Here's the next chapter hope you enjoy.
Warnings: Seifer/Zell yaoi pairing
Disclaimer: Don't own them but wish I did.
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Chapter Nine: Trials
Quistis gazed at the council of seven before her and formulated her attack plan. She only needed four of the votes and Cid's was pretty much in the bag. The rest of the council, including Laguna, she wasn't really sure where they stood.
Nida sat down next to her gave her shoulder a squeeze. "How are you?"
Quistis sighed and sat up, "Fine. I just wished I knew everyone on this council better then political rumor and such. Then I could at least gauge where they stand on this whole thing."
"Well it's not a happy thought but just think that they all hate Seifer and you have to convince them otherwise."
"Thanks."
A hush settled over the room as the doors near the back of the room opened. A procession of guards led a very sullen and reserved Seifer down towards the council. The tension in the air rose as several people stood to yell obscenities and throw things at the Ex-Knight. The noise coming from outside the building could be heard by all and the video screens positioned around the room showed a crush off people outside, some of which were trying to rush the gate.
"You'd think we were at concert and not a public execution with the turnout." Nida eyed the malicious people on the screens and hoped Garden wouldn't be employed in the event of a riot.
"No I expected this. People love violence more than they ever could any star or hero. It's part of what the Sorceress drew on to keep them under her thumb and a reason I can barely stomach looking at them sometimes." Quistis rearranged the folders on her desk and reigned in her anger and disgust. Right now she had a trial to win and emotions only got in the way. She was a stone wall.
The soldiers stopped and pushed Seifer before the council, smug looks plastered on their faces as they were sure the Knight would die today.
"Seifer Almasy. You stand before us for a list of crimes already delivered to you. This hearing is at the request of Balamb Garden and is an attempt to prove you were magically or psychologically coerced into doing many, if not all, of these crimes. Would the lead of the defense please step forward and bring in your first witness. Let's try to make this a fast one we don't want to be backed up all day." The council head, one Nysal Verund, delivered this with pompous dismissal.
Quistis couldn't help but think that maybe Nida was right and they all were a bunch of right bastards but she knew she had her work cut out for her when she'd accepted and know it was time to earn her stripes.
"Alright then council as we are obviously skipping opening statements I will call our first witness. I would like to call a Dr. Kodowaki. She used performed a procedure on the accused on the date of…"
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Siefer stared at the vid screen in front of him and sighed. The court was in recess an in his little room full of guards they'd made sure he could watch what was going on outside. The picket signs filled with slander and the various people coming before the T.V. and telling some sort of false injustice he'd suffered upon them were there and the Sorceress didn't even have a hand in it this time.
They were right weren't they. He'd gotten his little taste of happiness and that was all that mattered. He would be a casual observer at his own execution and then it would all be over. No more hate. No more pain or guilt. No more anything.
No more Zell. That was probably the worst of it. He'd been torn apart trying to protect Zell from himself and the Sorceress and loved him from afar. Then his dream of a relationship with the one person who stayed in his heart had come true and they'd ripped it away. Like a steak on a string in front of a starving man they'd yanked his greatest desire away from him and like that starving man it pissed him off.
Yes he'd made a mistake in joining the Sorceress but so had many others. Were they going to persecute every soldier and every politician that fell under her sway. No just him because she'd made a face out of him. He'd done less than many of the twisted people under her command but the people didn't care. They wanted a Sorceress to kill and since they didn't have that they went to the next best thing.
He'd already started his atonement but these people wanted more. What would happen after they got what they wanted. Would this be news for years to come or would they simply forget about it once the last of the wreckage was cleared.
Another person came on and told of how they're house was raided and his wife raped on the Knight's command and the people around the man cheered for Seifer's blood. They were worse then captive dragons at feeding time. At least the dragons had the excuse of being animals governed completely by instinct. These people were just twisted and riding the death high of the recent war.
