The room is black. He refuses to open his eyes.

A part of him is livid, furious to be so weak, powerless, making his own allies forced to lock him up. Another part is drowning, desperate, hopelessly trying to cling to shreds of hatred to fuel his reason to fight.

He wants to die.

And give her back her wings. Find her, hold her in his arms, and kill Him –

– he loved her, he hated Him; he feels like he's being pulling apart, his mind broken, clouded in a painful daze. The Other has turned into her, and she… has become Him? And himself, what was he? His knight, His Nemesis? When he looks at himself, he bears the mark of her love on his back, and the mark of slavery on his neck. His body no longer belongs to him.

He hurts.

Rinoa is dead. He cannot accept it.

Rinoa, Rinoa, Rinoa... Her eyes full of love, her soft hands, her body welcoming and warm... He won't forget her, that's impossible; he had pledged himself to her - he was her knight, her protector, he had sworn to defend her even against the entire world... And he would have – destroy the world, for her. As for the Other…

His sanity wavers – to raise a hand against Him is sacrilege! He is supposed to protect Him, to destroy His enemies, to die and die and…

"No, said the Voice inside him. You made that promise to Rinoa. Not to this monster. Squall, my brave lion, wake up."

The Voice is cold and without timbre and seems familiar, but he doesn't have the strength to acknowledge its owner. The Voice pokes him incessantly in his head, again and again, throws itself against his defenses when he thinks he can forget and finally find peace. Making him remember he is still drowning.

No. He can't give in. He will avenge her. He'll kill the bastard, even if it's the last thing he'll do.

He opens his eyes, stretching his hand forward...

xxx

"Squall?"

Acting on reflex, Seifer took the hand reaching out in his own palm. Dull gray eyes, still half closed, watched him. Squall looked like crap. Seifer wanted to comment, 'You've grown pathetic, my poor Squall'. Instead, he kept silent and helped the man roll on his stomach to stretch his worn-out wings. A gift of Rinoa, this simulacrum of angelic attributes. They were oddly not that out-of-place sticking out from the back of her knight.

He opened his mouth to try saying something more comforting, but the words died in his throat before they could form. Nice was not his specialty, on the contrary. He needed to refrain himself from throwing insults to the other's perfect, lovely face. From shaking him, slapping him, humiliate him, just a little; grinding a bit of salt on his wounds to make sure Seifer wasn't constantly the only one to hurt. It would only be fair.

He wasn't suicidal, so he did nothing. Behind the window, Quistis watched him closely, a dancing reflection on her glasses; and he knew she would not hesitate to throw him in jail at the first inappropriate word uttered. Frigid bitch.

So what now... The BGU's Supreme Grand Chief was amorphous and didn't even acknowledge his presence, usually so much loathed... He had no possibility to beat some sense into him or punch him in the face. He was out of place at the bedside of his rival, especially that for once, he wasn't the one sending him into that hospital bed. He felt stupid, looking at him without knowing what to do, unable to offer words of comfort the other SeeDs wanted him to say.

What, a 'Squall, buddy, don't worry, you're not the only fucker having his brain fried by a vile Sorceress' would really cheer him up, really? Seifer held back a scowl. They had hunted him down, found him, and dragged him to his old home, all because their poor Commander fall apart when his girlfriend had turned out to be a monster.

She was also your girlfriend, a pesky little voice in his head reminded him, named reason and temperance. He never listened to it. In addition, that it was his ex-girlfriend added a whole different dimension that separated his situation from Squally-boy's. He had nothing to do with Rinoa anymore, except perhaps the vague nostalgia embracing him from time to time, when he felt a little lonely in the sad dump serving as his hideout. Squall, the pre-pubescent teenager, was madly in love with the witch. And moreover... He was her knight.

Perhaps only another knight could understand what that meant. Knight was an ill-chosen name and not even close to the harsh reality. Puppet. A doll made of meat and blood, manipulated by invisible threads, leaving no room for free will. A phenomenal brain fuck. He had been Ultimecia's puppet, so he knew what he was talking about. And the others also knew he knew. Hence the stalking, and the kidnapping, dragged by the skin of his ass in the corridors of the flying training center he called home in another life. A glorious comeback for Seifer Almasy...

And all that for...

"What about moving your ass, Squall? You're not gonna tell me you've fallen so low that the only option left to you is to hide in bed crying like a baby…?"

"Shut up, Seifer..."

Squall's voice had lost its sharpness and only rose to a murmur, but Seifer was pleased to see a reaction. Maybe there was still some Squall in this battered body. He would never acknowledge it, but it was somewhat upsetting, seeing his rival like that. He leaned over the curled form.

"So princess, you think you can control yourself, or do you prefer to keep these chains for a while longer?"

They had surprised him when arriving. He had thought Squall would be in the infirmary, as usual, in the bed which should bore his name, for the number of times he occupied it. But Quistis had led him into the basement. He didn't know that they had turned the place into a research center since they had chased Norg out.

Squall was detained – oh, the irony! The Commander of the BGU was detained in his own base! - in a room under magical protection meant to prevent the use of spells. His gunblade had been taken from him. And as a precaution, long metal chains hung on the walls encircled his arms and legs, in case the man had an irrepressible urge to throw himself against the tinted glass that formed one side of the room. A little too paranoid, the SeeDs? It was only Irvine he tried to terminate, after all. No need to make such a fuss.

