Author's note: Well everyone thank you for your reviews. I hope that you will like this chapter as well.

Disclaimer: Everything goes to Square Enix apart from the character Lea Lockhart.

Title: Truths And Cursed Rights

Lea left. The door closed, leaving Seifer alone in the room, wondering if this visit wouldn't be the last one. He thought about what she had wanted to tell him and if she had come just to threaten him.

Probably not… She wanted to show that she has power in the family.

Not that he ever thought that Lea, who had won against a Dalmasca and won for the Lockharts, wouldn't have power in the family. Her personality was also very suiting for power.

When she had been his mistress, she was a young girl, only sixteen, with a need to become powerful and earn the respect of the family. She had everything that was needed for a born leader, a born winner. From the very start, she had shown something more than the determination Tifa had. She had the need to win. She had the need to fight… Seifer doubted her hate for the Dalmascas… The hate they had put inside Tifa so violently that now she couldn't live without it.

No, Lea was cleverer; she understood what the family felt for the only antagonist they had.

Lea had won for herself, purely for herself. She had won so that her dream would become true, and the death of the Dalmasca meant nothing to her. It was just an annoying insect that she eliminated since it was in her way. Seifer had to admit that even as a mistress, she wasn't a bad one.

But not a good one either… She was a realist.

She understood that she needed him for her start and she had to use him properly. And so she did.

She didn't use him for other matters than the war… Well, she flirted with him and even forced him to kiss her, but besides that, she didn't make him do unneeded things. Instead, she used him as a source of information about duels and ways to destroy enemies.

Because of all those things and many others, Seifer knew that the twenty-six-year-old woman wouldn't leave Tifa without a guide as to the way he would be used.

Seifer, though, doubted if Tifa was as ambitious as Lea was. In reality, according to the things Lea told her when she was younger, Tifa would be obsessed with Ashe Dalmasca and after the war, if she survived, she wouldn't have a reason to live.

Except if this is what she wants…

To use Tifa to gain more power… But of course… Lea wanted to get rid of the elders and replace them.

She had even said so…

Flashback

It was a foggy night when Lea Lockhart became the winner of the war and her biggest wish would come true. Seifer, serving her, had just defeated Squall, defeating the last enemy.

Lea looked at Seifer, who would vanish in a while, and smiled at him with a smile she never had showed him before. A smile a Lockhart had never given him. A smile of satisfaction, a smile that said well done.

'Next time we meet… I will have become something…and all I will have gained starts from today,' she said with a steady voice, and he listened carefully. 'So hear this for the first and for the last time, Seifer, the Cross of Creation,' she turned to him, 'thank you. But never forget that next time… I will have more than I have now.'

End Flashback.

This memory though brought another memory to him. The last battle he had had with him… The memory of that battle was more than unbearable. It was the worst.

Because of the words that were spoken.

Flashback

Seifer and Squall were fighting in the foggy area without being able to see their mistresses. Squall had the advantage in the battle but Seifer had Lea's magical support. Lea hadn't ordered him to kill the other mistress, but to take Squall away. She would do the murder.

They worked as a team for all the mages they killed. And of the nine other mages, she had killed with her own hand seven, excluding the Dalmasca. Seifer had had to kill only one, who actually did the attack.

They were away from the mages when Squall broke the deadly silence that ruled between them.

'It's nice to think that we are alone at least, in our time of dying.'

Seifer, surprised that he had spoken and more surprised that he had stopped, looked at him.

'Wouldn't be nice, if we could stay forever like this?'

'What?'

'With bodies.'

'Why? To endure more physical pain?' Seifer asked, confused.

'No, idiot,' Squall said and started vanishing, 'to express what we feel with actions.'

'Yeah…' Seifer said and looked at the brown haired man. 'It seems I won this time.'

'You had a mistress worthy of winning …I knew from the beginning that what you were ordered to do was to take care of me and not my mistress. Like all the others, she will die by her hand.'

'She is unstoppable…' Seifer admitted and closed his eyes like he was in regret.

'That's why she won,' Squall said. 'Don't be late, I'll be waiting,' and he was lost.

End Flashback.

Seifer though couldn't forget those words…

To express their feelings, through actions.

Yes, he wanted to do that… More than anything… More than he was allowed.

But he felt a fear for this desire. A fear which was coming from Lea.

She was unstoppable then and that was why she had won. She was unstoppable now and that would be the reason; he was afraid that she wanted something more when she came.

There was only one thing though that made Seifer shake from fear; more than the fact that she was unstoppable.

Then she could have won alone, without him. He was just a shield that could easily be replaced by one she would create with her own hands.

From the moment she had summoned him, she had made it clear that she wouldn't lose.

And she would never lose.

