There was no sound for what seemed the longest time. But when Selphie finally forced her eyes open, there was too much fire and smoke for much time at all to have passed. The cerulean shield was gone now, leaving only the fading image of a sea serpent around them. When it finally vanished, the smoke swirled around her body, clinging to the edges of her eyes until her vision was blurry from too many tears. Then came the hacking coughs as she inhaled the noxious gas. She put her arm in front of her mouth and nose and got to her feet; even with the shield, the force of the blast had knocked her down.

Nida was on the ground too, unconscious, but seemingly okay.

Selphie turned towards the office, saw Seifer still conscious, crouching on the ground with his head bowed. Slowly, he got to his feet, swaying a bit. He almost lost balance, but Selphie moved just into position for him to lean some of his weight on her. When he was balanced again, he pushed away from her and clutched at his head. His lips were moving, like he was speaking to her, but she still heard nothing; she just watched his lips move with wide eyes.

Then she heard it, a slight ringing in her ears. Her hearing was coming back, it just had been overwhelmed by the explosion.

Seifer looked at her when she didn't respond, and she just pointed to her ears and shook her head. His expression gentled somewhat, a focused gleam in his eye, and he lifted his hands, cupping her ears. They grew a little cold, but Selphie forced herself to stay still. A moment later, the ringing increased, a shooting pain accompanying it. Then a blue light appeared around the edges of her vision, the ringing disappeared, and she could hear the faint crackling of the flames, and her own fast breathing, and then finally an alarm.

"Selphie," Seifer said in a muffled voice.

She merely looked at him, eyes changing between narrowed and wide as all the sounds came back to her, increasing with volume until she was sure her hearing was back.

Seifer lowered his hands and then turned towards what used to be the headmaster's office. He lifted an arm and then disappeared into the smoke until it swallowed him up.

Someone turn off that damn alarm! Selphie thought as he put her own hands over her ears. She turned back to Nida and knelt down beside him. When she lowered her hands to reach for him, she noticed blood on her palms. Taking in as deep a breath as she could, she continued reaching for Nida, gently rolling him over onto his back.

"Nida," she said—or tried to. It came out as an intelligent croak. After clearing her throat multiple times, she finally said again, successfully, if in a scratched voice, "Nida!"

After a second, his eyes slowly flickered open. He groaned and tried to get up, but Selphie pushed him gently back down.

Seifer had used Leviathan. She had her own GFs with her still, but she was reluctant to junction them for the first time after so long. Nida would be okay. He would be fine until Seifer could cast Cura on him as well.

"Where are you hurt?" Selphie asked, her voice getting stronger with every word.

He vaguely gestured towards his head. Perhaps he had a concussion from hitting the ground.

"I'll get Seifer. Stay here," Selphie said, patting his chest and leaving behind a tiny smatter of blood.

Carefully, she got to her feet and faced the unknown of the destroyed office. Then taking a deep breath, she held up her arm again and plunged into the smoke after Seifer. She had no idea where she was stepping, or if she was even headed in the right direction.

Please say no one was in here. Please let no one be hurt.

Though, of course she knew if someone had been in there, they would be dead, not just hurt.

Eventually, the smoke thinned a little and she saw a bit of sky. It got even clearer the closer she got. Then she realized it was Seifer, using Aero to clear the smoke out so they could see and breathe. It would go fast, she knew, if she junctioned just one GF and cast Aero with him—she even had Tornadoes, still—but she was still scared to break the oath.

Maybe there would come a time finally when she had to use them, but this wasn't it.

The alarm still rang in her ears, loud and obnoxious, and vaguely reminding her of the missile base. She tried to block it out by focusing purely on looking for survivors. The last time she'd been here had been the Battle of the Gardens, and though she only remembered little of how the office looked then, at the moment it didn't look like anything at all. There was smoke and fire, debris and glass, and the open sky and sun glaring down at them.

Selphie stumbled through a glassy section until she reached what looked like an overturned chair. It was huge, burnt to the frame. As she rounded it, she gasped. The charred near-skeleton of Headmaster Giles was grinning at her-no, he'd been forever caught in a scream. Someone had tied him to his chair, made sure he was in his office when the bomb went off.

She crouched down beside him, her arms falling to her sides so her knuckles scraped the churned-up glass floor. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I wasn't in time." Her head bowed. "I'm so sorry."

Her eyes closed and the alarm came back in full force. Her shoulders came in, her muscles tensed, and then she screamed out, "Will someone turn that damn alarm off!"

As if something had heard her, the alarm stopped and her eyes flew open. At the other end of the office, the smoke had cleared just enough for Selphie to see the elevator come up again. The door had been mostly melted off, and someone in the elevator kicked it down: Irvine. He and a few other Garden personnel rushed in, one attending to Nida on the ground. The others began either helping Seifer with the smoke, or dousing the fires with Water. Irvine came straight to Selphie, sliding to a stop a few feet away when he recognized Giles' corpse.

"I didn't make it," Selphie said to Irvine. "I'm sorry."

Irvine's eyes moved to her, and became the most tender she'd seen in a long time. He knelt down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. She smooshed her face into his shoulder and breathed in his scent. For once, there was no other smell more comforting.

"Hey, now, don't worry about that at all," Irvine murmured. "You did your best, I'm sure. Like you always do, you know?"

Selphie moved away and gave him a thankful smile. She glanced at the corpse again and then quickly got to her feet. Irvine moved up with her, keeping his hands on her arms to make sure she didn't topple over. "You gonna be fine?" he asked, looking her over.

"Yeah," Selphie said, rubbing her shoulder. "If it weren't for Seifer . . ." She looked across the office towards him, to where he was just blowing out the last of the thick smoke. Funny. I'm sure I thought something exactly like that back in the war, but it meant something completely different. A tiny smile touched the corners of her mouth, but it quickly went away when Seifer looked around, searching for something else to do, and his eyes landed on Selphie. Then they looked at Irvine. And then he turned away like he couldn't be less bothered with anything else.

"I'd heard about that . . ." Irvine said. "You sure he's gone good now, huh?"

Selphie gave him a slightly miffed look, but Irvine didn't deserve it. He was as right to be suspicious as anyone else.

"You sure you're okay, Sephy?" he asked.

She lightly touched his arm and then began searching for the point of origin. It couldn't have been too close to the headmaster, else he'd be in a million pieces. At least, not as intact as he was now, if you could even call it that.

Irvine followed her. "We knew there was a threat, and we kind of upped security in the time we had, but I guess we weren't fast enough, were we?"

"None of us were," Selphie said quietly and she poked through some debris with a shoe.

"Man," Irvine said, his voice heavy. "I didn't know Giles all that well, honestly. We were two completely different kinds of people. But . . ."

He didn't need to add anything after that; Selphie knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Is Balamb next?" Irvine asked, though Selphie could tell it wasn't to her specifically. "And then after that, they're obviously not just planning on stopping there, right?"

Selphie paused in her investigation of a smashed snowglobe. "They will be when I'm through with them," she said through gritted teeth.

