Clash of the Gardens

Merciful Cry

Seifer took advantage of the SeeDs' gathering point and had ordered a few of his men to accompany him as he began to slay the weaker SeeDs; this would help to eliminate any smaller attacks against him that could probably catch him off guard and actually cause a bit of damage. He worked his way through, pulling the trigger with every swing, taking life after life with ease and pleasure.

This was his war, this was his battle, it was what he had hoped for, what he prayed for; yes, this was indeed the dream that Seifer once dreamt. He smiled and gruesomely disposed of his enemies. The refreshing smell of gunpowder and fear, yes, this was his heaven all over again. And he recalled a set of eyes on his movements, but when he turned around, nothing could prepare him for what he saw next.

It was Squall, the only man that was able to make him think twice about his movement in battle, the only person that made him exhausted whilst his adrenaline pushed on. He saw Squall standing in one place that was far out in distance, fearlessly watching him with narrowed eyes. Seifer smirked and continued his massacre of SeeDs to further upset his rival.

When Squall looked at him, the flashback haunted him again. His own anger…was it, fear instead? Why couldn't he move? Was the sight of his comrades' deaths enough to make him drop his weapon and plea for mercy? Squall spat on the ground and wiped his mouth. He did the only thing he could do in this situation, the only thing that he was taught to do; he fought.

Squall charged, for this was how he could make up for all those lost souls of the past; he charged into battle with the remaining groups of Galbadians as they continued to fight off the SeeDs.

"ENOUGH!" Squall said as he ran through the other soldiers, casting spells and slinging his gunblade wildly. Only their screams could be heard. His heart was now pumping at a speed he never thought were physically possible. His body was full of heat and rage, yet the battles began to soothe him.

When he slashed through the flesh of one man, he realized that all the other soldiers who were attacking him were now dead and their bodies lied around his feet. Finally, only one of them remained and he was up ahead slaughtering the SeeDs just as Squall had done to the Galbadian Soldiers. Squall's eyes narrowed at the sight of that man, but for a split second, it was like glaring into a mirror. He was seeing himself for who he truly was: a soldier purposely trained to bring death to others with no mercy. Squall became angry and finally charged toward Seifer.

Seifer turned around and saw Squall running at him like a mad animal on the loose. He smirked and held up his gunblade. "Back for more, eh?" He said quietly while Squall was running toward him. Squall looked at the SeeDs nearby Seifer and called out to them.

"Attack Galbadia, Move out! Now!" And with that, most of them were able to attack the other Galbadian soldiers around. They rushed passed Squall and his opponent and struck Galbadia's line of defense. Squall leapt and powerfully brought down his blade onto Seifer.

Seifer was surprised at Squall's strength, but when he began to swing his blade, Squall met the blade first with his Revolver and knocked the Hyperion from the hands of the lunatic. Seifer was once again surprised, and he looked at the Hyperion as it fell insignificantly to the ground. His heart was with that Gunblade, and without it, he felt like nothing.

When he tried to reach for it, Squall punched, cramming his fist into Seifer's jaw, which made him stagger about for a bit. Seifer placed his hand on his jaw and moved it from left to right to ease the sharp pain.

"So you'd strike an unarmed man?" He said as he spat out blood that came from the back of his mouth.

"Don't give me that. Calling yourself a man is a joke."

"What!"

"Compared to you, Deling looks like an innocent bystander. He gave the orders and you followed, just like a good boy."

"I don't take orders from anyone, I do what I want when I want to! Thanks to me, that Deling scum is no more! I showed him not to play with me, just like I'm gonna show you!"

"…Deling is dead?" Squall asked out of disbelief.

"What did you expect? You thought he sent us over here? Guess what, all of these soldiers you see, are under my command. That means they do what I say, and at anytime I please! So be careful, SeeD…don't push your limits."

"Shut up!"

"Take aim!" Seifer commanded three of the soldiers standing near he and Squall, and immediately they took aim.

"You know you're standing directly in their firing range too…don't you?"

"They won't shoot me, and that's a fact. I want to be the last person you see before you die, so you can be sure that I've won our battle."

"You're sick." Squall said, and Seifer grinned. Heavy footsteps were heard approaching on the soft grasslands of Balamb toward the group of men.

"You coward…" A voice called out from a far, and it was Irvine's. "Seifer, what's gotten into you?"

"Irvine, you can go home to your mother now because I'm in charge here."

