The Balamb Garden student body awoke to an announcement that sent ripples of shock and surprise through everyone's heads:
"Good morning once again, everyone. This is an extremely important announcement, and I need your undivided attention.
"Please recall that in yesterday's announcement, I explained that we are at FH for repairs. That is, indeed, one of the reasons why we are here. However, there is another far more important one that I was not able to tell you yesterday.
"I chose FH as the transfer point for Ellone, Fujin, and Raijin. Mr. Laguna Loire, the President of Esthar, is with them as well. Last night, they were moved into the Garden after hours for their own safety. The secrecy was necessary to ensure that nobody would know their destination until after they were safe.
"I hope that all of you will welcome them back and reassimilate them into the student body. Thank you in advance for your cooperation."
When the announcement aired, Squall was in the first-floor hallway. Upon hearing "Ellone, Fujin, and Raijin," he had stopped walking altogether.
Normally, he would've expected Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin to stick together. However, their disagreement in the Lunatic Pandora might have caused a rift between the latter two and Seifer, which would explain why Seifer wasn't with them.
But maybe Rinoa found out something, he thought. I'll have to wait until the mission's over before I start worrying about other people's problems, though, he decided, continuing on his way.
The infirmary doors slid shut behind Ellone. Rinoa stood her ground, not sure whether to be intrigued or wary of this request.
"Yes?" Rinoa asked expectantly.
"So now you know a little bit about me," Ellone began, tucking some stray hair behind her ear. "I live on a ship and I'm always moving from place to place."
Rinoa nodded, wondering what Ellone was getting to.
"Um, well," she continued, sensing Rinoa's bewilderment, "I'm trying to stay that I can't stay in once place because… I have something unique. You and I are both unique. And if you have something that no one else has, you tend to attract… trouble."
Rinoa stared at the floor.
Ellone sniffed in her restlessness. "But I was born with my powers. I can't get rid of them."
They stared at each other intensely, trying to interpret each other's thoughts.
"It isn't worth it to be special, Rinoa. I just want you to remember that. Going back isn't the answer to everything, either. If you want to change things, you have to do it before it's too late." Her gaze fell. "Otherwise, you'll spend the rest of your life regretting it."
All the way back to the dormitories, Rinoa went over Ellone's words. Ellone couldn't have known how Rinoa would interpret them—could she?
No regrets. That meant no big mistakes, and very few small ones.
"But I was born with my powers. I can't get rid of them." But Rinoa could. Was that what Ellone had meant? Her heart began to beat a little faster. How did a sorceress get rid of her powers?
She shook her head vigorously, fully realizing the selfishness of her thoughts. It was unfair for her to even think of dumping her burden upon somebody else, just as it was unfair to have to live with that burden herself. She could let herself grow angry because she was unhappy with the extra responsibility, or she could be glad that no one else had to worry about it.
If there were no other way to be rid of it, then this is what I'd tell myself. But can I settle for this, or do I want to be greedier?
Squall saw at once with a cringe that he was dead last. Selphie had a bunch of electronics parts spread over the stage floor, and Zell and Irvine were crouched on either side of her, pointing and firing questions.
Selphie shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand, grinning cheerfully when she caught sight of Squall.
"All right, and Squall makes four! Ah, doesn't it just feel great to be back here?"
He smiled slightly. "Just a little bit."
"Okay!" Selphie cleared her throat. "So in the Land of FH, it's easy to get electronic parts. I'm using them to build—" she held up a small prototype, "—a portable telephone!"
Squall eyed Zell expectantly. "Aren't you going to say something, Mr. Know-It-All Zell?"
"Ha! You read my mind!" Zell laughed in triumph, looking quite pleased with himself. "These kinds of things haven't been used ever since we were born, but now that Adel doesn't have to be kept in lockdown orbit anymore, we can use this kind of technology again! You know, using airwaves to communicate?"
Selphie beamed at Squall. "So, I think we should use these in our new mission, just in case we get separated in the crowds!"
Squall stood up, already bored with her sunny attitude for some unexplainable reason. He really wished that he weren't such a party pooper, but the whole thought of the mission was starting to bother him.
"Am I the only one here," he spat, his voice steadily rising, "who thinks that this whole thing is coming up too fast? 'Cause you all looked disappointed when Cid told us how soon this thing is, but now all of a sudden it's fine?"
Selphie groaned loudly and plopped her face into her hands. Irvine cleared his throat audibly.
"Hey, hey, just—chill," he suggested, holding his hands out for emphasis. "I know it feels like we'll never get a break, but believe me, this is probably the last thing we'll have to do for a long time. So just do this with us, and after, you can—I don't know, 'retire in peace' or whatever it is you wanna do. Okay?"
"Speaking of which, how is Cid hiring you? You're not a Balamb student," Squall pointed out. "Are you even a SeeD?"
