Squall and Zell remembered how exciting their first real mission had been and Quistis remembered how they had rushed to the harbor, with the giant robot following them, and how she had destroyed it to save them.
They had rented two cars from Deling City for a few hours' trip to Dollet. It was already getting dark when they arrived.
"Let's go," Squall said and started to walk. "That place is pretty near."
He had to admit that the bandits had been clever. They hadn't even thought that the bandits might have their base in Dollet. But now everyone, expecially Raijin and Seifer, were worried because of Fujin. Had she betrayed them because of the bandits or had she just lost her mind? They couldn't decide which alternative was worse. If she was with the bandits, they might have to fight her or even kill her in the worst case...
"This is a beautiful city," Rinoa said, trying to awake conversation. "Reminds me of Balamb."
"Balamb is more attractive," Quistis replied. "Here the architecture isn't so great. It's alright but can't compete with Balamb."
"I don't know about architecture," Zell participated to the conversation, "but I know that I appreciate sea. And because both Balamb and Dollet are on the coast,
they're both beautiful!"
"Shut up," Seifer said, sounding annoyed.
"Mr. Friendly," Rinoa commented.
"Sorry. But soon we may have to face Fujin. So god damn it, I have a reason to be angry!"
"Seifer!" Squall stopped walking. "Control your emotions. I know it's hard but you must try. Otherwise you might put us all in danger."
"I guess," Seifer sighed. "Look, isn't that the place?"
The building was just like their prisoner had described. There was a stairway, which led to the cellar, outside. They all checked their weapons before going in. Squall opened the door.
"We're from SEED! Please surrender and we won't harm you."
The cellar was lot bigger than they had expected. It was a big room which had been decorated with flags and posters. There were beds everywhere. And bandits who weren't very pleased.
"We're not afraid of anyone... you'll soon be dead, dudes."
The same person, who said that, attacked Squall with his daggers. Squall dodged and killed him quickly with his gunblade. Then everyone started to approach him, but they stopped for a while when he casted Fire. Squall moved away from the door so everyone could come inside. The room was big enough for the six SEEDs and seven bandits to fight.
Zell rushed towards one enemy and managed to knock this out with a Mach Kick. Now he had to get rid of another one attacking from his side so he couldn't evade one who was ready to stab him from behind. Luckily Quistis noticed this and used her whip to take him out. At the same time Raijin used his staff to stop two opponents from attacking. This allowed Squall and Seifer to kill the last two men remaining. They had won the battle!
"What the heck!"
Someone had come to the door. He was a man wearing a black leather vest which had the picture of a skull on the right hand pocket. He had a necklace which looked like an axe and the same symbol was tattooed on his right muscle. His trousers were light green and his shoes were black and heavy and just polished. He walked inside followed by Fujin.
"Fujin...!" Seifer felt something weird when he saw his old friend. It wasn't hatred nor disappointment but more like sadness.
"So you found us," Fujin said.
"Fujin... what happened in the train?" Raijin asked.
"I guess I owe you an explanation. I wasn't going to betray you. But then I found out that my brother worked for them. We accidentally met in Deling City and I told
him that I'm in SEED nowadays. I have to mention that we hadn't met for ages. He," Fujin pointed at the strange man, "happened to hear about our meeting and
imprisoned my brother. He told me to ruin every plan that SEED might have to catch them. Soon after that, Squall figured out to catch them with the train and I
couldn't warn them, so I had to kill the driver and destroy the controls so they'd have even a slight chance to escape. I knew that I couldn't return to SEED anymore
so I travelled to Dollet and told him to free my brother. And he did, but he wanted me to join them and gave me time to think it over. Of course, refusal meant death,
expecially after he had confisticated all my weapons and spells."
No one had ever heard Fujin to talk that much but now they saw that she hadn't betrayed them. And they were relieved.
"You must choose now, Fujin," the mysterious man said. "Will you fight against them with me?"
"NO."
That was a typical answer from her. One word, loud and clear. The man watched her with his black eyes and then casted Tornado on her. The huge wind elemental spell threw her against the wall like a puppet. She lost her conciousness.
"BASTARD!"
Seifer attacked the man furiously before this could prepare for the fight. He had to escape the outraged man outside to get a little time to draw his own sword. Seifer rushed the stairs up really fast. His enemy tried to hit him with fireballs but Seifer dodged every one of them succesfully. His opponent had hard time to evade the Meteor spell which Seifer casted.
Soon their swords clashed when the man attacked, but he didn't have a chance to break through Seifer's defense. Seifer managed to push him away and cast Aero on him. He fell down and saw how Seifer used his Guardian Force. He transformed into Ifrit.
Now everyone who happened be near him knew to get into shelter. The huge, brown creature jumped far away to the sky with its unbelievably strong legs. A giant
fireball, which appeared in front of him, was hit by amazing power. The strange man, leader of the bandits, tried to escape it desperately but knew that it was futile.
Soon an explosion shook the street and the flames blinded everyone for a moment. Now there was only a flaming crater where the man had stood.
"Holy shit," Raijin said.
Irvine and Selphie arrived there.
"Guys!" Irvine shouted. "Headmaster Cid sent us here to support you when he heard that you were going to attack their base. But it seems that we aren't needed anymore..."
"Oh, Seifer," Selphie said. "What have you done!"
Seifer didn't say anything for a moment. He just stood there, motionless, looking at the destruction he had caused. Finally he turned around and asked:
"Is Fujin alright?"
"No," Squall said. "She's unconscious. I'm not sure if she's alive anymore..."
Seifer ran back inside.
