II
"What? The world isn't perfect, and I don't pretend it is."
--Squall, remark


The Ragnarok set down in the Balamb/Alcauld Plains, just south of the Garden. Once inside, Quistis let Seifer go off on his own. If the new Faculty Squall had Xu hire couldn't keep him from misbehaving, Quistis knew she wouldn't be able to.

Seifer, unsure of what exactly to do, had headed for the training center. Expecting to run up against a few Grats, he was taken quite a bit by surprise when a Tri-face sprang over the wire at him. Spitting a curse Seifer parried a bite with his blade, kicking the thing just below its one real head. The two fake ones bit and snapped at him, forcing him back up against a wall as he slashed at it. The Tri-face wasn't very hard to kill, but the things were viscious.

Moving back into the commons area of the training facility, Seifer leaned against a wall. He was bored. He was just about to go roust Raijin out of the library for a quick duel, but the voice on the intercom stopped him.

"Will the Centra sorcerer team please report to the main office, repeat, Centra sorcerer team report to the office."

Guessing they might be doing something he would find interesting, Seifer sheathed his gunblade and moved for the elevator. He had to wait before it came down, and he guessed that the rest of the team had beaten him there.

Punching the 3F key, he was almost surprised when it actually took him there. The former headmaster, Cid, had made it so that only people he wanted in the office could come in. Seifer guessed that Squall was a bit less strict, in that regard if none other.

The door slid open, and Seifer stepped into the room just as everyone was taking their seats. The faculty members had dragged in a number of overstuffed chairs that Cid had had scattered around the office, and had set them up in a circle on the side of the room. Quistis seemed a bit surprised to see Seifer, but motioned him to a chair anyway. Xu flipped the switch on something she was carrying, and nodded to Quistis.

"Cid's elevator lockout is still working," she said. "We shouldn't be disturbed."

"Good," Quistis said, looking around the room. Seifer took the chance to see who was there as well, noting each person: Irvine, Selphie, Zell, Kiros, Laguna, Nida, Xu, Quistis, Rinoa, Edea and himself. "I called you all hear to talk about our current situation," Quistris continued. "I think you'll all agree we have a problem."

"That would be an understatement," Nida muttered to himself.

"Err, indeed," Quistis said, surprising him. "Well, the first thing I think we should discuss is who will take over during Squall's absence."

Still holding on to the hope he might be alive, Seifer noted.

"I'll have duties here," Xu said, "so I can't."

Quistis turned to look at Laguna.

"Yeah, err.. I don't really have any experience with this sort of thing," Laguna said, scratching his head.

"You wouldn't want him if he did," Kiros said. Laguna actually blushed.

"I think you should, Quistis," Zell said. "Ifrit knows you advised Squall the most."

"Whether or not he listened is another thing," Quistis said.

Irvine nodded. "Still, you're the best suited for this."

Quistis shook her head, looking down at her hands. "None of you have read my bio, have you? 'prone to depression/no leadership capabilites?' "

"The faculy members who made those bios weren't the most trustworthy," Xu said. "I'll arrange for another assessment."

"Come on!" Selphie said. "Unless you want me to take over!"

The Squad-A girl? In charge? Not if I have anything to say about it, Seifer thought.

"What about Nida?" Quistis asked. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Me?" he asked. In most of his experience people had rarely even noticed him, much less turned to him for orders. "No way. I have no training for this sort of thing. I'll just fly the ship, thanks."

"You were an instructor once," Zell pointed out to Quistis.

"I got fired."

"That's still one up on the rest of us."

Quistis looked around the circle. "Fine," she said. "But only until we get Squall back."

"Fair enough," Irvine said.

"Sounds good," Laguna said.

Edea just nodded.

"All right, now that we have that cleared up..." Quistis looked around again. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to find Squall," Laguna said.

"We don't even know Squall is still alive," Seifer said, eliciting winces from about half the team. What? he wondered. It's the truth!

"He's alive," Rinoa said. "Dyne wouldn't want him to die. He would want another pawn."

Like how Ultimecia didn't have me executed? Probably. "And how do you know Dyne is still alive?" he asked, watching her for a moment. She colored and glanced away.

"I just do," she evaded.

"All right, so how do we find him?" Irvine asked. No one answered.

"He'd be with his army," Xu said. "Since you took it out at the Centra crater, the only ones left would be on the ships."

