Icicle Knight Fiery SeeD
Chapter 5
//\\
Upon finally returning to Garden, Seifer found himself ambushed by a flustered Headmaster. "Seifer! There you are. I need your advice." The Old Fart gasped as he caught up to the gunblader.
"Sure. What's going on that you so desperately need my help for?" Seifer didn't know what was going on, but hey, if it was just advice that the Old Man needed, he could oblige.
"I just got word from one of our few active networks. Galbadia Garden is on the hunt for us. And it's less than a day away."
All of Seifer's amusement and good humor immediately drained away at the announcement. 'Fuck' he thought briefly, 'Leonhart definitely isn't sleeping on the job.'
Then his expression hardened. This wasn't the time for maudlin'. This looked to be the final showdown between Garden and the Sorceress, and there was no more time for games. He nodded in response to the older man's question. He raised a prompting brow as the Headmaster remained silent, finally saying, and "I can't help you out unless you tell me what preparations you've put in place already."
Cid flushed. "I've told the Instructors to intensify combat drills and Training Center simulations."
"Good. What else?" at the continuing silence as a result of his query, Seifer heaved a disbelieving sigh. "Don't tell me that's all you've done. Please tell me that your preparations have been more extensive than that!"Further silence. Seifer exploded.
"Do you fucking want Balamb Garden to fall? Hyne's Fucking, Holy, Balls, Ifrit's Horns, and Shiva's Fingers!!! No invasion drills, no assigning of defensive positions to the upperclassmen, no speed drills to set up barricades, nothing!!! What you've done so far is to basically hand Garden over to your fucking lovely wife on a silver fucking platter!!! If Leonhart attacks as we are now, we are toast!!"
Attracted by the shouting, Seifer's least favorite person in Garden came to the Headmaster's defense. Xu, who had been Seifer's squad leader in his first exam, who had passed with flying colors while Seifer had fallen into ignominy when he had deliberately left the group to take out a sniper's nest that had been menacing another squad. Xu had received all the commendations for the feat, while he had been loaded down with reprimands for disobeying orders. Xu had never forgiven him for the stunt, had been unable to let go of the fact that he had stepped outside her precise battle plan to save another squad in trouble and the antipathy was entirely mutual. In Seifer's mind, Xu should never have been promoted, being the sort to mindlessly obey regulations even after they got people under her command killed.
"Is there a problem here Sir?" she asked politely, glaring at Seifer as she did so. He glared right back, still furious at how much of Balamb Garden's defenses had been neglected. Didn't anyone realize that it was Leonhart making the battle plans that would be assaulting Garden? Leonhart, who would no doubt be fighting with every ounce of his abilities, given that his rival put absolutely no stock in emotional attachment; that for him, Garden was not the place where he had grown up and trained, but an merely an obstacle in the Sorceress's plans. And Leonhart eliminated obstacles, no matter whom or what they were, or died trying.
"No, no," Cid soothed Xu, looking hard at Seifer. "Nothing's the matter. Seifer was just helping me plan our defenses against Galbadia Garden's imminent attack."
"If you can call the pathetic plans you have so far, defenses. Leonhart's going to roll right over us."
"And you think that you could do a better job?" Xu challenged.
"A trained monkey could do a better job than the Old Fart right now, and you'd know it too if you dragged your head out of your ass long enough to see why!"Seifer shot back.
"How dare-"Xu began, before the Headmaster interrupted her. "No, he's right. I've dropped the ball, and have just received a wakeup call as to exactly why I can't afford to do that in my position. I'm not qualified to lead Garden in war, especially now, not when it's been so long since I've been in the field. I haven't so much as touched a weapon since I became Headmaster. I'm too old to try my hand at new tricks, and I should have realized that long ago." He smiled his 'disarming old uncle smile' the sheer normality of the expression making Seifer twitch. "Would the two of you like to follow me up to my office? I would like some witnesses to the announcement I'm about to make."
Seifer almost didn't hear Xu's acknowledgement of the request/order, he was too busy trying to dissect what the Old Fart was doing. The old man had caved into his blustering remarkably quickly, leaving the blond almost flat-footed and unbalanced. And since when did the Headmaster need witnesses to make an announcement? He was up to something, but fuck if Seifer couldn't figure out what it was.
