Icicle Knight, Fiery SeeD
Chapter 7
//\\
Seifer was only barely restraining himself from gutting the stupid, pansy-ass flunky that was currently giving him the runaround as to Ellone's whereabouts, but as it had been a very frustrating week, he could feel his control fray each minute he had to listen to the idiot stall, which had been for over an hour. He'd been patient, he'd asked nicely, knowing that while burdened with Fujin's deadweight, they couldn't hope to fight their way out of Esthar. He had to work with these people, and he would. Just as soon as the toady gave him the information he was after. Truthfully, the only reason the idiot was still alive, was because Raijin had stolen Hyperion right out of its sheath and was keeping a firm grip on Seifer's right arm. If it had been anyone else who tried the stunt, Seifer would have killed them without a second thought, but he trusted Raijin and the quarterstaff user was one of the few who could control Seifer through sheer strength alone.
"…it is utterly impossible for you to see Miss Ellone at the moment…" the flunky was saying, all self-important in his ridiculous robes and puffed up manner, no doubt helped by the contingent of guards stationed at all exits to the large room the SeeDs were in. That was the other reason Seifer was behaving; Garden couldn't afford either the money or cadets it would cost to fight another war so soon after finishing one. Not to mention, Esthar's military strength was a complete unknown, given that the country had spent nearly Seifer's complete lifetime cut off from the rest of the world. Those from Balamb Garden could deal with a lot, but not even they could defend themselves indefinitely from a nation's full armed forces without backup. And given that the flunkies stonewalling him got higher and higher ranked, whoever it was in Esthar that Ellone was connected to was located in a very high place in the Estharian Government. Thus the need for some modicum of diplomacy.
Screw that. Seifer felt his patience slip the last remnants of its leash, and before Raijin could stop him, the toady was on the ground, Hyperion back in his hand and dancing above the flunky's jugular, just a hairs-breath from slicing the fat throat. Around the room, Seifer could see in his peripheral vision all the guards make an abortive move for their weapons, before deliberately standing down, obviously well aware of just how out classed they were by the SeeDs, and how much they couldn't do before Hyperion was used. It looked like some people in Esthar actually practiced survival skills. Seifer approved of that, and also approved of the one guard discretely slipping out one door to summon reinforcements. It showed the guards weren't idiots. A whimper below him brought his mind back to one who actually was an idiot, one who thought that it was a good idea to play games with a SeeD in a dangerous mood.
"Now, I am going to tell you something, and you are going to listen," Seifer's voice was falsely pleasant, as if he was merely having a pleasant conversation, not holding a very sharp blade to someone's throat. Behind him, Tilmitt had moved with Kinneas to join Raijin at Seifer's back, while Chicken-wuss and Trepe moved to cover the doors. He needed answers, even if he knew that Trepe would demand an explanation for his behavior later. " I am going to ask you one more time, where do I find Ellone, and you are going to answer me, or Hyperion is going to become very well aquatinted with your throat." His flat green eyes belied the casual tone of voice, holding the gunblade so close to the idiot's throat that a faint line of blood tainted Hyperion's edge, as the flunky swallowed nervously several times.
"Why?" was the flunky's stupid question. Did he really need to have a reason to demand answers? Snorting, he decided to humor the idiot for the moment, just in hopes of actually getting a satisfactory answer.
"You see my friend over there?" a jerk of his head indicated Fujin's unconscious form on a couch, half-hidden behind Raijin's mammoth bulk. "Something happened to her. Until we find out what, our doctor can't help her. And I don't like wondering just what is wrong with one of my friends. You got me?" Hyperion's silver edge gained another red tinge, just as the old one was just beginning to dry. "And I'd stop struggling. Or shivering if that's what you're doing. You wouldn't want my grip to slip, would you?" Seifer let his teeth show in a wolfish grin.
"Lun-Lunar Station. She's there, along with all of our best diagnostic medical facilities, if you can't figure out what's wrong with your friend there, you won't be able to figure it out anywhere on the planet.
