"I'm glad I fucked Rinoa before that sap got a go at her. No matter what happened, he had my sloppy seconds. Second-hand pussy .. Makes my day a little better each time I think about it. You should see this slut, the shit she would do," Seifer was speaking solely to Zell, who, not yet heard much of Rinoa's history in this light, appeared completely enthralled by it.
Xu tuned them out as Rinoa's anatomy was deconstructed in crude detail. "Shut the fuck up," she checked her companions after some time. They reached the ruins of the Balamb Garden with the air of mutual hostility.
Far from the trio, on another battered slab of land, fifty foot waves smashed against the rock cliffs that were once Tears' Point in the Abadan Plains. This is where the first stones of hail were cast. This is where the first man, woman, child, and animal fell. Above the waves and rocks and nothingness stood a gaggle of survivors. They were throwing bodies into the waves. They were stripping them first, to economize. One of them, a young boy with short, dark hair, was wielding a sledgehammer. He was crushing the faces so they, should they wash ashore, would be unidentifiable. No one needed more memories. No one wanted them. The boy was sweating and cursing profusely – the sledgehammer weighed nearly as his slim form did. He kicked a body he once knew – two rings dangling against its pale chest -- into the waves and watched it disappear. He wiped his forehead with a bloody hand. Around his neck hung a silver pendant; a lion on a cross.
Back in the land of the living nothing was known about the Plains or the funerals. No funerals were to take there yet. Seifer, Zell, and Xu walked into Balamb Garden unhindered. They paid the corpses no notice.
Seifer did not remember the Garden too well and it was some time before he could orient himself. In his thoughts, over the trials and the solitary months, he thought about it often. But his memories were becoming corrupted and the Garden of his mind was no longer the Garden of reality. But then the Garden of reality was no longer the Garden of anyone's mind. Somehow, it all fit.
The locker was not a locker but a barracks box. A large one, big enough to fit a small vehicle; a motorbike maybe. It was once used for imagery equipment and was metal, with large iron loops through which bars could be inserted for mobility-sakes. It had a biometric lock. It was not magic.
"This better be good," warned Zell and stood aside. He had helped Seifer clear the rubble off the container and now, his body sporting many cuts and scratches, was getting both anxious and annoyed. Waiting was not his forte.
"It's good, it's good," promised Seifer and took off his glove. Xu, who stood nearby, winced as she saw his palm. She had not seen it yet.
This was an exciting moment, under the circumstances. The lid opened. "I didn't steal any of this," Seifer said before touching anything inside. "So you know." It was covered with a crushed military tarp – a shelter half. The tarp was dusty but dry. Underneath the tarp all was still, gleaming with mystery. Seifer removed the covering and threw it aside. Beneath it was military equipment, the old kind, the kind that worked without magics and needed no draw sources or GFs.
Seifer picked up each handgun, rifle and grenade in silence and set it aside carefully, as if it was a newborn kitten, although there were no newborn kittens anymore. On the bottom, carefully arranged, was a black, metal cube.
"This," Seifer picked it up. He held it up to his face as to examine it better, "Is a Time Decompressor. If Ultimecia actually got her shit in order and succeeded, I'd go back." He laughed and looked Xu in the eye. "With this, I can go back and fuck Quistis up the ass in the Fire Cavern with no consequences save for a sore dick for fucking such a tightass."
Xu laughed although it was inappropriate for her to do so but then Zell interrupted:
"So the storm can happen all over, so what?"
"No," Seifer responded. He flicked something on the cube and the top of it opened. It was just a metal box, spray-painted black. "It splits the timeline. You go back far enough, you can change anything."
"Not here, in the other timeline. My ma still has to fucking drown alone in her house." Zell's voice was like the ice that had shattered the planet only days prior. "You've wasted our time, Seifer."
Xu was staring at the box. She was beginning to understand.
"No, I told you," Seifer took out a black joystick-like tool from the container. Through the side of it a purple liquid glowed and changed to a deep blue. It was not magic, only chemistry and a trick of the light. Seifer lightly brushed the rows of buttons on the joystick's side with his finger. "This isn't a miracle. It's a key to our survival, if need-be." He didn't say 'my'. He thought himself right but he was wrong. He himself was the only time key to their survival.
He took off his jacket and t-shirt and Xu was surprised to see that the cross that adorned his sleeves was tattooed on his back, its points spreading over his wide shoulder blades like wings. Zell had seen it already.
"Look all you want, instructor," Seifer winked at Xu. He made her curiosity seem perverted even to her.
Inside the locker were rolls of green gun tape. Seifer picked one up. "I die, you die," he spoke prophetic words to Xu without realizing the truth in them. Zell didn't need a warning – he would not waver. Seifer taped the weapon to his chest, over his heart. He slipped his nauseating, yellow t-shirt on and a bulletproof vest – worn and used – over it. It had come from the Galabadian army. "But should I croak and it's still intact, you take it. I'll brief you later."
Zell nodded. Xu pursed her lips and, insulted, said nothing. She picked up a rifle instead. A rusted magazine was in it. She liked its weight.
She unloaded the rifle and ran through the safety procedure; cocking it twice, engaging the bolt catch, inspecting the chamber. She stuck her pinkie in the little bed where the round would lay. There was carbon in it. "It needs a cleaning," she said to no one in particular as no one was listening. She looked at her finger again, frowned, released the bolt catch, pressed the trigger, closed the ejection port, and reloaded with a new magazine. As a good SeeD, she knew the drills. Later this year she would have taught them but now her students were dead and she had no one to teach anything to. She did not signify to her companions and she knew it well.
They took from the cache everything that was of value.
"Are there any all-terrains left?" asked Seifer, pointing at where the garage once stood.
"It's a tomb down there," Zell shook his head in a way that made his bangs dance. "There's nothing." He adjusted the body armor and tack-vest he wore. On his hip hung a large knife, the kind hunters carry. When they were kids Seifer threatened him with it, he recalled. It was only three years ago, in reality, but it felt like a decade.
On the other side of the world the strange boy stripped and kicked the last body off the cliff. The rocks below were red and white for a moment from where the split heads landed upon them. And then the waves would claim the victims and it was all calm and clear again.
The boy turned around with a determined look. "Hey boss, give me my rations or you do the next batch yous'self!" he called to a group of scraggly men gathered around a boiling pot with chunks of meat floating in it. No one asked what the meat was – they only knew it was meat. The boy joined the men, spitting out the blood that had seeped into his mouth along with the sweat. His face was once delicate and that delicacy still shone through, although dimmed severely. He took the bowl that was given to him. The men let him sit without hassle.
"Too bad there's no gin, aye?" said the boy and began eating his supper, more satisfied with himself than he has ever been in his previous life.
Note from the author: I'm sorry this update took so long. I'm working crazy hours … Just to give you a sample, this Friday I worked 8am to midnight, then Saturday 8:30 am to 8:30pm ….. It goes on like that pretty much with school in there as well. I will try to update more regularly as my schedule stabilizes and I hope you stay with my story and keep reading. Thank you all.