After stepping off the ramp, the trio shuffled down the path towards Trabia Garden. It was cold, as per usual, but to make matters worse, the wind was howling through the mountains, kicking up flurries of snow from the ground. Seifer's leather jacket did little to obscure the wind—plus, he'd forgotten to zip it up before leaving the shelter of the Ragnarok—and he had a permanent scowl on his face until the very second they walked into the covered archway that marked the entrance to the Garden.
As they walked down the long hallway towards the gates, Seifer studied the back of Selphie's head. Being here in Trabia and seeing the damage firsthand seemed to have mitigated her eternal cheerfulness, but there was still an extra bounce to her steps that he didn't think would ever go away. It was just the way she seemed to be all the time. Of course, now that she'd actually let herself feel, he knew that wasn't entirely the truth. He wondered how many of the others, if any of them at all, knew that little secret she held close to her chest.
A few seconds later, the other guy piped up beside him. "You know, I don't really like the cold, but it's not at the top of my most hated list. I think it's just because I'm rarely in cold environments, that whenever I come back, it seems worse than the last time. I mean, I grew up in Balamb, and then we were in Esthar for awhile, so . . . It's kind of a nice change, though!" He trailed off, shrugging out of his gigantic coat before draping it over his arm.
Selphie didn't even look back over her shoulder at him or acknowledge that he'd spoken, just kept walking forward. An awkward, tense silence filled the space between the trio, and Seifer looked sidelong at him. As the seconds continued to tick by, the other guy's expression gradually fell into a discouraged pout.
Eventually, Seifer got fed up with the silence. In a feigned, disinterested tone, he said, "Oh, yeah?"
It was a complete cop out as far as conversation starters went, but Hyne, who could stand that kicked puppy look? How in the hell had Selphie survived being around his mopey ass for ten years?
As predicted, the guy's face lit up and he faced Seifer with a wide grin. "Yeah! I mean, it was great here, don't get me wrong—everyone in this Garden is extremely nice. But I much prefer it in Balamb. It's just the perfect temperature, and it's home. You—"
He was interrupted by Selphie pivoting on her heel when they reached the gates, and announcing, "Weeeell, this is it. Welcome to Trabia Garden." She finished with a dramatic sweep of her arm to the side.
Trabia Garden's main lobby was entirely different from Balamb Garden's. There was no fountain or hallways leading out from the center, like the spokes of a wheel. Instead, there was a massive tree directly in the center of the circular room. Up above them, the entire ceiling was glass, allowing the sun's rays to filter in and give the room a bright, natural glow.
Seifer's gaze traveled back down and he noted that, for having just been attacked, the lobby seemed awfully pristine. They must've had someone clean up, and he couldn't help but feel irritated at that. What if they'd inadvertently gotten rid of important evidence?
As he was admiring the decor, Selphie was staring ahead at the tree with a softness in her eyes that he'd yet to see before. When no one said anything for a few seconds, she cleared her throat and pointed up at the tree.
In a quiet voice, she explained, "The tree is new. We actually used to have a fountain like Balamb—but it was much smaller—and this room was all open. But when we all pitched in and rebuilt Trabia, we . . . we said the tree would kind of be us—it would grow, and be nurtured, and one day, it would be great again." She craned her neck back and stared up at the canopy of leaves. "I think it all worked out."
Seifer could hear the pride in her voice, and noted the slight tremble at the very end of her sentence. She was proud, yes, but Trabia had been attacked again. That was no small thing, not for her or anyone else here, and he clenched his fist at his side. Had this been what he'd destroyed all those years ago? This . . . this sense of home, and belonging, this love that each one of these cadets felt for this place? Disgusted with himself, and angry at Sanctus, he fought to swallow the thick lump in his throat, unable to form a response to her emotional remark.
Beside him, the other guy said, "Yeah, I think it did."
Selphie smiled at that—the tiniest flash of happiness—before facing them again. "So, I can either give you the tour now, or we can go straight to the—" She paused in mid-sentence, dropping her gaze for a second, before she looked back up. "—to the headmistress' office. What do you guys wanna do?"
"Well," the other guy began, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was here with you, so I don't really need a tour. I think we should—"
Seifer glanced up at what he suspected was the skeleton of the office, and looked back down at Selphie. Interrupting the other guy, he stepped up and said, "Office. Why waste time when we can just get right to it?"
Selphie nodded, a single, firm motion. "Got it! Follow me!"
She twirled around once more and led them through the entrance gates. They made their way across the lobby towards the elevator, and periodically, Selphie would wave at one of the few students who were milling about. He wondered just how many students she was familiar with on a personal level. She seemed like the type who would go out of her way to get to know each cadet, especially on a first-name basis. Hyne, when he was still a cadet, he could've cared less about his peers' names, except for when he was sending them off to detention.
Guess that hasn't really changed, either.
The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival, and the trio ambled into the cramped quarters. After entering a security code into the number pad, Selphie pressed the only other button on the panel. After the doors slid shut with a slight hiss, they were shooting upwards towards the second floor. It was silent in the elevator, aside from muted piano music that was coming from the overhead speakers. A few seconds later, the doors slid open again and they all traipsed out.
From up here, the damage was significantly more noticeable. Like Balamb, the elevator opened up directly to the anterior room—essentially what served as the secretary's office. Strewn about, all across the carpet, were chunks of drywall and shards of glass. Other pieces of debris were scattered throughout the room, obscuring what little of the carpet wasn't already covered, and Seifer grit his teeth at the sight. If Sanctus' goal had been to create chaos and spread death and destruction, they had succeeded.
In the center of the room, a woman with shoulder-length, curly blonde hair was crouched down, frowning at something that looked like a piece of wall decor. At the sound of their footsteps, she glanced up with her frown still permanently in place, until she saw Selphie.
With a gasp, she exclaimed, "Oh, Hyne! Is that really you, Selphie?"
Upon recognizing the woman, Selphie's face lit up. "Mira!" She bolted towards the woman, and when she reached her, she dove in for a hug, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck. "I'm so so so glad you're okay!"
The two of them erupted into joyous laughter, tinged with a hint of relief, and Seifer crossed his arms as he watched them with the slightest upturn of his lips. Beside him, the other guy chuckled, and Seifer glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.
Damn it, what was his name again? "Hey," he said, staring intently at the guy until he faced him. "Who's she?"
"Mira? She and Selphie have been friends since they were, oh, maybe eleven? Mira was also the Headmistress' assistant."
"Huh. So she might know something about what happened."
The guy tilted his head to the side, deep in thought. "Yeah . . . probably. It's any wonder how she survived the blast, though. Her desk is all the way over there," he noted, pointing to the other side of the room.
The desk in question had flipped over during the blast and was now resting on its top—one of the corners had been completely blown off. From the way the double doors leading to the interior office looked, Mira's desk must've been situated just in front of the doors and slightly off to the side to be thrown in that particular direction.
When he faced forward again, he saw that Selphie and Mira were having an animated conversation, though it didn't appear to be about anything happy. Tears were welling in Mira's eyes, and Selphie reached up to rub her friend's upper arm.
With an impatient sigh, Seifer approached them. "Hey, Selphie, I hate to ruin your guys' reunion but—"
"But we should start looking around," Selphie finished for him, glancing back at him before looking at Mira again. "Mira, this is . . . he's a friend of mine from Balamb."
Mira rolled her eyes at Selphie before shooting a thinly veiled look of mistrust in Seifer's direction. "We watched the news during the war, Selphie. Do you think I could forget the guy who destroyed everything we loved the first time around?"
Seifer and Selphie both cringed in unison, and Selphie dropped her gaze to the floor. A few seconds later, she clasped her hands behind her back and met Mira's gaze again. "I know it's complicated, but I promise he's here to help this time. I wouldn't have brought him if I didn't trust him."
Mira crossed her arms as she held Selphie's gaze. Finally, she conceded with a sigh and looked up at Seifer. "If Selphie trusts you, then I won't fight her. But it doesn't mean that I trust you, too."
"Fair enough," he replied, turning away to look around the room. "Has anyone else been up here besides you?"
"No. There are only a select few, besides me and Selphie—and of course, Luna—who knew the code. But I'm the first person that's been up here since . . . since it happened."
"Were you the one who cleaned up the mess in the lobby, too?" he questioned.
Mira narrowed her eyes at him. "You're making it sound like I'm being interrogated. Are you questioning me?"
Selphie stepped up with her hands held out in front of her. "Of course he isn't interrogating you! Are you, Seifer?" she asked derisively, with a heated look in his direction.
He sighed and shook his head. "No, I'm not questioning anybody." Yet. "I was just asking 'cuz you might've thrown away something useful."
This time, Mira was the one who shook her head. "I doubt it. It was all basically rubble. I'm sorry that we couldn't leave it, but . . . there was just no way I could. There was glass all over the ground, and in addition to being unsafe, it—everyone here who was present during the war kind of just . . . it brings up bad memories. So we cleaned it up pretty quickly. But I ordered the crew to leave this floor untouched. I figured whoever came to investigate would want it to stay the way it was just after the explosion."
Selphie piped up. "That's exactly what we want, so thanks, Mira. Have you found anything yet?"
"I haven't really touched anything," Mira explained as she looked around. "I just came up here to—I don't really know why I came up here. I know that Luna's gone, but I guess . . . it was just out of habit. I'm so used to coming up here first thing in the morning and getting my day started, you know?"
