_____________________________________________________________________

Fifty Days

Chapter 16: In My Mind

You got yourself into this, so don't complain.

Well, what was I supposed to do? You heard Dr Kadowski-

Oh please. It could have been anyone, but you actually asked her if you could watch over her.

I need my SeeD qualification. It won't look to good on my evaluation if Quistis-

You can't even say it. Admit it Seifer.

The hell with it, this is because I can't sleep. Damn uncomfortable couch.

A small tap at the door was all it took to wake Seifer from his half-awake-half-asleep state. He got up from Quistis' couch and groaned as cramped muscles popped back into position.

Damn Quistis, why can't you get a second bed or something?

He opened the door quietly, and then stood aside and opened it fully as Ellone smiled at him. He let her past with a smile, and then paused as Rinoa followed her. There was just too much bad history between them to be more than civil.

Well, you did throw her into Adel's arms, didn't you?

"Hello Seifer," the young sorceress said calmly.

"Hi Rinoa. Thanks for coming."

Rinoa smiled. "You didn't think you could've kept me away, did you?" she said.

Ellone sat on the couch where Seifer had been sleeping. "What's up?" she asked.

Seifer leaned against the wall opposite them as Rinoa sat down. "I got an idea about helping Quistis," he said.

"What? When? How?" Rinoa said quickly, eyes widening.

"Seifer?" Ellone asked in puzzlement. "Doctor Kadowski told us-"

Seifer held up a hand to stop them. "Do you know about the Last Touch?" he asked. Rinoa just looked confused, but Ellone clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Ultimecia!" she said. "But then…"

Seifer nodded. "I think she's still in their somewhere, draining Quistis' life away. I want to see into her head. I need to see if Ultimecia is doing this."

Ellone nodded, but was biting her lower lip nervously. "Are you sure you thought this one through?" she asked. "I hate to say this, but it's more likely to be some kind of poison or-"

But Seifer was shaking his head. "Kadowski checked her out. No weird blood disorders or anything. She's just wasting away. Ellone, please."

Rinoa leaned forwards. "Anything I can do?" she asked.

Seifer nodded, and turned back to Ellone. "Elle, please. She needs help. I need your help."

Ellone hesitated for a second, and then looked in the direction of the bedroom, where Quistis was sleeping peacefully, and then nodded slightly.

"Thank you," Seifer said gratefully.

"I still think it's a bad idea though. What if something goes wrong? You could kill her." She paused. "I see your point."

Seifer smiled slightly. "So can we get going?" he asked.

Rinoa spoke up. "What if something goes wrong? What if it is Ultimecia?"

Seifer shrugged. "I'll figure it out when I have to," he said.

Ellone had stood and walked over to the door leading to the bedroom. She quietly opened it, and walked in. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to the sleeping form of Quistis and stroked her hair gently. Don't worry; we'll help you somehow… She laid a hand on Quistis' head and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate.

Back in what garden thought passed for a living room, Rinoa was looking at Seifer oddly, and he noticed. "What?"

"You've changed," she said.

"What?" Seifer asked quickly.

"You'd never have done anything like this for someone else. What is it about Quisty?" she asked, staring at him intently.

Seifer shivered slightly under Rinoa's scrutiny. Being around Squall most of the time, she had developed a gaze that could pierce a titanium-grade emotional shield. "Because I care about her," he finally said.

Rinoa nodded, and then smiled, more warmly than she had when they had just bumped into each other in the corridors and nodded. "" I knew it!" she said cheerfully, reverting to Teenage mode. "You're in love with her, aren't you!" she asked.

Seifer glared at her, but didn't say anything. He was thinking too hard to bother.

I'm what?

Oh come on, who do you think you're kidding?

But-

Even Rinoa managed to notice! You're just stupid if you haven't realised it yourself by now!

"…Maybe," Seifer said, and the words were like some kind of dagger.

Rinoa just smiled. "Unrequited?"

Seifer shrugged again. "Maybe. I hope not," she said, and then turned towards the bedroom as Ellone walked back out. That was too fast… "Well?" he asked.

Ellone shook her head. "I don't know. Come here," she said, and she sounded… different.

Seifer stood and walked into the bedroom. Ellone closed the door behind her. "I can't do it," she said.

Seifer stood and was next to her instantly. "What?" he said, as loudly as he dared.

Ellone shook her head. "I don't know what to do! I can send you back in memories, but I can't send you under them!" she said, near tears.

Seifer paused for a second, and then said; "Then send me back."

Ellone looked up at him. "What?"

"Send me back to Ultimecia. Let me see what happened. Quistis told me about what you can do, so do it. Please?"

Ellone looked like she was going to argue for a second, but then just nodded again. She stepped backwards and closed her eyes.

Seifer stood there looking at her for a couple of seconds, and then was about to ask what was going on when he started hearing a small buzzing noise. He shook his head to try an clear the noise, but it just got louder. "Ellone…" The buzz became higher-pitched, and his head started to hurt. He fell to his knees as the sound invaded his universe, and tried to close his eyes against it.

