Here we go, the latest from yours truly.Me! This is a definite Quiefer, so if you don't like those.Read and review anyway, okay? By the by, I do not own ffviii, Squaresoft does though.God I wish I owned Squaresoft.Oh the will. Enjoy!

The Gypsy's Curse

Chapter 1: It All Begins Now
"Breath. Think. Keep the blood pulsating in your veins, and don't let it ever stop. Don't cry tonight, it would make things just way to hard. Don't let the tears blind and burn you eyes, your tragically beautiful eyes. Don't blame yourself for the past, even if you deserve the blame. Don't look at the world around you, whatever you do, for the world will forsake you, and exact revenge. The world is cruel, and unforgiving, much like the people. Don't move, never move, then you will be conspicuous, if you move they will see you. They will see the real you, not the façade, not the masquerade that is your life. They will see that incoherent, confused, lost, fragile little boy, unable to escape the depths of his own soul. Remember the important things, nothing else, because then you will live, then you can stay in a state of truth. Think. Make sure you wake up after slumber. Breath."

"It isn't fair," he whispered gently.

"Of course it isn't."

"What did I do?"

"You were there, it was easy," the quickness of the comment was

sickening, almost like she had known all along.

"Why?"

"Don't sound do hurt, it was inevitable."

"You lied to me," his voice began to rise.

"Yes."

"You looked me in the eye and lied to me," again his voice rose.

"Yes."

"How could you do that to me?" this time he was nearly shouting.

"You really are a stupid little boy," the woman sighed, she was bored with him, and yet she enjoyed his innocence.

"I am not a stupid little boy," he said in a barely audible voice this time, but she ignored him and gave a little chuckle

"And now you are mine, forever," again she chuckled dully, as if this sort of thing occurred frequently.

"I will never be yours," now the malice was radiating from him, for he had never been used like this in his life.

"Is that so?" she slowly arose from where she was sitting and every so gradually she made her way towards him. The room was dark, and the only thing he could see was her outline. He didn't know why, but he was petrified, petrified to see her face. It was almost s mystery as to what she looked like, but he had seen her many times before. Still, he did not answer, but instinctively moved back. "Don't run away from me," she commanded and he obeyed, for some unknown reason he just stopped at her words.

"Leave me alone," the fear was now in his voice, and she seemed to enjoy it. She took a long breath as if she were breathing in the intoxicating aroma of his trepidation. But she continued towards him, her step never wavering.

"You see, you can never escape me, for you have pledged you soul to me, my dearest knight, you belong to me," the sharpness of her words frightened him even more. Was it that she was right which was terrifying him so, or the fact that he was trying to run but could not move?

"Let me go," he demanded, though it sounded more like a plea.

"Let you go? Your dead me dear, there is no where to go to," she was patronizing him, and still moving closer still.

"I'm not dead!" his voice echoes off of the walls which were not there.

"You will be soon enough, how long do you think you will survive? You have no way to sustain your pathetic life," she paused, "No. You are still, mine. You killed for me, don't you remember? And you liked it, you loved it. The smell of young blood, the adrenaline, the fact that you didn't care one bit."

"No, you made me do those things." he was no struggling to move, he needed to get away. Now she was only three feet in front of him, and she stopped, one more step and her face would be revealed. He wanted to scream, to shout out for help, but nobody was there to help him.

"I just gave you a push, you wanted it."

"You're lying!" he clasped his hands over his head, trying to block out her words, but to no avail.

"You will do my bidding, because your soul belongs to me, my dear knight, and when the time is right, you'll strike for me; you'll attack for me; you'll kill for me."

She stepped into his view, causing him to gasp, as he saw the face, the hideous face. It wasn't a monster though; it was a shadow of a woman, obscured through time and deformation. She was old, but ever so young and her face was one of acid, unidentifiable, and yet he knew who she was. Her life had ended, but she still possessed a power of him, one which he could not take back. Looking into the empty sockets where eyes should be he saw an evil, and with the peeling flesh from her bones, and the frail state of being she was in, she would kill him.But first she would use him, this he now knew, and he could not escape her control, he was too weak.

