The Balance of Power
Chapter 5 -
The gates of the Garden opened slowly as the transport arrived. It glided over the stairs toward the main building easily. A small crowd had gathered outside and was quickly growing as more students and instructors abandoned their classrooms to greet the mysterious visitor. Cid and Edea stood at the head of the crowd awaiting the transport's stop. Squall and the others were nearby, ready if trouble started. Seifer found Fujin and Raijin toward the edge of the sea of people and joined them.
"What's goin' on?" he asked.
"Somebody important, I guess." Raijin replied over the commotion of the crowd. "But nobody tells us anything, y'know..."
Fujin grabbed the collar of a junior classmen as he rushed by, nearly suffocating him.
"WHO?" she asked, pointing to the advancing transport.
"I don't know." The boy answered, his voice strained, coughing, his face turning an odd blue color.
Somewhat convinced, Fujin let the boy go and he proceeded on his way rather quickly.
Seifer began to push his way to the front for a better view. Fujin and Raijin followed close behind. The transport was coming to a stop as they reached their destination. The crowd quieted as the vehicle came to a complete halt and an outlet appeared in the side. The portal slid open and a man climbed out. Edea stepped forward. Squall followed close behind, hand resting on the hilt of his gunblade.
Seifer studied the man without any particular interest. He doubted that he was the one everyone was getting so hyped about. He and Edea bowed respectively to one another. They spoke for a few minutes before both turned toward the transport. Seifer drew his attention back to the transport just in time to see more people departing. Two girls, clothed in dark red mantles that covered everything but their faces which were hidden in shadows, followed by someone in white....a woman...
The entire assembly seemed to gasp at once as the woman descended the stairs. Fujin tensed and Raijin stood with his mouth hanging open. Seifer's eyes went wide and he momentarily lost his breath.
A sorceress.
Instinctively, he reached for his gunblade, but his hand grazed open air where it should have been. He swore, remembering that he'd been forced to leave it in his room while wandering the Garden.
Whispers shot through the crowd as the sorceress moved toward Edea. Edea welcomed the white clad witch with a smile. The sorceress bowed her head in greeting and followed Edea over to Cid, transparent wings blowing behind her. The three spoke, but their voices were unheard over the crowd. Seifer shook with anger.
Another sorceress. Another demon witch to be tricked by. And everyone was already falling for the act.
Fujin watched as Edea led the sorceress toward the Garden. No thoughts entering her mind were pleasant. She looked to Seifer, who stared murderously ahead.
Fujin didn't like Squall but she knew he wasn't an idiot. How could he trust this sorceress with what had happened only a few weeks prior.
Seifer was visably trying to control himself before he did something that everyone would regret.
Good, Fujin thought. He was so close to getting back into Garden that it would be beyond insane to screw it up now.
"Sovereign, come back!" a voice called from the transport. A large torama bounded out of the portal and landed on the ground with a snarl. The crowd gasped and edged backwards. Another cloak clad young woman followed, stepping fluidly from the vehicle and walked calmly toward the cat. "Sovereign.."
The Torama looked the girl's way before resuming it's sniffing spree of it's new territory. It came dangerously close to Raijin's foot, who, in turn, pushed Fujin ahead of him to allow him some safe running time in case the cat was hungry.
"HEY!" Fujin yelled in offense, as Raijin hid behind her. Seifer stood ready to protect his friends from the creature, fully aware that he could only postpone the razor sharp teeth for only so long without his gunblade. But he would resort to pummeling it in the face if he had to...hey THERE was an idea...
The girl sighed. "Sovereign!"
The cat turned and whimpered a little before the girl bent down and grabbed it's collar. With the touch the cat sat down on it's haunches obediently.
The girl looked up and Seifer found himself looking into a pair of doe-like brown eyes. "Sorry about that." she laughed apologetically. "He get's like this whenever we get to a new place."
Seifer wasn't listening, or at least he was trying not to. He looking over her shoulder to see where the sorceress had gone. The girl turned back to the torama. "You! " she ordered, pointing toward the direction the sorceress had gone with Edea. "March!" The cat let out a light purr of affection and rubbed it's head against her leg, then trotted off. She followed.
Seifer watched her go until Raijin began screaming. "Did you see that? It was gonna eat me!"
Fujin turned to Raijin and punched him heavily in the arm. "BASTARD!"
"Owowowowowowowowow!!!!" Raijin cried as Fujin grabbed him by his ear and began to drag him back toward Garden.
Seifer shook his head and looked back toward the Garden. He was about to leave when he saw some more movement at the transport and three more red clad girls appeared. One with no cloak, carrying a small chest, one holding nothing, and one with a tiny chicobo clinging to her cloak.
A chicobo.... Seifer thought for a second then remembered. If it were possible, he got MORE angry.
"YOU!" he yelled.
Neko looked up, eyes widening as she saw who it was.
"EEP!" she cried, dashing toward the Garden. For a second Seifer thought about chasing after her, but thought better of it. She was in HIS territory now, and the Garden was only so big.....
* * * * * * * * * *
Selphie hopped off the ladder and grabbed another piece of ribbon from the table. A few feet away, Irvine and Zell were finishing with the heavy tapestry on the right side of the doorway. The one on the left was a little lopsided, but it had taken them nearly two hours just to get it as straight as it was. Selphie told herself that she would fix it later once they were gone. Everything had pretty much gotten back to normal after the sorceress disappeared into Cid's office to speak with Edea a few hours before. The students were still buzzing with excitement. Selphie wanted to meet the sorceress personally, but there were still things that needed to be done. Like finishing the decorations in the Quad before she turned fifty...
"So, this is the Quad." a voice called from the doorway. Selphie turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the sorceress coming toward her. Edea and Cid followed close behind along with a girl holding a chicobo.
Zell and Irvine had stopped their work and watched as Selphie greeted them, bowing in respect to the sorceress. Irvine set his hammer down and walked over to meet them but Zell stayed where he was, mouth hanging open.
Selphie giggled and gestured for him to come over. Zell tossed his own hammer down, accidentally smashing his foot with it. He cried out in pain and began hopping up and down, nursing his injury.
The girls giggled.
"That's Zell." Selphie said, smiling. "And this is Irvine, and I'm Selphie."
"Charmed." the sorceress replied, returning the smile. "I'm called Xercia." She gestured to the girl next to her. "This is Neko."
"Hi Neko." Selphie greeted happily.
"Hi." Neko replied, looking over at Zell, laughing. She looked back at Selphie and returned the smile.
"Hey that's cool." Zell exclaimed, limping over and gesturing to the sorceress's headdress. "I saw one kinda like that in Esthar once. Not as nice though. Jewelry's not really my thing, anyway."
"And hitting yourself in the foot with hammers is?" Neko asked, raising both eyebrows.
"No," Irvine sighed, smirking.. "Usually it's running into walls, or falling up stairs. Y'know, stuff like that."
"Thanks Irvine." Zell muttered sarcastically through his clenched teeth.
"Hey, they got any good chow here?" Neko asked Selphie. "I'm starvin'."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it "good"."Zell told her. "Except for the hot dogs, but they're mine."
Neko's eyes narrowed. "We'll just see 'bout that."
"And so begins the war." Irvine mumbled. "Zell, you might as well give up now, because I don't think this is a fight you're going to win..."
"Irvine," Zell sighed. "don't help me."
"I wasn't." Irvine assured him.
Cid cleared his throat trying to get them to remember that they were in the presence of a sorceress. It didn't really seem to be working to he sighed. "Oh Selphie, I wanted to tell you. We're going to be having a welcoming dinner tomorrow night. Do you think you can set it up?"
"Sure...." Selphie laughed suddenly nervous. "So...uh.....how long are you going to be staying here, your majesty."
Cid, Edea and the sorceress laughed.
"Xercia will do just fine." she assured Selphie, smiling, still laughing lightly. "I don't know how long we'll be staying."
"You know?" Zell said. "You don't look like you're that evil....."
"Zell!" Selphie cried, punching him heavily in the arm.
"He didn't mean anything by that." Irvine said politely to the sorceress. "It's just that all the sorceresses we've been around had this strange and ugly habit of trying to kill us. Or taking over the world, it's usually one of the two."
"Or," Selphie laughed, holding her hands up and wiggling her fingers in Irvine's face. "KomPRESSion!"
Irvine laughed. "Yeah, that too..."
Cid rubbed his forehead. "I'm sure that the sorceress finds this all fascinating, but we have to get going. She just wanted to see the Quad."
"Which looks very nice by the way." the sorceress added.
Selphie grinned with pride. "Thanks."
"Selphie's the head of the Festival Committee." Edea explained. "At the moment they're setting up for the Eclipse Dance this weekend."
"Looks like I arrived just in time then." Xercia replied, looking at the progress Selphie and her team were making. "Well, I do suppose we should get going. Keep up the good work, Selphie."
"Thank's, I will." Selphie called and watched as the sorceress exited. "She's a lot nicer than I thought she was gonna be. Really pretty too. I like her." She said, turning to Irvine. "What do you think?"
"I think she's genuinely a good sorceress, although it might be too soon to tell for sure..."
"Yeah." Zell agreed, nodding his head.
"Oh yeah, Mr. "You-don't-look-like-you're-THAT-evil"." Selphie smacked him over the head, hard. "What were you thinking?"
"OW!!" Zell cried, rubbing his head, hoping she hadn't messed up his hair. "I dunno, but if that Neko kid thinks that she's getting my hot dogs, she's got another thing comin'."
* * * * * * * * * *
Squall entered the elevator and ordered it to go to the third floor. The doors shut and the elevator ascended. The music kicked in...the piano version of "Eyes On Me". Squall sighed and shifted on his feet, memories of his graduation dance flooding back to him. He was smiling to himself as the doors opened and he entered Cid's office. It was empty. He walked toward the door on the left, the room where the sorceress and her servants were staying. He could here voices through the large wooden door and stopped to listen.
"....but the crystal is safe?" he heard Edea ask, voice muffled.
"Yes." the sorceress replied."He won't find it."
Squall slid closer to the door, quietly. This doesn't sound very good, he thought.
"Good." Cid sighed. "But will it be easily accessible if we should need it?"
"Yes, but hopefully it will never come to that." the sorceress told him. "In the mean time, we should prepare for his arrival."
"Is there any way we can prevent it?"
Xercia sighed. "The only way we can stop him is after the ascension, which takes place at the eclipse. That gives us four days. There are more storms developing. We have to stop those first or we'll have nothing left to save."
"Then we should begin to prepare the students..." He added.
"No." Xercia said. "I do not want them involved. Many could be killed."