"And the ships could be anywhere in any of the oceans on the globe," Seifer said. "So where would the most likely place be?"

"He can't have gotten too far from Centra--what am I saying? He's a sorcerer. He could be anywhere!" Nida sighed and began massaging his temples. Everyone seemed to ignore him.

"Heeeey, I know!" Selphie piped up. "He rerouted that draw point in the Shumi village, maybe they'd know where he was!"

"All right," Quistis said. "Laguna, they know you. You, umm... Kiros, and Rinoa will go try to figure out what happened to the draw point. Selphie, Zell, Irvine, maybe you should check out Trabia Garden, see if they've noticed anything going on up around there. On second thought Kiros, you should come with me to go to Esthar and talk to Doctor Odine. Seifer... uh... you go with... Laguna," Quistis said.

"Fine," Seifer said.

"I will accompany Rinoa," Edea said. "She may need my guidance."

And your protection? Seifer wondered. Don't worry, Matron. I'm not about to try anything.

"All right. Well, it's a bit late to start out now, why doesn't everyone just take a break and we'll start tomorrow?"

"As Squall would say, we're on standby," Irvine said, standing up.

"Zell," Nida asked. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take you up again?"

"Sure," Zell said. "When do I get weaponry practice?"

"Uhgh! Umm... later," Nida said, and made a beeline for the nearest exit.

The team began to file out of the room, and Quistis turned to one of the faculty members. Seifer waited until she turned around and notced him.

"Everyone seems pretty confident," he remarked. "You can't really believe it will be that easy."

"The last time we thought Squall was gone we got him back," Quistis said. "He's--"

"--our enemy," Seifer finished for her. "You don't seem to get that we might have to kill him."

Quistis blanched. "We won't have to," she said.

"You're just saying that. I bet you aren't convinced any more than I am."

"It's Dyne we're targeting. Not Squall."

"And you don't think Dyne will do everything he can to keep from getting himself killed? He'll sacrifice Squall before he lets us near him. To him, Squall may be an interesting toy, but he's counting on him being more valuble to us than he is to him."

"What would you suggest?" Quistis demanded. "When we went after Ultimecia, we didn't have to kill you!"

"Ultimecia was in the future. Technically, I didn't even exist when you fought her. As to what I'd do, I'd try to get Squall back, sure. But not until we have a much better idea of who we're dealing with."

"And how do you suppose we should go about that?"

"Everyone's gotta have a past. We should start checking up on Dyne, see where he was born, if he has any friends... if we know his motives, we'd have a much better chance at this."

Quistis glared at him for a moment. I guess she knows all my suggestions are valid, he thought smugly. She can't say I'm wrong, but she doesn't want to admit I'm right.

"Fine. I'll have Xu start contacting people in the major cities and see if any of them have a birth record for a man named Dyne."

"Not Dyne."

"What?"

"I don't think it's his real name. He said he stole it."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

Seifer shrugged. "That's your problem, instructor. You're in charge. Make some decisions."

Quistis stood up. "Thank you for your advice," she said huffily, and left.

Seifer leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling. Balamb Garden! He was here, finally here again. He had never thought they would let him return--to be fair, he did still get glances and threats in the hallway, and the Garden Square was abuzz with talk about him. But to actually be inside the Garden--it was a larger act of trust than he would have guessed possible.

Or maybe not. Maybe it's charity. Poor old Seifer, he's lost everything... maybe we'll just let him tag along as long as he doesn't cause trouble.

Seifer slammed his hand down on the arm of the chair. I am not some beggar! he thought angrily. I'm better than most of them, and I can prove it, too! All I need is a damned chance!

A chance? They weren't likely to give him a chance. They didn't trust him enough. Oh, yeah, I saved Squall's life--then I go and beat the hell out of him. And then I go drag Quistis over to him, then half the bloody crew sees me get in a fight with Zell. Typical Seifer, they're thinking. And they're sure as hell not going to give me a chance to prove myself.

Standing up, Seifer moved towards the elevator. He could think of two things he needed: a good bloodbath in the training facility, and a meal from the cafeteria. He decided to go for the training center first, as the cafeteria would probably be crowded. The last place Seifer wanted to be was in a crowd.

Patting his gunblade, he stepped into the elevator. All right, Tri-faces, he thought. You want some of this? It's all yours...