4


I hit the ground hard, immediately tucking myself into a protective ball. The incline was much steeper than I'd originally thought, as well as rockier; by the time I got to the bottom I had numerous cuts and bruises all over my body. I just lay there for a moment, then staggered to my feet. Grabbing my head, which felt like it had been on the receiving end of a chocobo stampede, I turned and stared down the tracks as the last sounds of the train echoed out of the tunnel. Squinting, I could see Irvine's figure stand, collapse, then stand again, grabbing his side. There was no sign of Seifer.

Worried, I took off down the tracks at an ever-increasing jog, trying to ignore what the jarring pace was doing to my headache. Reaching Irvine, I asked, "Where's Seifer?"

He looked at me blankly for an instant, making me wonder if perhaps he had a concussion, then his eyes snapped wide. "Damn, I don't know. He got off...after me."

Moving past Irvine, I headed farther down the tracks. The foliage grew thinner as I approached the stone tunnel, then I saw the white shape lying just below the entrance. "Oh Hyne," I breathed and sprinted the rest of the way, sliding the last foot on my knees towards Seifer.

It was obvious, if not from his position then from the wounds, that he had slammed into the wall upon exiting the train. Afraid of what I'd find I checked for a pulse, and gave a sigh of relief when I found a strong beat. I cast two healing spells on him, but spells wouldn't be enough and I knew it; he needed a medic, or at the very least a comfortable, warm place to rest.

Very carefully I reached out and turned him over, and felt a whisper of residual magic trickle off him and out in the air. Easily identifying it, I breathed a sigh of relief and felt another spark of admiration for the unconscious man. Few people, quite possibly myself included, would have the presence of mind to cast a shield spell with events moving so quickly. The spell had saved him from being dashed to a bloody pulp against the stone face of the tunnel, but it hadn't kept him from total harm.

I could tell he'd hit the wall back-first, judging by the tears on the back of his jacket and the large bleeding bump on his crown. The slope here was gentler than the one Irvine and I had fallen down, but there were still a few scrapes on his hands and face from his roll down it.

"Holy..." Irvine came up behind me and squatted down. "How could he have survived that impact?"

"A strong shield spell at the last minute, but he's still got injuries and most likely a concussion. We need to take him somewhere safe and quiet, fast."

Irvine looked at Seifer, then the tunnel wall, then Seifer again, an agonized look on his face. I was about to ask what was the matter when the look was replaced by determination. "We gotta get out of here. Unless others got off with us, which I highly doubt, we're safe since they don't have the clout to stop a civilian train and backtrack for us. Still, it's best if we moved quickly."

My thoughts exactly. "There's a town not far from here, Tinaga. It's small enough that not too many should see or recognize us, but not big enough to hide in for longer than a day or so. Still, Seifer needs help now and it's the closest bet we have."

"If you're talking about the speck to the south, I saw a few monsters that way. It won't be smooth sailing."

"So what else is new? Just junction your magics for attack, we can't afford any extra time in fights. And could you go scout out the area so we'd have a better plan on what to expect?"

Irvine nodded and took off while I continued to check Seifer for more injuries. My movements awakened him and he opened his eyes, dazedly looking up at me. A lopsided grin spread over his face as he mumbled, "I must be in heaven with such pretty angels."

I sat back on my heels, giving him a dubious look. "Humph, now you think you're going to heaven," I scoffed, then made him focus on my face. "Who am I? Do you know who I am?"

His eyes, which had been wandering, focused on me and he smiled again. "The prettiest girl in the world."

Ah damn. Even coming from a guy who was clearly delusional, being called pretty always makes a girl's stomach do flipflops. Then again, I heard it at least once a week from a Trepie and feel nothing ... no use trying to figure out why Seifer was any different. "Flattery won't work on me wonderboy," I lied as I hefted him upright to check his back injuries. "Can you tell me what my name is?"

"You're Quistis Almasy."

This time I dropped him, and he fell backwards with a small grunt. Wincing at my own carelessness I laid him out flat again, giving him an occasional shake to keep him awake. I did not ask any more questions though, no siree.

