Hey. :) Yeah, me again, blah blah blah. Well, the friend who this whole fic is for is going to be leaving me tomorrow for a few months, which makes me very, very sad. So this chapter is extra specially for her, and I'll be trying to get another done tomorrow for her, too.

As for the length of this fic, I think someone asked, I'm thinking that since my target is 30k words for the month, that should be around fifteen chapters.

This chapter has been edited, since my darling was awake enough to quickly reread it and give me some criticism

Squall POV

"You know what you're doing?"

"Yes, sir!" they say, eager, ready to fight. I hate to send such new SeeDs to fight such a serious battle, but they are no more new than we were when we faced the Sorceress, and it's a SeeD's job to do the risky things, the things no others would dare. They have to get used to that sometime, and pampering them now isn't a good way to go. I've tried mixing more experienced SeeDs with them, and I'm hoping Quistis can exert some pressure on them as well.

I turn to Quistis and Zell. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Zell punches the air with his fist, all energy and exuberance. Will he never learn to take this seriously? Though perhaps his positive attitude is a good thing.

"Yes, Commander," Quistis smiles faintly at Zell's enthusiasm and nods to me, "We're ready."

"Seifer?" I turn to look at the blond haired man. He has Hyperion already in his grasp and a small smirk on his face.

"Ready. These bastards aren't going to use my name for their cause when I said they couldn't."

His voice says that he isn't at all nervous, that this means nothing to him, that the outcome will have no effect on him. But the grip he has on Hyperion, and the dangerous look in his eyes, tell me that he really is going to fight today. He has a purpose, he has the strength to carry it out, and nothing is going to hold us back. He's… happy to be fighting beside us, I might even say proud, but I doubt he's proud to admit that he does need our help in this.

"I doubt this mission is going to be successful," I warn. The newer SeeDs don't listen, caught up in all their glory of being new SeeDs, of having passed the tests, of being under the command of the best known SeeDs of our time. I hope that doesn't mean that I'll have difficulty making them understand the dangers, but I think it does, although perhaps our influence over them might help… Sadly enough, we'll probably lose at least half of both these squads.

I try again, despite the seeming futility. "We're trying to test what's here, not actually fight our way through. That is for other teams to do. The most important objective is to make it back alive, with useful information."

The new SeeDs nod and salute, the information going in one ear and out the other. I should scold them for it, but they're so proud to be on this mission, so proud to be here, that it would almost be cruel. Punishment will come later, if they haven't listened to me; death on the field or a time in the infirmary.

The veteran SeeDs salute, understanding completely. I have no worries for them; they'll probably come out without even a scratch.

"Quistis, Zell, you're to go with those twelve. If you get separated, or if you get into trouble, Selphie is waiting with the Ragnarok where she dropped us off." I nod to a group of twelve, a mixture of rookies and veterans. They nod and go to join their group, leading them off in one direction to scout that area for the entrance to the underground system. "Seifer, you and I are with this group."

He looks them over, an eyebrow raised. "Nice, I get to work with the kiddies."

"They aren't any younger or less experienced than the other group." I shrug slightly.

He just bats my answer away with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. 'Least you didn't put me on a team with the chickenwuss."

"Zell is a good squad leader," I frown at him for suggesting otherwise in front of the newer SeeDs.

"He's still chickenwuss."

I roll my eyes at him and turn to my squad. "Follow me as closely as you can, try not to get separated, and back each other up with healing items. If you find yourself separated from everyone else, head back to the Ragnarok with whatever information you have. Anything could be important, so keep an eye out."

We advance into the area that other SeeDs have already marked out on the map as probable for the entrance to the underground without many problems. The other members of the squad are not as cautious as Seifer and I, but they follow my lead.

There aren't many landmarks around here, unless you count rocks, so I'm focused on remembering the direction back to the Ragnarok. Only a couple of the SeeDs with us are really good trackers, and I don't expect many of them have brilliant senses of direction, so it's best to be cautious.

"Commander," someone says, nervously, and I turn to them. "There are monsters -"

"Torama!" another one hisses, clenching their fists.

Seifer turns as well, Hyperion flashing in the sunlight. Neither of us is there in time to stop the monster knocking out one of the newer SeeDs, but he's there in time to stop it from getting another, forcing it back with a quick slash. I pause to throw a quick cure spell at the girl and then I join Seifer, the other SeeDs remaining behind us.

"There's a small army of the fucking things," he says, tensely.

"Right."

