As Doctor Odine strutted around the room, Laguna regarded the little man distastefully. Odine's only loyalty was to his research -- when Laguna and the resistance faction fought to overthrow the Sorceress Adel, Odine immediately defected to the side of the resistance as soon as he felt Adel had no chance of victory. Laguna wanted to prosecute Odine for the heinous experiments he conducted under Adel's regime, but the other members of the resistance group convinced him that they could use Odine to research ways to seal Adel's power.

Now, despite his strongest moral objections, Laguna reluctantly allowed the Doctor to return to work on "Project Almasy." This clearly overjoyed Odine and the smirk on his face made Laguna -- usually a hesitant warrior -- want to knock out a few of the teeth in the scientist's mouth.

"…And zo," Odine said, "Ultimecia reacted to ze presence of Edea, trying to take her power by killing her. If zhe accomplished zis, ze result would have been ze complete resurrection of Ultimecia, within Zeifer's body. All ze power of ze two Zorceresses, in ze body of a young man. Unless you want to zee zis happen, you might wish to keep zem apart."

Laguna couldn't tell for certain, but he almost detected a note of excitement in Odine's voice. Whether he spoke from scientific curiosity or some darker motive, Laguna couldn't be sure, but he definitely didn't feel comfortable with Odine's barely contained glee.

"Summarize, Doctor," Laguna said. "What do we do for Seifer?"

"I zuggest at least zix months of intenzive research, electroshock, drug therapy, gradual exposure to ze presence of Zorceresses, and hypnoziz. If all else fails, ve perform brain surgery."

"Out of the question," Laguna snapped. "We are not here to further your research, provide you with entertainment, or fulfill any other personal objectives. We are here to cure Seifer, and we are going to do so immediately. So either make a suggestion or stop wasting my time."

The entire situation with Seifer weighed heavily on Laguna's mind. He'd tried to maintain objectivity, but the fact that Seifer grew up with the son that -- until recently -- Laguna did not even know existed, made him personalize the entire matter. He also felt tremendous political pressure to mete out justice to Seifer. Additionally, his headaches had steadily worsened, occasionally escalating to the level where he could barely stand exposure to light. Seifer/Ultimecia's psychic attack was most certainly unwelcome -- not in a scientific light, perhaps, but certainly in a neurological one.

"…I am afraid," Odine said, "zat zere are certain things we simply cannot do. One of zem would be to remove Ultimecia from Zeifer's brain. Ze best we can do is to equip him with ze tools to fight her off."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"Zince his brain is receiving too much stimulation, he is incapable of placing the pieces of his mind into any order. Perhaps if we placed him in zome zort of zenzory deprivation, he would be able to martial his willpower and fight Ultimecia. Perhaps if we zealed him in the Zorceress Memorial zat we used to zeal Adel's power, it would give him ze chance to fight her off, and zen we could release him if he wins. If he loses, we zimply leave him zealed zere."

"Finally!" Laguna exclaimed. "We can take some action!"

"Zere is, I think, a certain element of risk involved."

"Such as?"

"If Zeifer loses -- if Ultimecia wins ze battle -- her control over his body will be absolute. He will zimply… cease to be, and Ultimecia will be reborn."

Laguna nodded, considering the magnitude of the decision placed before him. Seifer would live or die, depending on the choice Laguna made. The rebirth of Ultimecia would mean atrocities beyond imagining, the waging of another Sorceress War, the death of any number of innocents, and cataclysmic destruction. Still, Laguna had sworn that he would fight wholeheartedly against whatever evils the Sorceress Adel could invent, and Seifer counted, ultimately, as another victim.

"Make whatever preparations you need to, Odine. We start immediately, and the hell with Ultimecia."