Suspicious of the Old Fart's motives, Seifer hung back from entering the spacious room, and only moving into the room when it became clear that the other two were waiting for him before they activated the lift to the Bridge. Gently pushing aside the SeeD on duty, the Headmaster crossed to the control panel and activated the Intercom.
"I'm sure that this comes as a shock to you, but I've come to the conclusion that I can no longer lead Garden the way I have been doing. As you may or may not be aware, Garden has been perused by the Sorceress ever since we left our stationary position to escape from destruction. I have come to realize, that while I may do well commanding from my office the actions of SeeD members in the field, that does not exactly translate into leading SeeD in combat.
Therefore, to aid in that fight, and may I make clear that there is no avoiding that fight, I have decided to half my responsibilities, and delegate all command powers to one SeeD that I've had my eye on for some time. You may or may not get along with him, but he has such a talent for command that it sometimes gets in the way of his following orders, and his physical skills are without equal within Garden. I will still remain your Headmaster, but that position will become a purely administrative position. Your Commander will have final authority as to deployments, and long-term strategy in this struggle against the Sorceress, and others who might seek to emulate Her in the future. I give you your new Commander, Seifer Almasy." With a secretive smile, the old fool cut the mike and turned arround to gauge the reactions of his audience.
What. The. Holy. Fuck?! Ifrit's left nut, was the senile old fool serious? Commander of all Garden forces, Him? He, he couldn't have heard that right. Xu was equally incredulous, nearly sputtering in her disbelief. "But Sir, why did you pick him of all people?"
"Because he's confidant, has charisma in spades, gets results, is unpredictable in his tactics, and because he can read and predict Squall Leonhart as much as is humanly possible, that is to say, better than anyone else in Garden. All of which are qualities that will be needed in the coming fight."
"You say he's unpredictable, that's just a fancy word for reckless! He's going to get everyone in Garden killed!"
"Seifer is unorthodox, that is true, but that is a strength; not a weakness as you assume. And while he may not be the best team player, he also has a remarkable lack of allied casualties on his tally, something I can't quite say for you. He's proved to me that he can handle the responsibility. I've been planning this for a while now, but this attack made me speed up my schedule a bit."
"But-" Xu tried to protest again, only to be cut off by a harsh gesture from the Headmaster. "I've made my decision Xu! Seifer is now your Commander, and I suggest that you find a way that you can work with him before you find yourself court-martialed."
Throughout all of that exchange, Seifer stayed in a slight daze, not really present during the conversation. His mind tried to form some sort of biting quips to throw at Xu, to throw his new status in her face, but the unprocessed sensation of being Commander, of being the military leader of Garden, and of being responsible for the lives of every kid and SeeD, and cafeteria worker aboard hadn't completely sunk in yet and created a barrier between his mouth and his mind.
It wasn't until nearly a full day later, when receiving the word that Galbadia Garden was closing in and would be in sortie range in two hours, did the numb feeling cease in favor of the beginnings of combat buzz. It was time to show Garden, and Leonhart, just what he was capable of at the helm.
//\\
Squall's gaze was hard as he stared evenly at his old home, not an ounce of sentiment for the structure that that had housed him for as far back as he could easily remember. It mattered nothing. SeeD and Garden, both were a never-ending threat to his Lady's safety, so long as they existed. Beyond his Sorceress, nothing mattered. She had come back to him, even after he had been tainted by the false teachings of Garden, had come back from out of his faint childhood, and offered him security and love, in exchange for his service.
Not to mention, she offered him a way to strike back at those who had abandoned him. When he'd learned that the Ellone She was searching for was the 'Sis', of his childhood dreams, the one whose absence had torn a hole throughout his psyche, he had intensified the hunt deliberately, both wanting to see her again, and to make her pay for abandoning him. He felt the same way toward Seifer, Zell, Quistis and the others. Thanks to the memories his Lady had awoken in him, he knew that once he had lived in the same orphanage as the others, yet they had all left him there without a second thought. Only his Lady had come back for him, and for that kindness, he would move heaven and earth to prove his devotion. Exterminating SeeD as an organization was small change.
