Sorcery Illusions

Chapter 8: Midnight Chats

Disclaimer:

I do not own the game or the characters, they are not mine to do with as I wish.

Warning:

Same as usual....

Enjoy!

Alexandra AKA ~*~Fantasy Dragon~*~

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Seifer rolled over and sighed. The clock on the nightstand told him it was now 2:47am and he still had not gotten to sleep. The thought of Evan being gone did not sit too well with the blond.

Sitting up as he rubbed his eyes, Seifer looked around his bedroom. There were three bodies on the floor, each one sleeping soundly. Squall had decided when they first arrived that because there were only two bedrooms in Seifer's house that all the guys could sleep in one of the bedrooms, while the four girls shared the other. So that meant that Seifer was stuck sharing his bedroom with Squall, Omri and Zell.

As he sat there staring into the darkness, a slight noise caused the knights ears to perk up. Quietly getting out of bed, the blond made his way around the three sleeping bags, praying to Hyne above that he didn't fall. Who knows what Squall was capable of doing with his powers if he was surprised.

Still hearing a few strange noises coming from downstairs, Seifer crept over to the hall closet where all the weapons were being held. There were only two exceptions. Squall's gunblade, because it wasn't here. And Zell's gloves. After Zell had informed the group that he felt naked without his gloves on, everyone thought it best that he keep them on. On the shelf with all the blades laying on it, Seifer moved Tasman's dirk blade, Raven's longsword and Pamora's twin katanas before finally pulling out his Hyperion.

Getting into a defensive stance, Seifer posed a pretty pathetic picture to the possible intruder. A blond 20-year-old wielding the legendary gunblade, wearing blue and white poka-dotted boxers and a plain white T-shirt. Making his way slowly down the stairs, he paused. There was a light coming from the dining room, and from what Seifer could tell, that's where the noises were coming from as well. Taking a deep breath and swallowing the large lump in the back of his throat, Seifer finally took the initiative.

"Who the fuck is there?" Seifer exclaimed, bursting into the room, ready to attack.

There, staring at him as if he was going to kill her was Tasman, scared to death.

"Hey, hey. It's only me." Tasman said, seeing Seifer's gunblade held above his head.

"Tasman? What the hell are you doing up at this hour?" questioned Seifer as he propped his gunblade up against the wall and took a seat beside the petite girl.

"I'm an insomniac. I have never been able to get a decent night's sleep since I was 6 years old. 5 hours is a really long sleep for me. It's one of the main reasons why I don't go on field missions. They don't think that I am aware enough." Tasman said as she continued to type away on the keyboard, her eyes never leaving the screen as she spoke to the knight. "And you?"

"This is the first time that I've actually sat down and allowed myself to let the fact that Evan is gone right now to sink in. We were on the train last night and it's been none stop during the days. So what are you doing right now?"

"I'm looking in all of the Garden files of everyone here to see if there is anything in our past that links all the people that this Ayana person had on her list. So far it just seems too random." grumbled the girl.

"You know. You are much more open and outgoing when there is no one else around." Seifer observed.

"Well, first off. Most of the time I would rather be working on computers, second. Omri is an ex-boyfriend of mine, so we no longer get along very well."

"That sucks. Have you gotten any reasons yet?" Seifer said, deciding that it was time to change the subject.

"Nothing. Nothing on GF use, SeeD experience, ages, names, where we were born, magical resistances. Hyne, there isn't even a connection between our birthdays." sighed the girl.

"Don't forget that Ev, Trepe, Squall and I are probably on the list from where we are the Neo Hyne stuff." Seifer then leaned his chair back and raised his feet to rest them on the tabletop.

"You know, you are a lot nicer where there is no one else around." Tasman said, tearing her eyes away from the screen and looking at the blond knight sitting beside her.

"Nah, you just haven't given me a good reason to pick on you yet." chuckled Seifer, then the two fell in to a comfortable silence.

"Did you know that I've known Evan for an awful long time?" asked Tasman, completely changing both the subject and the mood.

"Huh?" Seifer said, almost causing his chair to go flying backwards. When he finally got his balance back, he looked over at Tasman. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Evan and I are the same age, graduated the same year and knew one another before coming to garden." Tasman explained, not tearing her eyes away from the computer screen as she continued to type away.

"No. He's never mentioned that. But, oh yeah. The whole time that I've really known him, he's been clinically insane. Maybe that has something to do with it." Seifer said in an overly sarcastic manner.