Irvine chose that moment to reappear with a dubious itinerary for our trip to the small town. Hefting Seifer upright I took one arm as Irvine took the other, and we headed towards the village.

* * * * * * *

Two caterchippilars, four bite bugs, and a rather irate Buel later, we arrived in Tinaga. The sun had already settled behind the mountains, giving the sky a faint pink-and-purple glow but there was enough light to discern the town's only hotel. We rented two rooms joined by a common door, and I situated Seifer as best I could in the room with two beds, tucking him like I would a child. He was fast asleep even before we got him fully onto the bed so I took his boots and jacket off, laying them on the room's chair and shut off the light. Irvine and I then retreated to the adjoining room, my room, to talk.

"Okay Irvine," I stated the moment the door between the rooms was shut, "tell me just what is going on here and why we are getting shot at by other SeeD soldiers. Tell me all of it right now ... or I'll wring your neck."

"Whoa there Tiger," he replied quickly, waving his outstretched hands at me in mock defense, "I'll confess to it all, I promise. Just let me get comfortable first, eh?" Testing the mattress's softness first, he hopped, feet outstretched, onto the bed in front of him then leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. With a sly smile, he patted the bed and asked, "Want to join me?"

I just glared at him. I was tired, cranky, dirty, and didn't have a change of clothes as we'd left our luggage on board the train. I'd been shot at by people I should have been able to trust then forced off a moving train -- a very fast moving train. The mood I was in was reminiscent of some of my worse monthlies.

Either Irvine sensed this (and if he did I had to give him credit for being more perceptive than I thought), or he just got tired of the BS too because he started talking. "You know Galbadia Garden was destroyed when it crashed after the sorceress gained control. By the time I got back to Galbadia, the Garden had regrouped and was looking for a location for a new base - preferably someplace more secluded, if that's possible.

"I won't bore you with the moving details; classes and training still went on for the youngers, while us older students helped with the planning."

I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe they've waited this long to give you your SeeD mission." When Irvine had left Balamb, we had all assumed he would be instantly promoted to SeeD rank when he arrived at Galbadia. So it came as something of a shock to us all when he wrote back to us that he would again be starting classes and still training. Seemed the heads of the Garden, in what I can only call a sheer act of bugger-all stupidity, had denied him his rank because he had not accomplished his original mission to dispatch the sorceress. The lot of us had been ready to lynch the bureaucrats who'd made that decision, but Irvine in typical fashion had laughed it off, saying he really didn't mind. We all had strong doubts that Irvine was taking this as well as he appeared - none of us would have been able to stand for it - but he still turned down a commission Cid offered him, opting to stay at Galbadia.

Irvine just shrugged. "It all worked out, I didn't mind. It got me better grades though; after all, who wants to fail one of the saviors of the world."

I rolled my eyes at the sharpshooter, who simply grinned back and continued his story. "Anyway, things were starting to get back to normal, or as normal as they could be considering the circumstances. A week ago they started getting mission requests again, and I of course was bumped up to the top.

"The original mission, as I would brief you, was a spying mission to military officials suspected of being loyal to the memory of the Sorceress. That's why Seifer was brought on, as an intermediary to starting contact."

He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "But, the problem at Galbadia Garden changed that. Apparently we had...traitors among us, also loyal to the memory of the Sorceress. They murdered the headmaster and took over Galbadia Garden, including the students. The little ones got away thanks to some of the teachers, but...Quistis, they have G-Garden!"

I had no idea what to say about the agonizing look he gave me except, "I'm sorry." It sounded lame even to my ears and I cursed the fact that I wasn't more like Rinoa or Selphie. I was an ice queen to the core, no matter how much I hated it.

Irvine shook his head and turned serious again, no more amusement lurking in the corners. "I'd already left on the mission, and I heard about it at the train station. It must have happened just as I left. There was a message waiting for me with the stationmaster that gave me my new orders, and here I am."

"Here you are," I echoed, slowly sitting down on the edge of the bed. I let that sink in for a few seconds then asked, "So, what's our new mission?"