"Only because you killed Deling." Squall said while never taking his eyes away from Seifer, but Seifer only laughed.

"Whoa! Are you serious?" Irvine said while looking at Squall. "Then doesn't that mean this war is pointless right now?"

"…" Squall was quiet, he knew the war wasn't pointless; in fact, the war was far from over. He looked at Seifer and smirked. "You killed Deling because he reminded you of how cowardly you are. Think about it, you've lost the battle between our gunblades, and now you want to have me shot because of that."

Seifer smirked, "I haven't lost because we aren't finished yet, and Deling got what was coming to him anyway."

Suddenly, the ashy radio tried to break through a message from the Galbadian Missile Base.

"Sir…Sir…we were…attacked…by…Est-" The soldier's voice was instantly cut off for some unknown reason. Seifer looked down at his radio and ripped it from his side.

"Useless, they're all useless! I don't see how Deling put his faith in any of them!" He threw the radio down on the ground and stepped on it; the device crackled beneath his heavy boot. "I was threatening to have Trabia bombed, but that didn't work out. Lucky for them, eh? I personally believed it would have made them fight harder than how they were trained to fight before. I pity their weakness. I must say that I was impressed that they managed to destroy my armored cars. I had no idea those vessels were armed and dangerous; I guess even the underdog's have secrets…" Seifer laughed and shook his head. Suddenly gunshots were fired.

"Ugh!"

"Ow!"

"Ooof!" The sounds of three Galbadian Soldiers falling victim to Irvine's flawless shooting, the same three that were aiming at Squall.

Irvine aimed at Seifer next and sighed. "…I'm sorry Seifer."

In the midst of all the fighting, Rinoa had found her comrades: Selphie, Zell, and Quistis.

A team of people with different backgrounds: a team from Balamb, Trabia, and Galbadia, all joining forces in this heated ongoing war. They ran through like true warriors, leaving devastating blows to the soldiers of Galbadia, but when Rinoa saw Squall with two men, one aiming his gun and the other pointing at Squall, she ran over as quickly as possible.

"Rinoa!" The others called out to her, but she quickly left them. They all ran after her, but when they saw what she was running to, they understood why she ran as fast as she had.

Irvine continued to aim at Seifer, and Seifer somehow looked nervous. "Irvine, just like that…you're going to kill me? How long have we been friends?"

"You call what we had, a friendship? You only belittled me with your stupid comments…"

"What? Since when did you care?"

"I'm a soldier too, Seifer! You and Deling both failed to realize that I'm as strong as I want to be. Heck, I'm the best shot Galbadia's got, but they prasied you because you wield that exotic weapon. By the way, where is it now!" Irvine teased, "So there you are standing defenseless, and begging me for your life. Too many people have died because of you Seifer…you weren't there, you didn't see Timber the way I saw it. There is no way I can stand to be a part of you or Galbadia anymore. So when you say that we're friends, I'll have to say that I don't think so."
"Squall!" Rinoa called out and struck Irvine with a thunder spell. Irvine yelled out in agony as the attack was even more excruciating because he was caught by surprise, and he fell to the ground. Seifer took advantage of the scene and reached for his Hyperion because Squall had turned from him when he heard his name called. Squall saw Rinoa running toward him, but she damaged Irvine before he could stop her.

"No! Rinoa, stay back!"

"Exactly!" Seifer said while grabbing Squall in a chokehold and then moving the Hyperion's blade near Squall's neck to prevent any further attempts of attack. "Stay back you filth!" He said while looking at Rinoa. "You're the reason all this is happening!"

"Squall!" Selphie shouted as she saw what was going on; she and the others had finally made it to the scene. "Hey!" She yelled out to Seifer, and Seifer saw that this was his opportune moment to expose Rinoa's secrets to her new allies.

"Rinoa, you caused all these people strife and you know it! You and that beast you have for a father, but you won't call him your dad anymore because you're just as guilty of betrayal as he is."

"Shut up, Seifer!" She yelled out. "My past can't hurt me! What is done is done!"

"I don't believe that one bit. You wanted me to help you stop the Factions only because they were planning a direct attack against your father, who I thought you truly hated. Even if you did run away from him, he was still your dear old dad, wasn't he?"

"That's not true! I didn't do anything!"