More people came up the elevator, including a few medics. Two of them helped Nida to his feet and over to the elevator. The others split up between Seifer and Selphie.

"You should come to the infirmary," one of them said to Selphie.

Her eyes narrowed. "Not until I—"

The other one sighed, but said interrupted firmly, "It's not a suggestion. The doctor is ordering anyone affected by the blast to get checked out. I'm sorry, but until she clears you, you're not authorized to be up here."

Selphie frowned and looked at them carefully. But before she could open her mouth to retort, Irvine put his hands up and said easily, "We'll be right down. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

The medics both nodded and went to join their comrades who were having a little more trouble with Seifer.

"You'll be cleared in no time," Irvine said. "I guarantee it. Then you can investigate to your heart's content. Come on, I won't feel good before I know you're 100% okay."

She stuck out her bottom lip, but his eyes were hard to defy, even if they had lost their puppy-like quality. They were warm, genuine. Selphie was glad to see them, surprising herself. Maybe it was just the circumstances surrounding them seeing each other again. They were just friends, supporting each other, caring about each other. And Irvine seemed to understand her more than anyone else, was less intrusive, yet still able to show just how much he cared without those long, emotional talks she seemed to have with most of her other friends. Not that she disliked her friends for that, but Irvine seemed to have a special gift of getting through to her without that.

And Seifer . . .

My boys, she thought firmly.

That brought a smile to her face, ruining her whole pouting face, but she was okay with yielding. She was tired. Maybe a little rest in the infirmary was just what she needed. The immediate danger was past, and they had a little time before they had to turn their worries to Balamb Garden, the soul.

"Hold on," she said to Irvine, touching his arm again before she walked over to where Seifer was giving the medics a tongue lashing. She gently pushed the medics away and looked at Seifer something fierce. "Come on."

"The infirmary can wait," Seifer said. "We have business here first." He cast one of the medics a glare and they winced.

But Selphie stayed put. "Come on. They're just doing their job. And then we can finish ours."

Seifer clenched his jaw but thrust a hand in the air towards the elevator. "After you, then."

Selphie held back a victorious smile and returned to Irvine. Then the three of them took the elevator down. Irvine knew the way to the infirmary, so he led while Selphie and Seifer walked just behind him, Selphie holding one of her arms while she watched her feet.

Nida was the only other occupant in the infirmary when they arrived, sitting on a bed with one knee bent while a doctor ran a little handheld scanner over his body, starting from his feet and ending at his head. When the others came in, she gave them the tiniest of glances. To Nida, she said, "You definitely have a concussion, son, but otherwise you're fine. Just lie back for now; I'll be back after I check out your friends."

The doctor came over and gave the three of them a brief, unimpressed look over, then she gestured towards three other beds. "Over there."

"Oh, I'm just the escort," Irvine insisted with the tip of his hat.

"Fine," the doctor said in a dismissive tone as she led the way to the beds.

Selphie sat on the end of hers, legs dangling in the air. Too short . . . And Seifer sat on the bed beside her, on the side, legs definitely long enough to reach the floor.

"I'm going to go back up and see if they need me to do anything," Irvine told Selphie. "But I'll see you again soon, okay? You can't get rid of me that easily." He lifted her hand, kissed it, and then left them to the care of the doctor.

She started with Selphie, also running the scanner over Selphie's body. When she was finished, she looked at the results with a frown. After pressing a few buttons, she slipped the device into a large pocket of her coat and said, "Someone patch you up with magic?" As if she already knew the answer, she tilted her head in Seifer's direction and gave him an indescribable look.

"I couldn't hear," Selphie said. "Cura on my ears."

"Well, good. If you had waited until now, you might have had permanent hearing damage," the doctor said. She fully looked at Seifer now. "So thanks, kid."

Seifer just shrugged.

"As for the rest of you," the doctor said to Selphie, her hands resting in her pockets. She seemed so bored with her job, and yet Selphie knew that wasn't the case. Perhaps she acted this way so her patients didn't panic. If she was chill, then the patients would be more chill.

"You listening?" the doctor asked sharply. When she had Selphie's attention again, she said, "As for the rest of you, most of it's cosmetic damage. You'll have some minor bruising, but if you take a shower you'll look nearly like nothing happened."

Selphie nodded. "Thanks," she said in a quiet voice.

The doctor moved on to Seifer, pulling out the scanner again. "So you're the big hero, huh?"

Seifer just rolled his eyes and avoided her gaze. "Just got a job to do."

"Don't be so modest," Selphie said, staring at her lap. "If it weren't for you, all three of us would be dead, you know."

"So, like I said, you're the big hero," the doctor repeated in a slightly annoyed voice. "All right, what I said to her applies to you as well, minus the broken thumb."

Huh? Selphie looked over quickly. He must have hurt it when he was summoning Leviathan. The explosion had happened so suddenly, and with the force of that and Leviathan's power, it made sense he'd been affected. He was lucky, probably, to get off easy with just a broken thumb. Broken bones were easy fixes.

Selphie smiled in relief.

"I gotta treat the other guy first. I suggest you both get some rest. Even if you got out of it virtually unscathed, you still just survived an explosion," the doctor said. "And I don't want to hear any excuses that you gotta work or something." She put her hands back in her pockets, eyed them carefully, as if daring them to say otherwise, and then headed off to a different part of the infirmary.

There was silence for a few moments, and then Selphie looked over at Seifer. He was frowning at his thumb, and for some reason he was trying to move it. Every tiny move caused him to wince, and yet he kept on doing it.

Selphie lay down onto her side and watched him.

Finally, when the doctor came back in and started treating Nida, Seifer looked up and he noticed Selphie watching him. He sighed and a ran a hand through his hair.

"We were too late," Seifer said angrily, and just quiet enough that only Selphie could hear.

"I know," she said. "Is your thumb okay? Stop moving it."

Seifer flexed all his fingers on that hand, winced again, and then let it lay still on his leg. "I'm fine. I wanna get back up there. They won't wait forever, and Balamb's next."

Again, she said, "I know. I'm worried. If G-Garden and T-Garden are the hearts, and they had the same kind of attack . . . then what are they going to do to Balamb? It's the soul. You said so yourself."

"Balamb's got SeeD," Seifer said. "Balamb's got Quistis and . . . I hate to say it, but it's got Squall too. No matter what resources Sanctus has, it won't be nearly as easy attacking Balamb."

"Unless . . ." Selphie took a deep breath. "Unless they have people inside. Trabia did, does. And if the communications were messed with, then there has to be inside people here too."

The thought must not have occurred to him fully until then, unless she was only reminding him, because Seifer's eyes widened a little. Then he looked at the doctor suspiciously, as if she was one of the Sanctus spies. "No information outside the three of us unless we know 100% we can trust them."

"Like the orphanage gang. And Xu. Dr. Kadowaki," Selphie listed off.

"That ain't a lot," Seifer said.

"Is that worry I hear?" Selphie asked with a half-hearted laugh. "It's not good when you start sounding really worried. Usually you're good at hiding it, I guess. But I don't know." She glanced down at her fingers. "Not that I'm good at reading people. After all . . . we were enemies start of summer and now we're . . . we're friends, right?"

