A Promising Young SeeD
Chapter 11
Funeral Pyre
Quistis had absolutely zero intention of staying in Seifer's room while he investigated the noise outside. She was an elite SeeD, for Hyne's sake. Whatever had interrupted something that was about to be quite memorable deserved her attention as well. However, she was currently completely naked, and still extremely worked up. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she searched in vain for her panties and was unable to find them. Instead, she grabbed Seifer's dress shirt, and haphazardly buttoned it up over herself. It did the trick, being long enough to cover her to her thighs.
There were arguing voices coming from the living room. She could hear Zell and Raijin speaking with Seifer.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Zell knocked over all the plates in the kitchen, ya know?"
"Why are your water glasses on the high shelf, dude?"
Quistis' temple twitched. If Zell was the reason that they weren't able to…
"No. I'm not talking about that huge crash. Before that."
"What are you talking about, dude? There wasn't any noise."
"Are you two fucking deaf? I know I heard something. Close by. The buzzing and the voices. You had to have heard that."
"It was quiet, boss. Nothing out here. No one was talking, ya know."
"I know what I heard! Wuss, check the cameras."
"Way ahead of you, dude. Nothing on camera after you and Quistis getting back." Zell's voice had a playful edge to it.
Oohhhh boy, she knew what that meant. She and Seifer hadn't exactly been subtle in the elevator. Or in the hallway. Great. Just, great.
"That's impossible…Who… what the fuck?" Seifer's voice sounded suddenly panicked, and Quistis skidded out of the bedroom, finally having located a random pair of extremely skimpy lace panties to throw on underneath the dress shirt.
Seifer held Hyperion in one hand, ready for battle, a painfully obvious tent in his boxers still standing at attention. Raijin and Zell were on the other side of the room, staring at Seifer like he had gone crazy.
Seifer was glaring at the doorway to the apartment in anger. Following his gaze, there was a collective gasp and Raijin began to crack his knuckles, readying for whatever was to come.
The doorway was shimmering, rippling as if it were made of water, almost like it was moving to another place.
Or time.
The hairs on the back of Quistis' neck stood up, and her body began to tingle unpleasantly. This was an ancient magic. One Quistis had seen before. Just as she realized when she had last seen it, a hand appeared in the middle of the ripple. Followed by the elegant extension of an arm, until a woman walked through the door. A woman who could apparently walk through walls. And make herself invisible to cameras. Or had she teleported?
There was only one other woman that Quistis knew to be able to do that.
Seifer used his free hand to shove Quistis fully behind him in a chivalrous flourish. Not that she couldn't handle herself. The knuckles gripping Hyperion were turning white, along with his face. He was clearly shaken. The last time he had witnessed magic like this…
"I told you to stay put," Seifer hissed at her.
Quistis scoffed. He may be in charge in the street under whatever guise they had, but there was no way he was going to order her around behind closed doors.
The woman who had entered the apartment was extremely tall. Long, straight red hair partially obscured her face. She was older than them, with angular features that almost made her appear bird-like.
Quistis brought a hand to her lips. "A sorceress? But—"
"That's impossible!" Zell shouted, finishing her thought.
There was only one sorceress left alive.
Or so they thought.
Seifer was trembling before her. Quistis wasn't sure if it was from fury or fear, or most likely, though he would never admit it out loud, a combination of the two. The tension that was apparent in his shoulders snapped, launching Seifer forward at the sorceress, Hyperion swinging in an elegant arc through the air.
Hyperion clanked against some kind of invisible barrier around the woman, as if it had tried to slice through solid stone. Seifer was undeterred, gripping both of his hands around the handle of his gunblade as he pushed against the barrier, sparks of blue and red magic flying into the air where metal hit magic. The muscles of his back were rippling and straining with the effort, bare feet planted firmly on the ground. The edge of Hyperion was slowly pressing through the barrier, waves of magic shifting as if Seifer was turning stone into gel, gradually parting as he inched farther in.
Seifer was always quite a sight to see in battle. Raw animalistic strength, fearless, with undeniably attractive power. Seeing him launch an attack on a sorceress, knowing what it would cost him given his history, his body taut with effort, power pulsing from him, in nothing but a pair of boxers, his arousal slowly fading… it awakened something deeply primal in Quistis. He was beautiful.
