Revolver And Friend: SeeDs Are Sprouting Up
Zell sprinted down and around the bend that sat leading towards Balamb Harbor near the inn with Squall closely in tow behind him. They were on a tight schedule for this mission; they and their partner would get on the boat and leave for Dollet at 8:00, completing their mission before sundown the same day.
It was now 8:06. Lieutenant Xu and Instructor Trepe stood side by side at the docks, waiting impatiently for their SeeD candidates to arrive. At that time two youths arrived, lacking sufficient air from the run that began at Zell's mother's house in town.
"S-sorry…Lieutenant…and Quistis," Zell apologetically said between breaths. "Whew, barely made it here after all."
"That's fine, Zell," Quistis responded. After that, she cocked her left eyebrow curiously and spoke. "Now where do you suppose your captain is? Shouldn't he have come from the town with the both of you, hm?"
Squall interjected himself into the conversation. "That idiot. He said something about 'really trying to be a SeeD this time' or something like that. Then he ran inside of the inn with his lackey Raijin."
"Mmm, is that so?" she questioned back, like she wasn't surprised. "If he keeps this up, he can forget about 'really being a SeeD this time', because he'll fail the course."
"My words exactly."
The four of them stood there and made small talk, waiting for the other one to arrive when Xu spotted someone coming down from the city in the distance. "…Is that who I think it is?" she said, amazed, as this man walked down to the docks quite gingerly like there was no rush. The others turned around to see a taller man come strutting up to them; showing of, almost. Dressed down in sky-blue jacket and trousers that all SeeD candidates wore on a mission, Seifer arrived with a smile. All four were shocked to see him like this.
"What?" he inquired with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes and voice. He knew exactly what kind of reaction he invoked in his comrades, but wasn't going to give in that easily. "Maybe you think I should wear this more often, huh?" He brushed off his sleeves and yanked up the flaps of his collar so it stood upward and covered his neck. "I've never been one for fashion statements, but this is amazingly snug. You like it?"
"…" Squall rolled his eyes, turning away from him. "Whatever," he, Seifer, Zell and Xu said in unison. Rolling his eyes again in frustration, he ignored the lot of them of boarded the transport vessel.
"Ha! Hurt poor Squally boy's feelings I see," Seifer commented in joking form. "Well, let's get this show on the road, folks."
Seifer walked past the other three and boarded the transport. Zell, Quistis and the Lieutenant followed suit after him, and as soon as they were all on the ship fired up its engines and plowed through the waters away from the city. Their destination was a war-torn trade city that did business with most of the world but was now under siege by the Galbadian Empire and its seemingly insurmountable troops. Dollet would be the final mountain the three young men had to climb to reach their ultimate goals of SeeDship.
~~~~~~~~~~
It had been around 45 minutes since they had docked the ship, and the atmosphere was incredibly mind-numbing. The inside of the transport was gauche at best, with ugly off-white couches on each side, surrounding a see-through short table that looked to be made out of a cheap plastic. Texture of the air inside was heavy, which made breathing thoroughly uncomfortable, and lockers that held weapons and gear were lined up opposite a large built-in display.
Squall and Zell sat on one couch with a hand leaning on one arm of the couch and their respective heads rested against them. Xu stood the entire time, fiddling with some sort of remote control that looked to have something to do with the monitor. Quistis and Seifer sat on the other; the female patiently waiting to arrive, while the male tapped his gunblade against the wall behind him. Each strike made a gentle clanging sound that, by itself, wouldn't be greatly annoying. But continuously it got on the nerves of another gunblade user that sat opposite of him. Seifer stared into Squall's eyes the entire time he was doing this.
"Will you quit it," Squall drearily asked him.
"Why should I?" he responded, almost if he had foreseen this coming. He never missed a beat.
"Because it's annoying, that's why."
"Do you have any ideas then?"
"…No."
"Well, I don't either."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Don't know. I was just making conversation."
"Ah, I see. Nice job, but it's still boring."
After a few minutes of more deafening silence--release the constant tapping of Hyperion against the wall of the ship--Squall sat upright and shook his head, then slouched back against the couch and sighed. "Goodness, are we there yet? This is so boring I could almost die from it. When are we gonna get to the action part?" He stared up at the ceiling, wishing he was doing other things at this time. "I almost can't wait until we get off this thing!"
With these words, Seifer's tapping stopped dead. Squall immediately noticed this and sat up, seeing that his nemesis had put the weapon down beside him on the couch. Zell and Quistis only watched the two of them interact, and Xu didn't even seem to notice. Squall wondered what this man had begun to plot, because he knew him well enough to know that the cogs were turning in his head right this instant.