"Friendly acquaintances," Seifer said, waving a hand in the air.

Selphie smiled a little, and then looked over as the doctor returned to help Seifer. With his focus gone away from her, Selphie rolled onto her other side. Before she knew it, she was asleep, and a few hours later someone was gently shaking her awake. The infirmary lights were low, and Nida was hovering over her, half his face illuminated.

"Hey, there," he said.

Too quickly, Selphie sat up. She touched her fingers to her temple as she waited for the blackness to dissipate, then she quickly looked from side to side. "What time is it? Where's everyone?"

"You fell asleep, so Seifer and I went up to the office to do some more investigating," Nida said. "I thought you might want to join us, but he insisted you sleep."

Selphie yawned. "Don't know whether to be angry or not. How's your head?"

Nida blinked, looking taken aback. "I . . . I . . . My head is . . ."

Selphie tilted her head to the side.

"My head is fine," he said very quietly. "Thank you for asking."

She just shrugged and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "What time is it?" she asked, realizing he hadn't answered her question yet.

"Mmm, just after sunset. Everything's gone a little quiet. Even more so than Balamb," Nida said, looking out through the infirmary windows. "Seifer's still in the office. It's probably time for him to get some sleep."

Biting her lip, Selphie watched her swinging legs. "Hey . . . Nida. Do you think Seifer and I are friends?"

Again, Nida looked shocked she would ask him such a question. "Why ask me?"

"Oh, I don't know. You're right." She gave a nervous laugh then set her feet on the floor. "I should probably go help Seifer. What have you two found?"

Together, they walked through the dimly lit corridors. Selphie walked slower than usual, but not from tiredness. She wasn't overly eager to see the destroyed office again. And though she knew Giles would have been removed soon after she herself had left, just thinking about him made ugly knots in her stomach. He hadn't been headmaster very long at all, and from what Irvine had told her, a lot of the students and faculty really liked him-a lot more than Martine, too.

A lot of Trabia students had loved Luna, too, and she'd been headmistress even shorter a period of time than Giles.

Where was the morgue in G-Garden?

Selphie shivered and pushed it out of her mind. The office was going to be quiet and dark. There was probably little more to see at this time of day, with only faint moonlight and flashlights to light up the crime scene. And Seifer really did need to get some sleep.

"We forgot most of our things at Trabia Garden," Selphie said, interrupting Nida's report. She hadn't heard a word of it, even though she'd asked him to tell her.

"Oh," Nida said. "I'm sure they'll have supplies we can borrow."

Selphie suddenly stopped.

"Selphie?" Nida asked, a few feet ahead.

"What if we don't find Sanctus in time for Balamb? What if they . . . Quistis. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her," Selphie said. "But she's the heart of Balamb Garden. Everyone loves her, respects her, looks up to her."

Nida said nothing, just gave her a sympathetic look.

"I thought when you got older that . . . that losing the people you love was easier to bear, but when I think about losing Quistis or Rinoa or Zell or Irvine or Squall . . . It hurts just as much as it did during the war, maybe even more so."

Selphie looked up at the lights flanking each side of the corridor. "And there were people who felt as strongly about Giles as I do about all of them. What they're going through, I could go through too. I will probably go through it. After all . . . Balamb is a school to train soldiers. It's inevitable, isn't it? The idea of being what I am now was thrilling when I was young. I'm not so sure anymore. The things I wanna do . . . I don't need to be a SeeD to do them."

Still, Nida remained silent.

Selphie looked down at him. "Sorry, I'm being depressing."

He shrugged. "You don't have to apologize, Selphie."

"I know," she said. "But I am anyway. I'm supposed to be here to cheer people up, not make them even more sad."

"Sometimes it's okay to let yourself be sad, Selphie," Nida said.

Maybe. She started walking again. "About the report," she said, pretending they had never stopped in the first place, "I'll probably just get it from Seifer when we get to the office."

He was there, a splint still on his thumb, crouching over the most intact piece of furniture. There were some documents on it he was rifling through, using the light from his phone to illuminate the words. When Selphie and Nida approached, he didn't even look up at them, but he must have known who they were, because he said, "Look at this. Found it in one of the safes."

Selphie leaned an arm on the table to read what he was pointing at. "These are student records," she said. "What about them?"

"Look how many students applied to Garden all on the same exact day," Seifer said. "That never happens. Not that many students. Not one day."

"Just a coincidence?" Selphie said.

Seifer shook his head. "Look how many of them are from Dollet. What are the chances we'll find the exact same thing at the other two Gardens?" He made an angry noise, kicked the desk, and walked a few paces away.

Selphie looked closer. "But it says here they all joined Garden right after the war, and all of them were from ages seven to twelve . . ." She gasped a little and then turned to Seifer. "You think Sanctus planted kids here ten years ago? Made them go through Garden training just so they wouldn't be . . ." Her hand curled into a fist. "No."

Seifer looked over his shoulder at her. "How else do you read that? We need to contact Trabia and Balamb Garden and see if it's the same there."

"But, these kids have been at Garden for ten years. You really don't think they'd form an attachment after all that time? Make friends? Maybe feel something for this place that's been their home for the past decade?"

"Maybe a few, but if these kids were fuckin' brainwashed . . ." He stopped himself.

So . . . maybe they were? After all?

"It's easier when you're younger," he said, mostly to himself. He'd still been eighteen when Ultimecia had seduced him, but what he said still held true. If those kids had been taught from age seven, at the youngest, that Garden was bad and needed to be destroyed, then anything they saw, no matter how good, could be warped to be something evil in their mind.

Like Mira. But Mira, you were here before the war too. You loved it at Garden. So why . . . so why, after all those years, could you be taken in?

"So what do we do? We can't just arrest all of them," Nida said.

Both Selphie and Seifer looked at him in slight surprise. She'd almost forgotten he was there, again, as she was so prone to do.

"No," Seifer said sharply, "we can't. We need proof."

"But you really think . . . ?" Selphie started, unable to finish.

"I know," Seifer said. "I learned to trust my gut a long time ago, and I know what it's tellin' me now. Sanctus put children spies in Garden, and now that they're all grown up, it's the perfect time to launch their attack. Garden's always been about working together, about loyalty, so of course they wouldn't expect traitors from their precious, perfect little students."

Selphie stiffened and clenched her jaw, but nodded. "They know Garden intimately. It'd be so easy. It has been easy."

"I can send a report to Headmistress Trepe," Nida offered. "She'll probably have a reply ready in the morning."

"Good idea," Seifer said.

Nida stared at him like he'd seen a ghost take corporeal form once again. He looked too shocked to say anything, so he just nodded, saluted, and headed out, leaving Selphie and Seifer alone in the dark office. Once he'd gone, Seifer turned his phone off, and they could only see what the moon lit up for them.

A slight breeze blew in, rather chilly for their location, but it was fitting.

How can I fight an enemy that I thought was my ally for so long?

Wait, but . . . that's how it was with Seifer.

But I forgot him, because of the guardian forces . . .

