I appreciate all the wonderful reviews! Any suggestions for future chapters (or maybe stories even) will be carefully considered. It just depends on if I can get the characters to do what I want! LOL

Okay, once again, I own nothing worth suing over.
I just play with these wonderful characters that someone else created.
Oh, some of the dialogue has been lifted straight from the game.
And some has been cut because it just didn't fit
."quoted italics are thoughts, everything else is what it is.

Broken

Chaos had been unleashed on Esthar. Fujin had felt slightly ill watching the monsters raining down from the moon. Thankfully, Lunatic Pandora's shields had held through the assault. There had been many unsuccessful attempts by solitary monsters that had strayed behind the rest, enough that everyone had taken to betting on what would try the shields next. "TEN GIL. TORAMA." Fujin was up 120 gil so far.

"Nah." Raijin shook his head. "I'm thinkin' it'll be something different. Fifteen says it'll be Squall." He laughed at the look she shot him "Nothing else has worked, ya know? Except that one imp yesterday."

Alarms blared, cutting off Fujin's response. The screech of metal on metal made them both wince, while the rumble that followed clearly came from close by. "Big noise," Raijin grinned. "Probably them, ya know?"

Sighing her annoyance, she rolled her eye at him. "THEM?" she snapped with a quick shake of her head. "NO. IMPOSSIBLE." Rounding the corner and seeing the metallic dragon head, she unhooked her chakram from her belt and edged cautiously into the room. "It's a ship!"

The figure standing at the dragon's side turned, his face pulled into an angry frown.

"Ah!" A wide smile spread across her cousin's face. "It IS Squall, ya know?"

"SHOCK" Fujin raised her eyebrows at the uncharacteristic display of emotion from Leonhart. "Maybe he can help us get through to Seifer." "GOOD. CONVENIENT"

Seeing who was standing in the door of the ship, Raijin couldn't resist pushing the smaller man's buttons to see how far he'd go. "Hand over Rinoa, ya know?" His smile went unnoticed.

"NO!" Leonhart leveled his gunblade at them, eyes flashing dangerously. "I'll never hand over Rinoa And we're taking Ellone!" His voice dropped to a growl as two other people stepped away from the ship. "I won't let you resurrect Adel, either!"

"That's not my plan, either." Glad they were on the same side for once, she flashed him a rare smile. She gathered from his expression and stance that he didn't understand why she smiled. This was confirmed when he took the first strike.

The ensuing fight was harsh. Fujin didn't want to fight them, but there was no time to explain. "The hell with that idea, then," she thought grimly as she returned blow for blow. She was sure that at least twice she'd seen each of them dead. She'd seen the blood spilled from chests as her chakram split ribs, along with dented skulls when Raijin smashed each of them to the floor. Every time, they simply got back up and staggered for just a moment before striking back. It was hard to tell if it was potions or spells, and several times it looked like the dog's barking brought them back.

Then the blonde SeeD jumped in and kicked her in the chest. "Sorry, baby." A quick blow to the throat left her gasping, tears in her eye. "Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." A cold smile and hard blow to her stomach followed his words.

Raijin knocked the man aside, but not before her blood ran cold. This was oddly familiar. "RETREAT" Fujin croaked, needing to get away from this so she could think.

"IDIOT!" She kicked Raijin when they stopped. "SILENCE!" He'd botched everything by telling Leonhart they wanted Rinoa. Now their only chance was to try again to talk sense to Seifer.

Encountering the SeeDs once more, she glared at Leonhart. "NOW. NO FIGHT. NEXT TIME." As they walked away, Raijin shouted back to them that they had a surprise coming, so she kicked him again once the door closed.

"Seifer, they're out for blood, ya know? Don'tcha think this is outta hand again, ya know?"

While the two men argued, Fujin pulled the unknown potion out of her pocket. "She said I'd know when to drink it. Don't know if this is the time, but I may be out of time real soon!" Pulling the cap off, she knocked the potion back quickly and coughed from the itch it created in her throat.

The SeeDs burst in, demanding Ellone back. Raijin stepped up to block them from going straight after Seifer.

"RAIJIN, STOP!" Her voice didn't sound right as she yelled, so she cleared her throat and shook her head slowly, keeping eye contact with him. "It's time to do or die."

Seifer gave her a puzzled look. "What's up?"

Nodding once, Raijin turned to the blonde knight. "We've had enough, ya know…"

Watching Seifer's eyes narrow, she shoved the girl towards the SeeDs and out of immediate striking range. "GO" The girl only hesitated a moment before quickly crossing the room, then leaving.

She let the two men argue for a minute, before stepping in when Seifer laid a hand on Hyperion's grip. "I thought we were a posse."

"POSSE…" She coughed, then nodded. "We are. We always will be." Fujin cleared her throat before continuing. "Whatever it takes to fulfill your dream, we're willing to do. But …" Her voice was low and gravelly from years of disuse. "You're being manipulated, Seifer. You've lost yourself and your dream." The itch in her throat faded, replaced by a tightness from anger and despair. "We want the old you back!" She pleaded, locking eyes with him. His expression didn't change, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. "Since we can't get through to you, all we have to rely on is Squall. It's sad …" Looking back up, she asked him one last question. "Are you still gonna keep goin'?"

He thought for an all-too-brief moment, then shrugged and saluted them. "Raijin, Fujin! It's been fun!"

"We failed. I failed. He's gone." She dropped her head, despair weighing heavily. "Let's go," she whispered to Raijin. "Can't stay. Not wanted." Seifer's indifference on top of everything else had broken her when nothing else could.