Lifting a pair of binoculars to flinty blue-grey eyes, he went over the structure before him, analyzing it one last time to see if there were any weaknesses or defenses that he hadn't already taken account of in his plan. Easily spotting the Headmaster's office, he could look in the windows and see those on the Bridge unit that had been added to the opulent room. Focusing there for a moment, he was slightly startled to see a very visible, very recognizable white trench coat, the scarlet cross-swords on the sleeves clearly visible even from this distance. Seifer. For a brief moment, something caught in his throat at the sight, but it was gone before he had a chance to analyze it.
No matter. His rival was turning until he was looking in his exact direction, a matching pair of binoculars to sea-green eyes. Their eyes locked, sea-green clashing with blue-grey; sparks flashing between the two as if they were in the same room, not nearly 50 ft apart, on opposing Gardens.
The game was on.
/\
Seifer lowered the binoculars from his face, whistling a bit under his breath. Damm, but Leonhart was looking just as fine as always. Setting the instrument down, he barked at the young SeeD at the helm (Nida he thought the kid's name was, hadn't he been one of the ones who passed the exam with Leonhart?) to bring the intercom online, he needed to make an announcement.
"Listen up kiddies. I'm sure you're all wondering why Garden is under attack, why we were almost wiped out with missiles, and why we've been operating under High Alert for the past several weeks. But to explain it, I'm going to have to let you in on a little secret about what being SeeD is all about.
"All of you ought to know that SeeDs are elite mercenaries. That all is true, but our first and foremost purpose is to defend the world from any Sorceress who wants to try her dainty little hands at World Domination and or Destruction. Sound familiar to any of you who've been paying attention to current events? Sorceress Edea knows SeeD's true purpose, that's why She destroyed Trabia Garden, and emptied Galbadia Garden of its former inhabitances to serve as Her HQ. That's why She has been trying her level best to destroy this Garden as well, but She's going to find Balamb Garden a tougher nut to crack!
"Balamb Garden is the last stronghold for SeeD, the only ones who stand a chance at stopping Her. I know all of you will do your best to prove to that Sorceress-bitch that Balamb Garden is still strong, and is ready to take Her down at any time!
"I want all those with even student ID numbers to report to the Quad. Those whose numbers end in odd numbers 3 or 5, report to the lobby; 7 and 9, get the internal barricades up and divide yourselves into groups of no more than 6 each and cover the various balconies, those with projectile weapons have priority. Any extra go help those in the Lobby. Those whose ID numbers end in 1, look after the underclassmen. Take them to the Training Center's control booth, and only open the door to an Instructor level pass code or higher. Go ahead and program some high level monsters to keep any soldiers that manage to get to you busy.
"Kiddies, I hate to remind you of this, but this is not a test, not a drill. You will not be graded on your showing. This is war, and you are to kill as many of the enemy as you very possibly can. I can assure you that they will not return the favor if you give them mercy. If you do, it is very possible that you will die. What is not a possibility; is that the enemy you spare will kill the cadet fighting beside you. That death will be your responsibility. You are to fight to win, and to win at all costs. GF's will be distributed to those who can use them, and all of you are to stock as many spells as you can hold, offensive, defensive it doesn't matter to me.
"As an aside, I want Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht, Quistis Trepe, Selphie Tilmitt, and the Disciplinary Committee to report to the Headmaster's office at the conclusion of this announcement. I have separate orders for you. Now, the rest of you, go kill some Galbadian bastards and make me proud. For Garden!!"
"For Garden!" was Nida's answering call as Seifer signaled him to cut the mike. He raised a sardonic eyebrow, causing the dark-haired SeeD to awkwardly flush in embarrassment. Apparently even Mr. hide-away-Nida, who came close to Squally-boy in reserve, had become swept up in his speech. But much to his disappointment, he didn't have time to tease the other boy properly, because a Look from Fujin as she and Raijin arrived made him think better of it.
When everyone he'd asked for had arrived, he dispensed his orders: Kinneas was to find a spot overlooking the Quad and put his sniper training to good use, while Trepe was to take command of the students fighting there. Chicken-wuss and Tilmitt were dispatched to aid those fighting in the Lobby, while his posse was to patrol around and aid those keeping watch at the various balconies, Fujin taking the ground floor, while Raijin was to look after the second. Nida was to stay on the Bridge, and try to keep Garden in one piece, given that Leonhart would most likely try to ram it. It's what Seifer would do if he were in his rival's place.