"…What, Seifer? It's enough that I have to deal with you on a regular basis at the Garden. I don't feel like fighting with you right now, so save whatever editorial comment you have for later, okay?"
Seifer looked offended, but soon recovered. "Squall, Squall…that's not it! I just find it interesting that you want to fight all of a sudden, when back at Garden you never wanted to fight me."
"Like I said earlier, it's because of the boredom. I really don't want to do this at all."
"So you're saying that you don't like fighting? Then why are you even a student at Garden if that's the case?"
Squall narrowed his eyes. He saw where this was leading and wanted to stop it dead in its tracks. "Every male is forced to join Garden at some time before they reach 18 years of age. I never said I wanted to be in Garden."
"But that can't be right," Seifer responded. "I remember you being ranked as one of the best nominees for SeeD a while back…" He turned to Quistis unexpectedly and brought her into the equation. "As a matter of fact, Instructor Trepe voted for you…isn't that right?"
The woman threw her head back and sighed. "Yes, Seifer. I voted Squall as a candidate for top SeeD once."
Seifer nodded in approval and grinned, turning back to Squall. "See, there we go…you really don't hate fighting. You love it, don't you? You don't have to lie to me; I see it practically every day when you train in the Training Facility back at Balamb Garden." His grin turned into a 'gotcha' smirk as he leaned in and placed his Hyperion on the table. "As your main rival--and I am your main rival--I'll admit that you're pretty good with a blade. But you've got much to learn, grasshopper. For the one who tries to snatch the stone from the master's hand is usually prideful…and pride almost certainly leads to downfall." Seifer leaned back in his chair and offered one last insult by referring to him again as 'grasshopper'.
Squall turned his head away in disgust. He hated his man with a passion. After all that he has done to him and to the one person he actually not only cared about but 'loved' in life, he hated Seifer Almasy with a passion. The portion of himself that felt a need to protect the one whom he loved resented his rival and everything that he stood for. The callousness, the hypocrisy, the elitist attitude…Squall hated it all. But his other side--his mind--knew that his in itself was hypocrisy. For everything that Squall hated about him, Squall himself was in all actuality.
He knew he could never have asked for a better enemy than Seifer.
After all, keeping your friends and loved ones close is important…but sometimes you may keep your enemies even closer then that.
Squall accepted this verbal spar by also picking up and setting his Revolver on the table, so it laid just to the side of the Hyperion. Both ends of the respective swords were pointed towards the man who didn't use them--an agreement that they only knew what it really meant--and now Squall prepared to counter his enemy's statements.
"Little boy, little boy…little boys shouldn't play with such dangerous weapons," Seifer caustically commented. "Why don't you give it to me instead? That way, it won't be a complete waste of scrap metal alloy."
"You're an asshole, Seifer," Squall simply said.
"Heh. Tell me something I don't know, grasshopper."
"…All right," he said with a wicked grin, signaling that all bets were off. "Everyone in here likes sausage."
Seifer's eyes widened in horror, and Quistis turned her head away to silently chuckle out of sight of the others, well aware of what Squall meant. The tall fighter knew immediately that the one he had confided in had told him. Zell, apparently shocked by his lover's outburst, sat up wide-mouthed and intervened. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey Squall…don't let him get to you like that! Take it from me; I know how good he is at screwing people into getting what he wants!" Zell looked around then focused his stare on Seifer, coming to the defense of Squall. Xu had begun to notice a slight change in the quiet atmosphere and glanced up from her work. "No stupid comment about how I used 'screwed' in a sentence, huh?"
Seifer looked lackadaisically at Zell, secretly taken aback at how he got involved. The smirk faded from his façade rapidly. "…I-I don't know what you're talkin' about." Hesitating, he addressed the martial artist directly. "Look, this doesn't have anything to do with you, so just butt out."
"I won't butt out, thank you very much! You're the one who started this thing, so why don't you like it when people take you up on your trash talk? Afraid that something could 'come out' that would damage your high-and-mighty reputation?"
Seifer felt the sting of that remark, and the pain resonated through his heart like a dagger had been thrust there. It was over; Seifer knew it. He could fight verbally against Squall if the topic of choice had remained in the realm of gunblade skills, but that underhanded attack from both he and his boyfriend was the defeat of him. Hanging his head in obvious defeat, he failed to reply to Zell's accusation.
"Oh, no answer? Hmm, it got quiet all of a sudden in here now, didn't it Squall?" Zell asked, looking over to him.
"Yes it did Zell," he replied in a calm and collected voice, never taking his eyes off of his enemy. "The silence is painfully deafening…like a fly buzzing in my ear happened to have been swat down like the annoying, harmless insect it is."
"Yep," Zell stated, turning back to Seifer. "Flies are all noise, until you swat 'em down."
