No Turning Back

Chapter 4 Change

Rajin was getting bored.

Fishing was fun, but fishing day after day, week after week, it was getting dull. His live had become dull since the war has ended. Before the end of the war he had traveled across the world with his two best friends. He knows they have made some stupid mistakes during that time, but the companionship he then felt is long gone.

"I want to go back, ya know." Rajin said one day when Seifer was out of town.

Fujin nods her head, agreeing with him.

"But I don't want to leave Seifer behind. I don't know what to do. I think if we leave him know, he will never get out of this…."

"..Depression."

"Yeah, ever since we had to leave Garden he hasn't been himself, ya know."

"I know," Fujin is sitting down next to Rajin, resting her hand on his thigh. "But if we stay here it won't get any better."

"What can we do to make it better? He can't go back to Garden, and I really don't want to leave him behind…"

Fujin is turning her face towards the warm April sun. Rajin knows she too is missing the action, the traveling, the companionship they had in Balamb Garden.

"Find."

"Find what?"

"Find what he has lost. We have to find a way to get him back to Garden. He has to see Quistis again. Even if they can't be together, they still have a lot of things to talk about."

"Uhuh. But if he sets foot in Balamb they can arrest him. Shouldn't it be easier to ask Quistis if she wants to see him again, ya know?"

"If she wanted to find him, she would have. Something is stopping her off finding him. Something that happened in Time Compression."

Time Compression, something they didn't speak about, ever.

"But we can't go both to Garden, we can't leave Seifer. One of us has to go to speak to Quistis."

"Yes."

"But who will go?" Rajin asked, putting down his fishing rod. It wasn't like he was catching anything today.

"You will."

"Me?" Rajin was hoping that Fu would go, she was a woman after all and he really was clueless about woman and their problems.

"Yes." Was her only answer. She smiled to him, kissing his cheek before standing up. "If someone can convince her to come, it will be you."

After he got back from his training session, Seifer showered and went to search for his friends. His loyal friends who wouldn't leave him alone, no matter how he treated them they won't leave.

Someday he despises them, but only because they have the opportunity to return to Garden were he has none. That feeling doesn't last long, and when it is gone, he is disgusted of himself. How can he feel that way, when both of them have given up everything to be with him? No, he would change that. He wouldn't stop them perusing their dreams; he would support them as they have supported him.

He would let them go back to Garden.

He wasn't ignorant of their desire to return, he was just selfish. He didn't want to be alone, but he also doesn't want to be the person who destroys the dreams of his friends.

So when that evening came and Rajin and Fujin told him Rajin would go back to Garden, to talk to Cid about a possible return for all of them, he agreed whole heartily. He would let them go their own way in Timber, and for himself he would see where the road would take him.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Happy that their plan was working Rajin and Fujin wasted no time to pack their belongings so they could leave early the next day.

The walk to Timber was long, but they could see some of the old Seifer again and that made the journey a good one.

In Timber they said goodbye. While the plan was for Fujin to stay with Seifer until Rajin was back, Seifer convinced her to go with him. He told them he was going to be fine by himself.

Although Fujin saw through his facade, she couldn't come up with a good reason to stay behind. She had no other choice but to leave Seifer.

Like she didn't have a choice in the Lunatic Pandora.

"RAIJIN, STOP!"

"What's up?"

"We've had enough, ya know..."

Fujin pushes Ellone, "GO."

"Wait outside. Laguna should be here soon." Squall tells Ellone, never taking his eyes away from Seifer.

"Hey, hey... Come on people."

"Seifer, we're quittin', ya know? Don't know what's right anymore, ya know..."

"Exactly my thoughts. I thought we were a posse."

"POSSE... We are. We always will be. Because we're a posse, we want to help you. Whatever it takes to fulfill your dream, we're willing to do. But... You're being manipulated, Seifer. You've lost yourself and your dream. You're just eating out of someone's hand. We want the old you back! Since we can't get through to you, all we have now to rely on is Squall! It's sad... Sad that we only have Squall to rely on... Seifer! Are you still gonna keep goin'?"