And I don't really know any of these kids personally . . .

But it feels so wrong.

"It'd just be easier if the leaders of this came out and fought themselves instead of using kids!" Selphie said angrily. "Why are they just hiding, huh? A bunch of Hynedamned cowards!"

Seifer's eyebrows raised.

"You going to help me find every last one of them?" she asked him. "I can't rest until I know Garden is safe. I know it's not your home or anything, that you're only doing this so you don't feel so shitty about what you did in the war. You don't have to make any extra effort than anyone else would. You don't have to."

Evenly, he said, "I know."

"And I know you just think of me as a friendly acquaintance. It's easier for you, because you're so distanced from everything. But I couldn't be even if I wanted to. I tried it for ten years and now I see it didn't really work. But it worked for you till I butted in," Selphie said. "That's not me apologizing or anything. Just, when I got a mission, I gotta finish it. I gotta do absolutely everything I can. So . . . that means bringing you along, because I know what you can do."

"What you getting at, Tilmitt?" Seifer asked impatiently.

Coming out in a mess, as usual. Ugh, Selphie, don't just throw up words. She cleared her throat, put her hands behind her back, and stood straight and stiff. "I know it's not supposed to be this way, but I want you to enter a contract with me. I'm a SeeD, it's what SeeDs do, except ours is going to be mutually beneficial. You help me finish Sanctus, destroy the whole thing, and I help you forgive yourself for the war."

Seifer gave her a somewhat bemused look.

"We need each other," Selphie said. "I think I knew it from the day I saw you at the orphanage. And if you want to then go away and never see me again after we save Balamb, I don't care. But for now, for this—" She held out one fist in front of her. "Let's help each other, the very best we can. At least for old times' sake, back when we were kids who had no idea what the future held in store for us."

His slight bewilderment turned to a steely-eyed stare, and his mouth became a straight line. "I can't answer that."

Selphie waved her hands in front of her. "You're right. Of course not. Ha. I should give you some time. I'll wait till this is over, and then . . . then I'll ask again, if that's okay."

He gave a curt nod and then said, "I'm gonna get some shut eye."

"And take a shower? You look like a mess," Selphie said.

He shook his head and headed towards the door. "Right back at ya, Tilmitt."

Selphie turned back to the documents. Of course not all the students who applied were with Sanctus, they couldn't be, even some of them from Dollet. And Selphie knew that wasn't just some weak hope; she felt it in her gut, and though she didn't pay as much attention to hers as Seifer seemed to, she knew its importance well enough.

She hadn't meant to come up here and monologue at Seifer, but after seeing all the names, hearing his theory, and realizing it was very likely how Sanctus had infiltrated every Garden, she knew she had to give as much time and energy into stopping Sanctus as she could. They had to be stopped, fully and completely. Garden had to be safe. And Seifer had the qualities of a SeeD, even if he hadn't passed the exam. He was intelligent and powerful, and that's exactly who the task force needed.

When she had originally drafted him, they'd never set a precise end date. But she'd thought he'd help with the immediate threat, feel good about himself, and then go home. He'd probably thought the same thing. After all, back in Winhill, she'd only mentioned Trabia. They were already at G-Garden, soon to be heading to Balamb. It was too much to expect him to stay on after that.

But she needed him. And maybe he didn't need her like she'd said, but it had sounded good at the time. Besides, her mind hadn't really been working, leaving everything up to her mouth. She'd probably overwhelmed him, and she didn't want to guilt trip him into staying longer, but every word, as messily as they'd come out, had been true.

This whole thing's got me really worried, is all, she wanted to tell him now, what with so many spies that others in Garden have probably grown to love and trust. So, just bear with me, I'm just

She cut that thought off.

I'm just what?

She slouched a little and put up a careless hand in the air. With a deep voice, she said, "Whatever."

That's what Squall would do. Ha.

Selphie straightened a little and gently folded her arms. "I'm just making sure the mission gets completed with as few casualties as possible," she said in what she hoped was a good Quistis voice.

Or

She jumped up in the air and curled a hand into a fist. "I just wanna get those bastards before they get anyone else!" She gave the air a few warning punches.

With a laugh, she relaxed her arms and clasped her hands behind her like she always did. "Sure been a long time since all of us were together in one place."

Soon. When Balamb's safe. She looked at the moon. Thanks for never losing faith in me, guys. I'll repay every one of you. I'll save Garden and make up for these ten years I've been gone.

"I promise!" she called out to nothing in particular.

She swiped the documents from the desk and headed to the elevator to get some real sleep. As the elevator moved down, Selphie gave a determined smile and clutched the documents close to her chest.

This is why I'm a SeeD. I'm here to help the people I love. So I'm going to do it. Sanctus can't stop me.


The next day

Like Nida had predicted, the next morning Quistis had already sent a reply:

We're working heavily to get our new security systems up and running. For now, investigate this new theory. Balamb and Trabia have forwarded all relevant materials. And please, remember to rest-and that's not a suggestion. I look forward to seeing you three back at Balamb in several days' time. Keep up the good work. It isn't going unnoticed. Stay safe.

"Do you think that last part is because we walked right into a bomb?" Selphie asked as she finished reading. "Did you tell her that?"

"I wrote all pertinent information," Nida said.

"She's probably going to add a section to the handbook, something about knowing there's a bomb and taking necessary precautions before haphazardly running in," Selphie said.

Nida blinked. "Isn't there already one about that?"

Selphie shrugged. "I don't know. I read it seventeen years ago."

"Seventeen? You should be keeping up with it every year," Nida said, shaking his head in disappointment.

From behind them, Seifer cleared his throat. Once they looked back at him, he waved a pad in the air. "If you two're done, there's actually work to do. The records for Balamb and Trabia have the same pattern, all the Gardens are just off by one day." He carelessly tossed the pad through the space between them and let it slide onto the desk.

"Garden probably figured everyone was joining because they defeated Ultimecia," Nida said. "I mean, if I had known that many people applied to Garden at once, that's what I'd have thought. For the opposite reason of why they actually joined."

Seifer gave a wry smile and scooted his chair to one side of the desk so he could put his feet up on it. "Hey, what do you know . . . you are good for somethin'."

Selphie put her hand over her mouth to try and hide her giggle.

"Well," Nida said loudly, as if that would make it so Seifer had never spoken. "I guess we should all start looking at these records, right? Find some patterns."

"I love patterns," Selphie said, pulling up a chair and grabbing one of the pads.

"Great. Enjoy your love of patterns quietly then," Seifer said.

Selphie looked at him, expecting a sarcastic face, but he was just looking down at another pad in his hand, a stupid smile on his face. She wiggled her nose, "humphed," and then put her feet up on the desk too so their feet were almost touching.

Seifer glanced up the tiniest bit and then shook his head.

Nida just sighed and sat in a chair a little bit away from them.

The three of them delved into the records for hours, occasionally writing down things of note, but when Selphie finally looked over her entire page of scribbles, she couldn't remember exactly why she'd written down half of things on there. She slapped it on the desk and then gave a huge, dramatic sigh.