"Please leave me alone," he was trying to hold back sobs, for the realization of his loss of humanity to this thing was unbearable.

"You will never be alone, I will always be with you, waiting for the right time. Until that time, remember I will be with you," she extended a bony decaying finger towards him, and he struggled desperately to move, but he couldn't. "Remember, your dead."

"Leave me alone!" he repeated, as a sphere of red light formed at her finger tip, he truly was dead. The light came shooting out, rushing towards him, and finally it sunk into his flesh, right into his heart. Strangely, he felt nothing..
Seifer awoke with a start; he had had another dream about that demon that had possessed him. He swiped his hand over his face, noticing the sweat the dream had caused. Surely he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, and it was just as well, he honestly didn't want to sleep after that. Something about the dream, it had seemed so real, more so than reality did at times.He decided to push the thought out of his head, he was sure it was just a perk of possession. Looking at his alarm clock, he discovered that he had an hour until he usually woke up, and decided to get an early start on the day.

Slowly he rolled off his bed, and stumbled around for the light switch. He usually got up at the crack of dawn anyway, so technically it was still night. It had some positive aspects though; he was able to take a forty five minute shower, surely leaving everyone else in the cold. He had thought it was funny. Seifer then got dressed in his normal attire, sleeveless vest shirt, trench coat, and black pants, and of course the Hyperion. Giving one final look in the mirror, he left his dormitory and entered the heart of the garden.

Seifer considered himself an extremely lucky, and unlucky man. Lucky because he was, with help from a few, he was accepted back into the Garden. He was unlucky because he had to be possessed, a murderer, and a traitor in order to be kicked out in the first place. It seemed that nothing good had come from anything in his life as of late, with every extreme down, there was a small up, which brings him back to the middle. There wasn't a relief on the world when they found out he hadn't been in control, in fact it was as if the hatred towards him had grown.

People had started emerging from their dorms, few, but some looked panicky, and Seifer couldn't understand why. He shook off their expressions and just figured that they were afraid of him. It was then that he remembered something to indeed be panicky about; the field test. This was his final chance to become a Seed, and he had completely forgotten. In truth, Seifer could have passed the damn thing in his sleep a year ago, but he had an ego the size of Esthar. While the thought of the test made him sick, he knew that he would pass with flying colors this time.

So in the twenty something minutes before class, he grabbed a croissant from the cafeteria, and then headed toward the second floor classroom. It was empty when he arrived, with the exception of Quistis who happened to be his instructor. Apparently after saving the world all she asked for was her license back. As he entered she looked up.

"Instructor," he nodded politely, and while there was a ring of cynicism in his voice, he was mostly greeting her. Since his return, he was a bit quieter around those he almost killed, to everyone else though he was still the same audacious Seifer.

"Seifer," she answered in return, "Your going to try today, aren't you?"

"That's the plan," he paused, "But, my dear instructor, don't I always?" it had just slipped out, he didn't mean to mock her, but it was one of those habits. She gave him a look that said "sit down and shut the hell up or else," so he complied.

The six others taking the exam entered the room not to long after, so Quistis stood at her desk, and cleared her throat.

"Good morning, let's get straight to business shall we?" she didn't waste any time, "Your field exam is simple, we are going to travel to Winhill to take care of a few rather pesky monsters.Well I suppose they have been more than pesky, ten people have died from them in the past month, so it actually is very important that you all perform well. There will be three teams, for the three monsters. The teams will be team A: Banks, Cane, and Bamford, team B: Vinkt, Burns, and Moore; the last team will be team C consisting of myself and Mr. Almasy due to the odd number of students testing this year. Any questions? No? Then let's get to it, the garden should be right next to the town momentarily."

The flying Garden was indeed right next to the small town, so the group made there way into the main square. Strange glances followed them; the simple folk of the town were not used to people carrying weapons.

"Alright, team A, head off to the east end of town, B to the west, and we will handle the south. The three monsters are supposedly in those parts of town, once the job is done, meet back here. The deadline is in one hour, so don't stock up too much, just aim to kill. Move out!" the teams scattered throughout the city. Seifer couldn't help but smile at their hurry, after all, the monsters wouldn't be going anywhere, and if they did, then the mission was corrupt, and would have to be retaken. So it was just Seifer and Quistis, walking down the wooden bridge, leading southward.

