried, taking a dive towards Seifer. Zell immediately sprung into action with him. Seifer had seen this coming, and tried to push past them. But both of them had proven to be too much for him, having him pinned against the wall.

"Get the fuck off! I'll fuckin' kill you! All of you!" Seifer yelled madly.

Dr. Kadowaki quickly dashed over to him, injecting the sedation into his arm. Seifer's thrashing hastily died down as he passed out.

Zell and Irvine shove Seifer back onto the bed. Irvine sat back down in the chair. "Gee, that was fun!" Irvine stated with sarcastic venom.

"Chill out, Irvine." Zell said, exasperated.

"No! I won't fucking chill out." Irvine yelled back, then turning to the doctor. "Now, could you please tell us what the fuck is wrong with that lunatic!"

The doctor shook her head. "Schizophrenic."

"What?"

"Schizophrenic, not lunatic. There's a difference."

Irvine slapped his forehead. "Is this a joke?"

"No, I'm very serious. Ever since Quistis and I brought him back here, he's been showing signs of serious mental breakdown."

"Duh." Irvine said, unimpressed.

"It's more than just the outbursts. It's how normal he acts before them." Tayle told them. "One minute, he's acting normal. Talking, laughing, even joking with us. Then, in a blink of an eye, he's violent, hearing voices. Those are actions of a schizophrenic."

Zell shook his head. "So, he really is nuts?"

"Basically, yes. Now, I'm no psychologist, but I believe he has paranoid-delusional schizophrenia with homicidal tendencies, which is the result of brain-washing by Sorceress Ultimecia."

"But Matron and Rinoa were possessed. Wouldn't that have an affect on them as well?" Irvine noted.

"Not really. Edea and Rinoa were also sorceresses. Seifer was just a normal man." She said to the boys, then held up the bottle of pills. "I think these will help him. As soon as he regains consciousness, give him one of these pills. Give him one every four hours." Tayle directed them.

"Those will stop the outbursts?" Zell asked.

"Yes, and be sure to tell Seifer that. Tell him that these will stop the voices."

Later in the evening, Quistis sat in the soundless room that held Fujin. She was engrossed in a book, occasionally glancing up at the monitors. Well, at least I'll be able to catch up on my reading. Only a moment later, the heart monitor started beeping a little faster. Quistis looked up from the novel to see her patient moving slightly. Oh thank Hyne, she thought, She's coming around! She quickly rose from the chair and went to the door.

"Edea!" She whispered loudly.

Matron hurried inside the room. "What is it?"

"I think she's waking!" Quistis told her.

"Raijin should be the first one she sees."

Quistis smiled and went to retrieve him. She bent over Raijin's sleeping form and shook his shoulder gently. "Raijin!"

"W-what?" He said, sleepily.

"Fujin's waking up." Quistis told him.

The large man jumped off his cot and ran straight to the room. Quistis and Matron stood next to the door.

Raijin brought the chair next to her side. "Fujin?" Her body responded to her name being called. "Can you hear me, Fu?" A soft groan escaped from her still pale lips. Her good eye slid open slowly. "Fu! It's me! Raijin, ya know!" He exclaimed.

Fujin's eye found him. "R-rai-jin?" Her voice was harsh and raspy, as Seifer's had been.

"Hey, Fujin! I was worried 'bout you, ya know!" He cried happily.

"H-happened?" She asked.

"…You almost died, Fujin."

"……"

Raijin shook his head. "That stuff was very bad, ya know!"

"Sei-fer?"

"Oh, he's okay. He's in the next room."

Fujin blinked a few times. "Where?"

Raijin bit his lip hard. "I…I brought you both here. Don't be mad at me, ya know!"

Her eye narrowed. "R-RAIJIN, W-WH-ERE?" She said, trying to use her usual loud tone, but only ended up making herself cough.

"You're at the Garden." Quistis spoke up from the door. She came next to them and kneeled next to Raijin.

"Instructor?"

"Raijin," Quistis spoke softly, "you should go back to sleep."

"But…"

"Raijin, please." Edea said.

"Who?" Fujin asked when she heard the other voice.

Matron walked over to the bed. "I'm Edea Kramer, the headmaster's wife." She told her. "Raijin, you'll be able to see her tomorrow."

"Okay." Raijin agreed half-heartedly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Fujin."

Quistis waited until after Raijin left the room. "Fujin, we didn't want to talk about your condition in front of him."

Fujin nodded. "Worry much."

"Yes. I'll explain everything, but you must not get excited. We are going to help you. You must trust us. You have to stay calm, for your own health." Quistis told her. Fujin stopped trying to move and relaxed back in her bed. Heart rate down slightly. "Good. Yes, you are in the Garden. Seifer is here as well. You all have been here since last night. Raijin came to Dr. Kadowaki because he was worried about both of you. The doctor and I brought you here."

"They…let us back?" Fujin asked. Heart rate up.

Quistis shook her head. "No, the only people who know that you're all here is Dr. Kadowaki, Edea, Headmaster Cid, Zell, Irvine, and myself."