Mira's voice trembled, and Selphie stepped up to hug her friend. Seifer jerked his chin at the upturned desk. "That was your desk, right?"
With a sniffle, Mira pulled back from Selphie. "Y-yeah, it was."
"Where was it before the bomb went off?"
She walked over to a spot that had less debris than the rest of the room and tapped her foot. "Right here."
"Okay. We're gonna keep lookin' around, but if we need you . . . ?"
"Have Selphie call me. She has my number. I'll probably stop by and check in with security before I head to my dorm."
The trio nodded and Mira offered a hesitant smile in Selphie's direction before she headed towards the elevator. Just after she pressed the call button, Seifer remembered something and turned around.
"Uh, hey?" he called out.
Mira started and looked back over her shoulder at him, a silent question in her eyes. Selphie looked over at Seifer with her brow furrowed in confusion. He ignored her for now, and asked, "You said a 'select few' have the code to the second floor?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we get that list?"
"Oh, yeah, of course. I'll get it from security and bring it up to you."
Without another word, Seifer turned back around and trudged through the debris towards the desk, trying his hardest not to move anything too much. When he reached the desk, he crouched down, inspecting the corner that had been blown off.
Selphie joined him a few seconds later, and bent over at the waist to stare at whatever it was he was looking at. "See somethin'?"
"Not yet."
"Oh."
She leaned forward a bit more and her hair fell over her shoulder, tickling the side of his face. He let out an annoyed grunt and glared over his shoulder her. "And I won't be able to find anything if you're hovering over me. It's a big office, Tilmitt. Go find something else to stare at."
She wrinkled her nose in offense and straightened, before joining the other guy on the opposite end of the office. Seifer watched her walk away for a few seconds, his expression neutral. When she sidled up to the other guy and they both stared up at a black, chalky stain on the wall, he looked back at the desk.
He'd been rude, and he was perfectly aware of that, but now wasn't the time for touchy-feely confessions. Their conversation in Balamb Garden's library the night before had left him . . . disoriented. She'd cried in front of him before, at the orphanage, but it had been different then. It had been about Trabia, and their past, and all of the shit he'd done to a lot of different people. It had been . . . justified. He knew that he'd deserved it, and so he'd let it happen.
The night before, on the other hand, had been Selphie . . . confiding in him? She'd opened up with little to no provocation, had started blubbering about her feelings, and then expected him to say something in return.
Seifer sighed as he rose to his feet and braced himself, grabbing the lip of the desk to flip it back over. Maybe it was a bit unfair to say that she'd spilled her guts without any provocation—that wasn't entirely the truth. He had asked what was wrong with her, though it had been driven more by confusion and incredulity than concern. It also wasn't fair to say that she'd expected him to say something in return. At the end of her emotional tirade, she'd apologized and left the rest of the night up to him, gave him an opening to walk away, so to speak.
He'd chosen not to. Why? Why did he stick around? Had he wanted to stick around?
With the investigation of Trabia Garden going on, he didn't want to be bogged down with questions about emotional shit. So, even though he'd felt like a dick for pushing Selphie away, he needed some space—space to focus on what was in front of him, and to try to put his rampant thoughts to rest.
With the desk finally back on its legs—three now, not four—he reached down and pulled the top drawer out. There wasn't much in it: a few pencils and pens, a notepad, a ruler. He closed it, disinterested, and pulled the next drawer open. Again, there wasn't much inside. Nothing seemed to raise any flags, so he closed that drawer, too.
Seifer reached for the third and last drawer, and frowned when he discovered that it was locked. "Hey, Selphie!" he called out, turning around to look for her.
She and the other guy were now standing where Mira's desk used to be, and she looked up sharply at Seifer's voice. "Yeah?"
"Come here."
It took her a little while to maneuver through the debris, but when she stood right next to him, she looked down at the desk. "Found something?"
"No, not yet. The last drawer is locked. Happen to know where she kept her key?"
Selphie pursed her lips. "I've never bothered to ask her, and it's been a few years since I've been here on the daily. Why do you wanna get in there?"
"We're supposed to be checking everything in the office, yeah?"
"Well, sure, but . . . this is Mira's desk, isn't it?" She stared up at him with wide eyes, and Seifer broke eye contact, unsure of what to say to that.
"Yeah, it is."
"So . . . it should be okay."
"And I'm sure it is. But we won't know that until we can look inside the drawer, yeah?"
She frowned, and he moved to reach out to her before stopping himself in mid-air. His arm fell back to his side. "Look, I'm sure she's clean. But we're supposed to be findin' clues, and we're kind of on a time crunch before Sanctus makes their next move. The faster I get into this drawer and make sure your friend is good, the faster we can move on. You're a SeeD. You've gotta know that's the case."
Her head dropped ever-so-slightly, before she straightened and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I know you're right. I was just—" She broke off to take a deep breath, and on the exhale, she turned around. "Hey, Nida! Come here a sec?"
Nida, that's his name. Fuck, it shouldn't be that hard to remember.
Nida jogged over to join them and Selphie pointed at the drawer. "Think you can open this?"
"Do you specialize in picking locks?" Seifer asked with a raised eyebrow, his voice full of doubt.
"Yeah, I spent a whole semester with Instructor Aki on the 'art of lockpicking'—or at least, that's what he called it. I got a certification when I made SeeD."
"You did?" Selphie asked, leaning back in surprise.
"I thought you knew that," Nida said as he crouched down in front of the drawer. From his inner breast pocket, he pulled out a small kit that contained various tools, some with teeth, some without, and flipped through the options until he settled on one. He fiddled around in the tiny lock for a few seconds until a click was heard. "There! Got it!"
"Huh," Seifer mumbled, actually impressed, though he'd never verbalise it. "How about that?"
"Yeah, it was no problem!" Nida said with a small wave of his hand. He scurried back over to the other end of the office, leaving Selphie and Seifer at the desk.
The two of them stood there, staring at the drawer in silence. Neither one seemed to want to be the one who opened it, but they both knew it had to happen. A few tense seconds later, Seifer finally bent over and muttered, "What the hell," before yanking it open.
To his surprise, the drawer was an absolute mess. The other two had been relatively organized, though thrown into disarray when the desk had flipped over. Most assistants or secretaries seemed to be relatively organized, or at least, that had always been his impression of them. This drawer was the farthest thing from what he'd expected it to be.
"Woah . . . uh," Selphie said as she crouched down beside the open drawer. She stuck her hand into the chaotic mess, shifting some papers around in an attempt to find a good starting place. "She's not usually this disorganized?"
"Are you asking me that?"
"Huh?" She looked up at him sharply, her mouth hanging slightly open.
"You made it sound like a question. Never mind," he said, joining her on the ground. "You know what? Let's just—" He pulled the drawer completely out and got to his feet, dumping the contents out on the top of the desk. "You can take that half."
Selphie shuffled to the opposite end of the desk, shaking her head in disbelief. "How did she ever find anything in this?"
"I'm gonna guess she didn't look in this drawer much. I mean, shit, how could anyone find anything in this mess."
"Good point."
They fell silent, both of them concentrating on sorting through the contents of the drawer. Seifer placed each loose leaf of paper in a separate pile, and put random odds and ends in other smaller piles above where he was working. There was a plastic-sleeved planner resting on top of another pile of papers, and he set it aside for later. Once he'd moved it, he glanced back at the larger pile and furrowed his brow when he noticed that the planner had been covering a small, velvet box.
"The hell?" he mumbled. After setting the journal aside, he grabbed the box and shook it. Something tiny shuffled around inside it—an earring, or something?
When he opened it, he realized it was a pin, not an earring. It was of a crest that looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen it before. One edge of the symbol was curved, and the center of the crest had a long, curled line that ended in an upward swipe. He tilted his head to the side before straightening it once more. Eventually, he gave up on trying to figure it out and looked up at Selphie.
"Does your friend wear a lot of pins?"
She looked up from the paper she'd been reading, eyes wide with confusion. "Pins?"
"Yeah, like this one." He held it up, pinched between his thumb and his forefinger.
Selphie narrowed her eyes as she tried to see from across the table. With a huff, she set the paper down and walked over to stand beside him. After peering at it for a second, she reached up and grabbed it from him. "I've seen this before . . ."
"Yeah, so have I, but I can't remember where."
She continued to stare it for a few seconds, turning it one way, and then the other, before she dropped her hand. "Ugh, I can't remember. Save it? We can ask Mira about it later."
"Nah, I'll hang onto it. I can just look it up," Seifer offered, placing the pin back into its box and stuffing it into his pocket.
She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything else, just walked back over to the other end of the desk. "I don't see anything in my pile that's worth asking about."
"Yeah, pin aside, I don't either. Let's go see how . . . he's doing," he suggested, tilting his chin in the other guy's direction.
"Nida?"
"That's what I said."
"You—" Selphie broke off with an amused shake of her head. "Yeah, let's go ask him."
They traipsed across the room together and approached Nida, who was back to studying the black mark on the wall. He was pointing at it, and drawing lines in the air with his finger as he turned around, facing the doors to the interior office before looking back at the wall.
"You onto something?" Selphie questioned.
"I think . . . I think if the desk was here—" He hopped over to the relatively clear spot on the floor where Mira had said her desk had been before the blast. "—and that mark is there . . ."