Seifer nodded, trying not to let his triumph show. Hyperion moved away from the fat fuck's throat, just enough to relax the flunky who was too stupid to realize his error before the gunblade returned to its previous position. A strange odor wafted up to Seifer's nose, making him wrinkle it in disgust before he smirked at the realization that the smell came from the panicked toady soiling his robes. "Not so fast. Get me to the Station, or I'm going to add a bit of bright red to this tacky décor. You get me?" he asked, with a meaningful glance at Hyperion.
The flunky nodded frantically, likely not noticing the tears coursing down fat cheeks. "Y-y-yes-s-s, I u-u-under-s-stand. I'll arrange for the transport m-m-mys-self."
"Good." Seifer stood, wiping Hyperion off on the soiled robes, uncaring if they stained. They were unusable anyway, what with the way the idiot had pissed himself in them. No need to keep blood on the blade longer than it had to be there. "Get it done. Raijin, go with this little weasel , make sure that he does what he says he will."
No sooner than Raijin had left the room, nearly dragging the still shell-shocked flunky with him, then Trepe pounced. "I cannot believe you Seifer! Was there any point in threatening him like that?"
"Yes, there was." Seifer stood his ground. "I needed to see Ellone and got tired of the runaround. End of story."
"But why did you need to see Ellone so badly that you nearly killed someone to get the information?"
"Like I told the pipsqueak; to help Fuu." Seifer stared hard at the former Instructor. "Listen up and listen well Trepe, because I'm only going to say this once. Fujin is one of my posse, and that means that I'd move heaven and earth to help her out. Both Fujin and Raijin would do the exact same and more for me. I don't have to ask them to help me out, and they don't have to ask me. We've been through hell and back for each other, long before the rest of us," an absent wave of his free hand brought the other SeeDs into the group, "got together. If Fujin needs help, then I'll do what I have to do to make sure she gets it. If I have to kill every petty official in from here to Balamb to get Fujin the care she needs, then I'll do just that and have no regrets. The sooner you get that, the happier you will be."
"Understood." Trepe stood down, parhapts realizing that pushing Seifer on this issue was futile. The stupid stand off didn't matter, right not, the only thing that did was getting to Ellone and helping Fujin.
/\
Seifer paid only the slightest attention to his surroundings, despite the fantastic view of outer space and the planet from the various viewports surrounding Lunar Station. The Station personnel didn't pay any attention to him, just moved right on past the two from Garden on their usual duties. That was just fine, the sooner they found Ellone, that is, the less time they spent dealing with idiots who didn't understand what it meant to get in a SeeD's way, much less one on a mission, the better.
Seifer was sure that Tilmitt wouldn't be letting the fact that he and Raijin had basically left the entire rest of the party on the planet's surface in order to take Fujin to see Ellone, go any time soon. There hadn't really been any choice when he'd learned that the travel pods only held a maximum of three people at a time. He'd be hearing her whining over that fact that he'd left the rest of them behind for months at least, and that would be if she was in a forgiving mood. He smirked to himself at the thought of that, not to mention the various pranks that the yellow dressed trickster most likely kept up her figurative sleeves for times when she wanted non-serious payback doled out. Serious payback would no doubt take the form of her nunchaku stuffed somewhere painful and debilitating, but hopefully non-fatal, but the copper-haired girl was smart enough to realize that serious payback would be repaid in full, if not double. Not that he couldn't assign Tilmitt some tedious and boring disciplinary measures until the copper-haired girl was ready to drop from sheer boredom. Which would no doubt invite further retaliation…, well, that made the mischief maker that lived in Seifer's mind mentally rub his hands together in sheer glee at the prospect. Bring it on.
He had other things to worry about at the present. While completely fascinating, this long involved tour around the Lunar Station their guide was taking them on was delaying Fujin's recovery, never mind that she had been left in the Station Infirmary for the medical staff to look after.
Abruptly, he stopped in his tracks, eyes drawn almost against his will to a massive creation of metal and wires located just outside a viewport, blocking the view of the moon. Was that a person inside that thing? Vaguely he/she/it looked like a woman, the extremely long red hair combined with the long skirt were a big clue as to the mystery person's gender, but whoever it was had so seriously overdosed on the steroids, that overdone muscles hid most of the usual visual clues that people looked for.