"Then why did you ask me to persuade Deling to send troops to Timber in order to get rid of the factions? I'm sure you knew well about the missiles and how Deling was itching to use them. You knew what would happen, yet still you continued to beg for my assistance. And knowing me…you see, I only went along with the idea because I love the sound of war." Just as Seifer spoke, Squall sighed.

"How can you love something which you know nothing of? You call this war? You've been cheating since we started this nonsense." Squall said while in Seifer's grasp. Seifer angrily released the chokehold and kicked Squall to the ground. He used his gunblade and slashed across Squall's back. He could feel the gunblade tearing through the layers of Squall's coat and the t-shirt, and then he felt the blade meet with his enemy's bare skin. The blade ripped through and dug deep into Squall's back, but when it sliced swiftly, the blade barely left any blood splatter; however, Squall felt an immense amount of pain and could no longer hold in his cries. "Aaah!" Squall grimaced and managed to get to his knees.

"Squall!" Rinoa cried an emotional sorrow so deep that the fighting around them had now ceased. Everyone turned their attention toward the scene and slowly lowered their weapons. A few Soldiers lined up on the side and looked at Seifer as he stood behind Squall. Seifer grabbed Squall's hair and pulled his head back; he lowered his head and spoke into Squall's ear with a cold and shaky voice, "No one calls me a cheat…" He rose from Squall's face and looked at the gathering crowds of both Galbadians and Seeds.

"Every man will witness this! The leader of you SeeDs will die by my hands! Watch and remember how I take his meaningless life!-"
"Halt!" A woman's voice called out to Seifer. She looked at Squall as he was being held up by his hair by none other than Seifer the lunatic, and collected her strength to trade places with Squall. "He's not the Commander! I am!" Xu shouted over the crowds and made her way visible to Seifer.

"Don't make me laugh!" Seifer smirked.

"It's not a joke!" She snapped.

"She's telling the truth, Seifer." Irvine said while rising up from the ground. He had still been lying on the ground after he was struck by lightning, afraid that Rinoa would strike him again; however, seeing that things had 'settled down' a little, he decided that now was a good time to rise from his fear. Irvine pointed to Xu while looking at Seifer. "That chick is the Commander of SeeD here at Balamb Garden. You know I wouldn't lie because I have no reason to."

Although he knew he could trust Irvine's words, Seifer was furious. Angrily, he raised the injured Squall from the ground by his hair and pulled his head back to see his face. Squall could only see the sky above, but he knew that Seifer was leering down at him. "…Who the heck are you?" He angrily questioned Squall, who winced as his back felt the stinging sensation from the blowing wind forcing his clothes against his wound.

"I'm Squall Leonhart, a SeeD from Balamb Garden." Squall said before he quickly lifted his hand wielding the Revolver and turned the tip of the blade so that it pointed to the ground. In one quick thrust backward and up, Squall stabbed Seifer's thigh and pulled back his gunblade from the newly created wound. Seifer cursed and dropped his blade before backing away from Squall. He placed his hands on his thigh and glared at Squall who still sat facing forward and never looking back at him.

"All this time I thought he was their leader. How can he not be their leader? He moves like one in power. …And they were taking his orders as if he were their Commander. How can he not be? All this time…" Seifer comforted his wounded thigh, when Squall got to his feet and faced him.

"…Why do you want me dead?"

I want you dead because… I envy you. Seifer openly admitted to himself, but he would never reveal this to anyone, nor would he lead anyone on to thinking that he was jealous of Squall.

Becoming impatient of Seifer's response, Squall asked him again. "Why do you want me dead?"

Seifer grinned, "I don't have to have a reason to kill you. This is a war. War kills people, and that's the basic principal of all military education." Seifer nodded to the soldiers who had lined up on the side, and they took aim at Squall.

"Again!" Squall shouted angrily, but this time Squall ignored their presence and kicked Seifer to the ground and towered him. His dark shadow loomed over Seifer, causing the blood in Seifer's veins to rush to his face.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot him, now!" Seifer ordered.

"Why can't you see that you're powerless? Killing the president doesn't put you in charge of anyone." Squall pointed the Revolver directly at Seifer's face, and Seifer felt himself swallowing a lump in his throat. "Face it Seifer…you've lost." The two stared at each other for almost an entire minute, but they both heard light and swift footsteps heading directly toward them, and the armed guns loading on the side.

"Aah! Squall!" Rinoa shouted as shots were fired and everything suddenly went black.