"I take it that's a yes," Seifer mumbled, crossing his arms as he watched Nida move around the room. In a louder voice, he asked, "Are you an explosives expert, too?"
"Ooh, no! That would be me," Selphie piped up.
Nida went to speak, but Seifer turned away from him and faced Selphie instead. "Oh, that's right. Why does that not surprise me?"
She let out a sheepish chuckle, before pivoting on her heel and making her way towards the door. "I think I'm gonna go ask the security guys that Mira mentioned for that list of people who have the code. She said she was gonna bring it back, but she never did."
"I'm sure she got hung up somewhere," he replied, watching Nida as he worked.
Leaning around Seifer, Nida called out, "I can investigate the office! I think I might have found a lead anyway, and I want to make sure that I get all the evidence I need. Selphie, you should probably look at it, too."
"Yeah, I'll be right back! I'm just gonna grab the list!" she called out over her shoulder.
Before either of them could protest, she stepped into the elevator with a tiny wave, and the doors slid shut. Nida walked away, presumably heading for the interior office, but Seifer remained in place, staring at the elevator doors.
He couldn't get the symbol on the pin out of his head, and it was starting to drive him crazy. He knew that he'd seen it before, but no matter how much he tried to rack his memories, he couldn't figure it out. Selphie wanted to ask Mira outright, and in any other situation, he'd agree that that was the most sensible course of action. It was her pin, found in her desk—wouldn't she know the answer? But he couldn't help but feel like that was a bad idea. Selphie trusted her friend beyond a doubt, and he could understand that, but this was an investigation. Shouldn't they leave all avenues open?
Eventually, he followed Nida's path into the interior office—or what little was left of it. The center of the room had sunken in slightly, and most of the concrete that had formed the foundation of the second floor had cracks running through it. Around the epicenter, the same chalky black powder that had been on the wall in the outer office coated the floor.
When he stepped farther into the room, Nida's voice called out to him from his right. "Hey, watch your step. The center of the room isn't very stable right now."
"Yeah, I gathered that," Seifer replied, his gaze trained on the small crater. "Find anything yet?"
"Well, I haven't been looking very long, but . . . so the Headmistress—Luna—had her desk right where the explosion originated," Nida explained, pointing at the sunken floor. "When it occurred, the desk was blown off the floor and flew back, out the glass window, and down into the lobby."
"Shit."
"Yeah, I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying that must've been for anyone downstairs." They fell silent, and Nida cleared his throat before he continued. "Anyway, Luna had to have been sitting at her desk when the explosion happened."
"Double shit. So . . . did she—I mean . . ."
"Mira probably had the crew remove her . . . remains . . . before we got here."
"At least Selphie didn't have to see that," Seifer murmured, moving along the perimeter of the room.
Across the way, Nida nodded with a grim expression. "From the patterns and radius of the powder, and judging by the way the furniture in the outer office flew post-explosion, I'd guess that the bomb was originally placed closer to the window."
"You guess?"
"Well, I'm not a bomb expert, Selphie is. That's just my assessment, and it's not as accurate as we need it to be. So I'd really rather have her look at the scene, too."
"How far is the security team from here?"
"The main office is basically that booth at the front gate," Nida explained with a nervous chuckle. "But, as you noticed on our way in, it was empty. She probably went to go find Mira herself, or went to hunt down the guy in his dorm or something."
Seifer grunted in response, staring out the shattered window. The headmistress' office was level with the top of the "Tree of Hope", or whatever Selphie had been trying to describe it as, and he watched the leaves sway in the artificial breeze.
The next few minutes ticked by in silence as Seifer and Nida continued to investigate the office, waiting for Selphie to return. When nearly an hour had passed, Seifer straightened and stared over at the doors with narrowed eyes.
"Don't you think it's been a little long? I mean, this Garden ain't that big. How hard is it to find one guy?"
Nida straightened with a frown on his face. "It has been awhile since she left . . . maybe she and Mira ended up catching up about stuff? It has been a few years since we left Trabia."
"Think she could've called to tell us that?" he asked, though not to Nida in particular.
"It's Selphie," Nida said with a shrug. "She probably just forgot. Or she—never mind."
"She what?" Seifer asked, looking at Nida sharply.
The brunet let out a long, weary sigh, before facing Seifer head-on. "Don't you ever worry about her?"
"Worry about her? She's not a kid, she's perfectly capable of takin' care of herself."
"Sometimes, I wonder if she can, though. I mean, technically speaking, yes. But sometimes . . ."
"Haven't you guys been trekking across the world together for the past ten years? You should know her by now," Seifer replied, leaning against the remnants of a short bookshelf.
"Yeah, and that's why I'm worried. I know she doesn't like to talk about it, or even really acknowledge that it exists, but . . . she kind of has a problem."
"What kind of problem?" Seifer crossed his arms, irritated that he even had to needle it out of the guy. Can't he just spit it out?
"Well . . . she drinks. A lot."
"And how much is that exactly? 'A lot' to you is probably a helluva lot different than 'a lot' to me."
"As in every single day, almost. Any time she hears bad news, or is out at a restaurant, or if a bottle is in front of her, she drinks it. It's been this way for pretty much the entire past decade."
"Maybe she just likes to relax, and you're making it out to be a big deal when it isn't," Seifer replied, turning away from Nida.
Though, it was a little worrisome. Speaking from experience, he knew how easy it was to reach for the bottle when things seemed too overwhelming, or there was just too much going on in his brain. From what Selphie had made it sound like last night . . . she wasn't in too different of a headspace. Maybe the guy wasn't too far off.
Behind him, Nida sighed, sounding a little frustrated. "I don't think I am, though. I care about Selphie, too, you know. She's been a good friend, and it's basically been just the two of us for the past ten years. I wouldn't say anything if I wasn't really worried. I thought you would've cared a little more."
Well if that isn't the greatest guilt-trip, I don't know what is. Seifer straightened with a sigh of his own, and faced Nida again. "Fine. What has you so convinced it's an actual problem and not just . . . I don't know, her drinking for the hell of it?"
Nida turned and set down a charred object he'd been holding, before looking back at Seifer. "Well, for starters, when she drinks to excess, she doesn't remember."
"So she had a lot of good nights. Sounds pretty normal."
"Yeah, but it's happened so often, that when it becomes the norm, that's when I worry. Like, there was one time in Esthar when we went out to a restaurant because President Laguna was worried about her."
"And?" Seifer prompted.
"Uh . . . she drank, a lot, and passed out. I had to carry her back to the Presidential Palace, and the next morning, she didn't remember a thing about what had happened. She didn't even care."
"Huh."
"It happens all the time!"
"Okay, okay, I get it. Maybe she has a problem. I'm not exactly the best person to be tellin' her to stop, though, so I don't know what you want me to do about it."
"I just . . . I don't know. You could help me keep an eye on her? Maybe talk to her?"
Seifer scoffed, turning away again as he said, "Yeah, talk to Selphie. Sounds like a walk in the park."
Nida sighed once more, though this time it sounded more defeated, and Seifer heard him shuffle around on the other side of the room. Neither one of them said anything else, and the silence expanded to fill the entire room, almost oppressive in nature. Then, a few more minutes passed, and his mind started churning up old thoughts, mixed with some new ones. Mostly about the conversation he and Nida had just had.
He hated people meddling in his business, so he tried his hardest not to do the very same thing to others. Hell, he couldn't even stand it when Raijin and Fujin had done it, and they'd been his best friends—family, even. Walking up to Selphie and saying, "Hey, sounds like you might be an alcoholic!" sounded like an absolutely terrible idea—likely the worst he would ever have in his entire life. Still, Nida had sounded extremely worried, and he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't the slightest bit worried, too. Speaking from experience and all.
Hyne, if Amma hadn't stepped in and forced me to quit cold turkey . . . where the hell would I be?
Fifteen minutes passed before Seifer decided he'd had enough. He rose to his feet with a determined set to his jaw, and looked over his shoulder at—Shit, I forgot his name already. Hynedamnit.
"I'm gonna go check up on her. If I can find her, that is," he announced to the room, knowing the other guy would have to turn around.
"Okay. Let me know how she's doing."
"Yeah, sure," he replied absentmindedly as he made his way out of the room and back towards the elevator.
He rode back down to the main floor with his arms crossed and his head bowed, lost in thought. If I were Messenger Girl, where the hell would I go? If it were Chickenwuss, I'd say the cafeteria, but Trabia's hot dogs probably aren't that good, anyway. Wasn't she part of some committee? Something to do with parties, or some shit?
When he reached the first floor, the doors slid open and he ambled out into the lobby, looking around for a directory. It was over on the other side of the tree, and he made his way to the opposite end of the room.
According to the map, Trabia Garden was significantly smaller than Balamb—which he already knew. She likely wouldn't have gone to the dorms without them, and he'd already crossed off the cafeteria. It wasn't exactly prime time for studying, being in the middle of an investigation and all, so he doubted she was in the library. That left the classrooms and the quad.
Quad, quad . . . isn't that where the Garden Festival is usually held? Ugh, what a joke. Seifer turned away from the directory, deciding that maybe he'd start in the library anyway, until something made him look back at the map. Quad . . . festival . . . damn it, that's it! She was on the Garden Festival Committee! Always sending us those Hynedamned emails about joining or donating to the streamer fund.