"Sir, is something the matter?" the official flunky that had been wasting their time on the tour asked Seifer a bit nervously. Hardly surprising, given that he'd spent the majority of the tour so far in stubborn silence, ignoring the various points of interest pointed out on the way. Truthfully, Seifer didn't give a boil on Hyne's ass about the various labs set up to take advantage of the null-G environment. All he cared about was helping Fujin. Though, in this one instance, he'd make an exception for his curiosity.
"Who the fuck is in that thing, and why the outer space cage?"
The guide's sunny disposition dimmed. "That is Sorceress Adel, former leader of Esthar. Part of the main reason behind this facility is to constantly keep watch over and maintain Her prison." She spat as hatefully as she could without ruining her professional demeanor.
"That seems to be a bit overboard for tossing your leader, ya know? I mean, if ya wanna get rid of them, why not just execute or exile them and get them out of the way for good. Prison only lasts so long, ya know?" Seifer agreed with Raijin's assessment. An entire space station dedicated to simply maintaining a prison? In Seifer's experience, governments rarely used the more costly and less effective way of containment, particularly for political rivals. And Adel's claim on the Estharian government had been valid, at least up until She had been overthrown. He'd read up on what Garden knew about Adel after that first visit to Fisherman's Horizon, which, while sketchy (Adel had been overthrown and Esthar had shut its borders before Garden had been founded after all), had been full of reported tales of Adel's legendary cruelty. Add that to what Seifer knew about the Sorceress through the Dream World, and Seifer very much doubted that Adel had surrendered power gracefully, meaning that Her continued existence was an ongoing security risk to Esthar's current government. So why had She been kept alive?
"It's because Adel is a Sorceress." The flunky shared. "Apparently, Sorceresses can't die until they pass their power on to another. Sure, Her continued existence is a risk, but it was judged to be less of one than having another Sorceress running around. That 'cage' as you call it, keeps Adel in a state of suspended animation, neither living nor dead, and She is in space so that no one on earth can find and free Her. Any other questions before we move on?"
"Just one." Before the flunky could do more than blink at the unexpected answer to her question, Seifer had her backed up to the viewport, deliberately in her personal space. Hyperion was still sheathed, unneeded for the moment, but that could change in an instant. Yes, and there was Raijin, carefully posed to shield Seifer's back while blocking the view of the majority of the Station workers from the little drama unfolding by the window. He was getting rather tired of having to use this method of getting information, but he knew that it worked to get answers quickly and easily when he grew impatient with delays. And like he'd told Trepe, when it came to the welfare of his posse, he simply didn't have a conscience. He'd put up with over an hour of stalling on the Station without complaint, he was not going to wait any longer. And that didn't even count the amount of runaround he'd gotten on the surface. He would get his answers, now.
"I've been patient." He shared with the flunky, one hand wrapped tightly around her throat until she could barely struggle. "I've put up with this whole fucking tour, and the whole round of bureaucrats back on the surface. I want to see Ellone. Take me to her now."
"No need for that Seifer, here I am." Without letting go of his captive, Seifer turned his head, and saw Ellone's smiling face just over Raijin's massive shoulder. Slowly, he let go, ignoring the way the flunky sagged to her knees once he'd taken his hand away. Mental hackles still up; he waved Raijin back, allowing Ellone to approach.
"Ellone." his voice was neutral enough, but his stance and eyes all but shouted a different story, one blatant enough to be easily read even by one untrained in the fine art of reading a potential opponent from the slightest of physical cues. While Seifer didn't doubt that Ellone had picked up some SeeD tricks (she'd had to, given that she'd spent the last 13 or so years of her life with the White SeeDs), it was equally obvious that she hadn't picked up more than the barest of the basics. Her hands were smoother than Rinoa's, which was truly saying something. Civilian or not, she ought to be able to understand the effect he was going for….
Apparently, she did. Ellone winced; good, she was picking up his level of frustration. Now she was paying close attention to him. Closing his eyes for a moment, Seifer took several deep breaths, deliberately chaining the rage for the moment, though he knew it wouldn't hold for long, just enough to keep visions of murder out of his eyes long enough to get things done. The last time he'd felt this level of mad, he'd locked himself in the Training Center for at least 3 hours, and only emerging when he had worked the last of the mood out. No one had yet beat the record for most kills in a stretch he'd set then. Right now his rage wouldn't do any good; it would have to wait for later for release.