Relax.

Ellone's voice came through the buzzing, and he tried to shout out something at her, but no words came out, and he lost consciousness.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Damnit, why won't you die!" Quistis shouted as the glowing ball of light that was Griever joined with a smaller ball, and unfolded into a massive Griever/Sorceress combo. She unfolded her whip again with a sigh as the small section of rock they were standing on wobbled in the wind of…wherever it is they were…

Ellone? Quistis? What the hell?

Quistis ducked as a beam of energy lanced over her head and countered with a well-placed fire spell. Griever-cia screamed in pain as fire washed over its eyes and threw its claws out at them. She managed to avoid them, but Irvine received bloody claw-marks down his back. Irvine shouted in pain and Quistis held out one hand towards him, not taking her eyes away from the massive monster in front of her. Blue light shrouded Irvine from view, and the cowboy stood up when it had cleared, the only signs of his injury.

So this was Ultimecia? Ugly bitch…

Squall took a running leap and landed actually on its head. He started slashing wildly with the Lionheart, hanging on for dear life. It screamed as blood poured down its side, and then something gave, and Quistis watched as half of it fell into the abyss below them. Squall looked around and then jumped back of, Irvine running forward and grabbing his arm before he could go the same way.

Quistis grabbed his other arm and hauled him up as pencil-beams of light started to shine from the creature's body, and then it slowly started to fall apart. Irvine whooped in pleasure and sat down on the edge of the floating platform.

"Is that it?" Irvine asked hopefully.

Squall shrugged. "I hope s-"

They staggered backwards as the floor lurched, and something white and hot zipped by them from under the platform

What the hell was this woman?

Quistis looked down and gasped as the floor started to disappear. She shouted this to the others, but they were all looking elsewhere, as it faded out as well. She heard a sigh and turned quickly, as Ultimecia rose.

If Seifer could have gasped, he would have. It was only vaguely human. Faceless, and with incredibly thin arms, the sorceress rose from below them and took up a position ahead of them as the world finished vanishing and was replaced by a flowing star field.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Irvine shouted.

Ultimecia looked down at them. She had no mouth, but the words seemed to come anyway. "Time shall compress,"

"Not if we have anything to do with it!" Squall and Quistis shouted together. The three attacked.

Seifer watched from inside Quistis head as the two sides fought each other. The three humans weaved in between the sorceress, taking damage when they had no choice, supporting each other, and healing each other when someone got in trouble. And here Seifer had spent all his life as a lone wolf, with no-one else there to help out if he ever got in trouble except for Fujin and Raijin, and more often than not, not even them. Watching the three fighters, the way they instinctively trusted each other to watch their back, made him wonder if maybe he had got it wrong all these years.

Wouldn't it be nice, just for once, to have someone who cared for you there?

Quistis gasped for breath as Ultimecia collapsed and began to speak in fragmented sentences.

Looking out through her eyes, Seifer didn't see it, but he felt it.

Quistis turned as she felt a hand grab her shoulder, and whirled back to face the disintegrating sorceress. She frowned when she saw nothing, and then turned back and tried to catch up with the others, just before the entire world went white.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Seifer?"

Seifer opened his eyes slowly. The buzzing in his had subsided until it had vanished completely, and he found that his head was resting on the bed, and Quistis as looking down at him. He stood quickly. "Ow." He frowned. "When did you wake up?"

"When you keeled over onto my lap," she replied wryly.

"Ellone was here, wasn't she?" Quistis asked with a smile.

Seifer nodded. NO point in lying. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"When we always came back from the 'dream world' we had headaches… What were you doing?" she asked.

Seifer sat down on the edge of the covers. "I wanted to see if Ultimecia had done anything." He saw the question on Quistis' face. "She touched you. That was it."

Quistis blinked. "That? That was it?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." He didn't know what else to say.

Quistis didn't say anything. She just stared at him for a few seconds, and then; "But… that was… I don't believe that!" She sounded pissed. "That's just… not fair!"

Seifer put his hand on top of Quistis'. "Look, don't give up just yet. I mean, we didn't actually try anything yet, but who knows?"

Quistis smiled weakly and then leaned forwards and embraced him fiercely. Seifer felt tears splash down onto his jacket, but he ignored them. He embraced her back.

"It's getting closer. I can feel it," Quistis whispered. "I'm scared."

"You're not going to die," Seifer said calmly into her ear.

Quistis drew back slightly. "Yes, I am. I don't want to die by myself."

"You're not going to," Seifer replied.

"Promise?"

No hesitation. "Yes."

She smiled. "Thank you." She hugged him again, and Seifer didn't draw back. They just sat there, one comforting the other in the darkness that always comes just before the dawn.

_____________________________________________________________________

LET THE ROMANCE BEGIN! ^___^