"Nah," Irvine replied, "but if you're not a SeeD, they can still send you on missions, only they pay you per mission. Like, instead of getting a regular paycheck from money that your Garden earns, you're paid for each individual thing you do; Garden doesn't have any control over that money. That's why I was able to team up with you guys for that assassination mission. General Caraway handled the transaction. So you could technically rake in the dough, even if you're not a SeeD, but the SeeDs still have it better because they get the job security. And they're not bound to the 'dismissed from Garden at age 20' thing."
Squall knelt down in their midst again.
"Okay. That makes sense." Already his thoughts were wandering outside the confines of the Garden. He secretly wondered what became of the people who never became SeeDs. Sure, most people didn't stay at Garden forever and SeeD was just another rung in the ladder for them. What about people like Seifer, who tried and failed, or people like Fujin and Raijin, who didn't want to become SeeDs in the first place?"
"What? Why the funny face?" Irvine asked, poking Squall in the shoulder. Squall rocked back slightly and waved Irvine's hand away distractedly.
"Didn't you guys hear the announcement? The one about Fujin and Raijin coming aboard the Garden?"
"Yeah," Selphie responded, sounding mildly interested. "And?"
For the second time, he rose to his feet. "Don't you want to find out what happened to them?"
"Well, I appreciate your eagerness to make yourselves useful," Cid finally decided, "but I'm afraid you two are a little too high-profile to continue working as my messengers for the time being," he sighed grimly.
"So what do ya want us to do, ya know?" Raijin asked.
"Here's the deal. Since you," he nodded in Raijin's direction, "don't know where Seifer is, and you, Fujin, won't tell anybody where he is, all the blame for Seifer's actions falls on the both of you. You're the scapegoats in his absence, but I'd rather you were here than out there, subjected to the Galbadians, or, God forbid, the Estharians. I don't—I can't even begin to think which one of them would be worse for you two to run into!"
"But we didn't do any of that stuff—" Fujin complained.
"—And if the Estharians capture you, you're gonna have to explain really quickly why you destroyed Esthar with that Lunar Cry—before they kill you on the spot, before the President even knows you were caught!"
Fujin growled in frustration.
"And it's not just countries," Cid continued. "You may not even be allowed to set foot in the other two Gardens ever again, and—oh, it's just no use lecturing you. I should be," he chuckled ruefully to himself, "saving these words for the person who actually deserves them. That Seifer, I tell you…."
Fujin and Raijin both shifted uncomfortably where they stood.Cid stared hard at Fujin, who stared resolutely back.
"This is the last time I'm gonna ask. Where's Seifer?"
She blinked, then replied truthfully, "I don't know."
"But—you talked to him and—" he muttered, trying to control his frustration.
"—And I don't know what happened to him after that," she finished, with a look that clearly stated that she wanted to drop the subject.
Sensing that he was upsetting her, Cid didn't press her for details. "All I really need to know is how he is. He's not dying or anything, is he?"
She shook her head.
"Good. So to wrap up…" he bounced on the balls of his feet, "it is my wish for you two to eventually continue your duties, but for now…." He shook his head and smirked ruefully once more.
Fujin and Raijin saluted, the former doing it quite stiffly, and proceeded to leave. Fujin muttered something, and Raijin shrugged.
"Now, I don't know why you won't say anything more than that," Cid muttered to Fujin's back as the doors closed upon them, "but you know who'll be at fault if something happens to him because we didn't know."
Quistis knelt down and observed the progress of the workers filling the broken chunk of the Quad balcony with cement.
"You know, Zell and Selphie tell me that they were there when this happened," Quistis mused. "They said that Rinoa was hanging off this balcony and Squall had to go get her because they couldn't reach her."
Xu smirked and clicked her tongue. "Hahaha, Squall comes to the rescue! Now that's a concept I've never heard of!"
Quistis gazed off at the distant water. "Speaking of whom… I couldn't tell for sure the last time I was around him, but I think something's distracting him."
"Hm. Well, doesn't he already have another assignment?"
"Well, yes, but… I'd be upset if I were him, not having enough of a rest after—"
Xu sighed exasperatedly, cutting into Quistis' train of thought.
"Okay, look." Xu gestured for Quistis to follow so they'd be away from the ledge and the people working on it. She crossed her arms resolutely. "I really don't think it's that big of a deal, to be honest. Ah—" she held her hand out to prevent Quistis from talking; Quistis shut her mouth and exhaled through her nose.
"Just hear me out," Xu continued. "I know you've still got a soft spot for him and all, but you're acting like Headmaster Cid's dragging him out of retirement! He's a SeeD, and SeeDs are busy people! Yeah, we all like him, he saved us from Ultimecia, blah blah blah, but it's not just about him and what you think he deserves. We all went through this." She grabbed Quistis by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. "Okay?"
Quistis gave a tiny smile. "Well, maybe I am overreacting…."
Somebody behind them, someone gave a little cough. Xu and Quistis both jerked their heads in the direction of the new arrival.
Selphie waved. "Hi! Um, we were just wondering… do you guys know where Fujin and Raijin are?"
"Why?" Xu snapped irritably.
