Author's Note: Another new story. :) This one occurred to me after reading some of the translations of the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania translations on the web, specifically some of the "secret" background facts about the characters. Plus, thus far, I hadn't written any stories involving Seifer in this fandom and wanted to see if I could pull it off. At any rate, I hope my readers like it. :) Oh and this one also takes place about two years after the end of the game, but it is not related to my other new story, Fidelitas, at all.
Once again, I would like to thank Bebedora for her help in beta'ing this fic. And again, I highly encourage anyone who reads this to check her stuff out as well. :)
I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of its characters.
Thank you to everyone who reads/follows/favorites/reviews this. It is always appreciated.
Chapter One
Staring out the window of the Atomos, Laguna Loire could only think about one thing: how much he wished he was already home.
After Esthar re-joined the world community almost two years ago following the battle against Ultimecia, there were an increasing number of requests from the other major powers for Laguna to attend treaty negotiations. The goal was to ensure continued peace and financial stability amongst the nations. Usually, Laguna would attend these gatherings with Kiros and Ward in tow, partially to help him navigate the political scene, but also to keep him company during these events. The most recent gathering had been in Dollet to go over trade agreements, and Laguna had hoped that his friends would go with him to help him through what was sure to be a series of painfully dull meetings.
However, this time Kiros had fallen ill and Ward needed to stay in Esthar to attend to the annual security audits. As a result, Laguna had gone alone with a couple of council assistants and a small troop of soldiers.
Unfortunately, the meetings were even more mundane and pointless than he had anticipated, and Laguna ended up asking himself multiple times why his presence was even remotely necessary.
'They could have just sent that stuff via computer,' he thought as his lips curled into a pout. 'Instead I had to sit through six meetings that all said the same thing: don't put too many tariffs on our stuff. Sheesh, who knew there could be so many different ways to say that. Oh well, at least I was able to catch up on my sleep.'
Laguna stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned back in his chair. They had left Dollet a few hours prior and were scheduled to reach Esthar in about two hours. He had tried asking the other people on the ship if they had a magazine he could read, but had had no luck.
'Geez there's nothing to do,' he thought gloomily. 'I wish I had my computer and could play some games. Heck, I'd settle for a card game at this point, but none of these guys like to play.'
Laguna let out a sigh and propped his chin on his hand. This was the fifth trip he had been on in the last two months, and for the first time in his life, he was starting to hate traveling. He thought about how Kiros and Ward had been encouraging him to take a vacation, and was starting to think that maybe they had a point.
'As soon as I get back, I'm going to take a week off,' he told himself. 'I was thinking about spending some time with Elle at Fisherman's Horizon and maybe swinging by Winhill for a day. Maybe I could catch up with Balamb Garden and visit with Squall for a couple days. Yeah, that would be good.'
Laguna smiled as he continued to plan his itinerary. He barely heard one of the pilots mention getting some strange readings from the flight consoles. But he was quickly brought back to reality when alarms began to go off and the ship began to shake violently.
"What's going on?" Laguna said, jumping up from his seat. "What's happening?"
"Engine failure," one of the pilots yelled. "Something must have gotten into the propulsion units."
"We're sending out a distress call now," the other pilot said.
Suddenly the ship lurched wildly, causing Laguna to topple onto the floor. More alarms went off and many of the passengers were clutching their seats in terror. Laguna slowly pulled himself back onto his feet and tried to move closer to the pilots.
"Shouldn't we just land?" Laguna said. "It feels like it's going to fall apart at any minute."
"We're trying to, Mister President," one of the pilots shouted at him. "But there's no place around here to land and the controls aren't responding."
"Mayday! Mayday!" the other pilot said into the ship's radio. "Esthar, do you read us?"
Laguna tried to say something else, but was quickly grabbed by two soldiers and dragged to the rear of the ship, causing him to yelp like a child.
"H-hey, what are you doing?" Laguna as he struggled against their grip. "Let go!"
"Sorry, Mister President," the soldier on his left said. "But this ship is flying apart, and we need to get you out of here."
The soldiers shoved Laguna toward an escape pod near the bay doors at the back of the ship. The pod was a prototype that was similar to the ones that had been used on the Lunar Base station. Thus, it was programmed to not only safely eject a person from the craft, but to find a safe place to land.
