Chapter 21: Recession

Fujin's POV

I remembered the days gone by as I was being transported towards the Lunatic Pandora. I had grown colder with each passing hour of each day I dragged myself through. I couldn't recall how long it had been, but it seemed each day lasted a month and each week a year. I had fought many battles, and hardened my spirit to anyone who dared cross my path. I would show no weakness. No pain. No emotions.

My speech had become short and very unresponsive. I had limited my sentences to one word, shouting at anyone who talked to me. Following orders was the only objective in my insignificant life. I was just another pawn on the chessboard, going head on into battle with my enemies while my superiors sat back and laughed. I didn't know where my orders came from, but I accomplished them without question. With Rajin by my side, I battled many of the people from Balamb Garden. Squall, Zell, Selphie, Quistis…and much to my utter amazement, Rinoa. I had never expected to ever see her again, but I tried not to let anything get in the way of my mission.

When they had stormed into the Balamb hotel, I could remember the look on Rinoa's face when she saw me. Pure disgust and hatred flashed under her innocent eyes and her round face glared at me from behind Squall.

We failed miserably to my former school acquaintances, them proving to be much stronger than they let appear.

But we encountered them once or twice after that, not fighting or making ourselves obstacles in their way. I had come to realise that perhaps what we were doing really wasn't the right thing to do…

And as I sat here, staring blankly out of the window, watching the world rush past under me, a single tear slipped down my cheek, as I remembered my reason for fighting. It had been so long, without ever seeing his face once since he left on his journey. But it was every day he haunted me each time I shut my eyes at night.

I heard Rajin come over to me and he placed his large, tanned hand on my small shoulder. He sat down beside me as I tore my gaze from the world and turned to look at him, hoping he wouldn't notice the pain in my heart.

"Fujin…We've got to stop this ya know…We can't keep following these orders…" he said quietly.

"I know Rajin," I said trying to pull myself together. "But they'd have us killed wouldn't they? We can't just say no."

"Seifer wouldn't let that happen…" he said without thinking. I looked at him, tears bubbling at my eye the moment his name was mentioned. "Aww I'm sorry Fuu…I didn't…I didn't mean to…" he said frantically.

"No…its ok," I said wiping away the droplets of water. I sniffed and continued to speak, despite the shaking in my voice. "I'm ok Rajin. I'm fine." A long silence came between us.

"So…" Rajin said, easing the tense atmosphere a little. "What are we going to do?" I sighed, thinking of an answer.

But as I was about to speak, the pilot of our ship broke in on the intercom.

"We've arrived at the Lunatic Pandora. All personnel report to the docking bay where they will each receive individual instructions." His voice crackled out, and everyone began to move out of the airship into the cold, noisy docking bay. Voices came from every direction, some directing incoming ships, others on intercoms chanting various messages to important staff throughout the facility.

But in the midst of all the commotion and hustling about, a single word floated into my ears from the electronic female voice high above me. I singled out this message, trying not to loose the precious words it was saying. Hope was restored inside of me.

"Would Seifer Almasy please report to the…" I lost the sentence in the noise, but that was all I needed to hear.

He was really here; I could see him after such a long time. I would finally be able to be together with him again…I looked up at Rajin and I think that he too had heard it, as he looked down at me.

My dream-hazed mind was suddenly snapped back into reality though, breaking any thoughts I had. Orders were being given, mainly in the concern of putting up the shields to protect our base from invasion. I knew exactly who would be trying to break through those barriers, and when they did me and Rajin would be ready for them.

I also knew that Squall really did intend to kill Seifer this time. He wanted him out of the picture and us along with him. Despite what I knew they were doing was right, I knew I had to stop them, at least from harming Seifer…

***

And sure enough they came, blasting through the air in a ship I had never seen before. Its red dragon like shape streamed through the air, smashing straight through our defences, slowly tearing apart the so called 'unbreakable' force-field that had taken so many people's hard work and time to make sure it was impenetrable. Inwardly I laughed at the petty efforts to keep them from coming. But as soon as they ran down form the bridge with their weapons in hand, battle begun.

I grabbed my pinwheel from my back, and prepared for battle. Rajin too equipped himself with his staff and both of us exchanged a look of friendship and understanding before we launched ourselves in battle. We knew we would lose, we knew we should just let them pass, but we had to fight to protect the ones we cared for.