"Anyway." Tasman said, clearing her throat. " Evan and I grew up together. Our parents were best friends. Then when our town was destroyed, we came to Garden together." Tasman continued, not caring the slightest bit whether or not Seifer was listening or even cared about what she was talking about.

"Destroyed? By what? How? What town?" Seifer was now fully interested in what the normally shy and quiet girl had to say.

"It was in the last few months of the Sorceress War, and it was a little town on the border of Trabia and Esthar, Rendsel. Everyone said that it was one of Sorceress Adel's troops that did it, because it was so powerful that Evan and I were the only survivors. There were some Galbadian soldiers that passed through the town and found us on their way to Esthar. They told us that it was a magic infused bomb and we were very lucky that we were still alive."

"Galbadian troops? Going through Rendsel?" Seifer asked with a raise eyebrow. "I didn't think that Galbadia sent troops through that way." Seifer was a little confused. Although he didn't like learning, he liked war and was quite knowledgeable on the Sorceress War, being a knight and everything.

"Well, there were only three of them and they said they weren't acting as soldiers, but just on their way to find someone being held in Esthar. And they offered to take us to Esthar with them. Anyways, that's not important." Tasman shook her head, then went back to the screen of the computer eager to change the subject.

"So have you found anything out that links you, Omri, Pamora and chicken wuss?" Seifer asked, finally getting off his chair and walking so that he was behind Tasman and looking over her shoulder at the screen.

"No. And it's driving me nuts. If only I had a couple more stats to compare!" she grumbled, rubbing both eyes with the palm of her hand. "4 is not enough!"

"What if you had six people to work with?" Seifer asked, rubbing his scar with his first two fingers.

"Who else would I include? " It was now Tasman's turn to be confused. "There's no one else that Commander Leonheart mentioned."

"No. We just never told you about 2 of the people on Ayana's list." sighed Seifer. "Nida Yang & Xu Yoshitaka." As Seifer said the two names, Tasman opened new search fields and typed in each name, hoping for results.

"Why didn't we know about them being on the list?" Tasman asked.

"You'll see in just a moment." Seifer's voice dramatically changed from to a somewhat depressed and down tone as the two search results popped up.

"Nida Yang, SeeD level 21. Deceased. Xu Yoshitaka, SeeD level 24. Deceased. Both say they were killed in battle on the same day. What happened?" Tasman's eyes widened and she looked behind her at Seifer, whose facial expression had changed as drastically as his voice.

"This is what happened the last time we fought Ayana. Raven's twin brother and boyfriend were both killed by Ayana. Ayana has this move, a limit break that can kill you instantly. And she doesn't even have to be in her own body to use it. She was using a one-time ally of Squall's to kill Falcon and Crowe. Plus she has a way so she can take over other people's minds, make them do as she wants. She did that to Raven and caused Raven to kill Nida and Xu. But that move, man is it ever powerful. She was starting to use it on me, but Trepe got me out of the way before it did too much damage." Seifer lied for Raven for some odd reason, and shuddered at the thought of Ayana's move. The pain he felt that day still lingering on his mind.

"Wait a second." Tasman said, very suddenly.

"What? Did I say something?" Seifer looked, but saw nothing on the screen any different from the last time he looked.

"My magic sat, 215. Omri's, 215. Pamora's, 215. Zell's, 215. And the 2 deceased both have a stat of 215. That is all without junctions. Do you think that she could be after our magical abilities?" Tasman once again looked at Seifer.

"Magic? I don't have a high magic stat, but I am the sorcerer's knight. Evan and Trepe are both Mages, so they do, and well, Squall is off the charts. Last time that we fought her, Ayana was bent on taking over Esthar. Maybe she wants to have a magical army, because she has the ability to take over our thoughts. She could make us all use GFs." Seifer thought the idea over and it sounded farfetched enough to be something Ayana might do.

"But Esthar is a very technologically advanced nation. Wouldn't they be able to stop a magical attack?"

"Not if it is natural magic. You know Dr. Odine?"

"Who doesn't?"

" Well, he's the one who created all of Esthar's magical products. He's only ever used Para-magic. All their defenses are based off Para-magic. And natural magic is ten times more powerful than junctioning."

"So you think that she wants to use Squall's natural magic through us?" Tasman asked, hopeful that she had found something.

"I think so." Seifer nodded with a grin."

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Uh-oh. Something is gonna happen. I've got a little idea tucked in the back of my mind for what is going to happen over the next couple chapters. And believe me, you'll be surprised. It's the main idea on which I built this story around. And it's almost here! Probably in the next couple chapters. Anyway, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is going to have an even better New Year! Love and cookies!