The tide turned quickly in their favor and against Seifer in this heated dialogue so quickly that it made his head spin. Seifer's mouth did get him into a situation for which there seemed no available escape. Almost immediately, he was reminded of a time where Zell told him about his 'revenge' that he had planned, but after breaking down and revealing his secret life and his now dead lover in Balamb, that seemed to have been pushed to the back burner. "Could this be his revenge on me?" Seifer mulled, is heart heavy with the weight of his defeat. "Damn…forget it. It's done."
"Well, that's it. Nothing more to say now," Squall stated. "I'm done with you, Seifer."
He and Zell sat back in the couch simultaneously, happy that they brought the 'almighty one' down a peg or two. Quistis signaled for Xu, bringing the silent but beautiful brunette up to her attention.
"Sorry, Xu…I don't want things to get out of hand here." The woman pointed to the screen quickly, asking her of she would start the briefing of the Dollet liberation mission. Xu accepted, and pushing a button on the clicker made the monitor light up brightly. The woman cleared her voice and demanded full attention of all three men.
"Okay…now that this little confrontation has ended," she commented pointedly. "And now that this thing works--almost--we can start the briefing." Xu pressed a button on the clicker, which cleared the screen and displayed an overhead grid-map of Dollet. "All right, here we go. This is an eagle's eye view of Dollet, the city who's key parliamentary sent out a call asking for assistance in routing the Galbadian troops that invaded. Dollet is an important trade city that houses some of the most important economic decisions and deals in the world. This city--release Esthar--easily defines the economic state of the world, how and where traders make deals that involve important exports for countries and cities, and dictates shifts in power trading throughout many, many regions. Undoubtedly, each and every city in the world has a vested interest in whether it stays free or becomes just another satellite in the vast Galbadian empire, and we at Balamb Garden are being payed a great purse for our assistance. Combine all of these elements, and we're sitting on a veritable mountain of money~~"
"Or a veritable economic powder keg," Seifer mumbled, wounded by his loss.
"Exactly. All of this has forced our Garden to react, and react we shall. Quite swiftly, in fact." Xu pushed a button, clearing the screen again and displaying the same map under lower magnification. She directed her crystal pointer at the lower-left part of the screen on top of a large red dot. "This is the shore that sits directly near the back of Dollet City. Our Garden ships are currently headed towards this position even as we speak, and will land there in approximately an hour from now. Immediately after we come ashore, Garden will dispatch all SeeD candidates to aid the remaining soldiers in routing the vast contingent of soldiers."
Seifer interjected himself again. "Now how many soldiers are occupying the place? Last I recall, Galbadia tried this one and only brought about a single company of grunts. Something like 50 or so."
Squall got in on the act again. "Worried, sensei?"
"…"
Xu stopped the confrontation in its tracks before it even gained ground. "Yes, Seifer…about that. There are many, many troops this time around. I couldn't even believe it when Headmaster Cid informed me, but the Empire isn't pulling any punches this time. Individual reports from retreating brigades say that nearly 1,000 troops invaded the city. However, conflicting reports from members on the seats of the Central Council say that the number has to exceed that."
"By how much," Seifer asked, interested.
"Well, the highest number we received went so far as 2,500. But that cannot be confirmed nor denied at this moment."
"Damn! That much?" Zell exclaimed. "Sounds like Garden sent us on a suicide mission!"
Xu shook her head at that assumption. "Our objective is not to defeat all of the troops occupying the city, but to prevent them from achieving their intended goal which is…" Xu used her crystal pointer to follow a trail of red blips that led from the bottom-left to the top-right of the screen. "Right here. The plateaus north of Dollet."
"What do the soldiers want up there in the plateaus?" Squall asked.
"Hey, wait…" Zell thought for a minute, then continued. "I remember my mom telling me something about a machine that was able to send broadcast waves all over the world. And I also remember that she said it was in Dollet."
Xu nodded and smiled at him. "Correct Zell. This machine--known as a satellite dish--is capable of amplifying local radio waves and broadcast waves and sending them out to various places throughout the world. The shape of the dish in general is what catches the waves. The bigger the dish, the more it can catch and the more it can amplify. The satellite in Dollet is the biggest in the world, and there is no coincidence that many reports from the parliament tell of soldiers demanding access to 'the bowl'. Huge scores of troops were seen heading through the hilly pathways and up towards the plateaus where the dish sits."
"Ah, I see…so what, all we have to do is stop them from using the dish?" Zell asked. "It's not like they would be able to use it anyway. Broadcasting through the airwaves just stopped 17 years ago and hasn't worked since then, so what's the point?"
