They carried him to the infirmary although there was nothing that could be done for him, the blade having slid between his ribs and punctured his lung and slashed his heart. He was dead before Meia had reached him. She now sat tearfully by his side distraught whilst Squall and Quistis discussed with Dr. Kadowaki what to do next as well as find the murderer who had killed Jayson, the three girls and set up Seifer.

All Meia could think about was how she was safe and warm in his arms such a short while ago, about how long it had taken for her to finally be with him and how it all had been taken away in an instant.

Her head was resting on his still abdomen, tears soaking into his shirt as her grief mixed with her rising rage. Therefore she was unable to notice Jayson's right hand twitch a couple of times and his arm rise to his chest pulling the blade from out of it bloodlessly as he dryly said 'I don't have time for this.'

Meia sat bolt upright in shock, looking down at his hand as it brought the knife to his face, his eyes opening once more, boiling with blue intensity.

'Jayson?' she gasped looking at the thin wound in his chest as it started to heal itself rapidly.

Jayson glanced at her briefly his lips twitching into a slight smile but his focus was taken by the ornate handle of the knife and the symbol it bore on its side.

'You're alive!' Meia shrieked gripping his free hand. 'How!?' she asked through her sobs of joy, her green eyes red and damp from crying.

At this moment Squall and Quistis came rushing into the cubicle having been drawn to it by Meia's shrieks.

Squall gasped and Quistis paled as Jayson sat up, blade in hand with a distant expression.

Jayson blinked slowly, looked from Meia to Squall, to Quistis, back to Meia and then placed his free hand where the tear in his shirt was and looked down.

'Ah... right.' He muttered.

The others still looked at him in silence.

Jayson sighed softly. 'I guess I have to start explaining...' he told them..

'You were dead...' Meia said softly.

'I know...' Jayson whispered.

'But maybe I should talk about this first.' He said out loud raising his hand holding the knife.

'What about it?' Squall asked still muddled by shock like the silent Quistis next to him.

'Well it's further proof that Seifer is innocent, plus it's a clue as to who is behind it and why.' Jayson explained.

'How so?' Quistis finally spoke.

'The emblem is that of the group called Pandora.' He explained.

'Pandora?' Meia asked puzzled.

'A group in support of the Sorceress Adel.' Jayson replied.

'Never heard of them.' Squall said after a moments pause.

It was Jayson's turn to pause as he glanced momentarily at Meia. 'Will she still hold me when she knows what I have done?' he thought in anguish but the looks of all three of them made him realise he had to come clean, to tell them his dark secrets, face his past.

'You wouldn't have.' He replied. 'They haven't been around for eight or so years... I should know I killed them all.' He admitted slowly.

Meia looked at him wide-eyed in disbelief.

'What are you talking about!?' Squall exploded. 'You would've been ten years old then, you wasn't at Garden or in training until you were twelve, there's no way you'd have been able to kill them!' he added.

'I don't believe even you would be able to cold bloodedly kill a group of people even if they did support Adel.' Quistis added.

Jayson smiled faintly. 'It doesn't matter if you believe or not, it's the truth. They died because of what they did to me, because of who I am. To become what I became I had to destroy them all and I could do it without a single pang of guilt.' He told them his voice becoming a snarl.

'I think you're a bit confused, maybe...' Quistis started saying.

'Damn right I'm confused!.' Jayson yelled. 'Pandora should be dead! I remember their bodies clearly. I knew them all, my so called "family".' He spat.

'Family? You said your parents died in the Sorceress War.' Meia said softly.

'That's where it all falls to pieces. My mother died quite recently, Pandora took me in when she was imprisoned when I was an infant. They had to take care of the "special child", prepare him for his destiny. As for my father, he was probably just some genetically engineered sperm created by Odine.' Jayson said bitterly.

'Odine? You were born in Esthar?' Quistis murmured.

'How else would I have ended up in Pandora's clutches? I was a disappoinement anyway, they really wanted a girl... funny really if I had been a girl I'd be a Sorceress now...' Jayson said drifting off distantly.

'Okay I think you should just rest Jayson. It's not everyday you come back from the dead. No doubt it took a lot out of you.' Squall said softly.

He reached over and took the knife from Jayson's unresisting hand.

'I'll take this to the lab and see what we get.' He told him.

'Fine, at least Seifer can go free now though he may need protection... if it really is Pandora then he'll be their next target. The motive's clear now.' Jason said wearily.

'And what's that?' Quistis asked.

'Seifer's the one thing they hate most... a Sorceress' Knight that failed.' Jayson told her softly.

The three of them glanced at each other with mixed looks as Jayson lay back down on the bed muttering softly to himself.

Squall and Quistis left the cubicle and drew the curtain behind them.

'Do you believe him?' Quistis asked softly.

'It sounds far-fetched but we've just witnessed him come back from the dead without magic or items and besides they only work against knock-out not actual death! Sow ho knows what's possible?' Squall replied in a low voice as so not to be heard.

'I supposed... plus no-one has ever known anything of Jayson's past before Garden, I remember Cid referring to him as an enigma. And it partly explains his abilities.' Quistis replied mostly for her own benefit.

'Well we'll soon see what we get from this.' Squall said nodding to the knife. 'And maybe we can get some more out of Jayson... who knows what other secrets he has?' he added.

When Squall and Quistis had left the Infirmary Jayson sat up once more.

'Lie down!' Meia told him.

'You're still here then?' Jayson replied smiling weakly.

'Of course. But why didn't you tell me this earlier? Don't you trust me?' She asked, hurt.

'I thought if you knew my past it'd make you afraid of me, turn you from me.' Jayson told her reaching out to stroke her cheek.

'I thought you were dead, that I'd lost you for good... now you're back there's now way I could leave.' She replied softly.

Jayson leaned in and kissed her softly. 'Good... although there's more I have to tell, a secret so dark that I'm too scared to tell, something I have to explain...' he told her after the kiss.

'Shhh.' Meia replied placing a finger against his lips. 'Tell me tomorrow... for now we both should rest and wait until we've both got our heads straight.' She told him.

'Besides...' she said grinning mischievously. 'All I want to do now is be wrapped up in you.' She told him slipping into the bed on top of him, pushing him onto his back as she placed her hand where his wound had been and sighed contently as he enveloped her in his arms.