AN: Hades is one of my more loved original GFs, he appears in this fic and at least one other (unposted) fic.  I wanted a nice strong GF who was a bit of a conundrum - you'll see where that comes in during this chapter...

Disclaimers: Seifer's GF is mine... at least I got something of his *smirks* :p  The sorceress is also mine, but everyone else is Squaresoft's *pouts and throws tantrum*  wanna Squall and Seifer! – I'm not mad, honest, I didn't just say that... wanna... *slams hand over mouth* :W

Book One of the Sorcerer Arc ~ History Repeating ~ Chapter Seven ~ Hades

Squall stood, arms folded, thoughts drifting as the elevator rose.  She was up there, he could feel her, although that was something he couldn't give away.  At least he had a reputation for being stoic – and practise at disguising his real feelings.  A faint grimace crossed his face, then vanished as the elevator lurched.  This whole thing was a gamble that could go very badly wrong.  If she was stronger than him...  If she saw through the ruse...  If Seifer's plan failed...  Too many ifs, and all so fragile.  She had to be sure of herself to challenge him like this, and that meant that she had to be at least marginally more powerful than Ultemecia.  And she was already sure it was him – why else would she carry through with this plan after 'successfully' possessing him that morning?  As for Seifer's plan...it was a good plan, a very good plan, but...  There were too many things that had to go right, and that Squall felt uncomfortably certain had already gone wrong...

The brunette tucked the Griever pendant inside his shirt, feeling the cold metal press against his chest.  It wouldn't do for her to see that.  Not given the fact that he had found enough in the old texts to indicate that it was fairly common knowledge amongst the sorceresses that some sort of pendant was carried by the sole remaining sorcerer.  Fortunately pendants were as common amongst men as women – even Seifer had a chain with a (blank), name plate.  Irvine didn't have a pendant, but then, Squall supposed it was possible that the pendant could be transformed into a ring or bracelet of some sort, possibly even an earring.  After all, physical size had nothing to do with the pendant's powers.

Bright daylight and a cool breeze announced his arrival at the top of the tower.  As he stepped off the elevator, Squall found himself automatically looking for Biggs, the Galbadian soldier who had repaired the Comm. Tower, or a brief glimpse of Wedge, his lieutenant.  Somewhere, at the back of his mind, scenes from the past played, images flickering like an old tape movie.  He let the past take him, turning to watch the memory of the communications dish erupting into readiness for Galbadia's upcoming broadcast, then turning again, seeing Seifer bursting out of the elevator shaft, itching for a fight, and inadvertently triggering the events leading to the destruction of a cruiser, and a squad.

Seifer had never quite been his old, arrogant self after that.  Sure, he'd gone over to the sorceress, but Squall suspected Ultemecia had twisted the sense of failure and guilt that Seifer had to have been feeling.  One day, he was sure, the blond would tell him.  Until then, everything was just speculation...

"But speculation is so much fun..."  Squall turned, hand falling to the hilt of his gunblade, but not yet drawing it.  A fine red haze hung around the figure in front of him.  The sorceress. 

Although he hadn't expected to be very surprised by her appearance, Squall found he had no need to amplify his surprise.  It wasn't that she was ugly, like Adel, or adorned with a bizarre headdress, like Edea.  She didn't even have wings like Ultemecia – or at least, if she did they weren't in evidence.  In fact, she was rather stunning.

Squall was suddenly glad she had come after him and not Irvine.  If the cowboy had one weakness, it was women, and the sorceress in front of him would've had no difficulty seducing the hapless sex maniac into bed.  He adjusted his grip on the handle of Lionheart, calling on the junction in his mind.  He could feel her strength this close, could feel the terrible truth that he could not defeat her without surrendering completely to his powers.  Either she had knight somewhere already, or she had taken the powers of another sorceress...

You're being played for a fool Squall, act like one.  Even as he summoned Eden, he cast firaga at the sorceress.  She laughed, a strangely musical sound.  The fireball barely lived past a few inches from Squall's outstretched hand.  Then the presence of Eden was there, but the sorceress was already twisting the fabric of space, deflecting Eden's lethal attack harmlessly to one side.  Squall had to admit, the method wasn't difficult.  It seemed she too was bluffing, trying to hold back from letting him see her true strength.

But she wasn't going to let him close with Lionheart.  As he drew and raised the gunblade to attack, there was a fierce push at his chest, knocking him backwards, off-balance.  Even as he struggled to regain the lost balance, the world flickered, space being twisted again.  Squall found himself on the edge of the platform, and the sorceress preparing to cast ultima.

"Who are you?!"  He demanded.  The sorceress's eyes flared yellow through the red mist.  The ultima spell faltered.  Then she raised her hand higher, focusing the spell, holding it, ready to cast.  She seemed to be debating.  "If I'm going to die, I want to know who killed me..."  Her laugh this time was mocking.

"I am Kylari..."  Her eyes flared red for a moment, then faded back to a glowing yellow as she cast the spell.  Squall could only watch, waiting.  Time seemed to slow, the sorceress gliding forwards and around him, whispering words that tugged at the edge of understanding, but whose meaning eluded him.  Comprehension would come, Squall knew that, but he would have to give it time... The sorceress, Kylari, was back where she had cast the spell from.  Squall just had time to note that she did indeed have wings – wings that were invisible to the mortal eye – and then the ultima spell hit him.

***

Seifer stared down for a moment, seeing how small and insignificant the spray flecked rocks far below seemed.  The wind was just strong enough to make him cautious, whipping at his long coat and pushing against his body.  Flattening himself against the comfortingly solid bulk of the tower, Seifer concentrated on summoning his GF, not to attack, but to appear.

Hades announced his presence with a mental roar that reverberated through Seifer's skull, making him grateful for the stability of the tower at his back.  He didn't know whether anyone else had ever tried summoning a GF to appear physically, rather than as an attack, and, admittedly, Hades was only the second GF Seifer had ever tried it with.  He'd lost Cerberus to Quistis in Galbadia Garden.  He wished he'd known the GF had a deep-seated fear of whips.  According to Selphie the triple-headed hell hound had taken one look at Quistis's Save the Queen and had just rolled over and played dead.

Hades, on the other hand, Seifer had no intention of losing to anyone.  The GF was special, in more ways than one.  For a start, he was at least as powerful as Eden, although not as strong as Griever.  And secondly he was an enigma.  Whilst inescapably an Earth GF, Hades was also partially aligned with his opposed element, Air.

Seifer watched as the dragon, hide shining like quicksilver, glided in towards the cliff edge.  Responding to Seifer's unspoken wishes, the GF turned to fly parallel to the cliff.  Taking a deep breath, Seifer hurled himself off the cliff...

AN: It goeth well... OK, it goeth well for the re-write... not seemingly so for Squall :o