It roused the warrior within her. She would follow him to battle anywhere. In a way she already had.
From the other side of the room, Raijin launched into a physical attack as well. He was repelled by the barrier, but provided a fleeting distraction.
For a very brief moment, Hyperion fully broke through the barrier, grazing the skin of the attacker. First blood. Seifer was quickly pushed back out, Hyperion repelled completely, the sword pulsating and vibrating, making his body shake. He still kept a steady hand on it, despite vibrations that were likely making his teeth chatter. Seifer staggered slightly as lightning-like sparks glistened across Hyperion's blade, traveling down to his ungloved hands.
"Of course. Knight," the sorceress snarled. She seemed somewhat unsurprised at Seifer's ability to push beyond her powers.
With a snap of her fingers, both Seifer and Raijin were launched into the air like ragdolls. Raijin flew across the room and slammed into the kitchen island, pots and pans falling off of the hooks above and knocking down on his head.
Seifer's body was flung in the opposite direction, crashing into the wall outside his bedroom with enough force to crack the plaster with a sickening sound, the unmistakable echo of a bone snapping with it. He slid down with a groan, but never lost his grip on Hyperion.
Quistis looked over at Zell, and it was clear that neither knew what to do. Zell seemed to be on the verge of attacking, but something was holding him back. Quistis didn't have a weapon on her. There was no strategy for this surprise attack. Blue magic in this small space seemed like a very risky, bad idea. And hopeless against an extremely powerful sorceress.
White Wind, at least? She was almost ready to cast, the sight of seeing Seifer hurt and the adrenaline of watching him fight pushing her towards being able to summon her mysterious power.
Raijin was groaning in the kitchen, dazed, but alive and mostly uninjured.
Quistis crouched next to Seifer, helping him sit up. There was a wound on the back of his head. She felt sticky blood soak her fingers as she cradled him.
He pushed her off as if he was offended, shaking his head like he was trying to stop stars floating in his vision. Seifer's eyes sharpened, and even now he was ready to strike again.
The ultimate soldier.
The sorceress raised up a hand, a spell forming, when Quistis saw something familiar glisten on her finger.
"Stop!" Quistis cried out, jumping to her feet and putting herself between Seifer and the foreign sorceress. "Stop. They're allies!"
Seifer wobbled slightly before stumbling to his feet despite his injury. He roughly grabbed Quistis' wrist before she got close to the sorceress, and all but flung her behind him to the couch with a strength she had forgotten he possessed.
"Are you crazy? She'll kill you. The only person that can even get close is me. Put a Mighty Guard on me." Seifer readied Hyperion once again.
The sorceress, who had appeared bored with the entire battle so far, paused. A strange look crossed her face. She turned to Quistis, and the blank look on her face began to instead turn to one of recognition. "Quistis? Is that you? It can't be… No, this is a trick."
Ugh, of course. She had forgotten that she didn't exactly look like "Quistis" right now. With her hair now platinum blonde and falling down below her waist in tumbling waves, no glasses, she still had an excessive amount of makeup on from the evening, and to top it off, was only wearing Seifer's button-down crisp blue dress shirt with an absurd excuse for underwear underneath.
Quistis met Zell's eyes, looking back and forth between him and the Sorceress, willing him to understand. A look of recognition finally crossed his features.
"Rinoa," Zell eventually said, and Quistis breathed a sigh of relief.
"Stop. We're all on the same side here." Zell held up his hands in a defensive, disarming position. It was not exactly as if Zell looked the same, either. His hair was now a blue mohawk, with his facial tattoo gone, and rings through his lip and eyebrow.
"Zell…" The sorceress' voice was changing, the cadence becoming more familiar.
Seifer paused his parry mid-air, Hyperion held above his head, arms stretched out. Muscles taut and quivering as he held his position. "Rinoa?"
In a flash, the magic barrier around the sorceress dissolved, and her form changed, shrinking in size, hair shortening and turning black instead of red.
A bright spark of light, and Rinoa Heartilly stood before them. She beamed a friendly smile, as if she hadn't just been attacking Seifer and Raijin.