Once he had set his instinctive hostility aside (he needed to be able to work with the girl, Hyne damn-it) he met Ellone's eyes, gauging her readiness to proceed. She met his eyes squarely, almost daring him to start something. Well, well, well, it looked like Prissy Miss Ellone had a backbone after all. Good for her. And it looked like she was just as ready and willing as he was to get this over with. Even better.
"So, what do we need to do to get started?" he asked, mock casually with just a hint of sarcasm. He knew the fiction didn't fool her for a second, but some appearances had to be made. He did have a reputation, after all. "Do we need to mosey all the way back to the Infirmary, where Fuu is, to do this? If so, you'll have to lead the way, I'm afraid I've gotten lost in all the station nooks and crannies after the excellent tour."
"Well, the Infirmary isn't that far," Ellone replied in a similar vein, "but if you have something with you that's emotionally important to the patient I might be able to use that to Connect to her here." She dropped the casual pretence abruptly. "You do know that, while I can show you how she came to be in her condition, I can't bring her out of it with my skills. Do you understand?"
Seifer didn't flinch. "I get you. Do it anyway." He understood that Ellone couldn't bring Fujin out of her coma, he just wanted to know what had happened, so he could keep it from happening again. With that in mind, he thought for a moment. It looked like they would have to go to the Infirmary in person, given that Fujin didn't invest herself emotionally in much of anything outside the posse. Somehow he doubted that Ellone could use Raijin to Connect to Fujin, given that the quarterstaff user would have picked up on Seifer's distrust of Ellone and thus block her from his connection to the silver-haired girl. There wasn't anything that they had with them that was unmistakably Fujin's except…
"Hold on a moment," Seifer said abruptly. Turning to Raijin, he signaled to quarterstaff user to turn around, showing Ellone where the muscle of the posse had modified his staff harness to secure Fujin's chakram across his back. It only took a moment for Seifer to work it free. "Will this work?" he asked, holding the weapon up, careful of the many razor sharp blades. "It's Fuu's primary. She never goes anywhere without it."
"Primary?" Ellone questioned as she gingerly took the exotic weapon. Seifer shook his head to keep himself from laughing out loud at the stupid question. How could Ellone grow up among SeeDs and be so completely ignorant of the basics? And her grip! A first year cadet could have disarmed her with ease if she wanted to hold the weapon that way.
"Primary weapon, take it and get this over with: Fujin's going to murder me when she finds out that I let you touch it as it is." Without looking and with the ease of long practice, Seifer reached up and whapped the snickering Raijin on the head. "Shut up."
"That should work. Let's find a place where we can sit down." Ellone suggested as Raijin got himself back under control. "Connection needs a semi-sleeping state in which to work, so it's best if you're sitting down at least before we begin. Not to mention, I don't want to give you any more reasons to dislike me for knocking you on your ass when the Connection hits, you have more than enough already." She gave a self-deprecating shrug.
Seifer didn't know what to say. She was right, he did already have plenty of reasons to dislike her, even hate her. But he found that while he definitely still disliked her, the hate he expected to feel was absent. Maybe it was because she realized her mistakes, and was now doing everything in her power to fix them, as little as that might be. He blamed his romantic side, the side of himself that had never let him be comfortable around a crying girl. A significant look at Raijin was enough to get the big man to watch over them both while he and Ellone were locked in the trance required for Connection.
It took only a minute to find a seat that allowed Raijin to watch over them without obstructing the flow of traffic in the corridor. After receiving Ellone's assurance that she didn't need to touch him to make the Connection work, he sat at the far edge of the bench they found, and watched Ellone place one palm squarely on the chakram, right over where Fujin normally held the weapon, and close her eyes. Soon, his own eyelids began to drop, and he had to beat down his instinctive reaction to fight the sudden drowsiness. After a minute to wrestle his subconscious into submission, he surrendered to the spell.
When he woke from the trance, there was no time to reflect on what he'd learned, even if he had slightly expected the result. The Station's self-destruct systems had been locked, and there was nothing to be done but evacuate. Just when he and Raijin were about to reach the travel pods, they spotted a slight, space-suited figure sabotaging the clamps holding Adel's cage to the Station. Even with the bulky suit, Seifer instantly recognized who it was: Fujin. Getting to a pod abruptly ceased to be even a consideration, as Seifer and Raijin launched themselves into space to save their friend.
