Blackness enveloped him and he could feel her golden eyes gaze into his very soul. She was no longer alive but he could still see her right in front of him, a regal beauty, with beautiful long silver hair shaped into horns, whatever skin her red velvet robe didn't conceal was covered in intricate tattoos. Her wicked smile penetrated his confidence. No matter what Seifer did to try and get rid of her, her influence lingered, begging him to join her in eternal darkness. He blinked, hard; and the apparition was gone, the hum of the Ragnarok's engine greeting his ears and the light invigorating his senses, easing his anxiety. The bulk of the ride was enjoyed in silence, most of the crew exhausted from the court proceedings in Esthar, all choosing not to talk about it until they got back to Garden.

Seifer sat beside Edea who would every so often attempt to console him, as if she knew all about the inner turmoil he was feeling in his heart, but he could not bear to look her in the face, the elegant woman's eyes shared the same colour as her and he couldn't stand it.

"My child," She spoke softly, motherly, like the Matron he remembered from his days at the orphanage. "It is not easy to break away knowing her power still lingers." She paused for a moment, gently placing a hand on his knee which in turn caused him to turn his head away slightly, avoiding her worried stare, "Cid gave you this chance because he knows who you really are, the man that you can be. Please remember that."

"Remember that when you throw another woman in front of a Sorceress with an insane lust for power, won't you?" Rinoa interjected from the other side of the cockpit; Seifer barely remembered what happened when he took her to be absorbed by Sorceress Adel, but he vividly remembers the girl's agonizing screams as she was forced into Adel's body. Because, coincidentally it was that very moment Ultimecia broke her hold on him, leaving the confused knight to burn that scene into his eternal memory.

Seifer glared at the teen who was giving him an equally as dirty stare, refusing to back down. The young Sorceress has yet to forgive him for something that was completely out of his control. No matter how many times he tried to apologise to Rinoa, she just wouldn't accept it, playing it off as a pitiful attempt to get her back. As far as he was concerned, Squall could have her, he didn't feel that way about her any more. He was about to respond when another member of the party had spoken up first.

"Rinoa, come on. You know as well as we do that Seifer was completely out of it when that happened, yeah?" Zell spoke, attempting to diffuse the situation. That completely surprised Seifer, the chicken-wuss was actually standing up for him against one of his own friends.

"That's what he 'tells' us Zell. We don't know when Ultimecia ditched his sorry butt and left him for dead, maybe he did it because I decided Squall was to be my knight instead of him." Seifer's anger was reaching boiling point. He had no time to put up with her self indulgent bullshit, but here he was again, listening to her rattle off her delusions being created purely by her overactive imagination. He could see from the corner of his eye that Squall was suffering his embarrassment in silence, pinching the bridge of his nose. She was acting like a brat, humiliating those around her that she called friends.

"I have tried to apologise to you time and again for what she made me do to you, but you completely refuse to listen!" He growled through gritted teeth. He felt a reassuring squeeze on his knee from Edea, taking a deep breath he closed his eyes to try and calm down. As he slowly opened his eyes to look at Rinoa, she was there again, this time smiling at him warmly from behind the oblivious girl, the apparition was feigning caressing Rinoa's cheek and fiddling with her necklace, whispering sweet nothing in her ear that no one would ever hear.

"N-no." He murmured, all around him could see the fear suddenly appear in his eyes, the once tense atmosphere turning thick with gloom as he buried his head between his legs to escape her gaze, he couldn't let her win, but there was not much else he could do. He was even too frightened to speak that wicked woman's name, he feared if he acknowledged her existence she would come back for him, knowing full well that it would never happen. She was gone, Squall killed her.

"I think that's quite enough for now Rinoa, please avoid causing Seifer any more stress than he really needs at this moment." Edea said sternly and Rinoa instantly backed off with a loud 'humph'. Edea returned to comforting Seifer who was shaking with anxiety, the others with looks of concern adorning their features (except Rinoa who stayed with a sour look, arms crossed). Cid let out a deep sigh, drawing the attention of his SeeDs.

"It's fine if you don't trust the boy right now. The wounds are still quite fresh." He walked past each and every one of his mercenaries; Squall, Selphie, Zell, Quistis, his non SeeD sharpshooter Irvine and finally stopped at Rinoa. "But if you do not allow even one inch of forgiveness, then the twelve months may as well end tomorrow!" Rinoa's features finally softened, even though he couldn't see it, Seifer could still feel her gaze on him and it didn't make him feel any better. They were all giving him pity and he hated it, being called a boy, being stood up for. He could very well look after himself, he thought, but in the very back of his mind he knew that wasn't true, he was barely coping. He refused to acknowledge it, everyone would think he was still a child, weak, after everything that had happened he still needed to look strong, if not for himself, then for the young woman that he presumes is waiting for his arrival to Garden, he couldn't have her worry about him as well.
Seifer frowned at that thought. Was Dios still there? Was she okay? He lifted his head up and looked at Cid who was smiling, adoring his wife. The apparition thankfully gone again.

"Sir?"

"Yes Seifer?"

"I've been wondering." He began quietly, as though if he tried to speak any louder, he would completely crack. "I've been thinking about – is she – is Dios?"

