They hit the ground running in Deling, heading straight for the Gustafson house. Reginald had the gate and he looked unusually grim. "Heard about the late-president?" he asked, attempting for a light tone and failing miserably.

"There are greater things at stake here than some possessed Sorceress taking out Deling," Seifer replied as they pushed through the gate. "Are Chris and Greg here?"

Reginald nodded, frowning slightly as he tried deciphering Seifer's cryptic message. "The Ricafortes, too. October's in D-District."

"Hyne-damned, mother-fucking, cock-sucking son of a bitch," Squall snarled before stalking towards the house.

Seifer sighed and started after his lover, sparing a, "Thanks, Reg," for the gaping guard.

Squall practically stormed into the sitting room, eyes dark with fury. The four parents in the room had all jumped to their feet in horror, but they relaxed some as they recognised the two young men and re-took their seats. "As quickly and concisely as possible, what happened last night?" Squall requested, voice laced with tension.

General August Ricaforte immediately straightened and explained, "The Sorceress Edea's parade was ended by a group of SeeDs in a failed assassination attempt. Deling was killed by Edea prior to her departure from the presidential residence. The SeeDs were captured and, rumour has it, sent to D-District."

"It's not a rumour," Seifer muttered.

Squall pressed his lips together in a thin line. "Reginald mentioned October was one of the SeeDs captured; do you know any of the others?"

"From the photos you sent us, yes," Christal replied shakily. "Irvine, Quistis, Fujin, and Raijin were all there."

"Fucking Martine," Squall growled.

Seifer shook his head. "Squall, we don't have time to curse spineless twits."

"I know." Squall ran an agitated hand through his hair and glanced back towards the parents. "Leave October and the others to us. General, I don't suppose you've a military vehicle that we might borrow? Preferably a fast one."

"Certainly," August agreed, getting to his feet. Both he and his wife looked much better upon hearing that the two SeeDs would see to their son's safety. "You need it to get into D-District?"

"It would certainly help, but we also need to get into the Galbadia Missile Base," Seifer replied. "The Sorceress is going to retaliate for the attack, and with her planning to control Galbadia Garden, the other two are going to take the heat."

"You think she's going to attack the Gardens?" Gregory whispered, paling.

"We're certain of it," Seifer replied, glancing back at August, who looked sick again at the thought of firing missiles on a school. "General, time is of the essence."

August shook himself and nodded. "May, stay here with Greg and Chris," he ordered his wife, and the woman gladly relaxed back into her seat.

"We'll message you as soon as we can," Seifer promised their adopted parents before following Squall and August from the house, the general saying something about writing them a pass to ease their entrance into both the prison and the missile base, if necessary.

The teens had 'borrowed' a car from the lot next to the Deling City docks to speed up their journey into and through the city. They quickly shifted their things from the borrowed car to the military vehicle before Seifer drove off with the borrowed car to dump it down town. Squall followed him in the military vehicle to pick him up before driving out of the city. Once outside the city limits, he floored it and they went flying towards the Galbadia Missile Base, the military vehicle taking a minor beating when Squall didn't bother trying to drive around minor patches of difficult terrain.

With them in a military vehicle and wearing the uniforms of commissioned officers – which had been lent to them by August – getting into the base was distressingly easy. They hadn't yet received the order to aim missiles at Trabia and Balamb Gardens, but the two SeeDs knew it was only a matter of time.

Being the insane hacker he was, Squall managed to set and lock the self-destruct sequence from an apparently useless computer panel just inside the main entrance of the base. He also gave them five minutes to calmly walk away from the base before the ten-minute countdown started and the rest of the base personnel ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

"That was strangely cathartic," Seifer commented as Squall stopped them a safe distance away to watch and ensure the place actually blew. "We should blow up things that pose a potential threat more often."

"I'll keep that in mind," Squall replied drily, rubbing at his eyes.

Seifer reached over and pulled the hand from Squall's eyes. "You're going to mess up your make-up, and then they'll never let us in," he chastised. When Squall's hand gripped his own, Seifer's eyes darkened with worry. "What is it?"

Squall shook his head and looked back towards the base, which was swarming with fleeing personnel.

"Squall, what is it?" Seifer repeated, voice a touch sharper in warning.

