She lives by the wall and waits by the door
She walks in the sun to me... - "Atlanta" by Stone Temple Pilots
Seifer woke up in a cold sweat, a scream dying slowly on his lips. He looked over at his alarm clock; 5:00 AM. "I suppose it's time to wake up anyways," he said to himself. A knock came at the door. "It's open." Seifer sat at the edge of the bed with just a pair of black sweat pants on. Edea walked into the room, cracking the door slightly behind her.
"Seifer... are you ok?" Edea said softly.
Seifer just stared down at his feet with his eyes shut, "Yeah, just another nightmare." Edea walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. Seifer looked up at her. She was smiling, faintly. "Well, I, uh... fixed some breakfast if you're hungry," Edea said. She removed her hand from his shoulder, wiping away some sweat. She walked out of the room closing the door slowly behind her.
He looked back down at his feet briefly then stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He walked to the only window in the room and opened it, letting cool ocean air in. He sighed and stared out at the ocean. After the Second Sorceress War, he took up residence in Edea's home that used to be the old orphanage he grew up in. During a brief week of 'recess' from Balamb Garden, he and Cid fixed the place up, putting in new floorboards accompanied by beautiful carpetting from Esthar, patching the roof completely, installing new windows in all of the rooms, and added new beds in both bedrooms. Seifer ended up doing most of the work seeing how Cid was only around for a brief time.
He grabbed a t-shirt from his dresser and noticed Hyperion sitting in the corner of the room, collecting dust. He really found no use for the gunblade seeing how he wasn't fighting off his friends whilst protecting Edea.
Edea. His sorceress.
The same woman he gave his life to defend. Nobody would ever understand why'd he done it. Nobody save for himself... and possibly her. Some people would claim he was brainwashed by the sorceress from another time, Ultimecia. He knew better than that. Brainwashing wouldn't have worked on him, he would've shrugged it off and continued with his life. Ultimecia knew this. She... no, Edea just said a few lines. He had the choice to accompany her or stay at the TV station. But she offered him his dream on a silver platter. How could've he refused his romantic dream. She offered him his one and only chance to become everything he ever adored, a true sorceress' knight.
After Ultimecia's death, a reporter asked Seifer if he'd ever do it again if he had the chance. He looked at the sky and smiled to the reporter, "Of course... It was fun."
Fun. Yeah, real fun. Several losses to Squall and his gang of dregs, killing innocent people, blowing up Trabia Garden wasn't exactly his idea of fun. Truth be told, he would've dropped off as soon as Edea stopped. His only real motivation was her. She showed him actual affection and love during their time together. When Ultimecia wasn't controlling her (which was very rare), she cared for him. After their battles with Squall in Deling City and Galbadia Garden, she tended to his wounds and bandaged him up, forever forming an adhesive bond between the two. He was like a son to her and vice versa. Still, there was some untouched love between them. Intimate, maybe. Their lips touched several times in between the havoc. During those moments he didn't know for sure if it was actually Edea or just Ultimecia playing with him, but he could give a rat's ass, someone cared about him. Or at least he pretended someone did.
The ocean's waves broke his trance and he walked out of the room, leaving the door cracked. She was sitting at the kitchen with both hands cupped around a mug of tea, staring into nothingness. Seifer's footsteps broke her trance and she looked out the kitchen window as he walked into the room. She turned her head to him and smiled weakly, "It's in the refridgerator if you're hungry."
"Thanks... matron." Seifer forced a weak smile on his face but he could never get used to calling her 'Matron' again.
"It's ok to call me Edea, Seifer. I know it's hard to use Matron after all that's happened. Truth is, I prefer you to call me by my name," Edea said.
Seifer nodded and grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. "I'm going into town to see if they have any jobs available," he said looking out the window.
Edea looked at her tea, "Oh... ok. I'll be doing some gardening here and there so if you can just be back in time for dinner--"
He interrupted her, "Don't worry. I will." He walked to his room and put his favorite black pants on along with his blue vest followed by the fire cross trenchcoat. As he walked out the front door, he stared back at Edea, who was now cleaning some dishes at the sink.
Centra City was recently added to the barren land known as Centra. It was small, containing a small amount of shops. It had a modest amount of buildings that held a few law firms, a barbershop, two restaurants, a small hotel that was a tad bit larger than Balamb's Hotel, and a couple local businesses. The city itself was a few miles from Edea's home, but Seifer didn't mind walking the distance, it helped clear his mind plus he had Hyperion at his side to drive through an unlucky foe.
Edea looked through her closet for an appropriate outfit for gardening. She found a dark red t-shirt and a pair of old overalls Cid got her before starting the orphanage. She grabbed her gardening tools and put her favorite sun hat on before stepping out into the garden that surrounded her home. While scanning the azaleas, she immediately noticed a huge hole dug at the side of the stone building, completely destroying her rose bushes, which weren't even there anymore. She sighed and walked to the back to grab a bag of potting soil and peet. She laid the bags down in a wheel barrow which was a considerable amount of weight, but nothing she couldn't handle. She brought the stuff to the front and got on her knees, and started gardening.
Seven hours later...
Seifer looked at his watch; 3:00 PM. He'd filled out several applications to different places but was feeling strongly about the possibility of working at the weapons shop that was currently only occupied by the owner himself. Seifer started back home when a cold chill ran up his spine. Something was wrong back at Edea's. Seifer ran the rest of the way home.
"Nice Malboro..." Edea said softly as she slowly stepped back from the 10 foot creature that snuck up on her while she was planting a new row of rose bushes. As Edea was backing away she tripped on a small root sticking out of the ground. The sound of her landing angered the Malboro. One of it's tentacles flew at her as she was getting up and wrapped around her leg dragging her in, towards itself, intent on devouring it's prey. If she didn't do something fast, she would become the creature's meal. But what could she do? She didn't have her sorceress powers anymore so she couldn't summon up a spell, nor did she have Alexander, whom she gave to Seifer as a birthday present a couple months back.
Seifer, out of breath, finally reached the house and heard Edea yelling. He dashed to the back of the house unsheathing Hyperion and was met with a huge smash to the side, sending him flying into a group of rocks.
"Seifer!" Edea cried out.
Seifer got up quickly and spat out some blood whiile charging at the Malboro. Another tentacle flew at him but Seifer dodged it and quickly casted a fira on the creature. Still trying to get rid of the flames on it's body, the Malboro spat it's acidic juices at Seifer. He jumped out of the way and casted another fira. This one was targeted on the monster's tentacles, burning most of them off. The creature cried out in pain as it dropped Edea. She crawled over to Seifer, who pulled her to her feet.
Without noticing, Seifer said, "Stay behind me my sorceress, and I will protect you!"
Edea stepped a few feet back from Seifer and glanced at him. He looked and acted just like he did when she was a sorceress and he, her valiant knight. Seifer charged at the creature and drove Hyperion right through it's right side, cutting it's heart open, killing it instantly. Seifer casted a couple more fire spells to burn the rest of the monster up. "The wind will take it's ashes from here," Seifer said while wiping off his gunblade with a cloth. Edea stared at Seifer as he walked into the house.
A/N: If this story seems strange and/or sick, I don't want to hear about it. Personally, I always thought something could've developed between Seifer and Edea during the time when he was her knight. Anyways, review this if you liked it or if you didn't, post some CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. No 'flaming'. It'd be nice to see if other people share my same thoughts.