The doorknob began to turn. Squall backed away from the door and dove behind a potted plant. He didn't know why he was hiding. He was, after all, in charge of defense and Cid's second in command. Cid told him everything that affected the students and this was definitely going to. But he was sure that he wasn't supposed to have heard what he did. Not being invited to their little meaning was a dead give-away. Cid and Edea exited the room and headed for the elevator. Once they were gone, Squall creeped past the sorceress's door and waited for the elevator to return. It took about thirty seconds, but when it came back, it wasn't empty.
"Eek!" the servant girl cried, pushing to the back of the elevator.
"Sorry," Squall whispered. "just going down." Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tiny chicobo dart from behind her and hide in the basket of clothes on the floor next to her.
"It's okay," she told him, picking up the basket. "I thought you were somebody else for a second."
She moved past him and let him into the elevator. He apologized again as the doors closed.
Neko looked at the elevator after he had gone. "Strange kid." she laughed, glad that it hadn't been Seifer as she had first thought. She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Pretty cute though...."
Pippin stuck his head up though the collar of the shirt he was hiding in and chirped.
* * * * * * * * * *
Seifer wandered though the corridors by himself. It was restricted after hours but he couldn't sleep. Not to mention that he didn't really care. He never followed the rules anyway. They were meant to be broken by someone and from the looks of the wimps currently residing in Garden he figured that he would be the only one out. He left Raijin lying belly up on his bed, mouth open, snoring louder than a transport engine. Like usual.
Everything looked so much different in the dark. Not as cheery, quiet, in fact, it was as if the whole place was uninhabited.
He loved it.
The only place open at this time of the night.....or morning, was the Training Center. He could go to the secret area.....He figured there wouldn't be too many people there, everyone needed to sleep sometime. And it wasn't as if he could wander the halls until sunrise...well, he COULD but he wasn't going to. So, with his mind made up, he headed for the Training Center. He'd brought his gunblade just in case he had any nightly encounters with the sorceress and had to defend himself. Besides, he'd been meaning to check out the new creatures that had been added to the Garden's little "collection".
The motion detector kicked in and the door opened immediately as he approached. He was welcomed by the botanical smells and the lush green vegetation of the jungle theme. He drew his gunblade and entered. The sunlight that usually filtered through the greenhouse windows above was replaced by the dim rays of the moon. Eerie shadows crowded everywhere the light couldn't touch. He moved slowly on his feet, listening, knowing that at any moment some creature could jump out at him. And with such dim light he wouldn't even be able to see the attack coming.
This was a hell of a lot more interesting that training in the day.
He moved toward the door on the left. It slid open with a gentle whooshing sound and then closed behind him. Then everything was silent again with the exception of his own footsteps and the sound of the night crickets who were daring.. or stupid enough to make their home within the Garden. But in the distance, there was another sound. He moved toward it, the motion lights picking up on him as he moved faster and turning on. They nearly blinded him for a second before his eyes adjusted and he advanced on the sound again.
Fighting.
Someone else was already training. Seifer felt angry for an instant, annoyed that someone had dared to intrude on his privacy, not even thinking that the person training had gotten there before him.
He turned the corner, realizing a second too late that it could be Squall or one of the others. He had no desire to talk them at the moment. But he was in luck, it wasn't any of them. It was one of the girls that had arrived with the sorceress. she was fighting three malboro's, her back facing him. She wasn't carrying any weapons, leaving him wondering how she'd gotten this far at all. The center malboro was getting ready to use it's Bad Breath attack, the other two occupying the girl with simple slash attacks. She avoided them somewhat easily, Seifer thought, watching her movements.
Woah, she could kick Leonhart's ass in no time, and without my gunblade she might be able to hold her own against me... Seifer thought, a smug look appearing on his face.... for a while. Maybe I'll challenge her when she's done. He looked at the center malboro as it tilted it's head back, getting ready to use it's Bad Breath. If she's not too badly beaten up....
The green mist flowed out of the creatures mouth, toward the girl, who was still fighting off the other two. She looked up, eyes wide, and dove to her left, avoiding the attack, long, copper colored braid flailing in the air for a second, then quickly stood. Seifer thought she might run, but instead, she pointed a hand at her attacker. Firaga blasted the creature backwards once, then again. The creature's body sagged, then dissolved into thin air. But now both of the other two were behind her. The malboro closest to her opened it's mouth, it's tentacle-like tongue swiping her across her arm. She gasped in pain and ducked a follow-up attack from the other malboro, it's tongue flailing out at her. She caught it in mid-air, saliva dripping down her hand. The first grabbed her ankle and dragged her to the ground. She lost her grip on the tentacle and the creature leaned back for it's Bad Breath.......before a shot rang out. The one holding her leg went tumbling backwards, releasing her ankle, but it wasn't out yet.
The girl turned as Seifer pummeled shot after shot from his gunblade into the giant plant monster's head.
"Hey!" she cried in protest. Seifer looked briefly at her then back at the malboro, then back at her, attractive face looking familiar...
"You're that girl..." he gasped in surprise.
"Look out!" She exclaimed, pointing. Seifer turned just as the malboro rammed into him. The gunblade fell from his hand and landed on the ground a few feet away. He toppled to the ground underneath the beast, saliva dripping from the creature's mouth all over his coat and face... He reached as far as he could but his weapon was just out of his reach. He stretched his arm a little more, feeling the muscles in his arm shudder painfully. He winced. He fingers grazed the handle, but he only managed to push it farther away. The girl had somehow pulled herself on the other creature's back and was proceeding to pummel it with physical attacks. The creature screamed in frustration and closed it's eyes against the blows.
Seifer followed the girl's example and punched the creature in, from what he could tell was, it's face. The malboro hardly moved back an inch.
"Dammit!" Seifer cried out, holding his arm at the wrist. Shots of pain ran up his forearm to his shoulder.
Note to self, he thought dryly, don't try that ever again...
Suddenly, everything went bright and air grew unbearably hot. Twice. The creature flew off him and landed in a heap on the ground, dissolving. Seifer sighed, then gasped in alarm as he noticed the sleeve of his coat was on fire and began to roll around on the ground trying to put it out, nearly landing on his gunblade.
"Sorry," the girl sighed, her foe disappearing behind her. "I tried to aim it as far away from you as I could." She walked up to him and offered her hand to help him up. He took it and began to pull up when his hand slid from hers and he was on his back again. The girl laughed and apologized again, wiping the gooey creature saliva off her hand on a nearby leaf. "These things are nasty."
Seifer stood and brushed himself off. "You nearly fried me!"
The girl threw her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I SAID I was sorry. Besides, you didn't have to come and help me, I had everything under control."
Seifer began to laugh hysterically and she continued to glare at him. Finally, she turned and started to walk away.
"Leaving so soon?" Seifer asked, picking up his gunblade from the ground and leaning it on his shoulder, hoping he looked as suave as he thought he did.
"Not a chance." She answered. "I haven't found the T-Rexaur yet..."
Seifer laughed so hard he nearly dropped his gunblade again. "You're gonna fight the T-Rexaur.......by yourself....oh please, you couldn't even fend off a group of plant monsters. What makes you think you can beat the giant lizard?"
"Are you done?" she asked, not without malice, brown eyes fiery. "Besides, I took care of the malboro's."
He looked at her and sighed, still grinning. "Yeah, I guess you did...." he wagged his finger at her. "I saw you this afternoon......when you first arrived. You're cat tried to eat my friend."
She laughed. "Oh yeah, I remember you."
"Seifer Almasy, and you are?...."
She nodded, as if knowing something he didn't. "So YOU'RE Seifer...."
Seifer frowned. Of course, she knows about the little incident with Edea. Well, that's great. Can't a guy get any slack around here?
"You're the one that Neko's been going on and on about..." she laughed. "And to think, she's actually afraid of YOU....You know, you're a lot shorter than she made you out to be."
Seifer's frown got bigger. "What do you mean by that? I can be scary..." he thought for a second. "Wait....who the hell's Neko?"
Her hand went up to her chin. "''Bout yay high, black hair cut to her shoulders, sixteen years old....."
"Carries a mean little chicobo...." Seifer nodded. "I know..." his face went stern. "What's she been sayin' about me?"
"Pretty bad stuff." she sighed.
"I figured..." he scoffed.
"Well, I don't think I'm going to go hunting after the T-Rexaur tonight." She told him. "I guess I'll see you around." She began to walk away.
"Wait a second." he called after her. "I gave you my name but you didn't give me yours."
"So?" she replied.
Seifer wasn't accustomed to such stubbornness from any girl but Fujin. He started to wonder if he was losing his appeal.
Naw, he told himself. That'll never happen.
"Are you gonna tell me or not?"he asked, beginning to get annoyed.
"Nope." she said.
She disappeared behind the bend. A few seconds later he heard the door open and shut. He ran his finger across the edge of him gunblade. Can I be loosing it? he wondered. Naw, she was just a snob.....kinda nice on the eyes though. Aw well, there's plenty of girls in Garden.
Suddenly, somewhere close by, the T-Rexaur roared. Seifer snapped out of his haze and dashed toward the door, very sure that he'd had enough training for one night.
Chapter 6 -
"You gonna eat that?" Zell asked, spearing a piece of Irvine's sausage and popping it into his mouth.
"Apparently not." Irvine sighed. He looked over at Selphie and began to advance on one of hers. "You gonna eat that?"
She raised an eyebrow positioning her fork over his knuckles, ready to strike. "Don't even try it."
Irvine frowned and pointed to Zell. "But he took mine...."
Selphie sighed, broke hers in half and tossed a part of it onto his plate.
"Thanks, CutiePie." Irvine said, kissing her cheek.
"Eeew!" Selphie laughed, wiping her cheek with her sleeve. "Maple syrup!"
Irvine grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
"So what do you guys think about the sorceress?" Selphie asked, popping a piece of toast into her mouth.
"I think she's pretty cool." Zell told her. "She's got me thinkin' about changin my definition of the word "sorceress"."
"What was it before?" Irvine asked.
Zell scratched his head. "I dunno. But it was really bad."
"Squall, are you okay?" Rinoa asked, tapping him lightly on the arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine." he lied, pasting a smile on his face.
"Well, then eat something." she told him.
"I'm not all that hungry."
"Don't look now." Zell told them, sinking down into his chair.
Everyone at the table turned. Seifer had entered the Cafeteria with Fujin and Raijin following close behind. He glanced their way only once as they passed then sat down at a table on the other side of the room. A few students near their table packed up their stuff and left. Seifer just leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the table. Fujin fiddled with her eyepatch and Raijin banged his palms against the table to a the rhythm of a song inside his head.
"What are we all looking at?" Quistis asked, sliding a chair over. She looked in the direction they were and sighed. "Oh." She sat down. "Y'know..." Realizing she sounded like Raijin she cleared her throat and started again. "You realize... that there are far more interesting things to look at, don't you?"
Squall stood up from his chair. "I'm going to get something to eat."
"Wait up." Zell jumped up after him. "I wanna see if they started making the hot dogs yet."