As he listened to the various posts sounding off their readiness, he couldn't stop himself from grinning foolishly as he checked over Hyperion one last time. They were as ready as they ever were would get on such short notice. And if Nida was any indication, those under his command would fight their hardest for SeeD, each other, and to take down the Sorceress. Just before he left the Bridge, one last bit of inspiration struck. "Nida, I want you to send a message to Galbadia Garden, Headmaster's office."
"What?" Nida looked nervous, as if trying to figure out why Seifer would want to do such a thing.
Seifer smirked. "Just send one word: 'Lionheartless'. The recipient will get what it means."
"Ok," Nida turned back to his instrument panel, manipulating a few buttons before grasping the control yoke once more. And not a moment too soon, as the other Garden abruptly lurched forward, striking the Quad heavily, making everyone stagger and the dark-haired SeeD gasp. "I'd say that got a reaction."
"Always works just like a charm." Seifer was grinning, teeth gleaming wolfishly. "Never, ever fails to get him to react. You have your orders Nida! I'm going to go join the fun." The lift closed on Nida's slightly panicked questioning as to what he'd meant by that remark.
/\
Squall was coldly furious. How dare Seifer call him by that name again.He'd hated it the first time the other gunblader had bestowed it upon him, and still loathed it with a passion exceeding all the other nicknames the blond had stuck him with.
Lion Heart flashed in the prearranged signal, sending the first wave of mounted troops on their way. Even if Seifer managed to counter the first wave, he had 4 other waves waiting in reserve. While there were several strong SeeDs in residence at Balamb Garden, as well he knew; the majority of the defenders were untested students, whose combat skills had never faced any challenge except supervised spars and weak monsters in the Training Center. Eventually, they would run out of stamina, and that's when his troops would swarm over Garden.
Still, a tiny hint of doubt touched his mind. He'd planned his strategy around the command abilities of Headmaster Cid, who, while a great administrator; hadn't been in the field since at least before Garden was founded. Any combat experience he might have had would be dulled by years of inactivity, and who knew if the Headmaster had any true experience with command. Seifer on the other hand was a different story, and it had to be Seifer in command, no one else would have sent him the message of 'Lionheartless'. He knew about Seifer's of leadership abilities firsthand, not to mention his combat stats, of which he had no doubt had improved somewhat since his defection.
No matter. If it was Seifer in command, then that simply meant he would have to work that much harder for victory. Their rivalry would permit nothing less. Taking note of how much time had passed since he'd sent the first wave, he ordered the airborne troops to move in. they would break in to Garden through the second floor windows and take the defending SeeDs from the back. Each wave was targeted at different locations, so SeeDs would be forced to keep moving, with the exception of his final wave. That wave would hit all the previous target locations at once, coming at the defenders from places they had already cleared and pulled cadets from to protect other areas.
He'd wanted to add yet another wave of attack, just to make sure, but his Lady had put Her foot down, citing that She trusted him to accomplish the task in 5 waves, and given that they'd thought Cid Kramer would be in command, it hadn't bothered him. Now…, Seifer was a whole different scenario. Seifer was a maverick, who cut corners and bullied his way past problems others would have gone around, but who also pulled solutions out of thin air and made the impossible happen on a regular basis. That was a truthfull, honest-to Shiva, fact. His arrogant ways should have been a turn off, but the blond was actually a good leader, just look at the behavior of his so-called posse. Devotion was too poor a word to describe the way Fujin and Raijin acted. And the only member of his Lady's forces that could take on Seifer one-on-one was himself, and that was with effort. It wasn't a secret that the two of them had been the best in Garden, even before he'd passed the exams, a Sin that had taken his Lady's Grace to extinguish.
Garden had Sinned against his Lady simply by existing, and all those who had taken the SeeD exams, or wanted to take them, or Hyne forbid actually passed, were far too late now for similar absolution. They should have thrown themselves on his Lady's Mercy while She still had it. Not that it would have made very much of a difference.
