---DARK LEGION---

--PART TWO--

I
"Seifer? Don't trust him, never have, never will."
--Zell Dincht

Seifer Almasy stared up at the bottom of the next bunk in the Fisherman's Horizon hotel, wondering if Irvine and Quistis were up yet. He was surprised they had allowed him to come all the way back out to Fisherman's Horizon to pick up his posse--Fujin, the silver-haired girl with the left eyepatch, and Raijin--the burly, slightly overenthusiastic boy. That Quistis had insisted he have an escourt was hardly surprising--they still didn't quite trust him. Which was ok--he hadn't really given them a reason to trust him yet.

Mayor Dobe was only too happy to get Fujiin and Raijin out of his city, after they had announced that they had tried to poison the leaders of an invasion that had, somehow, never arrived. The man's insane, Seifer thought. One moment he's begging us to fight, the next he's back to being Mr. Obsessive Pacifist.

Must be the sea air.

"Hey, Seifer, wake up, ya know?" called Raijin's voice from outside the room. "It's almost noon, ya know?"

"LAZY," snapped Fujin.

"Uggh," Irvine said from the bunk just above Seifer. "I was having such a nice dream, too..."

"You don't need to be asleep for that, Irvine," Quistis said from the top bunk. "It occupies your mind every hour of the day."

"You may be right about that," Irvine conceeded in an amused tone.

Seifer rolled over, realized the bed wasn't as wide as he thought, and cursed as he hit the floor. Standing up, he reached for his trademark trenchcoat, the white one with the red cross-sword on each arm. Throwing Irvine's tan coat on the "sharpshooter," he ran a hand through his hair absently. He didn't want to leave Fisherman's Horizon, the town in the middle of Horizon Bridge, the more-or-less derelict intercontinental railroad. While he was here, he could forget or ignore the events of a year before and the more recent events of only a few days ago. As soon as he left, the memories would begin to assail him again.

Not quite true, he admitted. FH had plenty of memories now, too. Like the time he had saved Squall from being thrown into the water and/or stabbed through the heart by the leader of an earlier invasion. The day all of this had started.

"You still alive down there?" Irvine asked, watching Seifer from his bunk. "You haven't blinked for quite a bit."

"Yaah, bite rocks," Seifer said.

"Come on, ya know?" Raijin called. "I just gotta see the inside of that ship, ya know?"

"I'm coming," Seifer said, moving to the door and throwing it open. Raijin was standing there, quarterstaff held easily in one hand. Fujin had her shuriken strapped to her back, and was waiting for him with both arms crossed over her chest. "I just had to wait for those two sleepys to wake up," Seifer explained.

"Hey, I was up before you," Quistis said. "I couldn't sleep, listening to you snore."

"I do not snore," Seifer said as Raijin began laughing. Nodding to Fujin, Seifer watched as Raijin yelped as Fujin's foot connected with his shin.

"QUIET," Fujin demanded.

"Well, now that everyone's awake, what are we going to do about Squall?" Seifer asked.

All traces of merriment drained from the room. Quistis had insisted that no one mourn until they were absolutely sure he was dead (the last time, it had been incredibly awkward when Squall had shown up, very much alive), but the mention of his name left everyone a bit subdued.

"...if he's not dead, he's just become our worst enemy..." Quistis had said it, after telling them about Squall's plan to do something with the mind-controlling armor. Neither option was desireable.

"We should get back to Balamb Garden," Quistis said. Seifer nodded. Seemed smart enough.

"All right," Irvine said. When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible," Seifer said.

"You mean I can't get back to sleep?" Irvine asked with a mock-disappointed air. "You're a cruel one, Seifer Almasy."

Seifer ignored him and walked out the door. The sea air hit him as soon as he stepped into the main hotel lobby, payed the lady sitting behind the desk, and left the building. Walking along the street towards Mayor Dobe's house and the location where the Ragnarok was parked, Seifer noticed the people out fishing. It was a beautiful day for it. Then again, unless there was a gale, every day was a beautiful day for it.

But never for me, Seifer thought. Maybe they're just mocking me. Damn fish, I will catch one one of these days!

Seifer, in the year he had spent at Fisherman's Horizon, had never caught a fish. Raijin had quickly proved himself to be the equal of any of the master anglers, and when Raijin found a way to convince her to fish even Fujin had caught a fair amount. Seifer, though, had never gotten one.

There was a patter on the street behind him, and Seifer looked to see Quistis jogging to catch up with him. Not going to let me out of your sight, instructor? Seifer thought. I don't blame you. I wouldn't let me out of my sight either.