Filled with renewed purpose, Seifer pivoted on his heel and beelined for the quad. It was getting to be later in the day, and the hallway leading to the quad was practically deserted. He only passed one other student, and they barely noticed him as he sped past. It was strange not being recognized, but the cadet had looked rather young, and if Mira and Selphie had known each other since they were pre-teens, Mira had to have been close to their age. Most of the students at Balamb recognized him, but Quistis had probably made sure to integrate him into their lessons. He could picture her pointing at the board with one of those metal stick things, and drilling a motto into every cadet: "Don't be like this guy!"
He doubted they talked about him here, if at all. Probably preferred to shelf his ugly mug as part of the past for good.
A few minutes later, he jogged into the quad, scanning the room for any sign of a 5'2" brunette with extra spunk. She had to be bouncing around here somewhere, he mused. The circular room stretched upwards seemingly forever, capped with a glass dome roof to match the lobby. It was just before sunset, and the transparent ceiling was awash with streaks of burnt orange and russet, tinged on the undersides with lavender and gold. It was a view he expected Selphie to appreciate.
He tilted his head back down and walked farther into the room, making his way around one of the many trees planted along the marble pathway. A metal railing curved around the perimeter of the space, arcing along until it disappeared behind a stone column that was similar to the ones at the orphanage. Aside from an unoccupied stage that rested against the far wall, flanked by another pair of columns, the quad was empty.
Surprised, and also disappointed that he hadn't found her here, Seifer started to head back towards the hallway when he heard something from across the room. He paused in mid-step and turned around, squinting as he tried to catch sight of whatever had made the noise. It happened again—glass falling onto the marble floor?
Slowly, so that he wouldn't make too much noise, he made his way over to the source of the sound. He moved past the stage and realized that the railing actually curved beyond the column—the room didn't end there, like he'd originally thought. A hiccup carried through the air, and when he heard faint mumbling soon after, he knew that he'd found her. When he reached the column, he leaned against it to brace himself so that he could peer around the corner. Lo and behold, tucked into the tiniest alcove he'd ever seen, was Selphie.
"Thought I'd find you here," he called out.
Selphie jumped, back ramrod straight, and quickly twisted around as she clutched something close to her chest. "Oh Hyne, it's you. Sheesh, since when has it been okay to just sneak up on people?"
"Sorry, thought you heard me coming." A lie. He'd been walking quietly on purpose, specifically to sneak up on her.
Now that she recognized him, she reached out and placed a tall, clear glass bottle back down on the ground next to her. Seifer glanced at it, noting that what Nida had said was true, before looking back at Selphie.
"Isn't drinking on the job—" He made quotation marks in the air. "—'frowned upon'?"
"Well, I mean, technically this isn't the 'job'. We're not on a contract, right? And you're not a SeeD! So if anyone asks, the bottle is yours."
He scoffed and said, "Thanks for throwing me under the bus." He sat down beside the column and draped his legs over the edge. "But, uh, I've already been there and done that, so . . ."
"Wait, seriously?" Selphie looked over her shoulder at him with wide eyes.
"Yeah. I mean, it's been a long time since, but . . . it happened."
"When?"
"Right after . . . shit went down. I lived in Balamb with Fujin and Raijin and . . . every time I had a shitty day, or a shitty night, I'd grab a bottle. When I moved to Winhill and didn't have them to nag me every second of every fuckin' day, it got worse."
"Wooooow. That's pretty rough. But you don't—you know. I mean, it's not a problem anymore?"
"This little old lady forced me to quit a year after I got to town, after she found me passed out in front of her shop. So, no, not a problem anymore." He paused and looked pointedly down at the bottle between them, before looking up at her. "Is it a problem for you?"
Selphie slapped her forehead suddenly, before pointing at him. "Holy Hyne! I made you share that bottle of brandy with me at the orphanage! Ugh, I'm such a jerk!"
Nice change of topic, Tilmitt. He waved his hand through the air. "It's fine."
"That's what everyone says when it's not actually fine."
"Selphie, it's fine. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think I could handle it. But we're not talking about me, we're talking about you."
She cringed and looked away. "Caught that, huh?" she asked with a sigh. "It—I don't think—It's not a problem."
Seifer leaned forward so he could stare directly at her. A few seconds later, under the heat of his gaze, she reluctantly faced him again. "That's what everyone who has a problem says when someone asks them if they have a problem."
Her face twisted up in annoyance. "Has anyone ever told you that you can be a buzzkill?"
A laugh escaped him before he even realized what had happened. That was the second time she'd said something of a similar nature to him. "Uh, no. But I wouldn't be surprised if I was. Why, am I killin' your buzz now?"
"Yeah, actually, though I'll forgive you since you laughed at my joke."
"Well, consider it a favor then. You've drunk nearly half the bottle," he said as he grabbed the bottle and placed it on the other side of him, out of her reach.
Again, she sneered at him, though he could tell it wasn't out of actual malice. She turned away from him, staring out the windows across the way at the Trabian landscape. The sun had set by now, and everything in the room was tinted periwinkle blue. In a few more minutes, thanks to the glass ceiling, the quad would be washed in the pale, magical light of the moon.
After a few seconds of silence, he looked back over at Selphie, who was still facing the windows. "So."
Attention grabbed, she looked over at him. "So?"
"You've been drinking. People usually drink when they've got shit on their mind."
With a slight roll of her eyes, she looked away again. "Who doesn't have stuff on their mind?"
"Okay, that's fair, but I don't give a damn about them. I'm asking about you."
The corner of her lips twitched upwards, and she faced him with a sly look on her face. "Does Seifer Almasy actually want to talk about feelings?"
"Don't."
She shifted in place, seemingly pleased with herself, before she shook her head, smile still firmly in place. "I don't really want to talk about it," she said in a soft voice.
"Didn't you just tell me last night that you can't hold it in forever, and that you're trying? So go on. Try."
With a suspicious look on her face, she stared at him in silence. He waved his hand in the air as he said, "You've already cried on me once."
"I didn't cry on you. I was standing in front of you. Totally different."
"Tilmitt, you're stalling. Talk."
With a faraway look in her eyes, she started to shake her head, only to stop herself after leaning to one side. She remained silent for so long that Seifer thought she wasn't going to say anything at all, until she rested her head against the wall behind her and craned her neck back in his direction.
"Luna, Mira, and I were all in the same class, you know?"
He went to tell her that, no, he hadn't known that, but sensing that she might just stop talking if he interrupted her, he changed his mind at the last second and just shook his head. As he'd suspected, she continued speaking after tilting her head back onto her other shoulder and looked away from him again.
"They were the first friends I made when I got here. I was sitting alone at lunch on like, my third day, and they just came over and sat down next to me, like it was no big deal. It sounds stupid and probably like something a little kid would say, but . . . we were inseparable after that, you know? We took the same classes, year after year, and it wasn't until I left for Balamb that we were apart for more than a few days at a time."
Selphie's memory reminded Seifer of Fujin and Raijin. For him, it had been much the same. He and Squall were the only ones who hadn't been adopted from the orphanage, and Cid and Edea had dragged them along when they left Centra for the island of Balamb to start Garden up. He'd been an angry kid, and an even angrier teenager, and Fujin and Raijin had been the only ones brave enough to start up a conversation with him—ironically, also in the cafeteria.
Strange to discover that he and Selphie weren't actually all that different.
She took a deep breath before continuing her story. "So . . . yeah, I left to take the SeeD exam at Balamb, Mira left to study abroad for a year in . . . I think Dollet, and Luna continued on to take more classes at higher levels. Huh, I guess now I know that she did so because she wanted to be headmistress."
"Ambitious friends."
"Yeah," Selphie agreed with a fond smile. "They were."
Seifer looked away from her and leaned his head back against the stone column. "So you're drinking to forget."
"No, that's not it at all," Selphie replied, defensive. "I'm drinking to remember. Every time I get drunk it's like, this floodgate opens and all of these memories come streaming in—especially being here. It's been so long since I've seen Luna—since I've seen anyone that I care about, really—and I'm stuck in this awful, awkward place where I wish I could forget, but at the same time, I can't bring myself to. All I can do is remember."
He stared off out the window as he said, "Goes either way for people, it seems."
"I guess." Out of nowhere, Selphie gasped loudly, shooting to her feet with wide eyes. "Holy Hyne! If Sanctus targets Galbadia, Irvine is there! What if he—"
"Calm the fuck down, Tilmitt. You shouting about it isn't going to do any good," he said to her, craning his neck back.
"Yeah, but—"
"All right, I'm gonna stop you right there," Seifer told her, rising to his feet as well. "The best thing to do is to finish lookin' around here, and find out as much as we can. I'm sure Quistis has already told the cowboy what's going on, and Galbadia is our next stop anyway. As soon as you look at the site of the explosion and use your . . . bomb expertise or whatever, the sooner we can go 'save' him."
Selphie sniffled, obviously still worried. "I know you're right, but . . . I can't help but worry—about everyone. After what happened to Trabia, and Luna, I just want to make sure no one else I care about gets hurt. Or worse. Not you, not Mira, especially not Irvine or Quistis. Anyone."
"So sober the fuck up so you can go investigate."
Her eyes slid shut as she took a deep breath. It was shaky, but at least she was making an effort. When she opened her eyes again, they were glassy with unshed tears, but she looked more determined than he'd seen her all day. "Yeah. Got it," she stated, saluting him.
