SEVEN
Lia went to my apartment for my things while I was unconscious. The only items she returned with were an envelope of pictures, my tattered coat and my gun-blade. The rest, she threw away.
I'm not pissed about it. None of that shit matters. I'd burn it myself, if I cared.
She asks if it's okay to look at the pictures. I tell her to have at it.
There aren't many. More than half are of Raijin and Fujin. Only a few are of me. She sits on the bed and flips through them one by one. Sometimes she smiles. Sometimes, she looks sad.
"Where are your friends now?" Lia asks.
"Don't know," I say. "Haven't heard from them."
"Were you happy at Garden?"
"Sometimes."
"And other times?"
"There were a lot of rules. I don't like being told what to do."
She laughs and I see something of myself there. I wonder if she was ever cut class to smoke cigarettes in a cemetery, or told a teacher to go fuck themselves. I wonder if she had friends like mine.
"I like this one," she says.
I sit on the bed beside her and look at the photo in her hand. It's of the three of us, age twelve, back when Raijin was short and pudgy and Fujin's eyes were both still functional and her pale hair reached her lower back. I have an arm slung around each of them. My smile is bright and cocky, but it's more innocent that I can remember being.
"You can have it," I say.
"You should keep it."
She doesn't have any photos of me, other than my baby pictures.
"Take it," I say.
I get up and go to the desk, where Hyperion rests against the blotter. The edge is dull, and I think I spy specks of dried blood near the hilt. Maybe it's Squall's.
"The memorial service is tomorrow," she says. "I'd like you to come. If you want to."
I consider my options. I didn't know them. Do I really belong at the funeral for family I never even knew?
"Does the rest of the family know about me?"
"Only Ronald," she says. "It would be in poor taste to announce it at a time like this."
I keep forgetting that she must be grieving too. She hides it well.
"Someone's bound to ask questions," I say.
"They won't ask me to my face," she says. "They'll just speculate behind my back. I say let them."
I turn around and face her and her eyes have gone hard and cold and I read her intent loud and clear. She wants them to talk.
She wants someone to be afraid.
Someone burned her family alive, and she wants them to pay.
Nic's lover Adrien finally calls Zell back. Adrien agrees to speak with him before the memorial, but in private, and only after Zell assured him he was not part of the Massey family.
On the day of the memorial, Zell dresses in his formal uniform and shines his boots. He slicks his hair back into a neat ponytail and double checks that his buttons line up. This is not a typical mission, these are not typical clients, and it's important that he looks the part.
Downstairs, he waits in the library for Adrien to arrive. He's nervous and he can't say why. When the man does arrive, Zell is melting in his uniform.
Adrien is not the kind of man he would imagine someone like Nic Massey would fall in love with. In life, Nic was a tall and strikingly beautiful man. Adrien is not.
He isn't ugly, but he isn't a stand-out. He's short and slender, with dark eyes and dark hair. If Zell passed him on the street, he wouldn't look twice.
There must be more to this man than his looks to keep Nic interested for so long. Zell wonders what that's like. None of his relationships have lasted longer than a few months. Fifteen years is basically a marriage.
He introduces himself and invites Adrien to sit.
"Thanks for talkin' to me," Zell says. "I know today's not the best day for it, but I appreciate it."
"If it helps find the person who did this..." Adrien says.
"That's what Lia hired me for," Zell says.
He doesn't mention that with Seifer around, it's become personal. Not because he cares about Seifer, but because the less time spent in his company, the better.
"Tell me about Nic."
Adrien smiles faintly at the table. "What can I say? He is... was the love of my life. I've never known anyone so vibrant or passionate about being alive."
"Did he have any enemies?"
"Outside of the family? No," Adrien says. "It was the family he had to worry about. Everyone but Lia and his cousin Terra condemned our relationship. The rest, they wanted me gone. Sometimes, I thought Nic only stayed with me to show them that he wouldn't be owned."
Maybe Seifer comes by his rebellious streak honestly.
"He loved me," Adrien says. "I don't doubt that anymore."
"Who was the worst about it?"
"His father," Adrien says. "It was hard not to love Nic, even for those that didn't want us to be together. They fell in line because the Patriarch said so."
Adrien bows his head and then lifts it to stare at the window behind Zell.
"This family has secrets," Adrien said. "There are things they do that would shock you."
"Such as?"
"Several of them still believe that the bloodlines should be kept pure."
Zell frowns. "What, you mean, like marrying cousins?"
Adrien says nothing. He temples his hands against his lips and chin.
"Two hundred years ago, it was common," he says. "Especially in dynasty families."
"It died out, though, right?" Zell says. "It's been outlawed."
