The remainder of the day passed as a normal day could have passed. Seifer concluded the demolition of his caved-in roof and, as his guests assisted, was quite pleased with the progress that had been made. By total blackness, the house – its three walls standing proud – was again safe and very much inhabitable. There was a cot that had survived the storm and dried well and was presently offered to the lone female member of the small party. There was also a chest of drawers which, although quite crushed, protected its contents. So great things were expected and so was a higher degree of normality.

All of this was not much of a consolidation to Xu, however. Seifer was 6'2" and the smallest of his shirts fit her like a dress. She was a little girl playing dress-up once more. But it was worse for some Others, somewhere.

"'Morrow I'm going to the Garden. You know my locker's still there? I've been on enough missions for it to amount to something other than grades – eh, instructor? – and nonsensical crap. I was in that raid party .." Seifer trailed off and laughed under his breath.

"Troublemaker," muttered Xu.

"He's alright," interjected Zell. "I bet you a Guardian Force and a half the locker's full of porn." Then something dawned on him and he opened his eyes although there was nothing to be seen. "Is this the same crap you begged me to get for you before?" He emphasized the word 'begged' unintentionally.

Seifer ignored the slight. "One and only." Then, thoughtfully, "Tomorrow we get down to business. We have to arm ourselves properly. No more nice-fuck bullshit, fucking eating potato-chips here like a bunch of squatter rats. Zell," he was looking at the martial-artist although he could not see him, "When this is over –" he stopped abruptly.

Zell locked his hands behind his head and tried to find a star in the tarp of a sky. "When this is over, what?" he asked sleepily.

"Nothing. I'll tell you later."

Xu made a noise with her nose. "I'm not even listening," she said haughtily. Then she rolled over and, in a normal voice, added. "Do you think this has something to do with Cid?"

"What about Cid?" Zell's voice answered her.

"I just hear things .. I don't know." She yawned. "Doesn't matter."

"Go to sleep," ordered Seifer. As an afterthought, he added, "He should've had me lynched when he had the chance."

"Yeah, get some rest, tomorrow we'll see Hell," Zell said bitterly.

"It's worth it. You'll see," Seifer answered him, speaking lightly although there was nothing to be happy about and he knew that as well as he did the pain in his hands and the infection that would infest the bloodied mess of his palms if old medicine, the kind that existed before the magic, was found. He remembered it well. They used it still at prisons. "When I open up the cache and you shit all over your stolen tampons, then we'll see who was right."

"Idiot," mumbled Xu and turned over on her cot. "You can't shit on a tampon."

The men respected her authority on this matter and as there was nothing more to say regardless, silence resumed.

The morning was hot and humid and as unappealing as possible. If a single dog was still alive, it could be said that this particular morning was unfit even for it. All dogs were dead, however. That's just how it was.

The threesome, upon waking, concluded their supper of chips, soda, and candy-bars at breakfast. Fresh water was brought up from the well and a small flask that was found was filled with it.

"I only have one shoe," announced Xu as she looked through the items in the house. She flipped over all the fallen drywall. Some sheets had dead insects on them. There was broken glass beneath a lot of it so she stopped. She was exchanging determination for disappointment when a pair of worn, leather ankle-boots, small and in a ladies' cut, were dangled in front of her face. She accepted them, stared at them and then at her benefactor, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Save it," Seifer stopped her. "They were Fujin's. Not like she'll need them again." He knew she was dead without knowing.

Xu was only familiar with Fujin by name and reputation. The boots were a little loose, but fit regardless and were comfortable when walked in. She felt different in them, as if her body had been replaced with that of another. She was Fujin in a way. She wore a shirt and boots that were not her own. She wondered how often Fujin wore that same outfit and shuddered. She was glad she kept her skirt on and it was hers.

When Zell saw Xu he politely looked down as not to laugh.

"I know how it looks," she told him.

"If you ditch the shirt it'll look better," responded Zell a little too quickly and, having realized what he had said, apologized.

"You're not as innocent as everyone thinks," she threw back in a catty tone.

"Yeah," he scoffed, "I'm not a complete flake. Surprise."

"Ah, Hyne," Xu exhaled.

"Get going," Seifer interrupted the angst. He had on his old trench-coat. He rested his freshly-cleaned gunblade on his shoulder as he had done in the old days. It didn't matter that there were craters all around them and that nearby stood a house with only three walls and no roof. It didn't matter that there were catacombs full of SeeDs who lived and died for nothing in particular where the Garden once was. But with Seifer standing there, looking down at his companions with that same commanding gaze, just like he had done before the War and the Sorceress and Death and Hell, before all those entities combined into one cluster-fuck of Reality, it seemed better in a way. Somehow, in some way, that one moment when both Xu and Zell looked up and their breath caught in their throats, everything seemed better.

Note from the author: I can't update that often because I'm real busy with work (and school soon) and because I'm trying to think of an interesting plot rather than just rush through it. This story won't be about a slashy romance in the traditional sense ….. If the word "traditional" can be applied to something of a "slashy" nature. I'm not a romance writer as you can see if you look at my work at Fictionpress. But I'd like to make this a good fanfic regardless. I don't know how long this particular story will be because, although I have a basic plot outline in my head, I don't know how long it will take me to execute the telling of this tale. It may be quite long. I appreciate your reviews and look for them every day. I hope to gather a lot of them. Even if they're negative, please feel free to submit them – I am not one of those people who deletes bad reviews (I hate those people). Thank you for reading my work. Peace.