"Don't do that. I'm not a SeeD and I sure as hell ain't in charge of you."
"Oh, right. But you sounded so authoritative just then, and—I dunno, maybe you should talk to Quisty about it! I think you'd make a great SeeD, and then—"
"Stopping you for the second time tonight. Go get some sleep, Tilmitt."
"Roger that!"
"I told you not to do that."
"Ugh, sorry!"
The next morning
Seifer and Selphie stepped out of the elevator and onto what remained of the second floor. Together, they headed for the interior office, but just before they passed through the double doors, Seifer paused in mid-step and glanced over at the upturned desk one more time.
"Hey, you go in first. I'm just gonna make sure I didn't miss anything out here," he explained to Selphie. She nodded in agreement before disappearing into the next room.
Carefully, he made his way over to Mira's desk, avoiding the debris in his path. When he stood over the desk, he crossed his arms and stared down at the neat piles of potential evidence that he'd separated from the mess the day before. Most of it was the loose leafs of paper that he'd already read through, but when he shuffled the piles around, he noticed the corner of something bright and slightly shiny peeking out from underneath another pile. When he pulled it out, he saw that it was Mira's planner that he'd found on top of the stuff in the drawer. He'd completely forgotten about it, since the rest of the drawer's contents had been dumped on top of it.
Figuring it couldn't hurt to glance through it before he joined back up with Selphie, he bent the planner in his hand and used his thumb to flip through the pages. Nothing in particular caught his eye and he went to close it again, when he noticed an acronym on a page towards the beginning: S.T.U.
S.T.U.? There's no academy that uses that acronym, and if Mira is a Trabia Garden employee, then wouldn't she be using T.G.? Or something along those lines? Who the hell, or what the hell, is S.T.U.?
Stumped, Seifer flipped through a few of the pages before and after where he'd found the acronym, noticing that it appeared a few more times at regular intervals. A bookmark fell out of the planner when he spread the pages open wider, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. After picking it up, he inspected the face of the bookmark, surprised to find that he recognized the symbol on the cover: it was the same as the symbol on the pin that they'd also found in the desk.
Second time this thing has shown up. It's gotta mean something. He closed the planner with a snap and tucked it under his arm before heading into the interior office. Maybe Selphie had discovered something when she'd talked to Mira the night before.
To his surprise, when he walked into the office, Selphie and the other guy were deep in conversation. When did he get here?
They both looked up when they heard his footsteps, and when Selphie dropped her gaze to the floor before looking away from him, his frown deepened. "What?"
"Nothing," she murmured, staring at the spot where the other guy had said Luna's desk used to be.
"Yeah, nothing my ass. What did you find?" he questioned, sidling up to her.
She didn't respond, just kept staring at the floor. The other guy took a step forward, and in a somber voice, explained, "Selphie determined that the bomb was placed in . . . in Luna's desk drawer. The second she opened it, it triggered the explosion."
"Fuck," Seifer mumbled.
"Yeah. Since the blast originated here—" He moved over to a spot slightly to the left of the radius. "—and the desk flew through the window there—" He pointed up at the shattered glass behind him. "—it seems like we're both on the same page as to how and where the explosion started."
At that, Seifer glanced sidelong at Selphie. She was still looking at the floor with a pained expression on her face, arms wrapped around her tiny frame as if to shelter herself from the news. He grit his teeth and decided to change the subject.
"I might've found something, too."
"Oh?" The other guy moved to his side, and to his surprise, Selphie did, too—though she didn't say anything.
After another glance in her direction, Seifer pulled out the planner from under his arm. "There's this weird acronym in Mira's planner: 'S.T.U.'? Ring a bell with either one of you?"
Selphie shook her head, and the other guy said, "No, it doesn't."
Seifer grunted and pulled the bookmark out of where he'd stuffed it back into the planner and held it out. "This bookmark fell out when I was lookin' through this—it's the same symbol as that pin we found yesterday, Tilmitt."
Selphie cinched her brows together, seemingly displeased with that revelation. The other guy said, "Oh, that's the crest for the Dollet Dukedom."
Selphie and Seifer glanced up at him sharply, and in unison, asked, "What?"
"Yeah, you guys don't recognize it? We had to take a class on world history and politics, remember? That's Dollet's crest. It's all over their flags and stuff."
"Dollet?" Selphie echoed.
Seifer turned to her and said, "You did say that Mira studied abroad in Dollet. Does she go back a lot?"
"As far as I can remember, I don't think so. I mean, she had that year-long study abroad program, and then after that . . . she took vacations to visit her family and stuff. Maybe they still live there?"
In a quiet voice, Seifer suggested, "I'm thinking it might be time to ask her. I mean, Sanctus originated in Dollet."
At his words, Selphie immediately reeled back. "Mira isn't Sanctus, Seifer."
I knew she'd take it that way. "And I'm not saying she is. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. If she is innocent, maybe she knows something useful about them or remembers seeing stuff around town. But we've gotta prove it either way."
The other guy nodded. "I hate to say it because I know how close you guys are, Selphie, but . . . I think Seifer is right. There's nothing wrong with having family in Dollet, or even visiting every year, but if Sanctus' HQ is in Dollet . . . and Mira is one of the only people who have access to Luna's office . . . it seems like too much of a coincidence to just ignore."
Selphie stepped away from them, and wandered over to stare out the broken window. Her gaze remained locked on the tree in the lobby below as the minutes ticked past. Though Seifer could see the other guy looking back and forth between the two of them, obviously concerned, he kept his eyes trained on Selphie. Every so often, she'd take an extra deep breath and her shoulders would shake ever-so-slightly as her head drooped lower. Then, she'd look back up, and the cycle would start all over again.
Finally, after what felt like years, Selphie faced them once more. Her expression was grim, though determined, and she nodded. "You guys are right. I won't feel okay until we at least cross her off the list for sure, and we can't do that unless we talk to her."
Seifer nodded as well, holding her gaze. After taking yet another deep breath, Selphie said, "Let's go find Mira."
Two hours later
"I'm not gonna lie, Tilmitt. Considering we've looked all over this place and haven't found her, it's not lookin' good for your friend."
Selphie shook her head, but it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself of something than disagreeing with Seifer. "I just don't get where she'd go! We told her we were investigating the office, and she said she'd be around. Why would she just up and leave when she knows we might've needed her?"
Seifer and the other guy shared a loaded look behind her back as she led them into the cafeteria for the third time. With a furrowed brow, the other guy cleared his throat to get Selphie's attention.
When she turned around, he asked, "Do you guys have a garage like Balamb does? Maybe she took a car somewhere and we can check the logs."
"Yeah, we do. It's out past the basketball court," Selphie replied in a hurry, before sprinting off in the opposite direction.
The three of them made their way down a short hallway that led outside to the court. Selphie led them across the snow-covered asphalt and through a chain link fence, towards a small building that looked like a plane hangar. Selphie skidded to a halt in front of the door and quickly punched in the security code. Once the door clicked, she pushed it open and the automatic overhead lights flickered on.
Halfway into the driver's seat of an official Garden vehicle, flashlight in hand, was Mira.
"Hey, stop!" the other guy shouted, hurrying across the expansive room.
Mira glanced up at the sound of his voice, and tried to quickly shut the car door behind her. The other guy managed to catch the door in time, and pulled her out of the vehicle. By the time Selphie and Seifer caught up to them, he had Mira pressed up against the outside of the car with her hands held behind her back.
"Selphie? What—What the heck is this guy doing?" Mira exclaimed with her cheek pressed up against metal.
"Why did you try to run, Mira?" Selphie asked in a surprisingly soft voice, though she was slightly out of breath. Seifer had never heard her sound so dejected, so quiet, and it was a little eerie.
"I'm not running! I-I had a contract come in, and—"
"And you didn't answer any of my calls in the past two hours, when you knew we were looking at Luna's office! Don't lie to me!" Selphie shouted.
Seifer stepped up and placed his hand on Selphie's shoulder, and she rounded on him with blazing eyes. He took a step back and held his hands up in a mollifying gesture. "Hey, I'm on your side, Tilmitt. Just . . . let us talk to her, okay?"
"I have every right to talk to her!"
"I'm not sayin' you don't. But shit gets tough when it's personal. Trust me, I know. Let's just . . . let's at least go somewhere where we can question her, okay?"
All at once, whatever had been driving Selphie seemed to drain out of her. After she gave the slightest of nods, the other guy pulled Mira away from the vehicle and the group headed for the door.
Just before Seifer reached out to pull it open, Selphie called out, "Wait."
With his hand in mid-air, Seifer looked over his shoulder at her. She was standing a foot or so behind them with her hands clenched at her sides. When she saw that he'd turned around, she gestured behind her to the empty space in the center of the hangar. "No one comes out to the bay. If we're going to interrogate her, this would be a good place to do it and not be disturbed."
Mira looked between Seifer and Selphie, and tried to wiggle out of the other guy's grasp. "Interrogate? Seriously, Selphie, what the hell?"
Selphie ignored her friend and when Seifer turned away from the door, she nodded and walked off to find a chair. There happened to be one resting against the far wall, and she dragged it back to the center of the room; the legs scraping against the concrete caused a shrill screech to echo throughout the cavernous room.