"Whatever." Squall sighed. Zell laughed and followed him up to the lunch counter.
"Are you guys gonna help us finish up with the Quad?" Selphie asked hopefully. "We could really use the help. And we have to set up for the dinner tonight."
"There's a dinner tonight?" Rinoa asked.
"Yeah," Irvine replied. "Some big "celebration" dinner to welcome the sorceress."
"Yeah," Selphie added, winking, waving her finger in the air. "SeeD uniforms are not optional. They're required."
Rinoa looked worried. "But, I don't have a SeeD uniform."
"And I hate wearin' mine..." Irvine frowned. "It's too....formal. And it chafes in unmentionable places...."
Selphie clapped her hands in glee. "Oh, I can't wait to see you in your uniform!"
Irvine closed his eyes, groaned and held his stomach. "I don't feel so good, maybe I should lie down. Maybe I should miss the dinner tonight..."
Quistis laughed. Selphie raised an eyebrow. "Don't start."
"What am I supposed to wear?" Rinoa asked.
"You could wear that white dress you wore to the graduation dance." Quistis offered.
"Yeah.....I suppose..." Rinoa sighed.
"Suppose what?" Squall asked, sitting down next to her. Zell plopped down into his chair, munching on a sausage link that he'd stolen when the lunch lady wasn't looking.
"Oh nothing." Quistis sighed, trying not to grin. "Rinoa's trying to figure out how to let you down easily..."
"Huh?" Squall's eyebrows came together in confusion and he turned to Rinoa.
"She's kidding." she smiled. "I was just thinking about what to wear tonight."
Squall got worried. What's tonight? he asked himself frantically. It can't be an anniversary, we haven't been going out long enough....Well, I suppose there's the one month...but I don't think it's been a month....or has it?....Grrr....this dating thing should come with an instruction manual or something...
"Oh yeah," Zell cried, hitting his forehead. The wiping with his sleeve after realizing his hand had been covered in sausage grease. "That dinner thing is tonight." he frowned. "Aw, we have to get dressed up, don't we?"
Squall sighed in relief, not knowing exactly what they were talking about but glad that it wasn't something Rinoa would have a hissy over.
"Hey, look." Selphie pointed to the lunch line. "That's the girl from yesterday."
Everyone turned. Three girls, a tall one with blonde hair, a copper haired one with a braid, a short, dark haired one, and a young man with blond hair and silver rimmed glasses stood in the line. A large torama stood behind them, sniffing the air and anyone within reach.
"Hi Neko!" Selphie called happily, gesturing for them to sit with the group.
Neko waved and turned to the bronze haired girl who looked questioningly at them, saying something. The girl nodded and smiled.
"Who's that?" Rinoa asked.
"A girl we met yesterday." Selphie replied. "She came with the sorceress, she's really nice. I think the other two came too."
The three sat down in any open spot they could find.
Rinoa turned to Selphie. "Are you going to introduce us?"
"Oh yeah," Selphie giggled. "Everyone, this is Neko. Neko, this is Rinoa, Squall and Quistis. You already met Irvy and Zell."
"Hey, you're the guy from the elevator." Neko pointed to Squall.
"Oh yeah," Squall said, remembering her, wondering if she'd told the sorceress that he'd been up there. He doubted it because she didn't say anything else.
"Oh, wait." Neko laughed, turning to the other people with her. "These are my friends Syrec Bradford, Una Shianni and Kaori Sinead." She pointed down to the Torama who'd picked a nice dark spot under the table to take a nap. "And that's Sovereign." The cat's eyelid opened, hearing it's name, then closed it again.
Everyone greeted everyone else and began to eat.
"Hey, that's the guy from the Training Center last night." The copper haired one, Kaori, said, pointing over to Seifer's table.
Una turned and giggled. "Oh so THAT'S him." she nudged Kaori. "He's kinda cute."
Kaori grinned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but his personality stinks."
"What did he say to you in the Training Center?" Squall asked, taking a bite off egg from his plate.
"He's......stubborn." Kaori replied, smiling slightly. "He seems to enjoy mocking people."
"Yeah, that's Seifer." Zell told her. But he's more into stealin' lunch money, pickin' on the lower classmen....that kinda stuff."
Una laughed. "Tell them what you told me."
"Ah." Kaori nodded. "It was funny last night. I was fighting some malboros..."
"...Quistis..." Syrec said to himself, thinking as everyone listened to Kaori's story. "Trepe?"
Quistis smiled. "Yeah....how'd you know?"
"I'm the sorceress's aid, It's my job to know." he took a bite of toast, chewed and swallowed. "So, you used to be an instructor?"
"Yeah, but now I'm just a regular SeeD." she sighed. "I still help the headmaster, but it's nice not to have so much responsibility."
"...but there was all this icky saliva stuff on my hand so when I tried to pull him up he ended up falling back on his ass." Kaori laughed to herself.
Everyone laughed as Quistis and Syrec continued to talk. After a while, Seifer and his gang got up to leave. Neko stuck her tongue out at him and he glared at her. A second later they were gone.
"Well, that was rude." Una said, feigning hurt. "He didn't even say goodbye."
"Well he didn't say "hello" either." Selphie added.
Neko mumbled something incoherent under her breath.
Zell scoffed. "I hear ya."
Chapter 7 -
Squall jogged after Cid as the older man headed for the elevator. The headmaster was sifting through a pile of papers and mumbling to himself as Squall approached.
"Sir," Squall called as he got closer. "can I have a word with you?"
Cid turned and smiled at the SeeD. "Sure Squall, what can help you with?"
"I don't mean to pry, but yesterday I went into your office and I heard you and your wife speaking with the sorceress...about some matters that could have some severely negative effects on Garden..."
Cid's smile faded and he nodded. "You heard us."
"Yeah." Squall assured him. "I was just wondering what you plan to do?"
"Have you told anyone else about this?" Cid asked, looking around.
Squall shook his head. "No, sir."
"To tell you the truth Squall." Cid sighed. "I have absolutely no idea what we're going to do."
"Who exactly were you talking about?" Squall asked. "And what's this "ascension"? What are the storms?"
Cid looked at him. "I'm going to explain everything tonight at dinner, to everyone. Until then, I want you to keep this quiet. No one is to know."
Squall nodded reluctantly. "Yes, sir."
Cid turned around and walked away, leaving Squall standing in the middle of the corridor. He watched as the other students went on with their lives, laughing and talking. They'd been through enough already, and he was going to make sure they didn't suffer through anything more...
* * * * * * * * * *
Quistis and Syrec wandered through the corridors of the Garden. She'd already showed him her old classroom and a few of the other main sights before they'd gotten coffee at the Cafeteria a few minutes earlier.
"This place is a lot bigger than Trabia." Syrec said, looking all around him.
"You went to Trabia?" Quistis asked. "I didn't realize you ever attended a Garden."
"I was only there for about a year." he sighed. "There were... complications..."
Quistis nodded, telling by the tone of his voice that it wasn't something he liked to talk about. So, she switched the subject. "So, when did you meet the sorceress."
"I became her aid when I turned fifteen." he told her. "Before that I was one of her wards. She takes in those who don't have anyplace else to go. Kaori was one of her first, she's been there since she was five. Her parents died in an attack on their village. Xercia found her and took her in."
"She sounds great." Quistis sighed.
"She is." Syrec nodded, smiling.
"So. Tell me more about her."
"There's not much to tell." Syrec told her. "She's a powerful sorceress. Of all the people I know I respect her the most. There was this one time-"
Suddenly the main doors burst open. Everyone turned as a rush of unseasonably cold air blew through the corridor. A figure rushed in wrapped in a heavy blanket, being escorted by Dr. Kadowaki and two of the Garden Faculty.
"What happened?" Quistis asked, rushing to the doctor's side.
"This man has severe acid burns all over his body." The doctor replied quickly. "We have to get him to the Infirmary."
"How did this happen?" Syrec sighed.
"I don't know." the doctor told him. "We found him outside the gates. These wounds are about an hour old."
"......the water...burned....." the main replied, looking up at Quistis. She gasped. The entire left side of his face was a mass of deformed skin. His left eyelid had melted into his cheekbone, permanently closing it. She could only imagine what injuries he had below the blanket. "Rice is dead....." he sighed as the doctor rushed him into the infirmary. "The light...the light got her, then the water killed her...."
"Who's Rice?" Quistis asked him.
"Don't bother." one of the faculty told her. "He can't hear you. He can't hear anything. Something out there.... did this to him...."
"Do you know who Rice was?"
"His chocobo." the man replied.
"What could have done this?" she sighed.
Syrec gritted his teeth, "I have a pretty good idea. Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To see Xercia..."
* * * * * * * * * *
"It's starting." Xercia sighed as she stared out over the landscape. She, Cid, Edea, Syrec, Una and Squall's group had all gathered on the balcony to speak in private. The sky was cloudless. A flock of birds soared overhead as the group spoke.
"What is?" Squall turned to the sorceress. "Was this what you were talking about before?"
"Yes." the sorceress replied. "These storms kill everything in their path. That's their purpose."
"Storms?" Quistis asked, wide-eyed. "You mean, there's more than one?"
"From reports we've gotten, " Cid sighed. "There are at least three. One hit a farming village a few days ago. Before that, they followed the line of forests..... Two farmers and countless animals died."
"Luckily, they're still very weak now or more would have died." the sorceress said. "They'll gain strength as they move, with the more lives they take. They feed off of it."
"You've seen this before?" Squall asked.
"No," she told him. "Not personally. The last time these storms hit were about three hundred years ago."
"You're THAT old?" Selphie exclaimed, studying the sorceress. "You really don't look it."
"We have bigger things to worry about, Sel." Squall told her.
"Right, sorry." she smiled sheepishly.
"Do we know where they're going to hit next?" Rinoa asked.
"Well, if they feed off dead people, they'd probably go to the place where they can get as many as they can." Zell nodded to himself. "Wouldn't that be Esthar?"
"Not bad, Zell." Quistis smiled approvingly.
Zell beamed with pride.
"Yeah, chicken-wuss." A familiar voice said and a figure walked out from the doorway. "Just don't hurt yourself. You're brain can't be used to working so hard."
"Seifer...." Squall growled. "What are you doing here?"
Seifer held his hands up in defense. "I just came out for a lil fresh air, that's all. How the hell was I supposed to know the Schooby Gang was holding a convention out here."
"How much did you hear?" Cid asked him.
"Enough." Seifer shrugged, eying the sorceress warily.
"You can't tell anyone Seifer." Quistis told him. "It would start a panic among the students."
"Fine." Seifer said, folding his arms over his chest. "But I want to go."
"Go where?" she asked.
"You guys have to go to Esthar to warn them about those storm things right?" he grinned. "We'll I wanna go too."
"No way!" Zell yelled.
Edea placed her hand on Zell's shoulder beckoning him to calm down. "Why the sudden interest, Seifer?"