"I don't... like leaving them in the prison," Squall admitted. "I know the Ghost and them managed to free themselves before, but not without some suffering on the Ghost's part. Ultimecia is still going to want to know what SeeD is for, and I don't know which of them she'll focus on."

Seifer entwined their fingers together in a silent offer of comfort, sick at the reminder of reading in the journal what had happened to the Ghost in D-District, during that chunk of time that Shiva had stolen from Squall. He'd never been as glad for the GFs' ability to steal memories as he'd been at that moment, unwilling to imagine how he and Squall would have turned out with something like that lurking in the brunet's memories. He'd almost let Ifrit steal his own memory of the written words, but he'd stopped himself at the last moment, determined to not forget that there was a monster buried somewhere underneath his friendship and love for Squall.

If being a mercenary had taught him anything, it was that there was a darkness in everyone, hidden beneath even the most innocent smiles; being Squall Leonhart's best friend had taught him that the only way to truly master that darkness was to face it head on and accept it, something which Seifer had once thought Squall capable of doing with an inhuman ease. It was only after Squall shared the Ghost's memories that Seifer thought he understood why Squall managed so much better than any other kid in their shoes, but after becoming lovers, Seifer discovered that Squall still struggled with his own demons, the same as anyone else; he simply kept it behind closed doors and poured it out onto page after page of his journal.

The ground shook suddenly, tearing both teens from their thoughts and fears. They watched with grim smiles as a cloud formed over the missile base, growing in leaps and bounds as secondary explosions from the overheating missiles and computer systems did further damage.

Squall untangled his hand from Seifer's to put the vehicle back in gear. "Let's go."

"They're stronger than we think," Seifer commented quietly, "stronger than your Ghost ever saw them to be, certainly. And unless there's something August forgot to mention, Ultimecia doesn't have any psychological weapons against them, except Matron."

Squall sighed. "I know."

"I'm worried about them, too," Seifer murmured. "Maybe we can blow up the prison, too?"

"No."

"Oh, come on, Squally!"

"No."

Seifer pulled on an outrageous pout. When a faint smile touched Squall's lips at the pout, Seifer considered himself victorious.

D-District was both easier and harder to get into than the missile base had been. Easier because there wasn't anyone manning the gate, but harder because they'd already received word that the base had been destroyed, and they were suspicious of any new arrivals. Almost before Squall could finish putting their vehicle into park, the warden and a few soldiers were walking out to meet them, guns in their hands.

After a trade of salutes, the warden said, "Evening, gentlemen. What brings you out here so late?"

"Orders from General Ricaforte," Seifer reported, holding out the paper from August. "He was unable to come out himself, due to his wife's poor health, so he sent us in his stead."

The warden read over the letter and couldn't contain a wince. "Disinherited? Ouch." He looked back up at the two young men, his expression much more open at their apparently legit reason for being there. "Well, the Sorceress gave us orders to break the kid; maybe this will do it. Might as well come on in."

They were led up into the prison, the door of the bottom floor being in the perfect position to enter by. Somewhere around floor five, Seifer flushed and asked, "I'm, erm... This is going to sound stupid, but, I don't suppose there's a toilet around here?"

"I told you not to drink that tea before we left," Squall muttered, playing along.

The warden chuckled. "Yeah, there's one the floor down. Corporal, why don't you show him where it is?" he said to the soldier who'd remained with them when they entered the prison.

The soldier saluted and led Seifer back down a floor, leaving Squall and the warden to continue up alone.

Seifer really had needed to use the facilities, so he relieved himself, then casually knocked out his guide and left him to nap in the toilet. Squall had said the others had been held in the seventh floor in the Ghost's memories, so Seifer started there, peeking into cells as he passed and getting more and more concerned as he continued to turn up blank; having to search the entire prison would not be fun.

At the last cell, he found the four people he'd been looking for, all looking a little downtrodden. He clicked the lock open with the ID card he'd snatched from the napping guard and shoved the door open. "Fuck, I think I'm about to suffocate on the self-pity," he snarked. "You people are useless without Squall and me around, aren't you?"

"Seifer!" Quistis gasped, jumping to her feet and running over to hug him.

"Okay, just a warning, I am not good with crying women. That's Squall's gig," Seifer warned, more than a little worried by the tears he'd seen in Quistis' eyes.