Again, he sent the starting signal and yet another wave of troops was launched. Balamb Garden was defending itself better than he had expected, and that was starting to be slightly worrisome. Not to mention, whoever they had up on the Bridge working the controls was doing a very good job of playing 'keep away' from the persistent ramming that he'd planned. Not that he'd planned on destroying anything vital that way, but the constant bombardment would have taken its toll against the defenders.
By the time the 4th wave was launched, he started to get slightly disturbed. They should have seen some result by now, should have made some dent in the defenses, yet there was no evidence of that being the case. He only had one wave left, and while it was supposed to be the biggest and most all-encompassing one to date, it simply wouldn't be enough if the lines weren't broken in some way before hand.
Abruptly he stiffened, as his Lady Herself came up to where he was watching the progression of the battle. "How goes the fight, My Knight?" She asked, her voice a river of cool water to his nerves.
He felt his worries and cares slip away from him as they always did in Her presence. He was worrying over nothing, how could he suspend his faith in Her long enough to doubt Her victory? With the magic of the Sorceress on their side, there was no way Balamb Garden could hope to resist.
"Not as well as I might have hoped, my Lady," he answered, "though not so badly that I am no longer confident of victory."
"Good." She purred, laying cool fingers against his cheek. Against his will, the flesh She touched heated, just the slightest. He couldn't help it, not with how beautiful She was, and he was still young enough to be ruled by inconvenient hormones. He wasn't exactly attracted to Her physical form (something always got in the way when he tried to think about just how perfect Her body was), but the larger than life Presence She extruded wherever She went, was what he craved.
She lightly pecked his cheek, still slightly warm from Her caress. "For luck. I expect to hear word of My victory soon enough."
He watched her leave, and stared at the door She had gone through for long moments after it had hidden Her retreating form. Then he turned to stare at his objective with fresh feelings of confidence. He couldn't let Her down, not when She had given him everything. For Her sake, Balamb Garden would be a pile of smoldering ashes within the hour.
//\\
"What happened to keeping things between us?" Seifer wanted to laugh at Leonhart's question. Boy, did Leonhart have a set of brass ones asking that question, after torture, and destroying Trabia Garden, and nearly destroying Garden not once, but twice. Seifer would never admit just how close the lines at Balamb Garden had been to breaking before he, his posse, and the rest of the 'Orphanage Gang' as Tilmitt had taken to calling them, appeared on Galbadia Garden's figurative front doorstep. After making their way through several hallways to Kinneas's best guess of where exactly the Sorceress had been hiding, they had been confronted by at least 20 soldiers led by Leonhart himself. He let Hyperion swing lazily from his grip as he answered his rival.
"The terms of our rivalry changed when you decided to fall head over heels for an evil Sorceress, Puberty-boy. You know Leonhart, I'd never have pegged you for an oedipal momma's boy-"
He never finished his sentence; the crash of gunblades connecting filled the large room and cut off whatever else he had to say. Seifer grunted at the unexpected force, Hyperion was actually nearly knocked out of his grip, though Leonhart was unable to follow up the momentary advantage as the brunet gunblader was suddenly beset by both Zell's lightning fast fists, Trepe's whip, and random potshots from Kinneas's shotgun, as the sniper, aided by Tilmitt and his posse systematically decimated the soldiers Leonhart had dared to bring along as backup. Though honestly, he couldn't blame his rival for wanting someone to cover his ass, he'd brought backup too. The only difference was the quality of said backup. Through it all, Sorceress Edea sat on Her throne, a small smile playing around formerly kind lips, the soft cruel light of malice in Her eyes.
Seifer knew that his rival was extraordinarily skilled; being strong, agile, and almost unnaturally attuned to his weapon. But even with all those advantages, not even Leonhart could last forever in the conditions he found himself in. One minute Seifer was struggling with his rival over locked blades, the next Leonhart was falling to the floor, the victim of a lucky unblocked shot to the temple. Seifer had to take time to blink to be sure that he was seeing everything correctly, only to find that Leonhart was still lying on the ground, delicate lids fluttering shut over slivery-blue eyes. All movement stopped, all sound stilled. No one knew for sure what to do.
Seifer trembled with the repressed desire to beat the shit out of Chicken-wuss for interfering like that, only restraining himself with the knowledge that this was not a spar between the two rivals, but war, and that there was an enemy still in the room who was fresh, one who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of any discord among the SeeDs. Almost as one, all the SeeD's in the room turned and locked eyes with a pair of golden ones, no longer cold, but molten hot with rage.