"My brain's melting," she said. "I need a break."

Seifer didn't glance up. "I'll be here."

"You need a break too," Selphie insisted. "Has anyone eaten since breakfast?"

"I am a little peckish," Nida said.

Seifer rolled his eyes and set his pad on the desk too. "Fine. I'm no closer than I was five hours ago, anyway." He got to his feet.

Slowly, Nida also stood up. "You want my honest opinion?"

"No, we want your dishonest one," Seifer said in a slightly scathing tone.

For once, Nida didn't wince or cringe back. He just looked evenly at Seifer and said, "Honestly, I don't think we're going to find much here."

The corner of Seifer's mouth lifted. "I agree," he said almost instantly, and Selphie looked at him in surprise. "Finding the students can come later. What's important is that we know they exist. So, we get back to your precious Balamb and stop whatever they got planned there."

Then we all go home? Selphie made a disappointed face, but got to her feet as well and nodded. "I agree, too. The fight's at Balamb. We can't afford to be so far away. And if Quistis insists we still need to rest, that's what Rinoa's place is for."

The three of them looked between each other, then Seifer said, "So it's agreed, huh?"

Selphie clenched her jaw and nodded again.

"To Balamb," Nida said.

They gathered the materials they had, mostly for when Nida and Selphie, and possibly Seifer, moved on to finding the traitorous students. The Ragnarok was still parked in the same place as they'd landed, as Garden staff had been too busy to ask them to move it. As the three of them were standing, waiting for the loading ramp, someone called Selphie's name.

It was Irvine, running with his hand on his hat to keep it from falling off. When he started running faster, he let go, and the wind swept it off to the ground. He arrived at the trio, breathing heavily, hair wild from its run in the wind. When he'd fully caught his breath, Irvine put his hands on Selphie's shoulders.

"You leaving already? Quistis said you were going to be here for a few days," he said.

"G-Garden will be fine for now," Selphie said. "We don't think Sanctus' next move will involve it. But we do think it'll happen at Balamb, so we're going where we're needed. Hopefully so we can stop one of these attacks before they happen."

Irvine face screwed up, like he was about to cry, but he never did. "It's just, we didn't get to spend much time together."

Beside them, Seifer made the tiniest noise of disgust. But he and Nida moved into the ship, the loading ramp securely down.

Selphie stayed where she was. "I know," she said, putting her hand on his wrist. "But the mission comes first. And . . . G-Garden needs you here."

"Ha, do they?" Irvine said with a wry smile. "I mean, I'm not the greatest teacher."

"Maybe not . . . traditionally," Selphie said slowly and gave him a lopsided smile. "But, when the immediate danger is past . . . all of us will get together. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

He tried to tip his hat, but ended up clutching air. He cleared his throat and smiled. "That sounds like a good plan, Sephy. Stay safe."

"You sound like Quistis," Selphie said.

"Not a bad thing at all," he said, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "Now, I better go get my hat before it blows away forever. These plains here are rather unforgiving."

Selphie just smiled.

Irvine began backing away, waving, and only when Seifer called for Selphie to get to it did he finally turn away and begin running after his hat. Selphie put up a hand, indicating for Seifer to wait a little longer as she watched Irvine chasing his hat.

Really, how did I survive away from all of them for so long?

Selphie spun on her heel and hopped back onto the loading ramp. As soon as her feet connected, it started to rise. She watched Irvine's image until they were separated by the Ragnarok before turning to Seifer. The engines were on, which meant Nida was already ready for takeoff.

"I never really understood him," Seifer said. "Even at the orphanage."

She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, that's Irvine for you. But I love 'im." She walked past him towards the door, and he followed her all the way up to the bridge.

This time, Selphie sat in the co-pilot's seat, strangely content to let Nida fly all the way back.

"You know, we never grabbed anything to eat," Selphie said as she settled in, putting her feet up on the dash. "Seifer, you wanna go grab us all something from the kitchen?"

Seifer rolled his eyes. "You gotta stop making a habit of volunteering me for everything, Selphie." But he turned back around and left.

"That was easy," Nida said.

Selphie watched the landscape get smaller as they gained altitude. "We're not the only ones that are hungry."

Nida smiled. "Ha, yeah. Hunger will do strange things to a person, won't it?"

Zell came firstly to her mind and she smiled. Once they got back, she could finally spend time with him. "Yeah, it really does."

They were silent for a second, then Nida glanced back at the door. "You know," he said, too casually, "he called you Selphie."

"It's not the first time," she said, closing her eyes and reclining her chair.

"I know," Nida said.

She waited for him to say more, maybe an explanation, but when she opened one eye, she saw him looking straight ahead, intent on driving responsibly. Quickly, she closed her eyes again. You're just waiting for him to call you 'Tadao' aren't you?

Again, she fell asleep without meaning to, and about an hour and a half later when she awoke, there was a little plastic container with something that looked like chicken salad in it and a note with "This is all we had in the refrigerator." She set her feet down, stretched her arms, and gently took the container from the dash.

Beside her, Nida said, "Good morning! Or should I say afternoon." He chuckled. "Seifer left that for you. He left a while ago, don't know where to. Not that there's really many places to go on this ship."

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," she said.

"It's nice to see though!" Nida said.

She gave him a look.

Immediately, his face got red. "I don't mean it like . . . watching you while you . . . Ahem . . . I only meant, you never really got a lot of sleep in the past, especially once we got to Esthar. How you managed off so little, I'll never know."

Not like I didn't want to sleep more. I couldn't. It's different now. Going to sleep isn't . . . isn't bad. She took the lid off the container and then looked around. "Did he bring any forks up or anything?"

Nida glanced over. "I guess not."

Selphie rolled her eyes and put the lid back on. "Figures." She slowly uncurled from the seat and then stretched her arms up high until her back popped.

"It always weirds me out when you do that," Nida grumbled quietly.

She just winked at him and then headed out to the kitchen to hunt for a utensil. Not that she really needed one. She was down with turning chicken salad into finger food, but only when she was alone. Carefully making sure no one was around, she took the lid off again and scooped up some salad with just one finger. She licked her finger clean and sighed in happiness.

As she was turning the corner to get to the kitchen, she ran straight into Seifer. Gooey salad landed right on his nice leather jacket, Selphie let out a little scream, and then covered her mouth. For a moment, all they heard was the sound of the container as it slowly slid down Seifer's jacket, finally clattering to the floor when it ran out of salad. Her shoulders began to tremble as she struggled to keep in a laugh.

Seifer just looked down at his jacket, then his gaze moved to her.

She lowered her hand and bit her lip, trying to remain somewhat professional. "Sorry," she said.

"It's . . ." But he stopped and just stared at her.

"Ragnarok doesn't have a washing machine," she said.

"It's just a jacket," he said.

"Aw, but it's a nice jacket. It was kind of rude for me to spill the food you got for me all over you, wasn't it?" She lifted a hand to the mess on his jacket, as if she could start cleaning it, but then she gave a nervous chuckle and moved her hand back behind her neck. "In my defense, you didn't give me a fork."