Once it was in place, Selphie nodded at the other guy, who led Mira back to the center of the hangar. He pushed her down onto the chair, none-too-gently, and Mira glared up at him. Seifer pulled thin pieces of rope from his pocket and handed them over to the other guy, who proceeded to tie Mira to the arms of the chair.
When he was finished, Selphie looked over at Seifer questioningly, and Seifer shrugged. "Figured we might need some."
After shaking her head in disbelief, Selphie circled around to face Mira, and Seifer stepped up beside her with his arms crossed over his chest. Mira let out a nervous chuckle and her eyes flitted back and forth between the two of them. "What is this, good cop, bad cop?"
Seifer shrugged his shoulders. "If it were up to me, it would just be bad cop."
Mira did a double-take at him, and Selphie spoke up before her friend could retort. "Mira, why didn't you answer my calls?"
"My phone died a little while ago. I didn't have time to stop and charge it before I left for my contract."
"Why didn't you mention anything to us about getting a contract? We saw you yesterday when we first got here."
"It came in suddenly; I was just notified about it," Mira offered with a shrug.
At that, Selphie remained silent, though she too crossed her arms as she continued to stare down at Mira. "How many people have access to Luna's office?"
"What? You know the answer to this, Selphie!"
Seifer took a half-step forward. "Just answer the questions, and this'll be over sooner rather than later, yeah?"
"Seifer, I've got it," Selphie muttered over her shoulder at him. He glanced over at her and nodded imperceptibly, before stepping back.
In his younger years, he had issues with conceding power, but now, not so much. If Selphie felt like she could handle interrogating her friend, then he'd trust her on that. After all, like she said, she did have the right to. If Mira was indeed a Sanctus spy, it would mean years of betrayal to Selphie. If the truth came out, she deserved to be the one who found it. If it had been one of his friends, the select few that he had, he would expect to be given the same courtesy.
When Selphie faced Mira again, she repeated the question. "How many people have access to Luna's office?"
Before she answered the question, Mira glanced away for a brief second. "Just three."
"And those three are?"
"Me, you, and the head of security."
"When was the last time he went up to the office?"
"I don't know. Probably right after the bomb went off. You can pull the logs from his mainframe."
Selphie paced around to the opposite side of Mira. "Where were you when the bomb went off? You're normally glued to your chair, or Luna's side. Why weren't you in the office when it happened?"
"I-I went downstairs to the cafeteria because Luna and I hadn't had lunch that day. She said she wanted something to eat, so I offered to go get it."
"Convenient," Seifer mumbled.
Selphie glanced sidelong at him before resuming her questioning. "Seifer found something in your desk that we wanted to ask you about, but you know, you didn't answer your phone earlier, so we couldn't find you to ask."
"In my desk?" Mira echoed, her brows drawing together in confusion.
"Yeah, in the equally as convenient locked drawer." When Mira looked at Seifer with narrowed eyes, he shrugged unapologetically.
"Okay, so how did you open my 'conveniently locked drawer'?" Mira asked.
"I pick—" the other guy started to say, until Seifer interrupted him.
"It's not important. What is damn suspicious is that you were hiding a planner with some shady shit written in it, inside said drawer, and that we found this—" Seifer pulled the pin out of his pocket and held it up so Mira could see. "—in there, too."
"My pin? So? Why is that suspicious?" Mira asked, looking over at Selphie in confusion.
"Are you from Dollet, Mira? I know you mentioned that you studied abroad there for a little while, but like, does your family live there? Were you born there?" Selphie questioned.
"Uh, yes, I was born in Dollet. And yes, I go back and visit my family every summer."
"What do your parents do?" Seifer asked, changing tracks.
This time, Selphie moved aside a little bit for him to step forward. When he did, he loomed over Mira, staring down his nose at her. His intimidation tactic seemed to work, because she shrunk back into the chair ever-so-slightly.
"They—My mom works with the mayor. She grew up with him. She basically does what I do—did—for Luna."
"So she's his secretary," Selphie commented.
"Yeah."
Out of nowhere, Seifer asked, "What's S.T.U. stand for?"
"What?" Mira asked, deadpan.
"S.T.U. I assume you don't have a boyfriend named Stu, whose name also happens to be an acronym for something. So what's it stand for?" Seifer stared Mira down, watching her as she answered.
"I . . . I don't know what that is. I've never heard that acronym before."
"Oh, huh," Seifer said as he pulled the planner out of his inner coat pocket. He'd rolled it up to fit and he had to bend it in the opposite direction to try and straighten it out so that he could show Mira. Once he had it relatively flat, he opened the planner to one of the pages that had "S.T.U." written in one of the boxes. "For something that you have no idea what it is, it seems to be written in your planner pretty fuckin' often."
He slowly fanned through the pages, pausing on every page that had an appointment with "S.T.U." penciled in. Mira stayed quiet, and Selphie let her arms drop to her sides as she started pacing around the room. It seemed like she was deferring to Seifer for the moment as she tried to work off her tension.
Taking advantage of the element of surprise, Seifer tapped his finger on the acronym. "What is S.T.U.?"
Instead of answering the question, Mira straightened in her chair and stared straight ahead with a firm set to her lips. Selphie continued to pace behind Seifer, who straightened and glared down at Mira again. "Are you gonna fuckin' answer the question or not?"
Mira tilted her chin up, glaring up at him with the same fire in her eyes that had been there when she'd told him that she didn't trust him. Well, good. That goes both ways, sweetheart. I don't fuckin' trust you either.
Without warning, Selphie barrelled past Seifer and braced her hands on the arms of Mira's chair. Her momentum caused the chair to tilt backwards, and Mira's eyes widened with fear.
"Answer the question, Mira! It's a simple question! We're just trying to prove that you're innocent, and I just—" Again, all of the anger seemed to leave Selphie as quickly as it had arrived. "Just help us, please," she pleaded in a quiet voice as her head dropped onto her chest.
Mira's lower lip trembled as she stared at the top of Selphie's head. Seifer almost thought she would answer, but she raised her eyes and stared straight forward again. Selphie let out a drained sigh and stepped back, brushing past Seifer.
He watched her walk away, deflated like a balloon with no air, and he clenched his jaw when he looked back at Mira. There were few things in this world that could make Selphie Tilmitt look that dejected, and one of them was betrayal from a person she'd considered a friend. He knew. He'd been there, done that. To see it happen firsthand to Selphie—again—filled him with insurmountable anger.
"I bet it stands for fuckin' Sanctus - Trabia Unit, doesn't it?" he accused from between clenched teeth.
When Mira's eyes immediately darted over to meet Seifer's, he knew he'd guessed right. Less than a second later, she looked away again, but he saw her throat shift as she swallowed, even from a few steps away.
"Tell us about Sanctus, Mira," he demanded.
"I'm not going to tell you anything," she finally replied, eyes staring straight ahead again.
"Oh, you are gonna tell us somethin', because I can promise you, I'm definitely not a good cop." Seifer leaned down, bracing himself on the arms of the chair like Selphie had done only moments before. The difference was, he was a foot taller and significantly wider than Selphie. He'd also destroyed Trabia once before, and he knew that she knew that—hated him for it. He knew that it would fuel her fear that much more. In a low voice, he threatened, "You don't wanna push me."
Mira glared up at him, but remained silent. From behind him, in a timid voice, Selphie asked, "Why, Mira? Why would you do it?"
Avoiding Selphie's gaze, Mira stated, "I did it to help the world."
"Help? By killing Luna? Luna, the girl we grew up with; who braided your hair every night because you hated when it got in your mouth when you slept; who made sure to take notes for you in class every time you missed a day? Luna?"
"Luna was just . . . a necessary casualty." Finally, she looked over at Selphie with tears welling her eyes. "I tried to convince her not to apply for the position of headmistress—I tried! When she wouldn't listen to me, I-I knew I had no choice. The people who lead Garden are the ones who ruin everything for the rest of us. In order to take Garden down, remove them from the world, we had to start with the source of power."
Seifer straightened. "Why do you kooks think Garden is hurting the world?"
"We're not kooks! We just see Garden for what they are! They're the terrorists, not us! Every time Garden steps in to help—in both the Sorceress Wars—things only got worse for the civilians in the way!"
"Who told you that? You're only old enough to remember the second war. Who told you that Garden fucked up the first, too?" Seifer questioned.
Mira glanced over at Seifer before taking a deep breath and dropping her gaze to the floor. "The leader of Sanctus."
"Who is . . .?"
"I'm not going to tell you."
"Mira, it won't just be Luna who ends up being a casualty," Selphie explained. "More innocent people are going to die because of what you guys have planned. You don't want to responsible for them, I know you don't. That's not who you are."
Mira just shook her head. "They're necessary casualties. And it doesn't matter who told me, anyway. I was there the day you guys came to Dollet for your stupid field exam."
"You were?" Selphie asked, leaning back in surprise.
"Yeah, I was. I went back to visit my parents, and we were eating at the cafe when all of the chaos started. My dad stepped out into the street, and—that stupid spider thing ran past. It crushed his leg when he fell and . . . he's never been the same. He had to quit his job, my parents lost their house because they couldn't pay . . ." She trailed off and dropped her gaze again. In a quiet voice, she finished, "Nothing that Garden ever touches or meddles in gets better. They just make things worse."
Seifer scoffed and shook his head. "You should fuckin' thank them for saving your asses from the crazy sorceress who tried to end the world. I should know, I was there."
