Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Fire and Ice. Enjoy the 1200-word chapter. I don't own FF; Atsushi and a few others do.

Seko could feel pain. That was good, it told him he hadn't died yet, another bonus if he said so himself. He still hated that he had gotten knocked out like an idiot, he had gotten stupid, reckless even.

"Ow…" Seko muttered while sitting up, being curious about where he had been for the time, he was unconscious.

"Seko?" Maki questioned while Seko blinked with interest. "Can you hear me? You've been unconscious a few hours." Maki said which was all the information Seko needed to know.

This was either the base he had first been brought to… Or a medical facility. Seko had screwed up and gotten himself hurt when the others were probably holding their own.

"So, I screwed up… Great." Seko said, pausing to let out a sigh of annoyance. "That's lovely, I hate this." Seko said as he shook his head.

Maki said nothing, crossing her legs under her. She could guess what was troubling Seko, but it was stupid. It was the first mission he had gotten sent on, Seo couldn't possibly expect himself to be as good as believed the others were.

"You, ok?" Seko said, bringing up a hand to his ringing head. "Ow, I feel like a car had hit him." Seko muttered, grasping at his temples with pain.

"I am ok, Seko. You're be as well." Maki stated which made Seko raise an eyebrow as he hummed. "And you shouldn't act like an idiot at the moment. You did the best you could." Maki said while Seko shrugged.

He looked at the woman with interest while he sat up. It made him question what had happened, they had to have won if they wrapped up to drag him here.

"Did we take out the enemy at the moment?" Seko questioned while he brushed off his arms. "I'm sorry I had gotten weak during this battle." Seko said, rubbing at his temples in pain and frustration.

Maki was silent, sitting up and setting her feet on the ground. She knew Seko was going to carry doubts about this. They had trained enough for it to make Seko guess he was quite powerful.

"Stop trying to drag yourself down." Maki stated while Seko hummed and shrugged once more. "You've defeated your enemies, we defeated ours. We've brought back one of those ice creatures and then slowly dragged it back to base to look at it." Maki pointed out as Seko nodded with a hum.

"I still got knocked out while you all didn't." Seko said, looking at her friend with a curious look. "But if we won? Then that's good, I'm going to hope we find something like a weakness for it." Seko said which got a nod.

Maki was hopeful these ice creatures had a weakness… But that were also smart. Maki had watched another group retreat when it was obvious, they had lost. She knew that they were going to also make sure to cover their weaknesses to fire as well.

Still? They had accomplished their objective when it came down to it. It was a victory that they could at least make sure to make the most of it.

"Where are the others?" Seko questioned, raising an eyebrow as he slowly stepped down from the bed. "Last thing I remember was asking for you to back me up." Seko said, pausing to squint to make sure that he was ok at the moment.

He could see bruises on his chest. Seko guessed one of them had gotten a good hit on him. It had been something that he had to keep in mind, if they were THAT strong? Then he'd have to be faster next fight which was hopeful.

"I need more training when it comes down to it." Seko stated, gaining a hum from Maki while guessed she was still made. "How are you, then? Did one of those ice creatures get their hands on you?" Seko questioned while he blinked.

"I'm fine at the moment, your hurt currently." Maki said while brushing off her arms a moment later.

Seko hummed and risked a glance up at the ceiling a moment later. This place barely felt like a home to him, but he imagined that was the point. He wasn't a true member of the team yet. He couldn't exactly cause anything at the moment to change… But he could be glad that they had what they needed now. That was enough of a good thing for him to celebrate internally at the end of the day.

"That ice monster thing…" Seko said, sitting up slowly as he paused to look around with interest. "How bad is it? That thing threw me around like a toy. I can't tell if it's alive or created in a lab or…" Seko said as Maki hummed, a small amount of confusion on her face.

She didn't know what the rest of the ice like creatures were. The research on the one they captured currently was slowly considering they were trying to preserve it from breaking down.

"You should know that whatever that thing is?" Maki said which made Seko raise an eyebrow at her. "You beat it. The one we picked up was subdued, the only hard part was taking it back here to study it." Maki added as Seko nodded and started to sit back down.

"I know enough about infernals to know how dangerous this thing could be." Seko said while he paused to rub at his eyes once more. "I don't want to know how dangerous these things COULD be." Seko added to Maki.

"Then we wait and see what comes next and the path that leads from there." Maki added which got a nod from Seko as he paused to let it sink in.

Still? He was curious what trials had come next at the end of the day. There was bound to be more tests that these creatures had to piece together sooner or later. He was going to have to face them… He WOULD face them; it would be just a matter of time before they converged upon that part of history… Their story was not yet done and they had not played their part in the story yet… Good, that was fine as long as he considered what happened next.

Still? A far more interesting tale arose from this and he couldn't wait to see what it held.

"We have to get to work then soon before something goes wrong." Seko said while he paused to rub at his temples, cursing himself for being week at the moment. There was something coming.

And he had to be ready.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that next chapter will be a bit delayed. Next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show both Maki and Seko training more and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter will be a bit delayed and will be 900-2500 words and such at the moment. It might follow other stories.