"True, it is highly unlikely that the dish would actually work because of the mysterious nature of its stoppage. Combined with the fact that it hasn't been used for a very long time and chances are that it will not function at all. But Garden has recognized this as an emergency of heavy proportions, and we have already been hired for the purse. So yes, we will land on the shores of Dollet, proceed through the town and make haste towards the cliffs on the northern side of the city, where we will prevent the troops from harnessing the power of the dish. That is essentially all we are required to do, anyway."
"…All right," the short youth said simply.
Xu sighed. "So, that is all. Enter Dollet, proceed towards the plateaus and foil Galbadia's plan to use the dish. Any questions…comments?" No one said anything and stared at the screen. Seifer shook his head, still dwelling on his tainted defeat by his two rivals. The brunette put her pointer down on the table and switched off the screen, concluding the briefing. "Guess that's it. See, easy, right?" She then pulled apart a fold-in chair and sat down in it.
After that, another silence ensued. This was complemented with typical awkward looks towards each other out of sheer boredom and the occasional tapping of the foot to break the monotony. Around 15 minutes passed when Zell suddenly asked Squall a question.
"Hey," he asked with his patented grin. "Let me see your gunblade."
Squall tore his stare from the ground and looked at him "…No!"
"Come on! Ple~~~ase? Just let me touch it!"
"No! You broke the thing last time, remember?"
"Come on, come on…that was an accident! An accident, I swear!"
"…Nope. Sorry. No can do."
"Come on…pretty please? You know I'm good for it!"
Squall rolled his eyes at him. "Yeah, sure. Mmm-hmm."
Seifer glanced at Zell quickly, then turned his head away. Zell asked repeatedly to hold the Revolver, and each time he asked he received a reply that he didn't really like. This went on for about 5 more minutes when Seifer suddenly stood.
"Damnit! Squall, let him touch your gunblade so he'll shut up about it! Sheesh!"
Squall cocked an eyebrow, followed by a small grin. "..If you want him to be quiet, give him yours!"
Seifer shook his head and rubbed his hands against his face. Then out of nowhere, it came. "Fine," the tall man said simply, as if to get even. "It's on the table, chicken-wuss. Do what you want with it, but don't tear it up." He then walked toward a ladder that led to a release hatch that sat near the lockers of the ship. Before he could climb and unhinge the hatch, Zell asked him where he was going.
"I need some fresh air…whatever reason you'll believe," was Seifer's reply. "I don't care."
He climbed the ladder, released the small circular hatch and ascended to the deck of the ship, leaving the four of them quietly sitting inside. Zell watched the hatch close with a loud thud and said nothing afterwards. Looking around at Squall and the others, he occasionally checked out the wicked-looking blade that laid across from the Revolver. Regularly changing glances between Squall and the Hyperion, his curiosity eventually consumed him and he ended up picking up the heavier weapon off the table to sate his need. All of this happened to the chagrin of his lover, who secretly wished he picked up his Revolver instead of his enemy's Hyperion.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sounds of bombs dropping and exploding upon Dollet could be softly heard in the distance. In the ocean where the transport moved towards its destination, Seifer stood out on the deck and listened as each blast resonated in the calm air. The man had mixed emotions about this mission. One part of him believed that fighting earns respect from others, and respect was what made the man, period. He had always strived to perform to his utmost in Garden, especially when fighting against Squall. People didn't have to like him, he believed. But people had to 'respect' him. If you have plenty of respect from your colleagues, then you're invincible. It worked in every situation thrust upon him.
But a different part of Seifer had been thinking about other things. Sure, if you fought, you would earn respect. But at what expense would that respect come? The man wasn't oblivious to his own situation; he had no friends, everyone had socially alienated him from the whole of Garden society, and he had recently learned of his 'ailment' given to him by his dead lover. Life simply seemed as if it couldn't get any worse, and now that he had been outed by Zell down below in the cabin of the ship to others, Seifer had hit rock bottom. 'Respect', it seemed, hadn't protected him from all things in life.
Almost instantly, after another bomb quietly exploded, Seifer made a decision. He believed it was a longshot, and without effort it would fail immediately. But in a split-second decision, he decided to try and turn his life around. If only it were for a little while…if only for a day, even…he would do some good for himself.
Looking onward as jests buzzed overhead and toward Dollet, Seifer nodded with a smile.
"Things change today," he softly stated to himself. "Things change…they have to. I can't hide from my problems forever. I have to conquer them, like all the other problems I've survived through in my life." Staring at the open ocean for a few moments, he backed off and headed back toward the hatch to enter the cabin again. Before he went inside, he reassured himself again that things could change for the better if he only gave it a try. He told himself that the old Seifer had died…and that a new Seifer had come to take his place.
"I'm not gonna run away from my problems or anything else in my life…ever again." With that, he entered the ship again.