It wasn't a long battle. We were dealt with fairly quickly, perhaps because we weren't trying…but it was enough to let them, and ourselves feel satisfied. Without further question they ran past us, not caring whether we would try to stop them or not. Maybe they knew we wouldn't try…but I smiled inwardly, cheering on their cause in my heart. I knew what we were doing was wrong…and that made it all the harder to fulfil what we had to do next.

I picked myself off the floor, tending to my mounds with a Cura, and at once we set off for our next destination. We walked swiftly through the corridors, our feet almost automatically showing us the way. Our next goal was to find Seifer, and my heart leaped in excitement at the thought of being able to see his face again, but the happiness wasn't alone. I was also dreading this encounter as I knew it would really be the last time we would all be together.

We turned many corners and stumbled through many walkways, sometimes doubling back on ourselves, but eventually we reached our target.

There he was, standing ready to greet us, as if he were expecting us to come. He was smiling, his arms folded across his chest. He was wearing his white trench coat again, Hyperion leaning against his side. As we walked into the vast hall, I spied a group of soldiers, struggling with a girl around my own age. I wondered who she was, and what importance she had, but it quickly left my mind as the sudden loss of words made me unable to utter even a sentence to my friend.

"Rajin," he said nodding to Rajin. He then turned to me, his gaze resting on my face. "Fujin." His voice sounded different from when I'd last seen him. I could see that he was uneasy in front of all the guards, but I continued to take in every detail, storing the image of him deep in my memory. "It's been a while," he said smiling. "How are you both?" he said fiddling with his hands.

"We've been hanging in there ya know." Rajin said quite casually. But it was true, we had just about lived this far, being strong for his sake, in order to see him one last time…

"How are you Fujin?" he said coldly looking directly at me, locking my gaze with his. I realised I hadn't answered his question. His voice sounded irritated, and angry at my lack of obedience.

"I'm…" I couldn't say anything. This wasn't the Seifer I had left…he'd changed into a icy, high ranking, unemotional man, with no need for people like Rajin and myself to help him now.

"FINE." I said reverting back to my one worded speech. I couldn't talk to him like I used to…

He seemed a little taken aback, but recovered in an instant. He frowned and turned his head slightly to the guards holding the girl captive. I looked down at the ground, ashamed I had treated him in such a manner after longing to see him so much. All I could say was violent and rough, not affectionate or loving at all.

The girl was brought over and Seifer passed her over to me.

"This is Ellone, our hostage. Let nothing happen to her or hand her over to the enemy. She is key in our plans." He instructed us monotonously. I nodded, not looking at Seifer but accepted the girl into my care. I took hold of her arm and she stood quietly beside me. She couldn't have been much older than I was. Her nervous eyes darted from place to place and her face reminded me of Squall. I didn't know why, but she resembled him almost like a twin.

"We must not let Leonhart take her. He is our prime target to destroy…" but he was cut off by Ellone.

"You can't kill my brother! He'll take you down in a second!" she shouted across at him. I raised an eyebrow at her strong and bold words of protest, admiring her for speaking out so bravely in her position. She really was related to Squall…I'd guessed right. But unlike Squall she showed her fear openly as Seifer raised his gunblade in a split second, millimetres away from her face. She gasped at the proximity of the lethal weapon, and I could feel her tremble in my arm.

"Don't push your luck girl…" he said so darkly, even I began to feel threatened by him. "If you even utter the smallest of words I'll…" but this time it was me who interrupted him.

"SEIFER!" I roared. He seemed completely unfazed by my shout, but his eyes darted to me and I glared at him with my red eye and he lowered his gunblade. He looked back to Ellone and spat at her, inches from her feet.

But just then, Squall burst through the doors, his group entailing. Seifer moved away and Ellone turned to look at me. She mouthed a quick 'thank you' and swiftly turned to look down at her brother, hope restored on her frightened face.

"We've come to take back Ellone" Squall shouted up at us.

"Looks like we got company," I heard Seifer mutter to himself. "Show'em your hospitality." He said now turning his head towards Rajin. He stepped forward a little reluctantly, but I'd had enough of this fighting.

"RAJIN! STOP!" I shouted.

"What's up?" Seifer said questioning me. Rajin stepped back beside me, and delivered the hardest sentence I think he'd ever spoken.

"We've had enough ya know…" I let Ellone go and nodded to her.