Tifa would be one of the many victims. The difference between them was that Lea worked always for her own, while Tifa was a puppet.

Namine had picked for Roxas a pair of jeans that reached Cloud's knees, but to Roxas were a little longer, and a black t-shirt. To Naminé's surprise, Roxas was rather attractive in them. Namine wore a black skirt and a white shirt.

'Okay. Cloud usually buys his clothes from there, so we'll start from there, okay?' Naminé said. It was only the two of them since Cloud had been called by his boss and had no choice but to go.

Flashback

'I have to go, the old man called that they need me in the gate,' Cloud said with a sign.

'Did anything happen?' she asked.

'I don't think so…Probably they want me to act as a leader in the gate…' Cloud answered and took his jacket.

'Okay, if you come back and we haven't returned, there is food in the fridge,' Naminé said indifferently. Roxas appeared behind her and looked at Cloud.

'Wait a sec…You are going out alone?' he asked emphasizing the world alone.

'No, I will have Roxas and I will go buy him some clothes,' Naminé said smiling ironically at her brother.

'No, no, I said I'll be with you…'

'But you have work and we will go today…If you finish early, call me and we will find you,' Naminé said as she put on her jacket and flashed him a smile again.

'Why don't we go tomorrow?' he said, hoping she would agree.

'Because I say so…' Naminé said. 'Roxas…' she called and started walking away with the blond behind her. 'Don't forget to lock up…' she said before closing the door.

End Flashback

'Whatever you say…' Roxas started, but Naminé cut him off.

'No, no, no, don't give me that now. We're going for you so you must do something that might seem impossible for you: have an opinion' and she turned her back on him, heading for the store. Roxas stayed where he was for a moment and then he ran to her.

'Don't walk behind me,' she said. Seeing his confused look, she added, 'Walk next to me, like we are friends. Otherwise it might seem a bit strange.' She directed with a stern look but her eyes showed a playfulness rare seen in them.

'Okay,' he said and went next to her.

They entered the store and went to the department with the men's clothes. There, Roxas let Naminé take the lead as to what they would be looking for.

'We want one or two pairs of jeans and some t-shirts,' she said to a girl who, as Roxas understood, was there to help.

'Follow me then, please,' the girl said politely.

'Thank you,' Naminé said when they were at a wardrobe with blue trousers. 'We'll handle the rest.'

When the girl had left, Naminé looked at Roxas, and with a wave of her hand told Roxas to take a look.

'They are all kind of the same…' he stated as he looked.

'Yeah… Choose three and we will go look for t-shirts,' she said and Roxas took three that seemed to be his size. 'Nice… Do you want to try them on?'

'Try them on?' he asked.

'Wear them and see if they look good on you.' Roxas had a look that said `whatever you say`. Naminé sighed.

'Let's find some t-shirts too and we'll see about that later,' she said and they went towards another wardrobe.

Roxas, without waiting for her to say anything, started looking. Naminé smiled as she saw him looking on his own. She looked a bit too and found two t-shirts which, according to her, would look awesome on Roxas.

'Hey… You should try them…' she said and showed him the two she had picked. One was black with something written in blue on it and the other was grey with a black thing on it.

'Okay… I liked these two,' he said and showed her a simple white shirt and a blue one which had a shark on it.

'Mmm, I like the blue one… Leave the white one since Cloud has one like that… Except if you like it that much.'

'No, no, no… I prefer the blue one,' he said and left the white one. He then took all the clothes and they went to the changing rooms.

'Okay, I will be waiting here. When you're wearing something, come out,' she said. He nodded and went to change.

After a moment, he came out with the blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

'Very nice,' Naminé said and went closer to fix the collar which was a bit messed up. 'And now it's even better.'

'Do you like it?' he asked.

'Yeah… a lot…' Naminé said, still touching him. Then she realised what she was doing and took a step back. 'Go and put another shirt on. The jeans are all the same so you don't have to change them.'

'Okay,' he said.

After half an hour, they had finished. Naminé walked with him holding everything, because as he said, he had to.

'Do you want to eat?' she asked. 'I know a nice place…'

'Okay,' he said. She smiled and they walked the rest of the way in silence. As they walked though, a voice was heard.

'Naminé,' the male voice said.

Naminé froze and looked at Roxas. It couldn't be him… He was really insufferable. Roxas noticed her look and looked behind. He saw a blond boy wearing green clothes running towards them, waving. The girl looked behind and to her greatest disappointment, it was him.

'Hey… What a surprise to find you here,' he said and was ready to hug her, but Naminé avoided it with a cold stare.

'Yes… I suppose,' she answered. There was a silence and Naminé was ready to excuse herself and Roxas to leave, but Hayner had other plans.

'Is this your brother?' he asked and pointed at Roxas, who raised an eyebrow.

