Chapter 3
"I could easily start
pointing fingers
Since the blame is mine,
it always lingers
That the truth it lies in
my reflection
Though this can't go on,
there's no question"
- Type O Negative World Coming Down
The road to Balamb Garden was misty and it was getting dark. In a car, Seifer could make the journey in about 40 minutes, but he knew that the man in front of him would be pushing the high performance bike he had stolen to the limit. At this speed the journey would take perhaps 20 minutes, and despite the twilight and the returning rain, Seifer was determined to keep up with his past self. The rain slashed indiscriminately, washing the road in a haze of water, and stinging Seifer's visorless face as he sped along. The bikes headlight lit up the road in front of him, turning the mist and rain into a white barrage of shape and light. As the darkness barrelled past him, his thoughts churned and he tried to make sense of what was going on.
More then anything, Seifer was angry, but that fury refused to be pinned in place or find a direction. Granted, he was angry at himself, but in this situation that sentiment had many meanings, and Seifer wasn't sure he could be bothered with picking apart all the strands of thought in the back of his mind. All he was focused on at the moment was catching up with the man that had almost strangled him to death and making him pay for it. At least, that was the theory. He also admitted to himself that he didn't like the idea of this impostor Seifer messing about in Balamb Garden. As if there's going to be a problem, he thought. There're people in that Garden trained to fight entire armies, a Seifer with a chip on his shoulder will be no problem. I'll probably turn up just in time to see those self-righteous SeeDs wipe the floor with me for the hundredth time. He stared out into the winding darkness before him, fixing his eyes on the road. Another defeat, he thought, his mouth creasing into a snarl. He gritted his teeth, pulling hard on the accelerator, and shouted a cry of aggression into the uncaring night.
* * * *
She was standing on water, and it stretched out as far as she could see in every
direction. Her feet rested on the liquid surface as if it were solid ground, tiny ripples
travelling outward where her skin touched the otherwise unmoving blue. She had always loved the sea, and knelt down to touch it. Her loose blonde hair fell softly over one bare shoulder as she dipped her hand slowly into the liquid. She wondered vaguely why she was standing in the middle of an ocean in her nightgown, but a voice, her own, whispered from somewhere You're dreaming, Quistis, just dreaming... and she lost herself in the moment. Blue, she thought, her fingers spreading through the cool water. She could feel the pent up energy of the sea, stretching restlessly and endlessly. Thoughts that felt strange and almost alien washed through her mind. My magic, she thought. Is this me? The sun reflected brilliantly from the shimmering water. Quistis supposed she would have been blinded if this were not a dream. It seemed so beautiful, yet she felt... Alone. Another voice spoke up, unfamiliar. The sea is treacherous, Quisty. One minute it's the prettiest thing in the world, the next, it swallows you whole. Beware of yourself.
What? she shouted, standing and appealing to the heavens. Always the same dream! Why? Suddenly the sky darkened and waves began to crash about her. She knew what was going to happen and closed her eyes as the water gave way beneath her and she plunged into its icy depths. I should wake up soon... so cold... can't breath! Never felt this before! She gasped and her eyes snapped open. The first thing she noticed was the shining metal of a blade glinting in the darkness from its position at her throat.
"Hello Instructor," said a voice from the shadows.
"Seifer?" asked Quistis. She tried to keep her voice calm and collected while her head span with worried possibilities. "How did you get in here?"
"No, no. No expositions today," Seifer's voice sounded cold and angry. "Get up. Slowly."
Quistis began to rise from the bed, the pressure of Seifer's gunblade on her throat was kept constant, and Quistis doubted should could get even the first few words of a spell out before Seifer had a chance to react. As soon as she was in a sitting position, she felt Seifer grab her right arm and twist it behind her back.
"Stand up!" he shouted.
"What are you doing, Seifer?" she hissed, a note of pain and fear creeping into her voice. She was groggy from sleep and her usual nightmare, but her SeeD training was quickly kicking in. She wanted to know what Seifer was doing and what had prompted this sudden change in behaviour, but more importantly she needed to think her way out of this situation.
