Squall and Irvine were sat on swivel chairs in the corner of Dr Odine's lab, they had been asked to be quiet and stay out of the way while some tests of the poisonous substance were being done. They had been sat for a few hours of not-so-patiently waiting, where Squall tried his hardest to block out the thought of Laguna being his father, and of that poor dog dying so horribly, 'Rinoa would kill me if she ever found out' he thought as he watched Irvine picking idly at his long tan coat. There were various tables, tubes, bunsen burners, chemicals and all sorts or equipment ranging from small hand held devices to huge machines that were as tall as Irvine. Squall wondered why he had never been in this room when he was in Esthar before, full as it was of scientists running around and half finished experiments.
Eventually, Dr Odine's assistant, Susan, walked over to the SeeD to tell themof what had been discovered so far. Irvine stood up politely when she stopped in front on them and tilted his hat at her in acknowledgment; Squall simply stared at her as he normally did, mentally willing her to hurry up.
"We have found out a lot in only a short space of time." She said as Irvine snorted in disgust, this was one of the longest 'short space of time' he'd ever had. "There are some strange…differences in the blood that we wouldn't expect." She twirled around a stray lock of her hair around a finger as she spoke, obviously still unsure about the results. "In every person there is an…energy source, so to speak. It flows in us and keeps us alive-"
"Blood?" Irvine interrupted wanting to speed up the conversation so he could leave sooner. Squall glanced at him sharply, warning him to be quiet.
"No, it's a type of energy, everyone and everything alive has it has it, and it's very similar to the energy we harness from Gaia to power Esthar. Until quite recently we didn't know it existed, but once we found it, it was easy to convert to household electricity. Raw, it is a bright white colour, but when we separated it from the blood sample, it was a bright green." She looked pointedly at the two men, who simply stared blankly back at her, not realising the importance of the statement.
Assistant Susan sighed, "Its like there's something contaminating the blood, a virus of some sort. It's not how it should be, to put it simply. We're hypothesising that the assassin's body has adapted to this virus somehow. When this came into contact with the energy in the dog, we believe there was a 50:50 chance the dog would either have died or mutate into something else. In this case it died, the natural energy in the dog destroyed itself in order to kill this contamination, and by doing so, the subject died."
She held up a small test tube of glowing green liquid, and another of sparkling white. Turning to a dark blue glass table behind her, she poured them both into an empty metal flask. "Now watch. And please bear in mind that the green, contaminated, energy is highly diluted because we don't have much of it…for now."
Irvine and Squall moved over to the table, eyes glued to the flask, still not exactly sure of what the assistant meant but still fascinated with it. The two colours refused to merge, looking like coloured water and oil and reminding Squall of the wax in the lava lamp Selphie had bought him for his 18th birthday. For a while nothing happened, and just when Squall was about to ask what they were waiting for, suddenly the green substance started to glow with a dazzling light, causing the three watching to cover their eyes by throwing up their arms in protection.
When the light faded, the flask was filled with a think black sludge, which for some unknown reason, made Squall and Irvine feel ill.
"Wha- what happened?" Squall asked not being able to move his eyes from the disgusting… thing in the glass.
"The green energy tried to contaminate the white, so it sacrificed itself to destroy the virus. This virus seems to be very dangerous, but if there is more green thenwhite, the virus wins and the white changes colour. Making the whole body infected."
"So, if there's more of the virus… stuff than thenormal kind, the virus wins and makes more of itself?" Irvine asked trying to get his head around what was being said.
Susan nodded, and smoothed down her white coat nervously, "To put it simply, yes, that's correct. We're not sure what the contamination does, especially to humans. Give us more time to make some, or rather pollute the normal energy, turning it into this abomination, and we can tell you. It shouldn't take too long."
Irvine sighed, and heavily, sat back down in his chair, his eyes still fixed to the sickening black liquid. "No point finding an inn now, I wont be able to sleep after this." He mumbled to himself, still feeling a bit nauseous after looking at the black liquid that just seemed… wrong… for some reason. It looked a bit like bottled tar or oil if he squinted. "What if we'd got some of that blood on us?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't think it would be good." The assistant replied softly.