Zell sprinted down and around the bend that sat leading towards Balamb Harbor near the inn with Squall closely in tow behind him. They were on a tight schedule for this mission; they and their partner would get on the boat and leave for Dollet at 8:00, completing their mission before sundown the same day.
It was now 8:06. Lieutenant Xu and Instructor Trepe stood side by side at the docks, waiting impatiently for their SeeD candidates to arrive. At that time two youths arrived, lacking sufficient air from the run that began at Zell's mother's house in town.
"S-sorry…Lieutenant…and Quistis," Zell apologetically said between breaths. "Whew, barely made it here after all."
"That's fine, Zell," Quistis responded. After that, she cocked her left eyebrow curiously and spoke. "Now where do you suppose your captain is? Shouldn't he have come from the town with the both of you, hm?"
Squall interjected himself into the conversation. "That idiot. He said something about 'really trying to be a SeeD this time' or something like that. Then he ran inside of the inn with his lackey Raijin."
"Mmm, is that so?" she questioned back, like she wasn't surprised. "If he keeps this up, he can forget about 'really being a SeeD this time', because he'll fail the course."
"My words exactly."
The four of them stood there and made small talk, waiting for the other one to arrive when Xu spotted someone coming down from the city in the distance. "…Is that who I think it is?" she said, amazed, as this man walked down to the docks quite gingerly like there was no rush. The others turned around to see a taller man come strutting up to them; showing of, almost. Dressed down in sky-blue jacket and trousers that all SeeD candidates wore on a mission, Seifer arrived with a smile. All four were shocked to see him like this.
"What?" he inquired with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes and voice. He knew exactly what kind of reaction he invoked in his comrades, but wasn't going to give in that easily. "Maybe you think I should wear this more often, huh?" He brushed off his sleeves and yanked up the flaps of his collar so it stood upward and covered his neck. "I've never been one for fashion statements, but this is amazingly snug. You like it?"
"…" Squall rolled his eyes, turning away from him. "Whatever," he, Seifer, Zell and Xu said in unison. Rolling his eyes again in frustration, he ignored the lot of them of boarded the transport vessel.
"Ha! Hurt poor Squally boy's feelings I see," Seifer commented in joking form. "Well, let's get this show on the road, folks."
Seifer walked past the other three and boarded the transport. Zell, Quistis and the Lieutenant followed suit after him, and as soon as they were all on the ship fired up its engines and plowed through the waters away from the city. Their destination was a war-torn trade city that did business with most of the world but was now under siege by the Galbadian Empire and its seemingly insurmountable troops. Dollet would be the final mountain the three young men had to climb to reach their ultimate goals of SeeDship.
~~~~~~~~~~
It had been around 45 minutes since they had docked the ship, and the atmosphere was incredibly mind-numbing. The inside of the transport was gauche at best, with ugly off-white couches on each side, surrounding a see-through short table that looked to be made out of a cheap plastic. Texture of the air inside was heavy, which made breathing thoroughly uncomfortable, and lockers that held weapons and gear were lined up opposite a large built-in display.
Squall and Zell sat on one couch with a hand leaning on one arm of the couch and their respective heads rested against them. Xu stood the entire time, fiddling with some sort of remote control that looked to have something to do with the monitor. Quistis and Seifer sat on the other; the female patiently waiting to arrive, while the male tapped his gunblade against the wall behind him. Each strike made a gentle clanging sound that, by itself, wouldn't be greatly annoying. But continuously it got on the nerves of another gunblade user that sat opposite of him. Seifer stared into Squall's eyes the entire time he was doing this.
"Will you quit it," Squall drearily asked him.
"Why should I?" he responded, almost if he had foreseen this coming. He never missed a beat.
"Because it's annoying, that's why."
"Do you have any ideas then?"
"…No."
"Well, I don't either."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Don't know. I was just making conversation."
"Ah, I see. Nice job, but it's still boring."
After a few minutes of more deafening silence--release the constant tapping of Hyperion against the wall of the ship--Squall sat upright and shook his head, then slouched back against the couch and sighed. "Goodness, are we there yet? This is so boring I could almost die from it. When are we gonna get to the action part?" He stared up at the ceiling, wishing he was doing other things at this time. "I almost can't wait until we get off this thing!"
With these words, Seifer's tapping stopped dead. Squall immediately noticed this and sat up, seeing that his nemesis had put the weapon down beside him on the couch. Zell and Quistis only watched the two of them interact, and Xu didn't even seem to notice. Squall wondered what this man had begun to plot, because he knew him well enough to know that the cogs were turning in his head right this instant.
"…What, Seifer? It's enough that I have to deal with you on a regular basis at the Garden. I don't feel like fighting with you right now, so save whatever editorial comment you have for later, okay?"
