A/N: OK again I have taken a long time to come back to you. But no more broken promises. I'm finishing this story after years of attempting to. This story deserves an ending and I'm going to write it. Thanks for being patient guys, I'm sorry I have let you down. This isn't the final chapter, but I promise before the end of the year you will get an ending, if everyone hasn't given up and left already lol. I don't blame you.

I love Seifer and Selphie and I want them to have an ending...that's if they manage to find each other in time...

Thankyou "-"

Chapter 11 - Alone

Oh Hyne…

It was exactly as he expected, and yet the shock that had taken hold of his body was something he couldn't have prepared himself for.

He had seen some sights back when he was playing on the side for evil, and even before that but still-

They had been too late.

The dawn had come, and with it, the horror of the nights war. Bodies of villagers and SeeD's were scattered on the ruins of the fishing town. The Galbadian army had decimated all those who stood in their way, even noticing the bodies of Galbadian soldiers did not console him. But this was not the time to grieve.

Swallowing back his emotions, the SeeD who never was turned around and went in search of his comrades.

Squall looked around at the sight that lay before them. It was quiet. Perhaps a little too quiet...

"Commander!" He turned around and spotted Locke striding towards him, "Sir, we have accounted for the most of our troops, it seems quite a few Galbadian soldiers were also casualties but..." he faltered and Squall knew what he was thinking. "But it doesn't help, I know Locke."

Locke straightened up, "What's our move sir?" Squall turned away and spotted his friends moving amongst the rubble, looking for survivors but finding none. "We must take our...comrades back home and give them the proper burials required. After that we must get in touch with the leaders and plan our next move."

He saw Rinoa coming towards him, but he couldn't even manage a smile."How you doing?" she asked.

Saying nothing, Squall shook his head and went to turn away. "Squall-" He felt pressure on his back and the scent of her filled his senses. He blocked tears from escaping and let her hold him. Silently they mourned for their fallen troops.

Zell kicked at a rock and cursed when pain rushed throughhim. "Damn those Galbadian scum! Why they gotta destroy everything they see?" Angry he kicked another stone and cursed again. He felt a presence from behind and fell instantly into his defensive stance.

"Woah easy chicken-wuss, just me." Seifer held up his hands in defence and looked at the angry young SeeD. "They destroyed everything..." Zell's anger was replaced by a look of defeat and pain, he gestured his arms towards the area, "They just killed 'em all and left!"

"Obviously knew the leaders had gone" Seifer responded quietly. "So they got outta here 'fore we could come kick ass!" Zell punched his hands together and stomped the floor, hard.

First there was a tiny vibration from the force. But then another came. And another. Seifer noticed a puddle nearby, its calm surface disturbed by ripples, and was responding to a rythum that was seeming louder,and nearer. Seifer looked at Zell. Zell threw his hands up in a gesture and before either one of them could speak a great force shuddered through the ground and hurled them to their feet. Seifer quickly got to his feet and heard shouts coming from just over the hill, and then...

Galbadian Soldiers, a huge army of them racing towards the small group so fast it made Seifer's head spin.

"They were expecting us!" Zell yelled as he ran towards his first foe. Seifer grit his teeth and unsheathed his gunblade.

Bring it on

A roar from a nearby fiend startled Quistis, "They brought claws" she shouted back and equipped her GF just as a Galbadian soldier ran toward war cries and monster roars filled the smokey air and within a few seconds the two sides had crashed into each other, leaving dirt and corpses in their war had begun.

Fouteen hours later, the hope of victory for the young SeeD's seemed nothing but crushed as their troops were diminishing. Locke knew it was time to pull back; there was nothing they could do had been no sign of the leaders, he didn't know whether this was a good sign or not, but Locke had to reamin sharp as he struggled to keep his head ontop of saw Commander Leonheart a few steps away and whistled to him turned and noticed the other commander, and nodded grimly when he saw his face.

Time to go.

"All troops pull back! Back to the airships immediately!" they both yelled as they attempted to grab every SeeD they could find and pull them up with strained his eyes through the cloud of smoke that hung visibly in the air, he noticed Seifer and Zell a few yards away giving all they got in an attempt to cut down the numbers of Galbadian soldiers, and he whistled as loud as he could to grab their attention.

Seifer had finished with this one; there was no way he would be getting back up, Seifer gave a grim smile as he turned to face three more Galbadians in his was getting tiring. A loud whistle pierced the air and Seifer cautiously moved his head, he could just about make out the shape of his commander waving his arms, signalling to the airship."Oi Chicken-wuss!" Seifer yelled over to Zell without taking his eyes off Squall, "Time to go!"

But Zell had his own problems.

1...2...3...4...5...6

6 Soldiers - 1 SeeD

I'm in trouble.

Yelling his war cry, Zell jumped on top of one as he let out a right hook on the nearest, quickly he doubled back and slammed his right foot into the jaw of the poured through his veins and he gave a smile; three down, three to g-

SMACK...

The fourth foe had crept up on him and knocked him out cold with the butt of his sword.

Seifer had had enough.

Gripping his gunblade tightly he ran up to the attacker and proceeded to give him a taste of his own weapon.

Squall and Locke had managed to retrieve most of the SeeD's, he noticed Quistis powering up the airship ready to go.

Where the hell are Seifer and Zell?

Getting increasingly worried now, Squall ran down the ramp, fighting off any soldiers attempting to board.

And that's when he noticed them. Zell was still on the ground and Seifer knew he had sweat pouring down his back as he attempted to defend his fallen comrade. Sweat was pouring down his back, or at least he hoped it was sweat.

