"Oh my god..."
Squall felt like retching. A huge, bleeding hole had been knocked in the back of Seifer's head. He could see the skull beneath, the bone gleaming dully in the fading light. He didn't respond to Seifer's questions- he didn't contemplate what his actions implied, he just tensed his legs and scooped Seifer up into his arms.
He hardly weighed a thing, Squall wondered at how emaciated he must be under his coat. "You're hurt- I'm taking you to the Ragnarok to get a better look at that thing."
The other Seifer might have left him for dead if it had been Squall...but something told him that he might not- that he had fought with honor, even if it was misguided. Squall couldn't just leave this man to die, no matter what Seifer had done. For a moment he wondered if this is what Seifer had been like in the beginning, even before Squall had met him. What had made him into such an arrogant, delusional fool?
Maybe he'd find out later- maybe it didn't matter. He started to run, who knew how long Seifer had been bleeding his brains out.
Fear hit him, but he really didn't have the strength to struggle. He didn't have the nature to beg either. When Squall started to run, the jolt of it sent pain through him and made it harder to breath, but his world started to go black. It was okay though, to die now. With his bloody fingers he reached up and touched this man's face. It felt, in this memory fragment, that he'd wanted to say this for so long, voice barely above a whisper, "I love you, Gray Eyes." It didn't even matter if it was heard. He'd said it. Now he could surrender to the darkness calling him.
Those same eye's were wide with worry and fear as Squall ran up the steps and threw open the door, bracing Seifer against his chest as he did so. When Seifer touched him he stopped, astonished.
"What do you mean?" He asked, his voice ragged with desperation. "Seifer! What do you mean?"
Nothing, Seifer's eyes were drifting closed, he had gone limp in Squall's arms.
"Seifer! Damn you answer me! What are you saying?"
What did he mean? He loved Squall? It was mad! Squall loved Rinoa, Seifer loved only Glory. Rinoa was dead, Squall would never love again, and Seifer was reduced to this- this pathetic thing. What did Seifer mean? Had he mistaken him for someone else? There had to be other people with gray eyes that Seifer had met while he traveled the world.
"Shit." He staggered out of the house and sprinted for the hatch of the dragonship. All of this in one day- it was like old times.
That thought alone made his knees weak with sudden terror, if Seifer died...he didn't want to think about it.
Seifer looked like a heap of rags, almost ready to fall apart as Squall stepped back from the medi-surg table. Blond hair fanned out above his head. Squall covered his mouth as the image of Seifer's head wound reasserted its self into his mind. "Activate" He growled the command that was start the med-drones.
The one above the table, a sphere of lights and odd shaped tools, jerked to life, sliding down the track above the table. A solid beam of blue light descended and scanned over the unconscious blond. "Initial assessment complete. Communicate Diagnoses or commence treatment?"
Squall put his hands on the edge of the table, the metal cold against his skin.
"Tell me what's wrong with him." Besides the fact that he has a hole in his head. He shouldn't even be alive with a wound like that- there was something more to all of this.
The drone chirped.
"Subject has sustained severe damage to the rear of the cranium, severe blood loss, severe malnutrition, and trauma. A technomagical device has been implanted in the head wound- fracturing the skull and preventing natural healing. Estimated time to cessation of brain activity- two minutes and ten seconds."
Squall searched Seifer's thin face. The man's skin was gray and smudged with dirt, his eye's were sunken into their sockets. This wasn't how he wanted to remember Seifer for the rest of his life- how much easier it had been when he thought Seifer had died just as proud and as stubborn as always.
"Commence treatment!"
Wait- a technomagical device? What did that mean?
"Wait! What's this device? Will you be able to get it out safely?"
Another squeak from the drone and the toneless electronic voice replied. "Device appears to be a variant of that discovered in other victims of the Sorceress- use is apparently for mind control and memory suppression purposes. Please direct your healing magic onto the target to facilitate complete success of the operation."
Squall took a step back, touching the fingers of one hand to his forehead. He hadn't done this for a while. He had only taken one Guardian Force with him when he left the others- Shiva, whose cold nature seemed to suit him best. That and she was his first Guardian Force- it was easier to give up the others. He could feel her inside of himself, irritated at his lack of action. But when he pressed her- she, sensing the urgency in his thoughts abandoned her resistance, sinking back into the silent acceptance of their bond.