Laguna tried to wriggle away, but wasn't able to stop the soldiers from pushing him into the pod and strapping him in securely.
"Hey, wait a minute," Laguna shouted at them. "There's only one of these in the whole ship and we're over water. Those other pods won't stand a chance in that ocean. What about you guys?"
"We'll take our chances with the ship," one of the soldiers said grimly.
"Yeah," the other soldier said. "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll actually be able to land this thing."
"No wait..." Laguna started.
"Sorry, Mister President," the soldier said as he closed the hatch to the pod. "But Esthar can't afford to lose you."
The hatch latched shut, and the other soldier went over to the control panel to release the pod. Laguna slapped his hands against the walls of the pod, but it was no use. Seconds later, the bay doors opened up enough to let the pod out before immediately re-closing.
"Stay safe, Mister President," one of the soldiers said quietly. "And thank you, for what you have done for Esthar….for all of us."
Laguna's stomach lurched as he watched the Atomos slide further away through the small window in the pod as it dropped through the atmosphere. He was surprised at how smoothly it sailed along the air currents. Then he saw the Atomos smoke and veer wildly across the sky. A long moment passed before a curl of flame erupted from the nose of the ship right before it exploded into a million pieces. Laguna yelled and beat his fists against the frame of the window even though he knew it was futile.
'All those people….that one soldier who snuck a pizza into my hotel room for me…the minister of finance's assistant who said his wife was going to give birth to their second child any day now…that other guy who kept saying how he wanted to hit his favorite bar once we got back to Esthar…. They're all dead. All of them. Except for me….'
Laguna let his hands fall to his sides and pressed his forehead against the window. Tears slid down his face as he continued to remember all the people who were on that ship. Even though he was grateful to the soldiers who had saved his life, he could not help but feel guilty that they had sacrificed themselves to keep him safe.
He scrubbed his eyes vigorously with the back of his hand and watched as he saw a land mass come into view. The vast swaths of white told him that he was heading toward Trabia. He immediately shivered when he realized that all he had on was a long-sleeved tee shirt, a pair of jeans and some sneakers.
His thoughts were interrupted again, however when bits of debris hit the pod, causing it to shudder and rattle. More lights began to blink rapidly, and Laguna panicked as he realized that the pod was accelerating toward the ground.
'It's going to crash. And it'll be out in the middle of nowhere. There's no way I'm going to make it.'
Laguna shook and closed his eyes, refusing to watch the ground rush toward him.
'Kiros, Ward…I'm going to miss you guys. Take care of yourselves.'
'Elle, Squall…I wish I could have seen you one more time. I love you both so much.'
'Raine…I'm scared. Please, stay with me. I'm coming back to you real soon….'
There was a loud noise and a terrific jolt as the pod slammed into the terrain. Laguna managed to open his eyes for a split second before his world went black and he lost consciousness.
Standing alone at the edge of the Sorbald snowfield in Trabia, Seifer Almasy frowned at the sight outside his window.
Three weeks ago, Seifer, along with Raijin and Fujin had made an abandoned shelter their newest hideout while they took a break from work. Two years had done little to erase the memory of his role in the Ultimecia affair, and as a result, Seifer discovered that he had few options in life. Going back to either Balamb or Galbadia meant facing charges for a whole list of crimes. He did not have any outstanding warrants in Dollet or Esthar, but Seifer was wary of going to any big city where he might be recognized and targeted by locals looking to tie up any loose ends from the war.
That left Seifer with small towns and villages along with isolated outposts for him to hide out in. At first, he hated spending his time in these backward places, but eventually he grew to enjoy the anonymity and quiet that they had to offer.
Seifer lifted his glass of whiskey to his lips and took another sip. Work had not been easy to find at first, but Fujin had managed to find contacts for people who needed capable fighters to perform a variety of odd jobs. Getting rid of local monster infestations to escorting expedition teams usually topped the list, but recently there had been a little more variety. Some of the jobs had been questionable in their legality, but Seifer found it easy to look the other way. After all, it wasn't as if he was an upstanding citizen himself.