Squall did not answer. The silence was dragging, and his blank gaze was unnerving. Seifer couldn't help but repress a chill and again felt totally out of place. Why was he here for again? Oh yes, trying to get a response from the lifeless Commander. He was doing amazing.

"Well, it's not like I don't have some better things to do..."

That was a lie. He actually had not better things to do, and that was the major reason he had not yet beat the SeeDs guarding him into oblivion and run away. He sighed.

"Being a Sorceress's puppet... Not that easy to resist, even for you, Puberty boy. But let's say you have favorable circumstances on your side. You obviously dislike the idea of massacring the SeeDs you're leading, that's a marvellous thing, Seifer said. But you're still a liability… If we were to remove the chains, you need to promise to be a good boy and just stay in bed. You understand that?"

He looked at Quistis. She frowned, but she did not have her bondage whip in her hands, which meant that he had crossed no lines yet. It would not be long.

"... And you will need to explain what happened, my dear Squall. I hope we have your full collaboration, because it would kind of bother me to have to bring a brand-new electric torture wall inside this school…"

This time, Quistis knocked against the window. He ignored her, not even sparing her a glare.

"Where is Rinoa?" he asked, eyes on the brunet who was looking sicker by the minute.

Silence. Seifer was a persistent bastard. He could do that the full day. Even without torture device.

"Where is she? He asked again. You are her knight. I know you can sense her presence. Tell us, let's finish this, Squall... She is a genuine threat. An evil Sorceress. Your duty, you know, the thing that this school tries to teach us? - is to stop her. Even if you were shagging her, let's not get too personal here. Go save the world again. You are used to that now, don't you?"
"You don't know what you're talking about, Seifer..."

xxx

They were not getting it. They couldn't imagine what had really happened, and it hurt him to think he was probably the only one to understand all the horror of the situation. His heart was beating too hard in his chest and his vision was still blurry, but he almost felt as if he was regaining control.

Almost. It felt like walking on a wire. He could fall into nothingness at any moment.

Why did they call Seifer? He could not stand the guy.

His thoughts were clearer, as if the cloudy veil that had fallen on them had dissipated. The pain was still there. His heart was about to burst. Bom, bom. He was a bomb ready to explode and praying to be defused as the same time. Ignore and think.

"Rinoa is dead," Squall said to the empty air.

Facts given with a monotonous voice. There was no place for feelings, for despair or affliction. Stick to the logic behind the evidences: "Rinoa is dead and is not the Sorceress who controls me."

He could imagine the livid faces of his friends, a mirror image of his own, behind his pretend mask of indifference. He didn't look at them. Ignore and think. Survival was an instinct hard to fight, which surpassed any other impulse or resolve. Committing suicide, desiring to die; for him, it was a way to make sure her memory wouldn't be corrupted, lost and buried in the sand of the past. Memories of Rinoa would survive. That was his promise to her.

"Bullshit," Seifer spat out.

Seifer's indelicate fingers grabbed his hair to force him to look at him, but Squall couldn't care less. He turned his attention towards Quistis, frozen behind the glass wall, a sparkle of understanding appearing in her eyes, shock and fright emanating from her stance, and...

"Irvine," Squall said. " Is he…"

Did he kill him? He refused to remember. His gunblade had hit the sniper, sending his body flying in the air - round eyes, mouth frozen in an inarticulate scream...

Ignore and think. He had not checked his vitals. He could have survived. Quistis confirmed his thoughts.

"Alive. Came out of coma a few hours ago."

A wave of relief overwhelmed him, and it surprised him. He was still able to feel. But his attention wavered, his inner core shattered. He could feel it; he would not hold out any longer. Quick. Stick to the facts.

"Irvine knows what happened. Rinoa was killed. Someone took possession of her body. Someone not from our world, just as Ultimecia was not of our time. He…"

His voice was shaking. He couldn't breathe. He hated to let them see such a proof of his weakness. Seifer looked at him strangely, and he hated him too. What was he doing here?

Run, run, RUN!

His body reacted first, even before his mind could acknowledge the threat. He bolted and yanked on his chains, and all hell broke loose. Seifer's arm was around him and he was pushed back against the mattress, shouts surrounding them. He didn't fight back. Out of his control, his estranged wings folded around him, protecting him from the world. The room was shaking, as if the ship had hit an obstacle. Piercing alarms were ringing through the school.

"We are attacked! Quistis shouted, her hand clutching her headphone. Enemies still unidentified, it has deviated the BGU from its initial trajectory. We are still a few hours away from Esthar. What should we do, Squall?"

And she was asking him? Run, run, run! the Voice said, but it was impossible. And he could feel it in his guts now. The Other was close. He was almost there, and if Squall was found, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist.

His decision was made.
His head was hurting too much for him to find another solution.

He grabbed Seifer's arm. They hated each other; it was perfect. Perhaps for once, destiny had done the right thing. The blond tried to free himself, scowling at him, but Squall hold him firmly and forced his attention.

"If I lose control when he arrives, kill me. Take Hyperion out now and get ready."

He would probably never know what Seifer wanted to retort, fury in his eyes, and he did not care.

The Other was coming, the Other was there, his head hurt so much – walls around them were shaking, dilated, and then suddenly –

Hyne, he hated this mocking smirk.

"My knight," said Sephiroth.

And everything exploded.