Galbadia Garden, like Balamb Garden, had become, if possible, even quieter than before it had been used as Edea's base.
"I guess even more people must've dropped out of here," Selphie mused aloud. Zell shook his head sadly but said nothing.
"It is pretty depressing to think about," Squall admitted with a shrug. He had been keeping an eye on Fujin and Raijin ever since they had entered the Garden: their eyes had been wandering far and wide, taking in every single detail.
But he had been watching Rinoa, too. She seemed to be doing absolutely fine, although Selphie's speedy explanation didn't seem to have put her mind entirely at ease.
They were standing in front of the doors to what they assumed was the headmaster's office. He broke the silence by knocking.
Within a few seconds, the doors swung wide open to reveal a smart-looking girl about their age. She had her shiny black hair up in a French braid, and she was wearing the familiar blue Garden uniform. When she caught sight of them, she smiled pleasantly.
"Good! Come on in, all of you," she told them, beckoning with her hand.
Galbadia Garden's office was unlike any Garden office they had ever seen or imagined. Instead of Balamb Garden's bare minimum, one small room with a chair and a messy desk hidden away where it could be easily missed, there were six desks arranged in two groups of three. The groups were both semicircles facing the doors, with one group nearer to the doors than the other behind it. There was a telephone on each desk; since there were no modern telephone manufacturers, the phones were mismatched and quite old, dug up from before the radio interference.
At their arrival, the five people remaining in their desks looked up from their work. They, too, were in the Garden uniform.
"My name is Shizuka," she said, shaking everybody's hands. "And these," she indicated her peers at the desks, "are my fellow members of the Galbadia Garden Student Committee."
"You don't have a headmaster or headmistress?" Squall asked, clearly surprised.
She smiled again, seeing the quiet surprise creep across their faces. "No. The Student Committee is run by, well, the students themselves. All of us in the Committee have graduated, so there's no schoolwork or testing we have to balance. This is our job."
After a moment's silence, Fujin cleared her throat.
"Isn't there something ya need to show us?" Raijin asked.
She nodded and beckoned for them to follow. "You may all come and hear this, it doesn't have to be just you two. And what are you staring at?" she snapped over her shoulder. The other Committee members hastily lowered their eyes to the various papers and files scattered across their desks. She led Squall and the others into the side room that would have been Cid's office had they been in Balamb Garden, and closed the door behind her.
She exhaled heavily. "Okay."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door; she crossed the room in a few swift strides and opened it.
Another girl, this time with chin-length light brown hair, held out an envelope. Shizuka stared at the return address for a few moments, then gave her a darkly significant look.
"Do you know anything besides what's in this envelope?"
The girl nodded.
"I'd like you to join us for this, then." She turned to address everyone in the room. "I'd like you all to meet Henrietta."
Henrietta briefly shook everyone's hands, then took up a seat next to the vacated desk. Shizuka slid out a desk drawer and retrieved a second envelope, which she passed to Raijin.
He turned the envelope over in his hands, his expression apprehensive. It had no return address. He glanced up at his sister standing beside him, then lifted the flap.
"Why is the seal broken?" Fujin asked sharply.
"The letter is addressed to Galbadia Garden," Shizuka explained. "The message inside was originally intended for us, of course."
Fujin deliberated this for a few moments, then squeezed in close enough to read it as well.
"That's his handwriting and his signature," Raijin concluded. He handed the letter to Fujin, apparently satisfied.
"You may read it aloud, Fujin," Shizuka told her.
To Whom It May Concern:
The Sorceress Ultimecia is now dead. As her former Knight and second-in-command, I am now the Imperial Dictator of the Republic of Galbadia, as well as head of all branches of the Galbadian military and de facto Headmaster of Galbadia Garden. This is a direct order.
I no longer wish to hold these titles.
I leave the task of finding a new president to all of Galbadia's citizens; the Galbadian military is to assist them in any way possible.
Galbadia Garden's remaining students should form a Student Committee of six members in the absence of a headmaster. To be eligible to serve, one must be a graduate of Galbadia Garden.
Lastly, to prevent the Galbadian military or any other political faction from forcing a candidate through the election process, as has been done in the past, I ask Galbadia Garden's aforementioned Student Committee to contact Balamb Garden and to place a request for a three- to five-member electoral commission. This commission is to oversee the election process and to keep its own record of all votes submitted.
Many thanks in advance for complying with these instructions.
Seifer Almasy
The moments of shocked silence extended into minutes. There was really no need to say anything; the letter answered it all.
"So," Fujin finally muttered, "you've all been working for Seifer this entire time."
"Who delivered this letter to Galbadia Garden?" Raijin asked.
Henrietta spoke up. "A messenger from Trabia Garden had to cross the Horizon Bridge to deliver it. And only a few minutes before you arrived, a second messenger delivered," she took the letter from Shizuka, "this. From Esthar."