"Here's how it's going to work, Instructor," he said. "We're going to play a game of hostages and demands. A classic scenario. In just a moment you are going to make a call from your comm panel to the Headmaster and demand that a path be cleared from here to the reactor control room. 'Cleared' means no guards, no security doors and no defence systems. Got it?"
Reigning in a growing sense of panic, Quistis spoke with as much confidence as she could muster, she was quite surprised at how calm she sounded. "What if I refuse?" She felt the gunblade press more urgently at her neck.
"I'll kill you, Instructor," replied Seifer, evenly. "I'll kill you, and then as many of your precious friends as I can. They might be able to take me out eventually," he leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "but think about how many will be dead before they do."
"I don't understand. Why are you doing this, Seifer? Edea said you were..."
"Shut up!" roared Seifer, pushing her towards the comm station at her desk. "Make the call. Any tricks, Instructor, and it's the end of the line."
Quistis began pushing the buttons that would activate the console and raise the
Headmaster. Seifer knew what he was doing, she was right-handed, and having her good hand pressed against her back meant she had to push the keys slowly and carefully. She could feel Seifer watching every movement behind her, and decided that she would have to play along for now.
* * * *
Balamb Garden had become something of a legend since the end of the war. Despite damage to the hull, and a number of system failures the garden had toured most of the planet before coming to rest in Balamb. As it turned out, the damage had been a lot more severe then had been anticipated, and a special 'dry dock' was built outside Balamb so that the garden could undergo a complete overhaul. Debate raged as to whether it should revert to its role as a stationary place of learning, or continue as a mobile staging ground for SeeD's forces. In the end, a compromise was struck. Technology was brought from Esthar to make the garden more reliable and combat ready, while larger Hydroponics and recycling facilities were to be added to cope with a mobile student population. At the end of its re-fit, Balamb Garden would hopefully serve as both a place of learning and deployment, along with the recovered Galbadia Garden (and Trabia when it was completed). The dry dock consisted of four massive pillars that supported the garden's bulk and allowed technicians access to its complex underside. The gravity circlets had been returned to their position at the top of the garden, rendering it immobile for the time being.
The engine of his motorcycle screaming in complaint, Seifer pulled up outside the garden. He kicked the machine, now sure that he had chosen an inferior model to that of his counterpart. The Seifer of the past was nowhere to be seen. It was possible for vehicles to enter the place via a ramp that ran up the pillar on the far right, but Seifer was sure he wouldn't enter the garden that way if he were intent on causing trouble. A cursory scan of his surroundings confirmed his suspicions when he found his counterparts bike discarded in some undergrowth. Steeling himself against the worsening rain, Seifer started to run up the main steps that would lead him to the garden's front entrance.
Even through the slashing water and reflected light from the garden's bright illumination, Seifer could see something was wrong at the gate and wondered if his past self had already got himself caught. As he approached the gate, however, he was greeted by the sight of six drenched and very nervous looking SeeD candidates who were peering into the darkness. Their hands were clasped on the hilts of various martial weapons, and Seifer was greeted with a wall of blades when he stood out of the darkness. "Who goes there?"
"I don't have time for this, kid," Seifer replied. "Tell headmaster Cid there's..."
he paused. "...An infiltrator in the garden with hostile intent. Tell him I need to..."
"It's him!" a female cadet shouted suddenly. She stepped forward and Seifer was mildly shocked to find that she was wielding a gunblade. "What are you doing out here?" she cried. "Where's Quistis?"
"What?" said Seifer, groaning inwardly as he realised what was going to happen.
"Surround him!" she ordered. The Cadets fanned out hesitantly and formed a circle. Seifer looked around him and then back at the girl giving the orders.
"You're making a mistake," sighed Seifer, sounding, intentionally, rather bored.
"Not another word! Drop your gun. Slowly!"
"SeeD," muttered Seifer under his breath as he begrudgingly unholstered his machine gun and placed it on the ground. "Still following orders like robots eh?"
The girl scowled at him. "Stow it, traitor," she spat.
Seifer tried to bite his tongue but couldn't help himself. "Oh my bleeding heart. I've never heard that one before," he snarled.