Quistis took advantage of the distraction to leap forward and wrap her arms around Seifer. Circling her arms around his chest, she pressed her cheek to his bare back, willing him to put Hyperion to the ground, silently urging him to calm down. He grunted as her hands touched his chest, and she could tell from his reaction that he had a few broken ribs. Hyperion gradually lowered, but he never let go of the handle. His free hand found hers on his chest, and he grabbed and squeezed it like his life depended on it.
Seifer was shaking madly, she could feel it, even if no one could see it. This was not something she was used to seeing from him in the midst of the adrenaline of battle. Even if it was a short one. What was wrong with him?
"They are with you, Quisty?" Rinoa finally spoke, her voice sounding far away and trance-like.
"Yes," Quistis replied, slowly walking backwards and dragging Seifer with her to create more distance between him and Rinoa. He was acquiescing, letting her arms guide him until they were at the entrance to his bedroom. Whatever was going on with him, Rinoa's presence was making it ten times worse.
"Okay. Sorry about this." Rinoa's voice still sounded strange and distant, and she lifted her hand again, green light emanating from it. "When you attacked, I thought maybe… and when I'm in the zone I can sometimes, well, be a bit unlike myself. Let me heal you."
"That's an understatement," Zell muttered under his breath.
Seifer was shivering, his breath coming out rapidly. Hyperion clanked on the ground beside him with a loud thunk. His face was pale, his eyes wide… he was terrified. Quistis had never seen Seifer afraid of anything. She felt warmth spread over his body, a green mist across his skin. Glancing over, she saw a similar glow on Raijin. The wound on the back of Seifer's head was closing, and she felt his ribs shift as they were forced back into place.
Holy shit… that's powerful magic.
"Stop. No magic. Don't cast any fucking magic on me!" Seifer's voice was hoarse and he ripped Quistis' hands from his chest, effectively stepping out of her embrace and pressing his back to the wall, like he was trying to get as far away from all of them as he could. He slid down the wall, hands covering his face.
Rinoa looked surprised, but obeyed, the magic disappearing with a snap. Both Seifer and Raijin had been mostly healed by the time she stopped.
"What are you doing here, Rin?" Zell finally asked, before stepping up and wrapping Rinoa in a tentative hug.
"I followed you," Rinoa responded mysteriously.
How the hell had… Zell hadn't even been out of the apartment in a few days. He was constantly working.
"I can find you anywhere." Rinoa reached into her pocket and pulled out a small white envelope.
What did that mean?
"And I have a delivery for you," she added, pressing the pouch into Zell's hand before stepping away from him. She seemed like her regular self again.
Seifer was shaking on the floor, and Quistis had never seen him so deflated. Even in the days at the end of the Second Sorceress War, when his coat was in tatters, his form not as massive—never—had he looked as deflated as he did now. He looked like the lost little boy she remembered from her childhood. Terrified of a storm, and begging for comfort.
Quistis looked back and forth from Seifer to Rinoa a few times before she spoke. "I think you need to leave."
Before Seifer has a complete mental breakdown.
"I can't stay anyway. I need to be by Squall to calm my magic down. I really am sorry about the mess." Rinoa stepped backwards, the portal in the doorway appearing once more as she dissolved into it.
Zell still had his laptop open on the table, linked to the cameras on the hallway and they watched as nothing appeared on the security system. She was invisible. Or gone. Just like that.
Raijin acted first. In a way that made it seem that he had seen Seifer like this before. Crouching down next to Seifer, he grabbed him by the arm, hauling him to his feet. "Come on, boss. Let's get you in the shower, ya know?"
Seifer said nothing, letting himself be lifted to his feet as Raijin and Quistis helped him back to the master bathroom and towards the large walk-in shower, not bothering to shed his boxers.
Seifer walked in wordlessly and Raijin turned the water on. It seemed to be enough for Raijin and he left the bathroom. Quistis remained in place, paralyzed, unsure what to do to help.
She shivered, some of the droplets of water from the shower hitting her. They were freezing.
Seifer braced himself against the tile, putting his head down and letting the ice-cold water sluice down his back, rinsing the blood from the back of his head. The tension in his body was obvious from the way the muscles twitched under the water, and the tension in the room was no less palpable.