"Does this energy have a name then?" Asked Squall, not liking the substances being unnamed.
"The white we call Pure Energy, and green, The Virus."
Balamb, Old HarbourSeifer heard footsteps hurrying his way, he needed to go, he couldn't be caught now. But the gunblade master was torn between his friends and his freedom, something he never thought possible. He had always just looked out for himself in the past, knowing that his posy would be okay no matter what happened, 'I'm so stupid, I should never have left them, this is all my fault'.
Gently he closed Rajin's eyes, and moved Fujin's hair back from her face, she always hated it getting in her way, though refused to get it cut any shorter, and in the last couple of years it had grown a fair bit. He hoped it had been quick and painless.
"HEY YOU THERE!" A man's voice barked as he ran into the harbour towards the stricken young man.
In a split second Seifer realised there was nothing more he could do for his friends, expect to avenge them, of course that went without saying, buthe had to go, now. Being caught and executed was not how they'd have wanted him to go after all they had been through together. 'I'll get whoever did this to you, I swear.'
He slowly stood up and started to leave the harbour area, passing a tall, lanky man who he assumed was doing the shouting. Seifer saw his mouth moving, obviously saying something to him, but his ears heard nothing except a faint roaring noise, he needed help and knew just where to get it from. Although it would cost him more than just money.
As Seifer hurried past, the man suddenly stretched out and clutched onto Seifer's black cloak, trying to stop him and get him to explain what had happened. The blonde simply drew his gunblade and pushed him away roughly with its flat edge,not realising what he was doing, but not hurting the man more than a blade-shaped bruise. Leaving the man gaping behind him, Seifer carried on.
He walked past the main hotel and through the busy crowd in disgust; he hated what Balamb had become, what happened to the little push over town that he knew and loved? It was just a matter of time before the whole thing was irreversible and the place became a real holiday resort. It made him feel sick, the place was practically his hometown, he'd grown up here on the streets when not in Garden training or in lessons, his earliest memory was of playing on the beach with his posse after stealing the metal collar he'd worn ever since around his neck. He knew he was trying to get his mind off the horror he had just seen, but it didn't work, everything in his life rotated around Fujin and Raijin really. Every thought somehow came back to them…or Squall. He lowered the hand that had been clutched around the collar as it began to choke him.
Seifer suddenly started sprinting, weaving through the crowds, trying to get out Balamb as quick as he could. His cloak flew out behind him, but luckily for them no one tried to stop him, he wouldn't be responsible for his own actions if someone tried anything. It was as though for a while he could outrun his thoughts and let the burning of his muscles drive away his pain. Once out onto the Balamb Garden road, he raced down it, knowing that the only help he could get was at its end.
Balamb Garden, outsideQuistis was sat on the steps leading up into Garden with Rinoa at one side of her, tapping her fingers against the stone. They were waiting impatiently until lessons had finished at 7 pm so they could tail the two Valentine brothers. Even though neither had any lessons to teach for a change, they refused to leave out of the principle of the thing, and a need to be an example to the few young children that trained there now. So many had left now, it was strange not seeing the same boy running around the fountain in the main hall almost every waking hour. 'Why did I never bother asking what his name was? Its not like I didn't see him everyday I was here.' Realising she was loosing track of what was important, Quistis shook her head to clear her thoughts and went back to watching the Balamb plains and her watch alternately.
After a few minutes more of staring blankly into the distance, Rinoa nudged her and looked pointedly down the road leading to Balamb. A tall, lone figure was jogging towards Garden; a black cape was flying out behind.
Quistis frowned as the person drew closer to them and stopped at the bottom of the steps Rinoa and her were sat on. A hood shadowed his face, making it impossible for her to make out any facial features. But the man was obviously staring at them both, trying to decide what to do. 'He must be fit though', Quistis reasoned, 'to have run all this way and barely be out of breath'. Slowly Rinoa stood up and moved over to the man. She made as though to touch his face, but stopped her hand about half way between them, unsure of what to do.
"Seifer?" She asked slowly as she looked up at the tall figure.