The girl ignored him and touched the comm set on her wrist. "This is Celine at the front gate. We have him." She paused for a moment as the reply was delivered to a microphone in her ear. "No, Quistis wasn't with him." A frown creased her features as she listened again. "But that's impossible, sir. He's standing in front of me! ... I see. Right away sir." She touched another button and looked up at Seifer, then at the rest of the cadets. "We're to escort Seifer to the headmasters office on the double. Move it!" She grabbed Seifer by the shoulder and pushed him towards the garden. He shook it off and, ignoring her sounds of protest, strode into the garden, cadets in tow.
* * * *
During the day the bowels of Balamb Garden would be full of technicians working away at the various systems and new facilities, but an eerie silence was the only thing present as Quistis and her captor made their way through the dark metal corridors. So far the journey to the magnetic reactor had been un-eventful. Seifer had sprung another surprise during the conversation with the headmaster, and ordered that three SeeDs be present to man the reactor controls. He had completely ignored any questions about his intentions, but had repeatedly warned that any attempt to get in his way would result in loss of life.
The layout of the garden had been somewhat re-worked after designers suggested structural improvements, so the route to the reactor room was somewhat more direct. However, Seifer seemed in no hurry to get there. Quistis was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Hyperion had almost cut into her several times, and Seifer seemed unwilling to relax the gunblade even slightly. Furthermore, with no machinery on it was very cold in the gardens lower levels. With only her nightgown on Quistis was certainly beginning to feel the temperature. She had been silent for most of the journey, not wanting to provoke Seifer into any rash action, but as she turned over various possibilities in her mind, she resolved that any information would be helpful at this stage and decided to speak up. "This doesn't make sense, Seifer," she stated. "There's nothing you can do in the reactor room. It's offline. The garden can't take off until the pillars are prepared for removal."
Seifer scoffed. "Still the same mediocre instructor, eh? Never thinking beyond the next order. SeeD is all the same. You can never understand." He stopped, pushing the
gunblade harder and forcing her to raise her head. "Never!" he whispered harshly, before pushing her on again. "Take you, Instructor."
"I'm not an Intsruc..
"Just like everyone else you've spent your life searching for a role. Relying on
people to define you. The 'big sis' of the orphanage. The stern and 'gifted' instructor." His voice took on an even more condescending tone as he continued. "The victim of puppy-dog unrequited love," he laughed. "All vapour. You never took control of your own destiny. Why? Because you, like the rest of the people in this sorry world, have no will of your own. You need guidance. Well now I'm giving you a role, Instructor. You are to play the hapless damsel in distress."
"Seifer, I..."
"Don't tell me that a part of isn't loving this. The part of you that had to watch Squall run around after helpless little Rinoa day after day."
"I see you haven't moved on after all," replied Quistis, her voice calm and tinged with sadness. His words had hit her in all the right places, but she refused to back down. She'd always wondered what she would say to Seifer had he come back to cause trouble again, and now she found herself speaking with little regard to her own safety, as if possessed. "We all make mistakes, Seifer. We learn from them and move on. I was never your biggest critic but I'm beginning to see what everyone was talking about." She realised that her words were causing him to tense up behind her but something made her continue. "You can't let go, you can't accept defeat. You don't learn from your mistakes, they just make you more and more angry until you go out of control."
She winced as Seifer stopped again and drew himself up. Instead of a tirade of
shouting, however, he began to laugh. A hollow, chilling sound that seemed well at home in the cold interior of the gardens guts. "My dear Instructor," he said between peels of
laughter. "Do you really think I care what you of all people think?" He laughed
again. "And I thought I was supposed to be the one with delusions of grandeur."
"Seifer, you are..."
"Be quiet. We're here."
* * * *
Headmaster Cid pushed at the bridge of his spectacles and blinked. "Well. My, my. I've certainly never heard of anything quite like this before. Are you saying that this Seifer came through a portal like the one that appeared over Esthar?"