"These old families believe they're above the law."
"So, what are you saying?" Zell asks.
"More than I should. They've killed for less."
Zell is not a fan of cryptic statements. He likes truths that he doesn't have to unravel. Facts and not suspicion or hearsay.
"Who still believes that?" he asks.
"Alman believed that decades of marrying outside of the family diluted the line," Adrien says softly. "He was prepared to change that."
Zell's skin crawls.
"But they didn't, right?" he asks. "No one in their right mind would go along with it."
"I suspect those involved were not given a choice," Adrien says. "They compelled Nic to marry a cousin. They wanted Lia to do the same. They both refused and both became victims of Alman's fury behind closed doors. They paid for their disobedience in different ways, but they paid a steep price. Lia was the only thing that kept Nic from walking away."
Zell's patience is running out. This conversation is getting creepier by the minute. He doesn't want to consider the thing that Adrien implies.
"Nic told me, just before he died, he'd been holding on to a secret for over twenty years," Adrien says. "He said just enough for me to put the pieces together."
"What was the secret, then?"
"Lia's missing boy... Lou was the one that took him. Nic planned to confront him. Now they're all dead and the only one left is in danger."
I dress for the memorial in a suit that costs more than I would make in a year of day labor. The fit is perfect. My hair has been trimmed and slicked back. The man in the mirror is someone I don't know.
Lia smiles her approval when I emerge from the bath. Her eyes go soft and sad and she reaches up to tighten the knot in my tie. I feel like I'm being choked.
"You're going to scare the hell out of them," she says.
"Should I bother to introduce myself?"
"No," she says. "Let them draw their own conclusions."
I like her deviousness and I'm curious about how the family will behave around her. About how she will behave around them.
She slips her hand around my bicep and guides me from the room.
"Don't answer any questions about yourself," she says. "We'll save that for later."
I won't have to pretend. There are too many questions I'm unwilling to answer. Some things are best left alone.
She takes me to the library. Inside, Dincht sits at a table with a dark haired man. They stare at each other in silence and the tension is thick.
"Adrien!" Lia cries. She lets me go and crosses the room with her arms held out. "It's so good to see you."
The man stands. He's slight and a little frail. Not a Massey, judging by his coloring.
"Lia," he greets and accepts her hug. "How are you?"
"As well as can be expected," she says. "How are you?"
"I can't believe he's really gone."
Adrien turns to me. He goes pale and staggers toward me with wide, incredulous eyes.
"Nic?"
"Nope," I say. "Not Nic."
I wonder if they will always think I'm him.
"You're the spitting image," he says, and there is a good deal of sorrow in his voice. "If I didn't know better..."
"I get that a lot."
He looks to Lia for an explanation. She gives none.
"This isn't him," Adrien says. It's a denial but also a question. "This isn't your boy."
Lia places a hand against my arm. Her chin lifts with defiance and pride, but still she doesn't answer.
"Oh, god Lia. Oh, god."
Dincht is more troubled than I've ever seen him. He knows something I don't. His eyes dart around the room, avoiding me and Lia. He's never been good at hiding his feelings.
"Whatever you suspect, keep it to yourself," Lia says. "I have my reasons. Do you understand?"
Adrien nods.
"Good. The memorial is about to start," she says and offers Adrien her hand. "Shall we get this farce over with?"
Interesting that she calls it a farce.
They leave ahead of me. Dincht stands in the middle of the room, his face ashen.
"Why do you look like you're about to barf?" I ask.
He shakes his head and brushes past me. I reach out and grab him by the arm and pull him back.
"Tell me."
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
I tighten my grip and expect a mouth full of knuckles, but he only jerks away from me.
"Dincht."
"I don't think I can say it out loud. And I don't know for sure if it's true."
"If what is true?"
He swallows and covers his mouth like he might actually throw up.
Lia pops her head back inside the library. "It's show time. Come on."
Dincht snaps out of his funk and his posture straightens. The switch, from insecure Dincht to SeeD Dincht is remarkable.
I grab him by the arm again.
"Don't fucking walk away from me," I warn. "You're gonna tell me what you know."
"I don't have to tell you anything your mother doesn't want you to know, now let go before I put your lights out."
"This is my life we're talking about."
"Yeah," he says, "but it's hers too."
Author's notes: Thank you to those that took the time to leave a review or follow this story. This is the final update for this site, but if you like it and want to keep reading, head over to AO3 for future updates. Thanks for reading, and special thank yous to laylaevercrest, kleptomaniac0, blue moomba, Sofhiel2212, kikodaisywrites, sorceresseternityIII for the reviews and follows.
