AN: Hmm, well, looks like maybe my muses are goin to co-operate with me :o... wonder what they're gonna demand in return? *sweatdrops* Just in case of confusion (I actually managed to catch me out here *rolls eyes at self*), the first section/scene/thingy overlaps time wise with the last section of the last chpt (where Laguna runs away from Squall), and the last section also overlaps with the last chpt – gomen for the confusion _
Rating: R maybe PG-13 (R in standing with ff.net's policy of picking the highest rating)
Disclaimer: SG characters are (c) MGM (thankie to Morrigan for that :p). FF8 characters are (c) Squaresoft, original characters are mine – ask nicely and I might let you play with them, s'long's you don't break them...
Warnings: SxS Maybe angst (I do like to torture my characters sometimes :p), language (prob nothin u ain't heard b4, but still...), weird time-jumps/overlapping with previous chpt (gomen again ^^;;), Nasty Irvine (I'll make it up l8r, promise)
~Chapter Twenty-Nine: Preparing For War~
They were gone. Vanished. Stolen from right under their noses, well, behind their backs. And, Irvine decided, looking back at Seifer, the smug bastard in front of him had something to do with it. Quistis had realised the same, but was torn between admiration and amusement at the slick manoeuvring of Squall and Seifer, and fear of the unknown. They still had no idea what was going on.
"Alright Almasy. What the fuck's going on?!" Irvine demanded, only the last shreds of self preservation holding him back from grabbing the sorceress's knight by the neck. Seifer smirked, a superior cat-got-the-cream, I know and you don't expression. It was the last straw for Zell. Anger overrode self preservation, and he took a wild swing at the other blond. Quistis winced, waiting for Seifer to retaliate and the brawl to begin, but the blond simply dodged the fist and took a step back. It was Zell's turn to smirk.
"Hah! Scared to bring it Almasy?" He crowed. Quistis held her breath in anticipation. Surely Seifer couldn't fail to react to *that* insult. But he did. He simply looked at Zell, nothing more, and his expression changed. Quistis sucked in a quick breath, scared by the expression that was pure Squall. Pure Squall at his most dangerous. Zell's face was a picture of shock and fear. Eyes wide, he took a step back, then another, and then a third, ducking behind Quistis. Seifer turned to face Irvine, but although the Trabian Headmaster swallowed and licked his lips, he managed to hold his ground.
"Hyne is returning." The voice came from behind Seifer, but, although he straightened, he didn't turn.
Show a little respect! Seifer snapped mentally at Edea. The three SeeDs in front of him saw when she winced slightly, then made a ninety degree bow, hands pressed to knees.
"I humbly apologise. I forget myself. My Queen is returning." Quistis, Zell and Irvine exchanged confused glances. Something had happened, something they had missed. Seifer finally turned, acknowledging Edea's apology with a dip of his head. Irvine frowned. That hadn't been the acknowledgement of an equal, but someone far above in the scale. Who the fuck was the sorceress Seifer and Squall had arrived with, that even her knights stood far above another sorceress?
Quistis was also frowning.
"Where's Selphie?" The energetic brunette was nowhere in sight, and neither could she hear the chirpy voice that seemed never to stop. Edea smiled rather grimly, but there was also a hint of satisfaction in it. Pressing a single finger to her lips, she winked. Then they heard it, heavy boots being thumped down onto the floor far harder than necessary. The absence of voice, Selphie's clear temper, and Edea's gesture suddenly made sense. The sorceress had silenced the brunette. Or, more accurately, had taken her voice. Selphie had potions on her to cure silence, but the sorceress ability the silence spell was based on, voice stealing, could only be removed by the sorceress who inflicted it.
The petite brunette was scowling fiercely as she halted by Edea, arms folded, the fingers of the visible hand drumming against her arm. With a slightly pained expression, Edea gestured, drawing one hand across her throat whilst the other writhed in some complex gesture. Selphie blinked once, as though something had just slapped her across the face, then she opened her mouth...