"IDIOT," Fujin declared, the relief in her voice clear.

"Yeah, that's me," Seifer agreed cheerfully as he gently pushed Quistis back and gave her a concerned look. "We can't dawdle, Quis."

Quistis nodded and rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I know. Sorry."

Seifer shook his head. "Your weapons should be up a floor, and Squally's gone up to the top floor to collect October. Let's get going."

The group of formerly imprisoned SeeDs traded troubled looks and took deep breaths before all nodding and following Seifer from the cell.

Upstairs, Squall and the warden were just entering the torture room, and it took all of Squall's self-control to appear outwardly emotionless at the sight of his friend: October was hung on the wall, currently being zapped with an electrical current, though the technician turned it off when he saw his superior. "Sir!" he called, performing a sharp salute.

Squall took a step forward, ignoring the technician, and snapped, "October Ricaforte!"

October's eyes snapped opened and he raised his head just enough to get a good look at Squall. Relief flashed in his gaze for just a moment before he schooled his expression into that of someone who knew the end was standing in front of them; Squall's disguise gave him a pretty good idea about how this was going to go.

Squall's heart broke just a little bit. "I have orders from General Ricaforte that you are to be informed of: 'Get my son out of D-District'."

"Wha–!" the warden gasped before a knife blossomed in his throat, making him gurgle and clutch at the hilt as he sank to his knees. The technician met a similar end, another knife hitting him in the back of his neck and sliding with an ugly sound through his spinal cord.

Squall stalked over to the controls and hit the buttons to let October down off the wall, then knelt next to the older SeeD and checked his pulse. "Your parents send their greetings," he murmured.

October let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a cough. "Yeah, got that bit." He rubbed at his raw wrists a bit, managing a grateful smile when Squall pulled out some potion-soaked bandaging from his kit to wrap them with. "I take it Seifer's around here somewhere?"

"He's collecting the others," Squall agreed quietly. Once October's wrists were wrapped, he lifted his chin and met his eyes with a sharp gaze, searching for any signs of a head injury. He was pleased and more than a little relieved when October met his gaze without any apparent effort. "Think you can stand?"

"Let's find out," October replied. Squall helped him up and supported him for a moment while he regained his legs, then stood back to give October some space to work out a couple kinks, which he did with great care while saying, "I overheard a couple of the soldiers saying something about blowing up Garden."

"Already taken care of," Squall replied, shaking his head. "We blew up the missile base before coming here."

October shook his head in disbelief, then had to catch himself against the wall. "Never mind, then. I'm just going to stand here and look pathetic while you continue making magic in your usual fashion."

Squall snorted and handed over a potion before heading back towards the computer terminal and hacking it. By the time the others got to the torture room, October looked almost like a normal person again and Squall had figured out pretty much everything about the prison, including how to submerge it enough for them to be able to safely jump to the ground from the walkways above them.

"They were having a pity party when I got there," Seifer complained as he joined Squall by the terminal, kicking one of the dead technician's hands out of the way. Behind him, the others had all hurried to check on October, who was trying to assure them he was fine and comfort Quistis, who he'd started dating a few days before Seifer and Squall got sent on their trip down to Esthar.

"Cut them some slack," Squall replied as he started the submerge system, "they were just ordered to assassinate Matron, who has apparently gone insane, and they fucked up."

"Escape first, mope later," Seifer muttered.

"You're beginning to sound like me," Squall informed him, rolling his eyes and turning his attention to the other SeeDs. "Okay, kids, let's get out of here."

"Who're you calling a kid?" October demanded with a touch of good humour.

"Apologies," Squall replied, "Kids and invalid."

There was some strained laughter at that and everyone obediently fell in behind Squall when he took the lead up to the walkways, which were just starting to extend again, the prison having halted.

"We're jumping?" Irvine asked in concern. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"I locked the system so they can't move the prison again for another hour," Squall replied with a shrug. "And there's no way we'd make it downstairs before someone caught us and set out the alarm."

"Squally said 'jump', so we're jumping," Seifer told Irvine, pushing him towards the edge. "No time to be a chicken-wuss."

