Everyone reacted to Seifer's resignation with shock.

Quistis gasped, also partially due to the fact that the blade was pressed into her neck. She choked out, "What! Seifer, you're going to leave me out to dry?" Her voice reflected sheer fury at his actions, but her eyes threatened to spill over with tears of betrayal.

Selphie's labored breathing quickened, and she tried to speak. No sound came out, so she turned her pale face to Seifer, and gave a look of pure disgust. She mouthed the words, "How could you?" and began to wheeze. Irvine firmly held the plastic to her wound, shaking his head all the while.

Zell, who was usually never short on words, had trouble forming a coherent sentence. "Wha—you—I—No way!" He fisted his hands and finally sighed. "Dude…" he said with a dismayed tone, shaking his head.

Kyle, on the other hand, couldn't have been more delighted. He threw his head back and gave an ecstatic roar of laughter, not noticing that Quistis had shrunk back with detest.

Seifer looked away from Quistis, and sheathed his Hyperion.

Irvine turned around and looked to Kyle, then Seifer. "Since when do you speak for all of us, Seifer?" he coldly asked. "If we were to leave, only Hyne knows what would happen to Quistis! Plus, how are we supposed to get Selphie out of here without seriously hurting her?"

Without letting his grip of the knife slip, Kyle whispered, "Float". Selphie's body lifted off the floor, and Irvine quickly stood up to keep his hold on the plastic steady. She was parallel to the ground, and moving over to Kyle. As she moved, Irvine's hold on her never faltered.

Kyle held his hand over her bloody gunshot wound and whispered a phrase in Latin. The blood disappeared slowly from the yellow fabric of Selphie's dress; Irvine felt the wound seal under his fingertips. Soon, the only evidence that remained was a hole in the front of her dress. She came back to the ground, and she stood. Taking in a deep breath, she looked to Kyle in shock. "What kind of magic was that?" As a master of spells, she had never seen one like that before; she was astonished at the potency of the spell, and that her wound had healed properly.

Kyle simply said, "It's an old spell I learned a long time ago. It's powerful, all right, but it won't last. By the time you reach the city above, the effects will begin to wear off. You'll have enough time to get to a hospital before you go back to your previous state."

Selphie opened her mouth to ask another question, but Kyle interrupted and said, "It's impossible to heal you fully and permanently. Magic is no substitute for the natural healing process." Selphie shut her mouth; he had precisely answered the question she was about to ask.

Kyle looked around at everyone. "You can see that I really don't want to hurt any of you. I just want you to leave," he simply said. In response, he lowered the huge wall back into the ground. "Now go."

Quistis looked in terror at the sight of her comrades leaving her behind. One by one, they walked across the floor, toward the exit. Her best friends in the world, they were leaving her behind. The very same ones that she beat Ultimecia with, they left her here in these musty tunnels, with a deranged man.

Standing in disbelief, she simply watched in shock as they left her. Squall, Zell, Irvine, Rinoa, Selphie…Seifer. Last to step over the threshold into freedom, he didn't even look back to her. Suddenly, the wall went back up, sealing the exit once more. Instead of Seifer's retreating form, she saw nothing but cold stone.

A lone tear fell down her cheek. Rage, betrayal, loneliness, and terror were contained in that tiny droplet of water. But she didn't have much time to reflect upon her mixed emotions, because a deafening explosion knocked her and Kyle to the ground.

Even louder than before, the blast caused the walls to crumble, the aging floors to crack open, and water to rush into the room. It seemed as if the entire face of the earth was trembling from the force of it.

But as suddenly as it started, the noise went away, and the shaking subsided. Just like the last (fabricated) explosion, it left Kyle and Quistis sitting on the cracked floor, stunned.

"What the hell…" Kyle murmured, holding his head. He rose from the floor and walked over to where the wall had stood. The place was horribly trashed; it was quiet, which unnerved Quistis. Waterwheels were yards away from their original positions; water was everywhere in puddles (the largest of which would have served as a fine swimming pool); and chunks of concrete were in jumbled piles everywhere. She looked up and the ceiling (for the most part) had miraculously held up. Those parts of the ceiling that had fell gave a great view of the Deling City nightlife. Looking over to the walls, she saw that they were badly charred.

"Must have underestimated the power of those munitions," Kyle said, shaking his head. "And the timing was way off. It shouldn't have gone off until after we left."

"What?" she asked. She didn't get what had just happened.

"It was supposed to go up about thirty seconds later than it did. By that time, we would have teleported out of here, and they wouldn't have reached the exit. I suppose all's well; they were sure not to have made it…"

Quistis slumped into a pile on the floor. He eyes widened, and pupils dilated as she came to the horrible realization. "You…killed them!" She couldn't believe it. "Everyone's…gone? Oh Hyne…" Her eyes rolled backward, exposing the milky whites. She lost consciousness and crashed to the floor.

He watched her, shaking his head. Eh, she'll forget all about it when I hypnotize her later… "Agh!" he cried out, as he winced with pain. Zell, that bastard. He really took it out of me.

~*~

As Quistis woke, she was in her dorm room. Checking the door, it was the same gray electronic door from Garden. Everything was the same, down to the window furnishings and soap in the bathroom. What happened?

Three short raps came at the door. "Who is it?" she called. A familiar voice answered her. "It's Edea! Are you all right, Quistis?"

She hurriedly opened the door, and indeed, it was her Matron standing there to greet her. "Matron!" They hugged for a moment, then Quistis asked, "What happened? How did I get here?"

Edea smiled slightly, but her eyes reflected sorrow. "You were in and out when we brought you back; no wonder you don't remember anything. Here, sit and I'll tell you what happened in those dreadful sewers."
Quistis stood for a moment. "But what about Kyle? Is he still out there?"

Edea motioned for Quistis to take a seat. "I'll tell you the entire story, from the beginning…"

~*~

A/N: No, of course I'm not gonna tell you what happened while Quistis was unconscious! That's for the next chapter! I know this was a little short, but I wanted to stop before telling the story; it'll be pretty long. So don't worry, the next chapter will make up for any lameness this one may have exhibited!

Now I want to give some special shout-outs to those awesome people who've really supported me!

Faltering Hues: First of all, I want to thank you for reviewing all those chapters and giving me such great words of confidence! (You were also the first reviewer of this story! ^_~) You're such a sweet person, and you make me feel very special when I read your reviews. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!

Quistis' Twin Sister Sunny: You're right up there with FH, Sunny. You've reviewed every chapter, and given me great comments all through the updates. You were also one of the faithful reviewers of "Going Once, Twice, SOLD!". I really appreciate it, Sunny.

And also, thanks to Vick330 and Athena88!

And a note to Goddess Safiru of Emeraldas: Under Microsoft Word, you type up your chapter, and save it as a web page. Hope you read this, and it helps you! ^_~

Last thought: Do you guys think I'm dragging the story out too much? Should I end it already? Ah well, it's almost done anyways *cries* Anyways, comments appreciated!

Anyway, be on the lookout for lucky chapter number 13. It may just POP up when you least expect it to…

Bye!

~Mari~