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Sit here while you guys save the world? Not a chance. I want in." he shrugged. "Just think of it as my SeeD test."
"Technically you're not even back in Garden yet." Irvine pointed out.
"Okay then." Seifer replied. "It'll be to prove to you third rate big shots that I can handle being back."
"Or it'll just keep you from telling all the students." Squall growled.
Seifer smirked coldly. "That too..."
"That's blackmail!" Zell shouted, fists shaking.
"Call it whatever the hell ya want." Seifer replied. "I'm goin'."
"Seifer," Cid sighed. "I'm warning you now, you're on thin ice as it is. If you mess this up, your chances at getting in this Garden, or any Garden, will completely dissolve. Is that clear?"
Seifer frowned. "Crystal."
"We'll send a team of six to Esthar." Cid continued.
"If I may," the sorceress interrupted.
"Of course." Cid told her.
"I'd like to send two of my ambassadors to Esthar to speak with the president." she said. "If that's alright."
Una looked questioningly at her for a second but said nothing.
"Absolutely." Cid answered. "So that means that three of you including Seifer are going to escort them."
"Don't look at me." Zell scoffed, glaring at Seifer.
"We'll have to fly the Ragnarok." Selphie grinned. "I guess that means I'm going, seeing as how I'm the only one who flies it. And Irvy's my co-pilot, so he's gotta go too."
Irvine heard his name mentioned and looked up. "Huh? What about me?"
"Okay, that leaves one more position to be filled." Cid sighed.
"I'll go." Quistis and Squall said at once. They blinked at one another.
"Squall, you'll be needed here in case something goes wrong." Quistis told him.
"Besides, we know how cranky you get without Rinoa." Selphie giggled as Squall's face flushed bright red.
"Aw..." Seifer taunted. "In't that cute....."
Squall glared at him.
"Besides," Selphie added. "You two would be fighting all the time."
"Is everyone in agreement?" Cid asked.
Everyone but Seifer and Squall nodded.
"Squall?" Cid pushed.
"Fine," Squall said harshly. "but if anything happens to them, Almasy, I'm holding you personally responsible."
Seifer looked unimpressed. "And you'll do what? Hurt me? Please....I'm shakin' in my booties, Puberty-Boy. Ya see me shakin'?"
"Alright then." Cid sighed. "Quistis, you'll be squad captain."
"Yes, sir." Quistis replied.
"Um...can I ask one thing?" Irvine put his hand in the air a little, trying to get some attention. "What exactly are the storms for?"
"There preparing the world for the arrival of a demon." Xercia sighed. "Endakkot. He needs life power to make his full ascent into this world."
"So," Irvine said. "what you're saying is that this guy is ascending from hell?"
"Yes." she answered. "But he can't arrive for another five days. He needs a balance of light and dark."
"The eclipse...." Squall nodded.
Selphie sighed. "I guess this means we're gonna have to cancel the dance."
Chapter 8 -
Squall and Rinoa helped their friends load supplies onto the Ragnarok. It was parked just outside the walls of the Garden on the grass. Selphie and Irvine were checking all of the systems, and Seifer stood, leaning against the ship, tapping his gunblade against his shoulder impatiently.
"Are they here yet?" Selphie called through the intercom.
Squall pushed the button on his end. "Net yet. The sorceress is probably briefing them about what she wants them to say to the president."
"Squall." Cid called from behind him.
Squall straightened. "Sir."
"At ease, you know you don't have to do that." Cid smiled.
"Well, we're on a mission, sir." Squall replied. "It's custom."
"True, but still, don't do that. It makes me feel old."
Seifer muttered something but remained ignored.
"Are you all set?" Cid asked.
"Just waiting for our ambassadors." Squall sighed.
"Yo Seifer!" a voice called. Everyone turned. Raijin sat on the outer cement wall of the Garden and stared over at them. Beside him, Fujin's grey head peeked over the side. "Where ya goin'?"
"Don' worry 'bout it." Seifer called back, standing up straight. "I'll be back later."
"WHERE?" Fujin shouted, barely heard over the engine of the Ragnarok.
"I'll tell ya after it's all done. You'll probably hear it from someone else first though." he answered. "I'll see ya guys later."
"I hate it when you don't tell us stuff, y'know?" Raijin said.
"Yeah, I know." Seifer told him.
"Raijin!" Cid yelled. "Get off that wall before you fall and break your neck!"
"Yessir!" Raijin replied quickly and disappeared over the wall. Seifer shook his head, laughing lightly to himself.
"Oh, here they come." Squall sighed impatiently.
Seifer turned to the gate. The blond guy held the door open for the girl he'd seen in the Training Center. The torama followed behind them. The sorceress stood in the doorway and waved as they moved away. Both were empty handed.
I guess you don't need weapons when you're fighting something with no body parts, Seifer mused to himself.
"Are we ready?" Quistis asked, sticking her head out of the entrance portal.
"Sorry we took so long." Syrec sighed. "The sorceress kept us for a few minutes.
"If we're ready let's get going." Quistis said, leading the way into the Ragnarok. Sovereign climbed in first to find a suitable spot to take a nap.
"Good luck." Cid, Edea, and Squall called.
Seifer rolled his eyes and followed the others inside.
* * * * * * * * * *
Fujin watched from within the Garden walls as the Ragnarok took off.
Why hadn't Seifer asked them to go with him? He was outnumbered again. Not only with Squall's crew, but with three of the sorceresses goons.
She didn't like it. Something was happening and the headmaster wasn't telling anyone. That was fine with her, but if anything happened to Seifer...
A group of girls walked by, eying her warily, commenting to each other. She glared at them and they rushed away.
Fujin knew she was scary.
Raijin on the other hand was too busy drawing a smiley face in the wall with a rock.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Wahoo!" Selphie sang as she hopped up and down in the driver's seat. "I missed this." Beside her, Irvine laughed.
Syrec and Quistis had gathered by the windows and were talking amongst themselves. Kaori had left the bridge to explore the rest of the Ragnarok. Seifer stayed away from everyone, remaining in the shadows at the very back of the bridge, asking himself why the hell he'd come along in the first place.
"So," Syrec said. "You never told me about yourself."
"There's not much to talk about." Quistis assured him with a smile and a blush. "I'm a very boring person."
"Aw, I'm sure that's not true." Syrec grinned. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"
In the background, Seifer stuck him finger down his throat and made gagging sounds.
"Just curling up in my room with a good book." Quistis shrugged, ignoring their rude companion.
"Somebody get me the hell out of here." Seifer sighed. No one answered, so he went into the hall, the heavy steel door sliding closed behind him.
"What do you like to read?" Syrec asked.
"Basically anything I haven't read before. I really have no preference." she replied. "I told you, I'm boring."
"Hey, Irvy." Selphie giggled. "Watch this."
"Oh no." Irvine sighed. "We don't have time for tricks, hun. We have to get to Esthar before those storms."
Selphie pouted but nodded.
"How long until we get there?" Quistis asked, looking over her shoulder at Selphie.
Selphie looked at the instruments in front of her. "Uh.....'bout fifteen minutes.
"Look at that." Syrec said, pointing out the window. Quistis looked and smiled. A pod of whales were traveling in the same direction far below them. There were nearly thirty of them. Many had babies swimming beside them. Sovereign whimpered and scratched at the window, looking at the large creatures in dismay.
"They're so beautiful." Quistis gasped.
"What are you guys looking at?" Selphie asked.
"There's a pod of whales below us." Syrec replied.
Irvine rushed up and pressed his face against the glass like an eager child in front of a toy store window. "I've never seen whales before."
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Selphie asked. "I mean, with the storms on their way?"
"I'm sure they'll be fine." Quistis assured her.
"Aw," Irvine cooed, pointing. "Lookit the itty bitty ones. They're so cute."
"Irvine," Quistis laughed. "Get a grip."
"Don't be such a dull banana." Selphie told her.
Quistis eyebrows furrowed. "What is it with you guys and the dull banana thing?"
* * * * * * * * * *
Kaori ran her hand along the wall of the passenger deck, staring out the window.
We've been over the water for nearly fifteen minutes already, she thought. We're almost there. She took a deep breath and sat down. The room blissfully silent with the exception of the dull purr of the engine, which was almost soothing. She closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, she could see a strip of land in the distance. There it is.
Suddenly, the door slid open and Seifer walked in. He jumped in surprise when he saw her. "What the hell are YOU doing here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." she replied sarcastically. "I didn't realize this room was reserved for you."
He gave her a slightly disgusted look and folded his arms over his chest.
"So, you were a servant of Ultimecia, huh?" she asked offhandedly.
He scoffed. "I wasn't her servant, I was her knight..."
"You were her assassin." she corrected. "Knights defend the weak and the helpless. You exploited them."
He glared at her. "What the hell do YOU know about it?"
"Enough." she replied, shrugging lightly. "You learn a lot of interesting stuff when you hang around a sorceress for most of your life."
He was quiet.
"Kaori, Seifer, we're nearly there." Selphie's voice echoed over the intercom. "Get up here a.s.a.p. Man, I love this intercom thingy...."
Kaori giggled and stood. "Well, I suppose we should go."
He was already pushing the button that opened the door.
* * * * * * * * * *
Squall entered the Quad by himself for the first time in days. Unhung decorations were in piles on the wooden work tables. Ladders still knelt along the walls where students had been hanging ribbons and tassels.
Selphie worked so hard on this, he thought, picking up a ribbon from under his foot. All that time and effort was wasted. We're going to have to make this up to her.
"This really stinks." Rinoa's voice said. He turned. She stared up at the walls. "Everyone worked so hard for this dance, especially Selphie. She must be heartbroken."
"That's what I was thinking." he sighed, throwing the ribbon on the ground. "Why does all the bad stuff happen whenever we plan on having fun?"
She smiled. "What fun were you planning to have when we had to defeat Ultimecia?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. It wasn't MY fun, it was everybody elses. Those were the pre-Rinoa days, back when fun was boring."
She punched him playfully in the arm. "Oh come on. You went to the dance remember?"
"That's because it was required," he told her. "If it wasn't I would have been in the Training Center, working my G.....D'oh!" he smacked his forehead.
Rinoa frowned. "What?"
"My GF's probably hate me. I haven't used them in so long, especially Quezacotl." he sighed.
"I'm sure they don't HATE you." Rinoa offered. "Why don't you go to the Training Center now and work them?"
"Not a bad idea." he replied. "Wanna come?"
"Sure."
"Squall!"
Squall and Rinoa turned as a Xu rushed up to them. "We have a problem, sir."
Squall turned to Rinoa. "Every time we plan on having fun..."
"It's one of the storms sir." Xu replied. "It's changed course. And it's moving rapidly. We can barely track it."
"Where is it heading?" Rinoa asked.
Xu swallowed heavily. "Here."
