"What are you doing here, Seifer?"
His swagger was cocky, the sort of thing that I seriously hoped I'd never had at his age. The gunblade he used was slung across his broad shoulders and his hair was perfectly swept. "I am Lady Edea's Knight." He puffed out his chest in false pride. "Not, Squall, ME."
I didn't bother to look up from Edea's book. Reading it made me feel much closer to her since she was gone.
"Did you hear me old man?" Oh the ambition of youth. "OLD MAN?!"
I couldn't help but laugh, oh so quick to anger. "Child, do you even know what the words you are saying mean?"
The gunblade cut across my desk in an impressive swoop. Cocky, arrogant, and wrong as he may have been, Seifer was nothing if not talented. "Don't mock the KNIGHT of the Sorceress!"
"Ultimicia is using you, boy." I stressed.
"EDEA is the sorceress."
"And you are not her knight. All the yelling in the world will not make that so." Because I could feel her. The reason that I could not bring the children to her, to show them where Ultimicia's avatar was and destroy it was because I knew with every fabric of my being that Edea was still there.
"The who is?" He snarled. "Not Squall, Never Squall."
"Squall… no. Utlimecia killed her knight long ago, Seifer. The same way that she will kill you. You're not a Sorceresses Knight and you never will be."
His smile grew wicked. "And I have to say, she's far too attractive to be loved by a man like you any longer."
I'd had enough of the boy. "Do not insult Her." He had no idea of the magnitude of what he spoke. Seifer wanted so badly to be pivotal that he neglected to notice the things around him. He would be pompous, a peacock but he would NOT insult my Sorceress. I stood slowly; I would like to think smoothly, even for my age. "You're pushing your boundaries, Seifer."
"What are you going to do about it, Old Man? Attack me?" The blade held ready.
"What are you going to do about, is the question, Seifer. Squall has time for your games and I do not. If you came to kill me, do it." I removed my glasses and slid them into my breast pocket. I only really used them for reading anyway.
The gunblade leveled at me, but he did not strike. The point was near my nose, I'm sure as a younger man my hair would have brushed its softly colored steel. "You're MOCKING me, Cid!"
"You mock yourself. Squall has time for your games and I do not. Leave."
Oh that was his soft spot. For both of them, Squall and Seifer matching scars, hearts and souls. "Angry that I'm going to be with your wife?" he shot back.
"If you are so deluded to think that you can have my Sorceress, then no words can reach you."
"I came for a duel."
"I will not give you one." With that, I walked away from him, turning my back to the young man completely.
"TURN AND FACE ME!" I could hear his steps advance. "Are you a coward?! What makes people like you and SQUALL so wonderful? What made YOU A KNIGHT!?"
My own gunblade rested in a case, enclosed in a dark wooden box with no glass. Edea hadn't wanted to get rid of it, but I was tired of it. Tired of looking at it and feeling its grip in my palms. I had wanted to be a librarian, but other things called me. The tip of Seifer's gunblade was inches from the back of my neck.
"I don't have any qualms with killing a coward, and then she really will be mine."
I could handle insults at myself. Certainly I'd made enough mistakes in my life to deserve them. But I could not allow him to continue to speak of Her that way. She was my Light, my Sorceress. I would be damned if I let any fool pretend ownership of the one who owned my dreams.
Unlike Seifer's favorite opponent, I was left handed. My own blade hissed from its crate as though it were sheathed. Just before it sparked against Seifer's I pulled the trigger. The young man yelped. For all his strength, Seifer's timing had always been slightly off. His blade rested between us on my carpet and he cupped his shoulder. My wall was currently housing the bullet. "We are done here."
He growled at me like a man possessed. I suppose it was fitting.
"A Knight's sole purpose is to ground their Sorceress. It is to protect them from the most dangerous thing in the world."
"Those who want to kill her."
I kicked the blade to Seifer. "No, son. From herself."
Seifer's face fell and reminded me of the time I'd caught him shoving Zell in a trash can. "I am a Knight."
"Take your weapon, Seifer and understand that we both know the truth." I replaced my own blade and slid her lid back firmly. After that, I picked up my chair and located my place in Edea's book. I did not look up when the boy left my office.