VI
"You are mine."
"Your dreams are my dreams, your will is my will, your greatest ambition my glory and my aim. Your arms will bear my standard and your voice will sing my praises. You are my knight, my champion, my herald.You live for me, and in like fashion may you die. "
"You are mine!"
--Ulimecia

"Finally, the beach," Seifer muttered as the shores of Trabia came into view. "If I have to stay on this thing for much longer, there's going to be chocobo for dinner."

Wings open, the chocobo powered its way through the water. Seifer didn't know how the chocobos stayed floating, but he guessed it had something to do with the feathers. They didn't always stay too far above the waterline, though: Seifer was developing cramps in his legs from having to hold them above the water for so long. Even so, the icy spray the birds churned up was beginning to numb both hands and feet, and he felt like his ears were about to fall off at any moment.

"Man, I am never going to look at one of these things again once we get to the Garden," Laguna complained. "I want to go to southern Esthar, where it never snows... I want a nice, hot meal--"

"Stow it," Seifer snapped irritably. "I have had it up to here with your complaining." The angry gesture Seifer made was somewhat hampered by the fact that he couldn't seem to unclench his hands from the reins.

"M-m-m-mountains up ahead," Rinoa said through chattering teeth. "Which w-w-w-way?"

"Umm, east. Right. East is to our right."

"Great. East." Seifer spurred his chocobo into a fast run, heading for the forest east of the mountains. "Skirting the mountains, we should be able to get there in, oh... never."

"We'll g-g-g-get th-th-there," Rinoa managed to say. "I should've b-b-brought a heavier c-c-c-coat."

The four chocobos plunged into the forest, where the foliage trapped some of the heat and made it a few degrees warmer. Still below freezing, but warmer than it had been.

"These things can dodge trees, right?" Laguna asked as Seifer tried to get his mount to go faster.

"They were born in a forest, dolt!" Seifer yelled back.

"Oh, yeah..."

"I would love nothing more than to ride through a Firaga spell right now," Edea remarked. "But I fear the chocobos would not survive it."

"And we don't want to walk," Laguna said with a shudder. "How long will it take us to get through the forest?"

"Forever and a day," Seifer snapped. Rinoa began to giggle. "What? Seifer damanded. "What's so funny?"

"Ooh... you're just l-l-l-l-like Squall," Rinoa said. "Exc-c-c-cept he doesn't say any of that stuff, he j-j-j-just thinks it."

"Thaaaaanks," Seifer said, voice laden with sarcasm. Sure. Me like Squall. Riiiiight. Not a chance in hell.

The yellow birds ran through the forest easily, threading their way between the trees. Seifer glanced back to see the tiny yellow chicobo following them, and wondered just how much stamina the thing posessed.

A loud humming filled the air, and Seifer pulled his chocobo to a halt. "Does anyone else--"

The tree needles were blown away above them as a blast of warm air pounded down on them. Looking up, Seifer could make out a vague blue-grey mass above them. "Does that--" he tried, but his voice was blown away. Taking a deep breath, he yelled "Does that thing look familiar to anyone else?"

"Th-th-that's Trabia g-g-Garden, I think--" Rinoa yelled back.

"What the... follow it!" Seifer snapped. Pulling his chocobo around, he sent the bird running after the Garden. Laguna, Rinoa and Edea followed, and Boko actually ran ahead. The Garden took a sharp turn just as they came out of the forest, and Seifer saw why: they were heading directly into a roiling mass of black-armored soldiers.

"Whoa!" Zell looked at the bridge diagram display. It was poor-quality, but fairly clear. A tiny, circular window provided a better view, but Seplie was busy staring out of it. "We just cleared the forest," Zell said. "Geez! What the hell are they doing here?"

"Looks like the army is here after all," Irvine said. Gently pushing Selphie away from the window, he shrugged. "There are... twenty-five of them, maybe. And they're spreading out. I don't think they were coming for the Garden."