Over time, Seifer and his group were able to gain a reputation as skilled and dependable along with willing to work for moderate pay and no questions asked. Those qualities were enough to get them a steady stream of income that grew over time. These days, the pay was good enough for him to support himself and his friends along with giving them the means to re-locate when necessary. It wasn't an easy life, but it was still better than prison…or a coffin.
After finishing what was left of his drink, Seifer slammed the glass down onto the stand next to him. Their last job had been particularly grueling and their current finances made it so that they could take some time off. Seifer decided that they should pick somewhere completely isolated so they could relax without having to worry about anyone hunting them down either for a bounty or to propose another job. He had asked Fujin and Raijin for suggestions, and Raijin mentioned that he knew someone who had a place they could use that was hidden away from any of the major cities.
Not having any better ideas, Seifer decided to go with it. The three of them took a boat to Trabia and there was a car waiting for them to use to get to the shelter. The shelter was sparse but comfortable and more than big enough for the three of them. Despite its coziness and advantageous location, however, near constant snowstorms made it impossible for them to go outside most of the time. As a result, Seifer was getting a severe case of cabin fever.
'Damn, why did I listen to that idiot Raijin?' he asked himself. 'Of all the places he could have picked, he just had to choose Trabia. During the blizzard season, no less. Why exactly do I keep him around?'
Seifer snorted and thought about pouring himself another drink. Earlier that morning, Fujin and Raijin left to get some more supplies and start making arrangements for them to re-locate again by the end of the week. Wanting to avoid Trabia Garden as much as possible, they took a boat that had been left at the shelter to Winter Island to get some things from the Shumis. They also planned to use their communication facility to contact someone Fujin knew in FH for some job leads. Seifer decided to stay behind to keep an eye on their hideout, although now he was beginning to regret his decision.
'Hyne, this is so boring. There is absolutely nothing to do out here. Those two better hurry back because I can't leave soon enough.'
Seifer glanced over at the bottle of whiskey and ended up putting the cap back on. Drinking was just a distraction and not that great when he was by himself. What he really wanted was some action, something to challenge him. At this point, almost anything sounded better than this silent waiting.
He was about to walk away when a thunderous boom off in the distance caught his attention. Seifer rushed outside to get a better view. He looked up to see a faint billowing of fire and smoke in the distance.
'What is that? Almost looks like a ship. Yeah…I bet it is a ship. Or it was a ship. Probably isn't a whole lot left to it now. Too bad. It might have been interesting to see who was on it.'
Seifer continued to watch the plume of flame and soot fade while the bitterly frigid wind whipped up the snow around him. It was too cold to stay outside so he pulled his long grey coat closer to him and turned toward the door.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caused Seifer to glance back at the sky. He scanned the air for a full minute before finding what had caught his attention: a tiny round craft that appeared to be gently descending toward the ground. That slow descent suddenly changed, however, and thin line of smoke trailed out from it as it sped toward the forest below. Soon it dropped down out of view and disappeared into the trees a few miles away.
'What was that? A piece of the ship? No, no if it were just debris it wouldn't have hovered like that. Must have been something else. But what?'
Seifer shivered and turned his collar up against the cold. He knew that it would be safer to go back inside and forget about what he had seen. This time of year seemed to encourage the Snow Lions and Gaylas to come out of hiding and the forest would be crawling with them. Besides, chances were that it was nothing but a scrap of the ship that just happened to fall in an odd way. There really was no reason for him to investigate.
No reason except that it would be something different and possibly dangerous…and for Seifer that was just as good as any other reason to go.
Moments later, Seifer struggled to navigate the car that had been left at the shelter through the snow and trees surrounding him. The transport was old and not in very good shape, but so far it had been sufficient to get him to where he needed to go. Still, it was far from a smooth ride, and Seifer frowned as the car lumbered along the trail.
'This is the last time I let Raijin choose our hideout. His 'friends' don't know a decent car from a wreck that should be scrapped. Hell, salvaging it for parts is too good for this piece of crap. If this thing gets stuck out here, I'm making that moron drag it back to the shelter.'
Seifer turned on the windshield wipers and did his best to peer through the blowing snow. He caught a glimpse of smoke off to the side and yanked the wheel around to go toward it. The car skidded to a stop and he climbed out to survey the area in front of him. Bits of metal were scattered about the ground and at the center of it was a small pod that was covered in cracks and scorch marks.