And shut it again with one look at Edea's expression. Still glowering, she managed to slink over to Irvine and the others whilst still slamming her boots into the floor at each step.
A second figure then appeared in the doorway, filling it with his mute presence. Ward. Seifer wondered what the hell he was doing in Centra, unless... He frowned. That meant Laguna was in Centra also. But still, why come in person? It wasn't as though messages couldn't be transmitted anymore, not since Adel's death had the 'interference' been a problem. Not many had put those facts together... But then, not everyone had been the knight to the sorceress who had 'removed' said interference. He knew Squall had managed to puzzle it out from the outdoor TV in Timber, where the interference had been allowed to play unchecked, spotting the pleas for release within the fuzz and incoherent rambling.
Wondering what new complications the mute man might have news of, Seifer let Squall know that he was there.
***
Laguna let his whirling emotions guide his feet hurriedly away from Squall. His son. Every word that he had spoken had been true, and it cut like a knife to the very bone. His son. How long had he longed to say those words, and yet, for seventeen years he had denied it. Denied it for Squall's safety, Ellone's safety, Esthar's safety... But at what price? His son. But he still couldn't say the words that he knew needed to be said. Instead, every time their paths crossed, for they never went out of their way to meet, Squall because of his hatred and he because of his guilt, they fought. Squall was a constant reminder of Raine, of the promise he broke so long ago. And yet, at the time it had seemed like no choice at all... Rule Esthar or... And that was the source of the guilt. The only 'or' that had ever been had been 'or go home', keep his promise and return with Ellone. Adel had been defeated, sealed away, and yet... He hadn't wanted to leave. Being in a position where everyone looked up to him, respected him, was a heady feeling, and he had become drunk on it, addicted to it. So the promise had been conveniently forgotten. He had sent Ellone back to Winhill with Kiros and Ward, asking Raine to join him in Esthar. But it had been too late. Raine was dead, buried, gone forever, leaving only a tiny baby boy she had named Squall.
As for Squall... Laguna sighed, and stopped, leaning his forehead against the cool wall of the corridor. Yes he was glad to have a son, but in a way, after twenty years and all the shit Squall had gone through, he wasn't really his son any more. Yes they were flesh and blood related, but Squall looked much more like his mother than his father, and their attitudes... No one who hadn't seen the DNA proof would've believed it, not initially. Not until they'd seen that they both shared a sense of duty, held long grudges and could be more stubborn than a broody chocobo when it suited them. He gave a short, rueful laugh. It was the latter two that were the problem here. Squall, and understandably so, had one hell of a grudge against him for abandoning him to an orphanage. And they were both too stubborn to let the matter drop and start again.
Sighing again, Laguna pushed away from the wall and resumed his journey to where Ward awaited.
***
Seifer, get your lazy ass in here now! The mental summons from Squall hit Seifer just as Laguna walked into the room. He looked tense, strained... Of course, if he'd run into Squall the two had likely argued... Scratch that. Seifer thought, correcting his thoughts. The two had definitely met each other, because Squall had passed on the message that Ward was here. So, there had definitely been an argument... One hell of an argument. He squinted at the faint line of red on Laguna's neck. One day the Estharian President was going to push Squall too far and lose his head. But the arguments were mercifully few and far between. The last, not counting the one that had obviously just taken place, had been right before Squall and Rinoa both vanished. Three years. That was one hell of a long time to hold a grudge, and yet Seifer got the impression that Squall would hold said grudge to the grave. His own, not Laguna's.
SEIFER! He winced at the roar in his head. Squall had surely caught on to the whole telepathy thing fast. Much faster than... He suddenly realised that getting lost in yet another internal monologue would only lead to more painful bellows from his lover. Without a glance at the four SeeDs behind him, Seifer began to hurry in the direction Squall had gone.