Squall snorted in amusement at the history behind that particular name – which no one but he and Seifer knew – and jumped over the edge. He landed a little bit harder than he'd expected, but it wasn't so bad as to cause any real damage. The others landed around him, Irvine letting out an exaggerated groan at the minor jarring, only to let out a yelp when Fujin kicked him and snapped, "BABY."

"We should all be able to fit in that thing August lent us," Seifer commented as they started for the outdoor lot they'd left the vehicle in. "They might have to squeeze a bit in the back, but I don't think October and Quisty would mind a little ass-on-lap."

Squall rolled his eyes. "We'll manage."

The military vehicle wasn't quite as big as some of the Garden vehicles they kept for large groups, but there was enough room in the back seats for the other five SeeDs with minimal squishing. There was some tension in the back of the vehicle as Squall drove them through the empty gate, but as the prison got smaller behind them, the tension was replaced by the same sense of self-pity that Seifer had noticed in the cell. He twitched at the urge to yell at them, but Squall shot him a warning look that said, quite plainly, 'Stay quiet.'

Just like in the memories of the Ghost, they parked the vehicle off to one side at the prison-use train station and stole the engine and first two cars that were sitting on the tracks. Squall had learned to handle a train many years ago during an undercover mission in Timber, so he took the controls and got them moving.

Once he felt it was safe to turn away from the controls, he looked at the gloomy group of five SeeDs – which Seifer was glaring wordlessly at – and stated, "You fucked up."

The group flinched and turned wounded eyes towards Squall. Seifer sort of whistled. "And you were telling me to cut them slack."

Squall shot a silencing look at Seifer, then turned back to their friends. "I don't find fault with you, however, and you shouldn't bring blame down on yourselves. It was a shitty mission with little chance of success to begin with, and the dangers of you having succeeded far outweighed the consequences of your having failed."

The group who'd been rescued from D-District all sort of blinked at him a few times in disbelief before October requested, "Could you...explain that one, Squall? How would a success have been worse? If you and Seifer hadn't shown up when you did, we would still be stuck in that prison while missiles were being sent to take out Garden, killing everyone."

Squall sighed and rubbed at his scar, uncaring as make-up flaked off. "First off, taking out anyone as magically powerful as a full-fledged Sorceress takes more firepower and cunning than a single shot from a sniper, and dropping the gate on her gave her more than enough of a warning to protect herself. Having split into two teams cut your strength in half, especially when you reached her at separate times." He gave them a moment to consider that and nodded when understanding lightened the unseen weight on their shoulders.

"Assuming that a miracle occurred and you actually managed to take out the Sorceress," Squall continued, "killing her would only have caused her magic to jump to a new body. In a crowd that size, there were an infinite number of options, and unless the power chose Quis or Fuu, there would be no way for us to hunt the new Sorceress down until she wanted to be found."

"My being a Blue Witch meant there was a good chance it would have gone to me, though," Quistis pointed out.

"There are better Blue Witches than you out there, Quis," Seifer interrupted, "and there's always a chance one of them was in that crowd. There are also women with a greater compatibility with Sorceress magic than Blue Witches." He shook his head. "The point is, it was a shitty plan to begin with. Completely lose-lose."

"Then why even order it?" Raijin asked. "I mean, ya know, a Sorceress with that much power isn't a good thing, but there should have been a better way, right? A way to not have to kill her?" He slid his eyes towards Quistis and Irvine, who looked particularly uncomfortable. No one had said it yet, but the Sorceress' identity was hanging over their heads like a solemn promise of how far they had fallen to have aimed weapons at the woman who raised them without stopping to question their orders.

"Other than because Martine's a prick who can't stand to see a woman with any amount of power?" Seifer asked drily.

Squall sighed. "That is a far more complicated explanation that goes back to the creation of Garden and SeeD."

"The creation?" Raijin interrupted, brow furrowed in thought. "When we first met, you always used to say that Garden and SeeD had been created by Matron to raise fighters that would combat power-hungry Sorceresses, right?"

"Wait!" October jerked his head around to stare at Raijin. "Edea created SeeD? But, then, why did she want to know what SeeD was for?" He turned to Squall, looking completely thrown for a loop. "That's what they kept asking me, 'What is SeeD?' 'What is SeeD for?' 'What is SeeD's mission?' "

Squall shrugged. "The idea for Garden and SeeD was Matron's, yes, and it became reality because Cid kept at it for her. Matron is aware of what SeeD is, but the Sorceress possessing her body, Ultimecia, isn't."