They had warned him about the barrier, but he was ready. He kept walking as if nothing was wrong, hugging the edge of the barrier as he climbed little rocky hillocks and valleys. It was like staring through glass in a zoo; the creatures on the other side didn't give him a second glance.
And then, the rapid footfalls of Estharian soldiers rose up from the descending bank up ahead, behind him, all around. He pulled out a small glass vial, opened it, and drank everything inside it.
The soldiers on the south side of the mountain couldn't stop him. He was a ghostly blur that couldn't be harmed, flying through their ranks as if winged. They chased him, attacked him relentlessly, but although he hadn't even drawn his weapon, he hadn't needed to. He passed through the city limits just as easily as their bullets and slashes had passed through his body, and he was safe.
Was she imagining this, or had security inside and around the Presidential Palace suddenly doubled in strength?
She was in a guest bedroom that would soon become hers. Everybody around her was busy, much too busy to talk. What was going on?
There was a quiet knocking on the door.
"Come in," she said.
Kiros stepped inside quietly and closed the door behind him just as quietly.
"Something's happened, as you may have guessed," he began right away. "I'm afraid you and Laguna can no longer leave the Palace until this is resolved."
She rose to her feet. "What's all this about? What's happened?"
"Seifer Almasy just breached our invisible barrier at the city limit," he told her carefully. "We don't know why he's here, but we've increased security as an extra precaution."
She nodded. "I understand."
He saluted and turned to excuse himself, but stopped with his hand already on the doorknob.
"I know you knew him when you were younger, but please don't go looking for him. If he is indeed planning on contacting you or Laguna, then it would be best to let him come to us."
For a few moments after he had gone, she stared at the closed door; it suddenly emitted a soft click. She was locked in.
She said to the room at large, "I do hope you know what you're doing, Seifer."
They didn't know whether he intended to break in, and they had to be on the lookout around the clock in case they were right. Eventually, they would get tired; they would allow an opening to appear. That would be his chance.
But until that chance came, he would need information.
Cid nodded absentmindedly while he mulled over their words.
"Well, you all seem to be healthy, and Rinoa is even conscious now, but I still want all of you to report to Dr. Kadowaki before going to bed." He scratched his head. "Contact with people from the future should definitely not be taken lightly, and we know next to nothing about these kinds of encounters."
Twenty-five minutes later, Dr. Kadowaki pieced Fujin's and Selphie's separate stories together in her head as best she could.
"But what is it that he told you while you were alone with him?" Dr. Kadowaki pressed Fujin. "It seems to have been quite important. Is it something that I must know? Is it something that could help Selphie if we knew what it is?"
Fujin shook her head.
She sighed reluctantly. "So, after giving you this information you are withholding from me, he injected you with an unknown chemical, and judging from what he told you, this chemical will cause you to forget that information in thirty days. Correct?"
Fujin nodded this time.
"He then injected Selphie with a similar chemical that immediately erased all memory of the conversation she overheard between you and that man. Does that make sense?"
She nodded again. "Did you tell Selphie that her memory's been erased?"
"I am only repeating your view of what happened. I didn't tell you any details of her experience, and likewise, I didn't know your side of the story because I spoke with Selphie first," she declared with finality. She crossed the room and exited, then returned with Selphie a moment later. Seeing her close-up once again, Fujin was struck by how tired Selphie looked. She did not smile, and her eyes didn't focus on any one object in the room.
"Now before I let you go," Dr. Kadowaki began, "I'd like a blood sample from each of you, and I'd like you," she pointed at Selphie, who looked up in surprise, "to spend nights in the infirmary until I discharge you."
When she had collected enough blood from each of them, Fujin was dismissed. One by one, the others came in, then came out and returned to their dorms until only Rinoa was left.
But Fujin was still waiting outside, waiting for Rinoa to come out, but she didn't. Only when Dr. Kadowaki reemerged and asked why she was still there did she finally go back to her room.
Two days later, he decided to do it. He felt sure that if he waited any longer, some unforeseen development would make it impossible to proceed.
She had no idea what time it was, and it didn't matter to her either way. She was still restless; definitely not sleepy.
And suddenly, her bedroom window shattered. She leapt to her feet, looking around wildly for the source. A man with blonde hair and a gray trench coat lay face down on the floor.
Seifer quickly got to his feet. There were small cuts on his forehead where he had bashed through the window—or perhaps he had soared right through the glass?
"I need to talk to you!" he shouted over the blare of alarm bells traveling through the whole Palace. "You have to buy us time!"
Ellone's gaze relaxed; the alarms stopped, and so did the clock on the wall.
"Take as long as you must," she said, a tiny smile upon her lips.
His eyes strayed to the frozen wall clock.
"Congratulations," she said.
"W-What?"
She smiled more widely. "Your wish came true, didn't it? Now you have the time to compose your thoughts."
He regarded her momentarily with an expression of incredulity upon his face.
"How did you know?"