Quistis wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't even sure what she was witnessing. The entire day had been a clusterfuck. Maybe Seifer hadn't been in the presence of a sorceress since all his memories of the war came back. And Rinoa was… terrifying. Different. She had never seen Rinoa do anything like that. It reminded her far too much of…
"Seifer—"
"I told you this would only work if you told me everything." His voice was incredibly distant. Almost cold. There was none of the warmth that his words had merely a half hour prior.
"What?"
He remained under the cold water, not moving as he faced the tile, his knuckles flexing against it. "Didn't you think the fact that Rinoa has gone psycho-sorceress might be important to let me know?"
Quistis shivered. Both from the tone of his voice as well as the cold water that was now dampening the shirt she was wearing. "I—I didn't know she was that powerful. I mean, I knew she was playing around with her powers, but—"
His fist slammed against the tile and Quistis jumped in reaction. The water in the shower was now pink from the blood on his knuckles. "You didn't think I should know that the fucking most powerful Sorceress ever was practicing her powers? When she is supposed to be in fucking Odine Bangles? And then, you told her where I am? Me? An ex-knight. The fucking ex-knight of one of the sorceresses who reside in her."
He turned around and faced her. His face looked weary, but there was no mistaking the fury in his eyes. More than fury. Betrayal. In his mind, Quistis had betrayed him. And loyalty was everything to Seifer.
"I didn't tell her! I haven't spoken to Rinoa in a year. I have no idea how she—"
Seifer shut the water off roughly, and yanked a towel from the shelf, wrapping it around his waist as he stomped into his room. "Get out of my room."
Quistis felt like he had just slapped her. After what had just happened… was he really this angry that she hadn't told him about Rinoa? She barely knew. She reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Seifer, please. I promise I didn't tell her where we are. I had no idea she was that power—"
"Touching me is a really bad idea right now. Please. Just get out. I need a minute."
Shrinking back, she obeyed, quietly exiting the room and going back to the living room. She shut his door silently, feeling a deep sense of shame and hurt. She hadn't been trying to withhold anything from him, and it was hardly like he was Mr. Forthcoming. She didn't deserve his ire.
The entire thought process left her with a bitter taste in her mouth. Bitter, angry, and frustrated.
Turning around from the door, she found herself face to face with Zell and Raijin. They were both staring at her with eyebrows raised, twin unreadable expressions on their faces. Zell's eyes trailed down her chest and then back up.
Looking down, she realized that she was still only wearing Seifer's dress-shirt, but that the front of it was partially soaking wet, making it extremely obvious that she was, for the most part, completely naked underneath. Yelping, she tried to cover herself with her arms as Raijin apologetically tossed a blanket from the couch for her to cover herself with.
"You owe me fifty gil, ya know?" Raijin smirked at Zell.
Quistis didn't even want to know what that meant. But she had a sneaking suspicion…
Sinking on the couch, Quistis curled the blanket around her protectively. "Are you going to tell us what that was all about, Raijin?"
Raijin sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "After the infusions, ya know? Seifer had all the memories of the war come back, ya know? Some bad dreams. Even seeing a sorceress in a movie would set him off, ya know? I can't imagine what it felt like for him to actually be near one. Seifer said he'd be happy if he never saw magic cast again, ya know? Not after what Ultimecia did to him."
Another bit of Seifer she knew nothing about. What had Ultimecia done to him, when he was under her control? To get his loyalty. To get him to kill for her.
Guilt settled, forming a pit in Quistis' stomach. Not that she had done anything wrong, but it still somehow felt like it was her fault.
"Enough, Raijin." Seifer appeared from the bedroom, a pair of sweatpants now slung low on his hips. He looked none the worse for the wear, back to his normal self. He strode over to the room and sat down on the couch. Not near Quistis, not touching her. Almost purposefully distanced. Quistis' heart ached. She hadn't realized how much she had become used to feeling him near her. And now that it was no longer a game…
"How the fuck did Rinoa know where we were?" Seifer didn't ask Quistis this question, which at least she viewed as a good thing. It meant he believed her. He was staring daggers at Zell. "She was apparently looking for you, Chicken-wuss. Don't tell me you were so fucking stupid as to tell her—"
Zell held up his hands defensively. "No way, dude. I don't know how she found us. She didn't even know we were staying with you. She said she somehow can find me anywhere."