Seifer looked offended, but soon recovered. "Squall, Squall…that's not it! I just find it interesting that you want to fight all of a sudden, when back at Garden you never wanted to fight me."
"Like I said earlier, it's because of the boredom. I really don't want to do this at all."
"So you're saying that you don't like fighting? Then why are you even a student at Garden if that's the case?"
Squall narrowed his eyes. He saw where this was leading and wanted to stop it dead in its tracks. "Every male is forced to join Garden at some time before they reach 18 years of age. I never said I wanted to be in Garden."
"But that can't be right," Seifer responded. "I remember you being ranked as one of the best nominees for SeeD a while back…" He turned to Quistis unexpectedly and brought her into the equation. "As a matter of fact, Instructor Trepe voted for you…isn't that right?"
The woman threw her head back and sighed. "Yes, Seifer. I voted Squall as a candidate for top SeeD once."
Seifer nodded in approval and grinned, turning back to Squall. "See, there we go…you really don't hate fighting. You love it, don't you? You don't have to lie to me; I see it practically every day when you train in the Training Facility back at Balamb Garden." His grin turned into a 'gotcha' smirk as he leaned in and placed his Hyperion on the table. "As your main rival--and I am your main rival--I'll admit that you're pretty good with a blade. But you've got much to learn, grasshopper. For the one who tries to snatch the stone from the master's hand is usually prideful…and pride almost certainly leads to downfall." Seifer leaned back in his chair and offered one last insult by referring to him again as 'grasshopper'.
Squall turned his head away in disgust. He hated his man with a passion. After all that he has done to him and to the one person he actually not only cared about but 'loved' in life, he hated Seifer Almasy with a passion. The portion of himself that felt a need to protect the one whom he loved resented his rival and everything that he stood for. The callousness, the hypocrisy, the elitist attitude…Squall hated it all. But his other side--his mind--knew that his in itself was hypocrisy. For everything that Squall hated about him, Squall himself was in all actuality.
He knew he could never have asked for a better enemy than Seifer.
After all, keeping your friends and loved ones close is important…but sometimes you may keep your enemies even closer then that.
Squall accepted this verbal spar by also picking up and setting his Revolver on the table, so it laid just to the side of the Hyperion. Both ends of the respective swords were pointed towards the man who didn't use them--an agreement that they only knew what it really meant--and now Squall prepared to counter his enemy's statements.
"Little boy, little boy…little boys shouldn't play with such dangerous weapons," Seifer caustically commented. "Why don't you give it to me instead? That way, it won't be a complete waste of scrap metal alloy."
"You're an asshole, Seifer," Squall simply said.
"Heh. Tell me something I don't know, grasshopper."
"…All right," he said with a wicked grin, signaling that all bets were off. "Everyone in here likes sausage."
Seifer's eyes widened in horror, and Quistis turned her head away to silently chuckle out of sight of the others, well aware of what Squall meant. The tall fighter knew immediately that the one he had confided in had told him. Zell, apparently shocked by his lover's outburst, sat up wide-mouthed and intervened. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey Squall…don't let him get to you like that! Take it from me; I know how good he is at screwing people into getting what he wants!" Zell looked around then focused his stare on Seifer, coming to the defense of Squall. Xu had begun to notice a slight change in the quiet atmosphere and glanced up from her work. "No stupid comment about how I used 'screwed' in a sentence, huh?"
Seifer looked lackadaisically at Zell, secretly taken aback at how he got involved. The smirk faded from his façade rapidly. "…I-I don't know what you're talkin' about." Hesitating, he addressed the martial artist directly. "Look, this doesn't have anything to do with you, so just butt out."
"I won't butt out, thank you very much! You're the one who started this thing, so why don't you like it when people take you up on your trash talk? Afraid that something could 'come out' that would damage your high-and-mighty reputation?"
Seifer felt the sting of that remark, and the pain resonated through his heart like a dagger had been thrust there. It was over; Seifer knew it. He could fight verbally against Squall if the topic of choice had remained in the realm of gunblade skills, but that underhanded attack from both he and his boyfriend was the defeat of him. Hanging his head in obvious defeat, he failed to reply to Zell's accusation.
"Oh, no answer? Hmm, it got quiet all of a sudden in here now, didn't it Squall?" Zell asked, looking over to him.
"Yes it did Zell," he replied in a calm and collected voice, never taking his eyes off of his enemy. "The silence is painfully deafening…like a fly buzzing in my ear happened to have been swat down like the annoying, harmless insect it is."
"Yep," Zell stated, turning back to Seifer. "Flies are all noise, until you swat 'em down."