"Hide us?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

Quistis hesitated. "Because we want to."

"……"

Edea folded her arms across her chest. "You'll be going through heroin withdrawal. It's going to be very hard on you." She paused. "There's a chance that you could…"

"Die?"

"…yes. That's why you must stay calm." Edea continued.

Fujin looked away for a moment, then sharply looked back. "Seifer?"

"He'll be fine." Heart rate down.

Fujin didn't seem to think so. "Know ab-bout voices?"

Quistis nodded. "Yes, we know about the voices. The doctor diagnosed him as a schizophrenic."

"What!?" Heart rate way up.

"Calm down." Quistis ordered. "It's because of Ultimecia, she brain-washed him. But you knew that didn't you?"

"Yes." Heart rate down.

Quistis paused for a moment. "How come you didn't tell us then?"

Fujin shook her head. "F-figured out too l-late."

"I understand." She replied. "But the doctor gave him medicine for it."

"He's been very normal since then, no outbursts yet." Edea added.

"Normal?" Fujin asked.

"Seems so. He's worried about you." Quistis said, and grinned as she saw the small smile appear on her lips. She turned to Edea. "Can we let him come in here?"

Edea nodded. "I don't see why not. You and Zell will have to stay in here with him."

"Would you like to see him?" Quistis asked. Fujin nodded in response. "I'll be right back."

"Ha! I'm putting down a Ruby Dragon." Zell exclaimed, feeling pretty good about his Triple Triad playing. "It's 6-4 now."

Seifer just smirked. "Well, all I got is this damn Quezacotl card." He laid the card down on the table. "That takes your dragon, and I get a combo for 'plus'."

Zell punched the table. "Dammit! You fuckin' won again!"

Seifer shrugged. "Doesn't matter, they're all your cards anyway. It's not like I get to keep 'em, Chicken-wuss."

"It's the principle of the thing, Lapdog." Zell responded.

"It's good to see you boys are getting along." Quistis said, just entering the room.

"Hey, Quisty!" Zell exclaimed.

"What's the score?" She asked.

Zell sneered at Seifer. "He's kicking my ass, eight games to two."

Quistis laughed slightly. "How are you feeling, Seifer?"

"A little sick to my stomach, but otherwise fine."

"I've got some good news for you."

Seifer looked at her hopefully. "Fujin?"

"She's awake." Quistis told them. "Matron said it's okay to see her."

Seifer looked away. "I can't."

Quistis sighed. "She wants to see you. You should go see her… just in case she doesn't make it."

Seifer got up slowly. "Yeah…" He looked down at Zell. "Come on, Chicken-wuss. You have to make sure I don't try something."

Zell rose from his chair. "Okay Lapdog."

"Alright, enough of that!" Quistis scolded. "Let's go."

Edea was getting another blanket for Fujin when the three walked in the room. Seifer grinned and sat down in the chair next to her bed. "Hey, Fu."

Fujin smiled a little. "Seifer."

"How you doin'?"

"Cold."

"Yeah, I was really cold when I first woke up too. It'll get better."

Fujin lifted her arm to touch his head. "Hair?"

"They wouldn't let me have scissors, so I had them shave it." Seifer told her. "Heard the almost bald look is in these days."

Fujin chuckled slightly. "Look good."

"Of course!" Seifer stated, smiling.

"Haircut too." Fujin said, playing with a strand of her silver locks.

Seifer shook his head. "No way! I was pissed when you cut it short the first time."

Fujin blushed barely. "Remember. Very pissed."

"It looks better long." He told her.

Fujin blinked her eye, holding back some tears. "Seifer?"

"Yeah?"

"Missed you." She said, curling her lip slightly to smile.

Seifer gazed into her ruby eye. "…Yeah, I missed me too."

She rolled her eye. "Rage."

He laughed a little. "Can't kick me just yet. Wait till you're stronger, then you can kick me all you want." He told her, touching her face lightly. It had been a while since he'd seen her while he was sober. Fujin was the strongest, toughest woman he knew. Now, she seemed so frail. "Looks like I fucked up again, huh Fu?"

Fujin disagreed vigorously. "No."

"Yeah I did." He objected. "This is my fault."

"No! I chose!"

"But you never would have even let me do drugs if you hadn't been…" He stopped.

Fujin swallowed back her tears. "Didn't do it." She said slowly.

Seifer's face was grim. "Might as well have."

"Didn't! Not fault!" Fujin declared.

Seifer groaned. "Why do you still…" He stopped again, remembering there were others in the room. "I've done nothing but hurt you." He said quietly.

Fujin grabbed his hand, squeezing it slightly. "Chose friend." She told him, looking in his eyes. She cleared her throat. "I…chose to…follow. I chose to…" She started to say, then shook her head. "I…chose you."

 

 

Notes: Twelve chapters! Twelve chapters that only covers one day! Unbelievable! I'm gonna start pickin up the pace now. Review if you like. Review if you don't like.

.

Go To Chapter 13

Return To FF8 Fanfic