Mira just stared up at him in disgust. "You of all people should understand what our goal is."
"Why, because I defected and went to the other side? You think that makes us best buddies for life?" Seifer mocked.
Before Mira could retort, Selphie approached her and bent down so that she had to look up at her friend. She placed her hands on Mira's knees, and in a soft voice, said, "Mira . . . if Garden doesn't exist, we can't help protect the world. We don't try to destroy it, we try to save it. If you don't tell us anything, if you don't help us, we can't do that. Please. I don't want any more people to die."
Mira's eyes turned glassy, and she looked up and away from Selphie as she pressed her lips together. Selphie squeezed her friend's legs, and when Mira looked back down at her, Selphie continued. "I have friends at Galbadia Garden, and I have friends at Balamb Garden. Friends I consider my family, Mira. You want to take revenge on Garden for what happened to your dad—I get that. But if the people I love die, too, then doesn't that just make things worse?"
Mira's head dropped to her chest, and the tears that had pooled in her eyes fell into her lap. Selphie rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around her friend's hunched shoulders, embracing her. "Please, Mira. Even if you can't tell us who the leader of Sanctus is, at least tell us which of the Gardens is your next target. Maybe I can save the people I care about this time."
At first, Mira didn't respond. The silence in the room got thicker, and thicker, until Seifer thought she wouldn't reply at all. Finally, Mira raised her head and Selphie stepped back to give her some space.
Without meeting any of their eyes, Mira mumbled, "The next target is Galbadia. Same place, the headmaster's office. The bomb has probably already been planted, so you'll want to hur—"
"You, go start up the Ragnarok. We're leavin' now!" Seifer instructed as he pointed at the other guy. The brunet nodded before rushing out of the room.
Selphie rose to her feet and Seifer reached out to her. "Selphie, come on."
Before she turned away from Mira, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, we—we have to leave you here so you can't warn Sanctus."
Mira offered a strained smile and shrugged, as if she'd expected as much. Selphie took a step back, and, in one of the most heartbreaking tones that Seifer had ever heard in his life, said, "Goodbye, Mira."
She stepped into the circle of his arms, and he steered her by the elbow out of the garage. Quickly, they made their way back across the basketball court and down the hall towards the lobby. After weaving through the small morning crowd of students, they burst out of the front gates and beelined for the Ragnarok. Just up ahead, the ship's engines were already powered up and the propulsion jets were blowing out streams of heat. The other guy had left the boarding ramp down for them, and they scurried up and into the belly of the ship. Almost immediately after they were clear, Selphie pressed the button to close the ramp.
Once the frigid swirls of air had dissipated, Selphie and Seifer rushed into the hangar. Their footsteps against the metal floor echoed throughout the room as they hurriedly ascended the stairs to the upper deck. As they made their way through the ship towards the lift, the sound of the jets charging up got progressively faster, and louder. By the time they passed through the door into the upper cabin, it sounded like they were ready for take-off.
Together, they stepped onto the lift and Seifer grabbed the railing to steady himself as they were taken up to the cockpit. He didn't notice it, but he was squeezing the railing so hard, his knuckles were turning white.
For once, he was in a position to do something that could save people. This time around, he wasn't on the wrong side. If they could just make it to Galbadia Garden in time, maybe . . . maybe they could prevent another catastrophe from happening.
The lift stuttered to a halt, and immediately after, the electronic doors leading to the cockpit slid open with a slight hiss. They jogged into the cramped space, and when Selphie saw Nida in the pilot's seat, her expression darkened. With quick steps, she scurried over to the seat and nudged him in the shoulder.
"Nida. Move."
Nida glanced up at her in surprise and barely scooted over into the co-pilot's seat before Selphie was collapsing into the chair. Once she was situated, she reached up and caressed the curve of the steering wheel, as if glad for something that was familiar—something she knew would never change. Seifer stepped up to the seat and braced his arms on the headrest, watching Selphie as she worked. Without a word, she flipped a sequence of switches and pressed a couple of buttons, and he heard the engines start to churn even faster.
"You might wanna find a seat. We're taking off," Selphie suggested.
Nida buckled himself into the co-pilot seat. After staring down at the top of her head for a few more seconds, Seifer grunted his agreement and stepped back from Selphie's seat, backpedaling a bit until he reached the spare chair just behind and to the left of hers. He'd barely connected his ass to the leather before Selphie tilted the steering wheel back, causing the Ragnarok to gradually lift up into the air. With a slight shake of his head—why anyone trusted her with the controls to a fast-moving vehicle was beyond him—he buckled his seatbelt. Not a moment later, Selphie moved one hand to the acceleration lever and shoved it straight forward.
Next thing he knew, they were shooting off into the sky, heading straight for Galbadia Garden.
Two more hours later
Seifer stared at the back of Selphie's chair with his finger pressed up against his lip, and his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her every move. With every pound of her fist against the console, Nida would wince and lean away from her ever-so-slightly. A few vehement thumps later, the brunet looked over at his pilot with a furrowed brow.
"Selphie, maybe you ought to—"
His suggestion was eclipsed by her pounding the console yet again, and yelling, "Why won't they pick up?!"
After leaning back in his chair and interlacing his fingers in his lap, Seifer shook his head at her behavior. He knew she was upset, but this was . . . frankly, a little frightening. He chose not to answer her question, figuring it was rhetorical, and continued to just watch her instead.
Beside Selphie, Nida cleared his throat and said, "It's possible that Sanctus managed to figure out how to jam incoming communications."
Finally, Seifer decided to speak up. After crossing his arms, he asked, "They can't do that from the outside, though, right? Don't they have to be there?"
Selphie paused in her angry abuse of the Ragnarok's controls, and she and Nida turned around, looking at him with blank expressions. He shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I paid attention in some classes back in the day. Anyway . . .?"
Selphie swiveled back around and punched a bunch of buttons, trying to patch another call through, as Nida said, "Uh, yeah. That's true. They have to be on-site in order to successfully jam the signal. It's like unjamming a signal. Works the same way."
"Which is why we had to go to Timber to stop you guys when the President did his broadcast during the war, remember?" Selphie called out.
"Yeah, I remember," Seifer mumbled in response. He angled his chair towards Nida. "What are the chances of our systems being fucked up?"
Nida looked up and tilted his head to the side. "I mean, it's not impossible. If Mira knew we were looking for her, she could've been messing with stuff during that two-hour window before we found her."
"Ugh, Hynedamnit! ANSWER!" Selphie shouted, banging on the console again.
Concerned, though he'd never verbalise it, Seifer leaned his head back and narrowed his eyes at the back of Selphie's chair again. A moment of silence passed before he cleared his throat and looked back over at Nida.
When the brunet reluctantly turned and met his gaze, Seifer said, "How 'bout you go check?"
"Oh, uh, right now?"
"Yeah. Right now."
"Okay. I guess I could," Nida conceded, rising to his feet and making his way out of the cockpit.
As the door slid shut, Seifer could hear the lift running, and he knew they would be alone for a little while. Nonchalantly, he got out of his chair and shuffled over to the co-pilot seat, as if it were the most natural action in the world. After he plopped down into it, Selphie looked over at him in surprise.
"What are you doing up here?" she asked, facing ahead again.
"Makin' sure you're not gonna crash us into the ocean, what with your emotional rampage going on," he replied, lifting his legs and propping up his heels on the console beside her. He leaned back in the seat and folded his hands in his lap, looking like he couldn't be bothered for the world.
Selphie eyed his boots with disdain and tried to nudge them off the console. "With your legs in the way, I probably will crash us into the ocean."
"Hey, how 'bout we take a deep breath, just . . . I dunno. Try to chill the fuck out?"
"I can't 'chill' if I can't get a hold of Galbadia! If we can warn them in advance about the bomb, maybe we can—"
"If you've tried to get a call through four times already, I don't think it's gonna magically happen, Tilmitt. Either their systems are being jammed, or ours are down. Either way, we won't be able to get a hold of 'em. So just concentrate on flying this damn thing, and getting us there as fast as you can."
At his words, she sighed and deflated in her chair, molding her back to the curve of the leather. A few seconds of silence passed, with her staring at the controls, dejected, and he watching her with a blank expression. Eventually, she looked back up and stared out the windshield. In a quiet voice, she asked, "What if I can't get us there in time? What if . . . what if someone else dies?"
"You're a Seed. You should know the answer to this one," Seifer reminded her as he tilted his head and followed her gaze, staring out the windshield at the expansive ocean below them.
"I feel like it's because I'm a SeeD that I don't," she mumbled in response.
Silence fell between them again, and Seifer continued to stare out the window as he tried to find the words to comfort her. He was shit at it, always had been. Even when it came to the people he cared about, like Fujin and Raijin, he still never knew what to say to them. It was why he avoided expressing his emotions, or whatever the hell people called it. Most of the time, whatever was causing you to feel didn't have a magical solution that would make it all better—especially not empty niceties or the usual, "I'm sorry", so he just opted not to say anything at all.
Slowly, he looked back at her and studied her profile. A few seconds later, he murmured, "You can't think about it that way, Tilmitt. Just keep flying in the right direction and we'll take it from there."
"Heh." Selphie leaned her head back against the seat. "Yeah, I guess that's all we can do at this point, huh?"