"GO." She looked at me a little confused, but understood. She smiled, and ran over to her brother, her short, light brown hair swaying behind her.

"Wait outside. Laguna should be here soon." I heard Squall order his sister. She nodded not saying a word, and walked quickly, almost running where their ship had crash-landed.

"Hey, hey…Come on people." Seifer said averting our attention back to him.

"Seifer…We're quitting ya know? Don't know what's right anymore, ya know…" Rajin confirmed his earlier statement.

"Exactly my thoughts. I thought we were a posse." He said sounding slightly defeated. This was it. This was possibly the last time I really would see Seifer. I could feel the tears tug at my eye, and my heart leaped up into my throat.

'We were a posse Seifer…and we always will be…' I thought. I swallowed and blinked away the imminent tears threatening to fall. I summoned up all my courage and, after letting Rajin do all the talking, I would at least say a final goodbye…

"POSSE…" I paused, unsure of what had come over me to speak so suddenly… "We are. We always will be," the words flowed out of my mouth as if I had prepared this for a long time. "Because we're a posse, we want to help you. Whatever it takes to fulfil your dream, we're willing to do," I thought back to al the sacrifices I'd made in order to make Seifer happy, and all the mistakes I'd made… I remembered right back to when I first came to Garden, with Rinoa and Tema… everything that happened came flooding back. I'd agreed to come to Edea's castle with him, suppressed all my emotions over the last few months in order to be strong so Seifer could live his life and his dream. But then all the anger and frustration filtered in, reminding me of all the times Edea had manipulated Seifer into doing her wishes…the time he had almost raped me…

"But…you're being manipulated Seifer. You've lost yourself and your dream. You're just eating out of someone's hand," I couldn't stop the words from coming, and as I glanced around quickly I saw everyone's face say exactly the same thing…

"We want the old you back! Since we can't get through to you, all we have to rely on is Squall! Its sad…sad that we only have Squall to rely on…" I could feel the tears rise again and the lump in my throat choke my words. I heard Rajin begin to move, and he subtly placed his hand on my shoulder once more, comforting me slightly.

"Seifer!" I cried out through my tears. "Are you still gonna keep going?" My hands were shaking by my side and I stared at the man I loved, waiting for some kind of response to my heartfelt confession. A long pause ran between us.

'Come on…say something…" I thought to myself, desperate for an answer. I didn't want to break down in front of every one. I didn't want to show any weakness…I wanted to be strong…I would have to…

Finally Seifer shrugged his shoulders, and saluted his hand towards us.

"Rajin! Fujin! It's been fun!" I noticed a slight hint of sadness in his voice, which made my eye water even more and I ran towards the nearest door with Rajin close behind me, letting my tears run freely down my distraught face. This really was it…I really would never see Seifer ever again…Squall would probably kill him, or at least make him so decrepit that… I couldn't bring myself to think anymore…

My running slowed, now far away from the soon to be fighting arena. I slumped against a wall, my back facing the man who was steadily running behind me. I couldn't contain myself anymore. The tears and the misery flowed out of my eye as I mourned the loss I'd just experienced. I pounded the wall hard with my fist, mumbling again and again as I hit the cold surface incomprehensible words that I myself didn't really understand. I sensed Rajin waiting patiently behind me as I cried against the walled, completely emptying myself of all the love and friendship I'd ever known…and I'd still to fully realise the fact the Seifer was no longer a part of my life…

As I my shoulders began to stop racking in choked tears, Rajin placed his hand on my back, and turned my round to face him. He pulled my tired and heartbroken body to him, my lips and hands quivering against his warm body. I leant against him for all strength had left me, leaving me lifeless and jaded. My mind swirled making my head ache, and my vision blur with waterfalls of tears. I closed my eye and buried myself against Rajin's torso, wanting to disappear forever…

I could heard faint cries of battle, and guardian forces being summoned from some far off place, and I could hear his confident voice, so full of life and enthusiasm. But as I listened, strength no longer supported me, and I collapsed to the fall in a heap. I no longer had any awareness of time or space. I lay there with my eyes shut, listening softly to the shouts of battle, completely unaware of anything around me. I listened to the quiet clash of his gunblade, savouring the last memories I would have of the first person I ever loved…

'Goodbye Seifer…'

And then I heard him shout out in pain, and for an unknown reason I smiled to myself amidst my semi-unconscious state. It was over…Squall had won and Seifer was no more…

My journey was over.