//\\
"What progress, My knight?" Squall felt his Lady's Holy voice in his head, as he'd heard it ever since She had been evicted from the shell of Edea Kramer's body, since She had been reduced to Her pure Presence that occasionally graced him with Her company in his mind. He didn't mind, even though his mind had been his only true refuge for as long as he could remember. She would take care of him, She would guard him and in exchange, he would do whatever it took to fulfill Her goals. Goals that had shifted with the renunciation of Her physical body, and while he would never question Her wisdom, the sheer scope of what She had planned and had kept hidden from him so far was breathtaking.
He didn't mind that She had kept him in the dark for so long as to Her true plans. She had been testing him, testing his loyalty, testing his faith in Her. He'd had a chance to abandon Her, had a chance to turn aside from Her path, and he hadn't taken it. His Lady had rewarded his faithfulness with the knowledge of Her true name, Ultimecia, and Her true plans. The full glory of Time Compression, as his Lady called the spell She planned to invoke, would be realized if he had anything to say about it.
But he'd had to work fast. He'd known as soon as She had come for him again, that Edea, his Lady's former shell, would spill all she knew about Her plans, and that Seifer would do whatever he could to stop them. Thanks to his connection to Her; he'd recovered from his Lady's flight from her old body first, and so had time to leave Galbadia Garden and gather up those troops who remained loyal to Her cause, before the SeeDs recovered and had time to realize he was gone. Excavating the old Lunatic Pandora, an old Estharian research center that had been lost in the final days of Sorceress Adel, former ruler of Esthar whom he'd read about in History class, had taken far less time than he'd thought. Apparently those rebels who had deposed of the Estharian Sorceress, hadn't taken the time to be sure that it was gone for good, a surprisingly careless attitude to have over a mobile research lab that still held the functioning machinery that had called forth the devastating Lunar Cry, an energy beacon that called monsters down from the Moon's surface and had decimated the Centran peninsula, killing hundreds, possibly thousands with the initial event and the years of monster attacks that had followed. They hadn't even taken the time to destroy the dangerous equipment, just the sort of careless attitude he would expect from those who would defy their Lady.
However, that same attitude was the same one that allowed him to easily repair the systems of the Pandora with the mere handful of technicians from the Galbadian Army who had answered his Lady's call. He would still be working on the systems had those rebels been more through, if not having to find an alternate plan for his Lady if the Lunar Cry systems had been completely destroyed. Thankfully, it wasn't, and his Lady could proceed with Her plan as She willed. The loss of life caused by a second Lunar Cry was below Her attention, the Lunar Cry was simply a way for Her go attain something She needed,
"Well? Do you have any progress to report, or do I need to punish you for sloth in serving Me?"
"The Lunatic Pandora is ready for your needs, my Lady. The Lunar Cry systems are fully operational and ready for your word to proceed." He didn't want his Lady to punish him again. She'd only done so three times, but each time he'd sworn to do everything possible to prevent displeasing Her another time. The first time, was immediately after the disaster of a Parade in Deling City, and if he expected the fact that She had just seized power to soften Her blows, he had been mistaken. She had allowed him to take a potion to rid himself of the physical marks when he had gone to interrogate the SeeDs who had provoked his punishment, but a mild one so the pain had not been dulled in the least. He had still felt that pain when he had questioned Seifer, and poured that pain into his rival, had allowed it to fuel his zeal in providing answers for his Lady, in vain hope that She would be pleased with him and not punish him again. That had been a vain hope. He had been punished again, still feeling the first punishment, when the SeeDs had escaped, and She had found out that not only had Balamb Garden survived the missile bombardment, but the missile storage facility had been utterly destroyed, no survivors.