"I'm to find you, then somehow save Galbadia Garden." Taking off his cowboy hat and raking his fingers through his hair, he gave a hollow laugh. "No pressure, eh?"

I didn't answer him, just sat on the bed thinking. There was no way we could do this mission without help, and that was the honest truth. Missions like this required whole gardens; three operatives could do an infiltration operation, but never the full assault probably necessary. My first thought was that we needed to get ahold of Balamb Garden with the information, see what our orders from that corner were. They were most likely abreast of the situation, and might have more info than we did. But there was the problem of getting there in a timely fashion without transportation, as well as trained assassins dogging our heels...

"Quistis?"

Pulled out of my thoughts, I focused back on Irvine. "One thing at a time," I finally replied. "Right now we have Seifer to worry about. We'll leave early tomorrow if he's good to go, and if he isn't we'll deal with it then. Get some rest, we'll be needing it come tomorrow."

Irvine nodded and rolled off the bed, starting toward the door.

I remembered something. "Irvine, I've got a question." When he paused and turned around I asked, "Back at the tracks, what happened when you two got off the train?"

He avoided my eyes for the longest time before answering. "I chickened out when I saw you rolling down the hill. Seifer was waiting for me to go, and when he saw I couldn't do it he tossed me out just before the tunnel, then went himself."

"So you were the reason he hit the wall?" The minute the words left my mouth I realized how harsh it sounded. I hadn't meant it that way, to make him feel worse about it than he already did, but I saw him stiffen. Still, I couldn't bring myself to apologize; I'd only said the truth.

"Goodnight, Instructor Trepe," he said, walking out of the room through the common door and shutting it behind him.

Great, now I was back to being called 'Instructor' again. I suppose I deserved it though. Pulling back the covers, I kicked off my shoes and climbed into the bed fully clothed in case of emergency. It occurred to me that I really should have apologized for what I said; after all, I myself had very nearly chickened out when faced with that jump, and I couldn't expect everyone to make the same decision...

Think tomorrow: right now, sleep beckoned and I was only too happy to oblige.

*

"SHIT!"

I jackknifed upright at the sound of Irvine's voice, barely noticing it was still pitch black all around me. Abandoning the bed, I ran across the room toward the door. It swung open suddenly and I barely kept myself from being hit by it as Irvine rushed into the room.

"Seifer's gone."

--0--

I found Seifer in the town's saloon half an hour later hunched over the bar. Here we'd been running around thinking foul play, me worried sick whether he was all right considering his condition, and he had just been enjoying a beer at the local pub.

As quietly as I could I crept up until I was standing right behind him. Shaking my head silently in frustration, I just stared at his back for a moment. He hadn't brought his coat and part of me cringed as I saw what the impact had done to his back. The shirt had holes, both large and small, dotting the back as well as bloodstains surrounding some of the tears. In the bar's dark ambience the shirt simply looked dirty and worn out, but I knew better; hopefully no one else had noticed.

"Why don't you just take a seat, Instructor," Seifer asked calmly, not looking up from his drink.

So much for the element of surprise. "How'd you know I was there?" I asked, pulling up a stool beside him.

He just smirked, still staring at his cup. "Don't you know every bar has a mirror behind it? Probably so one can see their opponent coming up behind them."

Shoot, he was right, there was a mirror behind the bottles on the far wall. "So now I'm an opponent," I stated, signaling the bartender. "Orange twist on the rocks."

The bartender eyed me strangely before setting me up. I was used to it; it often amused me to order orange juice with ice at a bar like this.

"Heh, a teetotaler. Figures."

I knew without looking that Seifer had his normal look of contempt but chose to ignore it. I wanted to rail at him about why he'd left the hotel, but said instead, "I'd just rather not have my abilities hampered by alcohol, is all."

Seifer just snorted and took another swig of his drink, saying nothing.

The silence stretched out until I couldn't take it anymore. "Why'd you leave the hotel, Seifer?"

"What, am I under house arrest now?"