"Curaga!" Squall thrust his palm out towards Seifer- light bloomed around the fallen man. From the machines around the table came a low hum, and beams of light began to trace over the wound. Mechanical arms descended from the ceiling to vanish in the glow of Squall's spells. He kept it up, pouring his healing magic over Seifer. He didn't have as much as he used to, it hadn't seemed necessary, but what he had left would have to do.
His lips formed a silent prayer as he worked in tandem with the machine.
Live...please Seifer...
Small arms descended from the drone, unfolding as they reached for Seifer. The table itself unfolded, opening little gutters on the side for blood, debris. More drones came up from the side, moving over smaller injuries as well as gently refraining Seifer during critical moments. Very slowly one arm pulled back, drawing a small broken silver orb and a spider web slender net of strands. It seemed to go on forever before it was deposited in a clear container and sealed.
After that, the drones finished quickly. They withdrew, leaving a shivering, naked, and breathing Seifer. The central drone re-descended a hypodermic extending towards Seifer's thigh. The blue fluid disappeared into him. Seifer rolled on the table, slowly coming back awake. His green eyes, now looking a bit healthier, looked right into Squall's without much recognition... until he blinked, then looked again. "You're him! You're the one I've been looking for!"
He reached out to him, sleep or another faint threatening him already. He was a good thirty pounds lighter than he had been before, but all the bruises were gone now and his skin looked healthy, fresh and young.
Thinking to keep Seifer from falling off the bed- Squall grabbed the outstretched hand in a firm grip. Seifer's hand was so smooth- so unlike the hands of the warrior Squall had fought against.
"Lay still- your weak."
But Seifer had implied more in his statement than the simple fact that Squall had been the object of his questing.
I love you Gray Eyes. Seifer had meant him. Why would Seifer say such a thing? They had been rivals, they had fought each other bitterly every step of the way since they were little. It hadn't been a hatred exactly...not quite. Squall had even admired Seifer...but- but love? What was this? Maybe it was just a by product of his tortured mind. Maybe the last thing he had fixated on before he lost his memory was his rivalry with Squall- and from that faint memory of his eyes he developed a kind of fascination and obsession that he thought must be love.
All this thinking was making Squall edgy. The plain facts were that Seifer didn't remember who he was- but he remembered bits of Squall and claimed to love him.
Very disturbing indeed. And he was still holding Seifer's hand. He didn't let go either- what if he fell off the bed and split his wound open?
"Just take it easy Seifer...I'm going to try and help you."
Help Seifer- but he had to remind himself that this wasn't the Seifer who had done all those horrible things...maybe they would fight if that Seifer came back, but now- killing this Seifer would be like killing a child.
Seifer held Squall's hand as tightly as he could. "Doesn't hurt any more," he whispered, making sure his eyes didn't close. As the effects of the removal though were already taking effect. He didn't feel strong enough to really sit up or move, but his thoughts were clearing, rapidly. And he didn't know how he got where he was, but he knew he was naked, and he was holding the hand of the man he'd loved so long it was written into his soul. "Uh, this is gonna sound pretty stupid maybe, but a couple things, 1, where am I? 2, Do you know I'm in love with you? And uh, three, and this is gonna sound righteous stupid, but, what's my name?"
Squall tried to let the words breeze past him, or go through him or over him or something! He just didn't want them to sink it. What was Seifer saying. I love you- it was nonsense. Seifer wasn't...like that and neither was Squall. He would just have to be patient. He had committed himself to this by saving Seifer's life. And...it didn't feel bad either. Squall thought that it would be a burden and an annoyance having someone intrude on his life. But it was only when Seifer came stumbling into his privacy that he realized...and he hated to admit it but he realized how lonely he had been!
Ever since Rinoa died he had been alone. No one could cheer him up or make his grief any less. But Seifer- Seifer was somehow different. For a few moments he had been so worried about saving his life that he had forgotten how much he was hurting inside. It was cathartic to be nursing his rival back to health.
There had to be something perverted about it, but Squall didn't ponder that, he just tried to figure out how to respond to Seifer's crazy statements.
"Your on the spaceship Ragnarok, you said that before- though I can't imagine why- and you're Seifer...Seifer Almasy."