There was a moment of stunned silence, then everyone was talking over each other, demanding to know what Squall meant by 'possessed'.

Seifer rolled his eyes at the lot of them and moved to join Squall in front of the controls, which the younger teen had turned to look back at, ignoring the others. "How much are you going to tell them?" Seifer murmured in Squall's ear as he wrapped an arm around Squall's waist.

"Only as much as I need to," Squall replied quietly as he flipped a switch on the panel.

Seifer sighed, but didn't start another argument about how much their friends deserved to know; he was of the opinion that the others had every right to know exactly what they were up against and how things had gone for the Ghost, but Squall was determined to keep most of that to himself. It was probably the only thing they had real fights over – sometimes involving real weapons or a couple of days apart.

"QUIET!" Fujin shouted and there was a sudden silence behind Squall and Seifer. When they turned to look, Seifer retaining his possessive hold on Squall's waist, Fujin demanded, "EXPLAIN."

Squall cocked his head to one side, then explained, "There is – or 'will be', perhaps – a Sorceress in the future by the name of Ultimecia. She has a rather intense hatred of SeeD, likely due to our having been created to keep Sorceresses in check. She has access to a machine created by the Estharian scientist Dr Odine, which allows her to send her consciousness back in time and take over the body and mind of someone in her past. She has two goals right now: To destroy SeeD, and to find Sis so she can initiate something called 'Time Compression', which will twist all of time into a mess where none but she can exist."

October shook his head and cleared his throat. "Can we stop her?"

"Not in the present," Seifer replied. "With only her consciousness in the present, she can simply jump bodies if the one she's possessing dies. We believe she can only possess Sorceresses, although we also have reason to believe that she can cause a Sorceress' magic to... jump, I suppose, from a body which is dying. A newly possessed person should have the ability to fight off her control for some time, but when a new Sorceress accepts the magic, there is a moment where she is weak to Ultimecia's control, completely doing away with any chances to fight her off."

"So we'd have to... what? Travel to the future to get rid of her?" Irvine guessed, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. "Can't we just have the SeeDs of the future get rid of her?"

"They've already failed," Squall replied drily. "And far worse than you all did in Deling, if that makes you feel any better."

"Oh, gee, Squall. Thanks," Irvine replied, shooting his friend an irritated look.

"If they've failed and we can't touch her in our present," October interrupted, "then how can we defeat her? And, please, don't tell me we're all screwed. If that's the case, I'd prefer you to have left me in D-District."

Seifer snorted. "Don't worry, Pretty Boy, we have no intention in letting Ultimecia destroy this world."

"If we are at the centre of Time Compression when it starts, we should be able to ride it to Ultimecia's present," Squall explained. "There's no guarantee, but that's all I've got on the idea front."

"So we need to find Sis?" Quistis asked, frowning in thought. "She should be with the White SeeDs, right?"

"There, or at Balamb Garden," Seifer agreed. At their odd looks, he shrugged and added, "She's been travelling with Matron, who surely showed some strange behaviour before she ran away and handed her body over to Ultimecia. It's possible Sis was moved to Balamb for her own safety; for all his pompous behaviour, Owens does have a good head on his shoulders."

"Hm. Can we get that in writing?" Squall wondered. They'd run into the White SeeDs twice more since their first meeting – once during a stop in Balamb so Matron and Ellone could see everyone, the other when Seifer and Squall were on assignment in Dollet while their ship happened to be in dock – and Seifer seemed determined to continue baiting Beau Owens, which the captain would inevitably fall for and they'd get into an impressive argument that Squall and Matron would eventually be required to bring an end to before someone got hurt.

Seifer grinned. "No." Then he turned his head and blew in Squall's ear, dodging the retaliatory knife that Squall aimed at his head without removing his arm from Squall's waist.

"Finding Elle is only half the battle, though, ya know?" Raijin offered with a tired smile at Seifer's antics. "We'll have to find Matron, too."