He never got the chance to answer, because the doors to the cockpit slid open again. Nida walked back into the room and said, "Our communication systems are fine. The problem's gotta be on Galbadia's end. I don't think Mira knew the first thing about how to fiddle with these ancient controls. Plus, Estharians never make sense, even in their technology."
Both of them ignored Nida's little rant. Instead, Seifer lowered his legs and leaned forward, staring at Selphie until she looked over at him with a despondent expression. He rapped his knuckles on the console as he rose to his feet. "Full speed ahead."
"Roger that."
Three and a half hours later, just outside of Galbadia Garden
Galbadia Garden rested in the center of Monterosa Plateau, immobile since the end of the war. For the first few years, the Garden had remained out of the public's sights and on the move, likely recovering from their own, personal defeat at Ultimecia's hands. After having a years-long strained political relationship with . . . nearly everyone in the world, they'd settled on an agreement with the world powers that basically guaranteed that they were grounded until further notice. It chafed Martine that Balamb Garden still had the option to remain mobile, but after he retired, it never came back up again. Their new headmaster, Giles, didn't seem to care to dredge up old grudges and memories, and said he was content to remain parked in Monterosa.
Besides, Galbadia had a lot of work to do if they wanted to return to the top of the ranks as a world military power.
When the familiar turquoise and gold ring came into view off in the distance, Selphie turned off a couple of switches on the console. The hum of the Ragnarok's engines quieted to a slight purr as they slowed for landing, and Nida unbuckled himself from the co-pilot's seat.
He walked past Seifer's chair and announced, "I'm going to go prep the ramp for landing. Meet you guys down there?"
"Yep," Selphie said, and Seifer only offered the guy a curt nod.
Instead of joining Selphie up at the console again, like he had earlier, Seifer rose to his feet and walked over to the opposite side of the cockpit. He stared out at the cragged landscape, wrinkling his nose in distaste when he saw a tumbleweed drift along the dirt.
"Hyne, why anyone would wanna live out here is beyond me," he muttered.
"Irvine seems to like it," Selphie noted from behind him.
"Yeah, and there's a whole city of people living smack dab in the middle of the Estharian desert. Doesn't mean they're not all crazy."
"Just because you don't like any extreme temperatures, doesn't mean other people don't, Seifer."
"Yeah, sure," he replied noncommittally. Then he shut up so that she could concentrate on landing the ship.
A few minutes later, they gradually got lower and lower until the Ragnarok touched down on the rough terrain. Selphie flipped the remaining switches and pushed one final button to power down the engines, and then she was swiveling her chair around to jump to her feet.
Seifer turned around to join her, and after a shared nod, she led the way out of the cockpit and back down to the hangar. When they walked into the room where the boarding ramp was, Nida had already pressed the button to disembark, and the ramp was currently mid-way to the ground.
As they were waiting for the ramp to finish lowering, Seifer turned to Selphie. "Did you try calling him? Maybe you can catch him in advance and get him to evacuate the Garden."
Selphie nodded as the ramp lowered, though her expression was grim. As the plains came fully into view, she replied, "Yeah. Kept getting a no-signal sound."
Seifer tsked and faced forward again. Not a good sign.
The second the ramp was fully lowered, the trio hurried down to the plains. Selphie had parked the ship as close to the front gate as she physically could without taking out the Garden itself. They didn't have too far to run, but considering the situation, Seifer worried that it was far enough to be too late.
Within a few minutes, the russet rocks of the plains gave way to the paved concrete that led to the Garden's front gate. There were only a few students milling about at the entrance, and the trio sped past without paying much attention to them. When they reached the gates and tried to pass through, the gate didn't give way and the light on top of the mechanism flashed red.
Frustrated, Selphie stomped her foot. "Oh, come on! What the he—"
From the side of the entrance, a disembodied voice called out through a speaker in the wall. "You have to tap your student I.D. on the top of the gate in order to get through. Are you new?"
"No, but we're—we're not students! We have to see the headmaster right away!" Selphie exclaimed, pointing to the opposite end of the lobby.
"I'm sorry," the voice said, though it didn't sound the slightest bit apologetic. "If you don't have clearance, you'll have to wait for an approved staff member to—"
"We don't have time!" Seifer bellowed at the speaker, throwing his arm out to the side in frustration. "If we don't get in now, a fuckin' bomb is going to go off!"
"A what? Is this a prank? Because—"
"URGH!" Selphie exclaimed, backing away from the gate.
"Selphie, what are you—" Nida asked, raising his hands in warning. Before he could finish his sentence, Selphie took off at a sprint for the gate. At the last second, she leaped into the air, vaulting straight over the gate and landing in a graceful roll.
"Come on! You guys are both tall! Climb over the stupid thing!" she commanded, before taking off across the lobby.
"Selphie, you—wait for us!" Nida shouted after her. When he saw that she wasn't going to stop, he mumbled something under his breath and gingerly tried to climb over the gate. His landing wasn't nearly as graceful as Selphie's—he stumbled on the way down—but he made it over.
Seifer followed suit, though the few extra inches he had on Nida allowed him to simply lift his leg up and over to the other side.
Galbadia Garden was significantly larger than both Trabia and Balamb Gardens, and the lobby was massive—both wide and tall. In the center of the room, a large, golden beam of light shot straight up into the air. Unlike Balamb, and similar to the way Trabia had been designed before he ruined it, Galbadia's lobby was open-air; the beam of light eventually dissipated, swallowed up by the sky without a trace.
Galbadia's security was even tighter than Trabia's, and the only way to access the headmaster's office was by a special, dedicated elevator that could only be called on the second floor. In addition to it being the only access point, a special keycard needed to be used in order to even work the elevator. The fastest route to the second floor, and to the elevator in particular, was across the lobby and to the left. From where he and Nida were by the gates, they could see Selphie racing up the steps, taking them two at a time. Hastily, they ran across the lobby and hurried up the stairs after her.
When they stepped onto the second floor landing, they heard her before they saw her. Loud pounding was coming from the other end of the hall, and after they rounded the corner from the stairwell, Seifer spotted Selphie standing just in front of the elevator doors. Periodically, she'd hit the steel with the side of her fist, before following it up with a sound kick that echoed down the shaft.
As they approached, they heard her shouting, "Come on! It's an emergency! Doesn't anyone understand what an emergency is?!"
"Damn it," Seifer cursed. "We need a special keycard to use the elevator."
"What?" She looked over at him sharply. "Since when?"
"Since always. I 'borrowed' the Garden during the war, remember? We need to find a staff member who has clearance."
"We don't have time!"
"We're gonna have to find the time," he retorted.
Selphie opened her mouth to yell back at him, when she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching them. From the way they sounded, the wearer had heavy boots on and a rather long stride. Seifer turned around, but the person beat him to the punch with his greeting.
"Sephy? Is that you?"
With no other acknowledgment, Selphie said, "Irvine, about time you showed up! Do you have clearance to the headmaster's office?" She didn't even bother with a "How are you" or "It's good to see you". She was right—they didn't have the time.
Irvine tilted his head down, and all Seifer saw was the top of his cowboy hat. When he straightened, he lifted his arms and shrugged. "Well, sure I do, but why—"
"Give it to me!" Selphie demanded.
"Uh, okay?" Irvine posed his response as a question and pulled the keycard out of his coat pocket. "Here. Mind tellin' me what's going on?"
As she swiped the keycard and the elevator doors slid open, she instructed, "No time! Bomb in the office! Make sure you evacuate everyone in the Garden!"
"A bomb? Like what happened at Trabia?" Irvine questioned, his brows low on his face with concern. "Wait, and you're heading up there?"
Seifer and Nida piled into the elevator with Selphie, and just as the doors shut, she yelled, "Yes, and yes! Go! Evacuate!"
The last thing they saw of Irvine was him hurriedly tipping his hat in acquiescence before running off down the hall. Seifer patted his coat pocket out of habit, before stuffing his hands into his pockets. Selphie tapped her foot rapidly as the elevator took them up to the third floor. Under her breath she murmured, "Come on, come on. Doesn't this thing go any faster?"
The words had barely left her mouth when a ding! announced their arrival, and the doors were sliding open once more. She darted out of the elevator and Seifer dove forward, yanking her back by the arm. The ticking of the bomb's timer counting down could be heard even through the double doors that blocked their entrance to the interior office.
"What are you, crazy?" he exclaimed. "If that bomb goes off now, you'd be dead! Do you hear me, Tilmitt? Fuckin' dead!"
"We don't have time to waste, Seifer! I'm the bomb expert! If I can get in there, and dis—"
She was interrupted by the ceasing of the ticks, followed by a chime going off in the next room behind the closed doors. Both of them looked up, and the sound of air being sucked in at a rapid pace had Selphie clinging to Seifer's arm.
"It's a big one. Bigger than Trabia," she said hurriedly.
"You two, behind me!" Seifer shouted. Thankfully, neither one of them argued with him, much to his surprise.
Quickly, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled the cool, glowing blue orb out. Curving his body around Selphie, and a crouched Nida behind her, he lifted the stone into the air, clutched in his hand. They didn't have a chance to say or do anything else, because the whooshing sound suddenly stopped, just before the double doors blew past them. A glowing, cerulean shield appeared over them, deflecting the debris that followed shortly after.
Then, they were engulfed by a wave of smoke and fire.
A/N:
Two chapters today because it's crunch time! The last two will be posted Monday as per usual, and then the two epilogues on Wednesday the 31st :)