She had rightly blamed him; it was his fault that they had escaped. He had been so consumed with interrogating Seifer, had been so consumed in getting actual answers out of his rival's stubborn lips, that he had put the rest of the SeeDs out of his mind after ordering their weapons stripped from them. If there had been space, he would have separated them, but the prison had been full with conspirators from Timber, those Garden operatives that Her troops had captured while on assignment in Galbadian territory, and political opponents who objected to Her enlightened rule. Even the Headmaster of Galbadia Garden had been there, in his few short hours before his execution. He also had had to plan the assault of Galbadia Garden, had only just received the conformation that the assault was complete when he'd left Seifer's cell. He'd had several million details to take care of at once, but that was no excuse for forgetting Zell's abilities at hand to hand, and carelessly placing all of his Lady's strongest and most dangerous opponents in one spot.
The last time She had punished him, was the worst by far. It was just after She had been expelled from Her body and had to take refuge in his own. There had been no way for him to retreat from the agonizing pain, if at any time he had been in danger of passing out from the sensations, She had yanked him forcibly away from the dark pit where blissful unconsciousness beckoned. No, he didn't want to go through that again. Not if he could help it. He didn't serve his Lady through the fear of punishment (he couldn't even think that when treasonous thoughts could only bring on more punishment), but because She had lifted him from the crushing weight of loneliness, from the agonizing sense of being alone. He hadn't even realized just how alone he was in Garden, with only Shiva to really keep him company. Sure, Seifer would occasionally bother him for spars, and sometimes Zell would irritate him with his boundless energy, or Quistis would pester him for a date, but he had been alone in all the ways that truly mattered. He couldn't go back, wouldn't go back to that, never again, not when his Lady had come and saved him from a hell he didn't even know he was in, come to him and shone Her Holy light to illuminate the darkness of his existence. He would always owe Her for that, and he hated having debts. Thus, he would serve Her till the end of time and existence to pay up, and never would he flinch from or shirk his duty in the slightest. It would never be enough to repay Her for the gift She had given him, but that didn't mean that he couldn't try.
Deliberately he tried to avoid thinking of what he was about to unleash. When reading up on the historical Lunar Cry, he had roundly condemned Sorceress Adel's decision to unleash it, had been sickened even as a young SeeD cadet by the massive loss of life, the heavy collateral damage in both lives and property that had lasted and continued until several years after the initial event. It didn't matter, not when it was his Lady's plan which he would never think to question, but…
"Do not konkern yourself with the welfare of insekts, My knight" She said, sensing his hesitations almost before he did. "Their lives are worth less than dust in My hands. They matter less than nothing. I need My predekessor, and with where She is imprisoned, the Lunar Kry is the only way to retrieve Her. Do you understand Me?"
There was only one way to respond to that. "Yes."
"Good. Now, My knight, aktivate the Lunar Kry!"
He threw the switch. There was nothing more to be done, nothing could stop the Lunar Cry now. All he had to do was watch and wait for his Lady's predecessor, Sorceress Adel and Her prison to be brought within range of the Lunatic Pandora's cranes. He had no regrets. None. He was following his Lady's will. That was all the justification he needed to do his job.
Then why were his hands shaking?
//\\
"Well, it's just the three of us again. Just like old times, remember Fuu?" spinning around in the cockpit of the totally awesome ship his posse had found abandoned in space and had cleared of stray mosters that had gotten separated from the mass of the Lunar Cry (or at least Seifer thought that was what freaky-ass column of energy and monsters had been, the description of the event in the SeeD textbooks had been slightly off), Seifer was just beginning to allow himself to relax for the first time in nearly 3 weeks, ever since the fateful battle with Leonhart and Ultimecia aboard Galbadia Garden, when Fujin had fallen under Ultimecia's influence to protect Seifer. Just the thought of what his loyal Lieutenant had gone through to protect him made his blood begin to boil again. Deliberately, he took a deep breath, than another. Fujin had said that Ultimecia had left her body after detaching Adel's cage before Lunar Station had detonated, and he had no reason to doubt her word. If Fujin said that she was safe, then she was safe, no ifs, buts, or ands about it.
"NOT ABANDONED. KNEW. NEVER ALONE." Fujin confirmed.
Seifer grinned, far more comforted than he wanted to admit to hear the silver-haired girl's unique way of speaking. His posse was together again, all was as right with the world as it could get at the moment. He refused to think of the few remaining imperfections of the universe right now. For the moment, he intended to kick back with his posse and forget his responsibilities, like the way they had before that disastrous Exam, and the subsequent upending of the world and everything he'd thought he'd knew.