What did these people really know about him. Nothing. They knew the lies and the demon he was made out to be but not him. Not the him that loved Zell. The him that would always remember the names of the people he himself had killed.
The him that would fight for his life. Even if it only meant something to a few people. Those few people were the ones who mattered.
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"And thank you for yet another lecture on magic theory by another questionable expert." Nysal looked down at Quistis with a look of contempt and this time she rose to the challenge.
"The same experts you and your fellow politicians ran to when the Sorceress was alive and running the show. The same experts who helped develop means to fight against the magic which you had no clue about."
"And the same experts that failed us."
"If your talking about military action then I guess so but their medical advances have saved thousands. Including, if I'm not mistaken, your son's." The sneer fell out of place to replaced by a look of surprise.
"Yes the whole world knows about that controversial surgery despite your try to cover it up by killing one of the lab assistants who wanted to talk. But since the death couldn't be completely connected to you that little 'private' court battle fell through. However, we aren't here to talk about your transactions or who you believe to be competent enough to talk about magical practice. We are here on Seifer Almasy's account and I believe that's where we should stick."
A hush lay around the room and even the din from outside lessened as the council all stared at the head in shock. After a few moments Cid leaned forward and broke the silence with a light cough. "Let us continue. Ms. Trepe please call forth your next witness."
With a curt nod Quistis turned towards the entrance and called out the next name on her list. "Edna Felcast."
The small elderly woman shuffled towards the front and murmuring sprang up around the room. She wasn't a well known scientist or a well known anything for that matter so why would they call her.
"So Mrs. Felcast could you tell us your relationship to the accused."
"During the war he was the one who killed my son."
The room was instantly in an uproar as the people shouted and the roar outside picked up. A loud shrill whistle filled the speakers and the room instantly quieted and everyone stared in shock at the small woman on the stand.
"Thank you. As I was saying. He's the man who killed my son and the man me and my husband feel should not be here on this trial." Edna Felcast stood at the stand and pointed at the vid screen closest to her.
"You people make me sick. You people make me wish my son had died fighting by this man's side instead of against him." Another roar went up and she again silenced them with a whistle.
"If the Sorceress one did you know what she planned on doing. Yes you all know that she planned on crushing everyone beneath her feet and ruling with an iron fist. You knew people would die almost daily for minor transactions and that she'd call for blood at every opportunity in order to keep her dominion over everything."
"And know that she's gone and the threat of daily bloodletting is over you call for it. You call for the death that my son and so many other's died to prevent. You have become animals and the Sorceress has one even though she is dead."
The vid screens showed the shocked crowed in and outside the court. Everyone was enraptured in this woman who was pointing their faults out to them and they didn't understand how she could be doing it when her son's murder was right there.
"I made peace with Vigil's death far before I ever heard the Knights real name. I'd even started to forget him. And then this letter arrived from a friend in Fisherman's Horizon. Come stand up here Siefer."
Seifer obediently walked up to stand next to her and braced himself for the request he knew was coming next. All his dirty little secrets were about to be thrown out into the open. Finding the blue eyes in the crowd that he needed, Seifer was ready. Ultemcia could rise from the floor in front of them and he would be prepared to fight for his life.
"Seifer dear would you please remove your shirt?"
After a few moments of struggling with the magic restricting chains that were cuffed around his wrists he managed to remove his shirt and a gasp rose from the court as the camera's focused on the numerous scars that dotted his body.
"Do you think the Sorceress would allow her Knight to look like this. No this happened after his death. Everyone he killed he remembered and he went to each of their families and let them beat him senseless as long as they didn't kill him."
Raising the letter in the air to remind everyone what she was talking about in the first place, she shook it violently. "Arthur Sczent hired six men to beat and rape your 'evil' Knight and then left him for dead for killing his son."
Speaking up for the first time since her arrival, Nysal Verund cut right to the chase. "Mr. Sczent has already been punished for his crime so that really has no relevance."