The tide turned quickly in their favor and against Seifer in this heated dialogue so quickly that it made his head spin. Seifer's mouth did get him into a situation for which there seemed no available escape. Almost immediately, he was reminded of a time where Zell told him about his 'revenge' that he had planned, but after breaking down and revealing his secret life and his now dead lover in Balamb, that seemed to have been pushed to the back burner. "Could this be his revenge on me?" Seifer mulled, is heart heavy with the weight of his defeat. "Damn…forget it. It's done."
"Well, that's it. Nothing more to say now," Squall stated. "I'm done with you, Seifer."
He and Zell sat back in the couch simultaneously, happy that they brought the 'almighty one' down a peg or two. Quistis signaled for Xu, bringing the silent but beautiful brunette up to her attention.
"Sorry, Xu…I don't want things to get out of hand here." The woman pointed to the screen quickly, asking her of she would start the briefing of the Dollet liberation mission. Xu accepted, and pushing a button on the clicker made the monitor light up brightly. The woman cleared her voice and demanded full attention of all three men.
"Okay…now that this little confrontation has ended," she commented pointedly. "And now that this thing works--almost--we can start the briefing." Xu pressed a button on the clicker, which cleared the screen and displayed an overhead grid-map of Dollet. "All right, here we go. This is an eagle's eye view of Dollet, the city who's key parliamentary sent out a call asking for assistance in routing the Galbadian troops that invaded. Dollet is an important trade city that houses some of the most important economic decisions and deals in the world. This city--release Esthar--easily defines the economic state of the world, how and where traders make deals that involve important exports for countries and cities, and dictates shifts in power trading throughout many, many regions. Undoubtedly, each and every city in the world has a vested interest in whether it stays free or becomes just another satellite in the vast Galbadian empire, and we at Balamb Garden are being payed a great purse for our assistance. Combine all of these elements, and we're sitting on a veritable mountain of money~~"
"Or a veritable economic powder keg," Seifer mumbled, wounded by his loss.
"Exactly. All of this has forced our Garden to react, and react we shall. Quite swiftly, in fact." Xu pushed a button, clearing the screen again and displaying the same map under lower magnification. She directed her crystal pointer at the lower-left part of the screen on top of a large red dot. "This is the shore that sits directly near the back of Dollet City. Our Garden ships are currently headed towards this position even as we speak, and will land there in approximately an hour from now. Immediately after we come ashore, Garden will dispatch all SeeD candidates to aid the remaining soldiers in routing the vast contingent of soldiers."
Seifer interjected himself again. "Now how many soldiers are occupying the place? Last I recall, Galbadia tried this one and only brought about a single company of grunts. Something like 50 or so."
Squall got in on the act again. "Worried, sensei?"
"…"
Xu stopped the confrontation in its tracks before it even gained ground. "Yes, Seifer…about that. There are many, many troops this time around. I couldn't even believe it when Headmaster Cid informed me, but the Empire isn't pulling any punches this time. Individual reports from retreating brigades say that nearly 1,000 troops invaded the city. However, conflicting reports from members on the seats of the Central Council say that the number has to exceed that."
"By how much," Seifer asked, interested.
"Well, the highest number we received went so far as 2,500. But that cannot be confirmed nor denied at this moment."
"Damn! That much?" Zell exclaimed. "Sounds like Garden sent us on a suicide mission!"
Xu shook her head at that assumption. "Our objective is not to defeat all of the troops occupying the city, but to prevent them from achieving their intended goal which is…" Xu used her crystal pointer to follow a trail of red blips that led from the bottom-left to the top-right of the screen. "Right here. The plateaus north of Dollet."
"What do the soldiers want up there in the plateaus?" Squall asked.
"Hey, wait…" Zell thought for a minute, then continued. "I remember my mom telling me something about a machine that was able to send broadcast waves all over the world. And I also remember that she said it was in Dollet."
Xu nodded and smiled at him. "Correct Zell. This machine--known as a satellite dish--is capable of amplifying local radio waves and broadcast waves and sending them out to various places throughout the world. The shape of the dish in general is what catches the waves. The bigger the dish, the more it can catch and the more it can amplify. The satellite in Dollet is the biggest in the world, and there is no coincidence that many reports from the parliament tell of soldiers demanding access to 'the bowl'. Huge scores of troops were seen heading through the hilly pathways and up towards the plateaus where the dish sits."
"Ah, I see…so what, all we have to do is stop them from using the dish?" Zell asked. "It's not like they would be able to use it anyway. Broadcasting through the airwaves just stopped 17 years ago and hasn't worked since then, so what's the point?"
