A/N: Bleh, I don't like this chapter at all. But, I had to get it written and out because it answers a very important question. Don't want to leave you all hanging.
Chapter 24: Fate
"Where have you guys been?" Seifer asked, leaning forward against his elbows. Raijin and Fujin sat across from him in the detention room as everyone awaited the outcome of the trial. Seifer hadn't been able to believe his eyes when they'd walked up from the back of the room. He'd never dreamed they would show up, although he knew why they had. Quistis, she'd arranged everything.
"GALBADIA!" Fujin replied, nodding her silver head.
"Yeah, Fu's even got herself a boyfriend, ya know," Raijin nudged his female companion. "Things are gettin' real serious."
"JUST FRIENDS!" Fujin growled.
Seifer smiled, amused as always by his trusty posse. It had been a long time since he'd seen them, but neither of them had changed even a bit. Raijin was leaning back in his chair, teetering it on two legs. Fujin, in retribution for his remark, gave the chair a swift kick that sent it skittering out from underneath him. Raijin hit the floor with a firm slap, and a low bellow.
"Okay...so, Galbadia," he attempted to put their conversation somewhat back on track. "What have you two been doing all this time in Galbadia?"
"Fishing, ya know," Raijin grinned as he peeled himself up off the floor. "Working on a ship."
"STUDENT," Fujin shrugged.
Seifer hadn't been up to much other than running for his life, so there wasn't a whole lot from his side to share. However, as far as storytelling went, Raijin and Fujin weren't the best narrators. Discovering what they had been up to was like pulling teeth. And, Seifer was understandably on edge as the results of the trial were still pending. With as frustrated as he was becoming, he was still glad to see them. It was nice, at least, to have a little company.
The board had already been deliberating for hours. He wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or not. They weren't completely convinced that he was guilty, but they weren't completely convinced that he was innocent either. Or maybe the real argument was over the proper punishment for him.
Propping his feet up on the table, he crossed his arms and sighed.
"WORRIED?" Fujin asked.
"You could say that," Seifer remarked dryly.
The two stayed for an hour longer, telling in a broken manner of their exploits after parting ways with him. Fujin apparently was closer to her beau than she liked to admit. Both were very loyal people at heart, and the mannerisms that Raijin claimed she showed toward the man indicated to Seifer that she felt deeply about him.
Raijin himself had no other woman in his life aside from Fujin. He worked on a fishing boat based out of a small, Galbadian town, and he seemed to enjoy the work very much. He had the brute strength required to be a sailor, and even though dragging a net from the water wasn't the same as sitting on the edge of the docks, he had a talent for it.
In terms of employment, Fujin was apparently studying at a Galbadian university. She'd given up on the more violent ways of mercenary life to instead focus on more intellectual pursuits. It was at the Galbadian university that she had met the new man in her life. Seifer had always sort of got the feeling that she'd always be loyal to him foremost.
Just as Raijin was going into a long yarn about once when he'd been out on the boat, the door flew open, slamming against the wall and causing them all to jump.
Quistis stood there, her chest heaving and her hair hanging about her face.
"They've decided!" she announced breathlessly.
Seifer's heart slammed into his ribs, and he shot to his feet. Quistis looked tired and ragged, but her blue eyes shone with thundering excitement. They were both going to find out if all of her hard work was going to pay off. He hadn't realized at the time just how much work she had put into helping him. The days following their arrival at Garden, he'd begun to question what he'd thought they had when she never once came to see him. Raijin and Fujin had cleared some of his confusion up. She'd spent time tracking them down, then called them, and even arranged to have them picked up by the Ragnarok.
The same two SeeDs who had been escorting him for his entire stay were standing behind Quistis, their not so handsome faces staring over her shoulders.
"What are you waiting for?" she demanded, waving a hand wildly. "Let's go!"
"Yeah, let's go see what they decided, ya know!" Raijin was catching on to Quistis' excitement, and started immediately for the door, nearly shoving her out of the way in his childish bolt.
"IDIOT!" Fujin raced after him, her boots pounding against the floor.
Seifer watched them go for a few moments before Quistis' patience had run out.
"Come on," she motioned wildly.
As the two SeeDs took their position on either side of them, Seifer found the thrill of finding out his fate slowly begin to ebb away. He wasn't eager to find out if the results were bad. He was nervous, sweat trickling down his spine beneath his shirt. It wasn't fair to put a man through the sort of tension that he was currently enduring. The longer they walked, the more he wished that they would have just made some big and sudden announcement to save him the stress.
Quistis was walking in front of him, trying her best to tame her hair into some presentable form. She was more than paying him back for the incident in the blizzard. He'd put much less effort into saving her life than she was exerting for him.
She liked him, he still couldn't believe it. It didn't seem possible that he could have won her when he hadn't even been attempting to. And, at the same time, she'd somehow been able to win him over as well. An amazing thing had happened between them, and he couldn't even tell for sure when it had happened. He hoped he'd have the chance to pursue it.
The quad was alive with people when they arrived. Everyone in all of Garden seemed interested in the fate of Seifer Almasy. He guessed it was the same thing that drew people to a car accident. They were all ready and willing to see his life crumble and fall around him.