"She'll be taking over Galbadia Garden right now," Squall announced, shaking his head. "We won't get back to Balamb for at least ten hours, yet, so why don't the rest of you get some sleep. Seifer and I are capable of ensuring we arrive in one piece."

"Are you sure?" Quistis asked. "I know Seifer's not good with tra–"

"Quis, if they say they'll be fine, they'll be fine," October interrupted, grabbing Quistis' arm and pulling her towards the attached car.

"You'll wake us if you need us?" Irvine asked as Fujin shoved Raijin after the eldest two SeeDs.

"We will," Seifer promised. Once Irvine had slipped into the other car, Seifer turned his attention to Squall, whose eyes had taken on a faintly worried gleam behind the flash of thoughts. "What is it?"

Squall slipped from his arm and returned to the train controls, tapping the panel a couple times. "Garden moves faster than a train," he murmured. "Depending on when Ultimecia got word about the missile base exploding and how paranoid she's feeling, she could be heading straight for Balamb. And unless NORG has completely changed, Garden will be in disarray right about now as half the campus is trying to find Cid, while the other half hides him."

"Fuck, I forgot that happened."

"I didn't." Squall stepped over to where he'd dropped their shared bag and started hunting through it for his small set of tools.

Seifer's expression darkened when he saw what Squall was pulling out and he snatched the tools. "No."

"Seifer, we need to get to Balamb before Galbadia Garden does," Squall pointed out calmly.

"I'm not disagreeing," Seifer replied coolly, "but you don't know a fucking thing about locomotive motors, and if you accidentally break something, we will lose time. This isn't a boat motor that's half computerised, Squall; it's made entirely of little fidgety pieces that tend to stop if you hit them wrong, and there's no circuiting worked in that you can thread around the broken part to make the system think it can still go. You're not tinkering with our only transport."

Squall clenched his jaw. "And if Galbadia Garden gets there first?"

Seifer closed his eyes and took a deep breath before meeting the icy gaze of his lover. "Then they get there first and Garden either pulls its collective head out of its ass and bands together, or they're slaughtered. You can't save everyone, Squall."

"Dammit!" Squall twisted and threw a knife at the far wall with enough force to shatter the blade.

Seifer dropped the tool set back in their bag as he dropped to his knees next to Squall. "I know," he said, lightly touching the side of Squall's face in silent invitation.

Squall immediately pressed forwards, leaning against Seifer's chest and taking a deep breath. He hated feeling helpless. 'What good are these memories if I can't protect my home?'

Seifer closed his eyes for a long moment, arms wrapped around Squall, as if he could protect him from all the things that were coming. "At least Rinoa's not here?" he murmured.

Squall let out a choked laugh and shoved against Seifer's chest with his hands to signal that he wanted to be let go. "Thank Hyne for small favours." He ran a hand though his hair and cast a glance back towards the tool kit. Seifer was preparing to get between his lover and the tools when Squall shook his head and rose to his feet. "Come on, let's give you a quick lesson about driving this thing so I can take a nap."

"And who said you're getting the first nap?" Seifer demanded as he rose to his own feet.

Squall raised an eyebrow at him. "I did."

Seifer gave a slow nod. "Uh-huh. And I care because?"

"You want to continue sleeping in my room," Squall retorted. "Get over here."

Seifer chuckled and joined Squall at the controls, arms wrapped around the slighter teen's waist as Squall gave him a quick explanation for everything. When he was done, Squall tried slipping out of Seifer's arms, but the blond wasn't having it. "Nope, not yet, Squally. You haven't given me a kiss good night."

"You're an ass," Squall informed him, but rested his head back against Seifer's shoulder and turned it to meet Seifer's lips when the taller teen leaned down to meet him. After a brief brush, Squall added, "And it's not night."

"Oh, shut up," Seifer muttered, shifting Squall so he could get a bit more force behind the kiss and silence the brunet. He swore he felt Squall smiling against his lips for just a moment before he invaded and teased Squall's tongue into a minor spar. Which Squall won, like usual.

"Good night," Squall breathed against Seifer's lips as he drew away from the embrace.

Seifer sighed. "When am I waking you?"

"Four hours," Squall said with certainty. "I don't trust you to make that switch in Timber."

Seifer rolled his eyes, but waved Squall away. Honestly, he wasn't too certain about that switch in Timber, himself...