"You don't think now would be a good time to retreat?" He looks at me like I'm crazy, jumping forward to slice the torama again. I heft Lionheart, running forward and delivering a series of strikes.

One down, many more to go.

"We have to at least try to find the entrance, and with this many monsters, it must be around here somewhere."

"You have no idea how paranoid these people are, Squally-boy. I'm willing to bet we're at least half a mile away from it." He doesn't stop, though, Hyperion rising and falling much as Lionheart is. "But we'll do this if you say so, Commander."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome, prettyboy."

It's not the first time I've ever thought it, but Seifer and I do make a good team when we aren't focusing on fighting each other. We did in Dollet, even if we didn't like each other at all, and that is only more obvious now that we're better, more experienced fighters.

Strangely, I'm enjoying this fight, being on the same team as Seifer.

But now isn't the time to think about that, I can examine my feelings later. Now, we fight.

Zell POV

"Patrolling this area is useless, Quisty, there are no monsters so if Seifer is right, we're nowhere near." I cast a look at her and she nods, still looking around.

"That's assuming that Seifer was telling the truth."

"You don't believe him?" This is the first I've heard of that. I know that Squall does, and I assumed that Quisty did too…

She catches my look and shrugs her shoulders. "He hasn't done anything to make me trust him, and I'm not sure why Squall is so trusting of him. If this was my responsibility, Seifer would be locked up somewhere safe. He might be a traitor."

Seifer? A traitor? I didn't think of that. I figure that if Seifer is going to try and take Squall down, he'll do it man to man and with gunblades, not treachery. He might not be the nicest guy around, and I don't like him, but I figure if he's got – or had, whatever - all these dreams of being a knight then he must follow some code of honour as well.

Or is that just a fairytale? Who knows, and who the hell cares? As long as he's telling the truth. The only thing that's important is to figure out if he is telling the truth, not the reasons why he would or wouldn't.

Squall thinks he's being honest. And if he's wrong, well… Squall can deal with that crisis, that's his job. He knows what he's doing, and it's not for us to question his decisions.

It's not that I don't want to think for myself. But I trust Squall and I think he knows what he's doing a hell of a lot better than I do. I'm not exactly famed for thinking before I act, but Squall thinks almost too much before he acts.

So that's why I trust him to have made the right decision.

"Maybe we should go and see how Squall's squad is doing?"

Quistis clicks her tongue impatiently. "Don't be stupid, Zell. We haven't finished our search ground yet."

"I really don't think we're going to find anything."

"If we don't, then we can go and look for Squall's squad. But if we don't search thoroughly, we might miss some kind of entrance." She huffs softly, and I know better than to take this any further.

I resist saying 'I told you so' as we come to the edge of our search area without a monster or an entrance in sight. She looks slightly pissed off. Quistis is beautiful when she's angry, but I certainly don't want to provoke her into really being angry.

"I think Seifer was lying to us," she says softly, not within earshot of the other SeeDs.

"I don't think so," I shake my head. I have a feeling… "We should go and find the other squad, though."

"You're right. Something might have happened." She looks worried, too. We've all gained a sense for danger, I guess.

We hurry. As we head in the direction of the other squad's area, we come across a few stragglers from Squall's squad. Quistis stops to talk to them, but I carry on.

The sight that meets my eyes when I finally come across their squad is sickening, unsettling, and amazing all at once.

Sickening, because of the piles of monster bodies the two of them have left behind them.

Unsettling because, well, it turns the world upside down to see them fighting together instead of against one another.

Amazing because of how well they work as a team, every movement of one complimenting the other's moves.

I might almost call it art.

I shake my head quickly to dispel that and throw myself into it beside them, still feeling a little awed at the sheer power of those two. I'm always aware of Squall's superiority, his levels have always been far above the rest of us, but this time, seeing him and Seifer fighting almost makes me feel like I should never even step onto a battlefield.

"Hey, chicky!" Seifer grins at me, pausing for a second. "Make sure you don't wet your pants in fear."

I might think he's awesome in battle, but I still hate this bastard.

I bare my teeth at him and lose myself in the rhythm of the battle, losing myself into it. I see Quistis arriving from the corner of my eye and before long I can hear her whip cracking, dealing its own damage.

I keep fighting, consumed by the energy of it all, until Quistis's hand lands on my shoulder, "Zell! Squall ordered us to withdraw."

As I turn to face her, probably the most stupid thing I've done all day, I'm hit across the head by whatever monster I was just trying to kill, and the last thing I see before all goes black is Quistis's whip snapping past me, presumably to kill the monster that struck me.