"Damn you Galbadian scum," he spat as three more rushed him, "Why you always gotta pick a fight with kids?"He knew he was hideously outnumbered but he didn't care, all he cared about was cutting through and wiping them out, one by one.

Or Heck all at once he wasn't fussed.

Before he knew it he felt a cold streak of something...fear? clutch at his heart as he remembered something.

Where's Selphie?

His focus gone, that was the last thought running through Seifer's mind as he felt a heavy object slam into his head, and then all he felt was darkness.

- - - - - - - -

"Seifer!"

What...

"Seifer!"

Go away...

Somewhere in his unconsciousness, Seifer reluctantly felt himself stirring, and he tried to fight it. All he wanted to do was to sleep, plus he knew that when he woke up, He'd feel the pain he knew his body was in. His eyes opened despite his best efforts, and the bright light hurt.

Ouch

There's that pain I knew was coming.

Groaning, he moved his arm in front of his eyes to block out that evil sunlight.

"How you feeling?" the voice sounded concerned and he warily moved his arm to squint up at the person by his bedside. Quistis had her arms folded and was looking at a clipboard, "Your stats are normal, but you took quite a beating Seifer, you got lucky."

Seifer groaned again and tried to sit up, "Tell that to those damn Galdbadian jackasses." A little smile appeared on the ex-instructors face, "Now this situation seems familiar, it seems only yesterday it was Squall lying bleeding in the infirmary." Seifer glared at her but that even that made his head hurt, until a thought struck him which subconciously brought his hand to his bandaged head.

"What happened? Where is everyone? Hope I kicked some ass before they done me in." Quistis stopped smiling and put the chart back on the table, "I'll go get some meds and be right back, is there anything I can get for you?"

"Yeah," he looked at her squarely, "I'd kill for a beer."

She was quick in returning with his meds and to his suprise...a beer.

"Somethin' must be wrong for you to bring booze in here," Seifer joked as he held out his hand for the bottle.

Quistis held it back and held out the meds, she waited as he washed the pills down with a glass of water.

"So Instructor you wanna tell me what's goin' on? Cos with my headache I sure as hell ain't too clear on the details" he said looking her straight in the removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing she put them back on and looked directly down at him.

"Basically the mission was a failure, we lost troops, almost got ourselves killed in the process and we still have yet to figure out where the Galbadians are currently hiding if we have any hope of finding..." she broke off and stared at the floor.

Seifer's heart stopped, "Selphie?"

Quistis looked up and frowned, "Well I was going to say the world leaders, but yes, I believe Selphie may be held captive with them.

"Seifer growled and sat up quickly, ouch head, "Dammit whaddya mean 'you believe so'? I don't believe this-" He shot to his feet, clenching his teeth at the wave of dizzyness and nausea that overcame him.

"Seifer wait!" Quistis shouted behind him, but he was already halfway out the door. It took a leap and a firm grip on his arm to spin him around to face her, "If you go out there by yourself, you will Die. They will kill you do you understand me?"

Seifer glared at her, "I'm not sittin' around doing nothing. Don't mistake me Instructor, I'm not like that poncy Commander Leonheart, sittin around makin plans ain't my scene. I'm going out there-" he shook her hand off and started to walk away, "-and there's nothin you can do to stop me."

"You won't win."

Frustrated he turned around and narrowed his eyes, "Oh yeah? And why's that? You forget Instructor" he sneered, "I killed many in my time, I took down a Garden and sent in an army to destroy my own home. A few spotty Galbadians aren't gonna stop me, I'm Seifer remember?"

Quistis stared at him, "No you're not."

Seifer was momentarily thrown, "What you say?"

Quistis smiled without a trace of humour, "You forget Seifer, I know you. You're right, a few years ago you were someone not to be messed with, people were scared of you. You were vicious, a ruthless man with nothing to lose. You could take on the world with your gunblade and laugh your way through it. But now..." she trailed off and shrugged as if no more words were needed.

Seifer growled, "You saying I lost my touch? Instructor, believe me I may be slightly less ruthless than before, but you don't know how close you are to letting this bloodthirsty animal out."

Quistis shook her head sadly, "I'm nowhere near him".

"You saying you want me to let him out? I do that and I'm outta Garden again, this time I got things to lose I know that now. I got a home, a second chance-"

"-and someone you love" Quistis finished.

He stared at her and flung his hands up in anger, "Damn you instructor, you're asking me to be the person who once tried to kill you, you want me to get kicked out again? If I do that there's no going back, you hear me?" His anger took hold of him and he grabbed her, pushing her against the wall, "What reason could you have for wanting me to go back?"

She stared at him, unblinking, not moving, not resisting, "Because that's the only way we are going to win this war."

- - - - - - - -

My head…it hurts…

The cell was pitch black, the only accompanying sound were rats scuttling beneath the floor and every few seconds a drop of water splashing gently outside.

She moved very gently, she felt a cold clunk of metal and a slight resistance against her freezing hands.

Chains…

It smelt of must and damp, the air was cold and her body felt numb against the unforgiving stone floor. Even if she had the energy to cry, the tears would be frozen on her cheeks. She had never felt so alone, so close to giving up, every part of her body hurt.

Suddenly through the silence came a piercing scream, it was a male scream, somehow that made it even more appalling to hear, she tried to cover her ears but her hands were chained up high. She shut her eyes tight and tried to block out the sound, the sound of someone being tortured was new to her, but with every nuance she knew she never wanted to hear anything like that again for as long as she lived.

For the first time she realised her death might be a lot closer than she thought.

That's what they're gonna do to me…

She cried.

- - - - - - - - -