"Yes. It wasn't as big as that one, but it looked similar." Seifer sighed and fidgeted irritably. He was still flanked by two of the SeeD cadets but they were now stood in Cid's office with the Headmaster himself and Edea. A lot of the people in the room looked bleary eyed, and the unmistakable aroma of strong coffee hung in the air. Evidently, garden hadn't expected to be caught with its pants down and most of them must've been gotten out of bed by the impostor-Seifer's demands. They were all watching his progress through security cameras that were tracking him to the reactor room. At the moment he and Quistis appeared to be having some sort of discussion, but the headmaster had explained apologetically that the sound system still had a few bugs that needed working out. Whatever they were saying remained unheard.
Edea looked up at Seifer and narrowed her eyes. Seifer met her gaze and had to choke back a wave of emotion that threatened to consume him. So beautiful... said an interior voice from the past. My sorceress. I must protect her... always. Trying not to show any outward discomfort, Seifer attempted to shake the flashback. If anyone in the room noticed him waver it would be Edea, but from the discussions she and Seifer had already had, she understood the strange bond they both felt. Patiently, she spoke to him. "Did anything else come through the portal, Seifer?"
Damn, he thought. As perceptive as ever. I don't want to be here all night answering questions. "Yes," he replied reluctantly, "but that situation is now under control. This one isn't. I'll be happy to talk all you want about what happened after I've dealt with..." he pointed at the monitor screen. "With him."
The Headmaster shook his head. "If this Seifer really is from the past there's no telling what he'll do. I can't risk Quistis at the moment. We'll have to wait and see what he wants."
Seifer leaned over the desk, evidently irritated. "You may be happy to sit on your hands while that maniac runs around in the bottom of the garden, but I'm not. Think about it. I'm the perfect person to deal with this. Let me go after him."
"What's your motive here Seifer?"
"I don't need a motive. You need him stopped and I can do it."
"You've never been particularly keen to offer us your help in the past. Why now?"
Edea placed a hand on her husbands shoulder. "Cid..." she whispered, frowning.
"I'm sorry," replied the Headmaster, his gaze remaining fixed on Seifer. "I've already sent a message to President Loire. Squall and a team of SeeDs are on their way back here. In the meantime I'm going to try and resolve this situation peacefully."
Seifer exploded. "Haven't you learned anything?" he shouted slapping his hands on the desk. "There will be no peaceful way out of this! The man on that monitor doesn't care what happens to Quistis, or to you, or to anyone! He lives in a world where dreams and reality merge, where everything seems meaningless and he is trapped. There is NO WAY OUT, not for him and not for us! Whatever he's decided to do it will involve pain, loss of life, carnage! And waiting for bloody Squall and your precious SeeDs only helps his plans on their way! Do I make myself clear?"
A heavy silence descended on the room and Seifer felt the gaze of every occupant on him. Wide-eyed, Cid seemed speechless. Edea looked at him with a mixture of anguish and concern. The SeeD candidates shifted nervously. Still nothing was said. Seifer glanced at the monitor screen and saw that Quistis and past-Seifer had made it to the reactor room. He leaned back and folded his arms. "All right," he said, suddenly calm as ice. "I see you've made your decision."
Suddenly the SeeD candidate on Seifer's right cried out in pain and doubled over as a lightning fast elbow strike connected with his face. The second candidate, Celine, grabbed for her gunblade as Seifer pulled at his machine gun on a strap around her shoulder. He ducked under an arcing swing of her blade and ripped the gun off. Darting to the right he avoided another powerful swipe and brought the butt of the gun into her chin. She sprawled to the ground, unconscious, and Seifer turned to point the weapon at Edea and Cid. He could see that Edea was preparing a spell and aimed the gun at the Headmaster, knowing that she couldn't protect her husband and launch an offensive spell at the same time. He started back up towards the lift.
Edea looked at him plaintively. "I know why you want to fight, but there's no need for any of this."
Seifer continued to back off. "I'm going to do what I have to. Those two'll be fine. Just watch out for me on the monitors."
Edea and Cid looked on as Seifer touched a button on the lift and stepped between the double doors.
"You know I can do this," he said, as the doors sliced shut between them.
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