'No… I am…' he started and looked at Naminé, 'a friend.'

'I see… You are not from our school, otherwise I'd know you,' Hayner said with a rather cold voice.

'No… He is from the country. He came to see me,' Naminé said equally coldy and looked at Roxas.

'Hey, Nami… Want to go for a drink?' he said and hugged her around her shoulders.

'No,' she said and took his hand away from her shoulders.

'Then how about to eat something?'

'We were going to do that before you stopped us,' Roxas said, who was completely ignored.

'Mmm, okay… Well, we can go for a walk when he leaves?'

'No, I promised her brother to take her home safely,' Roxas answered again, although the question wasn't for him. He took Naminé's hand and pulled her to his side.

'Well, I wonder if Cloud could trust you about that,' Naminé whispered in his ear so Hayner wouldn't hear.

'Okay… Then tomorrow?'

'No,' Roxas said and, hugging her around the waist, started walking away, leaving the other boy looking after.

'First, I didn't ask you … and second, why do you care? You are not her boyfriend… I am sure because she doesn't have one.'

'She is my friend, while I know that she isn't yours,' Roxas answered. Meanwhile, Naminé looked once at Hayner and once at Roxas, saying nothing. She had to admit that being hugged by him was pleasant and she wanted to get rid of Hayner. She had tried to show that she wasn't interested, but he didn't seem able to understand it.

'A friend is another thing from a boyfriend and a friend shouldn't get in a way of someone that might also become a friend,' Hayner answered. 'Or even more.'

'I don't see anyone that could be that,' Roxas said, looking around.

Naminé was worried this could take a lot of time, so she decided to do something. Hugging with her hand Roxas' back, she looked at him.

'Roxas… I am hungry… Can we go eat?' she said and smiled at him. Roxas, surprised for a moment by her way of acting, realized that she wanted to leave and nodded.

'Bye, Hayner,' Naminé said and they both started leaving. Hayner said nothing this time and stayed looking at the two of them, who disappeared around a corner.

When they turned, they took one step away from each other.

'What a jerk,' she murmured.

'Yeah….' he agreed.

'You say nothing about that to Cloud,' she said.

'Okay… We will go home or to the place to eat?'

'Home and I will cook something,' she said.

When Ashe woke up, it was late in the morning. She had slept for four hours. She touched her head and looked around. She saw Squall looking out of the window and for a moment she stayed like that. Then her gaze went to the instrument she had spent her night and sacrificed her sleep for. She got up and sat on the floor again, wanting to explore it and its usage more.

Squall noticed out of the corner of his eye Ashe's movement but didn't move, nor showed a sign that he took notice of her, although he knew that she aware of him.

Ashe took the pendulum again and placed it to the gap and the pendulum shone. After a while the marks shone too. Four red and five blue.

She closed her eyes and touched a blue symbol.

Nothing happened.

She touched with her other hand the pendulum and let her power enter the instrument that was seeking for it.

Come on… who is this?

Suddenly her image, from black, became a face with black hair and black eyes. A face she recognized immediately.

Lockhart… Tifa Lockhart.

Her hatred for this woman was more than her will to live. She wanted her death so much. Since she could remember herself, she had had the need to insult the other girl, who wanted exactly the same. They hadn't seen each other much over the last two years but the woman hadn't changed.

Then she wanted to see who was the warrior she had called. Nothing happened until Ashe tried to think how she was able to see the other mage.

By a question… She had to ask.

Who is the warrior she called?

If she had used the perfect match, it would be Baralai, but that was weak and Tifa wouldn't summon a weak warrior. Ashe was nearly sure that she had summoned the same as her ancestor had, but she couldn't be sure. Not because she lacked power or knowledge, since she had proved that she had both, but because there were also other good choices or that one could be taken.

A cross appeared and she knew the answer. A face with blond hair made her suspicions become facts. Tifa had called the Cross of Creation.

She opened her eyes and took her hands from the instrument, leaving the stone inside.

She had done it. Suddenly she felt tired again… She had the need to close her eyes, lay on the floor and slept immediately.

Squall looked at the woman on the floor and then at the dangerous instrument she had just used. It was dangerous and the last action Ashe did could cost her sight. She was really lucky that the result was just to lose her energy and have the need to sleep.

Many Dalmascas had lost the war because of that instrument….

And many won… Thanks to it.

True… Some used it really well. Ashe's great-grandmother, for example, had won thanks to that instrument. He didn't serve her, Sephiroth did, but he had learned from the man about the woman. A Dalmasca a century before Ashe's great-grandmother had won thanks to the instrument. Squall remembered that one actually very vividly… She was a strange woman, with a strong will to survive.

Many had won, but compared to the ones that died or lost their health because of it, they weren't that many.

