If it was morning when the Hermes rolled into the station, no one aboard it could tell. The cloud cover was so thick that the only light visible was what weakly filtered through it against all odds, and the buzzing electric lighting of the buildings around. The rain was still coming down, and--although it had lightened a bit from the previous night--it was still churning up whitecaps in the harbor and collecting in muddy pools on the ground.
They disembarked in silence. The train station had a narrow awning, and the passengers made a pitiful huddle under it as they looked around for the hotel. The wind would slant unpredictably, and at times it would drive the rain into the scant cover mercilessly.
As the last few people stepped off, Seifer glanced around defiantly. Then he stepped out into the storm.
Acting perhaps on instinct he chose a path away from the hotel, heading instead out of the town. Squall followed automatically and, with a heavy sigh, Nida trailed after.
Seifer didn't seem to know where he was going, but nor did he seem inclined to stop. They went along the edge or the river for some ways before turning and making a sharp angle back inland, until the ground began to roll slightly. From time to time Seifer would look around as if looking for something specific--not that it was likely he had ever been to this part of Centra before, and not that one could realistically see anything well enough to recognize it in the downpour. A few times they veered toward a dark shape looming in the distance, only to turn away when, upon inspection, it turned out to be a few large rocks or an abrupt ridge.
Squall was about to ask what Seifer was doing--besides getting them lost--when Seifer stopped, squinting toward a hill whose hazy shape could barely be distinguished from the overall gloom. Squall and Nida ground to a halt behind him, mostly out of a lack of anything else to do.
Out of the rain, there came a faint, dangerous whistle.
Seifer had heard that noise far too often to have to guess what it was. He flinched back--and the shuriken hissed through the air just a few centimetres in front of his face. In another instant, it was gone, back into the rain-choked distance.
Squall had already drawn his gunblade and Nida his katana, and Seifer found his hand on the Hyperion's hilt before his reasoning caught up with his instincts and stopped him. There was a faint yelling from over the crest of the hill--one that, despite the constant patter of the rain, was clearly identifiable as Raijin. Fujin's attack didn't seem to be in immediate danger of repetition, and Seifer turned to Squall. "What do you think you're doing?" he snarled. "Going to come all the way out here to attack them?"
Squall dropped the point of his gunblade irritably. "She attacked first," he coldly responded.
Seifer shook his head, sending water droplets flying off the tips of his hair. Then he took his hand off Hyperion, and turned to walk toward the hill.
Fujin's form was only barely distinguishable from the rain at this distance, as she stood atop the hill with her shuriken raised. Raijin was coming up behind her, a large, indefinite form in the rain. From what Seifer could see, he didn't have his quarterstaff out.
Seifer cast a sidelong glance at Squall. "Stay out of this," he snapped, and stepped forward purposefully.
"STOP," Fujin snapped. Her voice echoed slightly, blending with the storm.
Seifer stopped. "What's goin' on?" he called to her.
"TURN BACK." Fujin sounded angry--angry and imperious.
Seifer planted a hand on his hip. "I came all the way out here to find you," he said. "Want to tell me why I had to?"
"UNNECESSARY." She gestured with the shuriken. "TURN BACK."
Seifer scowled. Just then Fujin turned to Raijin--who was apparently arguing with her, making abrupt gestures. From where they were standing, Raijin's voice was totally inaudible.
After a minute or so, Raijin shook his head and slumped slightly in defeat. He turned to them, approaching. Fujin stood her ground, shuriken--as ever--at the ready.
She's sending over a delegation, Seifer thought wryly. Nice to know we're still friends.
Raijin finally drew up, looking like nothing so much as a soaked puppy. He shrugged as soon as he came to within a comfortable speaking range. "She doesn't want us here, ya know?"
Seifer growled a bit at that. "I could guess," he said. "Care to tell us why?"
"That's the thing, ya know?" Raijin said. "I dunno. She won't say anything, except that she's chasin' this guy...." he trailed off nervously. "...this guy who's been in the papers a lot. ...ya know." He fidgeted for a moment. "But she's been actin' really weird, ya--"
Seifer cut him off. "What guy?" he asked.
"Some Estharan fugitive. I dunno much 'bout 'im, but she want to get 'im before Esthar does, an'--"
"But why?"