"I can just tell." She sat down on the edge of her bed. "What would you like to talk about?"
In truth, she had stolen time for both of them, not just for him. Out of them all, she had been most worried about Seifer. She should have been looking out for him as well, but she had shown favoritism towards Squall. She should have made sure that Seifer wouldn't get sucked into Time Compression, that he would be safe: but she had forgotten about him.
A part of her wanted to ask what he had been up to, and why he had gone to Trabia. But he had gone to so much trouble to find her: he deserved answers more than she did.
"I need you to send messages to people for me. I can't do it myself without the messages being intercepted—"
"I understand," she told him at once. "What are the messages?"
For the briefest moment, a shadow passed over his features.
"First… what exactly is Time Compression? I mean… how does it fit in with the real world world?"
She frowned. "The 'real world'… if you're referring to the state where time flows normally, then calling it the 'real world' would make sense, but I'm afraid it's no more or less real than the state of Time Compression. All of these 'alternate worlds,' where time flows differently," she gestured around the frozen room, "or even not at all, are simply versions of the 'real world.' Without our 'real world,' there would be nothing to modify to create Time Compression, you see?"
"Is that the only way they're connected, though? Everything just branches out from the real world and becomes a separate world in itself?"
She shook her head at once. "As I said, they're all real, and they're all a part of the real world. The real world and the alternate worlds all influence each other."
He thought back to his experience in Time Compression, who he had met, and why.
"You wondered if what you experienced in Time Compression was real," she declared shrewdly.
He nodded. "So it was real? And everyone I met when I was there, they were all real, too, right?"
"They seemed real to you, didn't they? They felt real?"
"That doesn't necessarily mean that they were real, though."
"But they were!" she insisted, and her eyes twinkled knowingly as she spoke. "They materialized before you and became a part of your reality because you wanted them to! That was how their real selves were able to contact you! If you had wanted them to be mere illusions to comfort you, then that is what they would have been."
A memory surfaced and overtook his physical vision: that of Rinoa struggling against him as he pushed her toward Adel.
"For example," Ellone said, "there's this. You saw this. It's just a memory of her, but you saw it because you wanted to understand what she had been trying to tell you. You had no desire to confront her personally at the time." She paused to think over her next words. "She was in Time Compression, too, you know. But even if you had wanted to see her, she wouldn't have come, because—"
"—Because she didn't want to see me, either," he finished, his expression painful.
The scene before his mind's eye grew dark, and out of the darkness came….
"But Fujin did," Ellone said quietly. "She wanted to find you, and you wanted to find her.
It had been only a moment, a single, fleeting wish that he was sure could never come true anyway, but by some miracle, it did.
"Just before she came," he recounted slowly, "I thought to myself that I wished Fujin and Raijin were there…"
"And through that little window of loneliness, she was able to find you." She sighed absentmindedly.
"Now, for your messages…"
He seemed to awaken at this reminder. "Make sure Fujin and Raijin know that I'm okay, but…"
"Make sure Fujin and Raijin know that I'm okay, but… only tell Fujin that I'm coming back."
"May I ask why you don't want Raijin to know this?"
"… He'll be all right if he doesn't know," he decided. "But I think Fujin needs to know.
"Tell Rinoa that I'm sorry about everything, not being able to help her free Timber. And… make sure Squall takes good care of her." He nodded. "That's all."
Ellone paused to think, looking concerned. "Are you sure? After everything you did to get here—"
"And I'm sorry for getting you involved in this, too. I don't want to make things harder on you… but I had to make sure you'd take care of everyone for me, you know?"
The way he was speaking… it sounded final, almost like his own eulogy. And the calm, composed way he had structured his every word… it was, to her, disturbing.
"You don't need to do this to yourself, Seifer. I can speak to Laguna, you can explain everything to him—"
He shook his head firmly.
"Then… Then I'll help you escape. I know how to make it work," she offered desperately.
For a few moments, he merely stared at her. And then slowly, confidently, he nodded.
"Good luck," she called after him, and then their 'alternate world' collapsed. The clock started moving, the alarms started screaming, but Seifer continued to stand immobile, watching her face and nothing else.
The door burst open behind him and Estharian soldiers seized him, dragged him slowly backward. He submitted without a fight; in face, he didn't even seem to care that he had been caught.
In his eyes, she saw it: his final message. It was as if he were willing his entire soul into a moment's gaze. She saw desperation, pain, a longing for her to get the message, to understand what he had no time to say.
And she did understand: that gaze perplexed her so because it had not been meant for her, Ellone, and therefore meant nothing to her.
But to Fujin, it meant everything.
And Fujin… Fujin was lost in what she thought could be a dream. Seifer was taken out of sight, and she was left in the spot where her feet had carried her. But it didn't matter if it was real or not. She wanted so badly for it to be real, and if it mattered to her so much, then that was enough to bring it to life, if only inside her head.
Still asleep, she began to cry.