Seifer took his old seat, walking past row after row of people who were all looking up at him. The trial was the biggest event that had occurred in Garden since Ultimecia. Naturally, the two events were intermingled.
The members of the board that formed the jury wandered in moments later, the buzz of voices pausing and drenching the room with a heavy silence. Seifer could hear his blood rushing through his veins. The roar drowned out the sound of the men as they walked, one of them coughing lightly into his hand. Desperately, he tried to calm himself. He didn't want his overreacting body to prevent him from hearing their words. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, he breathed deeply in and out, the world spinning around him.
"Calm down, sweetie..." Edea's soothing words somehow made it through the haze created by the pounding of his heart. She squeezed his shoulder in much the same way as she had earlier.
"Seifer Almasy," Cid stood up, his hands tense at his sides. His normally low voice was raised to fill the quad, and Seifer snapped to attention.
"Sir," he nodded.
"This board, having heard all of the evidence for and against you," Cid glanced pointedly at Quistis and Edea. Quistis squared her shoulders proudly, her blue eyes never flinching.
Hyne, she's beautiful, Seifer mused, fondness for her rising up in him in a flood.
All of her friends didn't appear to be upset with her for her sudden change in loyalties. They were all still sitting around her, Irvine and Zell on her either side. Not even Selphie seem perturbed. Seifer supposed it said volumes about what kind of people they were that they trusted Quistis' judgment. Hopefully everyone else had just as much faith in her.
"Having deliberated," Cid continued, his composure regained, "and fully discussed all evidence..."
Seifer pinched his eyes shut, afraid to hear the words that were coming.
"...have found Mr. Seifer Almasy..."
Hyne...please.
Seifer literally stopped breathing. He had never wanted any one thing so much in his entire life. A kind verdict meant more to him than just continued existence. It meant Quistis, it meant Faber...it meant everything.
The turning of the world slowed, Cid seemed to be moving in slow motion, the beginning of the word rolling off his lips like thick, cold molasses. Flinching, he tried to convince himself to listen.
"...innocent on all charges." Cid paused, looking around the crowd for some reaction.
Seifer was frozen in shock. Had he just said that? Had he really said innocent?
Quistis let out a long victory cry.
"Yeah, ya know!" Raijin called from the back.
"You're free, Mr. Almasy," Cid smiled.
Free. There was no more beautiful word in all of the English language.
The crowd behind him surged, lifting out of their seats. Some were obviously displeased at the verdict, others thrilled. Quistis came up behind him, her arms thrown around his neck before he even had the time to get up out of his chair. Her face buried itself quickly against his neck, and she started sobbing. Her nerves were frazzled, and she was raw with emotion. Seifer, still numb from the shock, patted her head lightly.
"INNOCENT!" Fujin screamed, joining Quistis at his side.
He looked around as the crowd around him grew to include Squall, Irvine, Rinoa, Zell, Selphie, Edea, and little Faber. All of them were smiling, congratulating him.
"We'll have to throw a party," Selphie gushed, already casting her gaze around the room and envisioning the decorations.
"Getting a little ahead of yourself there, Selph," Irvine reminded her, one of his arms snaking around her waist.
"I knew it was going to be an innocent verdict," Rinoa announced proudly, her nose in the air.
"Me too," Zell agreed.
Quistis finally relinquished her hold on him, her eyes glistening and a smile on her lips.
Getting the clue, most of the people began to disperse, but Seifer could have cared less had they stayed. Quistis had saved his life. She'd done things for him no one else would, and she'd reminded him of what he had to live for. He was in love with her, and dammit...he wanted to kiss her.
Taking her chin in one of his shaking hands, he brought her mouth to his. Sucking lightly at her bottom lip, he let his eyes drift shut. His heart was hammering, not only from the kiss but the sheer bliss resulting from the outcome of the trial. Innocent...he wasn't going to be punished at all. It was more then he'd even dared to hope for.
"Thank you...Hyne, thank you so much," he murmured, twisting his head from side to side as the kiss ended.
"All I did was show them the truth," she replied, smiling.
Seifer grinned for a moment before planting another light kiss on her lips. They tasted salty from the tears still running down her cheeks.
"You did this..." he shook his head in awe. "You're amazing."
The two SeeDs previously assigned to guard him, who were been standing on either side of him, shifted uncomfortably at the sudden display of affection taking place between Quistis and Seifer. Normally, public displays of affection were at the tip top of Seifer's pet peeves. It surprised him to be indulging with such pleasure in what he considered to be one of the top ten social crimes.
But Quistis was different...and what had happened between them certainly justified the need her felt to show her his appreciation. Certainly this was an exception to the rule.
"Seifer..." Cid came walking up to them, one hand extended. His red sweater vest was covered in little lint balls that made him look haggard and worried. "Congratulations. You're free to leave Garden anytime you want. Although, I would advise steering clear to Esthar and Galbadia for some time."
"Thank you, Sir." Seifer took Cid's offered hand and shook it, finally having enough strength in his legs to rise from his chair. This, he supposed, was the single best day of his life. He had his life back, he had his friends back, and he'd acquired the likes of Faber and Quistis Trepe. The future, suddenly, was looking a lot brighter than it ever had.
