Amazingly, this chapter wasn't too obstinate, letting me turn it out pretty quickly, with only a little encouragement from my beloved Lisa. :D It took me just an hour and a half or so, even with procrastination!

Be happy, and rejoice, and so on.

Oh! - And I hope you all realised what becomes even more obvious in the first part of this chapter. ;)

Squall POV

"They didn't do it," I tell them, knowing they've probably already figured it out. "Those SeeDs are, effectively, the enemy. Traitors."

"No shit, Sherlock." Seifer rolls his eyes at me. He'd gotten the point almost immediately as well, never stupid.

Quistis is slower, still suspicious. She can never take anything on trust; she has to think it through for herself. I admire it, but I wish she would hurry up about it at times like this. She bit her lip thoughtfully, looking over her shoulder at the SeeDs carrying the limp, unconscious bodies of our friends. "But Garden would have to be betrayed high up in the ranks to make Garden topple..."

"Not if they can use lower ranked SeeDs and trap the Commander and his closest advisor down here," I say, grimly.

"But how did they knock Selphie, Irvine and Zell out, then?"

"Took them by surprise, or had help." Seifer shrugs, obviously seeing the situation as clearly as I do. Then he takes a deep breath, his eyes on mine firm and bright. "I'm sorry. If I'd have stayed up there..."

I finished it for him, before he dared take the blame, "...they would have got you too."

"Maybe, but I fucked up your plans."

"Seifer, it doesn't matter. Let it go."

"One of us three could fucking die trying to get out of here and you want me to just 'let it go'? Like hell, Squall. I fucked up."

He looks extraordinarily annoyed, with himself and with me. I can't help the thought that I told him so, that it's his own fault, however horrible a thought it is. 'I told you so' would the single most annoying thing I could possibly say.

Quistis shakes her head. "Seifer, give it up. It won't help."

"Shut up, Quistis," he snaps, knowing she's right and hating every minute of it.

"We should all shut up, if only for the good of the mission," she snaps back. At least she's talking to us now. She turns to me, her face determined, "We've got to do something for Selphie, Irvine and Zell."

"Of course," I nod, trying to think. It all depends on who they've got up there, and whether the three of them on our side can be woken easily.

But that's what they want us to do; to walk out into a trap. And even though we know about the trap, they've probably provided for that instance, too – if they have any brains. And it will be best if we work on the assumption that they do; to get this far there must be something there.

Seifer looks enraged and guilty all at once for a minute longer, and then his expression collapses into thoughtfulness, his eyes on me. "We could turn the trap on them."

I raise an eyebrow, already knowing where his thoughts are going. "Find a different way out of these passages and attack them from behind?"

"That's what I was thinking." He crosses his arms in front of him, looking to me and Quistis for an idea of the merits of his plan.

"I don't think that's a bad idea. At the least, it would be a good idea to get out of these tunnels fast, before they get impatient and collapse them or something," Quistis says, thoughtfully.

"Agreed. Let's go." I pause for a second despite saying that we should go. "I don't think they'll be expecting us to go on, but even so, we have to be careful."

Quistis bites her lip. "I think I'll go back a little, to make sure there's nobody following us. We don't need anybody going back to warn the ambushers that we've already decided on a different way out."

"Good idea."

She leaves us, her steps so soft we can barely hear her once she's a few metres away. The darkness closes around her quickly and Seifer turns to me, closing the distance between us and grabbing my hand, squeezing it tightly. "You fucking idiot. You should have told me that you thought those kids would be traitors. I could have got you killed."

"Or even Quistis. Seifer, don't worry about it. I should have trusted you and told you, anyway."

He doesn't release my hand, rolling his eyes. "Trust you to take some of the blame for yourself. And I can understand not trusting me; I've only fought you and hurt you and betrayed you for most of our lives."

"Stop it," I tell him with another glare. I lift up a little, cursing his height, and kiss him softly. He is obstinate for another minute before responding, his mouth soft against mine. I close my eyes, allowing the moment to take over me, not knowing when we'll be able to snatch another, but still wary.