Chapter 5 -
The gates of the Garden opened slowly as the transport arrived. It glided over the stairs toward the main building easily. A small crowd had gathered outside and was quickly growing as more students and instructors abandoned their classrooms to greet the mysterious visitor. Cid and Edea stood at the head of the crowd awaiting the transport's stop. Squall and the others were nearby, ready if trouble started. Seifer found Fujin and Raijin toward the edge of the sea of people and joined them.
"What's goin' on?" he asked.
"Somebody important, I guess." Raijin replied over the commotion of the crowd. "But nobody tells us anything, y'know..."
Fujin grabbed the collar of a junior classmen as he rushed by, nearly suffocating him.
"WHO?" she asked, pointing to the advancing transport.
"I don't know." The boy answered, his voice strained, coughing, his face turning an odd blue color.
Somewhat convinced, Fujin let the boy go and he proceeded on his way rather quickly.
Seifer began to push his way to the front for a better view. Fujin and Raijin followed close behind. The transport was coming to a stop as they reached their destination. The crowd quieted as the vehicle came to a complete halt and an outlet appeared in the side. The portal slid open and a man climbed out. Edea stepped forward. Squall followed close behind, hand resting on the hilt of his gunblade.
Seifer studied the man without any particular interest. He doubted that he was the one everyone was getting so hyped about. He and Edea bowed respectively to one another. They spoke for a few minutes before both turned toward the transport. Seifer drew his attention back to the transport just in time to see more people departing. Two girls, clothed in dark red mantles that covered everything but their faces which were hidden in shadows, followed by someone in white....a woman...
The entire assembly seemed to gasp at once as the woman descended the stairs. Fujin tensed and Raijin stood with his mouth hanging open. Seifer's eyes went wide and he momentarily lost his breath.
A sorceress.
Instinctively, he reached for his gunblade, but his hand grazed open air where it should have been. He swore, remembering that he'd been forced to leave it in his room while wandering the Garden.
Whispers shot through the crowd as the sorceress moved toward Edea. Edea welcomed the white clad witch with a smile. The sorceress bowed her head in greeting and followed Edea over to Cid, transparent wings blowing behind her. The three spoke, but their voices were unheard over the crowd. Seifer shook with anger.
Another sorceress. Another demon witch to be tricked by. And everyone was already falling for the act.
Fujin watched as Edea led the sorceress toward the Garden. No thoughts entering her mind were pleasant. She looked to Seifer, who stared murderously ahead.
Fujin didn't like Squall but she knew he wasn't an idiot. How could he trust this sorceress with what had happened only a few weeks prior.
Seifer was visably trying to control himself before he did something that everyone would regret.
Good, Fujin thought. He was so close to getting back into Garden that it would be beyond insane to screw it up now.
"Sovereign, come back!" a voice called from the transport. A large torama bounded out of the portal and landed on the ground with a snarl. The crowd gasped and edged backwards. Another cloak clad young woman followed, stepping fluidly from the vehicle and walked calmly toward the cat. "Sovereign.."
The Torama looked the girl's way before resuming it's sniffing spree of it's new territory. It came dangerously close to Raijin's foot, who, in turn, pushed Fujin ahead of him to allow him some safe running time in case the cat was hungry.
"HEY!" Fujin yelled in offense, as Raijin hid behind her. Seifer stood ready to protect his friends from the creature, fully aware that he could only postpone the razor sharp teeth for only so long without his gunblade. But he would resort to pummeling it in the face if he had to...hey THERE was an idea...
The girl sighed. "Sovereign!"
The cat turned and whimpered a little before the girl bent down and grabbed it's collar. With the touch the cat sat down on it's haunches obediently.
The girl looked up and Seifer found himself looking into a pair of doe-like brown eyes. "Sorry about that." she laughed apologetically. "He get's like this whenever we get to a new place."
Seifer wasn't listening, or at least he was trying not to. He looking over her shoulder to see where the sorceress had gone. The girl turned back to the torama. "You! " she ordered, pointing toward the direction the sorceress had gone with Edea. "March!" The cat let out a light purr of affection and rubbed it's head against her leg, then trotted off. She followed.
Seifer watched her go until Raijin began screaming. "Did you see that? It was gonna eat me!"
Fujin turned to Raijin and punched him heavily in the arm. "BASTARD!"
"Owowowowowowowowow!!!!" Raijin cried as Fujin grabbed him by his ear and began to drag him back toward Garden.
Seifer shook his head and looked back toward the Garden. He was about to leave when he saw some more movement at the transport and three more red clad girls appeared. One with no cloak, carrying a small chest, one holding nothing, and one with a tiny chicobo clinging to her cloak.
A chicobo.... Seifer thought for a second then remembered. If it were possible, he got MORE angry.
"YOU!" he yelled.
Neko looked up, eyes widening as she saw who it was.
"EEP!" she cried, dashing toward the Garden. For a second Seifer thought about chasing after her, but thought better of it. She was in HIS territory now, and the Garden was only so big.....
* * * * * * * * * *
Selphie hopped off the ladder and grabbed another piece of ribbon from the table. A few feet away, Irvine and Zell were finishing with the heavy tapestry on the right side of the doorway. The one on the left was a little lopsided, but it had taken them nearly two hours just to get it as straight as it was. Selphie told herself that she would fix it later once they were gone. Everything had pretty much gotten back to normal after the sorceress disappeared into Cid's office to speak with Edea a few hours before. The students were still buzzing with excitement. Selphie wanted to meet the sorceress personally, but there were still things that needed to be done. Like finishing the decorations in the Quad before she turned fifty...
"So, this is the Quad." a voice called from the doorway. Selphie turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the sorceress coming toward her. Edea and Cid followed close behind along with a girl holding a chicobo.
Zell and Irvine had stopped their work and watched as Selphie greeted them, bowing in respect to the sorceress. Irvine set his hammer down and walked over to meet them but Zell stayed where he was, mouth hanging open.
Selphie giggled and gestured for him to come over. Zell tossed his own hammer down, accidentally smashing his foot with it. He cried out in pain and began hopping up and down, nursing his injury.
The girls giggled.
"That's Zell." Selphie said, smiling. "And this is Irvine, and I'm Selphie."
"Charmed." the sorceress replied, returning the smile. "I'm called Xercia." She gestured to the girl next to her. "This is Neko."
"Hi Neko." Selphie greeted happily.
"Hi." Neko replied, looking over at Zell, laughing. She looked back at Selphie and returned the smile.
"Hey that's cool." Zell exclaimed, limping over and gesturing to the sorceress's headdress. "I saw one kinda like that in Esthar once. Not as nice though. Jewelry's not really my thing, anyway."
"And hitting yourself in the foot with hammers is?" Neko asked, raising both eyebrows.
"No," Irvine sighed, smirking.. "Usually it's running into walls, or falling up stairs. Y'know, stuff like that."
"Thanks Irvine." Zell muttered sarcastically through his clenched teeth.
"Hey, they got any good chow here?" Neko asked Selphie. "I'm starvin'."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it "good"."Zell told her. "Except for the hot dogs, but they're mine."
Neko's eyes narrowed. "We'll just see 'bout that."
"And so begins the war." Irvine mumbled. "Zell, you might as well give up now, because I don't think this is a fight you're going to win..."
"Irvine," Zell sighed. "don't help me."
"I wasn't." Irvine assured him.
Cid cleared his throat trying to get them to remember that they were in the presence of a sorceress. It didn't really seem to be working to he sighed. "Oh Selphie, I wanted to tell you. We're going to be having a welcoming dinner tomorrow night. Do you think you can set it up?"
"Sure...." Selphie laughed suddenly nervous. "So...uh.....how long are you going to be staying here, your majesty."
Cid, Edea and the sorceress laughed.
"Xercia will do just fine." she assured Selphie, smiling, still laughing lightly. "I don't know how long we'll be staying."
"You know?" Zell said. "You don't look like you're that evil....."
"Zell!" Selphie cried, punching him heavily in the arm.
"He didn't mean anything by that." Irvine said politely to the sorceress. "It's just that all the sorceresses we've been around had this strange and ugly habit of trying to kill us. Or taking over the world, it's usually one of the two."
"Or," Selphie laughed, holding her hands up and wiggling her fingers in Irvine's face. "KomPRESSion!"
Irvine laughed. "Yeah, that too..."
Cid rubbed his forehead. "I'm sure that the sorceress finds this all fascinating, but we have to get going. She just wanted to see the Quad."
"Which looks very nice by the way." the sorceress added.
Selphie grinned with pride. "Thanks."
"Selphie's the head of the Festival Committee." Edea explained. "At the moment they're setting up for the Eclipse Dance this weekend."
"Looks like I arrived just in time then." Xercia replied, looking at the progress Selphie and her team were making. "Well, I do suppose we should get going. Keep up the good work, Selphie."
"Thank's, I will." Selphie called and watched as the sorceress exited. "She's a lot nicer than I thought she was gonna be. Really pretty too. I like her." She said, turning to Irvine. "What do you think?"
"I think she's genuinely a good sorceress, although it might be too soon to tell for sure..."
"Yeah." Zell agreed, nodding his head.
"Oh yeah, Mr. "You-don't-look-like-you're-THAT-evil"." Selphie smacked him over the head, hard. "What were you thinking?"
"OW!!" Zell cried, rubbing his head, hoping she hadn't messed up his hair. "I dunno, but if that Neko kid thinks that she's getting my hot dogs, she's got another thing comin'."
* * * * * * * * * *
Squall entered the elevator and ordered it to go to the third floor. The doors shut and the elevator ascended. The music kicked in...the piano version of "Eyes On Me". Squall sighed and shifted on his feet, memories of his graduation dance flooding back to him. He was smiling to himself as the doors opened and he entered Cid's office. It was empty. He walked toward the door on the left, the room where the sorceress and her servants were staying. He could here voices through the large wooden door and stopped to listen.
"....but the crystal is safe?" he heard Edea ask, voice muffled.
"Yes." the sorceress replied."He won't find it."
Squall slid closer to the door, quietly. This doesn't sound very good, he thought.
"Good." Cid sighed. "But will it be easily accessible if we should need it?"
"Yes, but hopefully it will never come to that." the sorceress told him. "In the mean time, we should prepare for his arrival."
"Is there any way we can prevent it?"
Xercia sighed. "The only way we can stop him is after the ascension, which takes place at the eclipse. That gives us four days. There are more storms developing. We have to stop those first or we'll have nothing left to save."
"Then we should begin to prepare the students..." He added.
"No." Xercia said. "I do not want them involved. Many could be killed."
The doorknob began to turn. Squall backed away from the door and dove behind a potted plant. He didn't know why he was hiding. He was, after all, in charge of defense and Cid's second in command. Cid told him everything that affected the students and this was definitely going to. But he was sure that he wasn't supposed to have heard what he did. Not being invited to their little meaning was a dead give-away. Cid and Edea exited the room and headed for the elevator. Once they were gone, Squall creeped past the sorceress's door and waited for the elevator to return. It took about thirty seconds, but when it came back, it wasn't empty.