"The Student Committee didn't train us to deal with this," Jessie said, looking at Selphie with concern. "What'll we do?"

"Do you have any big guns around here?" Selphie asked, an odd gleam in her eyes.

"Selphie, you little pyro--of course we don't!"

"Oh," Selphie said, a bit disappointed.

"Hey..." Irvine said, pressing his face as close to the glass as he could. "Is that--"

"Four dots coming out of the forest," Zell said, looking at the console. "What is it?"

"Something yellow," Irvine said. "Four chocobos. It looks like our friends. And--otherwise."

"Haven't killed Seifer yet, hmm?" Zell asked.

"They're--they're heading right at the troops!" Irvine said.

"What?" asked Selphie.

"What!" snapped Zell.

"We can't get off," Jessie said, looking at the four blips on the screen rapidly approaching the other mass of blips. "Not before the troops reach them!"

"What are we going to do, Zell?" Selphie asked as the blips that represented the troops began moving faster, and three of the four blips that were their friends halted, and began moving back along the edge of the forest.

"I don't know," Zell said. "How am I supposed to know!"

"Hurry, Zell," Irvine said. "Do something!"

"Uhhh..." I'm no good at this... what would Squall have done?

"Zell!"

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking! Uh... let's... uhm..."

"Oh, man! They're almost there," Irvine said.

"...land! On the troops!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Zell realized how incredibly stupid the plan was. Still, he couldn't come up with anything else.

"What?" Jessie asked.

"All right!" Selpie exclaimed, jumping over to the console. "Let's do it!"

Laguna grabbed the reins and tugged sideways, jerking the chocobo's neck around so hard he was surprised it didn't break. This had the immediate effect of ramming the bird into Rinoa's mount, tossing them both to the ground as the frightened creatures' talons impacted the ground around them. Something whizzed through the air next to them, and one of the chocobos fell with a javelin buried in its chest.

Laguna managed to grab the reins of the unhurt one, and pulled himself up. Rinoa gasped as the dead chocobo's huge claw raked her across the face, and tried to get out of the way of the pounding feet as a javelin ripped through her coat sleeve. There was a flash of yellow, and she found herself being swung through the air to land on the back of a chocobo behind Seifer.

"Back along the forest," Seifer yelled. "Maybe the Trabians'll see us!"

Rinoa grabbed onto his trenchcoat as he pulled his chocobo around quickly, holding on as well as she could. Gunfire exploded behind them, and Seifer ran his mount right over a grenade just seconds before it exploded.

"Something's happening," Laguna yelled, looking over his shoulder. Rinoa risked a glance back to see Trabia Garden descending, engines roaring.

"Out from underneath!" Seifer called back, spurring his chocobo and hoping the thing didn't just collapse from exaustion. The wind from the engines was actually pushing them downwards, and the chocobo couldn't move as fast anyway with its double load.

A Haste spell, my kingdom for a Haste spell... Seifer thought. Hurry up, you yellow bag of bones...

The trailing edge of the Garden passed overhead, close enough that Seifer could have reached up and touched it. Then it was past--driving into the black troops.

"Yeah!" Laguna thrust a fist into the air and reined in his chocobo. "Got'cha!"

Seifer let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding, pulling the chocobo to a halt. The bird immediately keeled over, gasping for air. Seifer jumped free, pulling Rinoa with him.

"Th-th-th-that wasn't f-f-fun," Rinoa said. "I want to g-g-get out-t-t-t of here."

"Right," Seifer said. Looking around the edge of the forest, he spotted a tree a long distance from the rest. Rummaging in his pack he found a Flare stone, he activated it and threw it at the tree. In a spectacular burst of light it set on fire, and Seifer moved over to it stiffly.

Rinoa, shuddering from more than the cold, staggered up next to it. "Why are they here, t-too? Are th-th-they everywhere?" she asked, looking at Seifer. Seifer shrugged.