It's only Quistis's returning steps that make me pull away from him, and he smirks a little at me as I turn to her. "Anything?"

"Nobody there, but that isn't to say there wasn't anyone…" She frowns a little, then looks at the distance, or the lack of it, between me and Seifer with a weak, but knowing, smile. "I thought you weren't supposed to indulge yourself during a mission, Commander?" she teases.

Seifer raises an eyebrow at her sudden acceptance of the situation, but it doesn't surprise me too much. Quistis is work, work and mission, at this moment. Personal matters come later, and for now, for the integrity of the group, she'll smile and take anything.

I ignore her, still feeling a touch of discomfort despite her apparent acceptance. "Shall we go on?"

Selphie POV

Waking up with a headache is something I don't do often. Though I do go out and get drunk occasionally, just in fun, I know how to handle hangovers and I rarely ever wake up with them.

The sun hurts my eyes and I close them again with a little groan, only just registering that I'm laying on a rock; a cold, hard rock. And that because a little sticking up bit of it is digging into my back. Where the hell am I?

I shift, carefully, and with some difficulty, and as I shift, there's a flurry of movement beside me and a cold gun barrel against my temple.

"She's awake," a voice says to someone, and then it speaks to me, "Don't move, or I'll shoot."

"You wouldn't dare," another voice says, beside me, weakly. Irvine!

"Irvine?" I ask, quietly, hardly daring to open my eyes again and get blinded by the sun. There's a click from the gun held to my head.

"I told you not to speak."

"Oh, give it up, Meddy," someone else speaks up, "It won't do us any harm if they talk."

The gun left my head and I lie still, taking stock.

The first voice speaks again, "I thought I was in command here."

"Fine, you're in command, but it won't do them any harm to talk. They're bound so they can't move other than that, after all."

I open my eyes carefully, a little at a time, taking stock of my situation and letting my eyes get used to the light which is far too bright, all things considered.

"Sorry they got you, sunshine," Irvine says quietly from beside me. I turn my head to look at him and give him a small smile.

"Oh, you couldn't help it! They took us all by surprise."

"I should have been on guard."

"Don't be silly, we all should have been, it's everyone's silly fault. How's Zell?"

"Not awake yet," he says, with a touch of worry, "I think they hit him pretty hard to knock him out; he has a hard head."

"He'll come round eventually," I say, confidently, though not feeling quite that confident. Maybe they hit Zell too hard… I remember how much it hurt when I blacked out, and I don't feel too much better than that now. My body feels heavy and if I could sit up, I know I'd feel dizzy.

"Are you okay?" Irvine asks me, still concerned. He looks funny without his hat, no doubt fallen off during the brief fight.

"I'll live," I say, with a rueful smile. "What about you?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I went out like a light the first time they hit me, so they didn't hit me as much as you or Zell." He sighs, closing his eyes and trying to find a comfortable position, bound as he is. "This is why I'm just not cut out for SeeD."

"You did fine," I say, soothingly, and close my own eyes, the light still hurting.

It feels like an eternity of not moving, of being pummelled by the rays of sunshine that make even the darkness behind my eyelids bright red and which I can almost feel scorching my skin, until Zell stirs with a loud groan and a curse.

"What the fuck…!"

"It'd be best if you lay still, Zell," I tell him quickly, "We're prisoners and you're going to have a nasty bump on your head."

"Nasty bump! It feels like a fucking mountain," he says, but he listens to me, not trying to move. "Whose prisoners?"

Medea moves beside us, silencing Zell with that horribly annoying gun against his head, and I squash a vague feeling of irritation. Why did the girl ever remind me of Quistis?

"It'd be best if you keep still and quiet. I don't have much patience."

All three of us subside, recognising the seriousness of the threat. I hate relying on Squall to save us, but there's nothing else to do, with our back up team the traitors and no way to call Garden.