"True, it is highly unlikely that the dish would actually work because of the mysterious nature of its stoppage. Combined with the fact that it hasn't been used for a very long time and chances are that it will not function at all. But Garden has recognized this as an emergency of heavy proportions, and we have already been hired for the purse. So yes, we will land on the shores of Dollet, proceed through the town and make haste towards the cliffs on the northern side of the city, where we will prevent the troops from harnessing the power of the dish. That is essentially all we are required to do, anyway."
"…All right," the short youth said simply.
Xu sighed. "So, that is all. Enter Dollet, proceed towards the plateaus and foil Galbadia's plan to use the dish. Any questions…comments?" No one said anything and stared at the screen. Seifer shook his head, still dwelling on his tainted defeat by his two rivals. The brunette put her pointer down on the table and switched off the screen, concluding the briefing. "Guess that's it. See, easy, right?" She then pulled apart a fold-in chair and sat down in it.
After that, another silence ensued. This was complemented with typical awkward looks towards each other out of sheer boredom and the occasional tapping of the foot to break the monotony. Around 15 minutes passed when Zell suddenly asked Squall a question.
"Hey," he asked with his patented grin. "Let me see your gunblade."
Squall tore his stare from the ground and looked at him "…No!"
"Come on! Ple~~~ase? Just let me touch it!"
"No! You broke the thing last time, remember?"
"Come on, come on…that was an accident! An accident, I swear!"
"…Nope. Sorry. No can do."
"Come on…pretty please? You know I'm good for it!"
Squall rolled his eyes at him. "Yeah, sure. Mmm-hmm."
Seifer glanced at Zell quickly, then turned his head away. Zell asked repeatedly to hold the Revolver, and each time he asked he received a reply that he didn't really like. This went on for about 5 more minutes when Seifer suddenly stood.
"Damnit! Squall, let him touch your gunblade so he'll shut up about it! Sheesh!"
Squall cocked an eyebrow, followed by a small grin. "..If you want him to be quiet, give him yours!"
Seifer shook his head and rubbed his hands against his face. Then out of nowhere, it came. "Fine," the tall man said simply, as if to get even. "It's on the table, chicken-wuss. Do what you want with it, but don't tear it up." He then walked toward a ladder that led to a release hatch that sat near the lockers of the ship. Before he could climb and unhinge the hatch, Zell asked him where he was going.
"I need some fresh air…whatever reason you'll believe," was Seifer's reply. "I don't care."
He climbed the ladder, released the small circular hatch and ascended to the deck of the ship, leaving the four of them quietly sitting inside. Zell watched the hatch close with a loud thud and said nothing afterwards. Looking around at Squall and the others, he occasionally checked out the wicked-looking blade that laid across from the Revolver. Regularly changing glances between Squall and the Hyperion, his curiosity eventually consumed him and he ended up picking up the heavier weapon off the table to sate his need. All of this happened to the chagrin of his lover, who secretly wished he picked up his Revolver instead of his enemy's Hyperion.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sounds of bombs dropping and exploding upon Dollet could be softly heard in the distance. In the ocean where the transport moved towards its destination, Seifer stood out on the deck and listened as each blast resonated in the calm air. The man had mixed emotions about this mission. One part of him believed that fighting earns respect from others, and respect was what made the man, period. He had always strived to perform to his utmost in Garden, especially when fighting against Squall. People didn't have to like him, he believed. But people had to 'respect' him. If you have plenty of respect from your colleagues, then you're invincible. It worked in every situation thrust upon him.
But a different part of Seifer had been thinking about other things. Sure, if you fought, you would earn respect. But at what expense would that respect come? The man wasn't oblivious to his own situation; he had no friends, everyone had socially alienated him from the whole of Garden society, and he had recently learned of his 'ailment' given to him by his dead lover. Life simply seemed as if it couldn't get any worse, and now that he had been outed by Zell down below in the cabin of the ship to others, Seifer had hit rock bottom. 'Respect', it seemed, hadn't protected him from all things in life.
Almost instantly, after another bomb quietly exploded, Seifer made a decision. He believed it was a longshot, and without effort it would fail immediately. But in a split-second decision, he decided to try and turn his life around. If only it were for a little while…if only for a day, even…he would do some good for himself.
Looking onward as jests buzzed overhead and toward Dollet, Seifer nodded with a smile.
"Things change today," he softly stated to himself. "Things change…they have to. I can't hide from my problems forever. I have to conquer them, like all the other problems I've survived through in my life." Staring at the open ocean for a few moments, he backed off and headed back toward the hatch to enter the cabin again. Before he went inside, he reassured himself again that things could change for the better if he only gave it a try. He told himself that the old Seifer had died…and that a new Seifer had come to take his place.
"I'm not gonna run away from my problems or anything else in my life…ever again." With that, he entered the ship again.