Bring Edea. Now that he was moving in the right direction, Squall had softened his mental tone considerably. Seifer paused, turning to jerk his head at Edea. The sorceress obediently glided over to him, waiting for him to lead her or command her as he would. It was a strange feeling, knowing that he could order her to kill herself, and she would. Well, maybe not that extreme, but still... And the others. Squall added quietly. Seifer rolled his eyes, and began to turn, but was cut off by Irvine's shout.
"Now where the hell are you going?!" Edea's eyes narrowed, but Seifer shook his head faintly and she subsided. Of course, if she was going to be all protective around him then his position might have a few drawbacks after all. He doubted she would stop just because he ordered her to. Become less obvious, yes, but stop? No, he didn't think that would happen.
"Come with me if you want to know what's going on." He tossed back offhandedly. He knew Irvine better than the sniper thought, Quistis mused. The whole take-it-or-leave-it-I-don't-care attitude was guaranteed to hook the Trabian Headmaster. It was also, she thought, noticing Zell and Selphie already inching closer to Seifer and Edea, guaranteed to hook the two most curious SeeDs in existence.
Muttering under his breath, Irvine barely noticed Quistis following him as he stalked after Seifer and Edea.
***
Squall was waiting outside the room Seifer led them to. Along with a group of 19 SeeDs. Edea bowed to Squall in the same way she had to Seifer, ninety degrees, balanced by her hands on her knees. He, like Seifer, acknowledged the gesture with a shallow nod. As the sorceress straightened, Seifer and Squall looked at each other, holding a discussion without words. A brief frown of irritation crossed Squall's face, mirrored seconds later by a look of resignation on Seifer's face. Satisfied, Squall nodded, and Seifer walked into the room.
"Edea, Kinneas, Quistis, Selphie, Zell. With me." Squall was as curt as ever in his commands. Irvine folded his arms, clearly pissed off at everything that had happened.
"What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On." He spoke each word slowly and clearly, as though Squall was an idiot, and pointedly omitted any sort of title. For a moment it looked as though Squall might kill Irvine on the spot, then his expression became its normal blank self.
"Selphie." The brunette perked up somewhat at the summons, bouncing over to Squall's side. He put a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to whisper instructions in her ear. Then he stood straight again, back to glaring daggers at Irvine. "Go with Selphie. We'll join you in a minute." He told the rest of them. They went, Selphie eagerly leading the way.
"Well? Leonhart? I'm waiting." Irvine sneered.
It almost seemed that Squall didn't cover the ground between the two, he moved that fast, but one minute Irvine was sneering at him, and the next Squall was behind him, holding his arm in such a way that an incautious move on Irvine's part would dislocate his shoulder.
Squall started walking, forcing Irvine to also walk, or have his shoulder dislocated. As he followed slowly in the direction Selphie had led the others, Squall talked.
"You know why you hate me Kinneas? When you started to hate me?" He did, but he wasn't going to dignify the questions with an answer. Fortunately Squall didn't wait for an answer. "It was when we tried to assassinate Edea in Deling. Because I saw your weakness then, and I know it now." Irvine started to try and shake himself free of Squall's grip, felt his shoulder protest – painfully so – and reluctantly gave in. Squall continued as if nothing had happened. "You can't cope under the pressure Kinneas. As soon as you realise just how much is at stake, how your actions will decide the fate of millions, you'll freeze again." Squall sounded exasperated, which, Irvine guessed, was not a good sign. "But I won't undermine the chain of command for everyone to see, not unless I have to." Irvine blinked in shock at the threat. "You will 'work with' Seifer. And you will follow every 'suggestion' he makes. That or I'll strip you back down to a grade 10 SeeD." Irvine stiffened in rebellion, then sagged as he realised there *was* no get-out clause. "Clear?" Squall asked, voice harder than adamantine. Irvine nodded in resignation.