"Things just haven't been the same without you around, Fuu, ya know?" Raijin added, only to find himself hopping on one foot thanks to one of Fujin's signature kicks that he could never quite avoid or see coming. The sight was so, so normal; that Seifer couldn't help but laugh, laugh so hard that the only thing that was keeping him more or less upright was the chair. Hyne, it felt so good to laugh for a bit after so much worry and dread over what was going to happen next. It was just him and his posse, and so long as they were together he felt that they could overwhelm the world with ease.
Nothing that good could last forever, and the insulated moment of just the three of them was shattered when the radio began to bleep. Frowning at the interruption, Seifer answered it. He would have liked to leave it alone, but the sad fact was that he didn't know how to fly the darn ship back to the surface. Not to mention, those on the ground were most likely panicking at the loss of contact from Lunar Station and were trying every channel they could for status updates.
"This is Esthar Airbase, calling anyone who can hear me. Can anyone read me? This is Esthar Airbase, calling anyone who can hear me. Can any-"
"Yeah, Esthar Airbase, I read you. This is Seifer Almasy aboard the… Fujin, Raijin? Either of you know what this hunk of junk is called?"
"RAGNAROK."
"Thanks, Fuu. Ok, this is Seifer Almasy aboard the Ragnarok. I've got two others here on board with me. As far as I know, all the other survivors of the Station explosion are in travel pods. I believe that most of the Station residents got out ok, but the evacuation was kinda chaotic so don't quote me on that."
"uh… thank you for your report, Mr. Almasy. I believe that you've answered most of my immediate questions. We'll begin preparations to catch the pods as they come down." came the less than collected reply on the other side of the channel.
"Now I've got a question for you, Esthar Airbase. While I can drive most things, they didn't cover spaceships in my classes at Balamb Garden. Care to help me figure out how to pilot this thing?"
"Just one question before I guide you down, would the 'Fujin' you addressed earlier be Sorceress Fujin?"
Seifer's eyes narrowed. "I don't know anything about a Sorceress Fujin. The only sorceresses I know anything about are, Adel, Edea, and Ultimecia."
"Mr. Almasy, please answer the question. Former-Sorceress Edea revealed to Doctor Odine that she had recently transferred her powers to Sorceress Fujin. If She is with you aboard the Ragnarok, you will surrender Her immediately upon landing."
Seifer felt his temper begin to heat. No one told him to surrender his posse to the custody of someone else. No one. "And if I decide not to hand her over?" he asked, letting the sarcasm sound loud and clear in his voice.
"Mr. Almasy, I don't know if anyone's told you, but in Esthar, attempting to shelter a sorceress is a high crime, carrying with it the death penalty. It does not matter in the least that you are not a citizen of Esthar, the law is still in effect, and is taken most seriously by Estharian law enforcement. Please answer my question if you please."
"That's Commander Almasy of Balamb Garden to you, and-" his voice was cut off by something slamming into the back of his skull, with a force that made a normally hard and solid surface (he'd heard that from nearly everyone in Garden, and it had actually saved his life on a number of occasions) ring like a drum.
"SORRY" was the last thing he heard as darkness closed over him.
/\
It took several minutes for Seifer to wake, with the result being that once he opened his eyes to Raijin's anxious shaking, they were on the surface again, with Fujin nowhere in sight. A glance at Raijin was more than enough to tell him where Fujin must be: his silver-haired lieutenant had turned herself over to Estharian authorities in exchange for mercy on his and Raijin's behalf.
She'd had no right to do that. No right at all. Not when he'd just got her back. It didn't matter to him that Ultimecia's possession and Edea's shaking off of the same had left sorceress powers in their wake, or that sorceresses were Garden's mortal foes. It didn't matter. Fujin was one of his, and he would get her back. He'd come far too close to losing her too many times, had already experienced the ache that came from the absence of a specific presence at his back much too often for any sort of comfort. No more.
It didn't take too long to figure out the controls for the Ragnarok, and almost before Seifer knew it, they were cruising to Esthar's main city to pick up the rest of the gang. He'd need more backup than Raijin alone could provide to get Fujin back, and he was not too proud to get back up when it was needed, not in this instance. It seemed to take no time at all to pick the SeeDs still in Esthar up and get to Sorceress Memorial, the location a terrified guard had told them was where all sorceresses discovered on Estharian soil ended up at.