"Eek!" the servant girl cried, pushing to the back of the elevator.
"Sorry," Squall whispered. "just going down." Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tiny chicobo dart from behind her and hide in the basket of clothes on the floor next to her.
"It's okay," she told him, picking up the basket. "I thought you were somebody else for a second."
She moved past him and let him into the elevator. He apologized again as the doors closed.
Neko looked at the elevator after he had gone. "Strange kid." she laughed, glad that it hadn't been Seifer as she had first thought. She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Pretty cute though...."
Pippin stuck his head up though the collar of the shirt he was hiding in and chirped.
* * * * * * * * * *
Seifer wandered though the corridors by himself. It was restricted after hours but he couldn't sleep. Not to mention that he didn't really care. He never followed the rules anyway. They were meant to be broken by someone and from the looks of the wimps currently residing in Garden he figured that he would be the only one out. He left Raijin lying belly up on his bed, mouth open, snoring louder than a transport engine. Like usual.
Everything looked so much different in the dark. Not as cheery, quiet, in fact, it was as if the whole place was uninhabited.
He loved it.
The only place open at this time of the night.....or morning, was the Training Center. He could go to the secret area.....He figured there wouldn't be too many people there, everyone needed to sleep sometime. And it wasn't as if he could wander the halls until sunrise...well, he COULD but he wasn't going to. So, with his mind made up, he headed for the Training Center. He'd brought his gunblade just in case he had any nightly encounters with the sorceress and had to defend himself. Besides, he'd been meaning to check out the new creatures that had been added to the Garden's little "collection".
The motion detector kicked in and the door opened immediately as he approached. He was welcomed by the botanical smells and the lush green vegetation of the jungle theme. He drew his gunblade and entered. The sunlight that usually filtered through the greenhouse windows above was replaced by the dim rays of the moon. Eerie shadows crowded everywhere the light couldn't touch. He moved slowly on his feet, listening, knowing that at any moment some creature could jump out at him. And with such dim light he wouldn't even be able to see the attack coming.
This was a hell of a lot more interesting that training in the day.
He moved toward the door on the left. It slid open with a gentle whooshing sound and then closed behind him. Then everything was silent again with the exception of his own footsteps and the sound of the night crickets who were daring.. or stupid enough to make their home within the Garden. But in the distance, there was another sound. He moved toward it, the motion lights picking up on him as he moved faster and turning on. They nearly blinded him for a second before his eyes adjusted and he advanced on the sound again.
Fighting.
Someone else was already training. Seifer felt angry for an instant, annoyed that someone had dared to intrude on his privacy, not even thinking that the person training had gotten there before him.
He turned the corner, realizing a second too late that it could be Squall or one of the others. He had no desire to talk them at the moment. But he was in luck, it wasn't any of them. It was one of the girls that had arrived with the sorceress. she was fighting three malboro's, her back facing him. She wasn't carrying any weapons, leaving him wondering how she'd gotten this far at all. The center malboro was getting ready to use it's Bad Breath attack, the other two occupying the girl with simple slash attacks. She avoided them somewhat easily, Seifer thought, watching her movements.
Woah, she could kick Leonhart's ass in no time, and without my gunblade she might be able to hold her own against me... Seifer thought, a smug look appearing on his face.... for a while. Maybe I'll challenge her when she's done. He looked at the center malboro as it tilted it's head back, getting ready to use it's Bad Breath. If she's not too badly beaten up....
The green mist flowed out of the creatures mouth, toward the girl, who was still fighting off the other two. She looked up, eyes wide, and dove to her left, avoiding the attack, long, copper colored braid flailing in the air for a second, then quickly stood. Seifer thought she might run, but instead, she pointed a hand at her attacker. Firaga blasted the creature backwards once, then again. The creature's body sagged, then dissolved into thin air. But now both of the other two were behind her. The malboro closest to her opened it's mouth, it's tentacle-like tongue swiping her across her arm. She gasped in pain and ducked a follow-up attack from the other malboro, it's tongue flailing out at her. She caught it in mid-air, saliva dripping down her hand. The first grabbed her ankle and dragged her to the ground. She lost her grip on the tentacle and the creature leaned back for it's Bad Breath.......before a shot rang out. The one holding her leg went tumbling backwards, releasing her ankle, but it wasn't out yet.
The girl turned as Seifer pummeled shot after shot from his gunblade into the giant plant monster's head.
"Hey!" she cried in protest. Seifer looked briefly at her then back at the malboro, then back at her, attractive face looking familiar...
"You're that girl..." he gasped in surprise.
"Look out!" She exclaimed, pointing. Seifer turned just as the malboro rammed into him. The gunblade fell from his hand and landed on the ground a few feet away. He toppled to the ground underneath the beast, saliva dripping from the creature's mouth all over his coat and face... He reached as far as he could but his weapon was just out of his reach. He stretched his arm a little more, feeling the muscles in his arm shudder painfully. He winced. He fingers grazed the handle, but he only managed to push it farther away. The girl had somehow pulled herself on the other creature's back and was proceeding to pummel it with physical attacks. The creature screamed in frustration and closed it's eyes against the blows.
Seifer followed the girl's example and punched the creature in, from what he could tell was, it's face. The malboro hardly moved back an inch.
"Dammit!" Seifer cried out, holding his arm at the wrist. Shots of pain ran up his forearm to his shoulder.
Note to self, he thought dryly, don't try that ever again...
Suddenly, everything went bright and air grew unbearably hot. Twice. The creature flew off him and landed in a heap on the ground, dissolving. Seifer sighed, then gasped in alarm as he noticed the sleeve of his coat was on fire and began to roll around on the ground trying to put it out, nearly landing on his gunblade.
"Sorry," the girl sighed, her foe disappearing behind her. "I tried to aim it as far away from you as I could." She walked up to him and offered her hand to help him up. He took it and began to pull up when his hand slid from hers and he was on his back again. The girl laughed and apologized again, wiping the gooey creature saliva off her hand on a nearby leaf. "These things are nasty."
Seifer stood and brushed himself off. "You nearly fried me!"
The girl threw her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I SAID I was sorry. Besides, you didn't have to come and help me, I had everything under control."
Seifer began to laugh hysterically and she continued to glare at him. Finally, she turned and started to walk away.
"Leaving so soon?" Seifer asked, picking up his gunblade from the ground and leaning it on his shoulder, hoping he looked as suave as he thought he did.
"Not a chance." She answered. "I haven't found the T-Rexaur yet..."
Seifer laughed so hard he nearly dropped his gunblade again. "You're gonna fight the T-Rexaur.......by yourself....oh please, you couldn't even fend off a group of plant monsters. What makes you think you can beat the giant lizard?"
"Are you done?" she asked, not without malice, brown eyes fiery. "Besides, I took care of the malboro's."
He looked at her and sighed, still grinning. "Yeah, I guess you did...." he wagged his finger at her. "I saw you this afternoon......when you first arrived. You're cat tried to eat my friend."
She laughed. "Oh yeah, I remember you."
"Seifer Almasy, and you are?...."
She nodded, as if knowing something he didn't. "So YOU'RE Seifer...."
Seifer frowned. Of course, she knows about the little incident with Edea. Well, that's great. Can't a guy get any slack around here?
"You're the one that Neko's been going on and on about..." she laughed. "And to think, she's actually afraid of YOU....You know, you're a lot shorter than she made you out to be."
Seifer's frown got bigger. "What do you mean by that? I can be scary..." he thought for a second. "Wait....who the hell's Neko?"
Her hand went up to her chin. "''Bout yay high, black hair cut to her shoulders, sixteen years old....."
"Carries a mean little chicobo...." Seifer nodded. "I know..." his face went stern. "What's she been sayin' about me?"
"Pretty bad stuff." she sighed.
"I figured..." he scoffed.
"Well, I don't think I'm going to go hunting after the T-Rexaur tonight." She told him. "I guess I'll see you around." She began to walk away.
"Wait a second." he called after her. "I gave you my name but you didn't give me yours."
"So?" she replied.
Seifer wasn't accustomed to such stubbornness from any girl but Fujin. He started to wonder if he was losing his appeal.
Naw, he told himself. That'll never happen.
"Are you gonna tell me or not?"he asked, beginning to get annoyed.
"Nope." she said.
She disappeared behind the bend. A few seconds later he heard the door open and shut. He ran his finger across the edge of him gunblade. Can I be loosing it? he wondered. Naw, she was just a snob.....kinda nice on the eyes though. Aw well, there's plenty of girls in Garden.
Suddenly, somewhere close by, the T-Rexaur roared. Seifer snapped out of his haze and dashed toward the door, very sure that he'd had enough training for one night.
Chapter 6 -
"You gonna eat that?" Zell asked, spearing a piece of Irvine's sausage and popping it into his mouth.
"Apparently not." Irvine sighed. He looked over at Selphie and began to advance on one of hers. "You gonna eat that?"
She raised an eyebrow positioning her fork over his knuckles, ready to strike. "Don't even try it."
Irvine frowned and pointed to Zell. "But he took mine...."
Selphie sighed, broke hers in half and tossed a part of it onto his plate.
"Thanks, CutiePie." Irvine said, kissing her cheek.
"Eeew!" Selphie laughed, wiping her cheek with her sleeve. "Maple syrup!"
Irvine grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
"So what do you guys think about the sorceress?" Selphie asked, popping a piece of toast into her mouth.
"I think she's pretty cool." Zell told her. "She's got me thinkin' about changin my definition of the word "sorceress"."
"What was it before?" Irvine asked.
Zell scratched his head. "I dunno. But it was really bad."
"Squall, are you okay?" Rinoa asked, tapping him lightly on the arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine." he lied, pasting a smile on his face.
"Well, then eat something." she told him.
"I'm not all that hungry."
"Don't look now." Zell told them, sinking down into his chair.
Everyone at the table turned. Seifer had entered the Cafeteria with Fujin and Raijin following close behind. He glanced their way only once as they passed then sat down at a table on the other side of the room. A few students near their table packed up their stuff and left. Seifer just leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the table. Fujin fiddled with her eyepatch and Raijin banged his palms against the table to a the rhythm of a song inside his head.
"What are we all looking at?" Quistis asked, sliding a chair over. She looked in the direction they were and sighed. "Oh." She sat down. "Y'know..." Realizing she sounded like Raijin she cleared her throat and started again. "You realize... that there are far more interesting things to look at, don't you?"
Squall stood up from his chair. "I'm going to get something to eat."
"Wait up." Zell jumped up after him. "I wanna see if they started making the hot dogs yet."
"Whatever." Squall sighed. Zell laughed and followed him up to the lunch counter.