Squall released Irvine's arm in enough time for its circulation to have returned, and the pins and needles worn off, by the time they rejoined the others in the communications room. The room, which had been buzzing with speculation and soft murmurs of hushed conversations, fell silent as the SeeDs realised Squall and Irvine were present. As one unit, they came to attention, the unified 'thump' of boots coming together muffled somewhat by the carpet. Squall returned the salute, and the SeeDs relaxed without waiting for Irvine's acknowledgement. They knew where the power in the room lay. But Squall had been absent for three years, and they had forgotten how strict he was on protocol. Which meant following the hierarchy of SeeD no matter what.
"Attention!" He snapped. The SeeDs jumped to attention again. If they had forgotten the smaller things like his insistence on protocol, they hadn't forgotten the few disciplinary actions that had made it as far as the commander's office. A unified mental shudder went through them. Irvine had also been surprised by Squall's outburst. He had assumed that the commander meant everyone to know that Irvine Kinneas was to be a puppet, dancing on his and Seifer's strings, but apparently he had been serious when he had commented on wanting to keep the command structure intact. Slowly he acknowledged the saluting SeeDs with his own salute.
The room settled into an uneasy silence once more. Squall let it hang for a few moments, ensuring that everyone was paying close attention. Then he began to give his orders.
***
Even though they could now understand what was being said, SG1 was still hopelessly lost. Not only, or so it appeared, had they managed to arrive on a world with a massively different culture to their own, but they also appeared to have gotten themselves unwittingly caught up in a 'situation'. It was not unlike, Jack mused absently, the last time they'd walked through a stargate in the process of being excavated.
They listened with interest as the blond man who had appeared in the silence began to harangue the one in charge. Well, the one who *had* been in charge. The fact that the mercenaries around them had stood down for the brunette seemed to indicate that he held a greater rank. Jack shook his head slightly, there were too many undercurrents and subtle allusions to past events, that they didn't know about, for him to start jumping to conclusions.
"Come with me." Jack blinked, and found the speaker, the brunette, already turning away. It was a command, not a request, that much was clear in the tone, and yet the mercenaries surrounding them had already formed up. There was no physical threat behind the command, just an expectation that it would be carried out.
"Sir?" Sam's query was pitched low enough for only Jack and Daniel to hear it. Jack nodded, bringing his machine gun back to his chest, cradling it in a defensive position, but ready to move to the offensive if necessary. Sam copied his movement, and Daniel stopped trying to look dangerous with a relieved sigh.
They followed the brunette out of the large cavern and into a series of corridors, hearing the mercenaries fall into place behind them. Quite chatter could be heard, speculation mostly, but also mutters of relief that the 'commander' had returned to take over from someone called Irvine. Jack was willing to bet that the commander was the brunette, and that 'Irvine' was the mercenary dressed like a cowboy who had argued when the brunette had taken charge.
At long last the journey came to an end, the brunette leading them into a spacious room. It was unevenly lit, casting deep shadows into some corners, whilst banishing all shadows from the others. The woman who had arrived with the two men was already in the room, staring off into the distance, seemingly deep in thought. She was the one who had cast the spell, or done whatever the hell she'd done, so that they could understand and be understood.
"G'ould?" Jack muttered to Sam. There was no reply for a moment, then, in the periphery of his vision, he saw her give a slight shake of her head.
"I don't think so Sir." She whispered back. He grunted slightly in acknowledgement of her reply. Even though she said it as though she wasn't certain, Jack knew Sam was more often right than not when it came to sensing G'ould. Being host, however temporarily, to Jolinar, had left her with the ability to sense them. The closer she was to a host, the more accurately she could tell. They were close enough, he decided, for him to trust her senses.
"What the fuck are you doing here Laguna?" The brunette snapped the words without turning, but the way his head had lifted warned SG1 that whomever Laguna was, he was somewhere behind the brunette... and them. Daniel turned in time to see an older man emerge from one of the deeply shadowed corners of the room.
