Chapter Two: I Hope You Won't Forget Me (Seifer's Trial)

Seifer didn't even look up as the cell door swung open, and hit the wall with a loud bang that echoed through his small metal cell. He did blink, however, when whoever had entered switched on the light, which was nearly blinding after several months of sitting in the dim lighting of the prison cell. He rubbed his fists over his eyes, like a little kid that was ready for bed. "What the hell do you want?" Seifer growled at the intruder.

"Seifer?"

Seifer closed his eyes, his stomach sinking. He couldn't believe it. (No friggin' way.) When he opened his eyes again she was standing in front of him, her chocolate brown eyes brimming with concern and tears. He cleared his throat and forced himself to reply without breaking down. "Rinoa? What are you doing here?"

She smiled briefly. "I don't know if you forgot."

He jumped to his feet and pointed a finger in her face, furious. "I didn't forget! You are the one who jumped into that friggin' Leonhart's arms during the war and turned your back on me. I never forgot the promise we made to each other! Why do you think I loved the ideas that that witch Ultimecia fed to me? I wanted to prove myself to you!" Rinoa ran forward and wrapped her arms around Seifer's middle, resting her head on his chest.

"I'm sorry, Seifer. You never should have left my house that day, the day we made the memory box. I never should have let you go. I'm sorry that things turned out like this." She pulled away and for the first time, Seifer noticed that her belly had a little round bump to it. She smiled again, sadly, and rested her hands on it. He nodded and started pacing around the cell.

"How. How far along are you?" He asked, forcing himself to make small talk about the baby that wasn't his but was growing inside the only person he had ever loved.

"Four months." She whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. Rinoa forced herself to face him and smile. Yeah, it was sad that the relationship she had shared with Seifer had ended so abruptly but she was pregnant! And engaged to Squall! What did she have to regret? "It'll be born on your birthday." She added. Seifer nodded, before kicking the bed. He growled and sat down, holding his pained foot.

"So is that why you're here? To parade around in front of me before I go to trial to be killed? Did Squall send you? Or are you doing to get back at me for leaving? Are you showing off, saying 'Screw you, Seifer, but look who's laughing now'?" He glared up at her. "Well, it ain't gonna work. I don't care that you got what you wanted. I tried to get what I wanted but she just let me go."

She stamped her foot, her hands balled into fists by her side. "No, Seifer! I came here to stand on trial for you! I came to tell them that you were being controlled and that you didn't do any of those awful things. I came here to save you so you could be there when my baby was born!" Tears strode down her cheeks and she spun around in her fury, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want you to die, Seifer. You're my best friend."

He chewed on his tongue, unable to speak. He wanted to pull her down into his lap and just hold her. He wanted to run his hands over her little belly and imagine that it was his baby, and that he had given her the ring on her finger. But he couldn't. As far as any else was concerned, his life was over. He had betrayed the world. He hadn't meant to. He just wanted to win her over. But now he was on trial and would most likely be sentenced to death.

He climbed to his feet and stood, with his back to her. "Thank you but I don't need your help." He mumbled. He could hear her suck in her breath as she fought the urge to cry. He could visualize her in his mind, one hand clutched around the ring dangling from her neck, the other hand resting on her bump of a belly. He could see the frown on her face, the crinkles in the corners of her eyes as she tried not to cry.

"Seifer.?" She whispered, the single step she took echoing violently in the small cell. He raised a hand and stepped closer into the corner of the cell, hanging his head. She stopped trying to pretend she wasn't crying and he cringed at the sound of her sobbing. The last time he had heard her crying, he had kissed her for one of the very first times. It had been the moment when she had first entrusted him all her doubts, fears, and hopes about the world. She told him her fragile memories of her distraught childhood, the life she suffered now, and what she envisioned the world to be.

And he had brushed away the tears and held her close and then.

He kissed her.

He forced himself to stay in his corner and resist the urge to relive that night all over again. "I don't want your help, Rinoa. I tried to help you once before and look where it got us. I don't want you to risk everything you have and deserve to try and save someone like me." He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and rested his forehead against the cold metal of the wall.

The click of her heels on the floor approached him and he closed his eyes as he realized she was right there behind him. She knelt beside him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Whether you like it or not, I'm going to help you. And when it's all said and done, I hope you won't forget me." She placed a light, airy kiss on his cheek before hurrying to her feet and fleeing the cell, sobs choking her. Why did it hurt so bad? She was supposed to be happy. She was supposed to hate him like everyone else did.

xxx

The handcuffs clapped on his wrists were cold and heavy, and bit into the flesh of his wrists. But he paid no attention to them. The thick chains around his ankles did the same, but he paid no attention to them either as he sat in the chair and watched Rinoa defend him. He felt sick dread in his stomach; as a hero of the world and a sorceress, she had a lot of weight in his trial. But did he really want to live? Could he really leave this prison cell and return to the life he had before?

He doubted that he would be allowed to return to Garden. Or the Orphanage. Or anywhere for that matter. And he definitely couldn't return to Rinoa. (What do you expect me to do, Rin? I don't understand.) But if she wanted him to live, at least she was one person. Maybe there was a second chance for those like him. He could only hope.

xxx

As soon as the trial was over, Rinoa fled, without a single last look to Seifer. He sighed. They may have shared a lot in the short summer they spent together but were memories really all that worth remembering? He had suffered enough, did he really want to go on remembering everything that he had fought for, only to lose? As they unlocked the cold, biting metal, he looked at them, wondering what each and every single one of them lived for. What drove them to continue this little masquerade of life?

The doors slid open, revealing Seifer to the bright sun scorching the blazing desert. He pulled the photograph from his pocket, the one that he had swiped from the memory box. It was the picture he had loved the most. It was a picture of them together, holding hands and happy in love. He slowly shredded the photo, feeling that he was tearing his heart into little pieces.

He held out his hand, allowing the hot breeze to lift the pieces and scatter them all over the desert. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air, the first in so many years. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the desert, but opening his eyes to a new life in Winhill.