Quistis took Deuce and Trey toward the most likely place she knew to find friends.

The cold morning left a foreboding shiver down her spine and Quistis pulled her jacket in tighter. The two behind her conversed in quiet, choppy tones and most of it came off as nonsense to Quistis. They spoke of things like "Etro" and dead magic.

They rounded a corner and Quistis found the door to Galbadia's Medical. Inside, she found a large party of the odd-dressed and odder—

Cat. A walking cat spoke with the others like they were old friends.

Deuce and Trey left to join, with Trey taking a seat beside a man on a cot wearing his uniform. Quistis cleared her throat. "Zell."

The man perked up and cut off conversation with— Raijin?

"You have a lot to tell me," Quistis said when he approached.

Zell folded his arms. "I told you guys I wanted my space."

"And I'm telling you I want to talk."

He opened his mouth to protest before relenting and looking away. "Fine."

"Let's find somewhere quieter." Quistis gestured and Zell reluctantly followed her into the morning-touched hallways. He moved as if to pace the floors, but Quistis shoved him into a bench.

"Hey!" he said.

"You're hanging out with Raijin, now?"

"So what?"

"So, I see why you wanted your space if you were going to change sides."

"How is it you get to decide when I change sides?"

"You've suffered through a traumatic event. You know what our training dictates after something like that."

"Screw training!"

"Zell." Quistis took the seat beside him. "I don't want to lose you."

He squinted at her, skin sheening with sweat. How did he still walk? "Are you… are you mad?"

"I'm not mad. I'm worried. Why else would I be talking to you like this?"

"Because you're a meddling mom."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"You're getting distracted. I want to know—why Raijin?"

"Because he got hurt and left behind, too. I hated that hospital. I'm an operative, Quistis, I'm not supposed to waste away on a cot."

"It's not wasting away, it's called 'getting better.' And we left you alone because you told us to."

"Not Irvine. But now he's rotting in a cell around here! I'm gonna break him out!"

"Yeah, about that. Irvine left this planet a few days ago and I don't know that we'll see him again."

"Pffft. That's funny."

"I'm serious."

"You can't be because Irvine wouldn't just abandon us like that. He's responsible, unlike some of us."

"I wouldn't say that… but we encouraged him to go, for all our sakes."

"What?" Zell adjusted himself to look her straight-on. "No! Why would you do that?"

"Because I care about his safety, and I don't trust Galbadia to treat him fairly."

Zell visibly struggled to breathe. "No! That's not right!"

"He's better off exploring the cosmos with Selphie for now. Let's focus on taking care of our home while they're gone."

"Selphie, too?!"

"Yes."

"Quistis, you idiot! Why did you make them go?"

"I just told you."

"That's—! That's stupid!"

"Maybe a little." Quistis gave in to the weight on her back and leaned forward. "But I'm tired, Zell. I couldn't handle the thought of keeping Irvine safe while also worrying about you. While worrying about this paradox issue that's surrounding our planet. Worrying about Ellone and how that affects Squall."

"Ellone?"

"She's missing."

"Damn it! Of all times to be stuck in the hospital!"

"This is why I wanted to get you to talk to the rest of us. We're watching a train wreck in slow motion and we need everyone on deck."

"You're right—I gotta step up and help you guys with this. Raijin should help, too."

"What happened to Seifer and Fujin?"

"They also left. Kind of a common story, isn't it? Damn, I thought I was special. I thought I earned my pity party."

"There's no 'earning' a pity party, Zell. Sometimes we just sink before we rise. Except that you've obviously aggravated your wounds and I don't know how much we can work with that. I don't—I can't have you fighting like this."

"I'll be fine."

"No, you won't." Quistis put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "You need to rest and soak in white magic. Your body's torn and stressed beyond reason and you'll just make things worse to push it further. You need to heal, Zell. For the rest of us."

He looked sheepish and avoided her gaze. "Fine. But I don't want to miss the most exciting stuff."

"I'll be sure to call you when something amazing happens, then."


"Eight."

He stiffened at Cinque's voice. "How are you talking to me?"

"Queen found a way to skip the middle man and you don't seem like you're doing too good."

"I'm fine."

"You got hurt, didn't you?"

"I don't care about getting hurt." Eight turned away from the gathering of world travelers and everyone else that spoke near his cot. "What do you want?"

"I want you to feel better."

"I'll be fine."

"But you're not fine now."

"And you can't fix that, Cinque."

"I can try. You know back on Orience when we would do those stealth missions that I hated?"

"You didn't think you could ever get out without someone spotting you."

"And you remember what you told me?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, you said that if someone spots me that I should make it work to my advantage. And you know what I did?"

"No."

"I made it work! I learned from your example that if I hit their heads against the wall hard and fast enough, they wouldn't make a sound! I finished my first stealth mission after that!"

Eight grimaced. "And how many scouts did you go through?"

"I don't know. Twenty?"

"That's… great, Cinque. I'm glad my words helped you."

"That's my point! Words do help! Can't you make this work to your advantage? You know, like knocking scouts against the wall?"

"It's not the same."

"Tell me what happened?"

Eight rolled over to stare at the ceiling, hands shaking at the reminder. "I killed some things."