"I was curious." Daniel blinked. The voice and the looks were somewhat at odds with each other. The man's, Laguna's, hair was dark, and roughly pulled back into a scruffy pony-tail. His clothes were similarly rough, some sort of short jacket and baggy pants, along with a tee-shirt that looked creased enough to have been slept in. But the voice was as commanding as the Brunette's, if in a different way. The commander spoke with the expectation that what he said would be done because he was in charge, Laguna spoke with the hope that what he said would be done because he believed whomever he was speaking to was a good person. There was a steel undertone to Laguna's words though... Daniel wondered what his title was to be challenging a commander...
"Besides, this *is* Esthar's project. Odine is in my employ." Daniel blinked... He had no idea what 'Esthar' was, but Laguna spoke as though he somehow was Esthar, or represented it in some way. Something in the way the level of tension behind him spiked made Daniel look around. The commander had turned, and was regarding Laguna thoughtfully, one hand on his hip, the other absently toying with the hilt of his weapon. Daniel swallowed, wondering if between the two was a sensible place to be. Jack had apparently decided not, because Daniel saw him trying to unobtrusively motion him backwards. Deciding discretion was by far the better part of valour, Daniel shuffled quietly backwards and out of the way.
But the backwards shuffle meant he saw what Jack and Sam didn't. He saw the commander open his mouth to speak, saw the sudden flicker of confusion followed by the sharp turn of the head in his direction. But the brunette wasn't staring at anything in the room. His eyes were distant, as though he saw, or heard, something no one else could. Daniel frowned. Was it possible that they had telepathy of some sort?
"Well, it seems as though you have a visitor. Ward's here." Daniel's suspicions were confirmed as the commander turned back to Laguna. The older man took the words like a fist to the stomach. He gaped, blinking in shock, then frowning. He seemed to hunch over, ever so slightly, and his eyes began to water. For some reason the arrival of this new person, Ward, was not a good thing.
"Where?" Laguna whispered. Daniel wondered if the arrival in itself was a bad thing, or if it was the news that they brought that boded ill. The older man looked numb, as though shock was setting in.
"Back where the gate is." Something suddenly seemed to snap in the older man at the brunette's words.
"Can't you even *try* and show a little humanity Squall?!" Laguna hissed, stalking closer to the commander. Squall... Daniel belatedly connected the hissed name with its target. So the commander's name was Squall. A couple of the mercenaries moved hastily from the advancing man's path. Laguna however, seemed to have the sense not to try and eyeball the brunette, and stopped a little over two feet away.
"I guess that's why even Rinoa finally left you..." Daniel didn't even see Squall move, and doubted that anyone else had either, but the strange blade weapon previously hanging at the brunette's side was now bared and pressed against Laguna's throat. Obviously the older man had touched upon a raw nerve.
"You dare accuse me of having no humanity?" It almost sounded a normal conversation, except Daniel was almost certain he could feel waves of coldness radiating from the words. The other mercenaries in the room seemed to feel it as well, and had frozen in position, watching the confrontation. "You who call yourself my father, and yet dumped me in an orphanage and spent the next seventeen years denying I ever existed?" Daniel blinked. The two were related?! He frowned, realising from the unsurprised expressions on the faces of the mercenaries, that this was already common knowledge. As was the enmity, and its cause, between the two. The brunette leaned towards the older man, who leaned away. Daniel wondered if he even realised the movement had caused the blade to break the skin. He decided not... damn that blade had to be sharp.
"Rinoa is dead. I swore I'd take care of her, and I failed. Now she's dead. So I suggest you run on back to Esthar, *Mister* President, and leave things to me." Had he not already been in such a state of shock that he was numb, Daniel thought he might have fainted. Esthar had to be a country, a powerful one if it was operating in another country, and this Laguna was its president. Not only that, but his son, albeit apparently estranged, was the commander of the mercenary forces. Daniel glanced over at Jack and Sam. They appeared to be taking it all in their stride, but Sam's eyes were slightly wider than usual. He suspected Jack had stopped listening a while ago.