Quistis looked in amazement as the man lifted back his hood to reveal the blonde Sorceress' knight staring coldly back at them both. His once constant smirk was gone; the arrogant but childlike gleam in his eyes had been replaced by something else, making them look as hard as iron. After the last Sorceress war, she'd seen people with the same look once the fighting was over,although had never dared to ask what had happened to them. Something definitely had happened to him and not to long ago, but before she had a chance to ask, Rinoa had slapped Seifer hard across the face, making him stagger back slightly.
"Seifer! You Jerk! How could you do all this to us? To me?"
For a second no one moved, but then Rinoa burst out sobbing and ran back into Garden, away from the two blondes. Seifer looked at her retreating figure blankly, not seeming to take in what had just happened as he gently rubbed his cheek.
Quistis wanted to go follow one of her best friends, but Seifer was a threat and she had to keep an eye on him, then either arrest or kill him, as was right by SeeD rules. So she pretended Rinoa had never been there, and did her SeeD duty. "Ready to turn yourself in now? You've had us on quite a chase, last lead we had you were in FH. We've got quite a few governments and organisations after your head." She said cockily as she crossed her arms, not letting her curiosity and need to make sure he was alright be shown in her words or body language.
"Quistis…don't" Seifer said in a voice cracked with pain. Quistis immediately dropped the act in concern, 'Screw the rules'.
"What happened?" Quistis placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, big sister mode automatically coming on without her realising.
Seifer looked down at his feet before looking her in the eyes for the fist time in months, "Fujin and Raijin were…murdered a few hours ago."
Quistis gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.
"It was beyond violent, and I have no idea who did it. I want SeeD to help me get whoever murdered them."
Quistis nodded "I'll do what I can, but you know how many people blame you for the last Sorceress war, it could be anyone who killed them."
"No, it was someone very powerful, Fujin and Raijin are no weaklings. They ca- could, defend themselves." Seifer growled at her.
Quistis held up her hands in apology, "I didn't mean it that way, lets go inside and talk to Xu. Her and myself are looking after Garden while Squall's away for a few days on a business trip, but she's in charge of missions."
Seifer nodded slowly at his mentally pulled himself together, he couldn't let others see him with anything less than a cocksure attitude, though he allowed Quistis to steer him inside Garden and towards the main hall and lift.
As soon as he stepped inside Garden properly, he flung back his cloak, letting anyone see his trademark grey trench coat and forced himself to walk in his normal arrogant way. Sneering, with a hand resting on his gunblade, at anyone who dared to look his way.
Balamb Garden, Xu's office"Quistis! How can you possibly think that this is even a remotely good idea???" Xu yelled at Quistis while pointing a slightly trembling finger at Seifer, her other hand clenched into a fist by her side. "Do you realise how much trouble you've got Garden into by letting him in? We'll have the entire civilised world after SeeD blood, especially your blood. I thought by reinstating you as both a SeeD and instructor you'd have some sense! But I see not!!"
As Xu took a pause in her ranting to catch her breath, Quistis quickly butted in. "We will have no trouble, because according to international law, SeeD have no allegiance to any country, or person other than those in Garden or their employers. So we don't have to hand over anyone we have. Right now I am working for Seifer, and so Garden has a right to protect him, just like I have." Seifer glanced at Quistis in surprise before quickly smoothing his face back into an expressionless mask he'd learnt from observing Squall over the years. He hadn't really mentioned a possible contract with Garden, never mind having Quistis as his hired SeeD. Though she was one of the few he would have chosen if given a choice, 'Even if she does make me want to strangle her once a day', and that was what he had come here for after all, not to kill a SeeD but to hire one. 'She knows me too well if she can guess what I want without saying anything more than a passing comment about it. That's worrying.' "By handing him over to another country we are breaking our contract, spoken or otherwise."
Xu drew a calming breath and through clenched teeth hissed "I think we can make an exception for him."
"And what would Squall do if we had Seifer executed while he was away?" Quistis asked, knowing exactly what Xu had been hinting at.
Xu glared at the blonde woman standing in front of her, "Fine then, you made the deal, you're the one working for him, but I'm not sending you out alone with him. You're taking someone else who can help in case of trouble, like Rinoa."