Raijin looked decidedly uncomfortable. "...dunno," he said.
"You're lying," a third voice broke in.
Both Raijin and Seifer turned to look at Nida. The SeeD gestured pointedly with one hand.
"Not only that, but you're being really obvious about it," he continued. "And we've spent the past week or whatever running around chasing you two down, and not having much fun while we were. So it would be really nice if you could just tell us what's going on, so we can wrap this mess up and get back to Garden. Think you could do that?"
Seifer made a mental note to thank Nida later, assuming he felt gracious at the time.
Raijin took a moment to think about that, then slumped his head in defeat. "...Fuj' used to live out here," he said quietly. "Really long time ago. She doesn't like to talk 'bout it... this was before she came to Garden, ya know, and I didn't know her then... she got taken away from the place after some bad thing happened, and they never let her go back. An' now... well, she's goin' back, ya know?"
"And what does this have to do with this fugitive?" Seifer asked.
Raijin shook his head. "Somethin' about what he's wanted for, ya know? It reminds her."
Seifer decided that, with Fujin, that was about as concrete an answer as he was likely to get. "And what is this about wanting to go it alone?" he asked.
"She doesn't think it's any of our business, ya know?" Raijin gestured. "I guess since it happened before we knew 'er, she doesn't want us in it."
Seifer growled. "What happened to the posse?"
Raijin shrugged.
Seifer's hand returned to the hilt of the Hyperion, and he tapped it thoughtfully. "Think she's actually goin' to fight us over it?"
Raijin shook his head. "Naw," he said. "I think she just wanted to scare ya off, ya know? I don't think--well, she wouldn't really--well--"
Seifer didn't notice, but some ways behind him Squall had opened his mouth to object to the prospect of continuing the chase. Nida, however, swiftly interposed himself, catching Squall by the elbow and dragging him off some ways. Seifer remained oblivious to the proceedings.
"Not that I care about my honor guard," he made a vague gesture toward where he assumed Squall and Nida were, "but I'm going to come with you from here on out," Seifer stated flatly. "Because that's what friends would do, and you can tell her that. And if she is going to fight me over this...." he trailed off, searching for a suitable response. "...I don't intend to lose."
Raijin nodded. "She won't like it, ya know," he advised.
"It's Fujin. She'll get over it."
"Yeah, but--" Raijin fidgeted for a moment, and then gave up. "...Yeah. I'll tell her. But she won't like it, ya know?"
Seifer stepped past him. "Hell. I'll tell her myself. Let's go."
-
Squall turned to glare at Nida as he was dragged off. It was hard to keep up a semblance of dignity in this rain, with water weighing everything down and chilling him to the bone--his hair was plastered to his head, and his jacket's fur edging looked as if it had recently drowned. He was well aware that, in a word, his appearance could probably best be descried as "pathetic." So, in order to convey any weight at all, he hardened his glare and hoped that implication would take care of the rest.
"If I know anything about Seifer, he's going to follow Fujin to the bitter end," Nida said. "And I don't think you're going to knock that out of him by arguing."
Squall shook his head. "We don't have time for this--"
"We have all the time in the world." Nida gestured. "What? It's not like the universe will end if we don't get Seifer back to Garden by Winter Break. Anyway...." He cast a covert glance toward Seifer and Raijin. "I think I'm almost as curious as Seifer is. I want to see what's going on, too."
Squall scowled.
Nida shrugged. "Look, you're in command of this mission. If you order me to fight Seifer and drag him back to Garden, I will." He shrugged again, endeavoring to remain absolutely deadpan. "I think I have enough Sleep spells to keep him sedated for the entire trip back to Garden, and if that falls through I'm sure they sell rope somewhere on the way. He can't be too heavy; if we take it in short stages, we could probably manage to carry him all the way back. Of course, if he's awake and struggling that would be significantly more difficult--"
Squall's hand had made the move to his forehead somewhere around the "rope" line, and it showed no signs of moving away. "...fine," he snapped. "We don't have a choice. We'll follow Fujin."
Nida nodded. "If it helps any, I think she's probably on our side," he pointed out. "Just convince her to lob a few more shurikens at Seifer. I'm sure he'll come around... sooner or later."