The weapon was taken away, a strange reluctance seeming to slow the brunette's movements. Laguna didn't seem to have calmed though. His movements were stiff with anger as he walked to the door, and turned back to face his son, eyes narrowing in ire.
"Don't forget, you're not the only one to have saved the world from a sorceress." Daniel's eyebrows threatened to climb into his hair. A sorceress? But that would make the woman who had arrived with the two men... He turned in time to see the neutral expression on the sorceress's face. Laguna, however, seemed to see something else, for his face drained of the redness anger had lent it and he licked his lips in a sudden gesture of nerves. It was the sneer on Squall's face that prompted the step back though.
"And where did you grow up thanks to your father?" Squall appeared to consider for a moment before the sneer reappeared. "Well, I guess that runs in the family too." Laguna fled.
Silence reigned along with tension for a few moments after the President had left. Then, with a single gesture, Squall led the mercenaries out of the room. Automatically SG1 moved to follow.
"Please, stay." The sorceress's voice was cool and soothing. Then she smiled, and it was dazzling in its purity. This was the good of humanity made flesh, Daniel thought, then immediately wondered when the hell he'd gotten so poetic. Jack, however, was his usual suspicious self.
"What do you want?" Daniel raised an eyebrow, wincing in anticipation of a negative reaction to the colonel's typically blunt approach. But the woman merely laughed, a light chuckle that dispersed the remaining tension in the room.
"Come, sit. Then we shall talk, of what I want and what you want." She gestured for them to take three of the seats around a small table. It was Sam's turn to raise an eyebrow in surprise. The woman was deliberately allowing them to sit in a such a way that she could only face one or two of them at a time.
SG1 sat. Yarege took the remaining chair, absently locating everyone on the site in her mind. Feeling the need both for something to occupy her hands, and to soothe her nerves, she conjured mugs of coffee for them all, easily reading each person's preferences for the beverage. Daniel, the scholar and linguist, liked his strong and sweet, with a little milk, perfect for sharpening nerves dulled by long hours of studying ancient texts. The two soldiers, Samantha and Jack, both liked theirs black, although Samantha took a little sugar, whilst Jack took none. Herself she liked it milky, but unsweetened. Cradling the mug in both hands, Yarege took a sip to hide her smile at the expressions of surprise and suspicion on their faces.
"It's coffee." She gestured gracefully with a couple of fingers. "It's safe. I'm not about to poison someone I'm asking help from." With a slightly surprised expression, clearly he hadn't thought of poison, the linguist took a cautious sip of his drink. He blinked, finding the drink exactly as he liked it.
"Um... So what, help, do you want from us?" He asked, replacing the mug on the table. Yarege sighed, and set down her own mug, folding her hands in front of her.
"This world was freed from G'ould occupation by Hyne a long time ago. Long enough for the truth to have distorted. Hyne is seen as the creator of the world, the mother of everything on it. When she died she left behind the first sorceresses, her 'daughters'. Those same sorceress powers have been passed down through the generations, from one woman to another. Not all of these sorceresses have been good, not all of them evil, most of them have simply been human, with the same hopes and dreams, the same thoughts and feelings as any other human. But Hyne herself was not entirely human. She was balance, and for every good thing people praised her name for, there was something they cursed her for. So the good and evil balances, and humanity is not smothered from existence, nor coddled into a race unable to withstand adversity."
She paused for another sip of coffee, and then continued.
"Such balance as Hyne embodies cannot be contained in a single mortal body, a single sorceress's mind. That is the first battle that we face. I would not ask you to fight against enemies you have no experience of, and there is no time to give you that experience. When the other sorceress attacks she will be seeking me, just as I will be seeking her, but that will leave the gate unguarded."
Another pause, another sip of coffee.