"Oh, no! Not people?"

"No. But I used a rifle."

"And that made too much noise?"

"No… well. Yes, I guess."

"If you need earplugs—"

"I don't need earplugs, Cinque. I need to feel it when my enemy dies. I need to earn the right to kill them and shooting them from a safe distance isn't fair."

A long sigh. "I don't understand, you know. But I support you anyway."

"I know you do." Eight hefted himself into a sitting position. "Maybe that'll be enough for now."

"Is it?!"

He couldn't help a small smile. "Sure. But don't go harassing me again, okay?"

"Sure!" The connection cut off and he sensed bemusement across the link, but it didn't feel like Cinque's.

"How are they?" Deuce asked. She drifted to his bed, though her eyes stayed on the party chattering about time and space travel.

"Cinque's worried about me."

"She's right to. You have a bad habit of working yourself into a stupor when stuff like this happens."

"I don't like weapons, Deuce."

"I know. And I don't like it when you go isolate yourself from the rest of us."

Eight stared at the ceiling, fingers trembling. "And yet you won't open up again after Jack set you off."

She stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"You're also spiraling and cutting people out."

"… You're right. I shouldn't do that."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Then what would you say?"

"I'd say that it's okay to need your space sometimes. But we can't take too much personal time when we're in the middle of a mission."

"A mission that never ends. I haven't had much time to breathe since we woke up in Valhalla. Maybe that's why we're losing our grips."

"Hey!" Gadot yelled. "You two gonna weigh in or not? Your friend ain't helping!"

Eight looked at Trey. "He's still not better?"

"No."

Eight tested his leg, but it still hurt. Moving would only aggravate it. "We should change that."

"Give him time. Trey will tell us when he's better."

"I'm not so sure."

Rinoa finally joined the rest, arms swinging. "Wow, there's many of you! Time to put my name-remembering skills to good use!"

"You forgot me already?" Yuj asked. "Man, I'm insulted!"

Gadot rolled his eyes. "You're very forgettable, kid. Just accept it and move on."

Eight looked at Deuce. "You haven't told them, have you?"

"They don't need to know."

"They do."

"But not the specifics."

"… No. But I don't recommend hiding it."

"I'll try to break it to Snow, but he's… not easy to tell harsh truths."

Eight propped up an arm on his good leg and watched Cait Sith catch Rinoa up on his studies of the Gardens' histories. Snow made fun of the thing for its odd appearance. "No, I guess he's not."


Deuce took a deep breath and focused on the sensation of it filling her lungs. Then let it out in a long, controlled exhale before pulling Snow aside and saying, "I think I know where Maqui is."

Snow started. "Where?!"

"Not here. I encountered a possessee that matches the description you gave and after fighting him, I let the authorities take him downstairs."

"That was Maqui?"

"I'm almost certain it was."

"So, we just gotta find the basement and get him out?"

"No, Snow, that's not how schools like this work. When I lived in Orience, we tortured people like him for information and discarded the bodies. If he's still alive, I doubt he's salvageable. Either they break him and he dies, or he fights back and causes too much damage to make it out of this school."

"So, we just gotta find him."

"Snow, I don't think there's anything left to find. I was going to have you or the others take his shards, not try to bring him back."

"You think we can't save him?"

"Can, yes, should, no. We don't have time to save everyone."

"Hell, we don't! I'm not leaving Maqui to die!"

"You might have to!"

"I won't!"

"Just because you could afford to play the hero in your world doesn't mean that applies here. Sometimes we need to make dirty choices, Snow!"

"What's the point of fighting this thing if we're gonna sink to its same level? What's the point of taking over if we're gonna resort to the same tactics that it does? You know, I tried going that edgy path a long time ago and I'm not becoming that man again."

"This isn't about you. This isn't about any of us! This is about the good of the many versus the one! Maqui will join the dead and you've seen them! They'll take care of him!"

"NO!" Snow breathed hard and red rimmed his eyes. With jaw clenched, he cast a shaky glance to those staring their way and whispered to Deuce, "I won't let it come to that."

Deuce gathered herself. "This time, that's possible. But it won't always be."

"Then I'll worry about it when it isn't possible. Listen, I'll talk to the others, okay? I don't want to do another argument like this."

"… Agreed. If we're going to rescue him, we should do it united."

Snow slowly nodded before wiping at his eyes and putting a hand on her shoulders. "Sorry for yelling, okay?"

"Something we should know?" Gadot called. "You're leaving us in suspense here!"

"I'll tell you later!" His voice came out hoarse and Snow put a hand to his mouth. Deuce didn't miss the tremor in his lip and the shudder in his shoulder. "Just… give me a minute."

"Take all the time that you need," Deuce said.

After Snow stilled, he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. Then sauntered to join his friends. Deuce watched them converse for a short moment before the door burst open.

The towering figure of a man dove in and slammed Yuj into the wall before taking Cait Sith by the throat and squeezing.

Snow and Gadot leapt on him and Trey summoned his bow. Raijin ripped a pole free of a bed and twirled in preparation.

Deuce produced her flute and put her lips to its smooth metal that smelled like rain and a thousand years of war.