"Are you guys gonna help us finish up with the Quad?" Selphie asked hopefully. "We could really use the help. And we have to set up for the dinner tonight."
"There's a dinner tonight?" Rinoa asked.
"Yeah," Irvine replied. "Some big "celebration" dinner to welcome the sorceress."
"Yeah," Selphie added, winking, waving her finger in the air. "SeeD uniforms are not optional. They're required."
Rinoa looked worried. "But, I don't have a SeeD uniform."
"And I hate wearin' mine..." Irvine frowned. "It's too....formal. And it chafes in unmentionable places...."
Selphie clapped her hands in glee. "Oh, I can't wait to see you in your uniform!"
Irvine closed his eyes, groaned and held his stomach. "I don't feel so good, maybe I should lie down. Maybe I should miss the dinner tonight..."
Quistis laughed. Selphie raised an eyebrow. "Don't start."
"What am I supposed to wear?" Rinoa asked.
"You could wear that white dress you wore to the graduation dance." Quistis offered.
"Yeah.....I suppose..." Rinoa sighed.
"Suppose what?" Squall asked, sitting down next to her. Zell plopped down into his chair, munching on a sausage link that he'd stolen when the lunch lady wasn't looking.
"Oh nothing." Quistis sighed, trying not to grin. "Rinoa's trying to figure out how to let you down easily..."
"Huh?" Squall's eyebrows came together in confusion and he turned to Rinoa.
"She's kidding." she smiled. "I was just thinking about what to wear tonight."
Squall got worried. What's tonight? he asked himself frantically. It can't be an anniversary, we haven't been going out long enough....Well, I suppose there's the one month...but I don't think it's been a month....or has it?....Grrr....this dating thing should come with an instruction manual or something...
"Oh yeah," Zell cried, hitting his forehead. The wiping with his sleeve after realizing his hand had been covered in sausage grease. "That dinner thing is tonight." he frowned. "Aw, we have to get dressed up, don't we?"
Squall sighed in relief, not knowing exactly what they were talking about but glad that it wasn't something Rinoa would have a hissy over.
"Hey, look." Selphie pointed to the lunch line. "That's the girl from yesterday."
Everyone turned. Three girls, a tall one with blonde hair, a copper haired one with a braid, a short, dark haired one, and a young man with blond hair and silver rimmed glasses stood in the line. A large torama stood behind them, sniffing the air and anyone within reach.
"Hi Neko!" Selphie called happily, gesturing for them to sit with the group.
Neko waved and turned to the bronze haired girl who looked questioningly at them, saying something. The girl nodded and smiled.
"Who's that?" Rinoa asked.
"A girl we met yesterday." Selphie replied. "She came with the sorceress, she's really nice. I think the other two came too."
The three sat down in any open spot they could find.
Rinoa turned to Selphie. "Are you going to introduce us?"
"Oh yeah," Selphie giggled. "Everyone, this is Neko. Neko, this is Rinoa, Squall and Quistis. You already met Irvy and Zell."
"Hey, you're the guy from the elevator." Neko pointed to Squall.
"Oh yeah," Squall said, remembering her, wondering if she'd told the sorceress that he'd been up there. He doubted it because she didn't say anything else.
"Oh, wait." Neko laughed, turning to the other people with her. "These are my friends Syrec Bradford, Una Shianni and Kaori Sinead." She pointed down to the Torama who'd picked a nice dark spot under the table to take a nap. "And that's Sovereign." The cat's eyelid opened, hearing it's name, then closed it again.
Everyone greeted everyone else and began to eat.
"Hey, that's the guy from the Training Center last night." The copper haired one, Kaori, said, pointing over to Seifer's table.
Una turned and giggled. "Oh so THAT'S him." she nudged Kaori. "He's kinda cute."
Kaori grinned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but his personality stinks."
"What did he say to you in the Training Center?" Squall asked, taking a bite off egg from his plate.
"He's......stubborn." Kaori replied, smiling slightly. "He seems to enjoy mocking people."
"Yeah, that's Seifer." Zell told her. But he's more into stealin' lunch money, pickin' on the lower classmen....that kinda stuff."
Una laughed. "Tell them what you told me."
"Ah." Kaori nodded. "It was funny last night. I was fighting some malboros..."
"...Quistis..." Syrec said to himself, thinking as everyone listened to Kaori's story. "Trepe?"
Quistis smiled. "Yeah....how'd you know?"
"I'm the sorceress's aid, It's my job to know." he took a bite of toast, chewed and swallowed. "So, you used to be an instructor?"
"Yeah, but now I'm just a regular SeeD." she sighed. "I still help the headmaster, but it's nice not to have so much responsibility."
"...but there was all this icky saliva stuff on my hand so when I tried to pull him up he ended up falling back on his ass." Kaori laughed to herself.
Everyone laughed as Quistis and Syrec continued to talk. After a while, Seifer and his gang got up to leave. Neko stuck her tongue out at him and he glared at her. A second later they were gone.
"Well, that was rude." Una said, feigning hurt. "He didn't even say goodbye."
"Well he didn't say "hello" either." Selphie added.
Neko mumbled something incoherent under her breath.
Zell scoffed. "I hear ya."
Chapter 7 -
Squall jogged after Cid as the older man headed for the elevator. The headmaster was sifting through a pile of papers and mumbling to himself as Squall approached.
"Sir," Squall called as he got closer. "can I have a word with you?"
Cid turned and smiled at the SeeD. "Sure Squall, what can help you with?"
"I don't mean to pry, but yesterday I went into your office and I heard you and your wife speaking with the sorceress...about some matters that could have some severely negative effects on Garden..."
Cid's smile faded and he nodded. "You heard us."
"Yeah." Squall assured him. "I was just wondering what you plan to do?"
"Have you told anyone else about this?" Cid asked, looking around.
Squall shook his head. "No, sir."
"To tell you the truth Squall." Cid sighed. "I have absolutely no idea what we're going to do."
"Who exactly were you talking about?" Squall asked. "And what's this "ascension"? What are the storms?"
Cid looked at him. "I'm going to explain everything tonight at dinner, to everyone. Until then, I want you to keep this quiet. No one is to know."
Squall nodded reluctantly. "Yes, sir."
Cid turned around and walked away, leaving Squall standing in the middle of the corridor. He watched as the other students went on with their lives, laughing and talking. They'd been through enough already, and he was going to make sure they didn't suffer through anything more...
* * * * * * * * * *
Quistis and Syrec wandered through the corridors of the Garden. She'd already showed him her old classroom and a few of the other main sights before they'd gotten coffee at the Cafeteria a few minutes earlier.
"This place is a lot bigger than Trabia." Syrec said, looking all around him.
"You went to Trabia?" Quistis asked. "I didn't realize you ever attended a Garden."
"I was only there for about a year." he sighed. "There were... complications..."
Quistis nodded, telling by the tone of his voice that it wasn't something he liked to talk about. So, she switched the subject. "So, when did you meet the sorceress."
"I became her aid when I turned fifteen." he told her. "Before that I was one of her wards. She takes in those who don't have anyplace else to go. Kaori was one of her first, she's been there since she was five. Her parents died in an attack on their village. Xercia found her and took her in."
"She sounds great." Quistis sighed.
"She is." Syrec nodded, smiling.
"So. Tell me more about her."
"There's not much to tell." Syrec told her. "She's a powerful sorceress. Of all the people I know I respect her the most. There was this one time-"
Suddenly the main doors burst open. Everyone turned as a rush of unseasonably cold air blew through the corridor. A figure rushed in wrapped in a heavy blanket, being escorted by Dr. Kadowaki and two of the Garden Faculty.
"What happened?" Quistis asked, rushing to the doctor's side.
"This man has severe acid burns all over his body." The doctor replied quickly. "We have to get him to the Infirmary."
"How did this happen?" Syrec sighed.
"I don't know." the doctor told him. "We found him outside the gates. These wounds are about an hour old."
"......the water...burned....." the main replied, looking up at Quistis. She gasped. The entire left side of his face was a mass of deformed skin. His left eyelid had melted into his cheekbone, permanently closing it. She could only imagine what injuries he had below the blanket. "Rice is dead....." he sighed as the doctor rushed him into the infirmary. "The light...the light got her, then the water killed her...."
"Who's Rice?" Quistis asked him.
"Don't bother." one of the faculty told her. "He can't hear you. He can't hear anything. Something out there.... did this to him...."
"Do you know who Rice was?"
"His chocobo." the man replied.
"What could have done this?" she sighed.
Syrec gritted his teeth, "I have a pretty good idea. Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To see Xercia..."
* * * * * * * * * *
"It's starting." Xercia sighed as she stared out over the landscape. She, Cid, Edea, Syrec, Una and Squall's group had all gathered on the balcony to speak in private. The sky was cloudless. A flock of birds soared overhead as the group spoke.
"What is?" Squall turned to the sorceress. "Was this what you were talking about before?"
"Yes." the sorceress replied. "These storms kill everything in their path. That's their purpose."
"Storms?" Quistis asked, wide-eyed. "You mean, there's more than one?"
"From reports we've gotten, " Cid sighed. "There are at least three. One hit a farming village a few days ago. Before that, they followed the line of forests..... Two farmers and countless animals died."
"Luckily, they're still very weak now or more would have died." the sorceress said. "They'll gain strength as they move, with the more lives they take. They feed off of it."
"You've seen this before?" Squall asked.
"No," she told him. "Not personally. The last time these storms hit were about three hundred years ago."
"You're THAT old?" Selphie exclaimed, studying the sorceress. "You really don't look it."
"We have bigger things to worry about, Sel." Squall told her.
"Right, sorry." she smiled sheepishly.
"Do we know where they're going to hit next?" Rinoa asked.
"Well, if they feed off dead people, they'd probably go to the place where they can get as many as they can." Zell nodded to himself. "Wouldn't that be Esthar?"
"Not bad, Zell." Quistis smiled approvingly.
Zell beamed with pride.
"Yeah, chicken-wuss." A familiar voice said and a figure walked out from the doorway. "Just don't hurt yourself. You're brain can't be used to working so hard."
"Seifer...." Squall growled. "What are you doing here?"
Seifer held his hands up in defense. "I just came out for a lil fresh air, that's all. How the hell was I supposed to know the Schooby Gang was holding a convention out here."
"How much did you hear?" Cid asked him.
"Enough." Seifer shrugged, eying the sorceress warily.
"You can't tell anyone Seifer." Quistis told him. "It would start a panic among the students."
"Fine." Seifer said, folding his arms over his chest. "But I want to go."
"Go where?" she asked.
"You guys have to go to Esthar to warn them about those storm things right?" he grinned. "We'll I wanna go too."
"No way!" Zell yelled.
Edea placed her hand on Zell's shoulder beckoning him to calm down. "Why the sudden interest, Seifer?"