"The hell should I know? I don't know what's going on."

"Heeeeey..." came a voice from the direction of the Garden. "Guys!"

The Squad-A girl is back, Seifer noted. Pulling off his gloves, he held his hands out to the flaming tree. Something small and fluffy crawled into his trenchcoat, and Seifer looked to see Boko nestling against his ribs. With a muffled curse, he pulled away from the chicobo. Boko only followed, trying to stay under the coat.

Selphie came into his view, moving up close to the fire. "Heeeeey!" she said. "Weren't you guys supposed to be with the Shumis?"

"The Shumis had other plans," Seifer growled. "They decided not to show up."

"Ooooh," Selphie said. "What's under your coat, Seifer?"

That gave him an idea. Grabbing Boko by the legs and ignoring the "Wark, wark!"s of protest, he thrust the chicobo at Selphie. "He's yours," he said. "Kill him or keep him, just keep him away from me!"

"Ooooh! He's so cute!" Selphie exclaimed, clutching the little bundle of feathers to her cheek. "What's his name?"

"Boko," Seifer said darkly. "And if you don't keep him away from me, I will not guarentee that he'll live to see another day."

"You're so nice," Selphie said, ignoring his last remark and petting Boko. Then, with a spontenaity that shouldn't have surprised Seifer but did, she threw her arms around him quickly. Seifer jumped and pushed her away, giving her a murderous glare. Selphie, absorbed in playing with Boko, didn't notice.

"Geez," Zell said from somewhere behind him. "Why did all of you naturally assume I was the leader. Huh?"

" 'cause you're just so smart, Zell," Selphie said.

"I can't wait until Squall gets back," Zell said. "Then I won't have to do this anymore."

"I'll take over if you can't handle it," Seifer said.

"What!" Zell yelled. "Oh, no! No, no! You are not taking command of anything, got it?"

Only too well, Seifer thought. "Can we get out of here?" he asked, motioning to the Garden. "This is getting us nowhere."

"All right," Zell said. "But no making trouble! We have all of Trabia Garden watching you!"

"Don't worry about me, Zell," Seifer said, pulling his gloves back on. "We have bigger things to worry about now."

"S-sire?"

Squall looked at the man calling him, a jacketed person who looked almost half again as tall as he was. "Yes?" Squall asked, unsure of what he could possibly want.

"I think you might want to see Dyne," the man said nervously. He looked scared.

This can not be good, Squall thought, then mentally kicked himself. What am I thinking? This entire affair isn't good. This hasn't been good since the time I woke up with this damn jacket on.

Moving past the man towards the dish, Squall could actually hear faint sounds of yelling. The bad feeling that had started in the pit of his stomach increased.

"What do you mean, all of them are gone?" Dyne yelled at someone. "There was no one there to stop them!"

"Sire..." came a faltering voice. "I do not know--"

"You don't know? You--"

"Sire..." the man tried, looking beseechingly at Squall. Dyne turned to see him, eyes wide with disbelief and rage.

"We sent twenty-nine of our soldiers to Trabia to gather supplies in preparation for the Esthar invasion, and he says they're gone. GONE!"

"Sssshould have sssent more, Dyne," hissed something from behind the sorcerer. The jacketed man turned pale and ran, leaving Squall, Dyne and Naja alone.

"What happened to them?" Dyne roared at the GF. "Why didn't you save them?"

"It would be hard to ssssave sssomeone from a Garden landing on them," Naja said. "And you have jussst alerted Trabia to our pressssence. I ssssalute you."

"I could rend your soul for this!" Dyne raged at the GF. "If you did not control the suits, your conciousness would be gone by now! I could destroy you!"

"Empty threatssss," Naja hissed. "You cannot--cannot--ssssss!" The huge serpent convulsed, eyes opening wide. Dyne, back fully turned on Squall, had is hand stretched out towards Naja. The serpent convulsed again, hissing in pain.