One thing about Seifer, he knew just how to press my buttons. I normally managed to cover my reactions, never rising to his goading, but not this time. Slamming my drink on the bar hard enough to make the liquid slosh out I grabbed his shirt collar and turned him on the barstool to face me. "Did it ever occur to you," I growled, "that someone might just be looking out for your well-being? Hyne Seifer, you hit a solid rock wall going at least a hundred miles an hour, probably got a concussion even with that shield spell, and here you are getting your sorry self drunk?"

He wasn't able to keep a shocked expression from flickering across his face. It quickly turned to anger in the middle of my statement, then neutral again as he snatched himself away from me. "I told you once Instructor, I don't need or want your pity."

"Hyne, you are SO dense!" I felt like wringing his neck then and there, I was so frustrated. "Have you ever considered some people don't need guilt to prompt them into helping you?"

"Whatever," he muttered, hunching back over his drink.

Boy, I'd bet he would just love knowing how like Squall he sounded. I forced myself to calm down, taking a drink of juice while counting to ten before I spoke again. "Look, you had what could have been a serious accident happen to you today. Irvine and I had to drag you back here, as well as put you to bed ourselves. We all, you especially, need to get some rest since we're leaving as early as possible tomorrow. Irvine briefed me on the mission while we thought you were sleeping..."

"I'm not doing the mission, I told you that."

He sounded just like a whiny baby; he obviously wasn't a very happy drunk. I wasn't about to tell him that of course, we needed to get out of here before we attracted more attention than we already had. Stares from around the room had settled on the two of us, making me think we may need to move our plans of leaving up to tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. "Listen Seifer, the mission has been changed." His head snapped up in surprise, but I didn't give him time to talk. "Irvine briefed me on it, but I'd rather we step outside before..."

"Can I buy the little lady a drink?"

I hadn't heard the man come up behind me, and from his expression I could tell Seifer hadn't either. Heaving an angry sigh and hoping he'd get the hint I replied cooly, "No thank you, I'm not thirsty."

"What a shame, such a pretty lady as yourself shouldn't be alone." The voice was smooth, with a lilt of the northern regions giving it character. He moved to a better vantage point, and although he wasn't in the best of light I could make out dark hair and an aquiline face.

"She's not alone, buddy, so back off." Seifer's voice was a low growl, and the hand resting on the bar was clenched into a fist.

"Really," the man drawled, "from the sounds of your argument I would have thought you wanted rid of her."

Warning bells went of in my head: this man had been listening to our conversation. I turned to Seifer and started to tell him "Let's get out of here," just as the back of the man's hand brushed across my neck.

My words froze in my throat and I shoved away from the bar, nearly tripping over the stool in my haste. The fact that I hadn't expected the touch, that he'd gotten past my guard so easily, was part of the reason for my jumpiness. The main reason, however, was that I could have sworn I'd felt something cold slither across my mind at the contact.

The man took a step toward me, and with a snarl Seifer launched himself at him. They crashed onto a nearby table, scattering the table's cardplaying inhabitants, then rolled onto the floor. The sound of fists connecting with bone a rang through the air from behind the tables.

With a start I realized Seifer had no weapon, his gunblade still back in the room with his coat. Uncoiling my whip I started in to assist only to hear the cocking of a rifle right behind my head.

All action stopped as the bartender leveled the large gun on the two men, both of whom had immediately stopped fighting at the noise. "There is no fighting allowed in my bar," he growled. "Get out of here a'fore I add holes to ya nature never intended."

I hid my whip in case the barkeep saw it as a threat. In the dim light it could probably pass as a simple bullwhip, but I'd rather they not catch wind of the various upgrades it had gone through to make it infinitely more dangerous. There was a big difference between an ordinary whip and Save The Queen.

Reaching down I grabbed Seifer and hoisted him to his feet. "Let's get out of here now," I hissed, and drug him by the hand out the door and into the night.

* *

"What were you doing back there, Seifer?" I asked as we walked along the sidewalk.

"What do you think I was doing?" he replied back in a neutral tone, not even bothering to look at me.