"Rajin, Fujin! It's been fun!"

They had left them; they had to rely on Squall to bring him back to them. But really, it hadn't been Squall who had been able to get him back, it was Quistis. How did she do it? What did she do? That is the real question now. Question Fujin wants answered.

After Rajin and Fujin left Seifer wanders through Timber, unconsciously he walks to the TV-Station, the place where it all went so wrong for him.

-x-x-x-x-x-

The president was coming! Vinzer Deling was coming to Timber. There was only one place where he would go in this town and that was the TV-Station, Seifer was sure of that. That was the only thing that made sense to him; why else would the Galbadians be interested in the Communication Tower in Dollet?

"What are you planning to do?" Quistis asks him. She was still following him through all the narrow back alleys. "Kill the president live on television? Are you mad?"

Mad? Yes he was. Mad about her, but he didn't have time to focus on his love for this woman. He had to help Rinoa free Timber once and for all, just like he promised her last summer.

"Storming the TV-Station isn't a plan." Quistis continued. "You can't free Timber on your own. You just can't."

"I can try." He told her. 'Or die trying.'

She pulled on his sleeve making him stop. In these narrow streets they were standing chest to chest. He could feel her warm breath on his chest and it was making him think back on the time they had spent together. With him holding her in her sleep, her blond hair sprawled over his chest.

"You're no good to us death." She whispered harshly under her breath. "You're no good to me when you're gone."

Her voice was wavering at the end and he pressed her closer to him. He heard what she wasn't saying with so many words.

"But it is something that I have to do." He whispered in her hair.

"Why. Tell me why! I don't understand why you have to do this."

"I made a promise."

Quistis understood, of course she understood. Seifer was a man who never backed out of a promise.

Never.

And he never did, not since they were children.

He had hurt her yes, but he had never broken a promise.

"Okay, I'll come with you."

Seifer's heart leapt in his chest, maybe there was still hope for them. He kissed her hair before letting go of her to make his way further towards the heart of Timber.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The TV-Station was crawling with soldiers. This posed no threat for both blonds. With the combination of sleep and silence magic they were able to take out most of the guards without a sound.

While the president was announced Seifer turned towards Quistis. They had made it this far without being notice, but now he didn't have a plan and neither had Quistis by the look of her face. There was only one thing he could do, and that was something he was good at: crashing the party!

He beckoned Quistis closer and gave her a hard kiss before he jumped down.

It all happened so fast.

He had the president at gunshot. Those Galbadians didn't stand a chance with him and Quistis.

Quistis, who tried to stop him from hurting the president. She told the soldiers to back away, and he used that time to walk to the back room with the president in front of him. Expecting Quistis to follow him.

While he was waiting for her, Quistis wasn't the first to arrive in the back room.

A beautiful woman with raven dark hair and ember eyes.

Matron?

"Poor, poor boy."

That woman looked so much like his foster mother, but she lacked the warmth with which she spoke.

Quistis ran in after him, but that woman put her to sleep.

He so much wanted to check on Quistis, but he couldn't take his eyes off this woman. She spoke to him and he knew only he could hear her, it was all-in his mind. His arms drop to his side and president Deling makes a run for it.

His matron with her sultry voice is still talking to him, but he has only one thought. He has to get this woman away from Quistis. He wouldn't stand by idle and watch her hurt Quistis, so he did the only thing he could do.

He went with her…

…leaving Quistis behind.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Making his way back to the hotel he thought he saw a familiar flash of golden hair, but he thought it must be his imagination. Quistis was back in Garden. He hadn't heard of any SeeD mission here, and he doubted if they would be sending the six war heroes so soon back in the field.

In his hotel room he fell asleep immediately, for a change.

He was dreaming…

…dreaming of the woman he left behind.