"The G'ould are returning. And so is Hyne." She remained silent for a moment, looking vaguely sad. "Time has run too short for Squall to be able to do more than send SeeD reinforcements to the most vulnerable key cities, and even then, depending when and where she makes her move, I do not know if they will arrive in time to bolster the existing defences, or to form burial squads. But that does not matter. There are enough SeeDs here to fight through her army so that I can do what I must. The G'ould will find the gate undefended though, and they will be able to send through too many for an already weary force to hold. I would ask your help, that you bring whatever forces you can to defend the gate. You can say no, and I will send you back to your world, but I would ask you to consider it. The return will not be small."
Jack frowned.
"Two questions." Yarege nodded for him to continue. "What do we get in return for risking our necks, and what's the catch?" She smiled, as though she had expected the questions.
"The catch is that you, and any forces you bring back, will be stranded if I die." She shrugged. "The return is the price for you to set."
"You can operate the Stargate without a DHD?" Sam queried, looking curious. Yarege nodded.
"Any sorceress could, if she knew how." Jack cleared his throat.
"What sort of technologies do you use, medicines, weapons?" Yarege frowned for a moment, and then sighed.
"I cannot give you all that you would want. Much would not function in the same way on your world, and much is too advanced to be of use. Suffice to say that I will give you..." she grinned in the pause. "Something your world last saw long ago, something your world has not seen before, and something that will remind you of this world. I will also give each of you something for you personally, something of great value, to keep or sell as you wish."
"Can you be any more specific?" Jack asked. He wasn't convinced by the grandiose sounding words. Something the world last saw long ago could be nothing more than a useless artefact buried in a cave somewhere for god knew how long. Something the world hadn't seen before... Surely everyone knew that trick of breaking out a peanut and eating it? And they had their own memories to remind them of this world already. As for the 'great value', hmm, sounded too much like a death threat to him.
"No, I cannot." Her tone of voice made it clear that the subject was closed. "Daniel may return to your 'SGC' to consult with your superiors. Shock that she knew their names, and more importantly *how* she must know their names, held them silent. "If they decide the risk is too great for the return, which I have already said will *not* be small O'Neill, then he may return and I will send you all back to your world." She stood, setting the mug gently onto the table, its contents gone.
One by one, SG1 also stood.
"Got them eating out of your hand yet?" It was the blond man who had arrived with the sorceress. At some point during the conversation he had slipped, unnoticed, into the room.
"Ignore Seifer. He tends to be sarcastic most of the time, but more so when he's got to be polite to someone." She glared at him, but there was no heat in it, only a faint amusement at the blond's foibles. Jack noticed that he too, like the brunette, had a scar across his forehead and nose.
I just what to know why I *have* to be civil to someone everyone knows is useless. What's the point? Yarege refused to let her sigh become anything more than mental, despite Seifer's mental irritation.
Because SeeD fought *with* Squall *against* you in the last war. You need the authority that Squall has made clear is Irvine's, as much as he needs your experience and ability. With that Yarege swept out of the room, the three 'visitors' in tow, leaving Seifer to follow or not.
He followed, after a few minutes quietly seething to himself. The gate was just triangulating from the last space-time reference as he arrived, and he stared in awe as the 'bubbles' rushed outwards briefly, allowing the matrices of the two worlds to align. A shimmering pool of what looked like water filled the circle, rippling gently as the gate compensated for each shift of the two worlds, relative now to each other, in space-time.
SG1 stared from the gate to Yarege and back. The dialling process had been much faster than normal. Whatever the gate drew on as a power source on this world had to be far superior to either electric or even naquada generators. Finally Daniel stepped onto the ramp and walked up to the gate. There he turned back to face them.
"I'll, uh, try and be a quick as I can." He called, then turned and stepped from one world to another...
AN: like I said... a glut of updates... *looks gloomy* if I fail my exams I shall have but one thing to say – muses! Anyhow, someone please tell me if I spelt 'Jolinar' and 'naquada' correctly, I just guessed from how I remember them being said ^^;; uh, what else? *thinks* über long chpt, sorry bout that, now I've got a plot I'm determined to stick with it... especially as I pretty much know what's going in each chapter PLUS how it ends ;) go me! Hehehe...