Seifer turned into a shop, laying down a fair amount of gil for some rudimentary items. He had been practically showered with gil when he was the Sorceress's Knight, and he had never found time to use it all. When he had bought everything he thought he would need, he turned and moved back towards the huge, red-brown spaceship Ragnarok.

Stepping onto the bridge, he met with Nida's cool, disinterested stare. "So you're still tagging along?" he asked.

"I thought I might be needed," Seifer said.

"Riiiight," Nida said. "Well, have a seat. Zell should be up here in a sec."

"Zell?" Seifer asked. Of all the people in Squall's team, Zell was the one he got along with least. Quistis was still trying to figure out what he was up to, Squall was gone, Selphie, Irvine and Nida didn't know him that well, but Zell seemed to genuinely hate him.

"Yeah, he's due for piloting class," Nida said. "He'll be flying us back to Balamb Garden."

"My life is flashing before my eyes," Seifer said with a sneer. Nida nodded.

"I'll be here in case he tries to crash us. Just don't distract him, OK? I value my life as much as anyone else."

"Sure, give Chicken-wuss a break. Can do," Seifer said as the lift rose and Zell stepped off.

"Watch it, Seifer," Zell said. "I have one nerve left, and if it snaps someone's going to die."

"Ahem," Nida said, trying to talk before anyone forgot he existed. "Zell?"

"Yeah, yeah," Zell said, jumping into the pilots's seat. "So, first we start the engines,"

"Wrong," Nida said.

"Oh, yeah. Retracting stair ramp now."

There was a muffled thump as the ramp retracted, and Zell switched the engines on. Raising altitude with a caution that was entirely unlike Zell, he took them away from Fisherman's Horizon.

Then he adopted his more enthusiastic character.

"Oh yeah!" he yelled, turning the ship. "We are in the air!"

"We are doomed," Nida muttered as Zell did a nose dive towards the surface of the water, pulling the ship up at the last possible moment.

"What? What's going on?" asked someone from the lift. Nida glanced around, saw President Laguna Loire of Esthar, and pointed at Zell.

"Student driver," he said.

"Oh," Laguna said, making his way to the front of the cockpit. "Balamb's not that way."

"I know how to fly this thing," Zell said. Let's see... this button here activates the map--"

"NO!" Nida yelled, hitting the override on his console. That button opens the air room!"

"Oops," Zell said sheepishly. The air room was one of the three main makeshift bedrooms on the Ragnarok, (the other two being the hanger and the passenger seat/conference room). Opening the door would have the effect of having most of the furninshings, not to mention the occupants, swept out of the ship.

"I could fly this thing better than Chicken-wuss there," Seifer said.

"Hey!" Zell said, almost turning to look at Seifer but deciding that flying the ship would be better. "It's my first day."

"Yeah, at least he hasn't rammed anything yet," Laguna said.

"The day is young," Seifer retorted.

"So which button turns on the map?" Zell asked. Nida sighed.

"It's the one that says 'automap,' Zell."

"It's--oh, I see it," Zell said. "Setting course for Balamb."

"Finally," Nida said, leaning back in the chair. Once he's just flying there's not much he can screw up.

...right?

Seifer leaned back, enjoying the view of the clouds overhead. Nida was not about to let Zell over the cloud cover, he knew, but the flight was still unlike anything he had ever experienced before. The fact that Zell was flying was a bit concerning, but he trusted Nida well enough. He had been doing some background checks on the people of the team that he didn't know: i.e. Nida, Laguna, and Kiros. He guessed he knew them well enough.

Absently, he wondered if they had been doing background checks on him. If they had, none of them showed it. Out of curiosity, Seifer had looked up his SeeD bio once:
Seifer Almasy (SEED-41212-C)
Third rank SeeD cadet
Problematic
Shows anti-social behavior/aversion to authority/inability to take orders/agressive
Designated naturally gifted/first class gunblade specialist/second class para-magic abilities
Test Grade Average 94

That was about the point he'd switched it off. It had been about year ago, before the entire Ultimecia fiasco had started.

At least I got away without anything worse than "problematic" and "agressive." I could have had Zell's "impulsive," or Nida's "inassertive." Oh, yeah, a lot better. But I guess none of that matters now. We're all in this, regardless of traits.

Seifer stared out the window sullenly. Somewhere out there, Dyne was still alive. He was sure of it. He hadn't died earlier. But Seifer vowed that he would.