"Well, what am I supposed to do? Sit here while you guys save the world? Not a chance. I want in." he shrugged. "Just think of it as my SeeD test."
"Technically you're not even back in Garden yet." Irvine pointed out.
"Okay then." Seifer replied. "It'll be to prove to you third rate big shots that I can handle being back."
"Or it'll just keep you from telling all the students." Squall growled.
Seifer smirked coldly. "That too..."
"That's blackmail!" Zell shouted, fists shaking.
"Call it whatever the hell ya want." Seifer replied. "I'm goin'."
"Seifer," Cid sighed. "I'm warning you now, you're on thin ice as it is. If you mess this up, your chances at getting in this Garden, or any Garden, will completely dissolve. Is that clear?"
Seifer frowned. "Crystal."
"We'll send a team of six to Esthar." Cid continued.
"If I may," the sorceress interrupted.
"Of course." Cid told her.
"I'd like to send two of my ambassadors to Esthar to speak with the president." she said. "If that's alright."
Una looked questioningly at her for a second but said nothing.
"Absolutely." Cid answered. "So that means that three of you including Seifer are going to escort them."
"Don't look at me." Zell scoffed, glaring at Seifer.
"We'll have to fly the Ragnarok." Selphie grinned. "I guess that means I'm going, seeing as how I'm the only one who flies it. And Irvy's my co-pilot, so he's gotta go too."
Irvine heard his name mentioned and looked up. "Huh? What about me?"
"Okay, that leaves one more position to be filled." Cid sighed.
"I'll go." Quistis and Squall said at once. They blinked at one another.
"Squall, you'll be needed here in case something goes wrong." Quistis told him.
"Besides, we know how cranky you get without Rinoa." Selphie giggled as Squall's face flushed bright red.
"Aw..." Seifer taunted. "In't that cute....."
Squall glared at him.
"Besides," Selphie added. "You two would be fighting all the time."
"Is everyone in agreement?" Cid asked.
Everyone but Seifer and Squall nodded.
"Squall?" Cid pushed.
"Fine," Squall said harshly. "but if anything happens to them, Almasy, I'm holding you personally responsible."
Seifer looked unimpressed. "And you'll do what? Hurt me? Please....I'm shakin' in my booties, Puberty-Boy. Ya see me shakin'?"
"Alright then." Cid sighed. "Quistis, you'll be squad captain."
"Yes, sir." Quistis replied.
"Um...can I ask one thing?" Irvine put his hand in the air a little, trying to get some attention. "What exactly are the storms for?"
"There preparing the world for the arrival of a demon." Xercia sighed. "Endakkot. He needs life power to make his full ascent into this world."
"So," Irvine said. "what you're saying is that this guy is ascending from hell?"
"Yes." she answered. "But he can't arrive for another five days. He needs a balance of light and dark."
"The eclipse...." Squall nodded.
Selphie sighed. "I guess this means we're gonna have to cancel the dance."
Chapter 8 -
Squall and Rinoa helped their friends load supplies onto the Ragnarok. It was parked just outside the walls of the Garden on the grass. Selphie and Irvine were checking all of the systems, and Seifer stood, leaning against the ship, tapping his gunblade against his shoulder impatiently.
"Are they here yet?" Selphie called through the intercom.
Squall pushed the button on his end. "Net yet. The sorceress is probably briefing them about what she wants them to say to the president."
"Squall." Cid called from behind him.
Squall straightened. "Sir."
"At ease, you know you don't have to do that." Cid smiled.
"Well, we're on a mission, sir." Squall replied. "It's custom."
"True, but still, don't do that. It makes me feel old."
Seifer muttered something but remained ignored.
"Are you all set?" Cid asked.
"Just waiting for our ambassadors." Squall sighed.
"Yo Seifer!" a voice called. Everyone turned. Raijin sat on the outer cement wall of the Garden and stared over at them. Beside him, Fujin's grey head peeked over the side. "Where ya goin'?"
"Don' worry 'bout it." Seifer called back, standing up straight. "I'll be back later."
"WHERE?" Fujin shouted, barely heard over the engine of the Ragnarok.
"I'll tell ya after it's all done. You'll probably hear it from someone else first though." he answered. "I'll see ya guys later."
"I hate it when you don't tell us stuff, y'know?" Raijin said.
"Yeah, I know." Seifer told him.
"Raijin!" Cid yelled. "Get off that wall before you fall and break your neck!"
"Yessir!" Raijin replied quickly and disappeared over the wall. Seifer shook his head, laughing lightly to himself.
"Oh, here they come." Squall sighed impatiently.
Seifer turned to the gate. The blond guy held the door open for the girl he'd seen in the Training Center. The torama followed behind them. The sorceress stood in the doorway and waved as they moved away. Both were empty handed.
I guess you don't need weapons when you're fighting something with no body parts, Seifer mused to himself.
"Are we ready?" Quistis asked, sticking her head out of the entrance portal.
"Sorry we took so long." Syrec sighed. "The sorceress kept us for a few minutes.
"If we're ready let's get going." Quistis said, leading the way into the Ragnarok. Sovereign climbed in first to find a suitable spot to take a nap.
"Good luck." Cid, Edea, and Squall called.
Seifer rolled his eyes and followed the others inside.
* * * * * * * * * *
Fujin watched from within the Garden walls as the Ragnarok took off.
Why hadn't Seifer asked them to go with him? He was outnumbered again. Not only with Squall's crew, but with three of the sorceresses goons.
She didn't like it. Something was happening and the headmaster wasn't telling anyone. That was fine with her, but if anything happened to Seifer...
A group of girls walked by, eying her warily, commenting to each other. She glared at them and they rushed away.
Fujin knew she was scary.
Raijin on the other hand was too busy drawing a smiley face in the wall with a rock.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Wahoo!" Selphie sang as she hopped up and down in the driver's seat. "I missed this." Beside her, Irvine laughed.
Syrec and Quistis had gathered by the windows and were talking amongst themselves. Kaori had left the bridge to explore the rest of the Ragnarok. Seifer stayed away from everyone, remaining in the shadows at the very back of the bridge, asking himself why the hell he'd come along in the first place.
"So," Syrec said. "You never told me about yourself."
"There's not much to talk about." Quistis assured him with a smile and a blush. "I'm a very boring person."
"Aw, I'm sure that's not true." Syrec grinned. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"
In the background, Seifer stuck him finger down his throat and made gagging sounds.
"Just curling up in my room with a good book." Quistis shrugged, ignoring their rude companion.
"Somebody get me the hell out of here." Seifer sighed. No one answered, so he went into the hall, the heavy steel door sliding closed behind him.
"What do you like to read?" Syrec asked.
"Basically anything I haven't read before. I really have no preference." she replied. "I told you, I'm boring."
"Hey, Irvy." Selphie giggled. "Watch this."
"Oh no." Irvine sighed. "We don't have time for tricks, hun. We have to get to Esthar before those storms."
Selphie pouted but nodded.
"How long until we get there?" Quistis asked, looking over her shoulder at Selphie.
Selphie looked at the instruments in front of her. "Uh.....'bout fifteen minutes.
"Look at that." Syrec said, pointing out the window. Quistis looked and smiled. A pod of whales were traveling in the same direction far below them. There were nearly thirty of them. Many had babies swimming beside them. Sovereign whimpered and scratched at the window, looking at the large creatures in dismay.
"They're so beautiful." Quistis gasped.
"What are you guys looking at?" Selphie asked.
"There's a pod of whales below us." Syrec replied.
Irvine rushed up and pressed his face against the glass like an eager child in front of a toy store window. "I've never seen whales before."
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Selphie asked. "I mean, with the storms on their way?"
"I'm sure they'll be fine." Quistis assured her.
"Aw," Irvine cooed, pointing. "Lookit the itty bitty ones. They're so cute."
"Irvine," Quistis laughed. "Get a grip."
"Don't be such a dull banana." Selphie told her.
Quistis eyebrows furrowed. "What is it with you guys and the dull banana thing?"
* * * * * * * * * *
Kaori ran her hand along the wall of the passenger deck, staring out the window.
We've been over the water for nearly fifteen minutes already, she thought. We're almost there. She took a deep breath and sat down. The room blissfully silent with the exception of the dull purr of the engine, which was almost soothing. She closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, she could see a strip of land in the distance. There it is.
Suddenly, the door slid open and Seifer walked in. He jumped in surprise when he saw her. "What the hell are YOU doing here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." she replied sarcastically. "I didn't realize this room was reserved for you."
He gave her a slightly disgusted look and folded his arms over his chest.
"So, you were a servant of Ultimecia, huh?" she asked offhandedly.
He scoffed. "I wasn't her servant, I was her knight..."
"You were her assassin." she corrected. "Knights defend the weak and the helpless. You exploited them."
He glared at her. "What the hell do YOU know about it?"
"Enough." she replied, shrugging lightly. "You learn a lot of interesting stuff when you hang around a sorceress for most of your life."
He was quiet.
"Kaori, Seifer, we're nearly there." Selphie's voice echoed over the intercom. "Get up here a.s.a.p. Man, I love this intercom thingy...."
Kaori giggled and stood. "Well, I suppose we should go."
He was already pushing the button that opened the door.
* * * * * * * * * *
Squall entered the Quad by himself for the first time in days. Unhung decorations were in piles on the wooden work tables. Ladders still knelt along the walls where students had been hanging ribbons and tassels.
Selphie worked so hard on this, he thought, picking up a ribbon from under his foot. All that time and effort was wasted. We're going to have to make this up to her.
"This really stinks." Rinoa's voice said. He turned. She stared up at the walls. "Everyone worked so hard for this dance, especially Selphie. She must be heartbroken."
"That's what I was thinking." he sighed, throwing the ribbon on the ground. "Why does all the bad stuff happen whenever we plan on having fun?"
She smiled. "What fun were you planning to have when we had to defeat Ultimecia?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. It wasn't MY fun, it was everybody elses. Those were the pre-Rinoa days, back when fun was boring."
She punched him playfully in the arm. "Oh come on. You went to the dance remember?"
"That's because it was required," he told her. "If it wasn't I would have been in the Training Center, working my G.....D'oh!" he smacked his forehead.
Rinoa frowned. "What?"
"My GF's probably hate me. I haven't used them in so long, especially Quezacotl." he sighed.
"I'm sure they don't HATE you." Rinoa offered. "Why don't you go to the Training Center now and work them?"
"Not a bad idea." he replied. "Wanna come?"
"Sure."
"Squall!"
Squall and Rinoa turned as a Xu rushed up to them. "We have a problem, sir."
Squall turned to Rinoa. "Every time we plan on having fun..."
"It's one of the storms sir." Xu replied. "It's changed course. And it's moving rapidly. We can barely track it."
"Where is it heading?" Rinoa asked.
Xu swallowed heavily. "Here."