"Oh!" Cid exclaimed, a hint of glee in his eyes, "She is perfectly fine my boy! Working hard for Dr. Kadowaki as per usual. Even studying hard, her SeeD level is already up to level twenty five, such a bright girl, a wonderful asset to Garden and SeeD. I'm sure she will be happy to finally see you again." That reassured him slightly, but he wasn't too sure if Dios would be one hundred percent happy to see him. Whilst he wrote to Raijin and Fujin every so often, he could never find the right words to say to her, no matter how hard he tried, the papers would always end up angrily thrown in the nearest bin. The last time he saw his best friend was at the SeeD ball and they had danced quite stupidly after Rinoa had left with Cid to finalise the mission contract the wanted. The poor girl was a whole foot shorter than him, so doing the traditional waltz just wouldn't cut it; instead they opted to seclude themselves in a bare corner of the ballroom to make twits of themselves, her feet standing on top of his as they awkwardly danced along to the music. They made Raijin and Fujin laugh at them until it was time to bid each other a good night.

Acknowledging Cid's answer with a nod, he turned his head to look out the window. He saw a familiar figure in the distance; Garden, home. The others followed his gaze, the sight welcoming to all inhabitants of the cockpit; they were more than ready to be on land once again.

"Now that we are almost back; I have a few words to say." Cid motioned all to sit, except Selphie who was on the pilot's seat, preparing the landing sequence. He stood beside her so she could hear him clearly as he spoke to everyone else. "It will be about five-thirty AM when we arrive back at Garden. At this time the foyers and entrance should be empty of all students, operatives and faculty which gives us the perfect time to get Seifer up to my office without incident. He will be allowed to rest there whilst we prepare his old room for him. This afternoon I will require a volunteer to take him to the Infirmary with me for his re-admittance physical for safety's sake. Any takers?" Seifer glances around the cockpit to see the SeeDs all look at each other, communicating, their eyes showing that they were silently discussing their plan, all in sync with each other. They had come to an agreement and to Seifer's surprise Squall lifted his hand. "Very good Squall! Since you have offered yourself up, I assume I can entrust you, a fellow Gunblade specialist to take care of Seifer's Hyperion as well?"

"Of course Headmaster." Wait what?!

"What?!" Seifer objected. Hyperion was his weapon, his baby. Why the hell was Squall taking it? "I was not told about this! How the hell do you expect me to get anywhere without my Gunblade?!" He was fuming, enraged that she was being taken from him without his permission. He was about to go on a complete tirade about that being a completely stupid idea but Cid stopped him before he could get another word out.

"You will get her back in due time. You must earn the right to use her again. I am confident in your abilities Seifer, surely it won't take you long to regain my confidence in you?" Earn the rights to Hyperion again. Easy, Seifer thought, slowly calming back down but still slightly anxious of the thought of being without his trusted blade. He tried to remember the last time he was without her. Maybe it was when he spent days by Dios' side after the rescue mission, waiting for the severely wounded girl to wake up. Dr. Kadowaki was always adamant that weapons were not to be brought into patient rooms under any circumstance; fights were to stay well away from the infirmary lest she finished it, and she would finish it well.

The cockpit was filled with Selphie's sudden squeals of delight, pointing out it was time to land. Cid took his place on the other side of Edea and buckled himself in, instructing the others to do so as well. As this was Seifer's first time on the Ragnarok he had no idea what to expect from the landing; was it as smooth as the takeoff? Or was it going to be bumpy and uncomfortable? He gripped the armrests in the anticipation of the unknown, relieved when the airship descended smoothly onto the luscious Balamb fields below that surrounded Garden, and then the engines came to a complete stop. It was time to disembark.

The cool, salty draft of the the Balamb sea air was a welcome change to Seifer's senses as he watched the rest of the crew disembark. In true gentlemanly style; Cid assisted his wife down the ramp, taking pride in the time he was finally able to spend with his true love. It was still quite dark out so Garden stood out, illuminated by the ancient Centran technology pulsing in its very core. It suddenly looked bigger to Seifer, intimidating even, almost like an obstacle impossible to pass, but he has to fight it; his life was on the line and everyone knew it. Garden was just one of those demons he had to face head on. He felt a hand on his back, beckoning him towards the entrance; it was the cowboy, Irvine.

"Come on mate, it's now or never." With a new found vigor from the man's friendly gesture, he shrugged Irvine's hand away and flashed him a cocky smirk.

"I got this." He wasn't sure how long this feeling would last, but if it was going to help him walk into Garden without incident, he was going to take full advantage of it.

They walked into the silent Garden, only the sounds of running water echoed through the main entrance as they made their way to the elevator in the middle of the rounded foyer. Seifer swore he heard a different set of footsteps but their own, but no one else had reacted so he thought nothing of it, yet there was a nagging thought at the back of his mind that he was forgetting something important.

The group heard the elevator softly ding as its doors opened and they piled in in an orderly fashion. As they door closed and the elevator began ascending Seifer turned to face the way they came from, spotting a dark figure passing by below. It looked like it stopped to watch the elevator and it suddenly hit him. There was always someone out in the foyer at exactly five-thirty every morning to do their routine laps without fail and he would occasionally join them.

That figure looking up into the rising elevator was Dios, she knows he's back.