Author's ramblings:  Yay!  Another chapter.  Actually this was written some time ago.  I just read it over and fixed it up a bit before posting.  I hope you enjoy!  Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer:  No, I don't own Square.  *sigh*

Chapter 3

"And that's the Presidential Residence.  I think they give tours during the day.  I heard the tickets are very expensive though," Seifer said as he pointed out the last attraction of the afternoon and evening.  They had been exploring the center of the city and visiting various monuments and tourist attract actions all day.  For the most part, Seifer was enjoying the day.  It had been a long time since he shared a day with someone, and he enjoyed the company.  But he also had an odd feeling about the woman who stood next to him.  She was beautiful and smart, absorbing everything he said and her surroundings like he'd never seen before.  She was very different than most of the women he'd encountered, which mostly included bimbos and not so intelligent women who he would see for at most one night.  He would think that someone like Stella would be aware of who he was and his past like almost everyone else in the world.  "And I think that concludes the tour."

"Lots of governmental stuff in this city," Stella observed.

"Galbadia's always been big about government and politics," Seifer said as he stared up at the tall, elegant residence.  "Even now I bet they're thinking up of something."

"What makes you think that?" Stella asked looking up a Seifer.

Seifer looked down at her and shrugged.  "I don't know."

Stella suddenly felt a tickle in her stomach.  She knew he was lying.  She turned and stared down the road, debating whether or not to say something.

"Something wrong?" Seifer asked, noticing Stella was staring out at space.

Stella sighed heavily before turning around and looking directly into Seifer's eyes.  "I have to tell you something."  The expression on Seifer's face turned dark, and Stella immediately felt the change of emotions stir within her.  She took another deep breath to stop the tingling that ran up her spine. 

"I knew something was strange…" Seifer said, taking a step back away from her.

"Before you get angry or run off, please just listen," Stella pleaded.

Seifer crossed his arms across his chest.  "I'm listening."

Another shiver caused Stella to pause for just a second.  "I'm not here on vacation.  I'm here to find you, actually.  I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden, and I'm sure you know what all that means."  Stella felt another rush of emotion and clutched her chest with one hand.  "I was sent to find you because it is believed that Galbadia is looking for you to offer you a position of some sort.  They're planning to draw you into whatever their new scheme is.  I don't know anything about what it is they're doing.  I'm just here to take you back to Balamb Garden where you will be safe."

Seifer took a moment to take in everything that Stella had said.  "Balamb Garden is the last place I want to be right now."  He turned his back at her.  Why couldn't these people just leave him alone?

"I have orders to take you in by whatever means necessary," Stella informed him.  "I'm trying to make this as easy as possible."

"I guess it's not your day either because I'm not going to make this easy for you.  There's no way in hell I'm going to return to Garden.  As far as I'm concerned, the only way they wanted me back was if my head was presented to them on silver platter," Seifer shouted angrily at her.

"I'm sorry, but I have orders," Stella said seriously, her own expression turning dark.  She focused on the mission objective to take her mind off the burning in her chest. 

"Fuck you and your mission," Seifer spat and stormed down the street in long quick strides.  Stella turned to follow, jogging to catch him, but the burning in her chest held her back from catching him.  At the end of the road, Seifer climbed onto a bus, and Stella watched the bus disappear down the road. 

The burning in her chest began to subside, but a feeling of uneasiness replaced it.  She ran down the road and caught the next bus, following the strange feelings that stirred in her blood.  Seifer Almasy wasn't going to get away that easily.

***

Seifer was furious as he stalked down the small alleyway to his room.  Yes, he did receive offers from Galbadia every fucking day.  Yes, he knew they wanted him to lead some new project that would probably lead to complete self-destruction.  But, no, he did not want to go back to Garden.  He refused to believe the bullshit that Garden wants to protect him from the evils of Galbadia.  He was capable of resisting their offers and looking out for himself.  Garden would probably tear him up in their own twisted way.  Garden or Galbadia… either way, he was fucked as much as he was concerned. 

Seifer slammed the door shut once he entered the dark room, engaging the bolt locks.  As he made his way to turn on the light in the room, he tripped over Hynes knows what was on the floor about three times before pulling the little string attached to the fixture and illuminating the room in a dull yellow light.  His eyes widened as he looked around the room.  The ragged old couch was overturned and various things around the room were scattered across the floor in a huge mess.  The cabinets in the small cooking area were thrown open as were the drawers to his small dresser.  What little clothing and possessions he owned were thrown all over the place.  It was clear someone had broken in and was looking for something.  Seifer ruled out the idea of robbery because there was nothing to take, and none of it was taken anyway.  As he looked around his trashed room, he wondered what anyone would be looking for in this dump.

A creak from the corner of the room made Seifer turn.  It was the sound of the bathroom door creaking.  He was always too lazy to oil the hinges, and now he was glad he never did.  Seifer cautiously made his way across the room, careful not to make any noise, which was proving a bit difficult because of all the things he had to avoid on the floor in the small space.  As Seifer got closer, he saw the door was open just a crack.  He took another step and extended his hand slowly for the knob, but before he could grip it, a figure lunged through the door, knocking Seifer to the ground.