Seifer's brows furrowed, and he looked for a moment like he was going to get angry, but then he rubbed one of his temples and gave an exasperated noise that sounded suspiciously similar to a laugh. "Of course I did. In my defense, you were asleep and I don't even know where the damn utensils would be, all right?"

"All right," she said, biting her lip harder this time to keep the smile away.

He turned around and started heading back to the bathroom. Of course, she followed after him. "How the hell did you become a SeeD anyway?"

"Advanced ship navigation whilst holding food wasn't on the exam," she said.

Seifer stopped and she almost ran into him again. He turned and gave her another exasperated look, but it looked eerily similar to a lot of looks that Irvine had given her over the years. It surprised her and she moved back a little, her face twisting into something she wished she had a mirror to see.

"Well, look, you're not . . . following me to the—"

"Kitchen's the same direction," she said, already knowing what he was going to say. "Don't worry."

"I just . . . told you there wasn't any food left," he said.

She shook her head. "Uh huh, you think I'm going to believe that when you just admitted you don't know where the utensils are? You just don't know where to look. You don't know this ship like I do." She poked him in the chest and then when she noticed chicken salad on the tip, she licked it off. It was a shame for so much salad to be wasted on a leather jacket.

He must have noticed her bummed expression because he said, "All right, fine, just so you don't think I owe you or something like that . . . I'll help you look for some Hynedamned food."

More exclamation points went off in her head. "Really? Are you really offering to help out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I just fuckin' told you why," he said.

"No, no," she said. "It's too late for excuses. I know the truth."

"You want to find your own food?" he asked, looming over her.

She grinned up at him and put her hands between them. "Okay, okay, lead the way then."

Rolling his eyes, and glancing at his jacket then her one more time, he turned and headed towards the kitchen this time.

It was only a tiny thing, added in about two years after the war ended. They'd added other amenities that made sense, like more bathrooms, some extra storage space, even a little room with some cots you could set up. The kitchen itself had a mini freezer and fridge, a sink, a few cupboards, and then some black, flimsy card tables that tried to look like elegant dining tables.

The fridge and freezer were both empty,, but Selphie was determined to find some food. Her stomach growled furiously at her, probably angrier about Seifer's jacket than Seifer himself.

"There isn't any vodka in there, by the way," he said. "In case that's what you were looking for."

She cast him an annoyed look and searched through the cupboards.

"See?" Seifer said in a bored tone. "No food."

"You give up too easily," she said as she closed the last cupboard. "If it's not in the kitchen, then we check the storage rooms."

"It's not food storage," Seifer said as she walked past him and out the door. And yet, for all his skepticism, he still followed her out.

As they were walking down the corridor, the intercom came to life, a jingle followed by Nida saying, "Hey, Selphie, you have an incoming message from Rinoa in Balamb. You wanna take it up here or . . . ?"

She walked to the nearest com panel. "In the kitchen, please!" And then she walked back to the kitchen, heading to one of the screens above a table. Before she pushed "accept," she took a few breaths. Calm down, Selphie, it's not like you haven't talked to her a million times like this over the past ten years. She glanced back to see where Seifer was and saw him leaning against the closest side of the doorframe to Selphie, his arms folded and his eyes trained on the ground.

Right!

The screen came to life at her touch, and Rinoa's beautiful, angelic, shining, ethereal, goddess-like face smiled at Selphie from the other side. The camera was a little too close, but Rinoa must not have known. She waved and Selphie waved back, an intense sense of calm overcoming her. Rinoa had that effect, whether it was from being a good sorceress, or just by being Rinoa. It likely could have been both.

"Hey, there!" Rinoa said.

"Hey!" Selphie said, leaning forward a little.

"Oh, wow!" Rinoa giggled and looked over Selphie's shoulder. "I'd heard Seifer was working with you, but I didn't believe it until now!"

Selphie's eyes bulged, surprised at how casually Rinoa was taking seeing Seifer for the first time since the war—since he threw her to Sorceress Adel. But her eyes held true surprise and almost . . . she almost looked glad.

She moved a little so Rinoa could better see her ex. "Yep, that's him. He's all mad I spilled chicken salad on his jacket. Whoops."

Seifer looked up, face scrunched up. He looked so uncomfortable, Selphie could practically smell his discomfort. "Rinoa," he said curtly.

That just made Rinoa giggle again. "It's actually why I'm calling."

Discomfort and a little . . . what was that? Fear?

"I was out walking some of my dogs, like soon after you got to G-Garden, and I swear I saw Fujin and Raijin at the train station. They looked ready for some cold weather," Rinoa said. At the word "dog," some began barking in the background. A black nose pushed its way into the frame, along with a long, pink tongue that was keen on giving Rinoa's face a bath. She laughed and gently nudged the dog away.

Selphie looked back at Seifer, who was no longer uncomfortable, but . . . Well, he looked like he didn't know how to feel. It couldn't have been anything bad, because Selphie was sure he loved the two of them, even if he'd never say it out loud quite that way. It must have been just as long for him as it had for Selphie seeing her friends, outside of Irvine, in person. But he probably hadn't even had that.

"I haven't really seen a whole lot of them in some years. I know they lived here for a little bit after the war, but then they kind of left. This is the first time I've seen them in almost . . . what is it? Seven years?" Rinoa said. "Maybe they'll come back and you can see them . . . I mean, if you want to."

Seifer just shrugged. "I don't know. It's been awhile."

Another voice came through the screen. "Is that Selphie? Hey, is she coming back?"

Rinoa looked over at something just as the screen went all blurry with movement. The image took the form of Zell's upside down face, and then they could hear Rinoa saying, "You're holding the phone upside down, Zell."

"Oh!" He righted it and then grinned. "You still owe us a visit, ya know!"

"We kind of got swept up in the task force," Selphie said.

"I know, the bombings. It's a Hynedamn mess. But I'm glad you're coming back. I feel much better knowing you're closer to all of us." He moved the phone so much when he spoke it was hard to get a clear picture of anything.

Selphie smiled. "Same. Balamb really is the soul of the Gardens."

"And us," Zell said.

"Zell, you have to keep the phone still," Rinoa was saying.

"Oh, oh, sorry." The shaking stopped, and once again Selphie could see his wonderful face. "And you tell that Chicken-wuss behind you that he's gotta play nice or I'm gonna kick him out of Rinoa's house."

"Very original," Seifer said from the doorframe.

"Don't worry, I'll tell him," Selphie said.

The phone moved again, accompanied with Zell's incoherent noises of sadness, and then the screen was back to Rinoa, white-snouted Angelo at her side. "Good luck on your task force, Selphie. You're the perfect choice to lead it. Garden's in the safest hands."

"Thank you," she said quietly.

More barking sounded from the background until it was a cacophony. Rinoa laughed. "I got thirty hungry mouths to feed right now, and if I wait any longer they're going to go crazy!" She brought the phone close to her face so she could kiss the screen. Then she waved again. "I'll see you soon, Selphie." She lifted Angelo's paw. "Say, bye, Angelo!"

Angelo just licked her face instead.