She stood slowly, menace apparent in every line of her body, and flowed down the short flight of stairs from Her throne until She stood only a few feet away from Seifer and Leonhart's unconscious form. "Now, look what you've done." Her voice seemed almost a parody of what he felt a mother's voice ought to be like. "Do I need to send you to separate corners to keep you from fighting?"
Seifer found himself laughing. "Don't strain yourself; you don't have to pretend to be our Matron. Besides," he laughed some more, "it's not as if that punishment ever actually worked."
"Very well;" and there was a slick and slightly odious cast to the Sorceress's voice that Seifer vaguely recalled from the Deling City parade as She dropped the motherly façade like yesterday's news. "So you are the destined SeeDs who will face me? I must say that I am not impressed." She sighed, as if She were about to take on some unpleasant, but necessary task. "Not that it matters. You will all die, here and now."
Seifer didn't spare the energy to question, all senses abruptly focused on the deadly blue gunblade that suddenly rose up and did its best to cleave his head from its shoulders. Leonhart stood, almost as if he hadn't spent the last few minutes on the floor in a dead faint, but Seifer detected a faint almost imperceptible tremor to his rival's knees and knew that Leonhart was only a few good hits from the land of dreams. Seifer did a slight double-take when he realized that his rival's lips were moving silently, almost as if he needed to actually vocalize something to himself, something Seifer had never actually seen before thanks to his rival's preference for talking in his own head, something about, "….not letting Her down… ." whatever it was, didn't matter. Putting the Sorceress down was for Leonhart's own good, even if the other boy couldn't see it. With his free hand, he told the others to stay back while he handled Leonhart.
A breath later, Leonhart attacked, sloppily, in a way that would have gotten himself killed if he'd been facing anyone other than Seifer. One hit, two, and Leonhart was out, sent back to the realm of sleep courtesy of Hyperion's hilt. The Sorceress didn't seem to be in the least concerned about the fall of Her Knight, launching an array of staggeringly powerful spells one after another, almost before Leonhart hit the ground.
Kinneas installed himself behind a pillar and began shooting, not just at the Sorceress, but around Her, forcing her to watch out for falling debris in addition to the bullets and spells flying thick and fast. Tilmitt continued to cast Protect and Shell in layers over everybody, while Trepe's whip was aided by Fujin's winds and a cunningly cast Haste. The posse watched Seifer's back as he darted in close with to harry Her with physical attacks, and the Chicken stood back slightly, standing over Leonhart's downed form, Quetzalcoatl appearing periodically to rain lightning down when Seifer had been forced back. Neither side gave ground, the Sorceress seemingly unharmed by the rain of magic, lightning, bullets, and steel that never seemed to let up for a moment, while the shower of spells stormed around the room, forcing the SeeDs to dodge or duck to keep from being incinerated by huge fireballs, blasted by hurricane force winds, or hit by overly-large Thundraga spells.
Just when they felt as if they couldn't sustain the battle anymore, something in the vicinity of the Sorceress exploded. Seifer vaguely recognized Fujin shoving him down and covering himself with her body before everything went black.
//\\
She struggled out of the void where she had existed for…who knew how long. The first thing she recognized was that she hurt, every bone and muscle in her body seemed to protest the slightest movement strenuously. Despite that, she carefully moved her hand to rest on her heavily aching head, and found herself jerking incautiously in surprise at the fact that her limbs actually responded. She tried reaching for the other presence in her head, the one she had struggled so hard against ever since the other Sorceress had taken her body for Her own. No response. She was free.
Slowly, mindful of how sore her body was, she pulled herself upright using a handy pillar, instantly attracting the attention of the various, very well armed group of, well, she knew that they were almost grown, but they would always be children to her. Her children. There was little Selphie, still a darling little angel even after all these years, despite the angry pair of nunchaku in a harness on the back of her yellow dress. There was Quistis, grown to be a lovely young woman. There was no mistaking Zell with that hair, though exactly where he had received that outlandish tattoo on his face she didn't know and wasn't particularly sure she wanted to. There was Irvine, nearly as pretty as the girls with that stunning red-gold ponytail, though it seemed as if he'd never grown out of that cowboy phase he'd been coming into when he left the orphanage. Seifer, still as brash as ever, but bent solicitously over the fallen form of a young woman with short silver hair and an obvious eye patch, his girlfriend, perhaps? No, with the way he was talking to the final young man in the room, one who was as tall and stout as the young woman was short and slender, her boy was concerned for her, but not as concerned as his friend was. Then he turned; achingly familiar sea-green eyes hard and given a vicious edge with that scar that ran between his brows. He picked up a strange bladed weapon that for some reason tickled a hint of familiarity with some distant memory, and aimed it directly for her.