Seifer crawled back up to his feet as quickly as he had fallen and stood face to face with his attacker.  The attacker was just as tall as him and heavily built.  He was in all black, and a mask hid his face.  The attacker took a swing at Seifer's face, but Seifer ducked down just in time and delivered an uppercut to the attacker.  The attacker staggered backwards, and Seifer made another move to kick him, but another attacker kicked out his knees before he could.  The second attacker followed with a sharp blow to the side of Seifer's head.  It was enough to send Seifer toppling over to his side, wiping warm blood that seeped from his split lip.  Sucking up the pain, Seifer tried to shove himself up, but the attacker had planted a firm foot against his back, shoving his face to the floor.  From his view from the floor, Seifer saw the first attacker straighten; recovered from the uppercut he had dealt him.  The first attacker kicked Seifer hard in the side.  Seifer grunted in pain and saw colors stir in his vision.

"Son of a bitch," the first one said in contempt, spitting on Seifer.  "Let's get this over with."

The second attacker tossed the first attacker a dark sack.  From the sack, the first attacker pulled out a yard of thin, rough rope and used it to bind Seifer's hands tightly behind his back.  He also pulled out a rag which he gruffly stuffed into Seifer's mouth.  Then he took the sack and drew it over Seifer's head. 

"Pick him up," the first attacker ordered.  The second attacker heaved Seifer up who stood on shaky legs.  His knees still throbbed.  He was sure that if he could see, the room would be reeling in front of him.  His head pounded and the pain in his ribs did not subside. 

The second attacker shoved him forward, and Seifer nearly fell over.  He was led towards the door, and stumbled the whole way over.  The attacker helped him up the few steps to street level.  Seifer felt the air change as they entered the cool night.  The attacker shoved him forward again, and Seifer obeyed, taking another couple of blind steps.  As he slowly moved forward, Seifer heard a dull thud and the attacker ahead of him grunt in pain.  The next sound he heard was the sound of a heavy body hitting the pavement.  The attacker that held Seifer let him go.  In the sudden change of balance, Seifer fell to his knees, straining to hear what was going on.  He heard a struggle between two people, the thuds and thumps of body parts being stricken, and the grunts of pain and effort as the fight went on.  There was a final stroke, then silence.  Seifer swore he heard a bone crack.

The next thing Seifer knew, the sack over his head was pulled off and the rag removed from his mouth.  His eyes adjusted to the light, and he gazed into a set of dazzling blue eyes.

"Stella?" Seifer said, his expression wrinkled in confusion.

"Are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Never been better," Seifer replied, wincing as he tried to stand up.

"Here," Stella said as she gripped Seifer's arm and helped him up to his feet.  She went around to his backside to untie the rope. 

"What are you doing here?" Seifer asked her, wincing again as the rope dug into his skin.

"Helping you," Stella answered.

Seifer felt the rope loosen and twisted his hands out of their binds.  He rubbed his wrists which where red with blood.  "How'd you find this place?  You follow me this whole time?"

"I tried to follow you, but I lost you somewhere," Stella replied. 

"Then how'd you get here?" Seifer asked, wiping the blood from his lip with the back of his hand.

"You're bleeding," Stella said, avoiding the question.  She tore off a hanging piece of her sweater that had been ripped open by the second attacker's knife and tried to blotted Seifer's wrists and mouth with it, but he flinched away. 

"I'm fine," Seifer said, wincing as he tried to pull himself up straight.

"You can't even stand up straight," Stella said.

"Well the fucker did kick in my ribs," Seifer said with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"You need medical attention," Stella said seriously, eyeing the way Seifer was struggling to stay up.

"I need you and all those sons of bitches to leave me alone," Seifer said angrily.  "That and about a million years of sleep."

Stella's eyes narrowed.  "Don't make me kick in the other side."

"Fuck you," Seifer spat.

Stella crossed her arms across her chest and continued to eye him as he tried to walk away.  "You know, once whoever is after you finds out you're not being delivered, you'll be sought out again, and in your condition, it looks like they'll have their way."

Seifer glared at her.  "I'm not going back to Garden."

"Then do tell where you plan on going because it doesn't look you'll even make it down the alley," Stella said.

"I'm going to find something sharp to fall on," Seifer retorted.

Stella rolled her eyes and walked towards him.  She grabbed one of his arms and began to drag him down the alley.

"Fuck!  Ow!" Seifer shouted.  "Are you crazy?!"  Seifer stumbled and tripped, the pain in his side near unbearable as he moved.

"Obviously you're not going to follow me so I'm going to have to drag you back to Garden," Stella said, showing no sign of mercy as she continued to pull on him.

"Shit, let go!" Seifer yelled.  Stella didn't seem to acknowledge his cry of pain.

"Fine, you psycho bitch!" Seifer shouted.  "I'll go!  Just let go!"

At that Stella turned around to face him, her grip still tight around his arm.  "Promise to be good?"

Seifer rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, yeah."