Rinoa had stared at the line of soldiers that gathered at Seifer's calling. Of the four of them, one looked extremely nervous. When Seifer ordered them to take aim, she saw his was the only gun that was unsteady. And when Seifer ordered them to fire, he had almost pulled the trigger back, but the others hadn't moved their fingers at all.

Once Squall held his Revolver near Seifer's face, Rinoa saw that the same soldier's finger was pulling back the trigger. Unsure of what to do, Rinoa charged in and screamed for Squall to take cover, but once she charged in, surprise took all of the soldiers and they fired at once.

"Aaah!" The screams of both Rinoa and Squall were heard in unison.

"Rinoa! Squall!" Zell yelled out as the crowd became unstable, and the soldiers were taken down immediately. Quistis and Selphie both were in shock, and they remained where they stood. Irvine was among those to help exterminate the gunmen, seeing that it was the only way to stop the panic of those that stood nearby. Even Kent was taken by surprise, but he had helped Irvine defeat the soldiers.

Quistis watched as the two figures lay on the ground, both damaged by the gunshots, both possibly dead, and still she hadn't realized what Rinoa had just done. The girl had thrown herself in front of Squall to protect him from incoming bullets, and It was then that Quistis realized that the scene was real: their bodies lay motionless in the grass. Still, she was unable to move a single muscle in her body to help.

When Squall opened his eyes, he saw an unconscious Rinoa lying atop himself. His heart sank and all those hateful thoughts he previously had toward her, melted away. When he slowly sat up, he felt agonizing pain overtake his being. Despite his own injuries, he managed to lay Rinoa own her back, but he was unable to get himself to move from her; and so he laid there, half on her body, and moved his gloved hand to her face.

"Rinoa…" All of the scene, the chaos around them had vanished. It was only she and him that lay in that field. He felt a trembling tear eager to leave his eye. "…Rinoa. Please get up." He begged her as the tear finally escaped his eye and fell onto her chin. He moved his face side by side with her soft cheek and softly caressed her skin with his own. The warmth she produced, the breath she released, and those interesting thoughts swirling throughout her mind were all things Squall had taken for granted. He hadn't realized how important this woman was to him until now.

Funny how he would rather hear her whimpering right now more than anything else in the world, but as she lay motionless, he too felt himself gradually weakening. Although he felt like he could cry a river, not another tear left from either of his eyes.

He rested his face against her cheek and prepared to let his body fall motionless in death as well. Almost instantly after he made his choice, he heard her moan softly and felt her body shivering as if thawing from the cold. "Rinoa?" He questioned her and slowly lifted his head to meet her eyes, they were almost sparkling with tears when she was finally able to open them. He felt his vision blurring slowly, but he wouldn't give in to his body's desperate plea for rest. He fought back and touched her face again.

"Squall…" She managed before wincing in pain.

"…Don't talk." He whispered.

"No, Squall…this is it. I'm…dying." She felt her eyes burning and filling with tears now, and a few flowed out from the corners of both her eyes.

"Don't say that. You'll…You'll be…fine." He felt himself slowly slipping away. He tried to move his body in order to shake off the deathly sensations, but only found that he was hurting Rinoa. She cried out almost immediately after he moved, and Squall noticed that her side had been wounded. He moved his hand down to her side and closed his eyes. Just as he touched her wound, she recalled the day that Angelo was accidentally attacked, and how he had cured her pet without question but never talked about why he did it.

She moved her hand to touch his face, which was incredibly warm, and managed a small smile. Uncertain if it were caused by the heat of battle and the energy draining from within, or just by her touch, Squall felt himself relaxing into her hand's warmness. He knew for a fact that he couldn't allow Rinoa to die from that gunshot wound because she didn't deserve to die as she had told herself countless times before. She needed to survive because there were so many people in Timber waiting for her to return; they needed her more than anyone else.

Even though she was guilty of playing a major role in the war, she was as innocent as those people Timber who lived rotten lives under the laws of Deling; given he were in her shoes, he probably would have did the same thing. Her happiness, her guiltiness, and sadness were her sources of survival and caused her to cry all the time. Although he hated to admit it, Rinoa had save his life far more than he saved her own. Just to openly accept the things of the past and learn from them, apply them to everyday life, and then forget them; these were Rinoa's rules that Squall finally understood and had taken in. All Squall had to do now was repay her; physically save her for how she mentally saved him.