Selphie held up a hand to wave and then the screen went dark. She turned in her chair towards Seifer. "I'm surprised you stayed in the room."

"So am I," he said with a little cringe. "Still, I guess it's nice to . . ." He grunted. "Huh. Nevermind. I need to get this salad off my jacket before it starts to smell." He turned and disappeared into the hallway.

"Then you'll help me find food?" she called after him.

"Yeah, yeah," he called back, then his footsteps faded.

Selphie rested her chin on the back of the chair and just smiled.


A few hours later

As soon as they started over Balamb, Selphie's stomach did a few backflips. She knew there was no way Balamb would be attacked already, especially not so soon after Rinoa had contacted her. If there had been attack, someone would have told them. Still, she sat on the edge of her seat, hands on the dashboards, eagerly looking for when Garden would appear, hopefully all in one beautiful piece.

"Balamb will be fine," Nida assured her from the pilot's seat.

Selphie said nothing.

"Hmm, they're contacting us," Nida said, looking at a flashing light on the dash. He flicked a switch, and then a voice came over the speakers.

"Attention Ragnarok: due to new security measures, all incoming vessels are prohibited from approaching Garden. Set down outside of Balamb. There, a security team will inspect your vehicle. Only when you have clearance may you again proceed to Balamb."

"We copy, Garden," Nida said almost cheerfully.

The communication ended just as Seifer came up to the bridge, jacket-less and looking disgruntled. Rather than ask him about it then, Selphie just gave him a tiny smile in greeting and then looked out the window again. At least Garden was okay, or that message would have indicated otherwise.

"We can just take a car to Garden," Nida suggested. "I don't know how long the inspection will take."

Seifer stood behind Selphie's chair, arms folded. "What inspection?"

Nida answered—Selphie was too nervous to say anything. "They're making us land outside the city and inspecting the ship before we can approach Balamb. I assume they're doing that with any vehicle that has weapons."

"We should go see Rinoa," Seifer said, so sure of himself, and as if it wasn't a big deal those words were coming out of his mouth.

Selphie physically jolted, and she twisted around to look up at him. "Sorry, say again?"

"I have a feeling," he said.

When he said nothing more, Selphie and Nida cast each other looks and mutually shrugged.

A few moments later, Nida said, "Coming up on Balamb. I assume that temporary landing site is where they want us to go." He brought the ship just above it, and then slowly lowered them down until they touched down with a light tap. He got out of the seat, turned off the engine, and made his way out without saying anything.

Selphie was slower about getting up. She looked at Seifer in concern, but rather than ask about his "feeling," she asked, "Where's your jacket?"

He just stood there, staring out the glass window with his arms folded and an intense expression on his face. Only when she asked him again did he look at her. "Lost cause," he said. "We're stopping by the train station before we go to Rinoa's." He unfolded his arms and started towards the door.

She followed. "Um, you wanna fill me in?"

They got onto the lift, and when it touched down, Seifer said, "How long does it take to take the train to Trabia?"

It was the newest train line on the globe, only completed a couple of years ago, and it was the fastest one, using a new train that weren't being used anywhere else yet. "A day?" she guessed. "I haven't actually taken it."

Seifer stopped and rounded on her. "You, who loves Trabia and is obsessed with trains, hasn't even ridden the new train from Balamb to Trabia?"

She frowned and got defensive. "I've been busy."

"I feel like you'd have made the time," he said and started walking again.

It meant coming back here. She followed him out into the sunshine of the landing pad where Nida was talking animatedly with someone in Garden uniform. That wasn't an option for me when the line was completed. Things are different now.

They walked on by Nida out onto the temporary landing pad.

"But are you going to answer my question?" Selphie asked.

"What question?" Seifer said, holding a hand over his eyes to keep the sun out as he took in the little security operation Garden had established. There were about two dozen Garden personnel here, some of them SeeD, and others part of the weird, relatively new security force they'd formed just a few years ago that Selphie had never actually seen in use until now.

"You know what question," she said.

Seifer looked over at her. "Fujin and Raijin."

"What about them? That's not an answer," she said.

But they were interrupted when Nida came up behind them, a solemn expression on his face. He jerked a thumb back towards the man he had been talking to, who was now joining a group of Garden personnel as they entered Ragnarok. "They say it'll be several hours to make a complete inspection. Maybe we should just take the rental car."

"You go ahead then," Seifer said. "Check-in with Quistis. Selphie and I have business here. When we're finished, we'll return with Ragnarok."

Nida opened his mouth to speak, then looked at Selphie in confusion. When she just shrugged, Nida nodded to Seifer. "Then I'll see you two later today. Good luck with . . . whatever it is you're doing."

Seifer just looked back at the personnel milling about the landing pad and their temporary tents, so Selphie saluted to Nida and he smiled.

When it was just the two of them again, Selphie said, "Before we take one step, you start talking. What's going on?"

His expression darkened, and he said, "Fujin didn't just blame the sorceress for how things turned out. She hated Garden too. After the war, she got a job in Dollet or something."

Selphie noticed his tight fist at his side and turned away to face towards the town, her hands behind her back. "So you want to know if they were going to Trabia? But if they were . . . But if they're Sanctus, why would they go to Trabia?"

"We left your friend Mira there, didn't we?" Seifer said.

"Yeah," Selphie said, and gave a sad laugh. "Friend."

My old friend. Seifer's old friends, maybe. Things really do change, don't they?

"Let's get the hell out of here," Seifer said, starting towards the town.

They went first to the train station, to a younger fellow who didn't seem to recognize either of them. When Seifer asked for a list of all the departures and arrivals on the Balamb-Trabia rail in the last two months, he gave them a suspicious look.

"I'm sorry, I can't give out that information," he said.

"Don't make me come in there and get it myself," Seifer said, leaning an elbow on the tiny ledge of the ticket booth. Selphie was sure that if there hadn't been glass separating him and the boy, Seifer would have picked up by the collar and possibly pulled him over to the other side. It might have been secretly entertaining if it didn't look like the boy was about to shit himself at the look Seifer was giving him.

Selphie cleared her throat and pushed an unsuspecting Seifer gently out of the way. "Hey, SeeD here." She pulled out her ID, which he looked at only after giving an annoyed Seifer a hesitant look. When he nodded in acknowledgement, she continued: "I know this isn't regular procedure, but you've heard about the recent attacks on Gardens, right?"

The boy nodded.

"We have reason to believe that two members of Sanctus have been working out of Balamb," she said. "But we can't be really sure unless we have that list, to see where they've been going."

"Look," the boy said, putting his hands in the air. "I get it, I really do, but I seriously can't just do that. I'm new here, and I really need this job, okay? My boss will fire me for sure if I give out any information like that."

Selphie slouched a little, but she wasn't ready to give up. "Okay." She set her hands flat on the ledge of the ticket booth. "Can I bribe you with lots of money?"

The boy's eyes widened.

"I'm serious," she said. "I'm loaded. I can give you whatever you need to be okay in case you get fired and have to find a new job."

"But I could go to prison," the boy said, his voice raising an octave.