"I don't think that's such a good idea. She doesn't seem to be all to happy with me for some reason." Seifer pointed out sarcastically, as he crossed his arms, demanding attention.
"Then all the more reason for it to be her. You have enough money to pay for two of our highest ranking SeeDs don't you?"
"Of course." Seifer lied 'Good job they don't ask for money up front' he thought as he rolled his eyes for emphasis.
"Fine, Quistis, I'll draw up the contract while you tell Rinoa her new assignment," Xu smirked at them, knowing how angry Rinoa would be, she was named 'The Angel' because of her powers, not her temper after all.
Seifer and Quistis resisted the urge to glance at each other for reassurance, and instead calmly walked out of the office, not bothering with the standard salute and marching that Xu deserved as oldest living SeeD. Both showed a mask of icy indifference as they went, but inside desperately worried about what Gaia's mightiest sorceress, with the power of two other sorceress inside her, would do to them when she found out she was working for an Ex who had tried to kill her on repeated occasions.
Ocean, South East of Dollet
Cloud threw up again, he was already regretting stealing this damn boat, actually he had been as soon as he set foot into it. His head was resting on the edge of the boat so it stuck up over the side so if he was sick again he wouldn't have to move too much; he clutched his stomach tightly and groaned.
'I hate my life, I hate the sea, I hate this boat, I hate consciousness!!' he looked over to Vincent who was sat by the motor with his legs stretched out comfortably in front of him as he steered north west towards land 'I hate Vincent, stupid "I do not get sea sick" freak. Where's Yuffie when you need her? She was worse than me, and somehow it made it a little better… I'm gonna be sick again.' Cloud groaned again and started heaving over the side of the boat, but everything he'd eaten had been thrown up hours ago, and nothing came out.
After a minute, it stopped and he lied down at the bottom of the boat, resting his head on his backpack, his sword stowed away with Vincent's rifle in a compartment on which Vincent was sitting in order to steer the boat. His throat was sore, his stomach felt like a washing machine, his head ached, and for some reason it was making all his muscles feel like jelly…painful jelly.
"Vincent…" Cloud whined like the teenager he appeared to be. He rested his bandaged left arm over his eyes to block out the bright sunlight, his other arm and legs spread eagle across the hull.
"Yes?" Vincent asked, tearing his ruby eyes away from a map of the world he had found next to a compass with some other travelling and navigation equipment.
"I don't feel so good."
Vincent smiled in amusement, his canines catching light from the setting sun, making Cloud shudder and turn even greener than before. Until Vincent had met Cloud and Yuffie he had always thought that people turning green when seasick was a myth. "Then you should not have decided to go to Deling City on a small wooden boat, it is a good job that it is easier to walk from coast to coast rather than sail directly there. We could easily have taken a train instead of doing all this."
"This was my idea? Okay, well next time I say "hey, I know, lets steal a boat although I get as sick as a dog" you have to slap some sense into me, got it? Good."
Cloud curled up into a ball, and started to pluck at his gloves that he had taken off when he had first been sick, so they didn't get thrown up all over, to try and take his mind off his stomach. "Don't really like trains either, last time I was on one of them I had to jump off it while it was moving," 'Thought I'd broken my neck when I landed' " -and the time before, I spent most of the journey clinging to the roof because no one would open a door for me." He inspected his hands, strange how they weren't lighter than the rest of his skin covered up as they normally were, maybe he didn't tan well. Else the damn Jenova cells in him wouldn't let him tan at all, thinking about it did the Boss or Vincent ever get tanned or sunburnt? Cloud glanced at Vincent, who was back to studying the map. He pretended the scars on the wrists and fingers, from Hojo's experiments and various attempted escapes, weren't there as he turned his attention back to simpler things than the complex Jenova and Mako. Actually, it was strange that he knew why he had them, but didn't know how he got them. Sometimes he really was glad he had little memory of those stolen 5 years or so.
Cloud sighed dramatically and tried not to think of any sick or Hojo-related thoughts as the boat rocked from side to side in the ocean waves.
"I'm gonna be sick"