Edna looked up at him, a small smile spreading on her face. "But Nysal I just wanted to show everyone that you have an awful good reason to want this man dead without a fair trial. You see along with his own letter Arthur sent me a copy of his brother-in-law's letter of lament for not being there. Seeing as Mr. Verund there is the said uncle I just thought he should be removed from the panel."
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Zell paced the halls unable to sit still anymore. The waiting was bad enough but now that they had to replace a member it was taking even longer. Quistis had been doing a great job but Zell didn't know if it was good enough. Some of these people hated him for who he was and weren't going to change their mind.
"Mr. Dinct?"
Zell spun around to find a soldier standing at attention near the end of the hall. "Yes?"
"I was ordered to give you this." The solder approached and handed him a folded piece of paper. On it were scribbled instructions to come to the council chamber where all the members of the court currently were.
Nodding Zell looked up to thank the soldier but he was already gone. Frowning Zell proceeded down the winding halls to the council chamber. Noting the lack of guards at the door Zell knocked and the door immediately opened.
The council men were sitting around a table and Seifer was in the corner under guard. Every head instantly snapped to him and he instantly felt an awkward tension. Right before he was suddenly pushed into the room and the door shut firmly behind him.
"Thank you for joining us." A voice Zell recognized all to well filled the room.
Spinning around and retreating, Zell was instantly in a fighting stance. When his eyes fell on Ralhn holding a small sphere in one hand a detonator in the other, he stopped cold.
"What is the meaning of this?" One of the council members had leapt to their feet.
"This is what I like to think of as fun. If you wish to live your going to sit down and shut up. Or I could put you to sleep like the guards in the corner." Suddenly the two guards slumped to the ground and the man wisely sat down.
"I suppose I can explain myself if I must." With a flourishing gesture Rahln grabbed his briefcase off the floor and set it on the table near the door. Placing the spherical explosive down he opened it and pulled out a deck of cards. Tossing it on the council table he smiled. "But while I'm explaining shuffle."
Sitting on the next to the door he gestured at Zell. "See I'm stuck bound to this cute little blond here because of the Sorceress's magic. I'm supposed to kill him and have tried a couple of times. But you see he just isn't easy to kill."
"What does killing him have to do with us?"
"Good question. And the answer. Nothing. I just took and opportunity I saw and ran with it. Here are some of the most powerful men all gathered in one building. Your just asking for a terrorist attack."
Ralhn smirked and hopped off the desk. Plucking the deck of cards from Cid who had picked them up he set it on the table in front of him. "We're going to play a game now. I'm going to pick a card and you're all going to guess what it is. If Zell guesses it right then we all die in a fiery explosion. If any of you guess right you get to leave."
He picked up the first card and turned to Zell. "So what do you think it is?"
Gulping Zell prayed to Hyne that he would have the worst luck in guessing ever. "Two of diamonds."
"Nope. Next how about your little boyfriend?"
"Ten of spades."
Ralhn's eyes grew wide for a moment before he smirked again. "You got it right." He opened the door and stepped far away from it his finger firmly planted on the detonation button.
Seifer was out the door in a flash.
Closing the door and locking it Ralhn smiled at the remaining people. "Shall we continue?"
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Seifer sprinted towards the court room and burst through the door. "There's a crazy man with a bomb holding the panel members hostage!"
Instantly chaos erupted which was exactly what he'd wanted. Ducking through the crowd past the guards he was able to get to Squall.
"What's the situation?" Squall was in full commander mode radio already in hand.
"Like I said they're being held hostage. Including Zell. It's that crazy Ralhn guy that we should of gotten rid of."
Squall nodded before starting to shout orders in the radio and began stalking out of the room. Grabbing the commander's arm Seifer smiled and grabbed his gunblade. "I'll be borrowing this." With that Seifer ducked out, intent on saving his blond from a psycho.
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There you go. The next chapter is going to be the second to last and then I'll give a short epilogue.
Thanks to everyone who has continued reading this even though I'm a horrible updater.