Beside her, Seifer started chuckling. His anger had seemed to cool off at Selphie's attempts to get the information, and now he pushed her out of the way. "Look, kid, if you want, tell your boss that Seifer Almasy broke in, threatened your life, and then took the fuckin' info, okay? He won't fire you for that."

The boy's eyes widened and he shrunk back. "Seifer Almasy?" He gave Seifer a quick up-down and then nodded his head. "I'll get it right away. Right away! Just, hold on a moment. It'll take a few minutes, okay? I'm not . . . calling the—" He tripped over something, never finished his sentence, and then disappeared into the back.

"You didn't have to actually make him pee his pants," Selphie complained.

"Well, we weren't getting anywhere," Seifer said. "Do you usually go around bribing people?"

Selphie shrugged. "I usually don't have to. And I usually forget I have money to bribe people with in the first place."

Seifer eyed her carefully. "Yeah? How much you got?"

"Hyne," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Last I checked it was about 68 million gil? I mean, most of it is in savings, and Garden has a really nice interest plan with their savings account."

Seifer stared at her, then rubbed his face. "What the hell do you do all the time? Do you even spend money?"

"I spend money when there's upgrades to my nunchakus," she said slowly as she thought of all the expenses she had. "And food and new clothes. Sometimes gas, but in Esthar, I was reimbursed for that. Occasionally I went and saw a movie—or, that was work-related, so Esthar paid for those. Um . . ." She gave him an awkward grin.

He shook his head in disappointment and looked back to the ticket booth.

Actually, that makes me think . . . She looked at Seifer, how he was only wearing a t-shirt, his jacket probably in the trash on the Ragnarok. Maybe I should buy him a new one. A real leather jacket. That'd only be, what? Thirty-five hundred gil at the most? That's nothing. I spent that much at that bar on Kiros' birthday last year . . .

The boy came back and slid some printed documents through the slit. "There you go. Now please, just leave me alone, okay?"

Seifer grabbed the papers and did a two fingered salute from his forehead. "Sure thing, kid."

"I'm not a kid!" the boy called after them as they walked away.

"So, are you sure you wanna go to Rinoa's? Last time I asked, you were, you know, ready to murder me or something probably. Or you would have been if I'd asked at least one more time."

He smirked a little, but kept his eyes on the documents. "I don't want to, but I'll fuckin' deal."

"Well, that's mature of you," she said.

Now he looked at her. "Really? Saying that's mature from you?"

"I'm not thirty yet," she defended with a frown. "I can still have my moments of being a twenty-something, all right?"

He rolled his eyes and looked back to the papers. Selphie just watched him, occasionally looking forward to make sure they didn't run into anything. He kept shaking his head as he looked over the names, obviously looking for two in particular and not finding them. Finally, he had shuffled through all the papers.

"Maybe Rinoa mistook someone else for them," Seifer said. "It's not in here."

"Different name?" she suggested as they walked down the cobblestone curve that wrapped around the Balamb hotel. She knew where to go, though she hadn't actually walked to Rinoa's place until right then.

Seifer shrugged and started from page one. Just as he was about to shuffle to the third page again, he stopped and went back to page two. His eyebrows furrowed and his grip tightened on the paper until it was crinkled around his thumb—the one not in a splint, luckily.

"Hmm?" Selphie asked quietly, looking ahead.

"I'd almost forgotten . . ." He stopped, so Selphie did too, and she rounded on him.

"Forgotten what?" She sneaked a peek at the papers.

He didn't answer her until he had shuffled through the rest of the papers, and then he frowned and looked at her. "Fujin and Raijin and I . . . after the war, we came up with fake names to use in case we were going anywhere. We thought . . ." He shook his head and his hand holding the papers fell to his side. "Then this has to be them. They've been making a lot of trips in the past month. One a week before the Trabia bombing, and one just recently, where Rinoa saw them."

Selphie just looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Makes me wonder where the hell else they've been. Wouldn't be surprised if I saw a bunch of trips to Dollet," he said.

"Well," she said, "the evidence is thin, so I wouldn't panic just yet. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Or maybe—" She put a hand on his arm to keep him from turning away. "Maybe they heard you were there and wanted to see you."

Seifer scoffs. "Right, that must be it. Why the hell would they go and join Sanctus?"

Selphie looked away at the ground and then out towards the direction of Rinoa's house. "Do you still want to go to Rinoa's? I doubt she'll have any more information on Fujin and Raijin. I don't want to put you in an awkward situation."

"Yeah?" He looked at her, and for a moment, she could have sworn something like fondness in his eyes, but he looked away too quickly to be sure. "Are they expecting us?"

"Not . . . not really, I don't think," Selphie said. "At least, not you."

"The inspection's going to take forever," he murmured.

She nodded, though he wasn't looking at her to see it.

With an irritated noise, he said, "What the hell. Let's just go."

Selphie's eyebrows would have raised off her face if they could. "Are you sure?"

Seifer lifted the papers in his hand, glaring at them, and in a moment they were consumed by a fire spell.

As they watched the ashes fall to the ground, Selphie said, "Do you still have Leviathan junctioned?"

He stared at his empty hand, still in the air, covered with ash. Quietly, he said, "I missed the feel of it." With a sudden intake of breath, he dropped his hand and turned to her. "We going or not?"

She made a face but said nothing about how weird he was acting. Instead, she just started going again. Rinoa's house and shelter were only about five minutes away, the closest house to the beach west of the hotel.

They walked for a minute in silence, Selphie now occasionally glancing at Seifer to make sure he was okay. He seemed stiffer than usual, eyes focused on the way ahead, but otherwise, there were no red flags yet.

"You know," Selphie said. "I think it'll be fine. Rinoa and Zell are two of the best people I've ever known. But don't worry: I'll do all the talking if need be. And you know how good I am at that."

The tiniest smile appeared on his mouth, but he said nothing.

She smiled too, openly, and then lightly punched him in the arm. "Don't embarrass me."

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. "Embarrass you?"

Despite how cool he was playing now, she knew this was hard for him. But it was good. Necessary. After all, once she'd finally seen him again and got out all her frustrations, things had been better with everything. Here she was, walking with Seifer casually to Rinoa's house to spend some time with her old friends. And yes, there was the mission, and Sanctus, and Fujin and Raijin's probable involvement, but at least for this moment, the next few hours, things were normal. Things were good.

Seifer would be good.

"Thanks for coming," she said. "I'm glad you're here."

They entered a shady lane flanked on all sides by looming trees. The road curved towards the beach, and then there was the walkway up to Rinoa's front door. Just farther down was the shelter, but they headed to the door of the tiny cottage. They stopped just in front of its bright blue, painted wood an Selphie gave Seifer a determined look.

"Ready?"

He glanced at the door then nodded. "Fuck it, right?" He knocked on the door himself, loud thuds with his fist.

A few heart-pounding moments later, the door opened, and there, wrapped in a blue cardigan and wearing a long and full white skirt, was Rinoa.


A/N:

Slight delay with Chapter X, y'all. It will be up before the Challenge ends, though, I promise!