Some lost their sight, some lost their spirit, some their dreams. Many lost their memory and most lost their lives.

It was dangerous and if Ashe didn't do some research about the instrument before she used it again, her luck would expire and the results might be awful.

He looked again at the woman on the floor. He had underestimated her abilities and her character. She was strong as a mage, but was she as a human?

The last winner had been younger than Ashe, with less experience and less training than Ashe, but she had won in a way that made him, a top warrior who had lived for centuries, shake from fear. It was a victory that had belonged to her much more than all of the previous victories belonged to the previous winners.

That woman was an ultimate winner. And once an ultimate winner, forever a winner.

In all the wars he had taken part in, there had never been a woman like her. And this was dangerous…

Lea Lockhart…

It had been two days since Rinoa had called Riku as her warrior. Rinoa was in the bathroom looking in the mirror, thinking of all of the things she had learned over the past days.

It was unfair… She never wanted this… It wasn't even her choice.

No… She didn't want to die. And especially she didn't want to die like them.

Was her destiny really… This?

Riku… that… boy…

Rinoa looked in the mirror again and found her eyes red, trying to hold back tears.

'Why? Why? Why must I go through this…?' she wondered out loud and let her tears out. Tears that were the tears a child would have from being afraid. From being depressed…

The ice-type magic… wasn't really the best choice for her.

Maybe it was for my aunt or for my sister… But I don't know…Since I don't remember her and I never met the other.

She took water and a big breath and looked again in the mirror. It was really weak for her to show so much emotion… Even to a mirror.

Alone in a room… Her only true companion was herself now.

Her family had, for years, witches inside who all possessed the ice or the cold. They all lived releasing their hearts from their coolness.

The problem though was that perhaps the ice inside her…had melted from the hot tears she had held those years.

She got out of her room and made her way to the living room where Riku and her father were…talking.

About his sister probably…

Or about my funeral.

Her father hadn't been surprised when he had seen Riku next to her the morning after the summoning. Riku was the same… They had greeted each other like two people who knew each other.

Rinoa walked inside and silence fell as both of them stared at her.

'I am going for a walk,' she announced to them as she took her keys from the table. Riku got up and followed behind her. She looked at him and then at her father...

Yuna was sitting in her room, with Tidus on the floor. She was holding a book that her family had for the warriors. It was strange that she had Tidus for her warrior… That his ability was water, the exact opposite from lightning, which was her ability.

'Hey, you! Get up!' she ordered suddenly as she stood up and moved closer to him.

'Yes, Mistress,' he said obediently.

'Do you know about how the warriors are summoned? And how each one sticks with a certain mage?'

He nodded and she went even closer to him, so he could clearly see her strange eyes.

'Then why did I have the warrior whose abilities are the opposite of mine?' she asked. Tidus leant back and put a distance between his face and hers.

'If a mage tries to summons a warrior that has already been summoned, then the outcome is the warrior that has exactly the opposite powers from the one that was supposed to come, to be summoned.'

'Why? As a punishment? But how could anyone know?' she asked, ignoring for now the fact that the one most suited to her had been summoned by another.

'Because then the mage who lost the one she wanted, who probably was the one most suited, can use the one completely different to the certain warrior's abilities to destroy the mage that 'stole' her warrior and have two warriors under her control, giving her a big advantage to win since she was a 'victim'.' Tidus said, and Yuna's face was shone brightly from the news had she learned.

'So I have to kill the mage that took the Lion of Thunder,' she said.

'But if the other warrior dies, he cannot be summoned again by his new mistress,' Tidus warned.

'I can use my powers to find where my warrior is, right?' she asked Tidus.

'Yes… If he was the one most suited… You have similar powers which are able to recognize each other.'

'Okay then! I have to find where he is and then you will kill the mage and I will have back what is rightfully mine,' she said

Shit… She will die soon too! Why can't women understand that being overconfident is bad? How can I ever win against Squall? Especially if my mistress is you!

Yuna though didn't have these kinds of thoughts, being extremely happy from what she had learned.

She was, as Tidus had pointed out, overconfident. She lay on her bed and smiled happily.

I may have the opposite powers to Squall, but if he was summoned by will, then the summoner is strong and I need a mistress that can grant me powers so I can win, but being the exact opposite means that my power is lower than it would be if I just had a mistress with different powers.

That's why…many have been in your position but none was able to achieve having two warriors.

Author's note: Don't forget everyone... the moment I have around 4 or 5 reviews I will upload the next chapter. Please tell me your opinion about the story. It is as I have said in the first chapter kind of an experiment for me. By the way may I ask you a question? What do you think of Lea?

Special thanks to XIIIAnonymous for helping as a beta reader!

Thank you for your time.