There she was, already caught up in the machine at the heart of the complex like a fly in amber. She looked impossibly delicate like that, the silver of her hair echoed in the machines, smoothing out the harsh lines and angles from her tailored blue shirt and eyepatch. From a purely aesthetic point of view, Seifer could appreciate the sight; but the sight instead filled him with rage. Fujin didn't belong up there, she belonged to him; she was a member of Seifer's posse. There was no reason to lock her up; none whatsoever. From the tense silence behind him, Raijin felt the same way.
Hyperion was moving almost before he knew it, slashing through various pipes and wires almost without thought. Raijin was an instant behind him, quarterstaff reducing expensive, specialized equipment to a tangle of shattered metal and sparking wires. It was overkill, but it was needed overkill. It had hurt Fujin, and for that, it would be destroyed.
When it was over, the machine shattered beyond repair, and Fujin swept up in Raijin's brawny arms, obviously his worry had won out over his caution over keeping his feelings hidden (not that Fujin seemed to mind the manhandling, given the way her silver head was buried in Raijn's shoulder), Seifer tried to calm the fury still welling up within him. Fujin was safe now, that machine would never be used again, but still his rage would not calm.
Abruptly he ordered everyone out of the Sorceress Memorial, trailing behind as Trepe and the others who had been keeping watch and allowing Seifer and Raijin their opportunity for destruction without interference, chivied those scientists and guards who had watched over the site, out of the building. Once everyone was clear and at a safe distance, he sent the largest, nastiest, overcharged Fira he had ever cast in his life, into the guts of the building, followed by a Helfire or two from Ifrit for good measure as well as several well-cast Thundraga spells from Raijin and inflated the subsequent inferno by a gust from Pandamona thanks to Fujin. The facility went up like a blowtorch, leaving nothing but a burning shell within minutes. The heat was staggering. Several of the civilians fainted from the heat. Seifer was unmoved, watching the flames for several long minutes, letting them consume his rage, frustration, and remaining temper. Finally he turned away, calm for now. Fujin had been avenged, now he had to deal with Leonhart, and Esthar.
//\\
Whooo, Seifer is pissed. Frankly, I don't blame him in the least for losing his temper, not with how horribly wrong things have been going for him. Personally, I think that he was doing a fantastic job of keeping it together, but eventually, we all have to blow, and the severity of the blowout is directly proportional to the sum of how long such an explosion has been simmering, and the size of the final trigger. I'm not and have never taken any psychology courses, so don't quote me on that.
Some people have complained to me that I'm following too closely to the game storyline, and I want to address that. The reason that I'm doing it that way, is because that I figure that in both the game and in this story, the same person is giving the orders, Ultimecia. Sure, Seifer and Squall both add on their own interpretations of those orders, but in the end, the orders remain the same. Thus, events will follow roughly the same sequence. However you look at it, the main goals remain the same, even if you have different perspectives looking at a situation. Ultimecia needs Balamb Garden out of the way. Ultimecia needs Ellone. Ultimecia needs a knight. SeeD needs to stop Her. Thus, most of the events portrayed in the game, will happen.
Another complaint I've had, is that Seifer seems to be getting above Squall in nearly every way. Well, in the game, didn't Squall rise above Seifer? At the beginning of the game, Squall is almost more of a bastard than his rival, what with the way he callously disregards Zell's feelings, and Rinoa yells at him for it. I guess my point is, Seifer will always remain a bully. And he will always regard Squall as his rival. Too much of their identities are tied up in that relationship, for one of them to suddenly be elevated above the other. Even if that did happen, they wouldn't notice.
I hope that I've addressed everyone's concerns with this story, and I hope everyone will continue to review. I'm sorry about the late update; this chapter seemed determined to delay and frustrate me with writer's block in every possible way. Sometimes the most I'd get done on this story in a day was a sentence or two, possibly a paragraph if I was lucky. Thank you too all my readers who have waited so patiently for this chapter, and who have followed this story up to this point. I'm not sure I could have pushed through without your support.