Irvine cleared his throat. "Hey hey, so like, it was his idea." He shoved Squall ahead of him.
Squall gnashed his teeth, feeling very annoyed with Irvine. "We agreed on this, Irvine—Why is everybody staring at me?"
Quistis lay a hand on her head and said nothing.
"What are you planning on saying to them?" Xu questioned him in a businesslike manner. "If you intend to threaten them or ask them unnecessary questions, then I can't tell you."
"Of course we're not gonna threaten them. We just wanted to see them."
"That sounds like asking them unnecessary questions to me," Xu replied testily. "Ugh, fine then!" she grumbled at last. "I guess they can just—refuse to answer if—if they don't like what you have to say. But if Fujin tears you apart, then that's not my problem."
The doors slid open one inch. Fujin was staring at them unblinkingly through the gap.
"Yes?" At the sight of so many people on the other side of the door, her scowl became more pronounced. Then she caught sight of Squall, and her mood improved quite noticeably.
"Um, well, I guess you can come in," she muttered uneasily. The doors flew wide open, and Fujin turned and headed towards one of the swiveling chairs next to the dining table. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugged them tightly, and, eyeing Squall somewhat expectantly, rested her head upon her knees.
"… So how've you been?" Squall asked with a slight note of hesitation. It was a mistake to come; maybe Xu had been right about not disturbing them.
"If you're here to ask about Seifer, then I have nothing to say to you," she declared suddenly.
"Hey, don't kick us out right after you let us in!" Zell stamped his foot to emphasize his point. "We just wanted to see if you guys were okay!"
She gestured around the room. "Well, it's just about the same as it used to be, except it feels like we're under house arrest." She laughed scornfully. "Raijin and I just talked to Cid, and he said that we can't be his messengers anymore, he can't use us because everyone knows that we supported Seifer and he thinks everybody's out to kill us." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but what if they are?" Selphie asked.
"I guess he's not willing to take that chance. You know, for someone who doesn't need us anymore, he's acting surprisingly protective."
There was an uneasy silence.
"So where's Raijin?" Zell asked.
"Sleeping," she sighed. After a few moments of musing, she looked up again.
"Do you think we'll be expelled?"
They stirred collectively; apparently, they had all been thinking along the same lines as she.
Selphie shook her head vigorously. "If you haven't been expelled yet, then you probably never will be."
"Yeah, I mean, Balamb Garden offered to protect you, so I don't see how expelling you would keep you any safer," Irvine pointed out.
Fujin lay her ear to her knees so that she was staring off to the side. "The students I walk by don't seem to have a problem with us. But I doubt that they're the problem."
Squall absorbed her words carefully. "Then what do you mean?"
"Cid's not protecting us. He's protecting them, keeping an eye on us by making us stay in the Garden."
"You can't seriously believe that?" Zell asked incredulously.
Fujin shrugged dismissively. "Why not? I can't see why that isn't the case." She scowled shrewdly. "You weren't there. You didn't see how he was trying to coax information on Seifer out of me."
"But you can't blame him for being just a little bit suspicious," Zell asked. "We trust you guys, but maybe Cid's not sure whether he can still trust you."
"He knows that you've always been loyal to Seifer." Squall locked eyes with her. "And until he knows what Seifer's doing, he's not taking chances with you."
Her eyes narrowed further still. "I really did think that things were changing," she confessed, not without a hint of bitterness in her voice. "I actually thought that we all could—'start over.' Hmph. But you people are still too hung up on stuff we may or may not have even done in the past to give us a chance to stand on our own!"
"Hey, we didn't mean to upset you," Irvine stammered, raising his hands as if to shield himself from her rising tone of voice.
"'You people'?" Zell repeated with a frown.
"Well, think about it, then," she said, not appearing the least bit sorry about her choice of words. "Is it ever 'just Fujin' or 'just Raijin'? No! Everyone always says, 'Fujin and Raijin' as if we're some kind of package deal. And even if nobody says it aloud, they always link us with Seifer. Cid knows it, and I know he's expecting us to run off and—and rejoin Seifer and start some kind of disturbance all over again!"
"That never used to be a problem with you guys," Squall muttered under his breath. "You'd follow him around everywhere he went."
Her face fell as he said this. "But that was when he really needed us." She shook her head. "Now he can continue on his own." She let out a tiny laugh, as if she cared so little about the subject that laughing would somehow make it go away.
Sensing that he had stumbled across something that Fujin did not want to share with them, Squall gave her a small nod and turned to leave the dormitory. Reading Fujin's expressions was a very subtle game, but he shared his findings with no one. Perhaps the others hadn't noticed it; maybe they had never felt the same way as she, but he couldn't be sure.
Still, he had seen it and recognized it because he knew how she felt. When Rinoa had gone to the Sorceress Memorial, he had tried to override his feelings by convincing himself that it was the right thing to do. Of course, it hadn't worked. He now agreed that Cid had been smart for keeping an eye on Fujin and Raijin, but especially Fujin, even if Cid was unaware of the one reason that Fujin thought it was.