On the other side of the world, far off in the South West, the ocean was quiet and peaceful. Seagulls plopped themselves gently onto the deep blue blanket of water and let the waves carry them along. But just as a small group of the sea birds gathered onto the welcoming waves, a bleached blonde head broke the surface of the water, making a great show of coughing, spluttering and splashing, all at the same time.
The soggy young man caught his breath, and gulped in the air as if he was a new-born who had never yet tested the sweet oxygen of the world. He seemed disorientated for a few moments, darting his head around wildly, before a hysterical grin grew across his face when he noticed a rusty old building standing before him, erected in the middle of the ocean. He cried out with joy and raced towards it as if his life depended on it.
The Deep Sea Research Center stuck out like a sore thumb among the beautiful ocean – and an ugly sore thumb at that. Huge and intimidating, but rusty and dilapidated after years of not being in use, it was like a temple to the young man who now swam towards it. Hoisting himself up onto a thick steel ladder, he eagerly shook his light grey coat from his arms and carelessly let it sink into the water. A cross emblem on the shoulder was the last thing to disappear out of sight as the coat was lost forever.
Seifer Almasy, former Balamb Garden student and former Sorceress' Knight to boot, felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders – and he had good reason. After six months, six months of starvation, torment, and pure boredom, he had reached civilisation. Well, not civilisation exactly – but it was land. Well, no, it wasn't land either. But at least it wasn't water! No more Hyne-foresaken water, water, water!
As Seifer strode across the supported metal platform, surprised that his legs could still hold him up, he shook the water from himself like a dog. Reaching up to pull his soaking wet, bleached blonde fringe from his face, he tilted his head back and bathed in the sunlight. He felt free. The nightmare was finally over.
Seifer noted that there was a huge building here to be explored, but at the moment all he wanted to do was sit down. And eat. After many months of floating about on a raft, surviving mainly on fish, he was more than ready for a huge slap up meal – although he was pretty sure there wouldn't be one waiting for him here. But after thinking about it, he did eventually decide to wander into the dark, unwelcoming building.
The atmosphere inside was terrible. First of all, it stank. The only word that Seifer could think of to describe the horrible stench was … wet. Everything just smelt, and was, wet. Not to mention salty. Seifer could barely see a thing, and tripped and stumbled across thick, tangled wires that ran from one end of the main chamber to the other, before eventually finding what looked like some sort of storage cupboard.
There was not a single person or living creature in this place, but Seifer had expected that. He wasn't stupid. In fact, he was awfully intelligent. So how did a once proud SeeD wannabe come to end up in such a state?
Seifer, Fuujin and Raijin had floated off merrily away from the sunny continent, with nothing but a fishing rod and their wits among them. Seifer had assumed that the three would eventually turn up in an exotic location, perhaps somewhere with gorgeous weather and pretty girls - but it was not to be. Their makeshift raft headed straight for The Middle Of Nowhere, and both Raijin and Fuujin had met a rather unfortunate fate, a little something going by the name of Fastitocalon. Oh, but this just wasn't any Fastitocalon. It was an extremely large and extremely angry Fastitocalon, especially since the dumb Raijin had tried to snatch one of its young to eat. But, oh well, Seifer had shrugged, at least they went down together.
After finding a can of processed food and giving it a sniff, Seifer was content that it was probably safe to eat. He gleefully headed back out into the blissful sunlight and sat on the deck, his legs dangling over the edge. He wolfed down the meal, which to any normal person would have been disgusting. To Seifer, it was delicious. Without his coat on, he could now see his arms, and was genuinely shocked at how skinny they were. He wondered about exactly how much weight he must have lost, and a lump rose up into his throat as he thought how easily he could have died, caught pneumonia, drowned…
Still, he thought smugly while gently fingering the huge scar that ran across his forehead, I was obviously meant to live for a reason …
…I wonder what old Leonhart's up to these days…?