"But you're not a knight," Seifer said, as if it was a really obvious statement.
"Look, I have no idea how she found me. I'm guessing its some crazy magic shit. But it's a good thing, because she brought me something. That's why she was here." Zell held up a small envelope in his hand. "Irvine got it for me. Told me that he would find a way to get it to me and not worry about it. It's the original drug that was infused to remove the GFs."
Quistis raised her eyebrows. It was quite impressive of Zell to think of getting it.
Seifer seemed impressed as well. "Fucking brilliant, chicken-wuss. You can put it in that machine of yours and see if it's the same as the diamonds."
"Bingo."
Seifer relaxed back into the couch, and Quistis noticed that his body seemed closer to her once again. She inched closer to him. While he didn't put his arm around her, he also didn't push her away.
"So, Rinoa knew she was trying to find Zell. Let's assume no one knew where he was. Which they shouldn't. That means that Rinoa has become so powerful that she can just find specific people with sheer will? Even if they aren't her knight?"
"Edea… er, Ultimecia always knew where me and Fu were, ya know?" Raijin offered.
Seifer shook his head. "Fuck. If she's training her magic. With the sorceresses she has inside? She would be even more powerful than…" he trailed off.
Quistis was suddenly extremely worried. She knew that Rinoa had played with her powers on the down-low. But nothing extreme. Nothing to enhance them drastically. More like having fun with her little gift.
"Holy shit…" Zell mumbled.
"What, wuss?"
"Maybe…" He disappeared, running upstairs to his bedroom before returning with another one of his laptops. "You guys need to see this."
Zell opened the video that had been sent to him from the Archivist.
Watching the island explode, there was a sharp intake of breath from all the inhabitants of the room.
"That was the weapon Garden ordered? The reason we didn't need GFs?" Quistis felt her heart pounding in anticipation before feeling Seifer's hand land reassuringly on her leg.
"How can they make anything that powerful? There is no way magic isn't involved," Seifer added.
"Not to mention expensive, ya know?"
"The money, I think we can trace." Zell opened the file of transactions that he was examine earlier.
"Hold on. Odine develops this weapon. Which, raises a whole shit-load of questions. Garden buys it… for what? What is that defending Garden from?" Seifer was running his hand up and down Quistis' bare leg absently as he spoke.
There was no point in pretending they weren't officially something at this point—even as oblivious as Zell could be, there was no way he hadn't put it together after the events of that evening.
"It's so obvious." Quistis shook her head. "How could I have not seen it?"
"What?"
"What's the primary mission of Garden?" Quistis looked over at Zell, asking in her best instructor voice.
"To defeat sorceresses," Zell said quietly.
"Maybe Rinoa is training because she knows that battle might come. Squall would have inside intel on the weapons, between being Commander of Garden and his access to Laguna. Maybe she's hedging her bets incase Balamb takes a shot at her with that thing?" Quistis felt a headache coming on as she spoke.
"Plus Rinoa has the backing of Laguna. And therefore Esthar. Even though Esthar hates sorceresses as much as Garden. Garden knows that. And if Rinoa is going to be even more powerful than Ultimecia. Then… well then it would take a cannon that could destroy an island to kill her," Zell added.
"Maybe. Maybe not. If she's that powerful? Not even that thing could take her down. The only thing that can take a sorceress that powerful down is a knight, or another sorceress." Seifer's voice was very quiet in this confession.
Quistis' eyes narrowed. This was not a known fact when it came to sorceresses. But Seifer sounded extremely certain. "But… Ultimecia. We were all there."
"Squall and Rinoa were there," Seifer stated, as if it was obvious. "I'm sure the rest of you helped with the monsters and all, but think about it. Did any of you guys really ever damage Ultimecia? Or was it Squall's blade and Rinoa's magic? It's the ultimate irony of the sorceress. The purpose of the knight. When it comes down to it, the only person who can kill a sorceress is a knight. Or a sorceress hoping to absorb her magic. It's why I was able to break through Rinoa's barrier. Even if I wasn't her knight. I'm still a knight."
Quistis had never felt more helpless.
beta: colobonema