"You failed me!" Dyne roared. "For this--"

"Ssssss... ssss... ssSquall," Naja hissed, turning agonized eyes on him. Squall found his hand moving towards his gunblade almost of its own accord, and understood.

"I will--" Dyne began, then paused. His eyes narrowed for the briefest of instants, as if something had just occured to him. Whirling just as Squall raised his gunblade, he backed into Naja's coils. Drawing the huge sword he wore, he knocked Squall's blade away forcefully.

Squall ducked under a frantic lunge, swinging the gunblade up. Naja began to rise, hood extended as Dyne parried and swung again. The GF rose into a pillar of scaled muscle, towering over Dyne. Then he stopped.

Dyne brought his blade crashing down on Squall's, forcing him backwards. Another skilless, desperate attack knocked Squall to the ground, where he barely managed to deflect a stab with his blade. Dyne's sword buried itself several centimeters in the ground, and Dyne cursed and tried to yank it out as Squall got up. Bracing himself, Squall swung at Dyne's exposed ribcage--

Dyne turned to look, eyes widening. Something huge crashed against Squall's side, throwing him into the air. A cavernous, black mouth caught him as he fell, nearly impaling him with two large fangs. Naja shook him like a dog would shake a bone, and his gunblade flew away. Dropping him unceremoniously to the ground, Naja slithered back a few paces, hissing curses at Dyne.

"Conspire--against me?" Dyne snarled, pulling his blade out of the ground with a violent jerk. Bashing Squall on the chin with the handle as he tried to get up, he brought the tip down hard just beneath the SeeD's right shoulder bone, literally pinning him down. "You will--both--suffer--for this..." he added, breath heaving.

Pain lanced through Squall's shoulder as he tried to get up, and he gritted his teeth. His gunblade was on the ground a bit away, just out of reach. Looking up at Dyne, he wondered if he could possibly use one of the Demi spells.

Dyne kicked him, and he felt the magic draining out of him. Dyne had been listening to his thoughts again.

"I will give you one choice, Leonhart," Dyne continued. "Either--join me, or die. Either surrender and let the jacket take you, body, mind and soul--or I will rip your mind apart and give your body to Naja to play with. Which--will it be?"

My gunblade... Concentrating, he tried to make his hand reach out those few extra centimeters. Furiously, Dyne kicked it away.

"Which. Will. It. BE?!" he roared.

Neither...

Dyne kicked him again. "Ten seconds, Leonhart. Surrender by then or die. Ten!"

I have no choice? Can't be. Isn't there always a choice?

"Nine!"

Can't use magic, can't reach my gunblade, sure as hell won't be able to talk my way out...

"Eight! Seven!"

Is this... the end?

"Six! Five! Four!"

If I surrender, at least I'll still be alive. I'll still have a chance... no. I'd just be some manipulated... zealot.

"Three!"

Is that better than death? I might never get out--am I willing to take that risk? Just like... Edea...

"Two!"

'All I could do was... surrender myself to Ultimecia, and lose control of my mind.' It's better than death, I suppose...

"ONE!"

Squall raised his left hand; his right shoulder was hurting so much that he wasn't inclined to try to move it. Dyne looked at him, waiting.

"Yield," Squall said.

Dyne stared at him for a moment longer. Then he laughed. First it was softly, then the volume rose. Then he was doubled up, with his head thrown back. "Excellent! You'll provide me some fun yet!" The laughter died down, and Dyne looked down at Squall. "But first," he said, voice silky-smooth. "First you'll pay for a bit of what you did to me." Stretching out his hand, he smiled evilly. "This is going to sting a bit. ...then it's going to hurt a lot."

Placing a hand on the hilt of his blade, Dyne smiled again. Pain ripped through Squall, and he closed his eyes, clenching his teeth. The pain increased, until he wasn't sure he wasn't screaming.

Then, mercifully, he blacked out.