I felt a headache begin to grow right in the center of my forehead and paused next to a wood building to massage my temples. "Seifer, please don't do this. I'm seriously not in the mood for your games tonight."

"You're not in the mood?" Seifer asked in a low voice. "You're not in the mood, Miss Instructor?"

Oh great, what had I done now? Sick of walking on eggshells around him because of something I didn't even do, I asked in an icy voice, "Is there something you'd like to discuss, Seifer?"

He paced in front of me twice more, then came to a stop directly facing me. "Why are you doing this, being 'nice' to me?" he blurted out.

The question startled me. I had been expecting something perhaps a little more confrontational, to say the least; this blindsided me. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, why are you trying to help me all of a sudden." He ran a hand over his face, clearly agitated, but I didn't know at whom or what. "I heard what you said to Irvine on the train. Why?"

I wasn't sure if I understood the question - he was asking why I was defending him? Carefully considering my words, I replied, "I have a lot to make up for myself in letting you down, and I'm starting now."

"That's just it," he ground out. "You don't have to. I deserved all of it and more."

The words sounded as though they'd been ripped from him, but I could tell he meant every word. "That's not true," I replied, startled.

He just stared at me. "Isn't it?"

I stood there fumbling for words, trying to figure out something to say in response but everything I came up with would be a lie on my part. Staring at Seifer, at the tortured expression on his face, I realized that I agreed with him; my head told me what was honorable and to forgive him, but my heart refused, still branding him a traitor. And I was ashamed.

"I deceived my friends, betrayed them at every turn, and tried to kill them. And I...I wanted it." He thrust a hand through his hair, which I suddenly noticed had grown out a bit. "I absolutely reveled in the power I had been given, because I could finally get back at you all."

"Get back at us for what?" I asked softly.

He closed his eyes and turned his head away. "For being everything I wanted to be, and wasn't." He gave a hollow laugh and leaned against a post, shaking his head. "I really was a fool today back on the train, wasn't I? So desperate for anonymity that I almost got myself killed."

My anger at him dissipated, but I didn't know what to say. Right then, I desperately wished it was Rinoa and not me who had to deal with this. The sorceress would know what to say to help him, whereas I was being as helpful as dirt. I longed to say something, anything to alleviate his obvious pain.

I heard footsteps and saw Seifer's head snap up, his eyes focusing past me. Without looking I sprang away from the sound, uncoiling Save the Queen and whirling around to face whatever it was. Seifer crouched low, his hands clenching into fists as he moved in beside me.

Three dark shapes shifted, then launched themselves at the two of us. Choosing one, I lashed out with the whip even as I dodged the swipe of a katana blade. Shoot, but these guys were fast. My second snap missed my target entirely and I barely managed to keep from being skewered. The lunge, however, gave me an opening with my opponent for a split second and without recoiling the whip I lashed out, catching the figure in the side. He let out a shriek and fell away, giving me at least a moment to help Seifer.

Even with just his fists he managed to stay afloat well, giving as good as he got, but I watched as one lunge broke through his blocks and a blade sliced his side. He gave a grunt and swung at the opponent just as I sent the whip out. Both connected simultaneously and the assailant was thrown backwards into a blind alley.

Something hit me in the right shoulder hard enough to spin me around. I heard Seifer shout my name and looked down to see a barbed arrowhead sticking several inches out the front of my shoulder. Gritting my teeth against the pain I transferred my whip to my left hand and went in to help Seifer just as my legs buckled. I fell to my knees just as a dark shape advanced to my left, and knew we were done for.

There was a wooshing sound, and I saw the shadow to my left get propelled backwards even as the distinctive ring of a gunblade split the air.

Something small and very fast flew past my vision, and I followed it to where it connected on Rinoa's wrist. Selphie and Zell appeared next to her looking ready for some action, and their shoulders slumped as they saw everything had already been taken care of. Seifer took an unsteady step back from the prone body before him, but the tension hadn't yet left his stance.

"Miss us?" I heard an achingly familiar voice beside me ask, and looked up through the darkness to see Squall swing his gunblade to his shoulder and offer me his other hand.