"So, Instructor, may I ask you a question?" Seifer asked, trying to sound genuine. Quistis lifted a suspicious eyebrow, and then nodded. "Why did you vouch for me like you did?"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean," a smile played upon her lips. He made a snorting sound.

"Don't play stupid, when I walked back into the Garden why did you defend me?" she had been one of the only understanding people that had laid judgement on him. If there was one thing he had learned during that whole ordeal, it was that nobody could argue well against Quistis.

"Did I?" the smile broadened, "I don't recall."

"Okay," he too smiled, "One day I will find out."

"I'm sure you will, but until then, you will just have to live with the disappointment of not knowing," they entered a more populated area of the town, and more people looked at them strangely.

"Another question then?" he requested.

"If I said no would that stop you?"

"Nope. So why am I in a group with you, and not somebody else?" for some reason she gave him an odd look.

"It's a little thing called surveillance. Squall asked me to," at her words Seifer's demeanor immediately changed into one of bitterness and resentment.

"Oh yes, our fearless leader," he said sarcastically.

"Like it or not Mr. Almasy, he is indeed our leader, and considering that your passing this test depends on his word, I would be careful with what you say," she warned in a way that only a teacher could.

"So it's like that huh?"

"It's like that."

"Great," the resentment in his voice was caustic. Quistis gave a very load groan.

"Don't you start," she glowered.

"Fine, I won't."

"And don't give me that tone either." she was going to continue but was cut off.

"Stop acting like you're my mother."

".Oh, that is so typical coming from you!" she sped up her pace.

"Is it? How so?"

"You're always so bitter!"

"I'm bitter? Look who's talking, why I remember somebody especially ruffled when Squall and Rinoa went on a vacation together," he came back.

"So were you!" she reminded him, but he just rolled his eyes. In truth he couldn't think of a good comeback, but they were interrupted anyway by a stout old woman, with long, wild, black hair held back with a scarf. She was seething in anger for some odd reason.

"You!" she in an acidy voice, and extended a long finger. This reminded Seifer of the dream he had had, and was immediately caught aback.

"Do I know you?" he asked meekly.

"You were the one who slaughtered my son!" she claimed as her brow furrowed, "You evil son of a bitch."

"Listen lady, I was pos-"

"Dai cancelli di inferno, al dolore della mia anima, sente che il mio rath, basso e contempla, lei e vostro non ritornerà, la redenzione che lei non può mai guadagnare, sente il rath del mio ceppo di zingaro, per il dolore che lei sente non è una ferita, ma viene da entro...The gypsy curse is upon you!" she shouted as a large cloud of purple mist formed around Seifer, making him cough and gag. He impatiently swatted the substance away.

"Yes, I'm sure it is," he coughed, " But we have work to do, so I'll just take a rain check if you don't mind," the gypsy woman just smiled and walked away, apparently very pleased with herself. "That was interesting.Come on, let's get this thing over with."

The two started walking, and only two minutes late, Seifer broke out coughing again. He stopped and tried to regain his composure.

"Seifer are you alright?" Quistis asked, actually quite concerned. He bent over and took a large breath of air.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied once the bout was over, "I must have had some of that dust caught in my throat or something," he started to walk again.

"Are you sure you okay," she pursued the topic.

"Listen, I said I was fine, why can't you just." he could not complete his sentence, for he began to cough again, but this time more violently. He put his hand on a nearby tree for balance, but the coughing wasn't stopping.

"Oh my Hyne, Seifer!" she had noticed that blood had started to come from his mouth with each cough. He went to one knee, choking, and thriving in pain. Then, for Seifer, the world went black.
Well? What do you think of my new story? Later, like the next chapter probably, it will get a little romance going, and of course it will be revealed what this mysterious cough is.That is if I don't feel like writing another cliff hanger. Mwhahahaha, I am the definition of evil, aren't I? Well, please please please review! Thanks in advance, I love you all.