'This must have come from that ship before it exploded,' he reasoned. 'Guess that means only one person was able to escape. Either he was a lucky guy…or he's someone important. So important that the rest of them were willing to save him instead of themselves.'
Seifer stomped through the snow and examined the symbols on the front of the pod. They looked familiar and after another long moment of thought, he realized that they were the official seal of the government of Esthar.
'Esthar? What are those guys doing all the way out here? Was that a cargo ship or something?'
A soft moan from inside the pod interrupted Seifer's thoughts and he gripped the handle of his gunblade as he approached it. He watched the pod for another minute before deciding that whoever was inside was probably too incapacitated to pose any kind of threat. He moved his hand away from the hilt of his weapon and looked for something to pry open the lid of the pod. He found a long, flat shard of metal and wedged it under one of the edges. After a couple unsuccessful attempts, Seifer finally managed to get it open. He shoved the lid aside and crouched down to inspect the interior.
Inside was a man strapped to a chair fixed at the center of the pod. The man's head drooped to the side, and Seifer noted that there was a thin trickle of blood along his temple along with a growing bruise. His long, dark hair flapped about in the wind while his eyes remained close and his body still. In fact, if it were for the occasional moans, Seifer would have thought that he was dead.
'Well now what?' Seifer thought to himself as he scowled. 'I don't want to get saddled with this guy…but if I leave him out here, he'll die for sure.'
It was while he was weighing the pros and cons of rescuing him versus leaving him there that Seifer realized that the man looked very familiar.
'Hey, I've seen this guy before. On television or something. Yeah, Fujin was watching some news conference from Esthar and this guy was on it. He probably is someone important, just like I thought.'
'No…no, that isn't it. Not all of it. I know I've seen him somewhere else, but….'
Seifer continued to search his mind for the answer when the man moaned again, his brow crinkling in pain, and shifted about. The man fumbled a hand along his cheek before falling back into deeper unconsciousness and Seifer immediately recognized the gesture.
'Hold on, I've seen that before. Yeah, Puberty-Boy did the exact same thing whenever he got hurt. I remember him getting whacked by a Grat one time in the Training Center and he did that after he fell down.'
Another memory suddenly sprang to mind, a rumor he had heard about a couple months after the end of the war. At the time, Seifer didn't believe it, but then he had gotten the definitive word a few months later: that Squall Leonhart was not an orphan after all and that his father was someone of great importance. It was then that he was able to put the pieces together.
'No way,' Seifer mused with a smirk. 'Of all the people who could have ended up in my backyard, I get Laguna Loire: the president of Esthar and Squally's dad. If I didn't know better, I'd think this was someone's idea of a stupid joke.'
Seifer chuckled for a few seconds before frowning again. The fact that he had the most powerful man in Esthar and the father of his greatest rival right in front of him complicated things. He had no doubts in his mind that there would be plenty of people looking for Laguna, including Squall, and they were among the last people that Seifer wanted to run into. But Seifer was also certain that they wouldn't find Laguna in time to save him.
'If this cold doesn't get him, the monsters will. Still….'
Seifer frowned even more. It wasn't as if he considered himself to be an altruistic man, but there was a part of him who believed in fair play. Granted, his version of fair play was significantly different than other people's version of it, but leaving a man, who was essentially helpless, to die in the wilderness chafed at Seifer in a way few things could.
'Guess I have no choice,' he thought while shaking his head. 'But hey, maybe this isn't all bad. I'm sure Esthar would be very grateful to get their precious president back, perhaps even grateful enough to offer some kind of reward. Even if that didn't happen, I'm sure there would be plenty of advantages to earning favor with one of the most powerful countries in the world. Besides that, there's always Puberty-Boy to consider. Yeah, I like the idea of him owing me one. And I'll be sure to remind him of this at some point too.'
Seifer grinned and pulled out a dagger from his pocket so he could cut the restraints holding Laguna in the pod. Once he was done, he hoisted Laguna up onto his shoulder and dragged him back to the car.
'Looks like things are about to get a whole lot more interesting after all.'