Rinoa felt the healing sensation of the cure going to use, but she noticed that Squall's head was slowly falling onto her body; he was swiftly losing his consciousness. She wrapped her arms around him, but Squall felt nothing from her anymore. His eyes saw only darkness, and there was silence all around him. He looked around to see the depths of nothingness, and darkness was all that filled the abyss.

His wounds were critical and causing major problems with his ability to move on. Squall fell to his knees and took a deep breath, hoping that the breath would soothe his wounds for just a second; however, the breath was impossible to take as he felt his lungs closing inside of himself. He gasped for air but nothing came about, and he pounded his fist onto his chest hoping that he would punch some air into them, but it too had failed. He was now becoming paralyzed and everything he did to survive seemed to only quicken his suffering.

Rinoa felt him trembling, but she couldn't understand what was happening to him. She couldn't see his face, nor was his heart beat traceable. When he released a heavy sighed, she panicked and tightly grabbed onto him.

Squall was letting himself give in to the pain and sorrow, something was killing him slowly; for every life he took, a lifetime of misery is granted. He gave up after all attempts of freedom proved futile, and had allowed his body to ease in the smothering depths of darkness.

"Squall, no…I won't…I won't let you go." A tiny voice said into his mind. Rinoa kissed his forehead and closed her eyes in deep concentration. She was crying and holding onto him, and had no intention of losing him there and then; but before she had a chance to speak again to Squall, she felt his body being pulled away from her. She reached out for him, but was too weak to grab his hand. "Squall!"

Seifer watched the two of them on the ground, and like everyone else, he was surprised that the guns were fired; but because Squall had the gunblade pointed at him, he thought it was Squall's gunblade that was fired. Seeing the two of them lying on the ground, Seifer felt the rhythm tic beating of his heart cease to continue. That could have been his life that was wasted away by gunshots fired from his own men.

Now that the two of them were dead, he saw no reason to continue the war; his opponent was now vanquished from reality. When he sat up and settled his eyes on Rinoa, he saw Squall roll Rinoa's body to her back and speak to her. Anger flustered his soul once again as he thought to himself: What is it going to take to kill that idiot? After a few moments registering the existence of a rival once again, he rose to his feet and approached him. Seifer grabbed the collar of Squall's coat and lifted him away from Rinoa. He noticed that Squall was weak and hadn't tried to fight back from his pull.

Rinoa could only scream, "Squall!" And with her trembling arms, she lifted her Pinwheel high and aimed directly at Seifer. She pushed fiercely to allow the blade take off; however, like so many other times when it performed as a boomerang, this time the blade hadn't returned to her. Seifer released Squall instantly and reached behind his back; the Blaster Edge disc blade was seen sticking half out of his back by the others as they watched speechlessly. Suddenly, all the pain from his grandiose wound registered in his mind, and he desperately reached an arm back to try and remove the blade from his shoulder area.

"What did you do to me!" Seifer yelled at Rinoa as he struggled to remove the disc.

"? Squall!" Rinoa rejoiced as Squall was actually standing from the ground. Slowly but surely he was getting up, despite his gunshot wounds. He grabbed the handle of his gunblade and limped behind Seifer to tap his shoulder. When Seifer turned, he was shocked, but before he could move a muscle to retaliate, Squall had thrust the gunblade into Seifer's abdomen with all the force he could bare.

Squall looked at Seifer's face and clearly saw him struggling, but he gave Seifer a serious glare in which his eyes instantly seemed to transform from grayish blue to an ominous red.
In a shaky, yet lucid voice Squall spoke, "…You mentioned death today, didn't you?" Squall smirked and continued after receiving a terrified look from Seifer, "Death is inevitable, if not today then tomorrow…it will happen sometime. But for you, my 'friend'…that time…is now." He slowly pulled the Revolver from Seifer's flesh and pushed him on the ground. Seifer fell back with a heavy sigh, which was a release of tension but a welcoming in of pain. He closed his eyes while letting out his death cry.

Squall watched him fall back, knowing that the face of Seifer would never cross his mind in his nightmares because Seifer deserved punishment for what he caused. His recklessness caused havoc and death for so many people of all ages; and it was only natural that his time to go was now.

"…This war…is over." Squall said, right before collapsing and falling just as Seifer had.

As he fell, night had overtaken the orange sky. The tension, the peacefulness, and stillness of the air haunted everyone who took part in the clash of steel and gunpowder. A reflection revealed itself within every man and woman, each received his or her own revelation: needless to say, all were quiet and still.