All of her children took that as a signal and readied their own weapons. Abruptly, she realized that they didn't know that she was herself again, though she honestly didn't know for how long that would be so. She had to say something, anything to indicate that she was not a threat, that she meant and could do no harm to the children she cared for as her own. Practically her whole family was there, save for Cid, Squall and-
Oh Holy Hyne. Ellone. Was she still safe? She thought she'd managed to keep that one secret safe, even as the future Sorceress raped her memories and will, using her body to commit who knew how many unspeakable deeds that had induced the very children she had raised and cared for as her own to raise weapons to her with deadly intent.
"Did, did She catch Ellone?" The question was soft, yet filled the large room due to the utter silence no one wanted to break. She desperately tried to read their faces, but they would have shown more emotion carved in stone. "Please;" and the fear was naked in her voice, "tell me that I kept that one secret safe. I knew and feared that this day would come, please tell me if I managed to keep at least one thing hidden from Her. Please…"
Her strength gave out. As she collapsed, she hoped that she wasn't imagining the incredulity on her children's faces, as the realization that she had not been herself sunk in. there was no time for her to enjoy that revelation, as the darkness closed in again, only this time with the promise that it would recede shortly.
//\\
Whoot!! Big battle chapter over and done with!! And I know that some of my readers were interested in what Squall was up to and his motivations for his actions with the Sorceress. I hope that I didn't make a huge mistake in framing it in sort of a religious sense, as if Edea/Ultimecia is his goddess, and he will do anything and everything to further Her cause.
I had fun with the scene with Xu. It was fun coming up with their shared history, and it is clear in the game that Seifer and Xu know each other fairly well, and do not get along well together at all. Coming up with a reason for that enmity was cool, but also necessary because Seifer being Seifer, isn't going to be able to take over Garden without some misgivings on the parts of those who either don't like him, or have doubts about his ability to command effectively. So I needed to represent those doubts in the form of Xu.
Please don't kill me for the momma's boy comment!!! I know it sounds so wrong, but that's why it works. I mean, Edea, as Matron, was Squall's only mother figure, unless you count Ellone which I don't. Raine is so far out of the picture that Squall is completely unaware of her existence, what with her dying giving birth and Squall's attachment to Shiva. And Seifer being Seifer, he will twist any hint of vulnerability he finds into an advantage. I also noticed something writing this. Seifer, or at least the Seifer in my story, doesn't like to throw the first punch; or the first swing as it may be. Instead, he's very good at goading his opponent into taking that step. If you think about it, no matter what his command abilities, Seifer would have never been allowed to join the Disciplinary Committee if he walked around starting fights. I makes more sense to me to have his tendency be to goad other people into a fight, therefore he could say with complete seriousness, that the other cadet started it, and he was just doing his duty in finishing it.
One last thing I wanted to mention. When I'm writing about Ultimecia, or Ultimecia in Edea's body, I use the capitalized pronouns. When it is just Edea being referenced, I don't capitalize the pronouns. And before any of you make any comments about how weak and whiny Edea is after being released from Ultimecia's control, remember, she's just escaped from the mental equivalent of prolonged solitary confinement, completely lost track of how long she's been under Ultimecia's control, and is desperate to find out if the one secret she had left is still safe. I wouldn't be strong and composed in her shoes.
"Ifrit's left nut," comes from sexyleon's fabulous story, "sins of the living" possibly one of the most realistic post-sorceress war stories I have ever read. The phrase was so Seifer that I couldn't resist using it.
Please, please, please review!!!! I think one of the reasons I took so long to update is that I only received two reviews for chapter 4; I can't operate under such a low level of feedback!!!!!!!